Lily Chapter 64, a harry potter fanfic

A/N: I don't suppose any of you have heard of a rare affliction called "The Crooks"? Well, both of us have it. It's a relatively newly-discovered syndrome that only affects fanfiction authors who have sixty or more chapters in one fic. Symptoms include giggles, long periods of silence, inability to write fluff OR action scenes, and an overall condition of brainlessness. There is, as of now, no known remedy. We've got the little men in white jackets working on it, though. :o)

By the way, one of the days that we tried to start this chapter, and were set upon by a horrid case of the Crooks, Clara consulted (very angrily) a magic 8 ball, saying "ARE WE GOING TO FINISH THIS TODAY?" With little or no passion whatsoever, the 8 ball calmly replied, "No way!"

Suggested locations for L/J Valentine's date included a dairy farm, a bowling alley, scuba diving, the dungeons, the Shrieking Shack, arts and crafts (don't ask), roller-skating, a rock concert, the beach, a waterslide, an amusement park, skydiving, rock climbing, peacock-riding (SO don't ask), Greenhouse 3, a spider-infested paddleboat, and down by the lake…yeah…the one with the evil squid. Behold, the power of CROOKS!

And just so y'all know – Ariana doesn't like writing holidays.

(no disclaimer – we're quite worn out from the MONDO DISCLAIMER THINGY from last chapter.)

Lily

Chapter 64

Lily and Juno sat in the North Tower, which had recently been redecorated. Rumors were already circulating about the new Divination professor, and frankly, Lily was dying to see if they were true.

"She's from Italy, but you wouldn't know it to hear her talk," William Baxter, a nerdy third-year had said over breakfast.

"And she's got this weird habit of humming all the time, even when she's teaching," said Julia Thomas, also a third-year.

"Well, I bet you'd hum too, if you'd just finished touring with the Calabrese Opera Witches. Besides, I don't mind the humming so much. She's got perfect pitch." William munched on a piece of toast and adjusted his glasses thoughtfully. "You know, I wonder if she's got any connections with opera companies…I'd love to go into music."

"Ooooh! Looks like someone fancies Professor Gadani!" Julia teased.

William blushed furiously. "I do not! I just think Fiorenza's an incredible singer."

"Are you kidding? 'Fiorenza?' Please, if that's not a crush, I don't know what is."

All crushes aside, the North Tower looked as though a lace factory had exploded somewhere nearby and rained debris down on the little room. Gauzy white curtains allowed the cold winter sun to filter through the windows while the freshly-painted, glaringly white walls made Lily's head hurt almost as much as the floral fumes generating from the dozens of vases of white carnations, roses, lilies, narcissi, and gardenias that lined the walls. She shifted in the small white chair and looked down at the white tablecloth over the round white table set on the white carpet, then stared hard at her own hand just to remind herself that there were colors other than white in the world.

Suddenly, a trill of music rippled from a far corner of the room. To the front there swept, humming "Ride of the Valkyries," a tall, curvy woman wearing a long white tiered skirt and a cream-colored blouse. Her shoulder-length hair, though, was the strangest part of her. When she had walked out of the corner, it was dark brown with a hint of blonde at the edges. Then the blonde faded and disappeared during the song, allowing a reddish auburn to creep up from the bottom and consume even the top of her head by the grand finale. "Ah! Nothing like a song – lalala! – to begin class with!"

"Bonkers," Juno muttered to Lily.

"You know what's a fa…fa…" she started trying to find a note. "Never mind. You know what's a fabulous idea? Everyone stand up. Come on, stand up!" Slowly and very hesitantly, they got to their feet. "That's better. Now, everybody take a deeeeep breath in…and let it out like this. Hahahaa!" She bounced her way down the scale. Very few people actually followed those directions. "Well, maybe not. How about we all sing a song together? I'll bet you know this one! It's a pretty old song, isn't it? Everyone knows 'Spells and Such,' right?" She hummed the first few bars as everyone nodded hesitantly, even though they hadn't a clue what she was talking about. What followed was an extremely long and drawn-out version of a song which, most likely, Professor Gadani had made up.

"Ah!" she sighed, but it sounded more like she was vocalizing. "Doesn't that just clear your minds?" Without waiting for an answer, she made a crystal ball appear at each table with a flick of her wand. "Now, look into the glass and try to turn off all of your senses other than your Inner Eye." It was the first sentence Professor Gadani had yet managed without singing or referencing music. Relieved, Lily leaned forward to try her luck at the crystal ball.

Juno leaned over and whispered, "Does the mist seem whiter to you?"

Lily didn't get a chance to answer. Professor Gadani was "ha-ha'ing" again, this time with much longer, higher tones in a piercing soprano. The melody climbed up what seemed to be octaves and octaves until Lily felt like her head was going to explode.

CRASH!

At the table immediately in front of Professor Gadani, a few Ravenclaws leaped back with a shriek. Their crystal ball had shattered into a million pieces, which behaved normally before zooming to the ceiling as though magnetically drawn there.

"Stay calm, everybody, stay calm!" Professor Gadani yelled. "I made the ceiling glass-attracting just in case that happened. Accio broken pieces of crystal ball!" they floated through the air before she sent them into the dustbin. "I would try a Reparo, but it wouldn't retain its magic. Alas! You know, I think there's a song about something like that…"

As Professor Gadani searched for the melody, Lily sank down in her chair, rubbing her temples and thinking to herself that at least she had Valentine's Day to look forward to at the end of the week.

"Can you take the blindfold off of me yet?" Lily said, trying to balance her gift for James under one arm as he led her by the other hand.

"Not yet."

She sighed and adjusted the gift higher up on her hip. They had been walking for at least twenty minutes already, and to make it even more tantalizing, Lily kept hearing James whisper with someone who was obviously guiding them to wherever they were going. After about three minutes, she tried again to peek through the blindfold. "At least give me a hint."

"Just a sec," James muttered, and they halted. Lily heard three soft taps, and then they kept walking. She heard James whisper, "Thanks."

"For what?"

"I wasn't talking to you…okay, now I'll give you a hint." He let go of her hand and untied the blindfold. "Try not to fall through this time."

Lily gasped. The room was gigantic, with bleacher seats lining its darkened walls and high windows showing the streetlights' orangish glow, which reflected gently…off of the ice. It was perfectly smooth, as though the Zamboni operator had decided to run over it once more before closing. She turned to James, only to find that he was holding out her ice skates. "How did you…?"

"Juno smuggled 'em out for me."

"No…I mean, how did we get here?" She gestured around the arena, completely bewildered.

"Oh," James grinned. "Funny thing about shape-shifters – they're honorable when they need to be. Kipper would've got shipped to a zoo somewhere if I hadn't taken the blame for him knocking over a few jars of newts' eyes, so I just asked him to bring us here and back…and no bothering us in between." He sat down on the nearest set of bleachers and motioned for Lily to do the same. "D'you want to put on your skates?"

"Not just yet." She handed him the red-and-white wrapped box. "It's not exactly an ice skating rink, but you know…Happy Valentine's Day anyway."

He ripped off the paper and was about to toss aside the lacy ribbon, but then he pressed it playfully onto Lily's head before tearing open the cardboard box. "When Playbooks Just Aren't Enough: Aids for the Quidditch Player…Hogwarts Edition," He read off the miniature briefcase-looking case. "What is it?"

"Here," she said, reaching over and unlatching the silver clasps. An exact replica of the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch sprang up, complete with the banners on each of the stands indicating which House they belonged to. Fourteen tiny figures stood in the center, all wearing white Quidditch robes and holding broomsticks. James's jaw dropped. "And you can make their robes whatever color…it's all in the instruction manual."

"This is…oh, my God…wow…" It was the most overwhelmed she'd ever seen him, and it struck her as rather funny that he was getting this choked up over a sport. He turned away and wiped a tear from his eye. "Er…thanks."

"You're welcome," she said, starting to lace up her skates. "I was going to get you a card, but they're all so…impersonal."

James shrugged. "I dunno. Some of 'em are all right." He thrust his hands into his pockets, just to make sure that Lily couldn't see that he had, in fact, bought her a card.

"I guess. Why don't you put your skates on?"

"Erm……"

Lily stood, balancing tenuously on the thin blades, with her arms akimbo. "You didn't bring skates?"

"First of all, if I recall correctly, I don't know how to skate. Second of all, I think that I might be bad luck for you on the ice."

"Fine. You'll just have to come out on your shoes."

After much slipping and falling, James eventually managed to get a rhythm down, skittering about five steps for every one of Lily's glides. "You know what?" she said, turning around and skating backwards so that they were face-to-face.

"What?" he puffed as he slid after her.

"I like it better like this – I can actually see your face without getting a crick in my neck."

"Yeah, this is nice." He moved over to the side and clung to the rail. "Why don't you skate around for a little bit while I avoid hyperventilating?"

Lily laughed, then took off for two circles around the rink, culminating in a complicated-looking jump. "Wow," James breathed. "I have no idea how you can do that."

"Oh, yeah? And I have no idea how you can be so high up on a broomstick and not get sick." She was doing another lap, this time in the opposite direction. "If you liked that, wait 'til you see this one."

James watched, transfixed by the fluid grace that seemed to connect her with the ice, to propel her in a dizzying spiral, and to draw her to him not physically, but in some way that he couldn't even begin to put into words. She could feel his eyes on her, and miraculously felt no pressure or tension for being watched. Here it was: she kicked off of the ice with one foot, using the momentum to spin in midair once, twice…SMACK.

With a painful twist of the ankle, she realized that she'd miscalculated, and went sprawling onto the glassy surface. It was embarrassing enough to have fallen, but now, she wondered if she would be able to walk back. To make matters worse (or better, depending on how you look at it), James had left his safe-harbor edge and was careening out of control towards her. "James, be careful!" The words had barely left her mouth when his feet flew out from under him and he hit the ice, slamming into her.

"Ow!" Lily's shoulder rammed into the side, and she couldn't quite tell whether it hurt more than her ankle.

"Owww!" James had assumed a rather painful position in which he was lying flat on his back, but with the back of his head pressed against the side. "Eurgh…some date." He slowly pushed himself into a sitting position.

"Sorry, but I'd have to agree." Lily sat up, wincing at the twinge in her shoulder and the pain in her ankle. "It's the thought that counts, though."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I know…d'you think I broke my neck?"

"Don't be such a baby," she teased. "I think I broke my ankle."

"Now you stop being a baby."

Lily leaned over and took off her skates. "Seriously, does the right one look swollen to you?"

"No."

"You didn't even look!"

"Well, you didn't look at my neck. By the way, here," he took out a small bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. "I remembered they're your favorites…sorry if they're a bit squished."

"Hmm, wonder if they've got any aspirin-flavored ones," Lily said, only half joking.

Luckily, a half a joke often merits a half a smile, and that was all James ever needed to charm anyone within a five-mile radius. "Watch this," he said, grabbing a bean. He tossed it into the air and, as it flew in an arc towards his face, he caught it in his mouth.

They sat like this for at least an hour, talking about everything and nothing, laughing and joking, having bean-catching contests, completely at ease with one another and themselves. Neither of them glanced up to see the clock, or worried that it was getting late. It was their own corner of the universe that they'd carved out, a corner for talking about the rest of the world. Even the most powerful of wizards fails in his attempt to stop time, restricted to move either backwards or forward, but these two sixth-year students, merely by being in each others' company and letting their hearts do the talking, had inadvertently discovered the secret to making time at least seem to stop completely.

Soon, all of the Every Flavor Beans had either been eaten or, seeing as Lily was quite the amateur at catching them, dropped on the ice. Lily had moved closer to James, and he had put his arm around her. There was silence, except for those muffled echoes that always fill large rooms and have neither beginning nor end. "Happy Valentine's Day, Lily," James said softly. She murmured a sleepy reciprocation and let her eyes flutter closed. Then he spoke again, after a few seconds, "Lily."

"Hmm?"

"No, it's just…it never really hit me before…your name is so beautiful."

She opened her eyes, turning to look up at him. There was nothing to say. As simply and easily as if she had been scripted to do so all along, she put one hand on his cheek, gently pulling his face to hers, and kissed his lips with a plain, unadorned tenderness.

They ended that kiss so slowly and after so long that it was like concluding a dream, with fragments of its wonder trailing behind. And when she met his smoky grey eyes once again, she couldn't help but smile. "That wasn't the first time we've kissed, you know," she whispered.

"I know." He broke out the half-smile again. "Wanna know something else?"

"What?"

"It won't be the last."

A/N: Btw, this here is the word association that we used to figure out where the date was REALLY going to be:

Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.

Marauders

Maraud

To Steal

Take away

Leave

Leaf

Tree

Trees

Forest

Forbidden Forest

Scary

Voldemort

Peter

Worms

Wormtongue

The Two Towers

Starbucks

Stars

Stargazing

Calimari

Ocean

Boats

Paddleboats

Spiders

Aragog

Big hairy spider thing

Cabin

Firewood

Fire

Common room

Cliché

Love/hate

Not us

Applesauce

Cinnamon

Cinnamon hearts

Hearts

Romance

Out of Africa

Redford

Cute

Brad Pitt

Cute Mall Guy

Punk

Skulls

Hot Topic

Contempo

Peacock

Vain

Manicures+makeovers

Ariana's sister is skating on thin ice

Ice

ICE SKATING!!!!!!

Special thanks to Ariana's sister for being such a natural ditz.