The Curtain Call
Chapter Eleven: Act 1, Scene 5
“Great job today, guys!” Mr. Evans clapped his hands together in excitement, unable to restrain his enthusiasm. “Absolutely wonderful.”
Lily smiled and pulled Peter in to give him a brief hug. They had just finished rehearsing the full show from start to finish, and the entire cast had remembered each and every line, as well as their correct entrances. Peter returned the grin.
“I’ll see you all back here tomorrow,” Mr. Evans informed them, waving his hand as a way of dismissing the group. “Get a good night’s rest! We’ve got one last run through tomorrow, and then our show opens on Friday night! And remember “ don’t overuse your voices!”
Lily smiled at her father’s continuous stream of warnings for the cast. Shaking her head, she lifted the hem of the costume to her knees, in order to avoid dragging it across the dusty backstage floor. She then followed the rest of the cast off of the stage and into the dressing rooms, changing back into her normal street wear.
Feeling much more relaxed in her jeans and t-shirt, Lily walked out of the dressing room and stepped back onstage with her dress hung limply over her arm. She had just started crossing the stage, dodging the set obstacles in her path, when a pleasant voice floated to her ears.
“Hey, Lily.”
Lily grinned, knowing exactly who had spoken to her.
“Hi, James,” she answered, glad to have his company.
“What are you up to?” he asked, joining Lily. He noticed the dress that she was holding in her arms. “Were you going to hang that up?”
Lily nodded, surprised by how much her mood seemed to have improved by simply having a conversation with James.
They approached the room filled with costumes. Lily stopped and turned in the doorway, leaning back against the door before she entered the room. She smiled at James.
“You know,” he stammered before she could say anything, “you did a really good job this afternoon.” James stared adamantly at his feet, shrugging. “From what I heard, at least.”
Lily blushed. “Thank you.”
The door that Lily had been leaning up against slammed hard into her back, knocking her forward into James’ arms.
“Uh…” The young boy that walked out of the room looked frantically between the pair, quickly taking in the scene before him. Lily had both of her hands wrapped around James’ neck while James, in turn, had put his hands on her waist, managing to hold her upright. Neither broke eye contact to see the intruder slip away unnoticed.
“Sorry,” Lily mumbled, finally regaining the use of both of her legs. She managed to stand on her own without James’ help, but she could not take her eyes off of his. “I “ someone just “ it was an accident…”
“No worries,” James quickly brushed off her apology in a breathless tone. He took in a deep breath and reached up to scratch the back of his head, shrugging. “Your costume “ it’s still good “ right?”
Lily turned to look down in her arms, forgetting entirely about her costume. She slowly processed what James was saying. “Oh “ yeah,” Lily said with a forced nod, fingering the soft, silk-like material. “It’s not dirty or ripped or anything…”
She momentarily turned away from James and darted into the room to hang her dress on a hanger. Within seconds, Lily had reappeared, grinning once again.
A thought occurred to her and her grin began to fade with a look of fear in her green eyes. “We’re still practicing now “ right?”
“Of course,” James answered automatically, as if he wouldn’t dream of doing otherwise. They started back towards the set room. He hesitated, stopping in his tracks. “I mean “ ” he turned to look at Lily “ “ if you still want to.”
“Oh “ yeah, I do.” Lily nodded enthusiastically.
“But not because you need to or anything,” James quickly added, as if he was worried he might offend her. “You’re perfect already,” he mumbled, using several hand gestures to try and get across what he wanted to say. “We’d just practice to reinforce habits and “ stuff.”
Lily smiled.
After softly excusing herself to grab her belongings, James nodded and did the same, stepping into the set room. He spotted his backpack in the corner with his script stuffed into a side pocket, torn in two from all of the use that he had put it through that summer.
However, instead of leaning over to pick up his bag, James paused. He noticed Jimmy sitting on the floor with his back to the door, hunched over something in his hand.
“Hey, Jim,” James said, trying to get the boy’s attention by using the nickname he knew that Jimmy had always hated. “What’cha doin’?”
Jimmy turned, startled by James’ sudden intrusion, and then mumbled incoherently, quickly stuffing his hand into his bag, sitting open in front of him. He leapt to his feet and started to clean the room, putting away spare paint cans and rusted tools.
James’ eyebrows shot into his hairline. Not only did the boy appear to be hiding something, but he had also forgotten to snap at James when he had used Jimmy’s least favorite nickname.
That never happened.
“Nothing?” James asked, stepping towards Jimmy’s bag.
Jimmy noticed this movement and darted back to his bag, clutching it protectively to his chest. “Right “ it’s nothing,” he repeated firmly, walking to the other end of the room.
James stood, frozen with his hand held out in the air where he had almost snatched up Jimmy’s bag. Slowly, he dropped his arm and stood back up to his full height, raising an eyebrow. “Well, well,” James sighed dramatically. “That sounded like a pretty big nothing,” he commented casually, “which definitely makes me think that it’s really something.”
Jimmy did not look away from the speck of sawdust on the floor that he had suddenly gained an interest in staring at. He hugged his backpack to his chest and did not speak, only confirming James’ fears.
James stepped forward, frowning. He looked slightly worried. “Come on,” he said, slapping a comforting hand on Jimmy’s shoulder. “What’s really going on?”
Jimmy swallowed, looking up. “You swear you won’t tell anyone?”
James nodded solemnly.
Jimmy eyed his mentor for a moment, as if gauging how much he could trust him with. “Not even Lily?”
James bit his lip. “Well, Jimmy…”
“Swear,” Jimmy quickly repeated with a determined look.
James could tell that there was no way he could talk Jimmy out of this decision, particularly when he appeared so resolute.
“Alright, fine,” James assured him, dropping into a folding metal chair behind him. “Now “ tell me what’s going on.”
Jimmy paused for a few moments, and then eagerly dove into his backpack. “You see, this morning I found this “ stupid…” Jimmy trailed off as he pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Here,” he muttered, stepping forward and slowly handing it over to James.
James took the paper and opened it. After skimming over the words, he grinned.
Then he started to laugh.
“Crazy, I know,” Jimmy said, laughing along nervously. He started wringing his hands together, studying James’ lighthearted expression. “Ridiculous, right? I mean “ there’s no such thing as - ”
“‘Dear Mr. Dunne’,” James quoted the sheet of paper with a smile. “‘We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’.”
“I can’t believe I even believed it for a second,” Jimmy said a bit louder, starting to turn red. “I should’ve just thrown it into the fire instead of holding onto it…”
“Well,” James said with a shrug, handing back the letter to its rightful owner, “you could burn it. Or “ ” he leaned forward with a devilish grin “ “ you could send back a reply and spend the next year at Hogwarts with me.”
Jimmy started to laugh loudly, but soon realized that James was not joining in. “Are you “ you’re serious?”
James nodded with a smug smile.
“You’re “ ” Jimmy swallowed, dropping to the floor when his knees buckled and he lost feeling in his feet “ “ a witch?”
James’ eyes doubled and he looked rather offended. He shook off the amateur mistake. “Technically,” he gently corrected the boy, “I’m a wizard “ but it’s the same principle.”
“But aren’t witches “ and wizards “ ” he added, nodding at James, “ “ supposed to be “ weird or something?” As soon as he uttered the words, Jimmy slapped a hand over his mouth. “I mean - ”
“Common misconception,” James assured him, brushing off the insult. “But I’m only as weird as you.”
Jimmy seemed to immediately believe everything that James was telling him; he didn’t appear to have any doubts that this was, in fact, very real. Instantly, all strange events that had happened to him started to make sense; the sets that had moved themselves; the spill on the backdrop that had left no stain; the paint can that had automatically returned to its shelf without him placing it there. “So what do you do at “ Hogwarts?” he asked, sounding very interested.
James shrugged, scratching his head. “We do magic. You know “ learn about potions and spells. And the history of magic “ but that class is a drag. I doubt you’ll ever make it through one day without falling asleep.”
“Wow.” Jimmy didn’t seem to care that James thought the class was nothing but a time to catch up on lost sleep. He sat up on his knees, leaning forward. “Can you do magic?”
“Can I do “ of course I can do magic!” James nearly shrieked, sounding appalled by this question. “Here,” he told the boy, slightly relaxing his expression. “Watch this.”
James pulled out his wand and expertly waved it in the air. Instantly, the thin layer of sawdust that covered every inch of the room was neatly collected into a large ball, hovering in a spot in the center of the room. James flicked his wand once more and the wood shavings dropped unceremoniously into a plastic trash bin in the corner of the room.
“No way!” Jimmy leapt onto his feet, amazed by this small demonstration. He dropped his backpack and Hogwarts letter onto the clean floor in his excitement and started to back away slowly.
James grinned proudly, tapping his wand against the palm of his hand.
“But my parents,” Jimmy started to speak very quickly. “They can’t do this magic stuff! I mean “ I haven’t seen it if they can, but - ”
“Relax,” James reassured the jittery boy. “Sometimes Muggles have kids that have magic in their blood.” He waved his hand around when Jimmy frowned at the use of the word ‘Muggle’. “People that can’t do magic,” James quickly explained, answering Jimmy’s unspoken question. “But the fact is “ this sort of thing is completely normal.”
“What’s normal?”
Both heads spun towards the doorway to find Lily, leaning into the room.
“Uh “ it’s nothing.” Jimmy started to panic, looking desperately towards James for help. “We were just “ it’s nothing.”
Lily raised an eyebrow, her eyes darting back and forth between James and Jimmy. “Not that you sound suspicious or anything,” Lily said in a highly sarcastic tone, pausing to send James an inquisitive look, “but I’m thinking you just might be trying to hide something from me.”
“Actually,” James spoke before Jimmy could, “he is.”
Jimmy’s jaw dropped. “You said you wouldn’t,” he softly reminded him. “You said “ ”
“Jimmy is a wizard.”
Jimmy’s dark eyes went straight towards Lily’s expression, caring little about James’ betrayal. All he seemed to care about was Lily’s reaction “
“ which was quite a bit different than he had been expecting.
The scene would have been identical to that of an eight-year-old receiving their birthday presents a day earlier than expected.
Lily squealed and ran towards Jimmy. She threw her arms around the boy’s neck and hugged him as tight as possible, very nearly suffocating him.
“Oh, I’m so proud!” she cried, beginning to laugh joyously. “If there was one person that I wanted to get into Hogwarts next year, I’m so glad that it’s “ ”
“Oy “ back off!” Jimmy shoved Lily off of him. Carefully, he patted his sore neck and then regained his composure, trying to appear much older than he was. “What was that for? And why,” he continued, spinning in James’ direction and pointing an accusatory finger at his chest, “did you have to go blabbing my secret to Lily when you swore you wouldn’t?” Looking rather irritated, Jimmy crossed his arms stubbornly over his chest and looked away from both of the teenagers. “See if I ever spill another secret to you again…”
“Calm down, Jim,” James spoke soothingly, trying to diminish the boy’s fears. He leaned back in the metal chair, spreading out his legs and looking much more at ease than Jimmy appeared to be. “She would have figured out your secret in September anyway.”
Jimmy’s eyes widened beneath his curly hair. “You mean “ she goes to Hogwarts?” He forgot entirely about James using his nickname once again, and rounded on Lily. “Really?”
Lily nodded eagerly, unable to hide her grin.
“You mean “ ” Jimmy started to look more excited than fearful “ “ you’re a wizard, too?”
“Well “ not a wizard, per se,” she said with a kind smile, glancing quickly towards James’ smirk. She swept her gaze back towards Jimmy. “But I am a witch.”
“So you can do magic and stuff, too, right?” Jimmy questioned her.
“Yeah, I can do magic and stuff,” Lily mimicked the boy, grinning at his use of vocabulary. “I learned a few spells within the first few days of school.”
Lily could have sworn she saw Jimmy’s knees begin to shake in excitement. “Really?” he gasped. “So that means that I might “ ”
“You’ll pick up a number of useful spells,” Lily assured the boy, smiling.
“Like what?”
Lily shrugged, trying to quickly search through her mind. “Uh… Well, there’s plenty. I’m not quite sure “ ”
“Can you show me one?” Jimmy started to bounce up and down on the balls of his feet.
Lily hurriedly shook her head, dismissing the idea. “Of course not,” she said, now lowering her voice. “There are plenty of kids that could be watching.”
Jimmy’s face fell. “But James did a spell!”
Lily turned to James, her jaw dropped. He looked up at her guiltily and immediately pocketed the wand that he had been twirling between the knuckles of his fingers. “I “ uh “ well, he “ ”
Lily pulled out her own wand and drew it through the air in a fast, swiping motion, causing the door to slam closed behind her. She ignored Jimmy’s elated expression and sped towards James. “You could have been seen, James! If a Muggle spotted you, you could be “ ”
“Relax,” James said in a soft voice, grinning up at Lily. “The rehearsal has been done for quite some time “ everyone’s left by now.”
Lily ignored this convincing piece of evidence, frowning. “But still…”
James shrugged when Lily could think of nothing more to say to him. “He just wanted to see a bit of magic, Lily “ no harm done. Besides,” he added with a grin, peering around Lily to watch as Jimmy tentatively touched the closed door with a look of astonishment, “you just did magic.” He raised an eyebrow, knowing he had already beaten her at her own game. “Is it really fair to blame me when you just did the same thing?”
Lily’s eyes narrowed in on James. She felt a smile tugging at her lips, but refused to let James catch her caving in. She turned away, now watching Jimmy.
“That,” he whispered, touching the doorknob, “was so cool.”
James nodded. He stood from his chair, towering over Lily when he did so. “It’s definitely got some advantages.”
Jimmy swallowed, as if trying to process everything that had happened. “This is incredible.” He ran past James and picked up his book bag and his Hogwarts acceptance letter. “I’ve got to tell my parents!” And, without a hurried goodbye or even a glance over his shoulder, Jimmy sped out of the room and sprinted from the theater.
“Well…” James turned to Lily, instantly realizing just how close they had been standing. He tried to take an unnoticeable step backwards before Lily had a chance to turn, as well. “I thought that went well.”
“Oh, extremely,” Lily said with a nod. She smiled up at James.
James swallowed. “Well, uh…” He cleared his throat rather loudly and returned to staring at his feet. He shook his head and looked up rather quickly, pointing towards the exit. “Shall we?”
Lily nodded, walking with James to the stage. “Speaking of letters from Hogwarts,” Lily said in a soft tone, “I received mine this morning.”
James nodded. “Yeah, me, too.”
Lily could not hide the grin from appearing. “Dumbledore made me Head Girl.”
“Congratulations!” James said in a bright tone, smiling as well. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they walked. “But I think we all knew you would get it.”
Lily nodded, blushing when James did not remove his arm. “I just don’t know who the Head Boy is.”
James’ eyebrows rose without Lily noticing. “I think I might have a hunch,” he said with a smirk.
Lily glanced up at his face. Once she saw his knowing expression, she stopped walking altogether. “You know who it is?” she asked, excitement evident in her voice.
James chuckled softly. And in a slightly surprised sounding voice, he said, “Well “ you’re looking at him.”
Lily’s jaw dropped open. “You’re kidding!”
James didn’t know how to take this outburst. “No, I’m not kidding,” he said, frowning. “I mean “ I can understand you thinking that I might not be as serious about the job as others, but I do have respectable grades! And, in fact, I have been “ ”
The rest of these words were unheard as Lily shrieked and threw her arms around James’ neck, hugging him excitedly. “I don’t believe it!” she squealed directly into his ear. “You’re Head Boy! This will be so exciting,” she murmured in a fast voice. “Especially since I don’t have to share the position with someone I don’t know, right?” At this point, Lily pulled herself away from James, looking up into his stunned face, appearing surprised by her reaction.
She instantly regretted what she had done, feeling her cheeks burn. “Er “ sorry about that…”
James shook his head, looking down at the floor. “Don’t be,” he muttered, reaching into his bag for his script. “Uh “ shall we start?”
Lily took in a small, shuddering breath, looking relieved that he had changed the topic. “Oh “ sure, yeah,” she answered, nodding. “Everyone’s gone home, so no one should be able to interrupt us, I guess.”
James dropped his bag onto the edge of the stage and pulled out his script. “Do you care which scene we start with?” he asked, sitting down.
Lily joined him, dangling her feet over the edge of the stage. She shook her head. “Wherever you want to start is fine with me.”
James started to thumb through the script, flipping through each of the pages. “Tell me when.”
The moment that Lily said, “When,” James halted his movement and opened the booklet where his thumb had stopped. “Ah…” he nodded, staying silent for just a split second longer than he should have. “Act one, scene five.”
Lily nodded, swallowing.
She remembered this scene very well.
“Alright, we’ll start here,” James said abruptly, immediately standing up. He held out a hand for Lily. She took it and joined him on her feet. “Ready?”
She forced herself to nod.
James picked up both of Lily’s hands and started to recite his lines. “I can’t keep you here any longer,” he said in a voice loud enough for it to reach the back of the theater, but soft enough to send shivers down Lily’s spine. “You mean too much to me, Adelaide.”
Lily responded to these words with just as much volume. “I don’t understand, Eddie,” she said, looking thoroughly confused. “Why are you letting me walk away? Don’t you want your ransom money?”
“Because I love you!”
Instantly, Lily’s insides seized up. She could no longer breathe, due to the fact that she had thought that she had forgotten how to, after hearing those words.
This is crazy, Lily scolded herself. Peter and I have practiced these scenes daily. It’s called acting. There’s absolutely no meaning behind those words!
But, then… why does it always mean so much more coming from James?
Lily shook her head, realizing that she was not focused. She had been thinking about the wrong thing at the wrong time when James had continued reciting his lines. Her facial expression had disappeared, and even her posture looked as if she weren’t paying attention.
Lily quickly squared her shoulders and held her head high, now listening to James’ every word.
“Do you understand now?” he asked Lily, as if pleading with her to understand. “I got attached and if “ if I wait any longer for ransom money…”
James opened his mouth to continue, but no words came out. He quickly looked down at his feet, almost as if he were nervous. His gaze lingered on the floor for what felt like days.
Lily was taken aback by this odd behavior. James had never, once, acted this strange before. If it were any other person besides him, she would have thought that they might have forgotten their lines. But James’ behavior was much more different than anything else he had done before.
Lily took a step forward, frowning. She reached out and, for reasons unknown to her, gently brushed a finger across his cheek, urging him to continue the scene. It was this gesture, perhaps, that startled James and made him look up suddenly. His eyes instantly locked with hers.
James swallowed and then, slowly, almost unsure of himself, continued the line much more softly than it should have been spoken.
“I’ll never be able to let you go.”
Lily felt her stomach flip. James had put both of his hands on her waist “ something that he had never done before in this scene.
He took a step forward.
Lily’s heart was racing, beating loudly within her chest. Her head was pounding. He was pressed up against her, now, his face inches from hers.
She felt her mouth go dry. She didn’t think that she would have had the power to slip from his grip if she had wanted to. Her arms were pressed tightly between James’ chest and her own, thudding heart, frail and powerless to his advances. For one moment, Lily was sure that she might feel uncomfortable with how close James was standing “ but, somehow, she still managed to feel safe and warm within his arms.
James did not remove his eyes from hers. If anything, she almost felt as if their gaze was unbreakable; it was as if they were not capable of looking at anything else but into each other’s eyes.
He took in one last deep breath and whispered his final line.
“I love you.”
Lily felt her knees go weak and her hands cling to the front of James’ shirt, as if trying to find some way to stay on her feet. There was something different, she realized, about the way James had said his lines tonight. He was no longer addressing an audience. He wasn’t performing for anyone.
He was speaking to her.
Before Lily had a chance to brace herself for what might happen next, James had lowered his mouth to hers and was kissing her softly, almost cautiously. Lily’s mind seemed to be in a state of shock from everything that had happened so suddenly, and she simply allowed herself to be kissed. When she put up no fight, James carefully pulled his hands away from her waist and moved them up to her face, cradling it caringly in his strong, safe hands. The fingers on his hands began threading themselves through her hair, and he began to kiss her much deeper than he had before, pulling her closer to him. And then, as if she had lost all reason, lost all sense of rationality, Lily managed to free her arms from James’ chest and snaked them up around his neck, running her own hands through his messy, black hair.
She was kissing him back.
Lily could not have guessed how long they had been standing there, in the center of the stage. It was a blissful moment “ as if she had been waiting years for this one event to happen “ and she did not seem to want to break apart anytime soon.
But her thoughts were shattered.
A loud thud echoed around the room and Lily immediately pushed James away, looking windswept. She was breathing heavily and looking around the room in a panic “ looking for the noise.
One glance over her shoulder, and Lily found that she had accidentally knocked James’ script off of the stage and onto the floor where it lay open to the page that they had been rehearsing.
Lily gasped.
She turned back to look at James, taking in his disheveled appearance. His hair was sticking on end, his clothes were slightly wrinkled, and his glasses had been knocked askew, teetering precariously on the bridge of his nose.
And then she found his eyes and her breathing hitched. They were wide, bright orbs of light, as if he had been laughing at a joke. They appeared startled “ because she had broken away from him so quickly, she assumed. Lily looked closer and noticed that there was a hint of excitement and, possibly, just a bit of confusion hidden deep within his hazel eyes “ but these were not the reasons that she forced herself to look away. There had been another emotion that she could not place that made her feel sick “ made her feel guilty.
He kissed me, was all that she seemed to be able to register at that moment. James Potter “ kissed me.
It took a moment for them to have a chance to slow their rapid heart rates. Both were in a state of shock over what had just happened, and neither looked very excited to say anything that would bring them back to reality.
James was the first to overcome his disbelief. Slowly, he started to reach out to touch her wrist, unsure of what he would say. All that he knew was that something needed to be said.
“Lily?” he inquired in a soft voice, swallowing. He took one step toward her and reached out a finger to touch the back of her hand.
Lily flinched at the gesture, stumbling over her feet as she moved several steps away.
“Uh…” Lily spluttered, looking frantically around the room, as if checking her exits. She hurried forward to the edge of the stage and gathered up her belongings, stuffing everything into her bag and throwing it over her shoulder. “I’ve got to “ I just “ you know…” she mumbled incoherently, feeling extremely flustered.
She took one last chance to try and look up into James’ eyes, but found that she couldn’t do it.
Lily shook her head once, as if it were her apology to James, and then turned on her heel and sprinted from the building, keeping her eyes down.
She couldn’t face the look in his eyes. Hearing his stunned silence as she ran from him was bad enough as it was. Looking into his eyes again would have made it several hundred times worse.
Lily flew through the doors of Bennett Theater and out into the street, running up a hill towards her house.
She knew that she had finally been able to place that last emotion that she had spotted in James’ eyes earlier. It was this look that made her stomach queasy. It was this look that caused her heart to let out a soft cry of pain. It was this look that made her wish she had not left him standing, all alone, in an empty theater.
She recognized the emotion.
He was hurt.
*
“Honey “ you’re home earlier than “ are you alright?”
Lily had thrown open the front door of their house and had fallen through the entrance, collapsing on the rug beneath her. She took several deep breaths before looking up at her mother.
“Sorry,” Lily said quickly, pulling herself back onto her feet. “I “ tripped,” she muttered, tucking her hair behind her ears. She turned around and slowly closed their front door with a soft click.
“I wasn’t expecting you home so early,” her mother commented casually, putting a hand on Lily’s shoulder. She noticed her daughter’s gasping breaths. “And I assumed you would Apparate home…”
Lily heard her older sister in the other room, scoffing at the mention of magic. Lily ignored the noise and responded to her mother. “It was a, uh “ good night outside,” she lied. She had, in fact, forgotten entirely about Apparating home. Running had seemed like her only method of transportation at the time. “I didn’t want to lose the chance to spend some extra time outside in the open air.”
Lily’s mother backed into the kitchen, gesturing for Lily to follow. “I really wish you would have Apparated,” she said, returning to her cutting board on the kitchen counter. She picked up a knife and started to chop up several carrots. “In such a busy city “ it’s dangerous to just go walking around at night, dear,” Mrs. Evans said in a worried tone.
“Yeah “ I understand,” Lily replied absentmindedly. “I won’t do it again.” She followed her mother into the kitchen and rested both of her elbows on the counter.
With one glance over into the next room, Lily spotted Petunia sitting with her legs curled beneath her in a large chair, supposedly reading a book, but Lily could have sworn she saw Petunia peeking out over the top of the book, sending frequent glares in her direction.
Lily shook her head and turned back to her mother. She noticed the large turkey sitting in the oven. “This meal seems a bit fancy for a Wednesday night…”
Mrs. Evans gasped, setting her knife down on the counter, suddenly reminded of something by Lily’s words. “I completely forgot!” She put both of her hands on Lily’s back, pushing her out of the kitchen and in the direction of the stairs. “You have visitors,” she said in a hushed tone. “I told them to wait in your room “ you can surprise them!”
Lily opened her mouth to ask who these visitors were, but she had been pushed up several steps and was out of hearing distance by the time her mother sped off, rushing back into the kitchen and resuming her previous job of chopping up the vegetables.
Slowly, Lily took the rest of the stairs until she reached the top landing. She looked down the hallway, hearing voices come from her room.
Careful to step over all of the noisy spots in their floor that creaked, Lily finally made it to her room. Slowly, she opened the door and slipped her head in.
She gasped.
*
“Lily!” a voice cried. “You’re home! We thought you would stay at that theater all night!”
A second, much calmer voice, spoke up, saying, “I’ve missed you so much!”
Lily entered her room and closed the bedroom door behind her. She fell back against the door for extra support.
“Anna,” Lily said in a soft voice. She swallowed, unable to speak much louder than she was doing at the moment. “Chelsie “ wow.”
The girl sitting on Lily’s bed stood and ran over to the door. She flung her arms around Lily’s neck, hardly caring that her long, dark hair must be getting in Lily’s face as she gave her a great hug. Weakly, Lily returned the hug with a small pat on the girl’s back. “Chelsie and I showed up not too long ago,” her friend said, grinning as she pulled away from Lily. “I hope you don’t mind our trunks “ we put them in the corner of the room with your school things so that they wouldn’t get in the way.”
Lily’s eyes widened at the sight of three school trunks crammed together. Two owls hooted contentedly in their open cages while a round, purple, fuzzy ball inside of a third cage hummed in a low tone.
“Your mum said you never told her we were coming,” said the quieter girl. She stood, tossing the blonde hair in her ponytail over her shoulder, and hugged Lily as well. “It’s a good thing she loves us so much “ or she might have sent us back to Anna’s place!”
Lily chuckled along with her friend, but she did not feel any humor in the situation. “So “ you’re spending the, uh “ rest of the summer here?”
Chelsie nodded, eyeing Lily suspiciously. “Of course we are,” she said, frowning. “Didn’t you get Anna’s letter?”
Lily started to shake her head, but soon realized, with a sudden jolt, that she had received their letter.
“Oh no…”
Lily ran to the desk beside her bed and searched frantically. She threw her books on the floor behind her, trying to find the letter that she had thrown carelessly onto the desk nearly a week ago, without bothering to read it.
She peeked behind the desk and saw, with a horrified look, that the letter Anna had sent had been knocked off of her desk and had fallen behind it, hidden from view.
Lily swooped down and grabbed the letter, ripping it open.
Lily,
Chelsie finally got approval from her parents! We’re going to be able to see your show after all! I’m sure we’ll make it before the opening day, so expect us sometime that week!
Send back a letter if things won’t be able to work out!
Anna
Lily groaned, staring speechless at the letter.
“You never even got the letter?” Anna asked, missing the envelope in Lily’s hand. Instantly, she turned on her owl, pointing an accusatory finger at the wide-eyed bird. “She’s been giving me attitude all summer “ I never thought she would do the same to everyone else!”
Chelsie grinned. “There’s a reason I never bought an owl,” she muttered smugly.
Anna scoffed at this statement. “Yeah, you bought a Puffskein “ ” she pointed next to her owl where the small, fluffy ball was rolling around in circles in Chelsie’s animal cage “ “ an animal that you’re not even allowed to have at Hogwarts!”
Chelsie shrugged, clearly not caring that she was breaking the rules. “At least my pet likes me.”
Anna put a hand on her waist. “Puffskeins like everyone! There’s no one that they don’t like!”
Chelsie held up her hands, smiling. “But owls don’t always like their owners, do they?”
“Yeah, but “ ” Anna frantically searched for a retort “ “ at least my animal can do something useful “ like deliver letters!”
Chelsie laughed. “I thought we just discovered that she can’t.”
Lily shook her head, sitting weakly on the edge of her bed. “No, it’s not the owl’s fault “ it’s mine,” she said, breaking off the feud between her two friends. She swallowed, momentarily closing her eyes. “I got the letter, I just “ forgot about it.”
Chelsie snickered, covering her mouth. “Well, what were you doing?”
The memory of her night at the Ministry Ball suddenly sprang back to her in full detail as she realized that she must have accidentally knocked the letter off of her desk after spending the night with James.
Lily quickly shook her head. “Nothing, I just “ forgot.”
“Oh, sure,” Anna mumbled, sitting on her trunk with a hollow thud.
“No, really,” Lily assured her friend. “I was late for a rehearsal when I first got it. Then when I got home…” Lily looked down at her hands, hiding her red face. “I completely forgot that I had a letter.”
Anna smiled. “Don’t worry, I believe you,” she said in a kind voice. “I was just messing with your head.”
Chelsie stepped in before Lily could respond. “It is alright that we’re here, though, right?” she asked. She sat down beside Lily on her bed. “I mean “ you don’t mind?”
“Oh “ course not,” Lily mumbled, putting on a false smile. “I’m excited that you’re here “ we’ll have a ton of fun!”
Anna let out a loud laugh. “Yeah “ like you haven’t already had fun without us.”
Lily frowned, looking up sharply. “What “ what do you mean?”
Anna pointed to the suit jacket that Lily had left hanging on her bedpost. “Chelsie and I were saying “ just before you came in “ that we think it smells like a very handsome Muggle boy who was trying to impress you.”
Lily gasped silently. It was the coat that she had kept after the Ministry Ball.
They were pointing at James’ coat.
“No “ you’re mistaken,” Lily quickly assured the girls, snatching the jacket and pulling it away from her bed. “It’s my dad’s coat.”
“Oh, yeah?” Chelsie smirked and crossed her legs. “And why on earth would your dad have left his suit jacket in your room?”
Lily blushed, walking to her closet. “He set it down and just forgot about it.” She pulled out a coat hanger and slowly draped the jacket around it. She held it up, discreetly inhaling James’ scent. She realized that the smell was just as strong as it had been when he had first worn the coat.
“Uh “ right,” Anna said with a giggle. “Your dad forgot about his coat, just like you forgot about the letter I sent you.” She grinned, loving to tease her friend. “And, of course, it makes complete sense that, instead of returning the coat to your father, you would rather hang it up in your closet.”
Lily swallowed, biting her lip. She fiercely shoved the jacket into her closet, taking in smaller and smaller breaths as she started to panic. “No “ it’s just “ oh, forget it…”
Chelsie raised an eyebrow, looking back and forth between Anna and Lily. “Are you sure you’re alright?” she asked, realizing that Anna’s last joke had clearly hit a nerve. “Lily “ you’ve been on edge since you’ve walked through the door.” She frowned. “Did something happen?”
Anna cut in before Lily had a chance to explain herself. “It’s James, isn’t it?”
Lily put a hand on the door to the closet, feeling herself sway. “What do you mean?” she fired back, looking alarmed. “What about him?”
Anna’s eyes widened. “It is James,” she said in a whisper under her breath. She sadly looked over at Chelsie. “I told you that this much time together would drive her crazy!”
Chelsie shook her head, looking confused. “I didn’t want to believe it,” she muttered with a shrug. “I really thought that if they spent this many summers together, they might eventually become friends “ or, at least, learn to tolerate each other!” She sighed. “I didn’t think they would become even greater enemies.”
“And now look at her,” Anna continued, pointing towards Lily’s pale face. “She’s a complete wreck after spending the summer with bloody Potter.”
Lily swallowed, allowing her friends to come to their own conclusions without her saying a word.
“Well “ we’re proud of you, then,” Chelsie said, smiling. “Especially because you made it to the end of the summer without hurting him.” Her eyes, which had previously been roaming freely around the room, now darted back to lock with Lily’s gaze. “You didn’t hurt him, did you?” She swallowed, sitting forward on Lily’s bed. “Because if we want a chance at winning the Quidditch cup this year, we need James to be healthy and able to play. He can’t be sitting in the hospital wing like he was before last year’s first game.” Chelsie shook her head, remembering the terrible event. “You knocked him out for a week “ do you remember that, Lily?”
Lily blinked, thinking over Chelsie’s original question. She hadn’t harmed James whatsoever “ but she had hurt him. Instantly, the look that had been in his eyes when she left the theater flooded back to her, causing her stomach to contract into tight knots, almost as if she were about to be sick. She felt her head grow lighter. “No,” she lied to her friends. “I didn’t hurt him…”
Anna sighed in relief. “Good,” she said in a soft voice. “And look on the bright side, Lily! You’ve only got a few days left with him “ and then it’ll be done!” she said, looking upbeat.
“Yeah.” Lily nodded, her hand still held firmly on her closet door. “Only a few days left…”
She slammed the door closed.