Out of Her Shell
By Dimantrien
A/N – This is the last chapter. Sorry for those who wanted a couple more. Yes, I'm late, and yes, I'm a very lazy, very lackadaisical author right now with no ideas. I've been sick, and I've barely survived without Internet for more than two weeks. If it's any consolation to you guys, look at the scroll bar to the right of the screen! Doesn't that little rectangular thing (forgot what it's called) look so thin?
Chapter 12: When She Smiles
An air of excitement was evident all throughout Hogwarts Castle on the morning of Christmas Eve, as the ball was only hours away. Everybody was anticipating it, fussing over what to wear (the girls, anyway), asking out last-minute dates, etc, etc, etc. Everybody.
Even Lily.
The time was 4: 45, and the ball was to start at nine o'clock. It seemed as if there was a fire going on, with girls rushing all throughout the corridors and squealing at each other. Most guys were outside, no doubt to avoid the stampede of frenzied dance-happy females in the castle. Of course, not all girls were that manic…
The door to the boys' dormitory swung open, admitting Lily and Aurelia.
"Why hello, ladies. So nice of you to stop by," Sirius said, lifting his head from the potion he was brewing at the base of his bed.
"Isn't it a little too early for holiday homework, Sirius? I mean, I know you just love schoolwork but there's no need to be so attached," Lily commented in reply sardonically.
"Oh so dedicated," Aurelia deadpanned. The marauders, excluding Sirius, laughed.
Sirius stood up. "For your information, which you seem to be lacking in, I'm in the process of completing the ultimate infusion of physically caused human discomfitures, all amalgamated into something so potent, a single drop will suffice in activating its…power," he retorted defiantly, pouring his "infusion" into several separate tiny glass vials that could be easily concealed inside dress robes.
"Say that in English," James quipped. Aurelia, Lily and Remus were looking at Sirius blankly; Peter was scratching his head.
"You dolts, this baby'll make whoever victim I choose burp, sneeze and acquire a runny nose, fart, develop body odor, sprout warts and pimples and blahblahblah…"
"Fascinating," Remus said in a bored tone.
"More like disgusting," Lily intoned, rolling her eyes.
"…all at the same time," Sirius finished. His eyes gleamed, and he had the prankster-in-hyper-mode vibe surrounding him.
"That's great, Sirius, but are you sure it'll work?" James asked. He was never against any of his best friend's pranks (unless it was intended to be pulled on him), and always played the role of rational thought whenever Sirius was getting too maniacal to think straight.
"Would you like me to test it on you?" Sirius inquired innocently, holding up one of the vials and unscrewing the cork.
"No thanks," James said quickly. Then a grin spread on his face. "Though I'm sure a certain large-nosed, slimy-haired git would be perfect for the job," he added.
Sirius mirrored the expression on his best friend's face. "Ah, yes. Our ever-loyal guinea pig…Severus."
"Before you go on with the Snape bashing, maybe you'd like to ask Lily and Aurelia what they're doing here?" Peter piped up, indicating the two girls.
"We're just trying to escape from the bimbos in our dorm who keep screaming at each other and arguing over trivial things like the hair dryer and the perfect shade of lipstick," Lily promptly supplied the answer.
"Technically, the hair dryer in question isn't a trivial matter, as it's mine, and said bimbos are probably ripping it apart because they've become so ditzy that they conveniently forgot to add it in their beauty item shopping list, which is probably overflowing with things such as Sweet Seduction perfume and glittery eye shadow," Aurelia added matter-of-factly. "I can't do anything about it, though. If there's one thing you shouldn't do to prissy bitches on a fashion rush, it's hexing them just when they o-so-perfected their ensembles already."
Lily shrugged. "You probably should have. Turning up to the ball with Medusa hair would be better than turning up to the ball looking like a circus clown."
Aurelia smiled sweetly. "Well, I do have a heart, and if I had just spent about half a can of hairspray and a million bobby pins to do up my hair, I wouldn't want anybody to mess it up either."
"How sensitive and empathic of you," Lily remarked in a sarcastic tone. "Though I assure you that once you do reach the same level of fashion-and-beauty obsession as them, I'll make sure to be a good friend and put curses on all your makeup."
"Gee thanks." Aurelia paused. "Speaking of makeup, I better check if mine are still where they should be, or more importantly, in the same amount as they last were after I last used them… Later, guys." She stood up to leave at the same time as Lily.
"I should go too," Lily sighed. "Hopefully Pandora and her friends would now be in the process of rushing to other girls' rooms and trading and borrowing jewelry and stuff..." She quickly pecked James on the cheek and followed at Aurelia's heel out the door. "See you at the dance," she called before shutting the door behind her.
Sirius carefully put the vials in the hidden pocket of his dress robes, glancing momentarily at James who had a wide grin on his face. "The look of a person in love," he said with a smirk, causing Remus and Peter to snigger.
James snapped out of whatever Lily daydream he'd been having and scowled. "Laugh if you want, but as far as I know, you're the ones without a date to the ball."
Sirius dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand. "No girl could resist an offer to be the date of the great Sirius Black, no matter how late I ask," he answered confidently.
"I already have a date," Remus said with a good-natured smile.
"I don't," Peter said miserably.
"Fine, Pete doesn't have the right to laugh 'cause he doesn't have a date yet, then," James amended.
Remus looked at the clock. Ten past four. He sighed. "So, what do you guys want to do to kill the time?"
Sirius held up the concoction he made that his friends had apparently forgotten. "What else?"
*****
There was no dinner prepared at the Great Hall before the ball, so by fifteen minutes to nine o'clock, there were already people milling around in the entrance hall with their partners, impatiently waiting for the doors to open. Of course, delayed food was not a problem to the marauders, as they had easy access to the kitchens, and had gone there beforehand to "test if all the food is okay," as Sirius explained to the house-elves (They didn't get to pull their prank because McGonagall, who could read the mischievous looks on their faces, threatened them not to cause any trouble that day or they'd be banned from the ball).
The marauders (especially Sirius) grudgingly obeyed her, but due to their trip to the kitchens where Sirius ate his way through the dinner menu, they were forced to drag him all the way back to Gryffindor Tower and had just about ten minutes to prepare for the dance. They pulled on their dress robes, put on their shoes, and combed their hair…and presto! Finished with dressing up in the span of sixty seconds.
For girls, though, preparing for a ball was a different matter…
Lily was pleased to see that her prediction had been right; her three other dorm mates had scurried off to…wherever they went. She didn't really care, as long as they were out of the dorm. And out of her line of vision.
Even though she was anticipating the dance (because of the fact that this was the first time she was going to actually show up in one), she couldn't see why other girls were so fussy about dressing up. Aurelia and Lily had just lounged around inside the dorm until an hour and thirty minutes before the dance. She showered, put on her clothes and shoes, and brushed her hair. That was it. Now all she had to do was wait for Aurelia to get out of the bathroom herself and prepare.
After what seemed like forever to Lily (or twenty minutes, whichever you prefer), Aurelia finally stepped out of the bathroom, already donned with a bright blue gown that matched her eyes perfectly. She had magically dried her hair and pulled it back in a neat French braid. For jewelry, a pair of sapphire earrings hung from her earlobes, and a delicate silver bracelet was on her right wrist. For a moment, Lily's first impression of her was a fairytale princess.
Aurelia walked over to her bed and pulled out shoes from under it. "Just give me a second for a touch-up, Lil, and I'll be ready to—" She stopped short when she saw Lily.
"What?" Lily said blankly when her friend gaped at her.
"Lily! What are you doing, just sitting there?" Aurelia exclaimed, as if it was a crime for Lily to just sit on her bed waiting for her.
Lily frowned. "Waiting for you so that we could go down to the Great Hall," she responded. "Why—?"
Aurelia hurried over to Lily barefoot, her shoes temporarily forgotten. "But you're not ready! Your hair's not made up, you don't have any makeup on, and you're supposed to wear that green dress I picked out for you—"
"But that dress has spaghetti straps, and it's kinda tight around the torso," Lily protested as Aurelia lifted the said dress from her trunk.
Without answering, Aurelia pushed her into the bathroom (there just had to be certain disadvantages of having the bed nearest the bathroom, Lily thought) and handed her the dress, then shut the door. "Don't come out until you put it on!" her muffled voice said through two-inch-thick plywood.
Lily sighed and, seeing that she had no other choice, changed into the gown that Aurelia insisted she wear. She wasn't used to wearing things like this, since her usual attire other than her school uniform were loose-fitting shirts, comfy jeans and sneakers. She had never worn anything even slightly skimpy in her whole life.
She tried to turn the doorknob. It didn't budge.
"Aurelia! I'm done!" the redhead yelled. A moment later there was a click and Aurelia flung the door open. She stared at Lily. Somehow that look felt all too familiar. "What now?" Lily asked in annoyance.
Aurelia blinked, as if just realizing that she was gawking at her friend. "See, I told you! You look gorgeous! Come here, in front of the mirror." She dragged Lily, who didn't protest. What was the use? She'd just be wasting energy.
"There!" She positioned Lily in front of the mirror. "Don't you think you look better in this dress?"
Lily shrugged. "I still feel like the same old me, except for the fact that this thing is…well…more daring than my standards," she answered grudgingly.
"Aw, come on. James'll drool when he sees you in that. Now let's do your hair." Aurelia sat Lily down in front of her dresser and started rummaging through the clutter of makeup and nail polish for a brush.
"Interesting mental picture," Lily commented dryly, and Aurelia laughed. As the brush smoothed down her red tresses, she noticed that it was moving on its own accord while Aurelia opened her drawer and extracted a case of hairpins. Then she grabbed the brush again and pulled back Lily's hair as she would in a ponytail.
"What time is it, Lily?" Aurelia asked while fixing up the red locks.
Lily looked at her watch. "8: 30. We've got plenty of time."
"No, we don't," Aurelia corrected. "I still have to do your makeup, heck; I still have to do my makeup…"
"Oh, you don't need to put any makeup on me—" Lily started to jump in.
"No can do, Lily," Aurelia said firmly. She finished putting in the million (or so Lily thought) hairpins into Lily's hair. Then she scanned her dresser yet again for a can of hairspray, and, finding none, ran across the room to her trunk.
Lily checked her reflection in the mirror and saw that Aurelia had done her hair into a twist that made it stick out in all directions at the back of her head. Aurelia knew her hairdos though. In every which way, it still looked elegant.
Aurelia's reflection appeared beside her, holding a tube of hair gel in one hand and a tin can in the other. She examined the tin can. "Wait…if you're using the gel then you don't need this stuff…" She tossed the can onto her dresser and proceeded to lathering huge amounts of hair gel into Lily's hair.
"Aurelia! With all that gel you're putting into my hair, those locks will feel like steel needles when I lay my head down later to go to sleep," Lily said exasperatedly.
"No, no, it won't," Aurelia reassured. "Do you have any jewelry?"
Lily shrugged, as she couldn't shake her head since Aurelia was still busy with it. "Never had a reason to keep or buy any," she replied simply.
"Open the drawer and get the glass box," Aurelia ordered. Lily obeyed. "See those emerald earrings? Put them on."
Lily looked at her friend's reflection blankly. "My ears aren't pierced," she said.
Aurelia dropped her hands in mid-gel. "What?"
"I stopped wearing earrings a long time ago," Lily explained. "So I guess the holes closed because it's been such a long time."
Aurelia didn't say anything for a moment. Then, "A minor setback. I know just what to do," she announced, picking up her wand from the top of the dresser. "Perforio!"
"What are you going to—OW!!!!!" Lily yelped as she felt a sudden pain in her earlobes, as if a pair of particularly large red ants had decided to taste them. She looked into the mirror and noticed that they were all red, and even redder were the single dots in the center of each. "How did you—no, wait a minute. Why did you do that?!"
Aurelia looked sheepish. "Uh, I'll answer your first question first..." She held up two fine pieces of metal, like needles except there was no hole. "And, well… you need to have your ears pierced! The pain will go away in a few minutes…"
Lily sighed and took out her own wand, tapping her earlobes and making the redness (and the pain) disappear. "Right," was all she said, albeit a bit sardonically. "Just warn me if you ever get the urge to pierce body parts again."
Aurelia nodded and breathed a sigh of relief (because Lily didn't blow up at her acting-before-thinking stunt). "I really am sorry. But you gotta admit…magic really makes things easier, huh? Try them on," she urged.
Lily reluctantly put on the emerald earrings. What followed was what seemed like a very, very long makeover for her as Aurelia applied all sorts of stuff on her face that she never knew existed before. The amount of time consumed was, of course, doubled because Aurelia had to make herself up too. Finally, when both girls were all ready to go…
"Amazing. After you finished with all those…things you put on my face, I don't even slightly resemble a clown," Lily commented after checking the mirror one last time. It occurred to her that in this day she had looked at a mirror to consult her appearance so often that the number of times was greater than the rest of the instances in her whole life combined. Usually, Lily made herself look presentable, but she didn't see the logic of having to stare at her reflection constantly because she knew that she looked okay.
"No matter how many layers of makeup I put on you, it'd still be less than half of how much the ditzes in this school wear on their faces," Aurelia said matter-of-factly. By the time they got down to the common room, it was three minutes to nine.
*****
The common room was completely deserted except for two people who were playing wizard chess by the fire. As soon as Aurelia appeared in front of the girls' staircase, they stood up and looked at her.
"Hey Aurelia," James greeted, lifting his chin slightly in acknowledgement. He was wearing silvery dress robes and was carrying a small Christmas-wrapped box in one hand.
Remus, who was behind James, smiled at Aurelia. "You look nice," he remarked. He walked past James and offered his arm to Aurelia, who took it. Her nails were painted pale blue.
James raised his eyebrows. "Remus is your date?"
"Yeah. Hey, there's Lily now," she said, gesturing at the staircase. She smirked at the looks that crossed the two guys' faces as their eyes landed on Lily.
James spoke first. "Wow, Lily, you look…" Was drop-dead gorgeous too extravagant? "…stunning," he finally said. Lily blushed but smiled at the compliment.
"I'm not really," she mumbled modestly as she walked toward them.
"No way. Seriously, Lil, you look beautiful. Wait'll all the guys in the Hall see you; they'll regret they ever mocked you at some point in their miserable jerk lives…" Remus smiled at her encouragingly, and Lily relaxed, looking more confident.
"Thanks, Remus," she said quietly.
"Well then," James said brightly, taking Lily by the hand. "Let's go!"
Once they reached it, they saw that the Great Hall was packed with students in all corners, and there was a big space in the middle of the hall that served as the dance floor. It was decorated just like any other Christmas in Hogwarts before: the twelve towering Christmas trees that held everything imaginable and more, yards and yards of green garlands lining the walls, icicles hanging in certain corners, and bewitched snowflakes (that fell and disappeared before coming into contact with any solid object) falling from the enchanted ceiling.
It would have been hard for them to find a table if Sirius and Peter hadn't gotten earlier than them. "Over here, you guys!" Sirius yelled so loudly that half the Hall turned to look. Every person's gaze was fixed on the four fashionably late sixth year Gryffindors walking into the Hall, and they all fell silent and stared as Lily and James passed. Different people had different reactions. Countless girls' jaws fell open in shock; the nicer students (like the Hufflepuffs and some Gryffindors) looked just as surprised but murmured compliments to the former school outcast; some guys had a completely glassy look in their eyes; and some, which consisted of the Snob Squad and certain Slytherins, tried to mask their shock at Lily's complete one-eighty in the looks and social department by jeering at her and throwing their usual insults.
But, simply in general, everyone was frozen with disbelief.
Lily avoided everyone's eyes until they reached the table that Sirius had saved, which seated eight. Sirius' date, Jessica McDougal, was just as speechless as the rest of the students, while Peter's last-minute partner, a Hufflepuff named Patricia Abbot, smiled at Lily.
"Took you guys long enough," Sirius said, oblivious to the silence that had set over the Great Hall at his friends' arrival. "The professors and Dumbledore aren't here yet, probably planning strategies on how to act if a riot breaks out during the dance—"
His theory was interrupted by the teachers themselves, who stepped into the Great Hall in a line. All of them were rather taken aback by the lack of student chatter. They proceeded to the High Table, which at any occasion still stayed put where it was, and then Dumbledore spoke.
"I deem that it is no longer necessary to welcome you all to this gathering, as you have all arrived quite promptly, even earlier than your teachers," the Headmaster started, the ever-present twinkle in his eyes never fading. "Excellent. I do, however, congratulate you all for behaving oddly well before the ball starts…oddly…but I shall not pry. Very well then, let us not dwell on an old man's babble! Let the festivities begin!" He clapped his hands twice, and hundreds of tiny fairies flew into the room, forming a glowing "A Merry Magical Christmas to One and All" in the air. The sudden display started up a round of conversation once again to the Hall, and by the time the food appeared on everyone's plates, the combined voices of the students was as loud as it was before Lily had set foot into the room.
"Oh yeah…why was everybody so quiet before Dumbledore and the others went in?" Sirius asked, clueless. Remus shook his head.
"Never mind, Sirius, wasn't important…" And Lily gave him a rare smile of gratitude at that.
Nothing out of the ordinary (at least, for a wizarding Yule ball) happened during dinner, unless you counted Sirius breaking his record on how many grapes he could stuff into his mouth without choking, and the latter was the reason for all the people present in the same table to lose their appetites halfway through dessert and for Sirius' date to leave huffily at his atrocious table etiquette…or lack thereof. By the time the Head Boy and Girl started the dance following the feast in the middle of the Hall, all the food had disappeared from the plates, Sirius had found a new date, and several popular girls were making their way to the marauders' table where Lily and James were still sitting (all their friends had already left for the dance floor, and James was currently trying to persuade Lily to join them).
"Come on, Lily, there's a whole lot of people out there, and they're all too busy dancing with their dates to even think of insulting you. I assure you that they won't, judging from the stunned looks on their faces when you entered the Hall, and if they did let a snide comment pass then I'll make sure that they get a good kick in the—"
"But what if they were girls, James?" a new voice drawled, and the two of them looked up to see Narcissa Leigh of Slytherin House sneering at Lily in an I'm-all-powerful-and-you're-just-the-dirt-under-my-feet kind of way. She was, as was expected of a popular girl, very pretty, but her attitude negatively made up for that. She had, for a long time, had her eye on James, and was most probably here to publicly humiliate Lily. "You wouldn't attack a girl, now, would you?"
"Of course not," James said in a steely voice, ignoring her flirtatious smile, "not unless they were Slytherins," he finished with disgust.
Narcissa raised an eyebrow but didn't do anything that would show that she was offended; rather, she flipped her hair back and smiled smugly. "Though I'm sure that you have some exceptions. But let's not talk about such unpleasant things. Surely you should be dancing right now? How odd for the most popular guy in school…but quite expected, seeing who your…" she trailed off, setting her gaze on Lily, her smirk widening.
Lily stared back at her defiantly, not wanting to give this over-made-up bitch of a "popular princess" the satisfaction of thinking that the insults were getting to her. Her experience as an outcast had made her develop a sharp tongue, and her insults were as stinging as any, if not more. She could handle a spoiled Slytherin who didn't get her way.
"It seems as if your…er…date isn't up to moving around much," she continued patronizingly, though Lily could distinctly hear her mutter "probably an idiot on the dance floor, no doubt" under her breath. "So why waste the evening parking your butt on the seat when you could be having the time of your life dancing with finer, more mature girls? Instead of unsociable, bitter outca—"
"I don't think so," James interrupted coldly, standing up. "Now, why don't you go back to Lucius Malfoy? You know, your date? Or maybe, he's the one who left you alone, seeing as you flirt with every guy you see—"
"James, I can handle this," Lily suddenly said, standing up as well and putting a hand on his shoulder. Something different was in her green eyes now, something that very much resembled the flicker of fear and depression that they had in them back before she had any friends. Then, as quickly as James had seen it, they changed, hardening with a glimmer of pure defiance and bravery.
Narcissa sneered at her, apparently not intimidated in the slightest. "So. The pitiful social outcast tries to 'change for the better' by tailing after the popular kids. Are you so tired of your title as the invisible exile that you want to change to a wrong-side-of-the-tracks rebel?"
Lily gave her a piercing stare, unfazed. "Nobody in this school has the right to tell another person who they should or shouldn't be," she answered coolly. "Has that every occurred to you before? Or has all the popularity gone into your head that you start having delusions of being above everybody else because of your so-called social elitism?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
But Narcissa just laughed, a high-pitched, female-villain sort of laugh. "First of all, Evans, I should be asking you the questions. What would you know about social elitism, seeing as you spent the past six years of your life hiding away from other people for some weird and abnormal reason? Second, it's you who doesn't know a thing about popularity. It's not about kowtowing at other well-known people's feet, hopelessly believing that clinging to them will bring you some popularity of your own. It's about—"
"About what? Treating all the other people around you like dirt, flirting every second you have to spare, wearing excessive makeup and extremely short skirts so often that you'll look like a slut?" Lily shot back. By this time, several couples had stopped dancing and gathered around the two to see what was going on. Some of them glanced at Narcissa's outfit, and, as Lily had implied, the bright red material barely covered her butt.
For the first time, Narcissa's expression cracked from its smugness and she flinched. But, almost imperceptibly, it changed into a look of anger, and everyone watching saw her taking out her wand. "Don't tell me what I do or don't know, Evans," she yelled, losing composure. Her pretty face flushed with rage. "I'll give you a piece of my mind—"
Lily crossed her arms, but not before taking her own wand out as well. "Don't bother. With that pea-sized brain of yours, you can't spare any," she interjected. The onlookers snickered. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Aurelia smirking and looking like she was trying to restrain herself from cheering Lily on out loud.
"H-how—how dare you…" Narcissa seethed, unable to retort properly as she saw red.
"Nice comeback," Lily remarked sardonically. "I thought popular girls were required to perfect the art of intimidating others and shutting them down whenever they stood up to them. Or maybe you didn't master it yet, because some people think that a Slytherin isn't worth to be worshipped by them…" Again, she looked around as Narcissa tried to find her own voice, surveying the crowd of watchers. Strangely, she didn't feel as nervous as she had at the beginning of the confrontation.
James stood next to Aurelia with an amused smile on his face; just then, Lily noticed that they too were holding their wands in case Narcissa decided to get vicious. As Lily continued to stare Narcissa down, she could see the girls at her side clutching their wands as well. It suddenly occurred to her that Aurelia was alone. Where was Remus?
Her question was answered as she looked off to the side of their table, where Sirius was bending over a goblet with Remus shaking his head at him. Remus caught her eye and grinned before joining their friends among the circle of spectators. Sirius followed him, carrying the goblet, though he gave Lily a wink before strolling away.
Finally, Narcissa appeared like she could control her temper, but she didn't look so cocky now that Lily was answering back. "You have some nerve, for an outcast. Are you so clueless about the social world that your ignorance is starting to turn you into an idiot?" She flipped her hair over her shoulder again. "Don't even think that you're going to get any person's favors here. I wouldn't doubt it. After all, you're just a dirty little Mudblood," she spat harshly.
As unpopular as Lily was, most people around them glowered angrily at Narcissa, muttering under their breath but not having the guts to stand up to her. James and Sirius, though, weren't classified as "most people." As all Slytherins within hearing range broke into malevolent sneers at Lily, they started to step forward with their wands out, glaring spitefully at Narcissa.
"Don't," Lily warned them, turning her head slightly in the professors' direction. In the midst of the other students who were enjoying the dance, they hadn't noticed that there was a fight going on. She looked back at Narcissa. "Typical of you to use my lineage to judge me as an unworthy person. I guess you're so shallow and narrow-minded already that you resort to using an excuse like that. Why would you need an excuse, anyway? What's the matter, Leigh? Afraid somebody's going to snatch your popularity from you? Do you feel threatened by those you consider the 'lesser people' now?"
Some students were starting to nod encouragingly at Lily; some others, adapting the same disbelieving look they had on their faces when she had first entered the Hall. It was clear why they were shocked, though. Apparently, nobody had ever stood up to Narcissa Leigh and her friends, and here was a former outcast, proving stronger than any of them by having the courage to answer back to the girl with more power than her. This event certainly changed their minds about Lily.
The look on Narcissa's face told everyone within sight that she was through spewing catty retorts to Lily; it was a glare of pure hatred and malice. Without checking if any teachers were looking her way or not, she pointed her wand at Lily, shaking with fury, and screeched, "Mauspovian!" A jet of light issued from her wand and shot straight at Lily, who quickly deflected the spell with a Shield Charm. Though she was fast enough to put it up in time not to be hit, the force of the curse made her stagger back a few paces right into Sirius.
Shield Charms were appropriate in keeping minor hexes from hitting the conjurer, but didn't stop the curse from attacking someone else. The curse rebounded from Lily's shield, and like refracted light from a prism, shot back into Narcissa's direction. She jumped out of the way in time, and one of her friends behind her got hit instead. Weird purple spots popped up all over her face and throat, where the hex hit her, and she cried out to her friends, too panicky to perform a countercurse.
But Narcissa didn't bother looking back to see if any of her friends got caught in the crossfire; she straightened as soon as the curse was out of the way and pointed her wand at Lily again in the stance of one going to do a duel. Lily, who wanted to retaliate with a curse, but not stupid enough to do so because there were teachers around, instinctively swiped the goblet from Sirius' hands and threw its contents in Narcissa's face.
"Lily! Don't, that's… Never mind…" Sirius mumbled. "She's a Slytherin anyway."
Narcissa sputtered; the goblet had contained pumpkin juice and the sticky liquid ran down her throat and stained the top of her red robes. As she tried to perform the right spell to make it disappear, she gave a humongous belch that was heard throughout the Hall. Those who were dancing, or watching, or just sitting in the tables chatting, turned to see who did it—in fact, the whole Great Hall looked in their direction, including the teachers and Dumbledore. Narcissa, who looked utterly shocked (not to mention embarrassed), covered her mouth with both hands, looking sick. Something started to sprout unnaturally onto her palms, and she screamed, tearing them away and gaping at them in horror. Brown, hairy spots were popping out on them, spots that looked horribly like…
"Warts! Eurgh, Narcissa…" one of her friends said disgustedly, stepping away as Narcissa's silky hair went limp before their very eyes. Then she started coughing and sneezing alternately, and unstoppably, so she was more than preoccupied and couldn't wipe her suddenly runny nose…
Most of the other students were too stunned to move—too stunned, indeed, to even react at all (except to look shocked). Sirius, unlike them, was rolling around on the Great Hall floor in fits of laughter. Aurelia snickered, unable to stop herself; Peter looked bewildered; Remus' face was torn between amusement and pity for Narcissa, even though she was a Slytherin. James wasn't gawping at Narcissa, he went to Lily's side immediately. Lily was staring at the girl she threw Sirius' gobletful of…whatever its mysterious contents were…she too appeared shocked, but still, her eyes gleamed with silent triumph. She waved her wand and made the goblet soar back to their table.
This motion seemed to trigger the movement of everyone's mouths; slowly, the Gryffindors started murmuring to one another, then the other students joined in, whispering and talking in hushed tones as Narcissa's appearance and condition grew worse (her smooth face now looked like she had sprouted acne in barely a second ((which she probably had)); she seemed to be suffering under an assortment of different common sicknesses, and she was still belching loudly). On top of that, she appeared on the verge of tears.
Some students who hated the Slytherins and despised Narcissa no matter how powerful she was socially, said harsh words out loud, but not loud enough for teachers to hear. Speaking of teachers, they were fighting their way through the motionless mob that still didn't move an inch.
"Really, stop gaping and move along now, the dance isn't over… Come on, MOVE!" Professor McGonagall barked at some particularly dazed-looking fourth years that were rooted to the spot. They jumped at her stern voice and quickly scurried out of her (and the other teachers') way.
"What is going on here?" Professor Witzgromeneirre, the Slytherin Head of House, demanded as soon as she reached Lily and Narcissa.
"Leigh threw a curse at me, Professor," Lily started to explain, pointing at Narcissa's friend, who had purple spots covered all over her.
Professor Witzgromeneirre sneered. "Really? How strange… are you implying that Miss Leigh has poor aim and sight and mistakenly hit one of her own friends instead? Or is this a poor attempt at a lie to cover up the fact that you hurled a curse at her?"
"Kathleen!" Professor McGonagall admonished, glaring at her. "You saw it for yourself, Miss Leigh threw a curse at Miss Evans—"
"She was probably provoked!" Witzgromeneirre argued. "She is in my House, and I assure you that she will not act poorly for no reason!"
The two Heads of Houses continued to quarrel, each not willing to admit that their student could behave so coarsely. The students were so engrossed in this rare display of teachers squabbling, very much unlike their usual calm, reserved selves, that they didn't notice Lily approaching Narcissa cautiously. All of Narcissa's friends abandoned her or had backed away once the…thing in the goblet took effect.
Lily stretched out her hand to help her. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital wing," she said softly, laying a hand on Narcissa's arm.
"Don't—*cough*—touch me!" Narcissa spat, though Lily was amazed that she could still talk. There were tears in her eyes.
Lily took her hand back, but strangely, she felt no hatred for Narcissa, even if she had tormented Lily for the past few days. All she felt was pity and guilt, as if she were the one who had done something wrong… "You're not going to get better if you just stand there. I'll take you to the hospital wing," she said quietly.
Narcissa struggled to look dignified, though it must be hard from her present position. "I do not—*cough*—need your help, nor your pity. You're just a…AH CHOO! …a nasty, primeval outcast—" She belched again, and weird, smelly green bubbles emitted from her mouth. People near her shrank even farther away.
"Lily, if she doesn't want to…" James trailed off quietly as Lily continued to stare at Narcissa.
"I'm not going to stoop to her level," Lily said, her eyes still fixed on her enemy. "I'm taking her to the hospital wing even if she—or her friends, for that matter—doesn't want to." She strode forward and took Narcissa firmly by the upper arm, which seemed to be the only part of Narcissa's skin not covered with weird boils, warts, and other abnormal skin growths. This time, Narcissa didn't protest, and just let Lily drag her out of the Great Hall. Some watched them leave, the others' eyes were still glued to the professors' argument. None of those watching the latter seemed to have noticed that the subjects of the fight were exiting the Hall. By the time they realized this, the two girls had probably already reached the hospital wing.
"Now, where have those girls disappear to?" Professor McGonagall huffed.
"This is all your fault, Minerva, if you hadn't stopped yapping about student rivalry, then you would have saved precious time and just told off that delinquent Gryffindor of yours—"
"Delinquent?!" McGonagall cried. "Lily Evans is one of the best students in this school and is a respected prefect, and you call her a delinquent! It's your student, Professor Witzgromeneirre, who talks back at her professors and struts around the castle like she owns the place!"
"How dare you say that about an honorable Slytherin student!" Witzgromeneirre screeched. "You—"
"I'm afraid, my dear professors, that we need to get back to the subject at hand, and set aside our unabashed opinions on disciplinary ethics," Dumbledore said abruptly. His eyes twinkled merrily, as if he too had stood back and enjoyed their catfight.
Professor Witzgromeneirre stood stiffly. "Yes, where have they gone? I suppose Evans ran out to avoid punishment—"
"She is a prefect, Kathleen! She understands the need to make up for the wrongs she does, and she rarely has any—"
"Ladies, please!" Dumbledore said reprovingly in a more stern tone. "The girls…"
"Yes, yes. Black, get up from there, it's very unbecoming. Where have Miss Evans and Miss Leigh gone?" Professor McGonagall asked.
Sirius stood up straight as a few students laughed at McGonagall's remark. "See, Professor, they went out to continue their duel somewhere else, so as not to disturb the other students," he deadpanned with a straight face.
Professor Flitwick shook his head disappointedly. "And I wanted to congratulate Miss Evans for that excellent Shield Charm she performed…"
Witzgromeneirre exploded at Sirius' answer. "THEY DID?! I'm telling you, Minerva, that Evans should be suspended—"
"HOW many times must I tell you that Lily Evans will never attack another student?!" Professor McGonagall retorted.
They still argued as they walked out of the Great Hall, ignoring Sirius' shouts of "Hey! I was just kidding…kidding! Are you listening to me?"
Dumbledore put a hand on Sirius' shoulder, which immediately halted his antics. The old Headmaster smiled at him. "Sometimes, it is wise to just stand back when two people are arguing. After all, it is a ladies' fight."
*****
The dance carried on after the public spectacle, and the students did so as if they hadn't just witnessed something big that would keep them gossiping until the end of the school year. It seemed that there was one thought that was the conclusion in everyone's mind: no one should comment on anything until the matter about Narcissa's or Lily's punishment was cleared, or, more importantly (at least for the students) what would become of their social status. Most were vouching for a skyrocket in Lily's popularity, and Narcissa's downfall. Few talked about the recent events and went on to enjoy the dance.
Included in the few were, of course, the marauders and Aurelia.
"The way she snapped at Narcissa and twisted all her insults right back at her, just like that! That was amazing!" Remus exclaimed.
Aurelia nodded. "Yeah. This really helped her boost her confidence, all right. I get the feeling that nobody's going to try to fight her anytime soon," she predicted happily. She was so proud of Lily for standing up for herself.
"I wish I had her bravery," Peter said sadly.
"I hope she's all right now… I can't believe she helped Narcissa, after what that cow did to her all week," James said worriedly with a frown. If Narcissa hated Lily, and they were alone in a dark passage somewhere…
Sirius grinned. "Aw, Prongs, don't fret. What d'you think Narcissa's gonna do, attack Lily? I assure you, nobody would be able to retaliate after they get a dose of my special concoction…"
"So that's what was in the pumpkin juice! Why did you put it in the goblet? Did you guess that Lily would rather throw it at Narcissa than hex her?" Aurelia asked.
"Nah, I'm no Divination whiz… I was going to trick Snape into drinking it…"
Aurelia sighed and rolled her eyes. "Figures."
Sirius' eyes lit up. "Oh yeah, you reminded me! I'm gonna dump a whole vial into this next one, it'll be real potent then…" He grinned mischievously as he took another full goblet of pumpkin juice and poured the contents of a vial in his robes into it.
"How are you going to give it to him without arousing suspicion? After all, everybody saw Lily take the goblet from your hands, so the Slytherins would see right through you," Remus pointed out.
"I haven't thought about that…" Sirius said, scratching his chin. "Oh, hell with it, I'll pour my potion into every goblet in his and his friends' table…just to be sure." With a last wicked smile, he slid out of his chair and walked surreptitiously to Snape's table. Luckily, it was empty, all of the Slytherins were on the dance floor. Who'd be stupid enough to go on a date with Snape? he wondered in disbelief. No wait, not stupid, crazy…or both.
From afar, the other marauders watched him dumping his creation into all the goblets as fast as he could.
Remus smiled amusedly, but then glanced back at the door to the Great Hall. Just in time, too, for Lily strolled into the Hall just then, Narcissa-and-professors-free. "Lily," he called when she was ten feet away, causing everybody else to turn in his direction. "Where've you been?"
Lily reached them and shrugged. "Went to the infirmary with Narcissa, I was gonna go back but I heard Professors McGonagall and Witzgromeneirre shouting at the top of their lungs in the intersecting corridor. Witzgromeneirre was yelling something about me murdering Narcissa and hiding her body somewhere unsuspicious, so I thought it wouldn't be a good time to bid them good night." There was a round of laughter at her response.
Peter shook his head. "I still can't believe you'd do something like that for Narcissa after everything she'd done to you…"
"It's no big deal, like I said, I don't want to be as low as the Slytherins. I think that it's even more disbelieving that her friends wouldn't help her at all." Lily twirled a spoon around and around in her hands, slightly going red as she was the main subject at their table.
"Well, I did it," Sirius' voice said happily behind her, and Lily was grateful that they turned to look at Sirius; she wasn't used to being the center of attention. He only noticed Lily when he slid into his chair. "Oh, hi, Lily. Congratulations on kicking Slytherin butt!" He grinned. "And should I mention, I very soon will be too." He watched Snape's table, where two of his friends had sat down to.
"You better run for it, or hide in the dance floor so that they wouldn't suspect you," James advised him.
"Sure, sure, just don't take any credit for my work, you know I did it all by myself," Sirius reminded before bouncing all the way to the throng of people in the middle of the Hall.
A minute after he left, when Snape's friends grabbed the goblets and started to drink, Aurelia's eyes widened and she said, "Oh, shit, we better get out of here too—even if Sirius isn't around they'll assume that we put something in their drinks. We're the only ones not dancing, did you know?" She grabbed a surprised Remus' wrist and hauled him after Sirius, and within seconds her blonde head and Remus' light brown hair disappeared into the mob.
James shrugged at Lily, and they stood up and followed their friends. "May I have this dance, milady?" he asked mock-gentlemanly, grinning at her.
"Ugh, stop acting like that, I hate formalities," Lily answered, but a small smile tugged her lips and she took his hand. James wrapped his other arm around her waist, and she put her free arm around his neck. (ya know…standard romantic dance posture -_-)
They danced to three songs looking at each other with their eyes glazed over; whenever Remus and Aurelia passed them, Remus started laughing hysterically and Aurelia glared at him to shut up—but she couldn't help but smile either to see so much change in Lily.
Over the dance music, there suddenly came screams and yells in the direction of Severus Snape's and his friends' table, with some very…unbecoming sounds added to the mix. Sirius' potion was obviously taking effect.
James snapped out of his previous thoughts (twinkling emerald orbs) and peered over the heads of other couples who were too distracted gazing at their boyfriends/girlfriends to find out what new chaos was about.
"I take it that Severus Snape and his gang are currently looking panic-stricken and are screaming their heads off hysterically," Lily said dryly, looking expectantly at James who barely needed to tiptoe to see over the crowd.
"Of course. Whoever can mistake Snape's unusually high-pitched scream whenever he feels his already mutated face is magically becoming more horrifying?" James replied, grinning wickedly before returning his gaze to Lily.
Lily shook her head. "James, that's harsh."
James broke into an expression of pretend shock. "Harsh? I was stating a well-known and proven fact!"
"Riiight… Still, I personally doubt that Sirius' concoction will make Snape look any worse—I mean, he already looks like he's been given more than his fair share of imperfection in the looks department…" Lily remarked.
James grinned. "Oh, who's being harsh now?"
"Just following your lead," Lily said devilishly, smiling despite herself.
"You actually smiled! That's another count for the record!" James exclaimed. Several couples who weren't acting as mushy as the others glanced over at him like he was some weirdo.
Lily frowned suddenly, abolishing said smile. "What do you mean by that?"
"I'm just casually stating that you need to smile more often, my dear," James said, cupping her chin in his hand—the one that wasn't wrapped around her waist. Smiling slightly, he started to tilt her head up and leaned forward, seeing clearly the expectant and anticipative look in Lily's eyes. His mouth hovered just millimeters above hers when a blur of midnight blue and black headed straight toward them. Fortunately, James saw it at the corner of his eye and practically jumped away from Lily, resulting into treading on somebody's foot.
"OW!!! Do you mind?"
"SIRIUS!" James yelled, ignoring the Hufflepuff boy who was glowering at him.
"Shhhh!!! How do you expect I'm gonna run away from them if you shout out my name at the top of your lungs?!" Sirius hissed, ducking behind Lily.
"I understand that you're distressed, but I must point out that hiding behind me isn't a sensible idea, Sirius," Lily stated matter-of-factly. Her 5' 5" frame wasn't sufficient enough to cover 6' 2" Sirius.
"Oh, hahaha, I don't need your sarcastic humor right now, Miss Ice Queen. What do you think I'm ducking for in the first place?" Sirius said sardonically.
"They're coming this way…You'd better do something." James told his best friend. Sirius gulped and started to wring his hands. "Or maybe not… Lily, you do something…"
"Gods, whatever happens to people's brains when they're panicked…Conseadio," Lily muttered, tapping her wand on Sirius' head. He vanished.
"Whoa, I didn't say 'rid the dance of a sugar-rushed troublemaker,'" James said, taken aback.
Lily opened her mouth, but an unseen voice interrupted her. "What did she do to me?! Quick, tell me what she—you did to me!" Lily's wand was suddenly plucked out of her hands by thin air.
"It's an Invisibility Charm, you dimwit, and it wears off after a few minutes, so I suggest you get out of here if you don't want your ass to be grass," Lily snapped at the invisible Sirius, snatching her wand back. Remus and Aurelia, still dancing, whirled past them, staring at Lily quizzically. There was silence, and then an "OUCH! What the bloody hell was that?!" from about six feet away.
"Don't worry, he'll be fine," James assured Lily, who pocketed her wand.
"Who, Sirius or the poor prat he practically flattened?" Lily responded.
James laughed. "I think both will live," he said, resuming their dance as if nothing happened. There was no way he could kiss her now; like last time, Sirius had managed to break the romantic mood.
"I've been having a feeling that your best friend has made it his life's mission to prevent us from showing displays of affection as much as possible," Lily commented, voicing his thoughts.
James laughed again; it really seemed like their minds were in sync. That never happened to him with anyone else, except maybe Sirius. Then again, pranksters' minds worked the same way.
"What are you laughing about?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow and giving him a stare that meant that he had temporarily gone insane.
"Nothing, just that that was exactly what I was thinking. Anyway, let's go somewhere else, even without Sirius there's still no privacy in this place. I was going to give you your gift anyway…" He led Lily through the mob of dancing students and the entrance hall. There were several couples who took advantage of the darker parts of the hall so they went on outside, walking until they reached a relatively secluded area, where thick bushed grew around one side of a stone bench and some slacker fairies wandered through, twinkling in the moonlight.
Sitting down on the bench, James gestured for Lily to do the same. "Here," he said with a smile, handing her the gift that Aurelia had seen him holding earlier. "Merry Christmas."
Lily clapped a hand to her mouth. "I can't believe I forgot, Aurelia was fussing over me so much that I didn't even bring it…"
James stared at her. "What—"
"Accio gift!" Lily shouted suddenly. James jumped in his seat.
"Aw, I know you love me, but you didn't need to give me a heart attack," James joked as a shoe-box-sized gift zoomed toward Lily at warp speed. It started to slow down as it neared her and she caught it deftly in her hands.
"Merry Christmas James," she said, giving him the gift. Strangely, there was a sad look in her eyes as he accepted it.
"What's wrong, Lils?" he asked with concern.
Lily snapped out of her reverie. "Huh? Oh…um, nothing. Shall we open them now?"
James had the feeling that she was changing the subject, and thought that this must be the first time she had given somebody a gift since her parents passed away. He decided not to pry. "Depends… is it twelve o'clock already?"
Looking at her watch, Lily answered, "11: 58," she read.
"That's practically midnight, nobody's going to sue us if we don't open them now," James said indignantly.
"You don't like tradition, James?" Lily said with a smile, and it once again dawned on James that she rarely ever smiled, even when she was with his friends. It reminded him of how beautiful she really was if she smiled like that, and how half the smiles she cracked happened when he was with her. He went on thinking about Lily and smiles until he saw a hand waving in front of his face…
"Do you intend to while away the remaining two minutes till midnight by staring off into space?" Lily inquired, a full-fledged grin gracing her delicate features.
James mirrored her expression. "It seems to me that you want to suggest a better way to pass the time, Lily-flower," he said playfully, pulling her closer until their noses touched.
"Don't call me that," Lily said in mock-annoyance, but she couldn't really think of anything sarcastic to say, not when she could feel his breath on her lips and the tingly sensation that ran down her spine at his touch. She parted her lips willingly and felt a wave of warmth wash over her as they kissed. It lasted for twenty seconds before they heard a sound in the bushes.
"Awww… *sniff* that is just so sweet…" a voice not so subtly whispered in feigned emotion.
"Shut up, you pinhead," another voice hissed.
"But I can't help it, I'm so touched…" the first voice answered sniffily, though it was shaking slightly, probably with contained laughter. There was a sound of a nose being blown.
James sighed. "Incendio," he said, pointing his wand at a particularly large, quivering bush.
"JAMES!!!" three voices yelled, while another just squeaked in fright. Lily shook her head.
"Is that some way of treating your friends? Burning them alive?!" Sirius said irritably, straightening up. He was holding a handkerchief.
"What happened to Mr. Sensitive-and-oh-so-touched?" Remus asked wickedly.
"I do believe that anybody who is feeling emotional won't get the urge to shed a few tears if one of their friends just attempted to set their hides on fire!" Sirius retorted, stuffing the handkerchief into a pocket in his robes.
"I do believe that that would just cause the sensitive person to cry even more, as he wouldn't expect his fire-happy friend to do something like that to him," Remus shot back amusedly.
"Well, I don't know what you two believe, but what I can't believe is that I let myself be persuaded by you two to come with you, only to get my best dress robes singed by your demented, flame-loving pal!" Aurelia snapped, glowering at the pair of them. Remus and Sirius quailed under her harsh glare, and she suddenly burst out laughing.
"I think you're the one off your rocker," Sirius said.
"You two look like two deer caught in headlights!" Aurelia said between giggles. "All that believing must be making you gullible."
Sirius frowned. "No, we aren't, that's Peter's business," he corrected, pointing at Peter, who was hopping on the spot because the hem of his robes were on fire.
James conjured a bucket of water and used it to extinguish Peter's burden. "What I'd like to ask is what business you four have being here," he said, frowning at the on-the-spot intruders.
"What else? Breaking up your little make-out session because it's sooo fun!!!" Sirius exclaimed gleefully.
Remus looked at him uncertainly. "You're having one of your momentarily-going-crazy moments again," he warned.
"I am? I've been waiting for it! Free butterbeer, everybody!" Sirius yelled, pulling six bottles from his robes.
"How do you keep all that in there?" Lily asked, amazed.
"I can carry anything with me!" Sirius announced proudly before taking a swig from his bottle.
"Except his sanity," James muttered, but accepted a butterbeer bottle from his manic best friend.
Aurelia shook her head. "He got hit by a Hyperactivity Hex just as he was leaving the Great Hall; the Invisibility Charm he had on himself was starting to fade by then," she explained to James and Lily.
"Hyperactivity plus Sirius equals disaster," James grumbled.
"We were lucky that the Slytherin who cast it didn't master the spell, and it only had a partial effect," Remus said.
"You call that partial?" said Lily, gesturing at Sirius who was jumping up and down on the bench, singing Christmas carols at the top of his lungs and using his butterbeer bottle as a microphone. The beverage only made him more hyper.
"At least it didn't kick in until we were hiding in the bushes," Remus reasoned. "Wait a sec… I think it was his hyperactivity that made him push us into following you two in the first place…"
"WE WISH YOU A MEEEERRRRRYYYY CHRISTMAAAAASSSSSS…. AND A HAAAAPPY NEW YEEEEEEAAAARRRRR!!!" Sirius sang.
"Whatever he did, it's obvious that he doesn't respect other people's privacy," James said, glancing disapprovingly at Sirius.
"I don't think he even knows the meaning of the word 'privacy,'" Peter chimed in.
James rolled his eyes. "If that's the case, then I don't care anymore," he announced.
"About what?" Peter asked, his tone puzzled.
Remus nodded his head vigorously. "Yeah, wha—?"
But his words were cut off as James grabbed Lily and kissed her on the spot. Lily was so surprised that she dropped her butterbeer bottle, which splattered Remus and Peter with sticky liquid before falling to the ground with a clatter.
"Eeeeeeeew. PDA! JAMES AND LILY, SITTING IN A TREE, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!!" Sirius changed his line of lyrics and clapped gleefully. Everybody had different reactions; Peter covered his ears with his hands and shut his eyes; Remus clapped a hand to his forehead and shook his head, Aurelia smiled amusedly at Sirius and Lily and James; Lily flushed even redder than she had been when James kissed her; and James looked like he was off in la-la land and couldn't care less what his best friend was singing.
"…FIRST COMES LOVE, THEN COMES MARRIAGE—"
"Reticence," Aurelia murmured, pointing her wand at Sirius, who was silenced, but still jumped incessantly, mouthing the words . "Well then," she said brightly to Remus, who appeared to be the only other person who was not too occupied to converse, "this night certainly turned out quite interesting."
Remus smiled, glanced at Lily and James, who were still caught in a passionate lip lock, then at Sirius, who looked like he had given up singing without a voice and resorted to downing as many ounces of butterbeer that he could, then at Peter, who was curled up in a ball at the foot of the bench with his eyes tightly shut and his fingers in his ears, and finally, back at Aurelia. "Yep, definitely qualifies as a photographic moment that you can keep in your mind's memory album," he quipped.
Aurelia smirked. "Why not? Accio camera!" Moments later, her camera came flying towards her, and with another twirl of her wand she made it stop in midair, in the exact position that would be perfect for a snapshot of the scene before them. She and Remus joined their friends (Lily and James didn't notice the camera, nor anybody else for that matter), Remus bending down next to Peter to see if he was okay, and Aurelia gesturing at Sirius to go down from the bench (Sirius, finding the absence of vocal capacity, was using animated hand signs to argue with her).
As the camera took the picture, emitting a flash in their direction, one thought, unsaid, seemed to weave into all of the six friends' minds, no matter how preoccupied they all were with their tasks.
Yes, that moment would definitely be a night to remember.
*****
Six months later, those six friends departed Platform Nine and Three Quarters and went on to their separate ways. The six months of school left had passed in a blur, and the overall outcome was that Lily had quickly risen up the social ladder (though she continuously denied it); the Gryffindors won the House Cup, owing much to their victory in the Inter-House Quidditch Championship; most of the students had accepted the fact that Lily was no longer an outcast and was now a well-respected Gryffindor who was James Potter's girlfriend, and had realized that she in fact had a nice personality that they had not been able to see before; the Slytherins continued to jeer at the Gryffindors (and Lily) but the insults lessened tremendously since the scene at the Christmas ball.
It had been quite a school year for Lily Evans, and all the changes that fate had worked in her favor resulted in her being discharged from the orphanage and staying with a very distant relative, who had agreed to take her and Petunia in and had apologized profusely for not being able to hear about their terrible family ordeal sooner.
Lily sat in the front passenger seat of her great aunt's car, playing with the bracelet on her wrist. It was the bracelet that James had given her for Christmas. Its chain was silver, and round, different-colored gems dangled from it. She recalled the note that was inside the box containing the gift that she had opened on Christmas Day.
Lily,
I've always loved your smile. Here's a gift that would make you do so more often, and I hope that whenever it does, it'll remind you of how much happiness there is, and will be, in your life.
Love always,
James
She had always been baffled as to how a bracelet was going to make her smile, but she had never asked him, nor had she pondered much what the note really meant. Recalling the memory, she fidgeted with the bracelet and fingered a blue gem carefully. To her surprise, a horizontal line suddenly appeared around the gem, splitting it in half, and the top half separated from its lower counterpart partially, as if an invisible hinge connected it to the lower half. Something in the core of the lower half shone, and a minuscule projection shot out of it, hovering above the open gem.
The tiny projection showed the scene of the Great Hall bedecked in red and pink—the Valentines Ball. It was zoomed in at two particular people—James and her, in fact—dancing in the middle of the Great Hall. As Lily watched, the memory of the event brought a smile to her lips, and she found out, finally, what James meant when his gift would make her smile.
She played with the other gems, each one showing a different happy memory. She felt considerably happier than when she had said goodbye to her friends at the platform, knowing that she wouldn't see them for two whole months. She opened the last gem, which was the most interesting, as it flashed different colors every few seconds. Instead of a projection, shimmering light that flashed in different colors like the gem shot out of it, forming tiny letters, then words, in front of Lily. She read the message with her eyes.
There's always something to smile about.
*****
James was in the backseat of his dad's "normal" car, as his dad referred to it (it was a Muggle car). Though the Potters were purebloods, his dad had a high position in the Ministry and he constantly told James that it was vital to "hold important relations both in the wizarding and Muggle worlds." So they had two cars, the Muggle one and one that his father had gotten from the Ministry. They also had electricity at home, two telephone lines, and a bunch of other Muggle things that his parents considered important for him to know about.
Sirius was in the backseat with him, as their houses were right across each other and Mr. Potter had volunteered to fetch him to save his dad the trouble. Once again he was in one of his temporarily-insane-and-doesn't-know-what-he's-doing moments. He was laughing for no apparent reason and handed James a shiny red apple.
James sighed. He had been staring out the window at the bright green lawns of the houses they passed. Grass reminded him of green, green reminded him of emerald, and emerald reminded him of Lily's eyes. If Sirius was in a crazy frenzy, he was lost in a Lily daydream. Thankfully (if you could call it that) Sirius had snapped him out of it by giving him the apple.
"Why did you give me an apple?" James asked his loony best friend.
Sirius stopped sniggering. "To tell you the truth, I don't know." Then he started laughing again.
James rolled his eyes. "Sirius…"
"What?"
"Go to sleep." Surprisingly, Sirius did just that, and there was silence in the car for a moment, occasionally punctuated by Sirius' snores.
"Thanks, dad," James said.
Mr. Potter grinned. "No problem. Sirius was starting to worry me, who knows what he'll do when he's…"
"Mentally unstable," James finished. "Where did he get this apple, anyway?" he asked, holding up the ripe fruit.
His father shrugged. "I have no idea."
There was silence again, and, with nothing else to do, James tossed the apple up and down. The apple was ripe, and ripe apples were red. Red made him think of Lily's hair… He threw the apple too hard and it hit him on the head. "Ow!"
"You all right, son?" his dad said from the front.
"I'm okay," James grumbled, rubbing the sore spot on his head. The way that every single thing in sight reminded him of his girlfriend was driving him crazy, but in a good way. It brought a smile to his lips to remember the first time he had taken an interest in befriending Lily. Back then, she was purposefully rude and had a defense mechanism that was almost impossible to break through. Almost. But like every other person in the world, she had a weakness, and it was that sudden show of vulnerability in her otherwise cold and mean demeanor that tweaked his interest in her.
And after he and his friends broke through that barrier, Lily's real personality slowly started to show, and that was when he started to fall for her. But even though he knew all her secrets and changes in her life, she was still unpredictable sometimes. That was just another thing that he loved about her, that she could be sweet and vulnerable, yet be guarded and fierce when there were those who opposed her. Like a mother eagle. Caring to its young, but ferocious when the need to protect them was required. (I have absolutely no idea if eagle are the maternal sort… -_-)
Right at that moment an eagle owl swooped overhead, and James groaned. Eagle owls most definitely reminded him of eagles, and due to his previous thoughts, it, of course, reminded him of Lily… What was an owl doing soaring around in broad daylight anyway?
Giving up trying to push Lily out of his mind (there was no escaping it), he closed his eyes and just listened to the sounds inside the car. Feeling like this was unavoidable anyway, his mind drifted to the whirl of Lily's life—her story. He just let the image of her face loom in his mind's eye while the sound of the radio assaulted his ears, vaguely hearing the deejay announcing the next song as "Story of a Girl" by "Nine Days."
James didn't really focus on the lyrics of the Muggle song, until the chorus, since it was the clearest part.
This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looks so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her
When she smiles
James' eyes snapped open, and he stared at the car radio as if seeing it for the first time. Then, he let out a full-fledged grin.
Yep, that was his girl all right.
~End~
A/N – Please bear with me, as I am so out of ideas. Summer vacation is making me brain-dead. But, come on! This whole chapter's worth two—it's nineteen and one-third pages long!!! As in, 11,359 words—not including the A/N's! I still worked hard on this chappie even if I think it isn't as good as the others. Since the chapter's so long, I think I'm entitled to a long author's note too…so here's my thanks to the reviewers of chappie 11. I would thank those who reviewed in chappie 10 too, but being the lazy ass that I am…
SVZ – Thanks! I don't mind that you reviewed late at all, it's probably just karma for me 'cause I update late ^_^ August 'roxy' Taylor – Forget the slash fic? Hehe… Cymone wouldn't like to hear that, but personally I think you're right. ^_~ danielle – I didn't exactly hook them up, sorry, but they are together at the ball, right? Hope you don't mind. jules182hprox – I'm really, really sorry that I ended the fic in this chappie…somehow I think I've failed everybody else who said I shouldn't, but I really am running out of ideas (big surprise), being the uncreative person that I am. Don't be mad at me, OK??? Saffron – Thanks! But I didn't update fast enough as usual…sorry 'bout that. Lizmaurder4ever – You don't need to write a long review, I appreciate your support no matter how short it is! KC Kee – Recognition Day? Ummm…it's this day for us kids in school who worked hard during the school year to: 1.) do all our assignments on time and add long, touchy-feely stories to the essays so that the teachers will have tears in their eyes after reading them and give us a perfect score 2.) act polite to proper authority figures so that they think we're perfect little angels and 3.) be really 'responsible,' act like good leaders to our fellow classmates and look like we diligently follow the school rules on the surface, even if we really don't, but the teachers believe we're well-behaved anyway (OK, so we're not all that bad…). We get to stand on a stage where our names are called one by one (to be 'recognized') and we get a gold certificate and a complementary gift to boot. Am I rambling? Yes? *whacks head with a stuffed toy* Anyway, I did what you said about the Christmas ball! Thanx for the idea! Although it wasn't eggnog. Oh well… Shaye – Ahh! The puppy dog eyes! Can't…resist… wait a minute, I'm late! Sorry… Yuffie-Girl – Thanks for not minding if I ended it here! I made it end after the school year, hope it's more satisfactory then. kerry – Thanks so much! Mysticpixie – Sirius and matchmaking don't sound right in the same sentence ^_^ *snow* - My fic? Addictive? I'm flattered…thanks! Lupus Argenteus Noctus – Well, here's more! lilliana – Thanks for the compliment ^_^ Shinning Crystal – Thank you! *Diva – Thanks! And without a crazy Sirius in any marauder story, where'd half the fun be? Harmonia – That makes three people who wanted a couple more chapters… I'm really really really sorry!!! This chapter is the longest one I've ever made in this fic, so I hope you won't be disappointed!
BTW… I know that it's impossible for Nine Days to release Story of a Girl\When She Smiles in Lily's time, but the song was perfect for Lily's situation. Just wanted to clear that part…
Nyweiz, thank you to my reviewers and the writers who put me in their Fave Author List because of this story… YOU GUYS ROCK!!!
~Dimantrien