Author's note: Hi everyone, I don't think I could possibly say how sorry I am that it's taking forever to update, in this case this story hasn't been update since last March...even though it has been a while since the last update, I did say that this story was not abandoned. I'm already working on the next chapter and keeping my fingers crossed that it won't take as long to finish and update sooner than before, well I won't keep you waiting any longer so here's the next chapter, review and let me know what you think
Blackheart09
Disclaimer: I do not own anything what so ever.
The day seemed to pass by so fast, and before everyone knew it, it was dinner time. As Lily and Alice were eating dinner (already more than halfway done), the marauders had quickly spotted them and sat right next to them. While putting a ridiculous amount of food onto his plate Sirius in his usual greeting started off with the same question from last evening.
"So Lily flower, what's on the agenda for this year besides finally saying yes to going out with our little Jamie Boy?" Sirius grinned. Exasperated, Lily ignored him and turned her attention to buttering up a piece of bread. She hoped this question wouldn't become the question he would ask every evening.
"The agenda for this year Black, is for you to not annoy me, and for you to stop being a…. what's the word I'm looking for…git!"
"Now Lily…. Hey wait! You forgot the word charming!"
"Really now Padfoot, I don't think charming was the word she was looking for." James said with a grin.
"You're right Potter, the word I was looking for was idiotic to put in front of git." Lily grinned as she got up from the table.
"Well as fun as this little chat has been, we really must be off." Alice said as she spotted Frank at the end of the table mulling over one of his herbology books. Lily and Alice grabbed Frank and together the trio left the great hall.
"So Frank what was it that you were reading about this time?" Alice asked with a smirk on her face.
"Gillyweed! I was reading this fairly new article on it actually. Herbologists are still testing out what this new… thing can do. I'm not too sure it can be classified as a plant, it's strange, it looks like slimy grayish-green rats tales,"
At this both Alice and Lily looked at each other silently asking the other if Frank had finally gone mental. "It's really fascinating so far, its properties are… just wow… magic is a crazy thing…"
"Frank." Lily said, "Just tell us already what this disgusting rat tale can do."
"Well from what I understand, the person who wrote the article tested it out himself by eating it!" He said with this huge smile on his face. Alice just grinned once she saw this, she noticed that whenever he was talking about something he found fascinating, he would start smiling like a fool.
"Eating it?" Lily asked, "What were they thinking? That thing could have poisoned them! Or it could have been instant death!"
"Well the writer said he was in a controlled environment, and they had a bezoar right on hand. Since it's an antidote for most poisons, they figured it would be alright."
"Well this writer sounds like a nutter if you ask me." Alice said. She had to agree with Lily on that one. It could have been instant death. "And Frank, if you ever decide to do something that stupid, I will personally see to it that you receive so many hexes and jinxes so bad it'll be months and months till you set foot out of the hospital wing."
"Alice! I'd be perfectly fine! Besides there's hardly…. Well okay there are properties that can be deadly but only in the wrong combination. By themselves, they're perfectly harmless!" He smiled.
"As much as I love listening to you two banter about how much you love each other," Lily said as both Alice and Frank had blushed scarlet red, "what happened when the person ate it?"
Still blushing Frank continued his explanation. "Well, before our dear Alice interrupted me, after he chewed the gillyweed, he said it felt as though for a moment he was suffocating and while he was gasping for air, someone doused him with water. He was just about to yell at the person asking why they were still shooting water at him from their wands when he noticed he wasn't suffocating anymore. The gillyweed made him grow gills. They're still experimenting with it. Unfortunately the team forgot to time everything in all the excitement to figure out how long the effects last." Frank frowned.
"Frank… why are you always reading on these things?" Alice said. "Maybe you should go into being a herbologist. You've always been so fascinated with those kinds of things."
"Hey, when I become an auror I want to be well prepared with everything I possibly can. Knowledge is the most useful ally you can have Alice." He said with a smile.
"That's all well and good, but when do you honestly think you'd need to know about gillyweed and when it would be useful?"
"Well Alice that's just it. An auror's job is unpredictable." He grinned. Lily rolled her eyes at her too best friends. They were always so interesting to watch whenever they got into any kind of discussion. It was the little things she noticed about these two. Alice would always brighten up even more so around Frank and Frank would do the same.
"Alright you two, I'll meet you back at the common room, I wanted to look up something in the library for our potions essay." Alice and Frank looked at each other and rolled their eyes then grinned. While Lily walked down the corridor, she became lost in thought about Alice and Frank. They had this odd way about expressing how much they cared for each other. Even though they wouldn't admit that they liked each other immensely. Lily was giving them till the end of the Christmas holiday to admit they liked each other. In a way she had felt a bit envious about what her best friends had. With a sigh she wondered if she would ever find that. Without warning a pair of hazel eyes and messy windblown hair invaded her thoughts. Stopping in her tracks she quickly dismissed the thought. As she entered the library and headed straight for her usual table in the back corner of the library with a window that overlooked the lake, Lily hadn't noticed the silent figure that came from behind the shelves to talk to her.
"Lily."
Lily was slightly shocked to hear the voice that softly spoke her name and her eyes quickly narrowed to the boy with greasy hair and black eyes.
"Severus." She said stiffly.
"Lily… I…I…" Severus looked to the floor as he tried to find the words he was searching for. Lily waited patiently for her old ex-friend to say something. As he fidgeted she said she was going to take off and he just blurted out, "I'm sorry."
Lily stopped in her tracks and sighed. How many times had she heard him say that for the past two years? She had lost count.
"Apologizing doesn't change anything and as I've told you before,"
"I know… Lily, I'm not going to lie, it's driving me insane. I made a huge mistake, ever since that day it seems like it's been one mistake after another." Severus said as he looked down. It was clear that he was distressed and contrite. It was also clear that he would not give up in trying to regain the friendship he had lost.
"Please Lily… please. I know you don't give second chances and I should have never betrayed your trust in the first place, but,"
"But you still did it. Severus, I don't understand why you did, I was only trying to help you that day and you just turned on me and called me that horrid name. I honestly have nothing more to say about the subject. I'll see you around." With that Lily turned around and left the library quickly blinking away the tears that started to form and leaving a very distraught Severus Snape behind in her wake. Instead of going back to the Gryffindor common room, Lily had instead decided to go back to the heads common room just read a book for a while till her mind was lost in the story.
Saying the password, all hopes of just sitting by the fireplace, alone, to read were dashed. There sat James Potter doing exactly what she had been planning to do. Well sort of. Instead of reading a book for fun, it looked as though he was practicing a spell from his transfiguration book. Lost in what he was doing, James didn't notice Lily approach the couch till she sat down on the other end of it, grabbed her book from the coffee table and flipped it open to read. When she sat down, he looked up from what he was doing and was a bit was surprised at the fact that she was actually sitting there in his company. He felt oddly happy and content to just be right by her while she read her book. Not wanting to bother her he just continued to read up on his transfiguration. Lily was grateful that James didn't bother to say anything to her and just let her read, but it wasn't long till she stopped curious about what it was he was doing. So she put a book mark on the page she was on and put it down.
"James, what are you reading?"
"I'm reading up on my transfiguration…why?" James asked surprised. He was not expecting her to initiate conversation.
"Just curious, normally whenever you're reading something, I notice it's almost never academic." Lily said looking straight at him.
"Well, every now and then I will pick up the text book or look for something in particular that I haven't got quite right." James said keeping eye contact.
"Hasn't transfiguration always been your specialty though? What could you possibly have, "not quite right"? You practically pass everything in there with flying colors." Lily had always been a bit envious at how James could do everything in that class with ease. It was the one subject which Lily had always had to work extra hard in.
"Well, you remember when we had to transfigure furniture? There was something that didn't feel quite right with the springs when I sat down on the arm chair I transfigured. That, and I was looking for more information on how to put more detail into the upholstery…" He grinned sheepishly. He had no idea why he added in that unnecessary little detail. She was probably thinking he was a dork… wait… since when did he care what Evans thought? He hadn't cared in years. What was going on with him?
"The upholstery?" Lily asked a bit surprised. For the first time he could ever really recall James felt a light blush gracing his face as he kept her gaze. Her eyes were captivating and filled with amusement. A smile graced his lips as he laughed a little and answered her question.
"Yea… is it such a bad thing to pay attention to a little detail?" he asked not once breaking eye contact. Grinning back and leaning back into the couch, Lily answered his question.
"No, it's not a bad thing at all." Lily, for the first time, smiled at him and truly smiled. James couldn't help but notice exactly just how much her eyes lit up when she smiled. It was a beautiful sight and he realized he could easily become lost in those pools of emerald eyes. All too soon, Lily was the first one to break eye contact and stare back into the fire place. James noticed how the light of the fire reflected on her complexion and just made her ivory skin glow. Quickly looking away and back at his text book, he began to wonder why he was looking at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. He'd always known she was pretty, intelligent, witty, charming, stubborn. He knew a lot about her.
After a few minutes, Lily got up from the couch and stretched her arms then turned to face James with a small smile on her face.
"Well, I'm going to turn in. Good night James."
"Good night Lily. Sweet dreams."
A little surprised by the sentiment, Lily gave a small smile and said sweet dreams to the raven haired boy and headed up to her dorm wondering why he couldn't have always been that civil and sweet and charming, and… wait, since when had Lily ever used the word charming to describe James? Shrugging it off Lily retired to her room for the rest of the night leaving James in the common room wondering the very same thing she had been thinking. Needless to say, both were thinking that the evening in the heads common room, while nice pleasant, was interesting to say the least.
Well there's the chapter and hope you enjoy, let me know what you think :]
Blackheart09