*right, so forgive me if the story title sucks... Any suggestions for a different one are so welcome...=) And, I know I said it probably wouldn't be up til October-ish but I got so many great reviews, I had to write again lol. Anyway, you all know the drill....read and review!!*
~Disclaimer~ You'll never see this for the rest of the story, I'm assuming you all know I'm not JKR....*ahem*
Chapter 1Protecting Him With Lies
"Look, Delaney, I've told you, time and time again, that I don't like it when you leave your dirty boxers on the floor!! Especially when they've got crap in them!! It's gross!" Lily exclaimed as her boyfriend and roommate Delaney Harrison walked in the door of their apartment.
"Don' tallk to me lik 'hat, 'ily." slurred Delaney.
Shit, he's drunk again. Lily thought anxiously to herself. "I'll talk to you as I please." she said calmly, throwing his skanky boxers at him.
"'ily..." Delaney slurred warningly.
"What?" she asked.
"'on't yoo 'alk to me wi'out the rethpectht I deserve."
"I hardly think drunkards deserve respect." Lily said, forcing herself to stand her ground though she knew what was next. Why do I bait him like this?
Sure enough, Delaney stalked towards Lily, slamming the door behind him, with a look of pure anger (and a little drunkenness) on his face. Lily backed up slowly and, not noticing the chair behind her, tripped and fell into it. Delaney loomed over her, arm raised. "Yoo'd dahmn 'ell say yoo're 'orry 'or 'hat, 'ily."
Struggling to regain her calm, Lily said, "For what? I don't recall saying anything particularly offensive."
Delaney's face turned bright red in anger and he brought down his hand, hard, on Lily's cheek. He then hauled her out of the chair, with a death grip on her arms and punched her in the stomach. Lily doubled over with an 'oof!,' trying to catch her breath when Delaney pulled her upright again and threw her against a wall. Lily collapsed against the wall and slid down it to the floor. "Delaney!" she gasped out. "Stop! Please!"
Delaney's only response was to growl, pick her up, and shove her back against the wall, his hand at her throat. Instinctively, Lily's hands went up in an attempt to loosen his grip. "De-lan-ey!" she choked. "Let-me-go!"
Delaney lowered his face to hers, his breath stinking of alcohol and not helping her breathing situation, and said, "Pwomise yoo'll treaht me wihth the rehspehct I deserveh" he slurred out.
Lily's frightened eyes searched Delaney's narrowed, angry ones. "I, uh, ahm..." she trailed off, not wanting to compromise her pride. Unfortunately, seeing no other option, she whispered, "Okay."
This seemed to satisfy Delaney as he abruptly let her go, wobbled over to the bed, collapsed on it, and immediately fell asleep.
Lily remained on the floor massaging her neck where his rough hands had held her. He just drank a little too much tonight, she consoled herself. And I made matters worse by nagging him when he came in. I knew he had a temper, I shouldn't have been so foolish.
Picking herself up, she tiptoed over to the door and slipped out, casting a fearful glance back at him as she shut it with a gentle click.
*
Outside, the cool night air felt good on her face, relieving some of her stress. She walked over to the place she usually went to on nights when stuff like this happened, the park. Happy to see that her usual park bench under a weeping willow was unoccupied, not entirely surprising as it was one in the morning, she sat down on it and stared at the ripples made by the branches of the willow tree.
This really was all her fault. If she hadn't made Delaney so mad, none of this would have happened and she wouldn't have to wear long sleeves (and possibly turtlenecks this time) until her bruises faded. She buried her face in her hands, again seeing Delaney's light blue eyes narrowed in anger and his light brown hair falling over his creased forehead. Her red hair was falling around her face and annoying her so she tied it up into a ponytail and reburied her face in her hands.
"What am I going to do?" she whispered. She had promised to treat him with respect. She thought she had done that already, but apparently they had differing views of what was respectful. She could do it though. She could be what he wanted her to be. She loved him, didn't she?
"I can change." she said quietly.
"Now why would you want to do that?" a voice came out of the darkness.
Lily jumped. "Who's there?" she demanded, quickly wiping away a stray tear with the back of her hand. A tall figure parted the willow tree's branches and was silhouetted in the moonlight. It stepped forward and a shaft of light from between a couple branches fell on his face. "Oh, it's just you." Lily said, relieved, sinking back against the bench.
"Glad you're so thrilled to see me." James Potter said, coming over to sit next to her. "What's up?"
James and Lily had been best friends ever since the middle of their sixth year at Hogwarts. Now it was seven years later and they were as close as ever.
Quickly deciding not to tell him, Lily said, "Nothing, just thinking."
"Bull."
"I am not!"
"You are. Look, Lils, we've been best friends for all of seven years. I should think I can tell when you're lying."
Lily snorted. "You might want to get your lie detector checked then. I'm fine."
James turned his head to look at her, his expression unreadable in the darkness. "I don't believe you. Did Delaney hurt you? Because if he did, Sirius, Remus, and I will be over there in a second. We might even be able to get Peter to co—"
"I'm fine!" Lily exclaimed, crossing her toes in her shoes. "Delaney hasn't hurt me. As a matter of fact, he's sleeping right now. Like a baby." she added for good measure.
"Hmph." James said, turning his face out to face the pond in front of them.
Lily sighed inwardly. She hated lying to James, but some things were for the best. She knew James was no weakling, but he tended to lean more towards scrawny than buff, like Delaney. If she told James what Delaney had done to her, she knew he'd be up there in a second and Delaney would pound him into a little grease spot on the wall.
She couldn't let that happen.
*
"Hey." James Apparated into the apartment he shared with Sirius and Remus (Peter was currently on some sort of business in Albania) "You guys are still up?"
Sirius looked up from his 'VeelaBoy' magazine, eyebrows raised. "Uh. Yeah?"
Remus who had been dozing by the lamp, an open book in his lap jumped. "Yeah."
"Besides, have you ever known me to go to bed before two?" Sirius asked.
James shrugged, sinking into a nearby armchair. "Good point."
"What's wrong?" Remus asked, stifling a yawn.
James raised his eyebrows. "What makes you think something's wrong?"
"Well, normally, you'd've come in, stolen Sirius' magazine, without so much as a 'Hello, Remus,' and gotten into a fight with Sirius over who gets to read it."
"He's right, actually." Sirius said, looking up from his magazine. "I feel forgotten. What's up?"
James sighed. "I'm worried about Lily."
Remus looked over at him, concerned. "Why?"
"You both know how she's going out with Delaney, right?"
Sirius' jaw dropped. "Delaney Harrison?!" he asked, thunderstruck. "That snotty Slytherin?"
"The one who graduated, how many years? Two? Ahead of us?" Remus asked.
James' eyebrows twitched. "Yup, that's the one."
"Our little Liliflower's going out with HIM?!" Sirius fairly yelled.
"And she has been for the past four months. When was the last time you guys talked to her?' James asked.
"Only recently." Remus said, pondering. "She mentioned she had a boyfriend, but she didn't say any names and I didn't really pursue the matter."
"Yeah, I talked to her just the other day." spoke up Sirius. "She didn't say anything about a boyfriend."
James frowned. "That's odd."
Remus nodded his assent. "Tell me about it."
Sirius slid back in his chair. "Delaney Harrison. Dear God. I got in so many fights with him back in school..."
"Maybe we shouldn't have you two meet up again." Remus started.
"He was in league with Malfoy and sometimes Snivellus...though Snivellus got picked on more than treated as a friend." Sirius said, still reminiscing.
"I think he's been hurting her or something." James said quietly. "I'm worried."
"We should check up on that." Remus said.
"How can we do that without being obvious?" James asked.
Remus shrugged. "I don't know, but we'll think of something."
Sirius smiled a little. "We always did, back in school."
*and so ends the first chapter. This is definitely a lot more angsty than my last couple stories lol. It may get lighter during some of the next chapters, but God knows...lol Anyway, you know what to do, review!!! (dear got that rhymed...)*