Our Seventh Year

It was mid January, the nineteenth actually which was the day before Lily’s seventeenth birthday. Things between Lily and James were going great, until one day after class. James found himself wandering the halls looking for Lily when he ran into one of the last people he wanted to see. His ex girlfriend Katelyn was walking down the hall, and she was making a beeline for him. Whenever he was with someone she would stay away, and when he was alone (which was rare) she would always try to talk with him. They dated the year before for about four months, and ever since they broke up, she was constantly trying to get him to come back to her.

“James!” She called happily as she jogged to catch up to him, groaning on the inside he turned around to face her, a fake smile planted on his face.

“Hey,” James said with less enthusiasm. He moved to put his hands in his pockets, but she was faster, and grabbed his arm at the crook of his elbow. James looked around hoping Lily was not near, he was not doing anything wrong, but it definitely did not look good.

“So…how are things?” Katelyn asked him in her bubbly voice. Her and Lily were polar opposites, she was a tall platinum blonde, her hair short like a pixie cut. She never cared about school, so her marks were low, and she enjoyed to party.

Staring ahead looking for anyone else he knew James answered her question, “fine Katelyn,” he said obviously annoyed with what was happening.

“Why so grumpy?” She asked a huge smile planted on her face. Katelyn did not care that he had a girlfriend, she was actually hoping Lily would see this.

“Because I really don’t want to be talking with you,” James said honestly. It was mean, but you had to blunt with her in order to get the point across.

She dragged him over to a bench, and reluctantly he took a seat next to her. James did not want to be anywhere near her, but if he walked of he knew she would run off to cry, and people would be all over him asking why he was such an asshole to her. Plus she liked to start lies about him.

Finally he saw someone he knew and unfortunately she saw him as well.

Lily was walking with Autumn doing the normal ‘yeahs’ and ‘uh-huhs’ to her latest story about an all night party in the Hufflepuff common room. She loved Autumn like a sister, but sometimes she was a bit much. Her eyes scanned the crowd for James, they were supposed to meet outside her class and work on a paper together. Finally she saw him, and she smiled and waved, then she saw Katelyn, and the smile instantly turned into a frown, her hand falling.

“Uh oh,” Autumn said when she saw the same thing. “Let’s—let’s go get some coffee from the kitchens,” she said trying to drag Lily away and she succeeded. Nothing good ever came from Katelyn, they had a few run ins in the past.

James saw Lily’s face, and instantly felt his heart drop, quickly he wrenched his arm out of Katelyn’s grasp, and she looked at him shocked, but obviously happy, she had been planning this.

“Just stay away from me,” James said before getting up and walking quickly in the direction Lily had disappeared to with Autumn. James knew there were going to be repercussions for what he did just did from both sides, but he could care less about the new rumors that were going to come flying from Katelyn’s mouth. He saw Autumn glance over her shoulder at him when he rounded a corner, and she mouth to him that now was not the best time.

Swearing under his breath James went up to his room to wait for Lily to return. He needed to explain himself, and fast before Lily became extremely cross with him.

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Lily downed her coffee, very angry and agitated. She needed to find James, and give him a piece of her mind. Of all the people she did not like, Katelyn was the worst. Lily knew that she had been gunning for James since their fifth year, and then she succeeded, which caused Lily to be jealous, and now she was going to be the jealous girlfriend.

An hour later Lily returned to Gryffindor tower, saying her goodbyes to Autumn before making her way up to her and James’ private common room. She was being calm, which was always the most eerie part. Lily always managed to contain her anger for a while, but once it bubbled over, no one wanted to be around her.

James heard her coming up the stairs, and adjusted on the couch. He knew that he should have just walked off the minute Katelyn had spotted him and walked over, but he didn’t. The door swung open, and Lily walked in without even looking over at him.

“Hey love,” he mumbled watching her head into her room.

“Hi,” Lily said calmly, though the underlying tone was undeniable. She disappeared into her room throwing her books into her bed before taking a deep breath. She knew there was probably a logical explanation, and that she needed to be rational, but that was hard.

He ran a hand through his hair as he waited for her to return, and once she did he patted the spot on the couch next to him for her to sit. He leaned away from her though, knowing that glint in her eyes, he had not received that look from her since they started dating. It was always the look she gave him when he aggravated her, or acted immature around her.

“Let me explain…” James said.

“Oh please do,” Lily said her arms crossed over her chest as she stared at the fire.

Quickly James recounted everything that had happened perfectly and to a tee. He paused waiting for Lily’s reaction, and they sat in silence for about two minutes, it was the longest two minutes James had ever gone through.

“So why didn’t you just walk away James?” Lily said finally looking over at him. “It’s not that hard.”

“I know I should have, but she would have run off and cried, then everyone would be all over me,” James said.

“Oh so other people being mad at you is worse than your own girlfriend?” Lily asked instantly turning it around on him. She knew what he was saying, and if she was not so upset she would have just let it go.

“No Lils…I just…I don’t know,” James said quickly trying to fix what he had just done.

“So now I have to worry about your ex and if you are running off and talking to her,” Lily remarked with a snip.

“First of all I did not go to find her, she found me,” James said emphasizing the I and she. “I have no desire to talk to her, please Lily just listen to me.”

“I am listening,” Lily said rolling her eyes.

“I am not going to run off and talk with her, I want nothing to do with her,” James said adjusting on the couch so his whole body was facing Lily.

“Fine,” Lily said. She was trusting him, since that is what relationships were all about, he had never given her a reason not to.

They sat in silence, which was beginning to get awkward. James knew she was still upset, but saw she was starting to relax a bit. Her arms uncrossed and sat lightly at her sides, and she seemed less tense. Reaching out James grabbed her hand firmly, rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

“I love you Lils, nothing will change that,” James said quietly, a small smile on his face. “I wouldn’t do anything that could ruin our relationship, I promise.”

Sighing, Lily turned to look at him, “I know love. I’m sorry for over reacting, but the way it looked…” she stopped talking and just smiled.

“I understand I would have done the same thing.” James said leaning over to kiss her.

Lily returned the kiss before laying her head on the back of the couch and closing her eyes. The sun was setting outside, and was bright in the room.

“Everything alright?” He asked her quietly as he adjusted his glasses on his face.

“Yes…no,” Lily said picking her head back up to look at him. “I just had a rough day, and tomorrow is my birthday.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” He asked her when she commented about her birthday.

“For the most part no, but Petunia makes it bad,” Lily said honestly. “She only gets me something because mother makes her. Honestly, I do not want anything from her if it’s not from the heart, it is so bad that mom signs the card for her.”

“Oh,” James said quietly. “Well don’t let her ruin it, we already know she is…different,” he replied trying to think of the right word.

“I know, it’s just frustrating, I am her sister, and she probably wishes I was dead,” Lily said before brushing her hair out of her face.

“Well don’t let her get to you, I have something nice planned for you tomorrow, and I don’t want her ruining it,” James said smirking. He had been planning her birthday for about three weeks now.

“Thank you,” Lily said smiling at him. “I hope you did not go too far out of your way.”

“I didn’t, I promise,” James said.

Just as they planned the night before they worked on their charms papers which took a good two and a half hours, and they had dinner though they had to go to the kitchen. Well actually Lily went into the kitchen, since James was deathly afraid of house elves.

“You need to relax,” Lily said when she emerged from the kitchen again as James stood down the hall as elves followed Lily out saying their goodbyes and bowing.

“They are just so creepy,” James said taking her hand and they headed back to Gryffindor tower, looking over his shoulder. Big tea cup eyes were watching them, and he quickly turned around.

“They are cute! Plus they love humans, and would never do anything to harm them,” Lily remarked as they climbed the stairs, pausing in mid step as the one they were on shifted.

“I know! But that is the weird part, who could love serving people? One day they are going to rebel,” James said as they made it to Gryffindor tower.

Laughing, Lily just went inside, going up to James room before they sat and ate dinner. It was eleven at night, and in a few short hours she would be seventeen and of age. Around midnight both of them finally fell asleep.