A/N:

Prompt: Lily caught in James' bed

Rating: T

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The stairs to the seventh year boys room had never seemed steeper. James was appalled at the level of exhaustion he was feeling this term; he'd known going into this year that balancing NEWT studies with being Head Boy and Quidditch Captain would be hard work, but he hadn't fully appreciated how much time it would all take. He barely managed to find time to spend with his friends these days, something Sirius had chewed him out for just this morning.

He pushed open the door to his dorm and found it in darkness; the light creeping in from the stairwell behind him illuminated the room just enough for him to see that the curtains had been drawn around all the beds. The sounds of soft snoring - and harsh mutterings from the direction of Remus' bed - told him that his friends had probably all gone to bed some time ago. He didn't blame them for not waiting up for him, he kept very anti-social hours at the moment.

He shut the door as gently as possible, trying not to wake anyone up, and moved softly across the room, his footsteps unerring as he found his way to his bed from memory. He stripped down to his boxers, took only a second to decide that putting pyjamas on was not worth the effort, and crawled past his closed curtains into his bed, peeling the quilt up and collapsing into it.

He groaned as he sank into the mattress, feeling his whole body relax into the warmth of the bed. It took his exhausted brain a moment to realise that his bed shouldn't have been warm. It should have been cold since it had been stood empty since 5:30am. Swiftly dismissing the idea that one of his roommates had been thoughtful enough to put warming charms on his bed, he stuck an arm out through the drapes and groped for his wand, since he wouldn't put it past them to do something else entirely to his bed.

A quick lumos lit up his bed, revealing a mass of dark red hair spread across one of his pillows. He felt a grin spread across his face as he sleepily assessed the fact that his girlfriend was sound asleep on the far side of his bed, curled up tightly underneath his covers.

He extinguished the light and discarded his wand back onto the bedside table, then he slid across the bed until he felt Lily's warm, soft skin, and the gentle rasp of her pyjamas against his body. He pulled her into his arms and after only a moment her body relaxed and stretched out, matching the line of his so that their sides pressed together along the whole length of their bodies. She let out a faint sigh as her head lolled onto his shoulder blade.

He was asleep in seconds.

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James might have thoroughly objected to waking up at 6am, but something he did not object to was being woken up at 6am by Lily's fingers tracing patterns on his chest.

She was still pressed up against his side, her head still on his shoulder as she trailed her fingertips over his body, her dark red hair standing out vividly where it lay against his pale skin. He lay still for a moment, enjoying the feel of being cocooned in his bed with Lily, both them warm and content under the heavy winter quilt.

He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, and she tilted her face back to look up at him.

'So, this was a nice surprise.' James winced inwardly at the raspiness of his own voice.

'I try.' Lily grinned up at him. 'I barely saw you yesterday. Rough one?'

'Oh, you know.' James managed to grin back. 'Classes, more classes, quidditch practice, essays, patrolling, detention reports. Standard day on the job.'

'Hmm. I really think that you should turn over a few of your Head Duties to me. Being in the Slug Club and Gobstones club really doesn't demand much of my time, but quidditch really sucks yours.'

She looked up at him with real sincerity, and James felt a sudden flood of gratitude that she cared enough to offer to take some weight off him. With one sudden movement he rolled over so that she was pinned beneath him, a breathless laugh on her lips.

'You know Evans, I never realised it, but you're right - you're a complete slacker! You really need to start pulling your weight around here.'

She kicked out at him half-heartedly, and since her range of movement was severely limited by her pinned position anyway, she stood no chance of connecting. James grinned down at her, amused at her feeble attempt, and was therefore taken completely by surprise when she threw her whole weight at him and rolled them over so that he was pinned to the mattress.

An all-out wrestling war commenced immediately. Pillows were wielded, tickling was declared to be cheating by a gasping, breathless Lily, James was rendered temporarily too stunned to move when Lily stuck her hand down his pants to grope his bum, right up to the point where she smacked it as hard as she could.

They were both on their knees, arms wrapped around each other as they giggled helplessly and fought to press the other into the mattress, when the curtains were yanked aside to reveal James' three best friends, staring at the scene in front of them with varying expressions of disbelief.

'Lily?'

'Prongs?'

'What the fuck?'

They paused, mid-wrestle, with James' head pressed up against Lily's chest from where she'd been trying to get him into a headlock, and his arms wrapped around both her legs, pinning them together so he could attempt to flip her onto her back.

'Quick, Moony, who's winning?' James said breathlessly.

'What?' Remus looked bemused and mildly terrified at being drawn into this.

'Based on what you can see right now Remus, who looks like they're winning?' Lily expanded.

'To be honest with you, all I can think about right now is washing my eyes out with bleach.'

'What are you doing in Prong's bed anyway, Lily?' Peter asked, and Sirius and Remus both began to gesture furiously.

'No, no, don't tell us.' Sirius held up his hands in front of him. 'There are some things that I just don't need to know.'

'Well, I was sleeping in it.' Lily answered anyway. 'But you know James, can't even lie in his own bed without causing trouble…'

Remus stepped forward and grabbed the open drapes. 'You know, I think we'll just leave you to it.'

'Thanks Moony!' James replied cheerfully, releasing his grip on Lily's legs just enough to wave a hand.

It was a mistake. Lily threw her weight forward and knocked him to the mattress, and Remus hastily yanked the curtains around the bed closed, following it up with a silencing charm for good measure.

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