Sleeping arrangements were difficult due to the petit size of the cabin. Lily suspected that it was only meant for two people to stay in it. There was only one king sized bed, which was shared by Bess (who was still unconscious), Jill, and Cassie. The two girls were always watching over Bess, hoping for some sign that she might be waking.
It was the next morning, but all Lily could think about was last night. Obviously, the three Muggle girls were shocked by what Lily, James, and Sirius had done with their wands. They had seen Lily trying to heal Remus and apparently, James and Sirius had done some protective spells before Lily had gotten there. Cassie and Jill had wanted some answers.
"How did you do that with those sticks?" Cassie had asked.
The three Hogwarts students looked at each other, hoping that someone would either come up with a cleaver lie or just tell the truth. Lily desperately wanted to tell her the girls about magic, but she knew that it was illegal to reveal magic to Muggles. Despite that, Lily believed that Cassie and Jill deserved to know. They had been chased by a bloody werewolf the night before.
Lily and the boys had talked it over in the kitchen section of the cabin. After a while, they decided to tell them the truth.
"look," said Lily once they were all seated around the bed that Bess was lying in, "you know how we did that... stuff... with the... sticks?" Cassie and Jill nodded slowly. "Well, those were wands and we were doing magic."
Blank expressions. Lily hadn't expected much else.
"And that art school we go to... is really a school for wizards and witches," said Lily, begging that her friends would react in some way. They didn't.
Well, Jill's jaw dropped open, but other than that, neither of the girls made a single noise.
"Sorry I never told you before," added Lily. She could hardly take the silence.
"You're joking, right?" asked Cassie.
"No jokes here," said Sirius.
"Those things are wands and you do magic and stuff?" said Cassie, her eyes as big as planets.
"Yeah, and stuff," said Lily.
"But-but-but that's impossible! Magic isn't real," stammered Jill. It seemed she had just gotten her voice back.
"Well, it is real. We're wizards, Lily's a witch, and Remus is a werewolf. That's why he's... like that," said James, summing things up nicely.
"But why didn't you tell us this?" asked Cassie.
Lily sighed. She always suspected that one of her old friends would find out about Hogwarts. They would see her owl or maybe catch a glimpse of one of the moving photographs. There was never an ideal time to tell your oldest friends that you've been lying to them since you were eleven years old, though. "I couldn't tell," Lily said. "It's against our law to tell Muggles- non magical people- about our world. I'm sorry."
Neither Cassie nor Jill responded. Lily knew that it wasn't her fault, but she couldn't help but feel like she had betrayed them.
Now, Lily sat at the little table in the kitchen, accompanied by James. She had slept on that very chair all night. the hard wood was very uncomfortable. It was that, and the fact that she was terrified that Bess would never wake up, that made sleeping the night before nearly impossible for Lily.
"Sirius is still sleeping," said James as he ate some crackers. Whoever owned the cabin had a large supply of snacks.
"So are the others," said Lily. "How about Remus? How's he doing?"
"He's moving a bit more in his sleep, which is a good thing."
For a while, Lily didn't know what to say, so she just sat there. "How did this happen?" she asked, finally.
"It was my fault," said James, resting his head on his hand. "I shouldn't have let Remus come."
Seeing James stressed out like he was made him look so much older. He had bags under his eyes and his hair was even messier than usual. It seemed like he ruffled it every time he was nervous. Lily had thought, all these years, that he had purposely messed it up to make himself look cool. Apparently, she had been wrong. For the first time, James seemed a lot more three dimensional than he had ever been. There was a lot about James Potter that Lily had never known before.
For instance, she had never suspected James to talk in his sleep. He did. Last night, after the other girls refused to talk to Lily, James, and Sirius, Lily had gone to the kitchen, looking for somewhere to sit. Sirius had found a little chair in the foyer, so the only option was the small wooden table next to the oven. James had followed her and sat across from her on a chair that was particularly creaky. He had fallen asleep easily, unlike Lily, and almost instantly began muttering. It was a combination of the mumbles, the moaning of the chair, and the howling of the wind, that kept Lily awake and forced her to listen to James' nonsense. He mostly talked about Quidditch or dragons. A couple times, he mentioned his love for "baby cream puff fairies." A little later, though, he started saying things like, "Auntie, Henry is stealing my broomstick again." Lily wondered if the James inside of James' dream knew that his aunt, cousin, and uncle were now dead at the hands of Lord Voldemort.
Lily also learned that James was a sleep walker. She had just begun nodding off when she saw him stand up and head towards the door. She quickly woke herself up, her motherly instincts kicking in, and quickly lead him back to the table. Just a few minutes later, he opened his eyes and said, "How come I'm not in Hufflepuff?"
Lily pondered that for a while before telling James that, "You're not in Hufflepuff because you wouldn't look good in yellow."
He seemed to accept that answer and immediately fell back asleep. That was it for that night. The next time Lily had woken up, the sun was peaking through the curtains.
"Want a cracker?" asked James. He passed the box over to Lily, who accepted them. She could hardly believe that it had been a day since she woke up to find her friends missing. Lily could still remember the panic she felt when she desperately searched for them yesterday. Now, she wished they could all go back to the Christophe Brazier, but it would probably be a bad idea to bring the beat up Remus to the hotel.
"Do you think they'll ever forgive me?" Lily asked James.
"Who, your friends?" Lily nodded. "Of course. They have to understand that you couldn't tell them you're a witch. They can't be mad at you forever, you know."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Lily.
"I'm always right," pointed out James with a wink. Lily laughed, glad that he was trying to cheer her up.
"James," asked Lily, suddenly, "why do I hate you so much?"
He just kind of laughed at her, but Lily could tell that he was really thinking about his answer. "Well," he started, "I'm a bit of an arrogant toe-rag."
"Well, at least you realize that," said Lily, giggling.
"But, seriously, do you still hate me as much as before? I mean, I'd like to think that I've matured a bit," James said, looking Lily straight in the eye.
She quickly broke his gaze to examine her fingernails. "I don't hate you. It's like you've changed, but- but you haven't really. You're still arrogant and immature, but for some reason it's different now." Lily wasn't even one hundred percent sure why she felt the need to share her feelings with James. They just seemed to be spilling out without a filter, though. She looked back up to see that James was still staring at her.
"Maybe I'm not as much of a jerk?" suggested James. It was clear that he wanted to get the the bottom of Lily's newly voiced concerns.
"Yeah, there aren't any first years here for you to bully," said Lily.
James looked hurt from that last remark. "What does that mean? Do you think I'm just going to go back to that as soon as we get back to Hogwarts?"
"No that wasn't what I-" started Lily, but James cut her off.
"Because I'm not. I'm not a bully. I'm this," he said, gesturing at himself.
"I know! I can see that you're... you now. And, honestly, I- I like you a lot," Lily blurted out.
She could feel the heat on her cheeks as James' hazel eyes bore into hers. Lily gulped. Her heart was beating so rapidly that she was worried it would beat out of her throat.
"You do?" he asked nervously.
Slowly, Lily nodded. Before she knew exactly what she was doing, she was leaning in and so was James. They met in the middle, and when Lily kissed James it felt like there were fireworks going off right inside the cabin. For a second, she forgot about her friends being mad at her and about Remus' wounds. For a moment, the only things Lily was completely aware of were James and the table that separated them.
But it was really just a moment. Just one brief moment before she heard Sirius shouting, "Oh, Merlin, what is going on here?!"
Lily and James tore apart as quickly as possible, but Sirius had already seen everything he needed to see.
"You... and you?" said the baffled Sirius, pointing at the two at the table. "How? Explain."
Lily was breathless. She simply couldn't find her voice. James didn't look like he could do much talking either. He just sat across from Lily, completely stunned, with a stupid grin on his face. And, boy, was his hair ruffled.
Snowflakes by The_Dream_Team
Chapter Notes: Hello! Here is chapter seventeen :) Enjoy!
Chapter Endnotes: Sorry this was kind of short, but I hope you liked it! I just wanted to point out that Lily's friends still have questions about magic. That isn't the extent of their magic-related concerns! It will continue in the next chapter. Thanks so much for reading! If you have the time, it would be lovely if you left a review on the way out :)