Disclaimer : If you think I own Harry Potter, then you really need to get a reality check my dude.
~~~~~
Chapter 34
Marlene stared at Lily. Lily stared back.
"You look like a stay at home mum with two kids and a dog."
That was the first thing out of Marlene's mouth when she woke up and saw what Lily was dressed in.
Lily looked down at her clothes. She was wearing a simple sheer black blouse with a black spaghetti top inside and a plain green skirt that reached mid calf. Her dark red hair was tied back in a loose ponytail with a green ribbon.
"Exactly the look I was trying for."
"Where are you even going this early in the morning?" Marlene asked. Lily looked pointedly at the clock that read 9:55 but Marlene ignored her judging look.
"I'm going to Hogsmeade." Lily said, turning back to the mirror and thinking whether or not to put on makeup. She decided to keep it simple and just put on a bit of lip gloss and mascara. "With James."
"You're going on a date?" Marlene squealed, jumping down from the bed, suddenly fully energetic.
Lily turned around to look at Marlene, almost poking herself in the eye with the mascara brush at Marlene's extra reaction. "It's not a date."
Marlene frowned, slowly walking over towards Lily like a crime investigator on a mission. "What do you mean it's not a date?"
Lily shrugged. "It means it's not a date. Simple as that."
"Aren't just the both of you going?" Marlene questioned. Lily nodded, searching through Mary's dressing table for lip gloss. "Then why isn't it a date?"
"It's just not." Lily said, brushing down her skirt and looking at the full length mirror in the dorm one more time. She wouldn't say she looked bad. Just a bit older than her age.
"Whatever you say, this counts as a date." Marlene said, still stubborn. "And I can't believe you're wearing that on your first date with James."
"First thing." Lily said, holding up her index finger. "I'm wearing this so that I don't look like a student and get caught while in Hogsmeade. And second thing." She held up another finger. "It's definitely not a date"
"Sure." Marlene said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. Lily decided to ignore her and grabbed her purse and wand from the table. After an exaggeratedly cheerful goodbye to Marlene and a promise to meet her in the library and tell her every single detail of the day, she left the dorm, going down the stairs to the common room where James was waiting.
"You copied me." Lily said when she saw James wearing a green flannel shirt and black jeans, which was the colour of her outfit inverted.
"I could say the same about you." James replied shrugging.
Lily did a dramatic twirl, almost tripping over her feet. She could see James trying to hold back a laugh. "How old do I look?"
James pretended to look her up and down, frowning. "Not too old." he said shaking his head, "Maybe sixty five. No that's too much. Sixty two."
Lily faked being offended and hit his arm playfully but he only laughed in reply.
"You look alright." he said, holding his arm out, "So shall we leave, Miss Evans?"
Lily linked her arm with his, trying hard not to start laughing at how ridiculous the both of them looked. "We shall, Mr. Potter."
~~~~~
"Where do you want to go first?" James asked once both of them had successfully managed to sneak out of the castle into Hogsmeade through the secret tunnel.
Lily paused, pondering for a moment. She hadn't really thought of where exactly to go when James had asked her to go to Hogsmeade with him. She just knew that she wanted to go with him. That was all that occurred to her then. "How about a bookshop?"
"I'm disappointed, Evans." James said, shaking his head.
Lily rolled her eyes at his pretense. "Fine. I'll just go back then."
"No. Wait." James panicked, immediately reaching out for her hand. Lily almost burst out laughing at how adorable he looked. "I'll take you to the bookshop where I got that book for you."
And after a slightly long walk, they were both standing in front of Quills and Feathers.
"You go ahead." James said, letting go of her hand. "I'll be back. I have somewhere to go. Just don't go anywhere else. Okay?"
Lily nodded before pushing open the glass door of the dimly lit shop and walking in.
She walked along the aisles, pulling out books from the shelves at random and occasionally picking to buy a few.
She hadn't realized time passing as she stood at the non-fiction section, flipping through that week's Witch Weekly, next to another red haired woman.
Lily was so immersed in what she was reading this she almost screamed out loud when she felt a pair of arms sneaking around her. But soon she realized that it wasn't a psychopath trying to kidnap her but just James Potter being a prick as usual.
"I swear Potter, I'll punch you and break your nose if you scare me like that again." she said, turning around glaring at him and trying to catch her breath.
James only laughed at her and flicked her forehead before handing her a pack of Honeydukes chocolate. "I went to get you this. It's caramel blast. Your favourite."
"Okay you're forgiven but only because of the chocolate."
James rolled his eyes playfully and sauntered over to the sports section, grabbing what Lily assumed was a Quidditch magazine and made himself comfortable on one of the bean bags in the shop.
Lily turned back to her own book, only to realize that the red haired woman who had been standing next to them was looking at her curiously. The woman looked to be in her thirties, with a slightly showing baby bump. She was holding a few parenting books.
Lily smiled at her, not sure how to react.
"Your husband seems to be very thoughtful." the woman said, smiling warmly at Lily.
Lily almost choked on air. Her eyes widened, fully processing what the woman had said. Her inner voice seemed to be screaming at the awkward situation she was in.
Lily laughed nervously, trying her best to just play along rather than explain anything. "Yeah he's like that."
She turned to look at James, who caught her gaze and started walking towards her, exactly what she didn't want him to do at the moment. He seemed to have noticed Lily talking to the woman.
"So you've already made a friend?" he asked, resting his elbow on her head. She shoved him away, wondering what on Earth he was doing.
The woman looked from Lily to James and back to Lily. "I'm Molly. I've never seen either of you around."
"James Potter." James introduced himself, suspiciously looking overly enthusiastic.
"I'm Lily." Lily said, deciding not to say her last name. Now that James had said his last name, she couldn't say Lily Evans without their little ruse crashing down. And she couldn't bring herself to say Lily Potter without passing out right then and there.
"Nice meeting you." James said to the woman before grabbing Lily's hand and leading her to the counter. The woman waved both of them bye an went back to looking through the books.
As soon as they stepped out of the shop, Lily let go of James's hand.
"What was that?" James asked, eyes shining with mischief. Lily was certain that he was just pretending not to know.
"She thought you're my husband." Lily said, voice so low that she doubted if James heard her. Her entire face felt like someone had set it on fire.
"What?" James asked, a laugh tumbling out of his lips, followed by another and then he was full on laughing, standing right smack in the middle of the street, embarrassing Lily even more.
"Shut up, James." Lily hissed, dragging him away from on lookers by his sleeve.
"I knew something was up when I saw your face." he said in between his laughing fit, "You looked like you were about to pass out so I thought I'll make it worse."
"Git." Lily muttered, smacking him over the head.
"Don't treat your husband like that, Lily." James scolded, pretending to look disappointed.
Lily groaned, burying her face in her hands. "You'll never let me live this down, right?"
"Never." James confirmed, still grinning wide. "Now where shall we go, dearest wife?"
"You make it sound like you have more than one wife." Lily said, the red in her cheeks still refusing to leave.
"No thanks. I'm not interested in polygamy." James said, walking towards Merlin only knew where. Lily still decided to follow him anyway. It wasn't like she had any choice.
"Good."
"What?"
"Nothing."
~~~~~
"How about the Shrieking Shack?" James asked suddenly, after they had spent most part of the day roaming around the various shops in Hogsmeade.
"Why would you want to go there?" Lily asked, frowning, "And I don't think there's a way in. The Shack is closed off for a reason."
"Come on, Lily." James said, nudging her lightly, "It'll be fun. And I know how to get inside."
Lily stared at him, eyes narrowed at his pleading look. "If you get me in trouble, I'm never listening to you again."
"I promise I won't get you in trouble." he said, looking like an excited kid on Christmas morning.
And that's how Lily found herself following James through a secret tunnel which she didn't know existed, right into the Shrieking Shack.
The ground floor was covered with dust, the only pieces of furniture in the room being a four poster bed and what looked like a closet in the corner.
"I don't even know why I agreed to come here." Lily said, swatting away the dust and insects while going up the winding staircase.
"On day you'll be old and telling your grandchildren about how you went inside the Shrieking Shack. You won't regret it then." James said, leading her into a room in the corner.
This room was in stark contrast to the others as there was no dust floating around nor did it look uninhabited. It was moderately clean and looked like it was used frequently.
But what Lily's attention was the brown piano that stood in the middle of the room. Forgetting that she had initially disagreed to coming there, she moved towards it and sat on the small chair with maroon velvet covered cushion in front of the piano. She let her fingers slide across the keys, playing the basic Do Re Mi Fa So.
James was standing next to her, leaning his back on the piano, arms crossed, looking down at her as her slender fingers moved across the piano keys.
"Can you play?" she asked, still looking down at the piano.
"I can't." he said, gaze never leaving her, "But Sirius does. He taught Remus to play."
Lily turned in her seat to look at him. Her eyes locked with his for the fraction of a second before she turned away, looking back at the black and white keys in front of her.
"Remus plays it before his transformations to keep himself distracted." he continued, "Which gives this place an even more haunted feel."
Both of them fell silent then. Lily pathetically attempted to play to the tune of Kaleidoscope eyes before she gave up with a sigh and turned back to James, only to see him smiling down at her.
"What are you smiling for?" she asked.
"Nothing." he said, echoing her words from before, then looked at his watch, "I think we should head back. It's getting late."
Lily nodded, turning back to look at the piano once more. Something about it triggered her, like a long forgotten memory. She decided to forget about it for the while and followed James out of the shack.
~~~~~
It was beginning to get dark. The sky looked like a classic painting of purple and red and orange.
Lily looked sideways, observing James as he walked beside her, their steps in sync. The golden light of the street lamps was making his features stand out, every contour and angle of his imperfectly perfect face illuminated by the halo like glow.
He was good looking, Lily admitted that. Far more good looking than she cared to confess. She had known it for a while. Every time Marlene caught her staring at him in third and fourth and even fifth year, she would frown at Marlene's knowing smile and say that he was just a pretty thing to look at. Which he indeed was.
But now as Lily looked at James, she could see something different. Maybe it was the evening light or maybe it was her changed feelings for him, she didn't really know what, but he looked even more heavenly.
Lily realized that this was how she was going to remember James. The golden light reflecting off the sharpness of his face, the hint of a smile on his lips, high cheekbones rouged with the lightest pink from excitement or contentment.
She knew she was going to remember him like this forever. Like a perfectly done painting, capturing every charm and attractiveness of him. Even if Lily Evans ceased to exist one day, a part of her will remain, a drifting wisp of her soul with this memory of James Potter, with his stunningly beautiful existence.
"What are you looking at?" James asked. A corner of his lips was turned up in a smile which told her that he could see in his peripheral vision that she was observing him.
"You." she replied without hesitation.
"Me?" he asked with a light laugh, his deep voice the only sound in the silent street. "Why?"
"I don't know." she admitted, "You're just a pretty thing to look at. Thought you knew that already."
He didn't reply but she could see him trying to hold back his smile from becoming wider. She loved that about him. He could keep a moment like this special without questioning more and making it awkward.
She looked down at her hand, which was inches away from his. She could move her hand the few inches that separated it from his and intertwine their fingers. She was very much tempted to. But she held back.
Not yet, that voice inside her head reminded her.
She agreed with the voice. Yes, she did like him. But no, she wasn't prepared to fall head first into something like this. The weird relationship they shared was delicate. One wrong move, one slip of a word and it would come crashing down. She couldn't let that happen. She couldn't let whatever it was they shared to be destroyed by a simple moment of impulse.
She knew she didn't love him. Not yet. But she knew she could. She could so very easily fall in love with him. She liked the feeling of potential love. She was enjoying the slow burn of passion that was gently consuming her.
She could fall for him, getting carried away like a detached petal in the summer breeze. The petal could get lost in the storm or torn to shreds but she found that she didn't care. Maybe it was worth the risk. Maybe he was worth the risk.
Lily continued walking down the boulevard of the magical village, alongside James, mind full of memories that could conjure her a corporeal patronus.
~~~~~
"So you're going to stay up tonight?"
Severus Snape stopped in his tracks, forehead creasing at the familiar voice. He moved closer to the source of the voice, making sure to keep himself well hidden.
From his hiding spot behind the door of the Arithmency class room, he saw the two Gryffindors walking down the hallway.
"It depends." Lily said, "I'll stay if my conscience starts guilt tripping me."
"Oh no you won't." James said, looking at Lily, his eyes narrowed behind his wire rimmed glasses, "If I see you staying overnight to study, I'll drag you back to your dorm."
"You can't get into the girls dorm." Lily quipped triumphantly.
"You forgot Christmas?"
"Right. Right, I won't stay up. Happy?"
"Very." James grinned, "Where are you going now?"
"To the library. I told Marlene I'll meet her there."
"Alright." he said, handing a pack of what looked like Honeydukes chocolates to Lily, "Thanks for coming with me."
Lily rolled her eyes. "I thought we were past the point of formalities like thank you."
Once again, James smiled at her before walking away in the other direction.
Lily stood there, watching him walk away, then her fond gaze turned to the chocolates in her hand and she smiled. A smile Severus had never seen on her. And it made every heart string of his ache knowing that James Potter was the reason for that smile.
"Lily?"
Lily turned around startled, the dreamy smile slipping off her face immediately.
She tilted her head to the side, acknowledging him. "Severus."
Snape cleared his throat. He couldn't find his voice to ask her what he was intending to ask. Then taking a deep breath he said, "So you're going out with Potter."
Lily stared at him curiously, wondering why he was suddenly interested in her love life when he hadn't bothered about it before even when they were friends. "No. I'm not."
"You just came back from Hogsmeade with him." Snape pointed out, gesturing vaguely to the packet of chocolate she was holding.
"And that matters to you because?" she asked, starting to get irritated. "I'm sure I've made it quite clear that I don't want you interfering in my life or particularly anything to do with James again. Have you forgotten that?"
Snape remained silent, biting down on his lower lip to stop himself from retorting to that. He couldn't let her know. He was never going to let her know.
"That's what I thought." Lily said, still glaring at him, "Now if you even think about breathing a word about seeing me or James go out of the castle, I might have to consider telling Dumbledore what exactly was the curse Mulciber used to torture me."
Snape's head snapped up, fear clouding his inky black eyes.
"And who was the creator of the curse."
Lily stared him down, silently challenging him to argue with her. Then Snape turned around and left without a word, his footsteps echoing ominously through the silent hallway.
After she was sure he had left, Lily sighed and ran a hand through her hair before continuing to walk. Only to stop a few steps later, pain shooting through her head.
She dropped the chocolates, pressing her palms to the stone walls of the castle to stop herself from falling over. The pain was still buzzing, blocking her senses and disorienting her thoughts until she heard voices again.
"You love it." she heard her own voice.
Then she heard someone laugh, a deep, clear sounding laugh which was all too familiar but she still couldn't place.
"I know you do." she said again and she could almost feel herself smiling though she could presently see nothing but darkness covering her vision.
As the ringing of her own voice died down, she heard the sound of a guitar, playing the very song she was trying to play on the piano in the shack that same day. Everything strangely felt connected but as Lily's need to hear more of it increased, the hallucination slowly started fading away, leaving Lily gasping for air at the sudden retrieval of the pain.
She was still holding on to the wall, breathing heavily. This time it had been a lot more intense than the first time she had had a hallucination. And this time the voices were a lot more clear too.
She wondered briefly whether to go to Professor Cassandra but decided against it almost immediately. Right now it was not the Divination Professor she needed. She needed someone else who she could tell this to. She needed Marlene.
_______________________________________
A/N : Your girl is back after the exams. Thanks to everyone who wished me and all the readers who waited patiently for the update. I hope I didn't disappoint you after the long wait. This has been the longest chapter I wrote recently (3503 words).
This book was actually intended to be of around fifty chapters but now it seems that it won't be like that. The first part of the book itself took nearly forty chapters. The first part is coming to an end (just a few more chapters to go) but don't worry, I will be updating the second part under this book itself, not as a separate sequel.
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Have a good day/night!
~Lianna