A Hogwarts Cinderella
By: Tiger Lily21
Chapter Eleven
A/N: Finally, the chapter you've all been waiting for. I'm sorry I took so long to get it up but I wanted to wait until all the reviews stopped coming plus I had Writer's Block and my sister (Silver Tiger279 or something like that) lost the notebook I wrote the chapter in. But I found it, you all stopped reviewing, and my Muse returned so I'm going to stop babbling now and let you read. Enjoy!
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The next two weeks passed quickly. After Remus revealed that Lily was also "Remus's red-haired friend (RR-HF)" the rest of the riddle fell into place James's notes were as follows:
One is a friend with a secret. (Lily because she is also RR-HF)
Two are beneath your nose. (RR-HF and Lady Gryffindor)
Three are one. ( Lily, RR-HF, and Lady Gryffindor are the same person, a.k.a. Lily.)
All are your love. ( I love Lady Gryffindor so therefore I love Lily.)
The answer to the riddle was Lily. Every line applied to her. She was Lady Gryffindor. He loved her.
(A/N: At this point let's have a round of applause for James before the story moves on. Yeeaah!!!)
That was what the riddle said. And of course the riddle, like many other things, was right. But James, being male and therefore possessing male stupidity, didn't get it. That Lily was the person he'd loved for the past three years simply would not penetrate his brain. And so for another week he was puzzled.
Lily, on the other hand, was having a grand two weeks. She had finished most of her costume, she had outsmarted Violet, and if she played her cards right she would live happily ever after.
By the time the ball was a week away Lily, who had been floating on the happily ever after cloud, fell back to earth with a bump.
"Lily, how do you know when you're in love with the right person?" asked James.
"I don't know," she replied dreamily. "When your heart tells you so."
"What if your heart said so but you didn't understand why?"
"James, what are you asking?"
"How can you tell who you really love if your heart says two girls but it also says they're the same person and you don't get it?"
BUMP. She landed, hard.
"Believe me, James," said Lily quietly, " If you let go of the matter and leave it to your heart you'll be much happier. Now please, leave me alone. I have love matters of my own to deal with."
"Some help you are," grumbled James.
He trudged upstairs.
"Remus, is Lily in love with someone?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"I can't tell you," said Remus, concentrating for a moment on the card castle he was building with Exploding Snape cards. (A/N: No that isn't a typo. These cards have a picture of Snape on them and they act just like Exploding Snap cards. Tee-hee!)
"But she's loved him longer than you've loved Lady Gryffindor. She's had a hard time of it too. You see, this guy is so thick sometimes he doesn't realize how much she loves him or how much he loves her back. Plus she's been keeping a secret from him for the past three years. I think she's hoping the ball will magically make everything all right but we both know it won't. She needs his help to live happily ever after."
"That guy is the biggest dolt in the school if he can't see how special Lily is," said James angrily.
"Don't be too hard on yourself James," said Remus with a smile.
And then it all finally clicked. Lily was Lady Gryffindor.Lily was in love with him and he was in love with her. Lily needed him to give her happily ever after because he had taken it away.
Three girls stood in a line. One, whose name James didn't know, tried to get to the front of the line but was pushed back. The shoe fit Rose Thompson's foot.
"I'm going out with Gilderoy Lockhart!" she giggled.
The shoe fit her sister, Violet.
"Violet Thompson, will you be my girlfriend?"
"Of course, Jamesie!"
The next time he looked up the third girl was gone.
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A warm mouth made contact with his own and a tingling sensation shot through him as someone kissed him. Then it was gone.
"Who kissed me?" he asked.
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"Do you know Lady Gryffindor?"
"Uh, yeah," said Lily. "But she made me promise not to tell you. Race you to the common room."
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Lily smiled another mysterious smile. "Look with this," she pointed at his heart, " not with these." Her finger was pointing at his eyes.
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"Believe me, James," said Lily quietly, " If you let go of the matter and leave it to your heart you'll be much happier."
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Back in the present James blinked as memory after memory of Lily flashed though his mind.
"I love you, Lily Evans," he whispered.
BOOM! Remus's card castle fell down, singeing his eyebrows.
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Lily was still on the couch in the common room, her notebook open on her lap, quill scribbling furiously.
"Alaura! You came back! "
It was Jonathon. He ran to her but she put out her hand to stop him.
"I had to come back," she said, "Because I love you. If you love me too, despite my dirty clothes and my smudged face, then tell me and I'll never leave again. But if it was the gown and the jewels you fell in love with that night at the palace, tell me and I will never darken your doorway again."
But he didn't have to answer. She could see it in his eyes. He loved her for who she was. He always had. And suddenly she was in his arms. Their first kiss had been bliss. This one left that one choking in the dust.
A month later, Prince Jonathon and Alaura were married. Evonna and her brood were not invited but had to celebrate with the townsfolk. In the years to come Alaura would become known as Queen Alaura the Brave and Jonathon, King Jonathon the Kind. As she had promised, Alaura never left him again. And so they lived happily ever after.
The notebook closed. She had done it. She had completed a story. She had an idea for another one. Her characters would live happily ever after.
"But will I?" she wondered.
"Not unless James gets his act together and I doubt he will," said a voice in her head.
"Of course, but only if you help James," said another voice in her heart.
She listened to her heart. Perhaps she would let James read her story. Besides, she was dedicating it to him. Maybe the story of Prince Jonathon and Alaura would help James figure out who she really was and what he felt for her.
Lily headed for bed, determined to give James the story first thing in the morning, in hopes it would help. What she didn't know was that he didn't need her help. He had already figured it out. She also didn't know that in her own dormitory Violet was plotting revenge and conquest.
A/N: And that's where I'm going to stop. I hope you liked it! Next chapter, the ball! By the way, I changed the name of the female character in Lily's story because the girl in my novel is named Ariella Churchill and her prince is NOT named Jonathon. His name is James. It's on ff.net and it's another Cinderella story. Read it! Please?