Not Him | Jily

Chapter Seven

It had been a few weeks since the game of truth or dare, now the start of October with temperatures slowly plummeting, and the first Hogsmeade trip of the year.

'Lily?' Marlene called to her friend as she sat on her bed, tying her laces. 'I know you're not particularly fond of them, so don't kill me when I tell you that when Sirius asked whether we'd go to Hogsmeade with him and the boys I said yes. Once you get to know them they're decent people. Sirius is really funny, and James...' she trailed off, anxiously chewing at her lip.

Lily had purposely failed to mention that James had already told her this: wanting to see how long it would take Marlene to bring it up - which apparently wasn't going to happen until fifteen minutes before they were due to leave.

In reality, Lily hadn't hated all the time they had started to spend with James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter recently. It had been...fun.

'He's not what you expect,' Marlene finished, frowning at herself. 'He's kind of...dorky, and...cute?'

Lily ignored the fact that Marlene had just called James cute, but only because she was sure Marlene liked Sirius. She suffered from a strange ache in her chest though, as if something were burning to get out: except that was silly. She didn't like James as anything other than a friend.

'First name basis?' Lily teased.

Marlene scoffed, 'Well you will be too after today. Trust me.'

Lily hesitated before she spoke again. Marlene was now at the mirror, brushing her blonde hair. 'What changed your mind about them?'

She stopped brushing her hair but stayed facing the mirror, twirling the brush in her hands as she spoke, 'Promise me you won't get mad?'

'I promise,' Lily assured, though she wasn't sure why Marlene was making this out to be so serious. It couldn't be that bad, right?

'I was upset because I'd just seen that Hufflepuff boy I'd been messing around with snogging some other girl. I guess I didn't really know what to do with myself, because I was sort of randomly walking around the castle. And then James and Sirius come round the corner. Sirius got awkward when he saw I was crying and bailed. But James stayed,' Marlene turned to face her, a distant look on her face.

This was the part where Marlene told her she had kissed James, wasn't it? She was going to ask for Lily's permission to date him or...something. Marlene thought that she'd be mad about that? Of course she wouldn't...would she? Lily frowned to herself, trying to work out how she felt about it. If she were mad, it would only be because all James had put her through.

'I ended up telling him what had happened, and then the topic switched to you.' OH. This hadn't been what she was expecting. 'Lils, he honestly didn't mean to make you so uncomfortable. He wasn't joking when he used to ask you out, and he admits he did it all in the wrong way, and I could see how much he regretted it. But there is a real person inside that arrogant shell of his.'

Lily pressed her lips together in thought, 'You're the second person to tell me this, and I--' Lily stopped herself. A gut feeling once again getting in the way of her being honest about the Amortentia. With a start, she remembered that James' sweater was still buried somewhere in her wardrobe. She'd deal with that later. 'It's forgotten. We can't change the past.'

Marlene smiled with relief, 'Let's go find the boys before we're late.'

__________

They weren't sure how they ended up alone together, but there they were: alone and together in the crowded Three Broomsticks awkwardly sipping butterbeer from their glasses.

In truth, their friends had done it on purpose. They'd all slipped away two at a time. Starting with Sirius and Marlene, and ending with Remus and Peter claiming they both needed a trip to Zonko's Joke Shop.

Lily started down into her almost empty glass, swirling the reminments around, 'How's Quidditch going? She asked, simply because she couldn't take anymore awkward silence, certainly not because she wanted to talk to him.

'Sorry?' James replied, whipping his head round to face her. 'Oh, Quidditch? It's alright,' he answered his own question, then turned back to whatever he was so focused on moments before.

It was definitely a first date, James thought to himself, as she watched a couple a few metres away squabble over something. His advice? If you're already arguing on a first date, it's not a good match. Then the guy made his third mistake - insulting her: 'Are you on your period or something?'

In contrast to popular belief, James had only officially dated three girls. Though he admittedly flirted with most, he could never grow enough interest to date any.

The first lasted for exactly a week during third year. His intention was to make Lily jealous, but that very obviously didn't work. The second was also in third year, lasting a few months until she broke it off. The third had been in fourth year, this time to take his mind off Lily. He recognised the unfairness of it when the girl seemed far more attached than he was, and he still couldn't bear to let go of Lily. So, he broke it off before she got too hurt.

As the girl began to get up from her table, James realised his own mistake, even though he wasn't on a date. He turned back to Lily, who was passionately staring into her glass.

'Yeah,' he continued, picking Lily's interest back up to him. 'I think we really have a good team this year. We're definitely going to win the cup.'

The redhead beamed, 'Oh! I don't think I ever congratulated you on becoming captain!'

James grinned his thanks. She hadn't congratulated him because they hadn't been on friendly terms at the time, but he wasn't going to ruin it and point that out.

'I love watching the games, but I'm terrified of heights, so playing doesn't really work out for me,' Lily smiled softly, feeling slightly embarrassed. McGonagall was constantly calling James the best player the school had ever seen, and here Lily was telling him she couldn't get on a broom without the utmost of panic.

But James didn't laugh or even tease her, 'I'd be happy to help with your fear, you know? If you want?'

Lily paused before responding, needing to be certain he meant as friends. She hoped it wouldn't always be like this, and one day she could stop second guessing his intentions. But today was not that day. Apparently she was not the only one with this thought process.

'Just as friends. I'm not trying to...yeah, you get it..' James ran a hand through his hair, glancing around at the rest of the pub, hoping to ease some of the pressure he had put on her by not staring.

'You're on, Potter,' he heard her reply, but somehow wasn't convinced it had been her that spoke. When he returned the eye contact she was making though, he was certain.

'Perfect,' a small satisfied grin appeared on his face. 'Evans.'

a/n. k i swear im going to stop putting these on every chapter, but again i apologise for how short this is. it's the last short one though