Can you believe that there's only one chapter left after this one? I mean diddle, I'm almost saddened by the thought! Almost.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter, It's got a little Marauders, lots of Snape (who is actually pretty fun to write), and of course, plenty of James and Lily.
*""*
"Lily! There you are, I've been looking all over for you!" James exclaimed as Lily walked up to him. She had an odd, blank sort of look on her face, but she did stop and turn to face him.
"You have have you?" She asked in an indifferent tone.
James could only assume that she was angry at him, so he replied, "Look, Lily – "
"It's Evans to you."
"But Lily –"
At this Lily began to walk past James with her head held high and a look of cold distain. James stopped her by calling her back in a desperate tone, "Wait! Just listen to me, please… I didn't mean to do what I did after the game, it was a complete accident and I'm really, really sorry. Can we please go back to the way things were before?"
Snape, who was still controlling Lily from behind a statue, could tell from James's sincere tone and imploring looks that he really did care for Lily. And that if Lily shunned him now, James would probably never recover from the heart break.
Snape could almost picture what James would look like…always dejected and miserable. His arrogance would be gone forever. It made Snape realize that having control of Lily was almost as good as having control of them both. But as Snape tried to make Lily say the words he wanted her to, she began to fight harder than she had before, desperate to avoid saying the words that would hurt James.
Say it.
Go on, say it...SAY IT NOW!
Meanwhile James was still looking pleadingly at Lily, trying to read her face for signs of her feelings towards him.
She seemed to be in the midst of an internal struggle, as if she were trying to scowl at him but couldn't bring herself to do it. Then, for a moment, the slightly blank and cold look in her eyes disappeared, and she gave him an almost affectionate look…but that was instantly quelled, and replaced with a look that pierced James's heart.
"Before? Potter, I hated you then, I hate you now, and I will hate you for as long as I live. Now get out of my way, toerag."
She left without looking back, and James stared after her, dazed. What the bloody diddle had just happened? She had just denied that they had ever been friends. Just days ago they had been laughing together and just that day she had cheered for him during the match...and now she was proclaiming that she had always hated him? Something didn't add up.
She's really mad at you mate. Maybe that's clouded her memory?
James shook his head at the thought. He knew Lily, and he knew that she never said anything she didn't mean. She also wouldn't use her words to wound anyone, even if she was mad at them. Something was definitely wrong.
Yeah something's wrong you diddle. It's you. You're just making up excuses for yourself. The truth is that she hates your guts again, and you've got no one to blame but yourself.
James let out a sigh. He had messed up, big time. He had ruined everything. James aimed a kick at a crack in the stone floor to let out some steam, and then he noticed Snape skulking past him through the shadows with a smug smirk on his pale face.
"Where did you come from, Snivellous?" James asked in an icy tone, "Been out jinxing fist years?"
As Lily wasn't around – and she probably wouldn't be for a long time – James didn't bother being polite to the snake. Besides, James was in too foul a mood to want to try and be nice. He had tried being as nice to everyone as Lily was, but it was diddle near impossible when it came to Snape. Anyways, if James didn't say something rude first , then Sinvellous definately would.
But Snape didn't bother giving James the scathing reply he had expected. He merely gave James a mocking smile and continued on past him.
What the diddle?
*""*
She was late.
James checked his watch one last time to confirm that it was, in fact, one minute past midnight, and it was. James sighed heavily; Lily Evans was never late, so she probably just wasn't going to show up to do the patrol with him. She hated him so much that she was even going to go back on her word and skip her duties.
James felt so hurt that he almost didn't dare to hope that things would be alright between them again. Still, he couldn't stop the tiny voice in his head from saying, Lily doesn't skip her duties no matter what. You know her; she's to diddle good for that. She wouldn't just miss the patrol, even if she was mad at you.
James didn't allow himself to hope. Another voice in his head argued, 'She's not just mad this time, she's furious. She hates me so much that she can't stand being near me.'
You know that's not true, you idiot. She can't just undo the last few months. Just go find her, and talk to her.
'Didn't you hear her? She hates me. Just talking won't change that.'
Talk to her.
'I will not…wait. I'm arguing with myself…in my head. Aw diddle, Lily's finally driven me mad! Oh well, it was bound to happen one day…'
James shook his head at his own pointless thoughts, and then began to trudge up the grand staircase to the Gryffindor tower. He marched right through the Quidditch victory party that was still raging in his common room, ignored all of the odd and curious looks he was attracting, and slogged into his dorm.
Moments later he was joined by all three Marauders who had been enjoying the wild party until they had seen their miserable friend, and decided that he needed them more than the party did.
Without a word, Sirius walked up to James and made the shape of a barking dog with his hand. Peter twitched his nose like a rat's in response, and Remus let out a low howl. Then they climbed onto James's bed beside him and waited silently for him to make the final sign needed to start an official Marauder meeting.
James ignored them, but when Remus nudged him and said, "Go on" in a quiet tone, James made the shape of a deer with his hand. "Alright, what's the meeting for." James asked sullenly.
Remus and Sirius exchanged a look, and then Sirius said, "Look, mate, we just wanted to say…that we're sorry about Evans. We know that you're really upset, and we just wanted you to know that we're here for you."
Remus and Peter nodded earnestly and James had to smile. He really had the best friends in the world; what other guys comforted their friends after relationship problems? It was usually the sort of thing guys avoided for the sake of their good reputations, but here his friends were doing it anyways, just for him.
"Thanks guys, but you don't understand. It's not just the kiss thing that's bothering me."
"What, did she slap you afterwards?" Peter asked in a rather un-sympathetic tone.
James sighed, "No."
"Then what happened, Prongs?" Sirius asked, after giving Peter a sharp look.
"Well I went to find her after the kiss, you know, to apologize for doing it, and she told me that she always had, and always would hate me. Then she left, and she didn't even show up for the patrol."
Sirius nodded with empathy, but Remus got a funny look. "Wait…did you say that she…didn't show up for a patrol?"
James nodded.
Remus looked up at James, his ice blue eyes full of urgency, "Lily wouldn't skip a patrol unless she had a diddle good reason to. And Geeta said that she hadn't seen her since the game...Prongs, you have to go find her."
James said nothing, so Remus put a hand on his shoulder, "James. Go talk to her."
Still saying nothing, James got off of the bed, picked up his bag and left the dorm. But before he closed the door behind him, he turned around and said, "Thanks guys." And he meant it.
After James left, Sirius turned to Remus and said, "Wow Moony, I'm impressed! Is there no end to your hidden talents? I mean, this morning you developed an inner eye, and now you're a girl expert?"
Remus grinned, "What can I say; I'm just awesome that way. Have you forgotten how I charmed Geeta back at Hogsmeade?"
Sirius cocked an eyebrow, "Well, actually, the way she tells it, she kept on dropping hints that she liked you but you never caught on…so she just jumped at you and snogged you instead.
Remus coloured deeply, and Peter and Sirius laughed until Remus had to join in. Had they know what their unfortunate friend was about to go and witness, their laughter would have died on their lips.
*""*
Several heads turned to stare as James walked back through the crowd of partying Gryffindors, but he didn't care. He was too busy pulling a rather crumpled bit of parchment from his book bag. Then, after he had left the common room, and was standing in the empty hallway outside of the Gryffindor tower, he tapped the parchment with his wand and whispered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
The effect of his words was instantaneous, and lines began to spread from the center of the parchment, covering it with words and diagrams. The Marauders map, for the parchment was indeed the map, was soon fully formed, but James didn't pause to marvel at it's beauty. Instead he scanned it's folds anxiously for the name Lily Evans. He searched the Gryffindor common room and dorms, then her favourite places like the big oak tree by the lake, the library, Hagrid's Hut, the Owlery and the Transfiguration courtyard. Then, when she didn't turn up, James searched the rest of the castle, growing more uneasy by the second. Finally, after he had all but given up, he found her in the unlikeliest of places; the spare potions lab in the dungeons. And then James noticed something even stranger. She was all alone except for - "What the diddle?"
The dot labeled Lily Evans was right beside a second dot, and that dot was labeled Severus Snape.
Needless to say, James pulled his invisibility cloak out of his bag, and took off running in the direction of the dungeons as fast as his legs could carry him.
*""*
Using Lily to convince Professor Slughorn that she needed acromantula venom for some extra credit project she wanted to complete was only too easy for a master manipulator like Snape. Breaking into the spare potions lab had been even easier. And now that the mudblood potion was almost half brewed, Snape started to breathe a little easier.
At first Snape had controlled Lily from inside the spacious ingredients cabinet, so that if anyone happened to walk in, he wouldn't be seen and he wouldn't get caught. But as Snape heard the clock strike eleven he grew more confident that no one would find them, so he stood beside her and followed some of the instructions with her.
It was at about this time that James reached the dungeons. Pulling on his invisibility cloak, he peeked into the potions lab and saw Lily and Snape sitting close to each other, brewing a potion of some sort together. They were both silent as they worked, and betraying no signs of emotion, which was normal for Snape, but for Lily it was diddle near unheard of.
But there she was, working beside Snape with a completety blank expression on her face. What the bloody diddle was going on?
James slipped silently into the room – still wearing his invisibility cloak, and tried to get a closer look at the two, and that was when he noticed the sheet of potion instructions that they were following. It was entitled "The Mudblood Potion", which James had never heard of.
James also noticed that Lily was almost struggling not to follow the potions instructions. She lifted a vial of a transparent purple substance and tried to pour it into the bubbling cauldron in front of her, but then her hand started pulling back to put the vial back on the table. Then she lifted the vial again, but her hand simply wouldn't turn and pour it's contents into the cauldron.
"Go on, mix in the venom!" Snape muttered in a irritated voice. He jabbed his wand at Lily, and she poured the purple substance into the cauldron with a sudden jerk of her hand.
And that was the final piece of the puzzle James needed to figure out what was happening. In that moment everything became clear to James, and he realized that he had to act, and fast.
*""*
Ah, another cliffhanger! I know you're probably very angry at your computer screen right now, but do remember that this is the very last time this is gonna happen; the next chapter will be the last one, and it was also the diddle hardest to write! I wanted it to be absolutely perfect, and tie everything off nicely, but as usual that didn't work out... Still, it tied up most of the loose ends, and I rather like it =] So, why don't you finish what you've started and check back a week from now for the final chapter!