Surprises
Lily enjoyed watching the boys practice Quidditch. She noticed how much of a great leader James was. The guys trusted him so completely and never hesitated when he told them what to do. From high in the air, he would call out things like, "Harris, fall back." And "Ok guys do the charging rhino."
He had named all his plays after animals, like the graceful swan or the crying lamb or the bloodthirsty shark.
The other times that Lily had watched their practices, she had been sitting in the back corner of the stands where no one could see her, but she could see James well. Now she stood on the sidelines and cheered, watching as James flew around in the sky, coaching the team of Gryffindor's like a professional team.
Lily was amazed at the endurance and obedience of these boys. The usually laid back Sirius was a chaser and concentrated immensely on the plays that James had told him to do. If James said swoop, he swooped faster than an attacking vulture, always at the ready, always eager to follow James' orders. The other boys were the same. Almost all of the Gryffindor team was made up of troublemakers or people that Lily had always thought of as no good.
Samuel Dyrenium was so stupid he barely passed each grade; in fact, it took him two goes of fifth year before he got it right. Now the seventh year was determined to make a name for himself. He was easily the best beater in the school.
Two hours later, James blew a whistle and yelled. "Great work, guys. Lets hit the ground."
The whole team landed and made their way to the change rooms, making jokes and being stupid, just the way Lily had always thought of them.
She realised the how passionate they all were about Quidditch. Sirius was the first to reach her.
"Evans," he looked like he was searching for words to say. Lily thought he wanted to know why James had brought her along. But she was surprised when he said. "I was wondering when you two would get it together, Prongs has fancied you for years." He turned around to make sure James wasn't in earshot. He was about fifty metres away, talking to Travis about his broom.
"Do you know he loves you?"
Lily didn't say anything.
"Well I guess he hasn't told you but he does. He hasn't told me either but he thinks about you all the time. If he hears someone badmouth you, or even muggle-borns, he curses them. It's not just because he can. He is loyal and trustworthy." He turned around again and saw James coming towards them. "Just stick with him. He'll make you happy. You're perfect for him."
Then he walked away, immediately reverting to the laid back Sirius he had been before the game.
Lily was not only amazed at what Sirius had said, but the way he had said it. She had thought that Sirius and James were friends because they both liked girls and hated rules, but they were friends. True friends. Lily had friends that she could trust with secrets and friends she could understand when no one has said a word and friends that were there when she needed them, but not if she didn't. Those friends were great, but to have a friendship like James and Sirius had. For the first time in her life she was jealous of them. Not the hating, spiteful jealousness that most girls had, but a jealousness that made her feel happy for them and want to know more about them and their friendship.
She hoped she would. Lily wanted to know everything there was to know about James, that included his friends. Now she knew Sirius wanted them to be together, it gave her a kind of strength to decide to make the first move.
Make the first move, like in her dream.
*I guess my dreams are coming true*
James approached Lily with the passion he had up in the air still noticeable in his eyes.
"Did you like?"
"You're so good up there. And the respect those guys have for you is amazing. Most of them have never shown respect to anyone in their lives."
"Isn't it great? They worship me." James joked. He smiled his killer smile and gave a quick look over his shoulder. "I gotta go do some theory work with the guys, but maybe later we could get a start on that potions assignment together?"
"That would be great. I was hoping I'd have someone to keep me awake while I was doing that essay."
"Great," James looked relieved; he had wanted to ask her all practice. He was glad he had come up with an excuse to see her again. "I'll see you in the library after dinner then, say about seven?"
"Seven's perfect."
*You're perfect* James thought again.
He was about to leave but had a better idea. He bent down and gave Lily a kiss on the cheek. "I'm glad we're friends. I don't think I could've kept up that hating you charade for much longer."
Then he left, leaving Lily feeling as though she was high on every drug there was. She didn't stop smiling for the rest of the afternoon.
She barely touched her dinner, she spent most of her time watching out for James. She didn't see him though. He would normally woofing down as much food as he could. At ten to seven, Sirius joined her at the table.
"Sirius, do you know where James is?"
"You're his girlfriend, you should know." He said with a smirk.
"We're not going out."
Sirius looked shocked. "You're not? Then why did you come to practice today? And why did he kiss you afterward?"
"You saw that?"
"Why did he come into the change rooms with a huge stupid grin on his face? Why did he rush up to have a shower instead of having dinner?"
"Really?"
"I really thought you were going out, seriously. I can't believe you're not."
"Well." Lily knew she could trust Sirius so she came out and said, "I'm working on it okay? Hopefully things will work out by the end of the night. We're doing the potions assignment together."
"And how much of the assignment do you expect to get done?"
Lily laughed and gave Sirius a soft punch on the arm, she talked to him for a couple on minutes more and then decided to go to the library.
"If James comes, tell him to eat first."
Sirius grinned, "That's so sweet. You're not even going out yet and you're worried about his eating habits. If you weren't hot for my friend, I would so bone you."
Lily gave another laugh and made her way to the library. She waited for about ten minutes (nine minutes, five seconds, not that she was counting) and then James rushed in.
"Sorry I'm late, but Sirius forced me to eat dinner, even though I wasn't hungry." He added, not wanting to sound desperate.
Lily was glad he had eaten and even happier to find out it was Sirius who forced him. "Of course you were hungry, you haven't eaten since breakfast and you've been flying around all afternoon. But I've got to say you eat fast. I haven't even been here ten minutes."
"Well I didn't want you to think I wasn't coming"
*Damn, I sounded desperate again*
"I mean, I really should get this assignment done and it would be a lot better with your help. I usually just throw some words together the night before its due and hope that I pass."
Lily and James talked and talked until Madame Pince told them to do some work or get out. So they decided to find the books they needed and get started.
They looked in the Potions section of the reference books, brushing dust off the older books so they could read their titles.
"Here's one." Lily said, pulling an old dusty book off the top shelf, bringing a pile of dust with it. She sneezed dropping the book. Lily and James both crouched down to pick it up. They smiled and looked up at each other. Lily's eyes were slightly watery from the dust and James eye's were dark and intense.
"I love your green eye's" James said at the same time Lily said, "I love your brown eyes."
They smiled again and kept staring at each other. Lily's legs were stating to hurt. She decided that she had to move, but didn't know whether to stand up or move closer to James. Instead, she decided to kiss him. She leant towards him and kissed his lips before he knew what was happening. He sat back against the bookshelf and closed his eyes. It was the best kiss he had ever had. She was enchanting and gentle and passionate all at once. She pulled away.
"Wow, you're good" James sighed happily. He pushed a bit of loose hair from her face and let his hand rest on her cheek. "You made the first move. I like that. It's never happened to me before. It's good," He added, when Lily made an unsure face. She smiled again. "It's really good."
"You got the job done yourself." Lily's insides were flopping around with joy. She was the happiest she'd ever been. She didn't know what else to say so she kissed him again. This time, letting her tongue slip into his mouth and he seemed to be smiling as he kissed her back. She moved closer to him and they became more comfortable. She wrapped her hands around his neck and he supported her tiny back with his arms. They stopped kissing and stared some more, but it wasn't long before they were kissing again. And they didn't stop until Madame Pince came to see what was taking so long and started to scream at the sight. They jumped up and ran from the library, James grabbing his glasses from the table as they left.
They exploded into the hallway and started laughing, a mixture of embarrassment and joy taking over. They held hand and Lily leaned against James as they walked. She could feel his heartbeat under his ribs and felt like a child listening to her mother's heart and feeling comforted and relaxed.
They didn't walk directly to the common room, they went the longest root they could think of, just so they could stay like that for as long as possible. Both of them were so relieved that they were finally together, finally
When they reached the common room, they faced each other and held hands, once again entranced by each other's eyes. They didn't want to leave each other so they stood there for almost half an hour, not saying a word, just looking into each others eyes, reading each others thoughts and making each other crazy.
Finally, James blinked and broke the silence.
"We should really do something. I don't think all this staring is healthy."
"Yeah, I should get to bed, I didn't sleep well last night."
"Neither, I think it has something to do with the fact that everyone went home and we had to stay at school."
*I couldn't stop thinking of you*
They stood there for a while, waiting for the other to move. Then Lily said "Thanks for a great night, I never thought that I would've enjoyed doing a potions assignment. But you proved me wrong. Today has been so full of surprises."
"What's that supposed to mean? You didn't think we would get together?" James asked, a smirk appearing on his face.
"No not that. Sometimes," She stopped and thought for a while. "Sometimes you think you know people but you don't, and it surprises you when you find out who they really are." She smiled. "Next time you see Sirius, thank him."
She gave James one last (very long) kiss and went upstairs. She twirled and danced to her bed and lay down thinking she was the luckiest girl in the world.
***
James went to bed. It felt wrong because he hadn't gone to bed and slept for a long time. He had spent to many nights waiting for her to come.
The time when he thought she wouldn't, she did. She found him. And he fell even deeper into the hole of love.
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A/N: Yay, I wrote a long chapter. Every other chapter I ran out of time and had to end it but I wrote a long one and I'm so proud.
Hopefully more long ones to come but I need to brainstorm and think of some more ideas first.
