Catch the Wind, Chapter 7: Night Moves
This chapter gives another perspective of a scene I wrote in my oneshot "Slipping Away"--but this time in Lily and James' POV. Feel free to check out that fic here! https://archiveofourown.org/works/57349759
Some cute fluff and then finally some more spicy stuff by the end. Its been nice to write the yearning bit of their relationship, but I'm looking forward to the onslaught of romance to come :)
It was the last weekend before summer holidays which meant that The Three Broomsticks’ dance night was going to be well attended. Nearly every student who was capable of going was mulling around the makeshift dance floor that was created in the middle of the hall. Conjured music pumped through the room and bodies buzzed with frenetic energy.
Lily stood with her mates in a tight circle on the dancefloor. Despite trying to take an interest in the summer plans of the other girls, her eyes kept darting to the front door every time it opened. Maybe it was just happenstance, but she had not seen James on a personal level since their run in with Snape. During classes, he seemed focused on his work and he had canceled their last transfiguration lesson–effectively meaning they didn’t fit in any snogging either.
The door tinkled open and a raucous banter of boys entered the room. James and Sirius strode arm in arm laughing about something while Lupin and Peter trailed behind. Once inside, Sirius went up to the bar to flirt with Rosmerta while the rest grabbed a seat at a cast aside table on the other end of the dance floor.
Lily took the drink that Mary levitated towards her and tried to act casual. All afternoon she had looked forward to the moment she would catch James, but now that it was here all she felt was a rock in her stomach and her brain going fuzzy.
Hadn’t he just asked to stay in contact over summer? So then what is he doing? Just thinking about it made her feel frustrated. Trying to dispel her anxious energy, she bopped her hip to the side in time with the music and took another sip of Butterbeer. As casually as possible she swiveled her hips to get a glimpse of the marauder’s table. She thought she had been discreet, but the second her eyeline caught James, he stopped leaning back in his chair and matched her gaze. A smile pulled at his face. The git is messing with me.
The song changed. It wasn’t often that the Three Broomsticks played muggle music but tonight they seemed to be making lots of exceptions. Lily jumped with excitement and made a show of snapping and singing along at her friends.
“Merlin, Lily. You with muggle music. At least one of us finds enjoyment in something when we go back home,” Marlene snorted.
“Just because your muggle home life sucks doesn’t mean all of it’s a drag,” Lily chided and started dancing up on Marlene, bobbing her shoulders at her playfully. “Besides, I like this song.” Marlene just rolled her eyes and gave Lily a light push.
“Go on then. I’m sure as hell not dancing with you.” Lily stuck her tongue out at Marlene who reflected it back. After taking a long sip of her drink, she spun on her heel and headed towards the group of people who had already started dancing in the middle of the room.
She had all the intention in the world to just dance on her own, but like a gravitational pull, she weaved herself past the dancing couples and landed squarely in front of James and his mates who all eyed her with varying degrees of surprise and amusement. James' eyes widened at her presence and his hand sprung up to his hair.
“Care to show me your moves, Potter?” In an attempt to stave off her anxiety, she kept swaying to the beat, hoping it would come off as somewhat charming. A light pink appeared right under the bottom rim of his glasses and he shifted in his seat. On a second thought, she realized he might be taking her question in a myriad of ways.
“Uhm, I dunno…I–” She had never seen him this flustered before. Of all the bloody years that he practically begged for her to give him attention and now he’s being a timid little knob. Did he get hit with a confundus charm and forget we’ve been snogging the past few weeks?
Despite being perturbed by his lackluster response, she continued, “ Well then, does anyone else want a go, then?” She smiled at the other three boys who side-eyed James’ warily. Sirius barked a laugh, clearly picking up on her game.
“Sure Evans, I’ll bite.” Sirius stood up and took his hand in hers. He followed her out onto the dancefloor and very quickly matched her tempo. Without looking back at where they had left James at the table, she snaked her hands around his neck in a loose hold and felt his arms lightly hold her around the waist. For someone who had a wide reputation as an impeccable lover, he was holding an awful lot of space between them.
“Y’know if I had known you were one for messing with James this much, we would have become friends sooner.” Sirius smirked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lily retorted in a sing-song voice before closing her eyes and singing along with the music. She made it through the first two stanzas before realizing there was a deeper male voice matching hers. She blinked to see Sirius had begun to sing along with her.
“Like Zeppelin, Black?”
“ Not my fault muggles make better music than us.” Lily leaned her head back and laughed. On the other side of the dance hall, Marlene and Mary caught Lily’s eye and Mary made the dramatic point to mouth What are you doing?
Lily ignored them. Sirius leaned down close to her ear and she could hear the tinkle of his earring from his movement.
“Don’t look now, but poor James might be having a brain aneurysm.”
Lily craned her neck around to see James exactly where they had left him. He had some color come back to his face, but his hands were balled into fists on the table in front of him and she could see his breathing from all the way across the room.
“Are you trying to teach him a lesson or something?” Sirius continued. “Because if so, this has been very effective.”Lily removed a hand from around Sirius’ neck and gave a little wave towards James and Sirius followed suit.
Back at the table James was not ok.
He thought he had been doing the right thing. He knew what had happened with Snape had been difficult for her. He wanted to give her space to breathe—to work out whatever she needed on her own. Isn’t that what she had always wanted from him? A little patience and thoughtfulness? So why had she come over to ask him to dance—especially when she was not keen on the idea of making their relationship more than secret at this point. And why in the bloody fuck had she waltzed off with Sirius when he had said no to her?
Maybe it was the amount of butterbeer, but James was getting a headache. He watched as Sirius leaned down to her ear. His eyes squinted at him over Lily’s shoulder with sinister intent. Lily let out a laugh at whatever he said and turned around and gave a small wave. I’m going to kill him. I’m going to wait until he is in dog form, put him in a bag, and drown him in the lake.
“Uh–Prongs?” Despite Peter poking James’ cheek for the better half of a minute, he was now just noticing. “Not to be that guy but hasn’t your dream this entire time to be with Evans? Why’d you say no mate…”
Remus nodded in agreement and popped a cigarette into his mouth. “Sometimes I think she might be right to say you are thick.”
James' hands curled tighter as Lily and Sirius twirled around the dancefloor effortlessly while belting out the lyrics.
“Just fucking go over there, mate. It’s that simple.” Lupin huffed out. “You’re bumming us out.” James took a breath and nodded. He rose stiffly from the table and as carefully as possible swerved his way beside the dancing couple. Neither of them moved to acknowledge him and kept singing in unison.
“Ok, I get it. I’m a stupid git. Will you still let me dance with you?” Lily didn’t didn’t stop singing but her lips formed into a smile.
“Nice of you to have that little revelation, but no way mate, this is my hot date,” Sirius wagged a finger in James’ face who swatted it away.
“Piss off traitor,” James’ hissed and Sirius threw his head back and laughed.
“Alright, alright,” Sirius conceded. “Evans, it has been the utmost pleasure, but I’m afraid James here might murder me if I don’t depart.” Sirius made a dramatic bow and offered Lily’s hand to James. He walked backwards a few steps with a smirk before turning around to where Remus and Peter sat.
Red formed on James’ cheeks as he stared at the retreating Sirius with slitted eyes before taking his place next to Lily. Without hesitation she raised her hands around his neck. He felt one of her fingers subtly curl its way into the bottom tufts of hair.
“You are ignoring me,” She stated, looking up at him with an expectant glance.
“I’m giving you space. Thought you’d want that after—” but he was cut off by a snort.
“Space? That's rich coming from the bloke that has pestered me for years,” she said, raising her eyebrows.
“I’m trying to be good–or at least not muck things up like I always do with you. You know, you don’t make it easy, Evans.” He lowered his eyes to hers and she blushed.
He snaked his arms tight around her low waist and she let out a small noise. One hand was pressing dangerously close to her bum while the other’s fingers lazily stroked the exposed skin from her midriff.
“Well if you were half as good of a dancer as your mate—” James cut her off with a whistle.
“Low blow, Evans. Low blow.” They swayed in silence for a moment. Her fingers continued to play idly with the hair at the nape of his neck and he pulled her in closer to the point where she could feel his erratic heartbeat against hers.
She angled her head up, needing to get on her toes to reach his ear with her lips. She hovered them dangerously close to his earlobe and whispered in a volume barely audible over the music.
“I hate to say it, but I’m going to miss you.” She pulled back her face to look at his reaction. His eyebrows shot to the top of his head and his eyes were wide. She wrinkled her nose and giggled.
“Can I talk to you?” Any levity in Lily’s manner dissipated at Snape’s voice. They had been too lost in each other to notice him stumble his way towards them. His hands were clenched at his sides and he had spoken through gritted teeth.
Lily shot a warning glance at James, whose body had tightened around hers. By some miracle, he followed her lead and continued to dance.
“No,” she didn’t even look to turn to Snape, rather keeping her eyes locked on James in an unspoken agreement. Don’t do anything thick. Not here.
“Please,” he tried again. There was a hint of desperation in his voice.
Lily turned her head quickly and paused her swaying while still holding on to James.
“Don’t you see I’m trying to enjoy my evening?” With a huff, she turned back to James and started to direct their swaying farther into the crowd, leaving Snape behind.
Snape wasn’t deterred. He took another step towards them and then placed a hand squarely on her shoulder.
“Lily–” She whipped herself around, finally letting go of James and stared hard at Snape.
James took a step forward, keeping one hand around her waist and reaching behind his back to his wand with the other.
“She said no, Snape,” James growled out. So far, Lily had clearly wanted them to be the better party, but enough was enough. After their last run in, he was shocked she was even trying to be civil.
Snape squinted his eyes at him and started to reach into his robes, but his hand froze before forming a fist and returning back by his side. The whole room stopped moving and waited to see who was going to move first.
“Fine. Fine Mudblood.” Snape spat and trudged to the door, pushing people out of his way. James turned to follow but Lily grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back.
“Are you mental?” She hissed at him. “We are not replaying last time. Just let him fucking go, he’s not worth it.”
James stared back at her with gritted teeth. He seemed to be searching for something in her face.
“Why are you still protecting him?” He finally forced out, and the question hung between them. She had never thought of it that way before.
Marlene burst through the crowd of people before standing stock still in front of them.
“Oh, what in the christ was that about?” She put a hand on Lily’s cheek and looked on either side of her face to see if she was hurt.
“Nothing Marlene, I’m fine,” Lily retorted. Marlene stared closely into Lily’s face for a beat before turning to James.
“Oi, and what do you have to say for yourself Potter, what’d you do to Snape to get his panties in a knot?” James just smiled in response.
“Just following Ms. Evans’ orders, McKinnon.” Marlene scoffed and grabbed Lily’s hand.
“C’mon Lils’. This place is a drag all of the sudden.” As Lily trailed after her friend, Lily shot a meaningful glance at James. Before she could get pulled out of sight he saw a word form on her lips.
Tonight.
—------------------------------------
James stood outside of the Three Broomsticks holding the Marauder’s map in his hand. His eyes swirled around the parchment before landing on Lily’s name which stayed sedentary within the Gryffindor common room. He made a quick note that Marlene’s name was elsewhere—Lily was more or less unoccupied.
He snuck beside the back wall of Honeydukes and ducked into an open basement window. Winding his way through the passage and out from behind a statue in the Hogwarts’ corridor, he constantly rechecked the map to see if Lily had changed positions. By the time he reached the common room, other students had wandered back from the party, and were mulling around the couch where Lily sat.
“Fancy meeting you here.” At his voice Lily jumped. She had been reading some muggle book that looked very loved.
“Mind if I—” he gestured to where she had her legs stretched out on the couch, and she sat up to make room for him.
He sat with his elbow resting on the back of the couch while his head cradled in his hand. Lily shifted her legs so they were touching him.
“So….we danced tonight–in public.” He eyed her warily.
“Yeah with a little convincing,” She raised her eyebrows at him playfully.
“Like I said, I was just trying to give you space and anyways you seem to love keeping secrets.” His hand lowered to her thigh and started tracing patterns into her skin. Lily side-eyed the other students in the common room, but no one seemed to be giving them any interest.
She looked down at his hand. A small blush filled her cheeks and she reached her arm to lay her hand just below his knee. James sucked in a breath. It felt like an invitation.
“Can I kiss you?” His voice lowered. She could hear each word heavy on his lips. It had been days since they snogged much less kissed and their last time had not ended in the most spectacular of ways. She glanced back at his hand now on her thigh and remembered how last time it had traveled up beyond her hemline.
She instinctively leaned forward. He had done the same and they were so close, she could feel his breath on her face. She gave his leg a little squeeze of caution.
“I’d like to do that. But somewhere more private.” James pulled back and regarded her. She could tell he was crestfallen.
“If only you and your mates somehow knew secret passages within the school and somehow had a way of not getting caught.” She narrowed her eyes at him.
“Quite honestly, if you could explain that, I’d be so impressed I’d snog you right here on this couch in front of everyone.” She smirked at him while he sized her up. He contemplated for a moment, then responded.
“Ah, Don’t hate me because I’m really lucky and observant.” She frowned. He didn’t take the bait.
“But, I do know a nice little spot near the portrait hole if you are so inclined—unless you want to reconsider your offer and we can just get to it right here.”
Lily snorted and James gave her thigh a little squeeze.
“Give me 5 minutes. I’ll meet you around the corner. Don’t look suspicious, Evans. You always do when you are up to no good.”
He slid his hand down her thigh then feigned a giant yawn. Lily followed him with her eyes as he got up from the sofa, ran a hand through his hair, and ducked his way out of the portrait hole.
She collapsed back on the seat. One, Two, Three….
Once 5 minutes trickled by, she got up and walked as carefully as possible to the exit; trying not to make contact with anyone as she went. It was around midnight at this point— there was no reason for her to be leaving, but everyone in the common room seemed not to give her any thought. Out of the portrait hole, she walked quietly through the darkness until she felt a body sidle up behind her.
“I think you owe me a kiss.” He swung her body around towards the other wall where a giant tapestry of a unicorn hung. Stroking his finger up the horn of the unicorn, the tapestry broke open as if cut and presented a small alcove behind it.
Lily didn’t even have time to ask how he knew about the alcove. Their lips crashed together. His hands were all over her body and his mouth moved starving over hers, meeting her tongue with his and moaning into her.
He pushed her until her back was against the alcove wall and behind him she could see the tapestry sew itself back up. She weaved her hands through his hair and made little fists, tugging at the strands. He parted from her lips and moved his mouth to her exposed collar bone, mumbling a thick merlin before attaching his mouth to her skin. She took a sharp intake of breath and clawed at the back of his shirt.
He had his chest pressed against hers, and she parted her legs slightly to let his knee stand between her. His leg pushed into her lower half and made her body start to buzz. She felt a yearning bubble from the bottom up that was impossible to describe. She pushed herself even closer to him and felt his heartbeat working hard underneath his shirt.
He detached his lips from her collar, leaving a red mark on her skin and kissed his way up her neck and back to her lips.
“I’m going to miss you too. So sodding much.” He breathed into her mouth. “Just having a couple days without your touch was hell.”
Lily blinked her eyes open and nipped at his bottom lip. “And whose fault was that.” He didn’t respond, rather grabbing her jaw with one hand and pressing her lips back to his. His other hand roamed under the backside of her shirt, touching her bare skin. It hesitated at her side before moving onto her stomach and then up towards her breast.
Lily made another sharp intake of breath into his mouth and his hand jumped off her skin and out of her top. He backed up slightly, not quite pushing her into the wall anymore, and rested his hands on either side of her neck.
“I’m sorry, I should—”
Despite his words, his eyes were closed and his breathing heady. His lips had not left a hovering distance from her own.
“No,” she breathed out. “I didn’t mean for you to stop.” She took his hand and placed it back under her shirt. Guiding his touch, she let it slide over her breast. He made a guttural sound as he palmed her. She wasn’t wearing a bra.
“You have no idea what you do to me,” She whispered and ran her hands back through his hair. With renewed vigor, he pressed her body back against the stone wall and his fingers curled softly around her skin. He slid his thumb over the blunt tip of her breast and she moaned into his mouth.
She couldn’t remember a time where she had felt this much heat inside her body. It felt
insatiable. Like it was going to eat her alive if something didn’t happen and soon.
She let go of his hair and moved her hands down to his waistline. Finding his belt, she started to tease it apart, but his hand caught hers and he placed her hand on his chest.
Breaking their lips apart. He pulled back and his eyes seemed waterlogged with desire.
“Not tonight. Not like this.” He choked out. She waited for the punchline, but it never came.
“I can’t muck this up like I do with everything else about you.” He pulled her into a tight hug and placed a kiss on her temple. Despite both of their bodies vibrating with lust, the act of the embrace cooled their minds and brought them back to earth.
He stroked her hair while she laid against him for a moment. His heart was still beating fast, and he buried his face into the top of her head.
“I meant it, I’m going to miss you,” she said quietly into his shirt. She could feel the hum of his laugh in his chest.
“I know.” They stood there holding each other. Tomorrow they would be leaving Hogwarts.
Lily pulled her head up and he kissed the top of her head, then her temple before resting their foreheads together.
“Will you write to me? Like you said.” She whispered.
“I’d do anything for you.” And he leaned in for one last lazy kiss.
If you want to read this fic in from the beginning, check out the rest of my tumblr or find it on AO3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57047455/chapters/145083085
