Author's Note: I'm not really sure where to go from here, so it would help
for some advice. And also I'm sorry if this chapter sucks. I'm having a
hard time knowing where this is going...
Chapter 16
Lily sank down into the big ruby red couch cushions as the world swirled around her. So, she thought, Remus was a werewolf. Why hadn't she figured it out before? Lily's thoughts twisted around. One minute she couldn't get over her amazement, she had known him for 7 years but all of a sudden it had all changed. The next minute she would pity him. Imagine, she thought, having to live with that, ashamed of who you are. And Remus was right; everyone would hate him, because of their ignorance. For not having knowledge of a certain subject could lead to fear and then progress to hate. She felt her heart swell with sadness. Lily wished she could save him from whatever his lonely life was. For it had to be lonely to be a werewolf. But then, she thought, weren't James, Sirius, and Peter always gone once a month? She had seen them sneaking out when she was up late doing homework. And then Lily smiled, they really were good friends, to risk everything to be with Remus and make him feel wanted. Not many would befriend a werewolf. And yet they had, and by doing so binding themselves to one another.
"Lily..." Dylan whispered, stepping out of the shadows into the light.
Lily's smile faded as she remembered about Dylan. She wondered how she would react. For Dylan had grown up in a magical family and there was a certain prejudice against werewolves. And yet Dylan didn't seem like the person to hate another for a simple disease they could not help.
"Lily," she said again. "Is he...Is he really a werewolf?" she asked sitting down beside Lily.
Lily frowned; this was not how Dylan should've found out. Remus should've told her and explained to her everything, but she had overheard everything.
"Yes, Dylan he is and you can either accept him for who he is, or hate him for something he can't help," Lily said sternly.
"I just don't know what to do," Dylan replied. She had been taught to fear werewolves; they were supposed to be a menace to society. And yet here was Remus the kindest sweetest guy she had ever known. He would not hurt a fly, and yet he was a werewolf. There had to be a mistake.
"You know Dylan, it's not a horrible thing, and they are researching a treatment at the Ministry. It's not the end of the world," Lily replied.
"But am I supposed to forget everything I learned? Am I supposed to forget what my mother taught me?" Dylan retorted beginning to get angry. Why could Lily not understand? It was harder for her to accept him.
"Don't you love him Dylan?" Lily asked quietly the firelight dancing in her eyes.
Dylan stared off into the fire thinking. "I do."
"Then can't your love help you relearn?" Lily said.
Dylan was silent. She knew that what Lily spoke was truly wisdom. She had to choose.
Lily stared at Dylan trying to read her facial expressions, but her face was blank. Her eyes still, unblinking, she could tell Dylan was in deep thought. This wasn't an easy decision for her. So with one last glance made up her mind and soon left for the head girl room; she would have to give Dylan time to think it over.
Dylan barely noticed that Lily was leaving; she was absorbed in her own thoughts. And as she sat in the common room engrossed in her mind, the hours passed. Her short choppy brown hair fell into her eyes and her tan face was shadowed. The clocked ticked by and the once orange and yellow flames had dimmed to a dull red light. Dylan blinked her eyes slowly and then succumbed to sleep.
****
The night passed by slowly like all the others but for the first time in months Lily could not sleep. The events of the past few hours were still fresh on her mind. And she was worried about Dylan and Remus. She hoped to God, if there was one, that the two could forget their differences. But it was not only Remus and Dylan that worried her; Claire had been acting strange lately. Lily would've thought that by now her best friend would've moved on from Sirius. It was not normal to be thinking about a guy for that long, let alone be sad about it. For it had been months since the two had broken up and February was fast approaching. Lily began pacing.
****
James could not go to sleep. The big Quidditch game against Slytherin was tomorrow. They had to beat them to win The Cup and so James the Quidditch Captain had been strategizing. He was having a hard time finding a way around the Keeper, Parkinson, who was quite good. She did, though, have a weakness. James had discovered that she did not watch her right hoop as much as she did the other two. He had been sneaking out and watching them every Thursday afternoon; then that Friday he would teach his team tactics, in which, they would use against them. When Remus overheard him talking to Sirius about it he had gotten angry. Old Moony had thought it was cheating. But James had checked it and it wasn't, what he was doing was totally legal. Well that is, it was a loophole.
Smack! James had hit himself rather hard. Concentrate, he thought. The game is tomorrow. So he forced every single bit of his mind onto the task. But he could not focus, for a slight stomping was emitting from the walls of Lily's bedroom. What was she up to? He thought angrily. Well he had better go find out, so she could stop and give him some quiet to work in. But as James stood up from the lush couch he hesitated. Silence filled the room for a second, and he drew in a deep breath. Maybe he wouldn't have to go figure out what was wrong. But as soon as the thought came to his mind it was erased. He wanted to see Lily every single day, and would refuse to miss the opportunity. So James waited for the loud stomping noise to continue and when it did he slowly climbed the stairs.
When he came to the top of the staircase that led towards Lily's room he stopped, waiting for the stomping to continue. And when it did, he opened the door just enough to peak in. There was Lily pacing the room angrily mumbling to herself. He studied her and sighed. She was still just as beautiful when her face was flushed red with rage. James watched her grow even angrier and soon she began to curse things. "Stupid Dylan..." she mumbled angrily. "Can't believe her..."
Then he summed up all the courage he could find, for Lily was extremely intimidating when she was angry, and even scared James. When he felt brave enough he opened the door rather loudly and stepped in.
Lily whipped around and glared at him, her green eyes glinting in anger. "What do you want?" she snapped.
"I was trying to get ready for the game the next morning but you were stomping about, and I couldn't work. So I decided I would just have to find out what was wrong, comfort you, and then go back to work," James said in an innocent manner.
But apparently what he had said made Lily even angrier. "Comfort me! Why I should think not, I have no reason to be comforted," she retorted, her rage growing.
"Well you certainly do seem to need to talk or something," James said trying to avoid her anger, and immediately wishing he had not used the word comforted.
"I don't, so you can just leave," Lily yelled from across the room where she stood. She had not the time to argue with James, or to even think about him.
"Well I can't see, because you're still angry," James replied calmly.
Lily growled, "Fine if I stop making noise will you just leave?"
"Will you still be raging about silently?" he questioned crossing over to her.
Lily sighed; sometimes James was so persistent that it became rather annoying.
"Well will you?" he asked again touching her arm.
"Probably," Lily replied shaking him off.
"Well we can't have that, now can we?"
"Oh yes we can," she told him.
And then James didn't know what to do, there was no changing her mind. But he hated leaving people when they weren't happy. So he leaned in and kissed her forehead. Then he turned to leave, "Well please try to be angry a little more quietly. We have to win the game tomorrow, and we can't if I can't focus."
Lily stood there and watched him walk out of her room. Her rage boiled within her, how dare he. But yet it was so sweet for him to come up here and try and make her feel better. Lily's heart softened and she smiled. She brushed her fingers across her forehead where he had kissed her and then felt her anger fade. Then she walked across the room to her bed. She was so exhausted that she collapsed right into it and fell asleep with a smile on her face. She would have to worry about Dylan tomorrow.
****
James smiled to himself and went back to work on the game the next morning. But soon his mind swirled with images of Lily and he could no longer concentrate. He got up with a sigh. They would win tomorrow. He was sure of it, so there was no need to think about tactics. With this last reassuring thought he made his way up to his room. When he entered, he walked straight to the bed and fell asleep before even taking off his clothes. That night he slept soundly with sweet dreams of Lily.
****
Claire awoke the next morning to the voice of the three other girls chatting about the Quidditch game that was to take place right after breakfast. Claire rolled over, it was all so pointless. Why should she even get up this morning? She didn't feel like chasing around balls on a broomstick or sit around doing her homework and learning about things that could not even save her mum. Nothing was worth it anymore, nothing made sense. Claire would've prayed to God by now, for hope and for life. But there was no God, if there was she wouldn't have lost her sister and now her mother. God had forsaken her and left her with emptiness. How could she believe in something that was supposed to love and forgive? All 'God' had ever done to her was take away everything she loved.
Claire heard the other girls leave and closed her eyes, wishing for sleep to come and take her. For in her dreams she thought only of her mother's smile and heard only Jade's sweet laughter. In her dreams she could escape. But they always had to end, and so when she woke up she felt the hateful world all over again. At least she could escape for a little bit of time. So she closed her eyes and fell into a deep slumber.
****
Sirius opened his eyes groggily. "What do you want James," he asked when he saw his friend's face leaning over him.
"Game time, get up now!" he said whipping the covers off him.
"Bloody hell James, it's freezing," Sirius said angrily as he attempted to pull the covers back. He didn't feel like playing today.
"Sirius, come on, we have to get ready," James said once again pulling the covers out of his reach.
"Fine," Sirius said grumpily. There was no way around James especially when Quidditch was involved.
"That's my little chaser," he said and ran off to see if Dylan and Claire were ready.
Sirius got up very slowly. He looked around and found his Quidditch robes on the floor next to Remus' bed. He pulled them on, there was no reason to shower he would just get sweaty again. And then he made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
When he entered he met a very unhappy Dylan and a silent Remus. He did not want to get involved with anymore problems so he sat down and grabbed a piece of toast and ate in silence. Minutes later James rushed through the Great Hall.
"She refuses to play!" James yelled a bit too loudly for several first years turned around to stare at him.
"Who won't?" Lily asked as she came up behind him.
"CLAIRE! SHE REFUSES TO GET UP! SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!"
"Calm down James, I'll get her," she said watching the relief spread across his face. "Just sit down and eat something."
"Ok, thanks Lily really."
"Don't worry about it."
And with that Lily got up and left to go find Claire. She ran through the halls and when she came upon the Fat Lady's portrait she quickly said the password and then dashed up the stairs to the girl's dormitory. She looked over and found Claire fast asleep.
"Claire," she shouted. "Get up! You have a game."
Claire opened her eyes and looked at Lily. "I don't want to, find someone else to play."
"No Claire you are going to get up and play," Lily said rather angrily. She walked over and then pulled Claire out of bed.
"Lily," she whined. "I really don't want to play. It's a stupid game."
"Well this is your last year and you only have this game and 2 more after that, so you will just have to finish." Lily knew something was wrong. Claire never turned down sports, but now was not the time to question. She would just have to talk about it later.
"Urgh, Lily," Claire pleaded. But it didn't work on Lily. In ten minutes Claire was dressed and ready to go. They dashed out and ran to the Great Hall.
When they entered James ran up to them. "Good, you're up now Claire. We're heading off to the field. Hurry and catch up!"
"Fine," Claire said in a sullen manner and turned to go and catch up with Dylan who was walking with Sirius. Claire let out a sigh; she wasn't in the mood to deal with him right now.
James turned to look at Lily, "Thank you so much."
"It was nothing, just go and win one for me," Lily said with a smile.
"Ok I will," and with that he took off. But then as he reached the doors he turned and ran back. James kissed her on the lips and then said, "If I do win, I'm going to want so more of that."
Lily smiled and said, "Maybe."
****
Chapter 16
Lily sank down into the big ruby red couch cushions as the world swirled around her. So, she thought, Remus was a werewolf. Why hadn't she figured it out before? Lily's thoughts twisted around. One minute she couldn't get over her amazement, she had known him for 7 years but all of a sudden it had all changed. The next minute she would pity him. Imagine, she thought, having to live with that, ashamed of who you are. And Remus was right; everyone would hate him, because of their ignorance. For not having knowledge of a certain subject could lead to fear and then progress to hate. She felt her heart swell with sadness. Lily wished she could save him from whatever his lonely life was. For it had to be lonely to be a werewolf. But then, she thought, weren't James, Sirius, and Peter always gone once a month? She had seen them sneaking out when she was up late doing homework. And then Lily smiled, they really were good friends, to risk everything to be with Remus and make him feel wanted. Not many would befriend a werewolf. And yet they had, and by doing so binding themselves to one another.
"Lily..." Dylan whispered, stepping out of the shadows into the light.
Lily's smile faded as she remembered about Dylan. She wondered how she would react. For Dylan had grown up in a magical family and there was a certain prejudice against werewolves. And yet Dylan didn't seem like the person to hate another for a simple disease they could not help.
"Lily," she said again. "Is he...Is he really a werewolf?" she asked sitting down beside Lily.
Lily frowned; this was not how Dylan should've found out. Remus should've told her and explained to her everything, but she had overheard everything.
"Yes, Dylan he is and you can either accept him for who he is, or hate him for something he can't help," Lily said sternly.
"I just don't know what to do," Dylan replied. She had been taught to fear werewolves; they were supposed to be a menace to society. And yet here was Remus the kindest sweetest guy she had ever known. He would not hurt a fly, and yet he was a werewolf. There had to be a mistake.
"You know Dylan, it's not a horrible thing, and they are researching a treatment at the Ministry. It's not the end of the world," Lily replied.
"But am I supposed to forget everything I learned? Am I supposed to forget what my mother taught me?" Dylan retorted beginning to get angry. Why could Lily not understand? It was harder for her to accept him.
"Don't you love him Dylan?" Lily asked quietly the firelight dancing in her eyes.
Dylan stared off into the fire thinking. "I do."
"Then can't your love help you relearn?" Lily said.
Dylan was silent. She knew that what Lily spoke was truly wisdom. She had to choose.
Lily stared at Dylan trying to read her facial expressions, but her face was blank. Her eyes still, unblinking, she could tell Dylan was in deep thought. This wasn't an easy decision for her. So with one last glance made up her mind and soon left for the head girl room; she would have to give Dylan time to think it over.
Dylan barely noticed that Lily was leaving; she was absorbed in her own thoughts. And as she sat in the common room engrossed in her mind, the hours passed. Her short choppy brown hair fell into her eyes and her tan face was shadowed. The clocked ticked by and the once orange and yellow flames had dimmed to a dull red light. Dylan blinked her eyes slowly and then succumbed to sleep.
****
The night passed by slowly like all the others but for the first time in months Lily could not sleep. The events of the past few hours were still fresh on her mind. And she was worried about Dylan and Remus. She hoped to God, if there was one, that the two could forget their differences. But it was not only Remus and Dylan that worried her; Claire had been acting strange lately. Lily would've thought that by now her best friend would've moved on from Sirius. It was not normal to be thinking about a guy for that long, let alone be sad about it. For it had been months since the two had broken up and February was fast approaching. Lily began pacing.
****
James could not go to sleep. The big Quidditch game against Slytherin was tomorrow. They had to beat them to win The Cup and so James the Quidditch Captain had been strategizing. He was having a hard time finding a way around the Keeper, Parkinson, who was quite good. She did, though, have a weakness. James had discovered that she did not watch her right hoop as much as she did the other two. He had been sneaking out and watching them every Thursday afternoon; then that Friday he would teach his team tactics, in which, they would use against them. When Remus overheard him talking to Sirius about it he had gotten angry. Old Moony had thought it was cheating. But James had checked it and it wasn't, what he was doing was totally legal. Well that is, it was a loophole.
Smack! James had hit himself rather hard. Concentrate, he thought. The game is tomorrow. So he forced every single bit of his mind onto the task. But he could not focus, for a slight stomping was emitting from the walls of Lily's bedroom. What was she up to? He thought angrily. Well he had better go find out, so she could stop and give him some quiet to work in. But as James stood up from the lush couch he hesitated. Silence filled the room for a second, and he drew in a deep breath. Maybe he wouldn't have to go figure out what was wrong. But as soon as the thought came to his mind it was erased. He wanted to see Lily every single day, and would refuse to miss the opportunity. So James waited for the loud stomping noise to continue and when it did he slowly climbed the stairs.
When he came to the top of the staircase that led towards Lily's room he stopped, waiting for the stomping to continue. And when it did, he opened the door just enough to peak in. There was Lily pacing the room angrily mumbling to herself. He studied her and sighed. She was still just as beautiful when her face was flushed red with rage. James watched her grow even angrier and soon she began to curse things. "Stupid Dylan..." she mumbled angrily. "Can't believe her..."
Then he summed up all the courage he could find, for Lily was extremely intimidating when she was angry, and even scared James. When he felt brave enough he opened the door rather loudly and stepped in.
Lily whipped around and glared at him, her green eyes glinting in anger. "What do you want?" she snapped.
"I was trying to get ready for the game the next morning but you were stomping about, and I couldn't work. So I decided I would just have to find out what was wrong, comfort you, and then go back to work," James said in an innocent manner.
But apparently what he had said made Lily even angrier. "Comfort me! Why I should think not, I have no reason to be comforted," she retorted, her rage growing.
"Well you certainly do seem to need to talk or something," James said trying to avoid her anger, and immediately wishing he had not used the word comforted.
"I don't, so you can just leave," Lily yelled from across the room where she stood. She had not the time to argue with James, or to even think about him.
"Well I can't see, because you're still angry," James replied calmly.
Lily growled, "Fine if I stop making noise will you just leave?"
"Will you still be raging about silently?" he questioned crossing over to her.
Lily sighed; sometimes James was so persistent that it became rather annoying.
"Well will you?" he asked again touching her arm.
"Probably," Lily replied shaking him off.
"Well we can't have that, now can we?"
"Oh yes we can," she told him.
And then James didn't know what to do, there was no changing her mind. But he hated leaving people when they weren't happy. So he leaned in and kissed her forehead. Then he turned to leave, "Well please try to be angry a little more quietly. We have to win the game tomorrow, and we can't if I can't focus."
Lily stood there and watched him walk out of her room. Her rage boiled within her, how dare he. But yet it was so sweet for him to come up here and try and make her feel better. Lily's heart softened and she smiled. She brushed her fingers across her forehead where he had kissed her and then felt her anger fade. Then she walked across the room to her bed. She was so exhausted that she collapsed right into it and fell asleep with a smile on her face. She would have to worry about Dylan tomorrow.
****
James smiled to himself and went back to work on the game the next morning. But soon his mind swirled with images of Lily and he could no longer concentrate. He got up with a sigh. They would win tomorrow. He was sure of it, so there was no need to think about tactics. With this last reassuring thought he made his way up to his room. When he entered, he walked straight to the bed and fell asleep before even taking off his clothes. That night he slept soundly with sweet dreams of Lily.
****
Claire awoke the next morning to the voice of the three other girls chatting about the Quidditch game that was to take place right after breakfast. Claire rolled over, it was all so pointless. Why should she even get up this morning? She didn't feel like chasing around balls on a broomstick or sit around doing her homework and learning about things that could not even save her mum. Nothing was worth it anymore, nothing made sense. Claire would've prayed to God by now, for hope and for life. But there was no God, if there was she wouldn't have lost her sister and now her mother. God had forsaken her and left her with emptiness. How could she believe in something that was supposed to love and forgive? All 'God' had ever done to her was take away everything she loved.
Claire heard the other girls leave and closed her eyes, wishing for sleep to come and take her. For in her dreams she thought only of her mother's smile and heard only Jade's sweet laughter. In her dreams she could escape. But they always had to end, and so when she woke up she felt the hateful world all over again. At least she could escape for a little bit of time. So she closed her eyes and fell into a deep slumber.
****
Sirius opened his eyes groggily. "What do you want James," he asked when he saw his friend's face leaning over him.
"Game time, get up now!" he said whipping the covers off him.
"Bloody hell James, it's freezing," Sirius said angrily as he attempted to pull the covers back. He didn't feel like playing today.
"Sirius, come on, we have to get ready," James said once again pulling the covers out of his reach.
"Fine," Sirius said grumpily. There was no way around James especially when Quidditch was involved.
"That's my little chaser," he said and ran off to see if Dylan and Claire were ready.
Sirius got up very slowly. He looked around and found his Quidditch robes on the floor next to Remus' bed. He pulled them on, there was no reason to shower he would just get sweaty again. And then he made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
When he entered he met a very unhappy Dylan and a silent Remus. He did not want to get involved with anymore problems so he sat down and grabbed a piece of toast and ate in silence. Minutes later James rushed through the Great Hall.
"She refuses to play!" James yelled a bit too loudly for several first years turned around to stare at him.
"Who won't?" Lily asked as she came up behind him.
"CLAIRE! SHE REFUSES TO GET UP! SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!"
"Calm down James, I'll get her," she said watching the relief spread across his face. "Just sit down and eat something."
"Ok, thanks Lily really."
"Don't worry about it."
And with that Lily got up and left to go find Claire. She ran through the halls and when she came upon the Fat Lady's portrait she quickly said the password and then dashed up the stairs to the girl's dormitory. She looked over and found Claire fast asleep.
"Claire," she shouted. "Get up! You have a game."
Claire opened her eyes and looked at Lily. "I don't want to, find someone else to play."
"No Claire you are going to get up and play," Lily said rather angrily. She walked over and then pulled Claire out of bed.
"Lily," she whined. "I really don't want to play. It's a stupid game."
"Well this is your last year and you only have this game and 2 more after that, so you will just have to finish." Lily knew something was wrong. Claire never turned down sports, but now was not the time to question. She would just have to talk about it later.
"Urgh, Lily," Claire pleaded. But it didn't work on Lily. In ten minutes Claire was dressed and ready to go. They dashed out and ran to the Great Hall.
When they entered James ran up to them. "Good, you're up now Claire. We're heading off to the field. Hurry and catch up!"
"Fine," Claire said in a sullen manner and turned to go and catch up with Dylan who was walking with Sirius. Claire let out a sigh; she wasn't in the mood to deal with him right now.
James turned to look at Lily, "Thank you so much."
"It was nothing, just go and win one for me," Lily said with a smile.
"Ok I will," and with that he took off. But then as he reached the doors he turned and ran back. James kissed her on the lips and then said, "If I do win, I'm going to want so more of that."
Lily smiled and said, "Maybe."
****