Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts, or anything that has ever been mentioned in the Harry Potter books does not belong to me. I would like to own them, and make billions of dollars every year, but the only thing in this story that is mine is my plot, if you can call it one. I am simply one of those very sad people who obsess over something that isn't real. Also, James and Lily's goodbye is "Written in the Stars," from AIDA (I steal a lot from that show, don't I? Oh well…) So please, don't sue me, all I have that is of any value is a cello and a computer. Thank you for your time.


Chapter Seven

Lily didn't know why she had come to this party. It shouldn't be considered sane, for one who hated the spotlight to come to one of the biggest media events of the year, particularly when it was the engagement party of the only man you'd ever loved. But Anna had insisted to the point of violence, and Lily hadn't had the strength to refuse. She didn't really have the strength to do anything, anymore.

She hadn't done much since she got that letter telling her to come back to France. She had begged for a week to wrap things up, and Philip had agreed. He had sounded rather worried about her, actually. But she had assured him that she was fine, and she was, kind of. She had stayed in Anna's apartment, going out occasionally to run, but mostly vegging, and attempting to think of a way to talk to James.

She hadn't even seen James since that night at the theatre. She could have gone and talked to him, but she didn't really want to. She was afraid that everything would pour out of her, and there wasn't anything that she could do or say that would change their situation.

She supposed that Anna had told Sirius that Lily was leaving, and Sirius, in turn, had probably told James. But it wasn't her headache, not anymore.

Lily had a feeling that Anna had made her come with the hopes that, seeing James, she would immediately rush to him, and confess her love for him. She did no such thing. She walked around, sampling refreshments, damming Anna to a millennium of babysitting five year olds, and half listening to gossip.

"They're just so adorable together," a shrill voice exclaimed. Lily winced, and turned around. It was Mimi something-or-other, a ditzy Hufflepuff that Lily remembered as one of the stupidest girls in the year. Mimi continued, "I thought he was going out with that Evans girl, though. Witch Weekly said that they were together."

Her companion grimaced. "Merlin's Beard, Mimi, they've been over for years. Witch Weekly just knows he's a hot subject, and was making things up. Remember, he is, or was, rather, one of England's most eligible bachelors. With his money, looks, and connections, how could he not be big? Personally, I never thought that Evans deserved him, the filthy mud-blood. Do you remember what that big scandal with them in seventh year was?"

Lily tensed, hidden form the other's view by an overlarge plant. No one seemed to know, however, and they soon moved on to other subjects. However, listening to their conversation did make Lily realize one thing. She didn't belong here, and she never would. She and James were from different worlds. It was like a fish loving a bird. It could never work out.

Lily decided she had had enough. She had done what she had promised Anna she would do. It was her last night in England, and she didn't have to spend it here, wishing for something she could never have. She hurried through the hall, trying desperately to find a way out of this hellish nightmare.


James half listened, bored, as another person came to congratulate him. He hadn't wanted to have a party, but his mother had forced him to. Alexis had already conveniently disappeared, and he had half a mind to do the same.

Suddenly, he saw a flash of red rushing through the door. Years of instinct cultivated from following Lily Evans around made him stand up and push his way through the throngs of people. He couldn't imagine why Lily would come, but it was possible. If it wasn't Lily, well, no harm done. And if it was…

He caught up with the girl just as she was about to pass through the gate. He called out without thinking, and she turned around, almost frightened. It was Lily, but a Lily where something had gone horribly wrong. She looked like someone had killed her spirit and her soul.

He raced to catch her before she could recover from her shock, and grabbed her by the arm. "Lily, wait," he gasped. "What is it?"

Lily looked up to meet his eyes, and replied, softly, in a choked voice, "I am here to tell you we can never meet again." Ignoring James's shocked expression, she continued, more to herself than anyone around her, "Simple, really, isn't it? A word or two and then? A lifetime of not knowing where, or how, or why, or when. You think of me, or speak of me, and wonder what befell that someone you once loved, so long ago, so well."

She turned to leave, but James's grip on her arm only tightened, and he pulled her back to his side. "Never wonder what I feel, as living shuffles by?" he asked, almost cynically. Lily opened up her mouth, perhaps to answer, but James held up his hand to stop her. "You don't have to ask me, and I need not reply. Every moment of my life, from now until I die, I will think, or dream of you, and fail to understand how a perfect love can be confounded out of hand."

He put one arm around her shoulder, and, nudging her face towards the sky, whispered into her ear, "Is it written in the stars? Are we paying for some crime? Is that all that we are good for, just some stretch of mortal time? Or some god's experiment, in which we have no say?" he added, his words reminding Lily of their old divination teacher, who had been very big on Gods playing with mortals' lives for their own amusement. James's worlds pulled her from her thoughts once more," In which we're given paradise, but only for a day?"

Lily stopped struggling for a second, and thought about what he was suggesting. Just the facdt of how tempting it was to taike him up on his offer told er that it was impossible. "Nothing can be altered, there is nothing to decide," she snarled fiercely. "No escape, no change of heart, nor anyplace to hide."

James wasn't at all put off by her hostility. In fact, it only increased his desire to make her see things the way he did. "You are all I ever want, but this I am denied? Sometimes in my darkest thoughts, I wish I'd never learned what it is to be in love, and have that love returned."

Lily began to wish she could give in, and then she became terrified with how easily her senses made her give in to what she knew was wrong. With the strength that her terror from her wishes brought her, she jerked her arm away, and ran, ran as hard as she could, just to try to reclaim her thoughts and her common sense, since they had abandoned her during her brief conversation that had nonetheless sent her mind reeling.

James stood watching her go, his posture radiating defeat. "Is it written in the stars?" he asked rhetorically. "Are we paying for some crime? Is that all that we are good for, just some stretch of mortal time? Or some gods experiment, in which we have no say, in which we're given paradise, but only for a day?"

He slumped to the ground, feeling hopeless, unaware of the vision in blue silk that was behind him. She sighed, and came out from behind the wall where she had been lurking asking, to no one in particular, "How did I come to this?"


James jumped when a cool hand touched his shoulder. He looked down, and saw a thing girl with golden ringlets dressed in a blue gown. She was beautiful, but she was the last person he wanted to see. "Hello, Alexis," he sighed, and hoped that she would take the hint, and go away. He hadn't talked to her at all tonight, or really since he had learned that the engagement was on, and he wanted to keep it that way. She, however, didn't take the hint.

"You love her, don't you?" she asked as though this was any idle conversation.

"Yes, I do." James replied irritably. "And this is the umpteenth time she's rejected me, and where she's told me that she never wants to see me again. So can't you just leave me alone?"

Alexis grinned, as though her answer should have been obvious. She was a far cry from the snobby girl he had known a few years ago. "No," she replied, and dragged James over to a bench. "So, this is a fine mess we've gotten ourselves into."

"Look, you're getting a know lot of money and connections with this marriage, so I don't see what you're complaining about."

A slap rang out in the night. "How dare you?" Alexis asked, fury in her eyes, screaming without raising her voice. "How dare you? Look, I know I may have once been like that. A power-hungry, cold-hearted, unfeeling bitch. But I've changed. I spent some time with my cousins. The Malfoys and the Blacks, you know. I saw the way they acted, and I saw how they treated others. I wanted nothing more than to be nothing like them. Plus, I fell in love." She exhaled softly, while James gave her a strange look.

"We really are a strange pair, aren't we? Engaged, and wanting to be with someone else more than anyone? You know about Lily, so who are you in love with?"

"A half-blood, but, worse, a werewolf. My mother told me that she would never permit it."

"What was his name?" James asked interestedly. He only knew one person who fit into both of those categories, but it couldn't be…

"His name's Remus Lupin. I think he was in your year. And I don't think I can marry you. It would be lying to both you and myself. I had to tell you all of this, get it out."

"So what do you think we should do?" James asked heatedly. "My mother has her heart set on this marriage, and I can't do that to her, break it off."

"James," Alexis reminded him softly, "Your mother wants you to be happy. If that's with your red-head, so be it? And as far as my family goes, well…" she trailed off, and then gathered her resolve and started again.

"A bunch of weird things have been happening. I think some of my relatives may be joining up with you-know-who. My mother would murder me if I called this off. She wants me to marry some rich pureblood. She's another model of what I use to be like. Not all of us are as lucky as you are when it comes to family, James."

Her voice sounded choked, but she took a few deep breaths and continued. "'He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind,'" she said, quoting what James believed to the book of Proverbs. "Well, I'd rather inherit nothing then submit obediently when my family's wishes conflict with my own. So, ready to do a bit of troubling?"


Jsames dragged Remus and Sirius away from their dates, and shoved them into one of the various studies. "Why the bloody hell didn't you tell me you were dating Alexis?" he asked Remus angrily, causing Sirius to give the werewolf a shocked, but impressed, look.

"I didn't know hat you knew her. And I was in shock and I was exhausted when you told me about her, and my Alex is nothing like the girl you'd described. The possibility that they were the same person never occurred to me."

James began to calm down, "Moony, I'm sorry. Lily left, and I think it's for good. And Alexis loves you. If we get through this thing, I wish you two all the happiness in the world. Someone deserves some," James finished to himself, and walked out of the room.

About two minutes after he left, Anna stuck her head through the door. "What did I miss?" she asked jovially, but sobered as she saw the look on the others' faces.

Sirius answered, slowly, "Lily's left. She probably won't be coming back. And James is refusing to fight for her, the idiot."

Anna's eyes widened. "If those two can't end up together and live happily ever after, who can? These two, who are so good, and so in love." She nestled herself in Sirius's arms, and the threw, who had originally brought the two together, sat and thought as the dawned approached, having seen everything that they had worked so hard for fall apart.


Lily had enjoyed settling back into her routine in France. There wwas no one here who she was afraid of, no past that could come back and haunt her. So she was surprised when the doorbell rang, and a bouquet of flowers appeared on her doorstep.

She picked them up, and as she did, a voice rang out from behind her. "I'm sorry, Lily." She turned around, and saw Rick. She smiled softly, although she had wished it had been James. She knew it was impossible, but still…

"I didn't think," Rick continued. "I was an idiot. I know what your work means to you. I couldn't ask you to give it up. Nothing, not even my career or my reputation, is worth you giving up what makes you happy. I couldn't ask you to give it up. I love you. I could barely even last these past few weeks without you. SO, please, will you marry me, despite my lapse into stupidity?"

A series of emotions and thoughts ran thorugh Lily's mind, but first and foremost, she thought, if I marry rick, then I won't be able to sit around moping. Soon, I'll be able to forget James. "Yes, I will."


Wow, that was a long chapter. For me, at least. And a lot of interesting things happened.

Special thanks go to Telwyn Dubois, who told me that I needed to give alexis a more complex character. So, Alexis rebelled, and became good. She's just trying to find her way out of her family's influence, and we can't hate her for that. And I'll try not to make her a mary-sue. I always do that.

Plus, Rick's probably enough of an evil character. And he's back! (evil laughter) Now, on Rick, he really does love Lily, he's just a pompous jerk. He can't help it. Although that does make it easier to want to murder him.

To those who write as well as read, have you ever had a story that you thought was going one way, and then your characters rebelled? When you create them, you have to give them control. I tried to make Alexis snobby, but she refused. So this story is going entirely different from wehre I planned, and I have no idea what's happening.

You know you need psychiatric help when the people you make up have more say then you do when writing something.

Now, please go review. It means a lot to me, and, as I said above, it can give me really helpful advice. However, there is no reason to flame. You can get your point across without cursing or yelling about how much I suck.

Also, if you have any ideas of things you want to happen, just tell me. I'm clueless most of the time, and need all the inspiration I can get.

Now, to answer my beloved reviewers-

Hey-Thanks.

Veneficus10- Thanks. And no, I didn't take it as a flame. I took it as well deserved advice. Kudos. And I'm working on it. I really have very little control over what happens in this story.

firefur1- Life's not fair. There, now it's worse.

prongsandpaddy-Sorry, this one is longer. About twice as long, actually. She became nice, and she can't marry Sirius, because he likes Anna, and we can't have a battle of the A's. Although that could be amusing.

Mimbulus- very good. It's BLAJBTODT! YEAH! And of course I remember you. So, you became Mimi. Hope you don't mind being a ditzy Hufflepuff.

Prongsie-Jamesie- You're not evil anymore! Aren't you happy? And yes, we have more of Rick the dick. I like that nickname.

basketball chica- Well, not many good things, that's for sure.

Under-the-Moonlight- We can't kill Alexis. Remus would kill us.

munch010- Sorry, took me a week too.

ThelovelyladyLily- She's not a snob anymore. And it's hard to not be clichéd at times. Now, Rick as a snob might be true.

Lily of the Valley23- And it hits rock bottom here.

Telwyn Dubois- Well, I made her a good character. Is that good enough? Your review started her rebellion, and then she took over. Now, I don't know I can make Rick complex. He does love Lily, but he's a jerk. And I want to kill him off.

DramaQn621- He probably won't have to.

ditzychick1228- ever story is a bit clichéd at points. I was suppose to be praying for good grades. And recouperating from a sprained ankle.

InLuvWitRupert-More angst here, and it's fine to be on the computer when you're not suppose to. I write while I'm supposed to be doing homework. And thanks, I hope your holidays were great too.

nebulia- eventually.

EmeraldEyedEvans- I do too. Oh, and I found you a hot surfer boy.

Stella Blu- No, we can't do that to Alexis. Besides, she's got Moony.

PinkyTheSnowman- We had the party. We had them all. And it all went downhill from there.

Toodles,

Sally