Summary: Romance brews amongst the hate when Lily's family is invited to spend the weekend at the Potters'. Lily/James
Genre: Romance
Ships: Lily/James
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: I wrote this story in the year 2000 or perhaps 2001, under the title of "Lily and James Forever." However, upon re-reading it, I saw that it lacked detail and proper story structure - and so I decided to write it over. This new fic has a different title, different content and a different ending, so even if you've read "Lily and James Forever" make sure you read this because you won't be disappointed. –g- I'd love to hear your feedback, whether good or bad, so make sure you review.
A CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY STORY BY AGENT BAMBI
The majority of the Seventh Years of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were staying at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays, but Lily Evans and James Potter were not among them. They had both decided to go to their respective homes for the winter, and neither was unhappy with the decision.
Part of the reason that both were content with their decisions to go back to their families was that they did not want to be together any longer than they needed to be. During the seven years had been at Hogwarts, they had formed anything but a friendship. Rather, they had built a rather unpleasant relationship where they often threw insults – and hexes – when they passed one another in the corridors.
Lily wasn't entirely happy with her decision, though, for when she returned home, her older sister Petunia would be there. Lily and her sister were not on good terms. In fact, they hadn't been very sisterly to each other since Lily was only eleven – before she had found out that she was a witch.
Petunia believed Lily's magical abilities were in fact abnormalities, and she never let Lily forget that that was her opinion. When Lily returned home, Petunia would undoubtedly tease her senseless, just like she had done for the past six years.
Lily was back at home, now, sitting at her desk, having decided to finally attend to her rather copious pile of holiday homework. She had just added the last full stop to her History of Magic essay, and was about to begin proofreading it for errors, when she was distracted by a distinct tapping noise upon her bedroom window.
Any other ordinary would have been marvelled at this occurrence, for her window was two stories up, but Lily had grown quite accustomed to it by now. She knew it was just another owl carrying another message for Lily.
Lily stood up and went to the window, leaving her History of Magic essay forgotten on her desk. There was indeed an owl at her window, and a rather large, tawny owl at that. Lily noted that the owl was also carrying a letter made of parchment in its tiny claws. She opened the window to allow the owl to fly inside. Upon this welcoming gesture the tawny owl promptly swooped through the window to land on her bed. It held out a leg, waiting for Lily to untie the envelope from him. Lily did so and immediately ripped open the top of the envelope. Folded three times was a piece of slightly crumpled, yellowing parchment. Lily opened it to find that it read:
Dear Marigold, Alan, Lily and Petunia,
As we haven't seen each other in over a year, and Alan and I have decided that it is time that we see each other again. If you have not yet made any plans for the holidays, it would be fantastic if you could stay a few days with us in Gordric's Hollow.
We'd love to see you all and are awaiting your response eagerly.
Love from the Potter family,
Laura, Arthur and James
Lily sighed unhappily. When she had gotten off the Hogwarts Express, she had sincerely hoped that she would see neither head nor hide of James Potter for two weeks. Unfortunately for Lily, it seemed that fate had decided on the contrary.
And the worst part of it all was that she would not only be seeing Potter, but rather she would be spending a few agonising days at his house! The last time Lily and James' families had gotten together at Lily's house it had been a total and utter disaster. Both Lily and James had refused to be in a room together or eat dinner together, ruining many a fine evening to the disappointment of their parents. She didn't understand why their parents so strongly insisted that both Lily and James be present at these family gatherings, when they knew that the two simply did not get along.
The Potters were very good family friends of the Evans (their parents had met at Kings Cross station during Lily's first year at Hogwarts and had apparently been so taken with each other that the Potters had immediately taken Lily's mother and father back to their house for coffee and biscuits), and Lily knew that no matter how much effort she applied into her well-practised act of pleading, her parents would inevitably find some way to force her to come. They would endlessly lecture her on the virtues of being proper and friendly to those around you, and undoubtedly find something to make Lily feel so guilty that she would have to come along, too.
She briefly considered the idea of throwing away the letter and acting as if nothing had happened, but she knew the Potters would be very upset if they received no reply. And, though she would never admit it to any of her friends, James' parents were really, really nice. So nice in fact that she often paused to ponder how someone like James could possibly have been brought up by two such wonderful people.
She reluctantly stood up and made her way into the lounge room, where she found her parents curled up on the couch watching an old black-and-white movie on the telly. Standing in the doorway that separated the lounge room and the hall, holding the letter in her hand, she coughed to get her parents' attention. "Mum? Dad?"
"What is it, pumpkin?" her father said kindly, though he didn't take his eyes away from the movie. Lily's mother looked up and smiled at her daughter. Lily waited until she had the attention of both her parents, before continuing: "Well, I just got an owl. It's from the Potters; they want us to come and stay over at their place for a few days." She handed her mother the letter.
Lily's mother smiled as she read the letter and wordlessly handed it to her husband. She looped a strand of auburn hair behind her ear and turned back to Lily, still smiling. "Well, that's lovely of them, isn't it, Lily dear? You'll get to see James again, isn't that exciting?"
Lily rolled her eyes; the prospect of seeing James Potter again was anything but exciting. "Mum," she said somewhat desperately, against her better judgement. "You know that James and I don't get along. Why do you always make me come along? You know I'm not really welcome their."
"Lily," her mother said warningly, just as Lily had known she would. "You know that you've always been welcome at the Potters residence. Just because you and James have some minor spats now and then, doesn't mean that you shouldn't go. You know it wouldn't be polite. It's very kind of them to have invited us. It would be terribly rude to turn down their generous offer."
Blah, blah, blah, Lily thought inwardly but dared not voice her opinions. It was the same every other time, and she wasn't going to waste her breath arguing now. Arguments would come later, but not with her parents. Well, she thought resolutely, she supposed she could endure a few days of arguing to please her parents. She shrugged and told her mother that she had decided to come after all.
Lily's mother instructed her daughter to 'be a dear and fetch a pen and piece of paper' from the study. She set to work writing the letter, with Lily peering over her shoulder.
Dear Laura, Arthur and James,
Thank you for your generous offer; we are very pleased to accept.
See you soon!
Marigold, Alan, Lily and Petunia Evans
"There," Lily's mother said with a satisfied smile on her face. She handed the letter back to Lily, who took it with disinclination. "You can go owl it to the Potters, now."
Lily was on the way back to her bedroom, where the tawny owl would be sitting on her bed, when she heard her mother calling to Petunia, "Petunia, are you going to join us and the Potters?"
"No," Petunia replied defiantly from her room. "I don't want to."
"Petunia" her father warned. "You know what we think about rudeness"
"Do I have to go?" Petunia whined, just as Lily had before. She came out of her bedroom and stood in the doorway of the lounge room. "Why do I have to go?" she asked. "Is there any reason at all?"
"Oh, Petunia," Mrs. Evans said in a disappointed voice. "Are you absolutely positive that you don't want to come? I'm sure it'll be fun – that nice boy, James, will be there. He's Lily's age – I'm sure that you could be friends with him."
"Mother," Petunia said monotonously. "I don't want to go. You can't make me go!" she screeched. "I'll run away if you make me go. I'll—"
"That's enough, Petunia," her father said. "You don't have to go if you really don't want to. But where are you going to stay? We can't leave you alone in the house; it's dangerous. Maybe you could stay at Gayle's house?"
"All right," Petunia agreed. "I'll call her right now."
From her bedroom, Lily could hear Petunia's conversation. "Hi Gayle†I'm going to stay at your house for the rest of the holidays, is that all right with you?†Oh, my sister. Mum, dad and her are going to a family friend's house, and she won't let me go†Yeah, I know! She's such a brat, really"
Lily rolled her eyes at the immaturity of her older sister, and stopped listening to the conversation, knowing that it would become very boring sooner or later. She tied the envelope to the owl's leg, and watched as it flew out the window, then past the trees, out of Lily's sight.
Not long later, they had arrived at the front of a large house. "Oh, hello!" James' mother greeted, opening the door after they had rung the doorbell. "We've been expecting you," she said with a tingly laugh. "Dinner's ready," she added.
Lily ignored the causerie between the adults and looked past Mr. and Mrs. Potter, into the house. There was a staircase immediately at the end of the hallway, which looked very antique and expensive. At the top of the stairs, looking down at Lily was James Potter.
He was leaning casually against the banister, dressed not in a wizard's robe as his parents, but in normal Muggle jeans and a t-shirt. His hair was as unruly as it had always been, and his face wore the smirk that he always reserved for when he was near Lily.
Dinner was long, uneventful, and in Lily's opinion, rather boring. She looked inquisitively up at the staircase, wondering if there was anything interesting upstairs. Mrs. Potter must have noticed this, for she immediately asked, "Would you like to show Lily upstairs, James?"
James, who had long since finished his dinner, looked up from his plate and sighed. "All right," he agreed without enthusiasm. He didn't particularly feel like being alone with Lily Evans, for his parents had forbidden him of being spiteful towards the guests.
He led Lily upstairs, and showed her around the bedrooms, finally stopping at his own. "This is my bedroom," he announced, gesturing at the large room with a careless wave of his hand.
There was a long, uncomfortable silence, before Lily commented, "It's†nice."
"Nice?" James asked, quirking an eyebrow in doubt. "Is that a compliment? From the ice queen, herself? As in, you like my room?"
"Well," Lily said, hesitantly. "I wouldn't go as far to say that I like it, but I suppose it is nice. In a really untidy and boyish way," she added with a superior smirk.
"Thanks," James said. After a moment, he added, "I guess."
Lily looked around the room and continued, "I did expect it to be a lot messier, though. Like, with clothes littering the floor, and banana peels and apple cores under the bed. It's quite a surprise, really."
There was another uncomfortable silence before Lily asked, "Well, what shall we do now?"
"Well, we could go downstairs again," he suggested. "Or," he added with a smug smirk, "We could do something much more interesting"
"Such as?" Lily asked, ignoring the suggestive tone James had used.
James looked her up and down in a teasing sort of manner. He hadn't seen Lily without her school robes before, and he was quite reluctant to admit that she looked pretty good. Pretty damn good, considering she was Lily Evans.
The fact that she was Lily Evans jolted James out of his curious thoughts. He mentally shook himself; his mind was not supposed wander off to think that Lily was good looking. That wasn't supposed to happen when one thought of their enemy.
The sight of James looking at her in that revolting way made Lily wrinkle her nose in repulsion. "Potter, could you do me a favour and stop†looking at me like that?"
"Looking at you like what?" James asked in defence, pretending he had not just been doing so. "As if I would look at you," he added, superciliously.
"Of course not," Lily said, smiling derisively. "You'd never do something like that, would you, Potter?"
"So how about it?" James asked.
"How about what?" Lily asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Just what are you trying to suggest?"
"Lily," James said quietly, in a seductive whisper. "Don't lie to me. You know you want to." Though out loud James spoke with confidence, inside, he was nervous and confused. Why was he doing this? Where had those strong feelings of hate suddenly gone? And why had they been replaced with feelings of†James mentally shook his head, not wanting to admit it, even to himself,
"Want to what?" Lily asked, defiantly.
Before he could even pause to think about what he was doing, James grabbed Lily, and suddenly found himself kissing her.
At first, Lily melted into the kiss, but when she realized what she was doing, she cried, "Mmph!" and shoved him away in anger. She looked at him with rage and confusion. "What the hell were you thinking, Potter?" she asked him in a furious tone.
As James stared at her, he found that, for the first time in his life, he had nothing to say. No witty comments came to mind, nor did he have an explanation for what he had just done.
Lily continued glaring at him, and then her gaze softened. With a more gentle tone in her voice, she asked him, "Why?"
James still had nothing to say, so he continued gaping at her. Lily raised an eyebrow, and placed her hands on her hips. "Well?" she asked him. "Haven't you got anything to say?"
James averted his eyes from her gaze and shrugged. "I don't know."
"You don't know if you have anything to say?" Lily asked in a dubious tone. "You don't know why?" she said, her voice rising in anger. "You kissed me, and you don't know why? What were you thinking, Potter?"
James didn't want to admit to even himself what he was thinking, so he merely shrugged again. "I don't know what I was thinking. I don't know what came into me. I was just†fooling around, I guess, and I went too far."
"Oh, fooling around, were you?" Lily asked, crossing her arms. "Some fooling around," she muttered angrily.
"Well, if you really want to" James said with a wicked grin. Seeing the murderous look upon Lily's face, he hastily added, "Just kidding!"
His expression became serious, and he gazed at Lily in question as he asked, "But didn't you – didn't you" He trailed off, deciding that it would be better if he didn't ask the question.
"Didn't I what, exactly?" Lily questioned, her arms still folded across her chest in a superior way.
"Never mind," said James. Thinking that the subject ought to be changed, he added, "Let's go downstairs."
"Yeah, all right," Lily sighed wearily.
When they came downstairs, Mr. Potter asked, "So, what have you kids been up to?"
"Uh," said James, not quite knowing how to respond to the simple question.
"We were just talking," Lily quickly covered, shooting an annoyed glance at James, who was still gaping stupidly at their parents.
Lily, not feeling sleepy at all, faked a yawn and stretched out her arms as if she were tired. She blinked sleepily at the adults.
"It's late," Mr. Potter said, just as Lily had hoped he would. "Maybe you kids should head off to bed."
"All right," Lily agreed quickly. "Just one thing, though," she said. "Where do I sleep?"
Mr. Potter looked at James, who had finally stopped gaping by now. "James will show you the way," he told Lily.
"Right," said James. "You're going to sleep here." He gestured at the room with nonchalance. "I'm going to bed," he told her.
"Goodnight," Lily said quietly, after his retreating back. She felt oddly sad when he didn't respond, merely disappearing around the corner.
"Wake up!"
Lily blinked sleepily, and looked about the room. It was bathed in golden sunlight, which was pouring through a gap in the curtains. As far as she could see, though, there was nobody in the room.
"James?" she asked. "Is it you?"
James cackled evilly, but didn't say anything.
"You're wearing your Invisibility Cloak, aren't you?" she asked him, sitting up in bed, but making sure that her blanket was pulled around her, so that he wouldn't see her in her pyjamas.
James dropped the Invisibility Cloak. "How did you know about my Invisibility Cloak?" he asked her.
"Um," said Lily. "I sort of†overheard you and Sirius talking one time"
"Oh, okay," James said. He paused before continuing, "So, do you want to do anything today?"
"Sure, but I've got to get changed first," Lily said. She gave him a pointed look, and when he didn't move, she said, "Can you, um, get out of the room, so I can put my clothes on?"
"You look nice," James complimented awkwardly when Lily emerged from the room.
"Nice?" Lily grinned. "I'm wearing jeans and a t-shirt – very plain if you ask me. Hardly calls for compliments – but thanks, anyway," she added, seeing James' confused look.
"So, where do you want to go now?"
"I don't know," replied Lily. "I don't know any of the things that we could do around here, seeing as I don't live here. But you do, so why don't you suggest something that we might do? Or," she added, "We could do something with Sirius, Remus and Peter?"
"Nah," James said, shaking his head. "I'd rather not. I'd rather be with just you"
Lily's mouth sagged in horror. "Did you just say that you want to be alone with me?" she asked him. "Please say that that was not what you mean, Potter, or I'm going to have to†have to"
"Have to what?" James asked, when she trailed off.
"I'm not sure," Lily said quietly, looking at James with a softer expression on her face. "I forgot what I was going to say. So, where are we going to go?"
"Don't know," James said. "I guess we could go to lunch, or something. Is that okay?" he asked her.
"Sure, I guess," Lily replied. "Although, it sounds much like a date" she muttered quietly.
"What was that?" James asked.
"Never mind," Lily replied hastily. "It doesn't matter."
"Where have you two been?" Mrs. Potter asked, when they finally came back home after lunch. "Why didn't you leave a note or something?"
Lily looked over at James. "Oh, James took me out for lunch, that's all," she told Mrs. Potter.
"Oh," said Mrs. Potter with a nod, and then she beamed at Lily. "My boy, Jamsie, quite a gentleman, isn't he? Taking you out for lunch like that."
Ignoring James' cry of "MUM!", Lily gushed, "Oh, yes, he's just simply charming, isn't he?"
Though Lily's voice was positively oozing sarcasm, Mrs. Potter didn't say anything. Lily doubted that she had noticed it at all – she was too busy ruffling James' hair in an affectionate manner.
"M-um!" James whined, slapping her hand away. "Stop it!" Feeling very uncomfortable, he asked his mother, "Can I invite Sirius to come over?"
"Sure," Mrs. Potter said, smiling. "Sirius always brightens up the house."
James shook his head and laughed. It was true; indeed, Sirius did brighten up the house with his witty comments and antics. Grabbing a quill and a piece of parchment, he wrote:
"Sirius—
Evans Lily is here, and we're bored. Do you want to come over?
J"
Not long later, Sirius appeared out of the fireplace, grinning. "James, Lily," he nodded after he got out.
"Hey, Sirius," greeted James.
"Hi," said Lily flashing a smile at Sirius.
"So, what have you two been up to?" Sirius said, and wiggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
"Went for lunch," Lily told him in a bored voice.
"That's all?" Sirius asked James in mock-confusion. "You mean Lily slept over at your house and all that you did was have lunch?" He gave James a look that clearly said that he thought that James was completely crazy. "You're a very strange person, James."
"Thanks, Sirius," James responded in a dry tone. "I appreciate it, really."
"Oh my god" Sirius gasped when they came to James' room. "It's†clean? You actually cleaned up your room?" he asked in befuddlement. "I thought I'd never see this, but I guess I was wrong, huh?"
"It was because my mum made me. She said that it's rude to have a messy room if you're going to invite guests over," James said.
Lily had been quiet for a while, but then she was suddenly hit with an inspiration. "Potter," she said, smirking at the boy. "Why did you invite Sirius, anyway; I thought that you wanted to be alone with me?"
James raised an eyebrow and snorted. "As if, Evans. You must have misunderstood me, that's all."
"Right," said Sirius, clearly not believing James at all. "Dream on, Potter. You wanted to be alone with Lily, and you know it."
"And you know this because�" James asked.
Sirius shrugged. "I don't, but I'm just hoping that I'm right. It would certainly make life more interesting if you had a thing for Lily here." He grinned at Lily. "And imagine if Lily liked you back." He mock-sighed and closed his eyes. "How sweet."
"Black!" Lily said, throwing a pillow at him.
"You wanna have a pillow-fight, huh?" Sirius asked, a cheeky grin on his face. "We'll see about that." He threw a pillow at Lily, who tried to duck, but she wasn't quick enough.
"You'll pay for that, Black," she said, picking up the pillow again.
The next morning was the day that the Evans family was to go back home. Lily quickly got dressed, and went to knock on James' bedroom door. "Potter?" she called.
She didn't hear anything at first, but then she put her ear to the door. Again, she called, "Potter?" and this time, she heard a mumbled, "Go away."
"Potter, come on! Wake up already!" she hollered. "We're going to the movies."
"All right, all right," James grumbled. "I'm getting up. Wait while I put something on."
When he emerged, Lily raised an eyebrow at the state of his hair. "Have you brushed your hair?" she asked dubiously.
"Of course I have. What does it look like?"
Lily smirked. "Well, to be honest, it looks like you haven't. But I guess it doesn't matter, really. Let's go to the cinemas," she said, grabbing his arm and steering him to the stairs.
It was only when James took the first step down the stairs that Lily noticed that she was still holding onto his arm. She let go quickly, as if she had just received an electric shock.
James turned to face her, and asked, "Why did you do that?'
"Do what?" Lily said, carefully avoiding eye contact.
"You just let go of my arm – why?"
"I'm not sure," said Lily with a shrug. "Now, do you know where the nearest cinema is?"
"Great movie, huh?" asked James in an excited tone. "Did you see that guy with the guns? Did you see the way he just blasted off the head off that other guy?"
"Yes," said Lily in a monotonous voice. "Can we just go home now?"
"Yeah, sure," said James distractedly, and continued, "And did you see that—"
"Potter," Lily interrupted. "Shut up."
"Okay," James said, looking wounded at being deprived of an interesting conversation.
When the Winter break was over, Lily and James returned to Hogwarts once more. James had thought that because they had been quite friendly during the holidays, at school it would be the same, but he was wrong.
It was in the first week that he found out that Lily's hateful feelings towards him hadn't changed. She had made sure that he would get that message when she had hexed his ears to be tinged with a colour that somewhat resembled vomit.
He knew that the hex would wear off in a week, but James didn't want to wait that long. He knew that the only way to speed up the process would be if Lily were the one to change his ears back to their normal colour.
"Lily!" he whined. "Reverse the spell, or else!"
Lily raised an eyebrow, and twirled her wand in her hand nonchalantly. "Or else what?" she smirked.
James paused for a moment, thinking of what to say. Finally, he said, "Or else I'll tell."
Rolling her eyes at the ambiguous threat, Lily asked, "Tell who, and, most importantly, tell what?"
"I'll tell everyone about our little holiday together." He ran his tongue over his lips slowly in a seductive manner.
Lily's mouth sagged open in shock. "You wouldn't dare!" she said indignantly.
"Wouldn't I?" James simpered. "I could tell everyone that we—"
"But we didn't!" Lily interrupted angrily. "And anyway, nobody would believe you," she added haughtily.
"Oh, wouldn't they?" James said, the simpering smile still on his face. "It's just what they want to hear, you know. They'd believe anything scandalous – we are in Hogwarts, after all. And even if they didn't believe it, they'd spread it around, nonetheless. I'm sure somebody would believe it."
"You wouldn't dare!" Lily said again. Seeing the look on his face, she saw that indeed, he was serious. Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh, all right, I'll reverse the spell."
Sitting in an armchair in the Gryffindor Common Room, absorbed in reading "Hogwarts: A History", Lily was quite comfortable. In fact, she was so comfortable that she didn't even hear the fall of James' footsteps as he snuck up on her.
It was only when he placed his hands gently over her eyes and whispered, "Guess who?" that she finally acknowledged his presence. "Go away, Potter," she said, not even looking up at him.
"Lily, why do you hate me so?" James asked suddenly. The thought had been on his mind ever since he had first kissed her, and he had been longing to ask Lily, but he had never found the appropriate time to do so.
"Why do you hate you?" she echoed incredulously. "Why do I hate you?" She dropped her book into her lap and looked up at him. "Let me count the ways that I hate you."
"One," she continued, counting one finger on her hand: "You're just so damn annoying. Two: you've teased me ever since you met me. You continuously ridiculed me about my red hair, or my green eyes. Three: you always call me by my last name, which I hate. Four†Well, I can't think of anything for four, but I hate you, and that's all that matters."
"But I'm not like that any more, Lily," he insisted. "I've changed since†since whenever I last did any of those things."
"Oh, have you?" said Lily. "If you've changed so much, prove it."
"Prove it?" echoed James. "How am I supposed to prove it?"
"Well, that's up to your changed self to figure out, isn't it?" said Lily with a smirk. "Now, go away and leave me in peace; I want to read."
Not much time had passed, when a tawny owl with white-flecked feathers fluttered into the Common Room, carrying an envelope. When the owl landed on Lily's shoulder, Lily gasped in surprise. "Oh, you scared me," she said to the owl, which she recognized as James'.
She opened the envelope, and carefully took out the parchment inside. She unfolded the note and read:
"Meet me in the Charms corridor after dinner.
J"
Dinner was finally over, and Lily was standing in the Charms corridor, waiting for James to arrive.
When James finally arrived, Lily glared at him. "So, why did you tell me to meet you here?"
"I'm sorry," was all James said before embracing her.
Lily wasn't surprised to find that James' lips were on hers once more, or that his hands were tightly wrapped around her. She was surprised, however, to find that she didn't push him away.
"Where oh where did I put my Charms book?" Professor Flitwick asked himself aloud, wringing his hands.
"You left it in the Charms room," said Sybil Trelawney in a tone that suggested that she had no doubts that she was wrong. "Things always turn up in the most obvious places, you know."
"Thank you," Flitwick told her with a thankful smile, and headed off towards the Charms Corridor.
As he was approaching the Charms room, he heard a suspicious noise, and stop dead in his tracks. Perhaps Peeves was throwing things about the room again? He ignored the sound, and continued to the Charms room.
Another noise attracted his attention, and he spun around, only to see that there were two people in a corner: one with red hair, the other with black.
Flitwick cleared his throat. "Excuse me?" he said, when they didn't discontinue their fervent kissing.
The two students sprang apart from each other in pure shock, and Flitwick was stunned to see that it was Lily Evans and James Potter, both of whom were rather flushed in the face.
"Oh dear," Lily said, putting her face in her hands.
"Professor!" James said. "I can explain everything!"
"Yes?" said Flitwick rather impatiently. He looked at James to continue. "Go on."
James smiled guiltily. "Actually, I, um, can't explain anything," he said apologetically.
"Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans, you of all people should know that that kind of behaviour is certainly not appropriate in Hogwarts, much less in a classroom."
"Sorry, Professor," Lily mumbled quietly.
"Sorry," said James, looking at his feet in shame.
Flitwick looked around for a moment, and then announced, "Now I've forgotten why I came here." He sighed and briskly walked back to the Great Hall.
James looked to Lily in an apologetic manner. "Sorry," he said. "First time I've ever been caught, though."
Suddenly, Sirius, Remus and Peter appeared from underneath an Invisibility Cloak, all snickering at their friends.
Sirius looked from James to Lily and exclaimed, "I knew that there was something going on in the Christmas holidays!"
Remus grinned at Lily and James, then looked to Sirius and Peter. "Shall we go and spread the news, then?"
"Hell yeah."
"Sirius!" James called after his friend's quickly retreating back.
- fin -