NOTE: I decided to try and write some slightly humorous entries for Lily's diary because I know most of them lack the charm. Hope you like it though, cause I don't really know what else to right during Lily and James' relationship. I expect it to be quite funny and at the same time sweet though. I just felt like adding a Quidditch match in L and J's time because I've only done it in Harry's. Please review and tell me how much this chapter does not rock. Haha…
Chapter 24: Trouble
June 2
Dear Diary,
Our NEWT finals begin this week. I've been getting ready for it for months. They're the main test that decides our life (well, actually, our jobs) outside Hogwarts and I'm so nervous. I can't afford to fail any of them. In fifth year, I took the OWLs that we need to get into Healer degree, but I changed my mind. I guess given that the dark things have increased ten-fold since last year, I'm going to be an Auror. I've fulfilled the required OWLs too. They are similar to Healer requirement. James is not too ecstatic about it though. He said being one would be too hard and too dangerous. Let me tell you, he's not being fair. If he can be one, and so can I.
The wizarding world need as much as they can. There are Death Eaters everywhere. Look, even Dumbledore is taking extreme precautions. Let me tell you, this Dark Lord is not someone you should not challenge.
I had an argument about this job choosing thing with James this morning too. But I was touched by his reason.
"Lily, did you eat too many Fizzing Whzizbies (sp?) this morning? It's too dangerous. This Lord Voldemort person is someone you should not kid around with."
"Kid around? Look who's talking. Aren't you taking the same NEWTs as I am? Am I the one who runs with the deadly thing they call "danger" every chance he gets? Who are you to tell me it's too dangerous when you would love to be one?" I challenged. I guess some things never change.
"I'm your boyfriend, Lily."
"So? Are you saying that I could not handle myself?"
"Yes, I mean—No! That's not what I meant. I just mean that, well, you'll die out there!"
"And you wouldn't?"
"I didn't say that."
"Good, because if I die, then there's nothing we can do about it."
James' eyes widen, "Are you crazy? Do you think I want you to die?"
"Do you think I want you to die?" I retorted.
He sighed, "I lost the people I love in the same ordeal, Lily. I'm not going to lose another."
I didn't know what to reply. So, I just snuggled close to him while he wrapped his arms around me.
"Maybe you can live without me, Lily. But I don't think I can without you."
Sometimes what comes out of his mouth are too unexpected. What was I supposed to say? As I think about it, maybe he's wrong. Can I live without James Potter in my life? I've done so for the last 7 years in Hogwarts. Wait, no, he was always there, though acting like a real prat. How about before Hogwarts? That doesn't count, I haven't met him yet.
So, I just decided to lighten things up a little. I think the constant gloominess that surrounds the world for the last few years had affected even always-on-idiotic-grins-and-smiles James.
I just smirked and looked up, "I thought you were arrogant James Potter, the guy who takes any challenge no matter how hard. You turned yourself into a stag and hang around with a full grown werewolf every month!" No offense to Remus.
"Well," he replied thoughtfully, "I got used to it. Apart from that, when someday times get pass unchangeable, I'll throw in Sirius or Remus or Peter or me in the line, we'd be willing too, but I don't think I can ever gamble you."
I just laughed back. That's what I love about James. He knows when to treat things seriously, and when to act like a childish idiot, which of course is when he is with his friends or when he wants to do something complicated (or dangerous, take your pick). But as I thought about it, he only seems so overprotective of me. But I guess that more proves he had matured. But why can't he do it to himself? Stupid idiot.
Still, sometimes I can't stop him from doing anything dangerous. Anyhow, he always finds a way to wiggle out of those situations and fix it. I guess that's just James. Whatever you do, especially when you pair him with the werewolf, the quiet jumpy rat and the deranged pure-blood rebel, he'll never stop at doing those dangerous little things (he'd risk getting millions of detention for the last 7 years). I wonder: how do they get out of tough spots so easily?
That's it for now.
Lily
……………………
June 5
Dear Diary,
The Quidditch finals were today. Guess what? Gryffindor won! That's three times in a row now. That was ever since the great James Potter became captain. But now I can say he's my James Potter (a/n: haha…I just had to put that down for fun).
But it was an amazing match as well. Wilma did a spectacular shot. I thought the Ravenclaw keeper was going to save it when she went to shoot the quaffle into the left hoop. But at the last second, it changed directions and into the right hoop. It was unbelievable. Another spectacular one, was made by that fifth year chaser (also in Gryffindor, of course) when he snatched the quaffle from a Ravenclaw and zoomed to our end of the pitch. The quaffle went straight into the center hoop, right under the Ravenclaw keeper's nose literally!
That's not all, the Beater's were ferocious. Hitting every bludger they see to the other team. Ravenclaw's were equally scary. A Hufflepuff second year on the audience nearly got hit when the Ravenclaw seeker evaded a wild bludger. Thank Merlin for Sirius speed.
The other details were sometimes too fast to describe…sometimes. The audiences were going with the flow of the game so much that you can barely hear the commentary. It was a scream fest. I was sitting in the first row with Sam, Peter and Remus so I could see all the details.
I had to grab the collar of a first year sitting next to me, when he nearly went over the railing in excitement. I had to do it twice, too. I told him I'll give him detention if he does it again. The whole crowd only went into whispers all of a sudden when I was scolding the boy.
"What's happening?" I asked.
"The seekers, look!" Sam replied pointing upward. When the word seeker reached my ears, I went in search of Red and Blue streaks. James was a seeker. Even the chasers slowed down a bit to watch.
A blue one dove so fast, all a saw was a thread of blue robes. But the red one caught up so fast, it was like a speeding bullet (though I know no one in the wizarding world knows what that is).
I watched them for a second thinking, 'The Ravenclaw seeker saw the snitch before James did!'.
Then a terrible thought struck me: they're going to crush to the ground if they don't slow down…both of them. I don't think I can take having James stayed in Saint Mungos or worse, with distorted limbs…or dead. So, I glued my eyes to my Omniculars and watched the action through it. The eyepieces were digging into my eyes, but I didn't care.
I zoomed it in so that I can see both of their desperate faces. But then, the Ravenclaw seeker suddenly smirked as they neared the ground. James was still hot on his trails. Everything happened so fast, I can barely comprehend. Even with the omniculars! James changed direction immediately while he was a feet behind the other seeker. Then the Ravenclaw crushed into the ground. But it wasn't as hard as I thought. I guessed his deceleration made the impact less painful…but still painful. It caused uproar of shock and anger on the Ravenclaw part of the pitch and an equaled shock and cheer on the Gryffindor side. The Slytherins just jeered and laugh. The Hufflepuffs had a mix of all.
But I was only one of the few that watched James as he zoomed upward towards the place where I sat. I was confused at what he was doing until I saw a golden glitter, just inches away from my face. I reeled back involuntarily as it moved a bit more forward and back again. James suddenly appeared in front of me and closed his hands on the snitch. He was hovering right in front of me too!
It was then that Sam and Peter snapped out of watching the "slightly" injured Ravenclaw on the ground. Remus stood up quickly and hollered happily since he was also another who watched James' success apart from me. He was the first and only one that actually started celebrating… and, mind you, that was the first time I actually saw Remus Lupin do something like that. Meanwhile, I was still in shock.
"YES!"
It was James scream of triumph that woke me up and caused me to join Remus in a small dance of victory. We were later joined by the rest of the Gryffindor (and surprisingly, Professor McGonagall).
All of a sudden, a bunch of red-robed Gryffindors on brooms started flying to James, one of them being a hectic Sirius Black still brandishing his beater bat. He was the loudest too, and the one who nearly rid James out of air. I saw all of the Gryffindor Quidditch team's ecstatic faces as they closed in on their captain since the mid-air celebration was happening right in front of me. The rest of the Gryffindor audience also tried to squish in to where I was sitting. If I was not in a good mood, I could have involuntarily cursed all of them.
But before the team flew down to Dumbledore, who had the Quidditch cup, I caught James eyes. I grinned at him proudly and he returned it.
A whole sea of red poured into the pitch and applauded loudly as James lifted the cup into the air. It was a euphoric event.
I rewound the omniculars later on and watched what happened to the two seekers in slow motion. It seemed that the Ravenclaw wanted James to think he saw the snitch, and then pull up at the last minute causing James to crash to the ground hard.
As he neared, the Ravenclaw smirked, the part I saw in the fast version. But just as he was about to pull out, James realized what was happening and pulled back first. I could actually see the dawning of realization and alarm on his face.
It surprised the Ravenclaw that James would do that, so he looked back to see where he was headed. At the same time, didn't see that he, himself, was heading too close to the ground for liking. So he crashed.
Good thing he slowed down slightly or else he could have done more damage to himself…that is apart from a sprained ankle, a broken leg, a twisted arm (which he used to stupidly break his fall), a burst lip, a huge bump on his head and an exploded nose.
That sounded rather amusing in my words, doesn't it? I guess it's the result of spending too much time with James.
Not trying to be mean, but it sort of serves him right for trying to sabotage another person's life, which most unfortunately is James.
"He was trying to do a Wronski Feint," Wilma told me. "It's a difficult seeker trick, but it didn't work because either he was so unskilled at it or that James just outwitted him."
I think it's the latter. So I guess it's true to say that there was a 'Marauder's touch' to the game today, as Sirius said.
After the match, there was one hell of a party in the common room. The Marauders, once again, managed to produce tons of food.
I was suddenly pulled away by no other than James Potter and found the Quidditch Cup in my hands.
"Why are you giving this to me? It's all yours."
"If you think about it, we couldn't have won if I wasn't attracted towards your radiant beauty, remember?"
I laughed and gave him a friendly punch before pulling him for a kiss.
"Congratulations, James Potter."
"Thank you, Lily Evans."
We continued at where we left off before I ruined it by talking. Sadly, we were suddenly stopped from our little 'celebration' by Sirius and Remus, and told us that we can have our own party later when we are alone in a room, if you know what I mean. Haha, I don't think so.
The Gryffindor party lasted the whole night and straight on till around 2 in the morning. McGonagall entered the common room twice in a lacy, old-fashioned nightgown and a nightcap telling us that she was happy that Gryffindor won but if we don't stop the charade in ten minutes we would find ourselves recounting our victory and joy in a week's worth of detention. Rather delightful, don't you think?
But that was her first visit. The second one was due to a resounding boom and whizzes that shook the whole tower awake. Blimey, I think the whole castle heard it. It even attracted Peeves!
It seemed that a batch of fifth years decided to end things with a bang (but I think they didn't mean it literally). It was around five in the morning when everyone was forced out of bed to see how much damage had been done in the old tower in a thousand-year-old castle. The Fat Lady was screaming in rage. Those fifth years decided to let out some of Filibusters' fireworks, the ones that don't heat up and cause any wreck if set off indoors.
But, according to them, some of the older students had slipped in some of the ordinary fireworks in it. Oh I do wonder who did it (judging by the face of a hysterical Sirius Black, I have no idea sarcasm)?
It was rather aggravating though. Not because they blasted a hole in the ceiling which Professor McGonagal repaired with a wave of the wand, but because I've been rudely interrupted from a needed beauty sleep. Since I'm Head Girl, I was given the responsibility to oversee the repairs of the common room and to clean up the mess. Not without the Head Boy of course. So much for some "alone time" with your boyfriend, huh? I swear James was snoring on a pillar while McGonagall was shouting at the fifth years. I wish I could do that, but I didn't have a record of a million detentions with Sirius, Remus and Peter. It was alright for him if she started screaming at him too for ignoring her instructions.
Oh, yeah about them fifth years, they got a week's worth of detention cleaning the common room, classrooms and storage areas for four hours every day,WITHOUT MAGIC and serve numerous other ones too. Did I mention that they still had to take their OWLs despite the decrease of study-time?
Wow, that's the last time anyone will blast a hole in the castle under McGonagall's watch. Thank Merlin the Marauders are graduating in a couple of weeks.
Well, that's all for now.
Lily
Hermione continued reading the diary, as Lily described her nightmares in studying for her dreaded NEWTs and the various (and a few somewhat private) things she did with James Potter. Occasionally, she would mention the various ways many wizards, witches and muggles are doing to avoid the threat of Lord Voldemort.
It was very late at night when Hermione stopped reading, which left her only a page left. She decided that if she were to finish the diary, it wouldn't be that day. Her exams were ending the next day and it would be a great time to relax on a rather lengthy last page.
Maybe she should finish re-reading (for the third time) her transfiguration book. She groaned when she realized that she had left it in the library.
"Madam Pince will have my head in a platter," she muttered, throwing things in her bag.
But perhaps it was the fact that she had forgotten the diary on the table that lead to a turn of events she had not at all expected.
Just as she turned the corner leading to the library, she didn't notice two boys running up the stairs towards the common room.
Harry and Ron entered the common room and sat on the place Hermione was recently in.
"Harry, can I borrow your broom polish again?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, in my bag."
"What is it doing in your bag?"
"I was cleaning my broom."
"Right."
While Ron practically turned Harry's bag upside down, Harry meanwhile was staring at faded, golden letters inscribed in a rather old-looking red book placed on the coffee table.
"Hey, Ron, isn't this Hermione's book?" he asked, picking it up.
"Dunno, she has millions of books she leaves everywhere," Ron replied, not pausing from his rummaging nor paying Harry a glance.
Harry stared at the book a little closer. He had seen Hermione with it many times before. On the cover, almost fading, was the word that he knew would be there: diary.
It was her diary? He had thought it was but he hadn't seen her writing on it, but reading it. Usually, when you own a diary, you write on it not read it as if you have no idea what was written in it.
Yet somehow, by some unknown force, he was attracted to it. There was some sort of invisible motivation urging him to open it and perhaps have a look at the things he can find in it.
Don't be stupid, you are not supposed to be reading anyone's diary. Let alone one of
your best friends', Harry thought.
Is it her diary? the motivational voice in his head said, but if it isn't, would it hurt less to look in it?
NO! It's a diary nonetheless. It's too private, he argued back.
So……he opened it to the first page.
It was empty except for two words written on the bottom. He felt his heart stop as he stare at those two very words.
Lily Evans.
"It can't be." He turned the next page in found in big cursive letters: 7th Year at Hogwarts.
"Ron, Harry, where've you two been? I've been waiting for you for almost an hour?" Hermione's voice drifted to the two of them as she entered the common room.
"Got caught up in the kitchen," Ron muttered in reply, finally finding what he was looking for.
"Why am I not surprised?" she retorted.
Afterward, she stopped in her tracks and felt all the air from her lungs leave. Even the red on her cheeks from racing up and down the stairs disappeared in an instant. There, sitting on the couch, was Harry…with Lily's diary propped open on his lap. For a minute, Hermione stared at him in fright while his face displayed equally the same emotion as he read through Lily's first entry.
Without thinking, she strode to him and pulled the book out of his hands. It caused him to look up to her in surprise.
Her face was no longer shocked, it was a mixture of guilt, surprised and fear. Ron, not knowing what to do or say, just stood there.
"Harry, please forgive me. I wanted to give it to you, but I couldn't. I'm so sorry."
With that she ran up the stairs leading to the girls' dorm, the journal tucked safely underneath her arms.
After a moment of silence, Harry spoke.
"That was the book she was always reading, wasn't it?"
Ron reluctantly nodded.
"My mother's diary?"
Ron sighed. "She said she found it. Mate you shouldn't be too hard on her, I guess what ever was written in that old thing must be that intriguing. Or else she would have given it to you."
"So, you knew about this?"
After a moment, Ron nodded again.
Harry leaned back on the chair in thought. He didn't know if he should be angry that Hermione was keeping this from him, him the son of the owner of the most personal object to a person, or if he should be glad that there was something left of his mother's memories or be interested on what was inside it or be forgiving to his best friend. But even to Ron who had shared Hermione's secret, he couldn't be angry with.
Hermione fell on her bed in remorse. How could she be so careless? Leaving nothing of her stuff on the table except the very one that she has been keeping for so long! Now, even the person she had been trying hard to keep it away from knew its existence.
She tossed the book on her bedside table, thinking of a way to get out of the trouble she had gotten herself into.
Harry would probably be so angry he'd forget the last six years of hardship the three of us had gone through and I would have to bear Ron's annoying smug I-told-you-so look for the rest of the school year.
Even her usual self-comforting wasn't helping.
Hermione sighed as she gazed at its crimson cover, lightly illuminated in the moonlight. She remembered all the colorful and funny things that had been inscribed in it, knowing that each page described Ms. Evans' great and eventful last year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Each of these pages containing the troubles she had gone through, the blazing green eyes she had once reserved for James Potter. Then the smug blue eyes of her best friend, Sam.
I can imagine another pair of blazing green ones and another of smug blue ones. How could one book cause so much trouble?
Note: Now that's the end of one long awaited chapter. Want to know what happens next? Does Harry kill her or forgive her? Find out in the next and last chapter of this story. Oh yeah, also Lily's very last entry. Hope you like this one. Please review.