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She Will Be Loved
Chapter Two ll The Five Hours: Still Alive?
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The first hour was spent silently. Lily kept her head in her pillow for half an hour and spent the other half reading a Muggle novel. James spent the hour ransacking through Steph's toy trunk and doing the five thousand piece jigsaw puzzle of a cat.
At seven o'clock, two trays flew through the door and writing appeared on the wall again. This time, it was dark green.
"Great, I'm starved," Lily blurted out, throwing down her book.
James debated for a couple of seconds whether or not to say anything, then said idly, "Never knew girls were supposed to admit when they were hungry."
"Guess again."
Hello there! Having a good time? I certainly hope so. Well, here's your dinner. Bon appetit! I know you're going to kill me when you come out, but you can't do anything now, can you? Hehe. From your dearest and soon-to-be-dead Sirius.
Lily looked at James, "You have really strange and annoying friends. Birds of a feather flock together, I suppose."
Ignoring this insult, James walked over to the trays, "Just be quiet and eat, Evans. Ever learnt to do that?"
The next half hour was spent eating quietly. Sirius had sent chicken, turkey and ham sandwiches, potato salad, green salad and pumpkin juice, and both of their murderous intent was softened a little as they chomped through the meal.
While eating, James' eye had caught onto a letter one of Lily's old boyfriends had sent to her. She had obviously meant to throw it away but had never made it to the waste basket and had been forgotten.
Come to think of it, James thought while munching hard on his sandwich, Lily had had her share of boyfriends. He often wondered who in Merlin's beard could fancy such a girl, and whenever he asked, the boys all said that she was the best-looking girl in the year and arguably in the school.
James had never understood that.
At seven thirty, Lily went to her homework (she also happened to be the brightest in the year) and James continued on his puzzle, which was coming together quite nicely. The trays were left at the doorway.
An hour later, Lily finished her homework and went back to her novel, occasionally glancing over at James who was concentrating very hard on one of Steph's old puzzles. He was attractive enough, she had realised a long time ago, but such a pompous, arrogant boy that drove her up the wall.
Lily wasn't shallow, and none of James' physical assets was going to change her mind about him. He had never once been nice to her. Well, maybe once when they were younger and he had tried to win her forgiveness.
James checked his watch. Eight-thirty. He stretched and yawned. He really liked working on puzzles, but he was getting hungry again. As soon as he was thinking about his stomach, two packages of cookies came whizzing through the door.
Thought you guys could do with some food. - Sirius. (Yes, I'm trying to earn your forgiveness.)
"Great, dessert," James said happily and began munching on the cookies like a pig. Rolling her eyes in disgust, Lily took a cookie and nibbled on it, then continued reading.
NINE O'CLOCK.
"Only two hours to go!" squeaked James' watch, taking him by surprise. The puzzle was half done. Lily had finished reading. James didn't feel like doing the puzzle anymore. The two sat and stared at nothing.
Finally, Lily spoke reluctantly, "Exploding Snap?"
"All right."
Ten minutes later, she yelled gleefully, "I won!"
"Just 'cause you cheated," James exclaimed defensively.
"I did not!"
"I declare a rematch!" James announced, smiling at her. He only smiled at her about four times a year, so it was a bit surprising and a little unnerving.
Which was probably why Lily said, "Okay, okay. A rematch it is."
NINE FORTY-FIVE.
"So," Lily calculated, "I won eighteen games out of twenty, and drew once." She shook her head indulgently, "Potter, you're really bad at this!"
James grinned, "I know I am. But you forgot to say you lost once."
"Yes... once."
"Once too many!"
"That made no sense."
"I know."
Biting back a smile, Lily said, "Gobstones?"
"Sure. I rule at that. Just watch me. I'm going to cream you."
"Whatever."
TEN THIRTY.
"Half an hour to go!" piped up James' watch. James and Lily almost jumped out of their skins; they had been concentrating hard on their game of Gobstones. So far, James was ahead by five points.
"Can't you make that thing shut up?" Lily grumbled.
"No... Sirius gave it to me for Christmas in fifth-year... annoying little thing, but it was a present from a friend..."
Five minutes later, James announced his victory, much to Lily's disappointment.
"So... twenty five minutes to go," Lily said, changing the subject.
"Yup," James tossed a Gobstone in the air and caught it. ("Show off," Lily muttered) "Twenty five beautiful minutes."
"Great. No more being stuck with you."
"I wasn't that bad, was I?" he asked innocently, pulling a pouty face.
Lily just smirked, "You were."
"I most definitely was not!"
"You were to."
"Nuh-uh."
"Yuh-uh."
"Nuh-uh."
"Yuh-uh."
"Nuh-uh."
"Yuh-uh."
"Oh, whatever," James finally gave up with a sigh.
"I won," Lily grinned.
James stared at her for a moment, noting that her smile was very pretty and that her green eyes sparkled in an alluring way.
I think I'm starting to understand where the "prettiest in the year" comes from...
Lily's smile slowly faded and she cocked her head to one side, "Potter? Quit staring at me, if you please."
"Don't flatter yourself," James said at once, managing to stop himself from blushing. "I wasn't staring at you."
"It's all right," Lily said obstinately. "I know I'm beautiful and guys always stare at me, so there's no need to try and hide it."
James stared at her in shock. "Modest are we, Evans?"
"Of course."
Orange writing faded onto the wall again, catching their attention.
Uh, hi guys. I just wanted you to know that this was completely Sirius' idea, and I had nothing to do with it, nor did Peter, or any of the girls'... so please aim your hexes at the right person. Well anyway, Sirius is letting you guys out a bit early, so prepare your wands... Okay, see you soon. - Remus.
"Seems to me like Remus is the only one with brains in your little quartet," Lily said loftily, tossing her red hair.
"I am one of the top students in the year!" James exclaimed.
"Too bad you don't have that sort of common sense."
"People with too much common sense are so boring."
"Haha, very funny. I know that was an undirected insult at me, by the way."
"Very good, Evans. Not as stupid as you look, right?"
Lily glared at him and stuck out her tongue.
At that moment, the door to the dormitory flung open. Sirius ran him, talking a mile a minute.
"Good evening my friends! Wow, you're both alive and - " his eyes widened dramatically and he clapped a hand to his mouth, " - perfectly healthy! No extra body parts, or missing body parts... What have you been doing?"
"Hey, you've almost finished that puzzle!" squealed a voice gleefully. Steph pushed past Sirius and ran to her cat puzzle, "Wow, look at it! I've been wanting to see how'd it look finished for ages!"
"So, you planned your funeral yet?" James asked Sirius simply.
"Err - is that cue for 'Sirius, run' ?" Sirius asked timidly, edging to the door.
Lily sighed wearily and pointed them all out. "Both of you, just get out of my dormitory. I don't want to see either of your faces for at least twelve hours."
"The feeling's mutual," James said in relief, hurrying out of the dorm and pulling Sirius with him.
"Well - good night!" Sirius remembered to yell.
Lily smiled wanly as she marched up and slammed the door shut. She sighed heavily and faced her friends. Leonie and Chelsea had slipped in and were gazing at her curiously.
"Okay, what happened?" Chelsea asked at once.
"I'm exhausted," Lily muttered.
"Is that all?" Chelsea raised her eyebrows.
"Look, nothing happened," the redhead answered shortly. "You can all ask questions tomorrow morning. I need my sleep."
"Fine."
"Remember we have to pack for our camping trip," Steph piped up, "We're leaving in a couple of days."
"What? But they only told us today!" whined Chelsea.
"Yeah, it's such short notice," Leonie agreed.
Lily sighed, "Great, one week in the same lodge as Potter..."
"You've survived five hours, one week is just thirty times longer than that."
"Thanks for the word of comfort, Chel."
"You're welcome, Lils."
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A/N: Hope you liked that! :) And thank you SO much for reviewing. I know you're all hatin' Lily at the moment, but her stuck up character will be "explained" soon. - msq.