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She Will Be Loved

Chapter Seven ll The Talks: Friends These Days

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"Where the bloody hell is he?" said a nervous Lily, glancing out the kitchen window. It was thundering outside, and had been pouring for at least ten minutes. James still had not returned back from his little exploring trip.

A very anxious Lily was working herself up into a frenzied state as she drank several cups of hot chocolate (she decided to ditch the coffee--it tasted a bit weird to her, anyway.) She was waiting for James to return, that is, if he ever planned to.

"The stupid pratball, he probably fell into a lake or something," she muttered, though she sounded more concerned than annoyed.

Fidgeting with her hair, Lily wished for another cup of hot chocolate and drank it all in one go.

At that moment, the door flung open and in walked a soaked James Potter. Lily looked up immediately and shrieked in her relief.

"Hi, Evans," James said a bit sheepishly, as he dripped water everywhere.

"Potter!" she gasped, standing up, "You idiot!"

"Huh?" he said, taken-aback.

"You--you--you could get pneumonia!" Lily exclaimed, running to the living room and finding a cloak. She ran back in and draped it over him, "Why stay out there in the rain for?"

Smiling at her mothering, James pulled the cloak tighter around him, "I got lost."

"You shouldn't have gone off exploring, you're such a silly duffer," Lily said, still sounding irritated and concerned, "It's not safe!"

"Lily," James paused and Lily drew in her breath, as this was the first time ever he had called her by her first name, "I'm all right, so you don't need to worry about me. And secondly, I was looking for flowers to give to you."

"Potter, I don't need any flowers, and I'm not worrying over you," Lily said with a sigh, though she was going pink, "It's just--what would McGonagall have to say if I return with your maimed body?"

"Oh, you would actually go and search for my body?" James grinned, "How sweet of you!"

"Potter, shut up."

"Back to sniping, hey?"

Rolling her eyes and biting back a smile, Lily pointed to the staircase, "Get upstairs now and take a bath. You're dripping water everywhere."

"I want to eat first."

Lily's jaw dropped open, "What happened to all that breakfast?"

James rolled his eyes, "I burned it off, of course! It's what you get for skipping around, looking for flowers in the pouring rain."

"Potter, just go upstairs."

"Okay, okay."

After taking a hot bath and changing into some dry, warm clothes, James came back downstairs to find Lily asleep at the kitchen table. Smiling inspite of himself, he whispered for a cup of coffee and drank it while looking at Lily's innocent sleeping form.

She looked so... peaceful. And beautiful. Like an angel.

James managed to tear his eyes away from her and he concentrated on his coffee. He wondered why it had taken so long for him to realise she was so pretty.

Maybe because I'm not so shallow after all.

Besides, the way Lily had treated him really made him loathe her. She had been so damn mean sometimes.

Lily stirred and slowly woke up.

"Good morning," James greeted briskly, taking another sip of his coffee.

Lily yawned and rubbed her eyes, "Must've dozed off... So you've dried off?"

"Yup."

They sat in silence for a couple of seconds.

"So what are we going to do today? I know we were planning to head back, but..." James waved at the pouring rain and cringed when a clap of thunder exploded, "...yeah."

"Um," Lily pondered for a bit, "Perhaps we can get started on that sixth-and-seventh-year dance Dumbledore asked the Gryffindor prefects to prepare..."

"Perhaps," agreed James in a dignified way.

Knowing that he was insulting her playfully, Lily swept him a quick look of scorn before resuming the topic at hand, "Okay, so--"

"Whoa, wait a second," James interrupted suddenly, "What makes you think we'll be back at Hogwarts in time?"

"Well, Potter, there are certain people called friends--" Lily stopped for a moment when she remembered that her friends weren't exactly happy with her, "--and, um, they'll notice we're missing, and they'll tell McGonagall, who'll tell Dumbledore, who'll get us back because he is a smart, smart man."

"And what makes you think, Evans, that our friends are going to actually tell McGonagall?"

"You're such a delinquent, we're missing! As if they wouldn't tell her!"

"It's already been a day, they would've found us by now if they knew, or at any rate, were trying. They've got powerful spells, you know."

"So what are you saying?" Lily asked, quite tired.

"Our friends have not told any teachers, and it's probably certain they're not going to any time soon," James finished loftily, "Especially as we're both gone. Both gone."

Lily's jaw dropped open, "And why is that?"

"Really, they call you the smartest and prettiest in the year, but your brain does take little trips every now and then," James sighed and Lily sighed at the mention of "'prettiest in the year', "Okay, Evans. Think. Remember what Sirius did to us about a week ago?"

Lily's irritation began to build, "Potter, just cut to the ch--... Oh."

For now she remembered.

"...you mean when he locked us in my dorm?" she spoke up quietly.

"Yes, Lily-bug."

"Lily-bug?"

"Some sort of Muggle bug, you should know, you're Muggle-born."

"Lady bug, Potter."

"...Same difference."

They both shut up to think of how much they hated Sirius.

"Look, what about Remus?" Lily piped up, "He'll tell, he has brains. And Leonie, Steph and Chelsea will too, at any rate. I know they're angry at me, but they wouldn't want me to die out here... would they?"

She bit her lip and wondered just how much of a nasty bitch she had been.

"Don't worry, you weren't that bad," James told her, apparently able to read minds, "And they've been your best friends for years. Best friends don't want their friend to die just 'cause of some silly argument and major mood swings."

"Potter, thanks for the word of comfort. But you don't know a thing about girls, so shut up."

"Will do," James grinned.

"So anyway, that means the majority of our friends will tell McGonagall, and the majority will over rule Sirius," continued Lily, trying to reassure herself.

"Unless," James started suddenly, a look of fear dawning on him.

"Unless what?" Lily automatically hissed, looking even more pale, "What 'unless' could there be?!"

James glanced at her and didn't really feel like frightening her any more than she already was, "Uhh... nothing."

"No, tell me!"

"Okay... unless Sirius manages to convince them not to tell. Okay, look. Your friends asked me to confront you so that maybe you'll come to realise that you've changed a lot over the summer. So I'm pretty sure they'll be keen on leaving you to stay with only me as company. Meaning that, if Sirius told them it's best to just leave us here for now, they'd probably go for it. With that, the majority balance tips, in favour of Sirius."

Lily blinked several times.

"Oh."

She blinked again.

"Wow. They made you confront me?"

"Yeah," James shrugged, "Apparently, they're all pretty scared of you."

Lily blinked once more, "Even Leonie?"

"Even Leonie."

She felt pretty sad about that new piece of information. It felt really bad to have friends that were scared of you.

"Wow. That really sucks," she said slowly, trying to overcome her shock.

"Yeah, you're a pretty fiesty chick, but I can handle you," James grinned at her, hoping to cheer her up.

Lily's attention snapped back to him, "Yeah, whatever, Potter. Okay, so our so-called friends aren't going to tell the teachers we're missing anytime soon. Someone has to notice, and anyhow, when all the sixth-years return back to Hogwarts, Dumbledore will notice we're missing. We're prefects, for Merlin's sake."

"Okay," James said, nodding, "That makes sense."

"Okay, so about this Spring dance--"

"Spring dance?" James interrupted, now sucking on a lollipop, "Lily-bug, we're in the middle of Winter."

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, shouldn't it be a Winter dance?"

"Potter, Dumbledore left it up to us, and it's only logic that we hold a Spring dance! It's for the sixth- and seventh-years only, remember?"

"I have a wonderful memory, thank you," retorted James.

"Look, there's only like a month 'till Spring. You can wait."

"Well, guess what? There's only nothing 'till Winter, 'cause we're already in it!"

"Do you even know how long it takes to plan a dance?"

"Yeah, like a few minutes. Food. People. Music. Firewhiskey. All set. See, we're already done. Now make it a Winter dance."

"Potter, no. It takes a couple of weeks to plan dances, and we haven't even started."

"Sure we have, didn't you just hear me? Food. People. Music. Firewhiskey. Look, I just planned two dances. We're on a roll."

Lily rolled her eyes and said, "It isn't that simple. It takes weeks to get these things together." Still, she was amused at James' constant chatter. He was cute, both in looks and personality.

"But with my ability, we can get it done, like, now," James winked.

"Sure."

"Fine, be that way, but we're going to have to plan the Winter dance soon."

"The Spring dance."

"No, the Winter dance."

"Spring."

"Winter."

"Spring."

"Winter."

"Spring."

"Winter."

"SPRING!"

"WINTER!"

"SPRING!"

"WINTER!"

"I have a feeling this is why Sirius locked us in your dorm in the first place," James said grimly.

"Whatever, it's still gonna be the Spring dance," Lily said defiantly, in no hurry to forget about the argument.

"Whatever you say, Lily-bug."

Smiling at her success, the two started planning more things about the very definite Spring dance, bickering and arguing along the way.

---

"I love it! Lily and James lost together, imagine them relying on each other! Hehe, this is so brilliant! Fortunately no one else realised they were missing, but how great is this?"

Sirius was rolling on the floor, laughing.

"It's not that brilliant," Remus interrupted, "And they could be in danger. How are they going to find food and shelter?"

"It can't be that hard," Sirius said, still chuckling, "And they'll both live. They're smart people. It's just they'll need to get along. Does no one else see the outcomes this whole scheme achieves?"

He was still laughing.

Chelsea smacked the back of his head, "Snap out of it, man. You know you're gonna be dead when they come back."

"Me? Dead?" Sirius asked painfully, rubbing his head, "But it's not my fault they got lost together."

"Yeah, but it is your fault you didn't tell McGonagall," Steph said.

"But what about you guys? You could've told her, too."

He had a point there.

"Okay," Leonie spoke up, "So maybe we agree that this is a good way they can perhaps learn to get along, and also for James to talk some sense into Lily. But Remus is right. They could be in serious danger."

Sirius grinned, "No worries. They'll be fine."

"Hopefully," Chelsea murmured, looking out the window, into the dark night. I'm sorry we were so harsh on you, Lily. Promise you and James are all right, and that you'll come back safely, okay?

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A/N: Yeah, I know Remus was the prefect, but this is pre-OoTP, okay? :) It seems like Lily's friends are starting to get frightened, and also that Lily and James are starting to slip into the whole "I argue with you to hide my feelings" sorta thingy. Hehe. --MSQ.