Disclaimer: The world belongs to J. K. Rowling, I am merely writing a history to go with it.
James was walking down the corridor, alone for once. Remus, Sirius and Peter remained behind in the great hall, stuffing their faces with whatever they could eat, and lining their bags with whatever they could carry. However, for once his mind was not on food, or sport. Even the thought of Lily hadn't attempted to enter his mind tonight, a rare thing indeed for James. No, tonight even the random and slightly incoherent babble of drunken portraits and singing statues, as was typical when they (He and Sirius) had been out earlier painting butterbeers into paintings and cohering the statues into expressing themselves through song, otherwise known as the 'Songuendo charm' technique.
However he did smile slightly when the fat lady, obviously in a bad mood, demanded of him the password ("azalea flower") and why he was smiling at her. Obligingly, but not happily, she swung open to reveal the entrance to the Gryfindor common room, decorated in red and gold house regalia Even the flames of the blazing fire reflected house pride, today they were shaped like the Gryfindor mascot, a roaring lion. Checking to make sure there was no one in the room, he dumped his books on the ground beside him, and tucked his wand into his bag. He stood up, let out a loud sigh, the kind that normally attaches itself to stretching, and began to make the trip upstairs to find the books he had stashed in his room. Deciding it was too cold to do anything, he started back down the stairs and walked over to the fireplace. He reached over to poke the fire, when a slim white hand reached over and capped his, a mane of red hair brushed his face and a pair of rose lips kissed his cheek.
Knowingly, James did not even say a word, he turned around and kissed her full on the lips, as they had done many times before, yet each was unlike the last. Passion was there, it always was, but each time brought a spark, a new flame lit to join the others. Pulling apart, they murmured in perfect unison, 'I love you.'
"Why are you back so early?" She whispered in his ear.
"I had something I had to do, what about you?"
"I wasn't hungry. Did you do what you had to do?"
"Yes." James replied in her ear, lying through spun-sugar teeth. He knew he still had to start going through those books he had stashed in Sirius's trunk, upstairs in the boy's dormitory. It wouldn't be long until the old bat started to notice they were missing, after all. However, he chose to abandon all rational for the atmosphere of the moment.
"How long do you think everyone will be?"
"Oh, at least an hour." He playfully licked her ear.
"Stop it!" She giggled. "Alright, come with me, I have something to show you."
James's ears pricked with interest. "What is it?" He went to kiss her again, but she pulled away slightly.
"A surprise." She let go of his shoulders and walked over to a loose stone in the wall. Tapping it, she whispered to it quietly, "IDissendium/I."
James started at the use of one of his prized passwords, but he gave in to his feelings, rather than his thoughts. Lily held out one hand towards him, which he took after recovering from his slight shock. Hand in hand, she led the boy down the third set of stairs leading from the common room. His bag of books and his wand lay on the floor behind one of the red and gold chairs, whose decorative stars shone brighter than usual.
~*~
The common room was near empty for the second time that night. A few of the older students sat huddled around tables near the fire, taking detailed notes on complex subjects and finishing almost-overdue essays. A few of the younger students had fallen asleep on the couch chairs, and half-finished games of exploding snap and wizard's chess were seen lying around. Occasionally one of the sleeping children would let out a quiet snore, but they were, for the most part, dead to the world.
Sirius bounded in first, knocking over a stack of exploding snap cards, resulting in several rather loud explosions. Several of the first and second years awoke, surprised by the deafening sounds of the cards. Sirius stood shamefully to one corner, now joined by Lupin and Peter, all three had their arms laden with assorted cakes and buns, their bags filled with butterbeer and sweets, all results of their quick trip into Hogsmeade before it all closed for the night.
"Come on, move along there ol' chap.." Sirius pushed a couple of the younger children out of the way, to the point where they almost fell on the floor. "Time for bed, you know?" He turned on Remus and Peter, both of which were standing behind the chair that Sirius had claimed from a small girl, "Are you going to sit down or not?"
Remus held up the arm of the child sleeping in the armchair opposite Sirius. "Well this one doesn't seem to be so obliging. He's still fast asleep." He dropped the boy's arm, which fell promptly across the table. Peter reached over to the boy and poked him. The boy simply let out a large amount of air and continued to sleep.
"Easy fixed." Sirius picked the sleeping child up. "I'll just dump him in his bed and he will be none the wiser," he winked. "Just watch my seat, I worked hard to get it." He walked off in the vague direction of the dormitories, obviously slightly affected by the butterbeer he had consumed earlier as he almost walked the pair of them straight into a wall. Remus sat up in his chair, watching with concern for the boy rather than the one carrying him. He sat back in his chair once he was satisfied Sirius made it up the staircase safely. He looked directly ahead of himself to find Peter sitting in Sirius's chair.
Remus raised an eyebrow at Peter, whose attention was captured by the lion in the fire. He cleared his throat, and was happy to note Peter's startled reaction. Seeing the look on Remus's face, he simply muttered a quiet 'right' and got up, pulled over another (now vacated but still warm) armchair to the table, the back of which faced the stairs to the boy's dormitory. Sirius came stumbling back down the stairs, and this time he collapsed into his armchair.
Peter leant over and began to pull out the rest of the contents of his bag. Honeydukes was practically operating from three fabric bags tonight. Sirius leant over and grabbed at a cockroach cluster. Bringing it to his mouth, about to bite into it, he exclaimed, "Where's James?"
A sudden outburst of laugher could be heard quite clearly not two feet away from him. "You didn't notice?"
"Notice what?"
"He hasn't been here all night." Lupin grinned at Sirius.
It took Sirius moments before comprehension dawned on him. "Oh… Shit!" He swore aloud, causing most of the other students to look at him. Peter giggled, then hurriedly stuffed a bun in his face as Sirius shot him a look.
"Look, I'm not all that hungry guys, I think I'll go to bed. I have a bit of a headache anyway." Remus pulled himself to his feet. "Besides, I think that you need to calm down a bit Sirius, you are so worked up didn't even realize that Lily left the great hall before she had eaten anything. You might want to leave some food out when you go to bed."
As he fell back in his chair, Sirius's eyes fell back in his head and the colour drained from his face. Peter got out of his chair rather hurriedly and shrank to the ground. He knelt by the table, stuffed another cream bun in his mouth and grabbed a couple to take with him before trying to crawl away unnoticed.
A loud groan, followed by a heavy and hollow thunk, echoed throughout the common room. It didn't appear to Sirius that they would be able to look through those books together tonight, not while he preferred to spend to spend time with some woman rather than his best friend. The thought of how much trouble they would be in when they were found out did not even cross his mind.
For once in his life, he felt as if he had been betrayed. James had never backed out on plotting before, let alone for such a frivolous reason. Grumbling, he left the food on the table, but grabbed two butterbeers as he stood up. He unscrewed the lid of one, and took a large swig of it. He tucked the other into the crook of his arm, and with one half-drained bottle in his right hand, he swaggered off to bed, cursing under his breath about 'brotherhood' and 'saucy wenches.'
James was walking down the corridor, alone for once. Remus, Sirius and Peter remained behind in the great hall, stuffing their faces with whatever they could eat, and lining their bags with whatever they could carry. However, for once his mind was not on food, or sport. Even the thought of Lily hadn't attempted to enter his mind tonight, a rare thing indeed for James. No, tonight even the random and slightly incoherent babble of drunken portraits and singing statues, as was typical when they (He and Sirius) had been out earlier painting butterbeers into paintings and cohering the statues into expressing themselves through song, otherwise known as the 'Songuendo charm' technique.
However he did smile slightly when the fat lady, obviously in a bad mood, demanded of him the password ("azalea flower") and why he was smiling at her. Obligingly, but not happily, she swung open to reveal the entrance to the Gryfindor common room, decorated in red and gold house regalia Even the flames of the blazing fire reflected house pride, today they were shaped like the Gryfindor mascot, a roaring lion. Checking to make sure there was no one in the room, he dumped his books on the ground beside him, and tucked his wand into his bag. He stood up, let out a loud sigh, the kind that normally attaches itself to stretching, and began to make the trip upstairs to find the books he had stashed in his room. Deciding it was too cold to do anything, he started back down the stairs and walked over to the fireplace. He reached over to poke the fire, when a slim white hand reached over and capped his, a mane of red hair brushed his face and a pair of rose lips kissed his cheek.
Knowingly, James did not even say a word, he turned around and kissed her full on the lips, as they had done many times before, yet each was unlike the last. Passion was there, it always was, but each time brought a spark, a new flame lit to join the others. Pulling apart, they murmured in perfect unison, 'I love you.'
"Why are you back so early?" She whispered in his ear.
"I had something I had to do, what about you?"
"I wasn't hungry. Did you do what you had to do?"
"Yes." James replied in her ear, lying through spun-sugar teeth. He knew he still had to start going through those books he had stashed in Sirius's trunk, upstairs in the boy's dormitory. It wouldn't be long until the old bat started to notice they were missing, after all. However, he chose to abandon all rational for the atmosphere of the moment.
"How long do you think everyone will be?"
"Oh, at least an hour." He playfully licked her ear.
"Stop it!" She giggled. "Alright, come with me, I have something to show you."
James's ears pricked with interest. "What is it?" He went to kiss her again, but she pulled away slightly.
"A surprise." She let go of his shoulders and walked over to a loose stone in the wall. Tapping it, she whispered to it quietly, "IDissendium/I."
James started at the use of one of his prized passwords, but he gave in to his feelings, rather than his thoughts. Lily held out one hand towards him, which he took after recovering from his slight shock. Hand in hand, she led the boy down the third set of stairs leading from the common room. His bag of books and his wand lay on the floor behind one of the red and gold chairs, whose decorative stars shone brighter than usual.
~*~
The common room was near empty for the second time that night. A few of the older students sat huddled around tables near the fire, taking detailed notes on complex subjects and finishing almost-overdue essays. A few of the younger students had fallen asleep on the couch chairs, and half-finished games of exploding snap and wizard's chess were seen lying around. Occasionally one of the sleeping children would let out a quiet snore, but they were, for the most part, dead to the world.
Sirius bounded in first, knocking over a stack of exploding snap cards, resulting in several rather loud explosions. Several of the first and second years awoke, surprised by the deafening sounds of the cards. Sirius stood shamefully to one corner, now joined by Lupin and Peter, all three had their arms laden with assorted cakes and buns, their bags filled with butterbeer and sweets, all results of their quick trip into Hogsmeade before it all closed for the night.
"Come on, move along there ol' chap.." Sirius pushed a couple of the younger children out of the way, to the point where they almost fell on the floor. "Time for bed, you know?" He turned on Remus and Peter, both of which were standing behind the chair that Sirius had claimed from a small girl, "Are you going to sit down or not?"
Remus held up the arm of the child sleeping in the armchair opposite Sirius. "Well this one doesn't seem to be so obliging. He's still fast asleep." He dropped the boy's arm, which fell promptly across the table. Peter reached over to the boy and poked him. The boy simply let out a large amount of air and continued to sleep.
"Easy fixed." Sirius picked the sleeping child up. "I'll just dump him in his bed and he will be none the wiser," he winked. "Just watch my seat, I worked hard to get it." He walked off in the vague direction of the dormitories, obviously slightly affected by the butterbeer he had consumed earlier as he almost walked the pair of them straight into a wall. Remus sat up in his chair, watching with concern for the boy rather than the one carrying him. He sat back in his chair once he was satisfied Sirius made it up the staircase safely. He looked directly ahead of himself to find Peter sitting in Sirius's chair.
Remus raised an eyebrow at Peter, whose attention was captured by the lion in the fire. He cleared his throat, and was happy to note Peter's startled reaction. Seeing the look on Remus's face, he simply muttered a quiet 'right' and got up, pulled over another (now vacated but still warm) armchair to the table, the back of which faced the stairs to the boy's dormitory. Sirius came stumbling back down the stairs, and this time he collapsed into his armchair.
Peter leant over and began to pull out the rest of the contents of his bag. Honeydukes was practically operating from three fabric bags tonight. Sirius leant over and grabbed at a cockroach cluster. Bringing it to his mouth, about to bite into it, he exclaimed, "Where's James?"
A sudden outburst of laugher could be heard quite clearly not two feet away from him. "You didn't notice?"
"Notice what?"
"He hasn't been here all night." Lupin grinned at Sirius.
It took Sirius moments before comprehension dawned on him. "Oh… Shit!" He swore aloud, causing most of the other students to look at him. Peter giggled, then hurriedly stuffed a bun in his face as Sirius shot him a look.
"Look, I'm not all that hungry guys, I think I'll go to bed. I have a bit of a headache anyway." Remus pulled himself to his feet. "Besides, I think that you need to calm down a bit Sirius, you are so worked up didn't even realize that Lily left the great hall before she had eaten anything. You might want to leave some food out when you go to bed."
As he fell back in his chair, Sirius's eyes fell back in his head and the colour drained from his face. Peter got out of his chair rather hurriedly and shrank to the ground. He knelt by the table, stuffed another cream bun in his mouth and grabbed a couple to take with him before trying to crawl away unnoticed.
A loud groan, followed by a heavy and hollow thunk, echoed throughout the common room. It didn't appear to Sirius that they would be able to look through those books together tonight, not while he preferred to spend to spend time with some woman rather than his best friend. The thought of how much trouble they would be in when they were found out did not even cross his mind.
For once in his life, he felt as if he had been betrayed. James had never backed out on plotting before, let alone for such a frivolous reason. Grumbling, he left the food on the table, but grabbed two butterbeers as he stood up. He unscrewed the lid of one, and took a large swig of it. He tucked the other into the crook of his arm, and with one half-drained bottle in his right hand, he swaggered off to bed, cursing under his breath about 'brotherhood' and 'saucy wenches.'