*mon dieu!! FIFTEEN people have me on their favorites author lists! I love you all!!! ::grins happily:: wow what a confidence booster. And as usual...can anyone help me get a livejournal account, sil-vous-plait? If you can I will so love you forever...merci!*
Chapter 9
A Revelation
Later that night, Lily was on her way to the library, still agitated by James, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw Madeline standing behind her.
"Lily, can we talk?" she asked.
Lily made a face. She had a ton of homework.
"Please? It's kind of important."
Lily sighed. "Alright."
"Good." Madeline led Lily into a nearby empty classroom. "Lily, how do you really and truly feel about James?"
"What kind of a question is that?" Lily asked dumbfoundedly. "You know full well how I feel about him."
"No I don't."
"You do."
"I don't." insisted Madeline. "Tell me."
Lily raked a hand through her hair, snagging it on a snarl. She tugged at it as she answered. "I'd hardly call him a friend, if that's what you're asking."
"No, I mean do you like him romantically?"
Lily yanked the strand of hair out of her head and winced. "What?! What would possibly give you an idea like that?!"
Madeline arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
"Am I sure? I've never been more positive about anything in my entire life!" exclaimed Lily, waving the detached strand of hair around wildly.
Madeline frowned. "Why not?"
"Because he's annoying! It's like he's trying to make it his life's purpose to get on my nerves! He—ergh!!" Lily shrilled.
"He's not that bad, once you get to know him." Madeline said. "Give him a chance."
"I gave him a chance, fourth year. Remember how well that turned out?"
*
|Flashback|
"Lily, will you please be my date to the Christmas Ball?" James Potter asked, nervously running a hand through his black hair.
Lily frowned. She may have a huge crush on James, but she knew he was a womanizer. "I don't know."
"Please? We'll have fun!"
"How do I know you won't ditch me the second we walk into the Great Hall?"
"I won't, Lily. Take a chance on me." James' eyes were filled with hope.
Lily smiled. "Okay."
*
~The Ball~
*
Lily stood anxiously at the entrance to the Great Hall. The Hall itself was beautifully decorated, with huge Christmas trees in the corners, covered in candles and candy canes. There were gold bubbles floating in the air and around the dance floor, round tables were set up, covered in a shimmery gold tablecloth. Where was James? she wondered. He had promised to meet her at the entrance at eight o'clock. It was now eight fifteen and there was no sign of him.
She sighed to herself. I'll wait five more minutes and then I'm done.
Unfortunately, she didn't need to wait at all, because at that moment, she saw James waltzing across the dance floor with a beautiful brunette. Lily's whole body went tense. He promised he wouldn't ditch me!! she thought angrily, but a small voice nagged at the back of her head: He promised he wouldn't ditch you the second you two walked into the Great Hall. He didn't go in with you, therefore he didn't break his promise.
Lily ignored the voice and, fighting back tears, she turned on her heel, her powder blue robes swishing behind her, and raced up the stairs to the common room. Once in the common room, she collapsed on the couch and swore she would never again trust James Potter.
*
|End Flashback|
*
"He was a young, stupid boy then." Madeline said. "He's changed now. He's more mature."
Lily snorted. "Yeah, mature enough to talk about me behind my back."
Madeline sighed hopelessly. "Lily, what are the chances you'd fall for him?"
"One in infinity." Lily said stubbornly. "Also known as never."
*
"So basically, the odds for James are not good." Madeline finished telling Remus what had happened earlier.
Remus sighed. "I didn't know he did that to her back then."
"Why do you think he did?" Madeline asked.
"Fourth year.." Remus pondered. "That was the year Cecilia McKinnon did that exchange program here."
"You still remember her name?"
"Yeah, she was who James went to the ball with."
"When he was supposed to go with Lily."
"Yeah. I'll have to ask him about that."
"Don't tell him who told you though." Madeline said. "Lily would absolutely kill me if she found out I told you."
Remus grinned. "And we wouldn't want that now would we?"
"No, we wouldn't." Madeline replied. "Where would you be without me?"
"Hopelessly bored." Remus said, kissing her.
*
"Prongs, who did you go to the Christmas Ball with, fourth year?" Remus asked after dinner that night.
James frowned. "Can't say I remember. I think she had brown hair?"
"It was that exchange student, wasn't it?" asked Sirius, jumping into the conversation.
James nodded at Sirius. "I think you're right." he said slowly.
"Or could it have been a certain redhead..." Remus asked pointedly.
James made a confused face. "What are you talking about, Moony?"
"Let me rephrase my question. Who did you ask to the ball?"
"The exchange student?"
"No...Lily!"
James' eyes bugged out. "What?! You're kidding me, right?"
"Actually, I don't think he is, Prongs." spoke up Sirius. "I vaguely remember you asking Lily to go with you."
"Yeah, and she said no at first because she didn't want you to ditch her or something!" chimed in Peter.
"But you managed to persuade her." Sirius said triumphantly.
"And then you left her standing at the entrance to the Great Hall." finished Remus.
The whole time, James' eyes had been getting wider and wider. "Oh my god." he said. "I really did do that, didn't I?"
Remus nodded solemnly.
"That was your skirt-chasing stage." Sirius said. "I remember now. I wondered why that redheaded girl was standing in the doorway for so long and then all of a sudden, she turned and ran. It's a pity, I was going to ask her to dance."
"And Padfoot here still hasn't grown out of his skirt-chasing stage yet." Remus said dryly.
James, meanwhile, had put his face in his hands. "I can't believe I did that to her! No wonder she hates me now!"
"Well the chocolates are coming tomorrow aren't they?" asked Sirius.
"Yeah."
"Then just write a little note to her, since you're going to be signing your name anyway."
James looked up, slightly confused. "What would I say?"
"'I'm sorry for everything. As ever, James.' Short and sweet." Remus suggested.
*
Late that night, once everyone was asleep, Lily crept out of the dormitory and slipped up to the Astronomy Tower, her favorite place to go when she needed to think and when the sky was clear. Once she was up there, she sat between two of the battlements and leaned against the stone, still warm from the sun beating on it all day. When she had talked to Madeline about James, it had dredged up a lot of unpleasant memories. She hadn't been to a ball since that one, mainly because there hadn't been any, but she was sure that if there had been, she wouldn't have gone.
She didn't know why it bothered her so much, it was in the past and there wasn't anything she could do about it now, but it bothered her. Not including Adrian, she hadn't been asked out since. It made her wonder whether James had told most of the guys at Hogwarts things about her.
A noise behind her made her jump, almost losing her balance. Regaining her balance, she half-turned to see who was there. She didn't see anyone so she turned back around and looked up at the stars.
"They're beautiful tonight aren't they?"
Lily whirled around so quickly she almost fell again. She once again regained her balance and climbed off the wall. "What are you doing up here?" she asked James.
"I like to come here sometimes. To be alone."
Lily looked at him strangely. "Me too." she said.
"Lily, can we talk?"
That's the second time that's been said to me today, Lily thought. Weird. Out loud she said, "We are talking."
James smiled a little. "You're right, we are." He walked a little closer, shrinking the gap between them so that their toes were barely touching.
"What did you want to talk about?" Lily asked, feeling slightly disconcerted by how close he was.
"I'm sorry if I've hurt you in the past." he said, not removing his eyes from hers. "But I'm different now. I've grown up since then."
Lily's eyes widened slightly, but other than that she didn't move or say anything. James was leaning in to her and before she knew it, she was caught up in his arms and she was kissing him back! Her arms were, for some odd reason, wrapped around his neck and she was feeling electricity running through her body as if she had been plugged into a socket.
James was thrilled. Maybe there was hope for him after all. She hadn't shoved him off the tower yet, something he took to be a good sign.
Lily was thoroughly enjoying herself until she realized who she was kissing. Summoning all her resolve, she removed her arms from around his neck and shoved with all her might. "Don't you ever do that to me again!!" she exclaimed.
"And why not?" asked James, recovering himself.
"Because I hate you!! There isn't the slightest chance that I will ever be interested in you so why won't you leave me alone?!"
James put a hand on his him and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more. "Well." he said, the fire and hurt in his eyes shocking Lily. "I'm glad we've got that cleared up. Fine, Lily, you want me to leave you alone? Fine. I can do that. You'll never hear from me again, Lily Evans."
With those last words, James turned and stormed down the stairs. Lily stood frozen in the same spot for about four seconds after he disappeared. Guys like him are so infuriating, she thought to herself. Especially when you inevitably fall in love with them. She shook her head and froze again, as her last thought resounded through her mind. "Oh mon dieu." She said in a low voice. "I'm in love with James Potter."
*about a couple lines into the chapter I realized...wow I don't have writer's block any more!! ::cheers:: granted that's no promise that I won't have writer's block for the next chapter... anyway, since I'm sure you're all wondering what's with the random French phrases...i have a huge packet I have to finish for French 3 by tomorrow and I have 22 pages left. Whoopee. Anyways review because you love me!! I'll try to get chapter 10 up soon! ::cough cough:: more reviews means sooner! ::cough cough::*