Disclaimer: I do not own anything. This fanfiction is strictly for entertainment purposes and I am not making any financial gain from posting it.
By Candlelight
"Come on, James!" Lily laughed, slipping out from under the safety of the invisibility cloak and pulling on his hand as they ran down the long, dark corridor.
"Lily!" James hissed, trying not to laugh himself while beckoning her back beneath the cloak, but she refused. "Lily! You'll get us both into trouble!" But Lily only turned and stuck out her tongue at him.
"Since when do you care about getting into trouble?" she laughed.
"Ever since you started coming along!" he answered. But she only laughed again and ran faster ahead of him.
"You can't catch me, Potter!" she taunted, turning back and running away with her own cloak billowing behind her, letting go of his hand and running ahead.
The invisibility cloak, while keeping them safe from any teachers on patrol, made trying to keep up with her cumbersome, so he finally tore it off and stuffed it into his bag and took off after her. "You'll get caught!" he warned as she turned a corner ahead of him.
She had no fear!
"Lilllllly…!" he groaned, turning around the bend and narrowly missing her hand as she ran on into the hall of staircases.
He finally caught up to her after chasing her up three flights of stairs and down five dark corridors, they reached the entrance to the Room of Requirement, and they stopped to catch their breaths, each doubled over with their hands on their knees.
"Merlin, Lily…" panted a breathless James, while she started to concentrate solely on making the door appear.
At last the door swung open and Lilly ducked in, turning back and beckoning James with her finger. "Coming in?" she said softly, enticing him by grabbing his tie and pulling him through the doorway after her.
James chuckled and shook his head slightly, but followed her in and closed the door softly behind him. Turning to appraise the room, raising his brows in surprise. Immediately upon entering the room he noticed the sudden rise in humidity. Lily was already peeling off her outer layers of clothing, he noticed, and he gulped. He was suddenly sweltering under all his clothes that he had donned to protect him from the cold chill of the December evening. But he couldn't move for amazement as he continued to assess the room that had served a number of different purposes over the past few years for him; from a quiet place to study, to hiding things where they could not be found, to a secure place for Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, and himself to meet in secret without fear of getting caught. Each time it had been so different; no two rooms within the room had been alike. And it didn't disappoint this time.
The room was not unlike the prefect's bathroom on the third floor where he and the boys had once set off a load of stink bombs as a practical joke on the prefects back in their first year; along the entire lengths of the back wall was a huge stain glass window, not of the mermaid—James was pleased to note—but of an assortment of the Gryffindor colors; reds, oranges, and golds, and from behind it appeared to be lit by dozens of lit candles, casting a sensual glow about the room and making Lily appear even more beautiful than he'd thought was possible. The cool stone floors were damp from the humidity but were a cooling relief on his bare feet as he slipped out of his shoes and socks. The swimming pool-sized bathtub with more knobs and faucets than he could count all arranged in a collocation not very different from a chandelier. All dispensing different colored soaps and bath salts. It took a long time to fill up completely and while they waited, Lily stripped down to her pleated tweed uniform skirt and long sleeved, white blouse. She was already peeling off her socks by the time James was even done inspecting the room. Slowly, Lily closed the space between them and took his bag from his shoulder—inside was the invisibility cloak—and she hung it carefully on the hook by the door. James saw that much of the courage she'd shown in the corridors was gone and that now she was nervous.
While he was busy watching her, Lily giggled weakly and kissed him tenderly. When he spoke, his voice cracked.
"Are—are you sure?" he asked, standing so close to her and being so tall, he could see her chest breaking with her heavy breathing and knew that she wanted him too.
"I am if you are," she answered softly.
James Potter was not a virgin. Hadn't been since the end of fifth year when he had taken Rebecca Jenkins to the Shrieking Shack and had "saved" her from a monstrous black dog that would otherwise have eaten her alive. Sirius had bet him six galleons that it wouldn't work and had begrudgingly paid him off the next morning. And since then there had been three others like her… but none like Lily. He had not loved any of them like he loved Lily… with Lily it was different; he loved her fiery red hair, her alabaster skin, her almond shaped eyes the color of emeralds. He loved the way she twirled her hair around her wand sometimes when she was studying—once without meaning to, she had colored the strip of her hair blue and had cried until Professor Slughorn had helped her to right it. He loved it when she dangled her bare feet out over the lake where she'd go to have some time to herself. He loved it when she kissed him, and when she told him she loved him; none better than the first time she had said it, lying on their backs in the grass in September gazing up at the clouds on a sunny afternoon.
Then she felt his two hands slide down from her neck, down across the front of her blouse, until she was no longer aware of the humidity of the room. There was the warmth of James's hands on her breasts instead, pulling all her senses there as he caressed them, moving slowly, contouring their under curve, brushing more lightly across the erect nipples that he could only somewhat feel beneath her bra. It agonized and thrilled her at the same time.
He straightened then, put a hand on her back while moving closer to her still. He put a hand on each of her shoulders, ran them down the length of her arms until he reached her hands; then their fingers interlaced, and they stood with their palms together, fingers squeezing in near pain.
The candlelight glimmered against his glasses lenses as he tipped his head to one side, but she saw only a brief moment because her eyes were fluttering closed. He kissed her with a soft, light first touch of discovery before releasing her hands and drawing her nearer yet. Her arms hung where he'd left them until she felt his tongue lightly tracing the fullness of her bottom lip.
When at last he felt her arms close around his shoulders, his tongue became more urgent, slipping its way into her mouth and feeling her response. She was responsive but hesitant until he nudged her tongue into action and she responded fully.
Separating to look into each other's eyes, she found his face in the candlelight was just as she remembered it to always have been and she put both hands upon it, and he closed his eyes as her fingertips traveled and fully explored every part of it. Crossing his forehead, tracing the contours of his brow. Then she laid her fingers delicately on his closed eyelids before then tracing down his straight nose and stroking his cheeks toward his jawbone in the direction she knew his whiskers grew.
At last she touched his beautiful, full lips and his eyes opened slowly, and she felt the need to say his name.
"James…" Lily said, her head tipped slightly to one side. He smiled and kissed her again.
"I love you, Lily," he said as he pulled her so tightly against his chest that she couldn't tell whose heart she felt pulsing between them; his or her own. The heat in her body was then so irreconcilable that it frightened her. She'd never felt it before, not with an intensity like this, and she didn't know what to do with it.
But James seemed to.
"I love you too, James," she whispered back. He moved away from her just so he could reach the buttons of her blouse. Starting at her throat, he began unbuttoning. Reaching his hands up to her neck, he again ran them over her shoulders, but this time the blouse fell from them and onto the stone floor behind her.
She had never imagined a man taking this much time; he touched every inch of her back and stomach, moving her arms up to his shoulders so he could caress her sides. At some time while his hands roamed her body, her neck grew limp and her head fell backward and she moaned. "Merlin, James, what are you doing to me?"
Instead of an answer, he merely chuckled and she felt a warm wetness on her breast, following by his tongue. He loved the sweet smell of her skin as he kissed her warm, soft flesh.
She stood very still, her eyes shut tight, too scared to open them for what she might see. She felt him move back a step and after a moment heard his clothes begin to fall to the floor. Suddenly, all boldness and courage had abandoned her and she could no longer move. He took her in his arms again and pulled her tightly to him, his body was hardened from years of Quidditch and his skin was warm against hers.
"The water's ready," he said.
Lily nodded silently and opened her eyes, but almost wished she hadn't. Her first glimpse of the male 'member' was a shocking and confusing one; were they always that large in the books she had been shown by teachers? Or was that was people called "well-endowed"?
Hoping to not be made the cowardly virgin, she kissed the sensitive spot just below his collarbone, sending shivers down his spine and she reached around herself to unclasp her bra, her hands shaking the whole time. He gently kissed her forehead, the bridge of her nose, the tip, and her lips. Tenderly, he brushed a few rebellious strands of her hair from her face and tucked them behind her ear, smiling down at her lovingly.
"I love you," she said again as she closed her eyes, her hands on his chest. James smiled, "I love you, too." He answered, bringing his lips down to meet hers once again.
Slowly, his fingers crept up her sides, gently placing kisses where the straps of her bra had been. Then the same to the other shoulder, and then he picked her up, arms tightly grasped around her waist, her body flattened against his and her feet dangling several inches off the ground as he carried her over to the edge of the pool, surprising her by tossing her in first.
"James!" she screamed as she flew through the air and landed with a splash in the center of the bath, sending bubbles everywhere. When she surfaced, she was wiping her face and sputtering as James laughed, jumping in after her and finding her again. "That's not funny!" she insisted, trying to fight the urge to start giggling herself as she rubbed her eyes. He held her tightly against him as he chuckled.
"You're right, I'm sorry." He apologized while still laughing, and she swatted his arm and tried to move away but he grabbed a hold on her and brought her lips back to his, and after a few moments, she stopped trying to squirm away from him, wrapping her arms around his neck. The next moment, he was kissing the soft skin of her temples, and then moved across her face as if searching for the perfect place to stop.
Her mind raced with wonder. James had still not yet come to her in the way she'd expected him to. His tall, lanky frame was still leaning over her in the dim candlelight, and she knew from his labored breathing that he had not yet found release.
He tasted the salty tears trailing down her face before he saw them. But he couldn't acknowledge them now, with his own body calling urgently for release.
Pulsing with the want of her, he tore his mouth away from her skin and his words jerked from between spasmic breaths, "Lily, are you absolutely sure?"
Hands in his hair as her tears poured down her face, he pushed her back against the wall of the pool roughly and she raised one free knee and it rubbed against his hip, then fell aside as she opened herself to him completely. "I want to know you completely," she whispered, her voice shaking.
Her response sang through him as he shifted his body to enter the sweet, warm wetness between her legs, plunging in rhythmic force as she gasped and clung to his shoulders, their moans mingling together until his final release.
-The last section of this chapter has been temporarily removed for revising. Sorry for any inconvenience-
Author's Note: Hey everyone, now, before you say anything, I know this is very similar to my other story "Bath Time" that was published back in 2008, and I'll tell you why… I started out rewriting the old fanfic as I've been doing a few of my stories, but when I finished rewriting it, I just felt that the characters fit better with my versions of Lily and James than with Harry and Ginny. But regardless, I hope you like it. Read and Review!
Side Note: Hey, thank you to the guest reviewer who pointed out that I had missed the scar detail. I must have completely overlooked it before. but I've taken care of it now, as you can see. Thank you! :)
Partially inspired by a collection of romance novels by LaVyrle Spencer.
