Sleepwalking

By: Avenli Rayne

Disclaimer: I only wish that I was creative enough to come up with such characters like James and Lily!

What comes to mind when you think of James Potter? Cool, popular, handsome, prankster, desirable, quidditch star, head boy, sleepwalker . . . wait, sleepwalker? Sadly, this is true. James Potter, the ever handsome head boy and quidditch captain has a problem: he's a sleepwalker. And not just that, but he also talks in his sleep. And when I say talks in his sleep, I mean, he'll also answer questions. You see, sleeping is a very vulnerable time for James Potter. His friends, the well known marauders, soon found out what fun James was when he was asleep. You can ask him any question, and he'll answer it completely truthfully. James has absolutely no recollection of what he says, and his friends have been known to expand what he has said while in his sleep. This is actually how they found out that he liked Lily, is terrified of squirrels, and has a odd obsession of having to wear his lucky pair of boxers during every quidditch game.

Now, all of this wouldn't have been so bad, except for his last year at Hogwarts, when he would no longer be sleeping in a dorm with his friends, but in the Head's Dormitory. Sure he and Lily had separate bedrooms, but James has his sleepwalking problem. Sirius, Remus, and Peter were quick to warn Lily of James' little 'problem' at the beginning of the term.

"He what?" she asked confused.

"James is a chronic sleepwalker-talker."

"What in the world does that mean?"

"It means that dear Jamesie poo sometimes walks around at night while he's asleep, also talks while he's asleep, and doesn't remember a word of what he has said," Sirius said matter of factly.

Lily looked at them oddly. "He really does that? Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, dear Lily, if James is wondering around at night in your Head Dormitory at night with a glazed look in his eyes you shouldn't be worried. Just tell him to go back to bed. He'll usually listen."

"Does he do this often?"

"Usually a few times a month, but mind you, we don't wake up every time he does," Remus explained.

Lily scoffed. "Well, this'll be an interesting year," she said sarcastically as she walked off.

"Little does she know," Remus mused.

"Lily!" Sirius called after her. "What?" she asked.

"If I were you I wouldn't believe anything that James might say when he has one of his 'moments'."

"Trust me, I won't," Lily replied.

"Why'd you do that?" Peter asked when Lily was out of earshot.

"So that if Prongs decides to proclaim his love to Lily then she won't freak out."

"Ahhh," Peter said after a few seconds.

Lily's last year at Hogwarts was passing quickly, and before she knew it, it was November. She didn't know where the time had gone. She was enjoying her duties as head girl, even if she didn't particularly like working with the head boy. And it wasn't because he was annoying, obnoxious, asking her out all the time, and showing off. It was because he wasn't doing any of those things. James Potter had indeed changed over the summer, and it scared Lily. It had been so easy to turn him down when he had been a jerk, but now that he wasn't, she didn't know if she could say no if he ever asked her out. Then what type of person would she be if she went back on 4 years of saying no?

Sharing a dormitory with James was also an interesting situation. They each had their own bedrooms, but they had to share a common room and bathroom. But this wasn't the interesting part. The interesting part was James' sleepwalking and talking episodes. The first time it happened they had only been at school for a week. Lily had woken up to James yelling something about quidditch. It scared Lily for a moment, and then she remembered what Sirius and Remus had told her. She waltzed into his bedroom and promptly told his to shut up and go back to sleep. James obliged, and didn't remember a thing the next day. There had been a few more incidents, but nothing that would embarrass James too badly.

One Friday Night Lily was completely exhausted. It had been a long week and she had a bunch of homework piling up which she wasn't really looking forward to doing. She was glad to have the weekend to help her catch up on all of it. Lily tried to finish as much as she could that night, but was too tired to do anymore. At 1am she decided that she'd have to finish it later. She threw her pajamas on and was asleep as soon as her head hit her pillow. It seemed like only a few minutes later when James came into her room yelling at her.

"Lily! Lily!" he called. Lily groaned. She glanced at her clock. It was only 2:11am. What in the world did James want?

"What Potter? Do you realize what time it is? Unless it's a dire emergency, be ready to face the wrath of a very angry Lily!" she yelled back to him.

James stood there for a brief moment, and then said, "Lily, there's a garden gnome in my room that won't get out."

"What?" Lily questioned incredulously.

"There's a gnome in my room! He won't leave."

Lily sighed. "Potter," she began sternly, breathing in deeply as to not loose her temper. "There is no gnome in your bedroom. You're dreaming. Go back to bed."

"No, Lily, I swear, it's in there! Come get it."

"There's no gnome in there and I certainly won't be coming to get it!" she said angrily. "Go to bed."

"I can't!" James whined. "It's jumping on my bed."

Lily stood up and faced the confused boy. "James Michael Potter, get you butt back to bed this instant! I wouldn't care if there was a fire breathing dragon dancing the cancan in your room! Get back in there and leave me alone!" she yelled.

James stared at her for a moment, then calmly replied, "Fine, but you'll see it in the morning." And he strolled out of her room.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Lily screamed into her pillow. "Okay, breathe Lily, breathe. It's okay," she told herself, trying to calm down. Just then she heard a loud thump with a groan of pain, and then the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

"Great," Lily muttered as she got out of bed and grabbed her wand. "Lumos." Lily looked around, and then she saw James laying sprawled out on the floor. He had been headed back to his room when he smacked his head on a door frame and knocked himself out.

"Only Potter could manage to knock himself out while he's asleep. I should just leave him there," Lily thought to herself. She was about to go back to bed when her conscience got the better of her. "Stinking Potter," she mumbled to herself as she walked over to him. "He's breathing, I guess that's a good thing," she said. She could see a rather large goose egg forming on his forehead. "That's gonna hurt in the morning," she thought. "Now, how to get him back to his bed. Hmmmmmm." She tried picking him up, but he was a lot bigger than her and was dead weight. Suddenly a light clicked in her head. "Duh Lily, are you a witch or aren't you?"she chastised herself. She performed a simple charm and levitated him.

She has almost made it to his bed when she tripped on a pile of his clothes on the floor. She was too busy concentrating on levitating him that she forgot to put her hands out to catch herself. She smacked her head on the post of his bed, and fell to the floor, out cold. With no one performing the levitation spell, James fell from the air and landed on top of Lily.

Several hours later James woke up extremely uncomfortable. He had absolutely no idea where he was, and his head hurt like mad. He was lying on his stomach on top of something. He opened his eyes and say a mass of red. He didn't have his glasses on and couldn't focus very on anything, and the redness was overwhelming. His head was swimming and he couldn't even begin to think about how he had gotten in this position, and why he hurt everywhere. He groaned as he tried to think about what to do, or what was even going on. He lifted his head, which hurt quite a bit, and then realized that there was floor underneath all of the redness. He looked in the other direction and saw Lily's sleeping face. "What in the world?" he muttered to himself. He was on top of Lily, with his face right over her shoulder and in her hair. He rolled himself over onto his back and off of Lily.

James lay there next to Lily on the floor in a daze for a few minutes. He couldn't remember anything that had happened, and that scared him. He knew that he had sleepwalking problems, but what if he had hurt Lily? He would never forgive himself. James propped himself up on his elbow, and looked into Lily's sleeping face. There was a large goose egg on her forehead which looked rather painful. "Ow," he mused, as he felt his own head, and surprised himself to find a matching goose egg on his own forehead. "What's going on?" he said, but his head hurt too badly to think and was beginning to spin, so he laid back down. He looked over to his left and could see a pile of his clothes. "At least I know where I am," he muttered. Just then Lily made a groaning noise.

"Lily?" James said quietly looking over at her. She didn't reply. He eyebrows were scrunched a bit, and she looked like she was in pain. James rolled onto his side and scooted up closer to her. "Lily," he whispered softly into her ear. Lily's eyes fluttered open. She was obviously confused. "Lily, are you okay?" he asked quietly.

Lily looked over at him, confusion still evident on her face. "Lil, are you okay?" he asked again. "What's going on?" she finally asked.

"You know, I'm not quite sure," James chuckled. Lily didn't seem to find anything funny.

"I have the worst headache," she groaned while touching her head.

"That's 'cause you've got yourself a pretty nasty goose egg on you head," James said. He was still rather close to her and was enjoying smelling her hair. "That would explain it," she said in a know-it-all tone of voice. "If you haven't noticed, you've got one yourself," she replied. James shrugged. "Why do I hurt all over, though?" she asked.

"Well, I'm not completely sure, but it might have something to do with the fact that I was on top of you," he said sheepishly.

"You were what?" she exclaimed.

"Listen Lil, I have no idea what happened. The last thing that I remember was going to bed, having some really strange dreams, and then waking up on top of you on my floor."

Lily lay there silently for a few minutes. "Lily, are you okay?" he asked for the third time since they had woken up.

She nodded. "I'm just trying to figure out what happened."

"What was the last thing you remember?"

"Well, I was up late finishing my essay, then I went to bed." She was quiet for a moment, then said, "And then you came into my room and woke me up."

"What? I have no recollection of that."

"Well duh, you were sleepwalking."

"What did I do this time?" he asked, almost fearful of the answer.

"I think . . . I think that you were yelling something about a garden gnome in your bedroom," Lily giggled. "Great," James sighed. Now that he thought about it, he could remember a strange dream about a garden gnome.

"And then," Lily giggled even harder, "you told me it was jumping on your bed, and you wanted me to come and take care of it."

James smiled in spite of himself. "Sorry 'bout that. But, that still doesn't explain how we ended up like this."

"Hmmmm," Lily began. "Then you left and said that I'd see it in the morning, and then . . . . oh yeah! You smacked your head on your door frame and knocked yourself out. Then I was levitating you into your room and," Lily stopped.

"And what?" James prodded.

"I think that I tripped on your laundry."

"My laundry? My laundry caused you to knock yourself out? That is a bit odd, and pretty funny," he said grinning. Lily hit him playfully. "Ow!" he feigned, then said, "And then I must have fallen on you after the spell was broken."

"Wow. That's kind of a sad story. Especially on my part."

"Yeah, laundry that knocks you out," he grinned.

"The laundry didn't knock me out, it just tripped me."

"Which led to you being knocked out."

"So," Lily sulked.

"So it's incredibly funny! At least I have an excuse for hitting my head. I was asleep."

"All of this is your fault," Lily said. "You and your sleeping issues."

"Hey, careful about the sleeping issues. It's a sensitive subject," He replied, pretending to be offended.

They laid there silently for a minute, and then James asked, "Why are we still lying on my floor?"

"I really don't know," Lily replied. James sat up and looked down at Lily, who was still lying on the floor. "I really am sorry, do you forgive me?" he asked remorsefully.

"I'll think about it," she said, smiling slightly, her geen eyes twinkling. James was looking at her quite seriously. "What?" she asked.

"You're just so beautiful," he said softly. Lily was silent for a moment.

"Yeah, really pretty with this nice battle wound on my forehead," she said, trying to ease the tension that had suddenly appeared in the room. James stuck out his hand to help her up. She carefully took his hand, and he pulled her up to a sitting position. It was only then that she realized how close they were, and that he hadn't let go of her hand. James' hazel eyes were staring deeply into her green ones, and she seemed stuck in his gaze. Her whole body froze, and she couldn't have moved if she had tried.

"Lily," James whispered quietly.

"Yeah?" she asked softly.

"Would you kill me if I kissed you?" Lily didn't move, didn't say a word. James took this for an okay, and slowly closed the small gap between them. The only problem was that their foreheads hit first, instead of their lips. "Ow!" They both said at the same time, while gently rubbing their already hurt foreheads. Lily couldn't help but smile shyly. "Let me help you,"she said, and she leaned in and kissed him softly.

Lily pulled back from a James who was practically floating. "You're still not forgiven yet," she said smiling.

"I think I can live with it," James replied grinning like a little kid at Christmas as he leaned in for another kiss.

A/N: Please read and review! Reviews are wonderful. Over Christmas my family was telling great sleep walking stories, and I thought it would be fun to write this! I might do some more (Little story plots are floating around my head), but not really attatched to this one. Tell me what you think!