Days in Avalon
Chapter Forty-Two: Mysterious Ways
James walked around the castle for a few hours trying to clear his head of the many thoughts that now consumed him. He eventually made his way back to his prefect common room to find none other than Lily sitting in one of the large chairs reading her potions book.
"Hello James," she said as she watched him come in.
"H-hello," he stuttered. He saw her close her book and look at him square in the eye.
"Can we talk?" she asked a little unsure of herself.
"Talk?"
Lily sighed before she continued. "Yes. I think we need to establish a new common ground between us."
James let out a frustrated growl that caught Lily off guard. James was tired of the drama that the two of them seemed to create whenever they were around one another. "Look if Andy put you up to this…"
"Andy? Why would Andy have anything to do with this? Andy hasn't spoken to you in weeks. She's still pretty upset about you…or at least she was when I last talked to her at breakfast," commented Lily.
James realized then that he had jumped the gun once again. "Oh, right. So…what did you want to talk about?"
"I wanted to talk about how this whole living arrangement and working together will play out," said Lily hoping to once and for all come to terms with him.
"I thought we established that when we first got back," chuckled James as he replayed the events that occurred in this very room.
Lily slightly winced upon remembering her actions. "I'm sorry about that. I was angry and foolish for loosing my temper like that."
"No, Lily you had every right to do that," said James. He couldn't bear to hear Lily apologize for his own foolish actions that had caused her pain.
"James…"
"No really. It's fine. I had it coming," James as he ran a hand through his naturally unruly hair. "Listen I know you have worked really hard to get to where you are now. So…I'll make a deal with you. I promise not to be such a pest and ruin everything for you. I'll tell the guys to lay off on the pranks and promise to show up to every meeting you call for. But more importantly…I'll stop chasing you. I think it's only fair that I keep my distance from you since it seems like every time we try to be friends…it falls apart. I think that's the best thing for the both of us."
With that said James started head toward his room leaving a stunned Lily to take in his words.
"What about me?" she suddenly said.
"What about you?" he asked looking at her curiously.
"Don't I get a say in anything? You say you are going to do all these things yet…you ask nothing of me? I don't think that's very fair." said Lily as she tried to keep her anger in check. 'How dare he make a choice without thinking of what I want!'
"Life isn't fair Lily," he said quietly.
"Isn't there something I can do in this arrangement you created?" said Lily as she stared blankly at James.
James looked up at her and smiled sweetly upon looking at her beautiful face. "Just for you to be happy."
Lily looked astounded at him not sure what she should say or do.
"I think I'm going to take a nap. It's been a long day," sighed James. "See you around Ms. Evans."
Lily didn't know how to react to James's transformation. He kept true to his word and heard no more complaints or advancements from him. In fact she hardly saw him at all outside of the classroom or at meal time. Every time she went to try and start up a conversation, he would disappear with his broomstick and go practice with either Sirius or Andy.
Although for years Lily had wished for James to stop bothering her and just forget about his silly little crush, she now started to feel an ache in her chest that only seemed to disappear when James was in the same room as her.
Of course James's avoidance of Lily hadn't gone unnoticed. It seemed that the whole school was aware of the new Head boy and girl's distance toward one another. A status that Andy and Sirius knew had to be remedied quickly.
As the school year got more into full swing so did Quidditch practice for the students at Hogwarts. As for the Gryffindor team, their practices were now more or less being run by the two 'assistant captains'.
After a grueling Quidditch practice during yet another thunderstorm, the drenched and muddy Gryffindor team made their way to the locker rooms.
"Geez, how many more practices like that are we going to have?" asked Lindsay the fourth year seeker, who joined the team last year.
"As many as it takes," grunted Andy as she pulled off her leg pads and muddy boots.
"And how ever long this rain lasts," commented Robin as she shook off her soaked robes.
"Four days of rain! You'd think it was the Great Flood or something," joked Lindsay.
"Well McGonagall could create a giant boat for everyone," commented Andy.
"Yeah we can push the Slytherin team off it," joked Robin.
"Haha...yeah that would be pretty," laughed Lindsay.
"Okay, come on girls. Let's hit the showers," said Andy as she pulled off her soaking Quidditch robes.
"Why do we have to change and shower out here instead of up in the castle?" inquired Lindsay.
"You can thank Black for that," snorted Andy. "Last time we had practice he tracked mud all through the common room and then sat on the couch."
"Eww!" squealed Lindsay.
"Yeah so when McGonagall found out, she said that if it happened again she'd pull us out of the next two games," added Robin.
"Yikes!"
"Geez, what is Black? A dog?" asked Robin as she gathered her things for the showers.
"Some days," said Andy under her breath. "Come on let's go."
"Oooh!" said Lindsay in a low voice.
"What is it Lindsay?" asked Robin.
"Nothing. I just had a nice mental picture of all the boys in the shower," she replied with a dreamy look upon her face.
Robin soon had the same look upon her face as she also envisioned the guys in the showers. "Mmm...Nick all wet."
"Ken all soapy," sighed Lindsay
"James's pecs."
"And Sirius's abs!!" cried the both of them.
"Alright that's enough," groaned Andy as she shook her head at the two boy-crazed girls. "I probably already have pneumonia; I don't need to loose my lunch on top of it."
"Oh come on Andy. It's just a bit of fun," laughed Lindsay
"Oh lay off her. We are talking about her best mate," chuckled Robin.
"Who is practically my brother," added Andy.
"Plus let's not forget your vendetta against his best mate."
"Yeah, how long are you going to hate Sirius, Andy?" inquired Lindsay
"Until hell freezes over," replied Andy with a grin.
Robin rolled her eyes at her friend. "It was a million and a half years ago. Let it go. Or are you afraid that if you got to know him, you might actually like him."
Andy glared at Robin as she tried to keep up her defenses when it came to how she felt about a certain dark haired keeper. "Hardly. Blackie and I are nothing more than teammates and friends by association. Nothing more and nothing less."
"Okay, but you never know. Lighting could strike," giggled Robin.
'You have no idea.' thought Andy as she grabbed a hold of her towel and pulled off the rest of her dirty clothes. All the while she kept visualizing what would the feel of his hands on her hips and in her hair be like. The smell he gave off of spice and a spring rain. The taste of his lips on hers so soft yet firm at the same time. Holding a passion she had never known in her young life.
"Andy? Andy?" called a voice from the distance.
"Huh?" said Andy eloquently as she shook the thoughts from her head. She turned to see James standing just inside the looker room. "Oh, sorry James. Umm did you say something?"
"Umm...yeah." It was then that Andy noticed that James had his eyes shut tightly to give any girls that happened to be in there their privacy. Andy quickly put on a dry bathrobe over her wet t-shirt and shorts.
"James you can open your eyes," chuckled Andy. "Robin and Lindsay are in the showers and I'm still dressed."
"Oh, Good," sighed James as he opened his eyes. "Can I borrow your broom clippers? I left mine back at home."
"Sure. Here you go," she said handing over her broom clippers to her best friend.
"Thanks, Star."
"No problem. So why aren't you in the showers?"
"Oh only two of them really work. So I'm waiting for a free one."
"Ahh...and in the meantime, fix your broom?"
"You got it."
"So how does it feel being Head Boy?" she asked after an awkward spell.
"Good. A little..."
"Overwhelming?"
"Yeah, to say the least. I still don't know why Dumbledore picked me?" James chuckled. He was glad that he and Andy were back on speaking terms. He really did miss talking with her.
"Because you have the highest marks and you are a born leader," replied Andy as if the answer were obvious.
James couldn't help but roll his eyes and snort at her comment. "Yeah right."
"Yes, you are, and don't make me hex you for thinking else wise. James you deserve it."
"I don't know Andy."
"Wait a minute. I can't believe this. In the five years I've known you I have never seen you afraid of anything. Well...except McGonagall but that doesn't really count," she said playfully.
"I'm not afraid."
"Then what is it?"
"Nothing."
"It this about Lily, James?"
"I don't know how to act around her. There's just...I messed up big time."
"Oh it's not that bad, Jay. At least now she wants to talk to you," said Andy.
"Says the best friend," sighed James. He really needed to get away from her before he she talked him into doing something stupid. Like try and talk to Lily yet again after that little speech he had given her about a week and a half ago. "Listen I should get going before the girls come out. I'll talk to you later Andy. Thanks again for the clippers. I'll leave them in my locker if you need them back."
"Okay. See you later."
Andy knew that he had done something that now had Lily acting very odd as of lately. Unfortunately neither she nor James would talk about what exactly happened a week or so ago. Lily only mentioned that they were now on new grounds of sorts. Sort of a 'fresh start' as she called it. 'Yeah a fresh start that had neither of them speaking to one another. What did he do now?' thought Andy as she made her way to the showers.
"Hey what took you so long?" asked Robin as she was walking out of the shower with her robe on.
"Oh I got talking to James. Don't worry he left already."
"Oh darn. Now I can't make him blush."
"Sorry, maybe next time," laughed Andy as she grabbed a hold of her towel and headed for the showers to rid herself of the tiring thoughts of her friends' dramatic lives.
Once she was done getting the mud out of her hair, Andy made her way back to the now empty locker room. "Great, now homework time." she said to herself as she pulled on her light blue shirt. As she made to grab her broom, she noticed that a few of her brooms bristles had gone astray. "Shit! When did this happen?" she thought to herself. Andy opened her locker door to retrieve her broom clippers.
"Clippers. Clippers...are with Jay." she said the moment she realized why she couldn't find them. Andy left the girls locker room and headed down the other end of the hall to the boys locker room.
"Oi! Gents! Girl in the room! Anybody home?" shouted Andy from the doorway.
When she heard no reply she cautiously walked in to find the room empty as a bolt of lighting followed by a roll of thunder came about. As she got a bit closer to where the boys individual lockers, she could hear the sound of a shower running in the next room. "Hmm...one lonely soul left. James finally got to that shower. Now where did he put those clippers?" she remarked as she opened James's locker.
After a few moments of searching, she heard the water turn off. 'Oh great! Got to move before I see something that may scar me for life. Ah! Found them!' she thought to herself as she discovered the silver clippers hidden on the top shelf next to a snitch.
As she pocketed the clippers, she closed the door and was suddenly startled by a tall presence next to her. "AH!! Oh Merlin! Sorry," said Andy as she quickly shut her eyes until she realized that the boy next to her wasn't James. "Sirius!"
"Sparky? What the hell are you doing here?" inquired Sirius as he tried to get the water out of his ear. It was then that Andy noticed exactly what he was wearing, or rather what he wasn't wearing. The soft fluffy white towel was wrapped securely around his waist, while a slightly smaller one was currently wrapped around his neck to collect the remaining water from his hair.
"Umm...uhh...uhh...clippers," stuttered Andy as she ripped her eyes away from Sirius's tone chest. From the moment she noticed him, her attention was suddenly drawn to a small water droplet as it started from the tip of his hair fall on his chest as it continued to roll slowly down the center slightly picking up speed with each passing droplet it picked up and continued to descend down to his well toned abs until it fell out of view behind the towel.
"Broom clippers," said Andy as she pulled out the tool from her pocket. "James borrowed mind and I realized I needed them back. So...now I have them and now I'm leaving." she said quickly as she turned on her heels and make a break for the door.
"Sparky wait, I need to talk to you," he said as he grabbed a hold of her arm before she was out of reach. Andy let out a small gasp and involuntarily closed her eyes.
"About what?" she asked in a hopefully normal tone.
"Our plan," said Sirius as if it were obvious.
"Umm...can't it wait," she asked as she realized that he hadn't let go of her arm yet and was rubbing her skin ever so slightly causing her to rapidly loose her composure.
"Well, I figured now would be a good time since everyone's left."
Andy blinked at his words before she felt a wave a panic rise throughout her body. "Left? Where's Jay?"
"He had a meeting with McGonagall and Dumbledore that he forgot about," he replied. Sirius watched Andy's reaction and wondered why she seemed so flustered all of a sudden.
"Oh."
"Are you okay? You seemed a little...flushed," Sirius smirked.
"I'm fine. Probably from eh s-steam," said Andy as she tried to draw in a calming breath. But it seemed the more she tried to regain her composure, the closer Sirius got to her.
"Are you sure?" he asked. Sirius was about to brush a strand of hair out of Andy's face but was beaten to it by Andy's own hand.
"Positive," she said with a small smile. "So what did you want to tell me about James and Lil?"
Sirius was about to continue with his thought until a chill ran down his spine. It was then that he realized he was still in a wet towel. "Umm..why don't you go and get your broom and I'll tell you when you return."
"Why can't you tell me now?" she said getting a little annoyed with him.
"Well…I'd prefer to do business with my pants on. Unless you'd like to seem me without a towel?" replied Sirius with a grin.
Andy looked at him up and down for a moment before raising eye brow. "Tempting...but I think I'll pass."
"Aww..." he pouted.
"I'll be back in a bit," she said as she practically ran out of the boy's locker room. Once she was safely back in the girl's locker room Andy tried to catch her breath all the while thinking 'Oh Merlin! I'm going to hell. What did I do in my past lives to deserve this type of torture?'
Andy took a few deep breaths as she grabbed a hold of her packed bag. "Okay Starmenter, he's just a boy. You do not have feelings for him. You are in love with...with...Tristan! You are in love with Tristan. You've seen guys without their shirts before. Blackie is no different. No different. Right."
After her little pep talk, Andy made her way back to the boys' locker room to find Sirius wearing only a pair of jeans while he sat on the bench clipping his toe nails.
"Oh gee, that's attractive," said Andy in her normal sarcastic tone. She quickly averted looking at him once his head shot up to look at her. She didn't know if she could take looking at his bare chest anymore.
"If you don't like it, then don't look," said Sirius in the same tone as he continued to clip his toe nails.
Andy fought the urge to roll her eyes as she took a seat on the bench and began to fix her broom. "So what did you want to talk about, Black?"
"Have you noticed James acting a bit unusual lately?"
"How so?" she asked, right when a piece of Sirius's nail hit her in the head. "Hey watch where you're firing those things."
"Sorry. I mean have you noticed him acting a bit more...I don't know. Withdrawn?"
"Well he has been a little busy lately. Plus with the shock of being named Head Boy, he's probably still trying to come to terms with having to be a proper student now," said Andy as she clipped away at her broom.
"I guess."
"That and trying to come to terms with his feelings for Lily while work with her isn't much help either. Plus he probably still feels bad especially after what happened on the train."
"Yeah. Still don't know how we're going to pull this off. I think we need to bring Remus and Karen into this sooner than we wanted," Sirius sighed as he rubbed his eyes in frustration.
"We could probably get Kelly involved too, but not Felicia."
"Agreed. Well now that that's taken care of," he started as he got up to grab his shirt from his locker.
"Blackie what is that?"
"What's what?" he asked.
"What is that on your back?" she asked. Andy had noticed something slightly pink on his back.
"It's...nothing," said Sirius quickly as he tried to pull on his green jumper, but stopped when he felt Andy's warm hand on his cool back.
"Sirius, what the hell happened to you?" she asked in a worried tone. Throughout his entire back were lines in various lengths and widths. It took her a moment to realize that they were scar lines as if someone had hit him with a bullwhip or another object.
"Something I wish to forget," said Sirius darkly. He was silent for a moment and Andy felt him go rigid as he tried to contain his anger and forget the past.
"You're parents did this to you. Didn't they?" she asked in a soft whisper when the realization hit her.
"Yes. They felt the need to purify me when they found out I associated with mudbloods and blood traitors."
As Sirius tried to rid himself of the horrible nightmares that plagued his memories, he suddenly became aware that Andy hadn't removed her hand. Instead, he could feel her warm soft touch trace the old scars. He silently wondered if her touch would magically rid him of the physical scars as she had with his mental ones.
Andy couldn't help but be mesmerized by what was before her. She knew from stories told by James and some by Remus that the boy before her had a rough childhood. But she never figured that it would be this extreme. She couldn't help but touch the faded lines in hopes of...something. She then became aware of his breathing. How he seemed to be taking deep raged breaths as she touched his skin...so soft to the touch. It was then she also realized that she was breathing has hard as he.
"Those…."she tried to say but couldn't.
"Yeah. I know. That's why I left," he whispered torn between wanting to turn around and face her and wanting to know the taste of her lips. But for right now, his feet felt frozen in place while he felt Andy's soft touch slowly run the over his deep scars. A small chill rose up his spine when he felt a faint puff of air near his neck.
Finally getting a grip on reality, Sirius slowly turned around and was confronted with a very tempted looking Andy. But mixed in with her beauty he saw sadness and something else he couldn't place.
"I'm sorry," she whispered as she looked up into his grey eyes.
"It's not your fault," he said in a low voice as he gently pushed that strand of hair that didn't want to stay in place. 'She should really pin that in place.'
The tension between them continued to rise as the two unconsciously began to drift closer to one another. The sound of the rain falling outside was the only noise either of them could hear other than their breathing patterns. Right as Sirius thought he couldn't take it anymore, an earsplitting crack of lighting thundered outside causing them to break out of the trance each was in. Andy jumped a bit when she realized the state they were both in. She took a step back and turned back to her broom, allowing Sirius the time to put his shirt back on and for them to regain their composure.
"I think we should head back to the castle," said Andy quickly.
"You're probably right. I'll catch up with you in a little bit," said Sirius as he looked into his locker.
"You're not coming?"
"I need to do something before I head back to the tower," he said with his back still turned to her.
Andy felt a little hurt and confused at his sudden mood swing. "Oh. Okay. I guess…then…I'll see you back in the tower."
Sirius watched out of the corner of his eye as she pulled on her cloak and walked out of the locker room with her broom. Once he knew she was way, he sat back down with his head hanging trying to control his erratic breathing. As he took several deep breaths to try to calm himself down, visions of a blond haired witch flooded his mind. Her eyes…her laugh…her smile…her lips…
"Get a hold of yourself, Sirius" he said aloud to himself as he slapped himself in the face. "You can't have her. She belongs to someone else. You waited too long. You lost. Quit trying to steal her away. It's not right for her. She deserves better than you. She deserves better."
"Whoa! Wait a minute," said Kelly "You mean to tell us that the two of you have been secretly plotting to get James and Lily together?"
Along with Kelly, Karen and Remus looked upon Sirius and Andy with bewilderment. The three of them could not believe that they were even having this conversation. They just figured that Sirius and Andy wanted to talk about something other than this in the privacy of an abandoned classroom.
All Andy could do was nod at her friend while Sirius continued to lean up against the wall as he listened to their story.
"That's why you've been more secretive than normal? And always having to go to some late night meeting?" asked Karen. Andy nodded once again.
"Hmm…and I just thought you were in a broom closet taking advantage of some girl," commented Kelly as she glared over at Sirius.
"Hey, I've never taken advantage of any bird that wasn't willing," said Sirius in defense.
Andy glared at Sirius before she continued on. "Anyway enough about Blackie's escapades, so what do you three think?"
"I think you've both lost your bloody minds," snorted Kelly as she tried to process everything.
"Are you insane, Andy?" asked Karen. "Do you know what Lily would do to you if she ever found out about this?"
"Which is why she never will if you know what's good for you," said Andy with a slight grin.
"Easy there Sparky. Don't flex your claws at your friends. It's rude you know," said Sirius in a low voice as he stood behind Andy.
Andy spun around and hit Sirius's chest with the back of her hand for invading her personal space. "Shut up Blackie."
"This is never going to work out," sighed Karen.
"Actually I think it's a great idea," commented Remus for the first time since they arrived.
"Huh?" said Andy with raised eyebrows.
"Thank you Remus," said Sirius proudly.
"Rem, are you actually agreeing to go along with this idea?" asked Karen as she started up at him.
"Sure," he said with a shrug. "Why not? It's not like it's a bad thing."
"It's a very bad thing," roared Kelly.
"How so?" he challenged. "It isn't like they both hate each other. Lily and James have both expressed interest in one another, but both are too stubborn to realize it and admit it to themselves and each other. I think what Andy and Sirius are doing is a great idea, and I'm behind them."
He looked to the two of them before speaking again. "What ever help I can offer it's yours."
"Thanks mate," commented Sirius as he shook his friend's shoulder.
"I guess he does make a point," said Karen in a low voice.
"KAREN!" squealed Kelly.
"Well it's true. Come on Kelly. We are all tired of the James/Lily sparing back and forth games. It's about time they ended once and for all. Besides what is the worst that could happen? Hate each other? Been there, and done that already," stated Karen.
"Okay. Okay. I see your point," sighed Kelly knowing that she was out numbered. "Fine. I'll help plan. But that's it. I don't want to be on the receiving end of one of Lily's curses."
"Oh don't worry Kel. I'll protect you," said Sirius as he wrapped his arm around Kelly's shoulders.
"Yeah?" Kelly sneered. "And who's going to protect you Black since you'll be hanging up side down from the rafters in a chicken costume singing 'I Love Severus Snape' at the top of your lungs."
Once Kelly had walked away from Sirius he leaned over to whisper in Andy's ear. "Can she really do that?"
Andy replied with a mere shrug of her shoulders not wanting to divulge the fact that Lily could pull something like that off or something far worse.
"Okay, so the three of you are in on this?" asked Andy looking at her friends.
All three replied with a yes.
"Good. So we are also in agreement to do this with mentioning anything to Felicia and Peter?" she asked.
"Why can't we tell Felicia?" asked Remus. "I know Wormtail can't hold water."
"Because if she found out then she would go running off to tell Lily," answered Kelly. "She's still tick at James's antics on the train. Plus any chance she can get to foil one of Sirius's plans is just icing on the cake."
"She's still upset over him breaking up with her?" asked Remus.
"It's not so much that she's upset," said Karen.
"More like Felicia wants him to pay for wasting her time…with his life if that were an option," said Andy.
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. Okay, so what exactly have you done thus far to get Lil and Potter together?" said Kelly.
"Well…."
By the end of the week, Lily was exhausted with classes and her duties as head girl. Luckily after this last meeting, and one more day of classes she could relax for at least a little while.
"Hello Ms. Evans," said a voice from behind her as she came up to the classroom the prefect meeting was going to be held in.
She turned to find James standing behind her with his school bag. She looked down at her watch and saw that he had arrived just a few minutes before she said too.
"Hello Potter," she said softly.
"Ready for this meeting?" he said gently as he opened the door and walked in. Lily was still a bit stunned by his actions since that afternoon. Still he would hardly look at her or say more than what needed to be said. It was starting to really bug her.
"I suppose so. It shouldn't take that long," she started but stopped by the other students arriving.
As the prefects filed in and took their seats, James pulled out his wand and quickly wrote out the agenda on the chalkboard with it. Once everyone was in the meeting began.
"Hello everyone. I'm glad you could make it. This won't take long, so…let's get started," said Lily. "Our first trip to Hogsmeade will be the Saturday before Halloween. So please inform all third years and up about the rules. You can place these flyers on the bulletin boards in your common rooms. Secondly…"
BANG!
The loud noise caused everyone to jump as they looked around to one another wondering what had caused such an explosion from the hallway.
"What was that?" said a random student.
Lily looked over at James but was surprised by the shocked look on his face.
"Don't look at me. I didn't do anything," said James as he headed toward the door. From the hallway the head boy, girl, and all the prefects could hear someone yelling in the hallway.
"Merlin's beard! I can't believe you Black!" roared the voice of Andy.
"Oh put a sock in it Sparky! It's your fault anyway," yelled Sirius.
"My fault?! You slimy backstabbing prat of…"
"Are you ever going to come up with a new line there Sparky? Because these ones are getting a tad bit old for you."
Lily rolled her eyes as she followed James out into the hallway. At the end of the hallway, Andy and Sirius were in yet another one of their shouting matches. Behind James and Lily the rest of the students followed them down the hall to confront the duo.
"Excuse me, please," said James as he moved past the some other students who had come out to investigate the explosion. He walked up toward his two friends as he rubbed his eyes from exhaustion.
"What is going on now," he asked causing the two of them to be silent for a moment.
"Do those two really need a reason to fight?" commented a prefect from the group behind James and Lily.
Just then another student walked up behind the group. "What's going on here?"
"Black and Starmenter are at it again," said a Hufflepuff prefect as she tried to get a view of the fight.
"Really?" questioned the voice highly amused.
"Yes. You act like it's a big surprise," said the Hufflepuff. She then turned around to get a look at whom she was speaking to and was shocked to come face to face with that of Sirius Black.
"Stay out of this Lil," said Andy as she glared at Sirius.
"Mind your business, Prongs," growled Sirius.
"What is going on with you two now? You'd think by now the two of you would know how to control your tempers and act your age," said James in a booming voice.
"This does not concern the both of you or anyone for that matter. Just leave me another with the little princess so I can teach her a lesson," Sirius sneered.
"Like you could teach me anything," spat Andy.
At that moment they lot of them heard someone running down the corridor from the other hall that led to where they were now.
"Crap! Crap! Crap! I'm late!" a blond haired student huffed as she turned the corner came across the crowd of students. Several prefects gasped when the caught sight of another Andy. "Whoa! What the hell is going on here? Did I forget there was some sort of costume party or something?"
James and Lily turned from one Andy to the other trying to come up with a logical explanation.
"Andy?" questioned James.
"Yes," replied both girls. The two girls looked at one another up and down.
"Okay what is going on here?" asked the Andy that had just arrived. "Blackie?"
"I'd like to know that too, Sparky," said the Sirius from the crowd of students. Everyone looked at the two set of foes and wondered what dark magic was occurring.
"Okay, what is going on here," asked Lily trying to regain order.
"I don't know but someone is obviously playing a prank here," said the Sirius from the crowd as he walked up to the other Sirius and examined him.
"Yeah, you two are," the other Sirius sneered.
"Hardly," said the Andy that just arrived.
"Right," laughed the first Andy everyone had first come across. "Like the real Andy would wear those shoes with that skirt."
"Its standard issue you fraud. But what is to be expected from someone who has their hair colored like that," barked the second Andy. "Besides I know that this one here," pointing to the first Sirius, "is definitely not the real Black."
"How do you know that," questioned James.
Before anyone could blink, the first Sirius was now hanging upside down spinning like a top.
"Because the real Black would have known I would try something like that and blocked it with ease," commented the second Andy as she released her spell on the fake Sirius and put back on the ground.
Everyone started at the duo that had caused the argument.
"So if that's the case," started James. "Then who are you two really?"
The fake Andy and Sirius looked at one another before they answered.
"That's for us to know," said the fake Sirius.
"And you two to never find out," laughed the fake Andy. At that moment she pulled out a vile from her robes and threw it to the ground causing the entire hallway to full with smoke in a flash.
Once the smoke had cleared, both of the impostures were gone.
"What was that about?" coughed James.
"No clue," coughed the real Sirius.
"Probably just some kids testing out a polyjuice potion or something like that," said Andy as she waved away some smoke.
"Great," sighed Lily. "New wannabe Marauders. Wonderful!"
"What can we say? We set the standards," Sirius chuckled.
"Right Padfoot," laughed James. It was then that he noticed the crowd was still looming around. "Okay everyone, meeting is over until we get this straightened out. Go back to your houses now."
Within a few moments the crowd had dispersed leaving only Lily, Andy, James, and Sirius in the hallway.
"So…which one of you guys paid off some dumb kid to take a potion," questioned James.
"Don't look at me," said Andy holding her hands up in surrender. "I've been clean for months."
The three of them then looked over at Sirius. "Oh sure blame the head boy's best mate!"
"And partner in crime," added Andy.
"Well obviously it has to be someone close to the both of you," said Lily before an argument between the two of them could start. "Otherwise how else would they get what they need to make the potion?"
"Well with Blackie's promiscuous behavior, that could be anyone," said Andy offhanded.
"I wouldn't talk if I were you, Sparky," glared Sirius.
"I'm sorry, which one of us has had a stable relationship for almost a year now?"
"Okay! Enough," said James feeling a headache coming on more and more as time went by. "Look it was probably just some kids trying to make a statement and claim prank rights. Let's just wait to see if anything else happens. It was probably just a one time deal."
"Fine, whatever," said Andy as she turned to walk away from them. "Since the meeting is over I'll just be heading off then."
"Sounds good to me. I'll see you back in the common room Prongs," said Sirius as he went in the opposite direction of Andy.
James shook his head before turning and facing Lily.
"Potter I don't think…"
"Don't worry Evans. The guys and I will look in to it. There will be no trouble this year. I promised," he said looking into her green eyes.
"Okay. I'll let you do it your way for now. But if this goes on…" said Lily.
"I'll tell McGonagall and Dumbledore myself. Don't worry," he said placing a hand on her shoulder. With that he walked away leaving her standing in the hall alone with her thoughts. Lily couldn't help but run a hand along where James's warm touch had sent a spark coursing throughout her body.
A half hour later, two figures were running down the steps toward the dungeons of the castle.
"Come on! Hurry up," whispered Sirius.
"Oh would you slow down, Black! It's not like they are going to leave yet," barked Andy as she checked to make sure they weren't followed.
As the two of them made their way to the depths of the castle, they entered a room just off the east stair case. Once they were inside they locked the door and came face to face with their accomplices.
"So…how did it go?" asked Remus with a smirk on his face as he continued to sir the polyjuice potion.
"Urgh, I'm never doing that again!" said Karen as she fixed her hair. "That stuff tasted worse than my great aunt Mildred's cooking."
"Yeah," shuttered Kelly as she came from behind a set up curtain. "Next time get Remus to play the part of Black. I got slapped by five girls on my way down here. Three of which were on me bum!"
"Hey I never said there wasn't a price to being Sirius Black," commented Sirius with a grin.
"Oh grow up, would you? Did they at least buy it?"
"So far so good," said Andy as she hopped up onto the bench next to Remus.
"I still don't see how a mystery will put them together," commented Remus as he played with the potion a bit.
"Watch and learn boys," commented Karen as she walked over to Remus. "If there is one thing that appeals to Lily it's a guy who knows how to take charge and show authority."
"Especially a reformed bad boy," added Andy.
Sirius chuckled softly while shaking his head at the girls. "And you birds think guys are sick."
A/N~ There you go a nice long chapter. Sorry it took so long to update. Life has been a bit more busy than usual. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner. Until then, thanks to all my loyal readers for staying with story for so long. As for my new readers, I hope you enjoyed the story thus far.
Okay now…you know the drill flames, praises, comments, or threats…whatever you feel like saying just put it in a review. It's good for my ego…ha-ha.