Prompt: Lily and Remus have a broment and James is slightly jealous
Lily yawns and moves closer into James' side, nudging her head against her arm until he puts it around her shoulder. She's tired but hasn't been able to fall asleep because every time she's just about to doze off, her boyfriend will fidget and she'll be jerked awake again.
It's three in the morning and they're waiting for Sirius and Peter to return from the kitchen with the news that the prank is all set up for tomorrow and Lily refuses to go up to the dorm, despite James insisting he's perfectly capable of waiting on his own. Remus is upstairs for a moment, having disappeared two minutes ago saying he was going to check on something.
"James…" the redhead murmurs as he twitches again and her head collides with his shoulder blade.
"Mhmm?"
"If you don't stop twitching, I'm going to castrate you." Her voice is laced with sleep but he seems to understand.
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Sorry."
"Just stop moving." Lily gets two minutes of doziness before James suddenly moves again. Grumbling under her breath and with her eyes half closed, Lily crawls into James lap, tucking her knees up to her chest and propping her head up on his chest, right beneath his chin. Instinctively his arms wrap around her and she smiles, just slightly. "Better. Keep still."
James presses a kiss to her forehead and returns to watching the fire, trying to keep still and not fidget. His foot is tapping out a rhythm on the floor but he manages not to shake Lily and that movement is enough to keep him calm. Remus returns just as James decides to prop his feet up on the table and Lily is, once again, awoken from her hazy state.
"Is he fidgeting?" Remus grins - quite unhelpfully in James' opinion - and sits on the opposite end of the sofa.
"Yes." Lily mutters, promptly crawling off of James and moving to rest her head in Remus' lap. "He's a useless pillow except when he's sleeping." She places her feet in James' lap and closes her eyes again. "Tell me that poem." Remus eyes flick up to look at James for a second - who is too busy looking at Lily to notice - and then he starts to softly speak.
"If I had but two little wings, And were a little feathery bird, To you I'd fly, my dear." Lily smiles slightly and seems to relax, no longer disturbed by James' constant fidgeting. "But in my sleep to you I fly: I'm always with you in my sleep. The world is all one's own. And then one wakes, and where am I? All, all alone." Remus trails off and his eyes meet James'. The black haired boy runs a hand through his hair and gently presses his hand to Lily's ankle.
"Who wrote that?"
"Coleridge or someone. He's a muggle poet." James nods, eyes falling back to Lily again.
"How do you know it?"
"Lily taught it to me in fourth year. Said it was in a children's poetry book she had when she was younger. Stopped her being homesick." James raises his chin briefly in acknowledgement, starting to draw circles around his girlfriend's ankle bone as his eyes study her peaceful features. After a moment, he speaks again.
"Never told me about it."
"You're jealous, aren't you?" Remus doesn't need his friend to answer to know that he's right. "Why?" James sighs and, once again, runs a hand through his hair.
"You were friends with her in fourth year!" He sounds exasperated but he keeps his voice low, obviously not wanting to disturb Lily now she has fallen asleep. "You've been mates with her since first year and she's hated me since first year."
"She thought you could be an arse James. That's not hating you."
"Same difference." James sulks. "I've just liked her for so long and I wish she would've liked me for the same time." Remus rolls his eyes and silently prays he never has to have this conversation again.
"You're going out with her. She's your best friend. Are you seriously going to complain that I've been friends with her for longer?" James shoots him a scathing look as if the answer is obvious. "No wonder she thought you were an arse." Remus adds, purposefully prompting a reaction from his friend.
"Oh, shut up." James crosses his arms. "I just want to know her as well as you do." He looks at Remus and shrugs, almost helplessly.
"You're so transparent." Remus tells him, cutting the black haired boy off before he can make a retort. "You know her better than anyone. And you know full well you do." James sighs but doesn't respond, accepting defeat. Jealously has never been a favourite emotion of his and it's not one he likes to dwell on.
"Sorry." He mutters to Remus ten minutes later. The werewolf doesn't get a chance to reply before Sirius and Peter enter the common room, grinning their heads off and making a racket so loud that Lily wakes up again. She doesn't waste any time in telling the two boys what she thinks of them and, suddenly, James isn't so jealous of his mates.