Hey guys! Thank you so much for reviewing. It made me so happy! You're all the best. Anyway, I tried to update quickly... Hope you enjoy this chapter. Please review!!!!
By the way, we all love Sirius and his humor. I'll try to fit him in more because we all adore him, right?
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Don't sue.
What You Don't Know
Chapter 12
The next morning, at breakfast, Sirius had an abnormally large grin on his face.
'Hello,' Lily greeted him absently as she sat down with Alice.
'I can talk now,' Sirius said.
'I can see that,' Lily replied.
'Aren't you impressed?'
'Only that someone would dare to take the spell off,' Lily said, shooting Sirius a charming smile.
He glared at her. 'For your information, James took the spell off,'
'Did he know? I always thought that he was more intelligent than that,'
'It was a burst of happiness,' Remus said, sitting down.
'Over what?' Lily asked.
'You,' Sirius said. Remus whacked him. 'Ow!'
'A fit of happiness over me?' Lily asked, raising her eyebrows.
'Who did?' James asked, sitting down beside Remus.
'You,' Sirius announced again, then, 'ow!' as Remus whacked him again.
'He did what?' Lily said, grinning.
'I had a ... Wait, what?'
'You did!' Sirius insisted. 'You love Lily! That's why you went on a walk with her,'
'Why did you take the silencing charm off of him, anyway, James?' Peter asked as he too sat down.
'Because he had a mpppff--' Sirius began, and was cut off by Remus, who smiled pleasantly as everyone turned to look at him.
'I'm going to go find Frank,' Alice said.
'Righto,' Lily smirked. 'Have fun studying,'
Alice stuck out of her tongue, gathered up her bag, and left the Great Hall.
'He BIT me!' Remus cried suddenly, snatching his hand away from Sirius' mouth. Sirius spit onto hit plate.
'And it was absolutely disgusting, mate,'
Remus looked at his hand. 'I can't believe your bit me,'
'It's what happens when you go and stick your hand in someone's mouth,' Sirius replied absently.
'You guys scared her away,' Lily said with a tragic sigh, shooting Sirius a rather strange look. Then, spotting Hestia entering the Great Hall with Malfoy, she stood up. 'I'll be right back,'
She strode quickly over to Hestia, and took her arm. 'Hey, Hestia,'
'Hi, Lily,' Hestia said, glancing up at Malfoy, who glared back at Lily.
'Sit with me?' Lily pleaded.
'I was planning on sitting with Lucius,' Hestia said hesitantly.
Lily smiled charmingly. 'But Hestia, mate, you always sit with M- Lucius, now. And he is your boyfriend-' she glared at Malfoy- 'and all, but can't he spare you every once in a while to sit with your best friend?'
Malfoy glared back at Lily once more, over the top of Hestia's head. 'You're not her best friend,'
'Yes I am,' Lily said, keeping a charming smile on her face.
'If you were her best friend, you would want her to be happy,'
'Oh, but I do,' Lily said, widening her eyes innocently.
'Then why did you get all upset at the ball?' Hestia said icily.
Lily tightened her grip on her friend's arm. 'I was... just... upset that day. I'm sorry. But do you see me objecting to your relationship now? Of course not. I just miss talking to you,'
Hestia glanced up at Malfoy. 'All right,' Malfoy say.
'See you later, dear,' Hestia said.
'Bye,' Malfoy replied, turning to sit at the Slytherin table.
'So,' Lily began. She hated girl talk. She was no good at it. She brought Hestia to the Gryffindor table and sat her down. 'You've been... busy lately,'
'Busy snogging,' Sirius muttered.
Lily glared at him. That gave her bad mental images.
Hestia blushed. 'Oh, I've spent all my time with Lucius,' she giggled.
'Doing what?' James asked innocently. Lily was fully prepared to glare at him, or hex him, if he ruined her chance to talk with Hestia, but to her surprise, Hestia giggled.
'Oh... we... talk,'
'What about?'
'He's a nice guy. He's really interested in me. I mean, he asks all about my past and my friends and what I like and stuff,'
'That's- great,'
James was raising his eyebrows.
Lily felt her heart sinking. 'And what do you tell him?'
Hestia smiled. 'Well, he wants to know a lot about my friends- you in particular, Lily. He says it's because he wants to know me better, and he can do that through my friends, but I am wary, because he might accidentley let something slip to a friend, and I wouldn't want you to get hurt,'
Lily was slightly taken aback at Hestia's cheery and pleasant manner. It was so different from the night of the ball, and indeed, her treatment the past few weeks. Then again, Alice had started off being rude, and Hestia had responded with rudeness. Now Lily had begun with polite inquiry, and Hestia had returned it easily.
That only made it harder. It seemed as though Hestia truly was happy with Malfoy, and it would be hard to tell her the truth.
Lily was suddenly unable to go through with her plan to tell Hestia everything. Maybe she should just secretly try to break them up, and find someone to go out with Hestia afterwards.
But it would all completely backfire if Hestia found out about it. So Lily would have to be very careful.
---
James was half-asleep during History of Magic when something startled him completely awake. Looking down at his desk, he found a neatly folded piece of parchment with the name James on it.
He raised his eyebrows. It wasn't from Sirius or the other Marauders, who would have written Prongs. The only other person he could really think of was... Lily? Would she send him a note?
She wasn't looking at him. In fact, she was writing something. Was she honestly taking notes on Binns' lecture? That would make her a one of a kind nerd. James laughed, opening to the note carefully.
'James-' It read. 'This is kind of random, but I'd sort of like your opinion on something [because we all know you have the greatest judgement in the world. So, sorry to take your mind from this terribly fascinating lecture... I'm sure it will upset you. I'll talk with you at lunch, to ask you, if you'd like. Thanks a bunch. -Lily.'
James smiled to himself, and considered penning a reply. Pulling a fresh sheet of parchment out, he began:
'Sure thing, Lily. You cantell me via parchment note writing, because, horribly facinating or not, I wouldn't exactly mind the distraction... - James.'
As he was folding the note up, Sirius grabbed the one from Lily and, turning a deaf ear to James' protest, began to read it. His dark eyes scanned the sheet, then, waggling his eyebrows suggestively, he pulled out his own sheet of parchment.
You said yes, right? - Sirius
James read the note with confusion, then wrote, 'Of course I did. -James.'
'This is so sweet. Our little Prongsie, out on his first date.'
'What?!?!? This isn't a date, Padfoot- she just wants to talk to me,'
'I'll bet you a knut she'll ask you out.'
'A knut? That's insulting!'
'Yeah, well, this is Lily we're talking about. She's not too predictable, mate.'
'So I've noticed,'
'Ah, yes, I forgot. Little Prongsie notices everything about dear Lilykins because he LOVES HER.'
'You're such a prat. What if someone reads it?'
'So what? She knows you love her,'
'No she doesn't,' James wrote back, then grabbed the parchment before Sirius could read it, and added, 'because I don't.'
Sirius turned to smirk at James, who knew he was slightly red, when another piece of parchment landed on James' desk. James half-jumped, surprised, before opening it.
'James- Thanks, but it's sort of complicated, and you might just get confused if I tried to write it all out. It's not exactly secret, per se, but I've noticed Sirius reading the notes and all, and I'd rather him not know about it. Just because if the wrong person heard, it might be bad.'
'Hey-' exclaimed Sirius, who was reading over James' shoulder. 'Who does she think I am? My cousin or something?'
James glared at him. 'No. She knows you're semi-trustworthy. She just doesn't want too many people to know, that's all,'
'Semi-trustworthy?' Sirius asked, attempting a puppy-dog face. James ignored him and went back to the note.
'Not that Sirius is evil or anything. Well, not really. I'd just... well, I don't even know why I want your opinion. I haven't even told Alice. But ... Um. You can try to talk me out of it, because you're the master of telling me when my ideas are stupid. - Lily. P.S. It's about Hestia.'
James smiled, turned the parchment over, and jotted quickly. 'Sure thing. See you at lunch, then,' and tossed it across to her desk.
'Sooo, my dear friend. This afternoon-- a quiet, romantic walk around the lake during lunch would the perfect time to discuss "Hestia" don't you think?' Sirius wrote, as soon as James had replied to Lily.
'You're so clever, mate. And no.'
'Why not?' Sirius wrote, pouting.
'Because I don't trust any of your ideas, and because that's awkward,'
'He's right, you know, -Remus'
'Hey! Where did you come from?'
'I sit beside you, Sirius,'
'I know that Remus, mate, but this is our note!'
'I just joined!'
'Go away,'
'No,'
'Um, guys?'
'What, James?'
'Can we not act like two- year- olds?'
'Wow, James- trying to be the mature one. That's a first,'
'Wow, Remus, being sarcastic? That's a first,'
'Wow, Jamse- being sarcastic back? That's a... oh, wait, no it's not.'
'Shut it,'
'I'm smirking right now,'
'I know, you prat,'
'That was uncalled for, James. Apologize to Sirius right now,'
'Hah. Now you're being the mature one.'
'Oh right, wouldn't want to claim your title,'
'Why do I get the feeling that you're rolling your eyes?'
'Because I am,'
'Guys? James?' They all looked up to see Lily, eyeing them strangely. 'Class is over.'
---
'So, what's your important plan that I may need to talk you out of?' James asked, grinning at her.
Lily was standing out by the lake, next to James, having just consumed a rather hurried meal. 'Well. It seems as though Hestia is... rather... happy with Malfoy,'
'That's so bad?' James joked.
Lily rolled her eyes and poked his stomach. 'Yes, O wise one. Aside from the fact that it's Malfoy, there are several problems with their little relationship?'
'Being....?'
Lily quickly related what she had seen in the hallway.
'Wow,' James said when she had finished. 'He is a prat. Can I beat him up?'
'No, James. But you can listen to my plan,'
'Righto. I'm all ears,'
'Good. See, now, I was thinking that ... Well, originally I was going to try to explain everything to Hestia, but when I saw how happy she was today, I realized she just wouldn't listen. And so now I think I might try to break them up, sort of... Behind the scenes? Like secretly? But I don't know if that's a good idea, because if she finds out, she'll be really furious, and that's kind of dangerous. But I was also thinking that, well- Hestia is sweet and all, so maybe if there was someone who would ask her out after she and Malfoy are over, that maybe she might feel better?'
'Well, I think it's a kind of stupid plan, but there's nothing else to be done,' James said, after a pause.
'That's encouraging,'
'Well, it is.'
'Yeah. Any idea how to break two people up?'
'Why are you asking me this?' James said, grinning again. Lily smiled back.
'Oh, I don't know. I just thought that maybe one of the infamous Marauders might have an idea of what to do,'
'Huh. And then I suppose you want me to sacrifice one of my friends to date her?'
'Sacrifice? I would hardly call it that bad. Honestly. She's a nice girl. And if you find it so terrifying, I'm sure you're brave enough to date her,' Lily said, regretting the words as soon as they left her mouth. No, no, no, no, no! You are not dating Hestia.
James looked at her for a moment. 'You want me to date Hestia?' he asked her quietly.
'No,' Lily said quickly. Too quickly. But James looked almost happier.
He didn't say anything.
Neither did she.
They just looked at each other... Lily wondering, for just a fleeting moment, if he actually was going to kiss her. He was leaning closer... So was she...
'Hellooooo, mates,'
Lily felt she was perfectly justified in performing a body-binding curse on Sirius and returning to the castle with James.
---
well, that's chapter 12 done! --cue to dance around-- yay. Now-- you know the drill: pretty pretty please go review because you love me to death! smiles charmingly!
Thank you... And then I'll do my bit and try to get the next chapter up quickly. capiche?
And if I got LOTS of reviews, maybe I'll even hurry along and make the next chapter longer, thus including some actual Lily and James fluff. Wouldn't that be absolutely stunning?
Cheers!
Arod
