17 Going On 7

Chapter 6
McGonagall's Favor

Lily looked hatefully at James. "What?!" he hissed.

"Nothing," Lily said back forcefully, then she turned back to her work.

"Lily, I know exactly what you said to Eliza," James said in a rather low mumble. "And it's not right. She didn't do anything to you."

"What? It's true..." Lily said, though she really couldn't find anything that bad that she'd said about Eliza.

"Honestly! All of that to her face? And Lily, you had no right to call her a half-blood! Her background has nothing to do with her!"

Lily's eyes flashed red. "James! I'm Muggle-born! I would never say something bad about one's heritage, no matter how much I hate them! You know that! How dare you think I said that!"

"What about how you called her a filthy, blood-sucking vampire bitch? I mean, it's laugh-worthy, but nonetheless rude."

"Oh, shove it up your arse, James! You know I would never come up with something that ... horrendous!" cried Lily in defense.

"Well..." said James defeatedly. "Just leave her alone, 'kay?"

"Tell her to keep her skanky arse away from me and it won't be a problem," Lily replied.

James rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

***

"Lily! Have you seen James?"

Lily turned around, more than prepared to hex one of Eliza's friends into next year. However, she was surprised to see none other than Professor McGonagall rushing toward her.

"No," said Lily, shrugging.

Professor McGonagall looked rather distressed. "Well, would you tell him that I need to meet with the two of you tonight as soon as dinner is over?"

Lily nodded. "Yes, Professor." How strange...

***

Lily walked into the Great Hall, unsurprised to see James and Eliza sitting next to each other talking. She marched over to them and tapped James on the shoulder. He turned around, and both him and Eliza were staring at Lily. "Hello, James. Eliza."

"Yes, Lily?"

"I just thought I'd let you know, we have a meeting with McGonagall when we're finished eating."

"Oh, no!" whined Eliza. "It's a Hogsmeade weekend, James! We were supposed to have dinner at -"

"Well, dinner is right in front of you," hissed Lily. "I'm sure the elves would be delighted to hear that you don't think their food is good enough." Eliza flushed a deep shade of red, and Lily grinned. "See you later, James. Eliza."

"Yeah, Lily," Eliza muttered, then she turned her stone-cold glare to James, who just shrugged and continued eating.

***

Allie grinned as she watched Lily climb into the meeting room. "How many times do I have to tell you, I'm a genius?" she whispered to Sirius. He grinned back mischievously.

"Now, remind me, why does McGonagall owe you one?" he asked.

Allie sighed. "She. Is. My. Family."

"Hmm ... interesting," said Sirius. "So ... what? Aunt? Uncle?"

Allie snorted. "Uncle? Oh, yesh, that's possible. She's a girl!"

Sirius shrugged, no longer caring about the question. "Where's James?" he whispered.

"Ah! There!" Allie cried out in a whisper. They turned around to see James walking down the corridor with Eliza in tow.

"Eliza! I - have - a meeting! I have to go!" James said helplessly.

Eliza sighed. "Ohhhkay..." Then she turned around and stomped off.

"Merlin, she's annoying as hell..." muttered James, approaching the meeting room.

Allie turned around and grinned at Sirius. "We are too good for words..." she sighed.

"I am truly de greatest guy!" laughed Sirius.

It was only a few seconds before shouts could be heard from the room, and Lily and James pounding on the door. "I'm gonna get you for this!" yelled Lily, pounding on the door.

Allie pulled Sirius up by his hand and they ran over to the door. "Lils!" she called. "I love you and all, but you and James need to work all this out! I mean ... Eliza sucks! And you gotta make James see that!"

Sirius nodded in agreement. "Yep! So ... you got ..." - he looked down at his watch - "...one hour and fifty-seven minutes left together! Enjoy!" Even though they made it sound like they were walking off, laughing, they tip-toed right back and sat next to the door.

"Popcorn?" Sirius whispered and he grinned, offering some of the snack to Allie. "My treat ... well, and the house elves."

***

"DAMN!" shouted Lily, pounding her fist on the door one more time.

"Eliza's gonna kill me for this!" cried James. He leaned up against a wall and slumped down it, so he was sitting with his elbows resting on his knees.

Lily turned and gave him the death glare. "James Potter, I hate you so bad right now!"

"'I hate you so bad right now'! What the hell is that? A line from a Muggle movie?" snorted James.

"Shut up!" cried Lily. "Why are you being such an arse?!"

James looked up at her. "Lils, I'm sorry if you don't like Eliza. But I do."

Lily shook her head violently. "No, you don't. I heard you, when you were standing out there. I was listening - I was waiting for McGonagall or somebody. Well, I heard you come up to the door and Eliza stomped off, and I heard what you said. James, why are you doing this?"

James looked away quickly, suddenly finding the list of Prefects quite interesting. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, I do, James," she said. "And Sirius told me that 'you give up'. Well, even if you 'give up', you could still be civil, couldn't you? Treat me like a friend? Why are you doing this?!"

Outside in the hall, Allie pounded Sirius in the arm. "You told him?!" she hissed.

"Shush! We're missing the show!" Sirius hissed back.

Lily turned around and rested her forehead on the wall. "James, this is ridiculous. You're acting like a six-year-old..."

James snorted with laughter. "Oh, and now six-year-olds are romantic?"

Lily spun around and glared at him. "Romantic?! You call yourself romantic?!" she cried out. "The most romantic thing I have ever seen you do is snog one of your stupid girlfriends senseless in the middle of the corridor!"

"Which one?"

"Wipe that stupid smirk off your face, Potter!"

"Oh, so now we're back to 'Potter', hmm?" James rolled his eyes.

"I'm not dealing with this," Lily said, shaking her head. "I was almost about to start liking you, and you start acting like this!"

James stood up. "Almost liking me, hmm?"

Lily shook her head. "Forget it now, James. Just forget it." She turned around and started pounding on the door. "ALEXIS! I SWEAR, I WILL NEVER SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS DAMNED DOOR RIGHT NOW!"

As Allie stood up to open the door, Sirius put his hand on her shoulder. "Give James two more minutes," he whispered, pulling her back down. Allie sighed, but nodded in agreement.

James approached Lily with caution. "Lils ... please," he said.

Lily shut her eyes tight. "Don't call me Lils, Potter. Just leave me alone."

James grabbed her wrist. "Lily, listen! Why didn't you tell me?"

Lily turned around and stared at him. "James, you don't just walk up to a person and say 'hey, I've almost fallen for you, so don't ask anybody to the ball just yet'. It's not that simple!" She turned around, hastily pulling her wrist from James' strong grip. "Besides, it's over now. I don't care. I don't need you."

"Fine," James whispered. "Then go."

Lily gave the door a forceful kick. "DAMN IT, ALLIE! I MEAN IT!"

Allie turned and looked at Sirius, who nodded. She sighed and opened the door, but it flung open more forcefully than she had anticipated, hitting Lily right on the head and sending her to the ground.

"Lily!" cried Allie, rushing into the room. She kneeled down next to Lily and quickly checked her pulse. "I'm going to get Madam Pomfrey, don't you dare touch her!" she cried, and she fled from the room.

James sat down on a couch and put his head in his hands, closing his eyes tight and scrunching up his face in concentration. "This is too much..." he muttered. Sirius nodded in agreement.

***

Lily fell to the floor, and everything went black. She tried to take a deep breath, but it hurt too much. She heard Allie's voice, but it was distant. Then suddenly, as if somebody had kicked her in the head, she got a splitting headache and memories were coming back to her. And for some reason, they were all recent and of James' voice...

"We're not that bad. Surely, you're exaggerating?" ... "No need to act like you care, Lily." ... "Hiya, Lils." ... "Ah! Lily loves me!" ... "I know you at least care about me." ... "Honestly, Lily, you already hate me." ... "And we love you too, Lily!" ... "Lily, please, just leave me alone." ... "Lil, what's wrong?" ... "Yeah, I'm objecting." ... "Lils, you like me better than that git, right?" ... "Oh, Miss Lily Evans, my beautiful beaming bride!" ... "Then how do I know your favorite song?" ... "Sorry I snapped at you." ... "I would stand up for you." ... "Will you go out with me?" ... "I'm going with Eliza Jonston." ... Eliza Jonston ... Eliza Jonston ...