- - - - Girls dorm - - - -
As Natalie opened the door, grinning happily, she was hit in the face with a pillow. Jerking up, she noticed that all the candles were lit and no one was sleeping.
Lily, Mac, and Alice were sitting on Alice's bed, laughing and giggling.
"What did I miss?" Natalie asked, coming over to them.
"Nothing, Dear, nothing," Lily said, collapsing into a new bout of giggles.
Natalie glared at her, though it did not receive the desired result, as Lily wasn't paying attention. She switched her attention to Mac. "Mac? Care to enlighten me?" she asked, voice dripping venom.
"No, not really, Nat," Mac said, smirking.
"Alice…?"
"Nope!" Alice said, giggling.
"Lily! You had better tell me what is going on!" Natalie shouted.
"Nope. Not until you tell us how it was down there with Mr. Black!" Lily crowed, smirking at Natalie's flabbergasted look.
"How did you know?" Natalie finally managed to ask after staring at them for a few minutes.
Alice smirked. Mac tapped a pointer finger to her noise, and Lily said, "Because, Mrs. Black, we know everything."
"Don't call me that!" Natalie said indignantly.
"What? It's sooooooo going to happen some day!" Lily crowed, eyes twinkling.
"I could call you Mrs. Potter, but I wont, even though 'it's so going to happen some day!'" Natalie retorted.
Lily shut up pretty quickly.
"Speaking of which…" Mac started, "why did you kiss him?" She grinned slyly.
"WHAT? I didn't kiss him! He kissed me!" Lily shouted, outraged.
"Lily, it's no used denying your feelings for him any longer. We're all onto you. We know you're just playing hard to get!" Natalie said, catching onto what Mac had in mind.
"WHAT?" she yelped. "I am not playing hard to get!"
"Oh, Lily, Lily, Lily! We're your best friends! You don't have to hide anything from us! We wont tease you….that much," Alice said, smirking.
"No! I don't like him! Ew! That's Potter you're talking about! Ew!" Lily shouted, getting up and running to the other side of the room. She hid behind Mac's bed, holding her pointer fingers in the shape of an "x".
"A hot Potter!" Alice said.
"Alice! You have a boyfriend!" Lily said, shocked.
"Oh….Yea, I guess I do. Hmm…Maybe I should do something about that? Especially if it's keeping me from ogling James Potter!" she said, laughing.
Natalie nodded agreement. "C'mon Lils! Just go on one date! We promise we wont make fun or tease or bother you about it again if you go on one date!"
The three girls got down on their knees and held their hands up as if they were praying. "PLEASE?" they shouted together.
"No!" Lily shouted. "I wont!"
Natalie started the puppy dog eyes, and Alice and Mac caught on. Faced with three girls making puppy dog eyes, Lily consented.
"All right. One date! ONE date, and one date only!" she said, raising her voice above the radical screeching coming from her "insane roommates".
"YES! Lily, you will not regret this!" Alice shouted, running over and hugging Lily.
Mac and Natalie joined them a second later.
"GUYS! I can't go on a date if I die because I can't breathe!" came a muffled voice under three pairs of arms.
"Oh." Alice backed away, letting Lily get out.
Mac and Natalie jumped around the room, hugging and screeching at the top of their lungs.
All of a sudden, the door was blown open, revealing an extremely angry James Potter and a tired Sirius Black.
James glared at the four girls. "What the hell are you doing? I am trying to sleep!"
Sirius nodded sleepily in agreement. "James, since I was such a good friend and followed you here and all that, can I go back to bed?" he asked, yawning.
James glared at him for a moment before heaving a sigh. "Fine."
"Night Prongs, Ladies," Sirius yawned again before getting back on his broom and flying to the boys' dormitories.
The girls exchanged wary glances. An angry James potter was not your average cup of tea. There were very few people who had his power limit, and those who did could not be bothered with such petty matters as protecting four teenage witches.
"Uh…James?" Mac chanced.
"Shut up, Lark," James hissed, using her last name for the first time in almost a year.
Mac shut up, looking to the others for back up. Natalie stepped fore ward.
"Look, James, go back to sleep. We're sorry we woke you up!" she said, hoping he would just leave, but knowing that it was very unlikely.
James glared at her and she backed away.
Mac looked at Alice and Alice shook her head feverently. Mac nodded, knowing that Alice would not be able to do any better. Lily! She thought. Where is that girl anyway? Mac looked behind her and her eyes widened farther than she had though possible.
"Oh my God," she whispered, tapping Alice on the shoulder and pointing to Lily. Alice's jaw dropped and she roughly grabbed Natalie's arm, dragging her attention away from James.
"What? Haven't you ever heard you're not supposed to turn your back on your enemy, other wise they might—holy crap!" She gaped at Lily.
Lily stood there, in nothing but tank top and a pair of boy shorts. It was obvious that under the tank top she was not wearing anything else. Her hair was down from its ponytail it had been in moments before, cascading down past her shoulders.
Lily sashayed towards them and winked. She turned to James and pretended to gasp in surprise.
"Potter! What are you doing here?"
James stared at the girl in front of him. Her nipples were erect, straining against the thin fabric of her shirt. From her breasts, his eyes trailed down her flat stomach to her hips, taking in the way the boy shorts snuggly fit to them. Her thighs were smooth and hairless, and slightly muscled. His eyes trailed down her legs to her calves, and back up to her face. He was shocked to see that she was flushed, but had little doubt it was anger, not embarrassment.
"Wow," he whispered hoarsely.
"Get out, now, Potter," Lily's voice was like ice, knocking him out of his trance-like state.
He nodded dumbly, too shocked to speak. As he was backing out the door, Lily stopped him.
"By the way, you're taking me to Hogsmead next week. Pick me up in the common room at 10 AM." Next week was the first Hogsmead weekend of the year.
James' eyes widened and his mouth fell open in shock. Lily walked up to him, closing his mouth. "It's not becoming," she said, giving him a shove out the door.
The door closed with a snap, James Potter on one side, wondering what Lily had gotten into, and a Lily Evans facing four extremely shocked friends.
Alice was the first to break the silence. "Well. Well. Well! I must say that was very er…interesting!" she said, nodding.
Mac and Natalie nodded in agreement. Lily smirked at them. "Of course! Who do you think I am? I'm Lily Evans! Of course it's going to be interesting!"
Mac nodded thoughtfully. "Yea, you're right. And I am so glad that Remus asked me to go to Hogsmead with him next week so that I don't have to go with you."
"Uh…Yea, I'm going with Sirius!" Natalie said, unconvincingly.
"And I'm going with Frank! So I can't go with you, sorry!" Alice added, not looking sorry in the least.
"Well. Fine then. See what friends I get!" Lily said huffily, climbing into her bed.
"Night, girls!" Alice said sleepily. Two other "'Night"s were answering when she heard "Shut up!" from the bed in the far corner. "Oh piss off, Lils! Be happy! You have a date now!"
A grunt was her only response. Knowing she had gotten to her, Alice rolled over and drifted off to sleep.
- - - - -
The next week past with out much excitement. The Marauders executed a perfect prank, landing them in detention for Thursday night. The girls realized that reading Lily's diary had been pointless. She hadn't written anything in it, other than little tidbits of what had happened, as far as they could tell. The girls and the Marauders avoided each other, even though four of them were going out. The first bit of excitement came on Friday night, when Lily and James got back from their second meeting with Dumbledore.
- - - - -
It was Friday night and Mac, Alice, and Natalie were sitting around the fire, doing the Transfiguration essay, waiting for Lily to get back.
Sirius, Remus and Peter were at a table slightly to the left, debating in harsh whispers.
"Lemme see your essay, Nat. I only need two more inches," Alice said, grabbing for the essay in question.
"No. Write it your own," she replied, getting up and stuffing the parchment into her bag.
The portrait hole banged open so hard that it bounced off the wall, causing the Fat Lady to shout, "Watch it!"
"That is IT, Potter! I'm not going to Hogsmead with you tomorrow! If you can't keep your hands to yourself for ten minutes then I'm not going to spend God only knows how long with you tomorrow!" With that, she turned on her heel and attempted to make a dramatic exit.
James reached out and grabbed her arm. He tugged her back viciously. "You are going to Hogsmead with me! I get what I want! And I want you!" He hissed dangerously, leaving it clear that he had the last say.
Lily glared at him. "There's a first time for everything." She turned on heel, this time nothing stopped her.
Everyone in the co0mmon room stared after her, shocked. No one had so obviously defied James Potter.
The first sound to break the silence was a sigh coming from a group of three girls near the fire.
- - - - -
The next morning, Lily was shaken roughly awake at 8 AM. "Up, Lily!"
"No. I told him I wasn't going to go Hogsmead with him." With that, she promptly turned over and went back to sleep.
"Oh no you don't!" Alice said, conjuring a bucket of ice water over her. Smirking, she flicked her wand, water falling onto Lily.
"IIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Lily shouted, jumping out of bed and chasing Alice around the room three times before Mac and Natalie stopped her.
"Wha'd you do that for?" Lily roared, trying to get past Mac and Natalie.
"It woke you up, didn't it?" Alice grinned impishly.
"AHHHHGGGG!" Lily grabbed her robe and stormed into the bathroom. As the door slammed, she heard a "Ha, serves her right for trying to break a promise to us!"
An hour later found Lily and Natalie sitting in the common room, waiting for Mac and Alice.
They were discussing plans to meet up for lunch in the Three Broomsticks when two black haired boys appeared in front of them.
"Nat!" Sirius swooped down, kissing her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her away promising Lily, "We'll meet you at 1 in the Three Broomsticks!" And with that, they were out the portrait hole.
"Lily!" James said, reaching for her hand. Lily yanked it off the arm of the couch and into her lap.
"No touching, Potter!" she got up and made her way across the room. James hurried after her.
"Lily! This is a date! People usually hold hands on dates!" he shouted, trying to catch up to her. "Wait UP!" finally giving up on walking, he started to jog, easily catching up with her. However, he had to keep jogging to match her pace.
"What do you want?" She asked impatiently.
James eyed her suspiciously. "We're on a date, remember?" he asked.
"You might be on a date, Mr. Potter, but I am not." Lily said coldly.
"Yes, you are, and you're on a date with me," he retorted, grabbing her hand and sliding an arm around her waist, crushing her against his long lithe body.
Lily was indignant and tried to break free, only to discover that being a chaser had helped James a lot in the muscle department.
"You're not leaving my side today, Princess," he whispered in her ear as he steered her out of the castle and down the worn path to Hogsmead.
"Potter! We could take the carriages!" Lily said, trying to change direction.
"Nope. It's a lovely day, and we shall walk to Hogsmead!" He tugged her back to him. She stiffly walked next to him. He tightened his grip on her waist. "Loosen up, Lils. You're with me! How bad can it be?"
"Very," she said stubbornly, forcing the voice that was telling her how good it felt to walk next to his lithe body and wondering how it would feel without cloth separating them to the back of her head. She did, however, loosen up and relaxed slightly into his hold.
He loosened his grip on her waist slightly. They walked in a companionable silence the rest of the fifteen or so minute walk to the gates.
As they neared the gates, James broke the silence. "So. What do you want to do first?" he asked, stopping right outside the village.
Lily looked at him startled. She had expected him to drag her off to Zanka's or what ever that store the Marauders loved. "Huh?" she asked smartly.
James looked at her, slightly surprised that she hadn't insisted they go to some jewelry or robes store. "What?"
"What about Zanka's or whatever you like? Why didn't you drag me there?" she asked, trying to justify that he was just messing with her and he would drag her there in a second.
"First off, its Zonko's, and second, I'm not going to drag you anywhere. I'm going to make sure you enjoy this as much as I want to!" he said happily.
"NO!" Lily shouted.
James looked surprised. "I try to be nice and ask what she wants to do, and all she wants is to be dragged around to Zonko's!" he thought, getting slightly irritated.
"Fine, I'll walk with you to Zonko's." James started into Hogsmead and thought he heard Lily heave a satisfied sigh. "Girls are so weird," he thought.
They walked down the main street, passing other students. Even though she had been coming for nearly four years, Lily could not cease to be amazed by the sights.
James looked at Lily who was smiling like a five-year-old who had just been told Christmas was coming early this year. "She's so pretty," he thought, then mentally slapped himself. "I promised I wouldn't think anything like that today. We're just here as friends!"
He was shaken out of his thoughts as Lily pulled on his arm, dragging him over to a shop window.
James vaguely noticed that it was a jewelry shop. He was too preoccupied by trying ignore the fact that Lily had willingly taken his hand and how nice it felt.
"Look! Isn't that so gorgeous!" she gasped.
James looked at the necklace she was pointing to and had to agree. It was a silver chain with two charms on it. The first charm was a silver heart locket with a pink jewel in the middle. The second was a key, with the same sort of jewel.
"Oh, James! It's so gorgeous!" she said, staring at it. "Did I just call you James?" She paused for a second, but when James started to answer, she continued. "Never mind. Oh, its so gorgeous! Oh, but the price! The price is hideous! Oh, I could never afford something like that in a million years!" she wailed. "It's not like I would have bought it anyway, but now I can't!"
James looked at Lily's face. She looked truly sad. "How about I guy it for you?" he asked her.
"I—what! You wou—oh, I can't let you! No, that wouldn't be good. Oh you were just joking right? Right! Ok, good!" Lily started to rant about how he must have been joking when James covered her mouth with his other hand, noticing that her smaller hand was still around his bigger, calloused one.
"No, I wasn't joking! I can see you really like it! I want to buy it for you. To say that I'm sorry for everything I've done to you!" James said earnestly.
Lily looked him, shocked. "All right, who are you and what have you done with James Potter?" she asked, poking him in the chest.
"What are you talking about? It's me, James Potter, Marauder, Prankster, Hottest Man Alive, Quidditch Captain, Bravest Gryffindor, Star Chaser Of The Gryffindor Team, Best Man—"
"ALL RIGHT!" Lily said, grinning slightly. "No man could be that arrogant and not be James Potter!"
James grinned back. "You look very beautiful when you smile like that," he said, not thinking. When he realized what he said, he turned bright red, and looked somewhere over to the left.
Lily just raised an eyebrow. "Well, come on! Are you going to buy me my gorgeous necklace or what?" she asked, laughing.
James looked at her gratefully. "Of course! No one as gorgeous as you, m'lady, should be with out such a gorgeous necklace!" He swept into a gallant bow. It lasted only a moment before an old witch walked by, bumping into him. James stumbled for a moment before he tipped right over, falling on his butt.
"Ow," he said, looking up. "It sure is cold down here." He glared indignantly when he found that Lily was doubled over in laughter. "It's not funny!"
Lily could only manage a slight nod before collapsing next to him. "Can't—Can't—Can't—Breathe—" Lily managed. She leaned on his shoulder, shaking in silent laughter.
James stared at her incredulously. "I fall on my butt, breaking my butt bone—all for you—and this is how you repay me?"
Lily continued to laugh for a few more minutes before James grudgingly started to chuckle. "I guess it was pretty funny," he said, starting to laugh harder.
It was about five minutes later when Lily and James had finally calmed down. Every time they tried to stop, they looked at each other and started again.
James stood up first, reaching a hand down to help Lily up. Once she was standing, he adjusted his hold on her hand and set off towards the jewelry store.
He opened the door and a bell chimed. A lady came out of a back room. "How may I help you, dears?" she asked.
"Well, Miss"—James looked at her nametag—"Jolene, my erm…girlfriend, Lily, would like to uh see that necklace in the display window. The one with the heart and the key." James sincerely hoped that Lily would not mind that he called her his girlfriend, because he certainly did not.
"That is much too expensive," Jolene started.
"She would just like to see it," James said, eyes flashing.
"Oh, of course!" Jolene practically ran to the window and brought back the necklace.
She left Lily and James to look it over in private.
"Po—James! That wasn't very nice!" Lily said, giggling.
"So? It got you the necklace, didn't it?" James said, grinning at Lily's happy face as she examined the necklace.
"Oh, James, it's even more lovely up close!" Lily said, running a delicate finger over the key charm.
"Then, m'lady, you shall have it," James said, picking up the necklace and taking it to the cash register.
"James! No, I couldn't! Don't spend that much on me!" Lily said, running after him.
"Why not? Lily, I would be willing to spend any amount of money on you, if you'd let me," he told her, cupping her face with a rough, calloused hand.
Lily stared into his eyes and nodded vaguely. James smiled happily. "Good." Turning to Jolene, he said, "We'll take this."
Jolene nodded. "Your total is 200 Galleons." (A/N: That's something like 1400 US dollars I think? I'm not sure. If it is, wow.)
James handed over the money and took the necklace. They walked out of the store to a bench a little farther down the road.
"Turn around," James instructed.
Lily did as she was told, holding up her hair. James slipped the necklace around her neck. He fumbled with the clasp for a moment, his long fingers brushing her sensitive skin, sending chills up and down her back.
James finally got it right and he patted her shoulder awkwardly. Lily dropped her hair and examined the necklace.
"Wow," she breathed, staring at James. "Thank you. Thank you, so much!" She threw her arms around his neck in a quick hug. Before James could react and put his arms around her waist, she pulled away and coughed awkwardly.
"So uh, d'you wanna go to Zonko's, was it? And let me buy you something?" Lily asked him shyly.
James laughed. "No, Lils, I will not do something with you that I could just as easily do with someone else!"
"Oh. All right then." She paused. "At least let me buy you lunch!" she said exasperatedly a minute later. "I can't think if any other way to say thank you and I know you wont turn down free food."
"No, I wont turn down food, but I don't want you to buy me something! I want to buy you stuff!" James laughed.
Lily paused and started at him. All of a sudden, she slapped him, hard on the face.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" James roared.
"You're not supposed to do that! You're supposed to be conceited and arrogant and annoying and arrrggg! Not all nice and not conceited and urrrggg!" Lily shouted, smacking her forehead.
James stood there, staring at her, rubbing his cheek. "I've learned that the world doesn't revolve around me. I stopped cursing Sniv-Snape in the halls."
"You've changed," she accused.
"Yea, I've changed," he agreed.
"NO! You're not supposed to! You're supposed to be all bad, not good!" Lily shouted, stomping her foot.
"I've changed!" James defended himself.
"NO! You're not supposed to!"
"There's a first time for everything!" He smirked, slid an arm around her waist, and pulled her snuggly to him.
"What did I tell you about touching?" Lily demanded, trying to pull away.
"I bought you that necklace. I get to touch all I want."
Lily harumpffed.
"So, Princess, what do you want to do now?" James asked.
Lily fixed him with an icy glare. "Nothing, I want to go back to Hogwarts!"
"Sorry. No can do," James said jovially. "You're stuck with me!"
Lily sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine. But I'm not going to enjoy it!"
Over the next few hours, James tried to coax Lily out of her stupor. She would have none of it though, constantly huffing and sighing and glaring. At 12:30, James finally gave up.
"Look, we might as well work our way back to the Three Broomsticks." He said, turning around and head back down the street.
"Fine," she glared, huffing and turning back in the direction of the pub.
James sighed and headed after her. She was a good way a head of him, muttering things under her breath. He couldn't make out exact words, but he thought he heard "…shouldn't be like this…" and "…don't be stupid, no he doesn't…."
They made it across the village and into the pub in less than ten minutes, which, James thought, must have been some sort of record.
Lily flung the door open, sighing happily as chatter and smell of butter beer washed over her. James smiled in spite of himself.
Lily looked around the room, searching for Sirius and Natalie. "There they are! Come on, James!" she shouted, not noticing she had called him James even though she swore to herself he was "Potter." She took off, weaving in and out of tables and people, occasionally bumping into someone.
James grinned at her antics and followed in her wake, glad that she had made a path for him to walk easily.
Lily plopped down in the chair across from Natalie. James followed and sat down more gracefully, landing lightly in the chair next to Lily.
"So," Sirius started, "are you guys hungry?"
James nodded and rubbed his stomach. Lily nodded slightly, rolling her eyes at James.
Natalie glanced at Sirius. An few hours ago, they had seen Lily and James laughing together, having a great time. What happened?
Shrugging, Sirius waved to Rosmerta, the bartender, signaling they were ready to order.
Natalie and Sirius made several attempts at small talk, but Lily flat out refused to answer any questions and James mumbled a yes or no, depending on the question.
Several minutes after they had ordered, Sirius gave up. Natalie would not admit defeat so easily, however.
"All right. Tell me what happened, right now," she hissed, glaring at Lily. "A few hours ago, we saw you laughing and having a ball. What happened? What has gotten into you?" She turned her glare on James, who had the grace to look slightly ashamed and scared.
Lily huffed loudly and turned in the other direction. James glared at her. "It's all her fault!" he exclaimed.
Lily opened her mouth indignantly. Natalie silenced her with a look. Lily sat back in her chair sulkily.
"James. Enlighten me," Natalie smiled reassuringly at him.
"Well. It started out that she didn't want to be with me. So then I got her happy, and we were having a good time. I bought her that necklace she's wearing, and we laughed and had fun, you know? Well, all of a sudden, POW, she slaps me! Then she gets all cranky and wont talk and mutters things and is just pissy!" James said, his voice slowly getting louder and louder.
Lily glared at him. "NO! That's not what happened! Why didn't you tell them you were buying me off? That you bought me the necklace and were being nice just so you'd get me in bed?" she demanded angrily, jabbing a finger in his chest.
James stared at her, shocked. "Do you really think I would do that? All right, granted, I might have last year, but I said—and you agreed—that I've changed! I bought you the necklace because I wanted to! I didn't have some hidden intention or something!" he shouted.
"Oh, really?" Lily stood up angrily. "I doubt that, Mr. Potter!" Turning to Natalie and Sirius, she said, "I told you this was a bad idea! Nat, I told you last week I didn't think he had changed! You didn't believe me! See what you got me?" she backed up, knocking the chair over.
By now, the whole pub had turned to listen. Most of the Hogwarts students grinned to each other. Entertainment. Lily and James were always fighting, and many people enjoyed listening. Half the school thought they were just too stubborn to admit that they loved each other, while the other half was convinced that they actually did hate each other and that there was nothing to admit.
Natalie and Sirius exchanged a look. Nothing good could come out of this. They both sighed and turned their attention back to the fighting couple in front of them.
Lily was waving her hands around wildly, hitting the table every now and then, though if she noticed, she didn't show it. "Yes, it is like that! Potter! Urrg you're insufferable!" she shouted.
"Me? Look who's talking! You're happy and fun one minute then a frigid bitch the next!" he shouted back at her, shaking a finger in her direction.
"ME!" she roared. "I believe you are the one who shags every thing that has nice legs and lips!" she continued to wave her hands around, accidentally hitting an older lady at the table next to her. "Sorry—" she said distractedly.
"You're the one who doesn't like me!" he bellowed.
Lily was silent. James smirked. He had her. He knew it.
"You're right, I don't like you!" she shouted, though not as loud as before.
James was shocked to find he was actually disappointed. His face fell a fraction of an inch before he realized that it was probably the butter beer talking and that he didn't care if she didn't like him. Because he didn't, right? Right.
"Well—Good!" he bellowed. "Because I don't want you to!"
Lily froze. "I don't care if he doesn't like me! You don't like him, remember Lily! You don't care what he thinks! He's James Potter!" she thought.
"I—Well good! 'Cos I don't!" She shouted back, sounding just as lame as James.
"Good!" James said, feeling slightly sad.
Lily nodded. "I—yea! It is! Because I don't!" she said. She fixed her chair and sat down, muttering something like "Stupid Lily should have said something you idiot…"
James sat down, feeling slightly put out. "You don't care whether or not she likes you! You're an idiot! You don't care! You don't like her! Why does it matter to you that she doesn't like you?" James banged his head on the table, causing the drinks to rattle.
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-ba—"POTTER!" Lily roared.
James looked up. "Yea?" he asked, confused.
Lily gritted her teeth and forced a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. "Stop banging on the table, please," she said through her teeth.
James glared at her and continued banging his head on the table. He started muttering to himself. Sirius caught a few words and was shocked that he was saying things like "…maybe she likes you…….but you don't care….but you do like…."
Sirius gave him an odd look and leant over to whisper to Natalie what James was saying.
Lily turned to James again. "James Potter," she ground out. He looked up, returning her sickeningly sweet smile.
"Yes, Lily, sweetie?" he asked. As soon as it was out of his mouth, he knew it was a mistake. There was a collective gasp from the rest of the pub.
Sirius winced for him. "Oh shit!" he whispered.
Lily stood up and her glare strengthened. As frightened as he was, James held her gaze, standing up. He didn't blink, but steadily stared back at Lily. Sirius had to give him credit for that. Not many people could face an enraged Lily Evans and live to tell the tale.
"What. Did. You. Call. Me?" she finally managed to ground out, her face steadily turning redder.
"I. Called. You. Sweetie," James said in a mocking voice. "What the hell?" he thought, "I'm already dead."
Lily raised her hand behind her head in a fist. James glanced at it and gulped.
"Why?" Lily hissed viciously.
"Uh…" he tried to think quickly, but that fist was all that he could think about.
Lily advanced on him, fist still bent back, ready to fire.
James sighed. "Might as well get it out," he thought.
"D'you want the truth?" he asked her, already knowing the answer.
"No, of course not," Lily said, her voice dripping in sarcasm.
"Fine." He sighed again, trying to think of how to say it. "I wanted to," he said, then cringed. "That's not how I wanted that to sound," he hastily added.
Lily gave him an odd look before nodding him on.
"Look." He glanced around, noticing for the first time that the whole pub was avidly listening. "Uh…can we talk somewhere else?" he asked her.
"No. Keep talking," Lily said, lowering her fist.
"All right. I wanted to. But not like that," he added hastily, noting the look of anger she directed at him. "I want to be able to." He said, blushing slightly.
Lily stared at him dumbly. "What?"
James sighed loudly. "I like you, all right?"
Lily continued to stare at him. She squinted at him. All of a sudden, her eyes widened and her mouth formed an "o". She fell back into her chair with a thud.
"Why?" she moaned. As James opened his mouth to answer, she shushed him with her hand. "Rhetorical." James nodded, sitting down in his chair again. "Why?" she moaned again, louder. "You're supposed to be an asshole! You're not supposed to buy me things and be nice! And you're definitely not supposed to like me!" Lily was getting slightly hysterical.
"Uh…why?" James asked, thoroughly confused.
"Because!" Lily shouted, standing up once more.
"Because why?" James pressed, standing up in front of her.
"Because! Because I need to not like you," she whispered, so quietly that James barely heard her. Sirius and Natalie exchanged glances as James broke into an exuberant grin.
"What did she say?" Sirius hissed at Natalie.
"I don't know!" she hissed back, kicking him lightly. "Now quiet!" He nodded meekly.
They watched in shock as James hugged Lily tightly. Sirius closed waiting for the slap, but when it didn't come, he opened his eyes a smidgen. He was shocked to see James was not only alive, but unharmed.
"Say it louder!" James demanded.
"No," Lily said stubbornly.
"Yes," James said in a tone that held finality.
Lily looked down shyly. Natalie stared at her best friend, wondering who it was and where the real Lily was. Lily was not shy. So who was this imposter and what did she do with Lily?
"No. I'm not supposed to! So I wont!" Lily said in a tone much like James'.
"Come on, Princess! Say it! Shout it out! Come on! You can do it!" James said, giving her puppy dog eyes.
"I'm not supposed to!" Lily said, though her stubbornness was leaving her.
"So? There's a first time for everything!" James said jovially.
Lily sighed loudly. "I like you. A lot," she said after a pause.
James grinned happily. Lily shyly returned it.
There was a thud behind them and they both turned to find the cause of the noise. Sirius was lying on the floor in a dead faint.
"Yep, there is a first time for everything," Lily said, taking James' large hand in her small one. James smiled happily, a smile Lily returned.
A/N: How did you like it? I liked it, a lot. It's much longer, but better, than what it was at first. PLEASE REVIEW!