Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter I wouldn't be pleading with my mother right now to buy me a pair of ACDC converse sneakers now would I?
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A/N: Something I did a year or so ago during a particularly boring maths class. A little depressing at the start but it turns to humour at the end, just stick with it =) Please R&R
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The floorboard creaked as her foot made contact with it. She cursed silently and tip toed over to the couch by the fireplace. The dying embers lit up the space she occupied and warmed her slightly. She pulled the armchair closer to the fire and tucked her legs up under her as she rested her head on the top of the chair.
Lily Evans was exhausted. She had, once again, woken up from a nightmare. It was always the same one, always in the same place, always involving the same people.
A cloaked figure unlocked the door with his wand and proceeded inside. Another five followed him. Two of the six broke off to search through the house while the others tried to find anything of value.
The two hooded figures walked up the stairs, opening doors as they went. They weren't trying to be quiet, they didn't care. Finally they came to the master bedroom and barged through the door. Up against the wall was John Evans; behind him was his petrified wife.
"Stay back!" He shouted at them, brandishing a cricket bat at the pair. They laughed and pointed their wands at the couple,
"Do you have any last words before we kill you?" One asked with a slight cackle to his voice.
"Run Iris!" John said and pushed his wife toward the open window, she quickly pushed herself up, trying to scramble onto the roof ledge,
"Crucio," The other said and she fell to the ground in pain, squirming and screaming. John fell to his knees next to his wife as the curse was lifted.
"Iris?" He asked shakily.
"Get on your feet, both of you!" They commanded and pointed their wands at the couple. They were instantly lifted to their feet, not of their own will.
"I think we'll have a bit of fun with these before we kill them and torch their house." He sneered. "Crucio,"
Lily's parents screamed in pain, over and over again as the curse was put upon them, over and over again.
"I'm bored now; their screams of agony and mercy bore me." One said to the other, he agreed and they both laughed a cruel, cackling laugh.
"Avada Kedavra!" They both yelled and the weak and tortured Mr and Mrs Evans fell to the ground, lifeless.
The Death Eaters exited the room,
"Did we get anything?" The one who killed Iris Evans asked. The other four shook their heads.
"Just muggle junk," One growled.
"Let's get out of here," Another said and they made their way to the door. The last one out pointed his wand into the house and shot a spell into the hall. Something burst into flame and he disapparated, leaving the dead couple and the burning house behind, not feeling any remorse or guilt.
Lily woke again for the second time that night. Her breathing was heavy and she was sitting upright now in shock as she had to watch her parents die for the second time in one night.
Lily had been called to Professor Dumbledore's office only a month ago to receive the dreadful news. She sat in one of the chairs with a blank look on her face as he told her. He said the school would allow her to go out of school for the funeral, he said she could have time off from classes if she needed time to mourn, he said it would be kept quiet and only the staff would know, he said she could cry but she didn't, she didn't want to cry, she didn't want to believe it. Her parents were strong, they were always there, they couldn't die.
Not a tear has fallen because if Lily cried, if she mourned for them it would mean they were dead and they weren't, or so Lily told herself, but her dreams tried to tell her otherwise. They showed her, night after night that what Dumbledore had said was true. She didn't even know if her dreams were real, if that is what really happened.
Lily gazed into the red embers and suddenly, a tear fell down her cheek and then another and another.
"Oh god, they're dead." She whispered to herself. Suddenly it became very hot in the room and Lily's breathing became even heavier. "They're dead, they're not coming back." She repeated as more tears fell from her eyes and into her lap. "And it's all my fault." She hugged her knees closer to her as she cried, harder and harder.
Suddenly she stood up. She didn't know why she was standing or why she was walking toward the boys' staircase. Her legs had a mind of their own. She stumbled up the stairs, right to the top. She opened the door, in a daze and made her way over to his bed. She knew which one it was even though she didn't know why she was going to him for comfort, they were barely even friends!
With tears still welling in her eyes she placed her small hand over his mouth and he suddenly woke. She felt his panic but she bent down and whispered quietly so no one else in the room would wake,
"James it's me, can I sleep in here tonight?" A tear fell from her eye and onto his cotton shirt.
"Yeah," He whispered back. He pulled back the covers and let Lily slide in next to him. He reached up and pulled the curtains around his bed so no one could see them. He lay back down and Lily curled in next to him, crying into his shirt. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer, stroking her hair.
Eventually Lily managed to control her crying and she lay next to him, his strong arm around her, sniffling. Her eyes stung from all she had cried that night and they began to close from weariness as she had not slept well for the past month. She fell asleep and this time she wasn't scared to do so because she did not dream at all.
Lily was being shaken, ever so slightly, like she was a fragile doll. Her eyes opened but kept closing,
"Lily, c'mon wake up," James' voice said, it was soft and quiet as if he spoke loudly she would shatter into a thousand pieces. Her eyes opened fully now and she found James very close to her face, she retracted slightly, scared. "Its midday, you've been sleeping for ten hours." He told her, smiling slightly.
"Did you just wake up?" She asked. Her voice was rough and cracked like she had been screaming for hours.
"Yeah but don't worry I don't think anyone's seen you here." He said, "But we should get you out of here. One second." He said hurriedly and slipping out from under the covers he opened the curtains ever so slightly and disappeared from Lily's sight.
"And he emerges!" Someone yelled, letting out a bark like laugh. "What are you doing Prongs?"
"Looking for my cloak," James answered.
"Why?"
"I'm just checking that it's in my trunk."
"You're pathetic Prongs," Sirius said.
"I am not!" James said defensively. His trunk lid closed and he slipped back through the curtains and onto his bed, holding in his hands a sheet of silvery material.
"Yes you are, when you hear yourself whine you'll realise you're pathetic."
"I do not whine!" James yelled, his voice was muffled by the curtains but Sirius still heard him.
"Oh?" He said disbelievingly, "How about this 'oh Lily doesn't like me but I love her, I don't know what to do, she hates me but I can't stop thinking about her, what do I do!'" Sirius said in a clear imitation of James' voice. He blushed, especially since the subject of their conversation was mere inches away from him. "Sound familiar Prongsie?"
"No!" James said, trying to deny it all but the blush that was now creeping to his cheeks gave him away.
"I don't know why you still go after her; she's a right cow to you and everyone else for that matter." Sirius' voice said. "She needs to loosen up," Now James' face turned red from anger. He threw his cloak over Lily then ripped the curtains open. He grabbed his wand and pointed it at his friend who was just buttoning up his shirt.
"Don't say that about her!" James yelled at him,
"Oh don't get all defensive about it you know it's true, just shag her and be done with it." He told him casually. A red spell shot from the end of James' wand and hit Sirius in the back. Boils sprung up all over his face and hands. He screamed at his appearance and quickly ran to his bed to get his wand. The boils disappeared and now Sirius pointed his wand at James.
"What'd you do that for?" He yelled at him.
"Don't talk about Lily that way! She's a person not an item that can be thrown away when I get bored with it!"
"Prongs give up! She doesn't like you, she never will, you say it yourself, she hates you!" Sirius yelled at him, "And personally, no matter how much you change for her she'll never like you because she's too caught up in herself, she's a selfish bitch that's what she is!" James shot another hex at him but he deflected it.
"I SAID DON'T TALK ABOUT LILY THAT WAY!" He yelled at Sirius. Sirius rolled his eyes and stomped from the room, muttering about 'stupid love sick teenagers'. James stood next to his bed, breathing heavily.
"James?" Lily's voice was shaky as she emerged from under the cloak. He whipped around to face her and the anger instantly melted from his face. He collapsed onto his bed and Lily wriggled over to sit next to him. "I don't hate you," She whispered, "It should be you who hates me."
"Why would I ever hate you Lily?" James asked, astounded.
"Because Black is right, everyone is, I'm too caught up in myself to care about anyone, I trample all over you and your feelings, you should hate me like everyone else because I am, I am an ugly cow who doesn't think of anyone else."
"Don't ever say that about yourself Lily," James said forcefully, taking her face in his hands. "You're not ugly or a cow and no one hates you."
"Yes they do, just the way they look at me when I walk down the corridors or when I ruin their loud parties and I am ugly, I probably look like a mess from last night." Lily was right, her hair was untidy and teased, her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks were blotchy.
"You look beautiful Lily." James said and he was telling the truth. Lily gave him a weak smile. James dropped his hands from Lily's face and asked. "Do you want to talk about last night?" He asked. Lily's face took on a blank look and she stared at the spot on James' shoulder which was still slightly damp from her tears.
"Do you know about my parent's James?"
"No,"
"They were murdered, a month ago, by Death Eaters." She said in a neutral tone. James opened his mouth to say something but Lily continued. "That's why I've been distant lately, that's why I haven't been concentrating in class and why I'm always tired. I didn't want to believe it, I didn't want to believe they were dead but every night I would have the same dream, I would have the same dream of them being tortured and killed, every night." She said, her voice becoming higher on the last two words. Tears began to fall again and she choked on her words. "Last night I went down to the common room as I always do, trying not to fall asleep like usual but I did fall asleep and I had to watch them, again, in one night.
"And just this wave came over me and I believed it, after everything I had done not to believe they were gone it just became clear, they're dead," Her voice dropped to a whisper, "they're not coming back and it's all my fault." The tears fell freely now and harder. James pulled her closer and let her cry into his shirt, again.
"Lily it's not your fault,"
"Yes it is, if I wasn't a witch they wouldn't have been targeted, if I wasn't a witch they'd still be alive and Petunia wouldn't hate me more and I'd be with them now, not crying over them." James had nothing to say to this so he pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head.
Lily eventually let go of James' loose shirt and pulled away from him. She took in a deep shuddering breath and let out a small laugh.
"What?" He asked,
"It's just I've messed your shirt up, again." She said. James looked at his shoulder which was wet once more.
"It's only my pyjama shirt, I have plenty more." He told her with a smile. "Are you feeling a bit better now?"
"Yes I am," Lily said, slightly shocked.
"I suppose we should get you out of here then before someone else comes up." James told her and stood up, grabbing his cloak from the bed.
"Is that an actual invisibility cloak?" She asked,
"Yeah," He told her sheepishly.
"That explains a lot then," Lily said with a slight laugh. "How I can never find you when you pull a prank or how I always have this strange feeling someone's watching me when I'm alone."
"Oh I only follow you when you do patrols by yourself." James said casually with a grin, Lily frowned questioningly. "Because now that Slytherin's are targeting muggleborns more I don't particularly think that you'd be able to take on a large group of Slytherins, now matter how brilliant you are." James said, answering Lily's unspoken question. Lily smiled at him.
"Thanks," She said.
"No problem," James said back. There was silence and James finally noticed what Lily was wearing. She had a white silk, thin strapped pyjama top on that was too small for her and showed a small part of her stomach. She wore matching pants that were also too small and only covered her bum, just. His eyes roamed her body hungrily, taking in her creamy skin and accentuated curves. Lily uncomfortably pulled her top down. At this motion James snapped out of his daze and quickly shut his eyes tight.
"Ah here's the cloak Lily," He said, blindly putting his hand out and giving Lily the cloak. She took it and quickly threw it over herself, glad that she could disappear on the spot. James turned around, his eyes still closed.
"Just ah let me get changed I'll be quick." He said and shuffled over to his trunk. Lily watched from under the cloak as he slipped on a pair of jeans over his boxers. He then removed his shirt, showing perfectly toned abs and pecks. Lily's mouth dropped open and she unconsciously moved toward him. James buttoned up a long sleeved, blue shirt. He looked up to find Lily not there,
"Lily?" He asked. There was a small giggle from behind him. James whipped around but she wasn't there either, "I knew I shouldn't have given you my cloak!" He exclaimed. There was another giggle beside him and he whipped around, throwing his arms out. He caught Lily and pulled her closer, pulling the invisibility cloak off so he could see her face. She wore an amused smile and her eyes glittered mischievously, it was one look James never wanted to see fade from her face.
"Are you ready to go now?" He asked her, she nodded and James pulled the cloak back over her head with a laugh. He let go of her waist but she grabbed his hand and they walked from the room and down the boy's stairs. When they reached the bottom Lily slipped up the girl's stairs and James made his way over to the other Marauders. He ignored Sirius,
"Ready to go to lunch?" Remus asked him. James nodded and followed his three friends from the common room.
At lunch Sirius and Peter sat on the other side of the table to James and Remus. Remus and Peter noticed that their other two friends weren't talking to each other like they normally were.
Halfway through their lunch Lily entered the hall with one of her friends. James was slightly disappointed to see that she wasn't wearing her revealing pyjamas anymore. Just as she was about to walk past him he grabbed her by the waist and dragged her onto the vacant seat next to him. She playfully slapped his hand away as he leant in to whisper in her ear.
"Hey Lily, this morning, you didn't happen to see anything when I was getting changed, did you?" Luckily no one heard this or it would have sounded thoroughly suspicious. Lily giggled and whispered back,
"I now know why all the girls go after you." She promptly stood up as James' gasped dramatically.
"And you think I'm a perverted stalker!" He said, astonished. Lily laughed.
"Oh I don't think, I know." She told him with a grin and a wink. She walked off, laughing. James turned back to his friends, chuckling though no one else shared his laugh as the rest of the Marauders had their eyebrows raised and their mouths hanging open.
"I take back fully what I said this morning." Sirius said in daze. James smirked, concentrating on his food.
Later that day the four Marauders were sitting near the lake. Sirius and Peter were playing Exploding Snap to pass the time and Remus was reading a text book. James sat, leaning against his favourite tree, thinking. Remus looked up,
"You alright Prongs?"
"Yeah fine," He waved Remus' concern away and stood up. "I'm going for a walk to clear my head." He told the group.
"Whatever Prongs," Sirius said. James walked off, his hands in his pockets. He walked around the Black Lake, watching as the Giant Squid basked in the sun. James suddenly felt like he was being watched. He turned around but no one was there. He narrowed his eyes,
"Lily?" He asked, there was silence. James scowled and kept walking.
The further James walked away from his friends and the castle the more the feeling of paranoia arose in him.
"Seriously Lily, are you there?" Again no one answered. James took a step backwards and then flung his arms out, trying to grab something. There was a giggle. "I knew it!" He said and grabbed at where he thought the sound had come from. She giggled again and James spun around to find Lily standing behind him, his cloak in her hand and an amused smirk on her face.
"You look ridiculous you know," She told him, giggling again. He glared playfully at her.
"Why were you following me?"
"Because I saw that you went for a walk by yourself and I thought I should follow just in case a group of Slytherin's came along because no matter how attractive you are you're still weak and girly and wouldn't be able to handle them." Her smirk grew wider and James glared.
"I am not weak and girly!" He said and took a step closer but Lily didn't take back what she had said. He grabbed her by the waist and began to tickle her. She squealed and wriggled in his grasped.
"No stop James, stop, mercy, mercy!" She squealed. James stopped and looked down at her.
"Do you take it back Lily?"
"Yes. The weak part anyway." She said, smirking again. James didn't hesitate; he began to tickle her again. She squealed and squirmed but didn't say anything.
Eventually Lily became exhausted from laughing and fell limp in James' arms, gasping for air.
"Do you take it back now Lily?" He asked. She nodded, "Actually why were you following me?"
"I came to give you this back," Lily said and picked up the cloak from the ground where she had dropped it. "And to say thanks for last night."
"Oh I know you just wanted to stalk me Evans but I must say you're not a very good stalker." He told her,
"I'm not Potter; well what do I have to do to be good stalker, seeing as you're the expert."
"Well you need to know just about everything about them." He told her, "Like when's my birthday?"
"March twenty-seven," She said with a smug smirk. "When's mine?"
"January thirty," He said casually. "What's my favourite colour?"
"Maroon, what's mine?"
"Green, just like your eyes. What's my favourite food?"
"Treacle Tart, what's mine?"
"Treacle Tart," James said with a grin,
"What else do I need to know?"
"Just about everything about them,"
"Well I know that you train your team every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I know you can play the guitar. I know you never give up on something you really want. I know your best class is Transfiguration. I know you're competitive. I know you sneak down to the kitchens every Friday and drink firewhiskey with the House Elves. I know…I know…" Lily faltered as she didn't know anymore.
"Is that all Lily? That's just common knowledge, everyone knows that!"
"Oh what, so you think you can do better on me?" Lily questioned.
"I know I can." He told her, Lily raised her eyebrows, challenging him. "I know about your parents. I know you sneak down to the kitchens every Friday before me and pig out on sweets. I know you stand up for what you believe in. I know you don't speak to anyone in the morning until you have a cup of coffee, which has two sugars in it if it's a normal day, three if it's Monday. I know your best class is Potions and your worst class is Transfiguration though you're great in the subject anyway. I know you got all O's on your O.W.L.S. I know your favourite band is The Beatles. I know you dance to them in your dormitory when no one's around. I know you tutor first years every Friday before you go to the kitchens. I know you also have a study group with Remus and Susie Wilks of Ravenclaw. I know you help Filch clean Hogwarts even though he doesn't know it. I know you bite your nails when you're nervous. I know you secretly think Peter and Bertha Jorkins should get together. I know you bite your lip when you think. I know you know that all your friends are just using you. I know you hate pickles and mushrooms. I know your favourite fairytale is Cinderella because you wish that something that magical could happen to you. I know you use banana, pineapple, mango and apple shampoo and conditioner. I know you look beautiful when you cry and I know you're scared for you're safety now." James laughed. A small giggle escaped Lily's lips but she was shocked. Lily wasn't scared, she was amazed that James cared about her that much and she wasn't just some object of desire to him. James looked down at Lily expectantly.
He hadn't removed his hands from around her waist and he was glad she hadn't protested.
"There is one thing you don't know though James," She told him,
"What's that?" He asked curiously.
"That I'm going to do this," She said and lifted her lips to his. James smiled and pulled Lily closer, savouring the taste and feel of her lips. Lily pulled back and giggled at the look of shock and pure bliss on James' face.
"That was for last night and putting up with an over emotional girl in your bed." She said with a laugh. James grinned down at the stunning red head in his arms.
"Lily, you know how there's a Hogsmeade trip next weekend?"
"Yeah,"
"Would you like to go with me? As my girlfriend,"
"Oh I suppose I could manage that." She said, still smiling. James' grin grew impossibly wider and he lent down for another kiss. Lily put one of her fingers to his lips, stopping him. She wriggled from his grasp. James was confused,
"You have to earn your kisses Potter," She told him playfully.
"And how do I earn a kiss then Evans?"
"If you catch me," Lily said and took off running around the lake. James picked his cloak up and tore after her, easily catching her up with his long legs.