AN: Ok, so it's a little late and, to be honest, it is not my favorite. It's also shorter than usual. I just felt so bad about it being later than I expected that I wanted to get it to you as quickly as I could. So, I apologize in advance. I do hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I know you're shocked to hear this after fifteen chapters of reminders, but I am not J.K. I'm just Kristin. Hmm... J.K. and just Kristin. Maybe I am kind of J.K. Wow. I really thought I would bounce back and be normal again after the semester ended. Apparently I'll never be the same again.
Lily crept across the dark, silent grounds, unable to believe she was openly defying school rules. Memories of who she was had slowly been returning to her and she knew that this was completely uncharacteristic of her. She pulled her sweater tighter against her chest as the chilly breeze blew across the open expanse of dark lawn. She shivered from the cold, but also from the thought that anyone could easily sneak up on her. Images of the man in the black cloak rushed through her brain and she felt like an absolute idiot for forgetting about the threat of him as she snuck out of her common room. She had been way too preoccupied with other thoughts to remember that she needed to be cautious. Her pace quickened now as she continued walking across the slightly damp grass.
Once she reached the pitch she took a deep breath and instantly felt some of the tension in her body dissipate. The dark lawn had made her nervous, but now as she walked across the pitch to the supply shed she felt safe. After a week of grueling quidditch practices Lily felt like she knew every blade of grass and every scrap of wood in the pitch. Although all the others had complained at James' obsessive practices in preparation for the next day's match against Hufflepuff, Lily had loved every minute of it. She loved being on the team and flying through the air on the broom, but what she really loved was seeing James. He had been noticeably absent all week, and she just couldn't understand why he was avoiding her. With a groan Lily tried to push these thoughts away from her despite her frustration.
Lily murmured a soft "Alohamorah," to the lock on the shed and felt excitement surge through her as she heard the click. She found the broom she had been using for the past few practices instantly and shut the shed. The moment Lily was in the air she felt all the tension leave her body. It was strange how quickly Lily had come to love the feeling of flying and how natural it now felt to her. It wasn't the only thing that she was surprised to come to love so quickly, it was just too bad that the other thing, or person rather, that she loved was also what had kept her up at night tossing and turning until she gave up and snuck out of the castle, something she had never done in her life.
Groaning as the anxiety and frustration returned, Lily threw herself into a quick dive and flew as fast as she could get the ancient school broom to fly. Lily had barely seen James in the past week and definitely hadn't had any time alone with him. The kiss before James left to rejoin the battle was the only kiss that Lily could remember them having, although she was sure that they had kissed plenty of times before then. James had been her boyfriend before the accident. It made sense that they had kissed before, that their kiss in the middle of the battle didn't mean as much to him as it meant to her. To her, it was like their first kiss. It made her a little uncomfortable to realize that she had no idea how far they'd gone before her accident. Had they gone all the way? Was she a virgin? Thinking about all of this reminded Lily that there were so many things she still didn't know about James, about her relationship with him.
All week Lily had been dreaming about and hoping for another kiss from James, but he had been busy with the Marauders, working on plans for the Halloween party that would happen in a week. James had explained this to her during Potions class, but she couldn't help thinking there was something he wasn't telling her. Not to mention that every time she started to talk to him about looking for the man in the black cloak he quickly changed the subject. So over the past week Lily had spent a ridiculous amount of time wondering what she had done wrong and alternately wondering if he was avoiding her.
All thoughts were pushed out of Lily's mind as she focused on the burning feeling in her muscles and the wind whipping through her loose hair. It felt amazing to have a respite from her nagging thoughts. When her heart felt like it would burst and she began gasping in huge gulps of air, she finally slowed down, feeling better than she had all night, maybe even all week. There was just something about flying that calmed her down and cleared her head. She had known as soon as she had caught sight of the pitch from her bedroom after hours of tossing and turning that it was exactly what she needed.
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" growled a voice from below her. Lily was so startled by the voice breaking the silence of the dark night that she let go of the broom at the same moment that a gust of wind hit her broom. As the broom was pushed sideways Lily fell off of it before she could grip the handle with her legs. Lily grimaced as she saw the ground get closer and closer to her.
"Lily!" She heard the voice rise in alarm just before she felt herself slam into a solid body. As she hit the body she felt it tumble backward. When she opened her eyes she looked into James' concerned hazel eyes. She felt her breathing hitch as she stared at his handsome face and become aware of his muscled legs and chest beneath her. She was lying on top of him, and she was reminded once again that she had no idea how far they had gone. She felt her cheeks grow warm as she thought about her position and how easily she would be able to melt into him and kiss him until they were both breathless.
"Are you ok?" asked Lily with concern, beginning to get up when her head had cleared a bit.
"I am now," said James huskily as he snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her back down on top of him. "Are you ok?"
"Y-yeah," Lily stammered as she looked down at his lips. She remembered exactly how soft they felt when he had kissed her. But then she remembered why she had come to the pitch in the first place and tried to quell her longing. James obviously wasn't as interested in her as she was in him.
"I'm about to get very mad in a second, but first I wanted to tell you how much I've missed you this past week," he said, squeezing her tightly.
"I missed you, too," said Lily happily, relieved that James had missed her. And if the way he was looking into her eyes was any indication, he was just as eager for their next kiss as she was. Before she would allow the silly, giddy, exuberant happiness to bubble up out of her, she remembered what he said first. "Wait, why are you mad at me?"
James had been drawing closer and closer to her, but then at her last sentence his face got very serious. He loosened his hold on her and shifted her off of him. Lily felt disappointed for a second. She definitely should have kept her big mouth shut and kissed him instead, but it was too late now. James sat up and Lily could almost feel his anger dripping off of him.
"What were you thinking, leaving the castle in the middle of the night, Lily? Do you not remember what happened last weekend? You were almost killed! The man in the black cloak hasn't been caught yet, Lily, and you just decide to leave the cast for a late night flying session? Why would you do that?" James exploded, standing up and pacing. He was running his hands through his hair, only managing to make it stick up even more.
"I couldn't sleep," Lily offered feebly, knowing how stupid her actions had been, "I thought flying would help."
"And you couldn't just go to the Room of Requirement that's just down the hall or wait for me to get back?" he shot back.
"I don't have a broom, James. I would have to come down here to use a school one anyway. And how was I supposed to know when you would be back? You were nowhere to be found when I left our rooms," said Lily, allowing some of her previous frustration to color her tone.
"Merlin, Lily, you could have borrowed my broom. It's right in our common room," said James.
"Really? You'll let me borrow your broom?" asked Lily incredulously. Lily knew how much he loved his broom, she saw him polishing and caring for it enough in the common room to know how much he loved it.
"Of course you can. Whenever you want," said James, his anger momentarily gone. He smiled down at Lily, betraying how much he cared for her.
"In that case I'll borrow it for our match tomorrow. You don't need it then, right?" Lily asked with an impish grin on her face.
"You're way too cute. You make it impossible to stay mad at you," James said, shaking his head at her. His beaming smile made Lily feel her knees weaken. She couldn't help beaming back.
"So is that a yes?" asked Lily.
"I really care about you, Lily, but that is just asking too much," said James. He grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her towards him. "Let's go, we've got a match tomorrow and we have to crush Hufflepuff."
With a lazy flick of his wand he sent the broom Lily had been using back into the shed and locked it. He put his arm around Lily and steered her across the pitch.
"So what were you doing tonight?" asked Lily curiously. She had been sitting in the common room for hours waiting for him to return. He had disappeared after dinner and although she spent some time hanging out with Carrie, she had really been more focused on James all night. Carrie had seemed annoyed about Lily's preoccupation all night and had left at nine, which gave Lily a long time to worry about James.
"Just Marauder stuff," James said quickly.
"For the party?" asked Lily.
"Yeah, but I can't reveal too much. It's supposed to be a surprise," said James, smiling at her. "Are you sure you still want to go after everything that happened? We could just spend the time hanging out in our common room if you want."
"And miss the last Marauder Halloween party ever? No way!" said Lily in mock horror.
"I'm sure it won't be the last ever, but it will be the last at Hogwarts," James said with a sigh, "I can't believe it's almost all over. We've only got eight months left and then we'll be in the real world."
"Oh," said Lily, realizing for the first time how little time she had left to remember all the things she had forgotten, to make a decision about what she would do for the rest of her life. The thought made her feel like she was about to hyperventilate. "That is terrifying."
"So what was keeping you from falling asleep?" asked James as they neared the front doors to the castle.
"Oh, er," said Lily, feeling her cheeks burn. She hoped it was too dark for James to notice.
"What? What's wrong?" asked James, stopping just before the doors to the castle and turning to stand in front of her.
"What makes you think something's wrong?" Lily asked, looking down at his trainers.
"I saw you zooming around the pitch, Lily. It's the middle of the night. You snuck out of the castle, and you admitted that you couldn't sleep," he reminder her.
"Oh. Right," she said awkwardly, "it's nothing."
"I wish you'd trust me, Lily. You can tell me anything. I want you to tell me everything," he said emotionally, squeezing her hand.
"It's not that I don't trust you. It's just, well, embarrassing," Lily admitted. She knew that James could see her blush under the lights that hung above the doors to the castle.
"Now you have to tell me," he said with a curious look on his face. "Please."
"Alright, well, er," said Lily.
"You're killing me, Lily. I can't take the suspense," James groaned.
"You can't take the wait?" Lily asked incredulously, tossing her hands in the air and feeling a spark of irritation grow within her.
"Whoa, what did I?" James began, clearly thrown off by Lily's instant angry reaction.
"What did you do? Seriously? You've ignored me for the past week and despite the fact that we had an amazing, incredible kiss last week, you haven't tried it since then. And then you go and stand there looking unfreakingbelievably sexy with your fitted t-shirt over your gorgeous muscles and your soulful hazel eyes piercing right through me and you have the NERVE to complain about making you wait for more than five seconds to answer your question when I've been waiting six days for you to kiss me again!" Lily huffed, punctuating her last word with a light hit to his shoulder.
"Are you don?" asked James, smiling a crooked smile down at her.
"Am I done? No, I don't think," she began, but could get no further because James' mouth came crashing down on hers. The kiss lasted a blissful second before James cracked up into her mouth and pulled back, still laughing.
"What is wrong with you?" Lily asked, glaring daggers at him.
"You said you don't think," he said, wiping under his eyes as he continued to laugh.
"You're an immature git," she said, rolling her eyes and turning to go back into the castle.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?" he asked, grabbing her arm before she could escape.
"I thought I would go to sleep and hopefully wake up to a James that isn't acting like an immature firstie during a very serious, wonderful moment," Lily growled.
"Really? Because I've been thinking about kissing you for a week now, and I'd really like to do that now, if you don't mind. I don't think," he said.
Lily quickly darted in and cut him off with a kiss. She pulled back just as quickly and fake laughed.
"You said you don't think, ha, ha, ha," she said in an exaggerated impression of James.
"Lily, Lily," he said, shaking his head at her, "no one likes a copy cat."
"James?" Lily said.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Just shut up and kiss me for real this time, or I will march back to my room and you'll lose your chance."
"Yes, ma'am," said James, and he bent down and planted a soft kiss on her lips before pulling her closer and deepening the kiss. Lily felt a delicious shudder go through her whole body and any last bit of tension left her body. Kissing James was definitely better than flying.
AN: So, the next chapter will be the quidditch match, so it won't be as much fluff as this chapter. I was feeling in the mood for a little bit of JP/LE fluff with this chapter, but next chapter will have more plot and more from the other characters in the story. Will Hannah wake up? What is Sirius' brilliant plan? Will Gryffindor win the quidditch match? Will the giant squid be on the Hufflepuff team? Will McGonagall and Dumbledore be caught in a steamy liplock on the middle of the quidditch pitch as the students file into the stands for the match? Will Severus Snape be wearing a tutu and twirling in the air singing "Hey Soul Sister" by Train? I love that song by the way. It was just playing and I was totally dancing around my room. Will Hannah suffer from memory loss from her accident? Would one littlemisskrissy really do that to a second character in the story? Probably not, but stay tuned to find out!
Now that that ridiculous teaser is over with, I have a challenge for all of you beautiful fanficers! As you know, the Halloween party is coming up, and I was wondering, um this is awkward, if any of you would like to be my date. Psh, just kidding! I couldn't resist. In all Siriusness, You know I've already got the costumes for the girls figured out, but what about the guys? I need costume ideas for James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. If you guys are still with me, send me your suggestions, and the fanficer or fanficers who send an idea that I pick will get a sneak preview of the chapter the day before I post it! I know, I'm totally stealing this idea from an awesome fanfiction writer that I read a while back. I can't remember who it was, and I feel bad about that. I read WAY too much fanfiction! But I give them total credit for a brilliant idea! So get going! I plan to write the next chapter this week and the Halloween chapter the following week.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and feel free to tell me that you liked it or didn't like it. The review button is just below!You are all awesome!
Love as always,
Littlemisskrissy