The night was cool, clear, and beautiful. Lily shuddered a little bit from the wind and pulled her scarf closer to her body. Where was he? He had told her to meet her up at the Astronomy Tower at eight. Well, it was ten after, and Aaron was nowhere in sight.
Lily hated to admit it to herself, but he had become a little unreliable in the past few weeks. He used to be so attentive to her, never missing an opportunity to see her; he was the perfect boyfriend, everything Lily could have ever asked for. He just seemed to be a little distant lately.
But, Lily told herself, it must be Quidditch. The House Teams were training like crazy. It was their last year, and everyone wanted their House to come out on top, even Lily. She had even began to enjoy watching the games from the stands, whereas she only used to go to support the team's most enthusiastic member, Ophelia.
The fact of the matter was, she was really happy with Aaron, and if he was a little busy sometimes that wasn’t something to end a relationship over. Ninety- nine percent of the time she was really glad to be with him... well, more like ninety percent lately, she thought, but still, that was still good.
It was fifteen minutes after. Lily was starting to get cold. Feeling a little down in the dumps, she decided to turn around and head inside.
“All right, Evans?”
Lily groaned. Why did James Potter always seem to find her when she least wanted to be found?
“What now, Potter?” she asked icily. She had never really forgiven him for bringing fire-whiskey into the common room that night... she shuddered at the thought of it.
James gave her an enormous smile. “I just saw you standing out here, looking lonely, so I figured I’d come cheer you up!” He sounded so animated, like a little boy on his birthday.
Lily tried to suppress a smile. “I’m not lonely. I’m waiting for Aaron.”
James leaned on the balcony next to her and pensively looked out at the forest.
“You look cold,” he told her. “You want my cloak?”
Lily looked at him with furrowed eyebrows as he began to untie his cloak that the students wore in winter. Since it was March, Lily hadn’t brought hers, but she did not want to wear James Potter’s.
“No, I don’t want--” Lily started to refuse, but as he placed it gently upon her shoulders, sudden warmth spread throughout her body. The cloak smelled wonderful; she didn’t know what of, but the scent was heavenly.
“Better?” James asked, smiling at her again.
“Yes, thank you,” Lily blushed reluctantly.
James’ smile widened as he turned to look out at the great expanse of grounds. It was a beautiful night, if it at least it wasn't so warm. The sky was like a huge, black blanket draped over the Earth and making the hills and the lake look like something out of a painting. They stood in dark silence for a few moments until James' face grew excited again.
“I’ve got an idea,” he told Lily animatedly.
“What?” she asked him.
His eyes glinted. “Come with me, and you’ll find out.”
She stared at him incredulously. “I’m not coming anywhere with you.”
His face looked disappointed, but he wasn’t giving up.
“Come on, Evans.”
Lily turned her body around to face him. “I’m not going anywhere. Besides, Aaron is meeting me!”
James smirked. “Well, where is he then?”
Lily bit her lip. Aaron wasn’t there, and he probably wasn’t coming. How could he just forget her like that? She was angry with him for standing her up. If only there were a way to get back at him...
“Okay, Potter,” Lily said. “Let’s go.”
***
James seemed happier now than Lily had ever seen him; even when he was tormenting Snape, and that was really saying something. He was nearly skipping.
“Come on, Evans, move it!” James told her as he led her out in the grounds.
“Potter, where are we going?” Lily pleaded with him, but he ignored her.
Finally, after several minutes of trudging through places that Lily had never been before on Hogwarts’ grounds, James came to a halt and grinned at her again.
Lily looked around. She recognized this place; the little shops and bars, the streets that she had walked on so many times before...
“Hogsmeade?!” Lily shrieked. “We can’t go into Hogsmeade, we’re not allowed!”
James’ grin grew so wide she thought it would grow beyond his face. “’Not allowed’ are words that don’t exist in James Potter’s vocabulary,” he told her.
He reached out for what Lily thought was her hand, but he went into the pocket of his cloak that she was wearing and pulled out something silvery that was wrapped into a ball.
“That’s not...”
“Yep, an invisibility cloak,” he answered for her.
“Wow,” Lily said, touching the fabric. It was smooth and silky. She was impressed. “But, we can’t... it’s against the rules...”
“Who can stop us if we’re invisible?” he asked her cheekily, tossing her the cloak.
She caught it and stared at it. The thought of she, Lily Evans, breaking any rule of any kind was simply insane. She wasn’t even supposed to be out of bed at this hour, let alone prowling the streets of Hogsmeade with James Potter!
Lily smiled down at the cloak in her hands. She wrapped it around her shoulders and watched her body disappear. It was an extremely odd feeling. She offered the other end of the cloak to James and he took it more than willingly.
Lily realized what that wonderful smell on James’ cloak was; it was him. She couldn’t help thinking that he smelled just so good- she had never been this close to him before to notice. He was tall, so he had to bend a little bit, putting his face even closer to hers.
“Where are we going?” she asked him. Their faces were so close that she barely needed to whisper.
“Anywhere you want,” he replied.
‘Anywhere I want,’ thought Lily. “You know what I could really go for? A butterbeer,” she said dreamily.
“Off to the Three Broomsticks, then!”
Lily had never experienced anything like this before. Hogsmeade was even better at night, with the stars lighting the pathways and the warm glow of candlelight in the upstairs of the shop window . The air was crisp and cool, but their faces were protected by the cloak and they were warm from standing so close.
The Three Broomsticks was still open, but it was beginning to empty out. Lily jumped as she saw Madam Rosmerta, the young and pretty barmaid, come out of the doorway and begin to sweep outside. She remembered again that she was invisible, and James pulled her through the door quickly.
“How are we going to get butterbeers?” Lily whispered. She had just realized that she had no money, and even if they did, what were they going to do, walk up to the bar as invisible customers?
“Don’t worry,” James told her. “Just follow me.”
Madam Rosmerta was still outside. James led her in the back pantry, which was filled with every kind of drink you could imagine. Lily had the feeling that James had been in here before.
He grabbed two hot bottles of butterbeer and replaced them with four shiny Sickles. They crept out of the door before Madam Rosmerta even looked up.
“I can’t believe we just did that!” Lily gasped, but she was smiling. It was so exhilarating and exciting, and Lily Evans never did anything exhilarating and exciting.
“I’m glad you came with me, Evans,” James told her, handing her a butterbeer.
“Me too,” she said before she could stop herself.
There was a moment's silence before it was interrupted.
“WHO’S THERE?!”
They whipped around, holding their breath. Not even two feet in front of them was a short, gray- haired man that Lily recognized as the owner of the quill shop.
Lily’s insides froze. She almost dropped her butterbeer her palms were so sweaty. All she kept thinking to herself was, ‘if I get caught, I’m going to kill James Potter’.
She looked over at James. He put his finger to his lips and began to back away from the man, who was looking very confused. He had heard someone talking, but couldn’t see them. Lily followed James as they crept away, until the man yelled, “I heard you! Come out!” and trudged into the opposite direction.
Lily breathed again. “I want to go now,” she said. “That was too close. We’re Head Boy and Girl!”
James looked let down.
“We can finish these up at the Astronomy Tower,” she added quickly, seemingly lifting his spirits slightly.
***
“So, do you do that often? You and the Marauders, I mean?” she asked James as she sipped her butterbeer, free of the invisibility cloak and sitting on the floor of the Astronomy Tower.
“Yeah,” he grinned. “We tend to break the rules quite a lot.”
“I can tell,” she laughed. . “I can’t believe that I snuck into Hogsmeade under an invisibility cloak and stole butterbeer!”
“Hey, we didn’t steal!” James laughed. “I left the money in the pantry, remember? Come on, I would never steal.”
Lily raised an eyebrow at him.
“Okay, I would never steal butterbeer,” he confessed with a grin.
She laughed. They became quiet, drinking their butterbeers as they watched the stars. Lily’s inner voice kept talking to her. ‘You’re nutters! You don’t actually like James Potter, do you!?‘ But she had listened to her inner voice, her more rational side, for too long now. She chose to ignore it because although she was there with a boy that she had sworn to hate for almost seven years, she had laughed more that night than she had in the past month with Aaron. But there was one thing she was still wondering. Before she could stop herself, Lily opened her mouth and voiced a question that had been on her mind for those entire seven years.
“Why me, James?” she said very simply.
He looked up with a confused glare. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mean, why me? For all these years? You’re smart, you’re a Quidditch star, you’re part of the most popular group in the entire school. You could have any girl you want, and I mean any girl. Why waste your time chasing after me for so long?"
He sighed and looked at her, his hazel eyes focused on her intensely. “It's simple. Do you think that any of the girls I’ve gone out with would have given a damn about me if I had never won a Quidditch game?”
Lily had never thought about it that way.
“They don’t like James Potter,” James explained to her. “The real James Potter, that is. They like the image. They like all that superficiality. But honestly, I'm so sick of it. Besides my friends, you're the only other real person I know. You actually care about people, and how they feel, and not just how many times they've caught the Snitch. No other girl can compare to you.”
Lily didn’t know what to make of this. She was feeling so many things at once that she didn't even know what she was feeling at all.
“James,” she began, her voice shaking a little bit. “The thing is, that-- "
“Lily!”
James and Lily whipped around. It was Aaron. He was standing in the doorway, looking a little bit mad and confused at the scene that he had interrupted; his girlfriend sitting on the floor chatting away with James Potter and wearing his cloak.
“Aaron!” Lily said, shooting up. She looked at James. He looked like someone had told him that Christmas had been canceled.
“Lily, I came here and you were gone, so I looked around a bit, and then it was late, so I thought I'd come back one last time to check and... what were you doing?” he asked.
“Oh,” Lily panicked. “Well... I waited for you, but it was cold, and then...” she realized she was still wearing James’ cloak and handed it back to him. She felt the cold come sweeping back over her.
“I wanted to see you tonight,” Aaron told her quietly, glaring at James.
Lily didn’t know what to say. “I'm sorry, I know, but... I waited for you and you never came."
There was an awkward silence where Aaron looked at James intensely.
"Look, it's late now and we should be in our dormitories," Lily said quickly. "You can walk me back." Then she turned to James. She just stared for a moment, not sure of what to say. She could feel Aaron's eyes on her. “Thanks, James...” she mumbled uncomfortably, and turned away.
As she walked hand in hand with Aaron, Lily felt horrible. She was still cold, even though they were inside. She kissed Aaron goodnight, apologized, and went in. But she didn’t go to bed; she wasn’t tired at all. She stared out the window, and saw a dark figure moving across the grounds. She couldn’t see a face, but she knew exactly who it was.
All Right, Evans? by anglophile
Chapter Notes: Here is Chapter 13, sorry for the (small) wait... enjoy!