I actually made this chapter up at the spur of the moment…I needed a little "fluff", as most of my friends would say. So here it is, Chapter 11. This is probably my quickest update in the history of my writing career (which consists only of posting stories online and writing stories for my own enjoyment).
So to clear up some confusion for hpfanficreviewer, James did NOT catch the snitch in my previous chapter. It was Keiser, the Slytherin seeker.
QUOTE: "What the hell is Keiser doing?" Sirius asked, glancing at Professor McGonagall and waiting to be reprimanded. But she wasn't paying attention. She was staring down at James who lay sprawled on the field, unmoving.
"Someone help him!" Peter squealed peering over the edge of the box. "Someone help James!"
"Oh wait…he's caught the Snitch…well done," Sirius grumbled, cursing under his breath. Cheers erupted from the Slytherins, but Lily could've cared less.
So I think that clears up most of your confusion…and I don't think I ever had Lily mention that James was a Seeker. Could you possibly give me the chapter number/name where you read it?...because I'm pretty sure I never said that. But thank you very much for your review! I'm glad you like the story! Also, thank you Kayane Joel and Anne () for reviewing!
Chapter 11: The Prize
"Will she be alright?"
"Did you see all that blood?"
"Snape, the little bastard! Why I oughta-"
"Sirius! Watch your language!" Lily opened her eyes and slowly several heads came into focus, all of them peering keenly at her.
"Lily, are you okay?" Olivia asked. Lily nodded.
"I feel fine," she said, sitting up slowly. "What happened?"
"Well, Snape cursed you…it was horrible. There was blood everywhere. You passed out immediately, and Dumbledore brought you here."
"She's awake! Everyone out!" Everyone gathered at the edge of Lily's bed, including some people she didn't even know, scattered, groaning, as Madam Pomfrey bore down on her.
"What about James?" Sirius asked, glancing at the black haired boy who lay unmoving in his bed. "Do you think I'm going to leave him here-"
"He's asleep, Black!" Madam Pomfrey glared. "He'll be let out of the Hospital Wing tomorrow."
"What about me?" Lily asked worriedly. "Do I have to stay the night?"
"Yes." Lily groaned and slumped back on her pillows.
"But I have TONS of homework!" she cried.
"Only you, Lily would worry about homework," Sirius said; Lily glared at him.
"I'll bring it to you Lils. It'll be ok," Olivia offered.
"But why do I have to stay?" Lily complained. "All he did was curse me-"
"With an extremely powerful spell!" Madam Pomfrey finished. "You lost a lot of blood…I just want to make sure you're alright."
"Besides, Lily, you get to spend some extra quality with James!" Sirius added.
"Shut up," Lily snapped, but she couldn't help a little blush creep into her face. Madam Pomfrey noticed this and clucked her tongue disapprovingly as she straightened up.
"Now, everyone out!" she cried. "Be gone! These patients need their sleep!"
"I'll bring your homework by after dinner, Lily!" Olivia said quickly before she ran out the door with Madam Pomfrey on her heels, followed by a reluctant Sirius.
"Now, Miss Evans, you would do well to get some sleep," Madam Pomfrey said, turning back to her.
"But I just slept!" Lily protested.
"Miss Evans! When have you been one to take back to an adult?" At this remark, Lily fell silent and glowered at a picture of a nurse on the wall.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled; Madam Pomfrey shook her head, and a small smile flitted across her lips.
"Olivia will bring your homework by soon, I'm sure," she said, and Lily just nodded, staring down at her hands on her lap. Madam Pomfrey bustled out of the room and into her office, living Lily to sit idly and sulk.
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James groaned and turned over onto his back. Lily glanced sideways at him and lowered her quill away from the Transfiguration essay she was writing. His hair stood up at all angles possible, and his left arm was bound in a splint. Lily looked quickly back at her essay and began scribbling away, paying no attention to what she was writing. She heard James' fumbling for his glasses and his sharp intake of breath when he put them on.
"Evans?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Snape hexed me when I slapped him after the Quidditch game," Lily replied simply, keeping her eyes lowered.
"You slapped him?" James asked, astounded. "Why?"
"He paid Crabbe money to hit the bludger at you…and he was going to kill you."
"So you slapped him?"
"Yes." Lily glanced at him, but quickly looked away when she found him staring avidly at her, a mixture of awe and anger in his hazel eyes.
"What spell did he use?"
"Sectumsempra." James's mouth dropped open.
"The slimy bastard!" he yelled, jumping out of his bed. "I'm going to kill him! For real this time!"
"James!" Lily cried, pushing her essay out of her way and scrambling out of her bed as James started running towards the door.
"The two faced, slimy, good for nothing git! He'll pay for this!
"James, stop it!" Lily cried, grabbing for his arm and restraining him from madly dashing out into the corridor in his pursuit of Snape. "Calm down! It's no big deal, I-"
"No big deal! Are you kidding me? This is a huge deal, Evans! Snape hexed you!"
"Yes, I know," Lily said, speaking slowly. "But I'm alright and-"
"But he still hexed you! He hurt you Lily! Do you have any idea how extremely mad that makes me?" James yelled yanking out of her grip and dashing towards the door and wrenching it open. He was running so fast, that he rammed his injured shoulder into the wall of the corridor and sank, moaning, to the ground.
"Jay-ames." Lily shook her head, following him out. She knelt down beside him and turned him over onto his back. "Are you alright?"
"I'll-be-fine," he muttered through clenched teeth, clutching his arm and scrambling to his feet. "I'M GOING TO KILL THAT BLOODY SON OF A BITCH!"
"Watch your language!" Lily shrieked, but he paid no heed. Stumbling to his feet, James attempted again to make another mad dash down the hallway, but Lily grabbed the collar of his shirt, and with strength she didn't know she had, she swung him around and forced him against the wall. He winced as his back hit the cold stone, and glared fiercely at Lily.
"James please stop, I-"
"You're asking me to refrain from beating the crap out of Snivellus, who just hexed you? Lily, dearest, what you are asking is impossible." Lily opened her mouth to speak, and then realized what he had just said.
"Wait, you called me "dearest?" she asked. James thought for a moment and then smiled mischievously.
"Why, yes, I did." Lily glared at him and the smile immediately dropped from his face.
"Whatever," Lily said irritably. "My point is, that you shouldn't go and hex Snape, because it won't do you any good and-"
"Lily, dearest," James said, accenting those two words and grinning, "what have I told you? It is impossible-"
"Nothing is impossible, James Potter! Not even for you to not hex Snape! Now, get back in the hospital wing!" Lily yelled, exasperated.
"No, I-" Lily sighed, feeling as if she were talking to a 2 year old.
"Get back in the hospital wing!" she yelled again pointing her finger in the direction of the door and her bright eyes glinting fiercely. James opened and closed his mouth several times, before finally succumbing to her will and trudging back into the hospital wing muttering something about "women" and "that time of month".
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"Lily? Are-are you awake?" James asked softly through the darkness.
"Yes, I am," Lily mumbled, rolling over onto her side so her back was to James. She heard him sit up in bed and fumbling for his glasses on the bedside table. "Whaddya want?"
"I need to talk to you," James replied.
"Why?" Lily sighed, pulling the covers closer about her. It was silent for a few moments before James spoke again.
"Why don't you like me?" Lily's eyes grew extremely round and her heart skipped a beat. Thank God it's dark in here...she thought. Should she tell him? If she regretted it, she could just tell him that he'd dreamt it and that she didn't remember it at all…although that was awfully mean. I'm going to do it…she thought. The words were coming up her throat, she could feel them burning to escape: I like you James…a lot.
"What do you think?" she asked. She made a face at herself and her heart screamed at her stupidity. Was that the best she could do? She was a hopeless romantic.
"Well, I'm not sure. I know you think I'm a git-"
"Because you are."
"-and that I'm arrogant-"
"Again, because you are."
"-and that I hex people just to show others how good I am-"
"Because you do!"
"-and that my head is too big and full of air-"
"Because it is."
"-and you're surprised I can get my broom to fly me around the Quidditch Pitch."
"Because I am." Where did that come from?...she thought. He read me as if I were a book!
"Why though? You don't even know the real me," James protested, sounding a lot like a 5 year old pleading not guilty in front of its parents. Lily groaned and sat up.
"The real you?" she said. "Is there another James Potter that I don't know about?" But even as she said the words, Lily knew it was true…she'd seen the other James Potter. She'd seen the James who'd been crushed that she had gone out with Brandon and snogged him at every possible opportunity. The James who was actually rather cute, with a normal sized head, and who made her heart flutter- Lily! Stop it!...her brain screamed. Was this the real James that he was talking about?
"Let me change the question...what can I do to make you like me?"
"Nothing," Lily replied automatically, and her heart clenched at the look of disappointment on James's face…it was the other James coming through again. The other James who wanted her to cry right then and there for all the horrible things she'd said and thought about him. "Wait…I change my mind." James's eyes lit up.
"What can I do?"
"Well…first off, you can be nicer to people, Snape for instance."
"But-"
"Potter, you're the one who wanted to know, and so I'm telling you the truth." James sighed.
"Alright fine…tip number one to get Lily to go out with me: be nicer-"
"Hey, what! Just because you follow these rules doesn't mean I'll go out with you!" Lily cried, seeing his true objective. James grinned sheepishly.
"Well…I really would like you to go out with me…" he mumbled, staring at his blankets. Lily raised her eyebrows.
"You truly are desperate, aren't you?"
"Desperate?" James repeated, raising his head again. "Desperate? You call wanting to go out with you desperate?"
"Well…" Lily paused, not sure what to say; James shook his head in exasperation.
"Wanting to go out with a girl like you, Evans, is normal. It'd be plain weird if someone didn't want too. You're the smartest girl in school, not to mention the prettiest. You have tons of friends, are all the teacher's pets, and are looked up to by everyone."
"Oh, well…that's nice," Lily mumbled, taken aback.
"And yet, Lily, you drive me absolutely crazy," James finished, sitting up on his knees, "because you won't go out with me, despite how many times I have asked you. I think I should win a trophy for Asking Lily Evans Out The Most and Being Rejected and have it put in the trophy room, so all of Hogwarts' future students can see what a nuisance their head student really was."
"It's not like you're not a nuisance either!" Lily cried, stung by his last comment.
"Yes, I know, Lily," James replied, "which is why I am asking you: what can I do to change so that you will at least consider me as not such a git?"
"I've already told you," Lily said angrily. "Be nicer to people."
"Well, that's only one thing," James protested.
"I don't think you could handle more than one thing to change about yourself, Potter. Besides, being nice to people is your main problem. You are always unbearably rude to people…especially Snape."
"But he deserves-"
"He does not deserve anything!" Lily cried. "Do you realize how many people look up to you? Do you realize that every one of the boys here at Hogwarts would love to be a marauder? Do you even consider what the little first year Gryffindor boys are learning from you? The other day I was watching them talk, and that little blondie…Ichabod Arson, I think his name is...ruffles his hair in a PERFECT IMMITATION OF YOU! You are by far the most popular boy at Hogwarts, and all you do is- is- BE RUDE and-and SCREW AROUND!"Lily took a deep breath and glanced around the room, waiting for James' response, but none came for several minutes. She looked back at him and saw that he was grinning…grinning in a way that made goose bumps appear up and down her arms; his mind was forming a plan, and Lily wasn't so sure she was going to like it.
"What are you grinning about?" Lily demanded, slightly unnerved. He looked quite cute when he grinned like that….
"I have a deal," James replied, running his fingers through his already tousled hair and smugly meeting Lily's eyes.
"What deal?" Lily asked slowly, warily watching him.
"The deal is this: if I don't hex Snape for a week…if I am nice to him and I don't tease him or anything…you will go out with me." Lily sat there in stunned silence.
"What kind of deal is that?" she demanded. "I don't benefit at all! And how did Snape, of all people, come into this?"
"Can you only ask questions tonight, dearest? Of course you benefit! You get to go out with me!" James replied, spreading out his arms. Lily sighed, ready to scream.
"No, no, no! I will not be giving up myself as a prize just for you to act like a natural human being."
"Oh come on, Lily! Please?...You would make me one very happy man." Lily grimaced.
"No, I repeat, I will not." James groaned and flopped back onto his pillows.
"Why do I even try?" he mumbled, sighing heavily.
"Well, I do still encourage you to be nice to other people…including Snape," Lily said timidly, trying to comfort him.
"It won't do any good."
"James-"
"Just leave me alone!" James yelled, and Lily immediately fell silent, almost frightened. How she hated hormones….how she hated herself at that moment.
-Alright so this chapter didn't really turn out the way I wanted it to (basically like all my other chapters) but oh well…now please review review review!
-Elise-