I whirled around in a split second. A tall figure I could not recognize yet – standing in the shadows. His poise held nothing for me to be suspicious of. It did not even seem menacing. It had that…nonchalant semblance about it. The broad shoulders revealed that the figure was a male.
He stepped forward slowly, and flaming torch on the wall shed light on his face, little by little, till I saw who he was.
"James?" my brow furrowed. "How long have you been there?"
Was he blushing? I couldn't tell, not in the darkness. "I saw you climbing up the stairs, so I just followed you," he explained, a bit defensively.
"Why did you follow me in the first place?" I was furious in my indignance.
"I just did, ok? What's your problem?" he snapped, a red flush rising in his cheeks steadily. He wore an expression I found impossible to discern, hazel eyes concentrated on me with fierce scrutiny.
I shifted my gaze uneasily, proceeding to descend the steps. But he placed a hand on my arm, guiding me otherwise, leading me to the parapet. I did not know why I did not resist. Perhaps I couldn't be bothered to. Perhaps I was scared. Perhaps I didn't really mind…
I did not react when he drew me closer to him, either. Together we gazed at the gray world unfolded before us, flooded with hush moonlight. Silence hung in the air like a heavy veil, and the air itself was seemingly holding its breath in anticipation. All was still, suspended in calm.
He was the first to speak. "You like it here, don't you?" It was a rhetorical question by his tone, but he nudged me gently, prompting me to answer. I nodded hesitantly, unsure of what to expect next.
I searched for clouds in the sky, but could find none. No clouds to hide the beauty of the crescent moon. No clouds to hide the simple, miniature brilliance of the stars. No clouds to hide the sky.
In such beauty, I should have been perfectly at ease. But I wasn't. How could I possibly be, knowing that the one I had loathed since fourth year was standing close to me, too close for comfort, and also knowing that I was out after curfew?
Thus I broke away. I fixed my eyes determinedly on the ground, but I could still feel his eyes boring into me – not with adoration, but with a quizzical, questioning look… "I have to go," I murmured.
And I left the tower.
James broke, inwardly, staring at the slender figure with hair that streamed like fire, and eyes that glittered like emerald stones. He should've known that it was too good to be true. When he had taken her in his arms, he didn't dare to believe that she wasn't resisting. She wasn't, but she had left anyway.
Sweet, beautiful Lily – the girl he was so enamored with. Couldn't she see that he had matured? He felt as if he couldn't be more mature than he was. The new maturity he had developed over the summer came with a curiously unwonted sureness that Lily would surely fall for his charms, what with his apparently deflated head… But she hadn't.
All the Marauders had matured. Even the brooding yet roguish Sirius had matured, Peter too. And Remus had always been mature. He had been the last one to emerge from the cradle of childhood, growing to be almost…grown up.
The Marauders had never been so serious about life before.
But of course, the pranks persisted. They were their trademark, their cause, their reason. They were the spark of mirth in that dull, dreary world of maturity, their reminder to keep their childhood alive, to keep the flame alight. To protect it from the wind and rain, the demands of adulthood.
Seventeen was a difficult age.
" Adelaide?" I took diminutive steps; arms crossed gingerly, strands of hair falling into my eyes.
Then I felt as if a thousand heated pokers were burning into my back. Colours swirled in a frenzied circular motion before me, flashing before me in bright, blinding shades. The laughter came. The maniacal laughter of someone tormented, someone racked with anguish. Dust smothered my nostrils and made it hard to breathe, but I managed. And when I felt as if I was about to lose consciousness…
It all ended as quickly as it had come.
I collapsed to the ground, choking, spluttering and wheezing. " Adelaide!" I cried out, shutting my eyes as the laughter rang in my ears again. What was this…torture? What was going on?
She stepped out of the wall expressionlessly, dark ringlets framing her clearly defined features. Her gaze flicked over to me.
Her eyes widened.
"Lily!"
She knelt by my side hurriedly, offering soothing words of comfort, for as a ghost, there was nothing much she could do to cure me of my physical pain. "I'm so sorry," a tear trickled down her cheek, though her eyes were vacant. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to…I didn't expect it, honest, Lily! Do forgive me!"
I gaped at her. She looked…broken. What had happened to the strong-willed Adelaide she'd known? The Adelaide who refused to cry in front of others? And…what was that part of forgiveness? Surely she wasn't responsible for whatever had happened?
"I'm so sorry, Lily! I was just so angry, so hurt…You'll forgive me, won't you, please? Huh?" Adelaide pleaded with me, tears making dark runnels down her cheeks.
I didn't know what to do. I didn't understand anything at all. Thus I simply told her that she was forgiven, though I didn't exactly know what I was forgiving her for.
