Written for @jilytoberfest 31 Prompts for 31 days. It was meant to be a series of short snippets, but some of them kind of just kept developing, lol It ended up taking a few weeks, and now it isn't even October anymore! 😄
Prompt 3, Your friends giggle too much
Lily sat at her usual seat near the front of the Transfiguration classroom. Her stack of parchment for note taking was stacked neatly in front of her, ready for the class period. Her quill lay beside it, ink pot open and ready to go. She clasped her hands on top of the desk and sat with straight posture awaiting the start of Professor McGonagall's lecture. Her friend Mary was just taking the seat next to her, and Dorcas and Marlene were at their shared table just behind theirs. Moments before class was due to start, the doors at the back of the room burst open and four boys skidded inside making more noise than they aught to, given the fact they were nearly late.
Lily turned her head, her eyes narrowed at the boys as they noisily took their seats. She turned back to the front just as Professor McGonagall began her lecture. Picking up her quill, she began to scratch down notes. Loud whispering distracted her and she looked over to the four boys who were making a racket. The boys were fellow Gryffindors, but despite this she had not had the most pleasant interactions with them, starting from the very first day on her train ride to Hogwarts. Now just a few days into the term, she didn't know much about them other than they could be loud and rude. They did not like her best friend, Severus, and they took many opportunities to tease him. Sev hated them, and Lily found them to be quite obnoxious. They continued their loud whispers until McGonagall cleared her throat just feet away from their desks. The boys had been too distracted to notice as she had approached.
"Do you boys have something important to share with the rest of the class?" She asked looking at them sternly. Two of the boys had the decency to look ashamed, but the other two just turned beaming smiles at her.
"Not at all Professor. Please do carry on" one of the boys, Sirius Black, said with all the confidence in the world.
"That I will do Mr Black, but before I can I'm going to have you and Mr Potter move seats so as to keep you from disrupting my class again." The boys started to protest, but she just held up a hand to silence them. "Miss McDonald, could you please trade seats with Mr Potter?" Mary stood and Lily flashed her a please don't leave me look. Smiling apologetically, Mary moved to take her new seat. Lily slumped down in her chair.
"Hiya Evans!" came the bright cheerful voice of James Potter as he dropped into the seat next to her. She heard Marlene and Dorcas snickering behind her.
"Your hair is dazzling as always!" James continued brightly. More snickering came from behind her. James glanced back briefly and was enjoying his little audience. Lily scowled at him. Before she could come up with a snappy reply, Professor McGonagall was talking again.
"Now that we're settled down, I want to discuss your project for the term. You will be working closely with your table partner on it over the next several weeks." Lily gasped and then groaned as James pushed his glasses back up his nose and grinned at her.
"Hiya partner" he said brightly. Lily could hear her friends' outright laughter behind her now. "You know Evans, your friends giggle too much!" James observed.
"You're telling me, " she said with a sigh.
Lily stood before James, hands on hips and eyes flashing dangerously. He was stretched in a chair in the common room, long limbs sprawled out and a bemused look on his face.
"I asked if it was true Potter?" she asked again. She heard snickering and her gaze snapped over to Sirius. Her eyes narrowed and he sobered, quickly returning his attention to the textbook in his hands.
"Did you really spellotape Sev to the wall and leave him there."
"Ah Evans, I don't know why you'd think it was me."
"Potter, he told me you did it," her voice raised in pitch.
More snickering, this time from Peter, whose cheeks went pink when Lily stared at him and he disappeared behind his notes.
"Oh Evans, it was an unfortunate accident really. He just sort of bumped into it is all. If my memory serves me correctly I believe he told me to piss off, so I did. That's how he was left there. I would've helped him down otherwise." This time both Sirius and Peter were laughing outright.
Lily felt her temper flaring. "Leave him alone," she said, her voice a dangerous growl. She spun on her heal, her eyes turning toward the table where Sirius and Peter sat, still shaking with laughter. She looked over her shoulder and called out "And tell your friends that they giggle too much!"
Lily was looking interestedly all around the pub, gripping her mug of Butterbeer between sips. She was so excited for her first visit to Hogsmeade, and she had agreed to meet Severus for lunch in the Three Broomsticks. Currently she sat at a small table, Sev was seated across from her looking significantly less enthusiastic about the whole thing. Laughter came from a few tables over, and Lily noticed Severus scowl. She decided to try to distract him. "Isn't it great to be away from school for a bit Sev?"
"It doesn't seem like much of a difference to me," was his surly reply. More laughter erupted in the crowded bar. Lily looked a bit longingly a few tables away where her friends sat enjoying themselves, their laughter rising into the cacophony of conversations and laughter from the pub full of excited students. Her gaze lingered as she watched her friends flicking Butterbeer corks back and forth between their table and the table where Sirius, James, Remus and Peter sat. She was still smiling when she directed her gaze back towards Severus. He was now glowering where her gaze had been.
"He thinks he's such a big shot now that he's playing Quidditch," Severus grumbled. Of course, he was back at complaining about Potter.
"They're just having a bit of fun Sev. It's nice to be able to blow off some steam every once in awhile.
"But he's so arrogant. Him and his friend Black. Always choosing to pick fights when it's four against one. So much for Gryffindors being brave."
His words stung Lily. His opinions of her friends and her fellow housemates was clearly quite low. It seemed like their friendship was struggling through the adjustments at Hogwarts. Still, she was tired of his constant fixation on the faults of all things James Potter. She sipped her Butterbeer quietly, and she was silently glad that their lunch was nearly done. Severus was in one of his brooding moods, and she always found it best to just leave him to it until the mood passed. It did make her feel very guilty when she thought this way, but nothing she did had ever been able to snap him out of one of his bad moods.
A moment later, a great cheer erupted from the tables her fellow Gryffindors sat at. James had stood, nearly toppling his chair as he did so, arms raised over his head in victory as his mates cheered him on. Her friends were dissolving into laughter as Dorcas fetched a Butterbeer cork out of her mug. Lily smiled at the scene, but her attention was drawn back to a sour faced Severus as he spoke again. "Your friends giggle too much."
Lily leaned against the bar waiting to place an order with Madam Rosmerta. She was glad for the excuse to leave the table and her date, a fourth year Ravenclaw named Bertram Aubrey. They were currently seated with a group of his friends, and Lily was regretting agreeing to the date. Bertram was nice enough, but he was so dull. And he laughed loudly at his own jokes. Jokes that weren't exactly funny. She wrinkled her nose as she heard his high pitch laughter fill the air.
"Your boyfriend giggles too much," came a familiar voice. James Potter leaned against the bar next to her, surveying the crowd in the bar. More high pitch laughter came from the direction of the table she had just left.
"You're not wrong," she sighed. "But he's not my boyfriend. That bit you are wrong about. I just agreed to go with him to Hogsmeade, that's it. There will not be another date. Not with him." At these words James grinned and Lily smiled back.
"What can I get for you dears?" came the voice of Madam Rosmerta.
"Two Butterbeers please," Lily said.
"And I'll take another four" James said. As Madam Rosmerta moved away to get their drinks, Lily reached into her bag to pull out money. James scoffed. "You're paying for drinks on your date?"
"I'm thinking of it more as my escape fee."
"You wouldn't be paying for anything if you would've accepted my invitation."
"Oh, you mean when you humiliated me in the common room? No way."
"Someday you'll say yes."
"Perfect, it can go with my 'fat head' as you so lovingly referred to it. Here, I'll pay for those. No, I insist" he said as she protested. He shoved her money back towards her. "I'll even offer you a viable escape option. You can decide to accept it or not."
"Oh please Potter, like I'm going to hang out with you for the rest of the day. I don't think so."
"Hey, I only offered the escape, not the rest of the day! If you ever agree to go to Hogsmeade with me I'm not going to be the second choice. And I'm not going to just enjoy the last hour, it will be the whole day!"
Lily scoffed. "Yeah, good luck with that fantasy Potter."
"Watch the cheek or I'll leave you to suffer the rest of the day with Sir Gigglepants."
Lily rolled her eyes, but smiled inspite of herself. This little banter was more fun than she had had on her entire date. "Potter, you are such a prat. Cheers!" she said clinking her Butterbeer into his before turning and going back to the table.
As she was finishing the last of her Butterbeer trying to pretend to show interest in the thoroughly dull conversation between Bertram and his friends she saw Sirius, Remus and Peter leave the bar.
A moment later James appeared at their table side, looking the picture of innocence. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and smiled. "So sorry to interrupt Aubrey, but Evans has been helping me with a big Charms project. And, well, I'm afraid I've been struggling a bit with our current progress. She said that she would help me tonight, but unfortunately I just had something come up and the only time I have now is for the next two hours. Evans, do you think you could possibly help me now instead?" Bertram put a arm around her shoulder, and Lily noticed James's jaw tighten ever so slightly at the gesture. "Please Evans it would be a big help!" James continued, looking into her eyes.
"Can't one of your mates help you Potter? Lily and I are in the middle of something" Bertram responded without giving Lily the opportunity to answer for herself.
Lily was grateful for James's help, she was frankly very put off by the sudden unwelcomed touching and possessiveness Bertram was showing.
"I'm so sorry Bertram" she said, carefully extricating herself from under his arm. "We've been working on this project for a couple days now and I'm afraid that his friends would be no help, and I promised him that we'd have it done today."
Bertram looked extremely put out as Lily gathered her things. "Thanks for today! I'll see you around."
James gave a huge grin "see you around Aubrey" he called over his shoulder as he followed Lily out of the pub.
"That wasn't your best excuse Potter!" Lily said as they entered the sunlit path of the street.
"I guess I will work on my lies to rescue you from terrible dates in the future then."
'Yeah, that would be great. Because you can be a whole lot more creative than 'a project for Charms.' Honestly," she said with a chuckle.
"Fine, it's a deal then. I'll continue to rescue you from terrible dates in the future."
"It's a deal" she said laughing as she shook his hand all business like. "But whose to say I'll ever have another terrible date in the future. "
"Oh, they will all be terrible. The male population at Hogwarts is full of disappointments" he said, his voice solemn. "You said so yourself when you turned me down."
"Well," Lily said thoughtfully "I may have over exaggerated my point because of how much of a prat you were being."
"Yeah, well, we'll just play it by ear then" James said with a grin.
"I guess so," Lily said with a smile.
Over the years year Lily had come to realize something, James Potter was fit. The problem was that he knew it and the arrogant behavior was a real turn off. Lily was seated on a couch in the common room with a Butterbeer in hand, the means of which it may have been acquired for the victory party she chose to not put too much thought into. A moment later James had flopped himself into the seat next to her, limbs sprawling and bumping into her own. His cheeks were still flushed with victory, and perhaps a drink that was a little stronger than Butterbeer. He grabbed the Butterbeer from her hand and took a great swig. She swatted at his arm and snatched it back. James grinned at her, something he seemed to do quite often.
"Did you happen to catch the game today Evans?"
"Oh dear, was that today? Must've missed it," she replied sarcastically. Her friends laughed. James grinned even wider, eyes sparkling in that familiar way she noticed whenever they got into a bit of verbal sparring.
"Not a problem Evans, I can give you a play by play if you missed it."
"Great, now my life will be complete," Lily said dryly.
"Maybe when I'm done you'll decide to go to Hogsmeade with the player who scored the most points for Gryffindor." Lily heard her friends laughing.
"Fat chance Potter, I know it was you. I was there you dolt. Remember, you winked and blew a kiss at me every time you scored a goal. Just how hard did that bludger hit your head? " Her friends snickered loudly, clearly enjoying the entire conversation.
Lily realized her mistake when she saw James grin that way. His face seemed to brighten as though the sun had a special beam sent down just to light his face so that his eyes would dance and the golden bits would sparkle, while making his cheeks glow and his features softer. It was all very attractive. Through the years she had somehow become better than she would ever admit at reading James Potter's expressions. He had realized that he was winning this verbal sparring round, she'd have to crush the victory he surely thought he held at his fingertips.
"So you were watching then. Well then, what do you say about that date to Hogsmeade then?"
Lily gave him a sickeningly sweet smile before she spoke. "I think the only scoring you're going to have success with is on the Quidditch pitch."
As her friends roared with laughed she heard Sirius say "oh, bad luck Prongs." Great, his friends are listening too she thought.
James slumped in his seat. Lily raised her Butterbeer bottle to her lips, the glow of victory didn't seem as bright as it normally did as the smile had slid off his face at her words. But now a grin was slowly reappearing on James's face. "You know Evans, the last thing to touch that bottle were my lips. Just to give you something to think about." Lily froze, her cheeks flushing red. This time both sets of their friends were laughing.
She glowered. "Your friends giggle too much" she mumbled.
"Yeah, " James replied cheerfully. "So do yours!"
Lily sat next to the bed in the hospital wing, her mind replaying the events of the afternoon over and over again. She looked down at her hands that she had folded in her lap and saw a splatter of blood across the front of her skirt, it's color matched the stains on the sleeves of her white uniform shirt. Her memories replayed like a film in her mind.
Lily had found herself pushing open the oak doors and stepping into the sunny grounds after her last class that day. Her feet had carried her towards the lake, to the same place where so much had been changed the previous year. A few students had made their way outside, but since it was not the end of the school week most people were still inside working on homework. She slipped off her shoes and let her feet slide below the surface of the cool water. She wasn't sure how long she stood there, but it was long enough that the sun had just begun to sink lower in the sky. Soon she heard the soft padding of feet approaching from behind. A moment later a soft splash of water as someone joined her, bare feet glowing slightly below the lake surface. Lily smiled. "What are you doing out here Potter? Shouldn't you be eating dinner?"
"Shouldn't you?" Came his warm voice in reply. The little hairs on the back of her neck seemed to tickle her skin causing goosebumps to erupt down her arms and a shiver to run through her body. "Anyway, " he continued almost as though he hadn't noticed, even though Lily was certain he had, "didn't want you to be lonely later when you're trying to scrounge up food in the kitchens after you completely miss dinner."
"The kitchens? I don't even know where those are."
"I'll show you," he said simply as he stooped down to pick up a smooth flat rock. He carefully aimed before tossing it, and they watch as the stone skipped across the water surface. The rings made in the water steadily grew, and they both watched in silence until they disappeared. Lily thought about why she had come out here. She looked at James out of the corner of her eye. He caught her glance and gave a sigh.
"I know why you're out here. It's why it was so easy to find you when you didn't turn up before dinner." He turned towards her, not able to fully look her in the eyes. "I'm really sorry about everything that happened last year. I've been dreading this day all year, but probably not as much as you. It's approach has been a reminder of what a prat I was all year last year. I know you don't like to talk about what happened. I just want you to know I am sorry. I get it if you don't want to be my friend."
Lily looked at him, studying his face in what was left of the golden sunlight. His eyes betrayed more than his words, they looked sad and distressed. He swallowed hard and her gaze shifted slightly. In the fading sunlight, the scar on his cheek where Severus had cursed him last year seemed to stand out more than it ever had in her memory. It was smooth, not at all jagged, as though it had been cut with precision by a sharp knife. She reached up and traced its line with her finger. A shiver rolled through James's body, but he still didn't move.
"Thanks Potter. Your apology means a lot." Before she really thought about what she was doing, she reached up and wrapped him in a hug. He was surprised by her action, and it seemed to take him a moment before he returned her hug with one of his own. After a minute, she stepped back. "I'm going to walk-around the lake for a bit."
"Oh," he said softly. "Can I wait for you here?" James asked. "Otherwise you'll be hopelessly lost searching for the kitchens when you're done," he said with a grin.
Lily looked at him and smiled. "Yeah, that would be nice." His smile was so bright, Lily forgot for a moment how much the daylight had faded. She set off at a brisk pace, but she turned back briefly and saw James had settle himself in the grass with his back leaning against the tree. She turned forward again and this time let her thoughts wander. She wasn't sad that Severus was out of her life. Well, not this Severus. The one that roamed the school with his fellow future Death Eaters, studying dark magic with equal parts fascination and excitement. That Severus she didn't miss at all. She missed Sev. Her friend from childhood. The one who had told her about magic. He had been her best friend. But Sev had disappeared years ago, it wasn't the events last year that had ruined their friendship. It had been an accumulation of many events over the proceeding two years. Her friend Mary being cruely attacked because she was a muggleborn and Severus defending his friends. The spells he started experimenting with that moved beyond exploration in magic into darker and darker areas. That day at the lake had just been the final push that had allowed her to close the door on their friendship forever.
She was just coming around the last turn of the lake when a bright light caught her eye. She was too far to see clearly what was happening, but she saw the volley of different colored curses going back and forth, and it was right around the spot where she had left James. She broke out into a run and watched as a shield charm was cast. It's caster was on their knees, and she wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not, but a knot was forming in her stomach as she thought the figure looked a lit like James. She quickened her pace and now that she was closer she could see that it was indeed James. He looked as though the effort of keeping the shield charm up was costing him his last bit of strength. Something was very wrong. She was still a ways away when she watched in horror as his shield charm seemed to shatter in front of him.
"No!" she screamed as she saw a dark figure raising their wand towards James, who had fallen forward onto his hands when his shield charm had fallen. His wand was laying in the grass beside him. The figure paused, and James looked towards where Lily's voice had come from.
"I'm sorry Lily, " she heard him say hoarsely before he collapsed onto the ground. Lily, he had never called her that.
"James! No!" she screamed as she reached his still form in the grass. Her hand slipped on something warm as she grabbed at his robes to try to roll him over. "Hey, wake up! Come on James, wake up!" Lily yelled, touching his face with her hands. She left a streak of red across his pale skin wherever she touch. That's when she realized it was blood her hand had slipped across. Her hands scrambled to unfasten the buttons on his robes. A red stain was steadily growing through the crisp white uniform shirt underneath, the darkest of which was on his back across his right shoulder. She gasped and quickly pressed a bundle of robes against the area. James groaned. Lily looked up and was shocked to see a wide eyed Severus staring back at her. "Help him!" Lily cried desperately. "Please Sev, you have to help him!" Lily cried, hot tears falling down her cheeks. Severus looked furious. "You owe him Sev, he saved your life. Please." A flurry of emotions flickered across his face. Just when Lily was sure that he was about to turn on his heels and storm off to the castle ina billow of robes, Severus took a stiff step forward. As he got closer Lily could see a small cut and a bruise blossoming above one of his eyes, but he looked otherwise unscathed. Lily assumed that he had attacked James from behind, based off of where James's injury was, and her stomach lurched uncomfortably. He reached a pale boney hand towards where she was holding pressure trying to stop the flow of blood beneath her hands. "Don't hurt" him she hissed pulling his limp torso toward her protectively.
Severus said nothing as he exposed the wound on James's back. She gasped in shock at it's deep extensive appearance, blood spilled rapidly from its depths. Severus started murmuring a song like spell as he moved his wand over the wound. With each pass the wound seemed to close more and more. After several minutes the skin was knitted back together, but was bright red and angry looking. He grew quite. "Thank you," she whispered without taking her eyes from James's face. His skin that was always a sun-kissed golden color was so pale against her robes. He stirred feebly in her lap and she knew he was still desperately ill. She looked up and was surprised to see that Severus had left. She was terrified for James. His breathing was slow and ragged. He had clearly lost a significant amount of blood. "James Potter, don't you dare die on me," she whispered, brushing a lock of his hair off his forehead and pressing a kiss against his skin. Summoning all her strength, she used her wand to gently move James back towards the castle. It was slow work, and she slowed frequently to check and make sure he wasn't getting worse. She struggled significantly to get him through the doors into the castle, and it was with both equal relief and apprehension that she turned a tear streaked face towards Sirius when she heard him call out to them from behind.
Whatever joke he'd been about to say died on his tongue when he took in the scene before him. His face drained of color. "Bloody hell, what happened?" Sirius asked rushing forward to help her.
"I don't know exactly, but I do know he's lost a lot of blood. He's been unconscious for awhile now, but his breathing is a little better than it was outside" she said said, her body starting to tremble from the excess adrenaline that had been coursing through her body. Sirius helped her get James the rest of the way to the hospital wing in silence. With his help they made quick work of it, and after he had gently lowered James's still form onto a bed he sprinted off to find Madam Pomfrey. Lily collapsed in the chair next to the bed and then she grabbed his hand in hers. It was so cold, and he didn't return the pressure that she was squeezing his hand with. Lily was terrified. A moment later Madam Pomfrey came bursting into the ward with Sirius on her heals. She quickly got to work assessing James.
"What happened?" she asked, summoning supplies from a store cupboard.
"I'm not completely sure. I came up as he was losing consciousness. There was a lot of blood. He had a cut that looked really bad on his back," at this Madam Pomfrey looked at the area Lily had indicated, Lily pushed on. "There was so much blood. Someone helped with the wound, but he had already lost consciousness by then. I brought him here a soon as I could."
"Will he be ok?" Sirius asked in a whisper. His face was still pale and he was staring at James as Madam Pomfrey poured potions into his mouth.
"He's very ill, but he'll be ok in the end. His wound will scar, it seems to have been a bit crudely healed. But the bleeding has stopped so I don't want to disturb it just to reheal it because it may cause him to start to bleed again. He's going to need blood replenishing potions around the clock. But he will be fine.
A shaky release of breath escaped Sirius as he flopped into another nearby chair.
As Madam Pomfrey finished up her initial work she turned to Lily. "Are you hurt dear? I can't tell if that's your blood or his," she said gently. At this Lily looked at her appearance. She had blood over both her hands and arms. It was smeared across her robes and her shirt. There was so much of it, she couldn't imagine that James would have survived much longer.
"No, I'm not injured, " her voice came out a shaking whisper.
"Why don't you go back to your dorms and get cleaned up and rest," she offered gently.
"No way!" Lily shouted. "I'm not leaving this chair until he wakes up and tells me he's OK himself!" Madam Pomfrey looked on the verge of arguing, but she ended up bustling away and returning with a basin of soapy water that she placed on the table near Lily.
"Thank you," Lily said, her voice having decreased in volume now. Madam Pomfrey bustled away a moment later and Lily looked to where Sirius sat. His eyebrows were raised up his forehead, but he didn't say anything.
"What?" Lily snapped at him.
He just smirked, "nothing" he said, a small grin twisting his features back to his easy carefree appearance. "I never knew you had it in you to be so forceful to a person in a position of authority."
"Yeah, well like I said, I'm not going anywhere" she trailed off not completely finishing her sentence. Instead she turned to the basin and started scrubbing at her skin. She saw Sirius get up and leave the hospital wing. He was gone for awhile. When he finally returned that's how he found her, staring at the splatter of blood on her skirt and reliving the terrifying memory. She had removed her robes that were covered in blood. She had rolled the sleeves of her white uniform shirt up to clean the skin below, and left them that way to avoid seeing the blood that stained them.
"Here," he said tossing her a bundle that turned out to be a clean shirt.
"Thanks" she said gratefully stepping behind a curtain to change her shirt. As the fabric of the shirt that Sirius had brought unfurled a smirk twisted her mouth. "Really Black," she called through the curtain "You couldn't bring one of my own shirts?" Lily pulled the shirt over her head as she heard Sirius snickering. It was clearly one of James's Quidditch shirts. It smelled like James, all pine trees and spice. She gathered a handful of the fabric and inhaled deeply for a moment before she straightened up and stepped back out. Sirius tried to straighten his features, but the laughter was still evident in his eyes..
"I'm sure James wouldn't mind one bit. Though now that I'm thinking about it, it may have not been a wise choice. If he wakes up and see you in his shirt, with his name across your back, he may just die despite Pomfrey's healing skills."
"Oh piss off," Lily said, but she was laughing.
"I brought you some food too, I know you missed dinner because James wouldn't shut up about it. 'Where is she Padfoot? Why isn't she back? She is going to miss dinner.' He was besides himself, the great sap."
Lily continued to laugh, taking the sandwich and pumpkin juice Sirius had held out to her. "Thanks Black."
"You know I have a name" Lily said as she took a bite from the sandwich.
"So do I," was his reply.
"Alright then, thank you Sirius.
And just like that protective walls crumbled and Lily and Sirius were talking and laughing like old friends. Well, really they had made a lot of strides through the entire school year. but they seemed to have broken through the last protective barriers they each had kept up tonight as they sat at James's bedside. Lily had voiced this revelation and Sirius started to laugh, and then they were both laughing together again.
"You know, who would've thought that our friendship hinged on my best mates life? Couldn't it be something more normal?" Sirius said, still laughing.
"Nah, that's just not our style," Lily replied with a grin.
"Evans," James suddenly said, his voice coming out a bit raspy and his eyes remained closed. Lily reached out and grabbed his hand instinctively, it was much warmer now and he returned the squeeze of her hand with a reassuring pressure that calmed her more than any words had yet. "Your friend giggles too much."
Waterever they had expected him to say it hadn't been that. Lily and Sirius both burst out laughing and he opened one eye to look at the blury scene before him.
"Oh," he said closing the eye he had opened, "that's my friend. Pads, you giggle too much" he said before he drifted back to sleep.
Lily fussed with her skirt and straightened the pin on her robes for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning. She wasn't only nervous about her first Prefect meeting as Head Girl, but her stomach seemed to have been invaded by a flock of butterflies as she waited for the Head Boy to arrive. Remus had written to her in the summer to tell her the news. And she had been pleasantly surprised. She would be sharing her duties this year with James Potter. Over the previous year they had become very close, and as the end of the term had approached she had realized that she quite fancied James Potter. Lily worried that she had spent so many years turning down James's affections that perhaps he'd no longer be interested. She just hoped that working closely together this year that maybe his interest would be rekindled.
Lily heard the latch of the compartment door click to open and her heart started to hammer in her chest. She turned as the door slid open and there stood James, the sun shining at his back. She couldn't help but think that he looked amazing. His skin was tanned from the summer sun, and he had his robes off and his shirt sleeves rolled up. He seemed to have grown a bit over the summer, and he smiled down at Lily.
"Hey Lily!" His voice was deep and warm and it sent tingles down to her feet the way he said her name.
"Hi James" she said trying to sound more relaxed than she felt. "I'm glad you made it early. I just wanted to review the agenda for the meeting before the Prefects show up."
"OK, great" he said, stepping in and letting the door slide shut behind him. He had crossed over to where she stood in a few easy strides and Lily felt suddenly overwhelmed by him. She could smell the woodsy spicy scent that she had come to associated with James. He was so close that his arm brushed against her own and for a moment she couldn't remember what she was about to say.
"Is this everything we need to cover then?" James asked as he leaned forward his chest pressing to her arm as he carefully studied the paper in her hands.
"Yeah, yes it is" Lily said, hoping that her stutter had gone unnoticed. James smiled that warm smile that she loved so much. His eyes crinkled at the corners, and his eyes shining brightly. Any words she had planned to say were gone.
"Lily, I hope I don't let you down as Head Boy" he started "I know I'm no Remus, but I do promise to take the role seriously." He smiled again before he reached out to gently tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear and the gesture sent her over the edge. She reached up and grabbed his hand before he had pulled it back, her heart hammering harder than ever before. Their attention was drawn to where their two hands were clasped.
"James, I need to say something" Lily said breathlessly.
"Can I kiss you?" he interrupted, hazel eyes suddenlyon hers. "Merlin, I am so sorry. I don't know why I just said that, it was rude. Only, I've wanted to kiss you for years Lily. But this is the first time I actually feel like you might want to kiss me too," he finished with a great deal of uncertainty in his voice, and he started to step back. "I'm sorry Lily, " he said before nervously running a hand through his hair. "You can tell me what a prat I am. I don't know what came over me" he continued.
"James," Lily said loudly as he began to step away, cheeks flushed red, eyes downcast. He paused and looked at her, waiting for certain rejection she assumed based on the look on his face. She dug deep for her Gryffindor bravery. "Go to Hogsmeade with me?"
A moment of stunned silence passed as James appeared to struggle to process what she had just said. The train swayed on its tracks. Suddenly James had closed the distance in one easy stride, his arm gently wrapping her around the waist. He grinned at her, "Lily Evans asking me out? Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that could happen!"
""Is that your way of saying yes then?"
"Lily, I would love to take you to Hogsmeade!"
Lily smiled on relief, and James gently stroked her cheek. He leaned down and a moment later his lips were on hers and it was like fireworks were exploding. His lips were soft and he tasted of peppermint. The kiss started out gentle and a bit uncertain for a moment, but as Lily stepped closer his grip on her waist tightened and he pulled her very close deepening the kiss. His hand was in her hair now, and she snaked one of her own into his. It was soft at her fingertips and she gently curled it around her fingers enjoying feel of every new lock. His woodsy spicy scent filled her senses and a soft sigh escaped her.
Both of them were so engrossed in their kiss that neither of them heard the compartment door slide open behind them. It wasn't until they heard a great whooping that they jumped apart, cheeks flushed. Sirius had been the first one to burst through the door, and he was still whooping and cheering. Behind him was all of their friends; Mary, Remus, Peter, Marlene and Dorcas all of whom were laughing and cheering in delight. Lily shook her head, "honestly, you're so rude the lot of you. Who just bursts through a door like that?" Sirius was grinning widest of them all. "Sorry Red, had to see it for ourselves to believe it. Thought the two of you would never figure it out on your own." Lily looked at James, each of them wearing matching grins. James stepped toward the door. "Yeah sorry mate, but you've got to go" he said as he pushed a laughing Sirius back out the door, slamming it shut behind him. Laughter erupted from the corridor behind the door as James turned to face Lily.
"Our friends giggle too much," she said as James came back to her, winding an arm around her waist and pulling her in close.
"Yeah, but we've known that for years now," he said just before his lips reclaimed hers.
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