"I can't tell whether that's your face or your arse."
"James! Can you tell that you just touched bare skin? Do you think I don't have pants on?" Lily snapped as she leaned away from James' palm which was groping the side of her face.
"I hoped…." James sighed.
"Argh! What do you think is happening here?" Lily spat, blindly swatting at James' hand in the darkness.
"It's more about what I hope is happening here." Lily grumbled an incoherent insult and ran her hands against the floor, searching for her wand. Her hands bumped into the cool metal of cauldrons that littered the floor—the reason they fell in the first place.
"Ha! Found it!" Lily's fingers clasped her wand sticking out from under a cauldron. With a flick of her wand, it lit, revealing that they sat on the floor of a broom closet. The door to the closet had slammed shut due to the avalanche of cauldrons. "I thought you said this was a secret passage." Lily moved her wand around the room; there was nothing more than dusty, empty shelves where the cauldrons once sat.
"Right," James breathed, finding his own wand that had been dislodged from his grasp after tripping. "Without my map, my sense of direction is terrible." He scratched his head with the tip of his wand.
Lily groaned as she watched a spark fly from the tip of his wand. She grabbed for his hand, her warm smooth skin against his own made him smile wickedly. "How many times do I have to tell you? That's dangerous."
He leaned toward her, his hand still in hers. "For as long as you feel the need to act like my mother." A waft of the cologne Lily would never admitted she liked, snaked around her face. James grin grew wider, dimples and all.
Lily rolled her eyes. "We should go. They would have heard that racket." She gestured to the cauldrons.
"Yes." James leaned his head out the doorway. "Now, remember, if we run into another group, we have to mark them with…" he began, in his signature know-it-all tone.
"A red X. I know. You've told me a hundred times," Lily replied with a sigh. "I'm not as incompetent as you think I am."
James smirked at her attitude. "Listen, I am the reigning champion of 'Find the Marauders'. I'm not about to lose because I'm stuck on a team with you."
Lily scowled. "Your confidence in me makes me swoon," she retorted. James shot a mischievous glance at her sarcasm.
"Then prove me wrong," he challenged, with a hand, he pushed the hair from his eyebrows; his eyes squinted ever-so-slightly, and his lips curled into a cunning challenge.
"Oh, I will." Lily gripped her wand a little tighter at her side as they set down the hallway.
The rules for 'Find the Marauders' were simple, but winning was challenging. At the beginning of the game, there was a five minute grace period when no one could be tagged. After the first five minutes, any player can tag any other player by marking a red x on their clothes. If a player is caught by a professor, that player automatically loses. The last person standing without a red x wins the game. Finding other players in the castle (especially those who knew the secrets the walls held only too well) was the challenging part. On that particular night, the Marauders invited four other players to join—to make four teams of two.
"Maybe the noise was a good thing," Lily whispered.
James narrowed his eyes at her, "You realize that that gives them the upper hand? They know where we are, but we don't know what direction they're coming from."
"Not if we don't act like sitting ducks," Lily retorted. Her fingers curled around his upper arm, and she gave him a tug. "This way, I have an idea."
She led him back to the secret passageway they had exited moments ago. A tall, yet narrow, stone arch stood hidden behind a dusty tapestry. Lily stuck her wand into the passage before she entered. When she deemed it clear, they tiptoed inside, James throwing a glance over his shoulder to ensure they weren't being watched.
"Ah," James said, as the tapestry slapped closed. "You wanted another small, confined space to be alone with me."
"Oh move over." Lily swatted him in the chest. With her back against the wall, she tried to sidle past James to poke her wand out of the tapestry.
James placed a hand on her shoulder, preventing her from peering into the hallway they just exited. "Admit it. This is nice," he voice was a low whisper that made it sound huskier than usual. He looked down at Lily, his black locks framing his face. His eyes lingered on those freckles splashed across her cheeks that he loved so much.
Her answer was quick and sharp. "For you." She pushed past his hand. As his hand fell from her, he traced the length of her arm until she swatted him away.
"So, your plan is to hide until someone investigates the sound of the cauldron's falling?"
"If another team heard that noise, they would be on their way. Assuming they weren't very close by, which we can because they would already be here by now, they won't be able to pinpoint exactly where we are located."
"Right, so you're hoping they stumble upon this exact hallway?" James asked, his tone skeptical.
"Of course not," she whispered before she flicked her wand. "Diffindo." Her wand traced the shelf lining the wall opposite the passageway. The wood splinter as her spell cut through it, sending chips to the floor. With a jerk of her wrist, the shelf cracked down the middle, folding, so that the goblets and jars lining the surface slipped, clattering to the floor.
"You dolt!" Lily called into the empty hallway, her voice echoing.
James jumped. He had been admiring the way she spoke incantations; the way that her whispered voice sounded so powerful. So the sudden rise in volume startled him. "What are you doing?" he hissed.
"Winning," Lily retorted, stepping away from the opening, concealing them in almost darkness except for James' wand light.
"But here's what you didn't think through," James countered. "The Marauders know this passage leads to this hallway. So it's very possible they will come from behind us and not down the hallway."
"Can you count? There are two of us." Lily said, a smile forming as she watched James' features distort. "You watch the hallway. You're much sneakier about things like that, and I will watch your back because I'm faster at incantations."
"Faster?" James scoffed, turning his back to Lily so he could peer around the tapestry.
"Yes, James Potter. Faster." Lily spun, facing the dark passageway. She rolled her eyes as she felt James press his back against hers. He allowed himself a moment away from the game as he took a deep breath, the warmth from her body clinging to him.
"Are you even looking out there?" Lily said, over her shoulder.
James chuckled. "No," he admitted.
"Well, get to it!"
"I love it when you boss me around." Gingerly, he parted the tapestry from the wall. Instead of holding his wand to the opening, he put his ear to it, listening for the sound of footsteps. He steadied his breathing, and strained to hear the rustle of a cloak or the pattering of soles on the stone floors.
"Flagrate!" Lily called. James was pulled to the ground, Lily gripping his arm tightly. James, wand raised, peered over her shoulder in time to watch her send another fiery red x to mark their second opponent.
Sirius let out a strand of profanity. "Evans!" he snapped, the embers of the X on his chest cooling so that only a red outline remained. Behind him, Mary Macdonald, Lily's close friend and fellow Gryffindor, shook her head.
"I told you it was a trap," she said to Sirius. "I knew Lily wouldn't be that loud without a reason." Sirius grumbled something about 'Find the Marauders' being a ridiculous game.
"Who's left?" James asked, pulling himself off the floor, not bothering to straighten his disheveled button down.
"Just you two," Mary said. "We took our Marlene and Remus."
"Peter and Frank were nabbed by Filch," Sirius added.
"Would you look at that," James said, turning Lily with an arm on her shoulder. She looked up at him, strands of tousled hair fell around her face. "We won. I believe this calls for a victory kiss."
James was too busy studying her strawberry pink lips to notice Lily raising her wand in between their chests-until she pushed the tip against his chest. "We didn't win," she whispered, a smirk forming at the corners of her lips.
"Don't," James breathed. The mischievous look in her emerald eyes foretold her next move.
"I won…flagrate." She drew the tip of her wand against his chest, marking him with the same fiery red x blazoned on Sirius and Mary. The heat from the spell warmed his skin as the red glow lit the triumph on her face. Sirius barked a laugh.
"I guess you did," James replied, the red afterglow dimming. "But, somehow, I don't feel like I lost."
Lily rolled her eyes before turning to the others. "We should get back before we end up like Peter and Frank."
The suggestion to leave was accepted, so the friends navigated the narrow passageway that led to the base of the Gryffindor tower. Sirius directed the group up the winding staircase to the face of the Fat Lady. After muttering the password, the three piled through the round opening.
Once inside, they were greeted with Remus and Marlene. "Peter and Frank already went up. They were pretty sour about their detentions," Marlene explained after James had asked.
Sirius and Mary recounted the story of how they eliminated Remus and Marlene before they arrived at the mutual decision to go to bed.
James reached for Lily's hand as she turned to leave. "Wait." His fingers were adept at snaking through hers. He gave her hand a tug, and she complied, stepping closer toward him. "I had fun tonight." The light from the glowing embers of the fireplace illuminated the freckles spotting Lily's cheeks and nose.
Lily smiled. "Me too," she breathed.
"You know," he stepped closer, meandering his free hand around her waist. "I didn't get that victory kiss yet."
"Because you didn't win," Lily retorted. Lily fought back the warmth rising in her chest.
James frowned in jest. "How about a consolation prize?"
Lily narrowed her eyes at him. "Depends. What do you have in mind?"
"Well, I think a cozy cuddle in my bed might cheer me up," he grinned, mischievously.
Lily laughed, and shoved him away. "You ruined it," she said, turning to leave.
"What? That was a good suggestion!" James retorted, throwing his hands to his sides.
Lily looked back at him, a condescending look shot across her face. "No, that was a line."
"A line?" James raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Yes, something you tell girls all the time and, I suspect, it usually works." Lily explained, a knowing smile crept across James' face.
"You can't deny I have good game." James gestured to himself as he sent Lily his best, charming smile.
Lily chuckled, but rolled her eyes. "I can't. Your game is great. But I am not going to be played, James Potter. I am not a game." Her voice was stern, even though she smiled.
"No," James whispered, his face fallen. "You're not."
"So, no more lines then." The finger she pointed at him caused his smile to return.
"It sounds like what you're saying," James began, taking a step toward her, a finger extended. "Is that I actually have a chance here—if I stop the lines."
A coy smile rose at the corner of Lily's mouth. "Good night, James." James' chest felt ablaze.
"Night," he whispered. He sank into the armchair behind him and watched Lily walk to the top of the stairs. "If that's what it takes," he called after her. "You'll never hear another line from me again!"
Lily laughed. "I fear that you're only a bunch of lines," she called back, before swinging her dorm door closed behind her.
As soon as the door clicked shut, James raced up the stairs to the boys' dorm, taking them two at a time so he could tell Sirius everything.