Curse Breaker (or how to find answers)

Go on, look at him in the eyes if you dare - pt.1

James looked to his left, and then to his right, before quickly walking into the hallway that lead to the stairs, leaving the dorm as it was way past curfew. He couldn't remember the last time he slept there for more than 3 days in a row. No surprises that his friends were questioning it... James felt a bit bad for them, but they assured him it was fine. They were spending the rest of the day together, all the time, but still, somehow James didn't feel like his bed was truly his anymore, and it was an odd feeling. His bedroom was now the Headboy Dorm, and it was like that.

He walked down the stairs, to the common room, not expecting to hear people here. Sometimes some people were staying in here longer, past curfew, to have late night talks. When James was sneaking out, he always paid attention not to be heard nor seen, his trusty invisibility cloak always on his shoulders. Sometimes he eavesdropped, but most of the time, what was discussed wasn't that interesting.

That night, though, James, as he sneaked inside the common room to get out of the Gryffindor quarters, saw all of his girls friends, Lily, Mary and Marlene, with a few other girls he had talked to a little in the past. They seemed to have a dim and deep conversation. It looked like Mary was interrogating Lily, and the others were avidly listening to her answers.

Fortunately they were all sitting around the fireplace, where the fire was still vividly crackling, masking the noise of James' steps on the floor.

James didn't mean to listen — he was very interested in what could be said here, actually, but he couldn't wait to meet with Regulus tonight. He didn't mean to, but as he was trying to discreetly but quickly make his way from one side of the common room to the other, where the exit door was, he heard his name.

"So you don't like James?"

His heart stopped, feeling like he didn't have the right to hear the answer, but James stopped abruptly, looked at the door, before turning his head towards the group of girls. He just wanted to hear the answer; he was curious. It seemed he was at the right place at the right moment, and if fate put him there, he might as well hear what Lily would say.

Lily had always been honest, with James, as she always was with everyone, and sometimes rather blunt with him about her feelings for him. She had always made it very clear that they would only be friends, and that if James couldn't deal with that, and went off limits, she would stop their friendship right there. So James had accepted it.

James slowly turned towards Lily, and saw she was hesitating.

After a very little time, though, she answered Mary's eager question. "No. We're just friends," She said, with a characteristically soft and sweet smile. It made James smile too under his invisibility cloak. "We'll always be friends, nothing more."

"He's so handsome, though," one of them said, and James' jaw slightly dropped. He felt like he shouldn't hear that but the compliment was very flattering. "I wouldn't say no if he asked me out to Hogsmeade," she added, and it was welcomed by a wave of laughs and giggles. Which made James half cocky, half indifferent — he really didn't have anyone in his head lately but Regulus.

Lily shook her head negatively, chuckling. "No, really, we're friends. I like someone else," she boldly added, looking at Mary in the eyes.

James' mouth hang slightly more open, wondering if Lily was just about to confess. Never he would have imagined that girls gossiped that hard during their girl's nights... He knew Lily was confident and very honest. But still, he couldn't believe it. He noticed the suspicious bottle that was propped on the floor, next to the couch; it was probably fire whiskey or something. But even if she had drank a little bit, he couldn't believe that Lily would be so direct. Or maybe she would?