A/N: OH MY LORDIE GUYS I WAS CRYING SO HARD FROM READING YOUR REVIEWS SERIOUSLY WHAT IS AIR. I'm sorry but your all's reactions were HILARIOUS. In all honesty, it could have been worse. Our original (evil) plan was to actually mark the story as complete and not let you in on the joke until next week, when we would continue the story. So, yeah, good for you we didn't do that haha. Erm... so today is Kurt and Blaine (Glee Couple)'s anniversary so this chapter goes out to the two of them. *covers ears while readers try to tell me they are fictional* HAPPY ONE YEAR YOU LOVELY BOYS! Welp... go ahead, and read while I cry over all their beautiful songs together and re-watch the episode "Original Songs" for the 5th time today.
Things between James and I are... awkward to say in the least. Unless we are whispering words of love or cursing each other to hell... we don't really know what to do with the tender friendship. The fact of the matter is that he is a lovely person, very changed from the ignorant prick from fifth year and before. It was too hard to hate him, too hard to ignore him, so being stuck in the friend-zone is the best I can do. I won't deny it, my heart breaks when I see him look over at Amanda, when she gives him those flirty winks. But I'm trying, and that's the best I can do.
It's Wednesday night, just a few days after we became awkward acquaintances, and it's our night for patrol. James grabs me from the Common Room where I'm furiously scribbling down my conclusion paragraph for my Charms essay, and taps his watch, signaling it's time for rounds. With a sigh, I hop up and we make our way from the portrait hole and start to survey the halls. We make light conversation, before we run out of words to say and homework to ask about and house rivalries to discuss.
It hangs there, out in the open, how much we both have changed since the summer. Before, we could never get enough words in. Now, we don't have enough to say.
"Let's play truth!" he finally proposes, cracking the silence as the hush now shatters on the ground.
"Truth or dare?" I question, looking at him skeptically and trying to figure out what he means. God, he looks good right now. The torches are illuminating part of his face, his hazel eyes completely lit up. Now that I think about it, that shirt really looks good on him...
I practically smack myself across the face at the thoughts, repeating to myself in my head, we're just friends. I hadn't realized how hard this was going to be.
"No, truth!" he explains, throwing his hands up in the air as we continue to walk, almost outraged that I don't know what it my head to the side, I show him I still have no idea what he is talking about. He huffs and says, "You're a Muggle, you are supposed to know this game. The rules are simple, I ask you a question and then you ask me one and we both have to be completely and utterly honest or you lose. And you can't refuse to answer or you lose to."
Giggling (yes, I, Lily Evans, is once again giggling in James Potter's presence), I retort, "That sounds idiotic! I don't want to answer all your incriminating questions!"
"Oh, but I know you want answers from me, that's a plus. Also, you are just scared I'm gonna win."
"I am not! James Potter, you are so going down!" And suddenly, it wasn't James and Lily, broken up couple or Potter and Evans, the two bickering enemies, but rather two friends, joking around during rounds, the awkwardness and clumsiness they were once feeling wiped away.
"Since I pity you so much and your lacking of knowledge that I will win, I will let you go first."
I think about it for a second, before asking, "What's your favorite candy from Honeydukes?" It is an easy one, I know, but starting off with something more personal would feel weird.
"Easy, sugar quills. What's your sister's middle name?"
I give him a look and ask, "Why do you want to know that?"
Rolling his eyes, he responds, "Tut, tut, Ms. Evans, giving up already?"
"Oh no, just wondering why that was such an important first question for me. And it's Gertrude." At the name, we both burst out laughing, gasping for air once it falls from my lips.
And so it begins.
Rounds are every other day, meaning we play the game that often. Sometimes it's silly questions, like shoe size, but other times, though very rarely, we dive into deeper topics. It's the only real time we spend together, since at mealtimes he sits at his end and me at mine, Alice and Sirius still quite strange around each other, as well as the fact that Amanda feels the need to come over and talk to James at every meal. Other then a passing wave or smile in the corridors, we don't interact much outside of rounds and head duties.
Two weeks pass, of playing Truth and shy smiles as we slowly rediscover the friendship we built over the summer. I avoid the topic of our previous relationship like the plague as does James and when the War comes up in our game, we both go quiet and don't speak for a for moments. It always picks back up again, with one of James's lame jokes or another question.
It's November now, the cold winds picking up and the clouds producing a light flurry occasionally. I've just gotten out of Defense when I feel an arm grab by elbow and have myself yanked into an empty classroom. Pulling out my wand, I am surprised to find that it is only Sirius in front of me, his mouth upturned into a smirk as he sees my wand.
"Whatcha gonna do, Evans? Hex me?" He jokes and I send him a playful glare before putting it away.
"What do you want, Sirius? I'd really rather get to lunch, I hear they're serving those delicious pumpkin pastries they have in November today and I want to get one before they are all gone."
"Bloody hell, Evans, you're worse then me!"
"You can call me Lily, you know," I reply, almost hurt that he can't call me by my first name.
"Huh?"
"Lily, my first name. Remember, you started calling me that over the summer..." I trail off and look at the ground, a red blush rising to my cheeks.
"Well, things have changed since the summer. That's what I want to talk to you about." His tone is scathing and I look up, narrowing my eyes, before nodding for him to go on. "Stay away from James. You already broke his heart too many times to count, and I'm too good of a friend to wait around for it to happen again."
I widen my eyes, waiting for the punch line, before replying when I don't get one, "Sirius, do you really think I broke James's heart? He broke up with me!"
"Oh get off your high horse, Evans, we both know you were going to do it at the end of the summer anyway. You wouldn't dare let your ego take a blow by it being known that you finally said yes to James, you don't have the heart to be with him. All you girls are the same, and I can't watch him get his hopes up now for you just to let them come crashing down again." My mouth opens wide, ready to say something, before I snap it shut again, knowing I need to think about what I say before I scream it out at him.
"I loved him," I whisper, "I loved him and he broke up with me, he was the one who said it was a fling. I was ready, I was ready to show the world and he ended it. And you really think I like this? You think I like being just friends with him? Do you really think I'm not dying in side every day?"
He shakes his head and replies, "How the hell would I know what's going on inside your head? You are just like Alice." The way he says her name, the way the icy word falls from his lips, it's chilling.
"Look, I'm not going to defend my best friends actions. Yes, what she did was awful, it was heartbreaking for me to watch and I can't even imagine what you are feeling. But what you don't seem to be grasping is the fact that you are looking at James and I's relationship backwards. He broke my heart, he left me, like Alice left you. I'm not trying to downplay what you went through, but at least Alice left you for someone else." His eyes singe with rage and I place a hand up, ready to explain myself. "In some other lifetime, in one where Frank wasn't around or the war wasn't here, she would be with you, I have no doubts in my mind. She would choose you if there wasn't any outside factors. James? Well, James got bored. James just plain old didn't want me. He chose being alone over being with me." I can't help my notice how sad my tone it, how pathetic the words sound. I really have turned into one of those girls, starstruck over some boy I will never have.
"You know, Evans, you don't know everything, and you shouldn't just assume you know the full story," he bites out, before turning on his heel and marching from the room. Once he's gone, my legs crumble out from beneath me and I sit there for a few moments, pondering over the conversation we just had.
What was the full story? What did everyone know that I didn't? But, more importantly, one question flutters through my mind, circling around until I can't take it anymore, were there anymore of those bloody delicious pastries left in the Great Hall?
A/N: THANKS FOR READING AND THANKS FOR REVIEWING, I WOULD LOVE IF YOU WOULD TELL US HOW YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER. Also, if you want an immediate response or just wanna talk and be friends, you can visit my tumblr ofcatsandthings (. tumblr . com ) THANKS SO MUCH(: REVIEWS HELP LILY FIND OUT THE FULL STORY QUICKER AND MAKES JILY GET TOGETHER QUICKER! hehe