The Parents Who Died

The Parents Who Died: Part VII of Tale #1

Kaye Came In And Caught Me Red-Handed,

Snogging With That Red-Head Girl

It does not bother me to say this isn't love

Because if you don't wanna talk about it then it isn't love

And I guess I'm going to have to live with that

But I'm sure there's something in the shade of grey

Something in between

And I can always change my name

If that's what you mean

--Counting Crows, "Anna Begins"

Padmavati Balverj was blocking the doorway to the Gryffindor sixth year girls’ dorm. Her long black hair wove down her back, encrusted with golden bangles, and the clothes she wore were not the standard Hogwarts robes; they were Muggle clothes, as she was Muggle-born: panty-hose, a short leather skirt, a white, ribbed turtle-neck, and a leather vest. Her lips were painted dark-red, rather than her usual pink, and her eyelids were powdered down with tanned eye shadow.

The result was a very mature-looking Padmavati, and it was enough to make Lily Evans faltered upon meeting up with her. "Padma?" Lily wondered.

Padmavati sparkled. "I think Patrick liked my Muggle clothes," she giggled, tugging on her skirt.

Lily eyed its length. "Or he liked the view," she commented.

Confused, Padmavati frowned. "Huh?"

"Itsy-bitsy," Lily failed to elaborate, attempting to push past her friend into the room.

Padmavati wouldn’t yield. "Um...you can’t go in, Lily," she said sheepishly. 

Already irked at her previous encounter with Kaye Song, James Potter’s girlfriend, who’d caught James and her kissing behind a shelf in the library, Lily couldn’t quite take this news placidly. "Excuse me?"

"Kaye gave me specific orders not to let you in..."

"And I should care because...?"

"Um," said Padmavati, biting her lip. "Um...because Kaye said so..."

Lily told Padmavati to do something to Kaye that shocked Padmavati so much that she shrieked. It sounded somewhat like "freak Kaye" only with a much more...vulgar word in replacement of "freak."

"LILY!" Padmavati cried. 

"What?" said Lily innocently.

Padmavati looked as if she would explain unnecessarily, but her face suddenly dropped and her brown eyes glistened. Her lips curved down and her eyebrows straightened. She placed a well-sculpted hand on Lily’s shoulder and said earnestly, "I’m so sorry, Lily."

Surprised at this sudden change in mood, Lily stepped back. "Huh?"

"Professor Dumbledore owled me after it happened."

Lily’s heart twisted, and somehow she knew what Padmavati was speaking of even without explanation. "Oh."

"Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it? I was going to come right away, but...well...I was at granny’s and India is pretty far..."

"I’m fine," said Lily dully. "Why’d Dumbledore tell you?"

Padma looked insulted. "He knows I’m your best friend."

"Oh. Yeah."

"Are you sure you’re okay?" Padmavati asked, peering closely up at Lily’s face.

"I’m fine, Padma, I swear," said Lily seriously. "Ja—I mean, someone helped me."

"Hagrid?"

Lily reddened. "Um...yeah."

Under normal circumstances, Padmavati would have immediately caught that reddish tint to Lily’s cheeks. But as her eyes were down and she felt awful for her friend, she didn’t see it. "If my parents died...I’d be crying my eyes out. God, you’re strong, Lily."

"I know," said Lily, forcing a smile. "And I’m strong enough to kick your ass if you don’t move out of my way right this moment."

Strung between obeying an ornery Kaye and being the best friend she was, Padmavati wavered. "But—"

Lily nodded. "Thank you, Padmavati," she said slowly.

Padmavati sighed and scooted out of the way, allowing Lily through.

Kaye’s bed was the first one to the door, and she was on it, lying sprawled out with her long black hair forming a halo around her head and another magazine in her hands. She was popping bubble gum.

Lydia Figg was at the next bed, emptying out her bags, but looked up in a whirl of bouncy shoulder-length hair as Lily entered, Padmavati following behind (she didn't want to miss this and she had to be the comforting best friend she was).

Kaye peered over the top of her magazine at the sudden silence in the room. Her dark eyes caught sight of Lily and her nose turned up. "Ball-ver-juh, I thought I said no Evans."

"It's Bell-ver-sh--" corrected Padmavati.

"Whatever," snipped Kaye. She sat up, laying aside her Witch Weekly, and shaking out her long mane of hair. She pulled down at the tight pink shirt that was creeping up her stomach. "Get her out."

"Excuse me?" said Lily in disbelief, hands falling to her hips. She felt like she was standing out in her standard Hogwarts robe amongst so many Muggle-clothed people. "They aren't your maids. Or am I missing something?"

Lydia and Padmavati actually took slight steps toward Lily at Kaye's command, but both stopped at Lily's words and realized what they were doing.

"Yeah!" said Pamda sternly. 

Lydia shook herself and blinked up at Lily with a clouded look in her gray eyes.

Kaye narrowed her eyes. "Get out of here, Evans."

"Says who?"

"Me," said Kaye, standing and drawing herself up imperiously. Her belly button peeked out from under her shirt again.

"And you think I'll listen?" Lily frowned. "Really, Kaye, what has come over you?" She padded over to her own bed, across from Lydia's, and plopped down.

Kaye bristled, following Lily and standing over her bed. "I hate you!"

"Shouldn't it be James you're hating, m'dear?" Lily snapped, sitting up. Her hair swished up behind her.

"Huh?" said Padmavati with interest.

Both Kaye and Lily were bright red. "He can't help it!" Kaye sputtered. "He was alone and he missed me and you were the only girl around!"

"Hold up," Padmavati interrupted, holding up a hand. "Why are you mad at Lily, Kaye?"

"She was shagging my boyfriend!" Kaye exploded.

"Shagging? SHAGGING?" Lily spluttered. She flew up. "I would never, ever, ever shag James Potter even if he was the last man on earth!"

Padmavati's eyes got huge, shooting between the two bristling girls.

"Yeah, and Hell's cold!" Kaye shot back. "I saw you too gettin' hot 'n heavy!"

"I knew it!" Padmavati exclaimed.

Unable to reply, all Lily could say was, "Nuh-uh!"

"Is this true, Lily?" Padmavati asked with keen interest.

Lily was purple. "NO!"

"She liked it, too, didn't you, Evans?" snarled Kaye, practically pouncing on her like a cat would. 

Lily opened her mouth to protest but all that came out was a squeak.

"He is a good kisser, isn't he?" Kaye said thoughtfully. "Not too wet, not too dry, not too much tongue Right, Evans?"

Padmavati was looking eagerly to each of them, a horrible gossip-hound as she was.

"Bum--er--uh, no!" Lily said intelligently.

"OH!" squealed Padmavati. "You and James finally got together, Lily! I knew you would!"

"Excuse me?" said Kaye, bearing down on her now.

"We didn't!" Lily cried.

Padmavati jumped up and down, grabbing Lily's arms and spinning her around in circles in the middle of the room, causing Lydia to step away. "James! Lily! He's, like, the hottest guy in the school! You two are perfect for each other!"

"HEY!" Kaye yelled. "James is mine, honeys, sorry to disappoint you."

Padmavati stopped, releasing a very dizzy Lily, and turned to Kaye. "Really?"

"Uh--yeah!"

"Kaye, dear," said Padmavati slowly, "James was cheating on you and he's still yours?"

"It wasn't his fault!" Kaye said desperately. "She was seducing him!"

Lily, regaining herself again, stared in anger at her. "Excuse me, Song, but he was seducing me."

"I have to believe Lily on this, Kaye."

Kaye steamed.

Padmavati, the neutral one, moved to Kaye's side and slung an arm over her shoulders. "It's all right, Kaye. You can do better."

"I'm going to break up with him," she decided, looking up at Padmavati as if for approval.

"Good!"

Kaye's face fell. "But then I won't have a boyfriend anymore "

"How about Ben Chang? I saw him eyeing you the other week."

"The Ravenclaw?"

"Yeah."

A thoughtful look passed across Kaye's face. "He's cute Are you sure he was eyeing me?"

"Trust me."

Kaye smiled. "Good idea, Balverj. Thank you." She shook her arm off. "I have to go break off with James, slap him or punch him or something."

Lily was appalled at her heart for falling and her mouth for saying, "Hey!"

She blushed as Padmavati grinned at her.

Kaye made her way over to Lily. "I have to spread the news about you two, too, of course. Balverj will help, right?"

"Of course."

"Us two?" Lily said. "Hold up."

"Will they have slept together?" Padma asked Kaye as she made her way to the door.

"No, Lily got him drunk and raped him," Kaye informed her, stepping outside.

Lily stared at Padma with eyes widened in disbelief.

"You and James, Lily!" her best friend squealed, dancing. "How romantic! Now tell me everything!"

"Like hell I would," Lily snapped. She stepped up to Padmavati and grabbed a handful of her hair. 

Padmavati shrieked.

"Any word of this leave this room by your mouth and I swear to God you're dead."

The door slammed behind her as Lily sped off, most likely in pursuit of Kaye.

Rubbing her sore scalp, Padmavati looked at Lydia. "Sooo how do you like spreading gossip, Lyd?"

Lydia blinked.

* * * * *

Kaye found her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend lounging on the sofas in the common room with his best friends (Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew). James was leaning back easily in his chair, legs crossed in the "guy way," hair, tousled as usual, falling in wisps across his forehead. He seemed to find the game of chess that was occurring between Remus and Peter highly amusing.

Tugging on her creeping shirt, Kaye made her way, sashaying her hips in any eligible guys’ faces, to stand in front of James’s chair. His smile narrowed and his eyes stopped sparkling. Remus and Peter stopped playing the game as they and Sirius watched the couple.

"Um hi, Kaye," he said worriedly.

Her refined hands flitted to her hips and her crimson lips formed a pout. Eyes narrowed in a reprimanding way, she began her wrath. "I am not one to be walked on. I am not a girl to be cheated on. I will not have disrespect, and that’s what it is. I’m not a wimpy girl who’d let you pass because of your ‘hormones’ or because ‘Lily seduced you,’ because it’s not true. I’m realizing that now. Because I’ve known Lily for six years now, and though I hate her guts currently, I know she hates yours. So you had to have been the one to make the move, James."

A silence had fallen over the common room as every eye deliberated them. It was an interesting sight. A short Japanese girl with long, curly black hair and just the right touch of makeup, wearing Muggle clothes of tight jeans and a tight pink shirt, hands on her hips, chastising a tall, slender guy with wild black hair and glasses, sunk low in the pouf before her. A table decorated with a chess board and chess pieces sat behind the girl, and it was surrounded by three other poufs with three guys on them, all watching with great interest and open mouths.

James was silent, eyelashes brushing demurely against his glasses.

"You can guarantee this relationship is over, Potter," Kaye continued, tapping one high-heeled foot on the floor. "I don’t need this. I can have any guy in this school."

A soft snort of disbelief coming from her object of torture called for a demonstration.

Kaye whirled around, grabbed the handsome Sirius Black by the collar of his robe, and jerked him up. "Hey, Sirius, how about a date?"

Sirius’s gray eyes sparkled. "Sure!"

James’s eyes grew wide. "Sirius!"

As Kaye let him down, Sirius looked at his friend sheepishly. "Sorry, buddy, but she’s right."

Kaye smiled sweetly at James. "From your best friend himself."

Although James really did want to break up with Kaye, he had wanted to be the one to break it off. Kaye should have been the one humiliated; after all, he’d cheated on her. But somehow Kaye had done a three-sixty on the whole ordeal and whirled it around. 

She was like that. People saw her as ditzy, but the girl had brains beneath it all, and it seemed only she could do what she did.

"So, James, all I have to say is it’s over. Watch your back." She bent down close to him, so close he found himself staring down the neck of her shirt and getting a full view of just why Kaye Song got her men. He gulped.

"I’ve known Lily for six years. We’re on okay terms. But that doesn’t mean she’s protected, James. And as you’re definitely not, you can count on some very nasty rumors being spread." With this, she stood up, and smiled at him. "Have a nice day!"

She turned around, then stopped, and faced him again. "Oh, I almost forgot!" she giggled.

"Huh?" James grunted. "What do you want now?"

BAM.

James reeled back at sudden blinding pain that ran through his cheekbone, jaw, and left eye. His mouth fell open in disbelief as his fingers flew up to caress his aching face. Kaye was retracting her fist. "Did you forget I know tae-kwon-do, sweetie?" she asked. She pulled a mock face of concern. "Poor baby! My daddy’s a master, didn’t you know?"

She turned again, James not the only one staring at her in amazement, and looked sadly to Sirius. "Oh, and I was kidding about that date thing, Sirius, you know," she told him, patting his shoulder. "You’re sweet and all, but I’ve got other fish to fry."

The entire common room watched in keen interest and disbelief as the ditzy Kaye Song made her way to the portrait hole in pursuit of her new dinner.

Sirius looked at James and James looked back.

"Damn," said Sirius simply.

* * * * *

Frank Longbottom was waiting for Lily in the hallway that divided the stairways to the girls’ dorms and the guys’ dorms. He was already dressed in his robes, and his blond hair was combed neatly, as always. His pink cheeks glowed, and the familiar sight of him at first relieved Lily. At least it did until she noticed the white rose he carried.

Still, she greeted him as she always would have, ignoring the rose and all the craziness that had consumed her life as of late. "Frankie! Long time no see!"

"Lily," said Frank, nodding earnestly. "How’re you holding up?"

"Fine," said Lily, arching an eyebrow. "Why wouldn’t I be?"

"I heard about your parents," said Frank softly.

"My question now is: who hasn’t?" Lily sighed. "My parents are dead, yes." Her heart twisted. "But—"

"Damn," said Frank. That’s what Lily loved about him. Any other person would have looked at her with sad eyes, told her they were oh-so-sorry. She didn’t want any "I’m sorrys" or "crying is okays;" she wanted some good, old fashion, angry "damns."

"But I’m okay," Lily finished, holding her eyes steady to prove it. "I miss them, yes. I cried, yes. But I’ve come to terms."

Frank’s blue eyes held hers steady for a moment before he nodded. "This is for you," he told her abruptly, brandishing the rose. His pink cheeks turned even pinker. "I thought it might help if you were crying," he muttered, looking at the floor.

Desperately sorry for him, Lily accepted the gift. "A lily would have been nicer," she told him, grinning. "But thanks anyway."

Frank peeked up, caught her smile, and looked relieved. "Mum insisted a rose was more funeral-ish, whatever that means."

"Either way," said Lily, shrugging.

"So um " said Frank awkwardly. "Chess?"

Lily frowned. 

"I’ll be easy!" Frank enticed.

Lily sighed. "Fine."

"Yay!" said Frank excitedly. He was one of the few people Lily had ever met who got so excited about chess. He led the way into the common room, which was surprisingly hushed.

Her eyes scanning the room immediately for any trace of James, her heart fell when she saw him, slumped down in a chair, in a corner with his best friends.

Don’t notice me, don’t notice me.

The thought appeared to be in vain.

Sirius’s sharp gray eyes caught sight of her hair, and he stood up. "LILY!"

Shit, she thought.

Frank looked inquiringly at her. 

She shrugged and ignored Sirius, heading to an opposite table.

But Sirius was smart, and knew that if he called her, she wouldn’t come. So he called Frank instead. "Yo! Frank!"

On good terms with the quartet hogging the tables in the corner, Frank followed the voice, and Lily had no choice but to tag along.

She felt her face burning when all the eyes surrounding the chessboard watched her come; they knew