In the Blink of an Eye
A/N: Chapter 8, the PARTY! Enjoy!
Summary: Lily and James have been best friends for three years and are very excited when they find out that they're going to the same school. Their friendship is tested when they arrive. James' long-hidden crush is revealed at school after a certain someone asks Lily out. James turns to pranks and Lily to schoolwork…. Follow them through friends, school, pranks, and, of course, love, as they make their way through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Disclaimer: Obviously, everything and everyone you recognize are owned by JKR and other big corporate people, not little Ms. Me. Atlanta Rhythm Section owns their song.
Fight for Your Right to PARTY!
When you walked to the room
There was voodoo in the vibes
I was captured by your style
But I could not get your eyes
Now I stand here helplessly
Hoping you'll get into me
I am so into you
I can't think of nothing else
--"So Into You," by Atlanta Rhythm Section (70's music! Hehe)
The next day was spent running around and preparing for the party. The boys were employed performing tasks all over the house and the girls had a "prep day," which consisted of doing their nails, their hair, the little make-up they were allowed to wear, choosing their outfits and having an all-around great time. Finally it was time to head over to James' and the girls descended the stairs in Lily's house, ready and raring to go.
Alice was wearing a flowing white skirt with little flowers and a red top, Sharmila was wearing a white mini skirt with a pretty pink top, and Lily was wearing a lavender mini skirt with a white top. All three looked stunning even though they weren't wearing overly fancy clothes. Lily's parents fussed over them for a little while, reminding them that they would be over at 10 to pick them up. Lily rolled her eyes and grinned, her parents could be very stifling but she loved them anyway.
"Okay mom, we'll still be there at 10! We're not going to go anywhere or do anything and all of James' relatives are going to be watching us! Mellow out! We'll be fine!" she exclaimed. "Good night, we'll see you later!" She walked out and shut the door forcefully behind her. Once outside the three girls grinned at each other and ran to the other side of the street as fast as they could in their skirts. Lily rang the doorbell and the three stood in front of the huge doors. The butler, Oliver, opened the door for them and smiled warmly.
"Welcome ladies!" he greeted. They were just about to respond when four boys came bounding down the stairs. Sirius, Remus, and Peter kept running until they were practically on top of the girls and hugged them in excitement.
"Jinkies! You girls look great! Some foxy ladies we've got here!" Sirius whistled.
"Sirius Black!" Sharmila exclaimed, slapping him lightly on the arm. They didn't notice that James had stopped halfway down the stairs, his eyes resting on Lily and Lily alone. After a few seconds he was jolted out of his reverie by Sirius' voice shouting,
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's head into the living room and get ready for the surprise." James ran down the rest of the stairs and looked at Lily, feeling his other side take over, the side of him that both he and Lily hated.
"Lily, baby! You look gorgeous tonight!" He ran his hand through his hair and then tried to slip it around her waist and give her a kiss. Lily squirmed and moved back,
"James! What's wrong with you? Leave me alone!" Lily walked into the room with a scowl on her face, annoyed at James for his sneaky moves and confused by his sudden change in attitude. James fell back and Remus remained with him.
"James, what was that all about?" he asked the messy-haired boy in a concerned voice.
"I…I don't really know. It's like something came over me when I saw her standing there—she looks so beautiful—and I couldn't think straight! Then I tried to impress her but…but you saw…it failed miserably." He hung his head in shame.
"James, you know that she likes you for you, not for your arrogant and annoying side. She only gets mad at you when you put on an act. Try to be nice to her tonight…" Remus suggested carefully.
"I know, I'll try."
"Okay, well let's head in, so some of us can have fun!" he teased and the two boys entered the room. James was surrounded at once by friends and family and thoughts of Lily were pushed to the back of his mind.
Lily finished dancing with a final swing of her hips and laughed with her friends. As she turned to push her way off of the dance floor she faintly heard their protests behind her, but she wasn't listening to them. She just wasn't in the mood for dancing and the façade that she had been crafting all night long was rapidly falling away. She needed to get out. Lily pushed her way through the mass of sweaty bodies and finally stumbled into the hallway of the Potter mansion. She looked around her at the dignified faces of James' many ancestors and sighed, remembering his behavior from earlier that evening. It wasn't as though he had never hit on her before, he was always making jokes about them being together, but the expression on his face that time was just…scary. When he looked at her he was no longer the funny and cute James that was her best friend. No, this James was the mean and frankly quite frightening one that Lily avoided as much as possible. She saw that side of him come out often when he was talking to (or more likely pranking) Slytherins or when he was feeling particularly cocky. He had never hit on her while in that mood before and she was worried, both for herself and for him. These were the thoughts that Lily was lost in as she wandered down the hall in the pretext of searching for a bathroom and as she bumped into Emmeline Vance.
"Oh, so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going!" Lily exclaimed, flustered.
"Don't worry about it, sweetie. What's the matter? You look worried about something…" Emmeline probed, sounding like a caring older sister.
"Certainly not my older sister," thought Lily bitterly, scowling at the thought of Petunia. Out loud she replied vaguely,
"Oh, well, it's nothing really…"
"If you're planning on walking around with that on your shoulders for the next few hours, you're not going to have any fun what-so-ever. Come on, tell me what the problem is," she implored.
"It's not really a problem, per se, just James. I mean, he's my best friend but sometimes, I don't know, he turns into a different person or something. It sounds crazy. Don't listen to me," Lily trailed off quite uncertainly.
"That's not crazy. What did he do to make you think this?" Lily proceeded to relate her thoughts of the previous moments to the older girl, who added appropriate comments here and there. When Lily was done Emmeline said simply,
"Well, you better talk to him about it, don't you think?"
"Easier said than done," Lily scoffed.
"Come on, we're going back in there now and I'm going to drag you over to James. If I have any say in the matter what-so-ever, you will talk to James Potter tonight about this problem," she proclaimed in a no-nonsense tone that reminded Lily strongly of her mother.
A few moments later, James had joined Lily in the hall and Emmeline was nowhere to be found.
"Hey James…" Lily began.
"Lily, what am I doing out here?" James asked, exasperated.
"Uh…James, I wanted to talk to you about something."
"No really?" he replied sarcastically. "I didn't figure that one out!"
"James! Stop being so uncooperative. This isn't exactly that easy for me to tell you!" Lily exploded.
"Well, I've only been standing out here for like 10 billion years waiting for you!" he retorted.
"Sorry if I've taken your precious time! This is just what I wanted to talk to you about—your absolutely disgusting and revolting attitude! Why do you act like this James? This isn't you, I know you!" Her voice dropped to a mere whisper, "Why do you change into this monster?" For a moment James haughty exterior fell and she caught sight of her friend. As quickly as it had dropped he built it back up, though, and Lily was left with the other side again.
"Do what, Lily? I'm the same person I was five seconds ago! Unless I have an evil twin who's able to spontaneously change places with me, I haven't gone anywhere! I don't know what you're talking about," he declared stubbornly. Lily looked into his eyes aching with hurt,
"You're too stubborn James Potter. You're too stubborn and too proud. Talk to me again when you're ready to admit that fact!" she said forcefully and then turned away, her eyes wet with unshed tears. She pushed back into the party and walked up to Emmeline.
"Thank you for helping me realize what a jerk he truly is," she told the other girl, her voice cracking a little with anger. "I'm going home, could you tell my friends?" Emmeline nodded and gave Lily a short but very tight hug before letting her go home to her bedroom.
James was still standing in the hallway when Lily stormed out of the house and he watched her go, not saying a word.
"Why? Why? Why? Why am I such an idiot? Why do I always mess up with her? I know I'm different when she's around but why am I? How does she do that to me? I have to repay her," he decided. After a while of debating what the best way to accomplish such an enormous deed, because he did realize how greatly he had messed up, he finally decided, "I'll ask her out! What better repayment is there than a date with the James Potter?"
A/N: I know, I know, James is an idiot! But if he wasn't then there would be no story would there?
That was a much more emotional scene than anything I've written in this story before…feedback please? Do you think that I overdid it or didn't do it enough? Do their reasons make sense and if not, why not and what can I do to change it? I'd love to make this better so I appreciate anything you tell me (criticisms welcome! As long as they have some backing to them…I had this horrible person who reviewed over the weekend who just said that the story was bad. It was such a dumb and pointless review that I didn't bother to reply to it and simply deleted it. I know that you wonderful reviewers of mine are much better than that, I just needed to get the ranting out of my system…)
NOW….the chapter's over (as well as my endless rant)…you know what to do…REVIEW! (There are just so many things that rhyme with review!)