More Than a One Night Stand

How Would It Be?

"So he just comes up to me, he's all frown and glare and then he just blabbed something about the full moon and left. It's not even the full moon tonight," James exclaimed, stomping down his foot in frustration, looking back on the confrontation he was in with Sirius minutes ago. Remus gave him an inquiring look, holding his chin in his fingers, as he always did when deep in thought.

"Something must've happened to him. It's not the first time he's been in such a strange mood," Remus said, pacing up and down, contemplating his friend's behaviour. "Maybe his family." Looking up at thoughtful James, he gave him the crooked smile he got so often when he came up with something others couldn't.

"I don't know, he never talked to me like that."

"Don't worry, James." Remus patted him on the back and they moved forward. "I'm telling you, it has happened before, Sirius just never acted that way towards you." James suddenly stopped and looked up at Remus, startled.

"What do you mean by that?"

Remus scratched the back of his head and smiled, somewhat bitterly. "Well, Sirius values you most from all of us. I bet he is really upset since he talked this way to you, but like I said, don't worry. We'll cure him."

Smiling at Remus' words, James answered with a nod. "Great, let's go catch up with Pete. Together, we'll talk to him."

When Lily walked up to her dorm after the Defense Against the Dark Arts, she, surprisingly, felt normal. She didn't feel frustrated or angry anymore. She felt her heart was lighter. The reason was unknown, but she reckoned it was because she sorted out that thing with James. Thinking that all of Hogwarts would know about her slip-ups made her stomach turn, but now, nobody would know. She and James would pull through to the end and then go on with their lives.

Sitting down in front of the mirror and shutting the door with her wand, Lily sighed as she stared at herself, a pair of emerald green eyes blinking back at her.

Lily raised her hand up to touch her pale cheek, placing her fingertips lightly on it. Brushing her fingertips across it, she then placed them atop her lips and thought back on the kisses she shared with James. They were tender, sweet, but also passionate. Very believable for someone that didn't know anything about their deal. She wondered, how it would be if those kisses were real.

Lily couldn't fight it, but her lips formed into a smile. It would surely be very interesting.

"James Potter," she whispered, the words rolling off her tongue like a soft music. "What would it be like, James?" As her question disappeared into the stillness, Lily's mind traveled back to Halloween night. She was drunk, yes, but she still remembered almost exactly what happened. When she thought back on the way James had been able to touch her and please her in the most wonderful way, a blush crept over her cheeks.

She could almost feel him standing right behind her, his body pushed against hers, his hands slipping underneath her sweater. She remembered that his hands were cold, but when they made contact with her skin, it felt like fire touching her.

Closing her eyes, Lily leaned to the back of her chair and let her body relax.

"How would it be, James?" she repeated, and then she opened her eyes. She was still there, in the mirror, her face looking back at her. Suddenly, Lily laughed at her thoughts and just shook her head, trying to dismiss those memories from her mind. "It would probably suck."

"You know, talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity." Lily started right as Lisa walked in, closing the door behind her.

"Everybody says that, yet it's not true," Lily said, letting out a sigh of relief and smiling at Lisa. "You talk to yourself all the time and you're not mental."

Lisa raised her eyebrows at Lily and Lily burst out laughing. "Okay, so you may be right. It is a sign of insanity, since you're anything except normal."

"Anyway, what sucks?"

"Umm, nothing to be exact. I was only thinking. You know….my thoughtful strings."

"Ah. Well, at first I thought I heard you blab something about James?" Lisa raised her eyebrows knowingly and the blush on Lily's cheek seemed to take a deeper shade.

"James? Well, I do think of him since he's…my boyfriend." The last words were spoken a little strangely, because of the lump that had formed in Lily's throat. Lily gulped…Lisa knew. She knew. She for sure didn't know everything, but she knew that Lily was not completely honest with her, as well as everyone else. And that frightened Lily, because once Lisa sensed something, she would be so nosey until Lily, herself, would reveal the truth.

This was the one thing Lily hated about her friend; Lisa's ability to always guess what was going on. One could almost never keep anything away from her.

Breaking their somewhat strange eye contact, Lily looked back into the mirror and heaved a sigh. She heard Lisa move behind her, so that meant the subject was dismissed. As Lily stared at her reflection once again, she felt sick. Just like one particular mirror in one of the Leaky Cauldron's hotel rooms, it seemed that the small phantom in the mirror had whispered:

Liar.

Lily gritted her teeth and looked away. She was not a liar. She wasn't! She just couldn't tell Lisa. Of course, Lisa wouldn't spill her secret, because she hated gossiping. However, Lily didn't want anyone to know. Not even her best friend. That was it.

"Are you excited about the game?" Lisa's voice brought Lily back to reality. Looking up, she spotted Lisa brushing her hair, desperately trying to untangle it. She had very nice hair, but it was extremely messy. No matter what she did, no matter how she brushed it, it would always find a way to get messed up.

"The game? What game?"

"The Quidditch game, of course! We're playing against Hufflepuff tomorrow. I'm sure James will be extra happy if he'll have his dream girlfriend screaming and cheering for him."

"I won't be screaming and cheering. I doubt I will even go," Lily exclaimed, crossing her arms across her chest, frowning.

"Oh, come on, Lils! How come? You like Quidditch!" reasoned Lisa, throwing the brush aside and rolling on her back.

"I do, but I won't go out there to make a fool out of myself. I'm not one of those crazy fan girls that sigh every time James or Sirius flies by them. No thank you!"

"But you cannot do this to James!" Lisa sat up and looked over at Lily. "What is your damn problem? You can be so stuck-up sometimes!" The words hit Lily unprepared and she winced, her face unreadable.

"Excuse me?"

"I said that you are stuck-up. James is your boyfriend. You're all cuddly, cuddly love and then you won't even go to the game to support him."

"I'm stuck-up? Yeah?" Lily shot up from her chair, slowly making her way toward Lisa, who now second guessed her words. Lily's temper was never ever safe. "If I'm so stuck-up, what are you then? You just walk through this earth giving advice to people who don't want it. You think you're so smart and know everything about life, while your own is so far from perfect!" Lily's voice reached a much higher tone, and she was almost yelling.

"That was a bit too harsh, don't you think?" Lisa asked, keeping the tone of her voice calm. She was hurt, but not because Lily shouted at her, but because all she said was true. And facing the truth was never really easy.

"No, I don't think it was too harsh! Look, Lisa, you know that I like you very much, but please, try to stay out of my love life. Just don't interfere until asked. Please! I am sick of always hearing stuff like that from you. It is tiring!" Throwing her arms into the air exasperatedly, Lily stormed out of the room afterwards, leaving a speechless Lisa alone.

The sun slowly crept into the boys' dormitory, lighting up the whole room much more brightly than a thousand candles could. The first to wake up was James. He looked around the room, seeing that everyone was still soundly asleep, snoring softly. Yawning and stretching, James grinned ear to ear when he realized what day it was.

It was the day of the Quidditch game and days like these, even if there was a raging storm outside, were James' favourite. He loved the way all of his teammates felt nervous and scared, but excited and anxious at the same time. James had never been nervous about a Quidditch game. Only the first one, perhaps. He felt confident, because he was the best. And he knew it.

However, there was a small addition to his happy day, a cherry on top of the cake, and it was Lily. He had always dreamed that, one day, Lily would sit in the stands and scream his name with passion whenever he would score a goal. That day, it would come true.

Who cared that it would be only one game? What did it matter that the week would come to its end and she would never stand there for him ever again? What was important was the fact that James' dream would come true, just this once.

As the day wore on, the weather only improved. It was a chilly November day, but the sun was shining, spreading warmth through the students' bodies. Ten minutes before the game, almost everyone was seated in the stands, proudly displaying their house colours. Ravenclaws were cheering for both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, although the girls were much fonder of Gryffindor. The Slytherins, however, booed into Gryffindor's direction, chanting for Hufflepuff. This wasn't anything new, of course. Everybody knew that for long years, there had been a great rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor. The rivalry had especially increased since the Gryffindor team was winning Quidditch Cup after Quidditch Cup.

James looked up at his fellow Gryffindors, his eyes searching in vain for the mane of flaming red hair. He searched the stands over and over, determined to see Lily, waving at him, but, to his great disappointment, she was nowhere to be seen.

His heart sank.

Then he mentally smacked himself, in addition to wishing he could kick his own arse. Why did he care? Okay, so they were pretending to be together, but that didn't mean Lily would follow him around like a pet puppy. She probably didn't even want to come, having to cheer for James. This way, she could escape from him for just a little while. That was it, James thought. She just wanted to have a break from him.

Sighing, James went back into the dressing rooms to get his broom, with his shoulders slightly slumped.

"She's not here, is she?" Remus asked from behind James. Spinning around, James saw Remus in front of him. He was probably just making his way up to the stands when he spotted James, looking longingly at the stadium.

"Not that I expected her to."

"You did. But don't worry; she'll turn up. I know she will."

"How do you know?" James asked in disbelief, but received only a shrug in response as Remus turned away and walked away.

James, feeling even worse than before, mounted his broom and kicked off from the ground, up into the air. The wind was rushing through his hair and it felt so refreshing. He inhaled the fresh air, and for the last time, he looked down at the stands, but still saw nothing.

The game had started, but not so well for Gryffindor. Hufflepuff scored four goals too fast while James somehow couldn't get his hands on the quaffle. He didn't really felt like flying, if he were to be honest. He didn't feel like playing at all, for the first time in his life. When Hufflepuff scored their sixth goal, Sirius called in time-out. He mimicked to his other teammates to leave him and James alone for a minute and then he flew over to his best friend who sighed, dread filling him. James knew exactly what was following.

"What the hell are you doing?" roared Sirius, fuming. He was gripping the handle of his broom tightly so that his knuckles were white. "We are losing sixty to nothing and you haven't even caught the hold of the fucking quaffle yet!"

"I know! I'm sorry, but I…I don't know. The wind is too strong today," James said lamely, knowing that if this was the best excuse he could come up with, he was really pathetic then.

"What? You flew in storms. Are you telling me this breeze is hurting you?" Sirius stared at him in complete bafflement, but then it all dawned on him. "Oh right! I know! You are depressed because your one true love hadn't arrived! Bloody hell! How is it that she always makes you act like a total idiot? James, we are losing, and if it'll go on like this, even if we'll catch the snitch, we'll lose. Start doing something! Forget her! Who cares about her anyway? She is stupid if she hasn't arrived. Now move your lazy bum and play!"

Sirius zoomed off, leaving James floating in the air, his mouth agape, feeling as though a bucket of ice was thrown into his stomach. He felt pathetic. He felt so damn pathetic.

Suddenly, Remus' voice reached him, like a call from heaven itself.

"James! James!" James quickly looked down and spotted Remus waving at him frantically and then pointing to a figure that stood beside him and Peter.

It was Lily.

She was looking up at him, blushing so brightly that she matched her red Gryffindor scarf perfectly. When she noticed he was looking at her, she smiled and waved at him. James' heart fluttered in his chest and he suddenly felt as if an amazing amount of energy was filling him. It was incredible, but he suddenly felt like he didn't even need a broom to fly.

The whistle blew and the game had continued. It was really unbelievable, but James scored goal after goal, receiving cheers and excited screams form the stands. Soon, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were tied. The noise in the stadium had risen drastically with every new goal, as the Gryffindors screamed their excitement.

"Thanks for coming," Remus said to Lily, smiling widely. Lily looked up at him, a little startled. "If you hadn't come, we would lose. Wow, look at James." James had just made a flip in the air, blowing a small kiss to Lily who blushed. "It means a lot to him."

"Every girlfriend would come."

"Yes, but you're not exactly an ordinary girlfriend, are you?" Remus glanced knowingly at Lily, who looked horrified.

"That little..."

"Calm down, Lily, okay? Yes, he told me. But, honestly, what did you expect? We're close friends; it's understandable that he told me. Don't worry; your secret is safe with me." Giving her a reassuring smile, Remus started clapping when he heard applause from other people, although he did not tear his eyes away from Lily, just as she hadn't tore her eyes from him. She felt she could believe him. Remus was always sensible, therefore she could trust him.

Lily was just about to open her mouth when a terrified scream erupted from behind her. Both she and Remus quickly turned to see a first year girl clasping her hands across her eyes, still screaming. They then turned back to the game and all Lily saw was James, falling and falling.

Author's Note:

I know, I know, please stop throwing those tomatoes at me. I am much more than just busy and this chapter took long to write and beta, because my beta has a life too. By the way, thanks Amanda. I hope you don't mind it took me nearly a century to post this up, but I really didn't have any time and if I were to be honest, the next chapter will take a lot of time as well. My posting should be frequent in May, but if I have time, the next chapter might be posted up sooner. Love you all and thank you for the kind reviews.

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