Chapter Seven
Nothing exciting happened to James and Lily on their rounds last night. They walked around in silence until ten o'clock, each to their own thoughts. They only found one person out of bed; Sirius, snogging in a broom cupboard with an extremely clumsy blonde. Or maybe that's because she had just been kissing Sirius. Lily scowled and kept walking, leaving James to deal with Sirius.
Lily had been doing that a lot lately; scowling. She just wasn't happy. The mood around the castle was dim anyway, with You-Know-Who killing more often. Everyone knew he was out there but he was becoming bolder, not bothering to hide the fact the he was on the move. Lily found it hard to smile these days. Only one person could make her happy; Alex. She has been finding more and more excuses to spend time with him; in the library, at lunch breaks, watching his Quidditch practise.
Monday night, Lily and James stuck up the notice for Hogsmede: Saturday. Lily still wasn't back on speaking terms with James, which proved hard to maintain seeing as they lived five meters away from each other. Luckily for Lily, Quidditch had started and the Gryffindor VS Slytherin game was looming closer and James had scheduled Quidditch practise four times a week.
Today was Friday, the day before Hogsmede. James knew this was his last chance. Although he knew they were very slim, he was going to ask her differently this time... Not like all the other times. Lily was studying Transfiguration when James entered the common room.
"Hey," he said casually.
Lily didn't bother to answer. She was concentrating.
"What are you studying?" He asked.
"Transfiguration," she said shortly.
"Do you want some help?" He knew it was the wrong thing to say just as it came out of his mouth. Wrong, so wrong...
"I'm quite fine, Potter," she snapped. "Just because you're a genius at Transfiguration doesn't mean we all suck."
"Well of course you don't." James said, trying to sound positive and unaffected by her comment.
Lily ignored him and kept working.
What is this girl's deal? James thought to himself. First she seems okay with him, and then she wants his head on a plate. She's a rollercoaster. She doesn't know what she wants. She wasn't like that at the start of the year.
She's going to say no anyway, James thought, may as well just ask. "Lily? Do you want to go to Hogsmede with me tomorrow? Louise and Morgan are coming. So are Padfoot and Moony." He asked hopefully. He asked nicely. Maybe she'd come if she knows were coming too.
Lily thought he was nuts. Did he really expect her to say yes? "No thanks, I'm going with someone else." She said indifferently, still not lifting her head.
"Who?" James tried to ask casually. He already knew the answer and he probably wasn't going to like it.
Lily couldn't turn back now. She couldn't lie and say she was going with Morgan and Louise; they were already going with the Marauders. She knew James wouldn't like the answer.
"I'm going with Alex." She said boldly. Stuff him; she could go with whoever she wanted to.
James stiffened. He knew that would be the answer but that didn't ease his anger. "Alex? Did you even hear what I said last week? Don't come running to me if he hurts you, because I won't hear a word of it!" He shouted at Lily. He wasn't just making stupid accusations; he had proof. He'd heard stories, seen things too. Now Lily was his victim and James wasn't going to let him hurt Lily.
"Fine! I won't come running to you because I won't need to! You're the last person I would come to for help, anyway! Leave me alone." She yelled back, picking up her book and storming into her room.
James sighed. He needed a plan. He needed Sirius.
It was Saturday morning and Lily was getting changed for Hogsmede. Alex was going to meet her after breakfast. She dressed into light wash skinny jeans and a dark blue fitted long-sleeve top. She knew James would be in the Heads common room. To be honest, she was quite nervous about her date and facing James. She held her head high and walked out of her room, expecting to be confronted by James. He didn't even look up. He was bent over a piece of parchment, waving his wand. It looked vaguely familiar. She recognised it as the same on Remus has on the train. She wondered why they would need such an old piece of parchment but she was in no mood to ask. She kept walking and left the common room.
She sat at breakfast and ate quietly. Her friends sensed she was upset but knew not to ask. Lily continued eating, thinking about all the ways her date could go wrong. Her mood lightened when she got up and saw Alex waiting for her outside the Great Hall. She grinned and walked over to him.
"Are you ready?" Alex asked, holding out his hand.
Lily took it. "Yep, let's go."
They walked out of the entrance of Hogwarts, passed the grounds and onto the path leading to Hogsmede.
"You look beautiful, by the way." Alex told her as they were walking.
Lily blushed. "Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself."
"Thanks." He squeezed her hand.
All the other students were walking as well. Lily could see some people she knew in front of her, walking with their friends and boyfriends. She looked at the people behind her. Lily's eyes found the Marauders straight away. They were with Morgan and Louise, laughing a something Sirius had sad. Lily remembered Morgan has said something about meeting her boyfriend William. Why was she was the Marauders?
Alex had been watching. "You can go with them if you want to." He didn't sound hurt.
"No, it's okay. I want to stay with you." She did want to stay with Alex but she envied her friends. They were happy. They didn't seem to be affected by the gloom that was settling lower over Lily. Between Head Girl duties and homework, she hardly had time to sleep. She felt so far away from her friends. They never spent time together anymore.
Lily and Alex stopped in the main street of Hogsmede.
"Where should we go?" Alex asked.
She tried to think of a place that would least likely contain James. He would probably go to Zonko's or Honey Jukes with the others.
"The Three Broomsticks?" She suggested.
Alex nodded and lead her to the Three Broomsticks, still holding her hand. They chose a table in the far corner and ordered two butterbeer's. Before Madam Rosmerta could return with their drinks, the door tinkled and the Marauders entered along with Louise and Morgan. Lily groaned and banged her head on the table. Morgan looked around, saw Lily, and bee-lined for her. "Great." Lily mumbled. Alex put his hand on hers, calming her down. The others saw where Morgan was going and followed. James hesitated before following.
"Hey Lily!" Morgan said cheerfully.
"Hi. I thought you were meeting William?" She asked curiously.
"William? We broke up last week? Didn't I tell you?" Morgan said, looking confused.
Lily shook her head. James was standing with his arms crossed, having a stare-off with Alex. They looked about ready to curse each other. Lily stood suddenly and took Alex's hand.
"Come on, Alex. Let's go somewhere else. You guys can have our drinks." She told them. All she wanted to do was get away from James.
"Sorry about that. But as you might have noticed, Potter and I don't get along well." She said.
"That's alright. I don't think he likes me, anyway." He smirked. Lily laughed.
Alex pulled her into a hug. She looked up at him and she almost chocked on her breath. He was gorgeous. He leant down closer to Lily's face. She could feel his breath on her face. He kissed her nose and her skin tingled. Lily stood on her toes, getting closer to him. He kissed her lips and she kissed back. It was soft and tender at first, but the longer they kissed, the more intense it got. Finally, they broke apart.
Alex grinned. "Come with me."
He pulled her down the road and left down another street, away from other students. Lily felt wild and excited, freer than she had ever been before. She had no idea where they were going but that just increased the fun.
Lily had no idea that James and Sirius had been watching. James knew Alex would do something like this. He knew Alex wasn't your average Ravenclaw. James had seen him talking with Slytherin's, the worst kind of Slytherin's. This is what he did; seduced the women that the Slytherin's needed to get back at for whatever reason.
So when Alex kissed Lily, Sirius had to hold him back. James wanted to rip the guy's throat out. He so wished it was him holding Lily, him kissing her. He could give her the world.
Sirius and James had the Invisibility Cloak covering them. Sirius wanted to know why we couldn't just prank them while they were out together but James knew that wasn't the way to go. Even if James was right, Lily would still blame everything on him.
Alex and Lily zipped around another corner with Sirius and James running along, trying to keep up. They turned a corner and could no longer see them. Did they keep running or did the enter one of the houses?
"Split up?" Sirius suggested.
James nodded. "But what if we can't find her? What will he do to her, Padfoot?" He asked Sirius anxiously, unable to gather his thoughts properly.
"Prongs," Sirius said, putting a hand on his friends shoulder, "We're the Marauders. We have the map of Hogsmede too, remember?" Two years ago, the Marauders made a map of Hogwarts, showing every secret passage way, every hidden classroom and staircase, and every single person in the castle at all times. Now, in their last year, they had just finished a map of Hogsmede.
Sirius whipped it out and said the words. Instantly, a map of Hogsmede appeared. James quickly scanned every inch of the paper.
"There!" He almost shouted, pointing at two dots in the next street, labelled Lily and Alex. Three other dots joined them, labelled Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Black and Walden McNair.
"Padfoot, we have to move." James started running towards Lily's dot with Sirius running a stride behind him.
"What's my dear old cousin doing there?" Sirius growled as they rounded another corner. They were one street away.
Meanwhile, Lily was bound in ropes, Malfoy and his gang advancing. Lily struggled to get out of the bonds but every time she moved, they tightened. She could hardly breathe, her ribcage surely about to be crushed.
"Should I play with her a bit first or get it over and done with?" Malfoy drawled.
They're going to kill me, Lily thought to herself. She tried not to show fear. She had to be strong. She thought about screaming, to see if anyone might hear her. Just as she thought that, Lily was released from the ropes and fell to the ground, gasping for air. A curse hit her. This time she couldn't stop herself. She screamed a terrible scream. Her insides were being ripped apart. She looked down and saw blood spurting out of her. Her head was splitting open. She didn't even hear Malfoy mutter the curse so she had no idea was it was. The pain was too much.
"Must thank Snape for that one." She heard someone say.
Snape? She was so confused. She couldn't see. Her consciousness was slipping away. She thought she heard someone call, "Lily!" But she couldn't be sure. And in what she thought was her last dying moment, she thought of James, and whispered his name. Her head crashed to the ground and she blacked out.
