7-31-10
12:01am
Summary–Lily tries to enter the supposed club the girls in her year have suddenly created. But they want some proof of her worthiness before they let her in. In an not-so-well-thought through plot, the truth is...they're just trying to get Lily to give James a chance. friendship/romance
Disclaimer–I do not own Harry Potter, which belongs to its respective owner(s) and is only being used in a fan-made, fictional story.
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Shock and Awe – "quick paralyzing assault"
Chapter 7
By–Moon Prynces
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Lily sat across the room in Charms, her chin in her palm, staring around the room uninterestedly. Flitwick had already assessed her perfect performance and then went on to help the rest of her peers that was struggling.
There were still twenty minutes left. She was wondering if he would let them out early. Though he did seem pretty determined they all learned the charm.
She stared with a blank expression to the four troublemakers of her year. They were laughing at something silly while trying to avoid the Professor's gaze.
Just at that moment, right as she was going to look away, a pair of eyes flitted in her direction and before she knew it she was having a staring contest with James Potter.
Lily abruptly sat up straight and grabbed the book on her desk to hold up in front of her face as a shield.
Good job, Lily, she told herself. That wasn't obvious or anything.
She sighed and then lowered the book slowly before glancing over to see if he was laughing.
The redhead froze a moment when she realized he was still staring straight at her. And there was this amused smile tugging at his lips that he was trying to force away.
She gave a sheepish shrug while biting her lip before looking away for good this time.
Okay, so she'd had a nice, amiable chat with him the previous night. They sat around eating cookies and cake and laughing at all the odd and funny things they'd seen over their years here at Hogwarts.
He was good company nowadays. He wasn't hitting on her at every chance. He wasn't being cocky and snobbish.
And she still hadn't really unloaded all her thoughts on him – or anyone – and it was really starting to get to her.
Lily knew she was an idiot. A genius, yes. But an idiot all the same.
How was she going to march up to the girls and explain how she was feeling, how she felt before? It was kind of hard to just spill your guts to someone when you were still really afraid they were gonna turn around and do their worst to you.
Okay, and yeah she was a really paranoid little– witch.
She should have come up with some way to approach them by now. It had been over a week.
Let's see, she pondered with her remaining time. I could always just write a letter.
Lily pulled out a clean parchment and put her quill to the paper. And that was where it stayed for ten seconds as she drew a blank on how to even start it. In that time the ink spread slowly, creating a spot big enough for her to make into an eye hole.
Maybe I'm just not so great at admitting when I'm wrong, she thought.
Then after looking down and seeing the mess she quickly pulled back the quill and crumpled the paper up noisily.
This did not go unnoticed.
Or instead of a letter I could just plan out what I want to say! her mind said, thinking she had stumbled upon a brilliant idea.
So she pulled out another piece of parchment and wrote... 'Hi.'
And after two minutes of thinking and staring down at the word it was still the only thing she had produced.
After some hesitation she drew a line through the word and then put... 'Hey.'
Suddenly there was noise and she found that everyone was standing and gathering their books. She caught sight of Alice glancing at her worriedly before making her way to the door.
"I miss her," Lily sighed to herself, not moving an inch.
"Who?"
"Alice. My best friend. I mean, I know now that I wasn't a good best friend to her but–" She halted the rambling and looked up to see James standing behind her seat. "Uh..."
He grinned and reached for the parchment in front of her. She had to lift up her hands so he could pull it away.
"Hey," he said, raising a brow at her.
"Hey..." she replied back dumbly.
"I was just reading what you wrote." James turned the parchment so she could read her own handwriting.
"Oh." Lily applauded her idiocy.
"Wanna head to lunch?" he suggested, motioning to her bag and books.
The room had cleared out by then.
"Right," she jumped up and began hastily sticking her books and quill into the bag. Then she slowed down and said, "Wait, no!"
James stared. "Still avoiding the issue?" he deadpanned.
Lily grinned sheepishly. "Well I don't want to..."
"How about we just head to the common room?" he tried instead.
"Then you'll starve and what'll we do when you collapse in the middle of Defense Against the Dark Arts?" she asked as she finished stuffing the last pieces of parchment into her bag.
James opened his mouth to ask, "What makes you think I'd..." Then he stopped when he caught the smirk Lily was sporting. "Oh, ha-ha."
"Yeah, I know. It would be funny to see," she commented as they made their way to door.
"If you're going to keep insulting me, I might as well just go to the Great Hall and–" His taunting stopped abruptly when he felt a hand grab the back of his robes tightly.
James glanced over his shoulder to see Lily with her head down as she still held onto him.
He didn't know what to say exactly and so he only took hold of the hand on his person.
I mean, what if she pulled too hard and then he fell on her? Then they'd never make it to the common room!
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There were a few students around when they walked through the portrait hole. Some were waiting for their next class to begin and two others were taking a nap during their lunch break.
"Sorry about last night," James said, starting the conversation as they sat down on an empty sofa. "We didn't really get to talk about your...problems and all."
Lily just nodded while reclining comfortably. "It's okay, you were still good to me," she waved a hand dismissively with her eyes closed.
A moment later they popped open and she sat up, opening her mouth to try and retract that statement, or at the very least twist it around to her liking.
"Good," he cut in before she could say anything.
She shook her head in disbelief at herself. "I'm an idiot."
"So what exactly was this scheme that involved me?" he questioned, leaning forward on his knees with interest.
Lily cringed. "Well they were just... Look it really doesn't matter," she said instead.
Seriously, if she told James all about the girls' plans then he'd either get a big head or figure out that she had been trying to "date" Peter, which would lead to more embarrassment for her.
Psh, she still had no idea how to date.
Now that she thought about it...if their plans had worked out even a little maybe she'd have some experience in that area by now. Maybe they were doing her a favor. How could she graduate Hogwarts next year without ever having had a boyfriend?
I'm smart so how difficult could it be? the redhead mused with a half smile.
"James!" she said suddenly, causing the poor boy and the few others around to jump in surprise. "I need your help with something!"
"A refill on your medication?" he suggested with a head tilt.
"Maybe later," she responded without thought, causing him to quirk an eyebrow. "I couldn't write a letter and for some reason I suck at coming up with a speech so maybe you could help me," Lily suggested excitedly.
"A letter for what?" James asked in confusion. "For Alice? Why are you being so chicken? Just go talk to her."
The lack of support and in fact the opposite reaction she was looking for made her deflate a bit.
"But it's hard," she said pitifully.
James rolled his eyes and kept any perverted comment to himself. "Okay so what would I have to do?"
"You could tell her for me that–"
And that was where the plan failed. Because she realized in order to have James act as the messenger would make him privy to all the details of everything.
She sat still and quiet for a moment before saying, "Okay nevermind."
"You are a piece of work," James laughed, sticking a hand into his bangs.
Lily only stuck out her tongue at him.
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"I wonder what's going on exactly."
She shrugged. "We'll just have to wait to find out."
"You think she's still upset with us?" was asked.
"I hope not. Should we try and talk to her?"
Annie looked up suddenly to add her two cents. "No. She'll figure things out on her own and everything will be fine."
Angela shot her a skeptical look. "I thought you didn't like this whole plan. You haven't said anything at all about it until now."
The tall girl just shrugged, back to her indifference on the topic.
"Yeah, maybe we should wait. I don't want to get beheaded by a book," Alice shuddered.
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Lily was still jumping out of bed before her roommates but at least she wasn't as despondent as before. She didn't head to breakfast in the Great Hall in the mornings, instead going straight for the kitchens where the house elves already knew she had been having trouble as of late with her friends.
And even though she never asked for his company, somehow James would know when she was there and join her. He didn't really mind – said his friends were probably a little sick of him anyway. She didn't thank him or bring it up directly but they both knew she was grateful.
There was also the fact that he didn't like to leave her to walk to class by herself. Without Alice or any of the girls it did get kind of lonely, she managed to admit to herself.
And seeing as she had become a little accustomed to avoiding certain hallways and rooms and people, James was forced to go along with her schedule and managed to sit in the library more in those few days than he had the past five years. She usually managed to keep up conversation with him while peering into textbooks or scribbling down essays.
"Say James," Lily inquired and looked up slowly from her parchment.
Said boy glanced up from the drawing his was making. Figures he wouldn't actually be studying in the library.
"Have you ever been in the situation where you were kind of like...you know, betrayed by someone?" she questioned.
James just shrugged thoughtlessly. "I don't really think so." Though he did flashback to her and Peter stumbling into the common room in tears from their laughter.
"Oh." She looked back down and scrawled a few more words before stopping and looking up again. "I guess not. You're not exactly the kind of person who deserves it," she mumbled to herself dejectedly.
He stopped abruptly again after having continued on with his drawing and glanced up at the redhead. "What?" And he wasn't a complete idiot so he realized there was a deeper issue.
Cuz let's face it, even though James knew there was some serious shit bothering Lily since she wasn't currently talking to any of her friends, he was enjoying his time with her so he never pushed the envelope open before. She never did seem so keen on "spilling her guts" and all that.
The sooner she got over whatever was bothering her, the sooner she headed right back to her friends which meant she probably wouldn't be hanging out with or even talking to him. So, he was being a little selfish.
James sighed and put down his quill. "You know what? Let's talk."
Lily blinked in mild surprise. "Isn't that what the girl says?"
He groaned, wondering how hard she was going to make this. It was like breaking up with her or something!
"What exactly happened with you and Alice and the other girls?" he asked, staring across the table at her.
She froze at the unexpected directness. "Well, don't worry about it. I'll sort things out soon and–"
"Lily," he sighed exaggeratedly. "It's been almost two weeks. Are you going to wait until Christmas break or something?"
Her eyes opened wide at the suggestion. "That sounds like a good idea! Then when everyone gets back we can just forget everything that happened and–"
James shot her a severe look, causing her to close her mouth. "You really are being a chicken!" he accused, and then shook his head. "What happened?" he asked again firmly with an intense gaze that she couldn't break away from.
"It's...embarrassing," she mumbled weakly.
He rolled his eyes again. "So is eating breakfast, lunch and dinner with the house elves every day for the rest of the year."
She made a face that clearly stated, 'good point.'
"And if you can't tell me about it then how can you expect to talk to them about it?" he argued.
"Well I did come to you for advice in the beginning," Lily admitted while glancing to the side in anguish. "Do we have to do this now?" she whined, looking back to him.
He didn't falter at her childishness and Lily reflected that his resolve made him look so mature.
There was a moment of silence and she had yet to begin speaking, even with his 'Well? What are you waiting for?' looks.
"Come on Lily, everyone deserves a chance, right?" he threw at her.
Lily blinked at him.
And then opened her mouth...
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"So what do you think is up with those two?" Sirius asked while sprawled out on a sofa in the common room.
Remus closed the book he had been reading, though for once it wasn't a class text. He shrugged, though curiosity was biting at him as well.
Peter, who had been glancing around the room, looked to the friend who had spoken. "Why can't we just ask James?"
Remus shot a dark look to Sirius, knowing exactly what to expect. The dark haired boy didn't bat at eye and still went on with his usual inappropriate response.
"I don't think he'd be particularly happy if I asked if he'd nailed Lil–"
And because Remus had known Sirius was going to ignore the warning look, he smacked his friend before that statement was completed.
Peter grinned. "Classy, Padfoot. Classy."
Sirius just shrugged, ignoring the slight ache he now had.
"They can't be dating," Remus said thoughtfully.
"How can you be so sure?" Sirius questioned suspiciously.
Remus shook his head. "If they were dating then James would be singing about it to us already. He'd have this entire room decorated with streamers and balloons, throwing a party and marking the day Lily agreed to go out with him on his arm in permanent ink."
"That is pretty logical," Peter nodded.
"Yeah..." Sirius agreed, though sounding a bit torn. "But haven't you noticed how he's been behaving lately?"
Remus and Peter didn't answer that, though all three knew there was truth to it.
Though they hadn't been seeing as much of James as usual lately they had noted the absence of his wooing tactics. They hadn't heard him declare his feelings for the redhead, to her or anyone else, for a while now.
Since she was no longer hanging out with Peter, he wasn't acting like a kicked puppy. And they had no idea what he and Lily were up to because the two didn't really spend time in crowded places.
The only thing he hadn't done was sit with her in classes, where she was usually too focused to care who was around her anyway.
"At least she isn't all melancholy anymore," Peter noted.
"Yeah," Sirius said. "Whatever he's doing, he should keep it up."
Remus rolled his eyes, catching the perverse meaning behind his friend's statement.
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"..."
"..."
There was silence at their table in that secluded little section of the library and Lily thought she could hear crickets mocking her.
As painful as it had been, she went over just about every little detail of what had happened. She may have left out her personal feelings on a few bits but it was basically the unblemished truth.
Then James and her were quiet, not to mention slightly pink, after she faded off with, "...and that's– Yeah..."
But at least there were some positive, and immediate, effects to..."spilling her guts". She kind of felt a little relieved to have just told the story. Now that that was out of the way she could look forward to his advice and input.
If he could blink and snap out of his embarrassed daze.
Finally, Lily rolled her eyes. He was embarrassed? What about her?
"Yeah..." she started off, using the very same word she had ended with earlier.
James' eyes widened just a pinch before he blinked and glanced around. He was just getting ready to get up, leave the library and find himself a corner to think but upon seeing her hopeful look he stayed glued to the seat.
"Uh...give me sec, would you?" he asked with a small, unsure smile.
Though Lily was taken aback and a little disappointed she nodded, realizing she had released a whole lot of information. She was feeling lucky he hadn't started gloating while dancing on the table, because she had conveniently left out the part about "dating" Peter. Hopefully he wouldn't put two and two together.
James rested his arms on the table and stared at his hands in contemplation.
"So...there was this dare," he started off, though he hadn't intended to say anything out loud, "For you to date someone." His eyes flicked up at her before going back to his hands. "And they were hoping you'd have picked me..."
Lily nodded to herself, because James wasn't really focusing on her at the moment.
"And you didn't know about that ultimate goal until that day," James went on. "So you felt all flustered and..."
"Betrayed," she supplied with another nod, causing him to look back at her.
"...which led you to run away–"
Like a chicken, she added in her head.
"–and then avoid them for nearly two weeks."
She waited for him to give some concluding statement that showed just how much of an idiot she was.
James opened his mouth, about to ask something. But then he closed it and rethought that course of action.
"It's almost time for dinner, wanna head to the Great Hall?" he asked instead.
Lily blinked stupidly.
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So the two took a seat, for the first time in days, at one end of the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Lily hadn't really protested or said anything because James still seemed to be thinking things over.
"Okay," he started off in a slight whisper, though the room was still pretty empty as they'd gotten there kind of early. "So you felt all betrayed before, but how do you feel now?" he questioned.
"I, uh," she started off smartly. "Well now I feel like an idiot. I mean, I overreacted. Again." She looked down and away from his waiting gaze. "And still...kind of...humiliated."
"That's a big word," he commented. "Why not just embarrassed?"
Lily shot him a look. "Humiliated works just fine."
James paused, watching as more students trickled into the room. Then he turned back to her with some comprehension. "Wait...you still think they're 'out to get you' or whatever. No wonder you're keeping your distance."
"Well, yeah. I've been told I'm very good at freaking out and running away," she grumbled. "It's just a defense mechanism – it just happens. We can't all be as brave as you, Potter." And they were both surprised when she suddenly went back to using his surname.
"Brave as me?" he questioned.
She tried to come across as nonchalant while saying, "Yeah, I mean it isn't exactly cowardly to confess to the same girl every day for nearly six years that you like her and want to date her. Not to mention in front of just about everyone in the school. And getting turned down every single time? Now that's humiliating."
His cheeks burned at the commentary but he also looked a little hostile. "You know, I can't tell if that was a compliment or an insult."
"Neither can I," Lily muttered to herself, though he did hear it.
"Okay, so then maybe you should take a page out of my book and just get on with it!" he said loudly.
A few students nearby looked over as she slapped a hand over his mouth.
"Are you trying to be unhelpful?" she asked furiously.
He pushed away her hand with a slight glare. "Don't know how that's possible with the way you're behaving already," he said sarcastically.
They didn't really notice as the hall started to fill up and the chatter of people got louder.
James sighed abruptly. "Don't you like having friends, Lily?" he asked.
"Of course!"
"Then here's the plan. Just get up, walk over there," he motioned down the long table where the group of girls was already seated, causing Lily to wonder how she was so oblivious. "Say 'I'm sorry I'm a loon' and then sit down so you can get back to laughing about whatever girls find funny."
She was still staring down the table after he had finished his grand plan. Then she slowly turned back to look at his expectant face.
"Why don't you go do it for me?" she suggested brightly. "I mean, you're my friend."
James sat dumbfounded at that. He hadn't even realized such a thing had happened.
Friends? They were friends? When did that happen?
"James!" she was shouting. "Breathe you idiot!" And she sounded a bit panicked.
How many people did they need to stare in their direction exactly?
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"You think they're dating?" someone whispered.
"Might be. They spend all their time together!" another replied.
"I haven't seen him hang out with the Marauders in ages," a third voice said.
Lily glanced up in surprise wondering, Who? Where?
She was currently sitting at a table in the common room, working on some homework when she caught the gossip nearby.
Her brows furrowed in thought. Marauder? They were probably talking about Sirius. He was the well-known serial dater.
Just as she shrugged it off and put her quill to the paper James sat down across from her noisily (causing people to look over).
Her non-attempt at dinner the previous day should have made her realize that the two of them were becoming way too complacent with the way things were.
She wasn't really trying as hard as she should have to just make up with her friends already and he was taking his friends for granted and not really giving them the time of day because he was having such a good time hanging out with his longtime crush.
Even the wisest of her friends was starting to wonder how this whole situation was going to turn out.
"I have an idea," he said before giving her a chance to say anything at all.
"Does it involve food?" she asked, eyes not moving from her paper.
"Nothing gets past you," James replied, which finally made her look up.
"Liar," she said with narrowed eyes. "You're not talking about food!" Lily accused.
The accused rolled his eyes. "Focus, will you? Look." And he pointed with an obvious motion across the common room where Alice was sitting, reading a textbook. "You can just talk to them one at a time if you'd like! It could be easier than a group. You won't feel all flustered or...humiliated."
She hated how he mocked her with the word. "That does sound like a good idea. Why didn't I think of it?" she murmured to herself while putting down the quill.
Lily glanced up at him in time to see the devilish grin spread across his face as he wanted to say something that would probably irritate her because it was right on the mark.
He didn't say it though.
And she blinked, wondering what was floating around in his head at that moment. Because really, why didn't he just say it?
He was being beyond nice. He was being considerate and-and mature! And ohmygod what was that feeling that overtook her every time the word mature was used to describe James Potter?
Holy sh– Lily's eyes widened as she jumped up from the seat and practically ran across the room to throw herself on the couch where Alice sat quietly.
"Alice!" she shouted with enough volume so the whole common room could hear. "I think I just had a heart attack!" And then she proceeded to sob overdramatically at herself.
Alice, still blonde, looked up in complete surprise and had no choice but to try and comfort her with a half hug and soothing pats on the back.
James stared on in befuddlement.
He could only shrug with raised brows at the people staring at him critically and say, "What? I didn't even say anything!" with complete innocence.
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Two days had passed since Lily went running back to Alice, literally. Whatever it was that had upset her so bad, no one knew. She had yet to tell someone about her revelation.
And she wasn't really having a good time because of it. She was too busy spacing out and being caught up in her thoughts to properly talk to any of the girls.
Her fit in the common room that day was embarrassing enough.
If you caught sight of the redhead at a certain moment, you could see her face twist up in shock and a slight grimace before she was blinking and it was all gone.
At the moment Lily was sitting in the Great Hall with her friends as they ate dinner, and she was tapping her fork against the plate while staring at it in thought.
There were a whole bunch of things going through her head.
How? and When? and Why didn't she notice sooner?
She closed her eyes tightly and tried to come up with a simple solution. Really, she couldn't always rely on other people to help her with things and show her the way and all that jazz.
When her eyes opened a few minutes later she knew there was the obvious answer.
And, well, what was stopping her?
She wasn't a complete idiot.
...All the time.
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Three of the four marauders exchanged a look over the fourth's head.
So James had been a little quiet lately. It wasn't anything that required a trip to the infirmary.
But they were a little worried at what brought on this subdued mood. None of them had witnessed the event, only heard some rumors and suddenly James and Lily weren't hanging out, weren't even talking!
Obviously it was a big disappointment.
But the thing was, James hadn't even acknowledged it out loud. He didn't seem sad or upset or anything.
Because he had realized in the beginning this kind of thing was going to happen. They had been friends only out of necessity on her part. He already knew it would be different once she patched things up with the girls.
So he just shrugged it off and tried not to let it bother him. It was fun while it lasted, that's all.
"So," Remus started off cautiously while spearing a piece of broccoli with his fork.
Before he could say something tactful, Sirius cut in with, "Redheads suck."
Peter sighed in exasperation as Remus tried to deck him.
James smiled and ignored the debacle. He glanced down the table.
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Lily gasped so loudly she started to choke on air.
"Oh my god, are you okay?!" the closest girl, Gina, asked in surprised concern while slapping her on the back.
Alice was too busy laughing across the table from her best friend. Laughing loudly.
Lily changed color in embarrassment and glared at the blonde. "I almost died," she said emphatically, hating herself.
No one was convinced.
She stopped the chuckles from her nearby housemates when she jumped up out of her seat suddenly, and everyone was sure she was going to storm away in anger, seeing as she hadn't been interested in eating anyway.
Instead, the redhead stood there for a moment with her eyes closed tightly in concentration. She was gathering the attention of other students and even some professors looked on with interest.
Then Lily let out this deep sigh while mentally chanting, trying to build up the audacity before making her way down the table, and consequently towards the doors of the Great Hall.
Now everyone's gonna know what an idiot I am! a stray thought came up, distracting her and causing her footsteps to slow down for a few seconds.
But then she just shook her head and kept moving, regaining the original pace.
Everyone's assumptions were shattered when she stopped at a particular group of boys at the Gryffindor table.
"Hi," she said.
The Marauders looked up with wide eyes – well, most of them.
"Lily, are you okay?" Peter asked outright.
She had this odd looking grimace on her face, and it was twitching to let fear show through.
"Scratch that," she looked at James directly. "Hey," her voice said, much too quiet for most people nearby to hear.
James smiled when his eyes lit up in recognition. "Hey..." he stated unsurely, unintentionally mimicking her.
Lily stood there a moment, wondering what to do or say next.
She couldn't come up with anything and the seconds were passing by. It was making her panic.
So she tried to recall what it felt like, taking all those risks and not worrying about consequences. It was always this explosion of euphoria that made laughter bubble up for no real reason.
"So I learned something this week," she started off. "I am a real chicken. And it doesn't get me anywhere."
"You don't say," James shot back, eyes mocking as he leaned towards her with his elbows on the table.
"Yeah," she admitted sheepishly. "I think too much, even though I'm an idiot," Lily laughed at herself.
"Can't deny that," he responded, which brought her to glare briefly.
But then Lily sighed and said, "Yeah...but I don't want to do that anymore. Well, not as much anyway. I just came here to say...I like you. And..." She struggled to find some parting line that would leave everyone in awe at her sophistication before sashaying out of the room – not noticing that jaws had already dropped.
So eventually she just shrugged to herself and moved forward, between Remus and Peter, across the table to grab James' tie.
And seeing as she was Lily and not as bold as she'd like, she landed the briefest kiss on his cheek possible before dropping his tie like a hot potato and pulling away to blink rapidly at her actions.
James stared at her blankly, his glasses slightly askew, wondering how Lily the chicken managed to get that past him. He had spent almost a week in her exclusive company and learned she wasn't as sure-footed as she was when turning him down all those previous years.
In fact, when did she develop feelings for him? (Not that he was complaining.) But when they had that 'friends' talk he was surprised then too. Now he was...
Ah! There it was! The perfect line!
Lily smirked, thinking she'd finally get it right.
"So, wanna go to the library and...study?" she asked.
James could only imagine how foolish he looked as the wry smile crept up.
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They weren't sure about the other houses or even the professors, but Gryffindor common room was still shifting around in stunned silence.
Curious eyes glanced over to the few people they thought might have some answers, but no one approached with the questions.
"Wow," Gina commented.
"I didn't think she had it in her," Jessica responded.
"She didn't," Alice said back.
Mary bit her lip. "You know, to be honest I didn't think this whole plan was going to work."
Angela looked up sharply. "Then why did we go through with it!"
Sirius was grinning and shaking his head. "How do you know it was your plan that did it?"
"Why is he sitting with us?" Jessica asked, pointing a thumb over her shoulder while addressing anyone else.
"Where did they go anyway?" Alice questioned.
"If we had just followed them like I–" Sirius was saying again.
Though Jessica looked at him with raised brows she didn't say anything out loud.
"Yeah, I kind of wanted to follow them too–"
Mary shut up when most of her companions looked at her.
Peter mumbled something that no one could hear.
"What?" Alice asked, looking at him.
"I think they may have gone...to the library."
There was a collective shudder where everyone knew they could never look at Lily and books the same way again. The pause stretched on until Mary looked up.
"Well...she sure shocked him," she said.
A few of them smiled while Sirius and Alice burst into laughter.
Angela nodded. "And left us in awe."
"Hey, where's Annie?"
Gina waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, she said her and Remus were going to study."
Everyone stopped and looked up in surprise. Sirius jumped up, looking at Peter.
"Where's the map? Where's the map?" he asked eagerly in haste.
Peter looked at him hopelessly. "He took it!" he confirmed in surprise.
Sirius groaned, covering his face as the girls looked on in confusion.
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"So how exactly did this happen?"
"Well, my thoughts were all like, Holy sh– I like James Potter! And then I was all, ohmygodohmygodohmygod for a bit and then I was like, screw that! I've been acting like an idiot too long! No more of that! And so I jumped up, marched over–! ...And then started spewing nonsense and praying I wasn't just humiliating myself and that I wasn't the only one who felt this way and–"
"Breathe!"
Pause.
"Okay, so yeah."
"I guess that'll be a good story to tell people when they ask about this relationship."
xo end xo
XD I love Lily. She's so adorable.
I'll tell you the truth. I used to be like that. Seriously, that kind of character is not unrealistic! I was really bad with confrontation and always getting upset with people and then I avoided talking to them for amazing amounts of time before I finally gave in and went crawling back like an idiot.
I had so much fun writing this chapter, but to be honest I wasn't sure I could get into it. It had been weeks since I last wrote something for this story and in that time I had been writing for other fanfics (Schooled, Are you stalking me?!, Different Colors, the one-shot Crushed, as well as other still-in-the-works projects) so I wondered if I would be out of touch with Lily's plight and James' uncharacteristic behavior and I wasn't sure exactly what would come next. But what do ya know? I wrote almost 3900 words in less than two days, and there was still more to do.
To be honest I really hated the way things ended and I was waiting for something better to come along but seriously this is the way things happened. See, even I as the author don't always know what or how things are gonna happen.
Well...if you can't tell after reading this last chapter...I am bad at endings. Mostly the sappy, happy, happily-ever-after kind of endings. I suck at those.
Hope you were satisfied, because I won't write an epilogue or anything. (Unless I find I forgot to mention/clear up something, let's hope not.) Hm...
I got too wrapped up in writing this story the past three days so now I can work on something else!
Thanks for reading/reviewing/supporting/or whatever!
Hey, did anyone ever actually check my profile to see how I was doing with updates and writing? Or was I really just talking to myself?
8-3-10
12:31am
Alright, time to post.
Sorry I didn't make that Monday deadline but it's all good, right?
8-3-10
9:29pm