A/N: Hello! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, it means a lot to me. Thanks especially to xterxashley8for your kind words and for making me one of your favorite authors and this one of your favorite stories! This chapter is a little long and not really funny/fluffy, but a lot of more serious (Sirius... heehee) stuff had to be introduced. So, the author will now stop talking and let you read, review (hint hint), and enjoy!
Disclaimer: Yes, James is mine. No, actually, he's Lily's, and J.K.'s. And everything else is J.K.'s, too. Go figure.
My Thunder
Chapter 3
Let the Pranks Begin, Part 1
James
Lily, her friends Alice and Colleen, the Marauders and I, along with another friend of ours, Frank Longbottom, all walked into the Great Hall together, much to Lily's dissatisfaction. We sat at a table together and listened and watched as the first years were Sorted and as Dumbledore read off the announcements of the new term. By the time he was finished, I could hear Lily's stomach growling from across the table and, when she glanced at me, blushing and glaring, daring me to say something, I merely smirked.
Finally, food appeared and we dug in, eating and talking. Lily cast a suspicious glance at me every once and a while. I ate, talked to my friends, her friends, flirted with two nearby fifth years, and glanced back. I guessed that she was making sure I didn't try any pranks, so I winked at her and said, "Don't worry, Lilykins. All pranks are scheduled to start tomorrow." She gave me one of her customary Ice Queen of Gryffindor glares and then turned to talk to Alice and Frank, who were sitting to her left.
When everyone was stuffed, the food disappeared and students began to leave, filtering towards their dorms with their prefects at their heads. Remus and another girl headed out at the front of the group of Gryffindors, and I got up to follow them.
Before I could go, though, I heard Dumbledore call, "Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans, could you come here, please?"
I glanced at where Lily was sitting across the table and was struck, as always, by how beautiful her green eyes were. She looked at me disdainfully and then stood, sweeping off to where Dumbledore stood by the door, immersing herself in the throng of students. I followed, making sure not to tip over the bench in my hurry. I quickly walked to where the two of them stood, joining them in a few seconds.
The old man nodded when I reached them and, beckoning us to follow him, he moved into the hallway with us walking after. Soon we came to a stop in front of the large gargoyle that guarded his office. Smiling at us, he said to the stone guard, "Sugar Quills," and when the creature leapt to the side, he moved up the stairs to his office.
I followed Lily up the stairs, only to stop and stare when I got into the office. I had never been here before. McGonagall had taken care of all my disciplining in her own office.
There was a large desk, and all along the walls were portraits of past Hogwarts headmasters. In a corner stood a stone basin and along one of the walls was a table holding all manner of strange objects.
Most fantastic, however, was the phoenix bird on the perch beside the desk, preening and whistling to itself. I had heard rumors about this bird. Ffawkes, it was called.
When I tore my eyes from the bird's fantastic red, orange, and gold plumage, I noticed Lily sitting down in one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. I followed suit. The headmaster sat across from us, behind his desk. He leaned forward and arranged his fingers in a steeple in front of him.
"Now, first I would like to congratulate you on achieving the positions of Head Boy and Girl," Dumbledore started, his blue eyes twinkling.
"Thank you, sir," Lily and I said in unison.
Dumbledore continued, giving us the typical briefing about our duties, the passwords we would need, and the requests that prefects had put in for patrol nights. Finally, he turned to us, his normal cheery demeanor darkening slightly.
"As you know, Ms. Evans, Mr. Potter, we are living in dark times. Lord Voldemort is at large and killing many non-purebloods. In times like these," Dumbledore said, regarding first Lily, then me, with a seriousness uncharacteristic to him, "one needs to have experience with a practical application of magic. However, merely performing spells in class does not really teach students how to fight. So, I am putting into effect a new plan."
He passed to me and Lily a piece of parchment, and we bent over it, me trying to keep from taking a big sniff of the scent of lilacs that filled the air around Lily. But the schedule on the parchment soon distracted me. "Um, Professor," I said. "What's this?"
Dumbledore nodded. "I'm glad you asked. You see, as Head Boy and Girl, I believe that the two of you should have the schedule for the rest of the attacks I have planned for the school."
Lily and I stared at him like his silver beard had just spoken. (Though, in the wizarding world, that wouldn't be considered so odd.) "I'm... sorry, sir, but I don't think I understand," Lily said, hesitatingly.
Dumbledore nodded again. "Let me explain. In regards to practical use of magic, I myself shall be taking over the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, where I shall be teaching students practical applications of standard, useful spells, before moving on to more complicated spells.
"To further reinforce training, I shall schedule attacks on classes, dorms, and perhaps even the whole Great Hall at dinner some time by using spell-casting mannequins controlled by a few of us higher ranking teachers, such as myself and professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Slughorn, and Sprout.
"Here, on this schedule," and Dumbledore pointed to the piece of parchment, "you can see the dates and places for attacks scheduled at night, during patrol hours, so you can avoid patrolling in these areas and concentrate on areas that need looking-after. I have copies here for you to give to the prefects." He gestured to a stack of papers on his desk.
Lily and I stared at the page. What he was talking about, what with spell-casting mannequins, Voldemort at large, and practical applications of spells, was frightening and high-ranking stuff, and needless to say I was feeling a little nervous. However, Lily spotted something that I should have picked up on.
"Um, Professor Dumbledore," Lily spoke up again, "there aren't any scheduled, uh... 'attacks' for the Head tower. Aren't Potter and I to be tested? And the prefects?"
Dumbledore beamed at her. "Always a bright one, Ms. Evans," he said. "Yes, you and Mr. Potter shall be tested, but you will not know ahead of time. The prefects, also, shall be ignorant of their testing times. It shall be a surprise to you when it happens."
Lily nodded. After looking at us for a moment to make sure we had no more questions, Dumbledore said, "Very well, then, I suggest you go see your new dorms. They are very nice, I've heard."
We stood. "Thanks, sir," said Lily, who then turned and walked out the door. I waited until she was out of ear shot before turning to Dumbledore.
"Um, Professor," I started, "I'm sorry for not asking this before, but..."
"But you did not want to appear weak before Ms. Evans." The old man's blue eyes were kind. "Understood, Mr. Potter. What is it you wish to know?"
"Well, will anyone be, you know, hurt? In these 'attacks', I mean," I said.
Dumbledore shook his head. "No. Perhaps bruised, or knocked out, but really what we are aiming to do is startle the students into defending, and to give them a taste of what a battle is like. We do not wish to injure them. Perhaps a few Stunning spells, Expelliamus, Levicorpus, but nothing fatal or dangerous. Since the mannequins are not human, of course, dangerous spells may be, and probably will be, used in return."
I nodded, relieved. "All right. Thanks, sir," I said, moving towards the door.
"You are quite welcome, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore answered, as I closed the door behind me.
I hurried down the stairs and ran to catch up to Lily, who thankfully hadn't gotten that far ahead of me in the corridor. We walked in silence as the castle grew steadily darker, me carrying the stack of schedules for the prefects, she carrying the requests prefects had made for patrol nights. Finally, we reached the portrait that concealed the entrance to our new dorm.
It depicted a black haired witch and a black haired wizard, sitting next to each other. They opened their dark eyes in unison and asked, smiling pleasantly, "Password?"
"Giant Squid," Lily said confidently.
The pair nodded and intoned, "Proceed," swinging open. Lily scrambled in, and I heard a soft, "Oh..." I quickly hurried in after her, entering the Head tower's common room.
It was decorated much like the one in Gryffindor tower, with scarlet and gold hangings, a few couches and arm chairs, a large fireplace, and three floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the lake and the forest. By the windows were two wooden tables with a few chairs around each. After looking around, I walked across the room to the staircase and began climbing.
Thirty stairs later I was at the landing. On one side was a door that had a plaque on it stating, in gold lettering, Lily Evans, Head Girl, Gryffindor.
The other door to my right had my name on the plaque. James Potter, Head Boy, Gryffindor. I tried the door, found it locked, and pointed my wand at it. "Alohamora."
The lock clicked and I opened the door, blinking and then smiling at the room. The walls were green, with posters of famous Quidditch players and teams on them. My broom was in the grip of two hooks driven into the wall, and a shelf in the corner held my books and some Quidditch magazines. The window looked out on the corner of the lake and a branch of the Whomping Willow. Another door indicated the presence of a bathroom. On a small desk my white owl Ophelia surveyed her new domain.
"Nice, eh, 'Phelia?" I said to her, as I opened my trunk to take out the rucksack of items necessary to my survival that I took everywhere. When I had that, I closed the door, pulled off my uniform and robes (the teachers would handle patrolling for the first week of school until Lily and I had a patrol schedule set up) and put on sweatpants and a tee-shirt.
I heard Lily coming up the stairs as I finished, and, curious about her room, I slung my bag onto my shoulder and left my room.
She was twisting the handle of her door. "Try Alohamora," I said helpfully. She sighed, and I knew she was annoyed about having to take my advice about anything. However, she silently tapped her wand to the door, and it swung open. Silent spell-casting... nice, I thought as I followed her in, leaning against the doorway.
Her room was painted light purple, with white curtains over a window that overlooked the courtyard. She smiled, fingering the white bedspread with its small, embroidered, purple lilies, before hurrying to the white bookshelf with its contingent of books that I would never have even looked at, things like Dangerous Potions and Practical Antidotes. Her trunk sat in the center of her room, unopened.
Lily turned and saw me standing there. She frowned. "Can I help you, Potter?"
I grinned. "You can always help me, Evans."
She sighed. "Enough lewd comments, Potter."
I hesitated, then decided that I didn't want to be hexed into oblivion on the first day of school. "Okay. I'm going downstairs." I held up a blank piece of parchment. "Could you bring down the requests from the prefects for patrol times when you're done? I want to start the schedule."
Lily said, "Here, take them now. I want to unpack a little," and handed me the slips of parchment. She then waved me out of her room, shutting and locking the door behind me.
I wandered down the stairs, settling onto one of the cushioned chairs at a table before she came down. I pulled out the requests and began categorizing them, older students getting first choice, and then, after sketching the timetable out on a blank piece of parchment, began putting pairs into different time slots.
By the time Lily came down, I was thoroughly engrossed in my work, barely glancing at her when she sat down in a chair. "Hey, I've got the first three slots filled," I greeted her. "We need to fill the final four, and then that leaves us to pick what pairs we'll patrol with."
Lily bent over the page, her red hair hanging down in a curtain around her face. "I think that we should patrol with these two groups," she said, pointing out two pairs made of first time prefects. "Especially with the new 'attacks' that are scheduled and everything."
"Fine. Doesn't detract from Quidditch time, so I'm happy." I tapped my wand to the final couple of slots, adding pairs and then Lily and myself. "Okay, do you want to look at this?"
She snorted. "Of course, Potter." I handed her the page and she pored over it, me watching her. She was wearing a black tank top and black shorts that hugged her body. I sighed inwardly. Why was she so beautiful? "All right," she said, finally, startling me out of my reverie. "It's fine." She stood.
"Bed, Evans?"
"Yes. I'll see you tomorrow, unfortunately."
I grinned as she left the room. "Good-night, Lilykins."
"'Night, Potter," she answered.
I waited until I heard her door shut before delving into my rucksack and pulling out a small mirror. Staring at my reflection, I whispered, "Padfoot? Pads?"
Sirius's handsome face finally appeared, blocking my reflection. Remus and Peter appeared behind him. "Hey Prongs," answered Sirius. "How's the lovely Lilykins?"
"Gone to bed for the night," I sighed. Then, thinking of our prank for the next morning, I brightened. "Shall I come get you three? We do have a prank to prepare."
"Of course," answered Remus. "We'll be waiting."
"Right, see you, Moony, Wormtail, Pads." I stuffed the mirror into my bag, and pulled out a cloak. After checking to make sure Lily wasn't coming down, I swept on the Invisibility Cloak, and then crept out of the Head common room. Time to prank.
A/N: Again, I'm sorry it wasn't very fluffy/funny... the next couple of chapters will be less serious and more funny/fluffy, so please, stick with me!
And REVIEW! I really want to know what the people who read this story think! So if you read, review! begs on hands and knees (Oh, and check out my story "Reflections on Happy Endings", too, please).
And that's it for me!
))Riiko Shea((