A/N: Okay, to avoid any confusion I may have caused in the last chapter: Neither Selene nor Kristen saw Lily and James in the Entrance Hall. They have no idea what is going on, at least not yet…
Chapter Eight - Sensational Lies
Lily smiled at her quill as she scratched out the specifications for a Transfiguration essay, which McGonagall was assigning from the front of the classroom. She had been smiling like this all day, to both her frustration and satisfaction. She finished writing with a flourish, and happily screwed the cap onto her ink bottle. When she looked up, Selene was staring at her, eyes narrowed.
Kristen sat with her head propped onto one hand, peering at their head of House as she told them good day. She made a noise of frustration. "Why do we have to do another essay? We just turned one in today."
Without glancing at their blonde-haired friend, Selene commented, "A better question is- why is Lilyso happy about this essay?"
Lily blinked and looked over at Selene. "Huh?"
"You're acting like this assignment is the highlight of your day…is there anything we should know about, Lily?"
Lily frowned. "Oh. No. I was just…thinking." She blushed. "I'm sorry. I can't seem to concentrate on anything today."
"I noticed," Selene replied wryly.
Kristen shrugged. "She's allowed to have a good day. You should try that some time, Selene, having a good day and all."
Selene rolled her eyes. "I have good days every day. Lily, on the other hand, never smiles this often and I was only…"
McGonagall spoke from their right. "Were you girls planning on leaving anytime today? I will have to ask you to kindly take your things and report to lunch, because I have an appointment with the headmaster."
"Er-sorry." Lily quickly rose from her seat, noticing that they were the only three students left in the room. She threw a few things in her bag and slung it over her shoulder.
"Sorry, professor," Kristen said as they left the classroom.
They began a slow walk to the Great Hall. Lily had been trying to be less obvious, and she hadn't once let her eyes stray over to James Potter. The problem was that they didn't need to; she had a good memory. She figured that this was only giddiness, and it should pass. As the thoughts washed over her again, however, she smiled down at the floor beneath them.
Selene suddenly stopped. "Alright! You're doing it again!"
"What?"
"Smiling!"
Kristen made an exasperated noise and, grabbing both of her friends, began pulling them with her.
Selene sobered. "I'm sorry, Lily. I'm curious by nature, you know that. And you're smiling like you've had some fantastic snog and are running off to…" she trailed off, frowning.
Kristen chuckled softly, and Lily looked over at Selene with pursed lips. The black-haired girl's eyes brightened and she grinned.
"That's it! I was only teasing last night, but- who have you been snogging, Lily?"
Lily's frown deepened as both of her friends looked over at her. "I haven't been-"
"No no, this must be the answer!" Selene nodded animatedly. "I can't think of a better reason for your mood. Now, just tell me who he is."
"I haven't been snogging anybody!" Lily said very quickly, her face turning red. "Just because you can't keep your hands to yourself…"
"Hey! Don't accuse me of things that are…well, actually…oh, fine. But still, I think I'm on to you here."
"You're on to your own madness."
"Well, you're certainly acting like-"
Kristen, watching Lily's stricken expression, shook her head at Selene. "She clearly said no, Selene. Don't badger her; Lily wouldn't lie to us."
Lily felt something sink in her chest. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she shot Kristen an appreciative smile, and then quickly looked away, the smile falling from her lips.
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The rest of the day passed quickly as Lily became continually more anxious about the night before her. She managed to avoid all eye contact with James; it was easier to do when she knew she would be able to see him later. What was not easier was the situation with her friends. And now she was running late, and she had only partly been able to convince Selene that she was not keeping anything from them, especially not a boy.
Once evening rolled around, Lily had disappeared into her dorm to grab a few books before leaving, her heart beating madly against her ribcage. Unfortunately, her friends followed her, and she had to talk to them for an indeterminable amount of time before she felt that it was safe to leave, without suspicion following her as a shadow.
Now she was jogging down a staircase, hoping James had not already given up and left. She glanced around the corner, making sure nobody was walking the halls this late at night. It was past curfew, and although she was not technically forbidden from being out as Head Girl, she would have no excuse if she were stopped. "Oh, sorry, I'm only running to my midnight rendezvous," was hardly a logical answer. She grinned at the absurdity, and the irony of her actions, as she turned down the last hallway.
She took a deep breath and came to a stop in front of the portrait of the Three Musketeers. They bowed to her, and Aramis smiled kindly as she related the password. The door swung forward, and she slipped through, searching wildly for James.
He was spread across the couch, with one hand holding a book open and the other tangled in his hair. She approached slowly, dropping her bag next to the couch. He sat up with a jump, and blinked sleepily at her. Once she came into focus, he smiled.
Lily smiled back, hoping that he could not hear her heartbeat as well as she could feel it. She suddenly felt slightly embarrassed as all of the images from the previous night flooded her memory. Certainly she could be less crazy about this. She was not going to jump on him this time, figuratively or literally. She took another deep breath and blushed when he raised an eyebrow.
"Hello, Lily," he was still grinning at her as he patted the couch next to him. She sat down on the edge, settling a bit further away from him than he had indicated. James frowned, but still looked content.
Lily pointed to the book he was holding open. "Are you doing research?"
"Well, I was…" And as he looked over at her, she noticed his eyes falling to her mouth.
Lily licked her lips, her blush deepening. "Um, right. We should discuss what we've found. It's been a week or so…did you find anything useful?"
James shrugged. "I just can't see any of this changing anyone's mind."
Lily nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. I wish there was a better way to go about this, but any way I think of is just as bad."
James faced her seriously, "However we do this, it's not going to begin happily. I mean, even my friends-"
Lily suddenly groaned, rubbing her eyes and leaning back against the couch. "Please don't mention friends just now."
"What happened?"
Lily sighed. "I hate lying like this."
James nodded, looking resigned. "Me too."
She suddenly faced him, her eyes tracing his face as she spoke, "I've never lied to them like this. I don't usually lie to anybody…I can't even imagine what they'll do when I tell them."
James paused. "When are we going to tell them?"
There was a short silence before Lily said, "Don't you think we should tell them before everyone else knows?"
James nodded. "Probably. I'm just not sure how my friends will take it."
"I'm pretty sure mine will not be very happy with me. Perhaps we should do it together?"
"No. That will be worse."
"Yes, you're right…"
They slipped into silence, and Lily felt James's eyes on her as she twisted her hands in her lap. Her face heated when she looked over to find him staring, looking like he expected her to do something. She wanted to move closer to him, or just lean over and give him a hint, but…she was going to seem like some sort of crazy woman who had to be attached to him every moment. It was enough that she had practically dragged him out of the Great Hall the night before, just because she couldn't take it anymore. What was wrong with her? In an attempt to avoid embarrassment by launching herself onto him, she began talking.
"Well, I haven't found much of use, but let's look at it anyway. We need to figure out when we're going to have this meeting. Should we make announcements to post in the Great Hall?" She began pulling papers out of her bag, and clutching them in her fingers. "How long do you want to wait? We should probably think about-"
James was grinning as he cut her off. "Are you not wanting me to kiss you?"
Lily sighed, gripping the papers in her hands. "It's not that I don't- it's just-" She looked over at him and their eyes met. "Please," she said softly.
He scooted closer and looked down at her. "Please what?"
She swallowed, reaching a hand up to run her fingers through his hair. He watched as she tangled her other hand in the hair at the nape of his neck and pulled him closer. "You shouldn't have to ask me that question, Cavillor," she whispered. Their lips met with a quieter intensity, and she felt her whole body sinking into the couch. James's hand appeared at her waist, shifting her body to face him more fully.
Lily suddenly felt all of her worries slip away, even if she realized that it was momentary. This was almost painful, it was so unexplainable. She had always been able to explain everything, but if someone asked her to describe this emotion, she would fail. She would draw a blank face, and blink, and then probably go searching for James to try it again.
She covered his hand with hers and broke away from him, turning her head to the side. He kissed her on the cheek, his lips skimming the bottom of her ear. She smiled.
"I can't-"
"I think I'm-" He stopped, finally opening his eyes. "What were you going to say?"
"I don't remember."
They stared at one another, until Lily noticed the clock on the wall above the fireplace. "Oh! It's really late, we shouldn't be… we should go."
James nodded, still watching her.
Lily sighed. "Can you- will you come back here tomorrow?"
James leaned over, and capturing her lips again, he whispered against them, "You shouldn't have to ask that question, Ausculto."
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Surprisingly, neither Selene nor Kristen questioned her small smiles the next day. It appeared that Selene had finally accepted Lily's continuous denials of "sneaking off to do naughty things," as Selene so eloquently put it. Selene merely smiled at Lily when she found her grinning at absurd objects, such as her potions cauldron, which was what she was currently staring at.
Potions class had always been Lily's least favorite, and yet she found herself here every year. She needed this class if she wanted to be a Healer. Or an Auror. She hadn't decided yet, but with the war…She frowned. Selene was grumbling something next to her; they had been allowed to switch partners for the day.
"What was that?"
Selene shook her head. "Malfoy. And Snape. They keep looking over here and whispering, like they're planning to kidnap one of us."
Lily's head whipped around to where the Slytherins were seated, across the room. They met her eyes, and both scowled. She grimaced. What could they possibly be up to now? She decided that ignoring them was probably the best option for now. As she turned back around, she noticed James watching her and frowned. She didn't like having so many eyes on her at once.
Selene was cutting up a slimy green plant, and Lily began to stir the potion, causing it to turn bright pink.
"Just ignore him, he's not worth our time," Selene said, noticing Lily biting her lip.
"Huh? Oh, I know. I am."
She heard the Slytherins cackling behind her, and bit down on her tongue in anger. "Ow!"
"What?" Selene looked over.
Something hit the back of Lily's head, and she dropped the ladle she had been stirring with. It fell onto the floor with a sharp clunk.
Professor Jenkins looked over at Lily. "Evans, stop being so loud," he snapped, and then looked back down at the parchment he was holding.
Lily grumbled under her breath and leaned over to pick up whatever had hit her in the head. It was a crumpled piece of parchment, and she quickly smoothed it over. Scared, Mudblood? You have no idea what we know. Lily blinked, and read it again. Was it possible that- no. No, it couldn't be. She grabbed her quill and scribbled, I've never been scared of you. She crumpled it back into a ball, and threw it at Malfoy. Unfortunately, she let it go at exactly the same moment Jenkins looked up from his parchment.
He stood up. "Miss Evans! I do not tolerate students who stay off-task and decide to litter in my classroom!"
Lily turned to face him. "I wasn't-"
"You can serve detention tonight, for refusing to act like a normal human and behave in class." He made as if to turn.
"But sir- tonight I-"
"You do not have a meeting with the headmaster tonight, Evans, because I do. You can serve detention tonight."
Lily bit her lip. She was never given detention; she had only had it once before. And tonight…tonight she was supposed to meet James. She cursed and went back to furiously stirring the potion, when the directions said to use even turns.
"Lily, hey, don't do that so fast-"
Lily frowned. "Bloody Potions. I knew I should have stayed in bed today."
Selene took the ladle from her and patted her on the hand. "Detention isn't that bad. At least you can get it over with tonight."
Lily shrugged, knowing that she could not tell Selene the real reason for her irritation.
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They went straight to Charms after Potions, and Lily was very glad for it; at least she enjoyed Charms. She was good at it. Except James sat right in front of her with his friends, and she now knew that she wouldn't be seeing him tonight. It was harder not to dwell on that fact when he was there every time she looked up. He hadn't looked at her once since Potions, and she wished that he would.
She found herself not concentrating for the entire class, and as it came to an end, Flitwick was looking at her with some disappointment. She sighed loudly, and then sobered as she saw James quickly leave the classroom. She looked over to see his friends arguing over something animatedly. Her own friends were taking their sweet time gathering their belongings, slowly smiling over some joke Selene had made.
Lily quickly scooped her books into her arms and slipped out of the classroom. She glanced around the corridor just as James grabbed onto her arm. She opened her mouth to protest when he shushed her.
"Nobody is out here yet. Come on."
He pulled her behind him, and she gripped the edges of her books, holding them close to her chest. "Where-"
He stopped and pulled open the door to the nearest broom cupboard, gently pushing her inside and stepping in behind her. He shut the door and locked it with a click, turning to face her. Lily's green eyes narrowed. "What are you-"
But he leaned in and kissed her, carefully sliding his lips against hers. She felt him grab onto her books and take them away, dropping them onto the floor. Her bag slipped off her shoulder and she placed her hand on his back, gathering his shirt as she gripped him. He attempted to maneuver them against a wall, but succeeded in running into a broomstick. James cursed as it fell with a loud clank, and Lily pulled back, her head softly hitting the wall behind her.
"You are insatiable." She smiled at James, slightly dazed.
"I don't see you minding much," he mumbled as he kissed her jaw, quickly moving his mouth back to hers.
"Mm." She dug her nails into the fabric at his waist as he squished her further into the wall. She was not complaining, that much was true.
After an indeterminable amount of time, she pushed at his chest. He opened his eyes and smiled at her. "I just didn't want- well, I'm sorry you have detention tonight."
"No, I'm sorry."
He kissed her quickly, lightly. "Don't be. I like having a reason to drag you into closets like this."
"We should go." Lily straightened her clothes and fixed her hair, reaching for the doorknob. She looked over her shoulder to see him trying to smooth his unruly hair. "How long do you think we can fool our friends?"
James frowned. "However long we need to."
Lily nodded, opened the door, and disappeared down the corridor.
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Later that night, James found himself sitting in the dorm he shared with his three friends. He was picking spare twigs off of his broomstick and listening as Sirius imitated Miles Warwick, the latest singing sensation.
"You're absolutely horrible, Padfoot," James shook his head.
Sirius continued singing, and poked Remus continually, trying to get him to dance. Remus laughed, and shoved Sirius's fingers away from him. "Stop that, you crazy dog."
Sirius stopped. "One could argue that you, too, are a sort of dog, Moony."
"True," Remus nodded. "You're still crazy, though."
Sirius nodded. "True." He looked over at James, who shook his head at his friends as he picked a final twig off the tail and smoothed his hand over the handle.
"Sometimes I think you care more about that broomstick than you do about me, Potter." Sirius shook his head, and then turned to look at Peter. "Oh, I forgot! Wormtail and I came up with a rather amazing prank. Would you like to hear about it, Prongs? Moony?"
Remus leaned back against his bed and shrugged. James looked up. "What prank?"
"That's the spirit," Sirius grinned. "Well, you see, it involves Malfoy and Snape…"
"I figured as much," James slid his broomstick underneath his bed.
"And Jenkins…and perhaps McGonagall…" Sirius was rubbing his chin.
James grimaced. "Well, if we can get away with it…"
"That's the only thing. This prank will end with almost sure capture."
"Then I don't want-"
"But it will also be quite hilarious."
"But Padfoot, I don't-"
"And it involves a bit of slime, which I think will complement Snivellus's hair perfectly. In fact, this may be what he uses for shampoo."
"Padfoot," James cut it, "I said I didn't want to do anymore 'sure-death' pranks."
"Well, this isn't about death. This is only about detention. Surely you don't care about that."
James sighed. "I really don't think it's worth it, Padfoot."
Sirius frowned. "What do you mean it isn't worth it? When has a prank ever not been worth it to you?"
Remus intervened, "Actually, Sirius, James is probably making a good decision. He's Head Boy, after all."
James nodded. "I'm sorry, Padfoot. I really don't think-"
"What's wrong with you?" Sirius's face colored quickly as his mirth faded. "It's like you haven't even been part of this group lately. You keep disappearing, and you never want to do anything fun."
James's forehead creased. Was that true? "I never meant to-"
"But you did." Sirius replied. There was a pause, in which he met James's eyes directly. "Fine." Sirius shrugged. "You can do whatever you want. But the rest of us…we're going to have a good time. And next time you disappear, I'm not going to ask where you are."
James shook his head. "You should listen to yourself sometimes, Sirius. And maybe take a few lessons from Remus, because at least he doesn't act like a little kid when he doesn't get what he wants." James was sure this would blow over in a few hours; he and Sirius had never fought for more than a day at a time. Yet there was something nagging at his stomach. He was lying to them, and in many senses, betraying them.
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A/N: This chapter is slightly shorter, so sorry. But I figured nobody can complain too much, because this update is quick, for me ;) If there are any glaring errors in here, I'm sorry, but I'll have to fix them a bit later, because I'm supposed to be meeting my friends. Thanks for all of the feedback, I really appreciate it.
Lilalex13- No, I don't think you've reviewed either ;) Thanks for leaving me a note this time. I'm very happy that you like the story so far!
Emily- Your reviews do have depth. Definitely. But whether that's subjective or not, I still appreciate them!
Hailee- Oh, yes. Regular reviewers are very nice. I like that idea. I'm glad you didn't think chapter seven crawled. Maybe it was just the effect of how long it took me to write it; it seemed to crawl.
Dk Lili- Yes, Lily and James certainly do get right to the point. That's what I like about them, lol; the fact that they waste no time on sweet talk which is really inconsequential in the end anyway. They don't need to be reassured of these things. Thanks for reading!
Oh yes, and for those of you who have read the old version of BA, I'll be tying this in very soon, which means that after this chapter and I suppose the next, the plot will be pretty identical, although I may rewrite some scenes. Eventually the chapters will be exactly the same, and at that point I will turn to writing the new ones (Wohoo! Cliffhanger resolutions…) I also had a question for you. Did the cliché-ness of relationships between some of the characters in the old version annoy you? I am sure you know what I mean, but I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read. I'm wondering because I don't particularly want to change those relationships, because I rather liked writing them, but we'll see how it goes…just let me know :) Thanks all of you!
Emily