There's a line inspired by a Taylor Swift lyric in this chapter... see if you can catch it ;)

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

Song: Can't Help Falling in Love (Dark Version) by Tommee Profitt featuring Brooke

The Slip-Up

Tik. Tok. Tik. Tok.

Lily tapped her quill impatiently on her parchment the next day, hardly hearing a word of McGonagall's lecture, still plagued by the images and feelings of the day before. Remus had asked her how things had gone with Potter in the meeting, and she'd had to resist the urge to run for the girls' staircase and never look back quite strongly. It would have been so very rude to go to bed before asking him how the prep work for his assignment with the werewolves had gone. In the end, she'd just lied and told her best friend that it had been uneventful.

As if Potter hadn't pressed himself up against her. As if he hadn't given her an ultimatum.

She had to be the one to kiss him first. The thought ricocheted in her brain all night, forcing her to take a good, hard look at her own desires, and what she was willing to sacrifice for them.

Tik. Tok. Tik. Tok.

Her early morning run hadn't even helped matters. All she'd been able to see as she dangled from her branch was him — a combination of things he'd already done to her and moments she could so easily picture. Lily squirmed in her seat thinking about how she'd come just as she'd been fantasizing about Potter pulling on her hair, absolutely pounding into her from behind.

This was a nightmare. He was wearing her down, and worst of all, he definitely knew it. She didn't have to look over her shoulder to know he was probably already staring at her, watching her as he always did.

She needed help. Deep, psychological help.

"Cut it out!" Lily heard an exasperated voice yell from around the corner as she made her way to Arithmancy. The hall was a lesser known shortcut as far as she knew, so she was actually kind of surprised to hear anyone there at all.

"I thought you were so proud of it," a man answered. "Wasn't he just bragging about how good he is at using it, Pads?" Fuck. That was definitely Potter.

"He sure was, Prongs. He sure was." Sirius sighed dramatically. "Huh. Perhaps he was lying?"

Lily walked faster, a little afraid of what she was about to walk in on. There, in the middle of the narrow corridor, were Potter and Black, wands aimed at one of her former lays, dangling upside down. Greg was trying to push his robes back up his legs, but they kept falling down, slapping him in the face, curiously in time with the twitching of Potter's wand.

"What the hell is going on?" Lily roared, arriving on the scene.

"Speak of the devil," Sirius said cheerfully as he spun towards her.

"Let him go." She focused all her rage at Potter. "You do realize that you're the Head Boy now, right?"

Potter shrugged nonchalantly, spinning Greg in tight circles. "I'm pretty sure it's in the job description to stop bullying."

Lily couldn't help it — her arms flew out in front of her, palms up, waving them back and forth at the mess before her. "And how are you doing that exactly?" she hissed hysterically.

"By teaching him a lesson. Sometimes you gotta be the bully, to stop the bully."

Black nodded, going along with his best friend's utter lunacy. "That was beautifully insightful, Prongs."

Potter threw him a wink, because clearly nothing was serious to them and life was all a game. "Thanks, mate."

Greg was groaning, his face looking like he was about to hurl every time Lily watched it whizz past. "Put him down, Potter!"

Potter smiled at her. "As you wish." He dropped Greg into a heap on the floor where he lay still, bleating.

Lily's eyes narrowed at Potter, not breaking their eye contact as she ordered Black to take Greg to the hospital wing. He tried to fight her on it, but Potter dismissed him as well, telling him he'd catch up with him later. Lily had the feeling Black would do anything Potter asked of him — that was just the power Potter possessed over people.

And then there were two, alone, standing on opposite sides of the hall. Lily was fairly certain she could feel steam pouring out of her ears. As usual, Potter didn't look nearly as intimidated by her as she wished he would. "Evans, you've gotta stop making excuses to come talk to me," he chimed.

"You arrogant little—"

"Little? You wound me, love." He started strolling towards her. "I'm a lot of things, but little isn't one of them."

Really? Dick jokes? How mature. "You make me sick."

He tilted his head, grinning down at her. "I don't think I do, though."

"You're the bloody Head Boy! You're supposed to lead by example! You're supposed to stop fights, not start them!" Lily's shouting was gaining momentum as all the pent-up aggression she had towards him was finally finding a somewhat acceptable outlet. She threw her school bag onto the ground and felt like she was about two seconds away from pounding her fists against the chest he'd so generously brought over to her. It would make for such a nice punching bag, even if it would probably bruise her knuckles a little. "I can't stand you! You're evil, bullheaded, conceited, a menace to society—"

Suddenly the words stopped being articulated, and Lily experienced the thoroughly disorienting sensation of trying to speak with no sound coming out. She tried several times, her mouth moving through the motions, making her appear like a guppy, to no avail. Her brow furrowed and her jaw dropped as she realized what had happened: Potter had stolen her voice knowing how she still struggled with nonverbal magic.

Oh this loathsome, evil, little fuckface!

Potter chuckled. "What's wrong, Evans? You look a bit flustered there." Lily felt her hands shaking as her nails dug into the fleshy part of her palm. He dared take another step towards her, as though she wasn't currently a volcano ready to blow, almost completely closing the gap between them. "It's a real shame you haven't mastered that nonverbal yet, huh?"

Lily saw red. Out of options, she violently lobbed her now useless wand right at his face, watching as it bounced off of his forehead before clattering on the ground, rolling away. Potter only had a second to look shocked before his Quidditch reflexes kicked in, catching Lily's right wrist as she went to slap him clean across the face.

"Physical assault again, love, really? That's what you've been reduced to?" He laughed at her, fully laughed. "You shouldn't be so mad, I got the idea from when you did the same thing to Padfoot."

He had finally pushed her too far. Lily was definitely screaming on the inside, even if a peep of it didn't escape her mouth. She tried lashing out, kicking her legs and thrashing her arms against him, finally landing a hit with her left palm. The resulting slap that reverberated through the empty hall was so fucking satisfying.

Potter growled as he pushed her against the stone wall, trapping her hands on either side of her head and finally restraining her legs with his. His eyes glowed as he absorbed some of her more violent attempts to free herself. "Careful, Evans. I've ended people for a whole lot less."

Ended? Lily barely had time to ponder what exactly he meant with that word, because she was still stuck there, against the wall, boxed in by her enemy's body. She tried pushing her arms out with all her might, scrunching her face with the exertion of it, but they wouldn't budge. She panted as she struggled, refusing to give up, even though biology (and whatever dumb workout routine Potter did), was clearly not on her side for this one. How did this keep happening? How did he keep getting her alone and taking total advantage of it? And why do you like it?

"That's it. Let it all out," he murmured cockily.

Lily's eyes snapped to his, and for this look, the look of unequivocal contempt she was throwing at him, she knew she didn't need a voice to convey her message loud and clear.

Potter smirked. "Oh come on now. What did you expect was gonna happen? You can't go around slapping people and get affronted when they have to pin you down to stop you."

Pin you down. Pin you down. Potter was literally pinning her against a wall. The air around them shifted, and she could tell that he felt it too.

His voice almost sounded gentle as he taunted her. "You really are so cute when you're mad." Potter slowly dragged her wrists together above her head to gather and hold them in one of his hands, so the other could be free. He wasted no time burying that hand in Lily's hair, just behind her ear, as he bent his face down to hers. "Come on, Evans. What am I?" Lily realized she must have stopped trying to kick him, because he was now pushing one of his legs between her thighs, giving her just the right amount of friction, right where she wanted it. His voice was so husky, she could barely understand him. "Tell me how much you hate me."

She kissed him.

She could have done anything (well, besides move, she guessed), but instead, she'd perched up on her toes and firmly, deliberately, wholeheartedly pressed her lips against his and… well. She wasn't sure what exactly she'd done next, because instincts had totally taken over.

Potter didn't seem the least bit surprised as he dropped her hands so he could lay claim to her hip, possessively yanking it more tightly against his body as his mouth completely consumed her.

She'd been kissed before — but it had been nothing like this. She felt dizzy and hungry and mad and anxious and about a thousand other feelings, all wrapped into one, but none of it mattered, because it seemed impossible to do anything anymore other than kiss, kiss, kiss, as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and let out a soft moan. (Had she had her wits about her, she would have found it very interesting to discover that of course she could still do that. She'd wonder if that was the case with all silencing charms, or if Potter had made this one just for her, because of bloody course he'd still want to hear that noise, even if it was the only one she could make.)

In this moment, the implications of her actions were irrelevant. All that mattered was the steady flow of dopamine and serotonin his lips were giving her as they slid over hers, the feeling of his tongue as it was parting her mouth, the slight pain on her bottom lip as Potter tugged on it with his teeth.

She dug her fingers into his hair, and it triggered something primal in Potter that made him groan before picking Lily up by the arse and depositing her a few steps over on a window sill, never once breaking apart their kiss. She wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him in closer, needing to feel every damn centimeter of him. With fumbling needy fingers, she yanked on his tie, trying to loosen it. It was the first time Potter seemed surprised by what was happening at all.

But Lily couldn't help it. As she ground her pelvis against his, trying to quell that feeling blossoming between her legs, she realized just how badly she needed him. Frankly, she didn't care where they were, she would have pushed her knickers to the side right then and there if it meant she could feel Potter thrust inside of her right now.

Of course, in all their action, they'd completely missed that there was a new occupant in the hall with them. "Ho ho!"

Lily and Potter both twitched, jumping to look at a red-faced Professor Slughorn standing dead in his tracks with two vials in his hand. Oh for fuck's sake… really?! Everything came crashing down on Lily as she unhooked her ankles from behind Potter's back and pushed him away from her. But the damage had already been done: not only had she kissed him — and who knew what kind of other activities that would set into motion — but there'd been a bloody witness. And a professor at that. How friggin' embarrassing.

Slughorn was practically beaming. "My, my, seems like being lab partners has really brought you two together, wouldn't you say, Mr Potter?" Of course he was trying to take credit.

Lily wanted to deny that they were together — not that she was sure admitting to that would make what he'd already seen any better — but then begrudgingly remembered that she still couldn't talk.

"Yes, Professor. I definitely have you to thank for that." Kiss-ass.

Slughorn swelled with pride like a pufferfish as he patted his belly. "Well, as happy as I am for you two, I'm afraid I do have to reprimand you for… showing your affections so publicly." He shot Lily a wink. She wanted to die. "You both have detention." He gave Potter a fatherly nod. "But not to worry, you can serve it together. Meet me tomorrow at 8 in the Potions supply room." He waddled off.

She'd kissed Potter. Slughorn had seen. She had detention. She'd be trapped alone with him in a dimly lit room once more.

This was all too fucking much. Not sparing another glance at Potter, she scurried over to her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and ran away as fast as she could.

Lily winced as she slipped into Arithmancy late, trying to ignore the pointed glare Professor Vector was sending her way as she scooted into her seat next to Remus. Great, another disappointed teacher.

Remus slid his notes over to her so she could catch up. "Where were you?" he whispered.

Lily pointed to her mouth and tried to over-exaggerate the movement of her lips. "I'M SILENCED."

Remus' brow scrunched. "Huh?"

Lily sighed and grabbed his wand off the desk, put it in his hand, and pointed it to her mouth. He got the message then.

"Oh thank Merlin—"

"Lil, what the hell happened?"

She drew her lips into a very thin line and looked at him sternly from the corner of her eye. "Potter."

Before Remus could ask any followup questions, a very confused looking 2nd year entered the room, jumping nervously when Professor Vector asked if they were lost. "No, sorry. I was told to deliver this?"

Lily sunk further into her seat as the whole class watched the kid give her her wand back, wrapped in a big red bow. There was a note attached that read: 'You dropped this. Xx JP'

Kill. Me. Now.

Lily didn't talk for the rest of class in the off chance that Vector would do just that for causing yet another disturbance during her lesson.

"I snogged Potter."

"Haha, okay, you ready for dinner? I'm starved."

"No really. I—" Lily grimaced, "—I actually did. Like thoroughly."

Remus stopped walking, his bag strap falling from his shoulder. Several students huffed, now having to walk around the roadblock they were causing in the middle of the hallway. "Wait, what?"

Lily fully closed her eyes so she could pretend like none of this was real. "I know."

When she opened them, Remus was just watching her. "Are you okay?"

That's an odd question. "Yes?"

"I mean, I knew you were attracted to him, but I was mostly just teasing about actually doing something about it."

Well, now she felt like a huge disappointment all around. "I don't know what happened." She ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "He had me pinned to a wall, and I dunno, hormones sort of took over."

Remus' eyebrows flew up under his hair. "Well. That explains it."

"Remy, what do I dooo?" Lily asked desperately. She took one of his arms and placed it around her shoulders as they walked to the Great Hall, wanting some semblance of comfort. Luckily, Remus didn't fight her on it.

"I don't even know. So this wasn't about the mission then?"

Lily leaned her head into him. "No? Maybe? I'm not even sure. All I know is if it weren't for this stupid mission, it would never have happened."

Remus gave her a little sympathetic squeeze. "So… what are you gonna do next?"

Lily looked up at him pleadingly. "Would you mind guarding me the next few days? Clearly, I can't be trusted to be on my own."

Remus chuckled. "Clearly. Bodyguard Lupin at your service."

"You're the best."

"So… when you say 'pinned'…?"

Lily gave him a little giggle.

Remus stayed true to his word, never leaving Lily's side for more than a few seconds during classes and meals, and practically protecting the loo the times that Lily needed to go. At first, Lily thought that perhaps they were going overboard, but when she started noticing Potter's agitation, saw him sitting at the desks right beside hers and trying to swoop in to partner up with her a few times, she realized that Remus was her guardian angel.

What have I done? Potter really wouldn't stop trying to come for her now. She felt like she'd sold her soul to the devil. She should never have kissed him — it had revealed too much.

The closer her detention with him got, the more her anxiety spiked. I can do this. I can last a couple hours in his presence. Heck, she'd beg Slughorn to stay and supervise if she had to — anything to make sure that she didn't slip up again. She was a woman, not a sack of hormones and desires. As she'd so vehemently told Potter: she had free will. She could choose not to hook up with him.

Why could she hardly even believe herself? If Potter tried to seduce her now, even just halfheartedly put on a few moves, she knew she'd crumble like a sandcastle for him.

"Professor—" Lily said as she entered the Potions supply room, ready to plead with Slughorn for separate detention assignments. She'd come ten minutes early so she could speak to him alone, bat her eyelashes and grovel, pretending to be a lovesick schoolgirl who just couldn't handle being around her crush like this, but apparently she was too late. Potter was already there, robe off and sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He looked fine.

"Miss Evans! Look who beat you here," Slughorn announced merrily. "Seems like I have two students who are very eager to serve detention tonight."

Potter sent her a little grin. The prat. It was almost like he knew of her plan, and had set out to foil it before she could even try.

"Now, as I was just telling Mr Potter, I'm afraid I've got a thief on my hands. Certain supplies have been disappearing left and right, and I'd like you two to do inventory so I can have a list of what all is missing. Perhaps then I can deduce what potions they've been making." Slughorn pointed to two clipboards. "I've left the amounts that I should have of everything, so please list what's off and by how much."

He patted Potter on the shoulder before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

It was official: the world hated her.

"You've been avoiding me." It wasn't a question.

Lily guessed they were diving right in then. She looked his body up and down, leaning back against the cupboard with his arms and legs crossed as he watched her. Her response got stuck in her throat, while her eyes stuttered on his forearms. She could see every lean muscle and tendon, wonderfully displayed under the roll of his crisp white shirt, making his olive skin pop even more than usual. Instead of answering, she squared her shoulders and decided to get to work, walking over to her clipboard and picking it up. "Where did you start?"

Potter scoffed. "I haven't started yet."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Can you for once in your life—"

"I can't stop thinking about that kiss."

Lily put the clipboard down and squeezed the bridge of her nose, other hand on her hip, asking great Circe above for the strength to deal with this man. They'd been alone, what? Thirty seconds? Couldn't he give her, I don't know, one damn moment of peace?

"Please tell me you have been too." He was approaching her from behind; Lily couldn't help but wonder if it was the predator in him. She tried to ignore the earnest plea that was so evident in his voice, because it was an act. It's only a power game to him.

Yes. It's all I've been able to think about, so much so, that I'm pretty sure I'm flunking all my classes now, thanks for asking. It was hard to think of anything else, especially since he wasn't letting her think of anything else. One look at his face had made that obvious all day. "Potter, we have to do this assignment." She reached for a basin of goat ears, but he just reached around her and took it out of her hands, placing it back on its shelf. "Potter—"

"We have to fudge all the numbers anyway. You know, considering we're the two thieves." Lily's spine straightened; multiple things raced through her mind at once. Firstly, she'd thought he'd been joking when he guessed she was brewing an illicit potion because of all the time she spent in the dungeons, but his words now spoke of more than just a mere hunch. Does he know I'm making Wolfsbane Potion? She guessed it wouldn't be too far of a stretch considering he knew of Remus' condition… but it was still humiliating that he'd figured out that she'd been stealing the ingredients to brew it. Secondly… what the fuck was he stealing ingredients for?

"You've been stealing shit?" she hissed over her shoulder.

Potter chuckled. "That's an awful lot of judgment coming from someone doing the exact same thing."

Lily huffed as she reached for the basin again. "It's not the same. I'm making something to help someone."

"How do you know I'm not?"

"Helping Voldemort isn't helping people, Potter."

"Have you relegated him to subhuman, Evans? How very Death Eater of you."

Lily slammed the basin down. The phrase 'devil's advocate' had never fit so perfectly. So many responses flitted through her head, but she could so easily picture just how he'd twist them all. 'I fucking hate you,' would be answered with a smug, 'Yeah, how much?' 'You're evil,' with a, 'But you like it.' 'You're a daft fucking cow and those two things are not the bloody same, and you know it,' would probably just be met with spinning her around and repeating yesterday's performance.

And she'd let him.

So she decided not to play and poked her wand into the liquid, separating the ears so she could count them. Of course, as Potter had pointed out before, just because she refused to play, didn't mean she wasn't in the game. She felt him press up behind her, his breath tickling her neck, as his two hands laid claim to her hips. She tried to ignore him, but felt her body reacting all the same, suddenly feeling far too hot in her robes. She pushed through, willing her voice not to crack. "What have you been brewing?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Lily spitefully pushed her hips back, her arse punching painfully into his groin. He hissed as he dropped his forehead against the back of her shoulder, grounding out a muffled, "Fuck."

"Yes, Potter. I would," she replied, faux-innocently. She returned the basin to its rightful spot, picking up a quill and jotting down a number.

"That was cruel."

Lily shrugged her shoulders, jostling his head off of her. "What do you expect from a thief?"

"Immortality Potions."

"What?" Lily asked, looking back over her shoulder, completely thrown that he was actually answering her earlier question.

"The Dark Lord's been trying to brew a potion to live forever. So far it's been unsuccessful." Why the hell is he actually telling me this? This was big. Lily was sure that the Order didn't know of this and holy shit. "Now. Where were we? Oh yes." Potter tugged Lily's robe back off of her shoulders, slipping it past her arms, so it crumpled to the ground. "Right here."

She couldn't let this go — she had to delve deeper. She faced back to front, blindly reaching for a jar so he wouldn't see how eager her face now was. "Are you the one brewing it?"

"Evans, Evans… so curious," he muttered into the crook of her neck, his hand slowly coming around her chest to toy with the top button of her blouse. She'd taken off her tie as soon as classes were over. "You have a very sexy neck, has anyone ever told you that?" He seemed to be having a hard time with the button, and Lily realized it was because he was doing it right-handed. So, suddenly he cares about keeping his Dark Mark from me? "No wonder why you love having it touched so much."

How is he so confident of that? Lily supposed she hadn't been very subtle in her physical responses to him. She forced a dry swallow, her throat feeling absolutely parched. It was hard to ignore the sexual tension he was building so expertly inside of her. She thought he was rather brave for pushing his hips up against her once more considering what she'd just done to his precious goods only moments before. She felt the telltale prod of his cock on her lower back, and fuck did it make her cunt clench in anticipation she was presently trying to deny. "Yesterday was a mistake, Potter," she tried.

"Was it?" He finally popped the second button open so he could drag her collar over her shoulder, revealing more creamy white skin for him. "Because I seem to recall you being quite into it."

Lily's hands found the edge of the counter in front of her, her nails digging into the wood, leaving tiny little crescent moon indents in their wake as she started swaying back and forth. She tried not to imagine making those exact same markings on his back. He was truly pushing it. It was like he had somehow discovered that Lily had an affinity for being caressed, almost before even she had, and was banking in hard — using it to his full advantage.

"It's okay, though — to want me…" Potter started nipping at her exposed shoulder moving inwards toward her collarbone. He seemingly got annoyed at her bra strap along the way — daring to obstruct his path — and dragged it down over her shoulder. "Are you scared of what people might think?" he murmured softly. "Scared of the gossip that might come with the golden girl slumming it with the likes of me? You know," he finally let her bra strap go, lingering at the curve of her bicep, "Slytherins are very good at keeping secrets." Lily felt her head start dropping back, her body leaning to his chest as she melted into his touch. "It's Gryffindors who are bad at it." His left arm snaked around her waist, his hand slipping under her blouse and pressing her closer to him, as his mouth finally trailed its way to her earlobe. Her skin burned for him. "Very, very bad."

He was holding her so tightly that he had to feel just how shallow her breathing had gotten. "Potter—"

"No one has to know, Lily," he whispered, right before taking her lobe between his teeth. Fuck, had he ever called her by her first name before?

Wait. No one has to know… like, it would be more than once? Lily found herself more than a little surprised. It was like he wanted this thing, whatever it was, to be an ongoing arrangement. If he was trying to entice her into some sort of covert affair, that implied that they'd be hooking up quite regularly. She had to ask: "What do you want, Potter?"

His hand came up to cup her jaw, tilting it back to him so he could see her. "You." Lily barely had time to think before he leaned in, kissing her again, lips ravenous as they roamed over hers.

The angle was awkward as hell, but somehow she didn't care. "I shouldn't be doing this—" she gasped between kisses, her words coming out mumbled as he was barely giving her the space to reconsider. "This is wrong—"

He pulled back a microscopic amount so his molten eyes could quickly scan her face while his labored breaths washed over her. "You know you can stop me, yeah?"

I do. Too bad that knowledge meant fuck-all considering she wanted to keep kissing him so badly it was nearly killing her. "Yeah, but—"

He cut her off by crashing his lips back into hers, swallowing her conscience whole and drowning it with a heavy dose of mutual lust. It was so hard to fight off evil when he was making it feel so good. Potter kissed like he was satan himself, luring Lily into a life of pure, unadulterated wickedness. She didn't ever want his lips to leave hers; breathing suddenly seemed like an unnecessary luxury.

She felt his left hand travel from her waist down over her hip, slipping under her skirt and between her legs. She gasped as his fingers easily found her clit over the thin material of her knickers and set to work rubbing her in tight, firm circles. The more pleasure his fingers got out of her, the more aggressive his mouth became.

What is happening? She'd fucked up once before, only a little, and had given him a small (monumental, fucking amazing) kiss, and now what? Her whole body was fair game to him? It wasn't too late, she could steer them off this path, save herself from committing a cardinal sin. She didn't have to be bad.

But fuck did she want to be. She knew she wasn't a bad girl, but she was willing to do everything bad for him.

Just after she'd let out a shamefully needy whimper into his mouth, Potter pulled back, removing his hand from inside her skirt. "Think about it."

Lily barely had time to process his words before he'd strode out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him. Think about what?! She slumped forward onto the counter, spent and pissed off. Why the hell did he just leave? She'd been just about ready to do him right there.

No, you imbecile, you're better than that. Him leaving was good. He was a douche — clearly, who leaves a girl hanging like that? (she guessed every guy she'd ever been with, but that was besides the point) — and she was better off without having shagged him. He only wants to play with you, remember that. He probably had a sick bet going on with his friends to see if he could make her come begging for him, only to deny her and replay it somehow for laughs. He was a sociopath — and those types of people couldn't even begin to know what true affection and love felt like.

He was evil. And that was that.

So why did she feel so disappointed?

Well, probably because now you have to count all this shit alone. Lily huffed as she got back to work. (And yeah, she did fudge the numbers a little bit on the ingredients that she had been stealing. That was her right as the person who had actually stayed to do her damn job.)

Next Chapter: The Confusion

Aka Remus' mission AND a dance? What could possibly go wrong...?