Past Present and Future ~ by someone aka dOvE
Chapter 5 - Emotions
Emotions, what are you doin'?
Oh, don't you know, don't you know you'll be my ruin?
You've got me crying, crying again
When will you let this heartache end?
~ 'Emotions' by Brenda Lee ~
Lily grinned wickedly behind her napkin as she looked on at the spectacle before her. Gypsy and Gus were sitting next to each other and both of their faces were a pinkish colour. They both sat rigidly in their seats, Gus playing with his breakfast with his fork, and Gypsy eating in a very formal manner.
Frankie walked into the Great Hall casually, looking up and down the Gryffindor table for his friends. He spotted them and headed in their direction.
"Hey guys," Frankie said, breaking the awkward (yet amusing, in Lily's case) silence. He sat down beside Lily.
"Hey Frankie," replied Lily, ruffling his floppy blonde hair. "What's up?"
Frankie pushed Lily's hand hastily off his head. "Other than the fact that you're messing up my previously gorgeous hair, nothing."
Lily looked from his eyes to his hair in mock scepticism, with one eyebrow raised. Frankie was now frowning worriedly.
"It's not that bad is it?" he asked.
This made Lily laugh as she pulled him into a headlock and ruffle his hair further. "No you daft twit."
Frankie tried to pull his head out of the lock, unsuccessfully. He then reached up with his hand and tickled Lily. She shrieked and his head was released from the locked.
Frankie grinned at Lily in victory.
"Touchè," said Lily and then poked out her tongue. Frankie then noticed the silence of Gypsy and Gus.
"What's up with you guys?" he asked, addressing them now instead of Lily.
Lily immediately pulled the napkin up to her face again, for fear of bursting out laughing.
"Nothing," they both replied quickly.
Frankie glanced at Lily, then looked back at them suspiciously. "Did I miss something?"
Lily looked at him, grinning. "No Frankie…nothing…nothing at all."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The four of them, Gus, Gypsy, Frankie and Lily, headed back up towards the common room, when Lily realised that she had left her bracelet in the Great Hall.
"Crap!" she said, stopping suddenly.
"What is it?" asked Gus.
"I left my bracelet in the Great Hall. You guys go on ahead. I'll be up soon, ok?"
"Sure thing Lily dah-ling," replied Frankie, playfully. Lily smiled at him.
"Cya guys," she said, turning around.
"Ciao, Lily-a!" said Gypsy in a thick Italian accent.
Lily chuckled and walked at a brisk pace back towards the Great Hall, when she heard sobbing coming from around the corner. Curiously, she peered around to see none other than Bella and Sirius sitting on a step, Bella with head in hands and Sirius Black with his arm around her shoulder, comforting her.
"Bella?" said Lily softly, but loud enough for both of them to hear. Bella looked up to reveal puffy red eyes and a tear-stained face. She walked towards the two of them, and crouched down in front of them, her face creased with worry.
"Bella what happened?" she asked tentatively.
"Oh Lily," whimpered Bella, through her sobs, while she suddenly clung onto Lily's clothes.
Lily pulled her gently to an upright position and held her in her arms. She then looked at Sirius, who too was now standing up.
"It's ok Sirius," said Lily softly, unsure of whether Bella could hear her. "I'll take it from here."
Sirius face was also creased with worry, as he shifted uncomfortably, unsure of whether to stay or take Lily's advice and leave.
Finally Sirius nodded but then put his hand out, indicating there was something he needed to tell her. He mouthed the word Liam, then pointed to Bella and then drew a line across his throat.
Lily immediately got the picture and nodded. So Liam had broken it off with Bella. Sirius nodded curtly at the fact that Lily had acknowledged she understood and slipped away silently after glancing at Bella with a certain look that Lily couldn't quite comprehend.
Lily gently pulled away from the embrace and looked down at Bella's chubby, sorrowful face.
"Bella, sweetie, what happened?"
"He broke up with me, Lily. He broke up with me," she sobbed.
"Oh no…" whispered Lily. "Why?"
"He said I was too nice for him. He said he didn't deserve me. But I know that's bull Lily. I bet there's someone else…someone better than me…someone he likes more. I'm not good enough for him…"
"That's not true Bella. You're too good for anyone at Hogwarts, and if Liam is too daft to realise how lucky he was to have you then what he said was true. He didn't deserve you."
"He was my first boyfriend Lily. My first boyfriend…and I will always remember the way he broke my heart."
"No Bella," said Lily smiling down at her. "You will always remember the fun you had with him. You will get over the hurt and remember the sweet moments you shared with your first ever boyfriend."
Bella looked up at Lily and smiled a watery smile. "Thanks Lily. You're a real friend." Lily smiled genuinely back at Bella.
"Come on…let's go back to the common room and get you cleaned up," said Lily gently and they headed in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. As they were walking down the 2nd floor corridor on the west side of the castle [A/N: I just made that up so yeah…] they heard a cry.
"Bella!" cried a familiar voice. "Wait!"
Bella turned around slowly, scared of what she might see. It was, in fact, what she expected. Liam was running towards her and all she could do was stare at him blankly and look like an idiot.
Liam's brow creased as he saw Bella's puffy face and red eyes. He knew she had been crying and she knew he knew she'd been crying.
"Um…Bella could I um," he fumbled, glancing over at Lily, "could I talk to you for a moment."
"Me and you..." Bella stared at him. "Together. In the same room?" Bella glanced at Lily for support.
Slowly backing out of the room already, Lily gave her a weak smile and said in a hurried, high-pitched, voice, "Go ahead Bella, I'll be fine. You guys go and talk. Later!"
For a moment, Bella looked petrified of the boy in front of her, without Lily to sheild her from... eurgh, the horror of all horrors, ex-boyfriends.
But, as she walked away from her panic-stricken friend, Lily convinced herself she had done the right thing.
Leaving Bella to fight her own battles rather than to just refuse them had been a good thing, Lily told herself as she walked of to the Gryffindor tower, the bracelet forgotten and deserted in the Great Hall.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Gooly-goo." The portrait swung open and Lily climbed through the portrait hole, into the empty-common room. Everyone was out enjoying the sunshine of the beautiful Saturday or busy doing work or some-such to be cooped up in the Gryffindor common room.
Lily headed over towards the couch in the centre of the common room and plonked herself down on it in an exhausted manner.
She sat there for a moment while contemplating what to do for the rest of the morning when a pair of warm, soft hands wrapped themselves around her eyes so she could no longer see.
"Guess who?" whispered a deep, playful voice in her ear, his warm breath tickling her skin. It took her only a fraction of a second to realise who the person was.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
He trudged softly down the stairs from the dorms to the common-room. When he arrived he saw a familiar red-head sitting in an empty common room, with her back towards him. A smirk creeped up on his face, his mind thinking 'Oh this will be fun'.
He tip-toed over to where she was sitting and covered her eyes with his hands. He bent down beside her right ear and whispered, "Guess who?" whilst grinning.
"Ew! Potter, get your filthy hands off me!" she cried, removing his hands from her face and almost instantaneously leaping off the coach and turning around.
"Temper, temper, Evans," said James, chuckling slightly. "This certainly supports the theory about red-heads and their fiery tempers."
"Your one to talk about temper," replied Lily with a much more nasty tone.
A brief look flickered past his face as he remembered the time he had lost control in front of her, something that had never happened before, before he regained his composure. "So I went a bit psycho. Big whoop. I was entitled to it, you know. And besides, I'm not the one that goes off at everyone, every second of the day."
"Implying that I do?" asked Lily, raising her eyebrows. "The only person I "go off at" as you so eloquently put it, Potter, is you."
"Aww, I'm touched," said James, putting a hand to his chest and batting his eyelashes. "To what do I owe this great honour?"
"To the fact that you're a cocky, arrogant, selfish bast-"
"There goes your temper again, Evans. If you keep this up, the theory will become fact," said James, winking at her mischievously.
"Oh just piss off Potter," said Lily in an exasperated tone.
"No can do, Miss Evans."
"Why the hell not?"
"Because I came down her to enjoy the warmth of the fire and if you don't mind, I'd like to keep to my schedule. This is, after all, my common room aswell as yours," replied James, cheekily.
"Fine," said Lily shortly. Then both sat down on the couch and sat watching the fire, although the two were in extremely different positions. James had his head resting on his hands, which were propped up against the back of the couch. His legs were loosely stretched out in front of him, one on top of the other. His expression was relaxed and calm, and one that looked like he was enjoying the peacefulness. Lily, on the other hand, sat with her arms folded tight across her chest, her legs crossed with the top one bopping impatiently.
She was not going to let Potter win this. She would not let him drive her out of the common room, because she knew that he wanted her to do this, and yet, she could not stand just sitting there waiting for him to leave.
Finally, though, enough became enough and Lily stood up in frustration and stormed out of the portrait hole.
"Ta-ta Lily dah-ling!" cried James after her. He heard her cry out in frustration and grinned at his success.
But then, he pulled out a silver bracelet from his pocket and smiled fondly at the inscription on it. 'Lily', it said.
* * * * * * * * * * * *