Chapter Two: Annoying Socks, Annoying Books
By Natali
~A Few Weeks Later…~
Lily pushed open the door to the back room of the library. It wasn't used often, and mostly the old, forgotten books were stored there. She turned automatically to the right, and then left down the third aisle. After scanning the very top shelf, she stood on tiptoes and slowly edged it out.
No student-not even the Head Girl-was allowed to take things out of the back room. The air in this room was magical, and preserved these ancient tomes.
Hugging the heavy, dusty book to her, she strode for the single desk at the very back of the room, and was startled to find someone there-her reason for doing what she'd been doing for the past three days.
"Oh. Hello, Potter. I didn't think there'd be anyone else here," she said, trying her hardest not to stutter. She began to back up. "I'll come back some other time, then."
"No, don't worry," James said. "There's more than enough room for you here."
Lily debated staying. But it would be odd, she thought, if she didn't stay for at least five minutes and pretend to have found whatever it was she was searching for-because she would be unable to find what she really wanted to search for while James was there.
He had become James to her about a week ago, when the dreams began to come every night. They were frequent, and almost something that she expected, something she very much looked forward to every night-as much as she hated to admit it.
"Alright," she acquiesced with a shaky voice, taking the only seat empty at the small table. It was true, there was enough room for two people-five if they really squeezed in-but it didn't help Lily feel any less crowded.
She watched him out of the corner of her eyes, and found (to her complete amusement) that he was looking through an old spell book called Cartoons and How To Make Them. It was odd that this book was in the back room, but she didn't say anything. It entered her mind that perhaps he'd brought it in, just as an excuse to be in here.
They worked on in silence, until James looked up and said, "What are you looking for?"
Lily started, realizing that she hadn't turned the page past the table of contents. "Oh… I've got these annoying pair of socks that someone enchanted and I'm trying to find a way of unenchanting them…"
"Sounds diabolical. Who did that?"
"I don't know."
"What do the socks do to annoy you?"
"I don't know."
James raised an eyebrow. "Now, I know we're not exactly bosom buddies, Evans, but I don't think telling me what your charmed socks do to annoy you is such a big secret," he grinned. "Unless they do something extremely naughty…"
A bit peeved by his third degree and slightly curious as to what a pair of socks could do that would be considered "naughty", Lily couldn't help herself from asking, "Such as?"
James shrugged, going back to his book. "I suppose you'd have to tell me. You're the one with the naughty socks."
"I don't have naughty socks. Not like that anyway."
"Nor do I. Can't imagine why you thought I'd know what naughty socks did, as I have none."
In spite of herself, Lily smiled a bit. "I can't imagine why either." They fell once more into silence, only this time it was a bit more amicable. Lily thumbed through the five-page long table of contents until she found the right page.
Often times, wizards and witches have dreams that are not at all pleasant to them. There are, of course, ways to remove such pestilences, and they vary as the dreams vary.
For dreams that predict the future, turn to page 356.
For dreams that start off pleasantly and turn nightmarish, turn to page 548.
For dreams that involve drowning in a big tub of marshmallows, refer to page 45 for information on "Odd Attributes Of A Warlock".
For dreams (more correctly classified as nightmares) that have your childhood phobia walk in on you whilst bathing, turn to page 498. If these dreams include the Sand Man marrying the Boogey Man and reproducing bright orange demon children, see your local hospital or asylum.
For any other dreams that do not fall under these categories, please read below.
Lily frowned. And she thought she had problems? What lunatic had a dream about drowning in marshmallows or orange demon children? She continued reading.
Unfortunately, most dreams are incurable and usually go away with time. The only thing This Author can recommend is having a couple shots of gin before bed, and thinking about pleasant things.
Beware, however, of two things. One, falling prey to alcoholism. Two, falling prey to insomnia.
For further information…
Lily slammed the book shut, angry. This was the fourth book that told her there was nothing she could do about her recurring dreams. They obviously didn't predict the future, because she and James would never get married. They'd probably never even date!
She stood, picking up the book and her stuff to leave.
"Are you having a lot of unwanted dreams lately as well as annoying socks, Evans?" James asked, a certain twinkle in his eyes that Lily couldn't understand.
"Yes," she admitted hesitantly.
"Are they unpleasant?"
"Not exactly. They just disturb my sleep. I'll see you tomorrow for class," she replied, turning and heading for the correct shelf to replace the book.
"We really should stop bumping into each other, Evans. It's not going to look like a coincidence for much longer," he called after her.
She looked back at him and responded, "Yes, I know. This doesn't happen too often, so I'm sure there's no reason to fret about it quite yet."
James leaned back in his chair, a grin spreading slowly on his face. Not unpleasant, eh? Well, he'd take what he could get…
*~*
A couple weeks after seeing James in the back room, Lily was back yet again. She hadn't returned since then, but an idea had popped into her head the day before.
What if someone was purposely placing those dreams in her head? Legilimens were a crafty lot, and she was in no way a good Occlumens. It was a definite possibility!
There was, of course, the question of who would do that and why they would have a desire to do so, but she would cross that bridge when she got there.
James was the obvious choice, but while he was great at many things, she highly doubt that Legilimency was amongst them.
After asking Madame Pince (who seemed extremely suspicious of her questions, but answered nevertheless), Lily had obtained the name of the book she needed.
Spotting it, Lily slid it out and for a second thought to look around for the rest of it. It couldn't be more than twenty pages thick, while all its fellows ranged usually around the hundreds!
But she took it and headed for the back table anyway, opening as she did so. The pages were blank. Why were they blank? She flipped to the very first page, and found only a few sentences there.
If someone is indeed using Legilimency to put thoughts or dreams into your mind, there is no certain way of knowing unless you are an Occlumens, in which you will certainly already know when someone is tampering with your head. The only remedy, therefore, is to learn Occlumency.
For tips on learning Occlumency, please purchase my book Blocking What Is Meant To Be Blocked.
--Mark DiClarko
Lily stopped walking, and was sorely tempted to throw the book but had an idea that Madame Pince would storm through the door that instant and expel her from the library for all eternity, along with her offspring for abusing books in such a manner.
How could they have devoted an entire book to just two paragraphs?! How could Hogwarts keep it in their library?! She was furious.
At the very bottom of the very same page, were the words: This work receives the award for shortest book ever printed.
Sodding morons, the lot of them!
*~*
"I don't know what else to do, Professor Dumbledore," Lily sighed, tugging at a piece of her hair. She'd come to confide in Dumbledore, at the end of her tether. "These dreams are driving me up the wall and they're affecting my schoolwork. I've had to keep Victoria Tiernay around me at all times because I have this knack of falling asleep quite suddenly, if I have so much as two seconds to sit down."
The Headmaster nodded, his fingers forming a steeple. "What are these dreams about, Miss Evans, if you don't mind my asking?"
She blushed. "I'd-I'd rather not say if I didn't have to, sir."
"Ah."
"No! No `ah'! It's not like that. It's just… these dreams involve a certain someone that I sort of wish that they didn't involve, sir," she said hurriedly, wanting desperately to correct him of his impression-however originally correct that impression had been.
Dumbledore seemed to be suppressing a smile, but it disappeared so quickly that Lily was sure she must have imagined it. "I wish I could tell you how to relieve yourself, Miss Evans, but I haven't the faintest clue. I've never had the pleasure of having a dream."
"Never, Professor?"
"Not a one."
"I'm not sure whether to say I'm sorry or to congratulate you," she admitted.
"I believe that dreams-much like suffering and other things in life-are things that we must deal with in order to grow in personality and maturity, Miss Evans. They have both their positive and negative sides. I have happened to miss out on that, but it's also a blessing. Two-sided, once again."
Lily nodded. "Thank you for listening to me, headmaster. I feel better, really."
He inclined his head. Just as she was about to open the door, he added, "It has been my experience, that when people have told me how their more bothersome dreams went away, it involved acting out that dream to a certain extent in real life."
Lily didn't turn around, because she was sure she was as red as a tomato. "I'm afraid that's not quite possible in my case. But thank you anyway, sir. I'll see you tomorrow for the Head meeting."
"As it's the first, I expect it to take at least a couple hours, so I suggest you do any homework beforehand."
"Will do, professor."
*~*
The following afternoon, James walked into his last class of the day to find a note from Lily atop his desk. It stated that the Head meeting had been moved to an empty classroom, as Dumbledore would be unable to attend.
Shit. He'd forgotten all about the Head meeting. Thankfully, Lily was good at those sorts of things. He'd ask her to remind him each time they rolled around…
He wondered if she realized just how much time they'd be spending together now that Head meetings and duties would commence. Of course, they'd had short discussions in the beginning of the year, especially instructing the Prefects on the train ride, but they'd had no major interaction.
This was all sure to change now.
Three hours later, James stepped into one of the empty classrooms on the third floor. Lily was already there, staring stupidly at the furthest wall, her back to him. She hadn't noticed he was there.
He walked slowly, without a care in the world-and with a very clear purpose-towards her. He didn't try to make noise but nor did he try not to. It couldn't be said he'd done it on purpose.
Having reached her, he leaned over her shoulder so that his lips were just an inch from her ear and whispered, "Boo."
Lily screamed and fell out of her chair, managing to hit him over the head just before.
"You prat!"
James grinned, offering her his hand. She ignored it and got up on her own.
"You must've been concentrating like the very devil, Evans."
Lily glared up at him, running a hand through her hair in an effort to brush it a little. She was distressed, for two reasons. One, she looked like shit-or possibly even worse-because she'd just woken up from a dream with her hair and make up mussed. Two, she actually cared that she looked like shit-or possibly even worse, for the sole reason that James was there to view her shittiness.
She took out her mirror briefly, while she thought he wasn't looking, and was startled when it was pulled from her hands.
"You look fine, Evans." He threw the mirror back into her bag. "You always do."
She nodded, unsure of whether to thank him or not. She probably would've-if only because it was mechanical and she was raised to do so-except she found it oddly pleasing that he thought she always looked "fine".
"Dumbledore had to back out last minute, but he gave me a list of things we need to cover before we leave," she explained. "When I went to his office after lunch, he said that we'd need to set up our own meetings, besides the ones that we have with him in order to work on these things." She looked up at him, and he seemed to be paying attention, so she continued. "In short, we're going to be seeing a whole lot of each other this year."
He smiled slowly, and so charmingly, that she smiled back.
*~*
"I was just wondering… Why haven't you asked me out since last year?" Lily asked as they walked out the door for the Gryffindor common room nearly four hours later. Somewhere after the first hour, they'd gotten extremely comfortable with each other. James had removed his tie and unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. She'd conjured a couch so that they could work comfortably and had taken off her shoes and socks.
With her legs thrown over his knees casually, they'd laughed and joked, and just had a good time.
She was surprised, needless to say.
Her question seemed to catch him off guard, and he stopped for a moment. "Here, let me take those for you," he muttered, taking the books from her. "I don't know why. I guess it got old, didn't it? I'm not five and I just moved on past that point." He glanced at her. "Besides, you didn't seem very interested, did you?"
Lily nodded, a little disappointed. He moved on, and that was the end of that-whatever that was. "Yeah, I got that. Makes sense. Thanks, I guess. It was getting old."
"If you'd like, I'd be quite happy to resume though," he chuckled.
She shook her head, grinning. "You're terrible. Now that I know your heart isn't in it, I might just hex you so bad your blue blood ancestors feel it."
He didn't reply for a minute, taking a step that probably shouldn't have been taken. "I don't think you're any less of a witch than those from the purest of families, you know. You're just brilliant, to put it simply." He almost regretted it-he was sorely tempted to stop and snog her, for some reason unknown to him (besides, of course, the fact that he was a horny teenager who wanted to snog nonstop constantly).
"Thank you, I think. That was a bit random."
"I think that's why I was so attracted to you. You proved that you weren't different, or worse anyway. You're probably better than any of us could ever hope to be," James mused. As an afterthought, he added, "And that temper of yours is right sexy."
Lily laughed. "Does your mum evil call you Satan?"
"Nope. That's reserved for my dad," he chuckled. "I'm the devil's son." They'd reached the portrait hole, and Lily muttered the password. James held her back. "A minute. I think we could be on first name terms, don't you? We're going to be getting awfully close this year."
Lily cocked her head and studied him for a moment. "Sounds good to me… James." She turned and left, heading immediately for her dormitory.
James stood there for a moment frozen in time, letting her voice spread over him. There was nothing better, he decided then, than to hear Lily Evans say his name.
Nothing.
*~*
A/N: Ok, I'm posting this a day early, just for kicks, and mainly because I want to have feedback. I think I've finally figured out the twists and turns I want this story to take, and what each chapter shall be about. I think I might sort of prolong it to four or five chapters, but yeah. If you know me (which some of you do), then you know I never really make up my mind. I might decide to make a story thirty chapters and end up with twelve, or vice versa (ok, I've never done a thirty chapter story, I think I'd lose my mind with that kind of plot). So yeah.
And so, feedback is appreciated!
An anonymous reviewer asked if I would go without sleep until this story is finished, and I thought that was funny. I usually apologize for my insomniac fics-they tend to be fluff lol. But thanks for the laugh.
Maddudewalking I think deserves some kind of recognition. You read all my stories, and you're slowly but surely becoming one of my favorite reviewers. So yeah, thanks.
I'm in a thankful mood because I'm putting off sleep. But, as I'm tired, I think I'll go. Love you all!
-->