Don't Let Your Guard Down
chapter 9

thanks to everyone who reviewed! i'm taking a break from writing a paper (my first paper of this semester) and I take breaks my writing in the story. And I also take breaks my posting chapters!

Anyway, you don't wanna hear me talk, you wanna read the story. So here it is:

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"Well we pulled it off," Sirius said to James, Remus, and Peter as they finished setting up and putting out the food and drinks.

"Of course we pulled it off," James said, rolling his eyes and giving Sirius a high five. "We always pull it off."

"SIRIUS BLACK! JAMES POTTER!" a voice shrieked.

James turned to his friends. "I don't think we pulled it off."

"Yes professor?" Sirius asked innocently.

"What is all this?" Professor McGonagall insisted to know.

"Well, that-" Sirius said, pointing to the couch. "Is a couch, and that is a book, and that-"

"Don't be smart with me," Professor McGonagall exclaimed.

"But Professor, I'm always smart," Sirius said suavely. Professor McGonagall gave him a stern look. Sirius turned to Remus and whispered, "Seriously, you talk now."

"Why is there food and drinks sitting out? And why is music playing?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"We're hungry," James said.

"There's tons of food!" she exclaimed.

"Really hungry," Sirius corrected.

"Professor," Remus spoke up. "Christmas is in a few days. Classes are over. Don't you think it's okay if we had a small party, where no one got hurt, no one did anything stupid, but people just laid back and had some fun?"

"That's not gonna work," Sirius whispered in Remus's ear, rolling his eyes at the thought.

Professor McGonagall paused to think about what Remus said. "I guess if you're here to keep the party under control, it won't be too bad…"

Sirius turned to Remus in awe and whispered,"It worked."

Professor McGonagall turned to look at James and Sirius who gave innocent grins. "I don't trust you two."

"You never have," Sirius pointed out with a smile. Professor McGonagall lingered for a moment and then left the room.

"No one gets hurt? No one does anything stupid?" James asked, turning to Remus. "What kind of idiotic party is that?"

"Should I get out the Twister?" Remus teased. "Oh come on, so I lied to a professor. Big deal. I blame you guys, you know."

James and Sirius slapped high fives. "We corrupted him!"

"So do you think we can have a nice party and not get into a fight with the girls?" Peter asked James and Sirius.

James and Sirius exchanged looks and turned back to Peter. "No."

Peter shrugged and looked at Remus. "It was worth a try."

"Wow, Evans looks gorgeous," James said with a sigh.

Sirius looked at James and rolled his eyes. "Oh come on she's not gorgeous. She's just okay. I mean there are so many other people who are more gorgeous than Lily. Like Kacie…where did she get clothes like that? She's a total babe! But Lily? No way, she's just…okay."

"She's gorgeous."

Sirius opened his mouth to retort but quickly shut it. "Do you want me to pour punch down her front to make her look sloppy and ugly?"

"No I don't want you to pour punch down her front," James said tiredly as he watched Lily flirt with a guy. "Well…maybe one cup."

Sirius grinned. "So…still not over her huh?"

James snapped back into reality and stopped staring at Lily. "What are you talking about?"

"You fancy her right?"

"What? No way!" James exclaimed.

"James, you and Nancie pretty much broke up last week. You asked Lily out every day last year. You wrote Lily Evans all over your parchment for at least you two years. How could you not like her?"

"Ever hear of a joke Padfoot?"

"Ever hear of a crush Prongs?" Sirius said smugly.

"Ever hear of a hex Padfoot?" James asked, getting out his wand.

"Ever hear of a-"

"This could go on forever," James interrupted.

"Yeah. Let's just get it out in the open. You like Lily and that's the end of it," Sirius said walking away.

"Yup," James said and then thought about what Sirius said. "Wait no! Come back here Si!"

"Sirius causing problems again?" Remus asked, coming up and handing James a cup of punch.

"Isn't he always?" James groaned.

"Well…not always. I mean he only causes problems…" Remus trailed off, looking for the right word.

"The word you're looking for is always," James said with a smirk.

"Yeah, always pretty much sums it up," Remus said with a laugh.

"You excited for winter break Lils?" James asked.

"Don't call me Lils," Lily insisted. "And anything to get me away from you excites me." She then turned around to talk back to her friend.

"Oh so you're going home?"

Lily stopped and whirled around. "I thought you said you were going home."

James shrugged. "Things change."

"I wish you moving to China was one of those things," Lily grumbled.

James shrugged. "Sorry Lils."

"Don't call me Lils," Lily repeated.

"I see you and James are getting along better than ever," Sirius said sarcastically.

"And I see you are as oblivious and dumb as ever," Lily joked. Sirius laughed.

"You two have to get along," Sirius insisted.

"And why's that Sirius?" James demanded to know.

"Because it's Christmas!" Sirius exclaimed.

"So?" they both asked.

"Just think of the baby Jesus coming 'round the mountain to huff and puff and blow the houses down so he can see the three wise men spin the dradle to see if there's six more weeks of winter," Sirius said.

Lily turned to James with a blank stare who shook his head. "We don't even try to understand him," James said.

"Sirius, I think the baby Jesus won't be too upset if we don't get along," Lily said.

"The three wise man won't have much of a problem either," James added. Sirius groaned but didn't say anything because James walked off.

"Hey Black, why don't you go do me a favor," a voice said, coming up from behind Lily.

"What would that be Giliba?" Sirius asked.

"Jump off a building," Gigi said with a smirk.

"I wouldn't do you a favor if it was either that or die," Sirius sneered.

"I wouldn't want you to do me a favor if the other choice was death," Gigi said. Sirius glared at Gigi and sauntered off.

Lily stared at her best friend with a smile.

"Gigi, you're so horrible," Lily said.

"He's a jerk."

"But I never knew you could be that horrible. What has he done to you to make you so horrible and awful and completely horribly…horrible," Lily said.

"Remind me to buy you a thesaurus for Christmas," Gigi said with a smile.

"Hey! I know lots of words and…stuff," Lily said.

"Buy her a dictionary while you're at it," Kacie said, coming up from behind them and looping her arms around her two best friends.

"I wouldn't drink that if I were you," Lily advised to a third year.

The third year looked at her cautiously. "Why's that?"

"Because I saw Sirius Black spike it a little over an hour ago," Lily said with a shrug. "And take my word for it, you're not ready for what that tastes like." The third year looked at her apprehensively and then put the cup down and walked away.

"Awww, you're ruining my fun Lily," Sirius said, walking over from the dance floor.

"When are you going to grow up Sirius?" Lily asked with a laugh.

"When are you going to try my punch?" Sirius asked.

"When you grow up," Lily said.

Sirius thought about that. "Well then it looks like you will never trymy punch."

Lily laughed. "So Si, when are you going to ask me to dance?"

"I only dance with girls I intend to bring up to my room," Sirius said. "And as hott as you're looking right now, you're not one of those girls."

Lily laughed. "I'm so touched," Lily said fakely. "So you don't dance with your friends?"

"Not when my best friend has a crush on them," Sirius said.

"Ugh, if you tell me one more time that Potter likes me, I may have to break your neck," Lily said.

Sirius was silent for a moment. "Is that before or after we dance?"

Lily laughed and led Sirius to the dance floor. "Potter won't care if he sees you dancing with me."

"Traitor," James muttered. "Backstabber, ex-best friend, jerk, prat-"

"What are you mumbling under your breath?" Remus asked.

"Oh nothing," James said innocently.

James glanced over and watched Lily laugh at something Sirius said. "Sirius, you're so mean," Lily giggled.

"Hey, it's not like I was born this way," Sirius said with a shrug. "So can I ask you a question?"

"No."

"Why do you get along great with me but you can't stand my best friend?" Sirius asked.

"I don't want to talk about Potter," Lily said.

"Lily, I know you don't see it, but James is a great guy and for some strange reason, he actually likes you," Sirius said.

"Wrong," Lily said. "He likes the thrill of the chase. I keep saying no, and it's some sick game to him to keep asking. The moment I say yes, he'll lose interest."

"No," Sirius insisted. "Why can't you just give him a chance?"

"Sirius, friends don't let friends be friends with Potter," Lily said.

"I'm not even going to pretend that I understood that sentence," Sirius said. "Come on Lily. Just hold a conversation with him, that's all I'm asking. Do it for me, please?"

Lily looked at Sirius for a few seconds and sighed. "If I try being nice to him will you leave me alone?"

"No."

Lily grinned. "It was worth a try."

"Why aren't ya dancing with some blonde haired blue eyed big boobed bimbo?" a voice asked, causing James to turn around.

James looked around him and then pointed to himself. "You talking to me?"

"Well I'm certainly not talking to myself," Lily said.

"I wouldn't doubt it if you were," James said. "And I'm not dancing with anyone because I just spent all night dancing. I needed a break." James turned to Lily. "I saw that you and Sirius were dancing a lot."

"It was either that or listen to him talk," Lily said.

"Ah, I would've chosen dancing with Sirius also," James said, making Lily laugh. "So why were you really dancing with him? Do you like him?"

"Why do you care?" Lily asked.

"I'm just wondering if I should stay out of the bedroom tonight," James said with a grin.

"You have your own bedroom, the Head Boy room," Lily said. "And stay out of the bedroom? Could you be any cruder?"

"Hey, I'm just wondering what's going on with you two," James said.

"I'm trying to be nice and all you can do is make stupid comments about me having sex with Sirius," Lily exclaimed.

"Nice? You think coming over here and insulting me by saying all I do is dance with blonde bimbos is being nice?" James asked. "I think you need to look nice up in the dictionary Evans."

"Well we know for certain that we wouldn't see a picture of you," Lily sneered.

"Look up bitch and you'd find a picture of you," James claimed.

"You're impossible to get along with!" Lily cried out.

"It's because you make it impossible for anyone to be nice to you!"

"Sirius doesn't have a problem with being nice to me! Maybe I'll go find him!"

"Don't forget to use a condom!" James cried out, making most people look up from what they were doing. "Obviously that was your parents' mistake!"

Lily glared at James and stomped off. "Where's that punch?" Lily asked as she ran into Sirius.

"The punch is spiked Lily," Sirius said.

"So?"

"You don't drink," Sirius stated.

"I do now!" Lily cried out.

"Lily, don't drink just because you-" Sirius started.

Lily stopped walking and gave Sirius a death stare. "Where's the punch?"

Sirius didn't even have the nerve to say anything, he just pointed. Sirius marched over to James. "Dude, seriously, what the hell was that about?"

"Why don't you ask the girl with the stick up her ass," James mumbled.

"I'm looking at her," Sirius said, staring right at James. "Embarrassing her in front of all the Gryffindors? What are you, twelve?"

"She started it," James said.

"Wow, you are twelve," Sirius mumbled. "And I highly doubt that she started it."

"Look, it doesn't matter okay?" James muttered. "Let her get wasted. It's about time she learns how to have fun."

"She was having plenty of fun," Sirius said.

"Yeah, dancing with you," James said, turning to face Sirius. "What the hell was that about? I thought you and Lily never danced. I thought you were just casual acquaintances."

"Casual acquaintances?" Sirius asked with a laugh. "James, you two may not be able to get along, but Lily and I have been friends for quite a while now."

"Which totally goes against the Marauder rule," James muttered.

"What rule?"

"If an enemy with one, than an enemy with everyone," James said.

"That's not the Marauder rule," Sirius said.

"Oh yeah? Then what is?"

"Stay out of the bedroom when Sirius is getting lai-"

"Go away Padfoot," James said, but there was a hint of a smile.

"What the hell did you do?" Gigi demanded to know, stomping over and stopping right in front of Sirius. She looked up into his eyes. Sirius was amused at how angry she looked, arms crossed against her chest, narrowed eyebrows, and veins popping out of her forehead. He was also amused that he towered over her, being a foot taller than her and everything.

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked.

"Lily never drinks," Gigi said. "And then you dance with her for an hour or so and she's totally crazy, gulping down spiked punch as if it were her last drink on earth. So I'm asking you, what the hell did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything to her Giliba," Sirius said. "Five minutes talking to James got her that way."

"Why did you let her near him?" Gigi asked. "You know them talking to each other is never a good sign."

"Why the hell is everything my fault?" Sirius cried out. "Lily has a mind of her own. She talked to him willingly!"

"Lily talk to James willingly?" Gigi exclaimed. "There's a sentence that has never been uttered! You totally made her talk to him!"

"They should be able to get along!" Sirius burst out.

"Some people just can't get along no matter what," Gigi said.

"Like us?"

"We're different," Gigi said. "You forced me to hate you."

"I did not!" Sirius insisted. "All I did wa-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Gigi said icily and then stomped off.

"Hey!" Lily cried out as James took her drink out of her hand.

"Lily, that has got to be your hundredth cup," James pointed out.

"Is not," Lily protested.

"How would you know? You probably lost count after your tenth cup," James said.

"Wrong," Lily said. "I lost count after my sixth cup."

"Well either way, you need to stop drinking," James said, throwing her cup away.

"You can't tell me what to do," Lily said.

"I can if you're real close to killing yourself with alcohol," James said.

"Whose fault is it that I'm drinking alcohol anyway huh?" Lily said harshly.

"Sirius's."

"Oh and I'm sure you had nothing to do with it," Lily said.

James opened his mouth to retort but then shut it. "Good point."

"Look, I'm not a baby okay? There's no need to take care of me," Lily said haughtily.

"Lily, you're not in great shape right now."

Lily whirled around and looked him straight in the eye. "Who do you think you are, huh? Acting like you care about me? You don't even know me so why don't you just leave me alone!" Lily pushed James and started walking away but he grabbed her arm.

"Look, you're drunk," James said. "Why don't we-"

"We?" Lily asked, jerking her arm away. "There is no we. There's a me and a you, but there's no we. Stop acting like you care about me!"

James grabbed her arm and hissed into her ear, "Stop making a scene and come with me."

Lily laughed evilly. "You have got to be kidding me."

James didn't wait for her to say anything else because he pulled her out of the commons room.

"Hey!" Lily exclaimed, jerking her arm away from James once again. "Stop protecting me Potter."

"Shhh," James jeered. "We're not in the commons room anymore. A professor could hear us."

"Well then why the hell did you take me out here?" Lily asked, walking away from James.

"Where are you going?" James called out, throwing his hands up in frustration.

"Away from you," Lily said.

"Oh no you're not," James mumbled and followed her. Under much protestation, he was finally able to get Lily to her Head room. He plopped her down on the bed. He sighed and started to leave until he heard her speak up.

"Why are you doing this?"

James turned around and shrugged. "Because it's my fault you started drinking, so I figured I could at least be nice and get you back safely."

"I wasn't drinking because of you," Lily said.

"Yes you were."

Lily opened her mouth to protest, but knew he was right. "Okay, maybe a little." They both laughed. "But a lot of stuff has been happening to me lately and drinking my problems away seemed best."

"That is not a good solution," James said, sitting down on the bed beside Lily.

"Seems to work real well for you," Lily said.

James ignored her comment. "So let me ask you a question," James said. "How come you get along so well with Sirius but you can't seem to be nice to me?"

"Because Sirius isn't a pompous egotistical jerk," Lily said.

"I'm sorry I asked," James mumbled.

"It's true," Lily said. "You get some satisfaction in asking me out every chance you get. You like me because you like the thrill you get from chasing after me. The moment I say yes, you'll ignore me and pretend I don't exist. Either that, or you'll attempt to sleep with me and then pretend it didn't happen. You don't even know me but you feel that you have to protect me and you're a real player who thinks-"

"I get it!" James cried out, jumping off the bed. "You think I'm a horrible person and want nothing to do with me." James sighed. "I get it." James started walking out.

"Well…isn't that what you're all about?" Lily asked.

James sighed once again and walked over to the bed but didn't sit down. "No…you've got me all wrong. I don't sleep with every person I see, that's Sirius. I don't use girls…anymore. I don't like the thrill of the chase, I like you. I protect you because I actually care about you. I don't know why I care for you because all you do is yell at me and make me feel like an awful person, but I do. Lily, don't you think any other guy would have given up and moved on? I figured that after many years, you'd understand that this isn't a game to me."

Lily looked at him sincerely and before she could stop herself, she pulled him down to the bed and started kissing him.

"Where's Lily?" Kacie asked Gigi.

Gigi gulped down her punch and shrugged. "How the hell should I know?"

"Hey Si?" Kacie asked, grabbing his arm as he walked by. "Do you know where Lily is?"

"I saw James bring her back to her room an hour or so ago," Sirius said with a shrug.

"There's a recipe for disaster," Gigi muttered.

"So, are you going home for winter break?" Kacie asked Sirius.

"Nope, James and I are staying here," Sirius said. "So you get to enjoy my company all break long."

"Excuse me if I don't jump for joy," Gigi grumbled.

"Hey, no one was talking to you Giliba," Sirius snapped.

"I didn't say you were," Gigi sneered.

"Yeah, well-"

"Guys!" Kacie exclaimed. "Can't we get through one night without you two biting each other's heads off?"

"No," the answered simultaneously.

"Well…at least you agreed on something," Kacie muttered. "That's a start."

"Where's James?" Remus asked, bringing over a garbage bag and handing it to Sirius.

Sirius groaned. "Probably getting out of clean-up."

"He left with Lily," Peter responded.

"Him and Lily?" Remus asked.

"Yup."

"Together?" Remus wondered.

"They were yelling," Peter clarified.

"Ooooh," Remus said.

Kacie grabbed a few empty cups and threw them into the trash bag. "So, Lily was pretty drunk huh?"

"Drunk is an understatement," Gigi murmured. "If someone hadn't spiked the punch, it wouldn't be a problem."

"And if someone had a problem with my punch, perhaps she shouldn't have had so many cups herself," Sirius muttered.

Remus chose to ignore their bickering. "Should we have let James take Lily back to her room when Lily is that drunk?" Remus asked. The five friends exchanged worried looks.

Although James was taken aback by Lily kissing him, he didn't protest. He pushed Lily against the bed and kissed her intensely. Lily groaned as his tongue entered her mouth. Lily started kissing him more passionately and tightened her arms around his back. James pulled out of her mouth and dropped kisses down her neck and smiled a little as he watched Lily moan. Lily looked straight into James's eyes and reached for the buttons on James's shirt.

"Wait, Lily," James said, breathing heavily. Lily didn't listen to him, and started pulling off her shirt. "Lily, you're drunk."

Lily shook her head furiously and started to pull James's shirt off, but he grabbed her hand. "Lily, I'm not taking advantage of you like this. You're drunk and-"

"Oh god, stop being a girl," Lily insisted, dropping her hands from his body.

"Now there's a way to get into my pants," James said sarcastically.

"I'm not that drunk James."

"Nine glasses of spiked punch completely contradicts that statement," James said.

"James, I know what I'm doing," Lily said.

"I don't think you do…considering you just called me James," James said.

"If I was that drunk, don't you think I'd be throwing up or blacking out right about now?" Lily asked. James and Lily just looked into each others eyes sincerely and finally, James gave in. James sighed, knowing this was Lily's first time, but he looked into her green eyes and before his conscience could take over, he brought his mouth to hers, and undid her bra strap.

Lily groaned as she woke up the next morning. She rubbed her head, trying hard to remember why it hurt so much. She opened her eyes and grunted as the light shined into them. She laid there for a few minutes trying to comprehend what happened. It took her a few minutes but she remembered the details of what happened very well. At first she groaned but then she realized that she didn't regret what happened at all. So instead, she smiled and turned over to look at James but was surprised when she didn't see him there.

"James?" Lily called out, but he didn't respond. Lily took the sheets to cover herself up and walked into the other room and screamed at what she saw. "Sirius?"

Sirius turned around and just burst out laughing. "My little Lily is growing up."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Lily asked, growing red from embarrassment.

"Laughing at you," Sirius said. He burst out laughing again. "Lily, I told you to try talking to him, not to jump into bed with him."

"Okay, you need to leave," Lily said, practically pushing Sirius out the door.

"This is as much my room as it is yours," Sirius called out over his shoulder.

"Nooo, it's as much James's as it is mine," Lily exclaimed, shutting the door in his face. Lily turned around and walked into James's room, but he wasn't there. She went over to his bed and sat down on it. She sighed and flopped her head down on the bed and closed her eyes.

"Hey Sirius?" Lily asked, coming into the Great Hall an hour later.

Sirius grinned. "Yes dear Lily?"

"Do you know where James is?"

"Well…if my memory serves me, you were the last one to see him," Sirius said, still grinning.

"Okay you really need to wipe that grin off your face," Lily said. She groaned and sat down.

"You look terrible," Remus said.

"I feel terrible," Lily grumbled, rubbing her forehead.

"There you are Lil," Gigi said, entering the Great Hall with Kacie. "We were waiting for you before we went to breakfast. You slept really late."

"She's hungover, what do you expect?" Peter asked.

"You did drink a lot," Kacie added.

"Don't remind me," Lily said, grabbing a piece of sausage and stuffing it in her mouth.

"Where's James?" Kacie asked.

Remus shrugged. "Don't know, haven't seen him since last night."

All eyes turned to Lily who was busy picking up another piece of sausage. She looked up and saw five pairs of eyes staring at her. "Don't look at me, I have no idea where he is."

"You saw him last," Remus said.

"I know! James and I were together last night. I get it! I'm the last to see him, yay for me! Now, can we please talk about something else?" Lily cried out in a sudden outburst. Everyone (minus Sirius) just stared at her like she had three heads.

"Um…are you okay Lily?" Gigi had the nerve to ask.

"Fine," she mumbled. They all ate in silence until Sirius got an owl a few minutes later.

"Who's it from?" Remus asked.

"James," Sirius said, he read the letter as everyone else went back to eating. Sirius gasped and looked up with an astonished look on his face. "He's gone."

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I amsooo evil!

the more reviews I get, the faster I'll post the next chapter...I promise!

why did James leave? where did he go? when will he come back? will he come back? what will happen with James and Lily? will I get a good grade on my paper? (oops...how'd that question get there?) haha, you better review if you want to find out the answers to all these questions and if you want me to post faster.