A/N: Bear with me; I have a cold so some of this might come out a bit stuffy (that's a joke). I'd give you a rundown of the last fifteen chapters, but then you wouldn't have read them. So… go back and re-read them if you forgot what happened. Oh, it was pointed out to me that prefects are named in their fifth year (complete oversight on my part, claiming Lily and Remus became prefects in their third year) but I have the perfect answer for that. In the time between James/Lily went to Hogwarts and Harry went to Hogwarts, the rule changed and prefects had to be fifth years. Apparently there was an incident with one of the older Weasley boys (so I've heard, but that might be a rumor).
Disclaimer: If I wrote the original, where in the heck is my royalties??
Chapter Sixteen
For the moment, all was calm and quite. It was maybe two in the morning and the house was dead silent, nothing stirred. It brought a smile to James' face as he thought of the quietness that seemed to reach every nook and cranny. He looked to the bed that Sirius was sleeping in, the boy's arm hanging quite ungracefully of the edge of the bed. James pulled the covers over his head, his wand drawn.
"Lumunos," James whispered. A light glowed from the tip of his wand, emitting the warmest white light he'd seen. Sighing, he pulled the parchment and quill out from under his pillow. He had been trying to do this since he left, not certain what to say to her. He looked down at the blank parchment. He hadn't even gotten around writing the `Dear Lily' part. Was that how he wanted his first written words to her to look?
"James," groaned Sirius. "The damn light, please."
"Alright," James said. "Nox."
"Damn straight," moaned Sirius with his voice muffled. He had apparently pushed his face into the pillow.
"Sorry," James said as he pushed the parchment back under his pillow.
"Nah," grumbled Sirius. He pushed himself up on one arm. "You'll see her tomorrow. Save whatever you have to say to her until then."
"Maybe you're right," James said nodding. Sirius nodded once before his head fell against the pillow with a soft thud.
"Of course I am, mate," Sirius groaned as he tugged at the covers. "Go to sleep."
"Um, Sirius?" James asked quietly after a moment of thought.
"Yeah," Sirius grunted without even opening his eyes.
"Do you think she still likes me? I mean we have been apart for the entire month of December," James asked suddenly uncertain.
"Uh," Sirius groaned as he sat back up and looked at him. "She probably likes you as much as she ever has, ok?"
"Ok," James said as Sirius flopped back down. He thought about that for a moment before punctuating the silence. "What does that even mean?"
"I don't know, James," Sirius whined sleepily. "I'm tired, ok? Can't we just talk in the morning? For the past month, she's all I have heard about. Just go to sleep and talk to her when we get back to Hogwarts tomorrow, ok?"
"Ok," James sighed. He rested his head against his pillow. He was not one who second guessed a lot, but when it came to Lily he was terribly uncertain. They hadn't even gone on their first official date and he was worried that he had already screwed things up between them. He hadn't written her once during the Christmas Holiday. He thought about buying her something for Christmas and sending it to her, he just couldn't decide what was appropriate, and he opted for socks.
"Socks?" Sirius had asked him while James addressed them to Lily at the school. He had thought about inviting her to Christmas, but assumed that was not something she would find comforting. Plus he had only thought about it when the train pulled into London, and by then it was too late. So he thought of a Christmas gift to send to her.
"So her feet don't get cold," James said hopefully. "Everyone can always use socks, and anyways I have no idea what she'd want."
"Socks? Really?" Sirius had inquired incredulously as he shook his head. James punched his shoulder.
"Shut up," James had said scowling as he finished the address as neatly as he could muster.
He hadn't been surprised when he didn't receive anything in return from her. He had been disappointed, though, and Sirius loved to point out that Lily must have loved her socks so much that she couldn't even top it, so she didn't. Sirius thought he was funny as could be, but James wasn't laughing. It stung that she didn't write him once during the long holiday. Then again, he hadn't written her either.
"Sirius? Why isn't she here?" James asked as he stood on the platform having just ridden the scarlet colored train for most of the day.
"What?" Sirius asked distractedly as he watched a sixth year girl eying him.
"Lily. Why isn't Lily here?" James asked.
"You're getting a bit whiny there, chap," Sirius said as he turned to look at his friend. "Did you expect her to meet you at the train and snog your brains out? That's not her style. Even you should know that."
"Nah, I just thought she'd come and say `hello', you know?" James said as he shrugged, shouldering his large bag.
"She's probably up at the castle doing head-girl stuff, you know… bossing around the prefects and what not," Sirius said. James nodded, thinking that this must be the case. The two of them sat in silence as they rode the Threstral-driven carriages to the castle.
It was apparent that something was amiss when Sirius and James entered the Gryffindor common room. It was too quite. They looked around to find it empty. Shrugging, they headed up the stairs to the boys' dormitory. The door was slightly open and curiously they entered the room, pushing the door wide. A large explosion sent them scrambling back, but it was too late. They were covered in green, sticky ooze.
"What is this?" James asked as he spread his fingers apart, the ooze making him look like some webbed finger freak.
"I hope this isn't snot," Sirius said. He laughed.
"What?" James asked as he picked himself up off the floor with great difficulty.
"This just reminds me of the ooze that accidently exploded all over Lily on the train," Sirius said laughing. "That little prank we had planned for Remus."
James laughed. He remembered it quite well.
"You don't think Lily pulled this prank on us, do you?" James asked as they began to clean up. Sirius laughed.
"I don't think she has a pranking streak in her," Sirius said. "I bet it was Remus."
"What would you like to wager?" James asked as he tried to rub his hands together dramatically. His hands stuck together.
"Ha ha," Sirius said shaking his head. "I know better than to bet you anything."
"Fine," James said as an owl dropped a letter at his feet. He tried to scoop it up but managed to smear the sticky goo on the burgundy carpet and get the letter stuck to his hand. After a minute struggling, he was able to read the letter.
"What does it say?" Sirius asked.
"It says that all students who were away for the Christmas Holiday are to report to the great hall immediately," James said as he shrugged. He looked at Sirius. "What do you think this is about?"
"No clue," Sirius said as he headed to the door. "Better go find out."
"Do you think we should clean this stuff off first?" James asked. Sirius grinned and shook his head.
"Nah," Sirius said. "If it's something stupid or lame, we can use it as an excuse to get out of it."
The two boys found few people in the hallways as they headed to the great hall. In fact, there were so few people at all in the great hall itself. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at Sirius and James but didn't address them. James looked around in hope of spotting Lily. He stood on his tip toes, looking for the auburn haired girl he had been fantasizing about all break. Dumbledore cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the fifty odd people in the great hall.
"I need, with a show of hands, to know which of you has already had Dragon pox," Professor Dumbledore said. All around them, hands went up. James and Sirius glanced around but did not raise their hands. Neither had ever had them. "Good, those of you who have, please head back to your dorms. The rest of you, remain where you are please."
James and Sirius, sticky and green, watched as a good thirty people left the great hall. Professor Dumbledore paced in front of the teachers' table, not saying anything as the numbers dwindled. He stopped when the last person left and he turned to the remaining few.
"While you were all out for Christmas break, we had an outbreak of Dragon pox," Professor Dumbledore said. "As we speak, letters are going home to your parents and guardians asking if we may go ahead and expose you while we have a few people still infected."
"Wait, you want to give us Dragon pox?" James piped up as he attempted to raise his arm. The green goo snapped it back into place at his side.
"The Healers believe that youth is the best time to catch it," Professor Dumbledore said. He looked up as the great hall filled with responses from the parents. "It looks like your parents agree."
"Wait, I don't want specked skin," Sirius cried out. "I'm just now allowed to start dating again."
"Sorry about that, Mr. Black, but as your surrogate mother, Mrs. Potter has decided to let you both be infected," Professor Dumbledore said. He smiled kindly at them. "I know how much your studies mean to you, so we have arranged for teaching assistants and tutors to come in and help you manage until you are back on your feet in a few weeks."
"But I was going to go to Hogsmead with Lily," James whined. Sirius looked unsympathetic.
"Your mom gave them the go-ahead to give me some disease," Sirius whispered. "Wait, I'm of age! I should get to decide!"
"Sorry boys," Lily said as she came up next to them. She pointed to the very speckled looking boy standing just a foot from them. "You've already been exposed."
"Lily," James said as he tried to wrap his arms around her. She laughed, backing away.
"You're just so… gooey!" She laughed as she shook her head as she backed away more.
"Aren't you afraid you'll catch Dragon pox?" James asked as he struggled against the goo. She laughed and shook her head.
"I've already had it," Lily said. "Remus and I caught it from a third year student. The boy who brought the pandemic back from Hogsmead."
"So, I guess I won't be leaving Hogwarts for our date then," James said mournfully. Lily brushed her lips against his.
"I'll wait for you," she said. "Now if only I could have been there when your goo exploded, that would have been perfect."
"You did this to me?" He asked. She smiled.
"I only wanted to make sure that you got your goo back," Lily teased as she stepped away from them. She looked at Sirius. "Green looks good on you. Are you sure you weren't meant to be in Slytherin?"
"Very funny, Lily," Sirius said as he went to chase after her and smear the goo in her hair. His feet stuck firmly to the ground.
"You may want to go take a shower before it becomes a solid," Lily laughed as she ran away from them. "See you for potions tutoring."
-->