Disclaimer: The characters are the property of the amazingly talented J.K Rowling! I'm only borrowing the characters she has so brilliantly created.
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Beta by: ilovethedotgame
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Chapter Three: Best Friends and Spouses
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"I love omnioculars," Remus grinned, bringing his pair up to his eyes. "They make everything so clear."
"Who cares about the focus?" Sirius scoffed, adjusting a knob on his pair of omnioculars. "It's the replay and pause features that are the best. Merlin, I love this shot of James. He looks like he's about to be ill."
Sirius handed the omnioculars to Lily, who, upon seeing the paused scene of James - who did indeed look rather green – laughed out loud. She leaned against the stone wall and covered her mouth with her hands, lest they be spotted.
Lily, Emmeline, (Frank had finally worked up the courage to ask Alice on a date, so she was absent) Sirius, Remus, and Peter were crouching behind a crumbling rock wall on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, watching James and Hestia scuffle their shoes in the dirt and look lost.
"Can I have a go?" Emmeline asked, and Remus handed her his pair.
"These things are brilliant," she commented as she brought them into focus. "I'm going to have to get myself a pair. Mind you, I won't be able to buy anything else for the rest of my Hogwarts career, but it just might be worth it.
L … J
Whatever Hestia had ever imagined a date to be like, this certainly wasn't it. She wasn't exactly sure what she had been expecting, but whatever it was, this couldn't be it.
Hestia didn't even know if this qualified as a date. Surely dates didn't involve standing in the middle of the road staring at your feet. They just couldn't.
She glanced around, looking for her friends, but they were nowhere to be seen. Her clear blue eyes met James' hazel ones and he cleared his throat in a nervous manner.
"Er…d -did you have anywhere in particular you wanted to visit?" he asked with a slight stutter, seeming unsure of what to do.
Hestia rubbed the toe of her shoe in the dirt of the street. "Well…I'd like to stop by Scrivenshaft's…that is, if you don't mind."
L … J
They're going somewhere!" Peter squeaked excitedly, giving Sirius his omnioculars back. Sirius peered through the lenses, straining to see what was happening.
"Are we going to find a new hiding place?" Emmeline inquired from her seat against the wall.
"Nope," Sirius answered with a slow grin. "We're going to follow them."
"How?" Peter asked. "Won't they see us?"
"Not if we use a Disillusionment Charm."
L … J
"Scrivenshafts?" Sirius muttered in a disgusted manner. "What the devil does James think he's doing? Honestly, who takes their date to a quill and ink supply shop?"
"Maybe they've spotted us?" Emmeline suggested as she watched James hold the door to the shop open for Hestia.
"Not possible," Remus countered. "Not at this distance, anyway. Unless the charms aren't functioning properly."
Everyone turned to look at Lily, who –being the best at Charms – had performed the spells.
"The charms are working fine!" Lily protested rather heatedly. "They haven't spotted us. Have we even spotted us?" She pointed to Sirius whose body was patterned like the exterior of Zonko's Joke Shop.
Sirius glanced at his middle, "Fair point. But then why are they going in there?"
"They just are," Peter said, impatiently tapping his foot. "Can we move on? I wanted to stop by Honeydukes."
"Well you guys can go wander off somewhere, but I want to know why they're going in there."
"Well be careful," Remus cautioned. "You know James told you not to follow him on his date."
Sirius waved off the advice impatiently. "He didn't say specifically not to, and besides, as his best friend it's my right to spy on him now and again. If I remember correctly, and I'm sure I do, he spied on my first date. Come on Lily."
Without so much as asking her if she wanted to spy on James and Hestia, Sirius grabbed Lily by the wrist and began walking towards Scrivenshaft's, dragging her along.
L … J
Scrivenshaft's was a small, crowded shop that carried not only your everyday ink, parchment, and quills, but also ink in unique colors, disappearing and invisible ink, and self writing quills. In the far corner, rolls of parchment were stacked nearly to the ceiling.
James stood in the back of the store reading the label on a small, round bottle of traceable ink when he heard something move behind him.
Turning around, he found that the other people in the shop were towards the front and nowhere near him. Shrugging his shoulders, figuring that he had been imagining things, James returned to his examination of the ink bottle.
"James?"
James turned around again to find Hestia standing behind him holding two different quills, one in each hand.
"Which one do you think I should buy? I can't decide."
"Er…" James took a step closer to Hestia so he could examine the quills at a closer range. He pointed to the quill in her left hand. "That other one is too gaudy."
"Gaudy?" Hestia glanced at the quill in question. "I thought it was rather pretty."
"Just like you thought that red, orange, and pink sweater was pretty, I suppose," James commented lightly with a teasing grin.
Hestia rolled her eyes but also smiled. "I was nine!" she protested. "Are you going to tease me about that awful sweater for the rest of time?"
James' grin only grew wider. "I have pictures."
"Blast."
"Want to walk around the village a bit?" he asked after a moment, trying desperately to think of things to do on a date.
"Sure," Hestia agreed. "Just let me pay for this."
L … J
"And what, may I ask, did this accomplish?" Lily hissed at Sirius as Hestia and James left the shop not having noticed Sirius and Lily standing in the corner watching them and listening to their conversation.
Sirius shrugged and grinned. "Time spent spying on my best mate is never wasted."
Lily threw up her hands in despair and left the shop in search of the rest of their group.
L … J
Hestia entered the Three Broomsticks with James following close behind her. Scanning the establishment, she spotted Lily at once, seated with the rest of their group in a large corner booth at the far end of the room.
Making their way over to the group, Hestia slid into the booth next Sirius and James sat down on her right. Glancing around, Hestia saw that Lily was sandwiched between Sirius and Remus, while Peter sat on Remus's right, and Emmeline was opposite James on the other side.
"So how was your date?" Sirius asked, then winced and glanced sharply at Lily. "I mean…how was your afternoon?"
"It was fine," Hestia answered slowly. "We walked around the village, and did a little shopping for school supplies."
"That sounds nice," Emmeline commented with a friendly smile.
There was an uncomfortable pause.
"Did anyone try the new chocolate at Honeydukes?" Remus asked, fiddling with his empty glass.
Hestia shifted uncomfortably in her seat and glanced at James who was wearing a false smile and nodding. He looked much like she felt. Maybe she hadn't been missing anything, not being allowed to date…
L … J
"Got the cloak?"
"Check."
"Map?"
"Check."
"Do you figure out the password?"
"Check. I cracked it last night after detention with McGonagall."
"Good," James nodded swiftly. "Let's move."
L … J
Lily, Hestia, Emmeline and Alice were on their way to the first class of the morning, which happened to be Charms, when they rounded a corner and came face to face with a giant plant.
"Uh…L-Lily?" Emmeline stuttered, pointing at the large leafy object in front of them.
"Stupify!" Lily pointed her wand at the plant in an almost lazy manner. The plant stopped moving and fell over. "Mobilicorpus," Lily waved her wand again and the plant began to float under the direction of wand.
"You guys go on, tell Professor Flitwick that I'm attending to Head Girl business."
The other girls nodded and quickly headed off in the direction of the Charms classroom while Lily made her way to the greenhouses to see Profess Sprout about the escaped plant.
Coming around another corner, she was startled to find a group of first years battling another large plant. One of the boys waved his wand, shouted something, and flames shot out of the end of his wand setting the plant on fire.
"Stop!" Lily shouted as she ran towards the group. "Back away!"
L … J
"What happened?" Hestia whispered as Lily sank into the seat next to her in Potions, having missed Charms completely.
"Someone let some of the larger plants out of the greenhouses and charmed them to walk around the school," Lily answered, rubbing her hand against forehead wearily.
Alice leaned across Emmeline's desk towards Lily. "To what purpose?"
Lily shrugged and frowned. "To scare people, liven things up. I don't know."
Out of the corner of her eye, Hestia saw James and Sirius exchange a small high-five underneath the desks.
L … J
James was sitting at a table in the common room with Sirius and Remus putting the finishing touches on his essay on human transfiguration when Lily approached him.
"It's time to do hall patrols," she announced coolly, not looking at him, but rather the table.
"Oh, yeah…yeah," James rolled up his parchment and gathered up several books, a few spare quills, and an ink pot. "Just let me put this stuff up in my dorm and I'll be right there."
Making his way up the stairs as quickly as an armful of school supplies would allow, James groped for the doorknob, finally turning it, and entered the seventh year boys dorm.
Frank Longbottom lay on his stomach on his bed, which was the one closest to the door, pouring over a textbook of some sort. Peter was also lying on his bed, but working on an essay.
James walked to the far side of the dorm and dumped his things in an unceremonious heap on the top of his unmade bed. Sprinting back out of the room and down the stairs, James found Sirius talking to Lily by the portrait hole.
As she saw him coming down the stairs, she said something to Sirius and Sirius headed back to his schoolwork.
As James approached her, she asked "Ready?" James nodded and they climbed through the portrait hole.
The two walked in silence for a bit until James grew uncomfortable with the lack of communication and only the sound of their shoes on the stone floor.
"How was your day?" he asked, trying to sound cheerful and genuinely interested.
Lily frowned. "Well, my morning was rather rotten what with those plants wandering the halls. I missed Charms because I was helping Professor Sprout and Filch round them up."
James instantly felt guilty for his part in the escaping plants. As Head Boy he should have helped Lily get rid of plants – but he hadn't. When planning the escape of the plants, he hadn't considered that it might cause people some trouble other than being startled by seeing a plant moving down the corridors.
"I'm –" he started to say, and then stopped himself. He couldn't tell her he was sorry for letting the plants loose and charming them.
"Yes?" Lily probed, her expression mildly curious.
"I'm…sorry I didn't help you round them up and get them back to the greenhouses," James answered, glancing sideways at Lily to see if she believed him.
"That's all right, it was more bother than trouble," she responded. "Although I do wish you hadn't set them loose in the first place."
James tripped on raised stone in the flooring. "What? How did you know it was me?" He wasn't going to bother to try and deny it at this point.
Lily stopped and faced him. "Who else, James? Seriously, everyone knows you and your friends are the biggest troublemakers in the school."
James said nothing. There was nothing to say.
"I just….I'm not angry, I just wish…" Lily fought for the words she was searching for. "I don't mind when you charm the Slytherin's robes scarlet and gold or harmless stuff like that, but when you make more work for me and the other prefects, that's when I get frustrated, James."
James nodded. "I am sorry," he bit his lip. "I know it sounds a tad insincere after you've just told me off and all, but I am."
Lily clasped her hands together in front of her and nodded. "I know."
L … J
"I'm going to the hospital wing now, see you guys in a little while."
After Remus had been gone fifteen minutes, James threw open his trunk and pulled out his heirloom invisibility cloak. Folding it into a tiny square, James hid it in one of the pockets of his robes.
"Sirius, do you have the map?"
"Right here," Sirius patted the pocket of his robes. "Ready to go, Pete?"
Peter nodded and the three boys made their ways down the stairs and out of common room. Moving quickly down the hallways, a few secret passages, and down several flights of stairs, they soon reached the entrance doors.
The sun was rapidly setting, and it was already promising to be a cool night. Glancing to the right and left, James surveyed the area, then with a one fluid movement, threw the cloak over Sirius, Peter and himself.
"Let's go," he said softly and the boys set off across the lawn, headed for the Whomping Willow.
Once they were reasonably close, but not close enough to be hit by the tree, Sirius nodded to Peter, who transformed into a small gray rat and scampered underneath the flailing branches and pressed a large knot on the side of the trunk. The tree instantly went still and James and Sirius were able to walk under the branches and climb down into the tunnel underneath the willow. Peter transformed back into a human and joined the other two as they made their way down the tunnel.
The tunnel was long with a low ceiling and it was slightly damp and very earthy inside. The end of the tunnel opened up to a trap door that led to the Shrieking Shack where they would meet Remus.
It was here in the Shrieking Shack that Remus transformed into a werewolf every full moon. He had received his bite as young child, and it had seemed very unlikely that Remus would be admitted to come and study magic until Dumbledore had become Headmaster and allowed him to come to Hogwarts.
It hadn't taken James and Sirius long figure out their new friend's secret, and they had immediately begun to think of ways to help Remus. It was James who had thought of the idea to become animagi – a person who can turn into an animal at will – so they would be able to keep Remus company when he transformed. It was in the middle of their fifth year that they had finally begun to turn into their animagus forms. Sirius transformed into a large, black dog, Peter into a small, gray rat, and James into a slender, brown stag.
"Hey, Remus, it's us!" Sirius called down the dark hallway. He held up his wand. "Lumos!"
Down at the end of the hallway, James knocked on the last door on the right. "You in there, Remus?"
"I'm here," Remus called in a weak voice.
James opened the door to find Remus sitting on a broken down bed in the corner. Sirius and Peter followed behind him.
"It's almost time…I can feel it…" Remus clutched his stomach as a wave of pain swept through him.
Through the window, a beam of moonlight fell on the floor. Remus went rigid and James, Sirius, and Peter transformed into their animal states. And then Remus began to transform.
L … J
"Isn't it a lovely morning James?" Sirius asked with a mouth full of toast.
"No, it isn't." James replied. After a night spent at the shrieking shack and other places around the Hogwarts and Hogsmeade grounds, he was tired, and the prospect of having to sit through double potions first thing in the morning did little to lighten his mood.
"Oh yes it is!" Sirius countered. "Any morning that starts with breakfast can't be bad."
James had to smile at this. There were times when Sirius's happy-
go-lucky manner got slightly annoying, but most of the time, it was a welcome distraction from all that was going on in their lives.
L … J
"The Professor is out to get me," James announced as he and his friends made their way to their next class.
Remus sighed and dodged a group of giggly girls who were walking in a large cluster down the center of the hall. "Just because he's concerned for the welfare of the class does not mean that he has something against you personally."
"The welfare of the class? What are you on about Moony?" Sirius asked, feigning innocence.
"Oh, please," Remus scoffed. "You and James as potions partners is a lethal combination. Or did you forget the time you nearly blew up the classroom?"
"That was an accident," James explained calmly. "Mistakes happen. We're older and wiser now."
"He should trust us," Sirius agreed, throwing his left arm over Remus' shoulders in a brotherly fashion. "Give us another chance."
"If I remember correctly, the time you nearly blew up the potions room was your other chance," Peter quipped as he struggled with one of the straps of his book bag.
"Oh bugger off."
The group passed a pair of younger students – a girl and boy. The boy was carrying the girl's books under one arm and holding her hand with his free one.
"James?" Sirius questioned tentatively as he watched the couple pass.
"What?" James replied in a voice that suggested he wasn't really listening, but thinking of something else entirely.
"Why don't you carry Hestia's books for her? Or hold her hand?"
James glanced sharply to his right, all his attention now focused on Sirius. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, those two were holding hands and he was carrying her books and…I dunno, whenever I go out with a girl, I usually hold her hand," Sirius answered with a slight shrug.
"Yeah, well, those two aren't being forced to date," James replied with a hint of bitterness in his voice.
L … J
Lily lay awake, tossing and turning. Flinging aside her covers, she grabbed a sweatshirt from a pile of clothes in front of her bed, a book off her nightstand, and quietly tiptoed down the stairs to the common room.
Apparently she had not been the only one who couldn't sleep because there, sitting in front of the fire, was James.
Lily stopped on the last stair and studied James for a moment. He was sitting cross-legged, hunched over, with his elbows resting on his knees, head in his hands. His ebony hair needed combing, especially in the back, were it was practically sticking straight up.
Starring at him, Lily noticed for the first time just how handsome James was. Being female, she had certainly noticed him before, but now the sight of his face caused her stomach to perform an uncomfortable flip flop.
'Get a grip on yourself Lily. He's betrothed to your best friend!' She mentally scolded herself.
"Anything the matter?" She asked kindly, hugging her book to her chest. "You look troubled."
James looked up, startled by her arrival. "Nothing earth shattering."
Lily bit her lip and made her way over to where James was seated. "Is it about Hestia?"
"Maybe," James was silent for a moment. "It doesn't feel right dating her. Hestia's like my sister. "We've been friends for so long, that our dating is just…ridiculous. I mean, we're friends. We could never love each other."
"Are you saying that people can't be best friends with their spouses?" Lily questioned as she sat down on the couch and tucked her legs underneath her.
"No," James amended. "I'm saying that it goes the other way. Spouses who love each other become best friends, not the other way around."
"What about people with arranged marriages like you? Are you saying that you can never love Hestia?"
"In a sense of true love, romantic love, yes, that's what I'm saying. I can feel a deep sense of admiration, respect and friendly love towards her, but never that burning passion."
"A burning passion often dies quickly. Friends can build a rapport and have something more durable that can stand the test of time."
"It doesn't always have to be a burning passion. Fireworks come first, but next can come a more quiet and gentle love, but something that still makes your heart beat faster at times. That's all I want."
"Well said," Lily smiled slowly. She had never heard it said better than that.
James stared into the fire, watching the logs turn to white-hot ash, his face reflecting sadness and bitterness. "But I can never have that."
L … J
James watched Lily as she slept. At a quarter to three, Lily had fallen asleep, her head resting on the arm of the couch. Unfortunately, sleep had continued to elude him.
Looking at Lily, he realized that he had never noticed how pretty her hair was. It was shoulder length, wavy, and a deep, rich, auburn color. The dying light from the fire reflected off of it, making it appear as if her hair were glowing. While she slept, strands of hair had fallen across the pale skin of her face.
James felt a sudden urge to reach out and touch her hair, to see if it was as soft as it looked. He tentatively reached out a hand, moving as slowly as he could without ceasing movement.
His fingers came to rest on her hair, barely touching the auburn waves. James gently pushed the soft tresses away from her face. He sucked in his breath when her eyelids fluttered briefly, but when she didn't stir he let out the breath he had been holding.
Leaning closer to her, he ever so softly pressed his lips to her forehead.
L … J
Light streamed through the windows, awakening Lily from her slumber. With a start she realized that her hand was touching something soft and furry feeling. Sitting up slightly, she realized that the thing her hand had been resting on was James' head.
She sat up quickly, jerking her hand away. Below her on the floor, James let out a groan. Lily peered at him over the edge of the sofa to see him rubbing the top of his head.
"Sorry," she said softly, not wanting to startle him.
When James turned to face her, his expression softened and he grinned. "That's all right."
The sound of creaking stairs reached their ears, and then Sirius came bounding down the staircase from the boys dormitory, Remus and Peter in tow.
Spotting James on the floor and Lily on the couch, he stopped short, causing Remus to crash into him from behind.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"
L … J
"Where were you?" Hestia asked as Lily tried to slip in the dormitory unnoticed.
"Don't scare me like that," Lily chided as she shut the door quietly. Making her way across the room, she opened her wardrobe and began rummaging through it, looking for her shower things.
"You're trying to change the subject," Hestia accused as she combed through her wet hair.
Lily shut the wardrobe doors with a snap. "No, I'm not."
"Then why won't you tell me where you were?"
"Because there's nothing to tell. Where is everyone?" Lily asked, realizing for the first time that she and Hestia were the only girls in the room.
"In there," Hestia pointed towards the closed bathroom door. "Alice wanted to have Emmeline do her hair. She wanted to look nice for Frank."
"Oh."
Lily shifted from one foot to the other. "I fell asleep in the common room."
"Is that all?" Hestia questioned with a puzzled expression. "You could have told me that."
Lily looked away from Hestia's gaze and focused on her pillow instead. "I just didn't think it was that important."
Hestia nodded, but something inside her told her that there was more to the story than Lily was willing to share.
Review Responses
Sarah Warder: I promise things will work out all right in the end. Well, my story is AU (alternate universe, just in case you don't know what that means) so obviously some things are going to be different, but I'm going to stay as true to the original story as much as my plot will allow. I will say though, that, for the sake of the story, James' parents are going to be much different than the way they're described in Book 5.
Rose:You make a really good point, and I did think of that while I was writing this chapter and before I posted it. Yes, in all technicality, Lily would probably already know about the terms of a wizarding arranged marriage, however, for the sake of the reader, I had to explain it some time. There are a few things Lily doesn't know yet, though, which will come up later. My other reason for Lily not knowing before now is that Hestia and James are just now being forced to date. As I said in the story, they're been engaged for a long time, but at Hogwarts they run in similar but separate circles, so they've never spendt great amounts of time with each other at school until this year when the certain people of the two groups are thrown together. It's never realty been an issue –they were engaged, that was it. Nobody worried about it. And yes, James is supposed to be cocky and arrogant, but by his seventh year, he's also supposed to have grown up and realized he was an idiot. So, since we're in seventh year, he's not quite as cocky, although we may see hints of that former personality comes through now and then.
justdreem: Thanks! Well, I can't tell you if Sirius and Lily will get together, but I think you'll be able to figure it out for yourself pretty soon.
Elspeth Renee: Yes, we'll see more of nervousness from Hestia and James and definitely some more James jealousy.
chatty291: Sorry I did not update asap, but I really want to get my other story finished before school starts, so I've been working like crazy on that one and I did a whole bunch of revision on this chapter. Hope it was worth the wait!
Queen Of Day Dreams: It very well may have been an error. Between my beta reader and I, we catch most of them, but every once and a while, one slips by unnoticed. The Prongs shaped cookies were really good! Thanks:-D
Hazel Maraa: Thanks! Sorry this update wasn't exactly soon, but it needed a lot of revision. This chapter only vaguely resembles how it was when I first started writing it!