Disclaimer: Characters and settings are property of J.K. Rowling. What you don't recognize is mine. And I wish I owned the Marauders (specifically Sirius and Remus) but most unfortunately, I do not.
Highlights of the Last Chapter: Lily and James share a special bonding experience in the Hospital Wing; Lily realizes that James has some sort of civility in him. The hunt for the mysterious 'Tom' is renewed, and it comes to a half-resolution – well, at least they know who he is now. Andy sulks; Remus jokes; Sirius asks, "Who's a slut?" Lily calls James a puke-face, and James has an interesting debate with himself. They nearly get caught by Madam Pince in the library in the middle of the night (they being all nine Gryffindors), and I think that's it. Oh, and Lily and James share a hot, passionate kiss, but that's secondary to the plot. :P
X-X-X-X-X
"There you are! We were wondering if you'd gotten caught by Filch or something." Sirius clapped James on the back when his mate entered the dorm, and then took in his friend's disheveled state. He blanched. "You didn't actually get caught, did you?" James didn't reply. "Damn it, you did. I hope you didn't tell him about the rest of us. Did Evans get caught, too?"
"James, you all right?" Remus asked, pulling his pajama top over his head. "You're awful quiet."
"Damn." They all blinked at him. "Damn, damn, damn."
"Er… damn what?" Peter asked uncertainly. "How many detentions did you get?"
James rounded on him. "None, you pillock!" Then he began to grin manically. "Bloody hell. I am a sex god."
Peter gave him a disgusted look. "You've had an encounter with Filch, and now you think you're a sex god? Ugh, Prongs, that's disgusting – what did you have to do to get out of detention?" His friends ignored him.
Sirius blinked at him. "You're off your rocker, mate. You're not a sex god; I am."
"No, I am. Evans just kissed me."
Sirius blinked again, and then said, "Never mind. I relinquish my title to you. You are a sex god. Speaking of which, did you get any?"
James gave him a slightly disgusted look. "Of course not. I said she kissed me, not shagged me!"
Remus was watching him beadily. James pretended not to see. Sirius shrugged. "If she didn't shag you, you're not a sex god. So I take my title back." Sirius stared at a floor-length mirror for a moment, then turned and flipped upside down, examining his backside between his legs. "Do I have an amazing arse, or what?"
There was a very awkward pause after that; James decided that hearing Remus's question would be infinitely better than answering Sirius's. "What's up, mate?"
"She kissed you? Just like that?"
"Er…" James grimaced. Now came the bad part. "No," he finally answered, truthfully. There was no point lying; Remus would know if he did.
Remus's eyebrows rose shrewdly. "So what happened, then?"
"Er…" James said again, and then hastily plunged in, saying very fast, "She promised to kiss me if I told her about the invisibility cloak."
His friends heard him anyway; Peter squeaked and Sirius fell over, no longer examining his backside's reflection. "You did what?" Sirius shouted.
James stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I didn't tell her," he shot back, and quailed under Remus's furious look. "Well, I didn't," he mumbled.
"James! You're an idiot! And you can't not tell her, if you made a deal, you have to hold up to it-"
"I would have," he interrupted. "But she ran away before I could."
"Blimey," said Peter in an awestruck voice. "Are you that bad at kissing?"
"I'm not bad, idiot, she was so startled by the amount of passion in it that she – Good Merlin, did I just say passion?"
"Yes," Sirius replied solemnly, for all that he was now grinning from his place on the floor. "It's almost like when you said 'sweet.' You can't say 'passion,' either. It's an insult to masculinity. Now I will definitely have to kill you."
"Shut up, Pads." James turned to speak to Remus again (who looked somewhat mollified), when Sirius interrupted.
"James?"
"What, Sirius?"
"I love you, man." There was a long pause after that as everyone stared at Sirius. He continued. "And because I love you, I am obligated to either bring you to your senses or put you out of your misery. And since I can't seem to bring you to your senses…" He seized a pillow and tackled James, straddling his stomach and whacking him with it. "…I'll have to put you out of your misery!"
"Now that's homosexual," remarked Remus, referring to the two boys' position, but a hand reached out of the brawl and pulled Remus in. "Ouch – hey! I don't swing that way, guys! I prefer women!"
Peter laughed, until all of his three friends rounded on him, grinning madly. He grimaced. "Oh, no, don't, please – NO!" He yelped as they pounced on him, each armed with a pillow.
X-X-X-X-X
"Lily's taking an awfully long time," Jen mused. Janine shushed her, her ear pressed to a wall.
"What are you doing?" Alyssa asked tartly.
"D'you hear noises? It's like – like someone's having a huge fistfight or something-"
"How would you know?" Marlene smirked. "The only thing on the other side of that wall is our bathroom, and nobody's in there."
Janine scowled and moved across the dorm to the door, poking her head out into the hall. "I think it's coming from the boys' dorm." She grinned wolfishly at her friends. "Want to go take a look and see if they've taken off their clothes while fighting?"
"Ugh, Janine, no." Marlene and Alyssa made identical faces of disgust.
"I'll go," Jen said with a smirk. "Black and Potter are hot. And Lupin, too. Although Pettigrew's a bit chubby, isn't he?"
"Short. You forgot short," Janine replied with a brutal grin.
"Oh, that's so mean!" Everyone stared at Alyssa, who eventually admitted, "…Although it's sort of true."
"Getting back to the topic at hand – where is Lily?" Marlene interrupted.
As if on cue, Lily entered the dorm, her cheeks flushed. Janine scrutinized her. "You all right, there?"
"Of course!" Lily's voice was unnaturally shrill and high; her friends jerked backwards in surprise. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Pretending that you don't look as though you've run a marathon, we could focus instead on the fact that you're killing my ears when you talk that high," said Jen slowly. She frowned. "Are you sick, or something? You didn't get caught by Filch, did you?"
"No, no, no!" Lily was trying to smile and failing miserably. "Well, it's awfully late, isn't it? Best be off to bed!" She climbed into bed, positive that steam was spurting from her ears.
As she burrowed under her blankets, she distinctly heard Janine muttered, "Blimey, she's off her head."
Lily pulled the blankets above her head, still out of breath. What had happened in the library?
I don't like Potter. I don't like Potter. But damn, if he isn't a good kisser…
Oh, God, I kissed him. And that was some kiss – God, he's going to think I like him or something…
That prat! He was trying to get my shirt off! Although, you know, I was sort of running my hands through his hair; that probably got him going…
Oh, God, oh, God. He was such a good kisser. How am I going to face him after this? He's going to think I'm a total slut or something. Oh, God…
Why am I so hot? I'm feeling so hot right now. I want to kick the blankets off, but I know that the girls are going to barrage me with a bunch of questions…'
Oh, my God. I can never tell them about this. No, I'll die before I do that.
And with that comforting thought, she began to drift off to sleep.
X-X-X-X-X
The next morning's breakfast was sufficiently awkward, even with Lily sleeping in. James kept glancing down the table at the girls, as if assuming that she would somehow magically appear in the space between Jen and Marlene; Sirius kept sniggering whenever he did this, and Remus rolled his eyes. Janine kept sending confused looks down the table, mouthing at intervals, "What the hell are you doing?"
Meanwhile, Lily pretended to sleep. Thank God it's Saturday, she thought. I can sleep in.
Somewhere around ten o'clock, her dormmates hadn't returned, and it at last dawned on Lily that she'd have to confront them, if only to tell them her discovery. As it stood, only James knew, and he knew limited bits and pieces, as Lily hadn't exactly bothered to explain herself thoroughly.
With a long sigh, she stood up and examined herself in the mirror above Jen's vanity. She grimaced. There were deep circles under her eyes, and she was in desperate need of a shower.
She grabbed a towel and immediately disappeared into the bathroom.
Lily grimaced when the hot water nearly scalded her body. How did last night happen? It shouldn't have. I can't believe I even offered to do that. It's not like me at all.
Oh, my God, he's going to walk up to me and start acting like I'm his girlfriend or something… I've got to find Potter and tell him that last night was an accident and he owes me a look at whatever he's got in his pocket…
Okay, that could be taken totally wrong. Besides, he's never without his friends, and the last thing I need is for Sirius Black, a.k.a. Mr. Big Mouth to find out…
Oh, my God! His friends! They probably already know – the whole school is going to find out – I've got to totally avoid James for the rest of my l-
"Hey, Lily, you up finally? Nice one. It's only, like, eleven o'clock." Lily stiffened beneath the steady stream of water upon hearing Janine's voice.
"So… where were you?"
"Um… tired."
"I said where, not how. Stupid. Are you almost done? Because I need to talk to you."
Oh, God, she knows, and she's going to rag me on it. Oh, my God. I wonder if I can disappear down the drain…
"Lily Evans, if you don't answer me, I'm either going to flush the toilet and turn the water freezing or I'm going to rip that shower curtain open and take pictures to send to James Potter."
Lily poked her head out of the shower, hair dripping. "Give me two minutes."
"Okay." Janine strode out of the bathroom, the door clicking shut behind her. Hmm, I wonder if I can lock that door… A pounding on the door stopped Lily's thoughts. "You officially have one minute and fifty-six seconds, and don't even think of locking the door!" Oh well…
With a thoroughly miserable sigh, Lily turned off the water and began to towel herself off gently. "…Or I'm going to rip that shower curtain open and take pictures to second to James Potter…" At the thought of James, Lily flushed and hastily dressed, just in case Janine decided to barge in and do just that after all.
Exactly one minute and fifty-eight seconds later, Lily emerged from the bathroom, neatly dressed in a pair of jeans and a white jumper, her hair pulled back into a low ponytail by a white satin ribbon. Janine glowered at her from beneath a curtain of dark brown hair. "You are two seconds late."
"Oh, my apologies to her royal highness. What's the problem?" Okay, play it cool. Pretend you don't know what she's talking about, and when she confronts you, immediately deny…
"My boyfriend went AWOL, saying he had to meet someone in the library, and I think that it's a gir-"
"It never happened; Potter's lying!" Lily clapped a hand over her mouth at Janine's puzzled look.
"Lying about what?"
"That I… er… almost got him caught by Filch on purpose. He threatened to tell everyone that on the way back, but I never did that, and… er…"
"Why would he threaten that?"
"Er… never mind. You were saying?"
Janine frowned, and then glowered out the window. "Like I was saying, my boyfriend's gone AWOL, and I'm pretty sure he's disappeared off with Noelle Donahue again. Slut."
"Who?"
"Noelle Donahue! Aren't you listening?"
No, Lily thought ruefully. Which was true. She was far too absorbed with kicking herself for nearly spilling her secret. "Anyway, I thought you guys agreed to no commitments?"
"Yes, but that's before we were open about it! How out of the loop are you, Evans?"
Lily ignored that comment and glanced at her watch. "It's nearly eleven, you know. Don't you have Quidditch practice today?"
"Quidditch… oh, I completely forgot!" She jumped up, and was just about to bolt out the door when she turned back and asked, "Oy, you'll look for Sirius for me, won't you? I'll bet he doesn't even come to practice, stupid prat always forgets… Just go find him, would you? And if he's with Donahue, slap him!" She ran out, and then ran back in a second later, grabbed her broomstick, and then darted out the door, slamming it behind her.
Lily sighed. She'd rather not look for Sirius, but Janine would be annoyed if she didn't. I'll just go to the library and see if he really is there, she thought, with a longing sigh. At least I won't run into Potter…
X-X-X-X-X
"So where is your idiot of a best friend, anyway, Potter?" Damien demanded, watching Janine stalk out of the locker room, after huffily proclaiming that she was going to go sulk by the lake. The pair of them were the only ones left.
"Well, don't tell your sister, obviously, but he wants to get her some stupid gift to apologize for being such a prat before Valentine's. And don't ask me what it is, because he refused to tell me."
Damien paused, obviously torn between being furious at Sirius for skipping practice and being somewhat mollified that Sirius was attempting to be a good boyfriend to his younger sister. "Fine," he grunted at last. "Just tell him to do his shopping on his own time, hear? I'm heading up to the dorms to shower." He strode out.
James rolled his eyes and headed for the shower, swiftly stripping and stepping under the warm spray, which at once soothed his aching muscles. Belatedly, he remembered to toss his now-wet glasses out there, too, when a voice called, "Oy, James, you in here?"
"You're a lucky dog, Padfoot," James shouted through the thin curtain. "Garnet probably won't kill you for skipping practice because you were trying to be nice to his sister."
"You told him? That's it, Prongs. You're a dead man."
James laughed, and then froze. Oh, shit. He stuck his head out the curtain, snapping, "Don't you dare to take my clothes, Padfoo-" He groaned, loudly. What appeared to be a large black dog was standing near the doorway, clutching James's uniform in its jaws. "No. Bad, bad dog. Come back." The dog wagged its tail once and disappeared out the door. "Oh, shit," he said, this time aloud. He stepped from the shower, knowing that he was completely naked, but he needed, if nothing else, a towel to cover himself. He smirked a little. Can't have girls fainting all over the school after seeing me, now can we? Hmm, I wonder what Ev-
"Janine, are you in there? Listen, I couldn't find Black, but I did find Donahue in the library, and Black definitely wasn't in-" Lily stepped into view, and froze.
They stared at one another for several long, awkward moments. A hot flush rose up in Lily's cheeks as she stared.
"Er…" James tried to smirk, although he felt somewhat horrified. I am going to kill Sirius for this one. "Like what you see, Evans?"
Lily made a noise that sounded suspiciously like "Meep!" and promptly fled the locker room.
Well. That was sufficiently awkward.
James suddenly swore. Good God. Evans just saw me naked, and Sirius still has my clothes, and the only thing I can wear are my glasses and I've got to somehow find something to wear, and I'm still standing naked here, dripping wet, and if anybody walks in, they're going to get the shock of their life, and I think I hear someone coming now, and God I hope it's not McGonagall.
It wasn't. It was Sirius, clutching James's clothes, laughing his head off. "Priceless. You should have seen Evans's face when she ran out of here!"
"I hate you."
"No, you don't. She's probably so astounded by your masculinity that-"
"Excuse me, but why would she be astounded by it? It's not like anybody expects anything but that kind of masculinity from me, thank you very much!"
"Er, no offense, Prongs, but next to me, you pale in comparison."
"I do not!"
"Yes, you do, Prongs. I mean, come on. I see myself everyday, and this isn't the first time I've seen you. I win by a mile."
"That's a load of shit, Padfoot."
"I know you feel inadequate, Jamie, but I wouldn't worry. I have no plans to move onto Evans right now, so I'll leave her to your pathetic manliness – if it can be called that, which, personally, I think it can't. And, you know, it's just occurred to me that this will look extremely awkward if someone walks in right now, don't you think?"
There was a long silence, and then…
"But before I give you your clothes back, I want to hear it from you. Say it with me, James. 'Sirius Black is a burnished sex god, and James Potter can never measure up to him.' Say it, Prongsie."
"Shut up and give me my clothes back."
X-X-X-X-X
Lily flung herself furiously onto her bed. Last time I ever do anything for Janine Garnet! I swear, it really is this time! I let her walk all over me, and-
"Did you find him?"
Lily rolled over and fixed her best friend with her sourest glare. Apparently, it didn't work, because Janine was busily rooting around in Lily's dresser. Finally, Lily gave into her curiosity and demanded, "Just what are you looking for?"
"Those divine little raspberry-chocolate thingies. They're really good, you know."
"Aren't you even worried about your previously AWOL boyfriend? Especially after sending me out looking for him, you ought to be."
"Well, I was, but I decided not to be. I'll find out if he was with Donahue later, and if he was, I'll make him regret it."
"As it chances, he wasn't with her."
"Wasn't he?"
"No. He wasn't in the library. Although Donahue was. With her newest flavor of the week."
"So long as she wasn't making off with my boyfriend, I really don't care who she was with." Janine kicked Lily's dresser shut impatiently, saying, "Damn it, I can't find any. By the way, if he wasn't in the library, where was he?"
"Oh, I have no idea. Maybe he was creating a nice romantic surprise for you, and you're being entirely too suspicious about it. And you know something? I am so sick of hearing about your melodramatic relationship. I wish the two of you would establish some boundaries and stick to them."
"We have boundaries."
"Such as?"
"I'd better not catch him snogging a member of the opposite sex, unless it's me."
"Those are the boundaries? What are your boundaries?'
"I don't have any. S'far as I'm concerned, I can snog whoever I bloody want."
"That seems unfair."
"In an icky, morally unsound sort of way?"
"Precisely. Besides, why should you get to snog all that Hogwarts has to offer when he can't?"
"Well, I certainly can't deprive the boys their fun, can I? By the way, I still haven't found those raspberry-chocolate thingies."
"I'm out. I'll have Mum send some for you, if you'd like." Lily sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. "Janine, if I told you I'd done something really outrageous, would you believe me?"
Janine looked thoughtful (although she was currently rooting around in Alyssa's dresser, searching for food in there, too.) "Well, I suppose that'd depend on what it was, don't you think?"
"Something really outrageous."
"Like… dancing naked on the tables in the library?"
"Okay, not that outrageous. Just something… quasi-outrageous."
"Er…" Janine screwed up her eyes. "I don't really know, Lils. I mean, it's you. Outrageous for you is like… taking a cookie from the jar before dinner."
Lily glowered. "Well, thanks for absolutely nothing."
"Hey, you asked." Janine shoved Alyssa's dresser closed, too. "Why the hell does no one in this dormitory own any chocolate?"
"Probably because you ate it all."
"Don't make me sound like a pig, Lily, because I'm not. By the way, what was it that you figured out last night?"
"Huh?"
"Oh, you remember. You started going barmy, and then Madam Pince swooped in on and us and we all fled. So what was it you were shouting about? Does Jen have any?"
Lily blinked. "Wait, does Jen have any what?"
"Of those chocolate-raspberry thingies, of course. Honestly, Lily. Try and follow the conversation."
I would be able to if you didn't keep changing the bloody subject, Lily thought savagely, but she kept that thought to herself. "I figured out who Tom was," she said moodily.
Janine's head jerked around so fast that she appeared to get a crick in her neck; she rubbed it with a wince. "And?"
"Well… well, you're not going to like what I've got to say."
"Oh, bollocks, Lily, the only way I wouldn't like what you've got to say is if you say Voldemort was shagging my mum or some nonsense like that."
He may very well have been – ew! Bad thoughts! Bad thoughts! Must not… damn it, picture something else… oh, great, now I'm picturing Potter. Which isn't much better. Although he is very finely – ew! EW-EW-EW!
"…Er, Lily? You look constipated."
Lily grimaced and said. "Sit down, Janine, while I find those damn letters."
"What let-" Lily walked past her, shoving her onto a bed (Marlene's) and began to shift through her trunk, before realizing that she didn't have the letters; James did.
"Ask Potter to tell you. He's got all the evidence." Her voice was short.
Janine was giving her a curious look. "You've been awfully grouchy today," her friend said coolly. "What's the matter? Wake up with a rat in your knickers?"
Lily glowered darkly. "Why is it that whenever I want to be just a little selfish and have a day to myself – without the constant interruptions from you guys – I'm acting 'awfully grouchy,' whereas you're a selfish brat everyday and nobody ever bothers you about it!"
Janine's mouth opened several times; her brown eyes were angry. "Fine! Enjoy your day all by yourself, then!" She stormed out, and slammed the door behind her.
"And get your own damn chocolate!" Lily shouted after her friend, knowing that was a rather childish remark and not caring.
Lily angrily scowled down at her scuffed and used black shoes. Damn it all. Why can't anybody ever leave me the bloody hell alone?
It's not like I'm not within my right to tell her to sod off like that. She never knows when to leave well enough alone. Besides, it's true. She's so self-absorbed all the time, and the moment any of us acts the least bit like her, we're acting 'odd' and have our 'knickers in a twist.' I mean, really. Why can't she just leave well enough alone once in a while?
…I hope she's not really mad.
Lily sighed and kicked her shoes off. "I should probably go downstairs and apologize," Lily grumbled, and then said, "I'm the only who always has to, though. Why can't she do it for a change?"
"You know, they say that talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity," a mirror pointed out reasonably from across the room. Lily glowered at it, thinking of kissing James last night, seeing him this afternoon, and shouting at Janine.
"Believe me, I've already gone way past that first sign…"
X-X-X-X-X
"Maybe it was that time of the month," Sirius offered, watching Janine finger-comb her hair in the somewhat cracked mirror between Sirius and Peter's beds. "She may have just been cranky."
Janine glowered at her boyfriend, and then looked at James, who was sitting cross-legged on his bed, bent over his Transfiguration book. "She didn't have to shout at me like that. She was acting weird, and I pointed it out. There was no reason for her to go around the bend."
"Mm-hmm," James murmured noncommittally. He looked up at Sirius. "You done this homework yet?"
Sirius shot him a strange look. "Er, no. It's Saturday. Why would I have done it?"
James just shook his head. "So did you come here to complain, or do you actually want something?" He directed his question at Janine, who grimaced.
"Oh, right. Something about what you guys discovered last night-" That there is very obviously some sort of romantic spark between Lily and I… "-And that you had the evidence about it." Evidence?
Oh, that.
"Yeah, you're not gonna like this one." He tossed her the bundle of letters, directing her to which ones to read and explaining what Lily had discovered.
After a few long moments, Janine sank down onto Peter's bed, frowning. Sirius's mouth was faintly agape, and for once, he appeared to be speechless. He stared at her. "Did you know?"
"Of course not!" she snapped, and then looked at James. "Wow. This creates a few problems."
He raised an eyebrow. "Does it?"
"Well, yeah. We're going to have to confront my mum about it, aren't we?" She pulled on a strand of hair thoughtfully. "Although she'll probably be angry that we went snooping and tell your mum about it."
James grimaced. "Okay, we can safely scratch that idea. What about your aunt?"
"What about her?"
"She might know something. And she may not tell on us."
"Then again, she very well might."
"It's safer than going to your mum. We're going to scratch your grandmother off the list, too, because I don't think you want to ask her and I know I don't want to."
Janine paused thoughtfully. "I s'pose I could write and ask her to meet us, at least. I'd rather not put it in the letter; my uncle's an awful snot, sometimes, he just has to tell everyone everything, worse than a girl that way…"
Sirius snickered while James rummaged around in his trunk, at last pulling out some slightly wrinkled parchment and an old quill. Sirius handed Janine a bottle of ink and watched her bend over the parchment and begin to scribble quickly. He glanced at James. "You never told me all those things you lot figured out last night," he began in an injured tone, and then grinned, "Then again, I suppose you were busy telling us about your 'special moment' with-"
James shook his head frantically; Sirius hastily shut up. Janine's head popped up and she frowned at Sirius. "Why'd you stop? Finish what you were going to say."
"…Special moment with Filch," James blurted as Sirius opened his mouth.
Janine cast him a strange look, then shook her head. "Never mind. I don't want to know. Can I borrow your owl, by the way? I sent mine to my mum a little while ago, asking her to send some chocolate for me."
"Did you ask for some for me, too?" Sirius asked hopefully.
"Of course, you great prat," she retorted affectionately. She handed James the letter. "Send this off – if all goes well, she'll meet us at the next Hogsmeade trip."
"Provided there is one, after last week's fiasco," pointed out Sirius.
"Yes, provided that." Janine dusted off her jeans. "Well, I'm off. I'll see you lot later, I suppose."
"Wait – I'll go with you!" James leapt up, having just spied Lily outside on the grounds, in the courtyard. It was the perfect opportunity to catch her alone and speak to her. "I've… er… got to head to the kitchens. I'm starving."
"Good," approved Sirius, also standing up as well. "I am, too." The three walked out, James contemplating all the way how to ditch his friends without being too obvious.
X-X-X-X-X
Lily tucked a tendril of red hair behind her ear, carefully turning a page in her book, when she felt a warm breath on her cheek. Her eyebrows shot up. Janine's come to apologize? That's a first.
She looked up to smile at her, the words, "Don't say it – I'm sorry too," on her lips, when she found herself staring into a pair of hazel eyes, set behind wire-rimmed glasses.
Lily shot up so fast that she smacked James in the nose, jolting him backwards and also sending her book flying into the snow-covered stones of the courtyard. "Potter!" she yelled, and quickly filled the air with obscenities. When at last she had exhausted her vocabulary of rude words, she demanded, "What were you doing?"
James, meanwhile, had landed on his backside and was now rubbing his nose indignantly, his glasses lying off to the side. "Why do you always do that? That's the second time you've knocked off my glasses. Where are they?"
It occurred to Lily that James was clearly as blind as a bat without his glasses – he was feeling around the ground for them, although they were less than two feet away. She took pity on him and quickly bent, picking them up and cleaning them with her jumper before handing them back. "What were you doing?" she demanded again.
"Reading over your shoulder! Is that a crime, or something?"
Lily gave him a suspicious look. "What was I reading, then?"
"Demonic Taxonomy," he answered promptly, "page 219, on the four kinds of Jeweled Imps: Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald, and… er…"
"Amethyst," Lily finished, impressed in spite of herself. "Well. I guess you were reading over my shoulder." He smiled triumphantly, and she added, "…I hate it when people read over my shoulder. It annoys the hell out of me." His smile dropped off his face.
"Sorry," he said hastily, "I was just curious-"
She laughed. "I was joking. Well, not really. I do hate it when people read over my shoulder. But since you didn't know that, I won't kill you this time around. So don't apologize."
"Can I sit, then?"
Lily's face turned solemn. "That depends. Are you going to kiss me-"
"-Excuse me, you kissed me-"
"-Or take your clothes off?"
"Too cold for that. If we go inside, though, I'll be happy to oblige you." He grinned widely.
Lily grimaced. "Very funny, Potter." She crossed her arms over her chest. "You just can't go for very long without either asking me out or making a crass comment, can you?"
"I didn't last night."
"We were otherwise occupied with-"
"-Snogging?"
"Researching." Lily pulled a face at him. "You know, I liked you last night. When you were being serious. Not treating me like-"
"-A red-headed goddess?"
"You know, if you're going to finish my sentences, you may as well try and finish them with something I'd actually say." Even as she said it, Lily was smiling slightly.
Which was weird. Hold on! You've never found his antics amusing before, so why are they amusing now?
James looked thrilled that he had actually gotten a smile out of Lily, but he quickly played it down, sweeping his hair back from his face. Lily scowled at him, and he quailed slightly. "Can't you do something with that?" She pointed to his hair. "Like, comb it?"
"I tried that."
"And?"
"I broke the comb." Lily laughed; James stared at her, confused. "Why are you laughing? I was being serious!"
"How about gel?"
"Doesn't work."
"Sleakeazy's?"
"Evans, I'm a guy. I can't use that… girly-stuff. Sirius would say it's an insult to masculinity, and he'd have to kill me for it."
Lily smirked. "And what would James say?"
James leaned forward conspiratorially, the corners of his mouth quirking upwards, and murmured, "James would say that Sleakeazy's didn't work, either." Lily laughed.
James took her laughter as an invitation to sit down. See? I can be charming when I want to be. You just never let me be.
Lily's laughter subsided after a few moments, and she grew serious. "I'm glad you're here, because we have to talk."
"Uh-oh." James tried to grin. "Whenever a girl says that, it usually means she's breaking up with me."
"Except we were never going out in the first place," Lily pointed out, and Lily picked up her book, and then sat beside him. "That kiss… didn't happen."
James's heart sank. That wasn't what he had wanted to hear.
"Don't get me wrong, Potter." Lily smiled wryly. "It's not that I didn't enjoy it. But I don't date guys like you. You're not my type."
"So what is your type?"
Lily contemplated saying, 'not you,' but she figured that she owed him a little bit more than that. After all, he had saved her life. "Someone smart. And funny. Who makes me laugh like Sirius makes Janine laugh."
"Sirius also has a tendency to make Janine miserable, and vice versa, if you haven't noticed."
"True." Lily cocked her head. "But they enjoy being together. You can… see it. Just watching them. I want somebody who's going to make me happy like that. Who I'm going to want to spend all my time with. Who's going to stick with me, through the tough times, and the even tougher times. He has to like me for who I am. Not for my grades, or for my looks. For me. What's inside."
I do all those things for you, James protested inwardly. Or I could, if you'd let. I'm smart! I've made you laugh! I could do it more often, if you'd just let me! I want to make you happy! I'd stick with you! And I do like you for you – you just don't think I do! You've just described me!
Lily peered at him carefully. "Does that make sense?"
"Makes perfect sense," James finally ground out, and then added, "So have you met anybody like that?"
Lily brought her knees up to her chest, hugging them. "No, I haven't. I'm still waiting." She smiled at her feet – white sneakers with red shoelaces that clashed horribly with the sky blue jumper she was wearing. "When I was little, my dad used to read me fairy tales, about the princes who was locked in the tower, and the knight who came to rescue her." She looked up at Gryffindor tower. "I wish I had a knight. Someone who was blond, with blue eyes."
James blinked at her. "You want a guy who's blond, with blue eyes?"
"Well, that's what most of the knights looked like."
"I thought most knights were tall, dark, and handsome." James puffed out his chest proudly.
"Not in the stories my dad read me. They were blond and blue-eyed." He deflated slightly, watching the strange smile on Lily's face. "I always wished to be one of those princesses." Her smile faded, slightly. "Then again, those princesses were always blond and blue-eyed, too."
"I think you look like a princess." Crap. Did I just say that aloud?
Lily rolled her eyes. "And you're right back to flirting, just like you always are." She stood up. "Well, I hope Janine's over her snit, because I'm going to have to go apologize to her." She smiled at James. "Even though you aren't blond and blue-eyed and aren't my type at all, we can still be friends, you know. If you'd stop hitting on me, that is. It was nice talking to you." Lily waved to him and headed for the castle doors.
"She's in the kitchens with Sirius eating food!" James yelled after Lily.
"Thanks!" she called back, and disappeared inside.
James scowled at the ground. Then a grin began to form on his face. Not your type, eh? That can easily be fixed. Now all I need to do is find Remus…
X-X-X-X-X
A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but you guys have to understand – I'm uber-busy, and it's kind of a miracle that I even got this OUT. I'm sorry, but there's not a lot I can do. I. DON'T. HAVE. THAT. MUCH. TIME. TO. WRITE. And I'm constantly exhausted. I can't help it.
I had major writer's block, too, but I got a tip from someone on an AMAZING place to go for some random ideas of things to add into the story – Seventh Sanctum. That is my new cure for Writer's Block. I love it. In case you're wondering where the idea of 'Demonic Taxonomy' came from – there you go. Seventh Sanctum. LOVE THAT PLACE!!!
If you guys can't guess what James is going to do NEXT… well, I think it's obvious, so I'll give an extra dollie to anyone who can guess what it is. (Only one, though, because I think it's obvious).
Oh, one another thing – This chapter is dedicated to everyone who was oh-so-helpful and left me suggestions in their reviews. I want to thank everyone who said Lily ought to think things through by herself for a while, which is why I gave her that fight with Janine. More on that later. An extra special shout-out to BeCkY6 for her idea of the shower-scene, which I LOVED writing. Kudos!
Okay, so, it's getting too difficult to write individual reviews to everyone. I'm not going to do it anymore because it's too time-consuming. I still love you, I just don't have time. And look on the bright side! Seeing as I have virtually no time in the next week, this chapter probably wouldn't be up for another TWO WEEKS if I had written individual responses. I'll answer questions if you have 'em, but I don't have time write thanks to ever single one of you. But I still love you! I got a grand total of 54 Reviews! OMG, I LOVE YOU GUYS! YOU ROCK MY SOX!
Okay, so, now, Questions:
1. Okay, so why doesn't Lily realize it's an invisibility cloak, if she's so smart? Well, I figure she's a Muggleborn, and so chances are, she's never seen a REAL one, although she's probably heard of them. That, and I decided that James would stuff it in his pocket while Lily is conveniently staring after Madam Pince in disbelief as to how she missed it. Um… that's my explanation. The way I figured it, she never realized what was over her.
2. Why would Lily give up her standards and kiss James like that? Um… because it moves the plot along? No, seriously – I have no idea. I figured she was deadly curious, and remember, she never expected it to go THAT far. She expected, okay, our lips touch, then I pull back and demand to see what it was. Of course, that's not what happened…
3. Why no teasing from the others after the kiss? Um, 'cause they weren't there. I might have forgotten to put that in. I'll go and check later. They were supposed to have left by then, leaving only Lily and James behind. They were all too worried that Madam Pince would come back.
4. (Directed to Oliverwoodschic) Will there be any Harry/Hermione in my fic that is WAY later coming? Honestly – probably not. I'm a huge R/Hr shipper – sorry. I might write a side story about Harry/Hermione (after all, I started writing one about D/Hr, didn't I? And I'm not really a shipper of them) but it probably wouldn't fit into this universe. Sorry. (I might write one later, just for you, though! :) )
5. Peter showing his evilness… I'm really sorry, but that's not going to be happening for a while. I have a hazy timeline in my head, and nothing really important happens with Peter for, like, a YEAR… sorry.
6. Why did Lily and Janine have a fight in this chapter? Because it gives time for Lily to have an introverted think, and also, I figure that at some point, everyone's going to snap. Remember that I know my characters REALLY well, because I have their whole lives planned out, and you have to understand… Janine's a brat. Not even joking. She is. I love her, but she is. Lily's sweet to her friends, but sometimes, you gotta act like a bitch to another bitch to get them to back off, you know? That's why they fought. Lily's on edge, and Janine's not being particularly understanding, so I have no sympathy for her, which is kinda funny when you think about it. I don't have sympathy for my own OC's…
7. Snape? Yeah, I forgot about him. Oops. Maybe he'll be in the next chapter.
8. Remus? Um, yeah, I need to integrate him more, too. I'll work on that.
OKAY! BIG IMPORTANT NOTE! This story is under heavy revision! What I mean is, I'm going back, fixing grammar and stuff like that, tweaking a few things. As for the Whomping Willow scene… thanks to the reviewers who gave me their opinion. Four people said change it, two said don't, and four others said, 'it doesn't really matter' or something to that affect. Honestly? I have decided yet. I'm still working out the kinks. Even if I don't completely change it, I probably WILL tweak it a little. A lot of chapters are going to have tiny bits rewritten. Nothing major, but there are a few things I want to change. Oh, and I'm going to make Sirius's eyes gray. I prefer things to be as canon-ish as possible (for now, anyway) so I'm going to make them gray. Once I start uploading the revised chapters, anyway.
I think that's it for this update. I hope you guys like it!
XOXO Peaches