A/N: Yay! A new chapter is finally up. I'm sorry this took so long but we got a new lab top computer and it took a while to set everything up (it's my labtop) so I couldn't get all of my files, including this one. But it's here and I'm ready to start posting more often than I have in that past! Yay!!! Thanks to all of you who reviewed, and there are a loooooooooot more chapters on the way. I'm sorry if you don't like looooong chapter-fics, but I already know that this one should be over thirty chapters long (I've already written the chapters up with a sense that I know what I want to happen…) Anyhow, moving on to the story!!
**Oh, I don't particularly like how this chapter came out, but please review and tell me what I could have done to make it better!
Disclaimer: You know the drill. Just see the previous chapters…
MEMORIES
CHAPTER 9: But is He Really Back?
Written by Foxy
"But the only thing that was running through my mind was the fact that I had never gotten the chance to tell you that Sir Sephilia had let me into his Auror program. I refused to die without telling you the whole truth."
Lily sniffled and hugged him close to her. "Oh, James, I love you so much. I don't care if you hadn't told me. I'm just glad you're back."
"I love you, too, Lily," James murmured, kissing her passionately on the lips.
"But where were you for the past week?" Lily asked, after they pulled apart. "No one could get a hold of you!"
"Let me start from the beginning. I was trailing right behind Voldemort for about four days when our cover was blown by his death-eaters. I was captured, along with almost everyone else. I was close to dead…but I knew I couldn't let you or Sirius or Remus or Savannah or Peter or my parents or everyone else I knew down. It was a tough battle, but Alastor Moody devised a plan for us to escape and him and a few other Aurors at Sephilia's office were given the chance to get away quickly and quietly. We got back to the tent and we told Sephilia where he was hiding, hoping it wasn't too late. Well, we caught him and sent him crawling back to Iceland, actually. Because there were only a few of us left, Sir Sephilia needed all the help he could get this past week and we've been under cover, hidden away, and away from the death-eaters so I couldn't call you or write to you. I was so scared that you guys thought I was gone," James explained.
Lily sniffled. They were in her room now, sitting on her bed just talking about everything that had happened in the past two weeks. "We did. The moment I heard that more than half of the Aurors had died on duty, I had this sickening feeling in my stomach. I couldn't deal with it."
"As I can see," he muttered bitterly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily asked crossly.
"Huh?" he asked innocently. "Oh…nothing."
"No, tell me what you meant by that."
James sighed. "It's just that…well, I did not expect you to be hanging out with a bunch of friends the day after you heard about my mission and the consequences."
"What? First of all, they weren't my friends. I didn't even know they were going to be here! They were just celebrating Brett's birthday," Lily explained.
"Brett?" he asked with an eyebrow raised in suspicion.
"Yes, Brett," she answered harshly.
"Yeah, well if they were Andy's friends why were you hanging out with them?"
"Because I needed a good laugh and just to relax and have a good time."
"A good time?" James questioned. "I'll just bet you had a good time. I couldn't help but notice there were more males than females," he mumbled under his breath.
It's just one more day
No one said there would be pain again
Won't blame it on myself
I'll blame it on the jealous man
"So? Are you accusing me of going behind your back?" Lily demanded.
"If you thought I was dead, you wouldn't necessarily be going behind my back," James pointed out.
"Oh, so instead, you think that the day after I find out that the man that I love could be dead I would start dating someone else?"
"I don't know," James said, shrugging.
Get away for a while
Here I am out on my own again
Won't blame it on myself
I'll blame it on the jealous man
"Oh, jeez, James. I'm not that stupid!! And stop being so goddamn jealous and learn to trust me!"
"I do trust you!"
"Well, then why are you accusing me of dating other guys when I'm still dating you?"
"Hey, it happened before, Lily, if you have forgotten," James said angrily.
Lily's expression on her face turned from bitterness to hurt. "I can't believe you just brought that up, James. And besides you know that it wasn't my fault."
Standing in the room
Calling out your name
I was here before
I could see your face
"How was it not your fault!?"
"We were on a break!!!!!!!" Lily screamed. [a/n: I know, I know. Friends. I love that show, what can I say? J] "You said you needed a break so I figured we weren't dating!!" Lily exploded, and she knew that everyone in the other room could hear them but at that moment she didn't care.
"Ugh, forget it. Whatever," he muttered.
"Oh, and I hate to mention it…no, strike that—I'd love to mention it, that I'm not the only one to blame in that situation! YOU have cheated on me three times, James Potter! So don't scream at me for cheating on you once, when I didn't even cheat on you!! I thought that we could go celebrate your returning, but all you care about is who I've hung out with tonight? That is the biggest load of crap I have ever heard!! I can't believe you could be so goddamned shallow!! But, whatever, James. I hope you have a happy life without me because I don't need any of this jealousy crap right at the moment, especially from you!." Lily screamed, jumping off of the bed and walking towards the door.
Only clouds will see
Tears are in my eyes
Empty like my heart
Why do you say good-bye?
The pain goes on
"Don't run away from this, Lily Evans, like you've done in the past!" James cried.
"I'm not running away from anything, James Potter. I'm simply facing the fact that my boyfriend, no ex-boyfriend, doesn't seem to want to trust me and thinks that he can control my life. Well, you're wrong, James and I don't any of your love vs. jealousy act right now. Let me live my own life in America, and you go back to England and live your life there…away from me," she snapped at him, before charging towards the door in complete anger and frustration. "We're two different people in two different places. Just leave it at that."
Alone I can hear
Hear our song
Playing for me again
Won't blame it on myself
Just blame it on the jealous man
"No, Lily, wait," James started.
"Wait for what? You to accuse me something again!?"
"No, I-"
Before leaving the room, she turned around to face James. "You know, it always seems like whenever we're close to that one-year mark, we become a little too overprotected of each other. We run and hide from the damn truth, and find an excuse to make space between us…this time there's no need for an excuse," she explained sadly. "Happy Anniversary, James," she said barely audible before leaving her room and walking out of the apartment, not even looking at the six other people in the living room when she passed by them. She just wanted to get out of there and think things over.
The pain goes on and on again
The suffering will always stand
The agony goes on with this man
I'll blame it on the jealous man
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~
"Yeah, Happy Anniversary to you, too," James said softly. "And Happy Birthday," he added. He stood up and was about to leave the room when he saw a bunch of ripped up pieces of paper sprawled about the garbage and realized that it was his—and Lily's—favorite picture of them two. Tears of hurt, plus sorrow, filled his eyelids when he realized she had already ripped it up before he got there. He sat there, realizing that Lily was right: they had always become too overprotected and ran from the truth when it came to their one-year anniversary.
He sighed, and walked out of the room where he saw everyone staring at him. "Hey," he said to the strangers in the apartment.
"Um…hi?" Shane said, still confused as to who it was.
"So, you and Lily had still been together after the last time I saw you?" Andy asked, knowing that it was James Potter who was standing in the living room.
"Not exactly. We've been off and on and have only truly been serious since last June…but I guess that's over," he explained, and Andy had suddenly remembered when Lily had vaguely told him about that before. "But you heard all about that, I'm sure," James said pointing out that they had probably overheard their argument.
They all looked sheepish. "I'm sorry," Callie sympathized, not about to pretend like she didn't hear their yells.
"Don't be. It was my fault for being so stupid. But I think she's right. We need space from each other. We just need time to calm down and to get settled into our new lives. It's all for the best," James explained, using the famous line of Sirius and Savannah even though he didn't believe that from one second.
Andy nodded. "She's one heck of a woman. Don't let her go," he said, before James left the apartment and apparated back to London.
James' first and only priority was to see Lily, and now that he had done that, which ended up being traumatic, he didn't find any real need in going to see any of his other friends, even though he knew he should, considering they were all probably worried about him.
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~
"Si-Si, are we going to Allie's tomorrow or are we not?" Savannah asked.
He sighed. "I guess so. I…I just don't want any more bad news," he explained.
Savannah grabbed his arm and pulled him down to the couch, where she cuddled into his arms. "Honey, if it is bad news, which I bet it's not, wouldn't it be better to be there with Allie than to be here sulking by ourselves?"
"Why are you so smart?" he asked her, giving her a kiss on the forehead.
"Because someone in this relationship has to be," she joked.
"Hey!" he cried, and they both laughed.
"Oh, and Kaitlynne called earlier when you were upstairs and she says that if it's okay that she'll probably move in next Wednesday."
"That's perfect. Only I wish it were you who was moving in," he said winking.
"Didn't we already talk about this," she teased. "If Kaitlynne gets that job in Australia, and I move back to England after my last year at college, then I'll move in with you, you bozo," she said laughing,
"You better," he replied with a grin, just as the phone rang. "Okay, I need to get that."
"Okay," she said, without getting up and grinning at him.
"You are not helping," he said with a smile as it rang again. "Fine, but you asked for it." He started to tickle her and she squirmed away from him and on to the ground just as the phone rang and there was knock at the door.
"I'll get the door, you get the phone," she said still laughing.
She walked to the door and opened it and gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth. "Oh…my…God…" she whispered, as she flung her arms around James' neck just as he put his arms around her waist.
"Oh, it's good to see you again," James whispered to her, as the tears sprang to her eyelids already.
"I can't believe you're actually…here," she cried, instead of saying 'alive.'
"I know," he whispered.
"Who is it!?" Sirius cried from the kitchen, obviously still on the phone.
Savannah grinned and let go of him. She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the kitchen.
Sirius dropped the phone.
"Hey," James said with a slight grin.
Sirius stood there agape and then did something that he's never done to James in his whole lifetime of being friends with him (not including graduation) and walked over to him and gave him a hug. Both James and Savannah were surprised, but James returned it gratefully and Savannah smiled at them…until she heard a scream from the phone. They all laughed, and Savannah ran to pick it up as James went on to explain the whole story to Sirius.
"Hello?" she said.
"SIRIUS?" the person cried.
Savannah laughed. "No, it's Savannah."
"Savannah? Savannah Turner?" the unfamiliar voice said.
"Um…yeah. Who is this?"
"It's Daniel Marx."
"Danny!!" she squealed. "How are you?"
He sighed. "Not so good."
"Oh, no. What happened?"
"I'm not sure. Josh Matthews just called me and-"
"What!?" she cried.
"Huh?"
"Josh Matthews?? He's alive!?" she squealed.
"Yeah!" he said happily. "I thought you knew."
"Now I do!"
"But he can't reach Allie, so I'm not sure what's up with that."
"Oh…hmmm…that's strange. I figured she'd stay in the house with the phone open until he called," she thought out loud.
"Yeah, I thought so too," he said. "Well, Sirius called me yesterday morning to ask me if I've heard anything on Minnie, and today Josh called me to tell me that ever since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had hit their school, that he hadn't seen her anywhere."
Savannah sighed. "Oh, no. Well, I'm sure she's okay somewhere, Daniel, and don't worry about it. In fact, if you want, Sirius and I could pop by later tomorrow."
"Oh, would you? That would be so nice of you," he said, extremely grateful. "My house has been pretty lonely since the lock-down and it would be nice to see you again."
"Okay, we'll stop by tomorrow," she agreed. "I'll talk to you later." And she hung up the phone and returned to Sirius' and James' conversation.
"What about Lily?" Sirius asked. "Did you go see her?"
James sighed, as Savannah took a seat next to him. "Yeah," was his plain and simple answer.
"What was her reaction?" Savannah asked.
"She broke up with me," he replied after deciding just to tell them instead of hide it.
"WHAT!?!?" both Savannah and Sirius cried incredulously.
James couldn't help but laugh at their reaction. "It's a long story, but…in the end, we got into a huge argument and she broke up with me."
Both Savannah and Sirius were speechless. "But…your anniversary is tomorrow!" Savannah blurted out, before covering her mouth, realizing it was a stupid thing to say as Sirius glared at her.
"I know," he sighed. "It seems like we always do something stupid and break up before we get to our one-year anniversary. Lily mentioned it, but it always seems like we're hiding from something or we're running from something."
"I'm sorry, James," Savannah said, really thinking about apparating to Lily's at the moment and wondering what the heck Lily was thinking.
"I-I don't know. It just felt so…real. I mean, we've dated before obviously, but the last year was different. It really felt like sooner or later we'd get married or something. Obviously, I was wrong."
"No, you weren't," Savannah said unexpectedly.
"What?" James said confused.
"Huh?" Sirius asked, bewildered.
"Lily's obviously going through a selfish stage or whatnot," Savannah said angrily, surprising herself more than Sirius and James, who were definitely taken aback.
"Whoa…" Sirius said. "Savannah, you-"
"No, let me finish," she said firmly. "I don't know what you or she did to cause this, but I know nothing could have brought you two apart again. You two are going to be the first of all of us who get married and you two are going to be the first two to have a baby," she said even more firmly.
"Is that a demand or an order?" Sirius said with a slight grin.
"It's a command," she said without smiling.
James looked at her a little strangely, but realized she was just saying it because she that's what she believed in. He wasn't so sure anymore. Disregarding what she was saying, he only said, "Listen, I've got to get back to school, and I have to go by broomstick, so I have to leave now. I'll write you guys," and he stood up and headed for the door.
"JAMES!" Savannah snarled rolling her eyes at him, and throwing her hands up into the air, which made him whirl around again.
"What?" he asked facing innocence.
"You just got here!" she cried. "Besides, you have a story to tell us!"
James sighed. "I-I really don't want to talk about it. It was probably my fault anyhow."
"You are so right!" she cried again, jumping out of her chair.
"I am?" he asked, slinking away slowly, now deathly afraid of her.
"You are running from her…or from love at least," she cried disturbed. "I don't know why and I don't care why, but don't sit there and actually expect me to believe that Lily is to blame for everything," she accused.
"WHOA! HOLD IT! Are you actually standing there lecturing to me about my love life and defending your best friends when you don't even know what happened!?!?"
"You bet your ass I'm doing just that!" she yelled. "I already told you, I don't care what happened but…I know Lily more than I know you, and I know that you're both just hiding something; afraid to admit that you're falling into a bigger commitment than you two thought, is what I'm guessing."
"I'm not afraid to admit to anything!" James cried, in total disbelief that Savannah was accusing him of something she knew nothing of.
"Yes you are! You just don't know it! And-"
"SHUP UP!" James screamed at her, afraid he was going to hit her in any second. His eyes and ears were steaming up and if looks could shoot bullets, then Savannah would be one big hole. "I think I know a little more about my relationship than a snot-nosed, little, spoiled brat like you knows about it so why don't you just mind your own damn business and LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!!!" And with his final words, he stomped out of the house.
"I HOPE YOU DIDN'T YELL THAT AT LILY, BECAUSE IF YOU DID, IT'S OBVIOUS WHY SHE BROKE UP WITH YOU!!!!!!!!!" Savannah cried after him as he slammed the door in her face. She fell to the kitchen chair and sighed. "Oh, God."
"Well, that went well," Sirius finally spoke.
Savannah said nothing as she sat in her chair with her head in her hands realizing she shouldn't have said anything.
A/N: REVIEW!!! (That's all I've got to say…) That song was by B*Witched, but my own little version of it! (I changed it around a little…)
