Note from the author: Well, as I promised, the first three chapters are going up at a relatively decent speed thus here is the third chapter. I apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar issues (there probably are a few). PLEASE leave a review! I PROMISE to give you a cookie if you do. Thanks!
Disclaimer: JKR is an amazing person who has inspired me to write all this stuff. About 90% or more of the characters are hers. ALL of the places are hers. And some of the scenes might be hers.
Chapter 3: Looking For Something
(James)
James had left early that morning, leaving a sticky note on Sirius telling him to hurry and get back home. He didn't want to have another awkward encounter with Lily and he managed. Thus, the next time he saw her was on September 1st, on Platform 9 3/4 when they were boarding the train. He didn't actually talk to her, just a sort of nod. He saw her lips twitch. Unfortunately he wasn't sure if it was a smile-twitch or an anger-twitch. He went to find the rest of the Marauders, for they had all gotten there at different times. He searched multiple compartments, and when he finally found them (sans Peter, who knew where HE was) he saw Lily chatting conversationally with Remus. "Damn," he swore to himself.
"Evans," he greeted her.
"Potter," she raised an eyebrow. Then went back to her conversation. "What's that all about?" James asked Sirius.
"Dunno. Head duties probably. Speaking of which, have you told her yet?" Sirius whispered the last sentence.
"No. Of course I haven't."
"Well she's gonna find out some time or the other. Might as well tell her." Sirius clapped James on the shoulder and said, loudly, "Good luck mate." James rolled his eyes as his black haired best friend left the compartment.
"Good luck with what?" Lily and Remus inquired simultaneously.
"Erm, nothing," James said hesitantly. "So what are you two lovebirds talking about?" Lily rolled her eyes but Remus said, "Head duties." he sent a significant look towards James.
"Remus, what was that look?" Lily asked.
"What look?" he responded too quickly.
"Never mind." Lily shook her head, "Do either of you know who the Head Boy is? No one seems to know and since the Marauders know everything, thought you might know." James sent Remus a look that screamed, "SHUT UP. SHUT UP." but Remus ignored the look and said, "Erm... Well-" Lily raised an eyebrow.
"It'sme." James said, and then took a deep breath. Lily's mouth dropped. "YOU?"
"Yeah. Shock right?" James sighed.
"How- what- when- WHY?" Lily couldn't make coherent sentences, but was saved the trouble by the entrance of Rachel Trevino. She plopped down (It wasn't really a plop. More like a dainty sit down sort of thing.) next to James and kissed him. Remus snuck a glance at Lily who looked completely unaffected. "Erm," James said. "Lily, this is Rachel-"
"Trevino." she finished and when she got looks from the two Marauders that were present, she explained, "I know who she is. She's a friend of mine. Hullo Rach." she addressed Rachel.
"Hi Lily. Did you hear? James and I are dating."
"God. After that snog, I didn't need to HEAR anything." Lily retorted and James wondered what that response was about. Lily never talked that way. "Erm. Ok?" Rachel said tentatively.
"I'm going to go find Alice and them before I head up to the Head compartment. All right? See you guys later?" and with a bit of a flourish she left the compartment.
(Rachel)
Rachel was looking for James and when she finally found him he was sitting with Lily. Of course, Remus Lupin was in the compartment as well, but Rachel's over protective girlfriend side blocked that information. She backed up before anyone saw her. "Deep breaths, Rach," she told herself, "Deep breaths, he doesn't like her anymore. He likes you. You are so NOT the jealous type. Go in there and show them." but in reality, Rachel Trevino had never been the bravest or most confident. There was a reason she was a Ravenclaw, not Gryffindor. So she did her best. She fluffed her dark, voluminous hair, pulled her skirt a little higher and her shirt a little lower and boldly walked into the compartment. She sat down next to James and kissed him softly, to remind him what he'd been missing for the past couple days. A quiet "mmmm..." escaped James' parted lips and she was satisfied. James, always the gentleman tried to introduce her to Lily. "Erm, Lily, this is Rachel-"
"Trevino." the redhead finished. Rachel noticed the looks the Marauders gave Lily and so did Lily because she explained, "I know who she is. She's a friend of mine. Hullo Rach." she addressed Rachel.
"Hi Lily. Did you hear? James and I are dating." she felt she had to rub it in just one more time.
"God. After that snog, I didn't need to HEAR anything." Lily retorted and Rachel wondered what had made Lily's voice resound with that snap. Lily never snapped. "Erm. Ok?" Rachel said tentatively.
"I'm going to go find Alice and them before I head up to the Head compartment. All right? See you guys later?" an with a bit of a flourish (that did NOT escape Rachel, though she wondered why it was present) Lily left the compartment.
"James," Rachel giggled, pulling on her boyfriends shirt, "WHAT on earth was that about?"
"Hmm?" James was staring out the window.
"What are you thinking about, love?"
"I'm Head Boy." it made Remus snigger. "But why?"
"Another of your 'oh so important' questions..." Rachel sighed. She was nothing short of a normal 6th year. After all, they were ALL girly and in love with James Potter. Now that she had him, what did she have to worry about? Right?
"Yeah. I guess it is." it did not escape her notice that James' voice had the same snap the Lily's had had in hers earlier. "I'm going to the Head compartment." he stood up abruptly and left Rachel sitting with an awkward Remus.
"So Remus," she started, trying to make a conversation, "Are you going out with Lily?" Remus looked shocked she had even suggested it. She heard him mumble something about not being Lily's type. "What's that? I didn't hear you."
"I'm not exactly her type." Remus said loudly this time.
"Well, what IS her type? Do you know?" this was the trivial sort of stuff 6th years talked about. Of course, Rachel was in Ravenclaw, but that only meant she was smart in schoolwork. She thought about Lily and her excellent grades, "Lily would have made a brilliant Ravenclaw." she thought to herself.
"... So, no. I don't really know what type of guys Lily is interested in." Remus finished without one word having actually been heard by Rachel. Rachel just nodded and let Remus continue to read his textbook in peace.
(Lily)
"I'm going to go find Alice and them before heading up to the Head compartment. All right? See you guys later?" Lily forced herself to leave with a bit of an extra flourish. She headed straight to the bathroom to get a private place to think. Once she was safely locked in there she said aloud, but to herself, "Oh Merlin, I'm about to cry." an understatement if there ever was one. By the time she had stopped, which really wasn't that long but it seemed like an eternity, her eyes were red and her mascara was streaked down her pale face. She spent a fair bit of time trying to fix her make up and when she was done she straightened her skirt and pulled it lower, she hated it being too high, smoothed out her shirt, then headed to the front of the train, where the Head compartment was located. When she got there she was surprised to see that James was already there. "James!" there was a tone of surprise in her voice that Lily tried to hide but did not succeed.
"Hey Ale. What's up?" he smirked. As per usual, her heart sped up at that smile. "Snap out of it, Lily. He's an idiot," she told herself.
"Well, first of all, WHAT does the stupid nickname mean?" he grinned a little wider. She continued, "Second of all, why the hell are YOU Head Boy?" his face fell. Yet she trudged along, "And WHY ON EARTH are y-" Lily shut up before she finished that last one. She was going to say, "why on earth are you going out with Rach?" but she knew that if she said that, he'd get way more fun out of it than he deserved. After all, he was just an egotistical bastard. She blushed. He leaned forward, "Yes Ale? What were you about to say?"
"Nothing." she held her head high.
"Come on. You stopped yourself, like a train when it sees something in front of it. You were about to say something you didn't want me to hear."
"Exactly! I didn't want you to hear it. So will you shut up? It doesn't matter what I didn't say. Can we just get back to Head duties or whatever?" she did realize that he had effectively maneuvered his way out of answering her questions, but her heart was beating way too fast and her hands were clammy so she begun to organize papers.
When all the prefects had entered the compartment, James and Lily said what they had to say, as Heads of course. James was loud, confident, perfect really. He was always so confident and Lily admired him for it. When Lily had to talk however, her words were stuttered and slurred. She sometimes had to start whole sentences over. She noticed James smirking, which just made her nerves worsen. By the time the meeting was over and James and Lily were alone again, Lily was on the verge of tears, but she was NOT going to let James see that.
"What was that, Ale? Cat got your tongue?" James sniggered.
"No Potter. I'm just a blithering idiot who can't form coherent sentences when talking to a small group of people." Lily made sure her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Oh my Merlin! What's happening to me? I've never been one to cry over something as trivial as this!" she thought to herself. "I'll see you later." she grabbed her school bag and made to leave the Head compartment before James could see the tears that were threatening to fall any second now. She stopped in the door frame, though, "Potter did you make a reference to a muggle saying?" he just smiled and said "Shut the door on your way out, yeah?"
"Jeez Potter, why can you NEVER answer any of my questions? I ask a simple question, like, 'Why do you call me Ale?' and I get no answer. Oh, here's another easy question, 'Did you make a reference to a muggle saying?' and I still don't get an answer! Can't you just, for the tiniest moment stop and think about someone other than yourself? Can you just, for ONCE, answer my questions?" Lily was almost shouting by the end of it. James looked slightly hurt, but he was still James Potter so all he said was, "Nope." he pushed his way out of the compartment and Lily was alone wondering what had just happened. She backed up against a wall and slid down it so she was sitting on the floor instead of one of the nice couches in the compartment. "Oh my god. (Forget Merlin) I AM a blithering idiot." she said aloud to herself, head in her hands.
"Lily?" Remus Lupin had entered the compartment. "Dammit." she swore to herself.
"Yeah?"
"Are you okay?"
"No."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Not in the slightest."
"Alright then." and after a pause, "Rachel asked if we were going out."
"Oh Merlin... Not Rachel again..." Lily was so sick of hearing about Rachel. She wished she could talk to Mar, the only person who wouldn't ramble about private life details.
"I know." there had been a silence too long to mean that he knew Lily was sick of Rach, and he had said it too fast.
"You know what?" Lily was curious.
"Lily. Come one. It's obvious. To me anyways." Remus sounded awkward. Lily raised an eyebrow.
"What are you on about?" she asked.
"I-know-you-like-James-and-no-one-else-can-see-it-but-since-I'm-so-close-to-both-of-you-it's-obvious." he ran out breath. Lily didn't know how to respond to that. So after a moment of shock she just wrapped her arms around Remus' neck and sobbed into his chest. Eventually she calmed down long enough to ask, "Was it that obvious?"
"No." she let out a relieved sigh. "But," Remus continued, "It IS obvious that something is going on with you."
"Shit."
"Sorry."
"Not your fault."
"Okay."
"Okay."
Then there was silence. And Lily continued, "Can he tell?" Remus seemed to ponder the question.
"He has his doubts." and when she frowned he told her the idea he had thought of earlier, "But to prove that you don't. Like him, that is. There's something you CAN do..."
"Hmm?"
"Get a boyfriend."
"Oh Remus, you know me. I could never get a boyfriend that I don't like." she chided.
"You might not like him at first but you could grow to like him."
"Are you unofficially asking me out?" her eyebrows went up.
"Oh Merlin no. You're a great friend and it would feel like incest." she laughed. "But I think it might help you at least try to get over James."
"I might." she couldn't. She didn't want to tell Remus that and make him feel bad, but she knew that she could never date someone she didn't like and the one person she did like, might be the one person that hates her (other than Snape). And even if James didn't hate her, he was taken.
"Good luck, Lily." he patted her awkwardly on the shoulder.
"Remus," Lily called out (he was by the door).
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."