Shadows of Love 18

What goes around comes around

Lily Evans felt like the happiest person in the world. She was sitting on a bench under a blooming oak tree. It was a sunny, warm day and she was reading a very exciting book. A slight spring breeze ruffled up her dark red hair. Soon a big, dark cloud came and it started raining cats and dogs. She couldn’t make it to the castle with dry clothes, but she didn’t even have to. Tall figure was jogging to her direction. He wore his uniforms which were wet from the rain. His black hair was sticked to his forehead. One second later he stood in front of Lily. He smiled brightly and Lily could see his hot chocolate-like brown eyes through his glasses full of raindrops. She smiled too, she knew he came for her and she was not mistaken: James leant to her, took her face in both of his hands and pushed his lips against hers. The rain was falling onto them but they didn’t deal with it, they were just kissing, kissing like two people who were completely in love with each other.

And then, Lily Evans woke up.

She was heaving, her heart was beating very fast and her nightgown was damp. She sat up in her bed and ran her fingers through her hair tensely. She had never had such a dream, neither of James nor of any other guy and it made her upset.

And of course the other thing that didn’t let her rest was James’s presence in her imagination. Why would she have such dreams about him? She wasn’t in love with him or something! That was just ridiculous! Her and James! What a stupid idea.

However, she was thinking about their kiss at Slughorn’s party way too many times. She tried to repress the warm and knee-trembling feeling she got every time she saw him, and in order to completely stop this thing, she didn’t talk to him at all.

Even though she was fighting against her hormones, James seemed to avoid her, too. In fact, he seemed to avoid all of his best friends.

“What the bloody hell is his problem?”, Sirius squinted to the direction of the door at the end of the Great Hall, where James just dashed out through.
“He’s been behaving like this for three days now”, Remus stated. Though he didn’t say anything bad, Lily and Sirius exchanged a few suspicious glances.
“I saw him talking to Isabella Slinkhard the other day”, said Peter. He thought this information didn’t matter and swallowed a spoonful of his porridge.
Lily turned pale and her hand stopped over her pumpkin pie.
“What did you say?”, she asked petrified.
“They all say there’s something between them”, Remus confirmed and put his copy of the Daily Prophet down. “Honestly, I don’t know how much to believe. James don’t like girls like Isabella. She seems to be cocky.”
“You think he doesn’t like girls like that?”, Sirius smirked as he looked up from his plate. “And what about Amy Morgan? She was pretty much his…”
Lily cleared her throat and smiled at Sirius with a smile sharper than a blade.
“…his worst decision”, Sirius finished his sentence. “He doesn’t like Isabella at all.”
“Maybe it’s nothing”, Peter looked at them. “James has always been a bit strange.”
“Strange, huh?”, Lily turned her head to the door, thinking.

Sirius promised Lily he would talk to James after hours spent with begging. So at five o’clock, Lily went down to the Quidditch pitch to see how Sirius would be questioning James after their Quidditch practice. It was very cold out there. Lily was waiting for Sirius next to the door of the changing rooms. She hid behind a tree for the case if James was to come out first.

She didn’t have to wait for so long and someone appeared -- though not at the entrance of the changing rooms, but on the path that led to them. It was Isabella; she looked like a veela with her floating, blonde hair, straight nose and big, blue eyes. 'She's so much more beautiful than me', Lily thought and watched Isabella going to the changing rooms.

Lily went closer to the door and peeked into the room. James stood with his left arm around Isabella’s neck. They were facing Sirius.
“I know you don’t think it seriously, mate”, Sirius said. “And you shouldn’t fall for his lies, Isabella.”
“What are you talking about?”, Isabella straightened her shoulders and grabbed James’s fingers which hang loosely from her shoulders. “He told me he was wrong to waste his time for that Evans-girl. He admitted he’s always been in love with me.”
Sirius grimaced.
“Is this true, Prongs?”, he asked.
“Absolutely!”, James approved. “Come on, Isabella, I don’t want to be surrounded by people who can’t accept my feelings.”
Lily pressed her back to the wall tightly. James and Isabella didn’t notice her when they left.

Lily was heaving with shock. All of this was so out of the blue, she didn’t know whether to cry or scream hysterically until the painful feeling in her chest disappears. Sirius stepped out of the changing rooms, shaking his head. He turned to Lily.

“He’s just gone mad”, he said. “I don’t know what has gotten into him, but I hope it’s not infectious.”
Lily glanced at him, trying to stay calm. She couldn’t.
“Oh, come on, Lily!”, Sirius spat at her. “Don’t be so gloomy!”
“You heard what she said”, Lily replied in a low tone. “He was wasting his time for me.”
“And that’s true”, Sirius shrugged. “He was always so into you and you didn’t even care about him. You hated him. You would’ve done anything to get rid of him a few weeks ago and now you’re jealous of Isabella. I must think you’re in--”
“I’m not!”, Lily shouted before Sirius could have said what he wanted. “It’s just that I didn’t think he could get over me so fast. He said…”
“He said what?”, Sirius inquired.
“Nothing, forget it.”

Sirius sighed and started on his way to the castle. Lily followed him.
“Okay, if this will cheer you up, he didn’t mean what he just said.”, Sirius stated. “At least, he didn’t like what Isabella told me. About the ‘nobody accepts my feelings or whatever’ part… I guess that was true.”
“How can you be so sure about it?”, Lily asked sulkily, but a bit merrier.
Sirius raised his eyebrow with fake surprise on his face.
“Are you kidding?”, he blinked incredulously. “I’ve been like his girlfriend for six years, except for the snogging-and-all part.”
He was so serious, Lily couldn’t help laughing out loud, even though the aching cramp was still somewhere inside the left side of her chest.