Author's Note: Well, this is just a one-shot L/J. I may continue it, but that's probably not likely. It's not really a strong R, more like a strong PG-13, I rated it R just to be safe. Anyways, if someone wouldn't mind, would they please explain to me how to do the centering and all that jazz? I have been trying forever, but failing miserably and getting terribly frustrated over it. This wasn't beta-d, so there may be some mistakes. Enjoy…
…Don't forget to leave a review…
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. I don't own Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. Nor do I own Harry Potter, but I wish I had a James of my own… but I don't. The reality is so harsh sometimes.
Summary: James Potter… Lily Evans… A game of strip chess... Oh, just imagine the possibilities…
Rating: R
Strip Chess
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters…"
A redhead sighed anxiously as she began to read the tattered and worn out copy of Pride and Prejudice. Lily Evans was anxious about her NEWTS that began the next morning, less than twelve hours away. Desperate to get her mind off the upcoming exams; she resorted to reading a favorite novel of hers. However, not even the Jane Austen classic could distract her from thinking, 'If I fail those exams tomorrow, I may never get a job. I may be broke and living with my parents for the rest of my life.'
As much as she loved her parents, like any others, they were overbearing at times, and what eighteen-year-old did not yearn to escape the overprotective clutches of their parents? Lily sighed deeply and snapped closed the paperback novel.
She looked around the cozy Head room and stared blankly at the lit fireplace that emitted a glow into the room. The armchair that she was perched on, with her legs hanging off the sides, was suddenly uncomfortable. She set the book onto the coffee table located near the armchair and shifted her position so that the blood flow was no longer constricted from her legs. The portrait door creaked open, and then gently closed in a matter of seconds, letting the Head Boy into the living rooms he shared with the Head Girl.
"Hello, Evans," he greeted warmly, obviously in a good mood.
"Potter," she replied, in a clipped tone.
"Whoa… what's up your ass tonight?"
She cast him a reproachful look as he sat down on the love seat adjacent from where she was parked and went, "Besides the fact that tomorrow could decide what I do with the rest of my life, nothing."
"C'mon, you got to loosen up a little. It's May and I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen you relaxed this year."
"Yeah, well James, maybe I don't have the luxury of bombing my exams but still having a guaranteed position at the Ministry of Magic," Lily said tartly.
James understood why Lily was acting so stressed, so merely let the comment bounce off. It wasn't like he wanted his father gone all the time because he was so busy managing the Ministry of Magic, he thought bitterly.
Lily continued, "If you choose not to follow your father's footsteps, you could play Quidditch until you're too old for the sport."
"How much time have you had to think about this?" James asked slightly worried at her comments.
"Well, Chelsea and Lacy have been busy since last night determined to spend as much time with their boyfriends as possible."
"Aah… that explains it."
"So where's the rest of your entourage?" Lily questioned, her eyes settling on James, who was currently fidgeting with the ever so complicated rubric cube.
"Well, I think Peter is in the library or something like that, Remus is cramming, and Sirius wanted to get laid."
'Gee, thanks for being so blunt,' Lily thought, but made no comment, only a thoughtful "Hmm…"
Setting down the toy abruptly, James stood up. Lily's eyes narrowed at James suspiciously.
"What are you doing?"
"Stand up."
"What?"
James only repeated his previous comment.
"Why?"
"Because we're going to get a midnight snack."
Lily didn't budge. "Besides the fact its quarter to nine, and that midnight snacks usually are meant for midnight," Lily retorted, putting emphasis on the midnight, "And the minor set technicality that dinner was over an hour ago, so that there isn't any place we can get food at this time."
James stood there in shock.
"You've never been to the kitchens before?"
"No… I wasn't aware we were allowed to," her emerald eyes narrowing again at the prankster standing in front of her.
Without hesitation, James lifted Lily up from the armchair, and continued to drag her from the warm room and into the empty corridor.
"Wha- James, let go!" Lily protested.
James only sped up, a determined look on his features.
After another thirty seconds Lily protested again, "James! Stop!" Lily panted.
James stopped and turned around, and queried the petite red head, "What?"
"Stop walking so fast! God damnit, my legs aren't exactly as long as yours." Lily's chest was heaving heavily after being dragged down two corridors.
"Oh, yeah sorry," James apologized sheepishly. Lily barely came up to James' shoulder. She was a tiny 5' 3 ½" compared to James' tall 6' 2" frame.
The two continued to walk again, but the pace much slower this time. After silently strolling through the corridors for another few minutes, James stopped in front of a portrait of a fruit bowl. He reached up to touch the painting.
Having never been to the kitchens before, Lily didn't understand what was going on. "Uh… James, what are you doing?"
James didn't answer, only tickled the pear, and out of no where, a handle appeared.
Lily seemed slightly taken back, but wasn't as shocked as she would've been if she had been in her first year, being new to magic and all.
James shot her a mischievous, roguish grin, and pulled on the handle. The painting opened, to reveal a massive, bustling kitchen occupied with house elves.
Lily gasped softly, as James pulled her through the entrance. She had only seen house elves a number of times, and every time she came across one, she was fascinated by the creatures.
Lily tugged behind James, slightly cautious of her new surroundings. James was automatically surrounded by three house elves.
'Whoa… they're like miniature Peeves!' she thought in wonder.
"Master James! Master James!"
James' face lit up at the sight of the enthusiastic tiny beings. He addressed the only on the far left, "Hello Bindy!"
Lily only stood back and observed the interesting scene.
"Bindy's missed James Potter! Yes, he has! He felt sad because Mister Potter didn't come down anymore!"
"No worries, Bindy!"
"How may Bindy service you today, Master James?"
James beckoned Lily forward. "What are you in the mood for?"
"Um… How about some mint chocolate chip ice cream?"
"Yes, yes, right away. May Bindy ask what the pretty young lady's name is?" Bindy directed towards Lily.
"You can call me Lily, Bindy."
The other two elves scurried off in search of Lily's request for ice cream.
Bindy bowed towards the two, and walked off himself.
As soon as he was out of sight, Lily let out a giggle.
"What?"
"They're so funny!"
"You get used to it."
"The way they worship you and how they refer to themselves in the third person. I think they're absolutely adorable!" Lily said well-humouredly.
Thirty minutes later, Lily and James made their way out of the kitchens, Lily having satisfied her craving her mint chocolate chip ice cream, and James full from the variety of pastries offered by the house elves.
Both were in good spirits, and joked on the way up to the Head rooms. Their past was rocky. It was dotted with fights as both were extremely stubborn and Lily was a defensive person and James enjoyed teasing Lily relentlessly. However, the two did manage to survive the school term so far without killing each other.
Lily collapsed on the love seat James previously occupied, and sighed contently. James had successfully managed to take her mind off NEWTS for the past thirty minutes. Although, she was a bit fatigued, she did not feel like leaving the presence of James quite yet.
James sat on the rug, leaving against the love seat, his legs stretched out in front of him.
A peaceful, calmness took over the both of them.
A few seconds later, James offered a game of chess.
Lily accepted.
"How about chess the muggle way?" Lily requested.
"I've never played it the muggle way before."
Lily sat up, "It's not much different from Wizard's Chess, only that you have to move the pieces by hand."
James turned his head to face Lily, "Okay." A few beats later, he added, "Since we're playing the muggle way of chess which was your idea, I'll add an idea of my own."
Lily had no clue what he was talking about, and let him continue.
"Strip chess," he announced proudly.
"Pervert."
"I'm a seventeen year old, hormone driven guy. Wouldn't you be a little concerned if I wasn't like this?" James gave Lily a sly look.
"Good point."
"C'mon Lily, please?" James pulled a puppy dog look.
"Eh…"
"You know you want the answer to that question you've been beating yourself over… boxers or briefs… Here's your chance to find out…" He grinned and left the innuendo in the air.
"I don't know. I don't think I have enough clothes on," Lily said hesitantly. She looked at her clothing. A pair of jeans, a relatively tight comfortable black three-quarter sleeved shirt and a white knitted cardigan over it. Oh, and you can't forget her pink socks with little pigs on them.
"Okay, how about five minutes to go into our separate bedrooms and put on as many layers of clothing as possible."
"Okay." Lily turned around and quickly paced to her door.
"Wait!"
"How many pieces are there on one side of the board?"
Lily did some quick math in her head, visualizing the chess board, "Sixteen."
"Eighteen pieces of clothing is the limit."
"Got it."
Five minutes later, Lily arrived in the main room, with a chess board in one hand and a box full of chess pieces in the other. She was covered in various items of clothing including her original clothes, another pair of socks, and a tank-top underneath her shirt, a scarf, her cloak, gloves, panty-hose, and a pair of flip-flops she was struggling to walk in because of her socks. With seventeen different pieces of clothing, it was safe to say, Lily was a little… warm.
James came out not too much different. He had a crumpled casual blue Oxford shirt, that he was wearing before with cargos, socks, dress shoes, his cloak, a scarf, what seemed to be his Quidditch gloves, a fleece pull-over. Confident that he could do well in the game, he didn't wear the maximum amount of clothing allowed.
He let out a chuckle as he saw Lily completely bundled up.
"I can't believe I agreed to this," Lily mumbled underneath her breath.
Setting down the chess board on the mahogany coffee table, Lily proceeded to sit Indian style on the floor. James did the same on the opposite side of the table.
"Okay, so how exactly do you play?"
Lily looked up from placing the right pieces in their right positions on both sides of the board, "Like I said, it's not much different from Wizard's Chess. The pieces move in the same way, except you have to manually move the pieces."
"Okay, let's start. Get ready to peel off some layers of clothing, Evans." James threw her a wink.
And so it began…
An hour later, and the time rapidly approaching eleven, there were articles of clothing littering the floor.
Both sides were playing conservatively, or at least Lily was. Not wanting to lose any more clothing then she already had. She lost both flip-flops, her two pairs of socks, her scarf, her cloak, the cardigan and one glove.
James had given up his shoes, his socks, and his pair of Quidditch gloves, his cloak, and his scarf.
Staring at the board, Lily searched for a move to make. She took a knight and forced James to remove his pull-over, tossing it to the pile of clothes nearby.
James countered the move by taking her bishop, making her take off her black shirt, leaving only a white spaghetti strap tank top underneath and her bra.
He couldn't help noticing the way she bit her lip when she was thinking hard, or the way her vibrant, red, wavy hair, that went down to the end of her shoulder blades, looked by the glow of the small fire, or the fact that her vanilla scented perfume had never smelled so good.
James raised an eyebrow as soon as he saw the strap of Lily's bra when she removed her shirt… the strap of Lily's black bra.
She flushed pink, but defiantly looked back.
"Don't say a word, James."
"I wasn't going to. Except that I think black is a very good color for you. Especially when it comes to your bra."
Lily blushed even more furiously and whispered, "Goddamn, hormones."
James only laughed. Lily noticed the dimples that appeared whenever he did laugh.
"You have dimples!"
James' laughing softened and he regarded Lily with a puzzled expression.
"You have dimples!" she repeated.
"Okay…"
"They're cute!" Lily's eyes twinkled in amusement.
"So now you think I'm cute…?"
"Don't get cocky, Mr. Potter. I said that your dimples were cute. Not necessarily you."
"Well, you see its logic really. The dimples are part of me. So when you refer to a part of me as cute, you're referring to me as well," he said smugly.
"Whatever."
Lily captured James' castle, and James took off his Oxford shirt. The wife-beater he was wearing underneath clung to his muscles nicely. He wasn't overly muscular. Most guys seemed to think that girls flocked to the type with huge muscles, which is not the case. Quidditch kept him toned. And in Lily's eyes, Quidditch did him good.
'Stop staring, Evans!' she scolded herself for looking at James more then a casual glance as he unbuttoned his shirt.
Another two moves later, Lily was down to panty-hose, panties, a tank top, and a bra.
She wasn't exactly happy about her current state of dress. But that was quite the different case for James, who was having a jolly good time.
He was quite amused when he found out that Lily was wearing pantyhose. The caramel covered panty-hose, which were slightly, see through, so yeah, Lily's black, string bikini under was somewhat visible.
"Shut up," Lily scowled.
James only laughed harder.
But he stopped when she took his queen.
James chose to remove his wife-beater, which left his abs in plain site of Lily line of vision. Let's just say that Lily's new favorite sport is Quidditch.
The room was tense when James and Lily locked eyes. Coloring a little, Lily looked away.
"Are you thirsty?" James asked, breaking the silence.
"A bit."
"I'll get you some water."
'What am I doing?' Lily screamed inside her head. 'Here I am, the night before NEWTS playing strip chess with James Potter.'
'But it feels good, relaxing in a way. Screw normal Lily Evans who wouldn't be caught dead in this outfit. I'm having fun. I'm going to do something exciting that I can tell me grandchildren about one day. Okay, maybe not. Strip chess may not be a bed time story for delicate six year olds.'
James returned, with two goblets of water. He handed one to Lily and kept the other for himself.
Lily held the goblet, enjoying the cool texture of the goblet against her hands. She watched James swallow, his Adam's apple bobbling up and down.
Lily took a sip herself and set the goblet on the coffee table when she finished.
James wasn't as bad of an opponent as Lily thought he would be. His moves were smart, and there were more of her pieces gone, then his. She was thankful she had on all eighteen allowed pieces of clothing.
James conquered her last knight. Lily decided to remove her tank top.
That move left Lily in a black bra. And panties with panty-hose. With James Potter.
The move caused James' pants to all of a sudden… not feel too comfortable.
Lily concentrated on the board, and avidly avoided James' eye. James was too busy concentrating on Lily to notice though.
As she got ready for her next move, James couldn't take it any more. All that sexual tension wasn't good for him, he decided, so he leaned over brashly, cupped Lily cheek, and kissed her square on the mouth.
Frozen for a split second, Lily didn't respond. However, she enjoyed the feeling of James' lips on hers. So it wasn't exactly a one-sided kiss for long.
She moved her hairs to his neck, playing with his hair.
James' tongue lightly brushed Lily's lips, asking for permission. That's when it struck Lily.
'What the hell am I doing?' She quickly put her arm on his chest, and put distance between the two of them.
"I-… We should get to bed," Lily spoke softly.
"Yeah… bed." The disappointment was not hard to miss from James' face.
Lily left her things and headed back to her room.
Well, she tried to. Until James blocked her way. Apparently, Quidditch made him quick on his feet.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," James apologized, although deep down, he didn't regret it in the least.
Lily only nodded, and tried to go around him.
Wanting more, James didn't let her by. So they stood there. Both half naked. Lily's nose was almost touching James' chest.
'Oh, screw it,' James contemplated, 'my dad always told me, you only live once.'
He tipped Lily's face upwards with his finger, and slowly bent his head down. Giving her plenty of time to refuse the kiss. But she stayed still.
And so there lips met again. Slower then this time. James begged for entrance with his tongue again. And surprisingly enough, she granted it. He pulled her closer, his hands resting gently on her hips, she stood on his tip-toes, her arms wrapped around his neck.
There tongues met, and he groaned. Surfacing for air every now and then, they continued their intimate kissing.
He backed her up against her door, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. James started planting tiny kisses down the column of Lily's neck, sucking on one spot that was sure to leave a hickey in the morning. She gasped, as his tongue met her hot skin.
That was all the encouragement he needed, as his hands went up her back, towards the hook of her bra.
But as soon as he reached it, Lily backed off again.
Breathing heavily, she said, "I'm sorry… I can't do this." This time there was nothing to block her and she slammed the door in James' face.
Breathing deeply, Lily was in shock. 'Did I just do that?'
She decided a shower was the thing she needed right now. So grabbed other undergarments and her toiletries and proceeded to the bathroom. Making sure that James' door to the bathroom was locked, and hers as well, she turned on the shower and got in.
Hearing the shower go on when he was in his bedroom made things even tougher to cope with.
He groaned. 'That was going on with me?'
Changing into blue plaid pajama bottoms, he climbed into bed, eager to forget the entire thing.
He set down his glasses and turned off the light. Turning and tossing, but prevailing to find a comfortable position.
Lily's hormones were acting up too. Just the fact that one door separated her from James was making her very nervous. After getting out of the shower, and drying herself and her hair with a towel, she changed into her pajamas, a tank top with a pair of blue pajama bottoms that had sheep on them.
She headed for the door out of the bathroom that would lead her to her own room, but hesitated and looked at the opposite door. She bit her lip, and pondered whether or not she wanted more.
She reached for her own doorknob, but stopped. 'Ahh… should I?'
'Well, I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight. So maybe it'll help um… get me some rest?' she argued.
She walked over to the other side of the bathroom, and boldly opened the door, light streamed in from the bathroom.
"Lily?"
Lily didn't say anything, just kept on walking towards James. She bent over and started to kiss him. After no hesitation was offered from James, she straddled him on the bed.
It was a compromising situation, but James wasn't complaining. He flipped her over, so that he was on top. He nibbled on her ear and made his way to the top of her tank top. He looked up at her for confirmation, and she only nodded…
She thought, 'Who knew that chess could be this exciting?'