AUTHOR NOTE: It took me a couple of months to update, but I can't say that's my longest record in not updating this story. Anyway, I want to thank everyone who has been reading the story thus far, and especially those who have given it feedback, or a home on their favorites/alerts list. It means a lot to me! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Wishing you the happiest holidays and the best new year!
Chapter Four
"What a game, James!"
"You were amazing, Sirius!"
"Ooh, James… can you flex that bicep for me again?"
James, you were so brave out there, Lily thought to herself both mockingly and bitterly, as she watched a large group of girls crowding around the Head Boy and his best friend after Gryffindor's victory. May I kiss the ground you walk on?
Conversation in Lily's neck of the woods was none too stimulating, either.
"There has to be something I can do to make her suffer," Jerrica said quietly, looking over at the undeniably pretty Greta Catchlove, who was busy chatting with a small group of friends. "Does that girl have any weaknesses?"
Selena shrugged. "I saw her picking her nose once," she offered. "She thought she was being sneaky, but I guess you can't hide that much green unless you're in Slytherin."
Jerrica grimaced. "Thanks for the fun fact, 'Lena. I think I've lost my appetite."
"You wanted weaknesses." Selena sighed. Then, she smiled, as something had suddenly clicked in her mind. "She also gets jealous easily!" she remembered. "Back in fifth year, when she fancied Xander Edgecombe, and saw him talking to Amelia Bones, Greta started some of the nastiest rumours about her. And she turned plenty of people against her. For a month, Amelia had to sleep in the Ravenclaw Common Room!"
Lily raised an eyebrow, deciding to enter the conversation. "And how do you know all of this?" she asked. "Via rumours, I'm sure?"
Selena shook her head. "No!" she exclaimed. "Amelia herself told me all about it in Herbology."
Jerrica thought for a moment. "So, at least we have a common enemy," she said. "Is Amelia staying for the hols?"
Lily crossed her arms. "What do you honestly expect to do, Jer? Find out who else hates the girl and then conspire against her?"
Her friends ignored her. "I think she's visiting with her family, so if you're going to use her in your plans, you should wait until everyone comes back," Selena said.
Jerrica sighed. "I can't wait that long. I suppose we could use that whole jealousy thing against her. We just need to figure out how."
Lily shook her head. "The two of you are hopeless. Anyway, I've got a lot of work to do, so I'd better go over to the Potter/Black Fan Club and talk to its figurehead. See you at dinner."
As her friends continued to scheme, Lily headed off to James and his mob of girls. She pushed past a few of the nearly-swooning girls so that she could see him.
"It did take a lot of training," Sirius told the girls, tossing them a charming smile, "but I think the results are worth it, don't you?"
The majority of girls present nodded and giggled, dreamy expressions on their faces. Between the two best friends, they had fans from every House. Soon enough, another girl joined the group.
"You looked fantastic out there, James!" Greta Catchlove exclaimed, flipping her blonde locks over her shoulder.
"Why thank you, Greta." James winked at her. "You look rather fantastic yourself."
Interference! Lily thought to herself as Amos appeared behind Greta.
"Good game, Potter," Amos told him, shaking his hand and forcing an easygoing expression. It was evident that behind the "friendly" smile, Amos wanted his girlfriend far away from this boy.
"Thanks, Diggory," James said politely. "Playing you lot next month should be a good game, too, for both Houses."
Amos nodded, taking Greta's hand. "We should really get going, Greta," he told her, leading them out of the crowd. "Good day, Potter."
Greta followed Amos, but continued to look back at James longingly, until they disappeared around a corner. James, however, remained completely distracted by the throng of giggling girls until he noticed the one he loved the most.
"Lily!" he exclaimed, turning to face her. "I see you've joined for the festivities. Any questions you'd like to ask your favorite roommate?"
Lily scowled. "We're not roommates, Potter! Besides, I needed to talk to you about something a little more important than your fleeting hour of fame."
James nodded, and turned back to the crowd. "Ladies… this has all been great, but now I need to attend to some official Hogwarts duties with my lovely wife… er… assistant here. Sirius is going to stay, though, so please remember to crowd around him. He needs love, too."
He put his arm around Lily and smiled, leading her out of the mob and down the corridor.
There were murmurs of "What's her problem?" and "Did he just say his WIFE?" and even a call of, "I'll be your roommate, James!" but this didn't stop the Head Boy and Head Girl from leaving the group.
Too tired to fight his arm off of her, Lily sighed. "I'm not your assistant," she told him. And I'm certainly not lovely, she added in her mind, but she did not verbalize this. "I'm not your assistant, and I'm not your wife."
James grinned. "Of course not," he said apologetically. "But alas, a man can dream."
"I'd hardly call you a man, James."
"You always hit me where it hurts," he claimed, touching his free hand to his heart. "But this brings me to wondering – when you do this, are you trying to inform me of every weakness I have, or are you just playing hard to get?"
Both, she instinctively thought to herself, but then immediately took it back. Hard to get? Hah- what a thought! Lily wanted nothing more than to stay far, far away from James Adonis Potter. Attracting him was no goal in her mind.
"I'd just hate to see you deceive yourself in that way," Lily answered finally.
"Because maybe you care about me?"
"Because I'd rather avoid repeating this conversation in a week, that's why." She crossed her arms and strayed away from James, whose own arm she had not removed from around her shoulder until now. "At any rate, I needed to talk to you about something that's bigger than you and me right now."
James cocked his head to the side. "Our wedding?"
"Be serious, Potter." For some reason, Lily liked to switch between the Head Boy's first name and his last name. Perhaps it depended on her level of patience at the time, or perhaps it was whichever she felt like calling him. "We need to work on ideas for the New Years' Banquet so that we can start talking to the Decorations Committee, and we have very little time left. I assume you leave Monday for the holidays?"
James shook his head, a grin plastered on his face.
"Really?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "So we have a little more time to work on this, then?"
"You know, I really like that thing you do with your eyebrow." James wiggled his own, and then winked at her. "It's impressive. I wish I could do it the way you do."
Lily felt as though she was talking to a four-year-old child. The difference was, if bribed with a decent choice in sweets, the four-year-old would focus as necessary- whereas bribes might only distract James even more. "Please," she pleaded, trying to keep her patience. "Just… focus. When are you leaving school? I assume you're spending vacation at Peter's this year?"
James beamed. "You've assumed wrong. I'm not going anywhere, love – I'm staying at Hogwarts with you!"
"Wha-?" So shocked about this, Lily did not even see the stairs in front of her, nor did she notice the fact that they were currently moving. Thus she tripped and landed flat on her own face.
"No need to sound so excited," James said, grasping Lily's hand tightly and helping her back onto her feet. "Are you all right?" He helped her up the next set of stairs, as they headed to the Head Common Room.
Lily was a little sore, and would probably bruise within a day, but she hated to show any signs of pain, physical or emotional. "Nothing life-threatening," she responded, unable to hide a small smile (for reasons she did not know). "I'll be fine."
They reached the portrait hole. "Password?" asked the chubby man in the painting, tilting his top hat.
"Demiguise disguise," James answered automatically, and the hole opened. "Are you sure?" he asked again, as they climbed inside.
Lily nodded, wondering why he cared so much about her well-being. It wasn't like it would change the way she generally acted around him.
"I'll be fine," she repeated. "Just fine."
"Guess who."
The voice came from behind James, but he could not turn around to look because the speaker's hands covered his eyes. It was certainly a female voice- but the females he knew the best were sitting across from him at the Gryffindor table.
"You've got me," James said finally, not willing to guess the many girls in the school that it could be.
"I hope so." The girl took her hands off of James's eyes and sat down next to him, smiling. It was Greta Catchlove. "Hey there, Star Chaser." Her tone was light yet flirtatious- it sounded as though it could float away at any moment.
"Hello, Miss Catchlove," James greeted her with a grin. "What brings you to our table this evening?"
"Yes, the Ravenclaws usually sit over there," Lily butted in to inform her, cocking her head in the direction of the Ravenclaw table. In return, she received a hard nudge in the arm from Jerrica, who seemed perfectly engrossed in this.
Greta sighed. "Company at my usual table is not particularly pleasing. Amos won't shut up about my talking to you earlier. It's like he's jealous or something."
So you're trying to resolve this conflict by annoying him even more? Lily was tempted to say, but she bit her tongue.
James patted Greta on the back. "No offense to your boyfriend, but he sounds really high-strung to worry about something like that."
Greta shook her head. "Oh, but he's not my boyfriend," she told James, causing Jerrica to gasp. They turned to her.
"Sorry." Jerrica tried to cover the fact that she was paying attention to their conversation. "It's just that… I never knew that the potatoes at Hogwarts were this good. Mmmm." She shoved a forkful in her mouth to keep from sticking her foot there.
James laughed and turned back to Greta. "I don't understand – I thought you and Amos were, well…"
Greta smirked. "We were," she admitted. "I actually broke up with him a little after the Quidditch game today. He was just too… clingy, you know?"
James furrowed his brow. "Pity to hear that," he said, trying to sound impartial in case she was saying this in hopes of his friends eavesdropping.
"Not really," Greta replied, moving closer to him. "I'm off to better things." She winked at him, and he smiled. A girl who knew what she wanted. "I'd better get back to my table," she said after a slight pause. "Just wanted to say hello." Softly and slowly, she kissed him on the cheek – something she had never done, them being strictly acquaintances – and headed back to the Ravenclaw table.
"What a girl, mate, eh?" Sirius nudged James and grinned. "I wonder what better things she was talking about." He wiggled his eyebrows.
"Oh, yes, you lucky boy," Lily added, entering the conversation in a sarcastic tone. "How'd you score such an incredible find?"
"That's what I'm wondering!" Sirius laughed, actually believing Lily to be on the same page as them.
"Lily," Jerrica addressed her friend suddenly. "Selena. Come with me to the bathroom for a minute, would you?"
Wordlessly, the girls stood up and headed out of the Great Hall, barely catching Remus's quiet "Why must girls go off in groups?" and Sirius's continued laughter.
With Jerrica leading the way, the girls reached the bathroom and entered.
"You didn't really have to go, did you?" Lily asked, recognizing the reason why they chose this particular bathroom and so quickly. This was a bathroom that most other girls disliked ever using, and often avoided at all costs – therefore, the three girls who had entered now would use it whenever they wished not to be overheard. Who would hear them except…?
"Oh, you're here," came the pouting voice from in front of them. It was Moaning Myrtle. "Are you here to talk about boys again?"
"Sort of," Jerrica answered shortly, but before she could speak with her friends, Myrtle spoke up again.
"Boys are cruel, really," she whimpered. "There was this one boy, Timothy, who used to steal my glasses when I was a poor little first year."
"I'm sorry, Myrtle," Lily said this time, her voice revealing perhaps a touch of actual sorrow for the ghostly girl. For some reason, she was always more patient and tolerant around Moaning Myrtle, sometimes more so than around her own friends. "Boys are certainly pests. Our seventh year at Hogwarts and we've certainly learned that. Jerrica, what boy-related topic did you drag us here to discuss, anyway?"
Selena nodded. "Yes, Jer, what is it? I'm beginning to want those potatoes you were raving about."
Jerrica crossed her arms. "You aren't going to believe me, but I think I've thought up the perfect revenge on Greta Catchlove."
Author Note: Well? I'd like to know what you think of this chapter! As for Chapter 3, my acknowledgments go out to embracing, Auriela, Spuds13, sarah, BlackCat69, BEATLESROCKSODOESHP, sweetblonde13, and Beauxbatons-Girl. Your reviews mean a lot! Happy reading!
