Chapter Twenty-Seven “ This November Day
As Lily sat on the table in the common room, she looked out of the window, smiling in perfect relaxation.
Over the night, more snow had fallen, covering the already white ground in another few inches of highland snow. The mid-afternoon sun cast long shadows across the ground and through the Forbidden Forest trees, making the slow glisten. The trees were bare, except for the occasional conifer amid the brown expanse. A sheet of ice spread across the lake, and a brave couple were walking across it.
Lily tilted her head, and narrowed her eyes. As she looked closer, she saw that she recognized the two figures on the ice. Alice’s petite figure and the red and gold scarf that was wrapped around her head gave her away, while Frank’s curly brown hair and black wool pea-coat told Lily that that was him. She chuckled as Alice”who was not all too steady on the ice”slid past Frank. He reached out and grabbed her arm. She spun around and fell against his chest, causing him to fall against the ice. Lily winced and shook her head, as Alice seemed to laugh before Frank leaned up and kissed her soundly on her lips.
It was all so peaceful and normal; it made Lily almost believe that the world outside of Hogwarts was good. She knew she would be fooling herself in the biggest way if she believed that. Over the past few days more reports of murders and attacks came into the school, all done by those Death Eaters. Lily shuddered as she remembered Stacey.
No! I won’t think about her! I’ll think about-
“James!” Lily cried out as arms slipped around her waist suddenly.
James laughed his rich laugh in her ear, and pressed his lips to her neck. She squirmed and tried to get him to stop. Surprisingly, he did; he started to kiss her ear. That really got her squirming. She spun around on the table to face James, and he pulled her closer to him.
“Do you really have to do that?” asked Lily, looking into James’s hazel eyes.
“Of course,” replied James, “as I am your boyfriend. I-”
Suddenly, he froze and cocked his head to the side.
“I… am your boyfriend, right? We’ve never actually clarified the whole relationship.”
Lily chuckled, biting her lip. “You haven’t actually asked me… You just assumed.”
James smirked, but said: “Well then, Miss Evans. Could you be my girlfriend, please?”
It was Lily’s turn to smirk. “I could.”
James raised an eyebrow, slightly stunned. Then, his face switched to a look of sarcastic frustration, as if he understood just what she had done.
“Very well. Would you please do me the great honor of being my girlfriend?”
Lily giggled, and responded, “Oh, James! I’m surprised you had to ask.”
James gently shoved her shoulder, but laughed along.
“Anyway”I am a Marauder, so therefore I should take delight in making people squirm. Though you do your own fair share of that.”
He laughed and gently pinched her side. Lily jolted, and glared.
Then, her gaze softened and she tilted her head. She leaned forward and kissed James’s lightly freckled nose. Lily loved that about his face the most. Though his gentle splash of freckles was not very dark, they were still visible if one looked very close. This was something that Lily had the pleasure of doing quite frequently this year.
She pecked his cheekbone as he kissed her jaw. Then, he pulled away and looked at their joined hands, lying in Lily’s lap.
Lily asked what was wrong.
“Well… do you… Would you say we’re in love?” he asked, looking up at her with a furrowed brow.
It was her turn to look down at their hands, a blush rising in her face. The thought had come to her before, but for some reason she had always pushed it aside. She thought about it now, in depth. James merely watched her think, no doubt thinking himself.
Lily felt thrills every time he held her hand, and she liked the idea of only ever kissing James. She loved that he really was a thoughtful person, and she loved his sense of humor; it had just taken her six years to see that. She loved the way other people loved him, and she loved that he had never given up on her.
She leaned over and lingeringly kissed his cheek. “I’m not sure what love truly feels like,” she whispered softly, “But I love what we have.”
James wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. She returned the hug, smiling blissfully.
Then, taking a sudden rush of pranking upon her, she pulled back and kissed his ear, making sure to make it as wet as she could. Somehow, she has discovered that he really hated that.
James let go of Lily in order to wipe off his ear as he gave disgusted sounds. Lily jumped off the table and ran. She shouted the password to the Gryffindor common room before she had even reached the hallway. She was surprised the painting understood her, she was laughing so hard.
The occupant of the painting smiled as she swung forward. “You dear lovers! Always trying to out-do one another!”
“Oh hush up, you!” shouted James as he ran toward her. Being the devilish portrait that she was, she quickly swung shut, and James skidded to an abrupt halt. “Oi! Gillyweed!” he shouted.
The woman smirked and shook her head. “You, my dear, darling delinquent should diligently fall under a deluge of efforts to discover some dandy manners!”
James groaned and clenched his fists. “You’re letting her get away!”
She merely fixed him with smiling eyes.
So, he took a deep breath. “Fine! Gillyweed, my dear, dazzling, debonair, divine, delightful, dashing, portrait! Please detach from the wall so that I may dash down the dire hallway and chase my beloved!” He sighed. “Was that enough d’s for you?” He added as an afterthought.
The “dear, dazzling, debonair, delightful, dashing portrait” gave a tinkling laugh and swung backwards. As soon as she was open enough for James to slip through, he did. He ran quickly down the hall and ran into the entrance way to the Gryffindor common room.
Most of the students were down in the Great Hall eating lunch, or outside in the crisp winter air. The sun shone in the sky, allowing for a beautiful day. It also helped that there was no wind.
Josey and Remus were sitting on the floor, with their backs to the fireplaces, working on something-or-other; probably a Herbology essay. They watched the spectacle of James and Lily with smiles on their faces for a few moments, before returning to the parchment.
James finally spotted Lily hiding behind Sirius’s chair. He walked over to the chair and smiled down at Lily. She sheepishly looked up.
“Next time you try to hide, Lils, perhaps you should do something about your hair. It’s quite a give-away,” said James, that Marauder Smirk on his lips.
Lily sat back on her heels biting the inside of her cheek. Then she giggled, before extending a hand. James pulled her up, then led her to the couch, onto which he flopped down. Lily went to sit on the floor, but James swiftly pulled her onto the couch with him. She smiled and leaned back against her boyfriend.
“You, two,” said Sirius, shaking his head, “are so… sappy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone more… in love.”
“You know Sirius; that sounded completely uncharacteristic for you. Are you feeling all right?” asked Remus, looking up from his essay.
“I’m Sirius; do I have a characteristic way to act?” he asked, spreading out his hands in front of him.
Remus and Josey looked at each other, then to Sirius, and nodded. Sirius narrowed his eyes, but chuckled.
“And anyway, I think you’re wrong,” said Lily as she conjured a blanket to cover herself and James.
“About what?” asked Sirius.
“About James and I being the couple that acts most in love.” She cast James a meaningful look, knowing he understood what she was feeling. He smiled gently back at her.
“What? Are you saying you doubt that you two act completely ridiculous?” asked Sirius, awed. “You two chase each other through the common room, snuggle on the couch, and do I don’t know what else! I don’t think I want to know what else.”
“But we don’t go on late-night walks around the lake-”
“Not that it’s not a good idea,” interjected James.
“Or stare constantly into each other’s eyes at meals,” continued Lily, ignoring James’s interruption.
James merely barked in laughter at that statement.
She threw him a look, then continued, “And we don’t float down the hallways instead of walk.”
Sirius was looking at her with raised eyebrows. “I guess you can’t see yourself from our eyes, can you?”
Lily scoffed, feeling James’s chest shake with suppressed laughter. “What I’m saying is that there is another pair that acts more in love.”
Everyone looked at her with lost faces. She rolled her eyes and pointed to the window. Sirius looked over at it, before turning his gaze back to Lily. He held her eyes as he walked to the casement. Then he looked and for a few moments, nothing registered. Then he smiled.
“I see who you mean. Yeah, no doubt about it. I agree with you. They have you beat.”
Josey and Remus looked at each other in confusion, then got up and stood next to Sirius. They chuckled, too.
They were watching Frank and Alice lying on the ice, switching between kissing each other and shoving snow down each other’s collars.
“Crazy lovebirds,” muttered Josephine lovingly. “They are so cute, though!” She giggled girlishly.
Sirius rolled his eyes.
Josey walked back to her spot by the fireplace, stealing Lily’s blanket as she walked past the couch.
“Josey!” cried Lily, who had let go of her hold on the blanket so James could hold her hands. “Give that back!”
“Um, no,” disagreed Josey. “It’s very warm, and I am cold!”
“You’re sitting in front of the fire; how in the name of Merlin’s left buttock can you be cold?” asked James. He shifted so Lily could snuggle closer in his arms.
“It’s November,” she said matter-of-factly, as if that solved and answered everything. Remus abandoned the fire (perhaps because it was too cold, if one went by Josey’s logic), picked up his book and sat in Sirius’s chair. Sirius, in turn, made himself comfortable on the window-seat. For a few minutes, they sat in silence, listening to the quiet sounds of the common room.
Lily opened her eyes to watch Sirius. She wondered what he was thinking that his brow should be furrowed and his expression both tired and sad. It had been a handful of days since James and Lily urged him out of the infirmary. He had spent much more time with them over the days, but still visited Nikeia everyday.
Sirius, in fact, was fighting back feelings of regret. Nikeia was still in the hospital wing and she wasn’t doing too much better. He wished that she was still awake and that they were both out there, playing in the snow. He hadn’t known that he could actually feel these types of feelings for one person. Naturally, he had hoped he could, but after a few girls did nothing for him, he gave up. After that, he just satisfied himself with a new girl every so often. The look of sadness on a girl’s face did nothing to him; it didn’t cause him sadness, or even the smallest amount of guilt. And yet now, as he watched Nikeia lie in the hospital, appearing as if dead... he felt terrible; sad and guilty and wishing for different things. He hoped the cold feeling working its way through his body was only because he was sitting by a window, though he actually knew it wasn’t the case.
Of course, Lily knew none of his thoughts, but hoped he was all right. Eventually he turned to glance over at his friends, and addressed her with “Hey, Lils!” She heard tinges of true emotion in his words.
“Yeah, Sirius?” she responded, looking at him kindly.
“How did you conjure that blanket? What’s the incantation?”
“Flick your wand in a ‘v’ and think Prodo Vestis.”
Sirius did as he was told”for once”and a bright pink blanket the size of a hand towel appeared on his lap.
Remus chuckled. “I think you made a bit of a mistake.”
Lily, too, chuckled, but said: “You have to have a clear image of a blanket in your head. If you don’t, well, you get something like that.” Lily pointed to the hand-towel.
“Well, it would’ve helped if you had said that before I tried,” muttered Sirius. He closed his eyes, and thought of the blanket upstairs on his bed; a thick, grey and black wool blanket crocheted by the late Mrs. Potter. He squeezed his eyes tighter in order to stop the flow of tears from her memory. He thought the incantation and flicked his wand. Nearly instantly, he felt a weight on his legs. Then he heard a light applause. Sirius opened his eyes and looked down. He smiled, and spread out the black checkered blanket. It didn’t look like the one upstairs, but it was wool, and warm. Sirius wrapped it around him and resumed his gaze out the window.
It was some stretch of time before someone talked.
“My hand itches,” said James, scratching his hand against the fabric of the couch.
“You know what that means, don’t you?” asked Lily, looking up at James’s face.
“No.” James slowly shook his head. “What does it mean?”
“It means you’re going to steal something.”
Josey pulled the blanket closer to her small body, but James didn’t glance her way. Instead his gaze remained on Lily and he gave a small smile.
“How about stealing your breath away?” he asked. Before Lily could say anything, James pressed his lips to hers, and well, took her breath away.
“That was pathetic, Prongs,” said Sirius, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. “Maybe you do beat Frank and Alice.”
Remus mimicked his eye-rolling and sighed. Josey just smiled and snuggled in the blanket.
When James and Lily finally separated, Lily beamed. “Well, I guess stealing requires the victim to be caught off guard.” James chuckled and kissed her shortly.
“But, now my nose itches!” proclaimed Lily, rubbing her nose.
“And does that mean something?” asked James, his voice betraying his desire to be kissed again.
Lily smirked. “It does...”
“Well...?” urged James, wondering what it was. Lily’s smirk deepened as she stood. She walked over to Sirius and kissed his cheek. Sirius jumped and looked at Lily, surprised at what she just did.
“Oi!” cried James, nearly falling off the couch. “What did you kiss him for?”
“I kissed him because you aren’t a fool. Not all the time, anyway.”
James’s eyebrows scrunched together.
“When your nose itches,” Lily began, “it means you are going to kiss a fool.” Lily’s smirk remained on her face, as everyone else’s was thoughtful.
Then...
“OI! Not fair!” Good ol’ Sirius jumped off the window-seat and faced Lily, placing his hands roughly on her shoulders. “Do I look like a fool to you?”
Lily quirked an eyebrow.
Sirius glared.
James smiled.
Remus chuckled.
Josey laughed.
.
A Few Detentions and A Story by LaneTechFreshie
Chapter Notes: Just a bit of fun and relaxation are in order for our friends at Hogwarts, and this is that chapter.
This chapter is basically fluff. Filler fluff, but I like it. It's just a pleasant chapter about one November day. Haha.
Chapter Endnotes: *laughs* Gotta love Sirius, eh? I had to add those two superstitions in. Don’t you hate it when your palm itches? Oh, it’s even worse when your hand falls asleep. Eek!