don't tell

Lily Evans was not the personification of perfection.

She had her flaws, fragments that had chipped off her polished reputation.

And to keep her reputation, she wrapped those fragments away tightly in secrets and whispered hushes.

Nobody would ever have to know.

Because Lily Evans was the personification of perfection.

Don't tell.

"You really shouldn't be here, Black," Lily chided as she stood leaning against the wall under the candlelight. Patrolling the halls with James never lacked entertainment; if there were no disturbances in the halls, he would make one or, on special occasions, drag her behind a tapestry and kiss her greedily. This night, however, James was with Professor Dumbledore, as he had been for quite some time. Lily could not bring herself to admit her disappointment when he kissed the top of her head distractedly and told her he had been summoned – and that she would have to patrol alone that night, again no less. She told him she understood; it was a lie, but it was to be done. However, that didn't completely erase her fidgety disposition that had resulted, no matter how much she told herself she could get over the lack of James in her life for a few nights. Her resulting attitude reflected her restlessness, especially in the company of none other than Black. "I'm sure James would also be pissed to know that you'd swiped his Invisibility Cloak."

"Won't tell on me, will you, Evans?" mocked Sirius, but his voice was easy to detect uncertainty within. He took a step back as Lily took a step forward; she raised her eyebrows. He tried to refute her, confidence shining in his newly toned voice. "Just since you and James are shagging now doesn't mean - "

Wrong thing to say. There was a slight clamor and the instigator ended up sprawled out on the floor, the cloak nowhere in sight. As suddenly as Lily had been there, she vanished. Sirius cursed loudly.

"Watch your language, Black," came a taunting voice, a snort of laughter following it. There was a commotion of Sirius lunging, but he came out empty handing. The laughing sounded from behind him. Twisting around, he extended his arms only to feel a poke on his left shoulder.

"If he's turned you around so that you're neglecting your duties as Head Girl, I would wonder what you and him get at – "

Smack.

"I don't want to hear it, Black," replied Lily. "You're in no position to be saying such things."

"Please enlighten me."

It was in those moments of his crudeness that Lily really, really resented him. Gathering her control, she informed him.

"One, I have the Invisibility Cloak. Therefore, I am not an easy target. Also, returning to the Tower may be hard to do without it. "

She danced away from his lunging again.

"Two, I am a Head Girl. Needless to say, watch your mouth."

Spin to the right, back up, watch your step, Lily.

"Three, James won't take your side on this. Hands down."

She prepared to jump back, but instead there was no movement towards her.

And suddenly he was right behind her, seizing her arms. She didn't move; his mouth hovered right beside her ear.

"One, I'm a pro at challenging targets, and Sirius Black does not need a cloak to stay out of trouble. Two, I'd watch your mouth along with your actions, Head Girl. And three, James is not going to figure out about this because you won't be telling him."

"Why would I not tell James about – "

The cloak vanished from around her, and he stared at her intently. He wanted to do it for so long, she knew. She saw it in his eyes, the way he looked at her, something he knew he couldn't have because it was wrongwrongwrong, so wrong...

He kissed her. It was a kiss that spoke of fulfilled temptation, of wrongness, of practice, and of the wrongness again that would eat at her for months.

Regardless, she kissed him back. Why? Maybe because she was curious too, maybe because it was the frustration of the lack of James and the way he treated her with that air of distractedness, like he couldn't confide in her. Maybe it was instinct. It could have been a lot of things, but Lily usually wasn't one to succumb to such things, with self-control like hers.

He had her pinned against the wall when she felt something in her chest constrict tightly. She had a violent intake of breath in which she tried to back away from the person opposite her. He let go of her like she was fire. And maybe she was, with her red hair, and not just that, but her heart which burned and it hurt. Maybe she was fire, with her touch, her flushed face, but really just her touch; Sirius could vouch for that, the places on his cheek where her fingers grazed him positively scalding. And maybe she could be the fire the ended her only true relationship, causing it to raise and reach a climax in which it burned and flamed, before raining down in ashy pieces of betrayal.

One hand flew to her mouth, covering it. She shook her head.

"I can'tâ€Ĥ" she began, not even knowing what to say as the words dripped out of her, her emotions eating tumbling in the vortex that was her world.

Sirius nodded, his dark eyes, mysterious and full of satisfied temptation and unreadable guilt, his hand reaching to touch her face. She couldn't believe he was reinitiating contact, but she couldn't find it within herself to move, movemovemove; she just couldn't. And then ever so gently that she almost didn't notice, he slid the cloak from her grasp with his other hand, the one centimeters from her face falling away.

A simple pair of words passed between them in that moment before he disappeared.

Don't tell.

xx this is old. i've never done this pairing, or lack thereof, before. i edited what i could without changing the whole thing completely, mostly because i'm lazy like that. expect another update involving this pairing soon? probs. promise it'll be newly typed,, !

as always, thanks for reading!