Disclaimer: I wish I owned at least one little tiny bit of this, but I don't :(
A/N So a couple of things... Firstly about Potions Class, I promise I will get back to it, I just have these minor things called GCSE exams at the moment which are kind of taking up my time right now. Which I probably be revising for instead of writing this... But hey ho, I just couldn't get this idea out of my head, so I had to get it down on paper because it was distracting me from revision (I feel better now I've made up that excuse, yay).
So anyway I hope you enjoy this one shot, it's fluffy I warn you, but there are like two whole paragraphs of seriousness somewhere in the middle. I was impressed with myself. Enjoy!
A silver frost was forming across the grounds of Hogwarts, making the floor appear as if it were covered in a carpet of tiny diamonds sparkling in the moonlight. A freezing breeze whistled by as two figures made their way towards the glowing light of the castle, the frost crunching under their feet.
The boy, his jet black hair a stark contrast against the white of the floor, asked the girl a question, concern in his hazel eyes. She shook her head, protesting when he refused to believe her. Despite her objections, he draped his cloak over her shoulders to protect her from the cold December night, and a blush rose up her pale cheeks to meet her flaming hair as she thanked him.
"Maybe next time we do this it should be in June. When it's not minus five degrees and my toes won't get frostbite."
"It's not like I asked McGonagall to send us to speak to Hagrid, Potter. And if I remember correctly it wasn't me who agreed when he asked us to stay for hot chocolate either!" Her tone was stern, but the glint in her green eyes gave her away.
"You've got to admit though; Hagrid makes the best hot chocolate you've ever tasted. You just have to make sure to avoid the rock cakes. I think he got a bit confused by the name and decided to put literal rocks in them, broke one of Sirius' teeth last year! Although if you're hungry we could always stop by the kitchens, since I became head boy they've been even more willing to provide me with delicious food than before."
Lily giggled, having heard many times about the best food that the house elves had to offer. "I'll have to decline this time I'm afraid, I've still got that transfiguration essay on animagi to do for tomorrow or McGonagall will throw me off the Astronomy Tower. I'm taking it you've forgotten to do it too?"
James looked at her in mock horror. "I am outraged you would suggest such a thing Miss Evans! I did that essay the very afternoon it was set, and I reject the very proposition that I would leave homework until the last minute! I do believe you should learn not to judge others by your own standards," he said in his haughtiest voice, earning him a forceful shove off the path from the head girl.
He staggered back to her side, grinning at the reaction he'd got out of her. They walked along contentedly in silence for a few minutes, before James turned his head at the sound of Lily's sigh. She stopped; her head turned upwards, the light of a thousand stars reflected in her eyes, a look of awe upon her face. James couldn't help but smile at the sight.
"They're beautiful, aren't they?" she asked, turning to look at James.
He just hummed in agreement, turning his head to gaze up at the sky above, hung with stars. After a few moments he chuckled, granting his a questioning look.
"Just makes me wish I paid attention in astrology classes, that's all. Me and Sirius used to skip it half of the time; our beds were far too comfy to stand in the freezing cold drawing out charts."
"It wasn't all charts," Lily protested. "We learnt their names, their planets, the constellations, how old they were, the stories they could tell and the futures they could predict." A wistful note had crept into her voice, making him wish that he could get his hands on a time turner so that he could go to all of those classes, so that he could love the stars as she did.
"Teach me," he suddenly burst out.
"Wha-"
"Teach me," he repeated. "Not everything obviously," he tried to explain, "Just a few things. Just one teeny weeny constellation?"
Lily smiled at the pleading look in his eyes, knowing there was no way she could refuse now. In mock exasperation she drew out her wand, conjured up a blanket across the grass and gestured for him to lie down. As an afterthought she waved her wand to produce bluebell flames, which she carefully directed towards the grass by the foot of the blanket, before lying down next to him.
"Okay… So what do you want to know?" For some reason, she was suddenly unsure, and the close proximity of their bodies was making it difficult to concentrate on speaking, let alone to remember details from astronomy lessons when she was thirteen. She was beginning to wish she'd made the blanket a little bigger.
"Um… I don't know. Just... ah… pick a star and… yeah… tell me about it?" How many times since he first saw Lily Evans had he fantasised about this moment? Yet now here he was, lying next to her, and he couldn't even form a coherent sentence. Her hand lay just inches away from his - and her body not much further. He was beginning to wish she's made the blanket a little smaller.
Lily rolled her head to face his, eyebrows raised. "Pick a star? Are you aware of how many millions of stars there are up there? There's Regalus, Polaris, the Seven Sisters…" James tried to follow her hand as it quickly traced across the sky. "Oooh I know," she began, a smile forming. "That one there's Sirius, also known as the dog star. It's particularly bright, unlike the real Sirius, and what's interesting is-"
"Okay, okay!" James laughed, cutting her off. "I get it, lots of stars. But can we please not bring up Sirius again?"
"Fine, although I think he'd be honoured," Lily joked.
"Exactly," muttered James. "Tell me about your favourite star then."
Lily was quiet for a few moments. "Well… It's not a star so much as a constellation. It's called the Coma Berenices, and to be honest it's not really all that remarkable to look at, just a little cluster of stars near to Leo. It's the story behind it.
The tale goes that Beatrice, the wife of Ptolemy III of Egypt; lay awake, night after night in her bed. Her husband was away fighting the Assyrians, seeking vengeance for his sister's death. Concerned for his safety, she asked the royal oracle, Conon, what to do. He advised her to offer her beautiful amber hair to Aphrodite in return for his safety. She went to the temple and did this, and prayed there every night for her husband's safe return.
After weeks and months of fighting, the army returned victorious, and Ptolemy was alive and well. Despite the celebrations, he was heartbroken when his wife told him what she had done. Nothing he said could change her mind however, and she went to the temple that night, where her long and beautiful hair was shorn.
The next morning however, when the king went to the temple, the hair was discovered missing. Fearing it had been stolen; he summoned the priests and demanded an explanation. Conon however sought out the king and promised to show him where his wife's hair was.
That night Conon led the couple outside, and pointed to a small cluster of stars in the sky. He told them that Aphrodite had thought Beatrice's hair so beautiful, and her sacrifice so selfless, that she had put her hair into the sky as stars for all eternity."
Lily fell back into silence, and for a minute the night was quiet around them.
"That's your favourite?" James asked incredulously. "A woman sacrificing her hair? I was expecting epic fights, that one about the scorpion and the hunter or whatever it was!"
"Hey! I know it's kind of a lame sacrifice, but it's the story of those behind the war, those who aren't involved in the fighting but still fear every day for the ones they love, hating that they can't do anything to protect them." James could see tears sparkling in her eyes which she tried unsuccessfully to blink away.
"I'm sorry, I get that, I really do. I just think there are much better stories to take inspiration from, ones which show that you actually can help the people you love. And she didn't really love him anyway; I would die to protect the ones I love. Without a thought. I'd give it my best fight, but if it meant that the people I love would be safe I'd happily give up my life. Not just cut off my hair. Though I doubt they'd want my hair…" he grinned, running his hand through his unkempt locks. "Yours though, the Gods would happily have that and preserve it as stars. Wait, please don't cut off your hair, I like it much better on your head."
Lily giggled; the sombre mood lifting off them, replaced by the jokes and teasing that had formed their recent friendship. "Do you even want to see this constellation or not then?"
"Yeah, why not? Show me the ancient sparkly hair."
She scowled briefly at him, but her expression softened when she saw the laughter in his eyes. She raised her arm and tried to pint out where the stars were.
"I haven't a clue where you're trying to point out here, Evans, there's quite a lot of sky you see."
"Shut up and concentrate then!"
"Hang on," he said, and before she could say anything he'd scooted over so his head was right next to hers to enable him to see from her point of view. Her breath caught in her throat, and she hoped he hadn't noticed her raised hand begin to tremble slightly.
"Right, so there's the constellation of Leo," her hand indicating the stars she was talking about. In the corner of her eye, she saw James' gaze focused on her talking and looking nowhere near the sky. Pretending that she hadn't noticed, she continued, voice shaking slightly. "So if you look slightly up, and to the right, not as far as that bright star over there, just kind of close to-" She dropped her hand abruptly, turning her face to look at him, trying not to notice how close his face was. "You know this would work a lot better if you were looking at the stars, right Potter?"
"To be honest, as beautiful as they are, I was choosing to look at even more beautiful sight. I mean, gazing into your eyes is like looking at the stars really, so what's the difference?" He congratulated himself in his mind, he was quite proud of that one. He braced himself, ready to be slapped, or at the very least for her to get up and storm off.
"Really Potter, that's quite possibly the cheesiest thing I've ever heard" laughed Lily, trying desperately to contain her hysterics and failing miserably. "Do these sorts of lines usually work on the girls you talk to?"
"Um…" James was caught off guard, used to her snappy comments and stinging rejections. "Not really… Not that I try them all the time, or any of the time really, because it's not like I flirt all the time, sort of a spur of the moment thing, I probably won't be trying it again. Anyway, it's not like I wasn't listening to you."
Lily raised her eyebrows in an obvious challenge, one which he was more than happy to take up.
"So, there was Leo, which I think is that one there…" he said, pointing hopefully to a star that might possibly be a bit lion-like. Who names a star after a lion anyway? "Then up, and to the right… So those ones there, right?" He turned to face her, finding her eyes locked into his. "You know this would work a lot better if you were looking at the stars, right Evans?" he teased.
His smile was suddenly pressed against another pair of lips, soft and light on his own. Just as quickly they were gone again, leaving him mourning their warmth, the cold of the frost seeming to engulf him.
Lily's face was on fire. What had she done? "We should probably go" she whispered, beginning to move away from him.
"Wait!" he almost shouted at her, reaching out to grab her arm. There was no way he was going to let her just walk away and pretend that this never happened. "What was that for?"
"To tell you the truth, I've wanted to do that all night," Lily admitted, finally letting her guard down. "Even after how much you've annoyed me over the years, and it was a lot by the way, this year you've changed, and tonight – I don't know – I just-"
Her lips were suddenly prevented from moving by a second pair that had suddenly pressed themselves to hers, hindering her ability to speak somewhat. After a second, she stopped resisting, and relaxed into the kiss, relishing in the feel of his lips, warm and firm against hers.
She moaned slightly, and in response he pulled her even closer, his hands which were against the small of her back moved upwards to tangle in her hair. She had her own hands running through his hair, and as she noticed its thickness and softness she completely understood the annoying habit he had of constantly messing it up.
James continued to move his lips slowly against hers, unsure how far to take it, what she wanted. It was to his surprise that he felt her tongue running lightly over his bottom lip, but he was all too happy to oblige and part his lip, deepening the kiss, bringing her closer by her brilliant red curls.
The two lay there, surrounded by the glittering ice carpet, a fire burning by their feet, entangled in one another and as close to the other as they could get. The stars above them twinkled, forgotten by the couple entirely. Reluctantly, the boy pulled away, his long fingers still wound in the girl's hair. He kissed the tip of her nose gently.
He smiled, and whispered breathlessly, "Please don't ever cut your hair off."
So now I have to get back to learning chemistry, the joys... (jk, I actually love the sciences, don't hate) but it would make my day if you could give me a little review to cheer me up with all the stress of exams! Pretty please? Even just to tell me about the numerous typos I've probably made because I'm lazy. I'd love you forever :)