When I woke up, I thought it was going to be a smooth sailing kind of Saturday. Most days when I would wake up, I could feel a sense of foreboding or darkness upon Hogwarts castle from my room in the Head dorms, but this day was different. The mood was airy and light. It was incredibly unusual, especially considering the war going on outside the castle walls. I was glad, seeing as last night's rounds went far from smoothly.
I got up, took a shower, brushed my hair, and headed down to the Head common room. I could tell my boyfriend of four months had already made his way down to the Great Hall by the fact that his cloak and shoes were not strewn about the room haphazardously. Skipping, I made it to the Great Hall in no time. Pushing the door open, I saw that my good mood was incredibly misplaced when I looked over at the Slytherin table.
My eye was twitching, my wand was gripped tightly in my hand, and my shoulders were completely rigid. I was pissed. "POTTER!" I yelled into the Great Hall. All eyes turned on me, but I could care less. They would turn away in a moment. Everyone was used to this after the last six years of our bloody war. Dating has lessened the blows, but the fights would never end fully. Where the bloody hell was the berk I call my boyfriend?
Sitting at the Gryffindor table, I saw his boneheaded friends laughing their asses off. Sirius was practically rolling off the bench with laughter. I shot them a glare, tempted to silence them. Instead, I walked over to them and plastered a big, fake smile on my face. I could see Peter turn pale and Remus elbowed Sirius to stop his cackling.
Sirius evidently didn't notice, continuing his cackling at the expense of the Slytherins. "But I have to say, some of our better handiwork, wouldn't you say, Moony?" Sirius said. I could tell there was a grin on his face. I cleared my throat loudly behind him.
"Hello boys!" I said sweetly. "Have any of you seen my boyfriend who I love oh so very much?"
"Why no, Flower, we haven't seen Prongsie," Sirius replied before grabbing a handful of toast and shoving it in his mouth. I scowled at his childish nickname for me. He gives everyone these dumb nicknames. I mean, he calls his best friends Moony and Prongs! What the actual hell, right?
"He left without you?" Remus said, trying to hide his obvious guilt. Those damn marauders, always up to something. I should have realised right away I would get nowhere with those two. Therefore, I turned my sickly sweet grin on the boy who always sold James out to me.
"Pete? I'm sure you know where James is?" I asked, batting my eyelashes. I could practically feel Sirius and Remus shaking their heads and mouthing to Peter behind me, but my gaze never wavered.
"Hospital Wing," croaked out Peter. "Please don't hurt me," he added at a whisper. I ruffled the boy's hair, glared at his friends, grabbed a granola bar for later, and headed off to the Hospital Wing.
When I got there, I leveled my glare on my boyfriend. He was hiding under our housemate Jonathan McKinnon's bed. His older sister is my best friend, and he will so be getting hell for this. Bending down, I grabbed James by the ear and dragged him out of the Hospital Wing.
"Owowowow! What the bloody hell, Lils?" James complained as I dragged him back to our common room. I slammed the door behind him before turning my glare on him.
"Did you just have to break your no pranking streak? Just when I thought things were going to be good and everything would die down!" I yelled at him.
James pointed a finger in my face. "You have to admit, they deserved it after what they did to you and Marls yesterday!" he protested. I put my hands on my hips and glared.
"You just had to use that complex colour changing potion Professor Slughorn had us make, didn't you?" I sneered. I'm absolutely pissed at his immaturity.
"You've got to admit it though," James said with a huge, proud grin on his face. "Their skin is just going to get progressively brighter through the day."
"MAGENTA, JAMES!" I yelled. "Have you not grown up? Can you not be mature for two minutes to maybe think of how I would like you to handle the situation?"
"They deliberately attacked you yesterday on rounds, Lily," James protested, grabbing my hand. I snatched it away. "You and Marley could have been seriously hurt, or worse. I know at least seven of them in our year have Dark Marks already."
"I don't need you to be my babysitter, Potter," I sneered. "I am a grown woman and a capable witch. I can handle anything they care to throw at me, without immature pranks or fighting."
James tried again to grab my hand, this time holding harder so I couldn't break free. "Let. Me. Go," I said with venom.
"Just hear me out, Lils!" he pleaded. I struggled in his grip, and thankfully he was smart enough to let go.
"Don't you 'Lils' me, Potter! You just had to go and act like a child. You truly haven't changed, have you? It's December, in six months we're going to be out in the real world and you can't bring yourself to grow the hell up!" I shouted.
"I didn't like seeing them try to hurt you," James shouted right back. "If Marley hadn't been there, you could be dead! I could have LOST you, Lily! So yes, I retaliated. I retaliated in a way which is childish and stupid and brings no merit to society and does nothing but provoke them. HOWEVER, you should be grateful all I did was turn them magenta! I wanted blood when you came into the common room after rounds last night! I was so scared!"
Damn that Potter. I looked him right in the eye with a glare. "You should know that, as Head Girl, I am able to care for myself. The fact that you were frightened for me means that you don't have any faith in me, James. That hurts," I told him quietly. I could see his face fall at my tone.
"In fact, I don't see how-" I started again before being cut off. James leaned in to hug me, pecking me on the lips to shut me up. I was about ready to slap him when he began to speak again.
"Lily Anne Evans, I have more faith in you than I have ever had in anyone, bar my parents and the marauders. You are strong, independent, intelligent, and brighter than the sun. I know that you are capable of taking care of yourself, but I'm also your boyfriend who has been head over heels in love with you for years. I know that maybe I shouldn't have pranked the Slytherins, but if they hurt you, I cannot help it. It was the only thing that I could do to get back at them that wasn't violent and wouldn't get me expelled," James explained, still holding me with his head in the crook of my neck.
Hesitantly, I wrapped my arms around his waist and I immediately felt him relax. "You need to let me fight my own battles, James. You won't always be around to play my knight in shining armor," I whispered in his ear. He shook his head.
"Lily, as long as I can, I will be there. I would give my life for you in a minute, my soul for you in a second, and my magic for you in a heartbeat," he said quietly in reply. I could feel the tears welling in my eyes. Four months of relationship, but I think by now I can admit that he's always had my heart to some extent.
"I would rather we fight together than be your damsel in distress," I said, trying to hide how touched I was.
James leaned back enough to look in my eyes. His eyes didn't contain their usual humour. He was completely serious about this conversation, which was a pleasant change from his usual. "I agree that we're equals, but do you at least see that as long as we're together I'm going to want to protect you and keep you safe?" he asked, leaning his forehead against mine.
"No more pranking the Slytherins on my behalf," I said seriously before pecking him on the lips. "At least not so obviously."
Grinning at me cheekily, James picked me up in our hug and spun me around. I laughed and held on for dear life. Once James put me down, he leaned close once again. "You have no idea how happy that makes me feel, Lils," he said. I rolled my eyes.
"That wasn't permission, prat," I jibed. He smiled and shook his head, pecking me on the lips again.
"Whatever gets me on your good side, Lily," he mumbled in my ear.
We walked back down to the Great Hall hand in hand to grab some real breakfast. Once we get there, we noticed the Slytherin table was nearly empty. All of the Slytherins are either slowly turning magenta and running from the Hall or sitting with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs to prevent whatever was in the food from changing them too. I had to hide my amusement. It's bad to have both the Head Boy AND Head Girl amused by another House's misfortune.
When I sat down with James beside me, I heard Sirius mutter "dammit" and pass two galleons to Peter. Peter smirked at them and I had to stifle a laugh.
"Told you they would be good before breakfast ended," Peter gloated quietly to Sirius. Sirius pouted and stuck his tongue out at the smaller boy.
"Normally their fights last at least until lunch," he whined.
Remus smirked at his friend from behind the book he was reading. "If you haven't noticed, they aren't twelve anymore Sirius," he said. I failed to stifle my laughter this time, and James leaned over to kiss my cheek.
"Yes, we do try to work things out with talking rather than throwing things these days," James said with a smirk. I shook my head with a laugh.
"As much as I love you boys, Marls is waving me over. See you later?" I said, directing my final question at James rather than his boneheaded friends.
"But of course. Saturday means Heads have rounds, and I can't wait to bust Sirius in a broom closet again," James replied with a grin. Sirius opened his mouth to protest, then thought the better of it.
I grinned, nodded, and left the boys. As I left, I overheard Sirius asking, "When are you going to tell her?"
James' reply shocked me. "That I love her? Thinking Christmas, but I think she knows."
Hearing that, I turned around, made my way back to the boys, and slid my arms around his shoulders from behind in a hug. I leaned over toward his ear and whispered, "I love you too."
A/N welcome to another lovely Jily oneshot! This was written for round 3 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, where I am the Keeper for the Kenmare Kestrels! For this round, the challenge for us Keepers was to write our OTP arguing. Lucky me, Jily is my OTP! Special thanks to one of our Beaters, kuroaiko2014, for beta reading this for me! Enjoy my take and R&R! :)