Chapter 11: The Girlfriend

Lily woke up the next morning and stretched. She looked over at the grandfather clock in the room. It was already 10:00. She got up and walked into the kitchen. Karen was leaning against the counter reading the Daily Prophet. "Morning, sleepy head," she said without looking up.

"Hey," Lily said. "Where is everyone?"

"James and Sirius went out to the garden," Karen said.

"Oh, and um...how did things go with Sirius last night?" she asked smirking.

"Shut up," Karen said rolling her eyes. Lily just laughed.

Later as Lily was reading her book on Charms, there was a knock at the door. She looked up then went to the door. When she opened it there was a beautiful blonde girl standing there. She had shoulder length hair and blue eyes. She was a bit short but her face was glowing. "Can I help you?" Lily asked.

"Who are you?" the girl asked.

"Eliza! What are you doing here?" Karen asked walking into the living room.

"I came to see-"

"He's not here," Karen said quickly.

"But he said he would be."

"Well he's not."

"Who is she?" Lily asked.

"Um Lily this Eliza," Karen said.

"Nice to meet you," Eliza said sticking out her hand.

"You too," Lily said smiling. "Who are you looking for?"

"James!" the girl said running past her and over to James.

He froze as the girl threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. Sirius was standing next to him trying not to laugh. Karen sent him a glare then turned back to Lily. "Lily let's take a walk," Karen said, practically dragging her out of the house.

"Is there a reason we're going so fast?" Lily asked as she was pulled along.

"Yes," Karen said. "You don't want to see that."

"Why not?"

"Because you just don't."

"Karen, James isn't my boyfriend anymore," Lily said. "He has a right to do whatever he wants. Especially in his own house."

"You're not mad?" Karen asked.

"Why would I be? He's moved on. I'm happy for him."

"Oh, so I made a fool of myself for nothing?"

"Yeah." But really if Lily was honest with herself she wasn't happy for James. Seeing that girl with her arms around James had made her want to punch someone or at least pull that girl off of him and throw her out of the house. She had no right though. She and James had agreed to be friends and she wasn't going to ruin that because of some girl. She wanted James to be happy. If he was happy then she would at least pretend to be happy for him. That's all she could do. For now.


"So?" Sirius asked as Eliza left.

"So what?" James asked.

"Oh, come on, don't tell me you didn't notice the way Lily looked when Eliza showed up," Sirius said elbowing James.

"I didn't," James said. "So just drop it."

"Of course, you did, you just don't want to admit it," Sirius said.

"Whatever, I'm going to talk to Lily, and don't spy on us."

"Fine."

James walked down the hall to Lily's room. He lifted hand and knocked lightly. "Come in," Lily called. James slowly opened the door and saw Lily looking into the vanity brushing her long hair. He longed to feel it again but resisted.

"Hey, James," she said putting the brush down.

"Hey, can we talk?" he asked.

"About what?" she asked sitting down on the bed.

"About earlier."

"What about it?"

"Well, I just didn't expect Eliza to come over or I would have told you about her."

"James, you don't need to explain yourself to me. We're friends, I don't mind if you date. That's your decision to make, not mine. You don't have to ask my permission."

"I know, but I just thought that it would be better if I told you about her first."

"James, it's ok, really."

"I know, I just feel like I own you an explanation."

"You don't so don't worry about it."

"Ok. Thanks, by the way."

"For what?"

"For understanding."

James sighed as he left. Somehow this didn't feel right. Like he wanted Lily to be jealous. He shouldn't right? Of course, he shouldn't. Then why did he?

"Sirius I'm going to Remus'," James said. He walked into the fireplace and threw some Floo Powder in. He appeared at Remus' flat a few seconds later.

"Hey, James," Remus said looking from his book.

"Remus, can I ask you something?" James asked.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, Lily met Eliza today."

"That can't be good."

"Actually, she didn't do or say anything about it. Just said that I didn't have to ask her permission to date."

"I don't see the problem."

"I don't know, I guess I kind of wanted her to flip out and get mad."

"Why would you want that?"

"I don't know, that's why I came to you!"

"No offence, but isn't this more of Sirius' area of expertise?"

"Yeah, but you know more about Lily and how her mind works."

Remus sighed. "James, if you ask me, you still like Lily. I don't know why, I guess it's because you just can't stop chasing after her. It sort of a habit. I think you're still in love with the girl, mate."

"But I can't be! I just can't! We agreed to be friends! That's all we will ever be from now on! I'm not in love with her!"

"I'm not trying to tell you how to feel, but I think you just need to tell her and be on with it."

"No! I'm not telling her that after I told her that we were just friends! I can't. I can't risk losing her again."

"If you don't tell her, mate, you will lose her."