Chapter 5: Gossip

I can tell you now that this is where trouble will arise. :O Continue on and see what will happen next!

The adults decided to retire back to the living room to converse after they finished eating; Mum very nearly threw James out of the dining room, assuring him that Petunia and I could handle the dishes. Petunia, of course, did not do a thing; she went upstairs again, and I was left to the mess alone alone. I could hear my mother speaking from where I was, and on any other night, I would have overlooked it to finish up as fast as possible. Tonight, however, I heard my name mentioned, and I went straight to the door to eavesdrop.

"No, Lily doesn't have a boyfriend," Mum was saying. "She never really had anyone she was interested in…she's far too sensible for the silly boys around here. She never mentioned anyone in Hogwarts either, so I really don't know about her situation there. James, does Lily have a boyfriend?"

"She liked my friend Remus since fourth year," he admitted. "They went out a little this past year."

I wanted to kill him; how dare he tell my mother any of that?!

"Really?" My mother asked, her burning curiosity audible even from the dining room.

"Yes," James said. "She also went out with a few other boys, but she never stuck with them for more than a couple of months. Like you said, she is far too sensible for all of them. She also claims that none of them are really her type; she wouldn't really know them too well though, because she's outspoken to the point of sometimes being rude when she's around guys, and that kind of turns them off of her."

So that was what he really thought of me? I definitely had some reasons to support my utter detestation of him now; that was about the only bright spot I could see from this humiliating discussion about my love life in my nonattendance.

"Lily isn't as outspoken as all of that, is she?" Mrs. Potter asked, seemingly worried. "She was rather shy during dinner."

"She isn't always that way," James said, now obviously starting to warm up to the situation. "Lily Evans is the pickiest girl in our year."

Picky! How could he call me picky when all the boys around me were jerks, including him?! I wanted to throw something at him very badly; how dare he say something like that when he thought I wasn't listening!

"You like Lily though, don't you James?" his father asked him slyly. I could practically hear the grin in his voice.

"I do," James said, unashamed. "She has her faults, but I don't mind them. I'd happily take her out, but when I ask her, she turns me down."

"Is she rude about it?" my mother asked. I wanted to cry; James now had the power to send my mother on a warpath with me.

"Well, sometimes," James answered. "But I might be a little rude in the way I ask."

"Lily is almost an adult in the Wizard world now," Mum said. "She just recently turned sixteen. I want her married by about eighteen, maybe nineteen."

"I would marry Lily in an instant, but she would never have me," James said.

"Look at you and your little crush!" Mum said, giggling. "I never knew my little Lily bear was so popular in school; she never told me, and she never brings her friends here – she's always at their houses."

I wanted to bawl all over again; how could my mother say things like that in front of people?! How could James be making all these statements about marrying me in front of my mother?! My anguish was far too advanced to be put into words.

"She's quite popular in our year," James said. "The boys she doesn't fancy all fancy her."

"The naughty girl; she never tells me any of this!" James was a gold mine of information for my childlike mother, and she had now come to realize this; that spelt trouble with capital letters for me.

"Now enough," Mrs. Potter commanded firmly. "Lily's personal life is her own business, and I think that my son has given you more than enough insight into it, Michelle." Had I mentioned before how much I adored Mrs. Potter? It was such a shame though; the greatest parents usually had the most hopeless children.

"Oh, but wouldn't it be something to marry James and Lily off?" Mum speculated, giggling madly again as she ignored Mrs. Potter. "I would love that! And I saw how they smiled at each other during dinner; it's a very real possibility! I have never seen my daughter smile like that at anyone."

I had taken quite enough; I put away what was in my hand and marched right into the living room, tears brimming in my eyes.

"I heard everything," I said, my voice quite shaky. "Every single thing you've said about me, I heard. I can't believe you would talk about me like that."

"We're all friends, Lily," Mrs. Potter said, keeping her voice low. "Anything said here shall go to no other ears; you know that, don't you?"

"That…that…that abomination there shall never be a friend of mine," I spat tearfully, glaring at James.

"Lily, I told the truth," he said, visibly trying to stay composed. "Everything I said was true, and I'm not going to deny it just because you don't like hearing about it."

"So all that shit about me being picky and 'outspoken to the point of being rude;' you think that it's all true?" I couldn't believe the nerve of him.

"Well, yes, but I was referring more to the part about my feelings for you," James said, a little pink by this point.

"Oh, so you think that after hearing all of the things that came out of your mouth this evening, I would want to believe that you like me?" I shouted. "Well, if so, you are highly mistaken; I can't bear you. I have always despised you, and now you see why."

"Lily!" My mother cried out, aghast. "That is no way to talk to a guest!"

"If he was a guest, and not a vile piece of scum, I would agree with you!" I snapped.

"Calm down, Lily," Mr. Potter said, taking over the job of controlling me. "I need you to keep your temper. Now, let your mother apologize for invading your privacy, and then I want you and James to talk things out upstairs, away from us."

I pursed my lips, but looked back at my mother with hostility. She did look quite ashamed now, and said, "I'm sorry, Lil. I shouldn't have tried to poke into your school life. But I am your mother; I should know about these things, shouldn't I? You're too distant; you don't tell me anything."

"I do it all for my own reasons, Mum, and you know that if I think that something is important enough to mention, I will tell you about it," I said a little more patiently. "And since I respect you, Mr. Potter, I will talk to James like you asked for, but let it be known that that is the only reason I am going upstairs," I added as I took James's wrist and began to haul him up the staircase.

Oh yes; there was definitely going to be some talking going on between the two of us, I thought grimly.

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