The Toe-Rag and the Lily ✔ (COMPLETED)

Chapter 17 (the real one)

I broke away from him. "James, I -,"

"Please Lily."

"Ok, fine," I sighed dramatically.

I looked at him expectantly. Why wasn't he in shock or something? Then realisation set in. His eyes basically popped out of his head and I couldn't help but smile. He seemed to be frozen in his position. He literally couldn't move. Then he began bouncing up and down, running around the room, eventually scooping me up into a massive hug. I started laughing, because it was so funny watching James' reaction. I was agreeing to go on a date with James! I had broken all the chains I had made over the past few years, linking all things that I hated with James. I had destroyed everything I had worked for, everything to bring him down, put him in his place and now, we were going on a date.

"Hogsmeade?" he asked. I nodded.

*

James POV

I woke up that morning and realised today was the day of the Hogsmeade excursion. I jumped out of bed and ran straight past, Lily who was still in her pajamas, reading a book on the couch. I needed help. I didn't even look back at Lily, who in that split second had got up from the couch and was walking up the stairs. I ran down the corridors, which were pretty much empty apart from the odd couple having a make out session. I literally had no shame, I was wearing my Quidditch pajamas and was literally running down the corridors like a maniac.

I arrived at the Gryffindor tower, not puffed at all, just wanted Marlene to get her butt out of bed. I said the password and the Fat Lady obliged by opening the portrait hole. I walked inside and there was Marlene sitting on the couch. "Geez, James, what's wrong with you?"

"I need your help," I said, "I'm going to Hogsmeade today." "And..." she said, not looking up from what she was reading.

Oh, crap. I hadn't told anyone about going to Hogsmeade with Lily. "Oh, yeah, right. Um... I'm taking Lily to Hogsmeade."

She suddenly squealed and jumped up, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the common room. I felt like an idiot being pulled along the corridors in my pajamas by Marlene, and now I think about it, I should have just brought my invisibility cloak. I was rushed into the common room, and Marlene took forever to find me a nice outfit for the date. I had on some jeans and a grey shirt, with a black jumper. And when I came downstairs I saw Lily, sitting on the couch in a pair of skinny jeans and a white knit jumper, with a grey scarf. And boy did I fall for her all over again.

*

Lily and I were slowly walking down the path in Hogsmeade and the weather had taken a nasty turn. It seemed that the sun, which had been shining brightly just minutes beforehand, had, in fact, been swallowed up by darkness, as the sky turned grey and little water droplets turned quickly into pelting hail. I rushed Lily and I under a balcony of one of the houses in the village, glad there was somewhere to take refuge. Suddenly, a frost hung over the village and every breath taken was a cold one, that when exhaled, turned into a fog. And with that, there was the odd feeling of unhappiness in the air, too. Why was this happening? It was completely out of the ordinary. I thought hard for a few minutes, and came to one conclusion. Dementors. We had been learning about them recently in class, Defence Against the Dark Arts. Luckily we had also been taught the Patronus Charm recently in Charms.

"Dementors," Lily murmured, having the same thought as me.

"Yep," I confirmed.

We both whipped out our wands and got ready for the Dementors. It turns out only two Dementors happened to join us. But both of us produced a charm nevertheless. And boy was I surprised when I saw Lily's patronus. It was a doe. The counterpart of my own patronus, which was a stag. But when I turned around, my surprise was nothing compared to hers. And I think I detected a slight smile on her face. That, in turn made me smile.

"That was interesting," she stated.

*

Lily POV

At 8:00pm, the year 7's gathered in the great hall, shuffling everyone out who had been eating minutes previously. The year 7 ball was going to begin in half an hour, which left me enough time to do my hair and get changed into my dress. Marlene, Alice and I made our way up to our dorm, ready to get changed. My dress was a nice sequined blue one, bought from one of the shops a couple of weeks ago, when James wasn't with me, from Hogsmeade.

"Who are you going with, Al?" I asked, as I slipped my shoes on.

"Frank," she said dreamily.

Marlene rolled her eyes, and then glared at me.

"You could have known that without asking her, Lil! Who are you going with?"

"Oh um, James" I stuttered, whispering James' name.

"Who?" Marlene asked.

"James," I said, with slightly more confidence.

She and Alice squealed as loud as they could.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because that was your reaction! Besides it's not like it's a big deal..."

"Well, it is actually," Marlene said, matter-of-factly. "Now you have to guess who I'm going with."

"Sirius," Al and I chorused.

"No that's wrong it's – wait a minute, how'd you guess?"

"Pretty easy," we shrugged.

*

The ball went off spectacularly, with everything going according to plan and our school year just about finished, with exams coming up quite soon. The music was still playing and all the year 7 students were still out of bed, dancing and eating, just enjoying themselves. Finally the girls and I found each other again, at the drinks table, with James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, a couple of Ravenclaw girls and Frank. James' arm wrapped around my waist, giving me a squeeze. Predictably a slow song started playing, and James pulled my hand to the dance-floor. We assumed a dancing position, and swayed to the beat. Everyone seemed to be leaving at that time, but I didn't care. I had James, and he was keeping me there.

"Lil?" he whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I... I love you."

I stopped completely at this confession, so we stood there, not moving a muscle. C'mon Lily say something back! My mind nagged at me. I needed to say it back, but I couldn't form the words. So I summed it up in an action. I reached my hands up behind his neck and went on my tip toes, kissing him softly. I found the confidence to then say it back.

"I love you too, James."

He smiled broadly, leaning down to kiss me but we were interrupted by the castle walls shaking. Everyone in the room stopped, looking out the window for some sign of movement or attack. But nothing appeared in the cloudy night sky. The castle walls shook again, then everything went dark.

AN: I'm back guys! And this is an actual chapter. I feel rly good about this chapter, finally finished and did you like the cliffhanger, lol! I think the cliffhanger gave me more incentive to write another chapter in a couple of days haha. I'm sorry I haven't updated and Idk if I'l l be able to next week, as one of my friends is coming, but I hope you enjoyed this chappie and had a great Christmas, because I enjoyed writing and finally am back in the swing of things. However, I am not feeling this story as much as I was, and I won't be able to update as often, but read the author's note before this chapter to understand why. I am trying my best, though I rly am. Anyway, hope you're all having good school holidays to those at school, and I'll try to update soon. 

Love, Cass!