Party Games
Chapter 4: Twenty Questions
If there was anything Lily loved, it was "Twenty Questions". So she felt quite satisfied about throwing James a bone when she plopped down next to him in the Three Broomsticks one day and said, "Twenty questions. I'll ask first. Ready?"
"Ready," said he, taking this all in stride.
"Is it alive?"
"No."
"Does it make noise?"
"No."
"Am I familiar with it?"
"No."
"Can it hold something?"
"Yes."
"Has it been around a long time?"
"Yes."
"None of these answers make sense," Lily complained. "And how ought I know what it is if I'm not familiar with it?"
"It's you," James said simply.
Lily stared at him for a moment, then raised her eyebrows. "Now those answers definitely don't make sense. Last time I checked, I was alive!"
"You're not alive," James said seriously. "You're living it up!"
Lily said nothing, obviously not sure how to respond to this.
"And you don't make noise," James added fiddling with his sleeve. By this time the whole of Three Broomsticks was watching them - even Madam Rosmerta, who had been drawn in by the prospect of Twenty Questions and was now laughing silently at Lily's predicament. "You make music."
"Um - "
"And," he continued importantly, "No one's familiar with you. There are times when you don't know yourself - "
"How would you - "
"You've been around in my heart for a long time," James said softly. "You're holding my heart hostage."
"I - I - " Lily was really quite shaken. How on earth does a girl reply to that?
"Your turn," James told her.
"Wait," Lily cried. "Why'd you pick me as the object?"
"I'm always thinking about you," James replied. A smile crossed his face. "But I think it's my turn to ask the questions."
"Fine. Shoot."
"Go out with me?"
"No!" she laughed.