By Blondemomo
A/N: I know, I know, these sentences are really fragment-ie. I am sorry, but it is the way you have to read it, for the dramatic effect, I suppose. Happy reading. And be nice if you review (please, please, please) b/c this is my 1st story. Flames will be used to singe the flower petals of my dying houseplant in my room. Chapter Uno: Some thoughtsShe swished her hair around under her bathtub to wash out the shampoo, (Moisture Witch #8, hey! it helped her red hair stay naturally red!)
She had to tell him. It had to be over, this time. Really over. She would. Tonight. It was graduation eve and she couldn't handle this anymore. He was leaving to be an auror, she was going to Galapagos for the muggle Peace Corps. It would never work between them ever again. And besides, its not like he would have no one else. Every girl was dying to be on his arm like an ornament and kissing his feet every moment of his waking existence. Girls. Everywhere and all around him and his friends. Even though they were awful boyfriends; unfaithful, lying, cheating, pranksters, and frankly, not too sensitive, she figured some girls were shallow enough to only want them for their looks. (A/n: I'm not saying I'm not one of them!) She figured she didn't really matter to him. He would forget about this off-and-on thing they had had going all of these years. He didn't really care.
Or did he?
Lily rinsed her hair out and stepped out of the huge Head Girl Bath Tub. 'Ahh. It is lovely being a perfectly perfect prefect of perfection, Head Girl.' (A/n: ha ha)
She walked into the common room thinking how she would break the news to him. Probably later tonight she would see him and tell him her thoughts and he would say, "Yeah, that's cool. Me too, Lily Val." Lily Val was his special name for her. You know the flower; Lily of the Valley was her favorite and his, too. Though whenever a serious fight between them happened he would send roses. But during another one of their monthly break ups he would send a bouquet of Lilys as penance for his behavior. She would miss that.
As she walked up the girl's staircase, she saw a trail of red rose petals leading to her and her roommates' door.
'Probably Archie Patil leaving them for Rosemary. He is so in love with her! Lucky inkling…'
A note on the door attached to a single red rose told Lily otherwise as she reached for the knob. The note was addressed to Lily. 'Oh no. This can NOT be from him. This makes it so much harder. I can't do this to him. It would just be too hard.'
The letters said, (in lovely calligraphy if I might add) this:
Come in, love. J~
Her life got stranger by the second. Uh-boy.
So she did the only thing she could do. Lily entered her dorm room.
The entire room had thousands of red roses all over the place. The floor drenched in rose petals, and the windows in curtains of petals.
A note on her bed said, "Turn around, love."
She did. And regretted it so very badly.
James was there, down on one knee. He had a box in hand. A small, velvety box, undoubtfully containing what Lily hoped it not to be.
"I wanted to wait until tomorrow, but I thought this was so much better. So much more secluded."
"James, I—"
"No. Don't speak. I know just what you're feeling. (A/N: That's dear Gwen Stefani's line) Lily, I can't live without you. You are my air; I need to you to breathe. You are my light; you help me to see. After graduation," he paused to open the box and for effect. The he asked, "Will you marry me?"
The box contained the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. It was a round opal, her absolute favorite with tiny diamonds around it on platinum setting. Just looking at it made her want to say yes. But she couldn't. She just, couldn't.
She breathed again. It was the first time in about 2 minutes.
"I—well, James, it's so beautiful. I, nn-yee---I can't. Not. What?" she was gasping.
"Will you marry me?" James eyes were so full of love and adoration.
Lily started crying. She couldn't take this. She was too young, only 17 years old. She was going to break up with him only 15 minutes ago. Now he was proposing marriage!
"James," more sobbing, "I can't marry you. You can't love me alone."
"I can, I will, and I do. I always have and always will," James was clearly hurt by her response.
"James," Lily's voice was very small and weak, "I can't. I love you, but I just can't marry you."
"Please, Lily. You are…" she cut him off.
"Don't. No more. Stay beautiful without me," she sobbed.
James got up and left. Lily heard the door slam.
She sat down on the floor amongst the petals and cried every tear she ever had for him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter Two
The Leaving, The Lion, and the Loving
It was graduation morning, with the ceremony at 4 pm. Lily, puffy and red, glanced at her clock. 1 am, it read. So that meant she had 15.5 hours before she had to go down to the Hall. Then it was time to leave this place. This hell, this home, the only place she ever loved, and the scariest place she had ever been (besides the large land of Disney with all those roller coasters and such).
Lily Evans knew what she had to do. Change her life in the snap of a wand. She was going to leave this place, right now. Before graduation, before facing James, before she could change her life's path and perhaps make the biggest mistake of her life. She was running away. For good.
Lily magically put everything into her trunk, and just before she had everything packed she realized she had only one problem: where would she go? The Corps didn't start until late August! And then all of a sudden, she knew it! She would go to the place where he would never look, Paris! And, hey, maybe she would run into Johnny Depp there (oh, please let that happen, the author pleaded to herself, to write about his strong, handsome, Cambells-kind-of-goodness) cough anyway, where was I? Ahh yesssss…..
PARIS! She would buy a café, own a poodle and wear funny hats and never shave. Well, maybe all except the no-shaving thing.
She picked up her trunk (having magically shrunk it and made it lighter) and walked out to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
"Apparactio Incantantum," she muttered.
She blinked. Lily was now standing at the top of the Eiffel Tower. 'Oh no,' she thought and apparated onto the ground. Not many people were around, only the young people stumbling drunkly out of clubs and bars were out this late. She picked up a French newspaper, that she would need later to get a flat and headed to the nearest inn.
"Palevou Ingles?" Lily inquired to the innkeeper.
"Yes, m'dear. What can I help you with?" the nice, plump lady smiled.
"I need a room for possibly about 3 days," she answered.
"Okay, mademoiselle. Right this way…"
The room was a little shabby, but for this price, who cared? She could fix this up at 4 pm, when permission of magic outside school could be fully granted to her since she would have graduated. The innkeeper gave her the key and left silently. Lily was content with her newfound freedom. She had never been too abnormally rebellious, but this was nice for her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
BACK AT HOGWARTS
"Where is Lily?"
"Has anybody seen Lily Evans?"
People were running around the school trying to find Lily, but of course no one would ever find her. She left no note, told no one, and had given no warning. She just picked and left, and now had everyone panicked. And since she was Head Girl, she would be giving a speech and receiving many awards. She was so well liked and had so many friends, but where was she now? Where would she go?
James sat in the corner on the common room silently dying on the inside. He knew she had gone away, far, far away from this school, him, and the magical word. She would never come back, either, if he knew her well, which he did.
Sirius, James' best friend in the whole wide world came sprinting over to him, gasping for air. "Where is she? D'you know what happened? Her roommates say there were red petals…and then no Lily."
"Yeah. I did it Sirius. I drove her away from this place."
"You did what?"
"The petals. Mine. The note. Mine. I proposed to her last night, and she declined and I bet she took off."
"No skrewts!? You proposed? Nice, I like the petal idea. Mind if I borrow it sometime?" Sirius was wondering if his friend had a stable frame of mind right now. Him? Marry Lily? I don't think so!
"I mean," Sirius snapped back, "So, did she say she was leaving?"
"Not one word," James was defiantly dying.
