Disclaimer: Don't own it, wish I did, but I don't.
A/N: Finally got this done. YAY! Well, not sure how many of you are still interested, but maybe I'll get more readers which is wonderful and makes me happy. Thank you everyone who review on the last chapter and on anything else I've written. I really appreciate it. Really. Right, well Onward!! Oh and a poem about the title:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Spell check sucks
And so does pollution.
I think it's a very nice poem, don't you?
Tap, tap, tap.
The three marauders broke the staring game to see who was at the door.
It was a girl in their house a few years younger than them and was staring straight at James who nervously waved.
"Can I come in?" James heard faintly through the door. He nodded and slid the door open.
"Err…can I help you?" James asked.
The girl help out a piece of parchment and James took it.
"What's it for?"
The girl stared at him. "How am I supposed to know? It's your letter." She turned and walked out of the compartment.
"What's a 'Slug Club'?" Sirius asked reading the letter of James shoulder. "Don't you have something to do with a Slug Club, Moony?"
"It's a group of Slughorn's favorites," Remus began. "It's full of the people Slughorn thinks is going to achieve greatness. I must say I never thought you would be invited James, no offense, but nobody really knows you're a good wizard." He said. "I suspect he'll have invited all of the others too."
"Is Lily one of the others?" James asked.
"…Yes," Remus replied grudgingly.
"How do I get—"
Tap, tap, tap.
The marauders looked again to the door. This time the door wasn't closed so the girl walked back in handing this letter to Remus instead.
"Hey, where's mine?" Sirius asked the girl who blushed when she looked at him and left quickly. "Don't I get one?" he asked his friends.
James and Remus shrugged.
"So where is this 'Slug Club?" James asked Remus.
"I'll take you there in a bit, James. Let's just wait to see if Sirius gets a letter. But when we go, let's move quickly. I don't want the hyenas following us."
"Remus!" James said surprised. "I can't believe you just referred toy our fan club in such a rude way!"
"Do you want me to take you there or not?" Remus snapped. He was rather uncomfortable with the term 'fan club', especially if it was his.
"Yea, take him," Sirius said gloomily. "Leave me all alone. Pete goes off with your fan club," Remus winced, "and James and you are off to go dine with the best. I'll just go and find some new friends."
"Don't be stupid, mate," James said reassuringly. "I'm sure you'll get an invitation, don't worry. And anyway, even if you don't get an invitation, just know that Pete didn't get one either." James turned to Remus. "Now, you're sure Lily goes to these…things?"
Tap, tap, tap.
"Told you," James said.
"Do you know where I can find Frank Longbottom?" the girl asked. Sirius groaned and put his head in his hands.
"No," James snapped. "Don't come back unless you've got a letter for Padfoot!"
"O-kay…" she rolled her eyes and continued down the aisle, asking other people if they knew where Frank was.
Tap, tap, tap.
"Padfoot's letter?" Sirius looked up.
"If you're Padfoot," she said. This was a different girl. She was closer to their year and was staring at Remus who shifted uncomfortably.
"Right well we should go now," Remus said.
"Hey…wait a second," Sirius said staring at his letter. "This isn't an invitation for the Slug Club! This is from Wormtail!!! Why couldn't he come over here to tell us he's the president of your fan club?" He whined.
"Who cares," James said. "Lily could be alone with Slughorn right now! What if he tries to make a move before I do?"
"James even though your chances are pretty slim, I think you have a better chance with Lily than Slughorn."
"Really?" James grinned and ran a hand through his hair. "You think I've got a chance?" He drug his hand through his hair again.
"Only because you're not old and you aren't that creepy."
"Let's go. I bet she's waiting for me." James said dragging Remus out of the door.
"It's ok. I'll be fine, just leave," Sirius called after them.
Tap, tap, tap.
"What now?" Sirius said loudly rolling his eyes.
It was Frank.
"Have you seen my toad?" He asked looking under the seats.
"Aren't you supposed to be at a Slug Club…thing?" Sirius asked.
"Ugh, I hate those things! I only went to see Alice and well, now we're going out so there's really no need, is there? So have you seen Melvin?"
"Ah, no, I haven't Jack," Sirius said distractedly. He needed to talk to Peter, now.
"It's Melvin!" Frank called.
"Is Lily mad at me?" James asked a fast walking Remus.
"Probably," Remus answered truthfully.
"I've never noticed you walked so fast, Moony."
"I always have," Remus replied. Remus really didn't want to run into any 'hyenas'.
"Moony, I can't keep up with you. I'll catch up, yea?"
"James, come on! You play quidditch! You're supposed to be in shape! Where's is the endurance?"
"I, err, I've recently developed asthma and err, don't have my inhaler with me," James lied.
"You're a really bad liar, James," Remus said. "But if you want to be a sloth, so be it. Have it your way."
"Slow pace. Yes. Now I can think of something to say to Lily. I wonder if she watches that muggle show I've heard of. Who was talking about it? Ah, no matter. What was it called? That game show…err…"
"I think you are looking for Mr. and Mrs."
"Oh, hello, Alice. How are you?"
"I'm pretty good. Frank doesn't want to go too Slughorn's parties anymore so I have to go alone."
"Is Lily mad at me?" James asked looking worried.
"Ahh… you still like her then?" Alice said, slightly amused.
"Well of course I do!" James said looking at Alice like she was crazy. "How could I not?
"Well, to start, she treats you like shit. She also turns you down every time."
"Ok, one, she's bloody gorgeous, two, she's brilliant, three, she's nce to almost everyone, four, well I just can't help but love her." James started to drift off into thought again with a sappy expression on his face.
"You can't say you love her, James. I'm sorry, but there's no way you can even know what love is."
"I really do love her, though. I know I do. I thought about it all summer. All I could think about was her. Her smile, her eyes, her hair. Her eyes are my favorite part about her. They tell so much about her. When she's sad the gleam goes away; when she's angry, and I know this one the best, the green gets this sort of blaze to it; when she's confused, her eyes get really shiny; and when she's happy, this one's my favorite, they are the best shade of green I've ever seen. She's wonderful. I tried to not love her, believe me, I did. But I couldn't get rid of the butterflies or the floaty sensation. I know I don't have a chance with her, but honestly, she's the only one that makes me feel…whole. Well nearly whole because until I have her, something will be missing." James and Alice had stopped walking now and were facing each other. Alice looked near tears. "And I know it sounds completely dumb and cheesy and even insane, but it's all true, I just wish Lily knew that."
"Oh, James!" Alice pulled him into a hug. "I thin that if Lily knew that, she would be standing here, not me."
"Yeah?" James asked looking hopeful again.
Maybe that's what you should say, he thought.
"But I don't think you should try and tell her any of that just yet," she said reading his mind. "Wait for the right moment." She looked at him seriously then smiled a bit. "Now let's go get you that moment."
"Hey, Wormtail!" Sirius said sliding the 'Moony's Fan Club's Compartment' door open.
"Huh?" Peter looked up.
"Why do you call him that?" A girl with wavy blond hair and dreamy looking blue eyes asked. "Why do you let him call you that?" she asked Peter.
The two shrugged looking nervous and said mumbled something like, "…I-uh-nuh…"
"I don't think it's very nice, you know. I don't know why anyone would want to be called 'worm tail'," she said, he big eyes looking at nothing in particular then looking up at Sirius who was staring at her with his mouth hanging slightly open.
"Why are you in Remus' fan club?" he asked her, wincing when her heavily charmed charm bracelet jangled.
"I'm not sure," she said thoughtfully. "I don't like Remus the way the other girls do. He is a brilliant wizard though, but I like somebody else." She continued staring at Sirius.
"Please say it's not me," Sirius said slightly creeped out by this girl he didn't even know went to his school.
"It isn't."
"Ok, well Wormtail, Can I have a quick word, please?" Peter nodded and followed Sirius out of the compartment.
Once they were a safe distance away, Sirius grabbed Peter and whispered hoarsely, "Who the hell is that girl?"
Pete shrugged. "Err, Mary Garret. Why? I think she's really cool. I hope it's me she likes. Did you know she has a pet niffler?" Peter finished excitedly.
"Peter, that's disturbing," Sirius said bluntly.
"The niffler? No it's not, it's—"
"I can't believe you like her." Peter face turned red and he looked down at his feet.
"She's pretty. She has pretty eyes too." Peter mumbled
"I don't want her in Moony's fan club."
"Why not? You know what? No. She stays."
"What ever. I need to talk to you though. I have a plan to get Lily to like James."
"Why do you want Lily to like James?" Pete interjected.
"So he stops whining, now anyway, all you and I need to do is—"
"We'll never see him if they start going out," he said.
"Yes we wi—." Sirius stopped mid sentence and looked thoughtful. "But I thought—." He sighed. "Well it's just a risk we'll have to take," he said sadly When he told Peter his plan he didn't have the 'save the world, I'm super Sirius' air about him like he did when he thought about his plan but Peter listened intently none the less.
"Seems simple enough," Peter said. "Not."
Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Come on. Let's go find Frank."
"Oho! James, m'boy! So glad you could come!" A very round man was now shaking James' hand enthusiastically. He had only just walked in and the fawning had already begun.
"Well of course I came, professor!" James said grinning. Of course I came, he thought. Lily's here.
James looked around the compartment and saw that there was no Lily. He was sitting down and feeling depressed and wishing he didn't come when Slughorn came back over to him.
"So are you and Miss Evans getting along ok?" Slughorn asked. "Unfortunately she couldn't be here today. Had some head duties to fulfill. Why aren't you with her anyway?"
"I wasn't aware of these duties, sir," he said softly.
Slughorn looked shocked, but turned his expression into a warm smile. "Maybe it's Head Girl duties," he said patting James on the back.
Who would have thought Slughorn would understand my predicament? James wondered.
"So, Alice," James turned to face her, but didn't see her. In fact, she was not even in the compartment.
"Professor?" James turned to him and was relieved to see that he was still there.
"Hmm?" he asked peering down his belly to try and see James.
"I did walk in with Alice, yea?"
"No, m'boy," He answered. He was now turned on his side so he could see James properly. James also got a proper look at how large Slughorn was and wondered what he eats.
"You came in alone shortly after Mr. Lupin."
James furrowed his brow and said, "Oh." Slughorn nodded and began name dropping to one of the nearby students.
Wow. Two hallucinations in one day. That's weird.
James tried to listen to Slughorn's speech but decided this was a waste of time and that he should try to woo Lily next time.
"Sir, I just remembered… I have… something to do. It's for the Heads," James said thinking on his, er, seat. It wasn't exactly a lie. I did have to do with him and Lily. Sure, it was a duty, but the Head's were involved.
"Yes, yes, I suppose you should go then." A few of the other students including Remus looked jealous that he got to leave early but they didn't say anything. James merely shrugged and walked out of the compartment.
James-bloody-Potter, Lily thought. What an annoying pig headed prat. I bet he went to that meeting. I'm glad I didn't go., Lily thought.
Lily sat in a compartment full of her friends but wasn't participating in their conversation. Frankly, she didn't want to discuss horoscopes and the perfect boyfriend and what she recently saw in Teen Witch. She just wasn't interested in that anymore. Well… maybe a little bit but NEWTs were this year and she needed to focus on that. She'd have a hard enough time with James Potter popping up everywhere. She wouldn't have time for silly things like boys.
Unfortunately for her, James Potter would find time for her.
Tap, tap, tap.
Lily groaned.
"I've got it," Lily said.
Looking into the compartment James saw three of Lily's friends who he didn't know the names of and Alice. His expression went from serious to confused with just the one knowing look from her and a slight shaking of her head. James let Lily drag him down the narrow aisle while staring at Alice and mouthing 'what', but, deciding he would talk to her later, he followed Lily instead of resisting.
"What do you want, Potter," Lily said harshly.
"Y-you're calling me 'Potter' again?" James asked quietly. Lily raised an eyebrow.
"Can we get to the point, James?"
"I was just wondering why you didn't go to Slughorn's thing. Remus said you usually go."
"I had Head duties. You didn't patrol like I said to."
"That's not the point," James said waving it away with his hand "Why didn't you go to the… thing?"
"Because I didn't," Lily said childishly an crossed her arms over her chest.
James frustratedly ran a hand through his hair. "What ever," he said sighing. "I need to talk to Alice."
"What?" Lily said not bothering to hide the confusion.
"I need to talk to Alice," James repeated.
Sorry for such a long wait to update. I got major writer's block and I think the next one might come sooner. While I had writers block for this story I got some plot bunnies for other stories that I have completed, so check those out if you want
xKatie
Kthxbi