J.K. Rowling is love, J.K. Rowling is life and she owns the Harry Potter world. But I hope you enjoy reading this Jily oneshot. If I get good feedback, I promise to write more.
It had been weeks since James was given the tremendous news that he and Lily were to be Head Boy and Head Girl meaning they got to share a living space. He assumed that Lily wasn't quite as ecstatic as himself when she heard the news since she was not a big James Potter fan due to his skill of annoying her throughout the years. But James was loving life living with Lily, it gave him an excuse to talk to her whenever he wanted and he found himself having meaningful conversations with her instead of the usual banter that passed between them two. He was finally getting used to her ways after living with three boys for years. For example the fact that she always showered at night and then made herself a cup of tea, or the way in which her shoes always found themselves lying in obscure places throughout the dorm, or the distinctly feminine smell that always wafted from her bedroom. It was a nice change of pace.
James was also very excited about the progress his relationship with Lily had started to take. Instead of her loathing him they were beginning to spend more and more time with each other doing Head responsibilities and found themselves in the same friend group. Lily and James were able to live comfortably together and hang out with their friends together. It was clear they were finally friends, and no matter how happy this made James he would always hope for just a little bit more.
On one particularly hot day in late September all the students at Hogwarts were taking whatever possible measures to stay cool. Hogwarts did not have any system in place to cool down the school since it was generally cold in the castle. James had managed to struggle through all his classes, dinner, and even the most sweaty Quidditch practice of his life in this unbearable heat. As he walked into the dorm he pulled of his practice jersey and felt instant relief. He walked to the mini kitchenette in their common room and found a cool water bottle in the fridge. Turning around he took swig of the water, which he proceeded to choke on as he saw Lily descend from her bedroom staircase. Lily was wearing ridiculously short jean shorts that showed her still bronzed legs in full display and a loose fitting grey tank top, her hair was piled on top of her head with the occasional tendril sneaking out. She looked hot. Temperature wise and physically.
He managed to compose himself and hide his obvious choking by asking where she was headed.
"Out to do rounds in this insufferably hot school" Lily replied. James had completely forgotten that it was her night to do rounds with one of the prefects.
"Don't take this the wrong way Lils but there's no way you're walking around the school dressed like that." James responded hesitantly.
"Dressed like what?" Lily scoffed folding her arms across her chest.
"Well um... its just that you um... don't have much clothes on and I don't want some sleazy guy to be all over you." James answered awkwardly.
"Double-standard much," she said motioning to his bare chest, "Plus I'm doing ROUNDS, and there shouldn't be any students out because its past curfew hence the concept of ROUNDS. So get your head out of your arse Potter, you know I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself" She snapped and headed out of the portrait hall into the corridor.
James groaned, of course saying something like that would upset Lily! He shook his head at his utter stupidity, no wonder she didn't like him. It was just something about her that caused him to be rash and protective and act like... well an arse as she put it so eloquently. He was going to try and change and not say stupid comments that even someone who was Lily's boyfriend couldn't say. Which of course he wasn't.
James figured he should wait up for her to come back so he could apologize to her and also maybe because he wanted to make sure she was safe.
He quickly took a cool shower and hurried back down to the common room. After starting to do some transfiguration homework on the couch, he promptly fell asleep.
Four hours later he awoke to the soft sound of the faucet running in the kitchen. He aligned his glasses and peered over the couch he was laying on to see Lily filling up a glass of water from the sink. James noticed she had changed into pajama shorts instead of the jean ones from early (still incredibly short with Hello Kitty printed on them) and her hair hung loose in cascading curls down her back.
He instinctively called out to her, "Hey Lils, when did you get back?"
Lily jumped and turned towards the figure on the couch, "Dear God James, I thought you were asleep!"
He rose and made his way over to the kitchenette, "Sorry I was waiting down here for you to come back and I must have fallen asleep."
"Why were you waiting for me?" Lily said as she leaned with her back against a counter and her arms crossed across her chest.
"Well I just really wanted to apologize for earlier. I know what I said was stupid and I had no right to say it. And I know you can take care of yourself just fine and don't need anyone to protect you, I just wanted you to be safe. But I'm really sorry Lily."
He sheepishly looked up after his apology and noticed there were tears forming in her eyes.
"Lily, what's wrong?" James asked desperately, "Was it something I said?"
She just shook her head and hugged her arms tighter around herself. James instinctively moved closer towards her.
"No no, it's just that you were right." Lily responded shakily.
"How?" James asked clearly confused.
"When I was on rounds Mary and I split up to cover more ground. She took the upper half and I took the lower half of the school. I was walking down to the dungeons and I felt someone behind me. It was Severus. He started saying rude things and commenting on what I was wearing, then he started coming really close to me, I was up against a wall, and he was close enough to take me wand."
"Lily NO!" James gasped.
"No, no not what you think happened, he just grabbed me and stuff...but I was able to elbow him in the nose and run away." She finished quietly and tears streamed down her face as she began to shake.
James made himself take a step back as he figured she might not want a male close to her right now.
"I swear to God I am going to find that bastard and he is going to be sorry he ever uttered your name!" James growled as sheer anger took over and blood pounded through his veins.
"James no please don't do anything its not your battle, please." Lily begged.
He looked at her large watery green eyes and felt his anger subside a little bit. "Lily, I really wish I wasn't right."
"The worst thing is that I thought I could handle myself no problem, but when the time came I couldn't do it...I just couldn't do it." She said as more tears spilled from her eyes, James knew how much Lily hated crying and that she always tried very hard not to. His heart broke for her.
"Lily would it be alright if I gave you a hug?" James asked. She nodded her head and opened up her arms. He quickly scooped her up and enveloped her in his strong arms. Lily cried into his chest as he stroked her hair and told her everything was going to be okay and that she was so strong. They stayed like this for about three minutes until her tears subsided. She lifted her head and looked into his eyes and said, "Severus still has my wand."
"Well you and I are just going to have to go and get it back then... and maybe in the process we might have to shave his head. Wait no, that would be too nice because bald would be a step up from the greasy hair he has now" said James said with a smirk. Lily actually laughed at his comment and James felt his heart soar knowing he was able to cheer her up.
Still smiling slightly, Lily looked down and quickly realized that they still had their arms wrapped around one another and James was not wearing a shirt. She blushed, but couldn't help but notice just how fit he was. James noticed her eyes look over his chest and saw the appreciation in Lily's eyes and he too blushed.
She untangled herself from him but didn't move away too far. "Thank you James. For taking care of me and waiting up till I got back and for being such a good friend." As she said the word friend both of their hearts dropped just a little bit.
"Of course Lils, you know I would do anything for you." James responded a little bit put out, "And don't worry, tomorrow we will get your wand back and I'm already planning a wonderful prank for our dear little Snivillus."
Lily smiled and pulled him in for another hug.
He let his lips lightly brush the top of her head as he smelled the strawberry scent of her hair.
"What would I do without you?" Lily muttered into his chest.
And James just smiled because he had been thinking the exact same thing.
Wow okay so this story took a much darker turn then I expected, but I really hoped you liked it. I hope to put up more chapters of oneshots as Jily as Heads with hopefully a little more romance action. Any feedback you could give would be much appreciated so I will have the motivation to write more! XOXO