CHAPTER 10..:::::.. You Could Never Compare
DISCLAIMER: NOTHING IS WHAT I OWN. (Except the plot. *Swears unprintably at disclaimer for being so repetitive*.
*A/N: HI! Over a hundred reviews! Wow, so exciting. HUGE thanks 2 all of you guys, and Lily Adams for being my one-hundredth reviewer. Sorry this chapter took a little longer *ducks flying tomatoes*, but my hand is currently bandaged so I can't type as fast, *also damns all appaloosa horses to hell for being so darn able to crush bones*.
Slick: Thanks for the review, and yes, I could say review more. Lol. I know; you can't expect anything else from guys, can you? Thanks for the tips on italics; I'll try them out!
Fashiondiva: Aha, yes, I'm dropping hints, but no cigar as of yet. Lol. You'll just have to stick with it!!
Babygal: aww, thank you so much! Flattery gets you people everywhere!
Templa Otmena: Sorry it was a shorter chapter; I wanted to break down the summer bits so it wasn't all crammed into one huge chapter!
Lily Adams: Ah well, obviously, you are still here because you are stunned by the story! Lol. 100th REVIEWER! Yay!
Padfoot79: Aha. You shall know soon enough . . . *grins manically*.
Szhismine: Well, now you can stop wondering can't you!
George is Hot: Lol. Yes I thought reviews were your greatest talent!
Wing Goddess: Lol that's Ok, *pats wing goddess on the shoulder* Glad you're an avid reader now. They're always the best! *Rosie sees the flag and applaudes wing goddess's loyalty*. Lol.
Them Girl: Lol, don't be too impatient! I won't keep you that long ; ) *laughs sadistically*.
Inkling: Thanks, nit picking is always welcome too. I didn't know if I spelt it right or not. I'm no good at French! (Or Latin or whatever it is.) *Blushes and shows how ignorant she is*. I plucked the number 67 out of nowhere, and after realised that perhaps it does make him sound slightly obsessive! Oh well.
Laurie: Glad it's how you imagined it. Thanks and keep reviewing!
MeLissa: Lol, sorry, there's an email address on my update list that has one letter different to yours! Sorry, I must of mispelt it, aha, but gained a new reviewer! Thanks!
Gefaalt: Yes, I'm very impressed with your English! I can speak a little German, but it's not half as good as your English! Please keep reading!
Miabubble: Thanks for the review, and I get what you mean, but the reason I deliberately showed the very end of the Snape incident (or snippet of the chapter) was so people picked up my fiction from exactly that point; JKR had it in the midst of the OWLs, but in mine, there is no mention of the OWL's until after the DADA lesson, where the teacher points it out to them. As for Arabella Figg, yeah, I know, you're right! I really like her name though, and thought it might work. Lol. I don't deserve credit for the name Romulus, because there was a rumour that Lupin's brother would show up in book 6; called that. I thought it was clever because Romulus and Remus where twins in legendary tales brought up by wolves.
*HITS PLAY*
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
{{ Dear Lily,
I am sorry to hear my last letter dismayed you. Truthfully, Sirius helped me write it, which is probably why it was so bad. You will be glad to hear, or to read, that this is totally and completely me. I am now going to confess to something totally stupid that will probably make me sound a right loser. You can show all of this to your friends, I don't care. OK. Here I go . . . I am besotted with you. And if giving you time is what it takes for you to be besotted back with me, then that's what will have to happen.
Just help me out here, will you? Give me something to go on, something that will make me stop worrying. Show me somehow that I am not completely wasting my time here.
As for asking you out, (that was Sirius's idea by the way,) I'm not going to do that anymore. It's obvious that that is not what you want, (and also I have failed sixty seven times) but also, you are right. It is childish. I'm going to be seventeen before the summer is over, and I agree that it is time for me to deflate my head a little, (as you so kindly informed me that summer's day by the lake.) Just so you know, deflating one's head is a rather painful process.
Please reply Lily, all my love, James. }}
***
James was a great deal happier around the house after he had sent the letter, which, as he had put it, "would put the cat among the house-elves" and put the "snitch in her pitch."
He and Sirius had celebrated his newfound happiness by playing Quidditch in the Potter's well-kept and leafy garden, which was nice, but not very big. The way that James and Sirius played Quidditch deeply alarmed Mrs Potter.
"Boys! What have I told you about going too high?"
"That we'll be seen!" shouted James from above, currently hanging onto the end of Sirius's broom, determined to haul him off.
"EXACTLY!" bellowed Mrs Potter over Sirius's roaring laugh at James's almost succeeded efforts.
Her tone made James let go of Sirius's broom and land in front of his weary-looking mother. "Come on, Mum, it's summer! We don't go *that* high."
"Yes you do, young man. You'll be calling yourselves adults soon. How do you think it will look if you break a Ministry decree in front of Muggles and get suspended from Hogwarts in your last year? Or worse! Expelled!"
James muttered something and leapt back onto his broom with ease, taking a snitch out of his pocket.
"What was that?" she snapped.
"Nothing, mummy dearest, nothing."
"I'm not even going to ask you, James, where you got that thing," she said, signalling to the snitch clutched tightly in his fist.
"Nope, it's probably best if you don't," he answered and began the familiar trick of letting the snitch fly away a little and seizing it again, except this time, he was in the air. Mrs Potter hid her admiration for her son's reflexes and stormed back into the house to make dinner.
***
Lily read and re-read the second letter she had received from James at least three times. She could not believe how different it sounded in her head. It was almost, well . . . mature. The fact that he had admitted that the letter was partly due to Sirius Black explained a lot. That boy seriously needed a maturity check in her opinion. "I am besotted with you." Lily couldn't decide whether she saw this as decidedly sweet, or vomit-worthy. Was that him, or Sirius? 'If I can't tell who this is, I shouldn't really be bothering at all to read this,' she thought to herself.
Perhaps she should give him a chance. He sounded so desperate in the letter. But was that really a good thing? Lily had never, in her life, felt ready for a relationship. She would probably still think the same thing by the time she turned thirty, and would insist that maybe, when she was a year older, she would feel differently. She was almost seventeen . . . was that too young? Or maybe it was too old and she should get a move on. All of her friends had had relationships . . .well. No, that was a lie; they had "gone-out" with people, James Potter most of all, which, as Lily had always thought, was a childish thing to refer to hormones as. But she had hormones too, didn't she? Should she not give herself a chance to experience a . . . relationship?
Lily could not believe she was even contemplating this impossible situation in her head. And with James Potter? He of all people was most probably the one person it was not wise to start a connection with. He had had almost every girl in the dormitory. Except her. And it was going to stay that way . . . but then she thought of the sincerity that had plagued his face when she had told him she would "not be one of his conquests." "You wouldn't," he had replied. Was that really true? Or did he say that to all of the girls in a mind to get them all into his bedroom? As she continued to think about this, her mind drifted towards the latter. She attempted to work out her feelings for him in her head before putting it down on paper and sat down at her desk, re-reading the letter once more.
A loud knock at her door brought her to her senses and jerked her out of thought.
"Come in," said Lily, thinking it would be her mother telling her it was about time to do her 'before dinner chores'.
"Oh, all right then, if you insist," came Petunia's scathing voice from out on the landing.
Lily turned. "I wouldn't have said come in if I'd known it was you," she snapped.
"Now, Lillian, is that any way to talk to your older sister?"
Lily closed her eyes for a second to stop herself from reaching under her pillow and grabbing her wand to hex her stupid sister right in the face. The use of her full name had clearly struck a nerve. Petunia was clearly enjoying Lily's short, hair-matching temper, and grinned.
Lily opened her almond eyes. "What do you want?"
"Mum sent me up to your room. Dinner's ready."
"Fine." Lily turned away back to her letter, thinking her mother would not mind if she were two minutes late. But Petunia had not moved. "Are you still here?" Lily snapped, annoyed at the intrusion. She hated it when people came into her room, even her parents. It was where she kept her whole magic life; wand, trunk, books, everything concerned with the wizard world. Petunia's invasion was very demeaning for her.
"What are you doing?" said Petunia quietly, and rather unexpectedly.
Lily turned. "What's it to you? If I said, "magic," you'd only turn and scamper."
Petunia sneered, however it wasn't quite as pronounced as her usual expression; the mention of Lily's abnormality rebuffed her audacity slightly. "I'm just making sure, you know, as the mature figure, that you're not doing anything you shouldn't be."
Lily snorted. "The mature figure? Give me a break, Tune."
Petunia blanched. She hated it when Lily called her 'Tune'. It was a stupid name anyway. "So are you coming?" she snapped.
Lily got up, huffily. "For Merlin's Sake! Do you not understand plain English? Go . . . away!"
"Who's Merlin?" said Petunia, a faint amusement in her thin voice.
Lily smiled. "He was a "wizard," Tune," she said, enjoying Petunia's wince at a mention of her world.
"A wizard? Another freak like you then?" snapped Petunia.
Lily scowled. "Why are you here anyway? Aren't you usually round that dumb rhinoceros, Vinron's for tea on Sundays?"
"It's Vernon for your information. And yes, I am. But I decided not to go today," she said through clenched teeth.
"Aww," said Lily in mock concern. "Had a lil tiff, had we?"
"What about you?" Petunia snapped. "You haven't had any interest in you for ages, have you? I don't suppose even the freaks in your world would touch you with a barge pole."
"For your information, I – "
But Lily was cut off by her mother's voice from downstairs. "Girls! Will you stop bickering and come down for your dinner?"
Whilst exchanging filthy looks, both left Lily's room for their dinner. Lily left first, not wanting to look at her stupid, oh-so-Muggle-like sister on the way out. This was a mistake however, as Petunia was able to glance back to Lily's desk, and see two letters sat there. A crude smile traced her lips as a wicked thought entered her mind.
***
Dinner was a subdued event that evening; Mr Evans tried to make conversation but it was plain that neither of his daughters would engage willingly in it. Eventually they gave up, and all sat in silence. There was a stir, however, when Petunia rose from the table before anyone else.
"Where are you going, dear?" asked Mrs Evans.
"Oh, I . . . um, I need to get started on some maths homework. You know how much trouble I have in that subject, mummy, I could be stuck on it all holiday if I don't get a move on!"
"Would you like some help, darling?" asked her father.
"Oh no, no!" said Petunia a little too quickly, making Lily frown. "I'm sure I'll manage."
"I don't get to help any of you now," said Mr Evans, slightly dismayed. "I mean, Petunia's so clever, and I would be useless when it comes to magic, eh, Lils?"
Lily smiled, and so did Petunia fakely as she disappeared upstairs.
@@@
The door to Lily's room was slightly ajar. Night had fallen since dinner and the orange glow of the street lamp cast sinister shadows across the pale faded carpet. Petunia hesitated slightly in the doorway, but overcame all fear when she saw the letters lying open on her sister's desk. Excitement flooded through her as the notion of finally paying her sister back for being such a little favourite dawned on her.
She sat down at the desk after making totally sure that there was no one coming up the stairs and turned on Lily's little lamp, making sure it was dimmed sufficiently so as not to attract attention. The words of the two letters James had sent filled Petunia's mind. "Will you go out with me?" "I am besotted with you," "Give me something to go on," "all my love, James . . ."
Petunia almost had to stop herself from laughing out loud and cupped a hand over her mouth. She glanced at the eagle feather quill next to the bottle of ink, and thought better of it. She reached into her pocket and drew out a fine ballpoint pen, before reaching for some parchment.
"Tune, am I?" she muttered to herself whilst writing. "Vinron, is it? I'll show you, you little freak . . ."
***
It was nearly midnight until finally the letter arrived at James's window. Lily's owl was looking fairly disgruntled as it tapped on his window, waking both him and Sirius up. Neither of them knew, of course, that it was unsettled because an unknown stranger had not known how to tie letters properly to it's leg or how to send it off on a job correctly.
"Was . . . wassup . . .?" James moaned as he rolled over.
"I . . . Oi, Prongs! It's Lily's owl!" Sirius muttered, not as groggily as his friend.
At this, James sat up bolt upright in his bed and rushed to the window. Lily's owl took off as soon as he had it, obviously not wanting to be used again by some random amateur. He unfolded the letter and lit a candle.
"What's it say?" nudged Sirius, but James's mouth had gone dry. He dropped the letter after reading it, and sank to his bed. Sirius picked it up.
{{ To James.
Stop contacting me. I do not like you and I never have done. In fact, I hate you. You are a pathetic loser who I wish were dead. Stop wanting what you can't have. I have a boyfriend already and he's a thousand times the man you are. You could never compare.
Lillian. }}
Sirius did not put the letter aside straight away. After reading it, he looked curiously at the way it was signed. 'Lillian.'
"Prongs," he said after a second. "There's something up with this."
James did not look up but spoke to the floor. "Yeah, there is." There was a long pause and then, "I have to see her."
"What? When?"
"Now."
"Now? Are you crazy? It's half midnight! You don't even know where she lives!" Sirius said, trying not to wake the other Potters'.
James fumbled in his trunk for something. After a few seconds, he brought out a piece of brown-looking parchment.
"Remember this?" he said, holding it up. "Remus gave it to us as a joint present right after we'd finished the Marauder's Map. Works similarly but instead shows you how to get anywhere in England you want."
Sirius shook his head. "Prongs, this is insane, you know that?"
"Letters aren't working, Sirius. I need to talk to her. Talk some sense into her. Shout at her if I have to. Now."
"James," said Sirius seriously. "You cannot force her to fall in love with you. That's not how it works," said Sirius, surprising even himself. He was known for being a charmer, a user, and here he was, giving philosophical lessons concerning love.
"There is something between Lily and me. She's scared of something. I need to talk to her, face to face, give her the chance to say what she really means."
"I'd say this is fairly self-explanatory!"
"I'm going now. Please don't follow me, Sirius."
And with that, James reached under his bed and pulled out his broomstick along with his Invisibility Cloak. He perched himself on the windowsill and with a fluttering sound, resembling that of a snitch, was gone.
Sirius took his best friend at his word and did not follow. Well, not immediately anyway. Instead, he sat down on James's bed and re-read the mysterious letter. "Lillian," 'when does she ever call herself that?' thought Sirius, 'even to people she doesn't like? Like me.' His eyes followed down the rest. "I have a boyfriend," 'she doesn't have a boyfriend. Marietta told me. Lily would never say something a harsh as "I wish you were dead" either.' Finally, the most obvious feature of the letter dawned on him. It was written in a Muggle-type pen. Lily had not written this letter.
With a sickening dread that already James had done something stupid, he fetched his own broom and raced out after him.
***
The night air whipped and chilled James's face so as it soon became red and wind-swept. His hair was blowing in every possible direction and before long, his hands had frozen to his broom. He was only wearing a cloak over his vest top and shorts, so before long, he felt like ice. His quick exit had made him forget his glasses and now, he could only see blurry shapes. 'But that was OK', he thought. 'It's dark anyway; how much would I really have been able to see?'
A mixture of anger and sadness was writhing around inside him. What if Lily really meant what she had said? What if he couldn't convince her? Would that mean that this . . . thing was really . . . over?
He reached into his pocket for the map that Lupin had given him. He saw an orange dot labelled "Lily Evans Residence" and tried to stuff it back into his pocket after he was sure of where he was going, but for some reason, he could not get it back into his pocket. The zip on it was stuck due to a mixture of the movement and the cold. James fumbled about, focusing all attention now on storing the map safely and on Lily's letter. 'Why had she suddenly reacted like that? Was it the previous letter? Who was this other bloke? How dare he?'
Perhaps if he had been wearing his glasses, he would have seen the huge oak tree looming up in front of him a few seconds before, but this was really of little consequence. James looked up in the last second and saw a huge shape in front of him. There was no time for the feeling of sick dread to sink it, and due to his seeker reflexes, he pulled up sharply, but it was too late. He had already collided with the oak tree at full pelt. James felt his face hit hard bark, connecting with bone and his broom smashing into nothing beneath him. Sliding down the immense bulk of the tree, he came to rest with a loud crash at the foot of it, rolling only a few metres from the impact. Seeing stars, only dimly aware of how numb his whole body felt, he was able to lift his head a few centimetres and blink blood out of his eyes before everything went horribly black.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
*A/N: Muhahahahahah!!!!!!! Cliffhanger!! Sorry you guys, but I've been thinking about how to do that for ages! Please don't flame me! *Grins apologetically*. Don't you dare stop reviewing. This is longer than the others after all! Hope the next chapter will be quicker than the last one; I'm taking this bandage off whether I'm supposed to or not. Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review, Review.
Sorry. I felt like doing that.
Rosie x x x