Lily tapped her foot impatiently on the hard, stone floor of the Head's living room. Stupid toerag, she thought irritably as she glanced at the clock high above the fireplace. 9:47AM it read. He was supposed to me her exactly 17 minutes ago. Leave it to Potter to piss her of on such a lovely morning. Lily hated people who couldn't keep to their time.
She was sitting on one of the cushion couches, with the rolls of parchment that they had planned on filling with the schedules for the following month. There were lots to be done, not to mention the additional essays and schoolwork she already had waiting on her desk.
Lily had heard of Dumbledore's greatness and unique ways. But he'd really lost it this time, making Potter Head Boy to her Head Girl. How could he think that they could work together let alone breathe in the same room! Potter had spent a good part of his years at Hogwarts asking Lily out each time they met in the corridors. He'd jinxed her bag to split just before classes and she'd turned his hair blue on various occasions. He'd randomly stood on his chair in the Great Hall and proposed his love for her in the third year and she'd dumped a glass of pumpkin juice on his head, much to the Marauder's amusement. Their fights in the common room had become a spectator sport for the rest as he continuously teased her and she promised to hex him into smithereens.
But now, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and get the job done without losing her head. Potter had matured a bit and true, a sort of friendship was budding between them but she wasn't going to give him any space for nonsense. She glanced at the clock again. 10.00AM. Screw it, she thought and flung the quills aside and stomped into her room. Just as she was about the slam the door, the door to the Tower opened and James scrambled in along with his broom and muddy shoes. He frantically looked around the room and finally saw Lily glaring daggers at him from her door.
"Evans! I'm so sorry I'm late! I got hung up at Quidditch practice. The tryouts took longer than I thought and then they asked me to show them some skills and you know, I couldn't say not to that but-"
"Oh save it, Potter! I'm tired of your reasons. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do," she slammed the door.
"But, Evans!" James groaned internally. He'd finally been getting into her good pages, if not books. At least now she didn't hex him on sight. He liked working with her. Hell, he liked doing anything which made Lily hate him less. But this time, he'd ruined it. Sighing he trudged up to his room, diagonally opposite to Lily's. On the way, he saw the rolls of blank parchment that gazed at him with mockery. Scowling, he snatched them up and marched into his room. He could fix this, he would fix it. Determined to make it up to her, he threw his broom, clothes and shoes into a muddy pile in the corner of the room and hurried into the bathroom for a hasty shower. Ten minutes later, he was furiously working away on the schedules. He assigned each Prefect to their duties, allotted time slots for night patrols, organized meetings ever week and managed to avoid clashes between Lily's study hours at the library and his Quidditch practices. Two hours later, he was done. He studied his handiwork one last time, making sure that there was no room for error. Feeling satisfied, he stood up and stretched noisily. With a tired sigh he bundled up the parchments into neat little rolls and tied them up with green ribbons. Lily's eyes, he thought absently and allowed himself a self-satisfactory smile.
Lily was lying on her bed, gazing at the rows of mountains and clouds that stretched across the sky outside her window. One of the best parts about being Head Girl was that she got her own room with a beautiful view high up on the castle. She hadn't felt like doing her any of her homework. All she could think of was James and how cute he looked when he was truly frustrated.
Shut up, Lily, she scolded herself. You seriously did not call James Potter cute.
She felt guilty for being a bit hard on him. He had been making it up to her for quite some time now and she knew how bloody his Quidditch practices would get. Sighing, she pushed herself up and opened the door. Those schedules had to be done or McGonagall would have their heads. Lily headed up to the table where she'd left all her stuff. She hadn't even bothered to take them back. But what she saw surprised her so much that she stopped in her tracks. Three neat scrolls of parchments together with ribbons lay on the table. She opened it carefully and her eyebrows shot up as she assessed each one of them.
Damn, Potter. I give you less credit than you deserve. They were perfect, she couldn't have done it better herself. Feeling worse than ever, she glanced at the clock. It was almost 1.00PM; she'd been uselessly lying on her bed for three hours while he had worked his socks off to make it up to her. Reluctantly, she got up from the couch and walked over to his room. She knocked timidly at the door.
"It's open!" he shouted from inside.
Lily unlocked it and peered inside. Her mouth went dry. James was on the floor, bench pressing. His shirt was drenched with sweat as he looked up to see who it was and scrambled into a standing position on seeing her. "Lily! It's you! Again, about earlier today, I'm really sorry! I should have come earlier. It's just that-"
She held up her hand, stepping into the room. "No James, it's okay. I guess I overreacted too. And I saw these." She held up the rolls. "They're perfect. You shouldn't have done it all on your own, you know. I would have helped too." She smiled ruefully.
James' ran his fingers though his hair absentmindedly. "Thanks," he said grinning. "That's means a lot coming from you," he winked.
"Don't push it, Potter." Lily rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. They stood staring at each other for a few seconds, trying to think of what to say next. Lily cleared her throat, wishing he wouldn't stare so intently at her, "So, push ups huh?" she asked nodding at the floor. "Well yeah, Evans, got to stay in shape, right?" he said and gracefully dropped back to the floor.
Lily watched fascinated as his muscles rippled beneath his T-shirt. She swallowed and tried to look away, but he caught her expression. "Evans, you're staring." His face spilt into a smirk. She blushed deeply and muttered something intelligible and looked away. She had never been into a boy's room before. Eying the muddy clothes in the corner, she made a face and quickly walked away. She saw pieces of clothing hanging off the side of his closet. His desk was cluttered with books, notes and quills. She saw a picture of a younger James along with a middle-aged man and woman. They were smiling warmly at her. She could see the resemblance. His father had the same dark hair and he had his mother's hazel eyes. "My parents," he said quietly behind her. Lily turned to say something but stopped short. He'd removed his shirt and his bare shoulders glistened with sweat. Her eyes widened as she stared at his taut stomach and narrow waist. When she finally looked at his face, there was a hint of a smile lurking on his lips as his eyes glittered with something much darker. He took a step forward and she instinctively stepped back and her legs found the edge of his bed. He was so close that she could feel the heat coming off his body. One part of her brain was screaming at her to run, but she stood paralyzed to the spot as James slowly brushed his hand across her cheek. She leaned into him on an impulse as he wrapped his arm around her waist, lifting her up in one fluid motion and pushing her onto the bed. He crawled up along the length of her long slender legs and finally gazed down at her as she held her breath. Lily lifted her hands and curled them around his neck. Droplets of sweat trickled down the side of her arms. "Lily, you're utterly beautiful," he whispered. He kissed her collar bone and trailed his tongue all the way to her neck. Lily clutched to fistfuls of his hair as he nibbled at her ear lobe. She moaned and felt his smile against her neck. He was pressing her down into the soft mattress. She felt overwhelmed by his proximity. He smelled divine, like pine and citrus. His lips gently pressed into hers. He kissed her slowly and coaxed her lips open. His tongue was demanding, molding, dominating. He tugged at her lower lip and Lily arched her back into him, wanting to feel as much as of him possible. James was breaking each one of her barriers like it didn't exist. Her emotions went into turmoil as she realized how much she felt for him and never realized it. Feeling her tense, James looked down at her with concern.
"Lily? Are you okay? Are you crying?" he was startled. Lily was surprised herself as she brushed away her tears hastily. "I'm fine, James. It's just that…" she didn't know how to tell him without sounding like a weak, insecure little girl that she knew she was. "Lily, please tell me." James held her wrists firmly and forced her to look at him. She tried to blink back her tears which were now pooling in her eyes. Words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them, "My parents died last year. They were attacked. It was unprovoked and unfair. Death eaters. Many families died that day. Mine was among them. They did it just to scare the people and the Ministry. Why my family, James?!" She burst into sobs. "Seeing your picture there reminded me just how much I missed them. My sister blames it all on me. I'm the freak, remember?" she let out a strangled laugh.
"I've tried to concentrate on studies and forget everything else since then. But it's been hard. And I…I couldn't help liking you. But I was too scared to say anything. I thought you didn't like me anymore." Lily looked down, cursing herself for opening up to him.
James sat up, pulling her with him on to his lap and held her firmly against his chest. "I'm sorry about your family, Lily, I never knew. I had no clue." His arm tightened around her, almost protectively. "I've always liked you, Lils. I knew from the moment I set my eyes on you that you were meant for me."He looked down at her and brushed her tears away with his thumbs. "I'll always be there for you, Lily. You'll never be alone, I promise." He sounded utterly sincere. Lily smiled at him, feeling warmth and happiness fill her veins as her heart brimmed with hope once again.
James Potter never broke his promise.