Losing Lily

Chapter 7

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"So," James said nervously, "Do ya like 'em?"

"Yeah!" Lily said enthusiasticly. "Thery're great. I really appreciate you getting me a gift."

"You're welcome," James said as he gave her a warm smile, "So which one do you like best?"

"Hmm," Lily thought as she reviewed what the Marauders had gotten her. They had gotten her a book they had made called 101 Ways to Hex a Slytherin, by Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Prongs; a box of chocolates (she guessed Remus was the one who bought those, with his chocolate obsession and all); some quidditch stuff ("now what the heck am I gonna do with this stuff?!?! I don't play quidditch!" she had exclaimed, as James immediately offered to take it off her hands.); and last but certainly not least James (or at least she thought it was James who had made it) had given her a photo album. It had pictures of the Marauders and her doing various things, like laughing in the common room, watching Sirius dye James' hair, and them going to Hogsmeade. It also had several pictures in the very back that were solely of Malfoy, Lestrange, Black, and Snape after James had given them a peice of his mind when he had found Lily unconcious in the corridor; they were hilarious, Malfoy was the size of a thimble, Black (a/n: Do I really need to say I'm talking about Regulas?) was enchanted to think he was a house elf ("Can I get you something to drink, Master James?"), Lestrange could only talk in song, and Snape had a high pitched girly voice. All in all, they were great gifts.

"Well," she started as she looked James, "I think the photo album was my favorite gift, but it was all awesome."

James beamed at this, which confirmed her guess that James had made it. "I'm glad you like it. I was the one who put that particular gift together," he added proudly.

"Thank you," Lily said quietly. "They mean a lot to me."

"Are you okay?" James asked. "You've gotten quiet all of the sudden."

"Oh," Lily said. "It's just that- that..." Lily stammered as tears began to fall from her face.

"What is it Lily?" James said in a concerned tone.

"Severus hates me now!" she said as she broke down into tears. "And I don't know what I-I did w-wrong."

"Its okay, Lily." James said as he wrapped his arms around her in a comforting embrace, "I'm sure he doesn't hate you; besides he's not very nice anyways."

"Y-yes he does!" Lily cried out again, "I don't know why, but he's avoiding me!"

"If it'll help," James said quietly, "I can talk to him for you."

"Really?" Lily said as she looked up at him with teary eyes. "You'd do that?"

"For you? Yes," James said in a comforting voice.

"Thank you, for everything." Lily said as she gave him a hug.

"You're welcome," James said as his face suddenly lit up, "Oh! I almost forgot, here," he said as he gave her a small parcel.

"What's this?" Lily said now that she had stopped crying.

"One last get-well present. I made it especially for you." James said in a proud tone.

Lily quickly tore through the brown paper to reveal a small box.

"Go on, open it." James encouraged.

Lily slowly opened the box to reveal...

"Oh my gosh, James thank you so much." Lily said as she threw her arms around him. Inside the box had been a silver locket. But this wasn't your average locket, oh no, not by far. On the front of the locket was a beautifully engraved "L" which had diamonds at the edges. Inside were two slots for pictures: one had a picture of Lily herself, smiling and laughing, and the other didn't have a picture in it yet, but in the slot it said "May whoever captures your heart be with you always."

"You like it?" James asked in an extremely nervous voice. "I wasn't sure if you would. Its okay if you don't."

"No!" Lily exclaimed. "I love it!"

"Good," James said as he let out a sigh of relief. "Now I gotta get going. When do you get out of the hospital?"

"Tomorrow." Lily said

"Well, see you then."

"Yeah, see you later." Lily said as she watched James leave. Wow. That was really thoughtful of James. I guess he can be really nice when he wants to. Maybe he's not so bad after all-

But Lily was cut off from her train of thought as a new person entered the infirmary. "Umm, hello Lily," the person said in an extremely nervous voice.

"Hello," Lily said as she looked up to see who it was.

"Look," he said, "I'm really sorry 'bout yesterday. I was being a git, a really big git."

"Its okay, Severus." Lily said as Severus moved closer the bed.

"No, it wasn't okay," Severus said in a quiet voice, "You're my best friend and I shouldn't have treated you that way."

"Then why'd you do it?" Lily asked quietly. "Why?"

"Because..." He said, "Because I was afraid you liked the Marauders more than me."

"What?!?" Lily said in a shocked tone. "How could you think I'd like them more than you? I mean, I've known you since I was nine! Of course I like you better!"

"Well," Severus stammered, "Its just that you've been hanging out with them more and more, I thought you might have actually liked them!"

"I do like them," Lily explained, "but they could NEVER replace you!"

"Okay," Severus said in a relieved voice, "but this doesn't mean I have to like 'em too. I still think they're a bunch of show-offy gits."

"Oh come on, Severus," she said. "They're not THAT bad!"

"Sure," Severus said in a sarcastic tone.

"Really!" Lily said in a defensive tone. "They aren't that bad!"

"Right, and now I guess I'm supposed to walk up to 'em and say 'Hello! I know you hate me, but Lily says you're nice. Can I have a hug?'"

"Well, I never said you had to like them," she said, "Just don't hate them."

"I'll try my best." Severus said, "but I can't make any promises."

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a/n: Hey, this is Taylor speaking! Sorry about taking so long to update! My computer died on me and I've been really busy. Anyways I have one thing to say before I let Sordinmyhart comment on my bad grammer... REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW... did I mention that I wanted you to review... well I do.

Sordinmyhart speaking. Well, now that Taylor's had her say, it's my turn. James got pretty nice, didn't he? Well, we all know he's good deep down. But anyways, MY GOODNESS TAYLOR! Have you ever heard of periods? I would like to let the general audience of readers know that you are reading the EDITED manuscript, after yours truly has fixed all of Taylor's misspellings and skipping of punctuation. So, Review.