This is the last but one part, I think. I'm running out of ideas to keep Lily and James away from each other, so all of you that wanted to see them together: Part 15 is you part!
Nail a pudding on the wall!
Part 14
James walked slowly down the stair to the Entrance Hall, looking out for a blond-haired, rather tall boy all the time and thinking hard.
'Why did Steven try to kill me? Lily broke up with him, so he was probably jealous. Nah, that's understatement, he wasn't just jealous, he lost his mind completely. Trying to kill me in order to get her back, that's ridiculous! Does he really think that Lil would love him again if I was dead? How insane can you possibly be? And why me? Why not... - Sirius, for example, he's a good friend of her as well!'
James shook his head. He would have the chance to ask the boy himself: There he was, in the middle of a laughing and chatting crowd of Ravenclaw Sixth years, but he was neither laughing nor talking. Instead, his thoughts seemed to be somewhere else, he was barely noticing anything around him. James watched a girl adressing Steven, but he just stared at her for a few seconds, looking pale and miserable, and suddenly, he turned around and ran out of the castle. Only hesitating for a moment, James bounced down the stair, taking two steps at once, and hurried after the blond boy. When he was outside, he took a quick look around and spotted Steven near the lake, half hidden by a great rock, staring at the surface of the lake with a blank face, only a tiny tear that was running down his cheek showed anything of his feelings at the moment. He startled when James' hand touched his shoulder and whirled around. The first thing James could recognize on the other boy's face was disbelief, but soon Steven's expression changed to complete relief.
"James! You're... you're alive! Thank God..."
Actually, James had wanted to throw at least some good insults at the other boy, but he couldn't, somehow it seemed to be impossible.
"Why did you try to kill me, Steven?" he asked in the calmest voice he could manage.
"Because... I lost my mind. I was crazy..." Steven choked down some tears and buried his face in his hands, not daring to look at James. "I was so jealous, James. I really love Lil, and... - Sorry." The last word was not more than a whisper.
James watched the other boy with a mixture of pity and astonishment. "But why me?"
"'Cause she loves you, of course."
"She... What? What did you just say?"
Now, Steven glanced up at the tall boy with the messy black hair. "You didn't know?"
"I... She loves me? You're sure?"
"She told me herself. You really didn't know?"
James wasn't listening at all. "She loves me..." He was first staring at Steven as if to find out if his words were the truth, then his gaze wandered over the lake, the school and the Forest as if he was seeing everything for the first time.
"What about you?" Steven's voice awoke James fom his trance.
"Me?"
"I just... Well, do you love her?"
"Yes. More than live itself."
"Then tell her."
"I can't. Not yet. She wouldn't believe me."
"Then you have to make her believe. I want to see her happy, and if you're the one to make her happy..."
James couldn't believe it. There he was, standing at the edge of the lake on an extremely cold and dark day in January, together with a boy that just tried to kill him and was now giving him advice on how to get the girl he loved. He nearly laughed at the absurdity of the whole situation, but pulled himself together quickly and turned around to face Steven, a solemn expression on his face.
"You aren't going to try again, are you? Kill me, I mean."
Steven looked horrified and shook his head emphatically. "No. Never. I swear it, even if this probably doesn't mean much to you... James, I'd tell you I'm sorry, but I'd lie. 'Cause I'm much more than just sorry."
James grinned slightly. "As Sirius gently points out to me about once an hour, I am completely insane. And - I believe you."
"You... do?"
"I do." James smiled reassuringly at the other boy and nodded his head. "Oh, and don't worry, I won't tell anyone. This is a secret between you and me, okay? As long as it never happens again!"
"It won't." Steven gave James a weak smile. "Know what? I'm beginning to understand what Lil sees in you. - Doesn't mean that I'll stop liking girls." He added as an afterthought.
James couldn't help grinning. "Actually, I wanted to strangle you when I left the Hospital Wing. But I guess that I'm just to happy."
"You really love her, do you?"
"Yes." Was the simple answer.
James was about to turn around, back to the castle, when Steven's voice made him stop.
"How did you know it was me?"
"Intuition, I guess. I just remembered our short encounter at the broom shed."
"Oh, yeah... I gave you a glare that could kill, didn't I?"
James laughed. "Exactly. So it wasn't very hard to find out, was it?"
"Probably not..."
"Come on, let's go back inside the castle. It's much too cold out here!" The boy with the messy black hair helped the blond one to his feet, and both set off for the Front Door in silence, but liking each other much better now.
***
When James entered the Gryffindor common room, he was given asking glances by his friends. He walked over to them and plopped down onto one of the sofas. Now, after he had sorted this out with Steven, he suddenly became aware of how tired he was, and his body started aching again. He let out a moan and curled himself up on the sofa.
"You really should go to bed, James!" Lily said in a concerned voice.
"Aw, how sweet!" Sirius grinned. "He'd be a lot more enthusiastic if you accompagny him, Lil..."
"Sirius!" James glared at his friend, but out of the corner of his eyes, he watched Lily's reaction, searching for any sign that proved Steven's words right. He was pleased to see the sudden flush of her cheeks when she cast her eyes down.
Sirius glanced back and forth between Lily and James, and instead of fading, his grin even broadened and was therefore the complete opposite of his words. "Did I say something? I just meant that you're very talented in all those healing charms, Lil."
"Yeah, sure." James said sarcastically, but decided not to mention it anymore. "I don't feel like going upstairs. Give me a blanket and I'm almost perfectly happy."
"There you are." With an evil grin, Sarah conjured a blanket out of thin air and threw it to Lily. "I'm sure Jamie will appreciate it much more to be covered by you. Besides, you're the one next to him, so it's your excercise anyway, Lil."
Lily flashed her an angry look, but after considering the possibilities for a brief moment, she shrugged and got up to spread the cover over James who was gazing up at her with such obvious admiration on his face that nobody missed it. Well, nobody except Lily, who was turning away quickly after she made sure that he was covered properly and walked back to her chair, picking up the book she had been reading before James entered the common room.
Remus glanced at the title and laughed. "Hey, Lil, that's a Muggle book, isn't it?"
"Yep." She nodded. "'What Handwriting Reveals About Its Owner'. I'm trying to figure something out, and after all the magic ways failed, I thought it wouldn't do any damage to try the Muggle way."
"What exactly are you trying to figure out?" Sirius narrowed his eyes. "It wouldn't have anything to do with that poem, eh?"
Lily smiled. "Maybe."
"Oh, really?" Jessie leaned forwards eagerly. "What did you find out till now?"
Lily shook her head. "Not much. Only that he's rather self-confident, creative, extrovert most of the time and probably smart."
She avoided looking at James. There was no need to, though: He had closed his eyes tightly and pretended not to hear a single word, although his ears were pricked up, he was concentrating hard on not missing anything Lily said.
"Not much?" Jessie gasped. "Sounds like a perfect dreamquy is writing love poems to you. Smart, self-confident, creative,... And you say that you didn't find out much??? You can't wish for more, can you?"
"Well... A sense of humor, maybe. And courage. Oh, and he should love mischief as much as I do." Lily wasn't really thinking when she said these words and was confronted with the result immediately.
"Brief, you want James." Sirius smirked all over his face.
Lily glanced at James, but he was fast asleep. At least, she thought he was. In fact, James was listening to the conversation with keen interest, but he was waiting for Lily's answer in vain. His eyes opened only a slit, he could see her shaking her - very red - head, then she went back to read her book.
Jessie rose from her chair, yawning loudly. "I'm going to bed. What about you?" She looked at Lily and Sarah. The last one got up at once while Lily was hesitating for a moment, then she waved at the two other girls.
"G'night. I'll stay here a little bit longer, want to finish at least this chapter."
Sarah and Jessie wished a good night to everyone and vanished in direction of the girls' dorms, though not without Jessie tousling Remus' hair before setting off for the stair. Sirius and Remus exchanged a short glance, then both jumped up at the same time.
"We're going to bed as well. Night, Lil. - Oh, and Lily?" Sirius turned around once again, as if he had forgotten something. "If Jamsie wakes up, you two shouldn't forget that underage students may enter the common room at every time. So don't traumatize them, kay?" He rushed up the stair to the boys' dorm, only crowing a last Goodnight and snorting with laughter, half a second before Lily's book was thrown at exactly the spot where he had been standing.
Fuming, Lily walked over and grabbed it after he had dissappeared. Why couldn't her friends just shut up, at least for a day? Even that would be an enormous relief. Why were they going on and on about her and James? She couldn't remember that Remus and Jessie had such a hard time. In fact, she couldn't remember Sirius teasing them at all. It was like a silent agreement between hers and James' friends and there was nothing she could do about it. Except cursing them, but that wasn't exactly what one does to his friends, was it? So she would have to stand it until they found something else - or until she and James were a couple. A pity that the last one would never become reality, she thought with a sad smile when she peered down at James' sleeping figure. How innocent he looked when he was sleeping! If McGonagall ever saw him like that, she would probably think that she was having hallucinations.
She startled as she heard a girl's voice behind her. "Um... Excuse me?"
Lily turned around to see a petite girl, probably in her fourth year, her face was framed by dark curles, her blue eyes were looking at Lily with sympathy. The girl was smiling sheepishly. "Hello, I'm Vanilla Cinterey, please, don't laugh at my name, my parents aren't what you could call normal people. - Anyway, you're Lily Evans, right? James Potter's girlfriend?"
Lily watched the girl with interest and decided instantly that she liked her, but sighed in exhaustion after Vanilla's second question. "Why the hell does everyone think that I'm James' girlfriend?"
"Oh, you aren't?"
"Nope. And I've never been. But I am Lily."
"Sorry, but the whole school is talking about him loving you, so I thought... Well, doesn't matter." Vanilla seized Lily's hand and dragged her to a chair that was standing in front of James' sofa. "Actually, I wnted to ask you a question."
"Fire away!"
"Have you got a sister named Petunia?"
"Sadly: Yes. D'you know her?"
"No. But... Well, my brother knows her. My half-brother, to be exact. But to tell the truth: I wouldn't want a brother like that anyway."
"What's his name?"
"Vernon Dursley."
Lily coughed. "Vernon, Vernon Dursley? The guy that wants to found a drill factory? Your brother? Oh my God, please tell me that this isn't true!"
"It is."
"But why does he have another last name than you?"
"Like I told you: He's only my half brother. So you met him?"
"You can say that." Lily remembered their encounter in the Christmas Holidays and the hiccup potion only too well. When she told Vanilla about it, the girl laughed loudly.
"Congratulations, Lily! I was testing different spells and potions on him, too. It's a pity that they made this law for the restriction of and so on, you know what I mean. But just wait until you're my sister-in-law! We're going to have sooo much fun!"
"Your... What did you just say?"
"Oh, you don't know? Petunia and Vernon are going to marry a day after Petunia's eighteenth birthday. - And no, I'm not joking, I just got Vernon's letter." She added, interpreting Lily's disbelieving look correctly.
"But..." Lily thought for a moment, then a slight grin spread over her face. "So you'll be my sister-in-law?"
"Yep."
"What are we going to do on their marriage?"
Both girls put their heads together, grinning in anticipation, to discuss different ways of making cakes explode, of changing the colour of wedding gowns and if there was a spell to make Petunia and Vernon say 'No' when they were supposed to say 'Yes'.
"We should forget about the last one, Lil, 'cause if they don't marry, then you'll not be my sister-in-law, and I'd like to have you as a family member. Then I could even bear all those family celebrations..."
"Right." Lily nodded smiling. "Hey, and I'd no longer be the only witch Petunia knows. She's afraid of magic, you know, so she'll probably collapse when she hears about you... - Hey, maybe she does and they send her to the madhouse!"
"Hmm... Not bad. But I hope it doesn't happen before they are married."
"Me too."
The red-haired and the dark-haired girl exchanged a smile, then Vanilla yawned and got up.
"I'm going to bed, Lil. Seeya tomorrow."
"Night, Van."
"Gee, don't call me Van! That's even worse than Vanilla!"
"What about Ill?" Lily ducked to avoid the playfoul slap Vanilla was trying to give her.
"Oh, just call me by my second name: Rebecca."
"Kay. Night, Becky."
"Night, Flower girl." Vanilla dissappeared laughing towards the girls' dorms while Lily was giggling quietly, then picked up her book to finish her chapter eventually.
But she didn't make great strides because she just wasn't able to keep her eyes on her book. They kept wandering again and again to the sleeping boy that lay on the sofa in front of her. After half an hour or so, she gave up finally and leaned back in her chair to watch him for a while, then she got up and tiptoed over to him. For a few seconds, Lily was just listening to his breath, deep and regularly. Then, before realizing what she was doing, she bent and touched his lips with her own. It was more a slight touch than a kiss, but when she stepped back, she was all red and took a quick look around to see if the common room was really deserted and was glad not to see a single person. She turned back to James and thought she saw his eyelashes flutter, a smile was playing about his lips. Quickly, before he would wake up, Lily seized her book and rushed up the stair to her dorm.
She didn't look back, and that's why she didn't see how James sat up and was staring at her back, now grinning broadly, a lovesick look on his face at the same time. Lily missed either that he got up a short while after her and vanished towards the boys' dorm, just to come back a few minutes later, now a quill, a piece of parchment and a bottle of silvery ink in his hands.
James sat down at his favourite spot, a purple chair near the fireplace, pulled out his wand to levitate a table in front of him, then he chewed the end of his quill, from time to time writing down one or two words, then staring in the flames again. When he was finally finished, he reread the poem, then pulled out another parchment to write it once again, and this time tidily.
Love
What's this, love?
Is it
That I wake up in the morning, and when I open my eyes, the first thing I see is a picture of you?
Is it
That I'm sitting in Transfiguration in the midday and instead of making my quill blue, I dye it as green as your eyes?
Is it
That I tiredly collapse into my bed at night, but when I draw the blanket over my head, your smile keeps me awake?
Or is it
That I wake up in the mid of the night and go down to the common room just to write this poem to you?
Is this all
Love?
If it is
Then I love you...
(A/N: If you didn't guess it already: Yeah, I wrote this poem. Sorry if it's bad.)
For a moment, James considered waking up Sirius and Remus so that the two of them could read the poem as well, just to make sure that it was okay, but he decided that he would be killed if he did. And as he didn't exactly wanted to be killed, less than ever after Lily just kissed him, he enchanted the parchment like he had learned it from Remus, grabbed his invisibility cloak and set off for the Owlery.
Entering the Owlery was always like walking straight into a Quidditch stadion during a World Cup match: Even if most of the owl were hunting mouses at this time (a shame they didn't eat Peter!), the noise was still unbelievable when James opened the door. He closed it behind himself, hoping that Filch hadn't heard anything, and as everything remained quiet - no, quiet was the wrong word, of course - as everything remained the way it should be, James took the cloak off and walked through the lines of owls to find the one he already used two times now to send his love notes to Lily, but first, he spotted his own owl, Gietty, but she turned away and presented him her back, still mad because he didn't send her to Lily although he had tried to explain that Lily wasn't supposed to know that those letters were from him and he therefore couldn't use her. James sighed and continued his search for Twilp, as he had called the pretty brown school owl. He finally spotted her squeezed between a grey one and one that was bright red for some odd reason. It took him some time to recognize it as Sirius' Teddy (James had never found out why it was called Teddy, but he took it as another proof of Sirius' insanity). He grinned at the red owl, then he turned to Twilp.
"Ready for another visit to my favourite girl, Sweetie?"
Twilp cooed softly as a reply and stretched out one leg so that he could tie the letter up. James did so, then he stroked the owl's back.
"Bring it to her at - oh well, no, I'd like to see her reaction. So deliver it during breakfast, okay?"
The brown owl gently nibbled one of his fingers, then it soared out of the window to hunt down some food as well.
***
The next morning, Lily awoke early and to her own surprise, she found herself waiting for the brown owl and its message with impatience, but it didn't show up. She tried to concentrate on her book, but it didn't work. If her mind wasn't with the owl, then she kept thinking of James. James sleeping on the sofa in the common rom, James looking at her with those nearly black eyes,... She sighed, put down the book, dressed herself and went down into the deserted common room, trying to imagine a prank she could play on the Slytherins, just to distract her mind. She could also do her History of Magic essay, but she decided quickly that she wasn't that desperate. She was about to leave the common room for Moaning Myrtle's toilet, when she heard some footsteps coming from the boy's stair. Lily turned around and saw Sirius approaching her, stifling a huge yawn and rubbing his eyes. She stared at him in disbelief.
"Morning, Sirius! Are you ill? I've never seen you awake this early!"
"Morning, Lil. I wouldn't be awake if James wasn't talking in his sleep."
"He's talking in his sleep?" Lily grinned. "What does he say?"
"Nothing I could tell you."
"Not fair!"
"Who cares? Ready for an early Quidditch match?"
"'Course."
Lily and Sirius walked down to the Quidditch pitch, Lily much more awake than Sirius, but the moment he was sitting on his broom, he forgot completely about his tiredness and chased Lily through the air. She tried to keep him away in directing snowballs at his laughing face, and she was quite successful until someone grabbed her waist from behind and pulled her off her broom and onto his own bevore she had the slightest chance to react. She turned around just to find that her face was only about half an inch away from James', who was smiling and holding his breath at the same time, thinking hard if this was the right time to kiss her, but just when he had decided that it was, she blushed and turned around, trying to reach her own broom that was doing loop the loops a few feet away from them, but shot into Lily's hands when she called it.
Lily and James had completely forgotten about Sirius until he came flying towards them, grinning broadly and looking as if he was having a hard time to save his comments for a more appropriate time, but when he caught James' eye, he swallowed what he had wanted to say and quickly thought of something else, which wasn't very hard as his stomach had begun to make funny noises.
"Time for breakfast!"
James put on a disgusted face. "Always thinking about your stomach, Padfoot."
Sirius grinned evilly and leaned towards James, whispering so that Lily, who was back on her own broom, couldn't hear him. "Well, it's the same with you. You're always thinking about Lily."
Laughing, he turned around and shot towards the ground with full speed in order not to be caught by James.
***
The three of them entered the Great Hall and plopped into the chairs next to a very sleepy Remus just when the owl post arrived and the brown owl tossed another piece of parchment onto Lily's plate. She wasn't quite sure if she wanted to open it in front of the three boys - and above all in front of James -, but as they had already spotted the note and Sirius was leaning forwards eagerly, asking if this wasn't the same hand as the other poem, there wasn't exactly much she could do. So she opened the letter and unfolded the parchment. A poem, once again, written in the same silvery ink, on the same parchment and in the same handwriting she was sure she knew. James made her nervous in reading it over her shoulder, but she had barely finished when Sirius reached for it. He and Remus put their heads together to read it with huge grins while Lily let her hair fall in her face to cover her red ears. She missed the half amused, half surprised glance they both gave James.
"Any idea who wrote it, Lil?" Remus' voice didn't show any sign of the enormous amusement he felt.
She looked up. "Nope. None. Everything's just as usual, no one is looking at me like he is awaiting my reaction."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Once again, Sirius gave James a half hidden glance.
Lily stared at him. "Can you see someone? Who?"
Sirius grinned. "Won't tell you."
"Why?"
"Just because."
"Puh-lease? Sirius?"
"Nope."
"What do you know what I don't know?"
"A looot!"
"Show-off!"
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing."
"I hope so!"
"What do you hope?" Sarah sat down next to Lily. Spotting the parchment, she reached for it and held it so that Jessie could read it as well.
"Did you ever hear about a thing called 'privacy of correspondence?" Lily muttered, face hot.
"Yep." Jessie nodded solemnly. "But it's the same thing as school rules: Meant to be broken."
"How true!" Sirius was trying to look like Dumbledore during the annual graduation speech, but he failed.
Sarah got up, causing Lily and Jessie to do the same, and after Lily had pocketed her poem, they set off for their dorm to fetch their school things.
*****
It will take me a week to upload the next part. In Germany, there are finally holidays, so I won't have the time to write something. Paradox, isn't it? *g* But my lessons are the time when I am writing on this story.
Thanx to all who reviewed so far... Didn't think that people would like it that much... *has to wipe a tear from her left eye* I think I'll thank all of you by name in the last part, so if you want to be mentioned and you haven't reviewed so far, hurry up! *g*
Lone astronemer, happy birthday to you, even if it's too late. Oh, and to you too, Lugia2/Artanis, and also to Stars of Fire. Anyway, what I wanted to ask, astronomer: Austria? You're living in Austria? Is English not your mother tongue? No, can't imagine the last one...
Disclaimer: Does anyone read this? I don't think so. But if no one is reading this, then why do I have to write it? Because I would be sued otherwise? Not much of a threat: Those two or three dollars I own at the moment wouldn't make any difference to Joanne K Rowling's account.