Can't Fight the Moonlight
A/N: This part is a bit
longer than the last one. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed on the first
chapter. You don't know how much it means to me.
The evening of the
Halloween ball promised to bring a bitter cold night. Lily was out most of the
afternoon, sharing a butterbeer with Malcolm Neal (a Hufflepuff Chaser) at the
Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade; and as it was, she was the last to start
getting dressed, and the first done. Her dress was simple, yet elegant and
stylish, and a dark, deep shade of green. ('The only color that doesn't clash
with my hair,' Lily laughingly told Raine.)
She sped down to the common
room, relieved to find that not everyone was still primping in front of their
mirrors. Sirius and Remus were hurling pillows at one another, or rather Sirius
was pounding Remus with pillows.
"Hey Lily, you look incredible,"
Remus said, at least that's that she thought he said. His voice was quite
muffled as he climbed out from behind a mound of pillows.
"Thank you Remus," Lily
stifled a laugh when he finally emerged, half of his hair sticking up. He
glared at Sirius as he patted down his hair.
Sirius grinned
appreciatively at her. "You look hot, Lily." Lily rewarded him with a grin.
"Thank you Sirius. You
don't look too bad yourself," she laughed.
At that moment, James came
stomping into the common room. He was a bit… aggravated that he didn't have a
date. "Can you believe that I don't have a date? Me?! I'm James Potter for
crying out loud!" 'But you didn't
ask anyone, either,' a little voice in James's head fought. 'You've been
too busy thinking about Li-'
Shut up.
Sirius sniggered quietly.
His best friend had quite an ego.
"If it's any consolation, I
don't have a date either," Lily shrugged. She found it was better to not have a
date; you didn't get stuck with one particular boy the entire night.
Maybe because he had been
so irritated, but James hadn't quite noticed Lily was in the room. He turned
and stared intently at her with an odd expression on his face. Remus turned to
Sirius with raised eyebrows, a bit startled the way James was practically drooling
on Lily. Sirius grinned back evilly, mainly because he knew that look. James
wore it every time they won a Quidditch match. That sick, happy, goofy
expression.
'Life just gets weirder
and weirder,' Sirius thought, shaking his head. Raine came down the stairs
then and Sirius felt like James looked. "We'll be going downstairs now," Sirius
said, arm in arm with to Raine, with Remus trailing after them, muttering about
lunatics having kids.
"Do I have something on my
face?" Lily laughed. Then James did something he never done before, ever in his
life. He blushed.
"Uh, no. It's just
that…er-you look nice." James felt tongue tied. The little voice was back. 'Try
magnificent, unbelievable, the best looking thing I've ever seen in my life.'
"Well, thank you James,"
Lily smiled a bit bashfully. It was a bit awkward to have James complement her.
"You look great, too."
He felt his ears start to
burn again, and decided they'd better head downstairs before he started to look
like an overgrown tomato with hair. "Can I escort you downstairs, Ms Evans?" He
offered her his arm, and felt relieved when she accepted. They walked to the
Great Hall in silence, not feeling the usual pressure to talk. It was a
comfortable silence.
They entered the hall, and
instantly James felt more than a couple envious stares on him. He was, after
all walking in with Lily, the most desirable girl in Hogwarts. Several hopeful
boys had already started to crowd around Lily. He reluctantly let go of her
arm. "Save a dance for me, okay?" he heard himself ask. She smiled ruefully and
nodded, and headed off for the dance floor.
There were dances, many of
them. All the boys seemed to want the chance to dance with Lily, even if it was
just once. She could almost hear them boasting to one another later. Lily soon
grew tired of dancing from one boy to another. 'I just want one guy to be
with tonight. Someone to be mine, who can hold me for every song.'
As she was twirled by some
nameless Hufflepuff, her eyes landed on James, who was sitting by himself. He
was playing with his straw, making it shoot soda on the table next to him, full
of shrieking girls who had no idea were the soda was coming from.
She snorted as soda sprayed
high into the air and landed on one of the loudest of the screeching girls. As
soon as the song was over, she made a hasty departure from a new crowd of boys,
and rushed over to James. He smiled gratefully as she slid into the seat next
to him.
"Hi," she said gulping down
a cup of punch.
"Hey," he said, wondering
if Lily's smile had ever made his stomach turn over like that before. "Care to
dance?" He blurted out.
"Sure." The corners of her
mouth were twitching upwards as James held out his hand, a nervous smile on his
face. As her arms circled his neck, James felt his heart thump wildly. 'Just
because she's smiling up at me like that?' He groaned inwardly. 'Someone,
please, just knock some sense into me before I fall head over heels.'
They swayed slowly to the
song until the last notes faded, and although James couldn't really register what
song it was, he wished it to go on for just a little bit longer. The smell of
Lily's hair was just too enchanting, and his arms just didn't seem to want to
release their hold on Lily's waist. Charles Hemisley came up to them then, and
sneered at James.
'Slimy Prat.'
"Want to dance with me
Lily?"
She looked up at James, and
he gently released her. "Thank you for the dance," she said, heading back unto
the middle of the floor with that Ravenclaw prick. He sat back down and for the
rest of the night watched the two of them dance. All unknowing to Lily.
"If he does anything to
her, so help me God…" James ranted to Sirius and Remus a little over an hour
after the Ball had finished. Lily had still not returned to the Gryffindor
Tower, and James was beside himself with worry.
"When did you get to be so
damn over protective? Lily's a big girl, James. She can take care of herself,"
Sirius said, yawning. He had just had the perfect night, and wanted very much
to relive it in his dreams, but that was impossible with James fretting. Remus,
on the other hand, frowned concernedly.
"You know how Lily is. She
probably went down to the lake with Hemisley after the Ball, that's all," Remus
said.
"Yeah, probably," James
said doubtfully. He continued to pace in front of the fire, almost burning a
trail in the carpet.
"James, do you like Lily?"
Sirius asked suddenly, remembering the way his best friend had been staring at
her earlier.
James was taken back. "Of
course I don't like Lily! That's…that is-"
It
was fortunate that Lily bounded into the common room then. "Hi guys," she said
airily. She was almost glowing, she looked so happy. Sirius stood up, and said
rather slyly, "Well I'm really exhausted, aren't you Remus?" Remus looked bemused,
until Sirius punched him in the shoulder.
"Oh
yeah, right, tired, you two should stay out here though." They two boys grinned
identical devious smiles as they ran up the steps to their room.
"When
a Man loves a Woman..." James could hear Sirius croon dreadfully. Actually, the
entire Gryffindor tower could probably hear him.
'Note
to self: Torture Sirius. Painfully.'
"James, I like someone,"
Lily said dramatically, throwing herself across a couch.
James winced painfully, as
if Lily had just struck him. 'Please, please don't say Hemisley.' Out
loud he said, "Whose the lucky guy?" James crossed his fingers behind his back,
praying wordlessly.
"Charles Hemisley," Lily
sighed distractedly.
James was going to throw
up. It was the only reasonable explanation for the burning feeling that soared
up from his stomach to his throat. "That's…great," James said hollowly. 'No,
it's not. Not really. Because you see, I like you. A lot.'
"He's a good dancer, James.
And he's cute too, and a great kisser," Lily rambled on, obviously too deep in
her own bliss to notice that James was turning a pasty green color. 'Dumbledore
was wrong. This is more painful than any of the Unforgivable Curses.'
"What about you? Find
anyone special tonight?" Lily asked, smiling cheerily.
'Yes, but she's slipped
through my fingers.' James shook his head listlessly.
"Don't worry James.
Everyone's got a soul mate. You'll find her soon," Lily patted his arm, and
then sauntered off to her room.
'I've already found her
Lily. Just realized it a couple years too late.' James shook his head at his own stupidity, and fell asleep on the
couch in front of the fire.
James had to stop
falling asleep in the common room. He suspected that the fourth years were the
ones who pelted him with candy on their way to breakfast. He groped for his
glasses, half blind without them. He found them, and groaned (noisily) when he
saw what time it was. 10:30. 'As in classes have already started,' he
thought. He head footsteps pounding down from the boys' dormitory.
Sirius, Remus, and Peter
were soon standing in front of him. "Why aren't you in class?" James asked,
rubbing his tired eyes.
Sirius looked at James with
narrowed eyes. "It's Saturday, Jamsie."
"That's right, and don't
call me that," James said, covering his face with his hands.
"Sorry Jamsie. I take it
last night didn't work out?" Sirius prompted.
"There was nothing to work
out. It's not like Lily and I are dating or anything. She says she likes
Hemisley, that Ravenclaw guy," James said.
"But you love her Jamsie,"
Remus said, accidentally calling James by his dreaded nickname. James looked up
briefly from his hands to glare at Remus. "Sorry, James," Remus apologized with
a half smile.
"I don't love her."
"Sure you don't," Sirius agreed, although his tone suggested
otherwise. "But you like her."
James hesitated before grudgingly
confessing, "I like her." Now he could expect hours of ridicule and embarrassment.
Sirius clapped his hands eagerly.
He enjoyed playing matchmaker, and if James and Lily got together, Remus owed
him 20 Knuts. "Now all you have to do is ask her out!"
"Have you not been
listening? She likes someone else-"
Remus brushed this thought
away impatiently. "That's never bothered you before. What's different this
time?"
'I really like her,
Remus. That's what different.'
Okay, so lied. That was a
lot longer than last time. I am drugged on cold medicine, so if that was weird,
I plan on suing Tylenol. Also, when Chapter three comes out, I will have the
story in one file with the new Chapter thing, so be prepared.