Chapter 8- A Telling Train Trip
Disclaimer: Don't sue me. I don't own HP.
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"Emily, have you seen my other sock?" asked Lily frantically, as she packed her suitcase.
"Yes, it's in there already."
"Are you sure!"
"Of course I'm sure."
Lily pulled a woolly jumper out of her suitcase, and looked into it. A red sock stared up at her. She sighed. What was wrong with her? It was finally the day on which Lily and James were to set off to London to attend Petunia's wedding. Lily was particularly nervous, as not only did she have to pretend to be nice to her sister, she had to pretend to be head over heels with James.
She mentally shook herself and looked up at her friend. "Emily, what am I going to do at this wedding?"
"You're going to have a great time. Forget about school and anything else that might worry you and enjoy the time you have with your parents," said Emily matter-of-factly.
Lily put the woolly jumper back in her suitcase, closed it and sat on it. "I'm dreading pretending to be James's girlfriend. I don't know how I'm going to act around him."
Emily smiled at her friend. "You could always just copy how Alice acts around Frank."
Lily laughed. "Maybe. But then I'd spend the entire day snogging him!"
Lily heard Emily mutter under her breath; "That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing," but ignored it.
In the boys' dormitories, something similar was going on.
"Sirius, have you seen my blue socks?" asked James exasperatedly.
"You already packed them."
"Are you sure?"
"Not really. But don't worry about the socks."
James sighed and sat on his bed. "Why am I so nervous?"
"Probably because of the fact that you're going to spend this whole weekend pretending to be the boyfriend of the girl of your dreams."
"Yeah, that might be it." He looked at his best friend. "How am I supposed to act, Padfoot? I don't want to be too… boyfriendy, because Lily will go nuts at me… but I don't want to be too normal, because then she'll be humiliated by her sister."
"You know, I don't think she'll flip out if you act boyfriendy."
"Why not?"
"Well, Emily reckons Lily has taken quite a liking to you."
"And I reckon you've taken quite a liking to Emily."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Didn't you just hear me? I have reason to believe Lily likes you!"
James shook his head. "Oh, I don't know what to do."
"Be yourself; that's always a good idea. Have fun, and knock her socks off."
"Unfortunate choice of phrase, mate, considering what I'm looking for," laughed James.
James couldn't help but think how weird it was to be sitting on the Hogwarts express when no other students were on it. Scattered around the compartments were an odd assortment of witches and wizards making their way from Hogsmeade to London. He would've preferred to go by floo powder, but Lily had told him her sister didn't think much of magic (in her own words: "Petunia would go completely crazy if we turned up via the fireplace"), so they had thought it best to go by train. Lily's parents would be meeting them at Kings Cross.
James felt odd, sitting alone in a compartment with Lily, who was generally avoiding his eyes. She was reading a Muggle book which, she had mumbled, she had read twelve times and was her favourite; something called Pride and Prejudice. He decided to start a conversation with her, smiling as he asked; "What's the book about?"
She looked up from it. "Well… there's this girl Elizabeth, who lives in a house in the countryside with her parents and her four sisters. She's very practical and smart and pretty. And then she meets Mr. Darcy, who is handsome and rich, but arrogant and a little mean to her. And we all think that they hate each other… but it turns out that Darcy actually is in love with her, and he's quite a nice person. And then Elizabeth ends up falling for him and they live happily ever after."
James couldn't help thinking that Lily's voice sounded absolutely beautiful. And the way her eyes brightened because she was talking about something she really loved… well, his stomach could've won one of those Muggle gold medal things for gymnastics. He swallowed. "Sounds like a great story."
She smiled. "It is."
James decided to ask Lily for something he suddenly longed for her to do for him. He looked down. "Would you…" he paused. It was silly, and he didn't know how she would react. "Would you please… read it to me?"
She smiled again, looking vaguely amused. James immediately regretted asking her. He looked at his hands. "You don't have to… In fact I could do some homework or something instead and you wouldn't have to-"
"I'd love to." And it was as simple as that.
Lily couldn't believe she was sitting in a train reading to James Potter her favourite book of all time. It was surreal. But she couldn't resist his incredibly cute request. It was quite simply adorable; a seventeen year old trouble-maker asking her to read him Jane Austen.
And as she read, the expression on his face was incredibly delightful.
But the more she read, the more she couldn't help herself from thinking how Elizabeth and Darcy's story seemed very similar to her current situation. James could've easily been a magical teenage version of Mr. Darcy –he was good looking, arrogant and hideously bad in social situations around her- and Lily, with her straight, sensible outlook on life, and her brains, could easily have been the magical teenage Elizabeth Bennet.
But Elizabeth fell for Darcy once she had gotten to know him better.
And Lily was definitely not falling for James.
Or was she?
She had to admit he seemed a whole lot less annoying and a whole lot more endearing than before. She didn't feel weird about admitting to herself how cute he was. And they could have a nice, simple conversation without her becoming irritated and entirely frustrated with him.
No. She was not falling for James.
Perhaps they had just grown up. Yes, that was it, she told herself. They had gotten over their teenage irritations and had just developed a more mature and sensible relationship. They could have discussions now. Yes. That must've been it.
At least that was what Lily continued to tell herself throughout the entire train trip.
A/N- I know it was short, but the next chappie will come VERY soon (as I have written most of it), so don't panic.
You guys are the light of my life, and I'm really sorry I haven't updated any sooner. I guess I'm just slack. Plus I ran out of ideas.
But here's a nice sneak peek of the next chapter:
' "There was one thing that would make this moment more perfect, Lily thought. "James?" Her voice was a whisper, barely audible.
"Yeah?" he asked. His voice was equally low.
"Um… do you think, just for appearance's sake, that we should kiss?" '
That should keep you satisfied for the next week (in which I WILL UPDATE)
Now go review. Hahaha.