48 Hours

This is another FanFiction from the German "Harrypotter-Xperts" site which I would like to bring to you because I think it is too good to be kept to the German speaking world alone. Heidi, the author of this great story, gave me permission to translate it, and I would like to thank her very much for this honour. You can access all of her stories here: http://www.harrypotter-xperts.de/fanfiction?author=11876.

Disclaimer: All characters you recognise belong to Mrs. Rowling, who created the wonderful Harry Potter universe, giving us room for our imagination.

A/N: I have not updated this for months – first because I wanted to finish "The Godfather" and second because RL has been (and still is) very busy for me. But on the other hand, I still think that this story is too good to be kept in hiding, and I will go on as fast as I can manage. Prof M McGonagall was friendly enough to agree and take the beta job. I am amazed at her courage: this story is 96 chapters long, after all!

6. 48 Hours

Lily had intended to sleep in on the Sunday morning following her night time activities. However, things were not going the way she had planned. Early in the morning, she woke from the sound of loud voices in the head students' common room. Cursing, she crawled out of bed and hurriedly put on her dressing gown before opening the door.

The first person she saw was James. He was standing in the middle of the room, and his lips were white because he pressed them together firmly to prevent himself from laughing out loud. He was facing Black – at least she presumed that it must be Black because all she saw was a huge mop of long and curly blond hair. But the build of the body beneath the hair indicated that it was Sirius, as did the voice.

He was shouting hysterically, "James, dammit, what can I do? I can't go to breakfast looking like this."

James, on the other hand, seemed quite unaffected by Sirius's desperation, as he exploded in roaring bouts of laughter. He met Lily's gaze, and for a split second, she felt as if he knew everything.

When she cleared her throat noisily, Sirius whirled around. This gave Lily an opportunity to fully appreciate her masterpiece, and she was astonished. Sirius Black, Hogwarts heartthrob extraordinaire, had long, curly blond hair and a blinking banner on his forehead that said, "Fancied by brunettes and blondes alike!"

The letters were flashing on his forehead in a gaudy neon green hue that nearly blinded everyone who saw them. The blond mane went almost down to his bum, and he was fingering it nervously all the time.

Lily could not help herself – she nearly fell over from laughing. In between, she gasped, "Somebody seems to have made a good job of it, Black. You're irresistible! The whole student body will be at your feet!"

She was unable to hide the sarcasm in her voice, and James took the same line, saying, "Well, Padfoot, either you come as you are, or you will starve painfully on our living room floor."

Sirius threw himself on the couch and moaned, "I'll be the whole school's laughing stock – particularly the girls'! I'll die if someone sees me like this."

James stifled his laughter and tried to calm him down – "It will certainly disappear soon, Pad, then you'll be as you always were, and everybody will love you." His suppressed laughter re-emerged when somebody knocked on the door.

Lily opened the door and Remus stood there, grinning. Before he came in, he whispered in her ear, "I know it was you, Lily. How long will the hexes last?"

Lily stared at him with wide-open eyes and swallowed hard, but Remus murmured, "That's between us, I promise." His eyes had a certain amused twinkle, but his tone made it very clear that he wanted an answer.

"48 hours," whispered Lily and made a beeline for the bathroom.

"Damn!" she murmured and prayed that Remus would not tell his friends who was behind Sirius's "facelift". Black would surely retaliate, and she was quite afraid of his wrath.

So she took a very long shower, hoping that the three Marauders would have left when she came out of the bathroom. She was lucky: when she left the bathroom, the common room was empty except for Jackie, who sat on the couch with a devilish grin on her face. Yesterday's worries seemed forgotten when she praised Lily's accomplishments. "That was great, Lily. Mr. 'oh-I-am-the-most-handsome' Black will have something to mull over now, and I hope that the hexes will last until tomorrow when we have classes."

Lily grinned. "Yep. Tomorrow will be his opportunity to show off his newfound beauty in front of all the teachers. But I do have a problem: Remus knows it was me."

Jackie inhaled loudly, but then she said, "I don't think he will tell them, or else he would have done so already."

Lily sighed: "I do hope you're right. Black would hang me on the nearest tree if he knew."

The girls hurried down to the Great Hall because they hoped that Sirius's hunger would be greater than his reserve to be seen in his current state.

When they had almost reached the doors to the Great Hall, three Slytherins they knew all too well blocked their path. Beautiful Bellatrix Black was accompanied by Rodolphus Lestrange and Snape, who looked at Lily with a nasty smirk.

Jackie already fingered her wand, but Lestrange spelled it out of her hand immediately. At the same moment, Bella grabbed Lily's long red hair and yanked her head backwards. Lily pressed her lips together and attempted to stifle her gasp because Bella had no mercy. Lily felt Bella's breath on her cheek when she hissed, "I'll tell you something, dirty Mudblood. Pray that I never get you alone, or..."

"Or what?" came a voice from the staircase. The three Slytherins jerked around in the direction of the voice they knew very well.

Jackie gave Lily a quick glance, and they both nodded in silent agreement. Then Jackie aimed a well-targeted blow right on the nose of Bellatrix Black while she was distracted. Lily tore herself away from Lestrange's grip and stunned him, making him fall on his back stiff as a board. Snape's reaction was too slow, because the person owning the voice jumped over the banister with one leap and pushed him to the floor.

Jackie and Lily watched with wide-open eyes while Snape and the young man were fist fighting on the floor. It was Sirius, as they recognised from the blond locks he wore that day. Remus and James stood at the top of the stairs. They had their arms crossed in front of their chests and grinned.

"Do you think we should help him?" Remus asked, keeping his eyes on the two fighters.

James jumped over the banister with an easy grace and grabbed his friend as well as his arch-enemy by the collar.

Sirius kept flailing his arms and shouted, "Let go of me, James! This creep deserves..."

"No way," growled James. "You make yourself scarce. Lily and I will take care of them."

Bella held her bleeding nose and snarled, "You two are on the top of my list, Potter."

James laughed dryly and answered in a relaxed tone, "And you are on the top of mine. Therefore, I will deduct 10 points from each of you for an underhanded assault on the head girl."

Jackie turned away discreetly because she had a feeling that Bella would explode with anger. She met Sirius's gaze – he seemed to be in control again and retrieved an old slouch hat he seemed to have dropped during the wrangling. With both hands, he pulled it over his curly blonde hair and the still blinking inscription on his forehead. Remus pushed him into the Great Hall, and Jackie sneaked after them.

"Get going," James snarled at Lily. She gave him an incredulous look. Never before had he talked to her like that. Sad and hurt, she averted her gaze and trotted behind her friend. As soon as she had disappeared behind the door, James lifted his hand, and his fist hit Snape square in the face. Snape had been caught completely unaware and staggered, but James aimed his wand at his chest and hissed, "If I hear the word 'Mudblood' one more time – no matter when, no matter where – you three will be looking like that for a very long time."

Bella laughed mockingly. "Oh, Potter... you're still enamoured with the little Mudblood, it seems."

James cracked his knuckles and said, "I won't spare you, Bella." He had to exercise all his self-restraint to stop playing any power games with Bellatrix because he usually was very quick-tempered. At the last moment, he saw McGonagall come down the large staircase and made a beeline for breakfast.

He was quite astonished to find Jackie next to Remus and Sirius next to Lily at the Gryffindor table. Peter was not there yet, as usual, and therefore James dropped down next to Lily, who instinctively cowered in Sirius's direction. She held her head low and ate her muesli without a word. Jackie stared at Sirius, who piled his plate like he always did. When McGonagall stormed past him and tore the hat from his head, he ranted, "Oi, stop it!"

When he turned around, he looked right into his head of house's astonished and mocking face. Professor McGonagall struggled to keep her self-control and quickly placed the hat back on Sirius's head. "You are exempt from the usual rules for today, Mr. Black. Come tomorrow, this will be a bareheaded zone again," she said and hurried towards the head table. Her body was shaking, and it was obvious that she could not help but laugh.

Sirius had only been without his cover-up for a few moments, but they had been enough to give many students a glimpse of his appearance. They all laughed. Irritably, he threw his fork on the table, got up, and stood on the bench. Lifting his hat with a flourish and a bow, he shouted through the Great Hall: "Okay, I suggest you all have a good look at it now, because I intend on eating my breakfast undisturbed afterwards." Then he turned around dramatically and sat back down, but did not don his hat again. "Okay, now I want to eat," he mumbled, ignoring the laughter all around.

Jackie gazed at him in fascination. She had been prepared for many things, but she would never have thought that he'd got the guts for this. True Gryffindor bravery.

Lily looked at Jackie's face and knew instantly that her friend was completely lost now. Nothing she could say would keep Jackie from Sirius any more. Jackie's heart belonged to Sirius, once and for all.

"Do you see what I mean?" a warm voice whispered into Lily's ear. "He's fallen for her, and she for him. End of story."

Lily hastily turned her head in the direction of James's voice and was startled. His face was very near; she could feel his warm breath on her cheek and smell his scent. The Great Hall started to vanish in a blur around her; all she saw were his hazel eyes that rested on hers until someone exclaimed, "Morning, everyone."

James and Lily jumped apart and Remus groaned irritably, "Yes Peter, and a good morning to you."

The spell that seemed to have caught the head boy and girl for a short moment had disappeared, but the knowing smiles on their friends' faces remained. Remus broke the short silence and asked, "Okay, Padfoot, will you visit Poppy now for..." He pointed to Sirius's blinking banner.

Sirius swallowed his last bite and shook his head. "No, I will bear it as long as it's there. Whoever gave it to me probably wanted to convey a message." While he said the words, his gaze lingered on Jackie, but she and Lily stared down at their breakfast as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

Remus lifted his eyebrows in an expression of utter astonishment about his usually very vain friend. Could this pigheaded, self-opinionated young man have changed that much?

James pushed his plate back and said, "Okay, Lily, why don't we go over the last details for the ball today and present our concept to Gonny afterwards?"

Lily was lost in thought and looked around as if in a daze. Then she gave a quick nod, and Remus interrupted, "Let's all go down to the lake again. Maybe the rest of us have some good ideas, too."

"Yeah, Moony, that's a good idea," Sirius said. "We could take our brooms for a quick tour in between. Jackie, are you game?"

"Homework," she muttered and looked to Lily for help, but Lily let her down.

"But we did our homework yesterday! Come on, Jackie!" On one hand, Lily did not want to be alone with the Marauders, and on the other, she was quite sure that Sirius wanted to take advantage of the situation to apologize to Jackie about the things he had said the day before.

"I'll come later," Jackie exclaimed hastily and jumped off her seat. Then she rushed out of the hall, Sirius's gaze on her back.

He said, "It was her. There's no doubt. Just you wait, Miss Andrews."

There was a hint of respect in his voice, but James said, "It can't be her. She spent the whole night on the sofa in our common room."

James heard Lily's relieved gasp very clearly, but Sirius said, "Who else would do this to me, huh? It must have been Jackie."

Remus laughed and said, "Well, it could have been any one of your past girlfriends. And as we all know, there are loads of them." This time, even Peter joined in the laughter.

McGonagall came to their table once more and addressed James and Lily, "Miss Evans, Mr Potter, I forgot something: You two will open the Halloween ball, and I hope to see a spectacular dance."

Lily's eyes grew big, and James muttered a horrified, "What? But... I can't dance!"

McGonagall smiled. "In this case, Mr Potter, a nice waltz will do – just to get things started."

With these words, she disappeared. James clapped his hands in front of his face in despair. "Heavens, why can't I be spared this once!"

Sirius said, "Keep cool, mate. The ball is in seven weeks, and Lily will certainly be delighted to practise."

Lily had already opened her mouth to reply when she heard Remus say, "Oh yes, I think Lily would like that very much." His gaze was glued to her face, and she saw that he would not take any protest. Remus knew that she was the one to blame for Sirius's appearance, and he could always hold this knowledge over her head. She was quite sure that Remus would keep his word, but nevertheless, his innocent face made her nervous.

James looked at her with an expectant but slightly fearful gaze, and she nodded in resignation. Being alone among the Marauders made her feel uneasy, and she got up to flee from the hall when Snape crossed her path. He hissed, "Your beloved head boy will not get off that lightly. You'd better remember that, you..."

With wide-open eyes, Lily looked into Snape's somewhat damaged face. Now she understood why James had sent her away. Although she was flattered that he had come to her defence, she did not like that he had done it in this particular manner.

Without wasting a word on Snape, she crossed the entrance hall and went straight outside. The last warm rays of the autumn sun bathed her face, and she closed her eyes with a sigh. In spite of the warm weather, there was a light breeze on the Hogwarts grounds. Lily wanted to head for the black lake because she hoped that she would find her friend there, but at that moment, Jackie stopped her broom to hover above her and said, "Lils, stop dreaming. Up here."

"Please come to the lake with me," Lily pleaded. But Jackie just laughed and whizzed towards the Quidditch pitch, her brown curls and cape flying in the wind. Lily put her hand over her eyes to observe her friend in the sunlight. She noticed two figures fearlessly jump from the Astronomy tower on their brooms. Lily shook her head and grinned – she had recognised Potter and Black. They tried to out-yell each other, then split up. Sirius headed for the Quidditch pitch while James flew down to the lake.

While approaching the Quidditch pitch, Sirius had seen Jackie, who was circling the goal hoops, from afar. He thought that the situation would be a very good opportunity for a private talk. He had tied his blond locks together as a precautionary measure and raced after her on his broom. When he had almost reached her, he stopped and waited for her to approach. Jackie, however, did not want to stop next to him. All she wanted was to be left alone up there and not talk to Sirius, of all people, who always made her a little nervous.

Sirius, however, saw her evasive motion and grabbed her broom handle in a dextrous move. Jackie was a good flyer and stayed on her broom elegantly in spite of his unexpected motion. She was hovering next to him now and mumbled, "What are you up to, Black? If you intend to throw more of your niceties into my face..."

"Please," Sirius said quietly, never averting his gaze from her brown eyes. Jackie leaned back on her broom and crossed her arms in front of her chest in a defensive gesture. She just did not want to let him know how much he had hurt her the day before. His words had devastated her, and she was convinced that she could never hold a candle to all the beautiful girls at Hogwarts.

Sirius scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "I'm sorry, Jackie. For yesterday, you know. I did not really want to say that, and I sure did not mean it that way."

Jackie snorted, "Oh yeah, Black. Spare me your apologies, and just leave me alone." She grabbed her broom handle with both hands and soared away. Deep down inside, Jackie hoped that he was serious. With a light smile on her face, she decided that she would not give in that easily.

Sirius, on the other hand, murmured to himself, "This nut is much harder to crack than I thought. But I will make you change your mind until the Halloween ball, Miss Andrews." Then he chased after her on his broom. Jackie loved this careless game and whirled by between the goalposts, always keeping an eye on her pursuer.

Meanwhile, Lily was sitting down by the lake and had huddled together with James and Remus. They had finalised the concept for the ball, so all they had to do was present it to McGonagall.

Remus said, "You should not organise it all by yourself. Why don't you let the prefects do it?"

James nodded in the affirmative and said in a relieved tone, "I'm all for it. The first game of the season draws nearer, and some of our team's players are quite rusty, thinking of anything but Quidditch." With these words, he glanced at a snogging couple in the grass. Frank and Alice were lying a distance apart from the other students, kissing uninhibitedly.

Remus grinned and said, "Remember your dance lessons with Lily."

Lily winked, and James groaned, "How often do I have to repeat: I cannot dance, and I do not want to dance."

A smile crept onto Lily's face, but it disappeared immediately when she caught Remus's eye. His gaze conveyed the unmistakable message that it was her turn to motivate James. With a sour grin, Lily took off her shoes and socks. Then she jumped up and gave James an expectant look. He had no clue about her intentions. "We will hold our first dance lesson now," she said with a forced smile and gave Remus a withering look. But Remus just leaned on a tree with a relaxed expression and nodded his assent.

"But," James exclaimed in desperation, "I can't just... in front of everybody... no, no way!" He looked around frantically – it was a beautiful Sunday, and the grounds were scattered with students.

Remus groaned, "Don't be such a baby. At the ball, they will all look at you."

"But we don't have any music," James replied quickly because he hoped to get out of it that way. But Remus grinned, waved his wand, and surrounded them with soft music.

Lily sighed loudly because she did not like this one bit. By no means did she want to be that close to James – and not dance with him, for heaven's sake – but Remus wouldn't let go.

James got up clumsily and approached Lily, but she hissed, "Shoes off! I don't want to see Poppy for my broken toes afterwards!" James rolled his eyes and obeyed. Then Lily gave him her hand and looked down to the ground. "On the count of three, James." He nodded quickly and waited for Lily's count. At "three" he started moving. Of course, he went the wrong direction and stepped on Lily's neatly painted toes. She gasped, but put up a brave front and said with a smile, "Okay, we'll try a different approach. Stand beside me – let's practise the steps first."

Of course, she felt James become more and more tense with the other students stealing glances to observe them. James gave everything he had, which was not much, until Remus pitied him and stopped the music. "You'll get it eventually," he said with a grin and smiled at a frustrated Lily. She quickly donned her socks and shoes and disappeared towards the castle without another word.

Of course, she had enjoyed this dancing lesson with James – and because she had enjoyed it so much, she was scared out of her wits. The little scene in the Great Hall at breakfast had made her realise her fascination with the boy, or rather, man. But would it be wise to give in to this urge of being near to him? Then he would have won already, and his prediction would come true. But to her, he was still a lady-killer who chased after every skirt. Would he change for her? A question that kept chattering inside her head, demanding an answer.