Chapter 26

Hogsmeade

The weekend approached quickly. Lily was happy, or at least she thought she was. She wasn't entirely sure what happiness was anymore. She assumed that she was happy. She had her friends, James had stopped bothering her and had treated her instead in a casual but respectful and friendly manner, which was more than she could have hoped for. She had to admit that part of her, the part where all her vanity was located, missed his attentions. But whenever her mind wandered in that direction she just shook her head and diverted herself with other subjects. Such as her studies. Exams were fast approaching, and these were very important tests. The last tests she would take at Hogwarts except the NEWTs. Hazel and Sirius were getting closer every day, and Frank was coming up to spend the weekend with Alice in Hogsmeade. Lily was happy, she was sure she was. She had to be happy. She had nothing to be sad about.

Lily smiled at her reflection, taking in her red curls stretching down the back of her black robes. It was time for a haircut. She was going into Hogsmeade on her date with Cooper today. She was going to have a wonderful time. She liked Cooper. She was Cooper's girlfriend. Of course she was happy. She took a deep breath. Perhaps the stomach ache she had been walking around with for the past week was just from idigestion, nothing else.

She walked down the stairs into the great hall where many students all from different houses were milling about waiting to be checked off of Filtch's list. She saw Cooper standing awkwardly near the exit waiting for her. She made her way through the crowd over to him.

"Hi." She said.

"Hey," he replied, smiling down at her. "You ready?"

"Sure," she said, falling into step behind him as they wove their way through the crowd and passed Filtch. They got into a carriage and were transported to Hogsmeade. They were the only ones in their carriage, which was very uncomfortable because Lily was not sure where she was meant to sit with respect to Cooper. She ended sitting between two seats so that she was close to him but not too close. There was very little conversation on the ride over. Lily did not feel right. The hollow pit in her stomach seemed to expand. "I'm very hungry," she observed. "Do they serve food at this Miss Puddleyfeet's place?" she asked him.

"Madam Puddyfoot's. And I think they do, yes. It's mostly just coffee though as far as I've heard."

"Oh," Lily replied, trying to ignore her pain. This brief exchange was followed by more silence. Lily was very grateful when they arrived finally in Hogsmeade. For some reason the ride seemed much longer than it ever had before. "Oh, look, the snows all melted. Don't you just love Hogsmeade in the spring?" she asked, gesturing towards the window boxes of flowers and the outdoor tables placed in front of some shops.

"Yeah, it's nice." Cooper replied absently. Lily struggled to think of more to say to make their walk to Madam Puddeyfoot's less awkward, but she could not come up with much.

"Of course, Hogsmeade is very pretty in the winter as well, everything all frosted over. It always looks just like a little gingerbread village, or something out of a snow globe." Lily said, laughing lightly.

"Hmm." Cooper grunted in response.

"Riiight…" Lily said. "What's your favorite season, Cooper?" she asked.

"Summer I guess. But fall's nice too. So are winter and spring. I guess I don't really have a favorite."

"Oh. Well that's a very cheery disposition. It must be nice to have such a positive outlook on life," she said, trying to smile and make her voice sound as far from sarcastic as she could. No reaction registered on Cooper's face. He merely nodded.

They continued the rest of the way in silence. Lily grew stubborn. She was not going talk if he wasn't. He had invited her here after all. Wasn't he the one who was meant to be making all the effort here? If this was going to be hard work then she was not interested. If he wouldn't talk, neither would he.

They entered the low cielinged shop with the sign signifying that it was Madam Puddyfoot's. Lily looked around her, slightly disgusted. That a boy should choose this place to come on a first date…well, James would never bring her here. Everything seemed to be pink. There were little tables close to the floor and pink cushions and bean bags and little puffs to sit on. There was a counter with a server behind it who was wearing a pink apron. There were pink menus on each table, with the offerings written in a scrolling cursive in gold lettering. Cooper lead the way over to a table in the corner, very secluded and well away from the view of the other occupants of the shop. There was another couple from school on the opposite side. They were leaning very close to each other over the table and holding hands. It looked as if whatever they were talking about was a very involved and passionate conversation.

Lily sat down on a pink puff, looking around and wondering what exactly she was meant to be doing. Cooper, to her astonishment, sat next to her. He reached for the menu and asked her what she wanted. She settled on a pink frosted doughnut and a hot chocolate, she was not much of a coffee drinker. He ordered some fancy latte type of drink. Cooper looked as if he knew how the place worked as he tapped with his wand on the items they wanted and then put the menu in a slot in the center of the table. Lily sat there, wondering how they were meant to get their food and wondering why Cooper had say down next to her. He still was not talking. To her surprise the two drinks and her doughnut appeared on the table the next second. She looked around, wondering how that had happened. Cooper laughed at her.

"It's magic, silly," he said by way of an explanation.

"You'd think I'd be more used to it by now," said Lily, reaching for her doughnut.

"Don't eat that just yet," Cooper said, grabbing her hand and moving it away.

"Why on earth not?" said Lily surprised. Cooper did not let go of her hand. "Is there more?" she looked around, expecting more magic.

"No," he said. He was quiet for another few seconds, just long enough to make Lily blush and feel highly uncomfortable. She looked at her hand, which was still enveloped in his. He shifted a little so that he was very close to her. He was breathing heavily too. Lily suddenly understood. She blushed even more and was about to move away when he planted his lips on hers. He released her hand, finally, to reach his hands behind her back. Lily did not know what to do, so she just sat there. It took her a few moments to come to her senses and start to kiss him back. She felt the hollow in her stomach widen even farther. Her lips were sore and he was pushing his tongue in her mouth. She was confused, and his hands on her spine were cold. He was moving her shirt up little by little. This was not the place for this to be happening. This was their first date. She leaned back a little, but Cooper took this as encouragement and began kissing her more passionately.

Lily was very uncomfortable. Her legs were crossed and this was quite possibly the least convenient position to be sitting in for this type of activity. Cooper too was positioned quite oddly, his back curved and leaning at an awkward angle so that he could reach her. His lips moved from her mouth so her throat. His kissed were sticky and wet. She could tell that he had had a lot of pumpkin juice for breakfast. He had also eaten a lot of mints fairly recently, probably to mask whatever else he had been eating. She did not really like the flavor. It was very cold and impersonal.

Lily pulled back, breathless. She did not know how long they had been kissing for, certainly no more than five or ten minutes. The other couple didn't seem to have noticed them at all. "what are you doing?" Lily demanded.

"I was about o ask you the same question," Cooper replied.

"You bring me to this weird place, don't let me eat my doughnut, hardly say a word to me the entire time we're together, and then shove your tongue down my throat and expect that to be ok? This is a first date! What are you thinking?" Lily demanded, growing outraged as she spoke. He face flushed as she spoke. She rose to her feet and turned on her heel. "Whatever this might be…" she gestured at the space between them, "is over. If it ever even started." She then marched out. She threw a look at the couple in the corner to see if they had even noticed. They seemed too involved in gazing into each other's eyes to even notice or care about the lives of other people.

Out on the street again Lily decided to go to Honeydukes to buy some sweets to tide her over until dinner at the castle. The shop was full of students buying all kinds of sweets. She saw one girl buying some cockroach cluster and made a face. That girl was in for a real surprise. She probably thought they were peanuts. Lily bought some chocolate frogs and some licorice wands. Taking her bag of sweets with her, she went to the Three Broomsticks to buy some butterbeer. She entered the pub, which was as usual full of Hogwarts students. She approached the counter and found the barmaid, Rosmerta, in charge. She remembered her first meeting with the girl and was not surprised when she received a glare. Lily suspected that Rosmerta had a little bit of a crush on James. Lily was about to ask for a butterbeer when she changed her mind and requested a firewhisky. She was not sure that Rosmerta would serve it to her, but she hoped she would. Rosmerta gave her an odd look and Lily sensed the refusal on her lips when her gaze shifted.

"Well helllllo there James!" she cooed. "Is Sirius with you today?"

"No, he's back at the castle. He's on restrictions from Hogsmeade, unfortunately," James said with a sigh. Lily's head snapped around and she met James's eyes. She smiled a little and brushed her hair out of her face. He ruffled his hair. She scowled at him. "Hey there Lily," he said.

"Hi," Lily replied.

"Can I join you for a butterbeer?" he asked. Lily was about to accept his offer when Rosmerta interrupted.

"Actually this one doesn't want butterbeer," she said slyly. James looked from Rosmerta to Lily, confused. "She wants firewhisky. At least that's what she says. And I was just about to ask her for some identification to prove she was of age."

"Firrewhisky, Lily?" James asked, looking skeptical. He looked her up and down, seeming impressed.

"Yes. Do you have a problem?"og Lily demanded defensively, not liking the look in his eyes.

"Not at all. Make it two Rosie m'dear." James said, smiling and winking at Rosmerta. Lily felt outraged on the girl's behalf. He was using the fact that she idolized him to his advantage! Lily opened her mouth to say something, but Rosmerta had already winked in return and left to get him two mugs of firewhisky. Lily closed her mouth. Rosmerta returned and handed James the two mugs. Lily reached for her money, but James was too quick for her. He had already paid and was leading the way over to a table in the corner. 'Oh god, another corner…' thought Lily as she sat down. James, however, sat down across from her.

"Well now, chocolates and whisky. I sense a slight case of the blues here Lily. Did you get dumped?" he asked.

"That was very forward," Lily said, blushing again and taking a sip of her drink. She coughed and spluttered a little as her throat burned. James smirked.

"And that was very evasive," he replied, taking a long swig of his whisky.

"Show off" muttered Lily. She took a large bite of chocolate and passed the bag to James. He helped himself to some licorice.

"Ew, cherry licorice?" he demanded.

"Yeah, what of it?" Lily asked, still in her defensive mood.

"Nothing, it just explains some things."

"Like what?" Lily asked, intrigued as to what her taste in candy could possibly reveal.

"Well I always suspected you had bad taste, you know rejecting me and everything, but now I'm sure of it. It's just comforting." Lily couldn't help from laughing.

"I actually meant to get strawberry. I didn't realize it was cherry. I was a little distracted when I bought it."

"Well lucky for you I'll eat anything, so I'll relieve you of the offensive candies." James said, shoving a candy in his mouth.

"How very chivalrous of you." Lily said, laughing a little in spite of herself.

"So you didn't answer my question. Did you just get dumped?" James asked, a little too eagerly to be polite.

"No. I did the dumping thank you," Lily said coolly.

"How very…modern of you. What did that piece of scum do to you?" James demanded, outraged.

"It just didn't feel right." Lily told him, realizing that her stomach no longer hurt as much. It must have been the chocolate. She took another sip of whisky. It went down a little more smoothly this time.

"Right. Well if that's what you expect me to believe then you must think I'm a good deal more clueless than I am…" James told her.

"No, it's true!" she said. He fixed her with his steady, comforting gaze. His chocolate eyes were very warm. "Well, it's partially true at least," she added, feeling compelled inexplicably to be honest with him.

"As I suspected. Now what's the other part?" he asked.

"Well what I should have said was that it didn't feel right when he brought me into a back corner and started shoving his tongue down my throat," Lily told him, blushing. She didn't want to talk about this with James of all people.

"How dare he!" James cried, incensed.

"Calm down, James," Lily cried out, worried.

"Sorry. I'm just very mad. Doesn't he know you're better than that? He should treat you with more respect than that. I mean, I understand treating some random girl like that. But not you. You're a lady." He blushed a deeper crimson.

"From what I understand you yourself have been known to treat many ladies in just that way," she accused him, not being able to resist the temptation to feel flattered.

"No. I would never do that to a lady," James told her seriously. "Unless I'd paid her first," he said, winking. Lily was shocked. "Joke, Lily."

"Oh, right," she said. She took another gulp of her firewhisky. "Empty, sad." She said, looking at the bottom of her cup. James laughed.

"I don't think you need another."

"No, I suppose you're right," Lily told him, feeling a little light headed. She was warm and fuzzy. This was happy. She knew that this must be what happy was.