A Rival from the Future
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. The only thing that belongs to me is the plot.
Story Summary: It looks like James has found another rival with Lily. But the strange thing is, he looks exactly like him, and his name is… Harry Potter?
Author: Sky's Teardrops
A\N: Uhm… I'm sorry and forgive me? =)
I really just wanna say thanks to all the readers, old and new, and especially to those who spared some time giving me a review. I really do appreciate it! Thank you!
As for those of you who asked me a lot of questions and have some concerns about my story, don't worry. All of those will be answered as the story progress. I hope. =)
Finally, here's Chapter 20! And I just wanna say that I had a LOT of fun writing this one. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! =D
Chapter 20 – So Many Questions
She was calling out for her mom and dad, and even for her sister, but they were nowhere near. She looked around her and saw nothing but trees and grasses. She started to walk. She grew tired immediately, but she kept on walking. The sky was very dark, and rain was starting to pour on her.
She tried to call out again, but her voice was lost in the sound of the rain. Now shivering, she looked up as she saw something lit up the sky.
Her eyes widened when she saw the huge lightning. A spark of light that seemed so close to her, threatening to hit her any moment.
She tried to shut her eyes to block out the image in front of her, but she was not prepared for the sound that followed it. A great roar of thunder was heard, and a small scream escaped her lips.
She clamped her hands to her ears, and with her eyes closed, she began to step backwards.
She felt herself trip, and the next thing she felt was…
She was falling…
Deeper and deeper…
And no one was there to catch her…
Lily's eyes snapped open, her breathing irregular. She took a deep few breaths, willing herself to calm down, with the images of her dream rapidly slipping away. She closed her eyes and rested her head for a while.
When she was finally feeling normal, she opened her eyes again, only to blink in surprise.
This isn't my room, right?
The large windows with scarlet curtains, the fireplace in which the fire was dying and failed to give sufficient light to the room, and those chairs and large sofas certainly do not belong to their room.
She stood up, and to say she was confused was an understatement. She was about to go to the fireplace to huddle close to it when she heard someone grunt.
She nearly jumped, and turned to look at the direction of the noise. Through the light from the fireplace, she could just make out a long figure draped on the other end of the sofa. She approached it slowly, and all the while, the other form did not move.
When she was near enough, she saw that its owner had dark, unruly hair. And only two guys in Hogwarts possessed that kind of hair. She couldn't really figure out who this one was, because his face was buried in the chair and also because of the insufficient light. Praying that it was the 'good' one, she tried to wake him up.
After a few seconds and he still hadn't moved an inch, she decided to leave him alone for the moment and explore the room instead.
Through all of her years at Hogwarts, she was sure she'd never been here before. She could say that it looks a bit like their common room, what with all the scarlet things scattered across the room, but it definitely was not it. It's too small, plus there were only two of them in the room.
She ventured to the curtained windows and looked outside. She saw that the rain had not let up. Heavy droplets of water were hitting the windows. Fearing that a lightning would soon strike, she moved away from it.
It had been ten minutes and Lily went back to the guy, determined to wake him up. She went in front of him and shook him, hard.
His head rolled from the armchair but still Lily shook him. It was too late when she noticed that his body was unbalanced.
She only noticed when he was starting to fall, headfirst, into the floor.
She tried to catch him.
Even though she knew that she wouldn't get there in time.
And yup, she didn't.
She winced when a loud 'thud' was heard as his head came in contact to the hard floor beneath them. He groaned and Lily hurriedly went to him, sat down on the cold floor and put his head gingerly on her lap.
This is Harry, right? He's just not wearing his glasses because he's sleeping, right? Right? Lily tried to convince herself.
But when she smoothed his hair from his face and her hand came in contact with smooth, unscarred forehead, she wanted to cry in dismay.
"Harry?" Aliesha called him.
Harry, who had been staring out in the windows for a few minutes, turned to them. "Yup?"
"Will they be all right?"
"Yeah… I guess so." Harry answered, unsure.
"Uhm… Will Lily be all right? The storm's still strong, so there might be a few problems."
"What kind of problems?" Remus asked, concerned.
"Well, I think Lily's kinda afraid of storms. I don't know why, though." Aliesha shrugged.
"She is? Well…" Harry began to grow a little concerned himself.
Sirius grunted. "What are you guys worried about? It's not like we left her alone in there. James is with her."
"And that's exactly what we're worried about." Holly piped up.
"Oh yeah." Remus said, looking sheepish.
"What if this didn't work out?" Holly said softly.
Harry pondered this for a while, then turned to Remus and Sirius. "Hey guys, what do you think?"
Remus shrugged. "I really can't say. I don't know Lily that much, anyway."
Sirius snorted. "'Can't even imagine the two of them together."
Harry frowned. "Then why…?"
Remus smiled. "Well, he's our friend, so…"
"…whatever makes him happy." Sirius shrugged.
You wanna know what is one of the most irritating way to wake up? It's when you are sleeping peacefully, without any nightmares or whatsoever, and suddenly one part of your body connects with something hard rather forcefully and 'wham!'. Your consciousness drifts back to you.
And that's exactly how James Potter woke up.
He opened his sleepy eyes with difficulty when he felt his body resting on the cold, hard floor. Irritated beyond belief and thinking that he had fallen off his bed, he looked up. And when the annoyed but still pretty face of Lily Evans met his eyes…
Well, let's just say that shock was an understatement to describe what he felt.
He blinked a few times, wondering if this was just a dream. But after a few blinks and Lily, instead of disappearing, grew even clearer, he blinked for one last time. When the shock wore off after a few seconds, he stared at Lily in wonder, all pain in his head momentarily forgotten. "Hey…" he smiled at her, and his grin grew wider when he realized that his head was resting on her lap.
Lily's eyes narrowed and without any warning, she stood up. And once again, his head met the hard floor with another thud.
James clutched his abused head and looked up at Lily. "You really do love to see me suffer, huh?" He saw just in time the guilt that passed across her face.
He grinned. "Don't worry. This is nothing. And, what are we doing here?" he fixed his eyes on her.
"Do you think I even care?" Lily answered.
James stared and her and winced when he saw the pure annoyance and suspicion marked in her eyes.
"Hey, hey, what's up? What did I do?" he asked, bewildered.
"You even have the nerve to ask me that?"
"Huh?" James was puzzled. "I don't understand…"
Lily sighed irritably.
"What's going on? Why are we even here?" James continued.
And when he realized she wasn't planning to answer him, an idea came to his head and he smiled slyly. He said. "You abducted me, didn't you? 'Guess you can't resist me, after all." He sat on the floor and rested his back on the sofa.
"What did you say? I should be the one asking you that!"
James's eyebrow rose up. "Really? That's kinda confusing if you did that, you know."
When Lily raised her eyebrow as if saying 'how?', he elaborated.
"I know that moments ago I was just innocently resting in my room. But the next moment, I found myself waking up with you in the room. Now, do you have the right to accuse me of abducting you?" James answered.
"Let's see… does having no willingness at all to have your company for more than a few seconds disqualify me as a suspect for this scheme?" Lily answered sarcastically.
James shrugged. "Well, all I know is that when I woke up, you were the one holding me close, not the other way around." He smirked at her.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Well, sooorry," she exaggerated. "I just thought – no, I was actually hoping – that you were Harry. But I guess seeing as you were the one who planned all this, that's kinda impossible to happen."
James rubbed his eyes and fell silent.
"What? You don't have anything left to say?"
"No. I'm just trying to figure out who did this to us. And why." James answered.
"So, you're gonna pretend that you don't know anything about this. Great." Lily plumped herself down on the sofa opposite of the one where James was positioned.
James looked up at her. "I really don't know anything about this, I swear." He held up his hands.
"And why should I believe you?"
"Why shouldn't you?" James answered. When she didn't respond, he sighed. "Look, I'm serious. I don't even have the slightest idea how we ended up here. And worse, I have the worst headache ever." He closed his eyes and rested his head on the seat of the sofa.
In spite of herself, Lily grew a little concerned. "Uhm, is that because of what I did?"
"'Course not. You weren't the one who caused me to fall off the chair and wake up, anyway."
Lily cringed. "Uhh, yeah."
"I feel like I just took a bottle of sleeping potion." James said, his eyes still closed. "I can't even open my eyes for more than a few minutes.
"You can go to sleep again." Lily suggested. "That way, we can both have our peace."
James opened his eyes and looked straight at her. "And miss the chance of spending time alone with you? No way." He said, his eyes intense. "Uhm, we're alone here, right?" he looked right and left.
"Unfortunately." Lily sighed.
He closed his eyes and grinned. "This is the best night ever!"
"It really is." Lily said sarcastically.
~*~
Lily can't sit still for even a few more seconds. She stood up and walked around the room, thinking hard.
A moment of silence passed them. Lily spoke up. "Who do you think did it, then?"
James shrugged. "Remus and Sirius, I guess. I remembered that I was with them before I passed out."
"Now that I think about it, me too." Lily's eyes widened when she realized something. "My friends did this. I'm positive. I never thought they'd get this far." Lily sighed.
"They teamed up with my friends? Now, that's a surprise."
"What do you mean by that?" Lily questioned him.
"Nothing, nothing." James hastily answered. Then he grinned. "I guess your friends approve of me, huh?"
"Of course not!" she answered indignantly. "Why would anyone approve of you, anyway?"
James shrugged. "Well, if this proof isn't enough, I don't know what will be."
~*~
Lily sat, beginning to get annoyed once again, when she sighed and tried to calm herself.
"So what are we going to do now? There's no way that I can sleep here." Lily said.
"I know why." James answered immediately. "'Cause I feel the same way."
"Really?" Lily said, surprised. "How so?"
"The person we love most is here with us tonight. Alone. How can we fall asleep in a very important situation like that?" James answered smugly. "We really are getting lucky."
"Yeah. Really lucky." She sighed deeply. "Okay, I'm gonna try to calm myself, and once I'm able to do so…" she left the sentence hanging.
"Sure thing, love." James answered, smirking.
A few seconds passed, and Lily said suddenly. "How 'bout we talk? Seriously. About stuffs?"
James, who had been waiting for a long time for this opportunity, immediately answered. "Sure!"
"Okay, here's what we're going to do: I'm gonna ask you a question first and after you answer it honestly, you can have your turn and so on. What do you say?"
"You won't hear any complaints from me." James smiled widely, hardly daring to believe that all of these were happening right now.
"Okay. First question is why don't you try to be more serious about your studies? I know you can do better than your current grades right now." Lily, as always, had thought of studies first.
"Nah. Life would be too boring if I did. And mind you, not only mine, but the whole school's also." He said smugly. When Lily started to protest, he said, "It's my turn now! And my question is, have you ever fallen in love with a guy? Except me?" he added the last part hastily.
Lily rolled her eyes. "No." she chose to ignore his last comment. "How about you? Have you ever fallen for someone? For real?"
"You wound me." James said, looking hurt. "You know that I love you."
"How can you say that so casually? Doesn't that bother you?"
James looked at her seriously. "Why should I be bothered when I'm telling the truth?"
With his eyes locked with hers, Lily's heart beat a little faster. "Yeah, right." She scoffed, not really understanding what caused her reaction.
"I promise. Scout's honor." He looked very earnest and he even raised his right hand, as though making a pledge. When she just stared at him, he sighed. "You don't believe me, do you?"
"How could I?"
"How could you not? Or rather how can I prove that to you?"
"I-I… you don't have to prove that to me, okay? I just… don't know how you…"
"How I fell for you? You honestly don't know?" James stared at her.
"D'you think I'll waste my time asking you if I do?"
James shrugged. "Just hoping…"
Lily stood up and stared at the window, where the pouring rain was clearly seen. "I hate this."
"This?" James looked up at her.
"This…" Lily spread out her hands around her, getting agitated. "I don't know where we are, I'm stuck with someone I want to spend time with the least," she ignored James's protests, "we don't have a fire so there's not enough light and it's so cold and it's even storming outside!" she almost screamed the last part.
"The storm's not as bad as before." James pointed out, trying to help.
"I don't care! This really is the worst thing that ever happened to me! It's even worse that a nightmare, I swear." Lily plopped herself down on the couch wearily.
"This might be a nightmare for you, but for me it's a dream come true." James muttered.
"What?" Lily asked.
"Nothing." James answered, looking away.
Lily stared at him. Actually, she heard what he said quite clearly. And once again, her started to thump a little loudly. But this time, she chose to ignore that and instead, she began to analyze their situation. She knew at once that fighting and bickering would get them nowhere.
She sat up straighter and looked at James. "Potter?" she said testily.
"Hmm?" James opened his eyes slightly.
This is for the better… It's just for now.
"I have a proposition to make. Since we don't know when we will be released from this… prison, I suggest that we both be civil for now. Either that or they're gonna find me insane tomorrow."
James opened his eyes fully. "Deal. And… I'm always civil to you, anyway." He grinned at her and he suddenly realized something.
"By the way," he commented, "if you really wanted to leave, why didn't you just use your wand?"
Lily shook her head. "They took mine. See if you still have yours. But I highly doubt it."
James did not even bother to check. "They're thorough, aren't they?"
Lily shrugged. Another silence passed through them.
"'Sorry if I'm boring you. I'm not usually this lifeless, but I just really hate having a headache." James muttered.
"It's fine. When you're not like yourself, at least I can get along with you better." Lily said nastily, and James gave her a look. "Oh, right. Our deal. Sorry." She smiled apologetically at him, feeling a little embarrassed.
To her surprise, James suddenly kneeled and stared at her for a few seconds, as if trying to memorize something.
Lily drew back. "What?"
James sat down on the sofa in front of her and smiled. "Nothing." He answered, looking absolutely happy.
Lily tried to stop her mouth, but she couldn't just resist. "What!? What are you looking so happy about?" when James didn't answer her and just continued to sit there looking goofy, she continued. "There's something on my face, right? That's why you're laughing!" she accused.
James laughed. "Of course not! 'You really wanna know why?"
Lily crossed her arms. "That's why I'm asking."
"You have to kiss me first." He said slyly.
"As if."
"Not even on my cheeks?" James asked, while pointing on his cheeks.
When Lily raised her eyebrow, James laughed.
"Alright, alright. It's because…" he stared at her. "…it's the first time you ever smiled at me."
She stared at him, at a loss of words.
Okay… I am not going to blush.
I am so NOT going to blush!
But she did anyway.
Lily, feeling embarrassed and confused, immediately stood up and walked hurriedly near the window.
Why am I feeling affected? She asked herself.
It's not like it's the first time he acted like this towards me. I should be used to this by now. As a matter of fact, I thought I already am… So, what's wrong with me???
She straightened when she thought of something.
I know! It must be because of the place and the atmosphere… Yeah, that's it! After we get out of this place, everything will be normal again. Lily convinced herself.
Because of the train of thoughts that were running through her head, she was unaware of the scene before her. But as a bolt of lightning tore through the sky, her eyes widened. And the roar of thunder that followed it intensified the fear inside her.
The smile that James had on while watching Lily intently disappeared when the lightning stroke. She had her back on him, completely hiding her face from him, but he noticed when her back stiffened.
He stood up and went to her. "Lily?" when she looked at him with her eyes full of fear, he immediately grew concerned. "What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing…" Lily stuttered. "A-Anyways, I thought you have to sleep? Yeah, it would be better for us to sleep now." She started to walk away but James grabbed her wrist.
"No. You're not going anywhere. Not unless you tell me what's wrong." He said firmly.
"N-No. I'm alright, really." Lily answered. When James still didn't let go, she said angrily. "Why are you so persistent? I told you nothing's wrong!"
"Look, your hands are shaking." James pointed out.
Lily, having no answer to that, kept her mouth closed.
"Lil-" James stopped when he noticed the Lily were once again staring at the window, horrified.
James looked behind, towards the window, and cursed when he suddenly remembered that Lily had a strange reaction towards lightning.
"Are you afraid of lightning?" he asked softly, still not letting go of her.
"Of course not! Why should I be afraid?" Lily said in an attempt to sound brave.
"Lily, you can trust me, I promise." He said, his voice still soft.
"I don't trust y-"
The next scene that she saw was the bolt of lightning that looked close, too close to the window.
Even with his back on the window, James saw the bright flash that appeared. And he did what came first into his mind.
He pulled Lily towards him. Without hesitating, he hugged her, burying her face in his shoulders in order to prevent her from seeing anything else.