A/N: So this one's a bit sappy I know, but I wrote it on holidays about two years ago and I thought it might as well be posted. Hope you enjoy. Criticism is ALWAYS appreciated.
One Hundred Wishes and a Bottle of Firewhiskey
'Evan's if you had one hundred wishes, what would you wish for?'
Lily smiled and looked around the Head's common room. It was relatively small, but was still elegant with exotic tapestries hanging on the walls and candles floating near the ceiling. It was a warm place, filled with light and clutter. Lily had fallen in love with it as soon as she stepped through the door.
A bottle of half drunken firewhiskey lay on the table. It was their monthly Head night. Neither of them quite knew how it started, but somehow once a month James would sit a bottle of firewhiskey on the table and they would talk about anything. Things that were bothering them… things that were exciting them. Their future, their present and their past.
Lily took a sip from the bottle, letting the burning sensation heighten as it trickled down her throat before speaking.
'One hundred,' she gasped as though she was a narrator that was telling a children's story. The bottle lolled lazily in her hand, she could feel the alcohol already working. 'I couldn't give you one hundred wishes in one night! I'd need to think of them first, think of what I want and what I need.'
James smiled at her logic. She could still think, an amazing feat for her. Normally when there was only half a bottle left, Lily was not answering in clear sentences. But then, James had had more than her tonight, the result of trying to etch a bad day from his mind.
'Well, how about you don't think. What about you say whatever wishes come to your mind first. You have a hundred wishes remember, if you're disappointed with one, you can always make up for it. It's not like it's set in stone.'
Lily nodded, her pretty red ponytail bobbing up and down. She curled up her legs to her chest as if she was suddenly cold, and snuggled unconsciously next to James. He looked down at her in shock, before resting his arm around her shoulder.
'First of all, I need to know who's giving me my wishes,' she twiddled the bottle between her fingers, experimenting to see what she could do before it fell. James took the bottle away from her and took a sip, he sent her a look to tell her that he had no idea what she was talking about.
'Is it a fairy, one hundred shooting stars, some dandelions, a genie…'
'What's a genie?' James asked, his voice slightly slurred but his tone quite like an innocent boy's.
Lily jumped in her seat excitedly. 'Genies are in muggle stories. They're purely fiction… but that doesn't matter. They are usually in a lamp, and whoever owns the lamp is the master of the genie. The genie then grants your wishes.'
James frowned, then nodded slowly closing his eyes and leaning his head back.
'It's definitely a genie.'
'And also, it doesn't make any sense why I get one hundred wishes and you get none. So here's what we'll do, I'll make a wish and then you make one. Is that alright?'
James found that when she was drinking, Lily became increasingly easier to talk to, and he found that as she drunk more, she tended to give lengthy answers compared to the usual one worded ones he got most of the time. The thing was though, he wasn't quite sure which he liked better. He nodded anyway and handed her the bottle. She threw her head back and took a swig, smacking her lips together, enjoying the noise it made so much she did it again.
'Since I am a very thoughtful person, I will choose my wishes carefully, because no doubt that is what very thoughtful people do.' James nodded sincerely at her words, but tried very hard not to laugh at the same time, the result being an odd cough from the back of his throat and a smile covered by his fist.
'My first wish, though they aren't in any order of importance, is to be the Boss of the World.' Lily gasped, holding her hand to her mouth and looked around the room to see if anyone else had heard her except for James. She giggled nervously and turned back to James. He started laughing as well but as soon as she saw him do so, Lily immediately stopped.
'It's not funny,' she said throwing her head up and looking down at him. She took another swig from the bottle. 'I'm being serious.'
James stopped laughing, but a small secret smile remained he stole the bottle from her. 'What would you do if you were Boss of the World then?'
Lily frowned.
'I'd defiantly get rid of discrimination. None of this bloodline, everyone would treat each other equally. That's the main thing. I guess I'd also like to help the poor… and,' she got cut off as James laughed.
'It's all about helping others isn't it Lil?'
'No, only for this wish. Anyway, it's your turn.'
'I can't think of one,' he said, looking down and blushing.
'Schwa James, it's not that hard. Just say the first thing that comes to your head.'
James sighed and looked at his hands. 'I'd wish to be a giant squid,' he mumbled into his hands. Lily looked at him as though he was crazy and snatched the bottle from him. She drained the last drop from the bottle but then filled it again.
'Why would you want to be a giant squid?' Lily asked, her tone mocking, giggling sightly from the firewhiskey. James looked at her, sighing in relief that she did not realise.
'Well, they blubber along in the cool water, wandering along… I think it would be cool.'
Lily looked at his face and laughed, and once she started laughing she couldn't stop. She collapsed down on James' lap holding her stomach as her body rocked.
'Ow!' she exclaimed once her belly started to ache. She stopped laughing and started slowly and rhythmically rubbing her tummy. She didn't move from her place on James' lap, but instead stretched out her legs. She touched him playfully on the nose.
'You're a funny one,' she took another sip from the bottle and grinned. 'I've always wished to see the world though someone else's eyes for a day. When I first saw moving pictures they amazed me to no end. Seeing myself laugh and talk, watching what my habits were, the way my mouth moved as I spoke, it always amazed me. I just think seeing the world in another persons eyes would be taking that to the next extreme.'
James smiled down at her and stroked her hair softly.
'You want to know a secret?' he asked her. Lily looked up at him.
'Only if you want to tell it,' she said. It was strange, almost as if the second bottle of firewhiskey was sobering her up. James smiled.
'My family and I have a great relationship. Sirius lives in the house now, so he's like my brother, and my parents and I have always been close. I guess it was because mum had the miscarriage. We all wanted to have another member in the family, and having that dream broken pulled us together instead of apart.'
Lily smiled and traced the features on his face.
'So what would your wish be?'
James blushed again and looked into the fire. 'I get really homesick. So homesick that sometimes I want to pretend to be sick so I can go home. When I was little I really didn't want to come to Hogwarts. I thought boarding would be the most terrible thing in the world. Being away from my family was the last thing I ever wanted to do. I heard about those muggle high schools where they didn't have to board. They just went to school for the lessons then came home afterwards. I thought that sounded really cool. So sometimes, when I'm missing home I really wish Hogwarts would be like that.'
Lily smiled sadly as James drunk some more firewhiskey.
'How often do you feel that way James?' she asked quietly.
'Oh,' he said, falsely bright, 'not so much this year. But a lot every other year. It was alright and then it wasn't, it was like I was swinging on a pendulum.'
Lily nodded and looked away. She had a small feeling that it had been her that had made him miss home. Her horrible way of treating him, but she didn't let that on.
'Okay, next wish,' said James after the atmosphere began to grow too silent for his liking.
'Umm… I've always wished to have a deer.' Immediately James started laughing. Lily thought it was the firewhiskey, but still got defensive.
'What? What's so wrong with that?'
James wiped his eyes and looked at her.
'Why a deer?'
'Well, I think they're really beautiful. I think stags definitely are gorgeous. Doe's are a bit forlorn. A bit shy for my liking. But stag's, they always seem as though they can protect you.' James choked and coughed violently, Lily ignored him. 'Personally, I think their antlers are kind of sexy.'
Lily had chosen to say this just as James had taken another sip from the bottle, which resulted in him having an odd sensation of drowning as it flushed up his nose. He shook his head while Lily laughed at him.
'So, deer float your boat, do they?' he said, raising an eyebrow at her.
'Shh…' she said holding a finger to his lips. 'It's a secret.'
She was the first one to notice their proximity and was immediately uncomfortable with it. She struggled away from him and sat on the other end of the couch. A frown had formed on her face, and she felt momentarily sick and disorientated. She blamed the alcohol.
James lent forward and buried his face in his hands. She immediately looked at him as he groaned, completely forgetting her sickness.
'What?' she asked defensively.
'Why do you always do that?' he murmured into his hands. She felt a cold hand grasp her heart as she realised that she'd done it again. She'd caused him pain without thinking. She'd done it naturally.
'I'm sorry,' she said to the wall. She couldn't look at him, she felt too guilty.
'I wish you wouldn't hate me,' he said, bitterly but not coldly. He wasn't holding it against her. And that, that small notification gave her hope.
'I don't hate you. It might sound untrue and stupid but I never hated you. I hated some of the things you did but that was all. I could never hate you personally.'
James gave a brief smile.
'I wish you would trust me,' Lily whispered. James rolled his eyes.
'Sorry Lil, that could take a while.'
She heard the bitterness in his voice, and it made her want to cry. The funny sickness returned to her stomach and the world turned around her. She grasped onto the side of the couch heavily.
'Lil?' he asked. She held her head and her vision blurred. It was almost as if she was having an immediate hangover the pain was so bad.
'Lil?' he asked again when she didn't say anything. 'Would you listen to me?'
He walked over to where she was sitting and held her head in his hands, forcing her to look at him. The pain melted away.
'I wish you would listen to me,' he whispered.
Lily blinked slowly and stared at James.
'I wish you would kiss me…' the words had slipped from her mouth before she had time to register them. James dropped his hands immediately from her face.
'You do?' he asked, his surprise showing through.
Lily nodded and blushed. She was still looking at James who was staring back intently. Slowly he cupped his hands to her face again and leaned in to kiss her.
It was soft. So soft she barely would have realised it had happened if it hadn't been for her heart plummeting to the pit of her stomach and her blood pumping faster through her veins. He pulled back just the slightest amount, and chuckled a little when she followed him. He kissed her again, with more passion, holding her so close…
She pulled away from him abruptly.
'Oh James!'
'Jeeze Lil, a bit early for the time to swoon.'
She slapped him lightly on the arm.
'Did you want to be a giant squid because of what I said?'
James refused to blush, and instead ducked to kiss her lightly on the lips.
'So what if I did?' he tucked her hair behind her ear.
'Well, I have to say that you wouldn't do as a giant squid.' She touched his lips with her finger.
'Is that so? Why?'
'Well, because then I wouldn't be able to kiss you.'
He laughed and kissed her again, and again and again.
