Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I apologise?
Chapter Five
When Lily woke it was still dark. She was tired, so tired that she could barely think straight. And she was freezing. It was cold. By reflex, not thought, Lily grabbed her wand out of her pocket and muttered "lumos." The area around her immediately lit up. She was still on her cushion, under a blanket, but James was not on his cushion and his blanket was gone. Lily was desperately tired, but far too cold to sleep. She would freeze if she didn't do something. And she really, really needed to relieve herself. There wasn't a toilet here, though, she thought blurrily.
She stood up, wrapped herself in her blanket, and went into the other room. The cupboard supplied her with a chamber pot, which she thankfully used and then returned to the cupboard. The architect who had made this place had serious problems. She opened the cupboard again to find it full of blankets. Lily grabbed about ten of them. Then, staggering under the weight, she dumped all of the blankets on the bed. James was in it, but she didn't care… right now, all she wanted was to be warm. She spread them out across the bed and James. She was getting colder. Her feet were numb, and her hands had lost all feeling. She climbed into the bed next to James, under all of the covers. He would keep her warm with his body heat, under all of the blankets, and she was too tired to care that she was technically sleeping with her ex-enemy. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered, apart from the cold and her fatigue.
It was warm under the covers. Lily felt her arms and legs slowly begin to thaw. Finally, she felt her tiredness overcome her coldness, and she fell into a deep sleep.
When Lily woke up again, it was light. The cabin was flooded with bright sunlight. She was warm, but her nose was numb with cold. Looking around her, she found herself in a four-poster bed heaped high with blankets and a thick duvet. But hadn't she fallen asleep on a cushion on the floor? Then Lily realised that James was next to her, awake, and staring up at the ceiling. She remembered her night's adventure, freezing, and climbing in with James. At least it wasn't so cold now. And James was awake. Lily looked at her watch. It said it was two in the afternoon. She tapped James on the shoulder, and he jumped.
"Oh! Lily." He just looked at her for a few seconds, and then he said, "Hey, weren't you on the floor when I moved to the bed?"
"It was too cold. I got more blankets and came in here." She blushed at the situation. "Sorry, but it was so cold, and this was the only bed…"
"No, that's okay. I was too cold to sleep on that cushion either. It'll just be awkward if we're found like this."
"Mm. It's two o'clock now; we've slept over eight hours. I'm going to get up," Lily said. It was cosy and warm in the bed, but she really didn't want to be discovered in bed with James by Hagrid. They would be teased forever. She got out, and the moment her feet touched the floor they went numb with the cold. She had bare feet. Quickly, she pulled them back in again. "It's really, really cold."
"I know. I'll brave it, and get some fresh clothes from the cupboard." He grinned at her, then added, "I'll get you some, too, if you like."
"Please!" Lily said gratefully. James jumped out of his side of the bed. He ran quickly over to the wardrobe and opened the door. Lily watched him go. It was nice of him to do that for her, especially since it was so cold. Why was it so cold? It was only October, and it normally didn't start getting this cold until mid-November. He came back, threw a Hogwarts black robe at her, and climbed back into the bed, clutching his own. Under the covers, he wriggled about. Lily guessed that he was putting it on over his school robes, and she did the same. She finished first, and decided to once more brave the cold. She got out, and her feet went numb again. Trying to ignore the cold floor, she ran back to the wardrobe and opened it to thick, warm slippers. She immediately put a pair on her own bare feet, and took back a larger pair for James. He put them on, but they weren't big enough.
"I'll get you a larger pair. I've got slippers on, and they're keeping my feet warm."
"You don't mind?" James asked, even as he handed her the too-small slippers. Lily rolled her eyes and went back for a larger pair. This time, they fit. Then Lily caught a glimpse of the window.
At the sight outside, she gasped. She hadn't looked at the window when she had gone to get the slippers, but she wondered how she could have missed it. It was completely white. It must be snow, she realised, but it was so deep! The entire window was covered by it, all except for two inches or so at the top that let in the sunlight that was flooding the room. James followed her gaze, and he gasped too. Within seconds they were both at the window, touching the cold glass. They were, without doubt, snowed in.
"Let's go to the next room. Maybe we can see out of there," Lily suggested. The next room was no different; all the windows were snowed up to within two inches of the top. James dragged over a chair and stood on it, looking out of the top of the window.
"Go up and look." James's face was grim, and he jumped down to let Lily see out. She stepped up and looked out of the window. Across the clearing was a sea of white, smooth and glistening in the cold sunlight. It was unmarked and pure. No birds hopped on it, no forest animals stepped on it. At the edges of the clearing, the top halves of trees poked forlornly out of the snow. Lily had no idea that that much snow could fall in one night. She must have been so tired that she'd slept through a blizzard!
Stepping down, she asked James, "So what do we do?"
"I suggest we light a fire," James told her, "have some breakfast, and then discuss it."
Lily nodded agreement and went to light a fire. James disappeared back into the bedroom. By the time she had lit the fire James had re-emerged. He was wearing a thick black robe, with what looked like a fur-lined coat over the top. He still wore the slippers, but had added two pairs of thick socks.
"I'll do something about breakfast," James said when she looked at him, "and you can get changed into proper clothes. They're much warmer, and more practical than wearing two Hogwarts robes."
"I'll do that, then," Lily told him. "Thanks. Are you okay getting breakfast?"
"Yeah, fine. Go ahead and get changed."
Lily went into the next room. The bed had been made, and all of the blankets folded and piled neatly on top of it. She was surprised that he had thought to do that – there was certainly more to James Potter than met the eye. First the clothes, then getting out breakfast, and now making the bed – he had more courtesy than she had ever credited him with. She went to the cupboard and found the clothes she was looking for: fresh underwear, a thick black robe, and a fur-lined cloak. She quickly stripped. It took all of her determination to take off her inner robe, it was so cold. But eventually she was bundled up and warm again. She put her old clothes in the cupboard. When she needed them again she would find them, and probably clean and wrinkle-free if the magic wardrobe was worth anything. She returned to the main room, and was surprised yet again by James.
He had set the table, small as it was, and put cushions on the hard wooden chairs to soften them. Plates of eggs, bacon, and sausages were on the table, along with toast, butter, orange juice, and even a vase of flowers! Lily's delighted surprise must have shown on her face, because James grinned at her.
"Before you ask, yes, I did get all of this out of the cupboard."
"Wow!" she said. She couldn't believe it… flowers! James just grinned even more broadly.
"Should we eat, Miss Evans?"
"Certainly, Mister Potter." They ate, and were halfway through their breakfast when a popping sound came from behind Lily. She immediately turned to look, and was shocked to see Professor Dumbledore's head sitting in the fire. James didn't look at all surprised, but happy and relieved. He rushed over to talk to Dumbledore, and Lily quickly followed. This must be some sort of wizard communication, faster than owls. Why didn't she know about it yet, though? Dumbledore was talking.
"Oh good! When I tried before and there was no fire, I was quite alarmed. I suppose you two were still asleep?" James and Lily smiled, embarrassed.
"Yeah, you see professor, that dung kept us awake until late. It's really strong!" James said.
"Of course, Mr. Potter. Surely you've heard of Mooncalf dung in your Care of Magical Creatures studies?"
"Well… er…" Lily grinned as she saw the twinkle in Dumbledore's eye.
"Nevertheless, we have a slight problem," Dumbledore continued smoothly. "I do suppose you've noticed the snow outside?" The corners of his mouth twitched. "It is very early for the year, and we haven't had a blizzard like this for the last twenty years! In fact, the last time was when your parents, James, were at school. It was funny, really – they were both out in one of the greenhouses and-" Lily coughed slightly, and Dumbledore blinked. Then he smiled.
"Perhaps this isn't the best time for that tale. As I was saying, snow so early, and of this magnitude, is very rare, very rare indeed. I recommend that you don't try to open the door, unless you wish to be smothered in snow. It will be a while before we can get you out, as all of the teachers are busy with the complications of this. It may be tonight, or even as late as tomorrow morning before we can come and get you out. Can you cope with that?"
Lily nodded, taking it in. "We'll be fine, professor."
"Yes, we'll be fine. This cupboard's really useful, and if we get desperately bored, there's always homework!" The headmaster grinned.
"An admirable sentiment. I know I can trust you two, or you wouldn't be here in the first place. Oh, incidentally, have you two put your quarrels behind you?" His face seemed slightly mischievous, Lily thought. Maybe it was just a trick of the light. His head was completely surrounded in fire, after all.
"Oh, yes, we made up the night we got our detention," she told him. Lily had decided that James was doing too much talking and it was time for her to put in a word.
"Yes, yes, Minerva told me she saw you walking together yesterday. Truth to tell, she seemed slightly surprised. I can't think why." James and Lily both snorted, and the professor's eyes twinkled even more merrily. "Well, I have some rather pressing matters to attend to, so I'll be going now. I'll call in again at about eight o'clock, to tell you what's happening. Until then, I trust you'll be fine?"
"Yes, Headmaster," they said at the same time.
"Good. Well, goodbye, then." And with another pop, he vanished.
"Well," James said. "I think that clears a bit up. Let's talk over our breakfast; it's probably cold by now."
"Yes, sure." They went back to their chairs, and were eating when Lily asked, "What exactly was that? How did Dumbledore get into our fireplace?"
"Magic," James replied, grinning at her.
"Really? You know, I could have sworn somebody chopped his head off and threw it down the fireplace," Lily said mock-seriously.
"Okay, sorry, sorry. Yeah, wizards use it for quick messages. Just sprinkle a bit of powder on the fire, stick your head in, and say distinctly where you want to look out. It might look strange, but it isn't nearly half as disorienting as Floo powder, and it's cheaper."
"Right, thanks. So, what are we going to do all day? Well, for the rest of the afternoon?"
"I guess we could make a start on the preparations for the Christmas ball."
"Yeah, I guess so." Lily had already finished her breakfast, and James was just finishing his own. "Do we put this stuff back in the cupboard, then?"
"I don't see why not."
"Okay. I'll take some of this stuff, and get paper and quills from the cupboard."
"I'll help." James reached over to pick up her plate, and for a second he was really close. Lily blushed, remembering the night before and the kiss. She allowed him to take her plate, and picked up the butter and toast plate. If she hadn't been feeling so embarrassed, and her heart wasn't beating so fast, then she might have noticed that James seemed to have the same symptoms as she.
The afternoon passed slowly. Lily and James agreed on most of the plans for the Christmas dance. They would buy holly to float around the hall (the wizarding kind, naturally, that supposedly picked out soul mates. Lily was pretty sure it was a fraud, though, because last year it had picked out Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall), there would be the usual twelve Christmas trees, and normal Christmas decorations. Then they would have Butterbeer, if they could talk Dumbledore into it, Pumpkin juice, and the usual food and wizarding sweets.
Lily and James decided to have a vote among the students for which band to book, and they would try to get the winner in to play, without telling the school which band had won. The ball would last three hours, from eight to eleven, but if everyone seemed to be enjoying it then they would ask the professors to extend it to midnight. As usual with balls, only fourth year and above were invited, but younger students could come if they were invited by the older ones.
It only took two hours, so by half past four they were out of things to do. James half-heartedly suggested homework, and Lily half-heartedly agreed. They got out parchment, ink, and quills from the cupboard, but neither of them could be bothered to do any.
At last, Lily said, "I have an idea! Let's come up with something to do to Snape. With the way he was taunting poor Peter about his crush on Narcissa…"
"Yes!" James immediately threw his paper aside. "Any ideas?"
"Hmm. Well, the old change-of-hair-colour trick has already been done, and dancing on tables, or singing gets old after a while. Snape's underwear has already been displayed all around the Great Hall for every April Fool's day for the past six years."
"Yes, it's tradition," James said apologetically. "I know it isn't so funny after six years. We could do something with the song that never ends again…"
"James!" Lily said exasperatedly. "You have a fixation! Think of something else!"
"Okay, okay, it was just an idea." He said it sullenly, but a tiny smile crept onto his lips.
"We could… uh… hey, I know!" Lily had an evil glint in her eye.
"Yeah?"
"What if," she replied slowly, her eyes shining, "we didn't do the prank on Snape, but on other people? We could make a love potion, and make all of the other Slytherins fall in love with him! It would be hilarious! And fitting revenge, too. Love is unpredictable, and all that." Lily had a huge grin of anticipation on her face.
"Lily," James said with awe, "you are a genius! I knew that together we could come up with something to really get back at Snape!"
"All in a day's work," Lily replied modestly, grinning. "And we've still got ages until Dumbledore calls. Let's find instructions for a love potion that can be brewed in three hours, and then get all the ingredients from the cupboard! If we do it now, then it can be ready for tomorrow. We'll get up early and put it in each of the jugs of pumpkin juice at the Slytherin table."
"One problem. Love potions work for whoever the drinker sees first after taking the potion. I suppose we could figure out a way to set it solely for Snape, but it would be hard."
"Hmm." Lily bit her lip. "Well, let's just try the cupboard. Maybe it will have something.
"Okay." They went to the cupboard and James opened it. Inside were about ten scraps of paper, each with instructions on them. Lily took a handful, and James took what was left, and they settled on the floor to read them. The chairs were too uncomfortable, even with cushions, so they had settled on sitting on the big pillows on the floor again.
Lily looked through her pile. They all seemed to need essence of the person the potion was destined for… hair, nail clippings, saliva, anything for the potion to focus on. At last, she turned to her last potion. It was no different to the others, but it only took twenty minutes to brew. She looked up, and James didn't seem to be having any luck either. He was reading one, and there was another on the floor, unread. Lily picked that up. She scanned the ingredients, and sure enough, it said 'essence of the object.' All of the ingredients used 'subject' to mean the drinker, and 'object' to mean the person the drinker would fall in love with.
She turned back to James, and his eyes were shining. He had a triumphant smile on his face.
"Lily! I've found it!"
"A potion that doesn't need a focus?" she was happily surprised.
"Yes! It says that all it needs is for all of the makers of the potion to be concentrating on the subject really hard when adding the last ingredient… fish tongue."
"Let's try it then!" Lily said happily.
"Wait a sec… I'm just scanning it for any side effects… oh. There is one."
"What is it?"
"Well, if you swallow any of the potion, you fall in love with whoever was being concentrated on at the time the potion was made. But, if any of the potion touches your skin externally but not internally, you fall in love with the first person you see. If we finish this potion, and drop any of it on ourselves, we fall in love with each other."
"Well we'll just have to be very careful, won't we?"
"Yes," James said with feeling. "The potion only lasts for two hours, but then, the professors will probably have taken it off all the Slytherins by then, anyway."
"Good. Let's just try. We'll wear gloves and goggles and facemasks, and hopefully none will get on us. Does it matter if any vapour does, before the last ingredient is added?"
"No, until the fish tongue is added there's no danger."
"Okay then. Let's start."
Fortunately, the cupboard had every ingredient needed, protective gloves and goggles, and it even had a collapsible cauldron! Lily and James got to work. They had done everything except adding the fish tongue by six o'clock.
"Now," Lily said, "according to the instructions we have to let the potion sit for an hour, just to cool off, and then we add the last ingredient."
"Should we move it into the bedroom, then? This room is considerably warmer than the other one, due to the fire, and anyway, we don't want to risk it getting knocked over. We'd have to start all over again." Between them, they managed to lift the heavy cauldron up and into the next, very cold, room. Lily was extremely glad that James's played Quidditch, because, thanks to the training, he was far stronger than she was. As soon as they had finally got it into the other room, Lily hit herself on the head.
"Oh, stupid, stupid, stupid!"
"What is?"
"We could've performed that feather-light charm on it and just picked it up!"
"Never mind," James said, "At least it's in here now. Let's get back to the other room, before we freeze! Even in these warm robes it's bloody cold."
They got in, and decided to play exploding snap. The cupboard was really very obliging, and it had many different games when they opened it. Between them they took out chess, exploding snap, gobstones, and a muggle game that Lily remembered playing with her family ages ago, Monopoly.
They played snap, and Lily won each of the three games they played. Then they played chess, and James won all of them. Then they went back to snap, and won two games each. They were setting up monopoly when they heard another pop from the fire. It was only half past seven, but Dumbledore was back.
"I'm afraid I have some rather bad news," he told them.
"Yes?" Lily asked, at the same time James said,
"What is it?"
Dumbledore replied grimly, "We have reason to believe that this snow is the doing of a dark wizard, currently going by the name of 'Lord Voldemort.' It is not melting in response to any of our treatments, and it may be quite some time before we can summon enough magic to disperse it and get you out of there."
They were quiet for a moment, before Lily asked, "Have you tried salt?"
"I beg your pardon?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry, it's science, but it might work. Salt-water freezes at a temperature lower than zero, so when the snow absorbs salt, it ought to melt. I'm going on the assumption that this Voldemort put a spell on the snow that makes it stay at a temperature somewhere below zero. If that's so, then the ice will melt when you put salt on it. Unless this Lord Voldemort is keeping temperatures really low." Lily said all this slowly, thinking it through. It ought to work.
James looked at her, an unreadable expression on his face. He obviously had no idea what she was talking about. Dumbledore, however, looked at Lily appraisingly. Then he broke into a smile.
"You know, Miss Evans, I am sincerely grateful I made you Head Girl. You clearly have a good head on your shoulders. I never thought of that! Muggle electricity doesn't work around Hogwarts, but there's no reason why simpler science shouldn't. I will give it a try, and be back in about an hour." Dumbledore smiled again, and was gone.
As soon as he had gone, James turned to Lily. "Huh?" was all he said.
"Didn't you hear what I said?" Lily asked with exasperation.
"Oh no, I heard. But… how the hell do you just spew all that off? From the top of your head? I take it from how Dumbledore reacted that it actually made sense? You know things like that?" James's voice held a mixture of surprise and amusement.
"I did go to a muggle school for the first half of my life, you know. We do learn things at muggle schools. And I read a lot."
"But I thought… I thought everything that you learned at muggle schools was rubbish! I didn't think any of it would be useful in the real world!"
"Which real world?" Lily asked. Then she changed the subject, "Anyway, it doesn't matter. Let's go in there," she jabbed her finger at the door leading to the bedroom, "and add the fish tongue."
"Right." They went in, and James measured out the fish tongue. They both concentrated hard on Snape's long hooked nose, his greasy hair, and his continuous smirk. And then it was done. The potion before the fish tongue was added was a deep red colour. Afterwards, it went instantly from red to violet, and then it continued on to blue, green, yellow, orange, and finally it went completely translucent, like water.
"Okay, that's done. Now we have a problem. We can't carry this entire cauldron back to Hogwarts, so I think we need to put potion into bottles. Then we can make them feather light, and… figure out a way to get them to Hogwarts. Do you know if there's a spell to make objects invisible?" Lily asked.
"Um…" James may have been about to say something, but Lily continued. To James, it appeared that she was talking to herself and just using him as a sounding board.
"Oh, wait, yes, there is one! We learnt about it in charms the other day… something about invid… no, no, that wasn't it! Invisi… no, not that either. Hmm…" She finally stopped to breathe, and James got a word in edgewise.
"Lily? You're right, it's a charm, and it's 'inverido.' We can bottle the potion, make it light, put it in bags of some sort, and then make the bags invisible. Simple!"
"Oh… yeah, I guess so."
"So we'll get the bottles now?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure." Lily was staring into space, thinking. Dumbledore would surely notice if they carried bags of bottles back to Hogwarts, even if they were feather-light and invisible. It wouldn't be that easy. So what if they used a summoning charm? Ac- something. Yes, that was right, Accio. They would have to carry the bottles a short way, just into the forest. Then they could put them down, under a tree or something, and then everything would be fine. Then there was a tapping on Lily's shoulder.
"Hey, Lily? Lily, you awake?"
"Oh, sorry. Yes, I was just thinking." She relayed her idea to him, and James agreed that it was more sensible than carrying the bottles all the way back to Hogwarts. So they decided. When Lily had been thinking it over, James had gone and come back with plenty of bottles, two ladles, and gloves and goggles for both of them. Lily had no idea how he had managed to carry it all, but he had. Maybe he had made two trips?
But that was beside the point. The bottles were glass. The bottling went well, and within an hour most of the bottles were filled, about twenty in total. James was just doing the last one when Lily got up and stretched. Her legs were cramped from sitting for so long. She took off her gloves and stretched her fingers, but put the gloves on immediately because it was cold.
"Done!" James said with satisfaction. He stood up, and together they moved all of the bottles to a corner of the bedroom. They collapsed the cauldron, and took it and the ladles back to the cupboard. The extra ingredients that they hadn't used also went back, and pretty soon the rooms were looking normal again, apart from the two big cushions on the floor, and twenty-two bottles full of clear liquid on the floor of the next room.
Lily was just taking two mugs of hot chocolate (complete with cream and marshmallows) out of the cupboard when Dumbledore appeared in the fire with a pop. Lily didn't even blink this time, but smiled at her headmaster.
"Did it work, Professor?"
"It is in the process of working," Dumbledore informed her. "Six feet of snow is no joking matter. Science is reluctant to work in the vicinity of such strong magic as that at Hogwarts, so it is compromising itself by working very slowly. Of course, that may just be because Voldemort put very strong spells on the snow, but we will see. We still have to find out why he wanted Hogwarts snowed in, anyway. But back to the subject. It appears that the snow will be melted by morning. The dung did get to the plants before the blizzard, so I assume they are doing well. The greenhouses have heating charms on them. When the snow is melted we will have access to the broomsticks, and will be able to fly through the forest to you. We can try normal heat, and if that doesn't work, we will resort to salt. So, do you have any questions?"
James and Lily exchanged glances, and then James spoke up. "So we're staying the night here again? And you'll come and get us tomorrow?" He tended to take the lead with professors, which had always previously annoyed Lily. But he wasn't showing off his big ego, he was just doing what came naturally, being a leader and exercising his confidence. It was really amazing how liking a person could throw a whole new light on him. Lily couldn't imagine hating James; they had quite a lot of fun in the last however long they had been in the cabin.
"Yes, that is, I am afraid, the case. Will you two be able to cope?"
"Yes professor, we'll be fine." Lily said, smiling reassuringly.
"Yeah, professor. You made us the head students!"
Dumbledore snorted. "I'll admit, it was one of my more controversial decisions," At the look on James's face, Dumbledore chuckled, and added, "but the teachers who were opposed to my decision have all changed their minds. However grudgingly." Lily didn't know whether or not he was joking, or whether he was addressing his comment to James or to both of them.
"Thankyou, Professor," James said. He was sincere, for the moment.
"Well, I will be off again. If anything big comes up, I will call in again, so please try to keep the fire up, at least until ten tonight. If not, I will call in on you tomorrow with an update. Good night!"
Lily and James wished him a good night, and he left. Then Lily realised that her stomach was growling, and her watch told her it was nine o'clock. "Let's eat!" she said to James, who readily agreed.
"Yes! What should we have?"
"Pizza," Lily decided.
"Huh?" he asked, a puzzled look on his face.
"No way! You can't not have had pizza!" she said incredulously. James grinned.
"You're right. I've had pizza." Lily grinned back and punched him lightly on his shoulder.
"Idiot!"
They got a pepperoni pizza from the cupboard, complete with garlic bread, and shared both. After they had finished, James suggested, "Why don't we put the bottles in bags, and make them feather-light tonight. Then all we have to do tomorrow is make them invisible."
"Yes. Let's do that now." They went in and put bottles into bags, six to a bag. There were three full bags, and then four bottles left. Lily picked them up to put them in another bag on their own, and as she picked up the last one, disaster struck. The bottle slipped out of her hands. Before it even touched the floor, Lily shouted, "Close your eyes!" She followed her own advice, and her eyes were shut tight by the time the bottle hit the floor. There was a crash, and then Lily found herself absolutely drenched. Keeping her eyes shut, Lily asked, very calmly, considering the situation, "James, are your eyes shut?"
"Yeah, they are. I take it you dropped a bottle?"
"Yes. Are you wet?"
"Drenched."
"Did you close your eyes in time?"
"I think so. At any rate, I don't feel any more in love with you than I do normally!" They both laughed, but it was on the verge of being hysterical. Think calmly, Lily told herself, think rationally!
"Okay. I'm going to feel my way to the other room, and close the door. I'll call through to you when you can open your eyes. Then you get changed, and knock on the door when you're done. We'll close our eyes, and I'll go in and change while you go outside."
"Right. Okay. Sure." James's voice was calm. He sounded every inch the responsible Head Boy, not the troublemaker he usually was. Lily felt her way to the door, and opened it.
"I'm going outside now," she said in a calm voice, "I'll knock twice on the door when I'm through."
"Sure. Fine." Lily went out of the room, closed the door, and then opened her eyes and knocked on it twice. She was wet! Her hair was drenched, and her robes were clinging to her body. It was freezing cold. She immediately went over to the cupboard, took out a blanket, and stripped off everything apart from her underwear. She wrapped herself in the blanket, and then got out two blindfolds. They needed to talk, and keeping their eyes screwed shut wasn't going to help anything. At least they had already eaten… eating separately would be a mess.
James knocked on the door, and Lily went over to it and slipped on her blind-fold. "Are your eyes shut?" she asked.
"Yes," was the muffled reply.
"Okay, I'm going to slip a blind fold under the door. Put it on, and then we'll exchange rooms." Lily slipped the blindfold under the door and waited.
"Okay, thanks Lily, I've got it. I'm putting it on now… done. I'm coming through now." Lily stepped back, James came in, and Lily went into the bedroom.
"Ok, I'm through. I'll close the door now." Lily said.
"Right." Lily closed the door and took off the blindfold. She immediately went over to the wardrobe and took off her blanket and underwear. She quickly changed into clean, dry, and warm clothes, and then went back to the door, carefully avoiding the bottles of love potion. She knocked on the door, and then James was replying from the other side.
"Okay, we need to talk. Are you comfortable on that side of the door? Are you warm enough?" James asked.
"Yes, we need to talk. If you could open it a bit and pass me through a cushion I would be grateful."
"I'll do that. Wait a sec. Oh, and put your blindfold on. If you see my hand…"
"Yes." Lily replaced her blindfold and waited. Soon, she felt a cushion at her feet.
"Thanks, James."
"That's okay. You can take it off now." Lily took her blindfold off again and sat down on the cushion, facing the closed door. This would be hysterically funny if it wasn't so serious.
"Right. James, we're in trouble."
"Good observation," he said, sarcastically.
"Please, save the sarcasm for later. We need to think. Now, we can't not look at anyone forever. We could wait until tomorrow, and get Madame Pomfrey to give us an antidote. But then she'll find out about our plan, and it'll be a good prank wasted. Also, if we do that, then we'll have to not look at each other until Dumbledore comes to get us. That'll be practically impossible, not to mention that our Head Student status will be imperilled."
"Imperilled? Do you have to use such long words?" James said it jokingly, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Usually, Lily would have become annoyed, but she knew he did take the situation seriously. He was just trying to make it a little more bearable while he thought. Lily stayed silent, waiting for his ideas.
"Um, Lily? You're not going to like this, but I think we only really have one option."
"I think so too." Lily knew what he was going to say.
"It'll only be for two hours, the potion wears off after then. And then we can still go through with our plan. It's half past ten now, so Dumbledore won't be calling us."
"Yes. We can't let all of that work go down the drain." Lily replied. She felt very strange. No one need ever find out, she told herself. We keep this between ourselves, just like the kiss last night. She smiled wryly to herself.
"You know, James, I think that fate is out to get us. First the forfeit last night, and now this."
"It seems that way. Are you sure about this, Lily?"
Lily shivered, and she didn't know whether it was only because of the cold. "Yes. Let's do it." Her voice was resolute. It was, after all, only two hours.
"In that case, I'm opening the door. Wait; let's time this exactly. If you see me before I see you, or vice versa, it's going to be pretty embarrassing. Close your eyes; I'm opening the door," James said.
Lily stood up and closed her eyes. She heard the door open, and then a hand groped in the air by her side for her own hand. Lily took it. She heard James's reassuring voice. "Okay, take off your blindfold now, but keep your eyes shut." Lily did as he said with her free hand, her other one still encased in James's. He squeezed her hand reassuringly, and then took a deep breath and said, "Open your eyes." Lily did so, and found herself looking into James's eyes.
They were so brown, warm, and comforting. She felt herself falling and spinning...
The next thing she knew, she was standing in the main room of the hut with James's arms around her, hers around him, her lips pressed against his, her arms around his neck, her… She stopped suddenly and pulled back. What had happened? Why was she standing here, kissing James, of all people? James's face showed equal shock and surprise. His hair was more mussed than usual, she noticed, and his mouth… she shook her head to clear it. Why was she thinking of James like this? Then the events of the past few days registered… they had made up. She and James had become friends. They had got stuck in a blizzard and got snowed in the hut. She had played truth, and done a forfeit where she had kissed him. And then they had made a love potion together. She had dropped the bottle. And she had faced James. Her mind was whirling… had the potion taken effect? She didn't feel any different to normal. Hadn't the potion worked? She looked up at James, into his eyes. Although he was not kissing her anymore he was still standing close. His mind seemed to be in turmoil.
Then he whispered, "Did it work? Was that why we were kissing?"
Lily shrugged, her eyes not leaving his. "What time is it?" she asked.
"I don't know," James whispered.
"I should check," Lily whispered back. Then she got a hold on herself, and shook her head vigorously. She looked at her watch. 12:35. She read the numbers aloud, "Twelve thirty-five. My watch is wrong. It should be ten thirty. Check yours." She looked back up at James, but he was looking at his own watch and shaking his head. He looked back up at her, into her eyes once more.
"No, mine says twelve thirty-two. We just can't remember the love potion's effects!"
"That's a relief. I think," she said. His eyes were strangely compelling. Lily decided it must be the after-effects of the potion. She put a finger to her lips. They were warm, and tingling. "Maybe we should sleep now."
"Yes," James agreed hurriedly. Then, almost with embarrassment, he said, "I guess we'll have to share the bed again. Let's just sleep in these clothes, and get more blankets."
"Yes." They didn't move, though. Finally, James shook his head violently.
"Sorry. I'm going to splash water on my face. Maybe that will help." He went to the cupboard and opened it to a pitcher of water. He splashed his face and shook his head. Little water droplets flew everywhere. Lily also washed her face, and felt much better for it. They put the pitcher back in the cupboard, closed it, and then took out a pile of blankets each.
In about five minutes, both teenagers were in the bed together under at least ten blankets. They were barely touching, and neither said a word as they occupied their own thoughts. Slowly, Lily and James drifted off to sleep.