So yes, this is a Lily/James fic in honor of Valentine's Day, an idea I thought up a few months ago. I hope it's not anything super-cliche or unoriginal... Enjoy any & all cuteness, and let me know what you think!
Special thanks to all the faithful reviewers of my other stories, especially HPLUVR71495, .Katie. Bell. Wannabe., LuellaJane, Marie Chontelle, irockmyownsox, mzboredasalways, XxrandomxX, PottedLilies, and my own dear friend, Anachronistic Anglophile, aka Alex the Anachronistic. I will try to continue my story Shedding Thorns very soon.
Now, on with the story!
About midnight, Gryffindor common room, February 13th.
Four boys lay sprawled across the armchairs near the fire. A tall, bespectacled one with a mess of dark hair had his usual air of nonchalant confidence, but signs of sleepiness were beginning to show through after his immense day of planning, scheming, and constructing his masterpiece tricks. One of his companions, a handsome boy with lengthy black hair, lay in an adjacent armchair, appearing to be as fresh and energetic as his companion was sleepy.
"Hey, Prongs," said the energetic one, poking his bespectacled friend, "Want to go play a prank on our dear friend Filch? Maybe some exploding sweets, or…"
"No way, Padfoot. I personally would like to go to bed. I don't want to be too exhausted to watch the fruits of my handiwork tomorrow morning." His glass-framed eyes twinkled mischievously.
"Very well, then," said Sirius. He looked over expectantly at the other two boys. "Moony? Wormtail? You guys in?"
The latter, a pudgy young boy with an ill-favored look, hesitated, unsure whether he should join in such a dangerous Marauder venture without the group's ringleader. The former, a scrawny, scarred boy with dirty-blond hair who was fiddling with a piece of rope, looked up from his work incredulously. "Are you serious, Padfoot?"
The boy addressed grinned. "Why yes, actually I am Sirius—"
The scarred boy looked irritated. "Never mind that; my point is we've prepared enough pranks today to last us a week. And that's saying something for us." He resumed fiddling with the rope, muttering something occasionally and tapping it with his wand.
"You can never have too many pranks, Moony," Sirius proclaimed cheerfully, but seemed to give up the idea, at least temporarily.
For little while, the room fell silent again. Still looking for some form of amusement, Sirius poked Remus. "Hey, Moony, what are you doing?"
"Hold on." Remus muttered something and gave the rope one last wand tap. "There, that should do it." He held it up for his friends to see.
"What's that?" asked James through a yawn.
"This, my friends, is the answer to your girl problems," he announced, then added half to himself, "Or perhaps the beginning of them." He continued, directing his speech particularly at James and Sirius. "This is a Love Knot."
Sirius' face became more interested, and James suddenly appeared to be listening.
"Come on, man, don't leave us hanging. What does it do?"
Remus gave a slow, devilish grin, dangling the bit of rope in front of their attentive faces. "Two people touch it simultaneously, simple activation spell is spoken, and voila! The two are chained together, literally inseparable, for six hours."
His fellow Marauders stared at him in surprise. Remus added hastily, "Or until they kiss."
Sirius whistled. "My, my, Moony; not the harmless little bookworm we thought you were."
Remus looked a little sheepish. "I suppose you and Prongs are rubbing off on me a bit." He shrugged. "You know it'll be an incredibly entertaining trick, just in time for Valentine's Day, too. Not to mention, at 20 Knuts a piece, we'll make a fortune off them." He turned and began copying the charms onto several boxes of the rope bits.
"Prongs, our dear Moony is becoming…" Sirius gulped as if from sentiment. "…a troublemaker. A trickster. A true Marauder!"
"Well done, Moony my boy," cried James, clapping Remus on the back as he eyed one of the newly-spelled Love Knots. "An ingenious piece of work, this. With its help, Lily would have to choose between kissing me or physical bondage to my lovely self for six hours. What a difficult choice for her—"
Remus coughed nervously. "Erm...If you do use them yourselves, I do advise you to use them cautiously, or you may never be forgiven by certain female persons—"
"Nonsense, Moony-boy," James brushed the idea aside lightly. "Now what's the activation spell?"
Moony sighed, cautionary thoughts creeping into his mind far too late. What had he done? Perhaps he shouldn't have created the silly things at all...well, it was too late to back out now. He gave a tired half-smile.
"What else?" he said. "Amor."
Lily awoke to a fluttering sensation on her face. Blinking her brilliant green eyes open blearily, she was instantly aware of two things: a light pink, paper butterfly sitting on tip of her nose, and the shrill, excited giggling of waking girls throughout the dormitory. Sighing, she sat up, gently removing the enchanted paper figure from her face.
She didn't have to look at the Muggle calendar on the wall to see that today was going to be highly uncomfortable; James made sure Valentine's Day always was. Running a perfunctory hand through her disheveled ruddy locks, she smiled bemusedly at Alice and Claire, her dormitory mates, as she watched them blush and laugh at the flying gifts.
Alice gave a sigh of delight as a bunch of dark red roses landed in her lap, with a scrawled note from her boyfriend of two months, Frank Longbottom. A shy smile crept over Claire's sweet, unassuming features as a ribboned gold box from an unknown admirer plopped on her knee softly.
Looking up, Claire noticed Lily's wakefulness. "Oh, Lily, look at this! I wonder who it's from!"
Alice let out a bubbly laugh. "Open it, silly, and maybe you'll find out!" Claire pulled at one end of the ribbon, untying it, and tentatively lifted off the lid, giving a gasp of pleasure.
"What is it, what is it, what is it?!" Alice bounced up and down on her bed uncontrollably.
Wordlessly agape, Claire lifted up a silver charm bracelet, dangling with star-shaped charms that clinked against each other prettily, like bells. But Lily knew it wasn't just the bracelet's beauty that caused the girl's jaw to drop; only a week ago, Claire had been fingering the same bracelet in a shop window in Hogsmeade. Only two words stumbled out. "Who... how?"
Suddenly Lily cocked an eyebrow and a knowing smile spread over her face. "Bet you I know who—"
"Sirius Black!" Alice burst out. "Oh my gosh, Black gave it to you! He likes you, Claire!"
The honey-blond girl blushed deeply, her eyes widening. "You don't really think—"
Alice nodded her head of short, spunky dark hair vigorously. "Yup yup! As sure as the air we breathe, as positively as James Potter is enamored with Lily, Sirius likes you!"
Lily grimaced at the analogy; Alice wasn't often one for tact. "Thanks a lot, Ally."
"You know it's true." Alice shot her a clear look, then turned back to Claire. "It must be Black. You remember, he was hanging around in that shop while we were looking at it. Very suavely beseeching us to go to The Three Broomsticks with him and the other Marauders."
Claire let out a sweet peal of laughter. "I remember; he almost got you to go because he convinced you Frank would be there."
Alice turned a little pink. "Well, he didn't, so it doesn't matter." Then, noticing the relatively quiet state of the the area around Lily's bed, "That's odd. Haven't James' valentines normally intensified in number and erm...outrageousity over the years?"
Lily let out a relieved sigh and turned the single pink butterfly over in her hands meditatively. "Well, it seems that James is letting up a little this Valentine's Day."
She stepped off her four-poster bed, and immediately knew she had spoken too soon. A cloud of pink paper assaulted her, filling her vision as identical paper butterflies poured out of nowhere, yanking her hair and her clothes, poking at her face, and chanting two words over and over in thin, shrill voices:
"DATE! JAMES! DATE! JAMES! DATE! JAMES!"
Lily tried to bat them away furiously, gritting her teeth with annoyance and pain as the swarm of thin paper left tiny slices all over her exposed skin. As she tried to cover her face and yank out her wand at the same time, she heard uncontrolled giggling through the papery flurry. Thanks a lot, guys, she thought, finally gripping her wand.
"Incendio charta!" she cried, and immediately bright red flames shot out of her wand tip, eating up the savage paper insects and depositing the cinders into a neat pile at her feet.
Lily sighed, looking wearily down at the grey pile. Without looking up, she felt the expressions of mingling amusement and sympathy.
"Just gets better every year, doesn't it?" she said drily, going to the dresser to pull out robes for the day. "Two years ago, it was those poor house-elves that had to follow me around all day singing. Last year, it was my robe pockets charmed to spit out white doves every five minutes." Claire and Alice exchanged smiles at the memories. "This year, a swarm of ferocious paper butterflies. What's next year, I wonder? A stampede of dancing centaurs?"
Claire smiled empathetically. "Knowing James, that will be at breakfast."
Lily's expression hardened. "Ugh, don't remind me." Waving her wand, she swept the pile of butterfly cinders into her pocket. "Well, today I'll have a little surprise for him." She ran a brush through her hair and straightened her robes one last time.
Staring into the mirror for a moment, Lily sighed and murmured, mostly to herself, "I guess it's going to be a normal Valentine's Day."
Down in the temporarily-empty Gryffindor common room, James waited, as he did every year, for the resulting sounds and sights that rewarded his labor in creating his... special valentines. Sirius lay in an adjacent armchair sleepily, and Remus was preparing his boxes of his soundly proclaimed 'ingenious' products, inscribing "Love Knots for Knuts" on the box sides with his wand.
"How much longer do you think, Prongs?" said Sirius, tapping his foot impatiently.
James shrugged, running a hand through his untidy hair. "I dunno, Padfoot. You never do know with these women. They take years to primp up for the day."
Remus finished labeling the boxes and flopped down on a chair. "Alright, it's up to you guys to sell these things."
"You're a brilliant Marauder, Moony," Sirius said as he admired the boxes of Love Knots.
"Thank you; so you've told me at least a thousand times already." He sighed tiredly and picked up a book beside him. "So, how many girls did you send valentines to this year, Sirius?"
"Only one, Remus, my boy. Only one." Sirius looked proud of himself, as if it had been a great accomplishment on his part. "And it was not just a paper valentine, either. This girl is special." A dreamy, utterly unselfconscious look grew in his eyes. Interested, James lifted an eyebrow.
"Oh, really?" He smiled. "So I'm not the only one devoted to one girl only? Who is this special female?"
Sirius gave a cocky smile. "Claire Dulcett," he said unabashedly.
James grinned widely. "Oh my... Padfoot has fallen for Sweet Claire! I fear she will take one look at that devilish face of yours and be quite frightened away. Poor, sweet, timid Claire..."
"Devilishly handsome face," corrected Sirius, unruffled. "Don't you worry, dear Prongsie, I'll win my Claire long before you win your lovely Lily."
James' eyes narrowed roguishly. "Is that a threat?"
"Why, no, Prongsie, a challenge. I bet I can get a kiss willingly from Claire today before you can get one from Lily."
"You're on!" said James, the fire of competition in his eyes. "Loser has to buy winner a dozen Chocolate Frogs!"
"Make it two dozen, and we'll call it a contest!"
A low mutter came from Remus, who was sprawled beside the boxes tiredly. "You know you're dead if the girls find out."
James and Sirius looked at Remus, puzzled.
"Why should it bother them?" Sirius asked, nonplussed.
Remus viewed them both with an owlish look. "If they knew about your little bet, they'd think that you're just using them to win free Chocolate Frogs."
"That's just silly," said Sirius.
"That's girls for you." Remus replied drily.
"I think he's right, Padfoot, let's keep this quiet," agreed James.
The chattering from the girls' stairs grew louder, and James' swift glance up caught a glimpse of the blazing red locks descending the staircase. Up in an instant, he tugged Sirius from his armchair to greet the girls.
"Good morning, fair damsels," said James, giving them a winning smile.
Sirius, not to be outdone, gave a small bow, took Claire's hand and daringly kissed it in a knightly fashion. "Did you sleep your enchanted rest well?"
While Claire blushed a deep crimson, Sirius noticed the charm bracelet on the previously accosted limb. "I see you received my humble gift."
"I-I did, thank you." Claire blushed deeper and looked down.
Ignoring the silly couple, Lily started for the portrait door, only to find herself staring at James' chest. The boy opened his smirking mouth to speak, but Lily cut him off. "Good morning, my peace-destroying pestilence," she said bitingly. She tapped her pocket with her wand, and the cinders burst out in a puff on James' face. "Do yourself a favor, and leave me alone today."
"Ah. I see you received my humble gifts." His large, ash-covered grin suddenly became sly. "Wait, did you say... 'my pestilence'? You consider me to be yours...?"
Lily's jaw clenched. "Yes, I received your noxious gifts, and disposed of them accordingly," she informed him curtly. "Thanks for the paper cuts, by the way," she added, pointing to the thin slashes covering her face and neck. "Bloody intelligent way to convince me to date you."
A jab of remorse swept James' face, and he pulled out his wand and, giving it a flick, healed the paper cuts. "My regrets for any discomfort my little valentines may have given you," he said with an ash-dispersing, apologetic nod, which quickly changed to an impish grin. "I assure you, the other ones will be much better."
She gave him a outraged warning look and, bright eyes flashing, pushed past him and bounded out the portrait hole without another word. Alice grabbed a reluctant Claire and was quickly on Lily's heels.
Brushing the soot distractedly from his forehead, James grinned and turned, self-satisfied, to his fellow Marauders. "Loves me. Knew it all along."
Sirius was barely paying attention. "See the way Claire smiled? I think she's falling for me, too."
Remus chuckled at the both of them. "Good day's work, men. And it's barely even breakfast time."
Peter, who had been silent in one corner the entire time, perked up. "Can we go down to breakfast now?"
James barely glanced his way. "Hm? Oh, sure, Wormtail. Let's go eat, Marauders," he said, now trying to clean his face in earnest.
Sirius smirked. "Yeah, we wouldn't want to miss James' show, now would we?"
"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," said James innocently, but there was a knowing gleam in his eye.
"Classic Potter run-in!" grumbled Lily as she traversed the corridor with Alice and Claire.
"Well, you have to admit, they were really trying their hardest to be charming!" Claire laughed.
"Certainly were." Lily rolled her eyes.
"Oh, Lily," said Alice with sudden, relaxed certainty. "You don't hate Potter."
Lily was visibly taken aback. She looked at Alice quizzically. "No, I simply loathe him, despise him, and abhor him with every fiber of my being." Her words dripped with sarcasm.
"Well," Alice continued insistently, "you can't hate him as much as you say, anyway. I've seen you deal with people you truly hate, and you know how to give them enough hell that they don't bother you again. You could make Potter stay away for good, but you don't." Alice gave her a triumphant look as the three of them entered the Great Hall. "You must not hate him," she concluded simply.
"Believe me, Alice, if I could make Potter go away for good, I would. It's just impossible."
Alice gave her one of her quirky half-smiles. "Just as you like. I hope you don't mind me eating with Frank today." She strolled away to meet her boyfriend, leaving Lily's mind spinning.
She can't be right, can she? Upon reflection, Lily had, in the past, successfully rid herself of people she hated, but never Potter, of course. She had always told herself that it was Potter's stubbornness that kept him coming back to her, but now she wasn't entirely certain... Am I…encouraging him in some way? She shook herself. No way. Potter is just pigheaded, that's all.
Lily was severely on edge as she and Claire seated themselves at the Gryffindor table. As much as Claire tried to distract her from the looming danger of unwelcome surprises of the Potter kind, Lily ate her toast with rigid posture, her wand in hand under the table, ready to incinerate anything that came near her.
After eating for a few minutes in relative peace, Lily relaxed a little, putting her wand next to her plate as she ate. She observed the bustling, slightly drowsy Hall full of lovey-dovey couples, wishful-looking girls, unconcerned-looking boys, and highly amused teachers. Professor Dumbledore himself was watching all proceedings with a half-smile and a twinkling eye.
Claire's low, sudden voice made Lily start. "Look over there."
First chapter, complete! I've already started on the second, which I will get out as soon as I can...let me know if I should continue or any other feedback....click that Review button....
~Pepper Lane