Chapter 27 : Sound Advice
James leant up against the corridor wall, and slid down it. Sometimes words couldn't describe what a moron he was. He had basically just told the girl who he had been after for seven years, the girl who he was so close to making his own, that really it was ok to take advantage of someone whose parents had just died, because really it would be very hard to say no.
Physically slapping himself, he proceeded to his first class of the day, Care of Magical Creatures.
Wandering into the class some fifteen minutes late, James made up some excuse and slumped into the seat between Sirius and Remus, a huge scowl on his face.
"Mr Potter," Professor Hogg barked. "I realise that theory classes may not be the most exciting, but be that as it may, you will show some respect when you are in my class!"
"Sorry Professor," James sighed, not taking the slightest bit of notice.
"SIT UP!" she screamed. "You've already missed a quarter of this class, I will not have you disrupting the rest of it!"
James opened his mouth to point out that he had barely said a word since entering the room, but found he didn't quite have the energy to fight with her today. Professor Hogg was one of a few teachers who didn't believe he should be Head Boy.
She started back into some rant about some sort of magical creature, as James quickly tuned out. He had lost his patience for this subject, which he suspected had something to do with the teacher. Besides, being able to turn into a stag on demand had given him an understanding of animals that no lesson could ever teach him.
"Prongs I know you're unhappy about giving me another detention, but there's really no need to beat yourself up about it, or jump off a bridge or anything. I mean don't feel you have to cause yourself any kind of physical pain on my account," Sirius whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
"Shut up!" James snapped back, folding his arms and resting his head on them on the desk.
"Oooooo," Sirius jested back, poking him in the leg with his quill. "What's wrong with you then?"
James glared at him.
"Things didn't go well with Lily then?" Remus asked.
James glared at him too.
"Not too well, no," he answered sarcastically.
"Couldn't have been that bad," Remus offered.
"Couldn't have been much worse," James answered. "Well no that's not true, I mean I could have shoved my finger in her eye… although… that might have been better than what I actually did… so yea, it couldn't have been worse."
"Prongs, what did you do?" Sirius asked, in mock concern.
"Nothing," James huffed back. "I don't want to talk about it. Especially not with you!"
"What! What did I do!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Ssssssssh!" Remus hissed. "Keep your voice down, you don't want to land us all in detention!"
"Some of us are already in detention Moony," Sirius replied bitterly, but all the same quietly. "Because this woman here decided if he wasn't getting any, none of the rest of should!"
"Yea well, if you had kept your trousers on, then I wouldn't have just fucked things up with Lily!" James spat.
"What! The whereabouts of my trousers have nothing to do with Lily!" Sirius was starting to get really irritated now, just like he did anytime anyone brought up the subject of Caitlin, or their sleeping arrangements.
James said nothing, not wanting a brawl with Sirius to add to his already bad mood. He took a more sensible route, and put his head back down on the table.
"Prongs, whatever happened with Lily, you know the pair of you will work it out," Remus said quietly, before returning to his work.
"Yea, I mean, that's what you two do isn't it?" Sirius added before doing the same.
At the end of the class, which James was sure had gone on for days, his mood was still as dark as ever. He vaguely made out the sounds of his friends getting out of their chairs beside him, and found himself doing the same. He was just about to stalk out of the classroom when he found a figure in the doorway blocking him.
"Detention Potter," Professor Hogg sneered. "For talking in class."
"But Miss I barely spoke!" James protested.
"What was I teaching about today Potter?"
James couldn't answer, he honestly had no idea.
"Detention Potter," Hogg smirked, and stepped aside to let him out. He found Sirius and Remus waiting for him outside. They had seen everything.
"Unlucky mate," Sirius said, trying to console him. "If she had caught us she would have put us in detention too."
"That's a lie and you know it," James snapped back. "She just hates me, and she hates the fact I'm Head Boy even more!"
"So? Let her hate you," Sirius replied. "Dumbledore made you Head Boy and there's no way some stuck up spinster like Hogg has better judgement than Dumbledore."
"Yea, but everybody knows I'm second choice," James mumbled. "We all know you'd have been far better at it Moony," he said, turning to Remus.
"Oh yea, I'd have been so much better," Remus laughed. "'Excuse me kids I've just got to go and turn into a blood thirsty monster for a while – don't break any rules while I'm away.' Could you imagine it?"
"Maybe that would have been a good thing," Sirius argued. "You would have got a lot more respect if they thought you would actually rip them limb from limb if they misbehaved!"
Sirius and Remus laughed at the joke, but James remained silent and sullen.
"Oh cheer up would you?" Sirius pleaded.
"I can't," James said flatly. "I'm having a terrible day, and knowing me it's going to get worse before it gets better."
Thinking it might be better if he had some time on his own, he stormed off down the corridor leaving Sirius and Remus behind him.
The rest of James day didn't quite turn out as he predicted, but although it didn't get any worse, it didn't get any better either. He spent most of it ignoring whatever was going on around him, including his friends and his lessons, and feeling sorry for himself.
In one day he had managed to completely ostracize himself from Lily, probably for good, and been made to feel guilty about being Head Boy. All he needed now was for someone to come tell him that they thought Caitlin would make a far better Quidditch captain and he was being thrown off the team.
"Can I have your attention please?"
It was now dinnertime and James was in the Great Hall with the rest of the school. He was vaguely aware of his friends sitting round him at the Gryffindor table, but was far more acutely sensitive to a certain red head sitting on down the table – ignoring him.
Dumbledore had just risen from the staff table and addressed the hall. It had taken James a moment to realise where the voice had come from, before Peter had nudged him and pointed up the hall.
"I apologise for interrupting your dinner – I hope you're all enjoying it." There was a gentle murmur of consent. "Anyway it has been brought to my attention, by certain members of the seventh year…" James was sure he saw Dumbledore cast a glance at the Gryffindor girls sitting in front of him. "…that many of you were very disappointed at the last minute cancelling of the Yule Ball."
Most of the girls in the hall cast each other eager looks, whilst the boys just seemed to glare at Dumbledore, some of them quite threateningly.
"So after much deliberation and persuasion…" His eyes came to rest on someone at the Gryffindor table. "…it has been decided there will be another ball…" Many excited squeals were heard. "… on St Valentine's Day." Followed by an even louder – predominantly male – groan.
James saw Avril Knight turn round and grinned widely at him; she would of course have to be seated right beside Lily, who still had her back to him.
A stunning realisation swept over him – James Potter had just discovered hell on earth.
"I knew that promise would come around to bite you in the arse," Remus reminded him annoyingly, whilst he and Peter started laughing.
"No guys, I actually don't think he can breathe," Sirius cut in, deadly serious. "Prongs?"
James didn't reply, he couldn't.
"Moony grab under his other arm, Wormtail you get his feet," Sirius barked.
James suddenly found himself being hoisted up out of his seat and out of the hall. He knew everybody would be staring at this ridiculous display, everyone except Lily of course, but at this moment in time he had lost the ability to care.
"Where are we taking him?" Peter panted as they entered the Entrance Hall.
"The lake," Sirius barked back. "Throwing him in it might bring him round."
James immediately wriggled free of their grasp and stood up.
"Ok! Ok! I'm up! I'm up!"
"Knew that would work," Sirius said slyly. "Now are you going to tell us what the hell is going on?"
James sat down in the middle of the floor.
"Maybe you should just throw me in the lake," he said, placing his head in his hands.
"Prongs," Sirius said threateningly.
"Ok! Well Lily started having a go about the way you were handling the situation with Caitlin."
Sirius gave an irritated puff of air.
"So I stood up for you," James continued pointedly. "But whilst I was standing up for you, I inadvertently told her that it was ok to take advantage of people whose parents had just died."
Remus and Peter's mouth fell wide open, whilst Sirius just stood there defiantly.
"So? Things between Caitlin and me have nothing to do with her, and I am NOT taking advantage of…"
"Padfoot, you're not listening. First of all the way Caitlin gets treated has everything to do with her as she's her best friend and second of all, I was thinking she probably took my statement to be about her and me, rather than Caitlin and you."
Sirius seemed to relax a bit.
"Look, it's just another of your silly fights isn't it? You obviously didn't mean to say that. So just go apologise to her and invite her to that stupid ball!"
James didn't even get to think about that suggestion before Remus interrupted.
"I don't think that's such a good idea do you?"
"Why not?" Sirius asked.
"Because a better way to show that you didn't actually believe in what you were saying is to proof it. Don't try and ask her out when she's still grieving over her mother!" Remus reasoned.
"There is that," Sirius conceded.
"And also you already promised you'd take Avril to the ball," Peter added. "You might want to sort that out before you ask someone else."
James fell back onto the floor again with a groan.
Later that night James was lying on his bed reading. It was something he always did out of sight, so it didn't ruin his 'I don't need to revise, I'm just naturally that smart' image. It was also a good excuse to stay of the way of Avril, who he hadn't thought of how he was going to get out of going to the ball with.
Suddenly his bedroom door was thrust open and a very agitated Lily walked in. James barely had time to look up from his book before she had started on him.
"Well come on then!" she all but bellowed. James gave her a confused look. "Let's get this over with!"
"Get what over with?" For one terrifying moment James thought she might be talking about his life.
"Your apology," Lily demanded. "I've too much else to deal with at the moment to have to worry about the atmosphere between us as well. So go on!"
"Uh… I'm sorry?" James stuttered.
"For what?" Lily barked.
"For saying it was alright to take advantage of people who… Well you know what I said. I didn't mean it," he assured her.
"Well I obviously I knew that," she replied sharply, sitting down on the end of James' bed. "I just stormed off this morning because it really annoyed me at the time, and I couldn't think straight." James shifted a bit in his seat as he bit back the temptation to ask why else would she have stormed off.
'I mean, you're hardly going to storm off because it made you really happy, are you?' he thought bitterly.
"But I've calmed down enough now, so I can accept your apology," Lily continued.
"Yes, because you're obviously a picture of serenity at the moment, aren't you?"
It was a moment before James realised he'd actually said the words out loud. Lily looked at him shocked for an instant, and then burst out laughing. James breathed a sigh of relief.
"So why did you come up here then? Cause its obvious the last thing you would want to do is talk to me?" James asked, assured that Lily had now calmed down again.
"I was forced to," Lily admitted. "A certain friend of mine told me that I had overreacted to the whole thing and should go and speak to you to clear the air. After hearing this constantly throughout the whole day, I eventually gave in. So here I am." Lily flapped her arms about to indicate herself.
"Right, so… Hang on… which certain friend? Did you tell Caitlin about what I…"
"Yes James, because I am that insensitive," Lily replied coolly. "It was Alice, ok?"
"Right I'm sorry. It would just be the perfect end to the perfect day for Caitlin to find out about what I said," James said glumly.
"Come on then," Lily said, sliding back on the bed so she was now lying beside James. "Tell me all about it."
"Well first of all I had that fight with you, then I had a row with Professor Hogg about me being Head Boy, then there's that bloody ball…"
"Oh, Avril's ball you mean?" Lily interrupted, suddenly a bit stiffer.
"What do you mean Avril's ball?" James asked intrigued.
"Just that," Lily stated. "It's her ball. She's the one that put Dumbledore up to it. Said it wouldn't be fair if we didn't have a ball in our last year, but I'd love to find her real reason for doing it," she finished, a look of plotting in her eye.
"I think I can help you with that," James answered. Lily looked at him intrigued. "Uh… after the Yule Ball was cancelled, I kind of promised her I'd take her to the next ball there was at Hogwarts… if there was a ball… which there is now."
James squinted up his eyes, preparing himself for the onslaught of Lily telling how terrible it was for him to make a promise he had no intention of keeping. However, he opened his eyes when he heard Lily give a squeal of mirth.
"Oh I'm glad you find it so funny, me having to take her to the ball!" James protested.
"No, no, it's not that," Lily managed to splutter through her laughing. "It's just that, well… after you left…"
"By 'left' do you mean 'dragged out of the hall by your mates'?" James asked sarcastically, mentally added another event that had made up his terrible day.
Lily hit him on the arm as she collapsed into another fit of giggles.
"After you left…" she tried to continue. "Dumbledore… Well for some strange reason Dumbledore decided that there would be no partners. He said that it would cause too much upheaval in the school for us all to be dashing about eyeing each other up."
"I would have paid to have seen the look on Avril's face," James declared.
"Oh it was priceless," Lily admitted. "And now it makes sense. Poor Avril, although it serves her right," she added, folding her arms.
"That's not like you," James chastised her.
"Yes well she only did it because Scarlet told her about what happened between you and me at New Years."
Lily held his gaze for a moment and then looked purposely in the opposite direction, just as James did the same. He suddenly became very aware that Lily Evans was lying beside him, on his bed. With a great effort, James turned himself back to face her and completed a statement he thought he would never find himself saying.
"Lily, about New Years," he started. "Well about us really. I think… Well… I don't really know how you're feeling at the moment, you know after the attack and your mother, and I'm not even sure you know how you're feeling… so… I think I should give you space until you get everything sorted out." He took a deep breath. "Lily, I think we should just be friends at the moment," he finished, looking at the wall straight ahead of him.
"James." He looked round. "I think that's the most sensible thing I've ever heard you say."
She kissed him on the cheek and left.
James made a mental note to give Remus a hug the next time he saw him.
Ugh I hate it but there's no point in trying to change it. I'm building up to something better. Sorry for late update but I have exams. Please review! Tell me its crap!
Ruinsul: Sorry you had to wait so long for that chapter. Let's just say Sirius' plan will eventually come good.
Alantie Mistaniu: Still alive! Hope you enjoyed that chapter!
MJshunpike: Hope James redeemed himself in that chapter. Sorry about the whole Sirius and Caitlin thing, but it will get sorted I promise. Just keep reading!
BurningIce22: Another semi cliffy. Thanks for reviewing.
Desi-Siriuslovesyou: You've probably been waiting a long time for this. Sorry about that but exams come first. Hope you laughed a few times at that chapter. The next one should be must sooner. I hope!
CompleteGeek: Thank you very much. It is a shame so many people have to die, but it makes for a better story. You'll see more of Caitlin in the next chapter.
Augurey Song: At least he got himself out of it! Thanks for reviewing!
man eating plant: Thank you. At least they've made up again! The nickname thing took me quite a while to come up with.
ebony-plays-the-viola: Goodness your reviews are long. Yes your right there will be a Caitlin meltdown, although it will lead to something that hopefully no one will have seen coming. I liked Remus in the last chapter as well, I think I just have to work on Peter a bit more and then I've basically got all the characters the way I want them. Keep the long reviews coming!
ruberduckysrfun: Awh I love you too. Although you are just some random from the internet. I deleted stranger at the door so I could concentrate on this one. I will probably finish it one day, but not until I finish this one. As for the book thing – no I don't think that will ever happen.
Serb-Maco: Thanks for reviewing!
ilovehp5: Don't worry about reviewing every chapter I'm just happy you left one. James always messes up because he's a typical teenage boy. Yea I liked Letters too. Thanks for reviewing.