The Diary

Chapter Eleven - The Gift

Disclaimer: Some facts about myself - 1. I am utterly addicted to fanfiction. 2. I should be doing homework right now. 3. Harry Potter is owned by someone (hint - it's not me), and I'm not making a cent off of this story.

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Maybe one day soon

It'll all come out

How you dream about each other sometimes

With the memory of

What you once gave up

But you made it through the troubled times.

“Troubled Times” - Fountains of Wayne

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“Good morning, companions of mine,” James said cheerfully as he descended the staircase from the dormitory. Remus, Sirius and Peter were awaiting his arrival before heading down to breakfast.

“Took you long enough,” Sirius commented. “And I know that look - what's the plan?”

James kept walking toward the portrait, the others in tow. “Hurry up, we don't want to be late for breakfast.”

Once out in the corridor, Peter asked, “So what are you up to?”

James gave him a knowing smile. “Let's just say it's someone's birthday, and I've thought of an excellent gift.”

Peter continued to pester him until the quartet entered the Great Hall. A significant number of eyes flicked over to the group, mainly to check for signs that they should be prepared.

James' eyes immediately started scanning the Gryffindor table for a certain redheaded girl. He found her near the far end of the table, sitting next to Emily. Without a moment's hesitation, he marched over to the two and tapped Lily's shoulder.

Upon discovering the identity of the person behind her, Lily nearly spit out her pumpkin juice. She quickly swallowed. “What do you want, Potter?” she glowered.

“Will you go out with me Evans?” he asked casually.

If she had taken another sip of her drink, Lily was sure it would have been all over the ground by now. “I'm sorry, I must have gone momentarily insane. You didn't just do that,” she said sternly.

“No, I can assure you that I did. I'll ask you again. Will you go out with me?” He smiled.

“You're not funny, Potter. Go away.” Lily turned back to her meal.

James waited a beat before saying, “That's a no, then?”

Lily ignored him, stabbing her sausage forcefully.

“Alright then. Enjoy your day, Evans.” He walked back to his gaping friends. “What?”

“You- you fancy Evans?” Sirius managed to sputter out.

James laughed. “Course not. Just wait and see, Sirius. Today will be a birthday to remember for Evans.”

Over at the table, Lily was still attacking her breakfast. “Stupid Potter, ruining today of all days,” she muttered.

“It's not so bad, Lily. He was probably just playing a joke. A bad one, at that,” Emily said consolingly.

Lily sighed. “He'd left me alone for so long, I hoped it would have lasted. I know he was just trying to irritate me, but still. That won't be the end of it for today; I can tell the worst is yet to come. He wouldn't let me off that easy.” Downing the last of her juice, she added, “Git.”

The duo made their way out of the Hall and to their Defense Against the Dark Arts class. There were already a couple of other students in the room, so they remained outside the classroom doors to quietly continue their conversation with some degree of privacy. They had just sat down against the wall when a young Ravenclaw approached them nervously.

Emily and Lily glanced at each other, both equally confused. “Can we help you?” Lily asked gently.

The boy looked around, as if to check that no one else was watching. He finally managed to say very quickly, “LilywillyougotoHogsmeadewithme?”

Lily was momentarily stunned, but Emily spoke up. “What's your name?”

“Michael,” he blurted out.

“Well, Michael, Lily is flattered, but are you even old enough to go to the village?”

He shook his head vigorously before running off down the corridor, leaving a very perplexed Lily and Emily behind.

The two girls looked at each other, then laughed. “What was that?” Emily said loudly.

Lily continued to laugh, but her mind was half focused on comprehending the situation. Why had that boy asked her if he knew it was pointless? It must have been a dare or something. She shrugged it off and followed Emily into the classroom.

About halfway through the lesson, Lily felt something hit the back of her head. Glancing around, she found a crumpled up piece of parchment on the ground by her foot. A quick scan told Lily no one was looking at her, so she picked it up and quietly unfolded it. Emily nudged her, prompting Lily to angle it so they both could read it.

LE- Will you go out with me? -GM

Lily turned around, pretending to stretch, and looked at Greg Mackavoy a few seats behind her. She raised her eyebrows, as if to say, “Are you serious?” He grinned before going back to his notes.

She faced the front again and gave Emily a confused look. Emily shrugged, offering no comment, although there was a faint hint of a smile on her face.

Determined not to be distracted anymore, Lily focused on paying attention to the lecture. It's my birthday - I will not get annoyed because of Greg or some silly little Ravenclaw boy. It was not long, however, before she was once again drawn away from her work.

Emily elbowed her gently and handed her a slip of parchment. Lily's features showed her misunderstanding, but Emily only smiled. She reluctantly accepted the note and read it. After checking to make sure Flitwick wasn't watching, Lily flipped it over and drew a question mark on it. She slid it over to Emily, who discretely replied, Don't look at me.

Where'd it come from? Lily wrote. Emily nudged her head toward the table next to them. The boy, who Lily was fairly certain was named Robert, winked at a surprised Lily.

Four times and it's not even 10 yet. Impressive. Emily surreptitiously scribbled down.

Lily mouthed, “Four?” eyes wide with disbelief.

“Potter,” Emily mouthed back.

The memory from breakfast was enough to disgust Lily, but it also made a light bulb flash on in her mind. “Potter!” she whispered. To answer Emily's unasked question, she furiously wrote down her theory.

Potter's behind this!

Emily raised her eyebrows. Maybe these guys actually want to go out with you.

Lily scoffed silently, and responded with her quill. Of course it's Potter! Didn't you see him at breakfast? He's somehow convinced these people to ask me out.

Did it occur to you that you're a bit paranoid?

Please! I'm not that popular.

Emily's right eyebrow went up disbelievingly. Sure you aren't.

I didn't even know half these people knew my name!

“Ms Evans! Ms Woods! Please pay attention!” Burnett called out.

Lily blushed slightly and muttered, “Sorry, Professor.”

Throughout the course of the morning, Lily was asked out no less than twelve additional times. With each note or confrontation, she became more and more certain about her belief that Potter was behind it all. The question was, though, how did he know she absolutely loathed being asked out? And how did he know it was her birthday? That couldn't possibly be a coincidence.

By the time lunch rolled around, Lily was feeling very out of sorts. She hadn't been able to focus on any of her classes, and Professor Neely had actually read one of the requests aloud in Ancient Runes. He'd then proceeded to force Lily to reply to the boy in front of the class, supposedly to “not keep the boy in suspense.” It was one thing to have to reject someone period, but to have to do it in front of everyone… Lily shuddered at the memory.

She had been tempted to grab some food and escape from the crowded hall, but decided that that would be too cowardly. I can handle this. They're not serious, they're just acting on Potter's orders. Don't let it get to you.

Lily was jerked out of thought by a hand on her shoulder. Fearful of having another confrontation, she firmly said, “No, I will not go out with you.”

“That's a bit presumptuous of you, isn't it?”

Lily took a deep breath and calmly pushed the hand off her shoulder, refusing to face him. “I don't know what possessed you to do something like this, but kindly desist.”

“Don't know what you're on about, Evans. I haven't done anything,” James replied as he sat down next to her.

Emily looked ready to argue with him from across the table, but Lily sent her a severe look. “Remember your promise,” she said. Emily's shoulders slumped.

“You're no fun,” she said petulantly, but her smile betrayed her statement.

Lily kept eating, disregarding the person to her left.

“The silent treatment, Evans? We're not first-years.” He stared at her, trying to gauge her reaction. “Well, you know why I'm here. I'd like to go to the next Hogsmeade weekend with you.” James flashed a grin at her and ran a hand through his hair. She continued to ignore him, prompting him to say, “I'll take that lack of response as a `yes', then. Meet you in the common room at nine?”

Lily's hand had steadily been increasing its grip on her form while he spoke. It was digging into her palm, but she hadn't noticed. “Potter, the answer is no. Not get away from me,” she hissed.

Her response didn't seem to bother him though, as he didn't drop his grin. “Come on, Evans. I promise we'll have a good time.” He winked at her.

She carefully laid down her utensils and stood up slowly. “No,” she said loudly before walking away with her friend.

Once out in the corridor, Emily commented, “Well handled, Lily. Although it would have been more fun to watch you punch him or do something besides trying to crush your fork.” Lily didn't trust herself to say something that wouldn't come out as harsh, so she remained silent. A look at her friend, and Emily added, “Is it really all that bad? I mean, there are worse things he could have done.”

“Yes, he could have done worse,” Lily replied irritably, “but it's the fact that he somehow knows I really hate getting asked out, and is using that as a weapon against me. On my birthday, no less.” Turning the corner, she sighed. “You'd think that would earn me a break from all this, but of course not,” she muttered.

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“Will this day never end?” Lily mused as she sat down in the common room with Adam and Matilda that evening. Emily had informed the older two of Potter's scheme to annoy Lily.

“If you didn't hate it so much, I'd have to say that's actually quite brilliant. From his point of view, that is,” Adam quickly added, catching sight of Lily's death glare.

“That is really nasty of him, though, to do it on your birthday. I mean, I know he liked to prank you, but he's clearly put some work into this prank,” Matilda remarked.

“Here I was, thinking you two were supposed to be my friends,” Lily said sarcastically.

Emily stepped in. “We are your friends, Lily. It's just-”

She was cut off by the appearance of none other than James Potter. “Good evening, my fellow Gryffindors.” He grinned, seemingly oblivious to the fierce looks he was getting from the group. “Evans, I was wondering if you would go out with me sometime.”

Lily began to take deep breaths. Ignore him. Just pretend he's not there, making your life miserable. Pretend he's not the one responsible for ruining your birthday.

Noticing her tension, James kept going. “I know loads of other guys asked you today, but-”

Lily lost it. “Of course you bloody well knew! After all, you were the one to set it up! Making sure I didn't have a moment's peace today, just so you could have a bloody laugh! What is wrong with you, you prat?!” She realized she had stood up at some point during her rant, and that everyone was watching her. At the moment, though, she was too upset to really care.

James grinned. She was so funny when she was mad, he couldn't help but chuckle. This was a mistake, however. To rage at James Potter and only get a laugh in response was too much for Lily. Before he knew what was happening, she'd audibly slapped him right across the face.

Both were shocked, as was most of Gryffindor house. Lily ran up to her room, with Emily chasing after her.

James just stood there. She'd slapped him! She'd physically hurt him! He could feel the sting of where her hand had hit him. James was only broken out of his reverie by a familiar sound. He turned around to see Sirius doubled over in his chair, his bark-like laughter ringing out in the common room.

The image made him realize it was rather humorous. He started to laugh quietly, and joined his friends by the fireplace.

“Fantastic! Absolutely brilliant!” Sirius cried. James smiled, but somehow it felt hollow.

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Up in the girls' dormitory, Lily was pacing around the room while Emily sat cross-legged on her bed.

“Don't worry about it, Lily. He completely deserved it. In fact, I think it's impressive that you held off on hitting that git for so long,” Emily observed.

Lily shook her head. “Violence isn't the answer. I shouldn't have done that.”

Emily's mouth twitched. “Why don't you go apologize then?”

Lily glared at her. “I'm glad you find this so amusing.” Her friend leaned back on the bed and stretched out.

“Do you want to know what I think?” she asked.

Lily stopped pacing, sat down on her own bed and replied hesitantly, “Yes.”

“You're overreacting. Like I said earlier, this wasn't that bad compared to what he could have done. Getting asked out by people you know are kidding? I'd take it as a compliment.” Lily didn't respond, so Emily continued, “I think everyone will respect you a lot more for this, actually. You finally did something to stand up for yourself. You're funny like that, Lily. You'd fight to the death for any one of your friends, but you won't do it for your own sake. You've let the Marauders get away with stunts like this for four years.” Seeing Lily was going to argue, she cut her off. “I know you'll tell one of the professors of their activities occasionally, or yell at them, but you refuse to hex them or do anything that would actually have an impact on them.”

There was silence for a minute or two while Lily took it all in. Finally, mustering up every bit of self-control she had, she spoke. “People shouldn't respect me for resorting to smacking someone. I know it's hard for you to understand, but you know how much I hate having to turn people down. You know my reasoning for why I do this, but you can't truly grasp the idea. As for why I don't curse them, there are other ways to take a stand against them.” She stood up and added, “I'm going to bed. Good night.”

Emily watched her best friend prepare for bed, neither of them speaking. She's the one that doesn't understand how much people admire her, thought Emily. She smiled. Lily Evans, you are going to do great things one day.

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Later that night, James was eagerly waiting to see what Evans would write in her diary. It had been an eventful day, to say the least, culminating in something he hadn't anticipated. He was curious to see her point of view.

Hello.

Greetings, Ms Evans. And how are you tonight?

Absolutely terrible.

Why is that?

I slapped him. I slapped one of the Marauders.

Did he deserve it?

He could guess what was her answer would be, but he asked it anyways.

Well, in theory, he did deserve something, but not violence, no matter what Emily says.

So why didn't you just hex him?

I'm not sure… I think my Muggle upbringing sort of took over.

Understandable.

Still. I mean, he took the thing I hated most…

This would be a lot easier if you'd tell me what he did.

Oh, right. Well, he convinced a lot of people to ask me out all day long, just to irritate me. Then he himself asked me several times, and the last time, I couldn't stand it. It was my birthday, and he was just plain cruel.

Was it cruel? James didn't think so. It was just a joke, after all. She wasn't supposed to do anything back; Evans was supposed to get mad and storm off like always. Was it possible he had pushed it too far?

Maybe he didn't mean to hurt you.

Of course it was! That's how they work.

Do you really believe people can be that bad?

Well, they just proved me right. It was, by far, the worst thing I have ever seen them do.

The worst thing they'd ever done? That was quite the statement, considering some of the things he'd pulled in the last four years.

I'm just saying, don't judge them too harshly.

I don't think I am. Today was completely uncalled for.

James could tell he wasn't going to get anywhere with this.

Fine, fine. So what else did you get for your birthday?

You mean besides the sick joke from the Marauders?

Right.

I got loads of books. There's this one on rare Transfiguration techniques that Emily gave to me. It looks fascinating.

Evans would be excited about a Transfiguration book.

That's not going to cut into your writing time, now is it? Tiring of me already?

Of course not… I'm actually rather glad you started writing to me. It gives me some perspective, you know? To be able to talk to someone separate from life, and all.

James was taken aback. Did it mean that much to her? After all, he was just going to use this against her in the future.

Er… thanks?

Cat got your tongue?

What? Why would I give my tongue to a cat?

You have a tongue?

No, but if I did, I certainly wouldn't give it to anyone, much less a cat.

James frowned. Giving a tongue to a cat… Evans could be really mental sometimes.