Summary: Lily and James went to Hogwarts together. Unfortunately their memories are not all enjoyable. Their time was spent pranking each other senseless, while competing for the top grades in the school. Two years after graduation they bump into each other, again, and again, and again... Could it be that they have a combined fate?
Disclaimer: If I had a million dollars I would buy the rights to Harry Potter and all of the amazing characters and then I'd do what I want to do with them...but I don't have a million dollars and I don't own them!!! So please don't sue!
Author's Note: Well, you certainly didn't have to wait very long for this chapter cause I was very bored and upset one day. And when I'm upset I always go take a short drive pick up some frappuccinos from Starbucks and head over to a good friends house to talk! It always manages to make me feel better :-) Then I come home and after discussing things out I have to write. I don't know why but writing helps me deal with things. So when I have a sudden outburst of updates it's probably because I have emotional issues. But don't go trying to make me mad purposefully because if I get flames I don't update faster! Haha Jk...sorry that's not very funny. That kinda happens when I write a whole chapter in a day and I'm not in the best mood...but hey at least you have one! Lol
I'm sorry for not updating like I had said I would! I know I told some people that I promsied that this chapter would be up on Monday. I'm really really sorry for that! Not to make excuses or anything but just so you know I was stuck in bed all of Monday, my last day of summer, with a 103 degree fever thinking that I was going to die. I'm sick...and now I'm posting because I can actually get on the computer. You know I actually tried too...but was screwed up and I didn't try harder...so sorry once again!
Eyeshadow5746
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Excuse Me Miss Evans
Chapter Ten : I Always Knew
By: Eyeshadow5746
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"Happy Birthday!" Lily smiled as she walked into the kitchen where Arabella was sitting with a cup of black coffee in front of her face as she tried to pry her eyes open wide enough to at least show that she acknowledged Lily's presence in the room.
"Thank you," Arabella mumbled into the cup as she took another gulp of the bitter liquid and winced slightly.
"You should try sugar," Lily teased as she sat down across the table from Arabella, twice as awake as she should be early on a Sunday morning.
"All I want to try is waking up," Arabella sighed out as she took another swig of the coffee and this time succeeded in not showing her opinion of the taste. If there was one thing she didn't want to do this morning, it was show Lily that she was right.
'I don't know how on earth that girl can wake up at this time on a Sunday morning and be so awake. It's not a decent hour. Eight o' clock is not a decent hour to wake up on Sundays. I should still be sleeping...' Arabella thought as she finally looked over at Lily who was smiling at her over her coffee cup.
"You know that Sirius wants to take you out to a romantic breakfast for your birthday. You shouldn't be whining!" Lily giggled out as she watched Arabella make a face at her across the table.
"I'm not whining about it! I didn't even say anything except that I wanted to wake up. Just because I'm not fully awake right now doesn't mean that I'm complaining," Arabella shot back at Lily, not even noticing that there was no flash of hurt across Lily's face.
"All those sighs sure sounded like wallowing in your misery to me," Lily sang out as she got up to pour herself a glass of milk and once again seemed to bounce across the kitchen until she landed in her seat across the table from her friend once again.
"I'm not making dramatic sighs. It's all in your head. Why are you so happy this morning anyway? Are you trying to get me to leave so you can get Potter alone over here?" Arabella smirked as she watched Lily cough and slam the glass down on the table.
"No!" Lily managed to say through her coughing.
"Faking death doesn't get you out of questioning," Arabella teased.
"I'm not faking my death! I swallowed wrong. Sometimes that happens when someone accuses you of something that's not true," Lily glared back at Arabella as she swiftly got up out of her seat and left the room in a blur.
"Lils! I was just kidding!" Arabella shouted into the empty room.
When no response came, Arabella finally dumped the rest of the coffee into the sink and just as she was about to walk down the hall-
"Lils?" Arabella asked quietly as she heard someone shuffling in the living room.
"Do I look like a girl to you?" Sirius teased as he came out of the shadows with James standing quietly by his side as if he didn't enjoy the prospect of being in the same room as Sirius, much less standing next to him.
"No," Arabella blushed lightly as she realized that she was still in her pajamas.
"You might want to go put on some clothes," James breathed out as he nudged Sirius who nodded his head in agreement.
"So, Potter, you're not coming with us are you?" Arabella asked.
"No!" James exclaimed as a look of horror spread across his features.
"We're not that bad!" Sirius announced as he narrowed his eyes at James.
"So you're going to stay here alone with Lily?" Arabella teased.
"What? Am I invisible?!" Remus exclaimed as he stepped out of the fireplace behind Sirius and James.
"Hey Remus," Arabella said as the smile she had been wearing fell from her face.
"Sorry to ruin your parade," Remus mumbled as he rolled his eyes at James.
Arabella just laughed and went to her bedroom to change. Before anyone could speak another word, she and Sirius had apparated from the flat.
"Lily?" James called out as the walked down the hall to find out where Lily was hiding.
...
"Thanks for today Sirius," Arabella smiled as they appeared at her door, "It was a lot of fun."
"No problem, Bella," Sirius smiled as they opened the door and he led Arabella into her flat.
"It's so dark in here!" Arabella exclaimed as she turned to Sirius with a smirk, "Do you think Lily, Potter, and Lupin left? It looks like we have the place to ourselves right now..."
In a flash the lights turned on and over twenty people jumped out from where they were hidden in the dark and yelled "Surprise!"
Arabella just stopped in her tracks.
"Getting ideas in the dark room, Bella?" Lily asked innocently as she sauntered up to where Arabella was still standing in the hallway stunned.
"What?" Arabella asked as she finally noticed that Lily was standing there with James and Remus on either side of her smiling. Sirius just laughed at Arabella's expression to the whole thing.
"I wish I had a camera!" Sirius laughed out as Arabella finally turned to him and hit him on his head.
"You knew about this?" Arabella asked.
"Well, I couldn't say anything! Lily would've killed me!" Sirius reasoned.
"You let me be so suggestive when everyone was listening!" Arabella growled at Sirius so that no one else could hear.
"Hey, you're lucky that they turned on the lights before you started!" Sirius teased as he poked Arabella's side causing her to just glare at him further and walk off to talk to her guests.
"I thought it was funny," James admitted, but much to his dismay he didn't wait until Arabella was out of earshot.
She sent him a deathly glare and just mouthed the words, "You will pay!"
James just shuddered as he turned to Lily and Remus who were laughing at him. "It's not funny!" James exclaimed.
"I think it's hilarious," Lily giggled.
"I have to agree," Remus smiled.
"You two are hopeless," James sighed as he threw up his hands in defeat and walked off, leaving Lily and Remus laughing the corner.
A few minutes later Remus and Sirius were off in the corner by the punch and Lily rolled her eyes and tried to avert her attention from what they could be doing to the drinks and tried to think about something other than causing the fun to end because of her.
"Looking for someone?" James asked as he appeared behind Lily with two cups of punch.
"Did you just get that?" Lily asked uncertainly.
"I managed to get it before they got over there," James laughed as he gestured to Remus and Sirius who were glancing around the room nervously to see if anyone was watching them.
"I swear they act like they're still fifteen!" Lily laughed.
"I'm surprised Remus is actually helping Sirius with this one," James replied thoughtfully.
"He's been different lately," Lily mused as she took the cup from James' hand and took a sip.
"See I told you that it was normal!" James teased.
"Thank you for rescuing it before they spiked it," Lily laughed.
"I doubt they're spiking it. We're allowed to drink now, there's not any fun in that. I'm sure that they're enchanting it so that it turns you into something," James laughed.
"Well, in that case I better not drink any!" Lily laughed as she smiled up at James.
"Lily Evans!" a young woman around the same age as Lily announced with a smile on her face as she approached Lily and James in the corner of the room where they stood laughing at Remus and Sirius' antics.
"Marlene!" Lily exclaimed as she ran over to her friend and hugged her.
"Hey James," Marlene smiled brightly at James as she looked between him and Lily with a glint in her eyes that didn't go past unnoticed by Lily and James.
"Hello," James mumbled as he made to get away to find out what Sirius and Remus were doing to the punch.
"Was I interrupting something?" Marlene asked with an air of innocence that stopped James dead in his tracks.
"No!" Lily exclaimed.
"I was just going to go find out what Sirius and Remus were up to, they've been hovering around that punch bowl for a very long time and I'm starting to get worried," James used as an excuse as he tried to get away, but before he could make his escape, Marlene spoke again.
"You know, James, I always was rooting for you!" Marlene announced enthusiastically, "I always knew that Lily would come around and you two would get your acts together!"
"We're not--" Lily sighed.
"Dating," James finished.
"Oh," Marlene breathed as a faint blush crept onto her face.
"It's okay," James mumbled as he finally made his way over to Sirius and Remus who were putting their wands back into their pockets.
"Everyone just assumes," Lily laughed awkwardly as Marlene watched her intently.
"There's a reason for that," she said.
"I know, I know. Arabella tells me everyday," Lily smiled as she excused herself from Marlene and went to see what Arabella was doing at the moment.
"Hey Bella," Lily smiled as she appeared next to Arabella and Sirius who were cutting the cake.
"Hey Lils," Arabella and Sirius both mumbled as they kept on cutting the cake.
"Have you seen James?" Lily finally worked up the courage to ask. Arabella and Sirius both stopped cutting and looked at her with big smirks on their faces.
"Not like that! He ran off about an hour ago and I wanted to know if you knew where he went," Lily said in a very agitated voice.
"Did you put the moves on him?" Sirius asked.
"Will you please stop?!" James pleaded as Lily turned around sharply to face him and Remus who were watching her intently.
"I made Remus fix the punch," James responded before Lily could ask where he was.
"Blackmailed me," Remus muttered as he took a slice of cake and walked off, muttering things underneath his breath as he sent looks back at James that clearly showed that he wasn't happy.
"What did they do to it?" Lily asked through her laughter.
"They charmed it so that whoever drank it would lose their ability to speak correct English without insulting someone first," James smiled as he watched Sirius turn pink at the comment.
Lily laughed as she watched Remus, who was still sulking in the corner, and Sirius, who was beginning to look angrier that James had ruined their prank by each minute. "Do you have to ruin everything?" Sirius asked James with a pleading, but yet angry look in his eyes.
"Yes," James smirked as he was going to turn around to leave.
Before James could leave, a hiss was heard from across the room. Remus looked shocked and jumped back. Buddha flew across the room at the speed of light and right into the cake that was sitting on the table. The cake pieces splattered all over James, Sirius, Arabella, and Lily, all of whom afterwards just stood there, stunned, as Buddha hissed once more before jumping off of the table and running into the backroom.
"Your cat just bit me!" Remus exclaimed as he lifted up his red finger in the air.
"If Buddha bit you why did she feel the need to fly across the room at the cake?" Arabella questioned testily.
"I dropped my plate on her," Remus smiled sheepishly as he bent down to begin picking up the pieces.
Everyone in the room was watching in shock as Sirius finally wiped the frosting off of his eyes, "Well, I got my piece!"
Lily laughed as she wiped some of the cake off of her face and immediately threw it in James' hair. James just sent a glare in her direction and when he noticed everyone's eyes on Lily and himself he just smiled and turned into the kitchen to walk away from everyone's prying eyes.
"Happy birthday!" Lily smiled as she turned and walked down the hallway to change her clothes. Leaving Arabella and Sirius standing in the middle of a crowded room covered in cake.
...
"Sirius! Stop!" Arabella giggled as she walked through the door of Lily and Arabella's flat. Lily sighed as she lifted her head from her book in enough time to see Sirius nuzzling Arabella's neck and Arabella half-heartedly trying to shove him off.
"Lily!" Arabella announced loudly as she picked Sirius' head off of her shoulder and pushed him away from her.
"Are you two planning on staying here?" Lily sighed as she stood up in order to leave.
"James should be home by now you can go visit him," Sirius breathed without a trace of innuendo in his voice.
"Alright," Lily jumped up and apparated as quickly as possible away from the horrible visions that she had just seen.
"I'll have to poke my eyes out," Lily sighed as she looked around the dark flat.
"James? Remus?" Lily called out as she walked around the dark flat and once she was sufficiently satisfied that there was no one at home she walked into the living room and slumped down in a warm, soft chair, opened her book, and immersed herself in it so completely that she didn't hear the slight pop that meant that someone had arrived.
"If you don't give up your wand right now I'm going to make you wish that you had never been born," James breathed into Lily's ear as he reached behind her and grabbed her shoulder tightly.
Lily inhaled sharply and she jumped up pulling her wand out and stealing James' out of his hand and kneeing him before either of them had a chance to realize that it was each other. Lily's chest was rising up and down heavily and she widened her eyes as she watched James on the floor looking quite helpless underneath her wrath.
"James?" Lily asked as she bent down to make sure that it was indeed James sprawled out on the floor.
"Hello Lily," James hissed out through the pain.
"Did I hurt you?" Lily asked quickly as she touched his arm gently with concern.
"What do you think?" James asked sarcastically as Lily drew back slightly.
"You're strong; you can handle it!" Lily smirked.
"You're not a guy; you don't realize how much this hurts!" James breathed.
"It's your own fault for sneaking up on me like that!" Lily exclaimed as her temper began to get ahead of her.
"What was I supposed to do? I'm trained to think this way!" James growled back as he finally got up off of the floor.
"Well, you could've used some common sense," Lily blurted out as she glared at James, who was glaring right back at her.
"You don't live here! How was I supposed to assume that it'd be you?" James asked angrily.
"Are you really that dense James?" Lily asked incredulously.
"Obviously so, because I don't really understand the point that you're trying to make!" James shouted.
"Why would an intruder be reading in your flat?" Lily smirked.
"Maybe so that they could catch me off guard!" James tried to reason but losing the battle with his bad reasoning.
"Do you have short-term memory loss?" Lily asked.
"What?!" James exclaimed loudly.
"You caught me off guard! You snuck up on me!" Lily shouted as she threw her book at James' head, which caused him to lose his balance and end up on his back on the floor, staring up at Lily with a fear in his eyes that registered in his brain.
"Oh James!" Lily finally managed to choke out as she bent down to see if he was okay once again.
"Are you planning on attacking me again?" James asked lightly as he turned his wide eyes up to meet Lily's.
"No," Lily smiled as she brought her fingers up to his forehead to check the cut there.
"I didn't realize that my book would knock you down onto the floor!" Lily laughed as she raised her wand to fix his forehead.
"That's what happens when you throw a dictionary at someone," James smirked as he ran his fingers across the now healed cut.
"It's not a dictionary. It's barely 300 pages," Lily laughed.
"It felt like a dictionary!" James exclaimed as he stood up and with a wave of his wand he lit the apartment so that there were no more uncertain shadows in the room.
"See if you'd have done that we wouldn't have had this mess," James teased.
Lily just glared at James as she picked her book up off of the floor and resumed reading.
"What is that book about?" James asked as he looked at the cover.
"Old fashioned healing charms. I was trying to figure out if they'd be more effective than the methods that we use today," Lily smiled.
"If they were more effective would they have switched to newer charms?" James laughed as he watched Lily roll her eyes in his direction.
"Of course they would've. No one ever pays any attention to what's more effective. They just want the modern way. Do you realize that it's extremely hard to get hired if your basis is the older healing charms?" Lily asked.
"No," James finally spoke.
"So, as far as I can tell, these charms are probably better than the newer ones. You see, if I had used a charm that they use at St. Mungos on your head, there would still be a light scar. With these charms, there isn't a noticeable scar. At least not that I can see," Lily smiled as she ran her fingers across James' forehead.
"Why do you think they switched?" James asked as his breath began to become shallower under Lily's light touch.
"People are under the impression that newer is better," Lily spoke with a sad smile across her lips.
"Nothing's wrong with the past," James mumbled.
"Of course not, and sometimes older is better. Sometimes you need to relive the past," Lily smiled as she watched James intently underneath a shy gaze.
"LILY! JAMES!" Sirius shouted as he burst into the room with a large smile plastered on his face as soon as he saw the two of them sitting on the floor next to each other.
"What?" James asked crossly.
"No need to be rude; I didn't mean to interrupt your moment," Sirius rolled his eyes as he watched the two of them begin to stand up and move towards the door.
"What were you two doing on the floor anyway?" Sirius asked, as if he expected them to say that they were snogging.
"James attacked me," Lily smirked.
"Way to go Jamsie!" Sirius cheered.
"Sirius! You have a one track mind!" Lily exclaimed as she slapped his shoulder with her book.
"Lily shouldn't be telling the story. She left out the part where she kneed me!" James exclaimed as he let a flash of pain go across his face, "Then once she realized it was me, she threw her book at me!"
"It wasn't because I realized it was you! I threw it at you because someone had to knock some sense into you!" Lily shouted.
"Don't get her started, Sirius, or you'll be dead," James whispered as he moved to leave from the room. Sirius just watched Lily with wide eyes as he finally mumbled a quick goodbye and ran out of the room.
Lily laughed lightly to herself as she apparated out of their flat and back into her room where she plopped down onto her bed to finish studying the old version of healer charms. She quickly found that she couldn't get her mind off of the past events of her day.
"Sometimes you need to acknowledge the past," Lily smiled as she rolled on her back and continued to stare at the ceiling.
...
Lily walked out of the kitchen with a towel in her hair and a bowl of muggle cereal. She was humming slightly to herself while concentrating on the bowl and not spilling the milk over the side. Since she wasn't watching where she was going, she failed to notice Remus, who was standing with his back to her, talking with James and Sirius. In just a second, Lily was on her back covered in milk and cereal pieces and the three men were staring at her as if she were insane.
"Hello Lils!" Sirius exclaimed, "How's the weather down there?"
"What are you doing here?" Lily asked as she picked herself up off the ground and repaired the bowl with a wave of her wand.
"We're here to visit our favorite girl in the whole world!" Sirius smiled as he winked at Lily.
"Thank God," Lily sighed, assuming they were talking about Arabella, as she turned and walked past the kitchen.
"Okay, James' favorite girl," Sirius added as Lily stopped in her tracks.
"Sirius," She warned.
"Come on, Lils!" Sirius pleaded.
"Can't you get Arabella to entertain you?" Lily asked rudely.
"She's got to go and report something," Sirius whined.
"Can't the three of you go make trouble somewhere where I don't live?" Lily smirked.
"We just wanted to know if you wanted to come bother people with us at Diagon Alley!" Sirius invited her happily.
"Do you not remember what happened to me last time I went there with you guys?" Lily asked as if it were the stupidest thing in the world to ask her to go somewhere with them again.
"That was your own fault!" Sirius exclaimed as he received glares from everyone else in the room.
"How?" Lily breathed heavily.
"You said, and I'm going to quote, 'leave me the bloody hell alone! I need to actually get something done!'" Sirius smiled as Lily just scowled at him.
"Sirius," Remus sighed as he tried to stop Sirius from bothering Lily even further.
"Have fun on your own then," Sirius sighed as he turned to leave with Remus following quickly behind him as if to make sure he wasn't going to turn around and change his mind.
"I'm going to use the loo quickly, I'll meet you there," James spoke quickly. Remus nodded his head and he quickly nudged Sirius and they both apparated out of the flat leaving James and Lily alone in the quiet room.
James watched as Lily shuffled to the kitchen and let out a sigh. Lily turned her head slightly and watched James before she finally worked out the courage to ask James what was wrong.
"James, is everything okay?" Lily asked in a very soft voice that caused shivers to go up and down James' spine.
"Yes," James sighed out once again as he moved towards the door to the loo. Lily took another step closer to him before she decided against it and turned and went back into the kitchen.
A few minutes later the door opened and James walked out with his eyes still downcast slightly. He sent a glance in Lily's direction before turning his head and moving to walk out of the flat.
"James!" Lily suddenly spoke but it was too late. James slipped in the milk that Lily had been meaning to clean up since Sirius and Remus left. Before James knew what was happening he was sliding across the floor and he landed at Lily's feet. Unfortunately, he didn't quite stop there causing Lily to topple over backwards with his weight and with a loud and painful crash they fell onto the table breaking one of the legs off and causing them to fall onto the floor in a sea of wood pieces.
"Ouch," Lily finally spoke as she sat up and rubbed the back of her head slightly.
"I'm sorry!" James exclaimed as he sat up and made sure that Lily wasn't hurt too badly by his actions.
"You should watch where you're going," Lily smirked as she stood up and surveyed the mess.
"You should've cleaned up the milk when you spilt it," James told Lily in a commanding tone that made her grin lightly at him and turn her head back to the table that was now broken and slightly scattered across the floor.
"We actually broke a table," Lily laughed out as if the idea were too hard to believe.
"I didn't even know that was possible," James smiled.
"Well, if you weren't flying through the air at such a fast speed--" Lily teased as she began to walk towards where her wand was lying on the counter a few feet away. However, she didn't listen to her own advice and before she knew what was happening she had tipped over a piece of the broken table and slammed into the counter, causing a bunch of plates to fall out of the counter and scatter shards of glass across the floor around her.
"Lily! Are you alright?" James exclaimed quickly as he flicked his wand and cleaned up the glass shards off of the floor and safely made his way over to Lily's side.
"I can't believe that just happened," Lily laughed out even further.
"I don't think it's that funny!" James exclaimed as he looked around the kitchen, which was a mess at the moment.
"Arabella is going to be so mad when she gets back!" Lily sighed as she looked around the kitchen.
"I'll help you fix it up," James sighed as he looked around the kitchen sadly, not exactly happy about his choice of way to spend the afternoon, but the second he met Lily's eyes which had lit up at his offer he smiled and finally thought that maybe it wouldn't be that bad after all.
"James?" Lily asked timidly after a few minutes of awkward silence as they began to try and clean the mess that had been the kitchen.
"Hmm?" James responded as he tried to keep his mind on the task at hand and trying not to accept the fact that he was failing miserably.
"Why are you so upset this morning?" Lily asked finally as she stopped picking up the splinters of wood and looked over at James to watch his expression.
"I'm not upset," James lied.
"Yes you are!" Lily insisted.
"It's not that important," James finally gave in as he tried to avoid Lily's eyes that were filled with a concern for him.
"Yes it is. I think that the fact that you aren't happy is pretty important. Would you tell Sirius, Remus, or Peter that it wasn't important if they were upset about something?" Lily asked gently.
"No," James admitted as he finally stopped cleaning and looked up at Lily.
"Come on James! It can't be that personal. It's not like you're madly in love with someone," Lily teased.
'If he says yes, I think I'm going to have to go drown myself in the toilet before I can hear what blonde bimbo he's head-over-heels with. It's my own fault for not making my move when I could but you can't help being jealous.' Lily sighed as she glanced at James who was staring at her with wide eyes.
"Oh," Lily breathed.
'Oh God...' Lily thought with a small sigh.
"It must be personal. You don't have to talk about it with me," Lily finally smiled at James as she began to stand up and move towards another part of the kitchen away from James where he wouldn't be bothered by her nosy questions any longer.
"It's just that she's so perfect and wonderful," James smiled at Lily, who suddenly shifted and squirmed underneath his comments.
'Oh no! She doesn't think I'm talking about her does she? What if she already knows? I mean Sirius has probably told Arabella and I'm sure she's told Lily. I'm probably making her uncomfortable. This is just stupid!' James thought as he turned back to his work without saying another word.
"It's okay," Lily finally spoke, "You can talk about it if you want to. I'll listen."
James smiled in relief. 'Thank you! She doesn't know that it's her. I'm free to see what she thinks I should do and get her opinion of this stupid, stupid mess that I've gotten myself into by being such a total coward.'
"You know when you can just tell that you are meant to be with someone?" James asked Lily, who blushed underneath his gaze and turned her head to the ground.
"Yes," Lily admitted as she busied herself with something, she wasn't even sure of what it was.
James smiled uncertainly, "Well, you see, I've fallen in love with this amazing, perfect, beautiful girl and I don't know how to tell her."
Lily sighed loudly before she realized what she was doing. She quickly blushed and turned her gaze back to the monotonous job at her fingertips and pretended as if she hadn't heard herself sigh or what James had just said.
"Lily?" James asked quietly.
"Yes."
"What do you think I should do?" James asked.
"How long have you known her?" Lily questioned.
"For years, but I've only just gotten to know her recently," James responded as he tried to see if Lily was catching onto what he was trying to tell her.
"Were you friends?" Lily asked.
"No," James laughed.
"Are you now?"
"I think," James responded as he watched to see if Lily would realize.
'And girls say that men are dense. If Lily isn't picking up on this now she really doesn't even think of us that way and therefore isn't considering herself a possibility for me to love her. It's not like she's in love with me and is in denial. That's just a stupid idea that Sirius conjured in his head.' James smiled.
"How can you not know?" Lily asked him with a frown etched across her face.
"Well, by my standards, we're very good friends," James quickly corrected his statement.
"Your standards?" Lily asked once again becoming puzzled by James' roundabout way of answering her questions.
"I don't know how she sees our friendship," James admitted softly.
"Well, I'm sure that if you do things together and talk she considers you a friend," Lily smiled comfortingly at James without a hint that she knew whom he was talking about.
"I guess, but you never really know," James sighed.
"Do you consider me your friend?" Lily asked without much confidence in her voice.
"Of course! One of my best," James smiled brightly as Lily returned it quickly.
"Is your friendship like ours?"
"Exactly," James breathed.
'Damn. A girl who has the exact same relationship with James, and who doesn't realize that she's the luckiest girl in the world to have James that in love with her. That girl must be dense to not read the signs. I'm sure he shows how much he loves her. You can read James' eyes like a book.' Lily thought with a bittersweet smile etched across her face.
"Why hasn't anything happened?" Lily asked as she finally felt herself let out a breath she had been holding inside herself.
"I don't know how she feels," James responded as his eyes met Lily's as if he were pleading with her to answer his question.
'I'm the worst person to come to for advice for this sort of thing why does he have to act like I'll have all the answers? Why does he have to look at me that way?' Lily asked herself as she looked down at the floor before looking up once again to meet his soft hazel eyes.
"How are you going to find out if you don't ask?" Lily asked with a slight trembling causing her voice to shake lightly.
"How can you expect me to put everything on the line like that?" James asked as if that were the stupidest thing that Lily could've asked James at the moment. She appeared to be taken aback by his outburst but when he looked again she was watching him just as calmly as before.
"Sometimes you have to take risks to gain something important!" Lily exclaimed passionately.
"Lily, you don't understand," James sighed.
"What don't I understand?" Lily asked crossly.
"I'd risk my life for her. I'd risk everything that I own. You have to realize that I can't risk my friendship!" James managed to speak calmly.
"James--" Lily began.
"If I couldn't at least have my friendship with her I don't think that I could go on living. I need her in my life!" James explained with raw emotion evident in his voice.
"The real question is how long can you live with only being her friend? Could you watch her date another man? Kiss another man? Marry another man?" Lily found herself edging James on and trying to tempt him to confess to the girl.
'Why am I doing this? Why am I allowing myself to be hurt this way? Why am I telling James to confess his love to the girl? How did I get myself into this bloody mess?!' Lily wondered.
"Lily--" James began, but he was interrupted.
"MERLIN! WHAT DID YOU TWO DO IN HERE!?" Arabella shrieked as she walked into the kitchen.
"Please tell me it's what I think it is," Sirius smirked.
"I don't even want to know why you want to know about that," Remus sighed as he looked at Sirius in complete disgust.
"I thought you were at work," Lily mumbled towards Arabella.
"I was, but I found these two troublemakers in Diagon Alley and I asked them if they wanted to come over for lunch. I guess you and James can't make fun of Sirius and me for being in the kitchen anymore," Arabella smirked.
"We weren't--" Lily began.
"She spilt milk--"
"I really should've cleaned it up, but you know me!" Lily laughed.
"I wasn't paying attention," James admitted.
"He slipped--"
"She wasn't watching--"
"The table--"
"Is not sturdy!" Lily and James finally finished together.
"I didn't understand anything," Remus finally spoke before Arabella and Sirius had regained their composure once again.
"I see you two made a real dent on cleaning up the kitchen," Arabella laughed.
"We tried!" James smirked before Lily had a chance to explain.
"Don't even bother," Sirius joked as he shoved Lily and James out in the hallway and began to flick his wand about the room.
...
"I don't know what you two did to that table but I could not get it to repair!" Remus explained as the five of them sat down on the floor to eat.
"We didn't do anything to the table," Lily responded defensively.
"You broke it," Arabella rolled her eyes at Lily who just stuck out her tongue in her direction.
"Lily, do you want to help me with the drinks?" Arabella asked Lily, who stood up to help her friend without noticing the smiles she was sending in her direction.
"What really happened?" Arabella asked as soon as the two of them were safely in the kitchen and out of earshot of the three men sitting on the floor eating sandwiches.
"What James and I told you is what seriously happened. If we were snogging we certainly wouldn't be in the kitchen! I, for one, know how damaging doing that can be to poor innocent souls who happen to share the flat," Lily mumbled angrily.
"Okay, I get it!" Arabella growled.
"How could you really think that we'd be doing that on the table in here when we aren't even dating!" Lily finally blurted out as Arabella began to pour pumpkin juice into cups.
"You two are obviously head-over-heels for each other. You obviously won't start dating before you snog. You're going to snog and then start dating. That's just how it happens when people are as stubborn as you are," Arabella reasoned with Lily.
"We are not stubborn! Just because we aren't snogging and you think we should be doesn't mean that we're stubborn!" Lily exclaimed.
"Of course not, but you two obviously want to and you're not. That makes you either stubborn or afraid, take your pick," Arabella smirked as she set down the pumpkin juice and turned around the face Lily.
"He's in love with someone, Bella," Lily finally managed to croak out.
"Yeah, you," Arabella smiled happily.
"No, he told me today when we were attempting to clean up the kitchen that he was in love with this perfect girl and he didn't know what he should do," Lily explained.
"Why is that so upsetting if you aren't in love with him?" Arabella teased.
"Bloody hell, Arabella! You are the most annoying person in the universe!" Lily exclaimed loudly. Causing the conversation from the other room to become silent.
"We're okay," Arabella snapped and the three men began talking again. Arabella turned to Lily and glared at her.
"I have a good point and you know it," Arabella finally spoke.
"Okay, fine," Lily surrendered but kept on talking so that Arabella could not acknowledge her defeat, "but he's still in love with this perfect girl and so I basically told him to risk their friendship and take a chance with her!"
"And you two weren't snogging?" Arabella asked calmly.
"No! Are you listening to anything I'm telling you?" Lily asked angrily.
"Of course I am! What did he tell you about their relationship?" Arabella finally asked Lily.
"He said that they've known each other for a long time, and that they weren't friends before, but lately they've been friends. Well, at least he thinks they're friends. He said they had a relationship exactly like ours," Lily sighed.
"Have you known James a long time?"
"Yes, since we were eleven. Arabella you know that!" Lily said animatedly.
"Were you friends at Hogwarts?" Arabella asked.
"Were you alive then? We hated each other!"
"So you weren't friends. Are you friends now?" Arabella questioned.
"Yes, of course we are. Don't you think so?" Lily asked tentatively.
"So basically you've known each other a long time, you weren't friends before, but you are now and you have the same relationship as him and that other mystery girl. Sound familiar?" Arabella asked.
"That can't be possible," Lily said with wide eyes.
"Anything's possible, Lily. And this anything happens to be true."
...
Author's Note: Hey everyone! I loved this chapter I got it out in a matter of hours! I hope that you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It was extremely fun to write!
I have to thank my amazing betas who go through these extra long chapters for you all! So lets give a big thank you to Brenda, Natalie, Manda, and Emily!
If anyone needs to contact me you can IM me on my AIM sn which is eyeshadow5746 or you can send me an e-mail. I'm pretty much always online and I check my e-mail constantly so you'll get a response quickly that way.
If anyone wants an e-mail notification on when I've updated you can just leave your e-mail address in a review or tell me over IM or send me an e-mail and I'll notify you by e-mail when I update chapter 11! It's as easy as that!
If you want you can visit my livejournal. I always put up sneak peaks of upcoming chapters and I say where I am in the writing process...don't you all want to know what's going on in my life and the upcoming chapters? I think you do! So you can check it out and leave some comments if you wish! I love hearing from everyone! My username is eyeshadow5746 )
Then there's always my website. That has lots of fun stuff including contact information, all of my fanfictions are posted along with spoilers and upcoming stories. Plus I have original fiction and a what's happening section that lets you know what's happening with my stories. It's under construction right now but there's still some stuff there. You should go check it out! )
And last but not least I have to thank everyone who reviewed! You guys really are the greatest! I love you all!
Ruth3: Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you liked Lily putting Arabella and Sirius in their places. It was about time! Hopefully this chapter made you laugh as well! I didn't take too long to update either! It was very quick for me!
Seffie: I have an idea of how happy you were! Probably just as happy as I was to actually be posting!! I can't believe I took that long! I LOVE this story and it's my absolute favorite of everything I've ever written. Lol send my apologies to your neighbors...in case you woke them up again ;-) Thanks for reviewing!!
angelbud2233: I had a WONDERFUL time on vacation! I don't know if that's how much fun you had reading it but I hope so! I'm so glad you liked the chapter and that you liked how Lily showed Sirius and Arabella who's boss! Haha I loved that part. Thanks for reviewing!
Jaquelyne: Haha I'm glad you enjoyed that part. It was one of my favorites to write! I'm glad that you felt it explained Sirius, I felt the same way! Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad to be back too!
cactus jam: You're welcome. I was making myself angry for not updating! I can only imagine how annoyed everyone who was actually reading it must've felt. I'm glad that you liked the events of the chapter. :-) I'm also happy to hear that you liked Lily showing Sirius and Arabella who's in charge! Everyone was happy with that scene I'm glad I went against my outline and wrote it!! Thanks so much for reviewing! I put my favorites up. That's not all of them but those were the only ones that I could remember and that were on so I guess that'll work for now!!
FrighteninglyObsessed: I'm glad to hear it made you happy! That makes me happy! Lol I know what the squishy feeling is ;-) it's the same feeling I get when you review! Lol hopefully the update was quick enough for everyone. It's certainly faster than I usually update.
holly-evans: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad that you love my story! I updated sooner this time but I can't guarantee this speed for all the chapters. Things tend to get hectic or I get writer's block. Either way it just doesn't get done.
Realmer06: Lol I'm glad that you're admitting I'm right! Lily did manage to get back at Sirius and Arabella very nicely! I'm very proud of that scene! I know from experience that when you mention something people totally give it away. It's so much fun!
Shoved Offspoon: Thanks for reviewing!! It did serve them right, and the two of them totally deserved it!
izzybell4life: I have to have Edward there to add tension. There has to be some drama to keep the plot moving! Plus it's so much fun to have someone who's not all obsessed with Lily and James being in love in a good way. That's not always the case...haha Malfoy was there for the same reason...has Edward retired now? You'll just have to find out! You have the right to be happiest about seeing whoever you like most! I love Remus I had to bring him back in...as well as Tonks and Andromeda! They're all so cool! Thanks for reviewing!
pokie4389: Yeah, I'm guilty! I changed my name! Thanks so much for the review! You've got it...there'd be no story. Sometimes you just want them to get together...even I have the urges...but I have to resist! I posted super fast...well super fast for me!
shrk-bait: Thanks for the review! I'm really happy to hear that you love it! I updated really soon for me!!
Lily Natalia Evans: Yeah I took forever to update last time!! I didn't take nearly as long this time, I was actually rather quick for me! Thanks for reviewing! They'll be together soon...this story is winding down. It's declining, which is really very sad.
misakichi1: Thanks for the review! I updated as soon as I could...and it was really fast...for me!
chewy1: Thanks for reviewing! I'm happy to hear you liked Lily turning around the embarrassment. That was my favorite scene of the chapter! This chapter came out pretty soon-for me at least!!
MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus: Thanks for reviewing!! I enjoyed all of them! I'm glad to hear that you loved it! It does take a while to read, it's around 16 pages like all of the other chapters. This story's really long! Nothing happens between the two of them...at least not yet...haha you're just going to have to wait! I have to say that I'm glad you think my story is original...I love hearing that people think that it's different from the other stories out there! And I'm also honored to be on your favorites lists! I wrote more and I updated pretty fast for me!
onesmartgoalie: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like the story! More came pretty fast for me...and it should be coming eventually...but don't take that seriously.
LENAk: I am back! And I'm very happy to be back! Thanks for reviewing! Computers act stupid very often, don't they? Mine certainly does! ALL THE TIME! Ugh I swear to God I'm about ready to throw it out the window some days!
carameLisSa: Hey! Thanks for reviewing! I've updated a lot of my stories recently. At least they've all been updated and I've had so many nights with such little sleep and now I'm so happy to actually rest. This story has 17 chapters and no more or no less! That's when it's going to end! I can't tell you how it's going to end because that'd ruin it for you and everybody else! You'll just have to keep reading and find out how it ends! Lily really did need to get some revenge on the two of them. They deserved it! Remus will probably be in it more! He's so cool. I love him! And I did update soon! At least for me.
jimithang: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad to hear how much you like the story!! I'll be looking forward to you reviewing again!
reena-blue: Thanks for the review! I'm glad that you liked it...I hope you got around to reading more of it! I know the chapters are really long.
oobergoober: Hey thanks for the review! I'm glad to hear you liked it! But I'm sad you don't have anything to say. And I have to add that migraine suck I get them ALL the time! Okay, well not really anymore, but I totally used to. Making you wait 7 months is very mean, which is why I didn't do it again!
ShadowFox991: I'm glad that you felt it was worth the wait! They're going to get together! It's not that much longer!! I promise!
Potterschick: Thanks for reviewing! Do they really die at the age of 21? I thought they were a little bit older. Cause they get out of Hogwarts at 17, they have to get jobs and get married and have a baby...and all that in 4 years. Wow. If that's so then I screwed this one up!! Haha well, they're taking a while but hey it's all part of the story. If they were together now the story wouldn't be nearly as fun!
Luver19: Well, you're on my e-mail notification list, as you've probably figured out! I'm glad to hear that my story makes me smile! I love hearing that! Thanks for reviewing!
Angelina Radcliffe: I'm glad that you liked Joey! I love that kid. He'll be back I promise. I have the whole story planned out! And he's not going anywhere.
Imscble: Thanks for reviewing! Lol-they'll get together soon! I promise it's not that much longer! I updated really fast...for me at least!
Windowseat Wonderer: Thanks so much for reviewing! I'm glad that you love it! Lily's friends think too much about her and James and Lily showed them their place at the end of the chapter. That had to be my favorite scene in this chapter. I loved writing it! I updated really fast...I wasn't very busy this week even though I should be doing summer reading! Oops.
rachel132: Thanks so much for reviewing! I'm glad to see that you liked it! They'll be together soon! You all just need to wait for a little while longer!
James And Lily 4eva: Thanks so much for the review! I'm glad that you like it! I updated pretty fast for me!
soyamonkey: I'm glad you liked the ending! I loved writing that scene!
aMeLiA-cHiCk: Thanks for the review! I'm glad to hear that you love the story! Oh you know the distractions are lots of fun and if they weren't there you'd miss them and the story would suck! I updated pretty fast for me...at least I did this time!
Brilover: Thanks so much for the review! I'm glad that you enjoyed it! Wow 3 times is a lot but whatever makes you happy! I'm glad you can read it that many times and still like it! Yay! That makes my day. Well, this one came out fairly quickly, as for the next one. I have no idea.
Hyena: Lily DID get revenge. That scene was just really happy and fun to write! She had to get back her pride somehow. Haha I'm not sure how much of a role Edward will play in the rest of the story...either that or I don't want to tell you! haha but I can tell you that if they got together then there would be no point to the story! It's all about this fun! Thanks for reviewing!
Ashes: I tried! It's faster than normal. I've taken 6 months before...after that everything's fast! Thanks for the review!
loser-me-ushi: Thank you so much for reviewing! I am so glad to hear that you love the story! If I got Lily and James together it'd be boring! And you know it! Haha
secondatbat9: Hey! Thank you so much for all the reviews! I do tend to write long chapters...but I love writing them that way and not too many people really complain about them! I'm glad that you aren't one of those few! Haha I know about Figg...I started writing before OotP came out...I know that was a long time ago...but afterwards I made some comment about her mother being a squib...hence Arabella being Figg's daughter. I don't know if she had one but I don't think it said she did. Anyway this story is kinda alternate universe after OotP. Lily and James will kiss eventually. Don't you worry! I'm glad that you enjoyed it! And I tried to update as fast as I could!!
limbo-gal: Thanks for the review! I'm glad that you liked the end. Everyone seemed happy with that scene! I'm really glad it was one of my favorites to write. They will discover each other's feelings soon...as you can tell I'm already leading up to that. As for them kissing or getting together? You'll just have to wait and see!
siriusforeva: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you thought it was funny. I guess you could look at the way the story's going as 'dragging it on' but I prefer stories where they're not tearing each other's clothes off in the second chapter :-). It's just my writing style and I'm sure that they'll come around soon. I do control them! But thanks for reviewing once again!