Two Squids, Just for You

This one's shorter than the others, but I like the way it worked out, so I'm going to leave it – and the title will finally make sense. I know I'm a horrible updater, please forgive me. whimpers Thanks to everyone who's reviewed. The fic isn't over yet though.

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"People can get over love, Prongs." Sirius insisted as he and James sat in their dormitory, James looking dark and depressed, and Sirius trying to lighten the mood. "I mean, come on. What you need is a new girl."

"There's only one girl for me, Padfoot." James replied morosely. "And she'll never think of me as more than a friend."

"Come on, mate! It's not like she's perfect!"

"She is!" James persisted.

"You know nothing about her!" Sirius replied, getting somewhat angry. Not at James, of course, at Lily. He hated how one girl could make his friend as happy as though the Appleby Arrows were winning the England Cup (which they never did) and as low as though Voldemort had been elected Minister for Magic.

"I do now!" James insisted. "I know she likes the Appleby Arrows and Charms class. I know she follows the rules because her mum would have a fit if she ever got detention. I know she likes Shakespeare's comedies and anything by Louisa May Alcott or George Orwell. I know she likes grass-flavored Berti Bott's – " Sirius cringed. "And dancing in the rain. I know she loves the winter best because she likes to make snowmen with her dad when she goes home for the holidays. She dreams of being a medi-witch or an auror and making a difference."

Sirius rolled his eyes resignedly. "God, you really are whipped, aren't you? And the girl won't even go out with you."

"I just don't get why." James said sadly, shaking his head at the picture of Lily, which still adorned his dresser.

"Any ideas at all?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"Well, one." James admitted. "I think it's because... if she went out with me, she'd be going against everything she ever said."

Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment. "I could see that. She's probably afraid that no one would take her seriously. I mean, she said she'd rather date the Giant Squid instead of you, and if she caved on that, what wouldn't she cave on?"

"Exactly!" James said, happy someone understood.

"My that sounded intelligent, Padfoot." Remus remarked as he entered the dormitory. "Scheming about Lily, of course?"

"What else?" Sirius replied. "But we think we've figured it out."

Remus nodded, keeping his thoughts to himself. "Any ideas on how you could fix that, James?"

"Sorta. I'd still have to do a bit of research though."

"It's more complicated than becoming illegal animagi then, is it?" Remus asked dryly.

James grinned. "Nah. But if I do 'research' in the library, chances are, I can get a nice hour or so of Evans-eye candy."

Sirius chuckled. "Then what the hell are you waiting for, Potter?"

James smiled and left the dormitory without another word. Sirius smiled, pleased with himself, and went off to have a shower. Remus sat on his bed, looking at the window.

"I can't, Remus."

Lily's words echoed through his head, taunting him with what seemed to be an unsolvable problem. Why? If she gave him one date and decided not to pursue anything with James, he'd probably lay off her. She knew that, right? What exactly was stopping her from going on one measly date with James Potter? She was exactly like the untouchables his mum used to tell him about as a child, popular girls who'd signed contracts refusing to allow relationships between –

"That's it!" Remus shouted aloud. "She's an untouchable!"

"Woop-dee-hoo, well done Moony." Peter replied sleepily from his bed.

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"Are you sure?" Lily asked desperately, as she and Alice sat in the library a few weeks later, skimming through various books on magical contracts.

Alice nodded gravely, shutting a monstrously large book that was about a foot wide. "Nothing in this one."

Lily sighed, pushing herself away from the desk, which was laden in several volumes, each at least two inches thick. Apparently magical contracts were quite common, and quite complex. For every different type of contract there were at least twenty different situations they could be put in. "This is hopeless."

"It's fine, we'll find something." Alice said, trying to reassure her friend as she, herself looked skeptical. To emphasize her point, she pulled another book toward her, Magical Contracts: A Shortened Explanation and Analysis, flipping it back to the index. Her eyes widened almost immediately, but Lily missed her friend's reaction as she stared out the window morosely.

"Lily!" Alice hissed. "I found it."

Immediately Lily jumped from her seat and joined Alice's side of the table, sliding into the seat next to Alice. "Where?"

Alice pointed a pink-painted fingernail at a listing in the index.

Untouchables:

Work related (friends, dating, love) see pages 1934 – 1967;

School related (friends, dating, love) see pages 2000 – 2078;

Lily frowned. "How many types of Untouchables are there?"

"Looks like there's two." Alice replied intelligently. "There's school or work related, then there's sub-categories."

Lily nodded. "But which sub-category am I? Dating or..."

Alice looked at Lily incredulously. "You think you... that you... you love him?"

Lily shrugged, her face turning a deep crimson. "Well, I dunno, I mean..."

"Lily! That's fantastic!"

"It is?" Lily looked astonished.

"Yes!" Alice insisted. "Now you can't make fun of me and Frank!"

Lily's look of astonishment diminished into a look of hurt and shock. "That's the only good reason?"

"Of course not!" Alice insisted happily, either missing her friend's upset look or ignoring it. "I mean, it's love! I'm so glad you can finally experience it! And especially with someone like James. I mean, come on Lily, he's been in love with you since he was twelve. This is so fantastic!"

"What is?" Cynthia asked coolly as she slid into the seat across from Alice, which used to be occupied by Lily. The library had instantly become more crowded as Cynthia had walked in, both male and female students were staring at the gorgeous girl, the boys holding looks of lust and the girls looks of admiration.

"Lily!" Alice replied instantly, smiling almost unbearably. "She's in love, Cynthia!"

Cynthia's eyebrow rose slightly, and she looked at Lily curiously. "With who?"

Lily looked down immediately under her friend's imperious glare. "Err..."

"James Potter!" Alice said, without a care in the world and obviously too happy for Lily to be able to take in the situation.

Cynthia's face instantly darkened, and the weight of guilt fell back onto her shoulders. Refusing to let anyone see weakness, Cynthia smirked. "You're joking, right?"

A hurt look crossed Lily's face. "Would it be that bad, Cyn?" she asked quietly.

Cynthia shook her head, continuing her heartless charade. "No. But come on, you could have chosen someone a little better, Lily."

Lily's face of gloom faded into one of slight anger. "For one, Cynthia, I can't really choose who I fall in love with. Second, I don't see how you should be allowed to talk – the most serious relationship you've had with a boy is with Sirius Black!"

"Sirius and I are friends!" Cynthia protested crossly.

"Yes, and you talk with one another! You never do that with your boyfriends, all you do with them is snog!" Lily replied heatedly. Cynthia was silent, so Lily continued, the anger in voice growing. "And third, it's not like it really matters, since I couldn't date him anyways!"

Tossing a loose leaf of paper in the air in pure frustration, Lily stormed from the library, red hair flying, leaving her friends upset and, in Cynthia's case, feeling guilty.

"Well..." Alice said loudly, in hopes of ending the deafening silence Lily had left in her wake. "That went... well."

Cynthia frowned. "It's all my fault. I'm such an..."

"Outrageously gorgeous and stunning individual?" James suggested as he popped out from behind the shelves, holding a book open in one of his hands.

Immediately Alice's face went blank. "You didn't hear our conversation, did you?"

James shook his head. "What conversation? Did I miss something exciting?"

"No." Cynthia replied sharply. "What are doing here anyway? When does a Marauder come to the library?"

"When a Marauder is trying to impress a girl." James replied, a mischievous grin crossing his face.

"Oh?" Cynthia answered, implying he should continue.

"So I was thinking about why Lily still won't go out with me," James explained. "And I realized it must be because of all the things she's said. It would be going against everything she's every said to me, you know, 'Sorry, Potter, not while the giant squid is still available.' That load of tosh."

"Okay then." Cynthia responded, sounding quite skeptical and wary of any idea that was forming in James's head.

"You'll understand later." James promised with a smile.

Cynthia gave another frank nod, as James too left the library. As soon as the door had shut behind him, Cynthia looked at Alice. "Bloody git should've given up."

Alice waved into the air to brush off the topic of James. "By the way, Cyn, what kind of Untouchable did you make Lily?"

"Err..." Cynthia paused for a moment, trying to recall. "A dating one, I think."

Alice beamed. "Perfect. So if they're really in love, James and Lily I mean, the Untouchable status shouldn't have any effect on Lily, right?"

Cynthia shrugged, trying to look casual despite the fact that her heart was beating rapidly in excitement. "I s'ppose."

"We've got to tell Lily then!" Alice shouted jovially, causing Cynthia to cringe.

"Must you be so loud, Alice?"

"For heavens sake, Cyn, couldn't you for once just let yourself be happy?" Alice replied indignantly, before skipping out of the library.

--------

"Lily, I want to show you something."

Lily looked up from her book to see James standing in front of her, a hand outstretched. She closed her book, nimbly folding the corner of the page to mark her place, before looking at him apprehensively. After a moment of silence, she sighed deeply. "Look, James... I'm so sorry. I can't go out with you, you see I'm an – "

Lily's voice disappeared, though her mouth was still moving. James frowned slightly, but ignored it, taking her hand and pulling her up, leading her from Gryffindor Tower. It was only after the fifth flight of stairs that Lily regained use of her voice.

"James..." she warned again, still allowing him to lead her, and secretly enjoying the feel of his hand around hers. James, however, ignored her, all the way out of the castle, leading her across the grounds until they reached the edge of the lake. The sky was a bright blue, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. It was rather warm too; a gentle breeze came grazing in from the lake, but nothing too severe. A blanket was laid out on the grass, and James promptly sat down on it.

"What are we doing, James?" Lily asked, her politeness barely hiding her curiosity.

"Squid watching." James replied nonchalantly.

Lily sighed and joined him on the blanket, staring out at the lake. "May I ask why?"

"I told you. I have something to show you." James replied secretively.

"What?" Lily asked impatiently, turning to look at him with frustration written across her face.

James smiled and pointed out at the water. Lily turned to face the water once more, following his sight line. The squid had broken the water's surface, orange tentacles thrusting into the air as if trying to grasp the sunlight. Lily smiled at the sight, until she realized that some of the tentacles were a purple colour. She frowned slightly, peering at the tentacles as they writhed about, making room for the body they were attached to. Were there two different squids out there?

She turned to James with a questioning look. "Are there two of them? Two squids?"

'Sorry, Potter, not while the giant squid is still available.'

James nodded slowly, gauging her reaction quietly. "Sadly, the giant squid is no longer available, Lily Evans."

Lily's face was full of inquisitiveness and anxiety. "Where did the other one come from? I mean, did you?"

"Yeah." James said, breaking his gaze from her to stare out at the lake. Judging by her expression, she was going to get pretty angry, and he wasn't in the mood to have his heart stomped on again. "Two squids, just for you."

Then Lily did something James Potter would have never expected. She leaned over and kissed him.