"Get up!" James shouted, rudely awakening a sleeping Lily. He quickly followed his abrupt and obnoxious greeting by swiftly pulling her covers right off her body, exposing her to the chilly early morning air.
"Wha—?" Lily asked sleepily, sitting up quickly, arms swinging wildly, shocked by the sudden noise and change in atmosphere.
"Well, that was certainly easier than waking Sirius," James mused thoughtfully, as Lily swung her head about in confusion. "Although, you're not much more alert than he is in the mornings," he noted with amusement.
Regaining some coherence, Lily stared at him like he was an apparition, before asking the first thought that came into her foggy mind. "How in the world did you get up here?"
"Oh, it's quite simple. I'll show you later if you'd like," he said, way too cheerfully for so early in the morning.
He suddenly lit his wand in the dim room, causing Lily to squint at the sudden brightness. After waiting a moment, and allowing her eyes to adjust, Lily incredulously asked, "What are you doing here… are you on drugs?"
James chuckled quietly, not wanting to risk waking the other girls more than he already had.
"No, of course not, I'm just a morning person – that and I'm looking forward to your first work out – now get up. If you're going to be ready in time to have a full hour outside, we need to get going."
Lily looked blearily at her bedside clock
"Five-thirty in the morning? You've got to be fucking kiddin' me!" she exclaimed, laying back down and curling herself in a ball to keep warm, seeing as James had confiscated her sheets, and after a few lame and unsuccessful attempts to retrieve them back from him, she gave it up as a lost cause.
He sighed patiently, realising that she was going to be a little more difficult to persuade than he'd originally thought. "You know, for some reason, I thought you might be a morning person too," he mused.
Lily merely made a sound that was a cross between a scoff, a whine, and a snore in retort.
"Come on, don't make me force you, Lily, because it won't be pretty. We're going to be spending an awful lot of time together over the next few months, and the last thing I want to do is start it off by fighting with you."
Lily groaned before saying, in a whine, "But why now?! It's barely even light out yet, just a few more minutes…" she finished, snuggling her face down further into her pillow and trying to pretend he wasn't there.
Briefly, considering some of the more unusual techniques he used on Sirius when he refused to get up, James finally decided to take pity on her. It was, after all, her first morning with him as her duelling partner and he thought he should go easy on her. So he tried to encourage her out of bed instead of forcing it. "How about if I promise to get you some coffee before we start?"
Lily cracked one eye open to curiously inspect him. "And a muffin?"
"And a muffin," he confirmed.
"Promise?"
"Promise," he said solemnly, smiling at her childlike innocence at this time of the morning, before tugging gently at the arm she'd slung over the side of the bed.
"Okay, fine," Lily sighed, stretching her stiff muscles out like a cat before crawling out of bed.
She stood there swaying on her feet, her eyes falling shut periodically before she'd snap them back open.
James valiantly held in an un-gentlemanly snigger that was dying to come out, walked over to her and turned her around, and pushed her towards the bathroom.
She allowed him to guide her through the door, too tired to complain about being corralled by him, and returned ten minutes later looking much more awake and like her usual self, albeit a little more tired than usual.
"Okay, oh evil and spiteful one, who hates me and wakes me up at ungodly hours, what exactly should I be wearing for this crack of dawn excursion?"
James covered his mouth to prevent himself from laughing out loud and answered her question. "Wear something loose, and trainers, if you've got them."
She nodded. They stood there, facing each other for a long while, before Lily eventually said, "Could you leave, please, I'm your fake girlfriend so you don't get to see the goodies – and even if it was the real deal I still wouldn't let you see after only a day," she added as an afterthought.
"Oh, right," he laughed, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably. "I'm used to doing this with Sirius. If I leave him alone for even a minute he goes straight back to bed. Sorry… sorry I'll just wait outside."
Lily raised an eyebrow at his suddenly flustered demeanour, but smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll be downstairs in ten minutes," before making shooing motions to encourage him on his way out of the room.
Just as he reached the door, James collected himself and turned, smiling charmingly at her. "Oh, and by the way, Evans?"
"Yeah?" she asked through a yawn, her mouth quirking at his use of her surname, finding that she kind of liked it now that he said it with endearment, not anger.
"Nice Pyjamas!" he said quickly, before shutting the door behind him as fast as he could.
Lily looked down at her tiny shorts and string vest with gnomes all over them. She let out a mildly outraged noise and chucked the nearest thing to her, her pillow, towards the door, but grinned foolishly all the same.
--
Lily arrived down into the common room exactly ten minutes later, as promised. She crumpled down next to James on the sofa he'd be waiting on, where he was reading the previous day's news paper.
"I really hate you right now," she grumbled, as she released yet another yawn.
"Yeah, that's nothing new though, is it? And anyway, I'm not training you to be my friend, am I?" he asked, handing her a steaming cup of coffee and a chocolate muffin. She took both gratefully.
"No," she admitted grudgingly. "Although, I would like to be able to salvage a friendship despite your abnormal working hours."
"Good to know, Lily, I hope so too," he said, standing and extending a hand to help her up. "Come on, we better get going."
--
He led her down towards the Quidditch pitch where she noticed some items lined up underneath one of the stands.
"How long have you been up?" she asked in amazement, sure that he'd been the one to place the items there, seeing as they seemed to be heading toward that exact spot.
He grinned at her, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "Not much longer than you. I just leave the stuff down here; no one ever messes with it."
"Oh… okay," she said. "I'm relieved; I was starting to worry for your sanity!"
"Good to know you care, Lils," he chuckled, and she smiled in return.
When James and Lily got closer, and she got a better look at the items he'd left out, she was shocked by what she saw. "We're doing Muggle exercises?" she asked, startled and confused.
"Of course. What did you think we were going to do?"
"I dunno," she answered stupidly. "Research, maybe practice hexes. Thought you might teach me the rules of the sport or something, but definitely not Muggle exercise."
He laughed at her confused expression before explaining, "We'll do all that stuff you mentioned, but I find exercise helps me clear my mind before I start the day and it relaxes me. But, more importantly, your body needs to be in just as good a form as your mind and your wand when you're a dueller. Helps with Quidditch too, that's what I have the weights for—they're not for you," he added, as he caught her eyeing them with trepidation, laughing.
She turned her full attention back towards him so he continued. "Look at Aurors, they have to go through extensive physical training as well as magical. You need a good muscle tone and strength if you're going to be an even halfway decent dueller. That's a mistake wizards often make, they rely too much on their magic and disregard Muggle techniques, thinking it's beneath them or too primitive or some other rubbish, but it's not – it's not just the hexes you know, but how you use them."
He followed this mini speech by throwing a blasting curse at a boulder near the edge of the forest and she watched as it cracked it down the middle, impressed by his aim and the power he had to have in order to have been able to send a spell that far.
"If you use your body's movement, you can put more power behind the spell," he said, throwing the same spell again, only this time spinning his body a little. Just like before his aim was perfect, only this time, the blasting curse completely demolished the large boulder. "It's no substitute for raw power, but it's amazing the difference it can make!"
"Wow," Lily replied. "How come no-one's ever shown us that in Defence? Seems like it would be a useful thing to know," she finished sarcastically.
James shrugged. "We've had so many teachers and none of them know what their predecessors have or haven't taught. Not to mention, plenty of them don't believe in Muggle means to increase the magical – as I said, some people are too biased to see what's right in front of them."
"A fit and healthy body will give you more range, flexibility, and movement, not to mention that sometimes the only good thing to do is just dive out of the way," he grinned, right before tackling her to the ground.
Lily let out a surprised squeal as they both fell. James rolled at the last minute so as not to squash her, and then he rested his head on his hand as he leaned over her and laughed, saying, "and the best part is, hardly anyone ever expects it."
Lily growled and knocked his arm out from under his head, causing him to hit the ground with a muffled thump. He looked at Lily, a little shocked, and she just smiled back sweetly before saying, "and the best part is, hardly anyone ever expects it."
He chuckled before lunging for her again, but he wasn't fast enough. She was up and away from him before he'd even had a chance to recover.
He chased after her for a few hundred yards before he caught her, and when he did she couldn't help but let out an exhilarated laugh.
"See, exercise isn't always boring and hard," said James.
"Okay," she conceded. "You've convinced me, so what now?"
"Now? We jog," he said, starting to move away from her.
Lily grunted, but quickly fell in step with him.
"How long do you normally run?" she asked, once they'd made their first lap of the Quidditch pitch.
"Well, normally, I try to do about ten laps in thirty minutes."
Lily stared at him dumbly, and he patted her shoulder. "Don't worry. I know that's a little too much for your first day, so we'll take it slow and see how fit you are. We'll start really pushing your limits another day. Today is just about assessing you."
"Okay," Lily sighed, but quickened her pace just a little to show him he didn't need to go too easy on her.
He smiled knowingly and matched her stride for stride.
"How do you know all this stuff, anyway?" she asked breathlessly, as they made their third lap.
"Well, my father is head of the Auror department, and before him there's a long line of Potters either in the Department of Mysteries or the Aurors, so I guess it runs in the family. Anyway, he's been teaching me to protect myself since I was old enough to hold a wand, and even before that, he had me participating in various defensive sports. I guess I've been conditioned to defend and protect," he chuckled wryly.
"Wow, that doesn't sound like much fun for a kid, but no wonder you're captain."
"Don't worry," he replied, noticing her frown. "Luckily I enjoyed every second of it, especially the part where my dad spent time with me. He always made sure to make time, and still does actually, whenever I have questions about the team or defensive tactics."
Lily gave him a dubious look but continued to jog without comment, it was his life, and if he said he was happy, who was she to argue?
--
Later, after ten laps in forty-five minutes, Lily found herself on her back attempting to do yet another set of sit-ups.
At first, she'd thought James was going too easy on her, but now she had to acknowledge he was doing no such thing, and that she should have trusted him earlier to set the pace. It seemed he knew more than she did about her body's limits, and swore next time she came out with him she wouldn't be quite so aggressive – at least not until she felt a little more confident in her fitness level.
Her legs ached from the jog and the leg squats he'd insisted on, her arms ached from the push ups he'd already made her do, and now her stomach ached something fierce from the sit-ups.
She flopped back on the grass, unable to take anymore, and turned her head lazily to the side where she saw James still forcing his body to move into crunch after crunch.
She couldn't help but be impressed by his stamina and fitness. She allowed her eyes to run over his body, lingering on his taut stomach and muscled arms, and as she continued to watch she felt her mouth go dry.
Lily didn't think she'd ever seen anyone better looking than he was to her, right at that moment, and the feeling astonished her, especially when she found she had an overwhelming urge to lean over and touch him.
She wasn't stupid and she had eyes- James Potter was sexy. She had never denied to herself that she was mildly attracted to him, but she was stunned to find that even after only a few days, her attraction was already reaching a whole new level. She shook the thoughts violently from her brain and forced herself to resume her exercises, briefly flicking her eyes towards the weights set up under the stands. She took a moment to be thankful he wasn't going to make her lift them, hoping to Merlin that she wouldn't look like an actual boy when training was over.
---
"Now what?" she asked as she lay, panting, on the ground after a final cool down lap around the pitch.
He sat cross-legged next to her, not nearly as red or tired as her, but impressed with her nonetheless.
"I admire your work ethic," he smiled.
"Ergh," she grunted, resting a hand on her stomach and closing her eyes.
He checked his watch. "We've had over an hour's workout so that's good. Normally, I'd go in and have a shower and go to breakfast now, and actually practice duelling tonight at the club meeting, but seeing as you're not part of the team yet, that's not an option… and I do need to see what you're made of…"
He looked over her breathless frame once again before reconsidering his plan. "You know what? Nevermind, I think you've had enough for this morning."
She glared at him from her position in the grass, but didn't argue.
"We'll work on it tonight, instead. You know, when we're supposed to be off…"
"Groping each other?" she suggested helpfully.
"Yeah, that." He coughed uncomfortably before changing the subject, allowing her more time to recover before they made a move. "How'd it go with your friends last night?"
When she looked at him, shocked, he shrugged. "I saw Catreena coming down the stairs looking way too pleased with herself and overheard her saying your name, so I figured she'd been stirring the pot in your dorm."
"Yeah she was, but its okay, my friends and I worked it out."
"Of course you did," James said with a smile.
"What about you? Did your friends say anything about our sudden interest in each other?" she asked interestedly.
"My sudden interest?" he repeated slowly, before answering, "No, they didn't say anything."
His dodgy answer caught Lily's attention, but as she tried to make eye contact with him, she realised that whatever it was, he didn't want to talk about it, so she sighed and let it go.
Not that she had much choice, because he'd stood up and started to walk towards the castle, calling out to her to 'hurry up' over his shoulder, before she'd even had a chance to confront him.
---
A/N
I'm working now so I won't be able to update as often as you've all become used to… but please I beg you; help entertain me during the day and send me reviews!
Hope you enjoyed
ps. Many, many thanks to abok1972