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Disclaimer: I don’t own any of this *sobsob*…
Chapter Two: Long Conversations
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It was lunch time when James decided to check on Lily. He had also made lunch, chicken soup with crackers. He had put a big bowl of it on a tray with a big mug of butterbeer and was taking it up to Lily. When he reached her door, he paused for a moment and listened. It was quiet, so he assumed that she had fallen asleep. He nudged her door open with his foot and walked in. Lily was under the covers, and James could hear her even breathing. He set the tray on the side table and sat beside her.
"Lily, wake up." He shook her gently for a moment, before she woke.
"James, what are you doing here?" James smiled. He could see the tear tracks on her cheeks, and her eyes half open.
'I made you lunch.' He said simply. She frowned and sat up, noticing the tray on the table.
"What did you make?" He picked up the tray and placed it across her lap. He grinned when he saw her eyes light up. He had been listening to her when she said that one of her favorite things to eat was chicken noodle soup.
"Is that butterbeer?"
"Yeah, nice, hot butterbeer." She smiled and took a gulp. He watched as slowly her cheeks started to get some color. He sat beside her until she finished the entire thing and then got up to take it back to the kitchen.
"Are you going to come back?" James turned at the door and nodded. She smiled and settled into the pillows.
When James came back five minutes later, she patted the bed beside her. He sat down and stretched his legs out.
"Can we talk?" she asked.
"Yeah, about what?" She paused for a moment, and James knew suddenly what she wanted to talk about. He nodded slowly so Lily began.
"First, I want to say that I am extremely sorry about what I did. It was completely wrong, but I had a good reason for it. I wanted to be comforted, and I didn't know how to ask for it. I didn't even know that if I asked you, if you would help me. Secondly, today was the best I've felt in days. Well, apart from the crying and the guilty feelings." It was quiet for a moment before Lily spoke again.
"Would you mind staying with me until it's time to go back to Hogwarts?" James looked down and found Lily gazing up at him. He had to admit, her request had startled him a bit. He mulled through his reasons for staying, like Lily would get to know him better and that they might become friends and then ran through the reasons for why it would be a bad idea. His good reasons far outweighed the bad reasons.
"Sure. It sounds like fun." He smiled down at her and was pleased to see that a big grin (bigger than he had seen for a while) was lighting up her whole face. James felt like singing and dancing. He had made Lily smile!!!!!
It was quiet again, this one longer than most. It had been almost a full five minutes of silence before James spoke.
"So have you gotten your Hogwarts letter yet?"
"No, not yet.You?"
"Nope. They should be here soon though, another day or so." Lily nodded, her forehead creased with thought.
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James and Lily were in deep conversation. They had been talking since lunchtime and were still going strong.
"So, how long do you think you've liked me for?" asked Lily.
"I think since third year, but I never fully realized it till around fourth year.Of course, I liked you in first year, just as friends. Me and Sirius have had some pretty wacky conversations about you and one of your friends, Sastia, I think her name was." She looked at him, a shocked look on her face. She knew that he had liked her, but for that long?
"Really? Since third year?" she asked, completely ignoring the last part of his reply.
"Oh, hell yeah.With the conversations there were also dreams. Come to think of it, there are still some pretty crazy dreams." Lily blushed, a deep crimson that clashed with her hair. She couldn't help it, she herself had had some pretty wild dreams about James, but there was no way she would tell him that. James noticed the smile on her face and he grinned. He had wanted to make her smile, and now he had her blushing. .
They sat there talking even more for the better part of the evening, when James noticed that the sun had gone down. He checked his watch to find that it was almost nine.
"Are you hungry?" he asked.
"No, just tired. I kinda wanna go to sleep." He nodded and stood up, stretching.
"I'm gonna crash on the couch downstairs, kay?" She nodded, pulling the covers over her. "Where do you keep the extra blankets and pillows?"
"In the closet over there." she murmured, already halfway to sleep. He smiled and walked softly out, closing the door gently behind him.
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This time, when James woke up, the sky was dark and cloudy and rain was pelting the window. He looked at the clock to find that it was only 7:30.
Padding softly into the kitchen, James started rummaging through the cupboards for something to eat. Since he hadn't eaten last night, he stomach was growling rather loudly. He was surprised that Lily hadn't woken up from the noise. Finding nothing appealing in the cupboards or the refrigerator, he brought out his wand and charmed up two plates of pancakes, bacon, hash browns and orange juice. Setting it on the tray he had used the day before, he levitated it up the stairs and into Lily's bedroom. Placing it on the table, he sat on the bed and watched her as she slept. Merlin, she was beautiful. Her hair was spread out on the pillow and framing her pale face. Even though her eyes were closed, James knew that the bright green color would sparkle endlessly. He sighed and began stroking her hair, entwining it in his hands gently. Lily stirred and turned over, her face near James' knee. She opened her eyes sleepily and gazed into his eyes.
"Hi," he said quietly.
"Hey." She sat up slowly and looked around. She spotted the tray and smiled. "You made breakfast."
"Yeah. I figured, since we missed supper last night, you might be hungry," he said with a shrug.
"You mean, you got hungry, and went searching my cupboards for something to eat." He smiled sheepishly, his eyes sparkling mischieveously.
"Yeah, I did. Is that all right?"
"Yeah, it’s fine. Did you take anything?"
"No, there wasn’t anything that looked appetizing. So I conjured up some food. I hope it tastes all right. I’ve heard that conjured food has sort of a woody taste." He picked up the tray and handed Lily one of the plates. She stared down at it, apparently entranced.
"You can eat it you know." She started, and then turned her gaze to him.
"I know. Its just…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say. She gazed at the food with a look that made James want to cry.
"I should call Petunia, see how she’s doing. She left so early yesterday morning that I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye." She got out of bed and headed for the phone on her desk. Picking it up, she quickly dialed and waited for her to answer. Lily waited for a few minutes for the answering machine to kick in. When it did, she left a short message and hung up.
Climbing into bed beside James, she covered her legs with the blanket and took her plate back. She took a small bite and chewed slowly, as if savoring the taste.
"How’s it taste?" asked James.
"You were right. It does taste slightly woody." She smiled and kissed James on the nose. "But it’s good woody. You did a good job." James smiled and rubbed his nose. It tingled a bit. He supposed it was from Lily’s kiss.
They finished eating at the same time, so Lily offered to take the tray back downstairs. While she was gone, James decided to take a look around her room. He grinned when he saw Hogwarts: A History sitting on her desk. The rest of the desk was covered in parchment, which James figured was her summer homework. Moving to the shelf that was situated over her dresser, he noticed that it was full of pictures of Hogwarts. His eyes caught on picture near the centre. It was a group picture of the Marauders, lounging by the lake in sixth year. Sirius had James in a headlock and was attempting to drag him into the lake. Remus was sitting against a tree, apparently trying to read, but getting distracted by the yells that James remembered giving. Peter was watching, but instead of with the usual wonderment, it was with boredom and quite possibly dislike. James got a sick, twisted feeling in his stomach when he watched the photographic Peter. He had a feeling that something was off about him, he hadn't been around much near the end of last year and he hadn't heard from him at all over the summer.
He seemed to be in a daze when Lily walked in behind him. She stood behind his right shoulder and looked at his face. He appeared to be worried about something, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She couldn't tell which picture he was looking at, only that it was a group near the centre.
"James?" He started when she touched his shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"Whatcha doin'?"
"Just...reminiscing."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine..."
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There you go, another chapter done! I hope you enjoyed it, so leave a review please!
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