Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot.
Chapter 2"Prongs, what in the heck possessed you to ask this girl to Hogsmeade?" Sirius demanded. He, his two best mates and his dorm mates were all walking around the dorm room, half naked and half awake to various degrees, getting ready for the day's Hogsmeade trip.
"Yes, do tell." Michael Waters said cheekily, pulling his t-shirt on over his blonde head. "What made you ask out Lorelei's best friend of all people?"
James shrugged, nonchalant as he sat on his bed to pull on his boots. "I dunno, I just opened my mouth to ask her before my brain caught up."
"So you're regretting it then?" Remus asked, pulling his socks on. James shook his head with a small smile and said. "Nah."
"Man, it won't be like going to Hogsmeade with The Beast will it?" Sirius asked, referring to Lorelei. James shook his head again. "She and Lorelei are nothing alike, I swear."
"Hmm." Sirius grunted dubiously, but didn't say another word on the subject as he grabbed his Wizard Debit Card, a new invention of Gringotts', and put it in his back pocket. "Whatever you say James. But need I remind you Hippogriff's of a feather, flock together."
"What?" James asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I think," Remus cut in, "That what Sirius means is that-
"I MEAN," Sirius said loudly, shooting Remus a look. "That Lily and The Beast wouldn't be best friends if they didn't have something in common."
"Like Gold Digger Syndrome?" Gregory Mitchell, a titian haired, brown-eyed member of the Quidditch team asked sarcastically, digging around amongst the piles of clothes strewn all over the room.
"Exactly." Sirius said.
"It's not like that!" James said immediately, affronted that Sirius had poked at the still slightly fresh wound with Lorelei's name on it. "I asked her to go, remember? And only because she's only been once before and that was with Lorelei so you know that was a horrible experience."
"So you asked the girl to come with us out of pity then?"
"NO!" James yelled loosing his temper as he glared at Sirius. "Why are you being such an ass today?"
Sirius shrugged. "Because I can. What are you going to do about it?"
"Nothing!" Remus broke in quickly. "Because if we don't hurry up, we're going to be late. And…" he added wolfishly, smirking at James just before he descended into the common room. "Prongs might miss his date with Miss Lily."
James rolled his eyes. "See if you get Christmas presents." He threatened, staying to find his extra thick gloves and making sure he hadn't forgotten anything before he started down the stairs. He wiped the aggravated look from his features as soon as he reached the bottom, deciding it would be in his favor not to scare Lily out of her wits with the stormy expression.
But she wouldn't have seen it anyway, he discovered, for she was sitting at the farthest table in the corner, with her back to the rest of the room. Remus sat across from her, looking down interested, at her work, asking questions occasionally. He glanced up then, saw James, smiled, and beckoned him forward.
"Morning Lily." He said brightly, standing in the empty space between the two chairs. Lily looked up, awarding him with a small shy smile. "Good morning James, how are you?"
"I'm great thanks." He replied, rocking back on his heels. "You?"
"Fine." She answered breezily.
"So…what are you working on Lily?"
"Erm…just some sketches." She answered quietly, stacking the drawings and shoving them in a cardboard folder.
"Sketches?" James repeated. "I didn't know you could draw." Lily shrugged. "Not the type of sketches you're thinking. They're not art really….just plans of…um…engines."
"Engines?"
"Engines." Lily affirmed with a nod of her head. "I work on cars."
James's eyebrows shot upwards. "Really?"
Lily nodded again. "Uh huh. Nobody's supposed to know that thought, so if you wouldn't tell anyone…"
"A secret," James made a zipping motion across his mouth. "Gotcha."
Lily smiled and turned her gaze past James. "You won't tell either will you Sirius?"
James turned too, to see Sirius standing behind him with his hands in his pockets. "Nah. Won't tell."
"Good morning, by the way." Lily added brightly, pushing away from the table.
"Morning." He muttered. Lily looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Sirius said shortly. "Let's go."
Remus sent a disapproving look towards Sirius, silently reprimanding him for his bad manners, and helped Lily into her Parka.
The red head's green eyes widened as she slipped her arms into the thick sleeves. "Thank you Remus."
"No problem."
"Aren't you going to eat?" James asked, as he Remus, and Sirius piled their plates high with waffles, pancakes, sausage, eggs, and bacon. But Lily didn't appear to hear him, for her head was still bent, her eyes still closed, and her hands still clasped tightly in her lap.
Sirius looked over at her and gave a little half smirk of disbelief. "She's saying grace." He said, amused. "Who does that anymore?"
"I do." Lily replied lifting her head and reaching over to pile waffles and eggs on her plate. "It sets a good example for my…for my younger siblings."
"You have siblings?" Remus asked. "I didn't know that." Lily shrugged, thankful that no one asked how many. "You're oldest?" she nodded simply, cutting up her waffles with a spell, scrambling it in with her eggs, and smothering the whole pile with syrup. Then she paused. "Well, not really." She amended. "But my older sister married into a family she considers better than ours, so she doesn't talk to us."
James looked at her plate, and then down at his pile of pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, and sausage, covered with syrup, and smiled. "Godric, you made a bigger mess out of your plate than we did!" Sirius exclaimed, looking down at Lily's plate also, studying the yellow and brown soggy mess. Lily grinned as she swallowed a particularly large mouthful. "It's good though…something wrong?" She asked, her fork pausing in mid-air as they continued to watch her. All three shook their heads and turned back to their own breakfasts.
"How come I don't ever see you at meals?"
Lily choked on her half swallowed mouthful, surprised by Remus speaking to her again. She wiped her mouth on a napkin, carefully swallowing before she answered. Remus and the others continued to watch her, awaiting her response. "Because I never eat in the Great Hall anymore, this is the first time since third year."
"Why?" James wanted to know. Lily glanced down at her plate, brushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Because I got tired of listening to Lori's running commentary on how I eat."
"I know how that goes." Sirius grumbled, rolling his eyes. Remus glared at him, before turning back to Lily. "What's wrong with the way you eat?" he asked.
Lily sighed. "Well, to quote Lori, I "eat enough for 3 people" which I don't, but still…"
"That's Lorelei alright." Sirius agreed with a short bark of disgruntled laughter and a brisk nod of his head.
"Why do I get the feeling that you didn't ask your friends if it was okay for me to come along?" Lily asked quietly as she strolled at James's side, with Sirius and Remus walking ahead, ducking into shops occasionally.
"Why?" James asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Do you think they mind?"
"I know they do." Lily answered, staring off into space. "Or I know Sirius does at least. He's been grumpy and glaring at me all morning, when he thinks I'm not looking."
"Oh. Look, I'm sorry about Sirius." James apologized. "He has the tendency to be a bit rude at times."
"Don't worry about it." Waving her hand dismissively, she continued to stare ahead. "I'm sure he just wasn't expecting me along. It's alright."
Just then, up ahead of them, Sirius stopped walking and waited for the two of them to catch up. He locked his gaze on James, determined not to look at Lily as they approached.
"Me and Moony are freezing our tails off. How about we go for a butter beer?"
"That's fine." James replied, and Sirius turned on his heel and walked off.
Later, as Lily sat there with her hands wrapped around herself, she half listened to the boys' conversation and vaguely wondered how she ended up sitting next to Sirius.
Remus nudged her with his foot, jarring her, and smiled. "Bored Lily?"
Lily blinked, lifting her chin out of her hand. "Huh? No."
"You were daydreaming." The sandy haired boy explained. "So I assume we've bored you."
Lily sat up straighter. "Nah." She said. "I was just wondering and thinking about the car that I'm building." Now WHY had she said that???
"You're building a car?" Sirius repeated skeptically. "Ahem." Lily blushed and swept her hair behind her shoulders. "A truck…um…actually."
"Building as in from the ground up?" Remus asked, interested again. "Almost." She answered. "I've reupholstered the seats and repaired some minor scratches, and even gashes on the outside metal. I still have to rewire everything, like the radio and air conditioning and power locks, and I'm not even going to bother with the old engine, I'm building a new one from scratch."
"You can do all that?" Sirius asked, the skepticism back in his voice. "Already started." Lily answered back in a flat voice, deciding that Sirius's attitude wasn't going to get to her.
James's eyebrows lifted. "Cool." He said, and then he stood. "Moony, get another round would you? I've got to visit the loo." Remus nodded, standing also, and the two left Lily alone with Sirius. Great.
Lily idly stared at the tabletop, yapping her dull fingernails on the wooden surface and Sirius was all too happy to oblige in giving her silence, turning and looking at any and every one and thing, except for her.
Lily frowned. Sirius hadn't been so cold towards her the day before and all of a sudden she was scum? Figures. Good enough to save from Malfoy, but not worth talking to or even looking at unless the other alternative was Slytherins, which at present, it wasn't.
For some odd reason, this depressed Lily considerably more, and she leaned back sloppily in her seat.
"Do you think it was a good idea to leave Lily alone with Sirius?" Remus asked as James came to stand next to him at the counter, hands still damp from their washing.
"I don't know." James replied, wiping his damp hands on a napkin, and glancing over his shoulder, though unable to see their table over the crowd. "We'd better hurry back then." Remus suggested, glancing over his shoulder as well, this time with drinks in his hands.
As the two approached the table, they could see Sirius's lips moving, but he was speaking so low that they could not understand what he was saying. Lily looked up at him and then turned her gaze quickly back down to the table.
James frowned. "Behaving yourself Padfoot?" he asked pointedly as Remus plopped the four glasses down on the table. Neither he, nor Lily said a single word, but as Remus and James took their seats, the red head slowly stood and shrugged into her jacket.
"Where are you going?" Remus asked her. Lily shook her head, almost lethargic in all of her movements. "I…I need to…to go back to the castle."
"I can walk you back." James insisted, immediately going for his cloak. "No." Lily said quietly, shaking her head again. "Don't bother. I'm just…I'll just…I have to go."
"Padfoot what did you do to her?!" Remus demanded, watching James rush after Lily out of the corner of his eye. "I didn't do anything." Sirius insisted, lazily taking a slow long pull of his butter beer.
Remus had an uncharacteristic urge to dump the warm liquid over the boy's thick head. "You had to do something to make her leave like that! She looked like she was about to cry."
"Neither my fault, nor my problem."
"Lily wait!" James called, following her out of the Three Broomsticks. Lily didn't stop, didn't turn around, but sped up until James had to run to catch up with her. "Lily, hold on, I wanna talk to you." He added when she's stopped to look at him. "Why'd you leave?"
Her small shoulders rolled when she sighed. "Because I was ready to."
"You haven't been here that long!" James reminded her in protest, "I know, but...well Sirius was making me uneasy. I think it'd be better for me to just go."
"Forget Sirius, Lily." James urged her, nudging her chin until she looked at him. Breath altered, she grabbed the hand gently clutching her chin and moved it, lowering it until she held his wrist between them.
Boy, James was awfully close wasn't he? He was standing so close that she had to look up just to meet his gaze. And why was he looking at her like that? Didn't he know that she had a crush on him and his nearness was doing funny things to her stomach and her heart?
He twisted his arm so that she no longer held his wrist, but he held her hand in his, squeezing her fingers. "Sirius was being really immature," he explained in a low voice. "He was just trying to upset you."
"Well it worked." She replied in a quiet tone, gazing curiously down at their locked hands. Why couldn't he see the suffering he was causing her by being so close, by holding her hand and gently caressing the sensitive skin of her palm with his thumb?
"Don't let him do that." James's voice cut through the haze in her brain. "Hmm?" she breathed. James looked down at her, staring directly into her green eyes, his thumb still tracing lazy circles on her palm. "Sirius." He reiterated. "Don't let him do that to you. He gets a perverse pleasure out of making people…lose their tempers, or crack, or breakdown."
"Really?" She teased lightly, "I night never have guessed." The soothing circles on her hand made her desperately want to close her eyes. James smiled, and though Lily may not have noticed it, his insides were just as jumbled as hers. He wanted to lean down and close the distance between them so badly. What would she do if he kissed her?
"Pardon?" She asked, a bit breathlessly. James's mind raced. Had he said that aloud? "I said," he responded slowly, reaching up to gently run the back of he free hand lightly across her cheek. Her eyes fluttered closed. "I said…what would you do if I kissed you."
Lily's eyes slowly opened again, and she wished more than anything that he wasn't teasing her. She lifted her shoulders in a light feminine shrug. "I don't know." She glanced up to meet his gaze and the rest of her confession nearly died in her throat. "I've never…" she licked her dry lips. "Never…had a boyfriend before, so I've never…never been-" Was it her or was James moving closer?? Her eyes moved down to his lips and then moved back up to his blue eyes.
"-Kissed." She finished almost inaudibly.
"I don't believe you." James stated, his voice dropping again, this time so low that she had to strain to hear him. His arms circled around her waist, drawing a surprised gasp from her throat. "I can't believe that you've never had a boyfriend and I certainly can't believe no one's ever tried to kiss you before." 'Or touch you', he added silently
Lily opened her mouth to argue, but at that moment, his mouth came down on hers, drowning out her words. She gasped then, and felt as if her knees would go out on her. Unsure, and confused, she instinctively mimicked his actions, tilting her head and inching closer until her body pressed so comfortably against his front.
He took his arms from around her waist, only long enough to lift her arms up around his neck, before he put them back and pulled her even closer, grinning inwardly because he knew that he had her right where he wanted her.
She couldn't believe this was happening to her! Her first kiss, and with James Potter, of all people!! People like James didn't even notice people like her, let alone kiss them! It was a dream; it had to be. But Godric, it felt so real!
"Aw, JEEZ, Moony! Prongs has lost his fucking mind!"
The harsh voice, cut into the sweet peace, startling Lily to break the kiss. Looking in horror towards the voice, she saw Sirius Black glaring at her, and Remus Lupin looking at the two with eyebrows raised in mildly amused shock.
At the same time, she noticed her arms around James's neck and just how close the two were standing together. She backed away, nearly tripping over her own feet, her face flushed.
"Merlin! Godric, I…" She stuttered. "I'm so sorry. I have to go." And before either boy could move, she turned and disappeared into the crowd coming up the main street.
"Well." Remus said lightly, glancing after Lily. "Um…wow."
His friend was a little bit more articulate. "Prongs what the HELL were you DOING?" Sirius demanded. James glared at him. "I think it was pretty OBVIOUS what we were doing Sirius! What the hell is your problem?"
"MY problem?" Sirius repeated indignantly. "I wasn't the one kissing that trash in the middle of Hogsmeade! I mean, Merlin James, If you wanted to screw something so bad, you should have been discrete and no one would even have to know, but not in FRONT of everybody!"
James looked at the gray-eyed boy disgustedly. "I'm going to pretend, for your sake, that I didn't hear a word you just said." He snarled. Remus just stared; shocked to a whole new level. And James, fed up, turned to head back to the castle.
Lily walked slowly into the empty room; arms laden with a heavy brown box, and kicked the door shut behind her.
She was so confused that a little work was what she needed to try and clear her mind. What had happened? James had kissed her, then Sirius and Remus had found them, and she'd run away. But now what?
Was James going to pretend as if nothing of importance had happened in the village? Would he ignore her? Avoid her? Would Sirius's dislike for her tempt him to make her life a living hell?
With a deep sigh, she sat the box down on the table and peered inside at the many metal parts; some of which she'd bought, some of which she'd kept instead of throwing out when she'd worked on other people's cars, and other pieces she's made herself.
Every single piece had been shined and polished until it was the brightest silver color, and then wrapped in foam cloth to avoid scratching.
She worked silently, as best she could without tools, and allowed herself to get lost in her work until the door creaked solely open, announcing the arrival of unwanted intruders.
'Please don't be a couple looking for a snog.' She pleaded silently. 'Because I really don't need that right now.' But as soon as the door fully opened, she decided she'd have rather dealt with the snogging couple, for there was James, shoving a bit of parchment into his pocket.
Lily sighed resignedly. One thing she hadn't expected was James coming to look for her. She turned back to her would-be engine and began to rewrap the parts. "How'd you find me?" she kept her voice curious and light.
"I have my ways." He replied loftily, leaning against the door with his arms crossed over his wide chest.
"Well then why did you come after me?" her voice lowered on it's own as she carefully replaced her work in it's box. Never in a million centuries did she expect him to come and apologize of all things, but that's exactly what he said next: "I came to apologize."
"What for?" she demanded, in a stupor. He blinked at her. "Well, when my friends showed up and you ran…I kind of figured-"
"You have nothing to apologize for." Lily cut him off, and lifted her box from the table with a barely audible groan.
"But." James said slowly. "You didn't…didn't you…"
"You have nothing to apologize for." She said again, walking over to stand directly in front of James. "Well?" She said, when he didn't move. "Can I get by?"
"Oh! Sorry!" The raven-haired boy quickly stepped to the side and held the door open for her. She mumbled her thanks as she passed, careful not to brush against him as she stepped out into the corridor.
But James immediately went over and grabbed the box from her. "Merlin, this thing ways a ton!" he grunted. "What's in here?"
"Careful!" She exclaimed. "That's my engine!"
"Really?" His eyes glowed with what could only be the male excitement present when anything to do with cars, engines, or heavy machinery were mentioned. "Can I see it later on?"
"Um, sure." Lily answered uncertainly. "When no one's around. I mean, because I kind of don't want anyone to know what I'm doing."
He nodded. "Okay." He said simply. Lily nodded too, and followed him up the staircase. "So how long have you been working on this thing?"
"Um," Lily thought for a moment. "Technically, I've only started working on it a week ago. But I've been gathering and making the parts for the past 7 months."
James whistled. "Wow. Wait. Did you say 'making' parts?"
Lily nodded. "Mm-hmm. The garage I work at? My boss let's me use the saws and torches and stuff to cut some pieces that I designed myself."
He shook his head in amazement. "Quite multitalented aren't you?" Lily shrugged modestly. "Only when it comes to cars." But James shook his head again, this time in disagreement. "No," he said. "I mean, you get top grades, you build cars, you can sing-"
"Who says I can sing?" She interrupted, her face blazing red. "I've heard you." James stated matter-of-factly. "When you're studying in the common room, sometimes you sing."
"Oh!" she was mortified. "I didn't think anybody could hear me!"
James grinned at her. "I have very good hearing." Lily smiled out of nothing but pure embarrassment. "Oh." She murmured again. James nudged her shoulder with his gently as they ascended the stairs. "Oh it's not that bad." He teased. "You have a pretty voice."
"And I'm sure you tell that to everybody just to be polite."
James looked affronted. "What are you talking about? I don't have any manners! My mother tells me this every chance she gets. So you see, I'm telling the truth. I may be rude, but I'm honestly rude."
Lily giggled at his silly antics and he cracked a smile. "Ah, so she CAN laugh!" he proclaimed dramatically. "Of course I can laugh." She replied, still giggling. "I'm not a rock you know."
"I never said you were…after that kiss how could you be?"
Lily flushed bright red again. Why wouldn't he stop bringing that up? And where were they? She stopped walking and took a look around her.
"What's the matter?"
"I don't recognize this hallway."
James stopped too, and took a long look around him, until his gaze landed on a pitch-black tapestry with white dots forming constellations. "I know exactly where we are, but it will take a little while to get back to the common room. I'm sorry I wasn't paying any attention to where we were going."
The redhead however, wasn't paying very much attention to the situation. She was too busy thinking about the kiss that they'd shared that she hadn't noticed James had stopped and turned to look at her, and she walked right into him.
"Oh!" She turned an even darker shade of red and flung her arms out to steady herself. "I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I- mph!"
James swooped down swiftly, cutting off the rest of her apology by crushing his lips over hers. She didn't know when he'd put down her box, but she suddenly found herself crushed to his chest, and pulled into the whirlwind, even stronger now than before.
She raised her arms, on her own this time, to his neck, and he nudged her chin, tilting her head so they could fit together even better.
Fireworks were going off behind her eyes. James, he- this was the second time he'd kissed her-the SECOND time! And she was kissing him back! Merlin, they were snogging!!!
James had no idea what possessed him to kiss her the first time, let alone the second time, but he wasn't at all sorry; far from it actually. He was enjoying the feel of her, all over…she was so soft, so feminine…and with much regret, he stopped the kiss, resting his forehead against hers and gazing into her brilliant eyes.
"Be my girlfriend." He whispered softly, lips grazing hers with every syllable. Lily panted slightly, and said nothing. "I know what you're thinking." James whispered, easing his hand up into her hair and watching as her eyelids fluttered closed. "And I know you don't know me all that well. But give me a chance. We can get to know each other along the way…say yes? Please?"
Lily didn't know what to do. She'd never in her life been presented with such a situation as this before. She would've loved to be James Potter's girlfriend, but…there would be so much to go along with it that she wasn't sure if she could deal with. And then of course there was the matter of her family. But when she looked back up into his eyes, something…something shining in the deep brown orbs told her that it would be worth it. And so she nodded her head, just once, in agreement.
