Are you ready for chapter 3? I hope so... cause it is going to start, right about... NOW!!!


Chapter Three: First Night Back

September 1, later that night

"Well I'm officially humiliated," Lily says with her face red. Her elbows are leaning on the dark wood Gryffindor table, supporting her head that is looking down at her beef and cabbage soup drearily.

Across the table from Lily in the crowded Great Hall are Sirius, James, and Remus who are still in shock, staring at Lily and her flaming red hair while they pig out on the Hogwart's feast.

Sirius pokes her with his licked clean spoon. "Hey Evans, why should you be embarrassed? That was the best dream I've ever heard! James' dreams get more in depth, but I though yours was more interesting because you twisted it around so much!" He smiles at her, trying not to laugh.

"You also made all three of the marauders not talk for a whole three hours, Lils! That is definitely a world record!" Mary says, covering her giggles with a red linen napkin.

"You're in love with James," Julia sings.

"Why am I friends with you again, Julia? Cause I can't seem to remember!"

"Oh come on, Lily! It's so obvious you think James is the hottest thing… EVER!" Sirius backs up Julia.

"Well duh! Everyone in their right mind thinks he's gorgeous, but looks aren't everything!" Lily states.

"You think I'm good looking?" James leans across the table and smiles, flattered and surprised.

"She nearly fainted when she saw you walking up to her on the train," Mary says jokingly while she pushes James' head away from the three girls.

"Shut up, Mary!" Lily snarls.

"Since you think I'm a god, do you want to go to Hogsmeade this weekend?" he says as his head struggles against Mary's hand. "I'll bite you," James tells Mary seriously, but Remus takes her hand away from his head quickly, setting it in the middle of the dining table.

"I thought you were over this faze, James," Lily moans. "And can you please stop playing footsie with me?" She glares at James.

"Oh, sorry… that was me… thought it was Julia…" Sirius shrugs as Julia glowers at him.

"Still haven't answered me, Lily…"

"James!" Lily moans, setting her soup spoon down in disgust."

"I bet that was exactly how you said it in the dream… yelling his name in anger my ass," Sirius snorts. "More like whimpering for more."

Remus starts choking on his asparagus from laughing so hard. James pats him on the back, choking slightly himself with his face flushed.

"So will you?"

"Will I what?"

"Go with me to Hogsmeade on the trip this weekend."

"No James. I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because why???" he whines.

"Because… I hardly know you, you've been a total idiot around me for years, its way too easy, this is the most unromantic place to ask me, and you are technically dating another girl!!!" Lily says.

"But we could get to know each other more, Lils! I'm really trying to not be an idiot around you, it just happens. I have no idea what you mean by too easy, cause I've been trying to get close to you since about second year! And I broke up with Amber Trishton," he says the name like it is an infectious disease. "I don't see what is so wrong with me! I mean, really, Lily! What am I supposed to do to get you to talk to me any time I want?" James snaps back at her, glaring at Lily's sorry green eyes. Around them, their friends have a lively conversation about the different types of corn, glancing at them every few moments. "Would it really kill you to just hang out with me all alone? I'm only asking for one date… and you can decide everything from there…"

"But it's only been a day, James! And half of it you weren't even talking! This takes time! You've never made the effort to learn about my life before this afternoon! All you do is talk about you and your achievements! Or, you say your opinion on my looks! Oneday...!" Lily spits. "Is never going to change the way I feel about you! After all of your confusing actions you threw at me last year, you're lucky I let you say 'hi' to me on the train!"

Lily looks around, realizing that everyone, besides her and James' friends who are observing the food in front of them, are silently gaping at her.

"May I please go to my dorm, Professor Dumbledore? I think I'm getting a migraine!" Lily stares at the headmaster, holding her hand to her head because she sees stars.

"Are you sure, Ms Evans?" She nods. "Oh, alright. Just don't wander around the corridors, please. I hope you feel better."

"We'll go with her!" Mary and Julia walk out with Lily in front of them.

"I was so close to being friendly acquaintances with Lily! So close!!!" James says once the students of Hogwarts begin to talk again.

"You would have been friendly boyfriend and girlfriend by next month if you wouldn't have asked her out so soon," Sirius states

James groans.

"Why couldn't you have just followed my rules, James?" Remus asks.

James stares at his chocolate pudding, thinking about how Lily wants him to get to know her. How is he going to do that, if she hates him now?

. . . .

James opens his eyes and looks at the clock in his dorm room. It is three in the morning, and James has woken from someone talking. He hears the voice again.

"James… James! –haha- James," Lily mumbles sweetly with her eyes closed and her body limp on top of his red velvet comforter.

James turns around on his bed and sure enough, Lily's thick hair is shown bright in the moonlight. He smiles to himself as he looks at the angel, very confused as he gets up off his bed.

"Sirius… Sirius!" James whispers while poking the black and shaggy haired teenager in the chest. "Please wake up! I don't know what to do!" Sirius opens his eyes half way.

"Mmwhat, Jaaamseeyy?" Sirius says groggily, still half asleep.

"Lily's in my bed,-"

"This isn't a good way to show respect James... no raping tonight. 'kay?"

"-Jesus Sirius! I didn't carrier her in hear or anything! I have no idea how she got in my four-poster!"

"Well I don't know what to tell you then! Go back to sleep, I guess," he slurs. "You didn't do anything wrong, so she can't be mad at-" Sirius starts snoring, falling back into deep and golden slumber.

"Alright…" James shrugs. "I guess I'll just go and sleep with Lily now… all pun intended…" he adds to no one in particular.

James doesn't even bother putting on a shirt or sweatpants as he gets under the covers to the right of Lily, drawing the curtains as he gets situated. He stares at her for a long minute before deciding that it is freezing without the covers and that Lily must feel cold in such scandalice pajamas.

Slowly, he pulls the comforter from beneath her and shimmies her body so that it is completely covered by all of the blankets. James sighs contentedly as Lily rolls over with her front facing him, smiling while she dreams.

. . . .

September 2

"Mmmm…" Lily stirs, opening her with a crack and breathing deepily. "Oh fuck!" she says when she realizes her arms are wrapped around a muscular shirtless guy who is holding her tightly too. "Oh shit, how did this happen!!!"

Lily tries to untangle her arms from James', but a lot of his weight is on her. "Oh my gawd! James! Wake up!!! Get off of me! JAMES!!!"

He opens his eyes slowly and looks down at her, smiling as he notices how glued together they ended up while they were sleeping.

"Good morning, my sleeping partner," James says lightly as she fidgets next to him. Her attempts at getting away from James fail miserably, just adding friction as her smooth legs rub back and forth against James' heavy and strong ones, and ends up with Lily taking a break, relaxing her tired head on the crook of his neck.

"This isn't funny, James! Move your body off of me! Why are you inmyroom?" Lily whines, her voice muffled.

Instead of moving, James concentrates on his breathing skills as his whole body aches with desire.

"You're room? Actually, no! It is my room, Lily. I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I'm almost positive that you sleep walked in here. You dreamt of me," James says after a minute or two.

"What are you talking about? This isn't your room!!!" With all of Lily's muscle power that she built up, she pushes him off of her and throws the curtains open. "EEEEEK!" She screams as she sees all of the posters with teen girls in bikinis, and comes face to face with a mid-dressed Sirius. He shoves on some pants as he waves to Lily nonchalantly. "How did I get in here, James???"

"I already told you! You sleep walked into the dorm and fell asleep on my bed!"

"But that doesn't make sense! I've only been here once before, not counting today!"

"You've been here before?" James asks. Lily's face turns a light shade of red, and Sirius finds his feet very interesting. "Ummm… What happened between you two?"

"It was a long time ago! In third year!!!" Sirius says, waving his arms around while he explains.

"What happened?" James repeats.

"It was no big deal, James. It was the first time I had firewhiskey, and we were both drunk. All we did was kiss" Lily says "…I don't see why you look pissed, James!"

"I'm not pissed! I just don't see why Sirius didn't tell me, that's all."

"Why would he tell you? It's not as if I'm yours or anything!"

"When you are thirteen, you usually tell your friends if you make out with the most popular girl at school… in a bedroom… all alone!"

"It never came up… I guess…" Sirius mumbles.

"Errr… James, I'm gonna go…" Lily walks towards the door awkwardly.

"Wait!"

"What, James?" Lily turns around, getting annoyed.

"Borrow my sweatshirt… I don't want all of the guys to drool over you and your underwear… it's not good for them," he mutters, feeling that it probably isn't doing him any good either.

"Oh, yeah… forgot about what I was wearing…" Lily's face turns bright red as James throws her a sweatshirt from the chair beside his bed carelessly. "Thanks," she says, not even glancing at it as she forces is over her head and walks to the exit of James', Remus', and Sirius's small dorm.

It goes down to the middle of her thighs and she has to roll up the sleeves so that she can open the door.

She waves to the boys, breathing in as she walks out the door. The sweatshirt smells exactly like James' intoxicating scent, the tinge of fire-whiskey and a musky aroma that Lily can't describe. As she walks down the boy's stairs and into the half-filled common room, Lily focuses on her inhales and dreads her exhales, not completely sure why she is enjoying every breath in.

A group of 7th year guys gawk at her as she heads up to her own dormitory, swinging her hips and swaying her hair for amusement. Sliding slightly as she stops at her door, she realizes that she is only wearing one sock. Lily sighs, thrusting the door open and walking through it. "Hello, Mary. Hi, Julia. Have you seen my pink and fuzzy sock?" she asks as if she has been in the room all morning.

. . . .

"You know, James, I didn't really believe that you were truly obsessed with Lily when I was in 3rd year. Now I understand how feel about Lily…" Sirius says quietly as he watches James throw on his clothes backwards and make his bed in frustration.

"Yeah… whatever, Padfoot. I've decided to forget about it for the time being," James sighs. "I just don't understand why she picked you… over me then…"

Sirius chuckles at James' disgruntled face. "Me neither –haha-. I didn't know you were jealous of me, Prongs! Wow that is sad."

"And why is it 'sad'?" James asks, aggravated.

"Obvious reasons…" Sirius drifts off as he spots something pink on the ground by James' now made bed. "Hey, isn't that Lily's?" he points out.

James coughs. "Well yeah. I guess that's her sock."

"Uh-huh…" Sirius stares at James' laid-back facial appearance that is staring unblinkingly at the small sock in front of him.

"Hmmm… I bet her foot is cold right now."

"Yeah, that's too bad." Sirius nods as he tries not to smile.

"It seems like it would be a really expensive sock, too. It's all fuzzy and pink and all… maybe even someone knitted it for her?" James muses casually, scratching his 5 o'clock shadowed chin.

"Mmm.. probably…"

"You know-"

"James, just go," Sirius says as he looks at his friend quizzically and gestures for him to leave.

"Mate, you're probably right. I think I'd better." James nods his head obediently and leans forward to grab the sock, heading out the door before Sirius wishes him good luck.

James walks up the girls' hardwood staircase to Lily's room quickly and as he is about to knock, he hears the girls say his name. James decides that it is rude to interrupt the conversation, and instead puts his ear to the door.

"Is that James' sweatshirt?" someone says… probably Mary.

"Yeah…" a nervous sounding girl says, who James knows to be Lily.

"Where are your pants???" another girl asks… it had to be Julia.

"Well… in my wardrobe, I suppose…"

"Why aren't they on you though?" Julia asks.

"It was hot last night so I took them off!"

"Where were you last night?" Mary asks the most important question, concerned.

"In… James'… room?"

"Why?" they both ask. James can almost feel all of Julia and Mary's questions generating off the black and wooden door.

"I don't know. I was sleeping in my bed last night, and I ended up arm in arm with James in his dorm this morning," Lily sounds confused.

"You must've liked that."

James smiles.

"No!" James' face falls to a frown.

"Sure, Lily," Mary says sarcastically.

"Okay, maybe I enjoyed it a little." James' head slides a foot across the door because he lost his footing.

Mary and Julia can be heard giggling.

"Actually… I thought it was quite nice to be woken in the morning to that… model worthy man."

James starts choking on spit and decides he better knock before he gets caught. He hears a loud crash from the other room as he hits his knuckle against the wood surface of the door. It might have been Lily because James can hear her say "Oh shit!" from the room.

"Who is it?" comes a shaky voiced Lily.

"It's James…"

"You can come in," she says in a higher octave than usual.

He opens the door and walks towards the red faced Lily who is all alone. James can hear Julia and Mary from the shut bathroom door with muffled laughter.

Lily, Mary, and Julia's dormitory has a lot of wood, stone, and bright, vibrant color. The wood and stone comes with the room, but the three friends decorate it every year with multi-colored rugs, bedspreads, posters, books, pillows, and clothes. There are three four-poster beds leaning against the right side of the room from the hallway door that are a deep mahogany, matching all other wood in the room.

On the other side, there is a small purple couch (it used to be an ugly red, but Julia changed the color with her wand) and a huge window with a seat looking out to the Black Lake. Taking place on the opposite wall of the hallway is the bathroom door that the three girls share.

Lily smiles questioningly at him and bites her lip as James just stands there. He makes an effort to not watch as the bottom lip plops back out of her mouth, now wet and glossy. He tries to find his voice, but thankfully Lily says something. "Sooo… ummm hi James? Did-did you need to tell me something?"

James does his lopsided grin, showing all of his white and straight teeth apologetically. "You forgot your sock! And I didn't want you to be cold… So I brought it up for you." He brushes his hand through his jet-black and messier than usual hair awkwardly and decides he better come closer to Lily so that she can actually take the sock.

"Oh, thanks! I was wondering wear that was!" Lily smiles, and James beams back at her, placing the tiny sock into her hand.

"I wasn't sure if it was yours or if it was my baby sisters though," he jokes.

"Oh shut up!" I don't have that small of feet, James!" Lily stomps her right and barefoot foot and shakes her head.

"Baby fairy feet."

"I don't have baby feet!" Lily pouts.

"I know you don't. You have baby fairy feet," James corrects.

Lily pouts and looks at James with her emerald eyes big and innocent.

"Alright! I believe you! You have the biggest feet in the world, then!" James gives in, closing his eyes because Lily's stare is intoxicating.

"James!" Lily laughs. "I'd way rather have baby feet!"

"Ok, Lily," James ends the conversation about feet.

"Here's your sweatshirt, James." Lily starts pulling it off.

"No, you keep it. I know you like that band, too. I've got millions of sweatshirts anyway, so I won't be cold," he tells Lily as she looks down at the sweatshirt, focusing in on it for the first time.

"Oh my god! You have a Beatles sweatshirt?!?" she says with wide and eager eyes. "Oh James, I can't keep this! That would be just-"

"My grandma got me the same one for my birthday because she knows I like them, but I had already bought and worn this one… I don't want to have to break her heart and have to return it, Lily!"

"You're seriously going to let me keep this???"

"If you want. I mean, I could owl my mum and tell her to send me the one I haven't worn, for you…" James smiles at Lily, who is bouncing up and down with excitement.

"You are so sweet James! This one is fine with me!!! –ha!- Thanks! I've always wanted one of these!"

"And I know that you like them-"

"How can you even say that with a straight face??? I am in love with every single one of them!!! I know everyone says that they are their biggest fan, but they are lying."

"Oh? Then who is their biggest fan?"

"I. Am. Their. Biggest. Fan. And that is just a fact," she says seriously.

"Well then I believe you, Lils! And now you have a sweatshirt to prove it, I guess!"

"THANK YOU!!!" Lily squeals, remembering that she has new stuff for her Beatles collection, kisses him on the cheek, and hugs him friendly.

James thinks that it is only polite for him to hug her back, although when he does it is quite different, maybe because his hands and arms and mouth seem to be forcing her to wall and he is melding in with her skin and his breathing is coming in quick breaths.

Lily gives James two wet and lingering kisses before kneeing him in the gut, quickly moving to the couch as he falls to the ground in pain. As fast as Lily can, she neatens herself up as the bathroom door swings open.

Mary happily walks into the room with brushed teeth and hair. "Why did I hear Lily squealing so excitedly a second ago?" she asks as James, with all of his effort, gets off the floor and smiles politely to both of them.

Lily chooses to ignore what James had done earlier. "I get to keep this sweatshirt!!!" She holds it up for Mary and Julia, who is walking into the room. "James didn't even ask for money, too!!!"

"Its fine, Lily." James says as he still smiles. "You don't owe me anything."

"Oh, I know I don't owe you anything, James." Lily smiles just as big. "It's too bad that you did that, cause I was gonna pay you back with something that I think you would enjoy more than money."

James stares at her regretfully as Lily smirks at him. Julia and Mary look between the two in confusion.


Just to tell you:

The marauders already know how to spell the girls' stairs so they can go into their dorms.

And since Lily is really popular, she introduced The Beatles to everyone at school. You know how really cool people search for original artists? Well that is what James did. He didn't just follow the band wagon! So that is why people (mostly in future chapters) know who the Beatles are. And plus, the Beatles were probably secretly wizards, anyway :)

REVIEW PLEASE!!! :)

-Maia