AN: Well, I had originally meant this to be a little one-shot drabble about James and Lily. But, at the behest of Zoe, I guess I'm continuing it. They'll all be like their own little one-shots, but they will be as cannonical as I can make them. I have to admit to an act horrifying for a writer: I haven't done all my research. As far as everything up to the 7th book, I've only seen the movies. And since we all know that movies cut lots out & change stuff, I've been sticking to stuff from the 7th book and info I found online. I'll try to fix that little problem ASAP, though. Now, go ahead and enjoy! Reviews are godsends!
Disclaimer: Still not in the owning of HP. Otherwise, I wouldn't have to scrounge up money by doing household chores just to buy a ridiculously over-priced Gryffindor jacket. J.K. Rowling is my god.
Lily blinked, the impression of the flames dancing behind her eyes. She looked to the left, where Sirius had hopped over the back of the couch she was sitting on only to crash down next to her, his sprawled body nearly dominating the rest of the space. She scooted back from him, frowning and glaring into his eyes, eternally dancing with an inner mischievous flame. "What?" She petulantly questioned after a prolonged moment of silence. He simply smirked at her, shaking his head and sitting up, allowing Remus to join them. She quickly shifted her attentions, knowing that even on Sirius' best day, she'd get better information from Remus. "Would you happen to have a clue as to what he's on about?" She questioned, leaning to get a clear view past Sirius' shaggy black mane. She would swear his parents couldn't care less about his appearance. But then, neither did her own as of late.
"Oh, he's just come down from talking with James. No clue what they were talking about, sorry. I was down here myself, working on Professor Kittlebourne's homework." He said, tilting his head back to indicate the small two-person table on the opposite side of the Common Room. She nodded in understanding. "What were you stuck on?" She questioned. He leaned forward now as well, catching her eye for the discussion. "Well, I'm still stuck as a matter of fact. It's the environment of Jupiter. He asked for specifics, but I have almost no clue where to find them. I've searched the book for every fleeting mention of the planet, but nothing comes up that is all that more specific than the other planet's environments." He animatedly discussed their Astronomy homework.
"Oh! I got stuck on the same one for a short while! But then, as I was trying to remember if he'd said anything in class about Jupiter, I remembered he'd pointed out that Muggle-written book on his desk, 'To View The Stars As Home'. So I went down to the Library to see if they had it, and Mrs. Puddlemere just smiled at me and pulled it out from behind a stack on her desk. She said it was a sort of test to see if we were really learning from our classes, or if it was just a blow-off class to all of us. I'd give you the answers, but I think I heard her writing as I left. He's probably keeping track of who's actually going one hundred percent on it, so you'd better go down yourself." He smiled greatfully and stood, grabbing the books he'd set down when he'd come to join them. She could hear him mumbling the name of the book under his breath on his way out.
As Remus had left, she was forced to give her attention back to Sirius, who still sat there lazily, just smirking at her. She glared back at him for a few moments before blowing out a gust of air, setting her bangs aflight. "What do you want, Black? I was enjoying myself." His smirk grew as he swung both arms around the back of the couch, stretching out. "By staring at the flames? Yeah, I've always known that to be bloody interesting. Finally gotten over Snivellus, have you? James told me you two were snogging yesterday, that's why it took you so long to get to dinner." He said, his infantile smirk growing wider with each sentance until it nearly burst off his face. Her eyes grew large and she suddenly grabbed his right arm, uprooting him from his casual perch and dragging him to a darker corner of the room. She pushed him into the corner itself, where he seemed to try to shrink into the wall, most likely because she now pressed her wand into his stomach. There was barely any menace in the slight pressure she placed upon the object, but he knew she'd make good of the unspoken threat if he upset her. "What exactly did James say?" She questioned in a threatening near-whisper, making sure they didn't draw the attention of the few others in the Common Room.
He smirked again; this was hardly surprising to her, the horrid smirk was nearly always on his face. He tossed his head to the side, flipping hair that had fallen into his face back off to the side before answering. "We were only talking about Quidditch when he blurted it out, don't get your knickers in a twist. Weren't even saying anything about Snivellus." He sniffed, reaching around her wand to scratch his nose. She pulled the wand away, placing it back in the pocket of her uniform skirt for now. He relaxed a bit when the warm wood was no longer pressed against his torso. She turned to sit at a nearby table, another seated for two. "Don't call him that." She tossed futilely over her shoulder at him. She knew that Sirius would never stop antagonizing Severus. She also knew that he had deeply offended her, that they could no longer be the best friends they once were. However, she couldn't seem to shake the rather instinctual habit of defending him against these rowdy boys, namely Sirius, even after all this time. Soothing herself by mentally commenting she'd do the same were it anyone else, she sank into a chair as Sirius flopped down opposite her.
"What, exactly, did he 'blurt out'?" She questioned, realizing he still hadn't told her precisely what had been said. "Well, he pretty much just started going on about you. Your hair, your brains, and I really just started tuning him out when all of the sudden, I hear him going on to the ceiling about how SNOGGING you was, and I just stopped him right there. I was just like 'Why the bloody hell would you snog her?' and he just said why wouldn't he and I told him that it wasn't a good idea to snog girls who don't like you or your friends." She barely repressed a giggle, though as it were she was grinning from ear to ear by the time he finished explaining. He looked at her, one eyebrow raised. She shook her head slightly at the antics of the boys, much different when they were all by themselves, in a way that she herself could appreciate. It therefore took her a moment to realize why he was gazing at her so expectantly.
"Oh, honestly Sirius! I don't hate you, you know. It's not even that I don't like can be a perfectly fine gentleman when you want to. And that's the point. You never act it. You're always playing tricks on people, you never stop. It's rather rude. You still poke fun at me whenever the opportunity arises! How can you expect me to just enjoy that?" She questioned, tilting her head and frowning at him. He merely frowned back. "That still doesn't say anything about your dislike for James. And yet you go around snogging him?" He tossed at her. She sat up a little straighter, raising her nose in a natural reaction. "Oh please. As if you're anyone to judge whom I do and do not like, Sirius!" There was a moment of silence from their table, in which he sat, the singular eyebrow still raised in a scrutinizing manner. She deflated, slumping down into her chair.
"Besides," she started as she glared at the table with her lips pursed, refusing to look at him. "James has changed a great deal since first year. He doesn't tease and play jokes and poke fun at others like you and Peter. He's grown up. Whereas you, on the other hand, seem to have only gotten younger and younger." She tossed the last sentance on, needing to defend her own pride. She looked up to see his blank face staring back at her, blinking rather rapidly. Thinking on it, she couldn't seem to remember ever having seen his face entirely blank, devoid of any emotion. He stood suddenly, dragging her attention to the present day. He walked past her, clapping her on the shoulder as he went, manouvering across the room towards the stairs that spun up to their dorms. Staring after him for only a moment, her cheeks grew warm as James suddenly appeared where Sirius had just dissapeared behind the curving stone walls. He glanced around at the small groups gathered here and there before his eyes landed on her. They locked eyes before she quickly dropped her own to scrutinize imaginary shapes on the table before her.
A moment later she was forced to glance back up as he sunk down into the seat across from her, leaning forward over the table, causing his hazel eyes, chocolate and fresh grass swirled together in an endless vortex, to be radically close to her. She pulled her own head back, glancing about them. She hadn't realized while she'd been conversing with Sirius, but their location in the room was rather intimate, personal. They were in a darkened corner to the right of the fireplace, and she wondered if the room had not been designed in a manner so as to create places like this for couples who wanted alone time. As they were really supposed to stay to their own gender's dormitories, the Common Room was really the only place for such displays of affection, and she had to admit, these little darkened corners truly did the trick. She doubted that anyone would really notice they were there if they simply glanced about the room. Her eyes whipped back to his as he grasped one of her hands where it had been resting against the table. She wondered idly if there was even enough room on the slim piece of wood for two pieces of parchment before all thoughts stopped as James suddenly leaned forward and her eyes slammed shut as his lips pressed against hers. It wasn't even close to full-on snogging, but the brief kiss still seemed too intimate in manner to be shared in the Common Room.
When James pulled back, he had a silly little smirk upon his face as he fell back to his previous position leaning over the table. She blinked three times rapidly, falling back to rest against the chair, it's wooden back supporting her. She cleared her throat before speaking. "I've told you not to do that in public!" She whispered, her cheeks flaring red as her hair. He reached up, tucking a lock of the flaming red hair behing her left ear, the smile still in place. "No, you told me we couldn't SNOG in public. That wasn't snogging, that was a little kiss, I barely touched you. And anyways, the Common Room is hardly public. It's not like I just stood up and kissed you in front of the entire school in the Great Hall or anything." He explained, the ever-present air of importance in his voice. She doubted it would ever entirely leave, but it was less pure arrogance now, and more she suspected from his presence in his family. It must have been the single child presence that made him so all-important. She had to admit, it gave him an air of... aloofness. Though as of late, she'd noticed him more and more, helping first years find rooms, picking up books when other students bumped into him. She blushed slightly brighter when she remembered walking around the corner in a corridor only to see him helping a flustered Molly Prewett pick up her books. She'd been incredibly envious and rather angry, though she knew it was an entirely irrational anger, knew that he harboured not even a slight romantic feeling for Molly. They both thought she was a very nice girl, helpful and kind, a truly good person to have as a friend. Besides that fact, she'd seen Molly the past few weeks eyeing Arthur Weasley in Muggle Studies rather than paying attention to the lessons. Lily was glad, as most people avoided Arthur because of his family's bad name. It was truly cruel, she thought, that people who were not even alive during the incident were punished for a family member's previous misgivings.
With no small effort, she drew her attention back to James, who was smiling at her like she was the best thing since Butterbeer. She frowned at him. "What?" She questioned, confused as to what could be the reason behind his wide smile. He quirked up a corner of his mouth, creating a cute little off-kilter smile that always caused her thoughts to pause. "It's nothing. Just... I love when you do that." He criptically spoke, causing her brow to furrow even deeper. "Do what? I didn't do anything. I was just sitting here." She frowned, her bottom lip jutting out slightly. "Not that. When you zone out like you do, staring off into space. Your eyes cloud over, but there's such brilliance behind the fog, I'm always wondering what you're thinking of. It drives me mad, though I've never seen anything prettier than your foggy emeralds." He said, the tilted smile still conquering his mouth. She simply stared at him for a few silent moments, captivated by the smile. Those were the most romantic words that had come from anyone's mouth, she was certain. She hadn't even known he'd be capable of such a speech. She blinked at him for a few moments before quickly standing, pushing the chair back with her movement. She grasped his right hand and dragged him from the table, pulling him along out the entry way to the Gryffindor Common Room, passing through long corridors and going down stairs, not waiting for them to attach to the other end before rushing down them.
Passing through a long corridor on the second floor, Remus walked by them, saying a pleasant hello. She merely tossed a quick, not quite as curteous 'hello' over her shoulder at him as she continued to drag James past, leaving Remus to watch them disappear down the stairs at the other end of the lengthy corridor with a lost expression about him. Finally, they reached her destination and she tossed him rather roughly against the twisted willow in the middle of the empty courtyard, the setting sun appearing to set her head aflame, lighting the strands of James' hair with reds, oranges and pinks. As she looked up at him a blush stole over her cheeks while she thought of her unplanned event. He surprised her by once again pushing a lock of hair behind an ear and smirking. "You look like someone pushed you into a fire." He joked. She frowned, pushing lightly at his right shoulder, smiling herself at the statement. She bit her lip lightly before stepping closer to him.
"James?" She started, not sure how to go about this. "Yeah?" He questioned, looking down one her. She took in a gulp of breath, bracing herself. "I love you." She said, looking up at him, watching intently for his reaction. He blinked at her, his mouth hanging slightly open. In any other situation she would have laughed, told him to close his gob before he caught flies. Rather suddenly, he let out an explosive 'HA!', causing her to jump nearly a foot into the air. He wrapped his large arms around her, hugging her tightly to him and swinging her in large circles, her legs flying out behind her. She giggled as his booming laugh vibrated her own skin. Soon enough he fell backwards, arms still around her, crashing to the ground with her on top of him. They simply lay for a couple of minutes, wordless. She looked up, pulling her head back as he moved below her. He was looking down at her, a small but extremely happy smile on his face. "I love you too, Lily Evans." He smiled wider, grasping her tightly around her waist, pulling her up for a moment of brilliant snogging just as the sun set beyond the boundaries of Hogwarts.
AN: Gotta love the fluff. Lol, Sirius. That's my favorite part. =) R&R!!!