Author Note: I know I promised I wouldn't delay so much between chapters, but I have a reason. (As I always do, of course!) I added the previous chapter the weekend before my cheerleading intramurals began, and so for an entire week I was endlessly working on perfecting the routines, while still being able to finish my homework. I had to catch up on the work I put off during the past week, and so now I'm finally finding the time to write a new chapter. (By the way… I made the Varsity team!) I'm glad you all have been reading so loyally – I hope you continue to do so! I know it's a hasty chapter… there should be more substance to the next one. Enjoy!
Chapter Seven
"Hey, Lils."
Lily looked up to see Remus standing behind her, shuffling his feet. She nodded in acknowledgment and patted the ground next to her, motioning for him to come forward. "Hey, yourself."
After Jerrica and Selena had comforted her by the lake for a long while, Lily told her friends to enjoy their day – that she wanted to be alone for a little longer and would find them later. Of course, she had not anticipated the appearance of her favorite Prefect.
"You left us fairly quickly at breakfast earlier," Remus said, taking a seat beside the Head Girl. "I want to apologize on behalf of Sirius… he really didn't mean to offend you. His brain just functions off sexual innuendos."
Lily smiled softly. "Thanks for the thought, Remus, but that wasn't the reason I left this morning… although I do find those innuendos rather annoying…"
Remus returned the smile. "Just remember, he's male, so of course he's liable to say perverted things and get away with them…"
"Well, that explains nearly every boy in this school," Lily laughed quietly. She turned to really look at Remus. "Every boy except for you."
"How do you know?" Remus joked, giving her a wink. "Just because I'm not vocalizing it every five minutes…" He trailed off, noticing the sadness in Lily's eyes was still present. "Is everything all right?" he asked, his voice suddenly serious.
Lily hugged her knees close to her chest and sighed. "It's my sister," she admitted. "My mum thinks Petunia might be engaged to her complete prat of a boyfriend, and he's been the reason for some of our worst fights yet."
Remus did not know what to say to this. "I'm sorry," he told her finally. "At least you're not the one marrying him, though, right?"
Lily released a bitter laugh. "Could you imagine? I should like to think I'm better than that." She paused. "Merlin, my sister is better than that! How could she choose a man with no scruples whatsoever?"
Remus thought for a moment. "Is he good looking?"
Lily shook her head immediately. "Only if the beefy sort of bloke who could crush you with a single handshake… and I'm fairly sure my sister should know what a good catch is."
"Maybe, in some twisted way, this boyfriend is actually the perfect match for her?"
"I don't know. I hope he's not, but then I hope they're happy together." Lily sighed, not entirely sure of how she felt. "I just don't want her to end up with the wrong person."
"Right," Remus nodded.
"I hope I never eventually become blind like that," Lily continued, not realizing how talkative she could be at times. "I hope that, when I need to, I'll know who the right person is."
"Don't worry," Remus told her sincerely. "You'll know." He looked at her and smiled.
Lily returned the smile, thinking it meant something special; a secret between friends, or perhaps something more. Glancing quickly down at the ground, she placed her hand on his, in all hopes that he would…
"I have to go." Remus pulled his hand away suddenly, and stood up. "We'll… er… we'll talk later. Feel better." He gave her an awkward smile and headed off in the other direction.
That's not what I was hoping for, Lily thought to herself, unsure of what she had done wrong. Had she come on at all too strong? She reached for a pebble on the ground and sighed, skipping it across the lake.
Reclined on her Head Commons couch, Lily tried in vain to catch up on her reading. She had reread the same sentence for about twenty minutes now; she just could not concentrate. Between thoughts of Petunia's possible engagement and Remus's odd exeunt from the lake earlier that day, Lily's mind was flooded with much more than merely words on a page.
Suddenly, the bathroom door opened, and Lily could detect a humming voice. She looked up from her book to see a cloud of steam, followed by a certain Head Boy. Lily could not help but notice James's appearance – obviously having just taken a shower, his hair was tousled and wet, and he wore no shirt – merely a pair of boxers (complete with the Gryffindor emblem) and an untied matching bathrobe.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Over these past two days I have seen more of you than I'd like to, Potter," she informed him in greeting, sitting up straight.
James glanced over at her and grinned. "Have you, now?" he asked. Taking an arm out of his robe sleeve for a brief moment, James flexed his bicep, and then returned the robe to the way it was before. "Anything else you'd like to see?"
"Your triceps could use a little toning," Lily responded, trying to stay as critical as possible. In reality, he was not that bad. "And your abdominals are not as defined as they should be."
"Get used to it, darling." James winked at Lily. "This is what you'll be waking up to every day for the rest of your life."
"Not if I leave you at the altar." Lily marked the page she left off from in her book, and set it down on the table.
James laughed and took a seat next to her on the couch. He rumpled his hair. "Hey, if it takes us a few tries to get it right, I will marry you as many times as you'd like. I can't guarantee a new ring each time, but…"
Lily gave him a small smile. "What if I never said yes?" she inquired. "What if it all was for nothing?"
"Ah, but you would eventually say yes!" James exclaimed, clapping his hands. "In good time, I would make you fall head over heels in love with me, and after the fiftieth engagement, we would finally get married."
Lily shook her head. "You seem to have a lot of faith in yourself, you know."
"I know," James told her with a nod, "but that's because I'm half-Seer." He kept a completely straight face for about five seconds, then burst into laughter.
"Oh, yes?" Lily crossed her arms. She decided to ask something that she had been wondering, and hoped she wouldn't come off as a fool. "What do you see yourself doing tonight?" She wanted to ask him if he would play Wizard's Chess or something of that sort later, as they had done the night before, because embarrassingly enough, she had enjoyed it.
James's grin faded. "I'm meeting someone in a little while," he said seriously. "Greta Catchlove, you know, from Ravenclaw… I promised to teach her Quidditch."
"Really." Lily looked down at the ground, mortified for having even asked. It was none of her business; James was just going to be off with another one of his obnoxious female friends. "How is that going to work?"
"Well, I suppose I'll see if we can borrow Sirius's broom to let Greta use, and since I'm Quidditch Captain anyway I have access to all the equipment." James turned to really look at her.
"Just don't knock her up, then," Lily advised, and then in realizing what she said, blushed profusely. "I mean, don't knock her off. Er… have fun on your date."
"Oh, I don't know if I would call it that," James said, offering her a small smile. "You're still my leading lady, Lily Evans."
And once he left for his non-date, Lily felt very much alone.
Acknowledgements: I would like to give my utmost gratitude to sweetblonde13, - Miss UndRstOOd -, Heaven and Earth, BlackCat69, Curry Curran, darkdolphins, Rubber-duckiesofdoom, Auriela, and Katsy15. Hope you enjoy Chapter 7!
