A/N: It's been so long! This past moth was a little brutal, between Halloween and midterms and playing through all of Fable III... But here is the long awaited, next chapter! I'm pretty certain where I'm going with this story, in the long run I mean, and hopefully I'll be able to start writing longer chapters, at this point I just wanted this one done with. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 7
Breakfast
James stared at the ceiling, much like Lily had done hours prior. He had never been able to sleep well when in a strange bed, their first night in the Gryffindor dormitories first year he had not slept at all. Now, the sun was threatening the horizon outside the window and Lily was breathing slow and rhythmically next to him.
He had shifted the wall of pillows to examine her sleeping form, a smile played across her lips. Sometime in the night she had pulled her arm to rest across her stomach, dragging his arm along, and though the angle that his arm rested at was slightly uncomfortable he rather enjoyed the feeling of it as her diaphragm rose and fell.
Had someone informed James at the end of 5th year that he would be made a prefect and share a bed with Lily Evens by Christmas he would have called them mental, absolutely barking mad. Somewhere in the back of his mind he recalled Sirius laughing and saying James would be made a prefect before landing Evans back in their 4th year. He smiled smugly as he remembered this. If he played his cards right Sirius would be correct, not that he thought Lily was comparable to a card game, or could be 'landed'.
People often wrote James off as a trouble maker, a comedian and a prankster, seemingly a slave to his impulses. Just because this described his best friend did not mean it described him, even if they were as good as brothers. Truth be told James and Sirius together was what made them complete, Sirius' weaknesses being James's strengths and vice versa. James spent his time observing, and meticulously planning the pranks and jokes that would be executed, he made sure he understand all of the possible outcomes, spending a few hours in detention had never really been a concern, though he did stay away from bigger schemes when quidditch games were drawing near. A prank would hardly be worth it if the captain and one of the beaters were stuck in detention for a game.
The only time James was actually impulsive was when it came to his friends needing anything, or when Lily Evans was involved, he simply could not help himself. Of course the fact that both Lily and Sirius drove him to act instead of think usually lead to trouble, mainly for Severus Snape.
It was well known that James and Severus hated each other, from the moment James had laid eyes on Snape on their first train ride to Hogwarts and heard Snape proclaim that Lily had better be a Slytherin with him.
Having spent much of his time watching Lily from afar, James had spent much of his time observing Snape from afar, and until the previous year the pair had been together as much as two students from different houses could be. They had a usual table in the library, spent hours hanging out in various empty classrooms or walking outside on the grounds. In the beginning of their time at Hogwarts Snape and Lily were never seen during free time without each other, but slowly they each branched out making friends within their out houses, until said friends took over. Neither of them had seemed completely happy with this.
James knew that not all Slytherines were bad, but they were more likely to delve into the dark arts then the rest of the school, and the look Snape got on his face during their defense against the dark arts classes when the professor spoke of evil spells and potions was hard to ignore.
Snape had never been very good about hiding his emotions and he seemed happiest in potions or defense against the dark arts; though it was plain to see he was less interested in how to defend and more interested in how to attack. Snape had also been happy whenever he spent time with Lily, especially when it was just the two of them, as it often was because none of Snape's friends wanted to hang with a muggleborn like Lily, and none of Lily's friends wanted to hang out with Snape. This aversion to Snape was more because when people intruded on his time with Lily, Snape would clam up and glare at them behind Lily's back until they left, it was not a very welcoming environment.
Next to him Lily snorted in her sleep, drawing him from his thoughts. James smiled and chuckled under his breath, as Lily rolled away pulling his arm uncomfortably with her. He attempted to retract his arm, but Lily pulled harder.
"Um, Lily" He said gently, prodding her with his free hand, "Can I have my arm back?"
She gave an odd sort of groan, but did not move.
"Seriously, you're cutting off circulation" He yanked it free, the momentum of which rolled Lily back towards him. She awoke with a start.
"Bloody hell!" she snarled at him, blinking.
"Sorry" he replied sheepishly, "you rolled away with my arm"
"Oh." She looked down, "my apologies"
"No worries," he gave a smirk that made Lily uncomfortable, "You were going to wake up soon any ways"
"What are you talking about, what time is it?" Her brow furrowed
"Its half eight or so," he glanced down at his watch.
"Why would you expect me to be awake at such an ungodly hour?"
"Just a hunch" His smirk remained firmly in place as she made a show of rolling back over and closing her eyes.
"JAMESIE POO! LILY KINS!" the door burst open, Sirius bounded in and leapt onto the bed, "The sun has risen, the birds are singing, and your mother has laid a feast upon the breakfast table!"
"Morning Sirius," James smiled brightly.
"I hate you" Lily groaned, face down in her pillow her arm contorted behind her head from its attachment to James.
"That won't due at all Lily," Sirius tutted, "You mother requests your company and I request that you stop hogging James all to yourself, it's not fair that he has to sit here awake while you sleep the day away"
"How would you know if he was awake or not?" Lily glared.
"How did he know I was about to burst through the door?" His eyes were twinkling.
"How do you know that he knew?" her forehead scrunched in anger and confusion.
"My marauder senses were tingling" James shrugged, "Get out of here padfoot, we'll be down in a minute, don't eat all of the bacon!" he called after his friend's retreating back.
"The connection you two have is not natural," Lily sat up rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"I like to think it's magical" he grinned throwing the covers off of them, "Breakfast then?"
"I suppose"
Sirius had not been kidding about the feast, Mrs. Evans seemed to think that having five teenagers in the house meant she was feeding a small army, there were stacks of bacon, bowls of porridge, piles of eggs, and plates of sausage and what seemed to be an entire loaf of toast spread across the dining room table.
"Eat up!" Mrs Evans beamed at the bewildered expressions on the faces of her husband as well as her daughter as the boys tucked in.
"Mum, this may be a bit much" Lily said, today seemed to be full of the unexpected, usually when she was home she slept in till 10 or so and just made herself a sandwich, and here she was at 45 past 8 and the table was overflowing with food, she briefly wondered if this always went on and she just slept through it.
"Nonsense Lily, these are growing boys, besides you all need your energy today"
"Thanks Mrs. E!" James took a large bite of eggs.
"Yes, Thank you very much for your hospitality Mrs. Evans" Remus smiled.
"Thanks" Peter and Sirius nodded, not looking up from their plates.
"No problem at all boys"
"It tastes divine darling" Mr. Evans leaned over to kiss her on the cheek.
"Why do we need our energy?" Lily cocked an eyebrow.
"Well, since you asked, I was going to have you go pick up a tree and decorate the house, between preparing for you to get home and your father's upcoming company party I haven't had time"
"And I have to go into work today" Mr. Evans paused his eating.
"We'd love to!" James piped up before Lily could argue, though he could see the protest building in her eyes.
She glared at him before turning to her mother, "Where and how are we getting a tree?"
"I'll be baking all day so you can take my car" She smiled, munching on some toast.
"How am I supposed to drive with this?" Lily held up her right arm, James' just as firmly stuck now as it had been two nights ago.
"Don't worry Lily, I'll drive," Sirius said between large bites.
"No way Black! You're a wizard, you don't know how to drive."
"Sure I do!"
"When did you learn that?"
"We all learned last summer" Remus said calmly, putting down his silverware and addressing Lily, "and though it pains me to admit it, Sirius is the best of the four of us. We even have muggle licenses if you'd like to see"
"Didn't even need to confound the instructor" Peter beamed.
Mr. Evans was looking uncertain, "You're sure you can handle it?" his eyebrows were raised, his green eyes probing Sirius' grey ones.
"Not a problem Mr. Evans" Sirius nodded solemnly.
"It will be fine Bernard" Mrs. Evans patted his hand, "Thy only have to go a few miles, they're selling trees in the car park by the shopping center," she turned to look at the teens, "Come right back home once you've got it, I might need help around the house"
The five of them nodded, Lily grumbling under her breath, something about injustice and ludicrousness, but got up with the rest of them to change before heading out, mildly surprised to realize that the entire breakfast her mother had cooked was gone.
A/N: So ends another chapter, you know the drill, if you review I'll be more likely to update. Don't you want me to update?
