Chapter Twenty-Five: Learning to Live Together
Lily's skirt slipped up her thigh as she stretched out on the couch. She let out a groan and reached her arms over her head to stretch. James dragged his eyes away from that patch of ivory skin. Lily caught him looking and smirked. She wasn't sure if it was the snide voice in the back of her head or how late it had gotten. She used her toes to slip off her shoes and stretched her legs out like a cat.
"Well, I'm exhausted." Lily stood and stretched a second time. "Which room do you suppose is which?"
James really did not want to stand up just now. He shrugged his shoulders as nonchalantly as he could. "I suppose we get to pick? Whichever you'd prefer." He watched her skip up the steps. She peered into the first room and laughed.
"This one is obviously yours. Cute teddy bear, Potter." James watched her walk along the little mezzanine and disappear into her room. He let out the breath he'd been holding and looked down in his lap. Once he was sure Lily wasn't going to walk back out he scurried up to his own room and closed the door.
Lily slept like a rock. When she woke up she was a little disoriented by the room. Slightly smaller than the room she had shared with the other Gryffindor girls, this room was decked in Gryffindor crimson and gold. She had left the bed's curtains open last night and the golden glow of dawn light filtered through the window.
Her trunk sat at the foot of her bed. For the last time, she upheld her tradition of putting away her clothes in the clothespress the first morning in the castle. She hummed to herself as she completed her task. Lily admitted to herself that it was nice to not listen to Marlene's snoring — 'heavy breathing' per the blonde — first thing in the morning.
Despite there being a desk in the little Common Room, there was also a desk in this room with a shelf for books beside it. Lily smiled and pulled out the few non-academic books she had brought with her and placed them on the shelf. She grinned at the copy of Peter Pan and thought about last night. It was going to take some getting used to living so close with one of the boys.
Sunlight streamed into the window by the time Lily was finished unpacking. She knew she would have to hustle if she was going to take a shower before heading down to breakfast. She pulled her robe on over her nightgown and headed to the loo.
Lily scowled when she realized James was already in the shower when she got there. She waited a few minutes before banging on the door. "Potter, hurry up!"
Five minutes later, James was still in the shower. Lily looked at the clock on the wall above the fireplace. She really would be late if she tried to take a shower now. She muttered curses under her breath. Hoping for a free period to start her Friday, she raced back up to her room to quickly change. A quick comb through her hair and glance in the mirror and she was out through the portrait tunnel.
Momentarily turned around, Lily made it down to the entry hall as Marlene and Alice were coming down the stairs. She waved when she saw them and waited for them at the bottom of the steps.
"Sleep well?" Marlene grinned at her.
"Well I didn't have to listen to you snore all night, so yes." Lily leaned into her friend as they laughed. They made their way to their usual spot halfway down the Gryffindor table when Lily stopped and let a low growl erupt from her throat. "That's not possible."
Sirius beamed at them from their spot. All four Marauders were sitting there with full plates. "Something wrong, Lilyflower? Woof, decided to skip the shower this morning?"
James scowled at Sirius and kicked him under the table. He sent Lily an apologetic look as she sat down next to Remus. "I was going to wait for you but you had already left."
Lily poured herself some coffee before passing the pot to Marlene across the table. She and Sirius were bantering about something. Alice rolled her eyes and made kissy faces at the rest of the group. McGonagall was making her way down the table. She eyed the boys when she reached them.
"Should I be expecting any surprises today from you lot?" She looks at James and Remus a little longer than the other two.
James pressed his foot down on Sirius's. "Of course not, Professor. Remus and I take our responsibility as student leaders very seriously and understand that our actions reflect upon you."
"Mhmm." McGonagall eyed him a little longer before turning back to the task at hand. "Mr. Lupin, Miss Evans, do you plan to continue with all nine classes this year?"
Remus and Lily had talked on the train about this yesterday and both were equally determined to obtain nine NEWTs at the end of the year. They informed their Head of House of their plans. She again encouraged them to support each other through this year before handing out the timetables.
Lily breathed a sigh of relief when she saw she did in fact have a free period first thing this morning. She would get to shower, even if it was not when she had originally intended on it.
"So, last night?" Sirius wagged his eyebrows at Lily.
Lily buttered her toast and grinned all teeth at Sirius. "So James told you, did he? That we had a brilliant shag last night."
James near choked on the piece of toast he had in his mouthing. Remus thumped him on the back while he coughed. Sirius near dropped out of his seat at how nonchalant her response was. He eyed her beadily. "You lie."
"You know what the most marvelous thing about all this is, Sirius?" Lily leaned across the table towards him. "You'll never know if I'm telling the truth or not." She took a bite out of her toast with a smirk on her face.
Sirius laughed and looked at James. He might not be able to tell if Lily was lying but he knew all of the tell-tale signs of his best mate's lying. James smirked at him and peered around Remus at Lily. They shared a look before James turned back to Sirius. "Just so you know, Lily or I will have to let you into the Heads dorm. There's no password we can share with you."
"Yeah, so? Like you could keep me out, Prongs."
"And when it's just me in there, Sirius?" Lily had a look of pure glee stretched across her face. She watched as Sirius realized the implications of this.
"That's cheating! How am I supposed to catch you two in flagrante delicto if I can't get in?" Sirius looked like someone told him Christmas was cancelled.
Alice laughed, "Who knew that you knew Latin, Sirius."
Everyone at the table groaned as Sirius puffed out his chest. James, Peter, Remus, and Marlene all said it along with him. "I'm from the Most Noble House of Black."
Sirius sulked through breakfast and tried to figure out how he could trick the King Arthur portrait into letting him into the Heads dorm. Lily had determined that at some point he would figure it out but for now she enjoyed his disappointment. Everyone but Remus, who was still taking History of Magic — for what reason, the others could not understand — had a free period this morning. Lily agreed to James's request to show their friends the Heads dorm.
They walked with Remus to his class before making their way to the King Arthur portrait on the fifth floor. Sirius clapped James on the back when he saw their little Common Room.
"Dumbledore must have really gone off his rocker." Marlene murmured in Lily's ear. "Nothing but doors separating you and sweet James at night."
Lily rolled her eyes and sat down in one of the armchairs. Alice giggled and poked around the room. Everyone seemed to agree that they would be spending much time here 'studying' this year.
"I propose —" Sirius was standing in the middle of the sunken section.
"Sirius, no!" James and Lily were glaring at him. They both had a pretty good idea where this was going and they did not agree.
"Let's take it to a vote. Everyone in favor of throwing a party in here tonight, say aye." Sirius grinned as the four mutinied the two Heads. "And there you have it folks, a party we shall have in here tonight."
"You're forgetting we have to let you in, Black." Lily told him matter-of-factly. She crossed her arms and gave him a stubborn look.
"If I never leave then I don't have anything to worry about, do I Evans?" Sirius collapsed onto the couch and tossed his feet up on the back.
"Just going to skive off classes the very first day?" Lily pursed her lips and glared at him. Sirius jiggled his foot and grinned at her. "Fine. I'll make a deal with you. No. Shh. I will make a deal. If you can go all day without causing a ruckus in class then we can have a small gathering of just us, here, tonight."
Sirius and Lily stared each other down for a few more moments. Sirius stood up, pretended to straighten his clothes and walked over to Lily. He stuck his hand out, "Deal." Lily barely had time to process what had happened before Sirius and Peter were walking down the portrait tunnel. James looked at Lily and then ruffled his hair. He nodded to Marlene and Alice and then hurried off after the boys.
"I cannot believe you just agreed to let them have a party in here tonight." Marlene was absolutely stunned.
"I agreed to it if Sirius can behave himself today. There's not a chance that that's going to happen."
Lily watched Sirius like a hawk all day. Through Charms, Arithmancy, and Potions. He didn't fumble once. Remus couldn't keep himself from laughing when James told him about the bet at lunch. Ironically, Remus had to keep Lily on task during Arithmancy after lunch as she kept trying to get Sirius into trouble.
"Am I going to have to take points from you?" Remus murmured from the corner of his mouth to Lily. She growled at him and turned her attention back to her notes. "Day one and he already has you breaking the rules."
Lily elbowed Remus in the ribs. She heard the whisper of chuckling from where Sirius and James sat. Marlene herself was laughing softly. Alice just shook her head. Remus poked fun at Lily for most of the afternoon while they were partnered during both Arithmancy and Potions. By dinnertime Lily had admitted defeat.
Sirius sat at the table grinning from ear to ear like the Cheshire cat. Lily buttered a dinner roll and ignored him. James had found the courage to sit beside her tonight and she hadn't argued. Every so often someone from the Slytherin table would call out something obnoxious about the two Heads from their table. Sirius muttered comments about them but didn't rise to their bait. He assumed that dinner was included in the behaving bet.
"Prongs, what should we bring with us?" Peter asked between bites of chicken. "And when?"
James looked sideways at Lily and replied with whatever they normally brought for a post-Quidditch match party. He felt Lily tense ever so slightly. Sirius sat across from him and smirked. James pressed his foot on Sirius's lightly before he nudged his bag under the table with his other foot. He kept the one foot on Sirius's.
"Lily, if you're really not okay with this, then I'll just go and spend the night in Gryffindor Tower." James gave a bit of a sheepish look. "It's kind of tradition for us to have a party the first Friday of the year."
Lily could tell by the tone in his voice that he was being genuine. She thought back to last night and her last Sorting, singing the school song after the Welcome Feast for the last time. Something tugged a little at her heart. "It's fine. But just us seven, okay?" Everyone grinned and Sirius gave a little whoop.
The girls excused themselves. Lily went with her friends up to the tower so they could put away their bags and change out of their uniforms. Lily saw the fifth empty bed in the dormitory. It was strange to not be spending her nights here. No more late night gossip or chatter.
"We'll have sleepovers. You can come here and we'll come to the Heads dorm." Alice wrapped her arm around Lily's shoulders and squeezed.
Marlene spent fifteen minutes deciding between two different shirts before Alice forced her to pick one. They made their way down to the fifth-floor. Marlene and Alice lay on Lily's bed while she changed. They heard James and Remus come in and settle on the couches.
Lily popped her head out of her door. "Where are the other two troublemakers?"
"They're coming, don't you worry!" Remus called up to her.
By eight o'clock the seven seventh-years sat in a circle in the sunken common space. Sirius had chugged a bottle of butterbeer before setting it in the middle of the circle. "Alright squibs and muggles, truth or dare! If you choose not to complete the dare or tell the truth, you must take a drink of firewhiskey. Also if you're caught lying, you have to drink."
Sirius gave the bottle a good hard spin. It landed squarely on Lily. She scowled at him. "Truth."
"Have you ever snogged Remus?" Sirius enjoyed the look on their faces. Lily rolled her eyes. James looked more than a little irritated. Remus looked a little uncomfortable.
"No." Lily reached out to spin the bottle but Sirius stopped her.
"Take a drink, Lily. We know that's not the truth." She looked at Remus. He winced and tried to shrug his shoulder. James's mouth was drawn into a tight line as he pulled his bottom lip between his teeth.
"Moony, told me all about your little snog from fourth year." Sirius placed the bottle in Lily's hand.
Lily knew that this could go one of two ways. She smiled at Sirius and toasted him with the bottle before taking a deep drag from the bottle. She set it down in front of her. This time when she reached for the bottle Sirius didn't stop her. It landed on Remus. "Dare."
"Remus, I dare you to sit in Sirius's lap. Since you two are so cozy and share secrets." Lily's voice had a little frost to it. Remus grinned and climbed over Alice to get to Sirius. Sirius let out a grunt and called Remus a good manner of names before the taller boy spun the bottle. This time it landed on Alice.
"Just pass me the bottle. I don't trust any of you." Lily passed the bottle across Peter over to Alice. She took a swig from it and then gave the butterbeer bottle a spin. It landed on Lily again. She assumed that Alice, being a good friend, would not be a jerk when it came to picking a dare. She was wrong.
"I dare you to sit in James's lap." Alice batted her eyes innocently.
Lily clicked her tongue. Sooner or later she was going to have participate in some silly James dare or truth. Instead of asking for the bottle she stood up and walked around Marlene. James looked up at her. He reached up to help steady her down. He could feel the heat rising in his face.
Remus nodded to Lily. Sirius tried to move so that he could smirk at her but grumbled that Remus needed to move.
"Hold on, before we go any further. If this is going to be the way we play, we need to figure out how long these types of dares last for." Lily and Sirius both interjected a loud and exasperated thank you. "Shall we say that these dares expire after three turns?"
Everyone seemed to agree to this. When Remus stood to move back to his spot, Sirius smacked his butt. Remus laughed and winked at Lily and James. James helped Lily to her feet by holding her hand. Sirius let out a boo. Sweets and firewhiskey made their way around the circle.
Peter spun the bottle and it landed on Marlene. She grinned and shouted dare before taking another sip of firewhiskey. "I dare you to snog Padfoot."
Marlene winked at Peter and crawled across the circle to Sirius. Alice, James, and Peter hooted and whistled. Lily couldn't help but smile. Her head felt light from the whiskey. Remus took a deep drink from the bottle he had been nursing for a while. Marlene settled half beside and half on top of Sirius and shared a very passionate kiss with him. She nudged James with her foot.
"Budge up James. Close the circle." James scooted a little closer to Lily. He snatched one of the cauldron cakes from the plate on the floor and washed it down with some butterbeer.
Marlene whipped the bottle around. It landed on James. He knew exactly what Marlene would dare him to do. "Truth."
"You are no fun. Tell us what happened once you and Lily got here last night."
James snorted and gave her a look. "We sat and talked for maybe five minutes, then we went to bed. At least I did, I don't know what Lily did once we went to our rooms."
Marlene made a farting noise with her tongue and leaned into Sirius. "That's so boring that I can't help but believe it." Sirius whispered something in her ear that made her laugh. Remus scowled just slightly. If James hadn't been watching his friend, he would have missed it. Lily caught it too.
When James spun the bottle, it landed on Remus. "Alright, Moony. Truth or dare?"
Remus had a glint in his eye. "Dare." It was a challenge to James. Marlene and Sirius seemed lost in their own little bubble. Marlene was fully in Sirius lap and the boy had his mouth to her ear whispering things to make her laugh. His arms wrapped around her.
"I dare you to steal the house banners from the Great Hall." Lily looked at James warningly. "It's harmless ,Lily." James tipped his head ever so slightly at Marlene and Sirius.
Remus was on his feet and down the portrait tunnel without so much as a goodbye. James and Peter were racing after him. Alice looked at Lily and shrugged her shoulders and followed. Lily took one look at her best friend and Sirius. It was well after hours and teachers were sure to be patrolling the halls. A rush of excitement raced through her. She hurried out after the others.