Disclaimer: Me: *walking down a street whistling* *sees a book on the side of the road* Oh my GOD! It's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!!! Ahhhhh!!!!!! *runs and picks it up* *J.K Rowling randomly appears*
J.K Rowling: Not until July 16th!!!!!!!!!
Me: Just the first chapter?
J.K Rowling: Well.... I guess it wouldn't hurt...
Me: *eagerly opens the book to the first page and.... wakes up from her dream* *a lot of swear words*
See? I don't own Harry Potter anything.
(A/N Yes. that was my pathetic attempt at being funny. I'll never do it again, I promise! Aren't you guys proud of me though? Another chapter! And so soon!!! I'm proud of me. Enjoy ^_^)
Chapter 14: A New Perspective
James frowned as Lily vanished up the girls’ dormitory stairs. He was tempted to follow, but knew better. Not only could he not get up the stairs thanks to the spell Dumbledore had put on it after he and his fellow Marauders had pranked the girls once too often, but he also doubted if Lily wanted his company.
With a sigh he slumped into an armchair beside Sirius and gazed into the fire without really seeing it. “Just when I thought I’d figured her out,” he muttered.
A bark of laughter drew his attention to Sirius. “My misery isn’t funny Padfoot,” James stated with a scowl.
“It’s a little funny,” Sirius tried to amend with a grin. “Women are curious creatures, Prongs. The sooner you realize it, the better.” James cocked an eyebrow at his friend to show that he wasn’t interested in Sirius’ point of view at the moment. Sirius had a deck of cards in his hands that he shuffled as he spoke. “Don’t give me that look. It’s true. There’s a whole mystery around women that we men can never hope to solve. Of course I’ve tried, and failed, to come up with some sort of theory, a pattern if you will, to their behavior.”
James was finding it very difficult to keep a straight face as Sirius continued his lecture. “They’re just too unpredictable and there are so many “ each with her own baffling behavior “ that it is impossible for people of sanity, such as ourselves, to successfully interpret their actions.”
“If only you devoted half as much time to your studies as you do to women, Padfoot,” came Remus’ input from the corner table where he was doing “ what else? “ his homework.
“If only my studies were half as interesting,” Sirius retorted. James grinned as Remus rolled his eyes before returning to his work.
“As I was saying, Evans is a good sort as women go. A bit of a temper, yes, but everyone has their flaws.”
James opened his mouth to protest that he liked Lily’s temper, but Sirius held up his hand knowing full well what James was thinking.
“I know. I know. You like Evans’ temper. Everything about Evans’ is great. Blah blah blah,” Sirius said in a bored tone. He rolled his eyes to show what he thought of James’ preferences. “But Evans is, to the extent of our knowledge, still in fact a woman and is therefore prone to completely incomprehensible behavior.”
“Are you getting to a point?” James asked, thinking women weren’t the only ones ‘prone to incomprehensible behavior’; his best friend was too.
“Don’t take her blowing past you without a word personally, Prongs.”
“I can’t believe you wasted ten minutes just to get to that point.” Remus was clearly having trouble focusing on his studies. “James, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. When Lily came in she looked cold and wet. I bet the only thing she had on her mind was a change of clothes and maybe some rest. You would have done the same thing to her had it been you.”
“No! I would have at least stopped to acknowledge her!” James protested.
“Come on Moony. This is James we’re talking about here. His ass could be on fire and he’s still stop to ask Lily how her day was going,” Sirius defended him. James nodded in agreement, although he thought it a little bit extreme, it sounded like something he would do.
“Alright, I’ll give you that one. But this is Lily we’re talking about here. She’s actually sensible,” Remus amended.
“In my humble opinion, rejecting me for four years is not sensible behavior,” James said in a light tone.
Sirius let out a snort of laughter as Remus smiled and shook his head disapprovingly.
“Anyways. Enough Evans talk. I propose a game of exploding snap and then lunch,” Sirius said, holding up the deck of cards he’d been shuffling.
~*~
To say that James was upset when Lily never showed up at the Great Hall for lunch would be vast understatement. He wasn’t the only one, though, Sirius seemed to be rather put out although he was trying to cover it up.
“They couldn’t possibly be avoiding us, could they?” Sirius asked aloud as they made their way back to Gryffindor tower.
“Of course not. Why would they?”James said, hoping he sounded more confident then he felt. Maybe Lily hadn’t enjoyed their date as much as he thought she had. Perhaps he should have done something smaller. Was dinner in the Shrieking Shack a bit too much? Was she mad at him for taking her to what was rumored to be the most haunted building in all of Britain? Sirius was right, women were confusing.
“I don’t know why. I don’t even know what’s happening to me. Last year I wouldn’t have even considered the possibility!” Sirius exclaimed.
“Calm down you two. If you’re so paranoid, just check the Map,” Remus suggested in an amused way.
“Of course! The Map! Which one of you has it?”
“Ta da,” James said pulling out the Marauder’s Map from out of his pocket. After five years of attending Hogwarts, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter had gotten to know the castle extremely well. In their sixth year they decided to put that information to good use and made The Marauder’s Map, as they so lovingly called it. The Map showed absolutely everything in Hogwarts, including the people. It even showed the school grounds. After the completion of The Map, their pranks had increased and their detentions had decreased.
“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,” James recited, tapping the map with his wand. Instantly black line sprouted across the page from the point of his wand, turning into shapes and small figures. “Show me Lily Evans,” he said. The shapes in figures reformed themselves until they showed a part of the castle at a larger scale. His stomach seemed to plummet as he saw where the little dot marked ‘Lily Evans’ was.
“She’s in the kitchens.” She really was avoiding him. Why else would she go to the kitchens instead of the Great Hall?
“Rough luck, Prongs. Is she by herself?” Sirius asked nonchalantly.
“Raven’s still in the girls’ room.” James stopped and thought for a moment. It was possible that Raven was sick and Lily had gone to the kitchens to get her something she could keep down, like applesauce for example. He ignored the fact that Raven had looked just fine at breakfast. “I’ll catch up with you in the common room.” He turned away from his friends and began to walk in the direction of the kitchens, ignoring the calls of, “Prongs!” and “Don’t be stupid!”
He was tired of speculating. If something were wrong he was sure he’d know as soon as he saw Lily. It bothered him that he was so unsure of himself. He hadn’t cared when other girls he’d dated failed to acknowledge him. Thinking back, no other girl had ever not sought out his attention. He sighed, having forgotten for a moment that Lily Evans was not any other girl. Not for the first time he asked himself, why couldn’t I like a girl who wanted to go out with me? It wasn’t as though they were in short supply. Thanks to his success on the Quidditch Pitch, and handsome appearance, he was almost as sought after as Sirius.
“James? What are you doing down here?” came a mildly surprised voice he knew well. It sounded as thought Lily had a head cold. He looked up at and was taken aback when he saw that her emerald eyes were a little red and puffy. Had she been crying?
“I... er...” James hadn’t thought of a reason as to why he would, ‘coincidentally’, be in the same part of the castle as Lily. “Just thought I’d go for a walk,” he finished somewhat lamely. “Why were you in the kitchens?” he asked, nodding at the small basket of food she carried in her arms.
Lily’s reply was interrupted be a sudden loud noise that sounded a lot like a bird cheep.
“What was that?” James asked. He didn’t fail to notice the a blush that was creeping into Lily’s cheeks.
“Er...” At that moment a tiny yellow bird hopped out from behind Lily’s neck where he’d been hiding behind her hair and perched on her shoulder. James recognized the creature immediately.
“Where did you get that?” He asked, impressed.
“I found it, out in the blizzard. I was afraid it would die if I left it,” in an undertone she added, “I regret bringing him in now.”
“Do you know what that is?” Lily shook her head. “That’s a Snidget. They’re extremely rare... I can’t believe one would be around here. There are a bunch of sanctuaries for them in Scotland since they almost became extinct.”
“I think that would have been a blessing. It’s a monster. Look what it did to my arms,” Lily transferred the basket so it rested in the crook of one arm as she pulled back her sleeve. Angry red peck marks decorated the skin all over her arm. “I fell asleep, but it was hungry. I can’t say that I favour its way of waking me,” she said bitterly.
That’s why she was crying, James thought. “We should go to Madam Pomfrey, she’ll heal those cuts in a second,” he suggested.
Lily shook her head. “I’m fine. I don’t want to bother her.”
“It’s the holidays, she won’t be busy. Besides, if they’re painful enough to cry over“ ”
“Crying? I wasn’t crying over them,” Lily interrupted.
“Er... then are you sick?”
Lily paused for a second before saying, “No.” She seemed to be thinking something over and James, who was just happy that she wasn’t mad at him, decided not to press her for explanations; she’d tell him if she wanted to. She was holding the basket awkwardly and James finally seemed to snap back into himself.
“Here, let me take that.” He lifted the basket from her and took it into one of his own arms.
“Thank you.”
“Not a problem,” James said, and carefully reached out to grasp her hand. “Shall we go back to the common room?” The way Lily grinned and nodded at him made his day.
“What else do you know about the Snidget?” she asked as they walked through the corridors.
James told her about the old days when Snidgets had been used as the snitch in Quidditch. He told her how usually when the Snidget was caught they died, and since Quidditch was such a popular sport quite a lot of Snidgets bit the dust before the golden snitch was invented and replaced its place.
“It figures I would get the one animal that was Quidditch related,” Lily mused after he’d finished tell her.
“What’re you going to name it?”
“I don’t want to name it; I’m not keeping it,” Lily said looking up at him as though surprised that he thought she actually would.
“You’re just going to keep calling him ‘it’? Poor little guy,” James reached out a finger to stroke the subject of their conversation. The Snidget puffed out, looking highly affronted. James snatched his finger back just in time as the Snigdet clamped down on empty air. “Touchy, touchy. Last time I stand up for you,” he told it.
Lily laughed lightly and smiled. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to name him.” The Snidget started to run his beak through her hair, as though preening it. She looked at James incredulously, “I suppose that means he agrees?”
“Be careful he doesn’t bite your ear off.”
“I’ll hex him if he does.” She was silent for a moment, a contemplative look on her face. “I guess I’ll call him Blizzard, considering that’s what I found him in.”
“Blizzard it is then. Hello Blizzard.” James stuck his finger out to stroke him again, but had to pull back as the Snidget, or Blizzard as he was now called, attempted to clamp his beak around it. “I suppose I should’ve have learnt from the first time,” he said with a wry grin.
“I think he has to draw a certain amount of your blood before he becomes attached to you.”
James grinned, seizing an opportunity, he bent his head and pecked her on the lips. “I, personally, feel that Blizzard has good taste.”
They continued on towards Gryffindor tower, although their progress was somewhat affected by frequent stops. When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, she wasn’t there.
“Off gossiping I bet. Remus and Sirius are probably inside, if we yell, they’ll hear and open it.”
“Can it wait a second? I need to tell you something...” Lily was looking uneasy for the first time since he met her by the kitchens.
“Sure, what is it?” She didn’t say anything. “Is something wrong?” James pressed.
“Prongs! And Evans! I thought I heard your dulcet tones.” Sirius was standing in the portrait hole. “Why didn’t you come in?”
James dead-eyed him, but managed to keep his voice normal, “The Fat Lady’s gone.”
“Then I guess that means you owe me, you might’ve been stranded out here for hours,” Sirius said as Lily walked past him into the common room.
“Oh yeah, I owe you one Padfoot.”
(A/N So what do you guys think? Should I keep it in Lily's perspective, or switch it around every few chapters? Let me know ^_^
Oh yeah... and the whole thing with the Marauder's Map. I know that Harry never said someone's name and they appeared but my logic is that Fred and George didn't know all the secrets of the map. James, Remus, Sirius and Peter do since they made it and everything. Besides, isn't it just more convenient?)