Chapter 11
Lily could feel James' chest, defined from Quidditch, yet oddly cushioning, beneath her, the warmth radiating off his skin. These things combined created a rather pleasant place to be. She certainly had no complaints. Placing her hand on his chest in order to push herself up, she found herself keeping it there longer than necessary. She glanced at the boy beneath her and found her own emerald eyes lost in a pool of hazel. Slowly, as if it weren't even moving at all, his hand ventured through the air, until--after what seemed like hours--it was resting upon her cheek, his thumb brushing over her lower lip. She could feel her face burning as James tucked hair behind her ear, purposelessly for within seconds it was once again curtaining her face.
The space between them gradually disappeared until his breath fell on her lips, their eyes never breaking contact, hazel still locked on emerald. She kept the one hand on his chest--unwilling to part with its comfort--while placing the other on the considerably colder concrete floor, providing most of the support. Her lips parted of their own accord, and when he lips claimed her, the world stopped spinning. Nothing in her life had ever felt more right than this.
In the next second, against all logic or understanding, she was on a bed, pinned beneath a shirtless James. Her hands were shamelessly alternating between roaming his bare back and burying themselves in his unruly hair. James' soft, warm lips were pressing open-mouth kisses to her neck, his hands inching up her shirt. His name--once considered taboo--passed her lips in a guttural moan.
"Lily," James responded…in Faith's voice?
"Lily, time to wake up."
Her eyes snapped open to find Faith and Carmen at the foot of her bed, grinning smugly at her. She felt her cheeks burning. It had all been a dream; Lily didn't know if that made it better or worse.
"I thought you said nothing happened between you and James," Carmen mused, clearly enjoying Lily's discomfort. Worse, definitely worse.
"Nothing did happen. And nothing was going to happen," Lily added irritably, throwing back the covers.
"I've always known James was attractive," Carmen began, licking her lips just slightly, "but hearing you moan his name made him sound so appealing."
Lily mumbled something incoherent as she trudged across the room, pushing past the girls on her way to her trunk.
"A cold shower will help you with the unquenched desire," Lily heard Carmen say as she headed to the bathroom. Lily replied with a rude hand gesture, which only caused her 'friends' to laugh.
The morning started out bad…and only got worse as it continued. While packing her books, Lily endured more tormenting from Faith and Carmen. Ignoring questions such as "So, was he a good kisser?" and "How far did you go?" In their defense, though, they did stop once Summer and Robyn started waking up, for which Lily was very grateful.
Nevertheless, they weren't done yet, and Lily knew this. The only question was when they would continue. The answer: At breakfast…in front of James and the rest of the Marauders. To be quite honest, Lily wasn't sure what Sirius had said exactly. He talking about some weird dream he'd had, something to do with hippogriffs or something, Lily had been focusing on her food, keeping her eyes on her plate as the conversations surrounded her. And in the next second, she heard Carmen saying, "Lily had a rather interesting dream too, didn't you, Lily?"
The girl's head snapped up so quickly, her eyes zeroing in on her roommate, who was grinning at her. She also noticed that Faith was fighting back a smile. The boys were also watching her with curiosity.
"Really, what did you dream?" Remus asked, his fork halfway to his mouth.
Lily felt her ears burning, she was going to kill Carmen. "Oh, it-it was nothing. Really," she stammered, her eyes drifting back to her plate.
"It didn't sound like nothing, Lily," she could hear the smile in Faith's voice. Killing them would be letting them off easy; she would use the Cruciatus Curse instead.
The boys alternated between glancing at the three girls, wondering when someone was going to tell them what Lily had dreamt. Lily sat there, quietly, wanting to melt into the floor, just waiting for the girls to get it over with. Then, Carmen dropped the bomb, relieving Lily of the agonizing wait.
"Maybe James could tell us what Lily was dreaming, he was there after all."
Her whole face was on fire, at first, nobody said anything, and then Sirius let out a bark-like laugh.
"Wait," he said through a snort. "You're telling me that Lily, here, had a dream…about James?"
On second thought, Lily wished someone would use the Cruciatus Curse on her.
"What kind of dream?" Sirius just had to do it, didn't he? He could have easily left it alone, but no, he had to rub salt on the wound.
Carmen flashed a smile before saying, "Well, we don't know the details, but judging by Lily's moan, they weren't doing homework, that's for sure."
"Moan?" Sirius repeated. "She moaned?"
Lily stared at her eggs, yellow and fluffy, and wondered what they would look like if she were to melt all over the table. Ironically, the one thing that lessened her humility was James' voice.
"How do you know she was dreaming about me?" he asked sympathetically. Lily could feel his gaze falling on her, and she lifted her head just enough to see him give her a small, apologetic smile.
Glancing around timidly, she also noticed that Sirius was grinning at her like a mad man, Remus was keeping his eyes on his plate, staying out of the conversation. Peter's gaze quickly dropped to his plate when he saw her looking, Kevin attempting to hide his smile, as was Dean. And Faith and Carmen weren't even aware of her looking around.
"Oh, I don't know," Carmen was saying. "Maybe it was her saying, 'James'," almost identical to the way she had said it, "that gave us a hint."
At this, Sirius surrendered to his fit, Lily could see his whole body shaking in laughter. Soon, everyone else--minus James, Remus, and Lily--were clutching their sides in laughter. Noticing Lily's scowl, Faith nudged her gently.
"C'mon, Lily, we're just poking fun. We don't mean anything by it."
The others filled in with "Yeah" and "We're just playing." Lily forced herself to smile and nod, her eyes drifting back to her plate.
The rest of Lily's day was riddled with good-natured teasing and references to her dream. She avoided all eye contact--or any contact, for that matter--with James. It was easier than one would imagine to avoid someone she had three classes with, but Lily also suspected that James was deliberately staying out of her way.
It wasn't until after dinner, when Lily was studying by herself in the library, that James approached her for the first time that day. Immersed in her reading, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard his voice.
"Can I join you?" he asked nervously.
Lily glanced up and answered his question with a slight nod of the head. She watched as he pulled out the chair closest to her and sat down.
"It's very considerate of you," Lily muttered, her eyes dropping back to the book.
"What is?"
"You waiting until we're alone to tease me," she said, looking back up at him.
"That's not why I'm here," James assured her.
"Oh, right, you just came over to talk about the weather," Lily bit sarcastically, immediately regretting her bitterness. None of this was his fault, and he hadn't even said anything remotely derogatory towards her.
Fortunately, James wasn't one to take her tone seriously. "Actually, I came over to tell you that I'm not assuming the same as everyone else. I know that a dream can just be a dream." Lily's look of skepticism faded to bewilderment as he added, "I could never feel any type of passion for McGonagall."
She gazed at him, surely he was kidding. The way he shifted in his seat told Lily that James was, indeed, serious. Revulsion passed her face, followed by a small grin.
"Wait," Lily began, lowering her voice to barely a whisper, "you had a dream about McGonagall?"
James' ears reddened as he nodded curtly. "I have never told anyone about that, not even Sirius or Remus."
Lily's face broke into a full grin. "Well, I'm sure I'll be flattered once I get past my disgust." She had to make an effort not to laugh, or gag. "When was this? Not recently, I hope."
"No, it was back in third year, at a time when I was having to change my sheets just about every morning. Puberty was hell," he said lightly. "I couldn't look her in the eye for weeks….As I said, I've never told anyone else. It's not pleasant to talk about." He shuddered visibly. "And I only told you to prove that dreams don't necessarily reflect on how you feel in a conscience state."
"But I'm not some hormonal teenage boy. Those types of dreams aren't as common for girls. I mean, I know I like you as friend, but why would I have an intimate dream about you?"
"Well, we have been spending a lot of time together, and we've gotten to know each other. Maybe, it just signified our relationship, in a symbolic aspect. You despised me, and now, we spend more time together then we do apart. And, you have to admit, we know each other pretty intimately," Lily blushed and he quickly added. "We've spent hours talking, we know about each other's fears, dreams, families, and just about everything else. Maybe the kisses…or whatever, just symbolized your vulnerability to me, or some other mumbo jumbo like that."
Lily glanced up at him, meeting his eyes, and she couldn't help but smile. He was right, she was more comfortable around him than she had ever been with any other boy. She even felt safe around him, spending countless hours alone.
"You're pretty amazing, James Potter," she said warmly.
James grinned at her. "Thanks, you're not so bad yourself." Then his smile turned into something curious, mischievous even. "So, in this dream, I made you moan? What was I doing exactly?"
Lily groaned, placing her head in her hands. Looking back up, she glared at him.
"I may be 'pretty amazing' but I'm still a guy, one who loves ego-boosts." He flashed a grin. "And don't I deserve something for my wonderful advice?"
Lily shook her head in disbelief but Merlin help her if she could stop her lips forming into a grin. "Well, if anyone has the right to know, I guess it would be you." James' eager nod earned another shake of the head. "All we were doing was kissing. Nothing more."
She nearly smacked him when he grinned cheekily and asked, "Kissing where?"
She did, however gasp. "You're horrible!" she said in a hushed voice. "What happened to the James Potter who was sitting there a minute ago? What did you do to him?"
"That bad, huh?" Just like the day before, he feeding on her embarrassment.
Lily scowled at him, before sighing. "On the lips, okay? And the neck. And we weren't even kissing that long. It started out with us on the floor where we fell yesterday. I was on top of you, and we were just looking at each other, working our way closer. And then, just as we started kissing, the dream changed or whatever and we were on a bed." --("Ooh, a bed, I'm liking this dream." James' comment earned him a scowl.) "You…you didn't have shirt on and I was…underneath you. I was fully clothed, but your hands were under my shirt…not like far up or anything, just on my stomach. You were kissing my neck. That's when I…." Lily trailed off, her eyes no longer on James, instead studying the table.
"Moaned my name with hot, untamed passion," James finished bluntly.
Lily glanced up at him, her face hot with embarrassment. "I hate you."
James merely smiled. "I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist. In all seriousness though, I still don't think the dream has much meaning to it." Then he was back to being conceited. "But I wouldn't have minded being there."
Lily smirked. "Maybe I'll give you a preview some day. McGonagall can join too."
At this, James grimaced. "Lily, I told you out of pure obligation. You have to promise not to mention it ever again." He was staring at her as if this was the most important thing he would ever ask of her.
She let out a sigh, knowing she had to be the bigger person. "Okay, fine. I won't speak another word of it again."
"Promise?" Lily couldn't tell if it was more a question or demand.
"Yeah, I promise." Even as she said this, she noticed James visibly relax. "But you have to promise me the same thing, about my dream."
James looked as if he would protest, then he did. "But that's so unfair. It's totally understandable that you would dream about me! I mean, had it been Slughorn or somebody like that, then yeah…but it wasn't. You dreamed about someone young and desirable, you can't possible compare me to McGonagall."
"Who said I was comparing you to anyone? I've gotten my amount of grief from the rest of our friends. I've been assured by Carmen and Kevin at least five times that the dorm was ours tonight. I need one person who I can go to without being reminded of the dream." Then a smirk crossed her lips, "And besides, if neither of us are talking about our dreams, then your little secret would be less likely to slip."
James stared at her but finally nodded. "Okay, fine. I promise I won't tease you about your dream, and not because you're black mailing, but because that's what the James you've come to respect would do."
"Thanks," Lily replied sarcastically.
"So, what are you working on?" he asked, glancing at the books spread out before her.
"Nothing, really, just researching. I needed someplace to hide out." She was already closing the heavy text, standing to put it back.
When she returned to the table, James had her books and other materials packed in her bag. She thanked him and they left the Library together. True to his word, James didn't mention the dream the whole time they walked to Common Room. Their friends were another story. Carmen and Kevin were the first to notice their arrival.
"And where have you two been?" Carmen asked, smiling. Sirius and Remus glanced up from their game of Exploding Snap, exchanging amused glances.
"We were starting to wonder if you were ever going to show up," Sirius informed the couple.
Lily smiled but felt the blush creeping up her neck, her nerves calmed a bit when she felt James' hand on the small of her back.
"The dorm's ours, right?" he asked, glancing mainly at Kevin and Carmen, who both grinned.
"Yep, it's available until bedtime," Kevin answered as the others made noises of encouragement.
"Good," James said. "If anyone bothers us, there'll be hell to pay," he announced threateningly. "C'mon." He nodded to the redhead, letting her lead the way.