Epiphany

10 ~ Girl Troubles

Before anyone realised, Halloween was fast approaching. Which, of course, meant a party in the Gryffindor dorm. A good party seemed the perfect distraction for James' girl troubles, which made it sound as if he had a girlfriend instead of someone who despised him. Sirius had, of course, put himself in charge of planning the whole ordeal, with Marlene as his assistant.

"We have to invite Nearly-Headless Nick, of course-" Sirius paced round the sofa that James, Peter and Remus lounged on.

"Surely not!" Marlene protested, "He'll only scare the first years!"

"Who cares about the first years, they'll all be asleep anyway."

James rolled his eyes. He honestly couldn't care less who was invited or whether the decorations were orange or red (apparently his suggestion of both was appalling), but knew that it meant a lot to Sirius.

"Sirius told me what you said in the defense lesson." Remus said quietly, so as to not disturb the arguing party planners.

"I said lots of things in that lesson." James replied, though he knew full well what Moony was referring to.

"About Lily's patronus, and what that might mean if yours is what we think it is."

After searching through dozens of books on the subject, the librarian had grown used to him at this point, James had learnt that similar patronuses indicated a bond between the casters, knowledge which had by no means helped his worry. 'A bond' could mean anything from enemies to soulmates, neither of which sounded appealing to him. If it had been anyone else-

"Let's not." He said curtly. Well that wasn't what he wanted to say at all.

Surprisingly, Remus obliged, an expression of worry clear on his face. James did want to talk about it. He wanted to scream to someone that none of this made sense, that he didn't want to be connected to Lily Evans, that he might have ruined their chance at friendship without even knowing what he had done. But he didn't. He couldn't. Not in front of Marlene, queen of gossip.

"We're not bloody inviting other houses!" Sirius yelled, hurling James back into reality.

"Slytherins I understand," Marlene shot back, "but what's wrong with Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs?"

"This is a Gryffindor party Mar, plus Strix would throw a fit!"

At least the arguing gave James an excuse to be silent.

The day dragged by slowly, each lesson he shared with Evans (which seemed far too many for his liking) was even more painful than the last. Yet, he also enjoyed it. She ignored him, sure, but that was probably for the best.

When the evening finally arrived, James entered the common room to find it decorated in black and red (so Marlene won that). The room was crowded with fifth, sixth and seventh year Gryffindors, Marlene and Sirius greeted newcomers. As soon as he spotted James, Padfoot dashed over, a half-full glass in hand.

"You're here!" Sirius exclaimed, as if there had been a doubt, "Late of course, but that hardly matters now. Go change, your robes are ruining the vibes!" With that, he chugged the remainder of his drink, earning a raised brow from James.

Sirius chuckled as he pushed James towards the boys dorm, "Mocktails of course! Merlin's beard, you're such a mum!"

Once he had changed, he reamerged into the common room and was greeted by an excited Marlene, who took his arm and led him to a group of girls: her, Dorcas Meadowes, Alice Fortescue, Mary MacDonald and-

-Lily Evans.

A/N:

Hey, I'm back! It's been a while, and it's probably going to be at least two weeks until I post again (mocks amiright y11 Brits). Honestly, I'm vibing with this a lot more now so there will probably be more chapters after this (I say probably cuz this could all change). Anyway, I'm rambling now. Sorry for the cliffhanger and by y'all!