Chapter 12:
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: All the characters/ideas you recognize belong to the wonderful JK Rowling.
Lily awoke early the next morning, intent on finishing her massive pile of homework before…someone could wake up, and interrupt her studies. So, she was surprised to see not James, but Sirius lounging across the sofa in the common room at 6 o' clock in the morning.
Determined to make her position clear, she stuck her nose in the air, pointedly ignoring him, and marched to the tables in the corner of the room. Sirius pursed his lips, half amused, half irritated as she slammed her books on the table. He quietly pulled out his wand, silently apologizing to her in advance, and flicked it at her.
Lily's body locked up, freezing her the way she had been sitting; her hand curled around the quill, and her arm extended over her Potions essay.
Sirius walked over to where she sat, and pulled out the chair next to her. "I'm sorry, Lily, I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't necessary," he apologized, giving her a small smile. Her green eyes were hard, and flashing dangerously.
She wanted so badly to spit the word "what?" at him, but her lips refused to move and frame the words. She also felt the unmistakable urge to hit something—preferably him—but that wasn't working too well, either.
"I just thought you should know that James really did like you. Hell, he might even love you, Lily! And now…" He shook his shaggy head sadly. "The whole bet was my fault," Sirius admitted, hanging his head; she could see that he was plainly ashamed. "We started it in first year, right after James asked you out for the first time. I said that he would have to ask you out a thousand times before you ever agreed, but he didn't think so: 'No one can resist the famous Potter Charm,' James said to me." Sirius imitated James's deep voice perfectly, and Lily felt a sharp stab of pain rip through her chest. He sighed loudly, distracting her from the hurt. "Well, you know how James gets. God forbid he ever be wrong about something. So we bet.
"At first, the bet was his drive. I suspect the reason he wanted to win so badly was that he didn't have 10 galleons—I know I didn't! But then… around fourth year, something started to change. He would talk about you constantly. It was always 'did you see her kick everyone's arse in DADA today?' or 'don't you love her hair like that? It's so…red'. Remus was the one who figured it out first." Sirius chuckled softly for a moment. "Merlin, you should've seen his face. But he accepted it quickly enough. After that, the bet hardly ever came up. He approached me many times, asking if we could call it off, but, being the idiotic git I am, I always told him that it was out of the question."
He turned his head to face her abruptly, just as she was thinking, is there a point to this conversation? "I guess what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't think that James didn't care. Believe me when I say he did. At this point, I'm pretty sure he would jump in front of an Unforgivable for you, and he would do it gladly. I don't expect you to go throw yourself into his arms at the next available chance and snog him senseless, but could you just…think about what I said here?" Sirius asked beseechingly. He sighed when he realized he wouldn't be getting an answer. "I guess you can't answer that, can you? Finite incantatem." And then he walked away, leaving Lily to her muddled thoughts, and conflicting emotions.
Despite her best friends' frantic attempts to convince her otherwise, Lily thought it would be best to attend classes on Monday morning. She took her time getting ready, paying great attention to her hair and makeup; she didn't want to show just how much her falling out with James affected her. Of course, another part of her was doing it for a completely different reason.
But her efforts were entirely wasted. James wasn't at breakfast, and neither were the rest of the Marauders. Lily kept her thoughts positive, though, telling herself that they had just overslept, and were late for breakfast. She sneaked sly glances towards the doors every few minutes in hopes that they would come strutting through them at any moment.
Camey and Alice were not fooled though. They knew just who Lily was looking for every time she scanned the crowd when she thought that they were paying attention, and they knew the exact reason she had spent nearly an hour primping before reluctantly trudging down the stairs behind them.
But James and the rest of the Marauders never showed.
Still, Lily pushed through the halls, searching the crowd determinedly, and ignoring the stares and whispers she was getting, along with the furious glares from other girls.
They weren't in any of the first three classes she had with, so it startled her to see them sitting in their usual seats when she entered the Advanced Transfiguration classroom.
She smiled politely at them as she would have done any other day, and took her seat in the row in front of them. Lily didn't dare glance at the empty chair next to hers where James would have normally sat.
Once everyone had filed in, McGonnagal stood up behind her desk and looked around the room slowly. Her eyes froze on James's empty seat for a second, and then turned to Lily. McGonnagal opened her mouth to ask where James was, but something about Lily's expression made her look back to Sirius instead. "Mr. Black, where is Mr. Potter?" she demanded through pursed lips.
Sirius hesitated before answering, "I don't know, Professor." Lily spun around, as did the rest of the class. She noticed now how desperate and grim their faces all were. Sirius didn't wear his signature cocky grin, but instead an unsightly grimace, and his dark, stormy eyes were clouded over with worry.
Remus looked similar to how he always did just before a full moon. His robes were wrinkled, and his hair disheveled like he hadn't gotten enough sleep. His expression was an exact replica of Sirius's.
Peter was much more open about his worry. His feet were tapping impatiently, and he kept shooting frantic glances towards the door.
It was the first time Lily had ever seen them truly distraught.
McGonnagal gave the boys a quizzical look, but seemed to believe them, and turned away from them. "Today we'll be learning about Animagi…" McGonnagal began, but Lily didn't hear the rest.
She pulled out a piece of parchment, and quickly scribbled a few things on it, then crinkled it up and tossed it over her head.
Sirius unfolded the parchment, and smoothed it out so he could read the words. It read:
How the hell can you not know where your best mate is?? Lily's normally neat, elegant scrawl was messy and bunched together; the letters and words were all connected, like she had been in too much of a hurry to complete each separate letter.
Sirius looked over to Remus, who had been reading the note over his shoulder, and shrugged. Remus contemplated for a moment, and then nodded.
He never came back Saturday night. We haven't seen him since breakfast that morning you went flying with him, he wrote. Then he balled it up in his fist and chucked it at the back of Lily's head.
"Ow," she muttered quietly. She shot Sirius a dirty look when she reached down to the floor to pick it up.
"Miss Evans, what do you think you're doing?" McGonnagal's stern voice demanded.
"Oh, I, er…" She heard a small thud, and looked down. Alice had purposely dropped her own quill. "I dropped my quill!" Lily replied, holding up the writing utensil as evidence, and sliding back into her chair, with the note in hand.
McGonnagal gave her an appraising look; her lips pursed, and then shook her head as if she had decided that it wasn't worth pursuing.
"Thanks," Lily mouthed to Alice, who just smiled in return.
Lily read the trouble note quickly through narrowed eyes, and sighed dramatically. Oh for God's sake! You have a map that shows everyone in the damn castle! Why don't you just use it?
When Sirius received the note, he just glared at Lily, and wrote back: How dense do you think we are? The map only shows the people in the castle and in the passageways, so that wouldn't help us even if James hadn't taken it! We've searched the entire castle, and he's not here. That's why we weren't at class this morning. But if you think you'd have better luck than us, feel free to look for him yourself!
Then he tossed it to Lily again. She read it, then rolled it in to a tiny ball, and Vanished it. She turned her head slightly so he could hear her mutter, "Don't think I won't."
A/N: Okay, so originally this chapter was only going to be the second half and then another part where Lily sets off to find James. BUT, I didn't want to squeeze that into one chapter just so it can be done next week. With that being said, I'm just going to apologize in advance if I don't update next week. I will try as hard as I possibly can, but I'm not promising anything. There's only so much you can do on an airplane, or in a place with no WiFi. So, if there is wireless Internet in any of the airports I am in next weekend, I will get the next one up. If not, you'll have to wait another week for the next chapter. I'm terribly sorry, but that's the way it has to be.
On another note, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you could please review, that would make my day so much more exciting. Thanks, lovelies!
Love always,
Livelier
