Apart
Days passed. It was midnight, and Lily was up reading by the light of the Heads common room fire. She sighed in frustration and threw the book down; it missed the fire by a hair. "It's no use!" she exclaimed to the empty room, her fists clenched.
She walked over to the fire and picked up the book, before stomping angrily back to the couch by the fire. She didn't continue reading, but instead stared blankly at the fire. It seemed to mock her. The yellow and orange flames licked happily at the wood and the grate, and made snapping and cracking noises every so often. The stars outside the window twinkled merrily, and the chilling February wind whipped the branches of the Forbidden Forest carelessly. The waters of the lake rippled in the breeze, and the reflection of the castle's many lit windows was distorted, as though seen through a stained-glass window. "Oh, bother it all!" she said to herself. "I know it's for my own good, but why does it have to be so hard? I only loved him, is all!" Suddenly she realized how stupid she must seem, talking to an empty room and a lively fire. Just then footsteps came from just outside the portrait hole. Lily quickly resumed staring at her book, though she didn't take in a word.
James walked into the room, his shoulders hunched. "Evans," he said curtly, as a way of greeting.
"James," Lily said, not looking up from her book.
"What're you reading?" James asked, looking at her book, which was upside-down.
"A book," Lily said coolly, standing up. "Good night." She stomped angrily up the staircase leading to her dormitory, and slammed the door.
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"Lily, I may not be good with this sort of thing," Jocelyn said weeks later in the corner of the potions room, "but I really think you made a mistake here."
Lily's potion simmered purple instead of the rich royal blue it was supposed to be, but she wasn't paying attention to that right now. Her hair was frizzed from the steam rising from her caldron, and her eyebrows were bunched down in a frown. She pushed her hair back from her forehead and pulled it into a ponytail. She sighed. Her focus was not, as it should have been, on the potion, but on a wizard sitting three rows ahead of her. A wizard with glasses, muscles, and untamable black hair. "Yeah, I shouldn't have dumped him," Lily said untenably to Jocelyn and Shayna.
Jocelyn snapped her fingers in front of Lily's face. "I was talking about your potion, you dolt!" she said in frustration. "It's catching fire!"
Lily screamed and jumped up; the top of her potion was indeed on fire. "GET IT OUT!" she shouted, standing on her chair.
James jumped up from his seat and pointed his wand at Lily's caldron. "Aguamenti," he said, and a jet of water shot out from his wand and into Lily's caldron.
The potion hissed and bubbled menacingly, and the fire sizzled out. Lily peered at it with raised eyebrows. It was now the exact shade of blue described in her potions book. "Thanks," Lily said meekly, turning bright red.
"Maybe you should get off of the chair," James said, holding out a hand. "Here, let me help you."
"I can do it fine by myself, thanks," Lily said coldly, sitting down in her chair and adding the last ingredients.
"I wonder what Professor Slughorn was doing all this time," Jocelyn mused.
"He was sleeping at his desk," Shayna said from behind them. "Still is, in fact."
"Shayna, you've been awfully quiet," Lily said, looking at her friend with one eyebrow raised. "Were you even here?"
"Yeah," Shayna said, though she didn't quite meet her friends' eyes. "Listen, Lily, I need to talk to you."
"We can talk later," Lily said impatiently as the bell rang. "We've got to get to class."
"But Lily," Shayna protested, "it's important! It's about the…never mind." Lily had already run out of the classroom, so that she wouldn't be left alone with James. Shayna sighed and scratched her arm absentmindedly before following Lily out of the classroom.
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"What did you want to talk about?" Lily asked as she looked up at Shayna, who was reapplying her makeup.
"Never mind," Shayna said, standing up from her seat by Lily's mirror. She, Lily, and Jocelyn were in Lily's dormitory. Jocelyn and Lily were wearing pajamas, but Shayna was getting ready to meet with Sirius, who wanted to take her somewhere, presumably the Astronomy Tower. "Well, I've got to go meet Sirius. I told him I'd meet him at 8:00, and it's already 8:15!"
Lily and Jocelyn waved her off enthusiastically as she ran out of the portrait hole. "Have fun!" they called after her.
Jocelyn turned to face Lily. "Lily, you should get back together with James," she said nervously, playing with the hem of her shirt.
"Why should I?" Lily asked fiercely.
"Because you love him!" Jocelyn exclaimed, standing up from Lily's four-poster bed she was sitting on.
Lily sighed. "Yeah, I know," she said, and her tone held no contempt, only sorrow.
"And I'll bet he loves you, too," Jocelyn said softly, sitting back down and pulling Lily (who was standing up) down with her. The bed creaked with the sudden weight.
"I think he does," Lily said sadly. Her voice sounded so meek and lonely that the very air around her seemed to shimmer with sadness. "It's just…I don't want the Death Eaters to get him because of me. Merlin knows, I can't deal with anything else happening!"
"Lily, for the smartest one in our year, you're really dumb," Jocelyn said, laughing. "What makes you think that they're only after him because of you?"
"Please, Jocelyn, I just want to be alone right now," Lily said quietly. She stood up and crawled back into her bed, pulling her quilt up to her chin.
Jocelyn pulled herself up off the bed and walked to the door. She pulled it open and didn't bother to close it, before walking down the stairs and through the portrait hole. James took his chance. Hidden under his Invisibility cloak, he had heard every word that was said. He snuck into Lily's room and stood by her bed for a good portion of the night. When he was sure she was asleep, he kissed her forehead and pushed a stray hair away from her eyes. "I love you, Lily," he whispered, walking towards the door. "Always have, always will." He turned and shut the door with a snap, as Lily pulled her quilt in her sleep.
A/N: Very sappy ending, I know. But I thought it was cute. SO, as you see, all is not lost for them. It's kind of short. Sorry about that. Hope you're enjoying the When Worlds Collide story, as well as the Love Will Be Our Destiny and Love Throughout Time stories. Well, um, also, I started a new fanfiction about Peter's story…it's not up yet, but it will be eventually. I'll tell you when. REVIEW! Thanks :-)