Disclaimer: Yes, I do not own Harry Potter.
Every Breath We Drew
Chapter One: Lily
Not for the first time did Lily Evans attempt to slip onto the awaiting Hogwarts Express unnoticed. She had been weary of the 1st of September and what it meant ever since she had stepped aboard her ride to her new school for her first year and gotten her ponytail turned to shredded newspaper by a small boy with black hair and glasses and received a severe telling off by a prefect who saw the swelling bruise on the small, black haired, bespectacled boy's shin she had proudly inflicted. But now, six years and five more unforgettable and disastrous occurrences later, her weariness had matured into paranoia, understandably, and avoidance seemed to be the only option. Not to say that it actually worked though. For it seemed the ebony haired, four-eyed boy, who was now not at all small but in fact impressively tall and quite buff, to Lily's disgust, wanted the exact opposite to her own wishes and endeavoured to seek her out just to annoy her.
She skimmed the crowded platform of 9¾ searching for a way on to the train which would allow her as much distance as possible between herself and James Potter who was, at the moment, strategically stationed next to the compartment in which her final journey to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would take place. Over the last two years Lily had sat in the prefects compartment while on the Hogwarts Express, this year she and one other were to sit in the only compartment on the train that had it's own bar fridge, stocked with food and drink of all descriptions; the Head Girl of the school deserved nothing less.
Savouring the knowledge that James had not yet seen her, Lily kissed her mother, father and sister, Petunia, goodbye and wandered over to a compartment of the train where a petite, honey-blond haired girl was struggling with her bulky trunk.
"Having fun?" she asked her best friend.
Celeste jumped in fright then jumped out of the way as her trunk slide dangerously down the stairs towards her. "Lily!" she cried. "Don't do that, I have a fragile heart."
Lily smirked and pulled her friend into a tight hug. "Well next time I come up behind you I'll have them announce my arrival over the loud speaker, so you'll be ready for me. Hopefully with tea and cake."
The two girls immediately fell into feverish conversation at that point as they worked together to get the unusually heavy trunk up the steps of the train; they had not seen one another since the end of last term and were eager for news of the others holidays.
"So lets get your trunk up before I lose all this adrenaline I got from pushing that thing up," Celeste said, arching her back to stretch out all the kinks.
"I can't. I'm in the heads compartment."
"Oh, I forgot," Celeste sighed, before changing her express considerably to a mocking smile. "So do you know who your partner in crime is yet, oh Miss High and Mighty."
Lily punched her in the arm, pretending to look offended. "I am not all high and mighty, but no I do not know who head boy is yet. From that smug look on your face though, I'm guessing you do."
"Yeah, I do. But the thing is you just punched me and by telling you would be encouraging violent actions such as that, so I'm not going to. Kapeesh?" Celeste replied playfully as she got into her compartment and stuck her head out the window.
Lily started walking of appearing mildly annoyed. "Fine," she called over her shoulder. "I guess I'll just have to eat all that free food all by myself and most definitely without the help of you."
It was at this time, what with Lily feeling all euphoric about seeing her best friend again, she forgot she was suppose to be avoiding James and just happened to almost collide with him on her way to her compartment.
"Hey Evans, I was just looking for you, he said reaching down to retrieve her handbag which had fallen from her trolley when she had stopped so abruptly. But Lily got to it first, evidently not needing or wanting the help of this handsome young man.
"Can I help you with anything, Potter?"
"Well I was just going to escort you to our compartment," James replied, his hand flying to his hair to perform his token move: scruffing up his already scruffy hair in an attempt to get the 'just off the broomstick' look which was also similar to the 'just out of bed' look or more precisely the 'just out of bed which is still being occupied by a beautiful girl' look. Lily liked to stick with the broomstick theory though, it was a lot safer than having thoughts of James Potter in bed with some girl.
But thinking about his sexy bed hair allowed his comment to fly straight through one ear and out the other without registering in the least. "What? Did you just say our compartment?"she said, more than slightly confused.
James smiled. "Oh didn't you hear?" He pulled a small silver badge out of the pocket of his snug muggle jeans. "I'm head boy."
Lily's jaw dropped. She had been having such a good morning, despite her cautious attitude towards the day. She had been running on time for the first time in her life, Petunia had kept her mouth shut the whole trip to King's Cross Station and she had seen her best friend face to face again after two month of only sending owls, but know this bombshell had hit, worse than anything else James had ever done to her (including the time he had introduced himself to her parents as her boyfriend before fourth year) and all the good things about Lily's morning had been catapulted straight out the window. "You've got to be joking!"
"'Fraid not," said James looking rather pleased with himself.
Closing her eyes and counting slowly to ten, Lily tried to douse the rage that was building up inside her. What had Dumbledore been taking to allow this egotistical trouble-maker a hand in running the student population of his school? The Head student were in place as role models for the younger pupils but with James leading there was going to be less civility and cooperation and a hell of a lot more pranks and detentions. Upon opening her eyes, she found James's elbow presented to her in a suggestive manner. "Shall we," he said.
"I'll meet you there," Lily snorted as she pushed past him and walked away with her head held high.
The Head Boy and Girl's compartment on the Hogwarts Express was nothing more than sensational. The rich room was three times the size of a normal compartment and decked out in deep purple drapery with gold tassels. Two burgundy armchairs were placed in front of a roaring fire which, despite the fact that summer had only ended the day before, was welcome as the weather appeared to be more like the middle of winter. To the left of the armchairs sat the famous bar fridge which was indeed stocked with a treasury of wizarding food and drinks and to their right was a door that could only led to the bathroom; it seemed the head boy and girl's privileges extended as far as as exclusive bathroom, they could not be expected to use the public ones.
When Lily stepped into the room she completely forgot that she was on a train. After sliding her trunk into the available storage cupboard she eased herself into an armchair, thinking it was almost worth having to sit with James Potter for the whole journey.
It wasn't long though before her thought's were disturbed by the very person she seemed to have been thinking about. James and his three best friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, scurried into the compartment.
Lily felt the start of a headache coming about. The room which had once been quite and tranquil, even blocking out the sounds of students farewelling their parents on the platform below, was now suddenly filled with movement and disturbing noise as the boys know more collectively as the Marauders rampaged their way through. James slyly winked at Lily then moved on to store his trunk in the cupboard beside her own, whereas Sirius rushed straight for the bathroom and Peter scuttled over to the bar fridge, both calling out a hurried greeting to Lily.
"So how was your holiday Lily? You went to Paris didn't you?" Remus, who was the only one of the foursome that Lily could actually have a conversation with without wanting to pull her hair out, sat in the armchair next to her.
"Um, Yeah. It was great," she replied eagerly. "We walked up the Eifle Tower and visited the Lourve. All the touristy stuff. How about you? Get up to anything interesting?"
"We spent most of the time at James's. His mum loves us," Remus said with a laugh.
"Well, Mrs Potter is a lovely woman. I bet she can see a good side in everyone. Pity about how her son turned out, though." She threw a glance James's way and discovered him starring mesmerised at the contents of the fridge with Peter.
Remus looked over at his friend too. "I still don't understand why you don't like him, Lily. He's actually a great guy."
"No, he's a womaniser and a bully, not to mention he makes trouble at every opportunity he can," Lily said flatly.
"Do mine ears deceive me or am I being spoken about?" James asked as he toddled over to the armchairs with a pumpkin pastie in one hand and several chocolate frogs in the other. "It gives me a tingly feeling inside to know that you are thinking about me, Evans."
"Don't flatter yourself, Potter," Lily scowled up at him. 'It wasn't anything positive."
"Now, Now, Evans," James smirked. "You don't have to be ashamed of admitting how sexy you think I am."
"You know, I have this overwhelming desire to gauge my eyes out and make my eardrums burst just so I will never have to look at you or hear you even again."
James and Remus exchanged a unrecognisable look just as the bell which signalled the trains forthcoming departure, rung out.
"Well. I guess we'll be going then," Remus said standing up and pushing James off the arm of the chair. "I'll see you later, Lily." Lily gave him a weak smile. "Come over to our compartment soon, Prongs." He finished. Then he made his way towards the door, pulling Peter away from the bar fridge and calling out to Sirius as he went. Sirius emerged from the bathroom looking rather relieved.
"Awesome bathroom guys. Check ya later," and with that he too bounded into the trains corridor leaving Lily and James alone.
The two sat in silence, Lily starring into the flickering flames in the fireplace and James starring at Lily. "I thought you would at least be a bit civilised with me this term," said James after ten minutes of the uncomfortable silence as the train settled on a steady rhythm.
Lily kept her gaze locked on the fire. "Well you thought wrong."
Again quite settled over the compartment to Lily's joy. That was until James opened his big mouth and said "I thought you would have been nice to me after what happened last term."
"Why would you think that, Potter?" she scowled, still not sparring him a glance.
"Well, it might be because of the way you kissed me."
Lily's head flung up. She had been wondering when this subject would come up and had mentally prepared herself for it's occurrence, though now it was here she was not so sure her prepared arguments were up to scratch.
"Wait a minute, Potter. You're the one who kissed me, not the other way around."
"That may be true but I don't recall you pushing me away at all and yes, I do believe you were kissing me right back," James said before giving her an extra arrogant smirk.
Lily cringed. It was these kind of things that assured her dislike of the guy. "Well, believe me, Potter, I must have been concussed or something cause there is no way I would have done what I did if I had been of right mind," she said, a quiver of anger in her voice as she suppressed the urge to really express what she was feeling. "It was a mistake, pure and simple. I suggest you get over it."
Now it was James's turn to get angry, but, unlike Lily, he let it all rage out. "I knew you were going to say that," he shouted at her. "But you have no idea what you are talking about. I thought by giving you space at the end of last term you could clear your mind and really think about it and see that it was the right thing to happen. I can tell that you haven't thought about it at all, have you?" Lily looked down at her feet to avoiding his inquisitive glare. "And lo and behold, I was right. You wouldn't even give it, give us, a chance. You can't pretend it didn't mean anything, Lily. You must have felt it to?"
"I have boyfriend, Potter," Lily replied standing up and moving across the room to put as much distance between them as possible.
James almost laughed out loud. "Of course, Alex. How could I forget?" he said. "But he mustn't be much of a boyfriend if you're choosing me to release your sexual frustration."
Lily glared at him from her position beside the bar fridge. Perhaps she was not as ready as she thought.
"I was hardly sexu..."
"Having a boyfriend," James said in a menacing whisper, cutting her off mid sentence, "didn't stop you from pushing your body up against mine though, did it? Nor did it stop you from throwing your arms around my neck just so we could be that tiny bit closer or sticking your tongue down my damn throat."
This hit a nerve in Lily, just as he had planned it would. "Shut up," she cried, ditching a vase of flowers that had been sitting beside her at his head. "Just shut up, OK? I don't need this shit from you. I don't know why I kissed you, I was swept away in the mood of everything. It meant nothing and I really don't intend on it happening again, ever. So just get over it," she screamed this last bit at him then stormed towards the door, pushing James out of her way as she went, then strode out into the student-packed corridor, her auburn hair fanned out behind her in her haste, leaving James to mend the smashed vase.
She had searched through the whole train before she found Alex with three of his friends in a compartment in the very last carriage.
"Lily," he called when she stepped over the thresh hold into the compact room. She smiled at him in greeting. Here was the perfect guy willing to bend over backwards for her, and yet why James couldn't see that she and Alex were perfect for each other was a mystery to her. Clearly, James thought his somewhat attractive scruffiness and boyish charm could win her over more so then the classic blond hair, blue eyes look and sweet nature of Alex, but to Lily there was no comparison. James may be the dream guy for every other girl in Hogwarts but count Lily out, she had everything she could ever want with Alex. And there was definitely no sexual frustration between them; the nerve of Potter to suggest such a thing.
"Hi," she called back meekly. Perhaps a down fall to their relationship was the lack of comfort she felt when she and her boyfriend were together in the company of the other 7th year Ravenclaw boys. No matter how much she felt for Alex she could not be herself around his friends and it disturbed her to no end. Strangely when amongst James and his friends, no matter how much she disliked them, she was never afraid to speak her mind or even compete in a chocolate eclair eating contest with them. The judgement was just not there like with Alex's friends. She supposed it came with sharing a common room, seeing one another in pyjamas with thick, utterly ugly bed socks on and curlers in their hair led to an understanding amongst those within the houses.
Feeling Lily's tensions when he hugged her, Alex insisted they go for a walk to which she readily agreed and they stepped out of the compartment to a chorus of gleeful hoots from it's remaining occupants.
Once they were clear of the noise the Ravenclaw boys were making, Lily hastily took hold of her companions hand and pulled him all the way to her compartment at the front of the train. Knowing full well that James would still be there, drowning in the turmoil she had inflicted upon him, Lily thought she could crush his hope even further into oblivion. So when they reached her room, she yanked the door open and pulled Alex through it. Upon closing it, she pushed him up against it and kissed him with a passion she hoped he wouldn't recognise at fake.
"Ah hem."
Lily allowed herself a victory smirk before she swung her head around. "Oh, sorry Potter. We didn't see you there," she said full of nonchalance.
Expecting a rather nasty glare from the head boy at the least she was surprised to see a sickly-sweet smile on his face that, to her displeasure, appeared quite sincere. It wasn't suppose to be this way. In Lily's mind James was suppose to storm out of the compartment in a blind rage, perhaps punching the wall as he went, but, obviously, this was not going to happen. Damn it!
"But you know what would be really good? If you would just run along and give us some privacy," she tried, ignoring the fact that his smile had been like a wallop in the stomach. And she could have screamed when he turned his gaze from her onto Alex, ignoring her completely.
"Alex," he said. "How are you, man? Looking forward to the new quidditch season?"
Alex looked slightly confused, but unaware of the mounting tension between the two head students. "Ah, I'm great," he said sparring a glance at Lily who didn't even bother to conceal her annoyance. "Yeah, can't wait for quidditch. I'm captain this year." The two young men shook hands like they were old friends.
"Captain? Congratulations, mate. It's gonna be great coming up against you this year."
James and Alex continued talking quidditch and Lily continued to be engulfed with rage, not to mention sickened by the fake chummy act James was putting on with her boyfriend just to irritate her.
"Alex, let's go," she said, tugging on his arm like that of a small child when it's mother happened to come across an old friend she hadn't seen in months whilst out shopping. But like two big-mouthed women, the boys went on chatting, comfortably ignoring Lily in a rather patronising manner. She knew this was all part of James's plan to get on her nerves and, she hated to admit it, it was working. Angry at herself for being manipulated, James for being a prat and Alex for being an idiot and falling into James's trap, Lily announced to the air that she was going to look for Celeste and made for the door handle. But when she turned it and went to pull the door open she found it stuck fast. This was because James's hand was strategically placed on it holding it shut. Lily stared at him questionably.
"It's best to stay here, Evans," he said, halting mid-sentence in his discussion with Alex. "We, that is you and I, have to talk to the prefects about the rules and their duties and stuff at 12:30 and," James looked at his watch, "seeing as it's 20 past you don't really have time to wonder around the train."
With her mouth shut and eyes locked on the ground, Lily pushed her way past James and Alex and threw herself into one of the armchairs, counting slowly to ten as she did. No-one brought out at much rage in her as James did and she hated to be affected by him in such a manner. How one simple comment or action from him could cause the breath to be taken from her or her heart to start pulsating much to fast for her liking, she had no idea.
She was still fuming when Alex dropped a quick kiss on her head and left, leaving her, yet again, with her arch enemy. Unfortunately, James realised this as well and took advantage of the situation.
"Excellent Public Display of Affection if I do say so myself," he said, fixing himself a goblet of pumpkin juice.
Lily didn't say anything, afraid of what may come out of her mouth if she did open it.
Instead James kept talking. "If I wasn't such a gentleman I'd say you were trying to make me jealous."
Lily snorted. "Gentleman? You don't talk yourself up at all, do you?" she replied sarcastically.
"Don't change the subject, Evans." There was an edge to James voice that Lily did not like and he was now far to close for comfort. "The only reason you brought him here was to rub it in my face."
"Well excuse me, Potter, but I think I'm allowed to kiss my boyfriend when and where ever I like. And if front of whomever." She added as an afterthought.
James smiled his devious little smile. "Lily," he whispered, "stop trying to prove to yourself that your in love with that guy cause, simply, you're not."
"And what do you know of love?" Lily practically hissed at him. "sleeping around is not classified as love."
Lily's heart was thrashing around inside her ribcage threatening to break out and hit the wall of the speeding train. It seemed she had allowed the one thing that she had been keeping her mouth shut on escape and now there was no way to take it back. She knew it was not true; yes, he had the bad boy thing going, but James was not the type to have a different girl in his bed every other night, although his reputation among the Hogwarts population said otherwise.
Silently James swallowed the remainder of his pumpkin juice and put the goblet down with a heavy thud.
"You know, if you would for just once in your life give up the whole pompous bitch act and not stick your nose up into the air whenever I walk by but get to actually know me, then perhaps you would discover that your current view of me is completely wrong. But you can't be proven wrong, can you? You always have to be right or else that seed of doubt from knowing you were wrong would start to grow and soon engulf you until you find that your perfect self would be floored and your whole world would collapse around you because you don't even know who you are any more. It's really quite pathetic actually. And yet, I can't stop feeling something for you. So which one of us is really the pathetic one?"
Then he opened the compartment door magically with a flick of his wrist and walked out.
The meeting of the prefects took about half an hour. Lily had been late, more to her own annoyance than everyone else's, because once the tears had begun after James had left she couldn't seem to stop them and soon it was 12:40 and the meeting had started. By the time she had composed herself and reached the prefect compartment, in had been fifteen minutes and James was already halfway through a speech about the duty and obligations of a prefect. Lily mumbled her apology giving no excuses and took a seat next to James whom didn't even spare her a glance.
She sat there in silence, starring out the window at the green meadow rushing past, James words barely reaching her ears until fingers were harshly snapped in front of her face and she was pulled out of her daze.
"What?" she asked irritably.
"I was just wondering if there was anything you wanted to add?" James said.
"No, I think you've covered it all."
"How can you tell? You haven't listened to one word I've said," he asked with a slight edge to his voice.
Lily cheeks flushed crimson. "Well, if you weren't such an insufferable bore I would be able to actually pay attention," she said, producing a laugh from all the other occupants in the compartment. "So if were done, I'll be on my way. Goodbye everyone."
Once she was out of the cramped room, she heaved a much needed breath, she was still coming to terms with what James had said. Half of her knew what James was saying was true, to some extent, and the other half wanted to slap him hard in the face for calling her a pompous bitch and disregard everything else he had as said as completely ludicrous. Thankfully, he seemed to ignore her when he entered their compartment only a minute or so after her. He threw himself into one of the puffy armchairs without so much as a word to her, whilst Lily busied herself in her trunk, intent on finding the magazine she was sure she had packed last night. A vigorous scratching noise could be heard from behind, most likely a tactic to announce to Lily that James was still there, or so Lily thought.
The room was thickly layered in a blanket of tension, dense as custard and served with small amounts of malice from both parties. Lily had taken to tiptoeing around the room, trying not to disturb James as though he were on his death bed awaiting the grim reapers cold clutches, but she may as well have started pounding on a gong for all James heard. He was too emerged in his writing, effortlessly blocking out all the noise that surrounded him, especially Lily.
Despite the trepidation, peace settled in the compartment, as both Head Students kept solely to themselves. Lily, who had, by this time, packed a small bag of her belongings that would occupy her for the next five hours until the train reached it's destination, was set to escape to Celeste's compartment, afraid to say anything to James though in case it break the preferred distance that had grown between them. It was as she was about the step out the door when a warning bell started to ring. Lily stopped dead in her tracks, too frightened to even move while the scratching of James quill hastily subsided.
A loud voice voice carried throughout the train.
"Students," it said. "Please move to a compartment immediately. No one is to be in the corridors at all. I repeat, please move to a compartment immediately and do not leave until further notice. Thank you."
James's head snapped up as the echo's of the voice diminished. "Stay here. I'll check it out," he said to Lily who was still latched on to the door handle, looking slightly bedazzled. There was a loud pop then James was gone, leaving Lily and her confusion to turn into worry. Before long though anger seemed to take worries place, and she was getting rather annoyed at being left in the dark-she was only Head Girl for Merlin's sake. She deserved to know what was happening; she could help after all, whatever it was that was causing the delay. How bad could it be? Unless it's Voldemort!
With that thought she hastily took back her aid, not that anyone had actually heard what she was thinking. But, still, she should at least know what the problem is. It's only fair as James knows already. Where was James anyway? Surely he should have been back by now? Could Lily even rely on him to come back and tell her? Then, being the impatient fool that she is, Lily made up her mind and, without the licence to apparate, stepped through the door despite the drivers warning.
Lily wasn't stupid, although some times it might appear that she was. She knew that the hold up was being caused by something in the corridor of the train or else there would be no need to have them clear. So, before she left her compartment and as to be on the safe side, she grabbed her wand out of her pocket for the ready and the first thing she came across that was long and hard that she could defend herself with, which happened to be a fire poker.
With wand and fire poker in hand, Lily slowly stepped towards the door, throwing the bag from her shoulder as she went. Her hand shaking slightly, she grasped the handle and opened the door just a crack, looking through. Lily was relieved when she found nothing on the other side, nothing except a rush of hot air and the smell of burnt plastic. Cautiously she moved into the corridor and began to creep towards the drivers compartment.
It came as a surprise to her when she came across a thick log, over a metre in length and browny/red in colour, lying haphazardly in her path, blocking her way. Knowing nothing in the magical world was what it seemed and therefore not having the courage to touch it, her best bet to becoming more enlightened to what this 'log' actually was, was to give it a little prod with her trusty fire poker. So, slowly, she lowered the metal pike closer to the object, fearing what may happen once it made contact with what appeared to be rough bark.
The fire poker had barely meet it before two small lids were retracted revealing beneath them eyes that held no irises or pupils, only pure whiteness juxtaposed against the stark brown of the creatures skin.
Lily let escape a small scream as she jumped back from the strange creature. Timidly, she began walking backwards, towards the door of her compartment, watching in shock as the animal unfolded six stumpy brown legs and pushed itself up of the floor. Steam came sizzling out of notches in it's back and a thick wave of heat engulfed Lily, leaving her slightly breathless and eager to get as far away as possible from the thing. So, without a second though, and hoping that those fat little legs could not run very fast, she bolted back the way she came. Reaching the Heads compartment door, she yanked it open without a glance behind her incase she did see the frightening creature. A sense of relief cascaded over her as she slammed the door shut and leaned up against it, listening to the heavy beating of her heart.
"So, how was your meeting with the Austral-Asian Salamander?" James was back and sitting in his armchair, a malicious grin spread across his handsome face.
"Oh my God," Lily exclaimed, half from her encounter with the animal and half from being startled by James. "That is one of the most evil-looking things I have ever seen." Steadily she walked towards James and flopped into her own armchair, still rather shaky.
"Well," said James, still harbouring a smirk. "That's what you get for being impatient."
"Hey! Why should I have to wait around for you to inform me of a problem like that thing? I'm Head girl, I deserve to know these things as they are happening. And you were gone for like twenty minutes. Surely it doesn't take you that long to go find out what was wrong and come back. Do you know how worried I was? I thought it was Voldemort or something."
James stared at her cautiously through her rant. "Done yet?" he asked to which she sent him a glare. "I was about to tell you actually, but when I got back you had just stepped through the door."
"You saw me leaving, knowing full well what was out there, and yet you didn't stop me or call me back in?" she said in disgust.
"Nope," said James evenly. "I wanted to see how you handled the situation."
Lily just stared at him in complete outrage, her mouth slightly open and eyebrow dangerously low.
James Sighed. "I was going to come and rescue you if you were out there for over five minutes."
"And I wasn't?"
"No, you were out there for about four minutes and, I 'd say, twenty seconds."
Lily had to take a big breath and let it out slowly before she was able to reply without exploding. "So, I've got to be dead four five minutes before you come and rescue me?"
"Pretty much," said James nonchalantly.
Lily sighed, too tired and shaken up to be overtly angry. "Well, next time I'm in mortal danger I'll know not to call on you."
"Oh, I'm sure Alex will always be there to help," James mumbled more to himself than her.
Lily, being the bigger person for the time being, chose to ignore his comment and instead asked about the creature that was rampaging around the train.
"It was an Austral-Asian Salamander," James told her, matter of factly. Lily gave him a confused look as encouragement to continue. "Well, about 40 years ago some crazy wizard scientist bred an Australian salamander with a Chinese fireball dragon, how though, I can't tell you, seeing as they are as different in size as a hippogriff and a fairy. Anyway, the salamander that you saw in the corridor was the ending result. Not very attractive, hey?"
Lily was about to tell him that she found that story a bit hard to believe when they heard a loud pop and turned around to find Sirius standing atop the bar fridge, looking rather distressed.
"Damn," he said, "I can never get the placement right."
"Nice entry," Lily said condescendingly, as their visitor jumped off his perch.
"Shut up," Sirius replied, a lot more playfully than Lily's tone. He turned to James, "So what 's happening with the salamander?"
"Ah, you've been to see them?" James said, picking up his parchment and quill again. Lily felt rather nauseous knowing that there were more than one of the fiery creatures.
Sirius pretended to look shocked. "Do you really believe that we would do something that we were specifically told not to do?"
"Of course," Lily replied without even thinking about it.
"Yeah, well, actually we sent Wormtail out to check." James laughed. Lily scowled. It was disgusting the way James and Sirius treated Peter and Lily couldn't wait for the day that Peter turned around and gave his friends what was deservedly coming to them. "Anyway," Sirius continued, "how are the getting rid of them?"
"A few guys from the Control of Magical Creatures Department are coming to get them," James informed his friend.
"Those old gits?" Sirius snorted. "They couldn't pluck a Cornish pixie out of a cage, so what good are they going to be with these fire-breathing monstrosities? I mean we could do a better job then them."
"Yeah, I'm sure you could. Just do your signature hair flick and they will fall at your feet like all those stupid, stupid girls," Lily said sarcastically, pulling a magazine out of her backpack and flipping through it randomly.
"We've had to battle worst," James said quietly, not lifting his head up,away from his writing.
"Like what?" Lily scoffed.
James and Sirius exchanged an amused look. James lent over the side of his chair towards Lily, beaconing her to do the same. "If I told you I'd have to kill you."
Lily smirked. "I think I'll take my chances."
James tried to hide the smile that tugged at his mouth. "Well," he said. "I could tell you over a trip to Hogsmead, you know, just the two of us."
"Geeze, Potter. Not that shit again," Lily cried, pulling away from him. "I'm not going to go out with you, ever!" Then she stood up angrily and walked to the door to the corridor outside before remembering that she was confined to the compartment for what may be the rest of the train journey. James and Sirius laughed at her as she stormed back over to her armchair and sat down in a huff.
"Look," said James kindly as he wiped the tears of laughter from his face. "I'll let you think it over." Lily gave him a loathsome look. "I'm going to Sirius's compartment for awhile. Try not to get into any trouble." Then both boys were gone before she had a chance to retort.
Lily didn't even fall into her usual ranting to herself but the viciousness could be seen on her face long after the two friends had disapparated. But at least she was alone again, or more specifically, not in the same room as James Potter, and she did have a lot of time to waste, so she easily immersed herself in a book. It didn't take long though for her mind to wander from the pages of "Forbidden Destiny", especially after the big kissing sequence occurred, and rest on thoughts of James and the impulsive kiss they had shared before school had ended last term.
Lily had been sitting in the restricted section of the library, impatiently waiting for James. Much to Lily's dismay, they had been assigned to do an essay and presentation together for advanced potions.
Strategically placed, as not to be seen by the rest of the library, the restricted section was hidden in the furthest corner of the west wing, separated by a foreboding scarlet rope across the slim entrance and a barricade of tall shelves. This part of the library was shaped into a semicircle with one solitary wooden table in the centre, at which Lily sat when James strolled through the shadowed doorway.
"Finally, you decide to join me" she whispered harshly.
James sat down opposite her. "Stampeding hippogriffs couldn't have stopped me from meeting with you, Evans." A smug smile twinkled over his face. Lily scowled at his attempt to charm her.
"So, what's happening?" James asked, swinging his legs onto the table and leaning back so the front legs of his chair left the floor.
"A little thing called homework, Potter. I don't think you're acquainted with it."
Silently, James reached into a small bag that he had flung haphazardly onto the table and extracted a quill and roll of parchment.
"You actually came prepared. I'm impressed," said Lily.
"I aim to please."
Lily tried not to smile. She did not want James to know that he had affected her in such a way. "Right, first we need to find some books and articles on Veritaserum," she said, taking charge of the situation which was not at all unusual. "You start that end and I'll start this end. Ok?"
James nodded his consent. "And then we meet in the middle?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Potter."
After some time of searching for anything that would aid them with their assignment, of stealing secret glances at each other but never meeting eyes, Lily was ready to strangle the Hogwarts Librarian, Madam Pince, and her lack of structure for the book in the restricted section. Surely,she thought bitterly, an alphabetical system would not go astray. And it would make looking for things a hell of a lot easier. Evil woman. Always had it in for...
"Sickle for your thoughts?" A voice said from her left, breaking her train of thought.
"What?" she snapped at James who was looking at her intently.
"Just wondering what you were thinking of."
"Oh," she said a lot more politely. "I was thinking of how much of a bitch Madam Pince is."
James laughed loudly, making her smile again. Why, though, she had no idea. Lately James had been evoking in her feeling that were not anger or indifference and she hated it because she still did not like him in the least. And it was all rather confusion on her behalf.
She quickly turned back to the shelves and the books they held, trying her best to discourage James from talking to her any more. But it seemed she wished to hard for something to draw James's attention away from her for, suddenly there came a crash and a high-pitched giggle.
"Peeves!" they called out in unison. Both Lily and James stopped what they were doing and tried to locate the source form which the giggle came . It didn't take them long to find the mischief-maker as he was lying on a bit of empty shelf that had been previously occupied by the pile of books that he had just knocked off.
"Go away, Peeves." Lily whispered dangerously.
"What?" the Poltergeist shrieked. "Can't hear you Evans. You'll have to speak up."
Lily looked furious, and, had she seen the smile James had plastered on his face as he watched the colour rise in her own cheeks, she would definitely have succumbed to being livid.
"I will not tell you again," she hissed up at Peeves who was now blowing large raspberries in her direction. "Get lost!"
Peeves, being Peeves, did not take her warning. Instead he began to tap dance across the top of the bookshelves, singing crude lyrics to the tune of his rhythmic feet.
"Potty loved the girl Evans
She always took him to heavens
When they was in the sack
She always gave him a whack
Now their feeding the other sevens"
Lily felt herself blush. Despite her outgoing demeanour, she was way to modest to think of the kind of relations Peeves was suggesting and it was ten times worst when it was James and herself in the picture. She hastily diverted her eyes to the ground to hide her embarrassment until her curiosity got the better of her and she found herself no longer starring at the ground but at James's passive face, eager to know what his thoughts on the matter were; not that she would ever ask directly.
His facial expression did not tell her much, though, as he had taken to glaring neutrally up at the prancing poltergeist like he was bored with the whole thing. "Though you are hilariously entertaining, Peeves," he called out over the terrible racket being made. His voice was strong and steady, but not in the over-confident, egotistical way, more like a solicitor talking his way through a court case. "And we would love to keep on watching but the thing is were doing an errand for the Bloody Baron and if we're distracted form doing this errand he'll be murderous towards whoever it was that did the distraction. Understand?"
Fear flickered over Peeves' white face as his song and dance came to an abrupt halt.
James continued whilst Lily could only gaze at him in wonder. "So if you have any sense in that pea-sized brain you'll know that when the Baron finds out that you've been causing trouble he won't be very happy with you. You don't want to give him a reason to be unhappy with you, do you Peeves?"
Peeves seemed to contemplate what James was suggesting to him. But it didn't take him long to give an ugly smirk full of sharp, yellow teeth and say, "Well if Potty wants to be alone with Evans so badly, Peeves will give him his wish." Then he dived off the top of the bookshelves with a screech and a scream from Lily, heading straight for James. At the last second he swerved and began the climb back up towards the celing where there were still books on the top most shelf, which he strategically pushed off onto Lily, who's only protection was her arms thrown hastily over her head as an initial reflex. But her arms were not effective enough as she crumbled to the cold stone floor as everything went black and the heavy thud of books pounding down around her like bombs being dropped on an unsuspecting enemy disappeared.
When she came back to, her head was throbbing and her eyes felt like they were glued together. A soft moan escaped from her lips as she remembered what had happened. Damn Peeves. Then she heard someone gently calling her name and upon opening her heavy eyes the face of her own enemy slowly came into focus.
"James," she whispered uncertainly.
"Are you okay?" His voice was think with concern, and it touched her deep inside.
"I think so but my head really hurts," she replied as she pulled herself into a sitting position. As soon as she had lent on her right arm though, she cried out painfully and almost collapsed again; it was then that James noticed her normally white shirt clinging to her shoulder, scarlet with her steadily flowing blood.
James cursed loudly. "You're bleeding. There's blood everywhere." And sure enough, when Lily shifted her head around to see behind her the floor where she had previously been lying was slippery with it, as where several of the books around it. One leather bound book in particular seemed to be drinking in the sticky, red liquid like a sponge until most of the blood on the floor was gone. James quickly stopped the bleeding with a simple halting spell for which Lily was thankful; she was afraid the book might latch itself onto her back for more.
She quickly turned around again part from the dizziness that was coming over her by having her neck twisted so far around and part because the sight of the blood-sucking book was making bile rise in her throat. But she overcame that feeling and began undoing the first few buttons of her blouse in order to slip it off her shoulder and see her injury more clearly now that the flow had stopped. She heard James' sharp intake of breath as she exposed her tainted shoulder but could not decide whether it was because of the severity of her wound or because she was so easily taking her clothes off in front of him.
"Is it that bad?" she asked tentatively not daring to look at him. "Cause now I'm fully awake it hurts like a bitch."
"I'm not really sure," James replied. "Let me just clean it up a bit." She felt the cool touch of his fingers as he carefully lifted the strap of her bra away from the deep gash and pushed it down her arm, never letting his touch be broken from her skin. "Scourgify," he whispered. The blood that had dripped down her back was syphoned off, and even her wound cleaned itself of blood, leaving her skin once again it natural creamy white colour but only paler.
"It's pretty nasty," he continued, examining the more than slightly gaping cut. "But don't worry, I can fix it."
Before Lily had a chance to object and suggest she just go to the hospital wing there begun a deep, throaty whisper from the boy sitting behind her. The spell felt like neither gas or liquid but a mixture of the two as it cascaded down her bare back, relieving the intense pain as it inched the skin back together and welded it like a blow torch upon two sheets of metal.
When James voice halted and the spell ended an involuntary shiver raced down her spine and she couldn't stop the large sigh that escaped. "Where did you learn to do that?" She asked, breathlessly.
"Oh, my mum," James replied, shyly. "She's a healer at St Mungo's, you know."
Lily smiled to herself; who would have thought it, Potter actually learning something that would help people instead of harming them.
"You may have a scar though." James voice cut through her thoughts and she felt him place his hand on her still bare shoulder and run his thumb gently up and down the healed but still tender wound.
Again a shiver fluttered down her spine, unnerving her to no end by the effect James touch was having on her. She didn't realise she had turned her head but still found her eyes locked together with those of the young man in front of her. Emerald green to bronzed hazel. And something seemed to just click. So when James leaned slowly into her she didn't move away or hesitate, she merely prepared herself with a lick of her lips and moved towards him in anticipation of the kiss she knew was about to occur.
She didn't delay in putting her hand to his rough cheek once they were connected, gently caressing it with her fingers and encouraging him on. And it seemed only natural to ran her hands up into his hair, making what was already unkempt an unruly mess. In fact, the whole situation seemed like the most natural thing in the world, especially when Lily opened her mouth to allow James access and her head began to spin with pleasure. Needing more, she swung her body around to face him, not allowing their lips to separate for even a second, and pushed her chest against his, feeling the rapid beating of his heart through their clothing. But even that did not seem to be close enough for the two teenagers. Lily's arms had now encircled James neck, one hand still running haphazardly through his hair, loving the way it felt between her fingers, as James wrapped his own arms around her lower back, sliding soft folds of her waist length hair between his fingers like pieces of scarlet velvet ribbon.
Hours could have passed for all they noticed, completely unaware of their surroundings. Too captivated with each other, they were. It wasn't until they were blasted apart by a spell did they realise they were being watched.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" It was as though a small earth quake had struck under the restricted section of the Hogwarts library. Shelves shook violently. Books of all shapes and sizes rained down. Ever candle blazed up into an inferno for a split second then flickered out. It was as though the apocalypse had arrived. But really it all came from one ferocious woman.
"Kissing in the library!" Madam Pince shrieked like Lily had never heard her shriek before which was unbelievably daunting as the Hogwarts Librarian's natural voice seemed to be shriek. Lily and James hadn't moved an inch since they were thrown across the room, to surprised to even react to the middle aged woman or wipe her spittle off their faces which seemed to reach them from over seven metres where she stood at the archway entrance. "This is not some kind of adolescent whore house. Now out. Out!"
Despite Lily and James's best impressions of stunned mullets, they did not need telling twice. They were on their feet within a instant, grabbing their bags from the lonely table before they shot past Madam Pince with their eyes kept on the ground as it whooshed below them. The began a sprint when a howl of pure rage filled the air: Madam Pince must have seen the splattering of Lily's blood on the books and ground.
They didn't stop the sprint until they were safely in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Lily...I was calling you...Why...didn't you stop?" James said in puffs as he clutched the stitch in his side.
Lily ignored him though, shouting "Daffodils," the password into Gryffindor Tower at the time, before stepping back to allow the portrait to swing forward. She was determined for him not to see the tears pouring silently down her face and she didn't even know why. Hell she didn't even know why she was crying in the first place. She had just been hit with a tidal wave of emotions and they seemed to be getting the best of her, leaving her broken and in severe need of chocolate, a pillow and Celeste.
Unfortunately, the uncontrollable shaking of her shoulders exposed what she was so desperately trying to hide.
"Lily, what's wrong?"
Again without giving him an answer, Lily climbed through the portrait hole, into the Gryffindor common room and was halfway to the staircase leading up to the girls dormitory when James grabbed her upper arm firmly and swung her around to face him, whilst everyone in the room turned to watch.
"What's wrong? What did I do?" He cried.
"Don't touch me, Potter," was all she felt she could get out if she didn't want to crumble to the ground in complete turmoil. Instead of becoming a total wreck in public though, she was able to rip her arm out of his grasp and run up to her dormitory where she could cry into her pillow for as long as she wanted without the intrusion of James Potter or any of the other insensitive males that walked the Earth's surface.
Lily sighed as she was thrust back into present day as the Hogwarts Express, heading towards her last year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, gave a particularly violent jerk. Even now, after the months she had to think about and forget what had happened with James, she felt uncomfortable with herself for having acted so brash and well...girly. It was not like her at all. And yet, her actions did seem to have warned James off a bit so that was an upside. But was ten weeks of freedom worth the ten months of having to live alone with her enemy. Now the cards had been dealt and Lily had to make of them what she could to keep the year from getting any worse.
WARNING: This piece of writing is the work of a Obsessive, Compulsive Perfectionist. Do not expect regular posts. Be glad that it only took her three years to write this chapter.