Serendipity
Chapter 9: Shadows in the Background: Part I
By: Ruth3
Disclaimer: I own NOTHING that you RECOGNISE; all belongs to J.K.'s brilliant mind and the richest woman in Britain!
Warnings: Lily. James. Stuck together for three hours.
Author's Note: I kind of feel that this fic is not going anywhere anymore, but I gave my word that I would finish this fic; so that is what I am going to do. Sorry that this was late, I was caught up in "summer time" with going to the beach and hanging out with friends. I have an idea for another fic, but I want to complete this one and at least another one before I post it – but I think it will be extremely good! I went to the Blink-182 and No Doubt concert Saturday, it was so AWESOME; Travis had a drum solo so we were about like 20 feet away from him – and they wheeled him off so we were like five feet away from him, it was totally awesome!! Gwen Stefani did such a good job, she totally knows how to work the crowd – No Doubt's performance was awesome too.
To My BLOODY BRILLIANT Reviewers:
Living In A Nightmare Cassie!! Thanks for the review, and I hope this was soon enough! Has to be a record, right?
Kati Glad you liked it. I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much! In addition, thanks for the review!!
Lily Natalia Evans I was afraid of that, but I figured that if I was partnered up with someone I despised and had to do a project; and he screwed around the whole time: how would I feel if he actually did something to help later? I would be relieved and pleased – so that is how I was attempting to make Lily be. Thanks for the review and enjoy!
eX Driver Liz It definitely was not the last chapter. I think I will end this fic at graduation, I do not really want to get into the dark stuff – I do not know how it would work with this fic. Glad you enjoyed it, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!
pakita88 It was an awesome graduation, if you go to my profile here on FF.net and click my homepage to see my LiveJournal I have an entry about it. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!
Potter Land's Prime Minister Thanks, I'm glad you like the love and hate too! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
SilverBelle I updated, so here you go! Enjoy…
You aLL roCk mY soCks!
Let the Harsh Words Begin…
It is a weird feeling when
people are defining you,
and you haven't
even defined yourself.
The few weeks that were leading up to Halloween were filled with anxiety and excitement, and you could feel the love in the air. During class, if you happened to glance around the room, you could catch quite a few people staring at someone intensively; the person who was being stared at would stir and cause the person staring to snap back to their work with a tint of pink to their cheeks. Girls would walk down the hall with their friends and every time a group of boys would walk by girls would start giggling forcefully, batting their eyelashes and flashing radiant smiles. The boys would casually ask a girl for a private word and then she would return moments later with a skip to her walk and a sparkle to her eyes.
During the week before Halloween, students were getting antsy. Everyone knew, by now, that the "good" guys or girls were already taken; and if they hadn't been asked yet – they needed to get a move on. This caused the pupils to lose their focus during class, causing great annoyance to the professors; some of the professors even gave up teaching an important lesson – knowing that it wouldn't matter anyways.
Knowing that this would be the last first trip to Hogsmeade at their years at Hogwarts; Clara, Haylee, and Sadie all decided that they'd go with dates instead of just as a group. Clara was asked within the first week by a handsome, yet shy, 6th year Ravenclaw by the name of Morgan Sullivan. A 7th year boy from Hufflepuff named Nathaniel Crimson timidly asked Sadie to accompany him, delighted she said yes; knowing that Haylee was still dateless Sadie asked Nathaniel if he had any friends who were still looking for a date and he recommended Bradley Bullocks, a 6th year in Hufflepuff who played on their house team. All three forgetting about Lily, they were content knowing that their last Halloween at Hogwarts would be the best.
Lily was peacefully reading a book in the Gryffindor Common Room on her favourite chair. She had finished her homework early and was eager to finally have a break to herself. Reading helped soothe Lily's nerves and mind, taking her away from reality and off to a different world; leaving behind every emotion that she holds.
A few hours later, she was interrupted by a long, bark-like laugh, "Bloody hell, how did you come up with that?"
"Just a simple charm spell," the boy answered, That line sounds so familiar, Lily thought.
"Now we can actually construct a map to pass down to the other mischiefs in the making," a different boy awed.
"Precisely, and look," the second boy replied proudly, "you can even have them say something, or advise them to cast a spell; therefore the person knows exactly what to do!"
"Brilliant," the first boy whispered.
Lily glanced up from her book, but it was too late – the portrait hole was already closing, footsteps rapidly faded away. Trying to distinguish the people to the voices with no luck, but Lily was trying extremely hard to remember who she said that to and what she was talking about. Shaking her head, Lily decided to continue to read her book and put the incident in the back of her mind.
Two days were left until Halloween and Lily was jealous to see her friends together, having fun, without her, she still had not apologized to them; and because of that they treated her coldly. She was also jealous to see that all three of them had dates, and Lily knew that they would have the best night of their lives; without her. Plus, Lily had no one to go with to Hogsmeade with; causing her to become in a very depressed mood. If worst came to worst, she'd just hang out in the Hog's Head to read a book, since no one ever went there no one would disturb her about being alone.
Although, Lily was stuck with James Potter for three long, tedious hours; cringing every time she thought about the dreadful truth. How she was going to manage, she had no clue. Lily wouldn't have hated the idea as much if she didn't have to dance with him and ride in a carriage with him – alone; perfect opportunity for him to pull something.
The bell rung for the last class of the day to be dismissed, causing Lily to sigh and put her belongings into her bag. She slowly walked to the Gryffindor Common Room and put her bag in the girl's dormitory where Sadie, Haylee, and Clara were sitting on Clara's bed; gossiping.
"Hello Lily!" Haylee announced happily.
"Hullo," Lily replied, setting her bag down.
"What's wrong?" Sadie sincerely asked, although they haven't been on the best terms recently doesn't mean she can't at least be civil towards a once, good friend.
Lily shrugged, "Oh nothing." Sadie raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Oh, all right," Lily said, sitting down next to her friends. "All three of you have this gorgeous dates for the fair and Hogsmeade to spend a spectacular, a night to remember, unforgettable Halloween; while I'm stuck with James Potter at the fair and myself at Hogsmeade."
"Well, James isn't bad looking…" Clara tried. Lily snorted. "Lily, I know you don't fancy him; but give him a chance – maybe deep down he isn't some arrogant git and actually has feelings just like the rest of us."
Lily sighed, "But, I'm still going to be alone for Hogsmeade; no one has me to accompany them."
"What?" Haylee asked startled, "But I overheard Remus discussing with James, Sirius, and Peter how some sixth year Gryffindor was going to ask you!"
"Obviously he changed his mind."
"Well Lily," Sadie suggested, "You could always spend Hogsmeade with Nathaniel and me."
"No," Lily replied, "I wouldn't want to spoil your date. It's alright; I'll figure out something or just go alone." Lily sighed, and then exited the dormitory with mixed emotions; happy that she had her friends back but sad that she still was dateless.
Lily walked to the Portrait so that she could get to the Great Hall early for dinner, without noticing what she was doing her accidentally ran into someone. "Hello Lily," a cheerful voice said.
Lily looked up and smiled, "Good evening Remus, how are you?"
"Feeling a little ill, but other than that I'm fine, thanks. How about yourself? You look a little down."
"I'm fine," Lily lied.
"Are you sure? You know you can always talk to me Lily, I know we haven't really spoken that much this year since we don't get to attend Prefect meetings together anymore; but I always have an ear that'll listen."
Lily shuffled her feet, "It's just…I don't have anyone to spend Hogsmeade with," Lily announced sighing, "Sadie, Haylee, and Clara have dates and I don't want to tag along; and no one was asked me."
"Well, I'd tell you to go with James," Remus said laughing and Lily glared at him, "but one, I know you despise him; and two he has a date."
"Who?" Lily asked interested.
Remus eyed her suspiciously but continued, "Ugh, I think a girl from Ravenclaw asked him; and since he had no one else to go with he accepted."
"Oh," Lily replied, "Good for him."
"I'd also tell you to go with Sirius, but I'm pretty sure he's going with a fan club," Remus chuckled. Lily let out a polite laugh.
"Well…" Remus said, looking around.
"Are you going with anyone?" Lily asked.
"Well, no…" Remus replied, but knew it wouldn't be a good idea or James would murder him, "But, like I said – I've been feeling ill…"
Lily beamed, "Well since we both don't have anyone to hang out with, why don't we go together? As friends of course, we both like to read and we had so much fun spending time together with Prefect work and what not. Unless, of course, you'd rather go with Peter…"
"Actually," Remus said thoughtfully, "I haven't seen Peter lately. I don't even know if he's planning on going. But, I'll tell you what; I'll go with you as long as we can stop in the Owl Post. I need to send a package to my mum, and my parents both still refuse to buy me an owl; something about no need for one." Remus finished, smiling.
"Sounds wonderful, I need to send a letter anyways," Lily replied. "Well, I better be off. Nice talking to you, Remus. See you tomorrow." With that, Lily waved goodbye and walked out.
Soon enough, it was the morning of Halloween. Lily woke up early and decided to take a shower before her roommates woke. After she was done she performed a drying charm that left her beautiful, red hair fall pass her shoulder blades smoothly and straight. Lily walked to her trunk and took out a pair of lose, muggle jeans and a black dress shirt.
After dressing herself, she went to the Great Hall. Very few students were there, so Lily summoned a napkin and put a few pieces of toast and ham in it. She then walked out and went over and sat under her favourite tree that happened to have a beautiful view of the Great Lake. She ate her toast peacefully, breathing in the environment; although she kept on hearing splashes of water but ignored her for quite some time.
Finally, looking around she saw someone further down skipping rocks. Squinting her eyes, Lily finally realized it was James; startled that he was there, Lily couldn't help but wonder why James was up so early and wasn't in the castle with his friends. She looked down into her napkin and noticed that she had one piece of toast and ham left, feeling that she should at least have the dignity of attempting to start out the day well; she slowly approached James.
"Good morning, Potter."
"Hullo," he replied crossly.
"Would you like some ham and toast?" Lily offered, "I assume you haven't eaten breakfast yet…" James dropped the rock he was holding and looked at her surprisingly.
"Did you charm then or something?" He asked questioningly.
"Potter," she began thrusting the food into his hands, "I was just trying to be nice. Go on, I didn't do anything to them; I'm not that cruel."
"Thanks," he muttered as he took a bite; his gaze looked towards the lake. Lily followed his gaze and then looked back at his face and realized how contemplative he looked.
"Is their anything the matter?" Lily asked, "If I'm disturbing you, I'll just leave…"
James looked at her, "No, it's alright," James said his gaze still the same; "I like your presence." Lily's gaze immediately dropped towards her feet, hoping that James wouldn't see her blush – which he didn't.
"So," Lily began, "Should be a fun day, ey?"
"S'pose." Figuring that this conversation was going nowhere, Lily turned around to leave. "Why are you going with Remus?" James asked as he grabbed her wrist to pull her back towards him. Lily spun around and stared at him questioningly.
"What?"
"Why are you going with Remus?"
Lily replied, startled, "Going where?"
"…to Hogsmeade," James replied obviously.
"Oh," Lily said, laughing, "Because I had no one else to go with, and since Remus didn't have plans to go with anyone we decided to go with each other. We haven't spent time together in ages so we thought it would be a good way to catch up on things, plus we both need to take a visit to the Owl Post."
"So, you don't fancy him?"
Lily laughed at the thought of this, "Oh, no," then more seriously, "He's a wonderful person and everything: sweet, kind, considerate, and we share the same interests; but we're strictly just friends. He's a good person to talk to." James just nodded. Lily raised an eyebrow, "Why?"
"Just curious, that's all," James responded, "I just assumed you were just going to go – "
"Alone?" Lily questioned, wanting to know what James really thought of her.
"Well no," he replied, "with your friends."
Lily shrugged and picked up a stone and then tossed it into the lake, "They all have dates, so it was either go with someone or go alone." James finally turned towards her,
"I would have asked you, but I figured you would have said no since you'll have to be by my side the whole evening."
Lily laughed, "I probably would have." James nodded. "Besides," Lily said, "you already have a date."
James chuckled, "Not anymore," he paused, noticing Lily's look he continued, "I told her that I didn't think I was going to go anymore, I have some transfiguration homework that I really should catch up with."
"Oh," Lily replied surprised.
"I might drop in a little later, maybe meet up with Sirius or something," James added thoughtfully, "Well, it's almost time to go; you might want to head back up to the castle." Lily looked down at her watch and noticed that a few hours had gone by.
"Your right," Lily replied, "See you then." And with that, she headed back towards the castle; leaving James to stare at her retreating back.
Lily was having a lovely time with Remus, they had gone to Honeydukes to stock up on sweets and they both dared each other to try the nastiest candy they could get their hands on. Lily hadn't had this much fun in ages, Remus was able to bring out her good spirits – causing her to laugh and smile consistently.
Grabbing his stomach Remus asked, "Care to go to the Three Broomsticks?"
"Butter beer sounds nice right about now," Lily agreed.
"Let's go then," Remus said, leading the way.
Minutes later, they arrived in Honeydukes; Remus told Lily to find them a table while he ordered them butter beers. Lily happily picked a table by the window so that she could have a view of everyone walking by. Looking out, she couldn't help but notice a boy, with his back towards her, walking back and fourth – muttering something to himself. Lily chuckled to herself at the ridiculous sight of his nature, and couldn't help but notice he was uncomfortably kicking a spare knut around, shaking his head every now and then; Lily assumed to get his messy hair out of his eyes.
"Here you are malady," Remus cheerfully said as he handed Lily a butter beer.
"Hmm, perfect…" Lily said smiling, after taking a sip.
"Hits the spot, doesn't it?" Remus asked. Lily nodded and then stared out the window once more to watch the strange boy's behaviour; but when she looked he wasn't there. Lily frowned and frantically searched for him, he couldn't have disappeared.
"James!" Remus announced, standing up. "Care to join us? I'll go fetch you a butter beer if you'd like one." James looked distracted, but nodded anyways; he summoned up a chair and took a seat – his gaze was focused on his lap where his hands were shaking.
"Are you all right, Potter?" Lily asked. James didn't respond, she wasn't sure if he heard her or not; so she tried again. "Potter?"
"Hmm?" James questioned as he straightened up and looked at her.
"Are you okay?"
"Uh huh."
"Alright then…"
Remus returned and handed James a butter beer, "Have you been to Zonko's yet? They came out with a more advanced version of Exploding Snap – I got a box since our old one was losing its touch." James just nodded and drank his butter beer to himself briskly. Remus and Lily were both staring at him suspiciously, and was startled that he stood up suddenly.
"Well, nice seeing you Lily and Remus," as he gave a nod to both of them, "but I better be off now." James stated as he exited in a spacey sort of way.
"I wonder what's wrong with him…" Lily muttered to no one in particular.
"No idea…" Remus drawled on, "Ready to head back?" Lily nodded and followed Remus out of the Three Broomsticks. She put her arm through his in a friendly matter as they headed back towards the castle. They walked silently, enjoying the scenery of Britain. When they reached the Gryffindor Common Room Remus thanked Lily for the nice time and headed towards the boys' dormitory as Lily headed towards the girls' to get ready for the magical evening.
Lily stared at herself in the mirror, looking over each aspect of her appearance. In the magical world it wasn't a time to dress up since muggles were just pretending to be something "magical" or "different" when in reality, Lily and her fellow people already were. Headmaster Dumbledore specifically announced that the clothing for the fair would be casual and comfortable, so Lily put on a pair of vintage, muggle jeans and a long-sleeved forest green v-cut shirt that had black lace on the cuffs and on the v-cut part. She was debating with herself whether she'd take a jacket or not, but then deciding that she'd be running around and would hopefully not get chilled.
While staring at her image, she heard a tapping on the window and saw that an owl was outside it. Opening the window, she let the owl in as it dropped a letter on her bunk and then flew away into the moon's shadows. Lily opened the letter that read,
Dear Miss Lily Evans,
If you would kindly meet me at the main doors of the castle so that I can pleasantly escort you to the fair so we can open the fair by dancing the first dance would be marvellous.
Please be there by 8:50. Thank you, and I'll see you soon.
Yours Truly,
James Potter
Lily suddenly went to her trunk and found a simple wrist watch that she had received for Christmas by her mum last year, it was sterling silver and had an engraftment of her mother's unconditional love. She then noticed that she had exactly five minutes to make it down to the great hall. She put on her slip on shoes and briskly left to meet James.
Running down the stairs, Lily slowed down a few meters to see James' back to act as casual as possible. When she was about a meter away from James, she coughed and he turned around. For a moment, he looked stunned – but was able to cover it up instantly, "Miss Evans, you're precisely on time. May I please have the honour of escorting you to the fair?" James asked sincerely as he bowed politely and offered her his arm.
Lily nodded, "You may." As she kindly took his arm.
James opened the door for them and everyone was already out there and looked at them astoundingly. Lily had a brilliant, marvellous smile on her face as she looked out to everyone; as did James – they slowly walked down the stone steps to head towards where the music was coming from.
The best feelings
are those that
have no words
to describe them.
Author's Note: Oo, this chapter and the next chapter are divided into two that is why this one is called "Part I". I hope you enjoyed it, did not get as much feedback as last time; but I understand if some of you have lost interest – it happens. I want to finish this fic ASAP so I can say I actually completed one!
I bet you have all seen Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by now - how did you like it? Leave your thoughts with a review!
QUESTION!: Do any of you know the era of when James and Lily attended Hogwarts? Or, if any of you could point me to the direction where I can find that information, thanks!
Much Luv xoxo MWAH!
Ruth3
So please REVIEW now!
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