Catching A Flower
*Disclaimer*- Messrs. Fuzzbutt and Fantail do not now, nor will they ever, claim to be J.K. Rowling. They own none of the characters or situations presented by Ms. Rowling in any of her brilliantly written books.
Authors’ Notes- This is the final chapter of Catching A Flower. As an epilogue of sorts, this chapter is thus more disjointed than our other chapters. We’ll simply give glimpses into happenings rather than the usual, more detailed accounts. Enjoy!
Chapter Seventeen- Prelude to a New Beginning
"Okay, Lily," James murmured in Lily's ear, taking the blindfold from around her head. "You can open your eyes."
Lily did so and gasped at what she saw. In the center of the room was a circular table for two covered by a deep red tablecloth. On it sat dishes and silverware, candles adding to the romantic effect of the room- the room lit with a soft glow usually unattainable in the early hours of the morning. Roses and a box of chocolates occupied another portion of the table, and Lily was, to say the least, rather stunned.
"James... you... where is this?" Lily asked in awe.
James chuckled. “This is a nice room that Sirius and I stumbled upon one day. We call it the Room of Requirement."
"It's amazing," Lily breathed, turning to hug James.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Lil," James said, kissing the top of her head.
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" But Lily, it's the holidays! We haven't even had a proper date since Valentine's Day; can't we just skip a study-"
"No, James! Our whole lives rest on this, don't you see? If we don't get good marks on the N.E.W.T.S. we'll have no luck in the real world!"
"Lily, you're brilliant, you don't need to study this much, you know th-"
"I don't know that! You may be able to get by without studying, but not all of us can-"
"Yes you can, Lily Evans! Why can't you take a break? You're going to wear yourself out and be even more of a wreck than you are now!"
"Oh, so that's what I am, is it? Fine, James, study by yourself!" Lily raged, storming up to her dormitory.
"Just for that I won't study at all!" he called to her retreating figure, sitting down furiously once she was gone.
"Redheads," James muttered irritably.
-----
"It was just a silly fight, Lily," Emmeline said consolingly as Lily gazed sadly out of the window in their dormitory. "You'll make up tomorrow and all will be well."
"All won't be well, Emm," Lily said tearfully. "James is right; I am a wreck."
"Well you're his wreck, so I doubt that he minds terribly," Marlene pointed out.
-----
"I just had to go and blow up at her, didn't I?" James stormed. "But she's insane about this N.E.W.T. thing. Even worse than Moony!"
"I resent that," Remus muttered.
James didn't hear him, however. "And now she won't talk to me because I told her it was wearing her down and for some reason that made her upset."
"She's just stressed, Prongs," Sirius said. "Tomorrow she'll come back and apologize for all of the studying, then you'll study anyway, 'cause you'll apologize for making it seem unimportant."
"What if she's still angry at me?"
"James, do you realize how much like a little girl you sound right now?" Sirius asked.
James sulked.
-----
Lily stood in front of James, awkwardly gazing at her feet. "I'm sorry," she said softly.
James shook his head. "Me too," he replied. They stood in tense silence for several moments until Lily felt she couldn't bear another.
"Well, I guess... I'll see you around, then," she said, feeling defeated.
She turned to leave, and James grabbed her hand. She stopped. "Let's go for a walk," James said.
Lily gazed up at him and saw the seriousness in his eyes. She nodded. "Alright," she said.
James smiled lightly.
-----
"Lily, you look rather... disheveled," Emmeline said as Lily entered the dormitory. "Where were you?"
Lily smiled giddily. "James and I went on a walk," she said happily.
"Do you think it was just a walk?" Marlene asked Emmeline, smirking at Lily‘s obliviousness to that around her.
Emmeline snorted. "I highly doubt it."
Lily blushed, but the grin on her face refused to leave.
-----
"James, where were you? We were going to plan our end of the year prank, don't you remember?" Sirius asked irritably as James entered the dormitory.
"Pranks, okay," he muttered, grinning stupidly. "Down with Slytherins!"
"James," said Peter tentatively, "are you alright?"
"Yup! I'm just fine and dandy. How about you, Pete? The weather's beautiful, isn't it? You should go out there."
Remus gave James a worried look. "James, where have you been?"
"Lily and I, we went on a walk," James proclaimed proudly.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "In other words, Prongs here has just snogged or been snogged senseless by Lily Evans."
James's grin widened. "We went on a walk," he said again, nodding.
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Lily scribbled notes down furiously as James sat across the table from her. Quite bored with studying Transfiguration, James studied his surroundings instead.
Odd, he thought, I didn't know Alice and Frank were suddenly so... open. It's about time, though.
His gaze moved onto Marlene and Remus. What on Earth…? They've certainly never been that obvious before. Sirius will be proud.
His eyes widened as he continued looking around the room. Okay, maybe not. Sirius is a bit preoccupied, too, it seems.
James turned back to Lily. "Lily, is snogging on the N.E.W.T.S?" he asked seriously.
Lily looked up, taking on a scandalized tone. "James!" she hissed.
James shook his head quickly. "No, no, no," he said, "not us." Now, anyway. "Them," he clarified, motioning for Lily to look around the room.
Lily raised an eyebrow. "Well, this is a right Snogfest, isn't it?" she muttered. Around the room sat three couples- Alice and Frank, Remus and Marlene, and Sirius and Emmeline- all studying a subject that was most certainly not on the N.E.W.T.S.
Moments later James and Lily found that particular subject to be necessary for the day's studying.
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"Well, the Transfiguration questions were quite a bit easier than I supposed they would be," Remus said.
"Transfiguration is always easy, Moony," Sirius said.
Remus shrugged. "Yes, for you and Prongs. But for those of us to whom it doesn't automatically come..."
"Hmm, this sounds an awful lot like what Lily described to us as the fight she last had with James," Marlene noted.
“Where are those two, anyway?" Emmeline asked.
Marlene smiled and pointed to an armchair across the room. In it was James, fast asleep. Lily was curled in his lap, head on his chest, sleeping just as soundly.
Emmeline grinned. "They're so adorable. It's about time Lily gets some sleep, too. She's been frazzled all week. Yesterday she passed me the butter when I asked for the pumpkin juice. Thank goodness N.E.W.T.S. are over."
"Her frazzled state reminds me of when James used to need to work up the courage to ask her out," Sirius said, grinning fondly.
"It's good they've got each other," Remus said, Marlene and Emmeline nodding in agreement.
"Yes," said Sirius, always up for ruining anything resembling a sappy moment, "because otherwise we'd still have to deal with them all the time."
Emmeline swatted him, grinning anyway.
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"Lily," James whispered, shaking her slightly. "Lily, wake up."
"No," she whined, not opening her eyes and nuzzling further into James. "You can't make me."
James chuckled. "You have to get up," he said. "Or do you want all of Gryffindor to come down and see us here?"
"I don't give a kneazle's bum who sees us here. Lemme sleep," Lily mumbled.
James grinned madly and promptly pushed Lily off his lap and onto the floor, to which Lily gave a startled screech. "What was that for?" she demanded.
"My legs were falling asleep," James said sagely, trying to keep a straight face.
Lily glared at him. "James Elias Potter, I shall maim you with my bare hands!"
James laughed and, quite wisely, ran to escape Lily's wrath. "Not if you can't catch me," he called.
Much to James's surprise, within the next five minutes Lily had tackled James down and was sitting upon his stomach triumphantly. "Teach you to wake me up like that," she muttered playfully.
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Hats and sparks were flying as the entire Hogwarts Class of 1975 cheered wildly. James caught Lily and spun her around in a way very similar to that of the last New Year's Eve. "Happy Graduation," he whispered to her when they came to a halt.
Lily smiled softly, pressing her forehead against his happily. "Happy graduation to you, too," she said before kissing him swiftly on the lips.
"Tomorrow we go home," James said, the thought startling and sobering him.
Lily seemed startled for a moment, as well, before putting back the pretense of utter giddiness. "We'll visit all summer," she said, "but I have to see Petunia first. You know that. I haven't even spoken to her since, well, you know..." she trailed off.
"I don't want to wait that long," James whined pitifully.
Lily chuckled. "Well, you'll have to. There's not much I can do about it. I have to go somewhere, and so do you."
"You can live at my house," James said without thinking.
Lily's eyes widened. "James as... appealing as that thought is, you can't just offer your house up to anyone-"
"I did for Sirius," James interrupted, "and Mum and Dad didn't have a problem with that. In fact, Mum would love to have a girl around the house for once."
Lily smiled somewhat sadly. "James, you and I both know I have to go home."
James nodded. After a few moments of just standing together, he finally said, "But we'll visit a lot.”
Lily nodded. "More than a lot," she affirmed.
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Lily gazed up at the castle from Hogsmeade, her trunk already in a compartment in the train that would lead her for her last time from her home away from home of seven years. With a sigh she said a small goodbye in her head, knowing that she'd always have memories from this year and her others that would make her darker days a little brighter.
An arm suddenly slipped around her shoulders, and Lily gazed up to see James looking up at the castle with the same reminiscent look in his eyes. "It was fun, wasn't it?" he asked.
Lily nodded. "It was amazing."
"I'm going to miss it," James said seriously.
"So am I," Lily said. They stood looking at the castle for several more moments before being startled from their reveries by the whistle of the Hogwarts Express. Without a word they turned and climbed into their compartment. Along with Sirius, Remus, Marlene, Emmeline, and Peter they watched the castle shrink into the distance until finally they could see it no more.
Sirius turned from the window first. "Anyone up for Exploding Snap?" he asked as the others slowly transferred themselves back to the now.
"I'm in," Emmeline said as Remus and Marlene left the compartment claiming to have something to discuss. Peter, James, and Lily soon all joined the game, and by the time Remus and Marlene returned the train had almost finished its final journey for the group.
Reality set in and Emmeline brought up a topic on most everyone's minds. "We'll all keep in touch, right?"
Sirius nodded vehemently. "Next week let's all meet in the Leaky Cauldron for a drink and to catch up," he suggested. They all agreed to this, only Peter seeming as though he might not be able to attend.
The train neared the station and they all pulled down their trunks, exiting the compartment once the train had come to a halt. The girls tearfully promised each other that they'd write every day and meet up as often as possible as the males exchanged handshakes, all knowing that their adventures were not over.
Everyone of the group had soon left, sans James and Lily who were standing together silently. "It was a wild year, wasn't it?" Lily asked.
James nodded. "It was," he agreed. "But it was also undoubtedly the best that I've had."
Lily smiled slightly, another comfortable silence falling on them as the station emptied itself of all but those stragglers such as themselves. "We'll see each other soon," Lily said, almost to convince herself more than James.
"Of course," James said. "I'll have convinced Mum to have you over sooner than you can say 'Pumpkin Pasties.'"
Lily chuckled as James fished around in his pockets for parchment and quickly scribbled down his address. "Just in case," he said, seriously. And then with a grin, he added, "and for when you visit."
Lily smiled shakily, overwrought with the sadness of leaving James, despite the fact that she'd see him again soon. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "I'll visit very soon," she promised. "Very, very soon."
"I know," James said as they pulled apart.
Before they had fully seperated, however, James kissed Lily, causing a grin to form on both of their faces.
The mood was interrupted however, by the calling of a familiar voice. "Prongs!" called Sirius from across the station. "Prongs, your mum says she's made dinner all up and that we can eat as soon as we get home!"
James rolled his eyes, albeit with a smile. "Bye, Lily," James said, backing away despite his wants to stay where he was.
Lily smiled. "It's not really goodbye," she said, hugging him once more. "I'll see you soon, remember?"
James grinned and nodded. The two of them finally turned to go their separate ways, knowing that their ways weren't to be separated for long.
Fin.
Authors’ Notes: So ends Catching A Flower. Thank you to all those who have read Catching A Flower and made it worth writing. Thank you especially to all those readers who have reviewed thus far and to those who find it in their hearts to review now, letting us know that our work was enjoyed.
A sequel or two is planned, but we’re waiting for Half-Blood Prince to figure out plot and all that. If interest is enough, we’ll continue with our series.
Thank you to all those readers and reviewers out there who stuck with us!
-Messrs. Fuzzbutt and Fantail