LILY EVANS.

DO FIDEM [ LATIN ]: "I SWEAR" lily evans | private & exclusive

[doefidem]

bornbreathless​:

Char huffs quietly and reaches out to grab a slice of toast, though she starts twirling it in her fingers rather than taking a bite. “Oh I can just see that going perfectly, can’t you? Hey Sirius, how about that weather, by the way are we dating?” On the last word her toast drops onto the plate in front of her with a sad thud and she groans. No, asking him won’t do.

Neither will kissing him. “Lily. Do you understand how mortifying it would be if I kissed him and he doesn’t even like me? I still have to go to school with him.” A pause before she continues, tone sickly-sweet. “Can’t you talk to him for me? I can pay you with cola bottles.”

Lily’s lips quirk upwards in a smile at the thought, and she quickly covers her mouth with her hand. It won’t do to laugh at Char’s misfortune. At least ---- not until this is resolved one way or the other, and she’s reached the point of looking back on it as a hilarious misunderstanding.

“Me?” Lily asks, already raising her hands to ward off the request. She pushes her empty plate back, and swings her legs over the bench, hurrying to leave. “Absolutely not, Char. Not for all the cola bottles in the world. This is between you two! I’m not getting involved. James might, if you don’t mind that he’ll tell Sirius everything right away, but I won’t. Sorry.”

Her tone is firm as she slings her bag over her shoulder, half-hoping that Char won’t follow, and this conversation might be put off for a little while longer.

[doefidem]

bornbreathless​:

“The lake is as safe as anything, I swim in there all the time.” An admission she should be making to the head girl? Probably not, but she doubts Lily will do much about it; at least it means she’s not causing trouble inside the castle.

But the aim here is to distract Lily, not make her uncomfortable, and Char considers. “Well, I do happen to know that the prefects’ bathroom may as well be a swimming pool. Plus there’s that weird room up on the seventh floor.”

“Eugh,” Lily says eloquently, a visible shudder running down her spine and causing her to roll her shoulders. “There’s all sorts in there! I remember I went swimming in a river once with Tuney, and I stepped on something ---- a moss-covered rock, maybe ---- and it was so slimy I was convinced it must be some kind of river-jellyfish. I screamed so loud that dad came running all the way from the house.”

Lily likes the outdoors, she does ---- she likes beaches and trees and the open skies and long walks ---- but rivers and lakes are where she draws the line, thank you very much.

“Well you’re not a prefect,” Lily says sternly. “So I can’t imagine how you would know.”

For a long moment, she pretends to return to her study, frowning down at the sheet of parchment she’s been writing notes on. But her gaze is fixed on one point, and her quill makes no move to actually continue writing.

“ ---- wait, what weird room?”

[doefidem]

bornbreathless​:

She’s mid-sip when Lily brings up that particular fiasco, and nearly chokes on the wine when she laughs. “Honestly, it probably would have been fine if he’d bothered to ask literally anyone how an oven worked before he tried to use it.” It was a miracle he hadn’t burned the house down.

Yes, James was definitely not suited to staying home and cooking dinner.

Char settles into another chair and takes a more sedate sip from her glass, smile still lingering. “Did you ever figure out what it was he was trying to cook?”

“He had the right idea, I suppose,” Lily muses. “He knew there was supposed to be fire involved somewhere, he just didn’t realise that the oven handles that itself.”

Honestly, they’d been lucky that he hadn’t blown up the house and half the street; if he’d figured out how to turn the gas on before he’d tried ‘cooking’, then that would have been the very undignified end of one James Potter, and probably several neighbours.

“Do you know, I never did? Then again, I wasn’t too keen to find out. I made him clean it all up, obviously.” She grins at Char, and take a mouthful of wine a little too big to be deemed ladylike. It’s rosé, pink and sweet and absolutely Lily’s favourite. If James doesn’t arrive home soon, then likely as not he’ll find them giggling and pink-cheeked ---- or certainly he’ll find Lily that way. Char can probably stand more than a glass of wine before she’s tipsy.

She taps her finger against the stem of her glass, lips pursing to one side and nose wrinkling in the tell-tale way it does when she’s considering whether or not to say something out loud.

[doefidem]

pr0ngs​:

Part of him holds out hope – it’s an idle threat, a warning, or the last desperate attempt of ‘maybe she forgot, mate.’

The level look Professor McGonagall gives the pair dissuades James of that belief quickly, and not only are he and Sirius not allowed to sit together but are banished to opposite ends of the classroom 

It’s got to be a crime, the worst punishment they’ve been served in their time at Hogwarts, surely, and James finds himself coming up with a myriad of ways to catch Sirius’ attention from across the room – be it subtly or…not.

His seat leans back on the back legs, and really it wouldn’t be too difficult to charm a piece of parchment to fly its way across the room. He could lob it like a quaffle too, but considering what they’re researching it might be best to find a way to discuss it in less obvious terms- 

It’s only when he hears the question that James even realizes she’s there, and the chair falls back to its usual position with a soft thump. For a moment he regards her with half-interested amusement as he first looks towards the seat she’s already taken and then back to her. 

“Help yourself, Evans.” It’s punctuated with a lopsided smile before he promptly turns to his right to look shoot Sirius a questioning look – who’s not there.

 Perfect.

She helps herself, as offered ---- taking a seat and neatly laying out her materials for class before she tucks her bag under her seat. Next to her, James seems to be trying to interact with some imaginary friend; casting an amused glance at nobody at all.

It’s only when she sees his gaze drawn inexorably back towards Black, three rows away with a look on his face dark enough to suit his mood, that she realise he’s simply incapable of functioning like a regular human being without his best friend by his side. Though she doesn’t mean to, she scoffs a little, and then flushes when she realises she’d made the sound out loud.

“It’s only one lesson,” she tells him. “Don’t you two spend enough time together as it is?”

No good her having made the effort to sit down and learn more about James Potter if he’s going to spend the next hour staunchly ignoring her, and casting looks over towards his friend like they’re star-crossed lovers, or something.

“And you could have probably avoided it by being just a little less beastly to your professors.”

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bornbreathless‌:

“Lily Evans, you charmer.” She bats her eyelashes and then laughs; she’s pretty proud of her stinging jinx to tell the truth, and it is nice that Lily has noticed her proficiency with it. What would be the point in practising on Sirius so much if the effort was going to go unappreciated?

The bottle of wine appears and Char presses a hand to her chest, a scandalised expression on her face. “Are you trying to get me drunk? I am disgusted.” A pause, before she produces a pair of wine glasses. “It’s going to take at least two bottles before that.”

“Ah well, you know what they say—when the cat’s away.”

She laughs easily, and fills both glasses with a generous amount of the wine before she returns the bottle to the fridge and collapses down into one of the kitchen chairs. “I guess we’ll see just how long it takes for James to get home.”

The truth being, of course, that she worries about him, and that sitting at home in complete idleness is not only insulting, but unbearable. Getting too caught up in what might happen is a spiral it’s all too hard to escape from. She’s just grateful that Char is here to help distract her.

“I’d say that he ought to be the one staying home cooking dinner, but I think we both know how that would turn out. Do you remember the time he decided to make me a ‘romantic meal’?”

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proditeur‌:

          “Ma’dam Pomfrey!” he looked shocked, and for a moment genuine horror crossed his eyes. He looked at her but only for a second before flicking his eyes away. “No. neither Ma’dam Pomfrey nor anyone else of reputable skill could possibly help me with this problem.” He sighed. His shoulders drooped. If he was not being serious then he was certainly making a good show of appearing so.

          “It’s… one of my cousins,” he admitted finally; and, in a display of real emotion that would impress even himself, his bottom lip quivered. “You wouldn’t know her, I’m sure. But it’s—there’s a scandal—she’s gone and…” 

          Regulus bowed his head down. In a rush of feeling that seemed to come all at once, he admitted the disastrous thing that had supposedly been troubling him all along, “She’s had an affair with one of the voluptuous topiaries in her garden.”

          That’s enough to draw a note of real concern onto her face. The Blacks seem to have a complicated relationship with each other, to say the least. Sirius doesn’t talk much about his family—not with her, at least—but she knows enough to understand the strain between him and his parents, and has seen firsthand the way he alternately bickers with his brother and stares at him mournfully, as though he’d like nothing more than to reach out and give him a hug. 

          Perhaps if other members of the family are exhibiting the same rebellious streak that Sirius has, then there’s hope after all—for Sirius’ family to realise that he’s not the only one, for him and his brother to mend their relationship, for—

          “Oh, you’re beastly,” she proclaims, at his mocking reveal. “Fine! Spend your days sulking on the roof for all I care. It’s none of my business. Goodness knows you’ve made it plain that you’re not interested in my help.”

          The outburst feels childish; like she’s mere seconds away from stamping her foot and storming off. But she’d been in a bad enough mood when she’d arrived, and the younger Black is only serving to worsen it.

           “Sirius has all sorts of things to say about how you’re really a nice person, you know. I suppose I’ll just have to divest him of that belief.”

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bornbreathless‌:

Rolling her eyes, she makes a show of smoothing the sheets of parchment against the tabletop; partly an effort to soothe Lily, partly to give herself time to come up with a plan. It has to be something interesting enough to pull the other girl from her studies for a while.

Slow grin spreads across Char’s face and she leans forward, voice dropping low enough that only Lily will be able to catch her words. “We’re going for a swim.”

Lily leans forward automatically when Char does, ready to catch whatever words are murmured at her. When she does, her eyebrows rise in surprise. She stares at Char for a long moment.

“A swim,” she repeats. “Charity Morris, if you think that you’re getting me into the Lake, you’re very much mistaken. Do you know what kind of things live in there?”

She shudders, a full body shiver that she shakes out of her hands, nose wrinkled with disgust.

“The sea is bad enough. All that slimy seaweed and little fishes and goodness knows what else. When I go swimming I’d prefer not to have things brushing up against my bare legs, thank you very much. So unless you happen to know where somebody’s built a nice, clean pool—”

[doefidem]

bornbreathless‌:

“I’ve already seen him with his shirt off, he doesn’t look any different than anyone else,” she says dismissively. What? She’s seen most of the Quidditch team without a shirt (had probably seen James shirtless even before Lily had, to be perfectly honest), the boys aren’t exactly shy about changing in front of each other, and it’s never really done much for her. But then, she supposes, she’s never thought about any of them in that light.

She sits up straight again and sighs. “Some of his Ravenclaw groupies think we’re dating.” Which is what spurred this crisis on, really, overhearing one of the gaggles of girls talking about Sirius and his girlfriend. She’d nearly tripped down the stairs when they’d said her name.

“Hmm.”

She taps a finger against her lips, twisted to one side in thought, and then seems to give up with a sigh, throwing her hands into the air before she leans forward onto the table, fixing a frank look on her friend.

“Well, some of his Ravenclaw groupies ought to have been disqualified from their house, given the idiotic way they act around him,” she says sternly, and then softens. “No, sorry, that was cruel. I just wish they’d pick their jaws up off the floor and stop giggling. It gets very old.”

She drums her fingers against the table, lips twisted up one side in thought.

“Honestly, Char, I’ve no idea what to suggest. I think you might just have to talk it out with him.” The idea of Sirius Black talking anything out tugs a smile of amusement at the corner of her lips. “Or kiss him and see what happens, I suppose.”

She pulls her newspaper back towards her.

“You’re good friends. If it all goes belly-up, I’m sure you’ll only laugh about it later.”

[doefidem]

bornbreathless‌:

Char lets out a weak laugh at the suggestion; it might just be quicker if someone obliviated her, made her forget all about this whole situation. Knowing her luck the bloody spell wouldn’t take anyway.

“Yes, I think you’re seeing the same problem that I am,” she says, muttering the words as Remus passes them by. Realistically, he’s probably their best course of action, the least likely to make fun of her for even having to ask in the first place, and he knows both of them well enough to be able to figure it out. But is Char willing to subject herself to the humiliation of having to ask one of the boys to ask Sirius about this? Of course not! Which rather rules James out, too.

Char groans and drops her head onto the table again. “That’s the point, I don’t know! If it was a yes I’d just ask him out, and if it was a no then I wouldn’t be bringing this up at all!” And there’s the rub, really. As weird as the thought it, she isn’t exactly disgusted by the idea of dating Sirius. But it also doesn’t give her the butterflies other girls seem to get when talking about their boyfriends. Is there something wrong with her?

“How did you know you liked James?”

“Couldn’t stop thinking about him with his shirt off,” she says, matter-of-fact and without hesitation. It’s not necessarily untrue, either; it had made watching quidditch that much more interesting. More than once she’d been caught with a dreamy expression on her face before she finally agreed to go out with him. Not that it had stopped after that, either, because then her imagination had fuel to add to that rather pleasing fire.

“I realised he could make me laugh even when I was mad at him,” she offers then, in an attempt to be slightly more helpful. “And when I saw him looking at me, I wanted him to keep looking at me. It made me feel sort of... I don’t know. Seen, but in a good way.”

She frowns.

“That’s not very helpful, is it? Maybe we should just ask Sirius to take his shirt off and see what it does for you.”

[doefidem]

bornbreathless‌:

Char snickers, dropping forward so that all four legs of her chair rest solidly on the ground again, delivering a satisfyingly irritating thunk in the process. She’s just trying to get Lily to smile.

“No, no, I enjoy a good food-based insult. You should come up with one about kumquats next, imagine how scathing that would be.” She grins, and reaches across to quickly snatch Lily’s notes away. “You need a break. Nothing else going into that big brain if you stress the night away.”

“Too easy,” Lily says, grabbing at the notes that are suddenly snatched away from her. She misses, but stays leaned forward, arms outstretched. “You eat a kumquat whole. Skin and all.” She sits back.

“Don’t crumple them,” she warns. “Then I really will have a screaming breakdown.” She’d put a lot of effort into curating those notes; they’re colour coordinated and illustrated. There are mind maps. She leans back, huffing out a breath. 

“All right then. Since you’re apparently a guru now, what do you suggest?”

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bornbreathless‌:

“How romantic. Why doesn’t anyone compliment my hexing skills?” she asks, a dramatically wistful expression on her face before it breaks into a grin. It’s hardly surprising that James would be singing her praises, especially if she’s ranted to him as much as she’s ranted to Char.

Not that anyone would blame her.

Char sighs and crosses to the counter, grabbing a tea-towel and absently wiping down. “Obviously we’re just too powerful. The whole war would be over and done with if they let us do field work.”

“Char,” Lily says, straight-faced. “You’ve a stinging jinx on you like I’ve never seen before.”

She’s seen her use it on Sirius, more than once. And not that she’s ever told Sirius (or indeed Char), but on at least one of those occasions she could have stepped in and stopped her, if Sirius hadn’t been such an arse to her the day before. Karma, thy name is Evans.

“Obviously,” she says, and at least manages to quirk a smile. She heaves herself out of the chair she’d flopped into, and peers into the oven where the roast is beginning to crisp. Another long while until it’s ready. If James and Sirius are late again, they’ll just eat without them. She moves to the fridge, and pulls a bottle of wine from the door.

“Well, since we’re not out there fighting the good fight, we might as well stay in and drink the good drink, I suppose.”

[doefidem]

proditeur‌:

          “I’ll keep that in mind—mum,” his tone of sarcasm was unmistakable. If she hadn’t caught him touching down she never would have known he was up there—and he’d been visiting the rooftop since that time last year. He didn’t think his well-being was any of her concern, but he supposed Lily was the type to display a general concern for others… He wondered if that was as exhausting as it sounded.

          “Ballroom dance.” Sitting alone in the privacy of my own thoughts, he said quietly into his own mind, And I have a mind to go back up there right now. His gaze was sharp but he was looking everywhere except at her, as if he didn’t want to be caught associating with a person of her status and, as long as he didn’t make eye contact, he might have plausible deniability that he didn’t even know she was there. But he did, of course, and she knew that he did, and she began prying her lovely nose into more matters that didn’t concern her.

          At once his expression changed. His eyes drooped and his shoulders lowered just a little, and he held his broom down low at his side and sighed out a breath of forfeit, “… I suppose I can’t escape your all-knowing eyes, Evans,” he murmured, eyes down at his feet, “There’ve just been some things going on. Things that I can’t—” he stopped himself, bit his lips between his teeth and tossed his head to the side, “It’s… no, I can’t say it,” he turned his back on her and strode two steps farther from the castle, “It’s too painful.” 

           Lily scowls at his sarcastic answer, irritation climbing back up in her blood like the tide. She’s been horribly shirty lately, and she’s well aware of it. She does her best to wrestle it back down and to ignore the look on his face, the way that he won’t meet her eyes. Her chin tips a little, defiantly. Expression softens, though, when he begins to talk again.

          And then hardens into suspicion. She’s familiar enough with Sirius’ amateur dramatics to recognise a taste of the same in his younger brother. They’re more alike than either of them realise. She ought to simply walk away and leave him to his horrid games. But there’s always at least one part of her that whispers what if he does need to talk to someone, though?, a quiver of faith in humanity, in the feelings of anyone regardless of how they might treat her. And so she stays.

         “Oh, yes?” she says, keeping her tone light but cautious, not yet sunk to the flat sarcasm which she uses so often to deal with Sirius and the others. “If it’s that painful and too embarrassing to admit to, I’d suggest Madame Pomfrey.”

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bornbreathless‌:

What can she say? She knows Lily, and knows her love of sweets. Wizard sweets are cool, yes, but nothing can beat the sharp tang of a corner shop penny mixture, and Char’s gran keeps her in steady supply. It occurs to her that she could probably start up a whole business, keeping the muggleborn students stocked up on their favourite sweets from home, make some money. Possibly a plan left until later, when she’s not directly face-to-face with the most put-upon head girl there’s ever been.

Char grins, popping one of the cola bottles into her mouth before rolling the top of the bag over and holding it out with a teasing quirk of her eyebrows. “Is it a bribe if I just give them to you? How you choose to show your gratitude is entirely up to you.”

She’d never expect Lily to break the rules on the really big stuff, there are absolutely times where she deserves whatever punishment the redhead deems fit to eke out, but a scuffle between friends? Hardly worthy of her attention, in Char’s opinion. There hadn’t even been any wands involved!

“Hmmmpph,” is Lily’s answer to that, but there’s only three or four seconds of hesitation before she reaches out and takes the proffered bag. She hadn’t realised just how much she’d missed the sour sugar taste of her childhood until she’d seen it, and she’s as fallible as the next girl.

“This isn’t a get out of jail free card,” she says sternly, and then thoroughly ruins it by adding, “if you tell anyone about this, I’ll have you in detention for a week.” She’s only half-serious; she wouldn’t give out detentions that weren’t deserved. At the same time, if certain parties hear that she can be softened up simply with a paper bag of sweets, she’ll never live it down.

“Come on, then. Back to the common room with you.” She chivvies char along with a both hands. “What was it this time, anyway? Did you insult his hair again? You know he hates that.”

[blvnk-art]

“I will protect you, Harry.”

[instagram @potterbyblvnk]

[nickandros]

we’re in love during the war. does it make each moment more precious, or does it make each moment more difficult?

[j.m] (via mythpoetrynet)

[doefidem]

bornbreathless‌:

Char is doing her best not to laugh.

It isn’t that she enjoys Lily’s plight; far from it, she’s in exactly the same position, and it’s awful. Does that make it any less amusing to watch Lily stew while setting the table? No, no it doesn’t.

“And to be fair, you’re very good at taking notes. Really, the best penmanship I’ve ever seen, I’d never have passed Binns’s class without them.” She’s partly serious, partly teasing as she grabs a handful of napkins and starts to lay them in their places. “Remind me exactly how hexing them is going to get us send on missions? I mean, I’ll help, I’m just curious.”

She shoots Char a dirty look, and then collapses into a chair at the head of a table with a sigh, blowing a stray piece of hair off her face.

“Oh Lord, I don’t know. When none of them are able to walk straight, they’ll be forced to send me instead? At least James is on my side. I heard him yesterday telling someone they were an idiot for not making use of, and I quote “the most startlingly effective body-bind curse Hogwarts has ever seen”.”

She smiles down at the table for a moment, fondly, before the frustration returns. 

“Perhaps you and I ought to just—I don’t know, march on out without telling anyone and get something done. Thanks,” she adds, as Char finishes  putting out the napkins. 

[doefidem]

@bornbreathless wanted wizarding war lily!

She’s grim-faced.

It’s an expression that her peers are familiar with from her time as head girl; generally it meant someone was about to get a haranguing and a boatload of house points deducted. Not something that the older members of the Order have experienced, but it was only a matter of time. She slams the cutlery down onto the table a little harder than she’d intended.

“It’s ridiculous,” she says tightly to Char over her shoulder. “Do they really think that just because James and the rest are boys they’re more suited to it? Do you know that someone told me I could always take notes for the meetings, if I felt left out? Take notes, I ask you!” Another knife and fork are slammed into place.

“Pass the napkins will you? Honestly, I’m half-tempted to hex them to Basingstoke and back and then see what they have to say about it.”