Chapter Three: The 15th of February

Lily’s POV

Today is the day after Valentine’s. It’s the day where numerous girls wake up pregnant, where couples split up and there’s general heartbreak all around. I know this sounds really vindictive but today I actually feel really good; especially when I walked past Black who now has a hoard of girls screaming at him. I’ve never seen him look so scared for his life.

Today went on like normal. Ah, sigh of relief. It doesn’t even matter to me that everyone forgets what day today is. I sat down in the Gryffindor Common room. It was my free session off. I took out my book for Potions and began studying for an upcoming test on Draught of the Living Dead.

James still hadn’t gotten out of hospital yet. I paid him a visit this morning. He was in the exact same position the last time I saw him. I sighed. Well, maybe I prefer it that way. I mean, what on earth am I gonna do when he wakes up? I suppose I could go back to being sort of friends with him. The only problem is that I am a crap liar and my cheeks swell up like tomatoes, so that’s going to be embarrassing.

Or I could try to avoid him for the rest of the year. Except he’ll cotton on that there’s something wrong with me and confront me about. So that might not work.

Or maybe I could actually go on one of those dates with him. It wasn’t as if that would kill me, would it? In fact, it’d probably be really fun now that I think about it…

But what about my reputation? It will be so totally wrecked if I go out with him. I’ll be branded a hypocrite for life. I dunno…

Well, I don’t have to worry about it yet. He’s not awake yet. I feel really stupid about kissing him – God forbid he finds out about that.

The words in my textbook aren’t sinking into my brain. Come on, focus! This isn’t time to be fantasizing romance when you’re about to fail a test and possibly graduation. Eurgh, don’t you hate it when your brain refuses to pay attention?

“Hey look, it’s James!” Remus hollered to Black, pointing at the entrance to the Common Room.

Oh dear. There he was, looking as healthy as a horse. What am I going to do?

“Well ladies, I have to go now,” Black yelled, finally extracting himself from all the heart-broken girls to see his best friend.

I kept my head buried in the book. The longer I can go without actually talking to him the better. But I did keep an eye on James who was chatting and so on like normal. When I left the hospital wing yesterday Madam Pomfrey told me that he should take at least a week to recover from it. Then again, this is James Potter. He can be trusted to do the unexpected.

I don’t think James has spotted me yet. Should I just stay here and hope he doesn’t see me or try to sneak up to the girl’s dormitories? If I stay here he’s bound to notice me and if I try getting up there he’s bound to notice me too. It’s a lose-lose situation.

James is pretty preoccupied with his friends right now so maybe I should take my chances now and go for the stairs while he’s distracted. Yeah, I’ll try that. Better to die trying than just giving up.

I quickly pack up my stuff and run for it. But just when I have one foot on the first step and nearly dance the victory dance, I hear his voice: “Lily! Wait up!”

Damn. I’m doomed. I turned around to see James jogging up to me with a winning smile. I too, plaster a fake one to my face. Hopefully he’ll focus on that rather than the blushing that is bound to follow.

“Hey James, I heard you weren’t due out of hospital for a few more days.” Please, please, let my voice sound normal. I swear I’ve never been this nervous around guys I’ve liked except for him. Damn it.

“Well Lily I have an iron will. No silly little fall can kill me! I am invincible!”

“Hmm, isn’t that the James Potter we know and love?” I laughed. Oh crap, did I say love?

“Awe, I know you don’t want me to change.” He grinned. “Did you come to visit me in hospital?”

“Actually I did. So strange to see the Invincible James Potter knocked flat out by a sill little fall.”

“Yes,” he said blushing. Wait he was blushing! Oh good, that means I don’t have to feel so humiliated when it’s my turn.

“Hey can you two get out of the way?” a vindictive girl said as she descended the stairs. We were right at the base of the stairway.

“Sorry,” James said and ushered me into a more secluded area to finish our conversation.

When I opened my eyes this morning all I could see was white. White? Oh my God, did I die and go to heaven? NOO! Wait a moment, what would I be doing in heaven? Considering all my sins…

“Mr Potter, will you stop thrashing about? You’re scaring all the other patients!” said the stern voice of Madam Pomfrey. I turned to see her attending a frightened first year who looked as though she should have used the bedpans just then.

I slipped on my glasses and looked at the clock. It was about half past ten now. The calendar beside it read fifteenth of February – fifteenth! I’ve been here unconscious for a day and half now! Oh my goodness, I’ve missed Valentines and I’ve nearly missed today.

Before Madam Pomfrey could even protest I threw on my clothes – making sure they weren’t Superman – and headed for the Common room. Okay, missing Valentines was acceptable; Lily didn’t want anything for Valentines, but not today. But that’s okay, I had a plan. Not a great one, but a plan. Quickly, I assembled it before entering the Common Room.

The first thing I saw when I entered the Common Room was Sirius in deep need of rescuing. How that boy manages to get himself into all that trouble I honestly don’t know. Fortunately for him he has great friends like me and Remus to dig him out of his mess.

“Thank God you’re okay!” Sirius said. “I honestly don’t know how many more hits to the noggin you can take before you go brain dead.”

“I’ll have to agree with him there,” Remus said. “So you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine.” I saw a familiar flash of red heading towards the stairs. “Hold on a sec you guys – Lily! Wait up!”

She stopped, turned around and said, “Hey James, I heard you weren’t due out of hospital for a few more days.”

“Well Lily I have an iron will. No silly little fall can kill me! I am invincible!”

“Hmm, isn’t that the James Potter we know and love?”

“Awe, I know you don’t want me to change. Did you come to visit me in hospital?”

“Actually I did. So strange to see the Invincible James Potter knocked flat out by a sill little fall.”

“Yes.” Oh god that was embarrassing. Snape can’t top me but a staircase can. Damn.

“Hey can you two get out of the way?” a girl asked. I recognised her. She was one of Sirius’s exes. Well, then again, nearly every girl is one of Sirius’s exes. This one looked as though she was about to explode.

“Sorry,” I said took Lily to a quieter part of the Common room.

“So, how was your Valentines day yesterday?” I asked.

“Eurgh, don’t get me started. Horrible as usual but for different reasons.”

“Ah, so no one came up to you with roses and undying confessions of love?” I teased.

“No one else but you dares to do that.”

“Yes well, now that I think about it it’s a poor waste of a rose. Think about it. You cut off the rose and give it to her. Eventually the poor rose dies and you’ve just killed it for no real reason. What a great symbol of love.”

“Hmm, I suppose. In all honesty I’ve never thought about it that way before.”

Oh crap, I think I’ve just made myself look like an idiot here. Oh dear…

“So did you miss my usual shenanigans while I was gone? I had to knock myself out to restrain myself from asking you out yesterday. Please tell me it wasn’t all in vain.” I said, hopefully distracting her from my idiocy.

“Mmmm, well, I must say your undying confessions of love are much more original and interesting than all the ones I saw everywhere else. It was so, so… unpleasant!”

“Hmm.” I nodded. Then it was quiet. Oh god I can’t take silences. They make me think as though I’ve done something wrong. I racked my brains for something to say. Fortunately Lily took care of that.

“I mean it’s disgusting. It’s like everyone waits for this one day to have this big massive orgy. If this day wasn’t publicised for being a love day would people even acknowledge their feelings at all? That’s why I think it’s corny – people just do it because it’s advertised everywhere. They wouldn’t come up with that sort of stuff on their own.”

“Well how about this?” Before I could change my mind I kissed her. It wasn’t a long compassionate snog or anything, just short and sweet. Mm, I could taste the strawberry lip loss.

I pulled away before she could. She was breathless and her eyes were round with shock so I couldn’t tell if she liked it or not. I backed off nervously and stood there waiting for a while. She didn’t say anything. Considering that this was Lily, that’s a good thing. I was lucky she didn’t start screaming. So I took that as a good sign.

“Seeing as you don’t like to try these things on Valentine’s like normal people do, how about today? I’ve also taken the liberty in giving you a simple present that not only doesn’t cost the lives of those poor flowers, but also doesn’t cost anything to make, so you don’t have to worry about how much I’ve spent on you.”

I handed her the origami rose and card I made just outside the Common Room. She accepted them. A smile spread across my face before I could help it. I whispered into her ear, “Happy Birthday Lily.”

Then I walked away. I glanced over my shoulder. She was also smiling to herself. It’s not often I suppose that someone actually remembers her birthday is the day after Valentines.

Author’s Note: And that’s the end of that. I just wanted it to be short and sweet, nothing too mushy. One of the other main reasons I wrote it was because of the mushiness I found in a lot of romance that I was getting a bit tired of. So yeah, I’m not going to bother expanding this to more than necessary and I’ll get to work on completing my other stories.