A/N: Ok, so as of the time I wrote this chapter, I haven't even released chapter twenty eight. Oh well, I can only assume that you guys are paying homage to all of my hard work and reviewing. If you don't review, how will I know that you like it… after all? Ah! I got you there.
I did contemplate waiting until later today to release this chapter, but since it is my youngest son's birthday (he is five!) I will be busy all day (but I will be back on tonight to check on your reactions to this and previous chapters). I will assume that if enough people don't review, you guys really don't care what happens in chapter 30 and I won't post it (why bore you, you know?). So, without further torture… here is chapter twenty nine.
Disc.: I claim plot and errors, the characters belong to someone else.
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Chapter Twenty-Nine
"Do you think this will work?" Lily asked Remus as she sat against the edge of the table in the library.
"It's a little late now to second guess Sirius' plan," Remus said standing in front of her. "Sirius is on his way with James now."
"This is mortifying, so you know," Lily said as Remus stepped closer.
"Gee, thanks Lily," Remus said looking kind of hurt.
"No, I didn't mean because it's you, Remus," Lily said as she put her hands on either side of his face. "If it weren't for James…"
"I know," Remus said. He pulled her close, his mouth meeting hers rather heatedly. Whereas their first deep kiss had been awkward and forced, it seemed to flow this time. Lily secretly enjoyed the kiss a little, even if it wasn't James' lips on hers. After all, she had continued to read that book she had gotten in trouble with and she was still feeling fairly worked up.
"What in the world is going on here?" Sirius asked with mock surprise. Lily slowly pulled away from Remus, untangling her arms from his neck.
"We were just…" Remus said as he trailed off a bit.
"Yeah, we were…" Lily said adding nothing to the conversation.
"Hold up, wait a minute," James said sternly. Lily glanced over at Sirius hopefully. James strolled to where Lily was on her back on the library table.
"Problem?" Remus asked hopefully as he subconsciously squeezed Lily's knee as it rested against his hip.
"Yeah, there's a problem," James said. He jerked Remus' cloak off the chair and balled it up. Without warning, he practically forced it under Lily's head. "There, all better. Don't forget to clean up when you're done. No one likes a sticky library table."
James walked away. Lily looked at Sirius disappointed. Remus reached out, offering Lily his hand to get back up off the table. He threw his arms around her carelessly. The both were very disappointed.
"So, now what?" Lily asked.
"I don't know," Sirius said scratching his head. "I'm all out of ideas."
"Some help you turned out to be," Remus said as he finally pulled away from Lily. Lily looked at Remus and grinned.
"We were more believable though, weren't we?" Lily asked.
"Ah, well…" Sirius said shaking his head. "You two are too polite."
"Too polite?" Remus asked.
"We were plenty rude," Lily insisted.
"No," Sirius said shaking his head with a grin. "You practically asked her to touch her knee and you, missy, only reluctantly agreed. You had no heat, no passion, no love… and I don't me sweet love. I mean dirty, rough love."
"I'm not going to just start groping her," Remus said. "I have respect for Lily."
"And I appreciate it," Lily said nodding. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"You two are pathetic," Sirius said. He walked up to Lily and looked her. "Look at what you're wearing. You don't look sexy, sorry Lily, but you don't. You have to show more breasts, more leg, hell… get naked."
"Huh?" Lily asked said. "What? Naked?"
"Yeah," Sirius said.
"Naked," Remus grinned. Lily shook her head.
"Get that thought out of your mind, boy," Lily said grinning.
"No, that's perfect," Sirius said. "Get it in your mind. It'll make you act a little more rashly and push boundaries. You have to push your boundaries. Watch me."
"Wait, what?" Remus and Lily both said as Sirius stepped forward. Sirius looked down at her, grinning.
"Just trust me," Sirius said. He put his hand on the lowest part of the small of Lily's back, pulling her hard against him. Sirius lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her. Sirius wasn't hesitant in the manner in which he kissed Lily, he was quite aggressive. He pinned her against the table, his hand sliding from the small of her back to her rear end.
Lily felt this intense pull, not nearly as strong as when she was with James, but pretty damn close to that night in the tower. James hadn't gotten as far as Sirius was pushing the boundaries, for sure, otherwise she was certain that she would have given up her virginity to him (James, not Sirius, naturally. She loved James.). It her like a wave. She jerked away, practically jumping up on top of the table.
"See," Sirius said panting slightly with a stupid grin on his face. "Good, wasn't it?"
"I know what has to be done!" Lily said eagerly. Sirius frowned for a second, not expecting that outburst after what he had done. She looked down at her tee shirt and pulled it back over her bra. "Damn, Sirius. Couldn't keep your hands off the merchandise?"
"Hey, I only did it to prove a point," Sirius said laughing. He looked at Remus.
"Point taken," Remus said. "I need a shower."
"Oh, gross," Lily gagged shaking her head.
"I look forward to it," Remus said.
"Remus!" Lily exclaimed with her face heated.
"Well, hell, he does," Sirius said. "He can't help it, and he ought not to be ashamed of the fact that Remus is hot for you."
"Ought not?" Lily teased.
"I am not hot and randy," Remus countered a little more forcibly than he needed.
"Big Remus says no, but little Remus says yes," Sirius said grinning as he gestured to Remus' pants. Lily glanced reflexively and laughed as she covered her eyes. "Told you that he was hot for you, Lils. If we can't get James back, Remus is next in line to be the one."
"Agh! That reminds me!" Lily said as she threw her arms around Sirius and Remus, kissing them both on the cheeks. She started to leave and then turned back. "I'll catch you later. I have to go confront Severus about something."
"Damn, girl. If you're that hard up for some action and Remus is too chicken, you know I'd gladly sacrifice my body to you, for the cause of course," Sirius offered. "You don't need to lay down with the bat."
"Ugh," Lily made a face. "It's not even that, I swear! I'd burn my flesh off before I gave him my body."
"Good to know," Sirius said. "The offer still stands."
"Awe, c'mon Sirius," Remus groaned.
"Hey, I'll share," Sirius promised grinning. "We can take turns."
"You're too much," Lily said shaking her head. She ran out of the library, running down the corridors until she came to the dungeons. She ran into the Slytherin common room. Severus was sitting with his housemates, reading and talking. Lily glared at Narcissa who looked just as surprised to see Lily standing there in her muggle clothes.
"Lily," Severus said unable to hide her surprise.
"YOU. Your room. NOW!" Lily demanded. Narcissa smirked as Severus stood. He led the way to his dormitory room, Lily right on his heels. She knew how it looked, but she didn't care. She wanted James back, she had an idea about what needed to be done, and she wanted to be sure.
"Lily," Severus said as she slammed the door. She turned to look at him, her wand out.
"I am going to use Occlumency on you, and you will not block me, do you hear?" Lily said as she stepped closer to him.
"No, I won't let you," Severus said shaking his head.
"I have one week until the full moon," Lily said quickly. "At that point, if he's not all better, I have to move on and live my life. I will take it from you, if need be Severus."
"I won't let you," Severus said. Lily took a deep breath and started crying, hard. She covered her eyes with her hands, crying hard. Severus' resolve faltered.
"I thought you loved me," Lily cried as she stepped closer to him, pointing at him. "You told me you loved me and that you would never hurt me."
"I don't want to," Severus said as he allowed her to get closer.
"You don't really love me," Lily wept, her hands still over her face.
"No, please stop crying Lily," Severus begged. "I do love you. I always have, I always will."
"Then tell me what I need to know, Severus," Lily begged. "Please."
"Ok, but I'm just going to give you the memories. Nothing else in here needs to be seen," Severus said finally as he handed her a handkerchief. Lily dabbed at her eyes, smiling on the inside. Whoever said she couldn't be manipulative sometimes was wrong. Severus brought his wand to his temple, pulling out a thin silvery string. Lily quickly conjured a phial and handed it to Severus. He put the memory into the phial and handed it to her. She corked it quickly.
"Thank you, Severus," Lily said as she glanced around for Severus' pensieve. "You did the right thing."
"I shouldn't have agreed," Severus said shaking his head.
"No, you did the right thing," Lily assured him.
"No, I don't mean giving you the memories. That is the only right thing I've done in weeks. Just do it, you'll see," Severus said turning away. Lily took the pensieve off the table and poured the memory into it. She walked over to Severus and grabbed him by the arm, her nails biting into the mark hidden beneath his long sleeves.
"You're coming with me," Lily said. Severus shook his head. "No, you did this. You're coming with me to explain if I have any questions."
The two of them dipped into the memory, falling until their feet hit the floor. Lily glanced around, still holding tight to Severus' arm. They were standing in his dormitory, and for a moment Lily worried that they hadn't actually entered the memory. Lily spotted Severus gazing in a sickly loving manner at a picture of Lily. It was obviously a muggle picture as Lily wasn't moving in the picture. A knock came to the door as Narcissa entered the room.
"Narcissa," Memory Severus said. "What can I do for you?"
"I want James," Narcissa said. "You want Lily."
"This is old news, Narcissa," Memory Severus said in a rather bored tone.
"If you can get James to turn from her, she'd turn to you," Narcissa taunted as her fingers caressed the frame lovingly. She picked it up. "There has to be something."
"He loves her," Memory Severus said. "He'll never turn from her."
"So, it was her idea?" Lily asked the real Severus. He nodded but did not speak.
The memory seemed to flash forward to some other time. Severus and Narcissa were in the library studying. Several students who were studying with them left one by one until they were the only two sitting at the table.
"I think I know what to do," Memory Severus whispered to Narcissa. "There is a very potent lust potion that is untraceable. It will cause him to be unfilled in his current relationship."
"That sounds perfect," Narcissa whispered. "How do you get some?"
"It's going to be difficult, and it's very expensive, rare upon rare," Memory Severus warned. "It's also dangerous. It will bind to the person who consumes it."
"We can worry about it later," Narcissa said. "Get it. I'll give you the money for it."
"That was the potion, the lust potion you were talking about?" Lily asked Severus.
"Yes," Severus said quietly as the scene changed.
"Chocolate," Narcissa said excitedly as she rushed into Severus' room. She held the box of chocolates in her hands. "I know we said that we'd wait, but this is fool proof. I've already arranged for phase one, so you can't back out now."
"What is phase one?" Memory Severus asked.
"A real heart, bloody and beating," Narcissa said excitedly. "It'll make her lose her appetite and she won't eat them. You could get the potion and put them in the chocolates. James'll eat them. If Lily eats them, she'll run to you either way. Plus I am stirring up the tension between Lily and her friends."
"That's not how it works," Memory Severus said. "I can't even be sure that I can get it."
"You have until February 14," Narcissa said suddenly angry. "We had a deal, now stick with it."
Lily and Severus stood in a deserted corridor, late at night by the silence of the castle and the darkness of the sky. She hated how jerky his memories were, jumping from one though to another without smooth transitions. They were making her head spin a little.
"I've been trying to up the tension between them," Narcissa said proudly.
"That's not exactly what I meant," Memory Severus said slightly annoyed.
"I wasn't exactly aiming straight, you know. There were other people always there to contend with," Narcissa snapped.
"That's alright, Cissy," Severus said taking a breath
"What's that?" Narcissa breathed excitedly.
"That is phase two," Severus told her. "Fool proof."
"Is it what I think it is?" Narcissa asked. Memory Severus nodded. "But how did you get it? Isn't it rare? I thought that it was going to be harder to get."
"Rare only because it is illegal in this strength," Severus said. Narcissa laughter echoed quietly in the barren stairwell. "This is pure, undiluted and very, very potent."
"So how do you plan on… you know?" Narcissa asked.
"Don't you worry about it," Severus said. "It's already in the process of being distributed."
"Is there any danger of it coming back to you?" Narcissa asked.
"No," Memory Severus said. "No one will ever know it was me that is except for you. You need to be careful though because there is no antidote."
"Is it really that dangerous?" Narcissa asked.
"No unless you mind a filthy Gryffindor squirming between your legs, Cissy," Memory Severus said as the two of them disappeared around the corner.
"This is the final aspect of the memory," Severus said to Lily. She continued her death grip on his arm as the scene faded back to Severus' room. Narcissa was crying slightly as she sat on the bed, Memory Severus was standing by the window.
"I want it to be done, Severus," Narcissa cried. "He's useless to anyone like this."
"What do you mean?" Memory Severus asked.
"IT doesn't work," Narcissa said. "It just goes off and then he falls asleep."
"No! Really?" Memory Severus laughed. Narcissa glared at him through teary eyes.
"Did you know this would happen?" Narcissa demanded.
"No," Memory Severus said.
"Make it better, Severus, please," Narcissa begged. "Whatever it will take, make it happen."
"I can't," Memory Severus said. "Lily has to."
"What?" Narcissa said.
"Lily, his one true love, is the only one who can do it. She has to do something so outrageous that he can't help but face it in reality. One action, and the spell is broken," Memory Severus said crossing his arms. "And it has to be witness to it first person."
Lily found herself standing again in Severus' room, her hand still clutched to Severus' arm. She dropped her hand from him and let the information absorb. She had confirmation for what she feared. Severus had known that her virginity was something she treasured. She had wanted to wait until marriage, though she had wanted to hand it over to James more recently. Severus had wanted Lily to turn to him to be the one who was her partner. Realization swept over her.
"It is the only way then? I have to have sex, and James has to watch," Lily confirmed. Severus nodded slowly. "That's what you meant first person."
"I don't know what I thought would happen," Severus said.
"You couldn't have actually thought I would turn to you," Lily said angrily. She felt the anger boiling up in her, which felt a lot like vomit. "How could you do this to me? You knew I wanted to wait."
"I hoped," Severus said quietly. Lily couldn't stop herself. She cocked her fist back and punched Severus in the face, knocking the boy out cold.
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