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

Warning: Toys (is that a warning people want?)

Song: In the Now by Kai

The Pleasure

The next morning, Lily was even more pissed off than when she'd climbed into bed. After Potter's pitiful and cruel performance the night before, Lily had tried to take matters into her own hands, literally. But just like all the attempts that had come before, it failed to make her come. She had tried for almost an hour to work herself up to the same divine feeling Potter had gotten out of her in less than a quarter of that time, her wrist feeling like it was about to fall clean off of her arm with all her efforts, but it was all for not. And the more the feeling didn't magically appear, the more her mind raged, pushing her further and further from all the sexy imagery she was trying to picture to get herself there.

She felt so bloody betrayed by her own body that she could hardly even look at herself. Why couldn't she do this the normal way? How come she couldn't understand what the hell was going on with her own stupid bits?

How cool would it have been if she had been the first one to make herself come with fingers? No man, no Potter, she'd have done it all by herself. She didn't want to be dependent on a man for her own pleasure. She didn't want to feel like she had to run to Potter, begging him to touch her in a way that only he seemed able to. That would most certainly not help the growing feeling that her body was starting to belong to him, and that he could mark it and take it whenever and however he wished.

Lily shivered, somehow already more turned on thinking about that than when she'd touched herself last night. (For an hour. To no avail.)

She walked down to breakfast in an angry stupor, listening to Remus' musing on Grindylows (he found them oddly cute). She knew Potter was watching her as soon as she sat down; she could just sense it. Lily scoffed humorlessly with the realization that she was more in tune with his body than her own, as though her life was just some big 'fuck you' orchestrated by the universe at large. She picked up an apple and took a big bite, holding it so that her middle finger was sticking straight up towards the ceiling and angled the fruit towards where she knew he sat.

A big hearty laugh from across the hall a second later told her he'd received her message loud and clear — even if he didn't seem to respect its severity.

Lily frowned at the sky as she unfastened her robes, ready to use them as a makeshift umbrella in order to get to the greenhouses.

"I am so happy I dropped that class," Remus sighed wistfully, standing in the dry Entrance Hall where Lily was about to leave him.

"Well, aren't you lucky?" Lily replied, giving him a stank-eye.

"Afternoon, Remus, looking mighty good today." Sirius and Potter had just ambled over, about to walk to Herbology as well. The former's brows scrunched, looking at Lily. "I swear, she forgets she's a witch sometimes," he muttered to his friend, using his wand to produce a water-repellant shield.

"Just because she can show off at every chance she gets, doesn't mean she will," Remus defended Lily loyally, before wishing her well and walking off to the library.

Sirius stared after him baffled. "I don't get it. I could have sworn he liked me." He turned to Potter. "You said he likes me, right?"

"Yeah, he does," Potter answered confidently with a shrug.

Lily loved that she, Remus' best friend, and actual knower of the truth, was not being consulted on this one. She rolled her eyes and took a big step outside, ready to sprint over to class.

"Wait, Evans!" She heard Potter call out, over her shoulder.

"Can't! I have to go," she parroted his previous words from the Head office back to him.

He caught up to her, magicking an umbrella and holding it over them. "I didn't want to leave you last night, I promise."

Lily grumbled as she slowed down, putting her robes back on in the biting cold. "How convenient. You just had to bounce at that exact moment did you?"

"Yes," he answered solemnly. "I did. Let me make it up to you."

Lily looked up at him incredulously. "Potter, there shouldn't even have been a first time. You don't get second chances when you fuck up that badly." She considered her words, muttering, "Or third chances?"

He ruffled his hair, shooting her a charming smile. "But it was good though, wasn't it?"

His fucking ego… Did he really need a pat on the back right now? Is that what he was after? "I'm not answering that."

He chuckled before pulling on Lily's elbow, making her turn back to him. Lily avoided his gaze, instead watching all her classmates scurry past in the torrential downpour, sending curious looks their way in the middle of the grassy yard. "Look. I'm sorry. I really am."

Idiot. Moron. Asshole. Loser.

"Just, meet me in the Head office tonight. Same time. I'll finish you off this time, I promise."

The offer was so tempting. She'd slept so poorly in her rage that she hadn't awoken in time to go on her morning run. "We'll see," she answered cryptically, trying to stop her mind from going back to last night, Potter's chest in her face and arms holding her close. She had a damn NEWT class to sit through.

"See you then," Potter said with a wink, sidestepping her and leaving her in the rain.

Lily groaned as she took off after him, following him — and his umbrella — the rest of the way to class.

But everything went to shit shortly afterwards. Lily was just minding her own business, helping her partner Katie set up for the lesson Sprout had planned, when the professor came in announcing they'd have to skip onto the next lecture because the plants they'd meant to be studying today had been corrupted.

Lily's hand shot up, not even waiting for Sprout to call on her before she blurted out, "What do you mean?"

Sprout looked a little surprised by her level of investment, but answered anyway, "The school's supply of Aconite has been infested with white flies. So they've all been relocated to Greenhouse 3 until further notice. Now, if you'll turn to page 68 in your textbooks…"

When it rains, it pours. Fuck. Aconite was the main ingredient in Remus' Wolfsbane Potion. On top of being attacked last week, Lily now somehow had to break it to her best friend that for the foreseeable future she wouldn't be able to brew the one thing that helped his transformations be less torturous.

Lily wanted to cry on his behalf.

Lily was on the verge of doing just that when Potter found her in Greenhouse 3 that night, the rain still splattering loudly on the glass panes, making everything insanely loud and echoey. It was hard to think with such a ruckus, but that was okay with Lily, who had been able to do nothing but think about what a disaster this was ever since she'd found out about her Aconite problem in Herbology. The parasite infestation was so much worse than she'd previously feared, with every leaf she turned over having either little white flies, or hundreds of their larvae at varying stages of hatching. The very worst leaf had been coated in eggs just about ready to burst, the process of Lily turning it over triggering them all to break free and fly into the air, never to be caught, but now able to procreate and lay even more eggs, completely ruining this plant for good.

She'd talked to Sprout after class, and the professor had thought that they wouldn't be getting a new batch of plants until spring. 'Perhaps in five months.' Five months. That's five, extra painful transformations. Remus didn't deserve this — no one did. Lily already felt like she did so very little to help him, to ease his suffering, and now she was watching as the one thing she did, the only thing she could do, was slipping away from her. These leaves would be useless.

"What are you doing here?" Potter asked, his voice barely carrying over a clap of thunder outside.

Lily was vaguely aware that he'd wanted to meet with her in the Head office tonight — it hardly seemed consequential considering all that had happened since that conversation. "I've got to save them," Lily replied, refusing to look up from the leaf in her hand lest another fucking fly get away from her.

"Why?"

"That's none of your fucking business, Potter," she snapped, hands shaking, rustling the entire branch. "Shit!" She'd been staring at little white eggs so long, she could see them when she closed her eyes.

"Easy, Evans, just tell me what's going on." Potter was talking to her like she was an escaped zoo animal he had to calm down and wrangle. "Is this about what Sprout said in class? The infestation?"

Lily took a deep breath in through her nose, wiping her brow with the back of her hand. "Yes."

"White flies, yeah? You seemed pretty upset?" He scoffed. "That's a Muggle animal, isn't it?"

No, he was not seriously trying to make this point right now. "Are animals magical or not?"

"Sure. Dragons are magical. Cats are not."

Lily rolled her eyes, back still to him. "I don't know, I'd say cats are pretty magical even if they don't have powers."

"My point is—"

"I know what your point is, Potter," Lily snarled cutting him off. She finally turned to face him, watching as his expression went from challenging to worried in a heartbeat when he saw the tears in her eyes. "And I don't want to hear about your thoughts on supremacy right now, okay? I can't argue this with you. Please. For the first time in your miserable existence, just leave me the fuck alone."

He clearly had a lot to say, but he held his tongue, at least on that topic. "This is for Lupin's potion, isn't it?"

Lily finally let a tear fall. Right. He knows everyone's secrets. "Yes. Sprout says we'll get another batch next semester, but—" her voice cracked, "—he can't wait that long. He needs this. I need to do this for him, I need to help him — he suffers so much, and I'm barely doing enough as it is; he can't—"

"Hey, hey," Potter comforted, finally striding over from his side of the greenhouse to hers and engulfing Lily in a hug. Her bones turned to liquid as she melted into his arms. He smelt so good. He felt so warm wrapped up around her. After a few seconds, her own arms shakily came up and clutched at the wet back of his robes. She had no idea how badly she'd needed to be held until it was happening. "I can help you. What do we need to do to save them?"

Lily took a few more deep breaths, finding his aura strangely calming — all he was usually ever good for was riling her up. "The leaves are too sensitive to have a magical solution — any spell I use to get rid of the flies would leave a trance. And even the slightest deviation to their genetic makeup will ruin the potion." He was drawing a soothing circle between her shoulders with his palm. When was the last time someone had done that for her? Her father, so very long ago? "I have to remove them, and the eggs, all by hand."

"Evans…" he said anxiously. "That'll take days." He looked around the space. "They're all infected, and there are so many of them."

Lily pulled back, deciding she'd had enough of his comfort. She had to get back to work. Like he'd just pointed out, she was already massively behind. She wiped the tears off her face with the edge of her sleeve before rolling them up her forearms. "I know. I've got to get back to it."

She expected to hear Potter leave when it became obvious that she wasn't going to go to some deserted classroom with him and fool around, but he surprised her by staying. Even more shocking, he rolled up his sleeves too, and Lily watched from the corner of her eye as that Dark Mark bobbed up and down as he helped her turn over every leaf, and used his fingertips to kill flies and his nails to scrap off eggs. They worked in silence until midnight, when Potter insisted that he drag Lily back to the castle.

"I'll get us some help for tomorrow."

She didn't believe him at first, but over the next few days, Potter gave five kids detention a night — for things like running in the hall or not properly tying their tie — and assigned them to work in the greenhouse to be supervised by their Head Girl. Some of them thought it was really gross getting their hands dirty, but the rest just seemed relieved that they wouldn't have to waste their time with lines. Frank Longbottom, a shy 7th year Hufflepuff, admitted this was his first detention ever, but he actually kind of loved it because he was fascinated with plants. Lily had a great time chatting away with him as they worked side-by-side. By the end of the week, Lily actually thought that they might have a chance at beating the infestation once and for all.

Now she really didn't know what the hell to think about Potter anymore.

"You need to go out this weekend," Potter declared as he sat down beside her in Potions, their last class on Friday.

"Oh yeah?" Lily answered, scribbling away Slughorn's instructions on the board. It was a bit alarming how fast their banter had become commonplace.

"Yes. You deserve it."

Lily smiled at her parchment, despite herself. "Well, it's not a Hogsmeade weekend, so—"

"Oh come on, Evans. Live a little. Are you telling me you've never left the castle unless it was a sanctioned weekend?"

No. Well, to Hogsmeade once for an emergency. That counts right? "How am I supposed to sneak out undetected?"

Potter licked his bottom lip, with the full intention of drawing Lily's eyes there (it worked) before saying, "There are so many ways. Let me show you some."

"I—"

"Can't. I know."

It was exactly what she was going to answer, but she was still mad that he'd beaten her to it. "You—"

"Don't know you. I know."

"Fucking stop that."

"Make me."

The lean of his body, his elbows on his knees, with the first few buttons of his shirt undone, fucking had her going. Of their own accord, her eyes dropped to the hint of chest he was showing her, and back, hopefully fast enough that he wouldn't call her out on it. "Fine." Lily squared her shoulders to him, swiveling over in her stool. "Where do you wanna take me?"

Potter grinned, leaning over and dragging her stool closer to his. Never plays fair, never plays fair— He leaned into her ear, and breathed,"Where do you wanna go?"

"All right, you two!" Slughorn said rather nervously, a small giggle in his tone. "You still have one more class for the day, so let's try to concentrate until then!"

Lily flinched, closing her eyes and returning, mortified, to her parchment while Potter merely chuckled and Sirius made a whopping sound from the back of the class. "Come have dinner with me, we'll talk plans," he hushed under his breath as he faced forward.

Lily raised a skeptical eyebrow. "At the Slytherin table? Are you mad?"

"Only a little." Lily told her stomach's butterflies to fucking chill. "Come on, what's the worst that can happen?" Lily opened her mouth, so Potter continued, "Don't answer that. Just come. The lads know they have to stay in line with me around. I won't let anything happen." How backwards was it that that was the sort of thing he had to convince her of? Sensing a little dip in Lily's wall, he added, "Lupin should come too. It'll look like nothing more than inter-house unity. Dumbledore will be so very proud."

Oh, how he will be.

As Lily walked with Potter to dinner, Sirius and Remus in their own conversation behind them, Lily did her best to ignore the stares that they were garnering from all the other students sitting in the Great Hall. It was weird to a) be seen with the popular crowd, but also b) feel like royalty in the process. People weren't looking at her like she was a misfit, or a woman marked for an early death unless she got the hell out of dodge, but instead as someone to be admired, envied even, especially after Potter slung a heavy arm around her shoulders, leading her to his usual seat. Or maybe they're wondering why the hell I'm hanging out with them — like a naive lamb being lead to the slaughter.

Lily's usually independent spirit bristled at Potter's power move. Another, obviously Order-focused, voice told her to shut the fuck up. This felt nice. Perhaps for once, she didn't have to overthink things. The moment was short-lived however, because with an uneasy stomach, she realized exactly what had just happened: she'd been collected, just as Dumbledore had asked her to be. She hoped she was doing this right.

As predicted, Potter didn't even have to speak, Avery and Mulciber just naturally moved out of the way when they saw him approach, although they did a double-take when they noticed who he had in tow. Lily sat uncomfortably next to Potter, Sirius and Remus settling across from them.

"So. What's the plan for tonight?" Sirius asked as he pulled the platter of mashed potatoes over to him, loading up. "Nightclub? Bar crawl?"

Lily's stomach did a little flutter — those options sounded fun. When was the last time she'd actually just had fun? She supposed the closest was the dance, but it would be nice to get out of the castle and let loose without the judgment of the whole school.

Potter pulled Lily into his side possessively, keeping his arm around her. "Let's ask my date?"

Lily's back stiffened. "I'm not your date."

"You're not? I thought that part was implied."

"No, it wasn't." Lily occupied her hands by pouring herself a glass of water, gulping it down.

Her nerves only excited him; she could tell from the squeeze of his grip on her. "What's so wrong with going on a date with me?" Potter pushed.

Everything. Lily looked to Remus for help, but he was just watching them, finally seeing their interactions up-close and in person. It was like suddenly, everything clicked and made a whole lot more sense to him. "I just don't want to," Lily finally lied.

"That's a pity." Potter smirked, lips as lopsided as his glasses. Lily couldn't resist the urge to fix them on his nose for him. "So where do you want to go for our 'group hang' then?"

Her fingers lingered on the edge of his frames; he was far too snarky for his own good, and she liked it far too much for hers. "Nightclub."

Potter broke into a dangerous smile. "It's settled then."

Images of Potter, dressed up and sweaty, pressed up behind her flashed through her mind. She knew how he danced formally, but now she wanted to see how he really moved — how he'd mold her body into his as they became slaves to a beat. She'd read that a guy had sex like how he danced, and something told Lily that Potter would be so fucking good at both. She could see him holding onto her hips, dragging her arse against his groin as he whispered naughty things into her ear over her shoulder. She could almost feel the way her own hand would travel up behind her and into his hair, pushing his face closer into the crook of her neck, begging for the resulting kisses this move would evoke from him.

Lily felt like being around Potter was like edging herself every damn second of the day.

"Miss Evans, Potter, I need you to come with me." McGonagall completely ruined Lily's euphoric little horny mood as she appeared behind Sirius' back, making the boy jump and swear, a hand over his heart. McGonagall merely looked down at him sternly in disapproval before looking back to the Head students. "We have a student emergency."

Lily felt her heart start beating again after the temporary panic that she was going to get in trouble for being such an insane sellout for sitting here with the Slytherins subsided. "Of course," she replied, jumping to her feet, jostling Potter's arm on her loose.

Potter looked a little less enthusiastic to be summoned during his meal. He finished his bite, stealing a roll for the road, as he stood up. "Lead the way, Professor." Lily knew his voice well enough by now to know he was extremely ticked off and hiding it under a thin veil of amenability.

McGonagall led them to her office, instructing Potter to close the door behind them. Lily's sense of foreboding doubled with the sound of that small click. "There was an attack last night," the professor stated, wasting no time.

"Last night?" Lily repeated, wondering why she was only hearing about this now.

"Yes," McGonagall confirmed, correctly guessing Lily's thought process, "we had a hard time reaching her parents to inform them, considering they're Muggles."

Lily's heart dropped to her stomach. Not another hate crime. "Who was it?"

"Alison McLaster, 4th year Ravenclaw."

Lily didn't know her personally, but she was pretty sure she could picture her face. She was a happy girl, always smiling and bubbly. "Is she all right?"

"No," McGonagall answered somberly. "Physically she's fine, but she experienced an episode just like Ernie Kammen did — she can't remember a couple hours of her life, but says she came to consciousness with the overwhelming feeling that something terrible had just happened to her. Obviously she's quite shaken."

Lily couldn't even imagine. "That's horrible. Is it possible that Mul—" The words died in her throat as Lily realized that Alison's attack couldn't have had the same perpetrator that Ernie's did, because Mulciber had been with her last night in the greenhouse. He'd been a bang-awful help, but Lily had hardly noticed because she'd been having such a great conversation with Frank.

"I've already talked to Mr Mulciber, Miss Evans, and his alibi is that he was with you."

Lily's skin crawled at the statement, wanting absolutely no part in its implication. "Yes, he was serving a detention with me."

McGonagall raised an eyebrow, but Lily found her gaze drifting to Potter… Did he send me Mulciber on purpose? Does he know about this attack? He couldn't have possibly been trying to frame me for something… could he? The idea was preposterous. No one would ever believe that Lily Evans had anything to do with an attack on another Muggle-born student. "I don't have any assigned detentions for him on the books?"

Lily bit her tongue. Saying she'd accepted Potter's detentionees for her own illegal brewing purposes sounded even worse than saying she'd given him one herself. It had absolutely nothing to do with not wanting to throw Potter under the bus for finally doing something decent in his life. "I gave him a detention, Professor. I heard him using a slur and thought some time gardening would be beneficial for him. As punishment."

McGonagall knew she was lying. Lily knew McGonagall knew that she was lying, but neither woman acknowledged this fact, hopefully on account of trust. "Very well." She shifted her pointed look over to Potter. "Do you have any idea who could have been responsible for this attack, Mr Potter?"

What happened next could best be described as a stare-off with neither party flinching. "No, Professor," Potter finally answered, lips blossoming into a bewitching smile. "I do not."

She held his gaze for a couple more seconds until she broke. "Very well. Effective immediately, patrols will be double the length, have to be done in pairs, and will now include the perimeter of the school grounds. We think both of these attacks happened on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, so we will have to monitor there as well."

"Professor," Lily said tentatively, "it's Friday night. I don't know if we will be able to find double the prefects to agree to being scheduled for tonight."

McGonagall leveled her with a look. "I agree, which is why you two will be patrolling tonight." Potter let out a low growl that Lily was pretty sure only she heard. There go our plans for debauchery. "You can call an emergency meeting tomorrow afternoon where you can tell them of the changes to protocol then." She opened up a tin on her desk, offering them both a biscuit before dismissing them.

"This is bollocks," Potter complained as soon as they were in the hallway.

Lily rounded on him. "Did you do it?" she whispered accusatorially.

Potter jerked his head back. "Do what?"

Lily didn't have the patience for this. "Attack Alison."

His eyes narrowed. "Do you think I did?" Well, that's not an answer. Potter scoffed. "So you think I got you a bunch of people to help with your plants, then snuck off to nab some 4th year? What, do you think I attacked Ernie, only to come find you and help you solve his attack, too?" Lily stared, waiting for a real response. He offendedly huffed, shaking his head. "No, Evans. I didn't kidnap Alison and then wipe her memories. But I really appreciate the vote of confidence." He ruffled his hair before sidestepping her, grumbling as he went. "Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go break the news to Padfoot that we can't party tonight because we have a bloody four hour patrol shift in a few hours. Oh. And because you don't trust me for shit."

Lily let out a big sigh, feeling like a huge bitch for having accused him of something that low after everything he'd helped her with this week, but she really hadn't been sure. Tormenting Muggle-borns was right up Death Eaters' alley, wasn't it? She didn't want to be blindsided by thinking that he could be different — even if he'd never treated her like she was lesser than for being a Muggle-born. That being said, she didn't want to hope for something so badly that she willed it to be true.

But then again, he really didn't have any reason to be lying to her, did he?

Lily was oddly nervous going down to the Entrance Hall to meet with Potter at 8 that night to start their outdoor rounds. She'd bundled up a lot, always running on the cold side, but possible frostbite was not what she was fearing — well, not from the elements. Truth be told, she'd rather enjoyed the thawing of their relationship lately. It was kind of nice to know he wasn't going to jump down her throat every chance he got. She'd slowly, but surely, started letting her guard down with him in return, and it wasn't until she'd cast the first stone in a while, completely shattering their newfound relationship, that she'd realized that.

She'd fucked up.

"Evans," Potter said shortly, looking dapper in his heavier cloak. It had a high collar that made him look like he could fit in with the old-timey detectives on the shows her dad used to watch on television. Course, she didn't remember the detectives being this fit, but maybe she just hadn't been looking out for that sort of thing yet.

"Potter," she replied, trying to catch his eye — no dice. Shit, he is mad. She tried keeping up when he strode out the door. There was no point dragging this on. "Look, Potter," she paused, not really knowing what to say, just desperate to get the words out quickly, "I'm sorry I thought you could have had anything to do with the attack."

Potter cocked a brow, stepping off the bottom stair and turning around. "You are?"

"Yeah." She stepped down to the second to last one so she could look at him dead on. "It was a bitchy thing to do."

He smirked, tilting his head in fake contemplation. "Yeah. Kinda bitchy."

"Shut up," she teased, pushing his shoulder, giggling. There was a little pause in their conversation, and she bit her lip. "And thank you again for your help this week. I really did appreciate it."

His eyes swept over her body, like he couldn't help himself. Lily supposed he had been trying to ignore her for all of one minute. He had some checking her out to catch up on. "How's it looking by the way?"

"Really good actually," Lily replied enthusiastically, tucking some of her hair back. "Sprout thinks we may be able to salvage a couple of the plants."

"That's great, Lily." He looked like he might actually mean it.

"Yeah." She hopped off the steps and took off, leading him on the start of their round. "Slytherin better watch out — I see a huge influx of points coming Gryffindor's way."

"Oh yeah?" He flung an easy arm around her shoulders, and Lily let out a secret sigh of relief. Crisis averted. Her own or the Order's she wasn't at liberty to say. "Quite the confidence you got in yourself there."

"I can't help it that I'm brilliant."

Potter chuckled easily. "No, you cannot…"

They patrolled the area, finding absolutely nothing but a few curious rabbits, and a flustered Hagrid nursing some fresh looking wounds. He advised them not to go too deeply into the woods, 'because the unicorns are feeling extra feisty today,' whatever the hell that meant.

Lily was worried she and Potter were about to exhaust their supply of friendly conversation when he took her hand unexpectedly and started pulling her around the lake. "Let me show you something."

She eyed him wearily. "Show me what?"

"Come on, it's a surprise."

Lily was giddy as she followed him, letting him drag her along. She didn't want to tell him they were heading towards her very trusty tree branch, and felt the tension leave her shoulders when he pulled her right instead, off the beaten path. "Didn't Hagrid just tell us not to go into the Forest?"

"We won't go that deep, relax," he replied. His hand just felt right in hers.

Lily gasped when the woods suddenly cleared into a perfect circle, the moonlight bathing the space in a mystical bluish glow. In the grass, a beautiful combination of red and white flowers bloomed, making Lily feel bad for even walking through them in the first place. "Wow, this is incredible," she breathed. She could feel the magic of the circle — the place practically vibrated with it — as though it was trapped between the land of real and make-believe. "How'd you find this?"

"Pads and I were really big on exploring back in 3rd year." He grinned, taking both her hands and blowing hot air onto them. Lily hadn't even realized they were cold yet. "And we sorta needed a private place to practice becoming Animagi."

Lily's mouth formed an O. "You guys are Animagi?"

He shot her a toothy grin. "Perhaps."

"Which animal?!" She had to know; this was just too cool.

"I'll show you later, but that's not why I brought you here."

Was it her imagination, or had his voice just dropped three octaves? "It's not?"

"No, Evans. It's not." He unclasped the belt of her cloak, and pushed it off her shoulders. "I'm pretty sure I owed you something."

He always knew how to make her mouth run dry instantly. "You do?" Anticipation bubbled in her stomach, almost making her nauseous with the strength of it.

"Yeah." He turned and magicked a blanket, spreading it in the middle of the clearing. "Lie down."

Lily looked at him laughing, nervous. "In the middle of the woods?"

"I just asked you politely, Evans. I won't do it again."

Oh fuck, so that's how it's gonna be. "And if I don't?"

Lily wasn't sure if her disobedience was out of stubbornness or fear, but either way, Potter growled testily and picked her up by the arse, spinning them around and roughly dropping them both onto the blanket. She groaned as the weight of his body settled on top of her, one of his legs slotted between hers appetizingly. Being horizontal with him was new… Her mind went haywire, racing through all the things she'd like to do to him like this — or have him do to her.

Potter propped himself up onto his elbows, grinning down at her. "I like you like this."

"Like what?" she asked breathlessly, hair splayed over the fluffy blanket like a bloody halo.

"Under me." Lily rolled her eyes, stopping only when she felt one of his hands sneak under her skirt and slowly start dragging down her knickers, adjusting himself so he could push them to her knees. "Got something to say, Evans?"

Lily bit her lip, her eyes straining to see him in the moonlight. She shook her head no.

"Good girl." He pulled out his wand and cast a spell she'd never heard of, making it vibrate intensely. He looked from the mahogany to her curious face. "I may have spent the week inventing something for you." What? He invented a fucking spell? He's gotta be exaggerating. He probably just looked it up. Wherever the spell came from, apparently it affected his own wand. Lily had no idea that was even possible. "Or I guess maybe for me so my fingers don't fall off because of how fast you need me to move them for you." His smile turned mischievous as he leaned in and whispered, "Wanna see if it works?"

Her eyes glowed as she slowly shook her head again, this time up and down.

Potter slowly brought his buzzing wand to her neck, dragging it down along the side of her breast, over her stomach and then paused, lifting her skirt. Lily couldn't stop watching the progress of the wand, but Potter only had eyes for her face, knowing exactly what was about to happen. He pressed the tip flat against her clit, and Lily immediately lurched, jaw dropping, as an unexpected "Oh," flew from her mouth.

"There it is," he drawled cockily as he pressed down across her shoulders, his leg pinning down one of hers, preventing her from squirming away from her own ecstasy.

"What the fuck, what the fuck—" Lily gasped. Nothing else she'd ever done had felt quite this good. Her coregasms suddenly seemed like a cruel echo of the pleasure they were supposed to be mimicking. Even though his fingers had felt amazing, he was right: she didn't think humans could even move as quickly as his wand was currently flicking her clit back and forth.

He started talking to her in his seductive, honeyed voice under the twinkling stars as Lily's brow scrunched and she squeezed her eyes shut, just trying to hold on. "I think I may have finally figured out what your problem is, love." If her mind hadn't just been reduced to jello, she might have — would definitely have — been offended. "You're a control freak. A perfectionist. The thought of losing yourself drives you mad… doesn't it?" Lily whimpered as he seemed to press his wand down even more firmly between her legs, swallowing her resulting jerk with his own body. "The thought of not being this ideal, model girl makes your skin crawl. But you know what coming is? Letting go."

She was getting there; the vibration of the wand was threatening to break her clean in two, hopefully after it sent her sky-high. Her hips begged to just be able to thrust forward already, but Potter's refused her motion.

"When's the last time someone took care of you? When's the last time you gave someone else full control?"

"James—" It had been a slip, just a little slip of the tongue to say his first name, but it had felt so nice. It was almost like saying that one word had made her even wetter for him, even more eager for everything he was doing, and everything she hoped he was about to do. She wanted to fuck this guy so fucking badly.

He smiled, and she felt him rock hard against her thigh as he brushed his lips past hers. "That's it, Lily. Let yourself feel good."

It was a true testament to how far gone she was that she didn't find Potter's instructions the least bit annoying. She wanted him to keep talking, about anything really, but in that deep, husky tone that was only working to enhance her euphoria. She chanced a look at him and instantly moaned again, finding him studying her as if it could lead him to his own orgasm.

"Fuck I need to taste you," he declared, pushing off of her and joining his wand between her legs, plunging his tongue straight into her core. Even his tongue is demanding. Lily cried out, hips finally having the chance to stutter as she felt him dart in and out of her, being brought right to that edge she was chasing. She felt his growl before she actually even heard it. "Evans, lie still."

She whimpered, wanting to listen, but her body twitched without her permission, as if rejecting her impending undoing.

"Evans…" he warned, taking his wand off her throbbing clit, and sucking on it instead. Lily wasn't sure if it was a punishment for her actions (because it isn't a very good one) or a threat that he was about to stop all together if she didn't comply (please don't fucking let that be the case) but she wasn't above begging for more now.

She reached for his shoulders, holding them like handlebars, trying to ground herself and still her overactive body. Trying to just take what he was giving her — accept it. "Please, please, I'll be good, I'll be a good girl," she rushed out all in one labored breath. "I promise— just please don't stop." He was still sucking on her, and she fought with everything she had to keep her eyes open and trained on him so she wouldn't ever forget this moment.

His eyes glazed over in determination, but instead of answering, he merely got up on his knees, straddling over her legs, and put his wand back where she wanted it before sinking two fingers into her cunt.

"Fuck—" Lily moaned, sounding almost pained to her own ears as she felt him curl and plunge away inside of her.

He was leaning over her now, a crazed look plastered on his face, clearly wanting to watch her. "Fuck yes, Lils. Come for me, just like that—"

"James—" she started, not even knowing where she was going with her sentence. He was there, and the stars were over his head, and there was throbbing, throbbing, and all she knew was she was about to lose it: control, her life — she didn't even fucking know anymore, but it was terrifying, and lovely, and she just—

"I gotchu, Lils."

Lily heard someone's strangled yell — it most certainly couldn't be her own — as her mind went completely blank and her toes curled. Was she floating? Were they floating? Were the stars overhead or in her head or… Shit.

When she lazily opened her eyes, shoulder still slightly twitching, she was greeted with Potter's stupidly handsome face, licking his lips. She realized he was actually licking her off his lips. The thought somehow deflated out the last of the air still lingering in her lungs.

"All right, Evans?" he taunted, real fucking happy with himself. He knew he had her. There was not a thing she could ever do or say now that would help her deny the fact that she was insanely attracted to him. He did it for her; no doubt about it. He had her wrapped around one of those elegant (talented) fingers.

Lily sighed softly, utterly spent. "Yeah."

He chuckled, kissing her forehead before laying himself down beside her, propped up on an elbow. His other hand absentmindedly started playing with a necklace she hadn't even remembered putting on that morning — then again, she'd be lucky if she remembered her own middle name after that. "First real orgasms are pretty exhausting, huh?"

He was teasing her; she sort of recognized that. If she had the energy, she'd punch his shoulder.

"How was it?"

Lily rolled over to face him, knowing he was fishing for praise. "Probably just as good as you thought it was."

"That good, huh?" He pulled on the necklace, reeling her into him, kissing her soundly. He chuckled when she kept her eyes closed a little after they broke apart, savoring all of it. "Let's get you back to the castle, Evans. I don't want you falling asleep on me."

She weakly grumbled in protest, pulling his wristwatch into her line of vision. "We still have an hour left."

"I'll do it alone, Evans. I'm not afraid of some unicorns."

She grinned. "Famous last words."

He rolled his eyes, getting up and reaching down for Lily. She quickly shimmied her panties back up her legs before accepting. "If I get skewered, you'll get the last laugh." Lily snorted before nearly falling over. "Jeez, Evans," he joked, putting a steadying arm around her waist, "now you're just exaggerating how much I fucked you up." He removed a leaf from her hair and brushed some dirt off the back of her cloak. Apparently she'd wiggled off the blanket a little bit.

She wished she was exaggerating. It was different now. They were different. In the same way she'd thought she'd have to fake wanting to shag him, she'd thought it would be the same about wanting to date him, but now? When he was like this? She didn't even know anymore. Sure, he definitely wasn't the type of guy she grew up thinking she'd go out with, but then again, she'd never really known what he was capable of. (The wand trick or the semi-sweet, non-rage-inducing banter with sexual undertones.)

"I got it from here," Lily declared as she started climbing the stairs to the Entrance Hall, lost in thought and ready to mull everything over in bed. Perhaps it was the post-orgasmic haze totally reducing her mind to mush, but she was no longer sure if she could do all of this without falling for him. She'd had meaningless flings before, had casual sex, but this wouldn't be that. It was a terrifying realization that was slowly burning a hole in her stomach.

"Hey," Potter said softly, spinning her around, and nearly knocking her off balance. One hand clutched onto her waist while the other brushed hair off her forehead. "You forgot this." He kissed her sweetly, slowly, his lips silently telling her everything she wanted to hear with the way they moved against hers.

He pulled back, grinning at her before he turned away. "Goodnight, love."

Lily watched as he left to finish the rest of their patrol alone, stuffing his hands into his pockets, strutting away into the distance.

Shit.

Lily realized it was too late to worry about falling for him. She was already laying flat on the ground.

Next Chapter: The Voyeur