The Witching Hour
[A/N at the end]
Thank you to Jenny, Em, and Emy for the beta's!
They're all super amazing writers and would highly recommend you read their work - you can find the links to their profiles on my bio xx
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
Lily sighed as she covered her ears with a pillow and tried to drown out the steady metallic clanging of her bedside clock. She groaned and threw her pillow away from her face, glaring at the clock. She had been trying to fall asleep for three hours, and it didn't seem like she'd be getting any closer to rest any time soon. She'd tried everything; from counting imaginary sheep, to forcing herself to empty her mind, and in her desperation, to trying to muffle the sound of her clock ticking. All in vain.
She didn't know why she'd been struggling to fall asleep for the past few days, but she had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with stumbling across a very large werewolf on the grounds when she'd stayed late in one of the greenhouses. She'd been collecting some ingredients for Potions the next day when she had come face to face with the wolf. Had it not been for a large black dog and a stag, she'd have been werewolf kibble.
And yet despite everything, the only thing that had gone through her mind during the ordeal had been: Poor Remus.
"Fuck," she whispered as she sat up in her bed and ran her hands through her hair frustratedly.
A loud snore frightened her momentarily and Lily shook her head at Mary dozing underneath her covers. She looked around the dorm and glanced at her friends enviously; how come they could sleep, and she couldn't? The longer she looked at her friends, the more bitter she became at their relative ease at being able to fall asleep, and with a resolute sigh, she shoved her socked feet into her slippers, slipped her fluffy white robe on and left the dorm.
The Common Room was empty as the flaming embers from the hearth cast an orange glow around the room. The portraits and tapestries housed sleeping figures and Lily watched as snow fell softly outside the windows: the first snows of winter. She had always loved the Common Room; it was her home away from home and it was the setting for many of her best and favourite memories at Hogwarts. It was here that she had met her best friend Marlene, here that she had cried with Peter at the death of her pet dog, Polly, here that she had triumphantly schooled Sirius Black on feminist ideologies, and here where she felt most welcome and safe at Hogwarts.
Lily shoved her hands deep into her pockets and jumped off the final step as usual, before meandering towards her favourite spot — a deep maroon armchair with a patchwork quilt laid over it. The closer she got to the chair, the more obvious it became that she wasn't actually alone in the common room like she had been all those other nights she had come down.
The messy mop of hair peeking out from the top of the chair was unmistakable. Lily considered turning back around and going back to the dorm, and had the head of hair not turned around at that exact moment, she would have. James' eyes widened for a moment before he smiled tiredly and ushered her closer. Lily had never seen him look so utterly wrecked, and she noticed the bruise that was forming underneath his eye as she took a seat opposite him on the worn leather loveseat.
"Evening," James said, as he set his book down and hurriedly hid something behind him. "Fancy seeing you down here at this time of night."
Lily rolled her eyes at him. "I'd say the same, but I'm not actually that surprised."
James scoffed at her and shook his head, smirking. "You wound me, Lily," he joked as he leant back against the armchair, cradling his wrist against his stomach. Lily didn't miss the way that he flinched at the movement of his wrist, but she decided against asking him about it; clearly he didn't want to talk about it. Besides, she suspected it had something to do with Remus… or Quidditch. "But seriously, what're you doing down here? And with classes tomorrow, too."
"I couldn't sleep," she admitted as she grabbed a velvet cushion and hugged it to her chest, aware of the way that James was gazing at her through the orange glow of the fire.
"Neither could I." James looked away and stared intently at the window behind her, eyes haunted and lips downturned. "Sirius' snoring drives me mad." He looked away and set down a small teacup that she'd only just noticed him holding. "Do you want some tea?"
Lily nodded.
"Hope Earl Grey is alright; I hate the other stuff." She shrugged and James conjured another cup for her out of nowhere. Lily took a sip and noticed how the cup refilled itself. His talent for Charms and Transfiguration was unrivalled, she had no idea where he'd conjured the tea, and couldn't see a teapot anywhere. Although, she knew that he kept his own personal kettle and stock of tea tins in his dormitory; the tea snob that he was.
"Thanks," she murmured.
Remembering what he'd said before, Lily seriously doubted that James' inability to sleep had anything to do with Sirius' snoring, not least of all because Sirius didn't actually snore — something she had found out when he'd fallen asleep on her shoulder during the last Christmas break. But there was something in the way he held himself that made her sympathetic to him, so instead of pushing him for questions about why he wasn't in his dorm sleeping, she asked him how his day was.
She didn't know how it had happened, but since her friendship with Severus had well and truly imploded almost two years ago, her enmity with James had developed into an easygoing friendship. Talking to him about her day and their plans for the holidays was totally normal and Lily realised just how fascinated she was when it came to hearing about the details of his life outside of Hogwarts. She wanted to know more about his parents; she wanted to find out where he spent his holidays; she wanted to know more about him beyond the Quidditch Captain, Head Boy, and Marauder that he was to her.
"How's your family?" James asked, propping his elbow on the arm of his chair and leaning his cheek against his hand, glasses becoming askew on the bridge of his nose. "Your sister's getting married, right?"
Lily shuddered inwardly at the thought. She still couldn't believe that Tuney, her big sister, was getting married to the human incarnation of Moby Dick. Vernon was lovely, Lily was sure, but given how she had only met him once and the fact that he had made a horrendous impression on her — he had implied that she was an illiterate twit — she felt nothing but indifference, and even resentment, towards the man who her sister was so enamoured with. Petunia deserved better, Lily knew it, but her sister had a terrible disposition for settling for second best.
But then again, she could count on one hand the amount of sleep she'd had in the past 72 hours, so her opinions probably counted for nothing. That didn't stop her from accidentally voicing them out loud, though.
"I think that's the harshest thing I've ever heard you say," James said, grinning. "Apart from that time you called me a bullying toerag, of course. I'll have you know my ego never fully recovered after that."
"Well, you were a bullying toerag," Lily said with a yawn. "Remember that time you doused Severus with frogspawn?"
James nodded sheepishly.
"And that time you 'accidentally' aimed a Bludger at Avery's head last term?" James looked away, hiding a smirk behind his hand. "Or that time that you called me an insufferable know-it-all with a big head?"
"I think you've made your point, Evans," James joked, eyes full of shame and mirth. "If it's any consolation, I happen to like your big head. And being a know-it-all is pretty fetching on you."
Lily blushed at his comments and the intense look that accompanied them, which made her stomach flutter with nerves. Moments like that seemed to be happening more and more often in his company, and Lily hadn't quite decided whether she liked it or not. Nor did she want to admit what it meant.
"I thought we agreed to ditch the nicknames?" Lily joked, hoping to steer the conversation away from undiscovered territory. One day they would venture there, but it didn't have to be any time soon.
James' face fell for a fraction of a second before he looked away and turned back to her, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "And here I thought we could have a little heart-to-heart."
Lily yawned languidly and rubbed her hand down her eyes, exhausted. Outside, the sun was getting gradually lighter and Lily loved the way that the stark black of the night sky was fading into a lovely navy blue, all the while the snow fell and coated the windows; it was magical in its own way.
"Tell me about how your family is," Lily muttered mid-yawn. She knew she was quite possibly being rude, but given that there was no hint of offense on James' face, Lily lay sideways on the sofa, laid her head on the armrest, and pulled her robe closer to her chest. "I always love hearing about them; they sound like such exciting people. My parents are just shop owners, not much fun in that."
"Don't say that; I think it sounds really interesting."
Lily scoffed at that and watched his face as he spoke about his parents, his face coming alive and full of adoration at recounting their shenanigans together.
She didn't know if it was the steady crackling of the fire, the orange glow in the room, or the mental exertion of talking to somebody so late at night, but her eyelids began to feel heavy the longer he spoke. There was always something so calming and soothing about being with him that put her at ease, and Lily felt gradually warmer as her eyes dozed shut.
She woke up a few times during her sleep; once when something heavy was laid out across her body — a blanket perhaps? Another time she woke up to James hissing at someone to shut their gob and be quiet. And the next time she woke up, it was to find someone brushing her hair away from her temples and whispering sweet nothings into her ear.
Lily was sure she had imagined the last one, but the startling shade of black that she'd grown to love was unmistakable. Nonetheless, when she finally did wake up, she convinced herself that the last memory had been a dream.
Strange things happened during the witching hour, and she was sure that it was Queen Mab playing tricks on her sleep-deprived mind. After all, in what world would James Potter admit to her, Lily Evans, that he had always fancied her, had possibly always loved her, and wanted more than anything to ask her out, for real?
Author's Note
WC = 1870 [Google Docs]
QLFC Round 9
Team: Montrose Magpies
Position: Seeker
Prompt/s: Character - Lily Evans/Potter
Hogwarts Assignment 4
House: Ravenclaw
Subject: Bio-Sciences
Task: 2, Write about someone with insomnia
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