Disclaimer: I own nothing, including the Marauders sobs.
The air was soft and light as it wafted through the window of the girls' dormitories above the Gryffindor common room. It lightly wrinkled the brocade hangings on the twin four-poster bed and weaved its way through the room, leaving it slightly perfumed. The sweet scent of February had brought along the sweet scent of something all its own, love. As the 14th loomed closer Lily Evans had tried to ignore the non-stop, and rather agitating, proposals of James Potter, with not much success. Her immediate refusals had only seemed to encourage him and he had soon found much more creative, and obnoxious, ways of sneaking up on her.
The breeze had caused the bed curtains to crack open, letting in a momentary streak of rich golden light. The sudden ray of light woke her with a startle. She realized that nothing was there but the snoring of the other girls and sat up in the bed, rubbing her eyes. The feeling of sleep melted away as she pulled back the curtains and allowed the light to fill the surfaces of her bed. The vibrant yellows and oranges mixed with the Gryffindor red and created a heady amount of color that happily splash along the surfaces of the otherwise wan room.
Lily was surprised at her early wake, for the sun had just risen off the horizon, but was happy because it gave her time to bathe before her first class. She pulled the rest of her body free from the comforter and made her way to her trunk. She pulled out her uniform. She then, not bothering to change out of pajamas, pulled on her trainers and laced them up. Then fastening her hair into a ponytail and put the uniform on the inside pocket of her cloak so that the bulge wasn't visible. Then pulled the cloak around her, fastening it so that nobody could see what she was wearing under.
She then made her way out of the dormitory doors and down the stair to the common room. Where, to her surprise, she found one of her best friends, Remus Lupin.
"Early riser?" Lily asked from the mouth of the staircase. Remus looked up from the book he had been reading, over his shoulder. His blonde hair gleamed with a orange shadow from the fire and fell into his eyes.
"Not particularly, just not good at skiving assignments." He answered. "You?"
"I just…woke up." She said.
"Oh, I get it. You're overly excited to see what James has worked up for you today, so you couldn't sleep. Its Valentines Day so you figured it must be something extraordinarily big?" He said on the verge of what was sure to be a sea of laughs.
Lily shot darts at him with her eyes but the look of sheer amusement on his face did nothing but increase. She simply decided to try and ignore this and make it to the prefect bathroom before it was to full to admit anymore students.
"Bye." She called at him over her shoulder as she walked through the portrait hole and into the corridor.
Just before the portrait sealed itself she heard a muffled "Goodbye."
She continued to the bathroom without meeting anyone along the way. It was far early than most chose to venture out, considering classes started at ten thirty.
"Cupids' Arrow." Lily chanted and the door to the bathroom doors swung open. She made her way into the girls section, selected a cubby, and slipped off her cloak and pajamas, wrapping herself in a towel.
The bathing room was completely silent and the sounds of water splashing on the marble sent chills down her back. The bubbles would only come out pink and red, a seasonal gesture and a seemingly harmless one. You are wrong, the pink bubbles smelled like "tutti frutti" and the red ones smelled like Professor Trelawneys' classroom. And Lily Evans was not going to walk around smelling like "tutti frutti" or cooking sherry.
She decided to take a regular bath and slipped into the water. It stung at first but she soon got used to the hot water, and it eased her muscles.
By the time she had finished only a few prefects had made there way down, mostly fifth years that she didn't know. The stained glass window sent reflected colors down onto the pool of water and signified that the sun had risen higher into the sky.
Lily dressed and wrapped herself up in the cloak again then fled from the bathroom. The halls had been garnished with pink streamers, hearts, and huge red balloons that hung in bunches along the stairwell railings.
"Flubberworm Teeth." Lily said as the portrait swung open to reveal the lush environment of the Gryffindor Common Room. The room was busy with quite a few members of the house flourishing through the room, looking nervous, mostly females. Lily rolled her eyes. The anxiousness that accompanied this over-commercialized holiday was expected from most girls her age, but she was not going to go all dreamy over a stupid holiday on which she normally received nothing.
She ran up to the Girls Dormitories to stow her pajamas where they belonged and brought her books back down with her. She could at least catch-up on her reading. As she headed back down the stairs she was surprised, and a bit disgusted, to see a new male had come down from the dormitories, Sirius Black.
She flung her books onto the table and plopped herself down in the chair, completely ignoring him.
"Hey, Lils, got any valentines yet?" came the all too familiar voice from behind her. She turned in her seat to see that he was looking at her with a smile, not a sneaky knowing smile, but a nice real smile.
"No." she answered coldly. She couldn't give him any sign that his genuine interest in her life had crossed her as a bit endearing.
"Well, that's slightly surprising. Thought my best mate would have sent you hundreds by now." He said with a slight snicker.
Then Sirius looked up to the imposter cupids that the school had hired and retrieved a parcel from its hands. Then unwrapped it. Chocolate Cauldrons.
"Those things are always messed with. Never eat them." He said. "That makes six so far." He said as he pulled a pen from his back pocket and swished a tick mark on his wrist, next to five others.
"Figures right when I think you're a genuine caring person you pull something like that." She said and let out a sigh.
"Awh, you thought I was a genuine caring person." Sirius said, completely ignoring the last part of the sentence, a toothy wry grin plastered to his face. "Like what?" he finished.
"Like…like that." She said pointing to his wrist. He opened his mouth to speak but at that moment his best friends strode into the room.
"Hey, mates, Lily is wondering why I had to do something like this." He said with a smile, he pointed to his wrist, and his head cocked to the side, his bangs falling boyishly into his face.
Remus, James, and Peter filed into the room. Remus looked more awake than he had earlier that morning. James looked as normal, his hair sticking up in all directions, his brown eyes gleaming. Peter walked in looking dazed and a little pathetic at his attempt to comb his fine hair and only managed to make it messier, it showed.
"Well," said James. "It's a bit of a tradition. The four of us always keep track of the valentines we get and the one with the most by twelve that evening wins a few chocolate frogs."
He splayed himself on the couch, propping himself on one elbow. Remus took the chair next to Sirius and Peter looked around for a place to sit and decided on taking a seat on the floor.
"That's horrible." She said, eyeing Remus, who she thought would stop this crap from happening between the group. He was a prefect.
"Is it?" Sirius said, his wide smile belying his sorrowful puppy eyes.
"Yes, it is." She said and turned back to her book. She turned back with a snap. "And you shouldn't be placing purpose on this bloody holiday, anyways." Her eyes shifting around to all of them, giving each a look of hatred that intensified as it came upon James and then Sirius. They where obviously scared and dared not speak anymore on the subject.
"Now, please, let me get to my homework." She said with a huff and heard Sirius repress a giggle.
The boys stirred from their semi-circle and continued to chat on otherwise subjects.
The time had past rather quickly and Lily filled her schoolbag and made her way down to the Great Hell for breakfast. The corridors were packed, the ceiling was barely visible through the fluttering on cupid wings and bunches of balloons that had gotten loose from the railings and floated for the ceiling. This caused the Cupid traffic to slow considerably and for a rather angry Filch to rage through the corridors as well, threatening students who he suspected to be pulling the balloons free.
She looked at the other girls, who where looking day-dreamy and squealed whenever a Cupid came their way, only to find it turn and go the other way, leaving them in hysterical sobs.
Then out of nowhere there was a forceful brush on her shoulder "Sorry Lils!" said a voice that disappeared around the corner with a rush of black hair. Then another. And another. And after sometime, another. Then there was a huge heave on her shoulder and a groan of disdain.
"Bloody kids, I'll get them, I will!" said the harsh voice of Filch, the caretaker.
What had they done now? I couldn't be good.
By the time she was able to make her way into the Great Hall, about twenty minute, she entered to a sea of laughs and pointing. What was doing on? She made her way down the Gryffindor table. Everyone turning and pointing at her, blushes, and nervous giggles.
She sat at the end of the table, near the teachers table and fingered the prefects badge on her chest. She couldn't eat with everyone pointing and watching her. She rested her head in her hand and pulled a book from her bag with the other.
"Well, hello." Said Sirius as he sat straight in front of her, a knowing grin sneaking onto his face. "You're the new buzz today."
"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed." She said sarcastically.
"Oh really," confirmed Sirius. "You wanna know why?"
"Do I?"
"Yes, I think you would." He said and pointed half-heartedly at the ceiling. She shifted to look at the ceiling, and to her awe, found her name spelled out in festive red balloons. The named accompanied by a heart and a name. Love, Prongs. "The Marauders strike again!" he finished.
The idea of how they had achieved something like that was the first to pop into her head. Then a thought of embarrassment and the boys extreme arrogance. Then a soft feeling of love started to bud inside her stomach, he had done that for her.
She shut that feeling down automatically. "That's nice." She told Sirius and returned to her book.
Maybe James' heart was as big as his head.
A/N This was written to the wonderfully catchy and rhythmic tune of the new Feist compact disc, The Reminder. Go get it. I had a whim of creativity and thus this story was born. Reviews would be great. My first one-shot. Hope you enjoyed it.