Disclaimer: Pants.
Author's Notes: I have no idea what happened with this story. It started out as a nice little conversation about one messy-haired Marauder's loveand somehow changed into an angsty bit. Odd. Well, if it sucks, it's my mummy's fault for making me get off the computer as I was writing this. :P
But review anyway, even if you don't like it.
Aliss
Eyes Don't Lie
She eyed him skeptically. "You're not joking, yeah?"
He shook his head in response.
"No lie?" she asked again.
"Lily, you know I can't lie to you," he said.
She knew it too. She could see it in his eyes.
"I just… can't—really?" she shot again.
He chuckled and nodded his head in response.
"Wow," she said, leaning back into the couch. "That's just… wow."
He nodded. "I know what you mean. I was a bit skeptical myself."
"Really, but love?" she questioned. "I always thought it was just a little crush and it would pass eventually, but—love?"
"It seems to be that way."
"Hmm…"
"Yeah—?"
"Just imagining the idea."
"Funny feeling, isn't it?"
She grinned. "Funny indeed."
They lapsed into silence as he raked his fingers through his hair. She eyed him discreetly. It's rather endearing, she thought, the way he does that. She'd discovered that he only did that after picking it up from a friend and when he was anxious about something.
"Pleased?" he commented nonchalantly, but she could tell he was waiting eagerly for her answer despite his indifferent tone.
"Dunno…," she said quietly. "Kind of a disappointed thrill, I s'pose."
"How d'you make it out as disappointing?" he inquired, a dark eyebrow raised.
"I've been hurt before."
"Everyone's been hurt before, Lily, and everyone's going to be hurt in the future. It's unavoidable."
"I know, but it still scares me," she said quietly, a sort of reserved quiver in her voice.
"Still a thrill though, yeah?" he asked, trying to make light of the conversation.
She grinned again. "Yeah." Her eyebrows suddenly furrowed.
"All right?" he asked her knitted eyebrows and quickly-turned-irate expression, depicted through pursed lips.
"Why not face me?"
He raised that eyebrow again.
She shook her head. "Why's he up there" —she motioned to the boys' dormitory steps with her head— "when you're down here?"
He shrugged. "Frightened, I s'pose."
"Of me?"
"You're a right sight when you're angry," he reminded her.
She cocked an annoyed eyebrow.
"Livid, yes, but absolutely dashing, hmm?" he offered.
She shrugged, trying to hide the flattered pink of her cheeks. "Still wish he would've worked up the nerve to tell me himself, though."
He chuckled. "Lily, can't you understand? He has. Time after time, mind you. You just never believed him."
She looked a bit guilty as she shrugged again. "You're slightly more convincing."
"Why's that?"
"You're not constantly trying to ask me out," she answered simply.
He shrugged. "True."
She leaned back into the couch until he could only spot her vibrant head of hair. Her eyes were locked on the crackling logs of the fire in front of her.
She drew her eyes from the fire and locked eyes instead with the boy on the chair next to her. "Remus?" she whispered.
He leaned forward to meet her eyes. "Lily?" he whispered back.
"He loves me?" There was still a spark of doubt in her eyes.
He nodded slowly. "Lily, I've seen the way he looks at you. I've seen the way he acts around you—or rather, tries to act around you. I've seen the scraps of parchment stuffed in his four-poster canopy with your name written all over them. He tries to hide it, Lily, but he can't. We can all see it. You're all he ever talks about."
She drew her gaze back to the fire.
"It's pulling us apart."
He'd said it quietly, almost to himself, but she heard it.
"It's pulling you apart?"
His eyes flashed up to hers. "Erm…" He sighed, unable to hide it. "Yes. You see, its one thing to have girl on the brain, but to have Lily on the brain is another story. I swear you're all he thinks about. He's even given up on pranks and would rather plan out ways to win you over.
"He's always been the glue of the Marauders, Lily. He's the leader. He's the one that thinks up the pranks and takes the glory and has the most fun. But he's changed. And he won't be anything of his old self until he does something about you, I think."
"Does something about me? What's that supposed to mean?" she shot back, her eyes slightly widened.
He sighed. "Either he dates you or he gets over you."
She opened her mouth, but he cut her off before she could even begin. "And I doubt he'll be getting over you anytime soon."
Her eyes fell to the carpeting. "I'm sorry," she muttered.
He said nothing.
"I didn't mean to pull you apart," she said, raising her eyes to his resolute stare. "I don't want the Marauders to end."
He took a deep breath. "It's not just you, Lily; I think the Marauders were getting a little worn anyway. I hoped it wouldn't happen, but I think I always knew it would. It's been seven years—we've changed."
"We all have."
He nodded, his head barely moving. "We've grown up. Peter's hardly the defenseless boy he once was, and Sirius is in a constant mood, and James is just so responsible and, rather, love struck."
"And you?"
His eyes darkened. "I'm not what I used to be. I'm not as close with the others as I used to be. I was always the responsible one and now that the others have grown up… I don't think I like it."
"You're not what you used to be."
An uncomfortable silence fell over them as they were both lost in their own thoughts.
He shook his head. "I don't know why I've dumped this on you. It isn't your problem, right? I was just meant to straighten out your idea of James." He eyed her. "And I've done that, I hope?"
She nodded, forcing a grin.
"Well, I'll just—go," he said, making to stand.
She grabbed his wrist. "Thanks, Remus," she said, a true grin now lighting her features. "You've done a fine job, eh?" She nodded as he smiled.
"And Remus," she added as he headed to the stairs, "give me a few minutes before you send James down, yeah?"
He nodded and plodded up the staircase.
She turned again to the fire as if it could answer her mounting problems. She'd seen the look in Remus's eyes, that look of lost hope and a fading friendship. She'd seen the truth in his stare and she knew she couldn't let it happen.
Of course, the first portion of their conversation was still fresh in her mind, but now... it didn't seem like the hugest thing. Sure, she'd always know of James's feelings toward her; she simply needed the assurance of a trustworthy like Remus. It didn't seem that shocking now that she thought about it.
But the thought of the infamous Marauders, falling apart at the seams? It was an absurd, wild idea… but the more she thought about it, the more she could see it.
She'd seen them at the table in the Great Hall, laughing and joking as always, but their just wasn't that spark of something they used to have. They were like Boxing Day fireworks—there with a bang and slowly fade away into nothingness.
It was a painful thought, thinking that the once impenetrable friendship of the four greatest friends Hogwarts had ever seen slowly fading away.
She wasn't going to let it happen, she decided to herself as she saw a head of jet-black hair appear around the corner of the boys' staircase.
She would never let the Marauders fade… no matter what it took.
FIN.