James and Lily Potter: Second year

Chapter 6

Lily poked James and hissed, “slow down, would you?”

James smiled at Lily, flashing his white teeth. “Of course. I wouldn’t dream of disappointing such a lovely angel.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Shut up Potter, and please look where you’re going.”

“As you wish, m’dear.” He gave a small, mock bow, causing Arabella and Sirius to trip over each other.

“James!” they both hissed angrily.

“Sorry,” he muttered apologetically.

“Bells, why the hell did you let the boys get into this? It was supposed to be only me, you and Violet!”

“Er Sirius accidentally overheard me plotting,” admitted Arabella. “But I swear I thought no one was eavesdropping!”

“I hear someone coming,” said Sirius suddenly.

“That must be Violet and Peter distracting them!” whispered Lily.

“I still don’t get the plan,” said James irritably.

Lily sighed. “All right, I’ll say it just one more time. Violet and Peter are distracting Remus and Jenny. Then we’ll get back to the corridors and appear out of nowhere, so they won’t get too suspicious. Since today is saturday and there aren’t any classes, we’ll just walk up to the Astronomy tower… i think that must be deserted. We leave them there, and… well, we’ll just wait for how the conversation is going. Of course, we have to lock the door and put the charm to repel the ‘Alohomora’ spell.”

“That’s lame.”

“Do you have a better idea then, Potter?”

“Yes, I do.”

“What is it then?”

“The same as yours, except make them get pushed so they can kiss.”

“Urgh!” exclaimed Arabella. “That’s something Sirius and I would do if we were matchmaking you two!”

“You’re going to what?!”

“Er-nothing.”

“Evil gits.” muttered Lily, but loud enough for Arabella to hear. They crouched down in a small corner, listening to Violet and Peter holding them off.

“What were you saying about the Astronomy Tower, Vi?” they heard Jennifer say.

“Maybe we can meet there.” said Violet.

“Why? It’s three o’clock in the afternoon! There aren’t any stars or anything?”

“Maybe we can, well, see the whole view of Hogwarts and maybe take some pictures,” suggested Peter awkwardly.

“That’s the best idea Peter’s come up with in a while,” mumbled Lily from inside the cloak. James nudged her hard in the ribs and muttered for her to keep quiet.

They heard Remus say, “Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt.” Then the footsteps slowly disappeared through the corridor.

“Come on, hurry!” whispered Lily urgently. The four of them were running as fast as they could without revealing any body part. They reached the Charms corridor and saw the other four coming toward them.

When Jennifer saw them, she said, “Hi guys! What a coincidence it is to meet you here! But then again, this is the most direct way to the Astronomy Tower.” she chuckled lightly.

“I was just seeing Professor Flitwick for a quick second, and the others wanted to come along too,” replied Lily, carefully treading on James’ feet.

“Where are you all going?” piped up Sirius.

“Astronomy Tower,” said Jennifer, beaming. “Want to come?”

“Sure!”  The four chorused together.

“So what do we do now?” hissed James from the corner of his mouth, when Jennifer and Remus were out of earshot.

“Let them into the Astronomy Tower first. Then put the Alohomora repel charm on the door.”

“Should we go in with them?”

“Of course not silly! Then we’d be stuck in the Tower forever too!”

“God, don’t be so touchy, it was just a question.” They reached the Astronomy Tower. Jennifer and Remus went in first, and Lily quicky muttered the repel charm. They heard voices in the tower as Jennifer and Remus cried in surprise when there was no one behind them.

“Hey aren’t you guys coming?” called Jennifer.

“Nah, we’ll just stay out here.”

“Then we’re coming too!”

“Suit yourself.” said Lily, secretly smirking. Then the six of them outside heard two outraged voices.

“Lil, I can’t open the door!”

They heard Remus trying to bang it open. “What the heck did you do, James?” he roared.

“You guys need some time alone,” said Arabella, grinning and winking at the rest of them.

“Whose idea was this?” It was Jennifer’s voice, which sounded like a mixture of anger and sadness.

“The girls!” The boys immediately chimed in.

“Lily... Bella… Vi… I’ll get you for this,” Jennifer choked from inside the Tower., “This is so embarrassing! You know how much I like Remus, and that he doesn’t like me the same way back. This is the most humiliating moment of my life!” They heard a distant sob break out from the heartbroken girl.

“Jen...I’m so sorry,” said Arabella softly. “It’s all my idea.”

“It was mine too,” added Lily sadly. “We both talked Vi into it.”

“We’ll let you out now,” said Violet, starting to cry herself.

“That went well,” muttered James. Lily furiously smacked him on the arm.          

“Don’t James,” she said softly. “I feel bad enough as it is. I can’t believe we were so cruel! Oh, I’d hate it if you guys did something like that to me.... Especially if i really liked the boy but he didn’t like me. You know how infatuated Jen is with Remus, but he doesn’t return those...feelings. God it’s all my fault!” Lily started crying.

“Shh, it’s all right, lils,” whispered Arabella, hugging her friend. “It’s all my fault too. I thought of the idea…” suddenly all three girls burst out crying.

“Bella, I hear something,” said Sirius gently, prodding Arabella. The six of them all pressed their ears against the Tower door eagerly.

“Jennifer, I really do like you,” Remus said.

“Really?” it was Jen’s voice, full of sorrow and disbelief.

“Of course! I was just afraid- what you’d say when you found out that I was a werewolf.”

“Oh Remus, I wouldn’t care at all! I really, really do like you!” There was a silence, and then a funny kind of noise, that could be one thing.

“They’re kissing!” whispered a tear-streaked Lily gleefully. “Oh it worked!”

Arabella smiled weakly at her friend. “Well, Lil, I guess it wasn’t a total waste.”