Secretly
Lily Evans and James Potter have been best friends since their first year at Hogwarts. What happens when Lily discovers the one thing that has the potential to ruin their friendship? (Starts mid 6th year.)
Disclaimer: As usual, it's not mine, it never will be mine, unless by some miracle I turn out to be adopted, and of all people, my real mother is none other than Ms. J.K. Rowling and I inherit all of the rights to the Harry Potter characters. Since I'm likely to be struck dead by lightening before that happens, lets just say that they aren't mine.
Chapter Five: Sixteen Candles
Sirius walked into the common room, his eyes sweeping the room, searching for Bella. He walked over to a few fifth years to ask if they had seen her.
"Yeah," a pretty raven-haired girl said, her eyes shining at the sight of Sirius. "She went up to the girls' dorm about an hour ago."
"Thanks," Sirius mumbled, hastily turning to go up to find Bella. He climbed the stairs three at a time, and when he reached the top, Sirius rapped on the solid oak door. He waited for an answer, catching a bit of his reflection in the shiny gold number six on the door.
'Who would be knocking?' Bella asked herself as she went to open it. "Sirius?" she sputtered. "I-I-I didn't expect to see you," Bella managed to stammer. 'Great, now I'm stuttering. What is wrong with me?' As Bella regained her composure, Sirius stepped into the room and closed the door.
He looked at her a moment. "We need to talk." She nodded. "Lily told me that she spoke to you, and no I'm going to step up and speak with you myself," Sirius said, sounding very diplomatic. Bella froze, unable to nod this time. "Bella Heaven, will you be my girlfriend?"
'Okay Bella," Bella counseled herself, 'Come on. You can do this. Just use your words." Finding her voice, Bella whispered, "Yes."
Sirius grinned. "Yes?"
"Yes!" she exclaimed. "Sirius, I would love to be your girlfriend. She reached forward and wrapped her arms around his much taller frame.
"Bella," Sirius said, kissing her on the cheek. "While I'm at it, I figure I may as well ask you one more thing. Will you be my formal date to the ball?" he asked, only half joking.
"Of course," Bella hugged him tighter. "Oh, and remind me to thank Lily later." And with that, Hogwarts' newest couple walked down to the common room, hand in hand.
By dinner that night, nearly everyone in the school had heard that Sirius and Bella were together. Those who didn't found out when the couple strode into the Great Hall, Sirius' arm draped over Bella's shoulder. As Lily had predicted, half of the girls in the school were casting envious glares at Bella. They made their way to the Gryffindor table and sat among James, Lily, Remus, Vita, Peter, and Laci.
"Hey guys," Remus greeted them. James nodded, and the rest of the girls waved. Peter attempted to form intelligible words through his mouthful of stuffed duck, but failed miserably. "Say, Bella, I've been thinking about it, and maybe we should put a charm on all of the girls that hate you. Turn them green with jealousy or something. That way, if you see a group of them behind you, you'll know to scream and run like hell." Remus grinned.
"In all seriousness, though, we're really happy for you guys," Lily told Bella and Sirius.
"Now sit down so we can all eat," James said, pulling out two chairs.
"Well, somebody's got his knickers in a twist," Sirius observed wryly, earning a glare from James. "I'm just saying, mate, you look a little tense, or something to that effect."
Without any more comments about James' demeanor, dinner passed by rather quickly. When it was almost time for dessert, Lily looked next to herself to talk to James, only to find his seat empty. "Um, guys?" Lily looked at her friends quizzically. "Where did James go?"
Lily's question was answered as the lights dimmed and all heads turned to the front, where a bright spotlight focused on James. "Oh my God," she breathed in disbelief.
"This is for my best friend in the entire world, Lily Evans. See, this is her sixteenth birthday, and I wanted to do something special. Something original that nobody else would do." He paused, contemplating those last words. "Okay, so it may not be the most original thing in the world. In fact, it's probably straight out of one of those girly Muggle move-y things that Muggles seem to be so obsessed with, but I was always taught that it's the thought that counts." James looked directly at a furiously blushing Lily and said, "Happy Birthday, Lils." He then immediately began to belt out the words to Sixteen Candles, James Potter style.
When James' performance had ended, the hall was filled with cheers, whistles, laughter, and clapping. James returned to the table and wrapped Lily in a huge hug. "Thank you, James," Lily managed through his tight grip.
"You're welcome Lils," he replied. "You don't think anyone else got you the same thing, do you?"
After dinner was over and everyone had finished congratulating James on his solo, the group of friends walked up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room.
"Well, I'm going to go up and get some work out of our dorm," Lily announced. "I'll be right back down."
"Oh no no no no no, Lily," Remus said.
"'Oh no no no no no' what?" she asked.
"Well, you can go up to the room," Bella conceded.
"But you're not doing work," Sirius added.
"You see, Lils, while we have obviously respected your wish not to have a common room party, you didn't actually think we would let this occasion simply pass by, did you?" James wrapped his arm around Lily's waist and began to guide her up the stairs. "Come now, let's all see the surprise that awaits you."
They reached the door and Vita opened it to reveal a lavishly decorated room, complete with streamers, confetti, and balloons. The brightly colored balloons began dancing around the room to music that seemed to be coming out of thin air. Lily scanned the room, her eyes widening at the pile of presents.
"Oh, you guys didn't-"
"But we did, Lils. Come on. What are friends for?" James smiled.
"Parties!" exclaimed Laci, getting everyone's attention. "And all of those value things too." They still stared. "Okay, okay! I took a potion. I wanted to stay awake for the party!" Everyone laughed.
"Okay, what do you want to do first, Lilikins? This is your party, after all," Sirius said.
Lily thought for a moment. "Okay, I give. Presents!" She flounced over to her bed and sat near her presents. Everyone crowded around her.
"Ooooh!" squealed Laci. "Open mine first!" She smiled sheepishly. "It's the potion, I swear!"
"It's okay, Lace." Remus smiled at her.
"Okay everybody, I'm opening a present now. Yes,
Laci, it's yours." Lily tore the wrappings away to reveal a beautiful silver ring. It was designed with different thin and thick bands woven together in a Celtic pattern. "Laci, this is gorgeous!" Lily put the ring on her finger and admired it a bit before pulling Laci into a hug. "Thank you so much!"
"Okay, me next, me next!" yelled Sirius.
"Calm down, Sir. You sound just like Laci," joked James.
"Hey!" Laci glared at him.
"Sirius, I'm opening it now…" Lily announced. She tried to lift the present. "Okay, heavy," gasped Lily. Instead of lifting it, she pulled at the paper at the top. Candy and chocolate began spilling out. "Sirius! Thank you so much! And you remembered my favorite kind. Orange chocolate!" She grinned.
"I figure that should keep you in your sugar high for a while," Sirius said and hugged her.
"Vita, you're next," Lily declared, reading a tag. She quickly unwrapped a set of silky pajamas, a shade of emerald green that perfectly matched her eyes. "Vita! I love them!" Lily exclaimed. "I'm wearing them tonight, as soon as I finish unwrapping."
"Me next?" asked Bella.
"Yup, sure." Lily reached for the gift Bella held in her hands. Inside an ornate box, there was a thin silver diary, engraved with Lily's name. "This is so great, Bella. Thank you, I love it."
"I'll go next," stated Peter without emotion. "Here you go, Lily. Happy birthday."
This time, Lily unwrapped more candy, all of the sugary sweet candy from Honeydukes. There were fizzing whizbees and chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's every flavor Beans. "Thanks Peter," Lily said graciously.
"Well, James wants to go last," Remus said, "so I guess that puts me now."
"Thank you Remus." Lily gripped the heavy box and opened it to find an old fashioned Wizards' Chess set with carved emerald play pieces. "Remus," breathed Lily, "this is beautiful! Thank you so much!"
Lily pulled Remus into a hug. "Thank you for being such an amazing friend, Lil."
"Okay, okay, hate to break it up, but… Me me me me me!"
"Okay, James, you! What are you, five?"
"No," James pouted, handing Lily a silver jewelry box.
Lily opened it to reveal an emerald pendant and matching earrings. "James, these are absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much! All of you, thank you! I love you guys." Lily put in her new earrings and gave James a big hug. "Thanks, James. This has been the best birthday ever."
"You're welcome, Lil. And you deserve it. Here, let me get that necklace for you." Lily obliged, and James clasped the necklace at the back of her neck. She turned back around. "Stunning," James pronounced. Both of them smiled. "Positively stunning, Lils."
Okay, I know that took a very long time to update… and I'm going to have the usual excuse too… I was busy. But anyways, I hope you guys liked it. I don't think I was too pleased with parts of it, but at least its up… I can do the fine-tuning later. This is a Christmas present for Bella, whom I talked to just yesterday, and who yelled at me for not updating… I told you I was working on it Bella!!!!! Okay, well, until next time, which will hopefully be less than three months and two days… Please review, and Happy Holidays!