Semele Perdita

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Semele Perdita: The Once Lost

Author: LadyAkako

Chapter 27: Guessing Games

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[ Lily ]

For several weeks after the incident outside the library, James was almost reticent during our patrol times. The few times I tried to spark up a conversation, he would only reply in monosyllabic answers and then turn away to study the nearest painting. Finally, I made up my mind to talk to him about it. Well…not to tell him Marlene and I were talking about him but to at least clear the air.

I broached the subject late one night just as we were finishing up patrolling the Gryffindor tower.

“James…?” I asked gingerly. My mouth was still adjusting to his first name after all those years of bickering. He looked up in surprise. I had been completely silent the whole night mulling over what I was going to say to him.

He nodded in response giving me the go ahead to say what I wanted. I had almost got used to reading his small movements by now as I had had a precious few words to hang on to during our patrols.

“I -uh- just wanted to say I'm sorry for the -uh- thing outside the library,” I blurted out before I could stop myself, stumbling ungraciously over my words. I winced inwardly as his face shifted to an almost confused countenance. Then he smiled as if he had just had an epiphany.

“I'm over it, it was weeks ago,” he answered with the same grin. “But…if you were really sorry, you would tell me who you were talking about.”

“Wait, so thus whole silent treatment wasn't because of the library thing?” I asked, startled at his admission and hoping to brush over the question he has posed. He wasn't so easily deterred however and barely even registered my question.

“Well, sort of. I was a bit put out for a week or so you wouldn't tell me who it was you had taken a fancy to, but I got over that.” He paused for a second to take in my expression of disbelief. Then he started again, “But then every time I was with you, I was a bit preoccupied with who it was and I was going through every boy in our year trying to figure it out, but I think I've done it.”

“Oh you have you?” I smiled, finally amused at his monologue. I was fairly certain he would never try to guess himself. He had broken himself of the thought that every girl in school worshipped him last year thankfully.

“Yes, I have,” he continued undeterred by my interruption. “I think you fancy Thomas Kern. Good strapping Ravenclaw man, book smart, tries to be athletic, a bit boring sometimes, but I've decided you spend way too much time with him.” He nodded in satisfaction to himself.

“No, James, I don't fancy Thomas Kern,” I rebutted his theory gently. “He's a bit too Ravenclaw for me, I'm afraid. I need someone with a bit more adventure in them.”

“Alright,” he sighed. “I guess my deducting skills aren't as keen as I'd hoped but I'll figure it out sooner or later.”

Hopefully later, my mind interjected and I almost said this thought out loud before stopping with a bit of panicked alarm. That would surely give me away, let him keep on guessing and hopefully he'll lose interest by the time he comes around to himself. And by then, I'll have shoved these feelings or whatever they are I have for him under the bed never to be felt again.

“What about Ralph Oglesby? He's a strapping fellow, beater for Hufflepuff but not too athletic as to shun the academics. Fourth in the class right now, you know,” James listed off his vitals as if reciting a description off of a chocolate frog card.

“No,” I denied Ralph a bit more vehemently than Thomas as I took a bit of a disliking towards the boy.

James slumped for a moment at my rejection of this candidate and then nudged me with his shoulder. “Well, you've got to give me another hint now. You've given me he has to like adventure for my last failed guess, now what?”

I groped my mind for more qualities that I looked for in a man but the trouble was the only man I could even think of was James himself. I answered slowly and deliberately, taking care not to give myself away, “Well…I guess he has to be funny, but not so much that he's silly.”

James nodded solemnly, plunged deep into thought again apparently. We kept at this practice of him throwing out names and descriptions for another hour before we both realized how late it was. The halls were entirely deserted except for us and the only light illuminating them was our wands and the occasional wall torch.

“Fancy a bite to eat before going to bed?” James asked suddenly, interrupting his flow of names with the query. I looked at him in surprise and smiled in spite of myself. I was starving. I hadn't eaten much at dinner because I had been worried about talking to him about the whole library incident. I nodded, struck a little speechless at his clairvoyance, and followed as he led the way down the dark corridors.

It didn't take long before we were standing in front of the painting I had only seen once before. James whispered the password and it opened creakily to reveal the warm glow of the kitchens that were still humming with house elf activity. The same house elf that had helped us last time, Cob, came forward squeaking with delight the second he saw James.

“Master Prongs! How wonderful it is to see you and with your lady again too!” the elf chirped and caused us both to blush. James opened his mouth to correct Cob but then stopped himself. My eye barely caught a small twitch of a smile on his face and when I turned to get a better look it was replaced with his usual look.

James arranged for Cob to bring us some food and the house elf rushed away in excitement to fulfill the order. Cob brought us trays of what had been at dinner that night and ate my fill readily. While I was waiting for James to finish, a realization struck me. The elf didn't call him James or even Master Potter, no it was something else…something I was sure I had even heard Sirius Black call James before. But what did it mean? Prongs…what an odd nickname. It had to mean something.

“James…” I started with intention to ask him, but I was stopped with a hand. He had to have known what I was going to ask him.

“It's nothing really, just a stupid nickname,” he confirmed my suspicions of his knowledge of my inner thoughts. If he could guess my question before I had even said anything why was he having so much trouble guessing at my feelings? “And, no, I won't tell you what it means until you tell me who you like.”

“Steep price for a nickname,” I challenged and inwardly added, and one I'm not quite willing to pay yet.

“It has a lot of meaning attached to it,” James defended guardedly. He crossed his arms and pushed out his chair, standing up. “Well, I'm beat for the night. You ready to go?”

I nodded again, my mind turning his nickname over in my head again and again. All the way back to my dormitory I repeated his nickname to myself and I could feel a new obsession taking root.

When we reached the Ravenclaw corridor I bid James goodnight and went inside still distracted by his nickname. Prongs…what could it mean?

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[ James ]

I had almost run out of names to propose to Lily before I had to resort to start naming Slytherins. I was at a total loss as to who it was. Every week during our patrol I would give her at least three names which I had carefully chosen that seemed to fit all of her criteria or lately, at least some of it.

The qualities she had given me were absolutely bewildering. A little adventurous, funny but not silly, smart but not necessarily book smart, and most confusing of all: sweet. At first this quest to find out who she liked was only a small curiosity but now it had turned into what I feared was a full-fledged obsession. This guessing game was almost more than I could bear. And to make it worse, Lily had started her own little guessing game concerning my nickname. Every time we patrolled I could feel her gathering my words and picking them apart to try to discover what it meant. But I was determined I wouldn't let her find out, it was almost impossible that she would guess the truth anyways.

I had dangled the truth in front of her a few times when I had become almost desperate to find out who she fancied, but I knew she would never give in to such bribery. I think she was almost as sure I would never guess at whom she liked as I was that she would never guess at what Prongs stood for.

We continued on in this fashion for weeks and I had long run out of a steady flow of names. One night I even resorted to naming a few blokes in sixth year just to see if I could stir up any more hints. Lily was close-mouthed though and barely said a word as I suggested Colin Punquin, a puny kid with glasses a year below us in Hufflepuff.

After a few minutes of silence, she sighed loudly and stopped in the middle of the hallway looking a bit distraught.

“You really are thick in the head sometimes,” was the only thing she said before resuming a brisk pace. I stood there, shocked, and watched her retreat down the hallway without me. Shaking myself, I ran after her, huffing as I caught up.

“What do you mean by that?” I challenged, a little pricked by her accusation.

“I mean exactly what I said. You're a little thick sometimes when it comes right down to it,” she answered steadily continuing her quick pace.

“Just because I can't figure who you like?” I asked her incredulously.

“Exactly.” She stopped dead in her tracks and I skidded a little to stop too. She turned to me with a fire in her eyes that I usually only saw when she was angry. But something told me she wasn't angry this time, just frustrated but I had no idea why. “Haven't I given you enough clues? I've told you everything about him except what he looks like. How much more obvious do I have to get, James?”

I stared at her in disbelief. Was she serious?

“I ran out of names last week, Lily,” I said finally the first words that would come to my lips. “What do you want me to do? Conjure up your dream man out of nowhere?”

“No,” she practically screamed in frustration. Her face had gone a deep red that clashed beautifully with her hair. “I just want you to listen,” she added softly, her whole demeanor melting. I wanted to reach out for her and hug her but before I could she ran down the hall in the other direction. Sensing I needed to leave her alone, I slouched off in the other direction, knowing I would most likely be patrolling alone for the rest of the night.

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Alright, it's short, but don't complain because it's jam-packed. Summer's here so that means I'll have some time to actually write again(shocking) because all I ever really do with my summers is read a whole bunch of books and write fanfiction. One day, hopefully I'll get a life but until then look out for more chapters of poor Lily and James being uncomfortable around each other. ;-)