Hey you guys, I decided to update really quickly. For me…lol. Alright, I'm just gonna tell you now, my Disclaimer's at the beginning of my story and since I'm too lazy to type it out every time I post, even though it's not that often, so if you think this stuff's mine, check the very first chapter and check out the disclaimer…but you're barking mad if you actually think some of this stuff belongs to me…Enough of my babbling though, here's Chapter three…
"James, why don't you get the drinks?" Lily asked sweetly.
"Why should I?"
"Because it's good manners." Lily prompted.
"Then why don't you get the drinks?" James challenged.
"I guess I'd better because it's obvious that you have no manners." Lily stood up and walked smugly up to the counter. She returned a few minutes later with five Butterbeers.
"Thanks!"
"Thanks!"
"Thanks!"
Three voices were heard thanking her but James had just started to drain his mug without a glance up at Lily again. She stared disbelievingly at him. She had at least expected a 'thank you Lily'. She hadn't expected him to completely ignore her and start drinking like a pig. But then again, that was what he was. A pig! She slowly sat down, in a kind of trance. Remus and Sirius both elbowed James at the same time. The result was James choking on Butterbeer and being forced to spit some out.
"Eeeewwww! James that was totally uncalled for!" Bella backed away from the table because James had decorated it with Butterbeer.
"Thank Sirius and Remus! What was that for?" He asked them, apparently angry. They cocked their heads in Lily's direction and he saw that she was looking very down.
"What's wrong Lils?" He asked her.
She looked up and stared him right in the eyes. "Nothing," she murmured.
"Come on!" He urged her.
"What do you want Potter? Do you want me to tell you the reason behind every one of my sudden mood changes?" She snapped at him.
"Yes." He answered.
"You're walking on dangerously thick water Potter!" She warned.
"Dangerously thick water?" He asked, trying to keep a straight face.
"Well, you're not as safe as thin ice so I figured that the next thing would be thick water. Do you follow me or did I lose you with my big complicated words?" She mocked.
"Hey! Are you implying that I am stupid or slow?"
"Yes you moron! You've finally caught on!" She teased.
"And may I ask what promoted this sudden outburst of anger in my direction?"
"You may ask but it doesn't mean I'll answer!" She retorted.
"Lils, come on! You can tell me!" He coaxed.
"Fine I give! It might have something to do with the fact the you have the manners of a pig!" She yelled, stood up and finally stomped off without touching her Butterbeer. She practically ran through the door and nearly ran into several people before she disappeared from view. The remaining four people stared, transfixed, at the vacated spot where Lily had just been. Bella turned to James and started speaking her mind.
"What the heck is wrong with you?!" Bella yelled.
"What the heck is wrong with ME?" James asked in disbelief.
"Yeah! What was your problem back there? She returned with the drinks and you took it from her and started gulping it down without even looking at her! If that's what you're always like, then I agree with Lily that you have the manners of a pig!" Arabella screeched and made to stand up but Sirius grabbed her hand and forced her back down in her seat.
"You should go after her James!" Sirius said forcefully.
"Why?"
"What do you mean 'why'? It was your fault she walked out on us and you really don't want her as an enemy." Sirius explained, giving James a look that clearly stated 'I can't believe you just did that'.
"Yeah I guess you're right." And with that, he stood up and rushed out after Lily. He saw her speeding towards the Shrieking Shack as fast as she could without actually running. James ran as fast as he could and finally caught up with her as she was going up the hill.
"Lily! Lily stop!" James cried, clutching a stitch in his side. All Lily did was break out into a run leaving James behind. He stared after her unbelievingly. 'I can't believe she just did that. No one has ever walked out on me before,' he thought to himself. Yet Lily had no intentions whatsoever of returning to James and begging him for forgiveness. Not when it was he who was in the wrong. Lily was at the top of the hill, leaning on a wooden post when James turned up, breathing heavily and still clutching a stitch in his side.
"Lily I want to talk to you-"
"I thought as much!" She said shortly.
"Well, I wanted to apologize for my lack of manners-"
"Holy Cricket! James Potter apologizing! What's this world coming to!" Lily interrupted once again.
James scowled at her but nevertheless continued. "As I was saying, I wanted to apologize for my lack of manners. If case you haven't figured it out, I was doing it on purpose."
"Really," she said sarcastically. "I don't think so. It came too naturally for you!"
"Hey! Why do you insist on mocking me when every other female in this blasted school falls head over heels for me?" His eyes were challenging her now and she wasn't about to turn down a challenge.
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not every other female! I'm me and there's nothing you can do about it! The only reason I don't fall head over heels for you is because I know the real you! The cruel, teasing you. Not the act you put on when you're near other girls. It IS just an act, trust me! You're not at all heroic as you act at a Quidditch match! In fact, you are the most pompous, bigheaded, git I've ever met! Yes, even bigger than Gilderoy Lockhart. By the way, you might want to close your mouth. You'll attract flies." By the time Lily had finished, James was staring at her open-mouthed, looking quite like a gaping fish.
"I am not worse than Gilderoy Lockhart!" James expressed his anger by punching the wooden pole but ended up hopping on the spot, clutching his fist.
"Actually, you make Lockhart look like the most lenient guy in the world!" And she walked away, leaving James staring after her, still grunting with the throbbing pain of his injured fist.
James returned to the Three Broomsticks to see three awaiting and eager faces that dropped when he walked in alone.
"What happened buddy?" Sirius asked, grabbing James' hand and examining his fist.
"I went after Lily, as promised, but when I met up with her at the Shrieking Shack, she started insulting me. What have I done to her, eh?" James voice was rising. "Why can't she be a normal girl and fall at my feet?"
This time Bella lost it. She began to yell at James furiously.
"James, Lily is her own person and if you can't understand that and accept it, you don't deserve to have her as someone you'd call a friend!" She finished, grabbed her's and Lily's shopping and stormed out in search of her best friend.
Lily, meanwhile, had just run into Cindy and Frank Longbottom and they, well Cindy, had invited her to go shopping with them. They were just at Beckyll's Fine China and Statues when Bella stormed up to Lily in a huff. Lily could tell that something was wrong because Bella never looked so sour without a reason.
"Ara, what's wrong?" Lily asked.
"You'll kill James for this but right now I want to see him dead!" Bella growled.
"I usually want to kill James though," Lily consoled.
"Well it's just-"
"Come on. Tell me!"
"He wanted to know why you weren't like every other normal girl and why you won't fall at his feet!" She blurted. Lily went very white, but not with fear, with anger. When Lily got really angry, she didn't vent her anger by shouting or throwing things. Her anger was frightening beyond belief. Nobody wanted to get caught up in her anger. Her and Bella went off to find James and 'straighten' this whole thing out. The boys were just exiting the Three Broomsticks when Lily walked up to them. James stared down at her because she was a head shorter than him. She drew herself up to her full 5'8 and faced James squarely. She was white with anger and, although she didn't appear to have her wand, all those witnessing were sure that she could hurt James really badly if she struck. She advanced on him and he started retreating. He really wasn't sure what she was capable of. Then, Lily began to speak in a calm voice but a voice that radiated power and ability.
"Whatever image you may have gotten of me, get rid of it immediately. I am not like other girls and I refuse to bow down at your feet just because you say to. I am not a helpless maiden who cannot take care of herself Potter. I will not faint just because you look my way and do you want to know the reason?" Lily asked, sounding quite deadly to James' ears.
"W-w-why?" "He stuttered.
"Because I do not have the same picture planted in my head as all other females do. I do not see you as a hero because I might have a different vision of heroes in my mind. A hero in my mind is someone who helps someone else no matter the consequences. So far, you have not proven to be a hero at all. People find you heroic on the Quidditch Pitch where, even I admit, you have some talent. But other than that, I just don't see what everyone sees in you."
"Wait-"
"Let me finish. What I see is someone with no manners, someone who insults me every time I say something to him, someone who tries to pass himself off as someone else. Usually all I see is someone who doesn't mind hurting other people by more means than one. You hurt people by your pranks, by hexes, by humiliation, by duels, and so on. You may put on an act for most people but there are those who see right through you and those people will knock you off of Cloud Number Nine!" Lily finished and left James speechless. Was that what she really thought of him? Is that what other people saw him as? Maybe what she said made sense. James got up the courage to speak up.
"Is that what you really see me as? An immature prankster who tries to make people bow down to him?" He directed this to Lily who was still angry.
"Nnnnooooo! All I see is a cute little pink bunny skipping around in a field full of daisies!" She said sarcastically. Obviously her frightening mood had gone away.
"No seriously. Is that what you see me as?"
"Yes James! That's what you're always like when you're around me?"
"Really? Well I'm sorry! Do you wanna know why I'm always like this?" He questioned and Lily noticed how his shoulders sagged a little bit.
"Why?"
"Because no one wants to get to know me! No one really wants me for me! All they want is popular James Potter to improve their social status. All girls I've gone out with have gone out with me once or twice and then I realize that they're not after me! They're after my reputation! No one's ever asked me about my family, what my goldfish's name is, whether or not I like spinach and that sort of stuff!"
"I never knew James! I thought you just enjoyed being a player." Lily went up to him and, to his surprise as well as everyone else, hugged him tightly. James stood there for a second, flabbergasted, before regaining his senses and hugging her back. When they broke apart, Lily looked him straight in the eyes.
"I want to know James." She said.
"Huh?" He asked.
"I want to know all about your family. I want to know what your goldfish's name is. I want to know if you like spinach or not." Lily answered.
"R-r-really?" He asked, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Uh huh!" She nodded her head.
"Well, my father's name is Matt and my mother's name is Carol. I have no sisters or brothers. My goldfish's name is Blue and I hate spinach!" He exclaimed before gathering Lily up in another hug. James picked up her shopping and they walked back to the castle together, James with an arm around Lily's shoulders. They were chatting happily away, Lily asking him questions and James answering eagerly.
"I didn't expect that to happen! Did any of you?" Sirius asked.
"Not at all! I thought that Lily would tear James' main artery out through his toes!" Remus exclaimed.
"Tear his main artery out through his toes? Where do you come up with all of these?" Bella questioned.
"Is that even possible?" Sirius asked eagerly, probably ready to experiment with it.
"Trust me, she'd find a way!" Remus said.
"So, what do y'all wanna do?" Bella asked.
"Y'all? What are you, from Texas?" Sirius laughed.
"No. I just love the word y'all! Lily and me decided to use it instead of 'you all' in our first year. We have ever since." Bella explained.
"Do 'y'all' wanna follow James and Lils up to the castle?" Sirius asked.
"Sure! Don't use 'y'all' Siri! It doesn't suit you!" Bella said before running off with Sirius on her tail.
"Don't call me Siri! That's only what my friends can call me!" Bella stopped in her tracks.
"Am I not your friend?" She questioned and Sirius noticed that her eyes housed mainly two emotions now, sadness and anger.
"Yeah! Of course you are!" Sirius said forcefully.
"Then how come I can't call you Siri? You said only your friends can call you that! And you just said that I'm your friend!" Bella challenged.
Sirius sighed. "Fine! You can call me Siri! On one condition though!"
"What's that?"
"You have to go out on at least one date with me and if you like it then you have to go out with me again!" Sirius said and a thought struck him. What if she does like it? That'll be a good thing you moron! How do you figure? Well, considering that you've liked her for the past five years, I'd say that it is definitely a good thing! I'd even go so far as to say that it's a great thing! Alright! Alright! I get the gist! Geez! You don't have to get sarcastic. Stop talking to yourself! You get a blank look when you do that and Bella might think you're, well, mental! Fine!
"What?!" Bella screamed.
"You heard me! You have to agree to go an at least one date with me and to keep going out with me if you like it!" Sirius said again.
"Of all the low, cheating, get-their-own-way guys, you have got to be the worst! Plus, I think you're mental or something 'cause your face went all blank for a sec there!" Bella grumbled.
"So, is that a yes or a no?" Seeing Sirius' eager face made Bella say what she said next.
"Fine! But you have to promise that by the end of our 'date' I'll still be able to attend Hogwarts!" Bella declared.
"What?" Then, realization dawned on him. "Oooohhhhhh! I get it! Fine! No outlaw activities! I promise!"
"Alright then, I guess." Bella responded slowly.
"Great!" Sirius said, throwing an arm around her shoulders. Bella tried to shrug it off but it wouldn't budge so she sighed and gave up.
"You know, you could at least carry my bags! That would show some manners!" Bella said.
Sirius sighed exasperatedly. "What is it with you people and manners?!" But he nonetheless picked up her bags and started walking to the castle, his arm still around Bella's shoulders.
"Looks like love's in the air!" Remus said to himself as he watched Lily and James, and then Bella and Sirius walking back to the castle together.
Hey! Ummm, I just wanna let you guys know that I'm glad some of you reviewed…and to tell you that reviews motivate me to post faster. So if you want more stories, cough up a review! lol Anyways, I still have like 25 pages in Word, and size 10 writing, so I can post pretty quickly for a while now. Of course, once I start having to type it all out again, it's gonna take a lot longer…lol…but reviews do motivate me so I'll try my hardest…*if you review*!!! Alright, enough babbling, you know where that magic button is…(the review button) so click it! TAH for now!!!!!!!!