Disclaimer: I own nothing :)

So I decided to post up Chapter 8 as well, because I'm in a pretty good mood. Therefore, more reviews, hopefully? :)

One can only hope.

Hope you enjoy!


Chapter Eight

He began debating whether it was worth it to cast a Disillusion Charm on himself or just run off, get Alice and fly out. Lauren Riley, Cassie Stern, and Rachel Wood…he shuddered just thinking about their tinkling laughter. He got his wand out, ready to Obliterate the mind of any Giggler who caught sight of him…they tended to work in secret operations…if he was spotted by one they would all surely congregate and plan to take him away to Merlin knows where…

He crawled quickly out of the aisle like a cat that'd been burned in the arse by a blazing poker.

They had almost taken his life last year, tampering with his broom, a clever (loosely-speaking) scheme meant to have him suffer a heroic fall into the stands while trying to catch the Snitch; of course, they had never bothered to find out that he was indeed a Chaser and not a Seeker…

And in fifth year, while the devils were all fourth years…they had slipped him a love potion…so powerful he fell for the Giant Squid. What a task it had been, dueling both Remus and Sirius together in order to prevent them from his goal of swimming to the bottom of the Lake…he had been beaten, luckily, and taken to Slughorn.

Yes, he must exercise the utmost caution in dealing with these girls.

He stood up slowly and deliberately, first staying on his knees (still alert for any sightings of blond hair) and then straightening his back.

He held his wand out, and when a wizard in the aisle looked up at him from his book, quite frightened, James used it to scratch his back nonchalantly.

"James Potter?" said a voice he recognized.

He was utterly stunned to hear his name being spoken by Lily Evans like it was fragile and to be treated with caution.

He had a strong sense of foreboding…

Ducking behind the nearest stack of books and hiding his face, he heard Lily distinctly say, "Oh, he's over there, by those books." She dropped her voice as if she were telling them a secret, but the whisper was still loud enough to carry. "I heard he's interested in Love Potions, by the way." With a giggle worthy of Rachel Wood or Lauren Riley, she walked away, while the blonds made a beeline straight for him.

He barely had time to curse Evans before Rachel, Cassie, and Lauren sauntered up to him, rosy cheeks and all.

"Hey, James," they said in unison.

"Hello," James said dully. Not for the first time, James tried to use his best mate as bait: "Sirius Black is not here, so if you please…"

"Oh, no!" Lauren said with a high pitched giggle that made James grimace.

"Did you hear him?" she asked Cassie with large eyes. "As if we fancy Sirius Black!"

They all giggled.

"I suppose Sirius is rather good looking though, don't you think so?" Rachel asked Lauren.

"He is better looking than James, but James plays Quidditch!" Cassie said excitedly.

"I wouldn't say he's better looking, just different looking – although, Sirius is better in a more classical way," Lauren said.

Meanwhile, James was slamming his head repeatedly against the wall. I suppose this is Lily's revenge for yesterday night, he thought miserably.

"Um, ladies, I've really got to go – I'm meeting someone," James said once he was confident he had suffered enough head wounds to forget the previous two minutes.

"You don't really want to go, don't you?" Lauren cooed, stepping closer. James moved back.

"I bet you're meeting that Alice girl!" Cassie accused.

"Is that that mousy girl he always hangs around with?" Rachel said.

"Alice isn't mousy," James snapped, defending his friend. "She's actually quite pretty, if you ask me."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he wanted to return them to his mind. The three girls focused their attention on him simultaneously, all of them wearing almost identical, fascinated expressions.

"Did you say you think she's pretty?" Lauren quipped.

"I thought you were crazy about Lily!" Cassie said breathlessly. "Everyone has always said so, it's the best gossip around!"

"Girls, maybe he's over Lily! Maybe he's starting to prefer Elise–" Rachel exclaimed excitedly, but she was interrupted by Cassie.

"Rachel, her name is Alice!" she said hotly, as if Rachel had personally injured her. James couldn't eliminate the possibility that that was how she had received Rachel's incomplete knowledge of the piece of gossip. "Alice. How incredibly stupid does one have to be–"

"Cassie!" James intervened desperately. "Rachel, Lauren! Stop arguing! And I would really appreciate it if you wouldn't discuss my love-interests while I'm standing right here, thanks."

It seemed he was only capable of saying things that would make the situation worse. At his comment, they turned into a united force once more. "How adorable!" Rachel chirped, clapping her hands when she saw James redden. "He's embarrassed to talk about how much he fancies Elise –"

Cassie grew red and turned to Rachel furiously. "Alice!" she repeated shrilly. "You must be the daftest person in the world, Rachel!"

James would have felt quite sorry for Rachel if he hadn't just noticed Lily standing not but a few feet away, having just heard every word that had been said. She had an odd, knowing smile on her face, and James experienced an inexplicable feeling of dread on seeing it.

He decided it was time for drastic measures.

"Oh, look! I think he's going to show us those amazing magical skills I hear he's got!" Lauren squealed happily, noticing his wand in his hand. The other two girls smiled very widely.

"Well I'm actually – what are you doing – give it back to me," James growled.

The girls giggled and took turns holding James' wand as if it were the Holy Grail.

James considered disarming them, but he wasn't sure if their wands or his own would fly out of their hands.

"Give it back to me," James said, holding out his hand.

Rachel smiled and held his wand out, but withdrew it when James made to grab it. James breathed deeply, and wondered how his team mates would react if they ever saw him failing to retrieve his wand out of the hands of a thin sixth year girl.

"Oh, give it to me!" Lauren said with a giggle. She caught it and hid it behind her back, saying silkily, "Come and get it, Hunkie Poo."

A large snort sounded suddenly. They all looked to Lily, whose face was buried in a pile of books, heaving madly with what James was sure was laughter.

In their distracted states, James snatched his wand and heard Cassie murmur as he quickly ran away, "Poor Lily, she's been a disaster ever since Cory broke up with her, I heard…"

The aisles were a mere blur as he zoomed passed them, skidding to a halt at a bookcase stacked with new Quidditch books.

More to stop his heart hammering than anything else, he grabbed a random book and started reading about the longest slump in Quidditch history, a record of twenty thousand and twenty two straight losses by the Chudley Cannons starting from somewhere in the fifteenth century (the historian reckoned that the fans were too ashamed to give an accurate start point of their team's abysmal play) until now.

"James?"

His heart fluttered. The voice he dreaded, but the very same voice he would never get used to, not for as long as he lived.

He slowly made an about face. "Lily?"

She raised a pile of books in her arms and grinned so widely it must be smarting. "Done."

"What?" James said dumbly. Suddenly, he said, "Do you need help with -?"

"I'm not as slight as I look, but thanks for offering. Where's Alice?" Lily readjusted the books in her arms. She looked around the shop until her eyes landed on Alice, who was standing with a tall figure among some shelves near the check-out counter.

James remained silent because his clothes suddenly felt entirely too small for him. He tugged his collar feeling very hot; Lily was completely oblivious.

"So, do you…I mean I'm really sorry – and although unleashing those monsters on me was cruel" – he heard Lily trying not to giggle, but failing, and James couldn't help but smile – "I guess – I dunno, I'm really sorry. I really am. I won't do that anymore. I was a git."

Lily looked up at him with an unidentifiable expression.

James heard the Gigglers again, but once they saw his face they moved right a long like museum-goers deciding the exhibit was too dull. He tried his best to keep his attention solely on the witch before him.

"Don't expect me to forgive you next time," she said coolly. James bit his lip, knowing this was the very best he could hope for. "It was only because she called you Hunkie Poo. I'm being absolutely serious. Send her flowers," she added, as if she had just read his mind.

She looked at Alice again, then quickly back at James as if she had witnessed something indecent.

"Who is she with?" she asked.

"With who where?" James said. He looked behind Lily's shoulder.

"Oh. I don't know…must be that bloke I bumped into," James said. In the distance, he saw Alice smile.

Lily pulled James deeper into the Quidditch section. "We mustn't spy!"

James rolled his eyes, his arm still tingling pleasantly where she had touched it. "I was not spying, I was gauging her reactions."

"It's quite plain that she's flirting James. You ought to know all about that," she said crossly, hugging her books close to her. "He looks like a Ravenclaw – I wouldn't have figured he was her type but, who knows."

James peeked around the shelves at Alice, whose lips were turned down firmly.

"James!" Lily hissed.

"How do you know he's a brain?" James asked.

"The way he holds himself – all the Ravenclaws have this certain way they carry themselves, and look. He doesn't even have a book with him, he's probably just strolling about, trying to look clever. Not in a haughty way – that's just the way they are," Lily observed.

"You got all that from watching the way his spine is supporting him?" James said, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

"His tie's dark blue, are you happy?" Lily snapped.

"I thought so," James said. "And if there one thing I know, it's that they're not planning a lunch date. Either he is trying completely too hard to make her smile and is failing dismally, or they're having a row."

"Are you quite sure this is what you're seeing or what you want to see?" Lily asked.

James whipped his head around to narrow his eyes at the redhead. "Didn't quite catch that."

"Potter," Lily said flatly, and James' heart sank a little. "You can't be the only important male in her life forever." She paused. "I saw your reaction when Rachel said you might like Alice."

"Are you saying you're going to believe Rachel Wood – ludicrous –" James spluttered, his cheeks turning bright pink. "I don't –"

"It's alright, I won't tell her," Lily said with a small smile as if she had known some secret of his all along. "I'll go pay for these now."

James eyes widened and he grabbed her arm before she could go. Lily stopped and looked at him, visibly peeved.

"I don't fancy Alice," he said, slowly and clearly, looking at her full in the face, knowing he had crossed an invisible line again too soon, but she needed to understand. Lily didn't say anything at first, and looked into his glasses rather than into his eyes.

"Right," she said sweetly, obviously not believing him. "I've got to go look for a book now. I'll find you guys later. Bye, James."

With that, she wrenched herself out of James' grasp and James bit his lip hard, drawing blood. "Fuck," he breathed.

Bloody fantastic; Lily thought he fancied Alice.

He watched Lily walk away, wondering how on earth he was going to fix this, when he suddenly caught sight of Alice again, who looked positively livid. His blood seemed to boil, too, even though he had no idea why she was angry. Maybe it was the fact that the world seemed to be out to get him coupled with her displeasure that made him angry. He sauntered over to her in long strides.

"Funny, most people would worry about losing a mother's love, not her money," said a deep voice.

"All right, Allie?" James said pointedly, noticing the heartbroken expression on her face. As he said this, he looked at the tall, dark haired wizard who had spoken; he finally recognized him as Alistair Hansen, a fellow Ravenclaw seventh-year. He was scanning the top of the shelf, ignoring James' sudden appearance.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alice said shrilly.

"Only what you'd like it to mean, Prewett." He looked at her haughtily, still ignoring James's glare. "Maybe your family didn't have enough money to bribe Dumbledore, and that's why you weren't made prefect?"

James noticed the prefect badge on his robes.

"Walk away, Hansen," James said calmly, feeling the heat radiating from Alice's body.

Suddenly, he noticed the absence of the soft, distant giggling he had previously thought was ringing in his ears. The Gigglers must have left. He pulled a book at random from a shelf and prepared to hide his face with it at a moment's notice.

"Ah, I've received intelligence that you've got yourself the Head Boy badge. It should have been a Ravenclaw, in my opinion, but congratulations," Alistair said as though he had just noticed the messy-haired wizard. James said nothing, but Alistair continued talking. "Maybe you could loan the Prewetts some money. Ah, Potter, that wouldn't be wise," Alistair added hesitantly, looking warily at the wand James was now pointing at his chest.

"Don't be a fool. Leave," James growled, throwing the book aside. Alice held up a hand.

"James got the badge because he's a powerful wizard who is really smart," Alice said sharply, looking into Alistair's light blue eyes. James glanced at her quickly.

Alistair scoffed and chuckled lightly. "A Gryffindor, brighter than a Ravenclaw? You are very lucky you are very pretty, Prewett," Hansen said with a wink.

Alice winced.

"If you've got a smidge of intelligence, you'll leave right now," James threatened, and stepped closer to Hansen, who was about half an inch taller.

"You won't dare, Potter -"

"I'm no coward," James said loudly. "Nor do I particularly care about rules. I will jinx you, I will curse you, I will duel you, and I will win."

"Get the wand away from me," Alistair said.

"You best be on your way, then, Hansen, before my emotions get the better of me."

Alistair set his jaw and nodded curtly at Alice. "Have a wonderful day." He was not carrying a book in his hand as he exited the scene.

Alice rounded on James. "James, I was fine on my own. He wouldn't have dared start anything with me."

"What's wrong with helping out a friend?" James said, making his way to the front of the store with Alice at his side.

"You weren't helping, you threatened him!"

"You're like my little sister, Allie, you can't expect me to – to," he faltered under Alice's rapid blinking.

"But I'm not your little sister, stop treating me like one!" she said thickly, elbowing past him to get to Lily, who he hadn't realize was in sight again. She was now sitting at an unoccupied table, lost in a book.

The events of the still-young day overwhelmed him all at once: Lily had been mad at him and now she had the completely wrong impression about him and Alice; that idiot had remonstrated him for sitting on the floor (not that he particularly cared); the Gigglers had annoyed him to the point of suicide; and now Alice was continuously rejecting his efforts to console and help her. It was like the world was teaming up against him. James couldn't take it anymore.

"Bloody fucking hell to Merlin's -"

"Mate, you sure you want to finish that?" said Sirius Black, appearing out of nowhere, nodding at a middle-aged witch, who looked ready to hex James as she shielded her small child's ears.

"Let's take a stroll after you've paid for your things," Sirius said calmly, unperturbed by James, whose temper was threatening to haze his vision.

After James had paid (Sirius had had to pick up the gold that had fallen when James slammed it on the table), they took their bags and began walking slowly back to the witches and Peter, who were now all congregated at Lily's table.

"I don't want to bloody talk about it," James said, even though Sirius hadn't asked. When Sirius didn't respond, but merely smirked at several passing witches, James said heatedly, "If you're not going to bloody well hear me out -"

"Prongs, you're barking mad," Sirius said in that same cool tone. "Is it Lily or Alice?"

"I told Lily I don't like Alice. Alice thinks I think she's like a sister that always wants help."

Sirius squinted thoughtfully. "You shouldn't have to tell Lily you don't like Alice," he guessed. James nodded, his frown softening.

"Alice is bitter Lily got the Head Girl badge. Let it go, it's not your fault. You don't see her having a go at Evans, do you?"

James was barely listening to anything Sirius was saying anymore as a tall boy had caught his eye. He felt like a hawk sweeping in on its prey as he watched Alistair take the steps to reach Alice and Lily.

"Let's check out these books," James said quickly, tugging Sirius rather roughly by the arm into an aisle within hearing distance of the girls. It dimly registered to him that Alice had told him not to interfere...that to do so again would only anger her more.

He dragged Sirius behind a small rack of newspapers, crouched down and stared intently at the girls and Alistair. Sirius followed his gaze.

"Wait – he's a brain, isn't he? I once snogged Marie Smith so hard in the Ravenclaw common room. They actually like me – the brains, that is. They would have let me shag her right there near the fire, no doubt," Sirius said. He paused. "I forgot this guy's bloody name – Alby, Alan...?"

"Shh," James said slowly. "Alistair," he added hastily, fixing his eyes on the small group.

"Ah, Alice," he heard Alistair say. "Did -"

"Alistair, this is Lily, you know Lily, don't you?" Alice said curtly. James' jaw dropped in horror. Why was she introducing him to Lily? Sirius wordlessly placed a finger over his closed lips, his eyes watching the scene.

Alistair raised an eyebrow at Alice; then he inclined his head at Lily, who smiled meekly.

"Of course, Head Girl," he drawled. "Congratulations on that. Everyone knew it was going to be you," he said, with a smirk that suggested it was meant to be a heavy compliment. Lily's eyes darted to Alice's, who was determinedly looking at Alistair.

"Thank you, Alistair, but I never thought it was going to be me," Lily said so quietly that James had to lean slightly forward to hear her.

Alistair chuckled. "Always so modest." He turned to Alice. "Will you allow me to take your friend out for a drink?" he asked graciously as if they hadn't been in a nasty argument minutes before.

James snorted so loudly he and Sirius had to duck to avoid their curious glances. Before Alice could make the worst decision of her life, James stood and made his way to Alistair, who looked at him in surprise.

"Potter, hello."

James was about to tell him to stick his head in a regurgitating toilet, but Alice cut across him.

"Actually Alistair, James and" - she saw Sirius - "Sirius, and I were just about to go to Owl Emporium to get food pellets."

James tossed an icy glare at Alice. "What?"

"Let's go, James. You have her all to yourself, Alistair," Alice said cheerily, waving goodbye to the pair and tugging James away by the hand. She grabbed Sirius, too and they made their way outside, leaving a bemused Lily and a gleeful Alistair behind.

The still strong throng of people rushed passed them and they were pushed hard against the walls of the store.

Alice sighed when she saw the identical scowls on the boys' faces.

"I can explain."


And school starts for me tomorrow, so I'll have a harder time updating about every week/5 days like I did before. :/

I'll try my best though!

Review, please?