A/N: Hey! I'm so sorry I didn't update sooner, but here it is…a new chapter. Whoo hoo! And look out for my one-shot songfic. It's coming very soon. It's called All Around Me and features the song, of the same name by flyleaf. Please do that review thing you guys do so well. Please and thank you!!
Seven days. Seven days of glares. Seven days of shoves in the corridors. Seven days of not talking to Sirius. Seven days of not speaking to James. Seven days of whispers. Seven days of watching Emma Warren prance around, wearing James' quidditch jacket, and coming out of the boys' dormitory every other night with a stupid grin on her face. Seven days of sitting in the girls' dormitory by herself, because down in the common room it was almost impossible to concentrate with all the staring and whispering.
On this particular Sunday evening, Lily sat on her bed with a million books and papers spread out around her. She was studying for N.E.W.Ts…much like she had been all week. She could hear the quidditch game through her window. Gryffindor must have been doing pretty well; every now and then she'd hear a bit of the commentary, and most of it was in Gryffindor's favor. She tried to block out the commentary – the name 'Potter' came up far too often, and it made her wince.
Soon the cheering and whooping and yelling was moved from outside into the common room. Lily grinned to herself; so they had won after all. Lovely. Marlene and Alice came stumbling into the dorm, fully decked-out in their Gryffindor hats and scarves.
"Oh hey, Lily!" Marlene exclaimed, looking over at her "You should've come! It was amazing! Frank totally dominated as keeper and James did some more than amazing swerves and dives for the quaffle, it was the most amazing thing I ever—" but she stopped talking when she saw the look on Lily's face.
"Oh, Lily…I'm sorry. It just slipped out. I…"
Lily shook her head quickly. "It's fine Marlene. Really…" She turned away from her though, which made Marlene think Lily was somewhat mad at her, although she couldn't blame her. "So let me guess. We won, and now there's a party?"
Alice nodded, taking off her scarf and throwing it on her bed. "Yeah! You should totally come, Lily! Frank and I would love for you to hang out with us." Alice smiled, but Lily couldn't imagine intruding on Frank and Alice.
"No, I don't think I will…" she muttered, looking back to her books.
"Oh yeah! Lily, please come! Remus would be happy—" she stopped again. "I mean…I'd be really happy if you came."
Lily shook her head again "I really don't think it'd be appropriate."
Alice came up behind her and said in a sing song voice, "Sirius snagged some firewhiskey!"
Lily bit her lip and looked back at her. "Tempting. Really. But…"
Alice frowned, "Lily! You have to do this eventually. You can't just hide out in here forever. You'll have to face everyone some time. What better way then with your two best friends, at a really amazing party where you're going to have tons of fun? " Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Firewhiskey and friends, or staying up here and studying until her eyelids were too heavy to keep open? She looked back up at Alice.
"Okay. I'll go." But the moment the words left her lips, she knew that she'd regret it.
The common room was full of people, and beautifully decorated with the color scheme – of course – being red and gold. There were fireworks that would go off every so often, shooting sparks of red and gold into the air. Lily stayed off to one side, taking slow sips of her firewhiskey. The amber liquid burned her throat, but it was the only thing keeping her sane amidst the glares and the whispers.
Alice and Frank were dancing in the middle of the room and Alice's drunken giggle could be heard very distinctly over all the other noise. Marlene and Remus were off to a corner, whispering intensely to each other. Lily frowned in their direction. Leave it to Remus and Marly to be the only two people not having any fun. They were probably in a heated conversation about homework. Lily swayed to the music, feeling sufficiently awkward, as if she shouldn't be there. Then her own personal glimmer of light, Ian Rookwell, walked over to her with a bright smile plastered on his face.
Lily let out a sigh of relief. At least there was one person who didn't hate her. Ian Rookwell was that guy. The good-looking-but-not-gorgeous, funny-but-not-hilarious guy. The guy that was a total rebound…and knew it. But he'd had a crush on Lily ever since 2nd year, and he was awfully sweet, albeit a bit annoying at times. But now she was glad of some company that didn't want to coddle her or yell at her…company that just wanted to be with her.
"Hi Lily!" He called out, coming up to her with a big wave. "The quidditch game was good, wasn't it?"
Lily shrugged, "I wouldn't know. I wasn't there."
Ian's eyes widened. "Oh, Lily, It was amazing! So, it started out with Slytherins in the lead, but then Longbottom did this amazing…" she zoned out quickly. Ian talked for about a half hour about the quidditch game, but she wasn't paying attention to one word. The firewhiskey had started to make her brain feel a little fuzzy, and she was certainly not all that interested in quidditch to begin with.
"Lily?" Ian's voice broke through the fuzziness.
"Hmm?" She mumbled, looking up at him and swirling the little bit of liquid that was left in her bottle.
"You weren't listening to a word I said, were you?" Ian asked, looking a little disappointed.
Lily frowned. "No. I'm sorry Ian. My mind's just…in another place. I'm sorry." She felt as if the entire world was going out of focus.
Ian nodded. "That's fine. I can just sit with you and keep you company. Or you could talk, and I'll listen. Or, um, whatever…" he looked nervously at the ground.
Lily smiled, "Ian, you're so sweet." She leaned in to kiss his cheek. Ian looked at her, a bright red blush creeping into his cheeks. "Not as sweet as you Lily. You're the most amazing girl. And for the record: I know you didn't do anything with Severus…I believe you." Lily felt as if a little bit of the weight she'd been carrying on her heart all week had been lifted.
"You have no idea how wonderful it is to hear you say that."
Ian smiled. "Lily, I'm always here for you…I-" but before he could even finish his sentence, Lily's lips were crushed against his and he wasn't objecting.
After a minute or two, Ian pulled away. "Lily… Lily," he managed breathlessly, "I can't take advantage of you. You're drunk.," he said, holding her face in his hands. "Tell me you want this. I can't do this if you don't…"
Lily closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded vigorously. "I want this," she said, but uncertainty coated her voice. Ian squeezed her hand and looked at her, trying to figure out what exactly was going on in her head.
Lily felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned around quickly. "Remus!" she said excitedly, the sandy-haired boy stood just above her and the sight of him gave her joy. "Remus, I love you!" she said jumping up and throwing her arms around the boy's neck.
Remus patted her back quickly. "Hello, Lily." He stole a glance at Ian. "Do you mind if I steal her from you for a moment or two?"
Ian looked scared for a moment and then shook his head, "No…go right ahead." Remus led Lily away in two quick strides. He stared at her for a few moments, not sure how to phrase anything that he wanted to say.
Lily felt uncomfortable, one because he was looking at her as if she'd done something wrong, and two the liquor was starting to catch up with her. "What?" she said, looking up at him with big eyes.
Remus sighed. "You're drunk." He gave her a disappointed look, and Lily couldn't help but feel like a child being scolded.
"I'm not!" she cried indignantly. "I'm just…a little bit-" a pause, "-tipsy," she finished, flashing him a big smile. Remus sighed, then put his hands on her shoulders.
"Lily, listen to me," he said, trying to make eye contact with her. "Please do yourself some justice, and don't do anything you're going to wake up tomorrow regretting. This school does not forgive and forget. You haven't been treated like you should have this past week, and I couldn't bear to watch you do something to make it even worse." He glanced over his shoulder at Sirius and James, who were too busy impressing a group of pretty 4th years to pay attention to where their bookish friend ran off too. He took her hands in his and squeezed.
"Whatever it is you want to do…Whatever is you're feeling right now, think of how you would feel if that guy over there-" he looked pointedly at James, "-did the same thing to you."
Lily pulled away from him as if she'd been singed by fire. "I've spent seven days being ridiculed by 'that guy over there's friends. Seven days of being called a slut for something I didn't even do! Seven days of not talking to my best friend! Seven days of hiding out alone in my dormitory, because God forbid, if I come into the common room, I might get things thrown at me!" Her eyes were beginning to fill with tears, but she didn't much care.
"Remus, Ian is the only person in the entire world who's looked at me like I was me in the past seven days. Like I was just…Lily. Please don't take that away from me." She sniffed, wiping at her eyes and nose. Remus couldn't think of anything to say that didn't sound insensitive.
"He loves you," he said softly, clearly not talking about Ian. "Some nights he stays up crying…and when he does fall asleep, he calls out your name."
Lily bit her lip, and her face hardened. "Did he sleep with Emma Warren?" Remus let out a long sigh; this battle was never going to end. He nodded his head, yes; he wasn't one to lie.
Lily shook her head. "Then maybe he deserves a little pain." With those words, she made her way back over to Ian, whispering something in his ear before they disappeared up the stairs.