James And Lily Potter: Third year

Chapter 19: Third year

"YOU MEAN YOU'RE HAVING A STUDY SESSION WITH THAT BLASTED LONGBOTTOM?" roared Sirius.

"WELL, HE'S NOT THAT BAD, YOU KNOW! WHAT ABOUT YOU, YOU'RE GOING WITH SISSY LAMBERT, THE MOST PATHETIC AND SL—" cried Arabella. Sissy's eyes widened, and tears formed in them.

"ARABELLA FIGG AND SIRIUS BLACK, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SCREAMING FOR?" bellowed James, standing up angrily. "I MEAN, SERIOUSLY, FRANK AND SISSY ARE JUST GOING OUT WITH YOU GUYS BECAUSE WE ASKED THEM TO! YES, THAT'S RIGHT, WE DID! YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE YOU TWO BLOODY LOVE EACH OTHER, FOR GOD'S SAKE, AND YOU WON'T ADMIT IT! SO WE TRIED TO GET YOU GUYS JEALOUS AND MAKE UP ALREADY. BUT IS IT WORKING—NO! NOW YOU'RE BLAMING EVERYTHING ON FRANK AND SISSY, WHO HAVEN'T DONE A SINGLE THING WRONG!" He huffed and stormed off to the boys' dormitory, furious.

Everyone stopped what he or she was doing in stunned silence. Even Lily was speechless, mouthing something about ruining their plan in silence. No one said a word, until Sirius swallowed all of his pride for the last few weeks and apologised, while Arabella did the same, vice-versa.

"Are we together again?" he asked softly.

Arabella nodded. "Can we be together again, Sirius?"

"Of course." When they kissed, the whole common room erupted in cheers and whistles. Even some girls had tears in their eyes, beaming at the romantic scene that lay out before them.

Lily started to cry. It was beautiful, how romance could be repaired and restored when the two lovers swallowed their pride and apologised and made-up. But why she really cried was because it could never happen to her. She made a vow to herself never to fall in love with any boy ever, and to live and die as an old maid for the rest of her life. Little did Lily know, however, that she had fallen in love with a certain messy-haired boy ever since the first day of Hogwarts, back at King's Cross—but didn't realise it.

"Lily, can I tell you something?" An older James Potter was almost shaking as he chafed his hands.

"Sure, James," replied the redhead, puzzled as to why James was so nervous.

"I-I think—I know—that I love you, Lily Roseanne Evans," he said firmly.

Lily's eyes filled with tears. "Truly, James? Do you mean it?"

"With all my heart and soul."

Lily smiled weakly and said, "Well, I've never felt this way about any boy before, but I love you, too, James Henry Potter."

James' eyes widened, and he cradled Lily's face in his hands and kissed her deeply. Lily enjoyed every moment of that kiss. Sure, James had kissed her before many, many times, but this kiss was different. It wasn't a friendly kiss; instead, it showed how deeply they cared for each other, and how far those roots of love went. They were oblivious to their six other friends watching them with great smiles, but only saw themselves and knew that they were in love.

"What the—?" Lily awoke the next morning, and checked the time. Great, it was only six o'clock in the morning, and she was ready to bet that her friends wouldn't be awake until about eight or nine, since it was Saturday. She got dressed and went down to the common room, and pulled out Hogwarts, A History.

"Lily?" Lily turned around to see the brown eyes of James Potter scrutinising her closely.

"Potter? What are you doing down here at this hour?"

"I could be asking you the same thing."

"I—I had a dream again, and I couldn't sleep any longer, so I came down here," said Lily quickly, thinking of the first phrase that popped into her head.

"Really? Same with me! It was something about—" He cut himself off, blushing furiously.

"About...?"

"About...me telling you that I loved you, and vice-versa. But it was when we were older!" he added quickly.

"That's the dream I dreamt about."

James looked relieved. "Really?"

"Yeah—I can't believe I would love you later on. It's scary." Lily shivered.

"Hey! I resent that!"

"And I don't!"

"Will you two shut up already?" They turned around to see Frank Longbottom at a table, with piles of books and parchment stacked high above him. He was reading Intermediate Transfiguration and scribbling notes on a piece of parchment.

"Sorry, Frankie," apologised James, smirking. "Didn't know you would be up at this hour studying for the bloody exams."

"They're important," he replied stiffly, and Lily snorted. Even she didn't care that much about exams.

"Really, Frank, relax. I'm not worrying about them, and I nearly had heart attacks last year."

Frank smiled at Lily. He had always liked her, because she was extremely clever and loyal. But then again, he favoured James and Sirius out of all of them for their friendship. Everyone knew that Sirius Black and James Potter were the best duo of pranksters Hogwarts has ever seen, along with Remus Lupin and the fourth follower, Peter Pettigrew. They were legends. Frank's father had told him to look out for little James two years ago, when James was just starting Hogwarts as a first year. The Potters were always the Longbottoms' closest friends, and James and Frank were also neighbours, as well.