This is Why I Don't Play Truth or Dare

This is Why I Don't Play Truth or Dare

Cuatro

James Potter is kissing me, Lily thought incoherently. It was rather hard for her to form complete thoughts at that particular moment, as James proved to be very good at the activity at hand. Very good. Later on, she would wonder how he got so good at snogging, but at present she was simply enjoying the ride. If someone had told her last year, or last week, or heck, even the day before that she would be frenched by James Potter in the middle of the hallway past curfew, she would have laughed in their face. And the fact that she was enjoying it- that was the kicker. If she could form a rational thought at that moment, it might have been something along the lines of wishing she had accepted the Marauder's previous offers of dates, as the snogs were well worth it.

Suddenly she felt the cool of the corridor wall against her back, releasing her from the spell James's lips seemed to have cast over her. She pushed him away, her lungs gasping for air. His breathing was rather ragged too, from what she heard in front of her.

"Lily," she heard him say roughly, "s-sorry. I got a bit, a bit carried away."

She was unable to reply. She shook her head and looked at the floor- anywhere but him.

"I guess-," he started, taking in a shaky breath, "I should go, or s-something."

Lily's head shot up, startled by such a notion. He couldn't leave- she wouldn't let him. She wasn't ready for him to go. He had to stay. But how? she wondered as she watched him turn to leave. There were certainly other things she could've done to make him stay, but her mind was still spinning, so she did the only thing that seemed logical to her at the time.

"James!" she called after him. He stopped and turned his head to look at her.

"What?" he inquired as he came back towards her a few steps.

Lily shook her head and then did something that she likely wouldn't have done had she been thinking rationally: she crossed the few feet between them, wrapped her arms around his neck, and then proceeded to snog him.

~*~

Fred Wilkins looked at the candy bar before her suspiciously. Now she was never the one to refuse chocolate, but she also knew better than to accept candy of unknown origins that had been left for her mysteriously in the common room. There was no doubt that the chocolate in question was meant for her; it did, after all, have Eloise Winifred Wilkins written on the wrapper, but she couldn't help but be suspicious of anything that used the vile names that had unfortunately been bestowed upon her by her sadistic parentals. There was, of course, only one solution to this problem: she must do as any other teenaged girl would, and go consult her comrades. So she took the bar with her and continued on her merry way to lunch.

As Fred joined her friends at their usual part of the Gryffindor table, it soon became apparent that there was another, far more grave, matter at hand: Lily Evans had skipped Charms. Oh yes, she really did, and the girl in question was still missing.

"Where on earth could she be?" Katie exclaimed as she stabbed her grilled chicken with a little more force than what was perhaps necessary. "She never misses Charms! It's-"

"-her favorite class- we know!" Lyn replied, cutting her off.

"Have you checked the Hospital Wing?" Fred asked, joining the conversation.

"Twice!" said Joanna, a look of worry apparent on her face.

As the girls continued to parley over the whereabouts of their AWOL friend, none of them noticed that the Marauders were also absent, for they too had a missing buddy.

"Where on earth could he be?" Sirius exclaimed, pounding a fist against the wall, causing the nearby portrait of a rather elderly witch in a violently pink beret to give him a rather dirty look. He returned her sentiments and continued, "I'm so worried about him!"

"I am too," Remus agreed. "He's been so... morose lately."

"It's all because that b-"

"Sirius!"

"-int stood him up!"

"That does seem to be the problem," the werewolf replied grimly. "I just hope he hasn't done anything stupid. He's really going to regret missing Charms today."

"Remus, there are things more important than school, you know!"

"It was a really important lesson! Flitwick said that 50% of the upcoming exam was going to be on the material covered today!"

As the boys continued to argue over the importance of Charms, James and Lily, who happened to be missing together, were actually in a broom closet two hallways over. Why were they in a broom closet together? Well you can imagine...

"Isn't this... much better... than Charms?" James asked in between the kisses he was bestowing on Lily's neck.

"Possibly," she said, before his lips found hers again and talking became out of the question. When they came up for air, Lily couldn't help but check her watch, which caused her to remark, "We've missed lunch."

"I'm not... hungry," James replied, although the way he was going at her neck suggested otherwise.

"And we're going to miss Transfiguration."

"So."

"McGonagall won't be happy."

"She'll... get over... it."

~*~

Minerva McGonagall was very confused. Indeed, she had seen many a teenage drama unfold in her near forty years of teaching, yet it had been quite some time since she had seen one as odd as the one before her at present.

Lily Evans was certainly the sort of student she would describe as "serious" and "dedicated":

Her homework was always turned in on time.

Her grades were almost all "O"s with the occasional "E".

Her essays were always the proper length.

Her spelling and grammar was impeccable.

She was always punctual and never skipped classes.

And then one day, she walked into class ten minutes late. Ten. Ten! What's more, she hadn't done her homework, she failed miserably the quiz the professor had given, and she hadn't even attempted the extra credit. Minerva McGonagall's world was all askew.

Naturally, at the end of class, she called Lily up to her desk. "Miss. Evans," she started, choosing her words carefully, "is something... wrong?"

"Er, um..." Lily stuttered, clearly flustered.

"You were a complete mess today," the professor continued. "Is there something going on that I should know about?"

Lily quickly shook her head and replied, "Oh, no! It's nothing! Nothing at all! I just had trouble sleeping last night, so I skipped lunch and took a nap and I overslept, so of course I was late!" The poor child's babbling, Minerva thought to herself, knowing that by Lily's reaction that something most certainly was wrong.

The plot thickened as she discovered that Lily had started skipping classes, and again arrived late to Transfiguration. These were very strange occurrences indeed. Stranger still, James Potter, a somewhat slacker student yet still quite bright, had begun skipping even more classes than usual, and not in the company of his usual skipping cohorts. In fact, many of these new skippings coincided with the truancies of Lily Evans! It was common knowledge, even among the professors, that Lily rather, well- hated James. The idea that they, Head students no less, were skipping class together was preposterous! And yet...

~*~

James Potter was happier than he had been in a long time. Of course, things weren't perfect and could potentially turn disastrous, but they were still pretty good, considering. He was, after all, snogging with the long-time sought after Lily Evans on a somewhat regular basis. Not that anyone knew, of course. She wouldn't have that.

McGonagall probably wasn't pleased with him, as he had been skipping more of her classes than usual. He and Lily would skip lunch in favor of snogging and then they'd end up late for Transfiguration, and as turning up late together would have serious implications, Lily would go to class and he would skip. Although sometimes, they would both ignore the clock and just keep on kissing.

His friends were also on the edge of excommunicating him from the Marauders, he was willing to bet. He had been flaking out on them rather often and they probably hated him for it. I deserve it, he admitted to himself as he made his way up the stairs to the boys' dorm. He hoped he didn't look too ruffled, as he was returning from a particularly... spirited session of Lily snogging.

He walked in to find an empty dorm, and shrugged. His roommates were probably still at dinner, so he headed across the room to the bathroom. Suddenly, the door flew shut, followed by the distinctive click of a lock. He turned around to see his three best friends (where they had been hiding, he had no clue), and then suddenly all went black.

When regained consciousness, James was naturally upset to find himself tied to a chair with bits of ropes and unless he was mistaken, what appeared to be several Gryffindor ties.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?!" he exclaimed angrily.

"Hey, buddy," Sirius said, sounding a little bitter, "long time, no see."

Before James could reply, Remus said, "Sorry that we had to knock you out, but this is an intervention and we didn't want you to escape."

"An intervention?" James sputtered in disbelief.

"Prongs," Sirius said, straddling a chair opposite of his friend, "we are worried about you. First you're all depressed over Evans. That's understandable. And then you seem to recover from this slight only to disappear almost completely from our lives."

"You've been skipping even more classes than usual," Remus added, sitting down properly in a chair next to Sirius, "you haven't been doing your homework, and your grades are slipping."

From the other side of Sirius, Peter said, "You've been missing lunch and dinner, and you've also been getting to bed even later than Sirius."

"And I'm the king of night owls," Sirius agreed, nodding.

"But you're a dog," James replied with the bare hint of humor.

"That's not the point!"

"Then what is it?"

"There's something wrong with you, mate!" Sirius shouted, shaking his friend by the shoulders.

"What is it, James?" Remus asked, in a much calmer tone of voice.

"I can't tell you."

"Why the hell not!"

"Sirius, be quiet. James, why can't you tell us?"

"It's a secret."

"A SECRET?"

"Sirius! There's no need for violence! James- we're you're friends and we just want to know what's been going on with you lately."

"You can tell us anything. You know that!"

"Exactly, Peter. James?"

"Well, it's... complicated."

"And who would understand better than us? Your FRIENDS."

"Sorry, Padfoot, but there are loyalties beyond friendship."

"What?!"

"Like I said, it's a secret."

"Oh, for the love of Merlin- TEEEELLLL UUUSSSS!!!!!"

"SIRIUS!!! I SAID NO VIOLENCE!!!!!!!!!"

"SOMEONE! HELP!!! HE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!!!!!"

"No I'm not! I'm trying to be your friend!"

"Well you suck! I can't even fight back!"

"There'd be no need for fighting if you would just TELL US!!!"

"MMRPF!"

"He bit me! Remus he bit me!"

"You deserved it."

"But-"

"But nothing. Now James-"

"I'm not telling you anything!"

"Please?"

"No!"

"Now be sensib-"

"NO!"

"Can I hit him, Moony?"

"No!"

"But he's being uncooperative!"

"NO!"

"Maybe we should just let him go."

"SHUT UP, PETER!"

~*~

Now by happenstance, Lily Evans had entered the still deserted common room to hear a horrible din coming from the boys' dormitory. She probably would have ignored it had not one of the voices of the ruckus sounding very much like James.

"SOMEONE! HELP!!! HE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!!!!!" she heard quite distinctly, and after a moment or two of consideration, she ran up the steps to the dorm and then quickly found the room in question. When she tried the door, she found it locked, so using her vast expertise of charms, she unlocked the door and hurried inside.

The first thing she noticed about the seventh year boys' dorm was the smell. It stunk. It stunk bad. It was a unique stench that was a combination of body odor, urine, rotting food, cologne, wet dog, and a smell that she couldn't quite place (nor did she want to).

The second thing that took her notice was the scene taking place in the center of the room. James, her beloved snogging partner, was tied to a chair with rope and Gryffindor neck ties, while Sirius Black and Remus Lupin argued loudly and violently and Peter Pettigrew cowered in the corner.

"What in the bloody hell is going on here?" she said, although no one heard her over the two boys fighting.

So naturally, she repeated herself.

"WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

That got their attention.

"Oh, um, hello, Lily," Remus greeted her nervously, straitening his tie with which a moment before Sirius had been trying to strangle him.

"Yes, how are you?" Sirius replied while smoothing down his hair, which Remus had previously been pulling quite hard.

Lily shook her head and demanded, "Why is James tied to a chair?"

Before either of them could formulate a reply, James said, "They're giving the good cop/bad cop treatment and failing terribly. Could you please untie me?" But as Lily came forward to free him, she was seized by the interrogators.

"Sorry, Lily," Remus replied, "but I'm afraid we're not quite done with our friend yet."

"With friends like these, who needs enemies," James informed Lily as she was likewise bound to another chair.

"It's for your own good mate," Sirius told him. Turning to Lily, he said, "We'll let you go once James talks, but we can't have you rescuing him in the mean time."

"This is sadistic," she said angrily, "making me stay here against my will amidst such a foul stench. What do you do? Drag wet animals in here and let them run around? That, at least, would account for the mess."

"Just let her go," James pleaded. "There's no need to drag her into all this and I'm sure she would make no further attempts to free me."

"You got that right."

"No dice, mate," Sirius replied with a shake of his head. "She doesn't go free until you spill the beans."

"What beans? What's going on here?" Lily asked.

"We've been trying to account for our Jamsie's whereabouts the past few weeks."

The color drained from her face as the horrible truth dawned on Lily. "I'm sure it's none of your business!" she informed the Marauder before her.

"Aha!" Sirius exclaimed, having noted Lily's reaction. "It would appear, Mr. Moony, that Miss. Evans may know something that we don't!"

"Are you suggesting, Mr. Padfoot, that we include her in our questioning?" Remus said in a mischievous tone that Lily couldn't recall having heard from him before.

With a nod and a downright evil grin, Sirius spun his chair to face her and then returned to straddling it. "Where, pray tell, were you on the night of the twenty-fifth?"

"Oh, this is ridiculous! I refuse to be subject to this nonsense," she informed him.

"Lily, please, we're just worried about our friend. Surely you can understand that?" Remus asked sensibly.

At this point, Lily was actually feeling a bit guilty. True, she couldn't blame them for being worried about James, but her pride wouldn't allow them to know the truth. As much as she hated to admit it, several nights of laying awake over the past week or so had brought her to the unfortunate conclusion that she liked James. More than liked, actually, but she refused to allow herself to even think the "L" word. So instead she continued to snog him in various Hogwarts broom closets, trying not to think that she loved the snogger in question, in a fashion that some would refer to as "using". She also had the distinct feeling that "some" would include Sirius Black, as he was the master of the activity in question, and had it been of anyone else, he probably would have congratulated her, but as the using was of his best friend, he most likely would hex her lips off or something equally as fitting, or knowing him, worse.

Before Lily could think of a suitable lie, Peter, who had at some point stopped cowering and returned himself to the action, made an observation:

"What's that on James's collar?"

Crap.

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Bugger. Bollocks. Bloody hell. Crap.

Curious, Sirius turned to inspect his incarcerated friend's collar, and to Lily's horror, the light of understanding filled his eyes.

"Well looky here, Moony! It would appear that our friend has been snogging!"

Remus, seeing that it was indeed lipstick on James's collar, smiled quite deviously for one of his character. "So we now know what you've been up to, my friend."

"Yes, you do," James replied irritably. "Now can you let Lily and I go?"

"Why certainly," Sirius said graciously. "Ladies first," he remarked as he began to untie Lily. She might have gotten away too, had Sirius not gotten a close up of her face.

"Merlin!" he exclaimed, a look of complete astonishment plastered across his face. Instead of finishing untying her, he retightened the tie he had been loosening and replied, "What is that on your lips?"

"None of your business, now let me go!" Lily shouted, struggling against her bindings.

Remus stepped forward and looked intently at Lily's lips. "Sirius," he said, "get me a piece of parchment." Sirius complied and Remus further instructed, "Now hold her head still."

"No!" Lily shrieked. "You will NOT touch my head!" But as she was bound hand and foot, she really had no say in the matter. James couldn't watch- he knew what was going to happen.

The lipstick from Lily's mouth on the parchment would match the lipstick on his shirt.

His friends would know the truth about what he had been doing over the past couple of weeks that was so engrossing as to take his time from them.

Sirius would shout at an ear-splitting volume, "LILY EVANS HAS BEEN SNOGGING JAMES POTTER!!!"

Remus and Peter would stand there with their gobs open in shock.

Lily would be mad. Heck, she might even cry.

James knew very well what would happen indeed. And it did.