*
Just another sappy love story
Chapter 3: On the course of recovery.
------
Disclaimer: Am not J.K Rowling. You get the idea.
------
Summary: Lily and James have a run-in on the Hogwarts Express and become enemies. When Lily does something wrong and her world crumbles, the most surprising person is their to help her rebuild her life. [L/J love-hate]
29 September 2003
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*
Over the next few weeks, Lily's behavior gradually changed from bad to worse. At first, she would answer rather normally, but after one week, she gave curt, one lined answers.
It was morning, and Lily and her friends were seated in the Great Hall eating their breakfast.
"Hey Lily, this weekend's a Hogsmead weekend. Wanna go?" Bella asked enthusiastically.
"Sure." Lily replied.
"Great!! You haven't been yourselves lately. Hogsmead will cheer you up!" She then replied.
"Yeah."
Her friends glanced worriedly at each other. This went unnoticed by Lily, who was too busy staring down at her plates and messing the food around.
"Lily? Lily?" Bell asked, waving her hand in front of Lily's face.
"What?" Lily asked, looking up, annoyance written on her face.
"Oh, err nothing. If you guys don't mind, I'll be skipping classes today. I'm not in the mood to study."
Without waiting for her friends answer, she grabbed her bag and jogged out of the Great Hall.
Her friends looked at each other. "What's up with her? She never used to skip classes before this week."
James scowled as he saw Lily run out of the Great Hall for the other end of the table where the Marauders were seated. 'No doubt to skip classes again.'
His anger was visible by the other Marauders. "What's up Prongs?" Sirius asked.
"Evans is skipping classes again," he said, his fists shaking visibly.
Sirius raised his eyebrows. "What's it to you?"
James glared at him. "That bloody witch! She gets one more chance at living her life again, but instead she chooses not too! Instead, she wallows in self-pity, bitter about everything and everyone around her, thinking how everything bad happens to her! I might as well have not saved her! Other people were not so. lucky to get this chance. Now Helen..." he stopped and closed his eyes tightly. (Don't worry people, you'll get to know who she is when James confronts Lily.)
Remus looked at his friend sympathetically. "If it means so much to you, then go find her."
James looked at him. "You think I haven't tried? Every time I try to look for her, she mysteriously disappears. Hell! She even manages to slip away even when I'm tailing her! The Marauders Map doesn't work either, cause she doesn't turn up on it!"
---- Lily.
Lily ran all the way to her own special room. It was almost inaccessible, unless you knew where to look for it. She herself had not known of its existence until she tripped and fell as she walked past the entrance during her third year. The entrance to the room was near floor level. It was a minute rose. She took out the last rose petal three inches away from the rose and placed it carefully in a hollow on the rose. As far as she knew, no on else knew about it, not even her friends. She came here only if she wanted peace and quiet, which was what was the case recently.
She observed the corridor. Satisfied that the tiny salamander three metres away wasn't a threat to her secret room, she pushed the rose briefly and stepped into the hole that had just appeared, shutting it quickly behind her. Unknown to her, someone had just come around the corner and saw her fiery red hair disappear behind the wall.
'So that's where she's hiding."
Lily stepped into the room and the lights instantly flared up. Yet, unlike before, this room didn't offer her the comfort she needed.
She walked over to the big window over-looking the school grounds and quidditch pitch. The window was one-sided so no one could look into it from the outside.
She felt hollow. Her tears had long since dried up, her tantrums had ceased. She had long past the stage of caring for anything.
"Everything's changed," she said bitterly to herself. "Even if they try to act as if nothing's happened, everything's changed. They can't go back to how they used to be."
She walked around the spacious room listlessly. Usually, she would have come here to read. But after thumbing through several books in the extensive collection in the room, she flopped down on a large couch, staring morosely at the wall. She had even lost her interest in reading.
--- End Lily.
One week later, things didn't improve. Lily now isolated herself from her friends. And her numerous admirers were also drifting away. Her once silky red hair was matted and tangled, and her eyes were a dull green.
"Have any of you seen Lily?" Gab asked.
Bella and Nikki looked at her and shook their heads.
"She didn't come back to the dorms last night, and the night before that and before that, and she hasn't been attending her classes since last week. In fact, no one has seen her around since then," she said, concern in her features.
Lily had retreated to her room, building up defenses around her. She was determined not to get hurt again.
James was furious. Remus, Sirius and Peter were watching him silently as he paced around their dorm. His mood had turned even fouler everyday since Lily's disappearance.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE HER!" He yelled. Peter jumped.
Remus and Sirius looked at their friend.
"She is such an ingrate!" And he stomped out of the room.
"Err, James?" Nikki asked timidly. Everyone in Hogwarts knew of his bad moods. Snape and Malfoy were still in the Hospital Wing, recovering from whatever James did to them a few days ago.
"What?!" He snapped.
"Is Sirius upstairs?"
"Yes!" He bellowed and stomped out of the common room, trampling over terrified first years who were unfortunate enough to come in at that moment, and gave them a five-minute rant.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" He yelled and glared furiously at them. The two students looked at him, fear filling their eyes.
"DON'T YOU HAVE ANY EYES?! OR DO YOUR EYES GROW ON THE BACK OF YOUR HEADS!"
One girl squeaked.
Sirius came down from the dorm with Nikki, and froze as he saw the scene taking place in front of him.
"James!" He bounded over and grabbed James arm, restricting him. He looked angry enough to hurt somebody badly.
"LET GO!"
"No, James Potter. This is going too far. Let them go. They haven't done anything to you," Sirius said seriously for once. (yea, haha, overused.)
James arms tensed as he glared furiously at the two first years, then at Sirius.
"What are you going to do?" Sirius raised an eyebrow mockingly. "Hit me?"
James continued glaring, and it looked as though he was really going to punch Sirius. Nikki hovered behind the two, she had her wand out, and was fingering it nervously.
Then, James relaxed. "Let go Sirius. I said let go. I'm not yet low enough to hit a friend."
He shrugged Sirius arm off and walked out of the portrait, slamming it hard in the process.
The two first years squeaked a thanks to Sirius and hurried off to their own dorms.
James stormed down the corridor, ignoring the Fat Lady's furious protests.
"Honestly, students nowadays-" she started.
"Oh, sod off you old hag!" James yelled over his shoulder, leaving the Fat Lady to mutter obscenities.
He stalked past two corridors and turned, coming to a blank section of wall. He had seen Lily disappear behind a week ago. He had examined this wall countless times, and had yet to find a way in. At that moment, he heard footsteps around the corner, and turned around hastily. Professor Dumbledore rounded the corner, humming happily to himself.
"Oh, hello Mister Potter, fancy meeting you here," he said cheerfully.
"Professor Dumbledore," James replied as a greeting.
"Oh dear me," Dumbledore said suddenly. "I think I dropped something, could you possibly help me pick it up? It's right there, near the wall."
James got on his knees and started searching, but something caught his eye. It was a beautifully craved rose in the stone wall. 'Surely that's not normal,' James thought to himself.
He straightened up to tell Professor Dumbledore that he couldn't find anything, but he had already gone.
James shook his head in puzzlement.
He got down on his knees again to inspect the other parts of the wall. Sure enough, the rose was the only one of its kind there. Tentatively, he pushed on the rose, and was surprised when a hole opened up in front of him.
'Bingo!'
And he stepped through the wall.
---- Lily.
Lily heard the wall opening.
'That's odd, she thought briefly. No one's supposed to be in here...' But, she couldn't be bothered to get up to see who had invaded her privacy.
---- End Lily.
James looked around the room and spotted Lily slumped on a couch staring at the wall. He shook his head disgustedly and stalked over to her.
"Evans, I finally found you," he spat.
"Potter," her eyes widened briefly in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Come to get you out of your self-pity! God, you need help Evans!"
"I don't need any help."
"Oh yea? LOOK AT YOU!" He conjured a mirror and placed it in front of Lily. "Look what happened to you? You think nobody cares? Let me tell you something! Your friends are in the common room right no, sick with worry about you! And you don't even bother telling them you're here, drowning yourself in pity. No one is gonna feel sorry for you the way you act!"
"Nothing matters anymore. Everything's changed," Lily said dully.
James scoffed, and answered in a voice full of contempt. "What happened to the Evans I knew? The one with the spitfire personality? Don't tell me that you can't even take this blow? God! JUST get up and start over again. If you can't even do that, well, I'm sorry to say I thought you were made of tougher stuff. Evidently, I was wrong."
Lily looked at him briefly, and resumed staring at an invisible spot on the all.
James angrily grabbed her shoulders and started shaking them, hard. "Listen to me Evans! You get a chance to change what you did! Grab this chance! Don't wait til its too late! Let me tell you something. Helen, my sister, she was a squib, but she was hardworking and managed to keep her grades up. My parents didn't think it was proper her a squib to be born into an old wizarding family and didn't much care about her. She was like you, carefree and fiery. But she couldn't take it, she couldn't take living in the strict high-wizarding society that our family was in, the looks of scorn others looked at her with. She- she killed herself, and I wasn't there to save her!"
James stopped his tirade, and looked at Lily, and looked deep into her eyes. What he saw surprised him. The eyes that had once challenged him with fire was now dead, the bright sparkling green of her eyes replaced with a dull shade. Lily's eyes were emotionless.
He let go of her. "I see I'm not going to get through to you. Fine! You can stay here and rot for all I care!"
He left the room and started down the corridor. It was only then that a sudden thought occurred to him.
'Dumbledore... he directed me to her. Dumbledore isn't stupid. And the way he 'dropped' something was way to coincidental.'
---- Lily.
Lily stood up after James left. Surprising, considering that she hadn't left the couch for the past week. She made her way slowly towards large window. James, Sirius, Remus, Nikki, Bella and Bag were playing quidditch on the pitch. She watched as Bella shrieked as Sirius flew towards her, and she saw the happiness on their faces. But, she saw tinges of sadness on all her friends, sadness she hadn't seen before her 'incident'.
'It must be a Saturday then... I wonder how it would be like if I were to join them.'
Lily turned around and saw a piece of parchment on the floor. Curious, she picked it up.
~~
Evans,
Each of us is a star that shines with the rest, and sometimes we twinkle alone.
But just when you're about to lose your sparkle, your friends are always there to add a glow.
James.
~~
Lily stared at the wall for a while, fingering the parchment, as pieces of James speech floated in her mind. Her mouth set into a firm line.
'He's right you know, I can't go on like this. God! My work must be falling way behind! And how could I be such an ass to let them worry about me?' Lily smacked her forehead.
"He's right... Everything's changed, but I can pick myself up and keep on going. I can make it change for the better."
And for the first time in two weeks, Lily smiled.
She quickly took a shower in the room. It had many handy facilities, in case she wanted to stay overnight. It was refreshing to feel the water running down her body. She took her time to bath, carefully tending to her hair and smoothing out the tangles in it. She came out and dressed in a hooded shirt and baggy black cargo pants.
She fingered her Silver Arrow. She enjoyed flying immensely and was quite good at it. As she left her room for the first time in a week, clutching the broomstick in her right hand, she felt her heart loosen up more than it had for a long time, and her steps light as she strolled down the corridor.
---- End Lily.
"So James, did you find her?" Remus asked.
"Yea, I did, but I don't know if it helped. She looked half-dead." James replied.
"Uhh, James, maybe not as dead as you think," Remus said as he pointed.
James looked up to see a red-head flying towards them She was good on the broom, her control perfect.
Bella was the first of the girls to notice, and she shrieked happily.
"Nikki, Gab!"
The three girls quickly flew towards Lily, and engulfed her in a hug.
"Hey Lily! Where've you been? We were so worried about you!" Gab said happily.
Lily smiled a small smile. "I've been sick, sorry to let you worry but it's much better now."
They smiled at each other.
Bella noticed Lily's eyes were not as bright a green as they used to be. Lily noticed her gaze.
"It's all right Bella, I'll get better, I promise. I have you three to help me. Everything's gonna be just fine."
The girls quickly filled her in on what had been happening the past weeks.
"And you know, Billy Thompson's got a girlfriend."
"And Snape and Malfoy had their hair painted pink and green and purple,"
"And our OWL's are coming up soon, but nobody's studying..."
"And guess WHAT?!?! We spoke to Professor White, and we cornered him after DADA one day, and we spoke to him nicely -- to which Remus snorted and said, " nicely? You were threatening him with castration!" - oh shut up Remus! And Dumbledore came too, and McGonagall, and they talked to him too, so you can have your marks back!!!"
"Really?" Lily's eyes lit up.
"Positive!"
"Thanks guys," she said happily.
They flew off to continue the game, chattering loudly and continuously.
'It certainly feels good to be home,' Lily thought wistfully.
Halfway through the game, Lily flew up beside James.
"Erm, Potter..." she said sheepishly. "Thanks for letting me see how much they cared, and for getting me out of the hell hole, and erm, just thanks for everything..."
"Anytime Evans. Let's say we call a truce?"
Lily looked at him and smiled briefly.
The following Monday, Lily returned to classes.
"Miss Evans," McGonagall said as she walked in. "While I must say that I was disappointed at you for being so irresponsible, I must say, welcome back. Everyone has missed you." And gave a rare smile.
"Thank you Professor."
And she had received the same reception in every class she went to.
*
Over the next few weeks, her friends watched carefully as Lily gradually returned to normal. Her defenses were slowly crumbling and she smiled more often now. Her eyes were also returning to their emerald green, and their place at the Gryffindor table was becoming to most popular place in the Great Hall during lunch and dinner.
"Hello Siri-dear, James-darling, Remmy," a group of giggling girls said as they walked past.
James and Sirius smiled charmingly at them, causing them to blush and start giggling, while Remus contented himself with talking to Peter.
The girls rolled their eyes at them.
"Eww... I wonder what they find charming about you James!" Lily said, sniggering.
"Oh, I dunno. It could be my irresistible good looks, or my charm..." he said looking innocently at her and grinning, and slinging an arm easily across her shoulder.
Lily and James had become very close, and shared a relationship that none else possessed. Lily was sort of like the sister James had lost.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Yea right."
"Jamesie!!!" A very high-pitched voice squealed. The next moment, James felt his hands tugged away from Lily and placed around another fifth-year, a pretty brunette by the name of June West. "Ohh, I missed you so much..." she said, kissing him before sitting on his lap and tucking her head under his chin.
"Oh, err, June, I just saw you yesterday!" James said somewhat irritated.
"Yea, but I missed you!" June mumbled.
"Umm, June? I'm with my friends now... And that wasn't very nice of you, to interrupt our conversation."
June flashed a smile at the other two Marauders, and pointedly ignored the girls. "Sorry Remmy, Siri."
James rolled his eyes over the top of her head and looked at Lily and mouthed 'sorry bout her.'
Lily shook her head. 'Nevermind,' she mouthed back.
Remus and Sirius forced tight smiles onto their faces.
"Umm, sorry James, June, we have to go now," Sirius said cheerily. "Come on Moony, Wormtail, you girls."
The seven of them made their way out of the Great Hall, and once outside, burst into fits of laughter at James' plight.
"Oh my god," Sirius said between gasps. "Did you see his face? It was priceless!"
"Guys?" Peter said after his laughing had subsided. "I'm gonna find Eve now, bye."
"Awww, ickle Petey is gonna find his gal. You're so mushy..." Sirius teased as Peter walked away.
Peter turned back towards the group and grinned before flashing a rude gesture at them.
"Poor James," Bella said, shaking her head. "He didn't know what hit him."
"You guys are so mean!" Lily admonished lightly. "You get had to set him up with the most squealish girl in fifth year did you?" But her eyes were sparkling.
Nikki was rolling on the floor in fits of laughter. "And it doesn't help that she has a crush on all three of you! Let's go now. James won't be too pleased at us..."
As they set off down the corridor, Sirius took Bella's hand and Remus took Gab's. (it figures huh? haha, sorry, I'm a lazy person. I didn't really want to describe them getting together. But if you want to know how, drop me a review so I can dedicate the next chapter to these four characters)
Lily looked at the two couples in surprise.
Nikki sidled up to her. "Gross right? They're so mushy. It was sometime during you umm, you know, that they realised that they were madly in love with each other." She made a gagging face as Sirius kissed Bella. "I never knew my bro could be so... Ewww." She finished lamely.
Lily laughed softly at her friends' antics.
"So Lils, it's just you and me left. When are you going to get yourself a guy?"
Lily shrugged. "I dunno. If I find someone right for me, I might."
She looked up and grinned as a group of sixth year guys walked past.
"Hey Lily," one of them said.
"Hey."
"I'll see you around school."
Nikki looked at her friend and smacked her arm.
"You didn't tell me you were on speaking terms with Jake! Oh my god! How could you? He's how hot!"
Lily shrugged. "Yea, well, we weren't. That was the first time he said hi..." she said dreamily.
*
~ One week later ~
"Gods!" Gab moaned as she sat down at their usual spot in the Great Hall for lunch. "I can't believe how time flies. It seemed just a while ago when we were just ickle-innocent little first year students that came to Hogwarts, and now, we are an hour away from taking our first papers in the OWLs! Oh no! What are the twelve uses of dragon blood?" She asked somewhat frantically.
Sirius looked over at her and snorted. "You, innocent? Hahaha, and the cows are flying."
Gab glared at him. "Yea, look there on the ceiling... See, there's a cow flying, and another one there... and there," she said, and charmed a few hovering cows onto the ceiling. "Haha! I win!"
Remus looked at her and smiled, slipping an arm around her waist. "Don't worry your head of Gab, you're gonna do just great."
Gab looked into Remus' eyes lovingly (ewww!!!) and they smiled happily at each other.
Nikki rolled her eyes at Lily, and made gagging sounds.
Lily laughed at her friend. "Well, at least they're not as bad as Sirius and Bella," she said in amusement, and directed her gaze towards the pair. "Now, that's what you call disgusting," she finished.
They were in fact, whispering sweet nothings to each other and feeding each other, while every once in a while, leaning in to share soft kisses.
Nikki looked over at her brother. "Bonkers I tell you," she said to Lily and proceeded to shove him.
"Hey!" Sirius yelped indignantly. "I'm in the middle of something here!"
Nikki rolled her eyes. "We all know that. Get a room Sirius!"
Peter and Eve were sitting to one side, more engrossed in their own quiet conversation than in the group, and James was currently trying to fend of a few girls from his fan club, all of which had quickly come onto him when they realised that he had just broken up with June earlier that day.
"No, Trish! I can't go out with you! Not you either Gwen..." he said.
Lily looked over at him and laughed.
"Aww, ickle-Jamsie has got so many girls in love with him..." she cooed.
James shot her a look that plainly said 'help me!'.
Lily and Nikki laughed and proceeded to tease James about his fan club.
"Come on James. Give them a chance..." Nikki said between gasps of air. (haha, evil, I know)
They laughed at James' plight for about ten more minutes, until the girls were becoming bolder and bolder by the lack of opposition from the girls that they were now practically throwing themselves at him. (not like they weren't before, but now they're touching him more)
Lily looked over at Nikki. "Ok, now, that's getting a little too much," she said and then looked across the table from her at a rather helpless James. "I better save him."
She reached over to him, and touched the side of his cheek, eyeing him with a mischievous look that said 'play along, this is gonna be so fun!'
The three couples present had now turned their attention onto the crowd around James, and were wearing identical maniacal grins. Sirius nudged Nikki. "Those poor girls are going to have their hearts broken."
James winked at her and touched her hand. The girls that were surrounding him looked highly affronted and were glaring enviously or murderously at Lily. James vaulted the table top so that he was on the same side of the table as Lily, and proceeded to sit on the bench and wrapping Lily's small frame in his arms.
"Sorry, you know why I can't go out with you," James said and grinned at them, not sounding the least bit apologetic.
"Oh, James, that's fine, we won't give up," they cooed in their sugary- sweet voices, then drifted away, shooting daggers at Lily from the corners of their eyes.
James let go of Lily and slapped her a high-five. "Lils, I swear, you're a life-saver!"
Lily laughed. "That's good, now we're even. But you and your fan-club, I swear I'm gonna get killed by them very soon!"
"Then I'll save you again!" James said brightly.
"Honestly," Lily said, thoughtfully putting a finger to her chin. "Why don't you give them a chance? Hmmm, Gwen's not bad looking, and Karina is somewhat more intelligent than the entire Hufflepuff bunch..." she looked over at James and wiggled her eyebrows playfully. "...Or maybe you could go for Stephanie... I heard she's not a bad snogger..." and looked innocently at James.
"Yea right Lils, very funny," he said with a grin and started tickling her.
Lily, if you people didn't know, was highly ticklish, and she started squirming and giggling profusely.
"Excuse me, am I interrupting something?" A deep voice said from behind them. They whirled around to find Jake Summers (that guy in the hallway) a sixth year Ravenclaw quidditch player staring down at them, smiling slightly.
"Err, no," Lily said brightly, quickly batting James' hands away and fixing her hair at the same time. Her face was rather red from all the laughing.
"Hey James, Sirius, how you doing?" He said. "Can't wait for the next match, hope you trash Slytherin."
"Jake," they smiled a greeting at him.
Jake was a very popular sixth year who ran with his own crowd of friends and was on good terms with the Marauders.
"Could I borrow Lily for a while?" He asked, flashing a brief smile at her.
Lily nodded and followed him out of the Great Hall.
*
There! It's done, finally. -Groans- It was hard to write, and I think this chapter was my worst ever. What do you think? Give me you opinions, drop me a review. Haha, Lily and James only feel close friendship towards each other, sort of like the sort siblings share, they don't like each other as yet. No, not even James. James may like someone else in the future, but not Lily yet. Gimme your views on how I should continue... a dance maybe? Or a girlfriend for James?
And, umm, yea, while you're at it, I would truly appreciate if you drop by my other fanfic, Turn Left Turn Right and gimme a few reviews. It's a lovely story.
Thanks specially to my lovely reviewers!
~cube
*
Just another sappy love story
Chapter 3: On the course of recovery.
------
Disclaimer: Am not J.K Rowling. You get the idea.
------
Summary: Lily and James have a run-in on the Hogwarts Express and become enemies. When Lily does something wrong and her world crumbles, the most surprising person is their to help her rebuild her life. [L/J love-hate]
29 September 2003
------
*
Over the next few weeks, Lily's behavior gradually changed from bad to worse. At first, she would answer rather normally, but after one week, she gave curt, one lined answers.
It was morning, and Lily and her friends were seated in the Great Hall eating their breakfast.
"Hey Lily, this weekend's a Hogsmead weekend. Wanna go?" Bella asked enthusiastically.
"Sure." Lily replied.
"Great!! You haven't been yourselves lately. Hogsmead will cheer you up!" She then replied.
"Yeah."
Her friends glanced worriedly at each other. This went unnoticed by Lily, who was too busy staring down at her plates and messing the food around.
"Lily? Lily?" Bell asked, waving her hand in front of Lily's face.
"What?" Lily asked, looking up, annoyance written on her face.
"Oh, err nothing. If you guys don't mind, I'll be skipping classes today. I'm not in the mood to study."
Without waiting for her friends answer, she grabbed her bag and jogged out of the Great Hall.
Her friends looked at each other. "What's up with her? She never used to skip classes before this week."
James scowled as he saw Lily run out of the Great Hall for the other end of the table where the Marauders were seated. 'No doubt to skip classes again.'
His anger was visible by the other Marauders. "What's up Prongs?" Sirius asked.
"Evans is skipping classes again," he said, his fists shaking visibly.
Sirius raised his eyebrows. "What's it to you?"
James glared at him. "That bloody witch! She gets one more chance at living her life again, but instead she chooses not too! Instead, she wallows in self-pity, bitter about everything and everyone around her, thinking how everything bad happens to her! I might as well have not saved her! Other people were not so. lucky to get this chance. Now Helen..." he stopped and closed his eyes tightly. (Don't worry people, you'll get to know who she is when James confronts Lily.)
Remus looked at his friend sympathetically. "If it means so much to you, then go find her."
James looked at him. "You think I haven't tried? Every time I try to look for her, she mysteriously disappears. Hell! She even manages to slip away even when I'm tailing her! The Marauders Map doesn't work either, cause she doesn't turn up on it!"
---- Lily.
Lily ran all the way to her own special room. It was almost inaccessible, unless you knew where to look for it. She herself had not known of its existence until she tripped and fell as she walked past the entrance during her third year. The entrance to the room was near floor level. It was a minute rose. She took out the last rose petal three inches away from the rose and placed it carefully in a hollow on the rose. As far as she knew, no on else knew about it, not even her friends. She came here only if she wanted peace and quiet, which was what was the case recently.
She observed the corridor. Satisfied that the tiny salamander three metres away wasn't a threat to her secret room, she pushed the rose briefly and stepped into the hole that had just appeared, shutting it quickly behind her. Unknown to her, someone had just come around the corner and saw her fiery red hair disappear behind the wall.
'So that's where she's hiding."
Lily stepped into the room and the lights instantly flared up. Yet, unlike before, this room didn't offer her the comfort she needed.
She walked over to the big window over-looking the school grounds and quidditch pitch. The window was one-sided so no one could look into it from the outside.
She felt hollow. Her tears had long since dried up, her tantrums had ceased. She had long past the stage of caring for anything.
"Everything's changed," she said bitterly to herself. "Even if they try to act as if nothing's happened, everything's changed. They can't go back to how they used to be."
She walked around the spacious room listlessly. Usually, she would have come here to read. But after thumbing through several books in the extensive collection in the room, she flopped down on a large couch, staring morosely at the wall. She had even lost her interest in reading.
--- End Lily.
One week later, things didn't improve. Lily now isolated herself from her friends. And her numerous admirers were also drifting away. Her once silky red hair was matted and tangled, and her eyes were a dull green.
"Have any of you seen Lily?" Gab asked.
Bella and Nikki looked at her and shook their heads.
"She didn't come back to the dorms last night, and the night before that and before that, and she hasn't been attending her classes since last week. In fact, no one has seen her around since then," she said, concern in her features.
Lily had retreated to her room, building up defenses around her. She was determined not to get hurt again.
James was furious. Remus, Sirius and Peter were watching him silently as he paced around their dorm. His mood had turned even fouler everyday since Lily's disappearance.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE HER!" He yelled. Peter jumped.
Remus and Sirius looked at their friend.
"She is such an ingrate!" And he stomped out of the room.
"Err, James?" Nikki asked timidly. Everyone in Hogwarts knew of his bad moods. Snape and Malfoy were still in the Hospital Wing, recovering from whatever James did to them a few days ago.
"What?!" He snapped.
"Is Sirius upstairs?"
"Yes!" He bellowed and stomped out of the common room, trampling over terrified first years who were unfortunate enough to come in at that moment, and gave them a five-minute rant.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" He yelled and glared furiously at them. The two students looked at him, fear filling their eyes.
"DON'T YOU HAVE ANY EYES?! OR DO YOUR EYES GROW ON THE BACK OF YOUR HEADS!"
One girl squeaked.
Sirius came down from the dorm with Nikki, and froze as he saw the scene taking place in front of him.
"James!" He bounded over and grabbed James arm, restricting him. He looked angry enough to hurt somebody badly.
"LET GO!"
"No, James Potter. This is going too far. Let them go. They haven't done anything to you," Sirius said seriously for once. (yea, haha, overused.)
James arms tensed as he glared furiously at the two first years, then at Sirius.
"What are you going to do?" Sirius raised an eyebrow mockingly. "Hit me?"
James continued glaring, and it looked as though he was really going to punch Sirius. Nikki hovered behind the two, she had her wand out, and was fingering it nervously.
Then, James relaxed. "Let go Sirius. I said let go. I'm not yet low enough to hit a friend."
He shrugged Sirius arm off and walked out of the portrait, slamming it hard in the process.
The two first years squeaked a thanks to Sirius and hurried off to their own dorms.
James stormed down the corridor, ignoring the Fat Lady's furious protests.
"Honestly, students nowadays-" she started.
"Oh, sod off you old hag!" James yelled over his shoulder, leaving the Fat Lady to mutter obscenities.
He stalked past two corridors and turned, coming to a blank section of wall. He had seen Lily disappear behind a week ago. He had examined this wall countless times, and had yet to find a way in. At that moment, he heard footsteps around the corner, and turned around hastily. Professor Dumbledore rounded the corner, humming happily to himself.
"Oh, hello Mister Potter, fancy meeting you here," he said cheerfully.
"Professor Dumbledore," James replied as a greeting.
"Oh dear me," Dumbledore said suddenly. "I think I dropped something, could you possibly help me pick it up? It's right there, near the wall."
James got on his knees and started searching, but something caught his eye. It was a beautifully craved rose in the stone wall. 'Surely that's not normal,' James thought to himself.
He straightened up to tell Professor Dumbledore that he couldn't find anything, but he had already gone.
James shook his head in puzzlement.
He got down on his knees again to inspect the other parts of the wall. Sure enough, the rose was the only one of its kind there. Tentatively, he pushed on the rose, and was surprised when a hole opened up in front of him.
'Bingo!'
And he stepped through the wall.
---- Lily.
Lily heard the wall opening.
'That's odd, she thought briefly. No one's supposed to be in here...' But, she couldn't be bothered to get up to see who had invaded her privacy.
---- End Lily.
James looked around the room and spotted Lily slumped on a couch staring at the wall. He shook his head disgustedly and stalked over to her.
"Evans, I finally found you," he spat.
"Potter," her eyes widened briefly in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Come to get you out of your self-pity! God, you need help Evans!"
"I don't need any help."
"Oh yea? LOOK AT YOU!" He conjured a mirror and placed it in front of Lily. "Look what happened to you? You think nobody cares? Let me tell you something! Your friends are in the common room right no, sick with worry about you! And you don't even bother telling them you're here, drowning yourself in pity. No one is gonna feel sorry for you the way you act!"
"Nothing matters anymore. Everything's changed," Lily said dully.
James scoffed, and answered in a voice full of contempt. "What happened to the Evans I knew? The one with the spitfire personality? Don't tell me that you can't even take this blow? God! JUST get up and start over again. If you can't even do that, well, I'm sorry to say I thought you were made of tougher stuff. Evidently, I was wrong."
Lily looked at him briefly, and resumed staring at an invisible spot on the all.
James angrily grabbed her shoulders and started shaking them, hard. "Listen to me Evans! You get a chance to change what you did! Grab this chance! Don't wait til its too late! Let me tell you something. Helen, my sister, she was a squib, but she was hardworking and managed to keep her grades up. My parents didn't think it was proper her a squib to be born into an old wizarding family and didn't much care about her. She was like you, carefree and fiery. But she couldn't take it, she couldn't take living in the strict high-wizarding society that our family was in, the looks of scorn others looked at her with. She- she killed herself, and I wasn't there to save her!"
James stopped his tirade, and looked at Lily, and looked deep into her eyes. What he saw surprised him. The eyes that had once challenged him with fire was now dead, the bright sparkling green of her eyes replaced with a dull shade. Lily's eyes were emotionless.
He let go of her. "I see I'm not going to get through to you. Fine! You can stay here and rot for all I care!"
He left the room and started down the corridor. It was only then that a sudden thought occurred to him.
'Dumbledore... he directed me to her. Dumbledore isn't stupid. And the way he 'dropped' something was way to coincidental.'
---- Lily.
Lily stood up after James left. Surprising, considering that she hadn't left the couch for the past week. She made her way slowly towards large window. James, Sirius, Remus, Nikki, Bella and Bag were playing quidditch on the pitch. She watched as Bella shrieked as Sirius flew towards her, and she saw the happiness on their faces. But, she saw tinges of sadness on all her friends, sadness she hadn't seen before her 'incident'.
'It must be a Saturday then... I wonder how it would be like if I were to join them.'
Lily turned around and saw a piece of parchment on the floor. Curious, she picked it up.
~~
Evans,
Each of us is a star that shines with the rest, and sometimes we twinkle alone.
But just when you're about to lose your sparkle, your friends are always there to add a glow.
James.
~~
Lily stared at the wall for a while, fingering the parchment, as pieces of James speech floated in her mind. Her mouth set into a firm line.
'He's right you know, I can't go on like this. God! My work must be falling way behind! And how could I be such an ass to let them worry about me?' Lily smacked her forehead.
"He's right... Everything's changed, but I can pick myself up and keep on going. I can make it change for the better."
And for the first time in two weeks, Lily smiled.
She quickly took a shower in the room. It had many handy facilities, in case she wanted to stay overnight. It was refreshing to feel the water running down her body. She took her time to bath, carefully tending to her hair and smoothing out the tangles in it. She came out and dressed in a hooded shirt and baggy black cargo pants.
She fingered her Silver Arrow. She enjoyed flying immensely and was quite good at it. As she left her room for the first time in a week, clutching the broomstick in her right hand, she felt her heart loosen up more than it had for a long time, and her steps light as she strolled down the corridor.
---- End Lily.
"So James, did you find her?" Remus asked.
"Yea, I did, but I don't know if it helped. She looked half-dead." James replied.
"Uhh, James, maybe not as dead as you think," Remus said as he pointed.
James looked up to see a red-head flying towards them She was good on the broom, her control perfect.
Bella was the first of the girls to notice, and she shrieked happily.
"Nikki, Gab!"
The three girls quickly flew towards Lily, and engulfed her in a hug.
"Hey Lily! Where've you been? We were so worried about you!" Gab said happily.
Lily smiled a small smile. "I've been sick, sorry to let you worry but it's much better now."
They smiled at each other.
Bella noticed Lily's eyes were not as bright a green as they used to be. Lily noticed her gaze.
"It's all right Bella, I'll get better, I promise. I have you three to help me. Everything's gonna be just fine."
The girls quickly filled her in on what had been happening the past weeks.
"And you know, Billy Thompson's got a girlfriend."
"And Snape and Malfoy had their hair painted pink and green and purple,"
"And our OWL's are coming up soon, but nobody's studying..."
"And guess WHAT?!?! We spoke to Professor White, and we cornered him after DADA one day, and we spoke to him nicely -- to which Remus snorted and said, " nicely? You were threatening him with castration!" - oh shut up Remus! And Dumbledore came too, and McGonagall, and they talked to him too, so you can have your marks back!!!"
"Really?" Lily's eyes lit up.
"Positive!"
"Thanks guys," she said happily.
They flew off to continue the game, chattering loudly and continuously.
'It certainly feels good to be home,' Lily thought wistfully.
Halfway through the game, Lily flew up beside James.
"Erm, Potter..." she said sheepishly. "Thanks for letting me see how much they cared, and for getting me out of the hell hole, and erm, just thanks for everything..."
"Anytime Evans. Let's say we call a truce?"
Lily looked at him and smiled briefly.
The following Monday, Lily returned to classes.
"Miss Evans," McGonagall said as she walked in. "While I must say that I was disappointed at you for being so irresponsible, I must say, welcome back. Everyone has missed you." And gave a rare smile.
"Thank you Professor."
And she had received the same reception in every class she went to.
*
Over the next few weeks, her friends watched carefully as Lily gradually returned to normal. Her defenses were slowly crumbling and she smiled more often now. Her eyes were also returning to their emerald green, and their place at the Gryffindor table was becoming to most popular place in the Great Hall during lunch and dinner.
"Hello Siri-dear, James-darling, Remmy," a group of giggling girls said as they walked past.
James and Sirius smiled charmingly at them, causing them to blush and start giggling, while Remus contented himself with talking to Peter.
The girls rolled their eyes at them.
"Eww... I wonder what they find charming about you James!" Lily said, sniggering.
"Oh, I dunno. It could be my irresistible good looks, or my charm..." he said looking innocently at her and grinning, and slinging an arm easily across her shoulder.
Lily and James had become very close, and shared a relationship that none else possessed. Lily was sort of like the sister James had lost.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Yea right."
"Jamesie!!!" A very high-pitched voice squealed. The next moment, James felt his hands tugged away from Lily and placed around another fifth-year, a pretty brunette by the name of June West. "Ohh, I missed you so much..." she said, kissing him before sitting on his lap and tucking her head under his chin.
"Oh, err, June, I just saw you yesterday!" James said somewhat irritated.
"Yea, but I missed you!" June mumbled.
"Umm, June? I'm with my friends now... And that wasn't very nice of you, to interrupt our conversation."
June flashed a smile at the other two Marauders, and pointedly ignored the girls. "Sorry Remmy, Siri."
James rolled his eyes over the top of her head and looked at Lily and mouthed 'sorry bout her.'
Lily shook her head. 'Nevermind,' she mouthed back.
Remus and Sirius forced tight smiles onto their faces.
"Umm, sorry James, June, we have to go now," Sirius said cheerily. "Come on Moony, Wormtail, you girls."
The seven of them made their way out of the Great Hall, and once outside, burst into fits of laughter at James' plight.
"Oh my god," Sirius said between gasps. "Did you see his face? It was priceless!"
"Guys?" Peter said after his laughing had subsided. "I'm gonna find Eve now, bye."
"Awww, ickle Petey is gonna find his gal. You're so mushy..." Sirius teased as Peter walked away.
Peter turned back towards the group and grinned before flashing a rude gesture at them.
"Poor James," Bella said, shaking her head. "He didn't know what hit him."
"You guys are so mean!" Lily admonished lightly. "You get had to set him up with the most squealish girl in fifth year did you?" But her eyes were sparkling.
Nikki was rolling on the floor in fits of laughter. "And it doesn't help that she has a crush on all three of you! Let's go now. James won't be too pleased at us..."
As they set off down the corridor, Sirius took Bella's hand and Remus took Gab's. (it figures huh? haha, sorry, I'm a lazy person. I didn't really want to describe them getting together. But if you want to know how, drop me a review so I can dedicate the next chapter to these four characters)
Lily looked at the two couples in surprise.
Nikki sidled up to her. "Gross right? They're so mushy. It was sometime during you umm, you know, that they realised that they were madly in love with each other." She made a gagging face as Sirius kissed Bella. "I never knew my bro could be so... Ewww." She finished lamely.
Lily laughed softly at her friends' antics.
"So Lils, it's just you and me left. When are you going to get yourself a guy?"
Lily shrugged. "I dunno. If I find someone right for me, I might."
She looked up and grinned as a group of sixth year guys walked past.
"Hey Lily," one of them said.
"Hey."
"I'll see you around school."
Nikki looked at her friend and smacked her arm.
"You didn't tell me you were on speaking terms with Jake! Oh my god! How could you? He's how hot!"
Lily shrugged. "Yea, well, we weren't. That was the first time he said hi..." she said dreamily.
*
~ One week later ~
"Gods!" Gab moaned as she sat down at their usual spot in the Great Hall for lunch. "I can't believe how time flies. It seemed just a while ago when we were just ickle-innocent little first year students that came to Hogwarts, and now, we are an hour away from taking our first papers in the OWLs! Oh no! What are the twelve uses of dragon blood?" She asked somewhat frantically.
Sirius looked over at her and snorted. "You, innocent? Hahaha, and the cows are flying."
Gab glared at him. "Yea, look there on the ceiling... See, there's a cow flying, and another one there... and there," she said, and charmed a few hovering cows onto the ceiling. "Haha! I win!"
Remus looked at her and smiled, slipping an arm around her waist. "Don't worry your head of Gab, you're gonna do just great."
Gab looked into Remus' eyes lovingly (ewww!!!) and they smiled happily at each other.
Nikki rolled her eyes at Lily, and made gagging sounds.
Lily laughed at her friend. "Well, at least they're not as bad as Sirius and Bella," she said in amusement, and directed her gaze towards the pair. "Now, that's what you call disgusting," she finished.
They were in fact, whispering sweet nothings to each other and feeding each other, while every once in a while, leaning in to share soft kisses.
Nikki looked over at her brother. "Bonkers I tell you," she said to Lily and proceeded to shove him.
"Hey!" Sirius yelped indignantly. "I'm in the middle of something here!"
Nikki rolled her eyes. "We all know that. Get a room Sirius!"
Peter and Eve were sitting to one side, more engrossed in their own quiet conversation than in the group, and James was currently trying to fend of a few girls from his fan club, all of which had quickly come onto him when they realised that he had just broken up with June earlier that day.
"No, Trish! I can't go out with you! Not you either Gwen..." he said.
Lily looked over at him and laughed.
"Aww, ickle-Jamsie has got so many girls in love with him..." she cooed.
James shot her a look that plainly said 'help me!'.
Lily and Nikki laughed and proceeded to tease James about his fan club.
"Come on James. Give them a chance..." Nikki said between gasps of air. (haha, evil, I know)
They laughed at James' plight for about ten more minutes, until the girls were becoming bolder and bolder by the lack of opposition from the girls that they were now practically throwing themselves at him. (not like they weren't before, but now they're touching him more)
Lily looked over at Nikki. "Ok, now, that's getting a little too much," she said and then looked across the table from her at a rather helpless James. "I better save him."
She reached over to him, and touched the side of his cheek, eyeing him with a mischievous look that said 'play along, this is gonna be so fun!'
The three couples present had now turned their attention onto the crowd around James, and were wearing identical maniacal grins. Sirius nudged Nikki. "Those poor girls are going to have their hearts broken."
James winked at her and touched her hand. The girls that were surrounding him looked highly affronted and were glaring enviously or murderously at Lily. James vaulted the table top so that he was on the same side of the table as Lily, and proceeded to sit on the bench and wrapping Lily's small frame in his arms.
"Sorry, you know why I can't go out with you," James said and grinned at them, not sounding the least bit apologetic.
"Oh, James, that's fine, we won't give up," they cooed in their sugary- sweet voices, then drifted away, shooting daggers at Lily from the corners of their eyes.
James let go of Lily and slapped her a high-five. "Lils, I swear, you're a life-saver!"
Lily laughed. "That's good, now we're even. But you and your fan-club, I swear I'm gonna get killed by them very soon!"
"Then I'll save you again!" James said brightly.
"Honestly," Lily said, thoughtfully putting a finger to her chin. "Why don't you give them a chance? Hmmm, Gwen's not bad looking, and Karina is somewhat more intelligent than the entire Hufflepuff bunch..." she looked over at James and wiggled her eyebrows playfully. "...Or maybe you could go for Stephanie... I heard she's not a bad snogger..." and looked innocently at James.
"Yea right Lils, very funny," he said with a grin and started tickling her.
Lily, if you people didn't know, was highly ticklish, and she started squirming and giggling profusely.
"Excuse me, am I interrupting something?" A deep voice said from behind them. They whirled around to find Jake Summers (that guy in the hallway) a sixth year Ravenclaw quidditch player staring down at them, smiling slightly.
"Err, no," Lily said brightly, quickly batting James' hands away and fixing her hair at the same time. Her face was rather red from all the laughing.
"Hey James, Sirius, how you doing?" He said. "Can't wait for the next match, hope you trash Slytherin."
"Jake," they smiled a greeting at him.
Jake was a very popular sixth year who ran with his own crowd of friends and was on good terms with the Marauders.
"Could I borrow Lily for a while?" He asked, flashing a brief smile at her.
Lily nodded and followed him out of the Great Hall.
*
There! It's done, finally. -Groans- It was hard to write, and I think this chapter was my worst ever. What do you think? Give me you opinions, drop me a review. Haha, Lily and James only feel close friendship towards each other, sort of like the sort siblings share, they don't like each other as yet. No, not even James. James may like someone else in the future, but not Lily yet. Gimme your views on how I should continue... a dance maybe? Or a girlfriend for James?
And, umm, yea, while you're at it, I would truly appreciate if you drop by my other fanfic, Turn Left Turn Right and gimme a few reviews. It's a lovely story.
Thanks specially to my lovely reviewers!
~cube
*