It's not mine; it's J.K. Rowlings'.

Chapter 2: Betrayed Love

At lunch on Friday, the entire school was in a gossip frenzy. James Potter was sitting at the 'loser' end of the table. Not only was he sitting at the loser end of the table, but he seemed to be enjoying the hell out of himself, flirting with all the bookworms and laughing over the latest issue of Scientific Warlock Weekly with the guys. It was weird. No, it was just plain freakish. This was popular, worship-the-ground-I-walk-on James Potter and here he was sitting next to her, loser extraordinaire Cici, in the seats that she had sat in every day since the start of her first year. If you'd told her then James Potter would one day sit next to her, she would have died of amusement. In fact, she was still having a hard time believing he was sitting here, normally he sat with his extremely popular friends, mainly consisting of the Marauders. She didn't know about Devin, since she seemed to be enjoying the whole thing, but the constant staring at their end of the table was driving her nuts. She couldn't eat with all of these people watching. Giving up, she set down her fork and stood up, reaching down to grab her bag.

"Let me," James said, reaching over to grab her bag for her.

"No, no, that's ok," she said, trying to stop him.

"It's no problem," he said, already standing up and offering it to her.

"Well, thank you," she said, politely, as she reached out and took it from his hands.

"You're welcome," he replied. Cici turned around and headed out of the great hall, figuring she'd just get to her arithmacy class a little early.

"Wait up!" Someone called from behind her. She stopped abruptly and turned, finding herself face to chest with James as he came skidding to a halt, knocking into her.

"Sorry," he said, grinning sheepishly, "I guess the brakes aren't working today." Cici giggled.

"Where ya going?" He asked, falling in step with her.

"Arithmacy."

"Ahh ... with the all wise Professor Madre," he said, clearly attempting to use a mystical tone of voice, but failing miserably. They walked in silence for a bit, but then she couldn't help herself

"Why did you sit with us at lunch today?"

"Am I not allowed to sit with you?"

"No, it's just that you never have before." He rubbed the back of his neck, blushing slightly. He looked so adorable.

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret," he said, "I've always figured that the female population didn't have enough brains between them to equal mine. I know, I know," he said, holding up his hand to forestall her urge to vocalize her indignation, "That's extremely sexist and cocky of me, but then I found out I was wrong. Not too wrong admittedly; the only girl I knew with a brain was my girlfriend, but now that I've met you I know two and it's nice to have someone to sit with at lunch who can make sensible conversation. My girlfriend goes to Beauxbatons, so she obviously can't."

"Oh," Cici said stupidly. "So is your girlfriend coming to the ball?"

"I hope so." Then they reached the arithmacy room and James left, saying he didn't want another lecture on talking in class from Professor Madre.

ooo...ooo

Cici didn't learn a single thing during Arithmacy. She spent the entire class trying to convince herself that Night was absolutely positively not James Potter. It wasn't hard to believe, it was just exceedingly impossibly impossible to believe James Potter would ever have a secret romance with anyone, especially her. The problem was that as soon as she established that fact a little voice in her head would say, "But what if he would?" The whole thing just made it very hard to concentrate on Arithmacy, which even on the best of days requires a clear head.

Stumbling out of Arithmacy still in her dazed sort of stupor, Cici wasn't really watching where she went. She was just on auto-pilot, heading back to her head dorm. "Well, what if he really doesn't have a girlfriend at Beauxbatons?" The little voice in her head chimed, right before she ran straight into a very tall, very solid person.

"Sorry," she said, darting to the side in order to let the other person pass. To her surprise the person moved as well, keeping his body in her path. Taking a glance up Cici expected to see a Slytherin or some other sort of person who enjoyed torturing losers and mudbloods, instead she saw the one, the only Sirius Black.

"B ... Black. Can I help you with anything?" He looked at her like he was appraising her.

"Yes, I believe you can, Evans." He didn't elaborate.

After standing there for a minute or so Cici prompted, "With anything in particular?"

"You're friends with Devin," he said, like he was feeling out the possibilities. Really he ought to know something as obvious as that.

"Yes, yes, I am," she said. He nodded at her answer.

"We ought to go on double dates," he said, looking thoughtful.

"Who ought to go on double dates?" Cici asked, confused.

"Oh, never mind," Sirius said, with a careless wave of his hand.

"Ok ..." Cici said, screwing her forehead up. Sirius looked piercingly at her and nodded.

"You'll do."

"For what?"

"Oh, nothing," he said, with a smirk that let Cici know he was up to something.

Then he turned on his heel and walked off down a side hallway that Cici was pretty sure didn't go anywhere. "Well that was odd," she thought.

ooo...ooo

That night, Cici and Devin were getting ready for the ball together. Cici was practically jumping for joy in spite of the hot curlers in her hair (Devin had apparently been planning for years what she was going to do to Cici's hair when she finally went to a ball). Francis had owled her just a few minutes ago and said she could remain for part of the dance as long as she came straight home afterward. Cici had been planning to remain with or without permission, but now she had a chance not to get locked in her room and still go to the ball, which was Awesome!

"Devin," she groaned, "Can I take them out now?" The hot curlers were really annoying her.

"NO!" Devin yelled back from the bathroom. She came out a few seconds later, looking gorgeous in a Chinese style dress. She went to Cici's mirror and carelessly stuck two chopsticks in her hair making it look like she'd spent hours getting them in the perfectly right places. Cici sighed in jealousy; she'd never have half of the fashion sense Devin did.

"Alright, they can come out now," Devin said, turning to her.

"Yes!" Cici said, jumping off the bed. She didn't understand why they had to use muggle hot curlers in the first place.

"Sit down and close you're eyes. And let me tell you, you're not even going to recognize yourself when I'm done with you." Cici didn't know if that was necessarily a good thing.

It felt like it had been hours when Devin finally told her she could open her eyes. Cici turned and looked at herself in the mirror. Her mouth fell open. Was this her face? It couldn't be. She actually looked pretty good with curls; guess she'd been wrong when she told Devin curls were a waste of time. She looked closer; she wasn't too hot on make-up, but it didn't look bad; it didn't look bad at all. She went into the bathroom and wrestled herself into her dress. It looked pretty bad next to Devin's. Oh well, Night wouldn't care, hopefully, and the new hair-do would probably distract everyone else. She pulled on the gloves Devin had loaned her that covered up the ends of the uneven three-quarters length sleeves. Sliding her feet into her shoes, she was ready to go.

"I'm ready," she announced to Devin as she walked out of the bathroom.

"Great," Devin said, turning toward her, then she froze, "Uh ... Cici."

"Yeah?"

"Those shoes don't match." Cici looked down; they were a slightly different color than the dress, but it wasn't that bad. "They're close enough."

"Cici, I've been your best friend long enough to know I need to tell you when you're wrong, and you are wrong. You can't wear those."

"Well, what should I wear? I don't have any other shoes."

"Let me see," Devin said, walking over to the tiny closet Lily got to have in her dorm room and pawing through her four pairs of shoes, two of which were too small.

"You really don't have anything."

"I told you that," Cici said with exasperation. Devin sat back on her heels looking perplexed.

"What's that?" Devin said, pointing at a shoe box in the back of Cici's closet that Cici had never seen before.

"I don't know. Open it up," Cici said; she didn't remember putting that in there. Devin opened the box and gasped.

"You were holding out on me, girl; these are perfect," Devin said, holding up a pair of shoes that looked like they'd come from a fairy tale. They were translucent. Every bit of them was made with see through plastic and crystals; they seemed to sparkle in the light.

"I've never seen those before; they aren't mine," Cici said, desperately wishing they were hers.

"Try them on," Devin suggested. Cici did; they fit perfectly.

"Wear them," Devin said, "They make you look like a princess."

So Cici wore them. They reached the ball a little late at 8:15 and started looking around for Sirius, who had promised to meet Devin there. After they found him, Devin dragged Sirius out onto the dance floor, leaving Cici alone. It was nearing 9 and Cici was trying to get herself mentally prepped for her venture onto the dance floor. Right as the clock on the Great Hall's wall announced it was 9 o'clock, she stepped onto the dance floor. The band stuck up another song, a slow one. She darted around couples and suddenly found herself in the center of the dance floor facing James Potter.

"Night," she whispered, hardly daring to believe what she was seeing.

"Cinders," he whispered back, grabbing her hand and pulling her into his arms, so they could dance. He looked slightly confused though, as if he'd been expecting someone else. He probably had been hoping for someone prettier.

"I was worried you wouldn't come," he confessed.

"I wouldn't leave you standing by yourself," Cici told him.

"You look familiar," he said, brushing a hand over her cheek, "Where have I seen you before?" He didn't recognize her! Holy cricket, this added a whole new depth to this game because now she knew who he was, but he didn't know who she was.

"You're in some of my classes," she said, teasing him with her advantage.

"How could I not have noticed your beauty, if not your mind," he said, shaking his head at his own folly.

"I thought you had a girlfriend," Cici whispered with trepidation.

"I told everyone at school I did to get them off my back. I only want to date you," he said it sincerely, but a look of guilt flashed across his face.

"You've met someone else," she said, her heart falling apart.

"It's ok," she said at his surprised look, "You can tell me, I won't be mad."

"I'm sorry, Cinders, but I'm so confused right now. It's ... I really like you and sometimes I think I love you, but you aren't real, well, now you are, but you weren't. I couldn't sit by you at lunch or partner with you in class and then I met this girl who was real. It all happened so fast, it felt like she was you, only I could see her. And I didn't realize it at the time, but I really thought that she would be you." Cici looked away tears in her eyes.

"That's ok, James, I understand. I want you to be happy and if that's with someone else, fine."

"Cinders," he said, looking like he was almost in tears as well, "Maybe we can meet again sometime. Go get a butterbeer or something. I need to think through what I'm doing before I actually do anything, dating included. I know that what I still feel for you is strong, but it wouldn't be fair to you if I also had feelings for someone else. Let me get those squared away and then maybe we could give it a try." He looked at her hopefully.

"I'm not some fall back girl," she whispered to him angrily. "I'm not going to be the girl you go out with if the other one says no."

"That's not what I meant," he whispered back forcefully.

"So, what did you mean?"

"I love you," he whispered, his eyes taking on a tender edge, "I've fallen in love with you over the last few months without even noticing at first. You would never be my 'fall back' girl. I'm not going to ask the other girl out, I'm just going to let myself get over this stupid crush, so I don't feel like I'm cheating on you when we're together. You're far to special for that."

"I think you should ask her out," Cici said.

"What?"

"Maybe if you sleep with her you'll get over your 'crush'."

"I'm not going to sleep with anyone except you. Hell, I don't even want to kiss anyone but you."

"Why not? You could have any girl you want. So who is it? Halley, Georgia, Narcissa?"

"Cinders," he said, looking horrified at her words.

"I'm not playing second fiddle to one of those bimbos," she said, pulling away from him, "Maybe I'll see you around, James." She turned and ran. She pulled up her skirt, so it wouldn't trip her and hurried up the stairs that would take her out of the Great Hall and outside. She could vaguely hear James yelling at her to wait as she ran, but she wasn't going to stop. She had reached the top step when her shoe snagged on a carpet. She hobbled clumsily, pulling off her shoes so she could run better. She chanced a glance behind her and saw James was already half way up the stairs; she needed to run. She got 3 steps and then dropped one of her shoes. She started to turn back to pick it up, but James was nearly there, so she left it, running out into the dark, jumping hedges and fences until she finally lost him.

Once she was sure he was gone she stuck her wand out and caught the Night Bus home. It let her off a few blocks from her house. She lowered herself to the ground by a fence and firmly told herself she was not going to cry. She'd lost her gloves somewhere along the way and her uneven sleeves stood out mockingly in the dark. She needed to get home anyway. Francis had only given her permission to go to the ball since she'd promised to be home by 10 and clean the bathrooms. She started as the church near her house began to chime the hour. She needed to get home. She sprinted the rest of the way, sliding through the door as the last chime died away.

ooo...ooo

Thanks for reading! Review if you want to. Sorry I didn't update for a while, but I was on Spring Break. The last chapter will be up soon.

Daystar: Thanks for reviewing. I'm so glad it's spring break.

Passionflower24: You aren't being dumb, it's me the author being lazy. You see I wrote this story not as a Lily/James fic, so it's been modified in a way that doesn't quite work. There are a few things that aren't cannon, but the answer to your question is that Lily works for her step-mom by taking the night bus home on weekends.

Dracoslilgirl4ever: It's exactly like instant messaging since that's what it started as before it was moved into the world of Hogwarts.