A/N: I LOVE ALL MY REVIEWERS!!! You guys are so wonderful. I read everything you said and it motivated me to write this chapter. I didn't get any suggestions before I started to write this chapter so I already picked out the song before I got those wonderful suggestions. Please don't be offended if I don't take the suggestions you graciously gave. This chappie is about the "morning after". POV goes as follows Lily, James, and back to Lily. This was inspired by "Wrong Again" by Martina McBride. Don't forget to review!
Disclaimer: (Of course) I don't own Harry Potter.
Michelle knew what was headed her way once she got Lily home. Well, that depended on whether Lily would come home in one piece.
'Shattered once, the pieces are hard to find, but breaking the already broken, the pieces are nearly invisible and beyond repair. Lily is gonna need a very large carton of Ben and Jerry's.' thought Michelle. She had to practically drag her best friend in the bathroom just to talk enough sense into her so they could Apparate out together. Michelle leaned Lily against the bathroom stall and tried to talk to her.
"Lily? Anyone in that stubborn head of yours?" asked Michelle as she stared deeply into Lily's lifeless green eyes. Lily's normally bright eyes have now become haunting and hollow. That sort of scared Michelle.
'What could of those two talked about that made Lily this way? Oh no… I can't think of how this must have affected Potter. Oh boy… good thing Black will get Potter to drink all this away. Alcohol is his best friend tonight…' thought Michelle.
"Michelle? Are you there?" asked Lily as she came back to reality. She had been unconscious from all that shock. Michelle turned her gaze from the floor and looked over at her best friend.
"Thank Merlin," whispered Michelle under her breathe.
"May we please go home?" asked Lily oblivious to everything.
"I was thinking the exact same thing, come on Lily," said Michelle as she grabbed Lily by the shoulder and stabilized her. Then they Apparated to their apartment. Once home, Michelle quickly shooed Lily to bed.
'Maybe we'll just skip the ice cream tonight.' Thought Michelle.
Once comfortable underneath her comforter, Lily quickly fell asleep.
She was standing on the edge of the lake's shores. A great stone castle loomed in the background. Her shoulders shook with sobs and her shaking hands held a tear-stained letter. The feathery handwriting that swept over the letter belonged to no one other than Amos Diggory. She didn't even need to read past the second line to understand what Amos wanted. He has fallen out of love with her and in love with Sabrina Cushman. A fellow seventh year Hufflepuff.
"I guess she is prettier than me and much nicer. I guess he hates my short temper and impatience. Maybe I should have paid more attention to him instead of my studies, but I wish he were there for me more often. After he asked me out, I forgot how much I wanted him to like me and became complacent. I took his love for granted. Was it even love?" Lily mumbled to herself. During this time, she was so caught up in her misery that she didn't notice a tall shadow walking towards her. The winds shifted and a strong breeze blew through Lily's hair. She forgot to bring a cloak to shield the autumn winds and her thin t-shirt didn't offer much protection from the cold. She shivered and tried to tame a few strands of red hair with her pale fingers.
"Here Lily, don't want you too caught a cold. Not with Professor Yalelich's test coming up tomorrow," whispered a deep voice. Lily froze (and it wasn't from the cold). Then a pair of hands gently rests a heavy cloak around her shoulders. It was many sizes too big but somehow it hugged her perfectly and comfortably. Without even looking at him, Lily knew it was none other than James Potter.
"What are you doing here Potter? Can't you see that I want some time alone?" snapped Lily as she started to crumple the letter in her left hand.
"I am sorry Lily. I just wanted to see if you are okay. You've been here for a long time and you seemed cold. I guess I'll leave you to wallow in self-pity once more," said James as he turned to go back to castle and away from the cold, and more importantly, a furious red-head.
"Potter!!! How much did you hear, and I know you were eavesdropping!" said Lily, red with anger. James stopped in his tracks and turned so he could, once again, stare at the back of Lily's head.
"Nothing much…Just you telling lies to the wind." Said James nonchalantly.
"Don't you dare mock me when I'm hurt! And lies? What are you talking about?" asked Lily, now trembling in anger with clenched fists.
"Lily, Lily… I'm not trying to mock you. I just wanted to cheer you up by making you see how silly it is to be so crushed for so long. No amount of self-reflecting is going to make Amos come back to you. Besides, he doesn't deserve a smart, caring, passionate girl like you. If he was blind enough to dump you, he will always be blind. As for the lies, Lily…you are not perfect, no one is, but…you are as close to perfect as it gets. You are beautiful inside and out and you got a good, sensible head on your shoulders. A guy couldn't… shouldn't have to wish for anymore," replied James.
Lily turned around to meet James' warm hazel eyes. She could almost swimming in the honesty that she found there. Both stood there, facing each other, shocked. James couldn't believe the words that uncontrollably flew from his mouth. Lily was lost at the fact that James had said something nice to her. In fact, his words were the nicest that anyone had spoken to her.
From the day we met
You made me forget
All my fears
Knew just what to say
And you kissed away
All my tears
After a moment of silence passed between them, Lily finally spoke,
"James…er…thanks for the cloak. It was really thoughtful of you."
"No problem Lily. Anything for you." Replied James. He saw a few stray tears still left from her crying. James brushed her thumb over her smooth cheeks and wiped away the tears.
"Lily…I hope you don't mind…er…but… Iloveyou," James stammered. His face was suddenly swept up in a deep blush. Lily also felt a slight blush grace her cheeks.
"This time Potter, I think I don't mind," said Lily in a confident voice. She had finally found true happiness in the most unlikely person. James sighed and gradually felt relaxed.
"I hope you mind this either," James whispered as he closed the space between their lips.
I knew this time I had finally found
Someone to build my life around
Be a lover and a friend
After all my heart had put me through
I knew that it was safe with you
And what we had would never end
Wrong again
"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" screamed Sirius as pulls the covers from James' bed. James barely flinches even though it's below freezing (even Sirius is wearing a sweater) and he's only in his boxers. 'Wow, alcohol can do that to you' thought Sirius. Ironically, James still remembers every venomous word that Lily uttered the night before.
Something snaps in James and he lets out a groan.
"Sirius, you better run because I'm gonna MURDER you!" screamed James. Sirius quickly complies and runs toward the kitchen where he could hide behind Moony.
"I told you not to do that," Remus calmly said to Sirius as he flips another page of The Daily Prophet.
"Do what? The alcohol or the pulling of the covers?" asked Sirius as he cowered behind Remus, but not before he grabbed a muffin from the counter.
"Both," Remus replied indifferently.
'I wonder if you can kill someone twice because I need to kill Sirius once for feeding me all that firewhiskey last night and making this monster of a hangover, and twice for leaving me here freezing without a bed cover.' Thought James. He shifted so that he sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. 'God damn it, I need that hangover potion from Moony. I should ask for it now' thought James. He took a quick shower and pulled on jeans, a T-shirt, and a sweatshirt. He walked slowly to the kitchen and mumbled a quick hello to his friends.
"Hey Moony, can you fix up a quick hangover potion, please?" asked James. Remus, with his eyes still on a particularly interesting article, pulled out a vile looking glass and handed it to James. Without looking at James still, he said,
"Drink that with your orange juice. And remember to mix it very well or else your breath is going to smell like pickles. We wouldn't want that, would we?" Following Remus' instructions, James poured the glass into a glass of OJ and proceeded to mix it very well. After very vigorous mixing, James held his nose and leaned back his head and chugged the mixture. A slight burn snaked down his throat followed by a pleasant refreshing feeling.
"Perfect as always, Moony," said James as he set the glass down.
"So now that you are sober, can you tell us what happened?" asked Sirius.
James froze. Memories of the previous night rushed through his head and chased out any thought about killing Sirius.
"Prongs?" questioned Sirius as he waved his hand in front of James' blank eyes. James still stood as silent as a statue. Then, Sirius slapped James on the back and said,
"Speak!"
Everybody swore
They'd seen this before
We'd be fine
And you'd come to see that you still loved me
In good time
"She still hates me, nothing will change that now," said James quietly.
"What? She'll come around. The Potter Charm worked once, it can work again," said Sirius.
"I'll never get close enough for any charm to work," said James.
"Hey kiddo, how are you this morning?" asked Michelle cheerfully from the kitchen. Lily barely could haul her pathetically torn body to sit on one of the bar chairs in front of the counter. That was response enough to tell Michelle that something happened last night that she couldn't have helped with. In some kind of trance, Lily spoke,
"I had a dream… a dream about the first time he kissed me." Michelle opened her mouth to say something but decided against it. Lily continued.
"He was kind and gentle, but I guess he always was. Somehow, when I talked to him last night, he didn't seemed quite like the same person. Maybe dreams do really change reality, but James was perfect and dreams can't change that."
And they said there's nothing you can do
It's something that he's going through
It happens to a lot of men
And I told myself that they were right
That you'd wake up and see the light
And I just had to wait 'til then
Wrong again
"Lily, maybe James has changed over the years, but he still cares about you. Just listening to him talk about you in the office is enough to know. Maybe the change in him is something that separation from you has done to him," said Michelle in a soothing voice.
"No…" said Lily.
"Not after what I did to him last night. He could never care about a monster like me."
And it seemed to me the pain would last
My chance for happiness had passed
And nothing waited 'round the bend
I was sure I'd never find someone
To heal the damage you had done
And my poor heart would never mend
Wrong again
Wrong again
Wrong Again- Martina McBride
A/N: This chappie is a bit shorter than the other one. I hope you guys still like it though. Writing this story is a bit addicting and getting reviews adds more excitement to it! So you know what you SHOULD do. Please give any suggestions when you find the need.
Thanks
L.S.