Author's Note: So based on the reviews that I got, I have to say that Eli and Lily are going to be no more. Although, I have to say that I was really surprised that you guys responded with such excitement at the prospect of possibly pushing Eli off of a cliff. (You were actually meant to like him when he was first introduced, but I guess that that one did not happen.) Oh, well. And I think that I am going to be moving this story up to a T rating because I think that I am really pushing K+, and I don't want my story to be reported for something as stupid as that.

So now, on with the chapter… Once again I do not own the rights to the characters directly taken from the best-selling Harry Potter series.

Charmed Love Chapter 20

December 8

Room of Requirement

I have never been on to really take advantage of passing notes in class.

Until now.

I know. Lily Evans, Head Girl, student extraordinaire, Miss I-have-never-gotten-a-detention-in-my-life-and-I-think-that-if-I-ever-get-one-the-world-will-have-to-be-ending, has started passing notes in class.

I honestly think that my friends are a bad influence on me.

It all started out as something really very innocent. Nothing that a teacher would have ever looked twice at, but then it grew into something that was taking up all of my effort in all of my classes. And while I do not usually condone passing notes in class, I really do not think that I can condemn doing so when that act is what is responsible for the really delightful, giddy high that I am on right now.

But I am starting to get ahead of myself. I should probably go back to the beginning of my day…

~*~

I walked out of the Great Hall from breakfast with my usual expectations for the day.

I could guess that Professor Flitwick was going to lecture us on the importance of a correctly produced memory charm, and how if you do it incorrectly, or if it backfires, that you can be in for some serious trouble.

I knew that Professor McGonagall would prowl around the classroom as we took notes on whatever she had written up on the chalkboard. Always wondering when she was going to notice that most of us were not actually writing down her notes and were instead writing the fore-so-mentioned notes.

History of Magic would once again be about trying not to fall asleep as Professor Binns drones on and on about how the muggles were once again demonstrating how they did not understand magic. And how during the Salem Witch Trials, because witches would just perform a simple charm that would protect them from the flames, the muggles were really just using up perfectly good wood.

I would have to endure the way Sirius had taken to pointing out all of the embarrassing moments of my love life during Herbology. And have to pretend to become defensive when he attacked Eli on all of his failings. And then to be lectured about how there were other people out there in the world, and how true happiness was a lot closer than it sometimes appears. (But then again sometimes I think that Sirius is drinking more firewhiskey than the wizard limit…)

And then, I thought with a groan, I have to go Defense Against the Dark Arts were I have to be subjected into Eli's presence. I have never been thankful before the last few days that I only have one class with him. I think that the only thing that gets me through these meetings is the knowledge that I will be soon breaking up with that slime-ball. I am just waiting for the right moment.

Then I go to Ancient Runes, which is just really enjoyable because I get to spend the entire class with Vanessa just mutually going through the same torture at the hands of Professor Smittey. She spends the entire class period drawing pictures of the various different painful ways that he could die, with my favorite being that he gets a paper cut from one of the many papers that we have to write. And then the paper cut will get infected with something really terrible, and finally he will die because no one cares enough about him to save him.

And the final class of the day is Potions, which is my favorite class because Professor Slughorn does really like me. I know that it seems really stupid that my favorite class is the one where the teacher adores me, but I really like that extra knowledge that I can get away with most anything in that class. (Not that I have ever tried, but I think that I could get away with most anything should I decide to try something.)

So with my thought so occupied, I walked into Charms, with a pretty ho-hum attitude. I just really wish that something happen. Hogwarts just seems as if it is starting to get really boring, and I think that we need something there to just stir the pot. (Little did I know that something on the larger scale was going to happen later that day.)

I trudged through Charms, with little deviation from my normal behavior, i.e. passing notes. However, I did get very pointed looks from Alice, which seemed to say that I-need-to-talk-to-you-as-soon-as-possible-and-I-will-not-tolerate-any-attempt-on-your-part-to-avoid-the-talking-to. And trust me; it is better when you get that look to just either run far, far away or to just accept the fact that she will talk to you.

I decided that I just wanted to post-pone that conference as much as possible, so I dashed from the room as quickly as I could, and then took the longer route to Transfiguration. Fortunately I made it with just a little bit of time to spare before the class began. (Charms and Transfiguration are on opposite sides of the castle)

I sat down at my table and unpacked all of my books just as McGonagall tapped the board with her wand and it became covered with dusty, white chalk. Everyone started grumbling as they took out their notebooks and started copying down today's novel of notes. And I have to say that that is the problem with 7th year Transfiguration, most of the spells are so complicated, we have to spend most of our time just understanding how prepare for the spell, rather than actually practicing the spell.

So as I was mindlessly copying down all of the notes, I just let my thoughts wander. I usually would just think about what I was planning on writing my mother next, because I still have not gotten a chance to write her a response to the last letter that she sent. I basically told her that I was dating Eli and that I thought that he was a really nice guy. Her response had been quite cheerful, talking about how she thinks that it is about time that I started dating some guys. However, I did sense a little bit of surprise on her part because she did always tease me about how James Potter kept asking me out. She was of firm belief that we would just end up together, her reasoning that if you really hate him as much as you say that you do, you would just ignore him. You must have some reason that moves you to retaliate every time that he asks you out. And how am I meant to respond to that when you really want her to be correct.

At these thoughts, I found my attention being turned over to the left and down a few tables only to find my eyes encounter the guy responsible for my entire heart ache. And even though, I know that I still technically had a boyfriend, I am not dead, and I have to admit that the sight of James Potter, when his mind is totally occupied is quite a spectacular one. He was sitting with his forearm resting on the top half of his paper, while his other hand was gliding over the paper as he copied down all of the notes. His school robe was carelessly thrown across the empty space of the table next to him, something that I have noticed he does as often as he can; I think that he must despise his school robes. His shirt was rolled up to his elbows leaving the lower portion of his arms bare, but his tie was still pulled tightly across his neck. And his glasses were actually perched straightly on his nose, probably because of the note taking.

I just could not help but think that he was beautiful. How could someone like that even be single, at least I think that he was single. I have not seen him walking out of any broom cupboards lately, but who is to say that he is not seeing anyone. How could someone who looks like that not be seeing anyone?

I felt a piece of paper float down in front of me, and my jaw practically fell open when I saw who it was from.

Lily,

Remus told me about what he said to you a few days ago. And I think that we should definitely talk about it, what with holidays coming up. The prefects will want an update, so I think that we need to plan to get the new information out to them as soon as possible. But before we do that, we might want to have another meeting, just the two of us, to decide if we want to change anything around. But given our past history with these things, maybe we should not have this in the heads room. I know of another place that we could go. Be on the 7th floor around 8:00 tonight.

-James

P.S. Remember I need a place to talk in private.

What the hell does that mean? I know that we do need to talk, but what is on the 7th floor? The only thing that I know of is the various Head of Houses offices and the Arithmancy classroom, but that is not exactly private because anyone could walk in. Normally, I would have debated the pros and cons of following such vague instructions, but this is James Potter. And while sometimes he can be too reckless, he would not do anything that would get me into trouble, I think…

So I sat there puzzled for the rest of class as I tried to think of what else could be down that way. I did not think that there we any other rooms down that way, and the only other thing that I think could be down that way is a bathroom or something like that.

And it is not like he is going to just take you to some darkly lit alcove or broom closet so that he can have his way with you. I felt my cheeks redden at the thought. Such thoughts were really not helping my internal cool right now. I looked over at James to let him know that I got the note. I managed to catch his attention really quickly, and when I held up the note and nodded my head just slightly, he broke out into a wicked grin and he winked at me.

And I felt myself start to blush again, as I remembered the thoughts that I had just been entertaining about myself wrapped up in his embrace as he kisses me senseless. (Something that I knew, just knew, that he would be able to do.)

And before I knew it, the class was over, and I was just sitting at my desk in a daze until Alice stomped over to my desk and said in a rather terse voice, "Lily Evans, you are going to listen to what I have to say, and you are going to listen now. And do not think that you are going to be able to get away from me because I fully intend to tell you now on our way to History of Magic."

Darn, I had forgotten that she needed to talk to me. "Avoiding you!?! Why in the world would I be trying to avoid you, Alice?" I sarcastically replied.

"Oh, you know very well why you tried to evade me. But I guess that it does not matter anymore, because you have to listen to me now."

I grimaced. I knew that I had no option but to hear what she had to say now. But I figured that I could at least stall her, so that I could get out of it for at least another period.

"Oh, Lily. I am not that bad. No need to act as if I am sending you off to your death. I just want to tell you about something that I think that you should know about." She said as she casually hooked her arm with my own.

Only a few more doors and I would be at the classroom. "Oh Alice, you have to admit that sometimes your I-need-to-talk-to-you-as-soon-as-possible-and-I-will-not-tolerate-any-attempt-on-your-part-to-avoid-the-talking-to look can be rather intimidating. I am actually very impressed that you have perfected it so much."

She stopped right in front of the door to look me in the eye. "Well, some just have it, and others don't but when someone is best friends with you, Lily, they get that look down pretty quickly."

"I knew that I had to be a negative influence on someone. All the teachers go around singing my praises, well except for Professor Smittey; it is a wonder that it has not all gone to my head. That is why I have you, Alice, you keep things in perspective." I replied as I sat down in my seat. Reveling in the fact that we were still sitting in alphabetical order from the beginning of the year, I flashed her with my biggest smile.

Catching what I was doing, she looked over at the guy sitting next to me and asked, "Jonathan, would you be so kind as to trade seats with me today? I really need to borrow Lily's notes from yesterday, and I think that it would just be easier if I was sitting next to her."

Jonathan took one look at Alice's empty desk, quickly replied that he would not have any problem with that arrangement, and dashed over to her seat.

I stared in amazement as Alice sat down next to me and pulled out her materials for class. Aware that I was staring at her, Alice turned her head to look at me, and upon seeing my expression just flashed me a cheeky grin.

And then 15 minutes after class began, Alice shoved this note in my direction.

Lily, darling, when are you going to realize that when I say business, I actually mean business? And that no one and nothing will sway me from that goal? _Alice_

I should have expected something like this. But doesn't she know that I really do not pass notes in class. I mean I have engaged in a few short sentences every once and a while, but nothing like this was promising to be.

I am just in shock at how you managed to get Jonathan to switch with you. I am sure that he is a nice guy and all, but he is just one of those guys that does not really talk a lot and is more rule conscientious than I am. How did you manage it? ~Lily

I heard her snort next to me when she read it. Apparently, I had written something really funny, now only to find out what that was…

Jonathan moved because he fancies Sophia, the girl that I sit next to, and considering the fact that they are both really shy, he wanted to take this opportunity to talk to her. But that is not important; I wanted to tell you that I have seen Eli spending a lot of time talking with Lucy. I did not want you to find out from someone else. I thought that at least you can find out from a friend, and not someone who doesn't give a Knut about your feelings. _Alice_

Wow, I am really bad a reading people's emotions, if I could not see that about Jonathan…wait, what was that about Lucy and Eli?

What?!? He has not been talking to her; I know how much he cannot stand her. Why would he waste any time talking to her? ~Lily

It took Alice a lot of time to get her reply to me. She kept crossing stuff out, so much so that she just took out a fresh piece of parchment to continue the note.

He has been talking to her a lot before and during classes. I saw them together yesterday in Herbology, and they did look really together, if you know what I mean. They were not doing anything, but they were just a little too close together for comfort. I wanted to be the one to tell you about it, because it would be really bad if you were in the same situation as Beth was. _Alice_

I was stunned and hurt to say the least. It is not that I was jealous about it, because I really do not want to be with Eli any more, but it did really bother me that Eli was doing this even though he thought that I was still very much attached to him.

That just does not make any sense. I thought that Eli could not stand her. When I told him about what happened with Eric, Lucy and Beth he was pretty angry about that. I do not think that he would do that to me. But anyways, it would not be like it was for Beth, I am not that attached to Eli as Beth was to Eric. ~Lily

I decided that I would just leave out the fact that I am that attached to another guy, but this guy happens to have dark hair and hazel eyes as opposed to lighter hair and grey eyes. I figured that Alice did not need to know about that right now.

Well, from the looks of them when I saw them yesterday, it appears that his opinion of her has definitely changed… And what do you mean that you are not that attached to Eli? You guys cannot keep your hands off of each other in DAtDA. _Alice_

Is that what you guys think? It is Eli that can't keep his hands to himself, not the other way around. In case you forgot, I am still the rational one. It is not in my character to completely lose all sense of decorum when I am with a guy. ~Lily

How could Alice think that I was attached to Eli? Am I the only one that can see that he is just using our relationship to improve his own reputation? I mean, it is fairly common knowledge that James Potter used to ask me out every day…and the fact that Eli is with the girl who turned down James Potter that would be pretty heady stuff.

Wait, do you even like Eli? Because it is very much in your character to, what was the charming little phrase, lose all sense of decorum when you are with the guy you love. This is really big news, So Don't You Dare Try To Deny It!! _Alice_

No, I do not like Eli! I really wanted to stand up and scream that at the top of my lungs. However, before I got the chance to respond Professor Binns announced that class was over for the day, and I needed to pack up really quickly if I was going to get to Herbology with any amount of ease. So I hastily bid her good-bye, and told her that I would talk to her later.

Herbology was just very tedious today. Sirius was not there today, and only did I find out later that he had had to stay after class in Transfiguration because he had charmed the chalkboard to explain how to make your own dungbombs. I am told that while the class thought that it was very educational, Professor McGonagall did not find it quite so beneficial.

But I believe that I really do understand the expression, you never miss what you have until it is gone. And I do really believe that while Sirius can be extraordinarily annoying, I do miss him when he is not there to make me roll my eyes and shake my head at his crazy antics.

Lunch passed in a blur of sound and color. But I don't remember anything that was said. Alice did try to get a straight answer out of me, but somehow I managed to avoid that one. And then before I knew it, I was on my way to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

When I walked into the classroom, I was immediately attacked (that is the only word that I can think of to describe it) by Eli. He just kind of managed to come up behind me and grab me around the waist. "Hey love," he said loudly as we walked to our seats, as if he were announcing it to the class.

Here we go again…I thought as I purposefully started walking faster so that I was walking in front of him which made it harder for him to keep a hand on me. "Hi." I said purposefully, not wanting to get into a conversation with him, aware that I had to start putting some huge boundaries on our relationship, such as no more physical contact.

However, I do not think that he got the hint, as he just grabbed my hand so whirl me around so that I was facing him. "And how is your day going sweetheart? I have not seen you at all today." He said with a sickeningly, sweet smile on his face.

I slammed my books down on my desk. "I have been busy Eli; I have my own private life you know. I don't spend every moment of my existence glorying in the fact that I am dating you. We have other friends; I think that that is sometimes a healthy thing in a relationship." I replied in the same cold tone of voice, silently daring him to retaliate and say something about Lucy.

Only to my dismay, the note from James slipped out of my copy of Persuasion that I had started to read again for about the one millionth time. "What is this?" He said in a patronizing tone of voice, as he picked it up and opened it.

"It is nothing that concerns you." I said reaching out to take the note from him. I did not want him seeing it, because it was something that was special to me, and I did not want him tainting it.

He moved the paper so that it was out of my reach. Then he opened it and read it, his face turning up to see mine. "And were you going to tell me about this." He said in a deathly calm voice, as he waved the paper in front of my face.

"I don't see why I should have to. It is purely a professional meeting. It is not like I was sneaking around behind you back organizing indelicate meetings with James." I said pointedly, no matter how appealing that idea sounded right about now. And much to my dismay I saw that James had just arrived with Remus and was looking in my direction.

He saw were my line of vision was directed and scoffed. "It is just that I do not think that Potter has gotten it through his thick head that you are no longer available. You are dating me, and you are my girlfriend." He took one more look at the piece of paper and crumpled it into a ball.

How could he insult James like that? "James Potter is not stupid. In fact, he is one of the smartest people I know. And he would not try to make a move for someone else's girlfriend. He is too good of a person to do something like that, which is more than I can say about you right now." I could not believe that I ever thought that I could use this low-life to get over someone like James.

"Oh, poor Lily." He spat. "You have gone and fallen in love with James Potter, and just when he was starting to get over you too. You did realize that, didn't you? What he feels for you is just the lingering infatuation that will never go away. And you love him, actively and passionately, don't you?"

Eli's words felt like he was running a serrated knife over my gut, but I would not let him see that his words had gotten under my skin. "You do not even know what you are talking about. And I don't even know what I saw in you in the first place, we are over." I said as I turned to sit down in my desk.

And just when I thought that he had gone away, he leaned in close to my ear and said, "You love him Lily. Love him to distraction. Too bad he will never feel the same way." And with that he was gone.

I spent the rest of the class thinking about what Eli had said. Did I really love James that much? I knew immediately that that answer was yes. But I also knew that while Eli might have been right about my feelings, he was completely wrong about James's. James Potter has never actually loved me. I just was something novel because I was not falling all over myself to date him. Instead of accepting him when he asked me out, I turned him down, because I did not want him to be able to play with my feelings. But by doing so, I just became a challenge. And I knew that James would never fully give up until he won. But did this prospect bother me, if it meant that for a while at least I would be able to be with him…No. I would accept him on any terms that he decided to give me. Pathetic soul that I am.

I really needed the evening to come sooner, so that I could really have a talk with James.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author's Note: So maybe I am a horrible person for leaving you guys hanging right there. But think of it this way, I do not usually leave you guys with so many cliff-hangers. I originally had intended that this be one huge chapter, but I decided that it would be more fun if I broke it into two chapters. With any luck Part 2 should be written and posted next weekend.

All my Love, Allison