::Midnight Lily:: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter – it belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter One
Lily sat at the table of a café in Hogsmeade waiting for James to finish ordering their drinks. It was a new feeling for her to be dating James Potter. She wasn't sure why she was giving him this chance. Only that she had pitied him so much at the time. Her mind played through all the immature stunts he did during their fifth and sixth year, wondering whether she had done the right thing. Her red hair cascaded down both her white shoulders and her locks sparkled like hidden gems.
A sigh crossed her gentle lips as the clock on the wall continued to tick. How long had she been waiting for him?
She turned around and saw that James's back was facing against hers as he stood at the counter. Words ran through her mind, "why even bother? He doesn't deserve you!" Lily shoved it back out of her head. Her best friend, Katie Summers, was wrong this time. If she kept thinking about what her friends thought, then she'd be going nowhere.
Lily remembered her second year where she had met Severus Snape. Everyone thought she was loony to even like a Slytherin. So she gave him up, took their words instead of his, and started hating him along with the rest of her friends.
Right now Lily didn't know where James lay in her heart. She didn't love him, of course. She didn't even like him much. But maybe he deserved a second chance. Her thoughts were disturbed when James returned, carrying two mugs of butterbeer. He handed her the first mug and then sat down on the opposite seat and took a sip of his own.
"Sorry I took so long," he said, murmuring his apologies. "The first one they gave me was cold." His sincerity made Lily relax a little and she tasted her own. The flavour sent warm tingles down her body.
"That's okay," she said.
He sat there uneasily, and Lily realized with amusement that they were acting like little children on their first dates. What was it about her that made her different from all the other girls he dated? Lily sighed again.
"Why did you really bring me here?" Lily asked finally.
"I just, want to know you a little better," James replied.
Lily raised an eyebrow.
"I like you – alright," James admitted. His face was turning as red as Lily's hair. Lily was moved. Mr. Bighead had done a little deflation.
"You didn't have to tell me that," Lily scowled. But then realizing that she had been commented by James added, "thanks." There was an uneasy silence that came afterwards. It was the fact that these two didn't know how to talk to each other that was so unsettling. Lily felt like breaking the silence, but she couldn't, what would she say? Then she remembered last week when she saw James and a girl – Emma – were snogging by the fireplace in the common room.
"So – your little girlfriend is back in the castle?" Lily teased a lightly. "Emma, right?"
James glowered. "She's not my girlfriend."
"Oh?" asked Lily, raising her eyebrow once more. "Too boring for you?"
"No," James said quickly. "She's not my type."
"Who is?" Lily laughed. "How many girlfriends is it now? Fifty?"
"My dating life is none of your business," said James coldly. He looked out the window and realized that it had started to snow. The snowflakes that came down outside the window looked like little white blossoms. He sipped his butterbeer with the appreciation that he was inside and warm. Why did he even ask her out when he knew she was going to act this way? Lily was always the type to hide her feelings. She wouldn't fall in love with someone she knew wouldn't treat her well.
"I'm sorry," said Lily hurriedly, realizing that her friends' words were starting to get to her. It was always the same. What they said kept floating into her mind over and over again. 'He's not worth it' or 'you deserve much better than him.' Her friends were always her influence. "I guess that the little voice in my head is overpowering me."
"That's alright," said James. He leaned back and ruffled his hair (to Lily's annoyance.) God it's boring with her, thought James as he looked around the café. Where's Sirius when I need him?
Lily took another mouthful of butterbeer and placed the mug back onto the table. She looked at James and realized that he was looking around. Was she THAT boring? She asked herself. He ruffled his hair again and Lily fought an urge to slap him round the face. "I better leave," she said looking at him as if he finalized her decision. "It's obvious that you're becoming jaded, and I don't want you starting to jinx someone once more." She turned and caught Snape's eye. "Especially not him." She stood up, waiting for his response.
It came.
James stood up so suddenly that his butterbeer spilt across the table, sending drops onto Lily's jumper. He didn't seem to notice it. "What do you mean leave?" he hissed at her. "Just sit down! I'm not 'jaded.'"
"Then I have no idea what face you held a few seconds ago," said Lily sarcastically. "If you can't keep on one person for at least half an hour then I have no idea why I came here." She grabbed her bag and turn to leave. James suddenly grabbed her wrist. His grip was surprisingly powerful and he forced her down to the point of sitting again.
The whole room was now watching them. Every single eye in the room was pointed in their direction. A spotlight seemed to be shining at their very spot. James and Lily, to busy arguing, were unaware of the sudden attention.
"Potter! Let go of me right now!" Lily shrieked and pulled out of his grip. She stood up once more and stared at him with horror.
He stood up too and looked back at her with the same glare of revulsion.
"You," said Lily, pointing at James's face with a shaking hand. "You are lower then the lowest scum! You don't deserve to even be in Gryffindor!" Her eye caught her half-full mug of butterbeer, and without further hesitation, she picked it up and flung the warm liquid onto James. "Here is your butterbeer back!"
Everyone gasped in surprise, not trying to hide what they saw. It was obvious that at that moment, James and Lily would hate each other for a long, long time. Butterbeer was spilt all over James face and his front was completely soaked. His hair was drenched and his black locks were everywhere across his forehead.
And with that, Lily stormed out of the café, her face as red as her hair, leaving James in the midst of discomfiture.
"So," said a soft voice when she reached her common room. "How did it go?" It was Katie Summers, Lily's best friend, who was sitting on Lily's bed patiently. Her long dark brown hair was pulled back in an elegant ponytail and her grey-green eyes were welcoming in the dark. Lily hung her jacket at the end of her bed. "By the looks of it, it was a complete disaster."
Lily sat down beside her best friend and sighed. "You've got that right."
A smile lit Katie's face. "I knew it," she said. "He definitely isn't Mr. Right for you."
Lily looked at her friend. "You think."
Katie stood up and allowed Lily to lie on her bed. "I'm sorry that you feel that way," replied Katie with sympathy in her voice. "But you're smart Lily, you only deserve the best." Katie sat down beside Lily.
"Katie," said Lily slowly.
"Yah?"
"Tell me another story."
Lily enjoyed Katie's stories. Not because they were elaborate and intensely creative, but because Katie placed Lily as the main character. Even though Lily was Muggle-born she had never heard any Muggle stories. Katie was the only one who knew them well and never thought that Lily was childish for liking them.
"Which one?"
"Midnight Lily." It was one of Lily's favourites. Katie's version of Cinderella.
There was a long pause before Katie started the story. When she did, everything in the room seemed to have gone silent. Even the birds outside the window had ceased their songs.
"Once upon a time," Katie began. "There lived a misjudged teenaged girl named Lily. Her parents had died and she had to live with an awful stepfather and one wicked stepsister named Patsy. Lily was kind and gentle and she treated everything with care and love. So obviously, she was naturally beautiful with spools and spools of red hair." Lily touched her own hair in recognition. "She had to work as a maid in her own house and as a leisurely activity she grew pumpkins, something that her stepfamily could not protest against."
"Then the ball," Lily reminded Katie absent-mindedly.
"Yes, the beautiful Graduation ball which was to take place for her final year at school," Katie said with a smile. "But poor Lily couldn't find a date, because anyone who is Lily's date would be pounded by mean old Patsy. And closer and closer the days grew till it was the night before the ball, Lily had no date and Patsy had one, awful disgusting Simon, and they planned to be the King and Queen of the ball."
Lily stuck her tongue out at the thought of Simone and Patsy being crowned King and Queen.
"Then Lily realizes that she has no more pumpkin seeds for the next day, and she goes off to the market that night to find more," Katie continued. "That night she meets up with the most popular guy at school, Jonathan Prince, and they start to talk with each other."
"Can we change the name Jonathan?" Lily asked, interrupting the story. "It sounds too much like James."
Katie laughed. "Okay, Lily meets up with – Matt Prince, and they start to become friends with each other," Katie said, changing the sentence around. "And the strange thing was that Matt too didn't have a date for the ball, so they decide to team up and go together. But the bad part was that the next day, Patsy heard the rumours that Matt and Lily were going together and she becomes jealous. So Patsy goes off and asks her fairy godmother to turn Lily into a pumpkin since she liked taking care of them so much. So Lily turns from a beautiful and kind teenaged girl into a beautiful and kind pumpkin, and Patsy goes off happily to the Graduation ball."
The door opened and a girl walked into their common room. It was Amber, another one of Lily's friends. Her light brown hair was flying everywhere and her warm almond eyes were shining. Her eyes caught on Katie and Lily's and she gave them a wave. "What are you doing?"
"Katie's telling me the story of Midnight Lily," Lily supplied. A smile lit Amber's lips.
"Go on then," Amber encouraged, sitting down and leaning by Lily's bed. "I want to hear it too – even though you've told it millions of times."
Katie shook her head, distracted. "Where was I?"
"Patsy had just left to go to the Graduation ball with stupid Simon," Lily said quickly.
"Oh, ya," replied Katie. "So anyway, Lily was a pumpkin, so she couldn't feel anything or anything but her own fairy godmother knew that she was unhappy. So Lily is transformed back to her human self but with one exception, what do you think it was Amber?"
"That at the stroke of midnight, she'd be turned back into a pumpkin," said Amber promptly.
"Right," nodded Katie. "And so Lily heads off to the Graduation ball, catches up with her dream guy Matt."
"I thought it was Jonathan," Amber interrupted.
"It's Matt now," said Lily happily. "But go on Katie."
"Lily has the time of her life, and her jealous stepsister Patsy is completely humiliated," Katie continued. "Matt and Lily go out to the front and sit down on a side bench, watching the lights inside. It was close to midnight, and Lily was soon to turn into a pumpkin, everything in her life was soon to be gone. There the two were, holding each other, Lily so much wanted to kiss Matt. So she does, slowly and passionately, and then midnight strikes." Katie banged her fist against the wall of the dormitory and both Amber and Lily jumped. "But nothing happened – the kiss had freed Lily from becoming a pumpkin, and she knew that she was with the one she loved most of all at that moment."
"And nothing else mattered," Lily said with a sigh.
Katie nodded. "Nothing else."
"Love was all that she needed," Amber said. "It was the kiss that stopped her stepmother from turning her back into a pumpkin."
Lily sat up in her bed. "Our Graduation ball is going to come," Lily reminded them. "And then I'm going to turn into a pumpkin, like the Lily in the story." Katie stood up and stretched her feet. Amber too stood up, but only to make her way to her bed.
"Lily," said Katie suddenly. "You're too caught up in this fairytale business, in real life, you'll find a date."
"Ya," remarked Amber. "You're smart, beautiful and popular; you'll have no problem finding the guy you want."
"What if the guy I want isn't real?" asked Lily.
Her two friends just looked at her and laughed, as if it were a joke.
A/N: Hope you liked the first chapter, don't forget to review.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter – it belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter One
Lily sat at the table of a café in Hogsmeade waiting for James to finish ordering their drinks. It was a new feeling for her to be dating James Potter. She wasn't sure why she was giving him this chance. Only that she had pitied him so much at the time. Her mind played through all the immature stunts he did during their fifth and sixth year, wondering whether she had done the right thing. Her red hair cascaded down both her white shoulders and her locks sparkled like hidden gems.
A sigh crossed her gentle lips as the clock on the wall continued to tick. How long had she been waiting for him?
She turned around and saw that James's back was facing against hers as he stood at the counter. Words ran through her mind, "why even bother? He doesn't deserve you!" Lily shoved it back out of her head. Her best friend, Katie Summers, was wrong this time. If she kept thinking about what her friends thought, then she'd be going nowhere.
Lily remembered her second year where she had met Severus Snape. Everyone thought she was loony to even like a Slytherin. So she gave him up, took their words instead of his, and started hating him along with the rest of her friends.
Right now Lily didn't know where James lay in her heart. She didn't love him, of course. She didn't even like him much. But maybe he deserved a second chance. Her thoughts were disturbed when James returned, carrying two mugs of butterbeer. He handed her the first mug and then sat down on the opposite seat and took a sip of his own.
"Sorry I took so long," he said, murmuring his apologies. "The first one they gave me was cold." His sincerity made Lily relax a little and she tasted her own. The flavour sent warm tingles down her body.
"That's okay," she said.
He sat there uneasily, and Lily realized with amusement that they were acting like little children on their first dates. What was it about her that made her different from all the other girls he dated? Lily sighed again.
"Why did you really bring me here?" Lily asked finally.
"I just, want to know you a little better," James replied.
Lily raised an eyebrow.
"I like you – alright," James admitted. His face was turning as red as Lily's hair. Lily was moved. Mr. Bighead had done a little deflation.
"You didn't have to tell me that," Lily scowled. But then realizing that she had been commented by James added, "thanks." There was an uneasy silence that came afterwards. It was the fact that these two didn't know how to talk to each other that was so unsettling. Lily felt like breaking the silence, but she couldn't, what would she say? Then she remembered last week when she saw James and a girl – Emma – were snogging by the fireplace in the common room.
"So – your little girlfriend is back in the castle?" Lily teased a lightly. "Emma, right?"
James glowered. "She's not my girlfriend."
"Oh?" asked Lily, raising her eyebrow once more. "Too boring for you?"
"No," James said quickly. "She's not my type."
"Who is?" Lily laughed. "How many girlfriends is it now? Fifty?"
"My dating life is none of your business," said James coldly. He looked out the window and realized that it had started to snow. The snowflakes that came down outside the window looked like little white blossoms. He sipped his butterbeer with the appreciation that he was inside and warm. Why did he even ask her out when he knew she was going to act this way? Lily was always the type to hide her feelings. She wouldn't fall in love with someone she knew wouldn't treat her well.
"I'm sorry," said Lily hurriedly, realizing that her friends' words were starting to get to her. It was always the same. What they said kept floating into her mind over and over again. 'He's not worth it' or 'you deserve much better than him.' Her friends were always her influence. "I guess that the little voice in my head is overpowering me."
"That's alright," said James. He leaned back and ruffled his hair (to Lily's annoyance.) God it's boring with her, thought James as he looked around the café. Where's Sirius when I need him?
Lily took another mouthful of butterbeer and placed the mug back onto the table. She looked at James and realized that he was looking around. Was she THAT boring? She asked herself. He ruffled his hair again and Lily fought an urge to slap him round the face. "I better leave," she said looking at him as if he finalized her decision. "It's obvious that you're becoming jaded, and I don't want you starting to jinx someone once more." She turned and caught Snape's eye. "Especially not him." She stood up, waiting for his response.
It came.
James stood up so suddenly that his butterbeer spilt across the table, sending drops onto Lily's jumper. He didn't seem to notice it. "What do you mean leave?" he hissed at her. "Just sit down! I'm not 'jaded.'"
"Then I have no idea what face you held a few seconds ago," said Lily sarcastically. "If you can't keep on one person for at least half an hour then I have no idea why I came here." She grabbed her bag and turn to leave. James suddenly grabbed her wrist. His grip was surprisingly powerful and he forced her down to the point of sitting again.
The whole room was now watching them. Every single eye in the room was pointed in their direction. A spotlight seemed to be shining at their very spot. James and Lily, to busy arguing, were unaware of the sudden attention.
"Potter! Let go of me right now!" Lily shrieked and pulled out of his grip. She stood up once more and stared at him with horror.
He stood up too and looked back at her with the same glare of revulsion.
"You," said Lily, pointing at James's face with a shaking hand. "You are lower then the lowest scum! You don't deserve to even be in Gryffindor!" Her eye caught her half-full mug of butterbeer, and without further hesitation, she picked it up and flung the warm liquid onto James. "Here is your butterbeer back!"
Everyone gasped in surprise, not trying to hide what they saw. It was obvious that at that moment, James and Lily would hate each other for a long, long time. Butterbeer was spilt all over James face and his front was completely soaked. His hair was drenched and his black locks were everywhere across his forehead.
And with that, Lily stormed out of the café, her face as red as her hair, leaving James in the midst of discomfiture.
"So," said a soft voice when she reached her common room. "How did it go?" It was Katie Summers, Lily's best friend, who was sitting on Lily's bed patiently. Her long dark brown hair was pulled back in an elegant ponytail and her grey-green eyes were welcoming in the dark. Lily hung her jacket at the end of her bed. "By the looks of it, it was a complete disaster."
Lily sat down beside her best friend and sighed. "You've got that right."
A smile lit Katie's face. "I knew it," she said. "He definitely isn't Mr. Right for you."
Lily looked at her friend. "You think."
Katie stood up and allowed Lily to lie on her bed. "I'm sorry that you feel that way," replied Katie with sympathy in her voice. "But you're smart Lily, you only deserve the best." Katie sat down beside Lily.
"Katie," said Lily slowly.
"Yah?"
"Tell me another story."
Lily enjoyed Katie's stories. Not because they were elaborate and intensely creative, but because Katie placed Lily as the main character. Even though Lily was Muggle-born she had never heard any Muggle stories. Katie was the only one who knew them well and never thought that Lily was childish for liking them.
"Which one?"
"Midnight Lily." It was one of Lily's favourites. Katie's version of Cinderella.
There was a long pause before Katie started the story. When she did, everything in the room seemed to have gone silent. Even the birds outside the window had ceased their songs.
"Once upon a time," Katie began. "There lived a misjudged teenaged girl named Lily. Her parents had died and she had to live with an awful stepfather and one wicked stepsister named Patsy. Lily was kind and gentle and she treated everything with care and love. So obviously, she was naturally beautiful with spools and spools of red hair." Lily touched her own hair in recognition. "She had to work as a maid in her own house and as a leisurely activity she grew pumpkins, something that her stepfamily could not protest against."
"Then the ball," Lily reminded Katie absent-mindedly.
"Yes, the beautiful Graduation ball which was to take place for her final year at school," Katie said with a smile. "But poor Lily couldn't find a date, because anyone who is Lily's date would be pounded by mean old Patsy. And closer and closer the days grew till it was the night before the ball, Lily had no date and Patsy had one, awful disgusting Simon, and they planned to be the King and Queen of the ball."
Lily stuck her tongue out at the thought of Simone and Patsy being crowned King and Queen.
"Then Lily realizes that she has no more pumpkin seeds for the next day, and she goes off to the market that night to find more," Katie continued. "That night she meets up with the most popular guy at school, Jonathan Prince, and they start to talk with each other."
"Can we change the name Jonathan?" Lily asked, interrupting the story. "It sounds too much like James."
Katie laughed. "Okay, Lily meets up with – Matt Prince, and they start to become friends with each other," Katie said, changing the sentence around. "And the strange thing was that Matt too didn't have a date for the ball, so they decide to team up and go together. But the bad part was that the next day, Patsy heard the rumours that Matt and Lily were going together and she becomes jealous. So Patsy goes off and asks her fairy godmother to turn Lily into a pumpkin since she liked taking care of them so much. So Lily turns from a beautiful and kind teenaged girl into a beautiful and kind pumpkin, and Patsy goes off happily to the Graduation ball."
The door opened and a girl walked into their common room. It was Amber, another one of Lily's friends. Her light brown hair was flying everywhere and her warm almond eyes were shining. Her eyes caught on Katie and Lily's and she gave them a wave. "What are you doing?"
"Katie's telling me the story of Midnight Lily," Lily supplied. A smile lit Amber's lips.
"Go on then," Amber encouraged, sitting down and leaning by Lily's bed. "I want to hear it too – even though you've told it millions of times."
Katie shook her head, distracted. "Where was I?"
"Patsy had just left to go to the Graduation ball with stupid Simon," Lily said quickly.
"Oh, ya," replied Katie. "So anyway, Lily was a pumpkin, so she couldn't feel anything or anything but her own fairy godmother knew that she was unhappy. So Lily is transformed back to her human self but with one exception, what do you think it was Amber?"
"That at the stroke of midnight, she'd be turned back into a pumpkin," said Amber promptly.
"Right," nodded Katie. "And so Lily heads off to the Graduation ball, catches up with her dream guy Matt."
"I thought it was Jonathan," Amber interrupted.
"It's Matt now," said Lily happily. "But go on Katie."
"Lily has the time of her life, and her jealous stepsister Patsy is completely humiliated," Katie continued. "Matt and Lily go out to the front and sit down on a side bench, watching the lights inside. It was close to midnight, and Lily was soon to turn into a pumpkin, everything in her life was soon to be gone. There the two were, holding each other, Lily so much wanted to kiss Matt. So she does, slowly and passionately, and then midnight strikes." Katie banged her fist against the wall of the dormitory and both Amber and Lily jumped. "But nothing happened – the kiss had freed Lily from becoming a pumpkin, and she knew that she was with the one she loved most of all at that moment."
"And nothing else mattered," Lily said with a sigh.
Katie nodded. "Nothing else."
"Love was all that she needed," Amber said. "It was the kiss that stopped her stepmother from turning her back into a pumpkin."
Lily sat up in her bed. "Our Graduation ball is going to come," Lily reminded them. "And then I'm going to turn into a pumpkin, like the Lily in the story." Katie stood up and stretched her feet. Amber too stood up, but only to make her way to her bed.
"Lily," said Katie suddenly. "You're too caught up in this fairytale business, in real life, you'll find a date."
"Ya," remarked Amber. "You're smart, beautiful and popular; you'll have no problem finding the guy you want."
"What if the guy I want isn't real?" asked Lily.
Her two friends just looked at her and laughed, as if it were a joke.
A/N: Hope you liked the first chapter, don't forget to review.