Iâm supposed to be studying right now. I mean, thatâs what we came to the library to do. But I canât focus when Lily is sitting across from me with her beautiful red hair flowing perfectly around her face and her knitted grey jumper hanging ever so slightly too low on her shoulder, allowing me to get a glimpse of her thin, black bra strap.
I feel a foot kick my ankle and so I un-focus my staring to turn and look at Sirius who is sitting next to me, shaking his head with a grin. I laugh sheepishly before turning back to look at Lily, âHey.â I say, nudging her foot with mine under the table.
She looks up at me with her engagingly beautiful eyes that match ever so perfectly with the necklace she hasnât taken off since Christmas. âWhat?â She asks, annoyed that I am once again, interrupting her from her potions essay.
I lean back so that the front legs of the chair are in the air and put my hands behind my head casually while smirking at her, âLily Evans, will you go on a date with me?â
She rolls her eyes and leans forward with a smile, poking my forehead with the end of her wand from across the desk, causing me to topple backwards and fall with the chair. I hear laughing from the table as I quickly stand up, fixing my hair and glare at her, trying to hide my smile. âWell it wasnât a hex, so can I take that as a yes, love?â
She laughs, shaking her head. âWell I am dating you. Isnât that sort of a requirement?â
âI suppose so.â I smile as I sit back down at the table. âSo then, Hogsmeade tomorrow. Iâll pick you up at 10.â
âWow, Lily Evans agreeing to a date with James Potter. Is the world ending?â Peter jokes.
âYa, youâre supposed to hate me, Evans.â I say, looking at her smiling face.
âOh I do.â She deadpans before shooting me a wink and stands up. âI have to go meet the girls now. Iâll see you tomorrow for our date, Potter. Better be good. After all, you should have been planning it for about 6 years now, right?â
I laugh, âOh donât you worry, love. It will be.â She kisses me on the cheek and walks away, my eyes not being able to help but watch, earning me another ankle kick from Sirius.
âMate, you gotta stop with that.â He laughs.
âOh, come on! Sheâs my girlfriend. Iâm allowed to do that.â I respond, smiling. My girlfriend. Lily Evans is my girlfriend. Maybe the world is ending.
âNot like it ever stopped you before she was your girlfriend.â Remus says.
âVery true.â I laugh.
The next morning I, for some reason feel nervous. I have never in my life felt nervous for a date before. But I guess I have never in my life been on a date with the girl of my dreams either.
I button my black jeans and pull my maroon jumper over my head, throwing my jacket over top as it is still quite cold out for early February. I quickly check the mirror that sits on my dresser to run my hands through my hair a few more times before shooting myself a finger gun and making my way across the hall. I look down at my watch and knock on Lilyâs bedroom door at exactly 10am. She opens the door and smiles up at me. Looking beautiful as always in her tight blue jeans that seem to perfectly fit around the curves of her hips and thighs, a brown baggy t-shirt with what looks like a band name on it and a black cardigan, slung casually over her shoulders.
âGood morning, beautiful.â I smile, leaning on her doorframe after taking her all in.
âGood morning.â She smiles, cheeks slightly pink.
âAre you ready to go?â I ask.
âI am.â She responds with a nod and I take her hand as we make our way out of the castle and into Hogsmeade.
As we walk through the town, making our way to Honeydukes I hear footsteps running up behind me and sigh as I realize who it is.
âProngs!â Sirius says, running to my side. âYou never met us at the common room like we normally do!â
I look at him and blink slowly at how dumb he can be sometimes. âSirius.â I smile. âMy best friend. My brother. One doesn't typically take their friends along on their dates with their girlfriend.â
âOhhh. I get it, so youâre abandoning me for Evans, here.â He says, accusingly.
I shake my head, âSirius-â
He laughs, âFine, fine. Heâs all yours, Lily-Flower!â He turns around and skips back over to a laughing Peter and Remus who is shaking his head at him.
I laugh and look down at Lily who seems very amused. I put my arm around her shoulder and continue walking, âI guess I should have expected that.â
We enter Honeydukes and I look around at all the options. Even after coming here multiple times a year since third year, I still never get over this place. It truly is incredible. Lily walks over to the new Valentineâs Day section and looks at the giant heart-shaped chocolate that explodes with confetti when you break it in half. âIâll buy it for you if you agree to be my Valentine.â
She laughs and turns to look at me, âI would agree to be your Valentine whether you bought it for me or not, James.â
I smile and lean down to kiss her softly, my hands on her hips as she smiles into the kiss. We quickly jolt back and turn towards the front of the store when we suddenly hear a whipping noise and screams from outside. I look down at her and grab her hand to rush outside.
There are about 5 of them. All in long black cloaks like they have been described to wear in the prophet. Death eaters. Here? At Hogsmeade?
I pull out my wands and run over to a small muggle-born boy who is being cursed by one of them. Shooting a spell in retaliation, giving the boy a chance to run.
âEverybody, get back to Hogwarts now! Prefects lead the way!â I hear Lily yell as she also pulls out her wand, a couple stores away from me. As much as I want to run over and help her, I have my own death eater to fight right now. As well as I know damn well sheâs capable of fighting them on her own. Once I cause the one I am fighting to retreat, I turn to see McGonagall protecting students as she leads them back up to the school, not too far from her I see Sirius, looking pale in the face as I see who he is facing. Bellatrix Black.
I run over to him, knowing even though Sirius is a most capable wizard, that when faced with his childhood memories, he doesn't always think clearly. I stand next to him as we both cast curses on Bellatrix, who doesnât seem to want to retreat. Before we can push her to her limit, McGonagall runs over, casting a powerful protection charm around us and forcing us to run up the hill away from Hogsmeade with her. âWhat about the others?â I yell.
âTheyâre all out! Hagrid is at the gate to help them back into the castle.â She responds.
I sigh in relief as I look around, trying to find her bright red hair in the crowd. And then I hear it. A scream. The most antagonizing scream I have ever heard come from someoneâs mouth. I whip my head around. âThatâs Lily!â I yell before running back down the hill, despite McGonagalls pleads to stay put.
I run back into the town, Sirius by my side and I see her. Laying on the dirt path, twitching in pain as she tries so hard to put her arm out to grab her wand that is just out of her reach. âCrutio!â Bellatrix repeats, laughing manically. Causing Sirius to flinch.
âYou filthy little mudblood!â She yells, casting it again. The pain is unbearable. I truly feel as though Iâm being stabbed over and over again on every place of my body. The worst of my memories playing in my head despite my attempts not to.
âYouâre a freak, Lily!â Petunia yells in disgust, watching me open a flower that I just wanted to give to her to tell her how beautiful I thought she was.
âI promise, Lily, no one at Hogwarts will care that your parents are muggles. I actually think its rather cool!â The memory of Severus talking to me on the train to Hogwarts for the first time plays, quickly followed by another, âI donât need help from filthy little mudbloods like her!â Severus yells from where heâs hanging in the air because of Potters spell. My heart drops as I try to make sure I heard him correctly. Mudblood? Did my best friend of almost 6 years just call me a mudblood?
Letters from the parchment that the ministry sent me to inform me of my parents death seems to appear in my brain as if Iâm reading them for the first time again, âkilling themâ.
The pain gets worse. My whole body feels like it has been detached from my brain and I feel weak.
I hear a voice cast a counter spell at Bellatrix, breaking her focus and allowing me to breath again. James.
I use every last bit of energy I have to grab my wand and swing it above my body, âProtego.â I barely get out, even though it felt as though I yelled it.
I still canât move. Iâm in too much pain. But I hear Dumbledore yell a spell I have never heard and suddenly the death eaters are all gone. James runs to my side, dropping to his knees to grab me, âLily! Merlin, Lily, are you ok?â
I look at him and blink, not being able to say anything, not realizing that there are tears running down my face until he uses his thumb to wipe them away. I donât really remember much of what happened next. One minute I was laying in the dirt in Hogsmeade, James holding me. The next I was laying in a bed in the hospital wind, my friends all sitting around me.
âSheâs awake.â Alice says, as I blink, trying to get my eyes to focus.
âLily! Iâm so glad youâre ok!â Marlene says, hugging me, causing me to wince. âShite, Iâm sorry.â She quickly jumps back.
âItâs ok. Iâm ok.â I say, giving her a small smile.
âIâm so sorry, love. I never should have left you. I just got distracted by Sirius and Bellatrix and then suddenly Professor McGonagall was there, leading me away.â James explains, regret on his face.
âItâs not your fault, James.â I say, squeezing his hand.
Remus places a small Honeydukes bag on my lap, âI was gonna eat these, but I think you need them more then I do. Chocolate always helps.â He smiles.
âI agree.â I smile back, reaching in to take out a piece and placing it in my mouth. âThank you.â
After about an hour, Madame Pomphrey says that there are too many people in here and so the girls decide to leave, saying they will visit me in the morning. I look at James who hasnât let go of my hand since he got here. I love how worried he is about me. And how safe I feel with him.
âHey, Lily?â Remus says from the other side of my bed.
I look at him and he is fiddling with his hands, looking almost scared. âYa?â I ask.
âI know it can kind of suck having to spend the night in here. Gets kind of creepy right after sun down because of how big and empty the room feels. But I find it helps to pull this room divider to the end of the bed, instead of beside it. Makes it feel smaller in here.â He smiles. âI spend a lot of time in here, you know.â I watch him as he takes a deep breath, âI have Lycanrhropy. Meaning⊠Iâm a werewolf.â
I smile at him and reach to grab his hand, âI know.â He looks at me confused, shock evident on his face. I laugh, âIâm not stupid, Remus. Of course I know! Youâre my friend, you think I wouldnât notice when you disappear for a couple days during the full moon every month?â
He smiles with a sigh of relief, âAnd youâre ok with that?â
âOk with you having an uncontrollable disease?â I smile. âRemus, youâre still you. Youâre my friend.â
âTold you sheâd be ok with it, Moony! Itâs not your fault you have a furry little problem.â James smiles, making Remus laugh.
âGood.â He smiles at me, âWe should probably get going, but let me know if thereâs anything I can do to help you feel more comfortable in here, ok?â
âThank you, Remus.â I reply.
âWeâll see you in the morning. Feel better, Lily.â Peter smiles as they walk away.
Now itâs just James and I. He squeezes my hand and I look over at him and smile. âJust let me know when you want me to leave. I donât wanna intrude.â
âI donât want you to leave, James.â I say and he smiles.
âYou knowâŠâ James starts, âNevermind.â
âWhat?â I ask, tilting my head in wonder at his hesitation.
âI-â He pauses and looks me in the eyes with a slight smile, âYou know I love you, right?â
My eyes widen slightly as I look up at him, not being able to help the smile forming on my lips, âI think I might love you too.â I admit.
"We're gonna kick Hufflepuff's arse today boys!" Marlene yells as we walk down to the great hall for breakfast.
"Fuck ya, we are!" Sirius responds, putting his arm around her.
James laughs, "As long as I've got my lucky charm, we'll win. No doubt." He says as he shows off the witch pin I got him for Christmas clipped to his quidditch uniform next to the Gryffindor patch.
"Your lucky charm?" I laugh.
"Lily-Flower, he truly has not missed a goal in a practice since he started wearing that thing!" Sirius says, eyes wide with a chuckle. "Must be muggle magic."
I laugh, "Well you better prove it to me today then, Potter."
"I will, love," He smirks while putting his arm around me. "Don't you worry." Earning a fake gagging noise from Peter and Sirius.
We get to the great hall and see students wearing mainly yellow or red to support their house of choice in todays game. A very important game at that, because if Gryffindor wins, they play their final game against Ravenclaw in a couple weeks and have a fair chance at winning the cup. But if Hufflepuff wins, we'll miss out on points that Ravenclaw will gain in their next game, meaning that they will have an advantage in points for our final match.
We walk over to our usual spot and sit down. James coming to sit next to me. Quite close to me actually. Our legs are touching and he runs his hand through his hair before casually placing it on my thigh with a slight squeeze, using his other hand to pick up his fork and begin eating. I shutter slightly at his touch and smile.
"Good luck on the game today!" A couple young Gryffindor's smile as they walk past.
James smiles with a wave, "Thanks, guys."
"So, Peter. How's the girlfrienddd?" Marlene teases.
Peter smiles with a light bush across his cheeks, "She's great."
"I can't believe you actually made out with her in the middle of the common room!" Sirius laughs.
"I can't either!" He laughs as well. "But I guess it worked well for me cause now we're dating."
"Ugh, so much love in the air." Hestia says with a smile, looking over at James and I.
I smile and look at James who has a grin on his face. "Speaking of which," He starts. "I have something for you."
"You have something for me?" I ask, curiously.
"Yes." He smiles, as he turn and un zips his bag pulling out a Gryffindor jersey. "It's my jersey from fifth year. Should fit you well."
I laugh, taking the red jersey with 'Potter' sewn in gold on the back. "You want me to wear this?"
"Very much so." He smirks.
"What, you don't like what I'm wearing right now?" I say, fake offended.
He looks me up and down, biting his lip ever so slightly and stopping for a moment on my chest that is quite visible in this tight Gryffindor sweater, "No, I love what you're wearing right now. But I have to make sure everyone knows you're mine, love."
I blush slightly with a smile as he leans down to kiss me. Keeping his hand on my thigh, squeezing again and bringing his other hand up to my neck to bring me closer as he moves his mouth against mine. I hear a groan from one of our friends come from across the table, making me smile into the kiss and then I get hit on the side of my head by a piece of toast. Another falling closely behind.
I turn and look at Sirius who is about to throw another, "Would you stop?"
"Would you?" He laughs.
James chuckles, "Fine, fine." He says as he turns back to his plate.
A few minutes go by and I hear a cough meant to get our attention from behind me. I turn and see Dumbledore, standing behind James and I with a smile. "Hello, Sir." I smile.
"Hello, Ms. Evans, Mr. Potter. I hope I'm not being too much of a bother during your breakfast but I wanted to have a word with you."
"Of course, Sir. Would you like us to come to your office?" James ask.
"No, no. Not a formal matter. If you don't mind, we can discuss it quickly right hear."
"Sure, Professor." I smile.
Dumbledore smiles down at us, "Well, it has come to my attention that you two are something of an item. Now, normally Head Boy and Girl are forbidden from dating." I widen my eyes and glance as James who also has a worried look on his face. Dumbledore laughs, "But... I'm going to allow it, just this once. Only because I think you two are quite cute together."
I sign in relief and chuckle at his reasoning, "Thank you, sir."
"And good luck on todays game," He says with a smile. Lowering his voice so only us and our friends can hear as he continues, "I know I shouldn't, but I hope you win. Can't help but be bias for your own house, now can you?" He winks and walks away.
I put James' jersey on over my head as we walk down to the Quidditch pitch as a group. Hundreds of other people filing in and people patting James, Sirius, and Marlene on the back, wishing them good luck as they walk past.
"Make us proud out there!" Remus smiles when we get to the opening to the pitch where we have to go into the stands to find seats.
"We will! We're gonna kick some badger butt!" Sirius laughs.
I kiss each of them on the cheek, whispering good luck to James and making my way into the stands with Remus, Peter, Hestia, and Alice.
"Make room! Girlfriend of the captain here!" Hestia yells with her arm over my head pointing down at me. I laugh and smack her arm down.
We finally find a seat after about 5 minutes of pushing past loud, excited kids going all out in their Gryffindor gear.
The game is about an hour long. Not the longest I've ever been to but not the shortest either. When the Gryffindor seeker catches the snitch, cheers irrupt from the stands. Even coming from some of the people in yellow. We start making our way onto the field to congratulate the team like we do after every game. When I catch sight of James, I run over to him and throw my arms around his neck as he picks me up with a spin,
"I guess it really is your lucky charm then, huh?" I smile.
"It sure is." He returns the smile and kisses me before setting me down and hugging Sirius.
We make our way back into the castle to cool off and celebrate in the Gryffindor common room. As we walk down the hall, I see Severus around a corner and when he sees me he stands up straighter, "Lily!" he yells.
I turn to my friends and smile before turning into the hallway that Severus is in, walking a few more feet until I reach him, "What?" I say slightly annoyed, knowing that he's about to ruin my good mood.
"What's gotten into you?" He says, angrily.
I furrow my eyebrows at him, "Excuse me?"
"You betrayed me." He answers in a way that seems like I should know what he's referring to.
I stare for a moment, trying to comprehend how anyone could look at our relationship and say that I am the one who did the betraying, "I betrayed you?!"
"Yes!" He yells, "It was bad enough that you became friends with them, but now you're actually dating James Potter?!"
"So what if I am?" I ask, anger building in my chest at his nerve.
"It's betrayal!"
"That's rich coming from you." I scoff.
"Before me, you didn't even know who you were!" He yells, "I taught you everything! I made you who you are!"
I glare at him, "This is my life, Severus. Not yours. Mine! The only way you made me who I am is by screwing me over so bad!"
"I didn't screw you over, Lily. Don't be dramatic." He responds.
I laugh at his arrogance, "You told me that it didn't matter that my parents were muggles! You said it didn't matter and that no one would care!" I say, my voice getting louder with each sentence. "And then we get here and everyone fucking hated me because of it! And then you bloody well joined them! And now, my parents are dead. Don't act like I did the betraying in our relationship!"
"You're dating James Potter!" He yells.
"And you're friends with the people who want to kill me! I'm pretty positive that's worse!" He stares at me, anger evident on his face as I'm sure it is on mine as well. I feel so angry that he could even accuse me of being the reason for our friendship ending and being seemingly un-fixable. "Fuck you." I say, quietly, shaking my head. "Fuck you, Severus!"
"You ok, Lily?" I hear Remus ask behind me. I turn to see that they're all still standing there waiting for me, a couple nosy bystanders with them as well.
"Ya," I look back at Severus. "I'm fine." I turn and walk towards James, grabbing his face and pulling him down into a kiss. He, of course, immediately grabs my waist and leans into it. I pull away and turn my head to glare at Severus, who is still watching, before I turn back towards my friends and start walking away.
I turn and look at Sirius, who shrugs and we all turn to catch up with Lily who was now storming up the stairs, "You ok, love?" I ask.
"Yup. I'm fine." She replies, dryly.
We continue up a few more steps, "You sure?"
"Yes." She answers, still walking up the stairs at the same speed.
"Can I ask where we're going?" Peter says.
"I'm going to lay down. I don't know where you guys are going." She answers.
"Oh, ok." I slow down. "We'll see you later then?" I ask as she continues to walk on in front of me.
"Yup." She replies.
We stop and watch as she continues up the stairs, "Did I do something wrong that I'm forgetting about?" I ask.
"No." Marlene laughs. "She just gets like this sometimes. Specifically after talking to Severus."
"Ya, when she's upset she just needs a bit of time to herself to process her feelings before she talks about it." Alice adds.
"Oh, ok." I reply, nodding.
Hestia laughs, "Shouldn't you know this? You're the boyfriend."
"I'm new on the job." I laugh.
The girls decide to head up to their dorm to relax for a bit before dinner. And the guys and I decide to take a walk around the castle. We come to the end of a corridor where there is a big window with pillars on either side. I lean against one of the pillars and smile, "Wanna cig?" I ask, grabbing the pack of cigarettes' out of my back pocket.
"You had those the whole time?" Sirius ask, shocked.
I nod. "Git." Remus laughs, taking one from me.
Peter does a quick check up the hall to make sure no Professors are coming and then lights his. Blowing the smoke out the open window.
"So how's it going with Ol' Lily-Flower, mate?" Sirius asks. "Shag yet?"
I laugh, "No. Things are good though." I say, grinning.
"I hate how giddy you are. It's sickening." Peter jokes.
I smile at him, "Did you end up finding that portkey spell, Remus?"
"Ya. Its quite difficult though. We've been practicing in the dorm." Remus answers.
I gasp, "Without me?" I place my hand on my chest, mouth still hung open.
"Oh, shite! My deepest apologies, James! Please. Please forgive us for our sins!" Sirius pleads, jokingly bowing down in front of me over and over. Taking drags of his smoke in between them.
I laugh and smack his head before turning when I hear footsteps coming up the corridor. But we can't put our smokes out in time before Professor McGonagall sees them, "Enjoying ourselves, our we?" She asks, crossing her arms.
"Yes, we certainly are, Minnie." Sirius smiles with a nod.
She shakes her head, "I will see you four in detention tomorrow afternoon."
"Yes, Minnie." I reply, causing her to turn back and glare at me, despite having a slight grin on her face at our shenanigan's.
"I better not catch you with those again." She replies.
"You won't. We'll keep a better eye out next time!" Peter smiles, and we laugh. She shakes her head and walks away.
"You boys better invite me over next time you're practicing that spell!" I say.
"We will, Prongsy!" Sirius smiles. "As long as you're not too busy with Evans."
"I could never be too busy for you guys!" I smile. "Unless of course she's naked. Then you guys can sod off."
Normally I hate mornings. They're the worst part of the day and I'm always in the worst mood during them. But this morning I woke up with a huge smile on my face because last night I kissed James Potter.
Twice!
I get out of bed, throw a sweater on, put my hair into a bun and head down stairs. As I walk out of my room I can hear James talking on the couch, "Ya and then she just said 'Kiss me before I change my mind' and so I did."
Sirius pats him on the back, "About time, Mate!"
When James hears me walking down the stairs he stands up and turns around, "Good morning." He smiles.
"Good morning." I say while looking him up and down quickly with a grin. I walk over and sit on the couch next to him.
Peter was on the other half of the couch, Remus was sitting on the chair across from us with Sirius sat on the arm of it, and Marlene, Hestia and Alice were sat on the floor with some books open on the coffee table.
James puts his arm around me, "How'd you sleep, Love?"
I roll my eyes, despite having a big smile and a very obvious blush across my face, "Good. You?"
"Me too." He responds.
I turn and see all of our friends staring at us with stupid grins on their faces.
I laugh, "So what are you guys doing?" I nod towards the books on the table.
"Stupid transfiguration homework." Marlene says.
"What's stupid about it?" James laughs.
"It makes no sense!" Hestia responds.
James smiles, "I can help you with it. Also, I don't start my tutoring again for a couple more weeks but when I do, you can come to them if you want."
"Tutoring?" I look at him with furrowed eyebrows.
"Ya?" He responds. "I've tutored kids in Transfiguration since fifth year."
"How did I not know this?" I ask shocked.
"Because you put a great deal of energy into ignoring my good qualities." He laughs.
I smile, "I guess so."
"You excited for tomorrow, Lils?" Alice asks.
"Oh don't remind me." I groan.
"What? Why?" Marlene asks, "You've always gone crazy for birthdays!"
"I don't feel like it this year." I respond.
"How come?" Remus says.
"I just miss my parents." I smile sadly. "18 may not be a big birthday in the wizarding world, but its a big deal in the muggle world. I'm just sad they didn't get to see me reach it."
"I'm sorry, Lils." Hestia smiles.
"It's ok. Besides, I'd rather just have a chill night with you guys." I say.
"Well, what about just a party in the Gryffindor common room?" Marlene smiles.
"I-" I pause and look at her for a moment, "You already planned one didn't you?"
She smiles, sympathetically, "Kinda."
I laugh, "It's fine."
"Are you sure?" She responds.
"Is there gonna be Firewhiskey?" I ask.
"Of course." She smiles.
"Then it's fine." I laugh.
The rest of the day was spent almost entirely in the heads common room. We talked about the ball and tomorrows party and our upcoming tests and assignments. Pretty soon it was late and James and I had to go do our rounds.
We exit the head common room and start up the hall. As we turn the corner, James casually grabs my hand. I look up at him and he smiles. I smile as well as I feel him squeeze my hand slightly.
"So, Ms. 18 year old, how are you feeling about getting old?" James jokes.
"It's kind of scary, isn't it?" I laugh.
"Little bit, ya." He agrees.
"Trying not to think about the fact that we only have 5 months left here." I admit with a sad smile.
"Me too." He replies.
"I don't even know what I wanna do after Hogwarts yet."
"I'm gonna be an Auror. Like my parents." James says.
"Really?"
"Ya. All I've ever wanted to do was protect people and punish those who deserve it. Especially in times like these."
"I suppose that's what I want to do too. To an extent." I smile. "I want to fight against 'you know who'."
"We can do it together." He smiles. "Most badass couple ever."
I look at him when he says it. 'Couple'. Are we a couple?
He must sense my hesitation, "Sorry. I didn't mean like couple couple." He smirks, "Although maybe we will be by then."
I smile back and we continue walking through the halls when a group of younger Slytherins turn the corner, "We just had to talk with Professor Slughorn! We're heading back to our dorms now!" One defends.
"All good!" James smiles.
One of the boys looks between us at our interlocked hands and glares at James before turning around to continue to their dorms. That one look alone made me lose my smile and drop James' hand immediately. How could I be so selfish? James is a pure-blood. If we date and death eaters find out, they're going to target him. I begin to panic slightly.
"Is everything ok?" James' asks, stopping.
"Ya." I nod and continue walking up the hall.
Once we've completed our route and are on our way back up to our dorms, I decide I need to talk to Marlene. "Hey, I'm actually gonna run to the Gryffindor dorms quickly. I need to talk to Marlene about tomorrow. I'll see you later though." I smile before turning the other way.
I reach the Gryffindor common room and enter. It's still quite early so the common room is still fairly busy. I see Sirius, Peter, and Remus sat on the couch laughing so I make my way over to them, "Hey." I smile.
"Hey, Lily-Flower, what are you doing here?" Sirius asks.
"Have you seen Marlene? I need to talk to her." I respond.
"She went upstairs about 20 minutes ago." Remus answers. "Is everything ok?"
"Ya, just-" I start, "I'm ok. I'll talk to you guys later." I smile before heading upstairs.
I knock on the door before entering and see Hestia lay on her bed with a piece of parchment in her hand and a quill in her mouth and Marlene sat on hers with a book in her hands.
"Hey, Lils. What are you doing here?" Marlene looks up.
"I really need to talk to you." I say, walking over to her bed and sitting down next to her.
Hestia moves down to the end of her bed and sits crisscrossed, "What's wrong?"
"James." I answer honestly.
"What? What happened?" Marlene asks, concerned. "You seemed so happy earlier."
"I was. Well, I am." I say, "I just... we were doing our rounds and this group of Slytherin boys walked past us and gave James the dirtiest look."
"So? Slytherins always give him dirty looks." Hestia laughs.
"He gave James a dirty look because we were holding hands. And I realized how selfish it would be of me to date him." I respond.
"In what way is that selfish?" Marlene asks.
"He's a pure-blood. I'm a muggle-born." I say sadly. "Death eaters find out we're dating and they'll target him even more. It's like Romeo and Juliet."
"Romeo and Juliet?" Marlene furors her eyebrows.
I smile, "Never mind."
"Lily, 'you know who' could target us just for talking to you, or target us because we're friends with Sirius who 'betrayed his pure-blood family', or because we all openly and publicly disagree with his morals, or he could even target us for the soul fact that he doesn't like the way we walk." Marlene smiles. "Whether James is dating you or not, he's gonna be a target. You might just make it easier for him to deal with."
I smile at her, knowing she's right, "I guess. I just still kind of feel responsible for my parents deaths. I don't wanna be the reason anyone else dies, you know?"
"Lily the only people responsible for your parents deaths are the death eaters who did it." Hestia says.
"Have you talked to James about this?" Marlene asks.
"No." I admit.
"Well talk to him. I bet he'll say the same thing." She replies.
I'm laying in bed staring at the ceiling thinking about what happened with Lily earlier. She was fine one second and then the next-
"Prongs!" I hear from across the room. "Prongsyyy!"
"I'm coming!" I yell as I walk over to my dresser and pick up the two way mirror I share with Sirius. I look at it and see Sirius sitting on the end of his bed with Peter waving behind him.
"Hey, Prongs!" He smiles.
"What do you want?" I laugh.
"Sorry we didn't interrupt you did we?" Peter asks with raised eyebrows and a laugh, Sirius laughing as well.
"No!" I smile.
"Lily came by here looking for Marlene. She seemed kind of upset. Everything ok?" Sirius asks.
"I'm wondering the same thing. We were doing our rounds and holding hands and laughing and then a group of kids walked past and it just seemed like her whole mood suddenly shifted. She dropped my hand and wasn't as into our conversation."
"Weird." Sirius replies.
"Do you think she regrets kissing me?" I ask, nervously.
"I doubt it." I hear Remus say from across the room. "She seemed happy earlier and if that was the case, I don't think it would happen that suddenly."
"Ya. Maybe she was just thinking about her parents again." Peter adds.
"I guess we had just been talking about that stuff." I respond, "Ya, you're probably right."
"So you're ok then?" Sirius asks.
"Ya I think so." I smile.
"Good, because I have the best idea for a prank!" He responds and I hear Remus groan in the background.
This morning I woke up feeling like my normal non-morning-person I am. I groaned when my alarm went off and I rolled out of bed, pulling my uniforms on and quickly brushing my hair.
I walk down the stairs and everyone turns to look at me, "Happy birthday!" They all yell.
I groan in response.
"Well aren't you a cheery birthday girl?" Sirius laughs.
Alice holds out a chocolate cupcake with white frosting and a single yellow candle in it, "Make a wish."
"I wish to be able to be able to go back to bed." I say as I blow out the candle.
"You're not supposed to say it out loud! Now it won't come true!" James laughs and I smile while shaking my head.
"Come sit!" Marlene says, patting the couch next to her.
I sit down and she hands me a gold box wrapped in white ribbon. I smile and open the box. Inside sits an antique looking hand-held gold mirror with beautiful detailing around the mirror and on the handle, "Oh, merlin." I smile at her. "It's gorgeous, Marlene!"
"Gorgeous mirror you can use to look at your gorgeous face!" She says as she hugs me, "Happy birthday."
"Thank you." I hug her back.
James walks over and sits on the coffee table in front of me, "Happy 18th, love." he smiles as he hands me a box wrapped in yellow wrapping paper.
I smile and unwrap it. My jaw drops slightly and I feel tears in my eyes, "How did you do this." I look up at him.
"Magic." He smiles.
I smile and look back down at the framed picture of my parents, Petunia and me on my first day of Hogwarts. But its not just any picture. He somehow turned it into a magical portrait. Dad pulling me in closer to him with a proud smile on his face, mom looking down at Petunia and ruffling her hair to get her to smile, which she does slightly as she looks over at me who is smiling with my hair blowing in the wind and struggling to hold up my trunk that was almost as big as eleven year old me. I set the picture on the couch next to me and sit up, wrapping my arms around James' neck and kissing him. He smiles against me and rests his hands on my thighs.
He pulls away and smiles, "I take it you like it then?"
I laugh, "I love it. Thank you, James."
Although I was thinking a lot about my parents today, I of course am still excited for my party tonight. Meaning that every class went by as slow as possible. When classes were finally done and I was finished eating my dinner, I headed up to my room to change out of my uniforms and pack a small bag since I was crashing in the girls' dorm tonight.
I put on the blue mom jeans my dad bought me and a tight, low cut, long sleeve, maroon shirt. I slipped on my sneakers and fixed my hair before heading back downstairs.
As I'm walking down the stairs I see James standing in the common room, he looks me up and down, lingering a bit longer on my chest, and then smiles, "You look stunning, as always."
"Thank you." I blush.
"You ready to get wasted?" He asks.
"Fuck ya." I laugh and we make our way to the party.
He puts his arm around me as we walk into the Gryffindor common room and everyone turns and yells, "Happy birthday!"
I smile, "Thank you!"
Sirius runs over and hands me a butter beer, "For the beautiful birthday girl!" he says as he kisses me on the cheek.
"Thanks." I laugh, taking a sip.
There's loud music playing from my music player that Marlene set up in the corner and people filling the room with drinks in their hands and smiles on their faces.
"You've got this, Wormy." Sirius boasts a clearly drunk Peter on, as he walks over to Desdemona DeCorlas, a girl in the year below us and says something I don't hear before grabbing her face and begins snogging her in the middle of the common room.
"Woooo!" James yells, laughing.
"Oi, Lily-Flower, what song is this? This muggle guy's pretty good." Sirius asks, as he bobs along to the lyrics, 'so you think you can stone me and spit in my eye'
"It Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen." I laugh. "You'd probably like a lot of their music."
It doesn't even feel like its been that long since I got here and yet I'm already drunk. I hear 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA come on and immediately jump up and down excitedly, "Dance with me!" I yell to James, who is also quite a few drinks in.
He grabs my hand as I pull him to the middle of the room smiling. I can see other muggle-borns also get excited from the song and start singing it as well.
I sing the lyrics as I swing my arms around freely and dance. James, despite not knowing the song, dances and smiles the same as me, putting his hands on my waist and swinging his hips with mine. I feel happy and free as I move to the music, the taste of alcohol in my mouth and the feelings of James' hands on me.
"Jily! Jily! Jily!" I hear Marlene start chanting, causing the rest of the room to join in. I laugh and roll my eyes as I put my arms around James neck and pull him down to kiss me. He moves his hands to my back to pull me closer and leans into me, probably bent over quite a bit because of our height difference. I can taste the Firewhiskey on his mouth and hear the crowd cheer. I laugh and pull away from the kiss, still dancing in his arms.
When the song ends, I walk over to the guys and put one arm around Peters neck and attempt to put the other around Remus', but he's way too tall for that so I settle for his back, "You guys are the best." I smile.
"You drunk, Lils?" Remus laughs.
"Yes." I smile. "But that doesn't mean you guys aren't the best."
James smiles, "You are so hot, you know that?" Causing Remus to shake his head and laugh with the others.
"I do, actually, thank you." I smile, putting my head up in the air.
He raises his eyebrows and smirks, bending over to grab my legs and swiftly throw me over his shoulder. I scream and laugh at the same time, "Put me down, Potter!"
"Nope." He laughs as he walks through the portrait hole into the hallway where he sets me down so my back is against the wall. He puts his arm over my head and leans over me. "I gave you your main birthday gift earlier, but now I have to give you the true, Jily birthday gift." He says as he leans down and kisses me.
I put my arms around his neck again, my hands in his soft, dark, hair. He pushes his body against me and brings his hands down to my cheek and neck. This kiss is more then the other ones we've had. It's passionate and sweaty and hot. It's full-on alcohol induced snogging.
I pull away and smile sadly as I think about last night again.
"What's wrong?" He asked, concern on his face. "I'm sorry, was that too much? Shit, I'm so sorry, Lily."
"No. No, it's not that. That was... amazing." I smile.
"Then what is it?"
"It's actually what upset me yesterday during our rounds," He looks at me curiously, patiently waiting for me to continue. "When I saw the look that that Slytherin boy gave you when he noticed we were holding hands, I guess I just got scared that if we dated, I would be making you a target to 'you know who' because I'm a muggle-born and you're a pure-blood." I admit.
"Lily-" He starts, a sad look on his face.
"I already talked to Marlene and Hestia about it and they pointed out that there are already a bunch of other reasons he would target you. But I guess I just wanted to make sure you had completely thought this all through and realized that being with me could put you in even more danger."
He looks at me and smiles. That beautiful, soft, so unique to James Potter smile, "Lily, I have thought about being with you everyday since I was like eleven," He laughs." Those thoughts have definitely crossed my mind before and every single time I have come to the conclusion that being with you, the Lily Evans, is worth every bit of danger that son of a bitch could try to put me in."
I smile up at him as I blush slightly, "Are you sure?"
"Never been more sure about anything in my life, Lily." He smiles. "You are what I want."
"You're what I want too, James."
He smirks at me, "Evans, will you be my girlfriend?"
I laugh, "Yes, Potter, I'll be your girlfriend."
He grins so big and grabs my face again, pulling me in for another kiss before grabbing my hand and pulling me back into the common room, "LILY EVANS IS MY GIRLFRIEND!" James yells, cheers erupting from the room as I cover my face with my hands and laugh.
I could be in the middle of class or reading a book or sleeping in my bed and he fills my mind.
Sirius' hands are all over me in dreams like these. And I kind of love it. Imagining being with him in vivid dreams and touching his soft skin.
Until I get woken up by his annoying arse.
"Moony!" Sirius whisper yells.
"Wake up, wake up!" James adds, shaking me.
"What." I mumble, rubbing my eyes and looking at them all leaning over me as I lay in bed.
"We've had a brilliant idea!" Peter says.
"I'm honestly upset we haven't thought of this before!" Sirius complains, shaking me again.
I sit up, "What time is it?"
"2 am." James says, smiling.
I glare at him, "What is this 'brilliant' idea you've thought of that required you to wake me up at 2 in the morning?"
"We're gonna slide down the moving stair cases on our matresses!" Peter says, excitedly.
"What?" I furrow my eyebrows at him.
"It'll be so much fun!" Sirius smiles. "Come on!"
I roll my eyes and groan, "Fine."
We each grab our own mattress and start dragging them down the stairs into the common room, and through the portrait, earning an annoyed glare from the fat lady. (Nothing we haven't got hundreds of times before.)
We lay our mattresses in a line next to each other at the top of a set of stairs. "Now what?" I ask.
"We sit!" Sirius says, as he jumps crisscrossed onto his mattress.
The rest of us climb onto ours and James takes a quick look at the Marauders Map to make sure we're still in the clear and then Peter begins counting down.
"5," He says excitedly.
"4," James continues.
"3 2 1!" Sirius yells before pushing off and sliding down the stairs, the rest of us following closely behind.
We scream and laugh as we almost go head first into the railing at the bottom. "Again!" James yells.
"What on earth are you boys doing?" We hear a voice behind us.
We all quickly turn and see Lily standing at the top of stairs in her pajamas, with her hands on her hips.
"Uhhh, nothing." Peter smiles.
"It's ok, Lily-Flower, you can just pretend you didn't see anything and put your pretty little self back to sleep, ok?" Sirius grins.
She rolls her eyes, "No."
"Please don't tell on us, Lily!" James pleads.
Lily shakes her head in disappointment, "James, you're head boy,"
"I know, I'm sorry." He replies.
"And I'm head girl," She continues. James looks at her apologetically. "And we've been spending a lot of time together lately because of that."
"Yeah?" James says, confused at her point.
"So you should know me well enough by now to know that I would have loved to go mattress sledding!" She smiles.
"Wha-" Sirius starts.
"You wanted to join us?" I ask, surprised.
"Hell, ya!" She says, happily. "I did this all the time as a kid. I'm a pro!"
James laughs, "Here, come sit on the front of mine. We'll go down together and show these losers what head boy and girl can do!"
She smiles and runs down to sit on the front half of James mattress, as the rest of us line ours up to go down the next flight of stairs.
Sirius counts down again and we all push off, Peter landing at the bottom first.
"Boom! You guys suck!" He yells in victory.
"You cheated!" Sirius argues.
"Did not!" Peter replies.
Lily had fallen backwards while sliding down and was now basically laying on James, in-between his legs. He looked fairly pleased about that though and they were both still giggling.
We went down a couple more flights, Sirius making it his mission to beat everyone, but somehow failing every time. The rest of us going red in the face from laughter.
"We should probably go before someone catches us." I say.
They all agree and we grab our mattress, walking them back up as Peter and Sirius continue to bicker about who is the "better mattress sledder."
In the morning (the actual reasonable time to wake up, morning), Sirius, Peter and I head down with Marlene and Hestia to meet the others for breakfast. We see Alice, Frank, James and Lily sitting in the middle of the Gryffindor table and walk over to join them.
"Oh shove off, you prick." Lily laughs.
"Who's being a prick?" Marlene asks.
Lily raises her eyebrows at her, "Who do you think?"
James laughs, "All I said was that you're really fun when you loosen up."
"And I'm not fun otherwise?" Lily asks, eyebrows raised.
"That's not what I said! You are fun otherwise! I didn't mean it like that." James responds quickly, worried he upset her.
"It was a joke, Potter." Lily laughs.
James grins, "Oh."
"So, Pete. Are you gonna ask Greta to the ball?" I ask him.
"Ya. After breakfast." He smiles.
"Good! It's only 2 days away! You were running out of time!" Sirius replies.
"I know!" Peter rolls his eyes.
"Ya, I secured my beautiful date, last week!" James smiles, ruffling his hair.
"As friends." Lily reminds him.
"Not for longgg." James smirks.
Lily rolls her eyes, "In your dreams."
"Yes. You are correct. That does happen in my dreams." He winks, causing Lily to go a bit red.
"Oh would you two just shag already?" Sirius huffs. Making Lily even more red.
The rest of us laugh at Sirius' confidence to say what we were all thinking.
"Anyways," James smiles, "There's Greta now, Wormy!"
Peter turns to look at her and takes a deep breath to calm his nerves, "Wish me luck."
"You don't need it! You've got this, mate." Sirius reassures.
We continue about our breakfast and chat for another few minutes before Peter comes back with a frown, "She already has a date."
I look at Sirius for a moment and then back at Peter, "I'm sorry, Peter."
"We'll find you another girl, don't worry!" Sirius smiles.
"The dance is in two days. No one else is gonna be available." Peter frowns again.
I look down for a moment, thinking and then smile at him, "Peter Pettigrew, will you be my date to the Celestial Ball?"
He chuckles, "Really?"
"Of course!" I say, "No one else I'd rather go with then my best friend!"
Peter smiles, "Ok, sure."
"You ready to go, Remus?" Lily asks me with a smile.
"Yup!" I grab my bag and stand up.
"Where are you two going?" James asks.
"To study," Lily answer. "And no, you can't join us."
"What, why?" He responds.
"Because you have Quidditch practice, idiot." Lily laughs.
He goes a bit red in the cheeks and smiles, "Right."
Lily and I make our way to the library and settle into our favourite table way at the back where there's less people and its quieter.
We study for about half an hour before Lily stares at me for a moment, contemplating what to say.
"What?" I ask.
"I want to tell you something," Lily says.
"Ok?" I respond, setting my quill down and sitting up straighter.
"But you can't tell anyone!" She replies, eyes going a bit wider.
I look at her curiously, "I won't, Lily. You're my friend."
"Ok," She pauses. "I fancy James."
I look at her for a moment, thinking about the valuable information I was just given, "Ya, I know."
"How? Did Marle-" She starts, sounding upset.
"No, Lily." I interrupt. "It's just obvious." I laugh.
She goes a bit red in the face, "Shove off." She laughs.
The second that Lily decides she's done studying for the day and walks out of eye sight of me, I sprint down the halls and down to the Quidditch pitch. They're just finishing up practice when I get there, panting like a dog.
Peter walks over to me from the stands, "Are you ok?"
"Ya. I just really need to talk to James!" I say, still trying to catch my breath, "Big advancement in the Lames department!" I smile.
James and Sirius see us and walk over, "I thought you were studying with Lily." James says.
"Ya, but now I really need to talk to you!" I say, excitedly.
"Why? What's going on." James questions.
"Lily fancies you!" I smile.
He raises his eyebrows, "What?!"
"She just told me that she realized last week that she fancies you! She smelt you in the Amortentia!" I reply.
He smiles so big, "Merlin, really?"
"Yes!" I smile with him.
"Way to go, Mate!" Sirius says, patting James on the back.
"Lames is officially happening!" Peter grins. "I don't think I've ever been this happy."
The ball is in one hour and the girls and I are getting ready in my room, "Can someone zip me up?" I ask. Hestia zips up the back of my dress and I look at myself in the mirror. I'm wearing a floor length, A-line, Emerald green dress with flowy, off the shoulder sleeves and lace around the top. It matches the necklace James bought me perfectly.
"Beautiful." Hestia says, looking at me in the mirror as well.
Marlene turns to look at me from the chair she's sitting in while Alice finishes pinning her hair up, "James is going to drop dead when he sees you, Lily."
I laugh, "I hope not, I'm already worried enough about how the ball is going to run tonight. Don't want to deal with it all alone."
"It's gonna be great, Lils!" Alice smiles, "The team you guys picked to set it all up is super reliable, the band is amazing, and the decorations are gorgeous!"
"Thanks." I smile as well.
"You guys ready?" Hestia asks.
"Ready as I'll ever be." I laugh and we walk out of my room and down to the common room where the guys are sitting around on the couch chatting.
"Well don't you fellows clean up nice." Alice laughs.
James turns and looks at me, eyes tracing up and down my body with a small grin on his face. He runs his hand through his hair and walks up to me, takes my hand and kisses it, "You look absolutely stunning, Lily."
I blush, "Thank you, James."
"You ready to head down?" He asks, putting his arm out so I can link mine through it.
I smile, "Yes." I say as I take his arm.
As we walk through the corridors, we laugh at the chaos that ensues on ball night. Boys standing around in groups, checking their hair before their date arrives, girls trying to walk down the stairs in heels and poufy dresses, and the professors looking distressed as they try to get people to the Great Hall faster.
We walk into the Great Hall and it's everything I had hoped for.
The ceiling charmed to be a beautiful starry night, dark blue and shimmery white curtains draped over the walls, twinkle lights running wall to wall above the tables which are decorated with blue table cloth to match the walls and silver chairs.
"Wow." Marlene says, smiling.
"You guys did an amazing job." Peter says.
"It was mostly Lily." James admits with a smile.
Hestia chuckles, "Either way, it's gorgeous!"
"Thank you." I smile.
"Oh, there you two are!" Dumbledore says, as he approaches us, "I just wanted to congratulate you two on doing such a stunning job! It looks wonderful!" He smiles ear to ear.
"Thank you, Professor." We reply.
"Well get out there and dance, you lot!" He smiles, waving his arm to direct us further into the room.
Everything is going well so far. The band sounds great and people seem to be enjoying themselves for the most part.
"Awe." I frown.
"What?" James asks while we take our second lap around the room.
"That girl over there. I think she's alone." I say, nodding towards a girl who looks to be in about fourth year, sitting by herself at a table while everyone else dances.
"I've got this." James says as he approaches her and I watch to see how he plans on cheering her up.
"Hi. I'm James Potter." He smiles.
"Oh.. Hi- I know."
He laughs, "What's your name?"
"I'm uh- Marcy." She stutters.
"Nice to meet you Marcy." He grins. "Would you like to dance with me?"
Her eyes widen, "Really? You want to dance with me?"
"Of course I do!" James smiles. He puts his hand out, which she takes and he directs her to the dance floor.
I watch and smile at how sweet and caring he is, even to complete strangers.
"Hi, Lily." I hear Severus say from behind me.
I turn around, "Oh, Hi Sev." I smile politely. "I'm glad you came, are you having fun?"
"Not really," He laughs. "This isn't really my scene."
"Ya I know." I smile.
"Did you want to dance with me though? Since I'm here." He asks.
"Oh- um, sure." I agree and walk onto the dance floor with him. He puts his hands on my waist and I awkwardly place mine on his shoulders, trying to keep somewhat of a distance. I catch James' eye from across the dance floor and he looks between Sev and I with a frown before turning back to Marcy and smiles.
"So how have you been?" I ask.
"Not bad. Still working on some new potion recipes." He smiles. "What about you?"
"Things are going better." I respond.
"I'm glad. Did Petunia ever respond to you?" He asks.
I frown, "No. I doubt she ever will."
"I'm sorry, Lily." He smile, sympathetically.
The song ends and Severus lets go of me and smiles, "Did you want to grab something to eat?"
"Thanks, but I actually have to get back-" I start.
"Are you actually having a conversation with a Mudblood?" Mulciber asks from behind Severus.
Sev jumps slightly and spins around, "Of course not!" He answers quickley.
"Well then what are you doing?" Avery asks with disgust.
Severus looks between me and his friends, "I was just telling her that she's the next Mudblood to go."
I feel my stomach drop. It's like fifth year all over again. I see James walking over and feel slightly relived, "Is there a problem here?" He asks, glaring down at Severus.
"No. We were just leaving." Severus answers.
"Good." James says as Sev and his friends walk away. "Are you alright?"
I take a breath, "Ya. Just.. Severus." I smile sadly.
"Come on, lets grab something to drink." He smiles and takes my hand to direct me over to the drink table.
He grabs me a glass of punch before reaching inside his dress robes to grab a small flask and pour some into my cup, "Shhh." He smiles.
I laugh and take the cup. We walk around while drinking our punch and another slow song comes on, "Lily Evans, would you honor me in giving me this dance?" He smiles.
I smile as well, feeling my face go a bit red, "Of course."
He takes my hand and we walk onto the dance floor. He places his hands on my waist as I put my arms around his neck and smile. I can feel his breath on my skin and his twitching fingers slide down a bit lower as I twirl the hairs on the bottom of his neck in between my fingers.
"You really do look so beautiful, Lily." He says, as his hazel eyes skip between my eyes and lips.
I smile and look down between us to hide him seeing me blush this close to him.
"And you look very handsome." I admit.
He pulls me in a bit closer as he sways us to the music. I look at him again, not being able to stop myself from dropping my eyes to look at his lips.
He smiles and I look back up to make eye contact again.
"Kiss me already." I hear myself say.
He looks shocked and turns a bit red, "What?"
"Kiss me, Potter. Before I change me mind." I say, staring at his lips.
He pauses for a moment before leaning in and breaking our distance. His soft lips move against mine like they were always meant to be there and he moves his hands to my back to remove any distance that was left between us. It feels as though the room is spinning and we're the only two people in it. I move my hands to cup his face and feel him smile into our kiss before pulling back to stare at me.
I lean back into him, resting my head on his chest as we continue to sway to the music and he rests his hands on my back, hugging me in. I just know that he's smiling so big right now and probably getting a thumbs up from Sirius behind us.
The song, unfortunately, comes to an end and I step back, smiling at him.
"Silence, everyone!" Dumbledore says into the microphone on the stage. "I know this night has been quite excellent for most of you. Therefore, I would like to invite up the organizers of this beautiful event before the night comes to a close." He looks at James and I and I take a breath, nervously as I didn't expect to have to make a speech.
We walk up the stage and look down at all the people on the dance floor and sitting at the tables in the back.
"Well, I guess I'd just like to say a thank you to our wonderful prefects who volunteered to put hours into decorating the Great Hall tonight, the band who sounded incredible, and all of you for coming." I say with a smile.
"And I would just like to admit that all of this planning, decoration choosing and basically everything else was 90% Lily, and for that I want to thank her." James adds, smiling at me.
"Wooo, Lames!" Sirius yells from the crowd, getting a smack on the arm from Marlene.
"No," She says to him, "Go Jily!" She winks at me. I swear I look at them with horror before casting silencio on them when they continue to yell.
James laughs, "Anyways, thank you all for coming and get back to your dorms safe tonight." He says before placing his hand on my lower back and directly me across the stage to get down on the other side. When we get there, our friends are waiting for us. All of them smiling like they have just received the best gift in the world.
Sirius waves his arms around, trying to get me to undo my spell so they can talk again, "Are you going to me good?" I ask,
He nods, frevilously.
"Ok." I laugh before undoing the spell from both of them.
"You kissed!" He immideitally yells, grabbing James' arms and jumping up and down.
James laughs, "Yes we did."
Marlene looks at me with a big smile, biting her bottom lip and I smile back, excitedly.
"Eeee." Sirius squeals. "Tell me everything!"
James raises his eyebrows with a grin, "How about tomorrow? It's late and I need to get Lily back by her curfew."
I roll my eyes and laugh.
"Fine, fine." Sirius agrees.
"Goodnight, guys." James says as he puts his arm out for me to link mine through again and we start walking away. I turn my head to look back at them and smile ear to ear with widened eyes.
We walk back to our dorm in a comfortable silence and when we arrive he walks me all the way up to my bedroom door.
"I had a really amazing time with you, Lily. Like truly incredible." He laughs.
I smile, "I did too."
He looks at me for a moment before leaning down to place a gentle kiss on my lips. I smile when he pulls away, "Goodnight, Potter."
"Ya, we kissed goodnight when I walked her back to her common room." Peter says as he tells us about his study date with Greta last night.
"On the lips?" Remus asks.
Peter nods with a smile, "Way to go, mate!" Sirius high fives him.
"Wormy, you're getting more action then me, now!" I laugh.
"Stop being so love sick over Evans and you'd be getting more then any of us!" He chuckles.
"Ya, ya." I roll my eyes with a smile.
"Oh and look, here comes Ms future Potter now!" Sirius says, nodding his head towards the girls walking into the great hall to join us for breakfast.
"Morning boys." Marlene says as she takes a seat next to Sirius.
"Morning, Lils." I smile at her as she slides into the seat next to me.
"Mmm." She groans as she reaches for the coffee pot to pour herself a mug.
"Someone's a bit grumpy this morning because she thought it would be smart to not go to bed until 3am." Hestia laughs.
"Well we've got potions in half an hour so hopefully that will cheer her up, ay Lily?" I say.
She looks at me with a glare, "Stop talking to me until this mug is empty."
"Ok." I laugh.
I look up so I can join into the conversation that Remus and Alice are having on the other side of me and catch a glimpse of Sirius staring at Remus as he talks. He is leaning his face on his hand and looking directly as Remus' lips as they move, reminding me of what he always calls me out for doing with Lily. He breaks his own trance and turns, catching me watch him. I raise my eyebrows slightly and smile before going back to the scrambled eggs on my plate.
About 15 minutes later, Lily, Marlene, Remus and I make our way to potions together. When we arrive we see that the table at the front of the room has a potion in the middle of it, I recognize the potion immediately as Amortentia by its mother-of-pearl sheen and the steamy spirals in the air above it.
"Hello class," Professor Slughorn says once everyone is seated. "Today, we are going to be learning the characteristics and dangers of this very potion I have here, as well as learn how to make it. Can anyone tell me what this potion is?" He asks.
"That's Amortentia, sir. The most powerful love potion in the world." Lily answers.
Slughorn smiles proudly, "Correct, Ms. Evans. 10 points to Gryffindor. Can you tell the class how to recognize this potion?"
"Well it has a very distinctive pearly sheen to it, as well as the spirals that accumulate above it in the steam." Lily answers.
"Correct. This information will be on the final exam, so please take note of it." Slughorn announces. "This potion also has a very unique characteristic of smelling different to every one whom smells it. That smell represents what one finds attractive. For example, if the person you love has a certain scent, the potion will smell the same. Would anyone like to come up and take a whiff and possibly share with the class?"
Almost everyone raises their hand and Slughorn chooses a few people to come up, myself, Lily, and Remus included.
I walk up and smell the potion, smells like Lily, no surprise.
"What do you smell, Mr Potter?"
"Um, strawberries, cinnamon, and coffee." I answer, glancing at Remus who give me a knowing smile.
I go back to my desk as Lily bends down slightly to smell it. She thinks for a moment, trying to figure out what it is that she's smelling, and then her eyes widen and she goes a bit red before quickly walking back to sit next in front of me, next to Marlene.
I did not just smell James bloody Potter in that Amortentia. There's no way.
"Are you ok?" Marlene whispers as Slughorn goes on with his lesson.
I look at her, probably looking quite distressed, "No. I need to talk to you after class. With Alice and Hestia too though."
She nods, looking concerned, "Of course, Lils."
I somehow make it through the rest of the class without crying. What is wrong with me?
"You guys want to hangout with us in the head commons for a bit?" James asks.
"No thanks." I say, before leaving the room.
Marlene jogs up to me, "Lily, what's going on?"
"Just get Alice and Hestia and come to my room, ok?" I respond.
She nods and turns around to go find them and I basically run to my room so that James and Remus don't catch up to me.
When I get to my room I sit on my bed and put my face in my hands. I can't decide how I feel about these feelings. I can't think about James right now because it makes me feel giddy and sick at the same time.
There's a knock on my door, "Who is it?" I ask.
"It's us." Hestia responds.
"Come in," they walk in, all looking worried. "Are the guys down there? Close the door."
"Are you ok, Lily?" Alice asks as they all take a seat on my bed with me.
"No." I shake my head.
"What's wrong?" Marlene asks.
"Please don't laugh or say I told you so or anything, ok?" I say, specifically talking to Marlene because, despite how much she cares about me, I know how badly she'll want to say that.
"Of course." Hestia replies.
I look down at my hand and feel my face heat up, "I think- I know-" I pause, not wanting to say it. "I fancy James. Like a lot."
There's a pause before anyone responds, probably trying to figure out something other then "No shit." or "You just realized that?" to say.
"Oh." Marlene finally responds.
"Ya.." I look at her and see the slight smile on her face.
"Did you smell him in the Amortentia?" She asks, realizing the cause for my mood throughout class.
"Ya. Smelt like leather from his Quidditch uniform mixed with sweat and that stupid honey shampoo he uses." I reply.
"Well, why are you upset that you like him?" Alice asked with a sweet smile.
"Because then he wins." I answer honestly.
"Wins?" Hestia says, confused.
"Yes," I insist. "All these years, it always been, 'Hey Evans, I know you like me, go out with me.' and 'Shove off, Potter, you're a prick and I will never ever go out with you'. Me liking him means he won."
Marlene laughs, "I think it's time to stop being so stubborn and put that behind you, Lils."
"Ya. Plus, I don't think that was ever a game to him. He's crazy about you." Alice adds.
I roll me eyes, "Ok I get that but, I don't know. I guess, I'm scared."
"Of what?" Hestia asks.
"I've never really liked anyone this much before. I mean, I know I've gone out with quite a few people but it's never been serious. I don't know how to act." I admit.
"Act like yourself, Lily." Alice smiles.
"How are you feeling though? I mean, do you want to actually go out with him? Like as boyfriend and girlfriend." Marlene asks. "Cause you two are already so cute together, I think I'd explode if you were dating."
I laugh, "I don't know. I think so. I guess I've always just thought the constant smirking and hair touching was annoying... but now I kind of want to kiss the smirk off his face and run my hand through his hair for him." I smile.
I look up and all three of them are smiling so big at me.
"Well what are you going to do? Are you gonna ask him out?" Hestia asks.
"Not right now. I need a bit more time to come to terms with the fact that I like James Potter." I cringe as I say the last part, causing the girls to laugh.
"Wanna join them downstairs? Test out how chill you can act in front of him now and give us some entertainment." Marlene smiles.
I roll my eyes, "Sure."
We walk downstairs and of course, the girls take every other available seat, forcing me to sit on the couch next to James. I glare in their directions before sitting down.
"I didn't even know you guys were up there." James laughs.
"Ya we were just talking." Hestia replies.
James turns to me "I was just telling the guys about the Celestial ball we're planning, Lils."
"Oh ya. I told the girls this morning." I reply, trying to act normal so I don't cause any 'entertainment'.
"I'm so excited!" Alice says, cheerfully.
"Well, of course you are. You have a boyfriend so you have a built in date. Who am I supposed to go with?" Marlene laughs.
"Hey, I'll go with you, Mar." Sirius responds.
She smiles, "Sweet, thanks."
"We could all just go as a friend group. I don't think dates are required, are they?" Remus laughs, looking at James.
"Actually they are." James smile and turns to me. "And Lily's gonna be mine."
"I never said that." I laugh, blushing a bit.
"I know. But come on, we have to be together the whole time anyways to direct people and make sure everything is going ok. Might as well be my date so you get the added bonus of my charming flirting and great dance moves." He smiles.
I roll my eyes, "You'd flirt with me whether it was a date or not."
"Exactly, so at least help me look a little less sad." He smiles, tilting his head.
"Fine." I say, watches his face light up, with a slightly shocked expression and a smile. "But just as friends."
"Deal!" He smiles.
I laugh and roll my eyes before looking over at Marlene who wiggles her eyebrows at me. James leans back on the couch and puts his arm around my shoulder casually while still continuing his conversation with Remus and Peter about who they can bring.
I jump slightly at the unexpected contact and look down at my hands, fidgeting with the ends of my hair because I don't know how else to react right now.
It feels like it's been 10 minutes since he put his arm over me causing me to freak out slightly, when in reality it's only been about 2.
"I'm gonna go for a shower." I say, quickly standing up and walking through the bathroom door next to our desks across the room.
I just know all of the girls feel very entertained right now, I sigh.
I, of course wish it lasted longer but I didn't even think I'd be able to have my arm around her for more then 5 seconds before she pulled away and glared at me. So that couple of minutes was pretty great.
After talking for about 20 more minutes, I pull out my potions homework and don't even finish reading the instructions before I'm thoroughly confused. Definitely gonna need Lily's help on this one. I turn to look at the bathroom door and can still hear the shower running.
"What's taking her so long?" I ask.
"She's probably not even in the shower anymore." Hestia says.
"But the water is still running." I point out.
"Ya but normally Lily leaves the shower running after getting dressed so that she can more easily wet her hair while putting her hair products in." Marlene says. "She normally takes pretty fast showers and spends majority of the time in there doing her hair."
"Really?" I ask.
"Ya. I bet if you went in there right now, she'd literally just be doing her hair." Marlene replies.
"Ok." I say as I stand up and make my way over with the potions assignment in my hand. I knock once and then open the door just as Lily is stepping out of the shower...
âŠCompletely naked.
She's screams and I quickly close the door and stare in the other direction with my hand over my mouth and my homework on the floor somewhere. Someone gasps from the sitting area.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, POTTER!?" Lily yells from the bathroom.
I can't even answer. I just continue standing there, eyes wide, with the thought of what I just saw.
Sirius looks at me, "Breath, Prongs." He smirks.
I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding at look at him.
"You good?" Peter laughs.
I shake my head and slowly lower my hand a smile forms on my face.
Remus laughs and shakes his head. Lily opens the door and says a spell I didn't hear to knock me off my feet. I look up at her and plead, "I'm so so sorry, Lily. I swear I though you were out."
"The water was still on!" She yells, still pointing her wand at me while I lay on the ground in front of her.
"I know but Marlene said you were probably just doing your hair." I reply quickly.
She turns her head and glares at Marlene, "I'm sorry! You normally take short showers and I know you keep the shower on while putting your hair products in!" She says, putting her hands in the air.
I can't help but to look down her body while she's facing away. She's still in just a towel and I'd do anything to see more of what I just accidently saw.
She looks back at me and catches me looking at her body, "That's it!" She yells. "I'm obliviating you!"
"Lily, no!" Alice yells. "That's a very hard and dangerous spell if you don't do it right."
"Well if I don't then he's gonna be..." She waves her wand in frustration as she talks, "thinking about it."
"I understand that, Lily but Alice is right." Remus says. "Plus, just because he's never seen the real thing before doesn't mean he's never... thought about it."
I glare at him before looking back at Lily who is a bit red in the face. Either because she's so angry or because she's blushing at me thinking about her. Possibly both.
She lowers her wand slowly, "Fine. I won't obliviate you." I sigh in relief. "But if you ever bring this up, I will hex your damn head off!" She threatens.
"Ok!" I reply and stand up. "Sorry, again."
"Its fine, I guess." She huffs. She turn and goes back into the bathroom.
"I would apologize but I don't think I really need to." Marlene laughs.
I shake my head with a smile, "Ya definitely don't need to apologize."
"You gonna come sit down?" Peter smiles with raised eyebrows.
I press my lips together with a grin, "Nah."
"And why not?" Hestia laughs.
"I uh- just gotta go get something from upstairs." I smile, innocently before turning on my heels and running upstairs, hearing everyone laugh behind me.
This week has been so great but I'm so excited to go back to Hogwarts today and see everyone again. We're catching the later train back to school because we're meeting up with the girls, Remus and Peter in Diagon Alley this morning to go shopping and hangout outside of school before going back to the craziness of it all.
Remus ended up going home to see his parents for the last couple days of the break because 'they got home early from their trip'. Which even though he won't tell me, I know that's not the real reason he stayed at Hogwarts this Christmas. I assume his transformation wasn't too bad so he was able to leave the hospital wing early enough to still go home.
I got dressed into my brown corduroy flares and brown, green and grey, oversized 'grandpa sweater', as Marlene calls it. Although I truly don't care because it is the most comfortable thing ever. Which Remus would agree with me on considering he wears the same kind of sweaters and I have definitely stolen some of his before.
I'm packing the last of my things into my suitcase when I hear Sirius yelling and people running down the hall. I open my door to see James holding Sirius' trousers and running around with them while Sirius chases him in just his boxers.
"JAMES POTTER, GIVE ME MY DAMN TROUSERS RIGHT NOW!" Sirius yells.
"NO!" James respond, laughing so hard his face is as red as my hair.
"What is going on?" I say, ammused.
"James stole my trousers and won't give them back!" Sirius says.
"I will give them back. After you say you love me." James says, giggling like a kid.
"What?" I laugh.
"I told Sirius I loved him and he didn't say it back. So now he can go out in the cold with no trousers." James answered.
"Well why would I want to say it now, you git?" Sirius yells, annoyed.
"Just tell me you love me."
"No."
"Sirius! Tell me you fucking love me!"
"How about I give you one of my cigs, instead?"
"You mean the ones I bought you?" James says, accusingly.
"Yes." Sirius answers.
"Ok, deal." James nods. He throws Sirius' trousers to him and Sirius throws him a cigarette from his pack.
"I didn't say you could use my lighter though." Sirius says before running back down the hall and locking himself in his room to get dressed in peace.
"Git!" James yells, and then turns his attention to me, "And good morning, beautiful." He smirks.
I roll my eyes, "Morning, James. Should I start bringing my bags downstairs?"
"Why would you do that?" James asks, genuinely confused.
"Because we're leaving soon?" I answer.
"Ever heard of magic, Evans?" He chuckles before waving his wand and dragging them down the stairs like he did with the alcohol at the beginning of the week.
"Right." I laugh.
We walk down the stairs where Fleamont and Euphemia are waiting, "What were you boys fighting over up there?" Euphemia asks.
"He didn't say he loved me back so I stole his trousers." James answers, earning an eye roll from his mum.
"Ya but I gave him one of my cigs so we're cool now." Sirius chimes in from the stairs.
"You all ready to go then?" Fleamont asks.
"Yep." We answer.
We apparate to an empty alley way near the Leaky Cauldron in London. I nearly fall over again but James and Sirius were prepared this time and both put their arms out to catch me. Almost immediately, my senses overstimulate with the noise of busy traffic and crowds of people walking by and the smell of delicious foods mixed with garbage.
"Are you kids sure you're going to be alright in Diagon Alley by yourselves?" Euphemia asks.
"Ya, we'll be fine, Mum." James responds with a smile.
Fleamont reaches into his pouch and takes out 15 galleons, handing 5 to each of us.
"Oh, that's alright, Mr. Potter, I have some money to use." I smile
"Take the galleons, Lily." He insists.
"I can't, really." I reply.
"Lily, trust me, I know from experience. He will not leave until you take that money. So if you want to arrive at Hogwarts before midnight, just take it now." Sirius says.
I look over at Sirius and then back at Fleamont and smile, "Ok, fine. Thank you, Mr. Potter."
"Fleamont." He replies, "Mr. Potter makes me sound old." He laughs.
"Right. Sorry, Fleamont." I smile.
"You are old, though." Sirius says.
"Very true. What are you like 70?" James adds.
"Bugger off, you two, I'm not quite 70 yet." He laughs.
"Hey, where are our bags?" I ask, looking around the alley way.
"Oh we brought them to Kings Cross Station, dear." Euphemia answers.
"What?" I say, confused.
"That's what that flash was in the middle of apparating. We made a quick stop to Platform 9 3/4 so our bags will be put on the 11 O'clock train and we don't have to carry them around." James answers, smiling.
"Oh, cool." I say.
"Well we better get going back to work now. You three be very very careful, ok!" Euphemia says.
"We will." Sirius responds.
"And don't get into any trouble at school!" Fleamont adds, "No pranks!" He says with a wink.
"Of course, Dad. We would never." James replies with a smile.
"You better write me, loads, ok?" Euphemia says as she hugs James.
"I will, Mum." He nods.
She turns and hugs Sirius, "Keep an eye on head boy here, will ya?" She says.
"Always do." He smiles. She then gives me a hug and says goodbye before they apparate away.
"Lets go!" Sirius yells and starts marching up the alley way, James and I jogging after him, laughing.
We finally come into sight of the Leaky Cauldron and step inside. It's a dark, dirty little place, but it's got charm. Plus, the best fries you can find in the wizarding world.
We catch sight of everyone sat at a big booth in the back corner and we head over to them.
"Hey guys!" I smile as I skootch in next to Marlene and give her a hug. James and Sirius sliding in next to me.
"How was your Christmas?" I ask.
"It was dreadfully boring." Marlene answers, "Spending a whole week with old people sucks."
I laugh, "I told you it was going to!"
"France was amazing!" Hestia says, excitedly.
"Learn any French?" Sirius asks.
"Retouve moi dans la salle de bain." Hestia says.
"What does that mean?" Peter asks.
"Meet me in the bathroom." Hestia laughs.
"Well no wonder you had an amazing time then." Remus laughs.
"How was Frank's house, Al?" James asked.
"Perfect. His family is the sweetest and look what he got me for Christmas!" She says, holding up her hand to show off her silver tennis bracelet.
"Wow, that's beautiful," I say, looking at it in awe. "I'm so glad you had a good time."
"What about you, Lils? How are the in-laws?" Marlene says with a teasing smile and everyone giggles.
I roll my eyes, "I had a great time staying with James and Sirius and their parents."
"We tried to teach her how to ride a broom and it went horribly." Sirius adds.
"Didn't she tell you how bad she was? That girl cannot ride a broom to save a life!" Hestia laughs.
"I did tell them! They just didn't believe me!" I laugh as well.
"She also got drunk and spilled all her secrets." James smirked at me.
"Shove off, I didn't spill any secrets." I reply.
"Well when information is being kept from someone, it's called a secret." James says, still smirking.
"You know I didn't mean it like that!" I say, turning red.
"Mean what like what? What did she spill." Peter asks, intrigued
"She called James hot." Sirius answers.
"What?!" Everyone says at once.
"Shut up, I did not!" I laugh, now even more red.
"Pretty sure you did." James nods.
"No I just said that you are what most people find hot because you're conventionally attractive. I said you were hot in an obvious way." I plead.
"All I'm hearing is that you think I'm hot and that fine with me, darling." James smirks. I roll my eyes and steal a fry from Alice's plate.
"Wow, where'd you get that flashy thing?" Alice asked.
"What?" I say, confused.
"The necklace. Is that new?" She asks.
"Oh yeah, that's gorgeous." Marlene says, getting closer to inspect it, "Is that real gold and a real emerald?"
"Ya." James answers, and they look at him confused, "I bought it for her for Christmas."
"Merlin, you four are making me sick." Hestia smiles, referring to Alice, Frank, James and I. And I roll my eyes, taking another fry.
Everyone is getting ready to leave so I head up to the counter to pay for our tab before meeting everyone by the door.
"So are we splitting it then since we all shared?" Remus asked.
"Ya that's fine with me." Marlene says while the others nod.
"Oh, I just payed it." I say, walking up behind them.
"What why? We were all supposed to split it." Peter says.
"Because I didn't get most of you a Christmas gift." I wink and walk out the back door to the brick wall entrance to Diagon Alley, the rest of them following shortly behind.
I tap my wand in the pattern on the wall and the bricks begin to separate, allowing us in.
We walk down the street and go into any shops that look interesting or have things we need to pick up. Lily insists on stopping at Flourish and Blotts. Which of course, I don't mind at all because I wanted to pick up the new Transfiguration textbook that just came out, anyways.
We all enter and start looking around, and although we go in different directions to begin with, Lily and I end up in front of the same stack of new Transfiguration textbooks.
"Oh, sorry." I say pulling my hand back so she can grab the book she was originally going for.
"Its ok," She laughs. "I was just excided about this book. It just came out."
"Ya, I know. I've read about Professor Emeric Switch's work before. It's really interesting. I was actually gonna get a copy too." I laugh.
"Really?" She says, surprised. "You know its not required, right?"
"Ya." I laugh, furrowing my brow at her.
"Sorry, just didn't pin you as one to read textbooks for fun." She says, clearly sensing my confusion.
"Are you kidding?" Sirius chimes in from up the aisle, "James once stayed up for two nights straight reading a random Charms textbook he found in the library from like 1802 or some shit like that." He laughes.
"It was interesting!" I respond, defensively.
Lily laughs too, "Wow, you learn new things everyday I suppose." She says as she turns to make her way up too the counter.
We leave the bookstore and decide to take a break and sit at a table outside a small coffee shop.
"Ya, this is the new bag my parents got me for Christmas." Peter smiles, when Remus asked about his new leather tote bag.
"Nice! Looks good." Remus replied.
"Thanks!" Peter says.
I look at Lily, next to me, and watch as she smiles while talking to Marlene and sips on her coffee. I swear, no matter what she is doing, she is somehow always stunning. Her hair, blowing slightly in the wind and looking gold when the sun catches it right, and the slight dimples that appear on her cheeks when she laughs.
She turns and catches me staring, so I smile awkwardly at her before turning away.
"What now?" She laughs.
"Nothing." I smile.
"You were creepily watching me." She smiles back.
"I was not creepily watching you." I chuckle at her description. "I was simply admiring your beauty."
"Mhm."
"I was! I guess I was just realizing how well that necklace really does match your eyes and how they make your hair colour pop." I smile. "You look beautiful."
She smiles while picking up her coffee and sips it without responding. I continue to look at her, waiting for some kind of snarky comment or her telling me to shove off. But it never comes. I run my hand through my hair and smile again.
"Hi, guys." Greta Catchlove, a seventh year Ravenclaw that Peter has fancied since the start of the year, says from the side of the table, with a friend of hers that I recognize from school but don't know.
"Hey Greta, how was your Christmas?" Lily asks with a charming smile.
"Great, thanks! What about yours?" She replies.
"Also great." Lily says.
"Well.. great." Greta smiles, "Hi, Peter."
"Oh- Hi, Greta." Peter says, looking slightly shocked she knew his name.
"You headed back to Hogwarts this afternoon, too?" She asks.
"Ya, the 4 O'clock train." He says.
"No way, me too." She responds. "I guess I'll see you there then."
"Ya." He smiles.
She smiles awkwardly before walking away.
"Mate, what was that?" Sirius says, looking at Peter.
"I don't know. Leave me alone." He replies, smacking his hand to his face.
I laugh, "You have to be less awkward, Wormy! Confidence is key!"
"Ya, just be slick with it." Sirius adds, sliding his hand through the air.
"Can't be all weird and awkward when it comes to the lady you fancy, take it from the expert." I say with a grin and Lily laughs from next to me.
"Prongs, I hate to break it to you, but you are far from the expert on that." Peter says.
"What do you mean! At least I don't get all stumble-y and red like you, Pete." I respond.
"At least I don't write the girl I fancies initials on my exam papers over and over." Peter says, smirking at me.
I stare at him for a moment and I see in his face when he realizes he's dead, "I don't know what you're talking about. I've never done that."
"Yes you bloody well have, James, don't lie." Sirius says and I smack him on the arm.
Lily is looking at me with a knowing smile and her eyebrows raised, "That's so cute. You wrote a girls initials on your papers cause you fancied her?"
"No, I did not. These guys are crazy. I think they actually smoked something back in the Leaky Cauldron." I say, smiling.
"Merlin, I wish." Sirius laughs. "I do have cigs though. Any takers?"
Remus, Peter, and I all put our hands out for one.
"James I already gave you one today!" Sirius says, annoyed.
"Ya well I gave you the whole pack and I will take them back if you don't share!" I respond.
"You'd take back my gift? How rude of you." Sirius says while holding his hand to his heart for a moment.
"Oh shove off and give me one you git." I laugh.
After the four of us have our smoke, we all start walking up the street again in search of a new shop to look in.
"Come one, guys! Nothing else interesting happened over your breaks? I'm dying here." Marlene begs.
"Sorry, nothing I haven't told you already." Hestia replies.
"Oh, I've got something!" Sirius says.
"How would you have something that we don't have? Nothing else interesting happened." Lily responds.
"That's a lie, you just don't want to tell on yourself cause you're already embarrassed about saying James is hot." Sirius says, smirking.
She rolls her eyes, "What else happened then?"
"You kissed James." He says, eyebrows raised, still smirking.
Everyone stops dead in their tracks, "WHAT?" Marlene yells, "AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?"
"I didn't kiss James! What the heck, Sirius!" Lily yells.
"Well, you did kiss me on the cheek." I say,
The girls all look at Lily with their mouths open, shocked this is the first they're hearing of this.
"Oh, don't make it more then it was, please. It was a thank you for the necklace!" She says, frustrated.
"Hey, it wasn't me that brought it up." I say holding my arms up.
"Sorry, I just thought it was interesting. Marlene was the one who asked!" Sirius said, quickly, pointing at Marlene, accusingly while laughing. Getting a glare from Lily anyways.
"Let's just move on please!" Lily pleads.
"To what?" Alice asks.
"Ice cream!" Remus says excitedly.
"Bit of a weird topic, Moony." Peter laughs.
"No! Ice cream!" Remus says, pointing to 'Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour' up the street.
"I don't feel like ice cream." Sirius groans. Remus pouts at him, "Fine, fine. Lets go get ice cream!"
"Yes!" Remus says, skipping towards the shop.
"That boy and his sweets." I shake my head and laugh.
After we got ice cream, we went into a couple more shops before heading to Kings Cross Station. The platform was surprising packed for the afternoon trip, normally most people take the morning train. But I suppose with everything going on right now, everyone is trying to spend as much time with their loved ones as they can.
"Hey, Peter." Greta says as she walks past us.
"This is your chance, mate, go!" Sirius boasts.
Peter jogs to catch up with Greta, "Hey, sorry about earlier. I was just caught off guard seeing your outside of school, is all."
"Oh, it's ok!" She smiles.
"I was actually meaning to ask you something," Peter says.
"I feel like a proud parent eavesdropping on their kid right now." I say and the others laugh.
"Did you maybe wanna study together later this week or something?" He asks, smiling.
"You want to hangout with me? Alone?" She says, surprised.
"Ya, I really do." He smiles, looking her up and down.
"Just like we taught him!" Sirius says, giving me a low high five.
Greta smiles at him, "Sure, ya. I'd love to!"
"Great. How's Thursday after supper?" Peter asks.
"Perfect." She replies.
"Great. Then I'll see you then." He smiles and she walks back over to her friends.
"Way to go, mate! You've got yourself a lady friend!" Sirius says, patting Peter on the back.
"I feel sick." Peter replies, looking up at him.
"Ya that happens sometimes. You'll be fine." I say.
We finally find an empty compartment to sit in after searching for 20 minutes. Its one of the smaller ones, but we have no other choice.
I sit by the window on the left side of the compartment with Lily next to me and Alice and Hestia next to her. Across from me is Peter with Marlene next to him and Sirius and Remus on the other side of her.
"I don't think these compartments are made for 8 people." Lily says, while trying to get comfortable in her seat.
"Ya maybe 5, max." Remus agrees.
"Well, its the best we're gonna get, so suck it up you two!" Sirius responds.
"James, we have to go to the prefect compartment. You too, Remus."
"What, why?" I ask.
She furrows her eyebrows at me "What do you mean, 'why'? We're head boy and girl, that's why!" She laughs.
"Ok, fine." I say.
She wiggles her way up but trips over someone foot and falls backwards again. Only this time she lands on my lap, not the seat. Mainly because there wasn't much seat to fall onto.
I jump a little and look at her, "Hi there." I laugh.
She glares at me and stands up, "Everyone move your feet right now or I swear to Merlin, I will jinx them all off!"
Everyone immediately pulls their feet in as far as they can and Remus and I stand up to follow after her.
This Christmas break has been everything I'd hoped for and I'm only one day in. We had a delicious breakfast with James' parents this morning, I got a tour of the house and now I get to sit on their fancy grey couch in their sitting room and listen to embarrassing stories about James while looking at pictures of him as a kid.
"Oh, Mum, not that one please!" James pleads as his mom grabs another picture from the red painted wooden box on her lap.
"Oh shush, its cute!" she responds as she hands me the picture, "This is when he decided he wasn't going to wear trousers again until the little girls at preschool stopped getting called names when they wore trousers instead of dresses."
I look down at the picture of a little boy with glasses too big for his head and hair just as messy as it is now, with nothing but a white button up shirt on as he runs away from the camera.
"Awe look at your little tushy." Sirius says, laughing behind me.
"Shove off." James responds while rolling his eyes, as I laugh as well.
"Here's one from his first day of Hogwarts at Kings Cross Station. Awe, how I miss when you were that tiny." Euphemia says while handing me the next picture.
He's standing in front of the train with his uniform already on and suitcase in hand, smiling so big that his eyes are barely open.
"Awe, you're so cute and small." I say with a laugh.
"Well, you didn't think I was cute then, you hexed me later that day, remember?" James responds.
"You deserved it." I say with a smile.
"What did I even do?" James laughs.
"I don't remember, but you definitely deserved it!" I laugh with him.
Euphemia laughs as well before telling us she was headed up to bed. James and Sirius got up to hug her goodnight and then as soon as she is out of ear shot, Sirius looks at me, "Wanna have some fun?"
"Fun?" I ask, looking at James for clarification but he only smirks at me.
"Follow us, Lily-Flower." Sirius says as he starts walking towards the kitchen.
I get up and follow James and Sirius into the kitchen where Teenie is sat on a barstool reading the Daily Prophet.
"Master James, why is this person being so horrible?" Teenie asks.
James walks over to the fridge and begins grabbing bottles of Firewhiskey and Butterbeer, "Who?" he responds.
"This evil man in the paper. You know who." Teenie says with a frown.
James looks up immediately, "What has he done now?"
Teenie looks back down at the paper and reads it allowed, "'You know who' strikes again. Early this morning, the dark mark was seen above the house of a muggleborn's family in London. Three muggles were found dead in the house and the deatheaters responsible have yet to be found."
I feel sick as I hear her read on. All I can think about is those poor muggles standing no chance against any wizard, let alone deatheaters, and the poor muggleborn student who had to hear about their parents death like I did.
"Why does he do it, Master James?" Teenie asks again.
"I honestly don't know, Teenie. He's just a horrible person who has horrible morals and will go to great extents to get what he wants." James responds.
"I don't like you know who." Teenie says, sitting up straighter.
"I don't either." James smiles at her as he sets the drinks on the counter and waves his wand in a circle to make them all float at once. He points his wand towards the stairs and they start floating that way, "Get some rest, Teens, we'll see you in the morning, ok?"
"Ok Master James, but don't get in any trouble tonight or I'll have to tell Master Fleamont and Master Euphemia that you stole their alcohol." She smiles.
"Sounds good." James laughs as he starts walking up the stairs behind the floating alcohol.
Sirius turns and wiggles his eyebrows at me before skipping after James. I laugh and follow them.
I walk into James' room where he has set the alcohol on a dark wooden desk by a big window. His walls were an orangy-beige colour to match the orange Chudley Cannons posters all over his walls, and his red bedsheets atop his wooden bedframe that perfectly matched his desk, bedside tables and dresser. There was a beige square rug in the middle of the room, a bookcase full of books with even more books in piles in front of it, Quidditch equipment on the floor by the desk, a box of what looked like old test and papers he had written and framed pictures of him and his parents and him and the guys on his walls and bedside table.
"Aren't your parents going to see that their alcohol is missing?" I ask James.
"No. They never drink. I don't even know why they have this stuff. Its kept way in the back of the fridge too so they won't even notice." James responds. "Here you go, Sirius." James said as he handed Sirius a shot of Firewhiskey.
"Thank you, Prongsy." Sirius says, "You actually gonna drink with us, Evans?" Sirius says with a smirk.
"Of course I am!" I respond.
"Oooo, Evans is a rebel now, is she?" Sirius says with a grin as James pours me a shot as well.
"I'm not a rebel," I laugh, "but Marlene stayed with me for a couple of weeks in the summer and we drank almost every night. We would go out and wonder the streets or stalk hot muggle market boy."
"Hot muggle market boy?" James questions as he takes his shot and opens himself a Butterbeer.
"Yes. The hot muggle boy who works at the market by my house. That's what Marlene calls him." I laugh and open myself up a Butterbeer too.
"How hot are we talking here?" Sirius asks.
"Very hot." I respond with a serious face. "Dark wispy hair, tall, muscular, great jawline, pretty eyes." I smile.
"Wow, you're gonna have to introduce me to this guy, Lily-Flower." Sirius laughs.
James looks slightly annoyed for a brief moment before pouring each of us another shot. "Here you go, ma 'lady." He says as he hands me mine.
"Thank you, James." I laugh.
We clink our shots together and down another 5 each within the next 30 minutes, whilst still each sipping on our own Butterbeers. I can definitely feel myself getting tipsy when every time James talks, I stare at his lips. They just look so soft.
James catches me staring, "What?" He smiles as he runs his hand through his hair.
"Nothing." I smile back.
"I can't believe Marlene is so obsessed with that Kingsley guy. I mean, he's not even half as hot as me." Sirius responds to James' comment about how the new team is working out.
"Sirius, she thinks you're hot too." James laughs.
"Well, still. I don't need competition on my own team." Sirius says.
"My team." James says, strictly, but still with a smile.
"Whatever." Sirius laughs while taking a sip of his drink. "I still don't think he's very attractive."
"He is." I chime in.
"Really?" James questions. "I didn't think he'd be your type."
"What did you think was my type?" I laugh.
"I don't know. I guess muscular with dark wispy hair like market boy." He responds smiling.
"You're right, Kingsley isn't my type, but I can still appreciate the fact that he's hot." I say.
"Well then do you think I'm hot?" James smirks.
"No." I respond, blankly.
"Oh, come on! Just rate me from 1 to 10!" He pleads.
"Based on just looks or personality too?" I ask, smiling.
"Which one will get me a higher number?" He laughs.
"Just looks." I respond and Sirius laughs.
"Wow." He nods with a smile, "Ok what's my rating just based on looks then?"
"Hmmm," I look at him for a moment, contemplating my answer. "9." I answer.
"9!? Really?" He says, surprised.
"Just in the obvious way though." I say.
"What does that mean?" Sirius asks.
"Means that you're hot based on what majority of people consider hot. Like the messy hair and little smirk and abs. Just like conventionally attractive." I say before I can stop myself. Did I really just point out each thing I find attractive about James Potter to James Potter? I'm never drinking with him again.
He's smirking at me with slightly raised eyebrows. He's doing that cocky little, 'you like me and you know it' face he does when I slip up. Which isn't deserved because I don't like him. At all.
"Didn't know you thought about me like that, Evans." He continues to smirk.
I roll my eyes, "I don't. Again its conventionally. It's not a compliment or anything. Just a fact."
"A fact that I'm hot?" He asks, smiling.
"Yes." I respond. I need to stop talking. I can feel my face burning up so I get up and pour myself another shot.
"Slow down on those, Lily-Flower or you're just gonna reveal all your secrets." Sirius laughs.
I walk past him in the desk chair and over to the bed to sit next to James again. James watching me the whole time.
"You know I think you're hot too, right? Just not only in an obvious way and 100% as a compliment." James says, still staring at me.
I blush and I hate myself for it.
"I can leave you two alone if you want." Sirius says, with a wink.
"No!" I practically yell.
They both shush me and start laughing, "Do you wanna get caught?" James smiles.
I wake up with a pounding headache and roll over to check the time. 9:07, it reads. Mum and Dad have probably already been up for hours waiting for us to come down for breakfast, so despite wanting to stay horizontal, I roll out of bed in my pajamas pants and make my way to Sirius' room. I knock and hear a groan from the inside.
"I'm coming in so you better have pants on!" I say through the door before entering.
He's laying on his back staring at the ceiling, "I feel shitty." He groans.
"Me too. My head is pounding." I respond, "But you know Mum and Dad are probably waiting for us to come down, so lets go."
"Ugh, fine." He responds as he gets up and throws a t-shirt on.
We walk over to Lily's room and knock on the door. "Lils, are you up?" I say. A groan similar to the one I just received from Sirius comes from inside. I open the door and Lily is sat on the end of the bed with her head in her hands. She's wearing those little shorts I like but I'm trying not to focus on that. "You ok?"
"No." She says, sadly. "I feel sick."
"Drink a little too much there, Lily-Flower?" Sirius asks with a laugh.
"Shove off, Sirius or I'll hex you." She threatens with a glare.
"Now, now. Calm down, Evans." I laugh. "Lets go get some breakfast."
She stands up and I catch her glance at my bare chest before walking past us out the door. I turn and can't help but let my eyes roam down her body as well before Sirius smacks my arm and raises his eyebrows at me with a knowing smile. I smile back and we follow Lily down the stairs.
We enter the dining room where Dad is sat on one side reading the Daily Prophet and Mum is sat on the other writing something in a notebook, "Good morning, kids." She says cheeryfully.
"Morning, Mum." I respond. We sit down at the table and Mum calls for Teenie.
"Oh and Teenie, dear, don't forget those drinks for the kids." She says.
"Of course, Master Euphemia." Teenie says as she places plates of bacon and eggs in front of us before running back to the kitchen to grab the drinks.
"Drinks?" Sirius asks. As Teenie places 3 glasses of a green potion in front of each of us.
"Pollin-Up potion." Mum responds, with a smile that could either mean she thinks it's amusing that we need the hangover curing potion or that she's gonna kill us because we need the hangover curing potion. Either way, she knows we're hungover.
I look at her with an apologetic smile and turn to give the same smile to Lily and Sirius for getting caught. "Sorry, mum." I say.
"Ya, sorry, Mum." Sirius adds.
"It's quite all right. But next time, please ask before you steal our Firewhiskey and get drunk." She responds with a smile.
"Or at least invite your old man!" Dad adds, earning a glare from Mum.
"Yes Mum." I laugh. I turn and look at Teenie, "I thought you said you wouldn't tell as long as we didn't get into any trouble."
"Yes, Master James, and I'm sorry. But then I remembered that you're not supposed to be drinking alcohol in your bedroom with your girlfriend. So I told Master, Euphemia." Teenie responds, smiling.
"Girlfriend?" Lily says with raised eyebrows.
"I swear I didn't say you were my girlfriend." I panic, "Teenie, Lily is just my friend."
"Master James, I may be a house elf, but I'm not stupid." She says before walking out of the room. I turn and look at Lily who is still raising her eyebrows at me.
I go to defend myself again but she stops me, "It's too early for this, James, it's fine." She laughs as she sips her potion and starts eating her eggs.
Dad looks at me with a puzzled look as if he thought Lily and I were dating too. I guess I didn't really say otherwise. I just asked to bring home the girl I've been talking about for 6 years. Probably should have clarified that we're just friends.
"So are you three coming out to the garden this afternoon for the annual Potter Christmas Eve Quidditch game?" Dad asks us, "Your cousins will be here at 2."
"Hell ya!" Sirius says, excitedly.
"Of course we are!" I add.
Dad looks at Lily, "What position do you prefer, my dear? You get first pick since you're our guest."
"Umm," Lily hesitates, "I don't know."
"Just pick whatever one comes easiest to you, hun. We're all ok with playing any position." Mum says with a smile.
"I've never actually played Quidditch." Lily says, embarrased.
"What?" I say, shocked.
Lily laughs, "Well when would I have played? The closest thing we have to Quidditch in the muggle world is football or rugby and I haven't played those since primary school."
"I guess I just figured you would have played with Marlene or something." I respond.
"Nope. Never played. Plus the only times I've ever been on a broom, I've nearly broken my face from falling off." She laughs again.
"Well then I guess we've got some work to do, Lily-Flower." Sirius says as he downs the rest of his potion and stands up.
The boys gave me a set of their Mums old Quidditch uniform's to wear, as well as forcing me to put on every piece of padding they could find from James' uniform as a kid. We walk through the back garden, all the way to the back where there's a big open area and a small wooden shed.
James opens the shed and grabs out the Quidditch chest that has the Quaffle's, Bludger's, and Snitch and brings it to the middle of the open area before walking back and passing Sirius and me each a broom and then grabbing his broom.
"So you obviously know how the game works, right?" James asked. "Like the positions and what you're trying to do."
"Ya, I've gotten that much from watching the games at Hogwarts and hearing you two and Marlene talk about it constantly." I laugh.
"Perfect, so we just need to get you comfortable on the broom and play a couple short games so you can see which position you like best." Sirius says with a smile.
"I think you're over estimating my abilities on a broom. When I say I'm bad. I truly mean it." I smile honestly.
"I'm sure you'll be fine! Here, just hop on and I'll stand right here holding it so you can just hover above the ground for a minute." James says.
I sit on the broom and immediately tumble and almost fall over before James grabs my knee with one hand and the back of the broom with the other. "I told you." I say.
"It's ok, just relax and try to hover there." James says with a smile, still holding onto the broom.
I lose my balance slightly and I think James can see by my face that I'm terrified of the fact that I'm not touching the ground.
"You're alright. I promise I won't let go." James smiles reassuringly.
I look forward and try to focus on balancing, allowing me to stay on for a minute. "Are you sure this thing is safe?" I ask.
"Yes Lily, that's a childs training broom, it won't even go 10 feet above the ground." James laughs. "I'm gonna let go. Try to lean forward slightly to allow yourself to move a little bit."
James lets go and I swear I only move an inch, yet somehow I've flipped the broom completely over and am now lying on my back in the snow with the sun in my eyes.
"Shit, are you ok, Lily-Flower?" Sirius says, flying over from where he was.
"Ya, I'm good." I respond as I take James' extended hand so he can help me up.
"Wow, you really do suck, huh?" James smiles sympathetically.
"I told you." I laugh.
Just as I was about to hop up again, Teenie comes walking down the garden path calling for James.
"What's wrong, Teenie?" James asks.
"Master Fleamont and Master Euphemia wanted me to tell you that they had to leave and may not be back until late tonight. They apologize for leaving so suddenly and for having to cancel the game, but it was an emergency from the Ministry, sir."
"What?" James drops his broom and walks over to Teenie, "What kind of emergency?"
"I'm not sure Master James, but I can suspect that it has something to do with you know who. Master Fleamont and Master Euphemia help to protect people from them." Teenie replies.
"Yes I know, Teenie. They're aurors, it's their job. But they didn't say how serious the emergency is?" James says, looking concerned.
"No, sir. But they'll be back tonight." She smiles before turning to walk back into the warm house.
"Well I guess it doesn't matter that I suck at this then." I smile, trying to lighten the mood.
James faces me and smiles sadly, "For now, but if we're gonna be friends you can't be embarrassing me like that."
I laugh and hit his arm, "Shove off."
"Lets head back in the house. It's freezing out here." Sirius says.
It was really late by the time I finally heard the front door open, but I couldn't sleep not knowing that they got home safely. I get out of bed and slowly make my way down the stairs where I can hear my parents talking in the sitting room.
"He deserves to know, Love. If he's going to be even slightly prepared for what's coming, he needs to be aware of it as soon as possible." Dad says.
"We can't, Fleamont. Not yet." Mum replies while pacing the room.
"Euphemia, I know you want to protect him but not telling him may cause more damage."
"I said no."
"We don't have to give him all of the details but if we at least mention how bad it's truly getting-"
"No, Fleamont." Mum says, sternly. "He's just a boy. I need him to get through his last year at Hogwarts with the least worry about the outside world as possible, otherwise, he will set himself up for failure and only put himself into more danger. He's just a boy."
"Ok, Love. I'm sorry." Dad says before hugging her. "You ready to put the gifts under the tree for the last time before our boy is a man?"
"Oh, shove off, you're gonna make me cry." Mum laughs.
I go back upstairs as quietly as possible. Of course I want to know what happened, but if Mum doesn't think I should, then I won't. I know better then to push her for answers. She's just as stubborn as Lily is.
I walk back into my room and look at the pile of gifts I wrapped while I was waiting for Mum and Dad to get back. I put Peter and Remus' gifts in my suitcase after wrapping them so that I could give them to them when we get back and put Mums, Dads, Sirius' and Lily's gifts on my desk until morning. I really hope Lily likes hers. After this mornings awkward 'girlfriend' thing, I feel as though I might have gone a bit extreme for a gift for 'just a friend'. Even though she's definitely not 'just a friend' to me.
I wrote Remus while I was waiting as well to wish him a Merry Christmas and tell him I hope he's doing ok. Hopefully I hear back from him tomorrow, but I doubt it.
I wake up about 5 hours after falling asleep to Sirius yelling in the hallway.
"It's Christmas! Get your asses up, I wanna open gifts!" He yells again.
"Sirius, shut up!" I yell back.
Mum opens my door, "Come on, hun, he's not gonna stop until we open gifts." She laughs.
I get up and wave my wand to pick up the gifts from my desk. I make my way over to Lily's room and knock on the door. She opens it and smiles, "Merry Christmas, James."
"Merry Christmas, Lily." I smile back.
We walk downstairs where Sirius is already sitting next to the tree with his pile in front of him and a big smile on his face like a kid. "Can I start?" He asks.
"Yes, go ahead." Mum smiles.
I sit on the couch next to Lily and push her pile over to her. Her eyes are wide when she sees how many gifts she has.
"You guys really didn't have to buy me anything." She smiles, gratefully.
"Oh, of course we did, Lily, dear. Anyone who James and Sirius see in good company is family, and we will treat you as such." Mum smiles back.
"Thank you." Lily says.
Once we've finished opening our gifts from Mum and Dad, we hand out our gifts to each other. Sirius gave me some little things from Zonko's and a signed Chudley Cannons Jersey he got from the Quidditch shop in Diagon Alley.
He seemed to like the watch and pack of cigs I got him as well.
Lily handed me a little brown bag with red tissue coming out the top, "It's not much, I sent most of my money to Petunia to help pay for my Mum and Dads funeral, but I wanted to get you something. As a thank you."
"Lily, you didn't have to do that." I smile.
"I wanted to." She smiles back.
I take the tissue paper out of the bag and pull out a small charm of a witch riding a broom.
"I got it from a muggle shop in London. I think it was supposed to be for a Halloween costume." She laughs. "I thought you could clip it to your Quidditch uniform or school bag or something."
"That's so cool. Muggles make witch things?" I ask.
"Well yes, but only because they think we're mythical creatures." She laughs again. I walk across the room to grab her gift box and hand it to her.
She smiles at me as she begins to unwrap it and she carefully lifts the lid of the jewelry box. I stare at her, waiting for some kind of reaction and begin to worry. Maybe I should have gotten something less expensive like some chocolates or something at least a little less extreme. But then she smiles. The sweetest smile I have ever seen.
"I love it, James." She looks up at me, "Its beautiful, thank you."
I smile, "I saw it and thought of you cause its the same colour as your eyes."
"Can you help me put it on?" She asks, still smiling that beautiful smile that makes my world stop.
"Of course." I respond. I stand up and take the necklace out of the box. It has a thin gold chain and an emerald green rectangular pendent with gold gems lining the emerald.
I move her beautifully messy bed head hair away from her neck so I can clasp the chain together. She turns and looks at me, "How does it look?" she asks.
"Beautiful." I smile.
"There's a mirror in the hallway if you want to go look at it on, dear." Mum tells her. She gets up and I watch, smiling, as she walks into the hallway.
"You're so damn smitten." Sirius teases.
"Shove off." I respond with a smile.
"How much of your allowance did you spend on that girl, James?" Dad asks.
I look at him for a moment before responding, "Like.. all of it." I smile awkwardly.
"Good. She's worth it. You hold onto her." He responds smiling.
"I can't hold onto her if she's not mine, Dad." I laugh.
"That'll change soon. I can tell." He responds and I smile back.
"I hope so." I say. She comes back into the room and hugs me, which is by far the best gift I received this Christmas.
"Thank you, James." She smiles.
After dinner, Sirius, Lily and I hang out in my room again, this time without alcohol though. I show Sirius the letter Remus sent me back and we all talk for a little while.
"I'm quite tired, I think I'm gonna go to bed." Lily says with a yawn.
"Ok, goodnight Lily-Flower." Sirius smiles.
"Goodnight," She responds. She walks over to me, leans down and kisses me on the cheek. "Goodnight, James."
I swear my body went into shock. She leaves the room and I look at Sirius who is looking at me with wide eyes.
"Did Lily Evans just kiss me on the cheek?" I ask.
How come I just realized that the Marauders were still students at Hogwarts when Bill, Charlie, and Percy Weasley were born?!?! Like, that just shows how young James and Lily were when they died and now I wanna cry.
Growing up, Harryâs birthday was nothing but just another day. He would make breakfast for the Dursleyâs, he would clean the house, he would sit in his cupboard and he would daydream about what he would do if he could leave. If he was lucky, someone would remember last minute and they would give him some kind of âgiftâ. Although, it usually ended up being an old pair of socks or a broken toy that Dudley had fished out of the bottom of his toy box he hadnât touched in years.
There was always something strange about his birthday though. Every year, when the mail came, there was a card wishing Harry a happy birthday. These cards never had a name on them or a return address or any kind of clue about who could be sending them. But they came every year. Never missing one birthday. Harry looked forward to these cards. Although he didnât know who they were from, it was nice that someone actually remembered it and was kind enough to send a card.
When Hagrid showed up on Harryâs eleventh birthday he thought maybe he was the one sending them. But after asking Hagrid about it, and him saying they werenât from him, it was still a mystery.
Harry continued wondering about who was sending these cards and somehow still received one while horcrux hunting on his 17th birthday. Still having no name and no return address or any clue of who could be sending them. But still, after 16 years of receiving these cards, they still made his birthday so much better.
On his 18th birthday, he sat at the table for breakfast with the Weasleys. Of course Molly had made a magnificent breakfast and Ginny had already gave him a new broom, but he was still looking forward to his mystery card. The mail came and Harry now received plenty of birthday cards. But as he looked through the pile there was no sign of the one he really wanted. He opened every envelope and read every card and it wasnât there.
He went upstairs and looked through a box of his until he found the 16 letters he had received tied together with a rubber band. He took them out and looked at them again. While examining them, he realized he had seen that hand writing before. He recognized it from somewhere else. And he shed a tear as he realized who had written them and why he would no longer receive them. At the bottom of each card, he saw a drawing he hadnât noticed before. A way of signing the cards without a name. A circle representing a full moon and a small sketch of a shaggy dog.
Authors Note: I do not own any of this. All belongs to JKR! Let me know if you enjoy this and if I should write more. (Even though I probably will weather you want me to or not)......
Authors...
Authors Note: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR.
Sorry for the wait on this chapter! Hope you enjoy it though!Â
Let me know what you think and what youâd like to see in the comments! :)
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Christmas Party and Pumpkin Pasties
Jamesâ POV:
I look down at the shiny silver watch on my wrist that my dad gave me for my 17th birthday, 7:48, it reads.
I was sitting on the couch in the heads common room waiting for Lily. We planned on walking to Slughornâs Christmas party together and meeting our dates there. I, of course, didnât want to bring anyone except Lily, but I had to. I ended up inviting, Alexis Deemer, a Hufflepuff girl in the same year as us. Iâve had a couple classes with her before and she's always been very nice, plus she's not bad to look at, but I still didnât really want to go with her.
I heard a creak from the top step of the staircase that leads to our rooms and saw Lily walking down. She was wearing a long, floor length, white dress with pink flowers on it. The dress was tighter at the top with thin straps, but poofed out a bit starting at her waist. She looked beautiful and I couldn't help but stare as she made her way down the stairs.Â
âYou look stunning.â I said, still staring at her.
She smiled, âThank you, James. You look rather nice as well.â
âThanks.â I smiled back, âWould you care to accompany me down to the party, maâ lady?â I said, putting my arm out.
âWell of course, kind sir.â She laughed, taking my arm.
We walked down 3 flights of stairs and to the end of a long corridor until we reached Slughorns office, where our dates were stood waiting outside the door.
âThank you.â Lily replied, with a smile, while I gave a slightly dirty look to Errol, not that he noticed anyways. He was busy staring at Lily. Its not like I could blame him though, she's simply just very hard not to stare at.
âHi, James.â I heard Alexis say.
âHi.â I smiled.
We walked into the party together and let me tell you it was nothing like I expected. I was expecting to walk into a bunch of snobby rich kids sat around a big table with expensive food that tastes like shit. But when we walked in, I realized it actually looked fun. There was some music playing and people singing, emerald, crimson, and gold hangings covering the walls and ceilings, fairies fluttering around by the golden lamp dangling from the ceiling, tons of people dancing and chatting throughout the room and house-elves walking around with dishes of Cauldron Cakes, Pumpkin Pasties, Dragon Balls and more.
âWoah.â I thought out loud.
âRight?â Lily said, looking at me, smiling.
âMs. Evans, Mr. Murray, Mr. Potter, and Ms. Deemer, is it? So glad you could all make it!â Slughorn said as he approached us.Â
âHello, Professor. Lovely turn out this year, your dragon ball recipe must be getting even better!â Lily smiled.
Slughorn laughed, âOh, yes it is! Thank you, Lily. Now, you all enjoy the party and come speak with me later!â He smiled before going to greet the group that came in behind us.Â
âWeâre gonna go get something to drink and make the rounds, weâll speak to you later.â Lily smiled before taking Errol's arm and walking across the room. I sighed at the sight of her touching him.
âDid you want to go get something to eat?â Alexis asked, politely with a smile.
âOh, uh, sure.â I replied, turning towards her to walk farther into the room.
Alexis started talking to a a warlock who was wearing funky, purple, dress robes with green splatters on it. And although I was supposed to be in the conversation as well, I couldnât help but zone out and look over at Lily. Her and Errol were talking to a group of people across the room and of course, stupid Errol had his stupid arm around Lily and he had that stupid proud look on his face like he was trying to show her off as if he was actually her boyfriend. I decided it was time to play interference.Â
I tapped Alexis on the shoulder, âDo you wanna go over there? There's an auror over there Iâd love to talk to, plus we can meet back up with Lily and Errol.â
âOh, sure.â She replied.
We walked across the room and I slid in-between Lily and Errol so he was forced to put his arm down.
âHey, guys.â
âHey, James. You guys talk to any interesting people yet?â Lily asked.
âYes, actually. We were just talking to this warlock who has the most interesting life. Heâs a decedent of Rowena Ravenclaw and helped fight against Grinderwald!â Alexis replied, happily.
âThat's so cool!â Lily smiled.Â
âWe were just talking to a couple aurors who were telling us about some of âyou know whosâ followers.â Errol added.
âReally?â I replied, âWhat were they saying about them?â I asked, looking at Lily.
âJust stuff about-â Errol started before I cut him off.
âI was asking, Lily, actually. Maybe you should give her a chance to talk.â I smiled a very sarcastic smile.
Lily gave Errol an apologetic look then looked back at me, âWell I didnât mind Errol explaining, James, but as he was about to tell you, they were just talking about some people who have been caught and that a lot of them are starting to claim they were put under the Imperius curse.â
âBullshit.â I replied.
âThat's just what they're saying, there's not really a way to know for sure though, is there?â Lily said.
âNot legally.â I sighed.
âItâs really horrible what those people are doing. I hope they're stopped soon.â Alexis said.
âMe too.â Lily replied with a sad smile.
âLets not think about that, right now, ok? Lets just try to enjoy ourselves.â Errol said, smiling reassuringly at Lily.
âYeah. How about a dance, Lils. Distract your mind from it a little.â I smiled.
âWell, actually, she's my date, so I think maybe I should be the one to dance with her.â Errol glared at me, I glared back.
âWe can dance later, James, ok? Iâm just gonna go with Errol for now.â Lily chimed in.
âFine.â I said, still glaring at Errol.Â
They walked over to the dance floor and Errol put his hands on Lilyâs waist making me feel sick. I groaned and turned around to grab a drink.
Across the room I saw a boy, about the same height as me, with short, slick back, black hair, sharp facial features, and light grey eyes. Although I haven't seen him in a while, I could recognize that boy anywhere, mostly from the resemblance to his brother.Â
âRegulus Black.â I smiled at him.
âOh, hi James.â He replied.
âHow you doing, kid?â I asked.
âFine. You?â
âFine. How are you liking fifth year?â
âItâs not bad. Nervous about O.W.L.S though.â
âOh, youâve got nothing to be nervous about. Youâre a smart kid, itâll be a breeze.âÂ
âThanks, James.â He smiled. He looked as though we was wanting to say something but couldnât build up the courage. I knew exactly what he wanted to ask.
âSirius is doing good. We actually just decided to go back to my house for Christmas break. He misses you.â
âOh. Really?â
âYeah.â I smiled. It went quiet for a moment.
âWell, have a good Christmas.â
âYou too.â I smiled as he turned around and walked towards a group of boys.
I turned around and saw Alexis standing there taking sip from her drink, behind her, I could see Lily and Errol still dancing.
âDo you wanna dance?â I asked Alexis.
âIâd love to!â She smiled.
We walked over to the dance floor and started dancing next to Lily and Errol. I could of sworn Lily looked upset that I was dancing with Alexis.
We were still next to them but with the music playing and people talking, we were out of ear shot of whatever they were talking about. What ever it was though, I didnât like it. Errol was whispering something in Lilyâs ear who turned slightly pink and smiled at him. Ugh.
Even though I was dancing with Alexis, I couldnât help but stare at Lily.
âShe looks beautiful, doesnât she.â I thought out loud.
Alexis sighed slightly, âYa, she does. Sheâs Lily Evans, she always does.â She smiled, sadly.
âVery true.â I replied, still staring at Lily.
The song ended and we followed Lily and Errol off the floor. Lily was laughing at something Errol had said when I walked up and put my arm around her, âHow's it going?â
âNot bad.â Lily replied.
âWell, good. Didnât expect any less though, I mean, how could you be having a bad time when you look that good?â I smirked.
She shook her head at me but smiled and blushed slightly. I heard Errol scoff.
âSo do I get that dance now?â I asked, smiling down at her.
âIf its alright with Alexis, of course.â Lily smiled at her.
âGo ahead.â She smiled back.
I took Lilyâs hand and we walked back onto the dance floor. I put my hands on her waist and pulled her in.
âNow, no funny business, Potter.â Lily said.
âWhat do you mean, âfunny businessâ?â I laughed.Â
âJust keep your hands where they are.â
âOh fine!â I rolled my eyes and then smiled at her. âSo how's your date going?â
âNot bad, actually. Errol's really funny so Iâm yet to get bored at least.â
âThat's good, I guess.â
âHow about you? Alexis seems nice.â
âYeah, she is.â
âI love her dress. The lilac colour looks good with her blond hair.â
âShe's wearing lilac?â I asked, seriously, turning to look at her.
âYou didnât notice what colour your date was wearing?â Lily asked, with a raised eyebrow.
âI guess not.â I laughed.
She rolled her eyes at me. âSo Remus told me, you and Sirius decided to go home for Christmas?â
âYeah. Although we wanted to stay here with Remus, we decided to go see my parents. We both miss them a lot.â
âYeah, I bet.â She smiled, sadly.
âSo, youâre still staying here then?â
âYeah.â
I really donât want Lily to stay here alone. Yes, Remus was going to be here but heâd be in the shrieking shack for most of the break anyways.Â
âDo you want to come with Sirius and I?â I suddenly asked without much thought.
âWhat?â
âCome spend Christmas break with me and Sirius.â
âAt your parents house?â
âYeah! My mum makes great desserts and my parents could tell you all about their auror work, and youâd love our house elf. Plus my mum would make sure to set up a great guest room for you!â
âReally?â
âOf course, Lils. I donât want you spending Christmas alone.â
She smiled, âYou know what, why not? Iâd love to.â
âGreat! Iâll write my mum tonightâ
âOk!â She smiled.
When the song ended we walked back over to Errol and Alexis.
âI grabbed you a Cranachan.â Errol smiled, handing the dessert to Lily, who smiled back, politely.
âLily doesn't like Cranachan.â I said, looking at Errol, âShe much prefers Treacle tart.â I added as I grabbed one off a tray that was going by and handed it the Lily.
âOh. Sorry. I couldâve sworn you liked Cranachan.â Errol said, looking at Lily.
âWell she doesnât.â I smiled, cockily at him.
âDonât worry about, Errol. Thank you. You know, Itâs getting rather late. I think I'm gonna go up to bed now.â Lily said.
âOh, ok. Would you like me to walk you up?â Errol asked.
âNo, its alright. Thank you though.â
âOk then. Well, goodnight.â Errol smiled before kissing her hand.
âI think, Iâm gonna go now too actually. Bye.â
Its the last night here at Hogwarts before Christmas break. James was at some stupid Christmas party, the girls had disappeared upstairs to pack a couple hours ago, Peter had passed out in his bed from all the sweets heâd eaten, and Remus and I were sitting together on the couch in the basically empty common room, listening to the soft cracks of the fire and the wind hitting against the window.
Remus was curled up in a ball, nose in a book, and a soft jumper that was way too big for him, keeping him warm.
âYou think Jamesâ is having fun with that Alexis girl?â I asked.
âI doubt heâs even paying attention to her with Lily there.â He replied, not looking up from his book.
âTrue. I hope heâs having a good time, at least. He deserves it. Plus that Alexis girl is rather attractive, maybe heâll even score tonight!âÂ
Remus chuckled and rolled his eyes.
âSo what are you reading?â I asked, bending my body over slightly to try see the cover. He tilted the book up so I could read the title, still not looking up, âThe Outsiders by S. E. Hinton.â I read out loud.
âItâs a muggle book.â Remus said.
âOhh. Whoâs that guy on the front? Heâs hot.â I asked, smirking.
Remus laughed.
âIs that why youâre reading it? For the hot guy on the cover? Donât get to see enough of them in real life, huh?â
He rolled his eyes, âI see plenty in real life.â
âOh ya?â I raised my eyebrows, âWho?â
Remus looked up from his book and looked into my eyes. He smiled slightly before looking back down at his book.
What the bloody fuck just happened? And why did I like it?Â
âSucks that you canât come spend Christmas break with us.â I said, nervously trying to change the subject.
âYeah, I know.â
I looked at him, concerned, âAre you sure youâre going to be ok transitioning by yourself? Cause I can stay if you want.â
He looked up from his book, âIâll be fine, Sirius, I promise.â
âI know you will. I just worry. I know how bad they can be for you and how lonely you get when we canât be there. I just hate to think about you being alone through it all.â
âI know you do, Sirius. And thank you. But, I'll be ok. And Iâll be good as new when you get back.â
âYou promise you donât want me to stay?â
âI promise. I want you to enjoy your Christmas, Sirius. Iâll be ok.â
âOk.â I replied, still not convinced. I reached into my pocket and took out a small bag, setting it on top of Remusâ book.
âWhatâs this?â He asked, looking at me confused.
âOpen it.â
He looked at me again and then picked up the bag. He opened it and pulled out a new Wizards Chess set, a new quill, some pumpkin pasties, and a bunch of chocolate frogs.
âMerry Christmas.â I smiled at him.
âSirius, you didnât have to.â
âI wanted to.â I said, placing my hand on his knee.
âThank you.â he smiled at me.
âOf course, moony.â I replied. He leaned into my side, allowing me to put my arm around him. He opened his book again and started reading as he took a bite of a pumpkin pasties. Remus was, of course, known by everyone to love chocolate. But most people didnât realize how much he loved pumpkin pasties too. They were defiantly his favourite part of Christmas feasts.
It felt nice. Having him lay on me like this. It felt safe. And I didnât ever wanna get up.
âAww, he kissed your hand? Thatâs so cute!â Alice responded to Lily who was telling them about the party last night.
âSo, do you think youâll go out with him again? He is pretty hot.â Marlene said.
Lily rolled her eyes, âProbably not. Heâs nice and all but there was nothing there, you know? No attraction, no heat, no romance. It just felt like I was with a friend.â
âFair enough.â Hestia replied.
âWell is there anyone who gives you that âheatâ?â Peter asked, putting his hand over his forehead when he said heat.
We laughed, âNot at the moment.â Lily replied.
Marlene raised her eyebrow, âMhm.âÂ
We were currently walking to the train to head home for break. Remus was up in the castle, we had said our goodbyes at breakfast and even though we all felt bad leaving him, he insisted heâd be fine. Said he was glad to get a break from us and have some peace and quiet for once.
I had written mum last night after the party and she had responded by breakfast saying that they would absolutely love for Lily to join us and that sheâd start getting the guest room ready for her immediately. Sirius said that they probably thought I was dating her and that's why I was bringing her home for Christmas. But oh well.
We were walking into a compartment, trying to squish in. Lily sat on the left window seat, I sat across from her, Sirius next to me, with Peter on his other side, Hestia next to Peter, Marlene next to Lily, and Alice and Frank on the other side of Marlene.Â
The train ride went by rather quickly actually. We had talked about what we would be doing over break, Marlene and Hestia gave us the address to where they would be staying so we could write them, and we made a plan to meet up in Diagon Alley the day before we returned to Hogwarts.Â
We pulled into Kings Cross Station and when I looked out the window, I could see mum and dad standing on the platform, I smiled at them and stood up, quickly grabbing my stuff and rushing out of the train.
âHi mum, hi dad!â I said, giving them a hug, that Sirius quickly joined in on from behind me.
âHello, boys.â Dad said.
âOh, goodness, you boys have grown even taller!â Mum said.
We laughed, and I turned to Lily who was stood awkwardly behind us, âMum, dad, you remember Lily.â
âOf course! How could we forget the lovely Lily?â Dad said.
âHi, Mr and Mrs Potter,â Lily smiled. âThank you so much for letting me stay with you for Christmas.â
âOh, of course, dear! And please, call us Euphemia and Fleamont!â
Lily nodded and smiled.
âWell, do you lot have all your things?â Dad asked.
âYup!â Sirius smiled.
âPerfect! Boys come with me and Lily, you can grab onto Euphemia there and weâll apparate home!â Dad said.
I noticed that Lily had a nervous look on her face, âOh, dad, Lilyâs never apparated before.â I replied.
âOh, sorry, sorry. Itâs simple, dear. Youâll be side along apparating so all you need to do is hold onto Euphemia. All you need to do is relax!â Dad explained.
âAnd try not to throw up.â Sirius added.
âThrow up-?â Lily started saying before we apparated home.
We landed in the front garden. Sirius, mum, dad, and I landed on our feet, but Lily stumbled and fell on her butt.
I laughed, âYou ok there, Lils?â
âYeah.â She laughed too, taking my hand as I pulled her to her feet.
Mum and dad started walking up the path to the front door, Sirius shortly behind. Lily was brushing some dirt off her pants and then looked up, her jaw dropped and eyes widened.
âThis is your house?â Lily asked, shocked, still staring at it.
âYup.â I replied. Potter Manor had been in my family for centuries, I had lived here since I was a baby, along with plenty of Potter before me. There was a big fountain in the center of the garden and the house was made out of light, fawn coloured bricks. It had two towers on either side, a rounded wall in the center where the, huge, white front door was and lots of windows.
I walked slowly up to the door with Lily, allowing her to take it all in. When we entered the house Teenie, our house elf, immediately ran over to greet us.Â
âMaster James, sir! Iâve missed you!â She said, excitedly.
âIâve missed you too, Teenie!â I smiled, âTeenie, this is Lily Evans. Sheâll be staying with us over Christmas.â
âMs. Lily! Iâve heard of your greatness, ma'am, Master James and Mr. Sirius have mentioned you lots! Its a pleasure to meet you!â Teenie smiled, holding her hand out to Lily.
Lily shook her hand and smiled back, âIts a pleasure to meet you too, Teenie!â
âMaster James, dinner is served in the dining room. Master Fleamont would like you there now.â She smiled before skipping away.
âWhat a cute elf.â Lily smiled as I led her towards the dining room.
âYeah,â I laughed, âWeâve tried to let her go, but she refuses.â
âReally?â Lily asked.
âYeah, I guess she just likes it here.â I smiled.
We walked into the dining room where Mum and Dad were already sat at the heads of the table and Sirius was sat facing the opposite wall closest to my dad. I sat next to Sirius and Lily sat on the other side of the table across from us.
âTook you long enough!â Sirius said, flinging his arms in the air.
âMy bad,â Lily laughed. âI was just admiring the house. Itâs beautiful.â
âWell, thank you, Lily,â Mum smiled, âItâs been in the family for centuries, passed down to each generation. One day itâll belong to Jamesâ and whoever he marries.â
âCan we eat now, please?â Sirius begged.
âYes, Sirius, you may eat now.â Mum replied, rolling her eyes.
âThank you! I'm starved!â Sirius said, before digging in.
We ate our dinner and were now eating dessert. Sirius and dad were talking about quidditch and our most recent game against Ravenclaw, and Mum and Lily were discussing NEWTS. I couldnât help but smile at the fact Lily was bonding with my mother. They both mean so much to me and the fact they get along just makes me really happy.Â
I was watching Lily as she was talking about potions, her favourite subject, the way her teeth could be seen because of her smile was so big, and the way her eyes lit up and sparkled because she was so passionate about it, and the way she moved her hands around as she told her story. It just made it hard not to watch her. She was just so beautiful.
From beside me, Sirius nudged my dad and tilted his head towards me, causing my dad to look over too. He looked back at Sirius who smirked and wiggled his eyebrows, making my dad chuckle, breaking me out of my trance. I turned my head and looked at them. My dad raised his eyebrows at me, smiling and Sirius just started laughing.
âWhat?â I asked, even though I knew exactly what.
âNothing.â Dad shook his head, still smiling.
âWell, if you lot are finished now, why donât you two show Lily where her room is and all head to bed?â Mum asked, looking at me.
âSure, mum.â I said.Â
We stood up and showed Lily upstairs. As we walked up, she was looking at every picture we passed and looking out every window with awe. It was rather cute, actually.
âSo this, right here, is your room. Mum fixed it up for you.â I said to Lily.
âAnd that over there is my room, Lily-flower! So if you need any alcohol or anything, you know where to go!â Sirius added, smirking.
âThanks, Sirius.â Lily laughed.Â
âAnd this room in-between them, is mine.â I added.
âOk. Thanks,â Lily smiled. âIâm gonna go unpack and get some rest. Iâll see you guys in the morning.â
âOk. Goodnight, Lily-flower.â Sirius said, before walking into his room.
âYou sure you donât need anything?â I asked.
Authors Note: I do not own any of this. All belongs to JKR! Let me know if you enjoy this and if I should write more. (Even though I probably will weather you want me to or not)......
Authors Note:...
Authors Note: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR.
Let me know in the comments what you think of this chapter and what youâd like to see in upcoming chapters!Â
âIf casted correctly, it conjures a spirit guardian that acts as a shield or a protector.â I answered when Professor Crainley asked what the Patronus charm does.
âGood job, Ms. Evans, that is correct,â He replied with a smile, causing Evan Rosier, a Slytherin, to scoff. âNow, this magic is rather advanced, so I donât expect any of you to cast it first try. Everyone please space out on the floor and take the steps we just discussed to cast this spell.â
Everyone stood up from our desks and gathered at the back of the classroom where there was more space. I was stood in a kind of half circle with, Marlene, Hestia, Alice, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter.
âHow is this advanced magic? Weâve been doing this since fifth year.â Sirius laughed, looking at the boys.
âFifth year?!â Alice exclaimed.
âYeah, Itâs really not that hard with a little practice.â Peter smiled as he cast the spell and a tiny rat flew out of his wand and ran to the other side of the room before fading away.Â
âWow!â I said, impressed.
âExtraordinary, Mr. Pettigrew! Ten points to Gryffindor!â Professor Crainley said.
With the reward of points and impressing the rest of the class, it seemed to spark something in the rest of their heads because right after, at the same time, James, Sirius, and Remus also cast the spell.Â
Out of Jamesâ wand, ran a tall, strong looking stag that galloped around the room, Siriusâ wand produced a shaggy black dog that followed Jamesâ stag, and Remus cast a furry wolf that howled before running after the others.Â
âHow did you guys learn that?â I asked, eyes wide with admiration.Â
âWell, we did some reading on them in fifth year and started practicing.â James answered.Â
âThatâs amazing! You guys really are smarter then you let show, huh?â I laughed.
Sirius laughed as well, âWell we canât ruin our bad boy reputation, now can we, Lily-flower?â
âOh, well of course not. You wouldnât want to do that!â I replied, sarcastically with a laugh.
I turned away and held my wand out, ready to cast the spell, âExpecto patronum.â I said, resulting in absolutely nothing. I said it again, but still nothing. I sighed in annoyance.
âAre you thinking of a happy memory?â James asked, looking at me.Â
âIâm trying.â I replied with a sad smile.
âWell, is it powerful? It has to be a really happy moment. Happiest youâve ever felt.â He said.
âI know, and it is! Itâs just that, the memory is with my parents. And although that moment is probably the happiest I've ever felt, thinking about them just reminds me that I can never have a moment like that with them again.â I replied, sighing. It had been a couple weeks since they passed, but it still only felt like a couple hours ago. And with the three unanswered letters I sent to Petunia, making things harder, I just tried not to think about it too much.Â
âIâm sorry.â He smiled, sadly, âIs there any other memory you can think of? Maybe something from here at school?â He asked.
I thought to myself for a moment. At first I thought of Marlene, Hestia, and Alice, and the nights where we would just hangout in our dorm, laughing until our faces hurt. But then, another person came to mind. James. The night in our common room where he tickled me until I couldnât breath, walking around doing rounds and laughing as he tripped over his own feet, the moments where he sincerely complimented me and not in a cocky way, the night of my parents death when he comforted me and kissed me on the cheek, making my stomach fill with butterflies.Â
âDid you think of one?â He asked, snapping me out of my trance.
âOh, um, yeah.â I replied. I held my wand up again and thought of James, his hair, and his stupid smirk, and his contagious laugh that lights up a room.
âExpecto patronum!â I said, it didnât quite work but a small blue light came out the end of my wand. I gasped, and smiled at him.
âNice, Lils!â He smiled back at me, âI think you just need to fix your hand movement a little bit.Â
He walked closer to me and wrapped his hand around mine and directed my wand in a small swirl, earning him a smirk from Sirius, âLike that.â He said.
I could feel my face get warm at the feeling of his hand around mine and his body being so close to me, âThanks.â I smiled, awkwardly before casting the spell again, still resulting in just a blue light.Â
âHere, watch me.â He said before casting the spell, causing a stag to run out of it again.Â
âExpecto patronum!â I echoed. But this time, I did it. This time a beautiful, graceful, doe ran out of my wand, catching the attention of the rest of the class.
It pranced over to Jamesâ stag and rubbed its head against it, like a cat does to itâs owner.
âGreat job, Ms. Evans! Ten points!â Professor Crainley smiled, proudly.
âA stag and a doe.â Marlene said, looking at me with a smirk and her eyebrows raised.Â
âI think that means weâre soulmates, Lils.â James smirked down at me.
âIt does not!â I laughed. But does it?
Just then, another doe pranced out from the group of Slytherins across the room, and over to mine. My doe turned its head and looked at it for a moment before turning back to Jamesâ stag. I looked at the group of Slytherins to see whos Patronus it was. Severus. Of course it had to be him. But what does that mean?
Severus was glaring in our direction and I turned my head to see that Jamesâ was staring back at him with a cocky smile.
âWell then..â Alice said, awkwardly, before going back to practicing the spell herself.Â
I turned and looked at James, who was already looking at me. He smiled and then turned to the guys and joined their conversation.
âOk, class, that's enough for today! If you didnât get to cast your Patronus today, donât worry, youâll get another chance next lesson! If you did cast it today, you get a head start on the essay! Two pages about what a Patronus is, what your Patronus is, and why you think that animal represents you! Have a nice rest of your day everyone!â Professor Crainley said.
We all grabbed our things and walked out of the classroom together, before being stopped by Severus.Â
âWhat do you want, Snivelus?â Sirius said, giving him a dirty look.
Severus scoffed and looked at me, âCould I talk to you for a minute? Alone.â
I didnât exactly want to talk to him right now. I had been avoiding him for awhile because I really donât want to believe heâs actually a deatheater. I know he hangs out with them but Sev used to be my best friend and I still care about him a lot. I just donât want to believe he would do that to me.
I think James noticed my hesitation because he put his arm around me and replied to Severus for me, âWhy? What do you need to talk to her about that you canât say infront of us.â
âNone of your business, Potter.â He replied, giving James a dirty look.
âItâs fine, James, really.â I smiled before walking away from them with Severus. I didnât really want to leave his side though. Something about him being protective and having his arm around me made me happy.
âSo, what's up?â I asked when we were out of ear shot of the others.Â
He stopped and looked at me, âI just wanted to say that Iâm sorry about your parents. I know how much they meant to you and I know your sister probably isnât making things any better for you.â
âThanks. And yeah, she hasnât even wrote me back.â I replied, with a frown.
âSheâs a jerk anyways.â
âI know but she's still family. I mean, this is our parents death! I just wish she could put our differences aside for now. She hasnât even told me anything about the funeral.âÂ
âIâm sorry, Lily. Look, I know I havenât been the best friend and I know I screwed everything up but Iâm still here for you and if you ever need someone to talk to, Iâm here.â He smiled, empathetically.Â
âThanks, Sev.â I smiled back, âI should probably go now, I have some studying to do.â
âOk. Bye.â He replied.
I walked up to the heads dorms and began studying on the couch when I got there. I didnât know where the others were but assumed they were just hanging out in the Great Hall.
It was later in the day now, almost nine, which is when James and I had to do rounds. He walked in through the portrait hole and looked at me, âReady for rounds, Evans?â He smiled at me.
âSure thing, Potter.â I smiled back and walked over to him.
âSo what have you been up to?â He asked as we walked down the corridor.
âNothing much, just studying. How about you?â I replied.
âI was just hanging out with the guys in their dorm. Making plans and such.â He smirked and I rolled my eyes.Â
âI donât even want to know.â I laughed.
âPlans for Christmas break, I mean!â He smiled innocently.Â
âMhm,â I laughed, âSo what are your plans for Christmas break?â
âNot sure yet. I usually go home during break but my parents feel like weâd be safer here with everything going on outside of Hogwarts. Plus, Remus has to stay here this year since-â He stopped himself quickly. âSo what about you?â He said after a minute.
âProbably staying here. I mean, I canât exactly go home and Alice is staying with Franks family, Hestia is going to see her brother in France, and Marlene is going to her grandparents who donât know me.â I answered.
âSo youâre going to be here by yourself?â James asked, frowning.
âProbably.â
âIâm sorry, Lils. At least if I end up staying though, you can have me as company!â He smiled.
âYeah.â I smiled back.
âLily, hello!â I heard a voice say from ahead. I looked up and saw Professor Slughorn walking towards us. âAnd, Mr. Potter, hello to you as well!â
âHello, professor.â I smiled.
âMr. Potter, Iâm glad I ran into you! I was looking over my list of guests for my Christmas party and realized I completely forgot to extend the Slugclub invitation to you! Being headboy comes with great responsibility and you are a very gifted boy, I should have invited you years ago as I did with Ms. Evans here!â
âOh, wow. Iâd love to come. Thank you, professor!â James replied with a smile.
âOf course! Iâll see you both then. Goodbye!â He smiled before walking off.
âWow, a party!â James smirked.
âItâs not that kind of party, James. It prestigious and respectable.â
âSo snooty?â He asked with an annoyed face.
âNot snooty. Just nice. There's always lots of interesting people there, Iâm sure you could even meet and ex-auror.â
âReally?â
âYeah! I did last year.â
âCool. Are we expected to bring a date to this thing?âÂ
âUsually, yes.â I replied. He grunted.
âWell did you want to go with me?â
âJames.â I said sternly, looking up at him.
âI mean as friends! I just donât want to go through the hassle of finding a date.â
I sighed, âIâm sorry, I would, but Iâm kind of already going with someone.â
His faced dropped, âOh.. like a date?â
âKind of, I guess. Errol Murray asked me. Heâs a Gryffindor too, and weâve been in the slugclub together since third year. He just asked me because itâll be our last year going to a Slughorn Christmas party. Itâs not like I like him, or want to be his girlfriend or anything. He just asked after we were invited last week and that was before I knew you were coming so I said yes. Sorry.â
âItâs fine. I guess Iâll just have to find someone else to come with me.â
âThat shouldnât be hard! Every girl in this school likes you and would love to go with you.â
âYes but the hard part is finding a girl that I actually want to go with.â
âI guess. But no matter who you decide to ask, Iâm sure theyâd love to go with you.â
âYou wouldnât.â He laughed.
âI would if I didnât already have a date.â I chuckled.
âReally?â He asked as he stopped walking and looked at me.
âReally, what?â
âYouâd love to come on a date with me?â He smirked as he stepped a little closer to me, making my face go warm.
âThat's- that's not what I said, James.â
âBut itâs what you think, isnât it? You just donât want to admit it.â He took another step closer. He was close enough now that I could feel his breath on me and his smell surrounded me. The best way I could describe his scent is a mix between leather from his quidditch uniform and freshly cut grass after its rained.
âThere's nothing to admit.â I replied with a shaky breath, my face getting redder by the second.
âMhm.â He smirked, âI love making you blush.â He stood like that, hovering over me for a few more seconds before turning and walking down the corridor again. I took a deep breath and hurried over to catch up with him.
We were just hanging out in our dorms like usual. James had been hanging out with us up here awhile ago but he had to leave to do rounds with Lily.Â
âHere, Moony, I got this for you last week but forgot to give it to you.â Peter said as he handed me a chocolate bar.
âThanks, Pete.â I smiled as I opened it and took a bite.
âI wonder if James has given Lily that kiss bomb from Zonkos yet.â Sirius said.
âI doubt it.â I laughed.
âHeâs got to make a move soon! Theyâre perfect for each other and their patronesses just prove that!â Peter replied.
âDo they though? If their patronesses matching like that does mean they're meant for each other, then what about Snivelus?â Sirius asked.
âI actually read something about that in the summer. When there is a pair of patronesses like a stag and doe, it means that the casters souls match, basically meaning they're soulmates, and when patronesses match exactly, like a doe and doe, it means there's an obsession. That one of the casters has an emotional attachment to the other to the point where they're obsessed.â I explained.
âSo are you saying that Snape is obsessed with Lily?â Sirius asked, eyebrows raised.
âWell, itâs likely, yes.â I answered.
âUnless heâs Jamesâ soulmate.â Peter said laughing, making Sirius and I laugh too.
I looked over at Sirius and stared at him for a moment, his smile is just so beautiful, just watching him laugh could brighten my worst days. He looked at me, still laughing, and slightly smirked at me before looking away.Â
Merlin heâs got me messed up. Whatever this little crush was that I had developed for him wasnât going away and not being able to do anything about it was starting to get on my nerves.
âI think Iâm gonna go to bed now guys.â I said.
âMe too.â Peter replied, while yawning.
âGoodnight guys.â I said as I climbed into bed.
âNight, cutie.â Sirius replied, smirking at me.
I just smiled and shook my head at him. But as I lay down, I thought of his smile and thought about him calling me a name like that again.
The night of Halloween 1981, and for weeks after, everyone was happy that the war was over and that he had been defeated. Witches and wizards across the world were celebrating.
Except for one.
As he watched the world partying and smiling he could feel himself falling deeper and deeper into depression as he sat in his room, alone. Nothing on his mind but the three funerals he was responsible for planning and the dark haired boy who he thought was his bestfriend that did nothing but betray him.
James stood, watching as the red headed 12 year old girl across the courtyard waved her wand at the 6th year boy who just called her a âmudbloodâ, he watched as her hex caused him to shrink like a deflating balloon until he was flat on the ground and couldnât move. âThatâs my girlâ James thought.
James turned his head at the red headed 18 year old girl and watched as she fought the death eater in front of her in the war they were forced into, he watched as her hex caused him to retreat. âThatâs my girlâ James thought.
James stares at the red headed 21 year old girl for the last time, he watched as she runs upstairs to risk her life to protect their son. âThatâs my girlâ James thought as the green light flashed infront of him, reminding him of her eyes.
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