~~~
Turn Left Turn Right.
Chapter 7: And, they just can't seem to find each other.
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Disclaimer: Am not J.K. Rowling. Don't sue.
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Summary: Two people who are destined to be together, (Lily and James) never
meet but are always only a few feet away from each other. They live in bliss,
ignorant of others, until one day they chance upon an encounter with each other
and realise that their lives have missing pieces in it. They part, but then,
are unable to contact each other again, leaving two love- torn teenagers
desperately trying to find their other half.
26 November 2003
***
~~~
Squiggles1: -Lol- I hate those end of term homework!! Aack! Hmmm, this is kinda like Spring, and I suppose sometimes spring is quite cold? Well, I wouldn't really know coz I live somewhere with only two seasons: Hot and Wet, and Hot and Dry. Unfortunate. Well, I jumped a few weeks, so it is now Spring. =) And well, I was going to say that Lily's book was blown into the fountain by the wind, but I just thought of something, a small paragraph to explain the unorthodox movements. It's below... Just before the seventh paragraph starts. And although Lily's book is new, I sometimes have the super annoying experience of it disintegrating after I buy it. Disgusting eh? The yell is from James. He was peeking at her again, and saw the book in the fountain. And, well, as for the C-globe, you'll just have to read on...
On-fire-for-christ: It was funny? Hehehe.
Darksarchangel: Hmm… Hahaha, well, I was about to go searching for you! Glad you decided to show up! I can't wait for them to meet too!!
ShorTi:
Hmm... you never know what the –cough- power of love
–cough- can do for one's memories. And, yes! I'm sorry!! I know I told you it
would be up soon, but, -sigh- here it is. I was having trouble getting into
writing mood again.
Indiangurl: Glad you liked the chapter. =)
Penny_P: Yay! I'm updating, I'm updating.
LJstagflower4e: Thanks... I was trying to avoid a usual J/L story. Hope I did it correctly.
Jillian: Yep, I did! I liked Gigi Leung, but unfortunately, I didn't really like Takeshi Kaneshiro. What happened with the all Japs are cute belief? –Sighs- But I don't think he really is a Jap is he?
A_my_rah: Yes, I did. Hehe. Well, if you didn't watch the movie, you'll just have to contend with this, although it isn't as good. WAIT! I just thought of something! Are you Singaporean??? Are you?? Hmmm, you type like one... But if you're not, well, I'm ranting, please... feel free to ignore.
V0xLoS: I am a Chinese!!! I am! Unfortunately, I positively am clueless about the language. I had to squint at the tiny subtitles too when I was watching the movie (I'm short-sighted and forgot the specs) to understand it. Pathetic aren't I? Well, I think I'm talking nonsense here, so on with the story!
WalkingCensure: Wow! You read all 3 of my works? Hmmm, usually people who read this don't read the other one… But, the gesture is well appreciated! Thanks.
Miss_Mags_AK, Kaye, Fredngeorgegirl, Biz, Phoenix_eyes: Lol, here's the next update.
~~~
( Uhh, this is another view on why the book suddenly and unexplainably dropped into the fountain. Typed especially for Squiggles1. )
~~~
"No! Give it back to me!" A high-pitched voice yelled.
She was about seven, her windblown hair all over the place and brown eyes flashing furiously. Opposite her stood a boy, about eight, grinning mischievously and clutching a teddy bear in his hand.
"Nope!" He replied smugly. "What are you gonna do about it?"
She stomped her foot on the ground, but whipped out a wand, and pointed it triumphantly at him. "I knew Mommy's wand would come in use today!"
The boy's eyes widened, but he quickly fumbled around his pockets before drawing out a wand of his own. He smirked at her.
"Ooh! You-" The girl cried. She shot a few sparks at him, which he started to deflect.
The spell ricocheted off to their left, and they watched in fascination as it lifted a book sitting on the Hogsmeade fountain and dumped it into the water. The pages started to come out of the binding.
The pair looked at each other in horror, their animosity forgotten at the moment.
"Run!" Both yelled.
~~~
On, on, on with the story! Yea!!
–The ants go marching one by one, hoorah, hoorah...-
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Well, ok, I know this chapter is later than what I would usually update, but this chapter was particularly difficult for me to write. I tried writing another fic, well, it got blasted. !@#$%^&* So, I'm not allowed to swear, but hey, I'm pissed. Yep, that put me off my writing. I know! There's no excuse, -sigh-.
Anyway, if any of you want to read the fic, just drop a review to tell me, including your email address, and I'll send it to you, pronto.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yet, a few days later, searches had turned up with neither hide nor hair of the mysterious 'Lily' girl. Evidently, she was going to be harder to find than James initially thought.
"James?" Remus asked in concern.
James snorted something intelligible at him and blew his nose again, for the fifth time in as many minutes.
"You ok? You should really go to Madam Pomfrey to get that cold fixed," Remus continued. "And you shouldn't have been running around in the rain that day."
"I'm fine," James said irritably. "I think I just need to rest. I'm going to skip today." Without waiting for a reply, James stalked out of the Great Hall.
Remus shrugged and turned to his two other friends. "No prizes for guessing what-"
He was cut of in mid-sentence by his two friends, as they replied simultaneously. "Lily."
*
Lily was sniffling in her chair. She felt terrible, as though someone had trodden a hundred times over her, and worked her so hard she just wanted to lie down on her bed and forget about everything. Sometimes, sickness did that to people.
She knew she was sick, yet, she couldn't be bothered at all to drag her sick bum over to the Hospital Wing.
*
James returned to his confines in the Head Room, and sat there thinking. He had even changed his password to avoid his friends from coming to poke around.
'Who is she?' He wondered. 'I haven't even seen her around.'
His hand brushed against something cold, and he looked up to see himself staring at the C-globe, the invention that he had prided himself on, and had barely been used since months ago. Something tickled his memory, something about the C-globe.
It was important, he could tell, and he strained his mind to remember what it was. A throbbing headache started up, but the frown of concentration still creased his face.
A sudden flash accompanied by a sharp pain in his head, he a flash of the day he had met her.
*** Flashback ***
James made to ran out, but Lily tugged him back. "Quick, you have a C-Globe don't you?"
"Yea," he replied hurriedly.
"Your number?"
*** End Flashback ***
You number... Your number...
"Number!" He jumped up triumphantly and practically leaped over to his wardrobe. "Where is it?"
(Is it a wardrobe or cupboard or a closet? I'm quite confused here, and would any kind soul please clear this up...)
James stuck half his body into the massive wardrobe and started to throw the clothes around to search for –
"Found it!" A muffled yell issued from within the depths of the wardrobe And he quickly extracted his body, his hand clutching a pair of pants like they were the most valuable pair in the world.
A hurried search of the pockets revealed nothing. 'No! This can't be happening to me!' And a hand quickly delved into the pocket, digging deeply.
At long last, a grin split his face, and he withdrew his hand with a tiny crumpled piece of paper in his hand. (think Bruce Almighty. The part where he does the 'ahhhh…' –song of the angel- thing.)
James quickly crossed the space of his bedroom and settled himself on a chair in front of the C-globe,
'This is it...' Was his last thought before he opened the fateful piece of paper.
*
"NO!" Lily shrieked as she unraveled the crumpled piece of paper. "This isn't happening!"
She stared down in horror at the piece of paper, crumbling slightly and rough due to the time it spent soaking in the rainwater and in the wash. But, what was the most important was that, right in the centre of the paper, the only thing that remained on it was a large patch of blue-black smudge, the words that had been on it now clearly intelligible.
*
James mechanically moved to flip the paper, hoping against hope that the number was in fact, scribbled on the reverse side. Unfortunately, the only thing that met his eye was the crinkled edges of the paper. He flipped it over again, and the horrible smudge of ink glared smugly up at him, seemingly mocking him.
*
In a trance, Lily slid down, her back against the wall, until she hit the floor. Her mind frantically repeated the words 'no...no...No!' A coughing fit overtook her, a sign of her worsening health.
*
James practically leapt over his trunk and bed, settling himself onto the chair. 'Hmmm... that's a 'r'… I think it's a 'r',' he thought to himself as he squinted at the paper, his nose almost touching it.
Without thought, he pulled the keyboard which accompanied the C-globe towards him and typed some illegible thing like rjkgwhfd.
The globe remained black, and a mechanically pleasant voice came through – "I'm sorry, this number isn't in use, please try again. –beep.-
Nferbak...
I'm sorry, this number isn't in use, please try again. –beep.-
Raindrops? (for once trying something illegible)
I'm sorry, this number isn't in use, please try again. –beep.-
Rainwater...
I'm sorry, this number isn't in use, please try again. –beep.-
.
.
.
.
.
And after hours of trying out different combinations of numbers, sometimes getting people as far away as Diagon Alley, and sometimes getting the same annoying voice of "I'm sorry, this number isn't in use, please try again. –beep.-" James was leaning against the back of his chair, his eyes glassy as he stared tiredly at the globe.
'One more time... I think I'm gonna faint... Maybe it's a number... Hmm... let's see then…'
22791.
The globe cleared, and a girls' face stared through. "Hello, this is 22791 fast food-" and was cut off abruptly by James.
"Are you 21931?" He asked, not caring if she was offended. It was getting increasingly harder to think straight.
"No, this is 22791, fast food centre," the girl said.
"Oops, wrong number."
*
And at the same moment, Lily was frantically trying the different sorts of number and letter combinations there were.
Her eyes were streaming, and her nose seemed just about ready to explode into one big mess of mucus.
"I feel kinda woozy..."
22791.
"Hello, this is 22791-"
Lily cut her off rudely, her eyes were going in and out of focus. "Is this 30126?"
"No, I said, this is 22791-"
"Bye." The globe clouded over, and she stared dismally at it.
42405.
I'm sorry, this number is not in use, please try again. –beep.-
*
And over at Hogsmead, a waitress stared at the C-globe in annoyance. "People nowadays are just so damn rude! Fancy getting two of the same type of calls in the space of five minutes. This just isn't my day..." Shaking her head, she went on with her job.
*
"Ugghh," James moaned as he slumped over on the table. "I feel weird..."
He trudged over to the bar, and tried to pull open the mini-fridge. 'That's odd... I don't remember it bring so hard to open...' James thought distractedly.
Giving it a last futile tug, he slumped back onto the chair, and pulled the globe towards him.
22791.
"Hello, can I help you? Oh, it's you again, what do you want?" The waitress asked, staring into the globe.
"21931?"
"No!"
"Uhh... umm, sorry, what is best for sick people?"
The waitress paused to consider. "Hmm, try the steamed chicken marinated with garlic chilli sauce. Fried stuff isn't exactly good for you right now."
"What else is there?" James asked wearily.
"Well, it comes with mushroom soup and salad."
"Ok, ok, ermm, Hogwarts Head Boys' room." And the globe clouded over.
*
Meanwhile, Lily was staring at the C-globe. Hmmm…
22791.
"This is-" The waitress said automatically. "Oh, it's you. There's no 39547 or whatever you're looking for here."
Lily nodded slowly. "Ahhh... What's good for sick people?"
The waitress frowned. "Steamed chicken in garlic chilli sauce and mushroom soup and salad."
"Ok, give me one, at Hogwarts School, Head Girls' room. Oh, and please, just give me the chicken, soup and salad, skip the garlic sauce..."
*
And at the fast food shop, the waitress pasted two post-it pads side-by-side, one with the number 83665, and the other with the number 82664 on it.
(Ok, hmmm, this requires an explanation... You see, the C-globe has the username thing, which is like worded names, but it also has another type of identification, which is the numbered identification. And, you can either use the username, or the ID number to contact a person.)
*
Five minutes later, a head popped out of the fire, followed by the body of a girl clad in the uniform of the fast food centre.
She stared slowly around the space, blinking her eyes several times to get used to the splendor. 'Cool...' Then, she spotted James slumped at the table, his head resting on his hands.
"Hey, hey!"
He sat up slowly, and shook his head a few times, and with some difficulty, asked, "Who... are… you?"
She grimaced and set the food down onto the table. "Here, the stuff you called for, that'll be 10 knuts altogether."
James hand delved into his pocket and fumbled around before he extracted a sickle and tossed it to her. "Keep the change."
She sat down beside him. "So, how come you're here? I thought there'd be school or something?"
James looked at her. "What about you?"
"Me?" She laughed airily, and glanced around yet again. "Me, I've never been to school, you know, I just work."
"Oh, ok, so don't you have like, work to do?" James asked in irritation.
She held up her hands defensively. "Ok, ok! I get your point, geez! I'll just go, anyway, I still have a delivery to make."
James waved his hand disinterestedly while staring at his food. "Show yourself out, the door's somewhere around."
And he tucked into his meal. 'Hmm... it doesn't exactly taste right.'
*
Lily stared as the fire flared green, then settled and a girl came clambering out.
"Here, your meal, that'll be 10 knuts."
Lily handed her the knuts and pulled the tray towards her. She sniffed the food for a while. "You're sure this is what I ordered?"
The girl nodded distractedly as she looked around the room, and her eyes widened.
"Well? Don't you have to go back to school or something?" Lily asked, staring pointedly at her.
The girl shrugged. "I don't attend lessons."
"Oookay, but, can you leave me alone? Please? I'm not really feeling quite well."
The girl glared at her, but left, and Lily began to eat. After her first bite, she spat the whole lot out. 'What the hell is this stuff anyway?' She looked closely at the chicken. 'I hate garlic chilli!'
*
A day later, James drifted in and out of sleep, his nose now resembling a ripe tomato. The fire crackled and turned green, and someone scrambled out of it.
"Ww-Who're you?" He asked rudely, slurring the words together.
"Remember? I'm Joy!" The girl said.
The look on James face stated clearly that he did not know who this Joy was.
"You know, the one who brought you your meal the other time?"
"Ahh... So, what are you doing here?"
"I came to see how you were doing. Evidently, not great." She sniffed in disapproval as she surveyed the room. "How long has it been since you last cleaned this dump?"
James shrugged.
"Oh well, I'll be getting to work then."
She set about, picking up piles of dirty clothes and sending them to the wash, and straightening stuff in his room.
"What are you doing?" James asked as he watched her run around the room.
"Looking after you, of course!" She looked at him with 'duh' kind of expression on her face. "What does it look like."
"Well, you're invading my privacy!" James exclaimed weakly.
She shrugged. "You can't even look after yourself." And she resumed cleaning, while muttering stuff under her breath like. "Honestly, he should have someone looking after him" and "But I don't mind. I mean, he is cute…"
James slumped back onto the bed, and he fingered the C-globe that was under his blanket. He felt someone come up to his bed, and the C-globe was snatched out of his hand. "Geez! What is it with you? Don't tell me you're still looking for 82947 or whatever her name was?"
James didn't reply, but instead snatched the globe back.
"Who is she, by the way?" The girl asked, looking at him curiously. "Lost love?"
James shrugged. "She's someone amazing I met, now I can't seem to find her."
"Well, you've got me..." The girl said softly, a flush appearing on her cheeks.
James stared at her. "Excuse me?"
"Well... oh, never mind, you didn't even hear a single word I said, did you?" The girl said, her expression indignant. "Well, I have to go for work now... I'll drop by sometime later ok?"
James nodded wearily. "Show yourself out." And he slumped back onto his bed.
The girl watched him for a moment as he slept, and she quickly bent down to kiss him before she left.
She watched James smile and murmur a soft "Lily" beneath his breath as he slept.
'Whoever this Lily is, I'll get him to forget her in no time...'
*
Lily slept fitfully, trapped in her own dreams, and often waking up to feel sweat pouring down her forehead.
*** Dream ***
Lily ran through an open field under a twinkling night sky, searching, shouting, for what, she didn't know. All she knew was that if she did not find the thing she was looking for, something terrible would happen.
She looked up just in time to see a flash of white pass by the corner of her sight, and she set into a sprint after it. The thing – was seemed to be no other word to describe it at that moment – was majestic and danced through the grove of fairy trees near the edge of the clearing.
And yet, however, every time she ran, it seemed to be drawing further in front of her. She stopped to catch her breath, and the scenery around her shifted seamlessly as the colours of the surroundings melted into one another.
There, it was eternal twilight and she saw ages past in front of her very eyes, and ages that had not yet come to pass. The universe sped by, and the dark twinkling changed again. She appeared in the middle of a small opening, the night sky high above her.
Then, a white stag came cantering into view, where it stopped right in front of her, and bowed down. Lily lifted a trembling hand to touch the patch of black adorning its forehead. It was a stag.
She met its gaze, and an overwhelming sense of peace overcame her. And, she was sure, that this animal was the answer to her problems. It started to change, the antlers and front legs becoming shorter and stood upright.
Lily waited in tense anticipation, waiting to see what it would become. Already, in her mind, she could picture it as that mysterious boy that she had met eleven years past, and just recently, on the same day. She was sure that once the stag morphed, the key to finding him would come clear.
Then, in a mind-boggling swirl of colours, it became black.
*** End ***
And Lily woke, tears streaming down her eyes, for, it always ended like this, and not once, had she seen what it had turned into.
And she clutched the C-globe tighter to her.
(Hmmm, read the author's note below... Please?)
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Ahh, well, it's up finally. And as I said before, this was a hard chapter for me to write. I hope it's up to expectations. Ahh well, the next chapter will be out soon, I hope.
Ok! I guess you will want to know this, I promise, the next chapter will be better. I will make it work, cause I have to apologize for the lack of enthusiasm for this chapter on my part. I'm really sorry if this didn't meet up to your expectations, since all of you have been extremely supportive of this fic, for which I'm eternally grateful. But, yes, I know, as an author, there's no excuse for a lousy chapter. I'm sorry.
Well, nothing much happened in this chapter, ummm, ok, next chapter I'll probably have some Sirius-Bella action?? I have no idea.
Well, there's going to be another ball, and Bella and Jill meet Lily again.
And for those of you reading my other 2 stories, there's gonna be out soon. I promise, very soon! I'm already about halfway through Chapter 5 of Just Another Sappy Love Story!
~cube