DISCLAIMER: I claim that I have been claiming that I don't claim JK Rowling's work... meaning that it is HERS not mine... as much as I wish it was... I don't own it... I did create Sarah though... and Erika with a `k' but I don't think she's in this chapter...
Lily sat in her bed that night. She knew she had to sleep for her last OWL, but her mind was too caught up in the day's events...
*flashback of earlier that day, starting right after their practical exams*
Sarah: "Just leave him a note... then talk to him... he won't care that you yelled at him, it doesn't matter... If you love him tell him and he'll forgive you..."
Lily: "But what if he doesn't?"
Sarah: "You don't know if you don't try..."
Lily: "fine... what do I say to him?"
Sarah: "Tell him you want to talk to him before dinner... he'll meet you and then just tell him that you love him..."
Lily: "Do I love him?"
Sarah: "I can't believe you!" She stormed out.
Lily looked at the parchment she held in her hand. She had written in her small precise writing:
`James - Can you meet me twenty minutes before dinner in the entrance hall? I need to talk with you. -Lily'
She walked into the boy's dormitory and left it on James's pillow. She was tempted to stay, to experience the world where he slept, but she left, going to study for Herbology.
Lily was very thankful that she had left, before just as she sat down James and Sirius ran into their dormitory, both looking rather pleased with themselves. Smiling to herself she turned back to her books. She got in ten minutes of studying before James and Sirius ran back out of the common room. She wondered what they had been doing, neither of them looked that happy unless they were going to play some prank... She sighed and continued studying before it was time for her to go meet James.
Lily walked to the entrance hall and waited... and waited... When she was finally late for dinner she walked into the Great Hall wondering where James had gotten to... She froze when she was him sitting with Remus, Peter and Sirius, laughing with them.
Lily sat down, using all of her self-control to keep from going over and screaming at James... He went to his dormitory, he just have gotten her note... She was so busy trying to find an excuse not to hate him that she didn't notice when Sirius and Remus escorted him out to the hospital wing.
Lily left dinner early, she tried to study, but when that didn't work she tried to sleep...
*end flashback*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James was allowed to leave the hospital wing for breakfast. He was so early that the only other Gryffindor was Lily, who was being very cold to him.
Lily: "So now you decide to show up..."
James: "I'm sorry, I was in the hospital wing..."
Lily: "No. You were at dinner."
James: "But I left during dinner to go to the hospital wing."
Lily: "Why?"
James: "Someone put a mind boggling potion in the stuff that looked like burnt fish..."
Lily: "I missed it, would have been rather entertaining..."
James: "Too busy watching the fluffy pink bunnies?"
Lily: "What are you talking about?"
James: "I saw you at dinner last night. Don't tell me..."
Lily: "Whatever. I'm leaving." She stomped off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The herbology exam went well for the James, Sirius, Remus, Peter and Lily. They all were very confident on passing... After the exam Lily stayed outside with Sarah and the other four went inside.
James: "I have some food hidden under my mattress..."
Sirius: "Anything good?"
James: "Just Honeydukes stuff..."
Sirius: "Nice... should we...?" they other four understood the unfinished question.
Remus: "the house elves could provide...?"
Sirius: "How old is your food?"
James: "Freshness spell..."
James went to his bed to retrieve the sweets, but suddenly stopped...
Sirius: "What's wrong? Mouse got to it all?"
James: "Lily... letter... stupid..."
Remus: "She's stupid?"
James: "me... stupid..."
Sirius: "James. It's OK..."
James: "do you not understand? She wanted to talk to me before dinner! I didn't show up! She's mad at me..."
Remus: "Explain it to her. She can't get anymore upset, can she?"
James: "You never know with her..."
Sirius: "Prongs, you will never know unless you try it..."
James: "Ok, fine, you guys win. I'll go talk to her, get rejected, but it'll be good because if I don't I'll just mope... and on the slight chance that she doesn't hate me I'll be happy..."
Sirius: "always the optimist..."
James: "I'm having emotional trauma here!"
Remus: "We know... We're very sympathetic..."
James: "Whatever."
James, very uncharacteristically, had forgotten the party they were planning. Instead, he went to bed.
The rest of the year went by quickly for the Gryffindors. James and Lily were ignoring each other at the End of Term feast...
James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, true to form, were sitting in the center of the Gryffindor table, laughing among themselves. Scratch that, Peter was laughing at James and Sirius, Remus was thinking and laughing and James and Sirius were laughing at themselves...
When the desserts appeared Sirius and James both helped themselves to large pieces of the pink cheesecake. They both each took a small piece at the same time...
Sirius: "Strawberry?!"
James: "You mean you didn't put some spell on it to turn my raspberry cheesecake into strawberry?"
Sirius: "James. Do you honestly think I'd do that?"
James: "You never know, Mark... you need a better nickname; Padfoot is good, but I'm tired of it and Mark... How about Snuffles?"
Sirius: "Snuffles?"
James: "Sure, that's your name until you can think of another one..."
Sirius: "Thanks..."
Remus: "He's Snuffles?"
James: "Yes."
Sirius: "No."
Remus: "Yes. You're outvoted, Snuffles"
Sirius: "I'm a Black? My vote counts for three?"
Remus: "Nope. I'm a prefect, my vote counts for two..."
Sirius: "That makes us even?"
James: "Wormtail?"
Peter: "I think Snuffles is a good name for you..."
Remus: "You're outvoted..."
Sirius: "Fine..."
James: "Want some more strawberry cheesecake, Snuffles?"
Sirius: "No..."
The rest of the feast continued in this way, Lily was sitting at the end of the table resolutely ignoring them.
Lily managed to avoid James until they got off the train to go home for the summer...
James: "Lily? Can I talk to you?"
Lily: "If you really want to..."
James: "Lily... I..." but he was interrupted by his parents seeing him.
Mr. Potter: "James!"
Mrs. Potter: "You grew, dear." James was forced to put on a happy face for them.
James: "Hi Mum and Dad." Lily left, seeing that he was too busy answering his parents' questions to talk to her.
Mr. Potter: "Have a good year?"
James: "It was alright..."
Mrs. Potter: "O.W.L.s went fine?"
James: "For the most part."
Sirius: "Excuse me, Mr and Mrs Potter?"
Mrs. Potter: "Yes?"
Sirius: "You know that my family is rather... has different beliefs about wizarding blood, right?"
Mr. Potter: "Yes."
Sirius: "I was just wondering if I could have to option, that if my family drives me too crazy, to come and visit you?"
Mrs. Potter: "You're always welcome at our house."
James: "We can practice Quidditch together..."
Mr. Potter: "Any of James's friends are welcome." Sirius beamed at them before going off with his own parents for the summer...
Lily sat in her bed that night. She knew she had to sleep for her last OWL, but her mind was too caught up in the day's events...
*flashback of earlier that day, starting right after their practical exams*
Sarah: "Just leave him a note... then talk to him... he won't care that you yelled at him, it doesn't matter... If you love him tell him and he'll forgive you..."
Lily: "But what if he doesn't?"
Sarah: "You don't know if you don't try..."
Lily: "fine... what do I say to him?"
Sarah: "Tell him you want to talk to him before dinner... he'll meet you and then just tell him that you love him..."
Lily: "Do I love him?"
Sarah: "I can't believe you!" She stormed out.
Lily looked at the parchment she held in her hand. She had written in her small precise writing:
`James - Can you meet me twenty minutes before dinner in the entrance hall? I need to talk with you. -Lily'
She walked into the boy's dormitory and left it on James's pillow. She was tempted to stay, to experience the world where he slept, but she left, going to study for Herbology.
Lily was very thankful that she had left, before just as she sat down James and Sirius ran into their dormitory, both looking rather pleased with themselves. Smiling to herself she turned back to her books. She got in ten minutes of studying before James and Sirius ran back out of the common room. She wondered what they had been doing, neither of them looked that happy unless they were going to play some prank... She sighed and continued studying before it was time for her to go meet James.
Lily walked to the entrance hall and waited... and waited... When she was finally late for dinner she walked into the Great Hall wondering where James had gotten to... She froze when she was him sitting with Remus, Peter and Sirius, laughing with them.
Lily sat down, using all of her self-control to keep from going over and screaming at James... He went to his dormitory, he just have gotten her note... She was so busy trying to find an excuse not to hate him that she didn't notice when Sirius and Remus escorted him out to the hospital wing.
Lily left dinner early, she tried to study, but when that didn't work she tried to sleep...
*end flashback*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James was allowed to leave the hospital wing for breakfast. He was so early that the only other Gryffindor was Lily, who was being very cold to him.
Lily: "So now you decide to show up..."
James: "I'm sorry, I was in the hospital wing..."
Lily: "No. You were at dinner."
James: "But I left during dinner to go to the hospital wing."
Lily: "Why?"
James: "Someone put a mind boggling potion in the stuff that looked like burnt fish..."
Lily: "I missed it, would have been rather entertaining..."
James: "Too busy watching the fluffy pink bunnies?"
Lily: "What are you talking about?"
James: "I saw you at dinner last night. Don't tell me..."
Lily: "Whatever. I'm leaving." She stomped off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The herbology exam went well for the James, Sirius, Remus, Peter and Lily. They all were very confident on passing... After the exam Lily stayed outside with Sarah and the other four went inside.
James: "I have some food hidden under my mattress..."
Sirius: "Anything good?"
James: "Just Honeydukes stuff..."
Sirius: "Nice... should we...?" they other four understood the unfinished question.
Remus: "the house elves could provide...?"
Sirius: "How old is your food?"
James: "Freshness spell..."
James went to his bed to retrieve the sweets, but suddenly stopped...
Sirius: "What's wrong? Mouse got to it all?"
James: "Lily... letter... stupid..."
Remus: "She's stupid?"
James: "me... stupid..."
Sirius: "James. It's OK..."
James: "do you not understand? She wanted to talk to me before dinner! I didn't show up! She's mad at me..."
Remus: "Explain it to her. She can't get anymore upset, can she?"
James: "You never know with her..."
Sirius: "Prongs, you will never know unless you try it..."
James: "Ok, fine, you guys win. I'll go talk to her, get rejected, but it'll be good because if I don't I'll just mope... and on the slight chance that she doesn't hate me I'll be happy..."
Sirius: "always the optimist..."
James: "I'm having emotional trauma here!"
Remus: "We know... We're very sympathetic..."
James: "Whatever."
James, very uncharacteristically, had forgotten the party they were planning. Instead, he went to bed.
The rest of the year went by quickly for the Gryffindors. James and Lily were ignoring each other at the End of Term feast...
James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, true to form, were sitting in the center of the Gryffindor table, laughing among themselves. Scratch that, Peter was laughing at James and Sirius, Remus was thinking and laughing and James and Sirius were laughing at themselves...
When the desserts appeared Sirius and James both helped themselves to large pieces of the pink cheesecake. They both each took a small piece at the same time...
Sirius: "Strawberry?!"
James: "You mean you didn't put some spell on it to turn my raspberry cheesecake into strawberry?"
Sirius: "James. Do you honestly think I'd do that?"
James: "You never know, Mark... you need a better nickname; Padfoot is good, but I'm tired of it and Mark... How about Snuffles?"
Sirius: "Snuffles?"
James: "Sure, that's your name until you can think of another one..."
Sirius: "Thanks..."
Remus: "He's Snuffles?"
James: "Yes."
Sirius: "No."
Remus: "Yes. You're outvoted, Snuffles"
Sirius: "I'm a Black? My vote counts for three?"
Remus: "Nope. I'm a prefect, my vote counts for two..."
Sirius: "That makes us even?"
James: "Wormtail?"
Peter: "I think Snuffles is a good name for you..."
Remus: "You're outvoted..."
Sirius: "Fine..."
James: "Want some more strawberry cheesecake, Snuffles?"
Sirius: "No..."
The rest of the feast continued in this way, Lily was sitting at the end of the table resolutely ignoring them.
Lily managed to avoid James until they got off the train to go home for the summer...
James: "Lily? Can I talk to you?"
Lily: "If you really want to..."
James: "Lily... I..." but he was interrupted by his parents seeing him.
Mr. Potter: "James!"
Mrs. Potter: "You grew, dear." James was forced to put on a happy face for them.
James: "Hi Mum and Dad." Lily left, seeing that he was too busy answering his parents' questions to talk to her.
Mr. Potter: "Have a good year?"
James: "It was alright..."
Mrs. Potter: "O.W.L.s went fine?"
James: "For the most part."
Sirius: "Excuse me, Mr and Mrs Potter?"
Mrs. Potter: "Yes?"
Sirius: "You know that my family is rather... has different beliefs about wizarding blood, right?"
Mr. Potter: "Yes."
Sirius: "I was just wondering if I could have to option, that if my family drives me too crazy, to come and visit you?"
Mrs. Potter: "You're always welcome at our house."
James: "We can practice Quidditch together..."
Mr. Potter: "Any of James's friends are welcome." Sirius beamed at them before going off with his own parents for the summer...