It is common knowledge that sweets are extremely helpful to the studying brain, and the wrappers of the 'study food', as she liked to call it, were currently littering the table. They were everywhere. Chocolate frog wrappers poked out of the pages of her books, Bertie Botts' Every Flavour Beans packets were falling off the table, and the remains of a Cockroach Cluster, which she had sampled out of sheer desperation for more sugar, could be found inside her book bag. How they had got there, she'd never know.
Feeling the need for sugar beginning to creep upon her again, Lily glanced up from her work. The common room was starting to empty; there were only seventh years, several of fifth years left and some sixth years. Lily sighed and looked over at her friends Jane and Emma; the latter was bent over her study notes, scribbling furiously; the former was looking quite relaxed, and she glanced up and caught Lily's eye.
'Starting to get tired?' Jane asked.
'No, I'm just in need of more sugar. Have you got any Every Flavour Beans left?' Jane bent down and rummaged through her book bag, before sitting back up and shaking her head.
'Sorry, I'm fresh out. I know what you mean though. I think I am starting to die here. What did you do with all of yours, anyway?' Lily shrugged, sighing. There were not many things in the world worse than a lack of study food.
'Emma, have you got any sweets left?' The girl looked up, shaking her head.
'No, you two have eaten my whole stock.' Jane looked indignant, a playful 'How dare you!' expression on her face.
'Damn. And we don't go to Hogsmeade again before the exams.' A sudden burst of laughter from a corner of the common made all three girls look over. James Potter and Sirius Black had their heads together, whispering conspiratorally. Lily looked back at her friends, her eyebrows knit together in confusion. Emma shrugged and continued working, but Jane tapped her arm.
'I've got a solution to our study food problem,' she whispered. Lily's face lit up.
'What is it?' Lily asked.
'Potter and Black!' Jane replied. Lily felt blood rushing to her cheeks, and fought it back.
'I'm not sure I understand.'
'I've heard them talk about the kitchens before. They probably know where they are!'
'Well that'd be no surprise,' added Emma.
'Go ask them if they can take us there, Lily.' Lily jerked up.
'Me? Why me?'
'Well, you're friends with one of them. Emma and I have never really had a conversation with Potter or Black.' Lily snorted.
'I'd hardly call the relationship between Potter and me a friendship.'
'Oh well, never mind. He'd probably do anything if you asked him to. Go on! I'm dying of lack of sugar here!' Jane pleaded, putting her best puppy-dog face on.
'Please, Lily, for the good of all of us. Get Jane some sugar,' Emma implored. Lily tapped her fingers on the table in quick succession. She glanced over at James, and then back at her friends.
'But I don't want to talk to him! He'll just hit on me, and I'm really not in the mood.'
'Lily, you have to! Look at Jane, she's going into withdrawal! Besides, think of all those scrumpscious pastries and delicious buns and rich cakes...'
'Oh, all right!' Lily snapped. 'I'll ask him.'
Lily sighed and again looked over to the boys, who were now leaning over some form of a map, pointing to various places on it. Lily stood up, and after an exasperated glance back at her friends, walked over to James and Sirius. Unwilling to address the boys first, she awkwardly stood behind them for a few moments, trying not to, but unable to prevent herself from overhearing their conversation.
'But how do you know, Padfoot?' James was asking.
'Because Moony told me,' Sirius replied. They were evidently fleshing out some sort of plan for a prank.
'How would Moony know something like that?!' James replied, sounding exasperated.
'Prongs, think about what you're asking. This is Moony we're talking about.'
'Oh, yeah. I guess you're ri...' James was cut off abruptly by a tap on the arm from Sirius. Sirius had glanced behind him to see if anyone was watching, and lo and behold had come across Lily standing right behind them. Sirius jerked a finger in the direction of Lily, and James looked around.
'Evans!' James said, startled.
'Potter.' Lily nodded curtly, fighting her blush. There was a few moments of awkward silence, before Sirius cocked an eyebrow and asked, 'Can we help you, Evans?'
'Oh, umm... yes. That is...' Lily glanced back at her friends, who gave her encouraging looks. 'I- well, Emma, Jane and I need a favour of you two.' James looked surprised, and Sirius frowned.
'Sorry, Evans, but we're a bit busy at the moment,' said Sirius.
'Hang on, Padfoot,' James said, before addressing Lily, 'what kind of favour?' Lily opened her mouth to explain, when Sirius cut her off.
'James,' he said with a pointed look. It was apparent from the look on James' face that when Sirius had addressed him using his real name it meant that Sirius really didn't want to do Lily the favour. James rolled his eyes.
'Sorry, Evans. Sirius, here, doesn't think it in our best interest to help you out.' Lily threw a haughty look at Sirius, before flouncing back to her friends.
'I take it the outcome wasn't in our favour, then?' Emma asked.
'Unfortunately, no,' said Lily. Then, raising her voice, she addressed James, 'Isn't that right, Potter? You're too whipped by Black to make decisions for yourself.' All eyes were on James, and he looked outraged.
'Whipped by- oh, that's it! You're coming with me Evans!' Lily's eyes grew wide as James stalked over to her, grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her from her chair. Lily tried to struggle free as James pulled her across the common room and out of the portrait hole. Just outside the portrait, James turned around. Lily had a questioning look on her face.
'So, what can I do for you?' James asked pleasantly. Lily was taken aback.
'Sorry?' she asked, confused by James' abrupt change of manner.
'The favour. Or have you forgotton what it was in the presence of my rugged good looks?' James teased. Lily rolled her eyes, trying to suppress a smirk.
'The girls and I were just wondering if you knew where the kitchens were.' James raised his eyebrows.
'Why?'
'Why do you think?'
'Well, to get food, but you girls didn't seem the...' James trailed off as he looked at his watch, 'almost-midnight snack type.' Lily laughed.
'We are when exams are coming up. So can you show us the way to the kitchens?'
'I can show you to the kitchens,' said James, and then added after seeing Lily's questioning look, 'the particular apparatus of rule-breaking we would use can only just handle two people, much less four.'
'Ah,' was all Lily replied.
'I understand if you don't want to anymore, I mean, I know you wouldn't want to go anywhere alone with me, or anything, after-' Lily sighed.
'No, I'll come. Emma and Jane would never forgive me if I didn't take up the opportunity.'
'Right,' James replied, 'I'll be right back. Gurdyroot.' James went through the portrait hole leaving Lily alone in the corridor, before James stuck his head back through the portait hole and said, 'And try not to get caught out here. Won't do for Miss Perfect Prefect to get caught, now will it?' Lily frowned at the nickname.
'I can look after myself, thanks very much.' James shrugged and closed the portrait.
Lily leaned against the wall, her eyes drooping closed, her head resting against the hard, stone wall. It was now, away from the presence of her friends, or anybody, really, that she realised how tired she was. Two weeks of late night studying had taken it's toll on her, and although all the extra studying would guarentee her a good mark on the end of year exams, she was beginning to think that her energy during the morning was too high a price to pay.
Lily yawned, not bothering to cover her mouth. If only one didn't need to sleep, Lily would be set. Classes and studying during the day, fun at night. Lily's lethargic mind did not comprehend the absurdity of the idea, but simply let it drop. Instead her mind wandered into the realms of books and daydreams, patiently awaiting the return of James. The book she was reading at the moment was centred around a rather thick heroine named Beatrice. Was Beatrice really stupid enough to venture down that dark alley all by herself, and without a wand? Lily supposed she must have been, as Beatrice was known to be wonderfully thick at times.
As she heard the portrait open, Deadly Encounters fled her mind, her eyes flicked open and she pushed herself off the wall. James stood just in front of the portrait, holding what looked to be a wad of silky material. Lily's eyebrows contracted in curiousity.
'What's that, you've got?' she asked, gesturing to the material.
'An Invisibility Cloak,' James replied casually, as if it were the most normal thing in the world to own one. Lily's eyes grew wide.
'I'm sorry, but you've got an Invisibility Cloak?' said Lily skeptically. James shrugged.
'Yeah.' Lily walked over to him, found the hood of the Cloak, and put her hand inside it. When her hand became invisible, she stared at it, then looked up at James, and back to where her hand was, mouth moving noislessly.
'Merlin, it really is an Invisibility Cloak.' Lily was dumbfounded.
'No, Lily, it's a saucepan.' James' voice dripped with sarcasm. 'Of course it's an Invisibility Cloak.' He threw the Cloak over himself, before holding it open, beckoning Lily to join him. Lily didn't look impressed.
'What? You said you wanted to get down to the kitchens; this is the only way of doing it without being caught.' Lily grumbled lowly, but before she could work out the irony, James had walked forward and thrown the Cloak around Lily as well.
Lily was short enough, or James was tall enough, that she had no need to wear the hood part of the Cloak. Her head only came to James' shoulders, and Lily blushed from her close proximity to James. Being attracted physically to James was not a new concept to Lily. She had admitted to herself, and even once or twice to Emma and Jane, that James was a very good looking boy. This was also the first time since The Incident that she had been in such close proximity to James, and it was beginning to get very hot underneath the Cloak.
'Feet covered?' asked James. Lily gave a strangled affirmation. They began to walk down the corridor, trying to keep the noise of their shoes to a minimum. As they came to a kind of intersection of corridors, James placed his hand on the small of her back to lead her in the right direction. Lily was about to reprimand him with a snappy retort when he removed the offending hand, and Lily realised the action had been so innocent that she really had no right to be annoyed.
They walked on for several minutes in awkward silence, neither of them able to think of anything to say. James' hand found its way to her back several times more as he led her through the corridors. At last they turned down a corridor which Lily had seen many Hufflepuffs go down, and James came to a halt in front of a still life painting of a fruit bowl. He pulled off the Invisibility Cloak and stowed it away in an inner pocket. Lily glanced around the corridor, looking at the other paintings. None of them were portraits; they were all still lifes of some kind or another. Turning back to James, Lily saw that he seemed to be tickling one of the pears in the fruit basket. The painting swung forward and James beckoned for Lily to follow him.
Lily stepped into the kitchen and immediately tripped over a small object. James offered her a hand, but Lily glared at him.
'All right!' said James, hands held up in defence, 'Just trying to help.' Blushing profusely, and still sitting on the floor, Lily looked around for what she had tripped over. Her eyes widened as she stared at the small creature with eyes the size of tennis balls and bat-like ears.
'What's that?!' she yelped, retracting from the creature, and standing up. Then, once she'd recovered from the shock, added, 'I mean, I know it's a house-elf, I've just never seen one before.'
'He,' began James, with a pointed look, 'is a house elf.' James did a double take, and snorted at Lily.
'What?' she asked. James, trying to conceal his laughter, gestured in the direction of her head.
'Your hair!' replied James, not succeeding overly much at hiding his mirth. Lily's hand jumped up to her hair, and she found it messed up from being rubbed against the Cloak. She tried her best to pat it down, but she knew she must look perfectly ridiculous.
'Lappy is sorry, miss!' Lily was startled by the high pitched voice coming from the height of her knees. She glanced at James, who gestured to the elf.
'It's quite alright,' began Lily, a little shakily, 'it was my fault anyway. I should have looked where I was going.' Lappy smiled up at Lily, who, out of the corner of her mouth, whispered to James, 'What in Merlin's name is a house elf?'
'I'll explain later,' James replied, equally as softly, then more loudly, 'So, Lappy, what food high in sugar can you rustle up for us?'
'Lappy is happy to help master and miss!' The small elf hurried off around a corner, leaving Lily and James alone again. An awkward silence followed, Lily staring at her feet, James ruffling up his hair.
Eventually James broke the silence, saying, 'So, that Felix Felicis potion you brewed was really something.' Lily blushed, and glanced up to see if he was being sarcastic.
'Umm... well, thanks,' she replied quietly. After searching for something to say, she added, 'Your marks in Transfiguration are brilliant though, top of the class, or so I hear.'
'Well, I do try.' James grinned. Lily smiled and blew air through her nose in amusement. James lifted himself up and sat on a bench, awaiting the return of Lappy. A silence descended on the room, broken only by the bustling about of the house elf, out of sight to Lily and James.
'I'm sorry, you know.' Lily looked up.
'Sorry?' Lily repeated.
'For…' James trailed off, 'you know.' Lily blushed and James shifted about on the bench.
'Oh,' Lily replied, her face downcast. She could feel his eyes boring holes in her head. She swallowed. 'You're sorry you kissed me?'
'Well, yeah,' James replied awkwardly.
Lily looked up when she saw the elf come back around the corner carrying a large box filled with all manner of sweets, pastries and cakes.
'Thank you, Lappy,' said James, taking the box.
'Lappy loves to serve master and miss!' Lily smiled at the elf, before crossing to the painting hole, climbing through and holding the door open for James.
'Good-bye Lappy!' James called.
Once out of the kitchens, James set the box on the ground, pulled out his Invisibility Cloak and threw it over himself and Lily. James picked up the box again, and together he and Lily strode off down the hall, neither willing to break the silence. Lily had been worried that the conversation about The Incident would lead to some sort of confrontation, but luckily it had surmounted to nothing.
She imagined how lovely it would be if she could just swallow her pride and admit she had been wrong about James Potter. Simply walking so close to him was nerve-wracking and blissful at the same time. For a fleeting moment she wondered if he would notice if she tested what it would feel like to rest her head on his shoulder. But James had said he was sorry he kissed her. What if he didn't like her anymore? What if he'd given up chasing her?
James stopped walking and Lily realised they had come to the portrait hole. Lily pulled the Invisibility Cloak off them.
'Thanks, James,' said Lily.
'Hey, anytime you need a sugar-fix, just give me a yell.' Lily grinned.
'Gurdyroot.'