Hey peeps. or readers. who cares. i know i left at a weird place on my last chapter. So here's a replay of what happened. btw, Lamina Courth -a.k.a. Jen [i read your profile thing]- be patient. Lily will tell someone. kinda. oops. i gave too much away. oh well. you guys will find out later. also, kerry, james wasn't snooping around in the stable. he was just checking on how storm was.
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"Naw, I deserve better than a sub." Sirius said, waving it off. In truth, he longed to fly out there with James, playing one of their made up plays, practiced during the summer. But he knew he couldn't play like that on the IQC, there were too many rules for him.
James shrugged at this.
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"Lily, let's go to the library." He said, getting up. Lily followed him up and they walked to the library. She grabbed a seat for him while he picked up the book from Madam Toyland. They browsed through the book until they came across a spell that would make the door itself alive.
"We could do this one." James said.
"What if the door doesn't like the person and refuses to open. Some door can be stubborn." Lily said.
"Yeah…" he agreed. They continued to research. They finally found an Identity Spell, which would allow the door to recognize the people living in that room and letting them in. They wrote down the incantation and practiced it on the prefect bathroom stall door. It was already lunchtime and they finally mastered it.
Lily went to the common room, looking for Shay or Minnie. Lily put her hands in her pocket and walked through the portrait. Then, she felt a parchment and she took it out. It was the list of the goals throughout her life. She smiled and pocketed it. Minnie was reading in one of the comfortable chairs.
"Hey Minnie" Lily said, walking over. Minnie looked up startled and smiled.
"Oh hi! I didn't hear you coming in." She was holding a Bible in her hand. "I was reading. I promised my pastor that I would be reading the Bible on Sundays since I can't go to church."
"Cool," Lily said. "Did you already have lunch?" Minnie shook her head. "Let's go to lunch. I didn't eat yet either." They walked out the portrait door.
"So what were you doing all morning?" Minnie asked.
"I was working on some Lock charms for the IQC rooms with James." Lily said. "What about you? I didn't see you and Shay this morning at breakfast."
"We were doing our homework and just talking in the common room. Shay must be at lunch now." Minnie said. They walked into the crowded Great Hall and spotted Shay and Riley. They walked over and sat down by them.
"Hi Lily!" Shay waved cheerfully. "We missed you this morning."
"I was working on the IQC rooms with James in the library." Lily said.
"Oh…" Shay said, batting her eyelashes and nudging her.
"What?" Lily asked, furrowing her eyebrows, although it was plain what Shay was teasing her about. "Oh. He's the other prefect. It's not like I'm working with him by choice."
"So you wouldn't, if you could choose." Minnie added, joining in on the joke.
"Well… Uh… He wouldn't be my last choice…" Lily said, staring into space. She shook herself and quickly added, "nor my first."
"You know, he was one of the reasons I joined the Quidditch Team." Shay said, looking at James, who was now walking in with Sirius, Remus, and Peter.
"Same here." Riley said. "My other reason was Conner Banks." The girls all laughed.
"He is really hot…" Shay said.
"Who? James or Conner?" Riley asked.
"They're both pretty hot, but James could use some Height Charm." Shay said.
"Sirius…" Riley said. "Just look at him. He's just the right height. His hair looks so fuzzy… I want to pet it. And his eyes…" She sighed at rested her chin on her hand.
"Snap out of it Garhart" Shay said, slapping her back jokingly.
"I think Remus is the best. I mean he's got the looks and the heart." Minnie said. "He so thoughtful, kind, and helpful. He not like other guys. He actually remembers stuff and never blow off a promise." They all agreed.
"But still, I think Sirius and Conner tie for best looks." Riley said. While all this, Lily remained silent. She was thinking if she really liked James. 'True, I think about him all the time… but is it only his looks that I like? He is really nice…' She thought.
"Who do you think Lily?" Minnie said.
"Huh?" Lily responded, surprised.
"Who do you think is the hottest?"
"Hmm… I would have to say James."
"I see…" Riley and Shay nodded, smiling.
"What?" Lily said for the second time during lunch.
"Nothing." Riley and Shay said at the same time.
The next week went by pretty slow. Storm, the foal, was growing up rapidly and required at least two hours a day from Lily and James. Lily was tiring herself out. She could only get about five hours of sleep, due to the fact that she snuck out every morning before the Qudditch Team began practicing to take care of Twill, Gringley's foal. She covered up her dark circles under her eyes, but couldn't cover how tired and strained out she was.
The IQC subs tryouts were in session and that made James very busy. He had to train his team and pick out the subs. His voice was usually hoarse from yelling every morning.
It was Friday night and everyone was packed in the common room, cozy from the cold rain battering against the long windows, covered with velvet scarlet curtains. Lily, Shay, Riley, and Minnie were all doing their homework, huddled by the fire, when James came over.
"Tomorrow's Hogsmead day, Lily. I'll meet you here at 9 after breakfast." He said, ignoring the giggles from the other girls. Lily said okay and went back to her work. He walked back to his friends.
"I didn't know you were going out with James Potter…" Shay said, raising her brows.
"Prefect business." Lily muttered, her face growing red. She buried her face in her book once more but the book was upside down.
"Sure…" She said, laughing.
Professor McGonagall entered the room with a big bundle robes and cleared her throat.
"Will the Quidditch Team come up please?"
The seven Quidditch players went forward.
"These are your robes for the IQC." She said. "When I say your name, come up forward and receive them. Potter, James." James went up and received his robes. It was gold, lined with scarlet. It had a fancy H, entwined with a badger, serpent, raven, and a lion on the back and a small Gryffindor lion on the front. Then it said in fancy letters on the back of his neck, "Potter" and below it, "Chaser". On the side, it had a scarlet badge and said "Captain" and two silk scarlet stripes down his arms. The other robes were the same without the Captain badge and the scarlet stripe down the sleeves. When Professor McGonagall was done, she straightened up.
"I really do wish that Hogwarts will win the IQC this year. I hear that we had gotten in the top three, but never first, for the last seven years." She left after saying that.
"Yeah!" Riley shouted, after the awkward pause. There were several other 'whoo's and 'let's beat 'em!'s and everyone soon went back to what they were doing.
Lily could feel her eyes slowly drooping so she called it a night and went upstairs. She washed her face and looked herself in the mirror. With her coverup and foundation off, she looked awful. Her dark circles around her eyes made her look like she had black eyes. 'And this is only the beginning of the year. Oh well, I'll get to rest this weekend.' She laid behind her thick comforters and fell asleep at eight.
Lily opened her eyes, frowned at the strong sun beams shining at her eyes, groaned and shut them close again.
"Lily, wake up." Shay said, shaking her. "Aren't you supposed to meet James at 9 today?"
"Yeah…" Lily mumbled.
Shay lifted her eyebrows. "It's 9:10." She braced herself for the reaction.
"WHAT! WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP! CRAP!" Lily shouted, throwing the cover off and ignoring the chilly air as she ran to the bathroom. "Is James downstairs?"
Shay ran downstairs and James was sitting in front of the fire, talking with Sirius.
"James! Are you waiting for Lily?" Shay asked breathlessly.
"Um, yeah. Is she even awake?" James said.
"Of course!" Shay stifled a laughter, which was slowly rising from her throat. "She'll be right down… She, uh, had a headache this morning…" Before James could say anything, Shay ran back upstairs. Lily was now putting on her robes and brushing her teeth at the same time. She rinsed her mouth and put her cloak on. She dashed out the door.
"Bye Shay!" But before she reached the stairs, Lily ran right back in, muttering, 'shoes, shoes, where did I put my shoes…' She grabbed them, shoved them on and shouted bye to Shay. She took a breath to calm herself down and walked calmly to the common room.
"James, I'm so sorry to keep you waiting. I—"
"It's okay. It's a Saturday and we've got all day. I hope your headache's gone. I know a good charm for it, if your head still hurts." James said, getting up.
"Huh? Headache? What… Oh! The headache! It's gone. I feel fine." Lily said, biting her bottom lip.
"Are you sure? I look really tired. We can go tomorrow you know." James said concerned.
"Oh, that's okay. Let's just get it done today." Lily said, cursing herself for not putting makeup to cover the dark circles under her eyes. 'I should go to the library and look for a charm to cure dark circles under eyes.'
"Alright. I'll see you at Three Broomsticks at lunch time Sirius." James said and they left out the portrait door.
The sky was a sharp powder blue with high sparse clouds. The mountains were blazing with the autumn trees, showing their festive bright colors. Lily breathed in the cold refreshing air and smiled at the sight around her. There were little children running around with toy broomsticks, mixed with the Hogwarts students.
"I have the list of things we need with Professor Dumbledore. He approved it and told us to show each store this note," James said, showing her a note that said:
'Hogwarts is proudly sponsoring the Interschool Quidditch Championship this year. We have taken the responsibility to welcome the foreign schools and provide them with our warmest hospitability. I have given the duty to the prefects and they are in charge of furnishing the rooms. Give them proof of their purchase and write the name of the store and the total payment due on the sheet of parchment provided following this letter. I will owl you the money the following day.
Sincerely,
Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore'
They went into each store and bought all supplies they needed. Some store owners did not accept the note and told them 'no cash, no business.'
"Okay. That was our last item." James said, after buying some paint.
"What time is it?" Lily asked.
"11:30." James said, looking at his watch. "I'm supposed to meet with my friends at noon for lunch at Three Broomsticks. Do you want to eat with us?"
"Um, sure." Lily didn't know what Shay, Riley, or Minnie was doing this afternoon, she never got to talk this morning.
"Let's go in and wait for them. It's getting cold." James said, leading her in the warm café. They grabbed a big table and sat down.
"You know, I think Storm's coming along well. I never thought she would even live." James said, after ordering two Butterbeers.
"Yeah…" Lily just realized she didn't see Twill, Gringley's horse, this morning. 'oh well, I'll see him after this.' They didn't talk for about 5 more minutes. James tried to break the uncomfortable silence.
"So. Tell me about your family." He said, looking up.
"They're muggles." Lily said, simply, remembering what the three Slytherins called her.
"So? What do your parents do?" James said, surprised.
"My mom's a sale rep and my dad works for a salmon hatchery." Lily said. "How about your parents?"
"My dad's an Auror." He said simply.
"What about your mom?" Lily said, getting more into the conversation.
"She died a couple of months ago." He said looking away.
"Oh, I'm so sorry…" She said, startled. The brave and perfect James Potter seemed so lonely right now…
"It's okay. You have no reason to be sorry. You didn't do anything to kill her." He said, smiling.
"Is your family all pureblooded?" She asked.
"No. My great uncle was a muggle. And one of my aunts is a squib." James said.
"I see." Lily wondered how amazing it would be to live in the wizarding world all her life. True, she did get to spend most of her year at Hogwarts. But her parents didn't understand her fully. She wondered if her parents would let her get a job at the Ministry after she graduated from Hogwarts. They thought that magic was sort of Lily's hobby. But magic was Lily's life.
Then, Sirius, Remus, and Peter came in. They took a seat around Lily and James. When everyone had finished eating, they talked.
"I should go." Lily said, getting up. She was planning to take care of Twill.
"Why?" Sirius asked curiously.
"I just need to get some work done." She said simply and left for Hogwarts. She reached the pasture after about a 15 minute walk. She walked into the big stable and cleaned Twill's stable and fed him fresh hay. The big door opened and Gringley strolled in.
"So, mudblood, you're doing well." He said.
Lily longed to stand up to him and tell him she won't cheat. But she was becoming attached to Storm and didn't want anything happened to the foal. But she said instead, "His name is Twill."
"How precious. You named him." He sneered, walking up to the foal. The foal was beginning to get scared and nuzzled toward Lily. Gringley realized what had happened. The foal was now attached to Lily, not Gringley. "I'm going to be coming in here every couple of days to see the horse—" He stopped talking abruptly when the door swung open and Tonya Abott, the Ravenclaw, walked in.
"Hi Lily!" She said cheerfully. Gringley glared at her and left. "Gee, what's his problem?"
Lily shrugged. They talked for awhile and Lily left toward the warm common room. She walked across the Quidditch field which the final tryout was being held. She saw Minnie sitting at one of the bleachers and decided to join her.
"Hey Minnie!" Lily said, sitting beside her.
"Hi!" She replied. They were both sitting behind a row of various, excited Quidditch players. Ludo Bagman was among them with his friends.
"Man! I can't believe that Potter's not letting me fly right now! Only if I could show him! I mean, look at Shay Fintley and Riley Garhart. They're a pair of wimps!" He said, impatiently shaking his left leg.
"Aww! Look at that! My grandmother could've gotten that!" He shouted. Riley heard that and she swung her bat and the bludger hit Ludo square in the face. He collapsed sideways. His friends were trying to help him, but everyone else, including Lily, was laughing. James was laughing too hard to blow his whistle and Riley and Shay were exchanging high fives. James reluctantly flew over and mounted Ludo on his broom.
"Aren't you going to punish Garhart for that?!?" One of Ludo's friend shouted at him.
James scoffed and said, "No, it was an accident. I'm sure she didn't mean to." He was trying to contain his laughter. "Plus, it shut him up…" He muttered. He flew and Ludo's three burly friends flew behind him.
"Conner! Continue the scrimmage!" James shouted behind him. He returned five minutes later. They continued to scrimmage for about 30 more minutes and James finally made up his list of the reserve players. All the players who came out to try out flew and made a half circle around James and the Gryffindor House Team. James read from his list and there were shouts of joy from the seven picked players and the rest's face fell in disappointment. Minnie and Lily went down and walked into the Common Room with Shay and Riley.
"Professor Burks and Vickson said I need to get a tutor in Potions and Defense Against Dark Arts." Riley complained.
"That sucks. Who's the tutor?" Shay asked.
"Snape. That slimy Slytherin Snape." Riley answered, shuddering. "Why couldn't it be like Conner Banks or Sirius Black?"
Shay laughed and said, "You're only seeing him a few times a week, right?" Riley nodded. "See that's not too bad. At least it's not Malfoy or Gringley. Snape's the best one out of the three, I think."
Riley shrugged as they stepped into the Common Room. They sat around the fire and talked about random things. Everyone started to get sleepy and walked upstairs one by one. Lily got up and decided to talk to Remus, to see what was wrong with him. She caught Sirius, who was just running in.
"Sirius, where's Remus?" She asked.
"Why?" He said, suspiciously.
"I just walked to talk to him, that's all." Lily replied, feeling awkward.
"Um, he's sick." Sirius said, looking at his feet.
"Oh, okay. Tell him I hope he feels better then." Lily said, turning away. She walked to her own dorm and sat at the large window sill. She could hear Shay snoring softly.
The full moon was shining brightly on her face. 'The moon is so beautiful today, only if Remus could see it. This seems like déjà vu. I mean, why does this scenario feel so familiar? I don't think I've ever saw a full moon with him.' Lily wondered. She gasped, realizing something, and raced downstairs. 'I need to talk to Sirius. He knew it, he knew it…' But Sirius wasn't there.
She sat on the couch, hugging her knee to her body and resting her chin on them. She stared into the roaring fire in front of her. Lily felt so confused. Her best friend was a werewolf, her worst fear. Tears dropped out of her eye. She shuddered to even think about it. She had been alone with Remus so many times. And Remus never told her! Why had he never told her? Of course. Lily told him how she would never befriend a werewolf. And the fact that now Lily realized that Remus was the boy who saved her life made it worse. How could she say that? Now she understood why Remus had been acting so weird last week, why he had been so distant. She just sat on the couch in front of the warm fire, thinking and crying. She fell into a sleep, dreaming about the werewolf and the boy in Belgium, four years ago.
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I know there hasn't been a lot of Lily+James action lately. But hold your horses! lol. i just had to let that out.
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"Naw, I deserve better than a sub." Sirius said, waving it off. In truth, he longed to fly out there with James, playing one of their made up plays, practiced during the summer. But he knew he couldn't play like that on the IQC, there were too many rules for him.
James shrugged at this.
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"Lily, let's go to the library." He said, getting up. Lily followed him up and they walked to the library. She grabbed a seat for him while he picked up the book from Madam Toyland. They browsed through the book until they came across a spell that would make the door itself alive.
"We could do this one." James said.
"What if the door doesn't like the person and refuses to open. Some door can be stubborn." Lily said.
"Yeah…" he agreed. They continued to research. They finally found an Identity Spell, which would allow the door to recognize the people living in that room and letting them in. They wrote down the incantation and practiced it on the prefect bathroom stall door. It was already lunchtime and they finally mastered it.
Lily went to the common room, looking for Shay or Minnie. Lily put her hands in her pocket and walked through the portrait. Then, she felt a parchment and she took it out. It was the list of the goals throughout her life. She smiled and pocketed it. Minnie was reading in one of the comfortable chairs.
"Hey Minnie" Lily said, walking over. Minnie looked up startled and smiled.
"Oh hi! I didn't hear you coming in." She was holding a Bible in her hand. "I was reading. I promised my pastor that I would be reading the Bible on Sundays since I can't go to church."
"Cool," Lily said. "Did you already have lunch?" Minnie shook her head. "Let's go to lunch. I didn't eat yet either." They walked out the portrait door.
"So what were you doing all morning?" Minnie asked.
"I was working on some Lock charms for the IQC rooms with James." Lily said. "What about you? I didn't see you and Shay this morning at breakfast."
"We were doing our homework and just talking in the common room. Shay must be at lunch now." Minnie said. They walked into the crowded Great Hall and spotted Shay and Riley. They walked over and sat down by them.
"Hi Lily!" Shay waved cheerfully. "We missed you this morning."
"I was working on the IQC rooms with James in the library." Lily said.
"Oh…" Shay said, batting her eyelashes and nudging her.
"What?" Lily asked, furrowing her eyebrows, although it was plain what Shay was teasing her about. "Oh. He's the other prefect. It's not like I'm working with him by choice."
"So you wouldn't, if you could choose." Minnie added, joining in on the joke.
"Well… Uh… He wouldn't be my last choice…" Lily said, staring into space. She shook herself and quickly added, "nor my first."
"You know, he was one of the reasons I joined the Quidditch Team." Shay said, looking at James, who was now walking in with Sirius, Remus, and Peter.
"Same here." Riley said. "My other reason was Conner Banks." The girls all laughed.
"He is really hot…" Shay said.
"Who? James or Conner?" Riley asked.
"They're both pretty hot, but James could use some Height Charm." Shay said.
"Sirius…" Riley said. "Just look at him. He's just the right height. His hair looks so fuzzy… I want to pet it. And his eyes…" She sighed at rested her chin on her hand.
"Snap out of it Garhart" Shay said, slapping her back jokingly.
"I think Remus is the best. I mean he's got the looks and the heart." Minnie said. "He so thoughtful, kind, and helpful. He not like other guys. He actually remembers stuff and never blow off a promise." They all agreed.
"But still, I think Sirius and Conner tie for best looks." Riley said. While all this, Lily remained silent. She was thinking if she really liked James. 'True, I think about him all the time… but is it only his looks that I like? He is really nice…' She thought.
"Who do you think Lily?" Minnie said.
"Huh?" Lily responded, surprised.
"Who do you think is the hottest?"
"Hmm… I would have to say James."
"I see…" Riley and Shay nodded, smiling.
"What?" Lily said for the second time during lunch.
"Nothing." Riley and Shay said at the same time.
The next week went by pretty slow. Storm, the foal, was growing up rapidly and required at least two hours a day from Lily and James. Lily was tiring herself out. She could only get about five hours of sleep, due to the fact that she snuck out every morning before the Qudditch Team began practicing to take care of Twill, Gringley's foal. She covered up her dark circles under her eyes, but couldn't cover how tired and strained out she was.
The IQC subs tryouts were in session and that made James very busy. He had to train his team and pick out the subs. His voice was usually hoarse from yelling every morning.
It was Friday night and everyone was packed in the common room, cozy from the cold rain battering against the long windows, covered with velvet scarlet curtains. Lily, Shay, Riley, and Minnie were all doing their homework, huddled by the fire, when James came over.
"Tomorrow's Hogsmead day, Lily. I'll meet you here at 9 after breakfast." He said, ignoring the giggles from the other girls. Lily said okay and went back to her work. He walked back to his friends.
"I didn't know you were going out with James Potter…" Shay said, raising her brows.
"Prefect business." Lily muttered, her face growing red. She buried her face in her book once more but the book was upside down.
"Sure…" She said, laughing.
Professor McGonagall entered the room with a big bundle robes and cleared her throat.
"Will the Quidditch Team come up please?"
The seven Quidditch players went forward.
"These are your robes for the IQC." She said. "When I say your name, come up forward and receive them. Potter, James." James went up and received his robes. It was gold, lined with scarlet. It had a fancy H, entwined with a badger, serpent, raven, and a lion on the back and a small Gryffindor lion on the front. Then it said in fancy letters on the back of his neck, "Potter" and below it, "Chaser". On the side, it had a scarlet badge and said "Captain" and two silk scarlet stripes down his arms. The other robes were the same without the Captain badge and the scarlet stripe down the sleeves. When Professor McGonagall was done, she straightened up.
"I really do wish that Hogwarts will win the IQC this year. I hear that we had gotten in the top three, but never first, for the last seven years." She left after saying that.
"Yeah!" Riley shouted, after the awkward pause. There were several other 'whoo's and 'let's beat 'em!'s and everyone soon went back to what they were doing.
Lily could feel her eyes slowly drooping so she called it a night and went upstairs. She washed her face and looked herself in the mirror. With her coverup and foundation off, she looked awful. Her dark circles around her eyes made her look like she had black eyes. 'And this is only the beginning of the year. Oh well, I'll get to rest this weekend.' She laid behind her thick comforters and fell asleep at eight.
Lily opened her eyes, frowned at the strong sun beams shining at her eyes, groaned and shut them close again.
"Lily, wake up." Shay said, shaking her. "Aren't you supposed to meet James at 9 today?"
"Yeah…" Lily mumbled.
Shay lifted her eyebrows. "It's 9:10." She braced herself for the reaction.
"WHAT! WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP! CRAP!" Lily shouted, throwing the cover off and ignoring the chilly air as she ran to the bathroom. "Is James downstairs?"
Shay ran downstairs and James was sitting in front of the fire, talking with Sirius.
"James! Are you waiting for Lily?" Shay asked breathlessly.
"Um, yeah. Is she even awake?" James said.
"Of course!" Shay stifled a laughter, which was slowly rising from her throat. "She'll be right down… She, uh, had a headache this morning…" Before James could say anything, Shay ran back upstairs. Lily was now putting on her robes and brushing her teeth at the same time. She rinsed her mouth and put her cloak on. She dashed out the door.
"Bye Shay!" But before she reached the stairs, Lily ran right back in, muttering, 'shoes, shoes, where did I put my shoes…' She grabbed them, shoved them on and shouted bye to Shay. She took a breath to calm herself down and walked calmly to the common room.
"James, I'm so sorry to keep you waiting. I—"
"It's okay. It's a Saturday and we've got all day. I hope your headache's gone. I know a good charm for it, if your head still hurts." James said, getting up.
"Huh? Headache? What… Oh! The headache! It's gone. I feel fine." Lily said, biting her bottom lip.
"Are you sure? I look really tired. We can go tomorrow you know." James said concerned.
"Oh, that's okay. Let's just get it done today." Lily said, cursing herself for not putting makeup to cover the dark circles under her eyes. 'I should go to the library and look for a charm to cure dark circles under eyes.'
"Alright. I'll see you at Three Broomsticks at lunch time Sirius." James said and they left out the portrait door.
The sky was a sharp powder blue with high sparse clouds. The mountains were blazing with the autumn trees, showing their festive bright colors. Lily breathed in the cold refreshing air and smiled at the sight around her. There were little children running around with toy broomsticks, mixed with the Hogwarts students.
"I have the list of things we need with Professor Dumbledore. He approved it and told us to show each store this note," James said, showing her a note that said:
'Hogwarts is proudly sponsoring the Interschool Quidditch Championship this year. We have taken the responsibility to welcome the foreign schools and provide them with our warmest hospitability. I have given the duty to the prefects and they are in charge of furnishing the rooms. Give them proof of their purchase and write the name of the store and the total payment due on the sheet of parchment provided following this letter. I will owl you the money the following day.
Sincerely,
Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore'
They went into each store and bought all supplies they needed. Some store owners did not accept the note and told them 'no cash, no business.'
"Okay. That was our last item." James said, after buying some paint.
"What time is it?" Lily asked.
"11:30." James said, looking at his watch. "I'm supposed to meet with my friends at noon for lunch at Three Broomsticks. Do you want to eat with us?"
"Um, sure." Lily didn't know what Shay, Riley, or Minnie was doing this afternoon, she never got to talk this morning.
"Let's go in and wait for them. It's getting cold." James said, leading her in the warm café. They grabbed a big table and sat down.
"You know, I think Storm's coming along well. I never thought she would even live." James said, after ordering two Butterbeers.
"Yeah…" Lily just realized she didn't see Twill, Gringley's horse, this morning. 'oh well, I'll see him after this.' They didn't talk for about 5 more minutes. James tried to break the uncomfortable silence.
"So. Tell me about your family." He said, looking up.
"They're muggles." Lily said, simply, remembering what the three Slytherins called her.
"So? What do your parents do?" James said, surprised.
"My mom's a sale rep and my dad works for a salmon hatchery." Lily said. "How about your parents?"
"My dad's an Auror." He said simply.
"What about your mom?" Lily said, getting more into the conversation.
"She died a couple of months ago." He said looking away.
"Oh, I'm so sorry…" She said, startled. The brave and perfect James Potter seemed so lonely right now…
"It's okay. You have no reason to be sorry. You didn't do anything to kill her." He said, smiling.
"Is your family all pureblooded?" She asked.
"No. My great uncle was a muggle. And one of my aunts is a squib." James said.
"I see." Lily wondered how amazing it would be to live in the wizarding world all her life. True, she did get to spend most of her year at Hogwarts. But her parents didn't understand her fully. She wondered if her parents would let her get a job at the Ministry after she graduated from Hogwarts. They thought that magic was sort of Lily's hobby. But magic was Lily's life.
Then, Sirius, Remus, and Peter came in. They took a seat around Lily and James. When everyone had finished eating, they talked.
"I should go." Lily said, getting up. She was planning to take care of Twill.
"Why?" Sirius asked curiously.
"I just need to get some work done." She said simply and left for Hogwarts. She reached the pasture after about a 15 minute walk. She walked into the big stable and cleaned Twill's stable and fed him fresh hay. The big door opened and Gringley strolled in.
"So, mudblood, you're doing well." He said.
Lily longed to stand up to him and tell him she won't cheat. But she was becoming attached to Storm and didn't want anything happened to the foal. But she said instead, "His name is Twill."
"How precious. You named him." He sneered, walking up to the foal. The foal was beginning to get scared and nuzzled toward Lily. Gringley realized what had happened. The foal was now attached to Lily, not Gringley. "I'm going to be coming in here every couple of days to see the horse—" He stopped talking abruptly when the door swung open and Tonya Abott, the Ravenclaw, walked in.
"Hi Lily!" She said cheerfully. Gringley glared at her and left. "Gee, what's his problem?"
Lily shrugged. They talked for awhile and Lily left toward the warm common room. She walked across the Quidditch field which the final tryout was being held. She saw Minnie sitting at one of the bleachers and decided to join her.
"Hey Minnie!" Lily said, sitting beside her.
"Hi!" She replied. They were both sitting behind a row of various, excited Quidditch players. Ludo Bagman was among them with his friends.
"Man! I can't believe that Potter's not letting me fly right now! Only if I could show him! I mean, look at Shay Fintley and Riley Garhart. They're a pair of wimps!" He said, impatiently shaking his left leg.
"Aww! Look at that! My grandmother could've gotten that!" He shouted. Riley heard that and she swung her bat and the bludger hit Ludo square in the face. He collapsed sideways. His friends were trying to help him, but everyone else, including Lily, was laughing. James was laughing too hard to blow his whistle and Riley and Shay were exchanging high fives. James reluctantly flew over and mounted Ludo on his broom.
"Aren't you going to punish Garhart for that?!?" One of Ludo's friend shouted at him.
James scoffed and said, "No, it was an accident. I'm sure she didn't mean to." He was trying to contain his laughter. "Plus, it shut him up…" He muttered. He flew and Ludo's three burly friends flew behind him.
"Conner! Continue the scrimmage!" James shouted behind him. He returned five minutes later. They continued to scrimmage for about 30 more minutes and James finally made up his list of the reserve players. All the players who came out to try out flew and made a half circle around James and the Gryffindor House Team. James read from his list and there were shouts of joy from the seven picked players and the rest's face fell in disappointment. Minnie and Lily went down and walked into the Common Room with Shay and Riley.
"Professor Burks and Vickson said I need to get a tutor in Potions and Defense Against Dark Arts." Riley complained.
"That sucks. Who's the tutor?" Shay asked.
"Snape. That slimy Slytherin Snape." Riley answered, shuddering. "Why couldn't it be like Conner Banks or Sirius Black?"
Shay laughed and said, "You're only seeing him a few times a week, right?" Riley nodded. "See that's not too bad. At least it's not Malfoy or Gringley. Snape's the best one out of the three, I think."
Riley shrugged as they stepped into the Common Room. They sat around the fire and talked about random things. Everyone started to get sleepy and walked upstairs one by one. Lily got up and decided to talk to Remus, to see what was wrong with him. She caught Sirius, who was just running in.
"Sirius, where's Remus?" She asked.
"Why?" He said, suspiciously.
"I just walked to talk to him, that's all." Lily replied, feeling awkward.
"Um, he's sick." Sirius said, looking at his feet.
"Oh, okay. Tell him I hope he feels better then." Lily said, turning away. She walked to her own dorm and sat at the large window sill. She could hear Shay snoring softly.
The full moon was shining brightly on her face. 'The moon is so beautiful today, only if Remus could see it. This seems like déjà vu. I mean, why does this scenario feel so familiar? I don't think I've ever saw a full moon with him.' Lily wondered. She gasped, realizing something, and raced downstairs. 'I need to talk to Sirius. He knew it, he knew it…' But Sirius wasn't there.
She sat on the couch, hugging her knee to her body and resting her chin on them. She stared into the roaring fire in front of her. Lily felt so confused. Her best friend was a werewolf, her worst fear. Tears dropped out of her eye. She shuddered to even think about it. She had been alone with Remus so many times. And Remus never told her! Why had he never told her? Of course. Lily told him how she would never befriend a werewolf. And the fact that now Lily realized that Remus was the boy who saved her life made it worse. How could she say that? Now she understood why Remus had been acting so weird last week, why he had been so distant. She just sat on the couch in front of the warm fire, thinking and crying. She fell into a sleep, dreaming about the werewolf and the boy in Belgium, four years ago.
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I know there hasn't been a lot of Lily+James action lately. But hold your horses! lol. i just had to let that out.
