Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 11: 'Friends' again

"Evans?" exclaimed Potter.

"Potter," I said. Mrs. Potter put her hands together and a confused expression took over everyone's features.

"Er – do you two know each other?" asked Mrs. Potter, pointing at us.

"She's from school," said Potter. As much as I hate him, I have to admit, he looked good. He was wearing a dressy blue shirt and black pants. The first two buttons on his shirt were undone, showing some of his muscular chest. I found myself staring at him.

"That's wonderful!" exclaimed Mrs. Potter.

"Whoa…wait a minute. They're from the same school? As in, that freak place she goes to?" said Petunia.

"Petunia, please," said Mom. "Be polite."

"I will not be polite! I can't stand this! Freaks here, freaks there, freaks everywhere!" I caught Potter's eyes and we both turned away quickly, trying not to laugh.

"Petunia, they aren't freaks just because they can do magic! If I were you, I'd be happy to have a sister who could do magic," said Mom.

"Yeah, you would, wouldn't you," muttered Petunia.

"Excuse me? What did you just say?" said Mom, her voice rising a little. Petunia looked like she was trying hard not to explode but it wasn't working too well. Finally she just let it go.

"Ever since she got that stupid letter, you've both been obsessing over her! You got her anything she wanted, let her do anything! When she was at school you would be worrying if she was all right, if anything had happened to her! You would talk about taking her away, but when she begged to stay you let her! Sure, you listened when I talked to you, but you didn't really care! I bet you were thinking 'why isn't Petunia a witch? Why isn't Petunia more like her younger sister?' You think it's so wonderful that that bitch is magical! And it's all you care about now!" She stomped away, obviously not caring that she had no idea where she was in the house. Everyone else stood in shock. Lilly's eyes filled slightly with tears. Petunia had never called her a bitch or anything before. She had learned to deal with it but this was more than she could handle.

At first she was sad, but then a great anger started taking over her. All she could hear were Petunia's words in her head. She whipped out her wand (her mother let out a little shriek) and stomped after her sister. And what was the chivalrous wizard in the house to do but follow?

The three adults were left standing in the Entrance Hall, looking at James' and Lily's retreating forms.

"I am so sorry," said Marianne. "I –"

"No, it's all right. Let's just go find them before they hurt each other," said Mrs. Potter. They ran off in the direction the three teenagers had gone in.

Lily's POV

I could hear someone following me but I didn't care. Whoever it was, I wouldn't let them stop me.

I turned down a dark hallway. Lighting my wand (the Ministry couldn't trace underage magic at the Potters' house; I had heard James brag about it enough), I saw that the walls were stone and there were leaks on the ceiling. I was about to turn back and go a different way but I suddenly saw Petunia ahead of me. The light off my wand only showed me the silhouette of a body, but I figured it was Petunia.

I walked forward into the darkness. It was so dark I didn't notice what was in front of me – a big hole. I fell in it with a cry, landing on the side of my ankle. I heard a crack and whimpered. It hurt A LOT.

I looked around. The ditch was probably about six or seven feet deep. Seriously, who has a tunnel with a big hole in it in their house?

I heard a noise above me. Someone was coming forward cautiously.

"Lily? Petunia?" It was James. I was never happier to see him. Actually, I think I was never happy to see him. Anyway, I felt so glad that he was there.

"James!" I called. He stopped right at the edge of the hole and looked down.

"What are you doing down there?" he asked.

"Oh, I just felt like falling into a hole and breaking my ankle; it's what I do for fun," I said sarcastically. "Why do you even have a hole in a creepy tunnel in your house?"

"Dunno," said James. He waved his wand and the light went out. I heard him say something and then I felt myself be levitated. It was actually a lot of fun.

"Hey! Ask me before you do that again," I said, laughing. He levitated me right into his arms. As I felt his muscular arms around me I completely relaxed, feeling like I was totally safe. Until I realized what was happening. "Wait, what do you think you're doing?" I screeched. He looked surprised.

"You said your ankle was broken, so, naturally, I assumed you wouldn't be able to walk."

"Oh." I blinked. "Ok."

He carried me out of the tunnel and into a warm and inviting hallway. He turned right and we ran right into his mom and my parents.

"Oh, what happened?" said Mom, seeing me being carried and automatically assuming something was wrong. I guess that's what my reaction would have been too, seeing as I told her all about James and how I hated him, so there would be no reason I'd let him carry me unless I couldn't walk.

"I sort of fell into a ditch and broke my ankle," I said.

"Oh, I've been meaning to get that fixed," said James' mom. "I'm so sorry; I'll take care of that right away."

While she worked on my ankle, I asked her why there was a tunnel there.

"That's where James' father used to practice spells and curses and things. I don't use it much anymore."

"Hey, where's Petunia?" asked James, who was sitting against the wall, next to me.

"I don't know, I saw her across that hole but then I fell in," I said.

"She'll probably end up in the laboratory. I'll go find her," said Mrs. Potter, finishing with my ankle.

"May we come with you?" asked Mom.

"Of course, just be careful. James, take Lily to the living room." And with that they disappeared into the tunnel.

"James?" I said, as we were walking to the living room.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for helping me."

"No problem. It was like my dream come true. Being able to touch you while you were conscious and not slapping me," he said bitterly. Suddenly I felt bad about the way I'd been treating him. But I was also confused.

"Look, I'm sorry for everything that's happened since third year. And I guess you're right: I was just too stubborn to admit that I had been fooled by Britney. But I don't mean anything to you; you know that. I'm just a challenge. The only girl who has ever said no."

"That's not true!" James exclaimed.

"Yes it is. James, come on, why else would you ask me out? I mean, maybe you did actually like me the first time you asked but the other times were just to prove you could get any girl, if I said yes."

"I don't know why you decided this but it is not true," said James defiantly. "Please believe me." We stopped walking and looked each other straight in the eye.

"Well," I said. "I guess I could but, I'm not saying anything for sure. After all, you are a liar," I said teasingly. "And I can't trust your word."

"What? Oh no you did not," said James impersonating some kind of really snobby girls.

"I think I did," I said and stuck my tongue out.

"That does it!" James started chasing me. I ran into the living room, giggling. I tried to jump on the couch but James tackled me and brought me crashing to the ground. I sat up, panting.

"God, how much do you weigh?" I breathed, gasping.

"It's all these beautiful muscles," said James, kissing his biceps (A/n: Like in Anchorman). I laughed. He was really funny.

James put down his arms and looked into my eyes again. He started to lean forward but I stopped him.

"I can't," I said sadly. "Jesse."

"Right. Jesse," said James, sighing.

"You know he's moving? He's not going to come to Hogwarts anymore."

"Really?" asked James. I nodded. "I'm sorry," he said.

"No, it's ok. I'm going to break up because of long distance but I hope we'll still be friends. Until then, though, I can't kiss any other guys."

"Well…would you kiss me? If it wasn't for Jesse?"

"I don't know – we'll have to see," I said mischievously. He smiled.

"You know, it's amazing. Just two hours ago, we hated each other but now we're friends and you're even talking about the possibility of kissing me…." I laughed. It was true.

"Yeah. I never thought we'd make up after just two years. Now we have to match up our friends and make Miranda and Megan get along again, while not making it seem obvious."

"We'd make it obvious if we were on good terms," pointed out James. I thought about this.

"Yeah, you're right. Well, we'll just have to pretend."

"How do we do that?"

"Pretend today never happened."

"But I don't want to do that."

"You have to."

"No."

"Yes."

"I don't want to."

"You have to."

"Lilyyyyyyyyyyy," he whined.

"Jaaaaaaaaaaames," I whined back.

"Fine," he grumbled, seeing I wasn't going to give in.

"Good," I said.

"Oh, and Lily?" he said.

"Yeah?"

"I like your piercings." He winked mischievously. I laughed and started chasing him. He ran around the room and was too fast for me to catch him. Until I outwitted him and jumped on his back from the couch, causing him to stumble and fall onto another couch. We lay there, laughing, until he put a hand on my stomach.

"Belly button too? My, my, Lily Evans and piercings…never expected it," he said. I rolled off the couch and began chasing him again.

I like this chapter. When I started writing it I didn't – in each of my stories there's a chapter that seems really boring so I don't wanna write it and I don't for a while. But I got through it and liked it!

This story will be a lot of stories I created in my mind put into one. The whole "my mom's new friend" thing was something I wanted to write as a one shot.

I hope it doesn't seem as if they became too friendly too fast. I know it was quick but it just worked out that way.

Please tell me what you thought of this chapter, I'd really appreciate it!