Secrets & Stars

Chapter 54- Hide and Seek

"Lily!" Marlene yelled, running after her. She saw her collapse on her bed and put her head in her hands.
"What...did I just do?" she faltered.
"Uh, nothing?" Marlene replied. "He kissed you!"
"I know, but I barely had time to kiss back - he must think I hate him!" Lily cried, rolling her head back. "Now it'll be really awkward - when I thought we were finally progressing!"
"Oh girl," Marlene said, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter - you can just tell him that you wanted to too, surely?"
"Not that easy, Marls!"
"Oh it doesn't matter! It's not as if you smelled him in the Amortentia!" she told Lily comfortingly. But the latter sat bolt upright.
"That's it!" she exclaimed. "His toothpaste!"

Once Lily had finished her realisation, Marlene took her by the shoulders.
"Explain."
"Okay, well the scent I smelled was familiar, but I couldn't place it! It was one of the things you register but don't actually consciously notice, you know?" Lily recounted.
"Mm hmm?"
"Well, every Tuesday when he meets me downstairs so we can walk to History of Magic together, he always smells strongly of this sharp minty toothpaste, mixed with the appley flavour of his shampoo," she finished. "It was James I smelled!"

Marlene looked at her, wide-eyed.
"You know what this means, right?"
Lily rubbed her eyes and groaned, falling back on her bed.
"Yes, but - I'm going to sleep on it, okay? It's too complicated to fix right now."
She went into the bathroom to wash, and Marlene rolled her eyes.
"If she would just tell him how she feels!" she groaned.

The next morning, Lily awoke to Marlene staring expectantly at her from her own bed. Dorcas and Mary were still asleep.
"Well? What are you going to do?" she asked. Lily ran a hand through her scarlet hair.
"I don't know..."
"Right. But I do! Go and find him!" Marlene said, pushing her towards the door.
"I need to brush my teeth first!" Lily told her.
"Afterwards, though? Promise?" Marlene persisted. Lily sighed.
"I promise."

After breakfast, James dragged them all off to the dustiest corner of the library.
"Care to tell us why we're hiding in the library?" Sirius asked. James sighed.
"Didn't you see what I did? I kissed her, and she didn't want me to!" James told him. "I'm avoiding her, because I know it'll be awkward if we talk for the first time since that!"
"Don't you think it's ironic - she was avoiding you because she thought you were an arrogant toerag, and now you're avoiding her!" Sirius laughed.
"Yes, yes, I know, it's hilarious," James muttered. "I'm just so scared I've spoilt our relationship!"
"I'm sure you haven't," Remus said gently, and Sirius smiled at him.
"What you need, is a distraction," Sirius continued. "Remember when we didn't get around to doing that charming food to sing prank?"
"Oh Merlin," Remus groaned. "I thought you'd forgotten!"
"Not a chance," Sirius winked. "How about it, Prongs?"

James nodded, but then frowned.
"But that isn't until five - we have hours to kill before then," he sighed. "Hours of avoiding Evans. Peter, where is she right now?"
Taking out their map, Peter searched until he found her name.
"She's in the doorway of our dorm?"
"She's probably looking for you, Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed, then saw James' expression. "That's, not as good as I made out, is it?"
Remus chuckled softly, whilst James ran his fingers through his hair.

"Find him?" Marlene asked later, coming across her on one of the moving staircases. Lily shook her head.
"No. It's almost like he's avoiding me?"
"That may be true, Lils," Marlene told her apologetically. "I hate to make this worse, but were I in his shoes, I would be doing exactly that."
Lily groaned.
"If we could just pretend that that hadn't happened, it wouldn't have to be this awkward!"
"I'm sure you will be able to," she replied comfortingly. "But...do you want to forget it? That's the real question."
"No," Lily whispered. "I don't."

At around five, was the next time she saw James. Him and the other marauders were sneaking out of the kitchens, looking particularly mischievous. James didn't look entirely happy though, she could see that what happened the other day had affected him. Sighing, she fell back around the corner. She just felt so....annoyed. James had finally plucked up the courage to kiss her, and she had blown her chance by being too slow to react. The truth was, that she did love him. But her pride would never let her admit it, after all this time.

At dinner, the marauders sat far at the back, away from Lily, who sat with Marlene and Dorcas further to the front. James' expression was forlorn still.
"Cheer up Jamesie!" Sirius told him, grinning. "It'll start in a minute!"
James nodded unconvincingly, so Sirius winked at Remus and Peter. They held his shoulders and Sirius began tickling him.
"What - nooo stop!" James giggled.
"If you won't be happy, we have to resort to these measures, Prongs!" Sirius said, not relenting. The rest of the Gryffindor table dismissed this as their usual weirdness!
"Fine! I'll cheer up!" exclaimed James, giggling uncontrollably.
"That's what I like to hear!" Remus smiled, releasing him.

Lily looked over at them giggling, and breathed a sigh of relief. She was glad that James had got back to his old self - she didn't want her 'rejection', to cause him to be morose. Mary gave her an encouraging smile.
"It'll all work out, trust me," she said kindly. "Just give him time, or tell him."
"I can't tell him," Lily sighed. "I'm - scared, Mary."
"Just...focus on relieving the awkwardness, be his friend. Then, if the opportunity presents itself, tell him that you wanted to kiss him back," Dorcas suggested. "After all, - "

But she was cut off by a loud singing noise, coming from the teachers' table? Lily whipped her gaze over to the marauders, who were laughing uncontrollably. Dumbledore looked bemused as his turkey began to sing 'Dancing Queen" by ABBA, whilst McGonagall's vegetables joined in the chorus. She herself joined in with the whole Hall's laughter. McGonagall raised her eyes heavenwards, but there was a twinkle in them. Slughorn seemed faintly entertained, and by now the whole Hall was looking at the marauders. James high-fived Sirius, and they all say back with satisfied expressions on their faces.