Hey! I worked hard to write another chapter for y'all one week before exams (don't I have my priorities straight!). So read and enjoy! It's only 30 seconds of your time to review…so please,do. And feel free to ask me questions as well (just be sure you're signed in or you include your e-mail). This is the last chapter of fifth year…but I'm doing sixth and seventh, so not to worry. Thanks!
Ch. 12 The Boyfriend She Never Knew About
Fireworks blossomed in the dark sky, as the Hogwarts' students, or rather the Marauders, ended the year with a big bang.
"And now lastly, my favorite," shouted James, smiling at one particular person in the sea of students surrounding him, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. A dazzling white lily burst into the sky, showering golden rain.
The real Lily blushed with embarrassment. Yes, she knew most girls would be flattered, but why was it always Potter? Many had whispered that he wasn't as cocky as he used to be, but he was still cockier than most. Yes, it was sweet to do that, she decided, but she wasn't going to fall at his feet merely because he bought some cheap firework featuring her namesake. She felt a hand touching her shoulder.
"Like it, Evans, or should I say, Lily?" whispered a voice close to Lily's ear.
"Very nice, Potter. It would turn any girl's head, but mine."
"One of these days, I'm going to make you fall in love with me."
Why did he have to go back to his conceited routine? "Potter, you can't make someone fall in love with you. That you think you can shows that you haven't changed enough." Lily searched for Alice and Emmeline, from whom she had become separated in the dense crowd of students, leaving James frustrated and confused.
"Lucky in love, Prongs?" inquired Sirius, lightly punching James in the shoulder.
"More like rejected, Padfoot," replied James.
"Well, she must have been flattered at least," commented Remus, as the four boys strode back towards the castle.
"She was. She even mentioned that she had noticed some change for the better," stated James, smiling a bit at her slightly-improved behavior, "Plus, she didn't yell at me, slap me, or threaten to hex me this time."
The next day, the students packed for the train ride home. A tousled Lily made her way towards the common room, falling down the stairs unceremoniously.
"What are you doing, Lily?" called out early-bird Alice.
"Mmmmmrrrmemmlemmle," murmured Lily incoherently.
"You do realize that you look utterly ridiculous, Evans," rang out James' voice amusedly from the common room, where he and Remus were looking in nooks and crannies for lost "valuables."
"It's a free country!" defended Lily, picking herself up at the sound of Potter's voice. "And I don't see you trying to help me up, Potter."
"I don't want my head bitten off! Although—"
"Stop while you're ahead, Potter," laughed Emmeline, who had just gotten out of the shower. She peeked around the door of the girls' dorm. "She's dangerous this early in the morning."
Lily didn't respond; she just headed up the stairs to get ready to go. After all, even though Alice and Emmeline might have been fully awake and walking at that time in the morning, Lily was sleep-walking-- like any normal person.
ON THE TRAIN:
Lily crept through the sliding door, trying to surprise her friends.
"He's changing; I really think he is, Emmeline. Frank told me he's been less full-of-himself ever since that incident with Snape," said Alice earnestly to Emmeline.
"Yeah, according to Lily, he was pretty quiet after his talk with Dumbledore."
"Still hasn't stopped those two from having their usual love/hate relationship, though, has it?" laughed Alice, lightening the conversation topic.
"Talking about me behind my back, girls?" teased Lily as she made her presence known by completely pushing the door aside as she stepped into the compartment.
"Spying on us?" inquired Emmeline. "How much did you hear?"
"Enough," responded Lily airily. "Good news—I won't have to patrol this time 'round. Remus is going to later."
"Great!" Alice exclaimed, reaching for something in her bag. She pulled out a hot pink and green BeWitched magazine. "That means we can finally have some girl talk time!"
"Provided we're not interrupted," added Emmeline, smiling at Alice's enthusiasm.
"Ooh! Lemme see!" Lily said. Although she didn't consider herself shallow, she had fun reading the kinds of magazine with advice, and BeWitched was full of it.
"Sure thing," replied Alice, handing the desired magazine over as Lily immediately flipped through.
"Anything good?" asked Emmeline curiously.
"Haha," chortled Lily. "Look," she pointed at a particularly flashy article. "What he tells you with his body language. Does your crush raise his eyebrows when he lays eyes on you? Does he stare at you? When he first sees you, does his mouth open a little? Does he mess with his hair? Does he straighten his collar? Does he try to get your attention? It could be that he's telling you something.'"
"How appropriate after our discussion about Potter," remarked Emmeline. Lily pretended to be innocent and unknowing. "Oh, give me a break, Lils. I know you heard Alice's and my discussion. Anyways, according to that article and the show he put on last night, Potter definitely likes you, Lily."
"Oh, Em! Tell her something she doesn't already know," suggested Alice teasingly. "Oy! Evans! Go out with me?" Alice imitated James in a very exaggerated way as she got on her knees and started playing with her wispy blonde hair, rakishly raising her eyebrows.
Instead of answering this important question, Lily started giggling and replied, "Alice! Why didn't you tell me before? Whatever shall we tell Frank, Emmeline?"
Emmeline rubbed her temples thoughtfully. "It may require medical attention. The boy might have a serious reaction to this kind of disturbing news."
"Oh, be quiet!" commanded Alice. "Speaking of Frank, I'm going to go see him. I told him I'd go talk to him for half an hour or so."
"Noooo!" moaned Lily dramatically, clutching her heart in pain. "You can't leave me now! I shall languish for thee!"
"Languish away," replied Alice scathingly, but with a grin on her round face.
"See ya!" called out Lily and Emmeline. Just as Alice was leaving, the usual lady with sweets entered.
"Like anything, dears?" the lady asked, smiling pleasantly.
"Ah, yes!" responded Lily. "Could I have some lime Fizzing Whizbees…and some chocolate frogs?"
"How many of each?"
"Oh…I don't know…how about six sickles' worth?" The lady began to reach for the candy.
"That's a lot!" exclaimed Emmeline. "But then again, we both like them and if Alice comes back…alright! I'll pay three sickles and you pay three." The girls handed the lady the money, and the woman and her cart exited the compartment, bumping into the door and something on the ground, leaving the girls with plenty of sweets. She muttered something under her breath about draughts.
"Mmm," Lily smiled happily. "I love Fizzing Whizbees." She floated slightly above her chair, then settled back her chair.
"I know," laughed Emmeline at the sight of Lily being levitated in the air by the Fizzing Whizbee. As she reached for a chocolate frog, her brows became furrowed with confusion. "Lils?"
"Mmm?"
"Didn't we have twenty chocolate frogs?"
"Yeah, why?"
"We only have fourteen now."
"That's unusual…wait! Wait—did you just say that six chocolate frogs disappeared?"
"Yep."
"Into thin air?"
"It appears to be the case."
"Guard the door, Emmeline. There's someone here besides us. Someone invisible has stolen my candy before, and this time, I'm catching the culprit." Emmeline stood up in front of the door, knowing she had to protect her candy.
"Alright. I know that someone's in here besides me and Emmeline," Lily said, walking around the room, her hands outstretched like a zombie. The two girls could hear some mutters coming from one corner of the compartment. Lily grinned evilly. "You are so letting me borrow that invisibility cloak, whoever you are."
A voice out of no-where replied, "I'll let you borrow it, if you'll go out with me, Evans."
"Nice try, Potter," replied Lily, a smile flickering on her face in spite of herself. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter materialized out of nowhere. James strode over towards Lily.
"Well, it was worth a try," he said cheekily, folding the cloak and stuffing it into his regular cloak.
"Hand over the chocolate, and nobody gets hurt," Lily said deviously. "I'm warning you: I can use that cloak against you. Filch would have a field day."
"Whatever are you talking about, Evans?" asked James, grinning mischievously. Lily gave him a look that would kill. "Oh…THOSE chocolates! Yes, well, Padfoot ate them."
"Can I pleeeeease have some?" begged Sirius. "I promise I'll be good the rest of…(he thought hard about this) the train ride!"
"I highly doubt that," stated Emmeline, folding her arms. "And didn't you already have some chocolate?"
"No," Sirius said, not blinking.
"Liar," Emmeline said back.
"Padfoot! You took them all!" accused James.
"I'm sure you were blameless, Potter. And when did you enter our compartment, anyways?" demanded Lily, hands on her hips.
"We snuck by the lady with the cart—tried to snitch a few sweets but she keeps them under a blasted lid!" responded Sirius before James could open his mouth. Sirius eyed the candy dangerously. "Chocolate please?" Sirius aimed his puppy dog eyes at both girls pathetically. Put that boy near sugar and he went haywire.
Remus pleaded, "PLEASE don't give him more—Sirius has already had six chocolate frogs! He's unsafe when he's had too much sugar."
"Fits and things like that," added James, for good measure. "But you can give me some." The girls rolled their eyes.
"And me," agreed Peter, reaching for a chocolate frog. Remus grabbed his hand away from the sweets.
"Sorry, Lily, Emmeline, I tried to teach them manners but they failed miserably," apologized Remus, with a smile. However, he took a Fizzing Whizbee, and paused thoughtfully before he popped it into his mouth. "I think they have rubbed off on me." He levitated slightly.
Lily laughed and gave in, saying, "You all can have some—just don't take it all because Emmeline and I are trying to save some for Alice."
"Ah, yes, we just saw Alice enter Frank's compartment," declared Sirius, before attacking the chocolate frogs in what he thought was a sneaky way.
"Lord, protect us, Sirius, from your sneaky ways," commented Emmeline dryly.
"I have a Sneakoscope," remarked Peter, thinking that he was adding to the conversation.
"Speaking of protection," began James, "Weren't you thinking of having some sort of club for next year, Evans? You know, one we can learn dueling in and stuff?"
"Yes," Lily murmured as she remembered why Potter would know about her idea. After all, he had been sneaking with Sirius in the invisibility cloak when he heard it. She had noticed something shiny disappear under Potter's cloak…now she knew what it was. "Yes, that cloak will be very useful."
"Had no idea she was such a plotter," commented Sirius on how Lily was boring her green eyes into the invisibility cloak. "Guess you never can tell with Evans."
Lily stared him down menacingly but continued, "I think it'll just be for the sixth year Gryffindors."
"What about fifth and seventh?" inquired Remus.
"Well, we figured that fifth and seventh years are preparing for OWLs and NEWTs so they'll be too busy to really have time for a defense club," replied Emmeline. She, Lily, and Alice had already discussed the topic thoroughly.
"Good point," James said, and then he turned to Lily with a mischievous smile. "But you're going to be busy next year when you're Seeker, aren't you now?"
"Potter…" Lily warned.
"Did you hear? Kingsley Shacklebolt's resigning from the team next year, and I'm replacing him as captain."
"Are you serious?" demanded Lily as if her life were over.
"No, I am!" Sirius joked, but went back to eating chocolate when the others glared at him.
"Why's Shack resigning?" asked Emmeline curiously.
"NEWTs," James answered. They all groaned.
"We have so much to look forward to our seventh year," Remus said in a fakely bright voice.
"With me there, of course you do!" Sirius beamed, reaching for another chocolate. The chocolate frogs had gone from an army to just a few refugees.
"Never a dull moment, that's for sure," agreed Emmeline.
"If you hadn't broken up with me, Emmeline, you could have more of those special moments with me," commented Sirius with a smirk.
"If you hadn't spied on me, Sirius, I wouldn't have broken up with you," retorted Emmeline.
"Uh oh," James said, turning to Lily, Remus, and Peter, "Let's leave before they really get started."
"Good idea," agreed Remus, turning to Peter. "Wormtail and I are going to go patrol."
"But I'm not a prefect!" protested Peter.
"I am, and I already told Lily she didn't have to patrol."
"Okay, fine." The two boys made their way through the door and down the hallway.
"Are you two leaving also?" asked Sirius, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Yeah," responded James, pulling Lily along. "My Seeker and I have things to discuss. Privately."
"What," Lily said, as they exited, "was that about?"
"Hey!" James exclaimed defensively. "At least I got us out of there! Have you seen how they get when they fight?"
"No."
"You don't want to."
"So you're going to be captain next year."
"Going to suck up to me, Evans?"
"Shut up, Potter. I was merely assessing the situation."
"As am I."
"How can I try out if there's a Seeker on the team right now?"
"Key words are 'right now.' It just so happens that our Seeker graduated this year. Don't you keep up with your house, Evans?"
"I prefer to live my own life, not study others'."
"Really? And I thought you liked to study."
"Why does everyone think all I do is read and study? I can do other things too," Lily declared rebelliously, tossing her head as she glared at some astonished students passing by.
"Yeah, like scare younger students," responded James, laughing.
"You and Sirius scare the entire school, so there."
"Yes, but everyone knows that not only are we talented Quidditch players, pranksters, and students, we attract nearly all of Hogwarts' female population."
"The key word is 'nearly.'"
"Well…McGonagall and Sprout haven't fallen yet, but then again, some question whether they have hormones."
"Well, I'm not attracted to you."
"The key word is 'yet,' Evans," smirked James, enjoying Lily's spitfire reaction.
"You make me sick, Potter!"
"Yes, well, that is one of infatuation's side-effects. Poets call it love-sick."
"Is slapping you a side-effect, Potter?" asked Lily tartly.
"Let's talk about Quidditch, Evans!" James said suddenly, realizing a subject change was in order if he wanted to retain those looks that most of the female population at Hogwarts admired.
The rest of the train-ride passed without any mishap, other than Lily's and James', as well as Sirius' and Emmeline's bickering. The only one of the girls' trio who had a pleasant time the entire ride was Alice, who sat mostly with Frank.
Lily, Alice, and Emmeline descended from the train together, and each searched for her family. In Alice's case, a short blonde witch and tall, balding wizard greeted her along with her brother, Ben, who had graduated from Hogwarts before Alice had ever started Hogwarts.
"Hey, Mum and Dad—Ben!" cried out Alice happily. She hugged her parents, then immediately straightened Ben's collar. "Really, Ben, at twenty-three you should be able to keep your collar straight by now." Lily and Emmeline giggled at the comical scene as Ben pleaded his innocence. Alice mothered everyone, even her big brother.
Regaining her composure first, Lily asked, "How are you, Mrs. Pritchett?" as the Pritchett family and Alice's two friends neared the barrier.
After they passed through the barrier, Mrs. Pritchett replied, "I'm very well, thank you. How are you two?"
"We're wonderful," replied Emmeline quickly, as she thought she had seen her parents. "Lily, I think I see my parents. Oh—look! Yours are over there!"
"Oh, thanks!" Lily turned to Alice and gave her a hug, and Emmeline hugged them both.
"Group hug," said Emmeline, a smile in her voice.
"You two are coming this summer, last week, 'kay?" commanded Alice, already missing her two best friends.
"I'll be there. It will be lovely getting away from Petunia."
"I'm sure my parents won't mind," added Emmeline.
"Owl me!" shouted Alice as Lily and Emmeline departed to meet their families.
Lily turned her head and called back, "I will!" and nearly collided into someone who seemed to have very knobbly knees. "Aaargh!"
"Have you ever had dejà-vous?" asked an all-too-familiar voice. She groaned.
"Not you! However did you manage to knock yourself into me again, Potter?"
"I'm magic," he smirked, picking up her trunk. He had apparently already dropped his off by his parents.
"Haha, very funny." Lily sighed and decided that she might as well make the most of it. Her trunk was rather heavy, after all. She strode toward her parents, smiling rather fixedly, as James followed her in her wake.
"Lily!" exclaimed Mrs. Evans, giving her daughter a hug. Lily was happy to be with her family when she heard her father asking James, "Are you Lily's, you-know, ah…?"
James all-too-joyfully responded, "Boyfriend? Yes, sir, I am. I cannot tell you how great an honor it has been dating your daughter."
"WHAT?" demanded Lily, pulling away from her mother abruptly. She swiveled around to her father, "He most certainly is not—"
"Sh, it's alright," Mr. Evans smiled leniently. "I'm not mad at you for not telling me about it. After all, I was young once."
"No, Dad, really, it's not what you—"
James interrupted her, as he wrapped his arm around her. "What Lily's trying to say is, we wanted to surprise you."
"We most certainly did noh—"
"Remember, Harry, when we met in high school? We hated each other!" laughed Mrs. Evans. "But eventually, we went out in college. But it took about six years."
"Yes!" exclaimed James, his hazel eyes dancing with laughter, as he looked at Lily. "That's exactly how it was at first! Lily and I just couldn't stand each other until this year!"
Lily just mumbled swear words under her breath; she had given up. Her parents were just going to have to think she had a boyfriend.
"I think she fell for my red hair," chuckled Mr. Evans. "Like red-heads, James?" (A/N: James had introduced himself while Lily was hugging/greeting her mother).
"Love 'em," replied James.
"Well, James," Lily said through gritted teeth, and emphasizing his name, "I guess we'll see you later. I'm sure your parents are sick with worry at your lack of appearance."
"Oh yes, dear—your parents are probably wondering where you are!" Mrs. Evans said anxiously.
"Nah—they're used to it," James assured her, turning to Lily. "I'll go now, though. Love you, my Lily-Pad." He bent down, and kissed her on the cheek chastely, and as he turned to leave, Mr. Evans laughed at what he muttered was "young love," and said, "You must come for dinner sometime this summer, James. I'm sure Lily would love to see you."
"Thanks, Mr. Evans. I think I will. So long, Lily-Pad!" The messy-haired boy who existed to torture Lily walked away.
"What a lovely boy!" Mrs. Evans said approvingly.
That was when Lily Evans knew it was going to be a long summer.
FLASHING LIGHTS
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