Why Do I Love You? by thepatronus_n_thecharm
Chapter Notes: Hey everybody! So sorry for the long delay. I had summerleague volleyball, vacation, a lazy bum, and a bit of dejection: my first version of this chapter was rejected because of the main part of the story. Now, I've been asking you for your favorite quotes from the chapters. Been wondering why? I'm displaying the favored quotes on the author's notes at every other chapter. So...drum roll please! Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four's favorite quotes!
The Marauders looked at each other. "No...”
“He couldn’t.”
“He wouldn’t.”
“Would he?”
They paused for a moment.
“Nah,” they all said together.
‘What is up with Potter? He’s acting...nice...to me. Eurgh! Just the thought sickens me. Wait a second. Did he say he was looking for me? And that he was hoping I wouldn’t notice that he had called me Lily? Oh, Merlin, no. No. NO! He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.... Could he?’
And the number one favorite quote is...the Marauders’ Oath:
“I am a Marauder, not a swotty prefect or know-it-all. Friends come first, then pranks, then detention, then homework. If I am to change this image, I must forever leave the group Marauders. Have some fun, and then live like a normal human being.”
I personally didn’t like that part, but alas, I have one of the worst tastes of mankind. Now, onto the story-titled chapter, “Why Do I Love You?”
Lily woke up with a bright smile on her face. Today was the beginning of her lessons. Yes! Her favorite day of the week. The day where everyone was able to refill their minds. Oh, Lily loved being smart.
Lily immediately got up to take a shower. She cleansed herself from the previous day and put on her school robes. She did her makeup and brushed her teeth. She put up her hair in the usual high ponytail with an emerald green ribbon tied in a bow around it. That was the way she liked it. Then she went to get everyone up.
“Wake up! Shannon, Kelsey, Savannah, Eryn! Time for school! Get up and get dressed.”
“Lily, it’s six o’ clock in the morning. Breakfast starts at six thirty-five,” yawned Kelsey.
“I know. That means you don’t have much time,” said Lily in a hurried tone.
“Oh, but it won’t take us that long to get ready,” whined Eryn, pulling her bedcovers over her head.
“Eryn, we’re girls. It takes us a long time to get ready,” scolded Lily, pulling Eryn’s cover back down.
“Oh, all right. Help me up,” grunted Shannon. She was always the first to give in to this ‘first-day-of-school-get-up’ routine.
Shannon went to take her shower while the other girls picked out their robes and shoes. By the time everyone was ready, the clock on the wall read 6:20AM.
“Good job, girls. Fifteen minutes to spare, that’s a record. Let’s go,” said Lily appreciatively.
As the friends headed down to the common room, they passed James and his friends. James gave Lily an ashamed look, while the girls just glared at him. Lily shoved him with her shoulder as she passed by and then stomped out of the portrait hole, hating him.
“Ugh, that’s enough Potter for one day,” sniffed Eryn, looking as though she had just caught whiff of a rotten egg.
“I quite agree,” Lily said quietly. She was rather disgusted with James. She fervently hoped that her assumption last night was the polar opposite of what was correct. Just thinking about it made her want to turn around and slap him.
They reached the breakfast hall and took their normal seats at the end of the table. They loaded their plates with pancakes, sausages, eggs, bacon, fruit, and biscuits, and they filled their cups with milk, orange juice or pumpkin juice. As they ate, the Marauders walked into the Great Hall. Shannon looked at Sirius and turned a light shade of red, then returned to her breakfast. Sirius sat two seats away from her and Shannon turned even a darker shade that matched the strawberries on her plate.
Lily turned to face the quartet of friends and said, “Why are you here?”
Sirius gave her an incredulous look and replied, “We have every right to sit wherever we please, Evans. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d be much obliged if you let me eat my breakfast in peace.”
Lily could find no argument against that, and, frankly, she didn’t want to bother with the likes of Sirius, so she finished up her breakfast, picked up her book bag, and headed to the Head Table to get her schedule from Professor McGonagall. As soon as she had received it, she left for her first class: Charms.
James watched Lily out of the corner of his eye as she left. Her red hair bounced up and down as she walked, her robes fluttering at the speed of her march.
James quickly finished his breakfast and went over to the Head Table to get his schedule. He ran back to his seat and grabbed his bag. If he hurried, maybe he could catch Lily alone.
As he ran through the halls, he looked at his schedule and saw that his first class was Charms. ‘I sure hope Lily’s first class is the same as mine,’ he thought.
He ran down the Charms corridor and saw Lily sitting on the stone floor, immersed in her new schedule. He opened his mouth to say something when suddenly Lily, without looking up from her schedule, lifted her wand and said, “Silencio!”
James tried saying, “What the bloody hell was that all about?” Oddly enough, not a sound came out.
Lily lowered her wand and said, “Now, Potter, before you say whatever stupid thing you have to say, let me make one thing clear. There is a very small possibility that I will forgive you. That is all I have to say.” And with that, she lifted the spell.
“Lily, I’m really, really sorry. I realize that you won’t forgive me, but I want to make it up to you anyway.”
“Potter, tell me one thing,” Lily said calmly, as if they were discussing the weather, but James could see the fire in her eyes with her next sentence. “Why, in heaven’s name would I forgive you?”
James hesitated with this question, not exactly sure why she actually should forgive him. Then he came forth with his answer: “Because I am sincerely sorry from the bottom of my heart.”
Lily snorted. “Yes,” she retorted, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “And I’m Merlin’s wife from a thousand years ago.”
“No, Lily. I really am sorry-”
“Oh, yes, you’re sorry now. What about last year? Or the year before? Or the year before that? What about our first year? Are you sorry for all those times? You didn’t care before. Why are you so interested now? What has changed?” Lily exploded.
“Me, obviously. You’ve always been there. I just haven’t seen you. I just thought you were another girl worthy of a few good pranks here and there,” rambled James, but before he could continue, Lily interrupted once again.
“A few good pranks? A few? Of all the girls you could have picked, you chose to humiliate me? And what do you mean you’ve changed? You’re still just as arrogant and cocky as before. And what does, ‘You’ve always been there. I just haven’t seen you’, mean?” she burst out, clearly unable to contain herself.
“I think you know what it means, Lily,” James whispered mysteriously. He could tell she knew but was trying to get it out of him.
Suddenly Lily looked terrified. James wasn’t exactly sure, but he thought she had stopped breathing. In the next second, she gasped for breath. She stared at him as if he had come from a different planet and would intoxicate her with poisonous fumes. She backed away slowly, turned to grab her bag, and headed for the classroom. But at the doorway, she stopped. She seemed to be composing herself. James stood firm, ready for the verbal blow.
Lily knew right away with that one whispered sentence that last night’s assumption had been...correct. She was horrified. James Potter? In love with her, Lily Evans? She was no gossip expert, but she knew for a fact that this would attract many jealous glares. Especially from his fan club. She had just grabbed her bag and was in the door of her classroom when she thought of something. The redhead took several deep breaths before turning about to face James. He seemed to be cringing, as if waiting for her to shout at him. But her intention was not to shout. It was to ask.
“Why?” she inquired softly. She knew she sounded curious and interested, but she couldn’t help it. She was.
James opened his eyes in surprise. He glanced around to see if anyone else was there to say that. With no one around but Lily, he sighed with relief to know that she hadn’t shouted. He turned to face Lily.
“I’m not exactly sure, but I know whatever I feel for you is not what Sirius claims to feel for anyone.”
“No,” Lily giggled quietly. “That wouldn’t be very good, now, would it?”
“Excuse me,” called out the voice of Sirius Black. “I couldn’t help but overhear parts of your conversation and I feel compelled to correct them. The words ‘Sirius’ and ‘wouldn’t be very good’ simply do not fit together. It is improper use of the English language, and I just won’t have it. Oh, and James, that be me book bag you got there.”
“Speaking of improper English,” admonished Lily incredulously, but she still had a smile on her face.
She looked at James, whose face had gone red out of embarrassment, and she started giggling. James smiled and began to laugh along with her. Their laughing grew until Lily, being the mercurial teenager that she was, stopped as suddenly as she had started, leaving James hanging. Her face was impassive as she walked by him towards her friends. James stared after her, and then rolled her eyes. Girls would be such a mystery to him, now and forever.