Summary: COMPLETED
Ah, Christmas. The season of joy and love. And Head Boy James Potter fully intends to use the loving atmosphere to his advantage by coming up with plans and using them to capture the heart of Lily Evans.
But since when do plans transfer beautifully from parchment to life?
Six plans become five, five become four, four become three, three become two, two become one, and then there are none.
Then his friends come to the rescue.
But of course.
Categories: James/Lily Characters: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: Series: None
Chapters: 7
Completed: Yes
Word count: 26155
Read: 35169
Published: 09/14/07
Updated: 12/07/07
1. Chapter I by x_lily_evans_x
2. Chapter II by x_lily_evans_x
3. Chapter III by x_lily_evans_x
4. Chapter IV by x_lily_evans_x
5. Chapter V by x_lily_evans_x
6. Chapter VI by x_lily_evans_x
7. Chapter VII by x_lily_evans_x
Chapter I by x_lily_evans_x
Author's Notes:
Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling. That doesn't mean I don't spend endless hours wishing that I am, though.
His polished Nimbus 1001 clutched in one hand, and a little stuffed snowman in the other, James Potter paused nervously as he reached the bottom of the girls’ dormitories. The Common Room, which was full of Yuletide decorations, and the dormitories were deserted (the Marauder’s Map had told him so); it was lunchtime and everyone was in the Great Hall. Still, he couldn’t be too sure. Maybe it was the streak of paranoia that haunted mischief makers. He, along with his fellow Marauders, used to spend lunches in the Common Room, setting up tricks for their unsuspecting housemates.
Once sure that the coast was clear, he mounted his broom and kicked off, rising speedily and flying off into the unknown that was the girls’ dormitories.
Or perhaps, not so unknown.
James had been sneaking into the girls’ dormitories on two previous occasions” two weeks before, and just last week. All on Sundays, as was today. His purpose? Merely to drop letters and gifts on a certain girl’s bed.
If a few years ago, someone had told James that he would be so besotted with a girl that he would be willing to drop off sweet little notes and presents on her bed, he would have told the person to go to the Hospital Wing and get from Madam Pomfrey a cure for madness. But the sad, sad truth was this:
James Potter was truly besotted.
He was besotted with the way she twisted her auburn hair around her fingers when she thought about something. He was besotted with the way she tilted her head slightly to one side when she was asking a question. He was besotted with the way her large green eyes seemed to pierce through his like she was examining his soul carefully. He was besotted with her low voice. He was, to put it quite simply, besotted with Lily Evans.
Oh, sure, now that they were the Head Prefects, they could see each other more often than usual, and Lily, who had merely tolerated him last year, was actually treating him like a friend. Last year she was only capable of tight smiles; this year the smiles were genuine. Last year she was only capable of few sharp words; this year she was capable of strings and strings of words, and James was only too happy to sit there beside her and smile at her, smile at the way her small hands moved animatedly as she chattered endlessly, smile at the way she spoke so dramatically about certain things, smile at the way she made faces sometimes or imitated others. But most of all, he smiled at the way she was paying attention to him; the way she was finally taking him seriously.
However, there was one small problem. Just one small problem. One oh-so-small problem, and it was causing James extreme agony:
He didn’t know what Lily Evans thought about him.
And it was, to put it in melodramatic terms, killing him slowly.
He could not fathom the feelings and expressions that were hidden in her eyes. She was always just so mysterious. A little wave or a smile at him, and he would be wondering the whole day what in the name of Merlin did that mean.
His inseparable best mate Sirius Black told him that he was obsessed, that he shouldn’t be reading too much into things, and please concentrate more on the prank playing, will ya?
His faithful friend, Peter Pettigrew, had only one answer, a helpful shrug.
His wise friend Remus Lupin told him to let nature take its course, and if he and Lily were meant to be, Fate would drive them together.
But Fate was taking too damn effing long. He needed an answer soon. Which was why he was doing all this sneaking around.
He landed lightly on the floor and got off his broom. Although he knew that there was no one around, he still crept towards the bed at the far end, right next to the window, the one that was Lily’s.
The bed was smoothly made, with a pile of books just beside the little stand that stood beside the bed. A little sliver of paper that was magically shimmering was sticking out of the top book, Arithmancy as of Today. This sight made James beam.
She had kept his note.
She had kept his note.
She hadn’t thrown it away.
She had kept his note.
Sidestepping the pile of books, he placed the snowman on her bed, along with a note that read, “Here’s a little momento of this year’s winter.”
Once the job was done, he mounted his Nimbus 1001 again and soared out of the room quickly. He swooped down into the Common Room, and almost knocked over Sirius, Remus and Peter, who were walking towards the boys’ dormitories.
“Hello,” James said, dismounting his broom swiftly.
“Were you up there again?” Sirius asked, shaking his head wearily.
“Well, I think it was pretty sweet of him to treat Lily this way,” Peter said.
“Thanks, Wormtail,” James said, grinning. Peter looked pleased.
Remus asked, “What exactly did you give Lily? And Merlin forbid that you gave her another one of your notes, because the previous few were utterly awkward.”
Sirius looked affronted. “Prongs! You didn’t show me your notes since the first one!”
“That’s because you’d just laugh insensitively into Prongs’ face and throw it into the fire again,” Remus said shrewdly. “And then write another letter, supposedly a better version, which I find trashy, unreadable shit.”
“I didn’t do that,” Sirius said, crossing his arms. “I was perfectly sensitive about the first note, wasn’t I, James? You tell Moony what I did.”
“You laughed insensitively into my face and threw it into the fire,” James parroted, but he was unable keep a straight face. “And then you wrote another letter, supposedly a better version, but Moony proclaimed it ‘trashy, unreadable shit.’ ”
“I stand corrected,” Remus smirked.
“Face it, Padfoot, you were no help to my WOLE scheme, no matter how much you want to be,” James said.
“WOLE?” Peter asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Win Over Lily Evans,” James explained, and at once Sirius let out a bark of laughter.
“And that,” Remus said dryly, once Sirius had finished his one moment of amusement, “is also why James didn’t show you his notes and gifts.”
*
“And this is what I hate about James Potter in love,” Sirius said dramatically. “He never listens to anyone.”
Remus barely looked up from a Christmas present (a new book) he had received this morning, whereas Peter has happily and obliviously munching away on a candy cane.
Sirius sighed. “Not that anyone’s listening to me now.” Then he leaned over, snapping his fingers in front of James’ face.
James blinked, and then said, “Oh, yeah, Padfoot, the Cornish pixies are most interesting, but I don’t want you to put them into Slughorn’s office for a joke. It’s not funny, and it’ll spoil my reputation as Head Boy. You could let them out in the Slytherin common room if you want, but not in any teacher’s office.”
Sirius rolled his eyes. “We were long over that topic, Head Boy! Why are you so slow in processing information today?”
“Slow? Am I?” James asked distractedly. He had just spotted Lily walking down the stairs with a couple of her girlfriends, Mary Macdonald and Gemma Spinnet.
She saw him looking, and came walking over. Gemma, who was good friends with all of the Marauders, came over, too, and wished them all Merry Christmas, a greeting which James returned vaguely. He had eyes only for Lily. He couldn’t help but observe the way the way the morning sun made her long auburn curls gleam gold, so they framed her face like a halo. She said brightly, “Merry Christmas, James.”
“Merry Christmas, Lily,” he said, grinning and running a hand through his hair.
“I’ve got your present upstairs, I’ll give it to you later, okay?” she said, and smiling, she left with Mary and Gemma.
James sighed. “What do you think?” he asked, addressing the rest of the Marauders in general. “Does she like me, or not?”
“I dunno, mate,” Sirius said sympathetically. “It’s hard to tell.”
James got up and headed for the boys’ dormitories.
“Hey, where’re you going?” Sirius yelled.
“I’ve left my Christmas gift and note for Lily upstairs,” James called back as he ascended the stairs. He grabbed the little stuffed winged angel with a shimmering golden halo magically hovering above her red hair from his bedside and a little card, which read, “An angel for an angel.” He hoped that Lily would like this present. When the angel’s halo was touched, the angel would magically flutter her wings and soar to the top of the room, sprinkling little snowflakes all over the room, which would magically disappear after a while. Then mounting his broom, he flew from the boys’ dormitories to the girls’ dormitories.
He got off his broom after landing by Lily’s bedside. He heard a yell from downstairs, probably Sirius’, and assumed that the other Marauders were starting a rowdy game. Leaning the broom against the frame of the neighbouring bed, he gently placed the angel and the card on Lily’s quilt. Just as he was arranging the gift and the card properly, he heard a familiar voice call, “Wait for me, you two, I’m just going to grab a book to read during breakfast!”
Panicking, he was about to grab his broomstick, but he was too late. A gasp sounded, followed by a scandalised “James Potter!”
Turning around hastily, he saw, to his horror, that Lily Evans was staring at him, eyes wide and accusing. Then her gaze moved down to his hand, which was still lingering on the angel. He withdrew his hand quickly as though burned.
“It was you who sent me those cards and gifts,” she said, her gaze now fixed on his face.
“Yeah, it was,” he said, shuffling around uncomfortably.
She said nothing, but walked forwards and picked up the angel and the card. Flicking the card open, she scanned it and then looked at the angel. She reached out a finger and gently touched the hovering halo, and gasped in surprise as the angel floated out of her hand and started sprinkling little snowflakes in the dormitories, on the beds, on the both of them.
She still didn’t say anything. James wanted to die. His heart was hammering against his Adam’s apple and his breaths were short and quick. He did not dare to look at Lily, but at the same time he wanted to. When he couldn’t take the suspense any longer, he raised his eyes and looked at her.
She was smiling. It was a small smile, but a smile nonetheless.
Smiles were supposed to be good signs, weren’t they? James felt hope rush back, making him feel light-headed.
“James,” Lily said, “did you make this for me?”
“Yes, I did,” he said.
“Was it also you who delivered those notes and letters to me since the week before last?” she asked, and James fancied that he heard a hopeful tone in her voice.
“A- As a matter of fact, I did,” he admitted.
She was smiling fully now. “And why did you send me those letters?” she asked.
“Because- because-” James swallowed; he had not bargained on this. “Because I really like you, Lily. I’ve liked you for ages. But I don’t know what you feel towards me. You’re so hard to understand. I was planning on revealing myself sooner or later- but you caught me.”
Lily took a few steps forward. “And did you know, James, that I’ve also liked you for quite some time? Since October, actually.”
James wondered if he was in a very happy dream. “No, I most certainly did not,” he said.
Lily tilted her head to one side, but it was not in question. “Well, now you do,” she said, and she flung her arms around him, and he hugged back. Then they broke slightly apart and he tilted her face up to meet his.
“Merry Christmas, James Potter,” she said, smiling. She looked so beautiful with the snowflakes in her red hair, her emerald green eyes warm and yet so mysterious.
“Merry Christmas, Lily Evans,” he replied, smiling back, as he leaned in to kiss her.
It was the sweetest kiss in the history of kisses.
IN REALITY
“Moony…” James said, his voice trailing off. Sirius and Peter also looked up from the first long parchment roll at Remus skeptically.
“Yes?” Remus asked, not looking up from his Potions essay.
“Are you sure you wrote this?” Sirius asked cautiously.
“Because, you know, it’s all girly and weird,” Peter added.
“It is?” Remus looked up and blinked.
“It is, Moony,” James said, and together all three boys looked at the werewolf solemnly.
“No, it isn’t!” Remus said, leaning forward and seizing the parchment to see for himself. His eyes widened as he took in the words on it that formed a story of James and Lily.
“Merlin, Remus,” said James, looking amused, “when I told you to write out possible endings for my plans of winning over Lily, I didn’t mean a fluffy romance novel!”
Remus leaned back against his chair slowly. “I didn’t write this,” he said, faintly.
“You didn’t?” Peter said, taking the parchment back. “But it’s in your handwriting.”
“Something wrong, people?” said a voice. All of the Marauders looked up, only to see Gemma Spinnet smiling at them.
“Nothing!” James, Sirius and Peter yelped, as they shoved the parchment rolls out of sight.
Gemma laughed and said, “You’ve nothing to hide from me. And I’m not just talking about your precious Marauder’s Map.”
James grimaced, remembering the time last year when he had carelessly left the Map lying around in the Common Room, and Gemma had chanced upon it. But, of course, Gemma, being one of their closest friends, had promised not to breathe a word about it, providing they lend it to her from time to time, when she needed it. Thank Merlin for Gemma.
Remus, thinking at once of his secret of being a lycanthrope, tensed up. “We haven’t?” he asked slowly.
“You haven’t,” said Gemma, sitting down on the floor beside James, who stared at her suspiciously.
“What’ve been you up to, Gem?” he asked his childhood friend accusingly.
“Oh, nothing, just rewriting a few romance stories,” said Gemma airily. “Oh” and by the way, Remus, no offence, but your writing sucks.”
“It does?” Remus said, and understanding showed in his face. “So that was why the parchments were missing yesterday? You took them out to edit them?”
“Edit?” Gemma cried in horror. “Edit?! You think much too highly of your writing, Lupin! I rewrote them! Every single one of them! The only things that remained were the basic plotlines!”
“All right, all right, calm down,” Remus said hastily. “So why did you help me?”
“Because if James were to read what you wrote, he would give up the idea of winning Lily’s heart forever,” Gemma said sniffily. “You didn’t even get their characters right!”
“They were that bad, huh?” Sirius grinned, looking at Remus.
James ignored his friend. “So does this mean you’ll help me win over Lily?” he asked Gemma hopefully. “Because, no offence, you guys, but you’ve kind of caused me more trouble than help me.”
Sirius and Peter both gave him disparaging looks, which he ignored, too, because it was the truth.
“Of course I’ll help you win her over,” Gemma said, rolling her eyes. “I’ve always tried to do that, ever since you learnt to behave yourself. You two make such an adorable couple!”
The other boys rolled their eyes, but James beamed.
“Thanks, Gemma!” he said. “You’re a great pal.” Then he turned to the rest and said, “C’mon you guys, let’s put this plan in action!”
“Wait, wait, hold it, hold it,” Gemma said, holding up a finger. “What’re you planning to do?”
“James wants to follow the various plans in hopes that it can get him his girl,” Peter explained.
Gemma turned to face James with a look that he couldn’t decide if it told him he was stupid or deranged.
“I can’t guarantee that it’ll go according to my stories,” she warned. “After all, my imagination is quite fertile.”
“I’m willing to give anything a shot, Gemma,” James said.
“He’s that desperate, you see,” said Sirius to Gemma in a stage whisper.
“Oh, all right,” Gemma sighed. “Try it at your own risk. But remember, some parts in my stories are fictitious.”
“Oh?” James asked, now feeling a twinge of doubt. “Like what?”
Gemma leaned in conspiratorially. So did the rest. “You know, the part where I wrote Lily telling you she’s liked you since October?” she asked.
“Uh huh?”
“Well, that’s not the truth.”
James felt his heart sink. “What, she’s never liked me at all?” he asked gloomily.
Gemma got up to join Mary Macdonald and Lily Evans by the portrait hole. “As a matter of fact, James,” she said, “Mary and I believe that she’s started liking you last year.”
James’ heart now had the density of helium. He looked over to Lily, and she waved at him. He smiled back. Then she left the Common Room with Gemma and Mary, but the smile never left James’ face, and he spent the next hour daydreaming, much to the annoyance of his other friends.
But then again, what else could be expected? After all, this wasn’t just about some girl. It was about the girl James had spent three years trying to figure out, and win over.
It was about Lily Evans.
A/N: So how did you find it? Thoughts and comments, anyone?
Chapter II by x_lily_evans_x
Author's Notes:
Well, I've said it once, and I'll say it once more. Not mine. Duh.
IN REALITY
“So what did Lily say about the gifts and notes I’ve been dropping on her bed these last two days?” James asked Gemma anxiously.
In his own defense, he was so anxious about this plan because it was the first well-thought-out plan he’d come up this school year. As of his sixth year, all his plans for getting the girl were usually spoilt one way or other by the Marauders. Mostly by accident, but still. And this year, after he and Lily had been made Head Boy and Head Girl respectively, he had finally managed to gain Lily’s trust and respect and (he hoped) liking. Well, at least now he was Lily’s friend. But he didn’t want to just be her friend. And it was ever so hard to guess what she was thinking. Gemma was damningly right: her eyes were so mysterious. He remembered someone saying once that eyes were the windows to one’s soul. Well, Lily definitely had blinds pulled shut behind those windows.
“For the thousandth time today, I don’t know, James! Lily doesn’t share her emotions and intriguing mail with Mary or me, for the last time,” Gemma exclaimed, waving her eagle feather quill around in annoyance, and nearly missing Sirius’s nose (“Oi, watch where you’re waving the quill, woman!”). “Now leave me alone, Potter, I need to complete this essay, or McGonagall’s going to have my skin.”
James sighed miserably and looked back at the wizarding chess set: he was playing against Remus Lupin. “Knight to E5,” he ordered.
“Don’t send me there, you lovesick fool,” the knight cried, brandishing his tiny sword. “Can’t you see his bishop over there?”
Remus couldn’t help but chuckle at what the knight said. James glared at him, hand running through his dark messy hair as he tried to concentrate on the game. At last, he burst out, “I give up! I can’t think!”
“And because James Potter abdicated, Remus Lupin is now the champion of this Chess competition!” Peter said, and he raised Remus’s hand. Remus, who was sitting down, gave an awkward looking bow.
James paid them no attention as he turned the Gemma. “Why doesn’t she share her thoughts, Gem?” he asked.
“I don’t know, James!” Gemma snapped.
“But you’ve been friends with her since””
“ ‘Being an Animagus is extremely useful, in the case of…’ ” Gemma recited loudly from her Transfiguration essay, purposefully ignoring James.
James suppressed a roar of frustration. It was a good thing he did, too, because Lily Evans was also in the common room, and although being deeply immersed in a book, she most certainly would have heard if James decided to throw a fit right there and then.
“What are you going to give her next?” Peter asked him.
“The best present of all,” James said, brightening up as he thought of his masterpiece. “Exactly what Gemma made me give her on Christmas day, in that little story, angel, snow and all. But Peter,” he turned to face his friend, “should I make her purposely catch me in the act, like what happened in the story, or what?”
Peter looked thrilled to be asked a question of such importance. “Well,” he pondered, “I think you shouldn’t.”
“Why?” Remus asked, taking an interest in the conversation. Sirius, seeing all of his friends deep in conversation, scooted a little closer so he could listen too.
“Because Lily might not take it too kindly that you’re actually in the girls’ dormitories. I mean, she might go crazy first, and ask questions later,” Peter said. “And by then, you may have already died.”
“He’s got a point, mate,” Sirius said. “Remember fourth year?”
They all shuddered, apart from Remus, who shook his head disapprovingly.
“I told you not to go up there, but you wouldn’t listen,” he said.
“You’re right, Wormtail, I shouldn’t stay in there,” James said, and clapped Peter on the shoulder. “Thanks.” Then he turned to Gemma and asked, “Gemma, could I ask you to do something for me?”
“Not unless someone helps me finish this god-damned essay!” Gemma snapped.
“Done!” James said, as he quickly looked at Remus.
“Oh no, you don’t,” the lycanthrope said, backing away. “You’re not going to make me do your dirty work for you, Potter. No way. Nothing in the world can make me do that.”
“How about I take you off your prefect duties for a while, hmmm? I know you’ve been very tired lately,” James said, with a meaningful look at his friend.
Remus brightened up. “Apparently, something in the world can make me do that!” he said, and happily grabbed the parchment which Gemma was scribbling her essay on.
“Excellent,” Gemma said brightly. “Now, what do you want, James?”
“For you to distract Lily and the other girls in your dorm for a short amount of time while I put the present on her bed,” James said promptly. “You don’t have to get them out of the common room.”
“Aye, sir!” Gemma saluted him, and then got up, going around rounding up her fellow girlfriends, exclaiming something about knowing a few new beauty tips.
“Then how will you be getting to the girls’ dorms?” Peter asked curiously.
“Through the windows on a broomstick, like the previous two days,” Sirius said, rolling his eyes. “Honestly, Wormtail, it’s almost as if you’re living in a daydream or something.”
“See ya,” James said, before running up the stairs to his dormitory. When the angel was safely tucked in his arms, he soared out of the open window and came to a halt outside Lily’s dormitory. Fumbling a little, he pulled out his wand, tapped the window, and whispered, “Alohomora!” The window clicked and swung open, and James flew inside, landing on Lily’s bed. He looked at her books, but to his extreme disappointment, there was no card sticking out of any of them. Sighing, he placed his angel on her bed, and then flew back to his dormitory.
*
All the Marauders waited in the common room, their eyes glued to the staircases leading up to the girls’ dormitories. It had been two minutes since Lily, Gemma and Mary went upstairs, and the suspense was killing a jittery James.
Then there was a rather muffled shriek, and all four of the boys winced together. The rest of the Gryffindors in the common room went silent, and all eyes traveled to the spiral staircase which led to the girls’ dormitories.
“What do you think happened?” Peter asked in a low voice, but he was shushed by the others.
Then came a shout which was recognizably Lily’s, and slightly muffled, but the words “Sirius Black” were clearly distinguishable. Everyone’s faces turned to Sirius’, which had gone considerably white.
“What did I do?” he asked hoarsely, but no one answered.
Subsequently, the figure of Gemma Spinnet came sprinting down the stairs.
“Sirius, run!” she whisper-shouted, her hair and robes practically covered with white snowflakes. “Run, just run, and hide somewhere!”
“What?” Sirius said, mouth slightly hanging open.
“Run!” she said, not bothering to whisper anymore. When he didn’t move, she impatiently came over, pulled him up, and gave him a push towards the portrait hole. He stumbled, but sprinted out of the common room, throwing bewildered looks over his shoulder.
“What happened?” James asked Gemma, alarmed, after the portrait swung shut.
Then Lily came down the stairs, looking really, really angry, her hair and robes in similar states as Gemma’s. Mary followed after her, but unlike her friend, merely looked amused. She was trying not to laugh, as could be seen by her fist, which was stuffed into her mouth.
“I can’t believe that idiot,” Lily said furiously to Mary, unaware that she was observed by all. “I’m going to make him feel really sorry that he had played that awful prank on us!”
Her emerald green eyes found Gemma along with the Marauders, and she gave them a curt nod.
“Where’s that scumbag of a friend of yours?” she asked James, and there was a very hostile tone in her voice when she said ‘scumbag of a friend.’
“Erm” he left a- a while ago, and didn’t tell us where he was headed for,” James said truthfully.
“Thank you, James,” said Lily, giving him the smallest of smiles, as she strode out of the portrait hole, followed by Mary, who looked questioningly at Gemma. Gemma shook her head and shrugged.
“All right, what really happened?” James demanded anxiously, rounding on Gemma once the two girls were out of the Common Room, and everyone had returned to their various activities. Remus and Peter pressed in, waiting for the information eagerly.
Gemma sighed. “Your charm work sucks,” she informed him bluntly.
“Not as much as your Transfiguration,” James said defensively.
Gemma rolled her eyes. “Point taken. But you’re lucky that Lily thinks Sirius did it, on account of you being ‘reformed’…”
“Did what?” Remus asked.
“When Lily touched the bobbing halo, the angel zoomed out of her hand in lightning speed, and then unleashed a ton of snowflakes on us, thanks to you, James,” Gemma explained.
“Oops,” James said, and looked a tad too relieved about not being pursued by a very angry Lily.
“Naturally she thought it was a prank,” Gemma said, shrugging, “and Sirius Black was Suspect Number One.”
“So Plan Number One didn’t work,” Peter said mournfully.
“Yeah, Lily’s not likely to keep another mail from whatever secret admirer,” Gemma said. “Hurl it out of the window, more like. Hey, I’m going upstairs to clear up the mess you’ve caused, okay?” She jogged upstairs, leaving the three Marauders together.
“So what about the second story?” Remus asked, trying to keep upbeat.
They looked at each other, and James ran upstairs to fetch the second roll of parchment. They huddled together and began to read.
_________________________________
Plan Number Two
“The snow’s nice and thick!” Sirius Black reported, barreling through the Gryffindor portrait hole towards his three friends. The Gryffindors who were too strung up by the holiday mood to focus on their work (a cruel amount given by the unrelenting professors of Hogwarts) turned around eagerly as he came to a stop in front of his fellow Marauders. It was somewhat a rule that the Marauders had to make things interesting.
James looked up from the edition of Which Broomstick? he was casually flipping through. “What do you suggest we do?” he asked, one side of his mouth tilting up in a smile.
“What about something traditional?” Remus Lupin asked, abandoning the Transfiguration textbook he had been reading.
“A snowball fight!” Peter suggested excitedly.
“A Gryffindor snowball fight, how about that?” Sirius yelled to the crowd that was gathering around them.
“Yeah!” everyone yelled back, and they all rushed up to their dormitories to grab their outdoor things.
Sirius and Peter bolted upstairs, too, whereas Remus followed more slowly. James left his Quidditch magazine and was about to bring up the rear when he heard someone say, “Your best mate sure has charisma.”
Turning around, he saw Lily Evans leaning against the window sill, smiling wryly at him, a ragged-looking book titled Moste Potente Potions in hand.
“Oh, hey, Lily,” he smiled, and he would be lying if he said that his heart didn’t skip a beat. “You’re not joining the fight?”
“Should I?” Lily arched an eyebrow.
“Yeah, you should!” James said, and then mentally slapped himself for sounding so eager. “I mean, yeah, you should, erm, probably join. It’s the last time there’s such an occasion, having a Christmas Day snowball fight at Hogwarts. We’re leaving Hogwarts come June.”
Lily smiled a little sadly. “Yeah, we are, aren’t we? I was looking through this with Gemma and Mary, but they both want to have a snowball fight… I guess I should go, too. Not going to be much fun being here by myself.” She snapped the book shut and got up. “See you later, James.”
She headed up to the girls’ dormitories and James sprinted up the stairs quickly.
“Lily is joining the fight,” he announced to the rest importantly, when he reached his dormitory. The other three boys looked puzzled.
“So what?” Peter asked quizzically.
“So what?” James asked. “So what? Wormtail, this is the first time I’m going to do something with her other than schoolwork or prefect duties! And I’m not counting the little snowball spat we had in fourth year; she wasn’t on good terms with me then.”
He leapt in front of the mirror and tried to neaten himself up.
“Don’t bother, Prongs,” Sirius said, as he tossed a scarf at James. “After a few hits from me, you’re not going to look pretty anymore.”
James turned to look at his friend with a withering look on his face. “You’re lucky I don’t have a snowball in hand now, or you’re so dead, Padfoot.”
“Ooh, scary,” Sirius said, laughing.
“You ought to be cowed, Padfoot,” Remus warned.
“And why is that, Moony?” Sirius asked challengingly.
“You do realise that he’s a Chaser, do you?” Peter grinned. “He’s got precision down pat.”
Sirius cocked his head to one side. “And what’s the reason I ought to be cowed?”
“Your ego is being trampled upon, Prongs,” Remus said dramatically.
“Well, his own ego will be trampled on soon,” James said, adjusting his coat and surveying himself in the mirror.
“Bring it on, mate,” Sirius said skeptically. “And stop looking at your reflection, you nance.”
“What did you say?” James asked in disbelief, the coat forgotten.
Sirius smirked and repeated, “Stop looking at your reflection, you nance.”
“All right, Padfoot,” James growled, “you’re going to get it!” He pounced on Sirius, who laughed and took off down the stairs. Together the two of them yelled on their way to the Common Room, where the crowd was already patiently waiting for them.
James, upon seeing Lily with her friends, stopped shouting like a madman so as to appear more mature. Sirius shot him a taunting smile, but he ignored it.
Remus and Peter slowly descended the stairs, and Sirius took centre stage. “Are we ready, ladies and gentlemen?” he roared.
“Yes we are!” the younger ones shouted back, while the older ones who didn’t want to seem too excited nodded loftily. James caught Lily’s eye and gestured towards Sirius wryly. Lily laughed a little, and he felt heartened somewhat.
“Are we ready for the greatest snowball fight in the world?” Sirius roared.
Remus rolled his eyes at James.
“Yes, Sirius, and get on with the bloody show,” the both of them chorused. Sirius shot them a look, and then turned back to the crowd.
“Now, all of you, we are going to split up into two groups,” he commanded, then proceeded to sort them out. To his chagrin, James found himself in the group opposing Lily’s” Group B. “Objective is to pelt the other team with as many snowballs as you can. I’ll conjure up gold ribbons for Group A. Group A people, tie it around your waists.” He passed the gold ribbons to the Group A people. “If any other houses come down to join the fight, it’ll be them against us Gryffindors, get it?”
The younger Gryffindors nodded furiously, while the rest all smirked at one another.
“All right, then? Last one down’s a pig!” Sirius yelled, and he dashed off suddenly towards the portrait hole, leading the rest. It looked like something out of Pied Piper.
Soon, Remus, Lily, James, Gemma, Mary and a few sixth years were left behind, slowly making their way down (Peter, ever excitable, had sprinted off with the crowd).
James found himself walking beside Lily.
“Is Sirius always this bouncy?” she asked curiously.
“Not this, but most of the time, he’s pretty energetic. He must’ve eaten something chocolate-filled today. The house elves adore him,” he answered.
Lily chuckled. “Well, that must be nice. He probably cheers you all up all the time, doesn’t he?” Lily said.
“Yeah, he does,” James said. “He’s a really good friend.”
“I can tell,” she smiled.
“So, you’re in Group A,” he remarked.
“And you’re in Group B,” she said.
“Watch out, Evans,” he warned, but he was smiling.
“Haha, why don’t you watch out yourself, Potter?” she grinned. “I have fearsome accuracy.”
“Then why didn’t you tryout for Chaser on the Quidditch team?” James asked, genuinely curious.
“I hate heights,” Lily explained. “I’m fine on the ground, but on the broomstick I get all nervous and jittery. You remember our flying lessons in first year, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” James said, smiling at the memory. “You shot off into the air and collided into me, making me fall. How could I forget that?”
“I’m so sorry about that,” she said sincerely, although her emerald green eyes were twinkling. “You know, you’re a brilliant flier, even in your first year.”
“Thank you,” he said, smirking.
“Don’t start acting all arrogant again,” she warned, but her smile gave her away.
“And what if I do?” James asked.
“I shall refuse to do any duties with you,” she said, crossing her arms.
“But what’s the bad news?” he asked, trying to keep a straight face as the smug look on Lily’s face faded away.
“I’m insulted!” she gasped. “What’s the bad news?! Do you mean to say that you’ll manage leading the Prefects without me?”
“Well, I’ve got Remus to help me,” James said.
“Oh, fine, be that way,” she pouted. She managed to look absolutely pretty when she did that. James willed himself not to stare at her so blatantly.
“Awww, little Lily’s feeling all upset, is she?” he asked.
“Shut up,” she said, grinning.
By then, they had already reached the Great Hall. A blast of frigid air hit James’ face as they walked out through the imposing doors and into the grounds, which were covered with a thick blanket of snow. They trudged towards where Sirius, Peter and the others were gathered.
“And here comes the last of our pigs,” Sirius said in a magically magnified voice, “prize pig being James Potter.”
Upon hearing that, James bent down to scoop up some snow, shaping it into a snowball. The snow was the sticky kind, easily packed into a ball. They had chosen a good day for a snowball fight.
When Sirius saw what James was doing, he said (or yelled, really) smugly, “No fighting among teammates, Mr Potter! And please, do remember, I’m your teammate!”
James stopped, mid-pack, and said, “Blast!” before throwing it back to the ground disgustedly.
“Now, ready, get set, and BEGIN!”
The last word was so loud that everyone gave yells of pain, clapping their hands to their ears. Only Sirius was gleefully ignorant of his own voice; he was packing snowballs and hurling it at the students in Group A.
James found himself in the midst of a war, and quickly, he too shaped snowball after snowball, throwing them with fierce accuracy at various people with gold ribbons tied around their waist. He managed to whack a person in the back so hard that she stumbled and fell on her behind.
And then he realised in horror that it was actually Lily Evans. Abandoning all attempts to shield himself from snowballs, he rushed over to her.
“Are you all right?” he gasped.
Lily turned to face him. “I’m fine,” she said, in a weak sort of tone. He held out a hand for her to take, and she grabbed hold of it, only to pull him down onto the snow beside her.
So James found himself lying down dazedly on the snow, with snowballs flying above him. Lily was getting up, giggling madly at the look on his face. He pretended to be outraged, but he loved the attention she was giving him. He lapped it up, in fact.
“I can’t believe you did that!” he shouted, scrambling up. She ran off, laughing, and he gave chase. They ended up leaving the snowball fight behind them, and approaching the edge of the Forest.
“All’s fair in love and war, remember, James?” she said, as she ducked a snowball thrown by him.
“Whatever does that mean?” he asked, packing another snowball.
“It’s a quote, dummy,” she laughed as she too packed a snowball. “It means there’s no such thing as foul play in the world of war or romance.”
James looked up when he heard her say ‘romance,’ but she had disappeared.
“Lily?” he called, bewildered. “Where are you?”
A familiar laugh bubbled up from a first few trees of the Forest.
“Come find me, why don’t you?” Lily yelled.
“Oh, I will!” James said, and quickly ducked behind the first tree he saw. Looking around it cautiously, he tried to establish the position of his fellow Head Prefect, but saw no one. Then a twig crackled behind him, and he whipped around.
There stood Lily, a wicked grin on her lips, and a snowball in hand.
“Hello, Potter,” she said, and threw a snowball directly at his chest.
The impact of it quite winded James, but he didn’t pause. He leapt right after her, and managed to hit her on the shoulder.
She shrieked, but retaliated quickly, hitting him on the shoulder with another snowball. Losing his balance, he fell on his bottom, his back against the floor, and pouted. Lily came sprinting, entering his vision. She was covering her mouth in surprise.
“Oh, Merlin, are you all right?” she cried. “I’m so, so sorry, James, I didn’t mean to hit so hard…” She held out a hand for him, and with an idea, he grabbed it, only to pull her down.
He meant to pull her down beside him, but for some reason, some inexplicable reason…
Well, Lily Evans ended up on his chest.
His laughter died away, as did the apologetic look on her face. They stared at each other, and James admired her startlingly green almond-shaped eyes, her pert little nose, and her flushed cheeks. It seemed like days” no, weeks, before either of them did anything.
And surprisingly, Lily made the first move.
She leaned right over, and planted a kiss on his nose, which, prior to her kiss, had been feeling icy, but now warmth flooded James from where she had kissed him. James blinked, surprise paralyzing him. Lily, who must have misread his expression, looked panic-stricken, and said, “I’m so sorry, James, I know I shouldn’t have done that, but it was all, you know, Christmas, and well, you did look cute lying over there and I couldn’t help myself…”
She tried to scramble up, her cheeks flushing a brilliant red, but James, who had somehow fought off the strange paralysis, sat up and caught hold of her hand. She froze, and slowly looked up at him.
“Lily,” he began in a strangely hoarse voice that was not his own. He cleared his throat and began again, “Lily, does… does this mean that if I asked you out, you’ll agree?”
Lily looked stunned. Then she said, slowly, “And why would you ask me out?”
“Because it’s Christmas, and well you’re so pretty, and all the time, too. And you’re just so smart and witty and funny and charming…” James trailed off, blushing, knowing that he was rambling on and on. “And, well, I”” here he swallowed “” I like you. A lot.”
Lily seemed at a loss for words. She kept her head down, her fingers drawing patterns on the snow. “Well, I suppose I wouldn’t mind going on a date with you,” she said finally, her voice barely audible.
James could hardly believe his ears. He shook his head and said, “Sorry? I think I heard you wrongly. Did you just agree to go out with me?”
Lily looked up, and James could see that she was trying hard not to show her amusement, but her attempts were futile. Finally, she broke into a huge grin, and asked, “What do you think?”
James began, “So that’s a yes”” when a snowball was hurled into his face. “What the-” he spluttered. But by the time he had cleared the snow away from his face, and picked up his glasses, which were knocked onto the ground from the impact, Lily was already running away, her merry laughter echoing in the grounds. He scrambled up and yelled after her, “I’ll take it as a yes, then!”
She just turned around and flashed him a smile.
But it was all the answer that he needed.
A/N: Review, yes? :D
Chapter III by x_lily_evans_x
Author's Notes:
Well, as usual, there are two sections; the one marked "In Reality" is what that's happening in real life (for them), and the second section will be Gemma's fics.
IN REALITY
“That will be the last time I take the blame for you,” Sirius said, throwing himself down onto an armchair while glaring murderously at James. “Your Head Girl Disarmed me, then made me write bleeding lines! Lines, James, lines! You know how I feel about lines!”
“I’m sorry,” James said, not really apologetically at all, because he was too busy signaling for Gemma to come over to join them in planning what should be done for the WOLE Plan Number Two. (Yes, he had decided to adopt the name that Gemma had come up for their little scheme.) She came over, sitting beside James.
“Here’s your wand.” Sirius snatched the wand from Remus’ hands at once.
“Can we proceed with WOLE Plan Number Two?” James asked impatiently.
“I don’t want to participate in any plans of yours!” Sirius said disgustedly. “I wasted a perfectly good Monday evening writing lines, and it’s all your fault, Prongs!”
“This time no one will get blamed,” James wheedled. “Well, except me, maybe.”
“Oh, yeah?” Sirius said, starting to look less irritated. In fact, his face bore a smile, a smile that seemed to want James to get blamed. James tried not to take it too personally. It was, he reasoned, quite his just deserts even if he did get blamed for this plan. “What’s this plan, then?”
“Read this,” James said tersely, pushing the parchment roll into Sirius’s hands. Sirius read through it, then looked up.
“What kind of cheesy ending is this?” he said.
Gemma was beside herself with fury at Sirius’ lack of tact. “It’s called fluff, you numskull! But, oh, of course, you wouldn’t understand anything outside of pranks, would you?”
Sirius rolled his eyes, then, turned them onto James.
“And what am I supposed to do about this?” he asked coolly.
James leaned over, and started whispering into his ear.
*
“Where is he?” James hissed to Peter and Remus agitatedly. “He was supposed to have come in long ago!”
“Don’t ask me!” Remus said, trying to concentrate on his Herbology textbook (Professor Sprout had set them reading two chapters for homework). “All I know was that he went off early after Defence Against the Dark Arts and wasn’t at the Gryffindor table at tea!”
And finally, Sirius Black made his grand entrance. “The snow’s nice and thick!” The Gryffindors who were in the common room looked at him eagerly, relying on good old fun-loving Sirius Black to provide some means for entertainment for them.
And that was exactly what was planned for them: some means of entertainment in which James could finally win over Lily Evans. Or so James hoped.
“So what should we do?” James said, trying to look relaxed, as though he hadn’t just been furiously questioning the whereabouts of the friend who was bringing him his happy ending.
“Something traditional, maybe?” Remus asked right on cue, although he seemed more interested in the Herbology textbook” he hadn’t looked up once. James inwardly scowled. He would have to reprimand Remus later. WOLE schemes were not to be taken lightly.
“A snowball fight!” Peter said perkily, which wasn’t hard at all, seeing as he was always cheerful when participating in some Marauder scheme.
“Excellent!” Sirius beamed at everyone in the common room. “A snowball fight, to welcome the beginning of the end of the school term! What say you, Gryffindors?”
Everyone shouted, “Yeah!” and ran upstairs to the dormitories, ditching everything on hand. Peter shot upstairs alongside Sirius, but James had to give Remus a couple of prods before the other boy grumpily put down his book and went upstairs.
James looked about the room, hoping to see Lily somewhere, but she had disappeared” along with her friends, James thought disappointedly. He trudged upstairs dispiritedly, and pulled on his winter things, making sure he looked okay in the mirror before going downstairs, where most of the Gryffindors were waiting.
Sirius then proceeded to explain everything that “he” had done in Gemma’s little story, as James had told him to. Satisfied with the way the plan was going, James craned his neck to look for dark red curls framing a face with startlingly green eyes. He finally found that right next to Gemma. Lily was paying Sirius no mind, instead talking and giggling with her girlfriends. She caught James’ eye and gave him a smile that elevated his heart rate, then turned to Mary and continued chatting animatedly.
Leaving James to spend the rest of the time Sirius was talking to daydream about those green eyes staring right into his own. By the time Peter had prodded him out of that blissful dream, he had already been sorted into Group A, and the people in Group B had already put on their ribbons, Lily amongst one of them.
“Ready?” Sirius yelled. “And go!”
He quickly dodged out of the common room, and a stream of people dashed after him. James had to laugh a little; it was indeed a comical sight. To his pleasant surprise, Lily was also lagging behind, but she was still talking to Mary. James edged up to Gemma.
“Nothing’s going as planned,” he grumbled.
“What do you mean?” she asked, looking at him as though he was mad. “Everything’s going according to plan. At least no one preferred studying to playing in the snow, although I thought Remus Lupin was one dangerous candidate.”
“No,” he said impatiently. “I mean about me walking alongside Lily and having some insightful conversation with her.”
Gemma shot him a withering look. “Well, of course,” she said. “I’m not Cassandra Trelawney, am I?”
“No, I suppose you’re not,” James conceded reluctantly. They reached the open grounds outside the Great Hall, where Sirius and the rest were waiting.
“And here comes the last of the pigs, prize pig being James Potter,” Sirius said in a magically magnified voice, obviously enjoying the way he could insult James without any retaliation. James stifled a growl, knowing it would be useless packing a snowball because he would be forbidden to throw it, anyway.
“Now, if any of the other Houses join us, it’s us against them, all right?” Sirius yelled.
“All right!” the younger students yelled back eagerly.
“Ready, set, GO!” Sirius shouted, and James was ready. He made his way through the throng of warring people in search of Lily. After a long while of dodging snowballs and throwing some back, he finally spotted her. She was laughing unrestrainedly as she hurled snowballs at Mary, her friend. Making sure he was close enough, he packed a snowball, and then got ready to throw it at her.
But he found that he couldn’t.
He was in the correct stance, the snowball was perfectly round, and his aim would definitely be precise, but he just couldn’t launch the snowball at Lily, no matter how hard he tried.
C’mon, he said to himself, just do this. You wouldn’t exactly be hurting her, would you? Throwing a snowball at her would just help you to start flirting with her.
Oh, yeah? said another voice in his head. Well, how’d you know the snowball isn’t going to hurt her?
Well, he thought, that certainly cleared things up. Now he really wasn’t going to be able to hurl that snowball at Lily. Dejectedly, he threw the snowball at the ground, watching it splat into formless snow.
“Having second thoughts, Prongs?” came Sirius’ voice behind him. James turned around.
“Yeah,” he said moodily. “For some reason, I just can’t seem to let a snowball fly in her direction!”
Sirius came up to him, giving him a one-armed hug. “It’s all right,” he said, ruffling James’ hair. “Actually, it’s more than all right! This just shows your devotion and unwillingness to hurt your girl!”
As James gave his best mate a half-hearted smile, Sirius grinned.
“But just in case you really don’t know how to throw a snowball…”
James already knew what was going to happen before his brain comprehended the situation.
“… here’s a demonstration for you!” Sirius ended gleefully, and then hurled a snowball into James’ face.
And, just like in Gemma’s story, James found himself spluttering, spitting snow out of his mouth. When he finally opened his eyes, everything was a blur. That meant that his spectacles flew off somewhere. Groaning, he was about to draw his wand and croak “Accio spectacles,” when he heard a voice, saying, “Prongs, aren’t these yours?”
James squinted and saw Peter waving his spectacles in front of him.
“Yeah, they are,” he said in relief. “Thanks, Wormtail.” He grabbed the glasses and shoved them up his nose. At once, everything became defined. “Now, where’s that arse Padfoot?”
“He ducked underneath a couple of fourth years,” Peter said. “Now, Prongs, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get back to my snowball fight with that cute Ravenclaw girl. I only came over because your spectacles flew into my face.”
Without waiting for a reply he reentered the battle scene around them.
Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students had come down to join them, too. James saw Sirius fighting with the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain, and finally, he spotted Gemma, who was in the midst of furiously pelting a Ravenclaw with snowballs. He made his way towards her, and then grabbed her hand, giving her enemy (who looked relieved) an apologetic glance, and dragged her away outside the battlefield.
“What’s the meaning of this, James?” Gemma snapped. “I was just about to”” Then she saw the look on his face and softened her tone. “What’s the matter?”
“I can’t seem to bring myself to hit her with a snowball,” James told her miserably. “I was all prepared to do it, but then I couldn’t throw the effing snowball at her.”
Gemma listened, a smile forming on her face. “James, you sweet, sweet boy!” she squealed, and then hugged James.
“What?” James asked, fearing for Gemma’s sanity.
“You’ve got to be one of the sweetest guys I’ve ever met,” Gemma told him, grinning. “You were unwilling to even, so to speak, lay a snowball on Lily.”
“Yeah,” James said moodily, “that was so dumb of me””
“No, it isn’t dumb, James,” Gemma interrupted. “It’s sweet. Girls love boys like you” except, of course,” she said, wrinkling her nose, “me.”
“Girls” meaning, Lily too?” James asked. A little spark of hope was building up.
“Lily, too,” Gemma affirmed, and the flame was ignited. “Well, I’ll be getting back to my fight now, James, but don’t feel so sad, we’ve still got four more plans to go, remember?”
And she was gone, back to hurling snowballs at the Ravenclaw, but James remained at the sidelines, a hopeful smile on his face.
*
As soon as James had toweled his hair dry, he sprinted back to his dormitory from the prefects’ bathroom and withdrew the parchment rolls from under his four-poster bed. Picking the one with “No. 3” written neatly at the bottom right corner, he then sat down to read it.
Because there was no way James was going to give up on Lily Evans. Absolutely no way at all.
_________________________________
Plan Number Three
“He was making eyes at you!” James said aggressively as he and Lily walked out of the prefect’s lounge where they had just adjourned a prefect’s meeting.
“He wasn’t,” Lily said absently, looking through her sheaf of notes.
James rolled his eyes. “Lily, I absolutely admire the fact that you try to believe the best of everyone, but there’s no denying this. Nicholas Lewellyn was flirting with you,” he said slowly and clearly, “with his eyes!”
“James,” Lily said, finally ungluing her eyes from her notes and looking at him. James felt something indescribable whooshed though his entire being as always when her startling green eyes gazed into his own eyes.
“What?” he asked.
“Let’s look at it this way, James…” she said, her voice trailing off and her gaze returning back to her notes. “So what if Nicky was staring at me? I fail to see how it concerns you.”
James was momentarily stunned. She was right, as usual. It had nothing to do with him. But how did that explain the helium-like happiness that filled him whenever he was around Lily? The kind of happiness and contentment that made him fly without wings? And how did it explain the way Lily messed him up like nothing had ever done? The way how her smile could send a little explosion of fireworks in his brain? The way just sitting or being right next to her gave him a sense of inexplicable comfort?
No, it had nothing to do with him at all. So why did he feel this little surge of anger when he saw Nicholas Lewellyn flirting with Lily?
“But... but, he was flirting with you!” was his eloquent answer.
“You’re not answering the question, James,” Lily said drily.
No, he wasn’t answering the question. Nicholas Lewellyn flirting with Lily had nothing to do with him… except that he liked to think that Lily belonged to him. And him only.
Merlin, did he have issues with possessiveness.
But no way was any boy going to look at Lily like she was a steak he could sink his teeth into. Not when James Potter was on the scene.
“I just don’t like the way he looks at you,” James said, finally, with some conviction.
“What way?” Lily asked, shuffling the pages around in the correct order.
“Like you’re a steak,” he said defiantly.
“A steak?” she asked, looking up at him again, her mouth twisting into grotesque shapes as she (obviously) tried not to laugh.
“He looked like he wanted to eat you!” James said righteously.
“You mean, the way almost every girl looks at your friend Sirius?” she asked, now laughing.
“Yeah, that way,” James said, struggling to sound cross, which was hard when Lily was laughing. But then the image of that hungry look on Lewellyn’s face flashed before him, and suddenly trying to be angry was no longer a problem. Because he was angry. “It’s not funny,” he said, now struggling not to snap.
Lily stopped laughing. “No, it isn’t,” she said. “What is wrong with you, James? What’s wrong with someone staring at me like I’m a steak? Nothing. So why do you even bother so much? It’s none of your business.” The hand holding the notes was now at her side; she was giving James her full attention.
“It’s none of my business?” James repeated, in barely a whisper. “Lily, is that really what you think?”
“Isn’t that the way you feel?” Lily shot back, angrily.
“Well, you know what, Lily?” James snapped. “It isn’t what I feel.”
“What’s it to you, then?” Lily challenged. “I don’t see me acting all waspish when that air-head Morgan Rivers asked you out.”
“It isn’t the same,” James said.
“Morgan was looking at you like you were a… a steak, too,” Lily countered triumphantly, crossing her arms, albeit a little difficultly with the sheaf of notes in one hand.
James was delighted. “So you noticed it, did you?” he asked, wincing at how his voice sounded too eager, but he couldn’t help it.
“I” what?” Lily asked, her voice faltering.
“Noticed the Morgan was looking at me like I was a steak,” James said, promptly.
“So what if I did?” she snapped, marching up to him. “So what if I did?! The point is, you, James Potter, are being too” “ she prodded his chest” “effing” “ she prodded him again” “sensitive” “ another prod” “about one stupid glance!”
She glared up at him, her face flushing with anger. The dark red curls tumbled over her shoulders, and her green eyes were” there was only one word for it” intoxicating.
And suddenly, James didn’t care anymore. It was as if everything was nothing, and it was only Lily that really, truly existed. He grabbed her by the shoulders, dislodging the notes from her hand and, sending them fluttering all around them like doves’ wings, then leaned in to kiss her.
At first she went rigid with shock, but then she relaxed, and James was surprised to find that she was kissing with as much ardour as he was. When they finally pulled away, trying to catch their breaths, their hands were still around the other’s waist. He gasped in a hoarse voice, “Well, does that explain why I’m being too effing sensitive?”
She didn’t say anything, just blinked. Then she broke into a smile, said, “Come over here, James,” dragged him into the closest classroom, and shut the door.
What happened next was anyone’s guess.
*
Yawning, Lily snuggled up against James in the armchair closest to the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room.
“It’s so bizarre,” she told him. “We’ve only been together for two hours, and already everyone here knows we’re going out.”
He grinned. “What’d you expect? Bertram Jorkins saw us coming out from the Transfiguration Classroom, and we all know he’s as fond of gossiping as his sister is.”
“True,” she said sleepily. “Oh, by the way, James, that kiss did explain why you were being so ‘effing sensitive’, but I won’t tolerate anything as melodramatic as you were just now in future.”
“All right,” he said into her ear. She smiled and turned over so her right cheek was against his chest. After a while, her breathing became deep and slow, and James knew that she was asleep. Gently he brushed a lock of red hair out of her face, and kissed her forehead.
“All right,” he whispered again. There was a pause, then”
“But you’re still mine.”
A/N: I won't lie. I love reviews. I mean, we ALL do! (:
Chapter IV by x_lily_evans_x
Author's Notes:
Not mine, as usual. Also, because quite a few people have told me they found the switch from reality to plan confusing, I've added a "Plan Number Whatever-Number-It-Is" at the beginning of the plans. I hope this clears everything up. :D
IN REALITY
It was only the day after the fifteenth of December that James could explain the next plan. The day before had been spent planning for Remus’ transformation, and they had no time at all for WOLE.
“I like this plan!” Sirius said brightly, looking up from the parchment roll. “There’s no planning involved” all you’ve got to do, Prongs, is make her angry, then seize her and plant a big wet one on””
“Sirius,” Gemma said in indignant tones, “I highly dislike people using such insensitive terms to describe sweet scenes””
“Whatever, you’re such an adamant feminist,” Sirius said, waving a hand airily in Gemma’s face. “As I was saying, Prongs, all you have to do is lay one on her, and poof, she’s yours for life!” He and Peter exchanged fives.
“Poof?” Gemma said, with a disgusted look on her face. “Is winning a girl like a charm to you, Black?”
“He wouldn’t know. As of yet, he hasn’t needed to win over a single girl. The girls just come to him, and he almost always sends them away,” Remus said, boredly examining a sore-looking scratch on his arm from the Marauders’ little nighttime escapade out of the Shrieking Shack the previous night. His injuries were less serious than usual, to the surprise of Madam Pomfrey, and she had allowed him out of the Hospital Wing after a few hours of recuperation.
“I wish motorcycles came to me, they’re such beauties, aren’t they?” Sirius said eagerly. “When I save enough money, I’m going to convert it to Muggle money and buy a Harley Davidson. I hear they’re the best.”
“People, can we get back to the topic at hand, please?” James asked, frustrated.
“Right you are, Prongs,” Sirius said, giving a very good imitation of submissiveness.
“Gemma, you’re Lily’s best friend, aren’t you?” James said.
“Yes,” Gemma said.
“So you should be able to tell us what makes her mad,” James continued.
“Of course.” Gemma rolled her eyes.
“Well, elaboration, please,” James said impatiently, when she left it at that.
“She hates it when you hex people, and she hates it when people criticize her cat,” she said.
“Anything more romantic?” James said, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice. “If you’ve got nothing, more, then I’ll just stick to your idea of accusing some boy of staring at her.”
“Oh, she hates it when boys whip out contraceptives when she’s kissing them,” Gemma said brightly. When she saw James’ horrified expression, she laughed. “I was just kidding, James, just kidding” oh, for Merlin’s sake, I can’t believe he actually went catatonic! You guys, help me get him down to the Hospital Wing!”
*
“Never,” James growled to Gemma, “joke about stuff like that. Never ever do that again, you hear me, Spinnet?”
“I’m sorry,” Gemma said, though she didn’t sound very apologetic at all. In fact, she sounded suspiciously close to laughing. “How on earth was I supposed to know you were going to react this way?”
James waved his arm vaguely in her direction, too weary to scold her. The shock he had received earlier at the idea of Lily Evans already losing her virginity to some other boy must have taken a few years off his life.
“So, Prongs,” said Remus, in a very transparent attempt to help take James’ mind off the nasty surprise (not that he minded), “are you going to carry out WOLE Plan Number Three tonight? There’s a Prefect meeting. You can work from there.”
“You bet he is,” Sirius cut in before James had even opened his mouth. “He’s probably scared that someone’s going to snatch up Evans before he does.”
Remus gave Sirius a pointed look at caused the latter to clam up meekly.
“So, are you, Prongs?” Peter asked.
“Yes, I am,” James said, glaring at Sirius.
“Excellent,” Gemma said. “You have to find a suitable occasion to grab her and kiss her. You can’t just randomly do that. Usually you only do it to prove that you like her, or something like that.”
“Er” okay,” James said, feeling nervous. “I think I’ll most likely follow your plan” you know, tell her that some boy has been looking at her in a way I don’t like, and let things, I dunno, build up from there.
“I suppose you can do that,” Gemma said. “Now, James, girls like it when boys are kind of bossy, but not too bossy. They also like it when you look at them like they’re the only girl in the world.”
“Merlin,” Sirius said disgustedly. “Girls are a different universe altogether.”
And Lily Evans, who happened to be just passing by and smiling at them, gave him so disparaging a look that he shrank backwards. “Yes,” she said with the dignity of a queen. “We are.” And, as she rounded the corner, they heard her add, “Thank goodness.”
*
“Good luck, Prongs,” said Remus in an undertone as he patted James lightly on the back before leaving the Prefect’s Lounge. They had just discussed what they should do for Christmas for the Gryffindors who were staying behind.
James nodded tensely as the last of the Prefects left the room. Lily was shuffling the papers and humming, completely oblivious to the wreck that was James Potter.
The thing was, not a single boy Prefect was staring at the Lily. Well, a boy prefect that was in sixth or seventh year, that is. William Kingsforth, a fifth year prefect, was staring avidly at Lily, but James doubted that Lily would even look twice at him. So who was he supposed to accuse of staring at her? He couldn’t use the prefect Gemma had used in the story, either, because he didn’t exist. James inwardly groaned. Merlin, this plan was hard.
“Are you done, James?” Lily called from the other end of the room. James started, and then waved his wand so all the papers flew in a neat stack into his arms.
“Yeah, done,” he called back, and Lily extinguished the candles. They exited the Lounge together, and by then James’ heart was hammering so hard he thought that his ribs would start to splinter. “So,” he said hoarsely, and hastily he cleared his throat before starting again. “I noticed that, er” “ he cast about wildly for a name” “Richard Lennox was staring at you.”
“Hmm?” Lily was, still deeply buried in her notes.
“Richard Lennox,” James said louder. “He was staring at you.”
“Okay,” Lily said absently.
“He was making eyes at you,” James said in true indignance at the lack of response. “That’s forbidden.”
Lily started laughing. “James, you are so adorable sometimes,” she said, but she didn’t even look up from the papers.
“It’s not funny,” James said, feeling strange when he said it.
“It is,” Lily said, still giggling. “So long as Richard doesn’t do anything inappropriate, I don’t really care if he’s been staring at me or anything.” James felt his heart plummet. He might not know much about romance, but he knew that this situation wouldn’t become a scene of passion any time soon.
They rounded the corner, and James saw the library. “Are you going to the library?” he asked.
“Yes,” Lily said. “I always go to the library after meetings. You know that, James. Are you coming along?”
“No thanks,” he declined gloomily. Not because he didn’t want to spend more time with Lily, but because WOLE Plan Number Three had failed.
It was time for Plan Number Four.
_________________________________
Plan Number Four
“Now that,” said Remus Lupin admiringly, “is what I’d call impressive.” He gestured to the tall ice sculpture of a lady which was standing in the middle of the Great Hall.
“Thank you,” the ice sculpture said, curtseying gracefully. Remus nearly knocked over Peter in his hurry to get away. The others laughed at his shock.
“Go on and laugh, why don’t you?” Remus said under his breath.
“No offence, Moony,” James said, chuckling, “but that was hilarious.”
“Your face!” laughed Sirius, slapping Peter on the back.
“Yes, well, forgive me for actually showing some form of human emotion,” Remus replied, slightly huffy.
“Dumbledore has truly overdone himself this year,” Peter said as he looked in wonder at the huge Christmas tree in the corner of the Hall, and the decorations which adorned it. It was so tall that people could stand underneath it. A few fairy lights lit up the shadowy bottom.
“Of course, Wormtail,” said Sirius, draping an arm over Peter and Remus. “This is our last year at Hogwarts. He’s doing all of these in our honour.”
James didn’t say anything in response, although the other two were rolling their eyes at Sirius. He had suddenly caught sight of something more beautiful than any decorations Dumbledore had put up.
Lily Evans.
She was standing under the Christmas tree with Gemma and Mary, talking and laughing and fingering the decorations.
Sirius followed his gaze and sighed like an old man. “Prongs, Prongs,” he said, shaking his head. “When will you learn?”
James ignored him. The truth was that he feared that he never would learn to let go of Lily. After all, ever since he made known his feelings towards Lily in their Fifth year, no matter how icily she had rejected his requests for her to go out with him, he would still grovel at her feet in a way Sirius said “redefined indignity”. Then last year, his wise advisor, Gemma Spinnet told him not to be so “pushy” and be less arrogant. And then Dumbledore had chosen him and Lily to be Head Boy and Girl respectively.
So now Lily and he were on good terms.
But he didn’t just want to be on good terms with Lily Evans. Clichéd as that might sound, he wanted to be more than friends with Lily. It was a feat that Sirius and Peter deemed impossible. It was a feat that Remus deemed improbable.
But he was determined to make it possible, no matter what he had to do.
He walked towards Lily and her girlfriends, without being too obvious about staring at her. There were two simultaneous groans and a long sigh from his friends. He ignored them, and he soon heard their footsteps, signifying their following him.
“Hey, Lily,” he said, smiling at her.
“Hey!” She turned around and upon seeing him, smiled cheerfully. “Excellent decorations this year, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, they’re gorgeous,” he said, trying to make an effort to look at whatever she was gesturing at, but he couldn’t look away from her. Her green eyes seemed to be brighter than usual, and her cheeks were flushed. Her dark red curls were pulled back into a bun, but somehow it couldn’t seem to rein in her hair neatly, leaving random locks of hair falling out, giving her a strange seductive beauty.
Gemma gave a small cough and nudged him. He looked at her questioningly and she mouthed, “Don’t keep staring.”
So that was what the cough was for. He flushed slowly and excruciatingly, and looked at anywhere else but where Lily was standing.
“Hey, you guys,” said Mary, giving both Lily and James glances, “d’you know that the sculpture of that iced lady can move and speak?”
“Yeah”” Peter began, but Remus elbowed him in the ribs forcibly, resulting in an “ow!”
“No, we don’t,” Sirius said in passable surprise. “Does she really?”
“She does, let’s go see!” Gemma said enthusiastically, and she and Mary herded the three boys off, leaving Lily and James under the Christmas tree.
“So, are you going home for the holidays?” Lily asked him, examining a bauble with interest.
“Nah, I’m staying here,” James replied, trying not to examine Lily with too much interest. “I want to enjoy being at Hogwarts while I can.”
“Same here. Everything was always so peaceful at Hogwarts during Christmastime. Apart from the four of you, that is,” she added.
“You didn’t appreciate the pollution of noise we created in fifth year, remember?” he asked, grinning.
“Yeah, you were disturbing our peace,” she reminisced, a smile on her lips. “And I was finally getting Mary and Gemma to accompany me in studying Transfiguration for our OWLs.”
“We were being annoying,” James said. “You were highly irritable in those times.”
“I was, wasn’t I?” She grinned. “But then, you were highly irritating in those times.”
“I’m not now, am I?” he asked.
“No, you’re not,” she agreed. “You’ve change, James. I didn’t think it possible, but you did.”
“Everyone changes,” he said.
“No,” she objected, and in the light cast by the fairies, James saw that her expression was solemn, even sad. “Not everyone.”
He inwardly groaned. How come he always didn’t know the right thing to say to Lily Evans? He either made her angry, or sad. He wanted to make her laugh; he lived for those moments when her face lit up with delight, and she laughed unrestrainedly, giving him her full and undivided attention.
“James?” she said, and a thrill went down his spine when he heard her say his name.
“Yeah?”
“Why did you change?” she asked.
“Wh” why did I change?” he asked, baffled.
“You know,” she said, “change from irritating to… to…”
“That sentence had better end with a good adjective,” he mock warned.
She laughed. “Oh, it does,” she assured him. “Why did you change from irritating to being so… nice and friendly?”
James’ heart sank. Nice and friendly? Of all the adjectives he wanted Lily to describe him, those two were definitely not what he’d had in mind.
As though hearing his thoughts, she said, “Well, last year, you were less obnoxious, but this year, you’re really… really different. You’re more thoughtful and kind. I’d even go as far as to say that Dumbledore made a right choice in choosing you to be Head Boy.”
“Is that an insult for my past self or a compliment for my present self?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
She gave an impish smile that made him want to grab her and plant a kiss on her lips. “Perhaps both,” she said.
He thought about what she had asked, and then began tentatively, “Well, do you know how sometimes people make you do things you never thought possible?”
She nodded.
“That’s how I changed, I guess. Someone motivated me,” he said.
She thought about it for a while, and then said, “Would I be too nosey if I asked who it was?”
A glowing fairy bobbed past them, and Lily gave it a gentle poke. The fairy glared at her and rose up high above them. James looked up at it, and caught sight of something in its glow.
A mistletoe.
A mistletoe was hanging on a branch above where they were standing.
“Erm,” he said, desperately trying to keep his mind on the current question at hand. Running a hand through his hair, he said, “No, no, you wouldn’t.”
A question resounded in his head, repeating itself over and over again.
What do people do when they stand under a mistletoe?
This thought was severely distracting; it threw him off focus.
“So,” she asked conversationally, “who was it?”
He involuntarily threw a glance at the mistletoe above them. He saw in panic that Lily, curious about what he was looking at, had done the same. And a gasp from her confirmed what she had seen.
“It was you,” he said in a rush.
“What was that?” Lily asked, her eyes darting from the mistletoe to his face.
“It was you who made me change,” he said, all too aware of his burning cheeks.
“It was me?” she whispered.
He nodded, mouth dry, with a severe lack of air in his lungs.
She blinked rather rapidly, as if there were dust in her eyes. And at last, at long last, she spoke.
“You changed… because of me?” she asked, as if not believing it.
He shook his head. “I changed for you,” he corrected. “You kept saying how I annoyed you in the past, and I really, really liked you, Lily, and I wanted you to like me back. So I tried to become a nicer person. And really, it’s been quite fun being nice. I’m now new and improved.” He tried to smile, but his facial muscles were too tense to pull it off.
Lily blinked again, but now James could see that she was trying not to cry. His heart sank for the third time the past fifteen minutes.
“Lily,” he said gently, “I didn’t mean to make you cry, I’m so, so sorry…” A tear spilled out, and he reached over to brush it away with his thumb.
She waved him away. “You didn’t make me cry, James,” she said, in a voice that suggested she was suppressing sobs. “Not in a bad way, at least.” She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said or done for me.”
Then she stood on her toes, and kissed him on the lips. She was just about to turn away, slightly embarrassed, when he slowly encircled her waist and pulled her gently towards him and gave her a kiss that was full of love and tenderness.
“And was that nicer than what I’d done to you previously?” he said against her lips.
He felt her smile. “You mean, before you were new and improved?” she asked. “Definitely.”
A/N: Well, here's the fourth chapter! This one I'm not that fond of as compared to the rest, but I'm still satisfied with it. I (shamelessly) love the next chapter though. Well now that you've read this I trust you know what to do! It's got something with that little white box down there. Hint hint. :D
Chapter V by x_lily_evans_x
Author's Notes:
Most unfortunately, anything/ anyone that/ who you recognise does not belong to me. Thanks goes to Katie (harrypotterfangirl21) for helping me to beta this fic! (:
IN REALITY
“Hang on, your plan is to get under a mistletoe and kiss her just like that?” Gemma asked incredulously, snapping her fingers for effect.
“Yes,” James said. “We don’t have mistletoe under the giant Christmas Tree in the Great Hall, and the bottom branches aren’t tall enough for Professor Flitwick to stand under the tree. The hallways are full of holly and mistletoe. Is there anything wrong with that?”
Gemma had a horrified look on her face. “Yes, there bloody is! James, you can’t just grab her and plant a kiss on her lips, it’s most undignified. You need to create a sort of atmosphere that makes it right for you to kiss her.”
“Like what?” James asked, looking at the rest in a silent plea for help. They had no answer to his question.
Gemma sighed. “You know, to tell you the truth, I don’t quite know. You can’t just plan these things. They just happen. But what you have to take in mind is that you can’t just grab her and kiss her. It’s just totally unnatural. If there’s chemistry between the both of you, then there will come a time when it’s perfectly natural for you to kiss her. The mistletoe only adds to the atmosphere.”
James sighed, too. “Nothing is definite, huh?”
“Look, I know you’re upset that three of your plans have backfired, but I already told you, my plans are just a version of what could happen.”
“All right,” James said, and got off his armchair in front of the fire.
“Oy, where’re you going?” asked Sirius.
“To the Owlery. I’ve got some matters to arrange,” said James conspiratorially, and before anyone could answer, he had sprinted upstairs to duck under his invisibility cloak.
*
“Hey, James, how come you’re on the same patrol as me?” Lily asked, her green eyes looking at him questioningly as he came running down the corridor towards the Prefect’s Lounge to meet her.
“Hey,” he smile-panted. “You were supposed to be patrolling with Claire Newt, but she sent in a message saying that she was feeling sick.”
“She did?” Lily asked, now narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
“Yeah, she did,” James said, and whipped out a letter. Remus had written it, altering the handwriting just a little. Meanwhile, Claire Newt was back on her bed, in her dormitory, reading her Transfiguration textbook and enjoying some Chocolate Cauldrons which James had just sent to her through owl post in order to thank her for her cooperation.
Lily scanned the letter. “Yeah, that seems to be in order. Poor girl. I hear that the fifth years have a killer Transfiguration quiz tomorrow.”
“Yeah, the poor girl,” James echoed, trying not to let his smirk show.
They walked in companionable silence for quite a while, James looked at the decorated ceiling, but amongst the hollies there was no sign of mistletoe.
It was so unreal. He didn’t understand it. Just an hour ago the hallways and corridors were full of it. Where could it have all gone to?!
“Hey, why’re you looking so gloomy?” Lily asked in a teasing voice.
“Huh?” he said automatically, and immediately gave himself a mental kick. Real smooth, Prongs, real smooth. “No, I’m not gloomy,” he said quickly.
“Liar!” she laughed. It sounded like little soft bells.
He always liked bells.
“You were looking all brooding…” She paused and stopped a while, seemingly examining him. He stopped, too.
“Yes?” he asked, grinning slightly. “Stared enough yet?”
She blinked and blushed. “Er, yes,” she said, and continued walking, though at a faster pace than usual.
“So, why the examination?” James asked, keeping up with ease.
“No, nothing,” she said.
“Oh, come on,” he said, starting to grin. “It wasn’t nothing, was it, the way you were looking at me…”
“You aren’t very moody now, I see,” she huffed.
“I never was,” he said, lifting up a finger.
Just then, Peeves the poltergeist came floating by, cackling to himself. James, who got along rather well with the castle’s devout troublemaker, looked up at him and asked amusedly, “What’s so funny, Peeves?”
Peeves gave a smile James knew was reserved for one of the better troublemaking schemes. “Nothing, just a little something involving mistletoes,” he said, and promptly vanished.
James frowned slightly. The most likely scenario was that Peeves had taken down all the mistletoes and done something bad with them. Now the only trouble was to find out what that something was.
He didn’t have to wait long to find out. Milliseconds later, the door to the Teacher’s Lounge down the corridor was flung open, and three teachers burst out of it.
Lily raised her eyebrows at him and together they sprinted towards the teachers.
“What happened, Professor?” Lily asked Professor McGonagall, when they were near enough.
“Mistletoe!” Professor Flitwick cried dramatically. “At least a thousand mistletoe, hanging from the ceiling!”
Professor McGonagall looked at James sternly and said, “I trust this isn’t the work of you and your friends, Potter?”
“No, Professor,” he said quickly.
She looked at him shrewdly. Lily hurriedly cut in, saying, “He’s telling the truth, Professor. We just passed Peeves along the corridor just now and he admitted to having done something with mistletoe.”
James edged over to the door, and sure enough, sprigs of mistletoe practically wallpapered the ceiling.
Lily joined him at the door, and gave a little laugh. “Peeves is one of the biggest troublemakers I’ve ever known,” she said in a low voice to him. “And one of the best, too.”
“Hey,” James said, affronted. “How about us, the Marauders? Aren’t we the best?”
And as the Slughorn, Flitwick, and McGonagall began Banishing the mistletoe (while discussing how dangerous it was to have mistletoe around and that they ought to do something about it), Lily Evans chuckled and said, “Yeah. You guys are the best mischief makers, all right.”
_________________________________
Plan Number Five
James Potter feverishly cleared his cauldron and hastily mopped away any potion he had spilled. There were only a few students left in the dungeons and Slughorn was sitting there with a parchment roll tied with a violet ribbon and there was something about the focused, determined look on the Potions Professor’s face that James didn’t quite like. He quickly packed up his equipment and was about to leave with a cheery goodbye when he saw that the front desk, where Horace Slughorn usually sat, was empty. Frowning, he was about to turn around when someone gave him a hearty clap on the back.
“James, my dear boy!” came the loud, booming voice of Professor Slughorn. James suppressed a groan.
“Hello, Professor,” he said.
“Christmas is coming, James, and what say you to a little Christmas party of mine?” Slughorn said, twirling his moustache. “Come now, m’boy, it’s your seventh year! And you’ve been missing my parties for years now!” He prodded James good-naturedly in the chest.
James allowed himself to give an apologetic grin. “Sorry, sir, just a couple of Quidditch practises and detentions,” he said.
“Aha, no more of those, now!” Slughorn said genially. “It’s snowing outside, so you can’t possibly have any practices arranged, can you? And I’ve talked to all the teachers, so your detentions will simply be postponed to some other dates!” He beamed, as though this was the best gift James could ever receive.
“Er, thanks, Professor, you shouldn’t have,” James said, and he meant it. About the part where Slughorn shouldn’t have postponed his detentions, that is.
“It was no trouble at all, James.” Slughorn winked, handing him the invitation. “I’ll see you there at my office on twentieth December, seven in the evening, then!” he said, waddling out of the dungeons, leaving James alone.
James dragged out a sigh, and followed after him, balefully looking at the invitation in his hand.
*
“I can’t believe I’m wasting a whole evening just to attend Slughorn’s little Yuletide party,” Sirius grumbled as he threw on his misty grey dress robes. “I’d rather brainstorm for our graduation prank.”
“What are you complaining about?” Peter asked as he moodily picked at the sheets of his four-poster bed. “At least you’re invited. Also, girls fall before you and kiss the ground on which you walk.”
“Dunno why they bother, though,” James said, who was also not too happy about having to show up at Slughorn’s party. He adjusted his dress robes, which were the colour of midnight blue. “They should’ve noticed by now that Padfoot’s only got fluff and cotton bits where his brain ought to be.”
Sirius looked affronted. “Excusez moi?” he asked in French, but his accent was off.
James shook his head, grinning slightly. “I rest my case.”
Remus entered the dormitory, fresh from a shower. “Sirius, I advise you not to go down the stairs. There are a bunch of girls who are engaged in a catfight.” Then, spotting the quizzical looks on the three faces, he added, “All of whom want to go with Sirius as his official date.”
Sirius moaned in exasperation. “You know,” he complained, “it’s nice when you get treated like a star. It’s even fun, for the first few months. But it’s been seven years, and can’t those ruddy girls leave me alone?”
“Never mind, Padfoot, you can borrow my cloak,” James said.
Remus gave a smirk. “Don’t be so sure you’re not in danger, Potter,” he said knowingly. “I overheard a girl say that if she couldn’t have Sirius, she’d take you. And the rest agreed.”
“Blast!” James said in disgust. “Forget it, I’ll just go under the cloak with Padfoot. Hang on… why weren’t you mobbed by them, Moony?” His eyes narrowed. “I know they like you a lot too, because of your ‘rugged good looks,’ or so they say.”
“I told them I had the flu,” Remus said brightly. “And no one wants to go with me badly enough to catch the influenza.”
“And you couldn’t have told them that Prongs and I had the flu too?” Sirius groaned.
“Nope, I couldn’t,” Remus said with a grin, and ducked as Sirius threw a comb at him.
James sighed, and withdrew his invisibility cloak from where it was hidden, in his trunk. Then, walking over to Sirius, he threw the cloak over the both of them.
“Bye, guys,” he said to Remus and Peter and then led the way downstairs, while Sirius stumbled awkwardly behind. At the bottom of the staircase there was a ruckus, where a few girls were either scratching one another or tugging another’s extensions.
“Bye, suckers,” he heard Sirius whisper gleefully as they exited the portrait, the girls none the wiser.
They tugged off the cloak as soon as the Fat Lady’s portrait swung shut, and James stuffed it behind the first statue they came across. They reached Slughorn’s office without incident, as most of the Hogwarts population was at the Great Hall eating their dinner.
Slughorn’s party was extensively decorated with sparkling snowflakes hanging from off the ceiling. There was a huge Christmas tree which stood at the side, and people were everywhere, sipping drinks from flutes.
“Hey,” Sirius asked, poking James in the side. James doubled over in pain. “Oops, sorry, mate. D’you reckon he’ll serve us Firewhiskey?”
James frowned. “I doubt so. Look at the young kids about this place.”
Sirius snorted. “He could easily set up an Age Line. I’m going to suggest that to him.”
“You go ahead,” James said. “After all, you’re his favourite.”
“I am, aren’t I?” Sirius said with an arrogant smile, at which James rolled his eyes.
When Sirius was gone, swallowed by the crowd, he felt strangely alone. He’d never been to a party at which there weren’t any friends by his side. It wasn’t a nice feeling. He looked around for someone or a cluster he could join, and felt someone tapping him on the shoulder. Thinking it was either Remus, newly arrived, or Sirius, not able to find Slughorn, he turned around in relief, only to find”
“Oh, hello, Lily,” he said, the relieved look dropping off his face. His heart began to pound ten thousand times louder than it should, as it always did when Lily was within five-metre radius of him. She noticed him looking less-than-relieved, and frowned slightly.
“Not happy to see me?” she questioned lightly, but James detected a little worry.
“No,” he said, a little too loudly. “I mean, no, I’m always happy to see you.” And then he kicked himself mentally for sounding so stupid. Why is it that, he asked himself angrily, I have to sound like a complete vegetable when I’m with Lily? And that wasn’t just the case, either. He would be unable to stop staring at Lily. Sometimes it was utterly embarrassing.
For example, in this case, where he had been focusing on her for the past few seconds.
She was wearing robes of green which matched and brought out the colour of her eyes, and her dark red curls were straightened and pulled back into a high elegant knot. Her cheeks were flushed with a tinge of pink and the cute little freckles across her nose and cheeks were absolutely… delightful.
If the James Potter of three years ago had heard the current James Potter describe a girl this way, he would have thrown himself off the Astronomy tower in disgust.
Not that James Potter really cared about how his past self would have reacted to his current lovesickness, because Lily Evans was just too gorgeous for him to think about anything else.
“This has got to be one of the best parties Slughorn ever threw,” Lily said, gesturing at the snowflakes and the Christmas tree, and bringing him back to earth with a bump.
“I wouldn’t know,” James said. “I’ve never attended most of them.”
“Yeah, you and your friends would rather use the time to plan for one prank or other,” she reminisced. “Oh, speaking of your friends, where’s Sirius? There was a crowd of girls waiting for him to go down to the Common Room, d’you know?”
“Yeah, I did,” James said. “We managed to get down safely, though.”
“You did?” said Lily, beginning to smile. “How?”
James winked. “Marauder secret.”
She laughed, her smile becoming a full one. “Of course,” she said.
At that moment, Slughorn came by, and gave them a delighted welcome. “Oh ho,” he said, “oh ho! Getting cosy already, are you?”
They shot each other awkward looks and mumbled something about discussing patrol routes.
“Of course,” Slughorn said affably. “We’re opening up the dance floor for some ballroom dancing, and the Head Prefects would make a nice first couple, wouldn’t they?”
He was answered with a roar of “Yes!”
It was then James realised that everyone was clustered around Slughorn, Lily and him. He caught sight of Sirius raising a bottle of Firewhiskey to his health and then downing it. So Slughorn had provided alcohol.
“Oh, no, we couldn’t,” James said, half hopeful, half embarrassed.
“Oh yes, you could,” Slughorn said merrily, before steering the both of them out to the middle of the room. The lights were dimmed, and a slow romantic song issued from somewhere.
And James found Lily Evans pushed into his arms.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” she said, and it was hard to tell what she was feeling.
“Me neither,” he said. Her right hand found his left hand and her other hand lay lightly on his shoulder. And then James realised where his right hand was supposed to be placed.
On her waist.
He gently placed his hand on her waist, and heard her breath catch. He looked down at her, and upon finding her green eyes, tried to smile. The crowd broke into applause and some wolf-whistles, waiting for them, so he resolutely began dancing with her across the floor. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight…
*
Dancing with Lily Evans, James decided, was absolutely divine. She was a great dancer, not to mention absolutely gorgeous. And the way they danced had certainly set butterflies flying about his stomach, batting at the walls of cells.
Or maybe the butterflies were due to the fact that Lily was in his arms.
But either way, he felt that he was on a high. A Lily-high, to be precise.
After the first song ended, everyone whooped and clapped for the Head Boy and Head Girl. Sirius brought forth two bottles of Firewhiskey and a bottle of Butterbeer. When Lily laughed and refused the Firewhiskey, Sirius just smiled in an “I-knew-it” sort of way and proffered the Butterbeer, which she drank.
While they were walking towards the side of the room, Sirius got asked to dance by a beautiful brunette (he agreed; even in the case of Sirius Black, dreams of Harley Davidsons could be postponed by good-looking girls). So James and Lily were left together again, James taking small sips of Firewhiskey, and Lily, her Butterbeer.
“That was a great dance,” she said brightly.
“I thought so, too,” he said happily. “You know, you dance pretty””
There was a tap on his shoulder. He whirled around only to see a gorgeous blonde who he vaguely remembered as Camilla Nott, a Slytherin. She was wearing rather revealing dress robes that left almost nothing to the imagination. It was a wonder Slughorn hadn’t thrown her out. Then again, Slughorn was pretty easy-going. James tried not to stare, but he couldn’t help it.
“Hey,” the blonde said in a smoky voice, and, cocking her head slightly to look coyly up at him, fiddled with his collar. “You wanna dance?”
“Erm,” James said, his eyes still riveted on you-know-where. “I””
“You know what, I’ll get some more Butterbeer, the stuff’s really delicious,” said Lily with a touch of asperity. James turned around to see her stalk away. Panicking, he turned back to Camilla Nott, said, “Sorry, another time perhaps,” and, shoving his bottle of Firewhiskey into her hands, ran off after Lily.
Camilla Nott stared at the bottle and then after James Potter, shrugged, tilted the bottle to her lips and drank.
*
“Lily! Lily!” he called after her. She was a few corridors ahead of him, and it didn’t seem as though she planned to stop anytime soon. “Lily, wait!” Angry at himself as well as his slow speed, he accelerated until he was right in front of her. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he made her stop and said, “Lily, why did you run away?”
Lily didn’t answer at first. She smiled bitterly and James could see her green eyes sparkle with tears in the dim light of the corridors. “It’s rather like Cinderella, don’t you think?”
James was nonplussed. “Cinderella?”
“Oh, never mind,” she said in what was meant to be a brisk tone, and tried to shove him away, but James stood steadfast. “Will you move, please?” she asked evenly, but this was broken by a sob.
“No,” James said in a whisper. “I will not move. You, Lily Evans, are going to tell me why exactly you are crying. And why you ran off, too.”
“Actually,” she said, wiping her eyes furiously with the back of her hand, “I don’t know.”
“You don’t?” he asked disbelievingly.
“Well, maybe it had something to do with the way you glanced at her.”
“At who?” he asked, this time perplexed.
“Her!” Lily snapped. “Camilla Nott.”
“Oh,” James said, slightly ashamed. “Well, I don’t really feel anything about her. And besides”” he allowed himself a grin “” this means you’re actually jealous!”
“What?” she spluttered. “Jealous about what, James Potter? That you were looking at Nott like she was” oh, I don’t know, Madame Rosmerta’s oak-matured mead?”
James nodded gravely, now trying to hide his smile. “Yes.”
“I’m not” was it that obvious?” she asked, all the fight gone out of her.
James chose not to answer her question. “Lily, what makes you think I even like Camilla Nott?” he asked, crossing over to lean against the wall.
She turned to watch him. “I…” she began, but was unable to continue.
“Do you want me to look at you like you’re oak-matured mead?” he asked. Then on a more serious tone, he said, “But the thing is, Lily, you’re more than just oak-matured mead.”
Seeing her look at him, silently inviting him to continue, he took a deep breath and went on, “You’re really nice, and you’re beautiful, and you’re smart. You’re perfect. And hey,” he shrugged, “I’m only human.”
“Actually,” Lily interrupted, “I’m not perfect.”
James looked down at her for some time before he walked up to her slowly. “And why is that?”
“Perfect people don’t fall in love with troublemakers.”
He hardly dared to breathe. “Oh?” he asked, in a lower voice than usual. “And who might this troublemaker be?”
“James Potter.”
His heart leapt, and he kept his face down so she wouldn’t see that foolish, delighted grin he was sure was on his face at the moment.
She must have misinterpreted his mood wrongly, because she asked sadly, “I’m too late, aren’t I? You’ve already fallen in love with someone.”
He paused. “Actually, yes, I have.”
Her eyes were dull. He had just snuffed out any hope in her. “Oh.” A pause, then” “Who is it?”
He smiled down at her and grabbed her, covering her lips with his. It was a long time before they broke apart. This time, her eyes were sparkling not with tears, but with surprise and hope.
Such a beautiful shade of emerald. He could look in them forever.
Then again, that option wasn’t exactly impossible.
It was in fact, come to think of it, highly possible.
“You.”
A/N: I hope you guys aren't disappointed in this chapter! Feedback (coughcough) would be very appreciated. :D
Chapter VI by x_lily_evans_x
Author's Notes:
This is built on the brilliant works of JK Rowling. I own almost nothing. Except for Gemma.
IN REALITY
“Awww, this is so sweet,” Mary sighed as she finished the Gemma’s fifth story concerning the romance of James and Lily. The Marauders and Gemma had discussed, and decided to let Mary in on Operation W.O.L.E. At first Mary had been rather annoyed that they hadn’t included her in the start (she, like Gemma, thought James and Lily made a cute couple, to James’ delight) but she had quickly gone from sulky to enthusiastic about Gemma’s little write-outs. “You should become a romance writer in future, Gem!”
Gemma beamed. “Thank you, Mary. At least someone here appreciates my work.” She threw the Marauders a scathing glance.
“Hey,” Sirius objected, “we’re guys, okay? All these mushiness is just too much for our emotional quotient.” Peter nodded in agreement.
James was injured. “Gem, I do appreciate your help. Why else would I even be using your plan?”
“Well, I think it’s brilliant,” Mary declared. “All you have to do now is convince Professor Slughorn to hold a party similar to that. And then James can dance with Lily and take her to the balcony where Lily will realise that she is madly in love with James. Dang, I wish I could go to one of his parties.” She sighed wistfully.
Gemma gave her a one-armed hug. “Don’t feel too bad, girl, I’ll ask if I can borrow Dumbledore’s Pensieve and show you what happens there. You too, Peter.”
“Dumbledore has a Pensieve?” Peter asked, impressed.
Sirius gave him a look that could only be described as pitying. “Wormtail, it’s that basin with the silvery stuff in the cupboard. Are you sure you don’t remember? We get sent to his office on an average of five times a year.”
“Oh,” Peter said, his face lighting up in recognition. “I always thought it was a basin to wash your hands in or something.”
Sirius rolled his eyes. “No, it isn’t.”
James was impatient as usual to begin working on W.O.L.E. Plan Number Five. “Can we cut the chit-chat and get straight to work?”
“Aye, aye, captain,” Sirius, Remus and Gemma recited dully, and James couldn’t blame them, either. This was Plan Number Five, for Merlin’s sake. Even he was losing hope. If this plan failed (please Merlin, no), there would just be one last plan left to try out.
“Okay, what you’re going to do is corner Slughorn after Potions, and then suggest the idea of a Christmas ball. And also, make it known to him that the Head Prefects should open the dance. I’m not going to talk to him with all of you, since it’d be too thick-skinned, but I’m going to eavesdrop under the invisibility cloak,” James said, peering over his shoulder to make sure that no one was spying on them. Lily was taking Arithmancy, while the six of them had free periods, so they were safe from her at the moment. “The students are all going home on the twenty-first, so Slughorn’s going to have a party on the twentieth, I suspect. Meaning if you tell him today, he’ll only have until tomorrow to prepare everything. So don’t forget.”
“We won’t,” Remus said. “We’re having Potions after this, and I’m sure you won’t allow us to forget.”
“Like hell I will,” James agreed, and made a mental note to bring along his invisibility cloak so he could listen to their conversation with Slughorn, and to remind the rest to carry out said conversation.
Although he suspected that the latter didn’t really need to be noted down.
After all, it concerned Lily Evans.
*
“So, Professor, we were thinking about your upcoming end-of-term party,” Sirius said, slinging an arm casually over the Potions Master’s shoulder, who seemed to be delighted to be on such close terms with one of the Blacks.
“What about it?” Slughorn boomed, twirling his mustache and looking at the crowd of three visible students and one invisible student who were gathered around him.
“We thought up this idea for it,” Gemma gushed. “We were thinking, since the Christmas mood’s already making its rounds, why not have a Yule ball of sorts, where people dance to a live band. And of course, your decorations are simply divine,” she added in a flattering voice.
Slughorn positively beamed. “Of course, that’s a brilliant suggestion!” he said. He looked hopefully at Sirius. “I suppose this means that you’ll be attending my party this time? You and James always miss them.”
Sirius gave a thousand-watt smile. “Of course, Professor,” he said courteously, sounding remarkably like Remus. “We sincerely apologise for the other times we’ve missed your parties.”
“It’s all right,” Slughorn chuckled, waving him off. “Marauder business, eh?”
Sirius nodded, and added under his breath so only the four of them could hear, “And a few timely Quidditch practices.”
James, sandwiched between Remus and Gemma, grinned under his cloak.
“And we were thinking, sir,” said Gemma, “of having the Head Boy and Head Girl open the dance.”
“Ah, James and Lily, eh?” Slughorn said, his eyes gleaming. “Match made in heaven, that pair. Trying to get them together, aren’t you?”
“Well,” Sirius said, “yes, to put it that way.”
“And where’s said Head Boy?” Slughorn asked, looking around them.
“We got him to go off without us, if he knew we were doing this for him he’d get highly emotional,” Gemma said with a wicked grin.
James’ jaw dropped open, and he stomped on her foot.
Her head shot up in pain, and she was treating James to a death glare when Slughorn also peered curiously in his direction.
Remus made Gemma turn, wrenching her gaze from James. Slughorn was puzzled. “What were you looking at, Gemma?”
“Oh, nothing, she has a problem with her iris,” Sirius fibbed quickly. “Her eyes always go off focus for some point of time.”
“No, I thought I saw something move, but it turned out to be nothing,” Gemma laughed lightly, but when Slughorn turned his attention away from her she threw Sirius a dark look and mouthed indignantly, “A problem with my iris?”
James nudged Remus. “Wrap this up,” he muttered. “The job is done; we’re only wasting time.”
Remus cleared his throat. “Well, that’s all for now, Professor. We’ve got to rush to lunch. We haven’t got Potions tomorrow, so we’ll see you tomorrow at the party!” he said, and together he and James herded the now arguing Gemma and Sirius out of the dungeons.
*
“Do I look all right?” James said, fussing over his dress robes in the mirror. “I don’t know, but this midnight blue doesn’t seem to look good on me.”
“Why don’t you take that midnight black, then?” Sirius asked, smoothing down the front of his misty grey dress robes. “At least they won’t clash with your hair. Bring the colour out of it, to quote Gemma.”
After much contemplating, James decided to ditch his blue robes for his black one. Sirius was quite right. His hair did look blacker than usual.
Gemma came dashing into the dormitories in scarlet dress robes, and Remus yelped because he was only half dressed.
“Knock before you enter in future, Spinnet!” he yelled, leaping onto his bed and wrenching the curtains shut.
Gemma rolled her eyes. “Drama king,” she retorted. “Like I wanted to see you half-naked!” Then turning to James, she squealed, “Lily looks absolutely gorgeous! Now, James, you can’t get all nervous and stutter when you see her. Act cool and calm, and keyword, sweet.”
“Sweet?” James croaked. “How the heck am I going to be sweet?”
“You’ll manage,” Gemma said, and pushed him out of the dormitory and down the stairs.
When they got down, Lily was sitting in one of the armchairs by the fire, waiting. James swallowed. Gemma was right. Lily was totally gorgeous today. She was wearing dress robes of a silky gold with off-white cuffs, and her dark red hair was straightened to perfection and plaited into an elegant bun.
As they approached her, she turned around and looked mildly surprised to see James.
“Hello,” she said, standing up and smiling.
“Hey,” he said, his mouth dry and his throat hoarse. “You look very… You look very nice.”
She grinned. “Thanks. You don’t look too bad yourself.”
Gemma moved forward and pinched her, and James caught her whispering “Liar!” to Lily. Lily swatted her away and they both faced him.
“Yes?” he asked curiously.
“Nothing,” Lily said, smiling a little too brightly. Her face, James noticed, was slightly pink. “She was just telling me about what sort of party Slughorn’s holding. A ball sort of thing, wasn’t it, Gem?”
“Uh-huh,” Gemma affirmed. “Shall we go? I’m starving.”
They made their way to Slughorn’s office, discussing Gryffindor’s chances of winning the Quidditch cup.
“Hufflepuff’s Quidditch team this year’s pretty strong, if we’re not careful they might just win us,” Gemma said. “As soon as January arrives, we’re beginning training.”
“January?” James asked, horrified. “Are you crazy? Much as I love flying, I don’t want to be an icicle.”
Gemma glared at him. “You dare defy your Quidditch Captain?”
“You’re dead, James,” Lily said, chuckling. “Once she glares at you, your life as you know it is over.”
“Ah, but Gemma can’t kill me,” James said cheerfully. “I’m one of her best Chasers.”
“One of my best Chasers,” Gemma reminded. “I can still kill you off and get a replacement. Sirius isn’t too bad a flyer, although he did tell me the only way he’d be on the team was if hippogriffs replaced broomsticks…”
They laughed.
“Do you like flying?” James asked Lily.
“Yeah, sure,” she said. “I just don’t quite like playing Quidditch.”
“Why?” James asked, aghast.
“You have to chase after balls, and balls and people chase after you,” Lily said.
“That’s oversimplifying Quidditch!” Gemma said in indignation. “It’s not just a game where you chase after balls and balls and people chase after you, Lily! It’s a game where utmost””
“Concentration is needed, and your soul must be put into it,” Lily and James recited. They looked at each other in surprise and laughed. “She tells that to me every time I,” she made air quotes around the next word, “oversimplify it,” Lily said wryly.
“She says that every time we have Quidditch practice,” James said, rolling his eyes.
“Well, it’s the truth,” Gemma said, ever the protector of the noble sport of Quidditch, but by then they’d already reached Slughorn’s office. Slughorn greeted them cordially, and led them inside.
“We’ll just have to wait for a few more people to start,” he boomed cheerfully, and before leaving to welcome more people, he winked hugely at James, who knew exactly the reason behind the wink (and blushed, too).
“What was that wink for?” Lily asked curiously.
“Erm, I don’t exactly know,” James said, and received a thumbs-up sign from Gemma. “He’s just spontaneous sometimes, I guess.”
“You could say that.” Lily laughed.
“Oh, I think I see that cute Ravenclaw guy again,” Gemma said conspiratorially, suddenly tugging at Lily’s cuffs. “Do I look all right?”
“Hang on…” Lily said, straightening her best friend’s dress robes. “There. You look great!”
“Thanks, Lily, see ya!” She walked casually over to the Ravenclaw whose face brightened when he saw her.
“Aww, aren’t they just a perfect couple?” Lily sighed, smiling at the scene.
“Uh-huh,” James said, not quite getting how one defined “perfect couples,” but thinking it safer to agree.
Just then, Slughorn cleared his throat. “Now that everyone’s here, the party has just officially… BEGUN!” At once, the lights dimmed, and the tables at the middle of the room cleared out by themselves. Then Slughorn himself waddled quickly over to them, and pushed them out gently into the middle of the room, making others clear the floor at the same time.
“What are we doing?” Lily asked, puzzled.
“You’re going to dance with James,” Slughorn said. “The Head Prefects are to open the dance.”
Maybe it was the dim lighting, but Lily’s face had suddenly drained of its colour.
“What is it?” James asked worriedly.
Lily took a deep breath. “James… Ican’tdance. I’veneverbeenabletodance.”
“It’ll be all right,” he tried to assure her. “It’ll be fine. We’ll just dance slowly…”
And then the music came on, and it definitely wasn’t a slow, soothing piece.
“I can’t do this!” Lily mouthed at him, panicked.
“All right, all right, we don’t have to dance if you don’t want to,” James soothed, leading her off the dance floor. Some people shot them puzzled looks, but most of them had already joined in dancing, Gemma and the Ravenclaw included.
Moments later, they were sitting down at the side, sipping Butterbeer in goblets.
“I’m sorry, James,” Lily said.
“For what?” he asked.
“Losing it just like that,” she said. “It’s just… I’m not good at dancing. Two left feet. My parents once sent me to a dance lesson, you know, over the summer holidays between Third and Fourth Year… In a single lesson, I managed to trod on everyone’s toes, and sprain a few ankles. Mine included.”
He chuckled. “Disaster?”
She grinned. “Definitely. The teacher sent me home and made my parents swear never to bring me back.”
“That sounds bad, but definitely not as bad as my golf lessons,” James said.
“Oh, James Potter is actually bad at something?” she teased, putting her goblet down. “Well, spill. I’m all ears.”
“When my Dad brought me to the nearest golf range, I made a big fuss about how the balls didn’t move by themselves,” James said.
Lily gasped, but she was trying hard not to laugh. “Did any Muggles hear you?”
“Yeah, they did,” he reminisced. “Dad had to say that I read too many fairytales. And when we actually got to the sport itself, I swung the whole bat thing ””
“Golf club,” she corrected.
“” at the teacher.”
She laughed.
He liked her laugh.
“And then what happened?” she asked.
“We tried a few more times. Each time, I either hit him with the club, or with the golf balls.”
She shook her head, smiling.
He liked her smile, too.
“Gosh, you must’ve been a handful when you were younger,” she said.
“You dare speak!” he said dramatically. “But anyway, that’s what Dad and Mum always say,” he added cheekily, “but they still love me.”
“Prongs, you liar! They love me more,” said Sirius’ voice from behind. Whirling around, James saw him and Remus approaching them.
“You wish!” James said, grinning.
Lily looked at either of them. “I don’t know who to believe.”
“Well, it’s definitely me!” Sirius said righteously, and launched into an explanation of why the Potters loved him more.
Remus took this chance to ask in a low voice, “Did it work, then?”
James shook his head. “Not really.”
“Bad luck, mate,” he said sympathetically.
“Nah, it’s fine. She can’t dance.”
“I did try to tell you,” Remus said. “You keep saying how perfect she was. But no one’s perfect, James.”
“Oh no, you’re wrong, Moony,” James said. “She’s still perfect, or at least, to me.”
Remus looked at his contented smile and said, “Love has no flaw.”
James felt surprised. “Yes,” he said at last. “So it would seem.” Then, he turned to look at Lily. She was listening disbelievingly to what Sirius was saying, amusement in her emerald eyes. As if sensing his gaze on her, she turned to look at him, and gave him a winning smile. Feeling slightly dizzy, he turned back to Remus and said, “Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m stopping Operation W.O.L.E.”
Sighing, Remus muttered, “Apparently, love doesn’t give up, either.”
James overheard him, and, cocking his goblet of Butterbeer in a toast, said, “You got that right, Moony.”
_________________________________
Plan Number Six
On a particular day, the Marauders, Lily, Mary and Gemma were having a little snowball fight on the grounds. Suddenly, Lily and Mary came up with a brilliant idea of ice-skating.
“After all, the lake is frozen, so why not take the chance?” Mary said brightly, and she and Lily conjured up ice skates for everyone present.
James and Sirius, who were pureblood and had never seen ice skates their whole life, looked at the shoe-like equipment handed to them quizzically, and looked at the rest for an idea of how to put those ice skates on.
But it wasn’t the only thing that boggled them. What was worse was the bit where they actually had to skate on the ice. After minutes of torture in which he the number of times he had fallen down exceeded the number of steps he had taken, James decided that he didn’t like skating much.
“How the heck are we supposed to move?” Sirius bellowed from where he was: sitting on the ice after a particularly violent fall. None of the others answered, they were too busy laughing at his and James’ “accidents,” as they called them.
James, whose ego was bruised enough already, thought sulkily that “antics” would sound better. “When you’ve finished laughing…” he said to the rest, annoyed. Lily was the first to stop laughing.
“It really isn’t so hard, you know. See that blade at the bottom of your skates?” she asked.
James and Sirius looked at their ice skates. “Yeah?” they said simultaneously.
“Well, when you stand on the ice, dig those blades into the ice. That way you can have more control over your movement,” Lily said, lending her hand to James, and then Sirius, so they could stand up.
Truth be told, James didn’t quite want to let her hand go.
He did as what Lily said, but still didn’t quite manage to travel very far before he fell down again. This time, Gemma fell down herself from laughing so hard.
“Thanks, Gemma, for your unwavering support,” he said, giving her a withering look. “How come you can skate so well, anyway? I don’t believe your parents have taught your ice skating.”
“No,” Gemma said, grinning. “Over the last summer I stayed over at Lily’s house with Mary, and Mr and Mrs Evans brought us to the local skating rink.”
“She learned how to skate really quickly,” Mary added. “She’s an old professional now.”
Gemma gave a self-satisfied smile.
“Just you guys wait,” James said. “I’ll be an old professional, too.”
“Oh, we’ll wait, all right,” Gemma said, grinning. “But perhaps you need to know the basics first, hmm?”
For James had tried to skate again and ended up slipping, falling on his bottom.
Lily and Mary both laughed, but Lily took pity in James in the end, and skated towards him. She took his arm and guided him on the ice. It was a very perilous journey; James almost broke his bones twice. But after fifteen minutes, he had begun to get the hang of it, and soon he was skating around faster than she was.
Sirius was sulky. “Isn’t any kind soul going to help me learn how to skate?” he complained, and brightened when Remus and Peter offered to teach him.
“This is fun!” James called to Lily, who was skating somewhere behind him. He wobbled a little but soon regained his balance.
She chuckled. “Yeah, it is, isn’t it? My Dad brought me and my sister to skate loads when we were children.”
“No wonder you’re so good at it,” James said, skidding to a halt and turning around slowly to face her. She didn’t see him stopping and collided into him. They both fell to the ice and gave cries of pain as their bodies took a beating from the solid ice.
“Oh my God, I’m sorry!” Lily kept saying to him as she sat there dazedly. She winced slightly, rubbing her lower back.
“No, it’s fine. Are you okay?” he asked her concernedly. She looked up at him and suddenly he realised how close she was to him. He could see some snow in her eyelashes from the snowballs that were flung about at everyone earlier on. He could see her freckles. He could see her green eyes, clear and vivid and deep. If he plunged into them he might probably never reach the bottom.
And suddenly, without planning to, without thinking about what he was doing, James leaned over and kissed her on the lips.
They were soft and warm. She kissed back, too, at first shyly, but then as seconds passed, the kiss deepened. It was a long time before they broke apart, and by then, James’ glasses were fogged up, and Lily’s cheeks were flushed.
They stared at each other in shock, then surprise.
James decided to break the awkward silence. “Er… I honestly don’t know how come I did that. But perhaps it’s got to do with the reason that I think you’re amazing.”
And then he immediately wished that he hadn’t spoken, because he felt like the biggest fool in the universe.
Lily’s eyes were examining him. He shifted uncomfortably. “Well,” she began slowly, “I don’t exactly know how come I kissed back, but perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I’ve liked you since last year.”
“Well, I kind of enjoyed it, to tell you the truth,” James said.
“You know what? So did I,” Lily replied. They looked at each other for another while.
“By the way,” James said, feeling like a fool again, but he just had to break the silence, “do you have any idea why our friends are so quiet?”
Lily looked at where the rest were, standing and looking at James and her with beatific smiles on their faces. “I don’t have a clue,” she said, and paused. Then she added, with a smile, “But frankly, I don’t really care.”
And then she pulled him down for another kiss.
A/N: Well, I hope this chapter is up to expectations. Thanks goes to my brilliant beta-readers Katie and Alex for helping me edit this chapter! Now, you readers ought to know what to do. Concerns that little white box down there. :D
Chapter VII by x_lily_evans_x
Author's Notes:
This is it. The Finale. And hopefully a brilliant one. Thanks goes to Katie, my brilliant beta-reader, and to my readers whose reviews have been keeping me smiling throughout. And of course, thanks to JK Rowling for creating this wonderful world in which we work. :D
Seven
IN REALITY
“I don’t believe ice-skating’s a wizard sport,” Sirius said, frowning.
“Of course it isn’t, you twit,” Mary said. “It’s a Muggle sport. And a beautiful one at that.” She turned to Gemma, smiling. “Gemma, you’re a genius. I mean, ice-skating is just awfully romantic.”
Gemma smiled, too, gushing, “I know. Positively romantic. You can’t go wrong with ice-skating!”
“Oh yes, you can,” Remus said. The rest turned to look at him. “You could break your leg.”
“Oh, you pessimist,” Gemma said, dismissing Remus’ contribution with a haughty sniff. “Who’s going to fall? So what do you think of the idea, James?”
James studied Gemma’s cursive script on the parchment roll again. “So we just ice-skate, and that’s it?”
Gemma gave a feral grin. “Oh, I’m sure a sweet moment will present itself, and then you’ll win the heart of Lily Evans.”
“I’ll admit, when you say it like that, it actually sounds possible,” James said, tracing circles on the parchment. This was the last plan. No more back-ups. No more Plan B’s. Or rather, Plan G.
“Listen, James, I know you don’t have much faith in this plan, because all the rest failed, but just try, okay?” Gemma said, reaching over and ruffling his hair. “I mean, for all we know, it could actually work.”
“And if ”” Peter began, then, at the looks of the others, hastily changed the word” “when it works, the prize will be Lily Evans, mate.”
Gemma scowled, presumably offended by the word ‘prize’ being used to describe a girl.
“C’mon, Prongs, ol’ boy, we’ve suffered too much for you to just give up now,” Sirius added cajolingly.
James looked thoughtfully at his friends’ faces, all of which had encouraging looks on them. “High stakes,” he pondered aloud, “but if I’m the victor…” And then he made his decision.
“All right, we’re going to give this one last shot.”
*
“Let’s go ice-skating!” Gemma chirped happily as she tried to pull Lily up from the armchair.
“Now?” Lily asked, reluctant to part with her book. James, who was sitting close by and pretending to play Exploding Snap with the other Marauders, caught sight of the title: it was Emma, by someone called Jane Austen.
“Yeah, now,” Gemma insisted. Mary took hold of Lily’s other arm and together the two of them managed to pull Lily up.
“The lake will make a perfect skating rink. It snowed pretty heavily last night, and seeing as the air is so chilly, I’d say the ice is pretty thick now,” Mary said, beaming.
“And I’d like to practise my ice-skating,” Gemma said, pirouetting like a ballet dancer. “I haven’t practised my ice-skating since last year, when your parents brought us to the skating rink.”
“Ice-skating, did you say?” Peter, after too long a pause. Luckily Lily didn’t suspect anything. “I love ice-skating!”
“Really?” Lily asked, looking doubtfully at him. James understood why, Peter could sometimes be a walking disaster, so Lily probably thought that he’d be a skating disaster on ice. But Peter had assured all of them that he indeed knew how to ice-skate.
“Yeah,” Peter nodded, with a convincing enough smile.
“Wormtail, you never told us that you knew how to skate!” Sirius said with believable indignance. “I demand you teach me how.”
“Why don’t we all go down and ice-skate?” Remus suggested. “We can all teach Sirius and James how to skate properly.”
“Brilliant idea,” Gemma gushed. “I vote we change into our outdoor things at once!”
“Oh, all right, no more Jane Austen this afternoon, then,” Lily saida, as her girlfriends dragged her upstairs to change.
The boys looked at each other and dashed upstairs to change, too.
“All right, James Potter, it’s two days before Christmas. This is your last chance at getting the dame before Christmas,” Sirius said as he wrapped a scarf around his neck. Then he abruptly changed his tack, saying, “I bet you can’t win her over, you big lousy loser.”
“Is that supposed to encourage me?” James asked sceptically.
Sirius frowned. “Yes. I read about it in one of Moony’s Muggle magazines. Something called reverse psychology. It’s supposed to spur you on to do better, you know.”
“Yeah, all the best, mate,” Remus said. “I won’t bother with reverse psychology ” go get her!”
“Good luck, Prongs,” Peter said seriously.
James grinned. “Thanks, you guys. For everything.”
Sirius threw a scarf at James, who caught it and put it on. “Hey, what are friends for?”
*
James fell down for what seemed like the thousandth time. Even Sirius had gotten the hang of it already, and he, Remus, and Peter stood together close by, wincing each time their unfortunate friend hit the ice.
“Boy oh boy,” Peter groaned. “How’s he going to get his girl this way?”
“I shouldn’t have tried reverse psychology,” Sirius said, covering his face with his hands. “Spurs people on to do their worst, more like.”
“I heard that,” James growled, trying to stand up and slipping again. “Perhaps you could help, and not whine?”
“Right, of course,” Peter said, skating easily over to James and helping him up.
“Well, at least Lily isn’t looking your way, not too much,” Sirius said. “She’s distracted by Gemma and Mary.”
“They’re trying to make sure she doesn’t witness your embarrassing falls,” Remus explained.
“Okay, I want to learn how to skate gracefully,” James said, his mouth set into a determined line.
“Leave out the grace part first,” Sirius offered. “Once you get the skating thing, then the grace part can come in.”
And so James toiled. This was quite a first time for him. He’d always been adept at any kind of sport ” running, swimming, Quidditch ” you name it. But for the first time of his life, he was floored by a Muggle sport: ice-skating.
After another half an hour or so, James finally got the hang of it. But just then, there was a piercing scream that filled the still, chilly air.
“Who the hell was that?” Sirius asked, shaken.
“One of the girls, obviously!” James said, going wild with worry as he skated over to the girls. What if it was Lily? What if Lily had fallen and broken her arm or something? Or the worst of all ” what if the ice had broken and Lily had fallen into the lake, and was eaten by the Giant Squid or had drowned or was going to die of hypothermia?
“Hey, you guys, Gemma broke her ankle,” Lily called over, her voice high with worry. In the background, they heard Gemma calling feebly, “Ignore her, my ankle’s not broken!” and Mary saying, “It is broken, Gem, stop lying!”
James sighed in relief, but immediately felt guilty for thanking the stars that it was Gemma who was injured, and not Lily. “Levitate her, and we’ll bring her to the Hospital Wing,” he hurriedly yelled, trying to chase those foul thoughts from his minds. But one thought remained:
So much for a sweet moment presenting itself.
*
“I’m really, really sorry, James,” Gemma wailed in as soft a voice as possible. “I totally ruined it for you, didn’t I?”
The Marauders were crowded around Gemma at midnight, twenty-fourth December, in the Hospital Wing.
“No, it wasn’t your fault, really,” James tried to assure her, but deep down inside he couldn’t help but feel resentful. If not for Gemma’s injury, it was possible that he and Lily were together now, sitting under the star-sprinkled, midnight-blue skies, sharing a long kiss…
“So when’ll you be out of here?” Sirius asked, bring James back into the (unhappy) present.
“Next morning, latest,” Gemma said dully. “My leg’s fine now, but “”
“Well, maybe we’ll be able to resume plan number six tomorrow ” I mean, today!” Remus said brightly.
“I don’t think so. Lily’ll probably force me into staying in bed for today. I’ll be lucky if she lets me walk about on Christmas,” Gemma said.
James said nothing.
“I’m sorry, James,” Gemma said quietly. “Really.”
“Stop apologising, Gemma, it really isn’t your fault,” James said, trying to squash the inner demon in him, who was agreeing with Gemma. “You didn’t ask for an injury.” He turned to leave. “And besides… there’s always next year.”
*
Gemma was right. Lily made her stay in bed for the whole of Christmas Eve, appearing out of the dormitories only for meals, and Lily herself stayed by Gemma’s side all day, reading Jane Austen to her.
“Muggle literature is no fun at all,” Gemma confided to James during dinner. “There’s no magic. Boring.”
“Magic’s not really important in literature, Gem,” Lily retorted, overhearing her friend. “It’s the writing.”
“Ah, whatever,” Gemma said, waving her chicken drumstick at Lily. James caught Lily’s eye, and grinned. Lily rolled her eyes and smiled back.
“She doesn’t appreciate the prose,” she said.
No, James thought, as he fondly watched her rant on and on about the beauty of well-written prose, she doesn’t appreciate you reading to her.
*
James had quite gotten over the fact that he wouldn’t win Lily’s heart before Christmas two days before Christmas. He went to bed on Christmas Eve, resignedly accepting his fate.
What he did not expect was to be woken up on Christmas morning by a rough shaking. Putting on his spectacles, he found five faces surrounding him.
“Merry Christmas,” said the nearest one, which belonged to Gemma. “Wake up, sleepyhead, we’ve got your bonus Christmas present all wrapped up and ready for you to open.”
James yawned. “What bonus Christmas present?” he asked blearily.
“Maybe you can’t get her before Christmas, but who says you can’t get her on Christmas?” Sirius asked excitedly.
James looked from one eager face to another. From the dim lighting in the room, he could see that each of his friends had eye bags under their eyes. “Did you come up with a plan just last night?” he asked, suddenly seeing where this was going.
“Yeah,” Gemma smiled proudly. “I was feeling so guilty about the day before yesterday, and I woke Mary up ””
“And they came up to the boy’s dormitory to wake us all up,” Remus said. Imitating Gemma, he added, “ ‘We simply have to help James get Lily!’ was what she said, and they dragged us down to the common room.”
“And we came up with a brilliant plan!” Mary said.
“Is it foolproof?” James asked, refusing to be too excited unless it was guaranteed that the brilliant plan would work.
“Quite,” Gemma said, looking extremely pleased with herself.
James thought carefully. “Well, it’s worth a shot,” he decided, smiling. “Anyone want to fill me in?”
*
“So we’re going to go with the intra-house events first. Afterwards, at almost any point of time afterwards, I’ll tell her that I like her very much, but I have to begin the sentence with ‘The truth is,’ and you’ll settle the rest?” James said, looking to the others for confirmation.
“Absolutely right,” Gemma said. “And now, if you’ll excuse us, Mary and I have got some presents at the foot of our beds to be opened…” The two girls got up and left.
“Of course, the presents!” Sirius said, leaping off James’ bed and catapulting himself at the pile of presents at the bottom of his bed. “I almost forgot about them, and I never forget about them, not ever.”
Remembering something, James rummaged through his bedside drawer and withdrew an envelope. “Oy, open this first,” James said, tossing it over.
Sirius picked up a thin envelope. “To Padfoot, from Moony, Wormtail, and Prongs,” he read out loud, then looked up incredulously at them. “This pathetic envelope is all you’re giving me?”
James grinned at him. “Why don’t you open it first before complaining, Padfoot?”
Sirius raised his eyebrows, but tore open the envelope. Remus, Peter, and James looked on conceitedly.
“Well? Pathetic, is it?” Remus asked with an uncharacteristic smirk.
Sirius looked up, mouth opened slightly. “Guys, this is ” this is great! I mean, forty Galleons! This is effing brilliant!”
“Yeah, considering your motorbike fund consists of only fifty Galleons,” James said, “we figured the more we contribute, the faster you can get that motorbike, and the less we’ll have to hear you gush about the latest models.”
Sirius was still in shock.
“Okay, the fun’s over,” James said to Remus and Peter. “Now let the real fun begin!” He pointed to the piles of presents waiting for them.
“Aye, aye, captain!” Remus and Peter saluted before going off to open their respective presents.
James picked the smallest package of the lot, and ripped it open to find a”
“A Snitch!” he said, lifting the small golden ball in his fingers. “Wow” thanks, you guys!”
“Now you can play catch all you want,” Peter said.
“Yeah, Wormtail was the one with the idea of getting you a Snitch,” Sirius said. “Glad you liked it, mate.” He was still beaming from the forty Galleons.
James looked from the Snitch to his friends, who were sitting amidst their presents with gleeful looks upon their faces. Thinking about how they’d stayed up almost all night on Christmas to come up with a plan for him, he couldn’t help but feel a burst of affection for them.
“Hey,” he said, clearing his throat. They looked up at him questioningly. “I just wanted to thank you all for, you know, coming up with that plan for me and missing out on your sleep.”
“Yeah, glad you know that,” Sirius said, grinning. “For once you look better than me because of the twins here.” He pointed to his eye bags.
“Yeah,” James said, laughing but at the same time feeling a lump in his throat. Merlin, I’m not going to cry, am I? he thought in horror, and hurriedly swallowed. It took several times, but at last the lump went away. “What I want to say is” thank you. I won’t ever find better friends anywhere else.”
Remus and Peter smiled, and Sirius said, “To quote myself two days earlier: what are friends for?” And as an afterthought, he added with a sly smile, “Forty Galleons. That’s what friends are for.”
*
“Break’s over, people!” Sirius yelled in his magically magnified voice. “Get into your respective groups, we’re to have snowman building competition now!”
“What’re we supposed to do?” asked a fourth-year, who seemed to be asking the question more for the sake of talking to Sirius than finding out the answer.
“You will, in your groups, build as big a snowman as you can in the hour that is given to you,” Sirius explained. “Your snowmen have to be completed, no headless ones. And at the end of the competition, our very own Head Boy and Head Girl will pick the best looking snowman. The best group will win a hundred points. Now, don’t even think about cheating, because if anyone of you do cheat, it’s an instant hundred points awarded to the other group. Are we clear?”
“Yes sir!”
“Excellent. Mr Remus Lupin, you can do the honours.”
Remus nodded, and set his pocket watch to time. “On your mark, get set, go!”
James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, Gemma, Mary and Peter sat down on the armchairs Lily had conjured for them, watching their juniors slog away hard at building their snowmen. James looked over at Lily, who was smiling at the scene. He hadn’t really talked to her much all day; all he’d said was “Merry Christmas, thanks for the present!” and in return, she’d said, “Merry Christmas, James, thank you for the present!”
And that was all they’d exchanged. Gemma, Mary, Sirius, Remus and Peter had kept the two of them unoccupied. Mary had insisted on it, saying that it would be more romantic ” like the bride and bridegroom not speaking to each other until the wedding itself.
James let his mind wonder at his stared at Lily ” Lily with her soft dark red curls, Lily with her laughing green eyes, Lily to whom he was going to confess his feelings later on.
How would Lily react? Would she stare in shock and then tell him kindly, but firmly, that she just wanted friendship? Did she really just wanted friendship? But that night when he wanted to execute Plan Number Four, wasn’t she staring at him quite openly?
But staring doesn’t necessarily mean that she likes you, a nasty voice in his head said.
Shut up, he told the nasty voice. I’m worried enough about later without your help, thanks very much. And then springing up from his armchair so he wouldn’t have to entertain these thoughts, he asked aloud, “How much longer?”
“Forty more minutes,” Remus replied. He was playing chess with Peter, and was winning spectacularly.
“Forty more minutes?” James repeated in horror. Forty more minutes, during which his imagination would discourage him further? “Can I do something, like, you know” “he cast about desperately for something he could do” “like getting Pepper-up Potion from Madame Pomfrey so if they’re freezing they can””
“They won’t freeze,” Peter said. “It’s just snow.”
“Actually, they might freeze,” Gemma said, catching on when she saw his disturbed look on his face. James gave thanks for his observant childhood friend. “Sirius” why don’t you go with him?”
“Right,” Sirius said, though he gave both Gemma and James strange looks. “Of course.”
The two of them walked towards Hogwarts. When they were far enough, Sirius asked in a low voice, “What’s up back there, mate?”
James ran a hand through his hair and sighed, watching his breath form a cloud in the chilly air. “I’m nervous about later,” he admitted. “I just had to get away from there.”
“You don’t have to be worried, Prongs. This time, nothing will go wrong,” Sirius said confidently, ruffling James’ hair. “I mean, seriously. This isn’t some plan that Gemma thought up alone. We all contributed.”
Thinking about how Sirius and Peter had negatively contributed to his plans for getting Lily last school year, James felt a little dubious. Sirius must have caught sight of the doubt in his face, because he slung an arm around James’ shoulders and asked, “Do you trust us, mate?”
When Sirius posed a question like that, James realised that he had an immediate answer, and that he had known that answer all along.
“Yes.”
*
“Right, everyone back to the castle to wash up,” Lily commanded.
The intra-house house games had ended, and the winning group had been awarded a bottle of Butterbeer per person. The losing group ended up having a Chocolate Frog per person as a consolation prize.
Lily made to follow the students going back into the castle, but Gemma and Mary held her back. “What is it?” she asked curiously.
“This is it, Prongs,” Sirius whispered. “Keep her talking until it really gets dark out. And then tell her how you feel.”
“Starting with, ‘The truth is,’ ” Remus reminded.
“Dark out. ‘The truth is.’ All right, I think I got it,” James said, trying to remember the details.
“Good luck, mate,” Peter said.
“Go get the girl,” Sirius said, winking.
“Why don’t we take a walk?” Mary suggested.
“A walk?” Lily asked. “But isn’t it getting darker out?” She gestured to the sky, which was steadily getting darker.
“I’m with Mary on this one, Lily. What’s going to attack us out here, werewolves?” Gemma scoffed.
James saw Remus shift uncomfortably out of the corner of his eye.
“How about the Acromantulas?” Sirius added, and James knew he just wanted to take the tension off Remus.
“What Acromantulas?” Peter asked tensely. “There’re no Acromantulas here. Are there?”
“Sirius means that there aren’t any Acromantulas around here. Just like there are no werewolves around, Peter,” James explained.
“Oh.”
“Come on,” Mary coaxed Lily. “It’ll be fun.”
“Oh, all right,” Lily said, giving in. James could almost hear her smiling. “I’ll come for the walk.”
The seven of them strolled along the castle grounds, talking about random topics ” from NEWTs to Gryffindor’s chances for the Quidditch Cup. When the topic was on Quidditch, Gemma and Sirius simultaneously pushed James towards Lily, and Mary propelled herself away from Lily, joining the others instead.
James caught himself before he stumbled into Lily and made a fool of himself. “Hey,” he said to her.
She looked at him, startled. “Oh, hey, James,” she said, smiling. “I didn’t see you there.” They walked in companionable silence while the rest chattered about the most recent Quidditch World Cup. It began to snow small, pretty snowflakes. Lily stopped suddenly. James stopped too.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Nothing, just wanted to catch a snowflake on my tongue,” Lily said, sticking out her tongue. “I used to do this all the time when I was younger. You should try it! It’s fun.”
“But the odds are a million,” James said, smiling at how still she kept, waiting for a snowflake to fall on her tongue. “A snowflake has as much chance of falling on your tongue as it has a chance of falling on my nose.” As soon as he spoke, a snowflake landed on his nose. James blinked in surprise. Lily giggled, forgetting all about being still.
“But the odds are a million,” she said, imitating James.
“Well, that’s what I thought,” James protested, laughing.
“You’re just scared of looking silly,” Lily said, grinning. “Go on, admit it ” James Potter, Head Boy and Marauder, does not want to stand in the middle of castle grounds with his tongue poking out because he’s scared of looking stupid.”
“Oh, scared, am I now?” James asked, crossing his arms. “What’s there to be scared of?”
“Then I dare you to do it,” she challenged.
“Done,” James said immediately, and assumed her earlier position before adding, “besides, I’m James Potter. I’ll never look stupid.”
Lily laughed. “You wish, Potter. Now stick out your tongue.”
They both stood there for ages, tongues poking out, waiting for a snowflake to grace their tongues. After about two minutes, Lily asked, “Got one yet?”
“No,” James said, scanning the heavens for a snowflake that might possibly land on his tongue. All of a sudden, snowball splattered on his face, making him splutter and cough out the snow which had suddenly entered his mouth. “Lily!” he said, seething. “What’s the meaning of that?”
Lily was doubled over with laughter. “Oh my god,” she said helplessly, tears of mirth streaming down her face. “If you could only see your face!”
Seeing Lily laugh couldn’t keep the smile from his face, but to his credit, he did try to seem angry. “What’s the meaning of that?” he repeated, trying to sound mad.
“I was just helping you,” Lily said. She would have seemed innocent if there wasn’t an insanely wide grin on her face. “You know, you’ve not tasted a single snowflake your entire life, and so I thought I should help you get one to taste. And I felt one would be too stingy. So I thought, what the hey, let’s just give you a lot.” And then she burst out into a new bout of laughter.
James’ weak façade of anger gave way due to Lily’s infectious laughter and the mirth of the situation, and he too collapsed on the ground next to her, laughing. Only minutes later did their laughter subside and they remained seated on the ground, massaging their aching stomachs.
“The rest are gone,” Lily said suddenly.
James had a sneaking suspicion that they were still around somewhere, but hiding and waiting for him to confess to Lily. “Yeah, they probably went back into the Great Hall,” he said, lying through his teeth.
“Oh,” Lily said. “Do you want to go in, too?”
“What?” James started, having thought to ask her the same question too. “No, no, I don’t mind staying out here.”
Lily smiled. “Good. Because I don’t feel like going back into the castle anytime soon, and I want someone to accompany me.”
Privately James thought that if Lily needed someone stark-naked to accompany her to the North Pole, he’d be the first to volunteer.
Lily got up from the ground, and James scrambled up too. “Let’s go to that hilltop,” she said, pointing to a small hill not far away from Hagrid’s hut. “I want to go star-gazing on some higher ground.”
James looked at her, bemused. “Isn’t the Astronomy Tower the best place to stargaze?”
“Nah,” Lily said, making a face. “It’s too far up, and I’m lazy.” He chuckled, and she took hold of his arm to drag him over to the hill. James stared at her hand, laughter stopped, not really believing that it was on his arm, and she dropped it, blushing. There was a shy silence as the two of them tried not to catch the other’s eye.
“Well, let’s go,” James said, deciding to ignore that anything had happened.
“Yeah, let’s,” Lily said in a relieved voice, and they set off for the hill in a leisurely pace. They plopped down onto the snow, and after about half a minute when there was still no conversation, James decided that it was up to him to start it.
“Who d’you think will succeed us as Head Boy and Girl?” he asked.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Lily said. In the faint light from the stars, James saw her bite her lip as she always did when thinking. “They’re all decent prefects. Heather Willes would make an excellent Head Girl, though. Who d’you think will be Head Boy?”
James thought about it. “Well, David Anderson wouldn’t be a bad candidate, but he’s a little on the wild side.”
Lily laughed. “You can’t talk! If there’s anyone on the wild side, it’s you, Potter.”
“I’ll have you know that I’ve tamed down a little,” James said indignantly.
“That makes you half-wild still,” Lily said, and lay flat on the ground. James followed her, folding his arms behind his head.
“That’s unfair,” he said. “I’ll have you know that I’ve only attended one detention this school year.”
“That’s nothing compared to my record,” Lily said smugly.
“What’s your record, then?” he asked.
“One detention in the last two school years,” she replied, “and that one detention wasn’t even my fault.”
“Oh yeah,” James said, sitting up partially on one elbow. “It was the time you took the blame for me.”
It had been in their sixth year, and James had accidentally let off a Dungbomb along a crowded Charms corridor (it had been in the pocket of his robes, and when James had been taking out the Marauder’s Map, it had dropped and exploded). Professor McGonagall had arrived on the scene almost immediately after, and she had asked who had done it. Because it was hours to the full moon, James had out of desperation taken aside Lily and begged her to take the blame, else he’d be thrown into detention. Then there would only be one Animagus huge enough to help control Remus in his werewolf form, and Remus would have to suffer by himself in the Shrieking Shack, biting and injuring himself.
“How could I not?” Lily said reminiscently. “You were so distressed and you added that one of your friends would be severely harmed.”
“Yeah, he would have been, if not for you,” James said. “Thanks for that.”
They fell silent, gazing at the stars sparkling like diamonds in a Tiffany box-coloured night sky. James was thinking about what she’d said.
“You know, Lily, the truth is that I”” James said, totally forgetting about the ‘the truth is’ rule. He had only been going to say, ‘I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t taken the blame for me,’ but before he could have finished that sentence, red and gold sparks were sent into the night sky before them, and formed letters. Letters that formed words, and words that formed a sentence. And that sentence read:
LILY EVANS, THE TRUTH IS THAT I LOVE YOU.
“Wh” What?” Lily gasped.
James was struck dumb. Well, almost. “I” I”” he stammered. Of all things, he had not expected a fireworks show. Now there were hearts exploding in the night sky around them.
Lily turned to look at him. “Care to explain what I just saw in the night sky?” she asked. In the glow of a very huge red heart, James saw her fighting a smile.
“Er, yeah, about that,” he said, clearing his throat.
“And start from the beginning,” she added.
Start from the beginning. Right. In his muddled state, James thankfully hung on to this instruction. And so, stammering his way through, he told her everything: how he’d liked her since his fifth year, how he’d become more decent in his sixth year in hopes that she’d like him, how he had set up a couple of plans about how he could win her heart a few weeks back, how Gemma had found the plans Remus had written and rewritten them, about W.O.L.E. plans one through to six, how he’d tried them out but they’d all failed…
“… And so,” James said. And so what? And so his friends had just helped him confessed. They had helped him confess when he wasn’t even going to confess. What was he going to tell her? That they helped him confess at the wrong moment?
Prongs, Prongs, said a long-suffering voice in his head that sounded strangely like Sirius. You work to impress the girl. A few white lies don’t matter.
“And so I arranged for the others to create this fireworks show, hoping that it’d work at last,” he said, hoping that the others would understand this little white lies. And then in the back of his mind, he heard Sirius say, What are friends for? And then he knew that they would.
“You know, after listening to your explanation,” Lily said, sitting up properly, “I’d like to give you something you really deserve.”
“What?” he asked, sitting up too.
She leaned over and kissed him, knocking him back onto the ground. He pulled her down above him and they kissed till the glow of the heart faded into the dark night.
“That.”
“One kiss?” he said, pretending to be offended. “That’s all I deserve?”
“Well, actually,” she said, pretending to consider, “you deserve a lot more, but then if you got what you deserved, we’ll be here””
“ ’Till sunrise?” he suggested.
“No,” she said, smiling up at him. “ ’Till eternity. But hey, I don’t mind staying here forever. You?”
“Me?” he said, grinning back. “Eternity sounds good.”
And as they kissed for the second (and probably not the last) time that night, watched by their hidden friends, one thing was for sure: James Potter had finally won Lily Evans’ heart.
For eternity.
The End
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.