Chapter 19 Unscheduled Programming
Snape hurried back to his common room directly after the Prefect meeting, furious at Bellatrix for not telling him what was going on within his own House and circle of allies. Professor Dumbledore had questioned Snape immediately after the meeting, asking if there was anything that Snape wished to tell him. Snape was not a fool and was well aware that Dumbledore was not one either. Dumbledore was the only living wizard his master feared, and for good reason. Yet Bellatrix believed herself capable of deceiving him, even after what had transpired last year. Clearly she had learned nothing from the experience.
Why had Bellatrix gone behind his back on this one, Snape wondered. It worried him more than he cared to admit even to himself. Lestrange had trusted him, as far as Lestrange was capable of trusting anyone, and Rodolphus' word was gospel to Bellatrix. Yet here she was leaving him out of what was undoubtedly a highly complex scheme. What did it all mean?
It took no time at all for Snape to locate Bellatrix, who was surrounded by her usual gaggle of admirers. Seething inwardly but managing to keep a hold of himself, Snape asked her for a private word. Eyes alight with anticipation, Bellatrix agreed and led him to one of the study rooms.
Snape banged the door shut. "What in the name of Merlin do you think you're playing at with this attack?" Snape thundered, feeling fully capable of murder. "I've just come from Dumbledore, who informed me in a roundabout way that he's fully aware of who within this house is contemplating engaging in a Death Eater attack on Hogsemade. If I'm wrong about this, now is the time to tell me before I decide whether or not to turn you in to Dumbledore or to the Dark Lord himself."
Bellatrix laughed, a chilling sound in the small room. "Come now Severus," she cooed. "You can't expect me to tremble at the thought of the ickle Headmaster coming to scold me. This attack is going to happen, and it's no wonder I left you out of it. You're no fun at all. Too concerned about what darling Dumbledore is going to think, too cautious and boring to tears. You have no imagination, my darling"
"That's another thing, Bellatrix," Snape growled. "There are VERY strict rules about authority, rules you are well aware of, and you flagrantly violated them when you left me out of this little maneuver. As Avery has not yet proved himself to our lord's satisfaction, I am the only Marked one here and therefore am in the highest position of authority."
"Not anymore," Bellatrix enunciated slowly and with great pleasure as she rolled up her left sleeve and displayed the Dark Mark located on her forearm. It wasn't fresh; she had to have received it some time over the summer. Snape was puzzled; generally the follower to be Marked was surrounded by all of the Death Eaters at their Marking, where they were forced to prove themselves worthy of the Mark, a symbol of trust and camaraderie. It was something of a ritual, the hooded, masked Death Eaters surrounding the candidate and the Dark Lord while he ensured their loyalty to his satisfaction before bestowing the Dark Mark. If Bellatrix hadn't had one of these ceremonies, Snape wasn't sure how she had proved her loyalty and suddenly he was aware that he didn't want to know.
"I want you to listen very closely to me, pet," Bellatrix's insanity was plainly in evidence as she covered her Mark once again. "There are some changes that are long overdue at Hogwarts, mostly concerning our beloved Headmaster and his laughable policies. But it's also time that we had some fresh blood, so to speak, leading our noble House in the Dark Lord's work. And I will step up and lead with or without your support, dear Severus. It's your choice about where you want to stand." Bellatrix cast one more maniacal grin over her shoulder as she swept from the room.
Snape paced the small space furiously, his mind buzzing. It was clear that Bellatrix had some very influential friends, Snape didn't dare to venture a guess as to how influential. This meant one thing: however much Snape might disagree with Bellatrix's strategy there was really nothing he could do about it.
* * *
It had been three nights now since Lily and James' first patrol together and, to the shock of both, they were continuing to get on admirably. Their conversations had not ended after that first night, they chatted nonstop essentially during their patrol time about virtually everything. It was surprising to both how much they could find to discuss.
Now that James knew what Lily was really like he was more in love with her than ever and the hours they were spending together were some of the happiest of James' life. He was absolutely euphoric and this, or so his mates told him, was quite irritating.
Not that James had seen much of them since the recent patrol increase. Consequently he'd had no chance to tell Remus and Peter about this progress at all and Sirius knew only the barest details. Even they, once inseparable, rarely saw each other outside of class or Quidditch practice lately, James kept such an insane schedule. Peter had made himself a bit scarce and Remus was distracted himself.
Since they had realized that virtually all of their friends were aware of the situation between them, Remus and Kathleen had come out of the closet a bit, so to speak, over the last few days. They spent loads more time together in public and now could often be seen walking to class and eating meals together as well as, of course, studying. For her part, Lily was very tempted to ask if Remus was still tutoring Kathleen in Astronomy.
Lily too, unbeknownst to James, was enjoying the time she and James were spending together, in spite of the epic inner battle she was fighting with herself over her feelings for him. After a couple of days of this, she had grudgingly admitted to herself that she didn't hate him anymore, despite constantly telling herself that she did. She'd even resorted back to pointing out all of his bad points to herself, which had backfired disastrously because she had gone back to noticing him.
What was it about him that had changed? Lily wondered, taking careful glances at him then looking away before he noticed one afternoon in Defense Against the Dark Arts. She'd known since the werewolf incident last winter that he wasn't the complete bastard that he'd used to be. And as far as she knew, he hadn't pulled any cruel pranks on anyone like he used to. Bit by bit, James was becoming someone other than the tosser that had tormented her since first year. But what was it about him that had changed? What was it that now interested her?
It was loads of little things, stupid things really, like the way his mates all looked up to him a bit, whether they were willing to admit it or not, and his loyalty to them, especially to their secrets. Or his genuine respect for both Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, no matter how many grey hairs he might put on their heads, and his lack of traditional pureblood snobbery. She was amused by how seriously he took his Head Boy position, and how he tried to do it well, even though he had no clue how to be a good role model, and people listened to him anyway.
Lily was fascinated by James' nonchalance about his family's wealth and influence and the way he twirled his quill between two fingers when concentrating. She admired the way he could explain the most obvious thing in the world to Peter without making him feel like a git and the way he went against his best mate and followed Snape into the Whomping Willow that night. She wondered at the way his smile became loads brighter and a touch less arrogant whenever he caught sight of her and was amused by the way he tried so hard to make her laugh, then attempted to be nonchalant and pretend he hadn't been trying at all when he succeeded.
Of course, not everything had changed. Lily still hated the way he continued to muss his already untidy hair so it appeared (in his mind) like he'd just finished playing Quidditch, the cocky way he just naturally assumed he was always right, and the way he strutted after winning a Quidditch match. She still longed to slap him silly when he smirked at her whenever other people were about, like he knew that one day she'd give in to his irresistible charms and fall headlong into his arms, and the slightly surprised look that crossed his face every time she didn't fall swooning at his feet.
Lily was determined to stop her feelings for James before they went out of control. A crush on James Potter just wasn't in the program.
* * *
Fancying James is not part of the program, Lily repeated to herself firmly over and over again later that night during their patrol. Fancying James - no - POTTER - is NOT part of the program. In spite of herself she couldn't help laughing at James' many colorful tales of the pranks he and his friends had pulled over their years at Hogwarts. Lily had a stitch in her side as James recounted a prank in their fourth year that had required Sirius to seduce a Prefect in order to sneak into the Prefects' bathroom.
"....Sirius told her that bathrooms made him really hot," James was explaining to a chortling Lily. "And she said that she'd always wanted to snog in a bathroom as well, which was unlucky for Sirius as he wasn't sure that he actually fancied snogging this particular Prefect, and he definitely did not fancy snogging her in a loo. We don't know what exactly he had to do in that bathroom to get them, but he did come out with the bubbles anyway."
"And you filled McGonagall's office with them," Lily remembered, wiping her eyes. "We all wondered where those bubbles had come from, and then the next year when I knew where they came from, I started to wonder how exactly you'd gotten them."
"Now you know," James grinned, feeling at peace with the world and a bit giddy. Succeeding with the girl you fancied was indeed a heady feeling, one he could definitely get used to.
James and Lily climbed up the stairs from the dungeons to do a quick sweep of the floor above, still talking together. They both shut up, however, as they heard strange noises coming from round the corner.
Lily started toward the corridor, but James stopped her. "I'll go look," he whispered. "There's a secret passage that leads to the dungeons over there and if it is a Slytherin planning an attack they may know about it. One of us should stay here to make sure they can't double back to it."
"All right," Lily frowned slightly, feeling like she ought to help James deal with this situation. But it was too late. He had disappeared round the corner. Lily glanced round her, trying to determine where the passage was when she noticed a small rustling noise coming from a nearby statue.
Brows knitted, Lily cautiously made her way over to it, examining the statue for anything unusual. No one was hiding behind it, but what if this was the passage entrance Potter had been referring to?
James came back round the corner, relieved that the noise had only been Peeves but a bit irritated, as Peeves had managed to poke James in the eye. He was about to tell this to Lily when he noticed her studying the statue, which just happened to be the entrance to the passage on this floor, intently.
Thinking that it might be important to be quiet, James crept toward the statue. He was about halfway there when Lily suddenly gasped and stumbled back, losing her balance and landing on the floor with a thud.
"Evans!" James ran over to Lily and knelt beside her. "What just happened? What's in that statue?" To his surprise he realized Lily was laughing.
"It was just a rat," she explained. "It was hiding behind the statue and made some rustling noises. I went to see and it darted out and startled me. I really do feel like a complete arse for being startled by a rat, considering how many of them I've seen. I really should be able to tell the difference between a crazed Death Eater and a common rat by now"
"Well, yes, especially after seeing so much of Lockhart," James cracked. Lily started laughing again and James joined her.
Afterwards he could never say exactly how it had happened. One moment they were sitting on the stone floor of the hallway laughing, James remembered noticing how close his head was to Lily's, and the next thing he knew he had leaned over and kissed Lily.
Their lips met only briefly, but James was surprised by the intense feelings it evoked and closed his eyes against the fireworks that exploded behind his eyelids. It took only another split second for reality to come crashing back as James realized that one, he was kissing Lily, and two, that she hated him. Quickly James moved back and opened his eyes, embarrassed and disappointed and sad that it had to end.
"I am so sorr - " James managed to get out before Lily pulled him back toward her, put her arms round his neck, and pressed her lips to his. James' hands went automatically to her waist, pulling her closer, too shocked to enjoy the first few seconds. Finally it hit him and he suddenly felt filled with euphoria. He couldn't believe this was happening to him. Lily Evans was kissing him, and he was kissing her. Everything in the world was as it should be.
* * *
Lily could not believe she was doing this. This was what happened when you were impulsive, you found yourself kissing your mortal enemy on a cold stone floor in a very public corridor while you were supposed to be patrolling said corridor for any rule breakers.
She couldn't believe that she, Lily Evans, had pulled James Potter closer to her so she could kiss him. Kiss him, of all things. Lily had managed to thoroughly shock herself this time.
But after a few seconds, Lily's shock turned into surprise over how right this kiss felt and by the fireworks exploding in her head. This was exactly how a kiss should feel, exactly what another person should taste like. It was a perfect kiss, and Lily didn't want it to end. In that moment, she felt as though she could have kissed James Potter forever.
* * *
Finally, after an indeterminable amount of time, Lily and James pulled apart, still sitting on the stone floor of the corridor. James stole a glance at Lily, she was blushing a bit but had a bemused sort of grin on her face, identical to the one, James imagined, that was stretched across his own face.
"Wow," James broke the silence, still beaming.
"Wow," Lily repeated, her eyes sparkling, a lock of hair hiding her smile from James' eyes.
Gently James reached over and tucked the lock of Lily's scarlet hair behind her ear, his hand lingering on her cheek for just a moment. Lily closed her eyes, her expression growing a bit confused.
"Look, Lily, if you're sorry about what just happened," James began, his heart in his throat and his stomach in knots, "then I'm sorry that you're sorry, but I want you to know that I'm not sorry it happened, that we kissed." He finished in a rush.
Lily sighed. She wasn't quite sure what it all meant just yet, but she definitely knew that she wasn't sorry it had happened.
"I'm not sorry either," Lily said firmly, making a decision. She opened her eyes and met James' relieved gaze.
James released a breath he hadn't been aware of holding. "Sure?" he asked for confirmation.
"Sure," Lily reaffirmed, her tone definite. At that, James' face broke into a grin again, utterly blissful and speechless in his relief.
The pair stood up, busying themselves with brushing and straightening their clothes to cover the embarrassment and awkwardness of the moment. A quick glance at their wristwatches told them that their patrol was over and it was time to return to Gryffindor Tower. Lily suddenly giggled into the silence.
"It's just that now I know how all of those couples I've caught snogging after hours feel," she said by way of explanation, effectively breaking the ice. She and James shared a laugh as they started up the steps toward the main floor.
"What're you doing tomorrow?" James asked after a bit.
"Catching up on my homework," Lily replied automatically, then instantly regretted saying anything. Was she ready to spend time with James Potter outside of Head duties?
"Maybe I'll see you in the library tomorrow then," James said nonchalantly.
"Maybe," Lily was noncommittal.
"Maybe after breakfast?" James was suddenly quite interested in his shoes.
"Maybe," Lily repeated. A little smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. James' hopes soared.
The rest of the walk to Gryffindor Tower was a silent one and quickly accomplished. Finally Lily and James were facing each other in the common room, neither of them sure of the right thing to do or say in this particular instance.
"Well - er- good night, then," Lily said finally, giving James a brief but dazzling smile and hurrying up the stairs.
Rendered speechless yet again with that smile, Lily was halfway up the staircase before James found his voice. "Lily?" She turned, looking down at him expectantly.
Cursing himself, James frantically groped for something to say that was NOT "I think I'm in love with you." "Uh..."
"Yes?" Lily asked encouragingly.
Waiting a second for something brilliant to pop out of his mouth and thoroughly embarrassed when it didn't, James settled for: "Would you still rather go out with the giant squid than me?"
"I dunno....." Lily shifted her weight from one foot to the other and pretended ( hopefully) to be in deep thought. "I suppose I'll have to go and kiss him and let you know."
Both grinned at this remark. "Good night," Lily said again, turning once more to go on her way.
"Good night," James replied softly and made his own way to bed, completely unable to feel the floor beneath his feet all the way up to his dormitory.
* * *
Author's Note: Hooray! The 200 review mark!! I have the best readers ever; thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed. In answer to a question I received about Lucius Malfoy, in Order of the Phoenix it gave Lucius' age as 45, which would make him about 7 or 8 years older than Snape and the Marauders, so that's why he's not at Hogwarts with them. That doesn't mean he (and Narcissa) won't show up in my story though, so stay tuned. Special thanks to Four Stars, Sammie Tonks, Cookies for Khleo, Willow23, Dumbledore, and blazedsorceress. It makes me happy to know that people are enjoying this story. Another chapter is coming soon, keep the reviews coming!
Snape hurried back to his common room directly after the Prefect meeting, furious at Bellatrix for not telling him what was going on within his own House and circle of allies. Professor Dumbledore had questioned Snape immediately after the meeting, asking if there was anything that Snape wished to tell him. Snape was not a fool and was well aware that Dumbledore was not one either. Dumbledore was the only living wizard his master feared, and for good reason. Yet Bellatrix believed herself capable of deceiving him, even after what had transpired last year. Clearly she had learned nothing from the experience.
Why had Bellatrix gone behind his back on this one, Snape wondered. It worried him more than he cared to admit even to himself. Lestrange had trusted him, as far as Lestrange was capable of trusting anyone, and Rodolphus' word was gospel to Bellatrix. Yet here she was leaving him out of what was undoubtedly a highly complex scheme. What did it all mean?
It took no time at all for Snape to locate Bellatrix, who was surrounded by her usual gaggle of admirers. Seething inwardly but managing to keep a hold of himself, Snape asked her for a private word. Eyes alight with anticipation, Bellatrix agreed and led him to one of the study rooms.
Snape banged the door shut. "What in the name of Merlin do you think you're playing at with this attack?" Snape thundered, feeling fully capable of murder. "I've just come from Dumbledore, who informed me in a roundabout way that he's fully aware of who within this house is contemplating engaging in a Death Eater attack on Hogsemade. If I'm wrong about this, now is the time to tell me before I decide whether or not to turn you in to Dumbledore or to the Dark Lord himself."
Bellatrix laughed, a chilling sound in the small room. "Come now Severus," she cooed. "You can't expect me to tremble at the thought of the ickle Headmaster coming to scold me. This attack is going to happen, and it's no wonder I left you out of it. You're no fun at all. Too concerned about what darling Dumbledore is going to think, too cautious and boring to tears. You have no imagination, my darling"
"That's another thing, Bellatrix," Snape growled. "There are VERY strict rules about authority, rules you are well aware of, and you flagrantly violated them when you left me out of this little maneuver. As Avery has not yet proved himself to our lord's satisfaction, I am the only Marked one here and therefore am in the highest position of authority."
"Not anymore," Bellatrix enunciated slowly and with great pleasure as she rolled up her left sleeve and displayed the Dark Mark located on her forearm. It wasn't fresh; she had to have received it some time over the summer. Snape was puzzled; generally the follower to be Marked was surrounded by all of the Death Eaters at their Marking, where they were forced to prove themselves worthy of the Mark, a symbol of trust and camaraderie. It was something of a ritual, the hooded, masked Death Eaters surrounding the candidate and the Dark Lord while he ensured their loyalty to his satisfaction before bestowing the Dark Mark. If Bellatrix hadn't had one of these ceremonies, Snape wasn't sure how she had proved her loyalty and suddenly he was aware that he didn't want to know.
"I want you to listen very closely to me, pet," Bellatrix's insanity was plainly in evidence as she covered her Mark once again. "There are some changes that are long overdue at Hogwarts, mostly concerning our beloved Headmaster and his laughable policies. But it's also time that we had some fresh blood, so to speak, leading our noble House in the Dark Lord's work. And I will step up and lead with or without your support, dear Severus. It's your choice about where you want to stand." Bellatrix cast one more maniacal grin over her shoulder as she swept from the room.
Snape paced the small space furiously, his mind buzzing. It was clear that Bellatrix had some very influential friends, Snape didn't dare to venture a guess as to how influential. This meant one thing: however much Snape might disagree with Bellatrix's strategy there was really nothing he could do about it.
* * *
It had been three nights now since Lily and James' first patrol together and, to the shock of both, they were continuing to get on admirably. Their conversations had not ended after that first night, they chatted nonstop essentially during their patrol time about virtually everything. It was surprising to both how much they could find to discuss.
Now that James knew what Lily was really like he was more in love with her than ever and the hours they were spending together were some of the happiest of James' life. He was absolutely euphoric and this, or so his mates told him, was quite irritating.
Not that James had seen much of them since the recent patrol increase. Consequently he'd had no chance to tell Remus and Peter about this progress at all and Sirius knew only the barest details. Even they, once inseparable, rarely saw each other outside of class or Quidditch practice lately, James kept such an insane schedule. Peter had made himself a bit scarce and Remus was distracted himself.
Since they had realized that virtually all of their friends were aware of the situation between them, Remus and Kathleen had come out of the closet a bit, so to speak, over the last few days. They spent loads more time together in public and now could often be seen walking to class and eating meals together as well as, of course, studying. For her part, Lily was very tempted to ask if Remus was still tutoring Kathleen in Astronomy.
Lily too, unbeknownst to James, was enjoying the time she and James were spending together, in spite of the epic inner battle she was fighting with herself over her feelings for him. After a couple of days of this, she had grudgingly admitted to herself that she didn't hate him anymore, despite constantly telling herself that she did. She'd even resorted back to pointing out all of his bad points to herself, which had backfired disastrously because she had gone back to noticing him.
What was it about him that had changed? Lily wondered, taking careful glances at him then looking away before he noticed one afternoon in Defense Against the Dark Arts. She'd known since the werewolf incident last winter that he wasn't the complete bastard that he'd used to be. And as far as she knew, he hadn't pulled any cruel pranks on anyone like he used to. Bit by bit, James was becoming someone other than the tosser that had tormented her since first year. But what was it about him that had changed? What was it that now interested her?
It was loads of little things, stupid things really, like the way his mates all looked up to him a bit, whether they were willing to admit it or not, and his loyalty to them, especially to their secrets. Or his genuine respect for both Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, no matter how many grey hairs he might put on their heads, and his lack of traditional pureblood snobbery. She was amused by how seriously he took his Head Boy position, and how he tried to do it well, even though he had no clue how to be a good role model, and people listened to him anyway.
Lily was fascinated by James' nonchalance about his family's wealth and influence and the way he twirled his quill between two fingers when concentrating. She admired the way he could explain the most obvious thing in the world to Peter without making him feel like a git and the way he went against his best mate and followed Snape into the Whomping Willow that night. She wondered at the way his smile became loads brighter and a touch less arrogant whenever he caught sight of her and was amused by the way he tried so hard to make her laugh, then attempted to be nonchalant and pretend he hadn't been trying at all when he succeeded.
Of course, not everything had changed. Lily still hated the way he continued to muss his already untidy hair so it appeared (in his mind) like he'd just finished playing Quidditch, the cocky way he just naturally assumed he was always right, and the way he strutted after winning a Quidditch match. She still longed to slap him silly when he smirked at her whenever other people were about, like he knew that one day she'd give in to his irresistible charms and fall headlong into his arms, and the slightly surprised look that crossed his face every time she didn't fall swooning at his feet.
Lily was determined to stop her feelings for James before they went out of control. A crush on James Potter just wasn't in the program.
* * *
Fancying James is not part of the program, Lily repeated to herself firmly over and over again later that night during their patrol. Fancying James - no - POTTER - is NOT part of the program. In spite of herself she couldn't help laughing at James' many colorful tales of the pranks he and his friends had pulled over their years at Hogwarts. Lily had a stitch in her side as James recounted a prank in their fourth year that had required Sirius to seduce a Prefect in order to sneak into the Prefects' bathroom.
"....Sirius told her that bathrooms made him really hot," James was explaining to a chortling Lily. "And she said that she'd always wanted to snog in a bathroom as well, which was unlucky for Sirius as he wasn't sure that he actually fancied snogging this particular Prefect, and he definitely did not fancy snogging her in a loo. We don't know what exactly he had to do in that bathroom to get them, but he did come out with the bubbles anyway."
"And you filled McGonagall's office with them," Lily remembered, wiping her eyes. "We all wondered where those bubbles had come from, and then the next year when I knew where they came from, I started to wonder how exactly you'd gotten them."
"Now you know," James grinned, feeling at peace with the world and a bit giddy. Succeeding with the girl you fancied was indeed a heady feeling, one he could definitely get used to.
James and Lily climbed up the stairs from the dungeons to do a quick sweep of the floor above, still talking together. They both shut up, however, as they heard strange noises coming from round the corner.
Lily started toward the corridor, but James stopped her. "I'll go look," he whispered. "There's a secret passage that leads to the dungeons over there and if it is a Slytherin planning an attack they may know about it. One of us should stay here to make sure they can't double back to it."
"All right," Lily frowned slightly, feeling like she ought to help James deal with this situation. But it was too late. He had disappeared round the corner. Lily glanced round her, trying to determine where the passage was when she noticed a small rustling noise coming from a nearby statue.
Brows knitted, Lily cautiously made her way over to it, examining the statue for anything unusual. No one was hiding behind it, but what if this was the passage entrance Potter had been referring to?
James came back round the corner, relieved that the noise had only been Peeves but a bit irritated, as Peeves had managed to poke James in the eye. He was about to tell this to Lily when he noticed her studying the statue, which just happened to be the entrance to the passage on this floor, intently.
Thinking that it might be important to be quiet, James crept toward the statue. He was about halfway there when Lily suddenly gasped and stumbled back, losing her balance and landing on the floor with a thud.
"Evans!" James ran over to Lily and knelt beside her. "What just happened? What's in that statue?" To his surprise he realized Lily was laughing.
"It was just a rat," she explained. "It was hiding behind the statue and made some rustling noises. I went to see and it darted out and startled me. I really do feel like a complete arse for being startled by a rat, considering how many of them I've seen. I really should be able to tell the difference between a crazed Death Eater and a common rat by now"
"Well, yes, especially after seeing so much of Lockhart," James cracked. Lily started laughing again and James joined her.
Afterwards he could never say exactly how it had happened. One moment they were sitting on the stone floor of the hallway laughing, James remembered noticing how close his head was to Lily's, and the next thing he knew he had leaned over and kissed Lily.
Their lips met only briefly, but James was surprised by the intense feelings it evoked and closed his eyes against the fireworks that exploded behind his eyelids. It took only another split second for reality to come crashing back as James realized that one, he was kissing Lily, and two, that she hated him. Quickly James moved back and opened his eyes, embarrassed and disappointed and sad that it had to end.
"I am so sorr - " James managed to get out before Lily pulled him back toward her, put her arms round his neck, and pressed her lips to his. James' hands went automatically to her waist, pulling her closer, too shocked to enjoy the first few seconds. Finally it hit him and he suddenly felt filled with euphoria. He couldn't believe this was happening to him. Lily Evans was kissing him, and he was kissing her. Everything in the world was as it should be.
* * *
Lily could not believe she was doing this. This was what happened when you were impulsive, you found yourself kissing your mortal enemy on a cold stone floor in a very public corridor while you were supposed to be patrolling said corridor for any rule breakers.
She couldn't believe that she, Lily Evans, had pulled James Potter closer to her so she could kiss him. Kiss him, of all things. Lily had managed to thoroughly shock herself this time.
But after a few seconds, Lily's shock turned into surprise over how right this kiss felt and by the fireworks exploding in her head. This was exactly how a kiss should feel, exactly what another person should taste like. It was a perfect kiss, and Lily didn't want it to end. In that moment, she felt as though she could have kissed James Potter forever.
* * *
Finally, after an indeterminable amount of time, Lily and James pulled apart, still sitting on the stone floor of the corridor. James stole a glance at Lily, she was blushing a bit but had a bemused sort of grin on her face, identical to the one, James imagined, that was stretched across his own face.
"Wow," James broke the silence, still beaming.
"Wow," Lily repeated, her eyes sparkling, a lock of hair hiding her smile from James' eyes.
Gently James reached over and tucked the lock of Lily's scarlet hair behind her ear, his hand lingering on her cheek for just a moment. Lily closed her eyes, her expression growing a bit confused.
"Look, Lily, if you're sorry about what just happened," James began, his heart in his throat and his stomach in knots, "then I'm sorry that you're sorry, but I want you to know that I'm not sorry it happened, that we kissed." He finished in a rush.
Lily sighed. She wasn't quite sure what it all meant just yet, but she definitely knew that she wasn't sorry it had happened.
"I'm not sorry either," Lily said firmly, making a decision. She opened her eyes and met James' relieved gaze.
James released a breath he hadn't been aware of holding. "Sure?" he asked for confirmation.
"Sure," Lily reaffirmed, her tone definite. At that, James' face broke into a grin again, utterly blissful and speechless in his relief.
The pair stood up, busying themselves with brushing and straightening their clothes to cover the embarrassment and awkwardness of the moment. A quick glance at their wristwatches told them that their patrol was over and it was time to return to Gryffindor Tower. Lily suddenly giggled into the silence.
"It's just that now I know how all of those couples I've caught snogging after hours feel," she said by way of explanation, effectively breaking the ice. She and James shared a laugh as they started up the steps toward the main floor.
"What're you doing tomorrow?" James asked after a bit.
"Catching up on my homework," Lily replied automatically, then instantly regretted saying anything. Was she ready to spend time with James Potter outside of Head duties?
"Maybe I'll see you in the library tomorrow then," James said nonchalantly.
"Maybe," Lily was noncommittal.
"Maybe after breakfast?" James was suddenly quite interested in his shoes.
"Maybe," Lily repeated. A little smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. James' hopes soared.
The rest of the walk to Gryffindor Tower was a silent one and quickly accomplished. Finally Lily and James were facing each other in the common room, neither of them sure of the right thing to do or say in this particular instance.
"Well - er- good night, then," Lily said finally, giving James a brief but dazzling smile and hurrying up the stairs.
Rendered speechless yet again with that smile, Lily was halfway up the staircase before James found his voice. "Lily?" She turned, looking down at him expectantly.
Cursing himself, James frantically groped for something to say that was NOT "I think I'm in love with you." "Uh..."
"Yes?" Lily asked encouragingly.
Waiting a second for something brilliant to pop out of his mouth and thoroughly embarrassed when it didn't, James settled for: "Would you still rather go out with the giant squid than me?"
"I dunno....." Lily shifted her weight from one foot to the other and pretended ( hopefully) to be in deep thought. "I suppose I'll have to go and kiss him and let you know."
Both grinned at this remark. "Good night," Lily said again, turning once more to go on her way.
"Good night," James replied softly and made his own way to bed, completely unable to feel the floor beneath his feet all the way up to his dormitory.
* * *
Author's Note: Hooray! The 200 review mark!! I have the best readers ever; thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed. In answer to a question I received about Lucius Malfoy, in Order of the Phoenix it gave Lucius' age as 45, which would make him about 7 or 8 years older than Snape and the Marauders, so that's why he's not at Hogwarts with them. That doesn't mean he (and Narcissa) won't show up in my story though, so stay tuned. Special thanks to Four Stars, Sammie Tonks, Cookies for Khleo, Willow23, Dumbledore, and blazedsorceress. It makes me happy to know that people are enjoying this story. Another chapter is coming soon, keep the reviews coming!