"Lily! Lily you have to come down here now!"
Lily dashed down the stairs two at a time into the common room at the rousing of Sirius's frantic voice. She skidded to a stop so close to him that she almost ran into him.
"What is it, Sirius?" she asked. He had a harried, worried expression adorning his facade, and he seemed desperate.
"James recieved a letter this morning and..."
Lily frowned, "And?"
"His parents were murdered by Abraxas Malfoy." He whispered, his face white.
Lily gasped and pressed her hand to her heart, "Oh, no...no, no, no! James!"
Sirius nodded fervently, "You have to go, Lily, you're the only one who can help him. I think he's going to try to drown himself in the lake."
Lily nodded, swallowing a lump of worry, "Yeah, yeah, I'll...I'll go right now."
She rushed past Sirius and out the portrait hole, trying her hardest to get to the grounds as fast as she could. Her poor James. She couldn't imagine losing her parents. How, how was she going to make James feel better? When Sirius said that she was the only one who could help him, she wasn't too sure of that.
She stopped when she reached the beech tree next to the lake. He was there, on a rock jutting out of the lake, standing tall, ready to dive, his arms thrown back in a position reminiscent of Titanic.
He was really going to do it. He was really going to throw himself into the lake without a second glance.
"James Potter you get down from there this instant!" she yelled, her voice reaching a breaking point.
He turned in surprise to look at her, and his arms dropped limply to his sides, "Lily, I'm sorry. I love you, but I can't stay here." and with that he spread his arms out once more andtook a deep breath.
Lily shook from head to toe, "James don't be an idiot! Get down from there!"
He stayed resolutely still.
She tried a different tactic, "James, in case you haven't noticed, I care about you a great deal, and if you kill yourself I shall have to kill myself as well."
"Don't you dare." he said, not facing her.
She took a deep breath and continued, letting some of her internal tears show in her voice, "James, don't you care about me enough to stay here with me? I know your parents are gone and you think you're alone, but you're wrong. You've got me. I love you, James, and you love me. Isn't that enough for you to stay?"
He turned slightly, looking undecided.
"James, don't be a fool! Come down here and stay with me and my love for you."
His hands shook visibly.
"James..."
"I'm sorry, Lily, I love you more than I can stand, but I'll gain more going to join them than I will staying here with you. You can live without me...I'm not that wonderful and you could have someone better, but I can't live without them."
Lily let out a sob, "James...you're breaking my heart."
He turned all the way and saw the tears coursing down her cheeks. He ran down off the rock and onto the grass, crossing the green threshold to join her underneath the tree. She tried to hurriedly wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, but James beat her to it. He gazed at her wonderingly as he gently brushed away her tears.
"I can't stand hurting you, Lily. But this is something I have to do." he whispered.
"WHY?!" she asked, "Who told you to do this? Look at the world's history. Every time a parent dies, does their child drop their life, and their opportunities, and their happiness to go join them?"
"No."
"Then why must you?!" she asked desperately, "James, you say I can live without you, but I can't! Please, James, stay with me, have a life, be happy, fulfill yourself, make light of your chances, and become something great. I know your parents will be pleased with your decision."
He looked at the ground helplessly, and slowly placed his hand in hers. Lily slowly pulled him through the grounds and up to the castle.
As they walked, James looked down at her, "I'm sorry."
Emmeline skidded to a stop in midair, "Gideon, we should probably go back in, now!"
Gideon Prewett looked over at her from his keeper's goals, "Ok, Ems, let's go."
The two of them landed agilely on the grassy field and, shouldering their brooms, walked into the changing rooms.
Gideon shook his head at Emmeline, "Man, am I so glad that you're on our team now. With Sirius as our captain and beater, and James as a chaser, as well as you, we're going to thrash slytherin this saturday."
Emmeline nodded, "We're going to kill them! They'll be sorry they ever beat us last season."
Gideon laughed, "You're so funny. But...yeah, they will."
She brows furrowed but she was still smiling as she looked questioningly at Gideon, "What do you mean?"
"What do you mean?"
She laughed, "What do you mean when you say I'm funny?"
He looked at her as if she were mentally slow, "I mean...you're funny?"
She playfully punched him, "Shut it. No, I mean, like, you didn't just say 'oh, you're funny'. It sounded like you were making a revelation."
"A revelation?"
She nodded, "Yeah, and why would you be making revelations about me, of all people?"
"Do you really think of yourself so insignificantly?" He asked quietly, and then, he took her face in his hands, and pressed his lips against hers.
"You WHAT?!" screeched Dorcas in amazement.
Emmeline bit her lip as she stared at her two friend's incredulous faces, "I kissed Gideon Prewett."
Lily put her hands over her mouth, "Oh my god, Ems! I can't believe this."
Dorcas shook her head in disbelief, "I thought you liked Sirius!"
Emmeline shrugged, "Yes, I do still like him a lot, but my reasoning is that, Sirius never pays attention to me, with his thousands of beautiful girlfriends, but Gideon does! And so what if I don't love him wildly? I could learn to love him. And he's a really nice guy and I know for a fact that he won't ever hurt me and that he'll be a great boyfriend."
Lily pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, "Emmeline Vance! You can't go out with someone if you don't really feel something for them!"
"Well, maybe, but it's not that I don't feel anything for him! I do really like him. Just...not as much as I like Sirius. But I only like Sirius because up until now I've been alone, and he seemed like the only option. It's like I was blind...I didn't see that there were some other possibilities. And Gideon is handsome, and funny, and smart, and sweet. I could be really happy with him."
Dorcas smiled, "Okay, fine. You go be happy. Just remember that his twin, Fabian, is dating Zoe Chang, and I know you don't like her, and because they're twins, you and Zoe will probably be thrown together a lot."
Emmeline scowled, "Stop. I'm going to go for it."
"She's WHAT?!" exclaimed Sirius.
Lily rolled her eyes, "I wish people would stop saying that, I swear, my bloody eardrums are going to burst."
Sirius looked over at James, "Can you believe this? Emmeline and Gideon Prewett?!"
James shrugged, "He's goodlooking and nice, and he likes her. So what?"
Sirius shrugged in return, "I just...he won't treat her well!"
Lily smirked, "Yes he will! He's a perfect gentleman."
James smiled at Sirius, "Sirius? I think you're jealous, mate."
Sirius's jaw dropped, "I am not!"
Lily laughed, "Don't act so offended, Sirius. She's a very awesome girl."
Sirius shook his head, "No, no, no. That's not how it is. I like her as a friend-"
But Sirius's attempts to convince his friends that he did not like Emmeline Vance were in vain, as the two of them soon broke out into a childish song.
"Sirius and Ems sitting in a tree-k-i-s-s-i-n-g!" Then Lily and James burst out laughing.
Sirius scowled turning away from them, "Oh, yes, very mature."
Lily laughed, "Sirius, it's ok! Look, if you want Emmeline, just go tell her you like her before she falls completely in love with Gideon instead of you."
Sirius toyed with the bookmark stuck between the pages of his potions textbook, "Maybe...maybe I should do that."
Love all of your reviews, and those of you who haven't reviewed, please do so! I love feedback! So...read and review more and I hope you love the end of chapter 7 because chapter 8 is coming soon, in which an exciting dismissal of love, encounter with evil, and jokes with friends occur!