James Potter

“Ah I see,” Lily replied, grinned and closing her hand around the key. “Thank you,” she said, kissing his cheek. The feel of the cool key in the palm of her hand was keeping quite a big smile on her face. 

She did stay here a lot, more than she stayed in her own place really so it made sense that she should have a key. It would make things a lot easier than waiting for one of the boys to answer the door, especially when they were in the middle of some shenanigan. (Which they usually were). But logic and ease aside it was still nice of him to give it to her. Lily couldn’t help but feel butterflies in her stomach as she slipped the key into her pocket. 

She turned her attention back to him as he started speaking again, noting the slight nervous tone in his voice. “Ah yes, the question,” she said lightly, waiting for him to go on. “Right,” she agreed, with a nod. They had certainly never cared about what people thought– They were far too in love to waste time worrying about other people’s opinions. But even so, his following question did take her slightly by surprise. 

Usually it was Lily who did the rambling, due to everything from nerves to excitement. But this time it was James and Lily smiled fondly at him as he did so, waiting for him to stop so she could even have a chance to think about what he was asking. Moving in with him. Moving in with him and Sirius. “You want me to move in?” she asked, raising her eyebrows at him, biting her lip lightly. 

The sensible part of Lily knew this was something she should give a lot of thought to. She knew that living with someone wasn’t the same as just being in a relationship with them; it was tougher. She would find out every bad habit he had and vice versa. They would fight over the bathroom and cleaning and cooking. But Lily was also a teenager hopelessly in love and there was only one answer she could possibly give. “Yes. Of course,” she said, beaming at him. “As long as Sirius is okay with it and you promise to always have my favourite brand of tea in the cupboard.” Waking up next to James everyday definitely sounded like her idea of perfect. 

“How do you keep surprising me, Potter?”

“You are very welcome,” he said easily. “Be sure to use it often.” It was easy to be calm about a key when it was just a key, but trying to get his words out properly were harder. Normally, he didn’t struggle like this, but hey, it wasn’t every day you asked your girlfriend if she wanted to live with you.

His thumb came up, rolling her lip down and out of her teeth (it was entirely too distracting) as he nodded. “I do, yeah. I mean, we could move somewhere else, if you wanted, but here seems easiest for a start. I want you to move in, yeah.” He was stupid, he knew that, and he chuckled at himself, amused but not ashamed that he was repeating himself, and her, like an idiot. No shame in that, really. He may have been an idiot, but he was her idiot. 

“Really?” His eyes widened, and he shifted on the sofa, his arms tightening around her so she didn’t fall (and remained close) as he sat up a little straighter. “Really, really? You’re not taking the mickey are you, Evans?” He grinned, leaning in to kiss her anyways, because even if she was taking the mickey he was too excited not to. “As it happens, though, I have talked to him about it,” he said, pulling his head back just a little. “And he’s okay with it, as long as, and these are his words, not mine: ‘I don’t want to walk in on you, and you’re not allowed to do it in my room.’ ” He laughed, resting his chin on her shoulder again for a brief moment. “And we always have your favorite in the cupboard. And your favorite biscuits. And your girly soaps in the shower that make my skin really soft. You know, really, I think this is just a formality. I’m pretty sure you already live here, Evans.”

“Because if I don’t keep things interesting, you might get bored and leave me,” he said, winking at her. “It’ll be our new adventure.”

Lily smiled softly, resting her head on his arm as he kissed her nose, opening her eyes blearily. “Hey! You don’t get to deprive me of sleep and then make fun of my brain’s ability at this time of the morning. The sun has barely even risen, I don’t think the sun is even awake yet, never mind me. Do you hear that? No? Silence. The birds haven’t woken up yet, but here I am, awake despite my best efforts to sleep.” Lily leaned up to kiss him softly before she spoke again. “Anyway, even my mysterious sleep deprive brain can hear.”

Lily listened to him speak, biting her lip to stop her smile from growing ridiculously big. She moved a hand to the side of his face when he finished speaking, running her fingers along the stubble starting to grow along his jaw. “I knew I heard right,” she whispered, looking up at him. She kissed him softly before she replied, smiling against his lips.

“I love you too, James Potter,” she whispered, because for some reason she felt like talking any louder would burst the happy bubble they were in. “Can’t stop talking about you to the point that I annoy my friends, never want to leave your side kind of love. So in love with you that I’m not even that mad at you for waking me up at whatever godawful time this is and trying to tell me you love me while I’m still asleep.”

“And I love you even more for knowing, even while drunk, to wait until you were sober,” Lily mumbled as she moved to lean on her arm so she was looking down on him instead. She kissed him, her other hand still on his face. “Say it again,” she whispered against his lips, pulling away ever so slightly.

“Me? Make fun of you? Lily Evans, I would never,” he vowed jokingly, enjoying her sleepy dramatics too much to do much else. They were only slightly different than her usual dramatics, of course, but somehow, the sleepy ones were far more endearing. She looked so happy, and he leaned into her touch, laughing as she declared her right-ness. “When are you ever not right?” he asked, winding his arm around her more properly as she leaned in to kiss him once more.

 His fingers still in her hair, he wound them up in random strands, grinning like an idiot as she shared her own confession. From anyone else, it might have swelled up his ego, but from Lily, oh to hear these worse from Lily just made him more of a lovesick fool than ever before. “Well, I love you enough not to tell you what time it is,” he said, grinning at her, “because that’s one less thing you’ll have to be mad about.”

He nodded at the last point- it had taken a lot of effort not to do so, but it had been a good call. Drunken confessions simply weren’t the same- shifting as she leaned up and over him. Pulling her over top himself properly, he responded readily to her kiss, and wasn’t surprised when she wanted to hear it again. He let one of his arms fall to her lower back, holding on to her loosely, as the other situated itself more firmly in her hair, holding her face steady as he smiled up at her. “I love you, Lily Evans. I’m in love with you. And, the real cherry on top,” he added, winking at her as he raised his head to bring his lips to hers again, “I love you more than I love Sirius.”

The St. Patrick’s Day celebrations had gone off without a hitch. Or a serious one anyone. Lily felt like it was the first time in ages that an event had been organised without any repercussions and she was incredibly glad. Not only that, she had had a great night. From the start to the end she had enjoyed herself. She thought so anyway, her memory got a little bit fuzzy towards the end of the night.

She just about remembered falling asleep in James’ bed which was where she was now, still fast asleep. Lily was a night owl. She didn’t get up early without some sort of alarm, it just wasn’t in her nature. It was especially unheard of for her after a late night with a lot of drinking. She much preferred to spend the whole morning in bed.

So when Lily half woke to James wrapping her in his arms she barely registered it, just relaxing into his embrace. She decided not to open her eyes, wanting this moment to last forever. That, and she was not ready to wake up yet.

Lily almost fell completely back asleep again when she heard James whisper in her ear. It took a few seconds for her to take in what he said due to her sleepy state but before long she realised what he said and her heart sped up. And then he said it again. Lily had a feeling he thought she was asleep but she couldn’t resist opening her eyes, a grin spreading on her face. “If you loved me you wouldn’t wake me up at this time,” she muttered, her voice still sleepy before she turned in his arms to face him.

“Did I just hear you right, Potter? Because I am severely sleep deprived right now and could be going mad.”

He couldn’t help it, he laughed (softly, because this was a quiet time, and Lily sounded mostly asleep as she mumbled at him) at her small rebuttal. But then she was rolling over in his arms, and he pulled her closer, giving her a soft smile and stretching to drop a kiss on her nose.

“I guess that depends on what you heard, Evans,” he teased, lifting a hand to push her hair from her face before letting it trail back down her side. “You’re still, like, mostly asleep. You could have heard anything, I don’t know what goes on in that brain of yours. You’re a total mystery.”

He was teasing now, and having far too much fun messing with his sleepy girlfriend, who likely would have had a go at him for this sort of thing if she’d been more fully awake. He could never help himself; he loved messing with her, almost as much as he loved her.

Lily could safely say this had been one of the best Christmas’ of her life. Rather than spending all her time at home, trying not to cause trouble with Petunia, she spent it with some of the people she loved most of all. She always hated the few days around Christmas when she had to put up with Petunia and Vernon but this year she managed to avoid them a lot of the time. But even better than that was that she got to spend much more time with James.

Today in particular had been amazing and it was still continuing in that manner. Now that their friends had gone and the festivities had died down Lily was very happy just sitting in James’ arms and had absolutely no intentions of leaving any time soon.

Lily was sitting back against his chest, enjoying his lips moving down her neck when he moved. She curiously waited while he bent down, wondering what on earth he was doing. She frowned slightly when he said he had another present for her. “You’ve already given me more than enough, James,” she said. But even so she took the box, unable to help her smile, “Why wasn’t this under the tree? And why did you wait for everyone to leave first?” But she didn’t wait for an answer, already opening the box.

“A key,” she said, frowning slightly, as she took it out of the box. “A key?” She repeated, questioning this time, as she moved to sit sideways so she could see him better.

He was excited, and there was no denying it, especially when she turned to give him that questioning look. He only grinned, biting his lip so he wouldn’t just blurt it out all at once. 

“Yeah, a key. I thought you should have one, you know. I mean, we’re here a lot, and you stay most nights, and I thought you might like to have a key of your own, make it really official, and all,” he said, still grinning. 

He’d been thinking about this for a long time, and had decided it would be best to give her the key first, do the easy part, just in case she wasn’t as ready, or as keen, to take the bigger step as he was. It was a big ask he was gearing up for, and as excited as he was, there was always the possibility that she could say no, and James, for the loon he had always been, had really been working on keeping himself under control a little more.

“The second part, the question,” he started, hesitating a little as he sat up more properly, keeping his one arm around her. “It’s a little bigger, and it’s okay to say no,” he continued, dropping the grin in favor of a softer smile. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I know people think we’re crazy, but we’ve never really cared about that, right? What if we lived together? Lived together properly, I mean. D’you think that might be something you want to do? Sirius would still be here, but it would be your place, too, and I just..  I think about it a lot,” he said, fully aware he was beginning to babble.

December 23rd, 1978 The Ministry of Magic

Glancing around the room, Remus couldn’t help but feel out of place. Crowds of well-dressed witches and wizards glided across the floor, chatting merrily in groups and dancing in the center of the atrium. Never one for large social events, the crowd that this particular party had attracted was proving to make the situation increasingly uncomfortable. 

Even worse was the fact that the man who had convinced him to go to the ball in the first place was nowhere to be seen. Fidgeting in an ill-fitting thrifted suit and biting his lip, Remus hovered near a large table of food and drinks, wondering how long he’d have to stay to not be deemed rude. Twenty more minutes?

Pulling a packet of tobacco and papers from his pocket, the werewolf rolled a cigarette as a woman at the front of the room started speaking about Dragonpox. 

“I didn’t realize that the Black family was so charitable.” He stated bluntly, taking a long swig of a free drink that had been discarded by a group headed for the dance floor.

James didn’t want to be here. He wanted to be at home, hanging out with Lily, but his parents couldn’t make the event, and he had been designated to attend in their place. He didn’t have to stay long, sure, but that wasn’t the point. He didn’t want to be around the Black family, especially not for a birthday.

When he spotted Remus, though, he considered it a stroke of luck and wasted no time in grabbing a pair of drinks and making his way to his mate.

“I hope you’re feeling generous,” he said with a grin. “I left my smokes at home.” He chuckled, setting the drink in front of Remus- looked like the boy was going to need another soon.