Summary: Lily begins to change her mind about James. Little does she know, she really is just a conquest to James, a beautiful trophy. But once he gets what he wants, Lily begins to change his mind, too.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to J. K. Rowling, as well as anything else you may recognize (i.e. Order of the Phoenix). The story is loosely based on the song "Anna Begins," which belongs to Counting Crows.
Lily Begins
Chapter 5: A Cautionary Tale
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Over the next few weeks Lily and I became close friends. We spent a lot of time together, and I almost forgot about the challenge I'd set for myself.
Almost.
It was a Friday night in early September when she rushed over to my flat. She didn't even bother saying hello, but instead simply shoved the next day's paper at me.
"What the... Lily, what are you doing?" I asked.
She yanked the cigarette out of my mouth and stamped it out in the ashtray, a new habit she'd acquired. She hated the fact that Sirius and I smoked, and was often forceful about getting us to quit. Actually, I didn't really smoke that often, but Sirius, she'd decided, had "a serious problem."
"Read," she said, pointing at the paper. The headline on the front page shouted: ATTEMPTED ROBBERS FOILED AT GRINGOTTS.
"So?"
"No, below the fold!" Lily was so excited she was jumping up and down in anticipation.
I read the title out loud, "Wizard-garten: Pre-Hogwarts Schooling is Sweeping London Suburbs by Lily Evans! Holy shit, that's awesome!"
She giggled excitedly and I gave her a hug. "Lil, that's amazing! We gotta celebrate," I told her.
"We don't have to do anything..."
"Did someone say they were going out drinking?" Sirius called from the other room.
"I said celebrate."
"Same difference," he said, strolling into the kitchen. "So what are we celebrating?"
"Check it out," Lily said excitedly.
"What the hell is 'Wizard-garten?'" he asked.
"Read the by-line, stupid," I said.
He glared at me quickly before reading Lily's name. "Holy shit, that's you! Oh, we have to go out and celebrate this. This is awesome!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About two hours later, we were all well on our way to some lovely hangovers. Sirius was chatting up a blond nearby, and Lily and I kept ordering the firewhiskeys.
"To Lily, the best reporter at the Prophet!" I shouted, raising my glass. There were drunken cheers around us as we quickly downed the drinks.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fuck.
I have to stop drinking so much. Wait... I made it home last night?
Looking blearily around my room, I realized I hadn't made it home alone. I reached for my glasses so I could better identify the body lying next to me. I was having a lot of trouble remembering what happened last night.
With my glasses I saw a very hot woman lying next to me. Now if I could only remember her name... or her face. And then I noticed something.
Red hair.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I lay there for about twenty minutes before I heard Lily groaning beside me. She stretched her arms out and started to look around tiredly. I had started to remember snippets of the night before.
"Morning," I said, unsure of the proper protocol for such a situation.
"James? What the hell happened last night?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"Well, I can't say I remember it that well, but judging from the evidence before us..."
"We had sex, didn't we?"
"Yes, we did."
"Shit." She sighed and slumped back down on the bed. "This is bad."
"Probably. But hey, what I remember was pretty good," I told her. I really was trying to cheer her up. Yes, I'm not the best cheerer-upper, I'm aware.
"Thanks," she said unhappily. "Look, I should get going."
"Lil..."
"I'll see you at the meeting tonight, alright?"
"Sure. See you there." I sighed in frustration as she disapparated.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Later that night, Sirius and I headed to the Order meeting. Lily was there. Sirius waved at her from across the room, and she half-heartedly waved back. I quickly occupied myself by talking to Frank Longbottom, an auror who had been two years ahead of me in school.
We didn't make eye contact the rest of the night, and she sat as far as she could from Sirius and I. Things had gotten awkward between me and one of my good friends.
And this would put a major kink in my plans.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the meeting I was given a mission. I would spend the next week in Hogsmeade, in a shady corner of the Hogs Head, waiting. When I asked Moody what I was waiting for, he said "You'll know when you see it."
To make a long story short, I never saw "it." I got to spend some time near Hogwarts, reminiscing at the Quidditch Pitch. It had only been a few months, but my time there seemed like a lifetime ago.
Over that week I also talked to Sirius a bit with our two-way mirrors, but I found myself really missing my conversations with Lily. I tried to push it aside, but if I was honest with myself (which I rarely am), I wanted to talk to her again.
That is, if she'll ever talk to me again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm back! I finally had a break, and with my internet not working for a day or two, I opened up my files and started writing. I'm hoping to go back to working on this more regularly, although not quite weekly as intended before.
As far as Lily's newspaper story, it took me about three weeks of writers block to come up with some stupid title, so deal with it. Her news story isn't really important, anyway.