Pushpins and Fights
Chapter 21: Pushpins and Fights
November 3, 1993
"Did you see McGonagall's face when that blew up?" cried Fred.
"Brilliant," chortled George. "Who knew we were so evil…"
"I can't wait for our detentions," Fred laughed.
"I wonder why she hasn't given them to us yet," George mumbled. "Maybe she's thinking of something cruel. We can do that."
"Patrick said he would've done that," scoffed Fred. "Fat chance he would've put a farting whoopee cushion on McGonagall's chair."
"I think he would've done it if he did it with Leslie," George guessed, naming a girl in their class who always teamed up with Patrick.
"Yeah." Fred shrugged. "People would do more pranks in groups of two, since they get to share the blame."
"Good point. Maybe rule-followers would break rules in groups of other people. I wonder…" George murmured, "if a few students teamed up in a few groups and tried to do some sort of prank-off… who would win?"
"That would be fun," Fred said. "You know, everyone tries pranking a different teacher…"
"Or some sort of thing like that," George replied, grinning. "We'd rock the stage out. We could throw water balloons at teachers!"
"Now I just can't get the image of Snape throwing water balloons at me out of my head, George, thank you."
"You're most welcome." George gave Fred his most sinister grin.
"But mate, that's genius. A prank-off."
"I know. I am a genius."
Fred snorted. "If you say so."
"Hey, Fred, George," came a voice. It was Lee Jordan.
"What's up?" they chorused.
"Nothing, just here on a message," he said casually.
"What message?" George inquired.
"McGonagall's calling you two. I don't know why, though. Maybe she wants to go over an answer on the test with you?"
Fred and George exchanged a look, grinning. "Detention," they said synchronously, before slumping out the door.
"Hey, Lavender."
Parvati ran up to Lavender, her long black hair shimmering.
"Hi, Parvati," Lavender replied.
"I think Mary Moon was asking for you," Parvati said.
"Oh, great," Lavender grumbled. "She always wants help. What is it now, did her blanket get a speck of ink on it?"
"I'm sure," Parvati said, grinning.
"I'm not a tailor," she grumbled. "Why does she keep asking me for that stuff? Remember the time she asked me to clear a rip on her shirt?"
"She doesn't know Reparo, I guess," Parvati laughed, shrugging.
Lavender rolled her eyes. "Keep her waiting."
Parvati laughed again, looking around. "Oh, wow, you're sitting under a lavender tree. Any particular reason?"
Lavender smirked. "Certainly not because my name is Lavender."
"Lavender and Ron, sitting in a lavender tree. K-i-"
"What the… Ron?" cried Lavender. "Where did he come from?"
"I don't know, he was the first guy who I saw," Parvati laughed, pointing over at the spot where Ron was. "You'd prefer Neville, wouldn't you?" She smirked. "I think so too. Lavender and Neville sitting in a tree-"
"No, no, Ron was better."
"Neville's an idiot," Parvati agreed, snorting. "Complete with the plump bravado. Lumbers around like a pumpkin… Hey, does that mean you like Ron?"
Lavender blushed. "Shut up."
"Is that a yes or a no?"
Lavender glared at her.
"Lavender?" Parvati asked. "Is that a yes?"
Lavender giggled. "Yeah, it's a yes."
Parvati's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh - you like Ron? But he's so… orange."
"That's his hair color," said Lavender, blushing harder. "The rest of him looks kind of cute."
Parvati made a face. "You are being all lovey-dovey here."
"He's so… so… awesome," Lavender squeaked.
"Aww, my Lavender is all grown up," Parvati teased. "Invite me to the wedding, yeah?"
"Oh, shut up," mumbled Lavender, kicking Parvati in the shin. "He just looks nice, and he's sweet too."
"I'm sure he is," muttered Parvati. "The wedding's still on?"
"No!" cried Lavender, her face growing pink. "It's just a… I don't know."
"Does he know you?" Parvati pointed out.
"Good point. Hey, Ron!"
Ron, who was sitting with Harry near a tree, turned. "Yeah?"
"Do you know who I am?" Lavender asked, her voice a pitch higher than it normally was.
"Lavender," Ron replied, bewildered. "Obviously."
"Okay, thanks."
Ron turned away, and Lavender turned to Parvati. "He does know me!"
"But he needs to like you," Parvati said. "Don't worry. Over time, we'll make him fall head-over-heels for you."
"Will we?"
"I'm sure of it," Parvati said, hiding her grin. "We'll plot this together so well that he'll be the one at your knees, begging for you to take him. He'll love you, Lavender. We just have to do this right, and do this well."
"Let's do it."
Cho was quickly walking to her Potions class.
She was going to be late for Potions. She hoped Snape wouldn't kill her for being so late. She quickly turned a corner, and…
"Ow!" she cried, turning around. Her hair was stuck in a bulletin board - push- pins were stuck all over her hair. Which stupid person had left loose push-pins all over a bulletin board?
Great. Now she was going to be late for Potions and her hair would be a mess.
"Are you all right?" came a voice.
Cho turned her head a little bit to see Cedric Diggory, handsome as ever. He was wearing his Hufflepuff robes, and beneath that - a brown jumper and dark blue jeans, his hair ruffled. His greenish-grey eyes were bright and adorable… she could look at them all day…
"Are you?" he asked again, noticing where her gaze was leading. His voice became softer. Really soft.
Oh, shoot. Now she would be late, messy, and blushing. "Not really…" She gestured to her hair, stuck in all the pins. "It's pulling at my hair. I can't get them out."
"Oh," Cedric said. "I can help."
Cho's face turned pink. "You don't-"
Cedric, ignoring her words, gently put his hands in her hair, feeling her silky hair a little bit before he proceeded to untangle her hair from the board. Cho thought he was letting his hands roam around her hair a little more than required, but she found that she didn't mind. It felt nice as his hands rubbed down her hair, playing with it slightly, and gently tugging it loose.
He carefully extricated her hair from the board, not quite removing his hands from her hair. "I think you're all good now."
"Thanks."
"Did that hurt?" Cedric asked, his eyes widening.
"No, of course not," Cho said, turning around. His hands dropped from her hair. "I can't express how thankful I am to you… seriously. I would've been stuck here."
Cedric laughed softly. "No problem."
She, without thinking, took a step forward and wrapped her arms around his back. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear.
Cedric didn't react for a moment, and then he let his hand run down her hair. He gave her back a small squeeze. "It was a pleasure," he laughed. "Seriously."
They separated.
"I… think I… Potions… Snape… Don't wanna be late…" Cho stuttered.
"Yeah, of course." Cedric smiled down at her. How was he so perfect? "I'll be off. I hope I see you around?"
"Er… yeah… sure."
Cho bolted for Potions, not caring in the slightest that she was late.
"-yeah, and then he vanished. Out of nowhere. How did he do it?"
"He disapparated, Jeremy," grumbled Kingsley, rolling his eyes.
"Oh! Good point! I didn't think of that!"
"I can tell," he muttered. "Can we adjourn the meeting, Tucker?"
Tucker nodded gruffly. "I have a dinner to attend with my wife, anyway. Jeremy, I want that report."
"Yes, sir," Jeremy replied, before speeding out of the room. Tucker muttered something under his breath - probably "useless idiots" - and left, leaving Kingsley and Tonks in the room.
"Hey, Tonks." Kingsley sunk down on the chair across from her. "Terrible meeting, don't you think?"
Tonks sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Yeah, it was a whole waste. Jeremy doesn't know his head from his toe."
"Great, someone who agrees." Kingsley rolled his eyes. "Jeremy and Barney have formed an alliance. Something about a roadmap."
Tonks smirked. "That sucks."
"Yeah, so… how was Hogwarts? The case? You're so lucky, I wish I could've gone back. I remember when some kid put a slug in my hair, he was a Ravenclaw, I think, but he did it for fun, my friends attacked him back, I remember, they were so mad… he'd lost us a few points for playing with slugs, oh, so I got Sir Cadogan to get him back, I don't know if he was still around when you were at Hogwarts, but he was this portrait-"
As Kingsley started reminiscing about his schooldays, Tonks's thoughts immediately flew back to the case at Hogwarts. A few of them were about James, Sia, and Lily, but they were mainly about the few, treasured moments with Remus. His warm smile. His lovely scent. His cozy sweaters. His kind eyes. His soothing voice. She reflected back on their time at Hogwarts, when they'd just been talking… not about anything in particular, but still…
"So, Tonks? How was it? Make any new friends?" Kingsley asked, shaking her out of her reverie.
"Oh. Yeah. It was, er, nice. Lily was there, James's wife, she's teaching Ancient Runes. Er… of course, there was Harry Potter. He was nice. Gone through a lot, though, his sister went missing…"
"Anyone else?"
The very one she hadn't mentioned on purpose. "Yeah, a few students, teachers were friendly…"
Kingsley nodded. "Did you meet Remus?"
Darn you, Kingsley. Did he have to? "Oh, the Defense teacher? Yeah, I talked to him a few times, why?"
"He seemed cool," Kingsley replied nonchalantly with a shrug. "A good teacher. My cousin's son loves him... Said he never had a better teacher."
"Oh," Tonks said, attempting at nonchalance. "I talked to him a couple times. He's nice. And a good teacher, yeah, but of course I didn't watch his lessons or anything. I was there for a case."
"Lucky." Kingsley made a face. "While you were there, I was forced to do paperwork. Ugh. Even the junior, Dylan, he got to go off on some mission. It was only a few miles down from here, but seriously. It was annoying. I've got much more experience, I should've been the one travelling to Kenya."
"Who travelled to Kenya?" Tonks asked incredulously.
"Barney," he grumbled. "And he's so stupid. He and Jeremy, both."
"Sucks for you."
"Yeah, well… meh." Kingsley rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna go, meeting's adjourned. I need to finish up my paperwork over a hot cup of coffee."
"You can send me the paperwork," offered Tonks. "You've got a baby at home… your wife probably needs help and everything."
"Thanks, Tonks, you're a lifesaver." Kingsley stood up. "I owe you one, remind me that okay?"
"Sure, sure," said Tonks, grinning at him.
"Thanks, again, seriously. See ya." He popped out the door.
"Bye."
Tonks fiddled with the corner of a parchment form. She got bored a lot these days. Hogwarts was thriving with fun opportunities and fun people to talk to. Don't get her wrong - Kingsley, Gawain, James, and the others were great to talk to. But still, they were only there for their limited hours. After they were done, they left. And of course, James snuck off to Hogwarts a lot.
Huh. Maybe she could do that.
But either way, in Hogwarts, everyone lived there. There was always someone to talk to, someone to hang out with, something to do. Here, there was no Lily… no Sia… no Remus.
It was boring. It used to be enough, but she'd seen what could be better. Of course, she loved her job, she still got her work done, and she couldn't wait to be an Auror officially. It was amazing here. Her job was great.
But it just wasn't the same. Not enough. She missed everybody back at Hogwarts. She really needed to pull a James these days and just sneak off to Hogwarts. Seriously.
But until then - the clock was still ticking, the world was still spinning…
And she was still breathing.
"What the heck, James?"
"Nice to see you too, Lils, what's the-"
"Don't Lils me!"
James blinked, bewildered. He'd been sipping coffee, doodling on a piece of paper, and listening to loud music when Lily had stormed in the room, her face flushed. She'd turned off the music and started… yelling. Huh.
"What did I do?"
"Oh, rack your brains, James how difficult can that be?" she shot back scathingly.
James was confused. He closed his eyes, wondering what he'd done. Maybe she was mad because he was at Hogwarts instead of the Auror Office? "I told you," he said slowly, "I finished all my paperwork. I'm here free. My hours are over!"
"I don't care!"
"Oh. Okay. Then… I don't know, Lily," James sighed. "What did I do to get you in such a frenzy?"
"You hexed Severus!" Lily cried in a shrill voice.
James tried to make sense of what she said before it dawned on him. "Oh!" He grinned. "Did you like it? Did you get to see it, Lily, do you want me to do-"
He stopped, seeing the murderous look on her face. Another thought dawned on him. "You… didn't like it?"
"Of course not!" she screamed. "How could I, James, he used to be my best friend!"
"That's exactly why I cursed him, though!" James cried. "Because he keeps ignoring you! You were upset, Lily, I couldn't let him hurt you like that!"
"So you hurt him instead?" Lily demanded. "We're not children anymore!"
"I know, Lily," started James helplessly, before he stopped. He'd done it. He'd done it all for her. So why wasn't she appreciating it? He hadn't done it because he just wanted to. He didn't feel the urge to go hex somebody because he felt like it. He'd done it because Lily had been hurt. Whoever hurt Lily deserved to be hurt back.
"Then why did you do it?" Lily snapped.
"Because you were upset! He hurt you! I'm not going to let anyone make you upset!"
"But you went and hexed him back!" Lily screeched. "Like we're twelve! This isn't that he hurt me… it's because of your dumb feud with him. It's because you're jealous! You're still jealous of him. You can't shake yourself out of your Hogwarts mindset!"
Suddenly, anger knocked through him. She wasn't appreciating what he did. What he did for her. He'd done it all for her, but it looked like she didn't care. She was taking him for granted.
"That's not true," James hissed, his voice low. "Are you implying that I don't care for you? Or that I hate Snape more than I like you?"
"Yes, maybe I am," Lily fired back. "You just find an excuse to hex him, to hex everybody you come across. Especially Severus! It's not that you love me at all. It's because you wanted to hex him. You're using me as a toy!"
"You think I don't love you?" James snapped. Anger flooded through his brain. He didn't stop to make sense of it all. Lily didn't even trust him. She didn't have faith in his love for her. What was her problem?
"You hate Severus way more," Lily fired back. "I'm starting to think you only married me to get back at him!"
"You and I both know that's stupid!" James cried. "I hexed him because he hurt you. You were hurt, don't deny it! I couldn't let that happen to you, so I went and hexed him for you!" Why didn't she see it?
"I'm perfectly capable of myself, Potter," Lily spat.
James took a step back, startled. The use of his surname. She had just thrown it at him, like it was an insult. Like they were back in fifth-year, arguing with each other, yelling at each other, teasing each other, where Lily hated James…
Where Lily hated James.
A snarl ripped from his throat like he was about to pounce. "So you don't love me."
"I'm beginning to wonder if you just played with my feelings," Lily answered. "If you convinced me of loving you. Just used me. Like a chew toy, all to get back at Sev."
James should have found comfort in the fact that she hadn't exactly answered the question, but he didn't. It made him more angry. She didn't trust him. She didn't… She didn't love him.
"You think that, do you?" James snapped. "You don't trust me? You think I'm only good enough to play with your emotions?"
"That's exactly what I think," Lily snapped back.
"You don't think it's possible for me to care for you? I wanted to protect you-"
"I can take care of myself!" she yelled. "I know how to deal with myself. I can talk to Severus if I want to! I haven't! Not because I'm a coward, but because I don't want to. Remember - when we were at Hogwarts - Sev was my companion! He accompanied me, helped me, encouraged me. He was my best friend all those years! Not you. He protected me from you, James Fleamont Potter, he trusted me!
"And I broke that trust. I broke that trust because of you. I broke it because I married you."
She spat the word "you" like it was the greatest insult she could think of. There was a shaky silence in which James hunted his mind for a good enough insult, but his mind failing him at the moment he needed it most…
And then Lily spoke, in a much quieter and steady voice than before.
"I don't know why I married you."
James froze. All thoughts in his mind stopped. He felt numb. Everything had been stripped of him in that one moment. He had nothing… nothing left. Sirius was gone. So was Peter. And now, Lily was gone too. He only had Remus… but Lily. Lily trusted that vile, greasy creature over him. Over James. How long had Lily been having this… this… this doubt?
"Get out." Her voice was distant, cold, unfamiliar.
James looked at her for a moment, memorizing the lines of her face, before he turned and stormed out of the room, leaving everything behind.