Lily had already been working on the Great Hall for over an hour when James showed up, wearing a "well-what-did-you-expect?" grin.
"Did you miss me?" he said as he came up behind Lily. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he began to tickle her. Lily squeaked in surprise and giggled loudly, gaining herself disapproving looks from other prefects.
"Ja-mes," she whined, but suddenly she realized, as she turned around, that he was nowhere in sight.
"James!" she whispered, peeking under a table. "We're supposed to be working!" She began searching under the tables and behind other people, but she couldn't find him anywhere. "James," she laughed, "come out!"
Lily whipped around and nearly screamed when she found herself face to face with Madelyn.
"You scared me half to death!" she breathed.
Madelyn shrugged this off and a giant grin spread across her face. "I've asked Remus to the ball," she said. "Our plans our going so well! In a few hours we'll both be happy."
Lily opened her mouth to say something when she felt two arms snaking around her waist. She jumped, then breathed a small sigh of relief.
"Oh…James, heh….there you are," she said nervously.
"What's goin' on Lils?" James asked. Lily raised her eyebrows at James and watched as Madelyn turned momentarily starch white, but quickly regained her color.
"Oh, I was just telling Lily how lovely this ball is going to be and how tragic it is that I won't have a date," Madelyn said through clenched teeth.
James looked down at Lily, then back up at Madelyn. "Terrible," he agreed, in what he hoped was his most sincere of all voices.
"I'll see you later Lily," Madelyn muttered, and she turned and left the hall.
Lily ducked out of James' grasp and walked over to one of the many small round tables that had replaced the house tables. With a flick of her wand, an orange tablecloth appeared.
"What's wrong Lils?" James asked. Lily scowled.
"Stop calling me that."
"Only if you tell me why," James replied, taking a step toward her.
Suddenly Lily was feeling very claustrophobic. She took a step away and made a black tablecloth appear on a different table. "My grandfather used to call me that," she said bitterly.
"So…"
"So," she spat, "he passed away last summer."
"Oh Lils," James cringed and corrected himself. "Lily. I'm very sorry."
"I'm sure you are," she hissed, moving on to another table she conjured a tablecloth, her movements becoming more exaggerated and violent. "You have everything you want."
"No…" James trailed, "not nearly everything."
Lily whipped around and found herself nose to nose with James. Choosing to ignore this she hissed, "Oh yea, like what? You don't come from a bad family-"
"Neither do you-"
"You have great friends-"
"Not like you don't-"
"Everyone loves you-"
"You don't."
"I-" but Lily stopped and dropped her gaze to her feet.
"You…?"
"I'm sorry James, but I have to go," she said. She took a few steps and summoned her backpack without turning around.
"Lily?"
"I'll see you later James."
"Lily…" he whispered to himself as the hall doors slammed behind her. "What did I do wrong this time?"
Lily flopped onto her four-poster, feeling about as terrible as she ever had. She didn't understand why she could never control her outbursts. Lily rolled over and stared at a picture on her nightstand. Madelyn had her arm around Lily's shoulders, and they were laughing hysterically at something, though she could no longer remember what it was. Ironically, she thought, they had gone on a cruise together on a ship called "St. James." She could remember most of the trip quite clearly.
They were eleven years old and it was the summer after they had discovered the magnificence of Hogwarts. They had finally convinced their parents to let them go on the cruise alone and loved every minute of freedom.
"This is wonderful," Madelyn had said while sprawling out on a sunning chair on the deck. "We'll have flawless tans to go back to school with, and James will positively gape when he sees me."
She had wandered into some daydream when Lily said, "Who's that?"
"Who's who, Lily?"
"Who's this James?" Lily asked, her interest mounting. Could she finally get Madelyn to confess whom she liked? Lily had never been able to do so before.
"James!" Madelyn pronounced with a squeak, sitting bolt upright and staring at her friend in disbelief. "James Potter. Gorgeous! Black black black hair, hazel eyes to make you melt, and the smile of a God. And he's best friends with Sirius Black, another candy for the eyes, let me tell you-"
Madelyn took a breath to continue rambling and Lily seized her chance to get a word in. "Oh, you mean that messy boy who's always getting into trouble? He seems like a bit of a prat if you ask me. And that friend of his, Remus, is quite intriguing. I've talked to him before, and he's very intelligent. He'll only be dragged down by the people he hangs around with."
"Oh Lily, stop fussing. This is our vacation. Just relax." And Madelyn said no more. Lily suspected that she had gone into another daydream about this James Potter.
Lily leaned back onto her bed and stared at the canopy. She couldn't recall when things had become so complicated. At first it was easy to ignore James; she would only have to endure Madelyn's screeching occasionally as she pointed him out. Lily would nod and roll her eyes.
But then she noticed that James seemed to be around … a lot. He was becoming more and more known by every week, and by the time they were halfway through their second year, it was rumored that he had dated half of the girls in their year. Everybody knew who he was. Lily found this more obnoxious than attractive, while Madelyn was going all goggle-eyed every time he came around.
Which, inconveniently, seemed to be all of the time. Lily would spot James everywhere she went, whether she was with Madelyn or not. And by the time they had graduated from their second year, he had asked her out no less than thirty times. She wondered if she should tell Madelyn about this, and decided not to until she found out for herself.
Madelyn did find out, though, early on in their third year. Lily recalled wondering if her and Madelyn would ever speak again after the rows they went through, but finally Madelyn pulled through after Lily had argued, "But I've always said no to him!"
Lily never noticed how much she talked about Remus until in her third year, when Madelyn brought up that she thought Lily fancied him. Lily blushed and said no way; just because he was smart, sweet, sensible and rather good looking did not mean that she fancied him. Of course Madelyn thought that it probably did, but she watched Lily flounder painfully every time the two came across the subject of their love lives. Lily never had the courage to ask Remus out.
Lily was glaring at the ceiling when Madelyn walked into the dorm. "Come on Lils, it's six o'clock. Time to write the letters and get ready for the ball."
Lily groaned and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Can't you do it?" she muttered.
"You know I would, but I'm sure James has memorized your handwriting by now. After all, he has liked you for the past five years; he had to have done some things while you were being naïve." Madelyn had only a tinge of bitterness in her voice. Lily figured that there would have been much more there if they weren't about to do something totally ridiculous.
"I'll read mine to you. I finished it last night," Madelyn exclaimed. Lily sat down at her desk and motioned to Madelyn to read.
"Dear Remus,
I'm sorry to say that I can't attend the ball with you tonight, but Lily would be glad to go in my place. She's fancied you since third year, you know. It would be a pleasant surprise if you took her instead. Meet her in the Transfiguration classroom at a quarter to eight, dressed for the ball.
Always,
Madelyn "
"What do you think?"
"I think it's very convincing," Lily replied. "Now why don't you go take a shower while I write mine?"
"Good idea." And she bounced off to the bathroom. Lily sighed and laid her head on the desk. A few minutes later she picked it up and got out a parchment and quill.
Dear James,
Please meet me in the Transfiguration classroom at eight o'clock. Be ready for the ball. I'll explain later.
Forever,
LilyLily sat there for several minutes before she folded up the parchment and called her owl over. "Give this to James," she said, tying the rolled-up note to it's leg. The owl took off, and she did the same with Madelyn's letter, giving it to Madelyn's owl.
She was alone now. She quickly gathered her things and ran to the Prefects' bathroom. Locking the door behind her, she knelt down and turned on the faucets of the swimming pool-sized tub. She organized her make-up on the counter by the sink, her shampoo, conditioner and towel next to the bathtub, and her dress hanging on the wall.
She took as long as she thought she could afford just enjoying her bath, and she tried not to think about what was soon going to happen. She climbed out and wrapped her towel around her, wandering toward the mirror to get dressed up.
Remus stood waiting in the Transfiguration room. Lily was already ten minutes late, and he began to wonder if this was just some joke. He could see why Madelyn would be ashamed to go with him, but he wondered how Lily was involved. He had always been rather sure that they were friends, and he couldn't understand why she would want to hurt him. Besides her attitude toward James, she had always seemed like a rather nice girl.
Remus was just about to give up when Lily walked into the room. She left the lights off, as Madelyn had instructed, as she would be hiding in the shadows to see how it went and make sure that Lily didn't chicken out.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Lily said a little frantically. She glanced around as if searching for the clock. She had been hoping for more time to explain the situation.
"It's alright," Remus said. Tentatively placing his hands on her waist, he tried to comfort her. Lily jumped in surprise and Remus quickly pulled his hands away, letting them dangle awkwardly at his side.
"I'm sorry Remus. I was just surprised. You see this isn't how it's-" Lily tried to explain, but Madelyn heard footsteps in the corridor outside. Quickly she pushed Lily in the small of the back, sending Lily stumbling into Remus' arms.
At that precise moment James turned the corner and spotted Remus holding Lily gingerly. Lily had her back to the door, but by the way Remus tensed under her, she could tell that only one thing could have possibly happened.
Lily broke out of Remus' arms and turned to James. She just opened her mouth when Madelyn burst out of the shadows and put her arm around James' waist.
"Oh James, I was just as shocked," she cooed.
James turned his head around to face them as Madelyn ushered him away, but he did not look at Lily; instead he stared directly into Remus' eyes with the most pained look Lily had ever seen, and instantly she felt her heart breaking. Finally he turned back around, and Madelyn then turned to shoot Lily a malicious grin before disappearing from sight.