Chapter 11: L.E for J.P
When Eva woke the next morning, Sirius was still peacefully asleep next to her. Pulling on her clothes that were still lying on the floor from the night before, she quietly walked from the room so as not to wake him.
Just as quietly she slid back into her dormitory and into her bed, trying not to wake any of the other girls. She had just pulled the hangings around her bed and let out a sigh or relief that none of the girls had woken to her coming in, when-
"Where were you last night?" asked Lily's voice.
Eva groaned, not wishing to tell her friends what she had been doing during the night and, more to the point, with whom.
"Out," was all she said in response to the question.
"Oh? I kind of noticed. Where were you?"
"With Sirius," she said, covering her head with her pillow so she wouldn't have to hear Lily's reply.
"With Sirius?! Oh my goodness, you weren't in his dormitory were you?"
"No. We were in the room of requirements."
"Oh, I've heard of that place. Were you with him all night? What were you doing?"
"What do you think we were doing?" Eva whispered loudly, pulling the hangings back to glare at her friend, "We sure as hell weren't playing Exploding Snap!"
Lily just stared at Eva, a look of worry and concern printed on her face.
"Oh, Lily, she slept with him. Get over it. It's not a big deal!" came a muffled voice from Rachel's bed.
"You slept with him?" Lily screamed, "But you two are barely going out! It was supposed to be your first date yesterday."
"Shut up, Lils," said Rachel. "They've been horny for each other for, like, ever!"
Eva laughed at this. "Stop worrying about me, Lily. I don't care, so you shouldn't either. What I do care about is hearing what you and James got up to yesterday!"
"Well I don't care, so you shouldn't either," Lily mimicked and crossed her arms.
"Oh, but you so do care," Rachel scoffed. "You've cared ever since first year!"
"I have not!" cried Lily, going bright red in the face.
"Be quiet, Rachel. Lily, spill the beans!" Eva demanded.
"Oh, fine. You guys win," Lily sighed.
I can't believe I agreed to go to Hogsmeade with James Potter! What have I gotten myself into?
We had agreed to meet at midday in the Entrance Hall. I woke up at eleven and had a nice, long shower before dressing in a pair of tight black jeans and a white t-shirt. Over the top, I threw a lime green sweater; it was Potter's favourite one and he always told me so whenever I wore it.
I looked at myself in the mirror, suddenly nervous for some reason. Eva's bed was empty as she had detention in the morning with Sirius and so was Rachel's. She was probably off somewhere with Remus.
I brushed my hair for the third time. I'm almost as bad as Potter! Oh, I hate it when he runs his hands through his hair. He can be such an egotistical jerk. Why am I going to Hogsmeade with him again?
At ten minutes to twelve, I left the dormitory and headed down to the Entrance Hall. Potter was already waiting for me when I got there. He had dressed well, which I was thankful for. He was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a black jumper.
"I hope you haven't been waiting long," I said when I got to him.
"Only six years," he said, smirking at me.
It took me a few moments, but I finally realised what he meant. It made my blood boil.
"Ok, let's get one thing straight," I said through gritted teeth, "This isn't a date. I am NOT dating you. Understand?"
"Yeah, whatever you say Evans," he said and strode over to Filch who was waiting at the door with a long list.
"Potter and Evans," Potter said to the caretaker and two ticks were added to the piece of parchment.
"Potter, if you don't start deflating that head of yours right now, I am going to go back to the castle and leave you in Hogsmeade dateless," I said to him as we walked down the driveway of the school in the direction of the village.
"Dateless?" he turned to face me with an amused grin, "Evans, this isn't a date. We're not dating. We're only going to Hogsmeade as friends, remember?"
I didn't talk to him for the rest of the walk into the village and he didn't push for conversation. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself for some reason.
"Wanna get some lunch?" he asked when we finally reached the high street.
"Yeah, that sounds good," I said, not really looking him in the eye.
"Three Broomsticks, then?"
"Sure," I nodded.
I followed him towards the pub and he pulled open the door and stood aside.
"Ladies first," he said with a smirk.
"Thank you, Potter."
Seeing as it was lunchtime, the Three Broomsticks was almost full. The only table left available was one in the far corner of the pub, secluded from all the others.
I groaned inwardly and walked to the table. Potter would think that sitting away from everyone else was a sign that I was into him, which I most certainly wasn't.
He sat down opposite me and placed his hands on the edge of the table and leaned back in his chair.
"Madam Rosmerta!" he called to a woman standing at the bar, and held up two fingers to her. After a few moments, she brought over two butterbeers and two menus.
"How are you today, James? Where's Sirius? Detention? Oh that boy is a troublemaker, isn't he? So who's your pretty date?" she asked with a smile, nodding your head at me.
"Lily Evans, and she's not my date… yet," he said to the barmaid with a wink. I chose to ignore his last comment.
We gave the waitress our orders for lunch and she disappeared behind the bar again.
"Don't," I said through gritted teeth, "tell people that we are dating."
"I didn't!" he said, looking a bit hurt by my sudden outburst.
When our lunch came, we ate it in an awkward silence, neither of us talking. Potter drowned the last bit of his second butterbeer and got to his feet. I followed him up to the bar.
"How much, Rosie?" he asked the barmaid a little moodily and got some coins out of his pocket.
"For one of my favourite customers, let's say fourteen Sickles," she said, smiling at him.
I got some silver out of my purse and put them on the counter. Potter picked them up and handed them back to me.
"Don't worry, I'll get it," he said and collected his change.
"You didn't need to do that," I said as we walked out into the busy street.
"Look," he turned to face me. "It's my fault we've been having a shit day and I'm not going to make you pay for sitting there and watching me completely fuck this up."
We were halfway there before I realised he was leading me back up to the castle. I was a bit disappointed that he planned on cutting our trip short, but followed silently. We were almost at the Oak front door when he stopped abruptly.
"Hey, do you want to go for a walk?" he asked suddenly.
"We just went on a walk, Potter," I said back irritably, still annoyed that we had come back early.
"No, I mean like a proper walk. Around the lake."
I looked at my watch. "I guess I don't have anything better to do."
"Good," he said and started walking.
We walked for a while in silence, but not an awkward silence like before. It was a comfortable silence and, despite myself, I enjoyed it.
Potter stopped walking and dug his hands in the pockets of his jeans, looking up at the bright blue sky.
"Nice day, isn't it?" he observed.
"James Potter, walks with girl and resorts to talking about weather," I said in my best news reporter voice.
"Don't tell Sirius," he said, giving me a sidelong grin. "He'd be very disappointed in me."
I didn't mean to laugh, but I couldn't help myself. What he said had been funny.
We walked a little further around the lake and he stopped and sat down under a large tree.
"You know, this is our favourite spot. Padfoot, Moony, Wormtail and I."
"I can see why. It's nice," I said, taking a seat next to him.
"And you're being nice at the moment. You're not usually nice to me," he said, turning to look at me.
"Yeah, I know."
"Why not? Why do you hate me?"
I sighed. "I don't know. I guess it's because you are so arrogant and selfish and bigheaded. If you cut all that out, then maybe I'd be nice to you."
"I've tried. It doesn't work. You're still not nice to me and I don't get it. How can you care, but not be nice?"
"What do you mean 'how can I care'?" I asked, starting to get irritated again.
"I know you care, Evans. About me, I mean. To an extent."
"Excuse me? How can you say that? This is what I mean! You think that everyone is in love with you!" I shouted, getting to my feet and starting to walk back up to the castle to get away from the jerk.
"Look at the jumper you're wearing." He said softly. "You know it's my favourite. I always tell you whenever you wear it. You agreed to come to Hogsmeade with me today, even if it was only as friends, and you even wore my favourite jumper. And I wont even start on that game of Truth or Dare the other night."
"Well I happen to like this jumper!" I turned around and yelled at him.
"No you don't."
"Don't you dare tell me what I do and don't like, Potter!"
"Last time I told you that you looked hot in that jumper, you told me you hated it and I don't recall you ever wearing it again until today," he said calmly then sighed. "Can we stop fighting for once? Please just come and sit back down. I was enjoying your company."
I continued to stand where I was, glaring at him.
"Please?" he asked again and I gave in and went to sit next to him. We were silent for a while, just looking out at the lake and taking pleasure in the sunshine.
"You know," I said leaning a bit closer to him, "You didn't completely fuck today up."
He chuckled and grinned at me. "So does this mean I'm forgiven?"
"I guess it does. And for the record, I do hate this jumper. I only used to wear it when I had nothing else."
"So how about today? Are all your other clothes in the wash, or was I right in saying that you really do care?"
I thought for a moment and remained quiet after the question, but my silence said everything.
"I've been waiting six years to hear that," he said, grinning for ear to ear.
"I didn't say anything," I said a bit confused.
"Exactly."
"Well? What happened next?" Eva asked as Lily went a bit red in the face.
"Did you guys hook up? Oh, I bet you did!" Rachel called and began making kissing noises.
"Shut up," said Eva and threw a pillow at her. "Let Lily finish the story!"
"Look, I don't want to do anything to piss you off and end up having our relationship going backwards again, so let me just get things straight. Do you like me?"
I sighed. I didn't want to answer the question, so again I remained silent.
"Don't be so ambiguous," he said. "I want a yes or a no, and I'm not going to ask again, Lily, this is the last time."
My heart skipped a beat when he said my name. He never called me Lily. It was always Evans or a new nickname that he had made up for me. It was anything and everything, but never just Lily.
"Never going to ask again? Does that mean you are done asking me out? For good?"
His face began to fall a bit and he slowly nodded. "Unless you give me reason to ask you out, then yes."
"I'm not going to go out with you at the moment, Potter," I said. He looked upset and a bit hurt by my comment, but nodded.
"What?" Eva and Rachel yelled in unison.
"What just happened? Why on Earth did you say no? I thought you had finally come to your senses!" said Eva, exasperatedly.
"Merlin's beard," Rachel breathed.
"Guys!" Lily yelled, "Do you want to hear my story or not? Just shut up and let me finish!"
"Alright," he said. "But can I ask one favour? I hate it when you call me Potter. Please just call me James like other people do."
He looked so sad sitting there, staring at the ground and, for the first time in my life, it pulled at my heart to see him like that. I shuffled over on the grass a bit so that I was sitting closer to him. I don't think he felt me move.
"Hey," I said nudging him in the ribs with my elbow, "just because I'm not going to go out with you now, doesn't mean I don't want to at all. I just need some time, all right? And besides, I don't trust all those other girls. I want to know that you are as good as you say before I sign up for anything."
When he looked up at me, he looked more contented than before, but still a bit confused.
"Merlin, you are such an idiot," I said and shook my head, a smile creeping to my lips, "That was just an invitation to kiss me, James."
After my words set in, the smile that appeared on his lips lit up his whole face and he looked happier than I'd ever seen him. It was actually a smile, too. Not just a smirk or a grin like it usually was; a genuine smile.
He wasted no time at all and the next thing I knew, I was lying on my back in the grass with his body pressed up against mine. My head started to spin a bit and I wasn't sure if it was due to his intoxicating cologne, or the fact that I had an extremely good looking and highly sought after guy lying on top of me.
But either way, it was a very exhilarating feeling.
"I told you I'd win you over sooner or later, Evans," he smirked and fervently pushed his lips against mine in a breathtakingly passionate kiss.
"Oh my God!" Rachel screamed, jumping over onto Lily's bed. "Did you guys do it?"
"No!" she objected. "I just kissed him! That's all." She looked away and started to blush a deep scarlet.
"I don't think that is all," said Eva, raising an eyebrow at her friend.
"Ok, fine!" Lily yelled, giving in. "His hands went somewhere. But that is all. We didn't go further than that, I swear."
"North or south?" Rachel asked.
"What?" Lily asked in confusion.
"His hands, Lils. Did they go north or south?" Eva said, slowly and patiently as one might speak to a young child.
"Not down there!" She said looking shocked.
Both Eva and Rachel burst into simultaneous laughter, maybe at their friend's theatrics, maybe at her naivety. Or, quite possibly, at both.
A/N: Ok, so this one was a bit different. But I really wanted to put some Lily/James into the story. I'm not really that good at writing in first person, but please tell me what you think. Be as harsh as you want. It's all helpful! Also, there were a few problems with this chapter. A couple of lines were cut out here and there (before the line things) but I'm pretty sure it's all sorted out now.
