During the middle of the week, a rather large group of seventh years could be found in the Gryffindor Common Room looking over old notes, reading heavy books or muttering together about various incantations, potion ingredients, or star charts. Granted, some of these students were studying rather grudgingly, but one glance from the auburn-haired witch kept them in their seats.
On principle, Sirius had continued to argue even after James and Peter sat down and started their work. Lily finally agreed to free them after an hour of studying.
When his hour of studying was up, Sirius stuffed the loose pages of notes into his book and stood. Citing exhaustion, he said he was heading to the lavatory and then to bed. Nikeia packed up at the same time, and after a fair amount of good-natured teasing about where the girl’s lavatory was in reference to the boy’s, she followed Sirius out of the common room.
As James watched Sirius and Nikeia leave, he saw Laila walking towards him again.
She greeted him with a broad smile and a wiggling of her fingers. “Hi, James.” She bestowed her grin on the other men at the table, along with a “Hey, guys,” but merely twitched her lips at the women.
“Hey Laila. Have you figured out that incantation yet?”
“Yeah, thanks. Your help really worked; I get it now.”
“Good,” James said, nodding and looking back down at his notes.
“But, we started working on something else in class today, and I’m afraid it’s over my head. Can you help me again?” she asked, tipping her head so her thick brown hair swept over her shoulder.
James looked back up at her, and started to nod. “Sure, I think I’ve studied all I can for today. Lily, do you mind?”
Lily shook her head at him, and he very vaguely noticed the crease in her forehead.
“Thanks. Let me put this stuff back in the dorm, and I’ll meet you at the fire,” James said, beginning to gather his things.
Laila merely smiled at him again, briefly touching his shoulder. As she walked away, Lily was disturbed to note that every guy’s head was following her departure. She glanced at her girlfriends, and saw that they noted it also. Lily kicked out, managing to hit both James and Antoine with her foot. They jolted, cried out and turned with glares back to the girls.
“Quit staring at her,” ordered Josey.
“We weren’t staring,” all five boys said at once. The girls merely turned level gazes on them. The boys looked sheepish for a moment, and returned their gazes to their homework.
“Are you jealous?” asked James, leaning towards Lily.
“Why would I be jealous? You’re mine,” she informed him.
He smirked at her as he stood. “You are jealous,” he muttered as he bent down and kissed her.
She returned his smirk when they parted and thrilled when he whispered, “I like having a girl jealous over me.” He winked and walked out of the common room.
Lily happily followed his departure with her bright green eyes.
“Lily, you’re drooling.”
The redhead gasped, and put her hand to her mouth. “I am not, Jo!” She delivered a slap to her friend’s arm, who laughed. “Get back to work, you liar,” she said affectionately.
Josey, however, shook her head, and began to stand. “Shan’t. I’m rather in a mood to go take a nice long walk with a certain someone.” Her gaze was focused completely on Antoine, who returned it with a smolder.
“If you’re lucky, that certain someone might take the shortcut to your favorite broom closet for a certain favorite pastime of yours,” he replied, rather huskily.
Both Lily and Alice covered their ears, and Peter squeaked. Remus and Frank rolled their eyes.
Josey couldn’t seem to pack her things quick enough. Within mere moments, she and Antoine were out the Portrait Hole.
“Those two…” muttered Lily, rubbing her forehead.
“Indeed,” responded Alice.
A hand touched Lily’s shoulder, and when she lifted her head, James placed a light kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be back later to go patrolling.”
“Too bad you missed it,” drawled Remus. “Antoine and Josey just took off for their favorite broom closet. You could’ve gotten directions and given them detention before curfew.”
James scoffed. “Nah, we know where it is. And I’m sure they’ll still be there later; we’ll find them then.”
Lily shuddered playfully. James turned away and found Laila before the fireplace.
Lily watched as he sat down beside her. Her brow furrowed when Laila immediately moved closer and spread her textbook on his lap.
“Bold, that one,” murmured Alice.
Lily scoffed in response.
Before the fire, James attempted to talk Laila through a single charm. Unfortunately, she proved to be as slow at taking things in as she was the night of the Quidditch game.
He sighed and said, “You know, Lily’s better at Charms than I am. Why don’t you ask her?”
“Oh, no! Please don’t give up me yet!” she cried, pressing her hands to his thigh and looking up at him through her eyelashes.
He jolted slightly at her nearness, but felt himself relax almost immediately. She was still looking at him intently.
“Just, explain it to me once more”I’ve almost got it,” she said, almost breathily.
“Yeah…” he said, before finally breaking away from her eyes. He pushed the book back into her lap, and after collecting this thoughts, he began explaining again.
Suddenly, he found that she understood it perfectly. She waved her wand at the fire while she spoke the incantation (perfectly) and immediately the flames were put out. A few cries sounded from other people around the fire, and in the next heartbeat, Laila had rekindled the fire.
She turned to James with an innocent look. “You’re such a wonderful teacher. The very thought of you giving up on me just spurred me into learning it finally.” James’s expression showed that he was thoroughly dumbfounded, and a thought formed in the back of his head that had something to do with her putting on an act.
“Well, I wasn’t giving up on you-”
“Oh, it’s all right. Don’t worry about my feelings. I understand.”
James’s eyebrows rose and he just looked at her. Then, he shook himself and realized he had been starting at her for a quite a few seconds.
“Was that all you needed help on?” he asked, brushing his hand across his forehead.
“Well, for now. We’ll be tested on this charm tomorrow in class, and think we’ll have to learn another one for the day after. I’ll try to be better at learning next time.” She was looking at him again with that naïve but strangely alluring expression.
“Great, um… I’ve got to go patrol with Lily. I’ll probably be back here tomorrow if you need me,” he said as he rose.
She grabbed his hand as he turned away, and when he faced her again, she said, “Thank you. You’re such a wonderful man. If only all our teachers were as handsome and good as you.”
James gulped and stammered a bit. “Well, that would surely be an interesting situation, I’m sure.”
She tittered at him, bit her lip and wiggled her fingers.
He turned away again, shook himself and returned to Lily, deciding there was one thing he really needed.
Ignoring her stammers, he closed her books and shuffled her papers together. Grabbing her work, her bag, and her hand, he pulled her from her seat and towards the Portrait Hole. He threw their books and bags into the concealed hallway, and continued out of the common room.
“James? What are you doing?” Lily cried. James could tell that while she was leaning back in his grip, she wasn’t really pulling away from him. “You could’ve torn the pages or smashed my notes!”
She didn’t get in another grouse because he spun around, took her in his arms and kissed her quite deeply. He reveled in the feeling of her just melting into his embrace.
“What was that for?” she gasped.
“I just really felt like kissing you,” he said, before he kissed her again.
“Well,” she said, a moment or two later when he pulled back. “I appreciate the gesture.” She caught her breath. “But, you’ll have to do most of the patrolling tonight. My wits are fairly addled. I can’t think straight.” Her eyes were wide and a silly smile was on her face.
He smirked at her, kissed her lightly again, and held her hand as he continued to walk. “I’ll take your breathless befuddlement to that dimwitted… whatever-that-was in the common room.”
Lily giggled. “Is she that bad?”
“I don’t know. It seems that way, but as soon as I mentioned you she seemed to snap out of it and understand fine.”
“Well, then. Just keep mentioning that I’m your girl, and you’ll be done tutoring before you know it.”
James laughed. “You really are jealous! How delightful!”
She smiled up at him. “Giving Josey and Antoine a detention for misuse of a broom closet might be more delightful.”
“No,” he sharply, turning to her. “Nothing is more delightful than you.”
She melted again, and James obligingly caught her.
The following study sessions between James and Laila Albright went in much the same manner. She batted her eyelashes, placed her book in his lap and proceeded to struggle over learning a rather simple charm, incantation or occasionally a potion. Even Sirius scoffed when he heard which charms she needed help on. They happened nearly every night for the next week, even a few times during the day when Laila would catch him in the hallways or in the common room between classes.
Lily watched the exchanges closely. Josey, Nikeia and Alice teased her about the attention. She would chuckle, shrug it off and return her intent gaze to her book. At least, until she looked over at the fireplace again. She could almost admit that she was annoyed with herself for spending so much time studying; she couldn’t justify breaking herself away from the small study group of seventh to take James away from helping someone else.
She did admit that she was quite jealous. That Laila girl sat much too close to James in Lily’s opinion. She also giggled and playfully smacked his arm and his shoulder. Lily was pretty good at Charms and she was sure that none of those gestures or sounds were necessary for casting a good Summoning Charm. When Laila went so far as to press her hand against James’s thigh (again) late one night, Lily slammed her book shut. She smiled tightly at Laila as she collected James and pulled him from the common room, citing that it was time to start rounds.
He merely shook his head once, then looked at Lily with a baffled expression.
“Why did you do that?” he cried, pulling back on her arm to stop her quick walk down the hallway.
“Because it’s time to do rounds, Potter, and you weren’t showing any sign that you were going to get up.”
“But we were studying…”
“And she was getting much too close to you.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked, his brow furrowed. “We were just sitting next to each other.”
“She couldn’t stop touching you.”
“No, she wasn’t… I mean, a few times, but-”
Lily glared. “Oh, are you just so used to fawning girls touching you that you don’t notice it anymore? Relapsing into your old ways, are you?”
“Hang on, now! That’s unfair. We were just studying. I certainly don’t want anyone fawning over me! Unless it’s you, of course.” He smirked as he ruffled his hair.
Lily continued to glare at him straight-faced.
“Just… James, just watch what she does. Sit at a table from now on, if you have to. There’s no need to cuddle so close on the couch.” “Cuddle?” James said loudly.
Lily turned and started walking again. She heard a scoff, then footsteps.
Arms wrapped around her waist, and James’s chin rested against her shoulder. She put a bit of extra tension into her shoulders, and didn’t stop walking.
“You know the only person I like to cuddle with is you,” James whispered, kissing her jaw gently.
Lily felt her frown slip. When he kissed her again, she exhaled and smiled slightly. “And please keep it that way. I like that you’re helping someone else study, but I don’t like her batting eyelashes or high-pitched giggling.”
“I love it when you’re jealous.”
“Well, really, you shouldn’t. Because that means I have a reason. And you should remove the reason as soon as you can.”
James chuckled in her ear. “Don’t worry. She’s getting better at learning. Shouldn’t be too much longer.”
“Good.”
He chuckled again, squeezed her and moved to walk beside her. His arm around her waist was more affection that he had shown her in a few days, if she really admitted it to herself. Classes, meals and sleeping took up most of their day, leaving a few hours to study, do homework or spend time with their friends. James spent perhaps an hour with her, studying and doing homework. The rest of the time he spent with Laila, studying. Aside from that knee-shaking kiss a few days ago, he hadn’t kissed her since. And now that she thought about it…
“Kiss me,” Lily said, looking up at James.
He stumbled and looked down at her. “What?”
“Kiss me.”
“Why?”
Lily scoffed softly. “Do you need a reason?”
“Well, no… it’s just an odd thing to say…”
“You haven’t kissed me in a few days. So, kiss me.”
“What are you talking about? I’m sure I’ve kissed you recently.”
Lily merely shook her head, an eyebrow raised.
“Yes, I distinctly remember kissing you yesterday. As we did our rounds.”
Lily continued to shake her head.
James started to argue again, but suddenly he froze. “Oh, I get it. You’re just trying to make me feel guilty, aren’t you?”
Lily gave him a confused”and slightly amused”look.
“Well, it’s working.”
And before Lily could say anything else, James pressed his lips to hers. It was a simple kiss, lasting only a few seconds. He pecked her once again, then turned and pulled her along down the hallway.
Lily was glad for the kiss, but it wasn’t quite what she had been expecting (or hoping for) and the manner in which he gave it was strange for him. And what was that about not remembering that they hadn’t kissed yesterday? Strange, indeed.
A heavy snow fell overnight, and during a break James and Sirius started up a snowball fight. Actually, Sirius started it by tossing Nikeia into the snow and attempting to stuff snow down her robes. She retaliated by stuffing as much snow as she could into his face. James, Lily and Remus stood by laughing, Peter, Frank, and Alice choosing to remain inside for the break. Josey and Antoine had disappeared right after class.
A snowball from Sirius shut James up, and he immediately started throwing snowballs back at Sirius. This allowed Nikeia to regain her feet and run over to Lily, getting out of the line of fire. They spotted Josey and Antoine, walking through the snow farther out on the grounds. Nikeia and Lily smiled devilishly at each other, and started a barrage of magically created snowballs careening towards the walking-and-snogging couple.
Antoine let out a shout of anger (though laughter was a clear undertone) and, like James and Sirius, couldn’t resist starting a fight. His strong Chaser’s arm came in handy as he ran and threw snowballs.
Remus intelligently stayed out of the fight at first, chuckling and rolling his eyes. Then, three stray snowballs somehow managed to hit him at the same time, and he found that he, too, couldn’t resist joining the fight.
Their fight was interrupted when a snowball intended for Remus flew over his head and hit another student standing in the courtyard. She screamed, and immediately began pawing the snow from her brown hair, her two friends helping her. James ran up to apologize, skidding to a halt when he saw it was Laila. “Oh, Laila, I’m sorry.”
She giggled. “Don’t be. I should know better than to stand with my back to a snowball fight. Especially when such strong and talented Quidditch players are around.”
James just grinned stupidly, kicking the snow at his feet.
“Are we on for studying tonight?” she asked, sidling up to him. He noticed the envious looks of the girls behind her.
He stammered slightly, and suddenly found he couldn’t look from her eyes. “Uh… uh, yeah. Tonight. Fire. Sure.”
“Great,” she said, breathily. She reached out and felt his upper arm. “So strong. Don’t hurt any of your friends with that arm.”
With that, she wiggled her fingers in “goodbye” and walked back into the building with her friends.
James started after her.
Suddenly, a cold mass hit the back of his head, and he snapped out of whatever reverie he had fallen into. It quite confused him, actually. It was as if unaccounted-for seconds had just passed. All he could remember were brown eyes…
Another mass hit his head, and he spun around, the idea that he was being pummeled by snowballs finally hitting his brain. He shook his head, and quickly jumped back into the fight.
A few more of those strange lapses in memory happened during tutoring that night, but this time they were different. He seemed to have memories of kissing Lily in their place. Only this Lily had brown eyes and wavy hair.
A sharp voice broke him from his thoughts.
“You’re not paying attention to me,” it whined. A pressure on his arm accompanied the sound.
He realized it was Laila, who was sitting next to him.
“I’m sorry… I was thinking about something.”
“Well, it better be about this lesson. This is a tough charm and you’ll need all your mental capabilities to help me through it.” Her rather high-pitched voice was laced with innocence and giggles.
He couldn’t help but chuckle back. Shaking the strange memories from his head, he returned to the studying.
Back in the Head’s common room, he found Lily reclining on the couch.
“There you are,” he said, leaning over the back of the couch to see her. “Seems like I haven’t seen you in forever, but I know I was just with you.” He smiled broadly.
She, however, glared up at him. “That’s because you haven’t seen me in a while. I left the common room three hours ago while you were studying with Albright.”
“Three hours?” cried James. “You silly Kneezle. We just were together in the hallway. For all that it’s made of stone, the walls are quite comfortable for a good snog.”
He smirked and leant down to her.
Her frown deepened, and she pulled away from him. “No, James. You’ve been studying for the past three and a half hours with Albright. I couldn’t stand the way she acts towards you; I had to leave.”
James was confused. He could still feel her in his arms… though the memory was a bit foggy when he really tried to think about it. And she looked different, in his memory. Brown eyes, and wavy hair.
“What’s with all these false memories lately?” she asked, getting up from the couch. “I think you should go to bed. You must be tired. Sleep in tomorrow. Maybe your head will be cleared by then.” And Lily walked away. The door to her room closed seconds after.
James was left quite confused. He thought for a moment, remembered another instance of kissing her in the hallway, and walked to the loo, happy.
She was the overtired one. She spent all her free time studying, so naturally she would be exhausted. Though, he had spent a good amount of time with Laila, looking over textbooks and learning spells. But it was always enjoyable time. She was quite a bright girl, that Laila girl, and ever so funny and clever. James started water for a shower, smiling over memories of a brown-eyed girl laughing.
Lily, however, frowned as she stepped into her bedroom. He hadn’t even remembered that it was her birthday. Every year, from the time he found out when it was, James Potter had teased her in the hallway. He had even charmed a cake to follow her around one year. He didn’t know it, but she and her friends ate that cake with gusto later that night, mixing bites of marble cake with jokes at the Marauders’ expenses.
Nikeia, Josey and Alice had small gifts for her”a hand-made scarf, a small bottle of perfume, and a delightfully heavy book on ancient charms”gave her hugs and kisses, and wished her “happy birthday”, but James hadn’t said anything. Even Remus and Sirius had remembered, offering her simple greetings and smiles.
It wasn’t that Lily cared if people remembered, but she sure would expect her boyfriend to remember.
She punched her pillow as she pulled her pajamas off the bed. Changing quickly, she spent a moment brushing out her long hair.
She heard James’s bedroom door close, and she stuck her tongue out at the wall.
She felt conflicted. She had never doubted his affection before, and while she didn’t trust that Laila girl farther then she could throw a Grindylow, it hurt to see him so enraptured in the younger girl.
She sniffled and figured it was partly her fault for wanting him to be more serious and studious.
The whispered incantation turned out her bedside lamp, but the dense-sounding punch made her pillow more comfortable.
She sighed again.