Misplaced affections
*~Author's Note~*
Hiya! I'm feeling extremely defeated=*( On my last story I did, only 6 wonderful people reviewed! By the way, thank you for boosting my confidence. I want to write more when I see so many people enjoyed it but it seems only 5 people did. Oh well. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!! Six fantastic reviews that inspired me to write more!!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything....etc....etc.........but I own the plot and some of the characters. (you know who)
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You never
lose by loving.
You always lose
by holding back.
~Barbara De Angelis
Part 3
Lily kicked off her skates scornfully and sat on the bench feeling defeated. Why do I bother with him? Lily wondered sadly. Sirius was still skating on the rink and doing crazy stunts to try to cheer her up. In the distance, she saw Kally push James, almost knocking him over. She was waving her arms about meaningfully, her cheeks red with anger and frustration and upon her face she displayed a look of rage, sympathy, and disgust. James had a look of pure abashment and shuffled his feet uncomfortably. Kally seemed to be through and fed to the teeth with James and stormed her way over to where Lily sat on the bench.
"That guy!" she exclaimed referring to James who was walking back to the tavern without his usual winning smile. Kally muttered a slew of words Lily hadn't even been aware she knew or existed. "Sometimes he's so naive it makes me want to wring his neck!!!!!"
That feeling was all too familiar to Lily. She had felt those feelings on many occasions. One being when James escorted her to her cousin's wedding the April before and he had flirted with all the girls there. Lily raised a shaking, white hand to her forehead remembering at every reunion, her female relatives would ask about James and would talk about nothing but. Ever since she had bumped in to him on the Hogwarts Express her very first year, he had flirted, girl after girl, sometimes not even aware that he was. It was an impulse with him. A second nature. A sixth sense. That was perhaps what Lily hated most about James.
Sirius skated over to them, panting and sweaty. "C'mon girls, you know you want to skate," he said pulling on Kally's arm.
"Ewwwww!!! You're all sweaty Siri!!! Geoff!!" Kally exclaimed swatting at his hands. "It's probably the last warm day we'll have before spring! How can the ice possibly be frozen over?"
"You'd never guess it was December eh?" Sirius added, collapsing on mossy floor next to the girls. "So, you ladies ready for the dance yet?" He asked in a mock tone.
"I don't even know if I'm going yet," Lily moaned. "I don't even have a date yet and my hopes of going with James are out the window. Sam has a better chance to go with him than I do." A couple of tears squeezed from her eyes but she hastily wiped them away before Kally and Sirius could see them.
"Oh please Lily!! James isn't the only guy in the world," Kally said plucking petals from a daisy one by one and letting them flutter to the ground and land on Sirius' shoulder. She was muttering under her breath while a tiny smile crept upon her mouth.
"Besides," Sirius said boredly, pulling off a petal from Kally's daisy and murmuring something inaudible too and making Kally blush, "I hear that Chris Martins is planning on asking you to the ball anyways."
Lily's face lit up considerably. "Really?" Chris was extremely handsome with sandy, blond hair and cocoa brown eyes. He was the Ravenclaw quidditch team captain and he and James rivaled each other. "Anyways, you two are going to the ball together right?" Lily asked deciding that mooning over James was no use.
Kally and Sirius both looked alarmed at the question then slowly their features relaxed. "Well, if no one asks either of us before then we will," Kally stated trying to sound normal but cursed the quaver in her voice.
"Neither of you got asked yet?" Lily inquired in an amused innocence. "I mean, the most popular and hottest guy and girl in our year haven't been asked to the Christmas Mistletoe Ball? I don't find that believable," she said, most obviously making it difficult for Kally and Sirius. "I thought I saw Leena talking to you yesterday Sirius? I was sure she was asking you to the ball."
Sirius squirmed uncomfortably wishing that he could dig a hole in the center of the earth and stay there. "Well she wasn't," he mumbled. "She was asking about charms homework."
"Whatever you say," Lily commented. She was about to say 'But you don't have charms with her', but someone interrupted.
"Sirius?" An uncertain, frail, sweet voice came from behind where the three were sitting. Lily, Kalasin and Sirius all swiveled around to behold a slender framed girl with long, light brown hair, a light smattering of freckles, rosy cheeks and long, dark lashes. It was Morgan Silva, a pretty sixth year girl who was in Hufflepuff and seemed to dislike Kally because of her popularity with the guys.
"Hey Morgan! What can I do for ya?" Sirius asked in his deep voice that made Kally go weak in the knees.
"Er, I was wondering," she was going red in the face but held her head up defiantly ignoring the glares Kally sent her way. "If you wanted to go to the Christmas Ball with me!" She spat it all out like a nasty tasting medicine very rapidly. Kally's eyes went wide and she looked stricken like Morgan had slapped her across the face.
Sirius clearly looked like he wanted to run away and hide but he fixed his face in to a contorted sort of smile. Crap! He thought to himself panicked. I can't say no or Kally will know I'd rather go with her! Damn! "I'd be...uh...glad to...er...Morgan," he said, trying to keep the disappointment out of his tone.
Kally frowned and hopped off from the bench and stomped off to Zonko's shop in fury. She heard Sirius and Lily both calling her but she didn't care. She could feel the tears well up in her eyes but she held them back, refusing to cry. She's just doing this to make me upset, Kally thought unhappily. I don't like him anyways! I don't like him...I don't like him! I-I-I d-don't like him at all!!!!
Lily caught up with her and Kally caught a glimpse of Sirius talking to Morgan looking trapped but to Kally's mind, he couldn't look happier. "Hey," Lily said in a lowered voice. "I guess it's a bad day for romance for both of us huh?"
"What are you talking about?" Kally snapped, quite unlike her usual happy-go-lucky self.
"Y-you and Sirius..." Lily stuttered.
"There is no me and Sirius," Kally answered, her tone going softer. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. I don't like commitment anyways," she said brightly. "I just want to go back to Hogwarts and curl up with a good book, or maybe hibernate till spring." Lily closed her mouth deciding to leave the subject.
The rest of the day was pretty much a flop for the whole lot of teens. Sirius was miserable without Kally and tried to shake off Morgan who refused to go anywhere without him. James kept worrying about what Kally had said to him, or rather, yelled at him. Lily tried to put James out of her mind and made herself wretched in the process. Kally was depressed on the inside, but she buried it deep inside her heart, convincing herself that she didn't care squat about Sirius. Remus didn't seem to notice anything amiss, nor did Molly or Arthur, but Samantha was getting annoyed that James wasn't paying any attention to her and she soon gave up.
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The train ride back to Hogwarts was extremely depressing and unpleasant, despite Remus' desperate attempt to get a lively conversation started. Alas, everyone just sat there, bad-tempered and ready to lash out at anyone. Well, Lily, Kally and Sirius were like that anyways. The rest were just uncomfortable feeling as though the atmosphere could be cut with a knife so they kept silent, not including Remus who didn't seem to realize anything was wrong.
Kally held back a sigh and drank some pumpkin juice. She felt sticky and wet from tromping through the snow and ignored everybody but vaguely answered questions Lily was asking her from her Teen Witch magazine. She knew she wouldn't have as much fun at the ball without Sirius but she didn't think she felt anything more for him than friendship. At least, she didn't think so. Besides, he didn't think of her that way.........
James was in a whole different compartment, feeling as if he couldn't bear to face any of the rest of his friends, especially Lily because of how shabbily he had treated her. He sat by himself in an isolated compartment and snapped at anyone who tried to come in and talk to him, especially at the girls. Rebelliously, he thought he had done nothing wrong, really, but deep in his heart he knew he hurt Lily. He didn't know why he did it, or why he always does it. James just couldn't help himself. Or maybe......maybe I just want to like someone more that I like Lily because I know I have no chance with her, he thought. Like? Or...love? Those thoughts were too disturbing to think of so James stopped and just let him mind go blank as the train continued the long journey back to Hogwarts.
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"How come we always have to sit at the Gryffindor table for dinner?" Kally grunted darkly.
"Er...cuz we are Gryffindors?" Lily said meekly. Droplets of rain pattered on the windows as Lily and Kally made their way down to the great Hall for dinner. They were the last ones out of the common room, both stalled as long as possible from going down. "If Chris is going to ask me to the ball, he'd better ask quick! The bloody ball is in only two days!!!"
"And we still have to decide what to wear," Kally pointed out. "But don't worry about that," she added quickly, seeing the alarmed look upon Lily's face, "I'm sure all the girls will be having a fit over what to wear and lending gowns and such."
Lily groaned as she stomped the marble floor exasperatedly in distress. "I can't believe I forgot to buy a dress yesterday at Hogsmeade!"
"Well, it's understandable anyways. You can borrow one of my gowns," Kally offered generously, "Besides, the only reason I'm going to be wearing a new gown is because mom and pop sent it to me."
"Thanks Kals! New gown? I still haven't seen it."
"No one has," Kally said mysteriously. "I don't intend on letting anyone see it until the ball." She twirled a part of her hair between her fingers thoughtfully. "Did I mention that Josh asked me to the ball again today like, and hour after Morgan asked Sirius?"
"No!" Lily exclaimed, her eyes shining. "And what did you say?"
"Yes! I mean, I wasn't about to refuse the guy. He's nice you know."
"I know but-."
"But?"
"I t-thought you wanted to go with Sirius," Lily stuttered uncomfortably.
Kally squirmed as they finally reached the Great Hall. "He's my good friend and that's it! I just said I thought it would be fun to go with Sirius because we are so close." She sighed in relief seeing that Lily had believed her. All she had to do now was convince herself. But she was pretty convinced anyways.
"Whatever you say," was Lily's short response. They both plopped in to their seats at the Gryffindor table. The Great Hall was bubbling with chatter of people discussing the upcoming ball and there was a loud clattering of silverware as people shook them out of their napkins.
Remus was complaining about how starving he was and looked ridiculous, yet adorable with his napkin tucked in his shirt under his neck. Arthur, who was a year older than the rest of them, was head boy and sitting at the head table. Molly had gone home straight from Hogsmeade to go to Hawaii with her family for Christmas vacation, but she would come back for one day for the ball then return. Unfortunately for Lily, James was seated right across from her and both were avoiding the other's eyes. James fiddled with a button on his robe and looked at his plate ignoring Samantha who was droning on about her gown for he ball. Kally, being sensible, didn't mention anything about what happened earlier at the rink and was whispering to Sirius evilly, who was sitting right next to her, as usual.
When the meal finally began, everyone was presented cream of mushroom soup, but the chattering didn't cease, let alone lessen. Kally inconspicuously got up and made her way over to James' place.
"Wow!" Sirius exclaimed loudly, "Is that Prof McGonagall streaking down the hall." He said it mainly to James but the rest of the group also turned heads, except Lily who saw the mischievous glint in Kally's eyes. Sure enough, as Lily expected, Kally took something out of the pockets of her robes and slide it in to James' soup then returned to her seat whistling a tune.
"Have you been eating peanut butter again Siri? You know what that stuff does to you! Shame on you," James said jokingly returning to his soup. "McGonagall is sitting at her table as usual, stiff as a board." Kally began to giggle wildly as James lifted his spoon to his mouth and Sirius choked on some of his own soup almost spitting it out. "What?" James asked. "What the heck are you two lovers laughing at?" That comment seemed to make Kally and Sirius laugh even harder till Sirius was choking so hard that Kally had to slap his back a couple of times. Remus raised his eyebrow curiously though he was stuffing his mouth with rolls. Sam wasn't eating at all but just tearing absently at her napkin silently un-amused. After quite a lot of laughing, Kally and Sirius seemed to stop and continued their meal despite the many questions that people were asking them.
"Geez you two are made for each other," James chided. "Pretty unusual," he said shaking his head and returning to his soup. Kally and Sirius seemed to be leaning in their chair watching James as he, again, lifted his soup to his mouth. "WHAT THE HELL?????" He spat out the soup to the right of him, which happened to be where Samantha was sitting. He spat out something black, spindly, small and......MOVING!!!! "Holy crap!!!!" He screamed loudly disregarding Sam's fearful screeches as she tried in vain to shake, what seemed to be spiders, off her lap. Spiders were climbing out of James' soup bowel to the floor.
Kally and Sirius were dying with laughter though the other people at their table were bellowing and jumping up from their seats. Remus had choked on his bun and had run out of the Great hall completely. It was known that he was quite afraid of spiders. Sam was hyperventilating over the spiders that refused to detach themselves from her dress. Lily sat serenely in her seat, enjoying the sight of James gulping down pumpkin juice hastily and trying to wipe his tongue frantically. His glasses were askew and his blue eyes were wide.
"We told you we'd get you back!" Sirius said calmly. Kally giggled.
"Aw stop fussing! They aren't REAL spiders. They just move and stuff. We found them in Honeydukes, Kally proclaimed. The chaos had desisted before any professors had noticed anything was wrong.
"Honeydukes?" James panted from drinking so much juice and he wiped his mouth his with sleeve, the panic leaving his eyes. Everyone else at the table started to babble on again but kept an ear to hear the reason why the 'spiders' were from Honeydukes. Samantha was still whimpering and ran off to the washroom with two of her friends from Ravenclaw accompanying her.
"Yea Honeydukes!" Sirius rolled his eyes impatiently. "They aren't real spiders. They are sweets! They move for about five minutes then they stop. It's from the gag section of the shop but I'm surprised that you haven't seen them yet. Try one," Sirius said picking one up himself and crunching on it. "Yum! Chocolate." Indeed the spiders had finished moving altogether and became still and began to look more like chocolate.
"Hey," Kally intercepted, "Don't look at us like that! You had it coming. We warned you about joking around with me and Sirius being more than friends, which we probably will never be." Sirius looked stricken at her words but she didn't seem to notice. Lily pushed away her own soup. Her own hunger had vanished with the spiders. Remus was still gone, as was Samantha.
"There aren't...er...anymore spiders I my food is there?" James asked cautiously inspecting the food that had arrived be known to any of the four of them.
"No!" Kally and Sirius both said in unison making James even more alarmed and worried then he already was. They all settled down to their meal once more, Lily remained silent, mainly out of depression and despair.
"I guess I deserved that," James mumbled. "Hell! You guys get the sweetest revenge! That was absolutely brilliant!" He smiled good-naturedly and continued with his meal but he left the rest of his soup untouched completely. "Er...but I don't think I'll ever be too fond of mushroom soup, or any kind of soup, ever again." They all laughed heartily and started the rest of their meal.
After the little spider incident, which they were all sure would be told continuously over the years, no one bore hard feelings towards each other anymore, not even Lily towards James. She couldn't hate him after watching him get so panicked. The enmity melted away like an ice cube in a summer's day sun and everyone continued where they left off, as friends.
Lily chatted with James as normal, much to his relief, though, she didn't think she liked him the way she used to any longer. Remus was still gone though Sam had, unfortunately, returned, but looked disgruntled and bad-tempered, her strawberry blond hair was an unruly mess and her usually perfect make-up was smudged. Kally and Sirius were still calming down from their joke and piled their plates up with roast chicken, lamb, scalloped potatoes and a whole assortment of other delectable looking dishes.
While she conversed with James, Lily dwelled over little things like she sometimes did and to other people it was considered spacing out, or daydreaming. S'funny, she thought, usually, when I get angry with James, I can forgive him and become even more infatuated with him than before but now it's different. It's like today was the first time I really saw him. Or maybe, I didn't really see him. I guess I really have to ask myself, is James the guy who I'm meant to be with?
"Are you listening Lil?" James' concerned voice cut through Lily's thoughts.
"Hm? Oh yes. I was just-." She was cut off in mid-sentence by someone tapping on her shoulder gently. It seemed, that day, everyone was getting interrupted by one thing or another, and quite frankly, it was beginning to annoy her. "Yes?" she asked, turning around to come face to face with Christopher Martins, who was blushing madly though looking confident all the same. Her eyes widened and she could feel her own cheeks grow hot.
"What do YOU want Martins?" James growled rudely, glaring at Chris who returned an equally resentful look. It wasn't like James to make such enemies, but ever since Chris had beat him in quidditch, they had instantly become rivals, not just at quidditch but at schoolwork too. Kally and Sirius had stopped their incessant laughter to listen intently to heated conversation. Each boy tried to stare the other one down, both refusing to yield. They didn't exactly make it discreet for their hatred for one another, though, no matter how much James detested Chris, he couldn't despise anyone more than he did Lucius Malfoy or Serverus Snape. Sirius, who hated both Malfoy and Snape, didn't bear any hard feelings towards Chris. After a few moments of glowering, which seemed like years to Lily, Chris finally looked away from James to turn his attention, fully, to her.
"So, before I was impolitely disrupted--," James had to be held back by a forced Sirius at this remark, "I was going to ask you to go to the ball with me Lily. Would you?" Chris' big, cocoa brown eyes were pleading like a puppy's. He was so handsome with his sandy blond hair untamed and his tanned skin. Not to mention his soulful eyes that had a lively twinkle in them. He was squirming waiting for Lily to answer but she was sitting in her chair unable to let the information sink in. She couldn't believe it! Popular, handsome Chris Martins was asking her to go to the Christmas Mistletoe Ball out of all the girls practically queuing up to get him to ask them!!
Kalasin rolled her eyes and nudged Lily hard in the ribs. "Wha?" Lily jumped startled. When she caught sight of Chris, and everyone else at the table, looking expectantly at her, she remembered and was completely mortified that she had taken so long to decide. "Oh! Of course I'll go to the Ball with you Chris!" She consented, flustered.
"GREAT!!! Great! Great!" Chris kept repeating, looking overjoyed but managed to keep his composure. He stumbled backwards. "Well, I'll see you then okay?" He walked backwards, his hands shoved in his pockets and he bit his lip like he did when he was ecstatic. That's so CUTE! Lily thought to herself.
"Alright," she called back to him. She twirled around to face Kally and Sirius who were both beaming, identical mischievous grins from ear to ear. Samantha looked amazed, she knocked over her goblet in shock, incapable to register that Lily was asked to the Ball by the handsome Ravenclaw quidditch captain. One of the most sought out boys in Hogwarts, alongside Sirius, James and Josh Turner, but Sirius' good looks stood out in a group all of his own. James didn't look glad OR amazed. The expression on his face was unmistakable. It was distress. Lily's heart ached for him but only because he looked so hurt. Well, I WANT to go with Chris! Consider this pay back for all the times you hurt me James, Lily thought to herself placing a smug smile on her face, though her eyes pleaded with James to not feel so terrible. He turned his eyes down to his plate and returned to his meal but just picked at his food absently without a sound.
"Congrats Lily!" Kally squealed, excited for her friend. "Way to go! We both bagged Ravenclaw quidditch players!" She said giggling girlishly. Lily couldn't contain a chuckle of amusement. Only an hour ago she had thought no one would ask her to go and that she'd have to go stag, and now, she was going with one of the most handsome guys in school.
"WHAT?" Sirius looked alarmed and Lily recalled that he had no idea that Kally was going to the ball with Josh. Kally seemed to remember that Sirius didn't know and she stiffened, not looking forward to explaining her current plans for the Christmas event. Before she could even open her mouth, someone placed their hands over her Kally's eyes. Lily recognized him as Joshua Turner from Ravenclaw, one of Sirius' friends and Kally's date to the ball. James stayed stubbornly silent and Samantha's mouth opened even wider in surprise, though, Lily doubted that she was more surprised than she was at Lily because Kally had dozens of handsome admirers chasing after her.
He had the deepest, clearest, most meaningful blue eyes Lily had ever seen in her life and his mouth always seemed to curve in to a smile even when he was grave. His brownish black hair that was tinted red in the sunlight went perfectly with his complexion that was tanned and his cheeks always seemed rosy and his expression was cheery. "Guess who?" His voice, Lily noted, wad almost a musical ring to it but was husky and deep for a sixteen year old. He was just about as impish as Sirius was, which was probably the reason he and Sirius were such good friends. His disposition was sweet, and everyone who knew him raved about his playful and hilarious sense of humor.
Kally giggled delightedly and remained completely still under his gentle hands. Sirius' cheeks flamed and Lily could see the visible redness creeping up to his face. His hands clenched at his sides and one would only guess that he was jealous, which he most inevitably was. He jumped up from his seat his chair scraped back loudly startling Josh. Sirius swiftly brutally shoved Josh, knocking him off balance. His eyes were blazing wildly. Lily had never seen him like that before.
"What's your problem Sirius?' Josh said in a low angry tone, removing his hands from Kally's eyes and moving to face Sirius reaching level height with him, his own fists clenching.
"You KNOW what my problem is," Sirius replied narrowing his hazel eyes livid. Kally sat, frozen to her spot biting her lower lip nervously.
Josh nodded, narrowing his own eyes. "So do you have a problem with any other guy besides you going to the ball with a gorgeous, sweet, incredible girl like Kally?" She blushed embarrassed at the attention. "Or do you just have a problem with me going out with her because you don't want her to go with anyone else? I'm not telling you to not go over to your date and talking to her am I?" James looked up and raised an eyebrow, ready to break apart the guys if they attacked each other. Lily didn't think either of the angry boys realized that the whole hall had gone silent waiting to see how the conflict would be resolved, or if it would be resolved at all.
Kally leapt up from her seat to separate Sirius and Josh who were shooting daggers at each other. "That's enough guys," she said firmly but with an unmistakable tremble in her voice. "PLEASE sit DOWN Siri," Kally begged Sirius tearfully.
"You're going with HIM to the ball??????" he demanded, looking straight in to Kally's eyes.
"Yes!" she said defiantly. Lily sat on the edge of her seat waiting to se what would happen next, as was every student in the hall. James had now gotten up and stood behind Sirius, not to hurt but to prevent him from hurtling towards Josh to knock him over.
"Do you have a problem with that Sirius?" Josh asked loudly over Kally's shoulder, trying to push past her.
Sirius' eyes were wild and slammed his fist on the table loudly. "Shut UP Turner!!!!" Abruptly, the suffocating atmosphere broke and Sirius tried in vain to hurl himself at Josh and pummel the life out of him.
"No! Kally screamed. Remus had returned and was now helping James hold a struggling Sirius back from jumping upon Josh. Kally was pushing Josh back as well. Though she was quite strong, Lily went to assist her to calm both men down. There was a deafening exchange of cursing and words that made Lily's ears ring. Words that she was sure wasn't in the dictionary anywhere. The professors finally went over to soothe both irate, once friends, and restore the serenity of the Great Hall.
To be continued in the next part...
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A/N: Well? It's sorta a cliff hanger right? Oh well....I just had to write that part and I didn't want to cut out any part of it cuz I wanted to have yelling and stuff.....heh heh!!! Please PLEASE review or I'll just assume that my stories suck and no one likes it. Looks forwards to the next part which I HOPE will have the Christmas ball in it!!!! Romance....ROMANCE!!! Teehee!! It's coming! Can you feel the inevitable romance to come? Ciao Bellas^^ Yours till the snow flakes phrase compliments of Britters!
*~Ducks N' Daisies~*
~Kira Trinity^_~
*~Author's Note~*
Hiya! I'm feeling extremely defeated=*( On my last story I did, only 6 wonderful people reviewed! By the way, thank you for boosting my confidence. I want to write more when I see so many people enjoyed it but it seems only 5 people did. Oh well. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!! Six fantastic reviews that inspired me to write more!!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything....etc....etc.........but I own the plot and some of the characters. (you know who)
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You never
lose by loving.
You always lose
by holding back.
~Barbara De Angelis
Part 3
Lily kicked off her skates scornfully and sat on the bench feeling defeated. Why do I bother with him? Lily wondered sadly. Sirius was still skating on the rink and doing crazy stunts to try to cheer her up. In the distance, she saw Kally push James, almost knocking him over. She was waving her arms about meaningfully, her cheeks red with anger and frustration and upon her face she displayed a look of rage, sympathy, and disgust. James had a look of pure abashment and shuffled his feet uncomfortably. Kally seemed to be through and fed to the teeth with James and stormed her way over to where Lily sat on the bench.
"That guy!" she exclaimed referring to James who was walking back to the tavern without his usual winning smile. Kally muttered a slew of words Lily hadn't even been aware she knew or existed. "Sometimes he's so naive it makes me want to wring his neck!!!!!"
That feeling was all too familiar to Lily. She had felt those feelings on many occasions. One being when James escorted her to her cousin's wedding the April before and he had flirted with all the girls there. Lily raised a shaking, white hand to her forehead remembering at every reunion, her female relatives would ask about James and would talk about nothing but. Ever since she had bumped in to him on the Hogwarts Express her very first year, he had flirted, girl after girl, sometimes not even aware that he was. It was an impulse with him. A second nature. A sixth sense. That was perhaps what Lily hated most about James.
Sirius skated over to them, panting and sweaty. "C'mon girls, you know you want to skate," he said pulling on Kally's arm.
"Ewwwww!!! You're all sweaty Siri!!! Geoff!!" Kally exclaimed swatting at his hands. "It's probably the last warm day we'll have before spring! How can the ice possibly be frozen over?"
"You'd never guess it was December eh?" Sirius added, collapsing on mossy floor next to the girls. "So, you ladies ready for the dance yet?" He asked in a mock tone.
"I don't even know if I'm going yet," Lily moaned. "I don't even have a date yet and my hopes of going with James are out the window. Sam has a better chance to go with him than I do." A couple of tears squeezed from her eyes but she hastily wiped them away before Kally and Sirius could see them.
"Oh please Lily!! James isn't the only guy in the world," Kally said plucking petals from a daisy one by one and letting them flutter to the ground and land on Sirius' shoulder. She was muttering under her breath while a tiny smile crept upon her mouth.
"Besides," Sirius said boredly, pulling off a petal from Kally's daisy and murmuring something inaudible too and making Kally blush, "I hear that Chris Martins is planning on asking you to the ball anyways."
Lily's face lit up considerably. "Really?" Chris was extremely handsome with sandy, blond hair and cocoa brown eyes. He was the Ravenclaw quidditch team captain and he and James rivaled each other. "Anyways, you two are going to the ball together right?" Lily asked deciding that mooning over James was no use.
Kally and Sirius both looked alarmed at the question then slowly their features relaxed. "Well, if no one asks either of us before then we will," Kally stated trying to sound normal but cursed the quaver in her voice.
"Neither of you got asked yet?" Lily inquired in an amused innocence. "I mean, the most popular and hottest guy and girl in our year haven't been asked to the Christmas Mistletoe Ball? I don't find that believable," she said, most obviously making it difficult for Kally and Sirius. "I thought I saw Leena talking to you yesterday Sirius? I was sure she was asking you to the ball."
Sirius squirmed uncomfortably wishing that he could dig a hole in the center of the earth and stay there. "Well she wasn't," he mumbled. "She was asking about charms homework."
"Whatever you say," Lily commented. She was about to say 'But you don't have charms with her', but someone interrupted.
"Sirius?" An uncertain, frail, sweet voice came from behind where the three were sitting. Lily, Kalasin and Sirius all swiveled around to behold a slender framed girl with long, light brown hair, a light smattering of freckles, rosy cheeks and long, dark lashes. It was Morgan Silva, a pretty sixth year girl who was in Hufflepuff and seemed to dislike Kally because of her popularity with the guys.
"Hey Morgan! What can I do for ya?" Sirius asked in his deep voice that made Kally go weak in the knees.
"Er, I was wondering," she was going red in the face but held her head up defiantly ignoring the glares Kally sent her way. "If you wanted to go to the Christmas Ball with me!" She spat it all out like a nasty tasting medicine very rapidly. Kally's eyes went wide and she looked stricken like Morgan had slapped her across the face.
Sirius clearly looked like he wanted to run away and hide but he fixed his face in to a contorted sort of smile. Crap! He thought to himself panicked. I can't say no or Kally will know I'd rather go with her! Damn! "I'd be...uh...glad to...er...Morgan," he said, trying to keep the disappointment out of his tone.
Kally frowned and hopped off from the bench and stomped off to Zonko's shop in fury. She heard Sirius and Lily both calling her but she didn't care. She could feel the tears well up in her eyes but she held them back, refusing to cry. She's just doing this to make me upset, Kally thought unhappily. I don't like him anyways! I don't like him...I don't like him! I-I-I d-don't like him at all!!!!
Lily caught up with her and Kally caught a glimpse of Sirius talking to Morgan looking trapped but to Kally's mind, he couldn't look happier. "Hey," Lily said in a lowered voice. "I guess it's a bad day for romance for both of us huh?"
"What are you talking about?" Kally snapped, quite unlike her usual happy-go-lucky self.
"Y-you and Sirius..." Lily stuttered.
"There is no me and Sirius," Kally answered, her tone going softer. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. I don't like commitment anyways," she said brightly. "I just want to go back to Hogwarts and curl up with a good book, or maybe hibernate till spring." Lily closed her mouth deciding to leave the subject.
The rest of the day was pretty much a flop for the whole lot of teens. Sirius was miserable without Kally and tried to shake off Morgan who refused to go anywhere without him. James kept worrying about what Kally had said to him, or rather, yelled at him. Lily tried to put James out of her mind and made herself wretched in the process. Kally was depressed on the inside, but she buried it deep inside her heart, convincing herself that she didn't care squat about Sirius. Remus didn't seem to notice anything amiss, nor did Molly or Arthur, but Samantha was getting annoyed that James wasn't paying any attention to her and she soon gave up.
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The train ride back to Hogwarts was extremely depressing and unpleasant, despite Remus' desperate attempt to get a lively conversation started. Alas, everyone just sat there, bad-tempered and ready to lash out at anyone. Well, Lily, Kally and Sirius were like that anyways. The rest were just uncomfortable feeling as though the atmosphere could be cut with a knife so they kept silent, not including Remus who didn't seem to realize anything was wrong.
Kally held back a sigh and drank some pumpkin juice. She felt sticky and wet from tromping through the snow and ignored everybody but vaguely answered questions Lily was asking her from her Teen Witch magazine. She knew she wouldn't have as much fun at the ball without Sirius but she didn't think she felt anything more for him than friendship. At least, she didn't think so. Besides, he didn't think of her that way.........
James was in a whole different compartment, feeling as if he couldn't bear to face any of the rest of his friends, especially Lily because of how shabbily he had treated her. He sat by himself in an isolated compartment and snapped at anyone who tried to come in and talk to him, especially at the girls. Rebelliously, he thought he had done nothing wrong, really, but deep in his heart he knew he hurt Lily. He didn't know why he did it, or why he always does it. James just couldn't help himself. Or maybe......maybe I just want to like someone more that I like Lily because I know I have no chance with her, he thought. Like? Or...love? Those thoughts were too disturbing to think of so James stopped and just let him mind go blank as the train continued the long journey back to Hogwarts.
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"How come we always have to sit at the Gryffindor table for dinner?" Kally grunted darkly.
"Er...cuz we are Gryffindors?" Lily said meekly. Droplets of rain pattered on the windows as Lily and Kally made their way down to the great Hall for dinner. They were the last ones out of the common room, both stalled as long as possible from going down. "If Chris is going to ask me to the ball, he'd better ask quick! The bloody ball is in only two days!!!"
"And we still have to decide what to wear," Kally pointed out. "But don't worry about that," she added quickly, seeing the alarmed look upon Lily's face, "I'm sure all the girls will be having a fit over what to wear and lending gowns and such."
Lily groaned as she stomped the marble floor exasperatedly in distress. "I can't believe I forgot to buy a dress yesterday at Hogsmeade!"
"Well, it's understandable anyways. You can borrow one of my gowns," Kally offered generously, "Besides, the only reason I'm going to be wearing a new gown is because mom and pop sent it to me."
"Thanks Kals! New gown? I still haven't seen it."
"No one has," Kally said mysteriously. "I don't intend on letting anyone see it until the ball." She twirled a part of her hair between her fingers thoughtfully. "Did I mention that Josh asked me to the ball again today like, and hour after Morgan asked Sirius?"
"No!" Lily exclaimed, her eyes shining. "And what did you say?"
"Yes! I mean, I wasn't about to refuse the guy. He's nice you know."
"I know but-."
"But?"
"I t-thought you wanted to go with Sirius," Lily stuttered uncomfortably.
Kally squirmed as they finally reached the Great Hall. "He's my good friend and that's it! I just said I thought it would be fun to go with Sirius because we are so close." She sighed in relief seeing that Lily had believed her. All she had to do now was convince herself. But she was pretty convinced anyways.
"Whatever you say," was Lily's short response. They both plopped in to their seats at the Gryffindor table. The Great Hall was bubbling with chatter of people discussing the upcoming ball and there was a loud clattering of silverware as people shook them out of their napkins.
Remus was complaining about how starving he was and looked ridiculous, yet adorable with his napkin tucked in his shirt under his neck. Arthur, who was a year older than the rest of them, was head boy and sitting at the head table. Molly had gone home straight from Hogsmeade to go to Hawaii with her family for Christmas vacation, but she would come back for one day for the ball then return. Unfortunately for Lily, James was seated right across from her and both were avoiding the other's eyes. James fiddled with a button on his robe and looked at his plate ignoring Samantha who was droning on about her gown for he ball. Kally, being sensible, didn't mention anything about what happened earlier at the rink and was whispering to Sirius evilly, who was sitting right next to her, as usual.
When the meal finally began, everyone was presented cream of mushroom soup, but the chattering didn't cease, let alone lessen. Kally inconspicuously got up and made her way over to James' place.
"Wow!" Sirius exclaimed loudly, "Is that Prof McGonagall streaking down the hall." He said it mainly to James but the rest of the group also turned heads, except Lily who saw the mischievous glint in Kally's eyes. Sure enough, as Lily expected, Kally took something out of the pockets of her robes and slide it in to James' soup then returned to her seat whistling a tune.
"Have you been eating peanut butter again Siri? You know what that stuff does to you! Shame on you," James said jokingly returning to his soup. "McGonagall is sitting at her table as usual, stiff as a board." Kally began to giggle wildly as James lifted his spoon to his mouth and Sirius choked on some of his own soup almost spitting it out. "What?" James asked. "What the heck are you two lovers laughing at?" That comment seemed to make Kally and Sirius laugh even harder till Sirius was choking so hard that Kally had to slap his back a couple of times. Remus raised his eyebrow curiously though he was stuffing his mouth with rolls. Sam wasn't eating at all but just tearing absently at her napkin silently un-amused. After quite a lot of laughing, Kally and Sirius seemed to stop and continued their meal despite the many questions that people were asking them.
"Geez you two are made for each other," James chided. "Pretty unusual," he said shaking his head and returning to his soup. Kally and Sirius seemed to be leaning in their chair watching James as he, again, lifted his soup to his mouth. "WHAT THE HELL?????" He spat out the soup to the right of him, which happened to be where Samantha was sitting. He spat out something black, spindly, small and......MOVING!!!! "Holy crap!!!!" He screamed loudly disregarding Sam's fearful screeches as she tried in vain to shake, what seemed to be spiders, off her lap. Spiders were climbing out of James' soup bowel to the floor.
Kally and Sirius were dying with laughter though the other people at their table were bellowing and jumping up from their seats. Remus had choked on his bun and had run out of the Great hall completely. It was known that he was quite afraid of spiders. Sam was hyperventilating over the spiders that refused to detach themselves from her dress. Lily sat serenely in her seat, enjoying the sight of James gulping down pumpkin juice hastily and trying to wipe his tongue frantically. His glasses were askew and his blue eyes were wide.
"We told you we'd get you back!" Sirius said calmly. Kally giggled.
"Aw stop fussing! They aren't REAL spiders. They just move and stuff. We found them in Honeydukes, Kally proclaimed. The chaos had desisted before any professors had noticed anything was wrong.
"Honeydukes?" James panted from drinking so much juice and he wiped his mouth his with sleeve, the panic leaving his eyes. Everyone else at the table started to babble on again but kept an ear to hear the reason why the 'spiders' were from Honeydukes. Samantha was still whimpering and ran off to the washroom with two of her friends from Ravenclaw accompanying her.
"Yea Honeydukes!" Sirius rolled his eyes impatiently. "They aren't real spiders. They are sweets! They move for about five minutes then they stop. It's from the gag section of the shop but I'm surprised that you haven't seen them yet. Try one," Sirius said picking one up himself and crunching on it. "Yum! Chocolate." Indeed the spiders had finished moving altogether and became still and began to look more like chocolate.
"Hey," Kally intercepted, "Don't look at us like that! You had it coming. We warned you about joking around with me and Sirius being more than friends, which we probably will never be." Sirius looked stricken at her words but she didn't seem to notice. Lily pushed away her own soup. Her own hunger had vanished with the spiders. Remus was still gone, as was Samantha.
"There aren't...er...anymore spiders I my food is there?" James asked cautiously inspecting the food that had arrived be known to any of the four of them.
"No!" Kally and Sirius both said in unison making James even more alarmed and worried then he already was. They all settled down to their meal once more, Lily remained silent, mainly out of depression and despair.
"I guess I deserved that," James mumbled. "Hell! You guys get the sweetest revenge! That was absolutely brilliant!" He smiled good-naturedly and continued with his meal but he left the rest of his soup untouched completely. "Er...but I don't think I'll ever be too fond of mushroom soup, or any kind of soup, ever again." They all laughed heartily and started the rest of their meal.
After the little spider incident, which they were all sure would be told continuously over the years, no one bore hard feelings towards each other anymore, not even Lily towards James. She couldn't hate him after watching him get so panicked. The enmity melted away like an ice cube in a summer's day sun and everyone continued where they left off, as friends.
Lily chatted with James as normal, much to his relief, though, she didn't think she liked him the way she used to any longer. Remus was still gone though Sam had, unfortunately, returned, but looked disgruntled and bad-tempered, her strawberry blond hair was an unruly mess and her usually perfect make-up was smudged. Kally and Sirius were still calming down from their joke and piled their plates up with roast chicken, lamb, scalloped potatoes and a whole assortment of other delectable looking dishes.
While she conversed with James, Lily dwelled over little things like she sometimes did and to other people it was considered spacing out, or daydreaming. S'funny, she thought, usually, when I get angry with James, I can forgive him and become even more infatuated with him than before but now it's different. It's like today was the first time I really saw him. Or maybe, I didn't really see him. I guess I really have to ask myself, is James the guy who I'm meant to be with?
"Are you listening Lil?" James' concerned voice cut through Lily's thoughts.
"Hm? Oh yes. I was just-." She was cut off in mid-sentence by someone tapping on her shoulder gently. It seemed, that day, everyone was getting interrupted by one thing or another, and quite frankly, it was beginning to annoy her. "Yes?" she asked, turning around to come face to face with Christopher Martins, who was blushing madly though looking confident all the same. Her eyes widened and she could feel her own cheeks grow hot.
"What do YOU want Martins?" James growled rudely, glaring at Chris who returned an equally resentful look. It wasn't like James to make such enemies, but ever since Chris had beat him in quidditch, they had instantly become rivals, not just at quidditch but at schoolwork too. Kally and Sirius had stopped their incessant laughter to listen intently to heated conversation. Each boy tried to stare the other one down, both refusing to yield. They didn't exactly make it discreet for their hatred for one another, though, no matter how much James detested Chris, he couldn't despise anyone more than he did Lucius Malfoy or Serverus Snape. Sirius, who hated both Malfoy and Snape, didn't bear any hard feelings towards Chris. After a few moments of glowering, which seemed like years to Lily, Chris finally looked away from James to turn his attention, fully, to her.
"So, before I was impolitely disrupted--," James had to be held back by a forced Sirius at this remark, "I was going to ask you to go to the ball with me Lily. Would you?" Chris' big, cocoa brown eyes were pleading like a puppy's. He was so handsome with his sandy blond hair untamed and his tanned skin. Not to mention his soulful eyes that had a lively twinkle in them. He was squirming waiting for Lily to answer but she was sitting in her chair unable to let the information sink in. She couldn't believe it! Popular, handsome Chris Martins was asking her to go to the Christmas Mistletoe Ball out of all the girls practically queuing up to get him to ask them!!
Kalasin rolled her eyes and nudged Lily hard in the ribs. "Wha?" Lily jumped startled. When she caught sight of Chris, and everyone else at the table, looking expectantly at her, she remembered and was completely mortified that she had taken so long to decide. "Oh! Of course I'll go to the Ball with you Chris!" She consented, flustered.
"GREAT!!! Great! Great!" Chris kept repeating, looking overjoyed but managed to keep his composure. He stumbled backwards. "Well, I'll see you then okay?" He walked backwards, his hands shoved in his pockets and he bit his lip like he did when he was ecstatic. That's so CUTE! Lily thought to herself.
"Alright," she called back to him. She twirled around to face Kally and Sirius who were both beaming, identical mischievous grins from ear to ear. Samantha looked amazed, she knocked over her goblet in shock, incapable to register that Lily was asked to the Ball by the handsome Ravenclaw quidditch captain. One of the most sought out boys in Hogwarts, alongside Sirius, James and Josh Turner, but Sirius' good looks stood out in a group all of his own. James didn't look glad OR amazed. The expression on his face was unmistakable. It was distress. Lily's heart ached for him but only because he looked so hurt. Well, I WANT to go with Chris! Consider this pay back for all the times you hurt me James, Lily thought to herself placing a smug smile on her face, though her eyes pleaded with James to not feel so terrible. He turned his eyes down to his plate and returned to his meal but just picked at his food absently without a sound.
"Congrats Lily!" Kally squealed, excited for her friend. "Way to go! We both bagged Ravenclaw quidditch players!" She said giggling girlishly. Lily couldn't contain a chuckle of amusement. Only an hour ago she had thought no one would ask her to go and that she'd have to go stag, and now, she was going with one of the most handsome guys in school.
"WHAT?" Sirius looked alarmed and Lily recalled that he had no idea that Kally was going to the ball with Josh. Kally seemed to remember that Sirius didn't know and she stiffened, not looking forward to explaining her current plans for the Christmas event. Before she could even open her mouth, someone placed their hands over her Kally's eyes. Lily recognized him as Joshua Turner from Ravenclaw, one of Sirius' friends and Kally's date to the ball. James stayed stubbornly silent and Samantha's mouth opened even wider in surprise, though, Lily doubted that she was more surprised than she was at Lily because Kally had dozens of handsome admirers chasing after her.
He had the deepest, clearest, most meaningful blue eyes Lily had ever seen in her life and his mouth always seemed to curve in to a smile even when he was grave. His brownish black hair that was tinted red in the sunlight went perfectly with his complexion that was tanned and his cheeks always seemed rosy and his expression was cheery. "Guess who?" His voice, Lily noted, wad almost a musical ring to it but was husky and deep for a sixteen year old. He was just about as impish as Sirius was, which was probably the reason he and Sirius were such good friends. His disposition was sweet, and everyone who knew him raved about his playful and hilarious sense of humor.
Kally giggled delightedly and remained completely still under his gentle hands. Sirius' cheeks flamed and Lily could see the visible redness creeping up to his face. His hands clenched at his sides and one would only guess that he was jealous, which he most inevitably was. He jumped up from his seat his chair scraped back loudly startling Josh. Sirius swiftly brutally shoved Josh, knocking him off balance. His eyes were blazing wildly. Lily had never seen him like that before.
"What's your problem Sirius?' Josh said in a low angry tone, removing his hands from Kally's eyes and moving to face Sirius reaching level height with him, his own fists clenching.
"You KNOW what my problem is," Sirius replied narrowing his hazel eyes livid. Kally sat, frozen to her spot biting her lower lip nervously.
Josh nodded, narrowing his own eyes. "So do you have a problem with any other guy besides you going to the ball with a gorgeous, sweet, incredible girl like Kally?" She blushed embarrassed at the attention. "Or do you just have a problem with me going out with her because you don't want her to go with anyone else? I'm not telling you to not go over to your date and talking to her am I?" James looked up and raised an eyebrow, ready to break apart the guys if they attacked each other. Lily didn't think either of the angry boys realized that the whole hall had gone silent waiting to see how the conflict would be resolved, or if it would be resolved at all.
Kally leapt up from her seat to separate Sirius and Josh who were shooting daggers at each other. "That's enough guys," she said firmly but with an unmistakable tremble in her voice. "PLEASE sit DOWN Siri," Kally begged Sirius tearfully.
"You're going with HIM to the ball??????" he demanded, looking straight in to Kally's eyes.
"Yes!" she said defiantly. Lily sat on the edge of her seat waiting to se what would happen next, as was every student in the hall. James had now gotten up and stood behind Sirius, not to hurt but to prevent him from hurtling towards Josh to knock him over.
"Do you have a problem with that Sirius?" Josh asked loudly over Kally's shoulder, trying to push past her.
Sirius' eyes were wild and slammed his fist on the table loudly. "Shut UP Turner!!!!" Abruptly, the suffocating atmosphere broke and Sirius tried in vain to hurl himself at Josh and pummel the life out of him.
"No! Kally screamed. Remus had returned and was now helping James hold a struggling Sirius back from jumping upon Josh. Kally was pushing Josh back as well. Though she was quite strong, Lily went to assist her to calm both men down. There was a deafening exchange of cursing and words that made Lily's ears ring. Words that she was sure wasn't in the dictionary anywhere. The professors finally went over to soothe both irate, once friends, and restore the serenity of the Great Hall.
To be continued in the next part...
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A/N: Well? It's sorta a cliff hanger right? Oh well....I just had to write that part and I didn't want to cut out any part of it cuz I wanted to have yelling and stuff.....heh heh!!! Please PLEASE review or I'll just assume that my stories suck and no one likes it. Looks forwards to the next part which I HOPE will have the Christmas ball in it!!!! Romance....ROMANCE!!! Teehee!! It's coming! Can you feel the inevitable romance to come? Ciao Bellas^^ Yours till the snow flakes phrase compliments of Britters!
*~Ducks N' Daisies~*
~Kira Trinity^_~