Days in Avalon
Chapter 31: Fall to Pieces
Lily tossed and turned in her sleep that night, plagued with the memory of James's lips softly touching hers, and the look in his eyes as she pulled away. But what mostly caused her turmoil was the fact that she cheated on Everett. In the past she had scolded Felicia of her infidelities with the various boyfriends she had, but she never imagined she would betray her own boyfriend with another guy. As she stared out into the darkness of her room, for the first time in a long while, Lily had no idea what she was going to do.
For the next few days, Lily avoided James at all costs. She hardly came down from her room, which didn't really matter since James had also taken to spending more time in his own room. One night after another useless attempt to try to fall asleep, Lily went down to the common room to find that Felicia was still up.
"Hello, Felicia," said Lily.
"Hi, Lily," said Felicia as she looked up from the letter to her parents. "Haven't seen you in here for awhile. What's up? I thought you were asleep?"
"No, I just can't seem to fall asleep. How are you doing?" said Lily tiredly.
"You know me. Same old, same old."
"That's an interesting figurine," comment Lily. She noticed that a crystal figurine of a witch and wizard were standing close together as they swayed to some silent melody.
"Oh, yeah," said Felicia brightly as she gazed at her ornament. "Sirius gave me this for Christmas."
Lily continued to watch the crystal witch and wizard sway in place, until the witch turned her head a bit to look at the wizard more properly. At that point the two figures shared a passionate and heartfelt kiss before returning to their silent dancing.
"How lovely," said Lily softly with a hint of darkness in her tone. Felicia eyed her friend carefully and saw that she was not well. She could see that dark circles had formed under her eyes from lack of sleep, as well as the exhausted look that was spread throughout her face. Soon, Felicia had noticed that the more Lily stared at the present, the more Lily's hands visibly shook.
"Lily is there something wrong?"
"No. Why do you ask?" said Lily quickly.
"Because you're fidgeting like crazy," she said bluntly. "What's on your mind?"
"Can I ask you something?" said Lily suddenly as she took a seat next to Felicia.
"Sure. Fire away."
Lily took a moment to collect herself and try to figure out how to come about telling her friend about what her dilemma was. "Well…you really care for Sirius, right?"
"Oh no," moaned Felicia. "This isn't going to be another Black bashing is it?"
"No, this isn't about that."
"Okay. So what is it then?" said Felicia a little confused as to what her friend was trying to tell her.
"Could you just answer the question?" said Lily a little uncomfortable.
"Okay. Yes, I care for Sirius. I love him."
"Well…what if…" stuttered Lily, "let's say…one day you met someone…another guy for instance…and you and this guy…you know…got to know a little about one another."
"Uh huh?" nodded Felicia, still not sure what she was trying to say.
"Well…what if this new relationship...led to…something."
"Something like…what?"
"Let's say you and this new guy…kissed? What would you do then?" asked Lily.
Felicia bit her tongue a little to keep herself from laughing at her friend's feeble scenario. "Well…first I'd tell a better story since this hypothetical one is so old and sucks big time."
"Okay," sighed Lily with relief.
"So…let me get this straight…you met another guy, became friends with him, and then one day you two guys kissed, and now you feel like crap because of your boyfriend. Right?"
"Yeah…something like that," said Lily a little uncomfortable at the sound of Felicia's breakdown.
"Well first let me ask you, did you and this guy do anything more than kiss?" said Felicia as she folded her hands together in a business-like manner.
"No. It was just once. One kiss."
"Wait? One kiss?" said Felicia a little confused.
"Yes, a small peck on the lips," replied Lily, not really wanting to relive her experience.
"No swabbing of saliva?" said Felicia as she shook her head.
"Huh?"
"Frenching."
"I know what you mean," said Lily a little irate. "No we didn't. Just a soft, slow simple kiss."
"Just one kiss?" said Felicia trying to make sure she had her information right. "You are fretting and hyperventilating over one lousy kiss?"
"It wasn't lousy! It was sweet…and…and…"stuttered Lily.
"Okay, it was a good kiss. But it was one kiss with no tongue action at all?"
"YES!"
"So what are you worried about? It didn't mean anything, did it?"
"No! It…it just happened," said Lily painfully.
"Then what's the problem?" asked Felicia.
"Everett," said Lily as if it were obvious. "You know…my boyfriend?"
"Simple solution," said Felicia in the same tone. "Don't tell him."
"What?"
"Don't tell him. If it didn't mean anything, then you don't need to tell Everett. It'll only mess up a good thing."
"But…it's wrong. He has the right to know."
"Then why are you asking me what you should do?" said Felicia. Lily sat there for a moment to let her friend's words sink in. True, it wasn't as if the kiss she shared with James really meant anything. It was just the setting and everything else. Besides…Felicia was right…it wasn't as if she were lying to her boyfriend. She just neglected to tell him something.
"So you think I shouldn't tell him?"
"If it were me, and this kiss meant nothing, then…no I wouldn't tell Sirius," said Felicia. " I'd forget about it and move on." For some reason, Lily noticed a strange look in Felicia's eyes when she said the last part. But as quickly as she saw it, it disappeared.
"But what if he found out?"
"Has Everett?" said Felicia with an eyebrow raised.
"No."
"Then you cross that bridge when you come to it," said Felicia as if there was nothing else to say.
--
Lily avoided James as much as possible for the rest of the holiday vacation. Even when the rest of the school returned from their holiday and the new term began, Lily Evans could be found in her free time either in the sanctuary of the library or along side her boyfriend Everett.
After a week into the new term, Lily and Everett had become closer to one another than they had through the previous term. But every now and then, Lily's mind would betray her and cause her to drift back into the memory of her and James on the Quidditch pitch. This of course caused Lily to feel even more turmoil as she forced herself to spend almost every waking moment with her boyfriend in order to get the raven-haired boy out of her head. But although Lily was getting pretty good at hiding her feelings from the world, there was one person who still noticed her distressed.
"Lily…is there something bothering you?" asked Everett one night. He and Lily had decided to take a walk through out the grounds after dinner, and talk about anything and everything.
"No…why do you ask?" said Lily as she turned to him.
"No reason," said Everett as he lightly shook his head. "You just seem to be off a bit tonight?"
"Oh. No. I'm fine," lied Lily. Her mind had decided to take another impromptu vacation to a place she most definitely did not want to visit. "I'm just a little worried about a test I have soon."
"Oh, Lily," chuckled Everett. "I'm sure you'll do fine. You are one of the smartest girls I know," he added as he pulled her close for a hug.
"Thanks. I needed that," said Lily after she inhaled her boyfriend's aroma.
"This past week sure has been nice," commented Everett as they strolled along the frozen gardens again. "We haven't done this in a long while."
"I'm sorry I haven't been around," said Lily sadly.
"It's not a problem. I know you've been busy. So have I," said Everett in a warm, calming voice.
"I know, but…I still feel horrible about not being with you," said a tired and frustrated Lily.
"Lily, Lily, Lily. You are by far the most selfless girl I've ever met," lightly chuckled Everett. "It's just one of the many reasons why I love you."
Lily stopped dead in her tracks upon hearing the last three words he uttered. She looked up into his eyes with confusion written all over her face.
"Excuse me? Wh-what did you say?" asked Lily in a whisper.
"I love you, Lily," he replied simply. She could see from the look in his eyes that he truly did mean what he was saying, and soon found it a little hard to breath.
"Oh, Everett. I…"stuttered Lily. But whatever she was going to say never left her mouth. Because at that precise moment, Everett closed the distance between them and quickly placed his lips upon hers to seal the moment.
--
Andy walked along the corridors on her nightly prefect patrol of the castle. Although it really wasn't much of a patrol since everyone was either in their own house or hiding out somewhere with someone else. Andy wasn't the type to break up anyone's choice of fun. She more or less preferred to let everyone go on with whatever it was they were doing. Although if some were a bit noisy, she managed to put a silencing or muffling charm over the door or opening to drown out their noises.
As she walked through the corridors, she pauses every now and then to admire some paintings or statues, since not very many people get a chance to admire the works that decorate the halls. As she admired a painting in which a young witch and wizard were seen together underneath a huge oak tree, she drifted off into her mind once again.
Ever since it happen, she couldn't stop thinking about the conversation she had with Sirius. Needless to say she was shocked when she learned that she was the one who gave Sirius his first kiss. But since that revelation, she found herself thrown back to that night nearly three years ago. She was a good five months into her own personal war with Sirius, and had just started to date James, and was getting the silent treatment from all of her friends, especially Lily. But that didn't last long. Not with the bloody battle the Gryffindor team endured against Hufflepuff. Most of the team was injured, including herself who ended up in the hospital wing for a few days with a dislocated shoulder, a sprained ankle, and couple of broken fingers and ribs.
It was because of those injuries that Andy had missed a few days of lessons that were highly important. She had spent many hours into the night trying to catch up with her work. By the end of the week, she had succeeded. That night she didn't really feel like heading off to bed after she finished her studies. So instead, she stayed in the common room reading one of her mother's old teen romance novels.
Some where along the course of the night, she had drifted off to sleep and had dreams of a similar scene she had read in her book. A tall, dark, and handsome boy came to her in the middle of the night and gave her the most powerful and passionate kiss in the history of kisses. She vaguely remembered being shaken awake by a tall, handsome boy, to which she pulled closer to her believing she was still dreaming.
The moment their lips touched she felt an electric spark travel down her spine making all warm and fuzzy on the inside. She remembered being amazed at the skill and movement of the boy's lips, although a little sloppy at the beginning. Andy couldn't help but grin now knowing that she had helped him learn how to kiss with such skill so quickly. But the Andy of the past was torn between wanting to throw up or die of horror, when she realized what had happened. She remembered pushing him away and saying words that were not appropriate for a girl her age before running up to her room.
The look on Sirius's face when told the truth was one she had never seen before in her life. It was almost as if...he wished to repeat what had happened so long ago.
'Yeah right! Why on earth would Sirius Black want to kiss me?' she asked herself
"Because he likes you. He wants to be with you."
'Right, and I'm the long lost heir of Helga Hufflepuff.'
"Then why did he tell you about his first kiss? He could have lied and said it was someone else. But no…he told you the truth."
'He only did that because I asked him to tell me, and if he told me some bold face lie…which he did…I would have gotten the truth out of him one way or another.'
"True. But you can't deny that you have feelings for him. Admit it, you liked kissing him back then. And now you yourself are wondering what it would be like to be with him now."
'No I don't. I don't like Sirius any more than a friend, and even that's a stretch. There's too much bad blood between us.'
"But you've gotten over that and have forgiven him for it, as he has you. You enjoy spending time with him."
'No I don't.'
"Liar. If that were true, then why did you go to Paris with him? You had fun with him that night, and moment you've been with him."
'Okay I do have fun with him. But that doesn't mean I fancy him. I'm not one of those foolish girls who falls under his charm, and gets their heart broken whenever they see him with another girl in his arms,' stated Andy in her mind.
"Whatever you say. But your wrong."
'Shut up!'
Andy shook her head to rid herself of her personal debate, and continued to walk down the dark hallway. That is until a dark figure came out of the shadows in front of Andy. The sight of Severus Snape, startled Andy a bit, but was quickly replaced with the amount of revulsion she had for him.
"Well, well well. What have we hear? Out helping a couple of miscreant friends?" sneered Snape.
"Relax Snivellus. No one is here to play a prank on you, because as hard as it is for you to comprehend this little bit of information, not everyone is after you," she said with disgust. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll just leave and let you and your ego have some quality time together."
As she started to continue her journey down the hall, Severus suddenly grabbed a hold of her arm tightly.
"Uh excuse me, but what the hell do you think you are doing?" she said as she glared at him.
"Now what makes you think I want to be alone?" he said with a smirk.
"Oh, please! What is that suppose to be some kind of line?" said Andy with a sickening look.
"No." he said abruptly. "What makes you think I'd want to pick up a 'mudblood' like you?"
"What makes you think I'd want to be picked up by a grease haired looser like you? Now get your hands off me, before I…" she said as she ripped her arm from his grip.
"What? Put me out until the middle of next week with one of your little spells or magic tricks? Oh, I'm so terrified," he said sarcastically. "But actually I just wanted you to give a little message to your friends."
"What do I look like, their personal secretary?" snide Andy. "Don't even think about responding to that question." she quickly added when she saw the malice look in his eye. "So what is it?"
"Just let them know that I'm on to their little plan," he said smoothly.
"And what plan would that be?" said a voice from behind Andy. It was James along with Sirius and Remus.
"Ah, if it isn't the resident crime lords," said Severus darkly.
"Stuff it Snivellus," barked James. "Andy what are you doing here?"
"Patrolling," she said simply. She could see that James was in one of his moods that it gets into. A mood that usually lead to him getting into some sort of fight and a months worth of detention. "That is until I unfortunately ran into this loser," she added as she motioned toward Severus.
"You weren't say that a few minutes ago," said Severus in an off voice.
"Urgh…I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. At least then I won't lose my dinner," said Andy with disgust.
"Come on Sparky," chuckled Sirius at her comment. "Let's leave poor delusional Snivellus alone."
Andy glared darkly at Snape before she headed over to where the three boys were to join them.
"Ah yes, right on cue. The mudblood is rescued once again by her trouble making companions," sneered Severus.
Sirius had stopped in mid turn upon hearing his words. He snapped back around with his hand in his pocket, ready to pull out his wand.
"What did you call her?" growled Sirius.
"Easy, Blackie," warned Andy as she placed on hand on his wand arm.
"A mudblood. That's what she is after all. I don't understand why anyone one would even give her the time of day. It's people like her that cause problems in the wizarding world."
Both James and Sirius had had enough of hearing Severus's words. The two of them whipped out their wands ready to hex Severus into unconsciousness, that is until Andy stepped in.
"James, Sirius no!" said Andy as she stopped both of them from attacking. "I'll take care of this."
"But.." said both of them.
"I'll handle this," she said sternly to both. Andy then, turned around to face a smirking Severus.
"Now, Snape," said Andy brightly. "I thought we had this discussion last year. If you want to insult me, then please use a word that holds some value to me."
"Oh yes…that right," chuckled Severus menacingly. "I forgot I was dealing with the stuck up one, instead of the red haired know it all."
It was Andy's turn to demonstrate self-control instead of wiping the floor with the boy before her. From the corner of her eye, she could see that James was even more determined than ever to get into a row with Severus.
"It's one thing to criticize me, but leave me best mate out of this, okay? So why don't you do us all a favor and go crawl back under whatever rock you came from and stay there," said Andy darkly.
"Why don't you make me. That is if you have the guts to take me on in a real dual and without your boy toys to protect you," said Severus as he closed the gap between Andy and himself and stared her down.
He was a good head taller than Andy, but to her that didn't really matter. Andy merely laughed in his face as if he had made a joke, and turned toward the boys behind her as if to ask 'if he was for real'. The three of them watched Andy's actions, they had no clue as to what had gotten into her. But before they even knew it, Andy had pushed or flipped Severus belly down on the ground and had his arm pinned behind him.
"Now listen up, Snivellus," she said in a low harsh tone. " If I find out that you are up to something that will hurt any of my friends, I'll make you wish you'd never heard my name. Oh yeah, and I'll do it without a wand."
She roughly let go of Severus as she walked over him and continued on down the hall, followed by the three boys. As Severus began to get up, he silently vowed to find a way to make her pay.
"Ouch. Nice move back there, Andy," said James in amazement.
"I never knew you had it in you," said Remus. "Well not to do that to Severus I mean."
"Awww Sparky. I thought you only got physical with me? What? Am I not that special anymore?" teased Sirius.
"Don't worry, Blackie. You know I only do my most damaging moves on you," said Andy in the same tone.
"True, but I just don't feel like I matter to you anymore," said Sirius with a forlorn look. Andy not wanting Sirius to feel bad, came up along side him and made to grab a hold of his ear. Fortunately for Sirius he was a tad quicker and moved out of the way.
"Okay, okay. You don't have to do anything. I didn't say that I didn't miss it," said Sirius.
"Are you two done yet," snapped James.
"What's your problem, Jay?" asked Andy.
"Nothing."
"What's wrong, James?" sighed Andy as she put a hand on his shoulder. He quickly shrugged her hand away.
"Did you get into a fight with Lily or something?" she asked quickly.
"Yeah…something like that," he replied in a low voice. "Look, just forget it, alright?"
"James…"
"I said drop it!" yelled James before storming off. Remus, Andy, and Sirius stood there a moment a little surprised at his outburst. It was Remus who made the first move to follow him and find out what was wrong with him.
"Geez, what crawled up his robes?" asked Andy.
"I don't know. He's been like this for awhile now," said Sirius.
"Blackie…you don't think something happened between him and Lil do you?
"Are you kidding me? They haven't fought in weeks."
"I know but still. Doesn't it seem a little weird that he's suddenly moody about everything?"
"I don't know. Maybe something did happened, but he hasn't told any of us anything," said Sirius.
"Well whatever it is, it can't be good," said Andy.
"James's will be fine. But right now I'm a little more concerned about you," said Sirius.
"Me? Why?"
"Because Snivellus. What was that back there, between you and him?" he asked.
"What was what? Him acting like a prat, or him trying to act like he could hit on me?" said Andy.
"You know what part," he said with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, please. Do you really think that I'd flirt with Snivellus? Please! I may be in a slight slump when it comes to dating, but I'm not desperate," chimed Andy.
"I know you would never do that. You have higher standards than any girl I've ever met."
"I'll take that as a compliment," smirked Andy.
"Well you go right on ahead," smiled Sirius. "But…just do me a favor."
"Sure. What is it?"
"Just, be careful around a him. I know you think you can take him on, and you're probably right. But Snape is a tricky little bastered. He'll come after you when you least expect it."
Andy could help but blush a bit at his concern for her safety, and silently thanked the darkness for hiding her flushed face. "Well…thank you for your concern. But I can take care of myself. I'm a big girl. Besides if I can kick your sorry arse, then Severus Snape shouldn't be a problem."
Sirius merely chuckled at her words. He knew that she was right, but he still didn't like the fact that she was threatened. As the two of them continued to walk down the hall, with his arm around her shoulder, Sirius made a silent promise to himself and that he would not let her become a victim of any type of pain.
--
The next two weeks were uneventful at most. The students were once again forced to deal with the heavy burden of homework. James continued to remain silent about his relationship with Lily, but had dropped his moody acts for the most part. Luckily for him, he had Quidditch to think about. Even though it was only the middle of January, he decided that it was the best time to think up of some new plays to use in Gryffindors quest for the cup.
Sirius, Peter, and Remus decided it was best not to ask him what was the matter with him anymore. They found that the 'Quidditch minded' James was better than the 'brooding' James. One Saturday morning, James informed Sirius that he wanted to hold a team meeting down in the common room later on that day. Sirius, not wanting to argue with his best mate, decided to follow along and told him he'd tell the others at breakfast.
After breakfast, Sirius decided to head back up to his room to catch up on some reading or sleep. (which ever came first) As he reached the common room, he was that Felicia was sitting on the couch alone, looking lost in her own thoughts.
"Knut for your thoughts?" said Sirius as he came up to Felicia.
"Oh! Hi, Sirius," said Felicia gloomily.
"What's wrong, love?"
"It's nothing," she said.
"Hey, don't give me that. Now what has got you looking as if you've lost your dog?" he said brightly.
Felicia looked as if she wanted to say something, but thought the better of it. "Do you think we could talk. In private I mean."
"Sure. Let's go upstairs," he said a little confused.
They both silently walked over to the staircase and headed up to the sixth year boy's dorm. Once inside the empty room, they stood there in the middle of the room looking at each other.
"Okay Figg, what did you want to talk about?" asked Sirius.
"Is there something you'd like to tell me?" she said abruptly.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean…are we okay? I mean is there something that I did to upset you or something?" said Felicia looking a little frustrated.
"No. What are you talking about?" asked a completely confused Sirius.
Felicia sighed as she rubbed a hired hand across her forehead. "I don't know. I…I just feel like I'm losing you. It's as if you don't want to be with me anymore."
"What's brought this on? Why would you think of something like that?" asked Sirius as he came up to her.
"Well…we haven't really spent some time together anymore. I know it's because of school and stuff, but every time I went to look for you, I could never find you. And when we are together, you seem to find some reason to leave. It's almost as if you were leaving me to go off and be with someone else," said Felicia looking down at the floor.
"Felicia, look at me," said Sirius, to which she complied. "I'm sorry for making you feel this way. But trust me when I say this. I'm not sneaking off to be with some other girl to snog. The only one that I want to be with like that, is you."
"Are you sure?" said Felicia.
"Of course," said Sirius, before pulling her into an embrace. Felicia wrapped her arms around his neck and breathed in his scent willing her nerves to calm. She then pulled away slowly and placed a slow tantalizing kiss on his lips.
--
"Hey it's time for the meeting. Where's Sirius?" asked Jay as he looked at his watch. Sure enough the entire Quidditch team had
"Don't know," said Robin.
"Probably upstairs asleep," said Will, one of the new beaters.
"Urgh, I'll go get him," groaned James.
"Nah, Jay it's alright. I'll go get him. You just start the meeting," said Andy.
"You sure?"
"Yup." With that Andy left the common room and headed up to the boy's dormitory.
After climbing a few more steps and walking down a hall, she came to halt outside a door marked sixth years. She raised her hand to knock on the door, but an idea popped into her head right before her hand came against the door. Instead of waiting for an answer when she knocked, she'd just quickly tap the door and walk right in and tell him to get up.
Knock Knock
"Hey sleeping beauty, time to get your sorry arse...up." said Andy as she walked into the room to a sight she didn't expect.
The sight she found was one of complete shocked and horror. Laying in the bed was a partially dressed Sirius and Felicia. Both of them were flushed and gasping for breath as they sat there completely shocked to find Andy standing at the foot of the bed. Felicia tried her best to cover herself, even though she still had her clothes on, even though her shirt was mostly unbutton . A shirtless Sirius just sat there with his mouth open staring at Andy. He watched as her eyes slowly changed from shock to disbelief, until finally resting on the pain she felt as tears slowly began to fill her eyes.
"Oh, I'm...I'm s-sorry. I...I...I d-din't know that you weren't in here alone. I just came to remind you about the Quidditch meeting, but it seems you're busy at the moment. So, I'll just leave then," mumbled Andy quietly and quickly.
"Uh Andy? Andy wait!" called out Sirius as she quickly left the room. 'Oh no. What've I done?' he thought as he quickly threw on his shirt and ran after her, leaving a very confused Felicia behind.
--
"So with the next match coming up, we're going to be practicing six days a week for about two hours, so…" said James to his team, until he heard the sound of someone coming down the stairs. A few moments later he saw Andy alone at the bottom of the stairs with a lost look on her face.
"Hey, uh where's Sirius?" said James.
"Ummm...he's a little busy at the moment," said Andy quietly. "Um...Jay I hate to do this but...uh I have to go."
"Andy is something wrong?" said James with a concern look.
"No. Of course not. I just remembered I promised to meet up with someone. I'm sorry," said Andy quickly.
"Andy?" called out James as she rushed to the portrait and ran down the hall with tears in her eyes.
A few moments later, James heard Sirius running down the stairs with his hair all messed up and his shirt was half buttoned up.
"Where did she go? Where's Andy," asked Sirius scanning the common room.
"She left. Said something about having to meet up with someone. Do you mind telling me what's going on?" asked James having an idea that his best friend did or said something to seriously upset Andy.
"Sorry not right now," yelled Sirius as he to ran out of the common room. He looked down each hallway outside the portrait, but there was no sign of her anywhere.
--
James conducted the rest of the meeting by himself, wondering as everyone else was, what had happened between his two friends. After the meeting, his teammates headed off to find some other activity before dinner. As James was straightening up the common room, he heard someone come into. To say the least James was surprised to come face to face with Lily.
"Hello James," said Lily timidly after a lingering period of grueling silence.
"Evans," he said shortly. He then went back to cleaning up.
Lily noticed his harsh tone, and nearly flinched at the sound of it. "How've you been?" she asked trying to make small talk. James continued to ignore her as he roughly put his things back into his bag.
'Okay, so he's not interested in a friendly conversation. I knew this would happened,' she thought.
"Ah…listen," started Lily. "I wanted to talk to you about our next project for McGonagall's class. I was thinking we could get a head start on Sunday…"
"I'm busy on Sunday," sneered James.
"Oh! Well…Monday then."
"Busy that day too."
"Well…I suppose we could work on it Tuesday during a free…"said Lily, until she was abruptly silenced by James slamming his book on the table.
"Look Evans, can't you take a hint? I don't want to work on a stupid assignment, alright!" roared James.
Lily stood there in shook for a moment at his outburst. James watched as her expression turned from disbelief into confusion and anger.
"What is your problem?" she snapped.
"What is my problem? Is that all you can say? What about you, Lily? What is your problem?" yelled James.
"My problem?"
"Yes! You haven't spoken to me since Christmas. Let alone look at me, and you expect me to just what? Respond to your beck and call?" he asked as he flared his arms wildly.
Lily had no idea until now how badly she had hurt the boy before her now. "James, no listen…it's not…"
"Not what? 'Not like that?' Was that what you were going to say?" asked James. He growled in frustration as he ran his hand through his hair making it messier than ever. "God! Lily…we kissed each other! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"We didn't kiss each other James. You kissed me, remember?" said Lily before she could stop herself.
"Same thing!"
"No it isn't. You…you…you know I have a boyfriend," barked Lily.
"Yeah, one who you have nothing in common with," said James in a matter of fact tone.
"Oh, that's is a lie if I've ever heard one," chimed Lily.
"It's true."
Lily started at him flabbergasted at his smug look. "How do you know? Huh? You're not with me when I spend time with him. You have no clue as to what goes on between Everett and I unless someone tells you."
At this statement, James began to laugh loudly, causing Lily's rage to flare even more. "Do you honestly think that I'm to believe that you're happy with Everett?" he chuckled.
"I don't care what you believe happens in my life. Why you may ask? Because it is my life, James! Not yours."
"I see it in your eyes," said James suddenly in a low tone. He walked over to her and stared right into the emerald pools he couldn't get out of his head.
"You think you're happy with him, but you're not. Not really. Your eyes don't light up like they should when you talk about the guy you supposedly love."
"I never said I loved him," said Lily shakily.
"Because you don't," he said in the same soft tone.
Lily shook her head to rid herself of the confusing thoughts and feelings that were started to bubble up. "I haven't spent enough time with him to know if I love him. And it's all because I've been with you, working on the stupid assignment!" yelled Lily. "So how am I to know, if all my spare time is taken up with you?"
"Shouldn't that tell you something, Lily, if all your time is spent with me?" said James in a strange tone that cause the hairs on Lily's neck to stand on end.
"You don't want to be with him," continued James. "You want…"
"SHUT UP!" screamed Lily scaring James a bit. "I don't ever want to hear those words come out of your mouth. I do not want to be with you."
The two of them continued to stare at each other for a few moments as Lily regained her composure and broke the heavy silence in a low tone.
"At one point…I enjoyed spending time with you. But now? Now I don't even what to be in the same room with you if I don't have to be."
James could hear the malice in her voice and knew that if he didn't say something, he'd loose her. "Lily…please. I'm sorry, all right? Just…please. I don't want to end this friendship."
"You're not sorry James," she said looking right into his hazel eyes. "Not about what you did. Besides, your apology is too late now, to save this friendship, because it ended that night on the Quidditch pitch. You crossed the line, James, and you can't just go back to the way things were. So do us both a favor…and let it be…and also stay the hell out of my life."
With that, she quickly ran up to room, unaware of the silent tear that fell behind the raven-haired boy's glasses.
Disclaimer: It's all belongs to J.K. Rowling. I only own this story and the characters I made up.