Chapter Three: A Villain with a Smiling Cheek

"No!" Lily hissed, her voice low and vicious. "Mr Filch, sir, you can't possibly leave me here with this – with this –"

"Toerag?" Potter offered. She ignored him.

"Based on his previous record of failure to complete detentions, I really don't think he should be left unsupervised!"

"He won't be left unsupervised," Filch said, somewhat irritably. "He'll be with you, won't he?"

Lily didn't need Potter's smirk to tell her that she hardly counted as supervision. "But really, Mr Filch, it's hardly fair…"

She trailed off when she realised that he wasn't even listening. "Fine," she said abruptly. "You can leave now, sir." She said the last word dripping with so much contempt that she saw Potter grin delightedly out of the corner of her eye. He was enjoying this, the bastard. Perhaps he'd even gotten himself detention with her because he'd known she'd be here; she put nothing past him.

With one last glower at them, Filch left her to her fate. Even Mrs Norris had abandoned her. Traitor.

"Right, Potter," Lily said brusquely. "I'm assuming you don't want to be here with me any more than I do, so keep your mouth shut and work hard so we can get out of here faster. You do that side over there. I'll do this one." Without looking at him once, she made her way to an array of sponges laid out beside two buckets of soapy water.

Lily felt him the moment he moved to stand behind her. His breath was hot on the back of her neck: she had bundled her hair into a loose knot, exposing the delicate patch of skin, and the tiny hairs on it stood up straight in warning. Potter's fingers brushed it gently. His touch was light as feathers and burned like ice. She stiffened.

"Really, Lily," he murmured into her ear. "What makes you think I don't want to be here with you?" He chuckled, low and silky. "Look at you, giving me orders, like you expect me to obey…"

Every muscle in Lily's body was tense. She didn't know why she didn't simply turn in the cage of his arms and hex him to infinity, but she didn't want to touch him. Not any more than she already was.

"I'm Head Girl, which is exactly why you should obey," she snapped back.

Potter laughed. The sound rang, bell-bright, through the empty room. "So much faith you have in that badge," he mocked. "Do you know what, my darling Lily? You might be Head Girl, but I don't... give... a shit."

His words were the impetus she needed to struggle against his closeness. Lily twisted around so it would be easier to push him off, then immediately regretted it. They were now face-to-face. His hazel eyes drilled into her green ones, and she noted absently that gold flecks shimmered in them, trapped in the amber of his irises. A part of her had already known that. They had been this close before, once. Years ago. The memory of it still haunted her.

Potter's head inched closer to hers. Lily's eyes widened in alarm and she tried to back away, but he was faster than her. One hand came up to hold her trembling head in place. His lips were almost over hers when –

"Aguamenti!"

Lily screamed in shock as water suddenly exploded over the front of her robes. Potter roared with laughter.

"Your face, Lily! My God, that was beautiful. Revenge is sweet, isn't it?" Still snickering, he tipped her a salute, took a sponge and bucket of water, and went off to the other side of the room.

Lily felt fury bubble up in her. But this time, it was mixed with shame – shame that he'd gotten her so easily, shame that he'd nearly kissed her and most of all… shame that she'd been about to let him. She hadn't wanted to let him: her body had simply been frozen, like a rabbit caught within the paws of some great hunting cat.

She scrubbed viciously at a plaque celebrating Tom Riddle. God, what was wrong with her? She despised Potter. She wasn't like Rosalie Stebbins or those other girls who couldn't see past the dark good looks and overinflated head. She knew about the real monstrosity inside James Potter – had known since that night at the end of fifth year – and still she had let herself be caught neatly in his web.

Well, never again. Lily snuck a look at him. He was kneeling, sponging the bottom of a glass case. The muscles of his arm bunched and flexed as he moved it. The sight filled her with a desire to dismember him, so she quickly moved her eyes back to her own work.

Her hand subconsciously tightened around her wand in the pocket of her robes. Why shouldn't she use it on him? He certainly deserved it. She only wanted to hex him a little bit. Well, admittedly she wanted to hex him to kingdom come, but the point was, she wouldn't act on it. She had self-control. Unlike him.

Lily blinked and came back to herself with a start. What was she thinking? She didn't need to be using her wand on anyone, she chastised herself. She was better than that.

But it was so tempting…

Her eyelids drooped slightly as she imagined what she could do to Potter. His back was turned, and no self-respecting Gryffindor should have taken advantage of that, but she wasn't just a Gryffindor. She was also a Black, and this was too perfect an opportunity to let it slip out of her grasp.

Lily made a decision. James Potter needed to go down, and now was just the time to do it.

"Rictusempra!"

The spell hit him directly between the shoulder blades. He jerked violently then curled into a ball, laughing uncontrollably at the Tickling Charm. Lily giggled as she watched him. But she had underestimated him: still lurching from side to side, he managed to extract his wand and spit out between his teeth, "Stupefy!"

She reacted instinctively. "Protego!"

The Stunning Spell's jet of red light rebounded off her Shield Charm. Lily cringed as it shattered the glass of a display case. The clatter of several heavy trophies toppling to the floor was sure to attract attention.

"Lily!" snarled Potter, who had managed to end the Tickling Charm. "Look what you've done!"

"Me?" she asked in disbelief. "You dare accuse me of being the cause of all this?"

"Who cursed me from the back?"

"Who pretended to kiss me just for revenge?" she countered.

Suddenly, Potter stopped looked angry and smirked. "Are you upset I didn't actually do it?"

"Why on earth would I want your filthy lips anywhere near mine? God knows where they've been," she said, a little too quickly.

He saw it and pounced. "Really, Lily? So if I were to do this…"

He tried to approach her, but Lily's wand was aimed at him before he could take more than a step in her direction.

"You stay right where you are, Potter, or you'll be in the Hospital Wing for the rest of seventh year," she said warningly.

He held up his hands in a sarcastic gesture of surrender. "Alright, I won't go near you if you don't think you can control yourself around me. But there'll be other opportunities, Lily. Maybe I'll do something to get detention with you tomorrow... again."

Her eyes flashed. She'd suspected from the start that he'd gotten himself here deliberately, and something electric raced through her veins at the confirmation. It wasn't enough that he'd ruined her, a year and a half ago; he wanted the chance to do it again.

She wasn't going to give it to him.

"If you do that," Lily said, cold and clear, "I'll curse you right here where you stand."

Potter's lips quirked up in a sinfully crooked grin. She clenched her teeth.

"Wait till Sirius hears about this," he said teasingly. "He'll be so pleased his little cousin is finally showing signs of her long-suppressed Black blood. He was starting to think you were adopted."

Lily opened her mouth to launch into a spiel on how her Black blood wasn't suppressed, and anyway, that one tiny, miniscule piece of revenge did not qualify her to be placed in Slytherin. Then she stopped dead, head tilting to the side. Potter tensed. He had heard it too.

Someone was coming, their footsteps echoing through the Great Hall outside.

Lily closed her eyes. This was it. Her life was over. Not only did she have week-long detention, but now she'd probably be expelled or something for breaking the glass and fooling around while she was meant to be hard at work. The thought made her reopen her eyes. She at least wanted to see the look on Potter's face.

He had vanished.

Her eyebrows knit together in confusion. Where was he? Suddenly a hand closed over her upper arm in a vice-like grip and dragged her backwards. She opened her mouth to cry out.

"It's me!" Potter hissed. "Be quiet!"

There was a ripple around her, and Lily felt the oddest sensation. It felt like she was wrapped in fabric, but she could see into the Trophy Room as if through a pane of thick glass, or perhaps a square of shimmering water, suspended in mid-air. She had no further time to dwell on it, for at that moment her Herbology teacher burst in.

"What's going on?"

Professor Sprout stopped short at the broken display case and buckets on the floor. Her eyes scanned the room and Lily prepared herself for discovery, but amazingly Sprout passed her with nothing more than a cursory glance. The teacher backed slowly out of the room, frowning.

Only then did Lily realise that her heart was pounding furiously and she was pressed up against James Potter. The moment she became aware of it, she bared her teeth and pulled away.

"What on earth was that?" she said in a sibilant whisper.

"Invisibility Cloak," he replied shortly. She drew in an awed breath. She'd heard of them. They were rare, and hard to come by, but would certainly explain how the Marauders had managed to get away with so much over the years.

"Let's get the Trophy Room finished," Potter said. "Sprout might come back any minute. And Lily, I'm warning you… you'd better not tell anyone about the Cloak."

She hadn't thought about it yet, but she shrugged easily. "Sure," she said. Surreptitiously, she crossed her fingers behind her back.

They finished the rest of the detention in silence. For the next three hours they spent there, Lily constantly returned to one thought: Why had James Potter taken her under his Invisibility Cloak when he could have just left her out to be caught by Sprout?

AN: Annnnnd the diss is in! Sorry I couldn't get this chapter out in the morning. See you all tonight for Chapter 4! Shruthi, good luck on your project report writing.

Huge thanks to all reviewers, especially the guests I can't respond personally to. Keep them coming, please :)