As always, I am terribly sorry for the awfully long wait. I really do wish that I had a good excuse; but, unfortunately, I don't. I will, however, try my hardest to make it up to you by making this chapter fantastic. Deal?
-x-
Promiscuous boy
Let's get to the point
Cause we're on a roll
You ready?
-Nelly Furtado
Ch. 6 Getting Back Up
Lily's bright green eyes stayed hidden beneath her lids as she awoke to bright sunshine. She stretched one pale arm out from beneath her covers, trying to remember the events of the night before. She knew something had happened, but she couldn't seem to place her finger on it…
And then she remembered.
Her arm retreated back into the warm comfort of her blankets as Lily curled herself into a tiny ball. As each horrid detail flew into her mind, she felt more and more miserable. Soon she felt as if she would never be able to leave the soothing haven of her blankets.
A knock resounded through her silent bedroom. Lily merely threw the blankets over her head, not bothering to respond. Another knock reached her ears, and was soon followed by the creak of her door being opened.
"Lily?" she heard James' voice say. "Lily, it's time to wake up."
Lily rolled over beneath her covers and tried to curl into an even smaller ball.
She felt her bed sink under the weight of James' body as he sat down next to her. "I know it seems like your life has ended and you can't possibly get up, but I'm afraid to say you have to."
Lily poked her head out from beneath her blankets and said "Someone much greater than James Potter has to request my removal from this bed before I could possibly get up."
"How about Albus Dumbledore?" a voice said from her open doorway.
Lily looked up to find the headmaster staring at her. She sat up quickly and began patting down her matted hair. She could only imagine how awful she looked: Tangled hair, puffy bloodshot eyes, and mascara plastered all down her cheeks.
"Do not fret about your appearance, Miss Evans, I am simply here to chat," said Dumbledore, smiling slightly at her failed attempts to improve her looks. "Could you excuse us for a moment, James?"
As James left the room, he turned around to give Lily a small encouraging smile. He shut the door, and Lily returned to Dumbledore, who had come to rest on her bed.
"As I'm sure you are well aware, you made quite a show last night. If Mr. Potter had not been there to hold you back, I'm afraid Derrick would have suffered severe damage."
At these words Lily bowed her head in shame, and Dumbledore continued. "Since no harm was done to Mr. , no punishment will be required of you. However, I do not expect anything of this sort from you again, Lily. Especially because of your duties as Head Girl."
"Yes, sir." Lily replied.
"Derrick, on the other hand, along with Miss , shall be given detention and have 50 points each taken away from their respective houses. I will not tolerate drunkenness in my school. I would have dealt an even more serious punishment, but it seems that there is nothing in the rulebook stating that cheating peoples may be more seriously reprimanded."
Lily looked up to find Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkling.
"The winter holidays have begun, and both Derrick and have left to visit their families. This gives you a chance to recover from that embarrassing ordeal. I always find that a trip to the kitchens cheers me up. I'm sure Mr. Potter could help you with that." Dumbledore stood and gave Lily one last nod before leaving.
Lily fell back onto her pillows, rubbing her eyes. A light knock hit her door and she opened her eyes to see James.
"Dumbledore says you need a trip to the kitchens," said James.
Lily looked down at herself, taking in her own awful appearance.
"So, maybe a shower first?" James suggested with a grin.
"I don't know…" Lily began.
"Come on, Lily. I guaranteed one trip to the kitchens will get you feeling 100 better."
Lily's thoughts drifted to the night before, and she felt herself retreating back underneath her covers. "Not right now, James," she heard herself say. "Maybe tomorrow. Right now I think I just need to be alone.
James sighed, but Lily heard her door shut with a click. Turning towards her window, Lily felt tears begin to well up in her eyes. She closed her lids tightly, trying to shut out the pain that was now coursing through her veins. Even as she mustered all her strength to keep out the tears, she felt one slide down her cheek, carving a path through her soul.
Twenty-four hours later, James sat in the library, working on a particularly hard essay on the importance of engulfing potions. As his quill scratched across the parchment, he had the sudden feeling that someone was watching him. He looked up to find Lily walking across the library towards him. Seeing Lily didn't surprise him as much as the way she looked; gone was the woebegone look of yesterday, and in its place was a bright and shining Lily.
"Hi," Lily said, leaning against James' table.
James smiled and said, "You look much better this morning."
"Mm," Lily said. "Look James, I need a favor."
James stood up and began piling his books together. "Lily, if you need me to transfigure Derrick into a toad or something, it's not going to happen."
"Don't be silly," Lily said, following James as he returned his books to their shelves. "It's much simpler than that. I've formed plan. You see, you're known as one of the best-looking and over-all best guys in school, right?"
James paused. "Well, yeah, but I certainly never expected to hear that coming from you."
"As true as this may be, I couldn't deny the facts that you would be the ultimate revenge tool."
"What?" James exclaimed as he dropped a copy of Important Potions of the 1200s.
"No, think about it," Lily continued. "What would happen if Derrick came back to see you and me together, completely in love, and happier than him and I ever were. And it wouldn't hurt if he thought you were getting some, either…"
"Lily Evans, I never knew you has such a mischievous side." James said with a grin.
"So you'll do it?" Lily questioned.
"I don't see why not. But under one condition."
"What's that?"
"We get straight to practicing," James said, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
"In your dreams, Potter." Lily said, trying to stifle a grin.
As Lily turned to leave the library, James cut in front of her, blocking her path. "It's obvious that you're new to this evil-plan business; you see, you sort of need the plan part to make it evil. And I do believe that I owe you a trip to the kitchens."
Lily looked into James' eyes for a moment before saying, "Lead the way."
Twenty minutes later the two found themselves surrounded by an unbelievably large amount of pastries, ice cream, pies, cakes, candy, and pumpkin juice.
"Mmm," said Lily, licking the chocolate icing from a doughnut off her lips.
"Aren't you glad I convinced you to come down here?"
Lily, choosing not to answer, bit into a large pastry.
After a few minutes of content silence, broken only by the occasional slurping of pumpkin juice, Lily cleared her throat. "You know, it's crazy to think that just 36 hours ago I was a completely different person."
James, sensing that there was more to this, simply nodded his head.
"How could I have no idea? All those late night Quidditch practices, study groups, chess club meetings… It just seems so obvious now."
"You can't beat yourself up about it, Lily. What he did wasn't your fault. He's just a creep."
"Did everybody really know?"
James paused a moment. "Well, not everybody."
"Why didn't anybody tell me!" Lily exclaimed exasperatedly. "If everyone knew, why
didn't anybody say anything?"
"You forget that you're a very stubborn person. Imagine what you would have done if someone had come up to you and said Derrick was cheating on you. Probably told them they were full of it."
A moment's silence passed. "You warned me," Lily said quietly.
James sighed. "Yeah, well, I can't say that I blame you for not believing me. I'm not exactly known for a being an honorable person or anything, am I?"
"Far from it," Lily said grinning. "Which is what makes you the perfect person for my plan."
"You do realize there are about a million ways this plan could fall through, right?"
Lily gazed at James over the top of her cup.
"Like, who are we going to tell? Are you going to tell Ashton, and am I allowed to tell Sirius?"
Lily considered this. "No. I love Ashton, but if this leaked out at all, our plan would be ruined."
"Ok, that's one problem down. The next question is, how fast are we going to take this."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, is Derrick going to come back and see you slobbering all over me, or is he going to come back and see us falling in love?"
Lily screwed up her face in disgust. "Definitely the second option. It's going to take a lot of time before I can slobber over James Potter."
"I'm going to ignore that insult for now and cut right to the next question. What is your end goal?"
"I haven't really thought about that. I just figured I'd make him jealous."
"So you don't want to get back together with him, right?"
"No, no, of course not." Lily said, swirling her spoon through her ice cream and not meeting eyes with James.
"Lily!"
"Hmm?" Lily said, glancing up.
"Please don't tell me you aren't over him!"
"Of course I'm over him!" James eyed her suspiciously. "Honestly, James, I am!"
"Ok, then."
"Ok."
A tense silence filled the room.
"So, want to practice snogging?"
"James!" Lily squealed, whacking him from across the table.
"Just kidding, just kidding," James said, laughing. Lily sat back, glaring at James. "You know, if this is going to work, you have to at least pretend to not hate me."
"There's a large difference between hate and despise, Potter."
"I love you too, Lily."
"Seriously though, do you think this will work?"
James paused for a moment. "I don't know. But I certainly hope it does."
"So do I, James. So do I."
-x-
Hooray! I wrote that chapter really fast… I know it wasn't terribly exciting, but the good stuff's on the way! The only problem is, my internet's been a bit faulty lately. I will try my hardest to get this chapter, as well as another chapter, up as soon as possible. As always, thanks for read and reviewing! (hint hint nudge nudge)
