As Halloween approached, an announcement about the first Hogsmeade trip of the year was posted in the common room. Lily sat in an armchair next to the fireplace watching the excited third years gathering about the bulletin board.
She remembered her first trip into Hogsmeade very well. She had gone with Kelly, Meredith, and Andy and had gotten lost after spending barely half an hour in the village. When the group had entered Zonko’s Joke Shop , Lily had decided to hide behind a large display of Muggle magic tricks and scare her friends when they walked past. Instead, they had left the store without her and Lily spent the next hour frantically searching the village for her friends. To this day they still teased her about that.
She had also had many good memories of the wizard village. Throughout the past several years, she had spent hours wandering around aimlessly with Kelly, Andy, and Meredith or touring Hogsmeade with various boyfriends. In fifth year, she had even gotten her first kiss from a Ravenclaw Prefect in Madam Puddifoot’s tea shop.
On this rainy afternoon, she was writing an essay about Felix Felicis for Professor Slughorn. She had just finished her conclusion when James came in carrying muddy and sopping wet Quidditch robes from practice.
“Hey, Prongs,” called Sirius Black from the couch across the room. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were sitting near him playing a game of Exploding Snap.
“Hey, guys.” James glanced over at Lily and caught her staring at him. Slightly embarrassed, Lily turned away pretending to ponder more over her finished Potions assignment. This did not keep James from approaching her. “How are you, Lily?”
“I’m fine. I’ve got lots of homework, but what’s new?” She tried to joke with an uneasy smile before changing the subject. “How was practice?”
“Wet, cold, and very windy. One of the new third years almost fell off his broom.”
Lily gasped. “Oh, no.” She glanced around the room. “Did Andy and Meredith come in, too?”
“No, I heard them say they were going to the Great Hall to have a late lunch.” His eyes flickered to the bulletin board on the wall behind Lily. “There’s a Hogsmeade trip coming up this weekend. If you’re not busy, do you want to go with me?”
Lily noticed that despite his effort to sound casual about it, he still sounded nervous. She tapped her quill against her chin, thinking of how to phrase her answer. Even though James had been very nice to her lately, she didn’t want to encourage anything more than a friendship.
“That’s really nice of you, James, but I was planning on going with Kelly, Andy, and Meredith.”
James’ face fell but he recovered quickly. “I thought you and Meredith had a row?”
“We did, but I think we’ll be ok. Besides, the four of us haven’t spent any quality time together in a long time.”
“I understand. You’re friends are important to you.”
Even though this was true, Lily couldn’t help but feel bad about rejecting him. Before she could say anything, though, James was already climbing the staircase to the boys’ dormitories.
*****
That Saturday after breakfast, Lily, Kelly, Andy, and Meredith, along with most of the school, headed out the oak front doors and down the driveway towards Hogsmeade. Fortunately, the weather was nice for the Hogsmeade trip. Although it was still cool, the sun was out and Lily only needed a light jacket.
At the entrance to the village, Lily spotted James and the Marauders starting in the direction of Zonko’s Joke Shop. She caught his eye and he gave her a small smile before turning back to his friends.
“Where should we go first?” asked Kelly.
“How about The Three Broomsticks?” suggested Lily.
“Okay,” agreed Andy, putting his arm around Kelly’s shoulder.
Meredith rolled her eyes. “If that’s where Lily wants to go.”
Lily ignored her as the four made their way through the crowd of Hogwarts students and into The Three Broomsticks. Once there, each ordered a butterbeer and sat down in a large booth. Meredith, Lily noticed, made sure to sit as far away as possible from her.
“I think we should go to Honeydukes after this and then maybe visit Zonko’s. That is assuming Lily doesn’t get lost again,” Andy said with a chuckle.
“Andy!” Lily protested. “That was four years ago. Do you really need to bring that up again?”
Andy laughed. “I’ll tell you what, if we can go to Zonko’s after this, I’ll make an honest effort not to tease you about that again.”
Lily groaned. “Do we really have to go there? I’d much rather walk around Hogsmeade than spend an hour in a joke shop. Besides, do you even need anything there?”
“Don’t mind her, Andy,” Meredith said, coolly. “She really does want to go to Zonko’s so she can see her boyfriend but doesn’t want to admit it.”
“What are you talking about, Meredith?” asked Andy, confused.
Lily waved a hand careless and answered, “She’s just really jealous that James would rather spend time with me than her.”
“Are you going out with him?” Andy asked.
“No! We’re barely even friends. Now let’s just forget this. It’s not even important.”
“Four butterbeers!”
Lily, Kelly, Andy, and Meredith turned. Madam Rosmerta had arrived at their table, bearing a tray holding four butterbeers.
“Thank you,” said Kelly as they took their drinks from the tray.
“So, you’re not going out with James,” Andy repeated, taking a sip from his drink after Madam Rosmerta had left.
“No and nor will I ever,” said Lily becoming aggravated.
Meredith rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t count on it.”
“Meredith, why does this even matter right now? You’re just ruining the Hogsmeade trip,” Lily replied.
“I agree. Meredith and Lily, I had hoped that by coming to Hogsmeade, you two would make up,” Kelly said.
“Me, too,” said Lily, angrily. “Meredith, I’m sorry for overreacting about James and I agree that I may have been exaggerating a bit that day at breakfast but””
“Lily, I don’t want to hear it,” Meredith interrupted. “Look, it’s not even ten o’clock and already we’re arguing. Why don’t you just go find James and leave us alone?”
Lily dropped her jaw in indignation. “I think I will!” she returned sarcastically before storming out of the pub.
“Lily!” she heard Kelly call. Lily turned around and to see her friend running towards her.
“Please come back,” she said grabbing Lily’s arm. “Meredith’s just upset and I’m sure she didn’t mean what she said.”
Lily looked into Kelly’s pleading brown eyes and hesitated for a second before throwing off her friend’s arm. She strode into the crowd, trying to distance herself as far as possible from her friends. She couldn’t believe Meredith. The girl who used to be one of her best friend’s had become so jealous and unreasonable that they could not even spend a day in Hogsmeade without arguing.
With no place to go, Lily wandered around the village aimlessly, passing cheerful classmates and couples. She certainly could not go back to her friends after the huge blowout and she was in no mood to see the Marauders. Though she was sure they would cheer her up, she did not want to run the risk of meeting James and prove Meredith right.
As the afternoon rolled around, the sun hid behind the clouds and it became much cooler. Lily zipped up her jacket and made her way up to the Shrieking Shack. She had already toured the entire village and decided that taking the more secluded path to the Shrieking Shack would give her an opportunity to sort out her thoughts.
As she approached the Shack, Lily saw a lone figure in the distance. A bit taken aback by this, Lily faltered until she saw the figure turn around. Of course it just had to be James. She was about to turn around and leave when James called to her.
“What are you doing up here?” he asked.
“I could ask you the same thing,” she said, walking toward him.
James shrugged his shoulders. “Follow me.”
He led Lily through the clump of trees behind the Shrieking Shack. They stepped out onto a fairly large ledge and Lily’s jaw dropped.
“I never knew this was here,” she said, awestruck.
From the ledge, Lily could see the surrounding scenery of Hogwarts. Far off to the right, she could see the dark green mass of plant life that she recognized as the Forbidden Forrest and a couple of Hogwarts’ highest towers. The valley just below them was spotted with clumps of trees and patches of wildflowers and was divided by a small stream where the forest began. In the distance, Lily could see the outline of mountains, wrapping around the valley, village, and Hogwarts. To Lily, this could have been a painting or even a picture out of a Muggle storybook. She had no idea that this hidden valley was so close to the school.
“Wow. James, it’s beautiful!”
“Yeah, it’s really something. The boys and I like to come up here a lot, though not for the view really.”
Lily smiled to herself before suddenly remembering her earlier decision to avoid James. “I should get going,” Lily said quickly and turned to go back through the trees.
“So, why were you up here, Lily?” he asked suddenly in a clear attempt to keep her from leaving. “Why aren’t you with Andy, Kelly, and Meredith?”
Lily stopped walking and turned around to face him. “Meredith and I had another fight.”
“That’s too bad. What happened?”
Lily sighed, temporarily giving up on her escape plan. “She’s still upset about you and took her anger out on me. I just didn’t want to deal with her for the rest of the day so I left.”
James nodded his head, sitting down on the ground. “That makes sense. I’m sure after she’s had an hour or so to calm down, things will be back to normal.”
Lily sat down beside him and looked at him incredulously. “I highly doubt that.”
“Why not?” asked James. “Whenever my friends and I have a fight, we give each other some space for a while and then act like it never happened.”
“But you’re a boy. It’s not that easy for girls.”
James shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know what else I can tell you, then.”
Lily turned her head away from James at that moment and focused on the mountains in the distance. The sky had darkened quite a bit in the last few minutes and she could only discern the outline of the highest peaks. Sighing, her thoughts went back to her argument with Meredith from earlier that day. It hurt Lily to see her friend that upset, especially over such a trivial thing as a boy.
“Lily,” said James, placing his hand lightly on her shoulder.
She turned back to him and looked into his hazel eyes.
“I know you’re really concerned about Meredith, but don’t let her bother you. You’re a pretty great person and I doubt she’ll be able to stay mad at you for that long.”
“Thanks, James,” she said, giving him a smile.
“I’m glad I could help.”
Suddenly, lightening flashed across the sky. Lily and James glanced at each other and then up at the sky. Droplets of rain began to fall, and as thunder boomed in the distance, they hurried back to Hogsmeade.
More than Meets the Eye by lilybobily7
Chapter Notes: Enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I'm just playing with the characters in JKR's world. Everything belongs to her. =]
Chapter Endnotes: Well, I hoped you liked it! Feel free to leave a review. =]
Chapter 9 will be up shortly.