Disclaimer: Not my people, not my places, not my nouns in general. Only thing I own is the plot and Nore.
This chapter does so very little to advance the plot, but it was extremely entertaining to write and it advances the plot a little. And if you're curious, it took a really long time because I had it all written, and then I decided that the beginning of the chapter sucked and I needed to re-write it. And it really needs a good chapter title. I swear that the next chapter actually advances the plot.
Chapter 2: Purple Bubbles and Dirty Minds
Lily couldn't help, but notice the odd things that were going on at breakfast that morning.
She sat down next to James who was smiling nervously. Lily could hardly believe that James was the same person who used to hex people for fun when they got on his nerves. This James was sweet and more mature. He could still be a little arrogant at times, but overall he had really improved. He still played pranks on people sometimes, but they were no longer cruel or hurt anyone. Lily mentioned this to Nore last night, but she just made a bizarre noise and went to sleep.
Perhaps it was Lily's imagination but for some reason she imagined that Sirius's eyes kept flickering towards her that morning. And it seemed that Nore and Sirius kept exchanging strange looks with some sort of significance.
"What's up, you guys?" she asked as Sirius and Nore exchanged another look as James put his arm around Lily.
"Nothing," responded Sirius quickly.
"You guys keep looking at each other," James added.
"We do not," Nore denied her face growing red. Lily wondered vaguely if she and Sirius were going out. Or if one of them at least had a crush on the other.
Sirius, however, made no attempt, however, to deny that he and Nore had been exchanging glances.
"We played a prank together yesterday, and we're wondering how it turned out," answered Sirius smoothly.
"On who?" Lily demanded, as long as she had known Nore she had never been one to play pranks on other people. She'd been like Lily and denounced it as cruel and immature.
"Without me?" asked James indignantly.
"We didn't think Mrs. Prongs would approve," replied Sirius with the smallest trace of bitterness hidden in his voice as Lily blushed at being called Mrs. Prongs.
"What'd you do?" asked James excitedly, as Lily rolled her eyes, and as Sirius predicted Mrs. Prongs did not approve.
"I can't believe you helped him, Nore," commented Lily sounding amazed.
"So, what did you do?" persisted James with the enthusiasm of a small child on Christmas morning.
But a strange strangled noise prevented Sirius from answering.
Everyone turned their heads and saw that Remus was now making his way towards them, looking rather angry.
"Hey Moony," James greeted. "I didn't see you last night where were you?"
Remus opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead a large stream of purple bubbles issued out of his mouth. Lily was looking angrily at James, Sirius, Peter, and Nore. James looked as though he was also trying to resist the urge to laugh, no doubt to impress her. Nore was biting on her bottom lip. Sirius and Peter, however, were making no attempts whatsoever to restrain themselves.
"What happened, Moony?" asked James whose resolution not to laugh had finally given away.
Remus pointed an angry finger at Sirius, who turned around, and looked behind him.
"That little Ravenclaw did that to you, Moony?" asked Sirius pointing to a small, Hufflepuff first-year sitting behind them.
"Was this your prank?" Lily asked Sirius and Nore staring disbelievingly at Nore. Lily would never expect anything like this from Nore. Sirius, yes. Nore, no.
"No, it was her," Sirius told them pointing at the small Ravenclaw again.
"Why don't you take it off yourself?" Peter asked Remus stupidly.
"How is he supposed to cast any Countercurse when purple bubbles fly out of his mouth whenever he opens it?" asked James impatiently as Peter flushed.
"Finite incantatem," muttered Lily taking out her own wand and pointing it at Remus.
He opened his mouth to thank her, but another rush of purple bubbles soared out of his mouth.
"That first-year really knows her stuff," commented Sirius.
"Lily did a spell wrong," said James in a horrible sing-song voice.
"It's not too late to cancel on you," threatened Lily.
James suddenly looked stricken.
"Take it off him, Sirius," James commanded, his voice deeper and more pleasant as his hand automatically flew to his hair.
"But I though that that first…" Peter trailed off as the rest of them stared at him incredulously. "Oh."
Sirius turned around in his seat and tapped the first-year, Hufflepuff girl on the back. She turned in her seat and looked at Sirius with a horrified expression on her face.
"Very funny joke. Could you take the spell off Remus now?" Sirius asked her. Her eyes widened and a red flush crept into her face.
"Aw, she has a crush on you," remarked Lily with a sweet smile, and for some reason Sirius's face was now tinted with a very light pink as well.
"She seems a bit young for you, Padfoot," James added.
An odd strangled noise came from nearby. Lily looked over and saw that Remus was trying to get their attention without opening his mouth.
"We tried to get her to take off the curse. Sorry, Moony," Sirius apologized attempting to look innocent.
Remus glowered furiously at Sirius. He took out his own wand and pointed it at him, but when he attempted to cast a spell, more bubbles came from his mouth.
"Sirius, just take the spell off him," directed Nore.
"I can't Nore," he responded throwing her a quick glance as if he were trying to communicate an unspoken message causing half the table to wonder if there was anything going on between the two of them.
"Why not?" she asked obviously not getting whatever message Sirius was trying to convey to her.
"It doesn't have a Countercurse," replied Sirius sliding in his seat as far away as possible from Remus, who now looked ready to strangle Sirius.
Another stream of bubbles came from Remus's mouth. And Lily was quite sure that he had just attempted to say something that he would never dare say in front of his mother.
"So, he's just going to be walking around with bubbles coming out of his mouth for the rest of his life?" Peter asked.
"No, it took awhile for it to get started, so it takes awhile for it to end," Sirius told them calmly.
"I can't tell for certain, but judging by the look on his face, I think that he wants to know how long the curse will last," said Lily interpreting the look on Remus's face.
"And he's very, very angry," James added.
Lily turned back towards the rest of them and saw Sirius smile almost… well, as if he were in love with her. And for half of a second she believed it, before she convinced herself that she was crazy. Sirius was James's best friend, and he would never do anything to hurt him.
"It lasts about a week," responded Sirius trying to sound very casual, but looking extremely apprehensively at Remus.
Glaring angrily at Sirius no longer seemed to be enough for Remus. He reached over and hit Sirius on the arm.
"Ow! That hurt, Moony!" said Sirius rubbing the spot where Remus had hit him.
"I think it was supposed to," commented James wryly.
"Why would Remus want to hurt me?" asked Sirius as though he had done nothing wrong.
"Why'd you cast a spell on Remus anyway?" asked Lily curiously.
"Don't ask me. It was Nore's idea," said Sirius accusingly.
"Nore?" Lily repeated disbelievingly.
"It was not!" denied Nore hotly.
What happened to the ickle first year?" asked James smirking.
"They're evil pranking masterminds when they're together! They forced me!" muttered Sirius insanely.
"You couldn't stand up to the ickle first year and Nore?" asked James incredulously.
"Hey!" protested Nore as she weakly hit James on the shoulder.
"What?" asked James completely nonplussed.
"People can't walk all over me! I could make Sirius do something if I wanted to," Nore defended herself quickly realizing that she had just walked into a trap.
"And what do you want to make Sirius do?" asked James raising an eyebrow with a sickening smile on his face.
"You have a dirty mind, James Potter," answered Nore darkly.
"Relax, Nore, he was only joking," comforted Lily.
"Says who?" retorted James. "Who knows what goes on in that dirty little head of hers?"
"Can't be anything worse than what goes on in your head," Nore smirked triumphantly.
"Ha! So you admit that you have dirty thoughts?" said James triumphantly.
"Not any dirtier than yours," replied Nore with a somewhat twisted smile.
"Define dirty," James told her as everyone laughed.
"Anything that enters your head is dirty," she said dryly.
"You're the one with the dirty mind, all I wanted to know is what you would force Sirius to do," said James suggestively as he grinned wickedly.
"The way you're making it sound…" she trailed off.
"You keep jumping to conclusions with all of your sick and perverted thoughts," James replied airily as though they were talking about the weather.
"I think you're both dirty," Lily put in.
"Well, that works out perfectly then!" yelled James happily as he hugged her. "She's your best friend and you're in love with me!"
"I am not in love with you!" protested Lily, as a strangely hopeful look came over Sirius's face, which Lily promptly decided to ignore.
"You like dirty minded people though," James pointed out.
"I never said that!" cried Lily indignantly.
"Then explain how Nore's your best friend," demanded James.
"I do not have a dirty mind!"
"Not as dirty as Lily's," remarked James.
"Hey!" cried Lily.
"You might want to end this conversation now," Nore warned him.
"Right. My lady," James addressed Lily his voice deeper and more mature once more, as his hand automatically flew up to his head, "would you care to accompany me to Hogsmeade?"
"Do I have to curtsy?" asked Lily with a pink tinge in her cheeks.
"It's optional," he answered sweetly as he extended a hand to her. She took it smiling at how sweet he could be, completely unaware of the glare that they were receiving from their fellow classmate.
Thanks to my reviewers!
Perilous: Thanks, I'm sorry it took so long to update. Thanks for putting me on Story Alert!
XHeartofaDragonX: Thanks for putting it on your favorites list. And I was thrilled to hear that you liked the last line because I was honestly debating about whether to put it in or not! So, I'm very glad that you like it.