Chapter Three: You Make Me Sick
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You make me sick
I dunno if I can handle it...
***
The next morning, the Marauders met Lily, Misty, Arabella, and Lorrena in the common room and began to walk down to breakfast.
"Potter."
"Evans."
Peter began to open his mouth to comment on their coldness to each other, but Sirius elbowed him in the ribs and shot him a warning glare.
Lorrena edged towards the boy, and leaned toward him, "I'm guessing James told you??" she asked Sirius.
"Yep. Hey, can you tell me something??"
"Hmmm...that depends," ?Lorrena reasoned.
"What are you guys doing??" interrupted Remus.
"Just talking, Moony. So Lor, I'll talk to you later??"
"Yeah. Later."
By now they'd reached the Great Hall, Lily and James walking as far apart as possible down the wide hallway, glancing awkwardly at each other when they thought no one was watching.
Sitting across the table from each other, Misty asked Remus, "Why is half the female population of Hogwarts glaring at Lily??"
Remus shrugged and relayed the question to Sirius, who answered, "Sarah Finch saw James and Lily sitting together and talking last night, and it's all over the school now."
"But," began Arabella who was sitting by Lily, across from James, "What's the big deal?? All they did was talk, right??"
At this, Lily and James both looked up, eyes wide.
Lorrena gasped, and said, "She didn't see-"
"No, I don't think so. If Sarah saw, we'd know," assured Sirius.
"What didn't Sarah see??" asked Peter.
"Nothing!"
"Nothing at all!"
James and Lily locked eyes, and exclaimed in unison, "You told?? No, did you??"
With that, the two stormed out into the hallway.
Sirius shrugged, and began guzzling down the ketchup, as the girls looked on disgusted.
In the hallway, James and Lily were in the middle of a heated argument.
"I can't believe you told Lor!" accused James.
"Me?! What about you?! Who did you tell other than Sirius?? Rita Skeeter, so she'll do the work of spreading it around for you?? You know, you never were a person to do anything for yourself. You've always had servants to do everything for you."
"That was low, Evans, considering you have just as many servants as I do."
"But I've always had to do things myself anyway. I had caregivers, not house elves bent to my every whim!" Lily shot back.
"Fine then, why don't we just agree to remove that unfortunate incident form our minds?? I now know it was just a moment of bad judgment on my part."
"Bad Judgment is a faulty quality, therefore, of course it was on your part.
"I totally agree with forgetting all about the 'incident,' though," agreed Lily. "I was probably being delusional last night anyway," she reasoned, "We should just go back to normal."
"I need to get to Potions," stated James.
"What's your point??"
"I need to get my bag."
"Again, I ask, what's your point??"
"My bag is in the Great Hall, and you are currently blocking the doors."
"That's your problem, now, isn't it??" Lily smirked cheekily.
James sighed and rolled his eyes at her antics, stepping forwards.
"James Michael Potter, you wouldn't..."
"Lilian Sun-Burst-On-The-Meadow Evans, I thought you knew me better than that!" James took one step closer towards her.
"First of all, remind me to kill Siri for telling you my full name, and second, you better not do what I think you're going to do!"
James' face grew an evil looking grin, and he picked Lily up, holding her so she was hanging over his shoulder.
"Merlin, Evans," he heaved, "You must weigh four hundred kilograms!" (roughly 1000 lbs.)
In reality, James knew she weighed little more than fifty kilograms (ah, figure it out yourself!).
"Ow!" Lily had punched James in the lower back.
"Potter! Put me down!" She shouted as James carted her into the Great Hall, attracting the attention of the entire student body-or at least the entirety of who was present at breakfast-, plus all teachers present at the Head Table.
"Mr. Potter," said Dumbledore, eyes twinkling, "I trust you will put Ms. Evans down, gently??" The elderly Headmaster knew the Marauders far too well.
"Sure Professor!" James said, flashing his charming grin that got him out of so many detentions and made girls drop like flies. He bent forwards, low, so Lily fell, sitting on the table. James grabbed his book bag, winked at a staring Hufflepuff girl-who in turn swooned-and walked out, heading towards his next class.
Everything appeared to be back to normal, but Lily wasn't as sure as she appeared to be...
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...and neither was James.
Walking through the long halls and down the numerous stairwells to the potions dungeon, James thought about the conversation he'd had with Lily outside the Great Hall.
'She was right,' he thought. James had always had servants and house elves to get him what ever he wished. James Potter was not used to being denied what he wanted.
James had a lot of thoughts and emotions running through his mind, and fifteen minutes to spare before potions. When James came to a three way fork in the hall, instead of going straight, towards the dungeons, he went left towards an old Muggle Studies class room, which had become James' own place to think.
When James found the classroom door, he walked in, took seven steps to the left, spun clockwise once, and walked to the East Wall.
He took out his wand, and said, "Revelius," causing a portion of the wall to disappear, revealing an arched window with a padded window seat.
This was the place where James came to think, and to just 'Be James.' Not many people knew about this place, and if they did, they respected the fact that it was James'.
James sat, leaning against the window. He processed all that had happened to him since school had started; The train ride, Lorrena's bet, the owl he'd received telling James his father was in a magical stasis, kissing Lily, his not-like-but-not-hate feelings towards Lily...That was it!
'If I want to get out of this,' James thought, 'All I have to do is squash the 'not-like' feelings, so all that's left is the 'not-hate' feelings, which is better than the 'not-like' feelings, since there was no chance of developing the like feelings!' Even James knew he was making no sense in his thoughts, 'This girl must really be messing me up,' he thought.
With rejuvenated energy, James leaped up, the window seat sealing b behind him.
Before he left the classroom, James dug around in his bag for parchment, ink, and a quill. He bent down to hurriedly write a note to Lily on the dusty , old desk, scarred with markings made by past students.
'Arthur and Molly forever.'
'JP loves LE'
'Mr. and Mrs. Luscius and Narcissa Malfoy.'
'Hmm...' James thought, 'people had some high hopes then too...'
He quickly folded then note into a small square and hurried out the door, and down the hall to the Potions' dungeon.
***
'Where is Potter??' wondered Lily. If her partner was late for class, she'd also be in trouble, because that's just the way the potions' master, Professor Edmonton, was.
Just then, a panting James burst into the classroom. Without even looking up, Edmonton said, "Potter, it appears you're late. You and Miss Evans will be serving detention tonight during dinner. You, too, Black, as I assume you had something to do with your friend's tardiness, as usual."
"All right!" Sirius whooped, high fiving James. "Only seventy three more to go until I break the record!"
"Potter, sit down before you get me into even more trouble!" Lily hissed.
James fell into the seat with all his weight. "Read this," he whispered back to Lily, pressing the square of paper in her palm.
Lily rolled her eyes, but never the less opened the note inside her potions' text.
'Evans,' the note read, in James' elaborate hand writing.
'Calling bet off. You can have my share of the money I bet.
James'
Lily looked towards James, but he was diligently scrawling down notes.
'Okay, but why??' she wrote back, sliding the note to James' side of the table.
When James didn't notice the note, Lily nudged his foot with hers, and pointed to the note.
James eyes scanned quickly over Lily's reply.
"Later," he mouthed to her, and ran his hand through the back of his hair, causing it to stick up even more. It was the one habit of his he was dead sure annoyed Lily.
Keeping her eyes on Edmonton, Lily reached a hand up to force James' offending arm down.
James looked to her and smirked, lifting his left arm to run that hand through his hair.
Making sure Edmonton was looking the other direction, Lily got up and pulled James' left arm down, causing both to tip over, Lily landing on top of James.
Professor Edmonton turned to a blushing Lily and smirking James. "Ten points from Gryffindor, and Black, don't even think about dropping those dung bombs into Mr. Snape's potion.
***
At seven o'clock on the dot, Lily arrived at Greenhouse 6, as instructed by Edmonton, only to find that Arabella and Amos Diggory were there also.
"What are you guys here for??" she asked them.
"I sneezed-" began Arabella.
"And I asked if she needed a tissue," finished the handsome, Hufflepuff chaser.
"Is that even against the rules??"
"According to the Head Boy it is," said Amos coldly.
The Head Boy was a Slytherin, and was out to get all houses but his.
"Stop your chattering and listen to the directions Professor Sprout give to you," broke in Edmonton, snidely.
"Alright then, let's get started!" said the young, bouncy new teacher, "James, I want you to work on cleaning that section over there," she pointed to a small part of the greenhouse, which they were supposed to clean up for next year's use. "Sirius and Arabella, why don't you work on scrubbing down the desks and tables, and Amos and Lily, you two can just clean out the middle portion between the desks and James' area."
Everyone nodded and set of to work.
Not even a minute after Sprout left, nine girls came charging in. Five went to Sirius, and four went towards James.
"You, you, and you," James said, pointing to a different girl with every 'you,' until one was remaining. She was an oriental girl, with long glossy black hair, and dark brown eyes. The three girls James had pointed to groaned, and left towards Sirius, who was flirting with everyone in turn.
James lifted the girl up under her arms, pinning her to a wall wear he could look sideways and check to see if Lily was looking. He then began snogging the girl, his hands going places where even she didn't know about.
"Carrie, you look so...irresistible...tonight," James flirted, between kisses.
'Oh, please,' Lily rolled her eyes.
"My name's Ania," she said in the same fashion.
"It's just that..."-kiss-"you look so..."-kiss-" amazing tonight that..." -kiss- "my mind just..." -kiss- gave out."
'He's good,' Lily admitted to herself.
James and Ania began walking away from the wall, Ania's legs wrapped around James waist.
'That is the last straw,' Lily thought, 'If he's making out with her for the sole purpose of making me jealous, then...'
"Sorry, Amos!" Lily whispered to the good-looking boy, before grabbing him by the collar, fully snogging him. This went on, one couple looking side-ways towards the other, until Lily 'accidentally' knocked over the shelves separating James' section and her own. Lily broke apart from Amos, and James broke apart from Ania.
James stormed over to Lily, and grabbed her arm, dragging her outside the greenhouse.
"What the hell was that all about, Evans??" James leaned in close to Lily, practically hissing at her.
"It was about your childish need to make me feel jealous, moron!"
"Enlighten me, tell me why exactly I would want to make you jealous??"
"I don't know, but my guess is you want to make me jealous so I come crawling over to you, another trophy on your shelf of idiots," Lily shot back. "It just kills you that I'm not the least bit interested in you!"
As James stood there, looking shell shocked, Lily turned elegantly and began marching towards the Greenhouse 6 door.
"Evans," James called out.
"What do you want now??
"You're going to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow," James stated, as a fact-which it was, to him.
"Excuse me??"
"You heard me. Meet me in the Entrance Hall tomorrow at ten."
"No!"
"Well, why not??"
"I don't want to!"
"Okay, Evans, stop playing now. I'll help finish up your section. You just go back up to the castle and give that pretty little face some beauty sleep. I need to keep up my reputation, you know," James said.
"No!"
"You're saying no??"
"Yes, I'm saying no," Lily said, exasperated.
"You can't do that! It's against the rules!"
"What rules??" Lily stood with her hands on her hips, lips pursed.
"You're not allowed to tell me no!"
"What ever gave you the idea that I couldn't refuse??"
"No one's ever done it before, and no one ever will."
"Hah! I just did," Lily turned on her heel and walked back into the Greenhouse to finish her detention.
James, looking dazed, stood in place for many moments, and walked back in, only straight towards Sirius.
"Hey man, what's wrong??" Sirius asked, sitting on a dusted off table, surrounded by girls as Arabella tried not to laugh at the greatly embellished stories Sirius told.
"She turned me down," James said, eyes still glazed over. The superficial, Barbie doll girls all gasped at the thought of someone turning down James Potter.
"Who did??"
"Evans."
"Lily turned you down?? How'd that happen??" Sirius asked.
"I told her she was going to Hogsmeade with me and then told her to go to sleep so she looks good. I mean, I don't want to be seen with a girl not looking her greatest," James replied.
"Oh, wow," Arabella broke in. "I wonder how many time you went wrong in just those two sentences..."
Sirius whapped James on the back, and said, "You don't just tell Lily that she's going to do something, and she obviously didn't like your attitude when you told her to be looking her best so your rep wouldn't be tarnished."
"The way to Lily's heart is through sincere flattery, and honesty," Arabella told James.
"Now, why don't you just nicely suggest that she accompanies you to Hogsmeade tomorrow??" reasoned Sirius. "Oi Lily! Over here!" Sirius waved wildly to her.
Lily came over to Sirius and Arabella, not even acknowledging James. "Prongsie here has something to ask you, Lils," Sirius pushed James forwards towards Lily.
"Evans," James said in a softer tone than outside, "You're coming to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow morning."
Sirius smacked himself on the forehead, and Arabella sighed. "Here we go..." said Arabella, turning away, putting her hand up to her head.
"JAMES POTTER!!! HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS?? I don't want to go out with you for various reasons, only some of which include the fact that you're a total prick, you just assume that I would even want to go out with you at all, and you're so worried about your, what did you call it?? Your 'reputation' that you don't even dig deep down inside a person further than how they look in a bathing suit!"
"Listen to yourself Evans, if you'd just listen to what you just said yourself, you'd realize it's an honor for me to want to take you to Hogsmeade. It means that you're good enough not to ruin my image!"
"And what image is that, James?? The image that girls are either swooning over you, or crying there hearts out because you got sick of them and dumped them?? The image that there are girls killing themselves trying to look beautiful just for you, when they could be chasing better dreams and people??"
Lily cast James a pitying look, and walked out, shaking her head.
On the surface, it looked like what Lily said hadn't even cracked James' surface. And at that moment, it probably hadn't, at least, not until much later, he would realize what Lily meant. At that moment, James could only think, 'She called me James...'
Disclaimer: Again, nothing belongs to me except Lorrena (haha, she IS me!) and Misty (Misty belongs to herself, silly gooth!)
A/N: I think I did pretty good with this chapter, considering I've had to learn about 13 new songs on the electric guitar before the concert in a few weeks, and I've struggled typing this because my elbow is messed up and so is my back and my knee, cuz I crashed the four wheeler into a metal fence, and I totaled the fence, and the four wheeler didn't even get damaged....gr....Thank Merlin that Jamie was there to give me a ride home!! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah! I LOVE you JAMIE!!!! (did I mention I'm on pain killers??)
Oh, and plug: Read The Boy Who Loved Lily, by I dunno who it's by, just search for it...It's the story that got me addicted to fan-fiction, addicted to Lily/James fics, addicted to Love/Hate fics, and inspired me to start writing my own fan-fictions. Also, I've managed to steal a few things from her story, but I changed it around so it's not too exact to TBWLL. READ IT!