XIII
Lily shrieked as she saw Remus, Sirius, and a newly arrived Peter sitting calmly in the common room. She raced towards Peter and kissed him loudly on the cheek. She pushed herself in between Sirius and Remus on the couch.
"Easy there Lily. I thought it was James you were interested in not Wormtail," Sirius commented amused.
She raised a suggestive eyebrow at him. "Oh I am definitely interested in James. But you see this amazing genius here," she gestured to Peter, "gave me some fabulous advice that led to me reeling in a certain head boy we all know and love."
"My idea worked?" Peter inquired hopefully.
"You and James got together?" Remus asked happily.
"You think Peter's smart?" Sirius questioned incredulously. Everyone turned towards him and rolled their eyes.
"Yes to all three!" Lily announced cheerfully. "I've never been happier!"
"I've only got one question," Remus said. "Why are you with us and not him?"
Her eyes widened. "Shoot! I kind of just left him there. See you three later!" She dashed out of the room.
"Let's see today's the 24th," Sirius said inspecting a calendar. "That means that…Wormtail won the pool." He scowled. "No fair! You cheated. You convinced her to do it today!"
He shrugged smugly. "She didn't have to listen to me. Pay up boys!" he extended his hand triumphantly.
The other two grumbled and handed over 5 galleons each.
"I still say that it was cheating," Sirius muttered under his breath.
Remus brightened. "Oh now we can bet on when he'll propose! There's still time to redeem myself!"
Sirius gasped. "You should be ashamed of yourself, planning to bet on a marriage when the relationship has just started." Seeing the other two eyeing him he added, "At least wait 24 hours before placing your bets. Its much classier."
Remus snorted. "Somehow I don't think that you and classy could ever be used in the same sentence."
"I'll have you know that Patty told me that I was very classy. I held a door open for her!" He replied indignantly.
"The door to a broom cupboard you mean?" he remarked dryly.
"Well yes, but that's besides the point!" Sirius spluttered.
"I think that is exactly the point," Peter cut in helpfully.
Sirius stuck his tongue out at him. "No one asked you, you little cheater!"
"Oh come on! You would have done the exact same thing in my position!"
"Ah ha!" Sirius jumped up with his finger pointed. "So you admit you cheated!"
"I did no such thing!" Peter denied. "I just nudged her along."
"You told her to practically corner him and not take no for an answer!" Remus exclaimed.
"Again I say she didn't have to listen! I won the bet, because I nudged her along."
A male voice cleared his throat and the three Gryffindors heads whipped around to face the new couple. "Betting on us?" James asked amused.
They all shook their heads frantically muttering random denials in an indiscernible cacophony of sound.
"How long were you standing there?" Sirius asked.
"Well at least now we know. Maybe next time they bet on us we can rig it!" Lily suggested sarcastically ignoring his question.
"Are you implying that I'm going to propose to you?" James asked mock shocked. "Don't you think we're rushing things? I mean we've been dating for about oh…30 minutes now," he said checking his watch.
She nodded very seriously. "I know I know, you've kind of got a commitment phobia. I won't rush you. But I do expect a proposal no later than 5 minutes from now."
"No pressure there," he said rolling his eyes.
"Don't worry. We'll take things slow," she assured him. "I mean I don't even know how long it'll be before I get sick of you," she teased.
"Just what every bloke wants to hear from his girlfriend!"
"Hey! At least I didn't say I was sick of you already," Lily pointed out.
"True," James nodded and then dropped the subject. "I can't believe we're graduating so soon!" He spoke breaking the comfortable silence that had enveloped them.
"Don't remind me!" Lily said. "As soon as school is over I have to go back to living next to this loser!" She pointed at Sirius.
"Uh!" Sirius gasped. "You know you love it. It'll be so fun, like a giant party! I can go into your room whenever I want, and I can see who's been in your room all I want," he added slyly.
Lily and James blushed. She recovered quickly. "And I can go into your room all I want," she whispered in his ear as she sat on the couch next to him. Lily inwardly marveled at how much braver she had become over the course of the year.
His amused reaction changed to a shocked and uncomfortable immediately. "Gee Lily what are you insinuating?" he finally managed to speak.
She glanced over at James and suppressed giggles at the angry expression on his face. "Oh you know, I can look through all of your stuff, see what you're trying to hide."
James relaxed, but Sirius did not. "Oh, I didn't think of that. How about I just stay out of your flat and you stay out of mine," he suggested.
She grinned. "I think we can still hang out in each other's place when we have permission."
"And you won't go poking through my things?"
"I promise."
The tension in his facial features immediately relaxed. "Great! Like I said it'll be like a giant party, Evans!"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Merlin I have to move!" she leaned into Remus and groaned exasperatedly.
James stiffened. "Lily can I talk to you…alone?" he asked firmly.
She looked at him curiously. "Sure. I'll be back guys," she announced. Standing up, she followed James' lead and walked into his bedroom. "What did you want to talk about?" she questioned.
"I don't like you flirting with guys right in front of me!" he snapped. "We just started dating, and already I'm not sure if I can trust you."
Lily stepped back as if slapped. "I…I wasn't flirting, I swear!" she insisted. "It's just Remus, Peter, and Sirius. They're your friends. And what do you mean you don't trust me?" she demanded. "If anyone shouldn't trust someone else, it should be me! You've gone out with over half of the girls in school at one point or another. For all I know I'm just another notch on your belt or whatever."
He glared at her. "How could you even think that? You know very well that it's taken years for me to realize exactly how serious I was about you. I just told you I love you less than an hour ago!"
"And I told you that I love you first! Look I'm sorry if you think I was flirting. I've just never had a boyfriend before, and I have no idea how to act. I do love you though James. I don't want to be with anyone but you."
His expression softened. "I'm sorry too. I was completely out of line, acting like an extremely jealous boyfriend. I know you better than that. I love you too, and I do trust you." He leaned down and kissed her gently.
Lily broke away, giggling. "You do realize that that was our first official fight as a couple?" she asked.
"At the moment I find that I'm more interested in our first official make-up as a couple," James responded and pulled her in for a nice long snog.
