“Do you even know what a whisper is” for jily please :)
This is way longer than the drabble I had planned on, hah. You can read it on AO3 here.
James’s favorite person glared at him from the entrance to the head office. “Alright, Evans?”
“You have us partnered for rounds tonight.”
“Er, yeah. Remus isn’t feeling well.”
“Oh.” The annoyance fell away from her expression immediately, and James fell in love just a little bit more. “Is he in the hospital wing? Does he need anything?”
“He’s just in bed for a bit,” said James evasively. “Sorry about the last minute switch though.”
“Oh no, that’s alright. I thought you were just being — you know…” she trailed off, looking flustered.
“I wasn’t trying to annoy you on purpose,” said James, feeling miffed now. Why was it so hard to have a normal conversation with her? Every time he thought they were on friendlier terms, something like this happened and it became all awkward again. He hadn’t tried to annoy her on purpose for at least a year now; he thought she’d have noticed.
“No — of course you weren’t. I’m sorry for assuming. I’m still getting used to James Potter, Head Boy,” she said with a little smile.
Yeah, he still loved her. “I’m very grown up now. No more immature, juvenile nonsense.”
She laughed. “I’ll see you at rounds, Potter. Meet you at the portrait hole?”
“I will be at the portrait hole at nine, being extremely mature and serious.”
“You can’t be Sirius though; you’re James.”
James honest-to-God gasped. “You — what — you made a Sirius joke.”
She grinned. “Maybe Head Girl Lily Evans is into a little immature, juvenile nonsense.”
It was all James could do to not swoon.
He was at the portrait hole at 8:45; a decision that Sirius found both deeply amusing and highly annoying. “You’re just going to stand there for fifteen minutes? Without doing anything or talking to anyone?”
“I am waiting for the love of my life,” said James firmly.
“You’re just doing rounds, oh my God —”
“I think Remus mentioned wanting some help with that bandage on his calf earlier.” Remus had said no such thing, and Remus was more skilled with healing charms and tricks than any of them, but Sirius still turned towards the stairs to the dormitory.
“Enjoy standing around like an idiot for a quarter of an hour.”
He only waited five minutes though, before Lily walked out of the stairwell. His palms felt suddenly sweaty.
“I told you, I’m very mature now,” said James, adopting a lofty voice that he associated mainly with Sirius’s mum.
“No more joke-y James Potter, I guess.”
Unfortunately, that particular veneer fell through almost immediately because Lily led them straight to the dungeons, because she liked to start her rounds at the bottom and work her way up.
“Er. What’s happened here?” she said, crossing her arms at the knot of Slytherins that had gathered in a hall.
“Some moron charmed our Seeker into the portrait,” burst an angry fifth year. “And he’s supposed to play in the Slytherin/Ravenclaw match tomorrow! This is sabotage!”
“Okay, okay, calm down. We’re going to get to the bottom of this.” They approached the offending portrait — and sure enough, there was Regulus Black, sitting furiously on an upturned bucket in a painting of a stable full of horses. James turned his laugh into a cough.
“Black, how did this happen?”
The Slytherin boy glared at them. “I’m not telling a couple of Gryffindors,” he spat.
Lily rolled her eyes. “We’re Head Boy and Girl. We can help you get out of there.”
“Very helpful, thanks,” said Lily drily. “Come on James, we better go get Flitwick. This looks like a charm.”
James followed her around the corner — and then suddenly he was being forced into a broom cupboard.
“Sshhhh, the Slytherins are right around the corner!”
“Did you do it?” she demanded, not bothering to lower her voice.
“But why?! Gryffindor’s not even playing tomorrow! Why sabotage the Slytherin Seeker now?”
“Do you even know what a whisper is?!”
“We are having entirely different conversations!”
“Okay, okay. I may have had something to do with it. But he didn’t see me, so there’s no way he would know! We were extremely stealthy.”
Lily groaned, her hands over her face. “You are just the most, James Potter.”
“It’s not what you think,” said James quietly. Her fury seemed to be quickly giving way to disappointment, and that made his stomach hurt. “He — he did something really shitty to Sirius. We had to get back at him.”
“This is all just about some sibling drama then? Are you kidding?”
“It’s not just drama! Sirius was disowned by his parents two years ago. And Regulus told him that their mum wanted to meet at Hogsmeade to make amends last weekend, but it turned out to be an ambush. There were literal Death Eaters there! It was lucky Remus and Peter and I were there too, and Peter, of all people, managed to talk them down and let him off without a fight.”
Lily went pale. “That’s horrible.”
“Yeah. Regulus is a spineless little shit, so I’m sure he was forced into it. But we had to get him back. I know it seems like immature nonsense, but —”
“No, I get it. You can’t very well go attack the Death Eaters back.”
James sighed. “Yeah, well. Not yet.”
Lily looked up sharply. “What does that mean?”
“I mean, we can’t go fight them while we’re still in school and risk putting the other kids in danger. But once we’re out — well, there’s nothing stopping us, is there?”
“That doesn’t sound like you’re just angry about the ambush.”
“What? Of course it’s not! There’s a war on, Evans. Do you think I’m going to stand by and let You Know Who finish round up all the muggles and muggle-borns? I know you think I’m shite, but come on.”
He looked at her, miserable. But she was looking back at him through the dark, and in the dim light of her wand, her expression was — unexpected. Fierce. Determined. And then she leaned right up and kissed him.
James was still catching his breath when she said, “I don’t.”
“I don’t think you’re shite. And I’ll be with you.”
“On the frontlines. In the Order. Wherever, however I can help.”
“Good, that’s settled then. Come on, let’s go find Dumbledore.”
“Wait. I thought we were going to find Flitwick?”
“We can let the little beast stay in that painting a while longer,” she said, flashing a grin. “You’re about to join the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore’s asked me to keep an eye out for promising recruits, and it looks like I’ve found one.”
“Wait — you’re working for the Order? Already?”
“There’s a war on, Potter.”
“I like you,” said James. She grinned at him, and he felt his heart thudding in his chest.
“I’m sorry I’ve been a prat to you. I guess boys aren’t the only ones who act out when they’ve got a crush.”
James laughed, mostly in disbelief. She thought she had a crush? “Go out with me, Evans?”
She took his hand. “Come fight with me, Potter.”
The look on her face took his breath away — her smile, and the resolution underneath. “You’re on. Let’s go.”
