Author's Note: Whee, another update, aren't you guys proud? Okay, so I'm
just doing this so I won't feel absolutely terrible about most likely
leaving you hanging till Christmas after this weekend. I have a guilty
conscience, it's a nuisance, really it is. SO yeah. now I thank the
reviewers, new and old:
Manny2003- Here ya go, as you requested, ASAP.
LJstagflower4e- James is here. whee.
Calanthea Willow- Someone new! Yay, er, okay thank you for reading. I'm exceedingly pleased that you think its original, and it must be addicting if you're reading as much as you can, so thank you very much.
Me- I'm doing my best to update most of the weekend, so this chapter is pretty long and I can't tell you when L/J are getting together because I haven't written it yet and I'm not even sure how its going to happen.
Thais- Well, I will do my best, but it's a long way off, so please be patient and I'll work on it.
Potter's Grl- I'm doing my best to get things down quickly, but I'm not sure how long it will take. I'm very glad that you liked my Lily Without Hogwarts story, but I'm sorry to say that my other Lily story with the 8 chapters is without ending or real plot and will probably never be finished, so I apologize for that and I will probably wind up removing it. Sorry to disappoint.
Black-cat-on-the-wall- The five year old is back. *cackle* I'll try to get chapters out more often to sate the 5 year old but no promises. I know how kids get when you break em, so I'm not making them.
Chapter Forty-Three: A Mysterious Letter & Awkward Situations
They sat in the library and helped Lily practice and learn for the next few hours. It was going on five in the evening when Sirius plopped himself down on a chair and said, "I'm hungry."
Everyone else groaned loudly. "I swear you are a bottomless pit Sirius," Lily said as she too collapsed into a chair tiredly.
Arabella remained standing. "Are you alright Lily?" she asked wondering if they'd been working her too hard.
"Just tired, I'll be fine," Lily said with a brief smile.
"You sure?" Remus asked leaning against a table with his wand held idly in his hand.
"Yes, I'm fine. Does anyone want tea?" Lily asked as she hoisted herself out of the chair. Sirius grinned, Arabella scowled and Remus just shook his head. "It's settled then, I'll be right back," Lily said with a smile and left the library.
As Lily walked out of the library, Arabella turned to look at Sirius. "She's not your slave Sirius!" Arabella exclaimed angrily.
"Bella calm down! I didn't force her to do anything and I had been planning to get up and find something before Lily had gotten up," Sirius said calmly as he hoped she wouldn't keep yelling at him.
Arabella scowled at Sirius and stormed out of the library after Lily. "Lily, you really don't have to do that," Arabella said as she saw Lily was filling a kettle and putting it on the stove.
"No, I don't but I wanted something too," Lily said and was fairly sure that Arabella had just yelled at Sirius. It was almost scary how predictable Arabella could be concerning Sirius.
"You did?" Arabella said quietly. "I thought-"
"I know what you thought Bella, that I was just being the dutiful housekeeper. If I didn't want to do something I wouldn't, so you don't have to worry about me," Lily interrupted her quietly.
Arabella looked at Lily with shock etched on her features. "I didn't mean to offend you," she said quietly.
"You didn't. I just don't want to see you arguing with Sirius because of me," Lily said as she opened a cupboard and pulled a package of cookies from inside and arranged some of them on a plate, putting the rest back in the cupboard.
"We don't fight because of you," Arabella protested. "We fight because Sirius doesn't really think before he says some things," she said quietly.
Lily sighed. "Bella I know that you're worried about me but I will be okay and you don't have to take out your frustrations on Sirius," Lily said gently as she got cups and saucers down from the cupboard.
Arabella sighed and said, "Am I really that obvious?" she looked sheepishly at Lily waiting for her to reply.
"Just a little bit, but I doubt that Sirius knows about it. Men aren't exactly all knowing about women," Lily said and laughed lightly.
"I'm sorry, I'll try not to keep doing that," Arabella said and yawned realizing that she was rather tired from helping Lily.
"It's alright but you might want to tell Sirius that you're sorry," Lily said as she finished arranging the tea and cookies on a tray to carry into the library.
"I will. Let's go see what trouble those two have gotten into," Arabella said with a weak smile.
Lily nodded and carried the tray out to the library where they found Remus and Sirius having another game of chess. "Here's the tea," Lily said brightly as they walked in and she set the tray on the table.
Sirius jumped from his seat and hurried over. "You didn't have to do this," he said courteously.
"I know, and don't worry about it," Lily said and poured herself some tea grabbed a few cookies and sat down at the table that Remus and Sirius were playing at to watch them. She found watching them play to be relaxing and so she settled in sipping her tea and munching on a cookie slowly.
Arabella sat across from Lily and looked contemplatively at the chessboard noting that Sirius was concentrating on the game and wondering what Remus' next move would be. Arabella had a feeling that Remus was letting Sirius win. Lily noted that Remus wasn't being very competitive and set her cup and saucer aside. She barely noticed that she'd fallen asleep.
James arrived in the entry hall at approximately 6:10 and wondered where everyone was. Sighing, James walked upstairs and into his room. The clothes that Lily had dropped when he and Moody has surprised her were neatly folded at the foot of the bed. Taking note of this clothes he set his briefcase on his desk and took care to put away the clothes. James sighed and could almost smell Lily's lilac perfume in the air. Looking over his shoulder told him that Lily wasn't in the room and hadn't been for quite some time. He sighed again and Moody's words from that morning were ringing in his ears. He wondered what Lily would say if she told her about what Moody had said. "Probably laugh and dismiss it," James muttered quietly to the empty room. He sighed again and unloaded his briefcase at his desk. He was too tired to do much else.
James glanced out the window and saw an owl swoop down towards the library window just below him. "Must be where everyone is," he said aloud and stripped his robes off revealing the jeans and gray t-shirt beneath before going downstairs to see who'd gotten the owl.
Down in the library Remus was the first to notice the owl, even before it had tapped the window with its beak. He stood up and crossed to the window to allow the owl to deliver its letter. It flew across the room gracefully, dropped its letter in Lily's lap and swooped back out the window. Sirius, Remus and Arabella looked almost shocked at the fact that the letter was for Lily who they now realized was asleep has she hadn't moved to take the letter and read it.
"Should we wake her?" Sirius asked cautiously almost worried that James had sent something saying he had to say long at the office.
"I'm not sure," Remus said, he shared Sirius' thoughts and was very tempted to read it.
"Who got the owl?" James asked walking slowly into the room. Arabella jumped slightly.
"I think I have to get little bells for everyone," Arabella whispered and they chuckled.
"Lily," Remus said slowly and wondered what James would do.
James appeared just as shocked as any of them before he crossed the room and gently touched Lily's shoulder. "Lily, sweetheart, wake up," James said softly and Lily began to stir.
"James," Lily said when her eyes opened and felt the weight of the letter sitting in her lap.
"That's me, you must have fallen asleep. You've gotten an owl," James said quietly.
"I see," Lily said picking up the parchment. She knew who it was without having to open it. Snape's response was enclosed within the unlabeled envelope.
"Who is it from?" Sirius asked though he thought it might be from Catherine.
"No idea. I'll open it later," Lily said with a smile looking at Sirius when she answered.
"Aren't you curious who it's from?" Arabella asked what everyone was thinking.
"Probably Catherine," Lily said quietly. "I'm going to go take it upstairs and then start dinner," she said and yawned before standing up. She could feel James' gaze upon her and she was fairly sure that he knew she wasn't telling the truth. She walked across the room and headed toward the stairs but she heard footsteps behind her and knew they belonged to James.
"Lily," James said quietly and she paused at the foot of the stairs.
"Yes James," Lily said quietly as she turned to look at him.
"Who is that letter really from?" James asked wondering why Lily had lied.
"Why do you want to know?" Lily replied quietly. "Besides, I'm not entirely sure myself," she said slowly.
"May I see it when you're done reading it?" he asked quietly.
"That entirely depends upon what it says," Lily said as she didn't want to say no to make him suspicious enough to go rooting through her things.
"Alright," James said slowly and smiled a little at her before returning to the library.
Lily headed upstairs quickly and down the hall to her room. She opened the door and closed it behind her before opening the envelope. The parchment inside read:
I wasn't expecting you to reply, but I will do my best to answer to your satisfaction.
To be entirely honest I do not know why I would like to correspond with you other then the fact that you intrigue me. I also feel that letters from you might help me, not that I'm seeking any sort of help.
About Shakespeare, I apologize. I, myself couldn't write words appropriate to describe what I wished to say and so I turned to someone else with more eloquent vocabulary.
I hope that this was a satisfactory answer for you and as you know who I am, signing this would be redundant.
Lily of course knew who the letter was from and almost wondered why she felt guilty about receiving it. "Stop being silly. It's just a letter," Lily said aloud and walked over to her desk and placed the letter in a drawer so she could reply later. Lily's thoughts were conflicting about the letter. 'It's not like James has done anything to pursue me, he's kissed me and helped me but that's it. And it's not like Snape is asking me to dinner so I have no reason to feel guilty,' one thought came to her as she descended the stairs to the kitchen. 'But Snape is one of James' enemies from Hogwarts, he won't like it that you're exchanging letters with him,' another little voice said as Lily began to put together a meal to satisfy everyone.
In the Library James was extremely curious about who was writing to Lily. "Who do you think it was from?" James asked as he stared at the chessboard where Sirius' queen had just been demolished by one of Remus' pawns.
"She said it was from Catherine, so who else would it be from?" Arabella asked wondering why James was worried about a letter.
"I don't know, I just have this feeling," James said and sighed.
"What kind of feeling?" Sirius asked curiously as Remus seemed to be contemplating his next move.
"I'm not sure," James said and looked over at Sirius.
"Well my advice would be to let her be," Remus said as he made his move, turning control of the board to Sirius.
"What?" James asked as if that was the exact opposite of what he was planning to do.
"You just got back into her good graces. Do you really want to start another argument with her?" Remus asked quietly and watched James for comprehension.
James sighed; Remus was right, he didn't need to be snooping in Lily's business if she wanted him to know she would tell him. "You're right, I'll leave her alone and try to quell my curiosity," he said and sighed again.
"Sounds like a plan," Remus said and looked up at Sirius who was about to make his move.
James looked around the room slowly and noticed that Lily wasn't the only one missing. "Where's Peter?" he asked inquisitively.
"Up in his room, I think," Arabella said quietly.
James raised an eyebrow. "Something happened while I was at work?" he asked as Peter usually stuck with the group, even if he was quiet about it.
Sirius seemed to remember something, his head shot up and he said, "Yeah, Lily banished him out the window," and then returned to his game.
"What?" James asked sounding shocked and almost wondered what Peter had done to piss off Lily.
"It was an accident!" Arabella exclaimed loudly.
"What was an accident?" Peter asked walking into the room.
"Oh, I dropped a plate earlier, Sirius was giving me crap about it," Arabella said in a sugary voice that must have convinced Peter because he nodded and sat down.
"How was work?" Peter asked quietly of James.
"Boring in some points, vaguely interesting in others," James said and by the interesting parts he meant what Moody had said to him.
Peter nodded and looked at the others, "What did you guys do after I went upstairs?" he asked.
"Taught Lily a few new spells and played some chess. What did you do for most of the day?" Sirius said and looked over at Peter who wasn't looking all that great.
"Slept mainly, I wasn't exactly feeling the best," Peter said quietly.
"Peter, let me take a look at your arm," Arabella said quietly and Peter nodded pulling up the right sleeve of his shirt to reveal a white towel that was secured on his arm. "This might sting a little," Arabella said as she pulled out her wand to mutter a charm to loosen the makeshift bandage.
Peter winced and looked at James who was smiling encouragingly at him. Peter couldn't decide if this made him feel worse or better; why couldn't she have asked to speak with him away from the others? Lily would have. Peter tired not to look down at his arm, the sight of blood typically made him queasy, especially his own. He watched as James cleaned and then transfigured the bloody towel into a roll of bandage that he handed to Arabella to wrap around the wound.
A few moments later Arabella smiled at Peter and said, "All done."
"Thank you," Peter said quietly and pulled his sleeve back down.
"You're welcome Peter," Arabella said kindly.
"Where's Lily?" Peter asked quietly.
"In the kitchen making dinner," James said and tried to stifle a yawn but didn't succeed. "Oy, I'm going to take the dishes into the kitchen and see how dinner's coming," James said and gathered up the cups and saucers from tea quickly before taking them down to the kitchen on the tray. He stalled at the kitchen doorway, his breath caught in his chest as Lily came into view. She was standing barefoot in the shorts and t-shirt she'd slept in facing away from him concentrating on whatever masterpiece it was that she was cooking. Her hair was tied loosely away from her face falling in a radiant bundle down her back and stopping just below her shoulder blades. She was shifting her weight from side to side and humming quietly to herself. James found himself looking her up and down; slowly up her legs which were a little pale but beautiful none the less and graceful as well.
James swallowed unconsciously as he tried to keep from imagining her stark naked standing there and he closed his eyes and exhaled louder then he intended for Lily turned to look at him.
"James," Lily said quietly as she turned to look at him and he opened his eyes and she saw the look there and what it told her made her want to laugh. He desired her, that much was obvious but it was physically as far as she could tell, and that didn't inspire her much.
"I - I came to bring you these and see how long till it's ready," James said quietly and stepped further into the kitchen.
"I see, well it will be ready in about twenty minutes. You can put those over there," Lily said and pointed to the countertop that was out of her way.
James walked the tray over and set it down trying to retain his dignity. He'd seen the humor twinkling in Lily's vibrant eyes and found himself embarrassed as well a curious. There had been something there the he couldn't identify, something that told him she was impatient with him about something. It was rather frustrating to him. "Do you need any help?" he asked quietly though he expected her to say now and he was right.
"That's okay. I can handle it James," Lily said gently and smiled at him before turning back to the story and stirring something the smelled absolutely sinful.
"That smells wonderful. What is it?" James asked inquiringly.
"Beef stew which is why it's taking a bit longer," Lily said quietly.
"I can't wait. You're fantastic cook," James complemented her.
"Thank you," Lily said and her cheeks went a little pink.
"You're welcome," James said and leaned against the counter looking at her profile. "You're also beautiful," he whispered and reached out to tough a bit of her hair that had slipped from it's binding.
"James," Lily said tiredly and pushed his hand away.
"What's wrong?" James asked worriedly.
"Nothing," Lily said and rolled her eyes while staring straight ahead.
"Why can't I touch you?" James asked cautiously as he tried to stay in her good graces as Remus had suggested.
Lily closed her eyes and wondered how he came up with that question. "James, it gets confusing when you do things like that," Lily said quietly.
"What do you mean confusing?" James asked and was confused as well.
"You asked me to give you time James, and I'm doing my best but it gets difficult when you touch me," Lily replied and realized her breathing was irregular and she tried to even it out.
"What gets difficult?" James asked.
"Remembering that I'm your housekeeper not your girlfriend, or even your wife," Lily said lightly and almost James would run from the room at the word 'wife'.
James stood transfixed at her words before wrapping his stalled brain around them and deciphering them. It suddenly became clear what Lily thought he was doing and tried to figure out if he should be appalled or amused. "You think that I'm trying to get come from the help, is that it?" he asked coldly as his voice took on an indifferent tone.
Lily winced, it sounded so lewd and obscene when put in those words but it was basically how it felt to her. "If you put it in layman's terms, yes," she said and swallowed though there wasn't much to swallow as her mouth was so dry.
"Damnit Lily, I care about you and I'm not looking to have sex with you even if it has crossed my mind," James said and turned on his heal walking out of the kitchen.
Less then a minute later his door could be heard slamming and his angry footsteps on the ceiling of the library told Sirius that his best friend needed some help.
A/N: So, yeah, I hope that you liked this chapter. I'm sorry for the way things went between James and Lily here but I had to do it. You'll understand soon I promise, so don't worry too much. Sorry for the cliffhanger. Please Review! Your wonderful words of encouragement and such are the reason that I keep writing.
Manny2003- Here ya go, as you requested, ASAP.
LJstagflower4e- James is here. whee.
Calanthea Willow- Someone new! Yay, er, okay thank you for reading. I'm exceedingly pleased that you think its original, and it must be addicting if you're reading as much as you can, so thank you very much.
Me- I'm doing my best to update most of the weekend, so this chapter is pretty long and I can't tell you when L/J are getting together because I haven't written it yet and I'm not even sure how its going to happen.
Thais- Well, I will do my best, but it's a long way off, so please be patient and I'll work on it.
Potter's Grl- I'm doing my best to get things down quickly, but I'm not sure how long it will take. I'm very glad that you liked my Lily Without Hogwarts story, but I'm sorry to say that my other Lily story with the 8 chapters is without ending or real plot and will probably never be finished, so I apologize for that and I will probably wind up removing it. Sorry to disappoint.
Black-cat-on-the-wall- The five year old is back. *cackle* I'll try to get chapters out more often to sate the 5 year old but no promises. I know how kids get when you break em, so I'm not making them.
Chapter Forty-Three: A Mysterious Letter & Awkward Situations
They sat in the library and helped Lily practice and learn for the next few hours. It was going on five in the evening when Sirius plopped himself down on a chair and said, "I'm hungry."
Everyone else groaned loudly. "I swear you are a bottomless pit Sirius," Lily said as she too collapsed into a chair tiredly.
Arabella remained standing. "Are you alright Lily?" she asked wondering if they'd been working her too hard.
"Just tired, I'll be fine," Lily said with a brief smile.
"You sure?" Remus asked leaning against a table with his wand held idly in his hand.
"Yes, I'm fine. Does anyone want tea?" Lily asked as she hoisted herself out of the chair. Sirius grinned, Arabella scowled and Remus just shook his head. "It's settled then, I'll be right back," Lily said with a smile and left the library.
As Lily walked out of the library, Arabella turned to look at Sirius. "She's not your slave Sirius!" Arabella exclaimed angrily.
"Bella calm down! I didn't force her to do anything and I had been planning to get up and find something before Lily had gotten up," Sirius said calmly as he hoped she wouldn't keep yelling at him.
Arabella scowled at Sirius and stormed out of the library after Lily. "Lily, you really don't have to do that," Arabella said as she saw Lily was filling a kettle and putting it on the stove.
"No, I don't but I wanted something too," Lily said and was fairly sure that Arabella had just yelled at Sirius. It was almost scary how predictable Arabella could be concerning Sirius.
"You did?" Arabella said quietly. "I thought-"
"I know what you thought Bella, that I was just being the dutiful housekeeper. If I didn't want to do something I wouldn't, so you don't have to worry about me," Lily interrupted her quietly.
Arabella looked at Lily with shock etched on her features. "I didn't mean to offend you," she said quietly.
"You didn't. I just don't want to see you arguing with Sirius because of me," Lily said as she opened a cupboard and pulled a package of cookies from inside and arranged some of them on a plate, putting the rest back in the cupboard.
"We don't fight because of you," Arabella protested. "We fight because Sirius doesn't really think before he says some things," she said quietly.
Lily sighed. "Bella I know that you're worried about me but I will be okay and you don't have to take out your frustrations on Sirius," Lily said gently as she got cups and saucers down from the cupboard.
Arabella sighed and said, "Am I really that obvious?" she looked sheepishly at Lily waiting for her to reply.
"Just a little bit, but I doubt that Sirius knows about it. Men aren't exactly all knowing about women," Lily said and laughed lightly.
"I'm sorry, I'll try not to keep doing that," Arabella said and yawned realizing that she was rather tired from helping Lily.
"It's alright but you might want to tell Sirius that you're sorry," Lily said as she finished arranging the tea and cookies on a tray to carry into the library.
"I will. Let's go see what trouble those two have gotten into," Arabella said with a weak smile.
Lily nodded and carried the tray out to the library where they found Remus and Sirius having another game of chess. "Here's the tea," Lily said brightly as they walked in and she set the tray on the table.
Sirius jumped from his seat and hurried over. "You didn't have to do this," he said courteously.
"I know, and don't worry about it," Lily said and poured herself some tea grabbed a few cookies and sat down at the table that Remus and Sirius were playing at to watch them. She found watching them play to be relaxing and so she settled in sipping her tea and munching on a cookie slowly.
Arabella sat across from Lily and looked contemplatively at the chessboard noting that Sirius was concentrating on the game and wondering what Remus' next move would be. Arabella had a feeling that Remus was letting Sirius win. Lily noted that Remus wasn't being very competitive and set her cup and saucer aside. She barely noticed that she'd fallen asleep.
James arrived in the entry hall at approximately 6:10 and wondered where everyone was. Sighing, James walked upstairs and into his room. The clothes that Lily had dropped when he and Moody has surprised her were neatly folded at the foot of the bed. Taking note of this clothes he set his briefcase on his desk and took care to put away the clothes. James sighed and could almost smell Lily's lilac perfume in the air. Looking over his shoulder told him that Lily wasn't in the room and hadn't been for quite some time. He sighed again and Moody's words from that morning were ringing in his ears. He wondered what Lily would say if she told her about what Moody had said. "Probably laugh and dismiss it," James muttered quietly to the empty room. He sighed again and unloaded his briefcase at his desk. He was too tired to do much else.
James glanced out the window and saw an owl swoop down towards the library window just below him. "Must be where everyone is," he said aloud and stripped his robes off revealing the jeans and gray t-shirt beneath before going downstairs to see who'd gotten the owl.
Down in the library Remus was the first to notice the owl, even before it had tapped the window with its beak. He stood up and crossed to the window to allow the owl to deliver its letter. It flew across the room gracefully, dropped its letter in Lily's lap and swooped back out the window. Sirius, Remus and Arabella looked almost shocked at the fact that the letter was for Lily who they now realized was asleep has she hadn't moved to take the letter and read it.
"Should we wake her?" Sirius asked cautiously almost worried that James had sent something saying he had to say long at the office.
"I'm not sure," Remus said, he shared Sirius' thoughts and was very tempted to read it.
"Who got the owl?" James asked walking slowly into the room. Arabella jumped slightly.
"I think I have to get little bells for everyone," Arabella whispered and they chuckled.
"Lily," Remus said slowly and wondered what James would do.
James appeared just as shocked as any of them before he crossed the room and gently touched Lily's shoulder. "Lily, sweetheart, wake up," James said softly and Lily began to stir.
"James," Lily said when her eyes opened and felt the weight of the letter sitting in her lap.
"That's me, you must have fallen asleep. You've gotten an owl," James said quietly.
"I see," Lily said picking up the parchment. She knew who it was without having to open it. Snape's response was enclosed within the unlabeled envelope.
"Who is it from?" Sirius asked though he thought it might be from Catherine.
"No idea. I'll open it later," Lily said with a smile looking at Sirius when she answered.
"Aren't you curious who it's from?" Arabella asked what everyone was thinking.
"Probably Catherine," Lily said quietly. "I'm going to go take it upstairs and then start dinner," she said and yawned before standing up. She could feel James' gaze upon her and she was fairly sure that he knew she wasn't telling the truth. She walked across the room and headed toward the stairs but she heard footsteps behind her and knew they belonged to James.
"Lily," James said quietly and she paused at the foot of the stairs.
"Yes James," Lily said quietly as she turned to look at him.
"Who is that letter really from?" James asked wondering why Lily had lied.
"Why do you want to know?" Lily replied quietly. "Besides, I'm not entirely sure myself," she said slowly.
"May I see it when you're done reading it?" he asked quietly.
"That entirely depends upon what it says," Lily said as she didn't want to say no to make him suspicious enough to go rooting through her things.
"Alright," James said slowly and smiled a little at her before returning to the library.
Lily headed upstairs quickly and down the hall to her room. She opened the door and closed it behind her before opening the envelope. The parchment inside read:
I wasn't expecting you to reply, but I will do my best to answer to your satisfaction.
To be entirely honest I do not know why I would like to correspond with you other then the fact that you intrigue me. I also feel that letters from you might help me, not that I'm seeking any sort of help.
About Shakespeare, I apologize. I, myself couldn't write words appropriate to describe what I wished to say and so I turned to someone else with more eloquent vocabulary.
I hope that this was a satisfactory answer for you and as you know who I am, signing this would be redundant.
Lily of course knew who the letter was from and almost wondered why she felt guilty about receiving it. "Stop being silly. It's just a letter," Lily said aloud and walked over to her desk and placed the letter in a drawer so she could reply later. Lily's thoughts were conflicting about the letter. 'It's not like James has done anything to pursue me, he's kissed me and helped me but that's it. And it's not like Snape is asking me to dinner so I have no reason to feel guilty,' one thought came to her as she descended the stairs to the kitchen. 'But Snape is one of James' enemies from Hogwarts, he won't like it that you're exchanging letters with him,' another little voice said as Lily began to put together a meal to satisfy everyone.
In the Library James was extremely curious about who was writing to Lily. "Who do you think it was from?" James asked as he stared at the chessboard where Sirius' queen had just been demolished by one of Remus' pawns.
"She said it was from Catherine, so who else would it be from?" Arabella asked wondering why James was worried about a letter.
"I don't know, I just have this feeling," James said and sighed.
"What kind of feeling?" Sirius asked curiously as Remus seemed to be contemplating his next move.
"I'm not sure," James said and looked over at Sirius.
"Well my advice would be to let her be," Remus said as he made his move, turning control of the board to Sirius.
"What?" James asked as if that was the exact opposite of what he was planning to do.
"You just got back into her good graces. Do you really want to start another argument with her?" Remus asked quietly and watched James for comprehension.
James sighed; Remus was right, he didn't need to be snooping in Lily's business if she wanted him to know she would tell him. "You're right, I'll leave her alone and try to quell my curiosity," he said and sighed again.
"Sounds like a plan," Remus said and looked up at Sirius who was about to make his move.
James looked around the room slowly and noticed that Lily wasn't the only one missing. "Where's Peter?" he asked inquisitively.
"Up in his room, I think," Arabella said quietly.
James raised an eyebrow. "Something happened while I was at work?" he asked as Peter usually stuck with the group, even if he was quiet about it.
Sirius seemed to remember something, his head shot up and he said, "Yeah, Lily banished him out the window," and then returned to his game.
"What?" James asked sounding shocked and almost wondered what Peter had done to piss off Lily.
"It was an accident!" Arabella exclaimed loudly.
"What was an accident?" Peter asked walking into the room.
"Oh, I dropped a plate earlier, Sirius was giving me crap about it," Arabella said in a sugary voice that must have convinced Peter because he nodded and sat down.
"How was work?" Peter asked quietly of James.
"Boring in some points, vaguely interesting in others," James said and by the interesting parts he meant what Moody had said to him.
Peter nodded and looked at the others, "What did you guys do after I went upstairs?" he asked.
"Taught Lily a few new spells and played some chess. What did you do for most of the day?" Sirius said and looked over at Peter who wasn't looking all that great.
"Slept mainly, I wasn't exactly feeling the best," Peter said quietly.
"Peter, let me take a look at your arm," Arabella said quietly and Peter nodded pulling up the right sleeve of his shirt to reveal a white towel that was secured on his arm. "This might sting a little," Arabella said as she pulled out her wand to mutter a charm to loosen the makeshift bandage.
Peter winced and looked at James who was smiling encouragingly at him. Peter couldn't decide if this made him feel worse or better; why couldn't she have asked to speak with him away from the others? Lily would have. Peter tired not to look down at his arm, the sight of blood typically made him queasy, especially his own. He watched as James cleaned and then transfigured the bloody towel into a roll of bandage that he handed to Arabella to wrap around the wound.
A few moments later Arabella smiled at Peter and said, "All done."
"Thank you," Peter said quietly and pulled his sleeve back down.
"You're welcome Peter," Arabella said kindly.
"Where's Lily?" Peter asked quietly.
"In the kitchen making dinner," James said and tried to stifle a yawn but didn't succeed. "Oy, I'm going to take the dishes into the kitchen and see how dinner's coming," James said and gathered up the cups and saucers from tea quickly before taking them down to the kitchen on the tray. He stalled at the kitchen doorway, his breath caught in his chest as Lily came into view. She was standing barefoot in the shorts and t-shirt she'd slept in facing away from him concentrating on whatever masterpiece it was that she was cooking. Her hair was tied loosely away from her face falling in a radiant bundle down her back and stopping just below her shoulder blades. She was shifting her weight from side to side and humming quietly to herself. James found himself looking her up and down; slowly up her legs which were a little pale but beautiful none the less and graceful as well.
James swallowed unconsciously as he tried to keep from imagining her stark naked standing there and he closed his eyes and exhaled louder then he intended for Lily turned to look at him.
"James," Lily said quietly as she turned to look at him and he opened his eyes and she saw the look there and what it told her made her want to laugh. He desired her, that much was obvious but it was physically as far as she could tell, and that didn't inspire her much.
"I - I came to bring you these and see how long till it's ready," James said quietly and stepped further into the kitchen.
"I see, well it will be ready in about twenty minutes. You can put those over there," Lily said and pointed to the countertop that was out of her way.
James walked the tray over and set it down trying to retain his dignity. He'd seen the humor twinkling in Lily's vibrant eyes and found himself embarrassed as well a curious. There had been something there the he couldn't identify, something that told him she was impatient with him about something. It was rather frustrating to him. "Do you need any help?" he asked quietly though he expected her to say now and he was right.
"That's okay. I can handle it James," Lily said gently and smiled at him before turning back to the story and stirring something the smelled absolutely sinful.
"That smells wonderful. What is it?" James asked inquiringly.
"Beef stew which is why it's taking a bit longer," Lily said quietly.
"I can't wait. You're fantastic cook," James complemented her.
"Thank you," Lily said and her cheeks went a little pink.
"You're welcome," James said and leaned against the counter looking at her profile. "You're also beautiful," he whispered and reached out to tough a bit of her hair that had slipped from it's binding.
"James," Lily said tiredly and pushed his hand away.
"What's wrong?" James asked worriedly.
"Nothing," Lily said and rolled her eyes while staring straight ahead.
"Why can't I touch you?" James asked cautiously as he tried to stay in her good graces as Remus had suggested.
Lily closed her eyes and wondered how he came up with that question. "James, it gets confusing when you do things like that," Lily said quietly.
"What do you mean confusing?" James asked and was confused as well.
"You asked me to give you time James, and I'm doing my best but it gets difficult when you touch me," Lily replied and realized her breathing was irregular and she tried to even it out.
"What gets difficult?" James asked.
"Remembering that I'm your housekeeper not your girlfriend, or even your wife," Lily said lightly and almost James would run from the room at the word 'wife'.
James stood transfixed at her words before wrapping his stalled brain around them and deciphering them. It suddenly became clear what Lily thought he was doing and tried to figure out if he should be appalled or amused. "You think that I'm trying to get come from the help, is that it?" he asked coldly as his voice took on an indifferent tone.
Lily winced, it sounded so lewd and obscene when put in those words but it was basically how it felt to her. "If you put it in layman's terms, yes," she said and swallowed though there wasn't much to swallow as her mouth was so dry.
"Damnit Lily, I care about you and I'm not looking to have sex with you even if it has crossed my mind," James said and turned on his heal walking out of the kitchen.
Less then a minute later his door could be heard slamming and his angry footsteps on the ceiling of the library told Sirius that his best friend needed some help.
A/N: So, yeah, I hope that you liked this chapter. I'm sorry for the way things went between James and Lily here but I had to do it. You'll understand soon I promise, so don't worry too much. Sorry for the cliffhanger. Please Review! Your wonderful words of encouragement and such are the reason that I keep writing.