Chapter 6- When You Thought It Was Good…
It seemed like the next couple of weeks passed by quickly at Hogwarts. Sirius and James were talking again. They acted as if nothing ever happened, and all was well in Marauder world. Tiffany would now look at me at least, though the disappointed looks I received made me wish that she was still ignoring me completely. The whole of Hogwarts seemed to accept James and I being together. There were no more rumors circulating or whispers following us. Dating James was beginning to be easier and maybe a little fun? I never protested when he kissed me, which happened often. Wouldn't everything be perfect if Tiffany, like the rest of Hogwarts, accepted James and me? I decided I would talk to her and get some answers. I've tried before, but she would always leave. This time though, I would make her listen. This time I had a plan.
"Hey Tiffany, can I talk to you for a bit?" Sirius asked.
"Sirius, we just got finished with Quidditch practice, I'm tired and I need a shower." Tiffany said, hoisting her broom on her shoulder.
"Tiffany it's really important, I promise I'll be quick." Sirius said.
Sirius gave her a sad, pleading look. Tiffany rolled her eyes before leaning her broom on the wall and crossing her arms.
"Fine, now what's this all about?" She said.
This is where I enter. I walked around the corner of the hall to face Tiffany and Sirius.
"It's about me and you." I said.
Tiffany rolled her eyes again. She grabbed her broom and tried to walk off, but Sirius stopped her.
"I don't have time for this." She said.
She tried to walk away, but again Sirius stopped her.
"Just listen to her please? This has gone on long enough don't you think?" Sirius said to Tiffany.
Tiffany sighed before turning to look at me.
"Listen, I don't understand why you're angry with me. Why won't you talk to me?" I asked.
"I talked to you at practice just fifteen minutes ago." Tiffany said.
"That was only so you could signal to me. Then you threw the ball so hard I think I'm going to bruise." I said as I rubbed my upper arm.
"Ohh, am I sensing some pent up anger?" Sirius said as he turned toward Tiffany.
She punched him on the arm.
"Not anymore." She said.
"Was that necessary? I'm only trying to mediate." Sirius said rubbing his arm.
"Tiffany, just tell me why you are mad at me. Please?" I said.
"You don't like James, do you? Are you just jealous?" Sirius asked.
Tiffany started laughing.
"That won't happen anytime soon." Tiffany said.
"Well than what is it?" I asked.
Tiffany looked away, like she was thinking. After a couple of seconds she looked back at me.
"I thought you were different Lily. I thought you wouldn't be like all those other girls who throw themselves at the Marauders. Don't you know that James is only using you? That's what the Marauders do. They use girls and break their hearts when they're finished." Tiffany said.
"We do not!" Sirius said.
"You are the worst, Sirius! No girl in her right mind would date you. You couldn't even go two weeks without dating a girl or using one." Tiffany said.
"Is that so!" Sirius asked.
"James isn't using me." I said.
Tiffany and Sirius turned to look at me, dropping their argument.
"James really likes me and I really like him. I'm not one of those girls who are just throwing themselves at the Marauders for a chance at popularity. If I was, do you think that I would have hidden it at first? Now what's this really about Tiffany? You know me better than to do something like that." I said
"Well, if this is so real, why didn't you tell me? Why did I have to find out from a raging Diggory who was trying to get answers from me?" Tiffany said.
"Amos tried to get answers from you? Why?" Sirius said.
Tiffany shrugged.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you Tiffany. I'm sorry you had to find out through Amos Diggory's harassment. I just, I wanted to see how things went at first. I was trying to think of a way to tell you about it. I was worried about you from the beginning." I said.
I hated this, more lies.
"Why? Thought I would be jealous?" Tiffany asked smugly.
"No. I thought you would be hurt." I said.
Tiffany stood still.
"Well, if you knew than why did you do it?" Tiffany said.
"At least we're getting somewhere." Sirius muttered.
"Because I promised James that I wouldn't tell anyone." I said.
Tiffany just stood there.
"Is everything ok now?" Sirius asked.
"I brought you a peace offering. I know it's your favorite." I said.
I pulled out a chocolate chip cookie from my pocket and handed it to Tiffany. She looked at it for a couple of seconds before she started to laugh. I also started to laugh, and when Tiffany smiled at me, I knew everything was good between us.
"I have got to be the best mediator ever." Sirius said.
Tiffany and I looked at Sirius and then back at each other and started laughing again. Sirius looked confused and we only laughed harder.
The next morning was the first Quidditch game of the season, Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw. James had the whole team sit together, separated from everyone else.
"Make sure you all eat something." James said.
He sat down next to me and started eating like he does every morning. He wasn't nervous at all. I, on the other hand. felt like I was going to be sick. Of course I had played Quidditch at Drumstrang, but I didn't know anything about the other team players at Hogwarts. Playing against the same people for so long, you learn their weaknesses. I didn't know theirs. I told James and he smiled.
"They don't know yours either." He said.
"I feel like I'm unprepared." I said.
James loaded my plate with pancakes. He then proceeded to put peanut butter and syrup on them.
"Eat, you'll feel better. I know they're your favorite." He said.
He poured me a glass of water and started to eat his own food again.
I kept staring at him.
"What?" He asked looking back at me.
"It's nothing. It's just, that was nice of you. Thanks." I said.
He smiled and kissed me on the cheek.
"You're welcome." He said handing me my fork.
I smiled and started eating. James was right, I did feel better.
"Lily, come here." James said.
We were waiting to be announced onto the field. I walked to James and he grabbed my hands.
"Don't worry out there ok? I know you'll do excellent." He said.
James pulled my hands up and kissed them. I smiled and I looked up to catch Tiffany smiling as well.
"…and now the Gryffindor Team!" We heard.
We mounted our brooms and flew into the pitch.
"Here are Chasers: Lisa Knight, Tiffany Harpor, and our Head Girl - Lily Evans! The Beaters for Gryffindor are: Joe Plumpter and Sirius Black! And Seeker for Gryffindor is Captain and Head Boy, James Potter!" Remus' voice echoed through the stands.
I looked up into the commentator's box and smiled, Remus saluted me. He never told me he was commentator. The crowd was cheering so loud it was amazing. As soon as I was in the air I felt adrenalin rushing through me. My nervous feelings were replaced with excitement. The team flew around a couple more times before landing to start the game.
"Captains Potter and Hendrickson shake hands. The Quaffle is up, and look at that! Lily Evans takes the Quaffle and flies to the Ravenclaw goals with tremendous speed. She takes a shot and Scores on Ravenclaw keeper McGinnis! The score is ten to nothing, Gryffindor. Now Storm of Ravenclaw is in possession of the Quaffle. Storm drops the Quaffle due to the Bludger sent by Gryffindor Sirius Black. Harpor grabs the Quaffle and changes direction to the Ravenclaw goals. Harpor passes to Evans who passes to Knight who Scores! Gryffindor twenty, Ravenclaw zero. Gordon in possession, he passes to Storm. Gryffindor Beater Joe Plumpter sends a Bludger at him, and he passes back to Gordon- It's intercepted! Gryffindor Lily Evans intercepts the Quaffle and flies to the Ravenclaw goals. Ravenclaw Beater Terrence Roth hits a Bludger to Evans and misses. Black retaliates and hits the Bludger to Roth hitting him in the arm. That's got to hurt. Evans shoots at McGinnis, and Scores! Gryffindor score is thirty to zero." Remus commentated.
The crowd cheered wildly. I could barely hear them; the only thing I was concentrated on was the Quaffle. We scored ninety more points before the Snitch was sighted.
"Look the snitch has been spotted! Potter and Berrings are diving! They're going to hit the ground! Pull up! Pull up, James!" Remus shouted.
The crowd was on its feet and silenced. It looked like both Seekers were going to plow head first into the ground. Berrings pulled up shakily and almost lost control of his broom.
"James Potter catches the Snitch! Gryffindor win two hundred and seventy to zero! It's a shutout victory!" Remus announced.
The fans were screaming so loud it was insane. I flew to the ground with the team. James came running at me.
"Lily, we won! We won! You were amazing!" He said. He picked me up in his arms and swung me around. We were both laughing but when he sat me down I had tears running down my face.
"I can't believe you James! That dive! I thought you were going to die!" I screamed over the crowd. James smiled and kissed me right in the middle of the field as the people rushed down cheering.
After dinner that night there was a party in the Gryffindor common room. The Marauders had Butter beer and music set up when we arrived. Who knew they were so resourceful? I cast a silencing charm over the door so that we wouldn't be heard and get into trouble. As Head Girl I'm supposed to stop these parties, but as a Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, I wanted to celebrate. Gryffindor students kept coming up to me and congratulating me and I didn't even know most of them.
James and Sirius had a large group surrounding them as they retold the game from their perspectives for about the tenth time. I was on the opposite side of the room with Leah and Ashley. Sarah was gone; she said she needed to speak with Professor Stigma about an assignment due this week. Tiffany was talking to Matt McKinnon next to Lisa and Joe who were snagging on the couch. I kept watching James amongst all the girls who were fawning for him. I don't know how long I was watching James. I wasn't even listening to Leah and Ashley.
"Jealous much?" I turned to face a half drunken Matt McKinnon.
"What are you drinking?" I asked disapprovingly.
"Nothing, it's just Butter beer. Want some?" He said.
I shook my head no and realized Ashley and Leah were gone. I turned back to look at James. He and Sirius were still standing next to the fireplace drinking and talking to the girls.
"You know Lily; you're too good for Potter. What do you want to do with someone like him anyways? Look at him. Over there with all those girls when he could be keeping you company." Matt said.
Matt put his arm around my shoulder and I kept looking at James. James caught my eye and I looked away, to Matt.
"He's always the center of attention. He has to be. He loves being worshiped and wanted by girls. So where do you think you come in? What do you think you mean to him? Maybe you're just another song, perhaps?" Matt said.
I sighed. It was plainly obvious James had a fan club of girls. I hadn't even talked to him since the party started.
"Drink?" Matt said.
I took the bottle and when I put it in my mouth to take a small sip, Matt tipped the bottle and held it up. I think I drank it all. My throat felt like it was on fire. I started coughing. I don't know why I drank it; I just didn't want to think about what Matt was saying. My eyes were watering and then I was being pulled away from Matt.
"McKinnon, what are you doing?" James shouted.
I could feel a headache coming on, and James pulled me a little too fast so that I felt really dizzy.
"Whoa… Lily! Stand up. Are you okay?" James said.
I could barely see what was going on. Everything was blurry. But I could hear voices accurately. It was like people were all talking through megaphones.
"What did you do McKinnon?" James demanded.
"Hey man, I didn't do anything. I just gave her a drink. We were just talking. I didn't know she couldn't handle it. I was just trying to get her to drink more to cheer her up!" Matt said.
The floor was spinning, the ceiling was spinning... everything was spinning. I slipped out of James arms and stumbled toward the floor until someone else had grabbed a hold of me.
"James, mate, she's drunk." Sirius said.
"Prongs, she needs to lye down." Remus said.
"I'd wager she's going to need a toilet soon as well. She doesn't look like she can hold liquor very well." Sirius said.
"McKinnon said she drank this." I groaned and blinked as I looked up to see Peter holding a bottle up.
I was transferred so that I was now leaning heavily into James and it felt like I was sinking toward the floor.
"How much did she drink?" Remus asked.
"All of it, I think." Peter said.
"Damn it, someone help me get her to the Head Common Room. Peter, you go get the cloak from Sirius' trunk." James said.
"Why use the cloak?" Sirius asked.
"Do you really think Lily wants people to see her like this? Especially that she's the Head Girl?" Remus answered.
I was being moved again. And it made me dizzy. I groaned. Dizziness made my stomach feel funny.
"What's the matter with her?" Ashley asked worriedly.
"McKinnon got her drunk." Sirius said.
"Will she be alright? Do you need any help?" Ashley asked.
"I'm taking her to her room. Don't worry, I can take care of her." James said.
My legs went out, but I was in James' arms. I think he picked me up to carry me because I could smell him the way you do when someone hugs you. And my head was pounding.
"How are you feeling Lily?" James asked.
I looked around and I noticed I was in the bathroom floor of the Head's dormitory. I felt so nasty. I was a little dizzy and my stomach hurt, my head felt like it was going to explode.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Well, you drank an entire bottle of Firewhiskey. Matt got punched in the face. With some help, I got you in here and you've been vomiting for the past hour. I think you've got most of it out of your system though, so you'll start becoming aware of the pain." James said.
"I've been out of it for an hour?" I asked.
"Something like that I guess." James said.
"You punched Matt?" I asked.
"I didn't, I was occupied with making sure nobody seen you drunk. I think it was Remus actually. He was very fast in defending your honor." James said chuckling.
"Matt wasn't going to do anything." I said feeling bad for McKinnon.
"It was Remus, he didn't really punch him. But he did give him a strong talking to." James said laughing again.
I managed a small smile. James put a cold cloth on my forehead.
"So how are you feeling?" James asked.
"Very tired." I answered.
"I think you're done vomiting, so you need to drink this potion. It will help you, though I would advise you hold your nose when you drink it." James said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's a hangover potion Sirius brewed. We always keep some stored away." James said.
I drank it as fast as I could. It was horribly disgusting.
"Now let's get you in bed." James said.
He helped me stand up and carried me to my room.
"Is the party still going on?" I asked.
"Probably, they usually last well into the night until McGonagall breaks us up. Though with you're silencing charm they'll probably get to keep celebrating until they drop." James said.
"Are you going back?" I asked him.
"I was going to stay here and keep an eye on you." James said.
"Sorry you missed most of the party." I said.
James smiled slightly at me.
"You are the party, vomit and all." James said.
I smiled.
"Goodnight Lily. I'll be just across the hall if you need me. I'll check on you in an hour." He said walking out of the room and closing the door.
The next couple of weeks went by really fast. James and I were still dating, Quidditch was going well, and classes were good.
Halloween was excellent. That night during the Halloween feast, something very odd happened during the dessert course. As soon as everyone started eating, the enchanted jack-o-lanterns started to scream names at the Slytherins before they hurled themselves at them. Many screams erupted in the hall and when anyone tried to destroy the jack-o-lanterns they multiplied! If you tried to stun them, they flew at the person stunning them vigorously and smashed themselves on them. It became apparent when Professor Wilkes tried to stun one before it smashed on Severus Snape. The teachers didn't try to stop them in any other way in fear it wouldn't work and something more disastrous occurred. So nothing could be done until all of the jack-o-lanterns had smashed themselves into a Slytherin. Most of the Great Hall was laughing at the state of the Slytherins who were all covered in pumpkin. As everyone laughed, the bats flying around the ceiling started to fly at everyone except Slytherins. The Slytherins seemed delighted about this. But just before a bat hit someone it exploded into some type of Honeydukes candy. The Slytherins stopped smiling immediately. Everyone else relaxed and grabbed for more bats.
Professor McGonagall stood up, and as if she were a cue, the Marauders all stood on the Gryffindor tables and bowed. McGonagall rolled her eyes and assigned all of them detentions. When she said the word detention, a banner appeared above the Head table reading: Happy Halloween! Dumbledore started chuckling.
"Well I must say, now that punishments have been given out, that was quite a display of magic. Five points each to: Mr. Lupin, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, and Mr. Pettigrew." Dumbledore said.
The Marauders bowed and followed McGonagall out of the Great Hall while applauds from most of the students echoed after them.
None of the teachers even bothered to clean up the mess or take down the banner. Most of them seem to enjoy it, except for Professor Wilkes who was still covered in pumpkin.
November brought the next Quidditch game, Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff. I sat in the stands with our friends as we watched the game and listened to Remus commentate.
Hufflepuff beat Ravenclaw two hundred and twenty to forty. James was trying to watch all of the moves Hufflepuff made. He was thinking up tactics and strategies and telling us about them. We all told him to shut up at least twice.
December brought freezing weather. It was always cold; rarely did anyone go outside unless they had a class out there.
It was December fifteenth; I was sitting at breakfast when I got a letter. I hadn't been expecting Charlie to write me back so soon; I had just sent a letter last night. But when I took the letter, I recognized the handwriting not as Charlie's, but as my mother's. I knew that whatever was in this letter wasn't good news. She never sent anything to me by wizard post. I stuck the letter in my pocket while James gave me a strange look. Whatever horrible thing was in this letter, I didn't want anyone to know.