Author: Yuzu
Title: Terra Verde
Chapter Title: Down So Long
Fandom: Harry Potter
Timeline: 1975/76, during Lily and James' sixth year at Hogwarts
Genre: Romance/Drama
Pairing: Eventually Lily/James, for now, just rambling pairings
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is copyright Joanne Kathleen Rowling, Bloomsbury and Warner Brothers. "Down so long" is property of Jewel. I would rather not this be posted anywhere without my permission. Don't steal. I bite.
Yuzu's Rants: Well, my house is in uproar right now. My sister bought clothes worth 1000 NOK(About 150 US $) and left the bag on the kitchen floor. Then it went missing and it wasn't until tonight it was found again. In the trash. My father found it and I have a sneaking suspision he remembered to have thrown it, but denies it, and went to get it to save his own arse.
Summary: It's Lily Evans' sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She's not really outgoing and spends most of her time studying. James Potter, the charming, charismatic and definitly sly boy in her house and year, notices her. But, James uses her as he does all the girls; takes them and throws them away. Lily, however, is not one to be fooled. With a little help from her friends and Sirius Black, she will make this year hell on earth for the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain and Seeker. Love/hate relationship.
But I've been down so long
It can't be longer still
I've been down so long
that the end must be drawing near
~ Jewel "Down so long"
Chapter I; Down So Long
"I don't want to get mad, I want to get even." Arabella, Juliy and Sirius stared at her. She tilted her head, a questioning look to her eyes. "But I need your help. All of you."
Arabella and Juliy were quick to agree. "Sure, whatever you say, Lily."
The auburn-haired girl then turned to the only boy in the room. Sirius seemed to be considering it. His eyes were lit up by mishief and excitement. "What do you have in mind?"
By the next day, the whole school knew that Lily and James were no longer together. News obviously travelled fast when Rose snogged with James too. The Hufflepuff was gloating to her group of friends when Lily entered the Great Hall for breakfast, followed by Arabella and Juliy.
"Hey, Evans! Sorry 'bout Potter. Guess you weren't woman enough to keep him!" It was a Hufflepuff girl (whom to Lily had never spoke) that called. Lily choose to ignore it and went to sit down with Sirius and Peter. Arabella and Juliy sat with them.
Peter was looking kind of nervous, Lily noticed, glancing at her and then at the entrance to the Great Hall. He was expecting James. She smiled slightly, the boy was nice and friendly to her, but he obviously didn't want to betray his friend. Looking up from her buttered toast, Lily spoke to Sirius.
"Where's Remus?"
The black-haired boy didn't look up, but muttered something about being sick as he continued reading the Daily Prophet. Peter, Lily could see, was now even more nervous. Wondering slightly why, she addressed him. "Is he in the hospital wing?"
Peter fidgeted and shook his head. "In our dormitory. It's just the flu." Satisfied, Lily didn't pursue the subject. She instead turned to Arabella and discussed their Herbology assignment for next week.
Sirius skimmed through the paper before him while eating his bacon and eggs. He was really looking foreward to the moment where James would sit down at the table. He didn't have to wait long. As the doors to the Great Hall opened and James walked in, several girls turned their heads towards him. Rose Harker even gave him a little wink. He didn't return it, but sat down opposite Sirius and Peter, beside Lily, even if he didn't know it.
"Urgh, I'm starved." James loaded his plate with sausauges, bacon, eggs, beans and toast. "I can see that." Sirius could also see Lily smirking. She had stopped speaking with Arabella and was eating her toast silently.
"Did anyone see Lily yesterday? I need to give her the usual 'It's not you, it's me' speach. I heard she saw me with Harker?" At that point, Lily turned, and James, who'd started taking a bite of his toast, froze.
"Yes, I did see you with Rose. Anyway, don't bother with your little 'explanation', it's quite plain to see it is you who have emotional problems, not me." Standing up, Lily brushed off her robes. "Anyway, must be going off to Potions. See you there." Then she swept out of the hall, Arabella and Juliy sniggering as they left.
James stared after her, obviously perplexed and as he turned around to face Sirius and Peter, a look of slight disbelief was seen in his features. Sirius gave him what he hope was a puzzled expression and Peter looked a bit frightened. "You had it coming, James. One of these days, one of your ex-girlfriends would have to speak back."
James stared at Sirius before going back to his food, shrugging. "Hey, this is better. At least I don't have to see her cry as I explain."
But Sirius just smirked as his best friend ate his breakfast in silence. He knew Lily had let just the tip of the iceberg show.
An amazing change had come over Lily Evans. The whole school was talking about it. Lily was more outgoing now. She was paying more attention to her outwards appearance and almost the entire male student body stopped to talk to her if their path "happened" to stray across hers on her way to class. Even the girls made a point out of speaking with the red-head.
Lily had always been sweet and friendly with everybody, but since she lacked the constant urge to be showy, no one had taken much notice. Now, she was getting even more attention than the Marauders. For Lily had become showy. She was constantly smiling, tossing her hair and giggling at boys when they sent her lop-sided grins in the halls.
And it was getting on James Potter's nerves.
"I mean, she's the same girl she's always been!" He exclaimed one day in Transfiguration to Sirius as they were trying to turn a pillow into a raccon. James' cute little animal was supporting frills along it's side.
Sirius raised his eyebrow at him. "Nice raccon, James. Is it getting ready for a ball somewhere?" His own pillow was perfectly transfigured, taking a nap on his desk. "Really, you should be able to do this in a heartbeat."
"It's all her fault! It'd be ok if she at least acted differently around me. I mean, I am the one who inspired this change upon her, and-"
"Don't flatter yourself."
James glared at him. "And the way I did it should at least make her treat me with venom. But she's being completely civil!" James glanced at Professor McGonagall, but she paid no attention to his outburst and continued to pace around the room, making notes. "It's unnerving!"
"Really James, what did you expect? That she was going to brood about it the rest of her life? Be angry with you for eternity because you cheated on her?" Sirius gave him a pointed look. James shrugged guiltily. "People move on, Prongs. Deal with it."
James shot a look at Lily and Arabella. Lily's pillow was only sporting a tail and legs, running around in circles on her desk. Arabella was laughing hard and Lily had a distinct flush of embaressement across her features.
Sirius saw the direction of his gaze and sighed. "You really did think she'd spend more time getting over you, didn't you?"
"It's not that I'm not glad for her, that she's not depressed, I mean, but I at least thought it would take a week or two. It's only been two days and she's acting unaffected."
Remus swung down by their table. "Ever given the thought that that might be the case, Prongs? You two never did do anything. OK, a couple of snogs here and there, but mostly we all just hung out. And we still do. Hell, Arabella and Juliy even joins us once in a while. It is possible she never was in love with you."
"Oh she was, I'm sure she was."
"Why are you sure, Prongs?" Remus raised his eyebrow. "Did she ever tell you?"
"Well, no, but..."
"But what, James? She never did say anything. You just assumed so and therefore you decided to end it." Sirius leaned back in his chair, sighing. "You always do this. When someone gets to close, you break up with them."
He stood up. "I'm beginning to think it really never is them, that it's always been you. You have emotional problems." Then he left and joined Arabella and Lily, teaching the latter to work the transfiguration properly.
"I think he might be right, Prongs." Remus also left him to help Peter. Shooting a look at Lily, James shook his head. As if. He didn't have 'emotion problems'. He just needed to stop obsessing with Lily's treatment of him. Then he would be fine. He would be fine.
Lily threw her bookbag over her shoulder and opened the door of their dormitory. Arabella and Juliy looked up. "Going to the library to do the extra Transfiguration homework McGonagall assigned me." They both nodded and Lily left them, hoping to find Sirius in the common room to help her. He was there with Remus.
She plopped down in one of the chairs and sighed dramatically. When getting no attention, she tried again. Sirius grinned slightly and looked up from his Quidditch book. "What's on your mind, Lily?"
"Well, I have Transfiguration homework and I don't get it." She leaned back into the chair and gave another exparated sigh. "I wish someone could find the kindness in their hearts to help me."
Sirius stood up and stretched. "You're on. Wanna help too, Remus?" The Lupin didn't answer. Sirius bent down and glanced at his face. "Asleep." He pulled his shoulders and extended a hand towards Lily. "Library then?"
Lily took his hand and was dragged up. "Yep."
Sirius opened the portrait hole galantly to her and bowed to let her out. She giggled slightly before stepping outside. He grinned and went after her. Outside he held an arm out for her and she slipped her own around his, walking elbow-to-elbow to the library.
"You coming to the Quidditch match this weekend?" Lily looked up and nodded at Remus. "Surveyed by Professor McGonagall, remember?"
"Oh, right." Lily didn't blame him for not remembering, she had only become commantator that very year, when Sarah Jordan had graduated from Hogwarts the previous year. Lily missed the girl's anthics during the matches, being told off by Professor McGonagall for being biased whenever Gryffindor was playing.
"It's Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, right?" Arabella peeled off the paper of her slightly melted sugar quill. "Damnit, won't be able to suck this in class."
"Yeah, but it'll be more James versus Davies, won't it, Prongs?" James didn't answer Sirius, just mumbled something beneath his breath sounding oddly like 'Shut up, Padfoot, you traitor, or you won't know what hit you'. Sirius just laughed.
Lily frowned. "What do you mean? You have something against Daniel, James?"
James shook his head and proceded to bury his now flushing head further down into A History of Magic. They both missed the knowing looks passed between Sirius, Remus and Arabella.
Lily shrugged and stood up, picking up her Arithmancy book in the movement. "I'm going to bed. You coming, Bella?"
Arabella nodded. "In a minute."
"See you all tomorrow then." Lily yawned. "G'night."
When she'd dissappeared up the staircase, Sirius turned to Arabella. "Is it true she turned down Koushirou Shirou, that japanese transfer student all the girls are fawning over?"
"Yep." Arabella broke off a piece of her quill and popped it into her mouth. "He's not the only one either. She's been getting asked out a lot the last month. Turned them all down."
This got James' attention. He tried not showing it, pretending to read his book, but his eyes weren't moving and Sirius knew they had his rapt attention. "Really? Wow, why?"
Arabella shrugged. "Dunno. She's studying like mad though. Think she's trying to read the whole library before Christmas. Anyway, going to bed. Good night."
As Arabella too dissappeared, Sirius leaned back into the chair by the fire, shooting a knowing look at James. The boy ignored him. Remus raised his eyebrow at Sirius and shrugged. They both stood up and announced their intention of going to sleep. James didn't budge. The pair left him.
"You really think he's in love with her, Padfoot?" They were halfway up the staircases when Remus asked. Sirius nodded.
"He just doesn't know it yet. There's something different about Lily, Moony, I can tell. When they were dating, Prongs seemed to light up whenever she was around. He was never like that with any of the airheads he was with before her."
Sirius opened the door to their dormitory and plopped down on his four poster. Remus sat down too. "I don't know, Sirius. She doesn't seem so interested in him."
Sirius just smiled. He was working both sides now. Lily would be mad when she found out, but hey, he had to get his kicks somehow.
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