Disclaimer: plot lines are mine, everything else belongs to JKR
A/N: Have recovered slightly from OotP, am realising there are loads of good bits in the book, even if the person who died shouldn't have dammit *tear*! Thank you for all the reviews: 186!!!!! *grin*
Summary: they spend the whole time in the library, but no one actually does any work… and we're meant to be what? Surprised by this?
CHAPTER 13
James leant back against the bookshelves, she wasn't in there. He had searched the whole library and she wasn't anywhere. He'd been so sure this was where she would be… maybe he didn't know her as well as he thought he did. Suddenly his musings were interrupted by a loud bang as the library doors flew open, and a reprimanding "Miss Evans," followed by a, "Will you come back here right now?" sounded out.
James sidled up to the end of the bookshelf and looked across, a grin forming on his features as he saw a flushed Lily standing in front of a glowering librarian. He'd been right, she was here.
Impatiently tapping his foot, he waited hidden from sight for Lily's lecture on library etiquette to end. He desperately wanted to talk to her he just didn't know what he was going to say. Leaning his head back against a shelf of Arithmancy text books, he closed his eyes hoping for some kind of divine inspiration; how to talk to Lily without turning into a puddle at her feet or yelling at her till she hit him would be very helpful. James massaged his temples feeling a major headache coming on.
"James," his eyes flew open as he heard someone hiss his name. "James," there it was again. He raised his head to look around,
"Christ, you're alright," Sirius said, breathing heavily but grinning as he looked over James to check for missing limbs.
"Sirius, what the hell is going on?" James replied in a whisper.
"You found him!" Bella and Fee said, as they flew round the corner.
"You haven't talked to Lily yet have you?" Bella asked worriedly.
"No… she is still getting told off by the librarian for run… wait how the hell do you know I'm trying to talk to Lily," he said, sounding horrified.
"Er…" Sirius started, grinning sheepishly.
"You told them!" James exclaimed. "Why the hell did you tell them!? Now Lily is going to know before I get a chance to tell her!"
James was too busy ranting to hear Bella's bemused, "Tell her what?"
"Well you know what?" James said, his voice getting dangerously low, "Sirius li…" but he was cut off by Sirius slamming a hand over his mouth.
"I didn't tell them anything," Sirius said desperately, his eyes flicking over to Fee for a split second. "I just said you were looking for Lily, that's all," Sirius said, pleading with James, his hand still firmly over James' mouth.
"What are you going to tell Lily?" Bella asked curiously.
~*~*~*~*~
James could feel himself blushing. He could feel the heat rising at the back of his neck. He tried to sound nonchalant; an attempt that would have truly failed spectacularly if it weren't for the fact that Sirius' hand was still covering his mouth. James kicked Sirius in the shin and reluctantly Sirius drew his hand away, still watching James warily.
"Erm…nothing…I mean sorry, I was going to tell her 'sorry'," James said, glancing hopefully at Bella, praying it sounded believable. Well I was going to tell her sorry, so it's not like I'm lying, he thought. Just omitting some of the truth.
~*~*~*~*~
James stared across the library at Lily, whose head was bent over a book. Drumming his fingers idly over the table, he rolled his shoulders to try and work the tension out of them. I have to apologise to Lily and I have to be nice about it, he frowned at the thought, even after everything something inside him still rebelled at the idea of apologising to Lily. He chuckled softly to himself. You'll need to grovel on the floor you idiot to even get her to talk to you again. It's not like the crystal thing is your fault though. Yeah, but finding out we're connected in the future had to be a shock I bet she thought she'd never see me again after school; it must be a hideous idea to her, he thought morosely. And it's not like you've spent a lot of time wondering how you're going to be connected is it? James felt himself blush and silently swore at the evil voice in his head.
Sirius glanced up at James, from his study of 'The Hippogriff', he grinned when he saw James flush red. "Whatcha thinking?" he whispered in a sing-song voice.
James glared at Sirius. "Aren't you supposed to be helping me here?" he hissed.
"To stop you from turning into a blathering moron… yes. This is sooo much more fun though," he replied grinning.
James' glare intensified. "Look, it's not my fault we end up yelling at each other every time we talk is it?" he demanded, still keeping his voice low in order to stay undetected by the librarian.
"Not what I meant old chap," Sirius retorted, raising an eyebrow, as he tilted his head in Lily's direction.
James let out a laboured sigh. "It's not my fault every time she's near I …. I mean… It's just concentrating… and my vocal chords have a tendency to seiz…." he trailed off. Sirius turned to follow James' gaze and saw Lily storming across the library towards them.
Lily was trying desperately to reign in her anger, to stop herself from screaming at James. The librarian would have a fit if she caused another disturbance today. Taking a deep breath to try and calm herself. "Why the hell were you staring at me?" she demanded in a harsh whisper.
James felt his brain freeze. Oh god, oh god, oh god! he thought desperately. She caught me staring at her… how the hell am I going to explain that away?
"Are you planning another prank?" Lily asked, anger filling her voice.
That could work, James thought wryly. "No," James said, when Lily's face filled with a look of disbelief, he continued. "Look, I want to apologise, for before, I didn't mean what I said, when I insulted you," he breathed out slowly, his eyes focusing on her ear; there was no way he could look her in the face but he had to say this. Nice ear though… oh god, James thought and shifted his gaze on to the bookshelf over her shoulder. "Also I want to apologise for everything before that... in Aperio's class," he finished, finally daring to look at her, to see if she had understood what he was hinting at. He really didn't think she wanted anyone else to know about the crystal.
Sirius frowned; What the hell did James say in divination… did I miss something?
Lily stared incredulously at James. He apologised! She thought in shock, and how did he know how upset I was about the crystal? Determined not to show how happy she was that he was sorry, she demanded, "Ok, go on then,"
James looked around confused, "'Go on then', what?"
"Apologise"
"But I…" he trailed off and glared at her. She's right, you only said you wanted to apologise, you didn't actually do it. She's just being bloody annoying; she can't even accept my apology! he thought angrily.
Sirius' head shot up from his text book, he had caught James' muttering about 'bloody pernickety red-heads'. Coughing loudly, he caught James' attention and glared meaningfully at him, just as an angry Lily opened her mouth to retort.
All right, all right, James thought. I am not going to get angry. Turning back to face Lily, he looked right at her and said, "I'm sorry."
Lily's eyes widened. He said 'sorry'. He must really mean it, he didn't get mad or yell or anything... well not really, she thought happily. Grinning widely, "Truce?" she suggested.
James' mouth fell open. God, she's gorgeous, he thought staring at her.
"Yes! A truce!" Sirius exclaimed, when it seemed James had lost his power of speech.
Snapping himself out of it. "Truce?" James croaked, clearing his throat, he replied, "Sure". Lily smiled at him and turned to go back to Fee and Bella, who had been nervously watching the whole confrontation, unable to hear what was actually going on. Watching her walk away, James was unable to stop himself grinning goofily.
"Don't mess it up," Sirius warned.
