FINALLY! I GOT TO FINISH CHAPTER TWO!
First of, thanks for all the reviews. They were very much appreciated.
Second, about this chapter. It's pretty long and I'm not sure if I actually made it as interesting as the first one. Anyway, this is probably the longest chapter of this story but I hope you wouldn't sleep while reading it. :)
Third, I'm probably going to update every week during this time since it's the only time I have time to write. Don't worry, I'd keep my promise because this story's finished actually (totaling as of now, nineteen chapters).
Uh… what else?
That's about it actually.
Oh, yeah, and JK Rowling owns them all.
The rest are mine.
sometimes sanity takes vacation time on me... -- savage garden, "the best thing"
~*~*~*~
CHAPTER TWO: Who Likes… Who?
"I can't believe this," James muttered, as he absent-mindedly walked up the stairs toward the boys' dormitories, after the heated conversation with Lily. He tried to ask her for forgiveness and she retaliated with a suggestion that included boiling himself in a cauldron. "Women…" he groaned.
Remus looked at James. He shook his head signifying disappointment on the way his friend was behaving. "Perhaps if you had been a little sensitive about her feelings—"
"And since when did you become a woman?" James interrupted, joking.
Remus sighed audibly, rolling his eyes. James could be so oblivious sometimes. He stopped James in the middle of the staircase. Sirius, who was already sleepy, was walking just behind and had to bump into them in order to realize that his friends were in the middle of a conversation. "All I'm saying is that Lily…" Remus started. "She's a nice girl and nice girls don't deserve to be ridiculed that way—"
"I did not—"
"Whether you meant to or not," Remus finished, looking at his friend with a face that seemed to be saying 'understand?'
Sirius, who was listening to their discussion, was suddenly awakened by the tone of concern and sincerity in Remus' voice. "Ahem!" he mocked a cough to get his friends' attention. James and Remus turned around to look at him. "What is this?" he said, with a mischievous smile on his face. He put an arm around Remus' shoulder as they continued walking up the stairs. "Is our Moony attracted to a certain somebody named Lily?" he teased, messing up Remus' hair with his other hand.
James had to digest what his best friend had just said. Then, with a look of disbelief on his face, he turned to Remus. "Don't tell me…"
"What's wrong with that?" Remus shrugged. He just confessed that he liked a certain Lily Evans and James, being who he was, could not even imagine the idea that it was actually possible.
The three of them entered their room. Peter, who went ahead after Lily left the common room, was already lying in his bed. He was supposed to be drifting off to sleep by then when James' voice bothered the silence of the room.
"Lily?" James said in a high tone. "Lily?" he repeated in a low tone. Even if he was clearly already talking to himself, he could not stop asking the question. "Li…ly? Lily…" He planned to continue on and on probably until Remus decided to take back what he just said or until somebody wrapped a packaging tape around his mouth or at least, until somebody paid attention to his going-insane self.
"Come to think of it," Sirius began, as if reading James' intention in going on and on, "she's not bad."
Peter, who chose to listen to his friends since he could not sleep with all of their bantering anyway, looked at James and asked, "Are we still talking about Lily?"
Sirius, still amazed with Remus' revelation, gladly answered his friend's question. "Apparently, Remus likes our Lily."
"Oh," was all Peter could say.
However, apparently, James, lying in his bed, could still not get over the fact that Remus, a close friend, practically a brother, was attracted to a certain girl that he could not imagine himself liking… of course, in James' language that means 'liking' as in 'kissing' sort of way.
It was not that he despised Lily. He actually liked her…actually he enjoyed the way she always burst in annoyance every time he teased her. But that was it. He could not picture himself liking her for anything else like her smile… maybe because she had not really smiled at him. All he received so far was a raised eyebrow or a smirk. Other than that, she just walked out on him every time she had the slightest reason why.
He could have thought of a thousand different reasons why he would never look at Lily the way Remus had seen her but, as the night wanted him to keep his sanity, he finally drifted off to sleep accepting the fact that Remus and Lily might just end up together.
* * * * *
"Lils, it's almost eleven…" Kiara said, waking the girl still cuddled up in her bed. She was sitting on the bed beside Lily as she was relentlessly shaking her awake.
It was already eleven in the morning, the students had awaken, showered, and eaten their breakfasts, yet Lily was still fast asleep.
It was Saturday, a weekend, and it was the only time that Lily decided to sleep in until any one of her friends would care to wake her up.
Lily groaned as a sign of reply. After which, she rolled over to face the other side of the bed, away from Kiara.
"Yeah, we're going to Hogsmeade," Kiara uttered, as if having a conversation with her friend. Lily grunted again. And just like before, Kiara 'answered' her. "No. We're not leaving you here," she said. Then she let out a sigh and added, "You've been working on that essay all week long. It's time for a break."
As if a terrible disaster was the only way to wake Lily up, she rolled over her bed, her body facing Kiara again. But her eyes were still closed and she appeared to not be going anywhere but lie in her bed.
Kiara rolled her eyes at Lily, although knowing that her friend could not see any facial expression that she managed to flash on her face. Then, growing impatient, she finally uttered, "Stop dreaming about James Potter."
At that instant, Lily all of a sudden opened an eye and looked at Kiara's smiling face that was full of malice. Lily stretched her arms, signaling that she was awake then said, "I'm not dreaming about that jerk," amidst her yawning.
Kiara stood, accomplishing her short-term goal of waking her friend up. "I heard you arguing last night," she confessed, looking at Lily who was now sitting on the bed, with knitted eyebrows saying 'were you spying on me?' but she was quick to say, "I wasn't listening. I was overhearing. I just came back from a date."
Lily yawned again, this time saying the word, "Oh."
Meanwhile, Toni, who was listening to them talking, stood up and asked the girl who just woke up, "So are you coming with us or not?"
"Alright. I'll meet you outside."
With that, Kiara and Toni left Lily in the room.
* * * * *
The two decided to wait for Lily just outside by the castle entrance. After a while, Vince emerged from the door and joined them in waiting. Lily was taking time getting ready and boredom was slowly getting into them. As a result, Toni, being Muggle-born, introduced them to the game of 'truth or dare.' After she explained the simple instructions of the game, Kiara excitedly agreed to play along.
Toni used her wand as the pointer on who would choose to either tell the truth or do the dare. When the wand stopped spinning, it pointed at Kiara.
"Truth or dare?" Toni asked.
"Dare…" Kiara answered, a little unsure if she made the right decision.
Toni flashed a wide mysterious smile when Kiara chose 'dare.'
Kiara narrowed her eyes at Toni's suspicious smile. "Why do I get the feeling I'm going to regret this?"
* * * * *
Meanwhile, James and Sirius were also planning to go to Hogsmeade. They were walking along the corridors toward the Great Hall to meet with Remus and Peter who were playing wizard's chess.
"Flowers… candy… sweet nothings, mostly," Sirius muttered, still lethargic. James just asked him for advice about a girl. Even if Sirius was half-asleep, he would know the right things to flatter a girl.
That was the quality that James would probably never learn to possess. Sirius once joked that James was probably going to have an awful allergic reaction if he tried to come up with his own ways of showering a girl with sweetness simply to woo her.
"I'm not sure," James hesitated, shaking his head.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "And what do you prefer to do instead? Get down on your knees and plead for your salvation?" he said, mockingly.
James did not answer and instead, tried to consider what his friend just suggested.
The two entered the Great Hall and found their friends in the middle of the stretch of the Gryffindor table seriously deep in thought.
It was Remus' turn to make a move and he was staring at the chessboard for ten whole minutes trying to figure out where to put what. Peter was now getting lazy; his right elbow was on the table, his head resting against his hand.
Finally, Remus made a move. And just as suddenly, he slapped his forehead realizing that he just made the wrong move and Peter just won. "Stupid!" he exclaimed.
Peter giggled as he moved his winning piece to its final position. "I won," he stated, matter-of-factly, watching the pieces destroy each other.
"Don't hurt yourself too much," Sirius' voice suddenly rose, referring to Remus hitting his forehead.
Remus looked up at the voice's owner, who was already standing beside him. "Wow, you're alive," he said, kiddingly.
Sirius knitted his eyebrows not getting Remus' point. He turned to James for answers.
"We were tying to wake you up incessantly this morning," James explained. "We thought you were dead…" then he smiled sheepishly and added, "then you groaned and rolled over your bed."
Sirius smirked at James. Then his best friend put a hand on his shoulders and looked at him straight in the eyes appearing sincere.
"So, thank goodness you're alive," James said, before laughing his head off.
Sirius had always loved sleeping. He was the type of person to wake up exactly just before necessary. And his friends always teased him about it, especially his best friend. Once, James asked him if he accidentally drank a sleeping potion that had a lifetime effect. Another time, James signed-out a book from the library about sleeping potions and offered it to him.
James got a smack on the back of the head once from him and that was the time he toned down his jokes about Sirius' sleeping habits.
That morning, James was probably the only one who laughed at his joke. His friends started to look at him crazy before he stopped.
Then Peter stood up and signaled for them to go. "C'mon. Remus is going to buy me butterbeer."
* * * * *
"Alright," Toni began, after thinking of a dare that would supposedly flip out Kiara. "I dare you to kiss the first boy who walks out that door," she challenged her, as she pointed to the castle entrance.
Kiara turned her head, as she was sitting with her back at the door, and looked at the castle entrance. Then she looked back at Toni with a worried face. "Kiss?" she started to get hesitant. "The first boy?"
Toni smiled at Kiara with so much enthusiasm. Kiara was always the most outgoing among the four of them but she was never to go up to a guy and kiss him out of nowhere.
Kiara knew right then that she made the wrong decision in choosing 'dare.' And then, as she was dreading, a few seconds later, she heard voices coming from the door. They were male voices. Her heart beat faster as the voices came nearer and nearer. Out of desperation, she turned to Toni for mercy. "Can I just choose truth instead?" she pleaded.
"Uh… no."
The voices were definitely just a few steps from the door. Suddenly, Kiara recognized James' voice among them. She turned around and, as she suspected, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were coming out of the door. She turned to Toni and tried to flash a look of 'pity me, please' for one last time but Toni did not heed her.
"Okay," Kiara said, as she took a deep breath. She tried to calm down for a few seconds. Afterwards, she stood up and approached the four guys who just exited the castle door. And in a split second, Kiara grabbed the first boy who came out of the door. She could not believe it herself that she was doing it but she did it anyway. Her head was in a spin trying not to think of everyone's reaction around her. She was kissing…
Sirius Black.
Sirius was apparently shocked by the unexpected act that Kiara just did to him. For a split second his eyes were wide in surprise. Even his friends could not do or say anything but to stare at the two of them lock lips. But then, he started to kiss her back. And just as he was about to put his arms around her, she pulled away.
Kiara, out of breath because of nervousness, could not say anything for a crack of a second and just stared at Sirius. "Sorry," was the first word that came out of her mouth. She tried to sound casual but deep inside her, her heart was pounding on her chest like she was having an attack. "Nothing personal. It was only a dare."
She did not even care to listen to what Sirius was about to say as she was already about to faint with embarrassment at that time. She turned around and practically ran to her friends leaving a dazed Sirius behind.
"Anytime," Sirius finally was able to utter, after recovering from the mixed shock and amusement that Kiara's out-of-nowhere kiss just gave him.
James, who was also in a state of astonishment, blinked and shook his head, as if bringing himself back into the real world. "If every girl who looks like that kisses me at random… I'd welcome them with open arms," he declared, in a tone that would earn him a smack on the back of the head if Lily had been there to listen to that remark.
"So, how was it?" Toni asked Kiara, teasingly, when she came running back to them.
Kiara, trying to sound casual, shrugged and said, "Not bad." She sat back down on where she was resting before she had to walk up and kiss the first guy who walked out of the castle. Sirius was actually a pretty good kisser. However, she would have probably liked it more if it were James who walked out that door first. But, she thought, Lily could have James instead.
Toni spun her wand again and this time, it stopped to point at Vince.
"Alright, Vince, it's your turn."
Vince looked at the two girls beside him, who were waiting for his choice. "Did I say I'm playing?"
"Truth or dare?" Toni insisted, practically ignoring him.
Vince sighed audibly. He knew that arguing with these girls was more than enough to spend his energy for the whole day. "Fine," he said. He thought that if he chose 'dare,' Toni might just dare him to kiss the first girl to walk out the castle door. He decided he would not take the chance. "Truth. Like you have anything more to want to know about me," he added, trying to dismiss the subject but apparently of no use since Toni sounded like she had truths and dares prepared and ready.
Toni took a deep breath before asking Vince something about what he never had told them. "So, Vince," she began. "Tell us, have you ever been in love? And if you did, with whom?"
Vince froze and all of a sudden could not look straight into his friends' eyes. There was something that they did not know about him. "Uh…" he stuttered.
Just then, in time before Toni could interrogate him, Lily stepped out of the castle. "Lily's here!" he exclaimed, successfully avoiding answering Toni's question.
"Finally!"
* * * * *
It was Hogsmeade weekend, and as usual, James and his friends were in their favorite store of all stores – Zonko's. This place was their haven. They all got into trouble because of the enticing, as James would put it, products that it was offering but still, they considered it as their sole refuge to get back at people who insulted them or just making people they did not quite like to suffer.
The four of them were surveying the store for some new items but James and Sirius were doing some business of their own. They were standing by the store's window, with the Three Broomsticks in view. It was the perfect angle to watch those who were occupying the tables outside the store. Usually, James would spy on the girls that were just hanging out chit chatting. However, today, he was watching Lily, Toni, and Kiara who preferred to sit outside the store than inside.
"Do you think Lily's girl friends are date-able?" Sirius suddenly said, looking intently at the girls across the street.
James looked at him funny. First, Remus admitted on liking Lily. Now, his best friend, who he sometimes considered as an extension of himself – aside from the romantic a.k.a. coochie-coochie side of him – was looking at Lily's friends as prospects for a lover. He pursed his lips and said, "Yeah… whatever you say," as he patted Sirius on the back. "C'mon." He, then, turned to Remus and Peter who were, after finishing their butterbeers, decided to come in and rummage through the items in the store. "We're going ahead," he said to them.
Remus and Peter nodded at them to go ahead. Then James and Sirius went out of Zonko's, apparently with a mission.
* * * * *
"You kissed Sirius?" Lily asked Kiara in disbelief. She scrunched up her nose failing to not imagine the scenario.
"It was a dare," Kiara said, defensively. "Frankly speaking, I'd rather kiss James," she added, looking at Lily, meaningfully with eyes saying, 'he's an eye candy, nothing more and you can seriously have him for yourself.'
Lily only smirked at her.
"Who would've guessed?" Toni uttered sarcastically, referring to Kiara's remark about James.
Just then, Vince came out of the store carrying four drinks on a tray. He walked to them and put down the drinks on the table one by one.
During this time, the four of them saw Sirius and James passed by, walking across the street and then entering Honeydukes. They would have been easily unnoticed but their casual glances toward Lily and her friends' table felt weird, especially to Lily. But since no sign havoc was quite apparent anyway, Lily and her company chose to ignore them.
Vince sat across Kiara after he put their drinks on the table. "Really, Kiara. What is it about James that makes him so attractive to you?" he asked, sounding like he was demanding her to put a certain kind of logic in something that was obviously, to him, illogical.
"I dunno," Kiara replied, before taking a sip of her drink.
Meanwhile, Sirius came out of Honeydukes and walked across the street again. And again, he took a casual glance toward their direction as he passed by them. Then, he entered a flower shop.
"All I'm saying," Vince started, "is that there are other guys out there who's probably sane… period."
"Aah…" Kiara uttered, as if realizing something so profound. "You mean like you?" she kidded.
"Why not?" Lily interrupted. She looked approvingly at Vince and said, "Our Vince is a pretty good-looking guy."
Vince could not help but blush at the said of that.
James came out of Honeydukes after a while. His pockets were obviously filled with candies from the store. He walked passing them by, and this time, Lily was getting suspicious, as he took a glance toward their direction. Then, he entered the flower shop where he knew Sirius was.
A while later, James emerged from the flower store and walked back to Honeydukes.
This time, Lily and her friends were already watching them, wondering what they were doing walking to and fro across the street.
When James finally came out of Honeydukes, he was already holding a beautifully wrapped package, and his pockets turned back into their nothing-in-them state. Apparently, everything that he stuffed in his pockets a while ago was now wrapped perfectly.
"What is up with the two of them?" Toni finally asked, breaking the sudden silence that was effected by James and Sirius walking in and out of stores.
"If I don't know better, I'd say James is pacing to and fro across the street to look at me," Kiara joked, flirty-ly.
Just as that was said, Sirius came out of the flower shop carrying a bouquet of flowers. He stood by the door and waited for James who was walking to him.
Vince snorted. "Or maybe they've finally fallen for each other," he ribbed, as they all watched Sirius hand the bouquet to James.
Then, Sirius started walking to them, followed by James.
Realizing this, Lily and her friends suddenly looked away, pretending not to notice them.
"And here they come," Kiara said, in a low voice, looking down on her drink.
"Hi," Sirius said, not to all of them. He was looking at Kiara.
Kiara, suddenly remembering what she had done to him back at Hogwarts, started to stammer. "Uh… h-hi-hey."
Sirius, for some odd reasons, started to talk the same way too. "Can I… can I talk to you… for… for a sec?" he said. He bobbed his head toward the entrance of Three Broomsticks.
"Alright," Kiara answered. She stood up and followed Sirius.
Before Sirius could go anywhere, though, James tried to stop him. "Wait, where are you going?" he demanded, his voice soft enough for only the two of them to hear.
Sirius put a hand on James' shoulder. "Hey, you can do it, Potter," he said, reassuringly. And with a wink he added, "I'm gonna be busy." After which, he entered Three Broomsticks, with Kiara following her.
For a minute, James was standing in front of Lily, Toni, and Vince staring at the three of them. Sirius left him there. That bloody bastard, he thought. He was holding the bouquet of flowers that Sirius brought from the flower shop on one hand and the package from Honeydukes on the other and he was looking rather stupid as Lily and her friends watched him do… nothing.
"What are you doing there?" Toni finally said, breaking the silence, with a tone that seemed to imply, 'you're starting to look ridiculous.'
James took it as a cue. He took a deep breath and walked up to Lily. All the while, Lily was watching him move toward her with several curious expressions on her face. James was probably starting to go insane, she thought, but she felt no need to stand up and run away from him as far away as possible or at least, yell to her friends that she needed help.
James placed the package on the table beside Lily before taking another deep breath. Then, he placed the bouquet that he was holding on Lily's lap as he knelt before her. During this time, Lily was looking at him with eyes saying, 'what the hell are you doing?'
Now, Lily thought that her last resort of calling help from her friends would be impossible. Toni and Vince were on the edge of their seats, dumbfounded.
James, now kneeling before Lily, took her hand. But she pulled her hand just as fast and demanded, "James, what are you doing?"
James, relentless that he was, took her hand again and stared straight into her eyes. "Lily, I'm sooooo sooorrryyy…" he started.
Lily finally understood his intentions. Yes, James was supposed to do something so seemingly profound because she was angry with him. She almost forgot about it because of all the resentment that she was feeling toward him the night before. It was a given. He would irritate the hell out of her, she would walk out on him, refuse to talk to him, until she even refuse to acknowledge his presence – until the realization that he hurt somebody's feelings finally got through his thick head, as Lily would say, and ask for an apology in a way that he would surely earn.
"Really," James continued. "I admit maybe I was wrong—"
"Maybe?" Lily interrupted, pulling back her hand. She looked at James with a smirk on her face that suggested, 'there's got to be a better way on saying that.'
James understood that he could not get away with 'maybe.' So, for one last time, he reached out for Lily's hand again and looked straight into those green emerald eyes. "I admit," he began. "I was totally… inexcusably… unjustifiably… terribly… dreadfully… completely wrong about what I said." Lily nodded with an approval and satisfaction. "And I probably deserve to be simmered in a cauldron right now…" James continued, his tone getting lighter, realizing that Lily had just forgiven him. But he could not resist to try making her smile. "But see, you're my friend…"
"James, stand up," Lily interjected, starting to get mindful of all the people looking at the two of them. "You're embarrassing me."
James ignored her plea. He continued without stopping. "…or at least, you're Head Girl and I don't want you taking points off Gryffindor…"
"James…" Lily tried to stop him. It was no use; he was talking like he rehearsed his speech – his bad speech – without interruptions. She rolled her eyes and turned to her friends but they were no help as they were already trying to hold back their laughs.
"…and I probably would run out of things to say…," James still continued. "…but I'm not getting up until you forgive me…" then, like a reflex, he flashed that puppy-dog face that never worked on her anyway. Lily rolled her eyes. "Please…" he asked one more time.
"Fine."
"Fine?"
"Fine. I forgive you. So, will you please stand up?"
This time, James stood up. His eyes were twinkling with satisfaction and delight, matching with a wide smile plastered across his face.
"Wow. You really know when you're wrong," Toni commented, looking at James' contented self.
James, although flashing a look of satisfaction, was still just standing there in front of Lily. He let out a sigh of relief that was audible enough for Lily to realize that he had not gone anywhere else yet and that he was still, well, there.
Lily looked up at him. "What?"
James smiled naughtily. "Has anyone ever told you that you have a pair of lovely green eyes?" he said. Even he did not get the point of staying there and saying what he just said but he felt like he had that inherent urge to see her smile because of him. However, no mater what he did, she would not.
Lily narrowed her eyes on James. "Don't start," she warned, thinking that he was about to play another joke on her.
"Alright," James settled. "I can sleep now cause Lily Evans is talking to me again," he finally contented himself with that.
"Go away, James," Lily said, his presence getting into her again.
With this, James bowed his whole body down at Lily and then looked at her friends who still appeared quite stricken with what he had done. Then, his eyes rested on Vince. "Don't worry," he said, reassuringly. "I'm not a competition. But I'm telling you… nice guy… that someone else might start ahead of you…" he ended his statement before he left without even waiting for a reply or a reaction on what he just said.
Toni and Lily looked curiously at Vince.
"I have no idea what's gotten into him," Vince said defensively. He looked especially at Toni, the person who seemed to be always around when James started talking like that.
Toni shifted in her seat and faced him. "You know, he's been talking in riddles since last night. I'm doubting that you don't know what he's talking about," Toni said, in a tone of great suspicion.
"I swear…"
"Vincent Karl Stradler," Toni interrupted. "You are so lying."
"Toni, it's James Potter," Vince protested, emphasizing so hard on the words 'James Potter' that could mean a thousand words but which could be concluded into, "He's got a head full of dungbombs." Translation, 'don't listen to him.'
Lily laughed at her friends. They amused her especially when Vince tried to prove a point that Toni kept retaliating.
In another minute, Kiara and Sirius came out of Three Broomsticks. Sirius did not bother talking with them anymore and went straight away probably to find his partners-in-crime.
On the other hand, Kiara walked to her friends with a smile playing around her lips.
Toni was the first to notice. "Don't tell me," she said, a hand raised telling her to 'stop, I know this.' "Sirius Black has gotten cuter," she said, mocking Kiara's tone when she told them that James had gotten cuter.
Kiara could not wipe the smile off her face. "Toni, Toni, Toni," she said, shaking her head. "I dunno. It's like a strange dream." She kept the tone of mystery in her voice. Her friends had probably believed Toni's conclusion but she did not actually tell them what really happened.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, on the other side of the village, Remus and Peter were hanging out by the Shrieking Shack, the house that everyone thought was haunted because of the shrieking noises that the villagers could hear coming from it. They were leaning forward, arms resting on the fence, looking at the house.
James, after his talk with Lily, looked for his friends and had the hunch that they were there. "Hey." He stood beside Remus and leaned back on the fence. "What are you doing here?" he told him, his tone rather somber. "Tomorrow's full moon. Are you trying to drown yourself in self-pity?"
Remus snorted. Then his face became serious. "Do you think I should tell her?" he asked James.
James, most of the time slow as he was in these kinds of things, contorted his face in confusion. "Tell her what? Her who? Wait, what? What are you talking about?" He confused himself more than Remus confused him. He turned to Peter for some enlightenment. "Peter, have you two been staring at that house long enough for him to start losing his mind?" he asked in a tone as if he was not the one complicating the conversation.
"Lily, James." Peter used a tone that was exclusively to make James understand what was going on. "Lily Evans." James nodded at him, signaling him to go on. "Remus has been thinking if he should tell her about him turning into—"
"What are you doing?!" A voice suddenly rose from behind them. It was Sirius' voice but something told them that he was not talking to them. They turned around to where his voice came from. Instead of seeing him, they saw Severus Snape, a student from the house of Slytherin, emerge from behind a wall.
Snape was clearly startled of Sirius' sudden voice but he was trying to keep his expression as indifferent as possible yet a smirk was playing around his lips as if he had discovered something that could destroy them once and for all. Then, Sirius appeared beside him.
"You don't want to touch me, Sirius," Snape warned him.
"Don't worry. I know," Sirius replied like Snape was carrying a contagious disease.
Just then, James' voice interrupted their 'conversation.' "What did you hear?" he demanded.
"Huh!" Snape snorted as a sign of reply. "That's for me to know," he ended. Before he walked away from them, he shot Sirius another look of hate.
However, instead of matching the look of detestation on Snape's face, Sirius contorted his face with mocking wide eyes, twisted mouth, complete with a tongue sticking out. As a result, he watched an even angrier Snape walk away. Then suddenly, he laughed out loud as he walked toward his friends. "Don't worry. He didn't hear a thing," he said, reassuring Remus. "I've been sneaking behind his back when I saw him walking toward the house." Then, out of the blue, he turned to Remus, saying, "And yes, maybe," referring to Remus telling Lily about his secret. "Only if you're sure you're serious about her," he concluded. "Hey, that sounded like my name."
* * * * *
The next day, Lily had the head prefects room to herself. She had not seen James much that day so she was pretty sure that he would not be barging in anytime into the room and annoy her to death. She was peacefully doing her essay's final draft in Potion as she comfortably sat on the couch beside the fire. The weather was getting colder everyday that she was sure winter was tiptoeing slowly into each day. The night had been awfully quiet for the weekend, although she enjoyed the flickering of the fire and the constant unwrapping of candies that James had given her.
Once she finished with her assignment, she stood up and stretched. Not feeling any tired, she decided to look around the room. It was pretty interesting since there were lots of things that previous head boys and girls left in there, although they were contained in boxes that were slowly gathering dust.
Lily was looking through the boxes' labels when she found a box on the top shelf, covered with dust. Although she could clearly see the label, 'Yule Ball' despite of all the dust, she could not possibly reach it because of its location. Just then, her brain rebelled against her as she thought of calling James to help her out. It was like calling death to sit beside her.
She sighed realizing that yes, only James and his six foot one built could reach that high. "Now, where is that giant when you need him?" she said to herself. Decided on finding him, she gathered her things from the couch and went out of the room.
Lily entered the common room, which atmosphere was tranquil and seemed undisturbed. The students were relaxing in front of the fire. Then, she pinpointed what was different with the room – no James Potter and his cohorts making complete nonsense noise around. She approached one of the students and asked, "Hey, have you seen James anywhere?"
"No," the student answered, rather delighted. "The four of them are nowhere to be seen. So let's just enjoy the serenity of the place, shall we?"
"Alright. Thanks anyway," Lily replied. Since James was nowhere to be found, she decided to go up to the girls' dormitories.
When she came into the room, the first thing that Lily noticed was the bright light coming in through the curtains. It was still early in the night so no one else was in there. She walked to the window and spread the curtains open. What greeted her was the clear sky giving way to the brightness of the full moon. She now realized why James and his friends were nowhere to be found.
She sat by the windowsill and watched the sky. She did not exactly know why the four mischief-makers disappeared during full moon but she first noticed their vanishing during their first year in Hogwarts. Lily did not want to remind herself that she had a crush on James Potter when she was eleven. Eleven-year-olds were probably stupid during her time anyway, she assured herself. But it was the reason why she knew that full moon equaled no Peter, no Remus, no Sirius, and most of all, NO JAMES. She shuddered to think on how interested she was in him to even notice that there were nights he was not around.
She did not even try to discover the reason why they could not be found during certain nights of the month because by the time she was sure of it, James was already getting into her nerves with his puppy-dog eyes and tugging of her hair and uniform.
Lily did not deliberate more on James Potter and his monthly escapades with his friends. By the time she reached the reasons why she disliked him, exhaustion took over her body. She stayed sitting by the windowsill leaning against the wall… and after while, she drifted off to sleep.
~*~*~*~
to love you... take my world apart... to need you... i am on my knees... -- jars of clay, "worlds apart"
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