The Seven Year Itch

Chapter 11

Later that evening, Lily sat in Mrs Fenwick's kitchen with Benjy, drinking coffee. Neither of them was speaking, both were lost in their own thoughts. Lily's thoughts fluttered to Dorcas, Adam and James (Potter! she scolded herself inwardly) in turns.

It seemed like an eternity to her since she had sat on the floor in a corridor in Hogwarts together with James Potter. So much had happened since then. Yet she remembered it as though it was yesterday, the exciting rush as she felt his breath on her skin which made her close her eyes in anticipation of the kiss that hadn't come.

"And will never come," Lily told herself sternly.

"Huh?" Benjy asked, looking up at her.

"Nothing. Just thinking aloud."

He nodded, getting lost in his own thoughts again. A few minutes later, he looked up at her again. His eyes were fixed on her throat for a few seconds, then his face broke into a grin.

"What?" Lily asked when she noticed his amused looked.

"Lily, you've got a love bite!" he sang. "Now I know what took you and Adam so long!"

Lily blushed. Benjy smirked even wider, shaking his head.

Before she could answer, however, someone hugged her from behind, nearly throttling her.

"Hey Lily," Benjy's older brother said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Julian! You nearly strangled me!"

Julian grinned and emptied Benjy's coffee cup in one gulp, ignoring his brother's indignant cry.

"Want to join me? I'm going out into the garden for a cigarette," he said.

"Fine by me," Lily agreed.

"You're outvoted, little bro," Julian told Benjy who got up, scowling at him.

"Don't call me that."

Lily shook her head at the two of them. Hell would freeze over the day on which they wouldn't bicker. She got up and walked out of the kitchen through the hall and the living room into the garden with Benjy and Julian on her heels. She sat down on one of the chairs that belonged to the garden furniture.

"How's work at the moment?" she asked Julian. He pulled a face.

"Stressful. The Ministry's busy because of the Death Eater's attack. And there are already new disappearances." He slowly exhaled the smoke. "It's getting worse."

Lily nodded in approval. At the beginning, it had only happened once or twice a month, a disappearance, or sometimes a death. Nobody had known who was behind it, and so people hadn't taken it seriously.

But the time came when people had to face the fact that all these deaths and disappearances were connected to each other, at the latest when Voldemort and his followeres started using the Dark Mark after murdering someone. And now it happend so often, every week, nearly daily. Lily sighed. She didn't listen as Benjy and Julian continued talking.

Even though she had never told anybody about this, she was afraid. Everytime she read news about a Muggle-born that had been killed, she had the horrible feeling of being strangled. What if she was next?

"Lily, you all right?" Benjy asked, noticing her clenched jaw and her stony expression.

"Wha-oh, yeah, I am," she told him.

When their concerned gazes still lingered on her, she smiled shakily.

"I really am. Don't worry."

***

The next Sunday, Lily found herself in a compartment at the Hogwarts Express together with Julie, Benjy and Helen. Dorcas would be brought to Hogwarts by some Aurors. How, Lily didn't know.

"Did you hear that Sara Edgecombe won't be coming back? And Davey Gudgeon, neither?" Helen said.

"What?"

"But they're not safer at home than at Hogwarts!"

"I know, don't tell me!" Helen said. "I bet there are quite a few people who won't come back because their parents won't want them to."

"That's stupid," Lily said, shaking her head. "Where could we be safer than right under Dumbledore's nose?"

"Parents want their children home with them," Benjy said.

"What kind of parents would want their child to die with them?" Lily asked.

"Lily!" Julie said. "Don't say something like that!"

"What? It's the truth. Not every student that is home now will be so lucky like Dorcas and survive an attack."

At this very moment, the train was slowly coming to a halt. The four friends left their compartment.

***

The first two weeks of the new term passed quickly. Dorcas's state improved, though ever so slightly. Sometimes Benjy and Lily could even make her laugh, though that happened rather rarely.

On the Friday morning in their second week back, Lily and Dorcas were heading to their lessons, Lily to her Ancient Runes lesson and Dorcas to her Muggle Studies lesson.

"What will you be doing in Muggle Studies today?" Lily asked her friend.

"Ah, we're talking about the Muggles' points of view about burning so-called witches on the stake in the Middle Ages."

"Oh, how... interesting."

"Sure," Dorcas snorted. "That's sick anyway. Burning someone..."

"Well," Lily said jokingly, "we could burn Voldemort, nobody likes him anyway."

"Shut up," Dorcas said, suddenly furious. "That's not funny."

"I thought it was."

"This is not a time for jokes, Lily, all right? This guy is somewhere out there murdering innocent people, and you're standing here, making jokes about him!"

"Well, that's what you used to do, too!" Lily said, her temper flaring up. "You-"

"Yeah, well, now I know how serious this is, okay?" Dorcas hissed.

"We've known for three or four years now that this is serious and-"

"Why can't you understand?"

To Lily's horror, Dorcas was at the verge of tears. She hadn't a clue about what to say. After a few moments, Dorcas turned on her heal and stormed away.

"Dorcas!" Lily called after her, but she didn't turn around. Lily groaned. Great, her best friend was pissed off at her and she didn't really understand why. Slowly, she made her way to her Ancient Runes lesson.

***

Lily stared at the blackboard, cupping her chin with her hand. She listened drowsily to what the teacher had to say, though she didn't really get the meaning. Her thoughts were with Dorcas. Of course she understood that the Death Eaters were a sensitive topic for Dorcas, with her parents having been killed just a few weeks ago, but it wouldn't do her any good if she let her fear get the better of her.

"Miss Evans! What did I just say?" the teacher barked, snapping Lily out of her reverie.

"Huh?"

"Ten points from Gryffindor," the teacher sighed. "Pay attention, Miss Evans."

Julie threw her a concerned glance. To Lily's relief, the bell rang ten minutes later. She quickly gathered her things and left the classroom in a hurry, heading towards her next lesson, Charms. But then she suddenly bumped into someone.

"Sorry," she mumbled. When she continued walking, the person she had bumped into shouted, "Can't you watch where you're going?!" Lily turned around; it was a Slytherin boy in her year.

"I said sorry," she said, annoyed. He just sneered at her.

"I wonder how often I will have to wash my clothes until all the dirt is off," he hissed. A lot of people had stopped now; Hogwarts students were always interested in encounters between Gryffindors and Slytherins.

"Dirt?" Lily asked blankly.

"Don't play dumb, you filthy mudblood!" he shouted at her. There was a silence. Lily was about to think up some answer, when-

"How dare you-"

James Potter dashed out of the crowd of onlookers, grabbed the Slytherin boy by his robes and pinned him up against the wall.

"How dare you say-" he seemed as though he was at a loss for words. Seconds passed by, but James didn't let go of the boy.

"Professor?" a fourth year girl said shyly. The word 'professor' seemed to bring Potter back to his senses. He let go of the Slytherin, staring at him for a few more moments. Then he said harshly, "A week's worth of detention and fifty points from Slytherin."

He turned around, and his eyes fell on Lily, who looked shocked; not by the Slytherin's words-they had been horrible, but he hadn't been the first one to call her a mudblood-but by Potter's behaviour. He quickly averted his gaze from her and called out, "What are you all waiting for? Don't you have classes to attend?"

The students quickly obeyed his order, and so did Lily. What had gotten into Potter? Why had he defended her-

"So, how did you do it?"

Lily turned around, fuming. She wasn't going to take any more crap today, she had had enough. If anyone was going to annoy her, she would hex them into next month.

It was Narcissa Black. Oh, joy.

"How did I do what?" Lily asked, grabbing her wand in her pocket.

"Well, how did you get Potter to defend you?" she asked. Then she smirked. "Stupid question, really."

"Either say what you mean or get lost," Lily hissed.

"He hated you, didn't he?" Narcissa said. "But now, all of a sudden, he had a seizure because someone said the truth. You are a mudblood."

"Shut your face."

"Aww, Lilykins is hurt," Narcissa sneered. She had adopted that stupid baby voice from her older sister.

"Black, I'm not in the mood for your crap. Tell me what you want to say, or piss off."

"Well, I'm sure I know the answer... Did you let him fuck you?"

Lily stared. "I beg your pardon?"

"I'll take that as a yes," Narcissa said, smirking. "I always knew that the Potter family was a bunch of blood traitors. I bet that if his dear parents were still alive, they'd be proud of the fact that their son has something going on with a mudblood."

"Shut up!" Lily yelled.

"Be a bit more polite, Evans," Narcissa leered, "or do you want the rest of the school to find out about that little secret of yours? What would Dumbledore say if he found out that one of his teachers has a affair with the Head Girl?"

"Nothing, because it's not true!" Lily shouted.

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, Evans," Narcissa said arrogantly, turning around and walking off. Lily stared after her. Who did that girl think she was, talking crap like this? Slowly, she began walking again, but not to her lesson. She entered a secret passageway, letting herself slide down the wall until she was sitting on the floor. Leaning her forehead on her knees, she sighed. Why did everything have to be so messed up?

"Shouldn't you be in class?" a male voice asked after she had sat there for quite a while. Lily looked up to see James Potter smiling down at her-or at least, she guessed it was supposed to be a smile, because he looked more as though he had a cramp in his jaw.

"I-er-"

He made a gesture with his hand as if to wave away her attempts at explanation, sitting down on the floor opposite her. Lily's heart was thumping. What was he playing at?

Several moments passed in silence. Lily's hands closed convulsively in her lap.

"So... You left home?" It was no question, but a statement and it took Lily by surprise. What a weird sentence to start a conversation. She only nodded. She should have seen that coming. Sirius Black wasn't really good at keeping something a secret.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"So am I," she replied with a mirthless laugh.

James scratched the back of his head. Oh no, now she was looking in another direction. He quickly searched for something to say.

"Erm-do you want to talk about it?"

He inwardly groaned. What a stupid thing to say. Lily looked back to him, a confused look on her pretty face.

"Uh-no, thank you," she said eventually.

"But are you okay?" James asked, desperate to find something to talk about. "I mean, because of what just happened..."

Oh yeah, Lily thought, someone called me a mudblood. As if I'm not used to it. And then you had to come along and play Superman so that everybody thinks we're shagging now.

"Yeah, I'm all right," she said. A few minutes passed in silence with Lily staring stubbornly at the wall and James desperately trying to find a suitable conversation topic.

Say something, you idiot! his inner voice scolded. Now, or she'll be gone! What d'you have your brain for?

"Shut up, you wanker," James muttered under his breath. Lily looked at him in surprise.

"Pardon?"

"Oh-er, nothing," James said hastily. "So, er-"

Before he could come up with something remotely interesting to say, the bell rang. Relieved to have an excuse to get away, Lily stood up, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

"Well, see you around, then," she said, turning to leave.

"Lily?" he called. She turned around, raising her eyebrows.

"I'm really sorry for snapping at you back at St Mungo's."

He thought his heart might be doing jolts when she smiled.

"It's okay," she said. "Bye, then."

James stood there, staring at her retreating back until she had disappeared. Then he turned around, sauntering to his office with an insane grin on his face.

"She fucking smiled at me!" he yelled, making a few younger students stare at him confused.

***

A/N: So, that was Chapter 11. First of all, I'm sorry for taking so long. It's been five months. Lately, everything in my life has been so messed up and complicated, though I won't bother you with any details for the sake of your sanity.

Secondly, I want to thank everyone who reviewed. This feedback is really important to me. Yeah, I know, that's what every author says, but it's really true. Thanks so much.

And now I want to answer a few of the questions you asked me in your reviews. Every time someone asks me something, I want to answer, I really do, but I always forget... Sorry!

A lot of people complained about the Lily sleeping with Adam thing... To me, the way Lily reacted was a good way to show that she's developing feelings for James. Somebody said that in their opinion, Lily wouldn't sleep with Adam at all. But then again, it's just the way I see Lily. Adam and Lily slept with each other before, though it hasn't occured in the story yet. Somebody else said that Adam was taking advantage of Lily, which is not true. I should know, I made him up ;-)

So be nice to Adam, you all know what's going to happen to him.

Someone asked me about the development of James's feelings for Lily. Well, he had a crush on her back in his fifth year, but when she continued to decline his offers to go out with him, he became angry and started picking on her. He was still in love with her, though he denied it, even to himself. And after he started annoying her, Lily thought that her belief (that he had only wanted to get in her pants) was confirmed.

So these are the answers to the questions I remember. If I forgot something, just ask me again.

By the way, I have a homepage now, the URL is http://www.freewebs.com/fairyofthelilies. The site is crappy, but please visit it and sign the guestbook, okay?

And last but not least: Please review!! Please!