Fifth Chapter
New Arrivals
"Quidditch practice this Friday" said James cheerfully, the first day of classes after Christmas break while sitting at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. Sirius had tried to tell James what had happened with Lor the night of the party, and how he had felt while talking to her, but he couldn't find the right words. They had reach an unspoken agreement that night. Even though there was something changing inside them, they wouldn't need to talk about it, until they were sure of what they felt.
"When is the first match?" Asked Remus, holding the Daily Prophet in front of him.
"In three weeks. So Gryffindor needs to start practising as soon as possible" said James, grabbing a toast a pouring butter on it.
"But isn't next match Hufflepuff against Ravenclaw?" asked Peter, staring at the back page of the paper Remus was holding.
"Yes, Peter, but we need to practice as much as we can. We have to win this year... again" finished James with a big smile, looking over at the Slytherin table, where Malfoy sat, between Nancy Parkinson and Narcissa Black.
"Another attack!" said Peter, suddenly, pointing at the newspaper, horror- struck. Remus immediately turned to the last page, to see what was Peter talking about.
There, in the last page, were four medium pictures of the same green skulk with a snake coming out of its mouth, that was shown early in September, hovering over four different, houses, all of them were destroyed. But this time they weren't muggle houses. Under the picture was a not-too-long article of the incident, saying that all four houses belonged to a half magical, half muggle families and that it had happened right after Christmas. There were no survivors, the bodies seemed to be perfectly normal, besides from the fact that they were dead. This assured that one of the unforgivable Curses had been used against them. There was still no suspects, and the Ministry workers were having a really bad time answering many questions, fixing memories, and trying to cover the whole thing, that was even worse, because the Minister was still in Peru.
James looked up, and saw that many students were crying uncontrollably, being comforted by their friends. He saw one of the Ravenclaws chasers crying because of the news. At the left side of the page was a list of the names of the people who had died. He recognised half of the names, being friends parents, or family friends. Then his eyes stopped on Lily, who, James was surprised to note, was staring at him. There was fear written all over her face, as she stared into James' big hazel eyes, but after a second, she returned to read the paper, under the curious looks of her friends.
He had been too busy reading the article and staring at Lily, that he hadn't noticed that a brown owl stood in front of him, with a letter attached to its leg, waiting for him to take it. It was his father's owl.
"Petry!" he said. He took the letter, carefully, and opened it. He noticed that the letter had been written in a rush and there were ink stains all over the parchment:
iDear son,
I believe that you already know about what happened. We have no idea who could have done this, but we're searching for answers. There's a complete mayhem at the Ministry, so I'm going to be away for a week, so I need you to take care of your mom. Write daily and watch over her, she is ok, just a little nervous about all this. Stay at school, and don't get into trouble. Take care of yourself. Love, Your dad./i
James' father was one of the greatest aurors in the wizarding community. And he was well know by everyone. He, sure enough, had been assigned to search for the responsible of this.
Murmurs could be heard in the Great Hall, the ones who had received a copy of the newspaper, where telling other students about it. Everyone wore horrified expressions. Then professor Dumbledore stood up and the Hall felt silent. "Good morning, students. I want to interrupt your breakfast, just to tell you about this regrettable incident. Most of the victims were very well know in our community, and I know this has affected us all . I will be having a few words in private with some students after breakfast. Maybe I shouldn't be telling you this, but I personally prefer the truth," he was serious now, no hint of his playful smile, or the sparkle in his deep blue eyes, behind his half moon spectacles. "there is a dark force growing among us" a tense silence followed this statement." And we have to stay united and fight it together, we have to be strong and face this in the best way possible." Everyone stared at professor Dumbledore, not daring to speak a word, stunned by what he had just said. Most of them didn't want to believe him, but it was true. Something evil was starting to gain power, and they would have to stick together to overcome it.
"I have another announce," he said, a few seconds later "we have a new student arriving today, in a few minutes. Her name is Heath Plachêtte. She was transferred from Beuxbatons. She will be in sixth year, and in Slytherin. It's an honour for us to have her here, and I am sure you all are going to help her feel like home, specially her cousin Malfoy." Everyone looked over at Malfoy, who had a weird expression.
The marauders smiled at each other, as though it was their birthday. "Great!" said James, still clutching his father's letter in his hand, looking at his three friends, who smiled at him in response. "Another Slytherin to make fun of"
Just then the doors of the Great Hall burst open. At the doorway stood McGonagall, looking serious, as always. Anyone who didn't know her would say that she was an evil person, but the Marauders knew her only too well, and were the only ones who could make her laugh, even if she was really angry. But what caught everybody's attention, was the person who was standing next to her, with a big, warm smile, looking around the hall full of curiosity. She had big blue eyes, long, black hair, with her tips dyed in red, that stood out, brightly. Her robes were open, and showed a nice ironed blouse, with a green and silver stripped tie. And a short skirt. Shorter than the skirts worn by the girls in Hogwarts.
"Ah! There she is" said professor Dumbledore enthusiastically. "I introduce you to Heath Plachêtte."
Every single head was turned in her way, observing her. She was really beautiful. All the guys had big smiles on their faces, muttering this to the person sitting next to them, not taking their eyes of her.
"Remus, put something inside your mouth, or close it!" said Sirius, laughing. "You bloody traitor!" he said, looking at Heath again. "She's a Slytherin, and our dear Malfoy's cousin!"
"I haven't said anything!" said Remus, blushing and looking outraged. "Besides she looks kind of arrogant"
"She's pretty, though." said Peter's shy voice. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Feel lucky, Evans" said James with a wide smile and bright eyes, while winking at her. It was Monday evening, and they were at the common room.
Lily looked up and saw James' happy face. "Why? You just talked to me".
James stared at her for a second, his smile fading, but it came back to its place when he said "Ha, ha, ha. Funny. I love that sense of humour of yours. But, no. I came to ask you to come with me to the next Hogsmeade weekend. How about that, huh?"
Lily looked up again. Her face was expressionless, just staring at him. He looked like a little kid, waiting for her mother to give him permission to do something, a good word for him would have been "cute". Her heart was pounding, feeling his gaze on her... 'Why?' she thought, her heart was going to explode any minute now. She resumed her reading, while muttering, "Where did the luck go?"
"I'll take that as a 'yes' " said James with a triumphant look.
"You're really bad at taking hints, Potter. I'm not going with you"
James looked disappointed and his smile faded completely "Why not?"
"I don't want to. I have other plans."
"You must be joking, right?"
"Why would I be joking?" And with that, Lily closed her book, gathered her things and stood up. Any minute longer and she would have accepted, but that wasn't a choice for her, not with James. "I'm going to bed, Lor. Good night" She crossed the Common Room and climbed up the stairs, leading to the girls dormitories, leaving an astonished James standing like a fool, next to the armchair. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, Lor and Lily went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Lily was very tired, she had spent the whole night thinking about James. He had been sort of nice lately, and then he had appeared last night, just like that, inviting Lily to Hogsmeade in the most arrogant way possible. As though she ihad to/i go with him. She had had some hopes that he might have changed. Yet again, maybe she was wrong. But inside her something had definitely changed, 'Why do I have this growing need to be beside him? he's annoying, Lily, you can't stand him'.
A couple of seconds later, the usual owl post appeared, delivering letters or packages to its owners. Lily was surprised to se a really beautiful, white owl, landing in front of her, almost knocking her glass of juice. She swallowed the bit of toast she was chewing, and grabbed the letter. It had her name on it, and she recognised the handwriting as her sister Petunia's. She ripped the envelope, and unfolded the letter, wanting to know what was written in it.
But what she read in that parchment made her world crumble in less than a second. It couldn't be, it had to be one of Petunia's sick jokes. She just wanted to give Lily a bad time for not spending Holidays with them. It had to be that, it couldn't be true. "Lily, what is it?" asked Anabell, from across the table, noticing Lily's face and the tears that were coming out of her eyes. She was shaking furiously.
"I—"said Lily, still holding the letter in front of her. "No... it can't be—true."
"What is it?" asked Lor, now more urgently, taking her eyes off a certain Marauder. "Lily, what does it say in there?"
"My mom... ca— car... accident... she's... she— dead... /i "she stood up, as fast as she could, fearing that her legs would carry her. She wanted to go home, disappear, become invisible, so she wouldn't have to feel... anything.
She ran along the space between the Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw table, tears coming down her cheeks, but no one noticed this, except four Gryffindor girls, who were sitting next to her, and a certain boy who was sitting a few seats away from her, and had seen her shaking and crying.
She was nearly at the Hall door. 'I can do it' she told herself. She felt her legs aching horribly, and then she ran into someone. The last person she wanted to meet in that state. Malfoy. She kept her balance, but she staggered, looking at the floor. She felt Malfoy being knocked down, and then getting closer to her.
"Watch where you're going, /i" he stressed the last word.
"Watch who are you calling that way, Malfoy" said a stronger voice behind her. She recognised it immediately. It was James. But she didn't care, she was too sad, too hurt, she felt too much pain to pay the slightest attention.
Malfoy took out his wand, just like James, at the same moment, and pointed it to each other.
"Potter! Malfoy!" said professor McGonagall, making her way towards them. She had been watching the whole thing from the staff table. "What do you think you're doing?"
But James was looking for Lily. She wasn't there anymore, she had gone. And he didn't know where. He needed to find her. He took no notice of McGonagall while she was yelling at them, nor did he paid attention, when she said after him "Fifteen potions off, Potter."
He walked into the Entrance Hall, but she was nowhere to be seen. Then he had an idea. The only way he could find out where she was, was with The Marauders Map. He ran to the Gryffindor common room, and up to his dorm, knocking a couple of students, yelling 'sorry' after him. He opened his trunk, and took out the map. And there she was, sitting alone, crying her heart out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James climbed the stairs to the Owlery as fast as he could. He had seen her crying like mad, and he really wanted to know what was wrong. If it was because of Malfoy, he was going to make sure he paid for that one. He got to the door, and turned the knob slowly. He could hear sobs and sniffles. "Lily?" he said in a sweet voice that would have made anyone melt. "Lily, I know you're in here". He closed the door behind him, and spotted Lily sitting on the floor, with her hands around her knees and with her head down, she was shaking and choking in her own tears.
He crossed the room, waking some owls up, and stood in front of her, not knowing exactly what to do. He was feeling pain taking control of his body. "Talk to me. Come on, insult me, call me a pig-headed... anything" James bent down until they were at the same level.
She lifted her head slowly. James thought she looked cute and sweet, with her face all wet and her eyes red from crying. He felt an urge to comfort her, to hug her, to kiss her. She looked at him with those big emerald green eyes, and he felt himself melting. Lily couldn't bear it, she needed to get all the pain away from her. Without even thinking she leaned closer and hugged him. It took James a while to realise what was happening. Coming out of his shock, he slowly put his arms around her, hugging her back. They stayed like that for a minute or two. Lily's mind was racing, she felt suddenly warm. Then realising who she was hugging, feeling something weird in her stomach, she let go of him. Narrowing her eyes she said in a whisper. "What are you doing here? How did you know I was here?"
James looked down at her. "I was worried about you so I followed you" he wasn't going to mention anything about the map.
"Since when do you worry about people? " tears coming out of her eyes and down her cheeks.
James stared at her for a moment, taking in her essence, her beautiful eyes, and noticing that his arms were still around her waist. He leaned closer, he could feel her breath. "Since you came along."
She lowered her head and backed off. "Go away" said Lily.
"Sometimes it's better to talk about what's bothering you".
"Why would I do that with you?" she really wanted him to leave. She had told herself she hated him for being such a prat, but this last few days had being weird. She found herself gazing at him more than once, whenever she saw him on the corridor she felt this weird thing in her stomach, like when she was in a roller coaster. She had never felt like that before, and it was scary. Having him so close was making her sick. This new feeling and the pain she was feeling for the loss of her mother was really uncomfortable. She hadn't even taken in what she just read, and it seemed like a nightmare.
He looked at her with a big grin on his face. He had seen her fall into her own thoughts and then coming back. "Come on, why won't you let me be your friend?" he said. She felt his eyes looking through her.
"Why do you want to be friends with me?"
She was just gorgeous, he thought. He regarded her, and then without thinking about it, he ran a hand through her shiny red hair, making her shiver unknowingly. "You have no idea how many times I've asked myself that question." he said.
Suddenly, everything became quiet. Each pair of owl eyes was set on those strangers, who were leaning closer and closer sending chills to each other. James reached for her face and cupped it in his hands, feeling her fast breath. He could've never though that a girl could do that to him, this feeling was new to him and what was worse, he didn't now what to do about it. But if it made him feel so alive and warm, then it must be something good. He was immersed in his own thoughts, just as her, when they were just inches apart. Then the owlery door swung open and a group of noisy fourth years came in. They didn't notice the couple at first, but as they crossed the room, they stopped talking and stared at a happy James and a red-eyed Lily.
James stood up and offered Lily his hand. "Let's go back to the common room".
She took it and both of them disappeared through the door, leaving five curious standing in the middle of the room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I am so sorry, Lils." Said Lor, with watery eyes, sitting besides Lily, looking at the floor, in the girls dormitory. Lily, after talking to professor Dumbledore in his office, was still crying, she couldn't believe it. Her mother... dead? She wouldn't see her, ever again! How was she supposed to get over this?
"They didn't even find her body, just the car. It's destroyed!" she said between sobs. "We won't even be able to bury her. Petunia doesn't want me to go. She said I have nothing to do over there, she doesn't want to see my face."
"It doesn't matter what she says, ok?" said Lor firmly. She knew the hard time her sister always gave her. "You already talked to professor Dumbledore, and he told you that you'll be leaving tomorrow. And you'll see your dad, and your grandma." She stood up. "C'mon, I'll help you with the packing, ok?"
Lily dried her tears and stood up. "I forgot my books downstairs, I'll bring them"
"Sure you don't want me to go?"
"No, I'll go." Lily answered. In fact she wanted to find James, so she could thank him for being so nice to her in the owlery. But when she descended the stairs, he wasn't anywhere to be seen. So she walked towards the couch in front of the fire, and picked up the books she had been reading last night. She turned around to go back to her room, when she heard a familiar voice from within a large group of fifth, sixth and seventh year boys. They all had grins. "Really what?" said the voice.
"Well," answered a seventh year "I just heard a boy saying something about you being alone with a girl up in the Owlery this morning?
Lily froze. She stopped breathing, so she could hear the boys' response.
"Well, yeah, what can I say?" said James forcing a smile, "she loves me."
"So, tell us, mate" said another voice, "who is this girl"
"Lily Evans, of course," said Sirius, with a big smile as though it was obvious, patting James' back. "she finally came around, huh, Prongs?"
James looked at Sirius' proud expression. "Yeah, she finally did" then he looked over Sirius' shoulder and his heart sank.
She couldn't believe it, how could he? 'After what he said? That I could be his friend?' she though. She felt even more pain in her heart. It was hard enough with her mother's death, now having to bear this. More tears were coming down her cheeks, while staring at James' stunned expression, while his friends where clapping at him, with grins.
She turned around and climbed up the stairs, with James staring at her, unable to move or to answer Sirius' questions.
She was drowning herself in her own tears, by the time she entered her room, and Lor didn't know what to do to calm her, or to get a response from her. While inside Lily a mixture of feelings had exploded, she felt betrayed, but she didn't know why. She felt like she was giving more importance to this than it actually deserved. And she swore mentally, that she would have trouble to trust James Potter ever again, even if her heart really wanted to. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Done! :) liked it?? We hope you did! Watch for the next chapters, there's more coming about Sirius' heart issues! And we'll find what is changing inside cute, shy Remus! R/R. M'nM
"Quidditch practice this Friday" said James cheerfully, the first day of classes after Christmas break while sitting at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. Sirius had tried to tell James what had happened with Lor the night of the party, and how he had felt while talking to her, but he couldn't find the right words. They had reach an unspoken agreement that night. Even though there was something changing inside them, they wouldn't need to talk about it, until they were sure of what they felt.
"When is the first match?" Asked Remus, holding the Daily Prophet in front of him.
"In three weeks. So Gryffindor needs to start practising as soon as possible" said James, grabbing a toast a pouring butter on it.
"But isn't next match Hufflepuff against Ravenclaw?" asked Peter, staring at the back page of the paper Remus was holding.
"Yes, Peter, but we need to practice as much as we can. We have to win this year... again" finished James with a big smile, looking over at the Slytherin table, where Malfoy sat, between Nancy Parkinson and Narcissa Black.
"Another attack!" said Peter, suddenly, pointing at the newspaper, horror- struck. Remus immediately turned to the last page, to see what was Peter talking about.
There, in the last page, were four medium pictures of the same green skulk with a snake coming out of its mouth, that was shown early in September, hovering over four different, houses, all of them were destroyed. But this time they weren't muggle houses. Under the picture was a not-too-long article of the incident, saying that all four houses belonged to a half magical, half muggle families and that it had happened right after Christmas. There were no survivors, the bodies seemed to be perfectly normal, besides from the fact that they were dead. This assured that one of the unforgivable Curses had been used against them. There was still no suspects, and the Ministry workers were having a really bad time answering many questions, fixing memories, and trying to cover the whole thing, that was even worse, because the Minister was still in Peru.
James looked up, and saw that many students were crying uncontrollably, being comforted by their friends. He saw one of the Ravenclaws chasers crying because of the news. At the left side of the page was a list of the names of the people who had died. He recognised half of the names, being friends parents, or family friends. Then his eyes stopped on Lily, who, James was surprised to note, was staring at him. There was fear written all over her face, as she stared into James' big hazel eyes, but after a second, she returned to read the paper, under the curious looks of her friends.
He had been too busy reading the article and staring at Lily, that he hadn't noticed that a brown owl stood in front of him, with a letter attached to its leg, waiting for him to take it. It was his father's owl.
"Petry!" he said. He took the letter, carefully, and opened it. He noticed that the letter had been written in a rush and there were ink stains all over the parchment:
iDear son,
I believe that you already know about what happened. We have no idea who could have done this, but we're searching for answers. There's a complete mayhem at the Ministry, so I'm going to be away for a week, so I need you to take care of your mom. Write daily and watch over her, she is ok, just a little nervous about all this. Stay at school, and don't get into trouble. Take care of yourself. Love, Your dad./i
James' father was one of the greatest aurors in the wizarding community. And he was well know by everyone. He, sure enough, had been assigned to search for the responsible of this.
Murmurs could be heard in the Great Hall, the ones who had received a copy of the newspaper, where telling other students about it. Everyone wore horrified expressions. Then professor Dumbledore stood up and the Hall felt silent. "Good morning, students. I want to interrupt your breakfast, just to tell you about this regrettable incident. Most of the victims were very well know in our community, and I know this has affected us all . I will be having a few words in private with some students after breakfast. Maybe I shouldn't be telling you this, but I personally prefer the truth," he was serious now, no hint of his playful smile, or the sparkle in his deep blue eyes, behind his half moon spectacles. "there is a dark force growing among us" a tense silence followed this statement." And we have to stay united and fight it together, we have to be strong and face this in the best way possible." Everyone stared at professor Dumbledore, not daring to speak a word, stunned by what he had just said. Most of them didn't want to believe him, but it was true. Something evil was starting to gain power, and they would have to stick together to overcome it.
"I have another announce," he said, a few seconds later "we have a new student arriving today, in a few minutes. Her name is Heath Plachêtte. She was transferred from Beuxbatons. She will be in sixth year, and in Slytherin. It's an honour for us to have her here, and I am sure you all are going to help her feel like home, specially her cousin Malfoy." Everyone looked over at Malfoy, who had a weird expression.
The marauders smiled at each other, as though it was their birthday. "Great!" said James, still clutching his father's letter in his hand, looking at his three friends, who smiled at him in response. "Another Slytherin to make fun of"
Just then the doors of the Great Hall burst open. At the doorway stood McGonagall, looking serious, as always. Anyone who didn't know her would say that she was an evil person, but the Marauders knew her only too well, and were the only ones who could make her laugh, even if she was really angry. But what caught everybody's attention, was the person who was standing next to her, with a big, warm smile, looking around the hall full of curiosity. She had big blue eyes, long, black hair, with her tips dyed in red, that stood out, brightly. Her robes were open, and showed a nice ironed blouse, with a green and silver stripped tie. And a short skirt. Shorter than the skirts worn by the girls in Hogwarts.
"Ah! There she is" said professor Dumbledore enthusiastically. "I introduce you to Heath Plachêtte."
Every single head was turned in her way, observing her. She was really beautiful. All the guys had big smiles on their faces, muttering this to the person sitting next to them, not taking their eyes of her.
"Remus, put something inside your mouth, or close it!" said Sirius, laughing. "You bloody traitor!" he said, looking at Heath again. "She's a Slytherin, and our dear Malfoy's cousin!"
"I haven't said anything!" said Remus, blushing and looking outraged. "Besides she looks kind of arrogant"
"She's pretty, though." said Peter's shy voice. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Feel lucky, Evans" said James with a wide smile and bright eyes, while winking at her. It was Monday evening, and they were at the common room.
Lily looked up and saw James' happy face. "Why? You just talked to me".
James stared at her for a second, his smile fading, but it came back to its place when he said "Ha, ha, ha. Funny. I love that sense of humour of yours. But, no. I came to ask you to come with me to the next Hogsmeade weekend. How about that, huh?"
Lily looked up again. Her face was expressionless, just staring at him. He looked like a little kid, waiting for her mother to give him permission to do something, a good word for him would have been "cute". Her heart was pounding, feeling his gaze on her... 'Why?' she thought, her heart was going to explode any minute now. She resumed her reading, while muttering, "Where did the luck go?"
"I'll take that as a 'yes' " said James with a triumphant look.
"You're really bad at taking hints, Potter. I'm not going with you"
James looked disappointed and his smile faded completely "Why not?"
"I don't want to. I have other plans."
"You must be joking, right?"
"Why would I be joking?" And with that, Lily closed her book, gathered her things and stood up. Any minute longer and she would have accepted, but that wasn't a choice for her, not with James. "I'm going to bed, Lor. Good night" She crossed the Common Room and climbed up the stairs, leading to the girls dormitories, leaving an astonished James standing like a fool, next to the armchair. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, Lor and Lily went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Lily was very tired, she had spent the whole night thinking about James. He had been sort of nice lately, and then he had appeared last night, just like that, inviting Lily to Hogsmeade in the most arrogant way possible. As though she ihad to/i go with him. She had had some hopes that he might have changed. Yet again, maybe she was wrong. But inside her something had definitely changed, 'Why do I have this growing need to be beside him? he's annoying, Lily, you can't stand him'.
A couple of seconds later, the usual owl post appeared, delivering letters or packages to its owners. Lily was surprised to se a really beautiful, white owl, landing in front of her, almost knocking her glass of juice. She swallowed the bit of toast she was chewing, and grabbed the letter. It had her name on it, and she recognised the handwriting as her sister Petunia's. She ripped the envelope, and unfolded the letter, wanting to know what was written in it.
But what she read in that parchment made her world crumble in less than a second. It couldn't be, it had to be one of Petunia's sick jokes. She just wanted to give Lily a bad time for not spending Holidays with them. It had to be that, it couldn't be true. "Lily, what is it?" asked Anabell, from across the table, noticing Lily's face and the tears that were coming out of her eyes. She was shaking furiously.
"I—"said Lily, still holding the letter in front of her. "No... it can't be—true."
"What is it?" asked Lor, now more urgently, taking her eyes off a certain Marauder. "Lily, what does it say in there?"
"My mom... ca— car... accident... she's... she— dead... /i "she stood up, as fast as she could, fearing that her legs would carry her. She wanted to go home, disappear, become invisible, so she wouldn't have to feel... anything.
She ran along the space between the Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw table, tears coming down her cheeks, but no one noticed this, except four Gryffindor girls, who were sitting next to her, and a certain boy who was sitting a few seats away from her, and had seen her shaking and crying.
She was nearly at the Hall door. 'I can do it' she told herself. She felt her legs aching horribly, and then she ran into someone. The last person she wanted to meet in that state. Malfoy. She kept her balance, but she staggered, looking at the floor. She felt Malfoy being knocked down, and then getting closer to her.
"Watch where you're going, /i" he stressed the last word.
"Watch who are you calling that way, Malfoy" said a stronger voice behind her. She recognised it immediately. It was James. But she didn't care, she was too sad, too hurt, she felt too much pain to pay the slightest attention.
Malfoy took out his wand, just like James, at the same moment, and pointed it to each other.
"Potter! Malfoy!" said professor McGonagall, making her way towards them. She had been watching the whole thing from the staff table. "What do you think you're doing?"
But James was looking for Lily. She wasn't there anymore, she had gone. And he didn't know where. He needed to find her. He took no notice of McGonagall while she was yelling at them, nor did he paid attention, when she said after him "Fifteen potions off, Potter."
He walked into the Entrance Hall, but she was nowhere to be seen. Then he had an idea. The only way he could find out where she was, was with The Marauders Map. He ran to the Gryffindor common room, and up to his dorm, knocking a couple of students, yelling 'sorry' after him. He opened his trunk, and took out the map. And there she was, sitting alone, crying her heart out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James climbed the stairs to the Owlery as fast as he could. He had seen her crying like mad, and he really wanted to know what was wrong. If it was because of Malfoy, he was going to make sure he paid for that one. He got to the door, and turned the knob slowly. He could hear sobs and sniffles. "Lily?" he said in a sweet voice that would have made anyone melt. "Lily, I know you're in here". He closed the door behind him, and spotted Lily sitting on the floor, with her hands around her knees and with her head down, she was shaking and choking in her own tears.
He crossed the room, waking some owls up, and stood in front of her, not knowing exactly what to do. He was feeling pain taking control of his body. "Talk to me. Come on, insult me, call me a pig-headed... anything" James bent down until they were at the same level.
She lifted her head slowly. James thought she looked cute and sweet, with her face all wet and her eyes red from crying. He felt an urge to comfort her, to hug her, to kiss her. She looked at him with those big emerald green eyes, and he felt himself melting. Lily couldn't bear it, she needed to get all the pain away from her. Without even thinking she leaned closer and hugged him. It took James a while to realise what was happening. Coming out of his shock, he slowly put his arms around her, hugging her back. They stayed like that for a minute or two. Lily's mind was racing, she felt suddenly warm. Then realising who she was hugging, feeling something weird in her stomach, she let go of him. Narrowing her eyes she said in a whisper. "What are you doing here? How did you know I was here?"
James looked down at her. "I was worried about you so I followed you" he wasn't going to mention anything about the map.
"Since when do you worry about people? " tears coming out of her eyes and down her cheeks.
James stared at her for a moment, taking in her essence, her beautiful eyes, and noticing that his arms were still around her waist. He leaned closer, he could feel her breath. "Since you came along."
She lowered her head and backed off. "Go away" said Lily.
"Sometimes it's better to talk about what's bothering you".
"Why would I do that with you?" she really wanted him to leave. She had told herself she hated him for being such a prat, but this last few days had being weird. She found herself gazing at him more than once, whenever she saw him on the corridor she felt this weird thing in her stomach, like when she was in a roller coaster. She had never felt like that before, and it was scary. Having him so close was making her sick. This new feeling and the pain she was feeling for the loss of her mother was really uncomfortable. She hadn't even taken in what she just read, and it seemed like a nightmare.
He looked at her with a big grin on his face. He had seen her fall into her own thoughts and then coming back. "Come on, why won't you let me be your friend?" he said. She felt his eyes looking through her.
"Why do you want to be friends with me?"
She was just gorgeous, he thought. He regarded her, and then without thinking about it, he ran a hand through her shiny red hair, making her shiver unknowingly. "You have no idea how many times I've asked myself that question." he said.
Suddenly, everything became quiet. Each pair of owl eyes was set on those strangers, who were leaning closer and closer sending chills to each other. James reached for her face and cupped it in his hands, feeling her fast breath. He could've never though that a girl could do that to him, this feeling was new to him and what was worse, he didn't now what to do about it. But if it made him feel so alive and warm, then it must be something good. He was immersed in his own thoughts, just as her, when they were just inches apart. Then the owlery door swung open and a group of noisy fourth years came in. They didn't notice the couple at first, but as they crossed the room, they stopped talking and stared at a happy James and a red-eyed Lily.
James stood up and offered Lily his hand. "Let's go back to the common room".
She took it and both of them disappeared through the door, leaving five curious standing in the middle of the room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I am so sorry, Lils." Said Lor, with watery eyes, sitting besides Lily, looking at the floor, in the girls dormitory. Lily, after talking to professor Dumbledore in his office, was still crying, she couldn't believe it. Her mother... dead? She wouldn't see her, ever again! How was she supposed to get over this?
"They didn't even find her body, just the car. It's destroyed!" she said between sobs. "We won't even be able to bury her. Petunia doesn't want me to go. She said I have nothing to do over there, she doesn't want to see my face."
"It doesn't matter what she says, ok?" said Lor firmly. She knew the hard time her sister always gave her. "You already talked to professor Dumbledore, and he told you that you'll be leaving tomorrow. And you'll see your dad, and your grandma." She stood up. "C'mon, I'll help you with the packing, ok?"
Lily dried her tears and stood up. "I forgot my books downstairs, I'll bring them"
"Sure you don't want me to go?"
"No, I'll go." Lily answered. In fact she wanted to find James, so she could thank him for being so nice to her in the owlery. But when she descended the stairs, he wasn't anywhere to be seen. So she walked towards the couch in front of the fire, and picked up the books she had been reading last night. She turned around to go back to her room, when she heard a familiar voice from within a large group of fifth, sixth and seventh year boys. They all had grins. "Really what?" said the voice.
"Well," answered a seventh year "I just heard a boy saying something about you being alone with a girl up in the Owlery this morning?
Lily froze. She stopped breathing, so she could hear the boys' response.
"Well, yeah, what can I say?" said James forcing a smile, "she loves me."
"So, tell us, mate" said another voice, "who is this girl"
"Lily Evans, of course," said Sirius, with a big smile as though it was obvious, patting James' back. "she finally came around, huh, Prongs?"
James looked at Sirius' proud expression. "Yeah, she finally did" then he looked over Sirius' shoulder and his heart sank.
She couldn't believe it, how could he? 'After what he said? That I could be his friend?' she though. She felt even more pain in her heart. It was hard enough with her mother's death, now having to bear this. More tears were coming down her cheeks, while staring at James' stunned expression, while his friends where clapping at him, with grins.
She turned around and climbed up the stairs, with James staring at her, unable to move or to answer Sirius' questions.
She was drowning herself in her own tears, by the time she entered her room, and Lor didn't know what to do to calm her, or to get a response from her. While inside Lily a mixture of feelings had exploded, she felt betrayed, but she didn't know why. She felt like she was giving more importance to this than it actually deserved. And she swore mentally, that she would have trouble to trust James Potter ever again, even if her heart really wanted to. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Done! :) liked it?? We hope you did! Watch for the next chapters, there's more coming about Sirius' heart issues! And we'll find what is changing inside cute, shy Remus! R/R. M'nM