Disclaimer: JKR owns all characters, plots, etc. that you recognize.
Summary: It seems love just isn't what's in store for Lily Evans and James Potter. After two years in a relationship, they couldn't see why they were still together. Now they try to convince themselves and everyone around them that breaking up really was for the best, even though deep down they are heartbroken. They struggle to find some sort of happiness, sort through confusion, and end up realizing that they were meant for each other. Then all they have to do is put aside their pride and tell each other the truth. Eventually LJ! R&R Please!
Chapter 9
Oh man. I woke up but I kept my eyes shut tightly because of the pounding in my head. Why did my head hurt so badly? I reached around for my alarm clock but couldn't find it. I blinked groggily before slowly sitting up. Why had I been sleeping on the couch? I pushed myself up to find some aspirin, when I bumped into something hard, causing me to yell out in pain.
When had I moved the coffee table? Wait a minute, I thought, as I began taking in my surroundings. This wasn't my coffee table. And this wasn't my couch. This wasn't even my flat.
I began to panic slightly at this realization. Who's flat was this then? Looking down, I sighed in relief--I still had my clothes on. I looked around and noticed it had the same layout as my flat, so I figured I had accidentally let myself into someone else's flat.
Jeez, I hope I didn't wake up the people who lived here. That would be extremely embarrassing, not to mention how difficult it would be to explain how I just managed to break in. Grabbing my boots, I cautiously tip toed to the door and silently let myself out.
I realized I was in the flat two floors above mine once I saw the number on the door. Why on earth would I go up two extra flights of stairs? If anything, I would have stopped two flights below my floor. At the moment, though, I didn't really mind. Walking down stairs with a hangover was a much better choice than walking up them.
I looked around, making sure there were no muggles watching, before taking out my wand. Waving it around, the door unlocked and opened. I made my way clumsily to my bed. The clock read 10:04 am but I thought nothing of it. How late did I stay out last night? It didn't really matter I thought as I flopped down on my bed, sighing contentedly. I was going to spend the rest of my day sleeping off this hangover in my comfortable bed.
As I lay there, I tried to figure out what exactly happened last night. I didn't remember too much of it and didn't even know if I wanted to. Thank Merlin I didn't have to see the guys from work. I'm sure I did something embarrassing.
Man, not only did I have a horrible headache, but my face and arms were in pain as well.
Hold it. What was today?
"SHIT," I yelled a few seconds later, jumping out of bed.
I looked to my alarm clock. 10:18 am. CRAP!
I ran to the bathroom and hopped in the shower. Not even five minutes later, I jumped back out. I hurriedly brushed my teeth without even glancing at my reflection.
I rushed around my room trying to find some clean clothes that were appropriate for work. I couldn't find any so I threw on a pair of jeans and a grey tank top. I threw my hair into a messy bun as I rushed out of my room. I grabbed my shoes before continuing back out the door.
I didn't want to look at the clock because I knew I would cringe. Still I couldn't help it.
10:26 am. Moody is going to be so pissed with me. I can't believe that I got so wasted last night, I thought before disappearing with a loud crack.
I came to an abrupt stop once I realized I went a bit too far. Out of breath, I turned back and rushed to the closed door. Moody must have been in there. I put my ear to the door, trying to listen for his low voice. At the same time, I tried to slip my shoes on.
But for some reason, I lost my balance. I tried to use the door as support, but there was no such luck.
I fell to the floor as the door swung open. I groaned, laying there like an idiot. Apparently the door wasn't shut all the way and the sudden impact of my body caused it to open.
I looked up at everyone looking down upon me silently. I scrambled to my feet and rushed to my desk. I looked around expecting to find Moody standing there glaring at me. Relief flooded my body upon discovering he wasn't there.
Unfortunately, I knew I would have to face his wrath at some point today. It would have just been better to get it over with now.
"You look like shit, Evans," James laughed, breaking the silence.
"Thanks," I muttered sarcastically. I wasn't in the mood to deal with James at the moment.
"Moody just left. I'm so glad I'm not you. He's on a rampage," he laughed once more. I stayed silent and fell into my chair.
I dropped my head in my hands and rubbed my temples vigorously. These were my pathetic attempts to make myself feel better.
"What the hell happened to you," he asked, voicing what everyone else was thinking.
"What do you mean," I sighed, looking up at the others.
"Your face," he said simply. "What happened to your face?"
"My face," I questioned, touching it lightly.
"Yes. Your face."
"I…I don't know," I replied looking to Sirius, as if he knew the answer to this question.
Sirius said he didn't know then glared towards Eric. All eyes then moved from Sirius onto Eric, who tried at all costs to avoid any eye contact.
"What did you do," I yelled, pointing my finger at him.
"Nothing. I didn't do anything," he replied indignantly. "You did that all on your own."
I gaped at him, waiting for his explanation of what happened to me. I was very curious as to why he, and he alone knew what happened to me.
He opened his mouth just as Ben appeared at the door. He looked somewhat relieved and beckoned Ben in.
"Well. After almost everyone had left, Sirius asked Ben and me to take you home." Eric explained.
Both Ben and Eric told everyone how Eric and I called a truce. And how funny I was--James scoffed at this. They then explained how I became even clumsier and I did a face plant, then shortly after I passed out.
FLASHBACK TO PREVIOUS NIGHT (Ben's P.O.V.)
"Are you alright, Lily," I asked, with concern written on my face. Her body was becoming a dead weight extremely fast.
"Mmm…I don't feel…" she mumbled, before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her body gave way.
Both Eric and I tightened our grips to hold her limp body up. I nodded to Eric, telling him I had her. He nodded back at me before letting go.
Keeping my arm secured around her back, I used my other arm to support her legs. Once I had her comfortably in my arms, Eric and I began our journey once again.
We were both silent as we arrived at Lily's building. The door man opened the door for us and told us what her flat number was. We thanked him before heading to the stairs.
We finally arrived on the sixth floor and were standing just outside her front door. I looked to Eric and he looked back at me when I questioned about where her keys were. I didn't really expect him to know where they were. So we decided we'd just use magic to open her door.
We stumbled around in the dark quietly before I set her down on the couch. I placed her head on a pillow then covered her with a blanket Eric handed to me.
Then we left and locked the door.
END OF FLASHBACK (back to Lily's P.O.V.)
I couldn't believe I had passed out. I couldn't believe that Eric and I had called a truce. It was a little awkward because now I didn't know how to act around him. I suppose I could try as long as he acts civilly to me and doesn't act like a prat anymore.
I felt my face once more and winced. My chin and my right cheek had scabbed. It was then that I noticed my palms and forearms were also scabbed up. I couldn't see how I hadn't noticed this earlier.
Merlin, this was so embarrassing, I thought as I turned bright red. I conjured up a mirror and brought it up to my face. HOLY COW. I did look like shit.
I grabbed my bag and began digging through it in search of some ointment. Ah-ha, found it. I squeezed some onto my hand and began to rub it over my scabs. Within a minute the scabs began to disappear.
I tried my best to ignore the laughter that sparked around the room, but soon it became too much. Determined, I stalked out of the room to the training field by myself. My stomach churned as I took off running.
I ran for a good hour on the track before the others came out from the office. I could see Sirius up ahead and caught up to him.
"Hey," I said.
When I received no response, I turned my head in his direction. His face was set straight forward with no expression. He was ignoring me.
What the hell was his problem? What had I done to receive this treatment?
"Sirius, what's wrong?"
Still, silence.
"Would you quit ignoring me," I asked, blocking his path.
He sighed before responding to my question.
"Look, I don't want to have to take sides between you and James."
"What are you talking about? I never asked you pick me over James."
"Lily, you were out of line yesterday…"
I looked at him blankly before telling him that I didn't remember much of last night. Even though I was scared to ask what happened last night, I still did. Sirius looked at me for a few seconds before telling me what exactly happened last night.
After hearing how I acted last night I was even more embarrassed and I felt sorry that Sirius had to deal with that, as well as everyone else. And I couldn't believe everything I said to James.
"Sirius, I'm so sorry for how I acted last night. But what does that have to do with having to take sides between the two of us?"
"James and I got in an argument this morning. He feels that I'm taking your side. And according to him, I have been ever since you guys broke up."
"That's ridiculous. I can't believe how immature he's being. I mean--" I stopped short when I saw the look on his face.
"Sorry. Never mind what I just said."
"No, it's alright. He was being immature. Anyway, it's fine. We should get running. I see Moody coming out this way."
Not only was my stomach churning, but now it had dropped and it felt like my heart was in my throat. I don't think I've ever felt so terrible. I nodded and began running once again.
"EVANS! OVER HERE, NOW!"
Uh oh. This was it. I jogged over to Moody.
"You were late."
I screwed up my face and began to apologize and try to explain.
"Sorry sir. I--"
"I don't want to hear it Evans," Moody growled.
"Yes, sir."
"Get to the locker room now, and be in my office within half an hour," Moody order.
I nodded and took off.
I felt so sick and weak when I arrived to the locker room. I just needed to get to my locker to retrieve my bag of potions. But this task was proving to be more difficult than I had expected.
I took a few shaky steps before my legs gave out. I collapsed to the floor a few feet from my locker. I knew how pathetic I looked, but at the moment I didn't really care.
I stayed there for a minute before getting on my hands and knees and began to crawl the rest of the way to my locker. I had to stop a few times and take deeps breaths to calm my stomach. It would just be my luck of throwing up all over myself.
I weakly pulled myself up and supported myself against the lockers. I closed my eyes and took another deep breath. Another minute or two passed before I sighed and turned to my locker. Opening it, I made to grab for the bag and ended up knocking it to the floor.
"Damn," I whispered.
I dropped to the floor and searched through the bag for the two potions I was in dire need of. I found the hangover potion first and popped the cork open on the vile. I threw my head back, pouring the contents of the vile into my open mouth. I grimaced at the taste of the potion, but I felt the effects of the potion start to work within seconds. Slowly, I was starting to feel slightly better.
I continued my search for the potion that would re-hydrate me. I looked through the whole bag but couldn't manage to find the potion. I guess water would just have to do. Just then I felt a wave of nausea come over me. I stumbled up and rushed for the closest toilet.
I withdrew feeling just a worse as I did before. I wiped the corners of my mouth before brushing my teeth. Then I climbed into the shower for the second time that day, shaking worse than ever.
I walked into Moody's office to find the rest of my team waiting, but there was no Moody.
"What's going on?" I asked Frank.
"Probably going to finish lecturing us, now that you're here."
I nodded in understanding.
"Well, let's just hope it's short and painless," I muttered, more to myself.
"Don't count on it, Evans," Moody growled, walking into his office. I could see he was carrying two or three folders as he made his way to this desk.
Frank and Kingsley chuckled after hearing Moody's comment, but silenced immediately upon seeing the look Moody threw at them.
"All of you were late today. Some later than others," he directed at me. "However, that is not the reason I've called you all in here."
We all sat in anticipation of what was going to be said next.
"There was an abduction late last night. It is believed that a group of death eaters have taken two ministry workers. Both of whom work in the department of mysteries. They are Chantal Griffins and Foster Rowell. We believe that they are being held prisoner somewhere just outside of Paris. Here are the files on Griffins and Rowell. Take a copy from each folder," he said, passing two of the folders around.
He stayed silent as we looked over the information. Both Griffins and Rowell were in their late thirties and had been working in the department of mysteries for over five years. They were last seen in the elevators together heading to their department's floor.
"Sir, do we know what they had been doing in their department," I asked, even though I knew what the answer would be.
Before Moody could respond, James answered. "Evans, come on. It's called the department of mysteries for a reason."
I shot him a look, but continued with my questions.
"What time was it they were last seen and by who?"
"Ministry guards just outside the elevator shaft around nine," he supplied.
"Do we have any motives as to why these two were taken," Sirius asked.
"Currently, no."
We continued to ask questions so we could prepare ourselves a bit more. There was silence for a minute before Moody began to speak again.
"Now, you bunch have been pushing your luck with me lately and I would have picked a different team to go on this mission, but you all are the best I have. So, tonight you will be gone for no more than five days. I want you all to go home now and pack accordingly. You will be given directions before you leave. Meet back here by seven," he said, with a dismissing manner.
A/N: hey…so yeah. Here is the next chapter. Once again sorry for the wait. I had a hard time with this chapter. It just wasn't coming out the way I wanted it to. So it's gone through several edits.
Thanks for reviewing:
shetlandlace
thestralwhisperer
blondewivbrains (no, sorry. We won't be seeing brad again.)
wicked26
An Aspiring Author
And...
R.L.N.Tonks
Thanks!
--Jenn
PS. R.L.N.Tonks: Yes, deep down James does still love Lily, but he can't seem to recognize it. He has a hard time seeing that when he gets so aggravated with Lily over the littlest things. He has begun to care for Isabel and is sappy with her because they are in the honeymoon stage of their relationship. But Lily will definitely be a problem for their relationship. And no, at the moment, he doesn't love her.
James and Lily will be getting together later on in the story. Just not for a while. Sorry. But I will try to have more interactions between them (I just love tension between them).
Lily feels like James is doing things just to make her jealous, but he's not. Then when Lily does get into another relationship, James with believe that she's doing it to make him jealous. Which will cause problems. James will not do well with the guy lily gets involved with.
I also want to say, lily will not be going out with Eric at all during this story. She still wants James but she has a hard time dealing with him and his new relationship.
Anyway, I'm headed off to class and I'm going to try to work on it tonight.
OH and I am thinking of fixing up the other chapter, maybe changing a few things. Let me know if you all like it the way it is or not.
PLEASE REVIEW!!