“Good morning, class,” said Professor Flitwick cheerfully, smiling around at the students who were slowly filing in the room.
There was a general murmur of assent as the seventh year Gryffindors all slouched down on different seats. James, much to Lily’s disgust, managed to get a seat right behind her, surrounded by the remaining Marauders. “Morning, Evans,” he said quietly, though Lily didn’t even bother to reply.
“Today we’ll finally get started on Food Creating Charms. I would advise you all to study these most carefully, as they are very likely to come up in your N.E.W.T.s,” continued the tiny teacher. “Now, Food Creating Charms are not very complicated, and they can come in very handy should any of you ever get stranded on a desert island.”
“I wouldn’t mind being stranded on a desert island with you,” whispered James in Lily’s ear.
Lily turned in her seat to face him. “Neither would I, actually.”
James grinned cheekily. The girl had finally understood his unbelievable charm! VICTORY! He knew that sooner or later Lily was going to come to her senses and realise that no one could honestly resist him! “Oh you wouldn’t mind?” he asked, trying to sound as suave and cool as possible while silently doing the happy dance inside.
“Well yeah… I mean, think of the possibilities! How easy would it be for me to kill you without anyone knowing! See, the only thing that’s kept me from fulfilling this dream sooner was the prospect of spending my Potter-free life in Azkaban…” She paused, while James staggered. This was not how things were supposed to go!
“Actually,” Lily resumed, “now that I think about it, I highly doubt I would be sent to Azkaban for getting rid of you… I would more likely be awarded some sort of prize for making the world a better place and other such special services to mankind in general…”
James just sat there, with his mouth hanging open. He’d been outwitted by Evans. Again. Sirius, beside him, was shaking with silent laughter.
“As I was saying,” continued Flitwick, “these spells are actually quite simple, as long as you can focus your attention completely on the food that you want to create. You must know all its ingredients perfectly, and concentrate upon them quite carefully. Thus we shall begin with simpler foods, such as sandwiches or hamburgers, but I’d hope that by Christmas you’ll be able to conjure more complicated dishes. The incantation for this spell is ‘Manna’. Now, let’s see what you can do.”
Lily was the first to actually be able to conjure up some food; on her second try, she did have, in fact, a small hot dog on her desk, with so much as ketchup and mustard.
“Very good, Miss Evans! Let’s have a bite!” said the teacher enthusiastically. “Wonderful! Still warm, even! I’d say ten points for Gryffindor!”
Lily blushed as she tried not to look too pleased with herself. She decided to turn her attention elsewhere. And her eye fell on… Potter.
“Take a good look at this,” he was saying loudly, as a fabulous-looking dish appeared on his desk. “Escargots de Marseille avec de la sauce du poisson de Nice!” he said, with a thick French accent.
Lily rolled her eyes. “What a show-off,” she muttered.
“Oh yeah?” Black was saying. “Then watch this!” And, after performing the charm, another plate had appeared on the desk, looking even better than Potter’s. “Bouillabesse accompagne’ par un delicieux vin de Dijon,” he said smugly.
Lily rolled her eyes again. She couldn’t truthfully say who was worse between the two of them.
Professor Flitwick made his way towards the two boys’ desk. “Wonderful! Well, boys, let’s taste some,” he said cheerfully. He took a bite out of James’s dish and one out of Sirius, while the two waited with bated breath. He looked thoughtful for a moment, before spitting it all out and choking loudly.
“Boys,” he said, “when I said you had to know the ingredients, I meant it! I highly doubt escargots should have so much salt… and pepper… and… was that coffee? And in your bouillabesse, Mr. Black, well… I’m pretty sure that’s not how it’s supposed to be…”
The class roared with laughter, Lily amongst them.
James and Sirius just shook their heads, muttering darkly that it wasn’t their fault if nobody appreciated some good old Nouvelle Cuisine.
Suddenly, James and Sirius whirled around as a loud “Wow” escaped Lily’s lips. “What?” asked James.
“Beautiful,” said Lily.
James smiled. “Thanks, not so bad yourself, Evans.”
Lily rolled her eyes (something she had gotten rather accustomed to doing whenever she was near James Potter). “I wasn’t talking about you, Potter.”
He stared. “Oh yeah? And what, apart from me and you, deserves such an adjective? I mean, what can you be talking about if it’s beautiful and not me?”
“Shut up, Potter. The world doesn’t revolve around you, you know.”
Since she was looking so annoyed, he didn’t dare object to this, but he couldn’t help laughing silently. Everybody knew the world secretly did revolve around him, mighty James Potter.
However, Lily’s attention was not on him any longer, but it was focused on the thing that had actually captured it first: on Alice’s desk was lying a perfect ice sculpture resembling a swan. Why exactly Alice had conjured an ice sculpture when they were supposed to be creating food, Lily had no idea, but it looked beautiful all the same.
“Miss Henderson?” asked Professor Flitwick. “While your creation is indeed outstanding, I… think it was beside the point…”
“Oh no, professor, it’s completely edible! It’s made of Ice Mice! I just thought I could make a pretty presentation as well…” said Alice, grinning.
“May I?” asked the teacher, pointing to one of its feathers.
”Of course,” she replied, smiling. And as Flitwick complimented her and awarded Gryffindor another 20 points, it was James’s turn to mutter darkly about ‘show-offs’.
James ran around the boys’ dormitory, looking for his pals. Two days had passed since that episode in Charms, and things with Lily had gone, if possible, even worse. Last night, as they patrolled the corridors together, she came to an all-time low.
“I hate you, Potter! Will you ever leave me alone?! Just stay out of my life!”
Ouch. Even the mere memory of this encounter was too awful for him. That’s when he realised he had a problem, and needed help to solve it.
“Padfoot! Moony! EMERGENCY MARAUDERS’ MEETING, quick!” he shouted.
Immediately, three worried faces sat beside him on Sirius’s bed. Finally, Remus spoke. “What is it, James?” The mere fact he was calling him ‘James’ denoted his worry.
“It’s something horrible,” replied Prongs.
“Oh my Goodness! What?” asked Peter.
“I “ that is to say we “ have a problem. A huge problem.”
Sirius spoke up. “Listen, if McGonagall is still trying to pin on us the flood in the Slytherins’ common room, tell her I have an alibi, Helen Bloom will be more than glad to confirm that,” he added with a smile.
“No, it’s got nothing to do with the flood we”” James paused. “Hold on a moment. Helen? You’re going out with my cousin now, are you?”
“’S a matter of fact, I am. I always told ya she was gorgeous, now I can add that she also kisses unbelievably well,” replied Sirius smugly.
“Yes, well, as interesting as your love life is, Padfoot,” interrupted Remus, “I think Prongs was about to say something important, for once.”
“For once?!” asked James, scandalised. “Excuse me, everything I say is important!”
“I beg to differ,” said Remus, “but never mind. What is this big problem?”
“Oh yeah,” said James, sobering up at once. “That. Oh, it’s terrible.”
“If Slughorn is still going on about me copying from you that question about Wolfsbane Potion, then I”” interrupted Sirius once more.
“No, no, it’s got nothing to do with school,” answered James. “It’s about Lily.”
Remus gasped. “Lily? Oh my Goodness! Is she alright? Does it have to do with Lord Voldemort? Her parents are Muggles, aren’t they?”
James shook his head. “No, no, she’s fine. It’s just…” He paused dramatically. “Yesterday, after class… she… she told me she hates me! Can you believe that? And now I dunno what to do with myself!”
The three remaining Marauders stared at each other in disbelief. Then Sirius spoke up. “Okay, Prongsie. Now, what really happened?”
“I told you, Padfoot! Lily said she hates me! She wants me to get out of her life!”
Remus was taking deep, steadying breaths. He seemed to be trying with all his might not to shout. “So this, this was the big problem? That Lily won’t give you the lights of day? That she point black refuses to have anything to do with you?”
“Yes,” answered James soberly, glad that Remus had cottoned on so quickly.
“AND HOW THE HELL IS THAT OUR PROBLEM?!” roared the werewolf, something so uncharacteristic of him that the three boys stared at him in disbelief. He breathed again and said, more calmly, “I meant, why does it concern us?”
James stared at him. “You’re my best pals!”
“But we couldn’t care less who you date “ or don’t date, in this case,” said Sirius. “You shouldn’t have called the Emergency Marauders’ Meeting, it was extremely inappropriate.”
Remus and James stared. “Inappropriate? Since when do you””
Sirius rolled his eyes. “The Veela Word-a-Day Calendar, remember?”
“Right.”
James stared at his companions. “Well? Aren’t you going to help me with Lily?”
“Prongs, how can I make this simple concept clear to you? We. Don’t. Care. Period,” said Sirius slowly, to emphasise the last four words.
“But-but… Moony?” asked James desperately.
Remus rolled his eyes. “You’re not going to shut up till we give you some advice, will you?”
James cracked a grin. “Nope.”
“I knew it,” sighed Remus. “Now listen up.”
A/N: Okay, maybe not one of the best chapters, but it’s not too bad, is it? Anyway, we’re really close to the end of this story, I’d say another chapter and then the epilogue… which means that all of you, who are waiting some real James/Lily romance will be soon satisfied. I’ve already written most of chapter six, but I don’t know when I’ll have it up because I’m having some problems with my computer (yes, again).
I’d say that’s all… except… reviews?