Chapter Seven - Reservations Not Required

We stepped through the portrait hole…

…and into the Gryffindor common room.

"Helga's girdle," Lily gasped. "What's the common room doing here? And where is everyone?"

I glanced around the large circular room. It looked exactly like Gryffindor Tower, from the plump armchairs, to the roaring fireplace opposite us, to the stairs leading up the dormitories. Only there was not a single person anywhere, nor any sign that anyone had ever been there.

"This is mental," I murmured, walking around. "Why would the common room just appear out of nowhere in the middle of this particular corridor?"

Lily was also examining the room and turned to me with a grin, her eyes bright and excited. "I don't think it is the common room, James. Not really. I think it's the Room of Requirement."

"The what?" I asked.

"The Room of Requirement," she repeated. "Haven't you ever heard of it?"

Nodding my head in amazement, I just stared around some more. The bulletin board even had the most recent Quidditch notices. "You mean the Come and Go Room. We spent most of our third year looking for it. Gave up and figured it was joke," I replied.

"I thought it was just an old Hogwarts legend, like the Chamber of Secrets," Lily replied. "It's supposed to be a magical room that becomes whatever you need it to be when you find it. We were walking back to Gryffindor so it became Gryffindor. You must have been walking right in front of it when you said you just wanted a fire." She motioned toward the hearth. "So there's your fire."

I grinned with her. "It's brilliant. Wish we'd found it ages ago." I tossed my cloak on a chair, threw myself down on one of the sofas, and put my feet up. It was warm and quiet and there was no one around to disrupt what had to have been the longest Valentine's Day ever. I was already starting to feel more relaxed than I had since we'd left the Hog's Head.

"What, something the Marauders didn't find?" Lily teased. "I'm shocked."

"We'll have to add it to the map, that's for sure," I murmured.

"What map?" she asked curiously, sitting down not far from me, her cloak thrown on top of mine.

"We have a map of the castle," I shrugged. "Helps us get around."

"You mean sneak around." She laughed.

"That too." It was as if being back in the castle had restored our budding relationship to where it had been earlier. Lily was no longer wild-eyed with anger at me, and it made me feel slightly better to think that perhaps she wouldn't hate me after everything we had been through.

"You probably won't be able to find it on any maps," she said. "It was thought to be a myth."

"Well, it's a rather special map," I hedged. "We made it ourselves, so we'll just add it."

Lily shook her head. "I doubt you'll be able to. My guess is that it's either Unplottable, or all the magic in the room distorts it too much for you to map it accurately."

I sat up straighter and gave her a skeptical look. "Why? It's a room and it's here. We'll just add a little box for it." The charms on the map were a lot more complex than that, but I didn't want to say too much about the map we had worked so hard on, not yet.

"It's not always here, though," Lily said. "It's only here when someone needs it."

"Where does it go?" I demanded. "A room like this just doesn't disappear."

Lily simply shrugged. "I don't know. It's a magical map, I assume?"

I nodded.

"Then maybe it will work. Or maybe," she added, glancing at me coyly, "maybe we could keep it secret for a while."

I gave her a dubious look, because I simply couldn't believe what she was suggesting after all that had happened. She, however, moved closer to me on the couch, and I raised an eyebrow at her.

"What are you playing at, Evans?" I asked, pretending to sound suspicious.

"I think we should keep it for ourselves for a while," she replied. "You know, for those private working lunches as Head Boy and Head Girl." She gazed at me expectantly. "That way you could put your arm around me whenever you want." I had never imagined she could be so forward, but I did as she suggested, and she put her head on my shoulder. It was incredibly comfortable.

"Did you bump your head out there or something?" I murmured, my hand being to subconsciously stroke her hair. It was still wet from the snow, and my fingers trailed through it, combing out the tangles.

"Maybe," she mused. "I'm sitting here with you in a room that shouldn't exist, after all."

"It's better than the Hog's Head," I pointed out.

She laughed out loud, almost ruining the moment. "Oh, James. I can't believe that happened back there. Are you sure you're okay?"

I shrugged, still embarrassed about the fiasco at the pub. "Yes, I'm fine. I suppose I should finally thank you for what you did…"

"…only you would have preferred getting your stomach punched in a few more times?" she asked, her voice teasing again.

"Of course not," I said, rolling my eyes. "Thanks. You're pretty good in a fight."

"Not really," she replied. "I only had a chance because no one else had their wand out. Most of them were too drunk."

"Oh, that's not true," I replied, glancing at her with surprise. "That was a hell of a Bat Bogey Hex, and you put those other two nutters down before they even realized what was happening."

Lily blushed. "Well, thank you, then. For the compliment."

"You're welcome," I replied.

"And so are you."

We were silent for a while, and although I knew I should either apologize for the disaster in Hogsmeade or try to pick up from where we had been repeatedly interrupted throughout the day, I could barely keep my eyes open in the warm comfort of the cozy common room. It was quiet except for the sound of the crackling fire, and the sofa was so soft I didn't feel like moving, talking, or even thinking anymore. My head drooped until my chin was resting on my chest, and I was simply too exhausted to pick it up. My eyes slammed shut, and I think I even started dreaming…

Until I felt a set of warm lips on mine.

My head flew up and my eyes jerked open; my pulse was suddenly racing. Lily pulled away as if struck by lightning, a surprised and slightly sheepish look on her face.

"Did you just kiss me?" I stuttered, sitting up and staring at her.

Lily stared back, albeit a bit sheepishly. "Yes. I didn't think you were really asleep."

"Merlin's shaggy beard," I said, unable to stop myself. I started laughing.

"What's wrong?" Lily demanded. "Why are you laughing? It couldn't have been that bad."

I doubled over, I was laughing so hard. It was like all the tension and nerves were rushing from me in one hysterical fit, and I simply couldn't control it.

Lily started to crack a smile. Slowly it widened until she was grinning, then laughing with me. We held onto each other for support, our breaths coming in gasps as we tried to stop but failed.

"Evans," I finally managed, "I can't believe you kissed me, and I missed it. I've been waiting all day to kiss you, and when it finally happens, I'm asleep." I took a deep breath to calm my laughter and shook my head ruefully. "Fitting end to a rubbish day, I suppose."

She laughed one last time. "It will make a rather sorry story, won't it? Our first kiss was thanks to a love potion, and our second was while you were nodding off."

"Only it wasn't our second kiss, it was our third," I said, remembering our kiss outside the Potions classroom the previous year. "You never answered me, you know. Back in the corridor right before we left the castle."

"I never had a chance," she replied. "It's been one thing after another with you ever since."

"I'm like that," I offered. "So what were you going to say?"

"I don't remember," she said, eyes twinkling. "What was the question again?"

I groaned as I fell back against the cushions. "Lily! You're torturing me."

"I know," she said, entwining her hand with mine. "I'm like that, too."

I looked down at our hands and decided I could play hard to get as well. I stood up, pulling her with me, and yawned. "Well, take your time. I'm exhausted, though, so I'll walk you back." I turned to leave, but her hand in mine pulled me to a stop.

"James Potter, don't you dare go anywhere," she said, stepping closer.

"Why?" I asked, trying to sound curious and not desperate.

"Because I do have an answer for you," she said. Her lips were once again moving toward mine. "If you can stay awake this time," she added, stopping suddenly and glancing up into my eyes with a sly smile.

"It depends on what's keeping me up," I said, putting my arms around her waist and pulling her closer. "Is it a good answer or a bad answer?"

"Stop talking and listen," she murmured, her lips brushing against mine. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down with a strength I didn't expect and an intensity that was instantly irresistible. I felt my stomach drop and my breath catch as she pressed her body close to mine and leaned hard into the kiss.

How long we stood there, I don't know. Eventually we tumbled to the sofa, arms and legs tangled and roving. I shoved aside the cushions, catching my breath before I began to run my lips down her neck. She arched her back and whispered my name, and I just about lost it as her hands moved through my hair and down my back.

"James?" she asked rather breathlessly as I nibbled on her ear. I couldn't believe how fast we were moving and pulled back, silently relieved for the break.

"Yes?" I asked, brushing the hair from her face and kissing her nose.

"What did you see in Arithmancy?"

I groaned. "Evans, how can you be thinking about that now?" I went back to her neck, my hands moving down to caress her thighs. I heard her gasp and grinned to myself, hoping I had distracted her successfully enough to leave the subject alone.

Apparently not.

"You said it was depressing," she said, interrupting herself with a squeak of pleasure as my hands continued to roam. "What did your chart say?"

"Well, everyone in class seemed to think it was about you, even Wenlock," I offered, moving down to kiss her collarbone.

"Then what was so depressing?" she asked. She flipped me over in one quick move and straddled my waist, grinning at me with a mischievous look in her eyes. "Because if this is depressing, then I'm leaving, Potter."

"Don't go," I murmured, pulling her down on top of me. She smiled before kissing me once more, a long deep kiss, and I hoped the question was forgotten again.

"Tell me," she said, moving away from my lips and planting kisses along my jaw. She sucked gently on my earlobe, her tongue tracing circles that sent shivers across my chest, and I groaned again. "Tell me, James."

I think I actually growled as I grabbed her, kissing her fiercely before pulling back and gazing into her eyes. "It said we'd end up together," I told her, for once that night giving her the truth. "But that it wouldn't last."

She nodded slowly; she didn't seem surprised. "I saw the same thing in Divination," she told me very matter-of-factly.

I felt the air whoosh out of me like a punctured balloon. "Well, that's a hell of a way to start a relationship—knowing it's doomed."

She raised an eyebrow. "Do you care?"

"If it doesn't last?" I asked incredulously. "Of course I do! Don't you?"

She began to undo the buttons on my shirt; I felt my eyes go wide, and she grinned at me. "Not right now, not really. I think we should enjoy the time we have together, don't you?"

Taking off my shirt and tossing it over her shoulder, she ran her hands over my chest, sending small ripples of pleasure coursing through my body. I wanted more than anything to do exactly what she had just said, and yet…

"I don't want to lose you so soon, Lily," I whispered as she leaned down to kiss me once more.

"You won't," she smiled against my lips. "It's just numbers and tea dregs. We can prove them wrong."

I pressed her to my bare chest as I kissed the top of her head. "We've already proven the rest of the world wrong, so I suppose anything is possible."

She was quiet for a moment, and I was strangely happy to simply lie there, enjoying the warmth of her body, so close to mine. I could not have imagined when I woke up that morning that the day would have ended so perfectly.

"James?" she finally said, rolling to the side and propping herself up next to me.

"Yes?" I asked, my hand caressing her cheek once more.

"The answer is yes. I felt it too."

"So did I," I finally admitted, in case it hadn't been obvious.

"I've wondered for a year, you know," she said, snuggling into my neck with a sigh.

"Me, too." I took her hand and brought it to my lips, then kissed her softly, slow and lingering.

"I'm glad you decided to give me that sneezewort this morning, James," Lily murmured.

"It wasn't me, but happy Valentine's Day anyway, Evans."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Potter."

* * *

End Notes:

The end! The never-ending Valentine's Day is finally over, and James and Lily can live happily ever after…for a while, at least. Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed this story. I do hope you have enjoyed the ending. Oh, and I have no idea what the chapter title means. It just stuck. :)