A/N: I'm soo sorry! This update is long overdue, I know. But let me explain. First, I was grounded for two weeks. Then, I was out of town for a week. When I got back, we had to move to a new house. And a couple days ago, my mom fell and broke her leg (or rather, shattered her tibia) and had to have surgery. Now we have to move into a hotel for at least six weeks, because she won't be able to do…well, anything. So I hope you understand why it's taken so long for me to do anything…and no, I have not abandoned this story, for those of you who asked!
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Chapter 8- Deer in the common room
James looked down at Lily with brown-eyed interest. "What's funny?" he whispered, the both of them still underneath the cloak. Lily stopped her quiet snickering immediately, her head rising to look at him with a glare that said it all. He chuckled. Luke glanced over at the spot where they stood, furious and ready to get to the bottom of the small noises.
Her green eyes followed his figure, trying to determine what he would do next. Sure enough, he advanced directly towards them, his eyes darting back and forth, searching. Suddenly, James began to shift, and Lily looked at him as if he were mad. "Stay still." She hissed almost inaudibly. He ignored her, and threw the cloak off himself, leaving it covering her.
She gasped and looked at where James was standing….or had been. A rich brown stag stood next to her, rearing its head violently at Luke, whose eyes widened. The blonde-haired boy shrieked and stumbled backward, tripping over a chair. The stag advanced on him, causing his blue eyes to widen in fright.
"You can bite my hand off, anything! But I beg of you, don't touch the hair!" He screeched. The stag threw his head back as if he found it funny, and Luke took the opportunity to disappear with the quickness of someone worried about ruining their hair…which, you hopefully need never find out, is very fast.
Meanwhile, the stag carefully returned to Lily, who had peeled off the cloak and looked nothing short of completely bewildered. She swallowed her 'what the hell?!' and crossed her eyes instead.
James transformed back into his human self and his forehead creased. "Um…yeah…" he gave her a very strange look indeed. "What are you doing?"
She uncrossed her eyes and rolled them, causing a slight bout of dizziness. "What? Just making sure I wasn't hallucinating."
"Please never advise people on how to handle anything."
Crossing
her arms, she asked him, "Why not?"
"Because you
suck at it yourself." He explained casually. "Making sure you're not
hallucinating, my ass…more like making it seem that you're on...something bad."
"I'm not!" she poked him in the chest, emphasizing her defiance. There were a million things she wanted to say, but her mouth remained shut.
"Well, you must have some sense of humor, honestly!"
"I'm sorry James. I do, but you just aren't funny." She shrugged innocently, turned before he could reply, and climbed the stairs to her dorm, suddenly feeling a bit sleepy, not to mention triumphant for beating James at his own game. She was halfway up when she realized just what she had wanted to ask him. How could he have caused her to forget? Racing back down and forgetting to stop when she saw James, she collided into him.
"Oof." He clutched his stomach. "What are you doing, trying to kill me?"
She wasted no time. "Trying to get me off track with the dumb questions, eh James? Did you think I'd forget to ask you what the crap happened a few minutes ago?"
His mouth thinned, but curved slightly. "Actually, yes I did."
She tapped her foot impatiently; he got the idea and decided it would be better not to beat around the bush on this one. "I'm an Animagi." Her mouth dropped open and he watched her reaction smugly. "Couldn't you guess as much, or did you think a stag suddenly appeared and disappeared out of nothing?"
For the second time that night, she rolled her eyes. "I'm not kidding James, this is serious…and very strange. So you're unregistered, then?"
"Yep." He stated simply.
"Uhh…" Obviously, she wasn't sure what to say to that. The information processed itself in her sleepy mind. So, her boyfriend was an Animagi….hold up, boyfriend? Suddenly she glared at him, which caused the messy-haired boy to become a little confused.
"What?!
Bloody hell, what did I do now?"
Lily shook her thoughts and her glare faded. Looking at him curiously, she said
thinly as she yawned, "We'll discuss this later." Then she turned away and
proceeded towards the stairs, again.
James grunted. "I'm overjoyed." Lily couldn't help but present him with a small smile before turning the corner and disappearing out of his line of sight.
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At breakfast the next morning, everyone was more quiet than usual. Lily sat across from her two friends, almost falling asleep on her toast. They didn't miss this.
"I thought you went to bed when we did." Heather said, watching the red-head inquisitively.
Lily's head shot up. "Yeah, I….had trouble getting to sleep."
"I see…" Jessica answered, trying to figure out why that answer didn't seem believable. But then, they didn't really have too much of a reason to doubt Lily's word…did they?
Lily shrugged and took a bite out of her toast. At that moment, Luke burst into the Great Hall, frazzled-looking. However, he never forgot to spare the ladies a white smile. She prepared herself to be pestered, but hallelujah, he sat with the Marauders for reasons of his own. The boys were a few seats down, and Lily could hear Luke say, "You'll never believe what I saw last night!"
Sirius gave him a pointed look while James tried to imply that they didn't care in the slightest, but the American didn't appear to catch much of this.
He continued, "There was a deer in the common room!"
"Yeah sure." Peter blurted out, rolling his eyes. But the other three glanced around at each other briefly. Lily couldn't hear what Sirius replied, but it caused all four of them to burst out laughing, while Luke looked confused.
Lily shook her head and turned back to her friends. Heather was casually twirling a piece of dark hair around her finger. "Watching James?" she inquired, trying to look uninterested.
Glaring at her, Lily took another bite of her toast. But she didn't miss the look James sent her way. A look that was amused and also bothered. Amused at the stupidity of Luke, and bothered most likely by the fact that she was trying to ignore him. He had thought this had been resolved…so wrong he was. Continuing to send her looks throughout breakfast, he hoped that she would fix whatever problems she had with the two of them officially being together, and soon.
Lily, on the other hand, was fighting the urge to jump up and pull James out of the Hall for a good snog. Yes, it wouldn't be such a big deal…But then she glanced at her friends. Never mind that, yes it would. Could she trust James? Always follow your heart…Her mother's words rang in her head. So long ago had she heard them, and yet it was one of those things she couldn't forget, even if she didn't know why. Bloody saying, I don't believe in that crap. Not after…She shook herself, suddenly aware of the fact that Jessica and Heather were staring at her, ready to leave for their first class.
"Oh." Lily said. "One sec."
Heather rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "You've been a little distant lately, Lil. I think the three of us should do something fun, like old times."
Lily immediately felt a rush of gratitude. Had her friends not always been by her side? Of course they had…she should at least show them that she appreciated it. She smiled. "That sounds spectacular. What havoc wrecking did you have in mind?"
"Hmm…" Heather tapped her foot. "We'll have to discuss this in Potions, I think."
Jessica looked between them and smiled. "I have a good feeling about all this."
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Something Lily had dreaded happened that evening. They were walking down the corridor, headed back to the Gryffindor common room for the night, and who should come up but the very person she wanted to avoid…until later, of course. Heather and Jessica stopped before James, looking at Lily curiously and grinning like fools.
He abruptly looked uncomfortable. "Erm- need to, uh, pull Lily away for a bit. Head stuff, of course."
Jessica raised an eyebrow at the same time she brushed a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Yeah, sure."
Heather was watching Lily, who was carefully trying to monitor her expression. Be angry and annoyed, she told herself. She rather thought that she was pulling it off as she glared, nodded, told her friends she'd meet them later, and stalked off after James.
Heather and Jessica glanced at one another. "Ten to one they'll be together by next month." Heather said.
"Hey," Jessica held up a hand. "you don't need to convince me."
They thought themselves clever, all aware and knowing of everything around them. So much did they know…that they forgotten to pay attention to the obvious signs. Had they known that Lily was helplessly snogging James in the closest empty classroom, they would have been a little more than surprised. But mostly, they would have been disappointed that they had not gotten to the bottom of it before it had happened.
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Just after Lily turned where her friends could not see her and James, she smiled up at him. At this, he couldn't help but smile back, and all of his doubts of her caring about him at all vanished…at least for the most part. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the next empty classroom, shutting the door behind them.
Lily wasted no time in grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling his mouth down, and James of course did not protest. After a moment, she pulled back and leaned against him, suddenly a little dizzy. His hand reached up without him telling it to, and patted her on the head.
She had an amused look in her emerald eyes as she looked up at him. "I'm not a dog, you know."
He smiled. "Really? Because you look a lot like one…" Of course, that earned him a swat on the arm, even if he had been joking. "Should I call you Sparky?"
"You do, and I'll..." She trailed off, staring at the floor, still in very close proximity to him.
"Not if I can get to you first." He leaned down to kiss her, but she moved her head away.
"No way. I am not letting you." She stared at him with big green eyes, smiling inwardly. He grumbled something, but before he could complain, she added, "I'm letting myself."
Obviously, she didn't really make sense, but James was used to this. He accepted her mouth when she moved it closer. However, they quickly broke it off when there was a skittering at the door. Lily practically forced James away just as the door opened and her friends entered. Jessica and Heather looked slightly disappointed that the two teenagers in front of them were a good distance apart and showed no sign of interesting activity.
"Oh, yeah, well- we thought we'd come see what was taking so long." Jessica shrugged.
Lily gave her a funny look. "It's been five minutes, you idiot."
"I know that." She rolled her blue eyes at Lily and smiled.
"Anyway," Heather broke in, "let's go back to the common room."
Lily nodded, fighting the urge to glance at James. It would certainly be the wrong thing to do…she didn't know how long she could control herself. Although she enjoyed calling her friends idiots, they really weren't. They were bound to notice any slip of her usual behavior.
So she followed them out of the classroom and down the corridor for who knows how long; she wasn't paying attention. She knew that James was right behind her. Heather and Jessica went in first and almost immediately burst out laughing.
Lily stepped in behind them, bewildered. "What?" she blurted out.
Neither of them appeared to be able to speak, they were laughing so hard. Heather only pointed to Sirius, whose lower backside, or arse as he called it, was right in their line of sight. It was both very amusing and incredibly disgusting.
Once Jessica regained control of her voice, for the most part at least, she said, "Crack is bad for you!" which only caused another eruption of hysterical laughter.
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A/N: Thanks for all of the support for this story, you all made me really happy. I'm sorry if this chapter was crap, especially since it took so long to get it up, but I'm just too tired to look over and fix things; I haven't been getting much sleep lately. Anyway, I hope that you aren't completely annoyed with me- and hopefully we'll be able to hook up some kind of internet connection at the hotel! (If we can't, I think I'll go mad…)
Right…pay no attention to me; I'm falling asleep at the keyboard (again).
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Kristen Anne- I'm so happy you liked it, thank you! Everblue3- I wanted to thank you not only for your review(s) on this story, but also on my other stories. I really appreciate it! Sayo- Scary? Yes, he is, I agree. Thanks for finding it amusing. Caz- Lol, I still have no idea where I came up with the idea of smacking Filch…I can be weird sometimes (okay, all the time..) KeeperOfTheMoon- Lol, yep…together at least sort of. Laura- Aww, what a nice thing to say! I want to hug you, but I bet you'd rather I just say thanks…Bixxxou- Well, Lily's stubborn. Her friends have been bothering her about James for some time. She wants to prove them wrong. And while something draws her to James, she's also repelled because of past experience with other guys. Anyway, I hope that sort of answered your question…although, basically, Lily just has it all wrong. =) Daman- Aw, thank you! I love it when people tell me it's one of their favs. I hope you keep reading. Dara finVidya- Lol, he's a very big idiot. And yep, Lily got some courage. Thanks so much for two reviews! And sorry about the not updating…I explained at the beginning A/N, if I remember correctly lol. Golden.Slumbers- Hm, still having review-submitting problems? Lol. Thanks for the hug =) It made me feel very special. Haha, I enjoy responding to your reviews as well. And about reviewing your story- what did you expect? It was really good. And when I get some time on my hands, which will hopefully be soon, I'll read your other story (or stories). Thanks again, of course. ;) Little Rogue- Haha, yes. Everyone seems to like that they're together, and I can't blame them. Mooky- You're right, it would be highly amusing. Too bad not in this chapter…but there are more opportunities for that to come. Thanks again! Syders- Aw, thanks for reviewing all of my stories, it really makes me feel like someone special! Lamina Court- Lol, your review made me laugh. Thanks for that ;) I wish I could come up with something interesting to say, but I'm finding it hard to stay awake as it is. I'm gonna have to finally finish your story (I should have sooo long ago) and leave you a long review! LadyArwen- Thanks so much! I'm glad you think it's different. Too much of the same gets boring after awhile, but hopefully I stay away from most clichés. Destiny's Phoenix- Nothing bad? I'm honored ;) Nope, I didn't even mean that sarcastically, even if I am a sarcastic person…so thanks a bunch! Nerdypurdy- Oh…you. Lol, just kidding! I was gonna have you look over this chapter, but then I thought I might as well go ahead and post it. Funny, when you reviewed this, we didn't know each other ;) Amber- Well at least it hasn't been months…and I should be able to update more often, provided that nobody else in my family hurts themselves or we have to move again, lol. Anyway, I'm rambling as usual…thanks for putting up with me! Pittsy- Oh, I will. I'm glad you're enjoying it! Libberacious- Lol, James is a fav of mine too. But Lily doesn't have all of her senses intact just yet it seems…maybe later. Thanks for another review, I really enjoy reading yours. Evy- Lol, a fight would have been amusing, I agree. There's always time for that though…thanks for reviewing! TIA- Yeah, I have a few other stories…2 others I'm currently working on ;) On your top 5? Wow, thank you! aMaNda- Yes, and now ;) Haha, thank you! Soccer_luver_9- Well, I have a feeling Lily's friends and Luke will find out around the same time…but you never know. Oh wait, I should, shouldn't I? Lol…Mel- Oh, I'm sorry! I feel so bad about not updating, especially when people are so nice to me. But nope, I won't abandon this story, I like it too much. Thanks!! Natalie- Lol, thanks. Made me smile. I hope you'll read this when you get back from vacation!
Lol, these are crappy thanks. I'm only discouraging you from reviewing, aren't I? Oh well =)
Until next chapter,
~Emily~