Ch. 5 "Unexpected Realizations"

When I woke up the next morning, I was greeted by Veronica's warm smile and incredibly bright eyes. She was sitting on a small chair on the side of my bed, hands folded in her lap primly. I really don't know how she can sit like that; the only way I can get completely comfortable is it I have one arm draped over the back and one leg thrown over one or the arms. She beamed at me and I couldn't help but quirk a smile.

"You look happy," I commented dryly.

"You're awake," she simply stated. "I was worried, you know."

"About me?" I asked. I blinked my eyes open and propped my back up on my pillows.

She rolled her eyes good-heartily. "No, I was worried about the duck in my closet."

"So that explains the quacking…"

Veronica laughed. "Yes, about you, Lily. I mean, have you taken a look in the mirror?"

I looked down at my bandaging, which after only two days I was quite used to. "It's not that bad," I mused. "And thanks to Madame Hart I don't feel a thing."

"Good," she said. "You scared the hell out of me, you know. And that poor Ravenclaw boy—"

"What poor Racenclaw boy?" I hastily asked.

She blinked once, obviously surprised that I didn't know. "He was the one who found you in the Potions corridor. He's a fourth year, name's Brian Daniels. He was on his way to the kitchens and he heard you scream, and that's when he found you. Said you looked a mess. What did happen to you, anyway? I only know what I heard."

I swallowed slightly and better positioned myself. "Um, what did you hear?" I asked, a bit nervous to hear whatever rumor had started about me.

Veronica smiled. "That you dueled a giant troll, and ended up on the floor when you attempted to levitate yourself and your hand slipped."

I snorted.

She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "The gossip these people are spreading is really ridiculous," she said."I mean, there are so many errors to that one sentence, and yet it's spreading like wild fire."

I shrugged. "Stupid people."

She laughed heartily. "Yeah," she said slowly, a smile captivating her pale face. Then her eyes suddenly widened in realization. "Oh!" she exclaimed, waving her arms in excitement.

"What?"

"Oh!"

"What?"

"OH!"

"WHAT, VERONICA, WHAT!"

She smirked. "Someone is here to see you," she said in a very know-it-all voice.

"Who?"

Her smile grew so large I'm surprised it didn't eat her face. "James," she said loudly, dragging out the syllables.

"Okay…" I really didn't see what the big deal was.

She laughed. "It was so funny, Lil. He came here the second the Hospital Wing was open. I saw him waiting outside the door, too. He was very intent on seeing how you were doing." Even she couldn't help but unleash the fit of giggles that had been growing at a steady rate. She threw her head back and buried her face in her hands, laughing as if there was no tomorrow. As you might've guessed I was far from embarrassed.

Now, when I get embarrassed, I tend to blush. And when I blush, it can't help but spread all over my face. So with my red face, and my red hair, and my green eyes, I tend to resemble a chili pepper. Not exactly flattering if I do say so myself.

"Send him in," I mumbled quietly, carefully hiding my face behind a curtain of hair.

With one last grin, Veronica stood up and left, closing the door quietly behind her. I only had about three seconds before the door re-opened and in came James Potter. He quickly caught sight of me and shone me a toothy grin. "Hey," he greeted warmly as he took a seat where Veronica once was.

"Hello."

He propped his elbow up on my bed and placed his chin on his palm. "Did you get your potion yet?" He looked at me expectantly and actedas if we conversed like this every day.

"Yes," I shortly answered.

"You feeling better?"

"Yes."

"Feel anything?"

"Not really."

"How much homework do you have?"

"Enough to keep me busy."

I don't know if you can notice this, but my enthusiasm wasn't exactly radiant. This might have effected someone else, but oh no, not James.

He twinkled at me merrily. "Sirius did the funniest thing today. It was a prank, you know? Even I didn't know about it. He turned all the Slytherins' food this morning into live fishes. Malfoy's jumped into his mouth and he almost swallowed it. There was complete chaos." He smiled contently at me, as if even the mention of pandemonium was luxurious. "He was worried about you, you know," he added before I could comment on his last statement. "We all were. You really scared the crap out of us."

"How?" I asked, my interest in our conversation growing.

He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, a sudden frown captivating his face. "Well, one minute you're in the Great Hall with us, perfectly fine, and the next minute you completely disappear, reappearing in the Hospital Wing hours later. Veronica was going mental. We eventually got one of your roommates to calm her down, but she was still scared to death."

"For me?" I asked, astonished that I affected so many people.

"Yeah, for you. You're an amazing person, Lily; Veronica knows that. We all do."

I blinked. Was I supposed to respond to that? I hoped it was a rhetorical statement.

He cleared his throat slightly and diverted his attention to a small hole on the neatly pressed quilt covering my bed. A silence followed his bold statement, and I almost drowned in the tension hovering murderously over my room.

"Maybe you should leave." That's what I wanted to say. That's what I was planning on saying. But I couldn't. My throat had closed up and I was concentrating too hard on blinking.

James cleared his throat again and looked at me. "So what happened?" A tad blunt if you ask me but at least he said something.

"Pardón?"

James smirked at my French attempt. "What happened, I said, to you. "

"I heard you." I crossed my arms and frowned slightly. "You want the whole story?"

"The whole entire thing."

I was slightly taken aback, but for the most part recovered quickly. "Okay." And with that I told him my story, from beginning to end, starting with Veronica's odd behavior and ending with my creepy, somewhat significant dream. And James didn't interrupt once. He rested his fist on his chin, and he stayed like that through my entire speech, not moving, his dark hazel eyes intent and focused. When I finished I inhaled slightly, waiting for his reaction to my bizarre encounters. I expected him to suggest going to Dumbledore, or at least show an ounce of fear, or shock. But he didn't. He didn't move, he barely blinked; I even became worried about the amount of air his lungs were supplying. His eyes narrowed slightly in thought, then he leaned back into his chair, still with the concentrated expression on his face. "Hm," he finally said.

And that was it.

I raised my eyebrows. "Hm?" I repeated.

"Hm."

"'Hm' what?"

He leaned forward again and his face once again became intent. "Well," he began, "there's no doubt in my mind that your dream relates to your encounter with… do you even know who he is?"

I shook my head. "It was really dark. I didn't recognize his voice either."

He nodded. "Well, still, whoever that was wanted to hurt you, and your dream had the same basis. But then in your dream, you're falling away from him, which means that eventually you do escape."

I smiled slightly. "You think so?"

"Seems that way." James suddenly got up and put his face really close to mine. I jumped back slightly, rather surprised at his abrupt action. With him this up-close, I could actually get a pretty good look at the actual color of his eyes. They were a light brown near the pupil, then blended into a darker brown that resembled dark coffee as they reached the outer part of the iris. There were also flecks of gold and yellow mixed in with the brown, creating an odd, yet very charming look unto him. "Just do me a favor, Lil," he suddenly whispered, tearing me from my thoughts.

"Okay," I responded confusedly.

"Just don't get hurt, okay?" Even as he said it, I could tell he really meant it.

"Okay," I said softly repeated. He quickly gave me a small but warm smile and headed for the door.

"Bye, Lil," I heard him say, right before the door clicked shut.

My eyes drifted to the chair next to my bed, with the cushion still indented, marking the place where he once sat. What really got me about James was how he was such an illusion. If you watched James, and listened to him talk to his friends, listened to him woo the many girls that fell like bricks for him, watched him fly through all his classes, and if you formed an opinion of him based on just that, you'd be entirely false. There is a whole different side to James—one he doesn't flaunt around school; one he doesn't let newspaper reporters capture; one he'd rather keep out of the limelight and the ever-growing spotlight, and that is the side that better defines him as a person. I've formed opinions all my life on a guy I thought I knew, and now that James was revealing this softer, less arrogant and ego-charged side, it was like I was meeting a whole new person. And I'm not really the best with strangers.

A/N: Yeah, I know this isn't my longest chapter, and I apologize for that. Uh... that's all I really have to say. Review!