His Last Chance

JK's characters, my plot, yadda yadda yadda...

Hi everyone! Thanks to all my reviewers! Please keep up the motivation! Also, I'm having some troubles with my floppy disk, so while I try to figure that out, it may take a while to update. Please don't hate me! –Moony

Chapter 7

Lily rolled over as the sunlight reached her face and behind her eyelids, she saw red. She groaned. She had forgotten to draw the curtains last night, but why? She usually always remembered to pull her curtains shut. She thought hard, then remembered. Potter. Kiss. Two words were all she needed to recall what had happened. She lay in bed, confused once more, before Anneliese popped her head over her bed.

"Rise and shine!"

Lily nearly fell out of bed. She had been lost in her thoughts.

"Anneliese! Don't do that to me again!"

"Sorry Lils," Anneliese said sheepishly, "So, how'd it go?"

Lily looked up sharply. She couldn't know. Of course she couldn't. She had gone to bed way earlier.

"How'd what go?" Lily asked innocently, her jaw twitching. She knew Anneliese was trustworthy, but she really didn't want anyone else to know but her and James. It was her own little thing she had to work out, hopefully James didn't tell anyone either.

Anneliese gave a chuckle.

"Don't lie to me Lily, I know what happened."

"And how did you find that out?"

Lily watched as Anneliese smiled and said, "Lily, Lily. I really didn't leave because I was tired. You were the only one there besides the Marauders, and surely I thought the other three would leave, leaving you two alone. And I made sure of that!"

Lily pursed her lips, resisting every temptation to whack a pillow at her best friend and knock that smug smile off her lips. The last thing she needed was Anneliese and Remus and Sirius trying to set them up.

"How could you make sure of that?"

"Well... I just know, you know, sometimes... well... I'm pretty sure some seer blood transferred to my veins."

"Oh right, I remember now. You're like some great great great great great great great step-cousin of some celebrated seer and so you have seer blood, how could I forget?" Lily said icily. Anneliese bragged about this all the time, but secretly, Lily knew it wasn't true. Anneliese couldn't even tell the present.

"What's wrong Lils?"

"Oh I'll tell you what's wrong! You set me up with HIM! I told you, I don't WANT to be with him! And you know what? He KISSED me! He KISSED me!"

Anneliese gave a wide look of surprise, and the next minute was smiling and her eyes had a dreamy, dazed look.

"Ohhh... I knew that would happen. Romantic, isn't it? Surely you can't turn him down after that! You had some kind of weird feeling, right? Some tingly sort of feeling rooting you to the spot? A warm kind of feeling throughout your limbs? Maybe your lips vibrating? You're in love Lily Evans. You're in loooove..." Anneliese said mystically.

Lily would've done anything to whack her. This was mock. She didn't love James. This was just one of Anneliese's crazy romance talks. And they were stupid. She didn't love that Potter. Or did she?

'No, no! Don't think about that!'

What bothered her was that what Anneliese had said was true, that it was a good feeling, a tingly feeling, and she had liked it. But she had pulled away. Because it was wrong. She wasn't supposed to kiss James Potter, not her first kiss at least. But her first kiss had ended up to be James Potter. She had always wondered who her first kiss would be with. Of course, Potter had been the last person she would have ever thought of.

"Stop it Anneliese! I don't want you using me and romance and kiss or anything to do with the works in one sentence again! I don't love him!"

"Yes you do Lily! Yes you do!" Anneliese said, shrieking with glee, it was fun to watch Lily, who Anneliese KNEW she loved James, get worked up about it, "You're going to get married when you graduate and share a baby!"

"That is SICK Anneliese – that is SICK!"

"Harry is a nice name, think about it, Harry Potter... and Lily Potter sounds nice too."

And it was too much. Lily threw her pillow at Anneliese's face with all her might. Anneliese's face tightened.

"Hey – take it easy girl. I was only joking."

"It's not funny! Don't you understand? I can't love James – and I don't! It's wrong! It goes against all laws that I've made for myself! It's disturbing to think about ME – ME for gawd sakes Anneliese to live with him forever!"

"Well – you don't have to live with him forever, if you don't like it, you can always d-"

"I don't even want to get to the point where I have to divorce! Just leave me alone Anneliese! Leave me alone!"

And Lily stomped away. She was sick and tired of everyone saying that she and James were the perfect couple and that they should get together, but she couldn't. Lily remembered bitterly what James had done to her in first year, and what he did to Snape and the cruel pranks they pulled and how he showed off with the Snitch and how he ruffled his hair... it was all too much stupidity in a person for Lily to ever love.

She sighed. She needed to do something to clear her mind. Lily had been ready to eat breakfast, but she didn't feel hungry anymore. She wheeled around and went to the Owlery. The Owlery had a magnificent view from the window, and the air was delicious and smelled fresh and wonderful. Lily always felt revived whenever she went up there, all the owls hooting softly and the scenery below.

But what she saw was the last thing that could've made her feel revived. James was sitting there, stroking a handsome chestnut owl, saying softly, "There now Apollo, there now. Phaeton only pecked you a little bit, let me see where..."

Wondering faintly who Phaeton could be, and how James could be so kind when he was so stupid at the same time, Lily stood there watching.

James seemed so loving...

"Oh there now, it's not that bad. When I get back, I'll punish Phaeton for you, how about that? For now we'll take care of it, with this ointment." The owl jumped back. "I know it stings, but it'll make it better, now you have to be strong and stand up to him. I have to go now, but come down by the common room later, ok?"

Lily was transfixed. It was amusing. But then she saw James walking her way. She began to turn away, but she wasn't fast enough.

James stopped dead.

"Lily?"

Lily closed her eyes, praying for help, then wheeled around.

"Oh hello James."

"What are you doing here?"

"Well I just wanted to send a letter, but then I decided not to disturb you."

"You saw what I said to Apollo?"

"Yes..."

"Well uh yeah..." he said, embarrassed, turning red.

"I don't normally act like that, just to let you know, just that well Apollo is like my favorite owl and he was acting all spazzed and everything."

"Oh it's not bad, James. I actually think it was nice that I heard you actually being affectionate toward something for once. After all, it seems you don't care for anyone's feelings."

"I do!" James cried, mortified that Lily could think of him that way.

"Like who? Snape?"

"Sirius, Remus, Peter, my friends – "

"Of course you do. But no one else. You judge people before you know them. People change James – people change."

James looked at Lily.

"Yes. And I am changing right now."

"And how could that be?"

"Because... because I finally found someone I care about besides my friends."

"Who could that be?"

"You."


Ok – for the sake of Paddy (since she does, as I predicted, hate me now) I have removed thetextthatwasherebefore. And if you're wondering what that is... I won't answer for the sake of Paddy. Aren't I a good friend? –Moony