Dancing on the Windowpane
The Gryffindor common room was as crowded as ever, on a typical Tuesday evening. Students were laughing with their friends, huddled by the roaring fireplace as the weather outside raged with furious rain and thunder. Standing out amidst this sea of joy was a single redheaded Lily Evans, sitting in a window bench seat and barely moving, watching the water trickle down the windowpane. The glassy drops of rain—crystal-like—slowly slipped down the glass as lightning flashed on the other side of the delicate barrier between the warm castle and the stormy outdoors.
She sighed and leaned her head back against the wall, cheek resting against the glass. Rain was her favorite type of weather. It was soothing, better than any lullaby ever sung to her as a child. As she closed her eyes, falling into the sound of the water tapping against the window and the whistling of the wind outside, the laughter around her slipped away and she tripped into her own little world.
That is, until she felt a tiny metal ball with wings hit her in the head.
Her emerald eyes flew open and she sat bolt-upright, whirling around to see a Golden Snitch flitting away from her and a group of four boys cackling in the corner of the common room: Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, and worst of all, James Potter.
She groaned quietly and leaned back again and closed her eyes once more, ignoring them. It was just like them to send a Snitch flying at her head, simply to annoy her. Like immature little boys…
Lily was trying to return to her earlier state of peace when she heard a voice from above her a moment later. "Hey, Evans."
The voice of James Potter. She cringed mentally, refusing to open her eyes and pretending she didn't hear him, praying he would walk away. But he didn't.
"Evans," he said again, louder this time. She still ignored him, hoping he would give up.
"Evans."
She opened a single green eye and looked at him for a moment before snapping it shut. "What do you want, Potter?"
"I'm sorry for hitting you in the head with the Snitch." He sounded genuinely penitent.
"Uh, huh, I'm sure," she replied sarcastically, eyes still shut, refusing to look at him. "And you were so apologetic about it that you laughed your arse off with your buddies about it."
"Oh, you're one of those people."
Lily opened her eyes at last to see James sitting in an overstuffed armchair a couple feet away from her, looking rather put off. His friends were still in the corner, watching the exchange from the other side of the room. "What do you mean, I'm 'one of those people'?" she demanded, sounding annoyed.
"One of those people that can't just accept an apology as it is. One of those people that always has to get a word in edgewise because Merlin forbid that you just forgive someone without insulting them more," he retorted loudly.
"Well, two wrongs don't make a right, Potter, so you can stop yelling at me." Half of the common room was staring now.
"I could have said that same thing to you about thirty seconds ago," he snapped. "Whatever." He got up and walked away.
Lily rolled her eyes and leaned her cheek back against the glass, watching the elements storming outside. What a pointless interruption, she thought, as the buzzing conversations in the common room restarted.
The sound of the falling rain amplified in her ears as she pressed her cheek to the windowpane beside her head, the melody of the cascading droplets must have lulled her to sleep because when she next opened her eyes, the common room was empty and the only light was the glow still emanating from the embers in the not quite extinguished fireplace.
And then she noticed that she wasn't alone. There was a boyish figure sitting in an armchair, watching the remains of the fire turn to glowing ash.
Lily gave a gentle cough to hint that she was there, and the boy looked up. Her heart dropped like a stone. James again.
"You're still here?" He sounded surprised, his tone completely devoid of the anger from what must have been a couple hours earlier.
"Yeah," she muttered. "I guess I fell asleep." She got up and began making her way towards the stairs to the girls' dormitory. "I should be going to bed."
"No, wait." James got up and motioned as if to block her way to the stairs.
"What the hell are you doing, Potter?" she asked wearily, trying to move around him.
"I want to talk for a bit."
"Well, I don't," she said coldly. "I'd like to go to sleep. It's late."
"Come on, please?" He both looked and sounded pleading, and she couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt. He had lost all of his cocky demeanor from before, and it seemed cruel to be so harsh with him now, when he wasn't showing even a trace of his typical arrogance.
"Oh, fine." She walked back to the window bench and sat back down on the scarlet cushion, leaning backwards to rest against the latched window, the rain still beating down on the glass in its stern rhythm. "What do you want to talk about?"
James sat down on the bench next to her, sinking down the cushion. "I really am sorry, Evans," he said, his eyes closed and glasses slightly askew on his nose. "For the Snitch thing and for shouting like that at you before. I felt like shit afterwards."
"It's fine," she smiled crookedly, making a point not to insult him again this time. "And I'm sorry too, for my inability to accept an apology."
He opened his hazel orbs and looked at her, chuckling. "We're quite a pair, aren't we."
It was a statement, not a question, but she answered it anyway. "I suppose we are."
He did not respond and instead closed his eyes once more. Lily turned her head and looked out the window once more. The rain was even heavier than before. The raindrops pounded on the windows like arrows, almost echoing in the common room. She was about to get lost in the beauty of it again when James finally spoke.
"You know, you've been watching the rain for almost four hours now."
"Well, I was asleep for a good part of it, so I'm not sure how much that counts." She smiled, though she did not look at him. "I like the rain. The look of it, the sound of it, even the smell of it."
"Really?" James looked curious. He shifted so he could face her, pulling his legs up onto the bench too. "I love the rain too, but you always struck me as more of a sunshine type of girl."
"No, I like the rain." She mimicked his form, also lifting her legs onto the cushion but instead hugging her knees to her chest. "It's calming. It's like a song. The drops are the orchestra. The thunder could be the drums, and the wind sings." She paused as a gale whistled past outside. "Like that. It's music, if you think about it."
James watched her thoughtfully. "I see what you mean," he said softly. "It's better than any song on the radio."
"It is," she answered earnestly. "It's far better. You can see and feel rain, too. And the smell of it is perfection." She sighed. "It's like a miracle. It washes everything away…every worry, every problem on my mind. The rain is what keeps us alive. Without it, we would be in eternal drought. With too much of it, we would be destroyed. And the rain is arbitrary. The clouds float wherever they want to, and the drops fall, no matter what is happening on the earth below them. The rain makes the flowers bloom and it makes the leaves on the trees turn green. The rain is what makes this world beautiful, and, in itself, it is beautiful. The most beautiful thing in the world." Lily's voice was hushed to the whisper by the end of it and she found herself staring into James's eyes.
And suddenly, the distance between their lips began to close. She did not fight it, and in a moment, they were kissing softly to the melody of the rain and the low rumbles of thunder. His soft hands gently reached up to cradle her porcelain cheek and she gave in to the feeling, running a hand slowly through his thick, black hair.
But seconds later, all too soon, it was over. He leaned back slightly, his lips grazing hers for a moment, and it ended. But the perfection lingered. It was like a fairytale, where the girl finally kisses her prince and her entire life is changed, and she falls in love forever. And maybe, in that moment, Lily did as well.
Her lips were slightly parted as she watched him, his eyes darkened.
"There's one thing you're wrong about though, Lily," he said softly. "The rain isn't the most beautiful thing in the world. You are."
The corners of her mouth turned up into a smile. "Just kiss me again, James," she breathed.
She could have done this years ago, for all of the times he had asked her out. All the times he had practically proposed marriage to her. But, as their lips met again into another union more perfect than the one before, lasting for what could have been the entire night, she knew that it wouldn't have been the right time.
Nothing would ever be more immaculate than the moment James Potter's lips first met hers and a bit of her heart fell in love to the music of the rain dancing on the windowpane.
Author's Note:
This was inspired by the thunderstorm going on outside my window as I write. Hope you liked it, and don't forget to review!