Previously in "The Strangest Courtship":
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 himself, 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.
Chapter Ten:
The Giant SquidIf James was somewhat startled at the idea of prefect Lily Evans sneaking out of the Tower after curfew, it was nothing to his utter astonishment when he realized that she was heading outside. He walked brisky along at a safe distance behind her, still veiled in his invisibility cloak and nearly exploding with curiosity as to why Lily would be outside in the middle of the night.
The hot breeze outside the castle did nothing to cool Lily, but it felt fresh and sweet. After making sure she was not being followed, she made directly for the lake, intending to dip her feet in and splash her face to cool off.
But when Lily reached the edge of the lake, she realized that she wanted nothing more than to go swimming....right then, in the Hogwarts lake. The idea of it was made all the more exciting because swimming in the lake even in daylight was strictly out of bounds and because she was out long after curfew.
She glanced around her nervously (upon seeing this, James padded softly up closer to Lily, confused as to why she was acting so guilty) once more; rebellious as she might feel, she most certainly did not want to be caught red-handed.
Finally deeming the coast to be clear, she began to take off her clothes.
James was, needless to say, struck down with shock when he realized what Lily intended to do. He watched as she kicked off her school shoes and stepped on her heels to pull off her socks, leaving them strewn on the grass by the lake. And she was apparently not just going in for a wade, as she then began to slowly unbutton her white school blouse. James was aroused at just the sight of Lily undoing her shirt; she was effortless and composed, not hurried, and she was seductive without realizing it; but most of all he was turned on by her utter innocence and she undressed just for herself, naïve to how dangerous her body could be.
James felt his pants tightening awkwardly, and he had to repress the beginning of a moan that was erupting deep inside him. His face was flushed and he suddenly felt voyeuristic, but he could not look away.
When she was done unbuttoning her shirt, Lily slid the blouse off her pale, smooth shoulders to leave it crumpled in a heap on the ground. This was followed by Lily sliding off her pleated school skirt, and then she was standing by the lake-edge, seemingly at a loss for what to do. She still had on her underwear: a demi-bra and panties of painfully virginal-looking white lace. James ached for her physically, but he also ached somewhere deep in his chest.
Deciding not to ruin such nice new lingerie in the brownish water of the lake, Lily reached behind her back and began to unclasp her bra—
—But just at that moment James' modest and morality took ahold of him, and he lowered his eyes to the ground; he refused to demean Lily so, and besides....he could look at her as long as he wanted when he replayed his fantasies at night.
So when James looked up a minute later, he was half-frustrated and half-relieved to see only Lily's head and the tops of her shoulders above the water; he let a quick glance linger on her white bra and panties that lay discarded on the grass....She swam around for quite a few minutes, humming softly to herself and occasionally twirling in the water, allowing her long red curls to billow out like a mermaid's hair.
James, very much desiring Lily and feeling extremely uncomfortable about his position as voyeur, turned away from the lake. He walked as far from the lake as he could get without being completely out of earshot; he wanted to keep an ear out for Lily, at least, in case someone else was wandering around at night and decided to....he shuddered even to think about it. So James had been sitting on the hot grass of the grounds, staring up at the stars in the tumultuous summer sky, for at least ten minutes when he heard Lily's first piercing scream.
James jumped up in a flash—the invisibility cloak still enveloping him—and ran at a breakneck speed for the lake. If something happened to Lily, and he could have prevented it....He didn't even have time to think, to rationalize. He reached the lake's edge and saw, to his horror, that Lily was being attacked by the Giant Squid in the middle of the lake. Without a moment's hesitation, James tore off the invisibility cloak and the other cloak, grabbed his wand, and dove into the deep, cold waters of the lake.
Within a minute James was close enough to see what was happening: Lily had swum out to the middle of the lake, and the Giant Squid had wrapped its monstrous tentacles around her waist. Now it was pulling her about, while she screamed and flailed futilely; occasionally the Squid would pull Lily under, and she would emerge a few moments later gasping for breath. What can I do? thought James.
Treading water, he held his wand out in front of him. Lily saw him and her face flashed with emotion: first fear, then relief, then horror.
"Expelliarmus!" cried James with all his might. As Lily flew up in the air James mustered all his strength and concentration before yelling "Accio Lily!" Lily flew towards him and landed, shocked, in his arms. The force of it nearly pushed James underwater, but he was luckily well muscled from years of hard-core Quiddich practices; he braced himself and shifted Lily up so he had one of his arms under the crooks of her knees and the other under her shoulders.
James nearly gasped aloud when he felt Lily's cool, smooth skin slippery against his own warm, bare chest. He shifted her up again in his arms so that she could not feel his erection in his wet boxer shorts. Red with embarassment, his continued to avert his eyes from her naked body; he instead looked towards the shore as he began to swim—awkwardly beneath his burden and without the use of his arms—towards it.
When they were halfway to the shore, it seemed that Lily all of a sudden overcame her shock at being attacked by the Squid and then "Accio"-ed to James. Her head snapped up and her eyes widened as she stared at James. "Bloody hell!" she yelled—and this was especially shocking, as Lily never swore. "What—James!—what the fuck do you think you're doing!"
James looked extremely taken aback and somewhat affronted. "Well, saving you from the Giant Squid, I think," he said nervously. "I heard you scream and—"
"Oh my—Merlin," Lily suddenly interrupted him. "I'm—oh fuck, Merlin...." Apparently she had just realized that she was naked and in James' arms; she awkwardly tried to cover herself somewhat with her arms, but it didn't do much good—and now she was in a horribly uncomfortable position, bent around to try to shield herself.
"It's—it's okay....Evans," James said. He had been about to call her Lily, but at the last moment he was too shy to. "I mean—I'm not looking at you, don't worry."
Lily looked as though she didn't know what to say, but true to word, James' eyes were trained firmly on the lake shore. "Thank you," she said softly, unconsciously snuggling into the safety of James' strong arms. But however unconscious this snuggle might have been on Lily's part, James was intensely aware of the increased contact between their soft skin; he could hardly bear it.
"Are you okay?" he asked with some effort. Now he looked at her, but he looked only into her eyes to see what they told him, as he knew she would lie and say everything was fine.
"I'm all right," said Lily, trying to sound a little brighter than she felt. "I mean, it's not like the Giant Squid's ever actually killed somebody, and I can swim."
"Hm," said James in response. Her eyes still showed a flickering fear, and her breath remained shallow; she was most certainly not all right. But her answer nonetheless surprised him—if she wasn't scared of the Squid, why had she been screaming for help? And, more importantly, if she could swim, why was she willingly allowing him to carry her, naked, to the shore? A warm feeling settled in James' stomach at this thought, but he certainly was not going to address it right then, with Lily in such a fearful and vulnerable position.
Throughout this exchange, Lily noticed that James was staring intensely into her eyes, his gaze not once flickering to her naked body that lay just inches away. Why was she letting him carry her like this, when she was perfectly capable of swimming on her own? Maybe it was because her muscles were still weak from her tussle with the Squid; maybe it was because she liked how secure and protected and warm she felt in his muscular arms; or maybe she just liked the earnest gentleness in his arms, in his voice, and in his eyes.
A minute later, James emerged walking from the water, and she really processed for the first time that he was only wearing boxers....soaking wet boxers that clung to every centimeter of his....anatomy. Lily couldn't help but stare as she noticed his hard, muscular legs and arms, his muscled stomach and indented hips (whereas hers curved out, not in, she noted wryly), his heaving chest glistening from the water, and his strong, broad shoulders. His messy hair was flat, for once, as it was plastered down wet to his face. He looked very....but suddenly Lily realized what she had been thinking about, and she snapped back to reality.
James set Lily upright on the solid ground just as she was exclaiming: "Aah! Potter, you're—!"
"I'll explain later," said James, reddening as he looked down and realized what Lily was shouting about. He bent down swiftly and picked up his cloak. "Here," he said gruffly; he walked over to her and gently draped the cloak over her shoulders and around her body, looking only at her eyes all the while. Lily was the first to look away.
"Thank you for the cloak—again," she said awkwardly, remembering how not too long ago she had slept with this very cloak. It still smelled warm and musky like before, she noted with a small smile in her eyes. "And thank you for....back there." Although she was vague in her gratitude, she meant to thank him for rescuing her, for carrying her in his arms, for averting his eyes—and for his manner in the whole ordeal.
But any traces of gratitude or even compassion towards James were erased almost instantly when she looked down and saw that James had a massive erection. "Potter...." she said warily, casting her eyes down to indicate where the problem lay.
"Wha—oh!" said James, turning even redder than before. He looked around desperately for something to cover himself in, but he only saw Lily's pile of discarded clothes and his shimmering invisibility cloak. "I gave you my cloak," he said weakly, "so I don't...."
"You were naked under your cloak?!" Lily practically yelled at him.
"Well....not naked," said James uncomfortably, indicating his boxer shorts.
"Oh Merlin—no, it's the same thing. Why weren't you wearing anything!" Lily asked, using a severe voice to mask her embarassment.
"It was just so hot out—and I was only going for a quick walk," said James hurriedly. At the moment, he didn't care about what excuse he used; he was still aroused by Lily and was looking desperately for something he could use to cover it up. Finally, in desperation, James seized up the invisibility cloak and wrapped it around his waist; his legs and the offending article disappeared instantly.
"Potter!" Lily cried. "What on earth?! You have an invisibility cloak?"
"Well, yeah," James muttered, abashed, but secretly proud of his most precious possession.
"Wait," said Lily slowly as realization dawned on her. "Why were you standing by the lake in an invisibility cloak when I was swimming naked in it? Were you spying on me? I thought someone was following me—I felt it!—but of course I couldn't see anyone. You bloody....peeping Tom....I cannot believe you would exploit a girl like that! I mean, I always knew you were immature and amoral, but I didn't think of you as sneaking and immoral and I especially always...." She trailed off, looking stricken.
James felt sick; how had everything suddenly turned on him? Instead of somehow refuting Lily's accusations that he had been purposely peeping on her as she swam—which he had not done, thank you very much!—James, in his flustered state, said the first thing that came to mind: "But it was a good thing I was there, wasn't it? I mean, if I hadn't been there, the Giant Squid might have...." He didn't even want to think about Lily getting hurt, so he didn't finish his sentence. "I saved you, didn't I?"
This was apparently not the right thing to say. "Stop trying to turn yourself into the hero, Potter! Lay your precious ego aside for one minute, okay? You didn't save me, you took advantage of me when I was frightened and vulnerable!" Lily took a deep breath, trying—but mostly failing—to control herself. But now her voice softened, and she spoke once more: "I can't believe back there I was thinking about how gentle you were being and how safe I felt around you. You! I should have known that I can never feel safe around a horny prat like you!"
James could say nothing; he felt like he was choking, like he was drowing. She had thought he was gentle and safe! And now he had ruined all that....and now that it came to it, he wished he had looked at her at least once while he had the chance, since that's what she thought he had been doing anyway. It seemed like now, he would never get a chance to see her naked again. Or to feel her skin on his as he had when he'd carried her from the lake. Oh....his heart moaned.
Utterly defeated, he looked Lily in the eyes one last time. Her wet hair framed her face like a painting, and her lip quivered; her eyes were full of fear. How had he managed to make her feel sad, and scared, and exploited, all while he was trying to win her over? "I'm glad you're okay, Evans," James muttered gruffly before pulling the invisibility cloak over the rest of him. And with that, James walked forlornly back to the castle, leaving Lily standing in his cloak once again, by the lake edge.
A few minutes later, James dashed a hand across his eyes at the same moment that Lily felt a warm tear roll down her own cheek. How had everything gone so wrong?
In the next chapter....
A/N: First and most importantly: a big hug to my terrific reviewers; I made this chapter LONG just for you guys instead of splitting it in two like I was going to. And thanks to the plethora of reviews, I wrote extra fast, too. Everyone keep on reviewing please! Especially now that school's starting and I'll have less time to work on the fic, your comments and reviews and suggestions are the reasons I'll make myself write another chapter when I should be studying for a Trig test (like Trig is more important than Lily and James' love life—bah!). So please please review....And for those interested in where the story's going: right now most of the incidents are tight-packed and full of awkwardness between James and Lily. It's supposed to show that their hormones are just beginning to heat up (they're only 15!) and the scenes should establish some social tension and some SEXUAL tension between the two. As time progresses, their relationship as well as those of their friends will develop more; I realize that as of now their personalities (and those of their friends) are pretty undeveloped. This was to first show you all how they interact and how IT ALL BEGINS, but I promise they will become real people soon. The story will cover their fifth year (including an—erm—interesting winter break), their sixth, and their seventh (in which they are Head Boy and Girl, of course—with special dorms and a shared bathroom!). During sixth or seventh year, more serious things will begin to happen regarding Voldemort and Lily and James will become involved in the war, though they will still be at Hogwarts. It's possible that I might also cover time after Hogwarts until Harry is born, but that's so far on the horizon that I'm really not sure yet. Sorry to keep y'all; go review!