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Author's Note: Hello: ) REVIEW RESPONSES-LIVEJOURNAL
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Chapter Nine-Scowls and Frowns
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"Hello, Lily."
Lily looked from rereading her charms essay she was turning in at the beginning of class,"Remus. Hello." She said with a smile. The two had been assigned partners for the class during the term. Lily noticed the rest of the Marauders walk in the classroom and take seats across from Remus seat.
James appeared to be his normal, arrogant self. Of course, even without his memory, James never really changed that much, it was just the way he acted towards Lily basically.
She noticed James was at the opposite end of his table: the farest he could get from Lily. No doubt to avoid her as much as possible. Lily was glad of it; the only reason he'd come near her would be to tease, prank, or cause trouble. This would definitely be a change from the last few monthes.
"You know, it's only been one day since James got his memory back and nothing's really changed." Remus commented as he sat down and took out his essay, quill, ink, parchment, and textbook. He was always prepared for class.
"No, nothing's changed." Lily said with a somewhat bitter voice. She took out a piece of parchment and dipped her quill in her ink well. She began to spell out Charms Notes. She glanced over at the other three boys. Peter was dumping out his messy school bag, searching frantically for, what Lily thought was, his essay due today. He was so unorganized. James and Sirius were leaning around Peter joking about.
He looked the same. He was the same. The only difference was that when James caught Lily looking in his direction, he scowled, became quiet, and slumped back in his chair, leaving Sirius a bit confused at why James had just been laughing out loud then abruptly quiet and scowling. If it was the James she knew only a few weeks ago, he would have smiled or even winked at her. She would have rolled her eyes and turned away, quite similiar to what James just did, actually.
Lily shook her head and wrote the date, 2.31.76, on her parchment. It wasn't good to dwell on the past. Of course, she wasn't really dwelling, just comparing.
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"Lily, do you mind if I copy your potions essay?" Emma asked quickly as they sat at the Gryffindor table at lunch.
Lily shared a look with Alice,"Alright. You really need to start working harder Emma-"
"-because N.E.W.T's are coming up soon and I need to prepare." Emma finished, rolling her eyes at Lily. Lily flicked a pea in Emma's direction.
"N.E.W.T's are important. They determine your future-"
"Hey, Evans! You and James kissed again lately?" A voice said loudly just behind Lily.
Alice dropped her spoon of mash potatoes in suprise as Emma choked on her pumpkin juice. The people around them hushed for a few seconds before the bustle of lunchtime came back to them.
Lily whipped her head around, just feeling the smirk on Sirius Black's face behind her. "No, as a matter of fact, we haven't, Black." Lily answered primly. She noticed Peter and James standing close by. Peter looked amused with a smile on his face; while James looked the opposite.
Sirius cast a amused look over at James, "Will you being doing it again anytime soon then?"
"No."
"Sirius, your out of your bloody mind." James muttered walking away, Peter trailing behind. He (James, not Peter) tripped a fourth year Huflepuff that ran past him. Lily heard him dullfully say that they shouldn't be running and five points would be taken off of Hufflepuff house. Then he stormed off.
"Er, well, I'd better be off then." Sirius said and began striding in the direction of James and Peter.
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Lily sighed and layed her head down on the table in front of her. She was in the Gryffindor Common Room, reading through a book about curse breakers. It seemed like an interesting enough career, right? She couldn't decide what to do; there were so many options. Graduation was less than four monthes away and she hadn't even made a final decision about a career yet. Lily had gone so far as to write down a list of professions that interested her.
A writer for the Daily Prophet (she was a little shaky when it came to writing articles though), an auror (very dangerous, but something she would like to do), curse breaker, a quidditch player (she was kidding about that one), a Professor at Hogwarts, work in a bookshop (it would be a quiet job), work in The Three Broomsticks (a loud job), work at Madame Puddifoot's (a very. . .frilly job), live off her parents for the rest of her life. . .
Well, the last four choices weren't that great because she'd ran out of ideas. Lily raised her head and slammed the curse breaker book closed angrily.
"Evans is harming a book? What is this world coming to?" Black's voice asked at her side. Four shadows fell on the table around her.
Before she could even open her mouth to retort, James grunted "Patrol." and started towards the portrait hole, leaving Lily and the rest of the Marauders behind.
"He's a little bundle of joy, isn't he?" Lily commented sarcastically. She stood up, shoving her bag and curse breaker book under the table, out of harms way. She planned to work a bit more later, after patrol. The Head Girl began to walk away; stopping for a moment,"You three," she said, turning slightly,"don't even think of taking a stroll after curfew." Lily warned, she gave her Head Girl badge a tap for extra measure and walked out, hearing faintly,"We'd never dream of it, Evans!" from Sirius.
Lily saw James a few yards ahead of her; walking away. She speed walked up to him,"Would you mind waiting for me, Potter? We're suppose to patrol." She said irritated.
James rolled his eyes, not looking over at her,"We are patroling. We are doing this pointless activity."
Lily looked forward for a moment,"I know that, but we're suppose to stay together, Potter."
"We never have before, so why start now?"
"Actually, we did after you. . .uh, you lost your memory." James didn't say anything so she continued,"Besides, Professor Mcgongall told us to patrol together anyways."
"I'd rather not patrol with you, Evans."
"I'd rather not patrol with you, either, Potter, but Professor Mcgongall said-"
"Your such a prude." James said, still not looking over at Lily.
Lily abruptly stopped and clenched her fists while staring at the back of James' head, which was getting farther and farther. This wasn't working at all. What was his problem? Finally, after about a minute, James stopped and glanced behind him,"What?"
"Your such a git!" She exclaimed.
"Oh, am I?" He asked,"What about you? Your the one trying to boss me around!"
"I am not trying to boss you around; I'm just trying to do what's right!" Lily yelled.
James gave an exasperated sigh,"Evans, what happened while my memory was gone is history. Nothing's changed." He turned around and began to walk off again.
Lily opened her mouth, then faltered. The way James said that sentence made it seem as if. . .as if he remembered what had happened. But that was impossible, right? He didn't remember anything. . .did he? Lily had a feeling that if he did, he would be acting differently, especially to her.
She stepped forward a bit and watched him,"Do you. . .Do you remember?"
James stopped again,"Remember what, Evans?" He asked in an irritated voice.
"What happened while your memory was. . .gone."
James turned full around and Lily could see a deep scowl across his face, "Your very interested in what happened then, aren't you, Evans?" He asked.
Lily looked down at the stone floor then out a nearby window,"You didn't answer my question, Potter."
"You didn't answer mine."
"Why are you avoiding my question?" Lily asked.
"Why are you avoiding my question?"
Lily pursed her lips in frustration,"Fine, no, I am not very interested in what happened. I'd just like to know why your being such an idiot all of a sudden."
"Haven't I always been an idiot to you?" James asked smirking at Lily for what seemed like the first time since before he got his memory back. Of course, it wasn't a nice smirk, it was a malicious smirk.
Lily rolled her eyes,"Answer the question, Potter."
Instantly, James' smirk disappeared; Lily had to be happy that it was gone. He scowled at her again,"No, Evans." He said slowly,"No. I don't remember a thing."
He was lieing. She could tell by the way he said it. He was lieing. "I think you do." Lily replied,"I think you do very much so."
James glared at her and finally strode off, leaving Lily in the empty corridor.
"Oh, yes. I think you remember every last thing."
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Lily sat yet again at the table in the Common Room, reading through the curse breaker book. It was the next day and she had manage to avoid Potter, although, he had done just the same, so it really wasn't that hard to do.
She knew James remembered, he was just too stubborn and proud to admit it. Lily didn't really care, though, whether he admitted it or not; it wouldn't change anything. Potter would still be the arrogant git he always was. Besides, she had too much to worry about without adding Potter to her list. With homework, NEWT's, head duties to do, prefects meetings, club meetings, tutoring, studying, and so much more, Potter just didn't fit in her scedule. Not that she wanted him to.
Lily sat up straight and looked around the common room. It was fairly full now; dinner had just ended and everyone was coming back to the common room for studying or to gossip about what happened at dinner.
She looked over towards the far corner to her left and found the Marauders sitting at a table-studying. Lily had become less suprised to see them studying since they'd been doing it so much more often now; the Marauders never were much of the studying type (at least not in public). Potter, at that moment, looked over in her direction and scowled at her.
Did he really detest her that much? To the extent that he had to scowl over at her every once and a while, even when she minded her own business (which was most of the time). He caught her looking and at once bent his head low over his book; Lily could see his quill tapping rapidly.
It amazed her at how irritated she could get him with just one look. Of course, it's not like it bothered her that he detested her. She needed to get back to her studying anyway. Potter could scowl and glare as much as he please, he wouldn't stop her from studying though.
Lily took one last look over in the Marauder's corner. James' scowling face was once more looking at her. She defiantly glared back until he rolled his eyes and looked down at his book again; quill tapping rapidly still.
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"WELCOME, FANS, TO YET ANOTHER ACTION-PACKED QUIDDITCH MATCH! TODAY THE MIGHTY GRYFFINDORS PLAY THE COWARDLY SLYTHERINS-"
"Mr. Lupin!" Professor Mcgongall's shrill voice cut in.
"-ER, MOVING ON. TODAY'S WEATHER IS JUST PERFECT FOR QUIDDITCH-"
"We got some pretty good seat, eh Lily?" Emma said excitingly, scooching over as another person sat down in the crowded stands. Most around them were sporting Gryffindor colors.
"Oh, yes, they're great." Lily replied, not as enthusiastic as Emma; she really didn't care where they sat.
"Oh, hey! There's Alice!" Emma called, looking to their left. Lily's head swerved in that direction. Neither Emma nor Lily could find Alice when they were leaving for the quidditch pitch.
Alice walked up with tall, blonde blonde haired boy, Frank Longbottom."Hey, Lily. Emma." She said with a nodded while smiling.
The girls greeted her back, looking curiously behind Alice.
"Er, hi Frank." Lily said after a long, awkward pause in the group.
Frank greeted the two girls as he and Alice sat down next to them. They guessed Frank was going to watch the quidditch match with them, or more precisely, Alice. Not one word was said about it, although Emma and Lily both shared a look with Alice, who smiled and shrugged.
Lily watched as the players flew out onto the field, circling around the stands. Black (a beater) was shaking his bat around and pompously rooting for the team (rooting more for himself, actually). The seeker, a third year boy Lily vaguely remember from previous quidditch games as Gregory Hartmen, was circling around the pitch, looking slightly green. She wondered if he was sick. Her eyes found Potter, who for once, didn't have a scowl on his face (most definitely because he didn't see her). He was weaving this way and that just above the stands, giving occasional high-fives and cheers. He was acting basically like Black.
James came closer and closer to their section and all Lily wished to do was leave. She didn't want to watch him with hs super huge ego. Besides, he'd only get moody if he saw her and then she'd get moody and the day would basically be ruined entirely.
She ducked slightly behind Alice for a moment before realizing Frank had his arm around Alice's back and found it quite awkward. Lily ducked behind Emma then. James was just a mere five feet away probably, hovering above the crowd with a wide grin.
Lily was just about ready to breath a sigh of relief since James had already passed over them and didn't see her. Unfortunately, some clumsy person let lose a chocolate frog and it just so happened to jump in the back of Lily's shirt. She screamed in suprise and jumped up herself.
Many people turned in her direction, including James. Lily sunk low, trying to furtively get the frog out of her shirt, ignoring Emma and Alice's questions about what she was doing grabbing around at her shirt.
James had momentarily stopped and his grin slowly faded as he realized who it was; it became a frown. The players were called to the center of the field to start the game. James flew off quickly.
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"That was an amazing game, wasn't it?" Emma asked for the third time since they'd sat down by the fire in the common room. Lily and Alice had only heard her two of the three times though considering the fact that just about everyone in Gryffindor was celebrating the house's quidditch victory.
"Yes, it was great!" Alice agreed, Lily only nodded.
"So what was with Frank?" Emma asked.
Alice looked over at Emma then to Lily with a smile,"Oh, er, well we met in the crowd and sort of ended up together in the stands."
"Interesting."
"Really."
The girls sat in silence, watching the crowd cheer the quidditch players. "The prunehead twins are really drinking in all the attention, aren't they?" Lily commented as she watched Potter and Black retell a particular part of the game.
"Oh, come on, Lily. They've always been that way, and I doubt they'll ever not be that way." Emma replied watching the "prunehead twins" in amusement. Alice laughed.
Lily stood up,"I'm going up to the dorm for a while; it's too loud down here, I think I'll go deaf soon." She began to walk away,"Get me if there's any problems, I doubt Potter will take care of them. . .actually Potter will probably be the problem." She called over her shoulder, muttering the last to herself.
Just as her right foot was on the first step up the girls stairway, her name was called. Lily turned to see James Potter walking over to her. She was curious to know what he'd want with her now.
He stopped and there was a short pause. Lily wonder if he was waiting for her to congratulate him on the quidditch match, but promptly remembered that he never wanted her praise before, so why would he now?
"What were you doing at the game today?" He asked, a slight frown on his face now.
"I was watching it, Potter. Is that a crime?" Lily asked defiantly.
"It is if your trying to kill me."
"What?" Lily asked in suprise. She, try to kill, him?
"Yeah. Your trying to get me killed. Your the reason I lost my memory in the first place." James replied.
Well, this was news to Lily. First she finds out she's trying to kill James Potter by watching a quidditch game, then she finds out it was her fault he lost his memory. She was confused.
"Are you sure you haven't lost your memory again, Potter?" Lily asked, staring at him with a bewildered, yet offended look. How dare he suggest she would try to kill he? Of course, she had her moments where killing James Potter sounded nice, but actually doing it would be insane!
James scoffed,"I'm sure, Evans." He said icily.
Lily crossed her arms in what seemed to be a patient manner,"Care to explain?"
"I don't need to explain, Evans, I'm sure you already know what I'm talking about. You made me do the exact same thing I did when I lost my memory."
"And what is that?" Lily asked curiously. She really had no idea what he was talking about.
"Oh, you know. You know exactly what I'm talking about." James said, frowning deeper. He stared down at Lily for a moment, a strange look on his face. Abruptly, he walked off towards the crowd again, giving Lily one last Look.
"Merlin, Potter has gone loony." Lily said to herself. What was he talking about? "What did I make him do?" She asked, trying to remember if she missed something. She thought back to the day of the quidditch match that landed James memoryless, comparing the two.
Lily had hardly looked in James' direction in either match. When she did look in his direction, James seemed to be glaring in her direction or nearby.
She shook her head, turning around and continued her previous attempt at walking up the stairs, wondering why in the name of Merlin, James Potter thought she tried to kill him.
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Author's Note: James is just being a plain old jerk, I know. It's all part of the plot though. As of right now, I'd say there will be from three to five more chapters left to the story, but who knows? I never really actually plan my fic's from chapter to chapter, word for word.
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