::Midnight Lily::

(PG)

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter – it belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Six

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Amber joined up with her friends after the Quidditch game and they sat down under a tree by the lake. "Did you see me hit that Bludger?" Amber asked excitedly. "At first I didn't know what to do – but then I saw a brown blur coming pass me and I just hit it!" Charlie was telling them how she had beaten the life out of Bodds in the stands for speaking badly about her brother. "I completely pummelled him," she said heartily. "You saw him Katie, didn't you? He looked like a dried up old prune."

"You only gave him a black eye," Katie said bluntly. She caught Charlie's eye and continued, "Okay, and a couple of bruises and a broken neck and you crushed his ego." Charlie looked at her friends cheerfully.

"You shouldn't have done that," said Sabina bitting her lip. "You could have lost a lot of points from Gryffindor."

"You're such a killjoy, Sabina," Charlie said sulkily. "Bodds had it coming to him – he insulted my brother – no one messes with my family."

"No one but you," said Lily grinning. They all laughed. Someone tapped Lily on the shoulder and she turned around. It was James. Her smile fell from her face. "What do you want, Potter?" she asked furiously. She stood up and placed her hands on her hips. Katie and Amber followed.

"I need to talk to you," he said coolly. "Alone."

"Whatever you want to say to Lily, you'll have to say in front of us too," Katie said. "We're her friends."

"No," Lily said with a sigh. "It's alright." She walked off with James, leaving her friends in bewilderment. "Did you come up with a plan yet?"

James flushed and stuffed a piece of parchment into her hand. "Just read this over and tell me if it's good or not," he mumbled. "I spent some time writing it."

Lily raised an eyebrow but read it out loud anyway; "Through your eyes – I see the ocean, calm and gentle, it sparkles like a gem. Through your eyes – I see your soul, pure and wise, like the ocean you resemble." It was a poem. James had spent his spare time writing a poem about her – and the thing was – it wasn't bad either.

"So what do you think?" asked James tautly. "Is it – well, honest enough?"

"It's good," said Lily shortly. She didn't want to say that it was brilliant. "But what about it?"

"Well, I know you have Ancient Runes with Hufflepuff on Mondays," James explained. "I was thinking that maybe you could use a spell to split her bag – like when yours split after the Transfiguration test. Then you could pretend to drop this poem right in front of her. Make sure that she finds it. Then when she hands it back to you, maybe you can add in a few good words about me, you know – how I'm romantic or whatever." The very thought made Lily want to laugh.

"Good words? About you?" Lily asked sniggering. "What good words?"

"How I'm good at Quidditch or something," said James.

"Ailsa doesn't like Quidditch," Lily said coldly. "She doesn't know the difference between a Bludger and the Quaffle."

"Or, how I'm good at studying – like sometimes I help you?" James suggested.

"You? Help me?" asked Lily, as if the mere thought of it sent chills down her spine.

"How I'm nice to others," said James edgily.

Lily snorted. "Like when you performed the full body-binding curse on Church last week?" Lily asked. "Or how about when you sent Wade up to the hospital wing with tentacles shooting out of his body? Was that nice?"

"Don't mess with me, Evans," James said. "Just come up with something okay, we have a deal." James turned around and walked away huffily. Meanwhile, Lily folded up the piece of parchment into her pocket and made her way back to her friends. Nice words about James? It was like trying to duel against a mountain troll. No. Worst.

"What did James talk to you about?" Amber asked curiously.

"Nothing important," Lily said as she sat down beside Sabina. She racked through her brain, thinking of something good to come up with. "He thinks I confiscated the dungbombs that were on the table last night."

"Those were dungbombs?" Sabina asked, her face turning pale.

"Ya," Lily said with a grin. "Why?"

"I saw some first year boys crowding around them this morning," Sabina said softly. "I think that they thought it was chocolates."

"How thick can you get?" Charlie asked with disgust.

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It was the end of Ancient Runes and Lily told Sabina to leave without her. As she bent down, pretending to pack up her bag, Lily saw Ailsa talking with her friends near the front of the classroom. Bertha was with her and, by the looks of it, she was spilling a month's worth of gossip. Slowly Lily took out her wand and said the spell, "Diffindo!" The seams of Ailsa's bag broke apart and her quills and parchments fell onto the ground.

"Drats!" Ailsa said exasperatedly. "That's the third time today – you guys go ahead, I need to fix this." Bertha and a dark brown haired girl, Isabel Brown, walked out of the classroom, waving goodbye to Ailsa.

Lily straightened up and tucked her wand away. She closed her bag and looked out the classroom window. Then, pretending that she had spotted her friends, she walked straight pass Ailsa and dropped the piece of parchment that held the poem. Not waiting to see if Ailsa had picked it up, Lily ran down the corridor and made her way down the stairs to the Great Hall. Sabina was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs.

"Where have you been?" she asked. "Sirius passed me a few minutes ago – I'm supposed to catch up with him in the Gryffindor common room tonight, after lessons."

"What does he want?" Lily asked Sabina as they made their way into the Great Hall.

"I don't know," Sabina replied. "But he seemed very upset." They sat down beside Katie, Amber and Charlie, who were already through second helpings. Lily's mind wandered to Ailsa and the poem that she had dropped. Had Ailsa read it already? What if she never returns the poem and kept it for herself? What if she hadn't noticed the poem drop and it was still in the classroom? Lily gulped at all the probabilities. She didn't like the thought of that poem going into the wrong hands.

"Lily," Charlie was saying. "Have you decided on who you're going to take to the Graduation ball?"

"What?" Lily asked distractedly, she had completely forgotten about that. "Um, no."

"No?!" Katie said with astonishment. "I'd thought you'd have someone by now."

"Well," Lily said slowly. "You haven't chosen anyone to go with, yet." Katie blushed and muttered something under her breath. Lily had a vague feeling that she had heard Sirius's name. "I know, you can go with, Brett Dolce."

"The Ravenclaw Captain?" Sabina asked stupidly.

"Yep," Lily said with a small smile. "Katie and Brett had a thing two years ago."

Katie snorted. "I'm way past that," she said. "Anyway, Brett's a sixth year, he isn't graduating this year." She carved vigorously at her cold turkey. "I guess I'll have to go with Peter – again." She gave a sigh as she saw him stubble and drop the pile of books he was carrying. "A pity that he isn't a good dancer, maybe I could teach him some moves before the ball –"

"You can't go with Peter," Amber cut in.

"Why not?" Katie asked.

"He's already going with someone," she said. The smallest smile crossed her lips. "I'm sure he and Bertha will make a good pairing." Lily, Charlie and Sabina snorted into their lunch.

Katie however sulked. "Great," Katie said sensitively. "Even half-brains have dates."

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Lily made her way up to the Gryffindor common room with Amber after classes. Amber had offered to stay with Lily after Transfiguration. This was because Lily had to ask Professor McGonagall about their final exams. "Thanks again, Amber," Lily said as they passed the statue of the one eyed hag.

"That's alright," Amber said. "I just wonder where Charlie and Katie have gone off to."

"I don't know," Lily replied. "I heard that they wanted to go to the Great Hall a bit earlier – extra helping or something."

Amber looked thoughtfully at a painting of two knights fighting against each other. "You know, Katie never gains a pound and she eats like a rhinoceros," Amber commented. "Me, I eat one slice of chocolate cake and I feel like a hippo the next day." Lily grinned.

They made their way up a flight of steps and turned into a well-lit corridor.

"But that's just it," Lily said plainly. "You 'feel' like a hippo, but you ask any of us and we'll still say you look beautiful."

Amber gave Lily a short smile. "Thanks."

They heard footsteps drawing closer to them from behind. Lily and Amber turned around swiftly to come face to face with Ailsa.

"Excuse me, Lily Evans," Ailsa said kindly. "You might not remember me, but I'm Ailsa Umbridge, we take Ancient Runes together."

"Yes," Lily said giving her a smile. "I know you."

"Um, you left this behind today and I wanted to give it back to you." Ailsa held out the folded parchment with the poem in it and Lily took it. "It's really beautiful – did you write it?"

"No," Lily replied. "James wrote it." She tried to ignore Amber's bemused gaze.

"James Potter?" Ailsa asked wistfully. "The egotistical seventh-grader who plays Seeker for Gryffindor?"

Lily tried to keep a straight face. "Yep, that one," Lily replied.

"He writes poetry?" Ailsa asked enquiringly. "That's sweet – is he your boyfriend or something?"

"Ya, um, you could say that," Lily said. She gave Amber a quick kick in case she interrupted but Amber was too disorientated to do so anyway. "He's alright once you come to it. He's a really talented Quidditch player."

"I'm not into Quidditch," Ailsa said curtly. "I think it's a load of nonsense." There was a short pause. "Anyway, Potter seems to know his poetry and from what you've been saying he seems like a real pleasant guy, guess the rumours about him was wrong – you're a lucky one, Lily. I'll see you later – at Ancient Runes, perhaps."

"Ya," Lily replied.

Once Ailsa turned the corner Amber turned to look at Lily. "James? Your boyfriend?" she asked. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"That's because he's not my boyfriend," Lily scoffed and she launched into the story of how James had blackmailed her. She cut out one part that she thought was beyond explaining – her cheating. "So I had to pretend to drop this poem on the ground and let Ailsa find it." Lily gave Amber the parchment and Amber read it feverishly, her eyes bulging.

"Oh Lily," Amber said considerately. "Why didn't you tell us – or me at least?"

"It was just too embarrassing," Lily admitted. "I was just so furious at myself – plus Katie and Charlie would laugh."

"It could happen to anyone," Amber said. "James can be that inconsiderate." They continued walking. "So you're not going to do anything about it? You're not going to tell McGonagall? You're just going to let him control you?"

Lily looked at Amber. "I live up to a deal," she told Amber. "It'll be over before you know it."

"Katie and Charlie are going to find out soon enough," Amber reminded Lily. "If not them, Bertha, you really want to be seen with James?"

"What can I do?" Lily asked, releasing a deep sigh.

"Did he force you to write that poem too?" Amber asked.

"No," Lily said. "He really wrote it."

Amber's eyes widened. "You mean to tell me that he spent his free time writing a poem about you?" Amber asked. "I doubt that he'd have any help from the Marauders – on the contrary, he must have had one heck of an inspiration."

Lily nodded. She wondered if that poem actually showed the real James Potter. Underneath his doublecrossing and blackmailing, maybe James was really like that. Through your eyes – I see the ocean, calm and gentle, it sparkles like a gem. Through your eyes – I see your soul, pure and wise, like the ocean you resemble. What if James really saw that through her eyes? Lily shook the thought out of her head. James saw all those things through Ailsa's eyes – after all, James had a crush on Ailsa.

"Lily," Amber said softly. "Are you alright?"

Lily looked at Amber. "What do you mean?"

"You haven't looked this way for a while," Amber said.

"What way?" Lily asked dazed. "Look like what?"

"You haven't looked this way since you had that crush on Snape back in our second year," Amber explained. "I recognize that look a lot – that's the look Katie gives Sirius every time she looks at him, it's the look James has when he looks at Ailsa, Lily?"

"What?" Lily asked, her face turned as red as her hair.

"Do you think – just maybe," Amber urged on. "You're in love with – "

"I'm not in love with anyone," said Lily stubbornly. "Let's just dump our bags in our dormitory and make our way down to the Great Hall."

"Okay," Amber said with a sigh. "'Draco titillandus.'" They walked through the portrait hole and climbed into the common room.

Shouting emerged from inside. Lily and Amber fastened their pace to see who it was. In the middle of the common room stood Sirius and kneeling down beside him was Sabina, her face was wet and a new flow of tears was trickling down her cheeks. James, Remus and Peter stood frantically at the side – as if wondering what to do.

Amber quickly ran to Sabina's side. "What happened, angel?" Amber asked in a soothing voice. She gently stroked Sabina's mattered red hair. Lily could barely hear what Sabina was saying.

"He broke up with me," she said amidst sobs. "I can't b-believe he broke up with me – I feel like my insides are completely g-gone." Amber looked up Sirius's mortified face with repulsion. Sabina looked like a lost girl who couldn't find her way home – it was dismal to watch. However, everybody stood still, just observing the scene, not knowing what to do. "W-where did I go wrong? Am I th-that horrible?"

Amber helped Sabina to her feet and Lily walked over to lend her a hand. "I know it may hurt badly, Sabina," Lily told her. "But you have to realise that this was going to happen sooner or later." Sabina didn't say anything. "Just keep crying." They led Sabina up the stairs and into their dormitory.

Sabina lay down in her bed and continued to sob.

"She'll be alright, won't she?" Lily asked Amber as they sat by the window of the dormitory. "I've never been through heartbreak before – I wouldn't know." She looked at Sabina who had gone very still, you could see her shoulders moving but apart from that, she was motionless.

"She'll be alright," Amber agreed. "First there'll be devastation and disbelief – then rejection, maybe rage – but then she'll be ready to lead her life again. Sabina is strong, and she'll handle each step." Amber caught Lily's eye and shook her head with a small smile. "She has us – it may not seem like much..." Amber's voice faded as she walked up to Sabina. She took a tissue and handed it to her. Sabina took it with a smile of thanks.

Lily looked out the window of her dormitory. The sun was setting across the horizon and the sky was painted blood red. "How can love be so painful and so wonderful at the same time?" Lily wondered out loud. "How could Sirius just break up with her?"

"Life's just like that I guess," Amber said shrugging.

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A/N: No, Sirius is not rotten; he just had to break up with Sabina. Sometimes when relationships don't work someone has to end it. As much as you want it to continue and as much as you want to ignore the fact that it'll soon be over – you have to face the fact. Please R/R!!

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