It was late, nearly eleven at night, as Lily stepped out of the hospital wing. James had left with a quick “See you later,” a couple minutes before. Although she would never admit it to anyone, Lily had been a little afraid that James was mad at her after their little conversation. Much to her secret relief, he didn't seem angry at all.
He's probably grown used to all the rebuking I've given him througout the years.
Lily found her eyes straying down the hall where James had disappeared. She moodily lowered her eyes.
Don’t bother thinking about him. It’s just Potter, the arrogant… the arrogant…
But Lily couldn’t figure out just what he was, so she just gave a frustrated scowl and stormed off towards Dumbledore’s office.
Madam Pomfrey had told her that Professor Dumbledore had requested the presence of the Head Boy and Girl. For some weird reason, James had been listening very closely when she had conveyed this message.
Lily began to vaguely wonder at who the new Head Boy was.
Maybe it’s Remus.
She continued to speculate as she quickened her pace down the stony, torch-lit hallway.
She turned the corner, and what she saw next made her stop as suddenly as if she had been struck by lightening. If she wasn’t mistaken, she was staring at James’s black, messy hair a couple meters away. She violently shut her eyes, gave her head a quick shake, and, slowly, as if afraid to check if James was really there, opened her eyes.
Yes, James was definitely still there.
James, who had been staring up at the ceiling with a bored expression on his face, sensed someone‘s presence. He spun around to see Lily staring confusedly and open-mouthed at him. He smiled to himself.
“Evans! Quite staring will ya? I know I’m a damn sexy beast, but it’s rude to stare!” James covered his mouth girlishly with his hand and batted his eyelashes.
Lily recovered herself.
“What-on-earth-are-you-doing-here?” she said through gritted teeth, quickly walking over to him.
“Waiting for you, darling,” James replied innocently.
“What?” Lily groaned. Potter-trouble was the last thing she needed at the momment, but, for some reason, she felt happiness begin to bubble in her heart.
“Look, Potter, I’ll try to say this simply so that your big head will understand,” she said, narrowing her eyes like she always did when verbally rebuking James.
“I’m all ears ma’am,” James put on a very serious face and stared with all his might at Lily. Lily felt her temper rising but at the same time felt a strong urge to laugh. She let out a deep exhale.
“Okay, Potter. I am here to meet Professor Dumbledore. I am also here to meet the new Head Boy. Only the Head Boy and Girl are allowed to go in right now. Do you understand me?” she spoke very clearly and slowly to James.
“Yes ma’am,” he continued to stare down at her.
“Okay then. Now be good and disappear before I make you,” Lily said, as she forced herself to smile a very painful looking smile.
“No,” James said simply.
Lily slapped her forehead and let her hand slide slowly off her face.
“Potter, I am warning you,” she muttered in a strangled voice that seemed to be praying for patience.
“Excuse me ma’am, but I have good reason to stay.”
“And what is that?” Lily said crossing her arms.
James grinned mischievously and pointed at his chest.
“And what exactly is so special about your chest Pott- DEAR AND HOLY MERLIN!” Lily screeched, as she spotted the Head Boy badge pinned proudly to James’s robes. “WHAT…HOW…WHY?” Lily screamed. Then, suddenly, a thought dawned on her.
“YOU…YOU STOLE REMUS’S BADGE, DIDN‘T YOU!”
James burst into laughter. “Well I’m really glad you’re taking all this calmly, and I can really tell that this isn’t a really big surprise,” James continued to laugh. His laugh was so beautiful. It was loud and care-free. It was the kind of laugh that made everyone around him smile despite themselves. Lily blushed.
“No, but in all seriousness, I am Head Boy. Also, I should let you know that I would never steal from a fellow Marauder…well, I wouldn’t steal a Head Boy badge at least,” James grinned. Lily simply stared at him, still thoroughly shocked.
“Don’t worry, I’ll behave myself for now,” he placed his hand on her shoulder.
Immediately, Lily’s heart seemed shoot up into her throat. She could feel her chest tighten and her breath quicken. She felt her face burn, and she blushed even more at the thought that she was blushing. James seemed to notice.
“Hey Evans, are you sure you’re feeling okay? You’re, kind of, turning red. You want some water or something?” he looked around muttering, “where’s a first year when you need one?”
“No!" Lily smacked her forehead again,"Potter, see, that’s what I don’t like about you! You bully other people into doing things for you when you know perfectly well that you don’t have to!” she huffed.
“Sorry Madam Flower,” James said, as he raised his hands up in mock surrender.
Lily began to fill her lungs with air to start shouting at James about how he made her sick, but at that moment the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore’s office jumped aside to reveal the one and only Professor Dumbledore, gleaming silver beard and all.
“Ah, Miss Evans and Mr. Potter. I thought I heard your young voices shouting. Please follow me,” he lead the way up the spiraling staircase up to the office.
It was Lily’s first time going into Dumbledore’s office, and she marveled at the rotating staircase. She entered the office and immediately fell in love with it. She thought it was beautiful with its circular shape and strange silver instruments. She gave a small gasp as her gaze fell on a magnificent phoenix seated on a golden perch. She glanced at James, but he didn’t seem very new to the room. In fact, some of the portraits on the wall waved at him.
Of course. Potter’s probably set the record for receiving detentions, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t been in here at least a hundred times Lily thought with a slight grin.
James waved merrily back at the various portraits and took a moment to gently stroke the phoenix.
“Hey Fawkes. It's been a while, hasn't it?” he murmured.
Fawkes nuzzled James’s chin and sleepily closed his eyes as James continued to stroke him. Lily found herself smiling as she gazed at the peaceful scene. She stared, as if in a trance, at the way James’s fingers, slightly calloused from Quidditch, wound themselves around Fawkes’ feathers. She looked intently upon his lovely smile. He fondled Fawkes’ red and golden plumes with such care and tenderness that Lily suddenly found herself feeling bit jealous of Fawkes.
“Please sit.” Dumbledore indicated to two purple chintz chairs that he had conjured.
Lily shook herself out of her stupor as James gave Fawkes a final pat. He accompanied Lily to where the comfy chairs stood.
After they had seated themselves, Dumbledore began to speak. “Firstly, I would like to apologize for my lack of action concerning Bellatrix Black.”
James and Lily glanced at each other
“Please understand that I have my reasons, but I assure you that what you have gone through today will not happen again.”
Lily looked into those kind, twinkling eyes and knew that Dumbledore had things under control. She could trust him to do the right thing.
“Secondly, I would like to extend my joys to you for becoming Head Boy and Girl. As you know, this new responsibility will take up much time and effort, and, of course, teamwork.”
Once again, James and Lily exchanged glances, but it was a very uneasy glance.
Dumbledore’s eyes gave a happy twinkle. He spent the next couple of minutes explaining their new duties and schedules.
The new responsibilities were considerably larger than the ones Lily had had as a prefect. She would have to try really hard to fit in everything along with all her homework and social life.
Dumbledore soon finished telling them everything they needed to know and sent them out with a hearty “Good luck!”
“Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? All the new stuff we have to do, I mean,” James said, as the gargoyle guard jumped back into place.
“Yeah, I guess…” Lily would never admit it to James, but she was actually really worried and nervous about her new position. It was a lot to do, and she couldn’t forget that it was N.E.W.T. year. She would have to study a lot of extra material. She shot a glance at James strolling along next to her.
Lily despised James even in the academic field. While she was working her butt off night and day, he would just sit on his lazy arse, get bored, pull some pranks, and get full scores on everything. The words “study” and “try hard” didn’t seem to exist in James Potter’s vocabulary.
Lily was thinking furiously about how the whole idea that James was smarter than her was ridiculous, when she turned the corner and walked straight into a suit of armor. The many pieces toppeled to the floor with a deafening “CLANK”. The sound seemed to echo and reverberate through every crack in the walls and floor.
“Oh no,” Lily moaned. If Filch saw this, he would be sure to make a huge fuss about it, and that was the very last thing Lily needed at the moment.
James seemed to think the same exact thing. He quickly helped her get up and pulled her towards a portrait.
“Hurry!” he whispered urgently in her ear. He tapped a large painting of a broken glass goblet with his wand and mumbled,” I love moldy butterbeer.”
Apparently this was a password, for the broken glass in the painting started to re-assemble itself, and the new unbroken goblet swung open to reveal a long, narrow tunnel.
“Come on, this way.” The two of them hurriedly climbed in, and the passage sealed itself just in time. Filch came hobbling into the hall a split second later and immediately began to search every nook and cranny for the perpetrators.
“That was close,” breathed Lily.
“Yeah.”
“Er…thanks for the help, Potter,” Lily said awkwardly after a while.
“No problem,” James replied in an equally awkward tone.
Lily looked up into James’s eyes. Suddenly, she felt herself being pulled into him. She tried to pull away, to break off eye contact, but she couldn’t. Those eyes…
“Why do you always help me James, when I push you away so much…when I hurt you so much?” Lily asked suddenly without thinking, her eyes still magnetized to his. “How can you still be so nice to me?”
James stared at her.
“Isn’t it obvious? I love you.”
Lily felt as if her heart had stopped beating. Love? No, he couldn’t. She had always just been another joke to him, just something he had wanted, something he couldn’t have. To top it all off, he was the exact opposite of her dream-man. He was arrogant, lazy, and, worst of all, a bully…
But, he had stopped hexing people in the corridors, and he was a loyal and faithful person once you really got to know him. Maybe James Potter was the kind of guy she wanted. Maybe he had truly meant it when he had told her all those times that he was infatuated with her. Had she been that blind to not see how much James truly cared for her? As the thought occurred to her, she felt her heart go out to him. He was the one…she knew it…
Lily didn’t even think as she began to lean in. James hesitated, then began to inch his face closer to Lily’s. Their lips were mere millimeters away from each other’s. Lily could feel his warm breath. She closed her eyes…
Suddenly, James's eyes sprung open. He abruptly pulled away, causing Lily to jump. He stared at the ground.
He had no idea why he was refusing to kiss the one girl he had always loved, but knew one thing for sure, and that was that he wanted his first kiss with Lily to be more than just a passionate mistake. He cleared his throat uneasily.
“We should get going then,” he started to crawl down the tunnel. Lily stared after him, a little dazed.
What had just happened? Had she just almost…
No way! Lily, don’t be stupid. You, kiss Potter? Ha! That’s a laugh. That moment right now was just…nothing. Nothing at all.
Lily gave her head a quick shake before crawling after James.
A/N: Got some fluff in there! Please review!