At Madam Pomfrey’s insistence that James needed to rest, Lily left the hospital wing in good spirits. Though James was injured, he seemed like he would was going to be alright and the past couple hours they spent talking and laughing erased Lily’s previous anxiety.
When she returned to the common room, she was pleased to see Olivia talking with the burly Gryffindor beater, wearing a flirtatious smile. When she met Lily’s eyes, Olivia jumped slightly and then walked over to meet her.
“Do you know where James is? I haven’t seen him all day and I’m starting to get worried.”
“Sure you are,” Lily thought to herself then added out loud, “He’s in the hospital wing, but it’s nothing too serious.”
“Oh, no,” Olivia gasped, clasping a hand to her mouth. “I’d better go see him.”
“Oh, no, don’t go,” Lily said almost too quickly. “I just left because he was really tired. He’ll probably be asleep by the time you get there.”
Olivia shrugged. “Then I’ll just go in the morning.”
As Lily sat down at a round table to start her homework, she smirked to herself. James had just told her that if Olivia ever did come to visit, he would be pretend to be asleep.
“She’s getting really annoying, lately,” James had said with a sigh.
A couple of days passed and James still had not been released from the hospital wing. However, Lily made sure to stop by every day to bring him his homework, see how he was feeling, and to talk.
On the morning of the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch match, James was especially irritated at still being stuck in the hospital wing.
“Ugh, how do all our professors expect me to write countless essays when I’m hurt?” James complained when Lily dropped the load of books and papers onto the table next to his bed.
“You’ve got extensions. That’s more than Remus has and he’s still sick from the transformation,” Lily pointed out.
“Yeah, but at least he can still go to the match…” James answered, looking out the window, longingly. He let out a heavy sigh and then looked at Lily with a small crooked smile. “I’m sorry I’m being a pain today. I’m making you miss the match too.”
“No, you’re not making me miss it,” Lily replied and her tone was sincere. “I’d rather be in here than outside. And it’s really cold today anyways.”
James turned back to the window. “True.”
Lily noticed the gloom in his eyes and pointed to his books in hopes of distracting him. “Let’s get started on the Potions essay. I did most of mine after I left here last night so you can use mine as a reference.”
James made a face as he stared down at his blank parchment. “Lily, do we have to do homework right now? You made me do the entire Charms paper last night. And it’s Saturday. Don’t I get a little time off?”
Lily was about to insist that he write his essay, but he was right”he did have extra time. There went that distraction, though she wasn’t terribly disappointed. She didn’t feel like spending their time together doing homework, either.
“Fine,” Lily responded. “Then what do you want to do?”
James glanced around the empty hospital wing and then his hazel eyes met hers. He kept looking at her until her waiting expression turned into a grin. “I’m going to break it off with Olivia,” he said quietly. Even after he said it, he did not look away from her.
Lily could not find her voice. As she thought of how to respond, James placed his hand on top of hers and gave her an encouraging smile. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Why?”
James looked confused. “Why am I breaking up with her? Isn’t it obvious?”
“I thought you liked Olivia,” Lily said, calmly.
“I did…but when I thought we could never happen. I was stupid to let it go on for so long. But you have to understand; I was never certain how much you fancied me…so I kept her around.”
He looked into her eyes earnestly and intertwined their fingers. “These past few days, she’s only come in once, and she’s supposed to be my girlfriend. And you…” He looked down at their clasped hands. “You visit about twice a day and stay for hours to make sure I don’t get lonely. Even Sirius, Remus, and Peter don’t stay that long….Of course they have lives of their own,” James smirked, gazing into her eyes.
Lily raised her eyebrows and withdrew her hand.
“I’m kidding,” he chuckled, finding her hand again. He took a deep breath and looked down. “And I just…after that night in the Room of Requirement, I told myself I would never say it to you again; to save myself from rejection. But…after all that has happened between us, I’m more certain than ever.” James met her eyes again and squeezed her hand. “I love you, Lily.”
Without having to think about it, the words came easily to her lips. “I love you too, James.”
Then in the bright light of the hospital wing, Lily leaned forward towards James, causing her Potions essay to slip from her lap. But before their lips met, the door opened and several noisy second years burst into the room. Lily and James quickly pulled away, making a point not to look at one another.
While Madam Pomfrey busied over the small boy with the bloody nose, the two other children looked over at Lily and James, curiously. Lily quickly pulled her hand away from James’ and bent down to pick up her Potions essay from the floor.
“James Potter?” asked the tallest second year.
“Yeah, that’s me,” James replied.
“You’re Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, right?”
“Yes.”
The boy flushed and his shorter friend spoke for him. “He wants to know if he can play on the Gryffindor team, even though he’s in Ravenclaw.”
The taller boy shoved his friend’s shoulder and added, “Well, they just won the Quidditch game. Of course I want to be on their team. Ravenclaw doesn’t stand a chance against them now.”
“What?” James asked, excitedly. “We won?” He turned to Lily, grinning wide.
The shorter boy looked at James. “Oh, well you wouldn’t know, I suspect. Yeah, your team just won. By a lot, too”three hundred to fifty.”
“Yes!” James shouted. When he was done with his victory dance, he turned to the school nurse. “Madam Pomfrey, I’ve been stuck in here for days. Could you release me for the after party? Please? Gryffindor’s just won!”
After the nurse saw the second years out the door, she walked over to James. “Now, Potter. I can’t have you overexerting yourself.”
“I won’t, I promise.”
Madam Pomfrey sighed. “Well, I was going to wait until later today, just to ensure you’ve fully recovered. But…if you promise to take it easy, I guess I don’t see why you can’t leave now.”
James’ eyes widened at the good news. “Thank you so much.” As he climbed out of the bed, James took Lily’s hand but before they could go anywhere, Madam Pomfrey stopped them.
“Hold on, Potter. Let me give you one more goblet of potion before you go,” she insisted and while she crossed the room to a counter to prepare the potion, James wrapped his arm around Lily.
“Glad to be out?” she asked him.
“Yes, definitely.” He gave her a smile. “Sorry the moment was ruined earlier.”
Lily shrugged. “It’s us. Nothing is ever easy for us. Of course the moment was ruined.”
James laughed. “Well, I’ve waited seven years for you. A little longer won’t hurt. Besides, I’ve still got to talk to Olivia.” He made a face.
Madam Pomfrey returned, holding a small goblet of potion.
“Drink up and then you may leave. Just be careful on the staircases,” she advised, giving James and Lily a warm smile.
*****
When James and Lily returned to the common room, they were received with a warm welcoming.
“James!” Sirius exclaimed, clapping James on the back.
“It’s great to have you back, Prongs,” Remus interjected, giving him a hug.
“We won, James!” Peter cried.
“And it was an unbelievable game,” Andy added.
“You should have seen Meredith, Lily,” Sirius gloated, looking proudly at the girl on his other side. “She scored about ten of our goals!”
“It wasn’t that many,” Meredith countered.
But Sirius didn’t stop. “Don’t listen to her. She’s just being modest. She scored at least eight or nine,” he announced, wrapping an arm around Meredith’s shoulder.
As they walked further into the room, Lily saw Kelly glance down at her hand in James’. When their eyes met, Kelly gave Lily a knowing smile. “I told you it would happen,” she said, softly.
Over Kelly’s shoulder, Lily saw Olivia sitting on the couch with the brawny Gryffindor Beater, twirling a strand of her hair and giggling. When Lily’s eyes returned to James, she caught his eye.
“I’ll go talk to her,” he said, giving her hand a squeeze.
“So, Lily,” Meredith said as soon as James had left.
“How did it happen?” Kelly asked, rounding on her, too.
Lily sighed. “Well, it’s still not official…” She went on to explain everything to her friends.
“That’s great, Lily,” Kelly said when Lily finished. She sighed and her eyes wandered over to where Andy stood with the other Marauders.
Lily couldn’t help noticing the gloomy expression on Kelly’s face. “How has it been going with Andy?” Lily asked, vaguely recalling the big argument Kelly and Andy had early that week. Unfortunately, it looked to Lily like they still hadn’t worked it out.
“Not so well. I can’t even remember what our fight was about. All I know is that he won’t even look at me,” Kelly sobbed.
“That’s not true,” Lily argued. She herself had seen Andy sneaking glances over at Kelly over the last few minutes. But whenever Kelly looked over, he immediately became very interested in what the Marauders were saying.
“Stop trying to make me feel better, Lily. I just feel…” Kelly stopped talking as James walked over.
“Hey Kelly, Meredith,” he said, nodding to Lily’s friends. “Lily, do you want to…” He jerked his head towards the portrait hole. “…go for a walk with me?”
“Uhh…James, Kelly is upset. You wouldn’t mind if I stayed with her, would you?”
“No, Lily. Don’t stay because of me,” Kelly protested.
“Yeah, Lily,” Meredith said.
But Lily only shook her head. “No. It’s alright. I haven’t spent much time with you in a while.” Then to James she said, “Can I meet you here tonight after dinner, say around eight?”
James’ mouth curved up into a crooked smile. “Sure. Like we do for patrolling?”
Lily nodded. “See you then.”
After James went to join Andy and the other Marauders, Lily turned back to her friends, still smiling to herself.
“First real date with James, huh?” Meredith asked.
“Yeah.” Then she sighed, looking around the room.
Olivia was now wrapped around her newest boyfriend on the couch.
“Do you want to go upstairs?” Meredith asked.
Kelly and Lily nodded.
As they started towards the stairs, Lily saw a glimpse of a girl curled up in an armchair in the far corner of the room, looking lonely and forlorn. Lily thought nothing of it at first but then she recognized the long ebony hair.
“Hey, is that Amber?” she asked, turning to Meredith.
Without looking, Meredith shrugged and continued up the stairs. Lily tried to get a better look of her roommate but the view was blocked by people. Telling herself that it was probably nothing, Lily climbed the steps up to the girls’ dormitories.
Once they were upstairs, Lily flopped onto her bed.
“So what’s new with you guys?” Looking up she saw Kelly sitting on her bed, arms around her knees, looking a little upset. “Besides your problems with Andy,” she added.
Meredith, who was sitting on the end of Kelly’s bed with her legs crossed, smiled at Lily. “A lot has happened, actually. We just haven’t had the chance to talk since you’ve been cooped up in the hospital wing with James.”
“I’m sorry about that. I just””
“It’s okay, Lily. Really. We understand.” Meredith glanced at Kelly, who was staring out the window, looking miserable. “I understand.” A wide smile spread across her face. “Sirius …he told me he loved me last night.”
“Oh, that’s great, Meredith!” Lily said, getting up to hug her friend. Then her gaze fell on Kelly again. “We shouldn’t be talking about this,” Lily told Meredith, quietly.
Meredith nodded. “Well, that’s all I really had to say about that. But did I tell you? My older sister wrote to me and she’s pregnant. I’m going to be an aunt!”
Lily and Meredith spent the next half hour or so updating each other on everything that had been happening in their lives. After that, Kelly started to talk and before long was joking and laughing along with Lily and Meredith. As the afternoon wore on, the girls took out magazines and nail polish, ignoring the everlasting pile of homework that they still had to complete.
However, when Kelly was in the middle of explaining why she preferred the lead singer of one wizard band to that of another, their delightful afternoon was interrupted.
Their roommates, Alice Brown and Marlene McKinnon were escorting a sobbing girl into the room. Lily recognized Amber instantly.
“What happened?” cried Kelly. She rose from the bed, toppling a bottle of nail polish across a magazine, and went to give Amber a hug.
While Alice helped Amber pack up her things, Marlene turned to Kelly, Meredith, and Lily, looking grim. “Her parents were found dead this morning,” she explained, quietly.
Lily gasped and put a hand to her mouth.
“Is Amber leaving?” Meredith asked.
Marlene nodded. “She’s going to live with her grandparents. They want to keep her close.”
“That’s terrible,” Lily whispered, slowly shaking her head.
“Do you know who did it?” Kelly asked.
Marlene shrugged. “Death Eaters, probably. Amber’s parents were Aurors and apparently caused them some trouble.”
As Kelly slowly nodded, taking in the information, Marlene turned back to help gather Amber’s things.
*****
Dinner was quiet that evening. Lily sat with Meredith and Kelly, who still objected to sitting near Andy, but they all were too consumed with their own thoughts to talk. After only a few minutes of eating, Lily felt full and began moving her food around her plate. As she did this, her eyes wandered down the table towards where James was sitting a little ways down the table with his friends. He caught her eye and smiled at her and her mood instantly lifted.
When they returned to the Gryffindor Tower, Lily and her friends sat down at a round table to do the homework that they had avoided earlier in the afternoon. However, after a while Sirius came to ask Meredith to go to the library with him to “study” and not long after that, Andy asked to talk with Kelly alone.
Lily saw that he looked sheepishly down at his feet when he spoke and she placed her hand on Kelly’s shoulder, encouragingly.
“It’ll be fine, Kelly,” she whispered as her friend rose from her seat.
When she was finally alone, Lily finished the conclusion of her Defense Against the Dark Arts essay and then leaned back in her chair with a sigh. Across the room, she saw James look up from his textbook and give her a small smile. Then he rose from his chair and came to sit across from her at the table.
“How are you?” she asked, twisting her quill between her fingers.
“Not too bad,” James replied. “A little bored. Potions is not the most exciting subject.”
Lily raised an eyebrow. “Oh, are you just starting that essay I wanted you to do this morning?”
“Yeah.” He reached for her hand across the table.
“I said you could use mine as a reference.”
He shrugged. “Thanks, but I’ll probably do it later anyways.”
“Alright.” Lily’s eyes wandered across the room and she sighed heavily.
James squeezed her hand. “It’s still a bit early, but do you want to head out now? I know I’m not going to do any more work tonight.”
“Okay,” she said, withdrawing her hand and rising from the chair.
“Wait.” His hand found her shoulder. “Grab your jacket and gloves.”
Lily gave him a puzzled look. “We’re going outside?”
James grinned. “I changed my mind about what I wanted to do tonight.”
A few minutes later, they set off together down the corridor, hand in hand, both carrying their winter jackets.
“So, do you think I’ll like this place you’re taking me?” Lily asked.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” James replied, continuing down the stairs.
“Have I been there before?” Lily persisted.
James turned to look at her. “I can’t tell you that. Don’t you want to be surprised?”
After that, Lily kept quiet until James brought her into the Entrance Hall. “Are you sure we should really be going outside, James?” Lily asked, her Head-Girl sense flashing.
“Don’t worry about it, Lily,” James said, pushing open the great doors. “You’re with me. I’ll keep you safe. Besides, I have my Invisibility Cloak in case we come across anybody.”
When they stepped out onto the grounds, Lily glanced around, nervously, but James simply laughed.
“Nothing is going to happen,” James insisted. Then, he let go of her hand, put on his coat, helped her into hers, and before her eyes, transformed into a magnificent stag. Though he could not talk, the stag looked as though he were laughing at her agape mouth.
“Yeah, yeah. I know I’ve seen you like this before. But it still amazes me,” she said, stroking the stag’s nose. He leaned into her hand and closed his eyes before kneeling down for her to climb on his back.
Lily hesitated and then climbed on. As he started to stand up again, she felt off balance and leaned forward to cling onto the stag’s neck.
“I’m not too heavy, am I?” Lily asked, quietly.
In response, the stag snorted and then took off galloping. This ride was longer than the ride James had given her when she had accidentally stumbled upon the Marauders at the full moon. Cold wind rushed through her hair and she closed her eyes so she would not get frightened, or sick.
Eventually, the stag slowed to a trot and then stopped altogether. When Lily opened her eyes, she saw the Shrieking Shack in the distance through the trees. Sliding off, Lily blinked her eyes a few times to reorient herself and then gasped.
They were on the ledge that James had showed her a couple months ago in Hogsmeade”the ledge that overlooked the beautiful surrounding scenery of Hogwarts. Except that, instead of the colorful trees and patches of wildflowers that had been there before, the entire valley was covered in a smooth, untouched blanket of snow.
“Oh, James. It’s breath-taking!” She turned from the view to see the human James, wearing a wide grin.
“I’m glad you like it,” he said, coming to stand beside her.
Suddenly there came a chilly gust of wind and Lily involuntarily shuddered even with her coat on.
“I know, it’s cold tonight,” James said, wrapping his arms around her.
“That’s alright. This view is worth it.”
James smiled back at her. “How about this?” he asked, conjuring a large blanket out of thin air and laying it down on top of the snow.
“What’s that for?” Lily asked, suspiciously.
He shrugged innocently as he sat down on the blanket. “It’s a clear night. I thought you might want to look at the stars.”
Lily sat down on the blanket next to him and looked up at the sky. As James had said, there was hardly a cloud in the sky and she could see countless stars.
“Boy, if I could have had this kind of a night when I was doing my Astronomy O.W.L…”
James laughed and took her hand. “Didn’t you get an Outstanding on it though?”
“Well, yes. But it would have been so much easier...” She trailed off and looked at James who had long taken his eyes away from the stars.
“Thank you so much for bringing me here tonight, James,” she said quietly.
His responding smile stretched from ear to ear. “You’re welcome, Lily.”
They stared into each other’s eyes for what felt like a long time. Then, instinctively, Lily leaned forward towards James, and slowly closed her eyes. Without interruption and without having to sort through her thoughts, their lips met.
Immediately, James pulled back to see how Lily would react, but she gave him an encouraging smile and pressed her lips to his again.
James’ lips were soft and warm and moved gently against hers. As the kiss slowly intensified, he wrapped his arms around her waist and she brought her hand up to his cheek. As she explored his mouth, he pulled her closer to him and she could not understand why they had waited until their seventh year. Why had she been so blind before now?
James was finished kissing before she was and when he broke away he was wearing a big smile. “That should have been our first kiss, Lily.”
Memories of that night in the Room of Requirement came back to Lily and she looked at James, sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”
James leaned in to kiss her softly. “Don’t worry about it.”
When Lily tried to kiss him back, James held up a hand. “Let’s not go too fast. Besides, I brought you here to look at the stars.” He flashed her a crooked smile and lay down on the blanket. Lily lay down as well and snuggled up next to James to look up at the sky.
“I can’t believe there are so many stars,” Lily said, softly. “Kind of makes you feel small and insignificant, doesn’t it?”
“Maybe small, but I wouldn’t say insignificant…not when I’m with you.” He found her hand again and gave it a squeeze.
Lily smiled to herself at James’ response but did not say anything. They were quiet for the next couple minutes, enjoying the stars and each other’s presence.
Finally, Lily broke the silence. “So, I’ve been wondering for a while…why did you do it?”
James turned to look at her, confused. “Why did I do what?”
Lily flushed a little, embarrassed for asking the sudden question.
“All these years…you’ve been professing your love to me since first year,” she explained. “You can’t possibly have loved me in the first year. So, why did you bother?” Even though they were alone, Lily found herself whispering.
“Well, I didn’t love you,” James said simply.
“Ouch.”
“Well, not in the first year. Like you thought, it was a game to me at first. I thought you were pretty in first year and Sirius made a bet with me. He said I couldn’t get you to go out with me and, naturally, I took on the challenge. About halfway through third year, Sirius told me to give it a rest. But, knowing me, I was an arrogant, stubborn, git””
“You can stop calling yourself names, James. I get it.”
He gave her a small smile and continued.
“Well, anyways, I still thought I could get you and you struck my interest because not only were you pretty, but you didn’t fall for my charm like other girls did. But, eventually, around the end of fifth year, I realized that it wasn’t a game anymore. You were not some prize to be won. You were this amazing girl that I had fallen in love with and couldn’t have. I ended up giving up hope of having you a couple times and figured I’d try to grow up instead. And then seventh year came around, and here we are…”
Lily felt a lump form in her throat as James finished speaking. She had never imagined that James had actually loved her for the past two years. All of his crazy attempts to get her attention or proclaim his feelings had been real; or at least since fifth year they had been. That also explained why he had been so distant from her at the beginning of the year. He had given up on her.
“Thank you for telling me that, James,” Lily said, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek.
“You’re welcome,” he replied.
She let out a long sigh. “I just can’t believe that it took me so long to realize how great a guy you really are.”
“Well, remember, I was a complete prat for the longest time,” James pointed out. “Don’t put all the blame on yourself.”
They laid there in silence for a long time and James was so still that Lily thought he might have gone to sleep. Then, there came another cold gust of wind and Lily moved even closer to James, burying her face in his chest. After it had passed, James started to sit up.
“What are you doing?” Lily asked.
“It’s getting colder, and windy. We should probably be heading back.”
Lily began to pout. “But I don’t want to leave.”
“We can come back again another time, maybe when it’s warmer.”
“It’s not too cold,” she argued but as soon as the words left her mouth, another gust of wind whipped by and Lily relented.
James transformed into a stag again and he galloped back to the castle, faster than he had ever gone before. When they arrived at the doors to the Entrance Hall, Lily clumsily slipped off and ran a hand through her windswept hair.
“Were you showing off?” she asked the now human James.
James grinned and gathered her into his arms. “Maybe a little.”
Lily shook her head at him. “And Madam Pomfrey told you to take it easy.”
They walked hand in hand back to Gryffindor Tower and when they arrived back in the common room it was still early enough for a few people to be left studying at the round tables. Lily brought him to the girls’ staircase and stood on the first step.
“Goodnight, James,” she whispered, kissing him softly on the lips. “Thanks for a great night.”
He caught her hands in his and locked his hazel, smoldering eyes on her. “You’re welcome,” he replied, his mouth turning up into a grin. “I love you, Lils.” As James said the words that made her heart skip a beat she could hear the deep sincerity behind them. Immediately, she couldn’t help but mirror his grin and the words came naturally to her lips.
“I love you, too.” With a final squeeze of her hands, James released her and Lily ascended the stairs, hardly conscious of where she was placing her feet. She was in love and for the first time in quite a while she felt complete.
More than Meets the Eye by lilybobily7
Chapter Notes: Disclaimer: This world and the characters in it belong to JKR.
Also, there is a line borrowed from Jacob Black from Stephenie Meyer's Eclipse in this chapter. The chapter title was an idea from New Moon as well.
This chapter is...well, I shouldn't say anything. I'll just let you all read it and see what you think. ;)
Chapter Endnotes: Comments? I know most of you have been waiting for this chapter for a long time now. Any thoughts about it? Did it live up to your expectations?
I'd love to hear your opinions! =]
Always, ~Julia~