A/N: Just a small curiosity for those who are interested (which probably means no one) but this chapter is actually longer than my English Literature coursework and was typed up while I watched the Eurovision song contest. That's irrelevant information for you.
STEALING SHEEP
CHAPTER 10: Sentimental Mush
"And the tea leaves can hold some of the most interesting and significant revelations that you will ever encounter. I, myself, have found on numerous occasions that with this technique insights into the future have become commonplace…"
James sighed. It was so very boring. How could one little odd Divination professor have the ability to bore the whole class into a mindless stupor? He couldn't handle the boredom. Death would be preferable…Maybe, he already was dead…it would account for the soul-destroying, Hellish boredom…
That train of thought occupied his mind for all of half a minute before he went back to trying to focus on something other than Divination. Tealeaf reading was, of course, complete rubbish so he obviously paid no attention whatsoever to what the old windbag was going on about.
He cast around for something interesting to relieve the monotony and his mind drifted until he found himself conjuring up the image of Lily as she had been two nights ago when she'd slapped him down so brutally. She had looked so perfect, in that unattainable, untouchable way that always reminded him that she was way too good for him. She'd been so cold and indifferent, so opposite to how she'd been the other day when he'd kissed her, when she'd fired up at his touch. A smug grin began to take shape across his features as he congratulated himself on effecting the girl so much. He felt inordinately proud of the fact that the Ice Queen, the one girl who claimed to not give a damn about him, the Lily Evans had burned up at his touch. But then again he couldn't have effected her that much since she'd been so cruel towards him.
God, he was confused. She doesn't care, then she kisses him like she's possessed by the Devil, and then she goes back to not caring. Couldn't the girl make up her damn mind?
James came to the conclusion that he would never understand her and decided to leave it alone. It didn't matter anyway because the dreams had stopped and no dreams meant no connection, which meant they could go back to pretending the other didn't exist.
He had gone back to staring intently into the distance when the strangest thing happened. In his current semi-catatonic state he didn't react immediately to what he was seeing, but when he did process it, all he could do was stare in slack-jawed amazement.
The desks, the fireplace, the mismatched lumpy old armchairs were all changing. The room seemed to waver on the edge of reality and he had to blink when he saw that the professor had flickered and faded from sight to be replaced by a huge marble column. He couldn't think, couldn't argue, couldn't even get freaked out. All he could do was gawk in utter astonishment as the mundane, dull divination classroom gradually morphed into a large, vaulted chamber that glittered and glowed from the enchanted stars floating around the room. The tedious rambling of the ancient teacher was replaced with the sounds of a live band playing out the sedate rhythm of a waltz and the faint, disembodied sound of jovial laughter. Dancing figures morphed from nothingness to gracefully move across the centre of the ballroom, adding to the creation before him that was surely a result of his bored stupor.
But then he saw her and it all fell into place.
She stood on the edge of the crowd, looking uncomfortable with her surroundings, yet even in his dazed state of shock, he couldn't fail to notice how simply ravishing she looked. She wore the elegant silver gown with style, the soft, shimmering material hugging her figure without really revealing anything, and her hair fell in scarlet waves down her back. She was biting her lip, staring across the room and as he followed her gaze he realised what he was seeing.
He blinked and superimposed on the image of the ballroom was what he supposed to be reality. Just before James' eyes rolled back in his head and his body went lax, before Professor Cayce began to loudly shriek about his obvious psychic episode, before half the class started to snigger at his fainting and the other half looked on in envy at his escape from the tedium, he had a revelation. He realised that the dreams or visions or whatever the Hell they were must be much more significant than they had initially thought. James' last thought before he was pulled back into another disturbing 'memory' was that someone, somehow, was trying awfully hard to tell them something.
*******************************************************************
Lily Evans bit her lip nervously and looked over at him. God, he was so imposing with that impossible arrogance and irrepressible grin. She watched him laugh at some joke Sirius had just made and was struck again by how perfect he was.
She mentally slapped herself. Perfect? Him? Okay, he may look like an underwear model but that was no reason for her to go off the deep end and start calling him 'perfect'. What about his intellect? Conversation skills? Seriousness? Sensibility? She knew very well that he was completely wrong for her. She didn't care. He may not be perfect, he may be 'wrong' for her, but she couldn't help the way she felt. It was unstoppable and no matter how hard she fought it, debated over it, persuaded herself it wasn't the case, she couldn't deny any longer the flutter she felt deep within her whenever she looked at him. In fact, that warm, tingly feeling was so sickeningly familiar that there was hardly a time when she didn't feel it.
She had to end it. It was too dangerous; she couldn't let her feelings be battered by him again. She had to tell him to forget about her and stop trying to 'court' her, as he'd put it. She hadn't welcomed him, hadn't been particularly friendly towards him, yet still he pursued her. After that first explosive night in the Ministry of Magic she'd attempted to avoid him. Of course, James being James, he couldn't let her go- he had to see her again, keep reminding her of it. She'd tried again and again to wipe her memory of it but just when she thought she'd got past it, he popped up and forced himself into her thoughts once again.
Now, here she was, back in the same building where she'd lost her head with him just three weeks ago.
He looked up, sensing her glare, and smiled radiantly at her, making her curse him even more. How dare he make her tingle all over with one smile?
Then all negative thoughts left her head as he proceeded to wind his way through the crowd towards her. 'Oh no,' she thought desperately, 'I'm not ready to deal with him yet!' She knew that she'd eventually end up jumping him again if she didn't control her thoughts and, tempting though it was, she didn't think the Ministry of Magic would appreciate her ravishing someone in the middle of the dance floor. She had to forget everything she felt- if only for this one night she had to rediscover the Ice Queen and block out all emotion.
"Hi." He smiled at her. Dammit, but it was really difficult to forget how her heart danced at the sight of him.
"Hello, Potter," she bit out, in what she hoped was a cold tone.
However, he seemed oblivious and leisurely swept his gaze down her body and back up again, appreciation apparent in his now darkened eyes.
Despite herself, Lily flushed and gritted her teeth at his casual perusal of her body. How dare he? "Do you really have to?"
"What?" His eyes met hers again and she felt a jolt she rather wished she hadn't.
She gulped and watched him uneasily. "Look at me like I'm a juicy fly you're just itching to swat."
James laughed, but when he leaned in his eyes were serious. "If anything, Lily, I'm the fly and you're the rolled up newspaper."
She rolled her eyes, but he yanked her to her feet and said, "Enough dodgy analogies, anyway. Let's dance!"
She tried, she really did, but it was so difficult to resist enjoying herself when he was enthusiastic to please and such good company. She reminded herself to forget everything lovey-dovey and get down to business. She'd tell him she didn't want to see him ever again, she was moving away- no, better yet, she was eloping with an ex-boyfriend. That might only succeed in infuriating him but she tucked it away at the back of her mind as a last resort. Knowing her track record, she'd need it.
" Have I told you how simply gob-smacking you look tonight?" he whispered into her ear, sending unwanted shivers down her spine and increasing her heartbeat.
God, how cliché.
"No, and you're not going to," she answered, giving him a stern look.
"Oh, yes, I forgot," he said smilingly. "You don't like compliments, do you? You are the only girl I have ever met who would kill someone for saying they look nice. I actually think Sirius still has the scar from that time he told you your hair looked pretty."
"First of all, he did not say 'pretty' he said 'puffy', and secondly, the only reason anyone ever says I'm pretty is if they want something." She tried to avoid his gaze, knowing that he would argue, even though she knew perfectly well that she was in no way beautiful. A bit odd looking maybe, but never beautiful.
James lifted her chin and looked into her defiant eyes. "Listen to me, Evans. I don't ever want you to say that again. Do you think the reason I say you're beautiful is because I want something?" She raised her eyebrows. "Ok, ok, don't answer that. My point is that I mean what I say. Don't you realise what you do to me? I just have to glance at you and I go all funny. Believe me, you're beautiful." He gave her a rueful grin and scratched his head in embarrassment before his face settled once more into a serious expression.
Unfortunately for her, Lily felt as though he was seeing right through her, right into her soul and she fiercely tried to ward off the barrage of feelings assaulting her.
It's just a bunch of sentimental mush.
"But, of course, you're still not as lovely as me."
She registered that he was grinning at her but she was too busy convincing herself how nauseating he was to reciprocate. Couldn't he come up with something more original than 'I go all funny'?
"What's wrong?"
"What?"
"I know that something's wrong. I can always tell. Especially with you. Go on tell me. What's wrong? I am an expert problem-solver. Just ask Sirius. You know, once he actually asked me how he should approach Lucy Bennet about going out with him and I came up with a solution only using a quarter of a melon and a toothbrush…"
She stared at him. He was so cute when he went on and on about rubbish. No!! He was not cute, he was in fact pathetic and revolting.
You're better off on your own.
"…So, since I am surely the man to help you, you can tell me. I'll keep it a secret. Kill anyone recently? Got a secret stalker? What is it? Hmm?" He smiled encouragingly at her.
She panicked. She'd known this moment would come from the second she'd seen him this evening. She'd known her feelings and she'd known how it would all work out. It was inevitable. But in a moments weakness she just blurted it out and stared at him in horror.
"I think I'm in love with you."
That shut him up. He stared at her blankly and stupidly blinked, shock and fear apparent on his face.
She flooded red, averted her eyes and prayed that she had hallucinated and hadn't actually just said what she thought she'd said. She hadn't meant to tell him, for God's sake! She'd just meant to slowly edge out of their relationship, if in fact you could call the three weeks that he had spent pestering her while she fought as hard as she could to ignore him, a relationship.
"I know what you're going to say. It too fast, too soon, we barely know each other anymore. And I really don't want to hear you try to let me down gently so I'll do it for you." He opened his mouth to protest but Lily held up a hand to stop him. "I won't expect any owls, I won't continue harbouring these feelings and I sure as Hell don't expect you to feel the same way. I'll just forget about it all. Forget we even met." To her complete and utter horror her eyes swam with unshed tears and her voice quavered dangerously. She would not cry. She couldn't let him see her cry; her pride simply wouldn't allow it.
"What? But- When- How…What?!" James managed to stammer out.
Somehow she wasable to blink back her tears, look straight into his shocked eyes and say, in what she hoped was a strong, sure voice, "Goodbye, James."
Lily turned in her heel and swiftly departed from the ballroom. She decided that the only thing to dull the stabbing pain in her chest (it was not, as romantics would think, a broken heart, but a small heart attack, not at all that significant) was a gallon or two of Firewhiskey and so she headed home to get completely and irrevocably drunk.
*******************************************************************
Lily Evans immediately woke with the now familiar after haze of a dream and brought a hand to her head groggily. What had happened? One minute she was busily scribbling down notes, the next…And why was she sprawled across the overgrown floor of the Herbology lab, several plants rather annoyingly poking at her to get off them?
She groaned and pushed herself to her feet. Jesus, what a headache! She felt like she'd been pelted with pineapples. Still in their tins.
"What do you think you are doing?" Professor Sprout called across the room in a stern voice and Lily groaned again. She was usually rather nice and sweet but when it came to squashing her plants she was as stern as a naffed off hedgehog.
Rosa quickly jumped up from where she'd been kneeling next to her previously comatose friend and quickly responded, "Professor, Lily just fainted. Can I take her to the hospital wing? It must be the heat getting to her."
"Oh, well, yes, of course." The teacher seemed to have lost her steam, realising that it wasn't in fact deliberate sabotage of her beloved herbs and plants. "But, Singleton, you take her. You're creating such a mess it'll be a relief for the poor plant life. Jackson, you complete the potting, if you would."
Leila jumped enthusiastically away from the massive pile of soil that she had somehow managed to smear over every available part of herself. "So, Lily," she said as they quickly left the greenhouse. "What happened in there? At first I thought you were dead or something. A hernia. Could've been a hernia. Was it a hernia, Lily?"
As she was still extremely spaced out from the whole fiasco, Lily managed a "Hmm" before returning to considering what had happened. She'd had a dream. One of those dreams. But…how could that be? She thought she'd stopped all that nonsense. Obviously not. "It must've been his fault," she muttered out loud, not noticing that Leila had ceased her mindless ramble and was now staring at her in puzzlement.
"Lily? I know I'm never that serious or anything but…you know you can tell me if something's wrong, right?"
Lily heard that all right and she couldn't contain the disbelieving smirk that sneaked its way across her face.
"I'm serious!" Leila sounded hurt. "I know you always go to Rosa but maybe I can help you now. Tell me. Are you going insane?"
Lily smiled affectionately. "No, I'm not. Don't worry about me."
"It's just that that's the first time I've seen a person just fall unconscious all of a sudden for no reason and then start sleep talking about complete rubbish," said Leila, in an off-handed manner as they began to climb the steps leading towards the hospital wing.
Lily froze. Sleep-talking? Oh no, how much had they heard…?
"Yeah, it was strange. I mean, what sort of weird dreams do you have? 'Sentimental mush'? What is that? Couldn't make head nor tail of it. Weird, huh? Lily?" Leila paused as she noticed the strange green tinge of her friend's features.
Lily swayed dangerously as once again the images collided across her vision. Her head pounded like a tribal dance was being conducted inside her skull. It was happening again, the agony of being torn from her body was just before her and she fought with all she had. Her eyes began to glaze over and sweat broke out on her brow as she tried to focus on Leila's concerned face and not the comfortably furnished living room that was imposing itself into her vision. It was not real, not real… With a dreadful lurch her eyes rolled back into her head and her soul was yanked from her body and poured into the astral world of dreams.
She was gone.
*******************************************************************
James walked hesitantly up the garden path. He vaguely registered that it was a very pretty garden, just what he'd expected from her, neat and exact in its loveliness. The daffodils and tulips formed regimented rows lining the edge of the garden and the grass had a perfect buzz cut. Yes, it was definitely Lily Evans' garden.
As he stopped at the door he wondered yet again whether he was doing the right thing. She had got a bit…emotional, so should he just take it like a man and escape while he still could? His mouth set in a grim line and his eyes took on a determined glint. He was going to get to the bottom of this. He didn't believe that she was 'in love' with him, whatever that meant. In his experience, women tended to go overboard with wild passion when they simply liked a guy so he was in no doubt as to what Lily thought she felt. After all, he was a very likeable guy.
He sucked in a breath, steadying himself for what he was about to say, and knocked.
No answer.
He knocked again. This time the door was immediately flung open and James blinked as the redhead stared at him with no hint of surprise. A blush spread its way up his neck as he realised what she was wearing- very little indeed. As he took in her white silk sleep shirt and mussed hair he felt his traitorous body began to respond to the strange, sexy look. He tried to fight the rush of lust that weaved its way through his blood and stepped back away from her. What was wrong with him? He couldn't keep his thoughts clean for a second! He needed to distance himself and tell her what he'd come here to say.
"Erm-"
"Hello, James," she purred with a smile that gradually blossomed on her face.
"Hel-" Had she just purred at him? "What's wrong?" He leaned in towards her, suspicious of her innocent expression, and in the instant he saw her slightly glassy eyes he knew what was wrong. "You're drunk!"
She frowned at him playfully and insisted, "I am not drunk! I'm just mildly inebriated. Why don't you come in?"
"Er- I don't think so." He was getting rather unnerved by the predatory gleam in her eyes and since he was beginning to lose control of his faculties and his sense of decency he thought it a miracle that he was able to edge away slowly, away from temptation.
"Oh, James! Stop being such a pansy! Come in and take advantage of me," she demanded, holding open her arms and grinning seductively.
James let out a breath and shoved his hands in his pockets- by far the smartest place for them. Whatever he'd expected, this was not it. She was propositioning him, for God's sake! If she'd been sober he would've jumped at the chance, but then again, if she'd been sober the offer would never have been made. What was he to do? How could he turn down a woman who he was extremely attracted to and was offering herself to him so freely? "Um- tempting as that offer may be-"
Lily ceased tapping her foot impatiently and, catching him unaware, grabbed his shirt with both hands and yanked him inside where she could seduce him properly.
"I said 'Come in'!" she repeated and fused her mouth onto his.
Startled though he was, James realised that whether he protested or not, the woman was going to get what she wanted and he had very little say in it.
*************************************************************************