Without Warning

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Medusa Incarnate

Lily slept through most of Friday morning as she was recovering from the shock of Bellatrix's Cruciatus Curse - or perhaps the shock of kissing James. Or perhaps she was just incoherently lazy.

However, even though they all had the day off granted they had finished their exams, Indigo rose early. Typically, she was anything but a morning person and was likely to hex anyone who interrupted her slumber, but today was different for Indigo.

In a word, she was freaking out.

"LILY! Will you get up already?" Indigo was currently prancing around the dorm like a lunatic.

A loud snoring noise was heard from somewhere in the vicinity from behind Lily's curtains, followed by a sleepy groan.

"Yes, yes we're all as very relaxed as you are about tomorrow night, really we are," said Indigo bitterly as she knelt down beside her trunk and started rifling through its contents.

Lily yawned loudly in retort. "Since when did you start talking about yourself in plurals?"

She then jumped back in surprise as her curtains were withdrawn ferociously to reveal a scowling, green-faced monster that had a head full of what looked like disembowelled snakes, but what were really chocolaty brown tangles.

Lily gasped. Medusa!

"See what happens when you leave me to my own devices?"

"Indigo, what the hell have you done?" Lily whispered in an exasperated strangled voice.

"Well, while you may feel relaxed enough to sleep half the day away and still look gorgeous tomorrow, I have to make a little effort."

"Oh nonsense. Grace left you alone with her makeup again didn't she?" Lily eyed Indigo suspiciously.

"Yes," Indigo confirmed quickly. "But it's not my fault - I just got curious! I never meant for it to get out of control. And now I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing." She groaned as a dollop of green slid of her face and landed on Lily's bedspread.

"I think you have too much face mask on," grinned Lily as she pointed out the obvious.

"Thank you for that stunning analysis, Evans," Indigo retorted bitterly as she masterfully swished her wand and made the green dollop of goo disappear instantaneously.

"You're most welcome. And are those supposed to be hair curlers?" Lily poked one shaking finger at a particularly flimsy curler clutching for dear life to her best friend's long tangled hair.

Indigo scowled as Lily clamped a hand over her mouth and started shaking all over. Finally she burst with a loud ringing "Paaah!" of laughter. Indigo folded her arms, raised an eyebrow and tapped her foot menacingly on the floor as she watched Lily roll around on the bed, seething with mirth.

Once she had reluctantly stopped herself from convulsing on her bed, Lily looked back up at Indigo innocently. She held this expression for a moment before once again laughing uproariously.

Indigo opened her mouth and paused as she waited for Lily to stop. As the laughter ceased to just a whimpering gurgle in the back of Lily's throat, Indigo spoke.

"You may find this hilarious Evans, but guess who's going to help get this stuff off?"

"Me?" Lily squeaked, an expression of amusement still dancing over her face.

"That's right," Indigo retorted, as she pulled at Lily's arm to get her out of bed. "And then, we have to go to Hogsmeade again to find me an outfit, do that 'access a laser' thingy, sort through all this stuff," she gestured madly to the pile of makeup." Get a good nights beauty sleep - like you need it anyway - and then get to the Ball on time and still look ravishing!"

"Sounds like fun," Lily grinned as Indigo grimaced.

"Fun?" Indigo yelped in a tormented whisper. "Fun?! You are absolutely mad!" She threw her hands up in the air exasperatedly.

"Ahem, I hate to break it to you Ind, but I'm not the one dressed up as Medusa gone wrong."

"Oh don't you even start - get up!"

With a final giggle, Indigo managed to push Lily into the bathroom.

When Lily emerged some minutes later, she found Indigo sitting cross-legged on the floor amongst the rubble of make up and accessories. She still resembled Medusa incarnate, as she hadn't even considered touching the curlers tangled in her hair or meddle any further with the supplied makeup. When Lily had walked in however, she had caught Indigo red-handed, curiously inspecting a pellet of yellow eye shadow.

Indigo looked up suddenly at Lily's inquisitive stare and tried to conceal the fact that she had been so interested in such a girly thing. She cleared her throat loudly and then muttered to herself sarcastically, as she folded her arms tightly across her front.

"Take your time. Really, we have all the time in the world."

"First rule of being a lady - no sarcasm allowed." Lily grinned as she padded over to her own trunk to inspect the contents. Since it wasn't technically a school day, she didn't have to wear the usual formalities so opted for her muggle clothing.

"Oh good. For that is what I'm striving to be in life. A lady."

"Well, currently you're failing rather miserably," said Lily distractedly. She was examining herself in the mirror. For some reason, she had decided to take a bit more care with her look today. Of course, it had absolutely nothing to do with a certain kiss with a certain guy from the night beforehand. No, nothing at all.

She stepped in closer to the mirror to inspect her face. Brushing her hair messily behind her ears, she scrunched up her nose as she examined the freckles scattered fairly broadly across her cheeks and nose. She eyed her ears warningly and quickly smothered them in a handful of hair. Then she smoothed out her eyebrows and stood back again to review her overall look. She sighed loudly to her reflection in the mirror. Not perfect, but she guessed the gangly girl with the fluffy red hair and big ears would have to do for now.

"When you're quite finished," Indigo smirked as she watched Lily. "I believe I am in need of a little more assistance." She was standing now, with her hands shoved into her dressing-gown pockets and her tangle of curlers sprawled out messily all over her shoulders. As she grinned, Lily noticed that the facemask must have dried as it was starting to crack around her mouth.

"All right Medusa, follow me!" Lily led Indigo into the bathroom to attempt to fix the damage the latter had created.

*********************************

"It started with a kiiisss!" Sirius was dancing around the room singing loudly into a hairbrush in the boys' dormitories.

This was a bad thing for three reasons. One, Sirius should never attempt to sing. Two, Sirius should never attempt to dance. Three, Sirius should never - under any circumstances whatsoever - attempt to impersonate Paul Kelly or, as it had transpired, Michael Bolton.

Of course, Sirius had been reminded of these clauses on many an occasion, but felt it his duty as disturber of the peace to rark up James as much as possible. After all, he needed to be reminded every waking moment of the highly awkward and embarrassing kiss from the night before, didn't he?

"Sirius, if you sing that song for the fifteenth time this morning, I swear to god, I'll kill you with my own two hands." Remus rolled over and groaned into his pillow.

"I second that," muttered Peter in between a loud snore.

But for the fifteenth time that morning, Sirius lifted an eyebrow at Remus' weak threat and began to sing the same song. And for the fifteenth time that morning, he was disappointed to note that James hadn't reacted by yelling in embarrassment or even just hexing Sirius for his highly embarrassing (for all parties concerned) musical display. No, it was much worse. James hadn't reacted at all.

"I'm surprised at you, Prongs." Sirius stopped his commotion abruptly in a bid to yank back James' bed curtains. What greeted Sirius was slightly alarming. And Sirius didn't alarm easily.

"James?" he asked the mass under the swath of blankets. No response. He prodded the lump masterfully with his wand. No response.

"James, are you dead? Get UP!" He hauled back all the blankets covering what he thought was his best friend to reveal an array of squashed up pillows. The huge mischievous grin he had planted on his face faulted for a second, before it fell into a confused frown.

"Er...guys?" Sirius called out while staring blankly at the pillows.

"What is it now, Padfoot?" Remus was not a morning person. He frequently rivalled Sirius for the 'got up on the wrong side of bed' title, which was quite reasonable really, seeing as Remus probably needed the most sleep out of them all.

"James isn't here."

"So?"

"So...it's 7am. And it's a day off. Nobody in their right mind would be up before seven!"

"Shall we have you carted off to St Mungo's then?"

"Shut up. Moony, James never goes anywhere without telling us!"

"Sirius, don't be so melodramatic. He's probably just in the bathroom or something."

"Oh yes Moony, that makes perfect sense seeing as I've been up since god knows when impersonating Paul Kelly and haven't seen so much as a flutter from behind his curtains."

"Well now that you know that he's not there, will you let us sleep? Please, for the love of Merlin."

Sirius watched him carefully as Remus gave him a pleading look. Peter just snored louder. Not many things could wake him from his slumber. Apart from say, a glass of chilled water as Sirius had delightfully found out last week.

"Fine, I'll go look for him myself. But if he's dead, it's all your fault." Sirius made his way towards the door.

"And if he's not, you will be for waking us up," retorted Remus, slamming his head back onto the cushy pillow and immediately closing his eyes. Within minutes he was asleep again due to the rhythmic noises of Peter's nasal passageways.

************

Later on that day once Lily had convinced Indigo that she looked acceptable enough to leave the safety that was the 6th year girls' dormitory and venture out into the public eye, they had hastily made their way to Hogsmeade. After a furious debate over whether Indigo would wear make up ever again, Lily managed to persuade her to wear subtle shades that would bring out her complexion. The only thing left for them to do now was to find suitable attire for her.

"Indigo I swear, if you wear blush pink you're going to look absolutely amazing."

"Lily, I've told you once, I've told a zillion times I - don't - do - pink."

"But it's not the kind of pink you think it is! It's far more subtle...like a blush," explained Lily.

"Please, can't I just wear black?"

"And look like every other girl there? I think not!"

"Please!"

"Quit your whining. If I remember correctly, you dubbed me your stylist in the first place. Deal with it."

"I take it back, I take it all back."

"Come on! Will you at least try it on?"

"No."

"Indigo, come on!"

"No."

"Don't make me use your first name," Lily warned in a singsong voice.

She was possibly the only one apart from the teachers at Hogwarts that knew Indigo McKinnon's real name. Indigo hated her mother for it and under no circumstances let anyone call her by it. She'd always insisted people call her by her second name - Indigo - which most people had accepted gracefully. Apart from Dumbledore - he'd always enforced that names made people who they were and gave them individuality.

Indigo gasped and stared at Lily in shock. "You wouldn't!"

"Oh, I so would."

"Well...okay, fine. I'll try it on. But only if you try on that lovely ensemble over there," snickered Indigo, as she pointed to an absolutely revolting leopard-print number hanging on the sale rack.

Lily stared at it in shocked disgust then started shaking her head very slowly. "No. No, there's no way you're getting me in that."

"Well then, I guess you'll just have to forget about the 'blush' pink!" Indigo grinned. She knew she'd won.

"Okay! Fine! But keep in mind I'm doing this only because you can't see passed your own stupid nose at how amazing you'd look!"

Lily thrust the pink robes into her best friend's arms then stalked over and grabbed the vileness that was the leopard print outfit. With a swift sniff of disgust at a grinning Indigo, she disappeared into a changing room.

A few minutes passed while the girls changed stubbornly into their outfits.

"I'm not coming out until you do," called out Indigo from her cubicle.

"Well I'm not coming out until you do!"

"Okay, we'll come out together on the count of three. One...Two...Three!"

Lily swished the curtain aside to come face to face with an awkward looking Indigo. Lily figured this was because she'd probably never worn a dress in her life before and was trying to hide behind her curtain. Even so, Lily could see that it looked wonderful and suited her rather nicely. The grimace Indigo wore on her face quickly faltered for a more amused look as she stared at the outfit Lily had on.

As she started cackling with laughter, Lily nodded her head sarcastically. "Yes yes, everybody's a comedian."

"What happened to being a lady! No sarcasm allowed?" Indigo panted in between her screeching cackles.

"Do you know, I think this is almost as good as the lovely array of designs you chose for yourself this morning, Medusa."

"Medusa?"

Lily's eyes widened as she spun on the spot to come face-to-face with none other than a smiling James Potter, whose own eyes widened at the sight of her.

She suddenly found herself feeling rather nauseas.

"Er...that's an ... interesting outfit, Lily. Are you planning on wearing that to the Ball tomorrow?"

Oh good god.

Lily stared at James a moment longer, lost for words not because of his dreamy eyes or cute boyish grin but simply because she was so alarmed at him seeing her in such a state. Indigo cackled even louder as she clicked on to this idea, which thankfully brought Lily back to earth.

"Uhh, no! No, of course not. This was the only way I could convince her to try on the pink," explained a blushing Lily. She pointed at Indigo who abruptly fell very silent as she realised everyone was suddenly focused on her. The curtain she had previously been hiding behind hung limp an inch or two away.

It was then Lily realised how right she had been to say Indigo would look amazing in pink. No, not amazing but absolutely stunning. The silky-like fabric clung around her bust and waist, then petered down to the floor creating soft waves in the hem.

"Indigo, you look spectacular!" Lily exclaimed. Indigo quickly raised a hand to her head as if trying to hide the fact that she was blushing a dark shade of crimson. She recovered quickly, however.

"Hah, yeah well...You don't look so bad yourself," she grinned and raised an eyebrow.

Great. Thanks to Indigo the attention had once again been focused back on Lily. And once again she was dismayed to realise James was looking at her wondering what to say.

"Er...ah, so what brings you to Hogsmeade, James?"

This question was obviously unexpected and it was his turn to now look awkward - a great relief to Lily.

"Well, er...just making some final arrangements for tomorrow. Nothing important. "

"Oh okay. Where're your friends?"

"Well ah, they didn't want to come. It's just me...anyway, I better be on my way - back in time for a late lunch. Seeya later!" He said all this far too cheerily and then hastily made his way out of the shop.

"That was weird," muttered Indigo.

"Yeah. Don't forget fabulously embarrassing."

"Yes. You do look rather vile!" Indigo ignored the death glare she had just received and resumed her cackling as Lily scowled and pranced back into her cubicle to change.

"You're going with the pink, Indigo!" Lily shouted haughtily from behind her dressing room curtain.

"Fine, whatever! You've already made my day!" Indigo yelled back in between her laughter.

Outside, James Potter was strolling up the cobbled pathway, shaking his head amusedly at the sight he had just seen. Lily Evans and leopard print definitely didn't mix well. But he didn't care what she was going to wear, as long as she was going with him. He put his hand into his robes pocket to make sure the velvety box was still there. He smiled to himself - he was going to show Lily just how much he cared.

As he walked, he carefully pulled the side of his robes aside to reveal the scrunched up Zonko's brown paper bag he had concealed containing enough Dung Bombs and Slime Balls to prank several people comfortably - or one person extremely well. If he couldn't kill her, James decided he'd just make her smell really really bad - and look revoltingly grotesque.

Yes, Bellatrix was about to be paid back.

********

James was sitting alone by himself at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. He didn't know where any of his friends were but it didn't seem to bother him that much as he was so immersed in his own thoughts. He had purposely got up extra early that morning in an attempt to leave the dormitory without being noticed. He hadn't wanted any company in Hogsmeade as he had decided he wanted to buy something special for Lily. The kiss from the night before had inspired him to show her how much she meant to him.

"Where the ruddy Hell have you been? I've looked for you everywhere!" Sirius announced his arrival in a way only he could, as he plonked down next to James at lunch.

"Oh...I've just had some stuff to do."

Sirius stared at James suspiciously.

"Prongs, are you running a fever?" He made to reach his hand up to feel James' forehead, which was quickly swiped away.

"I'm fine, I was just...busy."

"Doing what? You always tell at least me where you're going!"

"Where are Moony and Wormtail?"

"Still sleeping probably. Or studying - they have a Muggle Studies exam this afternoon. But anyway, why are you being so secretive?"

"I told you, it's nothing! Just...nothing, don't worry."

"Does this have anything to do with Lily Evans by any chance?"

James shot Sirius a sideways glance as he helped himself to some shepherd's pie. "Maybe...Sort of. "

"And?!" Sirius was getting more hysterical by the second.

"Okay, look. I just made some arrangements to get back at Bellatrix, alright?" James deliberately didn't mention the other plans he had made concerning the contents of the velvet box.

Sirius blinked. "You made plans to get revenge on her and you didn't tell me?"

"Look, it's personal. She hurt Lily. She can't get away with that."

"Prongs, I know! Me of all people would know. So tell me, what are you planning?" Sirius curled his lips into a mischievous smile and leant in closer to James to get the full story.

*************

Lily awoke early on Saturday morning due to the excitable shrieks that were assaulting her airwaves. She suspected these noises would have roused her more quickly than usual due to the fact that she was pretty excited herself, but even so, five a.m. was a little extreme. Seeing especially as the Ball wasn't starting for at least another good twelve hours.

She sighed in frustration - so much for beauty sleep.

She lay motionless in her four-poster for a while longer, urging herself to fall back to sleep. Once the shrieking had reached unbearable however, Lily gave up her last ounce of hope and un-clasped her hands from her ears. She sat up slowly, swishing back her curtains as she went, to come to the realisation that Grace alone was the culprit of such an inhuman cacophony. Lily frowned as she watched Grace careen around the room, her arms flailing wildly.

"Grace, calm down," sighed Lily groggily.

"Oh Lily, I can't! I overslept in my curlers and now I'm going to have to work extra hard to straighten my hair!"

Lily opened her mouth to ask why the hell Grace would curl her hair the night before she was planning on straightening it, but thought better of it and clamped it back shut.

"What's Frank going to think?!" Grace wailed.

Lily wondered why it was possible for Indigo and Phoebe to sleep through such a din.

"What a calamity," muttered Lily sarcastically as she lumped lazily towards the bathroom. Once inside, she proceeded to the sink where she splashed her face with cold water in an effort to wake her nerve-endings.

She glanced at her drenched face in the mirror above the basin then set about squirting some toothpaste onto her toothbrush. It was then that she stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes slowly becoming the size of dinner plates. She immediately did a double take and looked back up into the mirror for confirmation, subconsciously squirting toothpaste all over her hand.

Oh good god. Why?!

She narrowed her eyes and went about inspecting the huge, protruding, hideously enormous pimple sitting quite undignified in the middle of her chin.

Hysteria kicked in instantaneously.

"Grace!" Lily shrieked frantically nearly falling over her own feet as she scrambled back into the dorm.

Grace was in the middle of heating up her straightener and merely looked up questionably at Lily from her sitting position on the floor. This wasn't quite the reaction Lily had been thinking would greet her. Obviously it seemed Grace had many years experience in the 'hysterical behaviour before huge Balls' department.

"Why didn't you tell me I have a huge-ass pimple smack bang in the middle of my chin?!" Lily hissed in an effort to remain quiet so as not to wake the others.

However, seeing as they hadn't even so much as stirred at Grace's frenzied state from earlier, Lily guessed it wouldn't matter that much if she was yelling through a mega-phone.

"What? No you don't." Grace looked puzzled and frowned slightly as she got to her feet. She walked up to Lily and squinted in an effort to see the offending blemish.

"Yes, I do!" Lily pointed furiously at her chin.

"Oh Lily, that is miniscule! Not worth mentioning."

"Stop being a good friend! It's gigantic! I basically have a third eye!" Lily panted as she got herself more and more worked up.

"Lil, seriously. It's nothing to write home about. I didn't even notice until you so elegantly pointed it out to me." Grace smiled sympathetically, patted Lily on the arm and then went back to her hair straightener.

"Yes, well. I don't think everyone will be as so preoccupied with their hair straighteners this evening, will they?" Lily didn't mean to be harsh she was just getting desperate.

She braced herself for Grace to give her a bewildered look and maybe start crying, but was surprised when she just looked back up at her from her hair straightener, smiling in a knowing way. Lily stared back at her, slightly bewildered at the fact that she was now acting like Grace had been a few minutes earlier.

"What?"

"You've got a bad case of Ball-itis."

"Oh and what the hell is Ball-itis exactly?"

It sounded very ambiguous to say the least, not to mention the fact it could be taken the wrong way by gutter-minded people - such as Sirius Black.

"Extreme nerves before an exciting event. Well, exciting in a way - but unsettling as well...possibly due to a certain James Pot -"

"This has nothing to do with him!" Lily shrieked. Okay well, maybe it did ... but only a smidgen.

Grace just returned to her knowing smile.

"Look, just go down to the common room or something. No one will be there; you'll have it all to yourself. It's still far too early for anyone to be up on a Saturday - especially when there's no Quidditch today. Just go have some time alone and calm yourself down. I do it all the time."

"Grace, I don't want ...I-"

"Just go. It'll do you some good." She smiled at Lily one last time then once again turned back to her hair straightener.

Lily stood staring at the girl she had seen as a flake for the past five years in complete shock as she realised that she was actually talking sense. Still panting slightly; her shoulders rising and falling rapidly, she slowly made her way towards the dorm door that lead out onto the stairwell, not worried by the fact that she was still in her flannelettes.

Once she was on the stairs, she quickly made her way down to the common room and hurried over to a couch that was in close proximity to the fire and to which she promptly flopped on to. It was then that she let the short, sharp intakes from earlier, exhale in one, deep shaky breath.

She shook her head briefly, and then proceeded to talk some sense into herself while she snuggled into the fuzzy linen of the couch. She was being silly. An absolute overreacting twit. Anyway, she was a muggle! She knew all about concealing pimples. And god knows how many spells they'd be out there to vanish them. She made a mental note to ask Grace once she'd started relaxing.

Diverting her gaze to the fireplace, she watched the remains of the fire dance about in the grate; her breathing becoming more calm and steady with every breath. She stared into the warm glow of the fire; little armies of sparks creeping up the soot-covered brick surface as if marching off to battle, only to fizzle out once they had reached the damp interior of the chimney chute. She let the warm embers lull her into a doze.