WHAT THE HECK?!

Lily can't stand James but she can stand to like Malfoy?!

Something's definitely wrong here…

Duh!

Okay, to help you ease some of the not-so-nice feelings about Lucius, don't imagine him looking like the one in the movie… that would be like a 35-year-old man and even I would cringe to imagine him with a 17-year-old girl…

What to do is to imagine him looking like Draco "little Lucius" Malfoy… makes sense cause he's the son and they most probably look alike… and imagine Draco looking like the one who played him in the movie… only make him look a couple years older…

Hmmm…

Yeah, whatever… I know I know… Lily still likes Lucius…

Okay, here's the answer to the why, why, why's and the oh my gosh-es…

James could never get a clue even about his own feelings. He's not affected by his notion that Vince might like Lily. He's not affected by the fact that Remus fancies her too. So, maybe… sense is gonna knock him hard in the head if he finds out that she likes the person he could never have the guts to stand…!

And that will all start here…

Knock! Knock! Knock!

On another note, I'd like to thank those who submitted a review. I hope you keep doing it and keep me wanting to write more: Satans Little Princess, Stating-the-obvious, Hermione101888, Sugarquill, Frankie, mutsumi, the-fly-screen, angkat14, Javalass, time-stitch, The Elfin Child

Second, about me calling Sirius a 'she.' I'd see to that. Although, honestly, I'd already checked it several times. I couldn't see it. Maybe you could tell me what part? However, if it was in the paragraph, "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." – the 'she' here is actually Kiara.

Anyways, I'm not really sure if anyone reads my introductions so I'd just leave it here and let you read the next chapter.

you deserve to be loved... you deserve something real... -- curtis stigers, "to be loved"

we don't even talk anymore... we don't even know what we argue about... -- boyz II men, "water runs dry"

~*~*~*~

CHAPTER SIX: Strike Two

Students did not really flock the library at any other time of the year. However, that Sunday, they were crowded because of the work that Professor McGonagall assigned her classes. Students from every year – first to seventh – were busy with their own essays and papers to write. Most them were only starting to look for references.

On the other hand, Lily had already consumed two feet of parchment since she started the last hour. Although she had read several of the books that McGonagall suggested for them to read, still several more books were spread across the table in front of her.

She paused from writing. And rested her chin on her hand, while staring at her parchment. She was deep in concentration until she glanced upon someone who just passed by her. What caught her attention was the way that person seemed to walk swiftly and yet, still had that air that appeared to demand authority and fear.

Lucius Malfoy.

He walked through the library carrying a couple of books and parchment with him. He was obviously going to do the same thing that everyone else was doing.

Now, out of all the people who walked across the table in front of her – and some of them even accidentally shoved the pile of books stacked on the table onto the floor – all morning, why did this certain Slytherin made her follow him with her eyes?

She had no idea. But when he sat by the table next to her, she suddenly felt the unconscious urge to straighten in her seat and tuck the stray hair from her face.

She tried to ignore the situation and looked back down to her parchment.

But, alas, after five minutes, she realized she was just staring blankly at it. It seemed like suddenly, the ideas that she was concocting in her mind a few minutes before all went popping out into thin air without giving her the time to write them down.

She budged in her seat. Apparently uncomfortable. No matter what she did, she really couldn't think of anything else to write. Giving up, she rolled up her parchment and piled the messily stacked books, on her table, neatly.

She stood up and gathered her things, preparing to leave the library. However, she felt like there was something else that she needed to do. Something like…

Maybe she ate something really bad for breakfast, although she doubted it, but her stomach suddenly felt all tied in knots. She took a glance at Lucius, who was starting with his paper. His knitted eyebrows told that he was concentrating hard. However, she decided to do what she wanted to do anyway.

She took a deep breath. Then, she realized that her feet were almost walking by themselves towards him. What was she doing? She really didn't know.

"H-hi," she greeted, standing across the table in front of him.

Lucius looked up from his work to take a split second of a glance of the owner of that voice. After seeing who it was, he went back to writing. It was only after another second that he replied, "Do you want something?" His voice was not really mean, it was just curious – in a Slytherin sort of way. Although as he said those words, he didn't bother to stop what he was doing, and instead, kept on writing.

"I was just – I was just…" Lily needed to breathe. A deep, deep breath. And to sit down. She pulled up a chair and sat across him. "How's your arm?" she asked, instead. Her vocabulary suddenly flew out the window.

"It's fine," he replied, still writing, not even minding to look up at her. "Just a scratch," he added with a shrug.

Lily nodded. "Well – good," she said, trying to sound casual. "You know… uh, cause, uh, it's—"

"Lily!" a voice suddenly yelled her name.

Why did that voice sound so irritatingly familiar?

Lily looked up, past Lucius and saw James walking towards them.

"Hi," he said, his smile was almost ripping his face. He was now standing behind Malfoy.

Lily glared at him.

Lucius apparently ignored them as he continued writing without even taking a hateful glance at James.

Lily rolled her eyes. "James," her voice was annoyed. "What are you doing here?"

James pretended to clear his throat. "Actually," he started, his tone sounding assertive and insulting at the same time. "I'm doing McGonagall's assignment and…" he paused. Then took pleasure at Lily's expression of annoyance. "…and I saw you talking with this… something."

"Potter, you better get out of my earshot before I shut you up," Lucius suddenly spoke, sounding disturbed by his presence.

"Malfoy," James mimicked his tone. He paused for a couple of seconds and then said, "You obsessive-compulsive-freak-who-can't-let-a-stray-ink-wander-around-the-parchment, I wasn't talking to you," he mocked.

With that, Lucius suddenly stood up and was now facing James; their eyes were glaring at each other. "If you wish to talk with Evans, Potter," he began, pronouncing James' name like it was some disgusting slug that he had to spit out. "You better take it outside because your voice is exasperatingly ringing in my brain."

Lily stood up herself, sensing some kind of brawl that was about to happen. "James, Lucius. Stop it please," she uttered.

James looked away from Malfoy's eyes and into Lily's pleading ones. Maybe it was just because she was Head Girl, but still he was a little curious why she wouldn't want him to put a dent in the nose of this Slytherin git.

He backed off, respecting her request and nodded to her, 'alright' before he walked out of the library. This, while Lucius' eyes were trailing after him.

At the back of her mind, Lily knew that both parties were at fault. However, she could not help but side with the one left standing in front of her. "I'm really sorry about that," she said to Lucius.

For once that day, he looked at her in the eye. "It wasn't you," he said, as his version of 'That's okay.' "He just makes my blood boil," he added in an angry growl.

* * * * *

Technically, James did leave the library. However, he stopped just outside of it and waited for Lily to come out too. A lot of questions were brewing in his mind.

He made himself comfortable just leaning against the wall opposite the library exit while watching the people coming out. As he waited, some sort of realization about why Lily seemed to be pleading, rather than angrily demanding, for him to stop troubling Malfoy came over him. The answers that he concluded from his own questions brought out more questions. But in summary, it all disturbed him.

A few minutes later, he saw the redhead that he was waiting for come out of the library. He knew she saw him – because her face suddenly turned to an infuriated expression the second she came out. But she did not care to stop and rather, she walked hurriedly away from him.

He followed her while yelling incredulously. "Malfoy?!" he snorted. "You like Malfoy! It's Malfoy?!" He didn't know why it was such a big deal to him; but all he cared about was that it was a big deal – no matter how it was not any of his business.

He caught up with her and was now walking beside her, still trying to keep up. "I thought it's—"

"What the heck was that about, James?!" Lily suddenly stopped and turned to face him. She paused to take a breath for she was running out of it because of her anger. She looked him straight in the eyes, trying to decipher some valid reason in them. It frustrated her that he seemed to be thinking that he did nothing wrong. "Are you just determined to make my life miserable?" she finally said, her tone sounded like she was failingly trying to keep it collected. "And by the way," she added, before James could say anything else. "Who told you to meddle with my life?"

James chuckled like Lily was making some stupid joke. "But it's Malfoy, Lily," he said trying to sound like he was making the most sense in the world. "Who wants to date Malfoy?" She glared at him. "Lucius Malfoy is not capable of emotion!" he declared like what he said would make her come to her senses and realize that she was making the biggest mistake of her life.

"How dare you," Lily infuriately uttered after looking at him for a second with eyes that were flashed like she was his better. "For someone who can't swallow the thought of committing to a serious relationship, you do not have any credibility of telling me who is not capable of real emotion." She said the words so fiercely with every intention of hurting him to make him feel just like the way she was feeling.

With that statement, Lily left him standing there. And with that statement, James realized something – he did it again. And this time, he was sure that it was worse than when he told her that she was pitiful for not having Friday night dates.

He wanted to bang his head on the wall for doing what he did. Now, Lily was even angrier than before. And it would sure take a longer time for him to win her 'affection' back.

* * * * *

"Lily, come on, talk to me please."

James was knocking incessantly on the door of Lily's dormitory. He was calling out for her for so long, she couldn't actually recall when he started.

That night, he decided to patch things up with her. However, she wouldn't come out of her room and she wouldn't let him in their dormitory either. As a result, he had been calling for her, while knocking on their door. There were times when he would stop for a minute – to her satisfaction – but he would start calling and knocking on the door again.

Inside the girls' dormitory, Lily and Kiara were already in their pajamas; Toni was taking a shower. They were trying to ignore the noise that James was making by talking with each other about their day. Lily told Kiara and Toni earlier about what James did back by the library and Kiara was quick to point that what he did didn't deserve to be forgiven in a short span of time.

Just then, Toni came out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around her and another around her head. "He's still out there?" she asked them, while she took off the towel around her head and dried her hair. "I already took a shower and everything."

"I'm not going out there," Lily said firmly, shaking her head.

Toni rolled her eyes. "Why don't you just talk to him?"

"He's a jerk, Toni," Lily said matter-of-factly. "If you want, you talk to him."

"Lily…" came James' voice again. "Lily…"

Toni dangled the towel, she was holding, on a chair near her and then faced Lily. "Is he gonna stay there all night?" she asked in a sigh. "He's noisy." To her frustration, Lily only shrugged at her. She, then, turned to Kiara for back up.

"Honestly, what he did was a real turn off, Toni," Kiara said, shaking her head disappointingly. "He initiated the fight. I don't think I'm gonna look at him the same way again."

Toni let out a loud groan and rolled her eyes. "You are so overacting, Kiara," she pointed out. "You're acting even more hurt than Lily. Besides, you're already turned on with somebody else."

Kiara smiled. "Robert Harold?"

Toni looked at her inquisitively. "I thought you're going out with Sirius Black?"

"No…"

"But he's not going out with any other girl right now—"

"How do you know he's not going out with anyone?"

Toni suddenly fell speechless.

Then, just as sudden, Kiara said, "Are you spying on him?" in a naughty tone.

Toni's eyes widened. "No!" she said like she was trying to hammer the word into Kiara's head. It was only a few seconds after that Toni gained the ability to talk normally. "But you're always together and—"

There was another knock on the door. This time, even louder and much more harder.

"Alright!" Toni exclaimed. She was starting to get irritated by the fact that her roommates were not annoyed by James' relentless knocking. "If you won't talk to him, I'll shut him up."

And so, irately, even if she was still only clothed with a towel around her body, she marched to the door and opened it only to find…

Sirius Black turning red with embarrassment.

The moment she opened the door, he froze in shock seeing her only in a towel. He stared at her for a split second, not knowing what to do. Then, when his senses found him, he turned around. "I'm – oh, geez, I'm sorry," he said, constantly running his hands on his face, like they could wipe his blushing cheeks back to their normal color.

Toni snorted at the sight of him panicking. His back was facing her but she knew that he was turning flushed. "It's just a female body covered in towel, Sirius," she finally said. "You realize you've seen more when girls prance around in their bathing suits?"

Sirius slowly turned back around to face her. "H-hi, Toni," he greeted. He looked to the left; he looked to the right; he looked up to the ceiling; he looked down to the floor; he practically looked around the place – but he couldn't look… at Toni.

Toni nodded. "Hold on, I'll get Kiara."

She was about to turn around and call her when Sirius held her back.

Well, not exactly held… cause he couldn't even look at her.

"Wait," he called. Toni looked back at him. "Uh, actually, well, uh, I – I…" His brain had left leaving him with nothing to produce any sentence with a little sense. "You know what?"

"Kiara," Toni read his mind.

"Yeah."

And so, Toni went back into the room and called for Kiara.

A few second later, Kiara came out to meet Sirius with a, "What are you doing here?"

"I dunno," Sirius shrugged. "I wanna talk to you?" Even he sounded uncertain about his reasons of being there.

Kiara shook her head. "No, Sirius, you don't wanna talk to me."

Her voice was raising that Sirius had to pull her completely out of the room before he closed the door. "Are you aware that one of your roommates is answering the door with only a towel on?" he said, sounding very bothered by the fact.

Kiara rolled her eyes. "You're a guy," she said flatly. "Don't tell me you didn't like that," she finished like he should be thankful by the fact that he saw one of them wearing nothing but a towel.

Sirius opened his mouth to say something. Nothing came out. Maybe she was right? But, "N-no…?" he finally said, unsure of his answer. Kiara raised an eyebrow. "That's not the point, Kiara," he said, instead, trying to drop the subject so badly.

Fortunately, she dropped it. "So, anyway," she started again. "What is this with you wanting to talk to me?"

"It's – it's nothing," Sirius replied. "Forget it."

Kiara sighed. Sometimes, he could be a little unfocused. "Whatever you say…" she said in a singsong voice as she waved him away and went back into her room.

* * * * *

"Lily, can I talk to you?" James pleaded.

It had already been a week since they started their silly argument. He had been constantly bugging her to talk to him… and eventually forgive him. But to no avail. She would not even say a word to him all week.

And that morning was no different.

Lily and her friends were seated at one end of the table, eating breakfast, when James and his friends came in. Instead of following them to a seat, he went straight to her.

Lily looked down at her food and ignored him. She continued eating like she could not hear anything.

So, James, frustrated, threw a pleading look to her friends. They all, however, shrugged to imply that they could not do anything and had nothing to do about it. He let out a sigh of surrender and walked to follow his friends.

And just then, while they were only halfway to their seats, Malfoy marched in.

He was holding his wand firmly in his hand.

His eyes were angry.

And his hair…

Was all spiked and green…

…puke green.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he exclaimed, pointing his wand to the four mischief-makers.

A split second after, James and his friends went floating into the air. The students in the Great Hall watched in awe.

When they pulled out each of their wands to reverse the spell, Malfoy pointed to them, again, with his wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

And their wands came flying into his hand.

"What now, Malfoy?" Sirius laughed. "Well, I thought you could use a little spiking up."

"It's not funny, Black," Lucius said, fiercely. "I warned you."

"Malfoy, put us down," James ordered.

Lucius sneered. "Oh, I'll put you down," he uttered, although his tone sounded as if his words meant more than they seemed. "We'll just see if you ever get to stand up again." With that, he threw their wands in the air, toward them, before he walked out of the Great Hall.

James was the only one who caught his wand to be able to recite the counter curse and let him and his friends down.

* * * * *

Kiara watched the whole event happened so fast. She watched Lucius march out of the Hall threateningly. "Feisty…" she muttered, as she turned back to her friends. "Lily and Malfoy… interesting."

"How 'bout you, Kiara? Don't you think it's quite unfair that you're also going out with Robert Harold without Sirius knowing?" Vince asked, too much from out of nowhere.

Kiara looked at him with knitted eyebrows. Where in the world did that connect with anything she said? However, she answered him still. "Vince, don't worry about Sirius. We're not going out. We never did."

Vince's face flashed a look of sudden curiosity. "You didn't?"

"No," Kiara replied. "He happens to be into a certain somebody and he's just asking me for some friend-ly advice."

"Who?" Toni asked, very interested. "And why you? No offense, though."

"None taken," Kiara replied with a shrug. Instead, her face was flashing a mysterious smile. "Anyway," she continued. Her voice was emphasizing the aura of secrecy that she was implying, with delight. "I wanna tell you who it is but I want him to do it himself."

"Well, can't the girl ever be so thick not to notice it?" Toni said; her tone was more irritated than curious.

Kiara's smile grew even wider. "I'm beginning to wonder, actually."

* * * * *

"I – I don't think Malfoy said that just to scare us," Peter said, his tone with a hint of worry. He and his friends were gathered by the fire in the common room after leaving the Great Hall.

The room was pretty much empty that was why they were able to take over the hearth.

Maybe because he was the smallest of the four of them that was why his body could not generate enough heat, but Peter was the one seated on the floor, just about in front of the fire.

On the other hand, Sirius was seated in an armchair, which he pulled from the back of the common room and placed it by the right side of the fireplace. "Peter, he's a coward," he said, reassuringly like he was stating a law of physics. "He's not gonna lay a finger on any of us. Besides, if he did, his father will kill him soon after anyway," he added too casually that Remus had to let out a chuckle.

"Besides," Remus interjected. He was sitting in another chair across Sirius. "If he ever, for some very strong incredible magic, has the courage to do so, I'm sure he'll leave you out of it."

"What?" Peter stood up protesting. "How? Why? I hate him too!" he exclaimed sounding frustrated like as if he was being left out of something that meant the world to everybody.

Sirius and Remus sniggered at the sight of him objecting to the thought that he wasn't good enough for Malfoy to bother with. After which, he sat back down realizing that he was making no sane rationale on having to want Malfoy mess with him.

They went on for some time, until Sirius noticed James staring blankly into the fire. He was sitting far from the hearth but his eyes were fixed on it. He appeared to be in a trance of some sort – where he was just rubbing his chin with his fingers – like thinking; only that his best friend knew he wasn't thinking.

"That's not gonna melt, James," Sirius called to him. "It's already burning."

When James did not answer, Remus and Peter yelled at him. "James!"

With that, the boy in a trance looked at them, seeming to be startled. "Huh?" he replied, his eyes still trying to focus on the three figures in front of him.

"You okay?" Sirius asked.

"It's been a week and she's still not talking to us," James said, not actually answering his friend's question. He seemed to be talking to a voice inside his head rather than to them. "Aren't you gonna do something about it, too?"

Sirius, Remus, and Peter looked at each other and nodded, understanding why he was like that. Yup, now they knew what was keeping his mind busy. It was the case of James not being in peace because a certain girl, who specifically carried the name of Lily Evans, was making him insane to his mind by not talking to him.

"Uh, last time I checked she's not talking to you only," Remus replied, pointing at James. "Besides, you haven't even told us what you did to Lily that made her so angry."

James shook his head. "I can't," he said. "She'll not only not talk to me, she'd kill me."

Sirius let out a loud sigh. "James," he groaned. "Why don't you just get over it? If I don't know any better you have a thing for Evans," he suggested, which made James stab him with a look of, 'No way!' He put up his hands that said, 'fine' and recommended something else, instead. "Why don't you just go find your Emma Creton and make out or something?"

James rolled his eyes and slouched back in his seat. "Her voice is still ringing in my ears from our date last night," he complained like it was their fault. "Do you know that she talks nonstop about who's dating who and who did who?"

Sirius ran his hand over his face in frustration. "You chose her!"

James waved his hand up lazily telling his friend to shut up.

"Anyway, James, it's Emma Creton," Sirius said, instead. "All you can do with her is gossip, snog, and Cre-tons of babies!" he exclaimed mocking his friend.

Remus and Peter had to laugh with Sirius. James sat up straight and smirked at them. Then his face fell again and he sighed audibly. "I can't stand it," he declared, standing up. "Besides, we have this Yule Ball to prepare. She's bound to talk to me," he convinced himself rather than the others.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna find Lily," James replied, looking much more determined than ever before. He didn't even wait for his friends to protest or make fun of him or do whatever they were that they did; he turned around and marched out of the common room.

* * * * *

It was in one of the hallways to the Gryffindor tower that James found Lily. She was walking down the hall toward him – well, not actually toward him but to his direction. Of course, she was probably going back to the tower.

James would've done the 'Lily!' call he used to do but this time, as if a voice inside his head was instructing him, he did not go all annoyingly cheerful and instead, just waited for her to reach him… eventually, since there was no other way out of that hallway without passing him by – unless of course, she would decide to turn around and walk back to where she came from.

She was carrying her books and some rolls of parchment. Apparently, she had been studying. But the first thing that he noticed, though, was that she looked exhausted. He wondered if it was because of all the work that the teachers were giving those days since exams were nearing. He didn't make a sound. He was just watching her. And for some reason, he felt like being… nice.

"Do you need help with those?" he asked her when she was about two feet from him.

Not surprisingly, she ignored him completely. Lily didn't even take a glance at him. She just continued walking like he wasn't even there. The only thing that was obvious was that she quickened her pace.

James watched her walk past him. Now, he was looking at her back. But because of his determined goal for her to forgive him, he ran after her.

He stood in front of her – completely in her way and then said, "Alright, this has got to stop."

And Lily stopped, having no choice because this extremely tall person was hovering over her and utterly blocking her way. She looked at him with tired eyes, but still apparent of the message of rile that she wanted to send him. She didn't say a word, committed to her vow that she would not talk to him.

James looked her in the eyes, trying to find some sort of hope in them. "Lily, I'm sorry." He waited for a reply but it seemed like she was waiting for him to say something more. Then, almost involuntarily, he reached for her hand. "Lily—"

"Don't," Lily pulled her hand before he could even touch it, "even think about it, Potter." With that, she went on her way again.

James realized that she was serious. The last time that she called him with his last name was back in first year when he stood up the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall during breakfast and teased her about having a crush on him. Stupid, stupid, stupid James.

James walked after her again calling out. "You do realize this has been going on for a week now and I'm sure…" Again, he stood in her way. "I'm sure I've said enough sorry for you to forgive me."

Lily narrowed her eyes on him and took a deep breath. "James," she started, looking at him straight in the eyes. She was sure not to be able to get rid of him anyway so she decided to give him a piece of her mind. "When someone does something so pointless that it results to consequences of hurting others, sometimes, it's not enough to say sorry."

James gave up. His eyes were now pleading. "What do you want me to do?"

Lily looked at him for a moment. "I dunno," she finally said, with a shrug. Her tone was monotonous – sounded like she didn't care. "I have to go."

James didn't even bother following her anymore. But he knew that he had to do something. Something worth more than those flowers and candies that he gave her back in Hogsmeade. He looked at her walking away but, as if there was something that connected the two of them, he felt his feet involuntarily walking to follow just behind her – keeping a good close distance between them.

She didn't know that he was following her. All she could think about was how much tired she was and how much she despised him at that moment.

Suddenly, she felt her hand went clammy, like her blood rushed out of her body. After that, her surroundings started spinning. She held her head, trying to steady her vision. She couldn't walk steady anymore – she was already pacing in zigzag motions – that she unintentionally dropped her books and parchment to the floor. And in another second, her vision blurred and she knew that she was going to fall to the ground.

And then, she lost her consciousness.

~*~*~*~

i don't know and i don't care... if i ever will see you again... -- lisa loeb and nine stories, "do you sleep"

So, how was it?

I know, I know, some of you might still probably hate me… but hey, look at James. He's annoyed to death about it yet he doesn't know why… maybe he's coming to his senses?

Anyways, don't worry, I'm not going to dwell tooooooooooo much on Lily and Malfoy *coughs*

I think Karma just hit me… I'm having cold symptoms right now…

Ah, and one more thing, please review. :)