So hey you guys! Turns out that I'm not dead (omgs!) and that I've just been out doing things (bad thatravenclawgirl for having a life outside of !). Anyways, so this is another chapter, but it the quality starts to fade at the end. I hope you like it though! :3 You should also review and that would make me update faster :D
Throw, chase, return, repeat. Lily fell into a steady rhythm as she threw the fake mouse to Caspian. Throw the toy, let Caspian chase it, Caspian returns it, and then repeat the process. It was unchanging, fluid, without fault. And it was also taking place at 11.30 pm.
Lily was awoken at around 10 o'clock when Caspian decided he'd use her face as a pillow. Lily had felt something soft on her face and she discovered it was Caspian. When she tried to shove him off, he had hissed so loudly Lily was sure the neighbours could hear.
Lily threw the toy and Caspian chased it. For some reason, Caspian captivated Lily. He was deaf in one ear, yet still had amazing senses. He was painfully loyal, sometimes being so loyal that if someone came within ten feet of Lily, Caspian would scratch their face off. It had happened to the one and only James Potter multiple times, but he didn't seem to get the message that Caspian hated him. The memory made Lily laugh. In some ways, James Potter was like Caspian. They were both ridiculously loyal, both had selective hearing and sight, and they both had, what seemed like, an obsession with Lily.
Lily looked at the time. 11.38. She had been doing this for an hour and a half.
Lily was tired, but couldn't find the energy to go to sleep. Lily thought about reading the rest of her Arithmancy textbook, but realised that she wouldn't remember any of it in the morning.
Lily looked at the clock. 11.52. Why couldn't she fall asleep? Caspian was busy trying to tear the fake mouse apart. Lily felt a pang of sadness as she watched the mouse she had spent several hours sewing (by hand) being torn apart.
Suddenly Caspian began to hiss. Lily tensed. Every murder and disappearance the Daily Prophet announced raced through her head. Lily grabbed the nearest thing to her (which happened to be a pillow) and listened for any foreign sound. There was a tapping noise on her window and Lily let out a small scream before she realised it was Astrid.
"What the hell?" Lily asked, and opened the window. Astrid flew in, a note attached to her leg. Lily untied the letter out of curiosity and began to read.
Darling Lilyflower,
Wotcher! I just wanted to announce that I have found my new favourite name. Harry. Isn't that a cool name? It's not too stuffy but doesn't sound like a ninnyish name either. It's cool.
Now to a topic change; I would like to ask you over for a Christmas in July party! I'll pick you up at nine o'clock in the evening so be ready!
Love, James
P.S. You'll have to get over your fear of heights, love.
Lily gaped in shock. James was going to take her to his house for a Christmas in July party?
"What the hell is a Christmas in July party?" Lily asked, not realising that she voiced her question aloud.
Astrid hooted happily and flew out Lily's open window. Caspian hissed at the snowy owl as she left. A wave of sleep swept over Lily, and by the time her head hit her pillow, she was asleep.
"No way in hell, Potter," Lily Evans said, looking disgustedly at James' racing broom.
"Lily, it's only like an hour ride!" James whined.
"'Oh it's just an hour ride on a stick of wood hundreds of feet in the air,'" Lily mocked. "Why can't we just Apparate?"
"Because Apparation is being monitored by the Ministry and we both know I failed my Apparation test."
Lily scowled at James' logic.
"But if we're sitting on a broomstick hundreds of feet in the air, we'll be like sitting ducks for the Death Eaters!" Lily argued.
"Look, Lily, you need to get over your fear of heights."
"No I don't."
"Lily, just get on the damn broomstick."
"It won't hold both of our weight."
"Lily, we live in a world where there's a giant castle that teaches kids how to preform magic so they don't get stuck in the loony bin, and you're questioning if a flying broom will hold our weight?"
"Shut up. Do I wear a helmet or something? I shan't go if we don't wear helmets. If we don't wear helmets we could fall-"
"Lily, stop stalling and grab my waist."
Lily cautiously stepped over the broom and grabbed James' waist. She pocketed her wand as if it were her last possession. James smirked as he threw the Invisibility Cloak over them.
"Will this cloak be a safety hazard? What if it slips and falls onto a car? James, I will kill you. What if-"
"Just enjoy the ride," James simply replied and kicked gently off the ground.
An hour and twenty-two minutes later, Lily and James touched down on his front lawn. Lily angrily ripped the Invisibility Cloak off.
"That was awful! Merlin, I hate you so much! Do you know how many times I almost fell off? Twelve! That was my first time on a broom and your advice was, this I quote, to 'just stop squirming'!" she screamed.
"Merlin, Lily, all you did was fidget! You kept shifting your weight, making me have to swerve Bonnie repeatedly!"
"Well that was some really crappy advice- wait, who's Bonnie?"
"My broom. Now let's go inside. Sirius and Remus are waiting for us."
James looped his arm around Lily's shoulders and marched to the front door. He flung open the door and yelled; "WE HAVE ARRIVED!"
Sirius suddenly launched himself out of nowhere, tackling James and sending Lily sprawling across the floor. Sirius planted his knees on either side of James' chest and pointed his wand at his forehead.
"Prongs," Sirius began in a low and deadly voice, "do you know how long you've been gone?"
"Umm… an hour and a half?" James guessed.
"You've been gone for an hour and 43 minutes! You left me here with Moony who was reading this giant book of un-fun things and refused to make me a sandwich!" Sirius cried and climbed off of James.
"Well thanks for asking me if I'm alright," Lily retorted as she picked herself up from the ground.
"So Prongs really wasn't lying. You're actually his girlfriend, Evans," Sirius said, twirling his wand between his index finger and thumb.
Lily rolled her eyes. James adjusted his glasses that had fallen down his nose during Sirius' attack.
"Speaking of Moony, where is he?" James asked.
"I think he fell asleep on the sofa. It is four days after the full moon," Sirius said, thoughtfully. "Come on, let's go to the sitting room, Wormy should be here soon."
Lily followed the two black haired boys to the sitting room. Indeed, Remus was fast asleep on a couch, a thick book lay open on his chest. Lily sat on an armchair across from him, whilst James and Sirius sat on the floor beginning a game of Wizard's Chess.
"So what are we going to do? Sit and watch Remus sleep?" Lily asked, propping her chin on her hand.
"Actually, I just bred a neon blue flamingo and it breathes fire," Sirius said as if talking about the weather. Then looking down at the chess board he triumphantly exclaimed; "Checkmate!"
"Damn you," James said. "You know I'm rubbish at this!"
"Do you really have a fire breathing neon blue flamingo?" Lily asked, startled.
"Really," Sirius answered.
"That's illegal! Really, Sirius? In a time of war you're breeding blue flamingos that breathe fire?" Lily cried.
"I didn't mean to! I accidentally transfigured a blueberry into a flamingo and decided it would be cruel to turn it back."
"Are you talking about Sandra?" Remus asked sleepily. His awakening startled Lily, causing her to jump.
"You knew about this?" Lily demanded after she had gotten over her miniature scare.
"Sure I did," Remus answered. "I was the one who was about to eat the innocent blueberry- until Sirius changed it into a flamingo. Sandra is quite harmless really. She only puffs out smoke, but she can't actually breathe fire." Here he glared at Sirius.
"Hey, Lily, guess what," James said, interrupting Lily before she could yell at Remus more.
"What?" Lily snapped.
"I read an entire book! Aren't you so proud?" James said happily as Sirius' queen demolished his knight.
"That's great! What book was it?"
"Quidditch Through the Ages."
"It's true, Evans," Sirius said sombrely. "Prongs finished an entire book. I'm now the only member of I've-Never-Finished-A-Book club."
"Padfoot, you really need to finish a book," Remus said, looking over the rim of his thick book.
"That's brilliant James!" Lily exclaimed, ignoring Sirius and Remus. Sure Quidditch Through the Ages wasn't exactly the type of book Lily would classify as feeling accomplished finishing, but gathering James' four second attention span, Lily was quite proud of him.
"I know!" James said, a huge smile on his face. "My mum was so happy and my dad bought me a new broomcare kit!"
"Damn. Maybe I should try finishing a book. Do you think your mum'll buy me some new fireworks?" Sirius asked.
"Speaking of your parents, where are they?" Lily asked.
"I think they're in India," James answered. "I guess Peter's not coming, so let's start partying!"
An hour later Lily was surrounded by presents that ranged from a book (Remus) to a vampire sock monkey (Sirius) to a giant chocolate heart (James).
"Do you think your dad will mind if I transfigured his armchair into a purple miniature elephant?" Sirius asked.
"Probably, considering that you already changed the chandelier into a quill," James answered.
"I like this hat," Lily said, fingering the red Christmas hat that sat on her head.
"You better. That was one of the curtains," Remus said.
Lily looked around the almost empty living room. Everything in there had been transfigured into presents for their Christmas in July party. A container of eggnog sat untouched in a corner, Sandra the flamingo stood next to Sirius, eating a bowl of blueberries.
"Is that cannibalism?" James asked, motioning to Sandra.
"I don't think- good question," Remus puzzled, looking over at Sandra. "We should probably start cleaning up this mess now."
"UGGGGGGHHHHH!" Sirius groaned. "Can't we just make Evans do it? She's a girl, so she should do it!"
It all went deathly silent. James' eyes widened as what his friend had just said sunk in. Remus backed away slowly. Lily threw her Santa hat on the floor angrily.
"Do you know how sexist that is?" Lily yelled loudly. "How would you like it if people told you to clean up crap all the time, Black? You're too busy being surrounded by rich stuff that you don't realise other peoples feelings! Some people have to work for things, Black, and not just ask Mrs. Potter to serve it to you on a silver platter! Now goodbye!"
Lily turned and stormed out of the room. She threw the front door open and stepped into the cool, dewy night.
"Lily! Lily, wait!" James yelled as he ran towards her. "Please don't go." He grabbed her arm.
"James, I don't want to be around a sexist git! I realise that he was joking, but it still hurts. Sometimes jokes people make are the reason people hurt the most. Now goodbye." Lily yanked her arm back from James.
"Merlin, you're so bipolar! One second you're happy, the next, yelling at everyone!"
"Yeah, well maybe I do have bipolar disorder! Not like you and your friends would actually care if I did!"
James open and shut his mouth like a fish gasping for air. Before he could get words out, Lily turned on her heel and Apparated to her bedroom.
Lily woke up and found a note folded in her hand. She unfolded it and read;
Dear Lily,
Listen, I'm sorry about last night. I was being unreasonable and didn't understand what you were thinking and feeling.
I really hope that we can go out on another date someday.
Love,
James
Lily thought about throwing it away, but instead attempted to smooth out the folds and placed the letter on her desk.
Should I do an AU where Neville is the Boy Who Lived?
