Lily had stayed up in her dorm practically the whole rest of the day. Marlene and Alice
arrived back from Hogsmeade that night, hair tousled by the wind and cheeks blushing from the butterbeer.
"Lily, you should have gone, it was a blast!" Marlene said jumping up onto her bed.
"And what? fifth wheeled? no thanks." Lily said stubbornly.
"It wasn't like that Lil," Alice promised, "we spent a lot of time with Sirius, Remus, and Peter as well as Frank and Davey. You would've had a good time."
"How did you guys even stand to be around Marlene and Davey? All they do is snog" Lily laughed
"Did you at least get your essay done?" Marlene asked, changing the subject with a blush and an eye-roll.
"Yeah, I finished it. It was a very productive day," Lily assured in between shared giggles with Alice.
"Was James with you? I didn't see him in Hogsmeade." Alice wondered.
Lily contemplated telling the truth, but even talking about James made her heart hammer guiltily against her chest.
"Not that I saw. I probably wouldn't have noticed anyways, I was so busy with my work." Lily lied, her fingers playing absentmindedly with the pages of her book as she said so.
Marlene and Alice didn't question her any further about her day. Lily was given the full account of everything that happened in Hogsmeade that she had missed out on. She listened happily, the conversation carried on until after dinner.
"Are you doing rounds tonight?" Asked Alice. The girls were lounging in their favorite common room chairs, the sixth year boys nowhere in sight. Truthfully it was Remus's turn to do rounds, but Lily needed an excuse to leave and listen in on the meeting the professors were having that night.
She nodded.
"Shouldn't you be going then?" asked Marlene, confused. It was 9 O'clock which was when Lily usually started her rounds, but she knew the meeting wouldn't be until 10. That was the time she has overheard them agreeing to the night before.
" Yes I suppose I should." The red head said, quickly standing up and straitening out her clothes. She had traded her lounge shorts for a skirt and a sweater, her classic look.
Her friends waved goodbye to her as she crawled out of the portrait hole and into the hall way.
James POV
"Can't someone else go this time?" James begged, he hated listening in on the teachers meetings.
The marauders made sure to keep tabs on practically everything that was going on in the school. This included mindless gossip, secret passageways, and yes, The Order.
The boys had been monitoring these meetings for the past month, each of them taking turns being the "representative." They began doing this after noticing the gathering on the Marauders map three times a week. Peter had said it was probably important and the boys had agreed. It was important too. Most of the time, when listening in, they didn't quite understand what they were talking about. Always whispering names and calling themselves "The Order." The Order of what, James didn't know.
They eventually had figured out that it pertained to the war, and therefore counted as "important." James understood this and supported their decisions to listen in, but always regretted that choice once it was his turn to listen. The meetings seemed anticlimactic so far and he ended up more confused leaving them then before he showed up.
"I'm pretty sure it's Peters turn." James tried to reason.
"Nope, I went last week." Peter defended, even handing his notes on the meeting to James, surely enough the date at the top, written in Peters slanted handwriting, was from last week.
"But none of us went yesterday because it was a full moon, so it'll be even more confusing!"
The rest of the Marauders didn't seem to care much about the confusing night James had ahead of him. Sirius was lounging across his bed, eating an apple he had snatched from the kitchen, and trying to rank the sixth year girls on attractiveness. This was another one of the Marauders important projects.
"Deal with it James, we all go to them, and it's your turn." He said not bothering to look up, he was staring intently at Abigail Brown's name right by the number eight. He was obviously deciding if that was the number that best suited her.
With a huff James grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill and shoved them both in his pocket as he exited their dorm and made his way downstairs.
"Hey James want to sit with us?" asked the sweet voice of Alice. James whipped his head around hoping that Lily would be part of the "us" she was talking about. Disappointment colored his features as he saw Alice, Marlene and Frank sitting on the couch by the fire.
"Oh, I would Alice but I can't I have to pick up a book from the Library before it closes." James said distractedly, eyes still searching the room for red hair and freckles. "where's Lily anyways?" James asked, unable to help himself.
"She's on rounds tonight." Marlene answered, like it was obvious.
"Oh." Was all James could say. He could have sworn Remus left for rounds right before he started complaining about having to go the the meeting.
James left the common room confused. Why would Lily be out? And why was she lying about it? Was she sneaking off with someone? Did she go to find Snape, to apologize for James being mean to him? No. She hasn't talked to him all year. No matter how mad at James she was, she wouldn't go back to being friends with Snape.
Stop thinking about her.
James scolded himself. Friends. They were just friends. If he was lucky.
He shouldn't be worried who she was with, so late at night. She wasn't his to worry about.
James thought this on his way to the cupboard on the third floor.
Lily's POV
The small space in between the wooden door to the cupboard and the wall that led into the meeting room was beginning to make Lily claustrophobic. She usually didn't have a problem with small spaces but her nerves for whatever she was to eavesdrop on tonight and the 45 minutes she had been waiting there were starting to get to her.
She had taken to sitting on the ground in the almost closet-like space and rested her head against the wall. The long waiting time had finally given her a chance to understand the room she was in. The main room was small, containing only a long table and chairs and a candle chandelier. The decorations and tapestries along the walls muted noises, with the help of the crimson carpet that rested on the ground.
Lily sat in a space, shadowed from the light in the main room, that created a deep alcove. At the end was the wooden door she had entered from. The one connected to the cupboard on the third floor. The small hiding place reminded her of her bedroom closet back home and she wondered what the purpose of it was. She really wondered what the purpose of the entire room was. Was it just for meetings? How often did they meet here? Lily felt like there was something important that she was missing. All she knew was that she wanted to find out for herself.
After feeling as though she had sat for long enough, and knowing the meeting had to be happening soon, Lily stood up and brushed the dust off the back of her skirt. Her periwinkle cable knit sweater's sleeves were longer than her arms. Instead of rolling them up, Lily held the ends in her fists. Her sweater, a size too large, was falling off her shoulders. She pressed her side tight against the cold stone wall, stepping as close to the glow of the room as she dared.
Suddenly, she couldn't breathe.
Her mouth was covered and she felt a solid body behind hers. Panic overtook her thoughts and with a jilt of adrenaline she forced her mouth free, spinning herself around in the process, and whipped out her want pointing it at the attackers chest.
James Potter's hands flew up in innocence.
"Damn it Potter don't do that!" Lily whispered as loud as she could without using her full voice. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears.
"What are you doing here Evans?" James asked, hands landing gently on her shoulders.
"What are you doing here?" Demanded Lily, not wanting to be the first to answer.
"The boys and I keep track of the meetings." James answered frankly.
"You weren't here last night." Lily accused shrugging Potter's hands off her shoulders. Her skin tingled where he had touched it.
James stopped for a moment, thinking about her response. "Were you here last night?" He questioned confused.
"I found it. I only heard the end. I don't really understand it." Lily stammered her big, green eyes locked on his hazel ones. He shoved his hand into his black hair, "Yeah, honestly I don't either. It's about the war, I know that much."
Lily nodded. Oh, how she hated the war. It was because of the war that her best friend abandoned her. It was because of the war that a bunch of gawky slytherin's wouldn't let her be close to James. It was because of the war that, even though she still felt tingling on her shoulders where his warm hands once were, she felt guilty as she looked into Potter's eyes in the dark.
She sighed and faced sideways, leaning her back against the stone.
"Lily," he whispered, eyebrows furrowed together. "I'm really sorry."
Lily didn't dare glance at his pleading eyes.
"I know I shouldn't have talked to snape like that. It wasn't my place I just." He looked at the ceiling trying to find the right words to say. Lily began twisting a long strand of maroon hair.
"We're starting to become friends. And I want to be friends with you. I just can't stand it when my friends are treated the wrong way." He finished, his eyes never leaving her face.
Her heart broke a little. Why must he be nice now? Why can't he go back to being a cocky jerk?
"It's fine James." Lily said softly. "Just never, ever do it again." She stated, more firmly. She swallowed a lump in her throat she didn't realize she had. "Severus and I have our differences, and I don't want you in the middle of that."
Lily took a deep breath and finally looked at him. "I want to be friends too, James, but not if you interfere with my personal business." Lily said.
James nodded in agreement, promising to never do such a thing again.
"Look at us," James smiled, "We're getting along."
Lily let out a chuckle. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Potter."
A/N:
Hey guys! I hope you like this chapter! Thank you for any votes and comments, they're appreciated :)