The next day, after classes, Lily went to look for Lupin, hoping to find the reason for why Regina was very quiet the other night. Lily found him in, of coarse, the library, sitting at a deserted table closest to the library door, skimming through a book on potions.
Without hesitating, Lily sat at the chair opposite of him, making a small racket so he'll notice her.
"Can I help you?" he asked, confused on why she would be, in any way, concerned with him.
"What did you say to Regina?" Lily asked, getting straight to the point.
"How d'you know about-never mind. Point is, I didn't tell her anything. Now, if you'll excuse me," Lupin said as he started to leave the table but was stopped as Lily reached and grabbed his arm, forcing him to sit back down.
"No. I won't excuse you because I know something's wrong with Regina and she won't tell me. Now," Lily said firmly, "What. Did. You. Tell. Her."
"Even if I did tell her anything, how is that any of your business?" Lupin fired back.
"Because she is my friend and I care about her-" Lily started.
"Are you saying I don't care about her?!?" Lupin shouted and was immediately shushed by a crowd of people in the library, satisfying Lily who couldn't help but smirk.
"No." Lily said flatly. "All I'm saying is Regina hasn't been herself lately."
"Lately? I just told her yesterday." Lupin blurted out but then realized what he had just revealed.
"Aha! So you did tell her something!" Lily exclaimed and was, too, shushed by the people around her.
After a brief moment, Lupin said, "Fine. I did tell her something. Ok? But even so, whether she can to tell you is not up to you." At that moment, Lupin took the opportunity to get up from his seat before Lily could lunge towards him again and started walking toward the library door. He grabbed the handle and just as he was about to open it, he paused and, without turning, said to Lily, "You should know that James really does like you."
He swung the door open, stepped out, and the door shut itself back with a low creak.
Lily just looked at the door, thinking about the last sentence Lupin had said but quickly shook that information out of her head.
Like that could actually happen. Lily thought to herself and let herself out of the library and into the long hallway outside.
As Lily was walking down the halls, she heard a faint calling of her name. She turned around to find that James Potter, of all the places he could've been at that moment, was running up to her, almost like the time on the train, except there wasn't any luggage and it was harder for him to get injured, sadly. Lily turned on her heel and started pacing herself as she tried to find her way to the closest girls' bathroom.
Even Potter wouldn't be stupid enough to go into the girls' bathroom. Lily thought with some hope of losing Potter.
Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be a girls' bathroom in sight and James was able to catch up with her.
"Hey." James said brightly, beaming with pride at his success of catching up with Lily.
"Wadya want? And how is it that you know exactly where I am all the time?" Lily said, neither facing James nor pause to talk.
"Can't a guy say hello to the woman of his dreams?" James asked innocently.
Lily rolled her eyes and said bluntly, "If you want to talk, I suggest you stop using your fake tone with me and start talking for real."
James didn't seem to hear any of what she had just said and continued with what he was saying. " You know, you're the only girl in Hogwarts who hasn't gone out with me."
"And?" Lily asked unconcernedly.
"And," James ranted on. "Considering it's our seventh and last year to be with each other, I would like to give you one last chance to go out with me. Considering you're the only girl in the entire school who hasn't."
As soon as James had finished that last sentence, Lily stopped dead in his tracks. "So you're saying the ONLY reason you want to got out with me is because I'm the only girl in the school who hasn't fallen under your 'charm'" Lily replied icily. Without waiting for an answer to her reply, Lily continued.
"Next time you ask me out, I'd really appreciate it if you did it because you actually liked me, and not just because I'm the last girl to cross off your list of girls to date!" Lily spat, eyes almost on the verge of filling with tears. She gave James one last hard look and turned toward the direction of the common room, wanting to get away from James Potter as far as possible.
Just as she started toward the common room, Sirius appeared next to James.
"I'm guessing she rejected you again." Sirius said.
Startled by Sirius' sudden appearance, James looked at Sirius for a brief moment and asked annoyingly, "Where the hell did you come from?"
When Lily reached the Gryffindor common room, she stormed up the stairs to find Miranda or Regina, whichever one was upstairs. Luckily, she saw that both Regina and Miranda were upstairs in Regina's room, giving Lily the opportunity to yell at people and not get into trouble.
"Potter is such a git! What the hell is up with that big-headed toerag?!?" Lily screamed.
Regina was about to speak when she was cut off short by Lily's continuous yelling.
"He's arrogant. He's rude. He's so self-absorbed. And worst of all, he has all the girls in Hogwarts under his 'good looks' curse." Lily ranted on.
"Maybe-" Tried Regina but was once again cut off by Lily.
"I'm talking!" Lily bellowed, breathing like crazy. "I don't want your opinion. I don't want your advice. And I, sure as hell, don't want you defending him. I just want to scream for a while! Is that okay?!?"
Nobody dared moved.
Lily stared at her two terrified friends, frozen from shock and amazement that Lily had actually cursed.
"I'M TALKING TO YOU!!" Lily screeched.
"Yes! Yes! You can scream all you want!" Cried Miranda after she knew for sure Lily had let out all the anger she had kept bottled up inside.
"And we won't defend him!" Added Regina. Miranda nodded rapidly in agreement.
Lily looked at her best friends, whom she had loved for so long, staring back at her with wide, horrified eyes. Lily started regaining her calmness and slumped, face first, into Regina's bed. After a full minute of silence, Lily started spilling about the events in the closet and the hallway.
Suddenly, the three heard a distant calling of Lily's name, taking a moment before realizing it was James himself looking for Lily.
Lily's head jolted to the side, stood up, and declared, holding her wand, "It's Potter. I'm going to kill him!"
Seeing this, Miranda leaped from the chair she was sitting on and grabbed Lily before she had the chance of going outside.
"I'll go see him." Regina assured Lily as she was slowly and gently released and directed back to the bed by Miranda.
When she reached the bottom of the steps, Regina saw that James and Sirius were waiting by the fireplace.
Regina cleared her throat and got their attention.
"It's late. Everybody's asleep. I want to sleep. Miranda wants to sleep. Lily wants to sleep. Regina said exhaustedly.
"I know." James answered. "But if you can get her to talk to me for just a minute, then-"
"Then what?" Regina interrupted. "You'll somehow woo her into believing that you've changed. You had numerous chances to prove yourself and by the looks of it, I'm going to guess you're still a scumbag and will always be a scumbag to her. So if that's what you're trying to do, you're out of luck."
James just looked at her with wide eyes.
"And get the hell outta here." Regina added with no expression on her face whatsoever.
There was a dead silence, only to be interrupted occasionally by the crackling fire in the fireplace.
"I say we should go" Sirius whispered to James. And they did.
As they were going up the stairs to the boys' dormitories, James asked, "What the bloody hell is up with that…that…I don't even know that she is."
"Isn't she the one going out with Moony?" Sirius asked in a bored tone.
"That's her?" James asked a little too loudly. They froze to see if anybody woke up.
"That's her?" James repeated, whispering this time.
"I think so." Sirius replied.
"Damn. What's wrong with him?" James thought aloud.
"Apparently, he sees something in her. Whatever that is." Sirius said shrugging, just as confused as James.
