With the beginning of November came misty mornings, late afternoon downpours and frosty evenings, meaning that students and teachers alike had already rummaged down to the very bottom of their trunks to produce scarves, coats, gloves and extra pairs of socks.
It was one of these frosty evenings at the beginning of November that witnessed the worst storms yet seen that school year. It had been raining non-stop all day, and it wasn’t looking like it was going to relent anytime soon. As the rain hammered ceaselessly on the windows of Hogwarts, Sirius, Remus, Lily, Peter and Emma were all to be found lounging comfortably in front of the roaring common room fire. They were the only members of Gryffindor Tower who were still awake and were taken full advantage of the fact that they had the common room all to themselves.
Sirius was sprawled all over the armchair nearest to the fire with his head resting on his shoulder and his eyes staring vacantly into the midst of the fire’s dancing flames. Willow, Kirsty’s tabby cat, was sat complacently on his lap, purring loudly. Remus was sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the fireplace, his arms stretched out behind him. The fire-poker lay next to him on the hearth as a sign of his self appointed task of keeping the fire alight.
Emma sat on the floor next to Sirius’ chair, using his legs as a backrest. She idly twisted a strand of her dark hair around her index finger whilst staring off into space; it looked to Sirius like she was daydreaming. Peter was sat to one side of the sofa with his legs curled up underneath him and his eyes closed; Sirius highly suspected that he had fallen asleep.
Lily was to be found on the other side of the sofa with her back resting against the arm rest. She had a book in her hand, but she seemed to be staring blankly at its pages and not taking in a single word. Every so often, a flash of lightning would send a stream of light across the room, and a few moments later it would be followed by the low rumble of thunder.
“Any idea where Hayley’s got to?” asked Sirius, lifting his head off his shoulder with great effort to look questioningly over at Remus. Remus merely shrugged in reply, unable to find the energy needed to form so sudden a reply.
Lily yawned, snapping her book shut as she did so, and answered, “It’s late; maybe Hayley went back to her common room for a change.”
Emma snorted in a rather unladylike fashion at this before she proceeded to have a mild coughing fit, which in turn jerked Peter awake. Sirius sat up, and patted Emma calmingly on the back, whilst Peter stifled a yawn and asked, “What time is it?”
Sirius squinted at his watch in the dark and replied, “Half past eleven.”
“And they still aren’t back yet?” asked Peter in disbelief.
The rest of the group summoned the energy to shake their heads in response. “What’s happened to us, guys?” marvelled Remus. “We used to be able to stay up later than this.”
“I blame Kirst,” announced Lily simply. “She keeps ungodly hours.”
Sirius smiled at this; never a truer word had been spoken. Kirsty did indeed have a habit of going to bed late and getting up ridiculously early. She seemed to also have Sirius and the others working by her clock too of late.
“Speaking of Kirst,” said Emma, “I bet she’s not impressed with all this.” She gestured in the direction of the raindrop ridden window.
“I think this is one of the only times that I’ve been thankful for the fact that I’m not on the Gryffindor Quidditch team,” confessed Sirius.
They all sat quietly then, just watching the rain cascade down the window pane as if mesmerised. After a while, Sirius noticed the sound of someone talking in a hushed voice outside the portrait hole. It seemed that he wasn’t the only one to hear this, however, when everyone else in the room stiffened as if in anticipation. The portrait hole swung open, and muffled footsteps could be heard on the carpet. Sirius turned around hopefully, and everyone else followed suit. The figure of Hayley gradually came into view, and Sirius felt a wave of disappointment wash over him.
“Oh, it’s you,” stated Emma, voicing Sirius’ own disappointment.
“Thanks, Em, I love you too,” replied Hayley dryly, though she seemed a bit disconcerted.
Remus smiled at the two girls in amusement before explaining to Hayley, “We thought that it was James and Kirsty coming back.”
Hayley’s eyes grew wide in amazement. “You mean they’re still not back from Quidditch practice?” Sirius and the others wearily shook their heads. “But it’s-“ Hayley squinted at her watch. “Nearly twelve o’clock! Oh, Kirsty is not going to be impressed!” Willow opened her eyes and looked up expectantly at the sound of her mistress’ name only to look dejected again upon finding that Kirsty had not yet returned. “I see you have a friend,” commented Hayley, nodding at the unimpressed-looking tabby.
Sirius smiled and tickled Willow on the back of her neck. “She’s a lovely little thing,” he cooed.
“I don’t see why she likes you so much,” Peter protested.
“Am I that unlovable?” asked Sirius overdramatically.
“Where have you been anyway?” Emma asked Hayley, changing topic.
Hayley grinned proudly and produced a rolled up piece of parchment from within her schoolbag. She unravelled it with a flourish and the Spellotaped piece of parchment trailed down past her legs until the bottom of it skimmed the floor. The others looked at the parchment in puzzlement. “I’ve been writing this!” explained Hayley.
“And what exactly is it?” asked Lily.
“My Arithmancy essay,” she announced with pride.
“Bloody hell!” exclaimed Peter. “How long is that thing?”
“It’s seven rolls of parchment,” answered Hayley gleefully, “I’ve been in the library most of the night writing this.”
“That is an achievement,” congratulated Sirius. Hayley grinned broadly at him. “No, not the essay,” he amended, and Hayley looked slightly crestfallen. “I meant managing to avoid Madam Pince for so long. I think me and James have only ever managed to stick it out in there until half past ten before Madam Pince came and shooed us away. Batty that woman, I’m telling you!”
“Now, hang on just a minute!” commanded Emma, swivelling around to look up at Sirius. “You and James have been in the library?”
“Ha ha,” retorted Sirius sarcastically.
“How did you manage to write that much?” Lily asked Hayley in amazement. “Mine’s only two rolls.” She looked to Remus for support.
“Mine’s four,” he informed them with an embarrassed shrug of the shoulders.
“I’m so glad we didn’t take Arithmancy,” declared Emma, still looking up at Sirius. Sirius, along with Peter, nodded emphatically in agreement.
Silence once again ensued amongst the exhausted group, and the only sounds that could be heard were the crackling of the logs on the fire, the rustling of Hayley’s essay as she rolled it back up… and the sound of footsteps outside the portrait hole. Sirius sat up, alert, as James and Sam clambered through the portrait hole. They were both drenched from head to foot. Sam was looking his usual sullen self and avoided making eye contact with any of the group, especially Emma.
Instead of greeting his friends straight away, James hung back whispering something frantically into Sam’s ear. Sam responded to his words with a grateful smile before exiting the common room just as quickly as he had arrived.
“How did it go, mate?” asked Remus tentatively as James slumped down on the floor beside him so that he could receive the full benefit of the fire’s warmth.
“It could have been worse, I suppose,” replied James wearily.
“And what, may I ask, have you done with our dear Kirsty?” demanded Emma.
“Well, last time I saw her, she was moaning about her hair being wet and tangled and refusing to get changed because her robes were sticking to her skin.”
As if on cue, the sound of five sets of heavy footsteps could be heard approaching the common room.
“Brace yourselves, people,” chuckled Peter as the portrait hole creaked open once more.
The rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team traipsed through, looking just as bedraggled as James and Sam. Kirsty was one of the last to enter and did so with her head resting against an equally tired-looking Lesley’s shoulder. Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing rhythmically. At the noise of the portrait hole banging shut, Kirsty’s eyes snapped open, and she removed herself from Lesley’s shoulder, stretching tiredly. She smiled at her friends in greeting and waved goodbye to Lesley, who trudged upstairs to the dormitory, whilst Luke, Billy and Michaela all headed off for some much needed sleep too.
“So, how was your first Quidditch practice of the season?” Sirius asked her warily as she walked over and tickled Willow behind the ears.
“It was cold,” replied Kirsty miserably.
“Aw,” offered Sirius sympathetically. “Would you like me to nip down to the kitchens and get you a hot chocolate?”
“If you don’t mind, that would be lovely,” Kirsty answered giving him a grateful, albeit slightly weary, smile.
Sirius scooped Willow up carefully and cradled her in his arms, before offering Kirsty his chair. Kirsty took him up on the offer, and Sirius deposited Willow down onto her lap. “Would you like one too, Prongs?” asked Sirius.
“Please, Padfoot. The Cloak’s upstairs in my schoolbag, if you want to take it,” James informed him.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” confessed Sirius as he dashed up to the dormitory.
Within seconds, he was rocketing back down the staircase, Invisibility Cloak in hand. Just as he reached the portrait hole, however, Hayley called out, “Could you get me one as well, please?”
Sirius turned and surveyed her incredulously. “But you haven’t been out to Quidditch practice.”
“No… but I like chocolate!” replied Hayley rather sulkily.
“Fine, I’ll fetch you one too,” relented Sirius as he threw the cloak over himself and made his way out of the common room.
--------------
After Sirius’ departure, the group fell quiet once more, and James could feel himself starting to slip off into a doze.
“So,” began Lily, turning to James in what seemed like a bid to keep him awake. “What were you saying to Sam earlier?”
Emma made an indignant noise at the mention of Sam, whereas James shot a wary glance around the room before answering quietly, “I sent him off to the Prefect’s bathroom to have a good, long, relaxing soak because he seemed a bit down.”
Lily gave James a quizzical look.
“What, more down than usual?” asked Remus.
“I’m afraid so… he… erm… doesn’t seem to be handling it all too well.” James shot a concerned look at Emma, who seemed to be filtering out the bits of the conversation that referred to Sam.
“Good,” replied Peter rather maliciously.
Hayley shot a disapproving glance Peter’s way before addressing James. “I take it that practice didn’t go too well for him then?”
James shook his head sombrely. “He didn’t save a single shot.” The others groaned sympathetically in response.
“And our first match is when?” asked Remus with concern.
“Next Saturday,” moaned James.
“How did Sam even know how to get into the Prefect’s bathroom?” asked Lily with interest.
James gave both her and Kirsty a sheepish look before replying, “I kind of told him the password.”
“You did what?” bellowed Kirsty, scaring Willow off of her knee in the process.
“I’m sorry, Kirst. He was upset; he needed cheering up. Besides, I need to try whatever I can to get my Keeper on form for next week’s match.”
“Humph,” replied Kirsty huffily, crossing her arms and falling silent in protest.
By the time Sirius finally returned, levitating three steaming cups of hot chocolate before him, Kirsty had still not spoken a single word to James. Sirius gave Hayley her cup first, and she squealed in delight. He then went to hand James his, but before James’ outstretched fingers managed to encase the red-hot cup, Kirsty blurted out, “James gave Sam the password to the Prefect’s bathroom!”
Sirius instantly removed the cup from James’ reach, looking aghast. “What?” he demanded in disbelief.
“Look, Sam was upset, so I decided to be a good Samaritan,” James explained, silently pleading with Sirius not to make a big deal out of it. He really wanted his hot chocolate.
“But I’ve been asking you for the password since the start of the year!” whined Sirius. James sighed; his hot chocolate seemed to be getting further and further out of reach. “And I bugged Moony about it for two years before that!” Sirius continued to rant.
“Yeah, same here!” chimed in Kirsty. Then she added to Emma, “Except I’ve got a Lily and a Hayley where Sirius’ has got a Moony.”
Emma looked at her in amusement before asking, “What’s the big deal? Me and Peter both know the password.”
“What? You know?” Sirius asked Emma and Peter incredulously.
“Thank you for that,” James fired dryly at Emma, rubbing his temples which were starting to ache.
“How come they can know and we can’t?” demanded Sirius.
“For this reason alone, I think,” interrupted Remus, who appeared extremely entertained by the whole scenario. This statement inevitably earned Remus glowering looks from both Sirius and Kirsty.
“Sirius, can I just have my hot chocolate?” pleaded James, sounding slightly desperate even to his own ears.
Sirius held the cup childishly out of James’ reach.
“Good luck getting your hot chocolate now, James,” announced Kirsty. “After all, you’ve betrayed us!”
“Betrayed you?” echoed James disbelievingly.
“Yes, and after all that hard work I put into practice this evening, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Good luck in getting me to catch the Snitch for you next week!”
James didn’t care anymore - all he cared about was his hot chocolate, which was still floating annoyingly out of reach. He took a deep sigh and muttered, “Lethifold.”
“Bless you,” retorted Kirsty comically.
James laughed. “No, that’s the password to the bathroom.”
Kirsty and Sirius took a moment to gape at each in surprise, before Kirsty flung herself at James squealing, “Thank you!” repeatedly.
Out of the corner of his eye, James could see Remus, Hayley, Emma and Peter all exchanging looks of confusion. Only Lily, however, looked to James in a questioning manner. James, seeing this, gave her a conspiratorial wink and Lily gave him an amused smile in return.
“Cheers, mate,” Sirius thanked him, a huge grin present on his face.
“Can I have my hot chocolate now?” asked James.
“Anything for you, Prongs,” announced Sirius grandly, all sweetness and light now, as he handed James his cup. Yay, hot chocolate! James inwardly rejoiced.
“We’ll have to try the password out tomorrow,” suggested Kirsty as Sirius made his way over to her. “Seeing as Sam’s in there at the moment.” She seemed to pause then as if in thought before, pulling a face full of revulsion.
“Good idea,” agreed Sirius, placing himself on the arm of Kirsty’s chair and handing her the final cup.
James sipped his hot chocolate blissfully, feeling warmth instantly spread throughout his entire body. He heard a rustling sound followed by a sharp snapping noise and slowly opened his eyes to see Remus handing out segments from a bar of Honeydukes’ chocolate.
“For those of us without the hotter version,” Remus explained upon meeting James’ questioning gaze.
Hayley proceeded to take a large piece of chocolate, making the others pull sickened faces when she proceeded to dunk it into her mug.
“Hayley, you’ll be sick!” chided Peter.
Emma laughed. “Do you not know Hayley?”
James smiled. Hayley did, after all, have a strange fixation with chocolate. She was most definitely what you’d call a chocoholic. She ate it morning, noon and night, and yet she still remained as thin as ever.
“Point taken,” Peter relented, giving a huge yawn.
“I think it’s about time that we all went to bed, guys,” suggested Lily, rising reluctantly to her feet.
“Yeah, we can take our hot chocolates up to bed with us,” suggested James.
“What are you doing?” Remus asked Hayley as he stood up. “Would you like me to walk you back to your common room?”
“If that’s all right?” enquired Hayley.
Remus smiled warmly at her, and James and Peter raised their eyebrows at each other behind his back.
But before any of them got the chance to make their way anywhere, James was hit by a devastating realisation. He groaned loudly, causing the others to swivel around and look at him with concern. “I forgot that I have that stupid Arithmancy essay to do for tomorrow,” he explained. As soon as James said this, he saw Hayley instinctively hold her own essay tightly against her. She did it so comically that James couldn’t help but smile.
The others, however, were offering him sympathetic looks. “Don’t worry, James,” Lily consoled him, shooting Hayley a reproachful look. “I’ll stay up and help you with it, if you’d like?”
Kirsty shot a conspicuous glance over at Sirius, who raised his eyebrows at Remus, and Remus nudged Emma, who grinned at Kirsty.
“No, Lily, you go to bed. I’m sure I’ll manage… somehow,” insisted James in a moment of chivalry.
“Don’t be silly, James! I want to help, and if I do, we’ll get it done in half the time.”
James couldn’t help smiling elatedly. “Well, if you’re sure, then I’d really appreciate it.”
“I’m sure,” she reassured him, smiling affectionately as her eyes bored into his for the briefest of moments. James felt his stomach give a delighted little flip.
“And don’t worry,” piped up Remus, gently trying to pry Hayley’s essay out of her hands. “I’m sure that Hayley will be more than willing to lend you her essay as inspiration.”
As Remus succeeded in retrieving the essay, Hayley glared at him as if he had just slapped her. “I suppose,” she muttered grumpily.
“No, it’s okay, Hayley. I wouldn’t dream of taking something you naturally will have worked so hard on.”
Hayley beamed at him and prodded Remus angrily in the chest. He smiled mischievously back at her.
“Flatterer,” Lily whispered devilishly next to James’ ear.
He turned to look at her in surprise, before smiling and replying, “I do what I can.”
“Well, I guess this is good night then,” observed Peter as he made for the stairs.
Kirsty followed in his wake, shooting James one final sympathetic look and announcing, “I knew there was a reason why I didn’t take Arithmancy.”
“Night,” chimed everybody as they either climbed up their respective staircase or headed off out of the common room.
Now that they were alone, James felt slightly discomforted. “So,” he began giving Lily a shy smile. “Shall we get started?”
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“Kirst, Kirst, wake up!” Kirsty could feel someone gently trying to shake her awake and she just knew that she recognised their voice, but in her current sleepy state she was having the hardest time placing it. Am I dreaming? She wondered idly, subconsciously snuggling further down under the bedcovers. “Kirst!” hissed the voice a little more harshly. “Believe me, you will regret it forever if you do not wake up this instant!” Kirsty blearily opened one eye to see the fuzzy outline of someone who she found vaguely familiar. “Finally,” stated the voice, sounding impatient. A tumbled thought of, Hang on, that was a lad’s voice, managed to wheedle its way into the forefront of Kirsty’s mind. That was Sirius’ voice, she realised with a worrying jolt.
“Sirius?” she queried sleepily.
“Who else?” he responded chirpily, careful to keep his voice to a low whisper.
Where am I? wondered Kirsty instantaneously. She searched around in the dark, checking that she was in fact in her own dorm. Yes, this was definitely her dorm. So why was Sirius there? The more important question, she came to realise, was how was Sirius there? When it hit home that Sirius had in fact made his way into the girls’ dorms, Kirsty instinctively sat bolt upright, pulling the covers tight around her chest as she did so.
As Kirsty’s eyes gradually adjusted to the dark, she noticed that Sirius was standing before her in nothing but his pyjama bottoms. As she gazed at his naked torso, she felt her cheeks begin to colour. Gathering her composure, she asked, “Sirius, what the bloody hell are you doing in here?”
“Shh, keep your voice down,” he warned her.
“Why-“ Sirius clamped his hand over her mouth at the loudness of her response. As he slowly moved it away again, Kirsty asked in a whisper, “How?”
Sirius grinned proudly at this question. “Oh, I’ve known how to get up here for ages. Ever since I had that little thing with Mary, in fact.” He indicated the bed across from Kirsty’s.
Kirsty looked at him incredulously. “But how did you do it?”
“I borrowed James’ broom and flew up, which is no mean feat, let me tell you.”
“So why haven’t you come up here more often?”
“I didn’t want to take advantage,” he replied as if it was obvious, whilst offering her what seemed like a chivalrous grin. “Anyway, forget about all of that. I’ve got something to show you.”
Kirsty looked at him in slight apprehension, but couldn’t help grinning at what seemed like some sort of hidden innuendo. Sirius walked over to the top of the girls’ staircase and beckoned to her indicating that she should follow him, before he disappeared down the stairs. Kirsty reluctantly got out of bed and slipped on her dressing gown, following in Sirius’ footsteps as she tied it around her.
Upon reaching the top of the staircase, Kirsty saw Sirius sitting back on his haunches halfway up the stairs. She went down and crouched beside him, wondering what ridiculous scheme he could have possibly cooked up this time. Sirius pointed to the common room down below them, and Kirsty had to crouch down even lower in order to see what he was on about.
It took all of Kirsty’s will power not to screech hysterically upon seeing what Sirius was pointing at. She turned to face him and couldn’t help smiling when she saw that he was poised inches away from her, prepared to silence her with his hand at any moment. She looked back into the common room briefly, before turning to face Sirius again, the grin on her face becoming broader with elation. “Oh my God,” she breathed. Down in the common room, snuggled up on the sofa together, in full view of their ecstatic friends, were Lily and James. Lily lay with her back up against James’ chest and James had his arm draped protectively around her midriff. Even though Lily had her back to him, her head was turned in his direction and was resting on his shoulder, her face pressed against the nape of his neck. James meanwhile, had his chin resting on the top of her head, buried amidst her flaming red locks.
“Don’t they make a cute couple?” whispered Sirius excitedly. Kirsty simply nodded in reply, unable to tear her gaze away from the two of them. After a few more moments of staring at the couple in wonderment, Sirius declared, “Well, I think we’ve invaded their privacy enough for one night, don’t you?” He stood up, and offered his hand out to pull Kirsty to her feet.
Kirsty took one more good look at Lily and James, before taking Sirius’ hand and asking, “Aren’t we going to show the others?”
“No. The fewer people that know about this, the less embarrassing it’s going to be for Lily and James,” Sirius replied simply.
Kirsty raised her eyebrows at him. “When did you become Mr Sensitive?”
Sirius laughed. “Plus, if we let anybody else in on the secret, something might slip and we could damage any possible relationship between Lily and James forever.”
“But why did you tell me?” Kirsty queried, following Sirius as he tiptoed slowly back up the stairs to the girls’ dorms.
Sirius turned around to face her and shrugged. “I just thought you’d like to know.”
She smiled at him, and the two of them re-entered her dormitory, though Kirsty did wonder why Sirius wasn’t in fact returning to his own room.
“Now, to bed!” announced Sirius walking over to Kirsty’s four poster bed and flopping down on top of it.
“Up!” commanded Kirsty, trying to hide her smile. “You’ve got your own bed.”
“But that’s all the way over there,” whined Sirius, gesturing emphatically with his arm in the general direction of the boys’ dorms. “Anyway, that would mean I’d risk waking up the blissful couple down there by walking through.”
“You’ve already walked through there once!” argued Kirsty.
“And your point is?” asked Sirius devilishly. Kirsty glared at him, sensing where he was going with this. “Come on,” pleaded Sirius, “you can’t kick me out into the cold. I’ll be as good as gold… for the most part.”
“But where are you going to sleep?” Kirsty asked him.
“I think the question you should be asking is ‘where am I going to sleep?’”
“Hmm,” replied Kirsty, not amused. “But why can’t you just sleep down on the floor like you did last time?”
“Are you kidding?” exclaimed Sirius rather loudly, before lowering his voice to a whisper once again. “It’s the beginning of November.”
“Sirius, you slept on the floor in your dorms a week ago,” Kirsty reminded him.
“Oh yeah,” realised Sirius. “But still, surely you can manage to spend one night in my company. I mean, am I really that repulsive?”
He looked up at her with his puppy dog eyes, and Kirsty could feel herself slowly relenting. It was only one night, after all. How much harm could it really do? Although Kirsty had to admit that it wasn’t Sirius’ supposed repulsiveness that was bothering her, quite the opposite in fact. How was she supposed to spend the night with the likes of Sirius Black? And a topless, intoxicatingly rugged-looking Sirius Black at that. She shook her head, smiling slightly. Here she was about to live out the fantasy of almost every girl in Hogwarts, and she was hesitating. Come on, she urged herself, be daring. It was Sirius, for God’s sake; he was one of her best friends. How awkward could things really get between them?
When she came out of her reverie, Kirsty saw Sirius gazing at her with undisguised intrigue. “So, is that a yes? Can I stay?”
Kirsty took her slipper off and threw it at his head. “Yes, you can stay, but you are the most infuriating person ever! Do you realise that?” Sirius offered her a wide, mischievous grin in response.
Kirsty walked over and wrenched one of her pillows out from underneath Sirius’ head, and proceeded to place it down by the foot of the bed. With this done, she shrugged off her dressing gown and clambered underneath the covers.
“What are doing?” asked Sirius, igniting the tip of his wand.
“You didn’t honestly think that we were going to sleep all snuggled up like Lily and James, did you?” Kirsty teased him.
“Well, yeah… no… not exactly like those two,” Sirius stammered, sounding flustered.
Kirsty laughed. “Sorry to disappoint, Sirius.”
“Hmm,” he replied, sounding irked.
The light from Sirius’ wand flickered out, and Kirsty tried to settle down to sleep. Things were going swimmingly, and Kirsty had very nearly slipped off into unconsciousness when Sirius began to childishly tickle her feet. Kirsty jerked violently, since she was extremely ticklish, and she ended up banging her head on the board at the end of the bed. “Ouch!” she exclaimed in extreme annoyance. “Sirius, this isn’t working.”
“Well, come up this end then,” stated Sirius, patting the spot next to him invitingly. Kirsty raised her eyebrows at him. “Come on,” continued Sirius in a wheedling tone, “I promise not to harass you.” As proof, Sirius held his hands up above the covers.
Kirsty sighed. “Fine.” She crawled up next to Sirius, glad of any resolution that would result in her getting a decent night’s sleep. She plopped the pillow back in its rightful place, and Sirius raised his head obligingly. As Kirsty snuggled in beside him, momentarily revelling in his body heat, she resorted to resting her head on the smallest section of pillow imaginable. This was because Sirius was taking up the majority of it with his arms resting up behind his head.
“You can’t be comfy like that,” observed Sirius. “You can rest your head on me, if you want.”
“Is that your way of telling me that you’re not giving up your part of the pillow?” enquired Kirsty, amused despite herself.
Sirius laughed. “It could be. Seriously, though, lay your head on me. I don’t bite… well, not very often,” he finished with a small chuckle.
Grudgingly, Kirsty complied, and as soon as her cheek came into contact with his naked torso, her face flamed with embarrassment. Her cheeks were on fire, and Kirsty was sure that they were burning up hot enough for Sirius to feel them.
“Goodnight,” he murmured, sliding his arm around her waist.
Kirsty would never admit it to anyone, but that night had provided her with the most comforting night’s sleep she had ever had.
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Lily woke abruptly at the sudden lack of warmth around her midriff. Keeping her eyes shut, she stretched her right arm out behind her, wondering idly where she was. Her outstretched fingers brushed against a thin piece of fabric and she hastily retracted her arm. With her heart palpitating in fear, Lily slowly opened her eyes, though somewhat reluctantly. Deciding that prolonging the fear of the unknown would be worse, Lily quickly rolled over on the sofa to find herself surprised beyond belief when the sight of a fairly muscular back danced in front of her eyes. She gulped, hoping that the back didn’t belong to who she thought it did. In trepidation she began to let her gaze roam up from the back, to the shoulders, to the neck and then finally to the messy mop of black hair on top of the figure’s head.
Lily gasped involuntarily, bringing her hand up in front of her mouth in despair. Oh God. How could this have happened? She knew that they had both been unbelievably tired, but still. How could she have let this happen? She never coped well when in close proximity to James just lately; she would become flustered and her cheeks would flush, but she had still kept telling herself that it meant nothing.
James was breathing deeply and rhythmically. He was clearly still fast asleep, although Lily couldn’t see his face from where she lay. She quickly became fixated on just watching the steady rise and fall of his chest, and when James shifted slightly in his sleep, Lily couldn’t help but notice a gentle rippling of his shoulder muscles. She breathed in deeply, taking in the intoxicating smell of James’ aftershave as well as the smell of freshly mown grass, which always seemed to surround James in waves. He was gorgeous; there was simply no denying it. Lily had always acknowledged this fact, but she had never seemed to acknowledge the little tug she would feel in the region of her solar plexus whenever she laid eyes on him, not until recently anyway. Could she really be so uncharacteristically reckless and grab a hold of the very thing she had wanted since the end of their sixth year of Hogwarts? Was she ready to accept the fact that James Potter was simply meant to hold a firm place within her heart?
She came to from her reverie with a guilty start, when she realised that her fingers were trailing lightly up and down James’ spine, and her stomach felt taut with a sudden longing, just like it always did when she was in James’ presence. With a heavy sigh, Lily retracted her fingers from James’ back and closed her eyes, trying desperately to free her mind of its traitorous wanderings.
“I hope you realise and appreciate,” murmured James almost inaudibly, “what incredible self-control I’ve been exercising for the past few minutes.”
Lily let out a shriek and sprang away from him as if she had been electrocuted. Shocked to the core and hideously embarrassed to find out that he had been awake the entire time, she turned back over and buried her face in one of the sofa cushions, shuddering with mortification.
Lily heard a gentle rustling from behind her, indicating that James too had now turned over. His fingers lightly touched the top of her arm and she felt her skin prickle in response. “I didn’t say stop,” James pointed out gently.
Lily, her head still buried in the cushion, couldn’t speak, and even when James began to trace his fingers over her arm in light circles, she remained utterly rigid, not daring to respond. Her heart was beating furiously again, this time not from fear but anticipation.
“In case you’re interested,” continued James, his tone almost conversational, “I would rate those very same few minutes as the very best of my entire life.”
“Shut up!” squeaked Lily, almost wishing she were dead. James made no reply, but instead he allowed his fingers to lightly explore the sensitive skin at the back of her neck. Lily could feel her tension leaving her. Who knew James Potter could be so delicate?
After what seemed like an age, in which the two just lay together in silence, James’ fingers stopped their activity, and he pulled Lily around to face him. He gazed earnestly at her and asked tentatively, “Lily, where does all this leave us?”
Lily gazed deeply into his eyes as she pondered this question, and the love that she saw reflected in them made her stomach do an almighty somersault. “James, I like you, I mean, I really like you, or at least I’m beginning to.” A look of pure happiness flickered across James’ face at her words. “But-“
“-it’s too soon,” James finished for her sensitively.
“I’m sorry, James,” she whispered, and she truly was.
“Hey,” replied James, seeming to take this news in his stride. “I’ve waited seven years for you; I think I can wait a little bit longer.”
Lily smiled at him, feeling immensely crushed at what she had just done. “I really am sorry.”
He smiled lovingly at her. “Believe me, you liking me is more than enough for now.” And with that he leaned over her and kissed her lightly on the end of the nose, before jumping up off the sofa and finally climbing the stairs to bed.
Lily gazed after him longingly, her heart still beating frantically inside her chest.
Things Aren't Always Black and White by padfootsgirl1981
Chapter Notes: Hi Guys! Chapter Eight has come your way! Okay, a huge thanks once again goes to star_falling13 and to my new second beta h_vic! With that done, I produce Chapter Eight, enjoy!
Chapter Endnotes: And I think I’ll leave you with that :D. Let the squealing begin ;). What do you think of that then, kiddies? Hmm, hmm? The inspiration for the whole Lily and James scenario came from one of my favourite chick lit writers, Jill Mansell, in particular her book called Solo. Thanks so much for reading! Please take the time to review :D!