She knew he was in the Gryffindor common room with his mates. She stood outside the door, telling herself to just go back to her own room and wait until he came in tonight to talk to him.
She would just go in and sit with Marlene, she bargained with herself. Just because she wanted to talk to him didn't mean that she had to do it right then. She could spend some quality time with her friends and catch up with him back in the common room later. That decided, she went and told the Fat Lady, who had been watching her in amusement, the password and headed in.
She felt his eyes lock on her as she came through the portrait hole. He always did that. Any time she was near him, she could feel his eyes on her. She heard Sirius mumble something grumpily and assumed he was chastising James for getting distracted. She smiled a little. It wasn't such a bad thing, being his distraction.
She chanced a look his way. He had gone back to the game of exploding snap. He looked comfortable, leaning back in an arm chair. As it happened, her friends were over by his. She walked toward them.
"Hey, Mar," she said, settling herself on the edge of Marlene's chair. She rolled her eyes as a card exploded and Peter squeaked in terror. "Are you really telling me you have nothing better to do than watch this lot play children's games?" she asked.
Marlene shrugged. "I've already done all my homework, and we couldn't come up with anything more interesting."
Dorcas nodded in agreement.
Mary snorted. "Sirius tried to convince us to play truth or dare with Veritaserum."
Lily's eyes snapped to James. He gave the slightest shake of his head, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Don't worry," Dorcas threw in, "we talked him out of it. Honestly. Snape opened one big can of worms with that discussion. I remember it being all the rage to pretend to have spiked people's drinks with it in third year, but now that we're actually capable of brewing it, I'm a little concerned."
Lily could tell the boys were curious what Dorcas could possibly have to hide, but Lily and the girls had known about her itch for Remus for years. Marlene called it an obsession. Mary called it a rash. And Lily just called it a massive crush.
Smiling, Lily could see that they were all considering what they wouldn't want people to know, if they were slipped some of the potion.
"I heard," said Remus, "that someone nicked a bit of Slughorn's. There's no conclusive evidence as to who this might have been," he flicked his gaze to Sirius, who laughed, "but it does seem that some has gone missing."
When all the girls glared at him in accusingly, Sirius raised his hands in protest. "Wasn't me. I promise. I meant for us to go get some before we played. I didn't mean that I already had some."
Lily glanced at James, who was watching her carefully. She couldn't stop her lips turning up – just a bit – at the corners.
He smiled. "Right, then," he said. "The way I see it, there are two possibilities for the night. Either Sirius has the Veritaserum and uses it on us, in which case we all spill our deepest, darkest secrets (but probably don't get in trouble). Or, Sirius doesn't have the Veritaserum, but likely ends up getting blamed for it (along with anyone near enough to be tarred and feather with the same brush)." James seemed to consider his options. He grinned. "As head boy, I really think I should stay out of the muck." He started to rise.
"Oi. I didn't steal it," Sirius cut in, offended that he was being blamed for trouble that he –for once – didn't make.
James nodded. "I believe you mate, but we can hardly expect the same from the teachers." He shook his head sadly. "And," he added in his most pompous voice, "as head boy, it's important I not associate myself with these sorts of scandals." He grinned. "Also, we've got a prefect schedule to sort out, and I don't fancy getting slipped a mickey with you lot around," he added in his normal voice. He looked a Lily.
She nodded. "He's right. We should work out the schedule. Somehow I don't think Remus would like it if we had him scheduled every night for the next two weeks," she added, knowing that the full moon fell in that stretch of time.
As she had hoped, it prevented any possible objections. As they headed back to their common room, she tried very hard to stop her hand shaking with nervousness.
They barely spoke on the way to the common room. Lily thought he might have changed his mind. She hoped he hadn't, but resolved to accept it without recrimination if he had. She cursed at the students in the picture quickly before climbing through the portrait hole.
On the other side, she found that her progress forward was stopped by James tugging on her hand. He pulled her toward him and kissed her soundly.
"Lily Evans," he breathed. "Am I to understand that you stole a potion, from a professor?"
Lily could feel herself blushing. "Well, 'stole' is a very strong word," she mumbled, knowing full well how ridiculous she sounded.
"Hmmm . . ." James teased. "Let me see here. Did you, in fact, break into a professor's classroom?" When she nodded slightly, he grinned. "And did you then proceed to raid his stores?" She gave another guilty nod, making him smile wider. "And did you rob him of his Veritaserum?"
Lily huffed. "Not all of it. Just a bit. I never thought anyone would notice." An awful thought occurred to her. "Do you think they'll find out it was me? Merlin, I'll be –"
James pushed her back against the door, kissing her hard. "Sorry," he said, pulling back. "It's just, I was afraid you were going to ruin the effect. I don't think I've ever been quite so turned on." He raised his eyebrows suggestively. "Lily Evans being bad. I like it."
Lily shrugged, feeling her face go hot. "It seemed the easiest way."
"And the fastest," James grinned. "I like this new eager side of you."
"Right," Lily said, deciding the best defense was a good offense. "Have you changed your mind then?"
"Not at all," he said promptly, opening his mouth.
Lily felt her eyes widen. "I thought I would, you know, put it in an actual drink."
James closed his mouth, looking baffled. "Why?"
"Well, I imagine it tastes bad," she said. "What?" she asked, when he laughed.
"It's odorless and colorless, remember?"
"Oh," Lily blushed. "Yes, that does sound familiar, now you mention it." She thought it was completely unfair that he was about to have a truth serum used on him, and somehow she was the one that was acting like a nervous idiot.
"OK," she said, offering him a small vial from her pocket.
He shook his head, refusing to take it. "If I administer it myself, you might worry later that I hadn't actually taken it. It's better if you just do it." Again, he opened his mouth. She took a deep breath, unscrewed the stopper, and tipped several drops onto his tongue. He swallowed and smiled at her again, signaling for her to ask away.
"We should probably sit down," she said, gesturing to the couch. He nodded and moved over to the other side of the room. She sat in the arm chair, facing him.
"Right," she said, taking another deep breath. "I made a list." When he smiled at this, she added, "I know, you think I'm completely anal retentive, right?"
James shook his head. "Not at all. Organized, I'd call it. It's one of the many things I love about you."
Lily wasn't sure which of the two of them looked more shocked. "Hmm . . ." he said. "I didn't realize I would volunteer quite so much."
"We can stop," Lily said immediately. "In fact, we probably should just –"
"No," James shook his head. "I knew it was possible it might come up. I just thought it would be more a matter of you asking and me answering. Not so much me just coming out with it in the first two minutes."
"Right," she said again. Her hands trembling a bit, she took a piece of parchment out of her pocket. "OK," she said. Looking up, she saw James smiling his encouragement. "Umm . . . so, have you made a bet about me?"
"Yes," James answered immediately, eyes widening.