This will be a three-shot, and I have already written the second part and about half of the third part. I'll update quickly, pinky promise. I also would really appreciate reviews since this is my first chapter story. Thanks for reading!
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Not again! Lily Evans thought as she climbed out of bed wiping the sweat off her brow. It was the third time that week that she'd woken from dreams like that with him in it. She was afraid that somebody might understand the nonsense she muttered in her sleep or the moans that erupted from her. She was scared that maybe he would hear her one day, and tease her about it. Maybe he'd stop liking her, just like she'd always feared.
Sighing, she pulled herself up and made her way to the bathroom to rinse her face in cool water. She was embarrassed, to say the least. She'd hardly told her best friend what she'd been going through. Lily was very self-conscious, something that James Potter obviously was not. At least he wasn't embarrassed with his appearance.
Why should he be? He was the epitome of male anatomy. No, he was better. She was not. James Potter was tall, dark and handsome. He had the body of a God, and nearly the entire population of Hogwarts agreed. His messy, jet-black hair always captured the wind-swept essence of him just getting off of a broomstick after long, hard hours of Quidditch practice. The glasses he wore did nothing to diminish his appearance. In fact, they seemed to merrily frame his hazel eyes and add a bit of a sparkle when the sun reflected off the lenses. His nose was a bit long, but the small scar on the tip of the right side intrigued her almost as much as his washboard abs did, but it was a very close call.
She had dark auburn hair that reached a ways past her shoulders and lay in soft, smooth waves. Her skin was too pale, and her freckles too many. She did not have the body of Annette LaVin, the 7th year Ravenclaw who so many boys pined away after, nor the body of her perpetually perfect best friend, Mary MacDonald. Now Mary was a beauty. She had long, glossy chestnut colored hair that looked perfect no matter what she did to it. Her perfect little button nose and tanned, clear skin allowed her to look pretty in the school's uniform which had a white button-up as the regulated shirt. On Lily, the shirt just served to make her look paler.
Mary had curves in all the right places and a flat stomach, long shapely legs and an elegance that drew people in. Lily had a clumsy history, large breasts that only drew in perverts and an annoying habit of biting her nails. She was as pale a porcelain and had freckles all across her shoulders and back and chest. Her hair was long and curly and it would never lay flat like Mary's did. It was such a bright shade of auburn that it sometimes hurt her eyes to look at it. The only part she truly loved about herself was her eyes. They were the color of emeralds, large and shaped like almonds. Long, dark red lashes framed and offset the shimmering green and brought her only physical joy. Mary always complained that Lily had the all the beauty and she only had boring brown eyes and boring brown hair and a boring, simple figure when Lily's was lovely and curvy. Lily always disagreed. She was subpar. James Potter was perfection.
One time, he had pulled up the sleeves of his shirt, and she'd seen a long, thin line on his forearm. When she'd asked him what had happened, he'd flushed and muttered "nothing" under his breath before pulling his sleeve back down. When she saw him outside later that day, she wanted to go talk to him again and ask him why he was hurt, but he was with Remus Lupin, one of his best friends, arguing in heated whispers by their favorite Beech tree.
He had every girl bowing down at his feet. True, his best friend, Sirius Black, was the playboy of all playboys and literally had girls hanging off his arms. True, Sirius Black's beauty rivaled that of James Potter. True, Sirius Black held a mysterious, bad boy air about him, but Sirius Black had no physical flaws that she could see, and that bothered her. She remembered having a conversation with him about it one time and coming out of it very embarrassed.
"Black?" she had asked in a curious voice when she'd found him on rare occasion studying in the library alone, "Do you even have any scars or anything?" she had asked bluntly.
"Why do you ask, Lily-kins?" he asked with a mischievous smirk.
"Well, the rest of you all have scars, and you don't seem to," she said.
"Rest of who?" he asked.
"Oh, don't play dumb!" Lily hissed and Sirius laughed.
"So you've been watching us, have you, Evans?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
"No, simple observations while passing by," Lily replied coldly with a harsh glare.
"I see," Sirius reclined back in his chair and crossed his arms leisurely, "I'm perfectly flawless."
"Oh, I doubt that. Nobody is perfectly flawless!" Lily retorted.
"What's your flaw then?" Lily blushed as her eyes narrowed dangerously.
"It's not me we're talking about,"
"Well, why should I tell you if you won't tell me?"
"That sounds like you do have a flaw!" Lily grinned.
"Did I say that?"
"You should just tell me, or I might just tell everyone you talk in your sleep about how abnormally small your wiener is," Lily smirked.
"Would you like to find out for yourself the size?" he asked, barely able to hold in a laugh.
"Thanks, but no thanks, Black. I'd rather not. I might just get sick."
"You're right," he said, leaning forward with a sarcastic sigh, "I'd never do that to James."
Lily had marched out with her face burning red and Sirius Black hardly able to breathe from laughter.
Still, no matter the repulsive sort of friends James Potter managed to rally, like the accurately named Marauders who consisted of James and his three best friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, he was still invading her dreams nightly. The fact that he was in her dreams was nothing, she was used to it. Usually, however, he was tormenting her or embarrassing her in front of a crowd. He'd been in her nightmares before, but they'd never been doing anything like that.
Sweaty limbs and passionate kisses, she'd heard of them all. Her roommates had plenty of gossip to share with her about them and who was in their dreams. Lily, however, wasn't supposed to be dreaming of shagging the person she hated with such a passion, she woke up with a sweat in the middle of the night.
He'd be joyous if he ever found out she were dreaming of him, of his toned, naked body on hers, of the sweet kisses they shared in her wildest dreams. Of the way he touched her in all the right places to make her both shivery and sweaty at the same time…No! It wasn't right to think of those things. No, she would push thoughts like that out of her mind while she could. He was a mystery to her. He was a mystery to many.
Which was why the question of why James Potter wanted her, Lily Evans, was a question nobody seemed to be able to answer.
Still, the dreams were becoming a big problem.
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They were fighting again. It was the only way Lily knew to let off her steam at him without throwing herself on him and snogging him right in front of everyone. She couldn't even remember anymore what had started the argument, but she knew she'd been furious at his arrogance.
"You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth! You haven't earned anything in your life!" Lily yelled, her arms flailing behind her.
"Now, come on, Evans!" James interrupted with a raised palm before Sirius, too, began talking.
"Yeah, I beg to differ, Evans. I'd like to say it was a gold spoon," He smirked and crossed his arms.
"Shut up, Sirius!" James yelled at his friend, his face paling slightly but Lily ignored him.
"You're too daft to see what's in front of you. You're at the most prestigious school of Magic learning from the best Headmaster Hogwarts has known since the bloody founders and you throw it all away from some fun and games and bloody pranks! You have no morals, no goals and no strategy. You're just a Quidditch playing, pompous, charismatic arse who somehow landed Head Boy!" Lily fumed, her face turning darker and darker shades of red with each sentence.
"Was that a compliment in there somewhere about me being charismatic?" James grinned, trying to lighten things up.
"Potter!" Lily screamed in response.
"Now come on, Evans. I know exactly what's in front of me, and I do too have morals and-"
"Yeah, Evans! His life-long goal is to create the next line of pranking equipment and shag you!" Sirius sniggered from somewhere behind James.
"Shut up, Sirius!" both James and Lily shouted at him as he quickly cowered back into the alcove he'd been standing under.
"You're a coward, James Potter. You're a bloody coward." She hissed at him, her face a dangerous few inches from his. She was breathing heavily and her nostrils flared with each breath.
"Alright, that's enough, Evans, James isn't a coward," Sirius walked back up to them with alarming speed, his voice dangerous and serious. He held his hand up between them but his face was set into an expression of defensiveness.
"If he wasn't a coward-" Sirius cut Lily off.
"Then he wouldn't have done everything he did for me. He wouldn't have done everything he did for Remus, or even Peter. He wouldn't have chased after you-and God knows why the bloody hell he still does-time and time again!" Sirius took a breath to go on, but Lily cut him off once more.
"I didn't ask him to 'chase after' me, as you so kindly put it!" she exclaimed.
"I didn't ask you to interrupt me, Lily," Sirius hissed, his expression turning from one of annoyance to one of pure anger which made Lily hesitate a second, giving Sirius the time to continue. "If James Potter wasn't a coward, he wouldn't be standing right in front of you right now letting you beat him to a bloody pulp and massacre him from the inside out. James is the bravest-and goddamn it, Evans! Will you let me finish?" Sirius asked her as she opened her mouth to speak. She quickly closed her mouth and set her face in a huff as she crossed her arms. This seemed to satisfy Sirius, because he went on.
"James has done more for his friends than you could ever imagine. If you even knew the start of it, you'd be begging at his feet for him to let you go out with somebody as loyal and noble as him,"
"I don't beg for anyone," Lily said, her chin stuck up high in the air.
"Is that what you think of me?" James asked her quietly, speaking for the first time since her original statement about his bravery, "That I'm a coward?"
"The bottom line," she said, ignoring his question, her hand pointed and thrusting at the ground as she took another step closer to him, "Is that I don't bloody trust you."
The look he gave her was calculating more than it was hurt. He simply tilted his head a bit to the right and pursed his lips together slightly, his spectacled eyes narrowing in their frames. That it surprised Lily was obvious in the way her glare softened to a look of confusion while her body got limp from the angry, structured pose it was in before.
He blinked. Her feet staggered a step backwards. A slight smirk played its way onto his lips at the knowledge that he could have such an effect on her. He placed this knowledge into storage at the back of his mind.
"Okay." He smirked and with one last look, he calmly glided up the steps to the boy's dormitories.
Frustrated that he had stolen her dramatic exit, she flew her hands up to her hair and grabbed a handful each. She tugged slightly and stamped the ground with a loud yell of frustration before stomping angrily out of the portrait hole.
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"I've earned a lot, you know," James said quietly to Remus later that night as they were sitting in the comfortable chairs in front of the fire in the Common Room.
"I know, mate,"
"I made the Quidditch team on skill, not money. Right? Everyone knows that, right?" James asked anxiously, turning to his best friend.
"Of course she does, Prongs," Remus replied, answering his unasked question.
"And Head Boy! Dumbledore would never let anyone bribe him to giving a specific person Head Boy!" James said, his eyes hopeful.
"You're right, I know."
"What about my grades? I'm top of the class in Transfiguration, aren't I?" Remus simply nodded to reassure his friend. "I've got a brain, too, haven't I?"
"You do, mate. I know. I know. " Remus nodded, watching the fire.
"Then how come she said it?"
"Because she was angry," Remus said, "She wanted to make you angry, too,"
They sat starring at the fire for a long time. They were in a comfortable silence that only the very best of friends could share without becoming uncomfortable. Their peace was relaxing. It was almost a shame a certain red-headed girl had fixed her curious emerald-eyed gaze upon them and heard the entire conversation. But then again, had she not heard the conversation, her opinion of James Potter may have remained that he was simply a devil in the body of a God.
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The frigid bite of frost nibbled at the grounds of Hogwarts School as December approached. Fires were lit within the castle walls and many a few dungeon doors were sealed shut due to freezing temperatures. Naked trees stood lonely and bare among tall Pines and various other Evergreens. Anyone who ventured too near the Forbidden Forest was in danger of being sprayed with needle-sharp icicles by the Whomping Willow. Snow accumulated slowly and soon, Hagrid was seen dragging enormous Christmas trees into the castle.
The first heavy snowfall came on the third Tuesday of the month. The day was bright though the sky shone a formidable grey against a frosted lawn. Quidditch players were seen sulking in the castle because they couldn't play when their limbs were too frozen to bend, preventing them from throwing or catching the Quaffle, beating the Bludgers or catching a Snitch. The school nurse was busy preparing excess amounts of Pepperup potion for sickly students.
A ruffled Sirius Black strutted into the common room that day with a silly grin on his handsome face.
"What's got you all a twitter?" James mocked his best mate.
"You know, those sixth year Ravenclaws are quite feisty. I never knew they had it in them!" Sirius said casually with an evil grin as he flopped lazily onto the couch next to Peter.
"Padfoot, you dog!" Remus laughed as Sirius expertly wiggled his eyebrows at James, causing him to burst out laughing as well.
"Might do you good to remain one," James grinned, but Sirius laughed.
"The fleas are murder!" he countered.
"Ah, but you'd be more bearable that way, mate," Peter laughed and Remus and James laughed harder, their bodies shaking uncontrollably as Sirius pouted.
"Hello boys!" Mary MacDonald said cheerfully as she plopped down in the last open spot on the couch. James saw Lily following her reluctantly. He looked around and noticed there were no more spaces to sit, so he stood up and gestured for her to sit in his armchair. She pointedly ignored him and crossed her arms.
With a fake smile on her face, she turned towards her friend.
"Come on, Mary. We've got loads to do," Lily said with force.
"No we don't, Lily! We just finished all our homework!" Mary said, looking really confused. Lily groaned.
"Oh my God, Mary," she muttered under her breath.
"Oh! Was that supposed to be a hint? Sorry, Lily," Mary said, her face scrunched up in a sorry look.
"No matter. I'm just going to head to the library. Could you meet me there after you're done raising your self esteem?" Lily asked, obviously a little peeved from Mary's mishap.
"Lily! What the bloody hell was that?" Mary hissed, her cheeks turning slightly pink.
"Well, its true, isn't it? But you just don't seem to see how stunning you already are, so I'll leave you to it!" Lily smiled another fake smile.
"Oh shut up. You're the pretty one, and stop denying it just so I say it more!" Mary growled, her hands ready on the couch in case she needed to stand up.
"I'm not pretending, Mary!" Lily exclaimed in true shock, "I honestly don't think I'm pretty at all!"
"I think you're beautiful!" James added in hopefully. Lily just ignored him, but Mary looked at him and finally stood.
"You see, Lily? He agrees with me!"
"He doesn't count. He's James Potter." Lily crossed arms defiantly.
"He does count, Lily? Of course, he does! It is because he's James Potter that he counts!" Mary countered.
"Why?"
"He likes you. He honestly, truly likes you, and you won't even talk to him. Most would have given up by now, but he knows there's something in there, Lily," Mary said, pointing at Lily's heart, "He must know, or he would have given up."
"Why do you feel the need to keep bringing this up, Mary?" Lily asked her furiously.
"Because you must like him, even if it's only physically," Mary said simply and James' eyes widened and he looked down at his body.
"I DON'T LIKE HIM!" Lily screamed, but the entire common room was used to Lily screaming, and they didn't even bat an eyelash.
"There's a thin line between love and hate, Lily," Mary said quietly, her chin up.
"And yet, we stand on opposite sides of the battlefield," Lily replied, eyes narrowed, before turning dramatically and walking out of the common room through the portrait hole.
"Oh, no, what have I done?" Mary asked quietly as she sat down slowly, her head in her hands.
"You haven't done anything, MacDonald," Remus reassured her soothingly as he patted her shoulder.
"I have! I've ruined my friendship with her! We've never had a fight like that before!" Mary cried as a few tears made their way down her face.
"But she said you always brought it up or something," Peter said.
"Well, I have, and we fight about it, but never like that," Mary exclaimed.
"Besides, Mary, she started it," Sirius offered, but that made Mary cry harder and he swore under his breath. James remained silent as he sat back down in the armchair that had remained empty the entire time the two friends had fought. He sat down gingerly.
"Prongs, mate, what's the matter?" Remus asked.
"She doesn't just hate me, she loathes me," he said to himself as though digesting the horrible, troublesome thought.
"No, she doesn't," Sirius said.
"She does,"
"She doesn't," This time, Mary spoke.
"What do you mean? She just said it!" James asked, confused.
"She loathes the way, well, I probably shouldn't say," Mary said, looking guilty.
"What?" all four Marauders asked all together.
"I shouldn't say. She doesn't know I know…" Mary said, as though contemplating the decision to herself.
"Please, Mary, you have to tell me!" James said, his hands together in a begging gesture.
"I suppose I could tell you, but only you. And I need to know that you won't tell any of them," Mary said, gesturing to his friends.
"Marauder's honor," James exclaimed, desperate for any good news the whole dilemma might bring him.
"I suppose that's the best I can get, isn't it?" Mary asked with a small, tearful smile. James nodded and after a moment, the two walked out of the common room towards a place where no one could overhear them. James opened the door to an unused classroom, and reluctantly, Mary followed him in.
"Will you tell me now?" James asked with a look of such desperateness on his face, that Mary immediately told him everything.
"She has these dreams, but I don't think she knows I know about them. In fact, I'm sure she thinks I don't know about them. Or she would've come to me before to talk to me about it. And since she never really told me not to tell anyone, I figured it'd be okay to tell you since you're the person the dreams are all about, you know?" Mary said very hurriedly.
"What kind of dreams?" he asked cautiously.
"Those kind of dreams," Mary said, lifting her eyebrows briefly to emphasize her point. James's eyes widened drastically and he fell back into the nearest chair.
"And you're sure those dreams are all about me?" James asked.
"Yes!" Mary said, but then she paused, "Well, no, but who else could they be about? She keeps muttering the letter "J" and I've racked my brain for every guy whose name starts with a J that Lily knows, and there's only so many. I've eliminated every unlikely person, and it only leaves two, one of which is highly unlikely. You understand, though, why I had to keep Jerome Brown in Ravenclaw in, don't you? He's not a Slytherin, he's a great student, he's fairly handsome, kind, et cetera. He fit all the criteria, but I doubt it's him. She's only ever talked to him a few times, and that's only because they were Charms partners for a month in 6th year."
"So, how do you…know, exactly?" James asked nervously.
"That she's having sex dreams about James Potter?" Mary laughed slightly, "Well, if the moaning doesn't give it away, I don't know what does."
"So she likes me?" James asked hopefully.
"Physically,"
"What does that mean?"
"It means there's an attraction. Lust, for sure. She doesn't know what do about it, but her fondness of you is reluctantly growing and she's having trouble accepting it. That's what it means," Mary explained, as though to a five-year-old.
"Merlin, you are such a girl. What would I do without you Mary?"
"Thanks for noticing. And you'd probably be dead," Mary replied calmly.
"But I have a chance?" he asked very slowly, not believing the opportunity had finally shown itself.
"Well, I say just shag her and get it over with. She'll be unable to resist your, er, charms and she'll end up falling for you,"
"What if she only falls for my body, and not me?"
"Wow, you're a sentimental guy, aren't you?" Mary asked with a chuckle, but James frowned, "Sorry, I just meant that you've got to be that last of your kind. Either that, or Lily has really got herself someone special, and she'd be a complete idiot not see that."
"Thanks, Mary," James said after a moment.
"Anytime."
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This chapter was TEN PAGES on Word! Let me know if you all like longer chapters or if you prefer shorter ones, for further reference. Also, what kind of stories are you interested in? Would you rather just hear about James and Lily, or hear about Sirius and others, too? Review, please!
