I Want You Back
By
Snuffles4Eva
Chapter 2: Doubts
A/N Yeah, I forgot to put one of these on the last one, it being my first fan fiction and all. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, and thanks to (be it few) people that have favourited/reviewed and also those who are following this story. I really do appreciate it!
I was gonna upload this on Monday (a week ish since I uploaded the last chapter), but I'm going on holiday tomorrow, and my best friend asked me to post it today. So here it is!
…...
Lily Evans was a cautious girl. She had her doubts about James Potter, even as she said yes to him. She didn't even know why she just didn't turn around and walk away, leaving him and his friends to their stupid game. Yet she had said that fateful word 'yes', and now she had to deal with the consequences. Walking around Hogsmeade tomorrow with James Potter. She hoped he had already done his Christmas shopping. If he hadn't, she would leave him faster than you could laugh 'dumped!'
Her predicament wasn't terrible, she supposed. James Potter wasn't bad, he was just an obnoxious teenage boy. It was a struggle to find one who wasn't.
She could do a lot worse, she concluded. James was smart (when he chose to be), handsome (when he wasn't scowling), and good at Quidditch (not that she cared, she hated that sport).
'Don't work yourself up over it, Lily. You're only going to Hogsmeade with him, not the Queen's Christmas Ball' she chided herself for her fretting. 'Now do something that will calm you down. Read your book for a bit. That always relaxes you'. She climbed off her bed and padded over to her school bag, which was lying by her friend Alice Prewitt's bed. Why it was there, she hadn't the foggiest. When she had come up from her last day at school she had put her satchel neatly under her bed, in time for school after the holidays. She supposed Alice had borrowed her Transfiguration homework to copy and give to McGonagall – Alice hadn't done hers thinking it wasn't due 'til after the holidays. McGonagall had given her a surprisingly long 3 hours in which to get it done: '8 o' clock, my desk Ms Prewitt. Otherwise it's detention'. Alice had heeded the warning – she didn't want to be in detention on the last Hogsmeade before the holidays.
Lily smiled as she noticed her best friend's quill and spare parchment strewn haphazardly across her bed. Alice must have just made it in time. She picked up her bag and brought it back to her bed, and, sitting on it, rifled through it for the one thing she wanted just then.
But it wasn't there.
She checked again. Still, nothing. Lily began to panic. 'Where can I have left it? I can't have lost it?' She said, fretting to the empty room. Panicking, she checked once again, throwing the contents of her school bag across her bed. 'No, no, no' she started, her voice rising, her brain whirring at where she could have left it. She couldn't lose this book. It was her most treasured possession. It was the last thing her mother had given her before… before she had died.
Lily jumped from her bed. Full panic mode was now in operation in her brain. Frantically she checked under her bed, only to find her old slippers and a heck of a load of cobwebs. She checked under Alice's bed. Negative. Ditto under Marlene's and Mary's. She didn't bother checking under Edna's. You never knew if she would come back out alive.
She rifled through her trunk, desperate now. She had to find this book – it was the last remaining remnants of her late mother, she couldn't let it slip through her fingers now. Racing out the room, she shot to the Library, where Madame Pince was just about to lock up. She completely missed the thing on the table in the corner of the Common room, as well as the boys still playing by the fireplace.
'Please Madame Pince; I've got to go in there. I've lost something, and I need to get it back! I think I might have left it in there!' Lily practically begged the Librarian.
Madame Pince stuck her nose in the air, and sniffed haughtily. 'Then you should learn to take better care of your belongings' she replied snobbishly, and continued on her way to lock up the Library.
'But Madame Pince, I've left my favourite book in there!' She pleaded.
At the mention of those sacred objects, Madame Pince softened, and turned to face Lily. She opened the door to the Library. 'You have 60 seconds' she snapped, and Lily rushed straight in, towards the table where she had been sitting, not 2 hours earlier.
It was barren of any book, even Library ones. She checked under the table. Nothing. She checked the next table. Nada. She checked every single table in the stupid Library, to no avail. Seriously worried now, she stood in the Library, racking her brains.
'Time's up' came Madame Pince's snooty voice from the entrance. It reminded Lily vaguely of her sister, Petunia's. 'She would hate to be compared to a freak' Lily thought, sadly.
Madame Pince cleared her throat, startling Lily out of her reverie. 'If you don't want to be here all night, I suggest you get out of the Library now' she said sternly.
Lily shook the thoughts of Petunia out of her mind, and, after thanking Madame Pince for the trouble (Even though she didn't deserve to be thanked really, Lily thought), shot off to retrace her steps from that morning.
….
Later that evening Lily trudged back into the Gryffindor Common room, the efforts to find her book in vain. She was in a bad mood when she noticed the four boys still engrossed in their game, until she saw a particular messy, black haired boy. Subconsciously, she was really looking forward to her 'date' with him tomorrow. She smiled, thinking about Hogsmeade, and turned her head towards the place where he had asked her.
Lain on the table there was a suspiciously book-like object.
She walked over, slowly, the past few miserable hours having taught her not to get her hopes up. She nearly squealed when she saw it actually was her book. Happier than ever about receiving her book, Lily sat down to read it once again, even though she knew the story so well. However, instead of focussing on her reading, her gaze kept wondering over to a certain group of boys, enjoying their festive tradition. She watched them for a while, some occasionally leaving two behind, only to appear about five minutes later. Curious in what they were doing, and why the laughing only got louder and louder, she wondered closer, just into earshot, as so the hear what they were saying.
'And so' It sounded like Remus speaking 'James. Truth or Dare?'
'Dare' came James voice.
Lily's eyebrows shot down into a frown. They were playing Truth or Dare? Did that mean that James only asked her to Hogsmeade on a dare?
'Don't be stupid, Lily. You're jumping to conclusions. James wouldn't do a thing like that.' She whispered, reassuring herself about James' sincerity, pushing these thoughts to the back of her mind.
But the small seeds of doubt where still sown in the back of her mind, and these only grew bigger as she watched the boys do braver and braver dares.
…...
About an hour after she had questioned James' sincerity, she decided she had had enough, and quietly tiptoed her way to the girl's staircase. She had almost made it when she heard a gruff 'Hey, Evans'
She turned around slowly. 'Black?'
'Oh, I was just gonna say goodnight!'
'Goodnight Black'
'Hey what about me?' James' voice stopped her again, on her way to her dormitory.
'Goodnight James'
Goodnight Lily'
She turned once more, and hesitated, half expecting there to be another interruption. Hearing none, she started up towards her loving bed.
She had one foot on the girls' staircase when she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She sighed, and turned to meet the owner of the hand that had just tapped her on the shoulder. She came face to face with a pair of gorgeous hazel eyes, smiling from beneath their spectacles.
'Goodnight Lily' James whispered again, and, before Lily new what he was doing, he leaned forward and pecked her on the check.
'Goodnight James' she whispered back breathlessly, and then turned towards the girls staircase, and made her way up to her dorm.
….
Lily lay on her bed, later that night, contemplating the day's events. All doubts about James were completely swept from her mind with the kiss. That was all she could think about, the feeling of his lips touching her cheek. She dropped to sleep with thoughts of him on her mind, her excitement for the next day greatly multiplied by his simple action.
…...
A/N Yeah, this is the next chapter. I hoped you liked it, and I hope you will tell me about it too! Personally, I'm not sure this chapter is as good as the last, but please, tell me your views on it. Is it great? Is it terrible? Should I give up on my author dreams and seek elsewhere?
Oh, and I apologise in advance – I'm on holiday the next two weeks, so the next update might be a bit late… Sorry about that
Love to y'all,
Snuffles4Eva
