So Far Away

James hummed a little to himself as the train was being boarded. It was a song he was making up as he went. He thought it was pretty good.

"Would you shut up?" Lily said to him. Apparently it wasn't that good.

"Of course," James said in what he thought was a sweet tone, and silenced himself. Instead, he began drumming his hands on his lap, hitting his thighs.

He could see Lily's eyes narrow. It looked like she was irritated, but trying not to show it. She turned to look out the window, where her father stood, grinning in a strange way. James thought he looked rather sick, but Lily seemed to interpret it differently.

"I hate him," she said to no one in particular.

"Your father?" James asked, abandoning his drumming.

"Yes," Lily said, turning away from the window to look at James. "I hate him so much."

"You don't even like him a little?" James asked. "Even though he's your father?"

"Not a bit," Lily said.

"Oh," James said. "That must suck. Having him for a father, I mean."

"It does," said Lily, sighing. "It does."

~~~~~

Richard Evans felt like all his dreams were coming true as the train pulled out of the station. Lily was getting married. He was getting rich. Everything was going according to plan.

He waved in a cocky sort of way as the train began to gain speed. He saw Lily turned away from him, her bright hair covering the window. It was his hair; she inherited it from him. Her hair was prettier, of course, but it was his all the same. The only trait he had given to her. The rest came from her mother.

Richard Evans began to walk back to his car in the lot. He had to turn back, though, for one last look at the train. He saw it whisk around a bend, still gathering speed. It was going, going -

Gone.

~~~~~

James had resumed his drumming. After five minutes or so, Lily looked like she was about to snap. She took her hand and caught his as they were in the air.

"Stop," she said flatly. "You think I need more to add to my list?"

"List?" James asked.

"List of annoying things that are happening today," she said as if it were obvious. She dropped his hands.

"Oh, right," James said. "Should have known."

Lily glared again. "I'm really not in the mood, James."

James remembered that she was going to meet her fiancé for the first time. Of course she wasn't in the mood. "Sorry," he said.

"It's okay," she said dismissively, her mind seemingly elsewhere.

There was a bit of an awkward silence while James pondered what to say to Lily next and Lily pondered why James was glancing at her when he thought she wouldn't notice.

/p>

"So..what have you been doing since Hogwarts?" James asked, breaking the silence.

"Nothing much," Lily said in a neutral tone. "Been working at Flourish and Blotts. Behind the counter. Nothing very big."

"Why not?" James asked. "You were Head Girl as well, weren't you?"

"As well?" Lily asked, avoiding James' question. "As well as what?"

"Well, as well as me. I mean, I was Head Girl too," he said seriously. Lily burst out laughing.

"You were Head Girl?" she asked, between peals of laughter. "Is there something you're not telling me, James?"

It was then that James realized his mistake. He blushed faintly. Damn Lily and the way she made him look like an idiot. "I meant I was a Head..erm..person too. Head Boy." He said, with emphasis on the 'boy' part.

Lily was still laughing. James tried to look annoyed, but he found that he couldn't. Her laughter was contagious, ringing out inside the train. Soon he was clutching his side along with her. The Muggles around them didn't seem to appreciate this, but that was no reason for them to stop. It felt good to laugh.

"Thanks," Lily said, after she had calmed down a bit. "I wasn't expecting to laugh today." She smiled a little at him.

"Now that you mention it, neither was I," James said, calming down as well.

"Well, what makes this such a bad day for you?" Lily asked. "Your getting paid well for this, I heard." She scowled a little bit at the thought of James taking a job from her father.

But James shook his head. "I'm not getting paid. I lost a bet. Well, Peter lost a bet, which Sirius made him take, and which I was present at. Kind of. Then I said I'd do the job to get the money back."

"Oh," said Lily, not really understanding what he had said. "Are these the same Peter and Sirius from school?"

"Those are the guys."

"And there was another, wasn't there?" Lily said, half to herself. "His name was.." She trailed off.

"He's-" James began, but Lily covered her ears.

"No..don't tell me. I'll get it," she said, biting her lip as she was thinking. "Started with a 'B', right?'

"An 'R'," James said.

"That's what I said."

"Oh, right," said James.

"Ronald? No, that's a Hufflepuff name."

"Oh, so now your stereotyping names?" James said, grinning.

"Well, come on: Ronald. Sounds like some nancy-boy who still sucks his thumb."

"I happen to like the name Ronald," James said, holding his chin up.

"Sorry," Lily said, not sounding very sorry. She was still thinking of names.

Several minutes went by. James tried to start another conversation or give her hints several times, but Lily would just start humming very loudly, causing the Muggles sitting near them to stare again. James decided to stop, and was silent while Lily thought.

"Remus!" she said. "It was Remus, wasn't it?"

"Yup," James said.

Lily smiled contentedly. "I knew it all along," she said.

James looked at her, and Lily looked back. Both of them tried to keep a straight face. But it wasn't long before they both burst out laughing again.

~~~~~

By the time the train was about to pull into the station, Lily was feeling considerably better. Laughing with James had been good for her, she thought.

"Better start getting our bags ready," James said. "You want me to carry yours?"

"I can carry them myself, thank you very much," Lily said in mock-haughtiness.

"Fine. Just don't come crying to me when your arms are so tired and you were wishing my finely-tuned-from-Quidditch arms were carrying your things," James said defensively.

Lily sniffed and turned up her nose, grabbing all her bags in one deft movement.

"We are now stopping in Glasgow," said a voice from the loudspeaker in a monotone. Please exit if this is your stop, and enjoy your afternoon."

The doors opened a few moments later, and Lily and James exited the train with their baggage.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Lily asked James.

"How should I know?" he replied.

"Well, you're supposed to be the escort," she said. "You're supposed to know these things. Didn't my father tell you what to do?"

"Er..no," James said. "Must have slipped his mind."

Lily scowled. "Wonderful. Well, if we don't know what to do, maybe I can high step out of this place and adopt a new identity, rather than do what my father has planned for me. You can come along, if you like. Be my trusted servant."

"Sounds good," James said. "Except for the fact that that guy over there has a sign that says 'Lily Evans' on it. I'm guessing you're supposed to go with him."

Lily sighed. "My best plans are always ruined," she said. She turned to go towards the man with the sign. "You coming?"

"Oh," said James. "I guess so."

"Alright then," she said. "Then let's go." She grimaced. If James didn't know better, he would say she looked nervous.

"You all right?" he asked.

Lily blinked a few times. "Fine," she said. "Perfect. Never better."

Somehow, James doubted this, but he said "okay" and followed her.

~~~~~

When they first arrived at the train station, Lily had another reality blow hit her. She had managed to forget about getting married (mostly) while she was with James, but now that she was actually going to meet he fiancé within a few hours, she got another shock. She wanted to run back onto the train and leave here forever. Possibly carry out her previously mentioned plan. It was starting to sound less and less crazy with every step she took.

Lily suddenly stopped walking, rooted to the spot where she stood. She stared out at nothing, and couldn't for the life of her take another step.

A hand rested on her shoulder. "You all right?" James asked again.

Lily shrugged off his hand and resumed walking. "I told you before," she said. "I'm fine. Fine."

"Lily," James said again. But Lily didn't look back at him. She just kept walking, each step carrying her closer to her new life. Closer to her fiancé. Farther away from everything she had ever hoped or dreamed of. Lily fought the urge to cry out again. She lost her footing on a loose brick on the sidewalk.

James was there again, his hand extended. Lily took it, got up again, brushed herself off, and went back to walking. But this time, she walked beside James. It felt better to have someone next to her, for some reason, even someone she'd really just started to get to know today.

"Are you sure you're-" James started.

Lily put her hand on his arm, which silenced him. "James, of course I'm not fine. But I have to be. Don't worry about me. I'll be all right soon enough."

James didn't know what to say to that.

~~~~~

A/N: Again, not much of a cliffie. But that's good, right?

Thanks for Chapter Four go to DaZLinDZ, LOTR, and Quearida. I apologize especially to you three for not having this chapter (five) up as soon as I would have hoped.

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