A/N Hey dudes, im going away for a week so my next post might not be for a little while but I promise that even if its not as soon as usual I'll do it asap

Crumbling

The next few months passed in kind of a blur, Christmas was approaching fast and though most students were getting very excited there were those who weren't.
Lily appear to be taking her parents death better than anyone had expected though she did disappear off on her own regularly.

It was James' thought that she was hiding her emotions and she was using these little get aways to let things out. Although he felt he was being slightly selfish, this did start to bother him. He wished more than anything that Lily would just come to him and talk things over, even if she didn't want to talk he was happy just holding her when she was upset until she felt better again, but she didn't. She was distancing herself from him and though he understood that she wanted to be alone, this hurt him more than he would ever tell anyone. But despite his worries and concerns he just ignored it and kept it all to himself, he didnt want to seem like he was being selfish and only caring about himself when it was Lily who was hurting.
He also knew that she was dreading Christmas and he saw her secretly sign up to stay at Hogwarts. He was planning on staying too.

James had also noticed that Hermione seemed very down lately. He assumed this was because she wasn't going to see her parents for the holidays. He still didn't understand Harry and her. Harry had seemed very upset at the death of Lily's parents, but he couldn't work out why. Maybe it was reminding him of the death of his own parents.

Sirius, at the moment, seemed happier than ever especially with things between him and Em going so great and he was regularly found attempting to cheer up the rest of his friends, though most of the time he failed miserably.
Though James was happy for Sirius, he still couldn't help the slightly nagging feeling of neglect from Lily. Whenever he saw Sirius and Em together he felt a pang of jealousy and a thought of that he used to have that.

'Come on guys, get up, it's the last day of term,' said Em as she struggled to wake up the boys. Lily was stood at the door smiling at this. She had regained alot of the colour in her cheeks and was doing alot better.
'Em...go 'way,' grunted Sirius throwing a pillow at her.
She narrowed her eyes, took out her wand and mutterd something under her breath. Just then water appeared over the beds of the boys and soaked them all. They all jumped up at once and glared at Em who unfortunately had mispronounced the spell and had managed to cover herself in water also.
She smiled and muttered something else that dried them all off instantly. 'There, now none of you need to shower.'
They all laughed. 'Get out then so we can get ready,' said Remus and the girls left, reluctantly.

Sirius leaned over to James' seat, 'You ever noticed that when you're waiting for something time moves slower?'
They were all in History of Magic and it was the last lesson of the day, last lesson of the term and everyone, even Hermione, was even less focused than usual. Most people were either chattering excitedly or starely longingly at the clock.
James turned to him, 'Yeah, I'm sure that clock has said there is 5 minutes left for the last half hour, maybe we could just get up and leave. Do you think Binns would notice?.'

Sirius smiled, 'No, but I think your girlfriend would have something to say about it.' James nodded in agreement. Lily had been insisting for days that just because it was nearly Christmas didnt mean that they didnt have to work.
'Hey guys, look at this.' Remus passed today's issue of the Daily Prophet over to them. There was a whole page of small articles telling of at least 8 more deaths at the hands of Lord Voldemort who the paper had now stopped naming and was simply referring to him as 'You-Know-Who'. The murders were scattered across the country but no details were given and after each article there was a small comment from the Ministry of Magic saying that they were closing in on Voldemort's whereabouts.
James shook his head, 'This is getting really bad and if the ministry is really closing in on him I'll eat my broomstick.'
'Just don't let Lily see this,' said Remus. The pair nodded in agreement just as the bell went for the end of term.
There was a cheer from the surrounding classrooms and the 3 boys grinned widely, the paper now forgotton.
They all jumped out of their seats and left the classroom.

There was to be a dance on Christmas Eve and everyone was growing more and more excited. The girls had their dresses, the boys had their dates and everything was set. Alot more students were staying at school for the holidays than usual so they could go.

James and Lily were going together, obviously and Sirius was taking Em. Harry and Hermione were going together just as friends (Lily scoffed at the 'just friends' part when she heard), Remus was taking a pretty Ravenclaw named Steffi Cole and Peter was going with a Hufflepuff called Jennie Carr.
By Christmas Eve everyone was very hyper, except that is James and Hermione but for different reasons.
Hermione was missing home. She was deserately missing her parents and was dreading having to spend a Christmas without them. Even though she had spent the holidays at Hogwarts before she had always had the choice to go home, now even that had been taken away.

Her and Harry hadn't given up searching for a way home but it seemed that they had searched every book in the library at least three times without any luck. She wanted to talk to Harry about how she was feeling but he seemed so happy and she didnt want to bringh im down. For the first time in he could remember he was going to be spending Christmas with his parents, his family and she didn't want to be the one to ruin that for him.
James wasn't looking forward to the ball either but the reason he wasn't was because of Lily. She was doing much better, she seemed to be back to normal though he knew that she was still hurting but things between the two of them wasn't right anymore. He had done everything he could for her when she was going through everything with her parents but they seemed to be drifting apart. She seemed to be pushing him away and he was worried. Tonight at the ball he was gonna talk to her about it, they were going to sort it out. One way or another...

As James stood in front of the mirror and pulled his dress robes on he felt a pang of nerves in his stomach. He didn't want to have to go through tonight. He knew that when he talked to Lily it could end in one of two ways. They would talk and she would realise that she had been ignoring him but that she still wanted him and they would stay together and be happy. The other thing that could happen...he didn't want to think about it.

James shook his head and took a final look in the mirror and turned to the rest of the boys in the room.
'You guys ready?'

Meanwhile in the girl's dormatry
'Ok, how do I look?' said Lily doing a twirl. She was wearing a long royal blue dress with her hair swept up.
The other girls nodded.
'Everyone ready?' said Hermione. Lily noticed as she said this that she seemed slightly down but didn't say anything.
Everybody nodded and headed for the door.
'Oh hold on,' said Lily, 'I forgot my earrings. You lot just go down. Tell James I'll meet him in the Great Hall.'
So the headed down to the common room. where the boys were waiting.

When they reached the Great Hall, James said he was going to wait outside for Lily. He was really thinking that maybe it would be better to suggest going for a walk and talk to Lily with more privacy. He was pacing the entrance hall when he heard someone say his name. He turned expecting to see Lily but it wasnt.
It was Kim Robinson, a Ravenclaw, who James didn't know particularly well. He smiled her a hello but she walked forward, swaying, obviously drunk.
'Erm...Kim, have you been drinking?' he asked.
'Just a little bit,' she giggled. She was walking towards James slowly, until she came face-to-face with him. She put her hands gently around his waist and smiled.
'Kim, I have a girlfriend, remember?' He tried to remove her hands but she clasped them together tight.
'Yeah I know, but she's not here.'
With this she pressed her body against his so that she couldnt get any closer.

'Come on James, you know you want me.'
'No Kim I don't, I have Lily.' But she was convinced, she could tell by his voice that he wasnt too sure about what he had just saud. In response she put her hand on the back of his head and pulled him into a kiss.

He pulled back straight away and looked at her. Then slowly leaned forward and deepend the kiss.
'James?' came a small voice. They pulled apart and there stood Lily dressed in a gorgeous blue dress and with tears in her eyes.

Review Response

Michelle - hehe your like an elephant, never forgets :) lol