Author's Note: Hey keep reviewing please! And does anyone know why our story won't show up automatically on the lists whenever we update it?
Chapter Seven
Almost a month had passed by, though to Lily it felt like much less. The days dragged on so slowly, and Lily was sure that this was so far the worst year at Hogwarts. The only thing she had to look forward to was her family visiting her in three weeks. Her mother had sent her an owl saying they were so excited, and couldn't wait to see her and Hogwarts. Her mother was especially keen on meeting all Lily's friends.
"Lily!" Lily looked up at the sound of her name. She saw Bridget and Annabelle hovering over her, frowns on their faces.
"You've been moping there for more than an hour!" Bridget said worriedly.
"Yeah, doing nothing!" Annabelle added. Lily sighed and looked around the lively common room. Everyone seemed to be doing something – she was the only one slouched in an armchair, lost in thoughts.
"Where's Kailyn?" Lily asked, wanting to get off the topic of herself. She watched Bridget and Annabelle exchange smirks.
"She's, er, with Sirius." Annabelle giggled. Lily suddenly sat upright and looked at her best friends.
"She's with Sirius? What is she doing with Sirius?" she asked. Bridget and Annabelle began to giggle even harder.
"We don't know! She came back into the common room with him after Quidditch practice, and they were just talking for a bit. And then all of a sudden they just get up and leave together!" Bridget replied excitedly.
"Just her and Sirius?" Lily asked.
"Yes!" Bridget and Annabelle chirped together. Lily smiled. She had noticed that Kailyn had recently taken to staring at Sirius whenever he was around, and now remembered vaguely that she had mentioned him quite a bit during the last few weeks. But Lily had been too wrapped up in her own miseries to ask any questions or come to any real conclusions about it.
"They would look so cute together!" Lily said, trying to sound as happy as she could. She really was glad that at least Kailyn was having a good time. At times Lily wanted to kick herself for being in such a depressed mood just because of one stupid boy. She had not spoken to James ever since that night in the Head common room when she told him to stay away from her, and James had done a good job of listening to her.
"Lils, are you alright?" Bridget asked softly. Lily looked at her in surprise. James was the only person that ever called her "Lils".
"I'm fine," Lily replied, smiling.
"Oh come off it, Lily! We're your best friends! We know you haven't been fine ever since you told James to leave you alone. . .and he did," Annabelle said, in somewhat disbelief.
"We know you miss him," Bridget said quietly. Lily badly wanted to say that that wasn't true, but she couldn't. She did miss James – her life had somehow become so boring without him in it. She missed his cocky grins, and his witty remarks. She missed him asking her out every other week, and how he never let it get to him that she said no every single time. She missed how he was constantly messing up his stupid hair, and how he would show-off like a little boy. She even missed screaming at him whenever he hexed someone or tried to pull a prank. But most of all she missed the wonderful person he could sometimes be, under all that ego and stupidity, just waiting to be uncovered. But in a way she was glad it had ended like this. She had been starting to fall for him. . .and that would have been a disaster.
"Lily, it wouldn't be so terrible to give him a chance." Annabelle said.
"A chance to what? Break my heart?" Lily asked pleasantly.
"He wouldn't break your heart!" Bridget said hurriedly.
"He loves you!" Annabelle cried. The three girls went silent for a little while, a little surprised at what Annabelle had said.
"Annabelle, have you gone mad? That boy doesn't know how to love. You think he runs after all those girls to fall in love? He's just in it for the chase." Lily finally said firmly. Bridget slowly shook her head.
"I think it's different with you, Lily. He really likes you, he's waiting for you! He hasn't gone out with any other girl this year!" she said.
"Maybe they've finally figured out what a thick idiot he is," Lily muttered. Bridget and Annabelle gave her weary looks. "Listen guys, I know you're trying to help me. But I wouldn't be happy even if I was with him. Because after he gets me, the chase will be over. . .he'll get bored, and break it off with me to go chase some new girl. And then I'd be completely miserable!"
"You're completely miserable now," Annabelle pointed out quietly.
"At least I can control my feelings now!" Lily said angrily, "I'll admit that I was starting to feel something for him, but now I can make it go away easily! If I were to go out with him, I would fall in love, entirely lose control over my emotions. . .you know how I get." She frowned at Bridget and Annabelle, who were exchanging glances every few seconds. "WHAT?" she said exasperatedly.
"Well, don't get mad Lily, but we still think its way more than just 'starting to feel something for him'. I mean, he's been the main topic of all your conversations for the past year." Annabelle said lightly.
"And you look as if your life is falling apart. . .because he's not in it anymore." Bridget added. Lily looked up at the ceiling angrily. She hated it when her friends could just come to conclusions about all her mixed up emotions as if it were the easiest thing in the world. She hated it even more this time, because she knew they were right.
"If he really cared for me. . .why would he leave me alone?" Lily asked, her voice slightly trembling.
"Because you told him to!" Annabelle exclaimed.
"Well he never listened before! Why now?" Lily said softly.
* * *
"Thank God it's finally full moon!" Sirius sang, "I was starting to get SO bored!" The Marauders were walking through a secret passageway that led to the kitchens, each carrying an armful of food and drinks.
"It's not as great as you make it sound, Sirius." Remus mumbled, his face much paler than usual.
"Maybe not to YOU, my grumpy little friend, but it's a party for me!" Sirius replied happily.
"You know, you don't have to wait for full moon to do it!" Remus snapped.
"Oh, so I'll just go to Transfiguration class as a big black dog, shall I?" Sirius said sarcastically.
"No, but you could – hang on, someone's coming," Remus whispered, peering at the Marauder's Map.
"Who? Filch?" Sirius asked quietly. The boys were standing at the exit of the passageway, listening cautiously. They had not taken James's invisibility cloak, since it would not cover themselves as well as the food.
"No, er, Lily. . ." Remus said, glancing sideways at James. James, who had been lost in his own thoughts up till now, peered out of the passageway. He smiled as he watched Lily scold two second-years for snogging behind the suits of armor. Then suddenly she turned to face someone else.
"What are you two doing in the Gryffindor corridor?" Lily demanded. James heard soft snickers, and saw Lily reach for her wand.
"You better watch yourself, Mudblood," a familiar voice sneered. Without thinking, James lunged out of the passageway, only to be quickly pulled back by Sirius and Remus.
For a second, Lily looked as if she were going to hex the person, with her wand pointed right at them. But then with a disgusted face, she turned and walked away. The other person laughed softly, and went the other way.
"I only caught a glimpse of the bugger, but I think it was Malfoy!" James said angrily.
"Yes, well, how about next time you don't do anything stupid to get us all caught!" Sirius said hoarsely.
"We don't have much time left! We have to go now!" Remus said urgently, looking sick, "If Sirius hadn't taken so damn long to join us. . ."
Sirius grinned, remembering his little walk with Kailyn around the corridors. She was very interesting to talk to, not to mention beautiful to look at.
Checking the Marauders Map every few seconds, the boys hurried downstairs towards the entrance of the school. James conjured a sack with his wand, and stuffed all the food into it. They relaxed slightly once they were outside, and slowed down their pace. It was dark enough for them not to be seen easily.
"Ah it's been a while since the last time we did this!" Sirius said fondly, "Hey Prongs, your mum started getting awfully suspicious. Guess I shouldn't have walked around the house as a dog so often." Sirius started to laugh, but stopped when he saw that James was not even listening.
"Okay Prongs, this is getting annoying! Just go talk to her!" Sirius snapped irritably, nudging James so that he would listen. James looked at him blankly.
"But she told me to leave her alone," he replied glumly.
"She's BEEN telling you to leave her alone! She's been saying it since fifth year! You never listened before!" Sirius said exasperatedly, with an annoyed expression.
"Yeah, Prongs, I was wondering about that too. Why'd you suddenly give up?' Remus asked. James sighed, kicking the ground as he walked.
"You didn't see her this time. She was serious," he said.
"No, actually I am!" Sirius joked, in an attempt to lighten the mood. Remus and Peter groaned at how old that joke was.
"So you've given up for good?" Remus asked, shooting Sirius an annoyed look.
"I guess so," James said moodily, "I guess I should've given up a long time ago. I made her cry, Moony. So now I owe it to her to do whatever she says." The Marauders walked on in silence, nobody quite knowing what to say. James was soon lost in his own thoughts again. Ever since he had stopped talking to Lily, it seemed as if now he thought of her even more often than he did before. He couldn't stop thinking about her, and hated himself for messing things up so badly. He had even stopped hexing people and started trying really hard not to say anything cocky, but he knew it was no use – Lily was convinced that he could never change.
* * *
Lily stormed into the girls' dormitory and flung onto the seat next to the window. On top of everything else that was going bad today, Lucius Malfoy went and made it worse. Over the years, she had learned to ignore mean remarks such as "mudblood", but today it annoyed her so badly that she almost hexed him. But hexing people was something James would do, and Lily wasn't about to stoop down to his level. She stared out of the window at the bright, full moon. Although it was very dark, the moon shone onto the grounds, illuminating everything. Just as she was about to get up, Lily caught sight of four people walking towards the Whomping Willow tree. Frowning, she peered out of the window to try and get a closer look. They certainly did not look like teachers, and students were not supposed to be walking around near the Forbidden Forest, especially after hours. Two of them were tall with dark hair, one was slightly shorter with much lighter hair, and the other was short and chubby, and had to jog to keep up with the other three. They looked remarkably like. . .The Marauders.
Practically half of Lily's body was now sticking out of the window, and she watched them curiously. They were getting dangerously close to the Whomping Willow tree, which was a very stupid thing to do. (A/N: I don't exactly know how the Whomping Willow passageway thing worked, so I'm just going to guess) Suddenly one of the boys had disappeared, while the other three stood standing at a safe distance, the tree shaking its branches violently. Lily gasped as she watched the tree abruptly stop moving, and the three remaining boys walking towards it. She nearly fell out the window when she saw one of the boys turned around cautiously, his face fully exposed in the bright moonlight. Even from this distance, Lily could see his stupid hair sticking up in the back. She watched in amazement as the boys disappeared into the ground, one by one.
"I'm going mad," Lily mumbled in disbelief. She could not imagine how they had just disappeared like that – unless there was some sort of hidden passageway. In a mix of curiosity as well as wanting to get James in an enormous amount of trouble, Lily pulled on her robe and quietly went downstairs. There were a few people still in the common room, but no one paid her any attention. Kailyn was in the shower, and Bridget and Annabelle were sleeping. Checking to make sure no one was watching, Lily slipped out of the common room and headed downstairs.
Mr. Filch was patrolling the corridors, with his cat, Mrs. Norris, running alongside of him. Lily groaned, quickly ducking behind a suit of armor. She had no idea how four boys had managed to simply walk out of the castle and not risk getting caught. After Mr. Filch had moved to another corridor, and Lily checked to make sure no other teachers were coming, she opened the heavy castle door, and ran outside.
The autumn coldness stung through Lily's light nightdress and robe. She shivered as she ran across the wide grounds, cursing herself for being so curious. She finally approached the Whomping Willow tree with caution. The tree was yet standing abnormally still, instead of shaking murderously like it usually did. Lily felt an eerie chill as she crouched down and examined the ground near the tree's roots. She soon found what she was looking for – the entrance to a passageway. After a minute of debating whether she should be stupid enough to blindly follow the Marauders, she climbed into the passageway. The passageway was dark and incredibly narrow. Lily nervously crawled through it, frequently almost turning around and going back out. After what like an eternity, Lily came to the end of the passageway, and climbed out. She was standing in an old and decaying room in some sort of a house. (A/N: I totally forgot what the Shrieking Shack looks like, so I'm just gonna use my imagination!)
Lily walked out of the room and into the corridor. There was a rusty staircase at the end. As Lily climbed up the staircase, she suddenly stiffened, her heart racing. A loud wailing howl echoed throughout the house. Lily suddenly realized where she was – the Shrieking Shack. She slowly proceeded up the stairs, only comforted by the fact that the Marauders would never come to a haunted house unless they knew it was safe. But then again, they were pretty stupid, and would do anything in the spur of the moment. . .
She stopped at the top of the stairs, looking at the three bedrooms in the corridor. Suddenly a loud bark came from the room farthest down the corridor. Deciding that the bark did not sound angry or violent, Lily walked towards the room where it came from. When she stopped in front of the room and peered in, she felt a little light-headed. A big black dog was running around in circles, with a little rat scurrying after it, jumping up in attempts of catching the dog's tail. It almost looked as if they were playing a game.
Lily was about to smile, when she caught sight of something that made her stop breathing. A big werewolf was striding towards her, his long teeth exposed as he growled fiercely. The dog and rat were too caught up in their game to notice. Lily wanted to run, but she could not feel her legs. Her heart had stopped beating, and her head was spinning. . . she saw a flash of James's face in her head. . .the werewolf was eyeing her hungrily now. Then in a split second, the werewolf pounced. Lily opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. And then, like a flash of light, a white stag jumped in front of her. Lily watched in shock and bewilderment as the stag and werewolf fought. The black dog had come to help hold back the angry werewolf, who was still occasionally snapping its long teeth towards Lily's direction.
Just as Lily thought she was going to pass out, the stag stopped in front of her, and knelt down, looking at her with its intense eyes. Lily climbed onto its back, and wrapped her arms around its neck. She clung tightly to the stag, as it swiftly galloped out of the house, and into the cloudless night.