Disclaimer: I do not now, or ever have, or ever will, own Harry Potter.
Chapter Thirteen: Questions Arise
Lily's eyes fluttered. "What is it that you wanted to tell me James?" she whispered, a small bubble of fear welling in her throat. What if he breaks up with me? She nervously thought.
He cleared his throat nervously, "I know I've probably said it before, but I have to say it again, and every time I see you."
"Say what?"
"Lily, I love you," James started, "I hope you don't feel like we're moving to quickly. With the Voldemort threat there's no grantee of tomorrow, and I just wanted you to know that you've always had my heart and you'll always have it,"
Lily let go of her breath. She had been expecting him to break things off with her.
"I love you too James," she whispered, kissing him gently. She knew it now more then ever. She moved her hand to run it across his cheek softly and through his hair.
"I just wanted to let you know that I really do love you, and I don't want anything bad to ever happen to you. Without you I'm nothing," James whispered, cradling her close to him.
Lily suspected James's slight change in behaviour had something to do with the recent Voldemort attack on a wizard family not far from where Lily lived, it had been on the front page of the Daily Profit.
"Don't worry James, nothing will ever happen to me," Lily said, kissing him on the cheek softly.
"I don't want to live one day without you," James told her, kissing her back. "With Voldemort on the rise, things are bound to get more difficult for us,"
"Let's not talk about such dark things now," Lily said, pulling him up. "Let's have one night of carefree teenage fun."
He smiled weakly, then lead her into the Great Hall again.
XXXXNearly an hour later, Lily was sitting at the table with Ellie and Marlene while the guys made yet another trip to the punch bowl.
"I haven't seen Peter all night," Marlene stated, glancing around. It was rather difficult to tell who was who anyway, with the costumes and masks.
"Neither have I, come to think of it," Lily said, glancing around.
"Well isn't that weird!" Ellie commented, shaking her head, "Do you think he stayed up in the Gryffindor common room because he didn't have a date?"
"I don't think Peter would have done that," Alice shook her head, "Besides, I think I see him."
"Where?"
"Over there, standing next to Ledaria Smirth," Alice nodded in the direction of the Slytherin section of the Hall. The ball was supposed to join everybody together, but all of the houses had kind of went off into their own corners.
"That's weird," Lily said, studying their outfits. They were both dressed as Egyptians. While the costume complimented Ledaria's exotic look, it was not so flattering on Peter.
"Wow, that's disturbing," Marlene said, earning an elbow in the ribs from Lily.
"What's disturbing?" James questioned, sitting down beside Lily and handing her a glass of punch.
"Peter and Ledaria." Ellie said, nodding in the direction of Peter and Ledaria as Sirius sat down beside her and draped his arm around her shoulders.
"Where?" Remus asked, handing Marlene her glass of punch and glancing around the room. "Oh," he added, having spotted them at last.
"What's with the stony face James?" Lily asked curiously as she saw James's eyes darken.
"Nothing," he mumbled, flashing her a quick smile before looking at Sirius. A look passed between them, one that Lily couldn't understand but they did.
"Lets dance Remus!" Marlene begged, pulling Remus back up to his feet.
"I don't dance," Remus mumbled.
"You did before!"
"That was a slow song, this is fast. I can't dance," Remus pointed out. Lily smirked as Marlene gave Remus the puppy eyed look that made everyone soften and agree to whatever she wanted.
Marlene dragged him out to the dance floor and gave Lily a wave, smiling.
"James, we should dance too," Lily told him.
"We've been dancing all night," James mumbled, distracted. He was still looking over at Peter and Ledaria, wondering what that dirty Slytherin wanted to do with Peter. No offence to Peter, but Ledaria is way out of his league. What does she want with him? He thought, running a hand through his hair again.
"James," Lily pouted, grabbing his hand as he set it back on the table.
"Sorry what?"
"Please, can we dance?" Lily repeated, batting her eyelashes at him. He smiled again and reluctantly got up. Although James would love to spend the night dancing with Lily, he wanted to talk to Remus and Sirius and see what they thought about the whole Peter/Ledaria thing.
XXXXJames woke up from a restless night. He tossed and turned all night; troubled by the dream he had about Peter becoming a Death Eater. That's stupid, Peter would never join the dark side, and he's not like that, James reassured himself as he showered the next morning.
I'll just have to talk to Wormtail, find out what's going on between him and Ledaria, James thought as he dried off.
"James!" Lily said, knocking on the door. "James could you hurry up? I need to have a shower too!"
Grinning, James opened the door. Lily was in her nightdress with her hair still up from the night before, though slightly messier.
"Well you could have joined me then,"
Lily smirked, looking him over. He was in his boxers, his body still damp from the shower.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Lily asked as she moved forwards and closed the door behind her.
"Yes, I would, which is why I suggested it," James replied cheekily, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her towards him, leaning in for a kiss.
She matched his passionate kiss with her own need, then pulled away.
"First I want to take a shower." She said.
"I can take another one, I don't mind,"
"I'll take you up on that offer later on tonight. But I have to shave my legs," she smirked.
"Point taken, I will see you at breakfast," James grinned, kissing her once more before he scooped up his clothes and left the bathroom, giving her some privacy.
XXXX"So Wormtail, why didn't you hang out with us?" Sirius questioned at breakfast just as James sat down. Lily was still up in the Head Quarters, and Marlene, Ellie, and Alice were nowhere to be seen.
"Oh," Peter replied, going slightly pink, "I had a date,"
"With who?" Remus asked, playing along.
"Someone, you guys wouldn't know her," Peter mumbled, pushing his eggs around on his plate and not meeting their eyes.
"Come on now Wormtail, we know everyone! Spill," James said, laughing easily and grinning. Peter looked up at them, then smiled.
"Alright, it was Ledaria Smirth," he told them, smiling dreamily.
"Ledaria Smirth? Why, isn't she in Slytherin?" James asked, pretending to be truly shocked at this little piece of information.
"Yeah, but she's not like the other Slytherin's," Peter said, defending her, "I think she was placed in the wrong house. Anyway, she's really cool. You'd all like her."
"I'm sure we would," Sirius said rather coldly. Luckily Peter didn't notice, he was to busy rambling on about how they met and how cool she was.
James looked over at Sirius, a look passing between them as if they shared thoughts. Marauders don't date Slytherin's, James thought. It seemed like Sirius was thinking along the same things, because he coughed lightly to get Peter's attention.
"Don't we have that, unwritten rule?" he asked James as if remembering something suddenly which he had forgotten.
"Which one Padfoot?"
"That one were we Marauders don't date Slytherin's," Sirius replied, sending a distasteful look at the Slytherin table. Peter's chubby face crumbled slightly.
"But she's not like the other Slytherin's," he said, almost whining. "She's different!"
"Mate, we just don't want you to get hurt," James said, patting Peter on the shoulder, "You know Lucius Malfoy basically controls everybody in Slytherin…"
"She doesn't like any of them!" Peter squeaked. "She told me!"
"Alright mate, don't get your knickers in a knot!" Sirius said, laughing. "We're just saying. We have to look out for each other you know,"
"Well, I'm meeting Ledaria after breakfast. I'm walking her up to the Owlery," Peter told them, speaking in a stubborn tone. "In fact I think I'll leave now, she looks like she's ready,"
With that he pushed his plate away and headed towards the dark haired beauty who was leaning against the Great Hall doors with her arms folded across her chest.
"What do you make of it?" James questioned, watching as they left.
"I don't like it," Remus replied, shaking his head. "I've seen her around Malfoy and the others, she certainly doesn't hate them,"
"So what the bloody hell is going on then?" Sirius grumbled, glaring at the Slytherin table where his brother sat in between Malfoy and some other guy.
"I don't know, but I don't trust her either," James said, a frown on his face as he remembered his dream from the night before. "We have to do something about this,"
"Agreed," Sirius and Remus nodded together.
"Here's what we're going to do," James said, leaning in.
(A/N) I'm sorry that it took so long for me to finish this chapter! I've been working a lot! I hope you enjoy this chapter and trust me more are too come. Thanks for reviewing, please keep reviewing and I'll keep writing.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed!
Sparklemonkey: Er, sorry. I'm not Australian. -laughs-, I'm Canadian. Sorry.., thanks for reviewing though.
Jingle-Bellz-ROCK: I didn't mean to be rude...however my cliffhangers capture your attention so I'll continue to do it -winks- keep reading!
julies07: Thank you so much, I'm glad that your hooked on my story. Keep reading! (I hope this chapter answered your question, and arises other questions!)
WhiteCamellia: I updated for ya hun,hope you like this chapter!
BlazeAngleDragon: I didn't know what he had to tell her either for a while, I guess all our questions are answered?
Alex. C. Potter: Thanks for reviewing, you know it would be really cool if your last name really was Potter...then you could have a kid and name it Harry lol jokes, I'm sorry I'm kinda off my rocker right now.
X.Little.Black.Cat.X: Muhahaha, I loved the cliffer too.
bloomsgrl: I hope my cliffhangers don't take away from the story and make it less good...I always thought it made it better, you know. Has people grinding their teeth in annoyance at my tardiness with this chapter...thanks for reviewing!
bRaTsKi: I will promise you now that this story is far from finished. And even when it is finished, I'll be starting another one so theres no need to worry -smiles-
PotterandEvansforever: Between you and me (and everyone else who reads this lol) James is kind of like my prince charming, tall, dark, handsome, etc. I love him too, he's such a gentleman. I wish all guys were -laughs- But it's a girls world right -winks-
Ravenclaw Steph: I hope that chapter answered your question -smiles-
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