Chapter Two
James watched in humiliation as Lily shoved the flowers he had sent her into the arms of a younger student. He turned to glare at Sirius, who was watching with amusement.
"So, Padfoot, care to tell me why that plan of yours fell through?" he demanded angrily.
"Prongs, Prongs, calm down. You aren't seeing rejection, you are seeing Lily playing hard to get. This simply means that you have to try harder if you want to win her."
"Win who?" Peter Pettigrew asked eagerly, sticking his nose into the conversation.
"Oh…nobody," Sirius said slyly. "You'll have to try to get the information out of Prongs later. He's in a mood right now."
James glared at Sirius and turned back to his nearly empty breakfast plate. Remus Lupin was observing him quietly, a small smile on his narrow face.
Remus felt a mixture of envy and amusement towards James and Sirius and their infamous pursuits of women. Although good looking, Remus was much quieter and more serious than his other two friends, and had never gone out with a girl in his life.
The antics of James and Sirius were often quite entertaining to watch, especially when they were making fools out of themselves in front of people. They always had a long line of girls ready to go out with them though, which was something Remus didn't have.
Not that he hadn't ever had one, or that he couldn't have one; it was more that he chose not to have such a line. He felt it unfair to any girl he would possibly date to keep secrets from her, especially secrets of the severe magnitudes of Remus'.
How could he ever let a girl get close to him, and then have to reveal that he was a werewolf? Any normal girl would panic and run, and Remus knew it. Therefore Remus chose to stay single, unlike James and Sirius.
Peter's single status was not by his own choice. The slightly plump, slightly slow Peter had never had a girlfriend, or even a fling. He was never quite sure how he got to be friends with people as popular as James, Sirius, and even Remus, but he knew he could never be on their level. He was simply the tag-a-long, the one who would do all the dirty work they were too lazy to do.
Other people looked on this arrangement with scorn, but Peter was satisfied with it for the most part. He hung around with the Hogwarts elite, and was accepted by most students. If being the errand boy was what it took to remain in his place, he would be such willingly.
"So, what are we going to do for the Hogsmeade weekend?" James asked to change the topic.
"What do you mean, 'what are we going to do'?" Sirius asked suspiciously. "We're going to go to Hogsmeade, that's what."
"Obviously," James smirked. "Are we going to go with just us four, or are we going to try and get some of the girls to go with us?"
"Ah…" Sirius answered, grinning. "I was thinking it might be kind of fun to get Marlene McKinnon to walk with me a bit."
"Do you think we should ask Marlene, Dorcas, Alice, Emmeline, and Lily to come with us?" Peter asked breathlessly. He loved being with the sixth year Gryffindor girls, as they always slightly babied him and pampered him, instead of treating him like a lapdog.
James's cheeks flushed almost imperceptibly as he nodded his approval. Sirius winked at him, and added his own agreement.
"Remus?" Peter prodded.
"I don't care," Remus said affably. The girls, Alice and Lily in particular were extremely friendly and always livened things up a bit.
"It's settled then!" Peter beamed. "I'll go ask the girls right now!" He stood up to go to where they were sitting when a hand yanked him back down into his seat.
"No you won't!" James growled. "You'll likely scare them off with your overexcited yipping. Let Remus ask, they'll be more likely to agree to it if he asks." Peter deflated a bit at James's words, but he was used to such by now.
Remus grinned coolly at being the appointed go-between…apparently not having the lady killer reputation of James or Sirius occasionally had its advantages.
"All right…I'll go ask them now," he said casually. He stood up and strolled towards the other end of the Gryffindor table. The girls looked up at him, most of them with smiles on their faces, but he thought he saw Lily give him a slightly dirty look.
"Hey girls," he said.
"Hey, Remus, what's up?" Alice asked, looking up at him from where she sat. Her dark blue eyes sparkled as she smiled at him.
"We," he said, gesturing at his friends, "were wondering if you girls had any plans for the Hogsmeade trip …which is tomorrow."
"Actually," Lily began, her tone of voice vaguely chilly, "we…" she stopped abruptly and jumped, as if someone had kicked or pinched her.
"…don't have any plans!" Marlene McKinnon interjected brightly. Remus stifled a laugh at the antics of the two girls and tried to pretend he hadn't noticed anything.
"Great, then we were wondering if you would possibly want to spend the time with us," he continued.
"We most definitely would not…" Lily started again, a scowl on her face.
"…would not mind a bit!" Dorcas Meadows finished. She grinned almost madly at
Remus, her small even teeth flashing at him. Lily glared at her, but turned back to her breakfast with a resigned expression on her face.
"Great, we'll see you then I suppose!" Remus said, hastily making his way back to Sirius, James, and Peter. Once he had sat back down next to them he burst out laughing.
"What's so funny, Moony?" James asked.
"Nothing…" he answered. He kept smiling though, causing his three friends to watch him suspiciously.
"Dorcas!" Lily hissed, turning to face her friend. "What did you do that for?"
"Do what?" Dorcas asked innocently. The other three girls snickered as they watched Lily's eyes flash.
"I do not want to spend my Hogsmeade weekend with James Potter and his friends!" Lily cried. "And Marlene…you didn't have to kick me so hard!" She bent down and rubbed her sore shin.
"Just because you seem to have a problem with James, for who knows what reason, it doesn't mean that we can't spend some time with our own friends," Marlene answered defensively.
"And that wouldn't have anything to do with the oh-so-handsome Sirius Black, would it?" Lily asked sarcastically. Marlene felt herself blush, but she stood her ground.
"So what if it does? He's paid some attention to me lately, and I wouldn't mind having a little fun. Just because you're a stick in the mud doesn't mean we all have to be."
"Really, Lily, just relax and have some fun this weekend," Alice suggested, her voice soothing. "We'll make sure you hardly even have to talk to James."
Lily immediately began to feel ashamed for her actions.
"I'm sorry, I'm being a prat. I'm letting this silly grudge I have get in the way of all of our friendships. I don't know why I'm acting so strange," she said apologetically. The other girls all smiled at her forgivingly and waved their hands, dismissing the matter quickly.
"Don't worry about it," Emmeline Banks advised. "We all have slightly insane moments; you just have more than the rest of us." She smiled teasingly at Lily, and Lily grinned back ruefully.
The nine Gryffindors squeezed themselves into the largest booth at the Three Broomsticks, which was still much too small. The table had all sorts of graffiti scratched into the surface, ranging from the usual "Tommy + Laura Love" to "Fred wears pink polka dotted knickers". They all quickly ordered butterbeers, and then began to chat amongst themselves.
"So, who are you taking to the Valentine's day ball?" Marlene asked Sirius; her dark brown eyes open wide. He grinned at her and leaned back as far as the back of the booth would allow him to do.
"I don't know, who do you think I should take?" he asked, his black hair falling down into his eyes.
"Oh, somebody from Gryffindor, for sure!" she said breathlessly. "A girl from another house might be all right, but she'll never be as good as a Gryffindor!"
The others watched as Marlene and Sirius very obviously flirted. Marlene was avidly trying to persuade Sirius to take her to the ball, without saying as much of course, and Sirius was purposely playing dumb.
"All in favor of ditching those two and leaving so we can have a somewhat intelligent conversation say 'aye'," Emmeline suggested quietly. The other six laughed, and each said 'aye'. They stood up and slid out of the booth.
They each started to pull knuts out of their pockets to pay for the butterbeer but James stopped them.
"Don't worry, it's on me," James said, pulling out a whole handful of knuts. The others immediately started to protest, but James held up his hand.
"Don't, someone else can pay next time," he promised.
"If you're sure…" Dorcas said reluctantly. Lily crossed her eyes in annoyance; she liked to pay for her own expenses, but was sick of arguing with James. He assured them it was fine and the group started to make their way out of the shop. To their amusement, Sirius and Marlene still hadn't noticed the departure of their friends and were still flirting madly with each other.
True to their word, Dorcas, Alice, and Emmeline tried their best to keep James and Lily apart at all times. As they walked down the streets of Hogsmeade, James and Lily were on opposite ends of the group. When they browsed in Zonko's, Emmeline hurried James off down one aisle and Lily went with Alice to a different area of the joke shop.
"Lily, why are you so upset with James all of a sudden?" Alice asked once they were out of hearing distance of the others. Lily sighed and turned towards her best friend.
"You know those flowers I got?" she began.
"They were from him?" Alice asked. Lily nodded. "I suspected as much. You immediately looked his way after reading the note, and he was acting so strange I knew they weren't from Sirius. But why is that such a big deal? If you don't like him like that, just ignore them."
"It's not that. He's such…such a prat! For no good reason the other day, he hexed Snape so he had bright green hair all day long. Then yesterday morning he sends me those roses, as if they would make it all better. If he truly wanted to repent for his actions, he should have sent flowers to Snape!" Lily exclaimed.
Alice started to giggle. When Lily looked at her questioningly, Alice shook her head in amusement.
"Can you imagine? James Potter, boy wonder, sending gorgeous flower bouquets to Snivellus?" Alice began to giggle even harder and Lily had to join in. It really was a funny thought, and it would certainly never happen. If it did, Lily would have to check herself into St.Mungo's, because surely she would be having delusions.
James and Emmeline wandered over to where the two laughing girls were standing puzzled expressions on their faces.
"What's so funny?" James asked casually. The two girls took one look at him and started laughing even harder.
"Oh, nothing," Lily choked out. He stared at her with a bewildered look on his face. "We were just talking about…flowers." James immediately looked embarrassed, because he knew this meant they were probably laughing at him.
Lily watched his expression change and felt a small twinge of guilt.
"Oh, ignore us. Alice and I have a tendency to go off on the oddest tangents. We were just laughing about nothing at all," she said kindly. James didn't look convinced, but he nodded anyways.
"Girls, Slytherins, and parents all have one thing in common," he muttered under his breath. "I can't understand any of them."
"Hey, watch it!" Emmeline said jokingly. "You're outnumbered here!" She playfully swatted him and he ducked, sticking his tongue out at her.
"Real mature," Lily commented. He immediately straightened up, a more serious expression on his face. Lily felt another pang of guilt as she saw how her words took effect on him. Why did he take everything she said so seriously?
After rounding up Remus, Peter, and Dorcas they all left the shop to go in search of Sirius and Marlene. It was nearing time to leave, and they all wanted to walk back together.
Lily hung back in the group a little so she was walking next to James. He looked at her in confusion, but he couldn't hide the smile that was playing on his lips.
The winter wind was chilly, making Lily grateful for the thick green scarf she had wrapped around her neck. The rest of the group wore Gryffindor colors, but Lily couldn't stand following the crowd, no matter how loyal to her house she was. In exchange for her sense of self-identity she gladly brushed off the "Slytherin-lover" comments that a few immature students couldn't resist making in her presence.
"Potter, I owe you an apology for how I acted yesterday morning," she said quietly, shivering a bit as the wind gusted suddenly. "I shouldn't have acted so rashly like I did just to spite you."
"Don't worry about it a bit," he said. "My feelings aren't hurt that easily!"
"Well, that's pretty well evident," Lily muttered. "I really wanted to tell you that I think that instead of apologizing to me, you should have apologized to Snape. He is really the one who was affected," she went on.
"Ah, well, I guess that won't be happening any time soon," James said sourly. "He was the one who started it; I'm not going to apologize."
"If that's the way you felt then, I don't have anything else to say," Lily answered. She quickened her pace and started to catch up with the rest of the group.
"Evans, wait!" James called after her. She turned around to see what he wanted.
"You're right," he said hastily. "I really should apologize to Snape. I've always been a total prat to him and it's not really fair to him." James was lying through his teeth, but he didn't want Lily to think badly of him. It must have worked because Lily blessed him with one of her gleaming smiles.
"I'm glad you see it now, better late than never. Especially after that incident last year…I think it would do good to apologize to him," Lily said in a pleased tone. James winced at the reminder of how Lily had scorned him after he had tormented Snape that day after OWLS in fifth year.
"I'll…I'll be sure to do that," he muttered. She smiled at him again and he felt a sudden rush of confidence.
"Um…well, do you want to go the Valentines Ball with me?" he asked.
Lily's eyebrows almost flew off of her head. How in the name of Merlin did James figure that she'd want to go to the dance with him? The two had never gotten along a day in their lives. She simply could not understand him if her life depended on it.
"Sorry…I already have a date," she answered.
His face falling just the slightest bit, he asked, "Who?" Competition wasn't bad; it always made him look good and the other guy look worse.
"I guess you'll find out at the ball," Lily replied coolly. To tell the truth she didn't have a date yet, but she was sure she would by the time the ball came around. If nobody asked her, she would simply ask another guy.
She walked away from James with a swish of her long coppery hair. She had done her apology, and now she was relieved to get back into the company of her actual friends.
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews Em, Sierra, Lily, and Mage-Aurian! Reviews are awesome... Let me know what you think of this... -Rochelle