A/N: Without further ado, here's chapter three.
Disclaimer: see Chapter one. Marauders-worship purposes—ha, ha.
Chapter 3: Day One
(LOL. Alliteration!)
Lily's POV
"OH. MY. GOD."
And I thought no one is—or was—in the bathroom!
The shower stops abruptly, but all I can see is that dark shadow.
"Who the hell—" the familiar deep voice yells, rather annoyed, and suddenly…Regulus Black appears, hair glistening with water, a towel covering his lower half.
(A/N: Gotcha! Thought a marauder's coming out, didn't you?)
"I…me," I teeter, not knowing what to say. After all, meeting your host's pesky brother you've seen minutes ago, now half-naked, isn't easy for a girl.
"Oh," his scowl softens at the sight of me, "I thought it was Sirius."
"But you didn't lock the door," I say, pink dots appearing on my cheeks.
"I—er—my brother has another bathroom to himself," Regulus replies awkwardly, "So normally no one uses this. What am I talking about," he shakes his head, "No girl's ever come here before. I guess you're the lucky one—?"
"Evans, I'm Lily Evans," now why the heck did I give my name so easily to a Slytherin?
"Well, Miss Evans, glad to know you and all, but excuse me for a moment, unless you happen to like—" the Slytherin has a sly grin on. Darn, he's just like his brother in some ways.
"No thanks, I prefer not," I quickly come out, still hearing Regulus's light chuckles in the room.
James's POV
OH. MY. GOD.
Nope, I didn't hear what Padfoot's said. Not at all. Not a single word.
"PRONGS," he bellows, seeing I cuff my hands over my ears on the underground kitchen's table, "Evans's just met Reg in the bathroom! His bathroom!" he pauses, I remaining still, "PRONGS! Aren't you going to say something?"
YES. Shame that, why couldn't it be me…why did Lily have to choose that exact moment, why Regulus? WHY…
"No," I squeak, Padfoot moving closer, his hand touching my forehead, "Are you…ill?"
"Guess love's poisoned him, Padfoot," laughs Moony, chomping on his favorite food chocolate happily (Yeah, right. Friends are happy, me not.) "No need to cure."
"Uh huh," nods Pads, "You've really got it—"
He stops as Lily walks into the room…follows by Kreacher.
"Bad," Pads continues in a weak voice.
"If Mistress knows a filthy Mudblood's walking the halls, oh what would she say?" he mumbles, Pads secretly cursing behind my back.
"Do NOT call her that!" unconsciously, my wand is pointing at the elf.
Lily herself immediately blocks the way, "Do NOT harm him, Potter!"
"But, he—it—called you--," Merlin, she's uncommonly kind, even to a nasty, everyone-who's-met-would-hate-right-away elf like Kreacher.
Can I be more in love?
"I know," she says, "But he's just an elf. Stop being an arrogant toe-rag who cast spells at people and creatures for fun!"
I just can't fight her.
Kreacher scoots over to hide behind Pads, making dinner the second my wand lowers.
Humph. Would have told Pads to kill that elf long ago if not for its cooking talent! Mhm, speaking of that…
"Well, that's a way to begin a meal," Moony comments, finished with his chocolate, "Now who's hungry?"
My stomach rumbles involuntarily, the rest of the marauders and my love turning to look at me.
"Prongs is," Peter adds innocently, cleaning his fork and knife, Lily, meanwhile, smirking disgustedly.
Great.
Kreacher serves us a delicious-looking stew, which I dig in as soon as I get my hands on. Yum! But why's Lily looking at me like that?
Marauders Secret #7: With food, they, including Remus, typically FORGET everything. And the eating—ugh, I can't even mention. Girls, watch out for Black. He isn't as…you know…
Clank! The sounds of the spoons hitting the plates—all done, sir.
Wait, there's this…uneasy feeling down there. Ow. Pads—Moony—Lily—they're all touching their stomachs!
What's wro—
And a whole bucket-full of some slimy green substance lands with a 'splash!' on the table, the others backing away. I look down, huffing, hands placed firmly on my stomach.
Oh God, vomit. Mine.
And Lily—Lily ate the same thing. No, no…it's happening, it's happening!
In my head, everything's going in slow motion, even though the whole incident takes up 5 seconds in muggle time.
Her body curling up because of the pain, (I wanting to help but cannot, being on the opposite side of the table and since far out of my reach), my future-girlfriend, has grabbed my best mate's trousers for support, vomiting all over them both, and causing Pads to tumble over, crashing Moony flat face down on the floor as well.
There they lay, covered in vomit.
Not my best bet about a dream date, but still.
Worse, Pads did NOT tell me he's—
Groan. –Wearing that hideous—Good grief.
Lily's revealed Padfoot's, Sirius Black's, boxer shorts…
The one with 'Siri' written all over them…made by his—no,wait—Moony's mother.
Needless to say, Moony's got the matching 'Remey' boxer shorts. I just hope he's not—
Hell.
What's wrong with the world today, may I ask?
What did I do to deserve two matching boxer shorts wearing best friends fell in puke the second the love of my life visits?
Then, to my surprise, Peter decides to laugh out loud as I hurry over to them, helping Lily up first. ("Oh, great, where's the 'together we win, apart we die,' friends motto now, huh?" Pads grumbles as he stands up with Moony, who shushes him up.)
"Thank you," Lily says politely, her face the complete opposite, brushing the vomit off her jeans, "I think we all need a trip to the shower, don't we?" and storms off.
"Y—You, poisoned us!" I point at Kreacher, furious, "You dirty elf! Pads, do something!"
Padfoot stands there, "Typical of you, Kreacher, not that I expect any better. You know what to do," he says grimly, Kreacher, an evil smile on his wrinkled face, rushes to punish himself nevertheless.
I'd try to run after him, only Moony holds me back, "C'mon, you really need a bath right now, James, not some elf-torturing."
Sigh. 'Remus' calls me by my real name when he means it.
And it this time's pretty serious.
"Save that for later," whispers Pads in my ear, patting my back and heads upstairs. "Oh, since it's an emergency," he turns back, using the air quotes again, "Y'all can use my private bathroom, follow."
Lily's POV
I…am…speechless.
This is worse than...Oh, don't talk about it, will you?
That's it. Am talking to myself—on the way to a bath…
A step closer to insanity—whoo hoo!
Yeah, right.
At the nearest bathroom, I knock on the door three times, "Reg, are you in there?"
"Yep," the deep voice answers, the sound of shower still going on, "Care to join?"
If my ears weren't mistaken, he's chuckling. Again.
"Not," I grudgingly reply, asking, "Are there any more available bathrooms?"
"Well," he shouts, "The other nearest one's broken, and this one's in use—ah hem, so only Sirius's would be."
Not more of this. Marauders!
"But—but, you know, what if they're in there?" Please not, please no…
"Early birthday present for you then, darling." Muffled groan, how helpful he is!
Having no choice, I march over to Black's bathroom, nearly knocking on the door—
"Ouch!"
"Ou—oh, Evans!" I look up, only to find myself looking at Potter's toned chest, and into his hazel eyes.
"What're you doing here?" the wet Potter asks, thank God he's got his towel on. Silence engulfs me for a few seconds,
"Can't you see? Waiting to take a bath, duh," I shrug. Potter starts to reply but is interrupted by some sort of a phenomenally loud sound, exerting the human ears' perceptive sense of hearing level.
"What," hands on my hips, I ask, "In Merlin's name is that sound?"
"Oh," Potter sighs, shaking his messy, slick wet head, "That's just Sirius singing," and smiles.
Singing? Excuse moi?
That sound could have kept a Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon awake!
He calls that singing. Huff.
Marauders Secret #8: Sirius Black SINGS in the shower, ladies, and, believe me, it ain't pretty.
"Well, you never know. He might be a singer one day," Potter says, though, on seeing my frowned face, adds, "Ok. Joking."
After five minutes in hell of damaging my ear drums with that contagious sound, Black comes out, his eyebrows rising at the sight of me.
What's the matter with one girl?
"What're you doing here?"
Touché. De ja vu.
"Waiting to take a—" Potter stops when Pettigrew hurries in, wearing his and disappears in the shower room.
"Wha—" I cannot believe it. What is that?
"He's always like this, Peter," explains Black, excusing himself to go out to change, followed by Potter.
Marauders Secret #9: Oh God. Peter Pettigrew showers with his underwear on. That's why he smells. Gross.
Then, don't let me say it, Remus Lupin comes in, already in his pajamas, with an armful of books.
"Erm, thought you guys are nearly done," I say, backing off, "Guess I better use the other bathroom, then, bye."
No more, no more.
Yes! Regulus's done—what's that boy doing in the bathroom so long anyways? (Plotting to bomb the house?)
I turn on the hot, warm water and, untying my long hair, taking off my dirty (thanks to Kreacher. Great, I'll never help that ungrateful elf again!) clothes, settles down in the bathtub. Mhm, how relaxing…
After all, encountering a day with a whole pack of marauders requires some reward…
And, let's face it, if I survive the first day—I'll be fine for other six.
Won't I?
A/N: YAY! Thanks to Asako for her advices on the secrets!
Well, we'll see what the marauders are up to, next chap, won't we? (hee, hee.)
Reviews and suggestions are always welcome,
Love to all you supporters, (you know who you are), for dropping by, reading and/or reviewing,
Your ever humble fanfic writer :)