*for any of you who didn't notice, I changed my penname from Kathi to kathleen teresa.  Just so you know, this isn't some evil plagiarizer, it's still me!!*

Responses

Peanut Butter ~ hehe this chapter as promised...oh and if a certain 'raging jungle beast' line sounds familiar that's cuz I couldn't think of anything else, it worked, and I had just done something with the other character (::cough cough::) and it was the first thing that popped into my head.  I took out panting just cuz it didn't sound right....lol

Chapter 16

Kisses All Around!

Lily looked at James.  "Hi."

James looked back down at her.  "Hi.  So, want to dance?"

"It doesn't look like we have much of a choice, does it?" Lily asked, a wry little smile on her face.

James took her left hand in his, placed his right hand on her waist and they began to waltz around the room.  Lily found it hard to look James in the eye.  She didn't feel mad at him for what he'd done, just disappointed and saddened. 

James was wondering why she kept avoiding his eye.  Was the wall really that fascinating?

"So." Lily said, anxious to break the uncomfortable silence between them.  "Who's your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend." James said automatically.

Lily looked up at him.  "You seem an awful lot like a couple."

"That's because she wants it to be that way." he said bitterly.

"She seems nice..." tried Lily, hardly daring to feel joyful.

"She's not." James said, making a face.

Lily laughed a little.  Then, sobering, she said, "Why'd you write me that note?"

James looked at her, bewildered.  "What note?"

Lily shot him a look.  "You know perfectly well what note."

James snorted.  "I could ask you the same question."

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked, thoroughly confused.

"You know."

"I do not!" Lily exclaimed quietly.

"It was the harshest thing I've ever read, Lily." James said sadly.  "I didn't think you were capable of it."

By this point, Lily was completely and utterly baffled.  "James." she said, "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.  You sent me a note that said, and I quote, 'It was fun while it lasted.  However, I'm afraid I must tell you that I am no longer interested in you'"

James gaped at her.  "I would never have written such a thing."

Lily laughed coldly. "Ah, but you see, here's the kicker.  You did. And I can prove it."

James narrowed his eyes.  "How about what you wrote to me?" he asked.  "It was fun, but you didn't actually think that I'd spend a whole year with you did you?  Don't be silly.  Oh, and don't come crawling back to me, I won't take you back."

Now it was Lily's turn to gape at James.  "I never..."

James scrutinized her.  Her eyes seemed to be telling him that she really didn't have any idea what he was talking about.

Lily, anxious to escape his stare, blinked and looked around.  "Uh, James?" she said.  "The song's over."

James' eyebrows shot up into a stunned bunny expression. "What?  Oh, you're right.  Come on, let's go find Sirius and them."

Following him, Lily asked, "But what about your date?"

James shrugged.  "What about her?"

Feeling this was a good sign, Lily smiled a little and hurried to catch up.

*

Sirius, Kiara, Jordan, Elijah, Remus, and his date, a pretty Ravenclaw with dark hair named Pam, were huddled around the table when James and Lily arrived.  "What's up, guys?" James asked.  "You look guilty."

Sirius grinned angelically and flung his arm around Kiara.  "What are you talking about, Prongs, old bean?  Us, guilty?  Don't be ridiculous."

"We're playing Egyptian Rat Screw." Kiara said, putting down a card.  Sirius looked over and slapped seconds before Kiara did.  Kiara's hand landed hard and, as a reflex, she pounded his hand into oblivion.  Sirius yelled.  "Augh!  Kiara!  I hate playing with you!"

Kiara grinned. "No you don't.  I spice up the game, you said so yourself."

Sirius clutched his hand to his chest protectively.  "My poor hand.  It'll never be the same again."

"Oh, don't be such a baby." Kiara said, rolling her eyes.  "You did that the last ten times I smacked your hand.  Sooner or later, you'll learn to just give the pile to me!"  she smiled, batting her eyes at Sirius.

Sirius rolled his eyes and shot a look at James.  "See what I have to put up with?" he whined.  "If you ever decide to get hitched, make sure she's quite and docile, not a raging jungle beast!"

Kiara swatted at Sirius.  "You know you love me."

Sirius snorted.  "Sometimes."

"No, all the time."

"Fine. All the time."  Sirius leaned over and kissed her as Remus put his card down.

"So, Prongs, Lily, pull up a chair, stay a while!" Remus said as Pam put her card down.

Shooting nervous looks at each other, Lily and James sat down. "Feel free to slap in!" Jordan said.

Lily eyed the pile anxiously.  "Thanks." She replied. "But I'd like to keep my hands intact.  I kind of need them."

"Yeah, I'll abstain." James said, pulling his hands towards himself.

"Suit yourself."  Sirius said, his hand apparently having recovered.  "It's a lot of fun though."

"You didn't seem to be having so much fun a little while ago when Kiara pounded your fingers to a pulp." James pointed out.

Sirius winked devilishly.

Jordan leaned over to Remus.  "This is definitely a good sign." she whispered.

Pam leaned over too.  "I heard what happened." she said. "They'll get back together, don't you worry."

Jordan half-smiled.  "I wish I could be so sure."

Pam winked.  "Trust me."

Jordan put a card down, eyed it for a slap, and leaned her chin on her hand.  "I wish we could find out who sent the notes."

Remus nodded in agreement.  "Me too.  No one seems to know anything though."

"You mean you don't know?" Pam asked.

Remus turned his head so quickly that he got whiplash.  "What?"

"Do you know who sent them?" Jordan asked in a hushed voice.

Pam nodded, her dark eyes sparkling. "I heard it from Gabrielle who heard it from Charlotte who heard it from some Gryffindor that the JPFC, whatever that means, sent the notes as part of a plot to break up Lily and James."

Remus and Jordan stared at her, identical looks of shock on their faces.

"What?" asked Pam, slightly confused at their reaction.

"JPFC..." breathed Jordan.

"The James Potter Fan Club..." Remus said.

"I remember Lily saying that James had mentioned he had a following." Jordan said.  "Hold on, Elijah!"  Elijah had been trying to get her attention for the past five minutes.

"Well, what are we waiting for?  We've got to tell them!" exclaimed Pam.

Remus nodded and hugged her tightly.  "Thank you so much." he said.

Pam blushed a little but hugged him back.  "You're welcome."

"Lily! James! Get over here!" Jordan called across the table.   Lily and James had been sitting next to each other, looking very uncomfortable and pretending to find the game of Egyptian Rat Screw very fascinating, which it was but they were too uncomfortable to realize it.

They hastily got up and hurried around the table to squat on the floor between Jordan and Remus.  "What's up, guys?" Lily asked.

"Lily! James didn't send you the note!" exclaimed Jordan excitedly.  "And James, Lily didn't send you the note you got either!"

Lily and James exchanged glances and looked back at Jordan.  "Sorry?" asked James.

"Prongs, listen.  You too, Lily.  Neither of you sent the other a note.  The notes were a part of a scheme concocted by the JPFC."

Noticing Lily and James' confused faces, Pam said, "The James Potter Fan Club!"

James' eyes widened as Lily dissolved into giggles beside him ("He has a fan club?!").  "I have a fan club?" he asked, echoing Lily.

Remus raised his eyebrows.  "Apparently.  Though why anyone would want to..."

James grinned widely.  "And you're sure?"

"Ah, yes.  We have proof if you need it."

James laughed.  "This is fantastic!!" he cried, then grabbing Lily by the shoulders so suddenly that she stopped laughing, he said, "Lily, I'm so sorry! Can you forgive me?"

Lily smiled.  "Yes, of course."

"Excellent." James said, kissing her.

After the kiss, Lily got up, brushing off her robes.  "James, what was the name of the girl who was your date?"

"Irene.  Bitchy name if I ever heard one, but maybe that's because she's the only Irene I know."

Lily frowned, thinking.  "Pam, who's the leader of the JPFC?"

"Ah, Irene, I believe actually."

Lily got a funny look on her face.  "If you'll excuse me," she said, "I have some unfinished business."

That said, she stalked off across the dance floor to the table Irene and company were sitting at.  She walked right up behind Irene and tapped her on the shoulder.  When Irene turned, Lily said, "Irene, honey, we need to talk."

Irene stood up, flipping her hair behind her shoulder and crossing her arms, while arching an eyebrow.  "And what, precisely, would I have to say to you?"

"You'd be surprised." Lily said.  "I believe you were trying to steal my boyfriend, were you not?"

Irene placed her hands on her hips.  "What gives you that idea?"

"Oh, I don't know, only the fact that you were all over him on the dance floor!"

Irene huffed.  "Don't be silly, little girl.  James is mine and you know it.  You're feeling threatened by me."

Lily snorted.  "Oh, if James is yours then why isn't he over here with you?"

Irene opened and closed her mouth several times.  "Because-because he had some unfinished business to take care of."

Lily smiled a little.  "Yeah, such as figuring out why all of a sudden I decided to break up with him and him with me?"

Irene again opened and closed her mouth several times.

"Oh, stop it, Irene, you look like a goldfish, which, may I add, is an improvement.  Now, I just came over here to deliver you a little present."

"Oh? And what, pray tell, would that be?  You don't appear to be holding anything."

Lily smiled calmly and punched Irene square in the face.  Irene gasped and, holding her nose, backed up a few steps, knocking  over a candle and setting the hem of her dress on fire.  Lily let her panic for a little bit, then calmly set out the fire with a squirt of water from her wand.  She turned to the rest of the members of the JPFC while Irene hyperventilated.  They were all staring at her with open mouths.  "Now, is there anyone here who can help me prove my story?  When we take this to Dumbledore, we will need witnesses."

At first, no one moved, then, slowly, Rebecca stood up.  "I will." she said quietly.

Lily grinned. "Good."

Genna turned furiously to Rebecca.  "Rebecca!  How dare you!  After all the James Potter Fan Club has done for you!"

"Like what?  All it did for me was teach me how to be bitchy, selfish and self-centered.  And Genna, I don't care if you or Irene tells the whole school that I stripped for the guys on the Slytherin—"  Rebecca froze, eyes wide, with her hand over her mouth.

Lily felt her jaw go slack.  Shaking it off, she said, "Never mind that, Rebecca.  I assure you, we'll take care of these guys if they try anything.  And thank you for volunteering."

Lily turned and went over to Irene, who was leaning against the wall of the pumpkin, catching the blood from her nose in her hand.  "You bitch." she hissed.  "You've ruined my plastic surgery.  I'll get you for this!"

Lily gave her a confident look.  "I'd like to see you try.   Actually, no, please, try.  It would give me an excuse to pop your implants."

Irene gaped at her and then lunged for her.  "You--!"

Lily calmly stepped out of the way and Irene misbalanced and fell to the floor.  "Bye, Irene." Lily said, walking out of the pumpkin.

*

As Lily returned to the table, everyone fell silent, their eyes trained on Lily. Pam half-stood, anxiously waiting to hear the news.  James got up out of his chair and met Lily halfway.  "What did you do in there?  It was blocked by those stupid pumpkin walls!"

Lily smiled smugly.  "I punched Irene in the nose and got us a witness for when we go to Dumbledore."

James grinned widely. "That's my girl." he said, leaning down and kissing her. 

Lily smiled and gave herself up to the kiss, feeling happier than she had in days.  Across the table, Sirius shrugged, figuring any excuse was a good excuse, grabbed Kiara and kissed her full on the lips.  Kiara only had time for a startled squeak before their lips met.  Jordan shrugged, grabbed Elijah by his shirt tie and pulled him towards her.  Elijah was thrilled, as he had been trying to kiss her all night.  Next to them, Remus grinned happily, stood up behind Pam, whirled her around and kissed her.  Pam was of course, overjoyed, as she had had a rather large crush on Remus for several years.

But I guess

Some hearts they just get all the right breaks

Some hearts have the stars on their side

Some hearts they just have it so easy

Some hearts just get lucky sometimes

Some hearts just get lucky,

Lucky sometimes

*a good ending is always one where there's kissing. ::grins::  And so ends my first fic.  I hoped you all liked it, loved it, whatever.  Review and let me know what you thought!  Also, I have a couple new story ideas that NEED TITLES!!!      Please help!  And let me know which one you think I should do next too  (because I can't decide...and the sooner I decide, the sooner I start up a new fic!):

· Starting with the end of the scene in 00TP (possibly): Snape catches up with Lily (a couple days later?) apologizes for incident with James earlier and for calling her a mudblood, then asks Lily out.  Lily would say no except enter James who says something (haven't decided yet) and Lily quickly says 'yes' to Snape.  There may be possible dark ulterior motives for Snape?  Lily/Snape ship bugs James immensely and he is constantly around trying to get Lily to dump Snape.  Lily may possibly think she's in love with Snape.  James may give up.  Lily will eventually realize who she's in love with. 

· (After Hogwarts?) Lily currently has a boyfriend who abuses her.  James finds her crying/sees a bad bruise (or a broken arm) and tries to find out what's wrong/how did it happen, she lies/yells/tells him to bug off.  He finds out anyway (witnesses it? she confesses? friend tells him? If so, confronts her, she confesses), hunts down boyfriend, beats the shit out of him, tells him to stay away from Lily.  Boyfriend a.) listens to James and leaves Lily alone, b.) ignores James and carries on, again getting the shit beaten out of him, or c.) pretends to repent, later kidnaps Lily, who'd entered into a successful relationship with James.  James rescues her, throws the bastard in jail, and they live happily ever after.

o Let me know which option you like the best for this one...this IS a democracy, people! (sometimes...)  Personally, I like c.) just for the dramatic potential! 

The usual comments:  pleeeease help me get a livejournal code!!!  Anyone who wants to be notified when I change things, leave your email in your review!!