Chapter 15: Great. Now the Whole School Will Know

Disclaimer: JKR. Good? Good.

"The next couple days are a haze. What I can tell you is that I slept a lot."

Harry giggled at his mum's nonsense, and then rolled over to hear more. The shadow outside the door, that waited, oh, so patiently for whatever was to come next, lightly sat down on the ground again, and became enveloped in the story once again.

"Now," said Lily, "some time passed, maybe only a day, maybe a week, I don't really recall, but the next thing I remember is sitting down to breakfast with Remus…"

…

"Lily, are you gonna eat that?" Remus asked as he reached across the table and grabbed another roll off her plate.

"I guess not," she said as he pulled some other unknown substance from the table and firmly shoved it into his mouth.

Apparently he was hungry.

Lily must have been staring at him because at that moment he stopped moving, all except his hand with the roll in it—it just went slower.

"I'm hungry," he said as if the answer was sufficient.

She had almost forgotten that Remus got sick a lot, and after he would go on bed rest he would come back pale and drained. Apparently this time he hadn't eaten much either.

"Well, have at it, I'm not that hungry." Lily was about as pale as he was, but he scars were almost gone. The only one that stayed was the long gash on her arm. Somehow now she seemed to remember that it was the first one. It was the first pain she felt, she was sure of it. It had been so deeply filled with hate, that it wouldn't go away. She was just glad it wasn't on her face. She figured eventually it would be gone, but till then she would admire it, in some dark way.

"So what really happened, Lily?" Remus said as his hand continued to roam over her plate. She knew what he meant, but she was afraid to answer him.

"I don't know what you mean," she said to stall for time. She really didn't want to go into this, but when she saw him face she realized there was no getting out of this. "Didn't James tell you?"

He rolled his eyes. "He told me his side. But I want to know what happened before he rescued you."

"Before he rescued me?" she asked. She couldn't help but be a little put out at the comment. No one rescued Lily Evans without her consent!

"Yeah, he was the one who found you and took you to the castle, didn't you know?"

Didn't she know? Not that he had taken her back to the castle. Okay, she knew, but she didn't want to know.

Remus looked at her searchingly, but when she didn't answer he continued. "He saw you before it happened, he said you were marching up to him, or something, but then the next second he didn't see you at all. Then, he went to look for you, but he couldn't locate you. Then, he noticed the alley…"

Lily cringed, but Remus continued. "He found them…hovering over you…and he…"

"He jinxed them?"

Remus laughed, "No, he didn't even fiddle with the wand, he flung at them with his bare hands. Bloodied them up pretty good, too, from what I hear."

Lily thought back. That's why his hand was bandaged.

"After he settled with them," Remus continued, "he just swung you up in his arms and walked back to Hogwarts."

Lily's jaw dropped. "Walked?" James Potter walking seemed almost unfathomable. He either apparated, or flew everywhere. And walking from Hogsmeade would be a long walk for anyone, even herself.

"Well," Remus said as he looked down at the floor in a shy way, "he apparated to the gates of Hogwarts and then walked you in."

Lily was still impressed, though she made no indication that she was. Remus continued, "He marched right past the Professors, right past the students, all the way to the infirmary, and that was where he stayed till you woke up."

"He didn't leave?" Lily asked perplexedly.

"Not one moment…well…he left to go to the bathroom I'm sure, but every time we came to check up on you, he was still there."

"But what about classes?" Lily thought in horror. He gave up a whole day of classes to stare at an unconscious person?

"He skipped. Though, technically I guess you can't call it that, because all the teachers knew where he was. We were scared for you for a while there, thought you wouldn't wake up, so they allowed it."

Lily went red. They thought she wouldn't wake up? He was the only one who stayed with her all that time? He was there…he was there so she wouldn't have to be alone when she woke up. She felt it instinctively. That's why he did it. She knew it.

Lily must have gone a deeper shade of red, because Remus smirked at her from the side of his mouth. Lily noticed and immediately went back to normal. As if a light bulb went on in Remus' head he lunged forward to confirm it.

"You like him, don't you?"

Lily cringed and then shivered and then… "NO!" she said in denial mode. It didn't work. However much she was screaming it in her head, Remus didn't believe her.

"You do like him," he said with finality. She pouted and tried to pretend that it wasn't true, but somewhere in her, she was all a-twitter at the idea of his hand in hers.

Suddenly, Lily realized something. He had sat with her, and took care of her, and she had been nothing but cruel to him. She had challenged him above reason, she had pushed him farther than she would anyone else, and he was still there for her.

Lily jumped up from her seat with less than lady like grace. The bench loudly creaked and everyone turned to look at her, including Remus who had half a potato hanging out his mouth. The Great Hall was pretty empty this time of morning, but most people would have noticed all the eyes. Not Lily, though, she wasn't looking at anyone, or paying attention to anyone. The only thing on her mind was the words she said at that moment, almost a whisper, "I have to find him."

Then she rushed out of the Hall leaving a very bewildered Remus behind.

…

She hurried through the halls in pursuit of the Gryffindor dwelling place. She had gone this way so many times, she didn't even have to think about it. Down the corridor, past the many paintings, up the stairs, around the bend, and all the way to the Fat Lady.

The overweight rosy cheeked lady smiled and admitted her after she gave the password. Lily looked around, but didn't see James. Sirius, however, was sitting in the corner with his face mere inches away from Marlene's. When she came in, they both looked over at her. Without a word, they both pointed to the stairs that led to the dormitories. She smiled in thanks and ran up the stairs toward the boy's dormitory. She passed the first years, second years, third years, and almost got near the fourth year dormitories when someone plunged into her. She almost fell back but he grabbed her around the waist to steady her. He had black hair and hazel eyes.

"Potter!" she shouted as she jumped away from him. "What are you doing here?"

She mentally slapped herself, but he just smiled. "Going to the common room to get Sirius and go to breakfast, you?" He rubbed his eyes as if he had just woken up, but his smile was dazzling as usual.

"Oh!" she said as she realized she hadn't answered him yet, "I was just…you know…doing stuff," she said lamely.

"In the boy's dormitory corridor?"

She huffed, "okay I was looking for you." He raised an eyebrow and yawned. She breathed out and tried to relax, but his face was so unknowing that she almost fainted.

Then, she looked down at his clothing, and saw that his shirt wasn't tucked in and his tie was loose. He looked like a model, especially when she looked at his tussled hair. Now, she really couldn't breath.

"Did you have some reason to go looking for me, Evans, other than to have a staring contest with my tie?" he asked, and she jumped away instantly.

"Oh, no," she said looking incredibly embarrassed, "I mean yes…wait, what?" James laughed at her and took her hand. He led her to where the corridor ended near the eldest boy's dormitories and sat down on the window ledge.

"What's the matter, Evans?"

She blushed and tried to lose eye contact. "I just wanted to…I wanted to say thank you…and…I'm sorry."

He smiled. She blushed even more.

After she didn't continue, James took her hand to get her attention, "that's a good start, Evans. Was there more?" She laughed hysterically, though she didn't know why. He smiled at her encouragement.

"Well, really, I…I didn't know that you walked me all the way to the castle, and I found it kind of—" Lily was still talking, but James was no longer listening, he seemed to have remembered something. He tightened his grip on her hand and then drug her into his dormitory. Lily was blushing furiously. "Potter, what do you think you are doing?"

"I have a present for you," he said simply.

"Not another present, Potter, I feel so stupid already." She rubbed her temple and felt the faint scar. It was almost gone, she thought to herself.

James was fumbling through his trunk, and about the time that she was thinking about her scar he pulled out a package. It was coin sized and trinket worthy. "I shrunk it," he said simply. She wondered what for.

Then, he pulled out his wand and muttered a spell that enlarged the package to the size of a small broomstick. Now, she could clearly see that it was a box. It was long and rectangular and thin around the sides. He was smiling very widely as he took the top off the box.

Inside laid a dozen beautiful daisies. Her favorite flower. She almost died right there.

He was talking now, as he removed the flowers from the box. "I was going to give these to you when you were let out of the infirmary, but I haven't seen you in a while, so I just kept them till my next opportunity." He handed them to her, and she smiled with a slight blush on her cheeks. He smiled as well, and then stepped back to give her distance. That was something she always appreciated about Potter, he always gave her her distance.

Suddenly something must have occurred to James because his voice broke through the silence again, at first harshly, but then very sweetly. "I know they aren't roses, but I always thought daisies were happier flowers."

She smiled widely and felt mushy inside. They stared at each other for a second and then James rushed to the door to open it for her. She took the offer and went to the door. She was half way through when she turned back.

It was a mistake.

He was mere inches from her face. She could see the flecks of gold in his eyes, and the light flush in his cheeks. And she was sure he could count her freckles if he wanted, or stare at the remaining scars that could only be seen up close. She felt herself crossing the invisible line between them. She could feel the forces pulling them together. She dreaded this, and yearned for it at the same time. She was almost touching him, she knew because she could feel his breath on her skin. It tickled and excited her. Her heart was pounding as the seconds went slower and slower and then…

"No, I will not go out with you!" a voice down the corridor shouted. They jumped away from each other and looked down to see Alice being trailed by a very moody Frank Longbottom. "I told you, I'm not going to your room, I'm just looking for—" It was at that moment that Alice and Frank noticed the other two. Alice went red, and Frank smiled goofily. "Lily," she finished.

Neither James or Lily spoke, but Alice seemed to suddenly have the urge to explain herself, because she continued speaking, very loudly in fact. "I was just looking for you, Lily, the others said you went up here for some reason. Now, I see that we are intruding—"

Before she could finish the thought Lily broke in, "what did you need, Alice?"

Sometimes she wondered how she did that. She was so good at changing the subject in awkward times. It always took just that one person to pretend like nothing happened for the rest of the world to follow. She always seemed to be that person.

Alice rolled her eyes and walked up to Lily. When she got there she smiled widely at James, who was blushing furiously, and then grabbed Lily's arm and drug her off. When the girls passed Frank they saw that he was looking at James with praise. When Alice wasn't looking Frank gave James the thumbs up. Alice may have missed it, but Lily didn't.

Oh great, she thought, now the whole school will know.

…

Harry was giggling happily and sucking on his toes like he always did. He seemed to have broken out of whatever plagued him before. Meanwhile, Lily was laughing hysterically and trying to keep her blanket from falling off her shoulders.

The shadow got up, and almost walked in the door at that moment, but then Lily continued talking. "Oh, but there was so much more, Harry. So much more!"

Then the shadow sat back down and smiled beneath its heavy hood.

A/N: Okay, just a little bit more. I really liked writing this chapter, but it was hard. It probably doesnt flow very well, but I tried at least. It's funny to look back at the way this story started and how it has progressed. Surprisingly, though, I'm still following the same line of thinking, though. But I have a surprise ending that will probably make all of you angry with me, but I can't help myself. It will make me laugh, at least. Don't worry, I'm not gonna break them up or anything. The boy will still get the girl, but there will be a twist in story line. And for those who havent figured out who the shadow is yet, maybe it will be a bit of a shock to you as well, though probably not. Thanks everyone, hope you like this one. Please R&R.