Chapter 14: Hogsmead
A/N: The last chapter (sorry I didn't add this in that author's note) wasn't really anything relevant to the story (as you may have been able to tell). I've decided, like the Sirius turning into a squirrel chapter, I will have a semi-random not quite significant fun chapter whenever I have writer's block, or about every six chapters.
"Lily! Wake up already!" Alice said for what must've been the millionth time. I had to patrol late last night, therefore didn't want to get up this morning.
"Here, allow me," Shay said. I was suddenly shoved from the bed. I landed on the floor with a loud thump and my head throbbed.
"Ow!" I exclaimed as my brain pounded inside of my head. "What was that for?" I bellowed as I got to my feet.
"I think James would be a little disappointed if you skipped your first date with him," Shay said as she tried to pick out a shirt to wear to Hogsmead. "And you have to get ready so that your hair doesn't look like a mess." Shay turned to me. "Kind of like it does now," she added. I glared at her and she smirked over back to me.
I acted annoyed at my friends and even slammed the door when I went to take a shower, but I was really excited for Hogsmead. Wow, last year if I would've been going to Hogsmead with James Potter all of my friends would be slapping me to see if I was sane.
But I was sane, and going to Hogsmead with James was something I had been looking forward to all week. I might even be a little nervous, in an excited way. But I wouldn't tell anyone that. Nobody really had to know anyway.
I showered slowly. When I stepped out of the bathroom, my clothes were laid out for me. "This," Shay started, indicating to the clothes. "Is what you'll be wearing?"
I looked at the miniskirt and long sleeve low cut shirt. "No, I will be wearing a sweater and my good jeans," I told her.
She glared at me. "No! You cannot wear that! You simply must wear the skirt!" She whined. I rolled my eyes and dug through my truck til I found my jeans and sweater. I got dressed quickly. Shay was glaring at me the entire time.
By the time I had dried and brushed my hair, found my socks, and brushed my teeth, I was late. "Bye!" I called as I dashed from the room.
My friends laughed and said that they'd see me in Hogsmead later. I ran down the steps two at a time and tripped over my foot on the way off of the last step. I stumbled as I tried to steady myself, and thought I would wind up on the floor for sure. But someone caught me before I fell.
"Hey, Evans! You shouldn't be trying to injure yourself, James can't be that bad to go on a date with!" The familiar voice joked. I looked up to see I had fallen into Sirius Black's arms.
"What's with the last names, Black?" I asked him. He chuckled lightly.
"Oh, I just feel in that kind of a mood today. James is waiting for you though. What a frantic mess he is! You better go find him so he'll calm down a bit." Sirius told me as he set me on my feet and steadied me. I nodded and walked off quickly. I tripped again over someone else's foot on the way out of the common room and could hear Sirius laughing and was sure he was shaking his head at my clumsiness today.
I ran down the stairs, taking them one at a time, so as not to trip again, and ran to the entrance hall where James was pacing. He looked nervous, and impatient. I took a deep breath and walked over to him, trying to look more confident than I felt.
"Hey," I piped up as I neared him. He hopped around and smiled wide.
"Ready?" he asked me. I could sense the nervousness from earlier, but he was doing a good job to cover it up.
"Yeah, I didn't keep you waiting too long, did I?" I asked.
He shrugged, "Not that long. I was early though," he said. I had a feeling I was a bit later than he led me to believe.
"That's good," I said. He agreed and the subject turned to the Quidditch team this year.
"It really is looking good; now that all the positions are filled and the players are used to playing from the practices. I think we could win it this year… God would I love to finally win it…" he muttered.
I smiled. "You'll be able to do it. You have the desire to win it, more so than the Slytherins," I added. He smiled.
"Where do you want to go first, Ms. Evans?" James asked me politely with a hint of a smirk on his face. The smirk must be from the jokester trying so hard to be polite.
"It really doesn't matter to me," I told him. "How about the Three Broomsticks?"
He sighed, "Thank God you didn't say Madam Puddifoot's." I laughed as he said this while he walked me into the Three Broomsticks. He sent me to a small table in the corner and went up to get us some drinks. He came back several minutes later with two butterbeers.
"For the beautiful redhead," he said handing me my drink. I blushed lightly and took the drink. He seemed uncomfortable with the silence that had taken the last sixty seconds away.
"Why are you so nervous?" I asked suddenly. "It's just me."
He looked up startled. "I'm not nervous," he lied.
"Don't lie to me. I can tell, you're nervous. I just want to know why." I told him.
He looked me in the eye. "I'm nervous because I'm actually going out with you." I tilted my head to tell him I was still missing something and he smiled lightly. "I just don't want to say the wrong thing and have you hate me again. You do realize how long it's taken me to get to this date, don't you? I just don't want to blow it because of something immensely stupid." I smiled as he looked at his drink, fiddling with the straw.
"It would take more than one slip up of the mouth to make me hate you again," I told him. He looked up at me smiling.
"So, are you for the Cannons this year?" James asked. Quidditch again, typical, I thought.
"No, I like the Harpies. They're going to take it for sure!" I told him.
He laughed. "You know that they don't stand a chance, don't you?" James asked.
"Twenty galleons they win the cup," I challenged with a grin. "The Cannons' chance is much slimmer than the Harpies though."
"Yeah right! Okay though, twenty galleons on the Cannons." We continued chatting through our butterbeers and soon we were on our way out of the Three Broomsticks and into the cool wind.
"Where to next?" I asked him.
"Hm, I need to get some new quills, and stop into Quality Quidditch Supplies, if you wouldn't mind accompanying me," he added.
"Okay, I need some more ink anyway." And we walked off to buy our supplies. James got four new quills and a container of invisible ink, while I got two new ink containers and some parchment.
James bought something in Quality Quidditch Supplies while I listened to a program about the quidditch standings this year so far. We walked out, James blabbering about how the Wasps shouldn't be this far in the lead.
"Ready to find those insane people we call friends?" James asked me. I nodded.
"Where'd they go anyway?" I asked him.
"I told Sirius to meet us in the Hogs Head. Much Quieter and more spacey than the Three Broomsticks," he informed me. I nodded in understanding. I was a bit disappointed our time together alone was over.
We entered the Hogs Head and immediately saw our friends. Sirius waved like a maniac for no reason in particular. Sonya looked ready to kill, no doubt the fact Remus and Emmaline were on a date at the moment had her angry and disappointed. I couldn't help but feel bad for her… Shay looked excited to see us, and I guess that she was worried about Sonya, and Peter smiled as we approached.
"Hey, what'd you get us?" James asked as we walked over. Shay eyed me curiously, trying to read the expression on my face, no doubt. I knew she wanted me to sit next to her so that I could tell her how everything went. I sighed reluctantly. I really didn't want to have to gush everything out right now. Couldn't she wait till we got back to the dorms? I wondered hopefully.
"Two butterbeers for the lovely lady and the, what was that you used to call him?" Sirius asked me. "Oh!" He suddenly remembered. "Arrogant toe-rag!" I flushed an awful shade of scarlet and James glared daggers at his friend. Sirius ignored him, slid my butterbeer down the table to me and threw James' at his face. James caught it quickly, still glaring.
"So?" Shay whispered excitedly when I sat down.
I sighed. "I'll tell you everything tonight." I put extra emphasis on the word 'everything' and she smiled and nodded. We got to talking, and talked until Remus showed up with Emmaline.
"Hi." He said sheepishly. Sonya glared into her butterbeer, Shay glared at Emmaline, and I tried to be happy for Remus and supportive of Sonya at the same time. This task was nearly impossible.
"Hey, Remmy!" Sirius jumped up and shook hands avidly with Emmaline. "Emmaline…"
She cut him off. "It's Emma."
"Emma," he corrected. "I'm Sirius Black, I'm sure you've heard of me before, sexiest man Hogwarts has ever seen."
Her forehead ceased slightly. "I've seen you around, but I never actually paid that close attention to you. I think my dorm mate's in love with you though…" She looked thoughtful and Sirius looked offended.
"James?" Emma exclaimed.
"Hey," James waved up at her.
"Hi! I've heard of you, of course! Quidditch extraordinaire… My friend is dying to beat you in the cup this year. I know I should have house pride, but we really don't stand a chance." She and Remus sat down and Sirius glared at James as he, too, took his seat.
James and Emma got into avid discussion about quidditch and the teams and the standings. I felt a feeling in the pit of my stomach. It made me want to injure Emma badly. I realized that this was jealousy. I never actually believed it felt so… strong! I quickly tried to focus my attention on something else, anything else.
"Hey, Shay?" I asked after a few moments of pure torture with no distraction in plain sight.
She looked over at me. "What?"
"I'm going to head back up to the school, you want to come? I think Alice's back." I pleaded with her through my eyes.
"Sure," she said. "Sonya, do you want to come?" Sonya leapt from her seat in less than a second.
"Yup, let's go!" I looked back, but didn't bother to say goodbye to James. He was so intrigued with the conversation that he was barely on the same planet as I was. I smiled at a very discouraged looking Remus and a bored to death Sirius before leaving.
I vowed I wouldn't let the floodgates to my eyes open until I was in the head common room. We reached the school after what seemed to take a century. "I think I'm going to go read a bit before bed." I told my friends in a bit of a daze.
"But Lily, you promised to spill about everything that happened!" Shay exclaimed. "And you don't look well. I think that maybe you should spend another night with us in the Gryffindor dormitories. Please?"
I hesitated. "Shay, I really don't want to talk about anything right now." I was sure that I still looked hurt from the jealousy earlier.
"You don't have to tell us anything now." Sonya said. "But you look like you need some company tonight." Shay looked like she wanted information, but would oblige to me just staying the night.
I nodded to Sonya. "Okay." We walked up to the girl's dormitory in silence. Alice was waiting on her bed reading a magazine when we showed up. She looked up in excitement, to hear what bad happened with James and me probably. Her expression soon changed to confusion at the look on my face.
"What happened?" She was already off of the bed and on her way towards us.
"We left James sitting with Remus' girlfriend…"
"Whom he was getting very friendly with!" Shay cut in.
"A bored stiff Sirius and a crestfallen Remus." Sonya continued.
Alice looked appalled. "What happened? What was James doing? Why was he so intrigued?" Alice was bubbling with questions.
They all looked to me. I sighed in exhaustion and dejection. "I don't really know. We walked in happy and everything. Then Remus and Emma walked in happily as well. And Sirius was flirting." Shay was unhappy with this. "And then Emma threw herself into conversation with James about quidditch. I couldn't even say goodbye. His attention was completely gone." I was whispering by the end of it. The tears were threatening to all, but I pushed them back.
"That ass!" Alice exclaimed after a minute. I couldn't help but let out a small giggle at this. I had never heard Alice talk about someone in that way before. Shay and Sonya both chuckled also. "I'm sorry for my language," She apologized. "I just can't believe it. He always seemed so focused on you… I never thought… I really want to go kick his…" She didn't finish her sentence. A single tear fell and I fought more than ever to keep the rest from falling.
Alice was hugging her first, but Lily shrugged her away lightly, not wanting to hurt her. "Look, I'm really tired and… It's just been a bad evening. Can I go to sleep?" I asked.
"Of course. Everything will work out, Lily." Alice promised. I smiled, but I didn't have as much confidence.
I drifted off into an awful sleep fill with unwanted visions, otherwise known as dreams. I wouldn't have called them dreams in the slightest. But nightmare was a bad word also. Vision. That was the only word that seemed to fit…
Oh my god I'm sorry. I really am! I couldn't use Internet at my mum's and when at my dad's life is more hectic and I'm sick right now. It's one o'clock in the morning and I'm already suffering from lack of sleep from being at my mum's where the people upstairs move furniture above my bedroom every Sunday at seven o'clock. I know, pathetic excuses, but as tired/sick as I am, I'm going to start the next chapter now.
In the meantime, because it seems you can never know when I'll update, I suggest I Need You by Krstna. It's very long, should keep you busy. Really great story!
And now for a lame question… Any Twilight fans? I'm currently rereading the series and was wondering if anyone else had a passion for the exceptional tale.