Getting It Right

Summary: 17-year-old James Potter is entangled in a secret, lust-based relationship with an older woman, and has finally moved on from his fixation with Lily Evans. Lily, on the other hand, has just begun to see that there's more to him than she once thought. Only time will tell how they finally get their timing right.

Chapter 1

James awoke to the feeling of the body next to him shifting. Turning his head slightly, he listened to the quiet rustling of the blankets as she pulled away from where her head had rested in the crook of his arm. He felt the bed rise as she slid out from under the gray crushed velvet covers they shared, and listening to her bare feet pad around the room, he knew she'd gotten up to collect her clothes that were scattered on the floor. He cracked open his eyes, and in the first hints of morning peeking in through the long black curtains, he watched her tall, slim figure slide back into the lacy black teddy that she'd worn the evening before.

"Bella, it's so early," he muttered, "come back to bed."

She lifted her head, and even in the dim light he could feel her cold look.

"James, I don't have time," she hissed. "I have commitments and responsibilities. I can't just sleep in like a lazy teenager."

"He won't know. Bellatrix, please, just a little longer."

"I'm not talking about my imbecile betrothed, I'm talking about…."

She trailed off, heaved a heavy sigh, and grudgingly slinked back into bed. He sat up and wrapped his arms around her, burying his head between her pale breasts. He sighed contentedly.

"Have I told you how much I love you?"

He could feel the quick rise and fall of her chest as she gave out an exasperated laugh.

"Yes, James, I seem to recall you telling me thirty or forty times last night."

He peered up at her, taking in her face as a few early morning sunbeams began to shine on it. He drank in her deep blue eyes, smeared with yesterday's kohl makeup, and long black hair, tousled from the night she'd spent in his four-poster bed. He knew this moment would not last long and that she was about to disappear back to the Black manor. Something about her eagerness to slip away, the fact that she refused to stay with him, intoxicated him.

He'd been a sixteen-year-old virgin last summer when she, a statuesque twenty five-year-old, had whispered in his ear to visit her in her room for the first time. To him, she was an experienced goddess from another lifetime. There were things she did when she left him that he did not like to think about, loyalties that made him squirm. She was practically married to another man, and yet the times he was home she chose to spend her nights in his bed, telling her fiancé that she was a clean pureblood rose, saving herself until marriage. She was a dark secret that James couldn't share with anyone, not even his best friend. A year later, and he still couldn't believe that he was allowed to slide his clumsy hands up her exposed thighs.

"You are just so beautiful, Bellatrix."

She smiled thinly at him.

"You are pathetic."

"I just don't want to leave tomorrow. Will you spend the night with me sometimes while I'm at school?"

She rolled her eyes.

"James, I think my cousin might notice me slipping into your dormitory."

James ran a hand through his hair.

"Ok, you're right…I'm sorry, that was stupid. But if it wasn't for Sirius, would you come?"

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"No. Don't ask stupid questions. Nobody can ever know about this. Besides, I'd feel like your mummy visiting you at school. Why are you acting like a lost puppy?"

"You're right, I…I just know that you're going to marry Lestrange soon, and it will make everything harder. You'll forget about me."

She gazed at him from under her long lashes and slowly bit her lip, making him groan.

"You know what you're doing to me, don't you? You're a cruel woman. You're heartless."

Bellatrix leaned forward, letting the strap of her teddy slide down her arm. Her generous right breast spilled out from its flimsy hold. He felt his breath catch in his throat.

"Does it make you mad?" she asked, her voice lowering to a whisper. "Do you want to punish me?"

She ran her long fingernails down his shirtless back, making him shiver. She stuck her pointer finger under the elastic of his boxers and snapped them, hard. Deftly bringing her hands to his front, she began to kiss his shoulder and she lightly grazed her fingers over his hipbones. He let out a guttural moan and roughly pushed her down on the bed. As he pinned her wrists down and climbed on top of her, her eyes closed and her mouth broadened into a rare, genuine smile.

Lily adjusted her dress for what felt like the hundredth time, frowning at her appearance in the mirror. Normally, this was her favorite olive green summer dress, and she felt beautiful as soon as she put it on. Normally, it was her go-to dress on days that she felt fat, ugly, or self-conscious. The second it slipped over her head, she felt calm and confident. Today, it seemed to keep wrinkling, bunching, and clinging in all the wrong spots. Today she hated it, just as she hated every other outfit that she'd packed away in her trunk.

"Who is it?"

She jumped and turned to face her mother, who was leaning in the doorway of her bedroom and smiling.

"What?"

Her mother's grin broadened.

"Come on," she laughed, "I was seventeen once. Who's the boy you're trying to impress?"

Lily felt her face turn bright red.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said unconvincingly, "I don't like anyone."

"Mmhmm," her mother said. "You and Petunia are exactly the same. You think I don't know just because I'm an old lady now." She took a few steps forward and pushed a wayward strand of Lily's dark red hair behind her ear.

Lily took in her soft round face, the fine lines that had begun to form at the corners of her eyes and mouth. There were strands of silver evident in her dark auburn hair, which Lily knew she'd recently had to start dying. She had certainly aged in the last few years, but to her she was still the most beautiful woman in the world.

"You're not old, Mum," Lily sighed. "I just…ugh...it's silly."

"You don't have to tell me, love. But I doubt it's silly."

Lily sat down on her bed and sighed. She began to pick at the worn pink bedspread, the same one that had been covering her bed six years ago, the first time she'd left to make the same journey she'd be making later that day.

"I just…there's—there's a boy. And he—well—I mean he's just awful, really terrible, he's been so terribly mean before, and he fancies me, or he did, but I never—well, he was terrible so clearly I couldn't—but now he's—and I—"

"Lily, Lily, stop," her mother laughed, sitting down next to her and putting her hand on her knee. "It's ok. But I can't understand you. Just explain slowly."

She took a deep breath.

"There's a boy, and he always used to fancy me, but I never considered it because he was horrible, to everyone, especially…" she trailed off and gulped, then took another deep breath. "He was especially terrible to a friend I used to have. But the thing is, lately I've begun to think that maybe he isn't so terrible…maybe he's grown up…I-I don't know, but this summer I've thought about him a lot and now I've found out we're to be Head Boy and Head Girl together. And I guess I thought…well, it's still silly because I don't even think he fancies me anymore, so it's pointless anyway."

Her mother cupped Lily's chin in her hand and leveled her face so that she was looking into her identical green eyes.

"Listen to me," she said softly. "Be careful. But people really can change, especially at that age. Give him a chance to show you who he is. And as far as not fancying you…well if he doesn't fancy you, then this bloke is probably mad. Or gay. You are a wonderful, bright, amazing young woman, and I'm not just saying that because I'm your mother. You have had plenty of recognition from your school and your teachers and friends to tell you so. You ought to listen to them. And in any case, you have never looked more beautiful than you do right now, so you can stop fussing with your dress."

Lily broke into a smile and enveloped her mother into a hug.

"Thank you, Mummy," she whispered. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

James slumped into his seat on the Hogwarts Express, out of breath. Just as they had every year, he and Sirius had almost managed to miss it. Remus had already taken his seat in the Prefect carriage, and Peter was presumably with the Hufflepuffs, wrapped up in his girlfriend Marlene McKinnon.

"Keeping our traditions alive, eh, Prongs?" Sirius laughed, sinking into the seat beside him. "I've missed this place. This train. This view," he gestured out the window. "And more than anything I've missed these women. They've gotten more gorgeous than ever…"

Sirius launched into an accolade of all the beautiful women he was undyingly in love with that he'd passed as they'd shuffled to their carriage, and James stopped listening to him. His mind wandered, as it had all day, to that morning. Last summer it had not seemed difficult to leave Bellatrix behind, but this year it was different. His feelings for her had grown, and with her impending engagement, it was only a matter of time before she was lost to him forever. His mood darkened at the thought of her lying in Rodolphus Lestrange's bed instead of his.

His thoughts were interrupted when the frosted compartment door slid open. Standing in the doorway, looking tanned and healthy, was Lily Evans. Her hair had a fresh, windswept look, and her green sundress swirled around her as though she had just come running down the hallway. The large smile she had on her face froze, and her emerald eyes widened. In spite of his thoughts being full of Bellatrix, he felt his body physically react to her as it always had. He felt as though his limbs had become lead, his heart in his throat, and his palms started to sweat. She was more beautiful than he'd allowed himself to remember.

"Hi James."

He started at the use of his first name.

"Hey there Ev—er—Lily." He began to ruffle his hair, and then froze, knowing that she would be sure to make a withering remark at this habit. To his surprise, however, when he looked over at her he saw that she was staring determinedly at the ground.

"I—er—congratulations on making Head Boy. You deserve it. Really."

James narrowed his eyes, not sure if he could believe what he was hearing.

"Are you feeling alright, Evans?" Sirius asked loudly, breaking the uncomfortable silence between them. "Did somebody slip something in your breakfast this morning? Did you lose a dare?"

Lily sucked in a breath and frowned, clearly ruffled.

"I'm perfectly fine thank you. I just—I mean—I thought this was somebody else's compartment, but I—never mind. Potter, Black. I'll see you at school."

Still refusing to look over at James, she quickly shut the door, and he could see her shadow stalking off hurriedly. James felt glued to his seat. The old feelings took him by surprise, and were hard to take. Only the thought of being entangled in Bellatrix was able to force him from replaying the image of Lily's smile in his head over and over.

Sirius let out a long whistle.

"Merlin's beard," he exclaimed, giving James an incredulous smile. "Looks like you've finally done it mate!"

"Done what? What have I done? For once I haven't done anything!" James frowned and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"I reckon you've finally won over Evans!"

James rolled his eyes.

"I appreciate the encouragement, Padfoot, but really, you don't need to keep doing this."

"No, really! Did you see how she was acting? Calling you by your first name? Saying nice things to you? You're in, Prongs, you're finally in!"

"Or maybe," James muttered darkly, "she's just stopped thinking that I'm the scum of the earth."

"Perhaps," Sirius said jovially. "But it's a start!"

James shook his head. They had had conversations like countless times. He had gotten his hopes up over and over, only to have them dashed by her blunt rejections.

"Enough. I'm through trying to win her over. I think she's rejected me enough times, it's time for me to move on and find someone else." In his mind, Bellatrix stared up at him from under her dark, long lashes. His conviction firmed at the thought.

"Is this James Potter that I'm talking to? The James Potter that's been mooning over this girl for the past three years, making me listen to every single rejection story, and making the most disturbing noises in your sleep when you dream about her?"

James raised his eyebrows.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You don't want to know."

"I—alright, never mind. But things change, Padfoot. I think it's time for me to move on. There are other women in this world and it's time I stopped making a fool of myself for this one."

"I've heard that before. But I'll humor you, James. As long as you humor me."

James would never stop being amazed at how Sirius could segue a conversation into the exact direction he had wanted to lead it.

"I can already see where this is going…."

"That's right! Tonight! Our legacy continues in our last and finest welcome back to Hogwarts party. You can explore all of the other women in this world that you like."

James thought of Bellatrix, and of how empty his bed would be without her. He opened his mouth, and then closed it. Bellatrix would kill him if anyone knew about them. Sirius would kill him if he knew that he was sleeping with his estranged cousin. It was better for everyone involved that he play along.

"Yeah, sure. Sounds great."

"Excellent. Now carry on. In her haste to get away and hide her real feelings, Evans neglected to remind you that it's now your job to—er—patrol the train with her." Sirius wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Shut up, wanker." James punched him in the arm, and Sirius returned with a blow to the side of his head.

"What the—"

The next thing he knew, they were wrestling on the floor of their car. Something about the violent, familiar gesture with his adopted brother comforted him, and for the first time that day, his thoughts of Bellatrix were temporarily abandoned.