James, Sirius, Remus and Wormtail were sitting in their favourite spot down by the lake. James was trying to finish his Potions homework, but his mind kept wandering to a certain girl. He grinned for the hundredth time, as he remembered crouching in the dark with his arm tightly wrapped around her waist.
“James, mate, you’ve got to get over it,” said Sirius, who had caught him smiling.
“Yeah, yeah,” said James, looking back down at his parchment.
“Well, come on,” said Sirius in a bored fashion. “What are we gonna do tonight?”
“Nothing,” muttered Remus, who was lying with his eyes shut in the shade. “You guys are staying at the castle.”
“Oh come on!” Sirius said, incredulously. “You think I’m staying in bed while you go off to Hogsmeade!?”
“No! I don’t think that, because I’m not ‘going off to Hogsmeade’. I’m just going to stay in the Shrieking Shack.”
“Well, none of you are any fun nowadays what with being in love, being a werewolf and being…well being Pettigrew…”
Pettigrew scowled.
“Keep you’re voice down, you idiot!” said Remus as he glanced around. “Look…we’ll do it tonight at sundown.”
“Sundown?!” moaned Sirius. “Where’s your sense of adventure, Moony?”
“Sirius, it’s not a game,” sighed Remus who now sat up and looked out over the lake. “It can actually be dangerous.”
Sirius scowled.
“Fine,” said Remus, sighing. “You can come but we’re not leaving the Shack.”
Sirius lay down in the grass and pretended to poke at the earth with his wand but kept glancing at some girls sitting further down the bank from them. He flicked his hair out of his eyes and winked at them, making them turn and giggle together.
“Man I’m good,” he said, as he rolled onto his back.
James rolled up his homework, stuffed it into his bag and looked around.
“Might go and play some Quidditch tonight if there’s no one on the pitch,” he said, stretching and ruffling up his hair out of habit.
“What about the plan?” said Sirius, sitting up.
“I’ll finish way before that,” he yawned.
“Oh, James,” said Remus quietly.
“What?” he said, turning round to look at Remus. Then he saw her. “Evans!”
Lily was walking down towards the lake with two other girls. Looking round at him, she waved raised her hand in recognition but continued to talk to her friends. James gestured at her to come over and, reluctantly, she turned to the girls before leaving them and approaching the Marauders.
“Can I help you?” she said politely, looking at James. His stomach turned “ it was now or never. He got to his feet and took her by the arm to behind the tree.
“Potter?” she said. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”
“Getting out of the way of Sirius; I don’t want him to hear this,” said James, looking slightly embarrassed.
“What?” said Lily, as she looked up at him.
“Well…I know I’ve asked you before, but…”
“If you’re gonna ask me out -“
“No! I “ um…well, not really… I was just going to ask if you wanted to…to come and play some Quidditch with me this evening?” He looked at her hopefully.
Lily watched him carefully, taking in his expression. She blinked, and those green eyes flashed at him. He felt that familiar squeezing sensation in his stomach again.
“All right,” she said finally. “I’ll meet you at the pitch after dinner,” and, saying nothing else, she walked away to her friends on the other side of the lake. James watched her leave and then suddenly realised the reality of the situation. She had said yes! It may not be a proper date, but she had said yes to spending time with him “ alone. He allowed himself to punch the air before he returned to his friends on the other side of the tree, grinning.
*
Lily tried to eat her dinner fairly quickly that night but found that she wasn’t very hungry. She hadn’t told anyone about what she was going to do that evening and she didn’t even know why she’d agreed to it herself. There has just been something inside her saying ‘give him a chance’. She slipped out of dinner without drawing attention to herself and walked slowly out of the huge, oak doors to make her way down to the pitch. As she got closer, she could see James already there, flitting around on his broom. She reached the changing room and leant against the mossy wall, waiting for him to notice her. When he finally caught sight of her, he hovered in mid“air and shouted down to her: “So you came, then.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” she called. He gently floated down towards her and hovered a few feet away.
“Well… you’re Evans,” he grinned. “Coming up?”
She picked up the broom leaning against the wall and mounted it. Kicking off hard she shot up into the air, flew a tight circle and flipped backwards before waiting for James to join her.
“Hmm,” he said. “Not bad for a girl.”
“Oh, you’re gonna pay for that!”
They zoomed down the pitch, playing catch up, James swerving this way and that, trying to catch her out. When he suddenly turned around and started to fly back the way they’d just come, Lily managed to do a strange, yet impressive, roll and chased after him, not far from the tail of his broom. They carried on like this for what must have been an hour, until the sky grew dark well before it should have done due to a heavy summer thunderstorm. Touching back down on the ground, they tried to dodge the rain that fell thick and fast until they reached shelter in the stands. They collapsed on the seats, soaked to the skin, out of breath and exhausted. Lily laughed as she looked down at her drenched robes. James was wringing out his shirt and chuckling.
“That was fun,” gasped Lily shaking the hair out of her eyes.
“Yeah,” he said. “You’re better than you let on, you know. Why’ve you never tried out for the team?”
“Ah, I only play Chaser. I wouldn’t want to steal away your position now would I?”
“In your dreams,” he said, grinning. They sat together, listening to the rain beat down around them. It fell onto the grass and then splashed up in tiny silver fountains that gently sparkled in the dim light. As Lily admired the view, she noticed James watching her.
“Why do you always do that?”
“Do what?”
“Stare at me.”
“Oh.” He put his head down. Was he blushing? “Cos…um…” He turned away so that she couldn’t see his face.
“What?”
“Well you’re…”
James took a deep breath. “You’re…really pretty,” he stammered.
“Are you serious?” she said, shocked that he could be so sweet.
“Yeah…” He looked back at her. He was blushing “ furiously.
“Aw, Potter’s all embarrassed,” she teased.
“Shut up!” he said, but he was smiling all the same.
“I suppose we’d better be getting back up to the castle,” she said, glancing at her watch. “It’s almost half past nine and it’s getting pretty dark.”
*
“No!”
“What?” said Lily, as he stood up. He glanced at the sky; the moon was hidden behind the clouds for a moment.
“Um…sorry, but I’ve really got to go,” he said distractedly, and he began to walk away. She got to her feet and followed him.
“What?!” Lily sounded so astonished that James felt strangely guilty. “Why?”
“I’m really sorry, but there’s somewhere I have to be.” James looked at her regretfully. “And no, you can’t come.” By now she had to jog to keep up with him.
“Don’t you walk away! Where are you going?” she demanded.
“I can’t tell you, Evans! If I could, then I would, believe me!” He glanced at the sky again and began to run across the wet grass.
“Potter - stop being an idiot.”
“Just go back to the castle, Evans, and I’ll see you later.”
“Tell me where you’re going!”
“You wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me!”
“Sorry, you’ve got to go! I can’t tell you now “ there’s no time!”
“If you’re ditching me to go off with those friends of yours then you’re really going to get it - ”
“EVANS! Please just get up to the castle. I promise I’ll explain in the morning.”
“NO!” she darted in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. Her hair had turned a deep red from the rain and was hanging in wet waves around her face. Her eyes were bright, wide and greener than James had ever seen them. She looked up into his face and shouted: “No! You are NOT going to go and be all arrogant and stupid again after being so nice for the past few days! You are NOT going to leave me just so you can break some rules with your friends. You can’t just run off without any explanation. You always have to do this, don’t you? You always have to ruin it! You always have to -”
Suddenly, without thinking, James scooped her slim body up in his arms and kissed her. His head was spinning as she clung desperately to him, running her hands through his wet hair and over his back. He did the same to her, holding her so close that he could feel her heart beating against his chest. When he finally let her go she was staring at him through the rain, breathing hard.
“Sorry,” he said breathlessly and, with a last look at her, he sprinted off. He heard her calling after him but he couldn’t turn back. He shouldn’t have kissed her; he’d probably only made everything worse. He had to keep going, he had to get there before it was too late. He reached the Whomping Willow and frantically dodged the branches to try to touch the knot that would open up the passage. Before he’d had a chance to get to it, he heard her voice behind him. Spinning round just in time, he saw a branch hurtling towards her.
“Get down!” he roared.
“Wha-” James grabbed her and flattened her to the ground. Scrambling up, he reached towards the trunk and hit the knot, opening up the passage.
“Go!” he said, and almost flung her through the hole, diving in after her. He landed at her side in the musty earth and suddenly, as he pushed himself up, felt a sharp pain in his leg. Lily had kicked him.
“What the hell do you think you’re playing at?!” she yelled. He sat up and wiped his wet face; now he really had blown it.
“I’m sorry…I got caught up in the moment…You shouldn’t have followed me here “ it’s not safe!”
“Don’t give me that!” she shouted. “You’re pathetic.” She was looking around the tunnel. “Where are we, anyway?”
James had to think quickly. If he got her there in time then he could explain and send her back before she got hurt.
“Come on!” he said as he got to his feet. “We don’t have much time.”
“I’m not going anywhere until-“
“Oh, come ON!”
He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her down the damp passage. Lily tried to twist away from his grip, but he was too strong. She gave up struggling after a while and decided to go back to arguing with him.
“I’m telling you, Potter, if this all turns out to be some sort of joke…”
“It’s not,” he said wearily. “Believe me, it’s not.”
After running for about ten minutes, they finally reached the hole that provided the entrance to the Shrieking Shack. James motioned to Lily to be quiet as they climbed into the dusty room. Despite her protests, he took her hand and led her through the hall and up the stairs to the room with the four poster bed. Seeing his friends standing there, he opened his mouth to explain, but Sirius beat him to it.
“James where’ve you been?!” said Sirius. Without pausing to let him answer he carried on. “Quick, you almost missed it and-” He stopped suddenly. “What the hell is SHE doing here?”
“He ran off-” cried Lily.
“She followed me!” yelled James. “I told you not to come!”
“Yeah, and then you completely contradicted yourself by dragging me up here and now I’m covered in mud and I’m cold and I-“
She froze mid sentence. Looking past James, she spotted Remus, who had doubled up and was making a strange sort of groaning noise. He raised his head and she saw that his eyes had turned yellow.
“Woah! What’s up with him?” said Lily loudly.
“Listen to me, Evans,” said James seriously, He turned round and put his hands on her shoulders, almost begging with her. “You have to get out of here. Please “ you have to go.”
“Why? What’s going on?” said Lily who now looked anxious and was trying to see around him. “Is he all right? James, what-”
“I can’t tell you now,” he said quickly. “But you have to-”
There was the sound of ripping and scuffling from behind him. Peter made a strange sort of whimper and Sirius yelled out to James.
“Get her out of here, Prongs!”
“James!” she said desperately. “What the hell is going on?!”
“JUST GO!” James shouted.
A deafening howl filled the room.
James knew then that he was too late. He spun round, his arms spread out to protect Lily, and saw Remus fully transformed. He was covered in thick, grey hair, his long snout snapping at James. Lily let out a muffled scream. The beast stepped forwards, a large paw outstretched, but his way was blocked by a large, snarling dog covered in shaggy black fur. Sirius and Pettigrew seemed to have disappeared.
The wolf stepped forward and, with a flick of its paw, batted the dog out of the way to advance on James and Lily. James, backing against the wall with Lily behind him, fumbled for his wand while Lily gripped his arm. The dog leapt on the beast from behind and sunk his teeth into the werewolf’s humped back, causing it to let out another terrifying howl. James jumped and dropped his wand, watching in horror as it rolled away under the bed. He made a dive for it, but soon realised that he had made a terrible mistake.
“LILY!” he roared. “RUN!”
But she was frozen against the wall; she couldn’t move. The werewolf had turned on her and was now only a few feet away, growling menacingly, teeth bared.
“Wand, Lily, WAND!”
Lily, still staring, transfixed, at the werewolf, stuck her hand into her robes and pulled out her wand. James could her see her shaking.
“Ex…Ex…Expelliarmus,” stammered Lily and a feeble ray of red light trailed from her wand. The werewolf stepped back as though someone had pushed it gently but this just infuriated it.
“No, no,” muttered James as he frantically scrabbled around under the bed for his wand. “Come ON!”
Lily screamed. He looked over and, horrified, saw that the wolf had slashed at her. Blood as red as her hair was running down her chalk white face and soaking her robes; she was trembling but still had her wand out and looked as though she was desperately trying to think of something to do. Suddenly, James’ hand found his wand. He snatched it up, whipped round and pointed it straight at the werewolf’s back.
“NOBODY TOUCHES LILY!”
A jet of red light shot out from the end of his wand and the werewolf stumbled backwards. James took his chance; he dashed towards Lily, grabbed her arm and pelted out of the room as fast as he could. They heard another howl as they sprinted down the stairs and through the hallway. He swung her round and she scrambled through the hole with him following her. She stopped to check he was there, but he panted “Keep running,” as he forced her along. “Don’t stop. Keep running.”
They sprinted down the earthy passage, stumbling over roots, until they came to the opening in the willow. He pushed her through, into the pouring rain, and followed her out, still pushing her until they were clearly out of the way of the tree’s flailing branches. As soon as they were safe, he rounded on her.
“Don’t you ever,” he shouted, “EVER, follow me again.”
Lily stared at him, shaking. He stared back and saw in those amazing eyes a look of terror and complete despair. She looked as if she was about to cry; his heart melted.
“Oh Lily, I’m so sorry,” he said, as he took her in his arms. “Are you all right?” He pushed her away to look at the gash on her cheek and then pulled her in again as he became flooded with guilt. “I’m so stupid…you could have…you could have…” he didn’t dare say it. “Thank God you’re ok, Lily.”
*
She suddenly drew back.
“What?” said James who was looking truly concerned.
“You called me Lily…”
The rain fell around them, making them wetter than ever, but neither of them had seemed to notice. After a while, James came to his senses.
“Come on,” he said quietly, putting his arm around her waist. “We need to get back to the castle.”
They walked through the rain in silence, Lily still shaking and James glancing nervously around every few minutes to check that there was no one watching them. On reaching the Entrance Hall, they hurried up to the common room before any teachers had a chance to catch them. As soon as they were both through the portrait hole and Lily had checked that the circular room was empty, she turned to him.
“What…what just happened?”
James steered her onto the sofa by the fire and shook out his hair, covering the floor with tiny droplets.
“Wait here,” he said gently. “I need to get something.”
Lily thought he might be going back outside and back to the Whomping Willow, but he quickly walked up to the boys dormitories. She drew her knees up to her chin and shivered, trying to take in what had happened that night. Everything had been normal, and then…then…she touched the cut on her cheek and felt it sting sharply.
“Don’t touch it,” said James quietly as he emerged, carrying a blanket and a bar of chocolate. Taking his wand out of his pocket, he muttered an incantation and hot steam shot out of the tip. He ran his wand over her bloodstained robes until she was dry before doing the same to himself.
“Sit up,” he said, and Lily let him wrap her in one of the blankets. He came round to kneel in front of her and put his hand on her chin, lifting her face to the light of fire.
“It’s all right,” he murmured. “You won’t be turning into a werewolf today.” He grinned at her but she could only manage a weak smile.
“Sorry,” he said and turned back to examining the cut. “It’s not deep “ I should be able to fix ““
“Shouldn’t I go to the Hospital Wing?” she said pulling away from him. Lily wasn’t sure that she trusted him entirely after the evening’s events.
“And tell them you were out of the castle after hours when you got attacked by Remus, who happens to be a dangerous werewolf, but it was actually all right cos James and his friends, who are all unregistered Animagi, were there to protect you?” he said sarcastically. Lily sat back against the sofa.
“Ok…do it,” she said, though somewhat reluctantly.
He took her face again and traced the cut with the end of his wand, muttering something under his breath. Lily felt the odd sensation of someone pouring hot water onto her face. After he had traced the wound three times, James touched the place where it had been.
“Better?”
Lily nodded.
“Take this,” he said, handing her a piece of chocolate. James sat down next to her and sighed. “I suppose you’ll want an explanation now, then.”
“Well I think I deserve one,” she said dryly. Lily was feeling much better now that she was dry and had taken a few bites of the chocolate.
“Yeah…yeah, you do,” said James slowly. “Well…you’ve probably noticed that Remus is a bit…different from the rest of us.”
“Just a bit,” she muttered.
“We go down to the Willow when there’s a full moon,” he said quietly. “He can’t hurt anyone there. Sirius, Peter and I are all right cos he doesn’t attack other animals and ““
“So you’re all Animagi?” she interrupted.
“Yeah…it took three years to learn…but, you know, don’t spread it around…it’s not strictly legal.”
Lily smiled slightly and moved a little closer to James. There was a pause and the two of them sat, listening to the rain beat against the window pain.
“I…I’m sorry I didn’t…listen,” she said quietly.
“Don’t be,” murmured James. “It was my fault for leaving you like that.”
“Yeah, you were a prat,” she said. James chuckled and, after an apprehensive look at her, tentatively put his arm around her.
“It’s a good thing I’m still a bit cold,” whispered Lily as she leaned against him. She could feel his heart beating and was reminded of a particularly unexpected but enjoyable moment earlier that evening. James pulled her in closer and she rested her head on his shoulders and shut her eyes. She wanted to stay awake until the others came back; she wanted to make sure Remus was all right. Sitting in the warmth of the fire, lulled by the rhythm of James’ breathing, she fell asleep.
Disclaimer: None if it's mine...
AN: Aaah what excitement...don't worry I know they don't get together until their seventh year...stick with it - I just finished writing chapter 7 but I really love chapter 6. Oooh I can't wait to get that one up lol. This chapter took me ages to get accepted so please, please review cos I worked hard on this one ...