Luminescence
Chapter One: The Start of a Friendship.
It was dark as James Potter made his way down to the common room of Gryffindor House. Contrary to feeling uneasy, however, as many of his peers might have been, he felt comforted by the darkness. Here was where the ghosts of his mind quieted, where they stopped their unintelligible murmurs and whispers. And for that brief period of time in which his spirit was calm, he was thankful. For a long time, the same ghosts had haunted him. visiting him in dreams that were shadowy but still with traces of grim reality that every night, he woke up sweating and panting, unable to recall what his dreams had been about but still feeling the undertones of evil and malice in it. He wore no shoes or slippers. The ancient stones beneath his feet, cold and rough, were almost refreshing against his feverish skin. Farther down through the spiraling staircase, he glimpsed the flickering light that no doubt came from the warm, roaring flame of the common room, the fire that was never extinguished as a rule in the House of Gryffindor. Still, in spite of the warmth and light, shadows flittered around him, following as he made his descent quietly.
He had taken off his glasses, feeling an unfamiliar ache around his temples, and had left them atop his bedside table. Perhaps that was why he did not see her until he was sitting in one of the straight- backed chairs placed in the darkest corner of the room.
She had not seen him yet as well. Otherwise, she would have left immediately, that James knew. It baffled him, yet he was thankful that at least here was a small percent of the female population that he did not have to constantly evade. Their attraction to him was no secret. did they not chase after him in the halls and in classes, trying to elicit even the smallest of reactions from him so that they might boast to their friends how the great James Potter had given them a lingering glance or even a small smile? And James knew why their interest in him was so great. It didn't depend on just his looks, he knew. While his physical appearance was second to none, he knew what attracted them more to him was the supposedly mysterious aura that he had seemed to acquire in his years in Hogwarts. to be more precise, in his years in Hogwarts after the death of his whole family. While remaining the unchallenged leader of the greatest gang of pranksters Hogwarts had ever known, he knew that the whole school had been slightly surprised at his transition from being the happy-go-lucky, playboy prank-king of the Marauders to the darkly handsome, quiet, reclusive, person he had become. And while his professors had been puzzled as well, they had appreciated his newfound seriousness concerning his studies, as well as the new sense of responsibility he had found, so much that the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, had made him Head Boy.
While almost everyone's treatment towards him had changed, largely or slightly, there was still someone whose attitude towards him had not changed the slightest: Lilliana Marie Evans, the Charms Mistress and most- sought-after girl in Hogwarts. She was always unerringly polite towards him, and when they were sometimes partnered in Defense Against Dark Arts where they were always seemed to get the highest marks, she never seemed to be inclined to have anything to do with him other than what their lessons demanded. In truth, she was one of the few females who didn't seem to have an obsession with him.
Her back was turned to him, for she was looking out the window, head tilted back as gazed up at the moonlight. A heavy, silky curtain of a dark red hue spilled lavishly around her shoulders, the slightly curled tips reaching to the middle of her back. It was a rare treat to see her hair like that, he knew. She always wore her hair up. She was wearing a robe over her sleeping clothes, but even that failed to hide her figure. She was petite, certainly, but every part of her body seemed to blend with each other, so that the result was a body that was breathtaking in its beauty. Or actually, James thought, as a small smile tilted up the corners of his lips, that was what his closest friend and co-Marauder Sirius Black said. He was always so vocalized in his appreciation of Lilliana's body, around or out of her presence. Of course, for all of Sirius's efforts on flirting, it was all done in good fun. For some unknown reason, Sirius had long ago told them that he thought that Lilliana or Lily as her closest friends, or the people she most favored, including Sirius, called her, would be one of the few girls that he would not attempt to. for lack of a better term, shag. Or even snog, actually. It was known that Sirius was close friends with Lily, and his attempts at flirting with her never failed to make the Head Girl of Hogwarts laugh.
Suddenly, he lost his breath when a particularly nasty burst of pain lanced through his head, making his temples throb. Fingers raised to his brow, he looked up as he tried to regulate his breathing to normal and was taken aback to find Lilliana standing sideways now and looking at him, the moonlight lighting her features so that her creamy white skin seemed to almost glow with an iridescent light. But it was her eyes that stopped him in his tracks. Eyes so vivid in a uniquely emerald shade of green and shimmering with so much emotion that it left him breathless.
Shaking his head, James fought to clear his mind of his insane musings. Standing up, planning to go back to his dormitories to get his Invisibility Cloak to roam the castle, he was stopped when a lightly musical voice recited softly behind him, "The beauty of the night is wasted."
"When it is spent alone." he finished, a reluctant smile tugging at his lips as he turned to face her. He raised a brow at her as she made her way over to one of the couches near the fire and sat down gracefully. "And from where did you get that?"
"The same place where you came across it," she answered, the firelight twinkling in her eyes. "I do read, you know. I'm surprised you do."
James flicked his eyes to her as he sat down again, this time in a slightly more comfortable position. Checking to see if she was insulting him or just teasing, he saw the amusement in her smile and relaxed. He rearranged his face into a serious expression and said, "As the widely talented, gregarious, charming, clever, daring, famous, incredible, fantastic-"
"-modest?" she supplied with a small grin.
James nodded seriously. "Yes, thank you. Modest leader of the Marauders, reading is a requirement for me."
She raised one delicate eyebrow as she pretended to agree. "Oh?"
"Yes. You see, how would we ever manage to keep up our reputation if we repeated the same pranks over and over again?"
"That is a problem. You know, I always thought Sirie was the mastermind of all your pranks-"
His brow furrowed as he questioned, "Wait, Sirie?" This time, a true grin lightened up the darkly handsome features of his face. "You call Sirius Black, Sirie? And he likes it?"
Lily raised a slender finger to her cheek as she contemplated his question. "You know, when I first called him that, he actually threatened to throw a piece of the pie I had given him back to me if I called him that again. I of course, was offended, and called him Sirie again, resulting in him chucking the whole pie! He was quite chagrined, of course. You see, he loves blueberry pies. And I just love calling him Siri. So I gave him an alternative nickname."
Amusement flickered in James' eyes as he leaned forward. "And that nickname was?"
With a perfectly serious smile, she said innocently, "Blackie."
"Blackie?!!" James's laughter almost drowned out Lily's next words.
Lily nodded again. "He threw a whole cake at me that time." She tilted her head as she frowned at him, "Do you think that means he likes it better than Sirie?"
A chuckle escaped James' lips as he regarded the Head student in a new light. He would never have imagined that she was like this. His impression of her was of cool, frigid politeness always, and it surprised him to see that she had actually a lighter side. Actually, what surprised him the most was that she could get him to laugh like no one ever had.
Suddenly, a loud BONG! that echoed twelve times informed them that it was midnight. Lily rose from her seat and padded back over to the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories. James followed her with his eyes, until she came to the first step, where he finally spoke up, "Evans?"
She turned back, looking at him with an inquiring look in her eyes. "Potter?"
He shook his head. "James," he corrected.
"Then you should call me Lily then, James." She replied with a smile.
"Lily." he tried, rolling the name around in his tongue. It sounded nice. "Lily, then. I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow?"
Her only answer was a smile, and James Potter was alone once more in the common room.
But there was a difference.
For the first time in many, many nights, he was smiling.
"Lily."
~Author's Notes:~
I know most of you don't bother reading author's notes, but still, here's mine! I'm quite a newbie at writing James/Lily stories, so I would really appreciate comments and suggestions if there is any way at all to improve
this fic.
You know what that means, don't you? --,
Review!!
Please? *insert pleading look here*
Thank you for reading!
Chapter One: The Start of a Friendship.
It was dark as James Potter made his way down to the common room of Gryffindor House. Contrary to feeling uneasy, however, as many of his peers might have been, he felt comforted by the darkness. Here was where the ghosts of his mind quieted, where they stopped their unintelligible murmurs and whispers. And for that brief period of time in which his spirit was calm, he was thankful. For a long time, the same ghosts had haunted him. visiting him in dreams that were shadowy but still with traces of grim reality that every night, he woke up sweating and panting, unable to recall what his dreams had been about but still feeling the undertones of evil and malice in it. He wore no shoes or slippers. The ancient stones beneath his feet, cold and rough, were almost refreshing against his feverish skin. Farther down through the spiraling staircase, he glimpsed the flickering light that no doubt came from the warm, roaring flame of the common room, the fire that was never extinguished as a rule in the House of Gryffindor. Still, in spite of the warmth and light, shadows flittered around him, following as he made his descent quietly.
He had taken off his glasses, feeling an unfamiliar ache around his temples, and had left them atop his bedside table. Perhaps that was why he did not see her until he was sitting in one of the straight- backed chairs placed in the darkest corner of the room.
She had not seen him yet as well. Otherwise, she would have left immediately, that James knew. It baffled him, yet he was thankful that at least here was a small percent of the female population that he did not have to constantly evade. Their attraction to him was no secret. did they not chase after him in the halls and in classes, trying to elicit even the smallest of reactions from him so that they might boast to their friends how the great James Potter had given them a lingering glance or even a small smile? And James knew why their interest in him was so great. It didn't depend on just his looks, he knew. While his physical appearance was second to none, he knew what attracted them more to him was the supposedly mysterious aura that he had seemed to acquire in his years in Hogwarts. to be more precise, in his years in Hogwarts after the death of his whole family. While remaining the unchallenged leader of the greatest gang of pranksters Hogwarts had ever known, he knew that the whole school had been slightly surprised at his transition from being the happy-go-lucky, playboy prank-king of the Marauders to the darkly handsome, quiet, reclusive, person he had become. And while his professors had been puzzled as well, they had appreciated his newfound seriousness concerning his studies, as well as the new sense of responsibility he had found, so much that the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, had made him Head Boy.
While almost everyone's treatment towards him had changed, largely or slightly, there was still someone whose attitude towards him had not changed the slightest: Lilliana Marie Evans, the Charms Mistress and most- sought-after girl in Hogwarts. She was always unerringly polite towards him, and when they were sometimes partnered in Defense Against Dark Arts where they were always seemed to get the highest marks, she never seemed to be inclined to have anything to do with him other than what their lessons demanded. In truth, she was one of the few females who didn't seem to have an obsession with him.
Her back was turned to him, for she was looking out the window, head tilted back as gazed up at the moonlight. A heavy, silky curtain of a dark red hue spilled lavishly around her shoulders, the slightly curled tips reaching to the middle of her back. It was a rare treat to see her hair like that, he knew. She always wore her hair up. She was wearing a robe over her sleeping clothes, but even that failed to hide her figure. She was petite, certainly, but every part of her body seemed to blend with each other, so that the result was a body that was breathtaking in its beauty. Or actually, James thought, as a small smile tilted up the corners of his lips, that was what his closest friend and co-Marauder Sirius Black said. He was always so vocalized in his appreciation of Lilliana's body, around or out of her presence. Of course, for all of Sirius's efforts on flirting, it was all done in good fun. For some unknown reason, Sirius had long ago told them that he thought that Lilliana or Lily as her closest friends, or the people she most favored, including Sirius, called her, would be one of the few girls that he would not attempt to. for lack of a better term, shag. Or even snog, actually. It was known that Sirius was close friends with Lily, and his attempts at flirting with her never failed to make the Head Girl of Hogwarts laugh.
Suddenly, he lost his breath when a particularly nasty burst of pain lanced through his head, making his temples throb. Fingers raised to his brow, he looked up as he tried to regulate his breathing to normal and was taken aback to find Lilliana standing sideways now and looking at him, the moonlight lighting her features so that her creamy white skin seemed to almost glow with an iridescent light. But it was her eyes that stopped him in his tracks. Eyes so vivid in a uniquely emerald shade of green and shimmering with so much emotion that it left him breathless.
Shaking his head, James fought to clear his mind of his insane musings. Standing up, planning to go back to his dormitories to get his Invisibility Cloak to roam the castle, he was stopped when a lightly musical voice recited softly behind him, "The beauty of the night is wasted."
"When it is spent alone." he finished, a reluctant smile tugging at his lips as he turned to face her. He raised a brow at her as she made her way over to one of the couches near the fire and sat down gracefully. "And from where did you get that?"
"The same place where you came across it," she answered, the firelight twinkling in her eyes. "I do read, you know. I'm surprised you do."
James flicked his eyes to her as he sat down again, this time in a slightly more comfortable position. Checking to see if she was insulting him or just teasing, he saw the amusement in her smile and relaxed. He rearranged his face into a serious expression and said, "As the widely talented, gregarious, charming, clever, daring, famous, incredible, fantastic-"
"-modest?" she supplied with a small grin.
James nodded seriously. "Yes, thank you. Modest leader of the Marauders, reading is a requirement for me."
She raised one delicate eyebrow as she pretended to agree. "Oh?"
"Yes. You see, how would we ever manage to keep up our reputation if we repeated the same pranks over and over again?"
"That is a problem. You know, I always thought Sirie was the mastermind of all your pranks-"
His brow furrowed as he questioned, "Wait, Sirie?" This time, a true grin lightened up the darkly handsome features of his face. "You call Sirius Black, Sirie? And he likes it?"
Lily raised a slender finger to her cheek as she contemplated his question. "You know, when I first called him that, he actually threatened to throw a piece of the pie I had given him back to me if I called him that again. I of course, was offended, and called him Sirie again, resulting in him chucking the whole pie! He was quite chagrined, of course. You see, he loves blueberry pies. And I just love calling him Siri. So I gave him an alternative nickname."
Amusement flickered in James' eyes as he leaned forward. "And that nickname was?"
With a perfectly serious smile, she said innocently, "Blackie."
"Blackie?!!" James's laughter almost drowned out Lily's next words.
Lily nodded again. "He threw a whole cake at me that time." She tilted her head as she frowned at him, "Do you think that means he likes it better than Sirie?"
A chuckle escaped James' lips as he regarded the Head student in a new light. He would never have imagined that she was like this. His impression of her was of cool, frigid politeness always, and it surprised him to see that she had actually a lighter side. Actually, what surprised him the most was that she could get him to laugh like no one ever had.
Suddenly, a loud BONG! that echoed twelve times informed them that it was midnight. Lily rose from her seat and padded back over to the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories. James followed her with his eyes, until she came to the first step, where he finally spoke up, "Evans?"
She turned back, looking at him with an inquiring look in her eyes. "Potter?"
He shook his head. "James," he corrected.
"Then you should call me Lily then, James." She replied with a smile.
"Lily." he tried, rolling the name around in his tongue. It sounded nice. "Lily, then. I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow?"
Her only answer was a smile, and James Potter was alone once more in the common room.
But there was a difference.
For the first time in many, many nights, he was smiling.
"Lily."
~Author's Notes:~
I know most of you don't bother reading author's notes, but still, here's mine! I'm quite a newbie at writing James/Lily stories, so I would really appreciate comments and suggestions if there is any way at all to improve
this fic.
You know what that means, don't you? --,
Review!!
Please? *insert pleading look here*
Thank you for reading!
