When You Wish Upon a Star

When You Wish Upon a Star
by Christabell

Chapter Seven: Of Staircases and Strangers

Lily ran up to her room, and opened the door, only to be shocked at the explosion of sound coming from Arabella, Tiffany, and Melanie. Mari was sitting on the side, laughing, not quite in the conversation, but she was trying to be social.

“Oh hi! Where have you been?” Arabella asked loudly, still giggling like mad. Lily didn’t respond. She walked straight to her bed, and closed the curtains. The other four girls stared at her. Mari got up from her bed, and slowly opened Lily’s curtains. The redhead quickly turned around, but not before Mari spotted tears trickling down her face. She sat down next to Lily, and gave her a hug.

“Aw, hun, what’s the matter?” she said sympathetically. Lily shook her head. She didn’t want to get into everything right then. “Well, I know that you don’t know any of us very well yet, but I want you to know that you can trust us.” At that, Lily started sobbing even harder.

“That’s what he said. That’s what everyone says. How can I know it’s true? I can’t, can I. I just give up. Please leave me alone. I don’t want to talk with anyone right now.” Mari got up, looking slightly hurt.

“Okay, Lily. But if you want to talk, just tell me.” Arabella and Mari exchanged a look before they announced that they were heading down to the common room. As soon as they were out of the room, Arabella began to talk.

“Okay, what do you think that was about?” she asked. “Someone must have done something to make her feel so down.” Mari looked puzzled.

“I have no idea. She seemed so happy at dinner.” They reached the common room, and Arabella stopped suddenly. James hadn’t moved since Lily had left. He still sat there, looking extremely disheartened.

“Alright, James. What did you do to her,” Arabella inquired. He looked up at her sadly, and started to speak.

“Lily and I had been outside, and she asked me how many other girls I had been with. I told her not too many, hesitantly. I was planning on breaking the news to her lightly about my reputation with girls. I mean, I really like her. More than I have ever liked anyone else.
Well, we were coming back from the lake and we ran into Lucius. He called her a mudblood, and I got really mad at him. He proceeded to ask me why I was defending her, if she was only another one of my little sluts, one out of a hundred. And he began talking about how all I liked was her body, and how great she would be in bed.
Lily ran off, and I couldn’t find her until she ran past me. She stopped here to tell me that I lied to her and that she hated me. She wouldn’t even let me explain anything.” He bent his head, refusing to look either of the girls in the eye.

“James, why don’t you go up to our dorm and talk to her. She’s up there crying right now, and I really think that it might help both of you to work things out,” Mari said.

“Yeah,” Arabella agreed. “I’m sure we can kick Mel and Tiffy out and explain things to them down here.” James looked extremely grateful.

“Thanks a lot, you guys.” The three got up and padded up the stairs. Mari opened the door, and waved Tiffany and Mel out out of the room. James entered and closed the door behind him.

“Lil?” he asked tentatively. There was no response. He walked over to the one occupied bed, and opened up the curtain. Silent tears were streaming down her cheeks, and James leaned over to wipe them away. “Lily, will you please let me explain everything?” She looked up at him.

“Why did you lie to me, James? I thought I could trust you. How can I know that you won’t lie to me now? How can I know?” Her voice cracked mid–sentence. James’ heart broke at the sound of her hurt voice.

“Lily, just let me tell you why I did it.”

“James, I really don’t want to talk to you right now. I am not in any mood to deal with you, and will not. Please leave right now.” He made no motion to get up. “God damn you, James, just go.”

“What if I don’t want to? I’m going to stay here until you will let me talk to you.” Lily glared at him.

“If you don’t leave right now, I will slap you just as hard as I slapped Severus at dinner.” James looked shocked.

“Lil, just listen to me! I need you to...” he stopped suddenly, thinking. “Severus? You’re calling each other by your first names now?” Lily smirked haughtily.

“Sometime between when we were talking with Malfoy and I yelled at you downstairs. He really is a sweet guy. Much nicer than you’ve been recently.” James looked disgusted.

“Snape? Sweet? Why in hell would you think that?” He sounded so appalled at the thought of his enemy being called sweet.

“For me to know, and you not to find out. Why don’t you just leave now James. Actually, you know what? Since you won’t, I will. Goodbye James.” She walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, back in the common room, Arabella and Mari had begun to explain the situation to an annoyed Tiffany and Melanie.

“Honestly, Arabella, why are you taking her side? You know that I’ve always liked James,” Melanie whined.

“Yeah, you’re ruining my chance with him. You’ve never tried to get him back together with his other girlfriends....” Tiffany complained. Arabella glared at her and sighed in frustration.

“You’re right. I haven’t. Because I never cared before. But if you had seen him down here....” Mari jumped in, cutting Arabella off.

“He looked like his world had come to an end. Over a girl that he had just met hours before. A girl who is the reason I have friend now. He was sitting here about to cry!” she said, anger apparent in her voice.

“Okay, we’re sorry. I haven’t really talked with Lily or anything and neither had Mel, but if James cares that much about her, then I guess I can accept that. I’m not happy about it, but I can deal with it,” Tiffany compromised.

“Thanks, guys.” Arabella said gratefully. She glanced upwards. “I wonder how it’s going up there...”

“Don’t we all.” Mel agreed. No sooner had the word come out of her mouth, they heard the sound of a door slamming, and Lily walked briskly out of the common room.

“Wait! Lily!” James appeared next to them. “She’s gone, isn’t she.” He slumped down into the couch, looking utterly depressed.

“That went well. She still hates me and she thinks Snape is sweet now.” He groaned, and looked away from the group. The girls looked flabbergasted.

“What? How could she hate you? And what’s this about Snape?”

“She wouldn’t let me say anything. She called his Severus, and when I questioned it, she said that in those few minutes between when she left Malfoy and I and then came here, she figured out that he was much nicer than I was. Good god.” The girls looked on sympathetically. “I need to go talk to Sirius.” James got up and went up the stairs to the boys dorms.

“Wow... I gues you were right,” Mel admitted. “He’s wicked upset. Poor James. I think this is the first time he’s ever been the one hurt. It’s always him doing the hurting.”

“Yeah, I didn’t realize it was to that extreme. I mean, I haven’t exactly hung around him these past few years, but I heard enough stories about how ‘sexy but heartless’ he was,” Mari added.

“Well, girls, we’re going to have take matters into our own hands. We don’t want a miserable redhead around - we all have see her temper, nor do we want a depressed James - he musn’t go back to his old ways. We need to get them back together,” Arabella decided

“I love matchmaking!” Tiffany grinned. Mel agreed.

“I know... it’s just so much fun.” Arabella, encouraged by their excitement, was ready to get to work.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” The four Gryffindor girls began to formulate a plan.

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

James slowly entered his dorm, finding only Remus and Peter. While they were two of his best friends, it had always been Sirius he could confide in the best. Sirius wouldn’t laugh at him if he said something stupid, like other people would. He went to his trunk after a quick “Hello,” to his dorm mates, and began searching for the Marauders Map. Item after item were tossed out of the trunk, not one of them resembling the map.

“Did either of you two find the map?” he questioned Remus and Peter. Their answers confirmed the negative. “Damnit!” he cursed under his breath. Sirius had disappeared with the map once again, without telling anyone. Now there was no chance he would be found until he wanted to be. Knowing him, he was probably off with some random girl. James sighed, stuffed the contents of his trunk roughly back where they belonged, and, grabbing the invisibility cloak, ran out of the room. Peter stared at his retreating friend.

“What the hell was that about?” Remus questioned Peter, who shrugged in reply.

“No idea. He must be up to something. It’s just strange that he wouldn’t include us in it. I hate it when he does that. Always him and Sirius,” he said begrudgingly.

“Don’t blame them, Peter. You know that Sirius is his only family now. They’re practically brothers. You can’t take that away from them.” Remus berated kindly. Peter sighed.

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Well, obviously. I’m always right. Moony always wins.” He smirked. Peter winced.

“Dear Moony, who is always right,” he began sarcastically, “Have you ever realized that you have an uncany resemblance to my best friend, Severus Snape, when you smirk like that?” The expression was immediately removed from his face.

“Thank you for making me aware of that fact. I would never want to look like Snape,” Remus shuddered. “I suppose I shall never smirk again. It was very wrong of me.”

“But Remus,” Peter teased, “didn’t you admit before that you were always right? I believe I just proved you wrong.” Remus groaned.

“I suppose I can’t win this one, can I Wormtail? Fine... I retract the comments about constantly being right and always winning. Happy now?” Peter laughed.

“Of course.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Lily made her way out of the common room, acutely aware that had been James right behind her since she had gotten off her bed. She exited through the portrait, and continued on. She leaned against a wall, watching to see if James was following her. There was no sign of him.

“Thank you,” she breathed. She just couldn’t have dealt with him. Instantly, she felt the wall against her back disappear, and stumbling backwards, she fell down gently. To her amazement, the wall quickly reappeared. She was trapped!

She quickly began thinking of possible passwords, and finally decided on one. If “thank you” could get her in, perhaps the response could get her out. “You’re welcome,” she said hesitantly. A door formed in the wall, and it began to open. Lily grinned. “Thank you,” she said, closing the door.

She looked around at the large, round room she had fallen into, and watched as a grand, circular stair case, delicately carved out of stone appeared. Curiously, she slowly made her way up the flight of stairs, not quite sure where she was headed. It seemed like she walked upwards for hours, the stairs kept on popping up in front of her.

At one point, she looked behind her, to see how far up she had gone. To her dismay, there were no stairs behind her! What would happen when she came back down? She sat down on one of the steps, and proceeded to dangle her feet over the edge. They didn’t fall very far. As her feet touched the space previously occupied by the step, the stone itself rose up out of nowhere, securing her safety. Satisfied, Lily got up, and continued on her upward journey.

The stair case opened up to a large tower, over looking all of Hogwarts. She looked around, puzzled. She hadn’t seen this tower when she was outside with... James. She shook her head willing her thoughts not to drift back to him. She walked all the way around the tower, admiring the view. It was beautiful really, Hogwarts at night.

She leaded out of the window to get a closer look, only to see a figure on a broom flying straight at her. She screamed as the figure swept her up, pulling her onto the broom, and they flew out of the window.

“Who are you?” she asked timidly. “Please don’t hurt me...” The figure laughed.