The Truth Of The Heart
Summary: Lily Evans has always, ALWAYS hated James Potter. So when they become Head Boy and Girl, nothing could be worse. But could working with him change Lily's opinion? Has she been ignoring the truth in her heart all along?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this….except a few minor characters, so please don't sue me, JKR, 'cause I have nothing you want….unless you're into human flesh (you're not, are you?)
A/N: Thank you guys all SO MUCH for your reviews – it's nice to know I haven't been forgotten! I would do review thank-yous, but if this fic gets taken down again for anything, it won't be going up again, so I won't risk it. Apologies for the lateness of the chapter – I'm working on something else which now needs only to be fully typed up (its already half-done) before it can go up! The next chapter of this will be sooner, I swear!
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Chapter 7: Halloween I – The Morning Before
A dreamy landscape blurred into reality. Blinking, James rolled over, and taking his glasses from the bedside table, he peered at his clock. A split second later he had swung himself out of bed and dashed to the bathroom.
He swore as he attempted to brush his teeth and wash his face at the same time. Back in the dormitory, he noticed Remus' neatly made-up bed opposite. Why didn't he wake me up? he wondered, as he frantically pulled on a pair of jeans and the first t-shirt he could find. He had known just as well as James that they were both due to help set up in the hall for the Halloween festivities that evening. Yanking any two socks on and stuffing his feet into his trainers, James scrambled down to the Great Hall, where he was met by a very disapproving McGonagall.
"And just where have you been, Mr Potter?"
"Sorry," James said apologetically, running a hand unconsciously through his hair. He followed her past the doors into the Hall. Remus was already there, doing something to a heap of pumpkins. Emma stood about five feet away, apparently using her wand to charm candles into having different-coloured flames.
"Seeing as you are late," McGonagall said curtly, "you may as well begin moving the tables and chairs." She indicated with a wave of her hand the stacked tables around the edges of the chamber. "You will do it without magic."
"But Professor," James began.
"No buts," McGonagall said firmly. "Now, the positions for the tables are marked on the ground . . ."
James' gaze around the room was suddenly arrested in a corner. He had been wondering distantly where the Head Girl herself was, but he had obviously not recognised her. Lily had climbed up onto a pile of tables, and appeared to be attaching strings of decorations to the walls. Her long red hair was loose, falling straight down her back. It was her clothing that made James suddenly feel so dizzy. He had never seen her wear anything quite so casual, yet so . . . provocative, and so revealing. She was dressed in blue denim jeans, black trainers, and a white tank top with spaghetti straps. It accentuated her slender figure perfectly. While McGonagall droned on, James watched Lily fiddling with something. His stomach did a flip-flop, and he almost had to stifle a groan as she stretched up to put it on the wall. As she raised her arms, a few inches of creamy skin at her waist were exposed, and her slim waist and narrow hips looked even more obvious. James couldn't understand how he hadn't noticed before what a beautiful figure she had. Then again, he reasoned with himself, wizarding robes didn't reveal much, and neither did the baggy sweatshirts that she usually wore. James felt a blush rise in his cheeks as she extended herself again . . . and that wasn't the only part of his body that reacted to the sight.
" . . . six chairs will be quite sufficient. MR POTTER, ARE YOU LISTENING?"
James looked guiltily back at Professor McGonagall. "Yes Professor, sorry."
"Well then, you had better get on with the job." McGonagall was quite clearly still miffed with him, but James's gaze had drifted back to Lily. She had stiffened in mid-reach when McGonagall had shouted out his name, and there was no way that she could not know that he had arrived. Mentally forcing himself not to look at her again, he made his way over to Remus and began pulling a table from a stack. Remus looked down at his feet and smirked.
"Nice socks, Prongs. Is it a new way to pick up the girls?"
James looked down as well. He was wearing mismatched socks; one with a pattern of Snitches on it, and the other with pumpkins.
"Well, I would have been able to find a proper pair if you'd woken me up on time," he said, through gritted teeth.
"I did," Remus said serenely. "You called me a wanker and rolled over."
Having no reply for this, James simply snorted and lifted up the table again to begin his arduous task. As he positioned it over one of the yellow dots on the floor, which McGonagall had said were marked on to show where tables should be placed, he surveyed the stacks around him. This was going to take a while.
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Half an hour later, James was aching all over. The circular tables, pretty as they looked, were very heavy, and although he was almost three-quarters of the way through, his arms were killing, and his head was aching from trying not to stare at Lily too much as she continued to work. Remus had finished charming the pumpkins and was now positioning them to float over the tables in mid-air, while Emma placed candles in and lit them. It was quite obvious to even the most innocent and uninformed bystander that she was putting a great effort into not exchanging more than a few sentences with Remus as they worked; invariably, she would find something else to concentrate on, or somewhere else to go every time he came near.
More than anything, James now wished that he had woken up in time to get dressed properly. The t-shirt he had thrown on had already been one of those which were too tight in the chest region, and now, soaked with sweat as he was, it was clinging uncomfortably snugly to his body, revealing rather too much of him. He felt horribly exposed, and if it were not for the wrath of McGonagall, and more importantly, of a certain red-head, he would have gone up to change long ago. As it was, he simply gritted his teeth (again), attempted to pull his shirt down (again), and began dragging another table (again).
THUMP.
James whirled round in time to see Emma crumple to the floor, and a pumpkin roll away.
He swore and started towards them. Remus had knelt down beside her, very pale, trying to wake her up.
"EMMA!" Lily cried. Lithe as a cat, she sprang off the table lightly and ran over.
Carefully, she lifted Emma's head from where it was lying in Remus' lap, and examined it. There was a gash on the top, which was bleeding freely onto her hair.
Remus groaned, but Lily smiled at him sympathetically.
"She'll be fine. What hit her? A pumpkin?" Her eyes moved round the hall, pointedly avoiding James, and came to rest on the stray orange ball lying in the middle of the floor. "That one?"
"I-I was levitating the pumpkins and I sort of – lost concentration, and it fell." Remus smiled weakly. "Nothing happened to the pumpkin of course, it has an Unbreakable Charm on it – it's just Emma . . ." He gestured at her.
"Well, Madam Pomfrey can heal stuff like this in a minute, so you'd better take her to the Hospital Wing," James said.
Lily fished in her pocket, and produced a piece of cloth – James had no idea what it was for. "Put this on the wound and put pressure on it."
Remus stood, bringing Emma's prone form with him. "Are you sure you shouldn't take her? I mean, I'm hardly the first person she'll want to see. She'll probably kill me when she finds out."
Lily put her hands on her hips.
"Remus Lupin, stop being such a coward. She will NOT kill you, because I know what she's like, and besides, do you really think I would be able to carry her? Take her up."
Gingerly, Remus lifted Emma into his arms, supporting her unconscious head on his chest. He slowly took her out. Lily and James were left standing there, watching the empty doors. Lily turned round to James. For a moment, he thought that she was going to say something; her mouth opened – but then she gave him a sad look and walked away to clamber back up on a stack of tables and continue decorating. Sighing inwardly, James went back to hoisting the tables.
Despite the fact that it had been quiet before, the tense, uncomfortable silence that now pervaded the hall was deafening. James knew it was no use talking to her – he needed to wait until he was in a situation where she had no way of avoiding or ignoring him – but he still felt thoroughly depressed as he wiped his forehead. This could have been so much more fun and less like work if they were being normal. They would have been laughing together and joking, not standing at opposite ends of the hall, trapped in their own silence.
Eventually, James looked round, and groaned quietly. Reluctantly, he approached the final stack of tables, upon which Lily was standing. He cleared his throat to announce his proximity, and she froze at once.
"Uhm, I need to move the tables. That you're on, I mean."
Lily turned and shot a glance round the room. When she had satisfied herself that there were indeed no other tables that he could move, she sighed, dusted her hands off on her jeans, and slid down. Without a backward glance, she marched over to the remaining pile of pumpkins and began to continue what Remus and Emma had been doing. James finished the tables and started on the chairs. Taking up a pile of cloths, Lily began to polish the tables and spread tablecloths on then. She managed to completely stay away from any area that James was working in, and did not open her mouth once.
Finally, around two o'clock, the job was finished, and James appraised the room with no small feeling of contentment. Lily turned on her heel and walked away. Acting on impulse, James hurried after, casting around for a statement, a question, anything.
"Lily?" he said as he caught up with her. "Do we need to be there early tonight?"
"No," Lily said, so quietly that he barely heard her, and she lengthened her strides and quickened her pace.
Unfortunately for her, James, being taller, had no problem in matching her speed.
"Are you sure?" he queried, as casually as he could manage.
"Yes. Can't you just leave me alone? Please!" Lily was beginning to feel very much in need of something to soothe her nerves – it was the effect that James had had on her for the last few days, since the library incident.
James did not reply. He slowed down, allowing her to walk on ahead, and then headed up to his dorm, only to be met by a very excited Sirius.
"Have you heard about Fay Fletcher? People say she's going to dress as a hooker! I can't wait for the whole contest thing, mine is going to be the BEST." He began bouncing around the room, singing loudly, albeit slightly off-key. "Oh I just can't wait for tonight!" (A/N: This is to the tune of 'Oh I just can't wait to be king' from the Lion King. And yes, I know that Sirius wouldn't be likely to know this, but who cares?)
Oh yeah, James thought sarcastically, as he followed Sirius past the beds, picking up anything that fell down. I really can't wait for tonight.
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A/N: So, there you go. Basically the same – just a few minor alterations where I've noticed a grammatical mistake. Feel free to leave a review – anything will do. The next chapter will be coming very soon!