CHAPTER 4-Fate
After a very long and tiring week, all the seventh-year students woke up on Saturday morning, with no intention whatsoever to study and with every possible intention to relax. Even hard-working students like Lily or Remus breathed with relief as the weekend dawned and joined the throng of students who were heading to the grounds to enjoy the last days of summer.
“I HATE school! I never thought I’d hear myself say that, but-I do! This is so much worse than bloody OWL year!” Alice yelled.
“Shouldn’t be sayin’ tha’ now, Miss Vance. I’m sure ye don’ mean it!” Hagrid, the grounds keeper came past them, holding what looked like dead ferrets. Lily and Luna smiled and waved, while Alice muttered on her own, with a disgusted look at the dead animals.
Lily and Luna didn’t reply, but they both felt the same. They walked towards the lake, avoiding a certain beech tree, where four boys were lying. The girls sat on the grass, savouring the warmth and lack of teachers.
For a while, Lily listened to Alice and Luna talking about the lessons without taking part in the conversation. She watched some fifth-years, who were jumping into the lake and apparently annoying the giant squid. Nat Pattinson was among them, screaming with the rest. At some point he looked over at Lily and waved. She waved back, smiling and watched him diving spectacularly into the water. Suddenly, she felt the desire to jump in the water herself and turned red at the thought of Nat seeing her in a bathing suit. What was wrong with her? She switched her attention to the Daily Prophet that had been delivered today. One glance at the headline told her she did not want to read it.
MINISTRY OFFICIAL FOUND DEAD:
HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED SUSPECTED FOR FIFTH CONSECUTIVE MURDER
Lily swallowed uneasily, her mind traveling to the conversation with Dumbledore. She needed a distraction. Fortunately, Luna was there to provide one.
“Hey, watch this for a second,” she said and took out her wand. The other two watched apprehensively. They had previous experience with Luna’s spellwork. Them and everybody else at Hogwarts; Sirius had had an especially hard time.
“New spell, Luna?” Alice asked in what she thought was a calm voice.
“Luna, maybe we should, you know, have some distance between us? To be on the safe side.” Lily smiled nervously, as she backed away.
Luna laughed.
“Don’t worry, this one’s safe. I’ve tried it at home a million times. Watch!” she pointed at a bare patch of grass in front of Lily and muttered: “Anthophytous!”
Lily took an intake of breath but relaxed immediately as soon as she realised what the spell was doing. A beautiful flower was growing at an, admittedly, abnormal speed. Luna put her wand down and admired the result. Lily bent to smell it.
“It’s great, Lu.”
Alice was looking relieved.
“Does it only do lilies? Or can you grow anything?”
“If you have the image of the flower in your head, you can charm it. It’s good, isn’t it?” Luna said proudly.
“Actually, Davies, it’s pretty lame,” said a sneering voice.
Lily turned on the spot only to find her least favourite person in the world: Bellatrix Black and her usual pack of Slytherins; Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape, Evan Rosier and lurking behind maliciously, Avery. Her eyes stopped at James’ greasy-haired rival. Snape was giving her his usual degrading look. What is his problem?
Lily swore under her breath. There was only so much a Head Girl could handle alone. She waited for the voice she knew was coming.
“Hey, Evans, need any help?”
James was watching Lily from the shadow of the beech tree. Along with Luna and Alice, she sat on the edge of the lake, her long red hair glistening in the sunlight. She was looking at the fifth-years swimming and James noticed that Nat kept glancing over at her until she finally saw him and waved. As he dived in the water, James grounded his teeth. ‘Show-off.’ He turned to the sheet of paper in front of him and started planning Quidditch tactics that, strangely enough, needed no Seeker.
Remus from beside him was, predictably, reading while Peter was going through his homework for the one hundredth time. Sirius, on the other hand was doing anything but his usual; he was keeping himself hidden behind the tree; Martha Jorkins, a notorious Hufflepuff sixth-year was hunting him down again. Obsession was the word in this case.
“Hey, Prongs,” said Sirius, suddenly. “I think your damsel’s in distress.”
James immediately looked to the east of the lake and cursed loudly at the sight of Sirius’ cousin, Bellatrix and her usual pack of bullying cronies. He got up in a flash and ran towards Lily. Remus and Sirius trudged after him.
“Here we go again,” Sirius sounded bored. Peter followed, unwillingly.
“Hey, Evans, need any help?” James’ voice was serious.
Lily looked behind with disdain.
“Oh, of course, Potter. Why ever not? They haven’t actually done anything yet, but a girl can’t even deal with that on her own!”
James frowned. He knew she wanted help but her stupid pride wouldn’t let her admit it. He turned to his usual strategy. He ignored her.
“Hey, Avery. We’ve got Quidditch trials about now, do you think I’ll have time to look for a new beater? Because your loyalties seem to be misplaced.”
Avery put an ugly expression on his already ugly face.
“You wouldn’t dare, Potter. I’m the best you’ve got. Without me the team’s heads’ would be twice the size. Not that yours isn’t anyway.” He smirked; the Slytherins burst into laughter.
From the corner of his eye he saw Lily muttering. Despite himself, James grinned. Avery had stolen her line; he’d pay for that at some point.
“Oh, shut up guffawing, the lot of you.” Lily snapped. “Just tell us what you want; I’ve got better things to do than listen to you acting like Kings of the Castle!”
Bellatrix yawned.
“Save the big talk, Evans. We just came to- admire -Davies’ spellwork, not to listen to Princess Lily. We’ll go now. We wouldn’t want Avery to miss his training.” She winked at James and added: “Oh, and Potter, stay away from my sister. You’re a bad influence.”
“I’m not any worse than the crowd her sister consorts with. I mean, what better company could you have?” James gestured recklessly at Bellatrix’s gang, while Sirius stood beside him, ready for any fight involving Severus Snape, his favourite play toy. “Malfoy, the biggest loser in Quidditch history; Rosier, who can’t string a sentence to save his life; Avery, who I’m not going to comment on; you; and, of course, Snivellus…”
Snape flinched at James’ last word. “That filthy Mudblood has turned you soft, Potter. Why don’t you come here and tell me what you just said on a more-,” Snape grinned maliciously, “-personal level.”
“Why don’t you, Snape, and I’ll do more than just call you Snivellus! And shut your dribbling little mouth, leering at Evans all the time! It’s sick!” James pulled up his sleeves angrily. At that point, Lily forgot about the leering part and remembered she was Head Girl.
“Save it, Potter. You’re just as bad as him.”
“Do you honestly think I’d ever call you-” James retorted indignantly.
“We’ve been through this before. You’re both the worst kind of bullies I’ve ever known! Now,” Lily turned authoritatively to the amused, dark-haired Slytherin, “Bella, I want you to leave quietly. Now.”
Bellatrix smiled and, with a mocking bow, she left, the others trailing behind her. James controlled himself from shouting at Lily, by looking anywhere else. His watch caught his attention.
“We’d better get to the pitch. Are you coming, Alice?”
Alice, who had been forced to sit between the silently arguing Sirius and Luna, nodded with relief.
“Oh, I’m coming,” she walked to James, “Lily, you come and watch too. Luna -you can come as long as you stay away from Sirius.”
“Nothing I wouldn’t want more. Come on, Lily. Remus, you come, too.” And they headed together to the pitch, Peter following behind.
The three Quidditch members watched them go.
“I think we can get there faster,” said Alice, grinning and raising her wand.
“Definitely,” replied Sirius, doing the same.
“Accio brooms!” they all said and waved their wands in front of the impressed on-looking crowd. In a matter of minutes, three broomsticks were flying towards them, with great speed.
James mounted his Cleansweep and felt the excitement rising in his chest; it was his second nature to fly. Beside him, Sirius was grinning like a spoilt kid and Alice had let her hair down for the impressive wind-swept effect.
“Chasers, let’s fly!”
“Avery, what the hell are you playing at? You nearly knocked her off her broom!” James had shouted himself hoarse over the continued yells of ‘Sirius for Captain!’ from Martha Jorkins.
“You said you wanted true match conditions! Well, she’d better get used to having Bludgers thrown at her then! How else are you supposed to find out whether she can cope?” Avery shouted back, waving his bat dangerously.
James didn’t answer; partly because he thought Avery had a point; partly because he knew Avery was paying him back for the comments he’d shared with Bellatrix. He famously worshipped her; everyone knew it, including Bellatrix herself, who used it to her advantage, but it was plain he had no hope in the world. Bellatrix was going out with Lucius Malfoy, who had seized his chance, as soon as Rodolphus Lestrange left school and was- apparently-out of the picture.
“OK, I want all of you to get back on your brooms or to the stands! The rest of the Keepers wait in line! Florence, you’re next!”
He watched patiently as the line of Keepers got steadily smaller. Each of the Chasers took it in turns to throw the ball at the candidate Keeper, who had to save them, five times out of five. Needless to say, that rarely happened; either because of nerves or uselessness. Most of the hopefuls were complete rubbish but he had to admit some of the younger ones were talented. After two very long hours, James finally decided on Florence Finnigan who was greeted with general enthusiasm both by the team and the Gryffindor fans and had been the only one to be at the receiving end of one of Avery’s Bludgers and not fallen down.
After practice, the team landed and headed to the castle for a late lunch. James joined Remus and Sirius (Peter had already left to eat -mercifully with Martha) and they followed Lily, Alice and Luna who were ahead and kept throwing angry glances at them.
“Shepherd’s pie, my favourite!” said Sirius, as they sat on the Gryffindor table, and he pulled the dish towards him, wolfing it down using four, very huge ladles.
“Hey, Davies, pass over that plate. There’s no more shepherd’s pie left here.” Luna looked contemptuously at Sirius who was still gobbling mercilessly and passed the dish over to James.
“Sirius, I thought your favourite food was roast beef,” Remus frowned.
“As long as it’s edible, he’ll eat it,” said James. “That’s why he’s such a great dog,” he added in a whisper.
“Well, if that is the case I should be in dire need of meat, right now. But I can control myself.” Remus cocked an eyebrow.
“I can hear you, you know.” Sirius rose from his food.
“And I thought dogs had a great sense of smell, not hearing. You seem to be the wonder of canine nature, Sirius.”
“Oh, give it a rest. Wolves, dogs, you’re both slower than stags.” James pushed the plate away from him.
“Oh, Ok, then, Prongs. Why is it, then, that little Nat seems to be much quicker than you when it comes to a certain fiery-haired creature?” Sirius said, grinning. Remus clapped him appreciatively on the back.
“WHAT?”
James turned to where Lily was sitting, to find her in deep conversation with Nat Pattinson.
He stood up.
“I’ll get that back-stabbing, good-for-nothing, little-” he began punching his fist into his palm, only to be pulled back down by two pairs of hands.
“Whoa, there, lover-boy,” Sirius chortled.
“Yes, James, you would definitely not be setting a good example as Head Boy, if you beat Nat to a-well-” Remus paused, but Sirius generously supplied.
“-pulp.”
As they tried to calm James down, a voice came from behind them.
“Not that I care-” Luna said brightly from behind, “-but if you really feel the need to release your anger, James, I suggest beating someone else to pulp. And, oh, from the top of my head, I think Sirius would be more than willing. See you!”
“Go snog someone, Davies. You’d be doing something more useful with your mouth, anyway, than sharing your bloody brainwaves…” Sirius muttered bitterly.
Luna laughed.
“I doubt you would want me to do that with anyone, Sirius!” she walked away, shaking with laughter.
“Oh, she’s definitely on to you, Sirius. Frankly, you have been really obvious. It’s a wonder she didn’t realize sooner,” Remus pointed out.
“What d’you mean by that?” Sirius snapped.
“Touchy, are we?”
‘Well, you would be if your best mate was giving you complete c-!’
“Don’t say it. I was just pointing out the fact that you and Luna clearly fancy each other,” Remus replied calmly. Not one of them realized James had stood up and was heading, unnoticed by either of them, towards Lily and Nat.
“Me? And, and, and her? Are you mental? Since when have you been the expert on women? I doubt your being lovesick with Vance qualifies as experience!” Sirius roared. James began walking to the other side of the table, as quietly as possible. Remus twitched angrily at the mention of Alice.
“I never said that. But just because you two are so thick you can’t admit it, we all have to listen to your lack of any common SENSE!” Remus finally cracked. James was slowly approaching Lily.
“YOU ALL? Who the hell is ‘you all’? ” Sirius towered over the sitting Remus.
“Us. Me, Alice, Jame- James?!”
Sirius and Remus whipped around and immediately spotted James nearing Nat and Lily, with a raised fist.
“JAMES!”
They ran together, instantly forgetting their argument. They caught up with him and forced him to the marble staircase outside.
“To the dorm. NOW!”
Lily giggled without much amusement at Nat’s joke. She didn’t feel at all good about what she was doing but it was the only way she could get back at Potter. Using people to annoy others was not her thing but Potter seemed to bring the worst side out of her. And anyway, if he could associate with a Slytherin just to aggravate her even more then he shouldn’t complain if she did the same. But he didn’t seem to be getting annoyed. She looked over at him. Well, that explained it. Remus and Sirius were controlling him. Ha, she thought, did you like that, Potter?
“Hey, it’s past five, I should be getting to the library. Slughorn put us an essay on Shrinking Potions.” Nat smiled apologetically. Lily did the same. Even if her intentions were not that innocent, she had enjoyed talking to him. He was a breath of normal air in her little community of completely abnormal seventh-years.
“I’m going to the Common Room; maybe I’ll get some homework done, though I doubt it.”
She slung her bag over her shoulder and walked with Nat to the Entrance Hall. After waving goodbye, she climbed the marble steps alone, glancing out of the window that overlooked the grounds, where the more care-free first, second, third and fourth-years were appreciating the sun. Sighing enviously, she walked away, untying her ponytail and letting her wild, red hair reach her waist.
At the portrait of the Fat Lady, she managed to go through without a fight and entered the Gryffindor Common Room, where most of the seventh-years were. She sat next to the girls, including Katie and Shirley, who were watching a fairly interesting chess game between Tiberius and Sirius. Bizarrely enough, Sirius was winning, but, to be fair, it was only because it took McLaggen so long to make a move.
“So, how did it go with Natie?” asked James in a mock casual voice.
“Jealous are we, Potter?” Lily retaliated, reminding herself of him on the train. Apparently, it reminded him too.
He looked at her for a second then threw his head back and laughed.
“We are so meant for each other, Evans.”
She leaned close to him. He watched her, unnerved.
“You mean as in…Fate?” He nodded. She leaned in closer. They were barely an inch apart. Now everyone had turned their attention to them. “Potter…I don’t believe in Fate.”
Goes to show just how wrong a girl can be…
“Ha,” came Sirius’ voice. “Checkmate.”
And just how stupid a boy can…
A/N: I hope you liked the last part- I really had a problem ending this chapter and finding a title.
P.S. Next chapter’s called “Once Defied”. Cliff-hanger or what?