Prelude to a Love Story

Chapter Two: Sleeping She-Devil

Like a sleeping princess she lay there. Red hair spread out over the pillows, while her pale hand sat close to her mouth, clenched in a slight fist. Her cheeks a slight pink flush over skin of ivory, while thick lashes lay flat to her face - eyes shut. She looked as though she might wake, smiling and beautiful, at any moment, which made it all the harder for Remus to picture her as the She-Devil Sirius had described.

Her stillness was broken by a slight twitch as her body shifted position, though her eyes did not flutter awake and reveal the emerald iris. They could not. Lily Evans lay unconscious upon the hospital bed, her skin unnaturally pale, apart from the cheeks flushed with oncoming fever. Lily was very sick, and the dream cures that many doctors used were not nearly as effective on the unconscious mind - she would need to be woken first, so that she might then settle into natural sleep.

"Okay, wands at the ready?" asked Madam Marmalade, one of the nurses who worked in the hospital wing. She was a very old woman, and tended to give long descriptions to any student, not quick enough to get away, of what Hogwarts had been like when she first came. "I've fixed students like this in a jiffy before, and I will again," she muttered, preparing the revival potion. Glancing up, she saw Sirius Black's wand.

"No! No, no, no, no! I did NOT say, Mr. Black, that you were to hold it at her throat! Our aim is not to kill Miss. Evans, but to heal her. She will not improve if she wakes up to see someone about to stab her!" Madam Marmalade looked fit to scream, but Sirius only smiled at her grouchiness.

"Never fear, Madam Marmalade," he said happily, "I shall not kill Miss Evans." Though once he'd lost the madam's attention muttered: "Only prod her a little." This he said on an aside to Remus, who tried to bring his eyebrows together in a serious frown, but couldn't with the laughter that threatened. Sirius looked just like some sort of vampire slayer.

"I do not want her to be able to see your wands, boys," Madam Marmalade continued, sternly, "I only want them close by so that if she does become violent, then at least you'll have the wand there to protect yourself. You do now how to perform the Unconscious Curse?" She questioned. All the boys nodded dutifully. James was still upset at Sirius for having had that curse performed on him.

"Prepared?" the boys nodded again. Remus felt a tingle of apprehension. He had never even spoken to this girl, but he couldn't imagine anyone so lovely to look at having an evil disposition. Madam Marmalade continued to speak as she poured the contents of a small vile between Lily's lips. "Ready, Set... And she awakes!" the madam finished grandly.

All three boys leant forwards, wanting a better look at the girl who had so changed their lives.

***//\//\***

Oh! How I hate him!. I HATE HIM HATE HIM HATE HIM! He stopped my revenge, ruined my dreams, brought my hopes, my desires, my wishes... EVERYTHING crashing to the ground. Can't you hear that dropping sound? Those booms are not growling thunder, but the pounding of a hammer as it threatens to break my heart. And he... HE wields the hammer. Oh, how I hate him. I hate him, hate him HATE HIM!!!

But where has the darkness gone? The darkness I love, it holds me, warms me, secures me. I love the darkness - my one, true friend. Where has it gone? What is this brightness? The bright light of white. Am I being reborn? Am I in heaven? I look around in wonder, for how can something so pure exist when I am in such turmoil?

The fuzzy light begins to materialise into something more realistic, and I see faces. As my eyes clear, so does my mind. Faces appear before me. I am frightened, nervous. Startled to see so many, I feel weak and wrap myself in the blankets, hoping that they will suffice as my protection. I am dependant on somewhere to hide. My darkness is gone... My friend, my protector, my warmth... I am helpless without protection.

I suddenly snap out of it. My mind stops going around in circles, it stops spinning mindlessly. I return to that hospital room, and really look around. My eyes narrow, but I realise almost immediately that James Potter isn't here. Perhaps he did die... My mouth begins to curve into a smile, but there must be something wrong, for one of the boys, I recognise him as being Remus Lupin, looks a bit worried and actually steps back. I smile all the wider.

"What?" I ask, sneering in a fashion I learnt from the Slytherins, "Come to seek retribution for the death of James?" I was concentrating on myself - I didn't notice their faces change. "He deserved it, the stupid snoop. Trying to stop my revenge!" My eyes sparkle in anger as I smile all the harder. "My hopes, my dreams, my DESIRE came crashing to the ground in a single instant thanks to him! Why, if he weren't already dead I'd kill him right-"

I finished abruptly; once more wrapped in the darkness I had so come to enjoy. My mind hadn't registered on the three wands pointed at my form, nor the anger that glinted in Sirius' eyes. Only one face was held in my thoughts as the Curse took effect. Remus, with an expression of incredulous dismay, and I almost felt sorry for him. "I wasn't always like this," I wanted to say. Yet it was too late, for the darkness had hold of me, and promptly pulled me down.

***//\//\***

Remus stared down at his wand, unbelieving. Unabe to believe that someone could say such things? Or unable to believe that he could send a person into unconsciousness? He didn't know.

"Whoa!" That was Sirius. "Who'd have thought the girl could be so crazy? I expected her to be a bit... odd. But downright insane? Never." Sirius shook his head in disbelief, a surprised smile hinting at the corners of his mouth. Remus knew he was covering up his real feelings; knew this because he could see the anger in Sirius' dark eyes and the whites of his knuckles as his fingers clenched around his wand.

Remus felt pretty similar himself.

Peter was looking at Lily as though he expected her to wake up at any moment and start trying to murder them all. Furtive, he glanced sideways at Remus and Sirius - appearing relived to see that they had their wands out, too. None of the Marauders noticed Madam Marmalade; or at least, that was until she emitted a long, tired sigh, that sounded more like a squeak.

"So much for that hope..." she spoke sadly, with a hint of resignation. "I was so certain that if we approached her without James then it would be alright. I hate being wrong."

Sirius tried to lighten the situation. "Well, at least now, Madam, we know that she has something against James. We definitely won't make the mistake of bringing James in while that demon's awake!"

"I thought she was a sleeping princess," spoke Remus, his voice tinged with regret, "She was so beautiful, and peaceful..."

Sirius stared at Remus, wondering just where his friend's mind was wandering. "More like a sleeping She-Devil. You saw that when she awoke."

Madam Pomfrey wandered into the room, tagging a student along behind her. Madam Pomfrey was a young witch with a worried sort of frown on her face. Apparently she was new to Hogwarts and hadn't built her confidence up yet. It was not Madam Pomfrey who attracted the boys' attention, though - they'd seen her around the school on many occasions. It was the girl she brought along behind her.

Sirius let out a low whistle at the blonde as she entered the room. When she turned at the sound they saw a pleasant face with baby-blue eyes. She wore a similar frown to that of Madam Pomfrey, though her cheeks and neck were slightly blushed as she heard Sirius' wordless remark.

"Madam Marmalade! I am so glad to have caught you before you woke her. Here is Sky Winkkin, Lily's best friend. I thought she might help, though I wasn't certain. I wanted to check with you to see whether I should bring her. But then I heard that you were waking Lily today anyway! So I didn't know, and I brought her along just in case, but..." the words that had been gushing out of Madam Pomfrey's mouth stopped when she sighted the weary face of her mentor, Madam Marmalade.

"I fear that we have already attempted to rouse Miss Evans," Madam Marmalade said dourly. "For the first few seconds she appeared to be in a state of disorientated confusion, yet soon after - her mind and eyes must have cleared enough to make sense of her environment - she began yelling incoherently about killing James." Once again Madam Marmalade gave that long drawn-out sigh, as though life were simply too difficult.

Sky looked as though she were about to burst into tears, her eyes were already becoming puffy. "But you can fix her, can't you?" she asked fearfully.

Sirius looked over at her, wondering how such a raging monster as Lily could have this soft-spoken girl as her best friend. Perhaps the girl's under the influence of an Imperious Curse, he thought wildly, or maybe some sort of potion... Silently, Sirius began laughing to himself as he pictured what were, to him, the only ways that a crazy wench like Lily Evans could ever hope to attain friends.

Apparently Sirius began to laugh out loud, also, as he soon received a sharp dig in the ribs by Remus' elbow and was forced to bend over in pain, wincing. "What was that for?" he mouthed, but Remus wasn't watching him any more. The lack of attention on himself drew Sirius' gaze back towards the conversation taking place before him.

"Can we try dreams?" asked Madam Pomfrey, "Or perhaps waking her up in a completely white room, completely alone? But I suppose that would be slightly pointless - she'd still be crazy around people... Otherwise we could always try the Imperius Curse-" She broke off quickly at the sudden and surprised looks surrounding her, and supposed that her suggestion of using one of the Unforgivable Curses on

a fellow student was rather far-fetched.

Breaking the silence caused by Poppy Pomfrey's outrageous thought, Marmalade decided to answer some of her previous musings. "I wasn't too certain about trying dreams, as she is still only unconscious due to the placement of a curse, rather than naturally asleep. I suppose we could always try, but we don't know how her unscious mind would interpret what we place there, or whether she would even receive the them."

The boys and Sky felt out of place. They were being completely ignored, despite the fact that Sirius was threatening to light a firework beside Lily's ear. Meanwhile Remus had hold of Sirius' other arm and appeared to be attempting its removal. Peter seemed to be searching his pockets for something - he had pulled every pocket inside out, and Sky couldn't help but giggle as she eventually saw him turn so many pockets inside out that he was simply covered in inside-out pockets.

It was when Sky burst out laughing that they eventually turned their attention back to the students. About four metres of inside-out pocket lay beside Peter, who kept tugging at an obviously bottomless pocket. He was oblivious to the fact that he had been pushed to the ground by a small missile that was set off by Sirius as he tried to disengage Remus. Sky was doubled over, laughing. It felt good to laugh, she realised. Her voice became slightly hysterical as she considered that ever since Lily's insanity had commenced there had been precious little laughter.

Seeing Sky rolling on the ground giggling set Remus and Sirius off, who also began to roll on the ground, laughing. The two Nurses also began to laugh, so that soon everyone but Peter (who was still searching his bottomless pocket) and Lily (who was out cold) was laughing. It took a while, but soon everyone calmed down enough to wipe the tears from their eyes. Peter set them off again, however, as he shouted out "Aha!" and waved his prize in the air. It was a little, rusty, nail. The surprise on Peter's face as he looked around to see everyone laughing madly was enough to send the nurses, Sirius, Remus and Sky back into fits again.

Confused, but always one to join in, Peter dropped to the floor and began to laugh, clutching his sides and waving his legs.

***//\//\***

James Potter looked up at the people entering through the portrait into the common room. His eyes were dark with resentment, while his mouth was pinched with bitterness. His eyebrows lowered as he noticed the black hair of Sirius, and he glared as he saw their smiling faces. Grumpily packing up his things, he quickly tried to jam them all into his bag and stand up, dragging the homework behind him. Unfortunately, he tried to do all this too quickly: the bag burst open, tripping him with its straps and spilling his books to the floor. Frustrated, James once again began to try and stuff all the books in his bag - slower, this time.

"Oi, James!" called Sirius across the room, "What's up?"

James only scowled harder in reply and, having finally managed to pack everything successfully, stalked like an offended cat from the room.

"What is up with him?" asked Remus, with a questioning look aimed at Sirius. "He seemed pretty fine yesterday."

Sirius, who appeared to be confused, lost his smile for a second as he sank in thought. He was certain that he hadn't done anything, and James had understood why he couldn't be included in the Lily girl's recovery. Sirius thought back over the past few days, and only came up with the thought that they had certainly been eventful. Why, before four days ago he had hardly even known of Lily Evans' existence - and now he was considered necessary in the cure! Or at least he had. Sirius didn't really understand why the teachers had wanted the other Marauders there... Something about association memory or- Sirius didn't really care. He was more interested in what was eating at James.

Peter spoke up, though his voice trembled slightly as he implied criticism. To one of the only good friends he had.

"Perhaps he didn't appreciate being knocked unconscious, Sirius... Not that I'm trying to say anything against you," he rushed.

Sirius' face once again sank into thought. Remus nearly burst out laughing - you could actually see the process by which he thought, as his face was like an open book and showed the different emotions running through his mind like a slide show. Remus began to frown, however, as what Peter had said sunk in.

"Sirius," he asked sternly, "What does he mean about James being 'knocked unconscious'?"

Sirius rolled his eyes and looked Remus up and down. "Why, Professor Lupin, would you want to know that?" he asked pompously. Then, returning to his normal manner, said: "Honestly, Remus, you sound exactly like one of the professors - perhaps you should think of becoming a teacher. Defence Against the Dark Arts would be right up your alley!"

Remus gave him a scornful look, though a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "You're avoiding the point, Sirius, and you know it."

Sirius sighed in a resigned sort of way. "Alright, alright, I admit it! I knocked James unconscious. I have to tell you, though; it was to protect him. He was arguing against that crazy she-devil you just saw, and I tell you, if I hadn't done something when I did, she would have attacked him! Sheesh! I think she's still going to attack him! Did you see that fanatic glint in her eye when she spoke about him?"

Remus shuddered in memory. "Okay, you've got a point, yet now we're stuck with no James to help us on these stupid charms. Honestly, how am I supposed to remember all these crazy words? And you heard Professor Evelyn," Remus' voice changed to a grumpy falsetto as he mimicked the voice of his Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. "I have been informed that you are no longer required in the aide of Miss Lily Evans. Thus, I must inform you that no longer are you exempt from any end of term tests..."

Peter and Sirius echoed Remus' growl of annoyance. They had all been shocked to hear that they were once again required to do the tests - they hadn't even bothered going to all their classes yesterday due to the fact that they had thought it unnecessary. Dutifully, the boys all pulled out their charms textbooks, disappointed at the necessity of doing study.

After three long, silent minutes of staring blackly at his piece of paper, Remus said dreamily:

"That Sky was a quite babe, wasn't she..."

The homework lying forgotten, Sirius, Remus and Peter spent the rest of the night discussing just how the word "babe" and all its meanings could be applied to Sky Winkkin, the She-Devil's best friend.