"Hey," Lily said hesitantly, entering the Heads CommonRoom. She had forgotten about James until she had arrived, and she wasn't sure how to deal with him. Judging by the fact that he was sitting very formally in a chair, reading a book that wasn't Quidditch related, she guessed he was irritated with her.
She was right, because he didn't even say hello to her. "How was the library?" he asked in a very cold and clipped tone.
"Fine," she replied, curling up on the couch and biting her lip; he never looked up from his book. "So James," she said slowly, not quite sure how to ask.
"So Evans."
She frowned; so he was playing immature with the whole 'last name-calling'. She decided to just go for it. "What do you know about the Order of the Phoenix?"
She had thought he had frozen in shock, but after five seconds he dropped his book so it clattered on the floor. With a pained expression, he finally looked at her. "What?"
"What is the Order of the Phoenix?" she repeated warily, somewhat frightened by his reaction.
"Who mentioned it?" he demanded.
Guessing that honesty was the best policy, she told the truth. "Hillary."
"In the library."
"What else did she say?"
"That I had to pass on the message to someone that was in it."
"Well let's hear it."
"No," she replied stubbornly. "You won't tell me what it is, so I won't tell you the message."
"You just said that you had to pass it on to someone!" he yelled, frustrated.
"In the Order!"
"So?" he growled, both of them jumping to their feet. "Both of my parents are in it, I can tell them!"
"But there's no time!" Lily pleaded. "She said they'd come-." Everything stopped it seemed like as she pieced Hillary's story together. She had said they would be coming this Saturday. It was Friday night. "They're coming tomorrow."
James's entire body seemed to tense up, and suddenly he was right in front of Lily, his hands on her shoulders shaking her. "Who's coming? We have to tell someone Lily!"
"The Death Eaters," Lily replied, noticing that James was breathing just about as hard as she was. "Snape and those guys. They're going to be waiting in Hogsmead and they're going to attack the students if we don't stop them."
He paused, gazing down at her intently. "Lily, we can't be wrong about this: are you absolutely sure we can trust her?"
Lily didn't even have to hesitate. "Yes. Besides, she said that the night Snape attacked you he had said something about him having a job to do."
James frowned. "I can't believe I forgot about that. Shit!" Taking his hands off of Lily's shoulders, he ran them through his hair. "We have to go tell Dumbledore."
"Is he the leader?" Lily asked curiously. "Of the Order?"
"Duh," he sighed, but the tips of his mouth curled up. He took her hand and dragged her to the door. "Now let's go tell him."
Lily was surprised that Dumbledore had barely asked a question when they had told him about the attack. Due to Lily's begging James not to tell him about Hillary, the entire story contained a lot of blanks that most people would have wanted filled. He didn't even ask them if they knew this for sure.
"We must alert the staff immediately," Dumbledore said after James was finished, rising from his chair. "Thank you very much for telling me of this. You two are dismissed."
"Sir," James interjected. "What would you like me to do?"
"I would like you to kindly escort Miss Evans back to the Heads Dorms and remain there," he replied calmly, although it was obvious that James was getting frustrated.
"I want to help," James pleaded, trying not to be too short and rude to the professor.
"And you will, by helping Miss Evans back to her room," he responded, still calm.
"But we can both help," Lily said, trying to back James up. Honestly, they weren't children: they were the Heads for goodness sake.
"Honestly, these are jobs that require more experience than either of you have so far," he said, giving them a look that made it final. "So please, respect me enough that you will do as I say." Lily glanced warily at James and watched as he clenched his jaw, but remained silent. "Thank you," he continued, making his way toward the door. "I will keep your eagerness to help in mind." And with that, he left the two teenagers in his office.
"So you never told me what the Order of the Phoenix is," Lily commented as they made their way back to their Dorm. They were about half way there, and so far James had been completely silent, so she decided to make conversation.
James sighed but answered. "It's a group that Dumbledore founded a few years ago that works against Voldemort. There's only about twenty of them, and it's not nearly as equipped or rich as the Aurors of the Ministry but they hold their own."
"So are your parents' in it?" Lily guessed.
He nodded. "They were one of the first he asked," he said proudly. "Along with others. Professor Flitwick, Hagrid and McGonagall are in it, Mad-Eye Moody-."
"You know him?" Lily asked somewhat in awe.
James couldn't help but smirk a little. "Yeah, he's kind of crazy though. Dorcas Meadows who we went to school with a few years ago, your old friend Marlene McKinnon, Alice's brothers, Molly and Arthur Weasley and a bunch of others."
"That seems so…cool," Lily whispered as she finally entered their dorm room, James right behind her.
"I'm joining it right after I get out of school, along with Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail," James said smugly as Lily turned to face him with a shy expression.
"Do you- do you think Dumbledore would let me join?" she asked timidly.
She thought, again, that James had gone into shock; he just stared at her with a dumbfounded expression. Then suddenly he was right in front of her, shaking her shoulders just as he had done about an hour ago.
"YOU WILL NEVER JOIN THE ORDER!" he roared, furious. Lily looked somewhat scared as the raging James pulled her closer to him, his grip tight on her upper arms. "DO YOU HEAR ME!"
"You don't control me," Lily snapped, trying to pry herself from his grasp. "I can do whatever I please."
"He won't let you," James glared, still keeping hold of her.
"And exactly why not?" she countered, her glare just as ferocious. "I'm just as capable as you are-."
"It's not about capability, Lily," James said exasperatedly.
"Then what is it about?" she asked, her voice pleading.
Chills ran up and down her spine as James's hands moved their way up her arms and shoulders to her neck. Bringing his head closer, they both were breathing heavier than before as he touched his forehead to hers. She had never expected James Potter to make her feel like this.
"I never want to see you get hurt," he murmured, one of his thumbs coming up to brush against her lips and then her chin. "People in the Order risk their lives every day. Even if you someday belong to something else, I still would never want to have that risk over your head. If something happened to you…" he trailed off, closing his eyes. "I couldn't deal with that."
"Well what if I belonged to you?" she whispered back, stepping closer to him so their chests were brushing against each other. She peered up at him through her eyelids. "And you could keep me safe. Would you let me join then?"
"So now you're going to try to…seduce me to let you into the Order," James laughed, but by his facial expression it appeared to be working.
"Maybe," she whispered. "Though I'm going to get anyways. It's just that, you get so weak around me I might as well get in the easy way."
"I'll show you weak," he growled. Before she could react, he crashed his lips to hers.
At first, she tried to push against him in protest. But then as his hands began roaming their way through her hair and down to her lower back, she pulled him closer to her, crushing her body against his. It was like electricity was running all over her body, and wherever he touched it multiplied. All the stories she had heard about James Potter being a magnificent kisser were true; all the times people had told her that she had feelings for James Potter were true; and maybe even the times when people told her that they were meant for each other. At that moment, she actually sort of believed they were.
As James's hands desperately clutched Lily closer to him, one thought kept running through his mind: he was kissing Lily Evans. His Lily, the one that he had been in love with forever but had never given him the time of day. Of all the hours he had spent fantasizing about what it would be like to kiss her, he could have never imagined it to be as good as this. And truth be told, the kiss was totally worth the wait.