Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JK Rowling.
A/N: hey everyone! Thank you for all the reviews brilliant, I luv you all! This chapter's fairly long, and I'm sorry it took so long getting out. It's just that school started again, and now I have even less time! Still, I'll try to be quick! Hope you enjoy this chapter, and please read and review again!
Chapter Eight
The First Date
First dates were always awkward. At least, so said Sarah. Lily herself had never been on that many dates. She always found the boys to be lacking something whenever she went out with them. She didn't have much experience with guys. Consequently, she spent the rest of the week worrying and tying herself up in knots about her date with James, scheduled for that Saturday.
Several times she considered going up to James and telling him that it was off, that she had some....studying to do or something. But each time she tried, she just couldn't do it. She still had to question why she said yes in the first place. Perhaps it was because he looked so desperate....almost vulnerable. Yet, now it was she who felt vulnerable. She didn't know what to think.
What if it was just a prank? What if she got there and he wasn't waiting for her? What if she wore something that he thought was ugly and he spent the rest of the day staring at her and wondering why the hell he asked her out. What if he had only said it as a joke, and had no intention of actually going? Then she had to question, why did she care? It was James Potter, for god's sake! It wasn't as if it was a big deal.
But it was, she realized. For some reason, she wanted to impress him.
**
"Whoa," Sarah said, eyebrows raised as she watched Lily throw clothes across the dorm in a fury. "I've never seen you this worried about how you're dressed before."
"I don't know what to wear!" Lily moaned. "And I feel weird about going on this date in the first place. I mean, shouldn't I still be angry at him for what he did to this room?"
"Nah," Sarah said. "I got over that...." She paused suddenly, and her eyes lit up. "But I do have an idea of what you could wear.... it'll be like a joke and a warning at the same time!"
"What are you talking about?" Lily said, rolling her eyes. She wasn't in the mood for riddles.
"Just watch and learn," Sarah said, grinning. "This'll only take a minute. And trust me, this'll show Potter that you're not gonna stand for any pranks!"
**
On the other side of the curtain, and silencing charm the girls had cast earlier, James was eyeing himself in the mirror with narrowed eyes.
"Do you think gel would work?" he asked Remus, biting his lip. He tried to flatten his hair again to no avail.
"How would I know?" Remus said, shrugging. "I don't use gel."
"Peter?" James said rather desperately.
"Ask Sirius," Peter said, not even looking up from his book.
James turned to Sirius, by now almost beside himself with anxiety and nervousness.
"Dude. Chill," Sirius said, coming over and clapping his hand onto James' shoulder. "Chicks dig the 'messy hair thing'. Trust me."
James glanced at himself in the mirror again. His hair was still sticking up, but apart from that he looked pretty damn good. He was dressed casually in dark denim jeans, and a red t-shirt, with the slogan of a wizarding band splashed across the front. His glasses (a/n did I mention that he has glasses?) were thin framed, oval shaped and dark grey.
He ran a hand through his hair anxiously, making it stick up even more.
"Look," Remus said, beginning to get rather sick of James. "I'm sure she'll like whatever you wear. Lily isn't the sort of girl who cares what people look like anyway."
James nodded distractedly.
"I guess I'll go wait for her in the common room then," he said, licking his lips nervously.
Just then, however, the curtains were pulled back and Lily stepped cautiously into their side of the dorm.
"Lily!" Sirius scolded. "We could have been naked!"
James however, was staring at Lily. She looked different....in a good way.
Lily's dark red, curly hair was out, spilling about her face. She was wearing a black, tight fitting t-shirt, with cut off sleeves and a slogan written as if in blood, saying 'Boy Bands Must Die'. The top stopped just before her belly button, showing about 8 cm of skin, more daring than most Lily-like clothes. She was also wearing red and black striped armbands, starting from just above her elbows and reaching to her wrist. This was further accentuated by flared, black jeans with faded patched along the front of her thighs. She looked more....grungy. And not at all like Lily.
James sensed a warning here, but he also noticed how hot she looked like this. She had dark eyeliner under her eyes, accentuating the green that he had always loved...hang on, since when had he loved anything about Lily? He decided not to go into that just now.
"Uh.... hi," he said. Then, noticing that he had been staring, he looked away quickly.
"Hey," she said calmly. She looked around at the room. "What an improvement. It actually looks kind of neat." She commented.
"Yeah, Remus made us clean it the other day," James said, chuckling dryly. "It's weird. I can see the floor."
Lily smiled.
"Shall we go?" she asked.
He nodded and followed her towards the door. Somehow, he was feeling decidedly nervous.
"Have fun," Remus called, and Peter smiled at Lily.
Andrea and Sarah waved at Lily from the gap in the curtain.
"Don't forget Honeydukes," Lisa called from the other side of the dorm.
"I won't," Lily promised. She pushed the door open and stepped out, James following.
They trailed down the stairs to the common room. It looked a mess. The work wizards had arrived on Thursday, and half the room had been sealed off by a magical barrier the barrier was clear, and allowed nothing across except muffled sounds and the occasional loud bang as the wizards attempted to break through the rocks blocking the stairway to the boys dorms.
They paused for a minute to watch as one wizard opened his mouth and seemingly bellowed a spell. Sparks shot out of his wand and a bit of rock exploded with a huge sound even lily and James could hear from behind the barrier. The wizard yelled something and all the other wizards ran for cover as bits of stone flew in every which direction, to bounce of the barrier.
James shook his head ruefully. "I guess we shouldn't have made that last explosion, huh?" he remarked.
"No. You really shouldn't have," Lily agreed, wincing as a piece of rubble hit on guy on the head.
**
The village was busy, as it was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year so far for the students. Everywhere they looked they saw Hogwarts students. A couple of people called out to Lily, commenting on her 'new look'. And naturally, several girls cooed at James. He gave Lily a helpless look and she rolled her eyes.
"You want to walk around first an then go for a drink?" he asked. For a guy who went on dates almost every night of the week, James was looking very panicked.
"Yeah, sure," Lily agreed. "Lisa wanted me to get some stuff from Honeydukes."
"I was going to ask why your friends aren't coming," James said, turning to look at her as they turned into the main street.
"Well Lisa's sick, and Andrea needs to work on her Potions essay. Sarah's coming a little later with that Davies guy, and Grace is probably already here, drinking her way through the Three Broomsticks." Lily explained. "What about yours? I saw that Sirius wasn't getting ready. No date today?"
"Oh, he's meeting his date later, he said," James said nonchalantly. "And Remus and Peter are going to come after lunch they said."
As they reached Honeydukes, the door swung open and a group of Hufflepuff girls walked out, giggling at something. At the sight of James, they began to squeal and they rushed over at once.
"Oh, Jamsie!" one exclaimed. "I haven't seen you for so long!"
"Yeah! Where have you been?" another one said, grabbing his arm. "You promised me a date!"
James gave Lily a panicked, helpless, apologetic look. She raised an eyebrow and turned away. Typical Potter. Go on one date and have about a million stand bys. She wandered over to the lolly stand outside Honeydukes and read the plaque over the packets of electric blue, lip shaped candies.
'Available in many flavors including banana, strawberry and lime, these delicious lollies will give you the most kissable lips to be had!'
Lily rolled her eyes in contempt. Who would be desperate enough to buy these things? Just then, one of the Hufflepuffs hanging around James broke away from the crowd and ran over to the stand.
"Omigod!" she squealed. "Guys, we just have to get some of these!"
"What are they?" one of her friends called.
"Lippy Lollies," the first girl said excitedly.
"Omigod!" the others chorused, and they all swarmed at the stand, grabbing packets of the lollies and rushing inside to pay for them.
Lily raised an eyebrow. So maybe some people were desperate enough, she conceded mentally.
"Sorry about that," James said sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. "I just can't seem to shake them off."
"Yeah, well," Lily said, looking away. This date was worse than she had thought it'd be. She wished James would start acting normal. She wasn't used to him being nice. Why couldn't he be all stuck up like he was meant to be? She knew how to handle him when he was being an idiot. This new and improved James was waaay beyond her skills.
"Uh, shall we go in?" James suggested warily, indicating Honeydukes.
"I don't feel like it any more," Lily said, shrugging. "Can we stop over on the way back?"
"Yeah, sure," James said. He was relieved- the Hufflepuff girls were still in there. "The Three Broomsticks then?"
"Ok," Lily said, and she followed him down the street.
The pub was fairly full as usual, and James led the way to a table in one corner, near a window.
"I'll go get the drinks," he said, and disappeared into the crowd.
Lily sat, watching the people around her. Two Ravenclaws were sitting near by, talking animatedly about a new album out from the Weird Sisters. A little boy who appeared to be in Griffindor was sitting by himself, nose buried in a book. A few minutes later an equally small girl joined him and he shoved the book away. Lily watched them for a little while longer. They must have been in first year. She smiled to herself, thinking of herself at that age. She had been smart, annoying and had harbored a huge dislike for James Potter. And here she was on a date with him! Oh, the irony of it all. Lily sighed. She glanced at her watch. She looked out the window. She glanced at her watch again. How long did it take a guy to buy a couple of mugs of Butterbeer?
**
"Hey, James!" a voice called.
James, who had been concentrating hard on not spilling the Butterbeer, looked up. Andrew Clark, a fellow Griffindor Quidditch player, and, in fact, the captain of the team, was beckoning him.
He tried to gesture that he was busy, but Andrew just grinned, so James was forced to push his way through the crowd to tell him that he couldn't talk just then. However, as soon as he got near enough, Andrew grabbed a butterbeer out of his hand and plonked it on the table, and then steered James into a seat. The rest of the team were already sitting there, looking bored out of their brains.
"We were just discussing strategy for next weeks game," Andrew said excitedly.
"Well, actually," Annette Spinner, a beater, said tiredly. "You were 'discussing' and the rest of us were sleeping with our eyes open."
Andrew ignored her calmly.
"Have you got any ideas?" he asked James.
"Actually, I have to go, I'm on a-" he began.
"This won't take a minute," Andrew cut him off. "Now where was I?"
**
Lily was beginning to get cross. It had now been almost fifteen minutes. Nobody took that long buying a few drinks. Angrily, she grabbed her bag and cloak and stood up. If James Potter wanted to run off, there was no way she was sticking around!
She stormed over to the door and strode out, letting it slam behind her. Muttering angrily beneath her breath, she started the long walk back to Hogwarts.
Some date that turned out to be.
**
James looked up, jerking out of his half asleep state of mind to see Lily storming towards the door.
"Hey!" he called, interrupting Andrew's speech about Chaser tactics. "Wait!"
But she pushed through the door and disappeared outside.
"James," Andrew rebuked. "I expect you to remember all this.
"Oh, shut up, Clark," James said angrily. Grabbing his cloak, he pushed through the crowds and out of the pub.
Lily was nowhere in sight.
"Great," he muttered. "Just great."
Just as he and Lily had finally started getting along, he blew his only chance at a date. Now she was going to hate him all over again. She probably thought he stood her up.
Slowly, he trudged back to Honeydukes, his mood darkening rapidly.
She would never forgive him after this.
***
A/N: well, what a mess! What did you think of the outfit, especially you, GriffindorGoddess28? Wow, this is pretty long. I hope it's worth the wait! So, another ten or maybe fifteen? Please? I know u can do it now, I got nineteen for the last chapter! So, make me proud!
Anyway, I'll try to update as soon as possible, keep reading!
~Jaizar Black
A/N: hey everyone! Thank you for all the reviews brilliant, I luv you all! This chapter's fairly long, and I'm sorry it took so long getting out. It's just that school started again, and now I have even less time! Still, I'll try to be quick! Hope you enjoy this chapter, and please read and review again!
Chapter Eight
The First Date
First dates were always awkward. At least, so said Sarah. Lily herself had never been on that many dates. She always found the boys to be lacking something whenever she went out with them. She didn't have much experience with guys. Consequently, she spent the rest of the week worrying and tying herself up in knots about her date with James, scheduled for that Saturday.
Several times she considered going up to James and telling him that it was off, that she had some....studying to do or something. But each time she tried, she just couldn't do it. She still had to question why she said yes in the first place. Perhaps it was because he looked so desperate....almost vulnerable. Yet, now it was she who felt vulnerable. She didn't know what to think.
What if it was just a prank? What if she got there and he wasn't waiting for her? What if she wore something that he thought was ugly and he spent the rest of the day staring at her and wondering why the hell he asked her out. What if he had only said it as a joke, and had no intention of actually going? Then she had to question, why did she care? It was James Potter, for god's sake! It wasn't as if it was a big deal.
But it was, she realized. For some reason, she wanted to impress him.
**
"Whoa," Sarah said, eyebrows raised as she watched Lily throw clothes across the dorm in a fury. "I've never seen you this worried about how you're dressed before."
"I don't know what to wear!" Lily moaned. "And I feel weird about going on this date in the first place. I mean, shouldn't I still be angry at him for what he did to this room?"
"Nah," Sarah said. "I got over that...." She paused suddenly, and her eyes lit up. "But I do have an idea of what you could wear.... it'll be like a joke and a warning at the same time!"
"What are you talking about?" Lily said, rolling her eyes. She wasn't in the mood for riddles.
"Just watch and learn," Sarah said, grinning. "This'll only take a minute. And trust me, this'll show Potter that you're not gonna stand for any pranks!"
**
On the other side of the curtain, and silencing charm the girls had cast earlier, James was eyeing himself in the mirror with narrowed eyes.
"Do you think gel would work?" he asked Remus, biting his lip. He tried to flatten his hair again to no avail.
"How would I know?" Remus said, shrugging. "I don't use gel."
"Peter?" James said rather desperately.
"Ask Sirius," Peter said, not even looking up from his book.
James turned to Sirius, by now almost beside himself with anxiety and nervousness.
"Dude. Chill," Sirius said, coming over and clapping his hand onto James' shoulder. "Chicks dig the 'messy hair thing'. Trust me."
James glanced at himself in the mirror again. His hair was still sticking up, but apart from that he looked pretty damn good. He was dressed casually in dark denim jeans, and a red t-shirt, with the slogan of a wizarding band splashed across the front. His glasses (a/n did I mention that he has glasses?) were thin framed, oval shaped and dark grey.
He ran a hand through his hair anxiously, making it stick up even more.
"Look," Remus said, beginning to get rather sick of James. "I'm sure she'll like whatever you wear. Lily isn't the sort of girl who cares what people look like anyway."
James nodded distractedly.
"I guess I'll go wait for her in the common room then," he said, licking his lips nervously.
Just then, however, the curtains were pulled back and Lily stepped cautiously into their side of the dorm.
"Lily!" Sirius scolded. "We could have been naked!"
James however, was staring at Lily. She looked different....in a good way.
Lily's dark red, curly hair was out, spilling about her face. She was wearing a black, tight fitting t-shirt, with cut off sleeves and a slogan written as if in blood, saying 'Boy Bands Must Die'. The top stopped just before her belly button, showing about 8 cm of skin, more daring than most Lily-like clothes. She was also wearing red and black striped armbands, starting from just above her elbows and reaching to her wrist. This was further accentuated by flared, black jeans with faded patched along the front of her thighs. She looked more....grungy. And not at all like Lily.
James sensed a warning here, but he also noticed how hot she looked like this. She had dark eyeliner under her eyes, accentuating the green that he had always loved...hang on, since when had he loved anything about Lily? He decided not to go into that just now.
"Uh.... hi," he said. Then, noticing that he had been staring, he looked away quickly.
"Hey," she said calmly. She looked around at the room. "What an improvement. It actually looks kind of neat." She commented.
"Yeah, Remus made us clean it the other day," James said, chuckling dryly. "It's weird. I can see the floor."
Lily smiled.
"Shall we go?" she asked.
He nodded and followed her towards the door. Somehow, he was feeling decidedly nervous.
"Have fun," Remus called, and Peter smiled at Lily.
Andrea and Sarah waved at Lily from the gap in the curtain.
"Don't forget Honeydukes," Lisa called from the other side of the dorm.
"I won't," Lily promised. She pushed the door open and stepped out, James following.
They trailed down the stairs to the common room. It looked a mess. The work wizards had arrived on Thursday, and half the room had been sealed off by a magical barrier the barrier was clear, and allowed nothing across except muffled sounds and the occasional loud bang as the wizards attempted to break through the rocks blocking the stairway to the boys dorms.
They paused for a minute to watch as one wizard opened his mouth and seemingly bellowed a spell. Sparks shot out of his wand and a bit of rock exploded with a huge sound even lily and James could hear from behind the barrier. The wizard yelled something and all the other wizards ran for cover as bits of stone flew in every which direction, to bounce of the barrier.
James shook his head ruefully. "I guess we shouldn't have made that last explosion, huh?" he remarked.
"No. You really shouldn't have," Lily agreed, wincing as a piece of rubble hit on guy on the head.
**
The village was busy, as it was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year so far for the students. Everywhere they looked they saw Hogwarts students. A couple of people called out to Lily, commenting on her 'new look'. And naturally, several girls cooed at James. He gave Lily a helpless look and she rolled her eyes.
"You want to walk around first an then go for a drink?" he asked. For a guy who went on dates almost every night of the week, James was looking very panicked.
"Yeah, sure," Lily agreed. "Lisa wanted me to get some stuff from Honeydukes."
"I was going to ask why your friends aren't coming," James said, turning to look at her as they turned into the main street.
"Well Lisa's sick, and Andrea needs to work on her Potions essay. Sarah's coming a little later with that Davies guy, and Grace is probably already here, drinking her way through the Three Broomsticks." Lily explained. "What about yours? I saw that Sirius wasn't getting ready. No date today?"
"Oh, he's meeting his date later, he said," James said nonchalantly. "And Remus and Peter are going to come after lunch they said."
As they reached Honeydukes, the door swung open and a group of Hufflepuff girls walked out, giggling at something. At the sight of James, they began to squeal and they rushed over at once.
"Oh, Jamsie!" one exclaimed. "I haven't seen you for so long!"
"Yeah! Where have you been?" another one said, grabbing his arm. "You promised me a date!"
James gave Lily a panicked, helpless, apologetic look. She raised an eyebrow and turned away. Typical Potter. Go on one date and have about a million stand bys. She wandered over to the lolly stand outside Honeydukes and read the plaque over the packets of electric blue, lip shaped candies.
'Available in many flavors including banana, strawberry and lime, these delicious lollies will give you the most kissable lips to be had!'
Lily rolled her eyes in contempt. Who would be desperate enough to buy these things? Just then, one of the Hufflepuffs hanging around James broke away from the crowd and ran over to the stand.
"Omigod!" she squealed. "Guys, we just have to get some of these!"
"What are they?" one of her friends called.
"Lippy Lollies," the first girl said excitedly.
"Omigod!" the others chorused, and they all swarmed at the stand, grabbing packets of the lollies and rushing inside to pay for them.
Lily raised an eyebrow. So maybe some people were desperate enough, she conceded mentally.
"Sorry about that," James said sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. "I just can't seem to shake them off."
"Yeah, well," Lily said, looking away. This date was worse than she had thought it'd be. She wished James would start acting normal. She wasn't used to him being nice. Why couldn't he be all stuck up like he was meant to be? She knew how to handle him when he was being an idiot. This new and improved James was waaay beyond her skills.
"Uh, shall we go in?" James suggested warily, indicating Honeydukes.
"I don't feel like it any more," Lily said, shrugging. "Can we stop over on the way back?"
"Yeah, sure," James said. He was relieved- the Hufflepuff girls were still in there. "The Three Broomsticks then?"
"Ok," Lily said, and she followed him down the street.
The pub was fairly full as usual, and James led the way to a table in one corner, near a window.
"I'll go get the drinks," he said, and disappeared into the crowd.
Lily sat, watching the people around her. Two Ravenclaws were sitting near by, talking animatedly about a new album out from the Weird Sisters. A little boy who appeared to be in Griffindor was sitting by himself, nose buried in a book. A few minutes later an equally small girl joined him and he shoved the book away. Lily watched them for a little while longer. They must have been in first year. She smiled to herself, thinking of herself at that age. She had been smart, annoying and had harbored a huge dislike for James Potter. And here she was on a date with him! Oh, the irony of it all. Lily sighed. She glanced at her watch. She looked out the window. She glanced at her watch again. How long did it take a guy to buy a couple of mugs of Butterbeer?
**
"Hey, James!" a voice called.
James, who had been concentrating hard on not spilling the Butterbeer, looked up. Andrew Clark, a fellow Griffindor Quidditch player, and, in fact, the captain of the team, was beckoning him.
He tried to gesture that he was busy, but Andrew just grinned, so James was forced to push his way through the crowd to tell him that he couldn't talk just then. However, as soon as he got near enough, Andrew grabbed a butterbeer out of his hand and plonked it on the table, and then steered James into a seat. The rest of the team were already sitting there, looking bored out of their brains.
"We were just discussing strategy for next weeks game," Andrew said excitedly.
"Well, actually," Annette Spinner, a beater, said tiredly. "You were 'discussing' and the rest of us were sleeping with our eyes open."
Andrew ignored her calmly.
"Have you got any ideas?" he asked James.
"Actually, I have to go, I'm on a-" he began.
"This won't take a minute," Andrew cut him off. "Now where was I?"
**
Lily was beginning to get cross. It had now been almost fifteen minutes. Nobody took that long buying a few drinks. Angrily, she grabbed her bag and cloak and stood up. If James Potter wanted to run off, there was no way she was sticking around!
She stormed over to the door and strode out, letting it slam behind her. Muttering angrily beneath her breath, she started the long walk back to Hogwarts.
Some date that turned out to be.
**
James looked up, jerking out of his half asleep state of mind to see Lily storming towards the door.
"Hey!" he called, interrupting Andrew's speech about Chaser tactics. "Wait!"
But she pushed through the door and disappeared outside.
"James," Andrew rebuked. "I expect you to remember all this.
"Oh, shut up, Clark," James said angrily. Grabbing his cloak, he pushed through the crowds and out of the pub.
Lily was nowhere in sight.
"Great," he muttered. "Just great."
Just as he and Lily had finally started getting along, he blew his only chance at a date. Now she was going to hate him all over again. She probably thought he stood her up.
Slowly, he trudged back to Honeydukes, his mood darkening rapidly.
She would never forgive him after this.
***
A/N: well, what a mess! What did you think of the outfit, especially you, GriffindorGoddess28? Wow, this is pretty long. I hope it's worth the wait! So, another ten or maybe fifteen? Please? I know u can do it now, I got nineteen for the last chapter! So, make me proud!
Anyway, I'll try to update as soon as possible, keep reading!
~Jaizar Black