I am currently suffering from a severe case of writers block with my other stories, so I decided to start another one! I hope you like it! :)
"James, are you still awake?" whispered the eleven-year-old redhead.
"Yeah, are you?" the black haired boy replied, also in a hushed tone.
"Well, yes. How could I be asking you if you were awake if I wasn't actually awake myself?" the girl asked confusedly, with just a hint of amusement leaking into her voice.
"Oh, yeah…well, you could have been sleep-talking," he pointed out, also beginning to see the comical side that this conversation was heading in.
"I don't sleep-talk, you know that," she replied, a smile starting to slowly spread across her pretty face.
"That's what you think. You have no idea about the interesting things I have heard from you whilst you are asleep! 'Oh, James! I love you, James!'" he laughed before getting smacked in the face with a pillow. "Lilllly, that hurrrrrt!" he whined after he had made sure that the cushion wasn't going to come back for more.
"Shut up, James!" Lily giggled quietly. "We'll wake up your parents, and I don't fancy getting yelled at again because of the fact that you can't keep your fat mouth shut!" she teased good-naturedly.
"Awww, Lils! My mouth is not fat! I simply have very kissable, pout-a-'licious lips!" he grinned, puckering up to try and prove his point and then he proceeded to try and kiss the squirming girl next to him.
"Nooo! James, get the hell away from me!" she shrieked, almost mutely, laughing despite herself, thrashing beneath the covers to try and escape.
"Tell me that my mouth is not fat and that you find my lips very nice," he demanded, before trying to plant a very slobbery-looking kiss somewhere on her face. Now was not the time for accuracy, even getting anywhere near her was proving to be quite some challenge.
"Never!" she proclaimed, grabbing the pillow behind her head to smack James again; only it didn't work, and he pulled it out of her grasp before she could attempt to attack him with it.
"Okay then, I'll make it extra sloppy, just for you!" James grinned, licking his lips to show that he was in-no-way-shape-or-form joking.
"Wait! No, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed in alarm. "OK! James Harold Potter, your mouth is not fat and I find your lips very nice – however, I do find your mouth humongous and your lips look nice in the kind of i-just-got-hit-in-the-face-with-a-bludger-and-my-face-is-swolen-to-the-size-of-a-baloon, nice – Aaargh! Yuck, James! That was my nose!" Lily groaned, after James finally managed to reach her.
He lay back, looking rather smug with his achievement of beating her.
"What's wrong? Didn't you like your kiss? Well, if that's the case I'll give you another one!" he announced trying to sit up again but only for Lily to throw herself over his stomach in a desperate attempt to prevent him doing such a thing.
"You are not going anywhere!" she said firmly from her place on-top of him.
"Is that so?" James answered back, a smirk playing on the corners of his mouth.
"Yes, it is. You're not – HEY! Oooof! James!" Lily whined pathetically from a heap on the floor next to the bed.
A very amused James lent over the side of the mattress and looked at her sprawled out on the carpet, and then he just burst out laughing…well, before she gave him one of her glares – which shut him up instantly. He held out his hands and quickly pulled her to her feet, so not to get in any more trouble.
Lily flopped back down on the bed next to him and sighed irately. "I hate you," she grumbled, grabbing a fistful of the duvet and throwing it over herself, turning away from him in a huff.
"No you don't! You love me! Remember?" he asked, also trying to create himself a cocoon out of the remaining bedding that wasn't wound around Lily.
"Nope, you're an arse," she replied haughtily.
Typical Lily… He sighed in amusement at her annoyance.
"Do you want me to kiss you again?" he asked warningly. "Because I will, if you do not stop sulking this instant!"
"I'm not sulking," sulked Lily.
She's so stubborn! But I guess that's just one of the many things that make her, her. James thought fondly.
"Yes you are, dearest Lily-flower! Pleeeease, grace me with the presence of your lovely face and mess of knots that once resembled your hair!" he begged.
No reply.
Sighing in mock irritation, he pulled her half of the duvet from around her and she spun out of it, like an unrolling yo-yo, right into him, as he'd planned.
"That is cheating," Lily pointed out grumpily.
"No, it's not, and you know it. You know we never go to sleep on bad terms," he said in such a serious voice that – that and the story behind those words –made them both start laughing.
It took several minutes for them to calm down to a state where they would be physically capable of talking to each other.
"That's never going to get old!" Lily finally managed to choke out.
"No, I doubt it will!" James laughed back, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.
James's parents had this rule in the house that two people sharing the same bed couldn't fall asleep before fixing any prior arguments that were unsettled between them, completely forgetting the fact that Lily and James slept in the same bed nearly as often as Harold and Camilla Potter did!
But Lily and James had always shared a bed whilst staying at the others' house. They had grown up doing that, and now it seemed weird not to. There were only a few collective nights a week when they slept apart.
People had often said that Lily and James were attached at the hip, and they were right.
Best friends, practically from birth, they grew up together, learnt how to do things like play Quidditch together and they were hardly seen without the other by their side. And now they were taking another massive step in life together.
Tomorrow was the first of September, and they were going to Hogwarts.
They'd been dreaming about what it would be like there for years; asking their parents about their time there, and trying to get as much information out of them as possible. Unfortunately, it hadn't worked.
No matter how hard they tried to prise details of the castle out of the adults, they bluntly refused – every time – to tell them anything! It was infuriating!
James had even begged Lily to cry, in hope of her parents feeling sorry for her and telling her something. Anything! Whatever she found out would be better than nothing.
It didn't work. David and Emily Evans had not been fooled at all.
So after what seemed like thousands of failed attempts, the pair were finally forced to admit defeat on the subject. But these plans had been good for one thing. They had sculpted the two eleven year olds into amazing pranksters. With James's suggestions and creativity and Lily's overall knowledge on how to make things work, they were an unstoppable team.
*start of flashback*
"Merlin, help the Professors," Mrs Potter said tiredly. She had just been the target to one of the duo's pranks; and unfortunately for her, it had gone off without a hitch.
"Never mind that! Do you two promise to give me a run-by of each prank that you pull?" Mr Potter asked eagerly, being a former prankster himself when he was at Hogwarts.
"Harold!" Mrs Potter exclaimed disapprovingly.
"Yes, Dad," James grinned, throwing Lily a mischievous smile.
"Sure, Mr Potter!" Lily agreed with James, trying not to laugh at Mrs Potter's famous death glare that was being sent at her husband, who shrunk back and smiled sheepishly at his wife.
*end of flashback*
That was the day that James and Lily made the oath of a bond that would last them forever. No matter what happened in the future, they would always be there for each other. Any problems, they would get through it together.
"James?" Lily asked, still again, the sombre mood returning.
"Yeah?" he replied, twisting around to face her.
"You're not…going to forget all about me, are you?" she said worriedly.
"What? No! Of course not! Why would I ever forget you? You're my best friend!" James exclaimed in confusion, sitting up in the bed and lighting the candle on the bedside table – creating a soft glow to form over Lily do that he could see her.
She looked nervous, apprehensive, and slightly scared all at once. Her shoulder-length red hair was spread out on the pillows behind her and her piercing green eyes looked so unsure for just a second that it made James internally gasp.
She truly thinks I'm going to forget her! He realised with a jolt of shock.
"When we go to Hogwarts, I'm sure that there's going to be much better people to be around than me. There will be more boys your age. I doubt you'll want to be around a girl, with them there instead," she murmured, looking at the ceiling fearfully.
"Lils, you will always be my best friend, a group of guys isn't going to change that," James tried to assure her.
"But you don't know that!" she insisted.
"I do! Angel, I meant what I said when we took that oath," he promised, using her favourite nickname. At first, he had just used it to tease her slightly when her parents used to call her their 'little angel'. But eventually the teasing had left, yet the name stuck and James had been calling her it ever since.
Lily smiled meekly. "It's going to be so different there. What about if we get sorted into different houses?"
"Not going to happen. Lils, if you get sorted into Slytherin – which is never going to happen anyway, but still – I'll follow you there," he said truthfully.
"But you…you hate Slytherin! Why would you even consider going there?"
"Because I'd go anywhere if it meant staying with you, Angel. You're my best friend. And anyway, Slytherin could do with some half-decent pupils like us, especially two pranksters!"
This finally managed to make her smile. She sat up quickly and gave James a hug.
"Thank you, Muffin," she grinned, pulling back from the embrace, the mischief returning to her eyes.
"No worries," he smiled back at her, thankful that the joking Lily had returned.
"Hogwarts is not going to know what hit it!" she smirked.
"That's the plan," he agreed.
"Alright then," Lily announced after a second of silence. "Sleep time," she proclaimed, laying back down and getting comfortable again.
"Awww! Come on, Lils! Just a few more minutes?" James begged.
"Do you want to miss the train tomorrow?" she asked, eyebrows raised.
"No, I guess not…fine! Alright!" he finally caved, after taking one look at her warning face. She could be scary when she was angry, and that was without a wand!
James blew out the candle and climbed back under the duvet and it was silent for a few minutes. He thought Lily had actually fallen asleep but then a small hand reached out and took James's carefully. He got the message immediately.
Even though she could pretend to be fully confident and put on a brave face, she was still plainly terrified.
He rearranged their hands so that her fingers were entwined with his and he gave her hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze, before pulling the duvet up completely over their bodies, so to keep warm.
"Goodnight, Lily," he whispered.
"Goodnight, James," she replied, just as quietly, but for the first time that day she felt at ease. James would always be there for her and vice versa. Somehow, they were going to get through Hogwarts, together.
They would always be best friends.
Um…hi. If you're new to my stories: Welcome! If you've read my other stories and are now reading this and thinking 'oh she isn't dead then', you'd be very much correct, in some aspects…. Yes, dear readers, I am writing this from beyond the grave! … Anyway, skimming briefly over the theatrics, I am in fact still alive and very much planning on continuing both of my other stories. I am not sure when I'll update next, but let's just hope it's soon :)
But let's focus on this particular story right now :) What did you think of it? Any good? Please let me know what your thoughts are! Review pleeeeeeeease! :D
I don't know when I'll update this next, obviously I need to update 'Summer with the Marauders' and 'A LoveHate Relationship' first before I do anything else, but I'll try and not take months to post the next chapter ;)
Until next time!
Love Megan xxx