All's Well That Ends Well? by Shock
Chapter Notes: I'm back~
Sorry if I'm a bit rusty, but it's been awhile since I've written. Not to worry though, the plot is still crystal clear in my head! Thank you to all the fans who have stuck with me and reviewed; it's what made me come back.
And my goodness, I seem to have piled up quite a bit on reviews! I shall answer all of them someday!!! I promise!!
Endymion Lucent…
Anne stared down at her potions book pensively, replaying her encounter with Endymion once more despite the fact that she felt guilty for daring to think of someone the opposite sex besides Moony.
His eyes were just like the moon. So pale and gorgeous and yet…it seemed like they were hiding something too. When I looked into them, I thought I was staring at an angel.
But…it was like the angel was weeping softly somewhere inside at the same time…
Anne shook her head slightly as she realized that her mouth was slightly open.
Maybe it’s just me.
She shook her head once more and snorted in a desperate attempt to regain her consciousness.
Well, he said he’d help me with potions homework, so I suppose I’ll be seeing more of him soon.
Oh! And I wonder what’s happened to Lily.
Anne grinned to herself at this thought.
Even though Sirius is seriously touched in the head somewhere, I’ve got to admit that he has some brilliant plans sometimes - although the S.M.S.O.B. could live without his plans to make orange and sparkly lanyards for all of us, thought Anne, as she exasperatedly rolled her eyes.
Even I never have thought of spiking Lily’s drink with Draft of Recklessness! Imagine that! Sirius Black beating me at formulating a plan! Well, the effects should be kicking in right about now, and I daresay that they should have some pretty strong holdings on her since every member mistakenly thought it was their job to do it instead of the other. Oh well! She’ll be pouring her heart out to James in no time.
With that comforting thought, Anne gave a low, evil chuckle, hitched up her pile of tomes once more, and walked on through the moonlit corridors.
Lily’s head was buzzing. A stifling numbness was spreading through her brain, making her unaware that her eyes were out of focus and her mouth was hanging slightly ajar.
What had she just done?
She lifted her eyes to see her left arm sticking out for what looked to her dazed self like quite a few feet.
How did my arm get there?
She twitched a strand of fiery red hair out of her line of sight, making it glint like a pale ruby in the cold moonlight before tilting her head back a bit more. It was only then that she realized two things: she was lying on the stone floor and her arm was being tugged at by Professor McGonagall.
The shock of having recklessly broken so many school rules in so short a time for the first time in her life seemed to have stunned all sense out of Lily. It was only after she gave her head a rather violent shake that she realized Professor McGonagall was shouting ” and quite loudly at that.
“Reckless, irresponsible, and Head Girl too! I never would have expected this kind of behaviour from you, Miss Evans! I must report this; I cannot allow this sort of behavior to pass! But I never would have expected you, of all people, to do something of this nature! Straight up to my office and…”
On and on the diatribe went. Professor McGonagall had ” with much effort ” managed to pull Lily to her feet and was now tugging the numb and stumbling Lily down the hall, which was littered with shattered glass. The myriad of shards sparkled sharply, yet so beautifully and fragilely in the pale moonlight as the women’s shadows passed and slipped over them.
“And where is Potter? Isn’t he supposed to be with you?” Professor McGonagall shot at Lily as they neared the end of the luminescent hallway.
Potter…
“JAMES!” Lily screamed without warning, causing the already incensed professor to jump.
“Yes James, Miss Evans! Where is he?” the professor inquired furiously, her lips thinning and her nose flaring so intensely that her face looked like all nose and no mouth.
“I…I…” Lily spluttered.
Where had he cantered off to? Lily’s senses returned so sharply she felt as if they had been lying splintered on the ground like the shards of glass but had suddenly flown through the air and lodged themselves back into her brain like shrapnel. For one wild moment, everything seemed to whirl about her.
And then she realized it: he was safe.
James you’re safe now. Your cover isn’t blown. You’re not in trouble…
That thought alone was enough to stabilize her ” body and soul. McGonagall was still ranting at her as she never done before, but to Lily’s surprise, she found that she didn’t care much. She did what she had set out to do, and she was happy with that.
True, she would taint her perfect, “golden and glittering” as James had once called it, school record. She could even be expelled. All those years of hard work…gone in one reckless moment.
But it was for him.
In that moment, Lily felt more proud than she had ever felt. She felt a kind of pride no perfect exam score, school award, professors’ accolades, or a school record of pure gold could ever give her. It was the pride that came from self-sacrifice - from showing the daring, nerve, and chivalry that set Gryffindors apart.
Lily suddenly realized that her shoulders were drooping. She straightened them. She held her head high, flashing back to a time when Anne had once told her to “keep your head ‘cause there’s nothing look at on the ground.”
It would seem remarkable to Lily, when she reflected on that moment often in the future, that all those thoughts and emotions had gone through her mind in the mere minute it took to be tugged along by the fuming professor down towards the end of the hall.
As the two women made to turn the corner at the hall’s end, and just as Lily was reassuring herself that James, at least, would escape the fiery wrath of the Professor McGonagall, they heard a clattering of footsteps running hurriedly towards them.
Professor McGonagall stopped abruptly and, consequently, so did Lily, as none other than James Potter ” the man for whom Lily had just sacrificed everything for ” ran into view from the corner of the stone hall.
There was a split second where James’ glasses glinted in the moonlight and Lily’s stomach seemed to flop down to the floor.
WHAT IN MERLIN’S NAME ARE YOU DOING?
But before Lily could voice her outrage audibly, Professor McGonagall said, “There you are, Potter. Go on with your duties. Miss Evans and I have some important matters to discuss.”
“But, Professor, can’t it wait?” James asked breathlessly, a panicked expression taking hold of his face.
“No, I’m afraid not. Miss Evans has ”“
“But ” but, something just pushed a first year two stories off a balcony!” James exclaimed, still panting to steady himself after what was apparently a very quick run.
“WHAT?” Professor McGonagall and Lily shouted simultaneously, both thoroughly alarmed. Lily momentarily forgot her own rage at James for daring to appear again. Had James accidentally pushed some innocent bystander as he had made his escape?
“Yeah, some big animal or something. I didn’t want to move the student or anything in case, you know, I’d injure him more or something. I was going to go get Madam Pomfrey,” James said, leaning on his knees as he continued to try and regain a normal pace of breathing.
Professor McGonagall hurriedly let go of Lily, allowing blood to circulate through her arm once more.
“Then don’t just stand there, Potter! Go and alert Madam Pomfrey while I attend to the student! Just where did the student fall from?”
“Not too far from here - near that portrait of the wizard who can’t stop lying.”
“Miss Evans, you stay there and don’t you dare make another unwise decision by wandering off!” And with that whip-like statement, Professor McGonagall was off. She hurried around the corner and was gone.
The second Professor McGonagall disappeared, James yanked Lily towards himself. Bewildered, Lily found herself being pulled hastily down the opposite end of the hall this time by James. Alarmed that she was rapidly leaving behind the spot where she was supposed to have stayed put, concerned about the hurt student, and slightly annoyed that she had been pulled around like a show dog for the past few minutes, she began to struggle with him.
“James, wha ”“
“Just follow me.”
“But, Madam Pomfrey, and”“
“There is no kid.”
“WHAT? But McGonagall ” I have to ” you have to - “
James whipped his wand out with such alacrity that Lily didn’t have time to react as his spell silenced her voice, leaving Lily to stupidly open and close her mouth rapidly like a goldfish.
Furious, Lily made to punch James full in the face and make her escape, but James suddenly came to stop in front of a large portrait of what looked like a mountain of chocolate.
Before Lily could so much as raise her balled fist, he had stood on the tips of his toes and swiftly licked the tip of the painted mountain. The mountain rapidly dissolved into streams of liquid dark chocolate to reveal a gaping hole and a small circular space behind it. The space looked as if it could barely fit two people. A dim light that came from somewhere above was the space’s only light source. Lily could just make out a narrow steep, metal stairway against the stone wall that ascended up into the mysterious glow.
James hurriedly pushed Lily inside before hurtling himself into the small space as the mountain of chocolate began to swiftly solidify and re-form, blocking the passageway.
Lily once again made to punch James so that she could hurl herself against the now blocked opening, but James grabbed both her shoulders before she could.
“Lily, no! Wait!” James began to pant again as he struggled to stop Lily from punching him.
“Wait, Lily, just ” just ” LISTEN TO ME!!” James bellowed.
It wasn’t James’ yell but the shock of seeing tears in his eyes that made Lily abruptly stop trying to make her escape. She momentarily forgot everything and stared at him; she had never seen him cry before, and the sight of it was both shocking and shockingly painful to look at.
“I know what you’re trying to do. I know,” James said weakly, his hands pressing Lily’s arms against the circular wall, his head bowed as if he were praying for forgiveness.
“You’re just going to take all the blame, aren’t you? You’re just going to take it ” take it all for me. You’re going to throw away all that hard work for me. All those late nights of studying, all those awards you worked so hard to get, all those duties you fulfilled, all of it! Because ” because you love me!”
Lily merely stared at James’ bowed head, unable to see his expression.
What was he doing? Of course she was throwing that all away. In fact, she had thrown it all away. Now she just had to face the consequences. Did he actually think that she would let him be carted out of Hogwarts and perhaps even to Azkaban when the mere sight of him crying was torturing her like this? But she hadn’t given it all up just so that James could lie to Professor McGonagall and get in trouble anyways, albeit it wouldn’t be as big of trouble as it could have been if she hadn’t stepped in. But still! What on earth was he playing at?
She wanted to voice this out loud, but James’ spell was still in full effect. She therefore began trying to pry herself out of James’ grip. Alas, as prior events had so brutally proven, years of Quidditch had made James stronger than Lily.
“But I won’t let you,” James said suddenly in a low voice.
Lily abruptly ceased struggling once more as she felt a sudden surge of energy pouring from him. He slowly lifted his head, his face mere inches away from Lily’s. He wasn’t crying. The light cast his face in an impressive shadow, making James’ love for Lily look more pronounced than ever before. Something like fierce bravery and determination mixed with the mulish stubbornness Lily knew so well had replaced the tears in his eyes.
Lily lost herself in his fierce, yet steady and inexplicably comforting gaze.
Without thinking, James leaned slowly closer to Lily. She didn’t draw away.
Their bodies met. As their foreheads touched, both of them instinctively closed their eyes.
There was a short silence in which Lily only knew the touch of his skin on hers, somehow already knowing what he was about to say.
“I love you too, Lily,” he whispered.
And without hesitating, they kissed.
It was indescribable. It was the moment Lily knew they had both been waiting for. As his lips pushed softly onto hers’, all she knew was him - his smell, his messy hair tangled between her fingers, his muscular arms slowly wrapping around her waist.
His lips slowly, gently, yet vigorously, moved against her own - pausing only to pant and draw breath. It felt as if their souls were entwined to each other, encapsulating each other ” inseparable. Only the two of them existed in that moment. Only the feel of each other’s soft lips, the heat of their intertwined bodies, and the sound of each other’s hard breathing were all that filled the small circular space.
It was heaven.