A/N: Hello! Here's chapter 15! Sorry it took so long…but it's a long chapter. The longest James chapter so far :) I loved writing this chapter. I hope you like it, and PLEASEEEEEE review? :)
(JAMES'S P.O.V)
"Is your watch broken?"
"No…"
"James."
"Reparo. See, it's fine now!"
"Ugh-"
"No, Lil, don't feel bad, okay?"
"Of course I feel bad! It's your birthday-"
"It only started five minutes ago-"
"And your gift to me on mine…" she said, grabbing the locket lying on her chest. "I could never repay you for-"
"Lily, you got me three Christmas gifts. I think that's enough."
"James-"
I kissed her, hoping she'd drop it. But she pulled away.
"Would you quit doing that?" she asked, but I saw a hint of a smile on her face. "It can't always work."
I shrugged. "I gotta try."
She rolled her eyes. "James-"
"Lily," I said firmly. "It's my birthday, and as the birthday boy- wait, man- I am asking you to stop feeling guilty about not getting me a present."
"But-"
"And accept the fact that I don't care that you didn't get me anything."
She looked at me, and I stared at her back, and then she sighed. "Fine, you win."
"Don't I always?"
"You lost to me in chess an hour ago. And every other time we play-"
"You cheat!"
"I do not!"
"Well, there's no other explanation."
She rolled her eyes. "What about that you're rubbish at chess and I'm amazing?"
"Nah, that doesn't really work for me."
"Oh, shut up," she said.
"Will do," I said, leaning in and kissing her again.
She pulled away and then looked at me strangely and said, "I know you're upset."
"I told you, I don't care that you didn't get me a gift."
"Not about that," she said. "About Sirius."
Sirius and I got into a row a few days ago and we haven't spoken since. It was because of Carly, and Quidditch. Ever since they broke up they were doing all right working together on the Quidditch pitch, but the other week Carly started dating a boy in her own year from Gryffindor, and it kind of pissed Sirius off. So at practice the other day, he was being very uncooperative and started a row with her in front of the entire team. I told him how ridiculous he was being and then he started bickering with me and shouting at me, and he cursed me out and stormed off and has been avoiding me since.
"So what if I am."
"You'll make up soon. You always do."
I sighed and lied back down, closing my eyes. "How do you know?"
"Because," she said, lying back down too, laying her head against my shoulder. "I know everything."
"Do you really?"
"Mhm."
"What's Dumbledore's middle name?"
"He has three, actually. Percival Wulfric Brian."
"You're just a stalker."
"I read."
"Same difference."
"Not really."
I sighed.
"James, he'll come around. You know he will."
"I hope you're right," I said.
She pulled my face down to hers and kissed me hard, and I kissed her back, and it was like a blissful oblivion, and nothing else mattered.
And then, eventually, kissing led to…well, other things…
Basically, happy birthday to me.
Afterward, we just sort of lied there together, not talking much, but it was a sweet kind of silence. Though it's not an every day thing, we've been shagging for two months now, so any awkwardness of the afterward had kind of dissipated. I played with her hair and kept kissing her bare skin as she traced shapes on my chest with her fingers.
"Are you sure it's okay that we're sleeping in here?" she asked some time later.
"I'm sure," I told her, nibbling on her ear. "And it's not like anyone can come in. It's the Room of Requirement. This room requires our usage."
She laughed lightly and gave me a quick peck before we wrapped ourselves together and closed our eyes and fell asleep.
I woke up to her kissing my neck. "Mm, good morning."
"Morning, handsome," she said, and then kissed my lips. "Happy birthday."
I pulled her face back down to mine for a good birthday morning snog. Oh, how lucky I was for a girl who was so delicate yet so fiery and full of passion.
After who knows how long, she pulled away. "I think we should go to breakfast. It's sort of late, and our mates are probably questioning our absence."
"Five more minutes?" I almost begged, not wanting to let go of her. I kissed her neck, knowing that she would have to give in.
But she didn't, and instead she pulled away. "Come on, get dressed. Big day!"
She went into the bathroom the room had provided us. When she came out a few minutes later, I hadn't moved and I asked, "Since when did you have self restraint?"
"Since birth," she said, walking over to the rucksack in which she packed clothes for the both of us. I couldn't help but look at her.
"That's a lie."
"Fine, I've been practicing," she said, putting on a yellow shirt over her head, and then throwing one of my blue shirts to me.
"Must you always make me wear blue?" I asked her.
She glared at me. "Get over it."
"What's your deal with that anyway?" I said, putting the t-shirt on.
"I just really like blue!" she said, throwing me trousers. "And I like the way you look in it."
"But you always take my shirts and wear them yourself anyway!"
"Oh, don't complain. You loooove the way I look in your clothes and you know it."
"Maybe, I do, but that's not the point."
"The point is you like them off me more, I know."
I laughed, pulling my trousers on. "And you like them off me more, too."
"So, there should be no problem with me making you wear blue, because then it gets torn off by one of us anyway," she said, putting on a pair of jeans, then throwing socks and my sneakers on the bed.
"I love you," I told her, sniggering.
"I love you too," she replied with a radiant smile. "Now, hurry up, would you?" she said, slipping on yellow shoes, moving to the mirror and putting something on her lips.
I put on my socks and sneakers, put on my glasses, and walked over to where she was, after she fixed her hair. I wrapped my arms around her waist from the back of her and kissed her neck. "You smell nice," I told her. "And look nice, too."
"Thanks," she answered, and I felt the goose bumps on her skin as I kissed her neck again. She turned around to face me and said, "I told you I'm trying to practice my self restraint. It's the morning. Don't make it so difficult for me, please?"
"I can't help it that I'm so irresistible," I joked, smiling. "Come on, it's my birthday."
"I know, but…" she sighed, putting a hand on my face, and then she leaned up and kissed me softly anyway.
"Fine," I said, holding her tighter. "But tonight after my party, you're all mine. No self-control. Deal?"
"Deal," she said, smiling up at me, and every time she smiled I fell in love with her again.
I smiled back, and then without thinking, leaned in and kissed her again, and instead of pushing me away, she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me back fiercely, her tongue making its way into my mouth. After about a minute of melting in her glorious kisses, she pulled away sharply. "Okay, no more. Go to the loo and wash up. Then breakfast."
"Okay, Mum," I said, rolling my eyes with a cheeky grin, walking to the bathroom.
"I hope you don't kiss your Mum like that," I heard her call out as I closed the door.
Oh, Lily. You are gross.
When I got out Lily was waiting for me with her rucksack, standing by the door, and I noticed she must have put on some makeup while I was in the loo.
"Ready?" she asked, stick out her hand.
I took it. "Yep."
She handed me the map and we checked to see that the coast was clear, and then we snuck out of the room. We walked to the Great Hall and saw our friends all sitting there, chatting.
"Hey, look who finally showed up," said Peter.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" shouted June, jumping out of her seat and hugging me. "Has Lily been taking good care of you?"
"Horrible care, actually," I said, and then Delia hugged me and wished me a happy birthday too, to which I saw Remus looking at her carefully.
Ever since Valentine's Day, Remus and Delia have been on and off as an official couple, right now they were on, but on the rocks. None of us were too happy about it, but we just went with the flow because we knew there was nothing we could do about it.
Lily and I sat next to them, and June sat next to Sirius, who still had not acknowledged me. Remus slapped me on the back and he and Peter wished me a happy birthday. Sirius still hadn't said anything, and he started to get up but I saw June pull him back down and slapped his arm, to which he glared at her.
Sirius didn't look at me once, and I started getting irritated. Lily noticed I was agitated, and she put her hand on my leg, rubbing it lightly, which did relax me (and excite me just a bit).
When we finished breakfast, Lily said, "Okay, so we're switching up the order of things of what we did on my birthday."
"Oh?"
"So, before your party, we're going to get quality time," she said, holding my hand, rubbing her thumb back and forth against it. "But now you're going to spend time with your mates."
"Lily-"
She stood up, and so did I, and then June pulled Sirius up by the ear, ignoring his "ow, ow, ow," shouts.
"Listen you two nitwits," said June loudly. "Make up. You're ignoring each other for no bloody reason. You're acting like five year olds. James, Sirius is going through a rough time, and you just have to be there for him and not get so angry at his behavior. And Sirius, you can't get irrationally angry with James when he's your best mate! And it's his birthday! Now snog and make up and call it a day, capiche?"
Sirius and I looked at each other, and though I expected to him just walk out, instead, he came around the table and gave me a bear hug.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"I'm sorry, too," I said, hugging him back.
We let go and he grinned. "Happy birthday, mate."
"Thanks."
"All right, you blokes could finish up your love fest somewhere else," said June. "Us ladies have business to take care of, sort of. As do you four. So, run along, children."
"What business do you have to take care of?" asked Peter.
"Oh, you know. Girl stuff. Nails, hair, makeup, the fun stuff! We're also going to Hogsmeade to get decorations for tonight since a certain someone, ehem, Remus, ehem, was too busy snogging his girlfriend endlessly, ehem, and er, never got them when he was supposed to!"
Remus's face turned pink. "Sorry," he mumbled, Delia laughing and kissing his cheek.
"Ah, it's Remus, he never screws up. Doesn't he get a get-out-of-jail-free card?" said Sirius.
"I suppose," said June. "But still. Anyway, We have no money, so we're using Remus's."
"You guys could just use-" I tried.
"NO!" shouted both Lily and June at me. I supposed Delia would have joined in that also if she weren't too busy talking to Remus in whispers.
"James, under no circumstances are we using any of your money," said Lily. "And it's your birthday!"
"I'm just a giving soul, what could I say?" I said, smirking.
June rolled her eyes. "All right, enough with the ego boosting. Let us part our ways."
Lily wrapped her arms around my waist and looked up at me. "Told you," she said.
"Shut up," I said, giving her a look.
She smiled, and then she reached up and kissed me quickly. "Love you. Meet me here at noon? For lunch?"
I nodded, trying to lean in for one more kiss, but she just rolled her eyes and tried to let go, though I didn't want her to at all. But she did, and it was always the worst feeling when she did.
"S'Later," I murmured to her.
She smiled and walked off with her mates, leaving me with mine.
"So, me lads, what are we doing on this fine birthday of mine?"
"Why, pranking some Slytherins of course!" said Sirius. "Fellas, the cloak?"
"We got it," answered Remus.
"Great, me maties, let's get ready to rumble!" said Sirius, high-fiving me.
"Why are you two talking like that?" asked Peter.
"Well, why not, young Peter?" I said.
"Why you two always think you are pirates, I'll never know," said Remus.
"Pirates?" I said. "I'm not sure if we were really going for just pirates."
"More like 18th century pirate rockstar philosophers," said Sirius.
Peter and I laughed, and Remus just shook his head. "Why am I friends with you guys again?"
"Because, we're awesome, duh," answered Sirius. "Now, away we go!"
"Okay, Captain Hook," Remus said, chuckling.
And so, we pranked. We pranked a bunch of Slytherins, some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws too. It was loads of fun, and we got away with it all, thanks to the cloak. The only prank we played on a Gryffindor was by Sirius, on the fifth year Gryffindor Carly's dating.
I totally made Snivellus's hair pink, and had the honor of transfiguring Mulciber into a chicken.
It was loads of fun, really.
After a while we went to the Common Room and played exploding Snap for a while, to which I won three out of the five games. Remus won the other two, to Sirius's dismay. Peter never wins exploding Snap, so he was used to it.
Remus told us about his latest fight with Delia, which was over him thinking that she's still not over Michael, which could very possibly be true, and though they made up (by snogging, which is why he forgot to get the decorations), he's still worried. Sirius told us about this sixth year that he snogged (and a bit more) with the other day, but he still fancies Carly. Peter and that Hufflepuff bird have stopped snogging, though it was the longest run for Pete, ever. He seems to be good with Hufflepuffs, though, so we're going to find some more for him.
We went to the Great Hall for lunch and sat down and started to eat. About three minutes later, someone slapped the back of my head. "Oi, Potter, stop eating!"
I turned my head with my mouthful of mashed potatoes, and there stood Lily, one hand returning to her hip, the other holding a basket and a jumper, and she was wearing a jumper herself. And she was smiling. "We've got a date, remember?"
"How could I ever forget?" I said after I swallowed the food in my mouth, smiling back. "But I thought it was after lunch?"
"Yeah, no. Drop the fork and get your cute arse up. We're eating lunch somewhere else."
"My arse is pretty cute, isn't it?" I said, getting up and kissing her cheek.
"We don't need to hear about it," said June, sitting down in my seat.
"Sorry," said Lily, holding back a laugh. "All right, we'll see you guys tonight!"
"Bye," they all chorused.
She gave me the jumper she was carrying. "Put it on. It's a bit chilly."
"You went through my stuff? Without my permission? Man, Lil, I know you're obsessed with me, but I think you're taking this a bit too far," I joked.
She rolled her eyes. "Just put it on, will you?"
I laughed and obliged, and then she took my hand and we left the Great Hall, heading towards a door that lead outside.
"So, where are we off to?" I asked, squeezing her hand.
"So impatient," she said, rolling her eyes. "Just wait a few minutes, would you?"
"All right, all right," I sighed. We went outside. It was the end of March, so the weather was really nice now. "Thanks for last night."
"My pleasure," she said. "I knew you needed a break from everything. It was nice."
"Do you think we could go there tonight?" I asked hopefully.
She giggled, squeezing my hand. "The boys said we can keep your dorm room to ourselves tonight, so I think we'll just go up there."
"Can't wait."
"Well, you'll have to," she said, giving me a look.
"I know, I know…"
She smiled and then kissed my hand. "Don't worry. I'm keeping my end of the bargain. S'why I reserved your room to ourselves."
"Good, 'cause I can't get last night out of my head."
She smirked, and then bumped her side against mine. "Come on."
We kept walking and finally, we reached our destination. "The quidditch pitch?"
"Yeah," she said, as we kept walking to the center. "We haven't gone out here in a while. I mean, you're here all the time, 'cause you're a practice junkie, but I mean, us two. This used to be our spot. A few nights ago, you were asleep in your room and I was in mine so I didn't want to bother you and wake you up, but I had a lot on my mind…mostly my dad. So I came out here and looked up at the stars and thought a lot…and then I remembered when we used to come here a lot and spend time together. I miss that. So, I thought today would be a good day to revisit it. I checked the quidditch practice schedule and saw the pitch was free, so, viola, here we are."
"You…you could always come and wake me up if you need me, you know," I told her, putting a hand on her face.
"I…I know," she answered. "But I don't want to be a bother, you know…"
"Lil," I said softly. "I'm serious. You're never a bother. Anytime, honestly, I'd be more than happy to talk to you about anything."
She smiled shyly. "Thanks…I know, I just…"
"You haven't really spoken so much about your dad lately. Do you want to talk about him now? What else is on your mind?"
"No, James, James…I, I'm fine, honest. I was just having a bad night, that's all. I got too lost in thought."
"Lily, come on."
"No, really. I'm okay. I want today to be about you, only. I'm really okay, I promise. Besides, the reason I brought us here wasn't for that, I just miss us spending time together here. So," she said, letting go of me and putting the basket on the floor. She opened it and took out a blanket.
I knew she wasn't "really okay," but I wasn't going to push her to talk about it if she didn't want to. She had seemed a bit happier lately, so I'm just happy she's all right. I helped her put the blanket down and then she opened the basket and put out all the food: chicken, mashed potatoes, bread, broccoli, rice, etc. After we finished putting everything out, she stood up straight and smiled at me. I walked over to her, put both my hands on her face, and kissed her hard. She reciprocated, and I could feel my stomach doing flips. I ran my hands throw her hair, and then down her arms, and then around her waist, and then eventually on her bum, and though she let my hands stay there for quite a bit, she eventually pulled away and moved my hands. "Later, remember?"
"Sorry," I said honestly. "Got carried away. You can't blame me."
"I can blame you plenty," she said, grinning, and then she leaned in and kissed me one more time before we sat down and ate.
It was a really nice lunch. And she was right, it was really nice to be back here on the pitch, like we used to. We both made each other laugh and she told me about her morning. When she asked me about mine I was reluctant to tell her, but when I did, she kind of just gave me an- I'll-let-it-slide-'cause-it's-your-birthday look and rolled her eyes.
We also snogged for quite a while, which was nice because Lily didn't really reprimand me for putting my hands in certain places, or kissing her with such an intensity like there was no way I could stop, and she seemed to have the same attitude back, so I took that as a good sign.
I got lost in her, and never wanted to find my way back out.
Unfortunately though, after what must have been twenty to thirty minutes, Lily pulled away, but with a smile on her face. "I almost forgot," she said, untangling herself from me. "I'll be right back."
"Where are you-"
She kissed me one more time and then ran off towards the locker rooms.
What was she doing?
While she was gone I tried to relax myself and think of other things, since my body was, er, all worked up from snogging Lily senseless.
I was calmed down when she came back out, and I noticed she was holding my broom.
"I thought you'd like to just fly around for a bit, and I'd have the pleasure of watching you."
She held out the broom and I took hold of it, leaning in and kissing her again. "You're the best, you know."
"I do know," she smiled.
I mounted my broom and flew up, speeding around, enjoying the new spring breeze. I looked down at Lily, who was watching me intently, and after a while, I came down, and said, "I know what I want for my birthday."
"Oh?"
I grabbed her hand. "You're getting on the broom with me."
She pulled away sharply. "Um, WHAT?"
"Come on," I said, taking her hand again. "You owe me. This is my birthday present. You get on the broom with me."
"James, I can't!"
"What, you've never ridden before?"
"In first year flying lessons! But that's it!"
"Lil, you'll be safe, I swear it," I said, trying not to laugh at how red her cheeks were turning. "You'll hold on to me. I won't go too fast. You'll love it."
"I don't know…"
"Please?" I asked in the most innocent voice I could muster.
She scoffed. "Fine, fine! But any funny business and I push you off."
"So violent," I laughed.
I mounted my broom and Lily got on behind me slowly, and then squeezed my waist as tight as she probably could.
"We're not even in the air yet!" I said, laughing.
"Shut up and just fly before I make a run for it."
Slowly, I lifted us off the ground, and then I started lifting us faster, and Lily squealed against my back, squeezing even tighter.
I started the regular flying off slow, and I could feel Lily trembling a bit.
"Lily," I said, as I raised us higher.
"Yeah?"
"Open your eyes."
She sighed, and then she said, "OH MY GOD HOW HIGH UP ARE WE!?"
I laughed and I flew us towards the castle, flying around and above it. With time, Lily's grip around me loosened, and she stopped shaking. We flew around everything, and then after about fifteen minutes I landed us back in the pitch.
We both got off. "Well?" I asked.
"THAT WAS THE MOST INCREDIBLE THING I'VE EVER DONE!" Lily shouted, throwing her arms around me and kissing my mouth.
"Told you you'd love it."
"Oh, James, could you teach me? Please?"
"Right now?"
"Yes! How much time do we have? About an hour? Please?"
I laughed. "Sure. There are extra brooms in the locker room. They're not great but I'll use one of them and you could use mine."
"Ah!" she screamed, and then kissed me again. "Come on, let's go!" She grabbed my hand and started running towards the locker room. I went to the broom shed in there and took out the best one and tossed her my own broom. We went back out and I retaught her how to mount the broom and then take off. She got it on the first try. I got up in the air with her and we slowly flew around the pitch a few times, until she got the hang of it and then she started to accelerate. And then, she started to race me. To say the least, I was kind of turned on. But that's beside the point. Anyway, I obviously beat her, but she actually put up a pretty good fight. She didn't even want to get off the brooms, so we just flew around a lot. And then, she started asking me about Quidditch! All in all, it was probably one of the best dates I've ever had with Lily.
When we finally got off the brooms, Lily was all hyped up with adrenaline. She was smiling like crazy and laughing and bouncing around.
"How much time do we have until we have to get ready for tonight?" she asked when we put the broom back in the shed of the locker room.
I looked at my watch. "Five minutes."
She smiled mischievously, and then pressed me against one of the lockers and pushed her tongue into my mouth, her hands roaming under my jumper and shirt on my chest. I groaned in her mouth and pulled her closer to me, and my body reacted almost immediately. Lily obviously noticed, put she just pushed herself closer against me, which was, er, not helping the situation. But we kept snogging, and it was heated and passionate and wonderful.
Sometime later, Lily pulled away and said against my mouth, "It's been more than five minutes," and then kissed me again.
"Too bad," I whispered back, and kissed her more.
She groaned but then pulled back. "We have to go up."
"No," I whined, kissing her neck.
She let out a soft moan. "No, no, no. I can't believe I let you do this," she said. "You promised we'd wait until later to do anything to get us too, er, excited."
"Hey, you're the one that initiated this, not me," I said, and pressed my lips to hers again. "Your fault."
"You were supposed to stop me."
"I'm not that strong," I smiled, and then kissed her again.
"Mmm, me neither, so we have to stop," she said, giving me one last kiss.
I sighed heavily. "Fine…"
She grinned. "We'll pick up where we left off later. Sound good?"
"Brilliant," I said, wiggling my eyebrows.
She rolled her eyes and pushed me. "Come on, let's go."
I grabbed her hand and off we went, back to the castle. When we got into the Common Room, we saw our mates setting up for my party. June yelled at me to get upstairs, insisting that Lily cannot follow me because she has to help set up and get ready too. I gave her one last kiss and went upstairs to my room, took a long hot shower, got dressed, and then just lied down on my bed, reading the letter I got from my parents. They sent me some money and wrote a short note. Well, Mum wrote it, but spoke on Dad's behalf as well. He's not doing too well, and neither is she, and work on both their ends is crazy busy and they barely have time to breathe. They told me not to worry and have fun in school and that they loved me, all that. It wasn't much different then most of their letters except for the "happy birthday," but it was the first letter I got back from them since Christmas, so I'd take what I could get.
Remus came in the room a little while later. "Ready, mate?"
"Hell yeah," I said, getting up.
"Just, a warning," he said as I put an arm around him. "Sirius is not in the, well, best of moods."
"Why so?"
"Carly," he answered. "They had a huge row before. Sirius has been ticked ever since, so if he's an idiot, don't take it personally."
"Got it," I answered. "What was it about?" I asked as we descended the stairs.
"Marc Green," he answered.
"Oh, that bloke in her year she's dating?"
"Well, was dating. Past tense."
"What?!"
"I'll tell you later," Remus whispered as we got to the Common Room.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY POTTER!" everyone shouted when I got down, holding up assorted drinks in their hands.
I thanked them, and then Peter handed me a shot of firewhiskey, and the party officially begun.
The lads had the elves bring up all kinds of food, so I ate pizza and it was heavenly.
Sirius looked positively dreadful. He was glaring at Carly, who was with her friends, from across the room with a strange intensity. I went over to him and tried to cheer him up without asking what was even going on, but it didn't seem to work. He just gulped down his butterbeer and told me not to worry about him, and then offered to play a drinking game.
I said I would do it, but I wanted to find Lily first, since she was nowhere to be found. I awkwardly interrupted June flirting with some sixth year to ask her where Lily was, and she said she just came down. I walked around a bit more but couldn't find her.
"Looking for me?"
I turned around and there she stood, wearing a gold sparkle top and a short black skirt, her hair down and in loose curls. "Happy birthday," she said, smiling brightly. I smirked and pulled her close to me and kissed her right on the mouth, and apparently everyone somehow tuned into it and started wolf whistling and clapping. Lily kissed me back, but when I pulled away her face was almost as red as her hair. I felt bad for her being embarrassed, but she just took my hand and told me how handsome I looked.
"You look fit," I told her back.
"Such a sweet way to compliment," she said sarcastically but with a smile.
"I've always had a way with words."
She rolled her eyes and squeezed my hand. "Come on, I'm hungry."
So Lily got her food and then we went over to Sirius, who was setting up a game of Exploding Snap, but we were going to play the drinking version of it.
"Ready, my boy?" said Sirius, slapping my back.
"Let's do this."
"You in, Lils?" asked Sirius.
"No thank you."
"Come on, don't be such a woos."
"I'm Head Girl! I shouldn't even be letting this go on, so just do your game and keep me out of it. I'm a good audience."
"Just do it."
"Sirius-"
"Have you ever even gotten drunk in your life?"
"Yes, actually!"
"When was the last time?"
"When I realized I fancied James," she said, looking at me.
"So you resorted to alcohol to get me off your mind because you couldn't do it otherwise, eh?" I said.
"Shut up," she replied.
"That was ages ago," Sirius continued. "Come on, let loose! You're too uptight."
"I am not!"
"Uptight."
"Not."
"Okay, sure."
She gave him a rather scathing look, and then picked up one of the shots of firewhisky laid out in front of her and gulped one down. "I'm in."
"Lil, you don't have to do this," I told her. "Just because-"
"No, no, I'm doing it. Don't worry about it, I'm a big girl, I can handle it," she said. "Let's start, yeah?"
I looked at Sirius. "What are you playing at?"
"Oh, you'll enjoy it," he said, winking. "Lily's right. We should start."
Remus, Delia, June, and Peter all joined in.
It was a long game, so when it ended we were all pretty sloshed. It ended up coming down between Sirius and Lily.
Lily won.
The rest of the night was ridiculously fun. Music was blasting, we were dancing, people were snogging left and right, you know, a real party. Lily and I were both pretty drunk, and I had never been drunk with her before, so it was quite the experience.
During the middle of the party though, Sirius and Carly had a screaming match that we were all so lucky to hear. At the end of it, however, they started snogging on the couch. Lily and I took the time to go upstairs to my room. I carried her clumsily up the steps laughing and dropped her on my bed.
We shagged, and it was, well, fun and hilarious, from what I remember. It was sloppy and we were laughing most of the time, but Lily did not hold back at all, so, a very lucky birthday boy I was. Afterward, we kind of passed out in my bed.
I woke up with a bit of a headache, Lily still beside me, sound asleep, and noticed Sirius's bed was still made, which meant he didn't come back last night. Hmm. Interesting.
Remus and Peter were both dressed, about to head out the door.
"Hey," I whispered. "Thanks for the party last night."
"No problem, mate," said Peter.
"It was fun," said Remus. "Glad you had a good birthday."
"Thanks," I said.
They waved and left, closing the door behind them. I looked at Lily, who was still not awake, and kissed her cheek. I got up myself and went to the loo to wash up. When I came out, I put on my glasses and went back into the bed to read a book Lily had lent me that I was actually enjoying. About thirty pages in, Lily woke up.
"Morning there, love," I said, closing the book and putting it on my bedside table.
She squinted her eyes, looking at me curiously. "You're actually reading that?"
I nodded. "It's good."
She raised her eyebrows, and then said, "My head hurts."
"You're hung-over."
"Why did I drink again?"
"Sirius convinced you to."
She looked confused, and then she closed her eyes and groaned. "Remind me to never listen to Sirius again for as long as I live. Ever."
I chuckled. "Whatever you say."
"Why aren't you in agony?"
"I don't usually get that bad of hangovers."
She groaned again. "I hate you."
"I have a potion, if you want. It'll help."
"Please."
I opened up a drawer on my bedside table and took it out. "Here, just take a gulp," I said, handing it over to her. "It doesn't taste too good though."
She sat up and took a gulp and cringed, swallowing it down. "In how long will I feel like I'm not dying?"
"About twenty minutes."
"Fine," she sighed, handing it to me and then lying back down. "At least last night was fun."
"It was," I said, putting away the potion. "Thanks."
"Of course," she said, mid-yawn. "But we can't keep making a habit of this. You know, me waking up in your bed. Not that I don't like it, but, you know. It's school. We're Head Boy and Head Girl. This happens too frequently."
And then the words flew out of my mouth without me even thinking. "Well, when school's over you could live with me and always wake up next to me, and you'll never have to worry about getting in trouble."
Her eyes widened. "You mean, move in with you?"
Oh shit. I couldn't believe I just asked her that. I mean, I've thought about it before, of course, but I wasn't thinking of asking her right now. But I did. And it was what I did want, so hey, what the hell. "Er, yeah. If, you know, you want to."
She smiled. "I'd like that."
"R-Really?"
"Yeah, you big dunce," she said. "Of course I would."
I smiled and kissed her, and she kissed me back, and my heart danced inside my chest. We parted and I said, "I love you."
"I love you too," she responded, and then kissed me again. "I think I'm going to go to my room now, though."
"What? Why?" I asked. "It's Saturday, we have nothing to do but lounge about anyway. Just stay here, please?"
"Calm down, I'll come right back. I just want to shower and change."
"Why change when I'm just going to rid you of your clothes the moment you come back?"
She rolled her eyes but smiled. "Who says I'll let you?"
"Oh, come on, Lil. You're almost always the instigator."
"Shut your mouth," she said, getting up and collecting her clothes. "Only half the time. You start it plenty too."
"Yeah, but I have no shame admitting it."
She shook her head and put on her clothes from last night. Just when she was about to head out, Sirius came in, looking stressed out.
"What's up, mate?" I asked.
And then Lily sat back down on the bed as Sirius caught us up on the Carly drama. Carly and her boyfriend broke up because she didn't really fancy him at all. Sirius told her he still had feelings for her but she said she didn't have any for him anymore, to which a fight began. At the party they had fought because under the influence of alcohol, Carly confessed that she still loved him, despite what she had said before, and then Sirius shouted that she can't keep doing this to him, yadda yadda, and then they started snogging and ended up going to his flat and shagged. They had a long talk all night and decided to stay apart, since the year was almost over anyway and neither of them could see it lasting once Sirius was done with school.
We all agreed that it was the right choice, but both Lily and I couldn't help but feel bad for the guy. I had never seen him this torn up over someone.
Lily suggested that I should spend the day with Sirius to try to cheer him up a bit, and I agreed. Sirius insisted he didn't need it, but I told him it was too bad. Lily gave me one last kiss and then left, and I spent most of the rest of the day with Sirius, to which Remus and Peter eventually joined us, and by the end of the day he seemed better.
I spent an hour with Lily later that night in the Common Room. We were sitting on the couch by the fire, telling each other about the other's day. "I missed you today," she said after we finished updating each other on the day's events.
"Missed you too," I mumbled against her hair.
"So, I was thinking."
"About what?"
"Well," she said, breathing heavily. "This whole moving in together thing…"
"You aren't retracting your answer, are you?" I asked nervously but playfully.
"No," she said. "But I think you should be the one to tell my Mum. This way she could yell at you…or she won't yell at all."
I laughed. "Oh, she won't yell at me. She adores me. I'm the son she never had!"
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, you'll have to be a real charmer, 'cause she's practically dead herself these days."
I put an arm around Lily. "Come on, Lil, don't you know me? I'm a natural charmer. Don't even have to try. It'll be a piece of cake."
"You don't know my mother when she's like this."
"I'm not worried."
"That makes one of us."
I laughed, kissing her head. "So, when am I doing this?"
"At Tuney's wedding."
Oh right. The wedding. That was soon. In a couple of weeks, soon.
"Ah, the wedding. Got it."
"I see you're as thrilled about it as I am," she laughed.
"No, no, it's just, it kind of slipped my mind. I wasn't thinking about it. I don't mind it, really. I want to go, actually. A muggle wedding. It'll be my first!"
She smiled, and then she leaned in and kissed my lips, and I took her face in my hands and kissed her back hard, and somewhere along the line we lost track of time but eventually we finally stopped snogging. Even nights when we didn't shag, just snogging still was able to make the insides in my stomach flip and twist in ways it never did with anyone else. Lily was it. That was certain.
When we finally did stop, it took us both a while to actually untangle ourselves from each other, because neither of us really wanted to go. But we had to, and I gave her another goodnight kiss, and off our separate ways we went.
"I'd like to apologize…for the way I acted when the four of us went out to dinner. I shouldn't have acted, er, that way? I didn't mean to upset you or your wife. Could we start over?"
I stuck out my hand, trying to smile. Vernon Dursley looked at me for a single moment, grunted in disapproval, and then stalked off.
Well, that didn't go over well.
I sighed, putting my hands in my pockets, looking around the room. Petunia was with her bridesmaids, who were all decked out in pink, chatting and laughing. Her mother was with them too. I decided to go over to her next.
I tapped her on the shoulder. "Er, Mrs. Evans?"
She turned around, a glass of champagne in one hand, with a big smile on her face. "James, darling!" She gave me a one-armed hug and a kiss on the cheek. She hadn't been this smiley at the beginning of the event. She must have been drinking a lot.
"I'd like to talk to you about something, if that's all right?"
"Oh, why of course, dear," she said. "What would you like to talk about?"
"Well, er, Lily and I…we're, um, well, pretty serious, you see. I love her very much and she has agreed to move in with me after the school year, with, of course, your consent."
Her face became very gentle and she smiled. "Well, how could I say no to you, James?"
"Thank you, Mrs. Evans."
"You should be warned though," she said. "She is not a morning person. And she is very particular with how she likes her food. And she takes forty minute long showers. And she can't live without-"
"Chocolate in the house," I finished for her with a smile.
She patted my shoulder. "That's my boy," she said, and then kissed my cheek once more. "Just don't come asking me for money to pay the bills, because I have none."
"That won't be an issue," I assured her. "And if you ever need any-"
"Oh, pish posh, James. Don't worry about me," she said, and took a huge sip of her champagne. "Run along now, boy."
I looked back over at Petunia and her bridesmaids, contemplating whether I should confront her also or not. But she was giving me an evil stare, and I decided not to. I also noticed though, one of her bridesmaids was checking me out, and then Petunia must have noticed me looking back at her uncomfortably and she turned to her friend, saw her expression, and smacked her shoulder. I laughed and turned around, and went to find Lily again.
I saw her across the way, sitting down at the bar in her strapless red dress, her hair up in a high, curled pony tail, red lipstick and red high heels. Though I personally was wild about her red dress, Lily wasn't as ecstatic about it as I was, since she thought she would be wearing a pink one. See, Petunia decided to leave Lily out of her bridal shower. They had a huge argument about it, Petunia shouting loads of rubbish about how she's tired of Lily overshadowing her and all that. So Lily's been kind of bitter the entire time.
I sat down next to her. She was swirling what was left in her glass around. "Well?"
"Vernon shut me down," I said. "Your mother, on the other hand, gave us her blessing on making a home together."
"Lovely," she said dully, with one of the fakest smiles I've ever seen, and then took another swig of her drink, finishing it. "Another, please," she said to the bar tender, who took her glass.
"Lily," I said, taking her hand. "Lighten up, yeah? It's a wedding! Your sister's wedding, at that. I know she might be a bit of a-"
"Hag? Bitch? Selfish prig?"
"I was going for witch," I said, smirking.
She didn't laugh, and she took her hand out of mine. "In her dreams."
I sighed. The bar tender handed her another glass. She thanked him and took a big sip. "What is that?" I asked.
"Whiskey and soda," she answered.
I gave her a look.
"It's only my second glass. And don't give me that look. I'm always the one who has to stop you from drinking too much. And I'm not stupid, I can take care of myself."
"Never said you couldn't."
"It was implied."
"It really wasn't."
She scoffed. "Yeah, okay," she replied drinking some more.
I breathed heavily. Usually when we banter, I can at least tell she's being somewhat playful. But right now she was just being completely stubborn and bitter. "Look, I'm just trying to help."
She didn't respond, but just swirled her drink again.
"Fine," I said, getting up. "I'm going to eat. You can join me when you want."
I walked away and she didn't follow me. I sat down at our table and started chatting with the people there. I got the feeling all the people at our table were the people that the bride and groom felt obligated to invite but wanted nothing to do with, because everyone at our table was really fantastic. Everyone was laughing and telling jokes and drinking and having a good time, while the rest of the room seemed rather dull. The waiter offered me a beer, and I never really had regular beer before so I took it. It wasn't as good as butter beer, but it was all right.
About fifteen minutes later, Lily finally joined us, her hair down, sitting down next to me. She was smiling brightly, and she gave me a kiss when she sat down. "'Ello, 'andsome," she giggled.
"Better?"
"Mhm," she nodded, laughing, and then whispered, "buzzed," emphasizing the "z" sound. Then she took a sip of the champagne in front of her.
"Don't over do it, love," I told her.
"Hush," she said, putting a finger to my lips. "I like you better when you don't order me around. I'm the one who's s'posed to reprimand, right?"
I chuckled. "If you say so."
"I do say so," she said, and then kissed me again right there at the table in front of everyone, putting her tongue in my mouth. When she pulled away she said, "You taste…funny."
"It's beer," I told her. "Regular beer, you know. Not butterbeer. It's not half bad. You could try it, if you'd like."
She shrugged, picked it up and took a sip. She had a pensive face on for a moment before she said, "Not bad. Funny taste, but in a good way."
I took it back from her and took a sip myself and then put it down. I was about to dig into my food, when she put her hand on my thigh.
"Er, Lil?"
"Mmm," was all she said before she put her other hand through my hair and then started kissing me again.
I pulled away. "What happened to your strict rules against PDA? Hmm?"
"You're right, you're right…" She pulled on my tie then. "Why don't we, um, move this somewhere else, then?"
I mean, I obviously wanted to, really, but, well…we were at her sister's wedding. And we would have time to be together like that later. "Um, Lily, I think we should eat first, don't you?"
"No, I don't."
"Er, well…can't we just wait until later?" I choked out as her hand crawled further up my thigh. "When we're alone?"
"Come on, James," she whispered. "I can't keep my hands off you for another second."
I mean, I should have seen this coming. Lily was very, well, erm, randy last time she got drunk too, at my party. And she looked sexy as hell. How could I resist?
So I gave in. I'm a man. I have needs!
"Fine," I whispered back. "Just…just a quick snog outside the ballroom somewhere, and that's it. All right?"
She grabbed my hand. "C'mon, then," and she pulled me along hastily, and we exited the ballroom into the hallway which was pretty deserted but there still were some people roaming about as well, and we walked down a bit further and she pushed me up against the wall and started snogging me forcefully.
I sighed in her mouth, wrapping my hands around her waist. She wasn't holding back, and her hands were in my hair, and around my neck, and then down my arms, and then suddenly, she, er, well, stuck her hand in my pants, grabbing me.
I pulled away. "Lily, what the hell are you doing? We're at your sister's wedding!"
"So?"
"So? Lily, for Merlin's sake, how much did you have to drink?"
"Lost count," she murmured.
I sighed, putting a hand in my hair. "The sober you would never in a million years act this way at your sister's wedding."
"I don't understand you," she spat, suddenly furious where she had just been overly cheerful. "You're always the one kissing me in front of other people, what's wrong with me finally letting you, even if I am a bit intoxicated?"
"Nothing is wrong with that, but you're taking it too far."
"So you don't want me anymore, then? That's it, isn't it?"
"Lily, you're being bloody ridiculous!" I shouted. "You know that's not true. But sticking your hand in my pants at your sister's wedding isn't exactly appropriate, you know."
"Well, I don't know what you want from me," she said, and then sat at the couch there in the hall.
I sat down with her. "All right, love, what's this really about?"
"It's not about anything," she mumbled, looking down at her lap.
I took her hand. "Tell me."
She closed her eyes and took a breath. "I said it's not about anything, all right?"
I squeezed her hand. "Please just tell me. You'll feel better."
She ripped her hand away from mine and then looked up at me with tear filled eyes. "He was supposed to be here," she choked out. "And he's not."
I sighed. I knew it must be this. "I know."
"No, you don't. I mean, my cousin Rob had to walk Petunia down the aisle! That should've been my dad!"
"Lily-"
"It isn't fair," she whispered, tears leaking down her face rapidly. "None of this is fair. He's supposed to be here."
"You're right," I told her, putting my hands on her face, wiping away tears with my thumb. "It isn't fair. But you've still got him, Lily," I told her, taking one hand and lifting the locket I gave her from her chest into the palm of my hand. "That was the point of my getting this for you. So you'd remember, that he's still here. Maybe not physically. Maybe you can't see him, but…he's here," I said, letting the locket go gently. "Remember that."
She nodded, crying, and then I wrapped my arms around her and we embraced and I soothed her as she cried. I hated seeing her like this, so broken. She was so strong, and it hurt me to see her fall apart at her weaker moments. I don't know for how long we were hugging but eventually Lily let go, wiping her face with her hand. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Don't say that," I told her, moving some hair out of her face. "You have to remember that I'm always here for you, through good and bad. I hate seeing you cry, because I wish you'd smile more, but if you ever just need to talk about anything and cry it out…I mean, that's what I'm here for, you know? I want you to come to me when you're upset, rather than drinking yourself into an oblivion."
"I know, I'm so-"
"Don't apologize, I just told you," I said, taking her hand. "Besides, I don't mind tipsy Lily, really, but, you know…time and place, yeah?"
She laughed lightly, nodding. "Yeah."
"Just maybe you should lay off of the alcohol for the rest of the night."
"I don't know what I was thinking."
"You were thinking what most people think when they're upset about something- 'hey, alcohol will fix it!' Good tip- it doesn't. You got to do it in moderation."
"I'm not used to it, you know, this is only like, my third time really drinking."
"I know," I said, smiling. I kissed her hand. "Why don't we get some food in you, okay?"
She nodded, and I wiped a lingering tear on her face away, and said, "I love you," and she said "I love you too, James," and then I leaned in and kissed her gently, and she kissed me back, and though we both wanted to continue, we parted and got up and went back inside.
We both ate and the effects of the alcohol on Lily started to wear off a bit, but I kept her somewhat cheerful. I made her dance with me and kept her laughing most of the time, showing her all of my super awesome dance moves (she told me I was rubbish but I know she's just jealous). She was actually impressed by my slow dancing with her, though, and even let me dip her (for the record: I did not drop her). We really made the best of the night, and all that mattered was that she was smiling. I'd give anything for her to smile.
We even got a proper snog in, away from everyone, though when I squeezed her bum she shouted at me about how "that's no better than what she did to me" but her and I both know that it is completely and one hundred percent more acceptable, and she didn't even stop me, so, I win.
Towards the end of the night, Lily's mum forced Lily and Petunia to "talk things out." Lily came back, rolling her eyes. She said they "made up," but it wasn't like anything was going to change, and they just did it for their mum's sake.
I went home with Lily and her Mum, and I was to sleep in Petunia's room. Lily and I were leaving tomorrow to go back to school by floo, even though vacation had only just started, but most 7th years stay at Hogwarts for Easter to study for N.E.W.T.s, and Lily was freaking out about them so we were going to go back and study (not like Lily hasn't been studying nonstop, because she has, and I kind of need to study as well).
I was lying in Petunia's bed in just some shorts, unable to fall asleep. There was a knock on my door. "Yeah?" I called out as quiet as I could.
The door creaked open, and Lily stepped in and closed the door quietly behind her.
"Hey," I said.
"Hello," she responded as she approached me.
I moved over to make room for her on the bed.
She sat on the bed. "I can't sleep."
I sat up. "Me either."
"Why can't you?" she asked.
"I've just got things on my mind," I answered. "You?"
She sighed. "I keep thinking about my Dad."
I reached for her hand. "Want to talk?"
"No, not really," she said. "I just want to lay with you, if that's all right."
"Of course," I said, caressing her face for a moment. I gave her a quick kiss and then we both got under the blanket and lied down, her head against my chest, my arms wrapped around her tight.
"Thanks for being there with me today," she said. "It meant a lot."
"Anytime," I said sincerely.
"What's on your mind, then?" she asked.
"You," I told her. "The war, my parents, and school…There's just too much going on, you know? I wish it could all just stop."
"I know," she said quietly. "We're going to make it through it, though."
"Yeah," I said, kissing her head. "Yeah, we will."
She looked up at me and kissed my lips for a few moments. "I love you," she whispered.
"I love you too, Lily," I whispered back, kissing her again.
And then she laid her head back on my chest, closing her eyes. I was able to fall asleep better with her beside me. Everything was better with her beside me. We were both broken somehow, but together, we were whole.
A/N: Hope you liked it! There's going to be more plot pick up soon…Remember, the more reviews the quicker I'll try to update! :)