A/N: Ok, in case you guys haven't realized yet, this is happening during the Christmas holidays (most romance stories do . . . .) So …yay. Anyway, I've decided what's going to happen, and its all thanks to . . .whoops! I can't give it away yet! Bwahahahahaha! Anyway, enjoy and . . . .REVIEW!
***
Remus nervously felt the heavy, leather-bound book on his pillow for what seemed the fiftieth time. He could tell Sirius was already asleep, judging by the sound of fifty pigs around an apple coming from behind his curtains. He was not sure about James, though. Sirius' snoring drowned out all other sounds, so he could not judge by slow breathing.
Sweating buckets, he glanced at the clock on his nightstand. 11:59. Lily was probably expecting him by now.
The thought of her brought new beratings of himself. Why did I let her twine me around her
finger like that? I can't betray James
and Sirius like this! Lily's voice
rang in his ears, though. It's not betraying, it's doing me a favor.
Remus sighed. He had, promised, after all. Remus Lupin did not go back on his promises.
He decided that he would just have to go for it. He waited for Sirius to exhale before scrambling out of bed, paused, then quickly padded to the door at his next breath. One more had him opening the door and heading outside.
He leaned against the door for a moment, just to be sure no one had heard him – unlikely, with Sirius – before striding towards the girls' dorm.
Reaching it, he wondered if he should knock. Then he pictured Lily's head when he woke her up. He pushed the door open with a sigh.
He immediately picked out Lily's bed – flaming red hair was hard to miss, even in the moonlight. He tiptoed over to it and set the book down between her bed and another girl's he did not know very well. Lily stirred and mumbled something, and her eyes flicked open.
***
Lily awoke to a very pale-looking Remus.
"Finally," she mumbled, trying to blink the graininess (A/N:
erm….is that a word?) out of her eyes.
Remus picked the book off the floor and shoved it into her hands.
"You never talked to me. Got it?"
Lily smiled.
"Whatever, you want, Remus. Now go to bed before James notices you're not sleeping. I don't think Sirius will"-she paused to let the faint sounds of snoring become known-"but James might."
Remus nodded quickly and slunk out of the room. Almost, Lily thought, like a wolf.
She set the book down on her pillow and got up to wake the others. They wouldn't want to miss this.
Kat awakened immediately, her hair in perfect order and her eyes not the slightest bit bleary-eyed. Lily wondered how she did it.
Becca, however, was another matter.
"Becca!" Lily whispered as loudly as she could afford.
"Whaaaaaat?" Becca replied in a muffled whiny voice.
"Becca, get up! We have the book!" Lily said, shaking her roughly.
"Sto-o-o-op! I don't wanna be half a look, whatever that means!" She snuggled deeper into her blankets.
Lily exchanged exasperated looks with Kat. Kat smiled slightly, and made a pushing motion in the air. Lily giggled and nodded.
"On three," she whispered.
"One . . ."
"Two . . ."
"Three!"
Becca collapsed on the floor with a grunt, then leaped up to her feet.
"That was unnecessary!" she shrieked. "Just because I don't want to looks at the . . ."
Suddenly her eyes went wide and she covered her mouth. Too late.
James, the light sleeper Remus said he was, could be heard scrambling down the stairs.
Lily shot a daggered look at Becca, who blushed and wrung her hands.
"What are we going to do?" she wailed. "What are we going to do? What are we going to do? WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!"
"We're going to shut up," Kat said firmly. "It's just James, after all."
Lily nodded and hopped in bed, hiding the book under her pillow.
"As far as he's concerned, we've been sleeping the whole time!" she hissed. "Now shut up!"
The footsteps stopped by the door.
***
James stopped by the girl's dorm, slightly hesitant, before pushing open the door. He was sure he had heard one of them scream.
Poking his head inside, he noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Just three girls, sleeping . . . Wait. His head swiveled back to the one on the left. Why was she sleeping on the floor?
He walked in the rest of the way.
"Lily?"
An exceptionally loud snore that would have done Sirius proud answered him.
"I know you're awake," he said tentatively.
Another snore. Or was it a snort?
"Who screamed?"
He thought the girl on the left giggled. Well, that answered his question.
"Why?"
"That's none of your business, mophead!" was the biting response.
"Oh yeah?" he retorted. "Well, I can make it my business if I can hear it all the way in my room, carrot hair!"
Lily sat up and faced him. With her disheveled hair, bleary eyes, and furious grimace, she looked absolutely horrendous.
"It's. None. Of. Your. Business," Lily repeated in a much too quiet tone. "So, unless you plan on leaving a very short life, I strongly recommend you leave right now, without another word."
So, she thought she could threaten him, did she? She didn't who she was talking to.
"Excuse me, miss huffy, but . . ."
He barely had time to widen his eyes when a furious red fireball whammed into him.
***
Lily pounded James with her fists, as hard as she could, emphasizing her thoughts with them. He –pound- will not –pound- insult –pound- me –pound.
Suddenly, she realized that he last attempt at hitting him, she had missed. James was sitting on top of her, neatly pinning her arms to the ground. She noticed, with some satisfaction, that his left eye was starting to puff out.
"Don't. Do that," James said softly.
She contended herself with a snarl, and struggled to break free. She couldn't, of course. James was a lot stronger than she.
Seeing her attempts at escape were futile, she looked to her friends for help. Becca was snoring loudly, and Kat was writing down in a notepad, of all things!
Her right eye twitched furiously, as it always id when she was angry.
"You let me go right now, Potter, or I swear I will make you sorry for the rest of your miserable life!"
"Is that a threat?" he asked insolently.
Lily bared her teeth and tried to kick him, but he was firmly sitting on her legs. Gently, ever so gently, he picked her up – with irritating ease – and set her down on her bed with a malevolent grin.
"Sweet dreams, carrot."
***
A/N: yeah, it was kinda boring, but I just had to include the part about whining becca! J Sorry to all Remus fans, but I always pictured him as the quiet, shy one of the group *apolegetic smile* And I know Lily probably wouldn't attack him like hat, but hey, sometimes people lose their temper, you know? Oh, and Peter Pettigrew isn't in this because he's a meanie and this is a happy story J Can anyone guess what Kat was writing about? Bwahahahahaha!