"And the cup is ours for the third time in a row", James Potter's voice rang out amid loud cheers from everyone in the Gryffindor common room. The grin on his face was almost too bright to look at. Lily Evans-who was standing at the back of the crowd with Marlene Mckinnon so as not to be seen-gave him an equally bright smile, not that James saw it. Someone placed a sonorous charm on the wireless. Lily pulled Mary Macdonald with her to the middle of the Gryffindor common room where people had started and started swaying awkwardly with her. James looked away from the crowd of adoring people and watched Lily dance with a wistful expression. He looked away when Sirius Black tapped him on the shoulder and whispered something to him.
Marlene took in all this with a weary sigh. She couldn't bear to see the look of loss on Lily's face whenever James so much as talked to another girl. Whenever she or Mary tried to talk Lily into gathering up her courage and simply asking James out, she would give them a sad little smile and say she'd lost her chance. It broke Marlene's heart.
Not that that made it any easier to see James' eyes lose all hope when another boy made Lily laugh or smile. Even if the boy was his best mate Sirius Black. She wanted to see them lit up with joy and amusement like they were when they made each other laugh or bickered good naturedly. She wanted to be able to tease them about being wrapped around one another's pinkies without the answer being a grief ridden 'I know'.
Marlene would lie awake at night making up scenerios in which James declared his love for Lily dramatically standing on desk in the transfiguration classroom. Or in which Lily stormed up to James when he was flirting with another girl in the Great Hall and just snogged him till he couldn't remember his name-which Marlene thought she should have done ages ago.
She shook herself out of her reverie and once again trained her gaze on Lily, who was now dancing with Benjy Fenwick. Lily kept shooting glances over his shoulder to where James and Sirius were doing some extremely dorky dance moves. Benjy must've noticed too because he stopped dancing told Lily something with a knowing smile and gave her a gentle shove towards James. Lily shot him a glare but did walk towards James. Marlene sat up straight and leaned forward maybe this would be the moment when they finally stopped dancing around each other. Literally.
Lily walked up to James and must have asked him for a dance because the next thing Marlene knew James was leading Lily towards the dance floor. Marlene strained her eyes trying to pick up anything unusual but there was nothing unusual. James made Lily blush, she made him laugh, they glowed with contentment, just the usual things. The song ended with no sign of anything different and they retreated to giving each other the wistful looks.
"Crazy how they dance around each other, huh?", Sirius asked her sounding tired dropping into the seat beside her. "Crazy is the understatement of the year, mate", She replied not wearily this time but rather fondly. Yes, they drove her insane with their jealousy. But it was nice to know that some things like teenage drama never changed, even during a war of which in a few months they'd be on the frontlines. Yes, it was nice she thought smiling as James and Lily danced to yet another song.
A/N: My first Jily fanfic. I know the ending is rushed. So please review and tell me how it was. Feel free to flame. Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine
-Love,
Lakshmi