You Leave Me Breathless

By Lily Orange

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

A story of romance, friendship and humour

"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - Charles Caleb Colton

A/N: Sorry I didn't update earlier, it's been non-stop since I got home from school! And I am officially on holiday now - and although I have to revise and do some work, and Christmassy stuff, I can do some more writing and hopefully start some more fanfics to be posted in the future! Anyway, thanks for all your support so far, I really appreciate it! Thank you to MaloryCullen14, ., LaughingAngelsGibberish, Sam-EvansBlue, sarlovesoccer, .limits111, LittleRed22, Stephie Cat-Kat and MoDuine for reviewing and thank you to BeWithoutYou9, LaughingAngelsGibberish, LittleRed22, My Kind Of Paradise, OnlyMusicOnMyMind and Thy Crimson Butterfly for adding my story to your alert subscriptions! On with the chapter...

Chapter Six

First Date

When Isabel entered the room she shared with Lily that evening, it looked as if somebody had blasted apart both Lily and Isabel's wardrobes using 'Bombarda Maxima;' clothes, shoes and accessories were everywhere, and Lily was in the middle of it, looking incredibly nervous and worried.

"Er, Lils?" Isabel asked cautiously, dropping her schoolbag down by the door, forgetting all about the numerous essays she had to write.

Lily looked up, and grinned weakly at her.

"Lils, what's the matter?" Isabel questioned, concerned for her friend who looked simultaneously as if she was going to throw up due to nerves or jump up and down madly due to an excessive amount of joy.

"James asked me on a date this evening," Lily murmured, throwing three pairs of shoes off the bed she was sitting on (Isabel's, though you wouldn't have recognised it as Isabel's as it was completely covered in clothes) and looking around the room in despair.

"Ooh, where to?" Isabel asked – anybody else would assume that they would just be in the common room or outside but Isabel knew better. When you were friends with the Marauders, you sort of worked out that they could get anywhere or do anything that people thought impossible. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter had frequently taken Isabel (and sometimes Lily) out to Hogsmeade at night – they knew several secret passageways around school and out of school, which they had culminated and drawn onto a magical map they had created entitled the Marauder's Map. So theoretically, James could be taking Lily to Hogsmeade.

"I don't know, he said it was a surprise, but we're skipping dinner," Lily told me as she picked up a navy blue dress which Isabel recognised as her own.

"So, I'm gathering that you are struggling to work out what to wear?" Isabel asked understandingly.

"Merlin yes! I thought I hated James before but now I'm going out with him he is making me breathless! I really want to impress him with what I wear but I'm having a bit of a clothing dilemma and can't work out what to wear!" Lily babbled hysterically, "and I have about half an hour before I'm due to meet him!"

"Okay, Lils, first of all, calm down and breathe," Isabel said, moving some of the clothes off the bed. Lily breathed deeply. "Do you want me to pick you something to wear?"

"Yes please," Lily whispered.

Isabel started sifting through the clothes systematically whilst Lily sat chewing her fingernails, a habit Isabel was tired of reminding her to cease doing.

Five minutes later, Isabel had put together the perfect outfit for Lily's first date with James. She held it up for Lily to approve or disapprove of – it was a white skirt that came to about two inches above Lily's knees that was of a kind of textured material that felt really nice, coupled with a grey and silver sparkly sleeveless top with a jewelled neckline and greyish lilac suede ballet pumps.

"Oh Izzy, that's perfect!" Lily gushed, and immediately went into the bathroom to put it on. When she emerged, she looked lovely, not too polished but really pretty. Isabel tied Lily's slightly wavy dark red hair into a messy bun with a few tendrils left down, framing her face, and did a little French plait across her forehead.

"Are you going to put on any makeup?" Isabel asked, observing the time – the clock indicated that in five minutes, Lily should really go and meet James.

"Just a little bit," Lily concluded, putting the slightest amount of mascara on her already long eyelashes and applying a little bit of clear lip gloss. She turned to look at Isabel expectantly. "Do I look okay?"

"Lily, you could never look just okay, you look amazing – go get him!" Isabel laughed and hugged her best friend tightly.

Lily smiled anxiously, and quickly left the room before she changed her mind about her outfit.

As Isabel put the clothes away (Lily and her regularly shared their clothes as they were of a similar size, except Lily was much curvier and a considerable amount shorter than Isabel) she grinned to herself. Lily would have such a good time with James, they were made for each other, she was doubtless.

Lily walked down the stairs nervously, leaving Isabel in their room. She was, quite frankly, sick with nerves. In a good way, of course. She never thought that James could make her feel that way in a million years, let alone five.

James had said that he would meet her in the common room – Lily looked around the door to the girls' dormitories and saw he was sitting in an armchair by the fire, laughing with Sirius and Remus – Peter was engaged in a particularly enthralling game of Exploding Snap with a fourth year (putting off doing his Care of Magical Creatures homework for Professor Kettleburn, partly because he hadn't the foggiest what it was on about). He looked so adorable, he was wearing dark grey jeans with a blue shirt and navy blue canvas baseball boots. James' jet black hair was as messy as ever and behind his glasses, his hazel eyes glinted merrily, reflecting the flickering fire.

Lily stepped out of the door, and, because James was sat with his back to her, he didn't notice her right away. Remus, however, did and poked James violently on the shoulder to alert his attentions to his very pretty girlfriend who had just entered the room.

"Ow, Moony, what the bloody Merlin was that for?" James asked indignantly, clutching his arm in pain – making Lily giggle at his melodramatics.

Remus gestured towards Lily and James spun round, and his mouth dropped when he saw her. Sirius stifled a maniacal grin and Remus suppressed laughter. James jumped up and walked towards her.

"Wow, Lily, you look absolutely amazing..." he complimented her, smiling sexily.

"Thanks James, you don't look so bad yourself," she replied happily – grateful that she actually managed to speak to him without sounding like a complete and utter lunatic. Her nerves had calmed down too, now she had actually met with him. Now she had the rest of the date to enjoy!

"Shall we go then, Lily?" James stuttered, not quite able to believe that he was going on a date with Lily Evans, the girl he had practically stalked for the past five years and dreamt about endlessly.

"Yes," she said simply, and he took her hand in his, leading her out of the common room where his friends couldn't laugh at him.

"So where are we going?" Lily asked inquisitively. James laughed heartily.

"Just wait and see, Lil, just wait and see," he smiled soothingly, shortening Lily's name. She found that she actually didn't mind this – and quite liked it. It was pretty much like how Sirius had started to shorten Isabel's name and, instead of correcting him irritably, she had let him continue, finding she liked it very much.

Lily observed that he led her past the corridor containing the one-eyed witch passageway which the Marauders used to go to Hogsmeade all the time (illegally; usually, in the case of James and Sirius, to procure some of Ogden's Old Firewhisky or sweets from Honeyduke's) and up the stairs – past all those students who were on their way to dinner, which was due to start in ten minutes, and who were also slightly preoccupied with staring at the two teenagers holding hands and stealing occasional glances at each other like two people in love when they had previously been a regular source of amusement when Lily had hit James or yelled at him whilst he attempted to declare his undying love for her.

"Honestly James, please tell me!" Lily whispered in his ear seductively. He turned to look at her, smiling in an amused way.

"Oh Lil, you won't get past me that way!" he murmured back in an equally seductive manner in her ear. She shivered. "We're nearly there, anyway."

He pulled her gently down the seventh floor corridor and stopped opposite a particularly enlightening tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy teaching trolls to do ballet, which Professor Binns had obviously skimmed over in their History of Magic lessons. James began to pace up and down the corridor in front of the blank wall in front of them.

Lily raised her eyebrows at him quizzically.

"Trust me, Lil, there is method to my madness!" James replied, grinning at her madly. She rolled her eyes – but was soon stopped in her tracks when before them appeared a large wooden door.

"What the–" she exclaimed, but James pulled her in quickly – and in the doorway, before she could even glance at the room they were entering, he kissed her. It was the sort of kiss that sent Lily weak at the knees and all too soon, it was over.

"Come in, Lil," he said welcomingly, leading her into the strange room – it was small, lit romantically by candles, with a table in the middle set for two with some red roses in the middle.

"What is this?" Lily asked in awe.

"The Room of Requirement. It'll turn into anything you want – and I wanted to take you on a romantic candlelit dinner for two, so that's what it did!" he answered.

He pulled Lily's chair out for her so that she could sit down, and then took his seat opposite her.

"Who said chivalry was dead?" Lily teased.

"I'm sorry – Sirius always complains that being too gentleman-like is a real turn-off..." he said uncertainly.

"No, it isn't – it's lovely," Lily assured him, squeezing his hand.

"You know Lil, I didn't think I'd ever get my date with you," he whispered.

"And that was where you were wrong – and I was very wrong to shout at you all those times and hit you round the back of the head," Lily replied earnestly, making James laugh again.

"I like it when you laugh," Lily told him.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you sound really genuine and I like being able to entertain you," Lily responded.

"I know another way you could entertain me, Lil," he muttered.

"How?" she asked, totally naively and innocently.

"Like this," he said, and ventured into another knee-weakening kiss which Lily was glad didn't end as soon as the other one.

*

After dinner, Remus and Peter automatically went to the library – Remus had chastised him for procrastinating with his Care of Magical Creatures essay, and Peter had explained to him that he didn't really have a clue about it. So Remus, being the kind, thoughtful (albeit somewhat mischievous) boy he was, offered to help Peter in the library – so Peter couldn't really decline, as he did actually need the help desperately.

Sirius left them too it – Peter was so pathetic academically it was pitiful to watch, and he really admired Remus for having the patience to help him, as he certainly didn't. He wondered – as James and Lily had left for their date about an hour and a half ago – whether they had finished yet. So he ventured back up to the Gryffindor tower to see if James was back and Sirius could discuss James' date with him. He had had to listen to James ramble on about Lily for five years now, he wanted to hear him ramble on about Lily when he had actually been out with her, not just serenading her in the corridor or convincing her, rather badly, to go out with him.

Sirius bounded up to his room – stopping quickly to eye up the brown-eyed, bleach-blonde-haired girl who he had had sitting on his lap the night previous, who flashed him a cheeky smile – and saw that James wasn't back yet.

He sank down onto his bed, but after five seconds decided that he was bored. James had to be there to cure his boredom! But no, he was off with Lily and Sirius was all alone.

Sirius suddenly had a brainwave. Perhaps Isabel could cure his boredom? She was probably up in her room, studying. He proceeded to run down the stairs as if he was sprinting the one hundred metres for Great Britain at the Olympics and then climbed up the side of the girls' stairs – if he walked on them normally, they would turn into a slide by the sixth step.

He quickly made it up to room shared by Isabel and Lily, and knocked. There was no reply, so he pushed the door open guardedly. There was no sign of Isabel, but her books were still open on her bed. The clothes had been tidied away and Sirius could hear water running, as if someone was having a shower. Then it dawned on him – Isabel was in the shower and was likely to come out any moment, thinking the room was empty! His eyes widened, and he left, shutting the door behind him quietly to avoid alerting Isabel to his presence. Sirius was in such a hurry to get down the stairs that he forgot to climb down the side, thus it turned into a slide which he shot out the end of into the common room, into the path of the fourth year bleach-blonde-haired girl who was grinning at him suggestively.

Who was he to resist?

"You, me, broom cupboard, now!" he ordered, and the girl (whose name he was unsure of, and he didn't want the whole 'Gloria' fiasco to occur again as that was damn painful) happily obliged with an annoyingly girlish giggle, following him out of the common room, leaving her bewildered friends behind.

Hehe, some cute Lily and James there :) I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading, please review for the next chapter, which involves Isabel actually starting to execute some of her plan... I hope wherever you are and whatever you doing, you have a brilliant weekend and a great holiday :)

:) x Lily Orange x (: