Music Box Lullaby
Chapter Three: Black Listed
Adding an accent to the last word, Lily put down her quill and leaned back in her seat to admire the sight. In neat, oblique letters, Lily had written:
To do list:
Kill James Potter.
Eliminate Cheryl.
Dispose of my Mother.
Lily went over the list carefully in her mind. Before adding; `go about life in a happy, flourishing manner,' to the bottom of the short list.
There, perfect.
Oh yes, Lily was quite sure she wanted all three of these people dead, the sooner the better as far as she was concerned. All of them had played a key role in today's chain of ill-fated events. The whole situation could be blamed lock, stock and barrel on these three individuals.
First of all, Cheryl: for bailing out on their lunch date, leaving her to associate with James Potter. Secondly, James Potter: for stalking her and not going away. This act resulted in Lily lunching with the idiot. And thirdly, her mother (and as far as Lily was concerned the worst of the lot): for making her go with James to lunch (Really Lily, you'll certainly not bag yourself a bloke if you never go out with any who are interested!).
Lily was in a huff with all three of them. She hadn't sulked like this in a long time. Not since start of sixth year when Thomas Boron dated her as a dare. Lily's face pulled into a scowl at the memory, her mood becoming darker just thinking about it. Lily had fancied Boron for months before he asked her for a date, to which she had eagerly agreed, only to be laughed at by him and his friends when she turned up to find Baron there with Suzy Loch, a girl Lily loathed.
Lily had moped around for a two weeks at being the laughing stock of the school (or as Lily felt at the time; the world) before she started to put the whole thing behind her. And she felt pretty confident in her abilities that she could go for longer this time. The whole Thomas Boron incident had been a mere warm up.
Thinking about it, Lily quickly added two more names to the list; Thomas Boron and Suzy Loch.
She stood up and pinned her to-do list the corkboard which hung over her desk, and stepped back to admire her work. Excellent, she thought to her self and picked up her duvet off the floor wrapping it around her body before falling backwards onto her bed.
If there was one thing she hated more than James-look-at-me-Potter, It was being forced to spend time (against her will) with James-look-at-me-Potter. This had happened a lot this school year since they had been made Head Boy and Girl.
Once Lily had been shoved out of In Bloom by her darling mother (who, by way, was now knocked off Lily's Christmas list), Lily and James had gone to a local café. Where she had tried not to look at him, tried not to laugh at his jokes, and repeatedly told her self that it was just an accident that his foot kept touching hers, and not to yell at him and make a scene about it(there were people there she knew). But what annoyed Lily the most was that she did look at him (hey, he was attractive!), and she did laugh at his jokes (well he laughed at hers… it was only fair), and she found that she didn't mind when his foot touched hers (Uh, she had sensitive feet?).
Lily sighed and wiggled her toes which hung over the edge of the bed. This wasn't fair. Life wasn't fair. Lily half wondered if James had slipped something into her drink at lunch, she shouldn't be so confused like this, she shouldn't like him. `No, she didn't like him,' she told herself. But, as much as Lily tried to deny it, she couldn't deny that she had had fun with James that afternoon. He had been funny, charming, and, this is what shocked Lily the most, nice!
James Potter is not nice.
James Potter is not charismatic.
James Potter is not amusing.
James Potter is a jerk.
James Potter is a show off.
James Potter is an unbearable git who likes to hex people at random and finds others misfortunes humorous.
JAMES POTTER IS NOT NICE!
Lily made a mental note to draw up that list later (when she could be bothered moving of course). But for now, Lily took up brooding instead; brooding about James-Bloody-Potter. James-the-Jerk-Potter, who had asked her out loads of times, and tried to talk to her loads of times, and tried to convince her to like her loads of times, it had never worked then, and it wouldn't work now!
Lily rolled over and curled into a ball, pulling the duvet over her head.
What had happened to that idiot she use to hate? This wasn't fair. She wasn't supposed to spend her holiday thinking about him! It wasn't fair!
Lily stayed that way mulling things over (over analyzing things) until Petunia burst into her room with the air of someone with a fork up their ----
"What do you want?" Lily groused from under her bedding, wishing she had thought to lock the door. How was she supposed to get in a good moping session if people interrupted?
Petunia stood over her with her hands placed steadily on her hips, a sneer twisting on her lips. "I heard you were out with a boy today. Mum told me so," she alleged gleefully. "Has the little freak found another freak to date?"
Lily, who was already quite down on her self, mumbled something indistinguishable before adding, `Go away," in a tiny voice.
"I for one can't believe you actually found someone who would have you," Petunia taunted openly. "I mean, you're not even pretty. Is he blind? He must be to want to date you. Is he even all there in the head, I bet he's brain damaged!"
For one Lily agreed with her. She herself had thought on numerous occasions that James must not be all there in the head, but chose not to tell Petunia this. Instead she just glared at her older sibling and grumbled, "He's not my boyfriend," before gathering all her energy and rolling over so that her back faced Petunia.
"Whatever," She said obviously enjoying herself. "You can point him out when I drop you back for school."
Now she had Lily's attention. "What?" she exclaimed, flabbergasted. "Why are you taking me, not Mum or Dad?"
Petunia's eyes flashed with delight, delight at knowing something Lily didn't. "Because dear sister," she drawled. "Our darling mother has a wedding which needs her talents that day, and our dear father flies out to Spain on business on Saturday. They have life's which don't just revolve around you, Lily."
Lily wondered weather Petunia thought that maybe it revolved around her.
Petunia walked to the door, kicking Lily's possessions which littered the floor, out of her path on her way. "Oh and Lily, dinner will be ready in five."
The rest of Lily's holiday was Potter-free, and filled with chocolates from Easter. The morning she was due to return to Hogwarts, Cheryl came over (Lily couldn't stay mad at her forever, and besides, Cheryl still owed her ten pounds).
Lily had crossed Cheryl's name off her `to do list,' and asked after her grandfather who was now doing well, before she was shoved into the car by an impatient Petunia.
When she arrived to the station, she and Petunia were running late. Lily thought that this may be due to the fact that her older sister had stopped to pick up the latest shade of blush that was being released that day. Petunia thought otherwise and blamed it on Lily taking so long at the gas station they had stopped at for a bathroom break. They were now both fuming at each other.
Petunia left Lily in the car park with her bags and drove away without a glance back. This not fazing Lily in the slightest as she had spent the last seventeen (almost eighteen!) years dealing with her mutt of a sister, she quickly found her friends and clambered onto the train.
That night, she sat with her two closest witch friends, Grace and Corrine, in their dorm and gushed her guts out to them about what a jerk James Potter was. How rude it was of him to just turn up like that, and how she didn't really like him, she had just been taken aback that day in town.
Corrine listened to her friend, moan, complain, and sulk about the being that was James Potter, before telling Lily quite calmly, that she thought the red head was in denial. Grace then continued to add that she also thought Lily being silly and was just holding an old grudge against him and it was high tide that she let it go. After all, he hadn't intended to hit her with that tripping curse back in forth year.
She had forgotten about that. Scowling, Lily made a mental note to add Corrine's name onto her list, and while she was it to all register Grace right under it.
"Really," Lily heard Grace tell Corrine (after all, she had been with Lily when it had happened). "That's what started it all, a misguided hex. It was suppose to hit that fifth year Slytherin boy, but it didn't. And that was three years ago!"
Corrine turned to Lily. "Is that all you've got against him, Lily, An old grudge?"
Indignant at her suggestion and the fact that it had stuck a cord (had she be angry at him all this time because of that) not helping, Lily quietly replied "Of course not, that would be silly!"
"Too right it would be," muttered Grace under her breath, avoiding Lily's eyes.
Corrine fought back a smirk, "So why don't you like him then, if not for an old grudge?"
Lily sat back and made herself comfortable against the pillows on her bed. "He annoys me," she said simply.
But her two friends didn't like her easy answer and pressed on, making Lily fess up entirely.
"Well," she sighed, "He's a bully isn't he? He's always hexing people at random in the hall. And," Lily continued, seeing Grace and Corrine trade unconvinced looks. "He's such a player! You only have to look out our window to see that it's the truth! He and his friends always have girls over, always!" She breathed deeply, getting on a roll. "And he made my last two years a misery by consistently asking me to date him. Now people just think I'm one big joke! Just look at what happened with Thomas Boron! I bet that never would have happened if James had just left me alone."
"That's in the past Lily," Corrine said kindly. "James has changed."
"Yeah, he has," Grace agreed. "Look Lily, headboy has been good for him. He doesn't constantly pester you for dates anymore does he?"
Well no, not technically, Lily thought to herself unconvinced. But that doesn't stop him flirting through the dorm windows, not to mention showing up at random for lunch rendezvous,' which was sort of like him asking for a date; just without the asking part…
Lily fell back onto her bed, "Life sucks," she moaned, hiding her head under a pillow. "It's so unfair! I don't want to like him," Lily suddenly paused, idea coming to her. "And you know what?" she said, sitting up and looking at her two friends, "I wont!"
"What?" Grace said, dumfounded. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"It will be easy," Lily laughed. "All I have to do is find some other guy (`Good luck,' snorted Grace) and fall in love with him!" Lily was now walking over to her wardrobe, shifting through the junk that was littering the bottom before finally pulling out last year's year book. "I'll go through this (you guys will help me), make a list of the available guys, choose one, fall for him and him for me, and ta-da! James Potter is a nuisance no more!"
Corrine and Grace stared at Lily blankly. "That easy, huh?" Grace finally said after a long, awkward pause. "And this is going to help you how?"
Lily was stationed by the wardrobe, holding her yearbook to her chest, her (delusional, according to Grace) smile still firmly in place. "Well obviously once James sees that I'm madly in love with someone else, he'll get the hint and leave me alone. There will be no more window conversations, no more forced dates with him, none of that! And with out all of that junk, I won't have all these stupid, confusing, conflicting thoughts to deal with. Honestly Grace, I thought you were smart, keep up with the play."
"Yeah," Grace whispered quietly to Corrine as Lily took out a scrappy looking piece of parchment and started browsing through the book for suitable bachelors. "I'm catching what she's throwing, I just don't understand why now"
Completely oblivious to her friends, Lily took out her `to-do list' and on the back started to make another listing.
There. Sure, it's only taken a couple of years, but whose counting, eh? Now I really do guarantee that the next chapter won't be a few years in the making…honestly! Thanks for reading!
-->