Days in Avalon
Chapter Eighteen: Another Trick Partnership
The next few days were pretty uneventful for the students of Hogwarts. The sixth year students were busy trying to meet the demands of deadlines that were bearing down on them. Since the night of the detentions, both Lily and Andy had been trying to avoid the Marauders at all costs, particularly James and Sirius.
After about a week since their agreement to team up, Andy still hadn't gotten back to Sirius to start planning on how to get James and Lily together. Having had enough of Andy's procrastination, Sirius decided that she needed a little push to get her in gear. This little push was delivered to her on the Friday before the first match of the season, Slytherin vs. Gryffindor.
"What did you get there?" asked Kelly while she began to fill her plate with food for dinner. As Andy pulled the bright red envelope from the owl, her eyes started to widen in horror. 'He wouldn't.'
"Who would send you a howler?" asked Lily with raised eyebrows.
"I don't really know. It doesn't say whose it from," stated Andy as she cautiously inspected the envelope. Upon touching it, the howler began to steam a bit and busted open before Andy's hand reached the seal.
"REMEMBER THE DEAL! CHOSE A DAY FOR MERLIN'S SAKE!" roared a low male voice. The force of the howler caused Andy as well as a number of people around her to plug their ears. The entire hall stood quite for a few moments while everyone's eyes turned toward the Gryffindor table.
"What's that about?" breathed Felicia looking directly at a highly stunned Andy.
"Nothing," said Andy in a low voice as she regained her composure and hearing.
"Just something dealing with my sister," she lied. She glanced down at the other end of the table and saw the highly smug look on Sirius's face.
'All right, Blackie. You want me to choose and humiliate me in the process. Fine then, two can play this game,' thought Andy as she glared at her 'partner'.
"Wonder what's that all about," said James as he poured himself some juice.
"Got me," replied Sirius with a shrug as he glanced down at where Andy was sitting. 'That should help her out.' he chuckled to himself. When he turned back to his mates, he found Remus giving him a questionable look.
"What?" said Sirius.
"Why do I have the feeling you're not telling us something," said Remus as he cocked an eyebrow.
"Relax, Moony. It's nothing terrible," stated Sirius with a smirk.
"Right," said Remus unconvinced, but decided to drop the subject for now.
"So…rumor has it that you and Andy, had a pretty hot and heavy time during your detention. People say it sounded like two animals going at each other," said Remus with a mischievous glint in his eye as he wiggled his eyebrows.
With that said, James, Peter, and Remus busted out laughing at the comment, even though they heard the story from Sirius the next day after it happened, as well as from Andy. But the look of horror and disgust on Sirius's face was absolutely priceless.
"Shut up," said Sirius darkly.
"Awww…Padfoot, we're just having a bit of fun. I mean it's not everyday our good friend here gets his butt whipped by a girl," laughed James.
"It was a draw," said Sirius quickly. "But at least I didn't enjoy being with one of the 'golden girls'," he added looking directly at James.
"And I did?" inquired James knowing where his friend was going with this.
Sirius raised his eyebrows and gave him a thoughtful look. "Perhaps…"
James simply rolled his eyes at his friend. "Urgh…come on we have practice."
After the grueling practice that James, the new Quidditch captain, had put the team through, Sirius thought it would be the perfect time to corner Andy and begin planning. But Andy had another idea, instead of heading off to the locker room like she normally did; she quickly grabbed her gear and headed back up to her room, and away from Sirius.
When the he saw that she was completely avoiding him, he decided to handle it tomorrow after he took a nice bath. Seeing that one of the Marauders was also a prefect, all of them knew how to get into the luxurious prefect bathroom incase they needed to get away for a while. Sirius arrived in the bathroom just after sunset, while James headed back up to the common room to do some last minute planning.
As he turned on the various taps along the pool size tub, Sirius couldn't help but think about Andy and her stubbornness.
'What the hell is her problem? It's not like I'm asking for blood or anything,' he thought as he floated through the water. 'Sure we have our differences, but she agreed to this plan. What was I thinking when I suggested this? I knew she would end up pulling something like this.'
"Why is she being so bloody stubborn!" said Sirius to no one in particular with his eyes closed, as he floated toward the edge of the tub. "It's not like I have a disease or anything."
"Oh I beg to differ there, Mr. Black," said a new voice coming directly above Sirius. When he opened his eyes upon hearing the voice, he saw girl standing above him on the edge of the tub.
"Holy sh…" stuttered Sirius when he saw the girl. He was in such shock that he began to thrash around the water hitting the bottom a couple of times. When he finally calmed down he returned to the surface and saw that there was no girl in sight. But was really bugging him wasn't the fact that it was just some girl that was standing there a second ago. But that the girl sounded and looked like the very person he was thinking about.
"What? W-who said that? Is there someone here?" called out Sirius. His voice bouncing off the walls giving a haunting kinda feel to the room. As Sirius got out of the tub quickly and wrapped a towel around him, he began to scan the bathroom for any sign of anyone.
"Who's there? W-Who said that?" he asked again.
"You know for someone who prizes himself to be all wise and intelligent, you really are quite daft," said the voice from behind him. Sirius turned around to find himself looking at a mirror over a sink. But instead of his reflection, he saw a light browned hair Andy looking at him with her arms crossed in front of her.
"Wh-w-wh-ho-w-w-h-ho-," stuttered Sirius upon seeing Andy.
"Articulate aren't we? Relax, Blackie. I'm not who you think I am," said the mirror Andy.
"Okay?" said a skeptical and cautious Sirius. "Who or what are you then?"
"Well," started the look-alike. As she said this, 'Andy' stepped out of the mirror frame and onto the cool tile of the prefect bathroom. "It's a bit complicated. But I guess introductions are necessary. My name is Christine, but everyone calls me Chris. Well, when I say 'everyone' I mean everyone up in the girls dorm room that is."
Sirius remained silent while gawking at Chris. He couldn't believe how she looked exactly like Andy. Even her tone of voice and attitude mirrored his archenemies.
After a few silent moments, Chris decided to break the silence. "Umm…I'm Miranda's mirror incase you hadn't figured that out yet. She said that you were a bit dense and she's obviously right. Although…you don't really look like a pile of dragon dung," said Chris as she looked over Sirius.
"Uh…thanks… I think. So if you're Sparky's mirror then why are you hear?" inquired Sirius, as he quickly found his robe and put it on.
"Miran…excuse me Andy, sent me to look for you. So I went to the boy's dorm room and heard your mates saying that you had gone to the prefect bathroom. Hence why I'm here now talking to you," said Chris smoothly.
"Heard? You mean eavesdrop," stated Sirius with a smirk.
"Oooohhh, eavesdrop is such a harsh word. I prefer, constructive listening in order to get information that one requires," said Chris with a smile.
Sirius couldn't help but chuckle at the girl's definition. "So why were you sent to find me?"
"I have a message for you."
"From Andy?" said Sirius with raised eyebrows.
"No, Professor Dumbledore," spat Chris sarcastically. She sighed and rolled her eyes to the ceiling looking for some form of help. "Yes of course Andy."
"Well what is it?" asked Sirius as he folded his arms.
"She wants you to meet her tomorrow night in the Astronomy tower at eleven o'clock," said Chris.
"Tell her I'll be there," said Sirius with a nod.
"Very well then," replied Chris. She turned on her heals and jumped back into the mirror and disappeared for a second.
"Oh and by the way," started Chris right when Sirius was about to go back to the tub. "Nice back stroke," she giggled with a mischievous look in her eyes before she quickly disappeared once again.
Sirius's jaw nearly dropped while his face turned cherry red.
The next day went by rather quickly for everyone at Hogwarts. The Gryffindor team pummeled Slytherin in a 230-60 match that was won with James's spectacular dive and grab of the snitch.
After the game, everyone from Gryffindor house went back to the common room for a victory celebration, while Sirius went off to spend some time with his new girlfriend walking along the isolated hallways and snogging every now and then. But as eleven o'clock began to roll around, Sirius excused himself from his date and made his way up to the Astronomy tower.
Sirius ran up the many flights of stairs and hallways to get to his late-night meeting on time. As he ran up the remaining spiral staircase that lead to the roof of the tower, he found that Andy had already arrive and was sitting on the ledge reading a muggle book.
"Well I see you got my message," said Andy when she heard Sirius coming up the stairs.
"Yeah, your little friend sure knows how to make an impression," said Sirius carefully. He wasn't quite sure if Chris had told or even worse shown Andy what she had seen.
"Yeah, sorry about her. Chris can be a little…forward at times. A trait I think she inherited from one of her previous owners," said Andy apologetically.
"I'll say," said Sirius quietly, trying not to let Andy see the slight tinge on pink that started to creep up.
A few moments of silence passed between the two enemies that seemed to drag on for an eternity.
"Anyway…uh so how do we do this?" said Andy unsurely. "Getting Lily and James together I mean."
"Well I thought you had an idea," shrugged Sirius. "What with you being the genius and all."
"I don't really have a full idea, Blackie. That's why I thought you wanted to team up, so that we could possible do this together," spat Andy. When she decided to schedule this late night meeting, she made a promise to herself that she wouldn't lose her patience and temper with Sirius. But now that she was here with him, she could feel her self-restraints quickly falling.
"Well excuse me princess, I didn't really know that I should have come with a notebook full of ideas. Unlike some people here I actually had a prior engagement," said Sirius. He was getting quite irritable with the current situation he was in.
"Oh, well excuse me. I didn't know that I had to accommodate for your little liaisons with whatever tart you are currently with this week," snarled Andy.
"If I didn't know better I'd say that I hear a tad bit of jealousy in your voice, Sparky."
"In your dreams, Black," scoffed Andy.
"Hey how did you know I was with a girl anyhow? I could have been with James or Remus for all you know," inquired Sirius.
"Uh I highly doubt that James, Remus, or even Peter for that matter would wear red lipstick," said Andy while pointing to the red smudges on Sirius's shirt and neck. He quickly raised his hand to his neck and wiped away the red smear marks.
"Just out of curiosity," started Andy as she tried to retain from laughing, "how did you get away from the little flavor of the week. I assume you didn't tell her that you were come up here to meet another girl."
"No, I told her I had to help Hagrid with a sick Hippogriff," said Sirius smoothly. "Trust me, no one will find out from me that I'm meeting with you to work on this ridiculous task."
"Uh, may I remind you as to who thought up with little idea of us working to together?"
Sirius winced slightly when he heard Andy's words. 'I knew that was going to come back and bite me in the arse someday. Didn't know it would be so soon.'
"Fine, all right. I'm sorry," stuttered Sirius. "So what idea's did you have?" He added quickly not wanting to hear the little sprite in front of him gloating.
"Nothing really. Just that I need to figure out a way to get them in a spot where they have to be together," shrugged Andy. She began to walk toward the edge of the tower again and took a seat along the edge.
"'I'? Don't you mean 'we'?" inquired Sirius with a raised eyebrow.
"Right. 'We' need to figure out how to get them together."
The two allies fell into another period of silence, as each of them began to think of ideas as to how they could possible get their friends together. Or better yet, how they could actually have them stand next to each other without them both feeling slightly sick or wanting to run in the opposite direction from the other.
"We could just lock them in a room," said Sirius taking a seat on the floor below Andy.
Andy groaned at the idea, while looking up to the heavens for some strength to not hit him in the head. "Look, Sirius we are trying to get our friends together. We don't want them to kill each other before hand."
"Hey at least I came up with an idea!" spat Sirius.
"And what do you want? A medal?"
"No. I'd settle for a 'that's a nice idea, Sirius'."
"Yeah, that'll be a cold day in hell," scoffed Andy quietly.
"Oh great! Here we go. Ms. 'I'm so high and mighty I don't need anyone's help'." spat Sirius while brushing some of his hair out of his eyes.
"Oh excuse me!" yelled the outraged witch. She hopped off the ledge so quickly that she almost stepped on Sirius's hand, before she stood in front of his sitting figure. "I'm the stuck up one here? I don't think so!"
"Oh and I'm the one here who's stuck up?" roared Sirius. He stood up quickly and found himself face to face with Andy. Even though he was a good few inches taller than her, the two locked eyes that both expressed the amount of loath ness each felt for the other.
"This was a bad idea," sighed Andy as she rubbed her eyes. She could already start to feel the beginnings of a migraine slowly setting in. "I don't even know why I even let you talk me into this."
With that Andy turned on her heals and began to leave the Astronomy tower, desperately trying to get away from Sirius. She was a few steps away from the door before Sirius's words stopped her.
"Oh, yeah that's right…just run away like the scared little princess that you are!"
Hearing those words forced Andy to turn back around and confront the boy antagonizing her.
"I'm not scared of anything…especially you," said Andy darkly.
"Right. Then why are you looking at me like that," said Sirius quietly. He began to walk toward Andy slowly. Something about the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes startled Andy, but she was not willing to show him her feelings.
"Like what?" said Andy. She could slowly feel a slight tinge of pink rise up in her face as the wind began to pick up a bit.
"All flustered and breathing heavily," replied Sirius. He was now a few inches away and barring down on her. "What, you sweet on me or something?" he asked with a smirk.
"Actually, I'm trying to keep from gagging," choked Andy as she got a whiff of Sirius's cologne. "What did you do take a bath in cologne?"
Sirius sighed in defeat seeing that his little tactic failed. "You know maybe you were right for once. This was a bad idea."
"Wow and me with out my camera," said Andy.
Sirius glared at the smug look Andy had on her face. "Yeah laugh it up," he said in a hollow tone.
"I'm out of here. I got to go do that stupid essay for McGonagall's class," he said while he made his way to the door.
"McGonagall?" said Andy suddenly. Upon hearing Sirius say the name of their professor, an unexpected idea popped in her head.
"Yeah, scary old bat that can turn into a cat," said Sirius. When he looked back at Andy, he saw that she was deep in thought. Then out of nowhere, she began to laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"I think I just came up with and idea to get Lily and James together…without them killing each other."
When Monday morning arrived, everyone was still talking about the events that happened over the weekend as they entered their advance Transfiguration class. Unlike the rest of the years who's classes are scheduled according to house, the sixth and seventh year students have their classes arranged according to their test scores, grades, and teacher recommendations.
As Lily, Kelly, and Felicia entered the classroom they found Andy already sitting in her normal seat near the front of the classroom.
"You're here awfully early," said Lily with a raised eyebrow as she took a seat next to Andy.
"Yeah. I forgot to finish up my essay, so I came in here to do it instead of the library," lied Andy.
"I thought you finished it last night?" inquired Felicia as she and Kelly took a seat behind them.
"Yeah well I didn't," spat Andy. Felicia and the rest of the girls raised their eyebrows at their friend, totally surprised at to her outburst.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I'm just tired and mad at myself," said Andy apologetically.
"It's okay," said Felicia.
"Andy you sure you are okay," asked Lily.
"Yeah. Never better," replied Andy. Just at that moment the final bell rang and last few students quickly came into the class including Karen as she took a seat across from Lily.
"Wonder what were doing today," said Kelly.
As soon as the words left her mouth, Professor McGonagall walked through the door. She asked the class to pass up their essays to the front.
"Do I have everyone's essay?" asked the professor. Seeing that everyone had nodded in response, McGonagall placed the essays in her drawer and began class.
"Good. Today we will be teaming up to work on your year long projects." At the mention of projects, the entire class groaned in response except for one person sitting near the front, sitting next to a light browned hair girl.
"Yes, yes. Now like I had stated the first day of class, you will be given two projects, in which each should be done before the end of the semester. In regards to the first project, you and your partner will be assigned a subject to research and present to the class. The second project will be a subject of your choice provided that you clear it with me first," said McGonagall as she narrowed her eyes toward the direction of where James and Sirius were sitting.
"Now unlike past projects that you have worked on, with this one you will be assigned a partner. This is to help you prepare for the working world, since most of you will be in jobs that require you to work with a number of people. Some of which you may or may not like. In order for this to be fair, this board," said the strict Professor, as she pulled the sheet off the black board, "with all of your names on it, will magically be connected to a random person in this class. Now are there any questions? Then let us begin."
With that said, Professor McGonagall tapped her wand on the board and watched as everyone's name began to move across the board trying to find a match.
Unknown to anyone except for Sirius, Andy had hidden her wand up her sleeve and began to perform the spell that the two of them had come up with the night they were in the Astronomy tower.
'Although they've been at odds for quite a long time,
Make Lily and James give a dime.
Force them to be kind,
By magical bind.' muttered Andy quietly.
A very pale blue light shot from Andy's wand and pulled the name Evans, Lily, and Potter, James to be placed together.
"What did you say?" said Lily hearing Andy mumbling something.
"Nothing. Just think to myself," said Andy quickly. After a few more moments, the names began to settle down and finally stopped all together.
McGonagall began to call off the pairs of students that would be working together for the rest of the year. A few of groans and giggles escaped from a few students' mouths. As the last few students were called, everyone received a few surprises to the pairings.
"Mr. Jackson," said McGonagall, looking at the blond haired Ravenclaw. "You will be working with Mr. Edwards." Jon Jackson glanced over at his fellow Ravenclaw housemate.
"Ms. Rocker," shouted McGonagall. Kelly slightly jumped out of her seat upon hearing her name. "You will be working with Mr. Carter."
Kelly turned around to look at the dark haired Austin Carter from Hufflepuff. He gave her a weak smile as he pushed his thin glasses up on his nose.
"Mr. Pettigrew," bellowed the professor. Peter gave out a small squeak causing James and Sirius to contain their laughter at their friend's outburst.
"You will be working with Ms. Figg."
Peter's face began to turn bright red, while Felicia's face turned ashy. ('Oh, man,' thought Felicia.) Andy saw the look on her face and had the distinct feeling that her friend was hoping for someone else. 'Probably Lily.'
"Ms. Evans," said McGonagall as she looked at the board. "You will be working with Mr. Potter."
Sirius tried his best to fight the urge to laugh at the look of horror on James's face. While Andy watch Lily's reaction turn from horror to absolute loathsome and disgust. Lily looked over at Andy daring her to even think about making some comment of joke about her pairing. But instead Andy gave her a timid and apologetic smile. A few of the students gasped in shock of the pairing, while others began to make fun of the look on their faces.
'You've got to be kidding me,' thought James.
'I don't believe this,' groaned Lily inwardly.
Professor McGonagall continued on with calling off names, unaware of the reactions the class was giving off.
"Ms. Crane, you will be teamed up with Mr. Lupin."
Karen glanced behind her at Remus and gave him a shy smile. Remus returned her smile as a slight tinge of pink began to form on in his slightly pale cheeks.
"Ms. Starmenter," called Professor McGonagall. Hearing her name, Andy pulled away from looking at the little display that was going on between Karen and Remus. As she turned back toward the front of the room, she caught a glimpse of Severus Snape sitting off in a corner writing on a piece of parchment. She was suddenly hit with the realization that Severus hadn't been given a partner yet.
'Oh please don't let it be Snivellus! Please not Snivellus,' prayed Andy to herself as she closed her eyes and braced herself for what McGonagall had to say.
"Ms. Starmenter, you will be teamed up with…Mr. Black," said McGonagall. Most of the class gasped in shock upon hearing the two names called out.
Andy let out a sigh of relief still keeping her eyes closed, hearing that it wasn't Snape.
'Yes it isn't Snivellus. Wait a minute…did she say…BLACK!'
"Did she just say Black?" said Andy aloud.
"Did she just say my name," said Sirius. Sure enough, both Gryffindors looked up at the black board and saw that their names were next to each other.
Andy mouth nearly dropped to the floor while Sirius literally fell out of his chair that he was lend back in.
"Somebody shoot me now," winced Andy. She groaned in disgust when she heard Sirius fall to the floor and banged her head on her desk. "OW!"
Seeing that Sirius was fine and back in his seat, McGonagall called off the last pairing.
"Finally Mr. Snape, you will be working with Ms. Bloom."
Severus looked across the room at the short Hufflepuff that looked about ready to either cry or become sick.
"I will ask that you all move to your respected partners at this time quickly please," order McGonagall.
A few of the students began to get up from their seats and moved to where their partners were sitting. Andy looked over at James and Sirius's table and saw that James was beginning to pack up his things and make his way over to the table.
"Sorry about the pairing, Lily," said Andy trying to sound sincere.
"Yeah me too. Good luck with, Blackie," said Lily gloomily.
"Thanks I'll need it. Same with Jay," replied Andy. She thought it best not to add that it probably wouldn't be that bad. As she began to make her way toward the back of the classroom, Andy felt the slight pain of guilt, but was quickly replaced by the absolute disgust for her partner.
James silently made his way over to the where Lily was sitting and took Andy's former seat. He pulled out his Transfiguration book and notebook, while they waited for McGonagall to come around and give them their assigned subject. After a few moments of silence, James turned in his seat toward Lily and opened his mouth to say something to her.
"Say one word and I'll hex you into the middle of next week," said Lily sternly. James quickly shut his mouth and put his head down in frustration.
"See, they're already talking," said Sirius, as he and Andy watched their friends closely.
"Oh yeah, that really sounds like a friendly conversation," said Andy sarcastically. "Mmmhhph, yeah it's only a matter of time before they are all over each other."
"Now the only thing I have to worry about is passing this class without killing my partner," she added.
"Well, look at it this way," said Sirius trying to make the most of a bad situation. "At least we have an excuse to be seen together."
"Yay, I'm so relieved," groaned Andy before she put her head down.
When Professor McGonagall came to Lily and James's table, Lily desperately tried to convince the professor to allow her to switch partners, but to no avail.
"So uh…looks like we're partners," said James cautiously.
"Looks like," spat Lily. She began to flip through her notebook to find an empty page almost violently.
"So ummm…what exactly do you want to work on," asked James trying to be nice. Lily abruptly stopped her search and glared at James.
"WHAT?" inquired James not seeing what he did wrong.
"Look just because we're working together doesn't mean that we can be all 'buddy buddy'," said Lily in a low harsh voice for James to only hear. So let's just set a few ground rules first."
"Rules?" said James with a raised eyebrow. 'Oh great it's the younger version of McGonagall.'
"Rule number one: No pranking, or rude comments about me or my friends. Rule number two: no horse playing around. I've worked very hard to get where I am and I don't need you to ruin it for me. Rule number three: No putting things off to the last second. That means that when we plan on meeting up to work, you actually show up on time and you don't leave early to go off and play pranks with your friends. Finally, I don't really like you and I know you don't like me, so why hopefully when this is all over with it will stay that way. I have enough friends already and I don't need friends that will give me a headache. Agreed?"
"Yeah. Fine. Whatever you want Evans," snide James. He turned back to his notebook and began to write down something to look up for his project. 'This is going to be interesting.'
"This is going to be harder that I thought," said Andy and Sirius at the same time. Both of them had watched and heard the whole conversation James and Lily had. Each of them turned to the other and gave each other expressions that said, 'Maybe we're in over our heads'. At that moment the bell rang, and the students began to pack up their things. Lily was one of the first people out of the classroom, with Karen and Kelly close behind, trying to catch up with her. Felicia passed Andy and Sirius's table, but neither saw the slightly angry look on her face.
"So when do you want to meet up to work on the projects," said Sirius as he swung his bag over his shoulder.
"Tomorrow night? Same time and place?" inquired Andy as she finished putting her books away.
"Sure…oh wait I can't. Got a date," said Sirius as he realized what he had planed.
"Oh geez…and so it starts," sighed Andy to herself, even though Sirius heard what she had said. "Look just get in touch with me when your social life isn't a bother to our grades or our friend's relationship."
With that Andy quickly left the classroom and tried to catch up with her friends. Sirius came out of the classroom to find James and Remus waiting for him.
"So how's working with Andy," inquired Remus not sure of what his friend's response would be.
"Oh stimulating as always," chuckled Sirius.
"Yeah same with Lily," added James. At that moment, Peter came out of the classroom and the four friends made their way to their next class.
Disclaimer: It's all J.K. Rowling. I own nothing except this story and the characters I made up.