Living A Legend
Book 1- A Clash of Wills
Chapter 14- Closets and Cake
Lily stood, still as stone, for a several minutes, in shock. Eventually, Sirius came out and put his arm around her shoulders, this convinced her to move.
"Leave me alone!" she shouted and pushed Sirius off her, before taking off running down the hall in the direction which she had seen James go.
When she was sure that Sirius was not following her, Lily stopped running, out of breath, and crying freely. She found herself in a part of the castle that she had never been before and wiping her eyes, she walked shakily down the corridor, not sure where she was going.
Eventually, the path came out by the library. The hall was silent, except for the faint sound of breathing. Lily stopped and listened, pressing her ear to the wall. She determined the sound was coming from a small door off to her left.
Walking silently, Lily approached the door, and listened to the ragged sound of breath. Some instinct made her wipe her eyes before she clasped the knob in her hand and turned it slowly.
Inside, she surveyed the room, it was nothing but a small closet, filled with a bucket and mops, for use by filch.
Sitting on the floor, and clutching his knees, she was not surprised to see James. She heard footsteps and quickly shut the door behind her.
They stared at each other for a moment and then James said shakily, "You're bleeding."
"I'm sorry," Lily whispered. "I didn't mean it, I didn't know." tears started to cloud her eyes.
"I know you didn't," James turned his head. "It doesn't seem real. He can't be . . .be dead. He's my brother!"
"Oh James!" Lily cried, and threw herself against the little boy, crying onto his shoulder.
James wrapped his arms around his enemy and began to cry into her hair, suddenly not caring that he had hated her only a moment ago. They lay together like that for hours, not speaking, nor caring to, only crying onto each other, until Lily fell asleep.
James lay stroking his hair. He was afraid and confused, but somehow, just having someone to be there with him, not talking nor trying to comfort him, made him feel a little better. He looked at her sleeping, the irritating little girl, who he fought with every day, and decided not to wake her.
He woke hours later, not even remembering falling asleep. Lily was stirring in his arms, her face still pressed against his shoulder. James watched her for a few minutes, and then she suddenly awoke, surprised for a moment at her location.
Instinctively, Lily pulled away, and James got a good view of her face. She had a deep cut down her cheek, which was smeared in dried blood, doubtless a remnant of him pushing her in the Dining Hall, he noticed that some of her blood had rubbed off on his robes, but James did not comment.
Lily sat across from him, playing with a lock of her red hair. "I'm going to miss him James. He was a really great person."
James nodded quietly, not trusting himself to speak.
"I don't understand how he can just be gone," Lily whispered, and rubbed her aching cheek.
Taking a deep breath, James tried to hold back tears. He had recovered somewhat and was reluctant to cry again in front of Lily. He watched her lay down on her back and gaze up at the ceiling.
"You know this is a closet, don't you James?" Lily looked at him inquisitively.
James laughed unexpectedly, and then instantly felt guilty, as if by laughing he had somehow reduced his brother. "I didn't want anyone to find me."
He found it much easier to look at Lily, and watch her eyes wander around the room, than to think about his brother. Instead he filled his head with thoughts of her green cat-like eyes and red curls. Lily examined the walls and ceiling very carefully, stopping when she spotted the wall clock.
"It's almost ten o'clock," she stated plainly.
"AM?" James asked, confused, "It seems like we've been in here longer than that."
"It could be ten at night," Lily sounded doubtful. "That would mean we missed all of our classes and I'm sure people are wondering where we are."
James eyes narrowed, he suddenly thought about what his friends would say if Lily told them she had seen him cry. "Don't tell anyone you were here with me or I'll make your life miserable!" He warned her, his tone changing drastically.
"You already do James, that's an empty threat," Lily rolled her eyes. "But don't worry, I'm not going to tell people I spent the day in a closet with you!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" James almost shouted.
"It means that I'm leaving!" Lily shouted. She stood quickly and threw open the door, stepping into the hall without another look at James, and scaring the crap out of some sixth years who were standing near the entrance from the closet.
Lily ran up to the Gryffindor Common room, and judging by the dark scene that met her when she looked out a window, determined that it was indeed ten at night. She had spent over 12 hours in a closet with her worst enemy.
When she reached her dorm, she looked forward to with Dora and Brittany, about John, but was met by blank and curious stares when she entered her room.
"Are Brittany and Dora here?" she asked Elisabeth Ester.
Elisabeth shot her friend a knowing look and shook her head. "I don't know where they went," she said coldly.
Lily gave an exasperated sigh and went immediately to the first year boy's dorm, opening the door without hesitation.
She found Brittany sitting cross legged on the floor, and Dora sprawled out on the bed opposite of Remus's. Peter was in his own bed as well, but the rest of the boys seemed to have cleared out.
"Lily!" Brittany shouted and jumped up. "Your face! Are you okay?"
Lily winced and touched her face in embarrassment. Brittany threw an arm around her friend.
"I almost forgot about that. Yeah, I'm fine." Lily sighed and crawled into the nearest empty bed. "I think I'll just lie here a while," she yawned.
"So, how's James doing?" Sirius asked her with his concern obvious in his voice.
"I wouldn't know!" Lily replied quickly. "I was off by myself. I wasn't with him!" she added defensively.
The others looked at her strangely and Brittany started laughing, before pressing her hand over her mouth and apologizing.
"You don't have to lie Lily. Geez! We're your friends," Brittany sounded annoyed.
Lily blushed but maintained her innocence. "I wasn't with him!"
Remus and Brittany shot each other a glance, and Sirius rolled his eyes.
Choosing the worst moment possible, James flung open the door and stopped mid-step, staring around at all the three girls in his dorm.
Sirius immediately stood and walked over to his friend, placing an arm around his shoulder and ushering him over to his bed.
"What are you doing here?" James addressed Lily icily, "Get out of my bed!"
Hastily, Lily removed herself from the warm covers. "I am sorry James! If I knew it was your bed I wouldn't have been in it!" She glared and retreated from his stare. "Let's go girls! I can see we're not wanted here."
Brittany glanced at the smear of dried blood on James's neck and the dark red blotches on his robes and then looked at Lily's bloody cheek. She couldn't understand why Lily was lying to her, but in light of the tragic element to the day she maturely let it go. Brittany was sure she was not the only one who noticed it, she had seen the way the other's had reacted when James walked in covered in Lily's blood. It didn't take a genius to make the connection.
Back in the girls dorm, Lily and her friends sadly reminisced about John, and the little they had known him. Lily produced the book of pranks that John had sent her and sadly leafed through the pages. She just couldn't believe that he was really gone.
Eventually, Lily washed the blood off of her face, and let Dora bandage her wound, ignoring her friends' suggestion that she see Madame Klase.
Lily lay in bed awake for a long time, crying softly into her pillow. Just before drifting off to sleep Lily had a fleeting thought about James, and wondered if he was okay.
The next day, Dora and Brittany had to drag Lily out of bed. The moaning red head protested and kicked and the two girls still would not desist.
"Come on Lily! You have to come to your classes today! You can't just sit around like a slob forever!" Dora begged her.
Lily opened one eye and squinted at her friend. "But I don't wanna! I'm tired and my face hurts."
"Oh my god! It's so swollen! You've got to go see Madame Klase!" Brittany gasped as Lily rolled over, revealing her injured cheek.
Lily moaned again and attempted to bury her face in her pillow, but her friends dragged her out of bed. Reluctantly, Lily dressed in a clean set of robes, not bothering to shower or even wash her face and let her friends drag her to the hospital wing.
Inside was a third year girl who looked at her knowingly and said "James," in a sad tone.
"Huh?" Lily asked, confused.
"I saw him push you after he found out about his brother." The girl sighed and flipped her hair. "It's a real shame."
Lily sighed, a bit annoyed at the girl for butting into her business.
"He still shouldn't have attacked you like that. Even if he is just a little first year, he should know, not to hit girls."
"It wasn't his fault," Lily defended him, sending the girl a death glare.
Just then, Madame Klase bustled in, cutting through the tension easily. "Oh my dear!" she gushed, looking at Lily. "You poor dear, why didn't you come to see me sooner?"
Fortunately, Lily was released fairly quickly from Madame Klase's care. After a little swelling potion and pain cream, she was allowed to go. It was one of her shortest trips to the hospital wing in her history at Hogwarts. And now that she thought about it, it was caused by James, just like every other time she had been injured that year. The boy was a walking disaster.
Disappointment enveloped Lily as she hurried to the Dining Hall, only to find that breakfast was over. She hadn't eaten for ages, and had been really looking forward to getting some food inside her.
Lily, who always loved all of her classes, found herself very distracted through out the day. Somehow, John's face kept popping into her mind. Luckily, most of her teachers understood this, and tried to be very considerate to the mourning students.
Sirius and Remus seemed to have been hit very hard as well. The two of them were in classes again, although James was still absent. It seemed that that the three of them had been very close to John and his death had really hurt them.
The day went fairly smoothly, circumstances permitting, until Potions, the last class of the day.
Since Lily was without a partner, Ludwick assigned her to work with Malfoy and Terrance. Lily was complacent, but sad. Her friends were surprised at the submissive way she went over and sat with the two Slytherins, not even complaining nor looking outraged.
After the Ludwick finished talking, and the students began their work, Malfoy leaned over and touched Lily's cheek. "Nice injury mudblood," he hissed. "I saw your little spat with your loverboy."
Lily flinched when he touched her, but didn't react, except to glare at the table. She was not in the mood to argue with them.
Terrance laughed with his friend. "Not even going to defend yourself? Well I say that Potter's death was an immense improvement if it shuts you up this well. That muggle-lover got what was coming to him!"
At this, Lily broke out of her stupor and smartly slapped Terrance across the face.
Ludwick was there in an instant. "Is there a problem miss Evans?" he asked coldly, an amused smile playing on his face. "Ah, the troubles and drama that surrounds a Gryffindor," he mocked.
Jumping out of her chair, Lily sprinted out the door without giving the cruel teacher another glance. She didn't care what the others thought, she didn't care if he gave her a detention or failed her for that matter. She just knew that she had to get away, as far away as she could from Terrance's greasy smile, and Lucius's cutting remarks.
Lily collapsed in her bed and cried until the tears would no longer come. Then she went to the bathroom, and showered, removing all traces of her grief, emerging fresh in time for dinner with Brittany and Dora.
Lily gulped down as much food as she could as Brittany, Dora and three of the Marauders watched in awe. The room cleared out, and Lily was still going. Finally her friends left her as well, promising to meet her in the common room, and she was left alone.
At last, Lily filled herself to her maximum level of possible digestion, and was about to leave, when she remembered James. She knew he hadn't eaten for quite some time, and she wondered if he was as starving as she had been before her gluttony.
On a whim Lily salvaged a piece of chocolate cake, wrapped it in a napkin as neatly as she could, and set it gently inside her book bag.
Lily met Brittany and Dora in the common room, where they sat around the fire. Dora leaned on Lily and put her head on her shoulder. "I'm so tired Lily, tired of all of this. I just want to have some fun again. I want everything to be like it was before," she confessed.
"I know. I suppose it will just take time," Lily said wisely.
Brittany stood, angered, "Things will never be the same Lily! No matter how much time goes by. John will never come back!"
Brittany ran upstairs, and Lily and Dora sat together silently for a while, before Dora yawned. "I'm going to bed Lils," she said gently. "Don't stay up too late."
Lily sat staring into the fire for a long time before she went up the stairs toward her dorm. She turned left however, and instead of going into her dorm, knocked softly at the first year boy's room. Sirius opened the door and motioned for her to come in without a word.
Lily ignored the boy's questioning looks and went over to James's bed, where he lay silently, a lump under his comforter. Lily rummaged through her bad and withdrew the napkin covered lump, slightly squished from her books and set it softly beside his pillow, hoping he would not roll over and squash it.
"What did you give him?" Remus asked as she left.
Lily shrugged and went to her dorm without a word.
Book 1- A Clash of Wills
Chapter 14- Closets and Cake
Lily stood, still as stone, for a several minutes, in shock. Eventually, Sirius came out and put his arm around her shoulders, this convinced her to move.
"Leave me alone!" she shouted and pushed Sirius off her, before taking off running down the hall in the direction which she had seen James go.
When she was sure that Sirius was not following her, Lily stopped running, out of breath, and crying freely. She found herself in a part of the castle that she had never been before and wiping her eyes, she walked shakily down the corridor, not sure where she was going.
Eventually, the path came out by the library. The hall was silent, except for the faint sound of breathing. Lily stopped and listened, pressing her ear to the wall. She determined the sound was coming from a small door off to her left.
Walking silently, Lily approached the door, and listened to the ragged sound of breath. Some instinct made her wipe her eyes before she clasped the knob in her hand and turned it slowly.
Inside, she surveyed the room, it was nothing but a small closet, filled with a bucket and mops, for use by filch.
Sitting on the floor, and clutching his knees, she was not surprised to see James. She heard footsteps and quickly shut the door behind her.
They stared at each other for a moment and then James said shakily, "You're bleeding."
"I'm sorry," Lily whispered. "I didn't mean it, I didn't know." tears started to cloud her eyes.
"I know you didn't," James turned his head. "It doesn't seem real. He can't be . . .be dead. He's my brother!"
"Oh James!" Lily cried, and threw herself against the little boy, crying onto his shoulder.
James wrapped his arms around his enemy and began to cry into her hair, suddenly not caring that he had hated her only a moment ago. They lay together like that for hours, not speaking, nor caring to, only crying onto each other, until Lily fell asleep.
James lay stroking his hair. He was afraid and confused, but somehow, just having someone to be there with him, not talking nor trying to comfort him, made him feel a little better. He looked at her sleeping, the irritating little girl, who he fought with every day, and decided not to wake her.
He woke hours later, not even remembering falling asleep. Lily was stirring in his arms, her face still pressed against his shoulder. James watched her for a few minutes, and then she suddenly awoke, surprised for a moment at her location.
Instinctively, Lily pulled away, and James got a good view of her face. She had a deep cut down her cheek, which was smeared in dried blood, doubtless a remnant of him pushing her in the Dining Hall, he noticed that some of her blood had rubbed off on his robes, but James did not comment.
Lily sat across from him, playing with a lock of her red hair. "I'm going to miss him James. He was a really great person."
James nodded quietly, not trusting himself to speak.
"I don't understand how he can just be gone," Lily whispered, and rubbed her aching cheek.
Taking a deep breath, James tried to hold back tears. He had recovered somewhat and was reluctant to cry again in front of Lily. He watched her lay down on her back and gaze up at the ceiling.
"You know this is a closet, don't you James?" Lily looked at him inquisitively.
James laughed unexpectedly, and then instantly felt guilty, as if by laughing he had somehow reduced his brother. "I didn't want anyone to find me."
He found it much easier to look at Lily, and watch her eyes wander around the room, than to think about his brother. Instead he filled his head with thoughts of her green cat-like eyes and red curls. Lily examined the walls and ceiling very carefully, stopping when she spotted the wall clock.
"It's almost ten o'clock," she stated plainly.
"AM?" James asked, confused, "It seems like we've been in here longer than that."
"It could be ten at night," Lily sounded doubtful. "That would mean we missed all of our classes and I'm sure people are wondering where we are."
James eyes narrowed, he suddenly thought about what his friends would say if Lily told them she had seen him cry. "Don't tell anyone you were here with me or I'll make your life miserable!" He warned her, his tone changing drastically.
"You already do James, that's an empty threat," Lily rolled her eyes. "But don't worry, I'm not going to tell people I spent the day in a closet with you!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" James almost shouted.
"It means that I'm leaving!" Lily shouted. She stood quickly and threw open the door, stepping into the hall without another look at James, and scaring the crap out of some sixth years who were standing near the entrance from the closet.
Lily ran up to the Gryffindor Common room, and judging by the dark scene that met her when she looked out a window, determined that it was indeed ten at night. She had spent over 12 hours in a closet with her worst enemy.
When she reached her dorm, she looked forward to with Dora and Brittany, about John, but was met by blank and curious stares when she entered her room.
"Are Brittany and Dora here?" she asked Elisabeth Ester.
Elisabeth shot her friend a knowing look and shook her head. "I don't know where they went," she said coldly.
Lily gave an exasperated sigh and went immediately to the first year boy's dorm, opening the door without hesitation.
She found Brittany sitting cross legged on the floor, and Dora sprawled out on the bed opposite of Remus's. Peter was in his own bed as well, but the rest of the boys seemed to have cleared out.
"Lily!" Brittany shouted and jumped up. "Your face! Are you okay?"
Lily winced and touched her face in embarrassment. Brittany threw an arm around her friend.
"I almost forgot about that. Yeah, I'm fine." Lily sighed and crawled into the nearest empty bed. "I think I'll just lie here a while," she yawned.
"So, how's James doing?" Sirius asked her with his concern obvious in his voice.
"I wouldn't know!" Lily replied quickly. "I was off by myself. I wasn't with him!" she added defensively.
The others looked at her strangely and Brittany started laughing, before pressing her hand over her mouth and apologizing.
"You don't have to lie Lily. Geez! We're your friends," Brittany sounded annoyed.
Lily blushed but maintained her innocence. "I wasn't with him!"
Remus and Brittany shot each other a glance, and Sirius rolled his eyes.
Choosing the worst moment possible, James flung open the door and stopped mid-step, staring around at all the three girls in his dorm.
Sirius immediately stood and walked over to his friend, placing an arm around his shoulder and ushering him over to his bed.
"What are you doing here?" James addressed Lily icily, "Get out of my bed!"
Hastily, Lily removed herself from the warm covers. "I am sorry James! If I knew it was your bed I wouldn't have been in it!" She glared and retreated from his stare. "Let's go girls! I can see we're not wanted here."
Brittany glanced at the smear of dried blood on James's neck and the dark red blotches on his robes and then looked at Lily's bloody cheek. She couldn't understand why Lily was lying to her, but in light of the tragic element to the day she maturely let it go. Brittany was sure she was not the only one who noticed it, she had seen the way the other's had reacted when James walked in covered in Lily's blood. It didn't take a genius to make the connection.
Back in the girls dorm, Lily and her friends sadly reminisced about John, and the little they had known him. Lily produced the book of pranks that John had sent her and sadly leafed through the pages. She just couldn't believe that he was really gone.
Eventually, Lily washed the blood off of her face, and let Dora bandage her wound, ignoring her friends' suggestion that she see Madame Klase.
Lily lay in bed awake for a long time, crying softly into her pillow. Just before drifting off to sleep Lily had a fleeting thought about James, and wondered if he was okay.
The next day, Dora and Brittany had to drag Lily out of bed. The moaning red head protested and kicked and the two girls still would not desist.
"Come on Lily! You have to come to your classes today! You can't just sit around like a slob forever!" Dora begged her.
Lily opened one eye and squinted at her friend. "But I don't wanna! I'm tired and my face hurts."
"Oh my god! It's so swollen! You've got to go see Madame Klase!" Brittany gasped as Lily rolled over, revealing her injured cheek.
Lily moaned again and attempted to bury her face in her pillow, but her friends dragged her out of bed. Reluctantly, Lily dressed in a clean set of robes, not bothering to shower or even wash her face and let her friends drag her to the hospital wing.
Inside was a third year girl who looked at her knowingly and said "James," in a sad tone.
"Huh?" Lily asked, confused.
"I saw him push you after he found out about his brother." The girl sighed and flipped her hair. "It's a real shame."
Lily sighed, a bit annoyed at the girl for butting into her business.
"He still shouldn't have attacked you like that. Even if he is just a little first year, he should know, not to hit girls."
"It wasn't his fault," Lily defended him, sending the girl a death glare.
Just then, Madame Klase bustled in, cutting through the tension easily. "Oh my dear!" she gushed, looking at Lily. "You poor dear, why didn't you come to see me sooner?"
Fortunately, Lily was released fairly quickly from Madame Klase's care. After a little swelling potion and pain cream, she was allowed to go. It was one of her shortest trips to the hospital wing in her history at Hogwarts. And now that she thought about it, it was caused by James, just like every other time she had been injured that year. The boy was a walking disaster.
Disappointment enveloped Lily as she hurried to the Dining Hall, only to find that breakfast was over. She hadn't eaten for ages, and had been really looking forward to getting some food inside her.
Lily, who always loved all of her classes, found herself very distracted through out the day. Somehow, John's face kept popping into her mind. Luckily, most of her teachers understood this, and tried to be very considerate to the mourning students.
Sirius and Remus seemed to have been hit very hard as well. The two of them were in classes again, although James was still absent. It seemed that that the three of them had been very close to John and his death had really hurt them.
The day went fairly smoothly, circumstances permitting, until Potions, the last class of the day.
Since Lily was without a partner, Ludwick assigned her to work with Malfoy and Terrance. Lily was complacent, but sad. Her friends were surprised at the submissive way she went over and sat with the two Slytherins, not even complaining nor looking outraged.
After the Ludwick finished talking, and the students began their work, Malfoy leaned over and touched Lily's cheek. "Nice injury mudblood," he hissed. "I saw your little spat with your loverboy."
Lily flinched when he touched her, but didn't react, except to glare at the table. She was not in the mood to argue with them.
Terrance laughed with his friend. "Not even going to defend yourself? Well I say that Potter's death was an immense improvement if it shuts you up this well. That muggle-lover got what was coming to him!"
At this, Lily broke out of her stupor and smartly slapped Terrance across the face.
Ludwick was there in an instant. "Is there a problem miss Evans?" he asked coldly, an amused smile playing on his face. "Ah, the troubles and drama that surrounds a Gryffindor," he mocked.
Jumping out of her chair, Lily sprinted out the door without giving the cruel teacher another glance. She didn't care what the others thought, she didn't care if he gave her a detention or failed her for that matter. She just knew that she had to get away, as far away as she could from Terrance's greasy smile, and Lucius's cutting remarks.
Lily collapsed in her bed and cried until the tears would no longer come. Then she went to the bathroom, and showered, removing all traces of her grief, emerging fresh in time for dinner with Brittany and Dora.
Lily gulped down as much food as she could as Brittany, Dora and three of the Marauders watched in awe. The room cleared out, and Lily was still going. Finally her friends left her as well, promising to meet her in the common room, and she was left alone.
At last, Lily filled herself to her maximum level of possible digestion, and was about to leave, when she remembered James. She knew he hadn't eaten for quite some time, and she wondered if he was as starving as she had been before her gluttony.
On a whim Lily salvaged a piece of chocolate cake, wrapped it in a napkin as neatly as she could, and set it gently inside her book bag.
Lily met Brittany and Dora in the common room, where they sat around the fire. Dora leaned on Lily and put her head on her shoulder. "I'm so tired Lily, tired of all of this. I just want to have some fun again. I want everything to be like it was before," she confessed.
"I know. I suppose it will just take time," Lily said wisely.
Brittany stood, angered, "Things will never be the same Lily! No matter how much time goes by. John will never come back!"
Brittany ran upstairs, and Lily and Dora sat together silently for a while, before Dora yawned. "I'm going to bed Lils," she said gently. "Don't stay up too late."
Lily sat staring into the fire for a long time before she went up the stairs toward her dorm. She turned left however, and instead of going into her dorm, knocked softly at the first year boy's room. Sirius opened the door and motioned for her to come in without a word.
Lily ignored the boy's questioning looks and went over to James's bed, where he lay silently, a lump under his comforter. Lily rummaged through her bad and withdrew the napkin covered lump, slightly squished from her books and set it softly beside his pillow, hoping he would not roll over and squash it.
"What did you give him?" Remus asked as she left.
Lily shrugged and went to her dorm without a word.