MY LIFE IN A NUTSHELL
NARRATOR: Ms. Lily Evans
SUMMARY: It's the start of 7th year and things are beginning to spiral out of Lily's control. Follow her day-to-day adventures in this multi-chaptered fic about love, hate, and the many aspects of a 17-year-old witch's life.
RATING: T, for language, some visual imagery, and attempted humor.
Disclaimer: *Singing* I don't own it, never will.
Sorry, this chapter took a little longer to write. Review as always, please!
"I'm officially freaked out," James said as he plopped down next to me on the bench.
"I can't help but agree," I said solemnly, looking down the Gryffindor table to see our usual batch of friends whispering and hissing in furious voices. They seemed to be having a very heated argument, and every now and then they would glance our way. We looked back bemusedly, completely befuddled.
"Any idea why my marauders and yourfriends seem to be arguing...about us?" James asked curiously.
"I think I have an idea, but it's so absurdly odd that it definitelycouldn't be so," I grumbled. Alice and Marlene had repeatedly hounded me on the "denial clear as day" conclusion they'd made the night before. If I recall, they even came up with a song that went a little like this:
"First, denial, the longest of all the trials. Second, anger, to which Evans is no stranger. Third, a bargain, to stay away again. Fourth, depression of the object of obsession. Acceptance comes along, the ending to this song, and look! Now you're falling in love."
They had continued to sing the song on a loop, insistently out of tune, until I'd sent a banishing spell in their direction and locked the door the immediate moment they'd flown out of the Head common room. You gotta love magic, you really do.
James's voice pulled me back from my thoughts.
"Where's Goshawk?"
I found that a very good question, until I spotted her sitting upon Diggory's lap, wriggling playfully and giggling up a storm. I involuntarily gagged at this display of affection (open flirtation?) and hurriedly went back to my meal.
The other (conspiring?) friends also glanced Miranda's way, widened their eyes, and plunged into another discussion.
"They're plotting against us," James said amusedly as he watched our friends continue to whisper. Strangely, I found myself nodding in agreement once more.
"We're not the only ones they're plotting against," I responded grimly as the babbling group stared unabashedly at Miranda's current actions.
Pouring myself some pumpkin juice, I proceeded to scope out the dinner table. Despite everything I'd already eaten, my stomach was still complaining rather obnoxiously. Rice, check...soup? Check. I'd finished that already. Steak...damn, someone had taken that. What's a decent dinner without some healthy protein? It's not a decent dinner, I'll tell you that.
"Would you have any idea where the...oh, found it," I began saying to James, only to discover that he'd taken the steak platter already and was proceeding to deposit the last tidbits of deliciousness onto his already overflowing dinner plate.
"No!" I cried. "Mine!"
James cast me a quizzical glance. "Sorry, what?"
Past coherency, I just shook my head and insisted, "Mine." I then attempted to yank the platter out of James's hands, finally succeeding after a semi-violent tug.
"Don't grab something, it's impolite," James admonished. I rolled my eyes.
"And you would know about manners with your expert experience," I muttered darkly, scraping the steak onto my plate.
"You have to know something in order to hate it," James said proudly.
"Meh. Whatever. I wasn't being rude - you were. You were holding the food hostage!"
"And I was supposed to know you wanted the steak how?" James asked incredulously.
"I said I wanted it!"
"Er, no, you said 'mine'. Twice."
I sniffed haughtily. "Well, you ought to have known that I wanted the steak - "
" - because I can read your mind?" James cut in. "And don't take all of it, leave some for me, I did have it first - " he continued, tugging the platter out of my grip.
"Who's being impolite now?" I scoffed. I was content, though. My efforts to get to the steak had been well worth it. The house elves had done an exceptionally good job with the food tonight.
"Meh," James responded, proceeding to attack the mountains of food on his dinner plate. "Manners are for morons."
It took the combined strength of Marlene, Alice, and I to shove Miranda into the armchair in the Gryffindor common room. I conjured iron shackles that bound her to the piece of furniture and she glared up at us, her pupil in her blue eye slowly dilating.
"Good thing I disarmed you," I said casually, twirling her ebony wand in my hand.
A low growl emitted from Miranda's throat.
"Now, cooperate, Randy," Marlene said sweetly. " 'Cause you're not gonna go until you give us some answers."
"Honestly, you should have been expecting this," Alice said, shaking her head. "Do you really think that we'd be oblivious enough to not notice how much time you've been spending with Diggory?"
"Perhaps," I started, "I should tell you about your little romp with Diggory in the hallways yesterday."
"It was just a bit of satisfying snogging!" Miranda cried, all blood disappearing from her already pale face.
"Satisfying shagging, whatever," Alice said with a wave of her hand. "Give us the dirt, and now, unless you want to see what it feels like to handle the wrath of all three of us."
"I can do wandless magic," Miranda threatened, however feebly.
"Barely. I saw your attempt the other day- you've been making astounding progress, but I still don't think you can take on the three of us."
Miranda shook her head infinitesimally, but didn't say a word.
A voice spoke up from behind me.
"Evans! Flower girl, whatever, budge up, will you?"
Eva crashed down onto the couch with me, rudely sitting on my hand. She felt extremely bony and I could see that a few of her limbs were jutting out more than usual. Deciding to ignore this since I knew that she would just lash out at me for attempting to care once more, I scooted over and tried to turn back to the chained Miranda.
"I've got a proposition for you, girl," Eva hissed in my ear.
"What are you, a cowboy?" I retorted. "Who uses "proposition" in a sentence like that?"
"Ignoring that, I'm sure you've noticed that James and I are becoming closer everyday." She smiled wickedly at me.
"I'm sorry, but I don't really put my nose into everybody's social lives. Just get on with whatever you say; I'm in a situation right now."
Eva wagged a thin finger at me, her manicured nail threateningly sharp. "No need to be rude, darling. Just listen for a sec and I'll leave you alone."
She stared into my eyes maliciously and I glared back.
"I have a bet, of sorts. Something that'll help out both of us."
Alice and Marlene had caught on to our conversation and were not-so-subtly eavesdropping.
"It's Hogwarts historythat you utterly despise James Potter. So what's a better way to get rid of him than leading him on?"
Eva sneered as I narrowed my eyes. I could see where this was going. Out of the corner of my eye, I couldalsosee Miranda- the chains had somehow began to snake around her, unwrapping themselves and letting her free. There was a determined gaze in her eye.
"Of course, this isn't going to be just for yourbenefit. I thought that I'd just speed things up between James and myself. Perhaps, a little competition would be sufficient in this situation," Eva continued.
I stared skeptically. "So, in summary, you want us to compete for James, and if I win, he'll discover that I'm leading him on and he won't ever bother me again. And if you win, you get the guy, and he won't ever bother me again."
"You got it. So what's your deal, then, Evans? It's the opportunity of a lifetime."
I knew that. I so, totallyknew that.
"Define, James Potter: A total, arrogant prat who is set out on making Lily Evans' (see, Evans, Lily) life a total miserable hell. A total, arrogant prat who issues pranks, breaks rules, and passes classes with no effort at all. A total, arrogant prat who drives aforementioned Lily Evans out of her mind. The Total Arrogant Prat that changes in the 7th year of Hogwarts, and a boy, a certain Lily Evans can't deny, that does not need the worst heart-break of his life."
As I ran through that self-made definition in my head, I knew what choice I was going to make. And from the looks of it, so did Alice, Marlene, and Miranda. Alice and Marlene were ecstatic; however, Miranda's look was stony and cold.
"No can do, buckaroo," I said snappishly to Eva.
She gaped at me.
Slowly, ever so slowly, her eyes became malevolent and her grin became a snarl.
"Listen, bitch," she emphasized. I widened my eyes. "Potter is mine, and nothing on this earth will change that fact. Nobody can deny the chemistry we have!"
"Keep on dreaming, Kimble," I rolled my eyes.
"You're just jealous," Eva hissed. I ignored her, but a sudden outburst distracted me.
"C'mon, Lily. You and I both know that this is the opportunity you've been waitingfor," Miranda said, finally free of the chair and clattering over to me, the shackles still encircling her wrists. "You've hated Potter for ages. Take the chance! It's your ultimate revenge on everything he's ever done to you."
Everybody looked shocked. Miranda stared defiantly at the rest of us and said, "Well, it's the truth! There's no denying it! Wouldn't it just make life easier if there weren't airheads floating around our existences?"
I gazed long and hard in Miranda's eyes and she returned this action. It was a long battle between black, blue, and emerald green- but then I broke the connection.
"I don't know why you're being so huffy all of a sudden," I said snippily toward Miranda. "I don't know what has gotten into you about Potter and the rest of the Marauders. I know that they can be jerks, but it's mostly all in good humour. In my opinion, only the worst deserve that sort of heartbreak."
Eva looked astonished. She glanced at me, furious, and flipped me the bird before stalking off to Jane, who was impatiently tapping her foot.
There was an odd silence that settled around Miranda, Marlene, Alice and I.
"Why'd you go and be so up-ish about Lily and James?" Alice asked Miranda.
Miranda looked fiercely at me. "I don't know why, Lily, but suddenly you're changing. You've always hated James Potter, to his very core. And suddenly you're acting all chummy- it's...different!"
"I thought that you liked difference, Miranda," I said coldly. I was getting really frustrated by her moodiness. "Weren't you delighted at the future 'romance' Potter and I could 'potentially' hold? You seem to be changing just as much as the times. I know you've never liked the Marauders, but seriously, you've been acting horridtoward them! If it's just a personal problem, don't go letting your anger out on anybody else! Nobody wants to stand your - "
There was a flash of bright light, and a searing pain on my arm.
I never finished that sentence.
Obviously, Miranda had been in a mood the entire day, and my defiance had just riled her up. I sighed, glancing at the clock in the hospital wing- I had been here for two hours, Madame Pomfrey treating the burns I got from the explosion of wandless magic Miranda sent at me.
"You okay, Lily?" I heard a voice say quietly from the door.
"Hey, James," I said, sitting up and flinching when the burn on my arm rubbed against the pillow.
He took several long strides and reached the side of my cot. "Here," he said, handing me a bar of milk chocolate. "It was Remus' chocolate, but he said you could have it. You probably need it more than he does."
He handed me the bar and I took it gratefully with a hesitant smile. For a second, James flinched again, like how he had when I had looked at him after we had received the detention. Passing him an odd look, I took a thoughtful bite of the chocolate.
"You know," I said, mouth full of heavenly sweetness, "you should watch out for yourself."
James glanced at me quickly and said, "What did I do now?"
"Nothing, and that's the problem," I said. "Just don't trust everybody who comes across your path."
"I'm listening. Are you warning me?"
"You bet it."
There was a beat of silence, and then James awkwardly rose from the seat next to my bed.
"Well, I'll see you tonight if you get any better," he said, leant over, and pecked me quickly on the cheek.
I flushed bright red and said shakily, "Thanks for the chocolate. See you, J-James."
I was about to rest my head and calm my nerves when Marlene and Alice exploded into the Hospital Wing.
"Lily!" cried Alice.
"Evans!" Marlene sniggered.
Alice and I both shot her an annoyed glance.
"Where's the bomb?" I said, referring to Miranda.
"She's upstairs in the dormitory, worried sick but refusing to visit you," Alice said. "Sometimes she worries me."
"She isn't the only person you should be worried about," I grumbled.
Alice and Marlene both came to my side and sat on either side of my bed.
"She explained...some things to us," Marlene hesitated.
"I already know part of it," I told them.
"How much?" Alice inquired.
"Enough to get the sense that Miranda is playing with both Diggory and Black's affections," I said. "And it's completely unfair. We all know she can act slaggy-"
"Especially at the best of times," Marlene muttered.
" - but this is waytoo much," I said, ignoring Marlene's interruption. "There's still one thing I don't understand. So Sirius likes her, alright, and she obviously has some sort of emotion toward him that's different - but did something happen that made them truly hate each other? They've been even more angry than usual tonight."
"Oh? So you didn't hear?" Marlene chuckled. "It happened hours ago. It's a wonder it hasn't reached your ears yet."
"Well maybe it's because my close friends completely forgot to tell me," I snapped. "Inform me now, before I implode from anticipation."
"After charms," Alice started, "Sirius cornered Miranda in the dungeons."
"Where was I when this happened?"
"I think you were somewhere, sometime," Marlene said with a wave of her hand. "If I remember correctly, you fell asleep in History of Magic. James stayed back to wake you up." She passed me a wicked grin. "And what sort of 'waking up' methods did he use?"
"It was an entirely innocent, if not annoying, prod of the arm," I said with a haughty sniff. "Continue, please."
"Well," Alice went on, "Sirius somehow conjured an army of birds—you know how the Marauders are, especially with their transfiguration, I think he made them out of the crumpled balls of paper on the floor—and sent them flying at Miranda."
I gasped, then groaned. "I should've known! He asked me about that charm this morning. But that doesn't explain everything—they were acting all dramatic since ages ago."
"That's just regular pent-up sexual tension, and nothing else," Marlene said. "You know how they are. They aren't satisfied unless they've got a good love-hate relationship. And I also heard that Black 'accidentally' walked in on Miranda and Diggory going at it like rabbits in an empty classroom."
"Eugh. That's disturbing," I shuddered.
"But still, Lily, you've got more to think about than that," Alice warned. "Eva's still on the rampage and I have a feeling she's going to do some damage. And since the burn paste isn't working nearly as fast as it should, you're probably going to have to stay the night."
"That's alright," I yawned. "The house elves will bring me breakfast tomorrow. Just tell James that I'm not going to be in the Head dorms tonight, okay? He can stop by again if he likes."
"Again?" Marlene raised a suggestive eyebrow. I felt the good ol' blush creep up my cheeks.
"Stop it," I groaned. "Curfew's in 10 minutes—you better hurry."
"Get better, my pretty!" Marlene giggled as she dragged Alice through the doors.
I sighed. When did life get so conflicted? I had an upset, two-timing best friend, a extremely angry girl-with-bad-intentions snapping at my heels, and a night of tolerating burns. And, last and most definitely not least, a confusing James Potter that was slowly, ever so slowly taking over every crevice of my mind.
A/N:
Hokay. There was that chapter; many conflicts and developments ahead.
To iMaj Enn, who reviewed "Top" Secrets and asked some questions: Miranda could or could not be an actual canon character by J.K. Rowling. I got her name from the books—you know the writer of all the Standard Books of Spells? That's Miranda Goshawk. But then again, I'm also in love with the name Miranda. It's got some meaning in my life...and, also, to answer your other question, Nutshells is nowhere near done. "Top" Secrets was just a little one-shot I came up with and turned out successful, so I posted it on Fanfiction. Thanks for the good review, by the way! Warms my heart.
I'll be updating my other LJ multi-chaptered fic, too. It's called So Wrong, It's Right. Of course, you can find it under my stories. They're a collection of one-shots, varying from humor to angst, based on an album by my favorite band, All Time Low.
Thanks! Review!
-.x.