Chapter 9: Curiousity

Author: Laurahonest

Post Date: 5/15/07

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any thing related to Harry Potter. That honor belongs to J.K.Rowling , she is just kind enought to let me play with her creations.

Author's Note: Thank Bluejello for editing this, without her you would have to look at my bad grammar.

"James," Lily called, "thank you so much, for everything."

"You are welcome, Lily," James replied.

Lily moved over to give James a quick hug and he hugged her back. "Lily," he started, still holding her tightly.

"Yes?" she questioned, as she broke their hug.

"Lily," James started again. "I know that you have said no before. I have changed though, really I have. I even asked your parents for permission this time."

"For what, James?" she asked sweetly.

"Lily...Lily willyougooutwithme?" he hesitated at first, then blurted it out without a single pause.

Silence reigned for a moment. Lily stared at him, angry that he had ruined her perfect day. James' hopeful look faded and his face started to turn red in embarrassment. The longer Lily stared, the redder his face got, and his expression became more and more disappointed. Then Lily realized that James hadn't ruined the perfect day, he had given it the best possible ending. "Lily?" James voice interrupted her thoughts. "I'm sorry, I'll just go to bed now," he sighed. James started to walk away when Lily's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Yes," she said, "yes, James I will go out with you."

He slowly turned, stunned, yet needing to see her face to know if she was serious or if he was hallucinating. Lily's face was serious. Lily Evans had just agreed to go out with him. He, James Potter, was going out with Lily Evans. James grabbed her and hugged her. "Really, Lily, you really will?" he stammered out, still in shock.

"Yes, James, I really will," she softly replied, with a smile. Lily squealed when James picked her up and spun her around. He gently set her down and kissed her on the cheek. They said good night and went to their own rooms to go to bed, each a little stunned at what had just happened between them.

As James lay in bed he could barely believe that he was really dating Lily. She had been his dream for so long and now that dream had finally come true. He couldn't screw this up. He knew that Lily would only give him one chance. He would never be able to forgive himself if he hurt her in any way. She didn't deserve to be treated badly and left hurting, her last boyfriend had done that to her. He wouldn't ever leave her like that. Tomorrow, he would show her how a boyfriend should treat her. James fell asleep thinking about what things he would do for her.

Across the hall Lily was still awake. Why had she said yes? What had changed? She thought back over the school year. Yes, they had become friends. Why? Well, they had to work together every day. Their bickering had to stop for them to be able to work together and be good examples for the other students. So they had stopped arguing, but that wasn't it. She had stopped arguing with Sirius too, but that didn't mean she was going to say yes if he asked her out. What else had prompted this? Once they had stopped constantly arguing they had realized that they had some things in common. That had laid the foundation for a shaky friendship. James had matured. He had stopped hexing people for no reason. He had been giving detentions instead of using magic to punish wrong-doing. That had kept him out of trouble. She still didn't know why she was dating him though. Putting all physical traits aside, because Lily never dated on looks alone, she tried to figure out what had made her change her mind. As she lay there, she thought about every interaction with him since they has stopped fighting, it suddenly hit her. She had never really hated him, well to be honest she had but only because she had been disappointed by him. She had secretly liked him before he started trying to impress her. Her hatred had stemmed from her disappointment. Weren't hatred and love two sides of the same coin? Lily flew upright in her bed. She loved James Potter. She, Lily Evans loved James Potter, and she had for a long time. No way could she tell him though. If she told him that on their first day as a couple it would scare him to death and drive him away. No, she would give him time to feel the same way she did, then she would tell him. With that thought, she fell asleep.

The last week of the year went by quickly. Everyone was pleased that James and Lily had finally gotten together. Money moved from Sirius' and Peter's hands to Remus' back account as the result of a bet. Finally it was New Year's Eve, and everyone was getting ready for the masquerade ball.

The three girls were getting ready in Lily's room. Frank and Alice were going as Arthur and Guinevere. Lily helped Alice charm her hair. It had to grow down to her waist and become sunshine blonde. It took Lily twenty minutes to complete the charms. It probably wouldn't have taken as long if Alice hadn't been so panicky about the charms. Lily also had to charm Marlene's strawberry-blonde hair black for her costume as Circe. Lily was glad that her costume required no difficult charms to change her hair color. She had looked long and hard for a witch that was obscure, yet still famous enough to be remembered. Lily had finally chosen to go as Daisy Dodderidge, the founder of the Leaky Cauldron. She was going to wear a simple old fashioned gown and an old style cloak. As soon as she had finished with the other girls' hair, she put on her dress, bonnet, and cloak. Lily pulled her long hair up into a proper bun for the type of work that her character had performed. She charmed her small mask to sit over her eyes and nose without a string. Lily studied her reflection in the mirror, holding first a dish towel and then with a mug, as she debated which to use as a prop. She decided on the dish towel and then double checked to see if the other girls needed more help. Lily performed a quick charm on her mask to change her eye color and shape just a bit, to make it harder for her to be recognized. Finally, all three girls were satisfied with their costumes, so they walked down to the ball room to mingle with the other guests. They spread out over the room, talking to other guests and trying to avoid the people who would immediately know them. It didn't take James long to seek Lily out. "Madam" he said, as he offered his arm, "would you do me the honor of condescending to dance with me?"

"Why yes, good sir," Lily played along, "but it is you who does me the great honor and condescends to dance with me." They moved out on to the dance floor and danced several dances before they decided to take a break. The couple moved to one of the small tables around the edge of the room and sat down. James went to get drinks, when he returned Sirius came and sat with them. They sat there for a while and the others gradually joined them. After a while they decided to go dance again. Before anyone realized it, the clock was striking midnight. Everyone pulled off their masks; there were several gasps when true identities were revealed. The guests mingled and danced for a couple more hours before the party started to break up.

Sometime during the wee hours of the morning, the marauders and their guests were finally headed for bed. Halfway to their rooms, Sirius suddenly realized that he and Marlene hadn't finished the chess tournament that had been interrupted by the train arriving at King's Cross Station. He planted himself directly in her path and blocked every attempt to get around him as he declared, "Marlene, you owe me a chess tournament."

"Not now Sirius," she said, "I am too tired."

"Come on, Marlene, it's only three games," he whined.

"In the morning," she said, as she shoved him out of the way and went to her door.

"It is morning," he attempted to reason with her.

"When it is daylight," she clarified.

"The sun will be up in two hours," he informed her cheerily.

"At noon, Sirius," Marlene stated, as she slammed her door in his eager face.

"At noon, exactly on the stroke of noon!" he yelled through the door.

James and Lily laughed at him as he went to bed. They stood in the hall and talked for a few minutes before kissing good-night and going to their own beds.

At seven in the morning Lily woke up to loud shouts out in the hall. She stumbled to the door and stuck her head out to see what on earth was going on. Sirius was running from a very angry, very wet Marlene.

"Immobulous" James said.

"Silencio" Lily said.

They left them that way and went back into their rooms to change. When they came back out James lifted his spell. "Go sit down on that couch right there," he commanded. Sirius and Marlene sheepishly moved over to the couch and sat down at opposite ends of it.

"All right, I am not sure that I want to know but, Marlene, tell me what happened," Lily said, as she released the silencing spell that she had placed on Marlene.

"I was in my bed, nice and warm, sleeping peacefully, when Sirius came in and dumped a huge bucket of water on my head. He said that he wanted to get me up to play chess, and that he was helping me out by showering me so that I could just dry off and go straight to the chessboard!" Marlene sputtered with rage.

"Ok, now Sirius, you can explain why you did this," James said, as Lily released the spell on Sirius.

"Well," Sirius started sweetly, "she said that she would play chess with me when the sun came up. I was just trying to be helpful."

"I did not," yelled Marlene.

"Silencio!" James cast the spell over both of them again.

"Goodness, you two," Lily admonished them. "Marlene, you are up now, so go dry off, play chess with the poor puppy, and kick his butt. Sirius, apologize for waking us up so early, and for heaven's sake quit dumping water on people while they are asleep. James, lets go back to bed. I think that I can still get a couple more hours of sleep," she finished with a yawn.

Marlene acquiesesed with a nod, Sirius humbly apologized, and James and Lily went back to their own beds to sleep a little bit longer.

James and Lily woke up around noon and wandered down to the living room. Sirius and Marlene were in a corner, bent over a chess board.

"How goes-" James started to ask.

"Shhh!" Sirius and Marlene said together, effectively cutting him off.

"Sit over here," Frank whispered. "They stipulated that the winner has to win two games in a row."

James and Lily just stared at him blankly.

"So far, they have played seventy-three games and neither of them is willing to concede," Alice supplied, in a whisper.

They sat and silently watched the two battle it out. After three games Lily finally stepped in. "Ok you two that is 38 games each and you have been playing for six hours. Let's go eat, maybe play in the snow, something we can all do together on the last day of our break."

"Fine," they grumbled in unison.

"Now go get showered and dressed. You are both still in your pajamas," Lily ordered.

They both trudged off towards the stairs to get dressed and ready. Everyone else went to the dining room for lunch or, in some cases, breakfast. Sirius and Marlene hadn't come back by the time everyone was done eating.

"Maybe they went back to their chess tournament," Peter suggested.

"Or they went back to bed after their charming little scene this morning," Lily replied.

"Let's go find them," sighed Broderick.

They checked the living room first. The chessboard was just as they had left it. On their way upstairs they discussed plans for the rest of the day. James and Lily led the way up the stairs, just before reaching the top, they stopped abruptly. Frank and Alice were following too closely, and ran into them before they could stop. The others had enough warning to avoid further collisions.

"Hey, Prongs, why did you stop?" Peter piped up, from the very back of the group.

James and Lily silently moved into the hallway to allow the others to see why they had stopped so abruptly. Everyone moved into the hallway and James pointed down towards the end of it. Five jaws hit the floor when they saw what he was pointing at. No one had ever expected to the image before their eyes at that moment. Sirius and Marlene had apparently stopped arguing over who was the better chess player. They were sitting in the same chair. Marlene was on Sirius' lap and they were in the middle a heated snogging session.

"Ahem," Lily cleared her throat, hands on her hips. She had the sternest expression on her that she could possibly make. Marlene jumped up and moved away from Sirius very quickly. Sirius just put his foot up on the coffee table in front of his chair and stretched out with a grin.

Author's Second Note: The next Chapter is called "Revelations" and it involves Valentine's Day.