Author's Note: I would just like to start this chapter out by saying that Beth did have reasons for blowing up at Lily. I received some reviews asking me why I had Beth break their friendship…my answer is that you will just have to wait to find out what her motives are. (Those of you who asked me in your review, I did tell you, now you just have extra information that everyone else will not have for a while. Feel very special.)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters created by J.K. Rowling. I have never claimed it, and I never will. I just giving them the story that I would have loved to read during the series.

Now, on with the chapter…

Charmed Love Chapter 19

December 4

Astronomy Tower

Time heals all wounds. Time heals all wounds… I found myself repeating those words as I heard someone walking down the steps from their bed chamber. I quickly started gathering the various books and parchment that were scattered around the common room, as I scurried to head down to breakfast that had started half an hour ago. I am usually a very punctual person but I had been doing this every morning for the past week. Because it is just harder to get ready in the morning these past few weeks.

I have always been a hopeless romantic. I believe that every situation can be fixed and that people genuinely want to do good for others. I think that everyone should get a happy ever-after, and that with the right guy everything is possible. And I think that good people deserve to be rewarded.

However, I am not so sure how often all of that stuff happens anymore.

So you can imagine that I thought that I would eventually get over this thing that I feel for James Potter. I had hoped that getting over him would be easy and that after a few weeks of avoiding his presence that I would just get over what emotion that I felt for him.

I heard the footsteps get louder on the stairs as he descended from his bedchamber. I knew that I only had 4 seconds until he would be right in front of me, and then we would be forced into a very awkward situation. I have not really talked to James since the 13th when I saw him when I was in the Hospital Wing.

Only one more second. "You can do this, Lily. All you have to do is turn around and wish him a good morning. Anyone can do this most of all you." I whispered to myself. I heard the footsteps stop. It was now or never, so I spun around to face him, my face set with a false grin that I knew that I was going to need.

"Remus." I said as the breath that I did not even know that I was holding whooshed out of my breath on a sigh of relief.

Remus seemed a bit taken aback from my presence in the room with him for it was clear that he was not expecting anyone to still be here at this time in the morning. However, since this is Remus he composed himself very quickly and returned my greeting with his usual politeness by saying, "Lily, how nice to see you this morning. I have wanted to talk to you for a while to find out what the prefects are supposed to be doing because we have not gotten any updates for a while. Not that us Seventh years really need all that much advice, but I think that the Fifth year prefects are starting to come a little apart at the seams, if you know what I mean."

However, my brain was not registering the fact that Remus was talking to me, even asking me a question. All I could think was…Why is Remus coming out of James's bedchamber? And where in the name of all that is holy is James Potter, because I did not hear any footsteps this morning so he must have left really early this morning. Was James hurt or in trouble? I thought all of these things in the course of a second, my mind whirling at all of the possibilities.

"Lily, Li-ly, did you even heard what I just asked you?" Remus said stooping his head so that we could look eye to eye.

At this question, my mind immediately jumped out of its private musings and into the present time. However, feeling in the state of waking out of a daydream only to find that you teacher has been talking to even though you have no idea what they have said –This has never actually happened to me. But I have read about it, and I think that this is what it must feel like. "No." I admitted a bit sheepishly. "I am sorry, but I just had one of those moments when you are just going along and them your brain just stops even if someone is talking to you. But of course time would keep going, because the world is still spinning and…" I trailed off at the expression on Remus's face.

"I asked whether you had another meeting planned for the prefects to let them know what is going on. Professor Dumbledore has imposed some new guidelines for patrolling hours for the Christmas break that is coming up very soon. The older prefects know what to do, but the fifth years have not done it before, so they are a tad nervous." Remus said ignoring my ramblings on the principles of the world.

Ohh, I thought all immediate thoughts about James leaving my mind completely. "I was not aware that anything had been updated, but you can be sure that I will undertake to tell them about the changes. However, now that I think about it, it might not be such a bad idea to have a meeting to refresh everybody on the different rules that go along with the Christmas Season." I thoughtfully replied as I adjusted the strap of my school bag on my shoulder.

But before Remus had the chance to reply to my last statement, my stomach growled embarrassingly loudly. "Oh, is that the time." He exclaimed looking at his watch. "I had no idea it was already so late, and you must be very hungry because I have kept you from breakfast." He finished with a knowing glance in the direction of my stomach.

"It is partly my fault too. I have been going down to breakfast later than usual these past few weeks because I have not been very hungry, and I think that the shortened time is finally catching up with me." And almost as if on cue, my stomach gurgled again. I did not bother including the reason why I had been going down to breakfast later. Usually the fact that Beth and I were not speaking anymore was not excruciating, but since we still shared the same friends, Alice tended to sit with her. And that meant that I would end up sitting with Vanessa and the other Ravenclaws. This was not so bad, except for the fact that Eli would then sit with me, and that meant that I would have to talk to him and Vanessa. And that is not fun at all because they both try to monopolize my conversation.

"Really, I had no idea!" Remus said with a strange lilt to his voice that was absolutely dripping with verbal irony. Although, I have to admit that I have no idea why he would be saying that.

Maybe, just maybe James has noticed that you have not been down for breakfast, and he could be talking about it so much that Remus is finally starting to get fed up with the whole situation… My inner voice was whispering to me. Ah, a girl can dream. He is probably just saying it like that in an attempt to be funny and sarcastic. And anyways, if I am trying to get over James Potter, thinking such thoughts are really counter-productive.

So not knowing what else really to do in this situation, I just decided to laugh. It was a really weak, forced sounding laugh, but I guess it worked well. I think that I need to find a idiots guide for how to handle talking to the guy-that-you-like-but-are-trying-not-to-like-because-he-is-not-your-boyfriend's best friend, when that friend is making comments are not helping your sanity.

Looking at me with a fuzzy look on his face, Remus just stood there as if he were mentally comparing me to someone else in his mind. And with that same look on his face, he just pointed to the door as if to say, "Let's just go before you decide to faint from hunger, shall we?"

At this I actually burst into real gales of laughter. It felt so good to be laughing instead of spending all of my time not letting any of my emotion show. Because this was Remus and I knew that I could say that Dumbledore had an orange beard, and he would only roll his eyes and ask me when was the last time that I had taken my medicine. So I just followed him out into the corridor and walked with him a little ways still laughing.

And just as we were about to enter into the Great Hall he turned to me and without any form of preamble he said, "You know who you would be really perfect for? I mean, I know that you are dating Eli and everything-"

Here I interrupted him "How do you know that I am dating Eli?" Fearing all the while that he would say that James had gone back to then with his news of freedom the night that he found out that I was officially dating someone.

"Lily, everyone knew that you were dating Eli last week when his kissed you in the hallway after Defense Against the Dark Arts. So that is just rather a stupid question. And while I know that you are dating him, and must be quite happy with him. I just can't help but think that you would be just perfect for someone else." Remus explained as he turned to look at me once more.

At his last statement, I laughter started to die down and I was forced to relive that moment when Eli had first kissed me.

~*~

It was after class a few weeks ago when I was having a particularly good day. It had been the first one that I had had in a while so I was anxious to see it continue. So Eli and I were talking as we were walking out of class, and my thoughts were staying happy. And when Eli did ask me why I was so happy, I had said because I was thinking of someone.

However, he thought that I was talking about him, so he just kind of grabbed me and crashed his lips on top of mine. It was dreadfully unromantic because it just felt as if he was trying to eat my face. His mouth was just all over mine in bruising passion. It was not the stuff that every girl hears, reads, and dreams about. It felt as if he was doing it for himself to show everyone how he could make me so happy. But the fireworks did not go off behind my eyelids and my senses did not go all fuzzy and dazed.

When he finally pulled away, I could see that there was a circle of students all watching him kiss me. I wanted nothing more than to just slip back into the classroom to escape a further scene. Eli, however, had other plans because he announced in a big voice that we had been dating for the past few weeks.

But that was not the worst part. The worst part was having Beth and James both at the edges of the crowd. I could see both of their faces. Beth looked at me as if she could still not believe her eyes that I was still dating him even after everything that she had said to me. And James, his expression was filled with so much defensive anger; it hurt to just look at him.

The whole episode finally broke apart when someone who had probably been drinking too much firewhiskey said "So have you two gotten to first base yet?" Thankfully Alice was there to intervene and save me from further humiliation. But the actions have not been reversed. Eli still takes every chance he can to kiss me in public, his theory, the more onlookers the better.

~*~

Pulling myself out of my thoughts, I just simply replied, "Who do you think that I should be dating, Remus?" Not trying to think about Eli anymore.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Remus said, "I think that you should be dating someone who respects you and loves you more than anything else in the world. I really think that you should be with James, not Eli." (Putting extra emphasis on those words)

"Yeah, but for that scenario to work, James Potter would need to actually have romantic feeling for me. Which we both know is not the case." I replied trying to keep my voice level and calm because at the very mention of James and I together as a couple, my heart started to flutter and my stomach started to flip and flop.

I do not know how successful I was because I could feel that my cheeks had flushed bright scarlet at his words. However, if he did notice it, he did not say anything about it, because by this time he had walked me to my seat at the table beside Vanessa. He just gave raised one eyebrow, exactly like James does, as if to say when-will-you-ever-learn and walked off to go sit with his fellow Marauders.

I sat down in a slight daze with thoughts of what Remus had said still playing havoc on my sanity. I absently listened to Vanessa talk about how much she hated Lucy Newick and that she wished that she would just do die in a hole someplace. I just sat there eating my breakfast nodding at random intervals so that she would still think that I was paying attention to her.

I walked down the hallway to Charms. And I just have to thank my guardian angel* that I did not run into any person, wall, open door, or get stuck in those trick stairs.

Waiting in my seat for class to begin, I could not help but let my thoughts continue to stray. I just could not stop thinking (okay, fantasizing) about James and I as a couple. I could just picture us walking holding hands as we did our nightly patrols. Studying together, well actually I would probably be the one attempting to study as James would be sitting there trying to get my attention. We could sit and eat together in our own little world, completely oblivious to everything but each other. He would ever so gently push my hair behind my ear before he kissed me. And if we did attract an audience, at least it would be worth it.

I was tarred from my private thoughts to see someone tapping me on the shoulder. I looked up to see a pair of hazel eyes fringed by dark eyelashes staring at me. I immediately started to blush as I remember the thoughts that I had just been entertaining. "Lily, I have to talk to you about something." He said urgently as his eyes continued to stare intensely into my own.

Before I could make a coherent reply, because my mind was once again dazzled by his intensity, Eli demonstrating his knack for untimely appearances decided that this would be the most convenient time for him to decide to show up.

"What do you have to say to my girlfriend Potter?" Eli said in a rather rude tone of voice, if I do say so myself. He had sat down next to me and had draped his arm over my shoulders. I cringed inward mentally shying away from him as I longed to be left alone right now.

"It is a free world Chatfield. I can talk to whom I please, when I please. And if the lady in question does not mind my presence, I do not think that you should either." James said coldly as his eyes flashed with anger. "I think that we should leave it up to Lily to decide if she wants to talk to me or not."

I knew that I had to say something in this situation because both of them were looking expectantly at me. And if I were a braver, more assertive person I would have just broken up with Eli right then and there. But I was too afraid of doing that right now, because I still did not want James to think that I dropped Eli as soon as it became slightly possible that he was available. So I just replied with more force than I had intended, "I do not mind talking to James, Eli. He is one of my friends, and I like talking to James. You are overstepping your role as my boyfriend when you tell my friends that I don't want to talk to them."

James eyes twinkled and he gave me a wink as he said, "And I don't have any qualms talking to Miss Lily in return, so you can just go Chatfield." He finished turning to give Eli a rather pointed look that he should just leave.

Unfortunately, Eli does not know when to just stop talking. "Don't think that I do not know what you are trying at here, Potter. Everyone knows that you were mad for Lily, and in fact you are still crazy about her. And you just cannot stand that she would rather be with anyone but you. I have everything that you want." And he finished that with grabbing me by the back of my throat and grinding his lips on top of mine, fisting his hands in my hair.

When he was done with his show, he pulled away so that he could smirk at James. I was horrified at the level of cold furry but yet indifference that I saw there. My face was flushed with embarrassment, as I realized that once again Eli had just made a spectacle of our relationship. He did not kiss me because he wanted to; he had kissed me to rub it in James's face that he could.

James just got up and curtly said "Well, at least I respect her." And then he turned on his heel and walked briskly away to his seat as class was about to start.

I really did not pay attention to that class. But I did know now know a couple of things. I had to get rid of Eli as soon as possible. I thought that he could be a good boyfriend, but the more that I knew him, the less impressed I had become. But I also knew that while I still loved James with every fiber of my being, I knew that he would never ever regard me in the same light. He had just witnessed Eli kiss me, and he had done nothing really about it.

He must not feel the same because if he did, he would have punched Eli in the face for treating me in such a way.

But that stuff never actually happens in real life. I need to stop reading so many novels.

Author's Note: So how did you guys like this chapter? I know that I am having her and Eli split really quickly, but can any of you honestly say that you are disappointed. (I thought so)

And that asterisk after the mention of the guardian angel was not a typo. I meant to have it in there because it is my very small tribute to the Phantom of the Opera, which I just watched for the first time recently and I really liked it. B-)

Please leave me a review with all of your lovely thoughts.

Love Allison