A/N: OKAY BEFORE YOU READ THIS CHAPTER, I HAVE A FAVOR TO ASK OF YOU:
If you haven't noticed, my cover is kind of crappy (it's okay to insult, I made it). I would like to ask YOU, the fabulous readers of this story, to make a cover for a cover contest! I would like covers by Thanksgiving (11/27/14, the Thursday) if possible. You can get them to me through Instagram private message thingy (the_weasleys_girl) or Tumblr (the-weasleys-girl). If you are 1) Unable to have acess to those or 2) You try to use them and it doesn't work, Wattpad message me and we can figure something out.
Good luck, thank you!
Thank you again and without further or do...
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****James's P.O.V****
"I dunno, do yah reckon she's warming up to me?" I asked, tossing my snitch in the air and letting it fall back into my palm.
Sirius sighed and shot me a death glare. "She gave you a trashbag, Prongs, not a wedding ring! Get over it! We're sick of hearing about it all the time, right Moony?"
Remus merely looked up from his copy of The Daily Prophet smiled sadly at me, and then looked back down at his paper. "Let the boy have his dreams, Sirius," He muttered, his eyes scanning the page infront of him. "Who knows, there could've been a wedding ring inside the Garbage bag?"
"Yeah, but there wasn't," Sirius snapped back, almost before Remus could finish his sentance. "Remember? He dumped all of the trash on our beds so that we would help him search through it?" Remus didn't answer. Sirius walked over and placed his hand on my should, looking at me like I was a puppy with only three legs or something. "Mate, I love you, I really do, but Lily Evans is not in to you! She gave you a garbage bag because she wanted to go to sleep and you were cleaning and you didn't have a garbage bag. She complemented you on the Quidditch match because Marlene would kill her if she didn't!" He said. His voice suggested that he was talking to a two-year-old who was just discovering his English skills.
I frowned and watched my snitch fly around Sirius's head before I caught it again. The common room was empty because everyone else was at breakfast, but I felt the need to discuss my current relationship status with Miss Evans instead. "What do you think about that muggle bloke she said she was going to see? You think he's for real?"
"Oh, he's for real," Remus said, surly. "She nearly snapped my neck for wondering otherwise."
"Can we go eat breakfast now?" Peter asked wearily. "Transfiguration starts in 20 minutes."
Sirius shook out his hair. "Yeah, let's go. You comin', Prongs?" He asked, nodding his head towards me.
Pocketing my snitch, I stood up and messed up my hair. "I'm right behind you."
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"-And you'll notice that if you circle your wand instead of flicking it-" Professor McGonogal droned on.
Sirius, who was my desk partner, coughed into his elbow, "that's what she said!"
McGonogal turned her back to the board and faced Sirius and I. I rolled my eyes and slid farther down into my seat. The professor folder her arms against her face. "Mr. Black, do you have any other inappropriate comments you would like to make? I think we should get them over with now so I can resume teaching and your friends can pass this class," She said snotily.
"I think I have a few more," Sirius answered coolly. "That's what your mom said last night, ermm, a few more 'that's what she said's and maybe one or two 'mmmm, yes's. That should be good."
"Excellent, now if I may continue. If you circle your wand while preforming this charm as opposed to flicking it, you would get drastic alternative results-"
"Idiots!" Lily Evans whispered from the seat across the room. Two seats to the right and one forwards- not that I counted or anything. The brilliant girl said it just loud enough that Sirius and I could hear, but not so McGonogal could turn on her.
I nudged Sirius with my elbow. "Oi, got a scrap of parchment I could borrow?" I whispered, not daring to take my eyes off of McGonogal.
Sirius sighed and ripped a piece off of the paper he was doodling on. "Don't let McGonogal catch you," He muttered, resting his head on his arm and returning to his drawing. It looked a little something like a broom crashing into a muggle helicopter and exploding. At the bottom was a dog, a stag, a rat, and another dog-like creature laughing and they had little talk bubbles coming out of thier mouths. I couldn't read what they were saying because Sirius's arm was over them.
"Thanks, mate," I muttered and got to scribbling on the parchment.
Oi, Evans! I wrote quickly before crumbling the scrap into a ball and enchanting it to hit Lily in the back. I could see her sigh as she uncrumbled the ball and read it. Her eyes caught mine and she rolled them, tucking the piece of paper into her bag. Marlene fished it out, read it, and laughed, covering her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Want another piece?" Sirius asked, now entrigued.
"Please," I answered, taking it from him.
On this piece, I quickly wrote Evans. Hey, Evans. and tossed it in her dircetion. It hit her square in the back of her head. She grabbed the note and rubbed the spot where it his her, shooting a scowl at me. Marlene leaned over Lily's shoulder to read as she unravled the note. I could feel her annoyance deeped as she shoved this note into her back with the other.
Sirius shoved another paper into my hand. evaaannnnnnssssssss. I wrote, with no puncutuation or capital letter just to annoy her.
When it his her shoulder, she took out a blue muggle pen that she always carried around with her and scribbled something on it.
The paper ball flew over and hit my with as much force as a paper ball could on the top of the head. Eagerly, I opened it to see that Lily had capitalizaed the 'e' in 'evans' and added a period. There was no other response or anything.
"Smart ass," Sirius commented. "Ready the cannons."
Five minutes later, we had about 50 pieces of paper all saying things like 'LILY!' 'Hey, Evans!' and 'E V A N S!' sprawled out around the desk. We crumbled them all into balls and sent them one-by-one to hit Lily and Marlene in the face, back, arm, or head.
Then, something unrealisticaly hard was whirled at the back of my head. Marlene had stood up out of her seat and chucked a ball of paper at me as hard as she could. I rubbed the spot she hit and opened up the ball. It was a full foot of parchment with the words "WHAT DO YOU WANT YOU IGNORANT LITTLE TOERAG?!?" scribbled on it with blue pen. The eyes were dotted with cute little circles that weren't shaded in, the Gs were looped, and the Ls were curved. Lily's handwriting.
"WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON HERE?" McGonogal screamed, whirling around. Marlene was still standing, I was rubbing the back of my head, Sirius had a piece of parchment in his hand, and there was a circle of scraps on paper surrounding Lily and Marlene's desk.
"They assaulted us!" Lily screamed, pointing at Sirius and I. "With these- these little paper boulders!"
"We were only defending ourselves, professor!" Marlene added. "I swear! I think I've got a bruise on my forehead from those two. Look at the mess they've created!" She gestured to the ring of paper incircling them. "They nailed Lily pretty hard in the back of the head, too. Perhaps I should tkae her to the Hospital Wing?" She offered sweetly. Lily nodded and held her hair as if it was causing her pain.
McGonogal turned to Sirius and I, frowning. "Detention! Both of you! I'll see you tonight at eight so you can take notes on the entire lesson that you missed. Clean that mess up, now. Evans, McKinnon, you will say here and take notes on the rest of the lesson, no hospital wing."
The class turned silent as Sirius and I made our way to clean up the paper. McGonogal continued teaching.
"I just wanted to say 'Hi'," I whispered, cleaning up paper next to Lily. She looked at me without turning her head from the front of the room and kicked me in the shoulder.
I could've sworn I heard her say "You ignorant little toerag!" as I moved away.
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Remus seemed bitter for the rest of the day, though he's normally like that whenever Sirius or I gets a detention or when it's near a full moon. I made a mental check to see when the next full moon was- not for two weeks- as I sat down next to him in the dining hall with Peter on the other side of me and Sirius on the other side of Remus.
"Oh, Shepard's pie!" Sirius cooed, scooping himself a slice. "Want any, Moony?" He asked, waving it in front of our friend's face.
"You got detention- again!" Remus growled. "That's the ninth night in a row! And guess what's odd? Marlene and Lily haven't gotten detentions in ages yet they seem to be the cause of your detentions most of the time, isn't that odd?" Sirius tried to speak, but Remus cut him off. "And isn't it odd that whenever you have detwntions, Peter and I must straggle to do your homework as well as ours? And I still have prefect duties with Lily to cover! And the full-freakin'-moon to worry about every month! Isn't it odd that I've got the most responsibilities out of the three of you, yet you two still seem to wind up in detention every night!"
"Yeah. Odd," I said in a weak voice. "We're sorry, Moony, but-"
Remus laughed. "But what? You're sooo inlove with Lily that you can't focus enough in class not to get detentions? I'll tell you, it's easy enough. You sit there and don't open your mouth. You don't even have to pay attention to the lesson! You can just pretend to listen to the teacher and no one will know the difference! Is that so hard just to sit there and keep your mouth shut? Because I can do it. Peter can do it. Alice, Mary and Frank seem to be well capable of it."
Sirius smirked. "Lily and Marlene dont," He commented coolly.
"Well are you Lily and Marlene?" Remus asked. We were silent. "Look! You're doing it! Great practice, just do it in class and you'll be fine."
I almost knew Remus was right and that I owed him something. I almost believed it. But I'd pretend to believe it anyway. "You're right," I said. "I'll do my own homework tonight."
"Are you insane?" Sirius asked through a mouthful of Shepard's pie. He loved that stuff. It was his favorite food of all times- especailly when my Mother made it for us when we were home for Christmas. She'd make a huge pot of it somehow and we'd eat it for days. Then, she'd pack it in little baggies for us on the train back to Hogwarts. Sometimes, she'd let us bring extra for Remus and Peter. I didn't really like it the way the house elves at Hogwarts made it, but then again, Shepard's pie was the only thing my mom could cook without hurting someone. She once tried to make us peanut butter and jelly, and she cut her finger with the butter knife she was using to spread the peanut butter. Then, she tried to pour milk into Sirius's cereal and the bowl flipped over and landed on his toe. Long story short, Mom can't cook and Sirius likes Shepard's pie.
"I think it's a wonderful idea!" Remus grinned.
Sirius glared at me. "What have you gotten us into?"
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Once again, I looked at the watch Peter had let me borrow five years ago. It was 12:46 A.M, one minute since the last time I checked. Who knew homework was so hard? Sirius had given up an hour ago, saying he'd finish homework in the morning, but I was determined to finish.
42) When preparing The Draught Of The Living Death, what type of bean should you use. Sophophorus or Somnophorus? List three pros and cons of each, and then state which one it better. (Final answer should be AT LEAST five inches long.)
How was I supposed to know the answer to this? Professor Slughorn was impossible! For all I knew, Sophowhatever and Somnwhatever didn't even exist!
There was a noise in the other side of the common room. The light was on over here, but not over then. "Hello?" I asked, peering around the bookcase to see if someone was there.
I heard a surprised yelp and a glass break, quickly covered by a fake owl coo.
"I know someone's in here," I said, standing up. "Lumos Maxima," I whispered. My wand lit up the room. The person scream and hid behind the curtain. "Hey, don't hide. It's cool," The figure didn't move except for their leg sticking out of the curtain. A Gryffindor sock. "I can see your leg," I told them. "You're wearing Gryffindor colors, so you must be in my house. I don't see why you're trying to hide." Now, the figure moved their leg behind the curtain with the rest of their body. "Ah, but I still know you're behind that curtain. Come out before I call McGonogal saying there's a Slytherin in the common room," I ordered. There was a sigh.
The curtain moved slightly and Lily Evans stepped out. It was dark, so her hair looked black and her skin grey, but I knew it was her. The way she bit her lip and the darker freckles splashed across her nose make me sure of it. "Before you say anything, shut up," She said bitterly. Yup. This girl was Lily Evans.
To say I was confused was an understatement. "Were you spying on me or something?" I asked, squinting at her.
Lily forced a laugh and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "As if," She said and came closer so that I could make out the dark red colour of her hair and the pale tan of her skin.
"Then why are you up at," I looked at my watch agian. 12:48, what a surprise. "12:48 AM?" I asked, stepping closer as well. "Evans?" I added for effect.
"Why are you up at 12:48?" She countered. "Potter?" She added as an afterthought.
"You shouldn't answer a question with another question."
"You should answer my question so I can answer yours."
"No."
"No."
We both stood in silence for a moment, staring at eachother through the darkness. Lily's green eyes glared at me as if she were a snake about to strike. "Why are you up, Potter?" She asked, her voice low and nervous.
I scratched the back of my head and exhaled through my nose. She was five feet away, but I could smell her normal apple aroma from here, which was enough to take my breath away. How did she always manage to smell exactly like warm apples? It made me nuts! "Homework," I finally admitted. "Remus refused to do it for me while I was in detention, so here I am. Ta da. Your turn."
Lily leaned against the window and looked at her feet. "Insomnia," She mumbled quickly.
"God bless you?" I said, more of a question than a phrase.
She frowned and looked up at me. "Insomnia, you idiot! I didn't sneeze!" She yell-whispered. I froze as my eyes searched for hers. She looked down again and ran a hand through her hair. "It means I can't sleep," She muttered. "Ever since Severus started hanging out with those Slytherins, I've been having nightmeres about them everytime I fall asleep. They kill my family, they kill my friends, eventually I was too afraid to close my eyes. So I wouldn't. While everyone else slept, I would be reading or doing homework or thinking, anything not to let my eyes close," She shuddered. "After that, I started falling asleep at breakfast or at lunch or on duty with Remus. Then, I'd wake up with a scream as Severus Avada Kedavraed my mom or something," She told me, her voice quivering. "McGonogal sent me to Madame Pomfrey, who diagnosed me. It's a muggle thing, so it's unusual. Since I'm a muggle born, it's not that odd, though. I started trying to fall asleep at night, but I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried. I couldn't even nap during class. I got zero sleep. Madame Pomfrey gave me all different potions to try to help, but I still couldn't sleep, ever. No- I still can't sleep. Now, she just gives me potions that help my body function as if I sleep like a normal person, but I can't stay on them forever," Now, she looked up at me and gasped as if she forgot who she was talking to.
"What?" I asked. "Do I have something on my face?"
"No!" Lily said, shaking her head. "Why did I tell you? You're going to tell Sirius, and he's goingto tell Marlene, and she's going to tell all of Hogwarts! All of Scotland! Actually- why stop there? She'll tell all of Europe and then the world!" She panicked. "Lily Evans is afraid of a bunch of little Slytherins."
"Relax, Evans, I'm not going to tell anyone," I reassured her, shaking my head. "Your secret's safe with me, scout's honor."
Lily's face flushed a shade of pink. "Thanks, Potter," She muttered. "Want some tea? It helps me think," She offered, turning to the broken glass on the floor that she had dropped earlier. "It might help with homework."
My jaw dropped. "Is this real? Is this a halucination? Is Lily Evans really trying to help me?" I asked. "I've got to go to bed before I start imagining things like Sirius dying his hair pink."
"Ha-ha," Lily said. "I'm only offering because I made an entire kettle of it and it might be a little burnt."
"You are probably the only person I know who can burn a liquid."
"It's not hard, you know. I did it the muggle way because it tastes better," She held a teea cup out to me. "Get back to your homework, Potter."
Easier said than done. It was hard enough concentrating before. Now that I knew Lily freaking Evans was in the same room with me because she couldn't sleep and she was making tea for me, I could hardly sit still at all. I kept looking over at her, watching as she turned the fire on or poured the tea. This was not working.
"Still on question 42, Potter?" She asked, smirking. She knew she had me wrapped around her finger, but I had something better. I had blackmail. Not that I'd ever do it, of course. "It's not that hard."
I scoffed. "Says Slughorn's favorite student," I grumbled.
Lily shrugged. "Just because I have more time than most," She admitted, probably talking about ther nights she didn't sleep and did homework to stay awake. "It's easy," She leaned over the chair. I could feel her breath on my neck. "One of the two doesn't exist. It's a trick question," She said. "Which one is used in the potion. Sophophorus or Somnophorus?"
"Erm... Sophophorus, right?"
"Yup. Somnophorus doesn't actually exist." Lily giggled.
Suddenly, I felt as though someone had pranked me. "Oh, that's bellow the belt!" I shouted, slamming my quill down. "Why did Slughorn do that, just to annoy me?"
"Yes," Lily admitted. "I helped him when he made that assignment. He said 'hmmmm, what can we do to annoy James Potter?' and I said 'I know! Ask him a question that's so easy it doesn't exist!' and he said 'Okay, let's make up a completely nonsensical word. It will drive him to the verge of insanity!' and I said-"
"Okay, I get it!" I said. "You are seceretly plotting my demise." This made Lily smirk as she turned back to her tea. "So, still a 'no' to Hogsmede this weekend?" I asked.
Looking over her shoulder to see me, Lily rolled her eyes. "I told you already. I've got a date," She said braggingly.
I scribbled down the answer and met my eyes with hers. "I know, but if you didn't have a date this weekend?"
Lily bit her lip in deep thought. "Ehhhhh... no," She answered shortly. "I'd rather-"
"Date the giant squid, I know, I know," I grumbled. "Why do you always say that? You're too stunned by my good looks to think of a better answer?"
"Or I know that repetition annoys you."
"Or you're too dishevled by the fact that you said 'No' again that you can't function."
"Or it's force of habit. I can think of something different if you'd like. Maybe... I'd rather shag Dumbledore. Happy?" She teased, placing a teacup next to me and sliding onto the couch.
Wow. That hurt. Rather shag an old man then go on a measly date with me. I looked up from my potions paper to realize that she was joking! Her eyes glinted with a tease and her lips folded satisfied. Idiot, Potter! You're such an idiot. Of course she's joking. She could have any guy in the school. It's a joke. Then again- Dumbledore's pretty smart. I'm sure he's got pleanty of experience- NO! That's gross! Lily Evans did not shag the headmaster. No no no no no. "You are really annoying, you know that?" I asked, messing up my hair.
The satisfied smile remained on her cheeks. "Only when I'm tried."
It took me for about three minutes before- "OHHH! I get it!" I laughed, clapping my hands together. "You're always tired because- OOHHH! It makes sense now."
"Idiot," Lily muttered. "Well, it's getting early," She said, checking her watch. It was now almost 2 AM. Where had the time gone? "I should go pretend to be asleep. Alice tends to sleepwalk into my bed. I've got to be there to wake her up," She explained. "See you in the morning. Good luck with number 43! Hint: It starts with a B." On that note, she left, taking the tea with her.
43) What can cure the effects of most potions? How does it do this? (Final answer should be AT LEAST two inches)
The answer was a bezoar stone.
Author's Note: Two updates in one day! Yaaay!
If you didn't read the top note, I'm asking readers to design covers for me!
-They're due Thanksgiving (11/27/14)
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-If neither of those work for you, private message me (lilytat28)
Thank you!
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Thanks for reading! Love you!
-Lily