Ahhh!!! I'm so terribly sorry for this horribly long wait!!! I just start college this semester so it's been really hard to find the time to complete any of my stories!! Plus I had a bad bout of Writer's Block. Which really sucked since I couldn't think of anything to write for the longest time. (7 months to be exact, eek! I know that's really bad) Anyway, the dreadful disease is hopefully gone, and now I can continue with this story. Hope it's not too bad!!
Chapter 17. First Names
"Ah Lily, there you are," Liz shouted with a smile as Lily crossed through the grassy area near the lake. There was a cool breeze that swept throughout the grounds as the sun shined nicely overhead. "Gwen and I thought you had forgotten about the planning. Were you asleep?"
Lily sat beside Gwen and said, "No, I was just helping Potter with an essay. What have you two been up to?"
"Whoa, hold the phone!" Gwen gasped. "Did you just say that you were helping James Potter with his essay?!" She asked exaggeratedly.
After a short pause, Lily replied nonchalantly, "Yes, that's correct." She then looked up at her friends to notice the strange expressions on their faces. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Innocently, her friends replied, but Lily knew they had something in their mind that they wanted to tell her.
"Tell me the truth," she said firmly.
"Do you really want my opinion on this, Lily?" asked the intellectual brunette skeptically. "Because it may not be what you want to hear."
"Oh, just spit it out!"
"All right, my opinion is that this is the start of something…and that's all I'm saying."
"What do you mean by 'the start of something'?" Lily asked with raised eyebrows.
"I mean just that. Now don't ask me anymore because we need to plan for this Ball and you know how much I dislike the sun," she said stubbornly.
"Fine," said Lily, "be that way, but if you're thinking that this is starting off to be some sort of romance epic with Potter and I then you are mistaken, because that will never, ever happen in a million years."
At the end of the speech Gwen and Elizabeth burst out laughing.
"What?! Why are you two laughing for goodness sake?" the redhead asked, getting very frustrated with her companions.
"Forget it, Lily. Let's just start," Gwen said, still giggling.
With a stern glance—stern enough to make McGonagall proud— Lily grabbed a piece of parchment from Liz and began scribbling down more items that they needed for their party.
Four days had passed since Lily and James spoke on that early Sunday morning. It was late at night and James was entering the common room of his dorm, sneaking in carefully and making sure he was still well hidden under his Invisibility Cloak. He had been out with the Marauders, wandering around the grounds— as was their monthly routine with Remus. He yawned tiredly, stepping into the room and found that he was not alone. In the corner of the large mahogany table sat Lily, a large stack of letters were on both sides of her and as he watched she flicked her wand over the letter in her hand and immediately a name appeared, she then set it down and picked up another letter to the right of her, checking a long list of names before doing the exact same thing as before. It seemed it was a never ending process, and by the looks of it, Lily was worn out. Her head was bobbing as if almost drifting to sleep and a couple of times she yawned loudly and rubbed her eyes.
James wondered how long she had been doing this tedious work, and why her friends weren't staying up late to help her.
Suddenly a thought came to mind, and quietly and swiftly he slipped into his room, slid off the Cloak and threw it aside, closing the door behind him to join Lily at the table.
At the sound of the door closing Lily turned to look at the new arrival, giving him a weary smile as she set down her wand and begin to massage her own fingers.
"Oh, I didn't you know you were in you're room this whole time. What are you doing up so late?" she asked, stretching out on her chair.
"I could ask you the same thing. Is that for the ball?" he asked as he placed a hand on the back of her chair to look over her shoulder at the mass of letters on the table.
"Yes, and I still have two-hundred more to go and then I have to—"
"You have two-hundred more to do?!" James asked in amazement.
"Yeah, but I didn't do them all by myself. Gwen and Liz were helping me earlier, but they just left about half and hour ago," she said, finishing with a long yawn, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "Anyway, I think I should try and finish up tonight. I would like to have them sent out by tomorrow morning—"
"Well why don't I help you?"
James' question seemed to have startled Lily a bit and with wide eyes she began to refuse his offer.
"No, no, it's quite alright, Potter. I think I should be done in only an hour or so and then I can finish studying for tomorrow's potions test. Don't trouble yourself with the invitations," she said hurriedly, picking up her wand and the list of names to continue.
But James ignored her and took a seat beside her. He then gently took the list of names from her hand and reached over to take a blank letter to start the cycle all over again. For a few seconds James could see from the corner of his eye that Lily hadn't moved and was looking at him, befuddled.
"You know, you can go and study for that potions test you were talking about while I finish this up for you," he said, trying hard to hide his smirk.
Lily stayed still for a few more seconds before James turned to her and gave her a quizzical look.
"Well?"
"Oh, um, right, let me get my book," she said awkwardly before getting up from her chair. "I'll be right back."
James shook his head ardently at Lily as she left the room, and then resumed with the letters. When she came back, she was holding her bag and book, and settled down on the opposite side of the table to face James. He absent-mindedly glanced up at her from behind the list of names. She had already opened up her book and was leaning on her elbow to read up on a chapter. Her lips moved soundlessly as she read to herself.
The silence in the room was comfortable and almost mind-easing. Minutes passed like this until Lily spoke.
"I, uh, really appreciate you doing this for me, Potter. You don't kno—"
"Lily, could you do me a favor and please stop calling me Potter. I have a name you know, and we can hardly say we're enemies still," said James matter-of-factly and with raised eye-brows.
For a few seconds Lily blinked at James with a puzzled and very surprised look upon her tired face.
"I um, I suppose you're right in that we're not enemies, so I guess it would be fine to call each other by our first names, Pott—I mean, James," she said, stumbling a bit with her words.
"Good, I'm glad that you agree, or how else will we be able to get closer to each other," he said, adding the last part rather quickly.
For a split second Lily eyed him suspiciously, but in the end ignored his comment. James even thought that for an even shorter second Lily smirked but that thought was gone in an instant.
They soon fell into that content and peaceful silence again, each doing their own work.
The hours now passed and by the time James knew it he was down to his last letter and name. It was a very simple job to do but very boring. As he magically wrote the name of the last person and set it down on the large stack beside him, he called out Lily's name.
"Hey, I'm done," he said, followed by a rather large yawn. He waited for a second for her to answer but no reply came. There were large stacks of letters in front of him so he leaned to the left to see what she was doing.
Surprisingly Lily was fast asleep. Her face was almost smashed into the book and he could hear her steady breathing. He let out a chuckle. So this was what she called studying.
Getting out of his seat, he walked over to her and gently shook her shoulder. She moaned sleepily but did not wake. He tried again, but to no avail. She was dead asleep. Repeating what he had done a month earlier, he picked her up and tucked her into bed, then went back to the stacks of letters to decide what to do with them. Ultimately, he came up with a conclusion and went off to his room, quite happy that he was able to help Lily out.
Ok so there it was. I really hope it wasn't a total disappointment and if it was, I promise it will never happen again...hehe. ok well thanks so much for putting up with the wait and the next chapter should be out really soon!!! PLEASE REVIEW!!!