The Seven Year Itch

Chapter 8

A petite girl with long auburn locks got out of the bus, dragging a heavy trunk behind her. She was shivering because of the cold wind and hurried down the street. It was already dark. The few people who were on the streets threw the girl suspicious glances, looking disapprovingly at the torn jeans she was wearing. Nobody wanted to get into the girl's way; she had been at primary school in this village, and all the children had said she was strange, that she would always make odd things happen. Some people even called her a witch, but most people thought this was rubbish. They had been told that the girl was attending a boarding school in Scotland, but they were sure that this was a lie; they were convinced that the girl was mad and that she lived in some kind of psychiatry, only coming home for Christmas and two months in summer.

Yes, the Evans family was indeed a strange family. Mrs Evans had died of cancer a few years ago, and her widower, who was a lawyer, was 'working' all the time. The only normal person, it seemed, was the oldest daughter, Petunia.

Lily Evans unlocked the door, stepping into the dark house.

"Dad? Petunia? I'm home!"

She left her trunk in the hall, walking up the stairs to her room. She threw her coat on her bed and went to look for her father and sister. However, they were nowhere to be found. Sighing, she went down into the kitchen to get herself something to eat. Did they even know she was coming home today? She made herself a sandwich and went into the living room. It still looked like four years ago. Like always, Lily sighed as she threw a glance at the photographs at the chest of drawers. They were still the same photos like four years ago, when her mother had died. She walked over to them and blew, which resulted in a huge cloud of dust. Her father probably hadn't touched them ever since his wife's death.

Feeling very lonely, Lily sat down on an armchair. Poor Potter, he probably felt even worse than her.

Lily shook her head. Why was she thinking of Potter again?

Suddenly, she heard the front door being opened. She immediately recognized her sister's shrill voice. But there was another voice... Ugh. Marjorie Dursley.

"It's going to be fantastic!" Petunia gushed. When she entered the living room, she stared.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. Lily frowned.

"I live here."

"Oh, really?" Petunia sneered. "I thought that-" she cut herself off, remembering that Marge was there, too. "I mean, why didn't you stay at that boarding school for the holidays?"

Lily was going to give a nasty answer, but then thought better of it. Potter's face had suddenly flashed in her mind, asking, Do you miss her?

"How have you been?" she asked. What a pathetic attempt to start a conversation.

"What?"

"How have you been the last four months? What have you been doing?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I planned my wedding," Petunia said haughtily.

"What do you mean, you planned your wedding?"

"Vernon and I are going to get married," Petunia said even more arrogantly. "He proposed to me in October."

Lily realized that she must have looked very shocked, as Petunia snapped, "Oh, come on, close your mouth."

"Oh," Lily spluttered, "erm, I mean, great, my congratulations. Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Why should I?"

Lily swallowed. "When is the wedding?"

"In August. And I know who's definitely not going to be invited," Petunia leered. Lily stared.

"I'm really sorry, dear sister, that there's no boy who wants to marry you," Petunia continued. "Not that I blame them."

"Come on, Petunia, let's go to a café where we can talk in peace."

"Good idea, Marge."

With that, they left, leaving a very angry Lily behind.

***

Lily had showered and unpacked her trunk and was now waiting for her father to get home. She was beginning to wonder if he cared about her at all.

Dad, I'm glad you found someone after Mum's death, she thought sarcastically, you're married to your work. So it's only me who's feeling lonely.

No, that wasn't true. She had Dorcas, Julie and all her other friends and Adam of course. She wasn't lonely or friendless.

But maybe you don't have Adam anymore, a little voice in her head said, maybe he doesn't want you anymore after what happened last night...

"Nothing happened last night," Lily said loudly. "Nothing at all."

She got up and walked over to the window. It was raining outside. Lily felt the urge to go outside and walk down the street as she loved rain and she could also shock her neighbours by doing that. But then she changed her mind. It was mid-December after all, and very cold. It had also been snowing earlier this week, so the street would be muddy. Nevertheless, she opened the window and looked outside. She could see that all of her neighbours were sitting in their living rooms, watching TV. Lily snorted. It was always the same in small towns like the one she was living in. People were afraid to be different than the other, afraid that they would be the topic of the rumours if they didn't act 'normal'.

And Petunia is one of them, Lily thought sadly.

Suddenly, her door was opened.

"Lily!" she heard someone say. She turned around, closing the window.

"Dad!" she answered, and added sarcastically, "You're really early today."

"Sorry, sweetie, I had-"

"-A lot of work to do, I know," Lily ended the sentence for him. "Did you even know I was coming home today? Or did you forget?"

"Of course I didn't forget! Look in the fridge, I bought vegetarian food for you!"

Lily suppressed a sarcastic "Great!"

"I even bought it in a Health Food store, because you insisted you wanted milk from happy cows!" her father babbled.

"Thanks, Dad." Sighing, Lily followed him downstairs.

***

On the 25th, Lily was woken by Petunia.

"Get up! Come on! Now!"

Lily got up and traipsed down the stairs. She sat down on the floor next to the Christmas tree.

"So, girls," their father said in a falsely cheerful voice, "let's unwrap our presents!"

Lily grabbed the present Dorcas had given her. It was a pretty bracelet. Oh Dorcas. She was probably having a jolly time at the moment, unwrapping her presents with her family who really cared about her. Depressed by this thought, she continued. Julie had given her a large book about Healing Charms (Lily wanted to become a Healer), Benjy a huge box of sweets, and Sally, Charlotte and Helen and written her a card, saying she could choose her present herself on the next Hogsmeade trip. Petunia hadn't given her anything, but Lily didn't care, as she hadn't bothered to get her sister something. After all, Petunia wouldn't use it, anyway.

With a jolt, Lily realized that she had forgotten to give Adam his present. She shrugged it off. He would get it when he was back to normal.

"Well, girls, I have still a bit of work to do," Mr Evans said awkwardly. Lily sighed. He said that every year. And in the evening, he would take them out for dinner. What a nice way to spend Christmas.

Lily decided to go to Diagon Alley. Most shops were closed, but there would be surely some coffee shop that was open. What else was there to do? She got up and went upstairs to take a shower.

***

Diagon Alley was deserted. Most shops were closed, but Lily found a pub that was opened; she didn't want to stay in the Leaky Cauldron. Tom, the barkeeper, wasn't there and his substitute was an unfriendly witch with whom Lily didn't want to spend any time. This pub reminded her strongly of the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade. The dirty windows were framed with black velvet curtains, and something that looked like blood had been smeared on the walls. And the floor-well, the best thing about it was that you couldn't see it because it was covered with dirt. After ordering a tea, Lily sat down, looking around.

The few people who sat in the pub looked rather dubious. Lily found herself wishing fervently that she hadn't come here when-

"God, what are you doing here?"

She looked around and saw Sirius Black standing behind her.

"Well, what are you doing here?" Lily asked back.

"I saw you going in here, and I thought I'd follow," Sirius said. "You shouldn't be in here, Knockturm Alley's only a few metres away."

"So what?"

"So what? It's dangerous!"

"Oh, dear!" Lily exclaimed in a falsely hysterical voice. "I could be raped by some bad wizard!"

"Yeah, you could, but now I'm here to save you."

Lily snorted. She certainly didn't need Black to save her.

"Well, what are you doing here? It's Christmas, the feast of love," Black said. "Why aren't you with your family?"

"Why aren't you with your family?" she snapped back. She knew that Black didn't get along with his parents, but he was getting on her nerves right now and she wanted to get rid off him.

There was a silence.

"I don't want to show up at their place. That would only remind them what a disappointment their son is. I don't want to spoil their Christmas, after all."

Lily instantly felt bad for her remark when she heard his bitter answer.

"We're not... celebrating Christmas," she said after a few moments, unable to find a better excuse.

"I see," Black said. "I was looking if an apothecary has opened."

"Why?" Lily asked curiously.

"James drank too much last night," Black said matter-of-factly.

"What?"

"Yeah, he has yet to understand that boozing won't solve his problems."

There was a silence, which Sirius broke.

"Did I really say that?" he asked, looking shocked. Lily burst out laughing.

"Sirius Black just said that alcohol doesn't solve anything! I think it's you who needs a potion! What did you smoke?"

"Nothing!" Black exclaimed indignantly. "I'm serious!"

"Black, that serious/Sirius joke is so-"

"That wasn't a joke! I'm really serious!"

Lily sighed, shaking her head. "So, did you get the ingredients for a hangover potion?"

"Nope," Sirius said, shrugging. "I'm going to Remus's place now, maybe he has some. Or do you-"

"Sorry, all my ingredients are at Hogwarts," Lily answered, smiling apologetically. He shrugged. "Whatever. Are you coming?"

"Coming?"

"I'm not going to leave you alone here!" he exclaimed, seemingly shocked that she would even think such a thing. "It's Christmas! Today, all the lunatics who don't have a family or friends are coming here! It could be dangerous!"

Lily snorted, wondering if Sirius realized what he was talking. Both of them were those 'lunatics' who weren't welcome at home.

"And besides," he continued, "even if your family doesn't celebrate Christmas, I'm sure they want you home. After all, you are at Hogwarts most of the year. So they probably want to see as much as possible of you during the holidays, don't they?"

"I wish," Lily muttered darkly. Sirius frowned.

"Something you want to talk about?"

"Nah," Lily said, getting up and searching for money in her pockets. "Better hurry to get that hangover potion for Potter."

"Yeah, you're right," Sirius agreed as Lily put the money for the tea on the table. "Let's go."

When they were halfway down the street, Sirius suddenly came up with a crazy idea.

"Lily, why don't you come to James with me?"

"What?"

"Yeah! I'm sure he'd be delighted!"

"Sirius," Lily said, frowning, "I'm sure I'm the last person James wants to see when his parents just died and he's lying on the couch with a hangover."

"So you're sure about that? Well, I'm not."

Lily gave him a look that clearly said she thought he was nuts.

"No, really! Yesterday, while he was getting drunk, he told me that he had talked to you."

"Yeah, he did," Lily confirmed, remembering how they had sat together. She felt herself go red as she remembered how she had started crying like a little girl in front of him.

"Well, to me it seemed as though he liked it. You should have heard him talking, it was Lily this, Lily that."

"I hadn't the impression that I helped him that much."

"Oh," Sirius said, and now he was grinning, "trust me, just being in your company helps him."

"Why?"

Sirius stopped walking. Lily came to a halt, too. He was grinning in a strange way. She frowned.

"You don't mean-you don't want to say-" she stared at him, then started walking again. "Don't try to tell me that Potter-that-that he likes me! I know he doesn't!"

"Why not?" Sirius asked, catching up with her.

"All the things he's done to me-you don't do them to someone you like!"

"What has he done to you?"

"Well-for example, he gave me detention!"

Sirius grinned only wider.

"He made me clean the dungeons! Without magic!"

Sirius yawned. "So what?"

"He's always picking on me, one time he even threw me out of his lesson!"

Sirius laughed, and suddenly he put his arms around her, pressing her against him. "Oh, Lily, you're so sweet and so naive-"

"I'm not naive!" Lily protested, her voice coming out muffled as her face was currently pressed against Sirius's chest.

"Of course not," Sirius said, smiling. "And of course James doesn't like you."

"Well, he doesn't!"

"Yeah, he just talks about you all the time because he hates you so much."

They had reached the Leaky Cauldron now. Lily frowned at Sirius.

"What do you mean, he's talking about me all the time?"

Sirius just winked at her. Taking a handful of floo powder, he threw it into the fire.

"36, Charleston Street," he called, probably off to Remus. Lily shook her head, taking a bit of powder to floo home as well.

Petunia wasn't there when she arrived. Probably off with her sweet Vernon, Lily thought acidly. Her father was still working, so she just went upstairs to her bedroom. Letting herself fall on her bed, she contemplated the things she had just discussed with Sirius Black.

It was Lily this, Lily that...Trust me, just being in your company helps him...

Potter couldn't like her, it just wasn't possible. Sure, when he was about fifteen, he had asked her out about a thousand times... but not because he liked her, but because she had one of the few girls he hadn't snogged. And when she hadn't fallen for him, he had become angry. That was the reason he hated her.

Suddenly, Sirius's face flashed in her mind, saying, "Yes, that's the reason he hates you... Because he can't have you. He hates you because he wants to have you, but he can't have you."

"Rubbish," Lily said aloud. "And get out of my mind, Sirius Black."

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

It was her father.

"I was wondering if you want to go out for dinner tonight," he asked her. Like every year, Lily thought dully.

"Yes, why not," she answered. It's not as though my thoughts are so nice and pleasant that I could ponder them the whole evening.

"Great. I'll look for Petunia;" he said. Lily was too lazy to tell him that she wasn't home. Turning her head back to the ceiling, she sighed heavily.

"Potter does not fancy me. Never did, never will!"

And that wasn't the point anyway. Lily sat up straight, swallowing hard.

Why did she think so much of the stuff Sirius had told her?

Why did she think of Potter all the time? Why did she wonder how he felt?

And why, why did the thought of Potter liking her not annoy her? Why wasn't she feeling disgusted just thinking about such an idea? Why did she feel as though she actually liked the idea?