A/N: K all you readers! Here's chapter 2. Just to let you all know, there is a scene that some of you may find slightly A/U closer to the end of this chapter but please don't kill me for it! I hope you all enjoy it…don't forget to
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Chapter 2: A Few Arguments:
Lily stalked all the way out of the Potter's house, down the street, through the front door of her house, up the steps, and finally into her medium sized room where she slammed the door shut before flinging herself onto her bed face down.
She grabbed a pillow and pressed her face into it hard, so that it was between her head and the bed, letting out the piercing scream she had been wanting to ever since she had seen James descend the stairs. The sounds of her screaming became muffled and almost inaudible as they reverberated through the soft pillow.
Lily heard the door to her room open and the sounds of footsteps nearing her bed but didn't bother to lift her face from its new cavern.
"Lily?" Came her mother's voice.
"I'm not listening…" Lily replied, her calm voice muffled but still easy to make out.
"I'm not listening because this is all a dream which means that you aren't really talking to me and that James Potter really isn't living next door. Everything that just happened in the past twenty minutes was a figment of my frightening imagination- a mere nightmare that I am about to wake up from."
"Oh, stop being so dramatic and misunderstood Lily! Come on, it wasn't all that bad. I think the Potters seem like very nice people." Laurie commented to her daughter.
"It's not exactly the Potter family I have a problem with mum," Lily explained, still speaking into the pillow. "just one in particular."
"Come on, sweetie, he can't be all that bad."
At this comment, Lily slowly raised her head from the pillow and brought herself to sit on the edge of her bed properly. Lily stared at her mother through the emerald orbs that were her eyes, looking much like a pensive owl than a teenage girl.
"You're right mum, he's not all that bad…you know, aside from the jinxing, the hair ruffling, the teasing, the merciless hexes toward anyone he pleases, the arrogant attitude…" Lily stopped and thought for a moment. "Oh right, and we can't possibly forget the fact that he stalked me continuously for the better part of three years! Nope, mum, you're completely right, he's not all that bad at all!" Lily finished sardonically.
"Ok, ok, I get it miss sarcasm." Laurie said through a faint laugh as Lily shot her mum a death glare.
"But the way I see it is…you can either sit here and sulk over a seemingly terrible situation, or make the most of it."
Lily stood up, her arms crossed over her chest and walked over to the window, gazing out at the adjacent room that looked directly into hers next door.
Her mother was one of the smartest women that she ever met, and Lily knew she had a point. It was just so hard for her to see that she was right as she watched James tack up yet another Quiddich poster to the wall of his new room. Lily watched until James walked out of his new room and shut the door behind him. She sighed exasperatedly before turning to face her mother once more.
"I know mum, its just so hard…you'd know that if you had to be around him the whole school year like I do." Lily whined.
"Well, no one said the choice between what is right and what is easy wasn't difficult honey." Laurie replied wisely.
Lily nodded her head pensively before responding.
"You're right mum."
"I didn't say it to be right darling."
"I know, but you are anyway," Lily replied. "I guess…I should try to be nicer to Potter…I just don't really know how to go about it." Lily replied sitting down once more.
"I've just been hating him for so long, and he makes it so easy…" she trailed off.
"Well…maybe you could start by calling him James instead of Potter." Laurie commented.
Lily laughed. "I guess I could try that, mum."
The door creaked opened and Jeff Evans' head peeped through the minute crack.
"Oh! There you two are, I was looking for you." He replied good naturedly.
"Well, you found us dear." Laurie said to her husband.
"Indeed I did." Jeff answered as he walked over and kissed his wife on the cheek.
"So, kiddo!... did you go meet the neighbors?" Jeff asked Lily.
"Yup, I did dad…mum and I just came from there." Lily answered.
"Huh! Well we must've just missed each other because I just met them too."
"Oh, you met Moira then daddy?"
"Who?- Oh, no! David." Jeff replied taking a seat next to Lily on the bed.
"Moira is his wife right? Yes, he told me that was her name, but I didn't meet her…is she nice?" Jeff asked.
"Yes, very." Laurie replied.
"Well, that David's a very nice bloke too, they seem like a very nice family…speaking of family, David says they have a son, did you know that Lily?" Jeff replied not waiting for Lily to answer yes or no.
"Anyway, we got to talking, and when David mentioned he had a son and told me how old he was- Jim I think his name was- I mentioned you Lils." Jeff paused once more, but not long enough for Lily to get a word in.
"Anyway, like I was saying, David mentioned that his boy didn't really know the town or anyone around here yet and I told him that you'd be happy to show him around tomorrow, Lils! Doesn't that sound like fun?"
Lily, who had been sitting at the edge of the bed as her father was talking suddenly fell off with a loud THUNK!
"Lily, are you alright dear?" Jeff asked his daughter.
"You what?!" Lily asked angrily as she picked herself up off the ground.
"You WHAT?!"
"I told David that you'd be happy to show Jim around tomorrow." Jeff replied normally as if Lily weren't obviously angry.
"James, dad. His name is JAMES!" Lily retorted angrily.
"Oh! That's it! You're right Lily, his name is James." Jeff said finally remembering.
"As in JAMES POTTER!" Lily said heatedly, her dad finally noticing just how angry the subject was making her.
"Hold on a tick…that name sounds familiar…" Jeff Evans replied, as he tried to put a finger on just why. "Wait- you mean he's the one who- but he can't be a- you mean you and him go to-, oh dear."
Lily answered every one of her father's unfinished questions with a sarcastic nod.
Yes, he was the horrible boy she had written home about, yes, he was a wizard, yes she and him did go to the same school, and oh dear was most certainly right.
"And now, thanks to you, I'm not only suck living next to the insufferable prat, but now I have to spent the whole effing day with him as well! Thanks a lot dad!" Lily retorted, obviously angered.
"Look, Lily, I didn't know it would be such a big deal, I just thought it would be something nice to offer and I thought you wouldn't mind-" Jeff said, trying to apologize for his mistake.
"Why does everyone always think I won't mind anything?! I mean do I have it tattooed somewhere on my forehead or something?!" Lily ranted. "Everytime something comes up its always 'oh, its alright Lily won't mind doing this or that.' What about Petunia?! Couldn't you have volunteered her? She's only a year older dad, and don't give me the whole magic excuse because you didn't even know until I told you!"
"Lily, I think you need to calm down." Her mother said sternly. "Your father obviously didn't know it would bother you so much or else he wouldn't have said anything. Besides, do I need to remind you of what we talked about before he came in? About making the most of a seemingly bad situation? Because I seem to recall you agreeing with me."
"Yeah, mum, but that was before I knew I'd have to start TOMORROW!" Lily bellowed.
"Look, Lily, I know you may not like this, but what's done is done…there's nothing we can do about it now, so you're just going to have to deal with it." Laurie Evans stated firmly.
"URGH! I HATE THIS! This is totally and completely going to ruin EVERYTHING! URGH!" Lily all but screamed as she pushed past her parents and ran out her bedroom door in anger.
She was not one to completely lash out at her parents, that was Petunia's unwritten job, so it was needless to say that she probably left them thunderstruck back in her room.
Good! Lily thought savagely. Maybe now they'll realize that I'm not as predictable as they think I am!
Lily had to get out of the house- she felt as if she was suffocating.
The houses on either side of hers were not divided with white picket fences, but with medium sized hedges instead. Each house on her block had medium sized hedges running down their sides that separated the properties, and Lily had discovered long ago that one could easily fit between the two hedges and into a sort of hidden tunnel the two made as they joined at the top. This is where she had hidden on many occasions in the past to get away from the world. So without a moments hesitation, she pulled back the few branches that hid the tunnel opening from view and stepped in and began walking toward the middle where the tunnel opened a bit wider, not bothering to look at her surroundings and knowing that she wouldn't find anyone there.
Lily jumped back as she suddenly came face to face with the one person she really didn't want to see at the moment.
James Potter jumped about two feet in the air, clearly shocked to have come face to face with Lily once more. He quickly hid something behind his back while simultaneously trying to brush away a small cloud of smoke that had begun to form around his head.
Just my bloody luck! Lily thought internally while she spoke.
"Potter! What the fuck are you doing here?! You scared the shit out of me!"
"Um…n-nothing!" James replied quickly. "Lovely, day isn't it?" he replied gaining his usual composure once more.
Lily however was too smart and didn't buy the façade for one second.
"James, I'm not stupid you know, so stop trying to act so innocent-"
"I was born innocent, Lily darling." James cut in.
"That may be, James Potter, but your innocence didn't last very long did it?" Lily scoffed. "And stop trying to hide that cigarette behind your back. Like I said, I'm not stupid."
"What? This?" James asked pulling his hand with the cigarette back out. "This isn't mine, I just uh-found it on the ground and decided to pick it up, you know the whole 'Smokey Bear says 'Only you can prevent forest fires.'' And what not…just figured I'd do my part in helping keep society safe."
James could have told her the truth, that it was in fact his, but for some reason he didn't. James was a natural at making up excuses on the spot, something he had become good at from being part of the Marauders, and most people usually believed the stories too. Apparently Lily wasn't one of those people though.
"Potter, I've known you almost half my life, which means you've been following me around for about a fourth of it at least. Do yourself a favor and stop lying, you're wasting time and energy because I can see right through you. You're like cellophane."
"Really?" James asked looking a bit hurt at the fact that he was being compared to a clear plastic, almost as if he wasn't there at all.
Lily stopped and couldn't help but take pity on the boy.
Why do I have to be so bloody nice?!
"No, not really, because if you were, it'd make ignoring you a lot easier. But I know you're lying, James. I've lived here my whole life and no one knows about this place except for me and now unfortunately you." Lily replied.
James' face lifted a bit at her proclamation, but he still didn't say anything more.
"Besides, why do you care what I think anyway? It's you're body, not mine. I could care less what you decide to do or put in it." Lily added.
"I was just-what I meant to say is-" James tried, his sentence coming out tongue tied. He took a breath and started over. "Look, I usually don't do this type of thing Lily." He explained before he got cut off.
"God! Why does everyone treat me so delicately?! I'm not a child! And how many times do I have to tell you that I don't bloody care what you do with your own ruddy body?! Do you think me that innocent that you can't even smoke a bloody cigarette around me?!" Lily asked irritated and angered both from James and from the quarrel she had had with her parents moments before.
"You- you're right Lily." James replied, looking her in the eyes before bringing the cigarette to his lips and sucking on it. James inhaled the first puff of smoke thinking it tasted terrible, forcing himself not to choke and vowing never to smoke again or decide to be adventurous and try anything harder than fire whiskey.
Lily watched as he blew out the smoke before speaking once more.
"So…can I have a drag?" Lily asked suddenly, making James almost fall back from the shock.
"Um-I don't think you-" James started to say before Lily cut him off.
"James Bloody Potter! I didn't ask you for a lecture! If I wanted one, I would have gone and asked my mum! Besides, I think I'm old enough to make my own decisions." Lily said her temper firing up again.
"You're right Lily." James replied for the second time. "I'm sorry. Yeah, here." He said handing her the burning cigarette.
Lily took it in her fingers, holding expertly, and flicking off the extra ash that had begun to form before looking James straight in the eye and bringing it up to her rosy lips.
James watched her, trying as hard as he could to keep his jaw from falling to the ground.
How she could make anything - even something as gross as smoking- look sexy was beyond him.
Just as quickly as her lips had touched the edge of the cigarette however, Lily let it drop to the ground. And still looking James straight in the eyes, Lily spoke,
"Even if it is your body James, and even if you only do it or did it because you were stressed, it's still bad for you…and it makes kissing a right pain for your partner."
And with that, Lily squished the butt and extinguished the cigarette, before turning on her heel and leaving James to think about what she had said.
James ran through the last bit of his conversation with Lily.
'…and it makes kissing a right pain for your partner.'
James smiled and followed her out, leaving the first and last cigarette of his life behind, a new glimmer of hope for something more with Lily carrying him back into his new home.
"Maybe this won't be as bad after all."
A/N: Thank you to those who reviewed chapter one of my story.
About that last scene with Lily, James, and a cigarette. I hope that doesn't offend anyone. I just wanna make it clear that I don't smoke and that I think it is a nasty habit but I have nothing against those who do- like lily said, it's their body. Anyway, I hope you all got my drift that it was just a one time thing. James is a teenager after all, he's bound to experiment…but he will lead a smoke free life from now on!
Oh! And to answer your question, yes Rika I am new to portkey.org but I've been posting my stories on fanfiction.net for a bit. Nice to meet you and I'm glad you like my stories!
I guess that's about it for now.
PLEASE REVIEW! If you want another chapter out soon, and if you haven't, read my other fanfic Saving James while you wait for another chapter!
Love ya!