It was just like their dorm, only different. Instead of two double beds, it was one king size bed, with a huge tv, and there was a ginormous bookshelf. She looked at him incredulously.
"What is this place?" She asked quietly.
"The Room of Requirement." He answered simply.
She really took in the room this time.
"A king bed, James?" She said, with a small smirk on her face. He grinned full out at her, showing her all of his perfect white teeth.
"This is our date?" She asked, confused. He frowned slightly.
"Well, I've wanted to show it to you since I first found it, but you've never really wanted to be in 1 meter-radius from me." He said, smirking slightly, remembering those times. It was crazy to think it was just a few days ago that she hated him.
"And the king-size beg is for…" She deliberated, still extremely confused.
His grin stretched even wider. "We're sleeping here tonight." He told her.
She snorted, but choked it back when she realized he was being serious.
"You're… joking?" She asked dubiously.
He shook his head as no, still smirking mischievously.
"And what gave you the idea that I wanted to sleep with you, Potter?" She said, putting her hands on her hips.
"You know Evans," he said, not missing the chance to use her last name, since she was doing it. She smirked a little when he said it. "That might hurt, if I knew you weren't just kidding yourself." He said, crossing the room in three giant strides, and he leaned down, and kissed her.
It was unlike anything else. They had kissed before sure, but nothing like this. This kiss was deep and passionate, and they both knew it was different. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and she threw her arms around his neck. He closed the distance between them, bringing her as close as possible. She tangled her fingers in his messy hair, and he could feel her smiling.
He picked her up, and has the satisfaction of hearing her let out a little shriek. He pulled her over to the bed, and they sat down, not stopping their kiss once.
She started pulling away, and he couldn't stop himself from frowning, as much as he tried not to.
"What's wrong?" He asked, sad and disappointed. If he had it his way, they wouldn't have stopped, ever.
"We… we can't." She said, sliding off the bed. He remained still, stunned. He had thought the kiss had been magnificent, and could have sworn she thought so too. Looking at her face now though, he wasn't quite so sure.
"Don't take this the wrong way James, but this is our first date. I don't want to spend it kissing you." His face fell even more. She moved over to him, and held his hands in hers. "I want to spend it with you. Talking. Joking around." She said, smiling. He smiled too, despite his disappointment.
"If we're staying the night here James, I'd rather we have separate beds." She said. It wasn't two seconds after she had said that, that the king bed changed into two four-poster beds, like the ones she used to have in her dorm with the girls.
He laughed at her scared expression.
"Did I do that?" She asked.
"No. Well, yes. But no." He said. She frowned. "I mean, you said it, so the room did it. It is called the Room of Requirement for a reason you know Lils." He said, chuckling.
"So then why is our date spot a room James?" She said. "You wished for a room?" She stared pointedly at him, and he laughed.
"No, I mostly just wanted a comfy place for you to read to me." He said.
She watched him walk over to the bookshelf and pick up a book. He brought it over to her and placed it in her hands.
"Cinderella." She whispered, transporting back to her memory.
He nodded, hoping this would trigger some recollection of the dream she had a couple nights ago.
"You want me to read you this?" She asked, voice barely above a murmur. He nodded again.
"Please." He said. She moved soundlessly over to the bed on the left. He followed her, and sat at the foot of her bed, as she sat at the head of it.
She looked at him for any further instructions. She really didn't have a clue what was going on. Something took over her and before she knew it, she blurted out:
"I had a dream."
"I know." He said.
"About my mother. And my sister."
"What happened?"
"My sister and I wanted my mother to read us this," She said, holding up the book. "But she wouldn't. She just gave us two glasses of water, and handed me Mr. Fuzzy." She blushed, and he urged her to go on. "Then I fell asleep." She shrugged. He stared at her for a long time.
"Read it. Please, I'd like to hear it." He said, and she opened up the book, and started reading, with perfect articulation and pronunciation of every single word. He could've fallen asleep right then and there, had he not wanted to hear every word of it. Her voice was soothing and soft, and he wanted to… Well he wasn't sure, but kissing her again seemed like a good idea. It seemed like a good idea; until he remembered last time he had kissed her, and he deserted that idea immediately.
"And so the prince searched the land for the princess. He knocked on every door, trying to find the girl's foot that would fit into this shoe." She read.
"What?" He interrupted. She smirked; she knew he would find this part weird. She always had as a child as well, although Petunia had always loved it. She supposed it was because even as a child she scrutinized everything she heard, every fact she learned, unable to stop herself from learning everything she could.
"He tried to find the perfect girl using a shoe?" He said, incredulous. She nodded, still smirking. "And it worked?" He asked. She shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to give away the ending. "All these times I've been trying to get you, and all I needed was a crummy glass slipper." He said, shaking his head. She laughed, and he grinned, happy to make her laugh.
"You don't know if works or not yet though!" She said.
He gave her a look. "This is a muggle children's story Lily. I know they all end in happily ever after."
"But let's say Cinderella's foot grows overnight. It's her, but he won't know." She said, trying to find an alternate ending. She knew a person's foot would not grow that much overnight, but it was fun to pretend.
He snorted. "And what, her face is suddenly completely changed? Or did the prat only look at those damn shoes the whole night?" He grinned.
"He was an awful dancer. If he hadn't have been looking down, he would've trod on her feet!" She said, giggling.
"That bloody Prince. Unfortunately, the Prince and I share the same problems. Both too good-looking to stop any female from falling for us," Lily roared with laughter, which James chose to ignore. "And both can't dance to save their lives." He finished.
She stopped laughing. "You… James Potter. Can't dance?" She asked, astonished. He nodded sheepishly.
"Runs in the Potter male blood." He said, thumping his chest.
"Funny because dancing amazingly runs in my family blood." She told him, laughing.
He fixed her with a mischevious smile.
"Care to test that theory out?" He said, winking. Before she could ask what he meant, he was already saying something else.
"I sure do wish we had some music to dance to!" No sooner had he said this, that soft music played from who knows where. She looked around the room, trying to figure out where the music was coming from. Before she knew it, James was right beside her, pulling her off the bed.
She followed reluctantly. She really was a superb dancer, but she was not looking forward to dancing with James, if he really was as horrible as he said he was.
He put one hand over her waist, and grabbed her other hand. She put her hand over his shoulder, and they stepped to the music. Lily moving gracefully, James moving awkwardly, she laughed and starting leading instead.
In all honesty, he wasn't that bad once he got started.
Or it could be the fact he has an amazing partner. She thought smugly, grinning to herself.
"One two three, one two three." She counted under her breath, moving in coordination with him.
My god, she is good. James thought to himself, looking down at her feet, trying his hardest not to step on them, as they moved around quickly. He let her take control, and she guided him through the moves. They spun in circles around the room for about 10 minutes straight.
This song is never ending! He thought to himself silently, not wanting to be the first to end their dance. She was smiling and laughing, having fun, and he wasn't going to ruin it. He took his eyes off her feet, and looked her in the eyes. She was looking at him too, and he guessed that she had been this whole time.
The song slowly faded away, and it started into a new one. This one was not a waltz, and so he had no idea what to do. He looked at her.
She put her arms around his neck, and rested her head on his shoulder. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her close. They swayed from side to side, and he thought to himself silently that liked this dance a lot better.
"You know you're not a terrible dancer." She murmured, still head resting on his shoulder. He chuckled, and before thinking, swung her down into a dip. It was like those dance moves he had seen on the muggle tv when he was a kid- he used to watch just for laughs with his dad.
She let out a small gasp but her dancing reflects kicked in, and she swung low, putting her complete faith in him.
When he pulled her back up, she smiled.
"Where on earth did you learn that?" She asked, astonished.
"Muggles." He said, flashing her all of his teeth. She chortled and so did he, and they danced some more.
"I like dancing with you." He said to her softly.
She stopped dancing for a millisecond, taken aback by his last comment. He noticed of course.
"Sorry." He said.
"No, don't apologize! It's just… I really like dancing with you too." She smiled at him, and kissed him on the cheek.
"You know, you never finished your story." He said, still dancing. They both hadn't stopped this whole time.
"I know." She sighed. "But sometimes it's so much better to live your own fairytale than to read one." She said, smiling.
He didn't stop to think of what a 'fairytale' is. He didn't ask her either. He just wanted to stay like this, with Lily in his arms, forever.