Chapter eight – Misunderstanding

James looked in disgust as he watched Lily and Tylon cling to each other, completely oblivious to him standing there and observing them and feeling hot, bubbling jealousy burning in the very pit of his stomach. A few moments later James couldn't handle it any more and stormed in the opposite direction back to the Great Hall.

Before he had even reached the doors however, he bumped into Sirius and Remus whom had immediately clasped hands the second they were out of the Great Hall, hiding from the eyes which would surely have rested upon them if they had shown any sign of affection towards each other.

"Hey you alright mate? What happened with Lily?" Sirius asked. "Don't ask" James replied bluntly, staring at the floor. "Oh no, did something go wrong?" Remus asked concern visible in his eyes. "Sorry for asking by the way" he added in a small voice.

"It's ok. I saw her with Tylon" James said, emphasising Tylon's name as though it was a swear word. "What were they doing?" Sirius asked curiously. "They were in the tightest embrace I have ever seen" James muttered jealously. "Oh… Maybe it was just a friendly hug or something" Remus said. "I highly doubt it" James replied quietly.

"I'm sorry, maybe you could talk to her about it" Sirius suggested. "I'm not too sure about that. I don't want to look as though I care" James replied, his pride shining through. "Do you want me to talk to her about it?" Sirius asked. "You can if you want, there isn't much hope it'll be anything I want to hear though" James replied. "Ok, I'll see what I can do".

The next day, James was still in a state of depression. He was hardly concentrating in lessons because his mind kept wandering back to when he saw Lily and Tylon together. He had left it too late to tell her how he feels. James guessed she must have been fed up by his stammering and decided to find comfort in someone else, someone who she now probably loved more than she ever would have loved him.

He couldn't understand why he had became so nervous though. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he was about to tell her his true feelings. They had seemed obvious during the truth or dare game but that was only fun and flirting, no serious emotion had been expressed or shown in any way. So now James sat in History of magic, absent mindedly staring out of the window. He tried to ignore the happy couples close by and was lost in his own thoughts as Sirius and Remus began to speak.

"Damn! I hate this lesson, what's the point in learning all about the past? Live in the present I say!" Sirius said to his boyfriend. "I'm sure there's a point to it somewhere. But I really can't find the energy to concentrate" Remus replied. "Too busy fantasising about me?" Sirius asked with a wink.

Remus smirked at him. "I might be… If only my fantasies were reality" Remus sighed contently and moved uncomfortably in his seat. "They can be, or maybe I'll just fulfil mine for now" Sirius replied. Remus wondered what he meant until he felt a hand on his waist which slowly moved down his leg. Swiftly, the hand moved, caressing and stroking gently but not daring to move to the inner thigh or crotch, they were still in class after all.

At the end of the lesson, James was still mildly upset and Sirius and Remus were rather happy and cheerful. "Cheer up mate" Sirius said to James as they made their way to lunch. "I can't, I just keep remembering what I saw…" James replied, trailing off at the end of his sentence.

"I hate to see you so unhappy when I'm in wonderful bliss" Sirius explained. James cocked an eyebrow. "What made you so happy I wonder?" Sirius and Remus glanced at each other and blushed deeply. James laughed for the first time all day and was beginning to feel slightly more cheerful until he bumped into Tylon.

"Hey guys" he said quickly before rushing off before they could reply. "Probably going to see his girlfriend" James said bitterly. It appeared not though as the three of them saw Lily sitting at the Gryffindor table eating her lunch with her friends. James, Remus and Sirius took their usual seats and saw Peter already sitting there.

"Hey, where have you been lately? Snogging your girlfriend?" Sirius asked cheekily. "Maybe…" Peter replied, blushing a little. "Ha! Thought so" Sirius said before starting to eat his lunch. James glanced over at Lily a few times but said nothing. Peter was too busy to notice as he was smiling and waving at his girlfriend.

Sirius and Remus however were continuing what they had started earlier and this time, they moved to the inner thigh…

The rest of the day passed by rather uneventfully. James' mood however, did not change and Sirius had decided that enough was enough. "That's it, I'm talking to Lily" he announced to Remus and Peter whilst watching James sitting in the corner, looking rather upset. "Ok, do you want us to wait?" Remus asked. "No that's ok, you two go ahead and take moody boy with you" Sirius replied. Once James, Remus and Peter had left the room, Sirius made his way over to Lily whom was with a few of her friends.

"Can I talk to you for a minute, Lily?" Sirius asked her. She nodded and told her friends to meet her in the Great Hall. "Ok Sirius, what is it?" she asked curiously. "It's about James…" Sirius began, noticing how Lily's eyes lit up at the mention of his name.

"What about him?" Lily asked, pretending as though she couldn't care less. "He's a bit upset because he saw you and Tylon together" Sirius said. Lily had a mixed expression of shocked and confused. "But we were only hugging, I was a bit upset about how James had ignored me and not spoken to me, he was just trying to cheer me up" Lily replied.

"That's what I thought, but James didn't take it that way" Sirius said. "I don't see why he would care anyway. He did completely shut me out before" Lily said hotly.  "He didn't do it on purpose, he was just nervous" Sirius explained. "He wasn't so nervous with me when we played truth or dare" Lily retorted.

"Well, that was different" Sirius replied. "How?" Lily asked. "He wanted to ask you something a bit more serious than how you two flirted before" Sirius explained. "Oh" Lily said, her expression changing and her features softening. "But don't ask me what he wanted to say, you have to talk to him yourself" Sirius added.

Lily sighed softly. "Ok, I'll talk to him after dinner" she said and then she smiled. "What a good friend you are" she added. Sirius smiled at her. "Just doing my job" Sirius replied. Lily laughed slightly. "A good friend and a good boyfriend, what a good combination!" Lily said, smiling.

Sirius paled slightly. "I don't know what-" he began but was cut off by Lily.  "I know about you and Remus, I've seen how you look at each other and I saw you two holding hands a few days ago" Lily said knowingly. "You won't tell anyone will you?" Sirius asked.

"Of course not" Lily replied. "I think it's rather sweet" she added with a smile. Sirius smiled back at her and they made their way to the Great Hall. "Hey where have you been?" James asked Sirius as he took his seat next to Remus.

"Talking to Lily" Sirius replied. "Oh, what did she say?" James asked. "She's going to talk to you" Sirius said. "When?" James asked. "Now" a voice replied from behind him. James turned to see Lily standing there looking at him. Before James could say a word, Lily had already taken him by the hand and led him away from the Great Hall.

"James, there is nothing going on between me and Tylon" Lily said to him when they were out of earshot of the Great Hall. "What about when I saw you two hugging? You seemed rather too close for comfort" James replied, staring at the floor.

"He was just trying to cheer me up, I was rather upset when you couldn't talk to me" Lily said quietly. "Why?" James asked, still looking at the floor. "Isn't it obvious? I'm in love with you" Lily replied. James looked up into Lily's bright, green eyes.

"You… l-love me?" James choked out, rather startled by her confession. "Yes" Lily said. "I love you too" James said quietly but Lily still heard. "Really?" she asked. "Yes" James replied, laughing. He brought Lily closer to him and planted his lips on hers and they had a nice, long kiss.

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A/N: There you go! Another chapter finished. Sorry it wasn't that long but hopefully the next one will be longer.