The Story of Lily

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Story of Lily

Chapter 10: In Which Lily and James Work Out Their Problem

"Gwe-en."

"Shut up."

"Aw, c'mon Gwennie. Please?"

"Don't you dare call me Gwennie again, or I'll beat you to a pulp."

Lily snorted into her pudding. The Gryffindors were sitting in the Great Hall eating dinner, and currently Sirius was trying to get Gwen to go with him to the library after dinner.

"Sirius, why don't you ask Remus or someone?" James said curiously.

Sirius fidgeted and chose not to answer. Lily was not bewildered by his actions; she had a feeling he liked Gwen. But, by the way he was looking at Sirius, James had no clue of his best friend's crush. Lily figured she would save Sirius the embarrassment and tell James herself.

She studied his handsome profile and thought for certainly not the first time: What did she want? Lily knew she liked James, but love? It was such a powerful word! Too powerful, at times. Ever since Lily had told James she would give him a chance, he had been glued to her side. She felt comforted by his presence, simple gestures like his hand resting gently on her back, or...

No, she told herself firmly. You're dating Jacob, remember?

Lily winced at the memory of when she told James she had agreed to date a seventh year Ravenclaw named Jacob - James had looked like he would kill her right then and there. She told him that she had to try dating other people, and she had even suggested he begin dating as well, but at that, a fire lit in his eyes and she quickly said that he didn't have to if he didn't want to. Lily never wanted to see that fire again.

"Hullo Lily."

Lily turned in her seat and saw Jacob. She smiled cheerily at him and stood. James stood as well and looked at Jacob stonily.

"Potter," Jacob said coldly, nodding his head. "D'you mind if I talk to my girlfriend alone?"

James gritted his teeth. "That's fine," he said in a tight, barely controlled voice. "I'll just be going then, shall I?"

It looked as though he was pulling a ton of bricks as he forced himself to walk away from Lily.

Lily watched him leave worriedly and then turned to Jacob. "Yes?" She smiled at him.

"Lily, we need to talk," Jacob said bluntly.

~*~*~*~*

"Oh, Gwen!" Lily sobbed into her best friend's robes as she concluded her story. "And now, I don't want to tell James because he'll do something d- drastic!"

"I didn't know you even liked Jacob that much."

Lily snorted and looked up at her. "I didn't, it's just the whole getting dumped thing, you know?"

"Yes, I know. And don't worry, Lils, I'll tell him for you," Gwen assured her.

"You - you will?" Lily asked hopefully.

"Of course I will! It's what I'm for, right?" Gwen said with a grin.

"Yeah...but what are you going to say?" Lily got up slowly and made her way to the sink to splash her face with water.

"I'll just say that you're up in your old room because you want to be alone since Jacob dumped you. Then I'll stay down there and make sure James doesn't leave the common room and try to kill Jacob, alright?"

Lily smiled gratefully and sat back down next to Gwen. "Thank you."

Gwen smoothed Lily's hair. "It's no problem. You go on up and I'll see you later. Don't come out until you're ready."

"Okay. Thanks Gwen." Lily hugged her best friend and grabbed a bag of makeup. She went to her old dorm that only let her in, since she had the blood of the Adviser. She sat down at her old vanity and began to re-apply her makeup. Her hands were shaking slightly; what if James did do something drastic?

As she was putting the last coat of mascara on, she heard a great rumbling that was getting louder. She realized that it was someone pounding up the stairs, and soon James's livid face appeared in her doorway. There was no reason to shut her door as no one else could enter.

"Lily," he said with unrepressed anger, "where is he?"

Lily got up quickly and faced him. "James, if you leave the common room with intentions to hurt Jacob, I will never speak to you."

James paled and his shoulders relaxed. "I'm sorry, Lily - I just - I can't stand the thought of anyone hurting you."

Lily's heart swelled and she walked out of her room and straight into his arms.

"James, I-"

"Lily-"

They both spoke at the same time, and James laughed. "Sorry, you go ahead."

Lily took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes.

"James, I've done a lot of thinking over the past few weeks, ever since we had that talk." Her heart was hammering painfully against her ribcage, but she forced herself to go on. "And," gulp, "I...I think I'm ready to try you."

James looking extremely shocked. He then gave a disbelieving laugh and lifted Lily off her feet and swung her around. He lowered her gently. "I can't believe it!" he whispered huskily.

"Neither can I," Lily whispered back.

"Can I - well, remember what I said before? You say the word, and I'll do it in a heartbeat." He looked at her pleadingly.

Lily smiled slowly and then said, "Yes, James, you can kiss me," ever so quietly. Before she knew it, James's lips were on hers. His kiss was so full of relief and longing; it was as though he put every emotion into it. His lips parted and he deepened the kiss. Lily responded willingly, amidst the fire crackers going off in her head and the swelling of her heart.

~*~*~*~*

Lily and James came down to the common room quite a while later, both slightly out of breath with happy smiles on their faces.

Gwen looked up at them from her Potions homework. She did a double take and stood up.

"Oh, Lily, I'm so sorry, I tried to stop him, but he insisted on thundering up the stairs-"

"Gwen, it's okay," Lily cut in, grinned at James, and held up their intertwined hands.

Gwen looked curiously from one flushed, happy face to the other, and then she got a look of total understanding.

"Oh," she said loudly, "oh, you worked it out."

"What out?" Sirius called from the corner where he was playing chess with Remus.

"They worked their problem out, Siri," she said charmingly.

James grinned at Lily, kissed her on the cheek, and went to explain things to his best friends.

Lily glowed and sat down on a nearby couch with Gwen. Gwen demanded to know details, and Lily happily obliged.

"Are you going home for Christmas?" Gwen asked when Lily was finished.

"Uhm, I think so. Why?"

"Well, when you two were, erm, solving your problem," Gwen was grinning widely now, "I got a letter from Mum." She pulled a sheet of parchment out from under her book and handed it to Lily:

Dearest Gwendolyn,

How's good old Hogwarts, dear? Still wonderful? Thank you for sending me the letter about Lily - we (your father and the Potters) have been worried about her for quite some time and it is no surprise to me that she is the Adviser. Please, do give her my love.

I know that my next bit of news will thrill you - your father is going to be visiting the Swedish Minister of Magic on your Christmas holidays, so you know what that means! Yes, we are taking a trip to the Alps. I know that you loved skiing the last time you were there. The Minister has been kind enough to offer us many more rooms than necessary and he told us to bring friends. You may invite three of your friends besides Remus and James because their families are going with us. It would be delightful to have Lily come! The vacation will stretch from the twentieth to the thirtieth. I look forward to seeing you, my dear.

All my love,

Mum

"Isn't that awesome?!" Gwen squealed when Lily had finished reading.

"Wow! How exciting!"

"So, do you want to come?" Gwen asked hopefully.

"Of course! But, I don't know how to ski..."

"That's fine, I've only done it once before. It's so much fun!" Gwen squealed again.

"Who else are you inviting?" Lily asked excitedly.

"Uhm...well, Sirius, definitely..." Gwen got a dreamy look on her face, then suddenly came back to Earth and looked horrified with herself. "I - I mean, I don't really want him to come, but..."

"You like him, Gwen. I can see right through you," Lily stated, staring at her friend, amused.

"I-" Gwen looked like she would deny it, but she gave up and her shoulders slumped. "Is it that obvious?" she whispered.

"No, but it is to me."

"Oh," Gwen said, looking stunned. "Well, anyway, this is going to be so much fun! James! C'mere!"

James looked up from watching Remus and Sirius's chess game. He got up with the other two in toe (Peter was cramming for their Defense Against the Dark Arts test the next day) and plopped down next to his newly appointed girlfriend.

"What's up, Gwen?" he asked, his gaze on Lily.

"I'll tell you, if you stop drooling and look at me!"

James tore his eyes away from Lily and looked impatiently at Gwen. "What?"

"Thank you!" she huffed. "Anyway, I just got this letter from Mum! And guess what?"

James looked at her blankly.

"Your family and Remus's family and Sirius and Peter and Lily and my family and I are all going skiing in the Alps!" she said this quickly, but finally it sank in and Remus, Sirius, and James began a series of exclamatory remarks.

"What are the dates?" Remus asked.

"The twentieth till the thirtieth!"

"So we all get to ski and spend Christmas together?" Sirius asked excitedly.

"Yeah!" Gwen exclaimed.

Sirius leapt up and hugged her. She looked as though she would enjoy it for a split second, then she said, "Sirius, get OFF me!" and pushed him. He grinned at her and sat down next to her.

"So, when do we go?" he asked happily, rubbing his hands together.

"Well, I expect we will leave early on the twentieth so we can meet the Swedish Minister of Magic and settle in to his home. It's huge and it's in the woods at the base of one of the mountains."

"How awesome!"

"Well, this certainly gives us a good reason to win the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw on Saturday!" James exclaimed.

"Yes, start the hols off with a win!" Sirius yelled.

"Definitely," Gwen grinned. "Let's kill 'em."

~*~*~*~*

Saturday dawned clear and cold. Lily, Mary Katherine, and Hayley left the Great Hall with Remus and Peter at half past ten in order to get good seats. They were lucky as the stadium was nearly deserted, and took seats in the center of the Gryffindor section of the stands. The Gryffindor team was in their locker rooms; presumably getting a talk from James - their captain.

At ten till eleven, the doors to the castle burst open and the rest of the school came pouring out.

A very humorous fifth year Gryffindor named Brent was commenting with Professor McGonagall in the commentator's box. As the seven players dressed in scarlet rushed into the stadium, the crowd went wild.

"A very good lineup we've got this year!" Brent boomed. "We've got James Potter as Captain and Chaser with Carla Higgins and Thomas Runesfield as his co-Chasers! We also have Sirius Black and Chris Cheker as our Beaters, Winston Rhineheart as our Keeper, and finally, Gwen Watson as our superb Seeker!" The Gryffindor side went wild with a few Hufflepuffs that were rooting for Gryffindor. The side directly across from them, the Slytherins, were seated next to the Ravenclaws and they made their boos and hisses heard.

After the Ravenclaw team entered, Madame Hooch, the Quidditch instructor and referee, mounted her broom and the yelled, "Captains, shake hands!" James moved forward with a look of hatred on his face.

Lily was alarmed until she noticed who the Ravenclaw captain was. It was Jacob. How could she have forgotten?

James shook his hand (well, gripped it as though he were trying to break the other boy's fingers) and Madame Hooch told them to mount their brooms. She released the balls and blew her whistle. In unison, the fifteen brooms rose into the air.

"And Gryffindor has got the Quaffle! Very nice pass to Higgins there from Potter, now back to Potter, he's going very fast on that new broom of his, straight at Ravenclaw Keeper Genevieve Carol - he fakes right and SCORES! Ten- zero Gryffindor!"

Lily stood up and cheered with the rest of the Gryffindors.

"And Ravenclaw captain Jacob Barnes has the Quaffle...man, he's whizzing right through...where are our Beaters?"

The crowd seemed to feel the same, until suddenly, a Bludger knocked by Sirius hit Jacob right on his wrist and he dropped it.

"Marvelous shot by Sirius Black!" Brent, along with Gryffindor, was roaring his approval.

Mary Katherine, who was on Lily's left, leaned over. "I'm not worried about this game. The Ravenclaws care more about their marks then their Quidditch team!" she whispered confidently.

However, the Ravenclaw team was playing harder than ever. They seemed determined to get rid of that reputation.

James caught the Quaffle and very suddenly, a Beater was right in front of him, blocking his path. James had to veer sharply upwards and dropped the Quaffle in the process. Ravenclaw made its first goal.

Lily squinted up at Gwen who was high above the field, circling, looking for the tiny winged Snitch. The Ravenclaw Seeker, Ben Miller, was right behind her.

Carla Higgins scored, making it twenty to ten.

"Wonderful shot by Higgins there, the scores now twenty to ten Gryffindor! And they're off again, Runesfield with the Quaffle - FOUL!" Brent yelled into the microphone.

All of the supporters in scarlet stood on their feet, making furious gestures to the Ravenclaw team. One of the Ravenclaw Beaters, Torrance Marvel, hit Thomas square on the head and now looked like he was telling Madame Hooch it was an accident!

"An accident, my ARSE!" Brent roared.

"McFrosten!"Professor McGonagall shrieked at him.

"Sorry, Professor...yes! Gryffindor is awarded a penalty!"

Thomas made the penalty, the score now thirty to ten.

"Yes, and Ravenclaw Chaser Maggie Fields has the Quaffle...she dodges around Potter who makes a furious grab but misses...she's in the scoring area...she shoots - NO!"

Maggie scored and did a victory lap.

Soon the score went higher. Ravenclaw was furiously trying to prove that they were good at sports and in class, while the Gryffindor's were trying to hold onto what they had always beaten Ravenclaw in.

Forty-five minutes later, the score was one hundred fifty to one hundred fifty, and the players were exhausted.

"Watson's seen something!"

Lily looked up just in time to see Gwen to a double take and then start speeding to the ground, with Ben gaining on her. She was on a Shooting Star Three Thousand while he was only on a Shooting Star.

There was a collective gasp as they sped ever nearer to the ground. Lily could see the Snitch; it was hovering near the Ravenclaw goal posts.

"Come on, Gwen!" Brent urged quietly.

The stadium was totally quiet with anticipation. The Gryffindors rose as one and Lily gripped the two people next to her (Remus's and Mary Katherine's) arms in death grips.

Gwen stretched out her hand - and -

"YES!" Brent roared, but it was drowned out by the noise made from the Gryffindors.

Gwen thrust her arm up and ascended, the Snitch clasped tightly in her fist. Her teammates hugged her tightly and did a victory lap. Lily was yelling herself hoarse.

"And great job by Gryffindor! Three hundred to one-hundred fifty!"

Lily and her friends ran onto the field. She tapped James on the shoulder. He turned around, grinned, and kissed her passionately, right there, with people and admirers all around them, but Lily really didn't care.