Disclaimer:
I wish I did own Harry Potter, but, unfortunately, I don't…
Pre Author's Note:
Her's your long overdue update…Sorry!
Chapter 11:
James sat doing an essay in the hospital a few days later. Lily had not yet awoken, much to his dismay. He hated to think that Lily had almost died without knowing how sorry he was. It tore at his heart to even think about the betrayal he caused her. Hopefully, she'd return soon enough.
Staring at Lily, he felt tears sting his eyes. She was so helpless. He could do nothing to bring her back except wait.
He gently squeezed her hand and whispered, "Please come back to me, Lily. I love you so much!"
The next week passed by extremely slowly. Everyday, James sat at Lily's side, hoping and praying that she'd wake up soon. Sometimes she'd break into cold sweats and start to groan, but, according to Madam Pomfrey, nothing serious was wrong.
Many rumors were circulating around Hogwarts as to why an unconscious Lily was laying in the hospital wing. None of them were even remotely close to the truth.
Samantha had been given a month's worth of detention. Fifty points had been deducted from Gryffindor, although James earned twenty of them back from his bravery. A letter had also been sent home to Samantha's parents, which was responsible for the three Howlers she received at breakfast over the week.
Professor Knadle was well underway with the potion needed to revive Lily. Everyday, James checked up on it, to make sure everything was on task and proceeding smoothly.
Finally, after two miserably slow weeks had passed, the potion was ready for Lily. James, along with Tara, Raluca, Sirius, Remus, and even Peter, could be found in the hospital wing early that morning, anxiously waiting for her revival.Professor Knadle entered the room looking pleased. He had always been a fairly nice teacher to James.
"Here you go, Poppy," he said loudly, handing the vile to her. "Just a drop should do the trick. That's some strong stuff there, let me tell you. It should work just like a charm, alright."
Madam Pomfrey raised her eyebrows slightly and nodded curtly. "Yes, thank you, Hubert." She then stepped over to Lily, opened her mouth, and dropped a tiny bead of the liquid.
A few moments passed with no sign of movement. James' heart dropped like a stone. What if the potion didn't work?
All of a sudden, Lily groaned softly and moved her head. James' heart pumped with excitement. She was finally coming back!
"Lily?" he whispered, squeezing her hand gently. "Lily, baby, it's me, James."
Lily's eyes fluttered open, and then shut after a few moments.
"Out," she muttered, eyes closed.
"What?" James asked, flabbergasted. She wanted him to leave? Maybe she didn't know it was him. "Lily, it's James. Everything's alright," he assured.
"Out!" she said, a little stronger, finally opening her eyes. "Get out now, James."
James looked over to Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey. Dumbledore looked puzzled, while Madam Pomfrey nodded and said briskly, "Mr. Potter, you heard her. She wishes you leave. No need to upset her."
Slowly, heart broken, James let go of Lily's hand and walked out of the room, with Remus following.
"Hey, mate, it's okay," Remus said, patting James on the back as James stopped outside the hospital wing. "She probably just needs to be alone."
"Then why the hell is everyone else still in there? Why didn't she tell them to get out? Damn it!" James started walking down the hallway, anger boiling. "I was so foolish to think she'd forgive me!" he fumed.
"James, calm down. Like I said, she probably needs to be away from you right now. Don't worry about it."
James sighed and shook his head. "Forget it. Just leave me alone. I need to think."
Remus shrugged and headed back to the hospital wing.
Lily lay calmly in her hospital bed a few seconds after James had left. Her relationship with him was over. No more heart-breaks, no more pressure, and no more drama that he brought. Her life would be better without him. But right now, she felt like crap.
"Lily, we missed you so much!" Tara exclaimed, gently hugging her weak body.
"What happened?" Lily questioned. Vague images flashed in her mind – a strange room, dark figure, red light.
"Actually, Miss Evans, we were hoping you could fill us in with the events two weeks ago," Dumbledore answered.
"I…I don't really remember to clearly," Lily explained, looking around the room. "There was this dark room…wind…the candle went out. This dark figure thing appeared. There was this flash of red light…that's all I remember."
"What about Samantha?" Tara asked. Another memory came flooding into Lily's mind.
"Yeah, Samantha did it! I got this note earlier to meet Samantha in the Transfiguration room. I did, and she must've attacked me… The next thing I remember was waking up in a strange room…"
Dumbledore nodded slowly. "Thank you, Miss Evans.
"Do you know where I was? I was scared so much, scared that I wouldn't get out alive."
"You were at Sanctus Humus," Dumbledore answered.
"Oh…wow…"
"Alas, I must go now. Get good rest, Miss Evans," Dumbledore nodded and left.
Seizing her chance, Madam Pomfrey spoke up, "Miss Evans needs her rest now. Out, all of you kids!"
"But she just woke up after two weeks! She doesn't need rest!" Raluca argued.
"Yeah, I'm not tired!" Lily insisted, although she looked a little drowsy.
Madam Pomfrey shook her head and stalked into her office, closing the door loudly behind her.
"Right then…" Raluca commented slowly when Madam Pomfrey left.
"I'm so glad you're back, Lily! We were all so worried! James came to check on you every hour possible!" Tara said, squeezing Lily's hand.
Lily shook her head in frustration, doubt, and misery.
"You mean he wasn't with Samantha the whole time?" she commented coldly.
"Lily, if you just listen to what he has to say, you'd understand – " Ral started to say, but Lily cut her off.
"I don't want to hear it. I've heard enough excuses anyway."
The room fell silent for a few seconds until Sirius finally decided to speak up, "Well, it's good to have you back, Lily." Peter nodded in agreement. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go find James. See you later, Tara." Sirius winked and left.
"It was so weird without you, Lily! We missed you so much!" Raluca exclaimed, hugging her.
Lily nodded and asked, "So, what did I miss?"
"Not much. The whole school was talking about why you were in the hospital wing. You should've heard some of the rumors!" Tara answered.
"Yeah, people claimed that Samantha attacked you. Or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named stunned you. They were ridiculous," Raluca added.
Everyone laughed, but then silence settled over the group.
"You should really listen to what James has to say," Tara said.
"Enough!" Lily shouted, exasperated. "I'm fed up with all of his bullshit. I'm just sick and tired of it. Everything was a lie."
"No, Lily. He really cares about you. He just made a mistake. Really, he loves you," Raluca insisted.
"Just get out. I don't want to here it. I'm tired anyway."
Reluctantly, Raluca and Tara stood up.
"Think it through, Lily," Tara whispered, then left with Raluca following closely behind.
James walked sullenly down a corridor a few minutes later. Hurt and disbelief stung at his heart. He had to face reality – Lily hated him. Their relationship was over for the final time. No more cuddling on the couch or sweet kisses in the hallway. Everything was over. James had lost Lily forever because of some stupid note and kiss. If only she'd let him apologize. Thanks to Samantha and his ridiculously weak sexual control, everything was ruined.
But maybe things were supposed to end this way. Maybe he and Lily just weren't meant to be together. Maybe love didn't last forever.
Realizing he had arrived at the edge of the lake, he plopped down onto the cold, hard dirt.
So his relationship with Lily had finally ended after a year and a half. What would he do now? Get a new girlfriend? He still loved Lily, but eventually those feeling would fade, right?
Why wouldn't Lily give him a change to explain? Surely, she'd forgive him. At least, he hoped so.
Perhaps she just needed time for herself; time to think everything out. Lily still loved him, he knew that, but the question was: did she want to love him?
James felt pressure on his shoulders and felt fingers gently squeeze them. Looking up, he saw Samantha's face.
"Hi," she said, smiling. "Mind if I join you? You look a little lonely."
"I was just thinking about Lily, but I guess…go ahead. You can sit down."
Samantha sat down. After a few moments of silence, she spoke up, "Look, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."
James looked over at her, and saw that she looked sincere.
"I'll admit I wanted to break you guys up, but I never thought it would work!"
James gave her a cold look. "Yeah, but you did. Now I've lost the love of my life."
"It was bound to end sometime, James. Things at school never work out."
"Thanks to you!" James shot back, sudden aggravation, annoyance, and anger swelling inside him, along with sadness, loss, and confusion.
"I'm sorry! It's not my fault she won't listen to you!" Samantha yelled.
"Because of you, because you kissed me, she won't talk to me. She won't listen to me! She broke up with me for that damn reason!" James fumed.
"It was your decision to kiss me. I didn't force you into doing it! You let yourself." Samantha said a little calmer.
"You put me in the position! You kissed me first!" James crossed his arms and started walking away.
"Ha! You did not have to kiss me back!" Samantha repeated, walking after him.
"Just go away. Leave me alone." James continued walking away, toward the castle, extremely bothered, emotions even more astir.
Post Author's Note:
Well, um, yeah…
Thanks to everyone that's still reviewing! Thanks for everything! Love you all! It's much appreciated!
I wish I could get up off my lazy ass and update more quickly!
Anyway, haven't really worked on the site much…
Next update shouldn't be that long of a wait. I'm almost past the part where I've had to rewrite the whole thing. Can't wait to get past it!
Again, thanks for reading. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I'm enjoying writing it!
-Elle