Chapter 10
As time went on James and Lily were freed from the dark thoughts that had long held their minds. Months flew by and time passed quickly. School continued as normal and Lily and many other students were constantly studying for the last test they were ever going to take at Hogwarts, the O.W.L.'s. James was greatly freed from the dark thoughts that held him when he confronted Peter and asked how he had gotten the map.
"I was going to tell everyone that I had found it again, but with all the confusion that was going on, I thought it better to keep it to myself until everything had settled down," said Peter cunningly.
"Oh I'm so glad you found it Peter, I feel a lot better now," said James.
"Don't worry it's in good hands," replied Peter with a sparkle in his eyes.
"I still don't understand how we lost it in the first place though," said James confusingly, but after a few minutes he shrugged his shoulders and went out of the common room and headed for the library.
James as well as Lily had begun to study for the O.W.L.'s. Although no more dark thoughts haunted them, both had become very agitated as the end of the year came more quickly then expected. Lily was literally crazed with the fact that not only did she have to worry about her test but also about her wedding. Soon it was four weeks before the end of school. Depression once again settled in Lily's heart, and more then once James came upon her and saw tears in her eyes. All the teachers gave hour's worth of homework to the students and there was barely anytime to spare for social chat. As James walked to his classes he had seen Hagrid come often into the castle bringing decorations for the graduation party at the end of the school year. Banners and ribbons and lights had been brought in and were piled into a storage area to await the party.
Away in the common room, Lily sat by the fire doing her homework. The week had passed very slowly and it seemed that the homework would never stop coming, but now it was Friday and Lily finished her last bit of writing. She put down her quill and leaned back in her chair for a few minutes enjoying the rest, then she put her finished work away into her backpack and brought it back up to her room. Lily sat down on her bed and was about to doze off when storm, her cat, jumped up onto the bed.
"Well, hello there," said Lily. "What have you been up to? I haven't seen you in a while."
As if in answer to her question the cat meowed loudly and laid beside her. Lily stroked his soft fur and he purred contently next to her. Over come with exhaustion Lily fell quickly into a deep sleep.
Meanwhile, James walked around the corridors having finished his homework a few minutes ago in the library. The three other Maurander's were still busy at the large stack of homework they had received. Feeling bored, James headed towards the common room hoping to find Lily there. As he entered the room he found to his dismay that she was no where in sight, so he decided to see if she was in her bedroom. He climbed the stairs and finally came to her bedroom door. He opened it softly and walked in. There he saw Lily sleeping soundlessly with storm beside her. James moved closer to her bed and looked curiously at the cat.
"Not much of a people cat are you? I can't remember the last time I saw you," said James quietly.
The cat stared blankly at him. James petted storm and he purred loudly. As James petted him he noticed that there was something around storm's neck.
"What are you wearing?" asked James.
He looked closer and saw that the cat was wearing a collar made of shells. James laughed softly.
"You're not a people cat, but I guess you are more of a mer-people cat. I thought cats were suppose to be afraid of the water," said James with a smile.
"Well that explains were you have been most of the time. I hope you steered clear of the squid. He might have a liking for cats. Yum! Yum!"
Storm gave a low growl and stood up and jumped off the bed.
"Oh I was only joking."
When storm was out of sight, Lily began to stir on her bed. As she opened her eyes she was startled by James, who had been looking down at her. When she finally realized who it was she smiled.
"Hello," she said softly. She pulled herself from the bed to an upright position.
"Oh dear, where has that sneaky cat gone now?"
"I think he went back to play in the water," James said with a laugh.
Lily looked confusingly at him.
"Never mind," he replied.
"I was so tired from studying that I decided to take a nap. I guess I dozed off quickly," said Lily.
She yawned and flashed her eyelashes childly at James.
"Don't you think you have been pushing yourself a little to far Lily?" said James frowning. "I mean I know that you really want a good test result on your O.W.L.'s, but with the wedding and the end of the year coming upon us so fast…."
"Don't you worry about me. I can take care of myself…most of the time," retorted lily with a smile.
James remained unconvinced but he knew that he would get nowhere with her at that moment, so he left the subject alone.
"What time is it?" asked Lily.
"Um.." James glanced down at his watch, "It's 5:30."
"5:30!!!!" yelled Lily. "I only have another hour before dinner to study. I can't believe I slept so long."
Lily flung the covers back and jumped out of the bed. Meanwhile sending James crashing to the floor in a flurry of sheets. She was halfway out the door when she realized what she had done. She turned and looked at him. His glasses askew and his jet-black hair ruffled, he looked very comical indeed. Lily laughed and walked up to him, offering him her hand. He took it and pulled himself up, fixing his glasses and trying his best to tame his wild hair.
"No need to be in such a hurry there is still five more days till the tests, and you have been studying for them longer then anyone else in the school no doubt," said James.
"Surely you can't expect me to pass up the opportunity to get more studying in, can you?" she asked softly.
"As a matter of fact I can!"
Lily eyes clouded with shock at his quick change in temper, but after a few moments she shrugged it off and glared back at him with her usual defiance. James saw that she wasn't about to let go of her studying habits so easily. His anger fled from him and he knew he could only plead her to take the hour off.
"Please! Come with me for the rest of the hour. I'm going out to the Quidditch field to practice for tomorrow's game. You can come and help me if you want."
Lily heard the desperation in his voice and her feelings for him flooded through her senses as though waking her from a dreamy land.
"Oh well if your going to practice Quidditch, then you will surely need me," said Lily with a smile.
James pulled her close and kissed her. Then they both turned and walked out the dormitory bedroom. They made their way through the hallways and out onto the field. James ran over to a storage room outside and opened the doors. He grabbed two broomsticks from inside and strutted back over to Lily.
"Think you can catch me?" asked James smugly.
"Why bother asking a stupid question like that? You know I will knock you off that broomstick before you can say 'Qudditch'," replied Lily already mounting the broom.
James gave her a mischievous smile and with lightning movement was high in the air riding through the sky. Lily gapped open mouthed at the figure swirling through the clouds. James had obviously been practicing.
'Time to have some fun,' thought Lily as she zoomed towards the endless wonders of the sun setting sky.
She rode faster and faster sending her red hair spinning out behind her. A laugh escaped her mouth as she rode through a cloud of white. Lily burst through the other side sending puffs of white in every direction. She raised her wand and pointed at the many clouds surrounding her.
"Spectachirum."
Without warning the clouds burst into an explosion of colors. Sparks flew left and right, lighting up the dimming sky with a thousand colors. Lily spotted James floating below her, looking up at the sparkling clouds. She was pleased to see that he was impressed with her trick. With a quick movement, Lily sent her broomstick in a nosedive towards him. James spotted her and saw were she was heading. He quickly moved out the way just seconds before Lily would have crashed into him. As she passed him, he heard her laughing as she pulled her broom level and spun in circles. Cloud sparks caught in her hair, making it appear as though she was wrapped in a blanket of color. He flew down next to her while the sparks continued to fall from the clouds.
"Very nice!" James applauded.
"Thank you. I knew you would like it. See sometimes all that studying can really pay off," she replied.
"So that's where you found the spell?" he asked.
"Yep, the book I found it in was quite an interesting book. It looked new, so it might have been written just recently. No body had checked the book out yet either. I know because I checked the library card."
"Well, looks like you got the first privilege to try out the spell. It really is a neat one," said James.
"I agree," replied Lily matter of factly.
Without another word Lily flew back up into the sky. The rains of color poured over her and she looped through the air in spiraling circles. James followed her around the field, laughing as she went slightly off course and skimmed the lakes surface with her hand, sending color seeping into the depths. Meanwhile a good amount of people had come outside to watch the cloud show. When James and Lily finally landed on the ground, some people applauded Lily for her beautiful spell. She thanked them while James put the brooms away. Eventually the people left the field and headed towards the Great Hall for dinner. When the field had completely cleared, Lily lifted her wand towards the sky.
"Cleracio!"
The clouds dimmed in color and then the sparks in the air began to fade and slowly disappear. She and James watched as the last of the sparks faded. They turned to leave when a gust of wind blew and Lily's hair flew back revealing her golden scale necklace. A spark of color landed on the necklace and Lily shielded her eyes as a burst of golden light erupted from the scale. Within in seconds the light disappeared, leaving both James and Lily in utter astonishment.
"What happened?" she asked.
"I…I don't know," confessed James. "Lily, look at your scale."
She looked down and touched the scale holding it up to examine it. To her surprise a small glittering star had been embedded in the scales center.
"It's beautiful, but I think it might have ruined the necklace," said Lily sadly.
"I don't think so. I think that it is a perfect addition. It even glows green in the moon light."
The scale did indeed glow a soft green. To Lily the star was somewhat comforting. She gazed at a little longer and then let the scale fall back on its chain.
"I like it," she said.
James looked at her with soft caring eyes and then turned and led Lily to the Great Hall for dinner.