Disclaimer: Me do not own
A/N: HAVE A VERY MERRY BELATED CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR YALL!
Chapter 6: Suspicious Lemons
The next day Lily was lying on her back, face up on her bed, throwing a tennis ball up and down, and every so often, dipping her hand in the bag of candy that was on the bed beside her. Suddenly, she heard the door to the dorm open and she skillfully threw the ball under Jessica's bed and brushed the bag of candy onto the floor, kicking it under her bed as she stood up to greet her friends.
"There you are Lily, we were wondering where you got to!" Felicity said, running over to her bed and bounced on it before slowing down to a stop. Claudia gracefully walked over to her bed and sat down on the corner of her own bed.
"So what shall we do today?" Felicity asked Claudia and Claudia thought for a moment.
"Well," she started slowly "The boy's are celebrating the end of summer by daring each other to go for a dip in the lake. We could go watch?"
"Ooo boy's in trunks. Count me in" Felicity giggled and bounced on the bed. Lily, who had seen Sirius, Remus and James in trunks numerous times, didn't really see the point but replied anyway
"Me too. I can never resist boys in swimmers"
And so off they went, Claudia in the middle, as always, as they walked down to the lake. The boys had used the rocks the castle had been built on which staggered out over the lake as diving ledges.
The girls joined the small group of people gathered on the shore and sat down to view the show. A few minutes into the jumping, Lily spied a familiar pair of white legs. She stared at them closely and saw her three other 'friends' at the 100m jump mark. Even this far away, Lily could see Remus's legs shaking.
"Isn't he soooo brave?" Felicity gushed, obviously talking about Remus but Lily wouldn't have used that word to describe the shaking pale legs.
Eventually James pushed Remus off, who screamed at the top of his lungs as he plunged down, belly flopping into the lake. James laughed in triumph and the smile was still playing off his lips as Sirius pushed him off, however, James made a more, well, less painful entry, curling himself up into a ball and bombing into the lake, spraying the closest to him with water.
Sirius celebrated his victory of being the last man standing by flexing his muscles, so much so, he was preoccupied with them and soon lost his balance and he feel off, twisting in the air and landing in the water on his back. The crowd all made the same 'oo that's gotta hurt' noise as they heard him hit the water.
Lily turned her attention back to Remus who was coming out of the water and surprisingly saw Felicity walking up with him.
"Are you sure you're okay Remmy?" She was saying to him as they came up to where everyone was sitting. Lily saw him nod at her and walk off, with a bewilded expression on his face.
"Poor Remus," Lily muttered to herself before Felicity arrived.
"That was so nasty of James to push him off like that. I mean, like he was about to jump off anyway, it's not as if he needed his help," Felicity complained as she sat down and Lily and Claudia nodded in agreement.
"Totally," Lily added "And it serves James right to be pushed in by Sirius," Felicity nodded and it seemed to Lily that Claudia's head had snapped up when she said Sirius's name but thought nothing of it, after all she only just got her female intuition.
As all the boy's had jumped into the lake, many of the bystanders had gone back up to the castle, others starting to get up.
"We should probably go and see where Patience ended up. I was sure she came down here to watch," Felicity said thoughtfully as they stood up and headed off towards the castle.
"So what are we going to do this afternoon?" Lily asked Claudia and Felicity after they returned to the dorm, found Patience in the bathroom who claimed to be touching up her make-up and were now lying down on their beds.
"Well I've got to do that horrid charms essay that's due Monday," Felicity moaned, rolling over and hitting her pillow in anger.
"I think I'm going to have some me time," Claudia said thoughtfully "Lily, why don't you help Felicity, you seem to be quite good at charms?" she suggested sweetly.
"Sure," Lily said and she and Felicity grabbed their bags and headed downstairs to the common room to start.
"So what part are you having trouble with?" Lily asked as they sat down at one of the tables.
"Gah like the whole thing! I know what I want to say, but then I can't get it onto the damn paper!" Felicity complained to Lily, pouting.
"Have you ever thought of using a Thought Charm?" Lily suggested. Felicity gave her a blank expression.
"Basically it transfer's your thoughts onto the paper so you can unjumble them and put them into your essay," Lily explained and Felicity's face lit up like a light bulb.
"OO! Do it!" Felicity order, closing her eyes and smiling. Lily took out her wand, pointed it at Felicity's head and said
"Premura"
Felicity's head glowed for a second and then returned back to normal. She opened her eyes and her quill instantly sprung up and began writing on the page. Felicity smiled.
"Are you alright now?" Lily asked "I've just got to go to the library to double check something,"
Felicity nodded her head vigorously, concentrating intently on her thoughts. Lily grabbed her book bag off the chair and headed out of the portrait hole. She decided to take the long way, as she was in no hurry to return. However, half way down a corridor she spied James and Sirius coming towards her, so she made a quick side step into the secret passage hidden behind the tapestry of some old witches drinking tea.
She hurried down the stairs and turned the corner but stopped when she recognized the voices around the corner.
"What on earth are you talking about Patience?" she heard a voice ask.
"I'm telling you, she's not who she says she is?" Patience whispered hurridly.
"How is she not?" the voice asked, not taking Patience word for it.
"I found these under her bed," Patience said. Lily heard the rustling of a plastic bag being shoved into a person's hand.
"Sugar free I presume?" the voice said carelessly, not believing what was in the bag was enough proof.
"No it is totally filled with it. Here, try one," Lily heard more rustling and the sound of chewing. Then came the sound of 'UH!' followed by the sound of spitting.
"Your right! Its totally full of sugar! But I still don't believe it, she could be treating herself, after all, she has a fantastic metabolism, have you seen those curves?"
"Sure she has a good figure, but I found this as well," Patience said, pulling something out of her pocket and bouncing it, the echo of a ball bouncing on stone echoing threw the passageway.
"And where pray tell did you find this?" the voice said and Lily could almost picture the person crossing their arms.
"Under Jessica's bed but it's pretty obvious it rolled over from her bed,"
"Oh yes, so obvious. Why, did you get down and see if the floor was level?" the voice snorted.
"Look at the initial's on the ball, here, lumos!"
"So their the same, their very common initials. I know several people with the same,"
"Name some," Patience sneered.
"Lara Edinston in Ravenclaw, Lisa Everard in Slytherin and Lindsay Edwards in Hufflepuff just to name a few," the voice returned the sneer.
"Okay, well I have one more piece of evidence that you can't ignore,"
Lily heard Patience unfolding a piece of paper and heard it change hands. This was quickly followed by a gasp.
"See?"
"Is she really wearing clothes from Target?" the voice exclaimed, disgusted.
"Yep, she sure is,"
"Well, I'm sure there is a good excuse for this but I do say this is quite fishy. I'll just have to keep my eyes open around her to see if she is really who she says she is,"
Light suddenly flooded the passageway and Lily quickly ducked behind the corner until they had shut the portrait. Unwilling to go threw the same exit as it may cause suspicion, Lily headed back up the way she came. Of course James and Sirius were long gone and the rest of her walk to the library was uneventful. She found the book she was searching for quite easily and went and sat down at a table to read it.
It was only when she had read the same sentence six times that she realized she couldn't concentrate. She slammed the book shut and rested her chin on her folded arms, thinking about what happened. She knew the sweets that Patience found, they were the sherbet lemon's she had been eating earlier this morning before going to watch the guys jump of the cliff. The ball was of course the one she was throwing up in the air, but it was the photo that stumped her, because she couldn't remember even owning a picture of herself, let alone one where she was wearing clothes from Target.
So that's what Patience had been up to this morning, Lily knew it was fishy that Patience of all people would have given up a trip to see the guys down at the lake.
Lily sighed, then banged her forehead on her book, getting a nasty look from the librarian, an old witch called 'Madam Denzil'. What type a name that was was a mystery to Lily, she thought it sounded rather funny actually.
"You alright there?" A voice asked from behind her. Lily turned around and found it was Jessica, the other girl from her dorm. "I saw Madam Denzil give you one of her glares so I thought you might be in a bit of trouble. This seat free?" she asked, motioning to the chair next to Lily's. She nodded silently, turning back to face the front.
"So your curious about Hogwarts history then?" Jessica asked her, noticing the book in front of Lily. Lily reopened Hogwarts: A History and sighed.
"Yep, I'm trying to see if there's another case of what's happening to me right now. See if they can give me any pointers if they actually pulled it off," Lily explained and began to open pages at random.
"So what's your case? Oh!" she said quickly "Sorry, none of my business. My mum's always going on about how curiosity killed the cat. Its probably true, whatever my mother says usually happens. God I hate when that happens. I also suffer from frequent 'footnmouth' disease so I have to be careful about what I say," She explained and Lily laughed.
"No its alright, I think their onto me anyway so I don't think it will really matter that much," Lily said to Jessica and she listened intently as Lily retold her story.
"So why do you think their on to you?" Jessica asked when Lily finished.
"On my way down here I heard Patience talking to who I'm pretty sure was Claudia about the stuff she found this morning when she went threw my things. She found my stash of sherbet lemons, my tennis ball I play with when I'm bored and some photo of me that I didn't even own and I was apparently wearing clothes from Target,"
"God Lily, Target? How could you sink so low? I only buy clothes from Targe!" Jessica joked, making Lily smile.
"Anyway, so I don't know what I'm going to do," Lily said sadly, returning to resting her chin on her arms.
"Well you've got me to help you now! Aren't you lucky?" She said nudging Lily. "Now, lets see, I gave those sherbet lemon's to you for your birthday but you said I could help myself to them whenever I'd like so they all belong to me. The tennis ball that has your initial's on it belongs to my step sister Lucy Edwards who's father married my mother two years ago and I stole the ball from her. And as for the photo, say it was your Halloween costume!" Jessica suggested, making Lily raise her head.
"Wow, that's not half bad Jessica!" Lily said in amazement.
"Oh, well, you know," Jessica said, pretending to blush. "So am I your outside man now or what?" she then demanded
"I guess so, if you want to be," Lily replied, shutting the book and getting up.
"Are you kidding? Of course I want to be, I get to hear about all the stupid stuff they talk about and all the stuff they do to get guys!" Jessica cried happily as Lily returned the book to the shelf.
"Awesome. So as my outside man, you are also in charge of giving me food. I have been literarily starved to death since I arrived here!" Lily complained. Jessica put a hand on Lily's shoulder.
"I feel your pain,"
-:-
Lily returned to the common room a short time later to see Felicity still there leaning over her piece of parchment.
"So how's the thought spell working out for you?" Lily asked, dumping her bag on the ground and sinking into the armchair across from her.
"Oh its fantastic, thank you so much Lily!" Felicity exclaimed before getting back to her homework. Lily had just gotten herself comfortable in her chair when Patience came and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Oh, hello Patience" Lily said in a sickly sweet voice as she turned to face her.
"Hello Lily," Patience said in the same voice "Claudia wants to see you upstairs in the dormitory. Now" She grabbed Lily's arm and led her over to the staircase. Lily pulled away.
"I assure you Patience, I can get to the dormitory quite safely on my own," Lily snapped, pushing past her and climbed the stairs to the dorm. She knocked twice on the door before letting herself either. Claudia was sitting on her bed and stood up when Lily entered.
"Hey Lily," She said as she walked over and they did their usual greeting hug.
"Patience said you wanted to see me?" Lily said, this scene looking more and more like she was a naughty child called to come see her mother.
"Yes. Unfortunately Patience went threw your belongings this morning-" Lily made herself look surprised before horrified.
"What business does she have going threw my belongings without asking?" Lily interrupted.
"Yes I quite agree, however she found a number of disturbing items that I would like to discuss with you," Claudia said, motioning to the bed. Lily sat.
"If you insist, I have nothing to hide." Claudia smiled and sat down next to her.
"First of all, she found a packet of non sugar free sherbet lemons under your bed," she paused, waiting for the explanation. Lily forced herself to laugh.
"I had totally forgotten about those! Jessica gave them to me for my birthday last year and of course, not knowing what to do with them I placed them under my bed,"
"They were half empty," Claudia pressed.
"Of course, I expected nothing less. I offered Jessica that she could eat some when ever she liked. There is no point for foot to go to waste," Lily said and Claudia nodded. Lily mentally wiped her brow, that's one problem she had wormed her way out off.
"Secondly, she found this ball with your initials on it," Claudia said, pulling it out of her pocket and showing it to Lily.
It was then that Jessica had chosen to enter the room, and Lily couldn't think of a better moment for her to do so.
"What are you doing with my ball?" she asked Claudia. Claudia looked up in surprise.
"Sorry?"
"My ball, the one your holding," she said, pointing at it.
"If it's yours then why does it have the initials L.E. on it?" Claudia asked her, suspiciously.
"Well, technically it's my step- sister's. Her name's Lucy Edwards, her father married my mother sometime ago and well, I needed something to amuse me on the train so I took her ball. Can I have it back now?" she asked Claudia. Claudia threw it to her.
"Well, there was one last thing she found," Claudia said, pulling out a photo of Lily taken that past summer with her father.
"Oh put that photo away, it brings back horrible memories!" Lily cried, springing off the bed in surprise.
"I don't doubt that, your wearing clothes from Target!" Claudia stated, looking disgusted.
"What's wrong with clothes from Target?" Jessica asked. Claudia and Lily rolled their eyes.
"That picture is from Halloween last year. I hadn't bought a costume and my parents were forcing me to dress up so I took some of my sister's clothes. I spent three hours in the bathroom afterwards scrubbing my skin, it was awful!"
"You poor thing! I told Patience there was a reasonable explanation for all of this! I'm sorry I ever doubted you, I think Patience needs to pay a price," Claudia said, hugging Lily and then heading back down to the common room.
Lily walked over to the door, making sure she wasn't still there and shut the door, and turned back to face Jessica.
"Three hours ay?" she smirked as she high fived Lily.
"So do you think I deserve an Oscar or what?"
"What's an Oscar?"
Lily laughed.
A/N: Hey hey, I'm back! I'm so sorry its been months, but you know, end of school exams, gah so draining. Anyway, I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and a happy new year for tomorrow! Try and update soon, I've got a bit of thinking to do on this story, so I hope this chapter was worth the wait, I'm trying to throw some suspicion into the air ...ooooo. Any suggestions let me know. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter, I got a whopping 22 reviews! So thank you thank you thanks you! Until next time...
Moonlight Honeysuckle xox