Lily stretched out on a couch in the Gryffindor common room, closing her eyes and relaxing for the first time in about three hours. After Rem and Sirius had gone to find Pete (hopefully entwined in a dark corridor with Emmeline, it was about time they took the plunge), she and James had wrapped up their plans for his departure from the school. She had sent Elvis off to St. Mungo's about an hour and a half before, asking for an update on Mr. Potter's condition. If they got a response at the morning mail, James already had their day planned out to the minute. First was breakfast, during which Lily would hand out schedules to the students while James checked for Elvis. If she didn't have to give any first-years tours to where their classes would be on Monday, they planned on heading straight to McGonagall's office. Thank the Lord it was a Saturday tomorrow, she wouldn't have to deal with double Ancient Runes for an entire weekend. Merlin, the amount of things they had done tonight was ridiculous and she needed to sleep. They had talked to Aidan Rogers, a trustworthy Irish sixth-year who played Seeker for Gryffindor, about taking over Quidditch tryouts on Sunday if James was unavailable. To tell the truth, he seemed a bit too excited about it, but she knew he would do a good job. James had mentioned to her after Rogers had left that his freckles looked like they would leap off his face and form the team themselves. Speaking of that tosser, a socked foot was suddenly in her face, and she jerked herself out of her thoughts and into a seated position. James' lopsided grin caught her eyes from the other end of the couch, and all she could do was roll her eyes.
"Calling it a night, Evans?" At the sound of her last name, Lily grabbed a pillow from behind her head and lobbed it at him. Damn those Quidditch reflexes, she was determined he would suffer if he ever called her "Evans" again. Nevertheless, she couldn't help but smile. And seriously? Could anyone have nicer eyes than the ones staring at her right now? She was not ashamed of the effect that blue eyes in a tanned face had on her.
"James, you arse, you know you can't call me that anymore!" he smiled wider (it was so obvious he liked when she used his first name, why couldn't he do the same?), almost laughing at her attempts to reclaim the pillow and deal some damage.
"If I can't call you Evans, Evans, how about Lilypad? Can I steal Paddy's nickname? Or what if I just call you Steve. Or William. Billy? I think I'll call you Billy! It rhymes with Lily, doesn't it?" he dodged another pillow coming from her side of the couch, and she was seriously considering hexing him. Granted, the Head Girl probably shouldn't hex the Head Boy, but who would know?
Dumbledore. Dumbledore would know. And McGonagall, definitely. Shit.
Finally wrestling the pillow back from James' grasp, she flung it one more time at his head. It was definitely time to sleep, if they were going to be awake at the crack of dawn for mail. She had told Elvis it was urgent, but she really wasn't too sure how much English the owl could underst-
"JAMES! LILY! I SWEAR IF YOU TWO ARE SHAGGING IN THE-oh, good, you're right here with all your clothes on." Sirius came slamming in through the portrait, followed closely behind by Remus who was supporting… Pete? What the hell had happened?
"We found him down in the corridors under the lake, Stuck to the wall and being harassed by those idiotic Slytherins with their fucking club and stupid ideas. Also Reg was there. Surprise. And Lilypad, don't you dare give me that look, I didn't go after him, and yeah, Pete's fine. Just exhausted, I think they had him up there for at least a couple hours, he needs some sleep."
James and Lily exchanged a look. She could tell that he was thinking something along the lines of her own thoughts- there was definitely a war on now, and Hogwarts was not going to be left out of it. Why else would those arseholes want Peter otherwise? Ugh, she could not deal with this tonight.
"This is awful, Pete's never done anything to them- well, outside of what the four of you seemed to think were harmless pranks. Boys, can you get him to bed? I really need to sleep…" As worried as she was about her friend, Lily could not bring herself to do anything more that night. It was already almost one in the morning and even though the next day was Saturday, she needed a rest. Maybe she would spend tomorrow with Mary and Marlene, that would cheer her up.
"Evans, you're sure you're going to bed? Wormy here's almost passed out anyway, this won't take too long." James was looking at her, and as much as she would have enjoyed staying up until the sunrise with him (as friends, of course, stop making that face), she needed some rest before whatever was going to happen tomorrow. If today had been any indication, this was going to be the busiest year of her life.
"No, James, honestly… You guys take care of him, make sure he's comfortable. I'll see you tomorrow!" She was trying to ignore Sirius' look, he could probably see the blush making its way to her cheeks. She could talk to him later, he seemed to have this notion that she and James would be violently shagging each other now that they shared the Head apartment. James, on the other hand, was looking pretty tired himself. He nodded, and the three conscious Marauders made their way up to their dorm, levitating Peter as he began to snore.
Somehow, despite her physical and mental exhaustion, Lily couldn't manage to fall asleep that night. She even wore her most comfortable pyjamas, and this is what she got? Restlessness? At least her bed was comfortable- to be honest, it was definitely softer and deeper than the one in her old dormitory room- but that other bed had more memories. She was remembering her and Mary and Marlene, and sometimes Dorcas Meadowes or Emmeline Vance, staying up far too late with food from the kitchens and stories about the latest Quidditch match and which warlock Celestina Warbeck was angling for now. Sometimes they would sneak some firewhiskey from the boys' room (Mary and Sirius had had a fling in the latter half of their fifth year, and he had revealed their hiding place to her while trying to find her knickers one lazy afternoon) and get tipsy, dancing around to Lily's Muggle records and laughing about their plans for the future and occasionally crying about boys- dammit, she was getting sentimental. Not that Lily Evans didn't have a certain twang for the romantic, but she certainly did not need to be having such nostalgic and melancholy thoughts on her second night in her new bed. Maybe the girls could all come up here for a sleepover the next night, that was a good plan…
Her little bubble was shattered when she heard footsteps on the stairs. She had forgotten that James lived here too- not that she didn't want him around, but it was definitely a bit startling to remember that the boy who had spent the better part of your acquainted years flirting with you and asking you out was going to be living next door. It didn't help that just as she was beginning to see why so many girls had fallen for James Potter and his damn blue eyes and smarmy grin, his father gets attacked by Death Eaters and one of his best friends is traumatized by their minions. Dammit. Now he was knocking on the door. Scrambling for a slightly more flattering camisole (in order to look as though she hadn't raided her father's closet for sleepwear), she stammered out "Hang- hang on, Potter, what do you want?"
"Merlin, Lilypad, are you cleaning up after a rager or something? It's just me, wanted to check in on you. Rough start to the- oh, hello, Ginge!" James shuffled into her room as she opened the door, his eyes roaming around as though trying to pick out whether or not this was what Lily Evans' room should look like. Not that she had done much decorating yet- oh, Agrippa, there was not a snowball's chance in hell that he was looking around her room for any purpose other than a common courtesy. Ugh. Lil, you're going off the deep end. Pull back.
"So, Potter, you wanted to check on me? I think I'm managing alright, just can't seem to get any sleep." She was standing awkwardly between the Head Boy and her bed, and moved over to the window. It wasn't a small room, why did he have to stand so bloody close to her? One bonus of this room, at least (besides the size and having her own room), was that the view was terrific. Gryffindor Tower really didn't disappoint for insomniacs, there was always something to watch. At this moment however, Lily could barely focus on the window, being hyper-aware of where James was at all times and what he was doing. And what he was doing right now was staring at her. "So, Potter, you wanted to check on me? I think I'm managing alright."
This woman was going to be the death of him. She really was. They had spent the past two days attached at the hip, from the train ride to staying up until the wee hours of this morning. And then when Pete is suddenly unconscious in the common room with a terrifying story, she needs to sleep? And won't look at him when he tries to check on her? Why, why in the name of Agrippa's left bum cheek, did he find himself so drawn to Lily Evans? If he was being honest with himself, as Sirius so often said he was not, she was just incredibly smart and funny, with no qualms about hexing anyone that pissed her off. It was amazing, how much energy she had- but. That was not the point of this visit to her room, he wanted to see if she was okay! It wasn't like Lily to back away when someone was clearly in distress- she had come up to find him when he found out about his dad, hadn't she? If anything, she was the master of mixed signals.
But he had to check on her! Over their sixth year and the following summer, she had started leaping to the aid of any of them when they were hurt, patching up Moony's cuts and bruises (even setting a broken leg back in February), and charming away Sirius' black eyes from his various tousles with some Slytherins trying to get him to revert to the ways of his parents. There was even a time that Pete had been trying to flirt with some Ravenclaw girl and had gotten on the wrong end of a Stinging Hex from her boyfriend. Lily had fixed him up almost immediately, not wanting the boyfriend (huge hulk of a person, played Beater for Hufflepuff) to get in trouble any more than she wanted Pete to have to answer embarrassing questions about the little stingers that were stuck in his cheeks. It just seemed very odd for her not to have done anything tonight- wasn't she still their mate?
It was nerve-wracking to knock on her door for the first time. Obviously, he would have to do this many times over the year, as combined they were the highest authority for students before the professors had to get involved, but it was still strange. From behind the door, it sounded like she had fallen out of bed, knocking things over in the process. He heard a muffled "hang- hang on, Potter, what do you want?" He noted the use of his last name with a sigh, she had been doing that less lately. Recovering his usual Potter swagger (if she wanted a Potter, she would get one), he answered her with a little more flavor than he was feeling, saying "Merlin, Lilypad, are you cleaning up after a rager or something? It's just me, wanted to check in on you. Rough start to the- oh, hello, Ginge!"
She opened up the door, looking tired and embarrassed as she let him in. Maybe using two of Paddy's nicknames for her would be enough, just evening the playing field between them. There was a look in her emerald eyes that he tried to decipher, but never got the chance. She refused to look at him, moving away from the bed to look out the window. His room didn't have quite the same view, he was strategically placed overlooking the Quidditch pitch. Lily, on the other hand, had what promised to be a stellar view of the mountains surrounding the castle- that is, if he ever got to be here in daylight. Honestly, he needed to stop staring at her, but something about the loose shirt she had on and the way her hair was tied up in a bun… Merlin, man. James Emmanuel Potter, pull yourself up by your britches and focus. The old expression his father used to use popped into his head- Thank, Dad. Just because you're at St. Mungo's doesn't mean you get to be inside my head, too.
She looked over at him, no more embarrassment in her eyes but a blush in her cheeks. It was the same look she had had in the common room when he had asked her to wait for him. Dammit, why did he have to do that? Too much had been going on in the past two days, he wasn't on his game anymore.
"So, Potter, you wanted to check on me? I think I'm managing alright."
"Well, Evans, I just wanted to check on you. Once the boys brought Pete back, you didn't seem alright."
"You of all people know that there's a war going on now, I'm stressed! Besides, I'm going to have to be both Head Girl and Boy tomorrow if McGonagall says you can go."
"You could come with me."
"To Wizarding London? On the third day of the term? When I haven't been able to see my other friends since the train ride because of that stupid Voldemort and his cronies?"
"Fine, then. Worried I'll take advantage of you?"
"Potter, if you even thought about trying anything with me you'd wake up in the hospital wing without any parts to do those things you were thinking of."
"I know. Come to London?" James tried to hold back a grin. He had no doubt that he wouldn't wake up in the hospital at all. Death by Lilypad Evans.
"Potter. James."
"Evans. Lily. You're sure you're okay?"
"Yes, I swear to Merlin I'm fine. I just really need to sleep and I can't. And I can't go to London, what if a first-year dies while we're away?"
"Why would a first-year die?" He was full-out smiling at this point.
"I don't know, what if one wandered into the lake and was eaten by the squid? It could happen." He could tell she was smiling, too. Thank the Founders. Finally.
"I don't think the squid eats all those first-years that are mysteriously drawn to the lake for no reason at all. I think it sucks them down to be taken care of by the merpeople."
"James!" she hit him lightly with her elbow. "Don't say such things, they might come true!"
"So you'll come to London, then?"
"No, James. I have to spend time with Mary and Marlene or they'll think I've been eaten by the giant squid!"
"I thought as Head Girl, you were supremely appointed to make sure that doesn't happen."
She smiled, a full Lily smile. "I'm not going to London, James. You don't even know if you can go yourself! Besides, the letter from the hospital said you couldn't go for a few days. He's still bedridden."
James felt his mood falter. "I know, but Lily… I need to see him! He's my old man…"
Lily moved forward and put a hand on his arm (he had to struggle to repress the shiver that ran up his spine, her fingers were so cold and soft), looking up into his face for the first time since he had entered the room.
"James. Stay here for a few days, you can do tryouts tomorrow and get your mind off of all of this, you can check in with Peter and figure out what the hell happened, and you and I can have our first patrol of the year. Come on, James… This worrying isn't going to do you any good. Besides, it might be dangerous leaving Hogwarts right now."
Merlin, this woman had an effect on him.
"Fine. I won't go and see him tomorrow as long as you get some sleep tonight. Promise?"
She smiled. "I promise. Now get out of my room before I come back to my senses."
Laughing, James made his way back to the door. As he opened it, another thought came to mind. Spinning back around, he called her name again (mostly just to hear it on his tongue).
"Hey, Lily!"
She turned back to him, her hair shining in the faint torchlight.
"Yes, James?"
"Why couldn't you sleep?"
"Just remembering some things. Nostalgia, I suppose. You get some rest now, too, Potter. Tryouts start in eight hours and you know you need breakfast."
He felt a flutter in his abdomen knowing that she remembered such an idiotic detail about him.
"Alright, Lilypad. I'll try. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, James."
James walked across their common room and into his own large bedroom overlooking the site of tomorrow's tryouts. He couldn't get those brilliant eyes out of his mind as he undressed and laid down to sleep. How do you get over someone you were never with? Maybe this year would be the year Lily Evans finally agreed to go on a date with James Potter.