On Wednesday morning, James sat across and to the left of Lily during breakfast, and Sirius sat next to him, directly opposite her. He was convinced he would see something going on between them, after they had returned so late from shopping the previous evening.
Besides polite good-mornings, they exchanged no other conversation. James was engrossed in a conversation with Remus and did not seem to pay any attention to her. But Sirius caught Lily glancing at James every so often, and he could swear he saw the hint of a smile behind her eyes.
"Had fun last night?" he asked her, just barely making eye contact over the tiered tray of raspberry tart that separated them.
She shrugged. "Nothing fun about it. It was cold and I had no idea what most of the stuff in that shop was."
"But you had good company."
She looked at James, a sly smile creeping up on her lips. "Hm."
Sirius found her reaction sufficiently interesting.
Around the time they were done eating, McGonagall appeared by their table and stood right behind him.
"Potter, Evans," she said.
"Yes, Professor."
"The match with Slytherin is coming up, and you know that usually comes with a surge in corridor fights. I want you to patrol together at every moment during class breaks and until curfew."
Sirius turned to her. "Really?"
She threw him a stern look over her glasses. "Yes, Black. Why?"
"Can I go with them?"
"Absolutely not. They are more than capable of dealing with everything on their own." At his attempt to protest, she continued, "Don't let me hear you're following them or causing any kind of trouble, or I'll give them permission to hex you."
She turned on her heel, leaving him fuming. James and Lily burst out laughing.
"What's so funny!" he exploded.
"Your face," James said, between roars of mirth.
Sirius crossed his arms over his chest, scowling.
"You wanna go now, take a quick look around before class?" James asked Lily.
She immediately rose and picked up her backpack. "Yeah, all right."
Sirius glared at James, but James was not in the least fazed. He patted his friend's shoulder as he made to leave. "See you later, pal."
They did some patrolling.
They made the rounds together diligently during the breaks, James gallantly picking Lily up after the end of every class, under Sirius's watchful eye and his silent annoyance at the polite coolness they exhibited towards each other.
After the last class, however, James took the first opportunity to drag Lily into an empty classroom and lock the door behind them.
Not that she minded.
She let him grab her and kiss her fervently, tasting her deeply as his fingers closed around her hair and her robes. He slowly guided her towards the wall, where he rested her head cushioned in his right hand, while his left hand ran up and down across her neck, her shoulder and her arm, his lips never leaving hers.
She loved when he did that; in the beginning, it had seemed that he was usually hesitant to take initiative, and while she understood his reasons, she preferred this confident side of him, now that he was sure that she wanted him as much as he wanted her and that she wouldn't reject him.
"I'm wearing your sweatpants," she said, when he stopped for a breather.
He let out a moan. "Don't do this to me now. We don't have enough time for me to properly appreciate it." He looked down at where the hem should be hiding, and his grip on her arm inadvertently tightened. "You should've told me to skip Muggle Studies."
"I care too much for your education to let you do that."
James laughed.
"Besides, if you'd skipped Muggle Studies, right now you'd be in a dungeon with Sirius, tied up and being tortured into confessing."
"I wouldn't confess," he said proudly.
"I know, but I like you better in one piece."
He kissed her again; his left hand moved to her side, caressing her waist over the fabric of her robes, and eventually stopped a little lower, where the hem of the sweatpants started.
"You should wear them again on Sunday," he spoke, his face very close to hers, his eyes looking downwards and gleaming mischievously. "We'll find one of those empty offices with the old sofas."
"And until then?"
His hand slid ever so slightly lower on her hip. "Until then, I'll work with what I got."
Saturday came, and the atmosphere tingled with anticipation. The Quidditch team sat all together in the morning, getting a pep talk from James. Lily watched Charlotte, who was trying to control her nervous trembling. It was her first season as a starting player; last year she was a reserve, and she had only played one match.
As they got up after breakfast, Emily Rickson, the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain, approached James to wish him good luck. It was a well-known secret that she fancied him, and Lily felt a momentary pang of jealousy towards the tall, athletic girl. But it was also well-known – so much that it hardly qualified as a secret, really – that James had always fancied her, so she took a breath and pointedly turned her head away from their conversation.
(Diane thought she saw Lily narrow her eyes at Emily, but it only lasted for one second. She filed the observation in the back of her head for future reference.)
When game time approached, the girls headed to the Quidditch pitch among the pushing and shoving throngs of students sporting scarves and other gear in the Slytherin and Gryffindor colours. Lily had to dock points from a group of fifth-year Slytherins that lurked outside the entrance hexing people. A few feet behind her, Slughorn's round figure appeared, yelling and shaking a finger at his students, and Lily ushered her friends forward quickly, leaving him alone to deal with the rest of it.
They climbed up one of the stands. Lily grabbed a seat in the front row – quite unlike her – and Diane sat next to her. Lauren, Patricia and Star sat right behind them, and Remus and Peter a bit further away. Sirius was not with them – he was commentating.
When the Gryffindor team entered the field, all of them started to cheer. Lauren got up and sounded a red horn she was carrying; it played a recording of her signature shrill, a dozen times amplified. Her classmates cringed momentarily, but that kind of noise was part of the game. Lauren smirked, pleased with her new toy.
Sirius introduced the teams over the speakers player by player. James shook hands with Mulciber, who was the Slytherin Captain, and Madam Hooch blew the whistle. The players took off; Lettie zoomed upwards faster than everyone, earning another horn blow by Lauren.
There was a distinct difference in the way the two teams played. Gryffindor were light, fast players, who sped all over the pitch passing quickly. Slytherin were heavier and slower, and their Beaters – Mulciber and Van Heerden, a sixth-year – seemed particularly dangerous.
The first goal was scored by James, who stole the Quaffle just as a tall, blond Slytherin Chaser made to pass it, and quickly shot it straight through the tallest hoop. Everyone in the Gryffindor stand jumped up and cheered.
"GO JAMES!" Sirius yelled into the microphone. "Potter scores, and it's ten to zero for Gryffindor..."
James flew to the Gryffindor stand, grinning widely, and blew Lily a kiss. She blushed scarlet, her friends all turned to throw her very interested looks, and the boys whistled loudly.
"And Potter scores again, it seems..."
"Black," McGonagall warned from her seat next to him.
Less than a minute later, James stole again from another player and with a well-aimed shot, he scored, the Quaffle darting right through the Slytherin Keeper's hands. Mulciber started to yell at his players.
Slytherin took possession, but as their Chaser made a passing attempt, Charlotte zoomed past her and stole the Quaffle. Her face scrunched up in determination and her arms not trembling anymore, she flew straight to the hoops and threw the Quaffle at the left one.
"Lowe scores! And it's thirty to zero for Gryffindor. Seems like Slytherin have trouble keeping the Quaffle in possession."
Upon finding his team three goals behind in such a short time, Mulciber asked for a time-out. The Gryffindors took advantage of the moment to take a breath, with James warning them not to fall back now that they were ahead.
Once the players were back in the air, the game changed drastically. Seeing the ease with which Gryffindor stole the Quaffle, Mulciber instructed his Chasers not to pass at all and focused on better aiming the Bludgers at the Gryffindors.
His plan seemed to work at first; Winickus, the blond Chaser, finally managed to approach the Gryffindor hoops enough to attempt a shot. But he missed, and the Quaffle fell downwards, where Charlotte dove quickly and picked it up.
Two Bludgers came straight towards her; she evaded them easily and sped upwards. Behind her, Eddie was after the first Bludger, and Mulciber was following the second one.
Charlotte passed to James, who passed to Gina Camby, the other Chaser; she was almost hit by a Bludger and dropped the Quaffle. A Slytherin Chaser picked it up and finally scored their first points.
The game continued with Gryffindor always in the lead, but the Bludgers were starting to tire the Chasers; suddenly, Lettie zoomed downwards.
"She's seen the Snitch!" Lauren shrieked and jumped up, clasping her hands together.
But Lettie hadn't seen the Snitch; she was flying left and right between the players, intending to confuse the Bludgers and the Slytherin Beaters. Indeed, Mulciber found himself undecided as to where to aim; he ended up with a weak hit that James avoided easily, and behind him, Eddie had no trouble hitting the Bludger and sending it straight at a Slytherin Chaser's face.
"That must have hurt," Sirius reported.
Lettie continued to fly erratically all over the field, blocking the view of the Slytherin players, and getting the focus of the Bludgers on her; she was petite and agile, and would easily swing out of their way after directing it to one of the Gryffindor Beaters. Charlotte and Gina found themselves disoriented at times, but they knew Lettie had saved them from some nasty hits. Up overhead, Regulus Black, who was the Slytherin Seeker, was flying in circles, looking for the Snitch and refusing to enter the frenzy.
"The Quaffle is now in Lowe's hands, who passes to Potter, who passes to Camby... Hamilton just barely avoids a Bludger thrown by Mulciber, it's a dangerous game she's playing... Camby is in front of Slytherin's goalposts, she shoots! ...She misses."
Two Slytherin Chasers, the Slytherin Keeper, and Gina dove to catch the Quaffle; Lettie sped right past them, causing Gina to miss the Quaffle, and headed to the Gryffindor stand.
"There it is!" all the Gryffindors exclaimed loudly, as they saw what Lettie had seen; the Snitch fluttering a few feet in front of them. Regulus made to dive towards the same direction, but he was too far away and too late.
"LETITIA HAMILTON CATCHES THE SNITCH! Gryffindor wins with a score of 220 to 40. Fantastic play by Hamilton, we don't often see defence of that calibre from Seekers. Better luck next time, Slytherin."
Up at the stand, Lauren was screeching loud enough without need of the horn, bouncing up and down and flailing her arms. Lily leaped over her seat to her and squeezed her into a hug, and one by one everyone in the stand started to embrace each other and cheer.
Down at the field, the Gryffindor team had landed and, after sharing a group hug, was starting to get pounced on by the younger Gryffindors, the friends of Lettie, Gina and the rest of the team. James looked up at the stand and waved at his friends. Remus and Peter waved back.
"Let's go," Patricia said merrily, dragging Lauren by the arm. "Everyone's down."
They all headed down to the field. Remus and Peter joined Sirius in a bear hug attack on James; Charlotte ran to the girls instead, leaving the rest of her team behind her, and after a minute, so did Lettie.
"Lettie!" Lauren cried, still in high-pitched mode. "You're the best!"
Lettie, by disposition much more quiet and composed than Lauren, still ran to her sister with a big grin and hugged her tightly. Their face features were very similar, but Lettie was much thinner and almost one head shorter; Lauren looked like her mother in comparison.
After the two sisters released each other, the girls took turns congratulating both Lettie and Charlotte, who had overcome her nervousness and played a great game, showing excellent passing and stealing skills and scoring two goals.
Lily looked at James, who, having escaped his friends' lock, was being congratulated by the teachers. He would be in very high demand today; she decided to let him be and go congratulate him later.
The party lasted all day for the Gryffindors, who spread along the castle and the grounds celebrating their victory, and after dark it moved to the Gryffindor common room. Gina Camby and her fifth-year classmates were singing songs Lily didn't know and dancing about wildly. Eddie and Rhett, the two Beaters, were also being noisy with their friends, and Chris, the Keeper, was making out with his girlfriend. Sirius – for Merlin's screams of agony – had brought Butterbeer. Again. Lily could not spare the energy to fight that lost battle.
Charlotte and Lettie lounged on the sofas with the other girls, their feet up on the back of the furniture and their heads upside down. Lettie's long brown hair cascaded down on the rug, but she didn't seem to care.
Finally, James appeared through the portrait, the last one to make it back. Lily didn't know whether he had been busy with Quidditch affairs or he had just wanted to make an entrance. Probably a bit of both.
The whole room broke into applause when he entered. He greeted everyone and looked for Lily. She waved him over from where she was lounging in her favourite armchair.
"Congratulations!" all the girls said when he approached. "Great game!"
"We came down to the field but you were busy," Diane explained.
"Plus we had our own girls to congratulate," Lauren added with a grin.
"Yeah, Lettie did all the work anyway," Lily said, winking at him.
James gave a lopsided grin. "And how do you know it wasn't my instructions she was following?"
"She told us."
"Of course she did," he said and his eyes searched for the younger girl. She playfully stuck his tongue out at him from her upside-down position. He didn't mind. "Butterbeer?" he asked the girls.
"For everyone?" Charlotte piped up.
"Hm." He turned to his friends' table. "I don't know how much Sirius has brought. Seventh-years take precedence."
"And then it's Quidditch winners," she insisted.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's see."
They all eagerly jumped up from the couches and went to the table where Sirius, Remus and Peter were sitting, each with a bottle in hand.
"Got any for the girls?" James asked.
"Of course," Sirius bragged. "Four bottles, for my four lovely classmates. And I also have two spares."
"Charlotte and Star can take them, I'll share with Lettie," Lauren said.
"She can have mine." Lily swayed her way to James's side and positioned herself next to him, almost brushing up against him. "I'll drink from yours."
He turned to her, an eyebrow raised, their faces very close. "Oh, now you want to know my secrets."
"It's only fair, isn't it?"
Sirius observed them with an interested smirk and handed an open bottle to James, then passed around the rest of the bottles to the girls. When they each had one, he raised his own.
"To Gryffindor!"
"To Gryffindor!" they all repeated in unison and drank.
James took a good swig from his bottle and passed it to Lily, his eyes steady on hers. She took it, touched it suggestively to her lips and drank without breaking eye contact.
"I now pronounce you," Diane muttered under her breath.
James and Lily ignored her; they drew chairs to sit at the table, and the other girls followed suit.
After a couple of hours of merry drinking and laughter, the girls decided it was time to retire, and started to offer their goodnights.
Lily rose from her chair and addressed a goodnight to the other boys, then she leaned over James, slipped her hands across his jawline and kissed him, a lengthy, possessive kiss. He closed his eyes, savouring the sensation.
Remus and Peter brought their hands to their mouths and exchanged thrilled looks, silently agreeing to hold back the need for enthusiastic whistling. Star whispered something in Lauren's ear, to which Lauren responded by nodding vigorously.
When Lily finally pulled back, James had the most joyful, most idiotic grin on his face.
"Goodnight," she told him, her eyes never leaving his.
"Goodnight, everyone," Diane added impatiently. She grasped the back of Lily's robes, pulling her up and towards the dormitory staircase, making the air smell of impending interrogation.
Eventually, the girls left, and the boys remained back, James looking at the staircase with his face frozen in ecstatic happiness, the others looking at him.
"Prongs, that was fantastic!" Peter broke the silence.
"She's drunk," James said, but his expression did not falter in the least.
"She's drunk," Sirius repeated, with a pointed glare at James, arms crossed, disbelief oozing from every single pore of his body.
James nodded, his expression finally sobering up a little.
"Come with me for a minute," Sirius told him, rising from his chair.
"Wait, we all want to hear it," Remus protested.
Sirius raised a finger at him. "James first."
Remus shrugged in defeat; James got up and followed Sirius outside the common room.
"So?" James asked.
"That was not your first kiss with Lily," Sirius said, pointing towards the common room.
James pressed his lips together, suppressing his smile, and gave Sirius the most innocent look he could manage. "I don't understand your insinuation."
"Don't give me that," Sirius continued strictly, but his eyes had started to smile. "You can't expect me to believe that Lily Evans just kissed you for the first time and you let her say goodnight and leave."
James avoided his friend's gaze, as a grin started to spread slowly across his face. "We've been together since Slughorn's party."
"I knew it!" Sirius pointed an accusing finger at him, despite his whole face turning bright with joy. "I knew you were hiding something! Eliza, did you know about this?"
"I had my suspicions," the portrait admitted.
"You idiot!" Sirius turned at James again. "I was really worried about you for a while, d'you know that?"
"Well, I had to keep it a secret," James said, feigning innocence once again. "Couldn't taint a lady's reputation."
"You're such a bastard!" Sirius pulled James in a headlock, ruffling his hair. "I hate you."
"I know," James said merrily.
"I'm going to be the best man in your wedding."
"I know."
Sirius released James from the headlock and pulled him into the tightest, brotherly hug.
"You bastard."
They returned into the common room with wide smiles on their faces.
"Well?" Remus asked.
"He wanted to call best man in my wedding with Lily," James explained.
Peter groaned, and Remus dejectedly hit his hand on the table. "That's dirty play."
Lily, like James, tried to deny there was anything going on at first, but at Diane's persistent stare, she had to cave. It wasn't like it was going to stay a secret any longer.
Her friends looked at it each in her own way. Lauren, with her cheerful and optimistic attitude, found it an extremely adorable development. Patricia, always the practical mind, examined the idea carefully and found it a very reasonable and fitting match.
As for Diane, she kept up the façade of annoyance until everyone else was done speaking, then burst out laughing and started recounting every time Lily had sworn James was the worst, and that she would never consider dating Potter, of all people. Lily didn't exactly take the teasing in stride, but then Diane hugged her and told her that she was obviously the luckiest of girls, because James must really love her if he managed to turn her mind around like that.
"He does," Lily admitted shyly, then buried her face behind her hands to hide her furiously reddening cheeks. "Merlin, look at me."
Diane chuckled, and hugged her again.
In the morning, Lily left the dormitory with her friends, but stayed in the common room when they went to get breakfast. A couple of minutes later, Sirius skipped down the stairs, followed by James.
"Hey, Lily," he said cheerily.
"Hey."
"Have you heard? I'll be the best man in your wedding."
"I didn't think I had a choice."
He gave her an approving half-smile. "No wonder James likes you. I should tell you, I'm happier for him than I am for you, because he's the lucky one in your deal."
"We're both lucky," she said, her eyes darting to James.
Sirius raised an eyebrow, then turned around to look at his friend. "She really is in love with you, mate."
"I told you."
"I don't think I've ever said that," Lily protested, a teasing gleam in her eyes.
James started to take large, slow paces towards her, head held high, his smirk radiating self-confidence. "And just because you haven't, you thought I wouldn't notice?"
"Careful with that attitude, Potter, or I'll tell your friend all about how you ended our first kiss."
James laughed and swiftly wrapped her into his arms, positioning himself behind her so that they were both facing Sirius. "He can probably guess better than you imagine, but we'll tell him someday." He planted a big kiss on her cheek, over the thick mane of red hair framing her face.
Sirius watched them, his lips curled into a mischievous, crooked smile, but the expression of his grey eyes was unusually warm.
"Tell you what," he said. "It's a Sunday, Quidditch practice is off, and the dormitory's empty. You can sleep in." He winked. "I'll save you breakfast for later."
Lily and James shared an intrigued look.
"I'm not hungry," Lily said.
"Me neither."
"Well, there you go," Sirius concluded. "I'm sure no one will miss you too terribly. I'll make up an excuse for McGonagall if she asks."
"You definitely need some rest after yesterday's game," Lily told James, running her hand on his arm. "Come. I'll put you to bed."
Without a word, but with a very eloquent look at her, James took Lily's hand and led her up the staircase to the boys' dormitory.
"See you later, mate," he called, before disappearing up the stairs.
"Keep an eye on the map for us, will you?" Lily threw over her shoulder, with a smirk at Sirius.
Sirius chuckled to himself as he made to leave the common room.
"You bastards."
James had never seen Lily look so beautiful.
She was wearing a skin tight, pink tank top and his sweatpants, her robes now thrown on Sirius's bed. He pulled his own robes off, then grabbed her from the waist and kissed her, slowly, deliberately. His hands slid up her sides and touched just the edge of her breast, and he felt his heart stop.
She kissed him back fiercely, her hands on the back of his neck pulling him in, and with her waist and leg she nudged him towards the bed. More than willing to oblige, James lay on his bed, Lily on top of him, and they kissed until there was no more breath left in either of them.
Exhausted but happy, she buried her face in his chest and drew in a few deep breaths. He let her rest for a moment, then with his finger lifted her chin up to look at her.
She was looking back at him, her lips rosy and smiling, her green eyes twinkling, a stray strand of hair falling in her face. She was positively radiant.
His fingers gently caressed her lower back, over her tank top.
"Next time, it's your turn to take this one off," she teased, tugging at his undershirt.
"We'll see." He stretched his right hand and tried to reach for something inside the top drawer of his nightstand, but his blind effort didn't work. "Could you...?"
She rolled to the side, leaving one leg over his and one hand on his chest. He leaned over the drawer and found what he was looking for: a small, dark red velvet box. He lay back on his pillow and slid it under her hand, with a caressing gesture and a soft look at her.
Her expression curious, she opened it. Inside she found an open wrap gold ring, with one side shaped in an intricate lily flower, and the other one in a matching leaf.
"Where did you find this?" she asked, awed by the beauty.
"I had it made."
"You – made?!"
"Lily," he spoke over her shock, squeezing her hand. "Listen." He found himself momentarily lost in her eyes, and suddenly a wave of anxiety and uncertainty overcame him. He shook it off with a deep breath. "I know we haven't been together for long. And that we're still in school, and that you probably think Sirius is teasing when he talks about our wedding." His eyes strayed away from her intense stare for a moment, but he forced them back and pressed on. "One day, I hope I'll be able to ask you to marry me. But until then... I wanted to ask you to be my girlfriend, officially."
She smiled at him. "Am I not?"
"I don't know, are you?"
She snuggled in his embrace, resting her head on his chest. "Of course I am."
His hand ran gently up and down her arm. "You don't have to take the ring right now if it makes you uncomfortable. But it's yours, and I hope to see you wear it someday."
"It's beautiful," she said, still nested in his arms, the box with the ring held in her hand. "And I have no reason to decline it. But I didn't need it."
"If you needed it, it wouldn't be a gift, it would be charity."
She playfully tapped his nose, then took the ring out of the box and slid it on her finger.
"It fits," she said, not particularly surprised.
His lips curled into a sly grin. "As if by magic."
-The End-
A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to join me in this journey! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)
Important note:
The goal when I started this fic was to show James and Lily falling in love and getting together. So in that regard, the fic is finished.
However! There's definitely more to say about this universe! I have started work on a continuation of this story - it's been largely sitting on the back burner in favour of working on other fics, but if there's interest and if someone would volunteer *wink wink, nudge nudge* to be my beta and help me out with it, I'd love to finish it! Whether it's going to be posted as additional chapters on this one or as a separate story depends on how it comes out, but either way I'm not going to release it unless another arc is complete, so you don't have to worry about being left hanging. ;)
In any case, and whether in this universe or not, there's definitely more Jily content coming along! So subscribe here, follow me on Tumblr (annabtg), find me on the Jily Discord, whatever works for you! And please remember to leave a comment if you liked this story!
See you around!