Chapter 7
A Never-Breaking Heart
”I love you, Lils.”
Lily was totally and utterly speechless. She could not believe he could say that with such surety. So, she proceeded to stare at him. Then, realizing they still had the Invisibility Cloak on, she pulled it off and let it fall to the ground. James looked at her quizzically before he said anything else.
“Ummm…now would be the time to reply, Lily,” he said hesitantly.
Lily just looked up at him and shook her head. James got so irritated that he didn’t even notice the tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
“Fine, Lily. I wasn’t asking you to say it back but you could have at least replied in some way. When you’re ready to talk, you know where to find me,” he said, testily. He turned on his heel and began to walk away when he heard a slight noise from Lily. He turned around and saw that tears were falling freely from Lily’s eyes. He could feel his resolve start to crumble but stopped himself from running to her and comforting her.
Why is it that one minute I can be so bloody irritated with her and the next I want to hold her?
Because you love her, you git.
Oh, yeah.
But it seemed to James that loving her is what got them in this mess in the first place. Trying to rebuild his crumbling resolve, he managed to mumble, “What’s wrong?”
Lily began to inch closer to James as she replied. “Don’t you see, James? How can you be so sure you love me? What if you like someone else in the next week?” She asked this last question knowing it would never happen from previous experience but she needed some excuse for her behavior.
“Love is a thing that is hard to explain, Lily. But I think it means wanting to be with that person for the rest of your life, protecting them and loving them. You may not always like the way the person you love is acting but you will always love them. Every time I look at you, Lily, I know I love you. I don’t know how but I do,” James replied, reciprocating her movement towards him.
When Lily heard these words, she knew she could not contain it any longer. She began to sob heart-wrenchingly and that is when James threw his arms around her tight.
“I’m sorry that you doubted me, Lily. But I really do love you,” James said. He then ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her temple.
“James, I wish I could say it back but I’m scared,” Lily said through her tears.
“What are you scared of, sweetheart?”
“Getting my heart broken,” Lily answered.
“Oh, Lils,” James said, squeezing her even tighter. “As long as you are with me, I promise I will never break your heart.”
Lily looked up into James’ eyes and saw at that moment that he was being completely honest with her.
“I love you, too James,” Lily said, strongly and with passion.
James bent down to kiss her again and when he tried to pull away, she made a small sound of protest and wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss.
I could definitely get used to this, both thought at the same time.
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Sirius and Remus were sitting in the common room chatting on this same night. As they were sitting, they heard the portrait hole open and two giggling people coming through. When they looked over, they saw Lily and James, acting like two lovesick puppies.
“They are pathetic,” Sirius said, but not without a hint of longing in his voice.
“Disgusting,” Remus said.
“Yet, somehow, we want to be like them, why?” Sirius asked.
“James was confident enough to chase after the girl he loves for six years, yet we can’t even chase after the ones that we’ve liked for a couple months,” Remus said. “How ironic.”
“Correction: I’ve liked Kimmy for a year, thank you,” Sirius said, gleefully.
“Wow, Padfoot, I don’t think you’ve ever liked a girl that long without getting bored before,” Remus said, jokingly.
“Well, Moony, it seems you’ve had your eye set on Rachel for a pretty long time, too. Why don’t you ask her out?” Sirius asked.
“Why don’t you ask Kimmy out?” Remus said.
“I’ve got an idea, Remus. The next Hogsmeade weekend is coming up soon on Halloween. I say we place a bet on who will get a date first,” Sirius said, with that “I-look-innocent-but-I’m-really-not” voice.
“We’ve got a deal. If I get a date first, you have to go to McGonagall and confess a ‘deep love’ that you’ve always felt for her…” Remus began.
“Oh, well, she’ll know I’m just trying to get good marks,” Sirius interrupted.
“But, in front of the whole school at breakfast in the Great Hall,” Remus finished, self-satisfactorily.
Sirius really wasn’t upset by this because he didn’t mind being the center of attention. In fact, he thrived on that. So, he acted upset for Remus’ benefit as he went on to say, “If I get a date first, you have to French Rachel.” He knew this would be a big deal for Remus. He was extremely shy and would hardly talk to a girl unless she said something to him first.
As suspected, Remus seemed a bit miffed by this but went along with it anyway.
“Alright, deal,” Remus said.
Neither knew how soon their bet would be resolved.
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Lily and James walked back into the common room that night in extremelt good spirits. They had thought their declarations of love might make things a little awkward, but it didn’t at all. In fact, it made them closer.
As they walked in, Lily pointed out that Remus and Sirius were sitting by the fireplace.
“They look lonely…Maybe we should go sit with them,” Lily said, sympathetically.
“You’re so kind, Lils. But, alas, there is an empty seat by the window that needs to be filled with two lovers gazing into the midnight sky,” James said in a completely fake poetic and dramatic voice. Lily giggled and followed him over to the armchair that James had pointed out.
“But where am I going to sit?” Lily asked.
“With me,” James replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He sat down and then pulled Lily down to sit on his lap. He then wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled his face in her neck. Lily gasped and then relaxed because it just felt so…right.
“What are you thinking about, sweetheart?” James asked, softly.
“I’m thinking about Petunia,” Lily answered.
“Did she write you another nasty letter? Did that Vernon say anything about you again?” James asked, instantly angered.
“No, no, James, nothing like that,” Lily said, feeling James relax underneath her. “I just remember there was a time that Petunia and I would sit up all night and gaze at the stars together. And we would name them after people we loved or school crushes. Sometimes I miss her, James.”
James didn’t know how anyone could miss that snot Lily called a sister, but he didn’t say that out loud. “Well, look at that star, Lily,” James said, pointing to a bright star.
“Yeah, what about it?” Lily asked, skeptically.
“I am going to name that star Lily and every time we need comfort from bad dreams and thoughts at night, we will look at that star and think of each other,” James said.
Lily still marveled at how sweet and deep James could be, but she liked it…a lot.
“How will we tell it apart from all the other ones?” Lily asked. “There are so many.”
“Trust me, Lils, we’ll know,” James said, thoughtfully.
And as Lily fell asleep on James’ lap, she knew she would always be able to look out at the night sky and pick out that star right away.
Why?
Because James could, too. And that’s all that mattered.
Not Another Teen Love Story by 365 letters_ryan gosling 20
Chapter Notes: Okay, well I know it's not the best yet, but I tried. My Advanced Placement Exam is next Friday so I've been really busy studying for that. Sorry for the wait!! Hope it was worth it.