A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews guys! Here is the fifth chapter of Moments Lost in Time. Please read and review.
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Chapter Five: Johnny the Cock Boy
As soon as Carina had seen Lily and James step into the portrait hole, she had immediately hurried to make her way out. Lily was a volatile spitfire, and Carina hadn't wanted to get involved in this particular spat. It was the first day after all…a girl deserved a break now and then. Nevertheless she couldn't help but smile as she overheard Sirius's joyful singing while slipping out and imagined Lily's increasingly angry – and revolted – face.
She would just take a quick walk around the castle, be back in time for the fight to be ending and run to support Lily and pretend she had been there the entire time. She would then try her hardest to stay awake as Lily ranted into the early hours of the morning, and, taking a look around at the slumbering girls, would plaintively ask, 'Guys…?' Lily would then look at the clock, and fly into a fury once more, raging about how James had kept her up all night and was responsible if she looked anything but perfect the next morning. She did need her beauty sleep after all…
Carina slipped towards the kitchens. It had been a full two hours since the feast ended - she might as well get some chocolate while she was out. She would even make it a point to bring some back for what would soon be a seriously pissed-off Lily. Ahh...how lucky Lily was to have friends like her...Carina conveniently cast from her mind that she had just moments before practically run from Lily during her "hour of need" - which was basically whenever Potter was involved. She had never quite understood why Lily seemed to exist in a constant shell of smoky denial.
Why didn't she just admit she had the hots for Potter, jump him, and move on? If Carina really thought about it, Lily hadn't truly given any outward sign of affection towards the bespectacled boy, but Carina knew it was just a matter of time. And if Carina was in a truly introspective mood she would also find that James had been influencing her substantially with his deranged ramblings of 'Lily Potter sounds nice doesn't it guys?' and 'Don't we look so cute together?' and 'Carina!!! Who was that boy who said 'hi' to Lily? Does she know him? Huh? Huh? Well he's ugly anyway and Lily doesn't like ugly guys does she? I mean if she can't go out with me then really, who can she go out with? And besides, what are his prospects? Is he half as smart as me? Or handsome, or charming, or positively dashing, snazzily dressing, completely adorable...' It was at this point that Carina would walk away shaking her head and wondering why, why oh why, did it have to be her who had to constantly listen to both sides?
It was truly exhausting how much time she was required to spend in the battle zone, being an acquaintance of both parties. She should have earned the friggin' Nobel Peace Prize by now, the International Peace Prize, the Joliot-Curie Golden Medal of Peace...well, she didn't know anymore, but the point remained that she deserved a shiny plaque or medal. Keeping the peace between Lily Evans and James Potter was truly a task for which she should have been commended long ago.
Who deserved it more than she? Sirius stirred up trouble, Remus stopped briefly to make a remark before resuming his reading, Peter stood there like a bump on a log, a particularly stupid one at that, and when Sierra wasn't helping her sedate Lily, she was helpfully, oh so helpfully, inserting pointed remarks which did nothing to pacify Lily, but which everyone laughed at anyways.
Did they have no minds of their own? Must they all follow the script they adhered to annoyingly faithfully every time an 'argument/love fest/orgy' (so the last one wasn't entirely true, but it was bound to happen someday), broke out? Couldn't Peter, for once not stand there, like a particularly hairy wart on a sedentary toad? Why didn't he throw himself between Lily and James? What sort of a friend was he? I mean, Lily's scratches wouldn't have caused too much pain, and the infections that would be sure to follow would easily be cured with two months of bed rest in the hospital wing, and multiple rounds of a veritable variety of noxious "healing" potions.
Carina's ramblings had led her to a place of the castle that she wasn't completely familiar with. Turning once, she blinked rapidly trying to figure out where she was. It was with a sigh of relief that she realized she was in a corridor just off the Great Hall that led to the Hufflepuff common rooms.
Shaking her head once, she began to move towards the kitchens, only to be stopped by a slightly timid voice coming from her left.
"Uh…you-you're friends with James Potter, aren't you?"
Carina swiveled, hand firmly grasping her wand, until the words sank into her clouded mind. It was then she focused enough to see a timid second year looking at her with blatant curiosity and the slightest hint of fear as his eyes widened slightly at her wand.
Relaxing slightly, but still wary, Carina nodded. "Aren't you supposed to be in you common room by now? You're lucky I'm not a prefect."
"Aren't you supposed to be in your common room too?" the boy shot back instantly.
Carina grinned slightly, relaxing a bit further. "I should be," she conceded, "but who needs to know I was out in the first place? Let's just say this is our little secret." She winked once and started to make her way towards the Great Hall when his voice stopped her once more.
"He didn't hex me, you know."
Carina instantly turned back around, greenish grey eyes widening in surprise.
"He was actually telling the truth. In a rambling fashion," the second-year paused for a moment, remembering James's colorful explanation, "but he really was telling the truth."
"What?"
The boy's eyes widened. "I thought you knew!"
"Knew what?" Carina was becoming increasingly annoyed with this midget's obstructing presence and lack of explanation.
"Didn't you hear the screaming? I would have though the entire castle would have heard it by now…."
"What screaming?" Carina then paused for a moment, comprehension dawning in her eyes. "You mean James and Lily?"
"No! I meant Happy the Clown and jolly ol' Santa Claus."
Far from being offended by the kid's sardonic tone, Carina began to laugh and at the boy's puzzled look said, "Lily and James screaming is hardly news anymore. In fact, it's practically a tradition."
"Have you made it your mission in life to be slow?" the boy asked impatiently.
Carina immediately bristled, remembering Sirius's taunts from the train ride that seemed so long ago.
The second-year continued on, completely ignoring her reaction. "Haven't you heard? Why the entire castle has heard by now. I'm quite the celebrity you see," here he puffed his chest out importantly before grandly proclaiming, "I'll have signed pictures available at lunch tomorrow."
"Heard about what?" Carina asked, trying to get over the fact that Hufflepuff house had another Gilderoy Lockhart in the making.
The boy sighed. "I, Jonathan Alexander Percival Edward Christopher Andrew Tristan Murray the fifteenth - Johnny for short," he added, noticing Carina's appalled expression, "am the sole instigator of the first battle of the ongoing duel that is currently in place between James Something Potter and Lily Something Else Altogether Evans." More puffing of chest ensued.
Carina's jaw was somewhere in the vicinity of her knees. "There were FOURTEEN other people in your family named that before you?"
The boy sighed again. "You sure you're a sixth year? What I'm trying to say is, before Lily blows up the entire castle, could you please inform her that James didn't hex me? Some Slytherins really did attack me and James stepped in and stood up for me. Not that I needed it – I was two steps away from kicking their buts and they knew it."
"James didn't hex you?"
"YES. James Potter did, in no circumstance, hex me, Jonathan Alexander Per-"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Carina cut in, not wanting to hear his entire name again. "You sure he didn't hex you?" she asked once more, wanting to make absolutely sure.
"No, of course he did. I'm lying - a cuckoo pathological liar, that's me," the boy responded sarcastically, his face twisted into a sneer.
"Well sor-ry for asking," returned Carina, with a huffy sigh of her own.
If what the boy was telling her was true, she had to get back immediately to let Lily know. Telling Lily Evans she was wrong, wasn't always the best move for one's mortality, but Carina was oddly relishing the task ahead.
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"WHAT?!"
"It's true Lils, really," Carina said earnestly. "Jonathan Alexander Percival Edward Christopher Andrew Tristan Murray the fifteenth - Johnny for short - told me so!"
Lily's brow creased in confusion. "Who told you this again?"
"Jonathan Alexander Percival Edward Christopher Andrew Tristan Murray the fifteenth, of course!" Carina explained. She could have sworn she hadn't been this slow.
Flashback
Carina's jaw was somewhere in the vicinity of her knees. "There were FOURTEEN other people in your family named that before you?"
End Flashback
"Wait…" Lily's forehead smoothed over somewhat. "Cock Boy told you this!"
A muffled snort was heard, and when Carina and Lily both turned towards it, they found a rapidly turning red Sierra muffling her uproarious laughter in a pillow.
"What are you laughing at?" asked both Lily and Carina in unison. Couldn't she see that important matters were going on here? Lily was trying to come to terms with the fact that she was wrong, for Pete's sake, and Carina didn't take well to her sleuthing skills being insulted in any way, thank you very much.
"Johnny…the fifteenth…Cock Boy!" Sierra gasped in response, before convulsing into fits of laughter once more.
Carina's lips twitched and she avoided eye contact with a soon to be laughing Lily.
Laughter aside, Lily was feeling slightly guilty about the way she had treated Potter. Her stomach clenched uncomfortably as she remembered those hurt filled eyes, quickly masked over, as Potter tried in vain to defend himself. So it had been true. Potter really had been defending Jonathan whatshisface from the Slytherins. Lily tried not to think of his nobleness and of the fact that he had lied to her. Why hadn't he just told her he had been defending Johnny? Oh wait…he had. Never mind then. Another twisting clench later and she was feeling down right guilty.
Sierra, now over her laughing fit, was extremely observant and had been quick to notice Lily's change in demeanor. Raising her eyebrows slightly and giving Carina a meaningful look, she moved onto Lily's bed and said gently, "It's okay to feel guilty – maybe now you won't be so hasty to jump to conclusions. And now you can apologize-"
"Apologize?!" cried Lily, clearly startled.
"You have to apologize, Lil…" reminded Carina softly.
"Yeah, about that…" Lily immediately deflated again, and began to look worried. "What if he makes fun of me? What if he holds this over my head for all of eternity?"
"Despite contrary belief, James isn't truly that bad of a guy. Right Sierra?" asked Carina, looking over Lily's slightly bent head and locking gazes with Sierra.
Sierra hastened to assure Lily. "He isn't that bad Lil, really. Bit obnoxious for my taste, but when he isn't making a fool of himself he can be quite kind. Selfless really."
Lily looked at her best friends in shock. When had the Invasion of the Body-Snatchers taken place? What were her friends saying?
But despite the fact that she really, really, really, didn't want to do this, Lily knew that she had too. Sighing deeply, she nodded once, and both her friends looked vastly relieved.
Alice Johnson, a truly nice girl who shared their dorm, called from beneath her covers, "Can we go to sleep yet?"
"Sorry Alice," called Lily. She thanked her friends, who were making their way to back to their respective beds, before turning off the light and settling down for the night, dreading the morning to come.
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"She loves me…" - a hot pink Speedo brief of Peter's flew by - "she loves me not" – Sirius's grungy sock- "she loves me"- Peter's Easter socks, with bunny ears attached – "she loves me not"- Remus's holly covered Christmas socks.
So this was what James Potter's life had been reduced to.
James looked forlornly at the bottom of the laundry hamper before sighing at the outcome, and standing up. Ever since the blow up in the common room – a blow up Sirius had made every attempt to make worse – that had resulted in Lily defiantly stalking away he had been feeling kind of…low. So low that he had resorted to playing the "she loves me/loves me not" game. Except the Marauder's dormitory didn't have much in the way of greenery – the fumes coming from the boys' socks would have killed the strongest of plants – and James had been forced to use the dirty laundry from their hamper instead.
When James turned around, he immediately came face to face with his friends who had formed a semi-circle around him and the hamper, apparently concerned about his mental well-being. Even the sight of the hot pink speedo crowning Peter's head couldn't elicit a laugh from this down-in-the-dumps marauder.
"You really need to find a bird, mate." This, coming from Sirius, wasn't much of a surprise. What was truly a surprise was when Remus nodded in agreement. Peter bobbed his head enthusiastically, not quite sure what was going on, but happy to comply. The pink speedo bobbed with him before flying off and hitting James square in the face.
Face impassive, James slowly reached up and snatched the repulsive garment off of his face and shot Peter a questioning look.
Peter, immediately defensive, said, "It was a birthday present from my mummy!"
James, still not speaking, quirked an eyebrow. Peter now rambling, his forehead shiny with perspiration, continued, "I mean what you say to your mummy when she hands you a present? She would have been crushed if I had been anything but happy!"
Sirius spoke up. "But why do you still wear it? I mean my mother once gave me an old dirty sock for my birthday but you don't see me wearing it."
Peter mumbled something incoherently.
"What Peter? Didn't quite catch that…"
"I was behind on my laundry okay?" he threw up his hands. "I mean, it was this or nothing."
All three made a face, inherently glad that Peter had made the right choice. A blow to mankind, but the right choice nonetheless.
"I mean, why wouldn't she believe me? I explained it clearly and everything!" James, stuffed hands in his pockets, and, remembering his none too clear rambling, began pacing the length of the room.
"Maybe you haven't given her much reason in the past to believe you mate," Remus pointed out gently.
"But I wouldn't hex a second year! He wasn't a Slytherin either!"
"Well if she doesn't believe you, it's time to find a new girl!" proclaimed Sirius robustly.
James looked at him like he was crazy. "A new girl! A new girl! I have spent five and a half years of my life chasing that one! I think I deserve her as compensation for all that time!"
Sirius looked taken back. "Five and a half years? Has it really been that long? Remus, I think Jamsie-poo has lost it." Ignoring James's look of indignation he continued. "One or two years might even be termed acceptable, three is crossing the line, and five is just calling for admittance to the loony-bin. Obsessive much?"
"So what if I'm obsessed? The object of my affection – ok, fine, my obsession – thinks I'm capable of hexing a second year, damm it! Which brings us back to a very important point: why doesn't she believe me?!" A high pitched, wheedling tone entered James's deep voice.
Peter struggled to answer the question. "Well James," he started importantly, "I think it might be the fact…er, well you see, she probably…well, actually I don't know why she doesn't believe you…" Peter shrugged and tried not to notice James's face fall.
"But that's my point…why?"
Remus, unable to see his friend in such a state, tried to console him. "There's other fish in the sea James. Lily isn't everything. I'm sure you can find another, er, "bird" is it?" He looked questioningly at Sirius who nodded in confirmation.
"I suppose…" James was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that Lily Evans, a girl he had practically placed on a pedestal, thought he was a good-for-nothing bastard basically.
James had single-handedly stood up to those Slytherin's bullying of an innocent second-year and Lily Evans had come by and thrown it all in his face. How was James supposed to feel now? Well, he was still smarting over the fact that she could have accused him of all those things. What gave her any right to jump to such hasty conclusions and not even give him a chance to explain?
James couldn't believe he was even contemplating this. And then a rebellious thought occurred to him that brought every happy-ever-after castle in the air he had constructed involving Lily crashing down about his ears. What did he really like about Lily Evans? Sure she was pretty, but so were a lot of other girls. She was nice to everyone - everyone, excluding him that is. So exactly why was he wasting his time on her?
A deafening silence had descending in the room, all three marauders watching their friend closely as a pained expression crossed James's face, before turning into one of anger and steely determination.
"Um, you alright James?" asked Sirius tentatively, uncomfortable with the awkward silence that has taken over the room.
James straightened and even attempted a smile of sorts, although there was no happiness behind it. "I think I will be," he replied.
It was an odd feeling for James, but he suddenly felt lighter than he had in a long time. "I don't like her anymore," he announced, largely to the room.
Judging by the shocked looks on his friends' faces, he knew it had come as a bit of a surprise to them as well.
"Just like that?" asked Sirius incredulously. "I know I was joking around before about you finding another girl, but are you really sure about this James?"
Remus, equally concerned, added, "You can't just turn off your love for a person like a light switch James."
Hearing it said like that, even James has to admit it was a bit absurd. Although he would never say it aloud, the debacle that had carried on tonight had hurt him much more then he would have cared to admit. But in that moment, he knew that, although his feelings for Lily would never truly be dead, he was on his way to acceptance of the fact that he would never really have her.
James Potter was finally over Lily Evans.
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A/N: Dun, dun, dun! Now we've got ourselves a story. Well, the course of true love never did run smooth…What do you guys think? How does this bode for Lily and James's dysfunctional relationship (if you can call it that)? Will she apologize and make everything better again? Will James revert back to his adorable self? Will James even accept her apology? Review and let us know!
Looking forward to answering your reviews,
Caeruleus Libellus