Disclaimer: I wish I owned James....but I don't, nor do I own any of the other characters in the story. Now enjoy!
Previously in "The Strangest Courtship":
"Lily, calm down," said Arabella soothingly. "You're trembling....calm down....let's go outside, don't worry, I'm here...." And with that, James heard the sound of two pairs of feet leaving the girl's dormitory and thumping down the stone stairs. What had he done?! He had made Lily tremble with fear at the thought of him—but when he thought of her, he trembled with desire!
Angrily, James harnessed all his strength and anger and passion and punched his fist into the stone ledge above the Tower window. "Fuck," he said softly—not knowing whether he was cursing his smashed-up hand or himself or Lily—as blood now coursed swiftly down his crushed fingers. The bone of his knuckles showed white through his torn skin and his whole arm was lanced with unbelievable pain—but all this was preferable to the pain he felt in his chest....in his heart.
Chapter Nine:
Sirius FlirtsAt breakfast the next morning, the Marauders entered the Great Hall to see that Lily and Arabella were already seated, munching on toast and looking at the Daily Prophet. Though the Marauders usually sat at the other end of the table, today Sirius made a beeline for the two girls. James grimaced inwardly, but he followed along nevertheless; he wanted to be there to make sure Sirius didn't get too out of line with Lily.
When Sirius sidled up on the bench right next to Lily, she looked up in surprise. "Erm—Sirius? Can I do something for you?" asked Lily politely, but in a voice that betrayed her confusion.
"No, Lily, we just wanted a change of pace this morning and decided to sit at this end of the table," said Sirius smoothly as he began buttering up a piece of toast for himself. At this comment, Lily craned her neck up to see James, Remus, and Peter standing awkwardly nearby—she hadn't noticed them before.
"Well....you guys can take a seat, then," said Lily uncomfortably, though she tried to put on a cheerful tone. "You can't eat breakfast standing up!" James sat directly across from Lily, and he proceeded to stare at her darkly, occasionally glancing to Sirius.
"James, is there a problem?" asked Lily finally.
"What? I mean, no—why?" stuttered James. Sirius looked at him curiously; James was usually quite suave around girls.
"Well, you've been staring at me for the past ten minutes," said Lily bluntly. "I thought....I don't know. You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, yes. Thanks," said James hurriedly before taking a huge gulp of pumpkin juice, then coughing madly as he accidentally inhaled some of it. Lily raised an eyebrow at him surrepticiously before turning to Sirius.
"So," she said, "enjoying the change of scenery from your usual spot at the table?"
"Yes," said Sirius. "The view is much more beautiful from over here."
"Eh?" said Lily, quirking an eyebrow incredulously; it looked pretty much the same to her.
"My only complaint is the temperature," continued Sirius.
"Excuse me? We're what, thirty feet away from where you usually sit....and you can discern a change in temperature?"
Arabella bit her lip, though she wanted to help her oblivious friend out. James looked at the table and shook his head—he was partly embarassed for Lily, because she clearly had no idea what Sirius was hinting at, and he was partly glad that she wasn't falling for Sirius' cheeky charm. But he knew that Sirius would elaborate....
"Yes," said Sirius in reply to Lily's previous question. "Over here....it's much hotter."
"Huh?....oh!" said Lily as she finally realized what he was saying. She blushed beet red and suddenly became quite absorbed in the Daily Prophet. "Hm," she said in an effort to change the topic, "speaking of temperature, it's suppposed to be monstrously hot outside today....the Prophet says it's going to set a million records."
"Ach!" complained Arabella, "I hate days like that, and in September, too! The house-elves always set the most feeble cooling charms, and we're not advanced enough to set up our own in the dormitories...."
"Well," said James, speaking for the first time that morning, "erm....well, you see...." He seemed to be tonguetied again.
"While James here is blushing like a schoolgirl and trying to be modest—for the first time in his bloody life, I might add—I would be happy to inform you girls that James can perform excellent cooling charms. We all sleep quite comfortably in the boys' dormitories, even on days like this."
"You really can do cooling charms?" asked Lily of James, impressed. "Wow—that's advanced....I think only seventh years learn those, and most of them can't manage to do one decently." James' neck and ears reddened further at this rare praise from Lily.
"Erm—well....our dorm was so bloody hot last year, none of us wouldn't have gotten any sleep, so...." James' voice trailed off.
But Sirius, ever the opportunist, was not at a loss for words. "Lily, Arabella," he said casually, "if you let us into your dormitory, I'm sure James would be more than happy to set a cooling charm around your beds....and in the bathroom....and showers." Sirius' voice faded as his eyes glazed over; he couldn't suppress his usual randy thoughts, and though he had been trying to remain "gentlemanly" for Lily, his barriers had temporarily crumbled. He was imagining the girls' dormitories—which were strictly forbidden to boys, and thus became all the more attractive in his mind—and what he might find there. His mental picture contained a lot of red lipstick and lacy bras strewn about (which, actually, was pretty near the truth)....but then again, his mental picture also saw the girls gossiping idly as they lounged nude on their beds, so maybe it wasn't so accurate after all.
"Ugh," said Lily, though she could barely contain a grin. "Get whatever sick picture you've just conjured up out of your head. Although we would let you up, James, if it were possible—" her eyes smiled at James, "—you all know that you couldn't even get up the stairs, so it's no use."
"Ah, well....it was worth a try," sighed Sirius with a sweet grin at Lily before returning to his toast. Lily smiled fondly at Sirius and his cheeky flirting; Remus and Arabella both rolled their eyes; and James was looking rather annoyed at his pumpkin juice. Another day begun....
After classes that day, the Marauders made their way outside to prank some Slytherins while Lily and Arabella withdrew to the library; school had only just begun, but already they were overloaded with homework.
So the afternoon passed relatively quickly for both parties, and the next thing they knew they were finishing dinner. The Marauders had sat with the girls as they had that morning at breakfast, and the conversation once again consisted mostly of Sirius' persistent flirting with Lily. Lily was flattered by the attention; she couldn't believe that Sirius, her intense crush of the past three years, was actually paying attention to her. She hoped that he might ask her to the winter ball....
After dinner, however, Lily and Arabella found themselves back in the Tower and very bored, having already finished their homework for the night. They both eventually settled down on their beds, Lily reading a novel, Arabella, a magazine.
At ten o'clock, Arabella closed her eyes with a sigh. "I know it's not late," she said to Lily, "but I'm so tired I feel like I could sleep for a year. I think it's because I haven't had to do so much work and thinking all summer!" she said with a laugh. "But seriously, I'm going to sleep. You might want to turn in as well, Lily—especially after your night in the Infirmary."
"Yeah...." said Lily with disinterest. "I don't know—it's too hot to sleep; I think I might go for a walk outside."
"Really?" asked Arabella incredulously. "You, perfect prefect Lily Evans, are going to sneak out of the castle after curfew?"
"Well it's not like I'm planning on getting caught," Lily huffed. "Besides, I can always say I was....looking at the stars for Astronomy, because the Astronomy Tower is always....otherwise occupied. It's no big deal."
"I don't know if I've ever heard you utter the words 'it's no big deal' before," said Arabella. "But whatever. Live life dangerously, so I say."
"At least it's bound to be cooler outside, with a little breeze, than it is up here," said Lily. "I want winter!"
"Oh well, grin and bear it," said Arabella cheerfully; summer was her favorite season. "Now go on, delinquent; I need my beauty sleep!" And with that, Arabella flopped down on her pillow and began to fake-snore.
"Okay, okay!" cried Lily. "I'm out, I'm gone, spare me the snoring!" Lily chuckled and walked down the stairs out of the dormitory; the common room was completely dark and deserted—perfect. After glancing around guiltily once or twice, Lily disappeared out through the portrait hole.
After dinner that night, James went up to his dormitory and stripped down to only his boxers due to the excruciating heat (even his famed cooling charms had not entirely dispelled the warmth and humidity in the Tower). He had decided to crack down on his homework, because he at least wanted to begin the year on the right foot with a few of the teachers, and the O.W.L.'s were the coming spring. But at around ten, he triumphantly rolled up his last piece of parchment.
"Finished!" James exclaimed to Sirius and Peter, who were playing exploding-snap on the floor by James' bed.
"Aw, looks to me like Prongs is aiming to be Head Boy soon!" said Sirius mock-brightly to Peter. "Since when do you actually do your assignments, James?"
"I don't know....I have to start off well if my grades are going to fall over the course of the year, right?" James joked. "Otherwise, I might just be consistent....consistently bad." Sirius chuckled at this, but Peter seemed somewhat confused.
"You have too much energy, Prongs," observed Sirius. "I'm tired—we got up so early this morning!"
"Yeah, well I only have this energy because we haven't had a bloody Quiddich practice yet!" said James. "In fact, I think I'm going to go outside for a walk." James didn't bother putting any actual clothes on over his boxers, but he did throw on a heavy black cloak.
"Good idea—count me out, though," said Sirius. "And bring the invisibility cloak with you, too, Prongs; now that Lily's a prefect, I think she might really crack down on our late-night escapades."
At the thought of Lily, James' heart skipped a beat, but he tried to act nonchalant nonetheless. "Okay, I'll bring the invisibility cloak," agreed James. Throwing the cloak over the cloak he already wore, he watched as he disappeared in the mirror. And without another word, he slipped out of the dormitory and into the common room.
But lo and behold, standing in the middle of the common room—and looking guilty, no less—was Lily Evans. James was still recovering from his surprise when he saw her red hair disappear out of the portrait hole....and of course he had to follow.
In the next chapter....Lily and James go for a late-night swim....
A/N: First of all, I'm so sorry for the huge delay on this; school just started and I've been mad busy (to know what I'm up to, go to my blog at But anyway. I've seen a lot of discrepancies in different L/J fics regarding....dun-dun-dun: the color of James' eyes. Blue or hazel? If it says for sure somewhere in the books, let me know; you can also feel free to tell me if you just have a strong opinion about which it should be, but if this is the case please let me know that it's not fact. If the books don't decree one way or another, I'll decide based on your opinions. Thanks, and sorry to be a bother! Also: do you guys notice my chapters have gotten progressively longer? Good for me; two pats on the back and a high five!