*
James stopped running his fingers over his new invisibility cloak long enough for a curious thought to invade his mind. If Flo thinks I love Lily…has my dad noticed anything? Wouldn't that be weird for him? Love is such a strong word anyway…I think maybe Flo is stretching the truth. He scratched his head. Or maybe she knows more about me than I do.
Before he could come to any conclusions, his bedroom door was pushed open carefully. Lily poked her head in and glanced around.
"What happened to knocking?" James smiled.
She stepped in solemnly, closing the door behind her. "I thought you said I could do whatever I wanted around here." She didn't sound friendly.
"Oh- right…" he trailed off, at a loss for saying anything of interest. He stared at her.
She shifted uncomfortably and seated herself on the bed, next to him. She lay down, stretching herself over the soft comforter. Tilting her head to look at him, she let out a sigh, as if what she was about to say wasn't easy. "James, I don't feel comfortable around you anymore."
What? But she couldn't know about…could she?
"I mean- you've been acting so weird lately. It isn't fun anymore around you. All you do is stare at me- what are you angry with me about?"
Why does she still think I'm angry with her? Of all things I am, I'm certainly not angry. "There are other reasons people stare…" he replied almost inaudibly.
She turned back to him with a funny expression. "See- comments like that, staring like that. Really- what are you mad at me for?"
Oh, Lily, if I could only tell you the truth…which is worse – this or the truth? I'm so confused…She must have noticed his thoughtful look, and scowled respectively. "What James? Making up a lie to tell me? Do you always lie to me?" she asked the last question a little softer. She rolled over on her side, away from him.
"Lily, I…" He stretched out an arm and rolled her back over. "I'm not lying to you. And I'm not mad at you."
"Does this have something to do with your dad?" she asked doubtfully
James was bewildered. "My…dad – of course not – I just – what is it?"
Lily shrugged, saying softly, "I don't know, James. You're going to have to do better than this. If you aren't mad at me, then what's with the strange attitude?"
He tried to think of a way to intelligently put this, without letting her in on anything too close to the truth. "I'm not mad…" he repeated, "but I've…realized something. And I don't know what to do about it."
"Ooh." She sat up, staring at him in excitement. "Realized what? Can I help?"
James smiled down at her. "No. It isn't anything you can help with."
Her smile faded. "Well at least tell me."
"I-I- it's not something I'm free to tell." He finished quickly and glanced away.
"Oh," was all Lily said, sliding off his bed and leaving the room, only glancing back once.
James put his head in his hands, muttering to himself, "What a mess…"
*
Lily sat in what had been her room, over the break. And now…now it was time to go back to Hogwarts. She sighed, smiled slightly, and pushed her trunk shut forcefully. It had been…fun, and interesting, at the very least. This house was so full of life…it was abnormal and wonderful to her. Her house wasn't hell or anything, but compared to this, it might have been.
Only- James had been strange lately. All of the staring and smiling vaguely – it scared her. Was he plotting something horrible? The only other time a guy had stared at her like that was…third year…the guy who sent her a valentine. She fell back against her bed and rubbed a hand over her forehead. What the heck am I thinking? She laughed nervously. I really am a lunatic. James doesn't…fancy me. Ack, for God's sake, we're cousins!
In the motion of picking up her trunk, she paused. He is rather cute…so easy to talk to. And I feel so...happy around him. Suddenly, she felt a compulsion to stuff something in her mouth. It's a good thing I don't speak my thoughts out loud. She'd never had this problem before….and it wasn't something she could find the answer to in the library. But lately…I don't know what to think of him now. She smiled and decided that until he began to act normal again, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of a good conversation.
Mr. Potter stepped inside the room. "Good morning, Lily. Are you ready to go back to school?"
She smiled slightly, saying, "As much as I can be."
"I'll just take this down to the car for you," he said, as he nodded and took her trunk for her.
He winked and disappeared into the hallway. Flo entered a few seconds later, glancing at Lily with shining eyes.
"Oh, Lily, it was so great to see you again! I wish you didn't have to go!"
"Yeah, me neither." She mumbled.
Flo grabbed a hold of her hand. "I'll take you downstairs. I think
James is already there."
"He is mad at me for something. I know it."
Flo twisted her head around and looked closely at the red-head. "You say- he's mad at you?"
"I think so. He's been avoiding me…but it's the staring that really gets to me, when we're together."
Flo suddenly smiled. It was one of those smiles that suggested that the person knew everything, whether someone had told them or not. They walked out of the front door together, rubbing their hands together for warmth.
"James thinks a lot of you Lily. I wouldn't say he's mad at you…I just think he's having a few emotional difficulties at the moment. Give him time," she said, squeezing Lily into a suffocating hug. "Take care of him. Take care of James."
That was all she said, before pushing Lily towards the car, where James and Mr. Potter were already seated.
Lily opened the door and plopped in without really knowing what she was doing. She glanced at James and he stared at her. She let out a breath. Here we go again…
*
"Lily!" the twins practically jumped on her, squeezing her into a bone-breaking hug. Lauren stood off to the side grinning widely. "It's nice to see you again. My family was – uh – let me just say the Christmas tree is shredded."
Lily paused, trying to imagine it, and burst out laughing. She pulled away from the twins and gave Lauren a light hug as well.
"Yep, it's good to see you again too."
She glanced around and saw James smiling with his friends. He peeked over at her for a second and his smile faded.
She turned away, telling them softly, "James has been acting strange lately. I just don't know…"
"What do you mean, strange?" Mickey asked her smile fading.
"He's just…quiet. And he stares a lot."
"Do you mean he stares at you?"
"Yeah," she answered, not really paying attention.
Her three friends exchanged looks and began to laugh loudly.
"What?" Lily asked, following them back into the castle. "What?"
They didn't answer Instead, they only laughed harder.
*
Uh oh, maybe this wasn't such a good idea. James shook his head, watching his friends' expressions. He had just told them the whole cousin dilemma. It was slightly surprising, though. They didn't show one bit of shock.
"Great!" Sirius suddenly exclaimed.
Remus and Peter nodded.
"Now you can finally ask her out!"
"Ye – What did you say?"
"Oh yes, Prongsie. It's very obvious."
"Yeah – we talked to Lily's friends."
"They agreed."
James put a hand to his head, muttering, "You aren't serious."
"Well actually, I am." Sirius said, giving a funny grin. "But that isn't the point. Come on James – it's so obvious to us that you two like each other."
"Padfoot – maybe I like her. Okay, I admit it. But she won't – she wouldn't – she doesn't –"
The other three Marauders only chuckled.
"Yes, she does. I'm the master at these things," Sirius said, puffing his chest out.
"Oh no – not again…" they groaned.
"What? I am."
"Right…"
James sighed, saying softly, "Well, anyway – there's no possible way. She'd think it was incest."
"Let me just remind you – you aren't cousins. Understand?"
"I know that. But she doesn't," he added.
"What?" the three of them exclaimed.
"You didn't tell her?"
"That's not good." Peter mumbled, shaking his head.
James shot him an annoyed look.
"It would be too weird. Then I would never have a chance."
There was a long pause, before Remus told them, "I guess."
"Well, tell her as soon as you can. I'm sick of hearing about this." Peter muttered.
He pulled his covers over his head. His "Good night!" came out muffled.
*
"How can you pay attention to- to this?" Dani whispered to Lily, who was furiously scribbling notes.
Professor Binns droned on. History of Magic was easily the most boring subject, and Lily's unusual awareness in the class was mildly stunning.
Lily shrugged. "You know I don't normally – not in this class, anyhow. I'm just…awake today."
"You've got that right." Mickey mumbled from the next seat over. "I'm about to fall asleep."
Dani snickered.
"Well, Lauren already is asleep."
"It figures."
Suddenly, a note flew over their heads from behind and landed carefully in front of Lily. She scrunched up her forehead and unfolded it slowly.
Lils –
This is very boring, if you haven't noticed. Up for a prank?
– James
Lily grinned. Maybe James was back to normal…
James –
Where and when and what?
– Lily
The next few minutes were a flurry of notes and whispering. The Professor hardly noticed; he never had before, why would he start now?
They decided on dinner that night. The subject was Snape, of course. He was always the primary target, being the slime ball that he was.
Lily almost believed that James was himself again, and she wouldn't have to worry about it anymore, until she glanced behind her and found him staring again. She let out a long, exasperated breath.
*
Snape's hair burst into a ball of blue flames and after a minute of his friends jumping up and down and pointing, he realized it. Sections of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables were laughing hysterically.
Snape ran frantically around in circles, grabbing a large goblet of pumpkin juice and dumping it on his head. It splashed to the floor, drowning him. Dumbledore looked up then. He glanced once around the Hall, shook his head with a thin smile, and turned back to his dinner for the time being.
Meanwhile, James sent a wink Lily's way, and she brightened. Maybe he's being normal again, after all.
After dinner, Lily made her way to the library, deciding to get a little extra work done. She didn't expect, however, to find Remus and James already there. James was leaning over a book, something Lily didn't seem him do very often, despite his high marks. And Remus was talking animatedly about something or another. She joined their table, dropping her stack of books with a thud.
"That was great – back there with Snape," James said to her.
"Hmm – oh right, of course it was," she muttered absentmindedly as she flipped through the pages of her book, head leaning into her palm.
Suddenly, in came Sirius and Mickey, hand in hand. Lily looked surprised, the other boys watched with strange expressions. Their two friends must not have noticed them, because they went over to another spot in the library.
"Dani isn't going to like this." Lily said, shaking her head.
But that was before Dani walked in, saw Sirius and Mickey, and grinned while she approached them. Lily had to lean her chair back in order to see what was going on with them.
Dani sat in the seat opposite them, and said something. They all laughed. Mickey leaned over and kissed Sirius on the cheek, causing him to blush, which only made the twins laugh harder. Suddenly, try to see more, Lily leaned a little too far back in her chair and consequently toppled over. The next thing she knew, all of her friends were crowded around, grinning.
"Are you alright?"
*
A/N: Sorry for the long wait, again, and the short chapter. It's been busy around here. Anyway, thanks for the reviews, of course, and we hope everyone had a nice Christmas!