Note: Last chapter was reeeeeeeeeally bad! Just keep reading for more twists and turns…

Chapter Five: Letting Go

The Christmas holidays were practically like that all the way through. James and Lily played Muggle winter sports and occasionally the odd broomstick ride. Soon school started again and a lot of interesting things happened…

NEW PARAGRAPH

'Hey, guys, I need to talk to you all.' Sirius had a really serious look on his face.

'Padfoot, are you okay?' asked James uncertainly. A group of girls behind James and Lily giggled uncontrollably.

'James Potter is so hot!'

'No, Sirius is better looking!'

'Oh, shut up,' said Lily, turning around and glaring. 'Sirius, what were you saying?'

'There's this new girl…'

'Oh, not this gushy stuff again,' Remus groaned.

'No, Moony, I'm serious,' said Sirius. 'Anyway, that new girl, what's-her-name? Oh yeah, Emily Ford. She's practically clinging on to me. We've been going out for about… two months.'

'Two months!' screamed James. 'Two months and you never told me, Sirius!' James' mouth was hanging open.

'Anyway,' continued Sirius. 'It's no biggy. She's just going to be joining us… now and again…'

'You can't be serious,' said Lily, her mouth hanging open too. 'You've got to be joking, Sirius Black. She's a vam- oops, nothing.'

'What were you going to say?' questioned Sirius.

'Oh, it's no biggy,' mimicked Lily. 'It's just an old habit of hers.' Sirius wasn't convinced.

'Lily, I seriously think this romance stuff with James has affected your brain…'

'Whatever. Listen, Mr. Black, it's no big deal, okay?' At that moment, Emily Ford came up to the group and kissed Sirius lightly on the cheek. She smiled. Lily stared at her teeth for a minute, then snapped out of it.

'Emily-' she began, but Emily just looked at her peculiarly.

'Hey Emily, wassup?' asked Sirius, kissing her back. Lily cringed. She pulled Emily away.

'Emily!' she hissed. 'Aren't you a… vampire? What happened for your craving of blood, and your teeth?' Emily grinned cheekily.

'Teeth-shrinking spell. And I took Potion too.'

'Whatever. The fact is, Sirius' gonna break your heart. He always does to girls. He has a different one every month.'

'I think this time he's found true love – except it's me, of course.'

'Listen to me,' said Lily, looking into Emily's pale blue eyes. 'You're a really nice girl, and Sirius doesn't deserve someone like you-'

'You're just jealous!' Emily hurried away to join the group.

'You okay?' asked James, putting an arm around Lily's shoulders.

'It's just Emily,' she sighed. 'I'll tell you a secret – she's a vampire.' James' eyes widened.

'Shut up. You're not serious, are you?'

'Yes, I am. She said she used a teeth-shrinking spell and she took Potion too. But the fact is, she's a really nice girl, and Sirius is just gonna break her heart…'

'Listen, Sirius is just going to toy with her heart and then break it, I know the usual routine,' said James.

'So you're saying you've done it before?'

'No, what I'm saying is-'

'You're saying that you've been with girls and broken their hearts, and I'm just another girl to satisfy your hunger?' Lily burst into tears.

'Lily-'

'Go away, P-P-P-' Lily ran sobbing to the dormitories. So, she was just another girl to satisfy James' hunger. Well, she would pretend nothing ever happened between her and James.

How could I have let myself fall for him! Lily thought angrily. He's just another stupid jerk. Nothing's ever happened between us… I'll hate him forever… maybe I can convince Aleisha to put a Memory Charm on me, and make me forget… or maybe I can just bump into that statue again…And with these thoughts, Lily set off to do the unthinkable.

NEW PARAGRAPH

'Pleeease,' begged Lily to Aleisha. 'I really need you to. I really want to forget James!'

'Lily, it's too dangerous,' said Aleisha, really concerned.

'Come on, just a little Memory Charm? You can even use a Potion, just half a drop will do it!'

'Oh, okay, but you have to help! And if it goes wrong, you've got no one to blame but yourself!'

'Thankyou, Aleisha, thankyou!' Lily hugged her friend. 'I'll always remember you.' Lily and Aleisha set to work brewing the Memory Potion.

'Powdered beer root,' muttered Aleisha.

'Tipped in.'

'Mix with Boomslang… oh no, I haven't got any of that.'

'No, I've got it in my trunk… okay, how much?'

'Only 2 inches.'

'Done.' The girls went through the various ingredients, and soon, there was a cauldronful of simmering Memory Potion.

'Finally, add a bit of James', er, essence, since you want to forget him…'

'Hair?'

'Yeah, whatever… wait, where did you get it?'

'Robes. Don't ask.'

'Okay. Done. Remember, half a drop,' warned Aleisha. Lily got out a dropper and carefully dripped half a drop into a goblet.

'Well, here goes…' The last thing Lily remembered was a rushing sensation, then blackness…

NEW PARAGRAPH

'Lily, get up, come on, don't quit on me…' Lily's eyes snapped open.

'Whoa… Aleisha… what happened?' James Potter burst in at that moment.

'Who's that?' asked Lily.

'Lily, it's me, James…' Lily couldn't remember James; the Potion was doing its work.

'Potter, she's given up on you. She's taken Memory Potion already,' explained Aleisha. 'Nothing will work against it. I'm really sorry.' James shot Aleisha a furious look.

'Why didn't you stop her?'

'Her choice, not mine, but I told her not to do it…' James slammed the door on the way out.

'Well, I'll just pretend nothing happened, if Lily wants it that way,' fumed James.

'What was that all about?' wondered Lily out loud.

NEW PARAGRAPH

The day was pretty much normal, except Lily avoided James and Sirius. She didn't mind little Peter Pettigrew, Remus was a really good friend and you couldn't help liking Hagrid. James and Sirius just annoyed her. They played a lot of pranks in the hallways. They even duelled with Malfoy.

'Sirmunsortia!' cried Lucius Malfoy. A green snake burst from the tip of his wand.

'Ipera Ivanasca!' The snake disappeared.

'Irania Eggsmae!' James was thrown back and crashed into the wall. He got up.

'Finite Incantatem!' The spell that was throwing him back again and again was ended.

'Fifty points from Gryffindor! Fifty points from Slytherin! Never will I let Hogwarts become so maniacal!' McGonagall bustled up to the group of fourth years that were crowded around James and Malfoy.

'Great, you just lost some points, Pothead,' spat Lily.

'Come on, Evans, go out with me,' said James lazily, ruffling his hair.

'You know I never have, and I never will,' said Lily. There was an awkward silence, as some people remembered the two lovebirds. James was having difficulty letting Lily go. He still felt the same turbulent emotions for her, the same ones he had had before she had taken the Memory Potion. Nothing could change the way he felt for her.

'Scourgify!' James directed his wand at Snape and his mouth was instantly washed out with pink bubbles. Everyone laughed.

'Stop it, stop it, stop it!' cried Lily. 'Just because you think you're the best doesn't mean you have to torment everyone! I'll do anything if you stop-' The words came out of her mouth. A big, wide, silly grin spread over James' face.

'Go out with me, Evans,' he said simply. The words had already gone out of Lily's mouth. She never backed out of anything.

'Okay, next Hogsmeade trip,' she sighed. From that moment on, James was acting like Lily was his girlfriend. He would come up to her at the end of class and put his arm around her shoulders, but Lily didn't like him. James Potter was just arrogant. Lily had forgotten all the feelings she felt for him before, but James hadn't. He just didn't want to lose her, but deep down, he knew that he had to let her go… not today, but someday, someday far away in the future...