This is my first story, so please review!
DISCALIMER- NOT MINE
Thanks so much to the people who reviewed and put my story on their alerts :) I'm not sure what to think about this chapter, obviously it's longer but I'm not sure if I like it much, I'm trying to speed it up because hardly anything has happened that I wanted to happen, but anyways… Sorry for any wrong spellings or other things like that-
Chapter 7- Bollocks and Jumpers
Dear Diary,
Well, this week has been pretty interesting. First of all I was taken to the hospital wing because I drank too much fire-whisky, tripped, banged my head and zoned out. Never again am I drinking fire-whisky.
Secondly, at the hospital I met Matthew Parker who was my partner in Potions last year, he's really nice actually and even asked me on a date to Hogsmead this weekend!!! At first I didn't know what to say, thinking 'what if James likes me?!' But as I had turned to James I noticed that all throughout these years at Hogwarts, not once had he made any sort of sign, I suppose me being clearly obsessive did not help but still… He hadn't smiled, glanced at me, bothered to talk. Not even once.
I have wasted countless dreams and seconds on him, I'm not going to forget him fast- because I still ruddy love him. It's the way he does things without even realising that they make me loose my breath. Like flattening his spiky wild brown hair, or leaning against the wall… so many things, so ordinary, every day things, they just make my heart flutter and my body shakes nervously.
I had said yes to Matthew and so this Saturday I, Lily Evans, have a date with Matthew Parker- the Quidditch God, well… almost.
Wish me luck!
"Lily, what are you doing?! We need to go, classes start in 3 minutes!"
"Bollocks."
Hurriedly I closed my diary and raced out of the room with Alice, no-one was in the common room and hardly anyone was in the Great-Hall, realising we had no time to place food in our stomachs we ran to the dungeons. Lucky it was Slug-horn, last year I was Slug-horn's best student. He was outstanded with my success in the subject, with me being muggle-born and all. He's not that bad as a Potions Professor either and I was also intrigued with something Slug-horn had said last year-
"Next year Miss Evans, I will be holding numerous dinner parties, and I would be delighted if you would come." Obviously I had said yes and asked about the details, but he had only grinned saying 'all in good time.'
"Miss Evans and Miss Prewitt!" Slug-horn boomed as we burst into Potions. "I hope you have a reasonable excuse for being 5 minutes late to my lesson?"
"Well…" I started.
"You see… we…" Alice frowned, and then nervously glanced at me.
"I'm sorry sir, but I lost track of time." I pronounced confidently, Alice frowned at me with her eyebrows raised, 'just go with it' I whispered from the corner of my mouth, and she nodded discreetly.
"Oh?!" Slug-horn asked, he didn't seem fooled.
"Erm, well sir, you see, I have only recently been taken out of the hospital. And I still haven't recovered to full strength."
"Miss Prewitt, is this true?!" Slug-horn turned to Alice who immediately began to nod.
"Yes Professor, in-fact there are a number of students in here who can witness this as well."
Slug-horn grunted and then let us sit down at our desks before he resumed to the lesson.
"Now, as I was saying, NEWTs are not impossible, but you need logic and confidence as well as your growing knowledge in magic. I have brewed a few potions here, now, can anyone tell me what this is?!" He lifted up a mini cauldron which had a spiral steam, I put my hand up straight away, and he nodded his head in my direction,
"It's Amortentia, the strongest Love Potion in the world. It is recognizable by its mother-of-pearl sheen and by the spiraling steam that rises from it. The smell of the potion varies from person to person and is dependent upon what each individual finds appealing."
I know everyone refers to me as the dumb one and I am I suppose in a way. But I try, if James can be top of the class, why not I?! Though I am not top of the class, yet anyways. I will show everyone how different Lily Evans can be, not yet though, I can't be bothered at the moment…
I ignored the little comment from Sirius who muttered something like 'and what can you smell Evans?!'
I turned to him and pulled a face, his eyes twinkled and winked as he pulled out his tongue. I could feel James looking at me as Sirius pulled a face at me again, but when I turned to look at him his face was staring intently at Slughorn.
"Excellent, Miss Evans, 5 points to Gryffindor."
The other potions he showed varied from Veritaserum, polyjuice potion, shrinking potion, liquid luck and relief potions. We were then told to get into pairs and brew a Hiccoughing Solution, the potion was fairly easy, Alice and I make a good team, and we listen to each other and help each other out. Not like the people who were sitting behind us- James and Sirius Black. They were hardly making any effort, and yet they still were able to pass the lesson. It's ridiculous how little they have to work, whilst some of us- obviously me – have to work our arses off.
The next class was just as normal, History of Magic, where, as always, Professor Bins droned on about the Centaur civil war in 1478 and blah blah blah. History of Magic is actually a good lesson to catch up on some gossip; everyone is always so bored that they forget about everyone else. For example, I saw Lucuis Malfoy holding hands with Narcissa Black, I frowned at this. He was nice to me the other day…
It's not like he confessed his love to you, he was being nice…
But he is quite handsome, even you can't deny that.
I suppose, but that doesn't mean anything, Malfoy is considered an acquaintance, friends possibly if you talk to him more, get to know him.
I guess I had looked like an idiot, gaping at Lucius, a frown creased on my brow, he had happened to look up and see me. At first he looked quite stunned to see me, but then smiled sheepishly and waved slightly, luckily Narcissa Black didn't see, Narcissa may be a bit a wimp but she's an evil Slytherin none-the-less. Their whole house is like a pack of ducks- meaning, if you mess with one duck, you mess with them all.
After H.O.M there was break, it seems nice to hang out with your friends at break, but I was busy talking to Professor Sinestra, Professor of Astronomy, and it wasn't very good
"I'm afraid Miss Evans that you are failing Astronomy, you are currently on an Acceptable, and I am afraid that will not do for NEWTs."
"What?! But Professor I-"
"I understand you like the subject Miss Evans, I'm just not sure if you are keeping up to date with homework's and tests." I couldn't possibly fail Astronomy, I had never failed a subject and certainly did not want to start now, also a certain person takes Astronomy…
"I'm sorry Miss Evans, but if you want to pass this year you will have to find a tutor." My mind clicked, James could tutor me! He is excellent at Astronomy-
"I shall ask either Mister Malfoy or Mister Snape to tutor you."
"Yes, that'll be perfect- wait what?!" I mean, Malfoy isn't bad, but Snape?!
"You want to pass this year don't you Miss Evans?!" Sinestra asked me with an amused voice. I sighed and reluctantly nodded my head. As soon as I left the tower the bell went for third period, Charms. I felt my heart shudder. Professor Flitwick was on short leave, and so now we had Caloby who was a hard teacher, if you were late to even one of her lessons she would have a grudge on you for the rest of your academic lives. No one was late for her lesson, ever. And since I am quite good in Charms this is even worse!
The Astronomy tower is on the whole other side of the castle, there is no way I am going to make Charms on time. I was too busy worrying about being late that I was not looking where I was going, I saw a flash of blonde hair and BOOM!
"Evans?!"
"Malfoy." We had both walked into each other, causing our books to scatter about on the floor, he chuckled and muttered a spell that made my books fly back into my arms.
"Long time, no see eh?!" He grinned, my heart gave a spark. That grin… *faints*
Be careful...
Shush!!!
"Yeah, well I've been really busy with homework and tests. And oh, bollocks I'm late!" I scream, oh merlin, oh merlin, oh merlin. I'm late, I'm late. I'm very very late.
"What for?!" He yells as I'm halfway up the corridor, running.
"I'm late for charms!"
"Bollocks." He agrees laughing and nodding his head. I smile and hurry on, nearly there, nearly there! I charge in through the door and-
"You're late, Evans." She is glaring at me with those creepy grey eyes.
"Yes, Professor. I'm sorry, I was-" "I do not wish for you to waste my valuable time, I am trying to teach a lesson here. I am sure your excuse would have been very… interesting. Sit down at that table there."
I turned to where she was pointing, James. Oh #£$&*&^%# I grumpily sat down next to him; I swear he moved his chair the tiniest bit away from me. How rude!
He is just such a-
An arrogant toe-rag?
For once you are actually right, in the most innocent of words…, if that makes sense.
But you still like him, see? I'm always right.
Damn
"MISS EVANS!"
"BOLLOCKS!" I shouted, jumping out of my seat, I cringed. Caloby was looking like she was about to burst, and the class were sniggering silently.
"Excuse me?!" She asked sternly. I. Am. So. Dead.
"I'm sorry Professor; I don't know what I was thinking." Lame, but it did the trick, Caloby sighed and nodded her head, and I sat back down in my seat and wanted to be swallowed up. James was looking at me like some weirdo, I had just screamed 'bollocks' out loud, does it get worse than that?!
"The person who you are sat next to will be your partner for the remains of this year, you will work together on your Patronus charm, the bird charm and other important charms needed to pass this year, but for now work on your patronus', remember a corporeal patronus is more difficult to produce."
I noticed James turn to where Remus and Sirius were sitting, and they each shared a knowing smile, and I soon found out why. They were the only one's in the class who produced a corporeal patronus on the first try. James' was a stag, it was beautiful, sturdy, proud and tall, it actually reminded me of James quite a bit. Remus' was a horse, it had an elegant mane which swayed gently as the horse galloped around the room, the whole class was silent. It seemed like their eyes were glued to the horse, the stag and the black dog- Black's patronus. Even Sev- Snape was in awe. James, Remus and Sirius were just smirking, obviously loving the attention. Caloby was impressed and then asked the three to go around helping out the other students.
"After you have helped Evans though, it may take a while, you could teach more to a broomstick." Caloby had muttered the last bit, but I still heard. Oh I heard alright. I think the whole blooming class heard. "Right, so Evans." Remus smiled, he and Sirius moved to James' and my table.
"You need to close your eyes and think of something in your past that made you happy, a powerful memory." I reluctantly closed my eyes and let my past drown in my mind, there was me and Sev- Snape, eleven years old sitting by the swings, he was telling me about Hogwarts and all the joys of being a wizard. It had felt like a dream, magic was real, not just known in stories. And I felt proud that I would be able to witness this… this magic, this whole new world, a civilistaion that muggles had only dreamed about, read in stories. And who thought that magic was just… well make-belief, a fairy tale to make children fall asleep. It's wondrous and I love every second of being a witch.
Or maybe the day when I had gotten my Hogwarts letter, feeling too happy for words. The first time I had gone onto Platform 9 ¾ was magical- well duh- all the students looking excited, smiling at their parents and waving at them as they hurried on the trains. That first train ride was when I met James and Sirius, we didn't get onto a good start, they had been making fun of Snape, so I, being the nice friend I was, stood up for him, shouting at James and Sirius for being mean. It was that second that I noticed those astonishing hazel eyes, even now with my eyes closed I can see them so clearly. A fine mixture of green, brown and so many others, all mixing together to make that divine eye-colour. His eyes. On that train ride we had smiled at each other but that was before the Snape incident.
After I had scolded both him and his best friend I was completely dazzled by them, they made me loose my voice and just croak. I had stood there croaking like an idiot before he had extended out his hand and said 'Hey, James Potter at your service.' With that I fled out of the compartment and met Alice, Maria and Isobel. After that humiliating meeting he didn't seem to mind me, I mean we talked a bit I suppose, but I never really got to know him. After the first year was when I developed my crush, and he stopped going near me, apparently everyone could tell I liked him, the way I smiled at me and… I dunno to be honest.
"You got one yet Evans?!" James asked coolly, I nodded my head and began to whisper the incantation 'Expecto Patronum'. The thing that was on my mind the second I let the words escape from my lips was the fact that whatever happened in life I had friends and family, as I had said 'expecto patronum' my mind had been screaming 'what if you and James never become an item, what if after all these in Hogwarts he still thinks of you as weird obsessed teenager' and then I was surprised by what I said in return to the voice in my head. I had said 'I don't care if James Potter never loves me. Because his love does not matter to me when I have friends and family who love me.' And then in my mind a memory played like a scene from an old film, me hanging out with my friends and family at the Evans house. No James. No marauders. I could have fun and be myself without him. I didn't need him.
I heard someone gasp near me and so I slowly opened my eyes. Coming out of my wand so delicately was a shiny mist like cat creature. After it had emerged from my wand it too began to run crazily around the room and again the class watched in silence, either staring at the cat or staring at me, their mouths wide open and a look of disbelief on their faces, honestly I'm not that dumb!
"Er, yes Miss Evans, well done… 15 points to Gryffindor." The last remains of that lesson consisted of Sirius and Remus trying to find out what my memory was, James just stayed out of the conversation, glancing at me occasionally. I tried to ignore him as I was being 'harassed'. I swear, I saw him smirk… The rest of the day moved on quite nicely, I had Transfiguration and then DADA, nothing happened really, I learnt a new hex… But then it was dinner, now that was interesting…
(JAMES POV)
"Ahhhh!" Sirius sighed in appreciation as we entered the great hall. "FOOD!"
Remus, Peter and I, watched in amazement as Sirius just poured everything in his reach into his mouth.
"How the hell can he eat like that?!" Peter asked in awe, he was now fiddling with his pie, not caring to dig in. I felt the same way actually; Sirius eating is never a pretty sight.
"Well, he is a dog." Remus stage-whispered. Pad-foot stopped to glare at Remus and then turned to me.
"What?!" He asked as us 3 gaped at him, "I'm hungry!"
"Oh, we can see that." He ignored my comment and just shrugged, now re-filling his plate for the 2nd time.
"Hey, James!" A voice boomed from behind me, I heard Sirius groan and so did I once I knew who it was. Matthew Parker…
"Eer, hey."
"Do you mind if I sit?!" Pad-foot had opened his mouth, probably to tell Matthew to sod off, but then Matthew just sat down next to me… I heard Sirius gasp and mutter 'so rude.' We were all silent then, no one saying anything and just smiling uncomfortably whenever someone caught your gaze. Sirius had again resumed back to his food and I had to stuff my hand in my mouth as I watched Matthew's expression.
"Matthew!"
"Lily!" Argh. Great. My day is now ruined. Wait?! How did Lily and Matthew meet?! AND WHY IS SHE MAKING HER WAY OVER HERE?! I saw her glance at me and Sirius wearily before sitting opposite Matthew. Oh merlin, please let her and Parker go off somewhere!
"So, James, are you going to Hogsmead this weekend?!" Why was Matthew talking to me?! I mean, I know we have Quidditch together and I know we sort of talk on the pitch, but that does not mean he can start actually talking to me!! Remus gave me that death-glare from along the table; I rolled my eyes at him.
"Yes actually, me and James need to go to Zonko's. Right James?!" I would have loved to say something to release the tension, but poor Remus… he's always trying to be nice to everyone and I try to follow his examples…
"OI!" Sirius spluttered, "What about me?!"
"Yes, fine, James Sirius and I, are going to Zonko's. Right James?!"
"Eerr. Hello, what am I, a cabbage?!" Peter asked waving his hand in front of Remus' face, I again had to force my desired laughter back down my throat.
"RUDDY-HELL! James, Sirius, Peter and I will be going to Zonko's. Right Ja-"
"Yes, Remus. That is right."
"Yeah… well that's great! Maybe we could like meet in The Three Broomsticks or something at one yeah?!"
"Well, I'm not really sure about tha-"
"Hey, did I hear Three Broomsticks?!" Frank comes in now, ruddy-hell, how on earth am I going to survive?!
Just go you old wuss
Oi! I am no wuss
Rrriigghhtt, so tell me, why are you scared about going to the Three Broomsticks
…………………
I rest my case.
"Yeah, it will be fun, we'll meet you there." Peter said quickly, ignoring the death threat glare I'm giving him, how come no one takes that face seriously?!
Go on James, just stop being so ruddy proud.
Now, that is Sirius. It's that sock smell again. He catches my eye and I groan, now everyone is looking at me, even Lily. It's like whatever I say goes, but only on this occasion, creepy huh?!
"Yeah whatever." My fellow marauders share a smirk, Frank and Alice are lovey dovey and Matthew is whispering something to Lily, and now she's blushing shyly at him. Merlin, can this night get any worse?!
"Taylor!" Oh hell no…
"Oh, hey Alice, and hey you guys." Taylor waves wearily at us all, her gaze stops at me and she gives me the slightest smile.
"I'm sorry about what happened to your parents…" Taylor gives a small nod and for a moment I think she's about to cry again,
"Yes… well, James helped me a lot." And this is when all heads turn to me…
"James is like a saint, he helps everyone, including my Lily here." Lily blushed at Matthew's comment and I seemed to raise my eyebrows at how possessive that sounded, didn't it sound possessive?!
"Taylor, why don't you sit here?!" I asked, wait what?! The words left my mouth before I knew what to do. Gah, she's sat down, next to me. And I can smell her perfume… or is that Sirius'?!
"So, what are you doing for Hogsmead?!" Urgh, barble gargle. I'm making no sense… Taylor smiles at me and whispers in my ear-
"I was hoping someone would take me."
"Meaning me?!"
"Maybe…" I look up to see her eyes twinkling, I give her a small wink and announce to the table I will be going with Taylor to Hogsmead. Oh the joys, it's Hogsmead tomorrow. *gulp*
(LILY POV)
Here I am wearing my lucky jumper and skinny jeans. My lucky jumper is black, and it's warm and wooly. Cos it's cold… very cold. And I need my lucky jumper, very lucky jumper. This lucky jumper is called my lucky jumper because I was wearing it when I had heard that my Granddad had died, I know it's not really lucky when a close relative has died, but whilst I was crying I remembered how that even though he was gone, he still loved me. And even though I would never see him with his broken watch, or laugh at how he always used to sing this annoying little fishy song he would still be here, always watching over me and giving me hope. I am wearing my lucky jumper today, 3rd December. This time last year, I had just found out my Granddad was dead.
"Lily?!"
"Mmmhhh?!" I asked nonchalantly, I had no idea whose voice it was, but from the way they had said my name I knew I must have had some strange expression on my face. I turned to see James Potter looking at me weirdly; his eyes were a bit cautious. He looked down and I followed, to see my hand still grasping his knee. Bollocks.
"Oh, Merlin! I'm sorry. I was just thinking about something…." He nodded his head like he understood and that's when I finally looked around at my surroundings. James and I were sat by the fountain in the Hogwarts Courtyard.
"Um, how long have we been here?! And where's everyone else?!" I asked quietly after a moments silence. He chuckled.
"We're both early, it's nine o'clock. And we were told to meet here in half an hour. You were already out here, and I came out, you've been staring at that tree for the last five minutes."
Gah, why do I have to zone out that like?!
At least you weren't crying…
"Why are you here so early anyways?!" He asked me, I actually honestly could not remember why I was out here so early. Ah. Then I remembered my lucky jumper.
"I couldn't sleep."
"Same." Wow, we had actually never had a conversation like this, he had never actually talked to me, we have argued…that kiss. I can never put my finger on it, why did he kiss me?! As I discreetly looked at James I knew that if I never brought it up, neither would he. If I didn't start talking, neither would he.
"Look, I… I'm sorry." I said lamely. Merlin, there are a million ways I could have said it better. You stupid Lily Evans! He looked at me confusedly.
"What for?!"
"You don't know?" I asked quietly. He was silent for a moment and then he nodded his head without looking at me. "Oh. Yeah, well I'm sorry too. Let's forget about that." He said quickly.
"Though I can't blame you…" He smirked, I couldn't believe him! The nerve. I was about to ask what he meant when Matthew, the rest of the marauders, Frank and Alice waved to us. Izz had gone to see her Aunt and Mari had to study for her Care Of Magical Creatures. We were about to set off when-
"James! WAIT UP!" Ah, the famous Taylor Hartley. Her hair had been curled, so that the ringlets bounced on her shoulders, her hair is such a beautiful colour, I envy her, she's skinny but has some fat on her, unlike me. I noticed James roll his eyes and then forced a smile as Taylor got closer. Or was that just my imagination…
"Right, let's go then." James prompted as we all waited. It's quite amusing how on the way to Hogsmead all of us were walking with our 'dates'. I know it seems pretty obvious but it just made me giggle.
"So… Lily. ." I turned to Matthew, my eyebrows raised. He wasn't looking at me, he was looking at the floor, probably embarrassed by how lame he was acting.
"What do you want to know?!" I asked suspiciously. He opened his mouth and then closed it again, wondering if he should ask me or not…
"Where do you wanna go?!" He asked finally. I can tell that's not what he was going to ask, but I'll answer it anyways.
"Erm, I dunno. We could see The Shrieking Shack, Zonko's, Honeydukes…"
"Alright, let's go to Honeydukes." Matthew is a nice guy. We chatted, laughed. Talked and talked. Boring actually, I mean. He is nice but… argh too complicated. I was relieved when it was finally one. We were right near The Three Broomsticks so once we got in everyone else had arrived and had spared us seats. Whilst everyone was talking I totally zoned out... again.
Flashback-
"Well, you know what you need to do." Alice said like it was obvious, she saw my face and rolled her eyes. "Make him jelous! Completely ignore him and go total goo-goo on Matthew.
(JAMES POV)
"And here are the two love-birds!" Sirius boomed as Lily and Matthew came in finally. They looked a bit breathless, their hands entwined and Lily was glancing at Matthew nervously.
Ohhh, what do we have here?! Does I smell a lickle bit of jelously?!
Pad-foot, what are you on about. And no... course not.. no jelously...
Uh-hu... I know what you should do... Ignore her! She has obviously found 'true love' with Matthew. And you have a hot girl sitting next to you...
Then why don't you date her?!
Because... er.. she likes you, and that would be just a terrible thing for me to do. But anyways, take my advice, it works siriusly!!!
I shook my head at Sirius' lame pun, but was he right? He was true, she did look like she liked Matthew. Well, it's worth a try.
(5 mins later)
There's no point in me trying, at all. Taylor is doing all the work. When I was about to ask her if she wanted another drink, she had asked me. When I was about to grab her hand, she grabbed mine. She pampered me like a poodle. Eugh. Oh God, sweet Merlin in Jezibah. She. Has. Put. Her. Hand. On. My. Leg.
Thankfully something then caught my notice, and believe me when I say this, this changed my whole life.
"Mum, Dad?! What are you doing?!" I asked suddenly, yeups. There were my parents, in The Three Broomsticks, on a weekend. How embarrasing.
"James! We just came to treat Lucy and Mark Evans. They're such dears. We met them whilst playing Wizarding Golf, and it was such a suprise when they told us they were muggles. Completely gifted in Wizard Golf they are!"
Lucy Evans blushed at what my mum had said. Hang on.. Evans... EVANS?!
"Mum, dad?!" Lily asked in the same amazement.
"Lily, dear! We were just chatting to Harold and Rose Potter. Wizard Golf to the ends of the earth!" After what her dad said her face became as red as her hair.
I am so sorry for the lame ending!!! And I know this chapter was kind of crappy, what did you think of when James and Lily apologised?! That actually happened to me once, and he said the 'but I don't blame you.' Thing a well, but we didn't kiss :( What do you think he meant when he said 'I don't blame you' ?! Like him saying, 'oh I'm so hot, worship the ground I walk on...' ?
Haha, anyways, please review even though this was so crappy, I have cookies?! Sorry about there being no preview but I promise to update soon and sorry if there are any typos or spelling mistakes,
Mucho thanks, Olive x