LILY EQUALS LIFE

By: n33n

Okay, a new approach to the whole Lily && James madness. James is arrogant and charming as ever…Sirius hot, yet maddening at the same time…Remus, quiet and thoughtful…Peter—that worm, and Lily? Oh, Lily's still feisty and kicking. Kicking James in the OUCHES.

Chapter Twelve

"Well."

That was all James could come up with to say.

Something intelligent, he had prayed, but well, 'well' summed it up quite well.

That was way too many 'well's in one sentence.

Anyways, Lily was still situated on top of James's neck, which was throbbing from the pain, and James's legs were entangled with Lily's arms.

What a mess.

"Erm, how about you move your arms, and I'll try to rearrange myself," James suggested, his voice muffled as he was currently facing the ground.

"Wait."

James's neck cricked as he tried to turn his head to listen to Lily. "Ouch. Yeah?"

"This is a good position."

"WHAT?" James could not believe his ears.

Thankfully, James could not see the blush forming on Lily's face.

"I meant that—oh, I just needed to talk with you, and you seemed like you were avoiding me, so…" Lily trailed off and hesitated.

James didn't dare take a breath. "Erm, yes?"

"D'you wanna be friends?" Lily asked in a hopeful tone.

"Well."

It seemed that 'well' was James's vocabulary word of the day.

"I know I've been a horrible person to you," Lily began quickly, "but I realize that I judged you wrongly. I don't mean to sound this like a cliché, but maybe we could start things over as friends?"

James did not say a single word.

"Um, James?"

Lily glanced underneath him and saw that James was having great difficulty breathing since Lily had been sitting on top of him for quite a long period of time.

"Oh, bugger!" Lily quickly slid off and untangled herself from him.

"Thanks," James breathed out, "that's loads better."

"Sorry about that," Lily apologized, looking remorseful.

"It's just dandy!" James said cheerfully. "So, we're friends now?"

Lily smiled. "Yes, if you'd like."

"That easy?"

"Yep. That easy."

"Okay. Hullo there, friend."

Lily grinned. "Hello."

James grinned as well. He quickly felt around his robes pocket, about to give Pink a hand-squeezed-hug when he suddenly noticed it was gone. Crap.

James looked panicky. "Oh Merlin! Oh Merlin's magical moose socks!"

"What happened, James?" Lily asked, looking at him curiously as James suffered from a mild panic attack.

"I lost it! Pink!" James cried, looking extremely dejected.

"Oh." Lily's voice was quite small, and thanked her quick thinking that she had already stuffed it in the Gryffindor Common Room's worn out armchair before coming to see James. "Might be in the Common Room."

"Nah, I always carry it with me," James said and then remembering, quickly explained, "Pink's a notebook, by the way."

"I know," Lily immediately responded, but realized her mistake.

"You do?" James asked, looking amazed at her. "Are you a seer?"

"Um, I—sometimes."

"Sometimes? Frogspawn, that is wicked cool!" James exclaimed eagerly. "That's bloody amazing!"

"Er, yeah—yeah, I guess so," Lily said, looking uncomfortable at lying to another person.

James then narrowed his eyes at Lily. "Wait a minute…I know what happened to sweet Pink! You!"

Lily looked horrified at being caught. She managed to squeak out a, "What?", and her face slowly turned red.

"Did you happen to see Sirius walking around with a pink, fluffy notebook that screams—oh, wait…did you see Sirius with a pink, fluffy notebook that erm—doesn't scream anything?" James fumbled with his words.

Lily breathed a small sigh of relief. So James doesn't know. Thank Merlin. "Erm, I dunno actually. I wasn't really looking for him anyways."

"He will be dealt with shortly," James announced gravely, sounding quite like a strict administrator.

"It's really probably in the Common Room, James," Lily tried to hint subtly again.

"Nah. I bet Sirius nicked it, that foul old bat," James said, muttering under his breath.

"Well, o-kay," Lily said, sighing. At least he doesn't know that I read his notebook. That would be pretty horrid.

"Stupid dog! He knows that I need it right now," James kept saying.

"Why right now?" Lily asked innocently.

"To write my daily enc—um, because I need to check to see what page our Transfiguration essay's based on," James said rather quickly, flushing.

"Page 577," Lily said automatically, glad to change the subject. "I'm guessing you didn't start yours yet?"

"Ah, well, I finished it, but I just wanted to check up a few facts," James said.

"Do you mind if you help me with mine?" Lily asked, blushing lightly. "I know you're rather good at Transfiguration, so…"

James grinned. A chance to show off for her. "Pleasure's mine."

The two magicked their essays into the boys' Common Room and sat down on the grime-infested, gum-plastered, dirty floor together and read page 577.

"See, it says to make a light jab towards the center," James said, scanning the page quickly, as he had already memorized the spell. "You make a small circular motion, then bam, right in the middle."

Expertly, James transfigured a piece of an old sock into a fragrant gardenia. "Here you are."

Blushing, Lily took the flower. "Thank you, James."

"Now try and transfigure—um, this," James said, holding up a battered rubber chicken, "to a plastic horse."

Lily concentrated hard and said the spell, making sure to mimic James's wand movements.

In mere seconds, James was gone.

Standing in front of her was a boldly white stag that replaced James, pawing peacefully at the torn rubber chicken.

"Oh Merlin!" Lily gasped, looking quite surprised at this. "I've accidentally transfigured James! I don't know how to do Human Transfiguration yet!"

Frantically turning the pages of the book, Lily panicked. "What am I going to do? What if I can't turn him back? McGonagall's surely going to bite my head off for this!"

Lily finally found the right page number and tried the reverse-spell for the first time.

She said the incantation and prayed.

James quickly changed back into normal human body.

Lily gave a loud sigh of relief. "You have no idea how glad I am that worked…that was my first time."

"It wasn't bad at all, but maybe you should've said Ananemalia instead of Onamenalia," James said, chuckling to himself.

Lily widened her eyes. "Then how did I---how did I change you back when I said it wrong?"

James winked at her. "I have some maddening skills."

"That's incredible," Lily said, looking at him with newfound respect. "I've always known that you were very gifted at Transfiguration, but that's just--wow."

James grinned idiotically. "Thanks, Lily."

Lily forced herself to tear her eyes from his laughing eyes and bright smile. She also physically moved her head with her hands to make sure her sight was not lined up with James's very sexy jaw. "So…about this paragraph right here."

"Yes," James quickly directed his attention at the book, his face changing from light-hearted to a hardworking, serious one. "I think that the key points are right here," James said, pointing out the lines he just underlined.

"Okay, great! Thanks a lot, James."

"Anytime, Lily."

"James…" Lily hesitated.

"Yeah?"

"You really don't mind helping me with this?" Lily asked cautiously.

James shook his head. "Nah, of course not! It's not like you're one of those stupid bimbos that can't pick up a wand correctly…at least you have some brains so I don't get annoyed like I do with Sirius…Speaking of that bloke, I'm going to have his arse the next time I see him."

"And why is that?" Lily asked, looking at him with a curious expression.

"He stole Pink!" James exclaimed passionately, looking furious.

"Ah…that. I really think you should look in the Common Room," Lily said, and then seeing the skeptical look on James's face, quickly added, "You never know, Sirius might have hidden it there. It's worth a try."

James shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."

"So, what's so wonderful about Pink now?" Lily tried again. She wanted to hear him say it.

"I—uh, I just write stuff in there," James said, looking bashful all the sudden. "Stuff I don't want others to see." James looked pointedly at Lily when he said the word, 'others'.

"Like?" Lily prodded, a sly smile on her face.

"Erm—Quidditch," James lied, looking highly uncomfortable. "The tricky plays and stuff. If the other Quidditch teams gets it…"

Lily's smile fell. He was still scared to tell her. Maybe another time. "Oh. I see."

"Yeah."

An awkward silence passed as Lily fought with the sudden coldness that had gripped her heart rather painfully.

Perhaps another day…

Or what if, James had moved on? Lily shuddered at the thought and became even more depressed.

"You're a nice person," James said suddenly, looking oddly dazed.

Lily was bewildered at this comment. "Excuse me?"

"You're nice," was all James offered, and then he returned to reading the Transfiguration book.

Unsure of how to take this comment, Lily just stared off at the worn-looking blue sock with a pink fringe at the top.

What if…?

Author's Note:

A couple more chapters, I believe…maybe till 20?

Not quite sure yet. I go with the flow..

Please review! Thanks.

A big thanks to all my dutiful reviewers and new reviewers!

Reviews greatly appreciated…!

neen