A/N: As per requested, this was made into an independent one-shot.
Warnings: Disturbing parts (not gore or anything, just random) you'll just see it *Cackles Madly*
Oh, and, of course, possible wrong grammar.
Disclaimer: *Sigh* Do I have to?... no? good... I think it's very obvious already.
:::…~~~-0-~~~…:::
"James! James! Have you heard?!" Was the first thing he heard when he entered the Gryffindor common room. Sirius Black, best friend of James Potter, came bounding o to him. James just came back from a prefects' meeting. Believe it or not, he became Head boy despite not being a prefect in the last 6, going on 7, years of education in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Well, then again, he won't look at a gift horse in the mouth. He gets to see his Lily.
"Heard of what Pads?" He replied.
"'Heard of what?' Heard of what?! Prongs, how could you not know?" Sirius exclaimed dramatically.
Someone snorted behind James. The portrait hole was open and Remus Lupin, resident werewolf, entered. He himself is a prefect, and, of course, the most responsible of the group.
"We already do, Padfoot." Remus said as they made their way to the armchairs near the fire. "That was actually why we had a longer meeting than usual." They all sat down on an armchair they usually sat on. "Professor Virchow said that it could take our mind off of things." Remus continued.
"So it's true then?" Sirius asked, hopeful.
"Yes." Remus nodded.
"Yes! Valentine's Day ought to be celebrated! Just look at the muggles!" Sirius babbled excitedly. Remus just rolled his eyes, used to his friend's antics. "But if it is Valentine's Day, and then we would be allowed to go to Hogsmead for the whole day, then I would have to ask someone to go with me… after all, it is Valentine's Day…" Sirius had a moment of thoughtful silence. "What do you think, James…" Sirius looked at his brother in all but blood and trailed off when he saw the dreamy look he had. "James?"
"He got 'complimented', as he had put it, by 'Lily my love.'" Remus answered in the silent question. Rolling his eyes, he explained further. "Lily had called him 'someone a bit better than a Thestral' when he actually said something not idiotic in her presence."
Sirius beamed at James.
"Isn't that great, mate? So, who are you going to ask to go with you to Hogsmeade?"
James just sighed. "Lily."
"Though I think she means, 'a bit better than a Thestral' as, 'you don't actually need to see someone die in front of you and let the death be accepted to be seen'" Remus muttered.
"Shut up Moony." Sirius said.
Remus shrugged and took out a book to read for the rest of the time as James and Sirius talked.
:::…~~~-0-~~~…:::
James woke up with the feeling of bouncing.
"James!" Sirius bellowed.
James groaned and sat up. He blindly reached for his wand at the bedside table and cast the knockback jinx to the blurry blob in front of him. He knew that it would be one of the Marauders since he has a different dorm because of his status as the Head Boy and only the four of them knew the password to the room. Well, them and the Head of House, Professor McGonagall.
Sirius groaned as he sat up, rubbing a would-be-sore spot where he hit his head on the wall. Undeterred, Sirius jumped up. James lied down again and rolled over.
"It's Valentine's! You'll be late if you don't wake up now."
A few seconds passed.
James jumped up and snatched his glasses and then ran to the bathroom so fast that Sirius could've sworn he apparated.
"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!" James shouted as he sped through his morning routine, using magic to further speed the process up. After 3 or so minutes, James was out of the bathroom, hair still slightly damp.
Sirius was laughing so hard that he was clutching his sides and was banging his hands on the wall he was leaning over.
The door opened and Remus came in with a perplexed look. He stared at the scene in bewilderment. It was really early for either James or Sirius to be awake. They usually prefer to be asleep until the last minute. He stared at Sirius who, in his opinion, looked like he was slowly dying of laughter, and then at James.
He blinked at the Potter heir for a moment, taking in his state.
"What are you two doing so early in the morning?"
"Early…?" James frowned and looked at the window. It looked like the sun just rose and checked the clock in his room. It was a pain to always cast a spell every time he wanted to see what time it is when he can buy one of the muggle wall clocks. It was still seven in the morning, 3 hours before he really was late. He scowled as he realized that Sirius had tricked him.
James whipped out his wand and cast an Aguamenti. A jet of water shot out of his wand and hit Sirius, soaking him. He promptly cast a cooling charm on the dog animagus.
Sirius stopped laughing and coughed as a bit of water choked him. He shivered as the cooling charm made the already cold water and already cold temperature even colder.
"What was that for?" Sirius groused.
"That," James started as he cast a mild freezing charm to some of Sirius' article clothing. "Is waking me up way too early, saying that it's already late."
Remus raised an eyebrow but refrained from saying anything. His eyes followed James as the other went out of the room muttering how it would be useless to sleep again. When the door closed Remus faced Sirius.
"So, let's go to the common room." Remus said. He ignored the way Sirius kept on shivering, knowing full well that he would survive.
:::…~~~-0-~~~…:::
About thirty minutes later found the Marauders, minus Peter, in the common room. Remus had watched Sirius try in vain to remove the spells James had casted on him only for said caster to renew the spell. When James had finally gotten over it, it was well over fifteen minutes already and they spent the next fifteen chatting while Sirius tried to find a change of clothes in his trunk that was not, in any way, shape , or form, pink. His previous clothes became dirty after being soaked by water multiple times.
"You know, it's too bad Peter's mother suddenly got ill." Sirius was saying. James nodded a part of him still a bit remorseful at his lost sleep.
"Oh c'mon Prongsie," Sirius whined. "You have had your revenge, and besides, it's Valentine's Day!"
"And you finally got Lily to say yes." Remus added not looking forward to Sirius' whining now that he finally can. The bloke's already annoying just being himself, more so if James still ignored him for the whole day or so.
James' mood brightened and checked the time again on his muggle pocket watch. It was a gift from Lily on Christmas so it's considered a treasure. It was still a bit too early for breakfast to be served at the great hall.
He was distracted when a group of female fifth years entered the common room giggling. They weren't wearing their Hogwarts robes since it's the weekend and they would be allowed to go to Hogsmead after breakfast the whole day. But there would still be a curfew; after all, it is quite dangerous to be out late these times.
The group of girls kept on glancing their way and sending flirtatious smiles. Sirius returned these but James didn't. Why would he bother with them when he finally had a chance with Lily? Remus merely continued reading his book.
"But you know, it's kind of weird or Peter to be absent on days like this." James said.
"Siri, you should stop that." Remus suddenly said. Sirius was trying to bend his fingers the wrong way. He had a look of concentration mixed with what looked like pain as one of his fingers snapped.
"What-" James was cut off as Sirius yelped in pain as another finger snapped half-way bended back. Remus sighed and smacked Sirius with the book he was holding and yanked Sirius' hand to him, batting away the other hand that attempted to pull it back. Remus muttered something about idiots who don't learn and mumbled an incantation. A second later, Sirius' finger was healed but not without the pain that came with it.
"What were you doing?" James asked in bafflement. Sirius was rubbing his fingers to himself as Remus hit him with a book again.
"Well yesterday, I saw this Hufflepuff kid bending his fingers like that and it lay flat like it was just his palm and not the back of his hand, without magic, and I thought that since he was a firsty, I could do it too." Sirius answered and Remus face palmed.
He's been doing it since. I can't remember how any times I needed to heal his fingers." Remus muttered exasperatedly. James blinked.
"How come I didn't notice that?" He said. He was with the two the whole time yesterday.
"You were too elated to see or notice anything at all." Remus answered blandly. Finally getting tired of Sirius' stupidity, Remus tied the other's hands together with a spellotape, making sure that every inch was covered.
"Lily had said yes!" James explained as if it answers every question in the world. He stared off into space as he relived the previous day over and over. After months of working on his relationship with Lily, she had finally said yes on Christmas, hence the pocket watch. And then they would finally have their first official date later.
"Prongs! James!"
He snapped out of his musings as Sirius flicked his forehead. It seems he had gotten it free from the spellotape Remus wrapped it with.
"What?" He snapped.
"You've been out of it for fifteen minutes," Sirius answered as if talking to a child. "I fear that we'll lose you if I let your mind wander for far longer than said time."
Well, that explained how he removed the spellotapes.
James opened his mouth to reply but was cut off when a girl cleared her throat, calling their attention. James looked up to see a vaguely familiar girl – one of the girls in the group earlier – with long brown hair and blue eyes. She looked quite pretty with her pale skin.
"U-um…" she stuttered. Ducking, she shoved a wrapped box to James' hands wordlessly and ran back to her friends who were all looking at her with unreadable expressions but soon enough laughed and continued their chatter.
James stared at her but put the box in his pocket and caught the eye of the girl and grinned at her before turning back to Sirius.
"You really shouldn't eat or accept anything that came from Verenet Nil." Remus said, while sniffing the air near the pocket where James placed the box in. He could smell chocolates, cookies and something… different. He's got a good guess what that is but he can't be sure. "Maybe you should ask Professor Slughorn to check those? Or you could always ignore it."
"Who's Verenet Nil?" James asked instead, knowing what the werewolf was implying.
"The damsel that gave you the gift." Sirius answered. "If you don't want it, you could always give it to me." Remus hit him again. Sirius rubbed the spot where Remus hit him numerous times already. "C'mon Moony, it's not like Jamsie here would double-cross 'Lily my love'."
"Shut up Padfoot."
Sirius pouted at them.
"So what's with her?" James asked.
"Pretty faces can't be mistaken as innocence, James." Remus said somberly. "You remember the poor bloke who ran crying? Nil was going out with him and she broke up with him. Bloke found out that Nil was going out with numerous boys using the… you know what."
"Is she any good with potions?" Sirius asked.
"From what I hear, she's pants at it. But that doesn't rule out any store bought ones." Remus answered.
James nodded but didn't make a move. They remained quiet for a while before Sirius disturbed the silence.
"So, am I the only one who's gonna ask how Remus knows all this stuff?"
:::…~~~-0-~~~…:::
The great hall was full of students when they entered. It seems that more than a quarter of the Hogwarts population wanted to be able to go to Hogsmeade as early as possible. And of course, as a treat, even the first years were allowed given that they will go in groups and even the teachers would be there to patrol. The hall was buzzing with much anticipation and excitement, especially for the lower levels. Even the staff looked excited.
The trio sat down on the Gryffindor tables, greeting students here and there.
"So what time d'you reckon they'll allow us to go out?" Sirius asked.
"I guess it would be when everyone has finished…" Remus glanced at James' watch that the Stag animagus had been staring at for the whole time since he finished eating. "Which would be about thirty minutes at the rate the students go." He gestured to the hall as the students were chatting happily and rushing through their breakfasts.
Remus redirected his attention to his food and ate at a sedate pace while Sirius wolfed down his. James merely stared at his watch again.
"James."
James looked up to see Lily sitting at the opposite side of his seat so they were across from each other. She really is the most beautiful gi- no, woman in Hogwarts, in his completely biased view. James smiled charmingly up at her and replaced his watch back to his pocket.
"Good morning Lily." He greeted.
"mmning lile." Sirius greeted with a mouthful of food.
"Swallow first, Sirius." Remus chided Sirius and turned to smile at Lily. "Good morning Lily."
"Good morning Remus, Sirius." Lily greeted back.
"Hey what about me Lils?"James pouted. Lily rolled her eyes but answered nonetheless.
"Fine, Good morning to you too, James."
James beamed.
:::…~~~-0-~~~…:::
The day went by perfectly. They went to Honeydukes to stock up on Remus' not-so-secret stash of chocolate and also a bit for their own. Hogsmeade was a bit crowded. Well, no, it was very crowded because all years were allowed to go. Then they went to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, the purpose would be obvious. Then Remus and Lily went to Tomes and Scrolls together while James and Sirius went to Spintwitches. They then went to The Three Broomticks where they ate their lunch; Lily didn't like going to Madam Puddifoot's. They spent a lot of time there with the constant chatting and then they went to Zonko's in which Lily also bought some items that piqued her interest. This process very slowed down because of the crowd.
They split their way after that. Sirius and Remus to Merlin knows where and James and Lily to the less crowded part of the village. They spent the remaining time walking and enjoying each other's company. When the sky became dark, they finally made their way back to the castle. James wanted to fetch something from the kitchens but it was closing to the curfew. They hadn't had their dinner yet. They had been… preoccupied at the moment that it slipped from their mind.
"Would you like something to eat?" James asked as they stopped and waited for the staircase to finish moving. When it stopped, they climbed up and made their way to the portrait of the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Lily shook her head.
"No. I'm not really that hungry after all the sweets we ate earlier."
"Is that so?" James said thoughtfully. They stopped in front of the portrait of the fat lady. "Well, I'm going to the kitchens to get some food then. You sure you want nothing?"
"James, it's already near curfew-"
"I know, that's why I'm going now instead of later at the middle of the night. I promise I will be back as fast as possible."
Lily regarded him for a while before sighing.
"Fine. Just be sure to not get caught."
James beamed at her and leaned down to kiss her lips.
"Thanks Lily!"
:::…~~~-0-~~~…:::
James was on the third floor when he heard a meowing sound. It was already curfew and if the stairs hadn't suddenly moved, he would have been in the kitchens now. Sighing he walked on.
"What's wrong Mrs. Norris?"
James tensed and tried to find an alcove to hide in but there were none that was cast by shadows. He mentally cursed himself for forgetting about his invisibility cloak and Marauder's map. Tapping footsteps echoed around the hall and before he could find a place to hide in, he came face to face with the caretaker. Filch was new at Hogwarts and he already has the reputation worse than the previous caretaker. All four Marauders held contempt for the man and his cat. They made it their goal to make his first year at Hogwarts as hellish as possible.
Filch snarled as he saw a student out of bed.
"What's this, a student out of bed?"
James cursed and glared at Filch, his mind racing in finding a way to escape. He was mentally checking the things he has on him and he remembered the chocolates given to him earlier. Maybe it would work…
"What's wrong Filch? Lonely on the Valentine's Day?" James mocked and pulled out the box and unwrapped it. Just to annoy the caretaker, he threw the wrapper on the ground. "Or did your dear Mrs. Norris cheat on you?"
Filch was so angry by now that he was spouting off a lot of possible methods for torture.
James smirked and opened the box. He picked one piece of chocolate and ate it. There was a nagging feeling that he was forgetting something but he shrugged it off. He ate another one and then dropped it on the floor.
"Oops." He said.
Before Filch could do anything, he burned it and then smirked at the caretaker. He looked at Filch and felt something pull. Was it just him or is this situation quite awkward? He shook his head and blinded Filch with a Lumos and then ran away. There was a yelp of pain and he momentarily felt very guilty of what he did but he shook his head.
What are you thinking, James Potter?!
:::…~~~-0-~~~…:::
The next morning, Remus found James in an alarming state. He was sitting cross-legged in front of the fireplace, staring at the dancing orange tongues of the flames. He kept on sighing dreamily and had that delusional look on his face, much like when he finally made Lily say yes and they became a couple. Shrugging it off as just that, Remus sat down on a couch and pulled out a book, but before he could start reading, James opened his mouth to talk.
"You know," James said dreamily. "I can't stop thinking about a certain someone. I'm wondering why I wouldn't have noticed such beauty until now?"
Remus looked at him as if he should be sent to St. Mungo's.
"Haven't you said that countless times before?"
"Did I? I didn't know that. All I know is that they have such a beautiful body and personality. In fact, his appearance matches his personality."
"Yes, yes. We've been over this James. You've said that to Lily countless ti-" Remus cut himself off.
"Lily? The fiery red-head?"
Remus stared at his friend in absolute shock as if James really did belong to St. Mungo's and escaped. Or from a muggle Asylum.
"He?" Remus asked incredulously. "Who are you talking about, James?"
James had a confused expression etched on his face.
"Who?" James asked as well. "Argus Filch of course! Why would you ask who I was talking about? And I thought you knew me." James grumbled.
Remus was ready to faint. Perhaps he would have if Sirius and Lily did not come.
"What are you two talking about?" Sirius piped in.
"Remus here does not know who the most beautiful person for me is." James sulked and faced the fire again. His thoughts wondered back to the new caretaker of Hogwarts. How he wanted to touch his hands, to be with him, or to just talk to him, even if it may be full of death threats. Or how he could just kiss him and proclaim his love to him in front of all of Hogwarts. Oh, he could imagine it now…
Lily was staring at Remus who looked as if he was on the verge of hyperventilating.
"What's with him?" Lily chose to ask Remus as James doesn't look like he was about to answer them or even listen to them.
Remus seemed to have gathered his wits and was trying to calm himself down but it seemed that it was a bit ineffective but he doesn't look like he was about to faint any moment.
"James?" Sirius ventured. No response.
"Prongs!"
Still no response but a dreamy sigh.
Remus looked at Lily. "Did James eat anything that came from his pocket that you or any of us four buy?"
Lily thought back to the events yesterday and held back a blush as she remembered their kiss…es. She shook herself out of it and focused back on what she was doing. After a moment, she shook her head.
"Nope. None that I remember of." She said. "But he did go to the kitchens after we came back. I wasn't able to wait for him anymore as I was very exhausted."
Remus' eyes widened and he ran to James' room. He quickly gathered his scattered clothes from yesterday and ran back to the common room where the other three were. Sirius was looking at him in apprehension as he seemed to have grasped what had happed. Remus threw the clothes on the floor.
"Accio!" He said and thought of the box that Verenet Nil gave James. When nothing happened after a minute, he finally came to a conclusion. He shared a grave look with Sirius.
"What's wrong?" Lily asked.
There was a moment of silence as Sirius and Remus stared at each other, not wanting to be the one to tell Lily. Lily scowled at them.
"What. Is. Wrong." Lily demanded as the silence continued.
Sirius sighed. "Someone's got to tell her." He muttered. "Love potion."
Lily stared for a moment before she turned to look at James. Suddenly, she felt very much angry but not towards James. But to the one who gave the potion to him.
"Who." Lily demanded again.
"V-Verenet Nil." Remus answered. "But she's not the one he's infatuated with."
Lily glared at him and he caved.
"F-Filch."
Lily and Sirius stared in disbelief. Argus Filch. The caretaker. The squib?!
:::…~~~-0-~~~…:::
In a classroom, two female Gryffindors were locked in with only one of them able to disable the wards around the room.
"What. Did. You. Give. Him." Lily said in unrestrained anger.
Verenet Nil, the culprit that had caused her anger to rise, looked a bit scared at the other witch. Her blue eyes were shining with tears. Though she remained stubbornly silent because she herself did not know what kind of Love Potion it was.
Lily was boring holes into her head with only her glare, though not literal, Verenet could practically feel it. It has been the second day since they found out about James' Potion induced infatuation and he became even more infuriating. He had taken to staring at Filch whenever he was anywhere in the vicinity. And then earlier he had just flirted with the caretaker and it was a good thing they were present at the moment.
"Still not gonna answer?" Lily whipped out her wand. "Levicorpus."
The fifth year was pulled upwards by an invisible force from of her feet. A second later, she was dangling upside down on mid-air.
Lily turned around and disabled the wards she situated around the room. She opened the door to exit but before she could, Verenet shouted at her.
"A Love Potion! It was a Love Potion!"
Lily stopped for a second before continuing on her way out of the room and he warded it again. The wards were set to go down if the Headmaster or someone with greater power than the wards passed by. They had no choice but to ask the help of a teacher then.
:::…~~~-0-~~~…:::
"Professor," Lily called as the other students were leaving the potions classroom. Remus and Sirius were holding James between them, following her.
"Ah, Lily, my dear, what can I do for you?" Horace Slughorn said jovially. Then his eyes landed on the other three. "Mr. Lupin, Mr. Black, Mr. Potter."
"Well, Professor we have this-"She was cut off by James.
"Let go of me! I have to see him! My Argus is waiting for me!"
"Well you see, Professor," Lily started again in a louder voice. "We have a problem…"
Professor Slughorn turned a contemplative look to James.
"Ah, is it, perhaps, Love Potion?" He ventured. Sirius nodded and Remus silenced James. "How long has it been…" He trailed off.
"It's been three days, Professor." Lily answered.
"Why would you only consult me now?" The professor asked as he bustled around to find the ingredients needed.
"We know that you would need to know what kind of potion was used so we tried to find out what." Remus answered this time.
"Ah, yes. Have you found out?" Slughorn asked. Sirius shook his head.
"Sadly, no. Even the one who gave it to him doesn't know what kind it was. And James seems to have discarded the leftovers. And we know that it isn't a normal one since he didn't fall in love to the one who gave it to him." Lily answered.
Slughorn stopped in his bustling and stared at them. He looked contemplative for a moment before he addressed them again.
"The general antidote would take a whole day to brew so perhaps you could make it through the day?" He said. "And also to make sure to stop Mr. Potter from doing something he will regret later."
"Of course professor. We would be here after dinner then." Lily said before going out of the classroom. Good thing that they have potions first thing in the morning so they just have to cope with the madness for the whole day, not including the night in which they needed to strap him on his bed so he wouldn't sneak out at night.
:::…~~~-0-~~~…:::
It was dinner in the great hall when Filch ran inside looking ready to murder someone. He was holding a card with a heart drawn on it at the cover. He also had a kiss mark on his cheek that he kept on rubbing off.
"Who sent this?" He asked the great hall in general and everyone quieted down, even the headmaster was looking at him. Filch raised the card in the air but the motion opened the card and it sang loudly enough for the entire great hall to hear.
"You know our love was meant to be
The kind of love that lasts forever
And I want you here with me
From tonight, until the end of time
You should know, everywhere I go
Your always on my mind, in my heart, in my soul
Baby, you're the meaning in my life
You're the inspiration
You bring feeling to my life
You're the inspiration
Wanna have you near me
I wanna have you hear me sayin'
No one needs you more than I need you
And I know, yes, I know that it's plain to see
We're so in love when we're together
Now I know that I need you here with me
From tonight, until the end of time
You should know, everywhere I go
Your always on my mind, in my heart, in my soul
You're the meaning in my life
You're the inspiration
You bring feeling to my life
You're the inspiration
Wanna have you near me
I wanna have you hear me sayin'
"No one needs you more than I need you"
Oh, ooh
Wanna have you near me
I wanna have you hear me sayin'
No one needs you more than I need you
You're the meaning in my life
You're the inspiration
You bring feeling to my life
You're the inspiration
When you love somebody
Till the end of time
When you love somebody
Always on my mind
No one needs you more than I
When you love somebody
Till the end of time
When you love somebody
Always on my mind"
There was stunned silence. But before anyone can comprehend what happened, it burst out into a song again. Filch had been petrified to not move.
"Now the night has gone
Now the night has gone away
Doesn't seem that long
We hardly had two words to say
Hold me in your arms
For just another day
I promise this one will go slow
Oh...
We have the right you know
We have the right you know
Don't say the morning's come
Don't say the morning's come so soon
Must we end this way
When so much here is hard to lose
Love is everywhere
I know it is
Such moments as this
Are too few
Oh...
It's all up to you
It's all up to you-"
The song was cut off when Filch closed it and ripped it apart, his whole complexion pale and flushed in anger. Then there was laughter all around the great hall. Filch ran out and James immediately followed. The others did not notice this as they were laughing but Remus noticed after two minutes and he called Sirius' and Lily's attention. They immediately stood up and ran out of the great hall.
Slughorn also noticed this and ran back to the dungeons to fetch the antidote.
:::…~~~-0-~~~…:::
James ran out and looking for his love. When he did find him, he was muttering about killing and torture and James all but melted. He carefully approached him. He knew that it wouldn't be long before they found him so he needed to do this quickly.
He sneaked behind the caretaker and pulled him into a kiss.
Filch froze.
James used this to his advantage and deepened the kiss. He swiped his tongue on Filch' lower lip but the man thankfully kept it shut even in a situation like this.
This was how Lily, Sirius, and Remus found them.
Sirius quickly ran to the nearest bathroom and threw up. Lily was in shock and Remus stared. They stayed like that until Slughorn arrived.
"Oh."
Lily got hold of herself and pulled them apart with force, forgetting that she could've used magic. Remus quickly stunned Filch and Lily hit James in the head, rendering him unconscious. Slughorn handed the antidote wordlessly looking as if he had just seen the apocalypse. Lily laid down James on the floor with his head on her lap.
"This isn't dangerous to those who haven't consumed any Love Potion is it?" Lily asked.
"Ah, I believe so, yes." Slughorn replied. Lily nodded and uncorked the vial; she put it on her lips and knocked it back. She pressed her lips against James'. She pried open his mouth with her tongue and let the potion flow into his mouth. Still not pulling away, she tipped James' head up and massaged his throat to make him swallow in reflex.
Lily ignored the arriving students and those who stopped to stare at them. She also ignored the wolf whistles by the boys, specifically Frank Longbottom's.
She cast a non-verbal and wandless Renervate to James still kissing him.
James woke up with the most amazing feeling. Soft lips were locked on his own and blinked his eyes open. He stared in shock as his hazel eyes locked with emerald green. The shock wore off as Lily pulled away. James sat up, having trouble remembering what happened. He was startled, however, when she hugged him.
"Lily?"
Lily said nothing but kissed him again. This time, however, James participated as well.
They broke apart when Remus cleared his throat. James stared up and saw that a crowd had formed around them. Frank was at the front of the crowd and was grinning at him. A lot of students seem to be handing out payments as if they made bets… which they actually did.
"Excuse me, what seems to be the problem here?" The voice of Professor McGonagall said. The crowd parted and Professor McGonagall and the Headmaster emerged. The Headmaster's eyes landed on them and it twinkled.
"There seems to be no trouble here, Professor McGonagall." He said cheerily, giving time for the other students to escape. Professor McGonagall assessed the situation but nodded in agreement.
"There doesn't seem to be one, indeed. But do keep in mind, Potter, to keep personal matters in privacy." And with that, the Professors walked away.
"It seems you owe me some, Minerva…" They heard before the two Professors were out of earshot.
"So, anyone going to say what happened?" James finally asked. He stood up and offered his hand to Lily who took it and he assisted her in standing up.
"Love potion." Professor Slughorn answered for them. He looked merrily at the couple. Sirius came back looking a bit better.
James raised an eyebrow and thought back.
They knew he remembered it when he paled and ran to the bathroom as well. But unlike Sirius, he came back pretty fast. He suddenly went to Lily and kissed her again. Lily blushed this time now that the anger had dissipated. James pulled away and smiled down at Lily.
"I'm very sorry Lily." He said and he hugged Lily again, burrowing his nose in her red hair.
"…-ay."
James pulled away and looked at her in question.
"It's okay…" Lily repeated.
James beamed at her and kissed her forehead tenderly. "I love you Lily."
Lily mumbled something that the others didn't hear but James heard it very clearly.
"I love you too."
:::…~~~-0-~~~…:::
Things went back to normal in a few days and when Peter finally came back, they didn't bother to mention it to him. Filch was obliviated with the permission of the Headmaster. Not one of those involved ever said anything about it.
But one thing would stand.
It was the event that pulled Lily and James closer than they could be.
:::...~~~-0-~~~...:::
A/N: *Cackles* Sorry about THAT part. It was what ignited the plot. Hey people, I won't delete this chapter in PerVo though, I want others to see it suddenly pop out of nowhere.
