James And Lily Potter: Third year

Chapter 6: Third Year

Jennifer sniffed and wiped her eyes, smiling. "You're right Lily. I shouldn't be moping around here, crying my eyes out for my own selfish reasons. Remus is a sweet guy; how can I ever dump him just because he won't tell me what he and his friends are up to? Oh, I'm so ashamed!" She buried her face in her arms, very red.

"Don't worry, Jen, Remus is the good sort," said Lily comfortingly, "he'll forgive your little outburst."

"Thanks Lil, I'm going to go and find him."

Then everything ended just fine for both thirteen-year-olds.

Winter had arrived, and the eight teenagers often huddled near the fire when they did their homework. On this particular night, however, Arabella Figg was completely fed up with her life.

"Maybe I'll burn myself like they did in the Witch Burnings of the Sixteenth Century," she said gloomily.

"You're thirteen and you want to commit suicide?" asked James in disbelief. He was sitting next to the fire (literally) and reading 101 Ways to Improve Your Quidditch Skills.

"I just can't wait until the holidays," she said, looking depressed.

"Mum is actually letting me stay for the holidays," said Lily, looking cheerful.

James groaned. "I'm staying too. That means I have to be with you for two weeks?"

"How pleasant," said Lily sarcastically, sinking into her chair again. "Well, I still have to finish my Charms essay."

"Are you kidding me?" asked James incredulously. "You already have two rolls of parchment! How much more do you have to write?"

"You see, Potter, this is why you're failing Charms," said Lily practically, scribbling on her parchment. "You never go the extra mile."

"What mile? Is this some sort of race?"

Jennifer and Arabella both slapped their foreheads at the boys' confused faces. "Daft," they both muttered.

"It's a figure of speech," said Lily, rolling her eyes. "Going the extra mile means doing more than required."

"Oh...well, in that case, no, I never run the extra mile," said James, obviously still confused. Arabella burst out laughing.

"So this is how daft you've become!" she exclaimed, chuckling.

Lily smiled, shaking her head. What idiots for friends I have, she thought. Poor Potter – though he does look kind of cute when he's confused. Yeah, I think this is from lack of sleep.

Lily was twisting and turning as she tried to sleep. Suddenly, the world became blissful for her as she dreamed she was bouncing on clouds, and she sat up straight, drenched in sweat.

"I have to go back to sleep..." she mumbled to herself thickly, as she drifted to sleep again.

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off..."

It was the sound of James panicking and Lily crying as a jet of green light burst through and James hit the floor, dead.

"JAMES!" Lily screamed, jumping out of bed. Arabella, Jennifer, and Violet woke up, their eyes wide.

"Lily? What's wrong?"

"James...he's dead...he's dead..." mumbled Lily. "He's dead, I have to go see him. He protected me and Harry, and he's dead."

The three other girls exchanged dark glances at each other.

"It was only a dream, Lily," said Arabella quietly. "Maybe you should go see Dumbledore again—"

"Good idea, Bells, I'll do that," said Lily quickly, and tore out of bed. In the common room sat James, wide-eyed.

"James? What are you doing here?" James turned around, surprised to see Lily.

"Lily? What are you doing here?"

"I had a dream," they both said in unison.

Lily stared at him. "James—you're alive," she choked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked, confused. "You're alive."

"And I'm supposed to be dead?"

"I had a dream about you trying to protect Harry and then...dying, trying to risk your life saving him."

"I had a dream about you trying to hold off the wizard who killed us and give me time to take a run for it with Harry."

James held on to Lily tightly. "Look, Lily, we're both alive, and that's a good thing. Now, let's get back to bed before we fall asleep in Transfiguration tomorrow."

Lily chuckled. "Let's."

"Lils, are you okay?" asked Arabella, as she nearly pounced on her best friend. "You—you just disappeared and I was so worried and..."

"It's all right, Bella, I'm fine," said Lily, getting choked by her friend. "Now, if you'd let go of me..."

"Oh—right," said Arabella, blushing.

The next day, Lily and James weren't talking. They had just had an intimate talk last night, and James had gotten himself his very first girlfriend, not counting Deanna. He had finally noticed how many girls there were at Hogwarts, he told Sirius, and how many he'd have to go through to find his "true" girlfriend. Lily was furious about what he had said, and didn't talk to him for the rest of the week. She hated Melissa Andrews, the girl James was currently "dating".