I usually don't update this quickly, but I decided that I would. Sheesh,
this story is just dragging on forever, isn't it? Enjoy.
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Lily went straight to the Library after dinner and saw Snape already waiting. "Hey, Severus. When did you get here?" she asked as he sat down next to him.
"Just a couple minutes ago." Snape smiled as Lily bent to pick up the quill she dropped on the floor. She was so beautiful.
"I'm glad I didn't keep you waiting," she said as she sat up and pushed her hair out of her face. "So, how do you want to go about this?"
"Well, I figured we might want to go for the gold and make it longer than two parchment. It's a pretty easy assignment, especially since we're the two best students in the class."
"Sounds like plan to me. Besides, I always end up going over the required length."
"Me too. Let me see, a good book to use would be . . . Potions for the Mind. I've used it before and I know it goes into pretty good detail," Snape said as he flipped through his notes.
"Yeah, I've used it too. I don't know if I saw anything about the Forgetful Potion, though. But it's worth a shot. I'll go get it," Lily said and stood up.
"All right." Snape smiled to himself as she walked away. Lily was a smart girl. She would soon realize that James wasn't for her. He had seen Lily yesterday and she had been furious. And poor pathetic Potter had been chasing after her. Sure, they had made up, but that wouldn't last long. Not if he had anything to say about it.
"Here it is," Lily called as she came back to the table with a rather large book in her hands. "We're lucky nobody else took it out. It's the last copy."
"Yeah, lucky us. Okay, so . . ." Snape began and they started their report.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
James tried not to be jealous. But it was rather difficult not to get jealous when his girl was with another guy. Even if he did trust her. Even he she did love him. Even if he did tell himself he was overreacting. It's not that he didn't believe her or anything like that, he just didn't like or trust Snape. And he was after Lily, no doubt about it. After all, she was the most beautiful girl in the whole school. He would have hit the wizard who tried to tell him otherwise. But Snape was slick and slimy. And untrustworthy. So for now James would just keep it cool and not say anything. But if Snape tried anything . . .
"Hey, Lily," James said as he walked up to them. "I'm sorry about interrupting, but I have to talk to Lily for a second. You don't have to get up, Snape," James said as Snape stood, "it's nothing like that."
"I have to go anyway. I'll talk to you later, Lily," Snape said as he collected his books.
"See you, Severus," Lily replied with a smile. "Why did you do that?" she hissed at James when Snape was out of earshot.
"Do what?" James asked innocently.
"Come in here like that! I told you that Severus and I -"
"I know what you told me. And I didn't think that," James objected. "I just wanted to remind you that I'm supposed to be tutoring you. Unless you want to fail Transfiguration, of course."
"Damn, I forgot all about that. How about tomorrow night after dinner? McGonagall said we could use her room." (A/N: thought I forgot about that, huh? Actually, I did.)
"Sounds good. Come on, let's get out of here. I'm tired of having to whisper," James said and pulled on Lily's hand.
"I need to get my books," Lily objected and scooped them into her bag.
"Do you have to be so damn efficient?" he asked irritably.
"Yes. That's why you love me."
"True. Come on slow poke," he said and pulled her along.
"You're so annoying."
"That's why you love me."
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Lily and James made their way to Professor McGonagall's room after dinner the next night. James was happy to see no teacher in sight. As Lily put her books on the desk, James came up behind her and wrapped his arms around he waist. Lily didn't object, but instead leaned back on James's chest and put her hands on his. He tightened his grip slightly so Lily felt like James surrounded her. It was a wonderful feeling.
"This is nice," Lily murmured.
"Yes, it is," James whispered into her ear. He trailed soft kisses down her neck.
"We really should work on Transfiguration," Lily muttered half-heartedly but tilted her neck so James could have better access to her throat.
"I know. But this is better." He turned Lily in his arms and pressed a light kiss to her forehead.
"Yes. Much better." Lily brought her arms up and wrapped them around his neck. She went up on her toes and kissed him ever so lightly on the lips. It was a soft and sweet kiss that only people truly in love can share. It was only the soft meeting of lips. "But I don't want to fail Transfiguration."
"I'll bet that you've never failed anything in your entire life," he said primly and kissed both her cheeks.
"Wrong. Third grade I failed math. I'm horrible with numbers." Lily beamed into James's face. "You loose. Now let go of me so I can be amazed by your skill for tutoring."
"You owe me." James reluctantly let go of Lily and sat down on a chair. Lily raised her eyebrow and sat next to him.
"Oh, really? And what could I possibly owe you?"
"You have to tutor me. In Charms." James began taking out books, but stopped when he saw the look on her face. Pure astonishment. "Don't look so amazed, my love. I, too, have failed classes and don't wish to repeat the action. Besides if I failed my mother would . . ."
"Yes, your mom would what?" Lily jumped at the opportunity to learn more about James's background. He so rarely revealed things about himself.
"Nothing. So, what are you having trouble with?" He quickly changed subjects, hoping would take the hint and let it go. He should have known better.
"Everything. Tell me about your mother." Lily knew how to manipulate people into giving her what she wanted. She was, after all, the baby in her family.
"No. What don't you understand?"
"About Transfiguration? Everything. Tell me."
"No. You're so frustrating. Can't you give me a straight answer?"
"Not until you tell me what you were going to say a moment ago. Spill."
"No. We'll start with -" James was cut off by Lily's mouth pressed hungrily against his. He only had time to moan softly before she moved away again.
"Tell me." Lily smiled in pure female delight. She loved how James's eyes were glazed over and his hand slightly unsteady as he ran in through his hair. She almost laughed out loud.
"Do you really want to know?" he asked. His voice came out in a harsh whisper and he had to clear his throat. Merlin, he wished he had a glass of water. Merlin, he wished he had enough willpower to resist Lily.
"Yes. I told you my secrets, you tell me yours, Potter."
"All right. I just want you to know that the only person I have ever told any of this to is Remus. I didn't even tell Sirius. That's why I had such a hard time trusting him after what he did to you. Because he knows so much more about me than anyone and I didn't want to put myself in a position where he could betray my trust. And you have to promise that you won't tell anybody. Not even Sirius or Cassandra or Sol or Peter."
"I promise. Cross my heart."
"And after I tell you, we have to get right to work."
"All right."
"And -"
"Quit stalling, Potter. Just tell me."
"All right, all right. I don't know how I ever fell in love with such a pushy woman."
"James . . ." Lily said in a warning tone.
"Okay, fine. I'll quit stalling," James grumbled. He hated talking about his life it was so depressing.
"First of all, you have to understand that the Potter's aren't poor. We aren't even middle class wizards. We're actually rather rich. My father was an Auror. Two years ago, he got killed by Death Eaters." Lily gasped and shuddered. She knew her worst fear were the Death Eaters. She feared them even more than she feared Voldemort.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, James. Were you in school when it happened?" Lily asked, her voice full of sympathy and her eyes full of tears.
"Yes. It was April 22. You might remember me being out of school for a little bit." Lily nodded. Of course she remembered. Not only had she had a major crush on James, but April 22 was her birthday. "The Death Eaters came to our house and my father was home by himself. My mother was in Hogsmeade when it happened. Working." She was startled by the bitterness in James's voice. Obviously, James didn't think much of his mother's occupation, whatever it was. "After my father was killed, everything changed.
"I came home that summer and I could tell that something wasn't . . . right. Everything was too calm and, well, normal. And I could tell somebody had been living in the house. Somebody besides my mother. When I asked her about it, she told me straight out that yes, she was seeing another wizard. And she had been seeing him while she was still married. And the night my father had gotten killed, she wasn't working in Hogsmeade. She had been meeting her lover." James's eyes were filled with hateful tears. Lily's were filled with sympathetic ones. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Poor James had to live in a house of hate. Like she had, but different. Worse.
"I'm sorry, James."
"It's not your fault. It's hers. She's the one who chose to be like that. We have nothing to be sorry for. They're her mistakes, not ours." For a moment James almost told her the whole story. He almost told her how his mother would lock him in the closet without food or water or wand. Or how she would chain him outside like a dog so he couldn't come in when it was raining or cold out. Or how she make him clean the bathrooms without any magic and with all the doors and windows shut so the acidic fumes would almost poison him. No, he couldn't tell Lily about those things. "Do you want to work on Transfiguration now?"
"Okay. Thank you."
"For what?"
"For telling me. Now," Lily said as she turned to her books and blinked away tears, "I really need help transfiguring inanimate objects into live ones."
"Okay. That's not that difficult. Actually, once you get the hang of it, it becomes rather easy."
"I doubt that, considering the fact that I'm talking to an illegal Animagi. But I guess I have to learn it, don't I?"
"Yeah, especially if you don't want to fail. And I should be the one to thank you, Lily. For listening."
"No problem. Even if you didn't tell me everything." Lily smiled at seeing James's jaw drop and his eyes bulge. James had no idea how Lily knew.
"I don't know what you're talking about," James said as innocently as possible. But despite his experience in lying to teachers, (A/N: cough McGonagall cough) he couldn't directly into Lily's eyes.
"Don't lie to me, James. I'm not asking you to tell me, just not to lie to me."
"All right. I might tell you another time. Not now." He couldn't tell her now. They both might break down. "One question."
"Yes?" Lily asked suspiciously.
"How did you know?"
"Female intuition," Lily said with a slight smile. "Now, if you don't mid, I'd like to get started. OH, and bye the way, I don't think I'd break down."
"Female intuition," James muttered with a shake of his head. "If you have so much damned 'female intuition', why don't you just use it to figure out this Transfiguration crap?"
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Lily went straight to the Library after dinner and saw Snape already waiting. "Hey, Severus. When did you get here?" she asked as he sat down next to him.
"Just a couple minutes ago." Snape smiled as Lily bent to pick up the quill she dropped on the floor. She was so beautiful.
"I'm glad I didn't keep you waiting," she said as she sat up and pushed her hair out of her face. "So, how do you want to go about this?"
"Well, I figured we might want to go for the gold and make it longer than two parchment. It's a pretty easy assignment, especially since we're the two best students in the class."
"Sounds like plan to me. Besides, I always end up going over the required length."
"Me too. Let me see, a good book to use would be . . . Potions for the Mind. I've used it before and I know it goes into pretty good detail," Snape said as he flipped through his notes.
"Yeah, I've used it too. I don't know if I saw anything about the Forgetful Potion, though. But it's worth a shot. I'll go get it," Lily said and stood up.
"All right." Snape smiled to himself as she walked away. Lily was a smart girl. She would soon realize that James wasn't for her. He had seen Lily yesterday and she had been furious. And poor pathetic Potter had been chasing after her. Sure, they had made up, but that wouldn't last long. Not if he had anything to say about it.
"Here it is," Lily called as she came back to the table with a rather large book in her hands. "We're lucky nobody else took it out. It's the last copy."
"Yeah, lucky us. Okay, so . . ." Snape began and they started their report.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
James tried not to be jealous. But it was rather difficult not to get jealous when his girl was with another guy. Even if he did trust her. Even he she did love him. Even if he did tell himself he was overreacting. It's not that he didn't believe her or anything like that, he just didn't like or trust Snape. And he was after Lily, no doubt about it. After all, she was the most beautiful girl in the whole school. He would have hit the wizard who tried to tell him otherwise. But Snape was slick and slimy. And untrustworthy. So for now James would just keep it cool and not say anything. But if Snape tried anything . . .
"Hey, Lily," James said as he walked up to them. "I'm sorry about interrupting, but I have to talk to Lily for a second. You don't have to get up, Snape," James said as Snape stood, "it's nothing like that."
"I have to go anyway. I'll talk to you later, Lily," Snape said as he collected his books.
"See you, Severus," Lily replied with a smile. "Why did you do that?" she hissed at James when Snape was out of earshot.
"Do what?" James asked innocently.
"Come in here like that! I told you that Severus and I -"
"I know what you told me. And I didn't think that," James objected. "I just wanted to remind you that I'm supposed to be tutoring you. Unless you want to fail Transfiguration, of course."
"Damn, I forgot all about that. How about tomorrow night after dinner? McGonagall said we could use her room." (A/N: thought I forgot about that, huh? Actually, I did.)
"Sounds good. Come on, let's get out of here. I'm tired of having to whisper," James said and pulled on Lily's hand.
"I need to get my books," Lily objected and scooped them into her bag.
"Do you have to be so damn efficient?" he asked irritably.
"Yes. That's why you love me."
"True. Come on slow poke," he said and pulled her along.
"You're so annoying."
"That's why you love me."
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Lily and James made their way to Professor McGonagall's room after dinner the next night. James was happy to see no teacher in sight. As Lily put her books on the desk, James came up behind her and wrapped his arms around he waist. Lily didn't object, but instead leaned back on James's chest and put her hands on his. He tightened his grip slightly so Lily felt like James surrounded her. It was a wonderful feeling.
"This is nice," Lily murmured.
"Yes, it is," James whispered into her ear. He trailed soft kisses down her neck.
"We really should work on Transfiguration," Lily muttered half-heartedly but tilted her neck so James could have better access to her throat.
"I know. But this is better." He turned Lily in his arms and pressed a light kiss to her forehead.
"Yes. Much better." Lily brought her arms up and wrapped them around his neck. She went up on her toes and kissed him ever so lightly on the lips. It was a soft and sweet kiss that only people truly in love can share. It was only the soft meeting of lips. "But I don't want to fail Transfiguration."
"I'll bet that you've never failed anything in your entire life," he said primly and kissed both her cheeks.
"Wrong. Third grade I failed math. I'm horrible with numbers." Lily beamed into James's face. "You loose. Now let go of me so I can be amazed by your skill for tutoring."
"You owe me." James reluctantly let go of Lily and sat down on a chair. Lily raised her eyebrow and sat next to him.
"Oh, really? And what could I possibly owe you?"
"You have to tutor me. In Charms." James began taking out books, but stopped when he saw the look on her face. Pure astonishment. "Don't look so amazed, my love. I, too, have failed classes and don't wish to repeat the action. Besides if I failed my mother would . . ."
"Yes, your mom would what?" Lily jumped at the opportunity to learn more about James's background. He so rarely revealed things about himself.
"Nothing. So, what are you having trouble with?" He quickly changed subjects, hoping would take the hint and let it go. He should have known better.
"Everything. Tell me about your mother." Lily knew how to manipulate people into giving her what she wanted. She was, after all, the baby in her family.
"No. What don't you understand?"
"About Transfiguration? Everything. Tell me."
"No. You're so frustrating. Can't you give me a straight answer?"
"Not until you tell me what you were going to say a moment ago. Spill."
"No. We'll start with -" James was cut off by Lily's mouth pressed hungrily against his. He only had time to moan softly before she moved away again.
"Tell me." Lily smiled in pure female delight. She loved how James's eyes were glazed over and his hand slightly unsteady as he ran in through his hair. She almost laughed out loud.
"Do you really want to know?" he asked. His voice came out in a harsh whisper and he had to clear his throat. Merlin, he wished he had a glass of water. Merlin, he wished he had enough willpower to resist Lily.
"Yes. I told you my secrets, you tell me yours, Potter."
"All right. I just want you to know that the only person I have ever told any of this to is Remus. I didn't even tell Sirius. That's why I had such a hard time trusting him after what he did to you. Because he knows so much more about me than anyone and I didn't want to put myself in a position where he could betray my trust. And you have to promise that you won't tell anybody. Not even Sirius or Cassandra or Sol or Peter."
"I promise. Cross my heart."
"And after I tell you, we have to get right to work."
"All right."
"And -"
"Quit stalling, Potter. Just tell me."
"All right, all right. I don't know how I ever fell in love with such a pushy woman."
"James . . ." Lily said in a warning tone.
"Okay, fine. I'll quit stalling," James grumbled. He hated talking about his life it was so depressing.
"First of all, you have to understand that the Potter's aren't poor. We aren't even middle class wizards. We're actually rather rich. My father was an Auror. Two years ago, he got killed by Death Eaters." Lily gasped and shuddered. She knew her worst fear were the Death Eaters. She feared them even more than she feared Voldemort.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, James. Were you in school when it happened?" Lily asked, her voice full of sympathy and her eyes full of tears.
"Yes. It was April 22. You might remember me being out of school for a little bit." Lily nodded. Of course she remembered. Not only had she had a major crush on James, but April 22 was her birthday. "The Death Eaters came to our house and my father was home by himself. My mother was in Hogsmeade when it happened. Working." She was startled by the bitterness in James's voice. Obviously, James didn't think much of his mother's occupation, whatever it was. "After my father was killed, everything changed.
"I came home that summer and I could tell that something wasn't . . . right. Everything was too calm and, well, normal. And I could tell somebody had been living in the house. Somebody besides my mother. When I asked her about it, she told me straight out that yes, she was seeing another wizard. And she had been seeing him while she was still married. And the night my father had gotten killed, she wasn't working in Hogsmeade. She had been meeting her lover." James's eyes were filled with hateful tears. Lily's were filled with sympathetic ones. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Poor James had to live in a house of hate. Like she had, but different. Worse.
"I'm sorry, James."
"It's not your fault. It's hers. She's the one who chose to be like that. We have nothing to be sorry for. They're her mistakes, not ours." For a moment James almost told her the whole story. He almost told her how his mother would lock him in the closet without food or water or wand. Or how she would chain him outside like a dog so he couldn't come in when it was raining or cold out. Or how she make him clean the bathrooms without any magic and with all the doors and windows shut so the acidic fumes would almost poison him. No, he couldn't tell Lily about those things. "Do you want to work on Transfiguration now?"
"Okay. Thank you."
"For what?"
"For telling me. Now," Lily said as she turned to her books and blinked away tears, "I really need help transfiguring inanimate objects into live ones."
"Okay. That's not that difficult. Actually, once you get the hang of it, it becomes rather easy."
"I doubt that, considering the fact that I'm talking to an illegal Animagi. But I guess I have to learn it, don't I?"
"Yeah, especially if you don't want to fail. And I should be the one to thank you, Lily. For listening."
"No problem. Even if you didn't tell me everything." Lily smiled at seeing James's jaw drop and his eyes bulge. James had no idea how Lily knew.
"I don't know what you're talking about," James said as innocently as possible. But despite his experience in lying to teachers, (A/N: cough McGonagall cough) he couldn't directly into Lily's eyes.
"Don't lie to me, James. I'm not asking you to tell me, just not to lie to me."
"All right. I might tell you another time. Not now." He couldn't tell her now. They both might break down. "One question."
"Yes?" Lily asked suspiciously.
"How did you know?"
"Female intuition," Lily said with a slight smile. "Now, if you don't mid, I'd like to get started. OH, and bye the way, I don't think I'd break down."
"Female intuition," James muttered with a shake of his head. "If you have so much damned 'female intuition', why don't you just use it to figure out this Transfiguration crap?"