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The Taste of Revenge
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Chapter Four: Caught by Surprise

James Potter couldn't help but be annoyed by what Sirius told him when he got into the Common Room late at night. He had asked Sirius to talk to Lily about her strange behavior, but instead he came inside, collapsed on the couch and sighed. When James asked him what happened, Sirius immediately grinned and said, "She's going to hook me up with her again!"

Of course James misinterpreted his sentence, not really following the words correctly, and widened his eyes, ready to strangle his best friend. "What? You asked her out?"

Sirius looked up at him nonchalantly. "I didn't ask her out, but she said she'd be willing to hel—"

"She WHAT?" James couldn't believe a word. Lily wanted to go out with Sirius? His best friend? And Sirius was okay with it?

"Calm down, Prongs," Sirius said, not understanding nor caring why James was suddenly so mad. "I know I broke up with her last time, but I'm sure she'll be willing to get back to me. I really like her. I-I never felt this way about a girl before," he added seriously.

"You went out with her before? When was this?"

"Prongs, now I seriously know there's something wrong with you. I went out with Natalie last week remember?" Sirius said, standing up and eying his friend with concern.

"Natalie?" James repeated in a whisper. "You were talking about Natalie?"

"Of course, who else do you think I was talking about? Lily?" he added with a chuckle. When he saw the grave look on James's face, he stopped laughing. "You didn't." James nodded his head. "You're a moron, you know that?"

James shook his head and sat back down, unwilling to talk any more.

All this time, Remus was watching from the sidelines with amusement and inwardly waited for the right moment to step in and correct James's misunderstanding. He walked over this time to where Sirius stood and, noticing that James would not talk, decided to ask the question James would've asked himself. "Any news on why Lily's acting this way?"

"Oh that…well I didn't really get the chance. I was talking to her about Nat, but by the looks of it, she's acting fine. Well, as fine as Evans could act while being around us that is. I figure she's just trying make the last year for us the best, you know? No more quarreling and the like."

"What about the fact she kissed me and claims I was dreaming it?" James croaked out.

Sirius laughed. "I don't know what to say to that. I didn't ask her. It seemed…too personal. You should ask her instead. In fact…why not go outside and talk to her?"

"I could just go to the Common Room back in the Head dorms and do that," James said.

"Ahh but talking outside is so much better. And in the dark, so much more…romantic," Sirius added with a wink.

James raised his eyebrow, but then thought better than to argue with his best friend. Talking to Evans outside would be romantic, but would she agree to go so late at night?

"But where outside? We can't get caught so it has to be secluded. It can't be the forbidden forest, she'll never agree to go even near it."

"How about the pumpkin patch?"

"Are you serious, Padfoot? That's the oddest place to ever meet. I'd understand the Quidditch field or something, but the pumpkin patch?"

Sirius shrugged his shoulders. "Everyone goes to the Quidditch field. I just thought about being original, you know. Creative?"

James nodded his head in approval. "Alright then. It's a plan."

As James put his invisibility cloak on and headed outside, Remus was given the duty to convince Lily to actually meet James.
He just hoped he would get some answers today or figure out why she was acting so uncharacteristic. This time, they would be meeting at night so at least she couldn't say he was daydreaming. With that thought as consolation, James embraced the late November breeze and headed towards the pumpkin patch.

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Lily couldn't decipher why Potter chose the pumpkin patch to meet her out of all the places in the world. There seriously must be something wrong in that head of his, but whatever the case was, Lily sneaked out of the Dead Dormitories and hurried off to meet him, praying that she would not be caught.

The journey from the Head Dorms to the gates had been a fairly long and therefore risky one. She needed to make numerous turns in many hallways and the possibility of Filch or anyone else catching her was a great one.

She finally reached the giant doors that led outside and confronted the cool breeze with a scowl. She had forgotten to put heavier robes on and instead wore her light summer cloak. She hurriedly headed for the pumpkin patch and hoped the gamekeeper from the hut would not see them.

When she finally reached the pumpkin patch, no one was there. Was she early? Or did Remus trick her? But Remus could never play a prank on her; he was different from the other Marauders.

She stood there with her arms crossed over her chest for another full minute before she decided to head back. She was usually a patient girl, but today she was restless and fidgety. She uncrossed her arms, tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and was ready to stomp off. Just when she took a few steps, James appeared magically out of thin air pulling a robe off his body and whenever he did so, part of his body was revealed.

Lily stared, mouth open and eyes wide. "Wh—what?" Potter grinned mischievously and took a few steps towards her. She finally snapped out of the shock and put her hand on her hips. "You boys are fond of scaring me to death aren't you? First Black, then Remus, and now you. Next thing you know Peter will suddenly get a brain and decide to kill us all and scare me too."

He chuckled. "Sorry, Evans, it's just so much fun to make you mad."

Lily raised her eyebrow and then suddenly remembered that she was supposed to act flirtatious. However, it was easier to think that but doing it was much harder. Especially considering their past history and the fact he irritated her.

"So why'd you call me down here?" Lily said trying to make the sentence sound flirtatious. She tilted her head and looked at him through under her eyelashes.

"I-I—"

Bingo! She made him stutter. That has to count for something. Potter never stuttered, he was always too suave to do so and always knew what to say around the ladies. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

He ran his hands through his hair and looked away from her, fixing his eyes on a pumpkin at the side of her head. Not looking at her cleared his thoughts and he was able to finally speak properly. "We needed to talk," he said seriously.

Lily inwardly sighed but on her exterior she furrowed her brows and tried to act cute. "Whatever do you wish to talk about?"

He jumped. "That!" he said looking at her and pointing to her mouth. "The way you're talking to me. All…flirty and sexy."

Lily blinked, scared that he jumped so suddenly and then blinked again when she registered what he said. He wasn't supposed to catch on so soon. Damn it! She knew this would never work. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she said in her usual tone of voice.

"There you go again! You always switch back your attitude whenever I ask you a question." He approached her and held her shoulders. "What are you doing?" he whispered. "Why are you getting my hopes up like this?"

Lily blankly stared into his hazel eyes, not knowing what to say. "No—nothing."

They continued to stare into each others eyes. Lily's blank and his flashing in frustration. He studied her face this time, her eyes, her nose, and then down to her lips. She licked them nervously out of habit and he felt himself drawn to her lips and her pink tongue.

He ended the distance between them by pulling her closer and lowered his hand from her shoulder down to her waist. "You are doing something. I know it."

He pulled her waist closer to his abdomen and raised his other hand up to her cheek, causing her breath to catch at her throat. Feeling his chest against hers caused pleasurable jolts to ripple to different parts of her body. He leaned closer so that his lips were brushing against her temple. Lily's stomach did a flutter and her heart was thumping fast without her control. She didn't want to pull away from him even if she could.

He kissed her unexpectedly, his lips warm and soft against hers. She let out a small gasp in surprise and reflexively made her hands travel up his chest and around his neck. Once secure and sure she wouldn't fall from giddiness, she began to kiss him too not really thinking about her actions. Not wanting to think.

He was the one to pull back this time, studying her face. She opened her eyes slowly and stepped back from the circle of his arms. She quickly looked away when he tried to catch her eyes with his.

"See, you kissed me back this time."

Lily snapped her eyes back up to him in surprise. She opened her mouth to make up some sort of excuse but closed it again when she realized she had nothing to say in her defense. Instead she crossed her arms across her chest and stared at him definitely as if saying, 'So?'

He shrugged his shoulders. "I finally found the answer I was looking for." He took a few steps towards her and kissed her cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow then, Evans" He turned around and began to walk away.

Lily uncrossed her arms in shock and touched her cheek, still being able to feel his breath on her.

"Oh and Lily?" he said without warning, turning around.

Lily quickly put her hand away from her cheek and shoved both hands into her pocket. She looked up at him and tried to appear nonchalant. "Yeah?"

He smirked at her. "I told you I wasn't dreaming."

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Author's Note: Okay so this chapter was total crap. Well, not crap, but I could have definitely added a lot more to make this longer. It's barely 2,000 words and by far the shortest chapter I wrote for this story. You guys deserved something better but I really wanted to give you something before HBP comes out but I seem to never have posted it in by accident. I just stumbled across it and now here I am with chapter 4!

Oh and it's not beta-read so pardon the numerous mistakes. I'll get them fixed by my beta soon but for now, please overlook them.

Also I decided to try a little experiment. If you guys want something to happen in this story or for me to include something, just let me know and I'll see if I can add it and dedicate the chapter to you if it doesn't stray from the overall plot too much. For example if you want Sirius covered with chocolate (and of course no clothes on) and running around the Great Hall, I'll think about it and may just add it in for a bit of fun. (Note this is just an example. Not happening.)

This way, I'll be more motivated to write the story and it'll be fun. I'm not sure how it'll work out, but I'm willing to give it a shot. What do you say? Either let me know in a review, or email me.

All Hail,
Queen of Serpents