Summary: Everyone has a reason to be the way they are and so does James Potter. What if pieces of his mask start slipping and a certain redhead sees beyond?

Behind the Prankster's Mask

Chapter 25

The door to the boys' dormitory creaked open early Monday morning. Lily crept in, fully dressed and looking like she'd been wide awake for several hours already. Quietly she tiptoed over to what she guessed would be James's bed, using the glasses on the nightstand as indication. A frown appeared as she took note of the mess taking over three quarters of the room. Of course she should have known Remus would be the only one trying to keep some order in their dorm.

Pulling the hanging slightly apart, she smiled at the sight of her sleeping boyfriend laying before her. Surprisingly, his hair looked even messier than normal, indicating he actually did try taming it in the morning. She had also never taken much note of how he looked without his glasses that one DADA lesson, but now she drank in the sight and decided that, though he did look awfully sexy with his glasses, he looked good without them too. She has never realised how much of his face was actually hidden by them. His face looked so different from when he was awake. It was so much more peaceful and relaxed, that she now realised how guarded his expressions were.

For a moment she wondered if she shouldn't just let him sleep and return when he was actually awake, but that would ruin her whole plan. So taken in breath to steel her determination, she slowly leaned in and brushed her lips against his in a feather light kiss. Then she set back to watch his reaction.

Sleepily he opened his eyes, squinting his eyes in an attempt to see as he tried to figure out what had woke him up. 'Lily?' he mumbled when his eyes fell on her.

'Good morning,' she muttered back. 'Happy birthday.'

A smirk crept up his lips as he sat up and took a long taste of her lips. 'Happy birthday indeed,' he agreed, squinting again as he tried to look around the room. 'What time is it?'

'Five thirty,' Lily replied innocently.

'Five thirty?' James asked her incredulously. 'Well, that explains the lack of Padfoot dog piling me. (A/N: pun intended.) But why? I don't even demand my team to be up this early on a match day.'

'Because I wanted to kidnap you and spend some time alone before you got mobbed by everyone else. So go and get dressed, someone might wake up and ruin my plans.'

James look one last taste of her lips, before getting his glasses and slipping them on. Then he searched his trunk and disappeared into the bathroom with a small bundle of clothes. Lily made herself comfortable on his bed when she heard the shower turn on, studying her surroundings in closer detail.

The small area around what she guessed was Remus's bed was all neatly ordered and held little interest. Next to Remus's bed had to be Peter's, the mess around it consisted of candy wrappers, half eaten food, dirty uniforms, schoolbooks, wads of parchment and comic books. She shuddered at disgusting sight and quickly let her eyes slide past the door to the next bed.

She had to suppress a giggle when her eyes landed on Sirius's bed. The young man lay sprawled at an angle on his bed, tangled in a combination of sheets and hangings, a little bit of drool trailing down from his mouth. The area around his bed was littered with schoolbooks, school and Quidditch uniforms, a smaller amount of candy wrappers. And from somewhere beneath the clothes she though she identified the tip of his beaters' bat. Yet what really got her attention was the neat pile on his nightstand. At the bottom was a book titled Beaters: A Study of Bats, Brawns and Tactics. On top of it was a pile of magazines, she couldn't tell much about the pile itself, but the top one was a Muggle one, proudly displaying a Harley Davidson on the front.

Puzzled she decided to ask someone about it later and turned to studying the area around James's bed. What at first glance had appeared a mess, was a little more organized on closer inspection. Sure there were still the clothes and candy wrappers on the floor, but the schoolbooks were actually lying around his bag, parchment formed a messy pile next to it and in the middle was a game of chess in progress, with just enough space for the players to sit on the ground beside it. On the night stand she found the new addition of a monthly Transfiguration magazine, its predecessors forming another messy pile on the floor, a small book written in ancient runes and a large and thick copy of 'The Genealogy of Wizarding Families', a bookmark indicating it was actually being read.

She was so lost in her studying the Gryffindor boys' semi-natural habitat, she hadn't realised the shower had turned off until she heard the door opening. Automatically her eyes moved to the source of the sound and she was dumbstruck. James emerged from the bathroom, wearing a just a pair of pants. His bare chest was well toned by Quidditch and covered in a few faint, red lines, which must have been angry marks just a few days ago. His hair was still damp, for once it looked like it might actually do what James wanted.

'Like what you see?' James smirked. A blush spread on Lily's cheeks as she realised she was caught staring, before realising she had all right to stare.

'Oh, definitely,' she agreed, getting up from his bed and waltzing over. 'Just one thing,' she continued, before running her hands though his hair and returning it to its usual mess. 'There, much better. Now I've seen you with tamed hair, I know it doesn't suit you.'

'Thanks,' James smiled, placing a peck on her lips. Then he sidestepped her and walked over to his trunk, digging out clean robes and throwing them on.

'I was under the impression wizards didn't wear pants under their robes,' Lily noted as James pinned his badges on.

'Oh, most probably don't, I just feel better wearing pants. It's not like anyone notices anyway, unless...' he started to reply, but trailed off. Better not mention the levicorpus spell and risk ruining Lily's mood. If he was totally honest with himself, it was his fault her friendship with Snivellus ended, even if it had been hanging by a thread. Everyone had seen it but the those two.

Lily understood if he finished that sentence, she might not be too happy with him and decided to change the subject, rather than ruin their day. 'What's that book on your nightstand? I thought you didn't take ancient runes?'

This time it was James's turn to blush. 'I don't, I learned it before coming to Hogwarts a long with Arithmancy, Latin and most of the history Binns teaches. It's... uh... it's a children's book, actually...' he admitted reluctantly as he pulled on his cloak. 'Sirius takes every chance pointing that out too. Muggles have their fairytales, well, so do wizards. 'Tales of Beatle the Bard', my grandfather used to read them to me.'

'I'd love to read it some time,' Lily smiled, taking his hand and pulling him out of the dorm. 'But it will probably take all the fun out of it if I'd have to translate while reading.'

'There are translated versions,' James laughed softly, trying not to wake all the boys in the dorm. 'Only the really old copies are in runes. Or the other option, but only if you want to of course, maybe I could, not that I don't think you couldn't translate it, but... I, uh, I could read it to you. I know the stories by heart.'

'You know what, I think I'd like that,' Lily answered. 'Now show me to the kitchen, we're nicking breakfast to eat outside.'

'Nicking food from the kitchen is overrated,' James grinned as he lead her away from the portrait hole. 'I'll tell you a secret, the house elves practically give it away before you even stepped through the door. And don't start on slave work, except for maybe a few crackpots , they love their work and you'll hurt their feelings if you demand to do it yourself. Trust me, I've tried and they managed to make me feel bad.'

A little later they were sitting on their cloaks under a tree at the lake having a small feast for breakfast, courtesy of the house-elves. The air was slightly chilly, but they didn't let that spoil their picnic. James was entertaining Lily with the many creative ways Sirius would wake him up on his birthday or Christmas and visa versa. 'You can wake me up any day the way you did this morning. Especially if it saves me from Padfoot. Your way is more enjoyable,' he grinned at her.

'I'll make sure to tell Sirius, maybe he'll get inspired,' Lily teased.

'Merlin no!' James exclaimed, looking sick at the idea. 'I love the guy, but I have to draw the line somewhere. Anyway, he's up against you and really, the guy doesn't stand a chance.'

Lily laughed and placed a light kiss on his lips. 'Good answer, you just earned yourself your present,' she said, pulling the gift from the bag she'd been carrying around. James's face light up in anticipation as he accepted the gift and quickly ripped open the wrapping paper. He pulled a T-shirt from the wreckage and looked at her in question. 'Many teams of Muggle sports have merchandise including team jerseys,' she explained quickly.

James studied the shirt in his hands. It was a Griffindor red with golden stitching and on upper right side was the Hogwarts logo. The golden Griffindor lion and black Hufflepuff badger sitting on a broom, the bronze Ravenclaw eagle perched on one and the silver Slytherin snake was wrapped around a broom. The lion held a quaffle as two bludgers circled the logo and the snitch shot past in direction of the shoulder. 'Turn it around,' Lily suggested and James did, a grin growing on his lips. In large golden letters the back displayed Potter written in a slight curve over an even larger golden number one. Below the number Griffindor was written in the same letters as his name, curving upwards. 'Do you like it?' Lily asked tentatively when James stayed silent for several minutes, just staring at it. 'I didn't really know what to get you.'

James lifted his eyes from the shirt to meet hers. 'It's the best present I've ever gotten,' he told her, beaming. The sparkle in his eyes conveying the sincerity of his words.

'Happy birthday, James,' Lily whispered as she leaned closer and captured his lips. Everything around them was forgotten for the time being as they enjoyed just being together.

A/N: This chapter did not want to get written for ages. I'm sorry the fight took me this long, but I'm happy to report I come out victorious. But you probably already noticed that otherwise you wouldn't have been reading this chapter. There are some chapters left to this story yet. I don't know exactly how many, but I might be leaping through time a lot between them. Anyway, please review and a late Merry Christmas too all. (We have a day similar to Boxing Day, so for me it's currently still Christmas.)