Betrayed
I
Summary: Sometimes, the consequences of a betrayal are your worst nightmares.
Disclaimer: If you had half a brain, you would know that every single character from the Harry Potter book series belong to J.K. Rowling.
"Is this going to be the day, Prongs?" Sirius asked his best friend as he lazily directed his horse to kill his opponent's prawn.
James, who was sitting by the window in the common room, just glared defiantly at him.
"Don't keep bugging him about it," Remus said, watching his queen crush Sirius' horse.
"Aw... why not?" Sirius inquired innocently. "As Prongs' best friend, I believe that I have the right to ask him certain things other people..." he glanced at Peter and Remus, "certainly cannot."
"Hey!" Peter, who was sitting on one of the armchairs near Sirius and Remus, cried.
"Ignore him," Remus sighed, shaking his head. "Oh yeah, Sirius... checkmate."
The rebellious seventeen-year old teen looked at the chess board once and groaned in defeat.
"Never wanted to play in the first place..." he muttered as he pulled something from his pants' pocket.
"Oh really?" Remus asked smugly. "Then why did you bet me ten galleons that you would win this match?"
"Don't remind me."
Sirius then tossed a piece of parchment towards Remus, who stared at it in disgust.
"Oh no... not again," he groaned as he picked up another of Sirius' I. O. U.'s. "Padfoot, I honestly don't believe you are that broke."
Sirius just shrugged carelessly.
"Hey... as long as I pay you back, it doesn't matter how many I. O. U.'s you get," he retorted.
"Seventy-three," Remus answered darkly, throwing a menacing look at Sirius.
"What?"
"I said, since we knew each other, you gave me seventy-three I.O.U. slips that, I should mention, you never paid back."
Peter whistled in amazement; James smirked; Sirius started laughing meekly.
"Don't worry, old friend, I'll pay you back... eventually," Sirius quickly explained while smiling guiltily.
To avoid a further confrontation from Remus, Sirius rapidly got up and went over to James.
"When are you ever going to tell her?" he hissed in his ear.
"Today," James answered evenly. "I swear I will."
However, Sirius just cackled at his reply. James, furious, threw a death glare at his best friend, who immediately shut up.
"Look, Prongs," Sirius said, trying to keep a straight face, "you have sworn to yourself that you would tell her since the first day of September. But do you know what month it is now? It's November... and you still didn't tell her."
Right after he finished that sentence, he started laughing again, unable to contain himself despite James' dark looks. James felt like hitting his friend for his lack of sympathy but decided against it in the last minute. Instead, he replied calmly:
"I know I usually cowered out in the last minute, but today will be different."
"How's that?" Sirius asked, interested.
"Because this time, you'll be there to make sure I won't mess up."
"What!" Sirius stared dumfounded at his friend, unable to find the appropriate words to say. Finally, when he regained his speech ability, he asked: "Are you serious!"
"Yes," James answered seriously. "Before, I tried to bring Moony and Wormtail with me so they could stop me from running away, but they... didn't manage to stop me. But you..." he gazed meaningfully at Sirius, "have the ability to stop anybody in their tracks, so I think that you should come with me this time."
"But..." Sirius was about to object when Remus shouted:
"Padfoot! You owe me five hundred forty-five galleons!"
"You've got to be kidding me!" Sirius' jaw literally dropped as he heard that. "You must've made a mistake somewhere, Moony!"
As Sirius ran to Remus and totally forgot about the previous subject they were talking about, James smirked. Whether Sirius liked it or not, he would have to come along with James. And this time... I WILL do it, the Quidditch captain vowed as he got up from his chair to meet with a certain redhead girl.
----- ----- -----
"Are you reading one of those stupid romance novels... again?"
Kristen snickered at her own comment as she pushed a strand of her short, straight black hair away from her face. Carla, still absorbed in her book, just mumbled a "shut-up, Kristen" without even looking up.
"Seriously, are you reading The Beast & The Girl again? How many times can you stand that book!" Kristen asked, her voice this time even louder.
This time, Carla did look up, only to throw a furious glare at her supposed best friend.
"For one thing, the book is called The Beauty & The Beast," she snapped, angrily shutting her book closed. "And second, this happens to be a famous classic... as well as my favorite book!"
Before Kristen could open her mouth to come up with a witty reply, Lily, who had been nearly invisible for all this time, finally spoke up:
"Be quiet, Kristen."
"Thank-you!" Carla exclaimed, sighing. "I didn't know how long I could've stood this girl any longer!"
She pointed an accusing finger at Kristen, who only smirked and answered coolly:
"You managed to stand me for more than seven years, so you can certainly stand me for a few seconds."
Despite the fact that this argument was a very old one, Lily had to suppress a giggle. Although her best friends Carla and Kristen constantly bickered with each other, they remained friends ever since they were nine. They had a lot to fight about, since they both had opposite viewpoints on many things. Kristen Taylor was a short, rebellious girl with straight black hair and challenging dark brown eyes. She was the star chaser in the Gryffindor team (even better than Sirius, who was also a very skilled Gryffindor chaser), and it seemed as if she actually wanted trouble from the teachers by opposing what they said as many times as she could (unlike the marauders, who often tried to avoid trouble). Kristen also hated anything related to romance, or 'mushy crap' as she called it; she thought that only daydreamers who didn't have anything better to do 'waited for their prince to arrive and whisk them away on his horse'.
Carla Mason was another thing entirely: she had a slender body with an angelic face framed with perfect ringlets of long golden blond hair to match. Many people thought that she was the prettiest girl in Hogwarts. Not only that, but she believed that the students should listen to the teachers if they wished to gain anything useful, and she was the only person in the whole Gryffindor house who, not only was good at Potions, but actually liked the class. Carla was also gifted with a third eye that could see into the future (another thing that Kristen loved to tease about), and a strong belief that 'love could conquer all.'
Sometimes Lily envied her best friends, because they seemed to have everything she had ever wished for. Since her first year at Hogwarts, Lily always wanted to be in Gryffindor's Quidditch team; unfortunately, she knew she had no chance ever since she realized that it took her twenty-minutes to get on a broom without falling. Now she somewhat gave up on that dream, although sometimes she felt a tiny speck of hope within her. And of course, what kind of girl wouldn't want to be as beautiful and sophisticated as Carla (except Kristen)?
But Lily had to admit that she had her own special qualities: she was now the Head Girl, as long as the best student in Hogwarts (besides James). However, she now wished that she had a fair dose of courage, because she wanted to tell a certain somebody today about a very important subject... A subject that required a large amount of courage she didn't have, considering the fact that she had fidgeted all day long, thinking and dreading about it.
"So... what did you think about Charms today?" Lily asked, trying to hopefully stop another trivial fight between Kristen and Carla.
"Who cares about my opinion?" Kristen sighed dramatically. "All I know is that you probably loved it."
She then feigned a glare at Lily, who just rolled her eyes in amusement.
"It was okay, I guess," Carla replied, ignoring what Kristen just said, "although I probably need your help later for the assignment."
"Don't worry," Lily assured her. "I'll do whatever I can, and I don't really think that the homework will be hard at all."
Carla was about to add something when she was very rudely cut off by Kristen.
"Look there, everybody! There's Black and Potter!" she whispered, snickering as she pointed at the two boys.
"Don't you think that you should call them by their first names, considering the fact that you knew them since first year?" Carla questioned, her eyebrow raised.
Kristen ignored Carla's question by gently tugging Lily's sleeve and murmuring:
"Potter's coming your way."
"I can see that," Lily retorted, trying to act nonchalant, although she started feeling uneasy all over again.
She tried to grasp the words she wanted to tell him, but now it seemed as if they have all escaped from her mind. She cursed silently.
"Hey, Lily!" James came over and greeted her pleasantly.
The Head Girl managed to smile without twitching as she replied:
"Hi, James."
Gazing in his warm hazel eyes, Lily saw the past she had shared with him since the first day they had set eyes on each other. In their first year, they had immediately become best friends. During that time, it had being only her and James... and Sirius. Although she sometimes felt left out during those days when James and Sirius would share jokes and secrets only they could understand, Lily managed to become one of them and laugh along most of the times. Then, in their second year, Remus and Peter came along, and Lily found it even harder to maintain her relationship with James.
But somehow, she managed to survive that year, although it wasn't as fun-filled as the last. Sooner than she thought, she was in her third year, and Kristen and Carla became better friends than they had been before. Slowly but surely, she began to drift away from James as he and the rest began to form the marauders. The fourth year had been the hardest year of all: it was the year when James realized that he loved Lily more than anything in the world. Unfortunately for him, it was also the year when Lily learned that James had ceased being the boy who was her former best friend and become an egotistical, stupid, bullying toerag. And from fifth year to sixth year, it had been hell.
Luckily, in the beginning of their seventh year, when Lily found out that James was Head Boy, they managed to cool things down between each other. James promised her that he would stop bullying and hexing people for no reason whatsover and take his new responsibilities seriously. Although in the beginning Lily seriously doubted him, he had proven that if he tried hard enough, he could not only keep his promise, but exceed one's expectations of him. And now, they had become friends again.
However, while James thought that they were on first-name terms again because of his newly-acquired responsible outlook, the truth was... Lily once again accepted him as a friend once he told her that he didn't have a crush on her anymore. But as she stared at his familiar and comforting face, she regretted it fully, because now...
"I have something to tell you," James suddenly brought her back to Earth with these rushed words.
"What?" Lily asked, surprised.
"Come," he ordered, gently grabbing her sleeve and leading her away from her friends.
Because James was a pretty fast person, she almost had to jog to keep up with his hurried pace. But although she was concerned about what he wanted to tell her, she still couldn't help catch Sirius' disbelieving and furious face before James led her out of the castle and onto the Quidditch field.
"Why are we out here... now?" Lily inquired, confused.
She turned to James, who now had his back to her.
"It's because..." he mumbled, but was unexpectedly interrupted when Lily blurted out:
"I have something to tell you."
"You do?" he asked, turning around and appearing very taken back and surprised.
"And I bet you do, too."
James just nodded shyly, seeming to search for the right words to say... which was exactly what she was trying to do now. After a few moments of complete awkward silence, James finally turned to her and opened his mouth at the exact second Lily couldn't help crying:
"I love you."
Did he just say what I heard him say...? Lily wondered in shock as she automatically took a step back. No, it couldn't be...
"What?" they both echoed each other's words.
"I said I love you!"
Dumbfounded, they stared at each other in amazement and astonishment. James was the first one to regain his posture.
"Maybe next time... we should take turns blurting out what we want to say, don't you agree?" he asked, grinning.
"Uh... yeah," Lily answered slowly.
"And to answer the question you have in mind... yes, I do mean every word I just said."
"You do?" Lily couldn't help asking.
"I do," James answered, nodding and grinning. "But do you?"
For a minute, Lily just stood there, trying to absorb everything she just heard. Then, finally she replied:
"Of course I do."
However, she couldn't help adding:
"But then... you lied to me."
"What?" James asked, frowning and clearly surprised at what she just said.
"Do you remember what you told me on September the first? You told me that you didn't have a crush on me anymore... but then, why did you just say that you loved me?"
"It's because..." James quietly answered and looked up towards the sky. "It's because I knew before that you never believed me when I said that you were the only girl for me... so that's why I told you that day that I stopped liking you to make you happy. But right away I realized that it was a lie, and since then, I tried to tell you that I did love you, and that I would never, ever love another person the way I love you."
"Really?"
James just gazed at her before beaming and answering:
"Of course."
She wished that she could reply right away, but she was still somewhat in shock. After a few moments, James looked quizically at her before inquiring:
"Isn't this the part where you jump on me and say, 'James, I love you so much!'?"
When he said that, Lily suddenly came back to life as she coolly answered:
"Potter, you toerag, bite your tongue."
He just laughed out loud, his joy sincere and apparent as his laughter echoed throughout the whole Quidditch field. Lily came up to him, and he wrapped his arms around her, bringing them even closer together.
"I'll love you forever, Lils," he tenderly whispered in her ear with a note of confidence.
"That's such an old line," she retorted, although she was giggling.
James just shrugged carelessly before lifting her chin and drawing her into a long, passionate kiss. Lily wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling and loving the warmth of his body as well as the gently, blissful kiss itself. As they both enjoyed the moment, the setting sun cast a thousand brilliant colors upon them, highlighting their exhilarating happiness.
A/N: I really, really, really hoped that you enjoyed this chapter... because just to let you know, I'm not the type of person who likes writing mushy stories... so in conclusion, it took me a great effort to write this chapter out! Just to tell you, this is probably going to be a four-chapter story, and if you loved this chapter and want to see more James + Lily bonding, I warn you that the next three chapters will be nothing like the first. That is all.
My fanfic will also probably twist (or completely ignore) the already-given out information J.K. Rowling gave out in her books, so please don't bother pointing any of this out.
I would really enjoy your comments and critics, so please review... and the best (or only) reviewer will get Sirius' motorcycle!
Sirius: Hey! You have no right to sell my motorcycle!
Y Sunshine: It's not yours anymore, is it?
Sirius (mumbling): I should've never given my precious motorcycle to Hagrid...
See how valuable Sirius' motorcycle is! He'll probably hunt you down until he gets it, so be the best reviewer and get this rare and beautiful motorcycle!