Bad Girls Have Fun

In this exciting installment, Lily gets a little upset, and decides on a plan of action…

 

Chapter 2 – When Friends Attack

 

"The look on his face was priceless!" Lily heard Emma exclaim as she joined the others in the corridor. If anyone had bothered to ask her, the look on Sirius’ face hadn’t been so much priceless as upset. If anyone asked her about the expression on James’ face, she could’ve gone into much, much more detail. How he’d turned around, shocked to hear Arabella’s voice. How his face had crumpled in sympathy for his friend, and how he’d sighed heavily as they left. Most of all, how his eyes had lingered on Emma longer than was strictly necessary.

"Lil, are you even listening?"

"What?" she replied, knowing full well she’d be expected to add some sort of Sirius insult. Serious insult, even. "I said," Talia repeated, with a meaningful glare in her direction, "Now Arry can move on."

"Oh, yeah. Of course you can!" Feeling slightly guilty, she slung an arm around her friend’s shoulders, and started to drag her in the general direction of the Divination Tower, despite the fact that it was on the other side of the castle, far away from her Advanced Transfiguration class. As they all walked along the corridor together, she couldn’t help biting her lip at some of Emma’s carefree chatter. Every word seemed to be making her more and more annoyed.

"So then I told him no, because he is 19, but still, I thought he was nice…did you think he was nice, Arry?"

"Nah," Arabella replied, a little more like her own self. "Unless your definition of ‘nice’ is ‘overtly hairy, with a curious nose’."

"Ooh, handbags, girls!" Talia said, grinning at Lily, and for a second it was just like old times. They were her very best friends, after all. Resolving not to let James Potter, with his stupid good looks and idiotic charm come between them, Lily smiled. "How exactly does someone have a curious nose?"

"It was more questionable than curious…"

"Hey!"

"Right, I better get along to Advanced Transfig…"

"Alright, you four?"

It was him.

"Hi James," Emma said, poking Lily in the ribs. That was the awful thing. They all knew. All three of them knew she liked him, so when he asked Emma she’d turn him down out of loyalty. Somehow she knew he’d find out about it, because that sort of thing always happened in Witch Weekly, and then he’d hate her forever. So, miserable, she ignored Emma, and coughed to hide her disappointment.

"Um…I need to go to Transfiguration," she muttered. Unfortunately, he heard.

"Oh, right. Hold up, I won’t be long," he said, turning to Emma and grinning. "So, Em…you planning on going to the Frog tomorrow night?"

"If I don’t get a horrible, scarring disease sometime today, then of course!" she replied enthusiastically. "I mean, it’ll be great, because it’s on a Tuesday so only sixth year and above’ll be there…"

"Well, that’s good, because I was wondering…would you like to go with me?"

Lily wanted to eat her tongue. It was all just so horrible, because more than anything else she felt utterly sorry for him. Emma was going to turn him down, and then he’d feel like an idiot, and so embarrassed what with them all watching, all that confidence would be eradicated…she’d find him, days later, wandering around the dungeons, weak with hunger, mumbling to himself. She could nurse him back to health…Lily was just starting to warm to the scenario when something entirely unexpected happened.

"I’d love to!"

"Great. Then that’s sorted," he said, full-toothed grin back in place. Lily merely stared at her so-called friend. Her so-called best friend, who she’d loved like a sister, would have died for, her back-stabbing, evil, loathsome enemy…

"Lily, we better get to Transfiguration, McGonagall’ll kill us. Or worse, transfigure us into something really nasty…"

Talia exchanged a look with the others and waved a hand in front of Lily’s face. "Hello?" She made an exasperated noise and linked arms with Emma, dragging her in the opposite direction. Arabella merely shrugged at James and followed them, remembering at the end of the corridor to turn around and call out. "See you at lunch!"

"Bye…" Lily said, still in disbelief. How could this have happened? She didn’t understand, surely there was some sort of terrible mistake. Yes, that was it. Her ears hadn’t been working properly, and Emma had said no.

"That went better than I thought it would, eh?" he asked her, apparently pleased with himself. Lily’s heart sank. Not a mistake, after all.

"To Transfiguration, then," she replied in a monotone, feeling her feet start to move. She even managed to hold some sort of idle conversation with him until they reached the classroom. Taking her place at the front with Cathy, a Ravenclaw girl she knew, Lily made detailed notes for the entire lesson and provided the answer to a difficult Inaminate-Sentient Switching Spell question, earning Gryffindor 5 points. Still, her thoughts remained in that cold, dead place where she’d been betrayed.

Lunch would be hell.

* * * * *

James wanted to make his sausage sit up and clap. Instead, Professor McGonagall had told them to try and turn it into a small pig. Unfortunately, his normally sharp mind was dwelling on other, more pleasant things. This new teacher didn’t yet know how to control a class, and there were plenty of opportunities to slack off. Leaning back in his wooden chair, he ran through a mental checklist of what to wear tomorrow night.

Robes were definitely out. The Frog was too cool for wizard wear, and had a dress code of Muggle clothes only. Maybe he could borrow Sirius’ leather jacket? He wouldn’t be wearing the famous ‘pulling outfit’ for a while…although leather wasn’t really James’ style. A Hawaiian shirt might be more like it…yeah, he’d wear his new Hawaiian shirt and borrow some trousers off Remus. Remus always had the latest Muggle fashions, due to his father being a Muggle-born, and preferring trousers to ‘dresses masquerading as men’s clothes’. Lost in thoughts of how best to tame his hair, James didn’t hear her coming up behind him until it was too late.

"Mr Potter!"

Sitting bolt upright with shock, he lost his balance, and the chair, after teetering precariously for the smallest of seconds, gave in to gravity. "Arrgh!" he yelled, falling backwards and landing with a solid thump on the floor. Snorted laughter from the rest of the class mixed with the images of Snitches flying around his head. Vision swimming, he was pulled into a standing position with one practised flick of McGonagall’s wand. She had a satisfied, if disapproving expression on her face, and he groaned.

"I have to ask, Potter, just what was so interesting that you blatantly ignored my question three times in a row?"

"Hawaiian shirts?" he mumbled groggily. Frank Longbottom covered up an enormous guffaw with a choking cough. McGonagall gestured impatiently towards the front of the room.

"Seeing as how you’re so concerned with fashion, I’d like it very much if you’d tell me how to Transfigure a plain piece of material into patterned?"

"Erm…" Casting his eyes desperately around the room for help, he saw Lily hunched over her desk. Frowning slightly, James wondered why she was so miserable. Patterns, patterns…he’d gone through this theorem with Sirius about seventy times. Well, alright, twice. Another, more important thought sprang to mind. Where exactly was Sirius?

"Er…where’s Sirius?" he asked, more to himself than anyone else. McGonagall tapped her foot impatiently. "I’m waiting, James."

"You, er, you Transfigure a small section from the drawing of the pattern with a simple Copy Spell, then use a…erm…a Repeating Charm to cover the entire surface!" he finished triumphantly, still concerned at the absence of his friend.

McGonagall smiled. "Very good, Potter. To answer your earlier question, I believe Mr Black was delivered to the Infirmary after managing to inhale astonishingly large quantities of a gelatinous substance. His last words, before slipping into unconciousness, were reported to be ‘At least I died happy’." She sniffed disapprovingly, as though a student trying to commit suicide with jelly was not only an everyday occurrence, but a thoroughly annoying one.

James fixed his chair with a quick ‘Reparo’ and sat down again, head drooping forward on to his text book. After this half-hearted attempt at killing himself, he was sure Sirius would soon be on the road to recovery. Whenever Padfoot was upset about something, his emotions usually came to a head in some highly dramatic way. His eyes were drawn once again to the unmoving mop of red hair at the front of the class. It was more dark red than copper, and poker straight.

She was a real mate, Lily. They’d first met at the Sorting Ceremony, and he’d ended up sitting next to her during the feast. As a Muggle-born, she’d asked him loads of questions about the wizarding world, and they’d quickly struck up a rapport. Not that he found it hard to talk to girls or anything, but normally they were so…girly. Emma was a prime example. In fact, he distinctly remembered her refusing to wear the hat as she was worried it would mess up her hair. Hammersmith, the DADA Professor, had fixed her with a trademark stern look, and to her immense distaste the hat succeeded in ruining the carefully prepared hairstyle. To everyone’s surprise, she’d been a Gryffindor…James smiled as he called up images of all his friends at eleven years old.

Lily looked much the same now, as did Remus and Peter. Obviously their faces had changed a little, had become older…but he was still skinny, she was still short and Wormtail was still round. Arabella currently had long, curly hair, which just happened to be dark pink. That little indiscretion had taken place during the great Boys vs. Girls prank war of third year, when Sirius had exchanged her shampoo for ‘Hair Today, Hair Forever’ dye in Deep Rose. After chasing him around the castle, out on to the Quidditch pitch and pushing him into the lake she’d come to the conclusion that the colour was quite nice, and had kept it. Sirius himself had transformed from a rather bony, knobbly faced kid into a devilishly charming young man (as described by the recently formed Sirius Black Fan-Club – ‘We’re Siriusly mad about Sirius!’). Talia had lost a ton of weight due to her prowess at Quidditch (she was a fellow Chaser) and James had to admit, was giving the others a run for their Galleons these days.

Brought out of his reverie by the sound of the lunch bell, James half-ran to the Great Hall, failing to notice that Lily stared after him, her green eyes rapidly filling with tears of despair.

* * * * *

Lily was furious with herself. Crying never did anyone any good, and she blinked away the tears before they had a chance to fall.

"You alright?" asked Catherine as she cleared away her books. "You look a little pale."

"I’m fine, thanks, just a few friend problems," Lily replied, wondering whether she should pour out all her troubles there and then. Tempting as the idea was, it turned out there was no need. The sources of all her troubles had just appeared in the doorway, and were tapping their feet impatiently, obviously waiting for her to come to lunch. Well, she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. Grabbing a bemused Cathy by the arm, she dragged her from the Transfiguration room, pointedly avoiding the incredulous stares of Talia.

They turned the corner, walked up a flight of stairs and finally collapsed inside the library. Cathy frowned at Lily, and dropped her book bag to the floor. "As it so happens, I was coming up here to meet my research group anyway. In the future, however, I’d appreciate it if you told me before manhandling me away from..."

"I lied. I’m not okay," said Lily, her bottom lip trembling again. Her friend’s face softened, and she reached out a tentative hand.

"So what is the matter, then?" asked Cathy.

"Everything! I hate myself!" she exclaimed. Cathy snorted derisively, and shook her head. "Now you sound like that Sirius Black," she chided.

"I don’t mean…I mean…look. Take Sirius, for example," Lily said, clutching the material of her robes in feverish fingers. "He’s clever…"

"So are you."

"He’s good-looking…"

"So are you!"

"He’s funny…"

"You’re occasionally humorous…"

"And he’s…well, I really hate to say this, but he’s…he’s bad," she finished, fixing Cathy with a knowing stare. The Ravenclaw girl swallowed, searched for words, then cocked her head to one side.

"I suppose you’re…in a way you’re very…but…"

"See? I’m plain old Lily. The word people use to describe me is nice."

"And what’s wrong with that?" asked Cathy.

 

"The problem is," Lily said, lowering her voice. "The problem is, nice isn’t what certain people want. It isn’t what certain people like. And it isn’t getting me anywhere! When my friends go out, I stay in. They ask me to cover for them." She held up a hand, stopping Cathy mid-accusation. "And before you say it, they are my real friends. They’ve stuck by me through thick and thin, and I know Emma didn’t mean it…"

"Didn’t mean what?"

"Er…oh, alright. She told James she’d go to the Frog with him tomorrow night."

"Oh. Oh! James is the one you…"

"Hey!" Lily hissed, looking around frantically. "Not so loud."

"Sorry. James is the one you like, isn’t he? Did Emma know that?"

"Yes, she did! That’s why I was so angry to start with, but she couldn’t’ve meant it…I think she just thought I didn’t like him anymore. I don’t know…I’ll ask her later, when I’ve cooled down a bit. The point is, although I’m a little mad with them, we’ll always be best mates, and they’ll always like me the way I am. I just want to change, for myself."

"No you don’t. You want to change for James…"

"That isn’t it! Inside me there’s a…a bad girl just waiting to get out! I want to wear make-up! I want to swear, and laugh loudly, and totter around in high heels!" Lily’s eyes widened with the realisation, and a huge grin lit up her face. "I even want to get drunk!"

Cathy’s mouth pursed into a disapproving line, and she sighed. "If that’s what you want, and you’re doing it for you, then go for it. But I’d talk to Emma first…and Lily?" The red-head had stood up to leave, and turned at the door. "Yes?"

"If he doesn’t love you for who you really are, then he isn’t worth it."

* * * * *

"Where the hell is she?" asked Arabella worriedly, stubbing out her cigarette by accident. She tried to light it again with her wand, and only succeeded in dropping both items on the tiled floor. Talia wafted the smoke away and pulled a face. "I thought you were giving up."

The other girl shrugged, and gave a thin smile. "It’s been a stressful few weeks. Besides, Snape’s been selling them on at cut-down prices, so I thought I might as well stock up."

Talia shook her head, and then turned to Emma. "What’s up with you?"

"It’s my fault, that’s what’s up."

"Don’t be stupid! She stopped liking James ages ago!" said Talia, emphasising her point by shooting a small jet of sparks from the tip of her wand.

"Licking James? I don’t think she’s ever done that," said Arabella, sticking her tongue out and grinning. The blonde girl came to life for a few seconds, and slapped her friend on the wrist.

"She said ‘liking’ and you know she did. Still, Lils was fine until James asked me out. I should’ve just said no," she added, despondent.

"Hi."

They all turned as one to the door, and broke into a chorus of smiles.

"Lily!"

"I thought Cathy and her Evil Study Minions had bored you into a coma."

"Hi! Lily, I’m so sorry…"

"I heard."

"It’s just that you never talk about him anymore, and you never like, flirt with him or anything, so I just thought…I’ll go and tell him I’ve changed my mind," said Emma decisively, grabbing Lily by the hand. "I’ll tell him I…er…I’m…staying here. To do homework," she said, face scrunched up as though homework were some sort of torture worse than death. Lily laughed.

"Em, I’m fine with it. You can go with him if you like. I don’t care about James Potter. So, are we still friends?" she asked nervously. The others all pulled her into a group hug, Arabella holding her newly lit cigarette high above their heads. "Of course we are, you idiot!" she shouted, and they all broke apart. Lily grabbed the cigarette, and examined it. Arabella rolled her eyes, and snatched it back.

"I know, I know, they’re bad for my health, they make me smell, people are starting to think I like hanging around with the Slytherin crew and they’re addictive…don’t worry, I’ll stop," she assured her, making to flush it down a nearby toilet. Lily merely shook her head slowly and smiled mysteriously. "What?" asked Arabella, mystified. "What is it?"

"Girls, I want you to teach me."

"What could we possibly teach you?" sniggered Talia.

Lily grinned. "How to be bad."