Chapter Nineteen

A/N: Thank you to ClaireBear1982 for reviewing the last chapter.

When she made her way down to dinner that evening, Lily found herself walking with her head down, trying to hide herself from Malfoy, in case he should see her and try to make a joke about her to his friends. She would not put it past him, not after the stunts his father had pulled when he was younger, and so she tried to make herself as inconspicuous as possible.

However, it seemed that it was not to last, as a loud call came from the Gryffindor table, in her direction.

"Lily!" James exclaimed, waving his arm towards her. The child let out a sigh of annoyance. If anyone was going to draw attention to her, she ought to have known it would be her eldest brother. She had never met a person in her life with less subtlety than him.

She had hoped that his calls would cease, that he had simply been trying to catch her attention or perhaps to embarrass her, not to speak to her for a particular reason. By the third call, it seemed that she was not so lucky, and so she made her way towards the boy, seeing no other way to stop the shouts, which were an embarrassment to both of them.

"What do you want, James?" She sighed with frustration when she reached her mother, who was chuckling to himself behind his hand, his group of friends not even bothering to hide her their amusement.

"There's no need to take that attitude with me, little sister." James told her, his hand placed against his chest in mock surprise at her behaviour. Lily responded in the same way she had always done, with a well-placed kick in the shin. Her brother bit his lip almost hard enough to draw blood, not wanting to go through the embarrassment of whimpering in front of his friends, but once he had recovered from the pain, he seemed a lot more cordial. "Lily, do you want to talk in private?"

"About what?" she asked, not really in the mood for going around in circles.

"About a certain incident in the library." James replied loudly, and his friends sniggered once again, with one more boisterous one having the courage to laugh loudly a few inches from her face. Lily would have rolled her eyes if she were not so focused on her embarrassment, her cheeks beginning to flame.

Wordlessly, she moved toward the doorway of the Great Hall, the sound of swaggering footsteps a few feet behind telling her that her brother was following her. She trusted that sound, and did not turn to face him until they reached a staircase at the bottom of the Gryffindor tower, which was far quieter than the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room at mealtimes, given the room's proximity to the kitchens.

She sat down heavily on the steps and put her head in her hands, hiding her expression from her brother. Even if she suspected that he wanted to help her, Lily was not willing to give the boy any ammunition to mock her; after all, you could never tell with James.

"So what happened with Malfoy?" the young man asked, jumping the gun to get straight to the point of the conversation. This did not surprise his sister; having grown up with James, Lily was well aware of his inability to do anything subtly. And besides, what sixteen-year-old boy would want to spend more time than necessary quizzing his little sister, when he could be eating dessert surrounded by friends?

"I don't know why everyone is making such a fuss about it; it wasn't that bad!" Lily seethed. At the look of disbelief on her brother's face, the girl threw her hands up in defeat, letting her head fall downwards so that her hair was shielding her face from view. When she spoke again, her voice was far quieter. "Alright, it was terrible."

"What did you do?" James asked, not seeming terribly bothered about the fact that his sister was steadily curling herself into the fetal position on the steps.

"I just completely embarrassed myself!" she exclaimed, her voice sounding similar to a wail. Lily could not believe that she was the one speaking; she had always despised people who whined about mistakes they had made, yet she had never heard anyone sound as pathetic as she currently did. "I went to meet him in the library, like I was meant to. He was there, reading a book, and he wasn't paying any attention to me whatsoever. I was stood right in front of him and he was acting like I didn't exist. He knew I was there, I know he did! Eventually, I got fed up, so I took his book off him and chucked it on the floor."

"What did he do?" James questioned, seeming a little more interested now.

"Nothing." Lily answered in a small voice. "He just walked off with his friends."

James nodded as he sat himself down on the steps beside his sister, resting an arm around her shoulders. The girl had made herself so small that it was only his forearm required to cover her completely, but it was enough to feel her freeze with shock at his gesture of affection. James rarely showed affection toward anyone, particularly not his siblings.

Lily could feel the motion as her brother's shoulders shook by her side. This was even more of a shock; James were never cry over his sister's embarrassment. More likely, he would find it hilarious.

It took her another moment to realise he wasn't crying.

That was not entirely true; tears streamed down James' cheeks as he laughed hysterically, though they soon ceased to flow as his sister hit him hard across the top of the head.

"Oh, Lily. You can't even see it, can you?" James chuckled. "He's-"

But that was all that Lily heard before she strode out of the door, leaving her brother to speak the obvious truth with only the night air to hear him.

A/N: Please review!