A/n: sorry, I had some trouble moving this chapter from my parents' laptop to my computer, and then it went via my beta and then I needed to change things... and well, you get the idea. Hope you enjoy this chapter!!
CHAPTER: 15 - Earning Some Respect
The morning of September 6th dawned and a very excited second year Gryffindor awoke. "Miranda! Wake up, wake up!" cried Lily as she pulled back the hangings of her best friends bed
"Lily," groaned Miranda, "it's barely sunrise yet!"
Lily ignored her and, humming loudly, she skipped to the bathroom to have a shower.
Amber, Sky and Miranda were sitting in the common room working on their transfiguration homework. The noises of the other students playing games, talking and laughing, filled the Common Room. Amber set down her quill and sighed, "Lily sure looked happy this morning."
"What do you expect?" countered Sky, "she's going out on a date with the boy she likes."
"But don't you think – Hey Lily."
Lily sat down gingerly in a comfy red arm chair next to Miranda and raised a suspicious eyebrow at Amber, something she seemed to be doing a lot of lately. But Amber was already looking back down at her work and writing away. Ignoring her, Lily turned to Miranda, a huge smile adorning her face, "Can you help me get ready, Miranda?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure," replied Miranda without looking up.
"Ooo! Can I help? Please?" pleaded Amber.
Lily looked dubious but gave a small nod, "As long as you don't put any of that gloop you call make-up on my face."
Amber gave Lily a toothy grin in response, confirming Lily's suspicions, "Amber …" warned Lily.
"Ok, ok," said the brunette reluctantly, "What time are you meeting him, anyway?"
"Seven – and don't look at me like that, it's creepy."
Amber stopped her maniac smiling immediately, "Seven?!" she repeated.
"Seven."
"Sky, what's the time?" she asked urgently. Sky finished writing her paragraph and reached into her cloak for a silver pendant-like object. She looked at the weird numbers and symbols, obviously making sense of it all, and said, "Four fifty two."
Amber let out a shocked 'oh my' before dragging Lily upstairs, followed closely by Miranda, leaving behind a very confused Sky.
"Shower, now," ordered Amber.
"I had one this morning," reminded Lily. Amber leant towards Lily, grabbed a handful of her robes and sniffed them in a very unladylike manner. "You stink," she said, "Shower, now."
Lily rolled her eyes and shaking her head, she mumbled, "subtlety never was one of your strong suits," and she walked towards the bathroom, muttering about crazy people and having to share a room with them.
Two hours later, Lily, showered, dressed and ready, walked down to the entrance hall accompanied by Amber. They waited for barely a minute before Amber, the silence irritating her tremendously said, "It's raining."
Lily snorted and rolled her eyes, "Thank-you, Captain obvious."
Amber ignored her and started looking around the entrance hall as though she would find something more interesting than Lily on the ceiling or on the walls.
"Hey," said Amber, "what's that?"
Lily looked at where Amber was pointing to a small piece of parchment that was sticky taped to the wall. The two girls took a few steps towards the piece of parchment to examine it.
L.E.,
Meet me under the big willow tree next to the lake.
-J.P.
"It's raining," said Amber again.
"Yes, Amber, I know," said Lily exasperatedly.
"Are you going to go outside? To the willow?" asked Amber.
"Of course," said Lily as though it were more obvious than the nose on her face.
Amber gave Lily a look which she successfully ignored or, as Amber assumed, she was completely oblivious to the fact that Amber was even there anymore. For Lily had started humming a song that Amber could not recognise and was dancing about as though creating her own ballet.
"Maybe we're going to go for a romantic walk around the grounds," said Lily, a dreamy expression on her face, "Or maybe we're going to sneak off to Hogsmeade."
Amber wrapped her arms around herself, "I'd actually prefer to stay inside," she said quietly.
But Lily wasn't listening; she was clutching the note in her hands as though it was the most important thing in the world. "I'm going outside," she said finally.
Amber took one last glance out the tall glass windows before giving Lily a look that clearly said, 'better you than me,' and wishing her luck, started her journey back up to the Gryffindor Common Room.
Lily pushed the large oak doors open, hearing the pitter patter of the rain grow suddenly louder. As the doors shut slowly behind her, she pulled her jacket tightly around her and half walked, half ran, towards the beautiful large willow tree by the lake.
James Potter was relaxing in the warm, dry grand hall surrounded by girls from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Dinner had just finished and the pink wristwatch on one of the girls' wrists told him that the time was eight thirty. He was talking to a particular pretty blonde when the large oak front doors could be heard slamming. An enraged redhead stormed into the great hall and walked straight up to James and slapped him. Hard.
The girls around him shrieked and looked at Lily as though she was a homicidal maniac, and began backing away from her. Sirius Black, on the other hand, let out a bark of laughter and watched the scene unfold with amusement.
Lily pushed her soaking wet hair out of her face and breathing heavily said, "That, is for standing me up," she slapped him again, "that is for leading me on, and this," she punched him in the mouth, "is for making a fool of me."
James held his hands to his cheek and jaw and looked up at Lily with disbelief. The only sound in the Great Hall was the manic laughter coming from Sirius and the steady 'drip drip' as the water from Lily's robes made a puddle on the floor. Lily sniffed and, shivering violently from the cold, stormed out of the great hall, luckily not hearing Sirius' comment to James.
"Maybe you shouldn't have asked her on that fake date, would've caused you a lot less pain..."
She continued up to the Gryffindor Tower, not noticing the shocked, amazed and even admiring looks people were giving her. Who was this fiery redhead that had slapped James Potter? The James Potter, the one whose parents were brilliant and well-known Aurors, the James Potter whose four storey manor was one of the biggest in the country and worth a fortune.
Lillian Amanda Evans had definitely earned some respect.
Lily flopped into one of the chairs by the fire and kicked her sopping wet shoes and socks off. She sat, mesmerized by the flames, for what seemed like hours but was probably only a few minutes. How could James have been so cruel? How could she have been so stupid?
"Lily?"
James Potter was going to pay, he had to pay.
"Lily?"
And she was the one who was going to make him suffer.
"Lily!"
Lily snapped back to reality and said stupidly, "Potatoes."
Miranda, Amber and Sky looked at Lily as though doubting her sanity.
"Are you ok? You look kind of wet," said Miranda with concern. Lily noticed that Amber, Sky and Miranda were all looking at her with concern and confusion, whereas Jo and Issy were looking just plain shocked.
"Potter stood me up," said Lily in a monotonous voice.
"Oh Lily," said Amber kindly.
Issy and Jo both looked at Lily carefully. "She slapped him," said Jo.
"Twice," confirmed Issy, "and then slugged him one."
Amber's look of pity changed rapidly to a look of amazement, "Wow."
"I hate him," said Lily.
"Maybe it was an accident?" suggested Sky.
"He could have forgotten," said Miranda.
"That's almost as bad as if he did do it on purpose," protested Amber.
"He asked me out as a joke," Lily informed the others, who quickly broke into furious chatter,
pausing as they heard the sound of a quill being snapped. Lily looked straight into the flames, strong hatred and deep hurt evident in her eyes, and said with fury, "I loathe James Potter."
Reviews
beyonce-85 - thanx for your review!
Lila Gallagher - I'm really sorry about that, it's just that my friend, who Issy is based on, says 'youse' alot. But I'm not going to use it any more, it seems to annoy people... Thanx for your input and review!
Jersey Princess - yeh.... sorry about that. Your story was very nice, thanx for your review!
Kirst - thanx kirst!
The next chappie is underway, I suddenly have lots of inspiration to write more --let's hope it lasts! And please review!
laters
Limbo-gal