A/N: Like I told many of you. Once James and Lily start dating, everything skips ahead in my notebook to the summer (which will be FUN), so… I have to `make this up as I go' to fill in between the creation of their relationship and the summer events. You'll have to forgive the errors and the inconsistencies. Thank you all for your reviews. I am glad many of you found last chapter to be funny. What is life without a little bit of humor? Boring, of course!
Disc.: I am good, not that good though.
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Chapter Twenty Four
Lily was sitting down on the largest sofa of the common room. It was still rather early and most people slept in on Saturday mornings, and today was the day of love: Valentine's Day. Despite the chill of the castle, Lily felt like she was hot. Her face was flushed, and her heart was pounding slightly. She was relaxed in the way she was leaning back against the arm rest, her skirt and shirt in perfect form. She had a book open, her eyes devouring the page.
"Oh, my," Lily whispered as she squirmed a little in her seat, pressing her knees together. She began to fan herself without even realizing that she was doing it. She leaned forward a little, closer to the ancient book she clutched in her hand. Her eyes danced along the page. "Oh."
The sounds of people slowing waking around her didn't pull her out of her trance. She bit her bottom lip, her eyes trained on the yellowing pages of the picture-less book. She was good in studies, no doubt, and she liked to read but this book was the first ever to erase the sounds of everyone else around her. Alice must have called her name at least a half dozen times since coming down the stairs to the common area.
"Lily!" Alice finally shouted in the auburn haired girl's ear. Lily reluctantly looked up, her skin flushed and glowing.
"Alice?" Lily asked carefully. "What are you doing up so early?"
"Lily, it's like nine thirty in the morning. You left the dormitory over three hours ago," Alice said concerned. Lily glanced at her watch.
"Huh," Lily said shaking her head. "I guess I got caught up in this book a bit."
"I'd say more than a bit," Alice said as she sat down next to Lily. Alice took the book and read the summary on the back. "Doesn't look like anything special to me."
"I don't know," Lily said glancing around a sinfully wicked smile on her face. Lily opened the book to a page she had already read. She pointed at a passage, holding the book while Alice read. The temperamental brown hair girl read the passage slowly, carefully, allowing each word to settle into her brain and take up permanent residence.
"Oh, my," Alice said as color rose in her cheeks. She, too, squirmed slightly and began to breathe a little more heavily.
"Yeah, I know," Lily said snapping the book shut with a loud pop. It seemed to break the trance that had caused Alice's obviously pleasing discomfort.
"I… I've never read it quite that way before," Alice said as she took one of the Apparation and You pamphlets off the table and began to fan herself.
"Have you ever?" Lily asked curiously. Alice bit her lip.
"Once, but it wasn't with Frank," Alice whispered quickly as she looked up to see the seventh year boys bounding down the stairs. "Don't tell."
"I won't, trust me," Lily said blushing. "Could you imagine me discussing that with Frank?"
"What are you ladies up to this fine morning?" James asked making the girls jump slightly from being startled from their current train of thought. Sirius and Remus both looked at them with slightly confused looks. Lily remembered that their uncanny ability to smell things more strongly would betray her and Alice's obvious condition.
"Alice and I were just leaving," Lily said quickly as she snatched the book up in her left and Alice's hand in her right.
"We were? Right, we were," Alice said quickly as Lily caught Alice's eye. "Bye!"
"I wonder what's up with the girls," Frank said aloud. Peter grunted something that was neither interesting nor intelligible.
"Shall we dine?" Sirius said as he continued to look where the girls had disappeared from. He was still frowning as the boys continued out of the common room in the same direction that Alice and Lily had practically sprinted.
Entering the great hall, the boys cringed. Nearly naked house elves were running around looking as if they had been unwilling forced into tiny cherub uniforms, complete with wings, a quiver, and a bow. The boys did their customary walk past the other tables, ignoring the loud, obnoxious behavior of the Slytherin table. James took his seat beside Lily, not surprised to see the witch buried in the latest copy of The Daily Profit.
"What's that?" James asked as he noticed a medium sized red box with a bow on it. The top was haphazardly shoved back on, as if done so in a hurry.
"Don't look," warned Alice. James looked at her surprised to find the once flushed witch was now tinged a bit green.
"What is it?" James asked. Lily neatly folded the paper and looked at him.
"You don't know?" Lily asked. James shook his head. She pushed it towards him. James opened the box and peered inside. He frowned and reached his hand in; pulling out what looked like a still beating cow's heart.
"What the hell is this?" James asked as he sat there, holding this bloody, beating heart.
"There was a card," Alice said as she gagged slightly.
"It said; `My heart only beats for you, Love James'," Lily said dryly as she nudged the blood card open. It looked just like James' handwriting. James shook his head.
"I didn't do this," James said thrusting the bloody heart towards Lily, spraying her with a squirt of blood. Alice covered her mouth and ran like mad from the Great Hall.
"I didn't say you did, James," Lily said as she looked down at her shirt disapprovingly. She pulled out her wand and vanished the blood from her shirt.
"I remember what you said about asinine holidays such as today," James said in an almost panicked voice. Sirius smirked.
"Asinine. You Ass or Mine?" Sirius laughed.
"Which ass? Eight? No Ass Nine," Remus roared. Much to James' confusion, Lily laughed.
"Very good boys," Lily said as she took the beating heart in her hand. She dumped it unceremoniously back into the red box from which it came. "I am so glad that the word is funny."
"You know what other word is funny?" Sirius laughed. Lily raised an eyebrow at him while she wiped her hands clean of the blood. "Asphalt."
"Asphalt?" Remus said screwing his face up. Comprehension flashed in his eyes. "Who's fault?"
"Ass fault," Sirius replied. The two boys were nearly in hysterics at the word play. Sirius knocked his juice over, the thin orange colored liquid spreading across the table carefree. Peter was giggling madly.
"I've got one," Peter giggled. He took a few deep breaths, steadying himself. "Michelangelo."
"Michelangelo?" The others replied in unison. Peter giggled madly, nodding his head.
"Yeah. Who's ho? Michael Angel's Ho," Peter roared with laughter. Lily frowned and shook her head.
"Not funny, Peter," Lily said bored.
"Don't you get it?" Peter asked as his laughter quickly died.
"Yeah, but it doesn't make it funny," Sirius said. Peter pouted.
"I hate you guys," Peter grumbled as he angrily speared his food.
"So, who do you think sent me this lovely heart?" Lily said sarcastically as she prodded the box with her wand to make the heart stop beating. The box had already over flowed with blood and started seeping out from under the lid.
"Snape," James said quickly. Lily laughed.
"Severus? I highly doubt he'd send me a beating heart," Lily laughed as she glanced over at Severus sitting darkly alone in his favorite corner of the Slytherin table. He took that moment to glance up at her. She forced a smile and turned back to James.
"We've heard… rumors," James said carefully. Lily made a face.
"Rumors are just spread by people who have nothing better to do than to talk about other people," Lily chastised. James sighed and nodded.
"Lily," Severus Snape's voice interrupted the happy little Gryffindor group. Lily glanced up to see him standing above James', his eyes trained on Lily as if he didn't see the others sitting there.
"Hello, Severus," Lily said. Severus hesitated before thrusting a small box at Lily.
"I, uh, got this for you," Severus said. Lily opened the box to see the delicate chocolate cauldrons that everyone so eagerly indulged.
"Oh, uh… Severus, thanks, really," Lily said awkwardly. She went to say more, but he had already turned and begun walking away.
"I guess he didn't know how asinine you think this holiday is," Sirius commented.
"You can't eat those," James said quickly as he pulled the box from her hands and tossed them up on the table.
"Damn straight," Remus said.
"I know," Lily sighed as she picked the box up and put it in James's bag that he left on the table.
"You'd be… huh?" James stuttered.
"Lily's allergic to chocolate," Remus said. James made a face.
"Why didn't I know that?" James asked. Lily shrugged as she speared some of her breakfast like Peter had done shortly. She tossed her fork down angrily, it clanging loudly on the plate.
"Do you know what pisses me off? Severus and I have been friends for over ten years, which included countless trips to the hospital for allergic reactions to things like chocolate," Lily said angrily. "You would think he'd know by now."
Lily got up in a huff, not waiting for the answer, and headed out of the great hall. James glanced at the other boys at his table who just shrugged. They continued to eat their breakfast in silence, Remus taking over the duty of reading The Daily Profit.
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