yay! i finally got some reviews! now to address those who made comments.
Danimister and cosmopolitan: thank you so much! yall are sweet!
WheezlyGirl: no offense, but no kidding. i know lily and james are supposed to get married. im sorry that the first chapter didnt have much L/J, but i needed to get some other things established first. read on before you judge please.
crystaltambaia: gives gigantic bear hug and hands large plateful of chocolate cookies. you are incredible. just letting you know. i love getting the reviews with just "i love your story" cuz that boosts self esteem, but i really love constructive criticism cuz that makes me a better writer. i sat down and did the chart thing you suggested and it really helped. I'm also going to put aside my opinions of a certain rat and include him more in the story since that will become more important later on and i dont want to have written myself into a hole. as to the conflicts, im working on it! its harder than i thought it would be. theres not a lot in this chapter, but ive got some stuff in the next chapter. im actually having a lot of trouble with that one b/c i needed to put a death eater attack and im just not liking how it's turning out. if anybody has any tips, i'd really appreciate it!
Okay, I'm not really uberly happy with this chapter, but I needed to get some stuff out of the way and those damn plot bunnies were attacking me. So, it's basically pointless fluff. I was busy prepping for dance recital when I wrote it (incidentally, at recital my dance teacher announced that I was senior student of the year! it's hard to explain how big a deal that is. just know that i got up there to get my flowers and almost cried. but i didnt. if i had, i would have been teased mercilessly by my friends who were in the audience.) So anyway, I have chapter 5 written too, but I'm really not happy with it, so it might be a while before I'm even reasonably satisfied with it. My Other Half is gonna help me out, but exams might slow progress. That's why I wanted to get this one up for y'all. Anyway, here's chapter 4!
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All love that has not friendship for its base is like a mansion built upon sand.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Saige scribbled furiously with her quill. She was in the middle of an extremely difficult test given by one of her hardest teachers. The tests were entirely essay and were usually too long to finish. Unfortunately, her teacher did not take that into account and serious points were docked for every question left unanswered. She continued to write, ignoring her cramping hand; she would deal with it later.
Someone started sobbing. Saige resisted the urge to look up. It would not be the first time someone had left the room crying, and it would most certainly not be the last.
A loud, obnoxious buzzer went off and all the tests flew to the front of the room. Saige stared in horror down at her desk. She hadn't finished. In all honesty, she was nowhere close to finishing. She needed that grade to be good and she hadn't even been able to answer all the questions. This was a nightmare.
Gritting her teeth, she picked up her bag and left the lecture hall. She leaned against the wall outside and slid down the smooth surface. Closing her eyes and leaning her head back, she sighed. After a moment, she felt a presence next to her, but was too preoccupied to see who it was.
"Was it really that bad?"
"That thing raped me."
She opened her eyes and looked up into the sympathetic face of Remus.
"What are you doing here? You don't usually come around campus."
"Well, I knew you had a major test today and I thought you could use a little pick-me-up afterwards. Care to go find some dinner?"
"I would, darling, but I am completely broke. I had to get some new supplies because I used all my potions stuff and I had to pay rent, and, go figure, but I had to buy some food before the refrigerator was completely barren."
"I'm buying."
A grin broke out across her face. "My two favourite words!"
He helped her up from the ground and took her bag. They walked out of the hall and into the courtyard. Saige wrapped her scarf around her neck to shield it from the cold. Judging from the sky, it was going to snow soon. She loved snow, but could not afford to catch a cold right now. She was too busy to sit in bed and recover.
They left the campus and headed toward Diagon Alley, chatting lightly. Saige complained about how long medical school was taking, and Remus made a few bitter comments on how difficult it was tokeep a job because he was a werewolf. Saige was sympathetic to his situation and the fact that he did not really want to talk about it and changed subjects to keep the conversation flowing.
The two reached a small pub and entered. It was crowded, but not overly so. They grabbed a table slid out of their coats. Saige smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. A waitress came and took their drink order, then disappeared into the crowd.
"So how have you been? You haven't talked much lately. I'm beginning to worry about you. It used to be difficult to get you to stop talking about the latest book or scientific discovery," Saige teased.
"Yeah," he laughed. "But… life's been difficult recently. Things were so much easier at Hogwarts. You woke up, ate breakfast, went to class, ate lunch, went to class, did homework, ate dinner, and went to sleep. Now it's more of wake up, hope you have time for breakfast, barely get to work on time, forget lunch, keep working, leave late, grab a cookie for dinner, and collapse in your bed."
"We knew life was going to be more difficult. They kept trying to prepare us for it. We didn't always have time for breakfast and most days you and I were found in the library working during our lunch hour. Mind we didn't have to do our own laundry then, but we still had a lot to do. I think we just miss it because we didn't have to be completely self-sufficient then. If we forgot an assignment, we wouldn't be expelled, but now we could be fired."
"And when did money take top priority in our lives? All we used to have to do with it was buy candy. Now we have to buy real food and clothes and pay rent."
"No kidding," she replied. "Believe me, if Dumbledore hadn't written all those recommendations for scholarships, I would not be in med school. My parents just wouldn't be able to afford it. And whenever I'm not in class, I'm working at that coffee shop so I can pay rent. My boss learned to keep enough of my paycheck for rent because he was worried I was going to spend it all on coffee." She giggled. "I like coffee."
They continued talking, reflecting on the changes that had occurred since they graduated. They ate and talked, laughing over old times. Suddenly the manager of the pub yelled for everyone to be quiet as he turned up the wireless.
"… the threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named continues, the Ministry will be taking extra security measures. Aurors will patrol the main streets at all times. They will be undercover but ready to assist at the first sign of danger. We ask that all places of business close promptly at nine o'clock each night. Everyone should be sure that all their doors and windows are securely locked. This is an urgent situation and we would appreciate full cooperation. Thank you."
There was an uproar around the pub as the wireless was shut off. Many businesses could not close as early as nine, especially the restaurants and bars. However, some people were relieved at the news of aurors patrolling the streets.
"It's not going to work," Saige told Remus in a sing-song voice.
"No kidding. There aren't enough aurors to patrol all the main streets. The Ministry barely has enough to send on missions to find Death Eaters. How does the Ministry expect them to patrol streets night and day too?"
"I'm sure they're just saying that to make people feel better. They just want some sense of security, I guess. Though any intelligent individual would realize that this is stupid."
"Exactly. As if locking your doors is going to keep a Death Eater out. I'm positive that if they wanted to get in, they could easily bust down the doors and windows."
There conversation turned to the battle with the Dark Lord. It was a depressing subject, but it was a common topic. It seemed to be on everybody's mind, and discussions often turned to it eventually.
After a few hours, they left. The manager was debating whether to close like the Ministry had asked or not. Remus and Saige did not want to hang around for the protests in case he did decide to close. They stopped to get some ice cream before heading back to their flats. Remus insisted on buying, and Saige did not complain because, like she had said, she was broke. She had coffee ice cream and Remus had chocolate, same as they always did. Remus didn't even have to ask what kind of ice cream she wanted. He just knew.
After ice cream, they walked back to Saige's flat.
"You wanna come in? I'm sure Sirius would love to have you over, if he's even home."
He thought about it for a moment, and then shook his head. "I've got to get home. Work tomorrow. But hey, after work maybe I'll stop by the coffee shop and we can do something."
"Sure," she replied, flashing him a smile, even thought her mind was screaming that he was an idiot and should make a move. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
She went into her flat and shut the door. He heard it lock and groaned. He should have gone in. He wanted to go in. He was an idiot.
He apparated back to his flat and crashed onto the couch, falling into a restless sleep.
The next few weeks passed in much the same way. Remus and Saige would spend a day together occasionally, and Remus would chicken out, go home, and fall into a fitful sleep. Saige went home more and more frustrated with each passing day. Remus, of course, was completely oblivious to this fact as he continued to refrain from making a move.
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"Lily, what are you doing?" James asked, staring at her. Her hair was pulled up into a messy knot on top of her head and she was wearing her glasses. She was scrawling energetically on the parchments on the desk in front of her. James looked around the living room of the flat that Lily shared with Remus and saw that sheets of parchment were littered all over the room.
"Writing," she muttered absently. "I got an idea for a book."
"Another one?"
She nodded. "But this one's really good. This one's going to work."
He raised an eyebrow. She had had ideas for books before, but had scrapped all of them. He wasn't so sure that this one would be any different.
She looked up. "Don't look at me like that. It's really good this time. I promise."
She stood up and stretched. Shoving her glasses on top of her head, she walked over to James and reached up, wrapping her slender arms around his neck. He looked down at her, a good foot shorter than him. He leaned his forehead against hers, taking notice of the dark circles under her eyes.
"So what's this one about?"
"Nope!" she said, pulling away. "Not telling. It'll be a surprise when it gets published and I'm a famous author and can quit my job at the Ministry."
"You're pretty confident about this one, I take it."
She spun around in glee. "Yes, I am! It's going to be magnificent and I will have publishing companies begging at my feet to gain the rights to fabulous work of literature."
He frowned. "Lily, I wouldn't get too excited about this if I were you. You just started working on it, and you've thrown out plenty of ideas before. What makes you think that this one is going to work?"
She stopped spinning and peered at him, her glasses sliding back onto her nose. She pushed a sleeve of her shirt up past her elbow. "Because this one had been bouncing around in my head for a while. I've jotted down some stuff, and I really know where I'm going with this one. The others were just plot bunnies that attacked. This one is fully formulated. It… it has to work. I know it will."
"Lils, I just don't want you to get your hopes up and then have them come crashing down around you. It's just… Lily."
She had turned away from him and was gathering up the papers on her desk. The stack in her hand grew and grew until she had to put it down because her tiny hands couldn't hold it any longer. Undeterred, she continued putting papers on the stack, pointedly ignoring him.
He touched her arm and she whipped around, sending some of the papers fluttering to the ground.
"How long have you been sitting here working?"
"A couple hours. Okay, all night." He just stared at her. "Ugh, James, I don't have time for this right now. If you're not going to be happy, just get the hell away from me."
"Lily," he stared, his voice tense. "You're tired. You're just looking for an argument."
"No! I'm not! I- God, James! You're always like this when I start something new!"
His anger flared. That was the problem with him and Lily. They both had quick tempers and were incredibly stubborn.
"You're being ridiculous! Stop and think about this. If it doesn't work you're going to be devastated or disappointed and you're going to expect me to help you get back on your feet! And you know I will because you've got me wrapped around your finger, butit would just be much easier on everyone if you don't put so much into this."
She glared, angrily. "You are being such a gigantic turd! It's complete bull that you're going to help me! You're just going to tell me 'I told you so.' And then we'll be angry at each other and we'll scream and yell for hours because that's how we are!"
"Are you kidding me? We are screaming! So it won't be any different!"
"Why can't you just back me up? Why can't you believe that I can do this?" she asked, choosing to ignore his comment.
"Because you can't figure out how to prioritize! You never give yourself time for fun!" He wasn't quite sure what this had to do with anything, but he wasn't thinking very clearly anyway. "You throw yourself completely into something and forget about anything else that's going on! What's going to happen when this book crap consumes you? What about your job? What about your friends?"
Her eyes glowed brightly. He was glad she couldn't actually shoot with her eyes, because he would be dead. "I'll be fine, James! I'm not stupid enough to jeopardize my job, but this is really important to me! I always support you with your things. Why can't you ever support me in mine?"
"Because I'm not willing to watch you throw your life away for some childish dream!"
She looked at him and shook her head, pointing at him "There. That's it. Right there."
She turned and walked out of the flat, leaving James muttering curses.
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Sirius, Remus, Peter, and James were all hanging around Remus' room one dreary afternoon. Sirius was hanging upside down off one side of the bed while James simply lounged on it. Peter was poking suspiciously with his wand at a bowl of Jell-O of Lily's that he had found in the refrigerator and Remus had thrown himself across a chair, flipping idly through a magazine.
"Ask her out."
"No."
"Ask her out."
"No."
"Ask her out."
"No."
Peter and Remus had been going through this conversation for the past thirty minutes. Sirius had remained silent for once, possibly because there was too much blood in his head to speak.
"The two of you keep getting together and doing stuff anyway. Why not just make it a date instead of a stupid 'friends' thing? If you don't ask her out, someone else will. I'm horrible with girls, and even I know that you should ask her out."
"Do you think I don't know that? But what if she says no? Or laughs at me? No. I'm perfectly happy with how things are going."
"Except you want to snog her senseless and are incapable of doing so under the given circumstances," Sirius gasped, trying to force air out of his lungs while still hanging upside down. "I'm kinda stuck. Would someone help me?"
James grabbed the front of his shirt and hauled him into a sitting position. Sirius grabbed his head and waited for some of the blood to drain. Finally, he said, "Look, you need to get laid. She needs to get laid. She is incredible sexually frustrated right now and I can only handle so much. I left some dirty socks on the floor and she screamed and yelled for days about how they're stinking up her clean house."
"Uh, not that you don't make a valid point about the two of them needing to get laid," James told him, "but we didn't like having your nasty socks around when we were rooming at Hogwarts either. Those things are rank."
"Really?" he asked, seriously concerned. He lifted his foot, sniffed, and blinked rapidly, making a sour face. "Wow."
"Yeah, maybe you should try washing them," Remus pointed out. "In case you don't remember, they used to be white."
Sirius peered at his socks then back at Remus. "Really? I always thought they were grey. But anyway, that's not the point. You need to ask her out. For all of our sakes."
"Seriously, with all the trouble you guys are having, I'm not sure that I should be taking advice from you."
"Hey, now, Sam and I are just fine. And Lily and Prongs here are just hitting a rough spot right now. And Peter's had his share of girlfriends. Trust us!"
Peter jumped as the bowl of J-ello exploded, sending bits of gelatin in everyone's faces.
Remuswiped his face.He trusted his friends about as far as he could throw them. But maybe it was time to throw caution to the limb, or go out on the wind, or whatever that stupid phrase was.
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Okay, so there ya go. And I'm all excited! I have over two hundred hits! Only... I don't have two hundred reviews... Imagine that. Somehow, the nubers dont match up. Fix it people!
Okay, since NO ONE is guessing my Latin phrases, I'm just going to keep putting them up to irritate you.
Last week's translates to "Don't let the bastards get you down!"
This week's quote: Vae! Huius causa, in capita nostra multa merda manabit!
Still 50 House Points for anyone that guesses!