Another chapter! Thanks so much for the reviews, guys!
What You Don't Know
Chapter 10
Every day after that, James met Lily in the library. He made a point of being nice... Carrying her books [actually, he wasn't sure that Lily really appreciated that, or if she just put up with it to humor him, but in either case, it made him feel better] and picking things up for her.
Lily, for her part, honestly wasn't sure if she was pleased that James was going out of his way to be pleasant and helpful, or exasperated that he insisted on treating her like something fragile.
A mixture of both, she decided as she walked up the stairs to her dormitory late one night.
To her surprise, she [literally] ran into Hestia there.
Her friend- Lily couldn't do anything but think of her that way- smiled in a slightly twisted manner. 'Hmm. I haven't seen you around lately,'
'Well, you've been off with your boyfriend, haven't you?'
Hestia smiled again. 'So?'
'Just pointing it out,' Lily said, her voice overly casual.
'Don't be daft. I know you don't like him.'
'Don't like him? Don't like him? Hestia, this is Malfoy we're talking about. A Deatheater? A Slytherin? The--'
'For a Muggle-born, you're quick to discriminate,'
'I- I- oh, Hestia, what do you see in him?'
'He's nice to me. And he treats me as though I matter. He tells me I'm beautiful. And he loves me,'
'He loves you? Hestia, he really told you that?'
'Not in so many words. But I can tell it from the way he acts, the way he smiles, the way he looks at me, and how he touches me--'
'Touches you?' Lily knew that her voice was rising with her panicked anger. 'Geez, Hestia, have you had sex with him?'
Hestia turned white. 'How is that any of your business?' she shrieked.
'Do you even love him?'
'IT'S NOT YOUR BUSINESS!' Hestia screamed, her face now flooding red. Lily was trembling with anger and with confusion and frustration with her friend. She turned and stormed from the Gryffindor common room.
She was so wrapped up in her emotions that it was several minutes before she realized that it was late, and she was wandering that halls, alone, and without reason. She stopped several corridors away from her common room. If she just turned around now, she wouldn't get caught, right?
Lily started to turn around, but then she heard voices, and froze.
'How was your date?'
'Boring, sweetheart. How could it ever be anything else?'
'Oh, but certainly it's amusing...'
'But I can't laugh. I have to act serious,'
'Seriously in love with her?'
They snickered.
Lily was vaguely familiar with the voices. She didn't have a real urge to eavesdrop, but she crept forward, merely wondering if knowing who was speaking would make their conversation have any more sense to it.
'Did she tell you anything?' The speaker was a seventh year girl Slytherin girl... Lily couldn't remember her first name, but she thought that she was a relative of Sirius. His cousin? The sister of the one in their year-- Bellatrix? She took another half-step forward.
'No,' Lucius Malfoy sighed. 'I suppose she doe have loyalties stronger than we thought,'
'Try harder, dear,' Black said.
They were leaning into each other, arms clasped, fingers twining together. Most certainly not the position for a friendly chat. Lily didn't know what to think
She didn't want to hear anymore, because that would increase her guilty feelings, and increase her temptation to spill. As it was, she was sure that she would have told Alice, if she wasn't avoiding her.
Lily took a few cautious, light steps away, then broke into a run and didn't stop until she was safely back in the Gryffindor common room. Drawing a shaky breath, she went up to bed.
James decided to talk with Lily that afternoon. A week had passed since he had made his guess as to what was bothering her, and the situation was driving him crazy. He didn't understand why Alice was content to talk with Frank, and ignore Lily, or why he seemed to be the only one who cared.
So after lunch, James- not bothering with an excuse anymore0 went to the library, towards the back... And there she was, staring off into space, an open book and sheet of parchment in front of her. She was seated, as usual, next to a window, and the bright sun shone in, catching the red of her hair and creating a soft halo around it, seemingly setting everything around her on fire.
He blinked, drew a breath, and slid into a chair across from her. 'Hello,' he greeted cheerfully.
She started. 'Oh. Hi, James,'
'Pondering something?'
A faint grimace crossed her face. 'Um, yes,'
Her uneasiness stopped him from pressing matters. 'I was thinking,' he began, unsure as of how to phrase it.
'Good job,'
He shot her a dirty look, and she smiled sweetly, taking his breath away. 'Right. I was, um, thinking, and um... Voldemort killed your parents a month ago. And it's true that he might not have gone after them if you weren't a witch, but so what? That doesn't make it your fault. You can't help being a witch- it's who you are. And the only person to blame for your parents death is Voldemort himself, or maybe his helpful little Deatheaters. So maybe that's why you've been avoiding people- because you're scared they'll due and that you'll blame yourself. That's absurd, Lily. People die. Voldemort has to be stopped, but until he is, deaths that he causes are no one's fault but his own, and any accomplices he has.'
Lily stared at him for a moment, while he took a breath and wondered where to go from here. But she shook her head, got up, and strode quickly from the library.
James watched her go, bewildered. 'What did I do wrong?' he wondered aloud.
Lily found Alice seated in the common room talking with Frank. Feeling only slightly sorry that she was about to interrupt their conversation, she walked up to Alice and tapped her on the shoulder. 'Alice? Can I speak with you for a moment? Sorry, Frank,'
'No problem,' he said politely.
Alice followed Lily to a deserted corner of the common room, looking curious. 'First,' Lily said, drawing a deep breath, 'I'm sorry that I was- well, I was being stupid. And it just took someone pointing that out to make me realize it,'
'No, Lily-- I mean, what was botherin--'
'I'll talk about that later, if you really want. Now I want to talk about Hestia.' And with that, Lily launched into describing what she had seen and heard after her argument with Hestia the previous night.
'That's horrible!' Alice exclaimed. 'I mean, it's bad enough that she's dating Malfoy in the first place-' she repressed a shudder, '-but he's cheating on her too? The great prat.'
Lily grimaced. 'He's not really cheating on her, Alice. Well, he is, but that's not the point. The point is, well- he is only dating her for information! We've got to warn her!'
Alice looked dubious. 'But she hates us right now. She's never listen,'
'Shouldn't we try? Or do you think that will just make her angrier?'
Alice bit her lip, glancing over at Frank. 'I don't know. Maybe we should talk to someone?'
'But who?' Lily asked desperately.
'I don't know,' Alice admitted miserably. 'Frank?'
'He doesn't know Hestia,'
'Well, what do we do then?'
'We'll think about it. You can go back to Frank. Ask him, if you'd like. It can't hurt, right? Then we'll talk again later,'
'Yeah. And you can tell me what was wrong,'
'Oh,' Lily blushed. She hated discussing her issues. 'It was no big deal,'
'Yes, it was,' Alice said, hugging her before returning to Frank.
A few minutes later, Lily remembered James, and leaving him alone in the library with all her stuff. 'Oops,' she sighed.
She got up to make her way to the library, but before she reached the portrait, it swung open, and in walked James, laughing with Sirius.
And carrying her bag.
Great. Now she really looked like an idiot.
But it was impossible to be angry at James when their eyes met and he smiled charmingly and left Sirius and it was really her fault he had her bag and he had been so nice and sweet and his eyes were the most beautiful color she had ever seen, and...
'Here's your bag,'
'Um, thanks,' Lily said, flushing. 'And-uh, thanks for... talking to me... It really did help. Sorry to run off on you. I wasn't really thinking,'
'My pleasure,'
There was a pause.
'Um- I could take my bag now...' Lily suggested.
'Oh, right!' James turned red. 'Right. Well, here you are,' he handed her the bag and their hands touched and she remembered dancing with him and how lovely that had felt...
'Thanks,'
There was another silence.
'So, why did you go?'
'I realized that I needed to talk to Alice,'
'What about?'
'Oh, just what you convinced me of: that I was being stupid and so then there was something else I needed to tell her,'
'You weren't being stupid. You were being... noble,'
'You're very sweet, James,' Lily laughed, but she knew she was flushing with pleasure. James went red as well.
'Okay, okay, just kiss already and get over it,' Sirius said, coming up behind them.
James went redder and Lily felt her own cheeks burning. James was cute even when he blushed and looked ready to murder someone- namely Sirius.
'Oh, going red... Second sign of love,'
''what's the first?' Lily asked irritably.
'Fighting like cats and dogs,' Sirius smirked. 'But you two- jumping all around. From one to four to two in a matter of weeks.' He shook his head.
'Four?'
'Spending an entire dance together,'
'We did not!' Lily protested. When Sirius raised a dark eyebrow, she added, 'I danced once with Remus, you know,'
Sirius rolled his eyes. 'But you know you love James. You want to hold him, hug him, kiss him, marry him, have his--'
That's about when Lily performed a silencing spell. James grinned at her.
'I thought he'd never shut up,'
'So did I. So I decided to shut him up myself,'
'Good job,'
'Thank you,'
'Want to go on a walk with me?'
'Sounds lovely,'
Oblivious to the eyes of half the common room- their interest was justifiable in that they had been put through an awful lot of fights from Lily and James, the two left the common room together.
End of chapter 10! Yay. Now you know what to do... Go ahead! Review!
Cheers-- AROD.
What You Don't Know
Chapter 10
Every day after that, James met Lily in the library. He made a point of being nice... Carrying her books [actually, he wasn't sure that Lily really appreciated that, or if she just put up with it to humor him, but in either case, it made him feel better] and picking things up for her.
Lily, for her part, honestly wasn't sure if she was pleased that James was going out of his way to be pleasant and helpful, or exasperated that he insisted on treating her like something fragile.
A mixture of both, she decided as she walked up the stairs to her dormitory late one night.
To her surprise, she [literally] ran into Hestia there.
Her friend- Lily couldn't do anything but think of her that way- smiled in a slightly twisted manner. 'Hmm. I haven't seen you around lately,'
'Well, you've been off with your boyfriend, haven't you?'
Hestia smiled again. 'So?'
'Just pointing it out,' Lily said, her voice overly casual.
'Don't be daft. I know you don't like him.'
'Don't like him? Don't like him? Hestia, this is Malfoy we're talking about. A Deatheater? A Slytherin? The--'
'For a Muggle-born, you're quick to discriminate,'
'I- I- oh, Hestia, what do you see in him?'
'He's nice to me. And he treats me as though I matter. He tells me I'm beautiful. And he loves me,'
'He loves you? Hestia, he really told you that?'
'Not in so many words. But I can tell it from the way he acts, the way he smiles, the way he looks at me, and how he touches me--'
'Touches you?' Lily knew that her voice was rising with her panicked anger. 'Geez, Hestia, have you had sex with him?'
Hestia turned white. 'How is that any of your business?' she shrieked.
'Do you even love him?'
'IT'S NOT YOUR BUSINESS!' Hestia screamed, her face now flooding red. Lily was trembling with anger and with confusion and frustration with her friend. She turned and stormed from the Gryffindor common room.
She was so wrapped up in her emotions that it was several minutes before she realized that it was late, and she was wandering that halls, alone, and without reason. She stopped several corridors away from her common room. If she just turned around now, she wouldn't get caught, right?
Lily started to turn around, but then she heard voices, and froze.
'How was your date?'
'Boring, sweetheart. How could it ever be anything else?'
'Oh, but certainly it's amusing...'
'But I can't laugh. I have to act serious,'
'Seriously in love with her?'
They snickered.
Lily was vaguely familiar with the voices. She didn't have a real urge to eavesdrop, but she crept forward, merely wondering if knowing who was speaking would make their conversation have any more sense to it.
'Did she tell you anything?' The speaker was a seventh year girl Slytherin girl... Lily couldn't remember her first name, but she thought that she was a relative of Sirius. His cousin? The sister of the one in their year-- Bellatrix? She took another half-step forward.
'No,' Lucius Malfoy sighed. 'I suppose she doe have loyalties stronger than we thought,'
'Try harder, dear,' Black said.
They were leaning into each other, arms clasped, fingers twining together. Most certainly not the position for a friendly chat. Lily didn't know what to think
She didn't want to hear anymore, because that would increase her guilty feelings, and increase her temptation to spill. As it was, she was sure that she would have told Alice, if she wasn't avoiding her.
Lily took a few cautious, light steps away, then broke into a run and didn't stop until she was safely back in the Gryffindor common room. Drawing a shaky breath, she went up to bed.
James decided to talk with Lily that afternoon. A week had passed since he had made his guess as to what was bothering her, and the situation was driving him crazy. He didn't understand why Alice was content to talk with Frank, and ignore Lily, or why he seemed to be the only one who cared.
So after lunch, James- not bothering with an excuse anymore0 went to the library, towards the back... And there she was, staring off into space, an open book and sheet of parchment in front of her. She was seated, as usual, next to a window, and the bright sun shone in, catching the red of her hair and creating a soft halo around it, seemingly setting everything around her on fire.
He blinked, drew a breath, and slid into a chair across from her. 'Hello,' he greeted cheerfully.
She started. 'Oh. Hi, James,'
'Pondering something?'
A faint grimace crossed her face. 'Um, yes,'
Her uneasiness stopped him from pressing matters. 'I was thinking,' he began, unsure as of how to phrase it.
'Good job,'
He shot her a dirty look, and she smiled sweetly, taking his breath away. 'Right. I was, um, thinking, and um... Voldemort killed your parents a month ago. And it's true that he might not have gone after them if you weren't a witch, but so what? That doesn't make it your fault. You can't help being a witch- it's who you are. And the only person to blame for your parents death is Voldemort himself, or maybe his helpful little Deatheaters. So maybe that's why you've been avoiding people- because you're scared they'll due and that you'll blame yourself. That's absurd, Lily. People die. Voldemort has to be stopped, but until he is, deaths that he causes are no one's fault but his own, and any accomplices he has.'
Lily stared at him for a moment, while he took a breath and wondered where to go from here. But she shook her head, got up, and strode quickly from the library.
James watched her go, bewildered. 'What did I do wrong?' he wondered aloud.
Lily found Alice seated in the common room talking with Frank. Feeling only slightly sorry that she was about to interrupt their conversation, she walked up to Alice and tapped her on the shoulder. 'Alice? Can I speak with you for a moment? Sorry, Frank,'
'No problem,' he said politely.
Alice followed Lily to a deserted corner of the common room, looking curious. 'First,' Lily said, drawing a deep breath, 'I'm sorry that I was- well, I was being stupid. And it just took someone pointing that out to make me realize it,'
'No, Lily-- I mean, what was botherin--'
'I'll talk about that later, if you really want. Now I want to talk about Hestia.' And with that, Lily launched into describing what she had seen and heard after her argument with Hestia the previous night.
'That's horrible!' Alice exclaimed. 'I mean, it's bad enough that she's dating Malfoy in the first place-' she repressed a shudder, '-but he's cheating on her too? The great prat.'
Lily grimaced. 'He's not really cheating on her, Alice. Well, he is, but that's not the point. The point is, well- he is only dating her for information! We've got to warn her!'
Alice looked dubious. 'But she hates us right now. She's never listen,'
'Shouldn't we try? Or do you think that will just make her angrier?'
Alice bit her lip, glancing over at Frank. 'I don't know. Maybe we should talk to someone?'
'But who?' Lily asked desperately.
'I don't know,' Alice admitted miserably. 'Frank?'
'He doesn't know Hestia,'
'Well, what do we do then?'
'We'll think about it. You can go back to Frank. Ask him, if you'd like. It can't hurt, right? Then we'll talk again later,'
'Yeah. And you can tell me what was wrong,'
'Oh,' Lily blushed. She hated discussing her issues. 'It was no big deal,'
'Yes, it was,' Alice said, hugging her before returning to Frank.
A few minutes later, Lily remembered James, and leaving him alone in the library with all her stuff. 'Oops,' she sighed.
She got up to make her way to the library, but before she reached the portrait, it swung open, and in walked James, laughing with Sirius.
And carrying her bag.
Great. Now she really looked like an idiot.
But it was impossible to be angry at James when their eyes met and he smiled charmingly and left Sirius and it was really her fault he had her bag and he had been so nice and sweet and his eyes were the most beautiful color she had ever seen, and...
'Here's your bag,'
'Um, thanks,' Lily said, flushing. 'And-uh, thanks for... talking to me... It really did help. Sorry to run off on you. I wasn't really thinking,'
'My pleasure,'
There was a pause.
'Um- I could take my bag now...' Lily suggested.
'Oh, right!' James turned red. 'Right. Well, here you are,' he handed her the bag and their hands touched and she remembered dancing with him and how lovely that had felt...
'Thanks,'
There was another silence.
'So, why did you go?'
'I realized that I needed to talk to Alice,'
'What about?'
'Oh, just what you convinced me of: that I was being stupid and so then there was something else I needed to tell her,'
'You weren't being stupid. You were being... noble,'
'You're very sweet, James,' Lily laughed, but she knew she was flushing with pleasure. James went red as well.
'Okay, okay, just kiss already and get over it,' Sirius said, coming up behind them.
James went redder and Lily felt her own cheeks burning. James was cute even when he blushed and looked ready to murder someone- namely Sirius.
'Oh, going red... Second sign of love,'
''what's the first?' Lily asked irritably.
'Fighting like cats and dogs,' Sirius smirked. 'But you two- jumping all around. From one to four to two in a matter of weeks.' He shook his head.
'Four?'
'Spending an entire dance together,'
'We did not!' Lily protested. When Sirius raised a dark eyebrow, she added, 'I danced once with Remus, you know,'
Sirius rolled his eyes. 'But you know you love James. You want to hold him, hug him, kiss him, marry him, have his--'
That's about when Lily performed a silencing spell. James grinned at her.
'I thought he'd never shut up,'
'So did I. So I decided to shut him up myself,'
'Good job,'
'Thank you,'
'Want to go on a walk with me?'
'Sounds lovely,'
Oblivious to the eyes of half the common room- their interest was justifiable in that they had been put through an awful lot of fights from Lily and James, the two left the common room together.
End of chapter 10! Yay. Now you know what to do... Go ahead! Review!
Cheers-- AROD.
