Okay... I hope the format works out better this time, because I had a lot of issues with that last chapter. And thanks a million times for the reviews, and for Kiko for putting in a suggestion. I love you guys.... You're awesome. Hahaha.. Soooo pleasssssssse review on this chapter as well and we can be friends!!! .... Yesss...
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine, blah blah blah, you all know that, right??
What You Don't Know
Chapter 15
Saturday morning was one of those sunny, freezing winter days. Lily couldn't have been happier with the weather. She pulled a hat on along with a scarf and bounded down the stairs. The Marauders were sitting in the common room, all looking slightly bored.
'I don't believe it! To look at your faces, one would hardly believe the weather outside is perfect!'
'Perfect? Lily, dear, look outside- it's cold and snowy and not fun,''
'But it's cold and snowy,'
'Exactly!'
'And that's a good thing! Come on! Let's go play in the snow,'
'No,' Remus said flatly.
'You lot are absolutely no fun at all,' Lily pouted.
'I am fun,' Sirius protested.
Lily rolled her eyes. 'No, you aren't,'
'I'll go outside with you,' James offered, speaking for the first time.
'Really?' Lily grinned. 'Yay,'
'Sure,' James stood up, motioning to his friends, 'catch you lot later, okay?'
'Right, James. Don't worry-' Remus smirked. 'I'll keep Sirius here where he won't be ... interrupting... anything,'
James turned red and Lily felt her own face warming as she glared at them. 'You are certainly no where near the perfect gentleman, Remus Lupin. We'll have to work on that, now, won't we?'
'Bye, guys,' James said, dragging Lily out the portrait door before his friends could get any more digs out.
When the door had swung shut behind them, the pair looked at each other. 'I really am sorry about first year- I was eleven though. Can you forgive me?'
'If you forgive me. But the whole eleven thing doesn't really count for the rest of the years of merciless pranking,'
'I'm not apologizing for those years,' James said with a smile. 'I was perfectly justified then in getting you back. Anyway, eventually we stopped pranking each other,'
'...And just screamed at each other after more than two minutes in each others presence,'
'But that's not how it is anymore,' James pointed out.
'No, it's not,' Lily agreed, frowning slightly. 'Why, James? Why don't you yell at me anymore?'
'The same reason you don't yell at me?'
Lily rolled her eyes and whacked his arm. 'No, seriously,'
'Well, I don't know. Maybe because the whole thing was stupid,'
'That it was,'
'And because life is too short to be petty,'
'Life is short. But people still keep themselves drawn in and enclosed from others, because they're afraid of rejection and hurt and betrayal,'
'You think life's too short to be afraid of being betrayed?'
'I just think that people need to learn to be more trusting. Maybe just more open,'
'Are you open?'
'Probably not as much as I should be. Are you?'
'I agree,'
'Oh, good,'
There was a comfortable silence as the two made their way outside. Several feet of snow had accumulated, and despite the sun, it was slow melting. As James looked around, his hazel eyes squinted against the brilliant light, Lily bent down, quickly made a snowball, and pelted it towards him.
'That's not fair!' James cried. 'We hadn't agreed to begin!'
Lily grinned at him, her green eyes dancing with merriment. 'So what? All's fair in love and war;'
'Then this is war,'
'Or love,'
'Since when does love involve throwing snowballs?'
Lily shrugged. 'War it is then,'
James responded with a barrage of snowballs.
Remus smiled fondly as he watched the two figures, running around, throwing snowballs at each other. From the window, he could make out Lily's brilliant red hair, and James' own dark head.
It seemed as though the two had found each other at last.
'What are you looking at, Moony?' Sirius asked, coming up behind his friend.
Remus motioned vaguely out the window.
'Oh, look,' Sirius said, smirking. 'Lily and James are just too cute, now aren't they?'
Remus shook his head. 'You can at least be happy for James,'
'Oy! I'm happy for him, all right! But come on... He's a total prat. He could at least tell Lily how he feels,'
Remus frowned. 'It's not that simple,'
'Why not? What if tomorrow he dies, and Lily never knew?'
'Maybe she does know...'
'James told her?' Sirius asked, surprised.
'Not to my knowledge. But maybe she can tell through his actions.'
'But she can't tell for sure, no matter what little womanly intuition she has. James needs to tell her,'
'I agree, mate.'
'I think we should help,'
'Bad idea. We don't want to screw things up for them,'
'We won't screw things up! We'll help! We owe it to James,'
'We do owe James. I think we owe James not screw around in his relationships,'
'At the moment, it's more of his lack thereof!' Sirius pointed out with yet another smirk.
'No, Sirius,'
'Come on. Maybe I'll just do it alone if you're unwilling...'
Remus panicked. That could be disastrous. 'No. No, I'll help. But give him some time on his own, eh? If he hasn't talked to her by Valentines Day, we'll step in,'
Sirius appeared to think this over. 'Deal,' he grinned, sticking out his hand.
Remus shook it with faint relief. 'Deal,' he echoed. Now he just had to talk with James and convince him to admit his feelings...
Two hours later, a very wet James accompanied an equally soaked Lily up to their common room.
'I only let you win, you know,' he told her, grinning.
Lily rolled her eyes. 'Sure. You can keep on telling yourself that,'
'I will, and I'll keep on reminding you as well, because if you argue with me, I'll tickle you,'
'And if you tickle me, I'll....'
James smirked as Lily stopped walking, her eyebrows knit together as she thought, biting her lip.
'You'll...' he prompted her.
'Do something... drastically... mean,' she said. 'That was lame, huh?'
'Very,' he agreed.
Lily whacked him. 'Now is when you act like the gentleman and disagree, telling me that it wasn't lame at all, and was indeed an incredibly terrifying threat,'
'But if I said that, I'd by lying, and we'd have a relationship built upon dishonesty,'
'So instead we'll now have a relationship completely lacking in respect?' Lily countered, eyebrows raised.
'I respect you,'
'Do you really?'
'Sure.'
Lily merely looked at him, eyebrows raised as though interested. James pressed on:
'Do you respect me'
She stuck her tongue out. 'What's to respect? Your Qudditich skills?'
He smirked, unable to resist the bait. 'Of course. And my charming good looks, easy manner, my intelligence, my wonderful sense of humor-'
'You're hilarious,'
'See?' James beamed. 'I know,'
'You're so difficult to hate,'
'Because I'm so adorable?'
Lily rolled her eyes, but James caught the grin that flitted across her face. 'That must be it,'
'Do I sense sarcasm in your usually dulcet tones?' he asked.
This time she did grin. 'You're so intuitive,' she gasped.
'Just one of my many good qualities,' James joked back.
'So I've heard,'
'From my many admirers?'
'Surprisingly, yes,'
'Which one?'
'You,'
James snorted loudly, which made Lily burst into a fresh wave of laughter. 'And I make you laugh,' he said proudly, to which Lily looked up at him, and seemed to smile through her laughter. Her smile twisted his stomach up and set his heart pounding.
'So does Sirius,' she teased.
James pouted. 'So... Was this whole walk to admit your feelings for Sirius?'
Lily sighed. 'I can't deny them anymore... It's true,'
'You know, mate, that's rather sick,'
'How awful! I thought Sirius was your best mate, and here you are saying that someone liking him is just sick!'
'Not just someone. You.'
'Why me?'
James ran a hand through his hair, unable to say anything. He felt as though there were a million thoughts inside his head, and he wanted to say them all, but he did know better than that, and kept his mouth closed as though to block all the thoughts inside. But he couldn't keep silent for long. Lily was waiting for an answer, no matter how jokingly they had been speaking. 'I don't know,' he replied honestly. 'I used to wonder that a lot, you know. Why you?'
She smiled slightly. 'You didn't want it to be me,'
He shook his head, 'I didn't. But in the same way, it had to be you because that's how it was,'
'I don't think that makes any sense. But I understand it anyway,'
'You felt the same way?'
They had stopped walking and were whispering, her green eyes focused somewhere around his Hogwarts Badge, and he could see her swallow as she spoke, and he was almost trembling...
'Yes,' she breathed.
He felt his heart stop. 'Look me in the eye,'
'I can't,'
'Why not?'
'I'm afraid,'
'It's okay, Lily. It's okay,'
But he couldn't help it. When Lily slowly raised her head, and her brilliant green eyes met his own, nothing in the world could have stopped him from leaning forward and placing his lips upon hers.
Okayyyyyyy...... Wellll, I wanted it to be longer, but I really couldn't help it, so sorry. I just couldn't stop at any other point, you know. But be grateful. Something finally happened, and we'll just have to see where it leads...
dramatic music
Review, please! Thanks guys!
-- Arod --
