A/N: So sorry for the horrendously long wait in-between chapters. I had major writer's block and I've been so busy and I'm getting tired of this story, I just want it to end. Thankfully the last chapter is already written, so only one more chapter left to write. I'm almost done, yay! This chapter is slightly longer than usual, so hopefully that makes up for such a long wait.
Tie Game
Chapter 6- Dueling
When they returned from the Christmas holidays James and Lily greeted each other warmly and were friendlier with each other than ever.
Their next task was to be a wizard's duel between the two of them, but neither was looking forward to it. Neither James nor Lily was particularly fond of the idea of hexing, cursing, jinxing, or otherwise harming each other.
A few months ago, Lily would have been glad for an opportunity to duel James, but now she was dreading the prospect of it.
However, neither of them was able to shelve their pride and admit they did not want to go through with the duel, so rather than confront each other they continued on as if nothing was wrong. James came up with a brilliant plan consisting of giving Lily a note confirming the time and place of the duel (midnight, Trophy Room) and then proceeding to leave said note where the school caretaker was likely to stumble upon it (the floor of his office), thereupon he would catch Lily and James before they were able to duel at all, resulting in nothing more than a detention.
The set date for the duel drew closer and since neither one said a word otherwise, they proceeded to the Trophy Room at midnight. They hadn't so much as bowed to each other, when the caretaker came bursting threw the door, "Aha, Head Boy and Girl up after hours! And dueling no less!" he cried victoriously, "Detention both of you! In fact, since you seem to enjoy spending time in the Trophy Room past curfew, why don't you spend a few hours tidying the place up, no magic allowed."
James and Lily silently handed over their wands after summoning the required cleaning supplies. "I'll be back for you in three hours. That should give you plenty of time to clean everything." He sneered, skulking out of the room.
"Well, we'd better get started." Said Lily grabbing a mouldy looking rag and dunking it in the bucket of soapy water and heading towards the nearest trophy case.
James stuck his head out the door and after ensuring the coast was clear, pulled out what appeared to be his wand from his back pocket.
Lily turned, "Wait. What?" she asked confusedly, "You just gave Filch your wand, but your wands there!" she said indicating the wand held loosely in his right hand.
"Lily, Lily, Lily, you didn't think I gave him my real wand did you? It was a fake." James explained.
"But don't you think he'll notice?" asked Lily tentatively.
"Nah." Replied James carelessly, "I do it all the time. Besides he's a Squib, he'll never be able to tell the difference."
"He's a Squib?" Lily paused for a moment, "Yeah, I guess that explains a lot."
James smiled, "So, I suppose you didn't think to bring a fake wand by chance, did you?"
"No, sorry." Lily replied scathingly.
"Well, I guess I'll just have to do all the work myself then." He raised his wand, made a sweeping motion across the room and shouted, "Evanesco!" Immediately the room spotless, every trophy gleamed in the dim light from the torches in brackets on the wall.
"So." James said casually, "Where to?"
"What do you mean, Where to? We're not going anywhere. What if we get caught?" she said scandalized.
"They can't catch us if they can't see us." Said James, whipping out a shimmering piece of fabric from another pocket.
"An Invisibility Cloak?" Lily said in an awed whisper.
"It used to be my father's. He gave it to me when he bought a new one." Explained James.
"Wow," Lily said, "But won't Filch come to check on us every once and a while?"
"That's what this is for." James said pulling a piece of faded parchment out of yet another pocket.
Lily wondered vaguely how many more pockets James had in his robs and how much stuff he could possibly fit in them, but she was much more interested in what he was saying.
"Prepare to be amazed." He said, then tapping it with his wand, muttered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
Immediately thousands of black lines and dots swirled into action, forming a map of Hogwarts and bearing the words:
Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present
The Marauder's Map
"This shows every room, every secret passageway, and every person in Hogwarts and on its grounds." James told her, unable to keep the pride out of his voice.
"Wow, you made this? You and Sirius and Remus and Peter?" she asked, amazed.
"Yep." James replied simply.
Lily was mesmerized. A thousand tiny black dots labeled with each person in Hogwarts' name stared back at her from the parchment. They were mostly stock still, fast asleep in their beds in their respective dormitories, but a few others were up and out of bed. She and James were standing next to each other in the Trophy Room; Filch was sitting in his office, his new pet kitten, Mrs. Norris, he had purchased to be his partner in punishment was sitting nest to him; Professor Slughorn was walking towards his desk in his office (evidently for a midnight snack because Lily knew that desk to contain copious amounts of crystallized pineapple, having been in there many times do to the Slug Club); and the dots labeled Sirius Black and Mirena Fitzpatrick were together in a secret passageway on the third floor, one dot barely distinguishable from the other.
"This is incredible." She muttered.
"With this, I figure we'll be able to keep an eye on Filch." Said James, "We can check if he's heading towards to the Trophy Room."
Lily gazed at James for a moment and a look of dawning comprehension arose on her face. This was how he knew so much about the castle, this was how he never got caught, this was why all the girls loved him.
"So this is why all these girls are madly in love with you? You show them all this amazing stuff, and these places you've discovered and you're all sweet and charming and they go crazy for you?" she asked accusingly.
James looked taken aback, "Honestly Lily, you're the first girl I've shown all of this." He looked so sincere, she had to believe him. And now she thought about it, not once had she ever heard anyone talking about how sweet James was and how smart he was. She had only ever heard girls gushing about what a good kisser he was, or what nice abs he had (something Lily could actually attest to as he frequently removed his shirt at Quidditch practice).
"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Lily, heading towards the doorway, "Let's go!"
James proceeded to show Lily the many secrets of Hogwarts he and the other marauders had discovered over the years. He even let her wear his Invisibility Cloak and scare Nearly Headless Nick, Gryffindor's resident ghost. And much to Lily's amusement, he also pulled a few more items out of his pockets. They had lots of fun wandering the castle and Lily now fully understood why James and his friends did this so much. As well they had a chance to talk to each other and to get to know each other better. They also both ended up admitting that neither had wanted to duel in the first place and decided to call off that part of their competition.
The evening was coming to an end, but there was one more thing James wanted to show Lily. "Come here," he said, "I want to show you something." He grabbed Lily by the hand and led her on until they were in front of a blank stretch of wall, behind them was a tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's attempt to teach trolls to do ballet. "Now concentrate on a place, it could be real or it could exist only in your imagination. Concentrate very hard on it, and walk past this tapestry three times."
Lily looked at him skeptically, but did as she was told. As soon as she had turned the third time, a door appeared. Lily smiled hesitantly. James nodded encouragingly and together they reached for the door handle. As they stepped inside, Lily gasped. It was not a particularly spectacular sight, but she had only ever seen it in her dreams, and it seemed impossible that this place actually existed in Hogwarts. They were in the middle of a clearing in what seemed to be a tropical rainforest. It had beautiful, exotic plants and flowers all around, and in front of them laid a beautiful and majestic waterfall. Though in reality it was past midnight, in the room, the way the brightly shining sun was hitting the water created a beautiful rainbow.
"What is this place?" Lily asked.
"The Room of Requirement." James stated, "It's a magical room that you can turn into anything you want." James elaborated, "Sirius discovered it one day when he was pacing in the hallway, looking for a place to hide his- well er, never mind, it's not that important, but you get the picture."
Lily giggled. "It's brilliant." she said, awestruck. She took a few tentative steps forwards, as if testing if the ground beneath her really existed. Evidently convinced it was real, Lily peeled off her socks and shoes and waded into the pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall. "Ooh, I wish it was warmer!" she said backing up a few steps. Then she stopped. She looked questioningly at James, "The water." she said, "It just got warmer."
James laughed. "Yeah, it does that. This room, if you need something, the Room makes it happen." He explained.
"That's fantastic." Lily exclaimed.
"There's only one thing it can't do." he said, "It can't make someone do something against their will. However if both or all people involved want the same thing to happen, then the Room can make it happen."
Lily wasn't quite sure she understood, but nodded anyways. After wading in the water a bit more, she got out, wished her legs would dry off (they did), then bent to sit on the ground next to James, who had been sitting there, watching her amusedly the entire time. She sat close to him and very much wanted him to put his arm around her as she was slightly chilly. He did so. Lily was confused, James had said the Room couldn't make people do things, then comprehension dawned. What James had said now made sense, if both people involved want something to happen; the Room can make it happen. Obviously James had wanted to put his arm around her and when she had wanted the same thing, the magic of the Room made it happen.
They cuddled together for a while longer, checking the map every so often to make sure Filch wasn't anywhere near the Trophy Room. They watched the imaginary sun go down and listened to the peaceful sound of the waterfall.
As the evening went on, Lily and James came closer and closer together, until Lily was practically on James's lap. As Lily shifted positions, James wrapped his arm closer around her waist, and an idea struck him. He bent his head closer and kissed her on the lips.
As soon as it had happened, he knew it was a bad idea. He began apologizing profusely. "I'm so sorry Lily, I don't know what came over me. I mean, I've been thinking about it all night, and I know you don't think of me that way but- oh. Oh." James paused for a moment and silently thanked the magic of the Room, "So, you, er, you do think of me that way?"
Lily smiled and nodded. James grinned back, then bent down to kiss her again.
Midway through the kiss, through Lily squealed and pulled away.
James groaned, "I'm sorry Lily, it's just-"
She cut him off, "No, it's not you, it's Filch! He's headed towards the Trophy Room!" she said pointing at the Marauder's Map which was laying on the floor beside them.
"Damnit." said James, then in a moment of quick thinking, shouted, "Accio broom." summoning his broomstick. He caught it, mounted it, then pulled Lily on behind him, and ensured they were both covered with his Invisibility Cloak.
He sped off towards the Trophy Room and made it in the nick of time. He banished his broom and pocketed his wand and his Cloak, and picked up a dirty rag, just as Filch was entering the room.
"You two miscreants done yet?" Filch barked at them.
"Yes, sir." replied James, replacing the dirty rag in the bucket of soapy water. "We've just finished, sir."
The caretaker inspected the nearest trophy case, then cast a look at the rest of the room. He couldn't seem to find a thing wrong with it for he handed them back their wands and sent them off to bed.
When they were back in the common room they said good night and engaged once more in a passionate kiss. Finally they parted and retreated up the stairs to their respective dormitories feeling that this was, by far, the best detention either of them had ever served.