Previously on New Beginnings...
"What's going on?" Said a girl in the back who was talking with her friends.
"It's James and Amos Diggory!" The kid shouted excitedly.
Without another question asked, everyone hopped up from their seats with excitement and rushed out of the common room as the kid led them to where the fight was happening.
I shut my eyes, "I'm going to murder James Potter." I got up from the couch, grabbed my wand, and marched out of the common room.
Trailing behind the fourth years, I followed them to the library where the apparent fight between Amos and James was happening. With my wand at the ready, I already had many spells running through my mind incase the worse was happening. Within a few minutes, we all had finally reached the library. Thanking my genetics, I was able to see over most of the crowd due to my unnatural height.
The entire library was at almost a deafening scream from all the other students chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
"Where the hell is Madam Irma?" I muttered to myself.
"James!" I turned around to see a sprinting Sirius, pushing through the crowd to go hold back his friend who was very obviously winning the fight.
Amos was still standing, but if you looked closely, you could already see bruises forming on his arms and face and- bloody hell, is his nose bleeding too? James was about to come at him again if it weren't for Sirius, and now Remus, who was holding him back with all their efforts. For some apparent reason Amos took this as a good opportunity to get payback. Clenching his fists, he started to walk toward James and sucker punched him right in the stomach.
Sirius looked at Amos as if he were an insane person. "Oi, you think you're tough, mate?" Letting go of James, Sirius rolled up his sleeves, narrowed his eyes and practically made a beeline for Amos, ready to destroy him.
Unable to take any more fighting, I raised my wand and yelled the first charm I could think of. "Immobulus!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Within seconds, the boys fighting were practically frozen in time. Already pissed, I marched to the front of the scene and turned around to face the crowd. "It's way past curfew for a majority of you, and, the library is closed after eight." The entire room silenced when I started talking. I forgot that this was one of the best parts of being Head Girl.
"If anyone wants detention for two weeks," my voice continued to raise higher with obvious anger inside it, "then you all need to leave now!"
Without a moment of hesitation, everyone in the room cleared. Once everyone was gone, besides Mary, Marlene, Alice, Peter, and the boys involved with the fighting, I used the counteract charm to unfreeze them.
"Bloody hell, Lily." Amos said, taking a deep breath.
"Don't think I'm not angry at you all, 'cause I am." I said, still in my Head Girl voice. "Especially you, Diggory."
James and Sirius started to snicker, and just this once, I let it slide.
"Lils, what's the matter?" Amos asked, looking like a sad puppy.
Cocking an eyebrow, I glared at him. "What's the matter? Let me tell you what's the matter. You cannot have practical dates with a girl for over three months and then go take Bailey The-Slag Anderson to Hogsmeade the next week!"
"I don't understand, we're not dating." He said with a confused tone to his voice.
"Told you so," James practically sang from the background.
Turning around, I glared at him as well, which shut him up pretty quickly.
"Amos, you're an idiot. A cute idiot, but an idiot nonetheless." Marlene said with a disgusted voice and a face that matched. Alice laughed a little and Mary rolled her eyes.
I turned back to Amos and sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose and closing my eyes. "Amos, leave now before I give you detention."
"But-"
"Amos, I don't say this a lot, but I swear to God if you don't leave now I will kick you so hard in the balls you'll be mistaken for a woman."
Without another word, Amos left with his head down and hands in his pockets muttering something. I wasn't bothered enough to ask what he said.
"So if he doesn't have detention," James started, "does that mean I do?"
Looking over to James, I opened my mouth ready to argue with him, but I decided that it wasn't worth it. "I can't give the Head Boy detention, James. That would stake all reputation for the Heads."
"Is that really all it takes?" Sirius asked. "If that's the case, I would've considered being Head Boy ages ago!" Remus smacked the back of Sirius's head while shaking his head. Admittedly, he was smiling a little.
"Just- meet me back in the common room, James."
"Where else am I gonna go?"
Sighing, I walked out without even giving him a look. I shoved my wand in my back pocket and started to walk back toward the common room.
"Wait, Lily!" I heard footsteps running toward me, but I wasn't bothered to look behind me.
"Unless you're Marlene, Alice, or Mary, then I really don't want to talk to you." I said.
"Okay, I'm not either of them," James started, "but I really just wanted to talk to you. Alone."
"Why, do you plan on sweeping me off my feet?"
"Well I always hope I can do that, but no, not this time." James stepped in front of me, stopping me in my steps. "I don't want to talk here, lets go somewhere."
"I'm really not in the mood-"
"You're never in the mood!" He said exasperated. "Come on, it's your last year here. Lets go outside and just walk a little. It'll calm us both down."
I looked at him, contemplating his offer. "What if we get caught?" Raising an eyebrow, I looked him in the eye.
"By who?"
"Actually it's by whom, but continue."
He rolled his eyes before looking back down at me. Dammit, I missed being taller than him. Although there was a slight comfort in him being taller than me. "Lily, we're the Heads. We're the ones who catch other people."
I opened my mouth and raised my hand, ready for hand movements to defend my own answer, but I then closed my mouth. "You do have a point." I said softly.
"Then come on. I bet it'll help with your night terrors." He said sincerely.
I looked down at my feet. I almost forgot that night when one of my many night terrors occurred in the common room. I remembered, in the nightmare, James' dead, bloody body lying lifeless in that cold dark chamber. The man who threatened to kill me as well, the blood all over my hands. I shook my head as tears started to come to my eyes. I felt hands on my face, and when I looked back up, I saw James' eyes looking at mine concerned.
"What is it?" He asked as if he said something wrong.
I wiped away a stray tear and shook my head again. "It's nothing, just remembering the dream."
"Alright, come on." He held out his hand.
"What?" I asked, looking at his hand as if it were some foreign object.
"We're taking a walk." He said, "but you have to hold my hand though."
Many times I would have declined his offer, the walk, holding his hand; but something inside of me knew that maybe it would be good for me. My guard was down from all the sleepless nights and I will admit, this whole 'real world' thing was really starting to scare me. Normally, when you're a teenager going into the adult world, all you have to worry about it wondering if you'll like your new flat. Though for many of us in this wizarding world, we have to hide ourselves from the murders happening every week.
After contemplating it, I took his hand. His hand was strangely larger than mine and it was warm. It is comforting though, holding his hand. Almost as if some of my worries were finally drifting away.
James and I made outside in a matter of a few minutes. I wasn't quite sure where he was leading me, though my guess was that he was taking me to the Black Lake. It was a little chilly outside with a slight wind blowing. The sky was clear and almost all of the stars were visible. The moon created a dimming light that also altered the color of everything, only slightly though. The grass is now a blue-green color, James' hair looks almost mouse brown with the moon reflecting off of it. The best part was the amazing smell outside. It smelled like a crisp autumn night and the scent of dying leaves made it even more authentic.
James looked down at me with a smile. "It seems like you're enjoying yourself." He said, with our hands still together.
I simply nodded my head. "It's like I'm walking in a dream or something." I said, taking in everything.
"Have you never been on the grounds at night?" He asked as if it were abnormal to not obey the rules of the school.
"No, I haven't. I always stay inside unless I have classes out here."
"Well that's no fun." He said, continuing to walk.
"Where are we going, anyway? We've been walking up this hill for what seems like hours."
"You'll see." He said, smiling.
I looked up at him and smiled as well. As we were walking I started to lean into him a little bit. Even though I'm used to the cold, I was starting to get a little annoyed with the wind gusts every now and then. Plus, James was extremely warm, not to mention he also smelled pretty amazing as well.
After a few moments of walking, we finally made it to the top of the hill. The scenery was amazing. The school was now behind us and the Black Lake was in front of us; it was very distant from where we were standing though.
"This is what you've been missing over the years," He said, smiling at the view.
"I can't believe I've never seen this until now."
The trees were now losing their green color, causing the hills tucking in the school to make it seem like they were on fire. The moon wasn't quite full, but give it a few days and it would be. The dew was starting to finally set on the grass as if it were on a timed schedule by some unknown force. Smiling like an idiot I close my eyes, let go of James' hand and wrapped my arms around him in a form of a sideways hug. Never in a million years did I think that I would be doing this with him right now, and yet, here we were. Over the past few weeks, I learned that some things you can't control and you just have to accept them; and I'm learning to accept this.
James looked almost taken aback by my embrace for a second but then relaxed by putting his left arm around my shoulders.
"This is nice," I admitted. Already feeling sleepy, I started to sway with the gusts of the wind every now and then, not really caring anymore.
"It is, isn't it." James said.
"Why did you fight him?" I asked, wanting to get to the question.
I heard him groan a little. "Do we have to talk about this now?"
I let go of James and turned to face him. "Yes! Besides, you're the one who wanted to talk alone, remember?"
He nodded his head. "I know, I know. It's just that I hated seeing how you were in tutoring. You were so distraught and I wanted to help out-"
"So you punched him in the face? You know, my definition isn't really airtight, but beating someone to a pulp isn't exactly helping."
"You didn't let me finish." He started to ruffle his hair around. "I asked him why he treated you the way he did. He said that he didn't understand, that you guys were just friends or whatever. So I told him what you told me, about the whole kissing thing and he told me that was, 'just experience.'" He made air quotes around those last two words.
"Just experience?" I asked, my voice a little shrill.
"I know, that's what I said." James was now using hand gestures to tell the story. "So I told him that you just can't kiss someone and not have clear intentions before doing that."
"Right, exactly." I said, really getting into it.
"So, he told me that it was your fault for not asking him your intentions then, and that you were a good kiss but Bailey is better."
Gasping, I made a disgusted face. "That dick! I can't believe I swapped spit with him!"
James held up his hands, and he too made a disgusted face. "Ew. Don't say that."
"Sorry. So what'd you do?"
"Well I gave him the ol' Razzle Dazzle," he stood in a fighting position, but in a very comedic way, "and I punched him in the face."
I stood there and thought about how I felt about it. For one thing, I'm a little upset that James told Amos what I told him, because I really thought that was private. Though on the other hand, I'm glad James punched him because I would have eventually and that would not have been pretty either.
"I'm in a pickle right now." I said, now looking back over the view.
"I know."
"You know?"
"Lily, I just don't do things without thinking about it. I'm aware of my actions and I'm aware of their costs. Only a fool wouldn't be aware of their consequences and I do hope you do not take me for a fool."
"When did you become so poetic?"
"After I read your copy of The Gatsby."
"It's the Great Gatsby- wait a minute, you took my copy?"
"I didn't say that." He said, no longer looking at me.
"Yes you did! Just now!"
"You don't have proof. Only eye witness testimony and that isn't very good proof now-a-days, is it?"
I rolled my eyes. "Just promise me one thing."
"And what would that be?"
"Don't get in fights unless I know about them before hand. I can't have the Head Boy getting caught fighting with no consequences. Soon the entire school will be hexing each other."
"I understand."
"Good." I somewhat started to lean back into him, mainly from my legs losing energy to hold me up again for the hours that we've been out here.
After many moments of standing on the hill, enjoying the view, I noticed a faint light of ember poking through the horizon.
"James, what time is it?" I asked, a little worried that we have been out here longer than expected.
He looked at his watch and calculated the time. "It's about 4:45 or so." He said casually. "We should start heading back."
I nodded but before walking, I took one last glimpse of the land. With the sun making its appearance ever so slightly, it began to change the color of the entire view, almost as if it were setting fire to the entire world. In fact, it seemed almost as if they were walking into a different dimension. The world shifted from a cold one, to a warm embracing one. The moon fought with the sun, causing the sky to be a beautiful lavender. I noticed that I started to close my eyes a little bit, enjoying the feel of the wind push past me and it blowing through my hair.
"Okay." I mumbled to myself, although James heard it. "Lets go."
It took many minutes to get back to the castle, and even more minutes to get to the common room. I took a mental note that the school should get elevators for times after midnight. When we entered the common room, the fire was only a small flame, but it was enough to still heat everything. Contemplating, I decided if I should go into my comfortable bed or my cozy loveseat that sat right in front of the fire.
With my energy making the decision, as well as my laziness, I decided to go with the loveseat. James trailing behind me, I lead him over to the seat, which was thankfully able to sit up to two people. After I sat down in it, James sort of hovered for a few seconds, ruffling his hair. "Okay, I'm just gonna go up to my bed now-"
"Hey," I said, reaching a hand out to him. "I uh, could you just stay with me for a little bit. Just until I'm asleep."
"Again?" He asked. "Is there some sort of pattern to this?"
I shook my head with my eyes starting to close a little bit.
James hesitated for a moment, but he eventually sat down next to me. He drew a blanket over us and I sat in a position so my head was on his shoulder and his arm was wrapped around me, yet again.
"Thank you for tonight." I mumbled.
"It's no problem." He said, his voice now husky.
Our breathing began to become in sync and sleep was ready to take me. Just before it did, I felt James plant a kiss on my forehead. Blushing, I smiled into him. Sure, I would have objected to it and asked "how dare he do such a thing," or, "was this all a game?" But right now, those thoughts left my mind as quickly as they entered it. I rested my hand on top of his chest.
"Hey, Evans?" I heard him say quietly, now very obvious that sleep was in his voice.
"Hmm?"
He took a moment before continuing. For a second, I almost thought he went to sleep, though he started to speak again. "Would you please to go Hogsmeade with me?"
What? What the hell was he thinking? He can't just ask someone this at 5 o'clock in the morning! I need time to think about this, to contemplate if there will be any pranks at all, or if even this was a prank! Although for some reason, another part of my mind began to kick in. The one with the kinder voice, if my own thoughts have different tones of voices of course. With every fiber of my being screaming out answers, I decided to go with the one that seemed most reasonable.
"Okay."
A/N
Aha, so, I guess this was a wee bit late. Okay, fine, more than a wee bit. Leave me alone guys, gosh!
I just didn't know people were liking this until I got that one review, so thank you! Also, I was listening to "Samskeyti" by Sigur Ros (I highly recommend you all listen to it now) and it just reminded me of Jily a little bit and boom, the outside scene happened.
Anyways, hopefully another chapter will be soon!
-Kirsten
