Chapter 12: Green Embers
Later that night when the stars hung in the sky and twinkled over the white snow-covered hollow bellow. James's hand rested on the small of Lily's back as he quietly led her to what would be her room for the long holiday break. Lily's room was right next to James's room and it was connected through a shared bathroom. That will be fun, Lily thought as she was told about the connection of the two rooms. The room was adorned with a large four-poster bed; Lily's trunk had already been moved to the end of the bed. The room was painted light gold and had red trim. It had a strong resemblance to the Gryffindor Common rooms, or even the dormitories. There was a cozy looking window – seat with a red blanket covering it.
"James, this, this is amazing." Lily said stammering from the shock of the beauty as she walked to a large golden-framed rectangular mirror, it hung over a vanity that Lily felt she wouldn't use.
"Its nothing really" James said humbly as Lily investigated the ornate items decorating the room, from the beautifully framed mirror to a small box on the bed side table.
"Nothing? This is far from nothing." Lily shook her head and walked over to him, grabbing his hand and pulling him the rest of the way over to her. She laughed slightly and kissed him softly. "James?" Lily said needing a question to be answered.
"Yes," he said softly breathing into her hair. The warmth of his breath tickling down her skin and making her want to forget her questions and to just be. Still that wasn't like her, she couldn't easily forget questions.
"D-do you love me?" Lily asked the words coming out huskily, she was speaking in far more of an intoxicating fashion than she had mean to, but it wasn't like he'd care.
"Yes I love you" James said with his lips pressed into her hair, his breathe tickling her forehead. He kissed her forehead once more sending chills down her spine.
"Do you mean it?" She asked with a smile as she kissed his neck, she heard him moan involuntarily. And laughed to herself before asking again "Do you really love me?" She asked now looking deeply into his beautiful hazel eyes.
James looked deeply into her eyes, as if pouring his soul into hers and letting their souls entwine for a moment in sheer bliss through their eyes. He gave a quiet breathy laugh before speaking, "Do you really need to ask?" he asked with a smile exposing itself on his lips.
"James –" Lily said pleadingly, she really wanted to know, for herself and for her own sanity. "I want to know," Lily said letting go of his hand, she watched him as he answered.
"Lily, I wouldn't have said it, if I didn't mean it." James said with a chuckle and he stepped again closer to Lily, placing his arms around her waist he lifted her up off of the ground.
"James" Lily said halfway between a sigh and a shocked-squeal, she leaned in kissing him full on the lips. "I love you too" she smiled a single tear falling down her cheek, she was crying not because of sadness, but because of joy and happiness.
James leaned in and kissed away her tear, he moved again and kissed her with the passion that he had the first night in the room of requirements. A bitter and even salty flavor was left in her mouth, from the residue of her tear. Her body was on fire, and she couldn't help but want more. Pulling her arm around his neck, she began to tug playfully at his hair, all at the same time she kissed him on the hollow of his neck.
James walked over to the bed, with Lily held in his arms, carefully he lay her down on the bed. Slowly, without taking his eyes off of her, he took out his wand and magically locking the door behind them. Lily had her wand on her hip, and quickly took It with her free hand, the other was still entwined in James's hair, she was not sure what would happen, but she hoped it would be fun, and she cast a sound-proofing spell that protected people from hearing the sounds that would come from that room.
"James!" Lily squealed as he pounced on her, he chuckled and began kissing her wildly all over, Lily moved her head and kissed James's neck a second time with a sly smile she began kissing him on the lips. While kissing him she nibbled slightly on his lips and in the heat of the moment James began toying ever so delicately with Lily's skirt. He moved his hand up the back of her thighs, meanwhile kissing her forcefully and then softly in alternating pressure levels. He was teasing her, and even teasing himself at the same time. James's hand had now traveled all the way up her skirt, and he was now moving his hands down her thighs his fingers caught the elastic of her knickers and he slowly began to pull them down.
The time went by slowly and passionately, as they professed their love for eachother with physical means. Lily woke up with the sunlight gleaming upon her naked body, turning over she found James sleeping next to her, a smile upon his lips. "I love you," she breathed quietly, placing her head upon his chest. She felt his chest rise and fall with the methodical rhythm of his breathing.
She looked up at his face, and leaned over him, her hair falling from behind her ear and falling into her face, where it sheltered both Lily and James in a blanket of red. She saw his eyes move slightly, as he opened his eyes and smiled up at her. "Hello Beautiful" he whispered to her, before wrapping his arm around her body again. They lay on her bed, their naked bodies entwined in a romantic and peaceful time.
"James," they heard Sirius Black calling from the living room, "c'mon mate," he called again. James slowly rose from the bed; Lily sat for a moment, pulling the blanket around her.
"Sirius," James said opening the door slightly, "give me a minute to get ready," he said looking slyly over to Lily, "I just woke up…" he said groggily.
Lily groaned, not wanting to get dressed at the moment. Lily looked around the room for all of her clothing, "I won't be able to find my clothes in this mess" James said with a laugh.
"Just use magic…" Lily giggled and summoned her clothes to her magically making them clean themselves and even making them put themselves on her, it was not a normal feeling for her to have a bra snap itself. "There" she smiled looking up and seeing James dressed next to her she asked, "do I have bed head?" she bit her lip trying to make-sure her hair looked half-way decent.
"No" he smiled and chuckled, "I'll get it for you" he added and took Lily's hair band and pulled her hair into a ponytail. Moments later they walked down the stairs to find Sirius and Laura standing in the hallway.
"LILY!" Laura squealed running over and hugging her friend.
"Hey Laur," Lily smiled at her friend, she watched how Sirius's eyed Laura. It looked as though he still liked her.
"Hey mate!" James said walking over he patted his friend on the back, "Do you all want to do something together?" James asked curiously.
"Sure" Laura and Sirius said in unison, Lily exchanged a look of bewilderment with James. It wasn't like her friend to speak in unison with someone she claimed to not get along with, and because they were speaking in unison again, they were probably moments away from being back together.
"How about Holiday shopping in Diagon Alley?" Lily suggested smiling at all of her friends.
"That sounds great!" James said with a smile, "Lets use Flu Powder" he said with a wink to Lily and placed his hand on her back.
"Flu Powder?" Lily said nervously, "I've never actually traveled by Flu Powder – Why don't we just apparate?" Lily half asked, half suggested nervously. Lily was nervous about using Flu Powder, she had heard that if you messed up, or used it the wrong way you could end up in the wrong place completely.
"Oh is that So Evans?" James said taking her hand and pulling her against him. He kissed her softly; wrapping his arms around her he began to speak. "Okay, Sirius lets do a test who gets there first, Lily and Myself, who'll apparate or you and Laura who are going to use Flu Powder. You know where it is," James winked at Sirius and soon after Lily could feel the pressure changing around her, she clung her arms around his body, soon a black sulfur-smelling voice surrounded her, and she could still feel his body in her arms.
Soon all was missing, and she felt the ground appear bellow her. She heard the pop and still all she could see was darkness. She felt James's lips press against her forehead, and she opened her eyes, finding herself in Diagon alley, actually the leaky cauldron, and she noticed that Sirius was helping Laura out of the fireplace at the same time that they arrived there.
"Hey Guys—lets go out and have a look—" Lily began but was cut off, almost instantly by Laura.
"Lil—you two go ahead, I—well, Sirius and I need to talk." Laura said and winked at Sirius, who immediately began to smile. And this smile was in quite dopy of a fashion.
"Okay Laura you two have a nice talk" Lily said chuckling. She quickly grabbed hold of James's hand and began entwining her fingers with his. She still couldn't shake a feeling of impending peril, and not only that, one that felt like something, or someone was watching her.
She dismissed this feeling as being paranoid because of a mere dream. It was nothing; it was all nothing, right? She walked with James to the streets of Diagon Alley. When they steeped out onto the cobblestone streets of Diagon Alley she immediately began to look at all of the stores, searching for the perfect gift.
As they passed by Flourish and Blots, she caught a glimpse of the most beautiful book she had seen in her life, and Lily Evans had seen many a beautiful books. It was leather bound book, and the leather had a deep red-brown color to it and even from a distance you could tell, without touching it that it was smooth as satin to the touch. The book was not only adorned with golden trim but the edges of the pages had a golden sheen on every side. She walked into the store and gasped instantly as she noticed that in the front of the book there was a section for a picture, and a simple word above the picture holding section glistened in the sunlight. Memories. Lily didn't understand the effect that the book had on her, but she knew it was beautiful, and some part of her deep down knew that this book would be important; this book would save a life, or a memory from being forever destroyed.
She looked over at James, who had begun to follow her into the store and smiled slyly. "I'll be right back" she said as she stood on tip-toe and kissed him softly on the lips. She left him there standing confused and bewildered outside of the doorway to flourish and Blots. Walking to the counter she asked about the book.
"The memories book?" The cashier, a tall brunette with deep olive green eyes said in a bewildered tone. "It is usually invisible to people—unless they will be in dire need of it later." The cashier got the book and put it hastily in a bag for Lily.
"Thank you," Lily smiled as she walked out of the store and saw Potter standing in front of the store, two butter beers in hand. "Hey you moved…" Lily said feigning a false offended tone of voice. She walked over and attempted to grab the drink from him. He moved his hand away from her reach and smirked.
"I'll give it to you for a kiss" James smiled broadly as Lily walked over to him in somewhat of a sultry fashion. Leaning up on her tiptoes she kissed him on the cheek. "Not like that Evans" James said smugly, smirking in a cocky fashion at Lily.
Lily glared up at him playfully and began to kiss him on the lips, purposefully nipping his bottom lip as she did so. "Thanks" she said pleased with herself as James handed her the butter beer, after he had leaned in and kissed her on the forehead of course.
They walked down the street some more taking slow sips from their butter beers. Their bodies warming with every sip, quickly finding a free bench they took a seat and drank their butter beers. Lily was looking for something for James before hand and felt somewhat dismayed; she hadn't found him the perfect gift. She stood up and threw her drink away in the nearest rubbish bin, which happened to be right next to Quality Quidditch. She felt her hopes rising as she saw the perfect gift advertised on a poster in the window display.
James was now standing beside her, and she quickly kissed him a she walked into the store. She began looking around the store, pretending to be just looking, only looking. She walked around until she noticed that James was distracted. As this happened she walked to the shopkeeper and ordered, two, only two passes to all of next year's quidditch matches. And the main one was the ticket to the final world cup match! Quickly paying while James was distracted she walked over to his side, he was looking at a broom that was hanging from the ceiling and smiling to him.
Lily quietly walked up behind James, jumping up onto his back playfully. He turned his head and his hands grabbed her waist, he effortlessly shifted her so that her legs were wrapped about his hips and they were effortlessly able to gaze into each other's breathtaking eyes. He lifted her up slowly, pulling her against him, as though she were wait less.
Lily smiled at him as he pulled her into a long, and passionate, and need I say very public kiss. "I love you James," she whispered onto his shoulder and oh how she loved lingering in his smell, he smelled so warm, so beautifully warm.
"I love you too" He smiled and kissed her upon the lips. Lily soon felt a cold chill run down her spine. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. She shirked it off yet again and they continued looking for gifts. As they left Quality Quidditch Lily heard someone call her name. Turning her head, she saw that none other than John Thomas was walking down the street, their eyes met for a moment. A cold, chilling, and unnerving moment.
"Hello Lily" He said walking up to them. "Hello Potter" he said far more coldly than he would have normally done in the past. "So, how are you Lily?" He asked looking them both up and down—he even looked almost disgusted by the sight of them both together.
"I'm good, we're both good actually. James and I are doing a bit of holiday shopping, we've begun—well, shocking as it may seem—dating." Lily smiled at John, "How are things with you?" She asked with a bright-eyed smile.
"Good, I met a friend of my sisters Amélie, and we've been dating for a while now." He said with somewhat of a sly and even slightly disturbing smile. "Have a good Holiday" he smiled and walked off.
"That was awkward," James said leaning down and kissing Lily on the forehead. Lily smiled to herself and continued walking forward. They continued shopping for a while and when dusk began to fall they retired to the Leaky Cauldron. Where Lily and James found that Sirius and Laura had begun snogging by the fire.
"I'm going to leave, how about you?" James said smiling and kissing Lily. When she nodded he led her to the fireplace, handing her a pot and telling her as she took a bunch of powder in her hand, as he had directed her, dropping the powder into the fireplace she listened to what James said. She said a quick "Godrics Hollow" in a clear tone. The Green Flames began to dance about her feet, and quite soon a dizzying blur of brick and fireplaces appeared before her spinning and whizzing by as quickly as they had appeared. As the blur of fire places disappeared and she found herself-bags and all in the Potters Fire place. She stepped out quickly dusting herself off. Moments later James stepped out of the fireplace; he took her hand and pulled her into him, kissing her lovingly.
"Sirius and Laura should come through the fireplace as well." James said quickly and found a paper on the table, reading it aloud as both Sirius and Laura came one by one through the fireplace and almost immediately snogged eachother.
"My dad wants us to decorate" James smirked; taking out his wand he conjured a tree. "Easy," he chuckled and he and Sirius began hanging ornaments on the tree. James threw Lily the star and watched, intrigued as she got a chair and placed it in front of the tree. Standing on tiptoe on the chair she could just reach the top of the tree. As soon as she finished placing the star on the tree James grabbed her from in front, pulling her forward so that in order not to fall she would have to wrap her legs around him. As she wrapped her legs around him, he kissed her passionately on the lips.