A/N: I think that the rest of this little story is going to be a blind write, since I am just blowing through the chapters… chalk it up to a lack a distraction! Enjoy, and don't for get to read and review!
Finders Keepers
A month had passed, and still it hurt to see them together. Lily wasn't someone you just got over at a drop of a hat. James was learning this the hard way. It seemed where ever he turned, something reminded him of Lily, but that was minor compared to how he felt when he saw her with Striker. How he hated Striker. It was almost too much to bare the first time that he saw them kissing.
It was a week after Halloween, and James had run off to hide from Summer. She was driving him insane. She loved to go on and on about how great a Quidditch player he was and how he should try out for the professional league when he was done at Hogwarts. It had been his dream to play professionally, but now he wasn't so sure.
"Have you seen the map?" James asked Sirius as he looked under his old bed.
"No, you had it last," Sirius said. James nodded.
"I know, but I can't find it," James said. "Accio Map. Accio Marauders' Map."
"Must not be in here," Sirius said as he looked up at James from his own bed. "Maybe you should go back to your Head dorm and look for it. Maybe even ask Lily."
"I don't want to ask Lily for anything," James grumbled as he continued to search.
"It has been almost two months, don't you think you guys should try to make up or something?" Sirius asked carefully. James shot him a dirty look.
"You were the one telling me that she wasn't worth the dirt I walk on," James snapped. "And anyways, I have Summer now."
"Whom you can't stand," Remus said quietly.
"And Lily has Striker," James added.
"Whom you can't stand either," Remus reminded him gently. "I think you have punished yourself by trying to punish Lily. I know she still loves you, and that you still love her."
"Man, I will just go ask her if she has the map," James said crossly. "If I had known talking to you would be like talking to delusional fools, I would have gone already."
James hesitated before knocking and entering the common room. The room was empty. He looked around the common area before heading to his old room. Most of his stuff had already been moved, but there were still a few things here and there. He knew Lily had organized what was left. Who else would have hung his clothes up from the floor?
Not finding the map, he hesitantly headed over to Lily's room. He knocked before heading into her room. It was very neat and organized; nothing less than he expected for Lily. The shower was running and heat rushed to his face.
"Lily?" He called out from the outside of her bathroom door.
"I'll be right there," she called loudly from beyond the door. James sat on the edge of her bed, not wanting to fight against the images of Lily showering just beyond his reach. It seemed all too quickly that Lily was standing before him. Her skin was still damp from the warm shower; her shirt and shorts clinging to her body. She was drying her hair with the towel.
"James? What brings you to my bed, sorry bedroom, so close to your patrol time?" Lily asked curiously as she continued to dry her hair.
"I wondered," James said swallowing nervously. He could help but wish that he was the shirt that clung so eagerly to her body. "Have you seen my map?"
"The Marauders' Map?" Lily asked as she threw the towel over the chair.
"Yeah," James said as he watched her walking toward her desk. He was suddenly aware of his sitting on her bed and stood, pacing the floor. She took her Transfiguration book and headed toward her nightstand.
"Is this the one?" Lily teased. James looked at his quite familiar parchment that she had plucked from between the pages of her book.
"That would be the one," James said. "Accio Map."
"That won't work," Lily said as she opened the map a little. Silently activating it, she looked around the school. Curious, near the kitchens, Striker was waiting. Shrugging she closed the map.
"What did you do to it?" James asked as he stepped forward to retrieve it.
"I put an anti-summoning charm on it," Lily said as he went to grab it. She pulled it back and held it behind her. "Uh-uh, no, I think the phrase is finders' keepers' looser weepers?"
"Hey, but that is mine," James said in a very unbecoming whine as he lunged for it. Lily laughed as they tumbled back against her bed. She tried to struggle to keep the map from him.
"You can't have it," Lily said breathlessly as he reached for it.
"All is fair in love and war," James said as he begun tickling her under her raised arms. She laughed and squirmed underneath him.
"No tickling!" Lily gasped full of laughter. James sighed, exhausted, and stopped tickling her after it became apparent that she had no intentions of letting him to win.
"You win," James said as he remained still.
"It's all I ever wanted," Lily said as her finger touched his hair. He was still laying there, on her as he had been when he tried to tickle the map from her. He looked up at her, his face full of conflict and torment. Lily's own face reflected the same emotions. "You can have the map."
"My consolation prize?" James asked as he slowly moved away from her. Lily nodded once slowly.
"Have a good night, James," Lily said quietly as she walked him to her bedroom. James glanced back at her and swore he saw tears in her eyes. He knew he could feel them in his chest as he walked out of the portrait hole, bumping into Striker on his way in to see Lily.
"James, nice night," Striker said merrily as he held a little paper sack.
"Curfew starts in ten minutes," James replied coldly. Striker nodded, grinning.
"Just dropping off some sustenance for Lily," Striker said quickly as he ducked in the common room. James went back to the old dorm room.
"Hey you found the map," Sirius said. He cheered. "Where was it?"
"Lily had it," James said. He smiled, despite himself. "She charmed it so that it was un-summon-able."
"How did you get it from her?" Remus asked as a smile crossed his face.
"I fought her for it," James said. Remus looked at him in surprise.
"You what?" Remus asked quickly.
"Don't worry, she won," James said. "The map was the consolation prize."
"What do you think you would have won if you had won?" Sirius asked as he looked at James. James made a face.
"I… I don't know," James said laughing. He threw the map on the bed.
"Maybe you should go ask her?" Remus said as he put his pen down. James shook his head and made a face.
"No, Striker is there," James said. "Plus Summer doesn't like when I am around her. It absolutely drives her nuts that I sit next to Lily in Transfiguration."
"It's not Lily that drove Summer nuts," Sirius said under his breath. James shot him a dirty look.
"Well, I have patrolling to do," James said as he pulled his robes on over his clothes. "Don't wait up."
"Oh, we won't," Remus yawned lazily. James headed out the Gryffindor common room portrait hole and paused at the portrait that would lead him to Lily. He wondered if Striker was still in there. He didn't want to know that badly, though. She had a right to a life without him, no matter how much it killed.
James found that patrolling alone was ultimately the most boring thing that James had ever done. There wasn't a single person out of bed, and he didn't even run into Peeves. Sighing, James headed back toward his dormitory, wondering what mischief he could convince Remus and Sirius to get into. Not finding them on the map anywhere, James figured that they had snuck out to Hogsmeade for a drink at the Hogshead. Damn them for not waiting for him.
Curiously, he climbed into bed and looked at the map again. He found Summer's dot where it belonged in the Hufflepuff dormitory. He looked to Ravenclaw to see Striker's dot there. Self satisfied, James looked to Lily's dot. She was not in bedroom, no. Instead she was pacing her common area. Curiosity peaked and James headed out of his bed and to her common room.
"James?" Lily asked as she looked up. She looked surprised to see him standing there.
"Hey, Lily. Can't sleep?" James asked. She looked at him with a confused smile on her face.
"How did you know?" Lily asked. James grinned and held up the map. She smiled. "Of course, the map knows all."
"No, not all," James said. He sat down in the chair. "So, how about a quick trip to the kitchens for a midnight snack?"
"Really?" Lily asked. James nodded.
"I would love to show you were the kitchens are," James said sincerely.
"Ok, sure. I could go for a sandwich. I ought to tell Sirius to fetch it for me," Lily said laughing. James crinkled his nose.
"He'd probably slobber on it, that is if he doesn't eat it first," James said. Lily threw a pair of pants on over her pajama shorts and pulled a sweater on over her head. The two of them headed out of the Head's common room and down towards the Hufflepuff house, where the kitchens resided near.
"You have the map, right?" Lily whispered in James' ear. He rubbed his ear roughly.
"Yeah," James said.
"Won't Summer be mad to know that you are sneaking around the castle with me?" Lily asked as the two of them hesitated.
"Probably, but I don't intend for her to find out," James said quickly. "I mean we aren't doing anything wrong."
"James Potter!!" Summer screeched loudly. James and Lily both jumped about ten feet. James shoved the map into Lily's hand. Lily looked at Summer, who was advancing on them at a hurried pace. "What are you doing out with this whore?"
"Whore?" Lily said angrily. "I don't know who you think you are talking to, missy, but I'm NO WHORE."
Lily swung first. James couldn't believe Lily would have ever hit anyone, but there they were, Summer and Lily, screaming and digging their nails into each other. James was frozen to the floor, uncertain what he should do. Remus and Sirius turned the corner laughing, but stopped abruptly as they saw a blur of blond and a blur of auburn trying to kill each other.
"James, you have to stop them," Remus yelled at James. It took all three boys to pull Lily and Summer apart. Both girls looked like they had been in a horrid storm, and to a degree they had. Sirius and Remus held Lily on one side, James held Summer on the other.
"I told you, James, she's crazy," Summer wailed. James looked at Lily helplessly. Furious, Lily jerked away from Sirius and Remus.
"Whatever," Lily snapped. "When the Head Girl can't even spend a moment with the Head Boy, without people assuming that things are amiss, that is when you know the world is a really screwed up place. I don't want your boyfriend, Summer. My boyfriend, Striker, has me very satisfied."
Lily stalked off down the hall, not saying anything else. She was so angry, but not for the reason she said. James had taken Summer over Lily. He really was over her. She had hoped that James was feigning being over her, just to piss her off.
`Shows what you know, Lily,' she thought as she slammed open the portrait hole, much to the displeasure of Violet. Lily shook her head in disgust. This was the person that James turned her into; a jealous, vindictive ex-girlfriend who got into physical altercations in the middle of the night. `I don't like the person that I have become.'
Lily sat in Professor Dumbledore's office that next morning, ready to step down from Head Girl. Dumbledore listened while Lily talked non-stop for seventeen minutes, ending with swollen eyes and a runny nose. He offered her a silk handkerchief and a smile. Sitting back in his chair, he looked at her through his half-moon shaped glasses.
"Lily, my dear girl," Professor Dumbledore said with his sparkling blue eyes. "I chose the right girl for the job. Up until now, I wondered if you could care about others enough to do the job, and I see you do and you can."
"I don't understand," Lily sniffled.
"I choose you because I think you are the best person for the job," Professor Dumbledore said. "My only concern was that you seemed to keep everyone at a distance. That is one of the reasons I put James Potter opposite of you. I figured you could tame his wild side, and he can get you to open up. So far, so good. James has only gotten one detention so far this year."
"But, sir, I don't think you understand," Lily said. "I physically attacked James' girlfriend."
"An error on your part, I agree. One that I will have to give you detention for, I am afraid, but we all do things we normally wouldn't do when our love is not returned," Professor Dumbledore said. "I was once involved, myself, in a relationship where my feelings weren't returned mutually. Alas, we live, but at the time we feel like we shouldn't."
"Sir, I really am sorry," Lily said as she wiped away a tear. "I never intended to let James get this much of my heart."
"We never do," Professor Dumbledore said. "Detention with Hagrid on Saturday night."
"Yes, sir," Lily said standing.
"Oh, and Lily. Try not to beat up anyone else, ok?" Professor Dumbledore said. Lily nodded.
"Yes, sir," Lily said as she exited the Headmaster's office and headed to her solitary common room. Plenty of people had looked at her as she had left the headmaster's office. She didn't want people to have the opportunity to stare at the long, raking scratches on her face. Madame Pomphrey refused to heal either girl's wounds. Fighters are made to live with their injuries.
By dinner, it had gotten around. Lily had taken the first swing and Lily had her first detention ever. Summer was over dramatizing the story until Lily looked like some sort of blood thirsty monster. The Slytherins loved it. Gryffindors' golden Head Girl was no better than the monsters and bullies of Slytherin.
"Did you really attack Summer over James?" Striker asked as the two of them relaxed on the couch. He had his arm around her, her body tucked against his.
"No, is that what she is telling people? God, no. She called me a whore," Lily laughed as she snuggled closer. She bit her lip guiltily. She was with this great guy, but all she could wish was that she could be here with James.
"I was about to say," Striker said as his mouth met hers. "So, we leave when? Sunday right?"
"Yeah," Lily said distractedly.
"You still want to go, even though James and Summer will be there?" Striker asked as he brushed some of her hair from her face.
"I am not going for James, I am going to see his cousin, Christopher," Lily said. Striker nodded.
"Ok," Striker said as he kissed the side of her neck.
"Striker, what are you doing?" Lily laughed. He laughed back.
"Nothing," he lied as he breathed into her ear. She giggled as his hand snuck under the hem of her shirt.
"Liar, liar," she breathed as her mouth met his.
"Lily, hey, hello," James said entering the room. Lily jumped away from Striker, wiping her mouth. She pulled her shirt back into place. "I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?"
"No, of course not," Striker said without the smile he normally had for others. He looked quite irritated that James had burst in to the common room.
"Great," James said as he sat down between the two and spread a book between them. "My mom wanted me to go over the final details with you. Your formal clothes are already ordered and ready. You guys are taking the Sunday train, right?"
"Yeah, I got detention, remember?" Lily said. James grinned at her.
"Yeah, over me," James laughed. Lily shook her head.
"Not quite," Lily said rolling her eyes.
"Can we move on?" Striker asked rather annoyed.
"Yes, sure," James said looking at Striker with narrowed eyes. "Walk me out, will you, Lily."
"Fine, if it will get rid of you sooner," Lily said as she stood. "I will be right back, Striker, and we can pick up where we left off."
James and Lily stood outside of the common room portrait. He smiled at her and kissed her on the mouth, much to her surprise. She pulled away, shaking her head.
"No, that's not cool, James," Lily said quickly checking to make sure no one was around.
"Hey, he kissed my girl," James said with a playful smile. "Plus, I now know you weren't egging him on back then. You are just that damn irresistible, Lily."
"I'm going to, uh, go back in here now," Lily said hesitantly as she turned and walked back into the portrait hole. She had told Striker she really wanted to lay down. She asked him if they could they pick up things later. She lay alone in her bed thinking all night long. What was she to think about her ex-boyfriend, one that she still very much loved, kissing her that way? Lily just didn't know.
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