Apart from telling Meredith, Lily went on to pretend that the unfortunate night of patrolling with James had never happened. During the remainder of the break, she avoided James and when they had to be in the same room, she ignored his attempts to get her attention.
Though Meredith, as well as Kelly and Andy, who were filled in when they returned at the start of the New Year, objected to her decision, Lily thought it was perfectly reasonable. She had been too late for James and he clearly could not be with her now, as he already seemed to have moved on from her.
And though she had finally accepted Olivia as James’ girlfriend, Lily did not want to see more than was necessary of the couple. At lunch on the last day before the start of the new term, Lily heard James mention to Remus that Olivia would be returning later that afternoon so, just to make sure she would not have to see their reunion, Lily ended up spending the rest of the day in the library. Several times she considered returning to Gryffindor Tower, convinced that it was ridiculous to stay closeted up in the library, but then she pictured the first time she had ever seen Olivia and James kissing and her stomach fell. No, she could not go back.
On the morning of the first day of school of the new term, everyone slowly made their way down to the Great Hall, sleepily ate breakfast, and grudgingly headed off to class.
Lily had Charms first and managed to sit with Meredith across the room from James and Sirius. However, as the seventh year Gryffindors started on the long walk to Herbology, Meredith left Lily to walk with Sirius and before she could find Kelly and Andy, James tapped her on the shoulder.
Lily slowly turned around and gave him a half smile half grimace. “Hi, James.” She ran her fingers through her hair nervously and then turned to walk out the door onto the snow covered lawn.
Of course James was right with her, keeping up with her pace.
“Lily, don’t be like that.”
“Like what?” she asked innocently, hitching her bag higher on her shoulder.
“Oh, come on Lily, you know what I’m talking about. You’re ignoring me. You have been all break….ever since patrolling. And then you made up that lame excuse that you were sick on Friday. You knew I was never going to believe that,” he said angrily.
“Well…maybe I don’t want to be in the way of you and Olivia…” Lily replied.
He frowned at her. “You know more than anyone that Olivia was not here all break.”
Lily bit her lip and turned her attention to her bag, giving the appearance of checking to see that she had the right books.
“Lily.”
Slowly, Lily turned to him and saw his eyebrows scrunched together in concern.
“It’s okay if you’re embarrassed…”
Lily threw him an indignant look, despite the truth in his words, and James gave one short laugh.
“Lils, you don’t know how many times I’ve embarrassed myself in front of you. But that’s beside the point.” He took a deep breath and exhaled. “I’m just…I’m really glad you finally let me know how you feel. But...I don’t want to lose you just because you told me at...”
“An inconvenient time?” Lily offered, looking up to meet his eyes.
“Exactly.” There was a moment of silence as they approached the greenhouses and then James turned to face her with a smile. “Thanks for understanding, Lily.” Swiftly, he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug and then before Lily could take in what had happened, James released her and ran ahead to enter the farthest greenhouse with Sirius and Meredith.
The bell rang just as soon as Lily slipped into the greenhouse and took a seat between Kelly and Meredith. Professor Sprout gave Lily a disapproving look for her near tardiness and then began the lesson.
“Did you and James have a fight?” Kelly whispered to Lily.
Lily didn’t make eye contact as she fumbled distractedly through her bag. “No, we just talked.”
“Then why did you come in separately? I saw you two walking together on the way here,” Kelly said and looked at Lily expectantly. On the other side of Lily, Meredith was also leaning across the table, looking curious.
But Lily was saved from the explanation when Professor Sprout interrupted their conversation. “Miss Hamilton, could please explain the purpose of the boils on the Mimbulus mimbletonia plant?”
While Kelly answered Professor Sprout’s question, Meredith passed Lily a quickly scrawled note.
Did James decide to break up with Olivia?
Lily frowned at Meredith and shook her head. Meredith took back the note, scribbled down something else, and passed it back across the table.
Well then what’s the deal with you two?
Lily took a minute to think about her answer but in the end wrote:
Just friends.
Surprisingly, instead of giving Lily an apologetic look, Meredith smiled a little to herself. As she wrote back, Kelly read over her shoulder and smiled at Lily as Meredith passed back the note.
I think he still fancies you, Olivia or no Olivia.
Lily started to crumple up the letter but then Meredith took the paper out of her hands and quickly scribbled across the bottom.
He’s been staring at you since you walked in.
Lily turned around to look towards the table where James was sitting with the other Marauders and sure enough James had been looking her way. When they met eyes, he turned slightly pink and looked down at his book.
*****
The next few weeks of January passed without much change for Lily. Though Sirius had finally asked Meredith out, Kelly and Andy had had their first major fight as a couple, and the school was abuzz with the snow that a recent blizzard had left, Lily’s relationship with James did not seem to alter much.
Neither of the two spoke about their feelings for the other again and to Lily it seemed as though James was trying to forget the past month had happened. They often sat with each other in class and talked like good friends just like they had previously, but there was still something different about their relationship that had not been there before.
First, James had become politer towards Lily and, while she knew she would have paid Galleons for this change last year, she found herself almost missing the boy she could laugh and goof around with.
Second, he no longer spent evenings wrapped around Olivia in one of the common room armchairs anymore. Instead, when she saw them together at all, they would be simply holding hands or studying together in the library.
The impetus for this, Lily supposed was when one afternoon she and James had returned to the common room for their free period and Olivia had confronted James.
“Why are you always with her? I’m your girlfriend,” Olivia had whined.
“I’m sorry, Liv,” James apologized. “Lily’s only my friend.”
“Sure,” Olivia said, rolling her eyes. Then she stopped pouting and reached for James’ hand. “You have a free period now, right?” she asked as her other hand went up to twirl a strand of hair.
James glanced from Olivia to Lily. "Yeah, but I was hoping to get some homework done with Lil””
“Oh, you can do that later,” Olivia said, pulling James over to the couch.
As they went, James turned back to give Lily an apologetic look. Already having an idea as what was going to happen, Lily chose a round table across the room from James and Olivia and took out her notes to start her Potions essay. Just as she dipped her quill into the ink bottle, she heard Olivia and James arguing.
“No, Olivia, stop it. I don’t have time to sit here and””
“But James! I hardly ever get to see you. You always spend so much time with that girl””
“Her name is Lily” James said, angrily.
“Sure, whatever. But how do I know you’re not snogging her when I’m not around?” Olivia accused.
“Because Lily is my friend and you’re my girlfriend! I would think that you had a little more trust in me.”
Lily looked up just in time to see James march across the room looking furious.
“No, James, don’t go!” Olivia sobbed, jumping up and following to the portrait hole. “I’m sorry! I just never get to see you and I…I love you.”
James made a face at his girlfriend. “You don’t love me,” he argued. “You just want to date me because I’m a Quidditch player, because I’m popular.”
“No, James. James!”
But James continued to walk out of the portrait hole, Olivia on his heels. When they returned at the end of the free period, the two were holding hands once again and Lily could only assume that Olivia had given James a really good apology.
At the sight of Lily standing with her bag over her shoulder, James dropped Olivia’s hand and grabbed his own bag.
“Bye, sweetheart,” Olivia said, beaming. She stood on her tiptoes and gave James a chaste kiss on the lips. “I’ve got to go to Charms, but I’ll see you tonight at dinner.”
As Olivia skipped over to where she had left her things, a beet red James hurried out of the common room with Lily following.
James never did explain to Lily what had happened between him and Olivia during that free period but she could guess. It seemed to Lily that James had asked Olivia to bring down the intensity of their relationship, or at least in public. She didn’t want to think that she was the cause of this, but the thought still made her feel happy nonetheless.
Third, Lily noticed that in addition to James acting politer around her and distancing himself a bit from his passionate girlfriend, he often looked at her as though he were seeing her in a different light.
Just like on that day in Herbology, Lily often caught him staring at her in class. Instead of glaring back at him like she used to do, or even blushing and looking away like she felt like doing, Lily tried to smile back at him. She enjoyed seeing him turn red and quickly glance away as if he had been doing something wrong. She did not even feel embarrassed anymore when she felt her own cheeks heat up. James was not just some boy she had a crush on who barely knew she existed. Lily had become comfortable around James; he was her best friend and she loved him.
On the last Monday of January, Lily came down from her dormitory to see Olivia and James holding hands on the couch. When her eyes met James’, he blushed and quickly dropped Olivia’s hand.
“Well, I’ve got to go patrol now,” James said, rising from the couch.
“Hurry back, okay?” Olivia replied, standing up as well and putting her hand on James’ shoulder.
“Oh, we’ll be back late. You don’t have to wait up,” James answered, walking with Lily to the portrait hole. He gave Olivia a small crooked smile and then turned to leave.
Once they had started down the corridor, James turned to Lily with a smile on his face.
“Happy birthday.”
“James, I think you’ve said that about five times already today,” Lily giggled.
“Yeah, but it was different in class. Everyone was saying it. I wanted it to be…special now that we’re alone,” he explained.
“Well, thanks again.”
James nodded. “But that’s not it…I got you something too.”
Lily looked at him, a smile forming on her face as James reached into his pocket and pulled out a small package.
“Here, I hope you like it,” he said, handing it to her, grinning.
Lily took it and unwrapped the package. It was a silver necklace with a lily flower charm.
“James, thank you so much. But, you didn’t have to get me anything.”
“Yeah, I did. It’s your birthday,” he insisted.
She fingered the small charm and then looked up at James.
“Thank you again. I really like it.”
“You’re welcome.”
As Lily put the necklace on, her thoughts strayed to Olivia. Did she know that her boyfriend was giving jewelry to another girl?
“It looks really nice on you, Lily,” James said as she turned back to him.
She nodded, shrugging away the thought about Olivia. This was her birthday and she should be allowed to enjoy herself.
*****
A few days later, James was not at breakfast. Looking down the Gryffindor table, she saw Olivia sitting with other sixth year girls, gawking at a group of Hufflepuff boys. A few seats over, where the Marauders usually sat, she saw Peter, Sirius, and Remus silently eating breakfast. Looking a little closer at them, she saw that there were scratches and bruises on their faces and arms. Still suspicious of what was going on, Lily left for class with her friends.
James was not in any of her classes that day and when she returned to the common room that evening, it seemed unusually quiet with one of the four Marauders missing.
“Lily, are you alright?”
Lily turned to see Kelly standing behind her, looking concerned.
When she did not say anything, Kelly answered for her. “It’s James, right? I haven’t seen him all day either.”
“Yeah, I just hope…”
She suddenly remembered that last night had been a full moon. Images of James scratched to pieces by a werewolf flashed through her mind.
Ignoring Kelly’s questions, Lily hurried through the portrait hole and did not stop until she ran into Professor McGonagall in the corridor.
“Miss Evans, where are you going?”
“I need to know…James…is he …” Lily managed to say, breathing heavily.
Professor McGonagall’s look of confusion turned into understanding.
“Oh, yes. Potter is in the hospital wing. But, don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll be alright.”
“Thank you, Professor,” Lily said, running off again.
When she turned into the hospital wing corridor, Lily slowed down. There was no need to show James how worried she had been. Everything would be fine. Maybe at worst, he would have a broken leg. She would probably walk in on Olivia sitting at James’ bedside, holding his hand. At the mere thought, her stomach turned with embarrassment and jealousy.
When she walked in, he was sleeping. James lay in the farthest bed from the door; his arms had a couple large gashes and his face had three thin scratches that looked almost as if they were from claws. Apart from this, there did not seem to be anything else wrong with him.
Relief washed over Lily and she started to walk over towards him when Madam Pomfrey entered the room.
“Oh, Miss Evans. Back so soon?”
“I’m just visiting. Is he going to be alright?” Lily asked, gesturing towards James.
“Oh, he should be back on their feet soon,” she replied. Then the school nurse excused herself to prepare a potion for James.
“Lily,” called a familiar voice.
Lily turned around to see Sirius standing in the doorway with a smile.
“I told you guys this was dangerous,” she reprimanded.
“Nah, it’s not too dangerous. Things just got a little too out of control this time.” He glanced around, checking for Madam Pomfrey, and then met Lily’s eyes. “Just keep this quiet. No one else knows what we do with Remus at the full moon. The story is that James fell down a flight of stairs.”
Lily nodded and then looked back over to where James lay asleep.
“I told James you would be by soon,” Sirius continued. “Hey, James!”
“No, don’t wake him up,” Lily hissed.
“Then what was the point of coming, Lily?” Sirius chuckled. “And I doubt he’ll mind. Prongs!”
James gave a grunt from the far bed. His head turned towards them and he blinked.
“Wha?”
“Lily,” Sirius said. “She’s here.”
James blinked several more times until he was full conscious. Then he looked from Sirius to Lily and gave her a crooked smile.
“I guess you were right about this being a bit dangerous.”
Lily couldn’t help but smile back at him. “Yeah, I’m usually right about these things. But, at least you’re okay. Madam Pomfrey said you could leave soon, right? You should be back to normal by tomorrow…once you get those cuts cleaned up.”
James grimaced. “I’m not sure if it’ll be tomorrow.”
“What do you mean?” Lily asked. She found a nearby stool and dragged it over to James’ bed.
“Well, I think I broke about four or five ribs and my collarbone…Moony…”
“He went out of control…more so than we could handle,” Sirius explained.
“But he didn’t mean to,” Lily replied. “Besides, James will be okay.”
“Just not okay enough in time for the next Quidditch match,” Sirius said, quietly.
“Oh.”
After having been friends with James over the past few months, Lily realized now how important Quidditch matches were to boys.
“Isn’t there someone who can replace you?”
James made a face. “I guess there will have to be. But, don’t worry about it, Lily. I’m sure you don’t want to hear about our Quidditch problems.”
Before Lily could answer, Madam Pomfrey entered the room again to give James a dose of a potion that Lily assumed helped strengthen his newly mended bones.
As the school nurse busied herself with James, Lily turned to Sirius.
“Has Olivia been here?” she whispered.
Sirius shook his head and then glanced over at Madam Pomfrey and James who were still not listening.
“I keep telling him to break it off with Olivia. But he doesn’t listen. Are you sure he knows you fancy him?” Sirius asked.
“How did you””
“I’m not blind, Lily. Everyone knows you two are head over heels for each other…except Olivia, that is. But, I’m just saying, he might not want to end it ‘cause he’s scared.”
Lily scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion.
“Scared that you don’t like him as much as he likes you. You really hurt him with all the rejections, Lily.”
“Hey, what are you two talking about?” James interjected.
“Nothing,” Lily replied, immediately.
James looked from Lily to Sirius for a moment, suspiciously, and then shrugged his uninjured shoulder.
“So how was class today without me?” James asked, grinning at Lily.
“Oh, it was unbearable. I don’t think I’ll be able to endure another day without you,” Lily joked, grinning back at him.
More than Meets the Eye by lilybobily7
Chapter Notes: Sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoy chapter 16 =]
Once again, thanks to my beta for helping me with this chapter. And, all credit for this wonderful world goes to JKR.
Don't forget to leave a review!
Chapter Endnotes: So, what'd you think? Lily and James are getting closer every day. Things should be starting up soon. =]
As always, I would love to hear what you thought. I really enjoy any comments!