Hmm...I don't have anything cute to say at the beginning of this chapter. No rants or strange random things...Oatmeal! There you go. Randomness of the day.
Chapter 39: Happy post-Valentines
Lily didn't expect Sirius to be so...caring. But he was. He set Mary down on the tile of the Prefect's bathroom and then when she woke up he'd hold her hair while she vomited into the toilet. Then he'd take a rag so she could wipe her mouth. When it got late and she was too tired to wipe it, he would for her. It was gross, but totally unexpected in it's sweetness. He even dabbed at her forehead with a cloth when she got sweaty from all the vomiting.
Lily watched carefully. She didn't want Mary to get hurt. James, however, wasn't worried in the least. He just laid on the floor with a pillow under his head, slowly dosing off. They'd been in there for a good four hours. At first James had tried to get Lily to relax and let Sirius handle it. But she wouldn't. Now she sat beside James, watching.
"You look tired." James said reaching up to run his finger under her eyes and across her jaw leaving a tingling behind. Although her eyes felt heavy and she could feel her muscles tight and tired she shook her head.
"I'm fine." she said holding back the yawn she'd been fighting for the last few minutes. When she blinked she had to struggle to get her lids back open. Sirius was getting Mary to drink some water so she wouldn't become dehydrated. Lily was sure James was rolling his eyes at her.
"She probably won't even remember any of this in the morning." James told her propping himself up on his elbow.
"Well when she wakes up I'm sure she'll come to the wrong conclusion. Which could make this so much worse." Lily snapped.
"Merlin, you need to sleep." James grumbled.
"I'm not tired." Lily growled. James just sighed rolling onto his side.
********
In Defense Against the Dark Arts the next morning Professor Dunken declared that they would be distinguishing what items had been cursed and what curse was on them.
Lily looked at the things on the desk she shared with James. There was a wooden box with small engravings and a latch. There was also a fluffy wig, a sliver key tied to a black string.
"Now, be warned that these items could harm you." Dunken cautioned walking down the aisle of desks, "So don't get sent to the Hospital Wing." He continued to walk around watching as the students studied the objects.
"What do you think it does?" James asked holding the wig up gingerly.
"It could be as simple as changing your hair color if you put it on. Or it could cause the wearer to go bald." Lily said naming a few things off the top of her head while pulling out her text book. She flipped through the pages looking for the chapter on dark or cursed objects. When she looked back over at James he was holding the wig above his head. She frowned causing him to pause with it just inches away from his skull.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked him. He grinned sheepishly.
"Checking for magical properties?"
"By putting it on?"
"Did you have a better idea?" he challenged.
"Yes." Lily said slowly pulling the wig away from his head. Once it was back on the desk she went back to her book. "See look." She dropped the book onto the desk with a bang.
She jabbed her finger at the book where it listed curses, how to recognize them, and counter jinxes. But above that it named a spell that when used showed whether or not the object contained dark magic.
"Experienced Wizards and Witches can sometimes feel the presence of magic, but others who lack this ability can use atra veneficus revelio. If the object has been subjected to dark magic or curses then the caster's wand shall become cold in his or her hand." Lily read.
"Alright." James agreed. Clearly this was the dull way to do things. Lily cast the spell on each object, only the key wasn't cursed so she set it off to the side. By the time she was done he had his chin resting on the desk looking like a puppy.
Sirius was in the back making a racket with Remus and Peter. Peter was watching, bouncing out of his seat while Remus tried to convince Sirius not to do whatever it was he was about to do. James didn't even look back at them. Rather he sighed loudly.
"Could you look up what to do next?" Lily asked him.
"I suppose." James agreed dragging his hand up to the book. He flipped through the pages slowly skimming through the passages. Hmming and huhing every so often. Lily was getting impatient, tapping her fingers on the table waiting. And waiting.
"You passed it." Lily said.
"You do it then." James said pushing the book over to her. He didn't have to tell her twice. She swiped the book over to her, quickly flipping back skimming over the list to further instruction. Eventually she found it.
"Okay, we can either test the objects. Or try various counter-jinxes." Lily told him. "There's really no other way. Just trial and error." James turned his head to look at her.
"Kay." He agreed. Neither of them had gotten much sleep the night before, so the mood, while unnecessary, was understandable. Lily could hear Mary arguing with her partner. She was experiencing a hang over. So with the repulse of food and head ache, Mary was ready to bite heads off. Jamie hadn't even shown up to class. Ivy claimed to have tried to wake her, but it hadn't worked.
When Lily looked back up from her book James had done something to the box. Or he had discovered what the curse was. Because instead of there being one box, there was three. She raised her eyebrow at him.
"Gemino." James explained. "Duplicates when touched. Look it up if you don't believe me." Sure enough the gemino curse duplicated things when touched. They wrote it on their parchment in neat script before moving on to the wig.
"Any ideas?" Lily asked.
"Nope." James replied once again resting his chin on the table. They stared at the wig for a good minute.
"How about now?"
"Nope." they both sighed, ideas evading them. Lily tentatively poked the hair.
"Maybe if someone stares at it, then it removes all ideas." James suggested. Lily looked over at him before looking back at the wig.
"Maybe." She allowed. James reached out slowly, then pushed the mass to the ground.
"Any ideas now?" He asked.
"Nope." She said still looking at the place it had been sitting.
"Are you going to get it?"
"Nope." Lily answered. He nodded his head, his chin rubbing against the wood.
"This sucks." he said after another minute of trying to guess what the wig did. Although the fact that it was on the ground wasn't helping their progress.
"Yep."
"Maybe one of us should put it on." He suggested.
"Maybe." Lily agreed. But then James looked back at Sirius a grin growing on his face. Lily watched silently as James took out his wand pointing it in the general direction of the wig making it float up. He then sent it zooming across the room where it landed easily on Sirius' head. Instantly vanishing.
"Weird." They both said. But just the fact that the hideous thing had vanished wasn't the weird part. What was strange was that it had the affect of making the wearer's hair move around like it was under water. So Sirius' hair was waving about, high on his head, but staying out of his face. Other students were noticing and laughing at the sight.
Sirius looked up from his work, not noticing the wig at all. He frowned at the class as they giggled at him. It was pretty hilarious. His hair just waving about, and because of the length of his hair, it was high and wide. Lily's eyes widened as she held back her own laughter.
Remus looked at James smiling slightly and shaking his head. James ran a hand through his hair grinning at his friend.
"How long do you think it will take him to notice?" He asked barely moving his lips.
"I say someone's going to have to point it out to him." Lily answered. They turned around to face the front of the classroom. Dunken had left to get some supplies for his next class of fourth years. Lily peeked down at the book, which seemed to engulf her immediately. She scanned the list, looking for the curse that was on the wig. It seemed more like a practical joke the Marauders would pull, than dark magic.
She found it, it was just a water engulfing spell. What ever was inside the object was inside water, but without the feeling of wetness. So like dry water. She wrote it down on the parchment, and then they were done.
The door banged open and Dunken walked back in carrying a box following him. He paused to look at Sirius' hair. He frowned yanking the wig off of him. Sirius looked at him, shocked, then his eyes caught sight of the wig, from there they darted to James.
James hunched over looking at his desk smiling.
This really didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. But I don't want to go back and change stuff. So just give me some ideas and Reviews. P.S. I love you Reviewers. You're amazing. And yah know, you don't review and I don't post. Or write. It's been proven.