Chapter 16: Noverus
Lily raced up the spiral staircase and into her dormitory, slamming the door behind her. Her cheeks were already stained with the tears that had escaped her eyes before she'd gotten to the common room.
She lunged onto her bed as fresh tears fell. She didn't know how long it was until a pair of perfectly manicured hands started to rub her back comfortingly.
When Lily had thoroughly exhausted herself, she wearily sat up and came face to face with none other than Brighton Borrail.
"How'd you get in?" muttered Lily.
"Oh, you mean how'd I get past the staircase? I found a way past that obstacle years ago," Brigh said
smugly. "What's bothering you, carrot-top?"
Lily cringed at Brigh's choice of a nickname but decided to ignore it. What she really needed was someone to talk to and here he was, even if Brigh was more than a little self-centered.
"James," she stated simply.
"Ah yes, the witty James Potter." Brigh frowned, indicating that he thought James was anything but witty. "His aptitude for pranks seems to have leaked into his personality, making him very irresponsible."
Lily sat up, showing interest in what Brigh was saying for the first time
"Tell me about it! He’s always saying he’ll do something and then forgets about it," complained Lily.
"Sometimes his jokes really tick me off," Brigh replied. Lily nodded in agreement.
"There was this one time..."
The rest of Lily's night was spent talking to Brigh about their least favorite person: James Potter. When they heard someone coming up the stairs, Brigh climbed out the window (insisting to Lily all the while he'd be fine) and, when she poked her head outside a minute later, he was gone.
When Lily climbed into bed that night in comfortable flannel pajamas, she fell asleep more peacefully than she ever could have imagined, considering the night’s events.
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"I blew it. I really blew it."
When both Head Boy and Girl disappeared from the ball, the Marauders plus Alexis and Joanne had started a search party. Sirius said the last time he had seen James was going into the rose gardens and Sirius and Alexis had witnessed Lily following the path James had taken.
At last, Alexis and Joanne found Lily sleeping in their dormitory and had also gone to bed. Shortly thereafter, Sirius, Remus, and Peter had retired to their own dormitory where they found James huddled on his bed.
"Blew what, Prongs?" said Remus, the gentlest of the four. Moony, Wormtail, and Padfoot congregated on James' bed.
"Her," James replied. His friends shared a look that clearly said here we go again. For the last seven years, "her" had meant only one person, at least in James' vocabulary.
"Well, it wouldn't be the first time, would it?" Sirius pointed out. Remus smacked Sirius on the arm as if to reprimand him.
"No, but it will probably be the last," James muttered. It didn't look as if James had been crying, but his face was a chalky white that challenged even Remus' complexion the day before a full moon.
"Don't tell me you're giving up!" Sirius demanded to know.
"You had her as your bloody date! We almost got her right where we wanted her!" Peter exclaimed indignantly.
"Don't talk about her like she's a pawn, Wormtail," James flared. Peter seemed to cower under one of his mentors’ disapproval.
"Could you at least tell us what happened, James?" Sirius asked, and James sagged in his upright fetal position.
"It must've started when Alexis dragged Lily out of the hall," began James.
Alexis disappeared around the oaken doors of the Great Hall with Lily in tow.
"Hi James."
James gave a start and turned around to find Alyssa smiling maliciously at him. He sighed, exasperated. But before he could think about how Alyssa was an annoying slut, an aroma of cinnamon spice filled his senses and all thoughts of Alyssa being annoying were gone.
"You okay Tiger?" Alyssa asked, failing dismally to look concerned.
For a split second, James winced at the name she used, but soon forgot its repulsiveness. He spotted a group of sixth years from the next table eyeing Alyssa suggestively and a ferocious jealousy overtook him.
"I'm wonderful," James said. "You know, it's a bit noisy in here. Care for a look at the rose gardens?"
James offered Alyssa his arm and she eagerly grabbed it. Neither knew who was more eager as a cool night breeze hit their faces. James suddenly had the urge to get as far away from Alyssa as possible.
"Gosh it's freezing out here," shivered Alyssa as the breeze died down. James was overwhelmed by pity for her. He moved closer to her, placing his arm around her shoulders. He noticed her grey eyes and cherry lips as they got closer and was deeply attracted to these attributes.
Half of him protested this attraction and its impurity. The other half was blissfully lapping it all up. James decided to ignore the protesting half and go with the now overpowering feeling of lust towards Alyssa.
"Did I mention how beautiful you look tonight?" James flirted. He mentally kicked himself.
I wonder how many people have used that line this evening, he thought.
Alyssa however seemed to have no objection whatsoever.
"You don't look too bad yourself," she replied. "So tell me, why did you choose Miss Evans for your date tonight?"
Now that he thought about it, James hadn't the slightest idea why he'd ever wanted to go out with Lily in the first place. All she did was either ignore him or make fun of him anyway. Why did he ask out Lily when Alyssa had been willing to accompany him from the start?
"Oh, it was just the whole Head Boy and Girl thing," James said. Alyssa seemed to accept this answer and led James around a corner to a more secluded part of the garden.
"I'm a bit tired," she said lazily and sat carefully on the grass, pulling James down along with her.
James fell on top of her and didn't bother to get up as he placed a kiss on her rosy cheeks. She leaned in to kiss him back then-
"Argh!"
Water from a fountain they hadn't noticed behind them sprayed Alyssa with a cool mist of water.
Suddenly, James was compelled to leave Alyssa there and retreat back to the Great Hall. But before he could take action, Alyssa kissed him hard on the lips and pinned him to the ground. James didn't fight it. He was beginning to enjoy Alyssa's presence again when another spray from the fountain made James push Alyssa off of him.
"Come on, a bit longer," Alyssa pleaded.
"No I shouldn't be doing this," James shook his head. "I promised-,"
"Who cares?" Alyssa inched closer to him.
"I need to go back inside." James backed away from Alyssa.
No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the bushes that surrounded the clearing parted. There stood Lily, taking in the situation with surprise and disappointment. James stared at her, horrified.
"Lily, you don't understand," he started, but she held up her hands to halt him.
"I honestly don't care about your petty and worthless explanation Potter." Lily's surprise turned into anger. James cringed at her used of his surname. Lily left the scene and Alyssa followed soon after, the damage having been done.
By the time James had finished recounting the night's ordeal, Peter was half asleep, Remus looked depressed, and Sirius very thoughtful.
"Did you say that you started feeling uncomfortable near the fountain?" Sirius asked carefully.
"Yeah," James said.
"Noverus," pronounced Sirius.
"What in Merlin's name is Noverus?" Peter asked.
"Noverus," explained Remus as though he had recounted this a thousand times, "is a kind of love potion."
"Are you telling me that Alyssa spiked my drink?" exclaimed James. Sirius shook his head.
"It's much simpler than that. Noverus is so thin, that it can be used as a kind of spray," Sirius said.
"Like perfume or cologne," Remus added.
"So you're saying Alyssa sprayed this stuff on herself and I suddenly could think of no one but her?" James questioned.
"Not just you," corrected Sirius. "All the guys around her should've been staring at her googly-eyed."
"Well that would make sense," James said. "Just before we went outside, there were these sixth years staring at her."
"She must've put it on right before you left the Great Hall 'cause I don't remember feeling the way you described when we walked down from the common room," said Remus. James then realized whose date Alyssa had been.
"I'm so sorry, Remus," James apologized. "She was your date and I ruined it." Remus shook his head.
"James, do you honestly think honestly wanted to go with her?" Remus laughed.
"This is exactly something Alyssa would do," Sirius snarled. "Date a guy to swoon his best mate."
"Sirius, how'd you know about Noverus in the first place?" James wondered aloud. Sirius shuffled his feet guiltily.
"Well-I-I've kinda… heard of it," he stammered unconvincingly.
"How'd she get the potion into the school?" James questioned. “Isn't it against the rules to have love potions here?"
"Of course it is," Remus answered.
"Alyssa did one of two things to get her hands on Noverus," he continued. "We can pretty much rule out making it herself because, even if she somehow got the materials from Slughorn's office and the potions book from the Restricted Section, I don't think Alyssa would be capable of making such a potion." Remus snorted in amusement.
"That leaves ordering the potion by mail," concluded Sirius.
"Don't they check the mail for that kind of stuff?" Peter asked.
"Wormtail, I don't think Hogwarts mail has been screened since Grindelwald was on the rise," joked James.
"Which brings us back to the problem: Lily," sighed Remus.
A thick silence hung over the boys and they each tried to figure out a way to persuade Lily to forgive James. After ten minutes, Peter yawned and Sirius said,
"Let's sleep on it." A general mumble of agreement broke through the quiet as the Marauders pulled on their pajamas and crawled into their separate beds.
James lay awake, listening to Sirius snoring. He was deep in thoughts of regret, lost hope, and self-pity. It was a long time before he was able to fall asleep.
Loathing or Love? by Miss Radcliffe
Chapter Notes: I hope everyone had a Happy Holiday and New Year. I was extremely pleased by the quantity but moreso the quality of reviews I received for the last chapter. I was worried you'd a)kill me for making Lily mad at James, b)not like the band, c)kill me for making Lily mad at James. Although I did get a few cyber glares, I really am glad everyone liked my perspective of the chapter.
Congratulations to Hp_4_eva and Wizardlicious for being the first tocorrectly guess the Rent reference in the previous chapter. In case you didn't catch on or haven't seen Rent (in which case you should :)), the reference was the meatless meatballs on the menu at the dance, the dialogue taken almost directly from the song La Vie Boheme. There will be many more broadway reference contests in the future. Now onto chapter 16!
Miss Radcliffe~