Chapter Two: How Many More?

*As James stumbled into the apartment that Lily and Arabella shared, he knew he was in hot water. It was completely dark in the living room- the only shred of yellow, dim light eerily streamed through the kitchen door, which was cracked open slightly. He could smell the faint traces of chicken and potatoes… his favorite. But now the smell was faint, and it looked as if he had missed his chance to dine with his fiancé. It appeared Lily had turned in for the night.

Well. What should he do now? If she was asleep, he certainly didn’t want to wake her- she needed her beauty rest. Oh, and he didn’t really need to deal with her yelling at him. Did Lily yell? He used his free hand, which really wasn’t free because he was still holding his key to the apartment in it, to push up his glasses and massage the bridge of his nose. A note! He would leave her a note! Perfect. Leaving his key on the small table by the door, James strode towards the kitchen light, where he knew he could find paper and a pen.

He gently pushed aside the door and blinked as his eyes adjusted to the candlelight. Then he turned around and shut the door behind him, so that if he made any noise he wouldn’t wake the sleeping red head.

“Seven o’clock James.” He winced, then turned back around. There was Lily, settled in a chair on the other side of the island that sat in the middle of the kitchen. Beside her was a plate of food. “Seven o’clock sharp, clean robes, no papers.”

“Lily, I…” He hung his head and adjusted his arm. The papers were getting heavy beneath her piercing gaze, and he wished he had charmed them so that they were lighter. “I’m sorry Lily. I lost track of time at work.”

“Dinner James. You promised me dinner. Or rather, I promised to cook you dinner, and you promised to give me the time of day to sit and eat it.” Lily rubbed her temples slowly, trying to avert the brand new headache that was beginning.

“Lily, really, I’m sorry.”

“James, I don’t even know if you eat at work. You get so caught up in yourself and your hunting and your papers that you forget everything else, why not food? And James? Sometimes when I go visit you, when I have a lunch off, you look like you haven’t bathed in a week. James, you need to slow down. Please!” Lily tried to keep her voice and face very steady. She would not allow herself to waver. She needed James to see how important this was, but she didn’t want to add stress to him by breaking down, the way her heart was doing inwardly.

“Lily… I am… so sorry.” James huffed again. He watched as she stood and crossed to him. Without asking, she took the stack of papers from his grasp and put the on the counter. Then she guided him over to the seat she had occupied and pushed him to sit.

“I know you are James.” She sighed. “You always are.” He grinned and reached for the plate of food on the counter. It would be cold, he knew, but he was starving.

“But I mean it this time Lily.” She smiled sadly and before he could reach the plate, picked it up and put it in the sink. He groaned and she heard his stomach rumble. “Lily, that was mean. I’m starving!” She smirked, feeling a little bit redeemed.

“Are you? I was beginning to think you didn’t know when you were hungry.”

“Lily, stop playing games.” He stood up grumbling. “I’m tired, I’ve had a long day at work, and I’m hungry. You aren’t making this any easier on me.” Her jaw dropped.

“James! I-”

“Look, I can’t deal with being yelled at tonight, so just know I’m sorry. I’ll talk to you some other time Lily.” He brushed her off tiredly. Once again he stood and made to gather the stack of papers.

“James?” Lily whispered, her voice hoarse from holding back tears. “There’s a warm plate in the oven.” He stopped and looked at her. He took in her appearance… plain black robe, plain red hair, plain green eyes, plain pale skin.

“There’s another plate?” Her heart sunk.

“Yes.”

“Thanks Lily.”

“Help yourself.” She cleared her throat an when he turned away wiped her eyes. “I’m going to bed James. Ara should be getting home around eleven if you’re here that late. Good night.”

“Night Lily!” He replied unceremoniously and he began to dig into the meal. She turned away and shuffled toward the door.

“Oh, Lily?”

“Yes James?”

“Should you do a favor for me before you go to sleep?” She perked up. What did he want- to surprise her? Talk to her? Hear about her day for a change?

“Could you charm those papers so they’re lighter?” She closed her eyes very slowly and blinked back open.

“Sure James. What else am I good for?”

“Thanks Lily, you’re great.”

“Yeah.” As soon as she had muttered her spell, she turned and fled from the kitchen. For a moment James thought she might not have been in a good mood. She didn’t seem as talkative as she usually was. But at least he didn’t have to concentrate on her babble tonight. She was probably just upset about him being late. Well, he’d make it up to her tomorrow by taking her out to lunch or maybe dinner. Then she would be set right again.

As soon as James was done with the plate of food, he went to the fridge and pull of another chicken leg. Wrapping it up in foil to take home, he looked at his plate. Should he wash it? No. Lily would do it tomorrow. He stuffed it in the sink with the plate from earlier, picked up his chicken leg and papers, and cast a spell quickly to exterminate all but one candle, which he left lit for Ara. Then he picked up his key to the apartment and started on his way home.

When Ara walked into the darkened apartment and eleven thirty, she was euphoric. Her date had not only gone well, but Horace, the ‘very cute Daily Prophet reporter’ hadn’t asked her one question about the hospital security measures- and he had asked her out again. She smiled secretively thinking about how sweet he had been. As she stripped off her robes and let her long hair down out of its french-twist, her ears perked up. Was that… crying? Oh no! Lily!

Ara raced to Lily’s door and knocked on it gently. “Lils? Hey Lils, are you ok?” Opening the door, she found her friend sitting under her bed covers, pajamas on, tears streaming down her pale face from her ivy green eyes. “Oh Lily! What happened?”

“Ara!” Lily just sobbed harder. When Arabella took a seat on the bed, Lily threw herself into her friend’s arms and cried harder.

“Lily, did you and James have a fight? I mean, you’ve never had one before, but there’s a first time for everything. It’ll be ok! He’ll realize he was wrong and miss you, and come crawling back…”

“No Ara.” Lily sniffed. “That isn’t it. It wasn’t a fight… it was just James. Just James ignoring me.”

“What?” Now Ara was confused.

“He walked in an hour and a half late, dirty robes, stack of papers under his arm… and after all that I was still nice to him. I was just glad he was all right. I mean, I started thinking that he might have been sent to capture another Death Eater and instead had encountered Voldemort. I thought he might have been…”

“Cursed?”

“And then, just when I think I’m going to get a smile from him, he goes and yells at me! He told me to stop playing games and stop yelling… I don’t know what I did! And just when I started to leave, he called me back, and I thought he wanted to apologize, to talk, but no! He wanted me to charm the stack of papers so they would be lighter!”

“He what!” Ara grumbled angrily. That did not sound like the James Potter she had come to know in the last ten years! Taking advantage like that!

“He really did that!” Lily sobbed. “Ara, this is the fourth time in a week he’s snapped at me for no reason. I’m beginning to think he’s… he’s…”

“He’s what Lils?”

“He’s fallen out of love for me.” Lily whispered. Ara gasped.

“But Lily! You and James… you’re the dream couple! You’ve been on love with each other since sixth year! Lily, you’ve loved him for five years… that’s too long to fall out of love with someone.”

“I never said I wasn’t in love with him! He’s not in love with me!” She sniffed. “And to think. He’s the one that made me believe there was such a thing as love. What a joke.”

“No Lily. Love is not a joke.”

“Really? Then what do you call James’s and my relationship? All he does is use me for the charms and free meals. That’s all he cares about anymore. All he cares about is finding that God-awful wizard Voldemort and exacting revenge for the death of his parents.”

“Lily! You don’t mean that!”

“Yes I do!” Lily announced forcefully. “Ara, if only you could see his face… he looks like a ghost… pallid skin, black circles beneath his eyes, skin and bones… He scares me now. And he never laughs anymore. There was a time when he laughed. There was a time he pranked everyone recklessly. Remember? But he hardly even smiles anymore!”

“But Lily, even with all of that, he still loves you.” Lily gave an empty laugh of her own.

“Yes. He loves me. Loves me so much that he uses me for a charm or food and then ignores me. All I am is a security.”

“Have you told him this?”

“When? When do I get to see him when he isn’t so tired or busy that he’ll snap at me if I say something to him?”

“Lily…”

“Do you know he hasn’t called me Lady Lily in almost a year? All I hear now is Lily. I rarely even hear Lils from him.”

“You need to talk to him Lily!” Ara insisted.

“What good would it do? I have the feeling that I could go up to James and say ‘I’m on fire!’ and he wouldn’t even look up.” And Lily began crying again.

“Oh Lils…” Ara sighed, hugging her best friend closer. What could she say to stop the tears? “Lily, just remember. No man is worth crying over, and the one that is won’t make you cry.” But Lily only sighed harder. To her that whole quote seemed to sum up her fate. James was making her cry… he wasn’t worth the tears. She could see the handwriting on the wall… their relationship was slowly ending.

When Lily had fallen asleep, Ara snuck out of the room and into her own. Taking out a parchment and quill, she began a very short letter.

“Dear Si: We need to speak, very soon. This is urgent. Not an emergency, but urgent. Meet me for coffee tomorrow at Brews, 10:30. –Ara”

It had to be short. Otherwise Sirius wouldn’t take the time to read it, or take it very seriously for that matter. To leave him wondering was better. Somehow she and Sirius needed to figure out a way to shock James back into life.

Quickly Ara sent the owl off into the night, hoping Sirius would get it soon. Then she yawned and turned in for bed. *

~~~I plan on starting this out a little slowly- it’s based on the relationship, not much else. It’s all about people’s perspectives and such right now. Later I’ll add in some action, but not yet. I like to set things up a little first. Also, I’m sorry if it takes me a while to get chapters out… I was in a car accident (NOT my fault, I was rear ended) and I threw my back out horribly. Anyway, I’ll do my best! Much love, Vixen!~~~