Disclaimer: All characters, settings and other miscellaneous references relating to Harry Potter™ belong to JKR. I'm just borrowing them – because I can.
A/N: How cool is my little ™????
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Chapter Eighteen: In which Lily surprises everyone
"And Emmeline was in Sirius' bed?" Lily raised her eyebrows, surprised. "How'd she explain that one?"
Lily and James sat in the Head's Tower lounge. The fire roared in the grate, casting a great deal of welcome warmth into the chilly night air.
James grinned and rolled his eyes. "Very complicated, I assure you. The upshot is, Em doesn't plan on making a return visit anytime soon!"
Lily rolled her eyes back, chewing on the end of her quill. With a sigh, she looked down at the list they had been working on for the Winter Ball, and sighed. Spread between them over the lounge, the coffee table and a great deal of the floor at their feet, were lists, letters, documents and miscellaneous other pieces of parchment relating to the planning of the Winter Ball. Lily hoped that Dumbledore truly appreciated the amount of effort they were going to.
"All right, lovely story, but that's enough procrastination James, we really need to get this don- mmff!"
Being allowed to kiss Lily was a very convenient development, James decided. He liked the way it felt very much, and the way his pulse quickened and all he could think about was her warmth and her smell and all other manner of romantic thoughts…. Plus, it had the added bonus of being a wonderful way to distract or silence her.
Sirius had accused him of getting soft, but the practical side of James knew better than that… he was just enjoying what he had.
Lily suppressed a smile and kissed James back, somewhat ruefully. As if he could read her thoughts, James smiled against her lips briefly before she prized them away.
"James, really, we're in the middle of a Heads-"
Well, there were worse things she could be doing, Lily supposed as James once again cut her off, bearing down on her until they were lying side by side on the lounge. She could feel the parchment crackling beneath her, and cringed, imagining all their hard work becoming smudged and crinkled. Not that she was complaining particularly. Suddenly, though, and as if he had read her thoughts, it was James who broke away and sat up.
"Oh, so it's all right to stop now, is it?" Lily teased mockingly, lazily reaching beneath her to pull out the layer of parchment that had been offending her so. Done, she leant back into the pile of pillows and draped her legs over his.
James blushed. "It just – wasn't very proper," he managed to murmur.
Lily grinned. "You're such a gentleman," she replied lightly. "Are you willing to talk business now, Mr. Potter, or are you going to kiss me again?"
James frowned. "Not while you're lying down like that," he told her.
Lily nodded, not planning to move an inch. James had a knack for diverting her attention quite successfully, and now that they'd stopped, Lily felt that perhaps they had deserved a break from the checks and balances of their Heads duties anyway.
"Fine then. Since we're slowing down, and completely off the topic, I was wondering if you could help me with something?"
Lily swung her legs off James' lap and sat up; he leant forward, his eyes sparkling with interest.
"Anything?"
Lily bit her lip. Ever since James had revealed his animagus form, she had been curious, but not brave enough to ask him about it. Now, however… Well, if you can't ask the boy you've just been kissing, you'll never be able to ask him, Lily concluded.
"James, I want to become an animagus."
James gulped, frowning. Lily watched him unblinkingly, her face unreadable. Her hair was slightly mussed, and he absently tucked a curl behind her ear.
"Lily Evans wants to do something illegal?" he asked doubtfully; surely Lily hadn't thought the whole thing through very well.
Lily shuffled a little closer to him and took James' hands. "Yes, yes I do."
"And you are one hundred percent sure that you want to? Because it's never going to work if you aren't confident, Lily."
"I'm sure," she replied solemnly. "I've been wanting to ask for ages, actually."
James took a deep breath. "Well… The first thing to know is that you can't become anything magical, or you'll never be able to change back."
"Like Mrs. Norris," Lily supplemented helpfully.
"Eh?"
"Well she was having an affair with Filch, and so she turned herself into a kneazle to escape her loveless marriage, and got trapped. That's what Emmeline heard, anyway…"
James blinked. "So it's true, then?" he asked doubtfully.
Lily shrugged, giving him a lopsided smile. "Anything's possible…"
James nodded shortly, and then cleared his throat. "Anyway, no magical creatures. I don't want to lose you," he told her sternly.
If James found Lily's request startling, it was nothing to the look that suddenly filtered across her face. Her thumb stroked his hand reassuringly.
"Don't worry, James," she told him softly. "I have the perfect animal in mind…"
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Lily sat in front of her floor length mirror and exhaled. It was past midnight, and just across the gallery, she could hear James snoring softly. She smiled slightly, before checking herself.
The key, James had said, was to concentrate, and Lily didn't particularly fancy becoming skewed. Skewing, James had informed her, was what happened when half of you transformed, and half didn't. It was one of the reasons the Ministry kept such a close check on it.
Lily's toes were numb. She wriggled; readjusting her legs so that she sat tailor style, with her feel resting on top of her legs like the Buddhist monk Petunia and she had met once, long ago, as children.
Perhaps if she meditated…Lily closed her eyes and began to draw soft, deep breaths. In, and out, in and out. James had said she had to make her mind still, and to then focus on the animal she wished to become completely. She had to think as her animal, sense as her animal, be as the animal she wanted to become.
Lily meditated and thought for three long hours. Around her, the castle grew still, the winter wind rattled at her window, and the room grew steadily colder.
Lily opened her eyes.
And froze.
It worked! A part of her cried out with excitement, wanting to rush immediately into James' room, to wake him. Except for the minor detail that she was now incapable of opening doors.
Lily's heart raced with exhilaration, and she took a few tentative steps forward. The room smelt of something almost sickly sweet, which the human Lily knew to be vanilla. Animagus Lily didn't care what it was, but it made her hungry. And sleepy, terribly, terribly sleepy. So sleepy that in fact, she wouldn't have minded curling up on a nice bed of grass and nodding off…
Bollux, the human Lily inside her mind swore. James never told me how to reverse it!
Lily paced the rug nervously. Her first instinct was to run, but Lily knew that this wouldn't do her much good at all. Maybe, if she just stopped, and concentrated like before, she could turn back again.
Yes.
That seemed like as good a plan as any.
Lily sat down, and began to slow her breath again. Slowly, she lowered her eyelids, plunging her mind once more into blackness.
I hope this works I hope this works I hope this works…
Lily opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Her human form blinked back at her tiredly in the reflection. She raised her hand to touch her hair, and all of a sudden felt a great, weary weight fall upon her shoulders. Her arms felt hollow and weak, and it was all Lily could do to blow out her candle, crawl across the floor and climb into bed.
Who knew magic could be so exhausting?
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Lily had resolved not to tell James about her little midnight experience. The next morning, absolutely exhausted, she made her way down to the bathroom and splashed warm water on her face, Come to think of it, she wasn't even entirely sure that she had transformed, after all…
Pushing those thoughts from her mind, Lily picked up her toothbrush, deciding to focus on the day ahead. She had classes all morning, and some time during lunch, she and James were going to have to meet and talk about the Ball again…
"So," said a voice from the bathroom door. Lily looked around, surprised, to find James leaning there, watching her with a small smile on his face.
Lily blushed, mouth full of toothpaste, and attempted to subtly spit it out. "Goof morfink."
James raised his eyebrows, and turning back to the mirror, much to her mortification, Lily saw the trail of foamy white toothpaste dripping down her chin. Raising a hand, she swiped it away as delicately as she could.
"What does a guy have to do round here to hold his girlfriend's hand down to breakfast?"
Lily blinked. "Girlfriend?"
James blinked. Externally, his face remained impassive, but internally, it rather felt like a heavy plank of wood had gone crashing through the bottom of his stomach and was currently splintering its way through his intestines.
He shrugged, his hazel eyes leveling on hers, voice careful. "Is that not the right word?"
Lily frowned. "I'm not sure. But regardless, yes, you may hold my hand."
James' brow furrowed, but he nodded. "Good."
And although he had achieved the reply he had hoped for, James couldn't help but feel a tiny seed of doubt beginning to implant itself in his nerve-prone stomach.
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So far, Lily had observed three pairs of wide eyes, two hidden smiles, and a pair of Slytherins laughing outright at the spectacle that she and James seemed to be making of themselves. Suppressing a yawn, she glanced at him sideways, and saw a cheerful smile spread across his lips, as though he didn't have a care in the world.
He didn't care that people were talking about them.
Lily swallowed and tried to smile too, but it seemed forced and insincere. She wasn't ready to do this. She'd just come out of a very very public relationship with Art, and she wasn't prepared to have her new romance at the top of everyone's gossip lists as well. Not to mention she'd had very little sleep last night. Lack of sleep tended to make Lily a bit emotional or, as Emmeline liked to call it, paranoid.
Besides, Lily told herself, it really wasn't anyone else's business, and she wasn't at all looking forward to the not-so-subtle glances and hushed whispers. She had to prepare herself, or rather-
"James," she hissed, dragging him into the nearest empty classroom. "I can't do it."
James blinked at her once again, looking calm. He raised his eyebrow. "Oh?"
"I can't stand them staring at us."
Lily had imagined his reaction – imagined that he would frown and withdraw his hand, and maybe stuff it into his pockets, and mumble something about not worrying about it, then.
Instead, he grinned and rolled his eyes.
"Don't be an idiot, Lily."
Well that was certainly the last thing she'd expected to hear….
"Excuse me?"
James gripped her hand even tighter when she tried to pull away.
"I said, don't be silly. They point and stare anyway. You're the Head Girl, and you're also the girl who very publicly and brutally dumped Art Scamander."
"But – I didn't," Lily protested.
"Do you think that really matters?"
Lily watched him, confused. James met her stare and rolled his eyes again, exaggerating to make sure she got the point.
"Look, they're going to talk anyway, and I for one don't care. I'm not going to hide what I feel about you, because I'm not ashamed who knows it. I like 'us', whatever 'us' is, and I should hope that you're not ashamed either, Lily."
Lily stared at the ground. This was almost the most humiliating lecture she had received to-date. She felt James' fingers beneath her chin, drawing her face up. He kissed her and pulled away, eyes dancing merrily.
"I'm not ashamed," she told him defiantly. "Just feeling a little self-conscious."
James nodded seriously. "Good. Modesty is a virtue."
Lily rolled her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"
James laughed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I have no idea," he admitted. "But I do know that in two minutes' time, I plan to enter the Great Hall holding your hand, and I think it might be a bit awkward if the rest of you isn't attached, so…."
Lily smiled reluctantly. "Point proved. You're very persistent, James Potter."
He nodded. "My mother's stubborn and my father is persistent, and I think I take after them both." He winked. "Don't say I didn't warn you. Are you feeling better?"
Lily sighed, trying not to smile. "I'm feeling a bit silly."
"You're a goose," he confirmed, kissing her forehead and opening the door. "It's one of the things I love about you. Are you coming?"
"Are you always going to be this bossy?"
James gave her another pointed look, and the argument flowed out of Lily with a smile.
"Fine. But just so you know, girlfriends are allowed to be bossy too."
James grinned again, not for a moment letting on his immediate instinct to jump around and yell a bit. Lily had, after all, just called herself his girlfriend, of all things.
Instead, he gave her arm a little tug. "Look on the bright side," he told her cheerfully. "It's not like I'm going to carry you in, kicking and screaming. Then they'd really have something to talk about."
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"So what I was thinking is that we sneak into the third greenhouse, steal the plant and then-"
"Morning lads," James murmured nonchalantly, sliding into his normal spot beside Sirius.
Sirius' eyes widened even further when he saw Lily take the seat beside James.
"What – you – hands?"
Remus glanced between Sirius and Lily, and suppressed a roll of his eyes. Sirius had been just as happy and relieved at the discovery of James and Lily's dots as Peter and Remus had. However, he hadn't seemed to realise the consequences of Lily and James' inked activities. Remus shook his head slowly. Really, James should have seen it coming. Sirius was his best friend after all, and he hadn't done much to prepare him… Unless Lily had taken James by surprise too?
Remus wouldn't put it past her. He filed that thought away for a later date when he could ask James. Right now, it was more important that Sirius seemed to be realising the repercussions of James' new relationship, and knowing Sirius as he did, Remus was mildly concerned.
Lily, on the other hand, raised her eyebrows at James, who shrugged and grinned at his best mate. "Nice and subtle, Padfoot. Thanks so much."
"Do you want to hold my other hand, Sirius?" Lily asked sweetly, her eyes sparkling with teasing laughter.
Sirius stuck his tongue out at her, in a very childish display. "Grow up, Evans," he retorted.
"What's this I hear about plant theft?" she replied, smiling.
Remus choked on his glass of pumpkin juice. That was the last thing Sirius needed, for Lily to spoil their prank. "Nothing, Lily, just another of Sirius' crazy schemes."
"Oh no," Peter disagreed earnestly. He leant forward across the table and explained in a hushed whisper, "We want to steal that plant that makes slime, so we can prank the Slytherins."
Sirius looked like he was about to faint. "You did not just tell Lily Evans our prank," he complained, turning away in disgust.
Lily opened her mouth, but James got in first.
"Relax Paddy, she won't turn us in, will you, Lils? It's just a bit of fun, right?"
"Lily doesn't need to turn us in," Remus pointed out carefully. "Because she's the one she'd turn us in to, if you know what I mean."
"You mean I'm Head Girl so I'm going to spoil your fun?" Lily asked flatly. "That's not very fair - James is Head Boy!"
"But Prongs is a Marauder," Sirius replied, as if that explained everything.
Peter toyed with his eggs. "You won't really give us detention, will you?" he asked. "Because it's almost Christmas, and I don't want to hate you, but detentions with Filch can force a person to do drastic things."
"There will be no hating of Lily," James protested.
Remus grinned. "Not from you, anyway," he smiled, making Lily blush.
James, glaring fiercely at Remus, would have sworn he heard Sirius mutter 'hopeless' under his breath.
"I am not hopeless!" he protested.
"Are too," Sirius replied, looking supremely haughty.
It was Lily's turn to roll her eyes. "Grow up, Sirius. And if you really must know, I'm not giving you detention," she told Peter kindly. "There will be no teasing of James," she added to Remus, who merely smiled. "And you aren't hopeless, James. I was actually only going to suggest that you really don't need to steal the plant at all."
Sirius scoffed. "And you have a better idea, do you, miss Head-Girl-never-breaks-a-rule-perfect-swo- ow!" he complained, rubbing his arm and glaring at James. "That hurt."
James raised his eyebrow. "You're such a bab-"
"In fact," Lily cut in, "I do."
"Prove it."
Lily rolled her eyes, and then turned, drawing her wand out slowly as her eyes scanned the Great Hall. At that very moment, Art Scamander was walking through the doors, flicking his curly blonde hair out of his eyes and trying way too hard to look handsome.
"Appiccicoso," Lily muttered.
Sirius and James turned to watch as, much to their surprise, a small green blob appeared out of nowhere, expanded, and collided with Art's face with a wet smack, splattering into his hair and running down his chin.
Lily turned back to find four boys staring at her, and raised an eyebrow, grinning.
"I didn't know you had it in you," James told her reverently.
Sirius was also staring at her, as if in awe. "Can you teach me?" he asked.
Remus sighed. "You know, Lily, you have no idea what you just started."
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Sirius furrowed his brow. "So you sweep it to the left, then jab?" he asked, trying it.
Lily crouched beside him in the dark corridor, and shook her head. "You're going it wrong. Like this," she demonstrated, grabbing his hand and guiding its' movement, as Sirius let out a soft "Oh" of understanding.
"Like this?"
"Perfect."
Sirius smiled at her, his eyes twinkling in the torchlight. "You know, you're all right, Lily."
"Thank you, Sirius."
"I mean, I already knew that, but I thought that you might try to change Prongs and make him more serious, and that's just not going to happen, Lily, so don't even bother."
Lily cleared her throat. "Right. And what's this James tells me about Emmeline sleeping in your bed?"
Sirius closed his mouth promptly, and glared at James, who was knelt on Lily's other side, light spilling out of the end of his wand as he watched the Marauder's map.
"Anyone?" Remus' voice drifted down the corridor from James' other side. Light bouncing off his glasses, James shook his head. "Nope."
"We're missing divination," Peter pointed out.
Lily's laugh echoed down the corridor. "Just tell her you predicted the lesson was cancelled."
Sirius gazed at Lily with newfound respect. Lily, however, stood and dusted her robes off.
"I, however, am going to attend Arithmancy," she added, picking up her bag. "You boys have fun, I'll see you at lunch."
The boys murmured their goodbyes politely and listened to her footsteps retreating away down the corridor. James watched as her dot passed the Potions classroom and made it safely to the entrance hall. When he glanced up, he found three sets of eyes staring at him.
"All right," Remus told him sternly. "Who was she and what have you done with Lily?"
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Lily slipped into Arithmancy, told Professor Marchbanks that she had been giving out a detention, and took her seat beside Emmeline.
"Have I missed anything?" she asked brightly as she took out her parchment and quills, and began to copy down the notes on the board.
Emmeline shrugged. "Not really. Where were you at breakfast?"
"Oh," came the nonchalant reply. "I sat with James and the boys."
Emmeline stared. "You what?"
"I sat with James and the boys," Lily repeated levelly. "Why?"
Emmeline grinned. "Oh, someone slimed Scummy in the face. But you probably saw. He was furious."
Lily nodded absently. "Mmm. Good."
"How are the plans for the Winter Ball coming along?" Emmeline asked suddenly, as Professor Marchbanks turned to the class and began to explain the magical properties of the number seven.
Lily shrugged. "James is very lazy with the paperwork, but good, I suppose. Why?"
"Have you set a date?"
"We were thinking December 17th."
"A week before Christmas?"
"Just before everyone goes home for the holidays, actually," Lily shrugged, still catching up on her notes. She shot a sideways glance toward Emmeline and smiled. "Why?"
"Just curious."
Lily looked at Emmeline, surprised and amused at the deliberately vague tone in her voice. She was curling her hair around and around her index finger, eyes slightly glazed as she watched the blackboard. Lily's own lips curled into a smile and she suppressed a laugh.
"So he asked you, then?" she murmured.
Emmeline blushed. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she replied.
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Sirius all but raced up to Lily and Emmeline as they entered the Great Hall for lunch, eyes lit up like a small child.
"We did it," he told her excitedly. "Got Snape, too. Splat! Slid right off his greasy hair, too, the slime ball." He winked, nodded curtly to Emmeline and returned to the table without saying another word.
"What's this?" Emmeline murmured as they found their seats.
"I taught the boys how to shoot slime balls," Lily replied, helping herself to a bread roll and avoiding Emmeline's shocked look. "Sirius just wanted to let me know it worked, obviously."
"That was you this morning? Scummy?"
Lily bit her lip and continued to avoid Emmeline's eye. "Maybe."
Emmeline let out a whoop of delight. "But that's just wonderful, Lily!" she exclaimed, grinning.
Lily met her eyes now, and grinned back, embarrassed. "It did feel good," she admitted.
Emmeline nodded. "Naturally. So it's true about you and James, then, too?"
"Who told you?"
"Benjy thought he saw you holding hands this morning."
"Maybe," Lily replied, appraising her friend. "Benjy tell you a lot of things, Em?"
Emmeline rolled her eyes. "Sure, Lily, sure."
"How'd he ask you to the ball?"
"Well, he sent me an owl asking me to meet him, and then he-"
Emmeline was suddenly cut off by a strangled yell from somewhere near the doors. Turning, Lily and Emmeline discovered the very same Benjy of their conversation standing there, seething, as he slicked oozing green goop from his eyes.
Emmeline's face set. "BLACK!"
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A/N: Oh dear, Sirius is in trouble, again….
That's right, I'm back! Have you missed me? Exams are over, I think I passed, and I'm now looking forward to 5 weeks holiday… which also means, as I very sadly must inform you, Mischief Managed will soon be completed. Which is exciting, but sad… anyway, I hope you liked this chappy, sorry for the wait, and I'd very much love, as always, to hear your thoughts!
Lexie xx