Semele Perdita

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Semele Perdita

Chapter 26: How To Confuse the Hell Out of a Boy

Author: LadyAkako

Rating: PG-13

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[ James ]

I did not want to patrol tonight, but I knew I would get lynched by Lily if I didn't show up and left her to do it alone. Even though it was pretty obvious she wasn't too keen on patrolling the corridors on a Friday night either. I hadn't even talked to her alone since school started and I knew that from just looking at her the first night of school when we were deciding who would do what.

I hurried to the Great Hall to meet up with Sirius and the others for supper before I would have to patrol. Not that it was such a bad thing that I would have to do it with Lily, but it was just the principle of having to do it on a Friday.

I sat down hastily at the table in between Remus and Peter, seeing they were already engulfed in their food. We all ate quickly with the occasional quip or joke thrown in between mouthfuls from Sirius or me, but we all needed to be somewhere after the meal was finished. I had to meet with Lily, Remus was tutoring some fifth year in the library and Peter was going to go with him for the extra help. Finally, Sirius was set on going into Hogsmeade to purchase what he deemed `necessary supplies' he would need before the first Hogsmeade weekend in three weeks.

I nodded a curt goodbye before leaving the three of them when I saw Lily get up to walk swiftly out of the Great Hall. I followed her quickly and caught up to her retreating form almost as soon as I got through the doors. I smiled as I watched her walk, swishing her hips purposefully to get to our agreed meeting place. She jumped when she turned around to see me standing right behind her and I grinned playfully at her, saying softly, “Hey there.”

“Hey,” she replied, still a bit surprised at my sudden appearance. Her hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail. I always liked when she had her hair pulled back like that because I could see the pale creamy skin of her neck more easily.

“Shall we?” I asked teasingly, trying to hide the fact that I had been staring at her collarbone by flashing a quick smile.

“Sure,” she replied with a small, pretty smile. I gestured playfully for her to lead the way and followed her as she walked slowly down the hallway. She looked back at me and smiled again, clearing her throat. “How was your summer?”

“Oh, uh—good,” I answered, caught off guard by the simple question as I had been too busy studying her smile to comprehend she was speaking again.

“Good,” she smiled, laughing as she caught onto the awkwardness that I felt. I fought down a flush valiantly and swallowed as she continued walking. It was several minutes before either of us spoke again.

“How…how was yours?” I asked tentatively to break the silence. I was hoping I'd be able to talk to her when we were patrolling and this silence completely baffled me. Impulsively, my hand reached to ruffle my hair but I caught myself, wincing at the remembrance of a few choice words that had been hurled at me a few years ago.

“Oh…fine, I guess,” she replied offhandedly, adding reflectively, “I've had better, I've had worse.”

I nodded, knowing that she was remembering her last summer away from Hogwarts with that last embittered phrase. Both of us sank into silence once more and we continued down the hallway in this fashion.

I couldn't stop myself from taking in long, sideways looks at her and it became slowly apparent to me how inexplicably tired she looked. Her usually dancing green eyes were clouded with the shadows under her eyes and her posture was decidedly slumped from her usual queenly stature.

The question of what was wrong rose in my throat but I suppressed it with a small cough. It was out of my place to ask her if something was wrong. We barely knew each other, really. Still, I couldn't help but notice she looked more drained than I had ever seen her. All I wanted to do was to tell her to go up to her dorm and sleep and that I would finish everything that we were supposed to do tonight. But as I knew, she would never allow someone else to do her job for her. I smiled inwardly at the thought of her stubbornness when it came to doing everything herself. I would have to try to break her of that this year.

The night passed faster than I had imagined it would and soon enough we were parting ways to go to sleep. I yawned loudly and she let out a small snort of a laugh. I grinned at her and then shrugged.

“Going to make it all the way back to the tower, sleepy?” she teased.

“Oh, it's not too far, but if I'm missing in the morning I probably curled up in a vanishing closet and went to sleep. So don't worry or anything,” I quipped with an even bigger grin.

“Yeah…right,” she replied dryly with a roll of her eyes. Her smile faded for a moment before coming back full force. “I'll…uh, I'll see you in the morning, James.”

I nodded and swallowed, preparing myself to say something in return but before I could she was walking in the other direction with a small wave of hand. I sighed and shrugged to myself.

“I'll see you, too,” I whispered quietly to the empty hallway she had disappeared down.

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[ Lily ]

Usually, students avoided the library at all costs until they'd been back in school for at least a month. It was sort of a rebellion against the fact that had yet to face: they really were back in school and no, it wasn't going to change anytime soon. But I always had to be the odd one out, it seemed, and so I found myself venturing into the dark, dusty expanse of books within a week. I was thankful for the noticeable lack of students crowding the tables because it meant for once, you could have your pick of where you wanted to sit and how long you wanted to sit there. It also meant, even more thankfully, that you wouldn't run the chance of coming across any snogging couples tucked away in between the shelves of books.

Most of the time Meara would come with me but on this particular day she had opted out because she had wanted to take advantage of her weekend and waste all the time she could doing the most productive thing she could think of: sleeping. I knew I could have easily stayed with her and slept in until late afternoon but I wanted to get a head start on the hundred pages one of the professors had already assigned us to have read by next week.

Still, when I got to the library that day despite my best intentions, I couldn't bring myself to do much more than browse through the familiar shelves with a noncommittal air. My hand brushed idly along the titles without pulling out anything. I sighed to myself and finally withdrew one of the more interesting looking volumes to take back to my table which was spread convincingly with papers that I had yet to work on and probably wouldn't get to until a few days later.

Once I had sat down with my new book, I opened it and skimmed the first page a few times before flipping through the next two chapters without absorbing much except the fact that the author had every conviction that he was perfectly informed on the subject of which he was writing. That subject, however, still eluded me after fifty pages and I thankfully shut the book with a snap and threw it to rest with a stack of other rejected volumes on a nearby table.

A throat clearing behind me made me jump almost out of my seat and I looked up in surprise to see Marlene McKinnon standing behind me. I relaxed and smiled at her, gesturing vaguely toward the other chair that had been pulled up to the table I was sitting at by its last inhabitant. She took the seat promptly and began to speak in a hushed tone.

“Want to know what I heard?” she said conspiratorially with a waggle of her eyebrows. Her blue eyes glittered mischievously as she sat back satisfied in her chair. I noticed with curiosity that she had no book bag or much of anything with her except for her usual messenger bag that held a few notebooks bursting with anything but notes for the subject that they proclaimed on the front cover they were for.

“What?” I consented, glad for another excuse to not do my homework. I pushed aside the papers that crowded the distance between us and leaned forward to better hear her hoarse whispers.

She grinned and continued, glad to have my full attention, “I heard that the Head Boy has a little crush on the Head Girl, which I think is just way too cute. What do you think?” Her grin had spread and her eyes were scrutinizing my face carefully for any small reaction as I fought down the paralyzing embarrassment that was attached to what she just said.

It was my turn to clear my throat pointedly. I searched for the most neutral answer I could find within myself. Finally, I answered her with, “That's…interesting.”

Marlene twirled her hair playfully with finger and looked at me with a pseudo-insightful look. The twinkle in her eyes intensified and her grin turned almost cat-like.

“You like him too, don't you?” she challenged with glee, her voice raising an octave or two. The librarian, Madam Reinhardt, looked up in disapproval from across the room. She shushed us violently and then retreated back into her own work.

“No,” I shot back adamantly, my face flushing hotly.

“You do!” Marlene squealed and the librarian shot out from behind a bookcase nearby with another disapproving glower. “Oh! Wait until I tell him!” She made a move as if to rise and I caught her arm pleadingly.

“No, Marlene,” I whispered, desperately. “You can't tell him that. It's not even true,” I denied her glee fervently.

“Oh, yes it is, you liar,” she teased with a wrinkle of her nose. She began to pile all of my parchment and books together, handing them to me to put into my bag. I complied without comment and followed her out the library until the glare of the librarian. I only hoped Madam Reinhardt would forgive me for the disruption of her peace by the time N.E.W.T.'s came around.

“Marlene, seriously, don't tell him that. I would die of embarrassment,” I implored her as soon as we were in the hallway. She opened her mouth to reply with some sort of quip but before she could another voice interrupted her.

“Tell who what?” the familiar voice asked curiously. I turned around to see, to my utmost horror the exact subject of our discussion. James Potter.

I shrank and fought the urge to run down the hallway in terror. Swallowing I squeaked out, “Nothing and no one.” I shook my head as if to confirm the fact to myself, looking everywhere except for those hazel eyes that were boring into me, completely bewildered.

“Yeah, it was nothing really. Just a bit of a joke,” Marlene piped up, nudging me in the ribs to look up. I did, for a split second and my eyes met James' in a stuttering movement. The brown of his eyes swam in confusion at being shut out so harshly from what we were discussing. At the sight of his slightly pained look, the back of my neck grew increasingly hot again.

“Well…um, we have to get going,” I said after a few moments of silence, my eyes sliding shamefully from his gaze. Marlene stood rooted to the spot giving James a sympathetic glance that didn't escape my notice until finally she took to her heels as well, leaving James standing alone in the hallway outside the library looking utterly bewildered.