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Green Eyed Monster

By: Noelle

Chapter 8: Apology

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The crescent moon reflected on the water, giving the water a silver appearance. It had rained earlier, so dew collected on the grass, patiently waiting to sparkle in the morning sun. James Potter sat by the lake with Remus Lupin. James threw pebbles across the water, while he told his friend about the predicament he had gotten himself into this time. Remus lent him a patient ear, not speaking until James had finished.

"I don't know what to tell you, Prongs, except to apologize to Lily and explain what happened," Remus said softly, as he too threw a rock. "Just as long as you don't go and try to be charming and chivalrous while you do it. Be humble, and have the decency to look like you actually are sorry. Chances are though, Lily won't forgive you outright. She's not like that... Lily is the type of person who will give anyone her trust, until they lose it. And you've lost it. So, you have to earn it back."

James sighed. "That is not going to be easy," he said honestly, as he threw another rock. It skipped the water eight times before it disappeared. "Moony, why are you telling me this anyway? I thought you didn't believe in the manipulation of human emotions."

Remus' pale eyes penetrating James' eyes. "James, she isn't going to fall for you or trust you because you apologize. Not in the slightest..."

"Then why apologize?" James moaned, more to himself than to Remus. His friend, however, took this as a question and chose to answer it.

"Because even if winning the stupid bet isn't in the picture for you, Lily still deserves an apology. You hurt her, even if you don't see it. You made her feel worthless -- you went around chasing her for the better part of the past three months, and then you run off with Vanessa the day after you two kiss. Explain to her that you understand there will be nothing between you, and you just want to apologize for what a stuck-up prat you've been, and hopefully put it behind you." Remus took his turn of throwing a rock. His skipped only three times, but went farther than James' rock.

The rock in James' hand flew over the water, skipping ten times. "Will that make her fall for me?" He was aware of Remus sitting up, and looking at him strangely. "What?" he asked. Remus turned away, trying to hide the small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "What?" James repeated.

"It's nothing. I just remembered something that has been nagging me for the past few weeks. It's late, so if you are no longer in dire need of my advice, I think I'll go to bed. Good night, Prongs." Remus threw one last rock before turning toward the castle, leaving James alone to plan his apology.

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Lily was finally done with James Potter. He had forgotten her, and now he had Vanessa, and next week he would have June, and the week after that he would have Alice. She was done with him, and now she could go on with her life. She could work hard and get top marks, and get a job in the Ministry once she graduated. She could wait for her Prince Charming to come. She was done with James. In fact, she had never started with James.

Then why do I feel like I was betrayed?

Frowning, Lily pushed that thought to the back of her mind. But it was still there. She forced herself to ignore it. She thought about Ella. Her friend was now seeing a Hufflepuff by the name of David Oliver. Lily knew that Ella's heart wasn't into it. She was just trying to prove to Sirius -- who was now dating Vanessa McKinnon -- that she could live without him. Sirius was dating Vanessa to prove that he could live without Ella. It was a vicious cycle, but a cycle nonetheless.

The red-haired Gryffindor was so caught up in her thoughts that she barely noticed when she ran into someone. Or something, rather.

"What do you want, James?" she asked exasperatedly, when he wouldn't move. James gave her a small smile, but his eyes did not meet it. His eyes held a hint of sadness.

"I was hoping we could talk," he said. Lily felt her heart flutter for a beat, but she ignored it.

"First of all, I don't have any time. I'm on a schedule, you know," Lily said, looking at her watch. She was already thirty seconds late for meeting Ella. Not that Ella would be there... Ella was always five minutes late.

James bit his lip, as if trying to hold back what he really wanted to say. Lily narrowed her eyes as he smiled softly once again. "It will just take a moment," he said.

Taking a deep breath, Lily said crisply, "I have nothing to say to you."

"I have something to say to you though," James said. Then, his eyes pleading, he added, "Please. Just a moment..."

Lily looked into James' eyes without blinking. "Then speak," she said coldly.

The black-haired Gryffindor bit his lip again -- Lily supposed he did it when he wasn't sure what to say -- and began. "I... I just wanted to... to apologize," he said, as if it was the hardest thing he had ever done in his life. "I was a prat. And I was hoping that we could be friends."

"Friends?" Lily questioned, trying to not burst out laughing. She saw a mischievous twinkle in his eye, and a smirk tug at the corners of his mouth.

"Preferably friends who snog each other in their spare time," he said smoothly, arching his eyebrow toward the ceiling. James noticed, in satisfaction, that Lily was fighting a blush.

Green eyes narrowed. "You will never change, will you James Potter..." she said, not quite phrasing it as a question. "You have no need to apologize to me."

James looked down, not wanting to meet those green eyes. "I hurt you," he said simply.

James was surprised to hear a sort of laughter-like sound mixed with a sigh come from Lily. "James," she said, "you never hurt me. Bad marks hurt me. Obnoxious prefects don't. You did nothing that I didn't expect."

"You expected to find Vanessa and I in the library?" James asked, not quite believing that.

Lily found herself biting her own lip, trying to figure out how to phrase what she wanted to say so that it didn't sound rude or mean. "You're afraid of commitment, James. That's why you keep running from girl to girl. It's not just you though. Sirius is the same way. And the girls of Hogwarts are mad to let you two keep doing it. But I won't. James, I am late for dinner, so if you'll excuse me..." she pushed past James, politely, and continued on her way. James stood there, trying to comprehend what she said. He had commitment phobia? No way! He just liked variety. That's all. Variety. Nothing more.

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The sound of a clanging goblet echoed throughout the Great Hall. "May I have your attention," Professor Dumbledore, the wise wizard with white hair, called out. Once he was met with complete silence, he continued on.

"The winter holidays are quickly approaching, and you all don't seem festive at all this year. Why, only two Christmas pranks have been performed so far. I'm shocked!" he said merrily. "Which is why the staff and myself began talks to bring some festivity to you. This year at Hogwarts, we are going to have Secret Santas!"

Several happy exclamations came up from around the room, but most remained silent. James himself was silent. Secret Santas? What was that?

"Every person shall come up here tonight, and put the Sorting Hat on their heads. The Sorting Hat shall give you a name of a fellow student at Hogwarts, and their year and house. What you are to do is get them a present. It doesn't have to be anything expensive, but it cannot be harmful," he added, looking at the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables. "You are to give them the present, without them knowing it was you. Hence the title SECRET Santas. Are there any questions?"

A second year Hufflepuff raised her hand. "How are we supposed to get gifts?"

"I'm glad you asked that," Professor Dumbledore said. "For the third year and up, there will be a Hogsmeade weekend for you. However, the younger years are not permitted to be in Hogsmeade. We will be giving you catalogues from each store there, or you can always ask an older student to pick something up for you. Also, before I forget, there is to be no switching Santas. Now, you may continue with dinner."

Food appeared on the tables. James found himself stuffing all that he could into his mouth. Trying to apologize sure works up an appetite!

After dinner, Professor McGonagall began to call out names. James watched as people went up, looking for a hint of who had him. No one looked in his direction though. He watched Lily go up, and saw a hint of surprise. She wasn't expecting who she got. James walked up to the stool when his name was called, and put on the hat. "Ella Reichman, Gryffindor, Fifth Year," the hat said. James was surprised, but walked to his seat without glancing at Ella. He then had a marvelous idea. He got down on the floor, and crawled over to where Ella was sitting across from Lily.

"Ella!" he muttered, "don't turn around! I need to talk to you later. Meet me in the common room at twelve."

Ella nodded, and pretended to be laughing at one of the Headboy's jokes. James smiled, and crawled back to his seat.

After dinner, he walked with Remus, Peter, and Sirius to one of the secret rooms they found. Sirius had requested this meeting because they had to plan a Christmas prank. After a few minutes of deliberation, they agreed on two -- one on the Slytherins, and one on the rest of the school. They then proceeded onto the Gryffindor Common Room. It was 11:42.

"You all go ahead up," James said, yawning. "I have to check something out. I'll be up there in a little bit."

"Would this have anything to do with Lily?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

James smiled. "Er... perhaps?" Sirius just rolled his eyes and followed Remus up the stairs. James sat in the shadows. Fifteen minutes later, he saw a petite figure creeping down the Girls' Staircase. "Ella," he said, "over by the bookshelves."

Ella walked toward him. James was interested to know what sort of pajamas she wore. She wore silk pants and a silk tank top. He knew that Lily wore flannel.

"What do you want, Potter?" Ella asked good-naturedly, "that you had to interrupt my beauty sleep for?"

Chuckling, James said, "What would a lady as beautiful as yourself need beauty sleep for?" Ella narrowed her eyes.

"Now, I know that you want something. Spill." Ella crossed her arms, and looked rather threatening. James found himself gulping, and instinctively taking a step backward, away from her.

"I need a favor," he said.

Ella's eyes narrowed even more, if possible. "A favor?"

"Lily. Christmas. Present," he said, gulping in between each word. In the faint moonlight, he saw Ella smile slightly, so he relaxed slightly.

"I'll help you. But couldn't you wait until the Hogsmeade weekend to ask me?"

James relaxed a lot more. "Well, I would if we were going to go on the Hogsmeade weekend, but..."

Ella held up her hand, stopping him. "What do you mean by 'if we were going.' We are. There's no other time."

Gulping, James noticed that Ella looked threatening once again. Maybe it was just the shadows, but he was still nervous. He forced himself to brush that away, and appear to be confident. "What if I told you," he said, noting that his voice did not break once, "that I know a way to get into Hogsmeade whenever I want. Without getting caught."

"I would say..." Ella paused to think, "I knew it! How else could you have so much butterbeer and pranks from Zonko's? So, when do you want to go?"

James said, "I was hoping we could go on Friday. That way, we wouldn't really be missed. Lily will think that you're off with some guy, and she'll think I'm off with some girl. That's what everyone will think..."

She interrupted him. "Do you think I should end things with David then?"

"Why would you end things with him?" James asked in surprise. From the way that he heard Ella and Lily talking about it in Charms, he assumed that Ella and David Oliver were in love.

Ella frowned. "Well, I was planning on ending things with him soon. He's just not my type. He's too... Hufflepuff for me, I guess. Besides, I could never marry him. I hate the way 'Ella Oliver' sounds. Bleugh! No, definitely ending things with him..."

James pondered this. "Yeah, that would probably be better. That way, you could be out with any guy."

"All right. Well, I'm exhausted, so I'm going to bed. Good night James."

"Good night Ella," James said warmly. When she reached the staircase, he said, "Ella?"

Ella turned around. "Yes?"

"Thanks," James said, smiling.

Ella rolled her eyes, and continued up the stairs. James grinned, before going up the Boys Staircase. He walked into the dormitory, and wasn't surprised to find everyone asleep already. He took a sock, stuffed it in Sirius' mouth to hopefully muffle his snoring, and climbed into bed, after taking off his robe. He turned off the light, and turned off to sleep.

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A/N: Hey everyone! I just want to thank everyone who reviewed! Oh my gosh, I was so happy when I read all them. I hope you all like this chapter. So, in the next chapter, James goes shopping with Ella, Lily gets a love note from a 'Secret Admirer', and Vanessa wants to go for a ride on Sirius' motor bike. We'll also see the beginning of the Winter Holidays, which will prove to be interesting in Lily and James' case.

~Noelle

Luckie7n13@aol.com

P.S. All right, I had a problem with my contest before. The winner hasn't gotten back to me, and it's been almost a month. So I've decided to redo the contest. If the original winner gets back to me, she'll still get her cameo, but here is an opportunity for someone else. The eighteenth person to review will get a cameo, just because I like the number eighteen. If you win, I will email you with the information I need, and you just have to fill it out and send it back to me. Good luck to everyone!