Deflating

Chapter Sixteen: Redeeming Qualities

***

Lily stood in the Common Room, which was full to the bursting, feeling very stupid. It was twenty minutes after nine, and James Potter was nowhere to be seen. She had already asked Remus, Sirius, and Peter where their comrade was--individually, in case one of them let it slip without the other two jabbing him in the ribs. Unfortunately for Lily, the three had only told her to be patient, not to worry her 'pretty little head' about where her 'knight in shining armor' was, and that James had sworn them to secrecy where his whereabouts were concerned.

Thus, Lily stood expectantly beside the announcement board, monitoring her watch, her anger mounting. This was very offensive; she had half a mind to turn right around and go upstairs. She was not about to be stood up by James Potter, if anything, she was going to do the standing up…

Lily glanced down at her watch again. 9:25. This was so stupid, why was she still hanging around? That would give off the impression that she was so desperate for a date with him she'd wait around all night…she was not desperate, and she was not going to stand around all night for him…and she didn't even think of this as a date. Why was she referring to it as a date? It wasn't a date.

Sighing exasperatedly, Lily turned around and stormed up the steps leading up to the girls' dormitories.

"Going somewhere?" Sirius Black's voice immediately called after her.

"I'm going to bed," Lily told him without turning around. "I am not about to wait around for your stupid friend all night."

"Now, now," came a different voice, clicking his tongue, "that's not a very nice way to refer to someone who has come to sweep you off of your feet."

Lily turned around now, prepared to yell at James for being pricky, but stopped once she saw him.

He was holding a small cluster of white daisies, and smiling sheepishly. She had never seen him looking so nervous, as James was usually a very self-assured person. The condescending tone of voice he'd used just two seconds earlier didn't match his expression. Right now, he looked like a very small boy who had just picked a bunch of flowers from his next door neighbor's garden and was offering them to his mother in the hopes of escaping punishment.

"Did you get those for me?" Lily asked, pointing to the flowers.

James looked down at the daisies. "Ah, no," he said. "Actually, these are for Moony, it's been so long since he's had a date, and I figured I should probably get him something so he wouldn't feel left out." He grinned, and extended the flowers to her.

Lily descended the steps again, fully aware that most everyone was watching her, and feeling very self conscious suddenly. "That is absolutely charming," she said when she reached him, closing her hand over the flowers and taking them from him, examining each petal.

"The flowers?" James asked hopefully.

"Well, yes, actually." Lily lifted her eyes to him and allowed the smallest of smiles. "But don't get too happy; I'm not altogether pleased with you being so late."

James reddened a little. "Ah, well, I had to make sure…you'll see when we get there. Shall we go, then?" He said all of this very quickly.

"All right," Lily said, realizing that the conversation was very stiff and probably not at all entertaining to the group of people watching. This made her laugh for some reason, and as James led her out of the portrait hole, he shot her a quizzical glance.

"Can I ask what's funny?" he inquired.

Lily shook her head and regained herself. "Nothing. Nothing's funny."

James shot her an odd look, but kept walking, and she followed. They kept walking up three flights of stairs, silently, until Lily paused and asked cautiously, "James?"

"Yeah?" James replied, beginning to ascend still another flight of stairs.

"Do you even know where you're going?"

James turned to look at her, smiling widely. "'Course I do," he said. "I don't know about you, but walking around the castle--within curfew, mind you-- is not my idea of a good time. Now, after curfew is a different story. We'll try that next time."

"Next time? What makes you so sure there'll be a next time?"

James shrugged, but that smile remained evident on his face.

"What floor are we on? I've lost count."

"Seventh," James replied shortly. "We're almost there."

"Almost where?" Lily persisted, and James suddenly stopped walking.

He turned and smiled. "Here." He motioned to the tapestry of an unfortunate fellow named Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by a rather raucous group of trolls, whom he had been trying to train to be prima ballerinas.

Lily wheeled around to face James, the expression of confusion evident on her face. Her eyebrows knitted together, and she was frowning. "Well, James, romantic as this is--"

James sighed exasperatedly, gripped her shoulders, and spun her roughly so that she was facing the blank wall opposite the tapestry. "Now," he said, and she was all too aware of how close he was to her. The last time he'd been this close, he'd kissed her. Thinking about this, Lily immediately tensed. "We're going to walk three times past that wall--"

"What?" Lily interrupted harshly, but James shushed her.

"Listen. Walk past it three times and think that you need a place to eat dinner."

Lily inclined her head to meet his eyes, her eyebrows raised quizzically.

"Trust me," James said softly. "I promise, I'm not leading you into…an orgy or anything." He blushed at this, and Lily figured that this was some sort of private joke between him and his friends that she would never understand even if she asked, so she didn't.

After shooting him one last skeptical look, Lily crossed the hallway and walked the length of the wall three times, thinking, as James had instructed, I need a place to eat dinner.

And after the third time, large door appeared in the middle of the wall, glossy with polish. Lily gasped in surprise, and James grinned.

"Where did that come from?" Lily demanded, pointing to the door.

"From you," James replied, joining her next to it. "Shall we go in?"

"I--" Lily began, but she was cut off when James opened the door, and her mouth dropped open, shocked for the second time in less than three minutes.

Behind the door was a large, round room. The walls and carpet were colored the same shade of red, reminiscent of wine. There was a table in the middle of the room, with two chairs on either side, clothed in a white lace tablecloth. A vase of long stemmed red roses sat in the middle, dotted with lilies, which Lily found only slightly nauseating. In front of either chair was a plate of some sort of dessert; from the looks of it, something chocolate with a red sauce drizzled over it. Two flutes of champagne were sitting next to these desserts, and a bottle of the stuff sat in a bucket of ice, corked and ready to refill the glasses.

Lily took a cautious step in, finding this a little hard to believe. How had James Potter come up with this? This was incredible…

"Do you like it?" James asked in a small voice, closing the door behind her.

"It's wonderful," she breathed. "How did you do all of this?"

"I didn't do anything," James admitted. "This is the Room of Requirement. I just thought about what I wanted, and…" He waved a hand, flushing. "It appeared."

"So what took you so long?"

"Oh, I had to make sure it wasn't occupied," he replied, putting extra emphasis on the word 'occupied', until a light went off in Lily's head and she laughed.

"All right then. You are forgiven."

"Dessert, then?" James asked, motioning to the table. "I figured, you already ate dinner, so…"

Lily nodded, and seated herself. "Oh," she said, flushing a little as she pointed to the champagne, "don't think you're going to be able to get me drunk."

James smirked. "Oh, am I that transparent? Just think about what you'd like instead, and it'll come."

Butterbeer appeared in Lily's glass, and she smiled. "What is this?" she asked, taking a sip of her drink and pointing to the plate of chocolate.

"Not sure," James replied. "I just said--or, thought, I guess--that I wanted something chocolate, and this is what I got."

Lily cut into it with her fork and took a bite. Abruptly, she spat it out into a napkin and took an especially large gulp of butterbeer.

"What?" James immediately said, alarmed.

"The red stuff is raspberry sauce," Lily responded, as though this meant everything.

"And?"

"Really, James," Lily said, grinning, "I thought you knew everything about me. I'm allergic to raspberries."

"Oh," James said lamely, feeling about three centimeters tall at the moment. "Sorry."

Lily waved a hand, and seemed to be concentrating. After a moment or so, a Chocolate Frog appeared on front of her. Grinning, she tore the wrapper from the Frog and bit off it's head.

Marveling that Lily would rather have a Chocolate Frog than a chocolate souffle, James concentrated on her Frog and made one appear in front of him.

"Cheers," he said, raising his Frog.

"Cheers," Lily agreed, and they tapped the Frogs together.

***

An hour later, when the beautifully set table was littered with their candy wrappers, a wicked grin lit up Lily's face. "So," she said, leaning across the table to snatch a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans from him, "when I was reading your book, I came across a certain entry made by a few of your friends--"

"Oh, God," James muttered.

Lily continued on, a smirk too smug to be allowed still tugging on her mouth, "--that claimed that your boggart is a chicken, due to a--and I quote--bad childhood experience. Care to share that with me?"

James rubbed his forehead. "All right," he said. "I was seven, and my next door neighbor worked for the Committee of Experimental Charms, and he was trying to enchant his pet chicken to…to…run races so he could make a spot of extra money. Well, Sirius bet me a Pumpkin Pasty that I wouldn't go up and touch the chicken. So I went up to the chicken, and tried to pet it."

Lily couldn't help it, she burst into a snickering fit, which she tried to smother with the sleeve of her robes.

James continued on with his story, blushing furiously, "Well, the chicken was a little deranged from being prodded with a wand, and it launched itself at me. Chased me all around my front yard, clucking like a sodding maniac. I'm yelling and carrying on like I'm on fire and Sirius is rolling around on the porch, screaming like a banshee, he's laughing so hard. Nearly wet himself. I didn't come out of my house for a week."

Lily emitted a shrill burst of laughter. "You did that for a Pumpkin Pasty?" she exclaimed in an unnaturally high voice.

"When you're seven, you'll do anything for another kid's candy," James said sourly. "What about you, Little Miss Giggles? Any embarrassing childhood memories you'd like to share?"

Lily, still sniggering every once in a while, thought about this. "Well," she said thoughtfully, "there was our first flying lesson, if you care to think back that far…"

James, keeping a straight face, said solemnly, "Why, Lily, I don't remember at all. Why don't you refresh my memory?"

Lily made a face. "I got scared of being on the broom and screamed for Madam Hooch to let me down," she mumbled.

"You cried for three hours," James pointed out, snickering.

Lily blushed. "I'm terrified of heights!" she said hotly.

"Yes, well I'm afraid of chickens, and you seemed to think that was rather funny!"

"Well, James, it's just a chicken--"

"And a broom is just a broom! You were all of five feet above the ground."

"It was not five feet; it was at least thirty."

James looked at her incredulously, then burst out laughing.

Lily stared back at him, then, imagining a seven-year-old James being chased by an enchanted chicken, joined him.

***

"So, um," James said nervously, shuffling his feet, "did--did you, er, have a good, er, time?"

They were standing next to the girls' staircases, as Lily had already warned him about what happened if he tried to go up them.

Lily smiled. "I did, actually. You surprised me."

"Um, thanks. I guess. I'm glad you had a good time though."

Lily suddenly started to laugh.

"What?" James asked indignantly.

"You look funny when you're nervous."

"Oh. Well, I'm glad I can provide you with some entertainment," he said sourly.

Lily smiled again, and leaned forward, planting a kiss lightly on his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said.

She started to go upstairs, when James caught her by the arm and pulled her to him.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, er," James muttered, "I--I wanted to kiss you too." He leaned down and kissed her cheek, and they both laughed.

"Good night," she called down softly as she reached her room.

"'Night," James returned dimly. He sighed and watched her close the door behind her. "All right, you can come out now," he declared to the seemingly empty room.

Sirius threw the Invisibility Cloak off of Remus, Peter, and himself. "Very chivalrous, James," Sirius smirked. "Are you going for Nice-Guy-of-the-Year or have you lost what little testosterone you previously possessed?"

"You know what other title comes with Nice-Guy-of-the-Year?" Remus offered, yawning a little.

"What's that, Moony, friend?"

"Least-Shagged-Guy-of-the-Year," Remus said knowledgably.

Peter stifled a snicker and Sirius turned to Remus in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Remus asked, dropping into a chair and stretching.

"I'm the one who does sexual innuendos!" Sirius exclaimed.

None of them noticed James quietly go upstairs, so as to avoid their questions.

He wanted to be alone with the memories of that night for as long as humanly possible.

***

A/N: Yeah, I could've gone the 'everything goes wrong' route, but I decided to go fluffy instead. ;)

I hope the chicken story was all right…I'd been wanting to write it, and this just seemed to be the way to segue into it.

See you tomorrow!