As thunder boomed and lightening flashed, James and Lily hurried down the path to the Shrieking Shack into the village. The street was crowded with people milling about in the rain and they were quickly getting soaked. Lily's clothes were sticking to her and her hair was drenched and James, she noticed, did not look too much better.
"You look like you just fell in the lake," Lily told James, as they made their way through the crowd.
"You do too," he replied with a smile. "I have an idea. Follow me."
Before she could answer, James grabbed her hand and pulled her off the road into Honeydukes.
"Why are we going in here?" Lily asked. "I thought —"
"Shh," he said, holding a finger to his lips.
James navigated through the crowd of witches and wizards to the back of the sweet shop. He glanced around and then opened a door, which Lily could see led into the cellar.
Once they descended the staircase, James let go of her hand and walked over to a large pile of boxes.
"Could you help me move some of these, Lils?"
"Sure, but why—"
"It's a secret passage."
At her bewildered look, James smiled.
"Have you ever heard of Hogwarts' secret passages?" he asked, lifting a box of Honeydukes specialty chocolate out of the way.
"Well, I've heard of them, after all I am a seventh year, but I always thought they were just rumors."
"Lily, Lily, Lily," James said shaking his head, pretending to be disappointed. He pushed a large box of chocolate frogs out of the way and stepped aside for Lily to see the trapdoor on the floor. It blended in so well with the floor and was covered with dust that at first she did not see it.
"What do you think of that?" he asked, beaming proudly.
Before she could respond, James bent down and lifted the trapdoor, which revealed a small, dark hole.
"You think we can get back to Hogwarts by means of this rabbit hole?" Lily asked incredulously.
James nodded. "I know we can get back. My friends and I discovered these paths first year…with a bit of help from Filch of course."
He looked at Lily's doubtful expression and reached for her hand again. "Come on, it's not that bad," he said reassuringly. "You're with me. What could possibly go wrong?"
James descended a flight of stairs that led into the hole, pulling Lily behind him. Once they were fully in the passage, James shut the trap door and they were in complete darkness.
"James," Lily moaned. "Are you sure about this?"
"Positive," he replied. "Lumos."
She lit her wand as well and saw that they were in a very narrow, low, earthy passage. It felt very claustrophobic and the air was dank and cold and as they set off on the circuitous path, Lily kept a firm grip on James' hand. Finally, after what seemed like an hour of walking, the path gradually began to rise and they reached a stone trapdoor.
James pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket, examined it, and the pointed his wand at the stone.
"Dissendium," he said. The stone instantly leapt aside, and formed a fairly large opening.
James climbed out first and then offered Lily his hand to help her out. As Lily gripped his arm and clambered out of the hole, she slipped and fell into James' arms.
"You okay?" James asked, helping a blushing Lily to her feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."
Abruptly her stomach growled loudly.
"I guess you're hungry," James said with a smile. "Shall we go downstairs for dinner?"
"Sure, that would be great," she replied a giggle.
With that, James and Lily made their way down the corridor and Grand Staircase to the Great Hall. Before they entered however, Lily turned to James.
"Let's go in separately. My friends already think we're an item and I wouldn't want to encourage them anymore."
James hesitated for a moment before replying, "Sure, if that's what you want, I can wait a few minutes."
"Thanks, James," Lily said, giving him a smile before she went into the Great Hall.
"Hey, Lily," said Andy as Lily sat down at the Gryffindor table.
"How was your day in Hogsmeade?" Andy asked.
"It was okay. What about you—hey, where's Meredith?"
Andy and Kelly exchanged glances.
"Well, after you left we went to Honeydukes and Meredith started talking with Sean Macmillan. When we were ready to leave, she told us to go on without her and as far as we know she spent the rest of the day with him."
Kelly looked over at the Hufflepuff table and Lily followed her gaze. Meredith was sitting with Sean Macmillan, laughing at something he had said. She seemed to be enjoying herself, Lily noticed, occasionally running her hand through her hair and resting her hand on his.
"Looks like she got over James fast," Lily said.
"I'm not so sure about that," Kelly replied. "She may just feel lonely now that the object of her affections and her best friend are ignoring her. But who know, she may really like Sean."
Lily shrugged her shoulders and turned back to her meal. About fifteen minutes later, after Lily was almost finished eating, James finally entered the Great Hall. To Lily's dismay, though, Olivia Brooks and a couple of other girls were trailing behind him. James sat down across from Lily and her friends and the girls began to pepper him with questions.
"James, can I come to your practice? I would absolutely love to watch you play."
"James, I will never be able to pass my O.W.L.S. Could you tutor me in Transfiguration? I heard you're pretty good."
Waving off the girls, James caught Lily's eye and gave her a pleading look.
"James, you're hair looks so good when it's tousled," said Olivia, reaching over to play with James' hair. "I'm sure I could help you out if you went to Slughorn's Halloween party with me."
Before James could reply, the other two girls protested and asked James to go with them. Then, out of the blue Lily blurted out, "He's already going to Slughorn's party with me."
Everyone went quiet and looked at Lily in utter amazement. Kelly's jaw dropped and Andy raised his eyebrows but their reactions were nothing compared with James's.
"W-what did you say, Lily?" he asked with wide eyes. He was in complete shock and appeared unaware of anything else in the world besides her.
Lily turned beet red and cast her eyes down at her empty dinner plate. She had no idea why she said that. She had not been planning to ask James to Slughorn's party nor had she even planned to attend herself. In past years, she had gone with boys in the "Slug Club" who invited her but she never had a good time. Last year, to Slughorn's dismay, she had not attended a single one of his get-togethers. Looking up again, she saw that Olivia and the two other girls looked very angry. Then she met James' eyes and knew her answer. Inviting James to Slughorn's party did not mean they were a couple or that anything would happen between them. They would just go as friends.
After repeating herself, Lily watched in satisfaction as the three girls turned red and stormed off.
James looked at her incredulously. "Are you sure about this?" he asked cautiously.
"Sure. It's not a date. We'll just be going as friends."
Hope you liked it! Please leave a review. They really motivate me to write more and update faster. =]
