Chapter One: Of missed trips and missed steps
Lily Evans sat in the common room holding her new diary. The binding wasn't cracked or splitting like all of her others and the front had a small lock that was opened by her heart locket when placed open on the lock. The cover had a picture of her it had been taken last year. She was sitting on the swing in her favorite child hood place, her mom's flower garden. In the picture she was wearing a pink gauze dress, she was going to the annual summer party next door, and she looked like a faerie. Her red hair curled and her make-up seemed to make her sparkle.
Lily's quill was poised gently in her hand. It had been like that for five minutes. She had been pouring her heart out onto the first few pages of her diary; it was one of her only friends. She could tell it the whole truth without fearing people finding out. Lily smiled at herself as she read over her entry. She looked out of the window and saw the sun was starting to set over the Scottish horizon and the sky had been dusted with a golden shine of light. The beauty of the sunset caught her for a moment, and she quickly grabbed up her quill and ink and left the common room. She put her things down on her bedside table and grabbed her clothing and a towel and took a quick shower. When she got out she felt better she quickly dried off and pulled on a clean bra and pair of underwear. She stepped into her skirt and buttoned it up. Grabbing her shirt and throwing it on she quickly buttoned it up correctly and pulled on her socks and shoes and threw her robes on.
She put towel away in her room and ran down the steps of the common room to the portrait. She swung it open and stepped outside running down the steps and was careful to miss the fake step. When she managed to get to the great hall everyone was filing into the room for dinner. She walked as quickly as she could in the crowd of people swarming into the room and found an empty spot close to the middle of the table.
"Hey Lil!" The cheery voice of Lily's best friend Laura Rhain came. Laura took a seat across from Lily. Laura seemed extremely happy today, her big icy-aqua blue eyes seemed to shine with extra gleam and happiness today. "Its too bad you missed the trip Lil!" Laura said with a glint in her eyes. She began to twirl a piece of her shiny maple hair.
"Well you know what was up. I had some stuff to do and people to ignore!" Lily said with a smile, Laura's chipper mood had lifted Lily's spirits yet again. Lily took a sip of her sweet and spicy pumpkin juice.
"Lil, I got you this" Laura smiled at her. Laura's eyes shone the joy and happiness of a little girl. It was nice to see, Laura wasn't really ever this happy unless something really good happened to her. Laura handed Lily a package wrapped with shiny gold paper and it had a red bow on the top of it. Lily set it down next to her plate. "Well, open it in the dorm, or the common room either one! It's too crowded in here!" Laura said and began to fidget with her hair.
"Okay" Lily said smiling she looked around, the hall was getting to be in order for dinner and the plates had been teaming with food for a while now.
"Evans" Lily heard the smooth arrogant voice come from behind her. "You seem happy," the person added in a sarcastically happy way. Lily knew the voice far to well; only one person had a voice like that. That one person with that one voice had pestered her for years. The one the only James Potter had always tried to talk to her it was either to get her to laugh, make a joke on her, to taunt her, to tease her, to annoy her, to be friendly (which hardly ever happened), to fight with her, or to eventually ask her out (millions of times). She knew him too well in a non-friend non-girl friend more an enemy that's not an "ENEMY" enemy way. He and his friends just for some reason had wanted to get her and James together. She had no clue why; it was probably just another plot, what ever he was doing.
"Hello Potter" Lily said and rolled her eyes. She had just looked down at her plate and was planning on ignoring him, even if he tried to talk to her. It didn't work; he took a seat next to her (can anyone say hell on earth?). She wouldn't be able to ignore him if he was right there! It would be too hard….
"Beautiful isn't it Evans?" Potter asked and Lily didn't bother to look, she didn't feel like it would be a good idea. It probably was a joke that Potter and his friends were using here in. Another scheme that would fail before it took off the ground. She would never fall for a scheme that would have her fall for him! Never! It might just be something that would hurt her in the long run. "Evans you didn't look! Look across the damn table!" He hissed next to her. She could tell he was mad, probably raving about her ignoring him and not doing as he said. She never did, she never would.
"WHAT?" Lily hissed back at him annoyed she could ream him right now and wouldn't care what the outcome was. She began to lift her head up and saw something that made her heart and everything that was in her stomach seemed to lurch. She couldn't believe her eyes. What she saw could kill anything; it would even kill a damn basilisk. "Oh god I'm gunna' be sick!" Lily said in a gasp as she saw Laura and Sirius kissing and holding hands. "L-Laura! How-err-what happened today when I wasn't on the trip with you? What's going on?" Lily asked as her heart began to pound quickly. She felt all in a knot.
"I felt the same way," Potter said to Lily in a smugly. Lily rolled her eyes at him and avoided looking at Laura and Sirius.
"What kind of sick joke is this?" Lily asked curtly through gritted teeth. She looked over and kept her eyes locked coldly on James's eyes. "Do you always have to be a sick jerk? What is your problem?"
"Its no joke Lils!" Laura said in a smooth voice that kept from wavering. She didn't seem to notice that Lily was disgusted by how and what she was doing with him non-the less. Lily felt worse when she heard this; somehow Laura's usually cool sensitive voice didn't have a calming friendly vibe to it. It disgusted Lily. She needed to escape. How could she do this? It was just wrong! C'mon Sirius Black! The big womanizer, the biggest womanizer in the whole school! Laura's brain must have friend or something! "You would have known if you were on the trip Lils! I-I was going to tell you tonight in the dorm! It happened today, I-it I'll explain it all to you later Lil trust me!" Laura pleaded and gave Lily her big wide-eyed puppy-dog eyes.
Lily gulped she didn't want her best friend dating that! How could this happen! Lily shook her head and stood quickly from her seat and walked out to the entrance hall. She began to walk up the stairs thinking to herself and feeling like she could die right there. Her life was taking too many unexpected turns in one day.
"How could she?" Lily whispered and gulped down the urge to scream and cry. She was nearly halfway up the stairs and she took a deep breath and tried to pull the image from her mind. She tried to forget what she had seen.
"Evans!" Lily James Potter call after here. They didn't call each other James and Lily; it didn't fit their relationship. She would never call a rival by their first name.
"Potter" Lily said turning to face the black haired hazel eyed seventeen year old bounding up the stairs behind her. Their eyes held for a moment.
"L-Evans you forgot this" he said gently and quietly. Did she just hear him stammer and almost call her Lily? No she couldn't have, it was just her imagination going frantic again! He handed Lily the gift Laura had gotten her in a softer way than he usually would, or so it seemed. "I know how you feel," he said before turning to head up the stairs.
"Oh" Lily mumbled in a low whisper. Her eyes glanced at the hem of his robes and back down to the stairs below her. She took a deep breath and began to walk up the stairs again. She fell into sink behind him, two steps behind him. They walked like this for a minute or two only a few minutes apart. It lasted a only a moment but it was a nicer moment than all of the other that she had felt today, it was a quiet and calm moment. There was no annoying taunting and teasing on anyone's half. It only lasted a moment but it would last forever in her mind.
Lily took a step forward and regretted it fully afterwards. James was further ahead of her now, and it scarred her. She was getting scared that she would be like this for a long time. "Oh no!" she cried out quietly. She was sinking down into the step. "James!" Lily called or frantically and loudly. "WAIT!" she yelled up to him.
She was watching him her eyes, or so she thought they were, had become huge with fear. She was wide-eyed with horror. "What?" He said and turning around, she watched him turn around to see her there; she was a girl sinking further and further into a fake step. She heard him laugh quietly before walking down to her. "Here" he said smiling and stepping to the step behind her. He wrapped his arms around her, she could heel his arms around her waist and gasped.
"What's wrong Evans?" James asked with a laugh his hazel eyes, black hair, and his whole face seemed to be press lightly against hers. He was pulling her slowly out of the step. She had sunk down to her hips.
"Potter," Lily said questioningly she felt nervous with him so close to her. She almost felt that it would have been better to have a different person catch her.
"Evans" He said softly and bent down again and pulled her out of the step. For a moment it seemed like their eyes clicked, and not with hate or annoyance with something else something softer. Just for a moment.