Trials and Tribulations
Summary: Harry Potter knew he was going to get shocked when he visited his parents graves. He knew that'd he'd see family he never met; like grandparents, uncles, and aunts. But one thing he didn't know was that he was going to meet his sister.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am not making any profit off of this fanfic.
Chapter Twenty-One: Distance
Lily rubbed her stomach absentmindedly as she trudged down the corridor and to the Library. It was a cold and snowy Wednesday morning, and double Herbology was canceled, which left Lily more time to study for her N.E.W.T.'s. She hadn't been doing too well with her studying schedule with all the disruptions, like passing out, the panic attack, the date, and Head Duties, but now she was determined to get at least a little bit of studying done.
When she reached the Library she smiled in relief. Her favorite table towards the back was void of people and there was barely anyone in the Library at all. She walked to the table and sat down, putting her bag beside her. She opened it and pulled out her notes. 'I left off with Conjuring Charms I think…' She said, flipping through her neatly dated notes. She looked for the most recent page. 'I was right, Conjuring Charms.' She read through her notes, falling into the usual calm she had when studying.
Deep in thought, she didn't notice when a first year slid into a seat across from her. They cleared their throat quietly and that broke Lily's concentration almost immediately. She lowered her notes and smiled pleasantly at the first year. "What can I do for you?"
"Er…I heard that you are exceptionally well in Charms, and I need a bit of help with my homework." The little girl blushed and looked at Lily hopefully.
Lily's pride swelled just a bit. 'I can never get over when they ask me for help.' "Of course I can. What exactly are you doing?"
Lily never thought this would take up her entire morning that she planned for studying, but it did. The poor first year actually had no idea what she was doing, but Lily didn't pity her, she just taught her what she was doing wrong and what to fix it. She also helped her with an essay and wand movement.
By the time Lily finished, she realized she had to leave immediately or else be late to Charms herself. She gathered her things quickly and walked with the first year because they were going in the same general direction. The first year was thanking and apologizing to Lily tremendously. Lily just told her it was alright and they parted ways at Flitwicks classroom. She walked in and made her way to a desk.
"Where were you this morning?" James asked, looking at Lily. He had a feeling she was going to sit with Alice and Elizabeth, because she hadn't been around him in days.
"Library," Lily replied, doing exactly what James thought she was going to do. She sat between Alice and Elizabeth, grinning as they each hugged her.
"You're doing too much work Lily, we need to get together soon," Elizabeth said, not finishing one thought before making another. She patted Lily's stomach. "And goodness, that baby will be popping out some time soon!"
Lily rubbed her stomach. "I wish. All she's doing is kicking and wanting to eat. I feel fat- very round from eating so much." The girls erupted into giggles as Lily fixed her mistake. Then they began talking about the next Hogsmeade trip, and what they were doing. Lily and James had decided that they were going to go shopping for things together during the morning on Saturday, and then split up and hang with their respected group of friends.
"Prongs, you okay?"
James looked up from his hands. He seemed to have been concentrating hard because it took him a moment to focus on Remus and answer him. "Fine. Perfect. Why?"
Remus cocked his head to the side. "I was just wondering. You looked a little out of it, that's all."
James shook his head. In actuality he was a bit concerned about Lily. He had almost immediately picked up on her discomfort and her lack of sleep; all she did was roll around at night and try to find a comfortable position. He had thought about offering her the entire bed and sleeping on the floor. A four poster wasn't the largest bed for two people, one of whom was pregnant, to sleep on. But he knew she would get a bit iffy with him for being too concerned. He had already got a talking to from Lily and Elizabeth, both on separate occasions of course.
James jumped as the door to the classroom slammed shut. It seemed like Flitwick wasn't in a good mood because he was stomping his way to the stack of books on his chair. He climbed up on his chair and stood on his desk, looking at his classroom. His features seemed to melt as he looked at his students. "Well, good morning students."
"Morning," the students chorused.
"Pass in your homework and get your text books out. We'll be doing a bit of a review before your test."
Almost everyone groaned. They had forgotten about the test that Flitwick insisted that they have. Almost everyone except for Lily. She had written it down on the top of her studying schedule. She smiled and reached for her bag, pulling out her text book. Elizabeth nudged her in the side and asked for her homework. Lily also pulled that out of her bag and handed it to Elizabeth, who took it up to Flitwick.
"Stop smiling as if you remembered we had a quiz," Alice hissed, nudging Lily on the other arm. Lily's smile grew larger and she and Alice tried to smother their giggles.
It felt good to be with her friends during classes again.
xoXoXoXox
"Are you writing a book?"
Lily looked up. She had to give him some credit. James hadn't bothered her at all that day and now it was almost time to go to bed. He must have been wanting to go to bed because he was in his pajamas and was looking quite tired. Maybe another reason why he hadn't bothered her was because they had a gruesome quidditch practice. He had a few bumps and bruises on his arms and legs.
"No, I'm just redoing notes for the sixth year prefects because they started a study group, and I'm also redoing my own notes for McGonagall and Slughorn because there a bit messy and I need to add a bit more to them. I also have to do my Ancient Runes homework because it's due on Tuesday, but Monday night I'm overseeing a study group and--"
"Isn't that a bit much?" James asked. "You'll be up for hours."
"It's only a chart and twelve short answer questions James. It'll take a moment to do."
"But what about your other things? And how come you've been acting so distant?"
Before Lily could process the two different questions, James began packing up her things. "What are you doing?" Lily hissed.
"I'm going to go to bed, and I wouldn't mind if you joined me."
"Sleep on your own side of the bed!"
James stepped back and looked at his bed. Lily's things were sprawled out all around her and her legs were nearly straddling the sides. The only place where she wasn't, or her things, on his bed was a small corner between his pillows and wall. "I can't fit there Lily, sorry."
"Well," Lily said, watching as he continued to pack away her things. "Don't do that James! I'm not done yet."
James glared at Lily and then reached over her, ripping a pillow and the blanket that was folded in the corner beside the pillows off the bed. "If I bloody can't sleep on my own effing bed, I'll just sleep on the floor!" He ignored Lily's comment on swearing and threw his things on the floor. He sat down and unfolded his blanket, curling up and trying to go to sleep.
Lily huffed quietly and began working on her notes for the sixth years. She didn't get very far before her vision was clouded by tears. She tried in vain reading what she wrote, but when she failed at that, she slammed her books rather miserably and put them away. She stared at her homework planner that she got from McGonagall rather lamely. She had so much homework, but now she didn't feel very up to doing it anymore. She peeked over the side of the bed and looked at James. "James?"
He grunted in reply.
"James, I'm sorry. I'm just tired of you mollycoddling me!"
James threw the blankets off his head and stared at Lily, exasperated. "What is so wrong with me caring about you?" he demanded.
"It's just--"
"It's just nothing! I don't treat you like you're going to break. All I want to do is make sure you eat and you don't over do yourself, but every time I bloody try to say something, you're biting my head off!"
Lily huffed, knowing she was wrong.
"Now what is wrong with you?" He looked at Lily in the eyes and watched as they flashed dangerously. "Why have you been distant with me and hiding behind your work and Alice and Elizabeth?"
Lily tried to keep her angry front up, but it wasn't working. She felt her resolve breaking. "I'm just tired of sitting around here doing nothing! I'm Head Girl, James--"
James got on his knees and looked at Lily, an eyebrow arched. "There has not been one day that you haven't done something to benefit this school Lily. And you need to remember that too much work will put you back in the hospital. Why don't you lay some responsibility on me instead of packing it all on yourself?"
Lily shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know," she mumbled. She hastily wiped at her eyes and looked at James. "I just hate doing nothing."
"Just think of all the things you'll be doing when the baby's born," James said. "Think of what we'll be doing, to be more truthful." he added, smiling at Lily. He leaned up and wiped away her tears. She smiled at him.
"I'm sorry," Lily said, pulling James on to the bed.
"And since we're on this subject," James said, looking at Lily. "How've you been feeling?"
"Cumbersome," Lily said, patting her stomach. "All I do is hurt nowadays." James looked a little worried and Lily quickly shook her head, putting a soothing hand on his arm. "Normal pregnancy pains James, nothing new."
"Are you sure?" James asked.
Lily nodded her head. "I can distinguish between extreme pain and these regular ones. If I hurt that bad then I'd tell you, honest." James kissed Lily lightly on the cheek. "But you know in less than four months the baby will be born. I counted it up and I'm already twenty-six weeks."
James grinned. "Brilliant." He kissed her cheek again and then crawled into his bed. "You know you still owe me a galleon," he whispered, pulling the blankets back so he could get under them. Lily climbed off the bed and walked towards the bathroom.
"Whatever James. That wasn't a fair bet. I wasn't prepared for the prospect of having a girl." She watched James shrug his shoulders and then she shut the bathroom door.
James laughed and waited for Lily to come back to bed before he pulled the blankets back. "Hurry it's cold!"
A moment later Lily walked out of the bathroom. She climbed into bed. "Where're the Marauders?" she asked sleepily, resting her head on James's chest.
"Up and about probably…Well Sirius is in the Prefects bath…I gave him the password."
"Why do you schedule really tough practices?" Lily asked, looking at James.
James grinned slowly. "We missed a bunch of time in October and we still have to be in top shape for the Quidditch finals later in the year."
"Whatever," Lily mumbled before drifting off to sleep.
James pointed his wand at the lights in the room and whispered, "Nox." before pulling the hangings shut and falling asleep.
xoXoXoXox
BB/N: Goodness! I'm tired. :) I meant to updated…about two days ago, but my schedule has been thrown out of whack with surprises and other things that affect a teenagers life during a week. :) I'm going to get ready for bed now…so goodnight to all my reviewers!
Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate them very much. I really do.
Forever More!
Love,
Bob Bennit
P.S. Did this chapter seem really short...and a bit...I don't know...unconnected, or was that just me? I just couldn't get this to stick together!