Four butterbeers, 3 firewhiskey shots, and two house cocktails (modelled after Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters from Hitchhiker's Guide) later, the table was full of glassware, and the pair's bellies were warm. James had skilfully finished off what Lily couldn't, but she had done her fair share of the drinking.
I'm kind of drunk, she thought. I'm on my first date, with a guy I want to impress, and I've gone and got myself drunk.
They had been talking for a couple hours about Doctor Who and other muggle sci fi media, and even invented a drinking game about alien species names. To Lily's surprise, James absolutely crushed her.
Between laughs, they both had been stealing glances at the Marauder table, and did so again as Sirius' huge voice boomed over the pub. "And THEN, he took the glass and smashed it onto the floor of the dorm. Shards everywhere! Pete was bleeding!"
"What are they talking about?" Lily looked at James inquisitively.
James looked sheepish. "The time I drank a little too much tequila and pretended to be King Kong. It's stupid…"
Lily laughed.
"Listen, Lily, I'm not just saying this because I'm drunk," James started, and stuttered. He's drunk too? Okay. At least it's not just me, thought Lily. "I like you. I mean. Obviously. We've kissed and stuff and I've told you already and you tried to kill me by tripping me in the Potions classroom." He looked at her with a nervous smile to make sure she knew he was joking. She did. "I know we haven't even been on good terms for a very long time, but I want to make sure we're never going to be on bad terms again. Can we just make a promise to each other than even when things get heated between us - and I'm sure they will because we are very different people - that we will think about Vogon poetry and realise nothing can be that bad?"
Lily laughed again. Here they were, two geeky teens, spending hours talking about science fiction and cracking jokes at one another after years of vile words and spewed accusations. If they could overcome that in a matter of weeks just by bonding over a common interest, she didn't see why it wouldn't be possible to agree to his terms.
"Okay. I promise. But the moment you start writing terrible free form poetry, we're breaking up!" She said.
Breaking up. I just said breaking up. As if we're dating.
She looked into James' eyes as they widened. He smirked the smallest of Potter smirks at her and noticeably looked at her lips. She had painted them a deep red today, slightly darker than her hair. She hadn't thought about getting lipstick on him until after the colour was already on, and it looked too nice to take off. Alice agreed.
"If you kiss him, and he gets lipstick all over him, consider your territory marked," she had said that morning.
Lily didn't necessarily like the idea of 'marking one's territory,' but smiled anyway and left the lipstick on. Now she was glad she did, because it looked like James liked it too.
Silence fell between them for just a moment. Lily looked from James to the table and back to James. His eyes never left her face. He reached out and placed his finger lightly on her shoulder, brushing a strand of hair behind her back to join the others. The feeling of the fabric of her black dress warming against her skin at his soft touch sent a tingle down her spine. Was it normal to feel so good from such a simple gesture?
As James leaned in just a millimeter towards Lily's face, just far enough for her to notice, they were both disrupted by Remus, of all people, raising his voice.
"Sirius Black! I did not say that, and I definitely did not say it in that way! That's offensive and slanderous!"
James sprung to his feet and moved over to the corner table quickly. Lily sat back in her chair. "What happened?" he asked.
"Sirius accused me of saying Moaning Myrtle has a fat arse!" Remus exclaimed. Lily couldn't help but burst into laughter. James turned, shocked at her outburst, but soon fell to laughter as well. Sirius had been giggling throughout the ordeal but took any excuse to howl, leaning back in his seat so far he almost tipped over. Peter looked nervously from Remus to the rest of them. The two girls from earlier had gotten up a while earlier, joining friends for a walk by the Shrieking Shack.
Lily got up, blood rushing to her head from hours of drinking while sitting down, and strolled over to the Marauders' table, only bumping into two chairs along the way. "Remus, Moaning Myrtle does have a fat arse. She's kinda hot. I wouldn't blame you for saying it."
"Good god, James. You've only gone and got THE Lily Evans drunk!" Sirius was amazed, although he wasn't one to judge, having forgotten the number of drinks he had consumed so far that afternoon.
"Not drunk. Maybe a little tipsy," James replied, slurring the word tipsy just enough to let his well-accustomed friends know that he was, in fact, a little tipsy as well.
4pm was nearing, which meant it was almost time to begin the long walk back to the castle. "I wish we got to hang out here for longer than an afternoon," Lily sighed, taking one of the empty seats at the table. James looked surprised, but took the opportunity to grab the seat next to hers. She was sitting with his friends. Willingly!
"Indeed, Miss Lily. But oh, we are fortunate for being able to come at all! To bask in the great pub hall, to snack at the corner candy shop, to dance in the snow come wintertime, to-" Sirius was interrupted by Peter groaning. "Save it for Shakespeare, Sirius."
Lily smiled. She had always liked Remus, and Peter had seemed kind these years. Sirius was a drama queen, that was for sure, but also a good soul. You could tell he had good intentions, and poor execution. Or maybe he executed his actions exactly as intended, in which case perhaps poor judgement. But if James could win her over, she supposed she could get used to Sirius' boisterous ways and loud, roaring laugh as he took in what Peter had said.
"Of course you'd reference a muggle playwright, Peter. Mate, he knew bloody nothing about witches. Double double indeed," Sirius retorted. They all laughed. The next hour faded by, measured by jokes and goodhearted jabs. Without noticing, Lily and James continued to scoot closer to each other, until James' arm was around Lily's shoulders, her head resting gently on his chest.
