Courting Lily

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Courting Lily
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-Chapter 2-

James wandered around dejected for the rest of the day.

His friends tried to explain that it really wasn't all that horrible--that is, Remus tried to explain, and Peter repeated (in varying degrees of mangled-ness) the last bits of what he heard. It was difficult for Remus, really. It didn't help that Sirius was off somewhere trying to "scope the situation", as the black-haired boy put it. Remus had found it necessary to translate this for Peter, who did not understand what stalking the every movement of four girls had to do with James' situation.

As it so happened, Sirius' conscience had risen from its pitifully low existence to a position of some prominence, galvinizing the handsome boy to action in an attempt to set things right (or get them halfway there). Of course, it didn't hurt that Lily, Jo, and Leigh were painfully beautiful--literally so in Leigh's case--either...

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"Leigh, he's stalking us. Do something."

"Is he really?" Leigh looked up noncommittally from filing her nails. The foursome were in the Gryffindor Common Room, and had settled into armchairs arranged in a small circle. The room was warm and smelled of violets, an unpleasant reminder of the morning's fiasco. (The first-years in the years to come were never able to fathom quite why their Head Girl had such an aversion to anything purple, including violets and the scent thereof.)

"Look. He's hiding behind your chair. His lack of subtlety is really quite pathetic, you know," responded Jo, reaching into her bookbag and dragging out her copy of A History Of Magic.

"You know, people'll probably still be reading this about fifty years later... I still can't get how the book manages to add to itself as time passes. I mean, Bathilda wasn't exactly playing fair when she put that charm on it, was she? What are all the prospective history textbook writers going to do?" Leigh asked, staring speculatively at the hefty volume.

"I don't know, write for Muggles or something. Lord knows their textbooks need enough help... Leigh, will you please get a move on and punch the guy already? His staring is unnerving me; it just creeps me out when guys are dumb enough to think they're invisible when they're obviously not." Lily sighed, leaned back into her chair, and rubbed her eyes wearily.

Leigh didn't respond, being engrossed in her current quest to rid her hair of split ends.

"Leigh, if I didn't know better I'd think you liked Sirius or something, the way you're putting it off," Jo said blandly to the determinedly oblivious blonde. (Thankfully for Leigh, Sirius' hearing was not exactly in the field of "acute". In fact, it was far, far out to the left.)

"Whatever... WHAT? SIRIUS?" Leigh whirled around at the mention of the loathed name, and, glaring over the back of the armchair, found Sirius, poorly hidden indeed. Her eyes and hair promptly crackled with ice, and Alice was surprised that she didn't fry poor Sirius that very moment.

Lily, watching her raging friend bemusedly, turned and high-fived Jo. "Nice," she mouthed. Jo just winked and smirked. Alice, seeing the pair of them, sighed and shook her head, but even she couldn't stop the smile from spreading over her face. It was time Lily got a little sweet revenge for the morning's humiliation. And besides, she thought, you never know. Jo's sledgehammer just might help Sirius a bit further along the long road to maturity...

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Mssrs. Moony, Wormtail, and Prongs were attempting (and badly, possibly because a certain dark-haired boy's eyes kept glazing over) to play a late game of three-man Hearts when the unfortunate Padfoot finally crawled up to their dormitory, a large black ring around one eye and a multitude of book-shaped bruises cautiously creeping to the surface of his skin. He did not talk--of course, this could be attributed to the painful-looking swelling at the side of his lips--but instead fell onto his bed and lay there as one catatonic. (He would remain in variously prone positions throughout the rest of the night, offering much comic relief to the occasional owl flying past the window.)

"Uh, Sirius? You okay there?" James looked slightly worried.

The reply was more or less unintelligible.

Remus sighed, knowing that nobody else would be able to get a word of sense out of Sirius for the rest of the night unless he did something. "Sirius, if you don't tell us what happened--or at least make more of an effort to," he amended, "we are voting you as Peter's Potions partner for the rest of the year."

Peter perked up.

Sirius did not. Instead, he seemed to be seized by some vaguely epileptic fit for some several seconds before he managed to calm down enough to be remotely understandable.

"A History of Magic--blonde Bagshot--threat of--of sledgehammer--" Sirius gesticulated wildly and whacked an injured arm into the wall. "Ow!"

The sight of a convulsive and somewhat dangerous Sirius was traumatizing enough to temporarily jerk James out of the wallow of self-pity he'd sunk into. He exchanged a worried glance with Remus before deciding on a course of action.

"Sirius, look at me."

Sirius complied, not expecting that James would promptly dispatch him with a well-aimed thwack over the head. He dropped like a stone, sprawling on his bed in an ungainly heap of arms, legs, and bruises.

"There. That'll keep him out of trouble until he wakes up, at least," said James, looking satisfied with himself.

Remus winced.

~*~

"Leigh?" Lily pushed back the bedcurtains. "You know, that was a bit harsh."

"Meh," said Leigh. She turned over and pulled the covers over her head.

"No, really. I know it was partially to punish him for stalking, partially to make up for my embarassment and all, and I know you don't think very highly of thick-headed show-offs, but really... You practically landed him in the hospital wing! If anyone finds out..."

Leigh let out a loud, fake snore--impressive, considering her gender and her personality type. It worked, although more because Lily gave up on Leigh's stubborn fits than anything else. She heard Lily sigh and close the curtains, then climb back into her creaking bed. Leigh pushed the covers back down to her chin and smiled into the gleeful darkness.

It wasn't that she was mean or vicious or bitchy. But a girl only gets so many chances a week to punish her greatest archenemy, you know?

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