Disclaimer: I own nothing
A/N: FLUFF ATTACK! (throws edible fluff at you).
What are everyone's opinions on mangoes and papayas by the way (hehe, everyone I know on LiveJournal has had enough with this question)? I'm trying to settle a feud between me and my friend Annie. Vote mango or papaya in your review and I'll heart you forever.
Chapter 16
For a second when James woke the next morning he thought everything that happened with Lily was another one of his dreams (and frankly, he had many involving her). However, upon opening his eyes he realized he was not in his dormitory, or even his own bed, and another was breathing beside him.
"Please be human," James prayed flippantly, though knew really who the breathing belonged to. Letting his eyes fall from the ceiling, he came upon Lily, fully in slumber and facing his front, untidy red hair framing her face while she rested one hand softly on her pillow.
A pleasurable smile pulled at his lips as he nestled snugly under the bed sheets, scooting closer to her to shorten the distance between them. He didn't think he could even get back to sleep again with her breathing beside him like that, though it wasn't even abnormal or odd, just Lily Evans breathing. It was just too…alluring. James thought she looked like she was glowing. If this was what she looked like every morning then he wanted to spend every morning waking up next to her.
The usual thoughts of the morning-after with the one you truly love filled his brain. 'Last night had really happened', 'I want to spend the rest of my life with her'…
And then reality hit.
The topic of last night sprung up in his mind, pushing aside all idyllic thoughts. Something was going on with Lily, involving Derrick of all people. Lily was hiding something from him. They'd argued, they'd been furious, they'd screamed their heads off at each other.
They'd kissed each other in a fraction of anger, and it had lead to this. Good –awkward as expected for a first time, but good— though brought upon by some yearn, yet at the same time irritation. Had they just done it to make each other shut up? Because it was simply time? Because they were sick of waiting? Because it was expected of them?
Against his will, resentment started to rise up in James. Lily was in trouble and she wasn't asking for his help - she was too stubborn. And how did Derrick come into all of it? Was he still in love with her, or had he ever been? Was she in love with him? That question would explain the reason why they went into an empty classroom together…
He flinched as Lily squirmed in her sleep, her previous blissful expression turning into a definite frown. At once, she moved her body into a fetus position, clutching at her pillow with her nails and mumbling incoherently in her sleep.
"Who are you?" she murmured. Her face looked the essence of troubled, and James studied her, torn between listening to what she was saying and waking her up from her assumed nightmare. "Why do you keep your identity hidden? Just leave me alone…leave us alone…"
"Hey," James whispered finally. He scooted closer to stroke her forehead. She instantly hushed the second his fingers brushed her skin, and she became more relaxed while he shushed her tenderly. Once Lily was unperturbed and breathing evenly again, James let his hand fall from her forehead and stared back up at ceiling.
The morning after was all wrong.
He didn't regret last night, not at all, but there was some apparent doubt tucked away at the back of his mind about secrets being kept, and love was knowing all secrets, right? So how come he didn't know hers?
All of a sudden being in the room made him feel claustrophobic. He lifted his half of the bed sheet and was about to climb out, until he stopped, looking back at Lily. He had to be there when she woke up, he told himself. He just had to.
But he wanted to get out; he needed to clear his head. Finally coming to a decision, he climbed out of the bed as noiselessly as possible and found his clothes, quickly stuffing them on - though he didn't know why he was rushing, it wasn't as though he was trying to rush away from Lily, was it? He raked a hand through his hair, making it stand even more on end, when suddenly a rustle escaped from under his foot. He'd stepped on something, parchment to be exact, as he examined the scrunched up object from above.
"What the…?" He noticed writing on it, in between his toes. Narrowing his eyes, he bent down to reach for it—
"Mmm…"
James forgot about the parchment and quickly straightened to look over at Lily. She was stirring in her sleep, looking on the verge of waking up. Suddenly terrified, James forgot about searching for his shoes and sprinted for the door. He swung the door open and slammed it shut behind him.
-------------
Lily was dreaming again. For her, entering dreams was always like plunging into deep water –dangerous water— and she wasn't particularly a good swimmer.
She entered her dream looking into a mirror of her reflection, inside some sort of formal dress shop. Her whereabouts didn't register at first, more intrigued by her mirror image; she was wearing a simple white wedding dress, her hair decorated with a sparkling tiara. She prodded the tiara in mystification, not sure how to take her appearance in a positive or negative light.
"Tiara's a bit much, isn't it?"
Lily spun around and slapped Remus Lupin in the stomach; he had made an emergence in the dream. "Shut up," she berated him, smoothing out her dress. "It garnishes my hair."
"I was unaware your hair was some sort of meal, but whatever you say, Lily."
"Stop dawdling in silly banter and find Sirius, will you?" she pressed. "I'm sure I saw him behind a collection of dresses." She turned her gaze off Remus to look at her reflection again, narrowing her eyes at it.
"You look nice," he assured her. She watched him in the reflection peep from behind her shoulder, and she studied him with a sceptic expression.
"You have to say that or James will curse you – or I will first," Lily said, putting her hands on her hips.
"True."
"Remus!" she gasped.
"I mean…you look nice," he repeated, pulling a weak smile.
"Honest opinion now," Lily said, tapping her foot.
"You look like a giant loo roll."
"Thanks very much." She promptly made her way to one of the small changing rooms.
"James will love you in any dress though," Remus added in what he thought was a helpful tone, shuffling behind her in embarrassment.
"He'll love me as a giant loo roll. It's been noted," Lily said. She winded between the maze of mannequins of ornate wedding dresses, finally making it to the changing cubicles, picking one and swishing the curtain open. To her dismay, Sirius was inside, modeling a strapless peach bridesmaid dress. He wolf-whistled at himself since the werewolf nearby was too horrified to give him one, and spun in a circle, posing at different angles. Lily eyed him up and down, gaping.
"You can't wear that!" she cried. Remus couldn't help but nod along vigorously. "You'll out stage the bride!"
"Out…out stage?" Remus sputtered. "Am I the only sane one here finding Sirius, a male, wearing a dress just the teensiest bit inappropriate?" Sadly he was ignored as Lily grabbed Sirius by the shoulders.
"Stand up straight now, and chest out," she ordered him, and he did on command - dog instincts.
"Don't speak as though he has bosoms, it'll only give him ideas – disturbing ones." Remus muttered darkly.
Lily admired Sirius' 'curves in all the right places'. "The dress really brings out your hips, I have to admit," she confessed. Sirius stuck out a leg in a seductive manner and Remus scampered off in need of a lie down.
"Hey," Sirius stopped flashing his legs to point at Lily's head, "Your tiara's gone."
"What?" Lily placed her hands on her hair and found her head bare. "Where did it—"
"It was him," Sirius said tonelessly, pointing behind her.
Lily turned around and found a stranger with his back facing her, obscured by the dark and shadows. He wore a Prince's crown and held her tiara in his hand. Suddenly the surroundings of the dream changed and Lily found herself in a dark tunnel, wet and cold-- factors that felt oddly realistic in just a dream. Sirius and Remus were nowhere to be found, leaving her alone in the murky passageway. The second she approached the stranger he broke into a run, down the gloom of the tunnel to escape from her.
"Come back!" she ordered him. To her annoyance she found she was still wearing a wedding dress. She lifted up the ends of her dress to her knees, revealing her bare feet, and chased after him, feeling her heart pumping out of her chest. As she ran down the tunnel, her eyes couldn't help but fall upon the walls she passed. They were stained with words in blood - not just any words, but words of the Half Blood Prince. She slowed down a little in alarm to read over the Prince's poems marked on the wall in gruesome, dripping red.
All of a sudden she couldn't see the escaping stranger anymore, and she'd come to a dead end of the tunnel. She stared at the words on the wall, 'You give me heart palpitations', and sucked in a breath. She looked at her hands that had turned a glistening red when she touched the letters, her fingers covered in blood.
"My dearest Lily…"
Before she could comprehend what was going on she was lifted into the air by a spell. She could feel invisible hands choking her and she gasped for breath. She kicked out her legs wildly and groped the unseen strength around her neck. Rapidly she was slammed against a wall and her body hit against the stone with a crash, blinding pain sweeping through her from head to toe. The spell lifting her was stopped and she collapsed to the ground on her stomach, feeling limp, and somehow tasting blood in her mouth, the colour red tarnishing her eyes.
The Prince bent over her and Lily tried to scramble away.
"Who are you?" she asked the hooded stranger, looking up into black. She could even feel red wetness spilling out of her mouth. "Why do you keep your identity hidden? Just leave me alone…leave us alone…"
She could hear the stranger's footsteps and she tried to clamber away, but her body felt paralyzed to the damp floor, the occasional drip of murky water echoing in the tunnel. She watched the shadow of the Prince in the wall in front of her, where he placed the tiara back onto her head, and she shivered frighteningly as he did. She wanted desperately to wake up.
"Hey…"
All of a sudden she could hear James' voice and the eerie presence of the Prince was gone, the tunnel now lightening up. She felt a soft hand brush her forehead and she settled, feeling herself being pulled into James' arms.
"James?" she mouthed, shielding her eyes from the light that was now so bright it was glowing from the walls. The Half Blood Prince's words were no longer there and she could see James' face above her emerge from the luminosity. He was smiling at her and she felt safe.
"Don't worry, I'm here."
She was about to smile back when James pulled out the Half Blood Prince's knife and held it to her throat, his eyes lit up in frenzy—
The sound of a door slamming made Lily sit up in her bed, panting. The dream had felt so real (apart from the scene where Sirius was wearing a bridesmaid dress… Why was he always in women's clothing in her nightmares?). Reaching out for a familiar touch of skin, James', she found him missing from the bed, and frowned. As if by instinct her eyes locked onto the scrunched piece of parchment on the floor, the letter from the Half Blood Prince. Linking two and two together she stared at the slammed door, all thoughts of panic hitting like knives spearing her in the chest. Without any hesitation, she flung from her bed and changed into her clothes, hoping she'd catch up with him before he did anything stupid.
-----------------
Somehow with skilled craftsmanship, Sirius had constructed two forts in either corner of the seventh boys' dormitory, consisting of a couple of chairs, pillows and many dirty articles of clothing with an additional pong that attracted flies (where the flies came from was neither here or there.) Not letting the depression of Remus being on a temporary hiatus of the Marauder clan, Sirius was trying to keep in an upbeat mood. That was why Sirius had decided to build forts in the dormitory once Remus left early for breakfast that morning, because forts were part of the male way of life, plus they distracted him and gave him the excuse to dress like a pirate.
"Can you see the enemy, Substitute Moony?" Sirius whispered to Peter out of the corner of his mouth, hiding behind their flimsy fortress. A pillow fell from one of the sturdy walls and Sirius had to prop it up again for the seventh time in three minutes.
"By 'enemy' do you mean Frank on the other side of the room?"
There was a brief pause before Sirius replied, "Yes."
"No, he seems to be sheltered by his own fort," Peter said. He adjusted the bandana that kept falling over his eyes and rested Remus' dictionary and thesaurus on either knee, reading them both simultaneously. As Sirius was currently gathering up cockroach clusters to throw at the enemy, he spotted Peter reading out of the corner of his eye.
"You seem to be getting into that," Sirius gestured to the books, eating some of his cockroach cluster sweet grenades.
"Oh yes," Peter said, looking up from the thesaurus, "It's very interesting. I mean, why say 'terrible' when you can say 'formidable'?"
"Because it's easier," Sirius said, through half a gob full of sweets.
"Well…beside that, then."
"It makes people appear smarter."
Peter nodded with a grin, "Exactly."
Sirius let out a sigh, looking noticeably bored. "Why hasn't Substitute James attacked yet? This is...?"
Peter flicked through his thesaurus. "Humdrum?" he offered helpfully.
"Yes," Sirius agreed, "That."
"To be honest, I'm kind of confused by this game... Since when did pirates have forts?"
"Well I couldn't have bloody built ships in the dorm, could I?" Sirius huffed at Peter's lack of understanding and ungratefulness. He stretched the eye patch back and forth, accidentally letting it go where it snapped back against his eye. "OW."
"That's the third time you've done that," Peter commented humorously.
"Yeah, you'd think I would have learned from my mistakes."
A loud snore erupted from behind Frank's fort and the two Marauders eyed each other.
"You don't think he's sleeping, do you?" Peter asked.
"One way to find out," Sirius said, handing him half of his sweet grenades (which pirates apparently used as weapons.) On the count of three Sirius and Peter stood up from behind their fort and hurled their sweets in the direction of Frank, ducking back down quickly after. There was a loud shriek of "Wha—OW!" as the cluster of sweets fell on Frank like rain.
"I think I have chocolate in my eye," Frank divulged, rubbing an eyelid as he exposed himself from behind his stronghold. In the process of this, his fort promptly collapsed into a small heap of junk.
"Frank, that took me half an hour to build!" Sirius cried, also exposing himself from behind his fortress. While fiddling with his eye patch, the string snapped at the eye patch fell to the floor. Just as Peter joined him in standing, their fort also gave way and Peter's bandana covered his eyes yet again. Surely this was a pirate fort disaster; Sirius blamed it on the lack of a werewolf and his sensible pirate fort planning.
"Pirate craftsmanship, that was!" Sirius declared. He stared suspiciously at Frank, "You better have not been sleeping behind your fort, Substitute James."
"Er," Frank fiddled nervously with the collar of his pajama shirt, "I wasn't…"
"What was that snore I heard then?" Sirius asked.
"I have an unusual fart," Frank answered tentatively.
"So do I, but any fart that sounds like that is purely unnatural," Sirius said.
Frank didn't know how to respond to this, mouthing 'Really?' silently to Peter.
"Really," Peter confirmed. "His are silent as mice but could gas millions to death."
"Hello?" Alice stood by the open doorway of the dormitory, staring confusedly at the boys and their collapsed forts on either side of the room. Frank blushed under her direct gaze. "Sorry to interrupt your…" She couldn't find the right words to continue. "I'm sorry, what is it that you're doing?"
"Pirate forts," Peter explained simply.
"Right," Alice nodded slowly, "Frank, a word please? Now."
"Yes dear." Heating in the face and looking thoroughly ashamed, Frank took of his pirate eye patch and dropped his plastic sword to the ground. "I'll see you in a minute, guys," he told Sirius and Peter on his way out, shutting the door behind him.
"I have a feeling he's in Padfoot's house," Sirius said. "Get it? Dog house: Padfoot's house. Harharharhar…oh come on, Wormtail, guffaw at least."
"I like the word 'guffaw'. I want to write it in pudding and then eat it."
"That's nice, Wormtail." Sirius would have made a wittier response but his attention was on Frank who'd entered the dorm again, looking sheepish. "Erm, I'm not allowed to play anymore," he mumbled dejectedly.
"What? But I was just about to feed you to the crocodiles!" Sirius said. Peter looked terrified.
"Crocodiles?" he squeaked.
Sirius revealed a soft, cuddly green crocodile toy from behind his back, squeezing it to make it squeak – a strange noise for a crocodile to make.
"Sorry, but I have to go to breakfast with Alice now," Frank looked apologetic, waving on his way out, "Bye." The second he exited again, Sirius crossed his arms, shaking his head in a disappointed manner.
"He's been a poor substitute James so far," Sirius said.
"You have to admit, Prongs is hard to replace."
"You're right!" Sirius agreed with Peter. "I mean, who knew it'd be this difficult to find a messy haired perverted bum? It's simply astonishing."
"Speaking of perverted bums, I'm hungry. Shall we go get some breakfast?" Peter asked. Sirius couldn't grasp the sentence he'd just spoken.
"Sorry, I have to ask but how do perverted bums and breakfast relate in any way?"
"I have no idea," Peter admitted.
Taking lead, Sirius made for the door and Peter followed after, until he stopped him.
"Padfoot….aren't you going to take your pirate skull underwear off from on top of your trousers first?" Peter asked on the subject of the official pirate fort attire. Sirius looked debated on his answer.
"Sure. Dare to be different, and all."
--------------
James stood by the Great Lake, rolling a chunky, vulgar emerald green ring in between his fingers. It was the ring that Lily had worn last year, the gift from Derrick, the ring he guessed was used a tracker to know Lily's every single move in the castle. Sirius and Peter had stolen it from Lily's dormitory, passing it to James, who had kept it ever since that very day. Why? He honestly didn't know.
"Oi."
In any other occasion, the word would have sounded impolite, but emerged as affectionate from Lily's mouth. James spun round to face her, studying her look of vulnerability.
"Did you…" Lily cleared her throat, "Did you read it?" she asked him hoarsely on the subject of the Half Blood Prince's letter.
"What?" James replied, oblivious.
Lily's disturbed expression left a little. "What are you doing here?" she asked him instead, hoping he'd forget the previous matter.
"Thinking…" James stared hard at the water of the lake, his brow knotting. Lily feared the worst.
"You…" Her voice came out as barely a whisper, "you regret last night, don't you?"
James almost laughed at her, and Lily took it wrongly. Realizing he was giving off the erroneous answer, he assured her, "God no," smiling. "Orange peel-" Lily shook her head at his use of her nickname at such an inappropriate moment "-last night was…It was just…" A grin plastered on his face and he ran a hand through his hair, blushing a little in the cheeks. "If I say something cheesy like 'magical' I may vomit in my mouth a little, so hopefully you can see the permanent twinkle in my eye is from how much I pathetically adore you and how much I loved last night."
Lily seemed satisfied with his answer. "What twinkle?" she enquired, closing on his face nose-to-nose.
"Can't you see it? This one," James pointed to the pupil in his eye, just as Lily gave him a small kiss on the lips.
"If you didn't regret last night, and I didn't regret last night, then what are you doing here?" Lily asked him, though her question was answered as she seized James' hand and found something in his palm. Pulling it to eye level, she discovered the emerald green ring in his hand, and he avoided eye contact.
"How did you get this?" Lily asked him, shocked.
"Sirius and Peter stole it from your dorm last year, and then gave it to me," James answered her, staring at the ring. Lily watched him, slightly disturbed.
"But…Why did you keep it?"
James shrugged his shoulders lamely, studying the emerald jewel. "I dunno…maybe it's a reminder that I lost you to him once before," he looked up from the ring to stare at Lily intensely, recalling the moment she had told him she was going out with Derrick after their first date last year, "Or maybe it's a really tasteless memento to remind me that Derrick could easily fuck up what we have right now. Or it could be a reminder that you might still like him—"
Lily cut him off, upset. "How can you say that after last night?"
"Can you help it if I'm paranoid?" James said. "I'm still in awe that you're even with me, Lily. I have been since the first day we went out."
"You shouldn't be," Lily said quietly, her shoulders sagging with guilt. "What happened to the arrogance we all know and love you for in fifth year?"
"I grew up and you fell in love with me, as expected," James said offhandedly, forgetting his previous statement.
"Maybe the arrogance hasn't let after all," Lily threw him a knowing look. Noticing James' full focus was on Derrick's ring, she snatched it from his fingers.
"Hey!" he said, as Lily closed her fist with the ring, keeping James from snatching it back with her hands on his midriff.
"This is what I think of Derrick and stupid ring," Lily declared, before hurling it as far as possible in to the lake. It bounced off one of the Giant Squid's tentacles and landed in the water with a plop. James stared at Lily through hooded eyes.
"That was a dramatic, not to mention nauseatingly romantic well-performed gesture you just did then," he commented finally.
"I know," Lily replied, smug and dusting her hands together. As Lily began wiping her hands on her thighs to exaggerate a job well done, James let his hands nestle on Lily's waist as he kissed her from behind – truly an art.
"Can you see my eyes twinkling now?" James murmured in her ear.
"Yeah," Lily confirmed, though she was sure she was mistaking the sparkle as light reflected from the sun. "I had a dream where you killed me just now," she mentioned to him, feeling the need to get it out of the open.
"Killed you, eh?" James' tone was surprisingly light. "How?"
"Knifing."
"Really?" James scratched his head. "I'm more of a drown-you-in-bath-water kind of person—"
"James!"
"Oh, right, sorry. I'm being insensitive, aren't I?" He cringed. "Well…don't go all Remus and take it seriously, yeah?"
Lily nodded into his chest. "I'm planning not to. Sirius was wearing a dress."
"Again?" James snorted. "I'm sure it's a sign, the amount of times he wears women's clothing in our dreams - more than you do, in fact."
"Is it wrong of me to be pissed off that he looks better in them than I do?"
"Yes. Yes it is."
--------------
More or less recovered from the full moon (though the scars were everlasting), Remus entered the Great hall at breakfast, searching for one person in particular. His eyes landed on Georgina sitting alone, staring into her empty golden plate. A warm yet concerned expression came across his face as he approached her, taking the seat opposite her. She looked a little startled by his arrival, backing up slightly.
"You're back," she breathed, straightening and lifting her elbows off the table. "How's your," her eyes shifted uneasily, "ill mother?"
Remus pulled a weak smile, trying not to look too guilty because of such a lie. "She's…getting better."
Georgina nodded and folded her arms, rubbing the ends of her elbows. An uneasy silence passed between the two, something Remus found odd because he'd gotten used to her never-ending talking the second she had befriended him.
"Are you okay?" Remus asked concernedly, watching her stare at her empty plate. "Have you eaten?"
"I'm not hungry," she answered, rather shortly, avoiding his gaze. Immediately Remus realized something was wrong.
"Er…has something happened-?"
"REMUS, I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT YOUR FURRY LITTLE PROBLEM CALLED FANNY!"
Everyone in the Great Hall stared back and forth between Frank –the occupant of the shout from the other end of the table- and Remus, the apparent boy with a furry fanny problem. Remus had expected an amused smile from Georgina, but all he got out of her was her face turning a ghostly white as her eyes widened.
"Um…excuse me while I go maim Frank, won't be terribly long." Remus said, and accepted Georgina's small nod as a means of reply. He got up from his seat and gradually the rest of the school got back to their breakfast after being on the receiving end of his glare. He took the seat next to Frank and opposite Alice, glowering at the particular Longbottom.
"Did you really think it was necessary to shout that?" Remus hissed.
"Sorry," Frank apologized through a mouthful of toast. Alice pointed to his chin and he wiped the jam that had inhabited there. "About Fanny though—"
"I beg your pardon?"
Frank blinked, "Fanny your rabbit." Remus groaned inwardly. "Whatever your problem is with it, I can probably help you. I'm pretty good with animals, though what you do with your rabbit is probably illegal."
Words could not describe the horror-stricken thoughts forming in Remus' mind. Rabbit problems? Illegal? "What?" he sputtered.
"Don't worry. Me and Alice won't tell anyone," Frank assured him. Alice nodded along vigorously.
"Hang on," Remus massaged the bridge of his nose, trying to understand what was going on, "Wait a second here—"
"I'm going to class now, Remus." Suddenly Georgina was standing behind where he was sitting, on her way out of the Great Hall, sounding rather ill at ease. She mumbled a goodbye and speeded off.
"Wait. Wait, Georgina!" Remus debated whether to justify he didn't do illicit things with his Fanny (the rabbit), or follow Georgina, and as the gentleman he was, settled for following the girl, leaping out of his seat to pursue her. By the time he finally caught up to her, she had just made it through the oak doors.
"Wait, I'll walk you to class," he offered, as Georgina turned round to discover he had followed her and looked startled yet again, backing up a step once more.
"I can walk by myself," she said, though was more telling the floor. Remus didn't understand her behaviour, she wasn't acting vivacious – not acting like Sirius at all, like Remus normally compared her to.
"Has something happened?" he asked again the question he had been interrupted asking earlier. Her gaze seemed to look through him more than at him, as though trying to decode something.
She finally spoke after a minute of silence where Remus was beginning to think a cat had literally got her tongue. "I don't think we should hang out anymore."
Remus didn't understand. She was the one who offered to hang out with him in the first place, and now here she was, with an air of fear about her, deciding their friendship wasn't a good idea after all. He wanted to ask her a billion questions to how she'd come to her decision, but the only word that formed from his mouth was a disappointed, "Oh." He hadn't meant for it to come out so saddened.
"I suppose we're not going to Hogsmeade tomorrow, then," he added as coolly as he could manage.
"I don't think it's wise," she said, fiddling with the ends of her blonde hair in what he recognized as agitation.
"Right."
"Okay, then."
"Right," Remus said again, unsure what to say, "Well…" He stuck out his hand politely for her to shake, but his face showed it all – he felt he was being snubbed. "Bye, then." To his surprise she didn't shake his hand, only giving him a small nod before spinning round and walk down the corridor.
Why was he so surprised this hadn't happened sooner? She was pretty girl, usually full of life. He considered himself boring and rather plain, and probably so did she. His friends, the Marauders, made him who he was, made him come out of his shell occasionally.
And now he had nothing.
Life seriously couldn't get any worse for the owner of Fanny; unless a teacher suddenly questioned him about said Fanny and he promptly dug his own grave and lay in it because there simply was nothing else better to do.
----------------
Just as Lily and James were about to enter the Great hall, Lily pulled James aside by the hand.
"What?" he said confusedly, straight away noticing her strange behavior. He tried to pull her into the Great hall, but she kept her feet determinedly glued to the floor. "Come on Lily, I'm hungry," he whined.
"I don't think we should go in there, James."
He narrowed his eyes in return. "I don't think you've ever seen the tantrum of a famished Potter, have you?"
"James, he's going to know!"
"Who's going to know?" he replied, oblivious.
"Sirius!"
"Padfoot? What are you on about him before?"
Lily lowered her voice to a whisper, "He's going to know about last night. He's got some sort of libido radar, I swear to Merlin."
James tried to see from her point of view but was still oblivious to why she was so bothered. "So what if he guesses?"
"He'll tease like no tomorrow, and he'll blabber to everyone who has ears – animals included," Lily said anxiously.
James could handle the teasing – he'd put up with enough of Sirius' in the past seven years. He snorted at the mentioning of Sirius being a blabbermouth, though. "Of course he wouldn't."
"Are you forgetting The Soil Incident last year, James?"
FLASHBACK
"Everyone!" Sirius climbed upon a chair of the Gryffindor common room and magnified his voice with his wand.
"Get your arse down here, Padfoot!" James poorly ordered him.
"One time, James ate soil for a dare, and now I have to keep him away from potted plants in case he inhales earth as a means of a euphoric drug!"
Sadly, James was nursing a cold and wiped his nose at the wrong time. Everyone of Gryffindor gasped and confirmed him a drug addict.
END OF FLASHBACK
"To be fair," James started, reddening at the moment – something Lily found adorable, "he was just getting revenge for me setting his trousers on fire—"
"Good grief James, why do you get yourself into those sorts of situations?" Lily sighed in exasperation. "Stop getting yourself into trouble all the time."
"I don't find trouble! Trouble—"
"Finds me," Lily finished for him, a little bored by his catchphrase, "Yes, I know. Fine, let's go eat some breakfast."
"Finally," James said. Lily stopped him again before they entered.
"What now?" he complained.
"Just…" Lily studied his face and wiggled his cheeks a little. "Try not to look so pleased with yourself."
James grinned, "Do I really look pleased?"
"Yes, obnoxiously. You look like you've conquered the land of Lily last night—bugger, we need a code word for the topic of our…monkey business," she ended lamely.
"Monkey business?"
"I refuse to say the 'S' word." Lily stared at James for a moment. "Please say you know what 'S' word I'm speaking of and you're not going through that small dictionary in your head of 'S' words like 'socks' and 'samurai'."
James reddened again, "You know me too well, orange peel."
Lily sighed, "Just….think of a code word."
"…Mangoes?"
"M-….man…mangoes? Just what in Merlin's name goes on in that brain of—you know what? Fine, that'll do. Let's go, mango boy."
--------------
Sirius eyed Remus leaving the Great hall at a fast pace following Georgina out of the corner of his eye, but told himself not to think too much about it, turning his attention back to his breakfast and Peter (in that order).
"Where's Substitute James, Substitute Remus?" Sirius asked him, getting confused by his own words. Peter pointed to the other end of the table where Frank was sitting next to Alice. Sirius gestured Frank to sit by them, but every time Frank stood up, Alice forbade him and pushed him back onto his seat accompanied by furious whisperings.
"I don't think Alice likes us," Peter said.
"I don't think she believes making pirate forts is a good use of productive time, or something appropriate for people of our age. I, for one, would like to live as juvenile as possible. Wouldn't you agree, Wormtail?"
"I concur."
"Good Moony word usage there, Pete."
"I know," Peter boasted. "Oh look, James and Lily have-" he flicked through his pocket dictionary "-disembarked."
Sirius looked up from his cereal and saw the couple walking towards them, hand in hand, both with shifty eyes.
He concluded straight away, "They had sex."
"WHAT?" Peter cried, coughing up bits of toast.
"They had sex, and I'm pretty sure they're going to have a code word for 'sex' like a fruit. I'm going to hazard a guess at mangoes because Prongs is a sucker for them. Don't say anything."
"B-b-b-ut how do you know—hi James and Lily!" Peter cut off suddenly, a nervous grin plastering across his face as he greeted the couple that had sat down with them.
"Morning," the two replied mutually with friendly smiles.
"Well, aren't you two just nauseating rays of sunshine this morning," Sirius commented, leaning forward on his elbows. "I thought you guys were arguing."
"Er…we made up," Lily said, shooting James a secret look. Her foot tapped under the table in agitation whilst she shared his slice of toast.
Sirius acted surprised. "Really? Well, I'm glad you two are okay again."
Lily breathed a sigh of relief – maybe Sirius didn't have such libido radar after all. "Thanks Sirius. That means a lot." Just when she was getting into a state of ease, Sirius started with, "You know," and Lily's eyes winded in worry.
"You know, there's something I've really wanted for ages," Sirius said, putting an apple back onto the table that didn't seem to appeal to him, "Mangoes."
At once, Lily spat out the juice she was sipping.
"That's rather a coincidence," James started, and Lily looked at him with dangerous eyes, "Lily and I had mangoes last night."
"Did you really?" Sirius appeared delighted. "Was it good?"
"Fucking wonderful—OW." James clutched his stomach recently punched by Lily.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Sirius apologized to Lily, laughing a little, "You and James having mangoes is none of my business."
"Indeed it is," Lily agreed low under her breath, sipping her juice again.
"I like mangoes," Peter announced to the group, "I only have mangoes by myself, though."
James frowned, "Is that even possible—I mean, that's nice, Pete," he nodded.
"It's just been so long since I've had mangoes," Sirius revealed, stretching, "I mean, the last time I had mangoes, well, I think it was with you, Prongs."
James choked on his toast while Lily looked him with an 'Excuse me?' gaze.
"Don't you remember, Prongs? It was last time I stayed round your house for the summer," Sirius said, sighing wistfully. "We had mangoes everyday, didn't we?"
James squeaked, "We did?"
"Yeah, it was brilliant. We just couldn't stop! We had mangoes in the morning, afternoon, in the evening. We should have mangoes together again, Prongs. Soon, okay?" Sirius asked excitedly.
James looked back and forth between a smiling Sirius and a displeased Lily and settled with an uncertain, "Maybe?" He mumbled another 'ow' as Lily hit him in the stomach again. "Erm, b-b-ut I prefer mangoes with Lily!" he protested, much too late.
"James Potter, you better have not had mangoes with anyone besides me!" she yelled.
"Come on Lily, James is allowed to have mangoes with whomever he pleases," Sirius smirked.
"He is most certainly not!" Lily said angrily, slamming the table with her fists. Just as she was beginning to get riled up, she looked at Sirius' smirk and saw too much mischief behind it to be his usual one. "You know 'mangoes' is a code word, don't you?" she said dreadfully.
Sirius rolled his eyes, "Of course I do, you little tortoise sex partners—"
"Oh, don't be so vulgar. And will you please keep it down?" Lily hissed, her eyes shifting left and right.
"Merlin's marquee, Lily, I'm not going to tell anyone," Sirius said, and added, "…As you will both become my slaves!"
"Not mango slaves, right?" Lily asked dreadfully.
"Whatever floats your boat."
"Anyway," James cut across him, trying to change the subject, "I'd just like to state that I don't want me and Lily's…mango life…discussed over breakfast."
"You have mangoes once and you officially have a mango life?" Sirius laughed.
"Yeah James," Lily crossed her arms, looking disapproving, "That sentence seems to come across as though you think we're going to have mangoes regularly, or something. Very sure of yourself, aren't you?" James was frightened to answer. "Hmm?"
"…you mean we're not?"
Two slaps to the back of James' head were promptly made.
"Ow, why did you hit me, Wormtail?" James asked, understanding Lily's slap but not Peter's.
"I feel that if I were Remus in this situation, a slap to the back of your head, because of that remark, was required."
"That is it!" James cried, turning on Peter. "Who are you and what have you done with my Wormtail?"
Peter blanched. "Sorry?"
"Something weird is going on here and I want to know what it is," James ordered, "It's been happening all week, Peter! You've been dressing differently; you look all weird and studious, you're bloody carrying pocket dictionaries and thesauruses everywhere! And you keep using fancy words I don't understand."
"Harharharhar," Peter laughed nervously, "that is twaddle, James."
James pointed at him, "Like that word!"
"Prongs, just calm down," Sirius said. "Look, I could tell you, but I'd probably get a bollocking from you."
"I'll give you a bollocking anyway if you don't tell me!"
"Normally when you weigh up options, one option is normally better than the other…That's not happening right now," Sirius commented sadly.
"Padfoot!"
"Alright alright!" Sirius sighed, preparing himself for the worst: James' capslock rage. "Peter here is a substitute Remus—"
"WHAT?"
"I'm not finished. That bloke over there," Sirius pointed to the other end of the breakfast table.
"Frank?" James said.
"Yeah, he's a substitute you."
"YOU SUBSTITUED ME, YOU PRICK?"
"You wonder why after you shout and call me that," Sirius grumbled. Lily hadn't flinched at all at James' shouting as she silently read the Daily Prophet; she had become used to his habits.
"I cannot believe you substituted me!" James threw up his hands. "I'm the leader of the Marauders!"
Sirius laughed, "What in the name of Merlin's marrow gave you that idea?"
James pointed to his eyes. "I wear glasses!" he said, as though that detail was the same value as the entire wizarding world.
"So what?" Sirius said.
"So all great leaders wear glasses!"
"Oh yeah, like who?" Sirius asked, unconvinced.
James pointed to the professor's table. "Dumbledore!" he said triumphantly.
Sirius mumbled a reply that sounded uncannily like, "jammy sod and his jammy example."
For the rest of breakfast James sat in a mood whilst Lily rolled her eyes now and again, wondering how boys of seventh years got in such strops and arguments.
"Prooooongs," Sirius sang, poking him with his fork. James remained unresponsive, crossing his arms and snubbing him in a rude fashion. "Proooooongsie."
"James, answer him, will you?" Lily said, annoyed by his perfectly whiney voice.
"Don't be in a sulk now, Prongs. You're making a fool of yourself in front of your misses." Lily rolled her eyes yet again at this comment. "What do I have to do to make it up to you, huh? Do you want me to put my underwear on my head and dance? You always find that funny."
James' mouth twitched a little, but he still remained straight-faced.
"Come on, name your silly proposition and I'll do it," Sirius said.
James perked a little. "Actually, there is something you can do for me," he mentioned. Sirius had hoped James would have just forgiven him with no expense of him looking like a 'mork', and was now worried what James had planned.
"You know a little while ago I wanted you and Lily to get to know each other more, right?" James told Sirius. Lily looked up at her name, wondering how on earth she was involved in this.
"Yeah…" Sirius answered uncertainly, hoping he had forgotten that whole ridiculous idea.
"Well, you can do that today, after classes. Spend some quality time together, just the two of you," James beamed. At once, Sirius and Lily began their protests.
"You aren't going to get out of this, so quit while you're ahead," James talked over their complaints. "You're going to bloody spend time together and you're gonna have bloody fun," he wagged utensils threateningly, "Or else."
"Oh, that sounds like natural fun," Lily commented. "Have fun, 'or else'. There's nothing like fun by force." James ignored her bitter remark.
"The great news is that it's Saturday tomorrow, so you can stay up getting to know one another as long as you like!" James added brightly, watching their deadpan expressions.
"Yeah I'm gonna go find a noose now—" Sirius stood up but James tugged him back down by the collar.
"After your last class today meet in the Head Tower," James told them both with a dangerous stare, making them both cower a little. "And don't think I won't check up on you both."
-------------------
At the end of all classes for the day, Lily had been staring at a standing Sirius in the Head Tower for precisely two minutes from sitting on one of the couches on the fire, wondering why he hadn't sat down yet. She resisted his usual nickname of 'wanker' and said cautiously, "Sirius, you can sit down, you know."
The boy continued to stand, his arms folded. "I'm not sure if I should," he said.
"Why?"
Sirius' eyes shifted on each piece of furniture placed around the room, until eventually landing on the floor, where he squirmed, as though touching the floor was displeasure.
"I'm a little scared that I might be sitting…or standing, even, on somewhere you and James did…." Sirius paused briefly and whispered, "Mangoes."
"Oh for goodness sake, Sirius! We didn't do it the Head Tower common room! Don't be so disgusting!"
Sirius stayed dubious. "Are you entirely sure now?"
"What do you mean am I entirely sure? I think I'd be aware if we did mangoes here!"
"Please, just tell me if you have any sort of miniscule percentage of doubt—"
"For the love of God, if you don't park your bottom on this couch I will throw my shoe at your groin."
Sirius' eyes widened. "Are you wearing the pointy boots today?"
Lily lifted up her trousers a little and Sirius gasped at the sharp tips of the footwear. "Alright fruitcake, you make a good bargain," he said, sitting down. He found there were a few cushions on the couch, pushing them aside. Lily spotted him doing this, then placed the cushions back in their original position, a position that Sirius didn't like. He shoved them away. She placed them back.
"Sirius, the cushions don't belong there. They belong here," Lily said, settling the cushion at a specific angle.
"But I don't like them there," Sirius complained.
"I don't care if you don't like them there, they belong there."
"Well I don't think they sodding belong rubbing against my thigh alright?" Sirius shoved the cushions aside and they fell to the floor.
"They're not rubbing against your thigh! Why must you insist every single object in the wizarding world is groping you?"
"Because they more than always are!"
"We better stop shouting at each other or we'll never get through this long night!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
The two glared at each other until Lily picked the cushions off the floor and placed them back on the couch, patting them down. Sirius seethed through his teeth. "Why did you just put them back there?" he demanded, gesturing to the cushion apparently rubbing up against him again.
"Because they looked untidy there!"
"Bloody hell! Who do you expect to come round, the Minister for Magic?"
Lily couldn't take it anymore. Unexpectedly grabbing one of the cushions, she smacked Sirius' head with it, where it made an amusing 'pooof!' sound.
"You did not just hit me with that," Sirius gritted through his teeth.
"I do believe I did."
Sirius laughed absurdly. "You're going to get it, Evans," he growled, grabbing his own cushion and holding it like a sword, "RAAAAAAAR!"
-----------------------
"Bugger," James cursed, racing to the Head Tower. He was late to check on Sirius and Lily – not that he was worried or anything. If they were put in a mildly enclosed space together, they would eventually chat and discover they had a lot of things in common. They needed to get along for his sake. They just had to.
Just as he was about to tell the Portrait of the Fat Man the password, he heard a rather obscure shout from inside the tower.
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIE!"
James exchanged a look with the Fat Man. "How long exactly has there been shouting?"
"About half an hour," the portrait answered.
"…Oh dear God."
Quickly uttering the password, James leapt through the portrait hole and into the tower, surrounded by feathers from what he guessed came from the cushions. He breathed a sigh of relief; they were just playing a harmless cushion fight.
"I'M BLEEDING!"
Or maybe not so harmless.
James tried to sweep the feathers out of his path and spotted Sirius lying on the floor, squealing as he held his bleeding nose, while Lily repeatedly hit him in the face with the cushion, now spattered with blood.
"Die, you little prick, die!" Lily thumped him in the face again.
"Waaaaaaaaaaah!" Sirius continued to sob, tears mixed up with bloody snot trails.
"Oh Merlin!" James cried in horror. "Lily! Lily, stop!" He finally got a hold of her waist and tugged her away from Sirius, seizing the murder weapon from her hand.
"Oh, hi James," Lily greeted him, now knowing he'd arrived. "We've been having a wonderful time!"
-----------------
"Apologize, Lily."
An undeniable look of a guilty child was forced upon her features. She looked at the floor, trying to ignore the occasional sniff by Sirius, who was now laying on the couch with his head back, a mountain of tissue stuffed up his nostrils as he nursed his nose.
"Technically I didn't know he was bleeding until it was too late—" she started to defend herself.
"I don't care, orange peel," James said acutely, looking the essence of a responsible father, "Apologize to him."
Lily huffed, but guilt from injuring Sirius was riding up in the pit of her stomach. "Oh fine. I'm sorry for hitting you, Sirius."
"And?" James prompted her.
"And what?" Lily asked.
"And you're also sorry for…?"
Lily huffed again, "I'm sorry for putting a heavy marble paperweight into the cushion, and then beating your face with it."
Sirius nodded a little in acceptance, as much you can nod while having your head back due to a horrific nosebleed.
"Good girl," James said, patting her head, and Lily slapped him playfully in midriff. "I'm gonna go find Pete and leave you two alone again," he told them. Yet again, Sirius and Lily started their protests, but James held up his hand as a signal to stop. "I'll check on you guys later. Just, please, don't try to kill each other for me? I'm begging you."
Mutually, the two nodded.
"Good," James sighed in exhaustion, getting slightly annoyed by their childish behaviour, "I'll see you later." He gave Lily a small kiss before exiting through the portrait hole. Lily watched his retreating back, guilty, until finally settling on Sirius on the couch.
"How's your nose bleed?" Lily asked him eventually, looking a little embarrassed with herself.
"I can firmly say I think I may pass out due to the amount of blood that's leaking."
"Maybe we should take you to Madam Pom Poms?" Lily asked concernedly. Sirius smiled a little at her use of the nickname he had made up.
"No, it's alright."
Suddenly, there was a tapping noise coming from one of the nearby windows of the tower. Rushing to the window, Lily discovered an owl making the tapping noise with its beak, a letter attached to its foot. Lily opened the window and the owl climbed inside, walking across her arm.
"Haven't you heard of delivering letters in the Great hall in the morning?" Lily asked the bird, but it swooped off her arm and straight for Sirius.
"Naaargh, piss off!" he complained, as the owl sat on the top of the couch, nudging him with his beak. As he let his head down a little, more blood started to shoot out of his nose, and he wailed, trying to shoo the owl away. "Naaaargh! Get away! Can you not see I'm injured?"
"Come on now," Lily tried to help Sirius, moving the bird away from him. Finally seeing some sense, she detached the letter off its leg, and the owl instantly shot off for the open window and left with a departing hoot.
"Yeah, same to you, mate," Sirius replied to the owl's hoot, assuming the bird was insulting him in bird language. With his head back, he tried to look over at Lily who was examining the letter. "Who's it from?" he asked curiously.
"I dunno," Lily shrugged, "It's to you."
Sirius raised his brow in surprise; he hadn't expected any letters. With one hand holding tissue up his nose, he took the letter from Lily with the other and sat up straighter on the couch. Lily watched him in silence as he turned the envelope over to rip it open, discovering black ribbon on it. His mouth turned into the greatest frown ever seen, Lily noticed. To her surprise, he crumpled the letter into a ball and tried to aim it towards the fireplace. It missed, bouncing off the wall and onto the floor.
"Aren't you even going to read it?" she asked in shock.
"I know who it's from," Sirius answered acidly, sitting back down on the couch again.
"Who?" Lily asked.
"You don't want to know."
Curiosity getting the better of her, she tried to creep over to the letter without Sirius noticing. As she picked up the crumple letter, he spotted her instantly.
"Put it in the fire, Lily." Naturally, she was not only curious but stubborn and ripped the envelope open, the black ribbon falling to the floor. Sirius' gaze lingered too long on the ribbon. "Put it in the fire, Lily," he repeated. "Don't read it."
However, it was too late, as Sirius studied her pupils moving left and right, following the words on the page. He looked away.
Once Lily had finished reading the letter, she stared at Sirius in disbelief, her mouth parting in horror. "This is…" she looked at the letter with distain, then back at Sirius with sad eyes, "This is from your mother?"
"Oh, woop-de-doo," Sirius remarked to the ceiling. Lily hated him for using that tone now.
"How can she write such awful things about you?" she asked him. "To you?"
"She takes pleasure in reminding me how much of a shit I am."
"Sirius—"
"Don't go all girly and start taking sympathy on me, Lily. I'm used to the letters." He made a small smile at her to reassure he was fine.
"You shouldn't be used to then," she pointed out. "You shouldn't get them in the first place."
"Well, it's what I get for not being the perfect Death Eater son, don't worry."
Lily had to commend him on making jokes now, she really did. She crumpled the letter, along with the black ribbon, and tossed them into the fire.
"Thanks," Sirius said, watching the parchment burn. Silently Lily walked over to him and kneeled next to the couch, looking at him apologetically.
"I'm sorry."
"I told you already, Lily, my nose will be fine—"
"No," she shook her head, "I'm sorry you have to deal with stuff like that. I remember James told me briefly you stayed in his house for a bit and your parents aren't the best in the world, but I never knew…I never knew it was that bad."
"Don't fuss," Sirius told her, turning embarrassed, "or I'll bleed all over you."
Lily chuckled a little, before looking sadly at him again. Much to Sirius' shock, she rose on her knees and embraced him in a hug. After getting over the initial shock, Sirius squeezed her back.
"Do you think this is the start of a form of friendship, Sirius?"
"Er. Maybe. It's the start of something anyway."
"You think?"
"Yeah, it's the start of me bleeding all over your shirt."
Lily pulled away from him, examining her spattered bloody shirt. "Bugger."
"Har, it'll be a bugger to wash out, too. It looks like chest menstruation—"
"Sometimes I wonder how you manage to walk around this castle without getting hit in the face by everyone you know."