A/N: For Sadbh. This is a continuation of The Life and Times by Jewels5. Anyone who isn't the Sadbh I'm referring to, I advise you not to read this. But for Sadbh: this is the story of how Lily and James fell in love. (It's not a good one)
Disclaimer: These characters belong to J.K. Rowling and Jewels5. I only own the plot, which is a continuation of The Life and Times by Jewels5, a fanfiction based on the work of J.K. Rowling.
Defining Moments
The train ride back to Hogwarts two days after the memorial for the eighty-four fallen members of MFP (and the three security guards, who were unfortunate enough to be there on the day of the massacre) was, Marlene thought, rather boring. Adam McKinnon, Marlene's best mate, whom had told Marlene he loved her a few days previously (and whom Marlene had kissed), was absent. His sister Sarah McKinnon, a member of MFP, had been killed that day in Rutland and Adam's parents had allowed him to stay at home for a couple of days extra. Even if he was here, he wouldn't be with me, Marlene thought enviously. Given the circumstances, Marlene had excused Adam for not calling it quits with his girlfriend, Prudence Bloody Daly, but she couldn't stop these envious thoughts from running through her head.
Marlene sat alone in compartment G of Hogwarts Express awaiting the arrival of her best-friend, Mary MacDonald. They had both been on their way to the compartment until Mary had stopped to converse with a group of seventh-year Ravenclaws about the James-Carlotta break-up-scandal. Marlene, knowing she would be unable to contribute anything worthwhile to the conversation and who was also aware of how long she would be standing with Mary and the Ravenclaws until the gossip had run short, proceeded to the compartment with her luggage.
After gossiping for twenty minutes straight, Mary made an appearance in Compartment G, only to tell Marlene she had been invited to lunch by the group of gossipy girls and it would be another half an hour before she returned to Marlene. Marlene didn't mind, however, and selected a book from her suitcase to read while she awaited the return of her friend.
After about forty minutes, there was a knock on the compartment door. Marlene looked up expectantly but was disappointed by what she saw. Miles Stimpson stood there, smug as ever, leaning against the wall. He opened the compartment door.
"All alone, Price?"
"Clearly. Stimpson." She spat him surname venomously.
"Now, now.." He tutted. "That's really no way to talk to your boyfriend of three years."
"Ex-boyfriend," corrected a familiar voice. Marlene looked around for the speaker but before two seconds had passed Sirius Black walked over to the compartment smirking. "Price." He said as a way of greeting.
"Black." She replied, "What brings you down this end?" The Marauders nearly always got seats near the start of the Food Trolley's route.
"No seats," he explained wearily. Addressing Miles: "Sod off, Stimpson."
"I wa-" he began to counter, but was stopped mid-sentence by the arrival of James Potter. Even Stimpson knew you were never to mess with the Marauders 2:1 . Most ended up in the hospital wing for it. "I'm going.." he relented as he turned to walk back in the direction of his compartment.
Marlene ignored the Marauders' confused expressions and invited them into her compartment. They accepted gratefully and took two of the seats opposite Marlene. "The other two should be along in a minute," murmured Sirius distractedly (they were also searching for seats) before he added "Heard there was something going on between you and Number Fi- McKinnon?" he asked questioningly with a look of what could only be glee.
Marlene blushed and hastily tried to hide her face with her hair, which she must have forgotten was cut much too short for that carry-on. She retired to using her hands and the book she had been reading which was a bit too obvious for the Marauders not to notice. James hadn't really been paying attention but Sirius raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Oh all right. You got me." She raised her hands over her head in mock confession.
Sirius laughed and asked "What exactly happened?"
Marlene was grateful for the interruption just then, when James hastily cut in: "Seen Evans at all?"
"No, actually, but I'm assuming she'll be with Donna seeing as she was staying with the Shacklebolts."
"Yeah…" agreed James thoughtfully.
"Alright there, Prongs?" Asked Sirius, smirking knowingly.
"What? Yeah, yeah.." James waved off the question and directed his next at Marlene. "Seen Shack, have you?"
"Er.. No I haven't seen either Lily or Donna at all today. I'm sure they're around here somewhere.." She said uncertainly.
"Well… Thanks." He said this without sarcasm and Marlene thought perhaps he meant it, for what, she did not know. He stood up suddenly and without looking back, said "Later Padfoot. Price." And walked down the corridor in pursuit of Lily.
"Reckon he's been put under the Imperius?" questioned Sirius, smirking again.
James hadn't really been paying attention to Sirius and Marlene's conversation in Compartment G. His mind was elsewhere. His mind was on Lily. Lily Evans. Snaps. The girl he had been obsessed with for over six years and who had always hated him. That was, until sixth year when they had agreed to become friends for the sake of themselves and everyone around them. They had always been bickering, James annoying her only to get her attention. He sighed as his stomach flipped as it always did on the thought of Lily Evans. He decided to ask Marlene about Lily's whereabouts but she had said she hadn't seen her at all today. James couldn't sit still for much longer and came up with the solution to find her. He set off after a hasty goodbye to his two housemates. He wandered the corridor leading back to Compartment A and began his search for her there. He peered through the glass section of each compartment door until he got to Compartment I, on the third carriage. Here he found Remus and Peter and slid open the door to join them. He sat down.
"Moony. Wormtail. Fancy meeting you here. Sirius is in Compartment G if you want to head over to him." They began to pick up their stuff and James slid open the compartment door again and began to walk in the opposite direction of Compartment G.
"Oi! Where do you think you're going?" It was Remus.
"Just… just looking for someone is all."
"Oh I see." Remus left the conversation here and turned to Peter. "C'mon then." He grinned knowledgably to James as they struggled with what little baggage they had to Compartment G.
"Why is everyone looking at me like that today?" He muttered to himself, turning to continue his search. Remus could be heard chuckling lightly as Peter questioned Remus as to what was going on.
No sign of Lily in compartments J,K,L,M,N or O and just when he was about to give up someone's head bumped against his back. The person muttered an apology and looking up into the face of her obstacle, exclaimed "Potter!" His stomach flipped.
"Hey Snaps."
"I was looking for you and Sirius had said you were gone to look for the Food Trolley so I came down here but then Snape – I saw him and I wanted to get away so I was running with my head down and – Oh God Potter I didn't even see you, I'm so sorry!" She explained without breath.
Potter.
He laughed at the flushed Lily Evans before him and she glared at him jokingly. "You said you were looking for me?" He had unsuccessfully kept the hope out of his voice.
"Oh. That's right. We're needed for Head Boy/Girl duties."
"…in forty-five minutes, it would seem so." He raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Yeah… Er… I – I guess I wanted to talk to you," she resigned. Stomach flips.
"Oh? What about?" He acknowledged himself making the situation awkward and added "Nevermind that. Walk?"
"Oh yes, because there are so many places to walk on this one-corridor-magical-train," She quipped, grinning.
James matched her expression and grabbed her by the wrist, leading her towards the end of the train.
The thought that instantly sprung to Lily's mind was that summer night. They had both been drinking. She had challenged James, betting that he wouldn't be able to click his fingers properly. He had proved her wrong by snapping his fingers. "Look, I'm snapping, Snaps." She had grabbed his wrists and unconsciously stepped closer to him. They were close enough to kiss; the tips of her shoes touching James's. She had closed her eyes and he had closed his and they were leaning in, when Lily had suddenly exclaimed "We've been drinking!" and drew back. She had regretted the ending everytime she thought about it, and the occurrence had been followed up by dreams of James, rather shirtless.
All of this ran threw her head in a matter of seconds, and James was still dragging her after him through the corridor that was too narrow to fit two people side-by-side in it.
"Where are you taking me?"
"Taking you? You make it sound like you were abducted." He flashed a smile back at her as she struggled to keep up with his long strides and maintain her grip on his hand.
"Fine. Where are we going Mr. Potter?" She asked, faux-polite.
"You'll see." His words were final and she did not press the matter, although she couldn't quite suppress her smile.
"Don't laugh," he scolded her teasingly, noticing her smile. "You'll enjoy it, I think."
"I hope so, if only for your sake," she replied.
In reality, the train was not that big and they had reached the end of the train in minutes. James pulled to a stop just opposite a little hatch big enough to fit a person through on the wall nearest to him. "We have arrived at your destination, Miss Evans."
Lily peered around his shoulder. "Looks promising," she noted before grinning up at James.
He grinned back at her and opened up the hatch. "Engine-Room." He announced. "Not entirely sure why they need it, you'd think this thing was run on magic, wouldn't you? But I find it a comforting place to go when there are no seats."
"But there are seats," she pointed out.
"Dearly noted, Snaps. It is also a useful place for drinking. Going in?"
"I – We have duties… Yeah, I guess." She shrugged and hoisted herself through the hatch. James followed and entered without any difficulty as if he'd done it many times before, which, Lily reasoned, was probable. It was unusually cool down there. Lily thought that perhaps they didn't actually use the engines after all. James routed around for something – the drink, Lily assumed – and when he emerged he was carrying a bottle of Firewhisky. Lily guessed that he and Sirius had hidden a few bottles of the stuff down here for their train journeys.
"Are you sure we should be drinking?" Lily eyed the drink suspiciously but James could tell it was fake concern and handed her the bottle which he had already opened with is wand. She took a swig and handed it back to James. The burning sensation in her throat was somewhat comforting and she realised how much need she had for the whiskey. James handed the bottle back to her and she took another, longer swig this time.
"So what do you want to talk about Snaps?" He joked, the bottle back in his hand.
She shrugged and replied: "Anything but The Thing." James eyed her questioningly. "The Thing" is what Lily had started to name the massacre in Rutland.
"It's just what I call it – in my head. The – the – Sam." There were tears in her eyes now as she explained to James what she had meant. She should stop. She knew she should. James obviously missed him more and he wasn't crying about it. And then he was. Crying, that is. James was crying. The tears didn't spill over the rim of his eyes as Lily's had, but Lily rather thought that it still counted as crying.
"James…" She whispered sadly and scooted over to sit beside him, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I know you miss him, I know…" she cooed as she directed James's head onto her shoulder. She wasn't surprised when he broke down in tears. A hug always had that effect on Lily, and although she and James had their differences, they were much the same. A million things ran through her head at once: some real, some mere memories.
She liked James Potter.
Sam taking his fedora off Lily's head claiming it clashed horribly with her hair.
James had liked her for the past six years.
Sam's scribbly signature scrawled at the end of each letter he had written to her.
Lily had decided to be friends with James during sixth-year.
The first letter she had received from Sam.
Then she liked him.
Sam's friendliness.
She really liked him.
And then her grief for losing Sam and the dilemma she faced in liking Potter and his not liking her back anymore overcame her and her eyes, which had still been wet with tears, gave up and the tears came pouring down, James's head still on her shoulder, and hers on his and they sobbed together, in the unused engine room of the Hogwarts Express.
When the Hogwarts Express pulled up at Hogsmeade Station, Lily exited Compartment G where, after completing her Head Girl duties, she had spent the remainder of her journey with Marlene Price and the four Marauders. None of them had much baggage seeing as they had only gone home for a weekend and they didn't have the struggle the usually did with their vast amounts of luggage. The six of them managed to squeeze into one of the Thestral-drawn carriages along with their luggage, and they took off towards the school. Mary MacDonald hadn't made an appearance as she had promised Marlene, but Marlene hadn't been all that disappointed. Sometimes, riding on the train with the Marauders was all you needed to put yourself in a good mood.
"So what were you two up to all on your own?" Sirius teased, referring to James and Lily.
They both blushed deep scarlet even though nothing had happened – not like that at least. But Lily was willing to bet ten galleons that James felt equally as awkward having cried in front of Lily as Lily felt having cried in front of him.
James elbowed his friend in the ribs. "Ow, Prongs. "
"Serves you right, sticking your nose in other people's business."
"You practically forced my nose into your business when we became friends, whining about your love-life. Lily this and Lily that-" James dug his elbow deeper into Sirius' ribs as Sirius winced in pain. Lily blushed again and she desperately hoped no one noticed. She thought she might have seen the corners or Remus' mouth twitch ever so slightly when she looked his way, but if he had noticed the colour in her cheeks, he chose not to discuss it.
"What were you up to? You and Price alone in a compartment, something must have happened." She was desperate to divert the conversation away from her and said the first thing that sprung to mind. She hoped it didn't sound too accusing; she knew what was going on between Marlene and Adam (or, rather, she knew as much as Marlene did) and shot an apologetic look towards Marlene. Marlene smiled reassuringly and shook her head as if to say "It doesn't matter." And Lily smiled gratefully.
Sirius: "Sod off Evans, you know my heart belongs with you." Lily shook her head disbelievingly, acknowledging the joke, and laughed. James laughed as well. He must have known Sirius was joking… Well, of course James knew: they were best mates after all. But Lily couldn't help wondering… if James's supposed indifference was because he, too, had acknowledged the joke, or if he didn't anymore care who liked Lily.
It was the former, but Lily wouldn't be sure of the feelings James had for Lily for a little while yet.
Upon arrival to Hogwarts, the six Gryffindors exited their carriage and dashed up to the Entrance Hall, trying to avoid the rain which was falling in steady sheets around them. Walking from where the Thestral-drawn carriage had deposited them up to the castle was about a five minute walk. Sprinting, the journey took less than two minutes, but they were, all the same, soaked to the skin. They each had tried to shelter themselves using their bags (it hadn't done much good) and when they reached the Entrance Hall they removed the bags from their heads and shook off some of the water.
"Merlin, I didn't see that coming," said Remus, exasperated and panting from their sprint. Lily and Marlene's hair was plastered to their face and James's was an absolute mess. His shock of usually untidy, black hair had a sort of order to it now, and needless to say, he looked ridiculous.
"Oh my God, James, you're hair!" exclaimed Marlene and she and Lily laughed at the bewildered look on James's face as he tried to find something to examine his reflection in. After a quick search he located his part of the two-way-mirror and held it up to his face. Sirius discreetly retrieved his own from his bag and whispered into it: "James Potter."
James was busy trying to regain the natural look of his hair when Sirius said clearly: "Merlin, Prongs, you're hair looks like a Hippogriff's nest!" at the same time as his face had appeared in James's mirror.
"Agrippa's sake Padfoot!" exclaimed James, surprised by the sudden appearance of his best-mate in his mirror. The five of them laughed at James, and when he had gotten over the surprise, James joined in. "I'll get you back for that, git."
"I don't doubt it," replied Sirius turning his attention away from James and to a group of fifth year girls. "Hello, ladies." (A/N: To Sadbh: Mr. Waldron) They giggled, passing Sirius and proceeding to the Great Hall. Lily took out her wand: "Here," she said, waving her wand over each in turn and muttering an incantation. The moisture from their clothes evaporated into steam and rose up until it was invisible. "There," she said examining them.
Sirius grabbed at his robes testing them for moisture. After a minute, he grinned up at Lily and said: "Merlin Lily, you're a genius!" James had been testing his own robes for moisture and looked impressed.
"Well c'mon then," encouraged Remus as he made his way towards the Great Hall. The others followed him to the Gryffindor table and Marlene and Lily took seats opposite Mary and Donna. Donna glared at Lily and asked sourly: "Where did you disappear to?"
"I – I had Head Girl duties with James," she stammered, which was partly true.
"That doesn't explain why you didn't come back to me afterwards," she argued.
"I did actually, but you weren't there." Countered Lily, defensively.
"You could have waited for me, I had only popped to the loo," she said, losing interest in the argument, probably because she was losing.
"Well, how was I to know?" snapped Lily, uncharacteristically grumpy. Marlene looked down the bench, and spotted James conversing with Carlotta. She looked quizzically to Lily, but she didn't notice.
"I'm sorry, Donna," she said, her tone more gentle than before. It looked as if Donna had thought Lily was going to elaborate and when she didn't, Donna looked up from the empty plate before her which she had been glaring at. She nodded curtly at Lily in acceptance. Lily then took up conversation with the girl beside her about the weather.
It was nine o'clock, and Lily, along with Marlene, Mary and Donna traipsed back to their dormitories, put-down by the fact that normality would resume tomorrow. They had just finished their supper (Hogwarts Express had arrived quite a bit later than usual and the house elves had prepared an evening meal for the students who had returned home), and they were all stuffed with steak-and-kidney pie and jelly and ice-cream. Lily briefly returned to her old dormitory where the rest of her mates now slept, and bid them all goodnight.
"Night, Lily," Marlene's words were almost lost in her yawn.
"Night, Mar. Night everyone. Donna." She nodded in the witch's direction in conjunction with her words. She turned on her heel and walked slowly up the stairs to her dorm. She hadn't quite gotten used to having her own room and after all the time spent with her five room-mates, the absence of their breathing made it harder for Lily to sleep. When she reached the dorm door, someone was already there.
"Alright, Evans?" It was Sirius.
"Hey Sirius," she greeted him while pushing open the dorm door and invited him in.
"Nice room." He noted. The usual playfulness in his voice was gone and replaced by something else. Lily couldn't identify what.
"It's not like you haven't been up here before," she replied casually, grinning. Sirius missed the joke and replied vaguely: "Yeah… Sorry, what Evans?"
"Nothing. Everything alright, Sirius?" She said, noticing her friend's distracted behaviour.
"…No…" He admitted. "Want a drink?" he added, withdrawing a flask of Agrippa knows what.
Instead of replying, Lily routed around in her bag for the Firewhiskey she had shared with James earlier on the train. She had had to retrieve her bag from compartment C and had hastily shoved it into the front pocket as she and James walked to Compartment G. Upon locating the drink, she offered it to Sirius instead of whatever concoction was held in his hands.
Sirius smiled half-heartedly and accepted the drink. He took a swig and sighed: refreshed.
"Not half bad, is this." He took another few gulps and handed the bottle over to Lily. She had not intended to drink this evening, but relented at the sight of Sirius' face. He was troubled and she was going to have a long night. She took the bottle from Sirius' outstretched hand and gulped down a little bit of the drink. She sighed.
"Spill." She demanded, but not forcefully. Sirius looked confused for a moment but then he realised what she meant.
"Oh… Right, yeah." He took another swig of the whiskey which Lily had handed back to him and continued. "It's James." Lily's stomach did something familiar in response to his name.
"Oh?" She questioned.
"Yeah… he's been a bit… off lately. Y'know? And at first I didn't really know why but then – I figured, maybe it was because of Sam." Maybe. Lily thought that this was rather probable. "I mean, when we heard about the attack… He was so torn up about his mum – I don't even think Sam crossed his mind and then – then Sam was dead and… and… he hasn't really been the same since." Sirius took another swig, completely forgetting to hand the bottle back to Lily. "I reckon he feels guilty. For forgetting about him." He added in response to Lily's questioning look.
She thought about this for a minute until Sirius continued. "That was also around the time him and Carlotta broke up…" He concluded carefully. Lily tensed for a moment, remembering him chatting to her in the Great Hall, but then relaxed. She had witnessed James crying over Sam on the train. And he her. But she had also been crying about James. About the fact that he no longer liked her. Was it possible that James had also been crying about someone other than Sam? No. Of course not. James Potter was not the kind of guy to cry over a girl. No way.
This wasn't entirely true. But Lily wouldn't discover that for a little while yet.
The next morning, Lily was up at six o'clock kicking Sirius off the foot of her bed and out of her room.
"I can not believe you stayed the night!"
"Well good-morning to you too," he greeted her sarcastically.
"Sod off, Black."
"Lily, I slept on the end of your bed… it's not a big deal, okay?"
She sighed and ran her hand through her hair, rather James-like. "Yeah, okay. Look: I'm sorry all right? It's just.. just been a long week and I'm tired and you stayed the night you sodding git," she concluded hitting him with her pillow in false anger. She sighed and grinned at her friend: "I'll see you at breakfast!" and those were her final words to him that morning as she closed the door in his face.
…
"Top of the morning to ya," he took off his non-existent hat in salute to Remus, the only boy in his dormitory who was awake.
"Merlin's sake Padfoot, where were you?" he asked in annoyance.
"Lily's dorm. I told you that was where I was headed yesterday."
"You stayed the night in Lily's dorm?" questioned Remus, alarmed.
"Relax Moony, I drank a little bit and fell asleep on the end of her bed."
The relief was obvious in Remus' face.
"Merlin, you didn't think I'd sleep with her, did you? I wouldn't do that to Prongs, and anyway, she and I are mates."
"Yeah, I know sorry, I just… it was the first thing that came to mind is all."
"Some mate." Sirius grinned at Remus.
Remus returned the smile half-heartedly and began searching for some fresh clothes to wear. Sirius looked at his calendar (the Chudley Cannons players were zooming around in the picture above) and he noted that the full moon was a full two weeks away. What other reason had Remus to be… down?
"Everything all right, mate?"
He hesitated before answering :"Padfoot…" He began carefully. "Have you noticed James being a bit.."
"Off?" Sirius concluded the question for him.
"You have then? Noticed it?"
"Yeah, I have Moony." He sat down on his bed and sighed. "So what do you want to do?"
"There's not much we can do, Padfoot. You know what it's about, don't you?"
"Sam," muttered Sirius at the same time as Remus had uttered "Carlotta".
"What?"They both exclaimed, both shocked at the other's response. "What?" they repeated.
"Oh c'mon, you don't seriously believe that James is this bogged down over Carlotta Meloni? He likes Lily. Lily Evans? That girl he was madly in love with for over six years? Those feelings don't just go away, Moony. They are meant to be, those two. It's – it's… excuse the cliché, it's inevitable. The reason James is down is Sam. Sam is dead, Moony and I reckon Prongs might feel guilty for not worrying about him."
Remus was silent for a few minutes before accepting that Sirius was right. Of course it was about Sam. In all honesty, it hadn't even occurred to Remus that Sam might have been what was behind all this. "You're right." He told Sirius.
"Well, of course I'm right, but now what do we do about it?"
"I don't know. He's not much of a talker when it comes to feelings."
Sirius silently pointed out that all James ever used to talk about was his feelings for Lily, so that wasn't necessarily true, but he thought he rather saw Remus's point. James wasn't likely to talk about this.
Lily sat alone at the Gryffindor table when James entered the Great Hall and he wandered over to her.
"Hey Snaps," He grinned and took a bite of the toast she had buttered.
"Oi, Potter that was mine!" She exclaimed, and smacked his hand lightly.
"Oh, Gosh I hadn't realised."
"Git."
"Prig."
He smirked and poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice. She couldn't suppress her smile and her face broke in to a wide grin. She laughed at herself.
"What's so funny Snaps?" Almost laughing himelf.
"Nothing – I just… You always manage to make me smile. Even on the worst mornings." She told him, remembering the rather unpleasant start to the day.
Whoa.
"It's the hair, isn't it?" He joked, running his fingers through it.
"No… not the hair." She said distractedly, studying his face. "Just the… aura. The air of self-confidence. You're just – funny." She concluded, returning her attention to her toast.
James was spared the necessity of replying by the arrival of Sirius and Donna Shacklebolt. They took seats opposite James and Lily.
"Padfoot, Shack." He greeted them. Lily smiled at them and helped herself to eggs and bacon.
"When's the next Quidditch practice scheduled for?" Inquired Donna.
"This Saturday."
Donna groaned. Having Quidditch practice on the days when there were no classes was possibly worse than having them on days when a two-scroll-long Potions essay you haven't even started is due the next day and you have to stay up until all hours of the night finishing it. Having Quidditch practice on a day where Potter assumes all your homework is complete, and that you'll have no plans, for the entire day was worse. Potter was an enthusiastic Quidditch player and, on a day when he had no plans himself, practice could run for over five hours.
"Are you complaining, Shack?"
"Oh, of course not, Captain." She retorted sourly.
"That's what I thought." He told her triumphantly. There was another hour left until classes started and Lily was finished eating.
"Walk?" Inquired James. Lily grinned up at him.
"You really can read minds then? You're not just a pretty face," She joked and got ready to leave.
Pretty face?
James grabbed another slice of toast and he and Lily walked together from the Great Hall to the Entrance Hall.
When they stepped outside the double doors of Hogwarts, crisp November air bit their noses and cheeks and the sharp wind whipped Lily's hair across her face. James, noting her discomfort, suggested: "Inside then, Snaps?"
"Yeah – Oh Merlin, James we still have the patrol to schedule for tonight!" She exclaimed worriedly.
"Well there's another hour 'til class starts. We could always do it now?"
"Yeah, we should shouldn't we?" James laughed lightly at the repeating 'sh' sound,
"You are such a child, James Potter!" But she was laughing now as well. "C'mon, let's go quickly so we can get it done now." He followed her up the stairs until they reached the floor their office was on. They walked briskly towards their office and pushed open the door. Lily grabbed some parchment and a quill. "So… who goes with who?" She asked of James. She had inked the quill and was ready to write.
"As long as you don't put me with Snivellus, I'm grand." And when another thought entered his mind he said it quickly before he could change his mind. "Head Boy and Girl should go together shouldn't they?"
Lily looked up from the parchment and answered: "Yeah, I guess they should. Do you want to do it tonight then? Or another night? Makes no difference to us, all we do is play card games." She smirked up at him.
"And drink."
"We have never drank on the job before!" said Lily, indignant.
"Have we not? Gee Snaps you ought to slap some sense into me." Joked James.
Here, Lily could have mentioned that the last time they had drank together, it had ended in their crying together. James was grateful she didn't.
"You know, as Head Boy and Head Girl, and as underage wizards, I think we probably drink too much."
"I think you're probably right, although you never seem to object." Lily grinned.
"I don't, do I? Bring the drink, I'll schedule us for tonight." She said and scribbled their names on the piece of parchment under the section labelled "Wednesday".
"Sounds like a plan, Snaps."
Lily's first class that day was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, and she and James were just on time for her class.
"Take your seats, Evans, Potter," she ordered sternly. They complied, splitting from each other's side as they walked in opposite directions to their seats. Lily took a seat beside Mary and removed her Transfiguration book from her bag.
"How was your walk with Potter?" she asked, grinning as if she knew something more than everyone else did.
"Who told you I was with Potter? I might've just met him outside." Lily reasoned. She leaned back.
"Black was telling everyone in the Common Room this morning," she explained. "Potter and Evans alone together sparked quite a few people's interest, you know?"
Lily blushed and shushed her friend as McGonagall started her lesson.
Today they would be turning gerbils into decent-sized trophies without saying the spell aloud. Lily was looking forward to the outcome of this class, as she always excelled at Transfiguration. Mary, on the other hand, didn't do quite so well in Transfiguration. Half-way through the class, Mary was still saying the spell and the trophy that stood before her now had ears and two paws and was scurrying across the table to its death. From across the room, McGonagall spotted the trophy-gerbil and pointed her wand at it. Wordlessly, she hit it with the spell and returned the half-trophy to its original state. Half the class had seen Mary's creation and were stifling their laughter as they returned to their work. As much as Lily had tried to comfort Mary, she herself was suppressing a smile and eventually her face broke into a wide grin as she apologised to Mary for laughing.
"I'm sorry, but I just – did you see it?"she was laughing uncontrollably now as the image of Mary's trophy with feet scurrying over to the edge of the table, unable to see where it was going, replayed itself in her mind.
"Yes, Lily, I did see it, as did half the class and now they all think I'm stupid," she sighed, but when Lily re-enacted the scene with her fingers Mary couldn't stifle her laughter and broke down in a fit of giggles.
"Silencio, Mary. McGonagall will put us in detention for 'disrupting her class," she had forced herself to calm down by taking deep breaths but was still smiling.
Mary obliged and returned to the gerbil which she had held in her hand to prevent it from running off the table, grinning wildly.
By this stage, Lily had wordlessly transfigured her gerbil into three different colour trophies of three different designs and successfully, this time, suppressed her laughter.
The next day Marlene had entered the Great Hall, still wiping the sleep from her eyes as she walked lazily over to the Gryffindor table for breakfast. She was awoken fully when her eyes fell on her best-mate standing in between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, whom she had completely forgotten was returning to the castle today. "Adam!" she exclaimed and sprinted over to him and embraced him in an uncharacteristically bone-crushing hug. Adam laughed heartily and pushed Marlene gently away from him so as to examine her.
"Miss me then?" he asked, grinning. She beamed up at him and pulled him into another hug.
"So much," she whispered to his chest, so that only he could hear. Instead of replying, he tightened his grip on her and tucked her head under his chin. They stayed like that for a while until Sirius passed by and wolf-whistled, upon which they broke apart embarrassedly. They sat down beside each other on the bench beside Lily and helped themselves to the food in front of them.
"Did I miss anything important?" inquired Adam of Marlene, buttering his toast.
"Only that Lily and James are dating," she replied simply, peering past Adam to see Lily's reaction. Adam spit out a bit of the pumpkin juice he had held in his mouth and hastily mopped himself up with a napkin while exclaiming: "Blimey, congratulations Evans."
"I am not – we're not," spluttered Lily while Adam spoke over her.
"About time, too. The amount of nights I was woken up by them four discussing you – "
"We are not dating," said Lily over him, blushing. Adam looked a little bit embarrassed and shot an accusatory look at Marlene who smiled guiltily and took a bite of the apple she held in her hand. "Just kidding," she whispered to Adam who smiled despite himself. "God, I've missed you," he sighed, content. She smirked at him, though he didn't notice: his eyes were directed to the plate of food in front of him.
James walked over to the three of them confidently (gesturing for Sirius to follow him over from where he sat, four or five spaces down from James) and sat down opposite Adam, who was in the middle. "McKinnon, you've returned," he noted, smiling and nodded towards Lily, "Snaps," he greeted her playfully.
"Potter," she replied, matching his tone and expression. He greeted Marlene by her second name and set about scavenging some food from the baskets which were always nearly empty by this time in the morning. He returned with quite a substantial amount of food in his hands and set it down on the plate in front of him, eyeing his food with obvious delight. Lily grinned at the sight of him and grabbed one of the apples he had brought back with him. He looked at her, a false expression of disgust on his face.
"For the toast," she explained, smirking.
"And," Marlene chimed in: "You were hardly going to shove all of that down your throat, were you?" She looked at him disbelievingly, although one apple was hardly going to make any difference.
"You'd be surprised, Marlene, dear, what I can fit into this fine looking thing." He gestured to his body and Lily stifled her laugh behind her hand.
Sirius finally joined them where they sat. "Evans, Prongs, Price – OI! McKinnon – you're back!" he exclaimed, surprised. Classes were about to start and they were among the last people in the Great Hall.
"We better go," encouraged Marlene and she and Adam got up to leave. James and Lily weren't quite finished eating and Sirius had grabbed a few pieces of bacon from James's pile. They remained seated: "We'll catch you up later," Lily reassured Marlene and resumed her consumption of the fruit in her hand.
"Okay, then. See you Lily. Later James, Sirius." She and Adam walked casually together until they disappeared into the Entrance Hall. Sirius: "Do you have any idea what's going on between them?" The question was directed to Lily and she shrugged.
"She hasn't said much about it, really, except that Adam still loves her." Provided Lily.
"Yeah, that's what I'd heard as well," murmured Sirius distractedly. He nudged James's arm: "C'mon, we better head to class."
"It's Slughorn, Padfoot. Plus, Lily's with us so we should be excused. Lily's a Sluggy," he reminded Sirius, while smirking teasingly over at Lily. She pretended to look affronted and set down her finished apple. She rubbed her hands off each other and swept the crumbs from the front of her robes.
"Sirius is right, Prongs, with the length of time you spend in front of a mirror everyday we'll be halfway into next week if we don't hurry up." She quipped.
James shook his head and grinned as he and Sirius wiped themselves down and the three of them walked towards their dormitories to retrieve their bags, carrying on with their witty banter (A/N: Thanks Sadbh).
Adam was walking hurriedly from the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, where he had had class with the Ravenclaws, and one Ravenclaw in particular, Prudence Daly. Adam hadn't had enough courage to end his relationship with the sixth year as of yet and he was desperately trying to avoid her.
"Adam! Wait up." His heart dropped as he turned slowly on the spot. It was Prudence.
"Yeah…?" He smiled weakly. She grinned back at him, walking towards him and before he could stop it, wrapping her arms around his neck and pecking him on the lips. She then placed her head on his shoulder and made no effort to break free for a few awkward (for Adam) seconds.
"Hey Prudence," he made an effort but he felt as if no warmth entered his words. He released her, unsmiling. Prudence seemed too caught up in her words to notice: "Oh my God I've only seen you once since you returned, it's been so long!" They would have seen a lot more of each other if Adam hadn't turned around and walked in a different direction every time he had caught sight of her. People must have noticed his ignoring her, and several people had heard that he still loved Marlene. If Adam didn't tell Prudence soon, she would be bound to hear it from some gossipy girl on the corridor. Adam, despite his not loving Prudence, did care about her and didn't want to hurt her feelings like that. So he pulled her aside and told her quietly: "We need to talk."
She didn't object, but looked rather defeated.
"Astronomy Tower this evening, then?" She nodded gravely and turned on her heel. Adam stared after her, confused but then proceeded towards where Marlene was waiting for him. She must have told Lily and the others to go on without her because she was very much alone.
"Hey Mar," he greeted her, smiling.
She held out her arm in offering: "Shall we, Mister McKinnon?"
Adam looked at her awkwardly, not accepting her arm. "We should wait until I tell Prudence, Mar."
"I thought that was what you had just done there?" She questioned him.
"No, no, I just told her we needed to talk."
"Merlin, and she reacted like that!" It was more of a statement than a question, so Adam didn't feel obliged to answer. He shrugged uncomfortably and suggested that they make their way to the Great Hall for lunch.
James had had Defence Against the Dark Arts just before lunch with Lily Evans. They had been paired together (to James's luck) by their Defence teacher to practice simple disarming spells. The Professor had told the class that people often forgot the simplest of spells at Newt level, but James thought it unlikely that anyone had forgotten the disarming spell, which was, positively, the most widely used spell on campus.
"Mister Potter and Miss Evans will work together." He read from a scroll of names and proceeded to the next pair when James had started towards Lily's desk, grinning. Lily rolled her eyes and sighed when he reached her desk. "Out of all the people in the class, I got paired with you." But she was smiling.
"Snaps," he greeted her, grinning and pretending not to have heard her. "How fortunate that us two were paired together." When she looked confused he elaborated: "Best two students in the class…?" He questioned her as if it were something she ought to know.
Lily looked innocently up at him: "You mean best student and biggest oaf in the class?"
"Oh, Lily, don't put yourself down like that," he joked, a smile playing on the corner of his lips.
She hit his arm softly, scolding him, but she was laughing at his joke. "Original," she noted, though it clearly wasn't. He snorted and raised his wand. He brought his wand dramatically over his head and swept it down across his abdomen until he pointed it at Lily. "You ready?" He breathed loudly as if he were doing more than just disarming the girl in front of him.
"Ready," she matched his breathing and readied her wand in front of her dramatically. He exhaled and: "Expelliarmus!"
Lily's wand was flung from her hand and James outstretched his hand and caught it coolly. He swung it around is fingers and tossed it back to Lily, who, in turn, caught it coolly, smirking.
"Impressive, Evans."
"Not too bad, yourself, Potter."
"Not too bad," he scoffed.
"Expelliarmus," muttered Lily and James's wand flew from his hand to hers, flawlessly. Now James looked genuinely impressed as he retrieved his wand from her.
"I reckon I was right: we are the best two in the class," he said pompously. Lily laughed at him and disarmed him again before he could continue.
…
"Well that was an exhilarating class, don't you think?" asked James jokingly. They were walking from class to the dormitories where they planned to deposit their books for the lunch hour.
"I'm just glad I got paired with you," she said sarcastically, although it was true, and she linked her arm with James's, joking.
"As am I, Flower," he said, imitating Lily's ex-boyfriend, Luke Harper.
"Oh, sod off!" she said, withdrawing her arm from James's and grinning.
"Still touchy? It's about time you moved on and got yourself a new man," he advised her.
"Well, I can't just snap my fingers and conjure a new boyfriend, James," she reminded him pointedly.
"Well, I know someone who likes you," he informed her, smirking.
"Oh?" She questioned, only mildly interested.
"Reginald Cattermole."
"What? For real? I thought he liked Mary."
"Well, you ought to know, it gets tiring liking a girl who is liked by that many blokes."
"Really?" She inquired, surprised.
"Yeah, you just keep thinking that you haven't a hope in hell."
"Oh, c'mon, James. You thinking you'd never have a shot with a girl? I never thought I'd see the day."
"I was rejected a lot, you know?" Images of her calling James a dirty toe-rag raced through her mind and her heart beet quickened. "Very damaging to the ego, I must say."
"…I'm sorry, James…" she blurted out. James looked up, shocked.
"What? Lily, don't be ridiculous I was horrible to you. I was – I was rejected by more than you."
She wrapped an arm across his back. "Look at you now, eh? Mr. Everybody Wants A Slice," she teased and squeezed him reassuringly. He snorted: "Yeah..." (Everybody except you).
They had arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady: "Sniffilumpigus."
"Meet you back down here in five minutes?" pondered Lily, as they headed in opposite directions to their dormitories.
"Miss you already," he joked and blew a kiss in her direction. She rolled her eyes and jogged lightly up the stairs until she reached her dormitory, where she flopped down on her bed and sighed. Liking James wasn't hard, the hard part was the feeling she got everytime she was with him, the want she had of him, the need she had of his attention. She sighed again and left her books on the ground where she had dumped them. She went over to the mirror and touched up her makeup, and spritzed a fresh burst of perfume on her neck. She pulled her hair out from behind her ears and scrunched the roots.
"Looking, well, Snaps." She could tell James was smirking even though her back was faced to him.
"You seriously need to tell me how you're getting into the girls' dormitories."
"A story for another day. Today: we eat."
"We eat everyday," she pointed out. "But I'm not complaining."
"Certainly not, I can hear your stomach growling from over here." Lily clutched her stomach self-consciously and moved towards the door where James stood. Lily had walked right up to him expecting him to move out of the way but he hadn't. Lily had suddenly realised how close she was to James and her heart hammered against her chest, they were practically nose to nose and he was breathing heavily, inhaling her scent. "James," she breathed.
"Yes?" Exhaling.
A million butterflies had flooded her stomach, she was close enough to kiss him once again. "What are we doing?"
He grinned shyly and ran his hand through Lily's hair. "I don't know," he breathed. She inhaled shakily.
"I think something's gonna happen."
"I hope so," he replied simply and cupping her face in his hands, he leaned in and pressed his lips gently against hers, moving his hands through her hair and she pulled him closer by the collar of his robes, deepening the kiss. She ran her hands through his hair and he parted her lips with his and they kissed, making up for all the kisses they could have shared and combining them into one, long, beautiful embrace.
They broke apart reluctantly, still holding each other face-to-face. "I think I might like you a bit," murmured James. Lily exhaled, laughing.
"Me too." And she closed her eyes and stood on the tips of her toes to kiss him again, gentler this time. He smoothed her hair him the palm of his hands gently caressed her face. He smiled against her lips.
"Your stomach is growling," he told her.
That evening, Adam walked over to the Astronomy Tower. He had left Marlene and the boys he shared a dormitory with in the Gryffindor Common Room when he had remembered the meeting he had arranged with Prudence. He was breathing heavily as he climbed the steep tower steps to where Prudence was waiting for him. Adam was not looking forward to the conversation he was about to have and there was panging guilt in his stomach. Because he did care about her, but he loved Marlene, and remembering Potter's mother's saying: Don't chase the quaffle if you see the snitch, he had chosen Marlene. He reached the top of the tower where his, soon to be ex, girlfriend Prudence Daly stood.
"Hey Adam," she greeted him solemnly.
"Hey Prudence." A few awkward seconds passed before Adam blurted out: "There's something I have to tell you."
"I know." She didn't seem sad, but inhaled shakily as though she dreaded what was about to come next.
"I – back before – before Sarah died," he gulped: "you – you said that you loved me." She didn't deny it or even try to explain. "I knew, then, that when I – when I couldn't say it back to you, that I didn't love you."
She nodded slowly, acceptingly. She didn't speak for a few moments. "Marlene," she stated eventually, sadness had crept into her voice. "I knew you loved her when you – when we started going out. I always knew, but I thought I could make you fall in love with me." Adam turned his eyes to the ground.
"I'm sorry Prudence. I thought I could love you, but I just – you're right: I love Marlene. I'm sorry." He looked at her apologetically and there was genuine sorrow displayed in his eyes. She walked over to him calmly and threw her arms around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder.
"It was good while it lasted," she told him, and with that, she disentangled herself from Adam and walked calmly down the stairs, away from him.
Adam just sat there, on the floor of the Astronomy Tower for what seemed like an eternity, picking at the dust-coated carpet as he sorted through his thoughts.
Prudence had definitely expected it. Prepared herself, even, for their break-up. Adam had not. He was surprised at the empty feeling in his stomach that had appeared after Prudence had disappeared and couldn't identify what it was. Did he miss her? No, he loved Marlene and hadn't even spoken to Prudence properly for the last few days. So then why did he feel like this? He didn't know. He didn't know why he was feeling like this, but decided to get up and head back towards the common room. Whatever he thought about his missing Prudence, he had no desire to find her and patch things up. Adam thought that this was enough evidence for himself that he didn't miss his ex-girlfriend.
The stroll to the common room was a rather uneventful one, Adam thought. He had ran into Peeves the Poltergeist who had been too busy shoving gum into the locks of the doors to notice Adam. He walked slowly for another five minutes until he reached the Portrait of the Fat Lady. He didn't go in, but waited outside the entrance to his common room until a group of first years arrived and the portrait swung forward upon hearing the password. There were loud cheers and people were clapping inside the common room. Adam hoisted himself through the passage and looked around for Marlene, but his eyes fell upon something else wonderful. He smiled for a minute and resumed his search for Marlene.
(1 hour earlier)
"You should talk to her, Moony," Sirius informed Remus, referring to Clancy Goshawk, whom Remus fancied. "Otherwise she'll think you're gay, like the rest of us do."
James sniggered and added slyly: "Like Sirius wants you to be, Moony."
Marlene burst out laughing at the three of them. "Are you calling me gay, Prongs?" inquired Sirius, faux-threatening.
James placed his hand on Sirius's shoulder, falsely reassuring him. "It's okay, mate. We accept you."
Sirius shrugged his friend's hand off his shoulder and: "Sod off, Prongs."
James lifted his hands over his head in resignation. Addressing Adam and Peter who were sitting side by side, he mouthed: "He's gay," jokingly. They sniggered and Adam suddenly remembered the meeting he had arranged with Prudence. "Oh, Mar, I have to go and meet Prudence now," he told her and she nodded.
"Good luck," she said grimly, and he made his way towards the exit.
"Where's he off to?" inquired Sirius.
"To meet Prudence," supplied Marlene.
"Oh – hey Wormtail! Maybe you'll have a chance with Daly now that Number Five is calling it off," he told Peter. He looked up from the newspaper he had been reading, uninterested.
"Oh please don't tell me you're gay as well," James cut in, jokingly. In reality, James had no problem with any of his friends being gay, but said it purely to annoy Sirius. "Oh, shut up, James," he said, irritably. James tried to supress his grin.
"Well, I'm just not interested in going out with a girl who has just come out of a relationship. They cry a lot you know," he added stiffly, returning to his paper. James and Sirius shot each other questioning looks but decided not to continue the conversation. Instead James pulled Sirius away from the remaining three housemates. "Padfoot, I have something to tell you."
"You're gay?"
James shot him an annoyed look. "I kissed Lily."
"What? You snogged Lily Evans?" he clapped him on the back. "Fair play, mate."
"No it wasn't like that – well, it was, but – she told me she liked me."
Sirius shifted uncomfortably. "I know. I knew she liked you."
"And you didn't TELL me?" James was still too happy to be properly annoyed but he hit Sirius's arm anyway. "I cannot believe you didn't tell me."
"Well you didn't tell me that you still liked her." He argued.
"Oh, as if you didn't know, Padfoot. All those looks you and Moony gave each other, you knew I still liked her."
"Yeah, well… You didn't tell me." Sirius countered lamely. James sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
"How long?" he asked. "How long did she like me?"
"Since the first day back. That's when she realised, at least. It could've been longer."
"And I went out with Carlotta Meloni." He was talking to himself now more than Sirius. "Merlin, I was stupid."
Sirius snorted: "Yeah…"
James hit his arm again.
"Prongs; calm down. You kissed her. Would I be right in saying she kissed you back?"
He nodded and Sirius continued: "Then what – she told you she liked you?"
"No – I… I'm the one who said I liked her and then she said 'Me too', I…" he trailed off.
Sirius nodded knowingly. He placed a hand on his shoulder, reassuringly. "Okay, Prongs, play it cool."
"Are you taking the piss?" asked James, annoyed.
"Prongs: you are getting worked up over nothing." He pronounced every word clearly and slowly.
James blew air out of his mouth, trying to contain his anger, it seemed, and shoved Sirius away from him and returned to his three housemates. Sirius followed him over. He was laughing: "Okay, I'm sorry, Prongs."
"Sod off."
"Oh, you don't mean that, c'mon. I'm sorry." He pleaded.
James, in resignation, breathed: "Fine."
Sirius grinned and shook his head disbelievingly. "It was about time something happened between you two."
Forty more minutes had passed when the Portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and admitted the Gryffindor with red hair and green eyes.
James's stomach flipped and he swallowed hard. He inhaled shakily and stood up. His legs were like jelly. James wasn't familiar with being nervous around girls, but now, with the prospect that the girl he had liked for six years, and who had turned him down the numerous times he had asked her out, might not turn him down, he felt as if he were choking on his tongue.
She was looking around for someone she might recognise. Her eyes fell on Marlene. And then James. He was walking towards her, unsmiling; determined. Lily thought maybe even a little bit nervous. Her heart was trying to break free from her chest and her stomach back-flipped. Was he going to – oh my fucking God, he was.
Her lips parted in confusion, a quizzical expression etched on her face, he walked straight up to her and, without hesitating, placed his hands on her faced and kissed her.
She stood frozen for a few seconds before she recovered from the shock and relaxed. He let him kiss her and she kissed him back, clutching his hair in her fists. He moved his hands from her face to her waist and he broke away from her only to say: "Go out with me."
"Yes," she breathed and stood on her toes to kiss him again. James, delighted by her response, moved his hands up her body to her face where he held it in his hands and kissed her passionately.
"I lied before, you know," he whispered into her ear. "I like you more than a little bit." Lily smiled beautifully and replied: "How very like each other we are." And she kissed him again.
The crowd that had gathered in the Common Room had all been focused on James and Lily, and all wore delighted smiles on their faces. The crowd erupted into applause and cheers and wolf-whistles and the pair grinned embarrassedly, breaking away from each other, but James had placed his arm around Lily's shoulder, and she her's around his waist. Lily spotted Adam grinning at the two and he continued his search for someone, Marlene, probably. She grinned shyly at the large crowd of Gryffindors applauding her. "Well done, mate!" Sirius could be heard shouting to James from across the common room and when Lily turned to look in his direction he and Remus were beaming. Peter seemed genuinely uninterested and he was reading his newspaper. Sirius winked at her and smirked. She grinned back at him and turned back to James.
"You're my girlfriend now, sweety." She snorted and replied: "You're my boyfriend now, baby."
They laughed at each other and made their way towards Sirius and Remus. Peter had disappeared back to the dormitory to "read in peace", as he had put it, and the two boys had managed to kick some first years off the seats in front of the fire.
"Gee, thanks for saving us seats," said James sarcastically, because the two Marauders occupied the only seats in front of the fire.
"Here, Lily can squeeze in with me," Sirius told James and James scowled.
"Hands off, Padfoot." Lily grinned and squeezed into the seat beside Sirius.
"You're really going to have to get this jealousy thing under control," quipped Lily, grinning.
James walked over to the chair they shared and seated himself on Sirius's lap as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. "Good luck with that," said Sirius darkly and slid off the chair to sit on the arm of Remus's. James fell into place beside Lily and hesitated, biting his lip, before he leaned in and kissed Lily on the cheek. She kissed his shoulder in response, a small smile on her lips.
A/N: Everything I told you about this is true Sadbh. A terribly written, fast-paced story was born on my computer due to our little "deal". Hopefully our future "challenges" will be more in my favour.
If you were wondering: Marlene and Adam end up together. Reginald is discouraged due to Lily's and James's newfound love, and Mary and himself end up falling in love, somehow. Peter is acting strangely, and you might have guessed why: he's considering joining the Death Eaters. SPOILERS! James and Lily live happily ever after.
My sincerest apologies; for I know many of the characters in my story are out of character. Some minor details mightn't be correct, for example, is the Ravenclaw table beside the Gryffindor one and how many seats are there in front of the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room in 1976?
I hope you enjoyed (you didn't).
Cliona
