Just Friends, Right? -- 3
Author: Cattie
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance, possibly comedy later
A/N: Finally, the third chapter! Sorries for the infrequency of updates to this story, but i'm currently lumbered with this giant piece of English coursework, which involves writing the whole of 'The Crucible', a play by Arthur Miller, from the point of view of Reverend Hale, who happens to be one of those annoying large character who just has to be in pretty much every scene. Annoying little Rat. Oh well, not much I can do. Oh, and I'm still sorely uninspired about the title. However, due to a re-reading of this really cool Sailor Moon fic I once read (i've forgotten the name and author, TELL ME WHO!!) i'e decided to probably leave it as this, and explain it via James and Lily later, with all due credit of that conversation going to the original SM writer... once i remember who exactly it is... -.-;;
To Little Witch: Good Question. No, they aren't going out yet, i've just got them in a really close friendship, where they fool around alot, and like each other alot, even if they wont admit it!
Updated list of reviewers! [for all chapters so far]: ~*Daisy*~, Penny, Kitten kisses, StarChildHlermione86, Lily's Friend*Jess, Ariana, Potter Girl, lily girl, The Potter, amy~*, foxfire06, naavi0, Lady Moon, Tanvi, Houlie, eb, Miss Padfoot, paperback writer [thank you for your help!], mystikalolo, lily girl [again! thanks!], slightlyinsaneflamergirl [the fluff is coming soon! promise!], Little Witch, All Mighty Me, StarChildHlermione86 [again! whoo-hoo! thanks!], and GoldenPhoenix [who actually reviewed both chapters at once!].
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That winter break was hard on all of us, Catalina shutting herself up and refusing to see anyone, Remus moping, then throwing himself into crazy pranks with Sirius, that he usually would have refused, but currently didn't seem to care, James assisting them often, and almost daily letters from Peter to all of us. I spent a lot of my time locked up in the Fifth years' room, with Catalina, but after about a week of silence I realised I wouldn't get any conversation out of her, and ventured downstairs more.
I didn't see James as much as I usually did that holiday, as usually I spent almost every waking, and sleeping, moment with them, but I never seemed to be able to find them that holiday. Even Bella and Mundungus seemed caught up in some mystery project, or claiming their homework was much harder than ours, and so deserved more time. (So what if they're in their Sixth year?)
It felt strange to be away from them for so long, I was used to Sirius' constant smart-arse remarks and pranks, Remus' cheerful sensibility, Peter's selflessness, Bella's sensibility, Mundungus' brotherly over-protectiveness, and James'… well, just James. There wasn't anything I didn't miss about him, from his silly little smirk, to the way he'd hug me so often, to his messy black hair, and cute brown eyes, framed by his silly glasses.
I missed him so much.
After the second week, when I'd finally realised that the boys had either vanished, or didn't want me to find them, I went back to spending my days with Catalina.
After a few days of her painful silence, interrupted only by her quill scratching away on parchment, I confronted her about what she was doing.
"Catalina, what exactly are you doing there?" I said, carefully, only slightly scared about breaking the silence and her determined concentration.
"I-I'm studying" she hesitantly replied, stuttering slightly, her voice weak and scared, just like the voice she had first used on the Express, which she had subsequently lost once she'd gotten settled.
"Why are you studying? Didn't you do all your homework already?" I asked, moving over to the desk where she had been sitting all day.
"Oh, yeah, I finished all that stuff, but I want to study more, my fourth year classes are so boring, I want to move up. It's what my parents want—ed…" she finished painfully, the last 'ed' clearly a great pain for her to say.
"Hey, that's cool, shall I help you? I'm not good at much, just charms, but I'm sure the guys will help you too, just as soon as we find them, that is" I offered, half-hugging the almost crying girl, hoping to stem the tears.
"That'd be great, Lily, you're the best" she replied, wiping her eyes and tiding away some of her parchments.
"Hey, just call me 'The Astounding Lil'" I joked, with an exaggerated bow.
We'd left the room then, choosing to study in the library and common room instead, and eventually, a few days later, we ran into the guys.
Literally.
We were walking down the corridor, talking about Catalina's 16th birthday, in May, and what I'd done when I turned 15, when I walked straight into an invisible object, knocking me onto the floor, looking very undignified.
I then heard a round of chuckles from the invisible object, and kicked at the place where I assumed the legs would be.
I small yell then came from the invisible object, and a pair of legs appeared, being rubbed by a hand, and a familiar voice complaining.
"Christ, Lils, you didn't have to kick so hard!"
I knew that voice well, and flung myself at the person, knocking them and myself straight through the invisibility cloak, out the other side and into a heap on the floor.
"JAMESIE!"
"Oh, hey Lil" she muttered, inches from my face and …blushing?!
That threw me. In all the time I'd known James, I don't think I'd ever seen him blush, not even when, in the year before, we'd been playing that 'sick game of chicken' as Bella had put it, and Snape had told every single one of the teachers and other students that we were going out, which, of course, we weren't. After all, James and me would never feel that way about each other. Right?
So there we were, lying in a heap on the floor, me onto of James, him blushing, and Sirius, Remus and Catalina all watching in bemused amusement.
I batted my eyelashes and said in my best seductive voice "Oh, James, sweetie, I've missed you so much"
Usually this provoked a witty response along the same lines, we'd been playing this game for years, in which we flirted like crazy, but both of us knew it was just a little joke between close friends.
So I was a little shocked when James said nothing in reply, just muttered something and blushed even more.
I then heard a round of laughter behind me, with Sirius' boisterous guffaw drowning out Remus' good-natured chuckle and Catalina's silvery little giggle.
I finally got off James and we stood up, causing Sirius to laugh even more, for some reason, and I hugged him again, not knocking him over this time.
"Hey, I've missed you, ya great wimp" I muttered into his chest, meaning every word. Well, maybe not the 'great wimp' part.
"I've missed you too, Lil" he murmured into my hair, holding me closer. I could have gone on hugging him like that for hours, but a large crash from behind me signified that something had happened.
"What's going on here? Students out of their common rooms, eh pretty? Students snooping around?! Oh, show me to the little ruffians, Mrs Norris!"
Filch's voice echoed down the corridor, and there was a mad scramble for the invisibility cloak, with James and me becoming tangled up in each others robes and just managing to dive under there in time, Sirius making an 'eeep' noise that vaguely reminded me of a mouse, Catalina dropping all her papers and diving to the floor, and Remus stopping mid-scramble to bend down and grab some of the papers near him.
When Filch entered the hallway, Sirius, James and I were all under the invisibility cloak, Sirius starting to turn a strange shade of purple from trying not to laugh, and James with his arms still around my waist, holding me closely to his chest. Catalina and Remus were the poor souls left out in the corridor, hurriedly grabbing the mountains of papers that Catalina had been carrying.
Seeing the two student hurriedly grabbing at papers, he coughed, questioned the two for a few minutes, then stalked off, no doubt to terrorise some poor first year Hufflepuff who got lost and accidentally banged into some suit of armor, or Peeves.
We waited a few more seconds before piling out from under the cloak, Sirius finally bursting out into long awaited laughter, and knocking over one of the suits of armor, which clattered to the floor and fell apart, all the pieces flying off in various directions, one barely missing my foot, and another one bouncing straight off Catalina's head.
"Ouch.." she muttered, grabbing at her head and directing a death glare in the vague direction of Sirius, before grabbing the last of her papers and starting to dash out of the hallway.
We all stared at her retreating form, until she turned around and said to us, with a long missing smirk; "Well, since you all seem to desperate to have Filch catch us for a second time today, I'll just leave you all there."
We wasted no time in running back to the Gryffindor Common Room, finally collapsing into various seats, gasping, due to lack of breath from simultaneously running and laughing.
Sirius stretched his legs on the couch, leaving no room, Remus flopped down in a chair near to the fire, Catalina leaning against his legs and fetching out her DADA work and talking with him about it, and me and James falling into the nearest chair, me ending up on his lap, which is a position I wasn't to upset about landing in.
Bella and Mundungus joined us later, for the first time in what seemed to have been forever. Bella was still surrounded by work, her glasses perched on the end of her nose, and midnight blue hair pulled up in a messy knot, until Sirius stole her glasses, and Mundungus pulled his long brown hair up in her bobble.
We all sat there for the rest of the evening, Sirius eventually falling asleep and disturbing us all with his obnoxious snoring, which Remus and James both claimed he always did, but I wasn't so sure, as normally he didn't seem to 'wake up half of China with his snores'.
After the following small debate on exactly how loud Sirius' snores were ('Loud enough to wake the poor people on Mars' was the conclusion we eventually came to, thanks to Mundungus), we lapsed back into almost silence, Remus and Catalina conversing in almost whispers, about various subjects form DADA, to Quidditch, to when the next full moon was, Bella and Mundungus alternately bemoaning the amount of work they had, and debating whether Mundungus should plait his hair and put daises in it tomorrow, and me and James just sitting there in companionable silence, me enjoying the feel of having his arms around me.
When it got to around midnight, the clock chimed and we all woke up from our daydreams, muttering various things about going to bed, that all eventually came to nothing as we all dozed off in various positions, Sirius was knocked onto the floor by Catalina and Remus, who sat on the couch and eventually fell asleep with her head on his shoulder, while Sirius slumbered on unawares on the carpet. Bella drifted off to sleep, slumped on her still wet transfiguration essay, and Mundungus deep in the land of nod, the ends of his hair stuck in the nearest ink pot, courtesy of Remus' mischievous streak. James and I dozed off with me still in his lap, his arms tight around my waist, and his face buried in my hair.
