EDIT: IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL READERS! PLEASE READ.
Many of you all returning readers may already know that I've been dealing with many plagiarism issues lately. Many others of you may have already read an older copy of this story under a different title and characters. I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE KNOWS THAT I HAVE NOT! NOT! NOT! COPIED THIS OFF ANY SITE AND AM WORKING VERY VERY FEVERISHLY TO GET RID ALL OF THE FALSE COPIES! For all of you who HAVE read a previous unedited edition of Girls, Quidditch, and Other Things We Love, here is a list of all the aliases and former titles I have ever used in my FanFiction life.
DXAnge-NoirXD - Swearing on Scorpio - Gaia Online Writing Arenas - Genevieve Dubois (Thank you to Chelsea for helping me find this one again! Fortunately, I have been able to remove this copy, as I still have access to this account! Virtual cookie and Hugs and Kisses to you, Chelsea!)
blue. skies (named after my former co-author as some of you may already know) - Our Time To Fly - Quizilla - Evelia Reinhardt (Although you may still not believe me, I must thank alicelouise for letting me know about this copy - although I already knew about it, I could not remove it, as the email linked to this account has expired.)
demigodz. rule(oldest account I have) - All Your Love Is Revenge - Unknown Site? - Tanya Cavello (Came across this by accident when I was clearing up my hard drive - I have no idea where this is posted, therefore cannot remove it.)
fantasia. dreamers - Dimmitunture (Latin for Forgiven) - Unposted - Natalia Lynx (The very FIRST Girls, Quidditch, and Other Things We Love I've written - unposted, so it's no trouble.)
THANK YOU FOR STAYING WITH ME FOR THIS NOTICE - NEW READERS - ENJOY! FORMER READERS - well, you can enjoy the changes too. Love you all!
A/N: Yay! My first story's up! *Jumps around cheering* I've broken up this story into two parts - The first one's mainly an introductory section, while the second starts getting into the action. Pick wherever you want to start at, but I probably wouldn't want to skip the beginning. I know some of these character introductions are odd, but it'll all make since soon! Romance (Yes, romance) will come in later chapters. Enjoy!
CHAPTER ONE:
Stickmen, Transfiguration, and Ways to Get Revenge
* * PART ONE * *
"It was during the 13th century when renowned witch, Milsinnia Lapiana, claimed to discover a potion to stop aging. She was extremely secretive about her discovery, letting no one know except for her pet bird and faithful maid Louisa, who often accompanied her during her experiments. Little did she know that the bird was indeed, an Animagus, who was believed to have betrayed her discovery to her foes and..."
"Er... 'Y'?"
"Sorry, you lose," she snickered as she wrote the letter 'Y' on her parchment. The stickman on her parchment began frantically waving his arms in the air, his mouth bawling as the inky rope around his neck tightened. When the stool beneath him was kicked away, he struggled and then went limp. Bronze letters darkened onto the parchment like a stain that had just spilled on cloth. The letters spelled out the mysterious answer, 'Azoturia'.
"I never get used to it when the poor thing gets hung," said the dark haired girl, looking sadly at the drawing and sniffling. The hangman lay still, as its inky brains slowly began leaking out of its inky skull. "Oh Merlin, I hate it when they start doing that," she grimaced, disgusted, as she began crumpling up the parchment.
Sirius stared at the paper blankly. "What does..." he scratched his head, "…Ayzoo -"
"Azoturia. It's a sickness horses get when they got too much nitrogen in their hindquarters," the girl answered cheerily, stuffing the parchment into her bag. Sirius made a face.
"I don't even want to know how you know that word, Nat."
"Never said I was going to tell you, mate," she stuck out her tongue at him. The bell rang for lunch as Natalia and Sirius got their bags and slowly made their way to the Great Hall. Meanwhile, she had taken out her hangman parchment and was staring at the sickening scene where the stickman's inky guts had begun to spill out.
"Ugh... look at it drip! This is revolting! It makes me want to vomit!"
"I thought you hated looking at it," said Sirius, grinning, "Keep up!" His long, but slow strides still made a shorter person like Natalia have to jog to keep up.
"I've only seen it when its guts come out, not when it's all over. You can't say you don't find this fascinating! I mean, who knew stick people had guts? Ooh, other stickmen are coming to mop his guts away!" Natalia stared, entranced as more stickmen came into the scene. She had been so intense in the drawing, she hadn't noticed that Sirius had stopped walking. Inevitably, it caused Natalia to run into him. Before she could say anything, he grabbed her arm and pulled her behind a wall, around fifty feet away from the Great Hall.
"Fan girls," he mouthed to her before she could snap at him. She peered to the doors of the Great Hall. Sure enough, there was a group of girls giggling to one another, each sporting a large vibrant orange pin attached to their robes. They were too busy flipping their hair and applying make-up to notice that they were blocking the door. Natalia glanced at them, shaking her head disapprovingly at their extremely short skirts and half-unbuttoned shirts.
"I thought you fancied their attention," she said, giving him a plaintive stare.
"Usually I don't mind, but I'm really not up to it today," Sirius shrugged, "I'm hungry and it's difficult to flirt when your stomach's growling. Not exactly a charming noise. Do something about, won't you Lynx?" he pouted.
"Annoying little prat, aren't you?" Natalia replied, but nevertheless, her eyes sparkled with mischief. "May I turn them into toads?" she whispered hopefully, twirling her wand with her fingers.
"Toads? Bit over the top, isn't it? I was going for a simple distraction. I'm not up for another detention so soon. My Marauder mates will frown if I'm not there to help with a prank, you see."
"Yeah, but Shara Robertson spread a nasty rumor about Lily the other day, and her lot replaced my hazelnut-and-vanilla shampoo with melted lipstick this morning," Natalia frowned.
Sirius shrugged. "Transfigure away, then," he said, "but I must say, toads are rather commonplace, aren't they? Very 15th century."
"Fine, toads with... chicken feet."
"Chicken feet? Dear girl, I think you need to see a psychiatrist."
"Sir, I already do," replied Natalia seriously. "He tells me to eat parchment when nobody's looking. Then he tells me to drink a pint of frog urine during Potions. Now he tells me I need to see a psychiatrist."
"You never did any of those things, though," said Sirius, looking disappointed.
"Of course I didn't, since when do I follow the doctor's orders?" she grinned, "Now can we get on with this?" she motioned to the group of fan girls.
"Chicken feet it is," Sirius agreed, rubbing his hands in glee, "But if you get caught, I'm not at all part of it. I'm only the sponsor, if you will."
"I never get caught."
"True. Now get on with it, I'm starving."
Natalia had a mischievous glint in her gray eyes as she aimed her wand at girls. A white stream of light came from her wand as she began muttering incoherent words. It hit one of the girls before the light swallowed them all in a fluorescent dome. Screaming could be heard, but it suddenly quieted as the light faded away, revealing no less than eight strange looking frogs with thin, chicken feet.
Sirius stared in amazement. "Are those..."
"Pig snouts? I thought it matched the sewer green skin of the toad," Natalia laughed. She pocketed her wand. "Come on, to the Great Hall we go!" Taking care not to step on the mutated hybrid toads, Sirius and Natalia made their way to the Great Hall. On the way, she picked up one of the orange pins. It read in flashing letters 'I Heart S.B.!' with a bright pink lipstick print on the side.
"Aww, how adorable, they heart you Sirius!" Natalia cooed mockingly.
"Psychotic nutcases," Sirius muttered, incinerating the orange pin with his wand, "Orange is not my color."
They took their usual places in the Gryffindor table, with Natalia sitting directly across from Sirius. Shortly after, Lily came and sat down beside them, a faint glow in her eyes. "Have you heard that someone finally put a spell on Shara Robertson and her group, and turned them into strange looking toads with chicken feet and pig snouts? Brilliant transfiguration, if you ask me." She helped herself to a few carrot sticks and bread.
Natalia beamed, while Sirius began choking into his pumpkin juice. Lily looked at them strangely, but decided to ignore their peculiar behavior. A few minutes later, James, Remus and Peter came and sat down, all looking clearly excited.
"Fan girls. Toads. Chicken feet and pig snouts. Nat, I feel as though I should congratulate you," James held out his hand across the table, "Excellent work out there. A nine-point-five on the Marauder scale." Natalia took his hand and shook it firmly.
Lily spat out her food. James looked at the wasted food disdainfully.
"Merlin, Evans," he said scornfully, though the grin in his hazel eyes gave away his true thoughts, "We've all got our own food without you having to share yours, thank you very much."
"That was you?" Lily whispered furiously, her emerald eyes flashing as she ignored James, "You're going to get into detention and get all sorts of points taken off!"
"Didn't I just hear someone remarking that 'it was a brilliant piece of transfiguration'? Honestly Lily, lighten up, you know I was bound to do it sooner or later. And mind you, I put a nice Memory Charm on the dearies before I left," Natalia responded calmly, taking a large helping of roast potatoes.
"Fine, but if Professor McGonagall comes and take points off of Gryffindor, watch out," Lily warned darkly. She stood up and shoved the last of her carrot sticks into her mouth. "Oh right, Professor Slughorn wants to know who cast that spell on them. Thought it was amusing. He told me if I found out, I should bring them to today's meeting." Lily shook her head, as if she had never once thought the cross-breed transfiguration was brilliant.
"Slug Club? Ugh, no thanks Lily, just tell Professor Slughorn that I like to keep my... identity… a secret," Natalia grinned.
Lily chuckled. "All right," she turned to James, "come on 'Oh Gifted Quidditch Captain', Slughorn's waiting. Oh by the way, Nat, those Ravenclaw boys are staring at you again."
She scowled. "Again? Can't they just mind their own business and look at something else in a skirt. Seriously."
Sirius laughed and turned her head to face the Hufflepuffs. "Lookie at all the fan boys you have there, too. They're quite cute if you ask me, although they're nothing on me - "
" – as you are an insufferable, arrogant, pretty-boy git - "
" – whose best friend just happens to be the hottest item on the market - "
" – and just happens to have a Fan Club - "
"- and, and, and… Oh drat…"
Natalia grinned and pointed her finger at Sirius triumphantly. "Oh, you just got - "
Remus groaned loudly. "Not this again."
"Remember last time? How long did they take? One, two, three...four hours I think it was." Peter counted on the fingers of his left hand.
James winked at his friends before holding his arm out for Lily. She took it, to everyone's surprise and they walked to Slughorn's office together.
Sirius put down his fork. "Come on, might as well be early for Potions, for once," he slowly got up. Peter glanced at Sirius' treacle tart longingly, but followed him.
"Since when did you follow the rules?" Remus raised his eyebrows, "are you trying to redeem yourself in your sixth year?"
Natalia held back, her fork halfway into her mouth, as though contemplating whether or not to eat the roast potatoes.
Sirius clucked his tongue impatiently. "Hurry up! Drop your fork, you're getting fat anyway," however that was in no way the truth, and he knew it.
Natalia was slender and graceful looking, with black hair that smoothly ended just below her shoulders. Her skin was a golden tanned colour, and her rosy cheeks and soft pink lips accented her heart-shaped face. She had mischevious gray eyes and straight, white teeth that would always been shown in a smile. Her appearance made you think of something fragile, and delicate, but Natalia was everything but that. As Lily would say, she was a female 5'4 version of Sirius Black who was much slicker when it came to executing pranks.
"Sod off, I'm trying to eat!" She decided to eat the roast potatoes, and then began attacking her chicken. Sirius groaned and tried to grab her fork away, but Natalia smacked him hard on the head. Ten minutes later, she wiped her mouth daintily with her napkin, and stood up, smiling brightly at Sirius. By then, Remus and Peter had sat down again, eating and reading, but Sirius was still standing stubbornly, glaring daggers at her.
"Come on," He rolled his eyes.
When they arrived at Potions, they were docked five points off for lateness, much to Natalia's amusement. As they were brewing their potions, Sirius noticed someone staring at his group.
"Who's the boy who keeps staring?" Sirius whispered.
"Is it a Gryffindor, with dark hair and blue eyes?"
"Er... yeah," Sirius gave her a look, surprised at Natalia's rather accurate descriptions.
"Alexander Spinnet," said Natalia, excreting the juice out of her plant.
"Spinnet..." Sirius thought carefully, not noticing Natalia moving about, collecting ingredients, "…Isn't he in our house?"
"Yeah, didn't I say so…?"
"Yeah, he's the quiet one, isn't he?" Sirius watched as the boy scanned their group with her eyes, though he stirred without pause. He felt an unsettling feeling in his stomach when the boy named Alexander suddenly locked eyes with him. Blinking, he looked away and concentrated on his potion. "That's funny, why is he staring at us?" he asked.
"He's been trying to ask me out since fourth year," Natalia replied absentmindedly, not looking up from her potion.
Sirius sighed and went back to stirring his potion.
"Professor McGonagall was really impressed by my cross-breed transfiguration on Robertson and decided to give me extra credit!"
Natalia rushed into the common room face alight with happiness.
James chuckled. "Evans won't be too pleased to hear that."
"Yeah, nothing she hates more than my getting extra credit for breaking the rules," she grinned. Checking the common room's antique clock, she said, "well dearies, I must fly. 'Tis time for my detention. Say goodnight to Lily for me, I'll be back by ten,"
Natalia gave one last dramatic wave. She made her way past a small group of second years, blending in perfectly with their height. She exited the common room.
"Bloody nutcase, she is," Sirius muttered, shaking his head. Remus chuckled.
"Remember the first time we met her?" James asked.
Sirius groaned. "How could I forget?"
"Boo!"
A young Sirius Black suddenly jumped in front of a young girl. Instead of a shriek of fear as he had hoped, the girl had quick reflexes, and before Sirius could react, she had her wand at him.
"Boo," she said amusedly, tilting her head to one side. Her wand had not moved, and was far too close to Sirius' face for him to be comfortable.
"G-g-get that away from me, it'll poke my eyes out!" said Sirius, half-scared at the wand and strange girl. But the wand remained fixed.
"Hello, I'm Natalia Angelica Lynx," she said, holding out her left hand as though Sirius had not said anything. Sirius didn't understand what gibberish she was saying, still startled.
"What?"
"Call me Nat, and if you don't, I'll poke your eyes out, or curse you once I learn more spells," the girl named Natalia replied cheerfully. Sirius stared at her, not knowing whether to take her seriously or not.
"Nat, what are you doing?"
"I'm introducing myself, Lily, what does it look like?" she turned to face a red-headed girl.
"Looks more like you're going to kill him," the red-headed girl laughed, pointing.
"Hmm..." Natalia
pondered thoughtfully.
"Sirius, what in the name of Merlin are you doing?" came another voice. A boy with messy black hair and glasses looked at him strangely. Immediately, the red headed girl shrieked and pointed an angry finger at him.
"It's you!" she glared. The boy with glasses puffed out his chest.
"Yes it's me, James Potter," he said proudly, but the red headed girl scowled at him.
"You're the one who set that... that stink-thing in my compartment! It was you, I saw you snickering through the window!"
"Dungbomb, Lily," Natalia corrected her patiently. Lily gave a groan.
"Right, Dungbomb. Darned wizard terms," she muttered to herself.
"Muggle-born, eh?" Sirius remarked, Natalia's wand still in his face.
"Why? Have something against Muggle-borns?" asked Natalia, her gray eyes narrowing. There was no smile on her face now. Sirius snorted.
"No, but the rest of my family does," he muttered, partly to himself. He was surprised when Natalia suddenly lowered her wand, with a seemingly sympathetic look on her face. He was surprised at her sudden change of attitude.
"Let's start fresh." She held out her hand. "Nat Lynx," she pronounced clearly. Sirius looked at it apprehensively, before taking her hand and shaking firmly.
"Sirius Black."
"Well, we're going to be great friends, Sirius!" she slapped him hard in the back, laughing. Her laugh was sweet and pleasant, and Sirius groaned in pain and glared at her. She smiled amiably in return, and he felt his anger slip away.
"I met her after you lot did," Remus remarked.
James laughed. "It was an interesting introduction," he said.
It was after the Sorting when Remus made his way for the first time to the Gryffindor common room. It was nerve-racking being at Hogwarts when he didn't think he could go, and he was excited. Yet he was worried that he wouldn't make any friends with his 'condition'. He was leafing through his new books, when he suddenly bumped into someone far larger than him. His books came crashing on top of him as he hit the floor.
"My, my, new blood," the voice sneered.
Remus looked up, seeing a tall, pale boy with blonde hair and a snide grin on his face. Beside him were another two boys, and a girl that looked like something smelly was under her nose. All three of them seemed to be in their seventh year.
"Gryffindor," he glanced at Remus' crest, "such a waste."
The people behind him snickered. Remus tried to gather his books without too much attention, but the pale boy kicked his books away.
"You look shaggy, get a shave, you great mutt," the boy sneered.
Remus felt his face grow hot with shame; it was three days to the full moon.
"Name's Lucius Malfoy," the boy said airily, stepping on Remus outstretched hand, gently applying pressure to it, "and she's Narcissa Black."
The girl stepped forward, looking scornfully down at Remus. Remus could feel tears filling up in his eyes as Lucius continued to step on his hand until almost all of his weight was on it. He thought the Lucius boy wasn't going to let up until he broke it.
"Oi! You stop that!" a voice cried. A first-year girl came running towards them. She was a small person, not even reaching up to Lucius' chest.
"Oh?" Remus felt Lucius lift his foot off of his hand and inwardly sighed in relief, "and who are you?"
"Natalia Lynx," the girl said, looking fierce, "now stop bothering him, you idiot toerag," she took out her wand. Lucius raised his eyebrow.
"A Lynx?" he muttered to himself. He turned back to the girl, sneering at her Gryffindor crest, "And what are you going to do with your wand, poke me?" he let out a derisive laugh. The two boys and Narcissa joined in.
The girl took this opportunity to jab Lucius' eye with her wand and whack the others with Remus' rather heavy books. As they were howling in pain, Natalia and Remus quickly gathered the rest of the books and ran to the common room.
"Thanks," Remus gasped as they entered through the portrait.
"No problem," she laughed. She was of small demeanor, very pretty, and so innocent-looking, Remus could have never guessed that she just took on four seventh-year Slytherins. Her voice was sweet, and reminded Remus of white birds.
"I'm Remus Lupin," he said shyly, sticking out his hand. Natalia took it and gave it a firm shake.
"Natalia Lynx," she replied, "See you around." She began making her way to the dorms, until she paused. "Erm... you wouldn't know when the next full moon was, would you?" she asked rather hesitantly.
Remus felt his heart pounding in his throat, but tried to keep a calm composure. "No, I wouldn't," he said as firmly as he could. The girl nodded in understanding and gave him one final wave before disappearing up into the girls' dormitories. Remus bit his lip. What was all that about?
"Hey, want to join us?"
Remus turned around, seeing two boys with black hair waving at him, "It's no fun to play Exploding Snap with only two people," they grinned, holding up a deck of cards. Nodding slowly, he walked over to them, later learning that their names were James Potter and Sirius Black.
James nodded. "I'll be right back," he got up, "I'm going for some food."
"I remember when I first met Nat," Peter piped up, "it was during our first Transfiguration class. It was rather scary."
"Everybody, we will be turning toothpicks into needles today, to test those who have been listening," said Professor McGonagall sternly.
As she walked around and helped students, Peter anxiously fidgeted, flicking his wand in hopes of succeeding. However, the toothpick remained the same. Beside him, two girls were bickering with each other.
"Oh come on Lily, you do it once for me, I'll learn better!" one of the girls said coaxingly, brushing back her black hair. Her toothpick was a dingy gray, but her friend's was a perfect needle. The other girl shook her head firmly.
"No, if I do it once, you'll ask again! I'm not helping you, Nat, you have to do it yourself."
The girl sighed. She flicked her wand again, but her toothpick had not changed. She began muttering to herself, poking the gray toothpick idly with her wand. Suddenly a flash of light sprouted from her wand and hit the toothpick and sent it flying across the room. It hit Peter, with the pointed side, clean on the forehead. He fell off his chair in shock and lay on the floor, head bleeding.
"Bloody Morgana, are you all right?" she ran towards him.
Peter was still in shock, though tears were streaming down his face.
"Great job, Lynx, you killed Peter!"
"Shut up Black! Peter, are you okay? Speak to me!" she begged, prodding him with her wand. His last clear image was Professor McGonagall standing over him with a wet towel in her hand. Then the cool sensation of the towel being plastered over his forehead, and then his eyes.
Oh, I remember that," said Sirius, "Nat got detention for carelessly using magic. And Peter was in the Hospital Wing for two hours. Madam Meshley went off her rocker and thought he was going to die, even though the toothpick didn't puncture his skull."
"I still have the scar!" Peter lifted up a few of his bangs to reveal a small, but seeable mark on his forehead.
Sirius laughed. "Madam Meshley went mad when she saw my arm broken in second year."
Remus chuckled, recalling the time Sirius broke his arm while sitting in a tree. Natalia had unexpectedly pushed him off, claiming that she thought he'd be able to catch himself.
"Detention is a bloody pain!"
Natalia came bursting into the conversation. Sirius, Remus and Peter snickered at her sudden outburst.
"What happened?" Sirius asked.
"That infestation of mice were test subjects for Charms," she said heatedly, "they wouldn't stop singing 'Magic, Magic" all detention!"
"So silence them, you are a witch," Remus said.
"Flitwick is a madman. He put an Anti-Silencing Charm on them after the lesson. He must have wanted to use them to practice Silencing Charms with the class tomorrow. Unfortunately for him, he didn't realize the mice would multiply after a week," replied Natalia grumpily.
"Did someone say 'Magic, Magic'?" James said, arms full of food, "I loved that song when I was little!
"Magic, magic, here and there! Magic, magic's, everywhere! Charms and potions, with complex motions, streaks of light, and broomstick flights! Magic's everywhere! Magic, magic..."
"Shut up!" Natalia blasted a Silencing Charm at James, "Bloody hell, there are twenty-five verses to that song! And that's not even including the chorus."
Sirius smirked and opened his mouth, but Natalia pointed her wand threateningly at him. "Don't even try."
Sirius closed his mouth, looking defeated. However, James was bouncing around the room, still silently singing the song.
"What's going on here?" Lily said from the stairs.
"Nat silenced James. Want an apple?" Sirius grabbed an apple from James' arms as the singing boy danced by. Lily shook her head slightly, still confused, while Sirius shrugged and bit into it.
"Why is James silenced?"
"He was singing," Sirius explained casually. Lily sighed.
"You lot shouldn't be using magic irresponsibly," Lily took out her wand. Natalia held up her hands to stop her.
"No, Lily, don't -"
"-MAGIC, MAGIC, EVERYWHERE! AND THAT'S ALL, ABOUT MAAAAA-GIC!" he bellowed the last high note. James slid on his knees, and threw all the food in the air. A confetti of apples, tarts, and pies flew into the air before splattering on the ground, and on Lily. Lily's face turned a deep, unappealing purple as she slowly wiped a bit of whipped cream off her face. The room was silent for a few moments, everyone seeming to absorb what had just happened. James got up from his knees, and looked at Lily thoughtfully.
"You know, Evans, you've got a bit of whipped cream and raspberry on your face," he observed.
"Bad move, mate," Natalia whispered from under her breath. The entire Gryffindor dormitory was suddenly woken up by a seething scream.
"JAMES POTTER!"
* * PART TWO * *
"Hmm, I dunno, mate, I'd say that's a real good look for you," Natalia said the next morning at breakfast. James was now clad in a brilliant purple handprint, right in the center of his right cheek.
He glared at her.
"Maybe you should get Madam Meshley to look at it," Peter suggested. Natalia choked on her toast.
"Are you joking? She'd throw a fit and think a dragon bit him!" she thought for a moment. "Perhaps I could go into the dorms and nick some makeup from Shara Robertson. Might hide the handprint."
"What? There is no bloody way I'm putting on-"
"Oh right, how is Robertson?" Sirius asked, interrupting James. Natalia shrugged. Only a day ago, Natalia had singlehandedly turned Shara Robertson and her gang of prissy Gryffindor girls into mutated toads.
"She figured out it was me," she took a sip of orange juice, "and now she won't speak to me, not that it matters. I bet she's spreading nasty rumors about me as well, but I'm too ignorant to hear." She took out a bottle. Sirius raised his eyebrows.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" she retorted, "I'm pouring my orange juice into this bottle!"
"Why?" asked Peter, his mouth full of oatmeal. She put down her bottle.
"Because, I figured out that we only have pumpkin juice during dinner, and I thought, 'I'm going to have orange juice for dinner'. And here we are." She continued pouring, as Sirius shook his head at her. A flurry of dark red hair burst through the Great Halls as Lily nearly flew to the Gryffindor table, clothes slightly askew.
"I overslept," she explained hurriedly while piling on food, "and – Nat, what are you doing?" she stared at the bottle.
"I'm bottling up James' urine," Natalia said solemnly, screwing the cap on tight, "It's a very peculiar color this morning." She slipped the bottle in her robes.
When she caught Lily's horrified look, she sighed. "I'm joking, Lily. It's orange juice."
"Oh, right," but she gave her friend a weird look before she resumed her eating.
Just then, Remus came into the Great Hall.
"Good morning, Moony. Breakfast?" Sirius offered, holding up a plate of sausages and toast. Remus declined, and sat down beside Peter, who was now digesting a large plate of bacon, eggs, toast and sausages.
"Good morning, Remus," Lily looked up. She saw James' purple cheek.
"James! Your cheek!" she gasped. James avoided her gaze. Natalia quietly drank her milk, observing out of the corner of her eyes.
"I-I didn't think I hit you that hard," stammered Lily, flushing red, "I'm sorry James, does it hurt?"
"Just a bruise, it's alright," he muttered, still avoiding her eyes. Lily looked incredibly guilty. Soon, James abruptly left the Great Hall, scurrying to his first class. Lily, who had the same class as he did, followed behind less briskly as she usually did.
"Sirius, what do we do? James isn't talking to Lily, and Lily feels awful," Natalia said as she turned a textbook into an uncooked turkey.
"Prongs'll get over it," replied Sirius, "He's smitten with her. It's just his pride that's been hurt, is all." His textbook turned into a peacock.
Natalia laughed at his peacock, which was now angrily pecking at Sirius. "But the strange part is that Lily actually cares. I remember she's done this loads of times, and she's never been so guilty like now. Of course, she's never hit him that hard," she added thoughtfully, "Blimey, Sirius, watch that peacock!"
Before Sirius could react, Natalia had transfigured his angry peacock into a textbook again.
"Thanks, Nat. It nearly poked my bloody eyes out."
"Right, as I was saying," said Natalia, a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, "I suspect that James is finally growing on our Lily."
Sirius looked thoughtful. "Well, he has deflated his ego quite a bit since the end of fifth year," he admitted.
Natalia grinned. "I think it's time to take matters into our own hands."
Sirius looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"Well, James is kind of sore at Lily right now, right?"
"... Right."
"And Lily likes James, though she'll never admit it. Right?"
"Well, we don't know for sure whether-"
"Right," Natalia butted in, sticking out her tongue at him, "so I'm thinking that we should -"
"Play matchmaker?"
"Well actually, I wasn't going to put it in that way, but I guess so," she said, turning her uncooked turkey into a sandwich.
"So we're going to set our best mates up?"
"Right you are, Rapunzel." Natalia bit into her sandwich.
"Who's - "
"Never mind," she muttered.
"Lily?" Natalia peeked into the dorms. Lily turned her head from her Potions essay.
"What?"
"Oh, erm... Professor McGonagall wants to talk to you in... classroom seventeen," Natalia said nonchalantly, shrugging. Lily raised her eyebrows.
"Why?"
"I don't know, something about Prefect duties," replied Natalia quickly. "She wants to talk to you before dinner, in classroom - "
"I know, I know, class seventeen." Lily laughed slightly, "I hardly see why you seem so nervous, I should be the one nervous, shouldn't I?"
"Erm... Professor McGonagall said she'll have my head if I didn't tell you," she laughed hesitantly.
"Right, got it. Before dinner, classroom seventeen." And Natalia went downstairs, with a secret smile on her face.
"All right there, Prongs?" Sirius came on the Quidditch pitch. James saw him on the ground and got off his broom. James sighed, running his fingers through his hair.
"I've been thinking, Padfoot," James began, "maybe it's not worth fancying Lily anymore. I mean, after all these years, I've never gotten so much as a 'hello' from her. Maybe it's time to move on."
"W-what? O-of course not," Sirius answered nervously. He'd better not drop her after what we're doing, he thought to himself.
"You stuttered," he pointed out accusingly, "you think I should move on. Be honest, Padfoot. I don't think Lily likes me at all," he said sadly, rubbing his bruised cheek tenderly.
Sirius patted him on the back. "Mate, if she's worth it, it doesn't matter. You have to keep trying."
"I've been trying for years, Sirius."
"Then try a bit longer, mate, you never know."
James looked at him suspiciously. "Are you hiding something, Padfoot?"
Sirius tried to laugh it off. "Of course not. Listen, I know what will make you feel better. Meet me at classroom seventeen before dinner, and we'll set up a good prank for the Slytherins, alright?"
"...All right."
"Great, see you later!" Sirius nearly sprinted to his next class to report back to Natalia, and before James could change his mind.
"So how did it go?" Natalia murmured to Sirius. They were supposed to be silent while handling the plants in Herbology, as the slightest sound could cause immense screeching for the entire period. However, the class was instructed to wear earmuffs just in case.
"Fine."
"Good. Then after this class, we have to start setting up. By the way, what excuse did you give him?"
"That we'd be planning to prank the Slytherins in that room to cheer him up."
"What? Cheer him up? He's still sore about that?" she whispered.
"A bit. He's thinking about giving up on Lily," said Sirius uneasily.
"WHAT?"
"Shut your mouth, Nat, before you -"
He was drowned out by the screeching of plants.
"Hurry up! They're coming!"
"I'm almost done, Sirius, just wait! The romantic setting has to be perfect!"
"No, someone's coming! Nat, get out!"
The door creaked open. Quickly, Sirius dragged Natalia underneath the table just as Natalia was finished putting on the last decoration.
"H-hello? Professor McGonagall?" rang Lily's wavering voice. Sirius and Natalia were safely hidden, being covered by the long tablecloth, but they were still nervous. If they were caught, it would have all been in vain.
"What the - why's there a table?" Lily muttered to herself. She carefully walked around the room, when the door creaked open again. She whipped around.
"Oh, thank goodness it's you Professor McGona - James? What are you doing here?"
"Sirius told me to come here. What are you doing here?"
"Nat said that Professor McGonagall..." Lily started, but realization dawned on her face. Gritting her teeth, she muttered, "I am going to murder her."
"Right, I guess I'll go then," James said, turning for the door.
"Oh no you don't," whispered Natalia as she pointed her wand at the door. James tugged at it.
"What's wrong?" asked Lily nervously.
"It's locked," James replied shortly. They stared at each other in uncomfortable silence.
"Issue Plan B," whispered Sirius importantly.
"What Plan B? We're still on Plan A!" Natalia whispered back.
"Fine, Number Two I don't know!"
"Shh!"
"Did you hear something?" James suddenly asked Lily. Lily looked at him slightly confused, shaking her head. "Probably imagined it," he mumbled to himself, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Give me the wand," Sirius snatched the wand away. Natalia grumbled as Sirius made the food appear on the table.
"Umm... there's food on the table, do you want to eat?" Lily said nervously.
"Are you sure Sirius and Nat didn't douse it in some sort of potion?" James laughed. Lily smiled, feeling slightly relaxed.
"We'll just have to get them back later, won't we then?" They laughed as they took their seats.
"How are we going to get them back?"
"Feed them to a Hippogriff?"
"James!"
"Fine, fine," he said as he shoved a forkful of potatoes into his mouth, "what about a good hex?"
"Damn it, they've having a good time at our expense," Natalia whispered, "they're going to kill us. What's more, we're missing dinner!"
"Give me the orange juice."
"What? Why?"
"It's our dinner, now give it." Natalia gave a small sigh as she took it out. She handed it to Sirius who drank half and gave the rest to her. As she was drinking, she felt a slight kick from her leg. Screwing on the lid quickly, she pulled Sirius to the other side, covering his mouth from protests.
She saw Lily discreetly look underneath the table, wondering what she had kicked. When Lily saw nothing, she returned to the laughing conversation with James.
"Good thing we gave them a large table," Natalia muttered to Sirius. She realized how close she was to Sirius and immediately jumped away, wiping her robes as though he held some sort of disease. Sirius caught the scent of her hair, and the warmth of her body faded as she jerked away. He rolled his eyes as she mouthed 'cooties' to him.
"Brilliant thinking James!"
"What? What did they say?" Natalia whispered frantically. Sirius also looked slightly worried.
"I have no idea."
"Bugger it," she mumbled. Her stomach was gnawing, as she listened to the clinking of silverware and laughter above her.
Lily, you'd better thank me for this later, she thought to herself.
"Sirius, I just realized, where would Remus and Peter know where we are?"
"I told them about our plan, they won't come finding us," Sirius replied. Natalia nodded as she heard a final clink of the forks and knives as both people were finished their meals.
"Evanesco!" Sirius whispered, and the food disappeared. Immediately, Natalia slapped him on the upside of his head.
"What did you do that for? We could have eaten that! Bring it back!" she whispered furiously.
"I transferred it to the school's trash storage!" She made a face and attempted to strangle Sirius. He put his fingers to his lips as he pointed up and Natalia sat still.
"James, I'm really, really sorry about your cheek," Lily was apologizing.
"It's nothing," James muttered.
"Yes it is! Let me look at it better," she walked over to James' and examined his face before he could turn away. She traced her fingertips along the bruise, from the end of his cheek to the beginning of his eye. Lily bit her lip.
"Come on, James," she grabbed his hand and led him to a couch that was conveniently resting in front of a fireplace. She conjured up an ice bag and began to gently dab it at James' cheek. Behind her, the elegant hearth was crackling merrily, bouncing its light onto the pleasant scene.
James was in a daze. Never before would he have dreamed that Lily Evans, the Lily Evans, to be kneeling before him, tending to his bruise.
Even if she's the one who caused it...
Next, Lily had a sort of yellow paste where she poured some on a cloth and began to apply to the bruised parts of James' cheek. Gradually, the purple began to fade away, leaving James' cheek healthy, but his eyes still dazed.
Lily stood up, a moment too soon in James' eyes.
"There, you're finished," she used her wand to make the ice bag and potion disappear.
James regained his composure and stood up as well. "Thanks, Evans."
"Call me 'Lily', James," Lily replied.
James smiled. "Thanks, Lily."
They stared at each other in silence.
Lily cleared her throat. "Well," she said, "Maybe it's time to go." She walked over to the door, which had mysteriously unlocked.
"Bye," Lily looked uneasy for a second, before walking back to James and giving him a swift kiss on his previously bruised cheek. She exited the classroom quickly, with bright red cheeks and a small smile on her face.
James rubbed his hand over where Lily had kissed him, before bursting into a grin.
"Me, James Potter, give up? Never," he declared to the, supposedly, empty room.
Natalia bit back a snort. Sirius gave her a thumbs-up.
"Consider our mission a success," he mouthed as James whooped in the air. She nodded, fist stuffed in her mouth, her face red.