Chapter Two- Tease, Don't Snog
James stumbled under the weight he was carrying and laughed. Sirius shook his head, Peter trailing him.
"Tell me again, James." he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "Why did you need those weights?"
James just grunted something that sounded like, "L"
"Prongs, pal. I hate to tell you this but- she was only kidding. She's not that mean, I don't think, for one. And for another, why would she consider you even with- muscles?" he coughed behind his fist and stuck out his chest. "Me, however-"
"Oh, shut it. Even if she wasn't serious, I don't care. I want to impress her."
This caused nothing short of a burst of laughter from both Sirius and Peter. Poor Remus was back in the Shrieking Shack, and the three of them were heading back to Hogwarts. Judging by the position of the moon, one would say it was about two in the morning, give or take a little.
"I don't care what you say." James said matter-of-factly, giving them a sidelong glance. "If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to seduce that girl. Give her a taste of her own medicine."
This only caused his two friends to laugh harder, doubling up and clutching their stomachs, as if he had just announced that he was going to overthrow Dumbledore.
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James was feeling a little, well, a little of everything. He was not very happy about the exercise "operation", as his friends so amusingly called it. It was too annoying; he hated having to do it. So he decided that it wouldn't be his first priority. Instead, he tried to think of ways to get Lily back. Although, he knew very well that whatever his plan might be, upon the first touch of her hand or leg, he would completely forget everything that was remotely close to sanity.
Grumbling to himself, he scanned his dorm and noticed that none of his friends were back yet. He had no idea where they were either. Should he? He tapped his chin and decided that they must be out making fun of him again. Laughing, James hopped off his bed and ambled down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room.
To his dismay, the first thing to catch his eye was a flash of red. It was obvious that it would happen though; it was as if she had started stalking him. Him! And this would have been a good thing, oh yes, if it weren't for-
Something touched his arm lightly, traveling down to his hand. James turned, realizing that he had been staring at where Lily had been, not where she was. She was right beside him.
"Hey, James. Fancy seeing you here."
He couldn't help but smile at her. So he did. "Uhgg." Was all that came out of his mouth afterwards.
Lily gave him a lopsided grin that he found absolutely appealing. "What if I told you that the prefects' bathroom was empty?" Her grin turned hopelessly sweet and she ran a finger up his arm again. He jerked away quickly; she raised an eyebrow. "You won't take me up on the offer?" she smiled and shrugged. "Maybe another time then." Giving him one more glance, she sauntered off to her little corner where she could always be found, surrounded by her friends and a few hopeful guys.
James took a deep breath at her departure. He cursed himself. Why did he always let the simple smell of her render him speechless? Or the way one eye crinkled when she smiled. Hell, he even thought the way she smirked when she was teasing him was striking. It was really too bad that all guys seemed to feel the same way he did. It proved to him that he had nothing on them, so he couldn't possibly have a chance with Lily. Or could he? She was looking at him again. Yes, there it was. The nightly wink. He shook his head, willed himself not to grin at her, and failed, again.
He maneuvered himself through a crowd of fourth years to the spot in the corner opposite Lily, where he and the Marauders usually hung out. And what a surprise- two minutes after he settled himself into a comfortable chair, Sirius, Remus, and Peter come scuttling up. Sirius and Remus were grinning, the latter looking a little rough around the edges from his recent ailment. Peter had this sort of wet smile on his face.
James tapped a finger against the arm
of his chair. "What havoc have you been wrecking, and why wasn't I included?"
"Why because Wormtail
here said you were busy." Sirius exclaimed on the spot, waving his arms about
and pointing at Peter, who shrugged and replied,
"I did not."
Remus rolled his eyes, plopping into the seat next to James, who was trying to flatten his hair and avoid Lily's gaze at the same time. "We weren't doing anything exciting anyhow. Just another one of Padfoot's hopeless food cravings."
James looked skeptical. "Then why did
it take so long?"
"We er, got into some trouble with one of the suits of armor. I swear Snape put
a curse on it."
"Yeah!" Peter added excitedly. "It was following us around and slashing its sword all over the place."
Remus said, "Not bad, actually. We should thank Snape for the entertainment."
"That won't be necessary." Sirius importantly adjusted his robes. "I've already cursed it to follow him around all day tomorrow. Yup, it should be waiting outside the Slytherin common room right now."
"Whoever knew." James said, smiling and staring into the fire, which was about five meters away. This was when he made the mistake of glancing in Lily's direction. She looked a bit flustered, and annoyed, by the two guys talking to her and heedlessly resting their hands on places she didn't seem to want them to. The fiery red-head quickly spotted him and pointed to the portrait hole.
Who was James to refuse something of that sort? He looked at his friends and bellowed, "I'll catch you guys, er, later."
Sirius followed his gaze with hazel eyes and winked. "You have fun now."
James ignored him and proceeded to head towards the portrait hole. He slipped outside and glanced around. The corridors were nearly empty, for a Saturday night. It was, after all, ten at night though. Most people were in their common rooms. Or the Astronomy tower. Lily tumbled out of the Gryffindor entrance; he immediately regretted thoughts along Astronomy tower lines.
"Hello." She said, and James was amazed once again at how she could turn such a simple greeting into a means used to lure him.
"Hi." He replied. They smiled at each other, as he continued to stare down at her. Her face was impassible; it was impossible for him to figure out any of her thoughts. "Lily?"
"Yes?" she asked, wrapping a small
hand around his arm.
He quickly gathered courage. He wasn't shy around anyone else, why her? "What
are we, exactly?" she opened her mouth, but he interrupted, "I mean, you tease
me all the time. We've spent a lot of time together since sixth year started.
You never paid any attention to me before. But it's not like we snog or anything…and you said I needed to work out…so, what
are we?"
She laughed. "James, you're funny. You still remember me saying you needed to work out? I was only kidding. You know, it was for a laugh…don't take it so personally. Although," she held up a hand. "that still doesn't mean you're my type of guy. You're just…not. To say the truth, I don't have a type of guy."
"What?"
She laughed again, her dark emerald eyes sparkling at him in the dark. She pushed him into a nearby empty classroom and began again, "We're friends, I thought. Why, you thought something else?"
"N-no."
"Oh, I see." She pulled herself onto a desk. "You want us to be something else. You know, James, this is a game. You can play or not play. But I'll tell you one thing, I always win."
"What?"
She muttered something along the lines of, "idiot men." before saying, "Forget
it." Unable to let him go on not knowing, though, she blurted out, "I was
saying that we're just fooling around. Like friends. We don't snog, you know. We just…tease each other in turns. Although, it's always my turn." She smiled and ran a hand
along his thigh, causing his eyes to light up. He was sitting next to her on
the desk.
"Can't I have a turn?"
"We'll see. Maybe someday. But you'll have to be
quicker than me."
He raised up a hand and stopped, realizing that he had no idea what he was doing at all. So she kept going and ruffled his already ruffled hair a bit, scooting closer and leaning into him, wondering all the while why she wasn't back in the common room with everyone else. Why had she pulled James all the way out here to do…nothing at all?
Abruptly, she realized that his head was dangerously close to hers, and his lips were almost touching hers. She pulled back, smiling, and hopped off the desk. "Nice try. But there's no snogging in this game." She patted his knee as he climbed down after her. "And I only dragged you out here for a friendly chat anyways. I'd better head back to the common room." At the door, she turned back around and added, "Coming?"
He scrambled to her side, happy to be near her, and frustrated over it all the same. They walked back to the portrait hole together in silence. Before he could enter, though, she held out an arm in front of him and pushed him about until he faced her.
"I haven't said goodnight yet." Before he could do anything about it, she pulled his shoulders down slightly, since he was taller, and kissed his cheek. Not satisfied with his reaction, she lowered her head and kissed his jaw, his neck, and anything else her lips happened to reach.
He moaned and spluttered out, "Lily, don't- I need-"
She pulled back a little, but still remained close enough that he was intoxicated by her. Suddenly she smiled. Not a smirk, like usual, but just a smile. For him. He smiled back carefully, before she added, "See you tomorrow." with a wink, and ruined all of his hopeful expectations.
James watched her trample through the portrait hole back into the common room, and resolved that if nothing else, he would be quicker than her and snog her senseless someday. And if that could be successful, the next step would be merciless seduction…Amid these happy thoughts, he tried not to remember that this was just what Lily was being more successful at doing with him, minus the snogging, of course.
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Lily nibbled on the end of her quill, rolling over in her mind what the past week, or maybe longer, had brought her. James, certainly, and her new game of teasing him. But what was it really?
She heard laughing outside her empty (except for her) dorm and scowled. Despite her reputation, despite everything, she did not enjoy the company of her peers. She realized, absently, that they secretly thought of her as a ruthless bitch. Maybe she was, but she liked to think that there was something more to herself. And she wasn't as much of a bitch as everyone thought she was. Oh sure, she acted like one, but who didn't act? Surely one day, people might get sick of saying horrid things about her (that were only half true) when they thought she couldn't hear. In the mean time, her constant act was enough to keep her satisfied. Hey, whatever works for you, right?
James was truly the only person whose company she liked, even if she did convince herself otherwise. As seems obvious, Lily Evans was a very contradictory person. But she had her reasons. And God forbid, what if someone learned that she wasn't just pretending to be a little attracted to James? No, that would never happen; because she would never admit to it. That resolution led to another: she must never kiss him. If she really meant to keep teasing him like this, she didn't trust herself to do that. Maybe she could without consequence, but then again, maybe she couldn't. So she decided not to risk it, and keep the teasing on a low level. At least for the time being. They must never see behind her cruel exterior; she rather enjoyed having guys fall at her feet, and she certainly meant to keep it that way.
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A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed, I really appreciated your comments. Yes- Lily is a bitch! But not really….if that makes any sense at all. She doesn't even know! Okay, I'm off to finish my homework, so goodnight all, and please be kind enough to leave me a review!
