Evil's Kiss

Chapter Eleven

Pride for a Gallon

"Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, something is out of tune."

Carl Gustav Jung

"Tavia?"

"Oh hi, Lil! Back again? No, I'm just kidding. I enjoy the company. I forgot to tell you that Madam Pomfrey said that I could be out by dinner," Tavia said with a slight smile.

"Wonderful! I bet a certain someone will be seriously happy to see you."

"Lily!"

"Well sorry, I'm bad at making puns. But anyway, I ran the whole way here to tell you that the bake sales are back on!"

"What? I thought you said you didn't have enough time or help."

"I know but you'll never guess who wanted to help."

"Who?"

"James, Sirius, Peter and Remus!" Seeing the awed expression on Tavia's face, Lily hurried to explain. "So I was on my way to talk to Kimmy about some Herbology homework right? And I heard them agree to something, quite vehemently. When I asked to know what they were talking about they got all shy and shoved a piece of parchment out of view. I got suspicious and asked them what they were doing and bang, they wanted to help with the bake sales."

Tavia raised a brow. "And you're gonna accept that explanation?" she said in a disbelieving tone.

"Uh, I wasn't planning on going on that alone. We'll just see where this takes us shall we?" Lily said smiling.

"Oh, you are way too trusting," Tavia said and laughed.

"Okay, no comments from the peanut gallery. Since I have potions in five minutes I better go."

"Alright. See you around dinner," Tavia finished. Lily transfigured a piece of paper into a yellow rose (Tavia's favorite flower) as a parting gift and practically ran out of the room so not to be late.

"And I thought I was naive," Tavia muttered.

~

Lily was stating to worry when Tom didn't show up for Potions. Where is he? She thought. Absentmindedly staring at her cauldron she added in the rest of her ingredients and waited for it to boil. A few minutes later, the hissing sound and the bright orange color the liquid quickly changed to however, snapped Lily out of her trance.

"Evans! What in Merlin's sake did you put in that?" Professor Orlando yelled. He shot up from his desk and stalked over to her.

"I...I put in the ingredients, as it says on the board sir," Lily replied meekly, she hated Potions. The professor scanned the bottles on her desk and his eyes almost popped they bulged so big.

"Evans, The potion calls for three drops of spleen of newt, NOT three dropperfulls. Ten points from Gryffindor!" This brought a very unhappy frown to Lily's face and she began to try to fix her potion while mumbling under her breath. The bell rang a half-hour later and all the Gryffindors exited mumbling and giving dirty looks toward the Slytherin head of house.

"I can't believe he did that! It's not my fault. That Annabel girl messed up hers and all Orlando did was tell Brandston to help her fix it. Well, maybe it is for a lack of attention my fault, but it was an honest mistake," Lily said.

"I know! Orlando is such a git," Peter piped in successfully earning a smile back from Lily.

"Well, I'm sure we'll earn them back soon enough. Come on, we have Herbology next. I'm sure Professor Sprout has an interesting lesson lined up for us," Octavia said.

"Yeah I heard the student-teacher of Transfiguration, what's her name? Oh yeah, Lowe, has some cool stuff lined up for her classes as well. This day is going to be a good one," James said. Transfiguration was his favorite subject. The group walked the rest of the way continuing their conversation until they reached the Herbology green house.

"Now children, today you will be given a partner and be commissioned to raise a baby mandrake. This will count for one half of your final grade this term. I have already paired you up," Professor Sprout stopped while the students moaned in union, "anyway the pairs are as follows. Group number one will be Frank Longbottom and Octavia Morgan. Group Two, Sirius Black and Rosa Hicks. Three, Remus Lupin and Pamela Pomfrey. Four, Violet Chevrolette and Jason Montoya. Five, April Cannon and William Johanson. The six group consists of Hannah West and Nick Kelly. Seventh group, John Hunnum and Christina Marshall. Eight, Neville Webber and Anabella Hudson. The ninth group will be George Carter and Carolyn Brown. The tenth group includes Charlotte Winslet and Matthew O'Conner. The eleventh group is Peter Pettigrew and Julie Collins. Last but not least, group twelve is James Potter and Lily Evens," Sprout paused and let everyone look for his or her partner. "Now on a final note, I hope you're all content with your partners. This project will last until the Easter holiday. Any questions?" Again, Professor Sprout fell silent and opened up the discussion to the class.

"Professor, do we keep the mandrakes with us or here in the greenhouse? Oh, and is that all we have to do, raise them, I mean?" Jason Montoya questioned.

"Well, they will stay here in the green house. And yes that's all you have to do. Raise them," Sprout took a breath to continue but before she got it out, a collective cheer rang throughout the greenhouse. She took another breath and this time continued. "However, in order to raise them properly, you must follow the outline that I will provide for you next class. This outline contains the directions for the mandrake's diet, growth rate, etc.," the professor surveyed the classroom full of crestfallen faces and smiled. "Don't worry, it's not all that bad. Before you know it the holiday will be here and your project will be completed."

"Do we have to name it?" James asked, smiling.

"Only if you want to[,] Mr. Potter."

"Will we have any homework while we raise these things?" Hannah West asked.

"Well a bit, yes. You will be required to keep a daily log of the progression of your mandrake. Also, on certain days you will have to research certain behavior or uses of the mandrake parts. Next to that, nothing really." The class heard the ending bell signaling the end of class and reluctantly headed out of the greenhouse.

"This should be interesting," Sprout muttered with a half smile. She said it so softly that only the students who weren't talking were able to make out the words. Luckily, everyone was talking.

~

"Hey Lily, Lily, wait up!" James yelled, catching up with her in the entrance hall.

"Hey partner, what's up?" Lily said still walking.

"Nothing, I just wanted to thank you for this morning," James said squeezing her hand.

"Oh no problem, he didn't even understand what we were doing. Well, he thought he knew but he didn't," Lily said shrugging.

"Well, why shouldn't I have jumped to conclusions when I see my girlfriend in the arms of another?" A new voice sounded in a dangerous tone full of hatred. Lily and James both turned around, James spoiling for a fight, Lily almost bored with Tom's overbearing behavior. She just wasn't up for it today.

"For Merlin's sake Tom, you could have let us know you were there," Lily said walking over to him.

"What's your problem, Riddle? Can't you stand Lily talking to anyone else? Are you so thick that you can't see that she's totally smitten with you?" James said, rather irked that he had to admit that Lily liked someone that wasn't he. "Answer me Riddle, are you so thick..."

When it happened, it happened fast.

Tom swung a punch at James and his aim was true. The punch landed on James's jaw with and audible crack. Blood soon oozed out of the wound and some of the girls screamed.

"Tom!" Lily yelled. "What the hell are you trying to pull?" But Lily was stopped short by James's rebuttal. James had jumped up and rushed Tom, sending them both to the ground.

"James! Tom! Stop this. This is absurd," Lily yelled but to no avail. All she could do was watch as those two pummeled the dickens out of each other. Right at that moment, James was on top, landing several blows to Tom's aristocratic nose and mouth but that changed quickly when Tom rolled and elbowed James in the ribs efficiently knocking the air from his lungs. James recovered fast but Tom still had time to jump up and wait for James to make a move.

"STOP THIS. BOTH OF YOU THIS IS SILLY. GROW UP. I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU JAMES, YOU PROMISED," Lily yelled at the top of her lungs. The tears of frustration started to leak and there was nothing she could do to stop them.

After a few seconds of thought, James decided he didn't care. Riddle started it anyway so he was ready for a rematch. He rushed him again but Tom anticipated that move and side stepped him. James turned automatically and landed a swift high kick to Tom's side. Tom grunted with pain but that didn't stop him from coming and punching James's kidneys a few times. James pushed away from Tom and came at him with an uppercut and a kick to the shins. Some of the girls covered their eyes when again they saw the spray of blood and the boys kept egging the two on. The situation was far from being controlled but someone had to do something.

"FOR BLOODY MERLIN'S SAKE BREAK IT UP. YOU TWO LOOK HORRBLE. YOU'VE BOTH BEATEN THE PISS OUT OF EACH OTHER SO JUST STOP IT, DAMMIT!" Lily hoarsely screamed. She wiped her eyes to try to see if her words did any good. She was shocked when Tom again went for James and retaliated with a punch across the face and then a swift knee to the groin. James doubled over. There was a cut on his upper brow dripping blood and he could already fell his left eye swelling shut. Tom didn't look any better. He had a violent black and blue bruise spreading on his left cheekbone and his nose looked liked it was broken. At this momentary lapse of action, Lily decided to try to calm James's down. She went over to him to try to help him get up but with his eyesight impaired by his left eye James swung when she touched his shoulder, thinking it was another attack from Tom. Lily cried out and James turned to look at her with his good eye.

"Bloody hell, Lily! I am so sorry. I didn't know it was you. Oh Merlin, I am so sorry. I thought you were Riddle. I can't ..." but James was interrupted by Lily's upraised hand.

"Don't. You two need to get some things straight before you apologize to me. Now if you don't mind," Lily said straitening her robes and taking a tissue from her bag to stem the flow of blood from her lip, "I'm going to the hospital wing. I don't want to have a huge swollen lip and look like that Angelina Jolie girl that lived across the street from me when I was nine." She started walking and Tom tried to stop her, but she just turned on him and shook off his hand. "Don't you dare touch me," she whispered fiercely. "I can't deal with you two acting like this all the time. I'm not a prize to be won," she said louder, as if to tell that to both of them. Then with the grace and poise of a queen, she walked away.

The two boys looked at each other, sized each other up and seeing how much damage one did to another they seemed satisfied. They went their separate ways, knowing that at least they had the duel to even things out.

~

All he could see was red. His thoughts were consumed by hatred. His lust for her didn't help and his jealously was a thorn the size of a spike in his side. His jealously was out of control and he couldn't stop thinking about her. But that was only because he loved her so much. Where did that come from? His thoughts took a more coordinated turn. I can't love her; I can barely look at her without wanting to take her. But isn't that lust? Well, it's not my fault I can't tell the difference. If I had a clear head, it would be so much easier. It's all because of him. Damn James Potter. And to add to the cruel irony, now they have to be together for a stupid project. Tom thought in a rush. He was so angry that he couldn't even think straight. He was almost to the point where he needed to sit because he was shaking from his rage. But what if they weren't put together for a reason?. That's it. Lily wouldn't do something so stupid as to volunteer herself for the likes of him. And James knows how much I despise him, he wouldn't do anything so idiotic to make me mad again. Tom was finally beginning to rationalize his thoughts when Peter came around the corner.

"Petigrew, you want to make a quick gallon?" Tom asked quickly, a plan formulating in his mind.

Peter's eyes lit with greed and the mention of money. "Sure Riddle, what do you want?"

"Find out how serious James and Lily are. I don't want anyone pawing at my girlfriend," Tom replied and tossed him a gallon form out of his pocket. "Five more once you get back to me, no more than three days should go past, understand?"

"Yes, sir," Peter said shakily, awed by Tom's generosity for a simple question. Peter turned happily and began walking toward the dungeons when suddenly his face met the floor and his books went askew. Bloody shoe laces, Peter thought as he got up and tied them, then collected his books. Before he could leave however, Tom spoke from down the hall.

"Oh and Peter, do be discreet." He rounded the corner and vanished form sight. Peter stared at the place where Tom was just standing. His ears burning with embarrassment he sharply turned heading for class. All the way thinking that no man's pride is worth a gallon or two.