Quidditch League Semi Finals
Position: Beater 1
Task: Use the previous submitter's last line as your first line. Line: "You were right," he said.
Prompts:
(dialogue) "The sky looks less blue today."
(word) fireworks
Word Count: 2,832
"You were right," he said. "I did kiss Emmeline." As he spoke, Amos stared at the table. At least he looked guilty about it. "I'm sorry, Lily." He finally looked up at her, his warm brown eyes apologetic and empathetic.
Lily shook her head; she didn't want it to be true. How could it be true? But it was true! Her first proper boyfriend had cheated on her. But she still loved Amos, she knew she did. They had been together for months; all those feelings didn't just go away.
She could already feel the anger fading. Anger at him for giving in to Emmeline. Anger at Emmeline for being infatuated with her boyfriend. And, strangely, anger at herself for allowing this to happen. But it wasn't her fault… Was it?
Maybe if she had paid more attention to the signs, if she had realised that Emmeline was trying to get Amos alone… Who knows?
"It's okay, Amos," she heard herself saying, although she hadn't made the conscious decision to speak, much less to say it was okay. "I understand." She leant forward and clutched his large hand in hers. "We can work through this," she said sincerely, almost pleading with him to agree.
Amos withdrew his hand from hers, almost sadly. "No, Lily, we can't," he told her, already standing up. "I'm sorry. If things were different… Emmeline just gets me, y'know? She can give me things that you just can't." He turned from her and started walking away. "I truly am sorry, Lils," he said again. "But it's over."
X
X
Lily had been moping in her room all weekend. She still couldn't believe that after almost seven months together, Amos had just ended it. She knew that come Monday, Lily would have to face the world again, but until then, there was nothing stopping her from holing up in her room the whole time.
She felt her stomach grumble angrily. Hunger was starting to gnaw on her insides – not literally, although the thought brought an amused smile to Lily's face. She felt around her bed for any food, but there was nothing. Usually her roommate and best friend, Mary, brought her a bit back from the Great Hall, but Mary had been out with her boyfriend all day and clearly not spared a thought for her heartbroken friend, suffering back in their dorm, alone.
She lasted about another hour before finally caving. The pain was too strong to ignore. It felt like hundreds of tiny hammers were pounding, again and again, on the inside of her stomach. Lily crawled out from under the cosy comfort of her blankets and ran a brush through her hair until it was presentable.
Rather than bothering to change, Lily merely pulled her biggest cloak over the top of her pyjamas and set off to the Great Hall. It was almost three in the afternoon, though; what if lunch had finished? Lily doubted she could last until dinner.
When she got down to the Great Hall, Lily was relieved to see there was food on the tables – although as she watched, the empty plates began to disappear, and the few remaining people at the table were standing up, ready to leave. More and more plates were vanishing and Lily let out a strangled moan of despair. Even as she rushed to the nearest plate and began heaping mashed potato and sausage onto it, she knew she seemed pathetic and crazy, but she didn't care. Hunger had taken over all other feelings.
Lily collapsed into a chair and began shovelling food into her mouth. She ignored the world around her, instead focusing on the feeling of food filling the void in her stomach.
She didn't know how long she was like that, whether minutes or hours. But when she finally looked up, Lily was alone in the Great Hall. Well, alone but for the person who had disturbed her in the first place.
James Potter stood over her, watching with unconcealed amusement as she devoured her first proper meal all weekend. "You alright there, Evans?" he asked, bemused.
She ignored him, instead focusing on carefully scraping off every morsel on her plate. But she was still hungry! Mary, although helpful, did not bring back much from the Great Hall each time - a handful of chicken wrapped in tissue; a few breadsticks and cheese straws; porridge, one time. Really, how did Mary ever think it was possible to transport sloppy, gloopy porridge up to the Seventh Floor? It took Lily hours to clean off her potion textbook, not to mention all of her ruined scrolls.
Still, food was food. Lily definitely wouldn't have lasted nearly as long as she did without her. And yet here she was, having just enjoyed a large meal, yet still starving. And now Potter was here. Fantastic.
"GowayPottugh," she mumbled, still halfway through chewing her last mouthful. Forcing the last bits of sausage down her throat, she tried again. "Go away, Potter," she said, more forcefully.
James, rather than complying with her request, decided to sit down opposite her instead. "You still hungry?" he asked. "I would assume so, since you haven't been down for food all weekend."
Lily glared at him, but nodded. James smiled coyly. "If you want more food, just follow me," he said, and winked as he stood up.
James left the Great Hall, not bothering to look back over his shoulder to see if she was following. He knew she would be. Sure enough, Lily's curiosity and hunger got the better of her after mere seconds, and she rushed after him.
James took her down to the basement. She trailed after him, curious. Wasn't the Hufflepuff common room down here? Surely there was nothing else…
Their journey ended outside a framed painting of a fruit bowl, hanging on an otherwise bare wall. To Lily's surprise, James reached out and tickled the Pear. The Pear giggled and squirmed in the bowl, before transforming into a dark green doorknob.
Once inside, Lily immediately realised what the room was. "It's the Kitchen!" she cried, amazed. How had she not known about this?
The room was large and well-lit, despite being underground. House elves bustled round, carrying trays filled with empty plates, and dishes, and dirty cutlery. Four large tables, mirror images of the ones in the Great Hall directly above, stood in the middle of the room. James led Lily over to the Gryffindor table and she sat down cautiously.
James clicked his fingers and a young elf with large, blue eyes hurried over. "Master James! How may Berry be of service?"
Smiling, James gestured to Lily. "Lily requires food. Lily, tell Berry what you'd like."
Lily just sat there, staring up and James and Berry. "What?" she asked in bewilderment.
"Lily, this is Berry," James pointed at the elf, rolling his eyes. "Berry is more than happy to prepare you any food you want. Just tell him and he'll bring it," he grinned at her.
Frowning, Lily regarded Berry's eager, smiling face. "Erm," she said awkwardly.
James rolled his eyes again. "Okay Berry, Lily would like a Chicken Pie with chips and carrots." He clicked his fingers again. Berry rushed to the other side of the kitchen.
"Really?" Lily asked. James raised an eyebrow at her.
"Really, what?"
Lily sighed. "Isn't that a bit mean? Making them make more food after they prepared a whole school's lunch?"
James laughed. "Well, isn't it a bit stupid to show up late to a meal when you haven't eaten anything substantial all weekend?"
Glaring at James, Lily ducked her head to try to hide her reddening cheeks.
Lily's food arrived, along with something James had ordered. They ate in silence for a while, as the busy elves hurried around, clearing off the tables.
"So how come you haven't been around for a while," James asked through a mouthful of spaghetti.
Just thinking about the reason for her moping caused tears to well at the edges of her eyes. Lily tried to keep the tears back, but she couldn't stop a few from sliding down her cheeks. James looked shocked and awkward.
"Amos," she managed to get out between the sobs that wracked her body. She was crying freely now. "He… He left me for Emmeline," she said, trying desperately to control her breathing and wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. "I feel terrible," she sobbed. "The sky looks less blue today, the world seems less magical. I feel so… Unattractive," Lily buried her head in her hands, embarrassed. Embarrassed, and confused. Why did she just tell James all that?
James nodded empathetically. "I know the feeling," he said, surprisingly sincere. "You should just do things to take your mind off it. Trust me," he smiled.
Lily thought it over. That did make sense… If she just sulked around in her room all day – as she had been doing – then nothing would be able to distract her from her heart wrenching pain of betrayal and loss.
"You're right!" she said brightly. "I need something to take my mind off Amos," she thought for a moment. "I need… Someone to take my mind off…" she grinned. "Thanks James," Lily leapt up from the table and hurried out through the portrait hole.
Falling back in his chair, James sighed. His attempt to make Lily like him had ended with her deciding to find someone to take her mind off her break up… And James could bet that meant a mindless fling.
X
X
Lily felt a bit better that evening, as she sat by the fire in the Common Room with Mary and her boyfriend, Connor. Her afternoon had been spent with a Ravenclaw boy – his name might have been Joseph, she wasn't totally sure. It had done the trick, and now she had got Amos out of her mind – for good.
James, however, was very annoyed at this turn of events. He had thought that if she didn't take comfort in his arms, at least she would talk to him a bit more or something. What he had not been expecting, however, was her running off to find some willing guy to take her mind off Amos! That was certainly not like Lily.
He sat at the other side of the Common Room, staring moodily at the Firewhiskey that Sirius had smuggled in from Hogsmeade. Not that it was the alcohol's fault, of course. Although, thinking about it, James did accept that alcohol might sometimes prohibit his ability to make smart decisions when dealing with Lily, which may cause him to do things he would later regret. But still, he couldn't blame the Firewhiskey for that.
Merlin, he thought. I'm debating with myself about how useful alcohol is to my Lily-cause. I must be insane.
He finished the rest of his bottle and felt the familiar burning warmth spread out from across his chest. Staggering a little, James stood up and swayed on the spot. He looked back at the two empty bottles he had already finished. Mentally chiding himself for having no restraint, James found himself stumbling up to the boys' dorms.
Remus greeted him up at the top, and informed James that Sirius was out with a girl and Peter was out at the library. He, meanwhile, was doing homework. "How can I help?" Remus asked. James shrugged disinterestedly.
"Lilywonliemeever," he mumbled, his words slurring together incoherently.
James fell onto his bed and sighed, staring up at the ceiling. Remus shook his head. "Don't be stupid, Prongs, of course Lily will like you someday. She just needs to get to know you!" he gave James a cheesy grin but managed to refrain from doing a thumbs up.
"Nshwon't," he replied, sounding like he had resigned himself to that truth already, without even trying. Remus was about to reply when he heard snoring from James' bed. Chuckling to himself, Remus pulled the covers up over James and went back to his homework.
X
X
Lily had been watching as James finished two bottles, then polished of a third before going up to his room. She wasn't totally sure why she had been watching, to be honest. Whenever her mind wandered off – which was surprisingly often – Lily realised she was looking over at him again.
Now he was gone, and she felt a bit sad. It was in that instant that Lily realised; she didn't want to take her mind off Amos by using some random guy – she wanted to put Amos behind her and move on – with James.
This thought startled her, but she knew it was true. She stood up and went to bed, determined that when she woke up, she would be a different person. She knew what – and who – she wanted now, and nothing could keep her from it.
X
X
James was down for breakfast early the next morning, as he had Quidditch practice. He was tucking into bacon and eggs, nursing his hangover and chatting with Sirius when an all-too-familiar redhead entered the Great Hall.
He was surprised to see Lily this early – one, because she was not a morning person, and two, because she had no reason to be here. None of her friends were down, nor were they with her now. So why was she here?
Her meaning became apparent when she walked over to where James and Sirius were sitting. However, James assumed it was because he had done something bad last night while in his drunken stupor. He stood up to apologise, knowing it would make little difference if she was already angry at him. Little could stop Lily when she gave in to her rage.
Yet, something was different this time. She wasn't looking at him with anger or hate – she looked… Pleased to see him. Relieved, even. Like she wasn't sure he'd be here, and was glad that he was. He realised he had stood up and slowly sat back down. Sirius frowned, clearly as confused as he was.
Lily reached them and stood in front of James, hands on her hips, a look of steely determination in her eyes. "Can… Can I help you?" James asked, fighting to keep off the smirk that naturally came to is face whenever Lily was around. He sensed this was not the time.
She sat down next to James and grabbed some scrambled eggs from the nearest plate. James and Sirius shared a confused look, before both starting to eat again, each casting nervous glances every so often over at where Lily was tucking into her food.
"I've been thinking," Lily said finally, after she finished her breakfast. James' brow was furrowed as he stared, bewildered, at her.
"You've been thinking…?" Sirius prompted her, after she didn't speak again.
Lily sighed. "I've been thinking," she said again. "That we got to the wrong conclusion, yesterday," James raised an eyebrow. "Well, I don't need a random guy to get me over Amos," she said. "I need something meaningful," Lily looked up into James' eyes, trying to convey her feelings through a look. "With someone I care about."
James had been excited until she sad that. Obviously, she must not mean him. Maybe she wanted him to set her up with one of his friends. Merlin, what if she had a thing for Remus? Or Sirius!
Lily reached forward and grasped James' hand in hers. "Do you know what I mean?" she asked seriously. He could hear the nerves in her voice.
He sighed and nodded reluctantly. This made Lily worried. He sounded like this news upset him… What if he didn't like her anymore? Had she missed her chance with him? That must be some kind of irony or karma or something.
"It's Remus, isn't it?" he asked. "You like Remus." James nodded in what he hoped was an understanding way. "Yeah, I can set you up if you want," he sighed again. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be.
Lily stared at him in shock. "Remus?" she asked in disbelief. "You think I like Remus?"
"Well you do, don't you?" James asked.
Lily shook her head violently. She almost wanted to laugh. James had been disappointed because he'd thought Lily was inquiring after Remus, not him! "You're an idiot," she said happily. James looked momentarily taken aback. He looked like he was about to protest when Lily leant forward in her chair and kissed him.
It was like a kiss from a film. Time seemed to stop, everyone else disappearing, with just him and Lily. Fireworks exploded in his head and he felt like singing. It was everything he had been imagining it would be for the last four years. It was perfect.
She drew back after what seemed like an age and James stared at her in amazement. Lily smiled and sat back in her chair. She reached for the bacon dish and passed it to him. "More bacon?"