Chapter 6 ~Kisses and a Bet
"Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up."
~ James Baldwin
During the next week, the plan was working pretty well. Amos actually said "hi" to Lily. And Arabella had asked Remus about James, but Remus didn't pass that on to James. Lily and James were actually getting along quite well since their little tête-à-tête in the library. They were starting to pull it off. Lily loved the looks she got when she was hugging James and it felt good. One time, she caught Arabella with her boyfriend, glaring at her with ice cold eyes.
They spent even more time in the library "working on homework". They both got to know each other rather well. They were getting pretty close. And although they each tried to convince themselves otherwise, they began to enjoy their time together. They also knew that when they got their plan accomplished, they would become mortal enemies again, so they cherished their time alone.
About a month later, on a Friday in the beginning of December, James and his friends were playing a prank on the Slytherins; one in particular was Severus Snape. Lily was sitting next to James when it all went down. The Slytherins were walking in when all of a sudden the Great Hall went dark and everyone was screaming in pandemonium. Then an announcer type voice came over the entire hall.
"Ladies and Gentleman, it is my satisfaction to acquaint you with the girls of the Slytherin house!"
Then, four spotlights fell on Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape, Michael Crabe, and Anthony Goyle. Each of them had on a vibrant cocktail dress. Snape's was a fire truck red with black frills on the neck, cuffs, and bottom of it. His long, greasy hair was up on the top of his head with lots of curls. Malfoy was in a black lacey dress with red sparkles all over. It was low cut in the front and with the little added breasts from the Marauders, it left little for the imagination; as was the same with Snape. Malfoy's hair was done the same as Snape's.
Crabe and Goyle were a little less extravagant. Their dresses were a little looser than the other two's because they wouldn't look quite as well with their massive carcasses. They also had wigs on because of their short hair. All of them had makeup on that looked really cheesy! Soon the announcer's voice came back on.
"And now for your leisure, the young women will be singing for you all," it said.
"No they won't!" came McGonagall's voice from the head table. "Misers Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew, would you please take this crap off her! I mean him… them!" said the professor, while the whole hall erupted in laughter at what she had said and then the sound of them singing very unbearably.
"But professor, don't you think they look much better this way?" James said innocently.
"NO!" she said sternly.
"Fine," James said as he waved his wand and they woke out of a sort of reverie. Once again the whole hall cracked up in mirth at the faces 'girls' made. Even McGonagall cracked a diminutive smile. All four of them hastily ran out of the hall and back to their common room.
"James," Lily began, "that was really mean."
"Your right," he said. "But it wasn't as bad as that one time when we charmed your bikini bathing suit underneath your robes and your robes to stay open and you couldn't change ALL day," James said, making Sirius crack up laughing hysterically.
"That was great James. But the better one was the thing with the boils! We pulled that on her TWICE!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Yea, that was good!" James said merrily.
"You know, they weren't amusing for me!" Lily said with silent tears running down her face freely.
"Lily… they were jokes… just jokes," James said still amused.
"Yeah well, they weren't just jokes for me!" Lily yelled while standing up and starting to walk out of the hall.
"LILY! WAIT!" James said while running after her.
"What? Come to laugh at me some more?" she asked acerbically, tears still streaming down liberally.
"Calm down, I'm sorry okay?" James began cupping Lily's face with his hands, "for everything. I mean at first it was just for fun, I always prank everyone, but you were the only one who evened the score, the only one! I could never handle something like that," James said earnestly, his face getting closer to Lily's. "This was all before I got to know you, I am truly sorry."
"James…" Lily started, but didn't get to finish. James had lowered his face to kiss Lily.
His lips gently grazed against hers. It wasn't anything like what they had done before. It was real, sincere, and not fake. Lily just stood there, dazed by his actions. James stepped back and looked at her.
"I'm sorry, I…" but he didn't finish. Lily had stood on her tip-toes to reach James' face. She snaked her arms around his neck and pulled him down into an even more passionate kiss. James opened his mouth and licked Lily's top lip, asking for authorization to intensify the kiss. Lily voluntarily granted him the access needed and their tongues batted each other. Soon Lily broke this kiss for the need of air. She looked him in the eye and said breathlessly, "You have no reason to be sorry."
They just stood there looking at each other, looking into each others souls, but soon their thoughts were interrupted by Mollie clearing her throat right next to them.
"Okay you two," she said loudly so that the hall could hear, "break it up! We've got classes soon." She then added in an undertone so only they could hear, "That was perfect! Why didn't you guys tell me and Remus about this?" Lily and James looked at her staggered. "Ohh, I get it, you wanted our reactions to look genuine, okay, keep up the good work," she said as she walked away with a wink. They then both left, James' arm swung around Lily's shoulder affectionately.
Mollie knew very well that that little sham wasn't planned, but she couldn't let them know that she knew it was heartfelt. She went and sat down next to Remus very in high spirits, bouncing in her shoes.
"It's sooooooo working! That wasn't planned," she said optimistically.
"Well then, it seems we need to keep a closer eye on them," Remus said lightheartedly.
"REMUS!" Mollie said smacking him lightly.
"Hey! We do! They won't admit it, if I know James; he won't admit a damn thing. Meaning… they're gonna do stuff hush-hush, if ya know what I mean" Remus said like he knew all.
"Really, we'll see if they admit it or not!" Mollie said.
"Do I sense a bet coming on?" Remus challenged, offering his hand.
"You better believe it!" Mollie said, accepting his hand.
"Fine, if they don't admit to us that they love each other within a week you have to…………… do whatever I say for a whole day!" Remus said with triumph written on his face.
"Alright, and if they do you have to… be nice to Snape for a day!" she said satisfyingly.
"Okay, I am sooooooo gonna win this!" Remus said as he walked away.
"You wish," Mollie said to his back.
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Authors Note ~ This is like one of the BEST chapters I've written! Finally some L/J action! There will be more!! I swear! I'm also thinking of some Mollie/Remus scenes. Tell me what you think about this. I can't believe how many reviews I got! It makes me really happy! I'd like to thank those who did review: Weasleyaholic, laura, met19, Nike1000, emerald-hopes, icebird-rising, high?D, liluvr, sarah, and imlosnoches. I can't believe I'm already up to 22 reviews on the fourth chapter! On my other story, I only have 33 reviews and that one has 15 chapters! I love you all sooooooo much! I think you all know what to do now, I mean, you've done it so well so far!
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