Tie Game
Chapter 5- Eating
The next day, James and Lily were both preparing to leave Hogwarts for the Christmas Vacation. Neither had packed, as both of them had been a little preoccupied the night before. Having both packed hurriedly that morning, they met each other along the way to the Great Hall and enjoyed a late breakfast together.
They met with Sirius and Mirena, who were also going home for the holidays, and found a carriage to take them all to Hogsmeade Station. They hurried through the snow, into the warmth of the Hogwarts Express. They found an empty compartment easily as many people were remaining at school over the holidays.
Sirius and Mirena wasted no time, and immediately began snogging. Lily and James exchanged exasperated looks. They sat in awkward silence for a while until Lily suggested they play Exploding Snap. Sirius and Mirena only broke apart after a particularly violent explosion of one of James's cards and then later on when the woman with the food trolley arrived. "Food!" exclaimed Sirius. He eagerly forked over a few golden coins for an armful of sweets.
Lily was about to buy a Sugar Quill and a Licorice Wand, but an idea came to her. "Hey James, aren't we supposed to have an eating contest?"
"Oh yeah." He said, he had actually momentarily forgotten about their competition. He was just enjoying spending time with the girl he had fawned over for the past six years. She had also pointedly ignored him for the past six years, but now, she was willingly spending time with him, and she seemed to be enjoying it.
He truly hoped she really was spending time with him because she wanted to, not just because of the competition, or because her friends hung around with his friends, or because they had their Head Boy and Girl duties together. He thought Lily must like him; she had kissed him. Well, on the cheek. But what had that kiss really meant? Did she really like him, or was it out of pity?
"Well," said Lily, interrupting his thoughts, "How about we get this over with right now." She indicated a large tray of Pumpkin Pasties with a jerk of her head.
James nodded, then continued to think. "Get this over with." What did that mean? Get the competition over with so she could stop hanging around with him, or get the eating task over with so they could enjoy the rest of the trip. James had never agonized so much over a girl before. He was always calm and collected and most definitely never unsure. With Lily though, he was very unsure. Lily was not like any other girl he had ever been with, she was unique, that was part of why he liked her so much.
By the time James had come out of his trance, Lily had separated a load of Pumpkin Pasties between the two of them and Sirius was holding a stopwatch.
"James?" Lily inquired, "Were you listening to a word I said?"
"What?" he asked blearily, "Oh no, sorry, I zoned out a bit there. What was that?"
Lily rolled her eyes, "I said, we each get twenty-five Pumpkin Pasties, whoever eats them all the fastest wins. Sirius and Mirena will time us."
"Sounds good." Said James. He put his game face on and stared her straight in the eyes.
Lily stared right back. He could see she had that competitive gleam in her eyes, the very same one she had just before a Quidditch match. He loved it when she looked like that.
Mirena began to speak, James continued to look at Lily, but reverted all of his attention back to eating the Pumpkin Pasties. "Ready? Set? Go!" cried Mirena, as Sirius pressed the start button on the stop watch.
Lily and James both grabbed the nearest Pasty. James shoved it in his mouth, while Lily was able to eat it relatively gracefully bite by bite, but still quickly. James was in awe; who else could look so attractive while eating twenty-five Pumpkin Pasties? They were evenly matched until about the tenth Pasty, when Lily started to slow down.
Mirena looked at her friend with disgust and said, "You're making me feel sick."
Whilst Sirius gazed at the food longingly, "You're making me feel hungry!" he exclaimed.
Lily took the time to give him a disparaging look, then went back to her Pasties. She glanced at James, who was stuffing two Pasties in his mouth at the same time with ease. His pile was dwindling steadily. She looked at her own which was much larger. She stuffed a few more in her mouth with good grace.
When Lily had five more left, James was stuffing his last one is his mouth. He quickly chewed and swallowed, then opened his mouth and wagged his tongue around in Sirius's face to show that he was done. Sirius turned away disgustedly and looked down at the stopwatch; his eyes opened wide in surprise. "Two minutes, eighteen seconds! That's got to be some sort of record!" He patted his friend on the back proudly in a congratulatory manner. Lily and Mirena rolled their eyes. Boys could be so weird.
James turned to Lily, "Lily, do you think you could remind me of the score?"
"Yes James," she said exasperatedly, "You're winning 3-2 now."
He grinned with satisfaction, he mouthed "thank you" to non-existent applause, and bowed and blew kisses to the empty compartment. James realized he was reverting back to his old immature ways and immediately stopped acting like a prat.
"So Lily," he started, "Er, what are you doing for Christmas over the break?"
Lily was glad of his change of attitude, "Well we're having Christmas at our house this year, so I have a load of obscure relatives coming in from all over the place. It'll be crazy at my house for about a week, between cooking and cleaning and people coming and going. But after that my family and I are going on a skiing holiday, so that'll be fun."
"Skiing? What's that?" asked James curiously.
Mirena, being a half-blood witch, knew all about skiing and promptly grabbed Sirius and began kissing him again.
When Lily was finished explaining, James was nearly in tears. "So you're planning on strapping wooden planks to your feet and sliding down a mountain covered in snow and ice? And Muggles think that it's fun?" he asked skeptically, in-between laughs.
"Well, yes." Said Lily with a shrug of her shoulders, "It's actually really quite enjoyable." James was unconvinced. "Well, what are you planning on doing during your holidays that's so much better than skiing?" she asked.
"Sirius is spending Christmas at my house so we'll find plenty to amuse ourselves with." He said deviously, with a mischievous gleam in his eye.
"Oh, your poor parents," said Lily teasing him, "Imagine having to live with the two of you for a whole three weeks."
The rest of the train ride passed similarly; James and Lily exchanged funny stories about Christmases past and plans for the coming year. Time passed quickly and both were surprised when the Hogwarts Express pulled up at Platform 9 ¾.
Lily, James, Sirius and Mirena all grabbed their trunks from the luggage rack and lugged them out onto the platform. As they stepped out on to the platform, Lily saw a man with a mop of what must have used to be jet black hair, but was now flecked with gray, and a woman with James's pointy nose and hazel eyes, converge on the two boys before her. Mrs. Potter gave both Sirius and James a motherly hug and kiss, which they both shrugged off embarrassedly, while Mr. Potter gave them a welcoming slap on the back.
Mrs. Potter looked curiously at the two girls, then looked at Sirius and James expectantly. "Oh right. This is Mirena, my girlfriend." Said Sirius promptly.
"And this is my, er, this is Lily." Said James.
The Potters greeted them both warmly but Mrs. Potter insisted they must be getting on. Sirius and Mirena engaged in a very passionate good-bye kiss right in front of the Potters. James was not sure how to say good-bye to Lily. He was not entirely sure how appropriate a kiss would be, especially in front of his parents.
"Have a good holiday," he began, "And a Happy Christmas."
"You too." Said Lily, she felt slightly awkward.
"Have fun skiing." Said James with a grin.
Lily loved how he could make any awkward situation humorous, "I will." She promised, "Have fun pranking your poor parents with Sirius."
"Oh, I will." He assured her.
"Good-bye James." Said Lily and she wrapped her arms around him in a farewell hug.
"Good-bye Lily." He responded and hugged her back.
Lily gave him a small peck on the cheek and without a glance backwards, she walked through the barrier and was gone in the blink of an eye.