Another week later James entered the common room and his eyes scanned the area looking for the familiar red hair of his faux girlfriend.
Not locating her, he made a move towards his favourite chair to wait, so that they could go to breakfast together as usual.
Halfway across the room though he heard a pitiful groaning noise coming from a, seemingly, empty sofa facing the far wall, and out of the eye line of anyone descending the dorm stairs.
James frowned worriedly and quickly made his way over, expecting to find some poor second year sick to his stomach or something of that nature, what he actually found made him double over from laughter.
Lily was spread eagled, face first on the sofa groaning every time her body made any kind of movement
"Don't laugh, you git," she said, sending him a withering look. "You did this to me!"
"Hey now," he chocked out, trying to look hurt and indignant at the accusation, but failing miserably.
"Well you did! Is it or is it not you who exercises me to the point of exhaustion and then proceeds to knock me on my arse over and over again?"
Deciding that now was not the time to start talking about his growing worries over her health, and occasional bouts of weakness he chuckled "Over and over again? Don't be so hard on yourself, you're improving quickly, you even almost won a bout the other day."
"Almost" she stressed "and that was only one out of the ten you made me do that afternoon," she moaned, trying to raise a hand to hit him, but found she didn't have the energy. "Look at me, I move like an old woman!" she cried instead.
"It's for your own good," he wheezed out, still laughing at her. "It'll get better."
The only response she could be bothered to give was a grunt which turned in to a tired moan.
"Oh dear," he said, regaining control of himself and taking pity on her. He dropped his bag on a nearby chair before perching on the edge of the sofa and placing his hands on the back of her shoulders and started to massage them gently.
"Ergh," Lily made an incoherent noise in approval.
"You're really hurting, aren't you?" he sighed frowning.
She nodded. "The only part of me that feels like it doesn't hurt is my hair! Between the muggle exercise in the mornings and the duelling and sparing in the evenings, with lessons and homework thrown in in-between, everything hurts, even things I didn't know I had!"
He tutted sympathetically. "I know, I remember when I first started to train seriously I thought I'd never be able to move properly again, it gets easier though, and at least today is an off day," he finished cheerfully.
"Yeah, small mercies," she mumbled, relaxing under his talented hands.
He chuckled again and she turned her head to glare at him. "Oh come on, Lily, give me a break! This is funny, you should see yourself!"
When she just continued to glare he rolled his eyes and said "Look, why don't you go back upstairs and have a good long soak in the bath or something instead of coming to breakfast, it should loosen your muscles, and I'll make sure to bring something from breakfast for you to eat in class."
"But what about breakfast?" she asked hesitantly. "We don't just go to eat, it's all part of the show" she whispered the last word. "People will talk if I'm not there with you, it will be the first time in weeks."
James frowned at her. "Yeah, but there's still lunch and dinner, and it's not like you can't still live your own life, even if we were legitimate we still wouldn't be adjoined at the hip!"
She let out a quiet snort at the image.
He grinned at the unladylike noise before saying "I don't want you to be in pain and a bath is going to help the soreness, you can't spend the rest of the day like this, and let's not forget, you need to be recovered so you can do it all over again tomorrow," he added, giving her an unhelpful reminder of her exercise routine.
"Lily," he quietly said after a few moments. "This isn't supposed to be a punishment."
"Sure seems like it at practice sometimes," she said, but when he looked at her sharply he noticed she was smiling.
"Shut up," he grinned pressing down a little harder on a taught muscle and earning himself another groan from Lily.
"I'm carrying all of your books today too," he said after a minute of silence.
"No, you are not," she said, her voice muffled because she'd pressed her face into the cushions to allow him more access to her neck
"I am, Lily," he said in a voice that brooked no argument before hopping up and grabbing her bag and his own before she'd even managed to turn over. "Now back upstairs to the bath," he commanded as he shouldered both their bags. "I'll see you in defence."
Lily had forgotten that that was their first class, and with that sudden reminder she decided it was probably best to swallow her pride and listen to him, she wasn't sure she'd make it through the day otherwise.
--
After watching James stroll through the portrait hole, Lily didn't waste any time following his instructions. She got up as fast as her sore limbs would allow and walked up the stairs to her dorm as quickly as her leg would take her.
When she entered, only Emily was left in the room, she was just about to exit when Lily hobbled through the door
"Goodness Lily" she chuckled, shouldering her bag before continuing on in a suggestive voice "What is James doing to you, when he whisks you away in the evenings?"
Lily threw her friend and look, and taking the hint, Emily, still smiling, patted Lily's shoulder and left for breakfast
Lily waited until the room was empty before dropping her clothes where she stood and making her way to the bathroom. She had the tub filled with scorching hot water within minutes, making sure to add some relaxing salts.
She groaned pitifully as she lowered her aching body into the water and then sighed with absolute relief when she was finally fully submerged.
Her relief was exquisite.
Lily's muscles quickly started to relax and loosen and she could help but think James was officially her favourite person in the world for suggesting such a magnificent idea.
With that thought came a flash of guilt. She's been purposefully hiding how difficult she was finding his training schedule. For two reasons, firstly she knew he would be horrified to know how much he was really hurting her and then he would start going easy on her, whether consciously or not, and she couldn't afford to have such a set back. And secondly she didn't want him to think any less of her, her second reason was… pride.
When she absently looked down she noticed a huge bruise covering her hip, she prodded it gingerly before letting out yet another sigh. She had thought about telling him, telling him about the battering her body was really taking, but had quickly disregarded the idea, mainly because she couldn't stand the idea of James coddling her and if she were honest she wasn't entirely sure what she would even tell him, or how.
She really just hoped that she would start improving and then she wouldn't have to tell him anything.
She would get better she reassured herself, her stamina would increase and so would her skill. Once they did the painful consequences would hopefully lessen
---
Lily felt much more relaxed and loose when she finally left through the portrait hole after her lovely warm bath; James always seemed to be right she thought smiling grudgingly to herself.
The portrait swung open and she stepped down watching her feet to make sure she didn't fall and secretly thankful that James had her bag. When a hand extended into her field of vision and she smiled widely recognizing it
"What's got you smiling so big, feeling better?" whispered James's familiar voice.
"Much better, thanks," she said taking his hand and looking up into his eyes. "It's really not fair that you're always right, you know?"
He laughed, wrapping his arm comfortably around her and leading her towards class passing her a napkin with toast wrapped in it as they moved
"You are a life saver," she sighed munching on the much needed food. "But what are you doing here, I thought I was supposed to meet you?"
"I'm supposed to walk you to class," he said sending her a sidelong glance.
"Oh yeah, I supposed it is part of the deal," she said slyly returning his look.
"Yeah, the deal," he replied, tightening his hold just a little as they entered the busy hallway and headed towards where their first class was.
"James?" Lily asked curiously as they took a deserted short cut.
"Yeah?" he answered absentmindedly as he navigated the stairs.
"Why do you need me to do this for you? You're so attentive, you're so good at being a boyfriend, pretend or not. Surely you could get any girl you want and with the various perks you offer," she said, wrapping an arm around his waist making him adjust his hold on her shoulders. "I'm almost positive every single one of them would be more than willing to suffer your parents to have a shot at you."
He chuckled. "I've never been all that good with showing girls the attention they deserved or wanted."
"I'm sure that's not true, you're wonderful with me, even when you're throwing hexes at me!"
He smiled, ducking his head slightly to hide how pleased he was. "I'm not quite sure what it is about you, but you bring out the best in me. Not everyone is like you, Lily, I think you'd be surprised at how quickly some girls lose interest when they realise it's not going to be as easy as they anticipated, that it actually takes work to be with me," he added quietly.
"Really?" she sighed, sending him a sympathetic look.
"Yeah, really, it shows how much they liked me in the first place, eh?" he said, suddenly sullen. "You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find girls who are actually genuine and tough enough to put up with my crazy family, the press and the other women who think they deserve a shot at me. At least with you, I know you don't care about who I am, and I know you're tough, especially if training is any kind of indicator" he said smiling proudly. "And you don't really care what people think of you."
Noticing her trying to contain an incredibly happy smile James couldn't help but add
"Even though we're not really dating, I think it's just as important to have those qualities in a friend as it is to have in a girlfriend."
"I'm… sorry," she settled on for an answer.
"Why?" he asked, smiling. "I've told you before it's not all bad – and I'll meet someone eventually, I'm just not in the same kind of rush as my family."
"I suppose not," she said just as they reached their class.
"Yeah, and in the mean time I have you," he whispered in her ear before they each went to their separate seats sending a glance at each other, inciting more furious whispering that went entirely unnoticed by the couple.
--
I got soooo many reviews, I think it's the most I've ever gotten for a chapter – I feel very special – Thank you!
Now DO IT AGAIN…Pretty please with James and Sirius kisses on top
I'm sorry I haven't had the time to reply to your reviews but I will try to get to them later this week!