James and Lily Potter: Second year

Chapter 17: second year

"This'll never work," said Lily, shaking her head. "It's too risky."

"What, scared of failing the exams, Evans?" asked James coldly. He and Lily were not on speaking terms at the moment.

"No, Potter. It's just that this plan is so horribly put together that it'll surely fall apart."

"I hate to admit it, James," said Remus awkwardly, "But i agree."

James narrowed his eyes at the two. "Fine, be that way. But trust me, it'll work all right. Then you'll be sorry you ever doubted me, Evans."

"Hey, Remus doubts you too!" cried Lily, angry at the injustice of the statement.

"Well, he's my friend, so it doesn't count."

While Lily fumed over James' comment, they all went with his plan. Since Arabella and Sirius see them giddy and careless over their whole break up, they wouldn't expect them to play matchmaker at all on them. That, of course, was a part of the plan. After countless arguments in the boys' and girls' dormitories, they came up with the old-fashioned way of locking them into a closet and making them settle differences. Lily and James both wrote notes, trying to copy Arabella and Sirius' handwriting style and send it to them both, writing it under their names. Praying that they'd follow the instructions of each note, the two would end up in the closet.

"It's a brilliant plan," said James, grinning. "All thanks to the wonderful Mr. James Potter."

"Hey, the rest of us helped too, you know!" said Lily grumpily. "Don't think you're so high and almighty."

"Isn't that supposed to be you?" asked James innocently.

"Whatever, Potter. Let's just get with the plan."

Lily had written Arabella's note:

Dear, Sirius,

Look, I'm really sorry for being such an idiot. Can we just forget about this whole argument and start over again? Please meet me at the Charms corridor tomorrow afternoon at 3:00pm. After all, we don't have classes. I hope to see you there.

Love,

Arabella Figg

P.s oh, and I hope that we can get together and play matchmaker on Lily and James.

Meanwhile, James was writing his note, which was feigned to be written under Sirius' name. Little did the rest of them know that his note was the one that made this plan fall apart.

My dear Arabella,

I so hope that you would forgive me by now. I mean to say, Sarah Abbott is a total airhead and idiot. I mean, she was such a bit- well, you know, to my friends today.

I still love you a lot. Yes, that's right, I love you. It's no joke, really. You're perfect in every way. Smart, beautiful, with those curls of mahogany cascading down your back... you're my dream girl, Arabella Figg, and I'd ask you to marry me right now if we were old enough.

You still think this is a joke, don't you? I don't blame you. But I hope that you will share similar feelings after you read this note. After all, why did you kiss Amos Diggory? You know how I hate him so, Bella! When I saw you with him, a cold realisation of jealousy froze my soul.

You're wondering how I write such romantic notes? Jamie-boy taught me. I'm sure that we'll be able to get him to write such notes to Lily someday, huh? Oh, and please meet me at the Charms corridor tomorrow afternoon at 3:00. We still need to settle out some matters at hand.

You're one true love,

Sirius Black

James smiled. Yes, a masterpiece was right in front of him. Even Evans would be beaming and congratulating him once this plan worked out. Minutes later, both of them met back at the common room, beaming at their so-called 'masterpieces', and put them on the beds of their owners in their respected dormitories.

Lily shrugged. "Oh, you know, the regular stuff. Here's what I wrote. You did make a double of the note, didn't you?"

"How could I forget? Mine was a masterpiece."

James read Lily's note and stared at her with disappointment. "That's all you said? No romantic stuff?"

"No, of course not," said Lily sensibly "If we put that stuff in, then it'll ruin the whole plan. They're supposed to be making up each other's amends. If we do it for them, then, well, they're likely to be both exploded by the time we find them." James face suddenly turned white.

Lily looked at him impatiently. "Well, where's your note? I want to read your little masterpiece." she chuckled. James handed her the note, waiting for the blow. After she finished reading the signature, her face was as white as his was.

"You wrote that romantic nonsense when I told you not to?" she hissed.

"You never told me!" exclaimed James, trying to remember.

"Of course, I did! You were probably off in la-la land, though."

James didn't even want to look at Lily. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"More than trouble, boy. This is going to cost you... and I a lot of that trust Arabella and Sirius put into us. We're dead as dead fish."

James gulped. "Well, I guess this didn't work out as fine as I thought it would."

"Definitely not." suddenly Arabella and Sirius both entered the common room and waved to them, ignoring each other. Then they both went up to their respected dormitories, while James and Lily's eyes widened.

"We have to go after them before they read those blasted notes!" cried Lily. Then they both dashed up to find their friends, but it was too late by the time they reached them.

"Oh Lily," said Arabella, smiling, with tears in her eyes. "Who knewSirius could be such a writer! And James helped him, too... good boys, they are. I'm so proud of him! He says he lovesme."

Lily was extremely tense. "Don't be ridiculous, Bella, we're too young to understand love," she said nervously.

Arabella threw back her head and laughed. "Oh, Lily Evans, you cease to amaze me sometimes. Even though James hasn't written you a love note as beautiful as this, he will... and probably will be even more beautiful that this one. No need to get jealous here." she winked.

Lily stared at her best friend, vaguely wondering if she was drunk or had snogged Amos Diggory for way too long. "Jealous? I'm not jealous. I was just saying... I don't want you to get hurt, Bella."

"Don't worry, Lils, I won't. Don't be so overprotective."

Over at the boys' dormitory, Sirius had a triumphant glint in his eyes. "I knew that Bella would surrender to me! The sweetheart." he sighed. James was desperately trying to make Sirius say that he loved Bella, with the help of Remus and Peter, who had found out what happened.

"So... do you love her, Sirius?" he asked anxiously.

Sirius stopped smiling. "Love her?" he echoed in disbelief. "Of course not! We're thirteen, Jamie-boy, we don't know about love yet. What put an idea like that into your head?"

"Er-nothing."

"But isn't she the perfect girl, Sirius?" began Remus.

"Well, sure, she's gorgeous and smart, but-"

"And she's really loyal, Sirius," added Peter. "She loves you."

Sirius' eyes widened. "She does?"

"Er- of course. Lily told me," said James, feeling extremely guilty for lying to his best friend who would be heartbroken very soon.

"Then, if she loves me, I love her too!" exclaimed Sirius in joy. Remus, James, and Peter all exchanged glances. This means trouble... big time.