You know the drill: I own nothing you recognize from HP books 1-7, or anything else that was originally from JKR. Everything else is miinneee... O_O
This is just another Marauders era fic, just my idea of what happened. It starts off 6th year, and I have no idea how long I'll be writing it for.
Reviews are like freshly baked cookies... With chocolate chips.
Thanks, hope you enjoy it :)
I don't think that the fire had ever seemed so welcoming as it did when I walking into the common room that December night. The sky had clouded over long enough ago, but it didn't seem to matter that the stars were no longer visible. There was something about spending Christmas at Hogwarts that made it somehow more special; it really made everything feel more like family.
"Evening, Marley," Lily said, from where she was curled up in the corner of the seat. "How're you?"
"I'm great thanks, you? Feeling any better?"
"Yeah, a bit. Still a bit achey, though. How was the end of the feast?"
"It was nice. Pudding was amazing this year."
"Which means lots of chocolate, right?"
"Lots and lots of chocolate."
I grinned, and flopped down onto the sofa, grabbing a cushion to hug. I have no idea why, but when I was happy, I always hugged cushions. Just one of those things, I guess.
And at that exact moment, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin walked through the portrait hole. James and Sirius were acting as if they were the coolest of cool, and to be fair they were looking pretty cool today, and Remus was walking behind them, like the brother keeping an eye out for them. James saw Lily, so obviously they bee-lined to where we were sitting. I noticed Lily roll her eyes slightly as James sat on the arm of her chair and slid down so he was practically squashing her. Sirius has sat on the other seat of the sofa I was on, his arm lolling over the back, and Remus was sitting on the rug by the fire.
"You know this is making it pretty hard for me to breath?" Lily said, wincing.
"I guess it is," James replied, smirking. "Would you mind if I asked where you went in the middle of the feast?"
"I felt sick, and my head hurt."
"Ah. So you probably don't want me sitting on you right now?"
"Nope."
James smiled to himself, and slid from the chair to the floor, leaning against her legs.
"So, Evans?"
"Not again, James..." Remus sighed, and looked back into the fire.
"Not after you just nearly suffocated her," Sirius warned.
"No, no, I have a good feeling about this time..."
"I don't," Sirius said quietly. I think I was the only one who heard, even if he didn't intend me to.
"Lily Evans, will you go out with me?" James said, with pleading in his eyes.
"Thanks for the sentiments, but no."
"How many times have I heard that and known that you were wrong?"
"You're deluded."
"Wait, wait, wait, I have another one up my sleeve."
"Oh, no..." Sirius said, rolling his head back, and Remus laughed in a you-already-know-what's-going-to-happen sort of way.
"Lily Evans..." James sat up and somehow managed to move so he was balancing on one knee...
"Oh no oh no," I said, whilst Sirius murmured, "I knew that was a really bad idea..."
James was half laughing as he was talking. "Will you marry me?"
"You have got to be kidding me," Lily said. "Erm, I'm sorry, James, but I'm going to have to refuse."
"Why?" James asked, faking innocence.
"Why what?"
"Why no?"
"Because nobody could ever be able to refuse someone like you proposing like that, Jamsie," Sirius said, hiding his hysterics.
"No. Because you're probably just joking around anyways. And I'm 16 and we're still in school and... Can you really see us married, with you being all desperate and asking me out every other hour?"
There was an awkward pause. "You think I'm being desperate?" James asked quietly.
"I, er, think we should leave them to it..." Sirius whispered, and I nodded. Sirius gestured to Remus, and the three of us walked off into the corner of the common room.
I don't know why, but things had suddenly turned very cold. I hugged myself and leaned against the wall, whilst we watched James and Lily try to talk about what had just happened. It was a pretty dire situation really, beacuse now Lily would be feeling bad for James and James would be trying to figure out where to go from there.
"He shouldn't have proposed," Sirius muttered. "Thats where it all went wrong..."
"You think?" I said.
He looked across at me with raised eyebrows. "No, I'm just guessing."
"Do you think this is going to change the whole dynamic of, well, everything?" Remus asked.
"Maybe. Maybe it'll force James to grow up a little bit. Or maybe Lily'll see that he really does have a heart."
"Ah, but does he?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he does," Sirius replied. "He's just not all that great at showing it."
I nodded, and leaned my head back. We watched Lily get up, motion for me to follow her, and rush up to the dormitory.
"Guess I'd better be going then," I said, and started ambling after her.
"Night," Remus said. "Happy Christmas. Night. Again."
"Yeah, Happy Christmas-Night-Again,' Sirius repeated.
I laughed and looked back. Remus was rolling his eyes, but still grinning, and Sirius was laughing about it.
"Yeah, well, you too!" I said, and disappeared through the door, starting to climb the steps to the common room, which seemed longer and steeper than normal, maybe because today had been such a long day. A 98% good day, but still, a long one.
As a walked into the dormitory, Lily was laying on her bed, looking pretty confused. I guessed that she hadn't realized that James had a heart yet.
"What happened?" I asked.
She sat up and sighed. "I really don't know. Problem with James is you never know if he means what he's saying."
"I don't know, he looked kinda sincere about it..."
"You can never be sure."
"Look I see why you don't trust him..."
"But he got his little friends to convince you he's not a bad guy whilst he was trying to apologize for asking me out so much and, you know, accidentally proposing. The guy needs to grow up a little bit if you ask me."
"Probably. Unless he really did mean it as a joke..."
"Or he really does have a heart, he's just not all that great at expressing his emotions," I said quickly, paraphrasing what Sirius had said only a few minutes earlier.
"Where did that come from?"
"No where." There was a moment of silence, before I said, "So are you going to give him a chance?"
"I will give him a chance when his ego gets chopped into little pieces and he only gets to keep one of them. And it's been enchanted so it will never grow."
"Wouldn't it be painful if someone chopped your ego up?"
"That may be part of the point."
"Have you thought this through before?"
She paused. "Maybe... Anyway, I think we should drop it for today, and sleep on it. I don't know about you, but I know that I have loads to think about..."
I just nodded, and let Lily turn the light out. It was one of those nights when it was too late to care that you were going to bed fully clothed. Because even though Lily didn't know it, I did have a lot to think about, and it was all racing around my mind, always racing, never time for me to stop and think it through logically. But did I really want to stop and analyze every single moment to see if he liked me too, or did I just want to keep on floating in a sea of maybe's? I sighed, rolled onto my side, and closed my eyes. Lily was right, of course, it was too late to try and figure things out tonight.