CH: 4- No Words Spoken
James ran into their dorm, throwing the door wide open. "Lily," he said breathlessly, expecting to see her sitting on the sofa, still wondering what she had done wrong. She wasn't there; the room was completely empty except for a note lying on the table, which James presumed was the one he had written last night. He walked over to pick it up and realized that it was in Lily's very neat handwriting.
James,
I don't know what I said to make you run away from me like that. My confession of love didn't happen the way I imagined it, but maybe this way is better. I have a surprise planned for us this evening after dinner. Meet me in here.
All my love,
Lily
James grinned as he put the note down. She had a surprise for him? This wasn't the Lily he knew, but neither was the girl who had declared her love to him this morning. Lily was in love with him, of that James was absolutely certain. This thought would be enough to last him through the rest of the day until he could speak to her again without prying onlookers. It was a wonderful feeling, being in love and being loved in return by Lily Evans.
He walked into the Transfiguration room grinning broadly from ear to ear. Since he was the first one there he took out his wand and gave it a test wave. His bag became a tortoise with an overlarge shell. It walked a few inches across his desk and then James flicked his wand again and it became his book bag once more. Just then Sirius, Remus and Peter walked into the room and sat in their usual seats around James.
"So did you speak to Lily?" Remus asked as he pulled out his wand.
"Nope," said James as he continued to smile. "She left me a note."
"What did it say, Prongs?" Peter asked excitedly. James turned to stare at Peter as if he had gone mad.
"That is for me to know and you to fantasize about," he said smiling happily. Peter's face fell quickly. He was hoping that James would fill him in.
"You are holding out, Prongs my friend," Sirius said as he pulled out his book and wand.
"Yep," James said gleefully. Sirius looked startled. Not once in his and James's friendship had there been secrets, they were always honest with each other, sometimes brutally so. He hoped that this wouldn't become a habit or he might as well induct Evans into the Marauders so James wouldn't hide things, especially things this trivial.
Before he could try to convince James to spill his secrets, the door opened and students began to pile in. When Lily and Alice walked in, Lily and James caught each other's eye and she flushed a deep red and looked away. James stared at her until she and Alice has sat down. Professor McGonagall walked to the front of the classroom and tapped the desk with her wand for attention. The entire room went silent.
"You are all in your seventh and final year at this school. Most of you have become responsible adults and mature individuals… most of you," she glared at the Marauders. Several girls giggled.
"As you all know, it is in your seventh year that you take your N.E.W.T.'s, which enable you to find your profession in the Wizarding world. This is Advanced Transfiguration and anyone who should not be here; you may leave at this time." The room was silent, either everyone was in the right class or they were too scared of Professor McGonagall to make any sudden movements.
"Today's lesson will be on human transfiguration. Let's use our new Head Boy and Girl as examples. Potter and Evans please come up to the front of the room," she pointed to a space beside her.
"Go ahead, Prongs," Sirius urged after James sat stunned in his seat. Sirius poked him in the shoulder and James practically ran down to Professor McGonagall's side.
"What animal would you like to see Potter as?" she asked. Lily blushed and the whole room erupted into loud and raucous laughter. They all knew of Lily and James's relationship to date and they were eager to see what she would pick. James looked into her eyes, pleading with her not to say anything embarrassing. Lily thought for a moment then smiled.
"A dog, a big white one with floppy ears," she said with a grin. Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes as again the room rang with laughter. With a sudden flash of blue light James was transformed into a large white dog with floppy ears.
"Looks like you have competition Padfoot," Remus teased Sirius. A noise interrupted their conversation and they turned their attention to the front of the class. They both watched in utter shock as the dog bounded upon Lily and smothered her in large sloppy kisses, knocking her to the floor.
"Okay Potter, that's enough," McGonagall said and obediently the dog backed away, looking slightly put out. With another flash of blue light the dog was returned to human form. He grinned sheepishly at the room as Lily pulled him to his feet. They grinned sheepishly at each other and the class broke out in applause. James bowed to his class and Lily rolled her eyes, pulling him back to their seats.
"If you are a good boy you'll get a treat later," she teased him as they walked back to their seats.
"Is that a promise?" he asked quietly. Lily winked and sat down in her seat.
"Well if Potter and Evans are finished flirting we can return to our lesson, pair up," McGonagall said with a hint of a smile around her usually thin lips.
Later James couldn't recall much of his first day back; he had spent it mostly in a haze of happiness. Every time he came across Lily in the hall she would wink at him, and once she actually ran up to him and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. He had spent the next full class period (Charms) touching his cheek with his fingertips, making sure that he was really not imaging things.
He didn't know how he made it through dinner with Lily smiling at him in that knowing way, while he was not quite sure what was going to happen. After what seemed like months of waiting Lily motioned for him to him to follow her out of the Great Hall. Once they were alone in their dorm he cornered her, by backing her up against the door and smiling down at her. She was biting her lip in that extremely appealing way she had. It made James want to kiss her.
"So what is this surprise?" he asked with the same blissfully happy grin he had worn all day.
"We have to finish patrol first, and then we can come back to our dorm. The house elves will do exactly what I asked them to do," Lily whispered and kissed his cheek. James was tempted to go patrol now, but as Lily pointed out, there was no reason to patrol before everyone went to bed.
He spent a happy hour working side by side on his Transfiguration homework with Lily. Every so often she would make a remark so utterly outrageous that he retaliated by pulling lightly on a curly lock of her hair.
"You know," she said, stretching languidly, "I liked you better as a dog."
It took James several moments to process what she had said. After all, she couldn't expect him not to look at her when she stretched like that. Finally her remark penetrated his brain. "What?"
"You heard me, I like the floppy ears." She was grinning broadly at him, her lip caught between her teeth again.
"You'll pay for that one," James said and scooped her up quickly in his arms. She shrieked and tried to get away, but his hold on her was too tight. He brought her closer and whispered in her ear, "Stop struggling."
Their eyes met and Lily felt herself melt instantly into his arms. It was always like that between them, she had never felt so completely comfortable and yet recklessly passionate about being kissed by anyone else. She met his lips halfway, winding her arms around his neck tightly. She wanted to feel him against her, and know that he was completely hers.
He let her go slowly, so that her body ran down the length of his and she made a small moan at the back of her throat. "Oh James," she whimpered. He kissed a path down her neck to her collarbone as she shuddered against him, clinging tighter to his neck than before.
"I think it's about time to go and patrol," he muttered against her ear, pressing a soft kiss to the delicate shell. When he let her go she nearly fell over, and would have if he hadn't put out his arm to balance her. "If I knew any better Evans, I would have said that you liked kissing me." It was a good thing that he disappeared to get his school robe just then or she would have given him a glare war enough to curdle milk.
They left the dorm hand in hand, completely comfortable with their lot in life for the time being. If only time could stand still, James thought as he looked down at their entwined fingers. He could stay here in this hallway holding Lily's hand until the day he died and be completely content. They walked past the library telling off a couple of third years for snogging and James delighted in their worried glances as they ran off up the corridor. He was certainly getting to like being an authority figure.
They spent another half-hour walking through empty corridors before James and Lily set off for their dorm, still casually hand in hand. James didn't stop to think how odd it was, this sudden change in her, he was just thanking God that it had happened.
"I have to warn you this will be a shock," Lily warned as she tapped the stones lightly.
"I like surprises," he whispered but nothing prepared him for what he saw.
The room was dimly lit with candles and James thought he could hear faint Muggle music playing in the corner, soft and romantic. The small coffee table had been enlarged and there was butterbeer at each place setting. Beside James's plate was a small envelope with his name on it. Lily motioned that he should sit down to open the envelope and she walked to her dorm and shut the door. Obviously she was dreading his reaction, or was possibly unsure of it. Inside the envelope was a letter, written from Lily to him and as James read it, he felt as though the world could never be the same again.
James,
This is so strange for me, because all these years I have told myself I hated you. But that isn't true, I have never hated you but in fact I have loved you. I have loved you from the moment you first walked into my train compartment with that nervous yet arrogant look on your face. I could never have loved anyone else. Yet, I was so worried that you would discard me like all of your other girls and I would get my heart broken. I decided to be better than that and to not let myself fall for you. Too late, I already have and there is no going back now. I love you James, completely and forever. I don't know how it happened, but it did and you know what? I'm glad.
This should be the happiest moment in my life right? I am happy, but I am also really scared. What if you reject me? I couldn't believe what was written in your letter so I went to Remus. You have a wonderful friend in him James. I hope you appreciate him. I certainly do, I owe all of this to him. If I hadn't gone to the library this morning to speak with him, it might have been years before I told you my feelings, but now it's out in the open.
This is my heart James, take it or leave it, for it is yours and will be forever, as long as you need it and far beyond.
Lily
James looked up from the letter absolutely speechless. He had thought he merely loved her but he was wrong, Lily was everything to him. She was his other half, his world, his eternal soul mate. She was the one, but he didn't know how to say it, how to put it into words. He didn't even realize that he had gotten up from the table until he was knocking on her door. She opened it, her face creased with worry and wringing her hands tightly. He looked into her eyes and saw that she was… crying. She loved him so much that she was worried that he wouldn't take her back after her behavior and she was crying for them.
"I'll take it," he whispered. With a strangled cry she launched herself into his arms and sobbed softly. They were finally together, no more lies and no more hiding from it. They loved each other. No more than that was needed for they both understood without words and it was beautiful.