All right!
Here is what happened after James and Lily Got together. I actually had written 44 chaps but decided to cut it short. but then there were bits i really liked so here it is!!! there are sirius and monica bits but they are the prologue to Tie that bind...
so here is what happened
*~*
It was late at night in the common room-
"Spill it Remus! James and Lily are on their rounds and you have been up for so long… what is wrong?"
"Nothing Sirius… I just have homework to do!"
"Remus! Since when do you do your homework with half the parchment scribbled with Erica's name?"
"Is it?" Remus sat up with a jerk and looked at his parchment which was filled with doodles. He sighed deeply and sunk his face into his hands. Sirius placed his hand on Remus' shoulder and looked concerned.
"I know you and Erica broke up moony… Monica told me!"
"Oh!"
"You know, for a clever person you are such a dumb-headed fool when it comes to relationships!"
"Padfoot, you don't understand! You are not the one with a 'furry little problem'!"
"I may not be but I am also someone in love and I know how hard it is to be away from a person you love… I think you are being ridiculous!"
Erica came down the stairs with puffy eyes and a red nose. Remus looked up and their eyes met. Both were looking wretched and lost. Her under-lip quivered as she looked at him. Remus flinched a little when he saw Erica but did not break the eye contact. She froze in her place. Remus clenched his fists. Sirius looked between the two of them. He saw Monica walk up from behind Erica and she froze when she saw what had happened. She laid a comforting hand on Erica's shoulder.
"Are you okay?" she whispered quietly. Erica did not trust herself to speak.
She was dumbfounded. She had come down to the common room just to stay away from her bed, the sight of which made her cry. What she had expected she did not know but she did not expect to see Remus there. She felt like someone had sucked all the air out of her. Her knees felt like jelly and when she heard those words from Monica, they gave way and she sank down to the floor. She could not take her eyes away from Remus. There seemed some sort of an invisible force pulling the two of them together.
Remus felt his heart wrench when he saw Erica sink to her knees. All he wanted to do at that moment was just pull her into his arms and comfort her. But he knew deep inside that after this year, he could not study further and that Monica would be going in for auror training.
Sirius looked between the two of them. He got up and walked over to Erica. He put an arm around her shoulders and hoisted her up to her feet and firmly, ignoring her gentle protests, made her sit opposite Remus.
"I am going to get this cleared between the two of you since you both will not do it." Monica was frantically signaling him from behind, telling him not to do it. He ignored it and continued, "I don't know what really happened between the two of you but I know that moony tends to be stupid about girls and his furry little problem as he connects the two of them for some weird reason, but…"
"Padfoot! The reason is not weird. You are a guy who just follows your heart and plunges into things… but I follow my mind more than my heart Sirius and my mind tells me the practical details…"
"Practical?" chocked Erica, "practical? Is it practical to be mooning around like this…?"
"There you go! You said the key word – Moon!"
"Shut up Remus! It is not practical to keep the one person you love and who loves you away from you. It is not practical to cry everyday. It is not practical to loose your piece of mind over something which we can work around!"
"Hey! Don't scream at me!" said Remus standing up to face Erica. "In case you have not noticed, it is also not practical to be with a werewolf! It is not as small as James' phrase!"
"Hey! It is not like we are going to be married or something!" Her straight, blonde hair which had been tied up in a twist at the top of her head came undone and was now hanging from the right side of her head, still in a half twisted condition.
"Then why are you so bothered about this? If all you want is to be boyfriend and girlfriend, then why does it matter whether we stay together or not?"
"Because we love each other? IS that not a good enough reason?"
"Erica! how long can we 'be in love and stay BF-GF'" said Remus showing air quotes sarcastically, "don't you ever think that someday, if we stay together and are still in love, we won't get married?"
"I do think about that! But that is not in the near future!"
"What is you definition of a near future!" said Remus frowning incredulously at her.
"Well… near future is like till the end of our extended education!" said Erica rising her eyebrows as if it was an obvious thing.
"That is the key word Erica… I will not be having any extended education!" said Remus in his normal voice, "and the near future is actually very near. Alice and Frank are going to get married at the end of 2 years. Don't you realize that we are grown up now? We are of age."
"So you mean to say that if this relationship is not ended now, it will proceed to marriage?" asked Erica quietly, thinking over it.
"I am afraid Erica but it looks like it is leading that way." Said Remus quietly, "I am sorry Erica but I have thought this over and it is not rational!"
Erica walked over to him and asked him softly. "So you are saying this is over? Forever?"
"Yes Erica!" said Remus with a break in his voice. He made a motion to move away when Erica reached out and caught his arm.
"It takes two people to make a relationship work. And I want to make ours work because what we have here is special. I will seriously think about all that you just said…" said Erica whispering almost inaudibly to him. She then turned with perfect composure and walked up the stairs leaving Remus looking dazed at the fireplace.
Monica walked up silently to Sirius who had backed into the couch once he had gotten Remus and Erica talking to each other. He slipped his arm automatically around her waist. She slapped it away sharply.
"Ow! Why..?"
"Like you don't know! Why did you do that to Erica and Remus?"
"Do what? What I just did? I think I did what was required!"
"Well… you got them all upset and I don't know what Erica will do and now they are all serious and…"
"What's wrong with a serious relationship?"
"Not when you are 16!"
"Hey… is this in some vague way connected to us? Do you want to throw me off guard with all this relationship not getting serious stuff and then date that Moss Diggory guy?" asked Sirius, a little put off by her slap. Monica gasped indignantly.
"You are still harping on that?"
"You are still teaching him charms?" he said pronouncing the last few words with distaste.
"Stuff it!"
"What?"
"I said stuff it!"
*
She leaned forward and kissed him lightly. Remus turned his head reluctantly and slowly pushed her away. He tried to sit up but Erica somehow ended up sitting on his lap and Remus was leaning away from the floor with only one hand to support him, the other being in Erica's.
"Remus…"
"Erica… don't get into this. This is no enjoyment. It hurts. It hurts a damn lot. So please just go away…" Erica thought that she head a break in Remus' voice and knew that his eyes were welling up even if his head was turned away. She turned his chin to face her with her index finger and after a meaningful glance into his eyes, turned in to kiss him. This time she did not allow him to pull back till she did. Then with a huge sigh she left towards her dormitories. Remus took in a deep breath and looked into the fire. After a few moments he got up and turned to go up to bed, throwing his cloak over his shoulders. He saw Erica standing there clutching her palms together. He knew that this was hard but also believed that he was doing the right thing. She took a few steps towards him. His brain was yelling at him to move but his legs seemed to have gotten a glue charm to the floor.
She walked slowly towards him, glancing at her feet occasionally. When she was at an arms length distance away from him, she slowly sank on one knee. Remus was confused for a moment. She held out her right palm to him. In it was a red box with a ring inside. She took in a deep breath. A flash of understanding went through Remus as he realized what was about to happen. Erica cleared her throat and looked back into Remus' eyes.
"I never thought that… things in my life… will turn out this way." Her eyes welled up and she sniffed a little but continued, "But it so happens that they are. And I am not complaining. I don't need a perfect romantic story with a prince charming or anything. All I need is my Remus." Tears escaped her eyes and poured down her cheeks, "I never thought that I would be doing this… proposing…but I am just as happy to be on the giving end as I would have been on the receiving end. So, Remus Lupin … Will you marry me?" he gaped at her for a moment. She was still sniffing and looking at him. He dropped his cloak and as if in slow motion, sank down in his knees in front of her.
"Erica… I don't know what to say… I don't have a speech or anything… but I just want you to think about this…"
"I have thought a lot about this…"
"It has only been a week for you to…"
"A week is enough!"
"This will mean a poor life… I will not live off my father's money after I come out of age."
"I don't care."
"I might not find a proper job at all."
"I don't care."
"We will never get to have moonlight dinners in our lives ever."
"I don't care about all that Remus. I really don't."
"I might harm you in my werewolf state."
"I am not scared."
"I might…"
"You know you might as well shut up now because my mind is made."
The moment she said this, the tear stained face of Remus and Erica broke into a smile. It was a special moment for both of them and they were having a mixture of feelings. Remus took the ring from Erica and slipped it onto her finger and kissed her.
*
One early morning at the owlery-
"Hey Lily! What are you doing, up here so early?"
"Hi James! Got a letter from my sister, she is getting married."
"Really?"
"Yes and she sent me a letter telling me that I could come to it if I wanted to but I shouldn't bring my freaky friends."
"Freaky?"
"That's what she calls magical people's what she calls magical people."
"When is it?"
"First week of holidays." She said sighing.
"You will be able to go won't you?"
"That I will… but I am just thinking…"
"About what Lily flower?" he asked, sitting down next to her on the steps and putting his arm around her.
"Well… remember the time I got mad at you for jinxing people who wanted to go out with me?"
"Can I ever forget that?" he asked smirking.
"Well ya. I didn't exactly tell you why I was so mad for something which is not that big a deal."
"You didn't?"
"No! Actually it was that during all those times I had doubted myself. I had been wondering if I was good enough for others or if I was pretty enough or am I not smart enough…"
"But you are all those things!"
"Precisely why I was so mad. You see I thought that in spite of that, thanks to you, I was going to grow up to be an old, unmarried dame…"
"But you won't grow up to be an old unmarried dame! I am going to propose…" he suddenly stopped short of what he was going to say. He did not complete his sentence but got up abruptly. Lily stared at him. He hadn't even told her that he loved her yet and he had to go and tell her that he was planning to propose someday. He looked away from her and walked away leaving her staring after him and thinking about what he had just let slip.
*~*
"What's wrong Prongs?" asked Sirius as he entered the dormitories looking all tense.
"Well… nothing…"
"IS it Lily? Did you two have a fight?"
"No! We didn't fight…"
"What is it then?" James sighed and looked at Sirius.
"Remember that I was telling you that I am planning to propose to her someday?"
"Yes… Don't tell me you did it!" asked Sirius shocked.
"No! At least not really!"
"What happened?"
James told him.
"I think, I THINK… she thinks you are going to do it now!" said Sirius.
"You left that sentence in the middle. You should have completed it fool! Now she is going to think it is going to be near future!" said Remus.
"What should I do now?"
"Talk to her you doofus!"
"I think I will do that!" said James as he left to find Lily.
*~*
He climbed out of the portrait hole. He found himself face to face with a Lily wearing a shawl over her long, brown shirt which she wore on top of her brown tights.
"Lily… I was looking for you… I wanted to talk about …"
"James wait… before you say anything…"
"No Lily… I think you misunderstood… it was not like the way it sounded!"
"James…" she took a step forward. James saw a couple of first years stare at them as they went into the common room and James pulled Lily into a dark corner. There was very little light and they were standing close. She looked into his eyes.
"James… I just wanted to tell you that… that…" she leaned in and kissed him, "I love you."
The words sounded strange coming from her mouth but somehow they seemed to fit perfectly. It seemed like it was meant to be said to him.
"Lily flower… I love you too!" he said. It did not sound absurd or strange to him either.
Both of them felt that it all fit like a jigsaw puzzle. They were perfect for each other and their love had grown between them… it was just like a jigsaw puzzle…. With just one missing piece.
"James… about what you said a few minutes back in the owlery…"
"Lily…"
"No wait, let me finish. All I want to say is that… I sensed that you were not planning on doing that in the near future… but whenever you plan to… I promise to act surprised… and I promise not to refuse…"
It took a while for this to sink in for James. She had her arms around his neck and was telling him that she would marry him whenever he was ready to marry her.
"What?" that came out sounding stupid and James felt like slapping himself for sounding like that at such a moment.
Lily, nonetheless, smiled at him. He looked into her green eyes and pushed back her red hair from her face. He decided that if he was planning to do it he might as well do it now. He slowly disentangled her hands from behind his neck and sank to his knees. He removed the ring he was wearing.
"Lily dearest, will you make me Mr. Lily Evans some day?" he said, "no wait! I didn't mean to say that… I meant… will you make me happy by becoming Mrs. Lily Evans… no… I mean Potter… Lily Potter… no wait… that is Mrs…"
"I promise!" said Lily smiling. He grinned impishly and slid the ring on her outstretched hand. It refused to fit her ring finger. It did not even fit her thumb and she frowned at the ring, confused.
"What ring is this anyway?" she asked, "And are your fingers really this fat?"
"This is a ring that peter got for me for Christmas… and I wore it to make him happy…" Lily was laughing as it slid of her thumb.
"Sorry… I will get you a better ring… or just conjure one for you…" he flicked his wand and a ring appeared on Lily's ring finger. It was a silver ring with a heart shaped emerald. The emerald was glittering as if a green liquid was moving inside. She gasped.
"Its beautiful!"
"Charms saved me here!"
"Thank you James!" she said kissing him passionately.
"Listen," he said when they broke apart, "I am sorry I messed up the proposal speech… considering I didn't have one…"
"Its ok anyway! I wouldn't have liked it if it was too mushy… it just tells me who the real you is. I fell in love with this scruffy, blabbering, cute and arrogant James. I would never like you any other way."
"I love you Lily!" he said after he reeled from her eyes.
"I love you too James!"
They kissed again, the ring glittering in the dark.
Fan Fictions
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
Debate Mansion
