Authors Note:Hello Hello everybody! This is not my first fanfiction, but I only started attempting writing the other month and I felt it was time to jump into one of my favourite fandoms, Harry Potter- specifically one of my favourite ships- Jily. I haven't quite decided if I want this to be a one-shot or not but it is just something fluffy and cute so I'll wait and see what I feel like. This is set during the Maurauders seventh year at Hogwarts, so James and Lily are together by now.
Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own any characters or ideas belonging to the wizarding world of harry potter, however I do wish I lived within it! I hope you like this fic, any feedback is appreciated and loved!
The Library
"ACHOO!" Lily shuddered as the loudest sneeze that could possibly happen rang around the library, which caused an irritable "SSHHHH" to come from a corner across the room, where the librarian sat glaring at her. She nodded apologetically and waddled over towards a desk, dumping the pile of dusty books she had collected from the old shelves with a "thud". She rubbed her eyes, which had been itchy for the last half an hour, another fact which she put down to being surrounded by dusty old books. This essay for History of Magic was going to be the death of her. Lily felt like she had been working entire weeks on this essay but she had hit a sticking point and couldn't seem to move past it. She needed to find more credible sources for her references and had been looking for the last two days like a bizarre treasure hunt. She wiped her nose with a hanky which she kept in her pocket and sat down in the chair, closing her eyes for a few blissful minutes.
"Lily?" a small voice from a long way away came to her, and she opened her eyes, glancing to her left, to find a very concerned looking Remus Lupin sitting next to her. "Are you okay? You look...tired..." He was clearly worried about saying something which would offend her, there appears to be no polite way to say "You look like crap". Lily sighed. "I'm fine Remus, thank you. Just haven't slept much in the last few days. This essay is due this week and I'm starting to panic that I won't make the grade. How are you getting on with it? Remus shot her a small smile but remained silent, looking a bit sheepish. "You already finished it, didn't you?" she shot him a jokingly accusing glare. "Last week- but in fairness it was a pain in the neck! Do you want any help?" Lily sighed, pushing a red wave of hair out of her eyes, it had managed to escape from her bobble and was hovering annoyingly in front of her face.. "Thank you Remus, but no. I need to do this by myself." Remus nodded "Alright, I'll leave you to it. But I fully expect to see you at the Great Hall for dinner tonight, I haven't seen you eat in there the last two days. You need to eat something!" He hauled out a small chocolate bar from his pocket and handed it to her "this will help". He left her to her own devices. Lily put the bar in her robes, with a small and turned back to the books. She rubbed her eyes as the letters danced before her, and she grabbed her quill intending to start a new page of notes.
Some hours later
"Ahhhhh I love Hogwarts at Halloween." sighed Sirius happily, stuffing another chicken drumstick into his gob. James cracked a grin whilst looking around, "Yeah, it's nearly our time to shine, we need to make the most of it. Trick or Treat, pranks on the teachers, working with Peeves to wreck havoc- it'll be great! Right Remus?" Sirius nodded enthusiastically but Remus didn't respond. James turned his head to look and found his friend staring at the doors of the Great Hall, with his eyebrows furrowed. "Earth to Remus?" James tried again "Hello? Anyone home?" He glanced at Sirius, who shrugged his shoulders, and gave Remus a swift kick to the shins under the table, breaking his trance and causing him to wince in pain. "What the hell Sirius!?" Remus hissed. "What's wrong Remy?" Sirius paused before his eyes grew wider, "is it a full moon?" He glanced at James. They had been planning on tackling a late potions assignment tonight but if it was a full moon, that would mean it being put on the back burner.
"No, no, nothing like that... I'm just a bit...concerned" His friends remained silent, waiting for him to explain... "It's Lily". James' ears immediately perked up and he shot to attention "Ahhhh Evans, my one true love...what about her? Wait, now you've mention it I haven't annoyed her today, since yesterday morning, actually..." he trailed off, looking at Remus, growing more concerned as he realised something may be wrong. Remus butted in his thoughts "look, don't panic too much, she was okay when I last saw her a few hours ago. She just looked really tired and frazzled. She has been working none stop on these NEWT assignments but it's wearing her out. I don't think she has eaten properly in two days and she looked ready to fall out of her se-" Remus didn't get the chance to finish his sentence before James' seat was empty and he was marching towards the door. "POTTER!" Sirius yelled after him, causing James to turn back towards them. "Library. She is in the library." Remus chuckled. James gave them a thumbs up before continuing to head that way.
Remus looked at Sirius, who picked up another huge chicken leg with a big smile on his face. "You are both absolutely hopeless". He smiled and helped himself to some potatoes.
The Library
"EVANS!" James strode into the library, only to be greeted by an angry "SHHHHHH" coming from one of the corner desks. He rolled his eyes and started to search through the aisles, looking for the tell tale red hair. There weren't that many people in there, since most of the Hogwarts student body were currently stuffing themselves at dinner, but James admittedly wasn't too familiar with the library. Whenever he did a little studying it was normally in his dormitory or in the common room, trying to cram a year's worth of learning into his skull before dawn. After going through a couple of aisles, he spotted a pile of dusty books and a lump of dark robes and red hair. He smirked and rolled his eyes, walking closer towards the lump.
Lily was fast asleep at the desk, with her head resting on an old copy of "Hogwarts: A History" and her quill dribbling ink droplets on a piece of parchment. "Evans" He said quietly, but she didn't even twitch. He pulled up a chair next to her and sat down before shaking her arm lightly. "Hey...Evans...Lilly? Wake up!". Lily's eyes slowly opened up and she smiled sleepily when she was James, before sitting up and rubbing her eyes "What time is it?" she asked groggily.
"A little after 6. Remus was worried that you hadn't come to eat dinner and then I realised I hadn't bugged you for a while either, I wanted to come and check on you. He's right, you look really..." Lily shot him a warning look, letting him know that he was on thin ice depending on whatever direction he chose to go in next, he decided to forego choosing to describe how she looked and cut straight to the chase. "Are you feeling alright, Lil?"
"I'm fine James, like I told Remus, I just really need to get this essay done". She glanced at her parchment, feeling dismayed to find she had only written one whole sentence before dozing off. She had been asleep in here for hours, and she still felt rough. "Lil, your eyes are red enough to match your hair, you're cheeks look like you have ran a marathon and you- " Lily let out an enormous sneeze, and visibly shuddered, pulling her jumper sleeves over her hands, as if she were freezing. "I think you may need to go and see Madam Pomfrey". She picked up her quill again resolutely and tried to focus, but James grabbed her hand and took the quill from her. "I'm fine! James, honestly I feel-" she interrupted herself with another sneeze. She sent James a sheepish look, and he was staring at her knowingly. "If you won't go to see Madam Pomfrey at least come back to the common room and try to get some sleep, you'll feel better for it". Lily sighed, "I need to get this done". James started closing up her dusty books and piling them up in stacks on the table. "I know, I know, you need to get the essay done. But you have been sitting her for hours and nothing got done, and you still have four days before it's due. Lily, it is Halloween and you clearly feel like rubbish. You can't get work done if you feel useless! Let me take you back to the common room."
He grabbed her book bag and put it on his shoulder and then put his arm around her waist, lifting her out of the seat. "I can walk on my own, James!" Lily insisted, but she didn't push his arm away, she felt far too tired. "Oh I am glad, because I couldn't really carry a sack of potatoes back to the common room as well as your bag, which weighs about the same, Evans, what have you got in here, bricks?!". Lily shoved him in the arm "you're lucky I'm too tired to hex you right now". He smiled and kissed the top of her head "I know I am". Lily glared at him "don't push it, Potter". She rested her head on his shoulder and allowed him to steer her towards the Gryffindor common room.