“What the hell is that?!” screamed Lily, jerking her legs in the water with a frantic expression on her face. She looked down desperately and then at James, who was completely bewildered. Then she suddenly closed her eyes and sheepishly half-smiled. “Oh. I think maybe it was only the seaweed.”
With a surprised laugh, James realised he was relieved, but he quickly dove under the water towards Lily’s feet. He opened his eyes and grabbed a dangling foot, then quickly swam away to dodge the kick she placed near his head. When James surfaced, there was no one around, only several ripples spreading out from the spot where Lily had been treading water moments earlier.
Then, before he had time to react, a sudden push came down hard on his shoulders and James was plunged back into the lake. He smiled to himself underwater, but quickly came back up for a deep breath before being submerged once again. This time James forced himself to stay hidden underwater until he reached the other side of the dock. Quickly slipping out of the water where he could see Lily still floating, James waited on the dock until she turned around to look for him.
“James?” Lily called around, laughing still. “Where’d you go?”
Snickering quietly, he scooped up water in his hands and flung it across the water where it landed on her hand. With an astonished face, Lily looked around wildly for a moment until her narrowing eyes rested on the figure laughing on the dock. She swam to it faster than James had seen her swim the whole morning, and before he knew it, she was only ten feet away.
James soon noticed this and threw himself off the end of the dock away from her with a yell. Grinning, Lily walked over to the edge and stood over him with a brief smile.
“Now, what would you do if I jumped on you?” she asked teasingly, her hands on her hips.
“Drown, probably,” answered James matter-of-factly.
“Oh, no. We wouldn’t want that. I guess I’ll just have to go on back to the castle.” Lily shrugged and grinned as she turned around and feigned heading back.
“You can’t go back inside now! The sun is barely up! What will you do?”
Lily stopped and turned around. “You don’t think I can find something as fun as this?”
“No,” James answered with certainty. “What could be more fun than swimming in the lake at sunrise with me?”
Lily said nothing.
“That’s what I thought,” continued James. “Now come back in.”
“No, you come out. I’m tired of swimming.”
“Fine, you’re right. I’ve got water all in my ears.” James reached a hand up for Lily to pull him out.
Rolling her eyes, Lily reached for it and began to pull, but James grinned widely at her and yanked her into the water again.
Spluttering, Lily surfaced with a look of rage in her eyes. “What in Merlin’s name was that for?”
“For ducking me under earlier, of course,” James answered decisively.
He swam a few strokes to the edge of the dock and lifted himself up. Turning, he sat on the side to look at Lily, hoping she wouldn’t be mad at this little thing. He really had thought she had begun to relax around him, but if he was wrong, any steps forward they had made this year could have been quickly erased.
Then James saw a reluctant smile pull across Lily’s face and knew that they would be okay. He smiled back at her confidently and lay down on his back to see the sky, with the sun now right above the treetops of the Forbidden Forest. Hearing the sound of Lily lifting herself onto the boards next to him, James turned his head and watched as she laughed and collapsed to where he was very aware of as only a foot from him.
“Do you always do things like this?” Lily asked slowly, turning her face to James and idly stretching against the slightly warm boards under her back.
“Things like what?” James returned with a languid smile.
“Like… whatever you want. Fun things.”
“Er, yes, I have fun. Is that what you’re talking about?” asked James amusedly.
“Never mind,” Lily said, exasperated.
“No, what? You sound like you don’t ever have fun, and I know that’s not true.”
“Not… not just fun. I have loud fun, or crazy fun, but this is just taking it easy. And I like it. But you probably don‘t get what I'm saying.” Lily awkwardly smiled a little, closing her eyes.
“Yeah, I do.” James propped himself up on his elbows and leaned towards Lily slightly. He knew exactly what she was saying. He could understand her perfectly then, as he looked at her and it seemed like he would always be fine.
Then, Lily opened her eyes, and for once, James didn’t worry about what she was really thinking or what she would want him to do. He only looked into her face and watched her move her arm to brush her fingers against the side of his forehead. He saw a little smile and the curious expression on her face, and thought that maybe he should kiss her. But at the moment all he really wanted was what he had, and that was Lily with him.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Hey,” said Lily under her breath as she slid into her seat just as Transfiguration class was beginning.
Kathleen looked up from her textbook and raised her eyebrows. “Where have you been? Did you just get out of the shower?”
Lily looked at the strands of damp hair lying on her shoulders, as if she hadn’t notice it was wet. “Yeah. I went swimming first, though.”
“Alone?” Kathleen teased, turning in her chair to face Lily.
“Yes, alone,” replied Lily, smiling and rolling her eyes.
“That’s about the fourth time this week, and it’s Thursday.”
“Third,” Lily corrected as looked away and began to unpack her bag. “You should come with me tomorrow afternoon, after classes are over. It’ll be pretty warm then.”
“Okay, sure. Hey, look who’s behind you.”
Lily put down her quill and twisted around to see James and Sirius walking through the door, talking quietly. Not five seconds later came Remus and Peter, who quickened their paces and sat with their friends.
As he took his seat, James looked up around the room and grinned when he saw Lily. Noticing this, Lily smiled back a little shyly and gave a small wave.
Kathleen smiled to herself and opened her mouth to speak to Lily, but at that moment Professor McGonagall entered the room and headed towards the front to begin class.
“Class, open your textbooks to page 49,” she began, as Kathleen tapped Lily’s arm and slid a scrap piece of parchment across their desk to her.
So are you and Potter a little bit friendlier since you went swimming, or am I just imagining something?
Mouth open in surprise, Lily discreetly reached over and pinched Kathleen, who uttered a loud, “Ouch!”
McGonagall stopped in mid-sentence and looked at her. “Miss Brady, are you quite all right?”
“She pinched me!” Kathleen immediately blurted out, pointing at Lily. Of course, everyone in the room looked at her, and Kathleen grinned as she covered her mouth to hide it.
“Loud mouth!” Lily hissed not so quietly.
“What was that, Miss Evans?”
“She said, uh, ‘Clouds out,’” came a male voice from the back of the room. “Er… as in, it’s cloudy outside.”
“Oh, really?” McGonagall asked, clearly amused but still looking strict.
Lily turned around quickly to see that, of course, it was James. Remembering that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky when she was swimming earlier, Lily looked out of the window nearest her and found that the weather had not changed at all. Sighing, she wondered how the three of them would be able to get out of this without points docked from Gryffindor.
“Yeah, haven’t you noticed?” said Sirius, trying to save his friend. “Personally, I think it’s going to rain.”
“Mr. Black, I don’t think so. Please, take your seats and try not to cause anymore interruptions.” McGonagall turned back to the textbook she held in her hand, but Lily saw a hint of a smile before she opened her mouth to begin teaching the lesson again.
“Well, no one believed Noah, either,” muttered Sirius, making Lily snort with laughter.