8.
Lily
retrieved a bobble from her book bag, using it to tie back her long
red hair into a messy bun on the top of her head. She stretched her
arms over her head and cracked her knuckles before returning to the
homework spread across the table before her. Madame Pince glared at
her from across the library and Lily sent her a small smile, willing
herself not to crack the knuckles of her other hand. It was a bad
habit she'd picked up from hanging around boys for too long. They
seemed to think it was impressive; Lily found it relaxing. She
had to stop herself from squealing as two hands grabbed her around
the middle. She whipped around to find James smirking at her before
rounding the table and nosily dropping his book bag over her work.
"Finally decided to show up?" she whispered, purposely
pushing the bag off the table as he took a seat opposite. "Hey,
I have to practice if I want to make the team," he argued. "You
don't need practice," she muttered, as though it annoyed her to
admit the fact. "You fly like a pro and you know it. You and Sirius
just want to show off for the girls." He smiled.
"Maybe." "Yeah, yeah. Well anyway, you owe me big time;
I did your Transfiguration essay. Sirius can do his own, my hand is
cramped." He frowned, taking the parchment she held out to
him. "I thought you were hanging out with Emmeline and Dorcas
today?" "Yeah, this morning. I've been sat here forever
waiting for you." He chuckled, reaching down into his bag
and retracing a roll of parchment of similar size. "Practice was
this morning too," he said, handing her the scroll. "I've been
in the common room doing They laughed
together at their stupidity until Madam Pince cleared her throat
loudly, glaring at them from across the library. "Come on,"
James whispered, still smiling. "Let's go." He helped her
gather up her books and grabbed Lily's bag for her as they hurried
out into the corridor. "Thanks," she said, extending her
hand to take it. "I can carry it," he said casually,
shrugging it further up his shoulder. "Why?" "Why
not?" "Okay," she shrugged. He had been doing things
like that a lot lately – helping her out in little ways for no
reason at all. Not that he wasn't a helpful person before, but Lily
didn't understand the extra effort he seemed to be putting in
lately – she didn't need help – but he gave it to her anyway,
unnecessarily. "So what do you want to do?" she asked as they
began toward the Tower. "Chess? I reckon I'm good enough to beat
you now." He laughed. "Big words, Evans. You want to bet
on that?" "Homework for a week," she said, extending her
hand. "You're on," he nodded, giving her hand a firm
shake. "I hope you learn some good exercises for those hand cramps
– you're going to need them." She pulled a face and they
laughed again, rounding another corner and up another flight of
stairs. She felt him watching her and turned to him expectantly.
"What?" He shook his head. "Nothing." "Hey
Potter!" They turned to see an older boy in Quidditch robes
hurrying toward them. He looked out of breath like he had been
running after them the whole way. "Potter," he panted.
"Good news, Baxter wants you at practice tomorrow – Simmons
knackered his leg - you're going to play as Chaser for the next
match." James was speechless. "That's great!"
Lily replied for him. "James!" she added, shoving him in the
chest when he still didn't respond. "Wow," James said,
finally finding his voice. "Thank you," he added, extending his
hand to the boy. "I won't let you down!" "Prove it on
Saturday and you might find yourself with a permanent position,"
the boy said, returning James' handshake. "Gotta run, see you
tomorrow." They watched his jog off down the hall. "I
can't believe it," Lily said, turning to James. "This is
wonderful! You're on the team! Your Dad would be so proud." " "Oh of course you'll
get on the team," she said, smacking him playfully on the arm.
"Don't be so stupid, you're brilliant." "I am,
aren't I?" he smirked. "Don't get cocky," she
warned. She stared off toward the Tower again but he did not
follow. "Hey Lily," he called. "Yeah?" She
turned to see him standing in the same spot, smiling at her funny.
"Are you coming or what?" He beckoned her toward him and she
cocked her head curiously but he remained tight lipped until she was
standing right in front of him. "What?" " "What was that for?" she smirked, wiping her cheek
dramatically on the back of her hand. "I dunno," he
shrugged, smiling. She eyed him oddly. "What's with you
lately?" He looked thoughtful and bit his lip for a second,
looking almost nervous. She'd never seen him like this, it was
weird. "Do you want to go out with me?" he said eventually.
"What?" "Go out with me." He had her
stunned. "I…no." He merely blinked, as though still
waiting for a response. Lily felt an awkwardness she's
never experienced with him before. "Are you – are you joking?"
she asked hesitantly. He dropped his gaze for a moment and scratched
the back of his head. "I'm sorry," she said, trying to catch
his eye. "I can't tell, you're being…are you?" He
shrugged. Lily wasn't quite sure what was going on. She forced a
laugh, trying to ease the situation and finally he laughed too.
"Don't make jokes like that," she said, grabbing his sleeve and
forcing him to walking back with her toward the Tower. "You have
the strangest sense of humour. Come on, let's go tell everyone
about your news." She was smiling again but it was forced.
Something wasn't right all of a sudden. "Yeah," he said,
picking up the pace. "I'll race you…"
"What's the matter, Potter?" Snape sneered as Lily was propped beside him in the broom closet. "Isn't this your dream come true?"
James managed a grunt but Lily could not see with her face pressed into his robes. She imagined him to be scowling at their captors.
"Don't worry," Wilkes added with a laugh, though he nursed his broken arm. "We'll take off the jinx so you can have your way with her." They all laughed cruelly. Lily couldn't wait to get out of here; she was going to report them all to Dumbledore.
The light began to dim and Lily realised they were shutting them in. But true to their word, Lily felt her body become slack and she sagged against James for a moment as she got her bearings. James growled and knocked her out of the way as he made a mad dash for the door but the Slytherins were quick and locked them in, leaving them in complete darkness. James banged on the door and shouted several obscenities but soon the sounds of laughter and footsteps were fading away and before long they were well and truly alone.
"Fantastic," Lily muttered, searching around until she found what was perhaps an overturned bucket. She sat herself down on it with a huff, and then a groan because her hip hurt like hell from falling on the stone floor earlier. "Just fantastic. This is exactly the way I wanted to spend the rest of my night."
She heard James shuffling around, still breathing heavily with anger before there was a soft thud and she knew he too had parked himself on the floor. "Why didn't you do anything?" he finally growled in her direction. "Why did you let them do that to you?"
"Excuse me," Lily scoffed. "I did not let them do anything. And who are you to talk? You ended up in here too!"
He was silent for a moment before adding, "I saw you though! You had them all and you just stood there. Why didn't you hex them?"
"I didn't see the point," Lily argued. "They weren't doing anything. Snape only snapped like he did because Rosier pissed him off."
"Oh, so you forgive him, do you?"
"No," Lily shot back. "Why didn't you do something, anyway? You had a clean shot, why didn't you try expelliamus instead of trying to start a duel you couldn't possibly win?"
He was silent again and Lily folded her arms across her chest with another huff. "Now we're going to be stuck in here forever."
"Sirius will come looking for us," he muttered.
"And how long do you suppose it will take him to search the entire castle?"
She got the impression he was going to say something but changed his mind at the last minute.
"Where the hell are we, anyway?" Lily continued irritably. "I didn't even know there were any rooms along here."
"There's only one," he replied moodily. "The one I told you about. I have no fucking idea where we are."
"Super," she shot back. They fell into silence once more and lily rubbed her poorly hip. She was probably bruised.
"Do you want to play a game?" he spoke up eventually, the resentment having faded from his voice.
"Sure," she quipped. "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with N."
"Nothing?"
"Gee, how did you guess?"
He chuckled softly and Lily found she couldn't stay grouchy for long. They were stuck here with only each other for company until someone came along and found them and it was as simple as that. She might as well get used to it.
"Okay, forget the games," he said. "Bad idea."
"Not wrong," she commented.
They lapsed into silence once more and the idea of practicing naturally crossed Lily's mind but she wasn't sure whether or not to suggest it. She pursed her lips in thought as she gave him a side long glance – not that he could see her. The idea of coming up here had been to practice after all and their current situation, although not the most comfortable, was probably ideal. They had needed a private room and now they had one. But James hadn't suggested it at all. He was looking to pass the time by playing games…
"Well, we found a room," she said lightly, hoping to sound casual and not as though she were desperate to start snogging him. She wished she could see his face to gauge his reaction. He chuckled again but did not reply. She rolled her eyes, hating that she had to push further for him to take the hint. "Well?"
"Oh," he said, sounding honestly surprised. "You're serious?"
"Well, yes," she said reluctantly. "That was the plan for tonight, wasn't it? We might as well-"
"No."
"No?"
"I told you, Lily. I'm not going to kiss you in some dirty…wherever the hell we are." He sounded genuinely upset with her for even suggesting it.
"I don't see the difference," Lily muttered. "Kissing in a broom closet, kissing in a bedroom, kissing at a party – it's all just kissing."
He did not reply and again she wished she could see his face.
"Fine," she huffed once more. "What are we going to do then?"
She heard him shift position. "I dunno, I guess we could…talk."
"Talk?"
"Talk."
"Okay," she sighed. "So…how are you finding the alterations I made to the patrol schedule? Are you fitting your practice in better?"
For some reason he snorted. "That's not what I meant. When I say talk I-" He paused. "How are you, Lily?"
It was probably the last thing she expected him to say. They didn't talk about themselves – not like that – not any more. She couldn't remember the last time he'd said it and not meant to enquire about head duties or homework.
"I'm…fine," she replied, finally finding her voice again. "I think."
"You think?"
"Well, I'm paying a strange man to kiss me so I can publicly humiliate my cheating, lousy excuse for a boyfriend, and now I'm trapped in a broom closet for an undetermined period of time. Fine might be an exaggeration. How are you?"
He laughed softly. "In that case I'm fine too."
"You poor thing."
He laughed again, louder this time, and it made Lily smile. He'd always had a nice laugh – the kind that was infectious. It was pleasant.
"How's your Mum?" she asked as he sobered. "Doing okay?"
"So-so," he replied. "We've hired a nursemaid for her; did I mention it?"
Of course not, they hadn't spoken in years. "No, you didn't."
"Well she needs the extra help, you know. Her memory's not what it used to be. She keeps calling me Alfred. Handsome Alfred."
"I thought your Dad's name was Alistair?"
"It was," he said gravely. "I don't even want to know who this Alfred guy was – gives me the creeps."
She laughed, imagining the look on his face as he said it. Silence took them again for a moment and she sensed him shuffle a bit closer. She flinched slightly as something touched her leg, but she realised it was his hand, searching for hers. She was no stranger to his touch any more, but after speaking about his sick mother, she wondered if there was something wrong. She caught his fingers and he took her hand in his, giving it a small squeeze.
"I'm sorry about your parents," he said quietly.
"Oh James," she said, relieved that he wasn't about to announce that his mother was actually on her deathbed. "Don't be silly, that was ages ago."
"I know," he said, and she felt him squeeze her hand again. "But I didn't say it before, did I? I wasn't there."
"I didn't ask you to be."
"But you were, when my Dad-"
"James," she cut him off, feeling that this 'talk' was getting far too serious for her liking. "Thank you… but I'm okay, I am."
"Good," he said quietly. He held her hand for another few seconds before finally letting it go. "I just…well, I should have said it sooner."
She remembered when her parents had died – she remembered the day vividly – how could she not? It was a few months after she and James had officially stopped speaking. She had wanted him them – wanted the old James – the one that used to play with her and helped her sneak into the kitchens late at night for cream cakes and spend the entire night high on sugar and laughing about nothing. But he didn't come, and she was too embarrassed to ask for his help. The new James was too busy trying to impress her and paying her compliments about her body. It made her feel uncomfortable having someone that she had always considered a brother look at her in the way he did then. When he touched her it wasn't friendly anymore – it was an attempt at being intimate – and it wasn't right. Now he was neither of those James's. She didn't really know who he was.
"I missed you," she admitted, feeling silly for saying something like that but feeling he should hear it. The thing with her parents had obviously bothered him for a long time and he was trying to bridge the gap, it was only right that she should make an attempt to do the same. She had held a grudge against him for so long, and all that he had done wrong, really, was admire her. Perhaps he had gone the wrong way about showing his affections, but he couldn't be blamed for having a crush on her. Now he didn't fancy her at all, probably hadn't for ages, and she'd held it against him for so long. It was time to get over it.
"Me too," he agreed.
"Want to play chess with me if we ever get out of here?"
He sniggered. "Are you sure about that? You still suck."
"I do not!" she shrieked, shoving him playfully.
"I've seen you trying to play Emmeline," he replied with a snort. "You're terrible!" She shoved her back and she toppled off her bucket landing hard on her already bruised hip.
"Ow-ow-ow…"
"Don't be such a baby."
"No, it really hurts," she whimpered, tentatively touching her leg. "I landed on it funny when Snape hexed me."
"Oh," he said, sounding guilty. "Sorry, are you okay?" He felt for her hands and found the spot she was nursing.
"Ow! Don't press it, it's bruised!"
"Sorry."
"So you should be."
He sniggered again and let his hand drift further down her leg, resting on her knee once more. They fell into silence while Lily thought about the pain in her hip, feeling sorry for herself, and she barely sensed him edging closer until his breath tickled her neck. A silent gasp escaped her as his nose softly brushed her cheek and his lips lay gentle kisses along her jaw. He didn't kiss her like this usually; it was far too tender. Her eyes fluttered closed involuntarily.
"I thought you said you wouldn't kiss me in a broom closet." She found her voice to be no more than a breathy whisper.
He pulled back momentarily, taking her face in his hands to turn her in his direction. "I won't have time later." And he kissed her again, but this time it wasn't soft and it wasn't affectionate. It was rough and demanding and everything they had been practicing during their sessions with Sirius. Excitement cursed through her as she felt herself being pulled to the ground, half atop him, where their kiss continued. He tried to run his hands through her hair and grunted when he found it tied back. Lily released it from its ribbon and he wound his fingers through it instantly. It felt lovely. But this was nothing new.
Noises. Sirius insisted upon noises.
The girl in the alcove had moaned and gasped loudly, and although Lily made little appreciative noises with John, it was difficult to put on some sort of show for someone she didn't know well enough to be kissing in the first place. She would just try a little moan, she decided, and see how he reacted to that. Her worst fear would be for him to laugh at her. She had laughed at the couple in the alcove. Feeling ridiculous, it took another twenty seconds before she dared release anything, by which time James had already moved on from her hair and was running his hands up and down her back.
His reaction was only slight – he hesitated briefly as though wondering if she had made a noise at all before continuing his administrations. She tried again.
"Mmmph…"
This time he definitely heard it and stopped kissing her altogether. He was panting heavily into her mouth, their lips only brushing slightly as though he were debating his next move. Slowly, very slowly, his hand snaked around to her front, brushing the side of her breast. Would he do it?
"Go on," she heard herself whisper encouragement, before she even knew what she was doing. He leant up and captured her lips again, distracting them both as he cupped and caressed her breast over her robes.
"Oh…O-oh…" The gasps came naturally this time. It felt good. Why had she never let a boy touch her like that before? She couldn't even begin to imagine what it felt like without the robes. She found herself trying to climb further on top of him with her knees either side of his hips and her hair forming curtains around their faces, and she had no idea why, but she wanted him to touch her everywhere. She lowered herself onto him slowly, not wanting to crush him.
And then she heard it.
He groaned – a long, deep, slow groan that made her tingle and his body arch beneath her. She had no idea what she was doing but the sounds he made were delicious, perfect for their act.
"Holy shit!"
Lily squealed with surprise and then cried out in pain as James tried to sit up quickly, smacking his forehead against her chin. Light flooded the closet as the door was wrenched open revealing a very surprised looking Sirius, Remus and Peter all staring at them with their mouths hanging open.
"Oh, God," Lily blushed, quickly getting to her feet and ignoring the pain in her chin and hip. They had been caught groping each other on the floor of a dirty broom closet. This was low.
"Sorry," Remus finally spoke. "We heard Wilkes laughing about trapping you somewhere – didn't realise you actually wanted to be alone."
"We were just practicing," Lily tried to argue her case, but now the three boys looked as though they were trying not to laugh. She glanced at James; he had a very satisfied look upon his face as he finally got to his feet.
"Oh for goodness sake," Lily huffed, shoving Sirius out the way and hurrying into the corridor. Catcalls and whistles followed her all the way down the hall as she took off at a brisk pace.
Lily
hated having such pale skin. As if it wasn't bad enough blushing in
front of a cute guy to begin with, with her skin tones it was always
really obvious. And she was definitely blushing now. If
he'd noticed he was certainly being very polite and not mentioning
it at all or looking at her funny. He just kept smiling and talking
to her about her day. Emmeline and Dorcas were going to be so jealous
when she told them; Edmund Rafferty was one of the best looking boys
in school Actually, the girls were supposed to meet her five minutes
ago; they'd probably spotted her with Edmund and taken to eaves
dropping somewhere close by. Lily didn't much care – she was over
the moon. If only she could stop blushing. "So what
are your plans for the weekend?" "Oh, I don't really
know," Lily replied, conscious of a strand of hair that refused to
stay in her ponytail and trying to push it back. "I'll do some
homework, I suppose. We have a lot with exams coming up." She
wished she could sound more interesting and less like a swot. "Do
you think you'll have time to hang out?" he asked, smiling that
wonderful smile. "Um," she said, distracted by the ginger
stands that kept getting in her eyes. "Maybe." He laughed
and reached out to brush the hair back from her face, tucking behind
her ear for her. She felt herself blush more. "I'll take you to
Hogsmeade and buy you one of those head bands all the girls
wear." She bit her lip, turning back to her pudding and
playing with it with her spoon. Was he asking her out? "Come
with me?" He was really asking her out!
"That
would be-" "Great," he sighed, just as the bell rang,
signaling the end of lunch. He took a final spoonful of pudding
before getting to his feet and swallowing quickly. "I have to run
up to Divination," he said, excusing himself. "We'll finish
this later. Where will you be last period? I'll meet
you." "Charms," she told him, finding it difficult to
hold back the grin that was just dying to burst its way out of her.
Edmund Rafferty had just asked her out. "All right," he
nodded. "See you then." He grabbed his goblet of pumpkin juice,
meaning to down the last of it before hurrying off, but before it
reached his mouth his hand slipped, sloshing the entire contents down
the front of Lily's robes. She shrieked as the cold liquid
seeped through her robes and onto her skin, shooting up from the
table in fright. "Oh, crap," he cursed, frantically
searching around for a napkin of some sort. "I'm sorry," he
said, finally giving up and making hopeless attempts to wipe the
material with his hands. "I-I don't know what happened. Here, let
me help." Lily shrieked again, slapping him away as he
unwittingly brushed his hand over her breast. "I can do it!"
"Sorry," he said again, cringing. "Sorry!" A
number of people were watching their scene with interest, mostly
sniggering quietly. One boy however made his amusement known to the
entire hall as he laughed loudly. "Smooth, Rafferty, real
smooth!" Edmund blushed. "Sorry Lily, I have to run, I
have a test. I really am sorry." "It's okay," Lily
told him weakly, inspecting her ruined robes. "I'll see you." He
gave her one last cringe worthy look before hurrying out of the hall,
tripping on a bag someone had left lying around. The noisy spectator
laughed louder. Lily turned to him in anger, just in time to see him
slip his wand back into the pockets of his robes. "That
wasn't funny Potter," she said heatedly. "I'm soaked!" He
approached her casually, running a hand through his hair and
extending a tissue to her with the other "It's clean." "Sod
off," she said, ignoring his offering and retrieving her wand. She
cast a cleaning charm on the robes but her skin was left sticky and
smelling like pumpkin. People had began to move on and she too joined
them, storming from the Great Hall. James Potter jogged to keep up
with her. "Do you fancy him?" "It's none of
your business," she snapped without looking at him. "You
do, don't you. You were blushing as red as a tomato." "No
I wasn't." "Yes you were." "No I
wasn't. I don't blush." "You do - you blush worse
than anyone I know." "Liar." "Am
not." "Are too." "Am not." She
ignored him now, refusing to give in to his silly games. "He
just wants to shag you, you know." She huffed. She could
never keep her temper in check for long. "And I suppose he told you
that, did he? Seeing as you're "No,"
he replied. "But I do know that he has a really small willy – I
saw it in the changing rooms – just thought you might like to know
what you're in for." Lily stopped dead, rounding on him in
a thankfully quite deserted hallway. "What is wrong with you?"
she hissed at him. "Where do you get off saying things like that
about people? And anyway, what I do is none of your business. Stay
away from me." She turned again, marching in the previous
direction, but he followed her closely. "I have a really big
one, Eddy said it's the most magnificent thing he's ever
seen." She could not help the smirk that came to her face
with his stupidity but fought it back so that no laughter could be
heard in her voice as she scolded him again. "I don't want to
hear about your "It's not my fault," he replied,
clearly nonpulsed by the threat. "You're the one that was talking
about Eddy's tiny doodle." Lily's mouth dropped open and
she turned to him at last as she marched on. "I was not!" "Yes
you were." "No I wasn't!" "Yes, you were,"
he said matter of factly. "You really shouldn't say things like
that about people, Evans. It's not nice. I might have to tell Eddy
what you've been saying about him. He deserves to know." Again,
Lily's mouth dropped open in horror. "You wouldn't dare!" He
smirked. "I might." She came to a halt, glaring at him
with a mixture of panic and anger. "Potter, you say anything of the
sort and so help me God I'll-" "Go out with
me." "What?" "Go out with me and I wont tell
Eddy what you've been saying about him." She scoffed. "I'm
going to pretend you didn't just say that." "Doesn't
make me like you less," he said, following her as she took off down
the hall once again. "Go on, go out with me." She shook
her head. "You're unbelievable." "Thank you. Is that a
yes?" "No!" "Then I'm afraid I'm going to
have to tell everyone about the nasty rumours you've been
spreading." She stopped one last time in order to give him a
dirty look. "You're a real bastard Potter. I hate you, you know
that? Hate you." And with that she stormed off down the hall.