"Oh no, you're going at it ALL over again…"

He looked up at his best friend, startled at the way he had addressed him. "Huh? What was I doing?"

"Staring at her like she's the only thing existing in the world." His best friend stated plainly. "Or like she's the only girl in the world left, you know. What in the world's happening to you?"

James smiled dreamily, resting his chin on his palm. "Nothing…"

Remus, meanwhile, snickered as he scratched the tip of his quill against his scroll of parchment. In other words, he was writing. "It's just what's happening to you, Padfoot. You're always staring at Aurora, you know? If I knew better, I'd say you were in love with her."

Sirius glared at him.

"No, wait," said Remus, waving a hand as he stopped briefly from his note-taking. "I take that back. That's too drastic. I'd just say you liked her."

"As in like, like her?" James asked, interested.

"Yeah, like, like her." Remus agreed.

"I do not like, like her." Sirius disagreed, glaring at the two of them. "C'mon! I mean, what guy would like such a rude, crass and impolite girl who prances around hating a wonderful guy like me?"

Remus snorted. "The rest of Hogwarts' male population, I think."

"Lupin, Black and Potter," said Professor McGonagall from the center of the class. "I would appreciate it very much if you keep your discussion down or not discuss at all."

Sirius didn't heed the warning. "Then they're stupid, we're not."

That statement made Remus look down quietly on his parchment, mumbling something that was absolutely incoherent. With Sirius's keen hearing, he heard only a few words, including 'then', 'I', 'must' and 'be'. If you had brains you would've strung up what that phrase means (I don't mean to offend anyone), but then Sirius's brain wasn't working quite well.

"Mr. Black," Professor McGonagall said, turning sharply at their direction. "Perhaps you would like another meeting with Mr. Argus Filch, our new caretaker, to discuss your set of detentions?"

Padfoot shook his head, sending soft locks of black-blue to wave, hypnotizing a few Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors.

"Why the hell did we end up discussing MY life? Aren't we discussing Prongs'?" asked Sirius in a whisper.

"No, no, no," said Prongs, waving his hands. "You may not discuss my Lily-less life any longer. Take pity on me, my dear Marauders."

"Prongs," said Remus on a more serious note, "It may not be worth it to spend the rest of your life loving someone secretly when she herself loves you back."

James raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"You already know that she loves you, James," remarked Sirius, starting to write down a few words. "What's the problem?"

Prongs looked around carefully, scanning the area if anybody else was within earshot. Well, of course, with the exception of Peter, since he didn't care if Peter heard what they were saying. "I don't even know…I just don't know what's going to happen, you know? If I tell her…"

"Then why don't you try and tell her?"

**

"Lils cheer up a bit," she said, peering concernedly at her best friend. "You're really acting strange."

Lily Evans didn't reply – she did was she had been doing for the past weeks, which was ignoring any comment made on her unusual behavior.

"Please?" Aurora pleaded, her eyebrows knitted in frustration. "You're not going to get any prettier with that thin line on your face."

"I don't care," said Lily nonchalantly.

Aurora laughed. "That's true – you don't need to be prettier anyway. So," she put her quill down. "What's the fuss all about?"

"You know…ever since that night he talked to me," said Lily quietly, taking a break from her writing as well. "I felt better. I got everything I was hiding off my chest, and I was relieved. I thought everything was going to be alright, even if James didn't exist in my world."

"And the problem is…?" Aurora asked, clueless. Through her best friend's narration, she thought it was going okay for her.

"Well…" Lily looked down at the table they were occupying in the Gryffindor Common Room. Of course, Lily considered herself to be an average person – a person who makes mistakes but avoids making them. But now, at this very moment, she knew — she made one of the biggest mistakes of her life. To make the assumption that her life would be nothing of short of normal when the love of her life would disappear was one of the biggest mistakes she had made. For her, life turned to hell.

She couldn't think straight, for her memoirs of what had happened in the tower always rushed back to her – sometimes too often to the point that she gets sick of the said memory. Lily couldn't concentrate on her work as much as she would want to; since her mind would always make her think that she was either too mean or too subtle. It made her think sometimes that she was too harsh to James, and that the whole thing was her fault and not his. But sometimes her mind made her think that she was too subtle, and that she didn't vent out her anger completely, and that she should've shouted at James.

Lily was snapped out of her thoughts when Aurora interrupted her. "Well…?"

The redhead took a deep breath. "I never get to concentrate on things. My life has been such a total mess ever since we argued, and I'm already regretting my decision to tell him what I felt."

Aurora looked at her inquisitively. "Why so?"

"I mean, I should've listened to what you said," said Lily, looking dismayed. "Just for a moment's bliss…even for just a mere week or so…I should've let myself enjoy his company rather than to destroy my chances at everything." Her voice started to crack unwillingly as she continued. "I wrecked our friendship, which was the only thing I had with him. The only thing I could cherish with him, you know? I do love him…love him so much," Lily took a great intake of breath. "I should've…followed what you said…"

The other girl was taken aback. Did Lily mean what she said? Did Lily love James this much to the point that she couldn't do anything else but lament on her mistake? "Lily," said Aurora, not noticing that the crowd was slowly dispersing, slowly leaving to enter the peace of their dormitories. "Don't worry about that. It's alright…"

But she was wrong.

It wasn't alright.

The tension between the two was so thick you could slice it in half. Lily and James wouldn't even face each other unless they were forced to. Neither would dare to make eye contact, let alone start a friendly conversation. But who could, anyway, at their situation? Striking up a mere conversation of what potion ingredient to add lastly to a Curing Concoction needed a large amount of courage. They would speak to each other, of course, but only in one-word/two-word replies. When they converse, it would be like 'How are you?', then one would reply 'fine.' At that, the conversation was finished.

Whilst Sirius and Aurora would start a petty little fight about why Godric Gryffindor's hair was dark red and why Rowena Ravenclaw's hair was pale periwinkle, James and Lily would look away from each other in complete timidity and silence.    

Sirius lazily stuck out his right foot, blocking the entrance to the girls' staircase. He was sitting in an armchair resting against the wall that was located to the left of the set of stairs.

"Goddamn it, Black," said a familiar female voice. "Get you foot out of there."

Sirius grinned. "Make me."

Aurora smirked. "Fine," She took her foot (her school shoes had heels 1 and a half inches tall) and jammed it onto Sirius's toes. He shrieked and instinctively pulled his foot out of the stairway, massaging it through the leather of his shoes. "Did I make you get your foot out of there to let me pass?" she said in a sickeningly sweet tone.

"OH MY *!@#$$%^ GOD, CALLAWAY! WHAT THE ^%$#*&! HELL DO YOU HAVE IN YOUR *@#$%!^ HEELS?!" Sirius burst out loud, taking the whole Gryffindor house by surprise. First years were wide-eyed as they stared, wide-eyed, at the speaker.

"You really won't want me docking off points for your profanity, Sirius," said Remus, smirking as he approached the two, whilst Aurora sneered and walked up the girls' staircase. "But since you used profanity in the midst of innocent first years and in front of a very good looking girl, you will have to suffer the consequences."

Sirius raised his eyes to Remus, still massaging his foot. "What do you -?"

"Hey Aurora," said Remus loudly, as James approached and smirked as well. Aurora turned around in a flutter of robes.

"Yeah?"

"Since you shoved your one and a half inch heel on Padfoot's…well, foot, Padfoot would like to express his undying love for you." James said; grinning triumphantly as Aurora smirked at his words.

"Why Black," said Aurora, smiling sweetly atop the staircase, seemingly glowering upon the frustrated Marauder. "Thank you for your feelings. I would gladly spread that to the world."

And then she was off.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?! YOU DO KNOW THAT I ABSOLUTELY HATE HER, RIGHT?!" Sirius screamed; eyebrows knitted together in fury. "I SO DO NOT LOVE HER!"

"It would be really nice if you would shut yourself up." James said as he waved his finger. "You've been shouting often lately."

"Well, Prongs," Sirius said as a matter-of-factly. "You would start shouting often if you get one and a half inch heel shoved down on your toes." Then he continued to massage his foot through his leather shoes.

"So, Prongs," said Remus, settling himself on an armchair beside Sirius. "What's been happening with you lately?"

James sighed audibly and settled on an armchair in front of the two. "Everything's been alright…I've been meaning to talk to Lily before we go and end the year, since it's already June…"

Sirius stared at him wide-eyed, just like the first years had done to him. "What are you, nuts? James, it's just February. You're going to wait like…" he ticked his fingers off, "Four months?! You're going to let her suffer for four months?! "

"What about you, Prongs?" asked Remus incredulously. "You're going to let yourself suffer for four more months?"

"So? It's no big deal, really." James said plainly. "Don't make a matter of it."

"But it is a matter! Don't be stupid, Prongs!"

Peter squeaked up. "Don't lower yourself to my level!"

Remus smiled kindly at Peter, who was sitting on a pouf next to James, remarkably unnoticed before. "Don't be like that, Peter. You're not stupid."

Peter's lips broke into a smile. "Thanks."

"Anyway, as we were saying, you should do it now," said Sirius.

"That's not what we were saying!" Remus countered. "We were saying that James shouldn't wait until JUNE!"

"But that's too long!" Sirius argued.

"Well, that was our point!"

"And that is why I vote for the motion that James should speak to our Lily dearest right now."

"But that's too drastic for a thing James should do."

"What do you suggest, then, Moony?"

"That James should spend more time thinking on what he should say."

James heaved another sigh. "Goddammit, I'll just talk to her right now if it would make you two stop acting like a married couple. If I didn't know better, I'd say you two were gay."

Remus and Sirius stared after Prongs as he started up the boys' staircase. "THAT IS SUCH A LIE, JAMES POTTER!"

Moony looked sideways to the window. "Besides, I'm in love with a GIRL, thank you very much."

His words made Sirius's head snap towards his direction so fast that he could've cricked his neck. "You're in love, Moony?"

*

James suddenly regretted in doing what he just said. He was trudging down the corridor that led to the Astronomy tower, holding his silvery Invisibility Cloak high up above his head, but also making sure that with every step he'd make his shoes wouldn't show. It was getting tiresome for him, since he already reached the height of 6'2 & 1/2. Holding the Cloak high enough to cover him and make him walk was beginning to be a chore. He also had the difficulty of squinting through the darkness, since he had no time to grab a lamp and make sure he'd bring it back. The last time he was here, he left the lamp and made their new caretaker query every student of whom the lamp belonged to.

"There she is…" James whispered triumphantly, sensing his skin turning into a lot of Goosebumps. His heart started to beat so fast it hurt, and nervousness started to run a course through his veins. Taking a deep breath, James opened the door to the large balcony without a creak or sound and closed it behind him.

She was no longer sitting down on the floor, looking lonesome on the large veranda like she did the first time around. Lily, the angel she was, was leaning on the ledge with a distant look on her face, as if she was contemplating very hard on something. Her long auburn locks glinted in the moonlight as the wind toyed with them, swaying the strands back and forth in a hypnotizing manner.

James found himself staring at her, entranced in her ethereal beauty.

"…James?"

He shook himself out of his trance. "Uh…Lily…hi…"

Lily blushed profusely and pretended to be interested in the grounds below. "Hi…uh…why are you here?"

He took a great intake of breath. "I…I wanted to talk to you."

"About…?"

James gathered his courage and looked at Lily straightly in the eye. That could be slightly impossible though, since Lily was staring at the grounds below, admiring the darkly hued grass as the slightly warm wind blew past them. "We need to straighten things out."

Lily gulped a huge lump in her throat, a lump that has been resting there ever since she heard someone enter the veranda. "W-what things?" she heard her own voice crack. "Everything's been fine."

He shook his head, not even caring if his gesture was visible. "Don't deny it, Lily. My life has been a total wreck because of you."

Lily turned around. "The feeling's mutual, then."

"But I want everything straightened out," said James. "I want everything the way it was before all this happened."

"As much as I would want that to happen, James," Lily smiled a pained smile. "We can't change what we've done."

"But we can. I told you, we can straighten things out and make everything clearer."

"Everything is clearer." Lily stated. "I love you, James. But I'm scared to do so. Probably you know why."

James took another great deal of air. "But you don't need to be scared, Lily," said James seriously, voice soft and husky that Lily found her façade melting like wax before a fire. She tried to be strong and tried to resist his charms, but James got her hook, line and sinker.

Lily whimpered under his gaze. "Why not?"

"I promise," said James. "Even if what I'm going to say would probably make you laugh for the rest of your life at its cheesiness, I'll try not to make you scared."

"You're already making me scared."

"See?" asked James. "That's my point! I'm already trying to make this easy for the both of us and yet you keep on cutting me off!" He sighed. "Lily, what do you want?"

"What I want?" Lily asked. "What I want is what we have now. Why can't you just leave me alone? I'm trying to forget everything that my heart keeps on telling me, but somehow, I can't. I would rather have you not noticing me at all rather than to notice me and suffer the consequences. I want to lead a normal life. So please," Lily looked at him pleadingly. "I'd rather…I'd rather lead my life…w-without y-you in it…. J-just…j-just…"

Tears started to stream down her cheeks. She looked down at the floor, whimpering as she tried to hold back her tears, finding herself unable to continue. What was the matter with her? They were only words – they were no reason to cry.

But she was wrong.

"I'm so sorry," said James softly. He approached her so slowly, carefully, as if each step would hurt his angel even more. He gingerly brought his hand to her cheek, wiping her tears away with his thumb in a comforting manner. "I can't leave you alone. I have to be here…for you…to stick with you whenever you're down…. I just can't leave you alone, since I need you myself…and I just can't leave you alone, Lily…"

Lily looked up at him with tearful emerald eyes. "Why…why not?"

"I just can't leave you alone, since I love you."

Why You Annoy Me

Part 07

Author's notes: Next chapter's epilogue! It's going to be finished!

 Yay!  Please, R&R!