Catching the Golden Snitch
*Sunshine*
~*~Author's Note~*~ Yes, yes, I know I said I was updating in October; however, I was a bit distracted (failing all my classes and whatnot). Anyway, hopefully I will get back on track during the summer! Enjoy chapter eleven!
CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE END IS THE BEGINNING IS THE END
Lily rushed into her dormitory a couple minutes later and ran head on into Venus, who gave her a curious look.
"Someone looks like she's been busy," she teased, but upon seeing the horrified look on Lily's face, she changed her tone. "What's wrong?"
"Oh! Um, nothing. I was just, um, studying with James in the library," she lied, glancing nervously around the room.
"Studying! Is that what muggles call it?" Venus taunted, again in a mock-up mood. "What will Sirius say?"
Lily's eyes widened again. She didn't want to know what Sirius thought of what had happened. She was scared to death of what he thought, much less what he would do. She felt like crawling into a hole and hiding until the summer holidays. She couldn't believe she had almost told James. What if he had gone to Dumbledore? What if the whole school found out? She shuddered to think of what they already thought of her after the fiasco with Derek.
"I don't feel well; I think I'm going to go to the hospital wing," she replied feebly.
With that she left the room and scrambled down the staircase. As she crossed the common room, James called out to her from his corner; but she kept walking keeping, her eyes on the portrait hole exit. When she reached the corridor, she turned to see if James had followed her, and, before she could turn back around, a pair of burly arms grabbed her from behind. They whipped her around and slammed her against the wall. They belonged to Sirius.
"Lily, you have to listen to me," he said with a desperate expression on his face. "Look, I'm really sorry about the way I acted – I guess my hormones just… I don't know what I was thinking, but you can't tell anyone–"
"Can't tell anyone what?" James had, indeed, followed Lily and was closing the portrait hole with a curious expression on his face.
"Blimey, Potter! Do you always have to be so bloody nosey?" exclaimed Sirius, rounding on James. "We were talking about the Christmas present I was getting you, but now that you've butted in on us you might as well know that it's one of those hired escorts 'for one especially magical night.' At least that's what the add in your little magazine said."
James turned just the slightest shade of red. "Just what I've always wanted," he replied sardonically. He then turned to Lily, saying, "All right there?"
She immediately plastered on the most convincing smile she could and said, "Just fine." She couldn't have him going to Dumbledore about her.
He cocked an eyebrow at her strange mood swing, but decided to let it go. "Right then," he said with a yawn. "I'm off to bed. Catch you two lovebirds later." And he disappeared through the portrait hole.
Lily feigned a yawn, saying, "Well, I'd better be off as well, or else I'll miss breakfast tomorrow." There was a long and awkward silence between the two of them. Please say something… please say something… When what seemed like an eternity (but was barely a full minute) had passed, she decided to end it. "Goodbye, Sirius."
Without looking back, she pivoted on her toes and stepped through the portrait hole after giving the password ("Demiguise"). She tripped through the dimly lit common room and up the dark stairs until she finally reached her dormitory. After feeling her way to the third bed to the left of the door, she collapsed and pulled the covers tightly around her.
She awoke without even realising she had fallen asleep. Getting up and dressing, Lily heard a voice calling her from the common room. She rushed down the stairs to see all of her friends waiting for her.
"Hurry up, Lily!" Venus shouted. "We're going swimming! Get your things and let's go!"
Looking down, Lily saw that she was already wearing her bathing suit. She grabbed a towel from her friend and followed the crowd out to the lake.
It was bright and sunny as they emerged from the castle, and a warm summer breeze was blowing dandelion fluff through the air. Everyone rushed to the cool water, laughing and pulling Lily along with them. One after another they jumped in like lemmings. First Sirius, then Katerina, then Venus, then Remus, then Derek, and so on until Lily herself leapt in.
The water was cool and refreshing, and all she felt like doing was floating. She drifted out towards the centre of the lake, vaguely aware of Derek and Sirius swimming after her. When they finally caught up with her, they swam a bit, laughing and joking and splashing. Rain began to fall as the boys suddenly joined forces and started splashing as much water at Lily as they could. She started to scream and they both swam at her and pushed her underwater. She thrashed helplessly, trying to emerge and breathe, but Derek's strong arms kept her under. Continuing her attempts to escape, she saw a fourth person swimming towards the struggle. Water swirled round her as she felt Derek's grasp give way and she was pulled above water. She sputtered and pushed her tangled hair out of her face as the other pulled her along towards the shore closest to Hogwarts.
The sun peeked out from behind a cloud when they climbed out of the water and Lily glanced up to see her saviour.
"James?"
"James?" said Venus, a bit surprised. "Lily, what are you dreaming about?"
Lily opened her eyes and found herself back in her dormitory, Venus tidying up around her bed. "Honestly, don't you put anything away?" Lily ignored her nagging as she got up and began to dress.
Christmas break ended and winter was fading into spring, yet Lily still could not decipher what exactly her dream had meant. She had considered going to her Divination professor, Madam Bonatti, but decided against it as the last time she had spoken to Madam Bonatti, she had predicted Lily would be trampled by a mad hippogriff. Since that was in her second year and Lily had not seen hide nor hair of a hippogriff, she had reason to believe that perhaps the old Divination teacher wasn't the most reliable source.
Lily thought about this as she made her way to the library for yet another Goblin Rebellion session with James, who was already there waiting for her.
He sat at a table slightly out of the way, going over his Muggle Studies essay ("What is the function of a rubber duck?"). He was about to finish the final sentence when someone bounced into the chair next to him. Looking up, he saw that it was Erin.
"Hullo," he said with a smile.
"Hi, James! How are you? How was your weekend? Mine sure was exciting! Got to go home for my birthday! Lots of new stuff from the folks! Got this totally cool Andrew Lloyd Webber record with all sorts of songs from his different plays and stuff. I'm totally in love with it. I played it non-stop until I had to come back here. I hate how electrical stuff wont work here because of all the magic and stuff…"
And so she continued for a good ten minutes complaining about not being able to use muggle things at Hogwarts when Lily arrived. Thoroughly relieved, James stood up to greet her.
"Hullo, Lily! We'd better get started on that report then, shouldn't we?" he said a little louder than necessary, hoping Erin might take the hint. Instead he earned a reproving look from Madam Pince and a new string of questions from Erin.
Sensing James' frustration, Lily spoke up. "Well, I was looking for How to Lead a Revolution by Rolan the Wrathful, but I just couldn't find it anywhere!" she said picking a totally bogus title. Just as Lily had hoped, Erin volunteered to find the book for them and ran off towards the other end of the library on her fruitless search.
James smiled his thanks and they got to work. After a few minutes of diligent work, Lily looked up to see James scribbling extensive notes from Rebellions of the Sixteenth Century. She watched as his hand flew across the page, dipping in and out of his ink well. Sensing her eyes, he stopped, mid-sentence, and returned her stare, cocking an eyebrow. Lily blushed and quickly returned to her own book while a smile slowly crept across her face. A similar grin appeared on James' face as he went back to his notes.
A few minutes later felt at piece of parchment hit her hand as she took careful notes. She glanced at the parchment, and then at James, who was scribbling away on his own parchment. Lily rolled her eyes, but smiled all the same. She grabbed her wand at the balled up paper and whispered "Persisto molesto!" She watched gleefully as the ball hit James right on the nose, then his hands, then bounced off his glasses.
"Oi!" he laughed, trying the stop the enchanted litter. "What'd you go and do that for, eh?"
Lily laughed at his futile attempts to ward off her charm, but nothing James tried could stop the parchment. James flailed his arms, yelling "Impedimenta!" sending Lily into new fits of giggles.
After about three minutes, Madam Pince came over and threatened to kick them out of the library if they continued, "horse playing and lollygagging."
With a secret smile still on her face, Lily removed the charm and continued work, sporadically giggling.
James kept his eye on her, no longer trusting such a seemingly harmless girl. He finished Rebellions of the 19th Century: Volume 16 and went off in search of Volume 17.
As he ambled back through the towering rows of books, he watched as Lily twirled her hair with one finger while flipping through her book with the other. The sun gleamed through a nearby window, reflecting off her auburn curls and giving it the slightest strawberry-blonde tint. He smiled to himself and padded silently behind her.
He approached her and carefully slid his arms just outside hers, and let his chin rest on her shoulder.
"What'cha reading?" he sang into her ear.
She jumped, stirred from her thought, and looked at James. Natural light sparkled in his chocolate eyes and he wore his infamous devilish grin.
"You scared me half to death!" she whispered, not wanting Madam Pince to kick them out of their study spot.
"Well, I'm an imposing figure," he replied, continuing to smile coyly.
Lily could feel butterflies take wing in the pit of her stomach. This is not happening, she told herself. She searched her mind wildly while James continued to draw her in. Lily glanced frantically at her book.
"I… was just learning about Ulga the Ugly," she said quickly. "A fascinating story, actually –"
"Oh, I'm sure," he cut her off, leaning ever closer. The butterflies were now on Kamikaze missions, darting around Lily's stomach, getting crazier the closer James inched. She watched him close in, never breaking eye contact. Six inches… five… four… three… two…
"I found the book! Although, it wasn't by Rolan the Wrathful it was by…"
Lily whipped her head around to see Erin's bright eyes dim and her smile fade.
"Oh…" said Erin, not fully knowing what to do. "I… I'm sorry. I didn't know that… that, uh…"
"Thanks for the book Erin!" James jumped in. "That's really helpful; it'll give us a goblin's point of view of the whole rebellion thing."
Erin scampered off, her face bright red.
James turned to Lily and began to open his mouth.
"James, wait," Lily said, before he got a word out. "I can't do this. I mean, I'd like to… I think… but the timing is all wrong and I… I just can't. I'm sorry."
Afraid to stay any longer, she grabbed her books and flew out of the library.
