Here is my birthday gift to you ^.^ I'm excited for stuff to get going already :D

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter. Art work by the super talented blvnk-art (tumblr) aka potterbyblvnk (insta)

Song: Wicked Game by Ursine Vulpine featuring Annaca

The Acknowledgement

Lily was screwed. So — pathetically, blissfully — screwed.

She'd had a sex dream (and a really, really good one at that). Normally she couldn't even remember her dreams, but this one had been all but seared into her skull for eternity. Somehow, she knew she'd be able to see it when she closed her eyes even when she was old and grey. It was a bit of a haze, flailing skin and a jumble of noises, moans, whimpers, and pleas, but there was one constant: pleasure. So much mind-numbing, thigh-quivering pleasure that her toes nearly curled just thinking about it now. She'd been vaguely aware that she was riding someone, having the same deep sensation and view that she did over the lake during her morning workouts, but for some reason, it hadn't felt like a big deal. It wasn't some monumental event that she was this close to coming without working out. Whoever was beneath her felt good, so fucking good, but that was to be expected, wasn't it? Sex was meant to feel good… right?

As she kept riding, feeling the telltale signs of her orgasm stirring within her, she'd made the egregious mistake of looking down. There, lying beneath her in the dirt, was a naked torso she unfortunately knew so well from when he'd stripped in front of her, and that smirk, his fucking smirk, mocking her as he looked up at her on top of him.

It was too late to back out now, however, because she'd already started coming. "It's okay," he breathed as her eyes rolled back and she saw stars.

Fuck.

This was not happening. She was not having wet dreams to James fucking Potter. None of this was sanctioned. She would just have to avoid him like the plague that he was, even if it meant that Remus had been right all along. (She could barely even look at her best friend the next morning at breakfast when he apologized to her for being so snappy the night before, too afraid he'd see her dream written all over her face.)

She wouldn't let Potter drag her down with his depravity. She couldn't. I'm better than that.

Lily, unfortunately, did have some experience with ignoring her problems until they went away. It had worked with her sister, after all. When Petunia had made it clear that Lily 'choosing' to leave her during the school year to pursue magic was a sin that she could never forgive, she had pretended like Lily didn't even exist over the summers, and had persuaded most of the other girls to do the same. It had made Lily hungry for attention, both good and bad, and perhaps, could explain some of her current dealings with Potter (if she'd actually stop and take the time to evaluate their interactions, of course, but she really had much better things to do than that).

So she decided to do what her older sister, her only living family member, had done to her: ignore, ignore, ignore. Hopefully, it would solve things. Lily was terrible at conflict resolution, she knew that, but this didn't seem to be something with a solution. Potter was a disease, and she had to cut him out of her life before he infected her, her sexual feelings on the issue be damned. In fact, her horniness was all the more reason to nip things in the bud now versus later. She couldn't deal with any more of his toying, not when she felt this vulnerable already. All Lily knew, if the ache deep in her belly was anything to go by, was that she no longer trusted herself to stay true to her principles around the Death Eater. He was just too fit and… something. He was too something to handle.

Of course, her foolproof plan would only work if Potter abided by her unspoken new rules.

And what was Potter best at? Doing whatever the fuck he wanted.

"Evans." Lily's back straightened as Potter dropped onto the stool next to her in Potions. She screamed internally. How was she ever supposed to get her bearings if Potter had all but become a barnacle at her side? She stared forward, unwilling to bend her newfound resolve for him. He could talk all he wanted; surely, he'd get the hint eventually when she didn't.

"Have you heard?" Potter continued after gaining no reaction from her. "Slughorn made the current Potions partners permanent. Guess we're stuck with each other."

You've got to be fucking kidding me right now… Lily looked up just in time to catch Slughorn send Potter an encouraging smile that he returned just as charmingly. Soddening hell, he would. Potter bloody well would ask his Head of House for something like this, and Slughorn would agree, harping on about how he remembered what it was like to be young, and how he'd love to 'help a chap out.' The sexism of it reeked. Lily knew Slughorn liked her — she was gifted in Potions and, as he loved to point out, 'cheeky' — and she knew that he said her blood status was irrelevant, but she really wouldn't put it past the old professor to be over the moon if she were to 'settle down with a nice Pureblood bloke.'

"What? No witty retort? None of that righteous anger I love to watch so much?" He made it sound like her emotions tickled him, like she only had them for his benefit. "Your face always gets so cutely pink when you're feisty."

Great. He's in a chatty mood. Lily uncorked her ink bottle and dipped her quill in, writing the date across her parchment, nearly tearing through it as she made a swift underline.

"Oh no… Don't tell me I'm getting the silent treatment, Evans. You know how much I can't stand that," he jested, holding a hand over his heart. "Hang on, why are you ignoring me? If anyone has the right to be pissed, it's the bloke who got slapped for no reason."

Lily snorted despite her own wishes. Slughorn began his lesson. Apparently, they were going to brew a hallucinogenic potion. How Slughorn thought this was a good idea with teens, she had no idea. Something told her Potter wouldn't be the only one nicking a vial today.

Potter leaned in, whispering, "Oh? There was a reason? Let's hear it then."

Lily irritatedly blew a lock of hair off of her forehead, jotting down the ingredients they'd need.

"I have a theory," Potter continued, as if she cared. "I think you want me." Lily froze, suddenly very interested in the words 'frog legs' written in front of her. "I think you want me so bad, and that terrifies you, because you think you shouldn't, but you can't help it." Lily's lungs burned, begging her to release the carbon dioxide she was so greedily hoarding, but she found herself unable to. "Am I right?"

His words lingered in the air between them, and unlike when Remus had said nearly the same thing only a few hours before, now, she knew them to be true. She did want him. She wanted him in ways she'd never wanted anyone before. She wanted his hands, those unfairly elegant hands she could peripherally see resting right within reach to grip her hips the way they had in her dream, his long fingers digging into her flesh as he rocked her along over him, helping her find her rhythm. She wanted his chest, his rock solid chest, to crush against hers until she couldn't breathe while she made his delicious back into her very own scratching post. And that mouth, that wicked, no actually wicked, mouth needed to shut the fuck up and find ways to make her finally talk, no, absolutely scream for him. She'd wanted to have sex before, sure, but she'd never fully craved it in this mouthwatering fashion before. The need felt palpable.

Lily felt blood rushing to her cheeks as her cunt clenched, trying to remain in control. Potter grinned at her. "I'll take that as a yes."

Lily practically fell out of her chair, rushing to go to the supply cabinet that all the other pairs were already coming out of. Being around him was torture, there really was no other way to put it. She couldn't even really understand what the fuck it was about him that just did it for her. How could she even begin to shut down something when she didn't know where it was coming from? It was almost as though in some past life, some mythical higher power had decided that they were it, destined to be in some way, and that was that — however their personalities ended up developing (and opposing) be damned. That was how powerless Lily felt when dealing with her complicated feelings for this man.

She had no idea how she was supposed to behave anymore — what she was supposed to say or do. Who says things like that?! It was like the last nearly two decades of her life had prepared her for human interactions that just didn't apply here and she was confused and fucking horny. So horny it didn't seem even remotely healthy anymore. She walked into the cupboard and gripped the edges of the counter there, trying to ignore Potter's laughter behind her and steady her breathing. He'd gotten under her skin again. He'd won yet another game. At least you didn't admit it. He doesn't actually know it's true.

Lily straightened her skirt and let out a big exhale, making a deal with herself to lose it later, and regain control now. She set about collecting all their ingredients. The only problem was, the last one was on the highest shelf, and stretch as she might, she couldn't reach it.

"You forgot your wand in your rush to get away from me," Potter said, twirling the willow between his fingers the same way she'd admired him spin his quill earlier. "Not smart."

He was right; it wasn't smart. She looked over to him, now casually leaning against the doorframe, holding the key to her magic, with a slight pang of fear. Potter had an odd way of making her forget when she was in the middle of class, supposedly surrounded by people. Her classmates' chatter and the sounds of slicing and bubbling brews barely registered. She should ask for her wand back, so she could just levitate the ingredient down no problem, but she was still mad at him for reading her like an open book, for mocking her unwanted desire for him. Because at the end of the day, that's what she was to him, wasn't she? She was the idiot Mudblood girl who thought he was fit despite her own better judgment. Oh how he probably just loved that. She couldn't even imagine what this new turn of events was doing for his already inflated sense of self-worth. Nothing good, that's for sure.

She turned back around and got on her tippy toes, the jar not even close to being within reach, no matter how hard she strained.

"You know I'd be down, yeah?" he asked, his voice betraying the slightest hint of eagerness.

Please be talking about helping me reach the cicada wings, please be talking about the—

"It doesn't have to be a big deal if you don't want it to be. We're both adults here, Evans."

Lily considered climbing up on the countertop. Sure, she might flash him her arse in all the clambering, but she could at least escape this tiny little room that was trapping her in with her giant-ass problem. In her failed attempt, she knocked over a jar, sending eel guts and glass flying in all directions over the floor. "Shit," she muttered.

"Oh for fuck's sake," Potter cried out angrily, stepping towards her and vanishing the mess. "Just ask." Lily spun around, bracing herself against the counter behind her while her ankle stung, ready to serve him just a little, furious piece of her mind. This was dumb. So, so incredibly dumb. But before she could get a word out, he had sunk to his knees and healed the skin the shattered glass had sliced, his hand holding onto her calf with a measured gentleness she didn't know he possessed as his wand did its magic. After his thumb wiped away her blood, his fingers trailed up her bare leg as he righted himself before her.

He was touching her. He was always fucking touching her. Lily didn't let a lot of people touch her, not that that many even tried. To her, touch was something reserved for sex, for those desperate moments when two people were trying to spark something inside of themselves. Her parents had been dead for over a decade, and it wasn't like Petunia was big on hugs, so most affectionate embraces seemed like a foreign language to Lily. She could see them, and appreciate that some people understood them, but they'd never really made sense to her. Even platonically, Remus wasn't big on cuddles either, thinking of himself as cursed and practically contagious. Severus had always used to want to touch her, but the way his hugs had lingered, squishing her breasts up against him, had practically made Lily's skin crawl. She knew he wanted more than she did, and it had tainted the whole experience. It had almost drilled into her that touching was a means to an end that she didn't even want.

So yeah, Lily wasn't usually one for touching. But she fucking loved this. As Potter's long fingers tickled their way up her thigh, she didn't want him to stop in the slightest. In fact, she wanted more.

She swallowed hard as his eyes flashed, the way he was looking her dead in the eye making her head spin. "Please," she finally acquiesced, not even sure if she was asking for more than just help with the ingredients.

Potter pressed up against her, one hand slyly gripping her hip as he reached above her head for the jar on the top shelf easily. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" he whispered.

She couldn't lie: feeling his body on hers definitely did stuff to her. It was all the more easy to graphically picture her dream, to consider saying fuck it, and making it a reality right then and there, decorum be damned. We can close the door and silence the cupboard, can't we? It was almost dizzying how fast her mind raced there, her blood flooding her with hormones she was powerless to fight, let alone control. He caught it too, his own pupils dilating as he pushed his hips further against hers.

But then he fucked up by bringing the jar down. His sleeve had slid down his forearm with the reach of his left arm, revealing the ugly Dark Mark that marred his skin.

Lily pushed him off of her, snatching the wings from him and brewing for the rest of class in silence, ignoring how hotly she felt his eyes on her the whole time.

Lily wanted to talk to Remus about what had nearly happened in the supply closet, but it seemed especially selfish considering he was only a few hours away from writhing in pain on the floor of the Shrieking Shack. Instead, she bottled her confusion up, handed him the Wolfsbane Potion she'd brewed, and left him with Madam Pomfrey, before returning to the common room. She hardly ever slept on full moon nights, much too worried about Remus, so instead, she tried to get a head start on her weekend homework.

It was extra hard to concentrate tonight though. Her thoughts kept racing to hazel eyes boring into hers and the feel of Potter, chiseled and firm — and she was mad, fully and committably insane. She couldn't think straight when he was around, not like she could now, full of shame. At least when she was alone, she could remember that wanting him was wrong. Too bad this acknowledgment did little to temper the desire that was ruining her.

Lily awoke in her armchair in the deserted common room several hours later with a sore neck and a dying fire. Oh, and James Potter staring at her from Remus' usual spot.

"What the fuck!" Lily squealed, jumping in her seat, and immediately groaning as she clutched at her neck. She must have passed out on it funnily.

"Ah, she speaks," Potter declared, studying her.

"What are you doing here?" Lily groaned. Couldn't the guy give her a second of rest? Was no place safe? She looked around gingerly. "When did you even get—?"

"Why did no one wake you?" he cut her off with his own question.

"What?"

"You were sleeping in a position that would obviously hurt, so why did no one wake you?"

Lily swallowed. Wait. Is he cross? "I dunno… most people are scared of me and my friend's not here?"

Potter tilted his head. "Why do you only have one friend?"

Lily scoffed. "What? Did you come here to interrogate me or something? Why are you here?"

Potter folded up a well worn piece of parchment she hadn't seen before. "I need your help."

"Really?" she spat out sarcastically, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "At—" she looked at her watch, "—midnight? Fat chance, Potter."

A little of his upset seemed to ebb away. "We can talk about my proposal later, I was actually referring to Head stuff."

Lily hated herself when her eyes dropped to his lap — positively loathed herself. She hadn't meant to, but after he brought up his lewd enemies-with-benefits offer, and then said the word 'head,' it had almost been a knee-jerk reaction.

One he'd definitely caught and wasn't going to let go any time soon. His smirk had turned lethal. "I meant—"

"I know what you meant!" she interjected, borderline hysterical, blushing what felt like at least a deep fuchsia. Change topics, change topics…! "How'd you know I'd still be out here?"

"I'll tell you after," he said, getting to his feet and offering her a hand, "if you come with me now."

She narrowed her eyes, ignoring his help, but got to her feet regardless. She looked up at him expectantly. "Well, lead the way."

Lily followed Potter down various flights of stairs, the silence deafening. It was moments like these that made her realize she knew so very little about this boy who she'd shared countless classes with over the years. Not only did she find she could barely predict his moods or behavior — which seemed wildly erratic at best, downright sociopathic at worst —but she didn't even know basic things about him either. What were his hobbies? What was his relationship with his parents like? Why is he like this? She pushed it all aside when they got to the Entrance Hall.

Sitting there at the bottom stair was a small boy she recognized as a 1st year Muggle-born named Ernie with Emma Vanity, the painfully gorgeous Slytherin prefect from their year, standing over him. It wasn't until Lily saw Emma's expensive looking olive dress that she realized she was still in her school clothes, only now extra ruffled and frumpy.

"There you are," Emma cooed when she caught sight of Potter, her puffy lips curling into a smile before she saw Lily beside him. "Oh." Her disgust and disapproval couldn't have been more apparent. The beauty had bullied Lily for years up until 5th year when she'd decided even yelling insults at 'the Mudblood' was beneath her. Apparently even that much association was too great.

Lily pushed away the thought of just how her perfect pout had gotten so swollen in the first place and focused on Ernie. "Hey, what happened?" she asked dropping onto the step next to him and ignoring the lovers' quarrel now happening behind her.

The young boy's lower lip trembled, looking like he was trying not to cry, but Lily could still see the dried streaks where tears must have flowed freely before. His pale blue eyes were wide as he stared at the front door.

"Hey," Lily gently pushed, "it's okay. You're safe now. Your name is Ernie, right?"

The sound of his name jostled him out of his trance. "Y-yeah. How did you know that?"

Lily gave him a little nudge with her shoulder. "Us Muggle-borns gotta stick together." Ernie looked overwhelmed by the attention of a pretty 7th year girl, but took it in stride, using it to fuel his courage. "Can you tell me what happened, Ernie?"

"I—"

Emma made a loud huffing noise and stalked past them, bumping into Lily's back along the way. Her heels clattered as she made her way to the dungeons.

"Ignore her. That's what I always do," Lily joked.

Ernie let out a small laugh, looking at Lily like she was his new hero.

Lily got serious. "Ernie, she didn't bully you, did she?" The idea of perfect little Miss Vanity, with her perfectly curled caramel hair, and her perfectly manicured nails, bullying a boy six years younger than her seemed laughable, but who knew. Lily couldn't imagine getting kicks out of berating anyone, age be damned. Well, other than Potter.

"No," Ernie said hastily. "James just asked her to stay with me."

James. Lily's stomach did a flip. "So what happened?" she pressed on. She didn't have to look behind her to know that Potter had settled on the steps there.

"I…" Ernie struggled. "I don't remember. I was trying out different spells on the fruit portrait by my dorm, because Chris heard from Ashley who heard from Omar that it's the entrance to the kitchens, and then… I dunno."

Lily looked at him fully worried. Who would prey on such a sweet little kid? "You just came to here?"

"No. James and Emma found me by the portrait. But I—" Ernie shifted, clearly uncomfortable, "—I dunno. I just kind of hurt. And it was three hours later."

What the fuck? Had someone taken his memories? "And you don't remember anything else?"

"Well…" Ernie gave a shuddering sigh. "There's this flash. But it's impossible, because I didn't go outside," he immediately dismissed himself.

"What was it?"

Ernie grimaced. "I just have this vision of seeing that big, scary guy in your year with bad teeth standing over me while I was in the dirt."

Now that he mentioned it, Lily could see a leaf caught in his hair and some mud on the back of his sweater. "Ernie, you're gonna have to be more specific."

The boy flushed. "You know, the one who always has terrible breath?"

"Mulciber?" Lily asked, eyebrows flying up her forehead. Suddenly, it made perfect sense why Potter had felt the need to get her. This was shaping up to be a hate crime, and one committed by someone from his usual gang. No wonder he felt as though he couldn't handle talking to Ernie alone. The kid was probably petrified of him.

"Yeah."

Lily spun around, completely forgetting how cricked her neck already was. "Shit," she muttered under her breath, but it was still enough to make Ernie jump. She carried on though, fully on a mission. "Potter. We're gonna go talk to that psychopath." Bernie blanched, so she turned back to him. "Don't worry, we'll take you to the infirmary first." But Ernie refused, just wanting to go to bed. So after doing a little spell to make sure he was at least physically okay, Lily and Potter dropped him off at Hufflepuff before continuing down on her war path.

"Have I told you, you are exceptionally sexy when—"

"Not now, Potter." Lily had no time for his wasted words. They stopped outside the entrance to the Slytherin common room. "Do you have my back?" she asked him curtly, knowing the full weight of her question. She was about to go start a fight with one of his own — a Death Eater — and she'd really rather not do it completely alone. She had to know, if push came to shove, what part of his identity did he hold in higher regard: being Head Boy, or being one of them?

He stared at her curiously for a moment. "Of course."

"Good." She squared her shoulders and awaited his password. A passageway appeared, inviting them even deeper into the dungeons to a place Lily had never been to before.

She hadn't expected this — it was somehow even more creepy (and cold, so cold) than she'd imagined with snake paraphernalia and molding in every direction. Everything was green and dank, as though mildew was a permanent resident. Lily shivered, trying to repress the thoughts of what could have been — what very nearly was. Now is not the time, or the place, Lils.

"Prongs. Emma just flew by here pissed, did you…" The words died in Sirius' pretty little throat as his eyes landed on Lily. "Oh. That's why."

It turned out she didn't need Potter to go get Mulciber from their bedroom because he was sitting right there in the common room with all his mates.

"Mulciber. Up. You're coming with us to McGonagall," Lily ordered.

Mulciber looked like he was having a stroke as his jaw dropped and he looked between Lily and Potter. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, up. We know you attacked a 1st year. Up, now." Lily had taken on her imposing stance. The Death Eater just blinked stupidly at Potter with his mouth still hanging open; it made Lily's blood boil. She was a Head too. She deserved respect and could bark out orders just as much as he could. "Potter won't save you, we both know what you did." She quickly clocked that none of them had their wands on them save for Sirius, so she quickly disarmed him in case things were about to get ugly.

"HEY!" Sirius roared, getting to his feet to follow his wand.

Lily silenced him and magicked him back into his seat. "Sh." She turned back to Mulciber. "We can do this the hard way, or the easy way."

Mulciber snarled, showing off all his mangled teeth. Ernie was right — she should have known exactly who he'd been referring to with the teeth description alone. "Listen here, bitc—"

Without any more preamble, Lily stunned him and levitated his body up, over his friends, and turned on her heel, taking him with her. She heard chaos erupt behind her, but luckily Potter must have handled it, because it was he who came running after her a few minutes later when she'd begun climbing the first staircase. The vice grip on her wand loosened a bit.

They strode in silence for a moment, the only sounds being of Mulciber's body as she dragged him along the wall, hitting various portrait frames, making their occupants holler and hoot, as he floated on. Potter broke the peace with a few chuckles.

"What?"

He fully laughed. "Nothing. Just where did that come from?"

Lily had no idea why she was blushing. "I just don't fuck with bullying, Potter."

He shot her a smirk. "Duly noted." She gave him a tiny smile back. Okay, she was allowed to be proud of herself — she had sorta kicked ass back there. "Except…" Oh fuck, what's he gonna say to ruin it all? "That's not really true." They reached the hall where McGonagall's private quarters lay. "You don't fuck with people bullying others." Before she could really process his implication, he gave her a once over and walked backwards away from her towards a door. "It was really fucking hot though."

She shouldn't like the compliment, but she did.

And Potter could tell. He grinned at her, flashing his pearly whites, before turning and knocking to wake McGonagall.

McGonagall had been every bit as outraged, her hairnet barely holding on, as Lily had hoped she'd be and scolded Mulciber into another dimension before sentencing him to a month's worth of detentions for the cowardice of attacking a child. Mulciber had kept throwing furtive glances to his fellow Slytherin throughout, but Potter's focus stayed resolutely on Lily, as though what had happened in the dungeons had opened his eyes to a part of her that he hadn't known existed before. Hadn't known — but really fucking liked.

She wished he'd stop. She had no idea what to do under the intensity of his gaze.

After she'd dismissed Mulciber, McGonagall kept Potter and Lily for a moment for a full debrief. The way the professor looked between them, as though they were a puzzle ripe for solving, made Lily realize she'd probably already been informed of Lily's mission before she'd thrown in the towel. Just when Lily thought the shame of her failure couldn't get any worse, it somehow had found a way.

Since her own mother had died when Lily was so young, and McGonagall had been the one to tell the orphanage that Lily was gifted and would be going to a boarding school during the year, she sometimes felt as though the woman was a bit of a surrogate mother to her. She knew it was silly, but when Minerva had shown her around Diagon Alley, and helped her pick out her books and robes that first year, it had been so easy to pretend. She was much stricter than her own mother had been, but still so much sweeter than the women at the orphanage. Lily knew the feeling was at least partially reciprocated — after all, no one had been prouder than McGonagall when Lily had been chosen to be Head Girl.

Lily doubted she was as proud of her now that she'd refused Dumbledore and the Order though.

Potter insisted on walking Lily back to Gryffindor, hands deep within his pockets while Lily was overwhelmed in her thoughts. It was probably supremely stupid to be ruminating about whether or not she should go back to spying on someone while literally in their presence, but Lily was exhausted. Potter seemed to have that effect on her — draining her completely, and yet still making her crave just a little bit more of him.

They only ran into Filch on their journey, but perhaps Potter's company was a blessing for that, because the cantankerous caretaker seemed truly afraid of him and was the one to scurry away first, apologizing profusely for bothering them.

"You know, you're really good with kids," Potter said softly as soon as they were alone, making Lily realize he was staring at her (probably still staring at her, who knew). "Although, I suspect that boy is going to be in love with you now until the day you die." He chuckled at his own words before getting more serious. "I'm glad I got you."

He's glad that he came and found you Lily, fucking relax. She nodded along, not quite sure if she trusted herself to speak around him anymore. He was just so confusing. One second, he was talking to her like she was a sex doll, and the next, he was complimenting her for the things she really prided herself in. He needed to pick a damn lane.

"Sickle for your thoughts?" Potter pressed as they kept climbing stairs. He was smiling at her, and it shouldn't have been such a gorgeous look, but good Merlin, it was. Lily found herself secretly hoping he'd send more of these genuine, beautiful looks her way. She could almost get used to them. Lily bit her lip, catching her imagination before it flew away from her. Whatever Potter was doing, whatever angle he was playing, it wouldn't last. He'd shown her that time and time again — one second he could be civil, warm even, and the next he'd snap, giving her whiplash. He was a loose wire, and Lily really didn't have it in her to get fried to death. It was just a little too intoxicating to hold onto those moments when he was good though — to feel that little shock of electricity when she let him in, even the slightest.

She had no idea you could microdose with people.

Lily figured she could give him a sliver of honesty. "Just… thank you for getting me to come help you."

"Course. We're partners, right?"

The hairs on the back of Lily's neck all stood up. She didn't want to bring this up, but she had to. "Why'd you help him in the first place?"

Potter stopped walking and turned to her slowly, eyes narrowed. Lily really hoped she hadn't pushed him too far already. "What do you mean?"

"Ernie. He's a Muggle-born."

"Evans…" Potter sighed exasperatedly. "I thought we went through this?"

Lily lifted her chin defiantly. "I don't think we did actually."

Potter ruffled his hair, looking over her. "Fine. You really want me to explain?"

"I do." Lily crossed her arms over her chest to demonstrate her seriousness, but it only seemed to amuse Potter further.

"It's not Muggle-borns that bother me," he motioned down her body with his hand, "obviously. It's mostly just Muggles."

Lily's head jerked back. That definitely wasn't what Death Eaters normally preached. "What? Why?"

Potter shrugged nonchalantly. "They're primitive."

Lily scoffed. He was talking about most of the people on the entire bloody planet, but sure, completely look down on them. That was normal. "Are you serious?" Lily shook her head, taking off again. "Never mind, I can't have this conversation with you."

He strode after her, catching up easily with his long legs. "Oh come on, just try. How am I wrong? They're weaker, dumber, they don't live as long—"

Lily spun back to him irately. "They know different things, Potter! They use different skills than us! They don't even know about us, so why would you hate—"

"Yeah, they don't know about us because the last time they did, they hunted us down. They burned us alive. Do you know how barbaric it is to burn someone to death?"

I mean, yeah, sure, he has a point, but there's no way that's relevant now. "Potter, that was like 300 years ago!"

His eyes lit up with passion, and Lily tried not to let it affect her. He was motioning with his hands, the movements all lithe and confident, and somehow it made him sexier. This man shouldn't be getting sexier; she had to pay attention in order to refute whatever he was about to say next. "Yes. And it only hasn't happened more recently because we've taken precautions to protect ourselves. But imagine a world where we didn't have to hide! Where we could be free to be ourselves everywhere because we never had to fear being brutally murdered."

How had he done that? How had he almost made his side, the wrong side, sound so appealing? Made it sound almost reasonable? "So what? You want to hunt them instead?"

"It's a crazy world out there, Evans. Either you eat, or you get eaten." There it was: the crux of the problem. In the realm of abstract, he could raise a few good points. (She guessed… maybe. It was so hard to tell when she found herself so attracted to the git. He could be speaking absolute nonsense but he was making it sound so unbelievably good that everything started to get fuzzy at the edges.) But to then make those ideals into a reality? To go out and try to hurt people? That's where she drew the line. That's where he completely lost her. Lily took a little step back, trying to get some distance between them. She had to remember who she was dealing with.

Potter took a step forward, closing that distance right back up while his eyes dared her not to look away. "So, Evans. What kind of animal are you? The huntress or the hunted?"

Her heart was beating so damn fast in her own ears. "I'm neither," she whispered.

"Oh, so you just want to hide then? Is that the type of person you are?" he pushed.

She continued to stare at him in fear. "It isn't like that. Muggles are good people." Not that she'd met many at the orphanage, but she knew there were more out there. There had to be. She liked to think her parents had been some of the good ones.

Potter gave her a sad little smile that bordered far too much on pitying for her taste. "Maybe some. But I guarantee you a vast majority of them would kill us or cage us if they found out what we can do."

Lily finally tore her gaze away, breaking free of the trance he was trying to put her under, and continued down the hall, nearly at Gryffindor now. "I know who you are, Potter. You can't trick me." It was a bigger admission than she was letting on.

Potter chuckled behind her. "I wasn't aware I was trying to."

Lily rolled her eyes as she stood in front of the Fat Lady, reaching into her robes and ignoring his last comment. "I got it from here, thanks." She handed Potter Sirius' wand. "Give that back, will you?" She muttered under her breath, "Hopefully he doesn't kill me for taking it."

"Padfoot? Nah, he loves a woman who can put him in his place. If anything, he probably has a crush on you now."

"Oh great," Lily responded sarcastically, really needing to be alone to process everything now. Her hands itched to find her little blue book to organize some of what she'd learned about Potter today.

But just as she turned back to give the Gryffindor password, Potter stopped her. "Wait, I gave you my word." Her brows scrunched, and she was about to protest when she saw him pull the folded parchment from earlier out of his pocket and open it, tapping his wand to it with a whisper. "Here's how I knew you were alone tonight."

Lily's eyes widened in shock and admiration as he explained what exactly the map was and how he and Sirius had made it. They were so smart, far too smart for their own good. Lily couldn't imagine how helpful they'd be to their side of the war, but then immediately chastised herself for the silly thought.

"Wow," was all she could say, completely dumbfounded.

Potter smirked, putting it back away. "Now you know."

"Now I know," Lily hushed back, lost in thought. The map had sealed the deal. While McGonagall's look had already had Lily teetering on the edge of telling Dumbledore she was back in for her mission, seeing this, Potter's method of sneaking around the castle and knowing everyone's whereabouts at all times, had pushed her firmly on the side of 'fucking do something about it.' This tool was far too powerful to be in the hands of a Death Eater.

"Well, goodnight, Evans," Potter said, thoroughly startling Lily, but not as much as when his lips briefly kissed her cheek as he leaned into her. He shot her a fresh grin as he heard her breath hitch, then turned on his heel to walk back down to the dungeons.

He'd kissed her. Well, not really, but still enough to short-circuit her brain. What was he playing at? What was he doing? Hadn't he just been with Emma? Her skin burned where he'd lit her on fire.

"Well, are you just going to watch him walk away all night, or are you coming inside?" the Fat Lady sassed.

Lily had never wanted to punch a portrait in the face before. She spun around swiftly and chanted the password, "Fealty, fealty, fealty," until the blasted wench let her in.

It was too late, however. She'd already seen Potter turn around from all the commotion and shoot her a wink before rounding the corner out of sight.

Next Chapter: The Temptation