#jily:fic
Text
It’s the Unmistakable (1/2)
Lily finds that being stuck in a bathroom at a party isn't always a bad thing.
Read on AO3, 6581 words
There’s someone puking when Lily runs into the toilets. She’s desperately trying not to cry, her hands are shaking as she kicks open one of the stalls. The toilet lid is already down, and she wills herself not to think about what’s most likely underneath the seat as she plops onto it and rests her head in her hands.
The doors open again, supposedly a friend of the girl whose face is currently in one of the sinks. There’s a rather sympathetic sigh, followed shortly by a ‘ oh Miranda ’. A retch, giggles, the sound of them taking a selfie and then there’s the scuffle of high heels against the marble flooring.
The two of them leave, the doors open and the deafening sound of the bass, mixed with drunken screams and shouts, set Lily’s teeth on edge. The doors close and there’s silence once more, apart from the heavy buzz of the broken air conditioning and the dull echo of the party from behind the toilet’s thin walls.
Lily hates crying. But she can’t help it at a time like this, all she wants is to get out of this hell-hole.
She picks out her phone from her bag and calls her number one on speed dial, but it’s not Mary MacDonald who answers.
“Mary’s phone. James speaking.”
“You’re not Mary,” is the first thing Lily says with a sniffle. She lifts her legs to her chest, leans back against the wall and closes her eyes.
“Nope, thank God. She’s currently um… er, occupied - shall we say - with my flatmate. Did you need her?”
Lily hiccups and that seems to release an avalanche of emotions all at once. She lets out a laugh, and after five seconds there are tears running down her cheeks.
“Wait are you - are you crying?” The poor stranger named James sounds very shocked and concerned.
She breaks off some toilet paper and blows her nose. “No.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
She can hear the smile in his voice, the soft like honey kind of tone that makes you feel all warm, happy and fuzzy inside. She even smiles herself, forgetting her huge mess even if it’s only for a few seconds. His voice is the nicest voice she’s heard all day.
He shuffles, maybe moves the phone closer to his ear because there’s a rustling sound, and when he breathes out it sounds like he’s right next to her.
She can’t help the little goosebumps that appear on her arms, the shiver that goes up her spine and the little butterflies that annoyingly flutter about all the way from her toes to her fingertips.
“Are you okay?”
What an odd question, especially after the night she’s had. She’s about to answer, the words and what on earth she’s going to say still jumbling about in her head, when he curses and speaks again.
“I’m sorry, that was really-” Another curse word, then silence. “Of course you’re not.” He lets out a sigh. “Er, Mary and Sirius have been gone for - God knows how long. But if you just give me a sec I’ll hand you over right now to her. I’ll bloody break down Sirius’ door if I have to.”
That’s what he seems to do, a few minutes later. There’s a knock, then his voice shouting ‘I’m coming in’ before a door kicks open. A shriek, two shrieks. Three shrieks, James screaming about ‘INDECENCY’ and ‘YOU DIDN’T EVEN LOCK THE DOOR’ and, lastly, ‘I’M LITERALLY A DOOR AWAY AND YOU’RE DOING THAT ’.
“Is that my phone?” Lily hears Mary ask, after the whole commotion has died down. Mary’s still laughing slightly as she takes the phone.
“It said ‘Flower’ as the caller ID.” James says. His voice rings out, still soft, still special and getting under her skin. “She’s crying.” She can’t help but smile at the tone of his voice, it’s remarkable how soothing it is listening to him.
“Lils, are you okay? What happened?”
At the sound of her friend’s voice, Lily can’t help but start crying again. “Er, can you - can you come and pick me up? Please.”
“Of course- ”
“Martin and I broke up.”
She’s seeing stars, her head hurts and her tongue is burning in her throat. She closes her eyes again and tries to count calmly to ten.
“Oh Lily, I’m sorry… but were you two even going out properly?”
“Well we definitely aren’t now, I saw him making out with Stacey.”
“He didn’t-”
“Yeah and so I mean - he was the one who brought me to this damned party and I thought he really liked me-”
“God, what a dick-”
“And I was kind of spying on them and twisted my ankle and fell into the pool-”
She feels so… stupid , crying about it. But it was really embarrassing and the entire party witnessed her humiliating ordeal. All she wants right now is her best friend.
“Say no more,” Mary says, slamming her free hand onto what must be a table because there’s a big SMACK sound. “We’re coming, right now - okay?”
“I’ll get a spare jacket-” There’s a scrape of a chair, someone running and a door closing with a bang.
Lily sniffs again and pulls at more tissue, now dabbing at her eyes and nose. “We?”
Mary lets out a shaky breath, and Lily can almost see the little hand-movement her best friend does when she’s nervous, twisting a lock of hair around her fingers and biting on her bottom lip.
“I’m so sorry Lils... but I’m at Sirius’s, and he only has that motorbike. James is the only one with a car right now-”
“Oh,” She blows her nose and dabs at her eyes again.
Mascara drips onto the tissue and, from what she can gather by squinting at the small reflection of herself in the toilet dispenser, she has mascara-coloured tear streaks running all down her face. “They don’t mind coming?”
“On the contrary, Lily- ” Sirius’s voice shouts down the phone. “ James and I would love to give that Martin guy a piece of our mind.”
“He’s already left.”
“Then we’ll happily hunt him down and-” Sirius begins.
“Or - we’ll be so quiet you won’t even notice we’re there,” James cuts in. The butterflies are back. “We’ll give you and Mary time to talk and we won’t be in your way - at all.”
His entire being is like sunshine; sunshine that breaks out from the clouds just after it’s been dull and rainy. The sky gets that little bit brighter, you feel your heart being uplifted and you want to just stare and wait for the sun to come back because it feels like home.
“I don’t mind at all-”
“Lily,” Mary says. There’s a symphony of car doors slamming together in unison, the rustle of engine and then the crackle of the radio tuning in. “We’re in the car, okay? I’ll stay on the whole time and let you know when we’re there.”
“Okay,”
“It’s like a twenty minute drive, but James says he doesn’t mind getting a speeding ticket. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes, ish.”
“Good, because I really need to get out of these clothes. I stink of wee.”
There’s a few seconds pause, and then Mary whispers, as politely as she can. “You have urine on you?”
Lily regrets it instantly. “It’s not mine!”
“Oh my God - Lily, that doesn’t make it sound any better.” Mary lets out a sigh , then laughs.
“Don’t laugh-”
“I’m sorry, Lils but that’s both hilarious and gross. Is it okay if I give James your address too? Or do you want to come back with us.”
All she can think about is getting away. But, for some reason, James’s voice echoes back into her mind. The softness, the homely, happy feeling. “I really don’t want to be alone right now. Can you ask if it’s okay if I-”
Lily can hear the smile in Mary’s voice. “James says you’re most welcome to stay. And that he was going to kick Sirius and I out if we left you alone.”
The door opens, and the roar of the party sinks into the room. There’s small footsteps, and the door shuts.
“Lily?” Mary calls out a little hesitantly.
She attempts to kick at her door, but her legs are too short and so she ends up falling off the toilet, smashing onto the floor on her bottom and practically inhaling a dirty piece of used tissue.
“Here,” she grumbles, waving her hand under the half open door. She doesn’t even have the energy to stand right now.
“James and Sirius are outside,” Mary says with a small sigh as she helps Lily stand to her feet. “Can you manage?”
“If I walk really, really slowly.”
Mary’s slightly smaller than her, but manages to wrap her arms around Lily’s shoulders and assists her to the mirror.
“I look horrific.” Lily says with a grimace, patting her cheeks in horror when she sees her reflection.
“You look like you’ve had fifty shots, Lils.” For a second Mary looks like one of those teachers who have just marked your homework and have that disappointed look on their face. Then her expression softens, the hand on her hip falls and she just looks heartbroken at the state of her best friend.
“Come here.” Mary pulls Lily onto the side cabinet, hoisting her up and shuffles in between her legs. She grabs tissues and wets them slightly under the hot tap before grabbing Lily’s face with her spare hand.
“You’re really pretty Mary,”
“I know. Now be still.”
“That kinda hurts, y’know.”
Mary’s scrunches up her face in concentration. “Do you want to look like a panda? Hold still, I’m almost done.”
Two minutes later Lily wobbles out of the toilets, hanging onto Mary like a monkey. Sirius is waiting outside, leaning on the wall all modelesque in his timberland boots and double denim attire. He looks up, gives Lily a once over and then grins.
“Will you be alright to the car?” he asks.
“Crystal clear,” she says with a nod. “But I’m just going to-” She leans onto the wall, kicks off her shoes and then, sighing happily, mutters out “that’s better”.
Sirius lets out a laugh, and wafts the air around him slightly with his hand. “Evans,” he says with a grin. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you quite so drunk.”
“Neither have I,” Mary says with a slight roll of her eyes. “You just had to go and get absolutely wasted at the party I wasn’t going to, didn’t you?”
Lily’s too busy nodding to notice when they finally set off walking, but she soon realises when she’s tripping over Mary’s feet and tumbling to the floor like jelly.
“I mean - who has their party at an event hall? We’re not in high school anymore!”
Mary and Sirius try their hardest not to laugh, but when Lily starts snorting the three of them are a giddy mess. It takes an awful amount of effort before they eventually exit the front door and walk down the entrance gardens.
She can hear the car before she sees it; the roar of a very, very old engine and Don’t Worry Baby by The Beach Boys practically oozing out of old, worn speakers.
She’s lost in the music of the song, her mind fuzzy and heavy. She hears the sound of car doors opening, a hand on her shoulder guiding her into the car, the fastening of seat belts, car doors closing.
“We ready to go?” asks the voice of someone.
A soft voice. Kind, sweet and delicate, like honey she has on toast in the mornings. She’s heard it before, she’s sure of it. She can’t remember where, but it’s a nice voice.
It’s his voice. Despite the fuzziness in her eyes, she turns straight to it like a moth to a flame. Like trying to find light in a room of darkness. But then she sees it. He’s staring at her from the rear-view mirror.
Bright hazel eyes glance her way, hair that sticks up like candy floss gone wrong, like a cloud that’s turned inside out. It’s wild - and yet it’s so, so unequivocally him . It’s him, it’s what makes him him . And Lily wouldn’t have it any other way.
He gives her a small smile and then the car sets off.
“Do you want some water?” Mary asks, she reaches over to turn down Lily’s window and is already passing her a bottle of water before even getting an answer.
The water’s gone in half a second. “I’m never drinking again,” she says after glugging it down.
“Not without me, anyhow.” Sirius laughs, turning slightly from his seat in the front to give her a wink. Then he gives her a salute and tosses her a small bundle that falls into her lap.
“Crackers,” Mary says, helping her unfold the beeswax wraps (that Sirius was most adamant about buying, claiming that if he wanted to save the world he might as well start somewhere) to produce three delicious Jacob’s crackers.
Once the crackers are finished, and now she’s got a bit of food and non alcoholic drink in her system, the events of the night slowly begin to sink in.
“I’m never dating again,” her voice is barely a whisper, face covered with her fingers as she tries to hide from view.
Mary lets out a scoff. “Not everyone is like that jerk. You never know, maybe the right one was in front of you all along.”
A generic saying, full of cliche.
And yet, as she reaches out her hand to itch the top of her head, her eyes stray forward.
Those hazel eyes meet hers once more, and James must have not expected it to happen in the least, because his beautiful, bright eyes widen, his luscious cheeks redden and he mutters out a swear word as he swerves the car, running through a red light.
“Nice one, mate.”
She can still see his red cheeks from the mirror, the way his jaw clenches as he gives Sirius a glare. “Shut up, I didn’t even notice it. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Who am I? Your driving instructor?”
“The backseat driver.”
“Very funny.”
She must have dozed off at some point, no doubt drooling on Mary’s shoulder, because someone starts shaking her shoulder, calling out her name. She wakes instantly, eyes opening to find James’s face directly in front of her.
“Crap, sorry.” He pulls back, left hand shooting up to mess with his hair. “You’re a really deep sleeper.”
He’s got a jacket in his right hand, and he awkwardly shoves it towards her. When she takes it, mumbling a timid and sleepy thank you, his hands goes straight into his jean pockets and he looks incredibly unsure of what on earth he’s supposed to do now.
He rocks up and down on his toes for a second before speaking. “Mary’s just gone to get you some clothes,” he says, jerking his hand to the set of small but smart looking apartments in front of them. “She’s been here so much lately she’s practically moved in.”
“She’s really happy with Sirius.”
Her seat belt is already unbuckled, so she swings her legs and wobbles out of the car as smoothly as she can. James has to reach out and balance her, hands holding onto her elbows like she’s a grandma and he’s her walking stick (which, to be honest, she wouldn’t mind him being).
“I’m fine,” she says, refusing to meet his eyes.
All he does is smile as he locks the car, and then they walk side by side towards the flat. His keys jingle in his hand and when he opens the door they find Mary and Sirius acting very suspicious near the front door.
Sirius’s neck is tinged pink, and Mary shoves his hand away from hers.
Their backs straighten and Mary pulls an arm behind her back. She’s speaking in an instant, like she’s been practicing the line for years.
“I don’t have anything you could wear for bed, Lils,” she says, looking incredibly sad. “Sorry. Maybe, um, James has something? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”
At this, Sirius and Mary turn instantaneously to James. “Right, James?”
“Uh, I probably do?” He says with a slight shrug as he kicks off his shoes, the scruffiest pair of converse she’s ever seen.
“Oh,” Lily clears her throat, and puts down her shoes right next to his. They’re a little crooked, not straight enough, so she bends down to straighten them properly. “It’s okay,” she says to the linen carpeted floor.
“No it’s okay. It’s fine. I think I have something,” she hears him say, he’s already speeding off through one of the doors down the hallway.
When he’s gone Lily lets out a huff and gives Mary a glare. “I can just sleep in this,” she hisses, and tries to stand up, but in the end tumbles back to the floor and has to pull herself up with the help of the wall and shoe rack.
Mary tuts as she watches, and folds her arms against her chest. “Didn’t you say you got urine all over you?” she asks rather smugly, giving Lily a glare that is eagerly returned.
Sirius watches them both with a grin and, after a few seconds, places his hands on Mary’s shoulders and whispers something in her ear. There’s a hint of a grin on her face, that disappears almost as quickly as it comes. She shoots Sirius a nod and he places the softest of kisses on her hand before dropping it.
“We can put your clothes in the wash, Lils.” Sirius raises his voice, just as James emerges from his room with an old football shirt.
“This is the only thing I could find,” he says with a blush, passing it to her with shaky hands. “Sorry.”
The shirt is soft in her hands and there’s a sweet, clean and fresh scent of lemons and peony blossom that swirls around the air, making her dizzy.
“That’s your lucky number,” Sirius raises an eyebrow, eyes drawn in amazement and shock at the number seven on the red and gold shirt.
“It wasn’t that lucky,” James makes a shrug.
“You got scouted-”
James lets out a wild laugh, and scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “That was just luck-” He gives Sirius a glare, a ‘ shut up and stop talking or so help me ’ glare.
“Didn’t you just say there wasn’t any luck?” Sirius grins, giving his now deeply blushing friend a little wink.
“Shut up,” James says with a scowl.
And, just like that, an awkward silence fills the air. Lily can’t look up, because every time she does her eyes are drawn to James like they’re both magnets and he’s pulling her in.
Mary drums her fingers against the wall and bounces on her tiptoes for a few moments. “Tea?”
Everyone murmurs out a hasty ‘yes’ and Mary pushes Lily towards the bathroom.
“I love you and all,” she says as she pushes, “but you stink like a rat’s arse right now.”
James clears his throat, his cough sounding an awful lot like a laugh. “I’ll just go and pop the kettle on.”
“And I’ll just go and,” Sirius points towards the kitchen, twirls his fingers around in the air and scrunches up his lips. “And, uh, clean some cups.”
He runs out of the room and shuts the kitchen door behind him with a click.
“Do I really stink that much?” Lily’s face is still hot, and she places her hands on her cheeks and bangs her head against the wall once then another two times.
James thinks she smells like a rat’s arse, isn’t that great?
All Mary does is watch, looking very amused and happy with herself from the opposite side of the wall. “You know,” she says with a drawl, pretending to suddenly look at her nails in fascination, “this all could have happened weeks ago.”
“What?”
Mary grins and points towards the kitchen. “You know, James Potter staring at you with loving eyes. You getting butterflies from his dashing smile.” She even has the cheek to flutter her eyes, bringing one hand to fan at her face whilst the other rests against her heart.
“There are no butterflies. And definitely no lovey eyes.”
Mary’s smile is so wide, it looks like her face is going to erupt. “You are such a bad liar, you do know that right?” She laughs and opens the door to the bathroom, turns on the light and leans against the wall.
“There’s clean towels in the cupboard, and you can use my stuff if you want.” Then, she lowers her voice to a whisper. “And, just so you know, remember that time I said Sirius had a friend who was obsessed with Doctor Who?”
“Yeah?”
Mary stares at her, rolls her eyes and then makes an exaggerated circle in the air and shoves her arms towards the closed kitchen door.
“Wait - that was James?” Lily blinks.
“Yes . You moron.”
“But you said he was a nerd-”
“He knows morse code ,” Mary says. “Fluently, might I add. He learnt it for fun. ”
“No, I distinctly remember you saying that if he were cake he would be the victoria sponge because you said, and I quote, he had the sweetness of strawberries but not enough tart and cream. What the hell does that even mean?”
“I stand by that-”
Lily lets out a groan. “What did you expect me to say? I thought you were trying to pair me up with a greasy, pokemon collecting nerd who thinks he’s a vampire.”
“But I knew victoria sponge is your favourite,” Mary gasps, appalled. “I also said he did as many sports as he has fingers.” As she says this she thrusts her two hands in Lily’s face, wiggling her fingers frantically. “I said he was nerd, a sports nerd who knows all the lines of Doctor Who. I also said you two would really hit it off. I said that he would be good for you.”
“I thought you were joking.”
Mary throws her hands in the air. “Why would I do that? You were both too darn stubborn to ever meet. Sirius and I have been trying to get you both to meet for freaking ages. Idiots, the pair of you.”
There’s a ginger cat sat in front of the bathroom door once she’s finished. She opens the door and then boom, there it is, staring at her with these giant eyes, its tail swishing about on the carpet and watching her like a hawk.
Her hair is dripping wet, so she’s draped one of Mary’s towels around her shoulders to try and catch some of the droplets. All she’s wearing is James’s flipping football shirt, he’s so tall that the shirt finishes around her mid-thigh and she desperately tries to not make her mind wander. You know - when was the last time he wore it? How long for? What he did after wearing it, or before?
The cat cocks its head slightly to the side and swishes its tail once more, slowly. It’s like it knows exactly what she’s thinking.
“Hello?” she says. “And who might you be?”
The cat looks at her, and then lets out a meow.
Instantly there’s the sound of a chair scraping in the kitchen, frantic footsteps and the door banging open to reveal James holding what looks a cat’s bowl in his hands.
The cat stands up at once, trots up to him and begins purring and twirling around his legs. James crouches down to tickle the cat between its ears, and then must realise he can still hear the sound of the bathroom fan churning away, because he glances sideways towards her and jumps.
“Um,” he stares at her for a quick second and then reverts back to the cat who’s impatiently pushing its head under his left hand. “Sorry, I - uh - didn’t realise you were... finished.”
The cat bumps its head against his hand, clearly perturbed by the lack of attention it’s suddenly getting. James clears his throat, coughs and cracks his knuckles before petting the cat again.
“Thanks for the shirt,” she can’t think of anything else to say, and she is thankful (in more ways than he can surely imagine), so she just gives him a smile as she turns off the light and shuts the door.
Damn this awkwardness; he must think she’s some crazy, weird drunk who can’t make normal conversation. She’s actually quite charismatic - just, for some reason her tongue is tied and she can’t think straight for the life of her.
“Oh - no problem.” James stands and picks up the cat, cradling it in his arms like a baby. It doesn’t look happy in the slightest, but sits grumpily and content as James gives it a kiss on the head.
“This is Algernon,” James says once Lily decides to bite the bullet, takes a step forward and gives the cat in his arms a little pet.
“He’s adorable,” she says as she gives him another tickle, right behind the ears and under his chin. Algernon purrs loudly and closes his eyes - clearly enjoying the pampering session. “How old is he?” she asks, and then makes the mistake of turning her head and looking up at James.
Their eyes meet, and she didn’t realise they were this close; so close they’re almost shoulder to shoulder.
James gives her a small smile as he answers, “He’s almost five now. His birthday is on Bonfire Night.”
She can hear him swallow, and can hear the little intake of breath he takes as he clears his throat. He’s everywhere but it’s not a claustrophobic kind of feeling, it’s more overwhelming and exhilarating. Happy.
She can feel goosebumps creeping up her arms, and lets her gaze fall back to Algernon. She gives him another tickle. “Nice, he gets a party every year huh?”
“Most of the time he’s hidden under my or Sirius’s bed because he hates all the fireworks,” he laughs. “But he gets special birthday food which he greatly enjoys.”
Algernon decides he’s had enough now, he jerks a bit and drops to the floor gracefully. The six foot odd fall doesn’t seem to shock him at all, he runs towards the kitchen door and sits there for a moment before opening it by swatting his paw at the door madly until it pushes open.
“Are you having tea or what?” Comes the questioning voice of Mary MacDonald through the crack of the kitchen door.
James lets out a laugh and he follows after Algernon without delay, but all Lily can do is stare after him, perplexed.
Her day hasn’t exactly been the greatest, and meeting this strange and alluring James has only made everything even more confusing. Lily can feel the little wheels in her mind, turning and frantically moving to try and figure everything out.
James seems to have a hold of her already, somehow.
There’s a storm going on outside. The wind rattles against the windows, the trees sway violently, looking skeletal lit up by the dim street lights.
The walls of the flat are thin, so every crash of thunder sounds like what Lily imagines Gordon Ramsay does when he sees raw food being served. It’s loud, the floor and walls seem to shake and Algernon clearly doesn’t seem to like it either. The poor cat’s tail shoots up at the next batch of lightning and rumbling thunder and lets out a wild yowl before scattering off, no doubt to hide underneath Sirius’s bed which seems to be the best hiding place in the flat (much to Sirius’s annoyance).
The four of them, still sat at the table, still holding onto their now cold and empty mugs of nothingness, don’t say anything for a while until Sirius stands up from his chair (Mary follows his every move, not even trying to hide the fact that she takes a good, long and hard stare at her boyfriend’s bottom, which Lily supposes is quite nice, if she has to admit it) and picks up the remote from the coffee table.
“How about that rematch, Mary?” he asks, giving the girl in a question a teasing smirk as he flips the remote in his hand. “I bet you a hundred quid that I beat you this time.”
Mary lets out a laugh as she swings her legs off her chair. “Do you even have a hundred quid, Sirius?” she asks.
The boy in questions shrugs. “Maybe?” he grins as he turns on the Xbox One and takes out a pristine looking Soulcalibur V.
“Mary’s the unbeatable champion at that,” Lily says, pointing at the disk. She remembers the endless rematches all too well, Mary was merciless and violent at that game and became quite the formidable challenger.
“He knows,” Mary smiles. “It was a bit of a shock, right?”
“I was only being a gentleman.”
“She completely floored you, mate.” James laughs, he scrapes back his chair and starts loading the dirty crockery into the dishwasher. Lily slides a glance over to him and, when she realises his bottom is in the air, perfectly rounded, grabbable and hench, she chokes and moves her gaze back to the TV as quickly and as casually as she can manage.
Sirius has already spotted her and gives her a knowing look, wiggling his eyebrows and grinning at her maniacally. It’s only when he realises that the game has already started, and that Mary is already ripping him a new one, that he stops.
He lets out a gasp and starts frantically pressing buttons. “I thought you loved me!”
“Raphael loves no one!” Mary shoots up to her feet, gazing at the screen in so much intent that her tongue sticks out and she swerves her body this way and that as she punches, stabs, strangles and punctures Sirius.
Sirius is a fumbling mess, cusses and swears fly out every single time he’s hit (which is a lot) and every now and then he lets out a frustrated groan and throws back his head.
It’s not really surprising when Mary wins all three battles.
“My swordplay is peerless!” she says, mimicking her character without a second delay. Sirius groans in defeat, all the while muttering out “Kinky,” and “That’s what she said.”
“Lily?” he asks after five seconds of silence. He raises his head, and leans over onto Mary’s shoulder to shoot Lily an inquisitive glance. “Are you up for a battle?”
“I think I’m worse than you,”
“Ouch. Do you need some ointment for that burn, Sirius?”
She’s almost forgotten that James is there, radiating and oozing out sexiness and all things lush and wonderful, teasing and tantalising her with everything and anything that he does. She lets out a little jump when he speaks, and turns her head slightly to see what he’s doing.
He’s leaning on the counter, holding what has to be his fourth mug of steaming, hot tea in his hands.
“Har bloody har.” Comes Sirius’s deadpan voice.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” she exclaims, cheeks flushed as James gives her a wink.
“Well,” Sirius says as he clears his throat and holds out the controller for her. “Shall we put you to the test?”
“I told you,” Lily says five minutes later, when Sirius is shocked and elated to see he has finally won a battle.
“You weren’t wrong,” Sirius tells her, falling back onto the sofa in surprise. “You really are terrible.”
“I wasn’t expecting to you be so shockingly bad,” James adds with a nod. “Here I thought you’d be some secret and talented gaming champion.”
“Lily’s talents lie elsewhere,” Mary says, nose deep in her phone and scrolling through Instagram. “I think we can add shockingly bad at Soulcalibur to the list, though. That was definitely an achievement.”
James grins, and runs a hand through his hair, spiking up the edges and ruffling the soft little curls. “Shall we see what’s on TV?”
There’s hardly any space for the four of them on the small, cat hair covered sofa, but somehow they manage. Lily eventually finds herself squished in the middle by a James and Mary sandwich, which isn’t too bad since it means she can accidentally touch James and pretty much get away with it.
Their elbows knock, arms touch and legs bump on more than one occasion, and each time they touch (even it’s just a little, tiny thing) she gets excited, and jumpy butterflies that make her stomach do somersault after somersault are in every crevice of her entire being.
Algernon eventually comes running into the room, and makes himself comfortable on James’s lap. It’s not long before the cat is snoring away, and the room slowly falls silent.
The TV is playing a marathon of Friends episodes, and the only inclination that the four of them are awake is the slow motion of Sirius’s hand softly running through Mary’s hair, Mary snuggling closer to Sirius, and James’s slight rotation of his feet and wiggle of his toes.
The thunderstorm finally passes over, and all that remains is a gentle pattering of rain against the windows. Lily actually feels safe, comfortable, happy.
She sneaks a quick glance at James, whose arm has gradually dropped throughout the hour and is now dangling dangerously close to her own. His eyes are tiredly blinking as he stares, transfixed, at the TV screen and his other hand, that is so close to hers she could just reach out and hold it, is absently stroking Algernon’s head.
He must feel her gaze, because he moves his head to look at her and gives her a tired, sweet smile.
“You okay?” he asks, already half asleep. His words are soft and hazy, full of drowsiness and soft, sweet breaths. She looks at him, and can feel her heart erupting inside of her chest.
“Yeah,” she says, and rests her head onto his shoulder. He lets out a happy kind of sigh, and there’s no mistaking the small movement of his head so he’s resting against her too.
It’s difficult not to smile, it’s so hard. And so she smiles the biggest smile her small mouth can manage, her cheeks positively ache but who the heck cares? Cloud nine isn’t high enough - she feels like she’s on cloud infinity , right here with him.
“I’m okay.”
And for once, she’s not lying.
She falls asleep with her head next to his, to the sound of Phoebe singing Smelly Cat, accompanied by the slight rainfall from outdoors. She can’t wait to wake up, for a new day to begin because she finally feels like she belongs.
Here, next to him.
She dreams of kisses, and candy canes and, for some strange reason, the world’s highest slide that is so tall it reaches up into the skies, to the very gates of Heaven.
But then she wakes up, groggy and bleary eyed and has to yawn for two minutes straight before she can think clearly and sit up.
She remembers last night, all the bad things but the good too. James’s face can’t escape her mind, and so she turns, wanting to see a sleepy James who’s painted golden from the morning sun.
But he’s gone, and all that’s left is his blanket that he covered their legs with when they said it was getting cold. The blanket’s now around her shoulders, and she brushes it off her and places it neatly onto the empty space where James should be.
Mary’s up and making coffee. She’s yawning endlessly as she hums out a tune and turns around to say morning.
“Where’s…” Lily holds her breath. It’s not possible that she dreamed up James - is it? He was perfect, exactly what her mind would create just to torment her into thinking he was real. She itches her nose and scratches her head, and tries to not sound too obvious. “Where’s uh, everyone?” she asks finally.
“Sirius is showering. And everyone else has, I think, gone to work.”
“Oh.”
Some toast pops up, and Mary shuffles towards the plate cabinet slowly. She’s wearing slippers that are far too big for her, they look like boats on her small size four feet, and, based from the image of a sausage dog that’s wearing sunglasses and the words ‘HOT DOG’ underneath, Lily assumes they’re Sirius’s.
“Apparently you two were snuggling like two lovebirds when his boss rang him up. He was supposed to start at nine and it was, like, twenty past.”
“Oh.”
“I think he really likes you, Lils.”
“Yeah?”
Mary gives her that look, and passes her a plate with buttered toast and a cup of coffee. “Of course he does Lily, come on.”
“He’s just left! Without even saying anything, or like leaving a message. He’s basically just done the walk of shame, sneaking out of the flat regretting everything.”
“Leaving for work is a little different-”
“I thought we had a, God - I don’t know,” Lily sighs, staring miserably at her toast before giving it a big bite. “A connection. I could feel something-”
“Like a kind of hot, pleasant feeling down in your-”
“No.” She picks up the closest thing to her, a fork, and throws it at Mary. “But he just felt - felt different. I guess.”
“I’m sorry, Lils. I really am. But I also don’t think you have a reason to be worried. I mean, James isn’t that kind of guy. He’s probably counting down the hours until he can see you again.” Then Mary lets out a gasp and clicks her fingers. “He’s exactly the kind of guy who’s probably written you some soppy love letter with his number on it. I bet you a toffee crisp.”
The two girls stare at each other for a long moment, and then jump up and run out of the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” Sirius asks, giving them both an amused stare. He’s just sorting out the post, and chucks a few of the useless pamphlets into the paper bin before standing up.
“We’re checking to see if James left Lily a love note before leaving for work,” Mary says with a giggle.
“One hundred percent. I can guarantee it.” Sirius gives Lily a wink. “He put it right…” He looks around the small hallway, and scratches his head. “Oh crap.”
“You’ve lost it?!” Mary gasps, appalled.
“Well, Mary my dear, define lost-”
“You can’t find it.” Mary says sharply, and crosses her arms against her chest.
“I never actually saw where he put it. I just know he did it. Because he gave me this love struck smile and wouldn’t stop crooning on about eyes as fresh as pickles and something about your hair,” he gives Lily a half shrug, and scratches his hair as he thinks deeply.
“So you’ve lost it.”
This isn’t how it was supposed to happen. It was supposed to be fate. Waking up next to each other and starting the first day of their whole lives together. Not this. Not a maybe love letter, and a maybe phone number, and the absence of James.
She didn’t want mess. She was tired of mess.
Maybe it wasn’t meant to be, simple as that.
#jily#jily fic#jily fanfic#padfootdidit#snapslikethis#gxldentrio#lilyevane#prongsmydeer#fetchalgernon#meraudurs#idk who else to tag kfjdkjgdjgsld#im sorry it suCKS#jily:fic#my fic#took me like 5000 years omg
285 notes
·
View notes
Text
Becoming Animagi
Prompt #10: Becoming Animagi
Rating: PG | Word Count: 2,828 | canon | AO3
Synopsis: James and Sirius become animagi, play some fetch, hug Remus, and surprise Lily Evans. Would you expect anything less?
Author Notes: I had no plans to write anything for this prompt, but then this happened. I just went with it, as you do sometimes. I’m so out of practice on writing regularly that the feeling still feels brand new. :)
It was Sirius who managed it first, but only by an hour or two. Years after, if asked for one of their greatest memories of all of the adventures they had together, becoming animagi together would remain the answer. It was a pivotal moment not only in their development from children to young men, but in the evolution of their very friendship. Close as brothers when they started their journey towards illegally transfiguring themselves, their bond after was sacred and unyielding.
Three months into fifth year, two days after a full moon, there was a lightning storm. Remus was still in the hospital, Peter had not returned from detention with Professor Sprout from a prank in class gone awry. Sirius and James snuck out of the castle under the invisibility cloak. It was not past curfew - most people were at dinner, so the use of the cloak was a bit unnecessary. But it added an element of mystique to the proceedings, and if there was one thing that the boys could appreciate together, it was the added flare.
They headed straight to the Quidditch field, putting up Alertness Charms as they went that Remus had found and suggested they learn if they wanted to be successful at this ridiculous endeavor. He had long ago stopped trying to talk James and Sirius out of their plan. Instead, sometime in third year, he had stopped ignoring their schemes and adopted the role of research assistant. He devoted most of his time not consumed by Prefect duties and homework to coming up with new spells that would aid the other boys. Most of the time it meant helping Peter, who lacked the natural gumption that fueled most of Potter and Black’s successes.
The weather was atrocious. Rain pelted down on the two figures and the and bent the trees into gruesome stick figures, shedding the last of their leaves in an angry shake. “Lovely day for a stroll, isn’t it, mate!?” Sirius threw his arm around James’s shoulder and raised his face to the sky, feeling the rain beat down on his cheeks and wet his hair. James grinned and crowed a whoop of delight.
The two boys were already soaking wet and James could barely see thanks to the rain running down in sheets on his glasses. His thick, wiry hair stuck up in giant, wet poofs all of his head, making him look like a tall, gangly troll. Sirius, who was broader but not taller than James, could feel his longer, shaggier hair curl up around his shoulders as it dripped down onto his shoulders.
“Do you have your potion?” James asked and spun around them in a circle, securing the last of their protective wards against anyone who would be stupid enough (like them) to be out in the middle of the storm. A roll of thunder answered him and Sirius laughed manically, high on adrenaline and risk. He groped in his damp pocket for the small vial and showed it to James.
“Mate, this is it. You’re ready.” James gripped onto Sirius’s arm, in an attempt to calm his friend, who suddenly looked slightly putrid green, but also to comfort himself. “We have arrived!”
They had never been this close. There had been a failed attempt last year and the abysmal failure over the summer. The summer’s failure had humbled the boys and they had resolved to each other then that their next attempt would be different. It would be better. It would be controlled. It would be focused. And now they could feel the difference in the air. While damp and slightly chilly, there was a crackle of energy on the wind, occasionally erupting into actual lightning overhead.
Sirius took a deep breath and then pulled out his wand. James said nothing as the other boy concentrated on the words he needed to say, the words he had been reciting at sunrise and sunset for the better part of four months, ever since their disastrous attempt in August, and then pointed his wand straight at his heart.
“Amato Animo Animato Animagus!”
James then handed him the potion. “Cheers, brother!” He thumped Sirius on the back and took a step back. Sirius popped the cork from the vial and downed it in one swig.
At first, nothing happened. Then, with a clap of thunder roaring overhead and the buzzing of a tripped Alertness Charm, Sirius screamed. His body began to morph from its human shape. Limbs twisted in unnatural ways, cracking bones. Hair began to sprout everywhere, as dark and as thick as Sirius’s long, dark curls. James couldn’t move. His mind whirred with adrenaline and excitement. He wanted to run to check on the buzzing from the Alertness Charm, but he also felt like screaming right along with Sirius. He did neither. He was unable to take his eyes from the gruesome sight in front of him.
Sirius’s scream died on his tongue as he fell to the ground, his head elongating and disappearing in a dizzying spread of fur. His body was mutilated past the point of recognition, half human, half beast. James could see now it wasn’t hair after all, but fur and it was everywhere. Even as Sirius was shrinking in height, but not girth, the fur kept coming. Huge pads erupted from palms of his hand, which braced his fall to all fours.
The Alertness Charm buzzed again, this time closer. James had no choice this time but to turn away from the carnage in front of him and run back along their path, through the clump of trees that separated the pitch from the school.
“Lumos!” His wand’s tip erupted into a beacon of light and he held it up high, shining the light into the shadows of the small glenn. The path to the school snaked up the hill and out of sight. In the middle of it something froze. It was an animal of some kind. James hissed and approached, trying to scare it away. Closer, he could tell it was a small deer of some kind, perhaps not more than a few years old. The antlers on its head were not fully formed. It did not move, but regarded him with an interested expression and then turned, heading into the thickest part of the clump of trees and disappearing.
From down on the Quidditch field, James heard a deep bark. Whirling around again, he sprinted back down towards the pitch, searching for Sirius. Instead of the convulsing, mutilated body James had left stood a gigantic black dog. He was enormous, easily the size of the small Shetland pony that had lived in James’s back garden growing up. Absolutely covered in black fur, the dog barked again and lunged at James, who fell to his knees and through his arms around the animal. The fur felt different than regular dog hair, almost like human hair but with fur’s consistency.
“Sirius! You did it! This is…” He drew back to look into the dog’s face. The eyes were a dark brown, but danced with humor only James Potter would recognize. The dog sniffed at James’s face and then licked him with a huge pink tongue.
James laughed and pushed the dog away from his face. “Merlin, man, don’t kiss me. I know where that tongue’s been.” The dog grinned at him and then threw its head back and barked. Another clap of lightning sounded and James stood up, looking up at the sky. The dog ran around his feet, yipping and barking, making a right old racket. At James’s full height, the dog came up to almost his waist. Not expecting it, the dog jumped up to put its paws on James’s shoulders and was almost tall enough that James did not have to look down very far to see into its face.
“Easy, boy,” James said, his voice tight with affection. He was so proud of Sirius that he almost couldn’t talk. They had done it. Their plan was actually possible. Remus would not have to be alone again. At the very least, Sirius could be with him for every future transformation. The enormity of their success wrapped him in a cocoon of emotion and he reached up to pet the dog’s face again, rubbing his ears like he would any house pet.
Sirius - the dog - barked and dropped back to its front paws and then nuzzled James’s pocket where his own potion was ready to go. James pulled it out and examined the contents, then raised his head to the sky. There had been a lull in the storm and the rain had ceased in the excitement of Sirius’s own transformation and James needing to investigate the glenn.
“Think I should give it a go? It’s not the beginning of the storm anymore.”
The dog whined and then ran around James in a big circle, barking. James laughed and then pulled out his wand and the Snitch he always carried it. He transfigured the snitch into a big rubber ball and then chucked it into the air, watching it soar across the pitch towards one of the far goal posts. Sirius howled and bolted after the ball, tail tucked behind his legs as he took off, trying out his new form.
James could not let himself feel disappointed about not being able to attempt his own transformation tonight. Their years of hard work had paid off. It was not often in James’s life, nor would happen often in the future, that he felt overwhelmingly proud of the work he had done. But in this moment, he did. He watched Sirius catch the ball in his mouth and dart back towards him. And he laughed. It had begun to rain again and he threw his head back and he laughed as the rain poured down around him and the sounds of a happy dog filled the air.
Almost an hour later, the storm had ended but the rain had not. Sirius had finally grown tired of playing fetch and had joined James in the first row of the Quidditch stands. The Snitch had been transfigured back from a ball to its original form and James threw it up into the sky and then jumped up to retrieve it. He felt drunk on their success every time he looked down at the dog laying at his feet.
It was now getting late, growing darker by the minute, and James wondered if they should head back to school. He was almost hesitant to suggest it, not wanting to ruin the momentous occasion but also desperately wanting to fill Remus and Peter in on the events of their evening.
“What do you think, boy?” James leaned down and stroked the dog’s ears. “Think we should head on back?”
At the suggestion, the dog growled and shook its great head. Overhead, a clap of thunder rumbled and James instantly glanced at the sky. Dark clouds, which had felt just like encroaching darkness, had rolled in from the west and lent an eery feeling to the deserted pitch.
“I think it might storm again,” James whispered, hope and excitement both leaping together in his chest. He pulled out his own potion and held it up to the dog’s face. As if to answer his summation, lightning flashed and James could see the reflection in the dog’s big, brown eyes. Sirius started to howl and James began to laugh again. “Okay, let’s try!”
It was hours later when James and Sirius finally donned the invisibility cloak and slunk back up the hill to the school. James had, with little doubt once he had watched his best friend do it for himself, mastered the animagus form and had transformed into a gigantic stag.
They were drunk on youth, ambition, success, and luck. Thus, as they stumbled back into the Great Hall, an hour past curfew and most of their long legs sticking out of the bottom of the invisibility cloak, it could have been a disastrous end to their evening had they been found by anyone other than Lily Evans and Remus Lupin.
However, since that fateful night was no one’s but theirs, disaster was averted. James slid the cloak from their frames at the sight of Remus descending the stairs and waved. Sirius bobbed on his feet with palpable excitement.
“Remus!” Sirius hollered, charging forward towards their friend. “We did it!”
Remus, who had been talking in low murmurs to Lily Evans, froze. He looked instantly to James for confirmation, who nodded as he bounded up the stairs after Sirius and pulled Remus into a tight hug.
“It’s true, mate. Every word.” Too enthralled with their success, he barely remembered Evans until after he had let go of him. Instantly, his hand went to his hair. Ever since the beginning of that year, Lily Evans had made him nervous.
“Uh, hey there, Evans.”
She frowned at him in response. “Potter. Black. You two are out after curfew. Remus, I really don’t think we can just let them…” She turned to Remus, who was still speechless and was now almost sagging against Sirius. Whatever color he had regained from surviving another full moon was gone.
“Remus?” Her eyes went to Sirius and then they narrowed. “Black, what did you mean, ‘you did it?’ Did what exactly?”
Sirius beamed. “Changed the course of history, Evans! We’re…we’re Marauders!” He pulled at Remus, clutching him now around the waist with one hand. Remus had apparently lost all powers of speech. “Come on, pal. We’ll show you ourselves. Right now. We just need to go and collect poor Pete from purgatory down in the greenhouses.”
“But it’s after curfew…!” Lily began, but Sirius wasn’t listening as he pulled Remus towards the door leading out of the Great Hall. James cut in.
“Look, Evans…” He paused. The enormity of what he and Sirius had achieved that night hit him squarely in the face. James had thought he knew the consequences well enough when they had come to their decision all of those years ago about becoming Animagi, but they had been children. He was older now, maybe not a man yet, but clearly someone who was now required to wrestle with the consequences the actions of his youth brought.
Lily watched Sirius and Remus disappear outside and then looked up at James, her frown deep and disturbed. “Tell me, Potter, why I should not confiscate your invisibility cloak and march you straight to Professor Dumbledore’s office myself? I am never surprised by your audacity, but your brazen disrespect for the rules and your willingness to allow your friends to be swept up along with you is disgusting.”
On a normal evening, this would have made James at once disappointed and angry at the same time. But tonight her words did little to goad him. He was too busy riding the high of their triumph and basking in Remus’s stunned reaction. It felt too good. Everything would be okay from here on out.
“Evans, can I ask you something?” He bent over to retrieve the cloak that had fallen to his feet when he had hugged Remus. “Have you ever done something for a friend that would change their life? For the better? And you didn’t do it because someone told you to or because it would be a good laugh? But because you knew it would help them in ways - huge ways - and they would never ask you to do it but you know it’s the right thing and you did it anyway?” Words tumbled out of him at her and he finally shut his mouth, or otherwise he would have kept going.
Her face fell in shock at his honesty and without thinking, she nodded. Then she realized what she had done and blushed, breaking eye contact with him and looking at her feet.
Potter grinned. “Well, to answer your question, I can’t tell you what I did tonight because it’s not my secret to tell. But I can tell you that I made Remus’s life better. His life, after tonight, will never be the same. You don’t have to understand - or even believe me! - but if you like Remus at all, you’ll let us have this one night.” He folded his arms across his chest and smiled at her.
Lily shook her head at him, in annoyance, dismay, and a touch of bemusement. “Good grief, Potter. Get out of here. Before I start to think you’re pulling my leg to get out of trouble.”
James reached for her, impulsively, and drew her into a brief hug and then kissed her on the cheek. He didn’t realize he was doing it until the deed had been done and then it was his turn to blush and her turn to stammer. “Uh…thanks, Evans! Later!” Bolting down the stairs, he whipped the door open and disappeared into the dark night.
#jily#jily:fic#sirius black#remus lupin#james potter#animagi#animagus#12daysofjilychristmas#12daysofficmas#12doxmas#lily evans
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
You’re my dream (please come true)
based on @meraudurs text post: lily running into james in diagon alley during the summer after sixth year and seeing him lift up a toddler and making funny faces at them and lily just being like ✓💯fcuk ✓💯 me ✓💯 up ✓💯✓💯✓💯
read on ao3 | 1685 words
The door to Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour bangs open as two kids, laughing giddily with a broomstick each in their hands, escape the scorching sun. The intense summer heat seems to have brought the entire wizarding community to Diagon Alley; there are witches, wizards, giants and goblins everywhere - all eager to taste the sun’s rays on their skin.
“Have you tried the sherbet lemon one?” Lily asks as she frowns at the vibrant yellow ice cream in front of her.
Mary shakes her head. “Dorcas got that one, remember? Her tongue turned yellow for six hours,” she laughs, and exchanges her ten sickles for a double scoop of honey-dew sorbet cone. She turns back to Lily, who’s still staring intensely at the counter.
“Just do Ip dip do,” Mary shrugs, dodging out of the way as two kids run towards the counter. They press their noses up against the glass, joining Lily as they gawk all wide-eyed at the different flavours in front of them.
“That’s scandalous, what if I get the flavour I don’t want?”
“Then I’ll eat it for you, and you can buy another?” Mary offers, grinning as Lily rolls her eyes.
“I’m stuck between pumpkin pasty or chocolate and raspberry,” Lily says at long last, pulling her purse out of her bag and jiggling it about in her hands.
Mary picks up one of her sickles and places it in her palm. “Heads or Tails?”
Lily narrows her eyes. “Heads.”
Mary flips the coin and it flies up in the air and falls before she can catch it.
“I got it!” she says as she bends down to grab at it. “It’s tails - pumpkin pasty.”
There’s silence between them, and one of the noisy kids orders a bubblegum cone with bertie botts beans scattered on top.
“I’m getting the chocolate and raspberry,” she decides and joins the small queue behind the little kid.
Mary moves out of the way, licking her cone. “You sure? Last chance.”
“One hundred percent,” she nods, giving the cashier her sickles and recites her order. “Oo, and some chopped nuts on top - please,” she says with a glance towards the topping section - where sprinkles and beans, nuts and fruit are only a few of the many options available.
It’s only a two minute wait before Lily holds the ice-cream in her hand, a decadent chocolate ganache on top of a juicy raspberry red that looks too delightful to even try.
Mary opens her mouth to speak, eyeing the ice-cream in awestruck wonder. “Can-”
“No,” Lily laughs as they leave the ice cream parlour, the bell jingling as the door comes to a close.
The hot, sticky humidity is a shock after being in the deeply air conditioned shop for some time, so their frozen snacks are a relief and refreshing to have in the heat.
Mary pulls a face. “Not even one, small, tiny lick?”
Lily shakes her head and makes a scene of slobbering over the top of the ice-cream, licking every inch of it so there isn’t one bit that’s been covered by her saliva.
“That’s so disgusting,” Mary grins, elbowing Lily in the side as they turn down the street.
It’s packed, children run up and down, parents and students converse and laugh as they drink frozen butter beers and pumpkin juice.
“Do you want to hold her? I think she likes you,” Lily manages to hear amidst the chaotic noise, and stretches her head to see what’s taking place.
Mary follows in her direction and does a double take.
“Is that,” Mary laughs, shocked. “Is that James Potter, with a baby?”
All Lily can do is sort of nod her head in response, since she’s far too dazed to actually speak.
Because, it is, indeed, James Potter with a baby.
He’s sitting on one of the outdoor chairs at the near cafe, bouncing said baby up and down on his knees. The baby giggles and gurgles at him, finding his silly faces and soft raspberries such a fantastic show that she claps her hands and pats his cheeks.
Lily’s frozen on the spot.
The mum and her friend are laughing, finding James and the baby girl amusing and adorable.
Lily gulps and, with shaky hands, pushes her hair out of her eyes and tucks it nervously behind her ear. She decides to ignore Mary’s evil-like grin, but elbows her in the side anyways when her friend starts to snigger.
“Don’t you even-” she starts, not being able to stop the intense blush that flies over her cheeks and up her ears.
“I didn’t say anything!” Mary shrugs, eating her ice cream as casually as she can.
“No,” Lily snorts. “But I know what you’re thinking and I don’t-”
“You cannot deny that that,” Mary says, pointing to James who’s now playing peek-a-boo, “isn’t adorable.”
Lily bites her lip. “Fine,” she scowls. “It’s cute - happy?”
James decides to look up at that moment, and they have no time to run. He catches them staring at him like he has seven heads, and looks slightly taken aback by his audience.
“Alright?” He asks them, not at all phased by the baby who currently grabs at his glasses and repeatedly takes them off and puts them back on his nose. Each time the baby cackles and James pulls a different silly face.
“We just got ice-cream,” Mary says, waving her melting cone at him as they both stagger towards him, ashamed to be caught.
“Enjoying it, Evans?”
She doesn’t even notice the question is aimed at her until Mary kicks her foot.
She’s too lost in his eyes, enthralled by how good he is with kids, and how different and… amazing he’s being. Mary kicks her again and that’s when she notices James is watching her, and looks incredibly amused.
“Sorry - what?” she asks, breathless.
He laughs and motions to his chin. “You’ve got a bit of - um.”
Mesmerised, she numbly lifts her hand and wipes her mouth with her sleeve. Chocolate ganache, all over her cheeks, chin and nose.
Mary’s trying her hardest not to laugh, and has to smother her mouth with her hand to stop herself. The mother of the baby smiles at Lily sweetly, pointing to the last bit of ganache that she didn’t manage to wipe off.
“Is Black here?” Mary asks James after a few moments of silence.
“He said he was going into Gambol and Japes and then Wiseacres,” he nods, passing the baby back to the mother.
Lily doesn’t have time to beg Mary to stay - she’s already saying goodbye and whizzing off to find Sirius Black, leaving her alone with none other than Freaking James Potter.
He says goodbye to the baby with an air kiss, thanks the mum and then begins to walk towards her. He looks a little apprehensive, but the moment passes in a flurry of seconds. They didn’t exactly part on the most friendliest terms during the last academic year.
“Having a good summer so far?” he asks politely, kicking at a small stone by his feet.
“It’s not bad,” she says, forcing her gaze to her ice-cream. It’s melting quickly in the heat, so she says a quick prayer that there won’t be any more chocolate ganache incidents and takes a few bites of it. “You?”
He nods. “It’s good, but I miss Hogwarts.”
“You mean the quidditch,” she smiles.
“Are you kidding,” he grins, “I’m practically counting down the days until McGonagall can give us homework again.”
“Twenty?”
“Eighteen actually,” he says with gleaming eyes and checks the watch on his wrist, “and four hours.”
“Someone’s eager.”
“Someone’s ready to study and work hard, Evans.”
They pass by Fortescue’s ice cream parlour again, heading in the direction that Sirius and Mary must have gone in. A wizard huffs as he hurries past them, knocking into her just as she’s eating more of the ice cream.
It goes up her nose and she can feel it dribbling down her chin as she stumbles. James is immediately taking hold of her arm to steady her, and angrily calls out ‘watch it!’, but the wizard is already half way down the street and knocking into other people and doesn’t hear at all.
“It’s gone everywhere, hasn’t it?” she groans, throwing the soggy cone into the nearest bin.
She can feel it in her hair and most likely all over her face, judging by the way James chuckles and takes out a tissue from his pocket and hands it to her sheepishly.
She murmurs out a thanks and wipes her hands first, hoping to rub away the stickiness of her fingers. He at least has the courtesy to look away as she mops her face clean, for that she’s thankful because she doesn’t know how long she can last under his intense gaze.
“Um, you missed a bit - may I?”
She can’t exactly tell him no (even if she wanted to), because his hand is already grabbing at a new tissue and flying towards her before she can even register it. He shuffles forwards, glasses sliding off his nose slightly as he leans in to dab gently at her lips.
He’s so close and a shiver runs down her spine, making her knees wobble and knock against each other as she stares into his eyes.
Something’s changed; she can almost taste it on her lips, feel it in the air around her.
“Sorry,” he says with wide eyes, taking a step back. “I didn’t mean to, like-”
“It’s okay,” she smiles, “you can wipe ice cream off me anytime.” Her mouth snaps shut, mortified, as James goes rigid next to her.
“Oh - okay, I’ll - err - keep that in mind.” He doesn’t seem too perturbed, and Lily breathes in a sigh of relief, scolding herself mentally.
He’s smiling, looking at the floor carefully as his mouth twitches. “Rendezvous in the Hogwarts kitchens with some ice cream in, say, nineteen days?”
Her heart skips a beat and she fiddles with the hem of her top.
But she can’t stop smiling.
“It’s a date,” she says.
#jily#jily fic#ELENAS TXT POST WAS TOO CUTE AAAHHHH#jily drabble#jily:fic#my fic#jfjsflksajflkasjfask
330 notes
·
View notes
Text
I’ll just slip into the moonlight (and catch a trail of stardust in your eyes)
JILY CHALLENGE | @prongsno vs @petalstofish
disney + "but i would be so much happier with just you, i dont need the title or your money - though the elephant is pretty cool i must say" aladdin au
read on AO3, wc: 8588, chapter 1 of 2
Lily Evans was not a thief, she only stole what she couldn’t afford. And she only took things that people wouldn’t generally miss.
One loaf of bread here, a tomato or apple there. With a simple and quick distraction, caused by Mary MacDonald - who was always one for the dramatics, Lily would be able to slip something up her sleeve unnoticed in less than seven seconds.
Mary was currently scavenging around the area for bits of scraps, hoping to find a few things to sell for the next day, which meant it was Lily’s turn to go through the markets, alone.
She loved to walk through the market streets in the mornings. The sweet scent of bread rose through the stalls and danced around in the wind. The spices, mixed with lemon and jasmine always managed to set her senses on fire. The market never slept, it was always full of life - no matter the time of day. But in the mornings, with the air a little cooler and the sun slowly rising in the pale blue sky, it felt as if there was magic all around her.
“No dawdling!” yells the apple vendor, ushering past her as he tends to a customer. He barges past rudely, knocking her into the table that’s to her left.
Lily scowls and, when she’s sure the vendor isn’t watching, slides an apple down her sleeve.
It’s then that something glimmers, and she stops dead in her tracks. It glows again, catching the light of the bronze pots in the sun, shining so bright she has to shield her eyes with her hand.
For a second she thinks it’s a trap, someone must have caught her stealing and now they’re ready to catch her. But the markets buzz by in the usual morning rush, nobody else seems to notice her. Everyone is oblivious around her, undeterred by the bright light that had blinded her for a second.
She scrambles through the crowds as calmly as she can, keeping her eyes set on the furthest corner. She comes across a pile of broken junk; smashed pots and bowls, bent utensils and old children toys. But then she sees it - a small golden lamp, hidden away underneath a wooden train with one wheel and a flat teddy bear with no stuffing.
She gasps, pulling the lamp out of the pile as quickly and quietly as she can. It doesn’t seem broken - in fact it looks brand new. It’s so polished, she can make out her grubby face in the reflection, down to the soot mixed with grime that clings horribly to her hair. Around the edges lies an intricate pattern of delicate flowers, trailing along a path of thorns.
The more she stares, the more convinced she is that some of the flowers are moving, the petals breaking off the stems and falling down the lamp before they vanish in a puff.
She blinks, her fingers shaking as she brings the strange object closer to her face.
A crash in the marketplace, followed by the sound of smashed glass, makes her jump up. The lamp, all of a sudden, feels hot and heavy in her hands. She doesn’t know what on earth she has just found, but there’s no way she’s ready to part with such a unique item yet.
She slides it into her cloak, hugging it safely to her chest with her free arm. Then, with a slow and steady breath, she hurries back into the crowd. She gets the feeling that someone is watching her, her skin tingles and heart bangs anxiously against her chest. She lowers her head and keeps her eyes on the floor, careful not to draw herself too much attention.
It’s when she turns a corner that she realises someone is following her.
They’ve been tailing her for a while; she had first noticed the heavy footing not five minutes ago, but had quickly dismissed it as the crowds were still heaving with people. But they’re definitely following now, of that she’s certain. She quickens her pace and turns left instantly, hurrying down the busy street that’s full of the vendors selling hot foods.
Her body aches for her to stop but she rushes on, her legs burning. The food smells delicious - hot oats mixed with maples, pumpkins and chestnuts cooked in sweet saffron and sliced mangoes, served with hot coconut milk. It feels like she hasn’t eaten in months, and the markets make her dizzy with hunger.
A hand grabs her by the shoulder and, before she can manage a scream, pulls her into a quiet alleyway.
She notices her kidnapper in an instant - an old man with a long, white beard stares at her in amusement.
“Dumbledore?” Lily gasps. “How did you find me?”
The man brings a finger to his lips, and she finds herself holding her breath as he watches the crowds pass by suspiciously.
He eventually returns back to her side, but he keeps his voice hushed to an unnerving whisper.
“They can smell him.” His voice sends a shiver down her spine. “People from all over will be able to sense him - anywhere you go.” He speaks urgently and he continuously glances behind them. “You found him, didn’t you?”
Around them, the market stalls are loud with laughter and aimless chatter, and Lily has the horrible feeling something isn’t right. Dumbledore wasn’t the one following her at all.
Her hand shakes against the strange lamp, still hidden underneath her cloak.
“No,” she stammers. “I didn’t find anyone.”
He knows she’s not telling the truth - and she knows it. The way his eyes twinkle, a little too knowing, and his smile, that forces her to look anywhere but him.
“Curiosity,” the old man says, “is not necessarily a bad thing.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a gold coin, it shimmers in the sunlight for a second before he places it into her hand. “But you have to be careful.”
It warms instantly in her hand, and feels unusually heavy for such a small thing.
“I can’t take this,” Lily gasps, shaking her head. “We didn’t trade. I don’t have anything to give you-”
“Next time, Miss Evans.” Dumbledore says with a small smile. “I think you’ll be needing it more than me.”
A child laughs in the distance and Dumbledore looks up in a hurry.
“Did anyone see you?”
She shakes her head.
“Were you followed?”
Her heart skips a beat. “I…” She swallows, her throat burning. “Maybe? I don’t know.”
The old man seems disturbed and shakes his head, muttering quietly to himself.
“Dumbledore, what’s going on?”
“You can’t trust anyone! Not with what you just found, you have to keep it secret. Everyone will have heard it."
She opens her mouth, ready to ask what he means, when he hurries away down the alleyway - lost in the crowd in seconds.
The lamp feels heavier than ever, and it burns her hand as she takes it out of her cloak. It looks bigger, the flowers much larger than she noticed before. Something tickles in the atmosphere, a strange buzz. Her ears tingle and she blinks, unfocused.
It’s like the lamp is speaking to her. Whispering her name through the soft hum of the wind. Her hand shakes, but she inches her fingers forwards and hesitantly rubs her thumb against the trail of thorns and flowers.
Then the lamp glows, brighter and brighter and brighter until it’s so bright that she drops it in surprise, shielding her eyes.
Then she notices two things. The first is that she’s in an unfamiliar room. And the second, is that she’s not alone.
Before she can manage a scream, the stranger beats her to it. But he doesn’t scream out of fear, it’s excitement.
“I never thought I’d see the light of day again!” The stranger exhales, bending his knuckles and rolling his shoulders back. Bones and joints click and crack, like the strange boy has never moved before.
Lily stares, shocked. The boy looks to be around her age but he walks with his back hunched, like he needs a stick to lean on. Like he’s not stood straight in a long, long time. He stretches his back and, when there’s a click, finally straightens.
There are so many questions buzzing about in her head, her brain feels fuzzy. The world tilts around her, her head swaying as she tries to focus.
“Sorry about that,” the boy twitches his nose. “I forget sometimes that not everyone can apparate. I mean, jump from place to place.” He scratches his chin and gives her a funny sort of look. “We were being followed.”
It takes her a moment to notice the small bangle that’s wrapped around the boy’s left wrist. It’s the same deep gold colour as the lamp that lies by her feet. She picks it up, noticing how light it feels.
“Dumbledore,” she stammers, not letting the boy leave her sight. “He was talking about… he was talking about you, wasn’t he?”
The boy lets out a half shrug, surprisingly casual and complacent given the strange circumstances.
“What are you?” she asks. “Some sort of genie? A fairy?”
He laughs at that. “I’m a wizard, actually.” He clicks his fingers and the room is suddenly bright with candle light. “I never did like that name - genie. Wizard is more, well, fitting for me.”
“Is there a difference?”
“A wizard can do magic and a genie grants wishes. And I can do both.”
“Is that even possible?”
He nods his head and a flower shoots up from the ground, instantly blooming in front of her. “Anything is possible.”
He reaches out his hand and, now that she’s closer to him, she notices the strange bangle looks more like a handcuff. “I’m Sirius. Your personal wish granting wizard. For a limited time, anyways.”
“Lily. Nice to meet you.” His fingers are terribly callused, rough and hard against her own.
“Now, to business,” he says, bringing back his hands as he claps once.
Her clothes, once tattered and frayed, are now decorated with fine stitches and embroidery. Beautiful satin and lace, mixed with soft cotton. She feels like an empress.
“Do you have any wishes?” He leans back, suddenly sitting on a comfy looking armchair. With his legs crossed and his arms folded, he looks like he’s interviewing her for some kind of job. “Three, in fact. I never understood the meaning of three. But three it is.”
“You’re pulling my leg, right?”
He’s silent for a second, then his eyes wander to her feet. “I can assure you - I am not.” He waves his hand in her face, and she swats it away with a small laugh.
“You seriously grant wishes?”
“Well,” he shrugs. “There’s a bit more to it than that - there are a few terms and conditions. But I won’t bore you with the details.”
She wonders if that’s why he ended up in a strange golden lamp, but the boy seems too delighted and she can’t bare to ruin his mood with such a morbid question.
“Anything?”
“Within reason, I guess. What about gold? Wealth beyond imagination?” He turns into a banker, putting an enormous amount of cold coins on a tiny weighing scale that tips up at the immense weight.
“That’s very kind of you but-”
Sirius snaps his fingers, the money scale vanishing and in its place lies a castle in clouds. “Your own kingdom, perhaps?”
“Not really-”
Now there’s a small child with red hair, looking upset as she looks around the room. Lily feels her heart tighten, a strangled breath escaping from her burning lungs.
“What about a friend? You seem awfully lonely.”
“I have friends,” she replies, a little sharper than she intends. The girl looks up and vanishes in an instant.
“Okay,” she bites her lip, refusing to meet Sirius’s gaze. “I have a friend. But that doesn’t matter - we stick together. She’s like a sister.” Lily breathes in, scratching her nose. “Closer than a sister, in fact.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Sirius apologises with a small shrug. “But I’m glad. It’s always nice to have someone you trust. I forgot what that was like.” He’s silent as he scratches his chin. “Keep your wishes for now. We’ve got all the time in the world.”
A bang from outside makes them both jump and Sirius runs to the window, looking out of it cautiously.
“Dumbledore said you were smelly.”
“I could probably do with a bath.” He laughs again as he turns back to her. “But that isn’t quite what he meant.”
“People can smell you ,” she says. “Smell your magic?”
He nods. “Y’know, some folk devote their entire lives to finding a genie. The idea of having that much power, it drives people nuts.” Sirius lets out a shudder, and Lily’s skin tingles. She can’t even imagine what it must have been like for him. “Let’s just say, there’s a pretty big price practically tattooed to my forehead.”
“So whoever it is… they know what you can do?”
“And what you can do. You have the key, right?”
Lily shakes her head. “I don’t have anything.”
Sirius flexes his hands and does a strange movement - like the twirling of his wrist, a flick once to the left. A red satin fez, vibrant and as bold as the sun, sits upon his head and his feet, which only a few seconds ago were bare and dainty looking, are now dressed in sturdy brown sandals.
“You must, how else would I be here?”
“Good timing? Luck?” She shrugs.
“I always did have perfect timing,” he grins. “But to unlock a genie you need a key. They vary in size and shape, but each key is unique solely to each genie. The key will get hot when it’s near the right lamp.”
The only thing in her pockets, apart from the stolen apple that she stares at guilty for a fleeting second, is the coin that Dumbledore had given to her just moments before.
“This?”
“That’s the one,” Sirius nods. “Looks shinier than when I last saw it. Dumbledore must have polished it.”
“But why did he give it to me?”
Sirius hesitates, he opens his mouth for a second and then snaps it shut. “He must have thought it’d be safer with you,” he says carefully after a few moments.
The air is tense and unsettled around them. But Sirius clears his throat, forcing a smile back on his face. He hums and a small pebble on the floor turns into a bed.
“I need to get back to my friend, she’ll think I’ve run off again.”
Sirius nods, blinks and a cloak, the shade of sand, falls into her hands. “You’ll be less noticeable with this, though I can’t guarantee it’ll shield you from everyone.”
The cloak is soft in her hands, like pure cotton. “Thanks. I’ll come back for you, soon.”
“No need,” he’s already made himself comfortable on the bed. A bookcase now stands near the wall, painted red and gold. “It’ll be safer if I come to you, that way this place and I stay hidden.” He gestures around the room and the wooden beams on the ceiling straighten and mend, now the dark blue shade of the night sky decorated with dozens of tiny stars.
“You just need to call my name, and I’ll be there. Ready to do what you will.”
Lily frowns. “I’m not going to order you around. You’re my friend, not my slave.”
Sirius is eating what looks like cake now and, when the word friend falls out of her mouth, he chokes once before looking at her like she’s the queen.
“I haven’t had a friend in years. You can’t take it back now, you’re stuck with me until…” he pauses, looking slightly uncomfortable for a second. “Until, well - until you get sick of me.”
“That won’t be any time soon,” she grins. “I feel bad, leaving you here though. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
He’s back to scoffing cake again, his mouth too full to speak so he gives her a thumbs up instead.
“I’ll just make sure Mary - my friend - is okay and you can travel with us. We’ll get out of the city, somewhere safer.”
She clings the cloak tightly around her, shielding her face as she hurries out of the building. The market stalls aren’t too far away and so she turns right, away from the district, into the small town where the buildings are stacked high against each other.
Two lefts, a sharp right, forwards until she sees the red potted plant and then another left.
Their door is wedged open, broken and hanging off the seams.
There’s a faint hint of gas in the air as Lily kicks the door down, screaming out Mary’s name. The room is in ruins, the table and chairs toppled onto the floor, broken pots and pans everywhere.
Mary is nowhere to be seen.
The window is wide open and Lily dodges over the broken pieces of glass, leaning out of the window as much as she can. There’s no sign of her.
Her heart skips a beat.
“Sirius?” Lily calls out frantically. “Sirius!” The air tingles around her.
He appears suddenly, not like a puff of smoke but like the breaking of the sun through thick clouds, like he was there all along - she just didn’t notice him until now.
“Redecorating, are we?”
For a moment his humour calms her, but she gulps down the laughter like it’s acid in her throat.
“Mary’s gone. Someone’s been here, someone’s taken her.”
She spots a letter stapled to one of the toppled chairs, and rips it off.
“A life for a life. Give the genie and she may be spared.”
“May? How generous of them,”
“Please be serious,”
His lips flicker into a small smirk. “I am.”
The clock, hung on the wall with a scrap nail Mary once found in a pile of rubbish, chimes. It seems to be the only thing in the room to be fully functioning.
“How did they know we live here?”
“They’ve probably been watching everyone here very, very closely.” Sirius crumples the letter in his hand and drops it. “We’re not safe here, at all.”
This whole… situation is so strange for her. Lily Evans is a thief, she’s a nobody in this dreary town. She picked through rubbish piles and sold junk pieces to merchants. Her hands and nails were sore and dirty. And yet here she was, a strange boy who could do magic at her very command.
“I don’t get it though,” she says with a gulp. She’s tired, her body is aching and her mind is numb. “You’re so... valuable to these people - to, well, anyone who has you right?”
Sirius nods. “But?”
“But - you were in plain sight.” It’s rather strange, now that she comes to think of it. It’s unsettling, and despite the humidity in the air she’s shivering. “Next to broken toys and old pots. I don’t understand why they - whoever they are - didn’t just take you when they could? Why wait? Why wait for me to get to you first?”
Sirius is quiet for a moment, then he lets out an aggravated sigh and scratches his head.
“There’s a lot of politics involved. You don’t just need a key, there’s other things. It’s a little complex.” He taps his index finger on his lip, thinking hard.
“What, don’t think I’ll be able to understand?”
“On the contrary, you’re smarter than you give yourself credit.”
“Then tell me, you have to-”
“They’re here!” The door smashes open, completely breaking off the hinge and smashing even further.
She doesn’t manage to catch a glimpse of them; Sirius is already grabbing hold of her arm and then they’re spiralling, flying through the atmosphere until they stop. Her stomach flops up and down as she steadies on her feet, toppling onto the floor and landing onto a wet patch of grass.
“Sorry,” he says. “You get used to it after a while.”
“Where are we?” She marvels at the grass, threading her hands through the thin stems and curling it around her fingers. “It’s not rained in Cokeworth for months.”
“Godric’s Hollow,” Sirius says as he pulls her up. “I had to take us where we wouldn’t be followed.”
“I always wanted to come here,” she says, looking up at the sky with a small smile.
In Cokeworth you were lucky if you spotted a single, wispy, small cloud amongst the vast scorching blue sky. But here, in Godric’s Hollow, it was so different.
Everywhere she looked and turned there were clouds. All of them big, deep and grey. There was a thunderstorm coming. A distant echo of thunder, miles away, rumbles above her.
Cokeworth is so far away.
Mary is so far away.
“We have to go back.”
Sirius shakes his head, his eyes hard.
“We can’t.” He speaks slowly, like she’s a time bomb just waiting to explode and he’s expecting it at any second. He looks fearful, watching her so carefully.
She lets out a frustrated yell, pulling at his arm; she can feel the desperation clawing its way up her body.
“Mary’s back there, we need to find her!”
Lily kicks against him but Sirius holds her back.
“We will, we will - I promise.”
An invisible force, gentle but firm, pushes her back, a barricade blocking her from him.
“I promise, we will.” He says again, louder this time.. “But they’ll be waiting for us and if we go back right now we’ll walk straight into their trap. We won’t be rescuing your friend, we’ll be in the same situation as her.”
She doesn’t move an inch, but curls her fingers into a fist. “I could just demand you take me there right now. Wish us there, right?”
Sirius lets out a shaky breath. “You could.” His movements are slow as he leans back against the nearest tree, legs slumped and marking the dirt. “It wouldn’t be very sensible, but… You could. Yeah. Will you?”
The thought dashes through her mind and the word burns against her tongue.
She could say the word right now, and Sirius would be forced to listen to her. Forced to obey her.
She could change everything in one second.
So why can’t she bring herself to?
Sirius watches her, fear in his eyes.
She can’t do that to him, it would make her no different than the people who had last locked him in the lamp.
How long had he been imprisoned for? Pressured into fulfilling selfish human ambition? How long had he been alone for? Wishing that someone could help him?
“No.” Somehow, she always knew that would be her answer and a peacefulness settles in her fingers. She feels the absence of the barricade, a gentle wind lulling her forwards. She puts a hand on his shoulder, hoping it speaks for her. She’s too ashamed to speak.
Sirius looks relieved, though he can’t meet her eyes. “Good. We’ll find a way to help her. We just need a plan.”
The ground underneath them shakes, and they only have a moment to look at each other before they’re suspended in mid-air, caught in a giant net.
“Not exactly what I had in mind,” Sirius says rather flatly. He grasps at the net, pulling the material tight around him. It’s no use - it’s as strong as steel.
“Tasty food!” A troll grins, poking out from behind the clutter of trees. It licks its lips hungrily and prods a grotesque looking finger into Sirius’s side.
“Oi!” Sirius huffs, looking rather repulsed. “Watch it!”
“It needs more meat,”
The troll pokes at Sirius again, and he falls backwards against the netting. His red hat topples off his head and tumbles through one of the gaps, despite Sirius all but lunging to the base of the net and flailing his arms about through the holes.
It’s no use, the hat plunges into a muddy puddle and the troll picks it up, fascinated.
“My hat!”
“Is it tasty?” A second troll asks, stomping over from a newly lit bonfire.
As the two trolls argue about if the hat has a flavour or not, Lily shifts nervously.
“I think,” she says with a little gulp. “I think we’re food .”
Sirius nods, grimacing as one of the trolls give his hat a precarious lick. “I have to agree with you there.”
“I’m sorry, okay? About what I said before-”
“It’s fine. You were upset. Friends?”
“You don’t even need to ask, you numpty.” The look on his face, the pure joy and relief is such a happy thing to behold. And for a second she almost forgets about the trolls underneath them, talking about how delicious they’ll be.
“Can you get us out of this?”
He shakes his head. “My normal magic won’t cut it, the net or this whole situation.”
“What do you mean?”
The troll obviously finds the taste of the fez revolting, it shudders and throws the hat into the fire.
Sirius lets out a sigh.
“I’m not really supposed to do any magic unless you wish it, I wasn’t even supposed to apparate us here without you wishing it. And I tried to just before, but this stupid thing-” He grasps tight of the net, shaking it violently as if just pure anger alone will break it. “It’s got some sort of magic charm on it. Essentially, my magic won’t work until we’re out of this.”
“So, I guess we’re food then.”
“Which one shall we have first?” The troll who threw Sirius’s fez into the fire asks. It prods Sirius again and then turns to Lily and does the same.
“The funny looking one,” the other troll replies.
“Good choice, I was thinking that one too.”
A shiver shoots down her spine. “Which one of us do you think they’re talking about?”
“You, obviously,” Sirius says with a grin. “I’m definitely not funny looking.”
The troll grins, steps forward and pulls out a very long, a very pointy knife. “We’ll cut off it’s legs first, the legs are the best bits.”
The knife swings forwards and Lily feels her heart plummet to an icy stop. Sirius sucks in a breath, clinging onto her hand so hard it feels numb.
A howl scatters through the nearby trees, and the troll drops the knife to the floor.
“What was that?”
The trees sway and a cat dashes from the bushes.
“It looks tasty!” The troll says gleefully. It steps towards the cat, but the cat - clearly irritated by the disturbance - trots off.
“I’ll go get it. A tasty dessert. Come here crunchy.” The troll stomps away and the remaining one picks up the knife.
“I don’t think your fire’s hot enough.” Sirius says in an instant.
The other troll frowns. “What? It’s fire.”
“I don’t know about my companion here,” he says with a nod towards Lily. “But - I know I’d taste ten times better once my skin is - um - crispy enough.”
The troll is silent for a moment and grunts. “True.”
Then it turns around and uses the knife to swing and hack at the trees, branches fall like an avalanche to the floor and the troll bends down, hurling them onto the bonfire with ease.
And then, as if the arrival of a large ginger cat hadn’t been weird enough, out from the shadows emerges a boy.
His sudden appearance doesn’t seem to shock the troll, unlike Sirius and Lily - who wave their hands and plead for help.
“More food!” is all the troll says with a happy grin, stepping over the mound of branches to reach for the boy.
“Sorry to disappoint,” the guy shrugs, reaching a hand over his back to draw a sword of his own. “But I’m not on the menu.”
The troll pauses for a second, eyes drawn cautiously to the sword the teen holds in his hands. It clambers forwards, hoping to catch the boy with its hands.
The boy’s feet are quick, he dodges the attack effortlessly and swings his weapon against the troll’s legs. The troll lets out a howl and brings up its injured knee, hopping backwards… straight into the pile of branches.
It howls out again, tangled in the branches and twigs. Then, it falls to the ground like a limp fish and the boy does a running jump, screaming out a manic war cry as he knocks the troll unconscious with a blow to the head.
Its eye roll back and its tongue slips out, hanging like a dirty, slimy snake as it falls.
“That, was AWESOME!” Sirius lets out a hoot and clambers over Lily, knocking her off her feet, to give the boy a high five.
“Please.” Lily grumbles, glaring at Sirius’s feet. “Can we just get out of this now?”
“Oh, sorry.” She hears movement, then the sound of rope being slowly cut into with a small blade.
The boy whistles as he slices through the ropes, like there’s not an unconscious troll a few inches away.
“I’m James, by the way.” James says happily.
“I’m Sirius, and this is Lily.”
“Are you two, like, together?”
Lily barks out a laugh. “Are we heck.”
“I’d rather be eaten by trolls, thank you.” Sirius replies.
“So you met by, what, coincidence?”
“Sort of,”
“You could say that,” They say at the same time.
It’s like they’re sitting around eating cucumber sandwiches and drinking sweet, pink lemonade. Lily rolls her eyes, though she can’t help the smile that follows after.
And, finally, the rope snaps. Then, the tree groans and the net comes crashing down onto the floor, smashing branches as it tumbles downwards.
She meets the ground with a thud, her face planted into the wet, muddy grass.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Sirius grins as he gets up off her back. At least he has the decency to give her a sheepish smile, then bends down and grabs her elbow, pulling her up.
“Yeah,” she says with a scowl. “A right walk in the park that was.”
She can feel grass in her mouth and she starts spitting it out, desperate to get the gross, earthy feeling off her tongue. She stops when she feels two gazes almost piercing through her and turns around, grass dribbling down her chin.
“ What? ”
Sirius is trying his hardest not to laugh. He gestures to his own chin and she follows, wiping the lower part of her face with her sleeve.
“You’ve got - um - a toad in your hair.” The stranger, James, says.
Her hand flies to her hair, brushing out the slimy toad with her fingers. She turns around, and instantly mouths out a frantic, ‘ OH MY GOD ’ to herself.
She hadn’t been able to see him properly through the net - he was shockingly and annoyingly handsome. How does someone like him turn up, at random, in the woods and save her by man eating trolls?
Fate was having a right laugh. It was giving her too many hands for her to handle at the moment.
She bends, pushing the toad gently off her hand and onto the ground. She takes a moment to recollect herself, smooths her slimy hands down her pants and, after a few moments of cursing under her breath, turns around.
“So uh,” James lets out a little laugh as he brushes a hand through his hair. “This may sound a little awkward and random but - have you guys seen a cat around here?”
Lily feels her limbs freeze, and Sirius catches her gaze, eyes wide.
“A cat?” He coughs. “Why would a cat be out here?”
“We were going on an errand - of sorts - but I got hungry. And while I was distracted Algernon, he - my cat - ran off.” James is a mumbling mess, arms wild and open as he talks fast.
Sirius scratches his head. “Did we err see a cat…”
“I just hope there aren’t any more trolls about,” James says with a small sigh. “Trolls will eat anything.”
He gestures to the pile of logs, trying to change the subject and hide the fact that he’s very close to crying. “Anyways. I’ll just, um, grab some of these smaller branches, we need to move from here. It’s getting dark.”
She’s still frozen, too frightened to even think of the possibility. She had always wanted a cat. Sirius stares at the floor, scratching his ear absently.
“I wish Algernon comes back,” she says as casually as she can, trying to catch Sirius’s gaze.
“Yeah,” Sirius mumbles as he stares at a dandelion. “Me too.”
“Me three.” James sighs.
She kicks at Sirius’s foot and, when she finally has his attention, nods towards James.
“I wish Algernon comes back,” she says again, whispering.
“ Oh! ” Sirius’s lack of subtlety is astounding, but he manages to clear his throat and lowers his voice.
“Lily… are you - are you sure?”
She nods in an instant and shoots James another quick glance. “A hundred percent.”
Sirius looks a little worried. “It’s just… I should have mentioned it before. My terms and conditions. I can’t bring people, things back from the dead.” He clears his throat. “If the cat is… gone then it won’t work.”
“Try it anyways, you have to. Look at him .”
It’s like Algernon is James’s life line, because he is a complete mess without the ginger cat. He trips up countless times, dropping his branches everywhere so he has to start all over again.
Sirius nods his head and she holds in a breath, waiting.
Nothing happens.
The clouds are darker than ever, and the thunderstorm is so close Lily can almost taste the electricity in the air.
“I tried, I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.”
The two of them watch, wracked with guilt, as James continues to pick up bits of wood. When his hands are full he turns back, a little surprised he has an audience.
“Let’s go this way,” he says, nodding left. “There’s a cave nearby.”
“You want us to come with you?” Sirius asks a little suspiciously.
“Safety in numbers, right?” James shrugs. “Unless you’d rather stay here.”
It’s almost poetic how the heavens open at that moment, when James’s body begins to move lifelessly and Lily and Sirius follow after him, shame tormenting them into a horrible silence.
She’s never seen rain before, but she can’t bear to look up at the sky. If it was any other situation maybe she’d start dancing - but the dread she feels in her stomach is all too real, and the empty look in James’s eyes is a constant reminder that life is severely unfair.
Sirius trips up and falls face first into a puddle, and when he stands his hair falls like wet curtains down his cheeks.
The rain pelts down mercilessly and by the end of the walk they’re all soaking, shivering, hungry and low in spirits.
James spots the cave first, pointing down by the river where a small alcove drops into the ground. What’s unusual, however, is the strange bright orange light, like fire, shimmering out of the cave.
“Someone’s in there?” Lily asks, stopping so instantly that she bumps into James’s shoulder.
James shakes his head. “That’s impossible, no one knows about this cave apart from a few of King Fleamont’s most trusted allies.”
“And you are?”
“What?” James casts her a glance, his gaze weary as he meets her eyes.
She takes a deep breath. “One of ‘King Fleamont's Trusted Allies ’?”
He shrugs and takes out his sword. “I know some people, you could say.”
On Sirius’s count of three they all enter the cave, treading carefully in the hopes of catching the enemy unaware.
They expect a fight, but what they actually find is rather surprising. There, waiting on a fluffy cream rug, sits Algernon. The ginger cat is surrounded by food, and three chairs that are placed around a roaring (and somehow) contained fire.
James drops his sword in surprise, but Algernon is already running towards him and the boy throws his arms around his cat, scooping him up.
“What the heck is all of this?” James asks Algernon, who meows once and begins to purr.
“Indeed,” Lily bites, side eyeing Sirius.
Sirius is trying his hardest not to laugh, and he walks further into the cave to inspect the sizzling pot of food that is perched on a small table.
“Sausage anyone?”
“Do you think we should?” James’s stomach growls as soon as he asks the question.
“Why not?” Sirius asks, mouth full already from two sausages. He licks his fingers and lets out a satisfied hum as he does so.
“Because they’re not ours, we could be ambushed at any minute by whoever owns all of this.”
“Finders keepers,” Sirius shrugs, not bothered at all as he stuffs another sausage into his mouth.
“It does smell pretty good,” Lily admits, and when she grabs a handful James is following right behind her.
The food is hot, and it warms up their toes all the way up to their ears. The rain batters down outside, but the cave keeps the uncanny group of four safe and sound.
“You know the King of this land then?” Sirius asks once they’ve scoffed up all of the food and they’ve retired to the comfy looking chairs around the fireplace.
“King Fleamont,” James says. “I do.”
“Could he help us? Or anyone. We need a lift to Cokeworth.”
“ Cokeworth ? Why on earth would you want to go somewhere so dreary?”
“As if Godric’s Hollow is saintly, it’s raining buckets out there,” Lily says with a tight glare. James raises an eyebrow at her. “I’d rather see the sunshine and feel the heat of it on my back than none at all.”
“We get the sun,” James grumbles, embarrassed. He turns in his chair, turning his back away from them as he tries to get comfortable. “Just not as much.”
“Back to what I was saying,” Sirius says with a wave of his hand, though he’s clearly enjoying the back and forth banter. “Could someone get us into Cokeworth, unnoticed?”
“The King’s ill, poisoned. The entire court’s in disarray, I don’t think anyone would be able to help - even if they wanted to.”
His back is hunched, and Lily wishes dearly she could see his face.
“Poisoned?” she asks. “So who’s in charge? The Queen? A Princess? Prince?”
“The family’s being held in the Kingdom. Lord Voldemort is running all affairs.”
“By his own doing, I gather.” Sirius says darkly. “Selfish human ambition never ceases to amaze me.”
“What about you? Can’t you at least help us?”
“I’ve got my own set of troubles to worry about.”
The fire crackles and James seems to shrink even further into the chair. He doesn’t say anything else.
“You like him, don’t you?” Is the first thing Sirius asks, rather smugly, when James announces the next morning that he’s going to wash in the river.
She stops stroking Algernon immediately. “ No !” The cat gives her a haughty look before pattering out the cave.
“That blush on your cheeks says differently, love.”
Lily swats away Sirius’s poking hand. “I don’t know what you’re on about.”
“The sausages, fire, warm rugs and Algernon safe and sound? That was all you.” He folds his hands against his chest, rocking to and fro on his legs.
“It was you. I can’t do magic.”
“But, it was your wish.”
“And that matters?”
He nods. “On rare occasions. Passion and feeling can affect a wish so much that the result sort of,” Sirius gestures around the cave with a grin, giving Lily a sly wink. “well, intensifies.”
“So you’re saying-”
“You used your first wish for him, it’s quite obvious really.”
“I do not have a crush-”
“Algernon! Give that fish back or so help me.”
The cat in question lets out a yowl as it scurries back into the cave, a fish hanging from his mouth. James is by his tail, clothes messy like he threw them on in a hurry, his hair an erratic mess like he’s been blown about in a typhoon.
Lily blinks, taking him in. Water droplets drip down from his ears and splash down onto his white shirt like paint on a canvas.
“Cheeky git! That wasn’t for you.”
“I don’t think the cat cares,” Sirius regards Algernon with a snort, who sits down in the corner and eats the fish with his back to the rest of them.
“Guess not,” James glares at the cat and turns his handmade fishing rod in his hands. “Suppose I’ll have to go and catch some more. We can’t do anything on empty stomachs.”
He turns to leave and, when he does, Sirius throws one of the plump cushions at Lily’s face.
“What?”
“You’re staring, it’s embarrassing.”
“It’s just,” She sighs, tugging at a strand of her hair. “He’s got these eyes that just - and that hair! Wow. And - his smile ?”
Her cheeks are red as she mumbles, a bright and dreamy smile stretched on her lips.
“Could not agree with you more, what a pretty boy,”
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“I’m not! Just saying - if you’re planning on using a wish to woo him then it won’t work.” He’s picking at his nails when Lily turns to him. “I can’t make anyone fall in love.”
“I’m not asking you to. It’s not a crime to find someone attractive is it?”
“No,” he says with a smile. “It’s not.”
James manages to catch them all a fish eat, and they sit around the fire, waiting for it to cook. Algernon’s grooming himself rather contently and James gives him a gentle pat on the head as he turns the fish over.
“I wanted to apologise for what I said last night,” he says finally.
“About Cokeworth?”
“Not really, I still stand by that.” He laughs, giving her a smile that makes her heart flutter. “But I am sorry for belittling your problems, everyone has their own battle and I shouldn’t have shut you both down like that.”
“So you’ll help us?”
“Better than that - I’m coming with you.”
“Oh, that’s not really necessary-” Sirius starts.
“But before I make up my mind, I need to know why you’re so desperate to get to dreaded old Cokeworth.” The fish sizzles and they take one each. “ Unnoticed, I might add.”
“We’re going to save someone we love.”
“She loves, not me-” Sirius says quickly. “I’ve never even met her.”
“But you will love her. Mary is a darling.”
“If you say so,”
“So it’s a rescue mission?” James asks, grinning.
“Well, I guess so.”
“Then say no further, Lily. Count me in.” James says proudly. “I’ve always wanted to go on a rescue mission.”
“What’s changed your tune? You seemed pretty against it all last night.”
“There’s nothing for me here,” James tells Sirius, who leans back in his chair lazily. “My errand is hopeless and Godric’s Hollow is a lost cause. I need to leave here, as soon as possible.”
“But King Fleamont isn’t dead, the kingdom still has hope.”
James shakes his head. “Not for me it doesn’t.”
“What you’re asking for isn’t easy, boy.”
They had walked for hours, eventually stopping at a small village that was on the outskirts of the Hollow where James asked around for safe passage into Cokeworth.
“I can give you ten galleons.”
The man in front of them bites his lip. Soft brown hair, like caramel, falls into his eyes as he looks the three of them down. Algernon, who’s scooped up in James’s arms lets out a purr and the man looks slightly taken back by the sight of the giant cat.
“Okay. I’ll do it,” he says finally. “But you gotta do something else for me. The money is a deposit, if you’re that desperate to get out of Godric’s Hollow then you’re all going to do me a little favour.”
Lily squirms next to James. “What is it you want?”
The man reaches a hand into his inside pocket and Lily feels James tense next to her. He takes a deep breath, time seems to freeze around them. The man fumbles around in his pocket for a second until he pulls something out.
Sirius squints at what’s in his hands. “A rose? What do you want us to do with that? Plant it and start a garden?”
“I want you to give it to someone. A lady, called Andromeda.”
“That’s it?” Sirius raises an eyebrow.
The mans nods. “That’s it. You give this to her, and I’ll take you there.”
“Where can we find her?”
“Hogwarts Inn, ten minutes walk down that way. But one of you stays here, with me. Not being rude but - just in case, right?”
“Of course,” James says in an instant. “I’ll stay.”
“No, I will.” Sirius replies, picking Algernon up from James’s arms. “You’re from this place right? We need someone who knows their way around.”
“I don’t really know this area of Godric’s Hollow that well,” James with a nervous laugh. “I won’t be much use.”
“I thought you looked familiar,” The man says after a moment, and digs his finger into James’s shoulder. “Haven’t I seen you from somewhere before?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
The man doesn’t look convinced. “But you’re from here-”
“Yes but-”
“Then you can go, with your lady friend. We’ll wait here. Please, I’m not asking much.”
“What if she asks for your name?” Lily takes the rose with a smile.
The man shrugs, but a blush does creep onto his cheeks. “She’ll know who it’s from.”
“I don’t get why he couldn’t just give the stupid thing himself,” James grumbles five minutes later. He keeps his head down, staring at the ground when people pass by. The village is small, and only a handful of people are around.
“I think it’s romantic,” Lily says, sniffing the rose fondly. “He’s confessing his love.”
“By making someone else do it. That’s not love, that’s slothfulness.”
“I’m sure he had his reasons,” She grins and elbows his side.
He looks up in shock and she feels a strange tingling in her toes when he meets her gaze. He clears his throat and turns away, pointing to the inn that’s to their left.
The inn is small but beautifully decorated, with a cobbled thatched roof and dainty looking stained glass windows. The door creaks as James pulls it open and a woman, with wild, black hair, gives them a dirty look.
“We sell rooms for sleep, not pleasure. Go and do somewhere else.”
“We’re not-” James gasps, spluttering out as his ears tinge with red.
“We’re here to see Andromeda,” Lily says. She places what she hopes is a comforting hand on his shoulder, and gives him a small smile.
The lady sneers and stomps away. The entrance to the inn is deathly quiet, but there’s singing and laughter in the next room so loud that it feels like they’re in the centre of it all. The lady comes back after a minute with what looks like her sister.
“I’m Andromeda,” The sister says. Her hair is less wild, soft looking curls fall down to her shoulders. She gives them a kind smile as the other sister gives them a glare before stalking away.
“Sorry about Bella,” Andromeda says with a sigh. “She’s hated these coronation parties.”
“Coronation?” James asks, craning his neck to look into the room. His eyes are panicked at the word, and he wipes his hands onto his trousers.
Andromeda nods, looking at him carefully for a second before turning back to Lily. “The King is dying and, with the prince in prison, the title passes on to Lord Voldemort.”
“On whose authority? That’s treason!”
“James! Calm down!” She has to grab at his arm, pulling him back. He’s breathing deeply, fingers curled around her wrist so tightly it stings.
“Voldemort cannot rule,” his voice is shaking with anger but he whispers the words, his breath fluttering hot on her skin.
“We’re leaving, we’re leaving Godric’s Hollow - remember? You’ll be gone.”
He stares desperately into her eyes for a moment, his body still shaking desperately. He only gives her a quick nod, and swallows slowly before taking his hand off her. Her wrist is red, swollen.
“I’m so sorry, your wrist-”
“We were told to give you this.”
Andromeda sighs as she takes the rose.
“Oh, Teddy,” she smiles. “Thank you, for this. Please, tell him: ten o’clock. He’ll know what I mean.”
They walk back in silence, James kicking at stones moodily behind her.
“What’s gotten into you?” When one of the stones flies at her and hits her back she turns around with a glare. “You’re going to be leaving, isn’t that what you wanted?”
He shakes his head. “You wouldn’t understand,”
“Then just talk to me! Help me to understand.”
His face is dark like thunder as he tries to blink away angry tears. But suddenly he grabs hold of her hand, pulling her behind the nearest trees.
“Don’t,” he says softly, pleading as he puts a finger to her lips.
There’s a group of five soldiers walking down the main pathway, clad in the royal crest, holding swords as they inspect passersby.
“Please, just stay quiet.” His face is so close to hers, he only needs to breathe out the words for her to hear him.
She nods, and his hands settle on her shoulders.
Her weight is pushed into him, and his into the tree, and they stay in silence for what feels like an eternity.
It doesn’t feel too bad - staring into his eyes, picking out the different shades of greens and browns that make up the beautiful hazel colour. She can’t pinpoint what it is, but there’s something about him. Like she could trust him with anything.
Finally he moves, dropping his hands off her shoulders as he takes a step back. “They’re gone, let’s go. Quick - before they come back.”
Sirius, Algernon and Teddy are waiting when James and Lily return.
“Well?” Teddy asks, crossing his fingers.
“She said ten o’clock ; she said you’d know what that means.”
“Aye, that I do.” Teddy smiles in relief, shaking Lily’s hand energetically. “Hagrid is waiting down the lane for you all with the carriage. You can’t miss him. It’s a three days ride, if you don’t want no trouble. Now excuse me - I’ve got my wedding to sort out.”
True to Teddy’s word, Hagrid waits for them. The man was right, you couldn’t miss him - for Hagrid was actually a half giant, standing tall at 8 foot 8.
“Don’t let me height scare ya, and the kitty’s coming in the front with me. I love cats.” Hagrid coos at Algernon, who purrs delightfully as he scratches behind the cat’s ears. “We all set to go?”
The sun is starting to set and Lily squints up at it. “The sun shows up, just as we’re about to leave. Typical.”
“Plenty of sun in Cokeworth,” Sirius shrugs and jumps into the cart. “You coming in or what?”
James nods, but doesn’t move an inch. “Sorry, yeah I’m just…” He looks back behind him, there’s just trees around them for miles and miles, but James acts like there are people all around them. “Just got a funny feeling.”
#jilychallenge#jily#jily fic#jily fanfic#petalstofish#jily au#jily:fic#jily:au#GOSH THIS IS SO RUBBISH IM SO SORRY LJGDSLKJSKJGSKGJSD#HELP.#my fic
162 notes
·
View notes
Text
you’re smiling in love (and we’ll sigh so relieved)
(based off a prompt from an anon) James gives Lily a class on kissing, but feelings always get in the way.
(read on ao3, word count: 7038)
James Potter stands with his back leaning against the wall. Muddy feet in a tangle, leaving dirty footprints over the floor. He draws out a shaky breath.
“Are you sure?” he asks, his voice unsteady. He gives Lily Evans a worried glance and scratches his head. “I mean, don’t you girls have fantasies about first kisses and all?”
He looks like a dream with his windswept hair, rosy cheeks and soaked Quidditch robes clinging to his mud splattered skin. Her heart stops, but only for the briefest of moments.
She wants to say that he is her fantasy. That he is all she ever thinks about… but the words slip by and evaporate when their eyes meet. His gleaming hazel eyes shine, making her body shiver.
She should be screaming in hysterics, going crazy. Her crush, James Freaking Potter, is right here in front of her. And he's about to kiss her.
Yes, there’s the thunderous beat of her heart slapping against her chest when those damned eyes of his look at her; but she’s far too realistic to think that crushes ever end in ‘Happily Ever After’.
“I’m sure,” she says, the slick and smooth tone of her voice surprising her. She clears her throat, giving him what she hopes is a reassuring smile.
She’s doing this to get over him, once and for all.
“It’s just kissing, right?”
“Right,” he mirrors her smile, shadows her laughter. And then he leans in, she does too, and he plops the softest of kisses on her lips.
He pulls back in an instant, it’s a second long if that.
“There,” he says, suddenly interested in the cobbled stonework of the floor, “congratulations. You’ve had your first kiss.”
There are butterflies everywhere and she knows she’s playing with fire when their eyes meet again.
She feels the pull of a smirk. “That’s it?”
He only shakes his head, a small smile tangled between his sweet lips. Then he steps forward once more, brushes a hand against her cheek and pulls her softly towards him.
Her eyes flutter shut and when their lips meet for the second time it’s like she’s been consumed.
This time it’s louder than fireworks, more addictive than butterbeer, hotter than fire.
He wraps an arm around her waist and her hands are in his hair, grasping at the curls that she’s desperately been wanting to play with since she got this stupid crush.
He’s gentle and an earthquake all at once.
Mary blows a bubble in her chewing gum, letting it pop and set against her lips before she pulls the gum with her tongue. Then she blows it again, all the while staring hard at Lily.
“Let me get this straight,” the girl says, resting her hands against her unopened Witch Weekly. “Potter kissed you, for educational purposes?”
Lily sighs. “I was panicking about Chadwell and James, well, wanted to help.”
“By snogging you senseless?”
“I wanted to know what I was getting myself into.”
“That's very unlike you, Lily.” Mary frowns as she flicks open her magazine. “Especially Chadwell, he's an obnoxious mop-bucket.”
“I needed a Non-Potter Distraction. Being friends with him is,” she scowls and scratches her head, “tiring, to say the least.”
“Witch Weekly warns you to stay away from arses like Chadwell y’know.”
Mary taps the cover of her acclaimed magazine with her pinky, pointing at the floating section on the top left side that reads ‘HOW TO KNOW HE’S NOT THE RIGHT WIZARD FOR YOU’.
Lily stabs at a yorkshire pudding with her fork. “I'm only going on a date, not getting married.”
The conversation comes to an abrupt stop when Sirius Black slams his Advanced Potions Making textbook onto the table, looking like he’s still half asleep, and James sits next to her all bleary eyed.
She tries to ignore the way her heart does a somersault.
His hair is ridiculous, all up at the ends like he’s got an animal living in it. It looks soft though, so soft that all she wants to do is just reach out and grab it.
Just like she did then.
He catches her gaze, a red tinge colouring his cheeks and ears before he begins to pour pumpkin juice all over his plate of chicken and vegetables.
There’s a few seconds of silence between them all and James stares down in dismay at what he’s just done.
“Alright, Potter?” Mary asks with an innocent smirk. “Something on your mind?”
“Just worried about our next game, MacDonald. That’s all,” he says and with a lazy flick of his wand the pumpkin and chicken slush disappears.
He starts with his dinner preparation again, this time reaching for some quiche. The plate is right by Lily and he stretches out his arm, brushing against her. Seconds freeze like icicles and she hitches her breath; he doesn’t react.
He’s silent as she shivers and freezes up next to him, there’s not even a response when Mary accidentally spills tea over herself and pushes Lily accidentally into him.
Sirius Black, amidst the chaos of Lily apologising to James and Mary going “Oops, my hand slipped!”, reaches across the table and grabs at Mary’s magazine before she can stop him.
“My my, MacDonald!” he chastises with a cheeky wink, “I never took you for a ‘top ten ways to make wand movements easier’ kind of person.”
A cough from behind them stops Mary from shooting a bat bogey hex at Sirius.
Anthony Chadwell, clad in his Hufflepuff robes, runs a hand through his blonde hair. Suddenly there’s a hyacinth flower in Lily’s face and Chadwell gives them all a sleazy smirk.
Lily blushes, Mary actually chokes on her tea this time, Sirius raises an eyebrow and James is rigid next to her.
“Yo, babe. Are we still okay for Hogsmeade, yeah?” he winks.
“Um, yeah sure. What-”
“Sweet! Laters,” Chadwell grins, finger guns and swaggers off to join his friends at the Hufflepuff table. As soon as he’s out of view Lily throws the flower onto the table.
“I think I’m going to call you babe and Hyacinth from now on.” Mary grins. “Do you think the git even knows your name?”
“He did The Finger Guns,” Sirius shakes his head, laughing. “I wouldn’t count on it.”
She waits until breakfast is almost over, when the Quidditch teams have already left for the pitch, before she finally makes her way to the hall. She doesn’t have the energy to see him right now, that and she doesn’t trust herself not to lunge and kiss him.
“Slept through your alarm did you, Lily?” Peter asks with a sad, understanding smile. He’s already pouring her a glass of pumpkin juice. “James and Dorcas have just gone.”
“Oh, what a shame,” she says, ignoring the knowing looks from the remainder of the group. She plops down next to Mary. “So, did I miss anything important?”
Sirius shrugs, stretching his arms as he lets out a massive yawn. His hand brushes against Mary’s shoulder and they both jump a little.
“Err what did you miss?” he says, cheeks a fiery red as he taps his chin, words spurting out. “James had a mini breakdown, in front of the whole team. Dorcas looked like bloody murder.”
“I think he was hoping a certain someone might’ve been here to cheer him on.” Remus says nonchalantly, glancing up at her with a sly grin as he flicks through The Daily Prophet.
“He was rather jittery.” Mary hums in agreement. “But he's always like that before every match, and more times than not we win.”
There’s a ruckus at the Ravenclaw table when an unsuspecting sixth year gets a howler off their Grandma, the hall turns quiet as the words ‘I CAN’T FIND MY FALSE TEETH’ echo around the walls.
Sirius picks at his toast and gulps down the last of his drink. “He's Minnie’s prized Quidditch Captain after all, I bet she's been praying for a nutter like him since the fifties.”
She doesn’t want to see him in his Quidditch robes.
That scene still flutters throughout her head; the way the robes had clung to his skin, damp and sticky from the practice that Dorcas penned ‘Potter’s Torture Time’.
She’s counting every step that she takes, laughing absently at Sirius’s thirteenth joke of the day as they make their way up to the stands. Seats are filling up quickly and they find a place near the back of the Gryffindor stands, in front of a couple of first years that have ‘JP’ painted red on their flushed cheeks.
“I need the loo,” Lily says immediately. She feels dizzy and hot, the constant reminder of James everywhere is driving her mad and she needs to recollect herself.
Mary checks her watch. “The match starts in fifteen minutes.”
Sirius, who’s sat next to Mary, leans across her and rests his elbow on her shoulder. She seems to squirm a little, cheeks slightly red but Sirius doesn’t seem to notice.
“You don’t want to miss the beginning,” he winks, “or any of it.”
“I won’t be long,” Lily gives them all a wave and sets off down the stairs. The air is freezing, and she tightens the scarf around her neck as she rubs her hands together.
Someone, who sounds suspiciously like Remus Lupin, starts a ‘POTTER! POTTER!’ chant, and the rest of the Gryffindor stands shout it out in chaos.
The last person she’s expecting to see underneath the stands is James Potter, and yet there he is. Shivering in the November cold, he jiggles anxiously on the soles of his feet. He does a double take when he sees her, a hand automatically rising to his hair to mess with it.
“Lily!” he looks surprised, and a bit bashful as well. “What are you doing here?”
She can’t exactly say, ‘I needed to get away from all reminders of you up in stands,’ when he’s right there in front of her. Instead she just shrugs, claiming she needed a bit of air.
James nods, teeth chattering as he glances up at the red and gold stand. They’re still chanting ‘POTTER!’ and he seems to wince every time he hears it.
“Nervous?”
“Not at all,” he croaks. “This is just a work out.”
“It’s okay to be a little anxious,” Lily grins. “I can’t even imagine the pressure you must feel. But, honestly - James, you’re gonna nail it.”
He takes in a deep breath and nods his head. “Thanks.”
Reggie McLaren, a fourth year Ravenclaw commentator, booms his voice across the stadium, welcoming everyone to the first exciting match of the season.
“I guess I should go, you’ve got a game to win.”
She gives him a little wave, not really knowing what to do, before she turns around, ready to set off.
“Not going to wish me luck, Evans?”
She turns around, and that’s when it hits her; how deep the feelings for him have buried into her. It’s like he’s in her blood, she can’t get rid of this feeling and it’s a painful banging in her head.
Something (perhaps it’s the Gryffindor impulse or just sheer nerves of being around him again) ignites inside of her and she has no control anymore. She sweeps forward with this new-found courage and stands on her tiptoes.
“Good luck, James Potter.” she smiles, and kisses him softly on the cheek. “Break a leg, but not literally.”
They’re so close to each other, she can see the faint scar on his cheek that he got in second year. She gulps, and he looks completely mesmerised.
“Thanks, Lily.”
He’s everything - and she’s head over heels in love.
She doesn’t know who initiates it, only God knows, but somehow his hands goes around her waist and her hands wrap around his neck. She stares deep into his eyes and the screaming stadiums around them quieten in the moment.
It’s just the two of them, somewhere far away.
They kiss underneath the stands, a short and sweet embrace that leaves her desperately wanting more. But as soon as they part she feels sick.
After denying it for so long, it’s such a relief to finally accept it. All she wants, all she needs is James Potter.
“Alright Evans? You’ve been staring into that drink for the past ten minutes.”
His voice gives her goosebumps.
There’s an excited, jittery and sickly feeling that bubbles up in her gut, memories flashing through her mind as she swallows hard. Then she looks up at him.
He’s shining, still delighted and thriving off the Gryffindor win.
Of course they won. Fran Kirby caught the snitch only twenty minutes into the game, but in that time James and the others had managed to score an impressive amount of goals.
Basically, Gryffindor slaughtered Hufflepuff- and Chadwell seemed livid.
Lily drops her eyes back down into her drink. Her heart’s thumping, as it always does when James is near her.
He’s still wearing his quidditch robes and still looks exhilarated from the win, dazzling and windswept like he’s just emerged from one of Celestina Warbeck’s love songs.
She blinks. “Have I congratulated you yet?”
“On our amazing, fantastic win?” he laughs, folding his arms as he leans against the wall next to her. “I don’t think so, no.”
“Congratulations. You guys killed it out there. Like I said you would.”
He makes her nervous, like sweaty-hands nervous, and she uses her free hand to wipe her palm on her thigh, trying not to be too obvious.
James doesn’t notice at all; he gives her the biggest smile and grabs hold of a sugar quill. “We were pretty badass, but not as good as Manchester United I bet.”
“No team is as good as United, but you guys are a close second.”
She’s astounded that he remembers her favourite football team, a fuzzy and endearing feeling flutters in her gut and she wants to just fly.
James chuckles and rests his head back against the wall. His smile is soft, and his voice quietens. “I mean it though - I couldn’t have done it without you,”
It feels like she’s on cloud nine, and she just wants to grab hold of him and kiss him.
“Don’t be daft,” she says with a roll of her eyes and a grin, “of course you could have.” Her heart is beating a million times a second, but she tries to be as aloof as possible.
“I’m serious!” he says and, at that moment, as if he has super hearing, Sirius looks up from across the room. He’s playing exploding snap with Remus, Peter, Dorcas and Mary - but quickly goes back to the game when he realises he’s not being called.
James grins and puts a hand on her shoulder. His fingers are perfect, not sticky hot and not freezing - just right. He looks deep into her eyes and she’s afraid of falling into them.
“You’re a good friend, Lil.”
The word doesn’t sound right on his lips.
She jolts somewhat, and he looks a bit confused himself.
Only now does he pull his hand back from her, as if he’s just realised what he’s done. Something in the air has definitely changed, and Lily instantly hates it - whatever it is.
“Right,” she says and clears her throat. “Well, what are friends for, huh?”
“Exactly,” he smiles once more, but it’s not as wide as it was just moments before. He puffs out his cheeks, checks his watch and then looks back at her again.
She should say something. All it takes is a couple of words, a deep breath and a little bit of determination. Even if he doesn’t feel the same way, at least she wouldn’t have to live with the painful guilt she’s feeling.
She’s ready to say it - to just say he’s an absolute idiot and she’s in love with him (or something along those lines, whatever manages to come out of her mouth). She parts her lips, his name hanging onto her tongue when Remus calls to him.
The rest of the marauders have their winter cloaks on and Sirius has hold of James’s.
“Ready to see Hagrid?”
James nods and peels himself away from the wall.
“Yeah sure.”
Sirius throws him the cloak, which he catches with ease. He’s pulling the cloak around his shoulders when he turns back to her, uncertainty set deep in his eyes.
He bites his lip. “So, I guess I’ll - uh - see you around?”
She doesn’t get to answer him, Remus is already pulling him out of the common room.
Anthony Chadwell is three minutes and twenty seven seconds late.
Mary scowls as she checks her watch for the fourth time. “He said half past?” she asks with a click of her tongue.
Lily nods, straining her neck a little at the queue of students passing by.
“You go on ahead, he’ll be here soon. I can wait.”
Mary shakes her head, “I’m not leaving you alone, you wally. You’re not even wearing a coat.”
Lily lets out a small hum, rubbing her hands against her arms almost instinctively. It wasn’t this cold ten minutes ago.
“The boys are over there,” she points to the group of four, who are kicking around an empty bottle as they wait in the queue.
James is rubbish, which is funny considering how good he is at quidditch. Sirius kicks it like a proper midfielder and James, missing the bottle by an inch, watches as it tumbles towards where she and Mary stand. Lily sucks in a breath when he rakes his eyes, a little hesitantly, over her.
“You lovely ladies joining us?” Sirius jogs over to pick up the bottle and gives them both a goofy, cute grin.
“I’m going with Chadwell,” Lily tries to give him her brightest smile, knowing full well that James is standing only a few inches away. She has a twisted, funny feeling in her gut and she claims it on jittery nerves.
Sirius shrugs, eyes turning to Mary now. “MacDonald, are you going to grace us with your presence?”
Mary rolls her eyes, despite a little blush colouring her cheeks.
She threads her arm through Lily’s and lets out a small chuckle. “I’m meeting Dorcas in Gladrags. Probably won’t have time to run into you dorks.”
“Hogsmeade is a small place, you never know.” Sirius looks smug as he puts his hands in his pockets, noticing with a smirk how the blush on Mary’s cheeks deepens by the second.
She’s muttering “ass,” under her breath when Peter clears his throat.
“Are we going or what? I’m freezing my arse off here.”
Lily taps Mary’s shoulder. “Go with them, honestly. I’m sure he’ll be here in a sec.”
Mary looks a little reluctant, but when Sirius grabs hold of her arm and pulls her away gently she doesn’t fight against him.
“You sure?”
Lily only nods, stretching her mouth into the biggest smile she can manage, waving as they start to depart down the road.
James rakes a hand through his hair and glances back towards her. He looks guilty, staring at her like he’s got something he desperately wants to say, but he doesn’t stop.
She’s relieved and disappointed at the same time.
He nods his head slightly towards her and then the cute, light smile is back on his lips.
It’s like Anthony Chadwell and James Potter are polar opposites of each other.
James is boisterous and giddy. He can make her smile and gasp for air with his crazy jokes and remarks. Anthony is sweet, yes, but his smile doesn’t make her tingle and she doesn’t want to daydream about him for hours.
She tells herself it’s because she doesn't know him well. But, when he suggests they go to Zonkos without even asking if there’s a place she wants to visit first, it’s starting to slowly sink in that something’s not quite right.
The joke shop, as always, is filled to the brim with students and she follows slowly behind as her date stomps through the crowds. He stops by a shelf near the back of the cramped shop and Lily has to stop a few aisles away.
“Showed up then, did he?”
Just his voice alone brings a shiver up her spine and she turns around, trying not to smile. But damn, just seeing him there makes her want to break out into a song and dance.
“Yeah, he did.”
James smiles, fiddling with a box of sugar quills that’s under his left arm. “Were you waiting long for him?”
“No.” Yes.
It was another ten minutes before he finally came running towards her, panting and claiming he’d forgotten about the time they were supposed to meet (but she’s not about to reveal that to the guy who’s currently making her heart ache in a painful manner).
He’s standing right by the dungbombs, and that’s definitely not by coincidence.
“I hope you’re not planning on using those in Hogwarts,” she grins, pointing to the boxes that are stacked high. He gasps.
“Me? Use dungbombs? Never!” he says, giving her a wink as his hand reaches out to grab a box.
He’s just about to open his mouth when they hear Anthony laugh somewhere behind them. That causes the both of them to stir.
Chadwell is standing not ten feet away, arms resting, rather comfortably on the waist of a sixth year Ravenclaw girl who’s giggling at something he just said.
James scowls and raises his eyebrows in disbelief. “Aren’t you -”
She shrugs.
It’s stifling, the air is hot and sticky and it’s making her a little woozy. “We’re not exactly boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“But you’re his date.” James swears under his breath and shakes his head. “Merlin, Evans. I bet if the tables were turned he wouldn’t be happy with you flirting, so why the hell should he be getting away with it?”
“Maybe they’re just friends?” she’s whispering, even though James is stood so close to her that her shoulder brushes against his chest.
It’s rather ironic that James is getting more offended than she is. Should she be angry at Chadwell? She doesn’t feel anything for him, there’s no jealousy or bitterness - just the painful longing of the friend who’s by her side.
She can hear him swallow, she can count every deep breath he takes, even though the store is crowded and there’s an orchestra of sound in her ears.
“Like the way we're friends?”
All that matters in that moment is the way James looks at her.
And it’s almost as if they’re back at the common room, hidden away under the cover of night. He does the jaw thing (she doesn’t even know what ‘the jaw thing’ is, but she know it drives her crazy every single time) and Lily feels her fingers already itching to grab hold of him.
It’s like they’re back underneath the stands, just the two of them caught in the moment.
A student barges past them, hands full with two boxes of nose biting teacups, knocking Lily almost fully off her feet. Her legs stumble forward and she collides into James’ unsuspecting arms. His hand is instantly on her waist, holding her upright.
“Steady on,” he grins.
His stupid smile is contagious and utterly heart wrenching. She feels stupid for blushing under his intense gaze, she blinks and then the moment’s gone.
James stops their contact and he bites at his bottom lip, glowering as Chadwell lunges towards them.
“Babe,” he says and nods towards them, either not noticing or not caring to mention about the beetroot colour her cheeks are. “You ready?”
Lily clears her throat and quickly grabs onto the box of dungbombs James was admiring before. “Yes, just came here to get dungbombs. Very important.”
“Cool. Later, Plotter.”
She’s turning around, disliking the warm hand that Chadwell places on her shoulder when she hears James clear his throat.
“It's Potter,”
He doesn’t kiss like James.
There are no fireworks and she can’t see the stars in his eyes. He kisses like a limp fish more than anything, although there’s the faint hint of peppermint on his lips.
Anthony sighs as he presses a kiss against her lips once more, hands edging closer and closer to the small of her back. She instantly pulls them away, making sure he understands.
“Why don’t you just relax a little,” he murmurs in her ear.
All she can see is him. Him with his hurricane hair and cheesy smile, glasses wonky on his nose.
He’s far from perfect, but that’s what makes him so incomparable.
Sorry is almost out of her lips but she bites down on the word. What the hell is she sorry for? Nothing.
Anthony pulls away, his forehead creased.
“Listen, babe,” he itches his nose and pulls his hands into his coat pockets, “you’re really hot and all, but I just don’t think you and I… mesh well.”
He’s leaning against the wall, shoulders pulled into a careless shrug — like he didn’t just coax her into the empty cul de sac for a snog five minutes prior.
Lily blinks.
“If you ever want to have something... casual though, just send me an owl.” Chadwell gives her a wink.
There’s a few seconds of silence as Lily rolls around what’s just happened in her head.
“I’d rather french kiss a skunk, shave off my eyebrows and obliviate myself than be anywhere near the likes of you. You can expect an owl from me if I want to throw away my dignity and lose all of my self respect.”
She’s bubbling with anger and in the heat of the moment can’t help but slap his cheek whilst she’s at it.
He’s frozen in shock, his cheek a stinging red from her palm. He looks shocked.
“I’d probably be in St. Mungos too. I deserve to be treated far better than that.”
Sirius finds her in Scrivenshaft’s, hunched over the countless aisles of special quills.
“Evans!” he says happily. He doesn’t seem surprised, but, then again, Sirius always has that bright smile on his face. “Where’s your date?”
She picks up a quill, twirling it in her fingers before she has the energy to look up. “Um, he’s gone.”
“Gone? Like, to another shop?”
“Like, left. Gone. Told me that if I ever wanted a casual shag then I should owl him.”
She decides it’s better to leave out her sudden outburst.
“Yikes.” Sirius rubs the back of his neck, purses his lips and then glances over at her again. “Err, Mary’s in Tomes and Scrolls… do you want me to get her for you?”
“No. Yes. I mean, nah.” Lily shakes her head. She makes a grab for the nearest box of quills, not even glancing at the label. “I’m fine. Do you want a box of dungbombs?”
He looks at her dubiously and cocks his head slightly to the side. “Is that a trick question?”
She shakes her head, takes the box from her bag and thrusts it into his hands.
“Happy Christmas,”
“It’s April, Evans.”
“Then Happy Belated Birthday?”
He laughs, but takes the box from her anyways.
“My birthday’s in November,” he says with a grin. Nevertheless, Sirius stares at the box with wide, gleaming eyes.
“I know, there was that party in the common room, remember?”
It was slightly far fetched to call it such a thing - they had just played exploding snap and Mary had bribed the house elves to get a birthday cake topped with firewhiskey icing. They all sang happy birthday and Peter cried.
Lily clears her throat and takes out her purse.
“Anyways. I’m just gonna buy these and head back up to Hogwarts,” she says as she stumbles over a stool and scurries towards the till.
“You sure?”
She pays her galleon, grabs hold of her new box of quills and then gives him a smile. “Totally sure. Thanks Sirius.”
She’s a bad liar, but he doesn’t call her bluff.
He waits till she's out of view before he clucks his tongue and checks his watch. He takes a deep breath and taps his chin before he realises that he’s already made up his mind. He’s already marching over towards the bookshop.
Dorcas is giggling at a book in one of the shop corners and Sirius finds Mary surrounded by spell books, biting her lip and reading in full concentration as she practices a wand movement.
She looks up in surprise and he has to suck in a breath.
Mary is actually quite cute.
The heat of the Gryffindor common room is an immediate relief to her freezing bones and Lily sighs, feeling at ease for the first time that day.
She’s aching from the cold and inches towards the fire.
James looks up in an instant from his spot on the sofa and she stops dead in her tracks. He must notice her apprehension because he bites on his lip and bolts up from the seat.
“Lily!” his face is illuminated in the fire, flames dancing on his cheeks and burning in his eyes. The hearth crackles, soaking in the tense silence that falls between them before he’s swallowing heavily.
“Good date?”
She wants to laugh at the bitter irony. This is unbelievable and utterly ridiculous.
She’s still holding onto her box of quills, still not even looked to see which ones she grabbed in her blind state of panic.
“Alright, I guess.”
She doesn’t move an inch, not even when he takes an awkward step towards her. He’s wearing bright yellow quidditch socks, dozens of mini snitches flying around all over his feet.
“You guess? Not Prince Charming like you were hoping, huh?”
She allows herself to smile. “I never said Prince Charming, he’s actually far from it.”
James shrugs. “If I recall,” he says, taking another small step closer towards her, “you said he was fit and that you didn’t know what to do.”
“He is fit, but that doesn’t stop him from being a giant arsehole.”
He blinks. “Oh, bugger. Sorry - I didn’t realise that -”
“It’s okay.”
The portrait opens and a group of third years with fanged frisbees, chuckling and acting suspicious, make a beeline to the dormitories.
Lily plops her box onto the seat closest to her, resting on the armrest. James flexes a hand.
“Is it? You were really… excited. I mean,” he drops his voice down to a whisper, even though they’re alone now, “you wanted to… you know, practice.”
“You’re the one who offered,” she folds her arms against her chest and taps her foot against the sofa.
“Well, yeah,” he shrugs. “You said you didn’t want to mess it up with Chadwell.”
Lily jumps back up, sighing. “We’re just going round in circles now. I’m going up to my room.” She makes for a grab of her quills.
“Was it the kissing?”
Her fingers stop inches away and she curls them around her fist tight. Sliding a cool gaze over to him, he looks uncomfortable.
“Yes. And no,” she makes it sound like it’s obvious, throwing in a casual shrug whilst she’s at it. “Emmeline Vance was very insistent about your, ahh, consummate skills.”
James makes a noise that sounds like a strangled cat and a fog horn at the same time. He’s loosening his tie, messing up his hair as he clears his throat.
“Can I let you in on a little secret, Evans?” There’s a sheepish smile. Uh-oh, she thinks.
“Hit me,”
He takes a deep breath and scratches the back of his neck a little awkwardly. “I, err, that was a dare.”
“What was?”
“Kissing Vance. It was a stupid and dumb Seven Minutes in Heaven Dare by Frank Longbottom in fourth year. It wasn’t even seven minutes, more like a pathetic fifty seconds.”
“Oh.” Lily blinks.
James gives her a look, it’s rather odd; one that gives her goosebumps.
He cracks his fingers and shrugs. Words drip out of his mouth like melted ice cream on a summer’s day. “It wasn’t even heaven, it was in a bloody broom closet and was extremely uncomfortable.”
“I see.”
He looks like he’s in agony.
“So what I mean is, like, well - that I’ve only ever kissed her,” he sucks in a deep breath, staring intently at the wall. “And well, you.”
“And yet you thought you had the right qualifications to give me kissing lessons?”
“I didn’t exactly say I had relevant experience, I was just there at the right time and moment to lend a helping hand.”
“Vance wasn’t wrong though,”
James lifts his head. “Pardon?”
“About the kissing. You are bloody good at it.”
Anthony Chadwell is sent to the hospital wing the next morning, sprouting purple warts that explode into the words ‘I’m a Jerk’ whenever someone gets within four inches of him.
“I heard he was sobbing.” Peter snickers, almost choking on his orange juice as he recounts his story at the Gryffindor table.
“I had nothing to do with it,” James says, putting his hands up quickly in defense. “Although I wish on Merlin’s beard that I had.”
Remus clears his throat. “It’s nothing Madam Pomfrey won’t be able to handle. I’m sure Hufflepuff will play extra hard with Slytherin at the next match.”
Sirius sips at his tea and Mary grabs a piece of toast, stuffing it into her mouth. Lily decides it’s better if she doesn’t know, at least for now.
“What does your Witch Weekly say today, MacDonald?” Sirius quickly changes the subject, picking up his own slice of toast. “Any words of wisdom?”
Mary opens the magazine up to a random page. “Says The Bloody Banshees are the new HobGoblins.”
Sirius lets out a gasp, “That’s a right load of codswallop. The sheer nerve!”
True to Remus’ word, a few hours later when Gryffindor and Hufflepuff share Transfiguration together, Anthony Chadwell comes into class purple wart free.
Mary catches Lily’s gaze and winks as McGonagall directs him to his seat.
“I hope this will not affect the match tomorrow, Mr Chadwell.” The professor, chalk gripped in her hand, tries to smile as politely as she can at the Hufflepuff’s Keeper.
Chadwell scoffs, blasé and as smug as ever. “I’m ready to kick some Slytherin ass.”
The Gryffindor Head of House rolls her eyes, but turns back to the board and continues the class.
“Have you spoken to James yet?” Mary murmurs as the class scribble down the board notes.
“About what?”
“That you fancy the socks off him? That you want to snog him into next year?”
Lily rolls her eyes. “Have you and Sirius confessed?”
Mary freezes. “What?”
“About Chadwell? You guys were so obvious during breakfast.”
“Oh.” Mary coughs and messes with her hair. “It turns out he was a jerk to quite a lot of girls yesterday, so for all he knows it could have been any one of them,” she bites her lip, nudging her friend’s shoulder softly. “Sorry. I know you really wanted it to work out - ”
“Only so I wasn’t thinking about James,” Lily shrugs. “I guess I should've faced just faced him instead of running away.”
“You could just - I don't know - tell him?”
“I told him he was ‘bloody good’ at kissing.”
Mary has to slap a hand against her mouth to stop a shriek from escaping. She giggles and sneaks a quick glance at James and Sirius’s table, neither of them are paying attention to the lesson.
“You didn’t.”
Lily winces. “Unfortunately I did. Then I legged it before I could embarrass myself further.”
“But why? That could have been the moment where he confesses his undying love for you after he chases you down a moonlit garden!”
“Firstly, this isn’t Hollywood. And secondly he would have been chasing me up the girls stairs, then it would have turned into a slide and he would have fallen down on his arse-”
“Now that would have been hilarious.”
She manages to avoid him only for a few days, although Mary says ducking underneath a tapestry and hiding behind bookshelves doesn’t really count as ‘avoiding’ (neither does running into the library or stuffing one’s face with three eclairs apparently).
It’s the day before the Hufflepuff against Slytherin match when she runs into him.
He’s balancing four books in his hands and he’s got his wand balanced against his left ear.
As soon as he sees her his eyes widen and he pauses. He’s on the stairs and a student huffs as they barge past him, tutting at his immediate stop.
For some reason she can’t move, her feet are frozen (maybe because the castle’s so cold, it’s snowing outside and the corridors feel like ice caves - or maybe because part of her feels sorry for him).
“I’ve been, err, meaning to talk to you,” he says, grasping tight to his books as he meets her on the step. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”
Her heart skips a beat. “What have you got to be sorry for?”
He’s still fiddling with his books, they’re giant, bulky Potions textbooks that look like they weigh a tonne. He shuffles a bit on his feet. “Look, I haven’t been completely honest with you.”
Of all the possible places to have this kind of discussion, it would be slap bang in the middle of the stairs whilst students are barging past them left, right and centre.
Lily squirms, dread filling her up. “Okay?”
“When I said you were a good friend, I lied.” His voice is croaky but determined, his eyes are stuck on hers and she’s too entranced to move at all. She feels dizzy.
“No, wait - that came out wrong.” James swears and closes his eyes briefly. “I mean, I love - I love having you as a friend. Lily you’re, well, amazing - to be perfectly frank.”
She has no idea what to say, so thank you is all that trembles out of her mouth.
“That day,” he continues with a shaky breath, “when you said didn’t know how it would work out with Chadwell because you had never kissed anyone before…”
A group of first years run past, smacking into James’ side as they whizz down the stairs. His body jerks forwards and she instantly reaches towards him, slapping a hand on his chest to stop him from toppling over.
“Little buggers,” he glares as the group race around the corner.
“Maybe this isn’t the place to do this -” she squirms under his gaze, nervous and rather unsure about what he’s going to say. She drops her hand like he’s hot coal.
“No wait, please. I need to say this.” he clears his throat and taps his thumb against the side of the books. “I really like you. And I thought it would be okay to help you, like doing it as a favour to a mate or something. But, I realise now it was a stupid mistake because I - I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you,”
A moment of silence passes between them; Lily is stunned and James watches her closely, trying to read her expression. After a few more seconds he bends down and places the books down by his feet and pulls his hands together, wringing at his fingers nervously.
“You liked Chadwell and I didn’t want to jeopardise anything that was going on between you but,” he takes a small step closer to her, if that’s even possible. They’re balancing awkwardly on the step, facing each other nose to nose. He looks vulnerable, unsure and completely afraid as to what she’s going to say.
“But,” he says again and itches his nose. “I needed to come out and say it. I keep telling myself we’re friends and that I shouldn’t - can’t - say it but you’re the person I care most about in this world and -”
She doesn’t let him finish, she’s heard enough by now.
She stands on her tiptoes, and pulls at his shoulders before she silences him with a kiss.
It’s not like the others.
The kiss in the common room is a euphoric start, waves and waterfalls crashing down.
The kiss under the stands is an impulse, a nagging thought at the back of her head that wouldn’t let her rest until she had done its bidding.
But this one.
This one fills her up completely.
Lily feels alive and it’s James Potter who’s standing there in front of her, with his hands hugging her waist and lips kissing her again and again and again.
She can feel his heart racing, the flutter of his hands as he pulls her even closer.
There are students still barging past them, but they don’t care in the slightest.
He sighs against her lips, smiling softly. “You really had me a mumbling mess back there,”
Lily grins. “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t dreaming this up.”
“We’re both terrible at this, aren’t we?”
“The absolute worst. But at least we’re not Sirius and Mary.”
James grins and it’s infectious. They’re kissing again, smiling in love and grasping hold of each other tight. It feels like the moment is never going to end, that they’ll stay in that second completely free from everything else in the world.
Someone clears their throat and another person else lets out a laugh.
“Mr Potter, Miss Evans.” Professor McGonagall is standing there, trying to look stern as she attempts to conceal a smile.
Sirius and Mary are standing beside her, snorting with laughter. The two are holding hands and find the situation absolutely hilarious.
There’s a group of students around them, it seems that the two of them were taking up more space on the stairs than they anticipated.
“Detention in my office tomorrow night, for causing a disruption on the stair-well.” The professor calls out as she continues up the stairs, and then she turns around briefly in the last second and gives them both a wink. “Oh, and congratulations.”
James can’t help it, he swoops down and kisses Lily again. This time cheers and cat calls follow, and students move past them once again.
“You two are absolute morons,” Sirius grins. “Took you bloody long enough.”
626 notes
·
View notes
Note
nº 5 for jily please!
5. Soft kisses on the neck that make you giggle and Person A kisses you more on the neck just to hear you laugh
Canoodling inside one of Debenhams dressing rooms is something Lily Evans never thought she’d do. Ever.
But, when Vernon and Petunia have just been spewing absurd comments about her boyfriend and ‘his kind’ angrily in the corner of the home department and James Potter is standing there in a muggle wedding suit with a heavenly navy tie on then, well, something has to be done.
“What do you think?” James asks a little cautiously. He turns back to the mirror, trying to smooth down his hair, which just falls back into its usual messy state.
“Definitely the blue one,” she says, picking off a bit of loose lint on his arm, “far more superior.”
James grins and she has to hold onto the wall for support.
“Good enough to be allowed into the church?” she glances back at James, who’s still turned towards the mirror and trying to smooth down the ends of his shirt collar and loosening his tie.
Petunia had warned her that James had to look suitable (whatever that meant) for her wedding, and so, to keep tension to a minimum, they’d been shopping with Vernon and Petunia for what felt like a month instead of the ten minutes that it had been. The two had eventually agreed with the blue tie and were now somewhere far away looking at camembert dishes.
Lily grins and, in a flash, stands up on her tiptoes to give his cheek a peck. “Very dashing.”
His hands pause for a moment and she takes the opportunity to wrap her hands over his, smoothing out the collar and straightening the tie. She’s still on her tiptoes, and she wavers slightly as she catches his gaze in the mirror.
The dressing room (and the entire third floor for that matter) is so quiet that all she can hear is the anxious beat of her heart drumming violently against her chest. She only notices now that with the dressing curtain drawn shut, there’s hardly any room save for the hard-looking stool that sits precariously to the side of the mirror.
To hell with it, she thinks and, inching that tiny bit closer towards him, places the softest of kisses at the base of his neck. He’s grinning as he swallows, entwining their fingers together as he turns to look at her.
“That tickles, Evans,”
“Good,” she kisses his neck again, but slightly higher this time. Just below his adam’s apple, and she shivers in delight when he breathes in deep and he shudders against her touch.
He’s laughing against her skin and he turns around in one swift movement to give her a taste of her own medicine.
Soft, delicate, fiery kisses hot against her neck. She can’t help but grip onto his blazer, no doubt crinkling the fine silky fabric that it’s so delicately made with, as she giggles against him. They silence each other with a kiss, laughter trickling onto their lips like honey.
#jily#jily fic#jily prompt#HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILY EVANS#this is so crappy im sorry#but my girl needs a present and what better prezzie than snogging james and kissing his neck??????#jily:fic#my prompt#my fic#replies#anonymous
167 notes
·
View notes
Text
we’re walking in the air
prompt #2: both alone at a (christmas) lights turn on for @twelvedaysofjilychristmas
rating: G | muggle AU | word count: 1971 | read on ao3
“A single, please.”
The man in the kiosk, who looks more like Mr Scrooge despite wearing a large Father Christmas hat that sits upon his fat, bald head, looks at Lily rather oddly.
“I can't give you a single, it's doubles ice skating.”
Someone coughs behind her and she feels the eyes of everyone in the line. Her toes are curling and she bites her lips. She’s been in this forsaken queue for twenty minutes all because Mary MacDonald had demanded Lily take a selfie in the ice skating rink.
“Can't you just-”
Mr Scrooge shakes his head again, making the little bells hanging from the ridiculous santa hat jingle. “It has to be in pairs.”
Lily huffs and shoves her fingers further into her coat pockets. This man’s acting like the future of the world hangs in the balance of this stupid ice-skating rule and, to enunciate the importance of it, taps a finger towards a wooden plaque behind him.
It’s a dirty, crooked old sign that just reads ‘ICE SKATING, TWO PEOPLE FOR THIRTY MINUTES’.
The man folds his arms against his desk and waggles the same finger in her direction. “The fee is in couples and the time slots are in couples.”
“But I’m not with anyone.” The worst thing she hates is an annoying customer who won’t budge, but this is slightly different. This is bordering on ridiculous.
At her words, the man in the kiosk just looks at her blankly for a couple of seconds. Her face burns and she’s ready to give up and just tell Mary she had no time.
The man sighs and pauses Wham’s Last Christmas which plays through a battered speaker with notorious feedback. Then he reaches for the intercom and Lily closes her eyes as the screech of the man’s microphone fills up the street.
Mary is so going to pay for this.
“Is there anyone alone who wants to pair up with this lady who is also alone?”
Absolute silence follows. There’s some sort of static through the speaker, making her ears tingle and her head pound in pain.
“I will,” a voice calls out somewhere near the end of the line.
Lily turns around, along with the fifty or so other people who are in the line too. She can’t see very well, she’s been avoiding making her Specsavers appointment until she gets paid, and squints at the figure that starts to move slowly forward.
He’s wearing a bobble hat with a matching scarf that covers almost the entirety of his face apart from sweet hazel eyes underneath some wonky glasses. He must feel the burning stares of everyone around them (one lady remarks, rather loudly, to her partner, “It’s like an episode of Corrie!” as he passes) because he thrusts his hands into the pockets of his big red coat and stumbles slightly as he reaches the kiosk.
Grumpy Mr Scrooge still shows no sign of emotion and presses something on his keyboard. There’s a DING! of a bell as two freshly printed tickets fall gracefully out of the machine.
“You are couple number thirty-eight, when your time is up your number shall be shown on the board and you will have to leave immediately. Thank you for skating in Santa’s Lapland. NEXT!”
The couple behind her shove their way forward and Lily and her sudden partner are forced to follow the line of people going towards the skating shoes.
“Thank you,” Lily says as they each grab a pair of skates, “for - err - doing that.”
“Not at all,” the boy shrugs. “That guy was a right old fart though. What’s so wrong about single skating? It’s not the end of the world if someone isn’t in a couple.”
His skates slam down on the bench, and he plops down next to them and attends to his dirty white nikes. Lily follows numbly after him, not mentioning how the icy cold of the bench is shockingly numbing her buttocks.
“I’m James by the way,” he’s taken off his hat now and tufts of soft looking black curls cascade past his temples. It’s an absolute mess, but it fits his physique immensely and makes him look an absolute dream.
“Lily!” is her immediate reply, thrusting out her arm for him to shake.
It feels like she’s in a sauna, sweat dripping down her back as he takes her hand and gives it a firm shake. Her feet are tingling and she forces her eyes back to her skates. They spend the next few minutes in silence, putting away their shoes and fidgeting with their coats.
He stands. “Shall we?”
Santa Baby starts playing as they waddle towards the rink like penguins and Lily can’t help but wonder if this is a fix set up by Mary - that her friend is actually hidden behind a one way mirror and not in bed with a stuffy nose surrounded by wet, snotty tissues.
The idea becomes less likely when James steps out onto the rink and, four seconds later, is already sprawled out with his bottom in the air. A bubble of laughter escapes her throat as she helps him up and he tightens his grip on her sweaty hand.
Three minutes later it’s apparent that they’re both terrible skaters.
They hold onto each other, arms connected and hips touching, as they grasp at the walls. Couples skate by and do twirls and jumps around them, but Lily and James shuffle and wobble in their own happy, little world.
“Why did you want to go skating when you’re so bad at it?” Lily asks when they both tumble for the tenth time. It’s her fault this time - she loses her balance and skids, hitting the wall with her shoulders and James crashes straight into her chest.
Bobble hat straightened, scarf tied a little tighter around his neck so his red cheeks are slightly hidden, James lets out a laugh. “Believe it or not, I actually took skating classes when I was younger.”
“You didn’t,” Lily grins.
“Okay,” James halts and rests his arms against the wall. Lily struggles to balance and he leans forwards to pull her with him. She mutters out a hushed ‘thank you’ and tries to calm her pounding heart. “So I went to three in total, but that still totally counts. Right?”
“Totally.”
“And I thought, for old times sake, why not go ice skating in Santa’s Lapland Skating Rink on the opening day of the Christmas markets?”
“Falling on your arse in front of hundreds of strangers, what better way to spend your Thursday evening. Right?”
He smiles, eyes twinkling under the colourful lights of the christmas trees that surround them.
“Exactly. And I would never have had the pleasure of meeting you. There’s no one else I would rather fall on my arse with,”
The board, decorated with snowmen lights and stars, flashes out the number THIRTY EIGHT and Lily stares at it in disdain.
Thirty minutes isn’t enough time at all, when all she wants to do is just talk to this enigmatic and dazzling guy until the stars fade and fall from the sky.
She blinks and his smile seems to fade as he notices the board too.
“Guess our time is up,” he says with a sad kind of clarity. They turn back around, still holding onto each other and the wall as they slowly make their way back to the exit.
Lily takes out her phone quickly, suddenly remembering why she even started this whole nightmare to begin with.
“Is that snapchat?” he laughs, his breath tickling her neck so softly that she jumps and almost drops her phone. He’s right behind her, staring goofily into the camera of her phone.
“I kinda promised my friend I’d take a picture at the rink. She wanted to come too but her nose was running like a tap and she had a fever.”
James nods. “Want me to take it for you?”
“Or we could - I don’t know - take one together?” she chokes out, eyes racing towards the exit where a security guard watches them with beady eyes.
“You don’t have to though,” she continues, laughing a little awkwardly as she moves her phone towards her pocket.
“I’d love to!”
His smile seems like it could lighten up a completely darkened alley-way and she grins as he moves closer towards her and pulls a funny face.
Three saved photos later (all filtered with santa hats, dog ears and time stamps) and a hurried selfie saved to her story, they make their way back to the exit, apologising hurriedly to the security guard who taps his watch with urgency.
It’s like a military operation; they hurry to take off their skates, dash to collect their shoes and bags and are chased out of the rink like they’ve committed a crime.
Mr Scrooge still looks grumpy, stomping away at his keyboard as he tends to the endless line of customers.
“Think you’ll come again with your friend?” he asks as they walk together to one of the drink stalls. It’s freezing, and they decide that a hot drink would be perfect to thaw their icy bodies.
“Never again,” she replies in an instant. “It was a complete rip off! Thirty minutes and we paid a tenner each?”
“You should tell your mate it was amazing, absolutely the best moment of your life and film her reaction when she calls your bluff. What do you want?” he points to the menu and waits expectantly for her answer.
When she says ‘Cherry Amaretto Hot Chocolate’ and he asks for two of said drink, slamming down a twenty pound note at the till, she slowly begins to process what’s happening.
“I can pay for my drink, it’s okay.” she mumbles, reaching for her purse that’s buried somewhere in her bag. His hand grasps onto hers, there’s an electrifying jolt that flurries around in her body. It feels like stars are burning, the earth shaking and tumbling underneath them. She’s lost in his eyes.
“I want to, please.”
They find a table near the rear-end of the hut where the lights are dimmed and the echo of the ongoing Christmas music is a little quieter.
Mary instantly spams Lily with a number of texts, asking who is the divinely handsome bloke on her snapchat (she even includes a winky face, which Lily decisively ignores).
He sips at his drink, blowing it delicately because it’s still too hot to drink. He says he’s going to give it a whirl, asks her to wish him luck, and takes a small sip at it.
His eyes widen and pulls away fast, fanning his mouth. “That’s piping hot! By heck! I think I’ve scalded my lips.”
He’s got a milk moustache, and his eyes seem to be tearing up from the temperature of the drink.
A thought races through her brain and she takes a second to ponder at it. She’s laughing at him, pointing to his lips and he’s smirking as he wipes his sleeve against his mouth.
Is it just her or are they slowly moving closer towards each other?
They’re like magnets, desperate to connect and embrace.
Under the dim lights, where his hair still sticks up like a wild animal and his cheeks seem to glow, they share an apprehensive look.
It’s mutual.
She places a soft kiss on his lips, feeling light-headed and energised at the same time. Her toes are curling with happiness and her body feels weightless when he kisses back. His eyes flutter closed and it feels so intimate to share such a thing, but not see it take place.
It doesn’t matter though. She shuts her eyes tight, holding onto his hand like they were made to fit into hers.
It feels like magic.
#jily#12daysofjilychristmas#jily fic#jily fanfiction#jily drabble#!!!! like 364 days late but oh well#merry christmas#1 down 11 to go lol#my fic#jily:fic
165 notes
·
View notes
Text
wednesdays at three thirty
a late bday fic for @jamesandlilyaredead <3 (9445 words, read on ao3)
Everyone sees the world in black and white until they meet their soulmate. But James works in a coffee shop, and every time he sees colour there’s an annoying customer there too (AKA a coffee shop and soulmate au fic in one because i have no chill).
“One frozen mocha to go!”
It’s second nature to him now, as quick and easy as breathing. In one swift movement, James grabs hold of the milk carton, ready to pour it into the blender. He hears the door to the cafe open, a chilly breeze ruthlessly following a handful of students who scrabble inside as it begins to rain.
It’s then that it happens. The milk drops to the floor as he stares, perplexed, at the colour of his hand. It’s like the weight of an avalanche crumbles on top of him, an invisible weight pressing hard on his shoulders. Before he even realises, his legs are like jelly and he’s falling.
“James? Are you alright?” a voice asks.
He feels a hand pressed against his back, the sound of someone’s concerned voice muffled against his ear. He tries to say something, but all he can manage is an intense gasp for air as his legs shake once more.
He can see.
Not that he couldn’t before… but he can see.
Colours are everywhere, blinding and intense. They’re beautiful, so vibrant that it’s making his head spin.
He’s staring at white tiles, chestnut coloured cabinets. It feels like he’s on fire and, more than anything, he wishes he could stand, to just look around the place to see who is making him like this.
Of course, he’s read the stories like everyone else. Lullabies that dated back long before they even had a name. Fairy-tales of people who, like everyone else, saw the world in a lens, the colour of life squeezed out. There was only one person who could help to retrieve that colour back into your life.
A soulmate.
James blinks, his heart now slowing to a calm, even beat. He breathes in deeply, relishing the peaceful feeling that washes over him. The owner of the hand speaks again and rubs the place between his shoulder blades tentatively, asking if he needs an ambulance.
He shakes his head, finally looking up at Remus.
“Can you stand?” Remus asks, taking hold of James’ shaking hand and pulling him to his feet. He wobbles for a split second and reaches out to grasp hold of the counter with both arms. His fingers grip onto the support for dear life.
Who?
He swallows, a nauseating bubble rippling throughout his intestines and threatening to shoot up his throat. He breathes in, counting to ten. Slow and easy, he finally manages to pull his eyes away from the wooden counter and cautiously glances around cafe.
The colours are dazzling; blues, reds, greens, all different shades and intensities. They're all so vivid and intense that it feels like the ground’s shaking beneath him. The place is heaving with students, all wet due to the unexpected stormy April shower and James tries to look at as many as he can, searching desperately for someone who seems just as unsettled and surprised as him.
Everyone seems normal. How can that be? Colour’s just flown into every crevice of their being… and they don’t care?
There are too many voices, people ordering, grabbing their coffees and other beverages and talking aimlessly with one another. Amidst the chatter and the whirring noises from the coffee machines, the sound of the door opening reaches his ears. A freezing wind enters, the chilly kind that makes the hairs on his arms stand up on edge.
And then, just like that, his world is drained of colour.
The door closes shut and it’s like time pauses around him.
It’s shattering, to see the colour fade and vanish so brutally and without warning.
He’s moving in an instant, ignoring Remus and his concerned questions which he brushes off with a shake of his head. He’s dodging through the large mass of students, speech failing him as he finally makes it to the door and flings it open. The rain’s pouring down with no mercy and it seems that fate has none either.
The person has vanished. The person, his soulmate.
“James!” Remus is by his side, grabbing his arm softly as he shuts the door. “Are you mad? Your feet are soaked now.”
James can’t speak, he doesn’t know what to say. His throat itches to release a soul-shattering sob; that’s what it feels like, soul-shattering.
He numbly allows Remus to lead him to the staff room, setting him down on his favourite armchair. The cushions sink beneath him and the dull chime of the cedar clock echoes in his head.
“James?” Remus asks again, this time plopping a hot cup of tea into his cold hands.
“It happened, Remus,” he whispers, it’s so painful to speak, like the air has been choked out of his lungs. He’s scared that perhaps it’s all just a dream.
“It?” Remus asks, watching James with a careful gaze. “What was it like?”
James sighs and looks down at his tea, stirring it aimlessly for a few seconds before he takes a small sip. “Unlike anything that’s ever happened before,” he says finally. He lets out a deep sigh and runs a hand through his hair, gripping at the ends.
“The colours were so perfect and then it was gone. They were gone - they just left and took the colour with them.”
“Which colour was the prettiest?”
“Red,” James says in an instant, a small smile creeping onto his face. His eyes brighten, recalling the feel of it. There’s something about that colour, it made him feel warm.
“All of them, Remus. But red… red was intense.”
The two sit in silence for a few moments. James takes cautious sips of his tea whilst Remus sits and watches his every move. The silence is more reassuring than unsettling, but still Remus tries his best.
“James…” The cafe is still horrendously busy and there’s only so much Peter and Sirius can handle on their own. He wrings his hands together, but James is the one to speak first.
“Do you think… do you think that’s it?”
This time James’ voice is back to normal. No hushed whispers, no desperately needed gasps for breath after each word. The only tell-tale sign is his right hand, his fingers still shaking.
There had been millions of accounts of people seeing colour, from all over the world. And for some that had been it, just the one moment and then they were back to the way they had always been. The colours just slowly faded from their memories like it had never happened.
“Well,” Remus starts, unsure, “if they came to the cafe then they must be a student.” he checks his watch, glancing at the time and date, “I mean, it’s a Wednesday. Student for sure.”
“Unless it’s a teacher, that’d be unfortunate.” James mutters, finally feeling like himself again. He smiles, nods his head and allows Remus’ feeble attempts to give him a slither of hope.
He gulps back the rest of his tea, assuring his friend he’s fine to go back to work.
If he’s meant to see them again then he will. And if he doesn’t then, well, he’d just go on as normal. He'd unwillingly let the memory fade away, just like the colour had.
Classes don’t seem to put his mind at ease at all - he spends the hours doodling in the margins of his notebook, not listening at all to the way Mrs McGonagall lectures on about Biology. And when the two hours are finally up, he jogs all the way back to the coffee shop.
Peter looks up in surprise from his spot at the till.
“Alright? Didn’t think you were working today.”
“Nah, I’m not. But - err - thought you could use some help? Thursdays, mate. Everyone needs a coffee on a Thursday.”
Peter smiles, thankful for the sentiment and James drags himself behind the counter, throwing his white apron on like it’s hot coal in his hands.
He glances up every time he hears the door open, but each time no one brings colour in with them. By the end of the four hour shift he’s in an angry mood and ends up getting a chinese on the way home to ease his feelings.
He spends most of Friday doing the same thing, but on more than one occasion he catches Remus’ gaze and tries to act as normal and as aloof as possible.
That’s when he slices his finger with a cake knife, and spends the remainder of his shift with an angry Remus, a paramedic and a first aid kit.
Saturday, though, is a brand new day.
His finger’s been bandaged, the sun is shining and the weather report says it seems like summer is finally in the air with highs of twenty degrees (rather unusual for mid-April, though no one seems to mind).
So, James decides not to worry. The first few times the door opens he lifts his head up out of habit, but he forces himself to stop. It only makes things harder and the only way to make things better is to focus on something he’s good at, and that’s making darn-good coffee. He even starts humming again, dancing behind the counter to Wham’s Jitterbug.
Then the air stops again and he’s struggling to breathe. He’s staring at sunshine yellow walls and a black coffee machine.
With shaking fingers he reaches out to touch the bright yellow strokes of paint, thoroughly amazed. Then he swallows slowly, pauses the machine, and turns around.
It’s pretty busy; everyone wants ice coffees and smoothies so they can sit outside and bask in the warm sun before it disappears. There’s a group of girls nearest to the door, laughing about something James can’t quite make out. He glances at them one by one but none of them act any differently or give off any feeling. He scowls.
Whoever the person is, they have come back.
“Excuse me,” someone huffs by the counter and clicks their fingers at him rudely, forcing him to turn his head.
A student glares up at him, hands on her hips. Her hair’s an intense shade of red and for a second his heart stops.
“Instead of eyeing up girls could you do your job and ask me what I want?”
James rolls his eyes and swears under his breath. He doesn’t need this right now, annoying customers make him angry. Even if said annoying customer is pretty.
And he’s already angry; someone in this cafe right now is his soulmate. And they’ll go, just like last time. And the moment will pass and he’ll go back to the dull grey once again. He’s got minutes, if that.
The woman clears her throat, waiting.
“Alright,” he says, stomping to the counter, “what do you want?”
He doesn’t care that he’s being rude. She was rude first and he’s not in the best of moods right now.
“A medium mango smoothie to go. With only a handful of ice.”
James sighs, walks towards the fridge and looks for the ingredients. He doesn’t even try to hide the smirk on his lips when he notices they’ve ran out of the said fruit.
He turns around with a twirl and tries his hardest to put on a sombre facade. “I’m afraid we’ve run out of mango, terribly sorry about that.”
“Sure you are,” she hums and grabs hold of a menu, drumming her fingernails against the countertop in an annoying beat, “I’ll have…” she trails off, her nails still dancing as she pauses.
“Yes?” James taps his pen against the till, irritated.
“A medium iced coffee then,” she says finally, dropping the menu back onto the counter. “With only a handful-”
“Of ice, got it. And your name?”
“Lily. That’s L-I-L-Y. Not two L’s. Just one.”
He bites his tongue, of course he knows how to spell. How stupid does she think he is?
Remus is on the next till, serving the group of girls who had been by the door. James watches them curiously as he pours the coffee and ice cream into a blender. They’re all acting normal; there’s no spark in their eyes, no sign that they’re experiencing anything. They’re pretty he supposes, but he… he can’t connect.
Would there even be a sign? How can he tell?
His annoying customer clears her throat again and he refrains from rolling his eyes once more. The sooner he works on her damn iced coffee then the sooner she can leave and he’ll be able to try and find them, whoever they were.
A gruelling three minutes later he plonks the beverage down onto the counter.
“That’s £2.35,” his tone is icy and he wishes he’d spat in the stupid beverage as she bites down on the straw and gives it a small sip.
She hands him the exact change without uttering another word, then wraps two serviettes around the plastic cup before picking it up. She narrows her eyes at him and glances at his name tag.
“Thanks James,” she sneers, “great customer service.” Then she’s gone and he couldn’t be any more relieved.
He releases a long, hard breath and looks around the cafe again. The group of girls are leaving, chattering to themselves as Lily lags behind them; the small girl takes tiny steps as they move at a snail's-pace towards the door. The bell chimes and the group and Lily leave the building, a few other students following after her.
He blinks and the colour vanishes with it. James curses and kicks the counter irritably.
Sirius looks over at him in shock and Remus hisses at him to behave. His foot throbs, kicking hadn’t helped at all. And he’s just wasted all his time serving that annoying Lily as his soulmate had just been and gone again, and disappeared right from under his nose.
“So, let me get this straight…” Sirius leans against the table, his long legs stretching out as he cradles a cup of hot chocolate in his hands, “you experienced it and you didn’t tell me? Your best mate?”
James rolls his eyes, mouth curling slightly into a small smile. “It was painful, thank you very much. That much colour to suddenly look at? I had a blinking migraine for a couple of hours afterwards!”
Sirius lets out a thoughtful ‘hmm’ and scratches his chin. “Did you see who it was?”
He shakes his head. “It was too busy. And I had the worst customer too, she was a right bi-”
Remus pokes his head round the door. “Didn’t you notice James almost passed out on the floor? Honestly, I bet his S.M has already clocked on. You weren’t exactly discreet, mate.”
James chucks an empty milk carton and Remus dodges it, laughing like he’s on helium.
“You’re such an arse! It’s painful, okay?”
Sirius sighs dramatically and throws one hand to his head. The other hand reaches out, clutching hard onto James’ shoulder. “But it’s beautiful, right? Beautifully painful?”
“Yeah, go ahead and make fun. I’d like to see how you handle it.”
His friend shrugs a little and balances his teaspoon on his left pinky. “I have,” he says simply.
James chokes on the last few dregs of his hot vimto, catching Remus’ perplexed gaze.
“You have? When?”
Sirius stands there a little awkwardly, thrusting his hands into his jean pockets. “It was ages ago. I - we were only seven... we didn’t understand it much at the time.”
“Ruddy hell.”
James doesn’t know what’s more shocking - the fact that Sirius has a soulmate somewhere or that he won’t give away any more details about it. He just picks up his leather jacket, throws it over one shoulder and glances at James’ and Remus’ still surprised faces with another shrug.
“Are we running a coffee shop or what?”
He hates that he chose Biology, of all the sciences, to study at university. He’s already juggling football into the mix and classes start to interfere with his work. He finds he spends more time in the small staff room of the cafe than at the library or at Hogwarts Student’s Union. Plus, he can get free drinks here and put his feet up on the table.
That’s exactly what he’s doing when there’s a knock on the door of the break room.
“Mate,” Sirius knocks again, “I need back up. Remus has class.”
James folds down the corner of his page (anyone who claims they don’t do that is lying), puts his pen behind his ear and zips up his jeans (don’t ask). He’s checking his phone messages as he props the door open with his waist, an apology on his lips as he sets into the cafe.
He blinks and then he’s staring at that annoying customer he had the other day. She’s got red hair and she’s wearing a light brown top as she stares down at the menu. She glances up at the sound of the door and his stomach gives a little jolt when he notices her forest green eyes.
He’s struggling to breathe again, hands shaking as he runs his fingers through his messy hair.
His soulmate’s here and of course Annoying Lily has to ruin it all over again.
“Ah, if it isn’t Barista Of The Year,” she smirks.
Any nice thought is instantly replaced with every and any cuss word he can think of on the spot. He rolls his eyes, pulls down at his apron and glares at Sirius who’s taking her order.
“Be nice, mate, she’s a customer!” Sirius grins, “I’m sorry about Grumpy over there,” he jerks his thumb towards James, who’s now angrily ripping up a cardboard box, “he hates Wednesdays.”
He pulls his eyes away as he hears Lily give out a little laugh, glancing around to see if he can spot his soulmate. There’s about thirteen people and James swears under his breath.
“Make a cherry white hot chocolate for Lily, will ya?” Sirius throws him a bottle of water and James catches it swiftly with one hand.
Lily looks smugly at him, tapping her fingers against the counter expectantly. He’s just turned around, grabbing hold of the semi skimmed milk with a death grip, when he hears her clear her throat a little.
“I wanted to apologise for the other day,” she says with reluctance when Sirius coughs loudly, “I wasn’t in the best of moods and I took it out on you. So - sorry, I guess.”
“Isn’t that nice, mate?” James rolls his eyes again when Sirius claps a hand on his back. “Do you have anything to say back?”
He glances over his shoulder and gives Lily the stinkeye. “Apology accepted.”
She’s huffing, cheeks a little pink as she shakes her head, muttering out an ‘unbelievable’. He only turns around once her hot chocolate is made and he gives her a sheepish grin as he places it in front of her.
“I’m sorry too. I guess.”
Sirius snorts as he takes the order of the next customer. “That wasn’t so hard, was it? You’re lucky Remus isn’t here. He’d have you drawn and quartered for being rude to a customer.”
“I’ve got a few more things on my mind right now,” he murmurs quietly, cleaning up a little spillage with a tea towel.
“They’re here? Right now?” Sirius lifts his head in a very inconspicuous manner, eyes raking over each customer like he's in the mafia.
“Something wrong?” Lily asks as she sips at her drink.
“Hey, Lils. You know anyone in here?”
At Sirius’ question she turns around to look. “No one seems familiar. Why?”
“Well James -”
“No reason,” James stomps on Sirius’ foot, instantly silencing him.
“No reason,” Sirius echoes.
She hums, sliding over the exact change for her beverage before sitting down at one of the tables.
James glances around the cafe again.
Apart from Lily, there's a group of three girls over in the corner giggling at a laptop, a guy with a beard who's talking animatedly on his phone, two girls and a guy all collectively on their phones as they sit together (they’ve hardly spoken at all since they arrived) and a guy who must be about fifty five talking to a woman of similar age. Plus another five or so who aren’t even facing him.
He grimaces and scribbles down everyone's appearances in the margins of his notepad. This time he's not going to give up as easily.
After an hour the colour is starting to get too much to handle, he’s got a head-splitting migraine.
“I can’t,” he whispers to Sirius and shakes his head. He’s already threading his arms through his jacket. “I need to get out. Fresh air.”
It’s almost a relief to see the different shades of grey when he steps out onto the street. It’s empowering to know that, this time, he’s the one who’s taken the colour away. He lets out a sigh and kicks at an empty bottle on the road.
He doesn’t look back.
It’s Peter who notices the pattern first.
Wednesdays at three thirty, give or take a few minutes. Every Wednesday. There’s quite a number of regulars but, unfortunately for him, Lily is always showing up too.
“You make good coffee,” she shrugs the next time he sees her.
And the time after that Remus is there. It turns out the two share a class together and they spend hours talking about their essay that’s due in on Friday.
Her hair is always the first thing he notices, dangerously bold and enticing. He supposes she’s not so bad once you get to know her.
A couple of weeks later, Lily asks if James can read over her essay (apparently some people actually have their work checked, which is news for him) and he says yes in a heartbeat.
“Are you sure?” she asks as she places her laptop on a table close to the window.
James takes off his apron and throws it over the back of the chair. It’s a pointless question, since she’s already asked him the same thing about twenty times.
“Totally. But I’m a sucker for the oxford comma. Just a forewarning.”
She’s rolling her eyes as she takes out her purse. “What do you want to drink? It’s on me.”
He peels his eyes away from the screen and squints up at the menu. There’s no Remus today and that leaves Peter and Sirius behind the counter. The two snicker and goof around, juggling oranges and balancing milk lids on their noses.
“I’ll have a triple, venti, half sweet, non-fat caramel macchiato. Extra hot,” he says.
“Aren’t they a bugger to make?”
“The worst.”
“I’m about eighty percent sure Sirius spat in that,” she says when she places the steaming mug on the table next to him five minutes later.
He drinks it anyways (who would have thought such an obnoxious and hipster drink would actually taste pretty good?) and spends the remainder of the day sitting next to Lily. Her essay is impeccable, of course, and each time their arms brush against each other he gets a jolt in his stomach.
Having her at the cafe makes it a lot harder for James to liaise and spy on the other customers. Especially when she and Sirius bond over their love for marmite (how disgusting) during her next visit.
For some reason she’s eating toast and Sirius just blinks at her. “Is that marmite?”
The rest is history and she spends most of her visit that day cooped up on one of the high chairs. They chatter together about their marmite experiences for what seems like hours.
It’s becoming A Problem.
James slowly starts to notice how pretty her smile is. She always spends a good fifteen minutes or so deciding what on earth to order and, more often than not, changes her mind about three times.
On one occasion he asks her, “What do you want? What do you want?” to which she replies back with an exasperated grimace, “It’s not that simple,” then the two get matching, exhilarated grins as they both profess their love for The Notebook.
He’s almost used to seeing the colour so much now but a part of him dares to normalise the feeling, lest it vanish as quick as a heartbeat.
And it’s Wednesday again when a downpour brings in a mass of students.
Lily, yellow and blue spotted umbrella in her hand, is, of course, amidst the thrall. James isn’t even that surprised to see her anymore. Sirius is busy serving another customer, so he gives her a bright smile (which he realises isn’t actually that hard to do) and asks her what she wants.
“I’ll have a Pumpkin Spiced Latte.”
“One of those are you?” he asks, giving Lily a sly smirk as he starts to jot down her order.
“It’s good. Have you never tried it?”
He shakes his head. “Peter’s addicted to it, he made me try it once. Far too sweet,” he says with a grimace.
“That’s what makes it so delicious.”
He doesn’t understand how someone can have such strange taste buds - to think marmite, PSLs and white hot chocolates are all under the denomination of ‘delicious’. But hey - everyone has their own opinions, right? Even if it’s the wrong one.
He’s just turning around, ready to start making her drink when she sucks in a breath. He pauses instantly, already knowing by now what that little intake of breath means.
“What are you wanting to change it to?”
He can’t help but give her an amused smile, watching as she glares at the menu. Biting her chipped nails, fingers drumming against the counter-top. She looks like this is the worst decision she’s ever made.
“I can’t decide between a Pumpkin Spiced Latte or a Pumpkin Spiced Frapp.”
He blinks, “Well. One’s hot - you see - and the other’s cold.”
“Wow, thanks for that. I’d never have guessed.”
She’s smirking and she’s got such a contagious smile, he can feel his lips mirroring hers in seconds. She takes another three minutes before she slaps a fiver onto the counter. “A cold one. I’ll be daring.”
When he places the drink on the counter next to her, he rakes his eyes over the customers behind her. The same group of girls, the same elderly couple, the same bearded man. It has to be one of them.
He’s served them all before, each are nice and unique in character but it’s so hard to figure out which one it is. He’s even tried small talk, but every time he makes it personal they all shrink away. It seems like Lily is the only one in the cafe who ever bothers to talk. And, even then, it’s Sirius who she’s closer too.
He gets a message, phone buzzing against his thigh as he hands over Lily’s change.
Serious to Barista Of The Year (15:37) : stop flirting with customers ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
“I was not flirting.”
“You know,” Sirius, who’s lounging across one of the sofas with a history book pulled over his face, lets out a small sigh, “I didn’t believe you the first five times, so -”
“I’m only saying it so you know I’m telling the truth!”
Only now does Sirius peel the book away from his face. “Mate. Come on.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You are allowed to, you know,”
“I know I’m allowed to,” James scowls.
“Do you?” Sirius swings his legs onto the floor, his socks have dozens of little hamburgers all over them. “I mean… I know you’re - well - a romantic but having a soulmate doesn’t mean anything.”
“What about you?”
Sirius scratches his chin, refusing to meet his gaze. “What about me?” his voice is gruff.
“You never told me, your best mate, that you saw colour when you were seven. Seven!”
He merely shrugs. “I was seven.”
“Yeah. That’s what I mean. Do you still-”
Sirius shakes his head. “Nah, haven’t for ages.”
“What was it like?”
There’s a small period of silence.
Sirius runs a hand through his hair, then he takes a swig of water and flings the now empty bottle up into the air. He catches it with one hand.
“It felt - God, I dunno - natural? We had no idea what it meant, how could we? We were friends, that was it.”
James gets goosebumps.
“What happened?”
“With a swine of a mother like mine?” he snorts, “What didn’t happen. I never saw her again.”
“You could try finding her-”
He shakes his head. “Nah. Half the female population probably have the same name.”
“Jane.”
“No.”
“Sarah?”
“No. Can you stop guessing now?”
“Depends, will you tell me her name?”
Sirius rolls his eyes, but there’s a smirk on his lips. “Fine. Mary.”
James drums his fingers against the armrest of his chair. “I suppose it is quite a common name. There’s Mary Berry, Mary Poppins-”
“Mary, Queen of Scots.” Sirius adds, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “My point is there’s a heck ton of Mary’s out there. And after a while you get, well - you know.”
The annoying thing is that, even though Sirius hadn’t exactly said much, he did know.
It’s such a strange feeling, one you can’t really put into words. James had spent hours agonising over who it was, tearing himself apart to the point where he couldn’t sleep. And for Sirius to know her and to have gone through life hearing that name on people's lips, he doesn’t know how he can handle it.
It’s a gift, but one that eats away at your insides until it’s all but consumed you. Colour was something James desperately yearned for and whoever they were had the power to give it to them. Just like that, you’re made for each other.
He shuffles on his seat, fingers fluttering to itch at his backside (he does this sometimes when he’s nervous). Green emerald eyes flicker on and off in his mind, making his heart do cartwheels.
There were hundreds, thousands, of cases where people married someone who wasn’t their soulmate. You give up the gift, so to speak. Does colour really mean that much to you when you’ve got someone you love and who loves you back?
Sirius mentions something about needing to take a dump and waddles out, not before slapping the back of his neck with a tea towel. James flips him off and Sirius, like he has eyes in the back of his head, does one casually back.
James is left alone with just his thoughts. Thoughts of Lily Evans.
The next time she comes into the coffee shop she’s wearing a bright yellow anorak and James can’t help but think of sunshine, daisies and lemons.
She flashes him a smile, cheeks pink, and asks him how he is.
He doesn’t tell her how pretty she looks today, though the words are desperately wanting to run off his tongue and slide out of his mouth like jelly. He doesn’t say how happy he is to see her - how sometimes the prospect of a soulmate, his soulmate, is replaced with pictures of her.
“Not bad,” he bites, fumbling with the lid of a teapot, “you?”
“Better with the prospect of coffee. Can I get an americano, please?”
James makes a grab for a cup. “You do know how strong this stuff is, right?”
She dismisses his cautious gaze with a wave of her hand. “I’ll add four sugars, it’s fine.”
“You know what another name for an americano is, Evans?” Sirius asks, grinning like the cheshire cat as he leans against the counters.
“Do I want to know?”
“A Long Black. I kid you not.”
Lily purses her lips. “On second thought, I’ll have a latte.”
“Don't fancy drinking a Long Black?” Sirius asks, already walking off to serve another customer before Lily can say anything back.
“You can have a Long Black if you want,” James smirks, dodging Lily’s hand that goes up to swipe at him, “I won’t judge.”
“A latte is better. Thanks though. But I think americano’s have been ruined for me now, permanently.”
He doesn’t know why, but he takes his time making the drink. He wants it to be perfect and immaculate, the best latte she’s ever had before. So, when she brings it to her lips he doesn’t feel like he shouldn’t be watching her - he just wants to know how she likes the drink. For science.
“It’s really good. You’re really good.”
“You’ve got - err - a,” he gestures to his own lips, staring at her frothy milk moustache. Her hands fly up to her face immediately, and she spends a good two minutes scrubbing her entire face with a serviette before emerging out of it with a red, mortified face.
“Sorry. How embarrassing.”
Her smile has to be the sweetest thing he’s ever encountered. It makes him weak in his knees. “It’s cute,” he drops his own tea, hot water spilling onto his arms and over the counter, “bugger. I mean, it’s fine. Milk moustaches are cute, I mean.”
She smiles, “You’re sweet,” her cheeks are still crimson. “I mean, my friend would have just taken pictures. I love her to bits but, you didn’t even - didn’t laugh is what I’m trying to say.”
“I almost did.”
Then he laughs and he has to press a hand to his lips to stop himself.
She’s got constellations in her eyes, he could stare at her for hours and at each passing minute he'd find something new to marvel at. She’s a breathtaking view. Her phone vibrates against her mug and the two jump. She grabs for it, avoiding his eyes as she stutters out a hello.
“Mary! Sorry. I’ll be there in a sec, on my way,” she ends the call with a sigh and when she glances back up at him he has the strongest urge to kiss her.
“Sorry, I have to go,” she says, downing the rest of her latte. She plops the empty cup into his hands, swings her bag over her shoulders but doesn’t move an inch.
He should say something.
He should ask her if she’s okay with seeing in black and white for the rest of her life. Ask if she’s okay being with someone like him - someone who can’t give her colour. She bites her lip, ready to say something when Sirius barges past with a tray full of dirty cups and plates.
His feet falter when he glances at the two of them. “Sorry, did I just ruin a moment?”
James’ cheeks burn and Lily just clears her throat. “No. I have to meet Mary, my- uh - friend. Um. See you boys later.”
She turns around, almost running into the bearded regular man. She murmurs out an apology and has to wait as the old regular couple walk in front of her. Together the three of them leave the shop, vanishing along with the surges of colour.
James takes a shaky step back, stepping on Sirius’ toes.
“Watch it!”
“It’s them,” he says, breathing out heavily, muttering the phrase over and over again, “it has to be either the old guy or the lady. It’s official - I’m a marriage wrecker.”
“You don’t have to marry them. There’s no contract.”
“I know. But, Lily, she,” James groans and shakes a hand through his hair.
“She...?”
James blinks. She’s everything he’s ever wanted. “Er… she has a friend called Mary, didn’t you know?”
“I’ve met countless Mary’s. It doesn’t mean a thing.”
Is she in prison for murder? Did Walburga Black kill Sirius’s soulmate? That seems to be the only plausible explanation at the moment. It would explain why Sirius hasn’t met Mary since whatever happened happened.
He’s grabbing onto a bag of carrots when he gets that thought and he looks around the shop suspiciously. He’s only met Walburga a few times; the last being when Sirius, sporting his own bloody and broken nose, dislocated Orion Black’s jaw.
Barista Of The Year to Serious (17:40): shall i buy hummus
Serious has changed his nickname to Hummus Lover 2k19
Hummus Lover 2k19 to Barista Of The Year (17:41): what are u after
Barista Of The Year to Hummus Lover 2k19 (17:43): is ur mum in prison???
Hummus Lover 2k19 to Barista Of The Year (17:45): ….. i wish
He’s halfway through the doors of Tesco Extra, googling ‘why is my friend a dumbass’ when he bumps into someone and his phone drops to the floor.
“Sorry!”
“It’s fine!”
He’s already bending down, fingers reaching out to grip onto his mobile when he realises whose voice it is.
“Lily!”
It’s weird seeing her out of the cafe, without a counter separating them.
She’s smaller than he remembers and he’s actually able to see her shoes, which is extremely weird. She’s wearing black worn out dolly shoes, her hair wild and the shade of crisp red and orange leaves signalling the first sign of autumn.
Her cheeks are rosy. “James! Hi.”
A car passes by, splashing murky water all over his legs. “I bought carrots, celery and hummus.” He waves the bag he’s carrying.
She gives him a soft smile and pulls on her jacket. “I’m going to buy marmite.”
“Disgraceful.”
“How can you dislike it when you’ve not even had it before?”
“Ah - but how long is a piece of string, Lily?”
“However long it is when you buy it.”
He’s grinning and she’s smiling back, making his heart flutter and quiver.
Seeing her with the sunset behind her, lighting up her hair like she’s a part of the sky, makes him wonder why he was even so determined to find his soulmate in the first place. She’s quickly become part of his life, his routine and he never wants it to end.
His phone makes a PING sound and he forces himself to look away from her.
Hummus Lover 2k19 has changed your nickname to I Love You Bro
Hummus Lover 2k19 has changed his nickname to Please Love Me
Please Love Me to I Love You Bro (18:09): how upset would u be if i hypothetically just broke your teapot. Hypothetically
Please Love Me to I Love You Bro (18:09): btw whats that tasty thing your mum gets sometimes? not jalebi, the other one
I Love You Bro to Please Love Me (18:10): …. gulab jamun also ??? what the frick sirius?? omw
He sighs and plops his phone into his shopping bag. “Hey, Lily. I got to go, Sirius is creating havoc at our flat -”
“Say no more,” she laughs, “see you later?”
“Definitely.”
It’s only when she’s gone into the shop, and he’s half way down the road, that he glances at the passing cars and realises he’s looking at dull grey.
He’s blinking, stopping dead in his tracks. Heart pounding a trillion beats per second against his chest. It hurts so much.
No no no no no.
He swishes around, almost toppling over a woman who glares and tuts at him before stomping away.
Was he hallucinating?
“Are you seriously asking me this?”
Sirius and James are on a fifteen minute break. They’re lying on the sofas in the staff room, spending their free time balancing water bottles on their foreheads.
“Yes.”
Sirius sighs, “No. I have never thought I was seeing colour when I wasn’t. Yes, I think you’re a moron.”
“I didn’t -”
“You're making up excuses, you knob. You know. You’ve been a blithering idiot ever since she set foot in the cafe.”
“All I'm saying is that there were a lot of people on that street,”
Sirius moves slightly and the bottle falls dramatically to the floor. “I know the Old Age Pensioner’s Zumba Class finished around six, perhaps it is the old lady with the moustache.”
Remus barges in, head ducking just in time as a water bottle flies across the room.
“What are two you doing in here? And why does it stink so bad?”
“Past your bedtime is it, Remus?” Sirius asks as he pulls James into a headlock.
“It’s past three thirty and it’s Wednesday.” Remus sends a curious glance in James’ direction, who immediately stuffs a cushion over his face. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Lily. Or it’s that old lady who grabbed my arse the other day, you know the one who always orders filter coffee and reeks of cotton balls,” says Sirius with a grin.
Remus leans against the door, shaking his head in amusement. “Well the old lady’s here right now. Why don’t you go and check, James?”
James gulps, feeling hot and sweaty even though he’s only wearing a t shirt and jeans. Sirius drags him to his feet and pushes him towards the door.
There’s not even a hint of colour. And no Lily Evans.
Panicking, he seizes hold of the closest thing, waving it in Remus’s face. “Look see. This is green.”
“That’s an egg, mate. Eggs aren’t green.”
“Dr Seuss would tell you otherwise. And how would you know, Remus? No offence.”
“But I do,” Sirius grabs for the egg, it twirls out of James’s hands and falls with a crack on the floor.
“I can’t believe you didn’t realise,” Peter tuts as cleans up the egg with a couple of cloths, “she’s been coming here for, how long? It feels like forever?”
“You looked like you were sea-sick each and every time. I never knew someone could get so affected by it.” Sirius muses, albeit smiling a little sadly as he pats James’s shoulder.
“Gee, thanks.”
“Maybe she’s just running late?” Remus glances at his watch, it’s almost four by now. Lily has never been late, not once. Dead on Wednesdays at three thirty (minus the Saturday when he first met her). James groans, he's such an idiot.
“Or maybe she got scared when she realised it’s James.”
A customer comes towards the counter and Peter takes one for the team, jogging towards them with a bright smile on his face.
“This is Lily we’re talking about,” Sirius shakes his head with a lopsided grin, “she's obviously crazy about him.”
“Well I don't see her. So I guess your premonition is wrong.”
It’s exactly what James was scared about ever since this whole mess started.
The colour dissolving, squeezed out of his life like water in a sponge, and knowing who it is makes it all the more unbearable. That freaking Lily Evans (the annoying customer turned tolerable acquaintance turned low-key crush turned soulmate) was it all along.
Only one good thing seems to come out of this mess, and that’s that he’s finally able to pay more attention to his classes - and actually submits his latest assignment in on time instead of seven hours later like his last one.
McGonagall has to pull him to one side after a lecture, asking him if anything is wrong.
There’s a hole in his heart, as cliche as it sounds, and the whole damn thing’s like ecstasy. He’s got no idea how Sirius can even manage, because now it’s been in his system he’s desperately wanting it all again.
Two weeks quickly become four and James longs to see her again.
So, at the first opportunity he gets, he taps in Sirius’s code on his phone (the same four digits he has for everything - even his bank code) and has only just opened up his contacts when he hears the sound of biker boots against the hardwood floor.
“Is there a reason why you’re using my phone?”
James Potter looks like a thief in the dead of night. “No. Hah! What - oh, this is your phone? I had no idea.”
Sirius crosses his arms. “No reason why you’re scrolling like a mad man through my L contacts either, eh?” he says with a winks and pops a strawberry into his mouth. James lets out a dejected sigh.
“I don’t have Lily’s number. Sorry.”
“You both joined the freaking Marmite society,”
“Rightly so, it needs more love.”
“And you don’t even have her number?”
He shakes his head, “No.”
Realisation dawns upon him, a glorious and ethereal light bulb flickering on inside his head. He glances up, a smile pulling on his lips. “You both joined the Marmite society.”
Sirius looks uncomfortable. “Yes… but you hate marmite.”
“I love it. Best damned thing since sliced bread.”
“You'll hate it. We only joined so we could get the free jar, but meetings include eating marmite toast so it's not exactly your cup of tea.”
“I'm going to that meeting, you can't stop fate.”
No matter how many times Sirius tries to talk him out of it, James’ mind is set. It’s a brilliant plan.
“It’s an awful plan,” Sirius says for the twentieth time, “we don’t even know if she’s going to be there.”
The words fall short on deaf ears as the two of them make their way to the mini meeting room, tucked away in the far corners of the oldest part of The Hogwarts Students Union. The strange society is made up of about twelve people and, he’s remaining optimistic, Lily’s not there yet.
Marlene McKinnon, a mature, final year Law student, seems to be in charge of the whole society, as she stands about by the toaster with a pack of bread and ten jars of marmite surrounding her.
“You guys just sit and eat toast on marmite?” James hisses as Sirius shuts the door and makes his way to three people who are sat on the nearest couch.
“I did try to tell you.”
Frank Longbottom introduces himself to James, and the first thing he says is that he’s gone through ten jars of marmite so far during his lifetime. Luckily the door opens, stopping all further conversation which involves James having to lie about loving marmite.
Luckily the door opens and colour crystallises before his very eyes as Lily Evans comes barging into the room.
She stops, eyes immediately drawing to James and Sirius who both give her a small, guilty wave. She bites her lip, hand reaching for her bag strap which she squeezes hard once. Then, like she’s lost a battle she knows she can’t win, stomps towards the sofa before plopping down opposite him.
Her hair’s the shade of cinnamon sticks and her green eyes sparkle. Sirius waggles his eyebrows when she throws one leg over the other and leans forwards to them, a smirk on her bright red lips.
“I didn’t know you liked marmite, James.”
His throat’s dry. “Not like. I love it.”
“Every marmite lover is welcome!” Marlene places two plates full of marmite-spread toast in front of them and James has to gulp down a retch. “As our newest society member, you can take the first bite.”
He's got thirteen sets of eyes on him and Sirius has to stuff the sleeve of his leather jacket in his face to stop himself from sniggering. Lily watches him with a small expectant smile. It makes his stupid heart flutter and before he knows it he's grabbing at the toast and stuffing it into his mouth.
It's disgusting, so salty on his tongue that his eyes start to water. But no one else seems to notice, they're all too busy grabbing the toast like vultures to notice, and it’s only Lily’s eyes which still hang onto him and she cocks her head a little to the side. He must look a right state, with the taste of rotten garbage in his mouth and tears streaming down his face because she smiles.
He's never going to get used to it; it's euphoric, a tingling sensation all the way from his head to his fingertips.
“Alright?” Sirius asks.
Emmeline Vance produces a jar of vegemite from her bag and, as a society, they collectively decide to hold a tasting session during their next meeting. Dorcas Meadows hands everyone a Marmite Soc t shirt and, thanks to Bellamy Blake (who made sure they printed out more t shirts in the high hopes that the society would grow), James is given one too.
“I'm in love,” he whispers. Because, crap, he really thinks he is.
Staring at green eyes, seeing Lily’s red lips curve and her hair, like cherries, roses and the setting sun. Sirius shuffles besides him and James is only vaguely aware of murmuring voices around the room.
There’s a tap on his shoulder, the meeting’s over.
He just catches a brief glimpse of Lily’s red cardigan swishing out of the door before he’s springing to his feet, grabbing hold of his bag and telling Sirius, whose white t shirt and dark blue denim jeans are now a dull grey, that he’ll meet him later. He doesn’t even wait for a response.
His heart’s pounding, a dull but excited and throbbing ache that shoots up from his toes like pins and needles.
James has never felt anything like this, the intense desperation - eating him up and consuming him. He pushes past a group of students, a sorry tangling between his lips before he’s tripping over a backpack (honestly- who leaves their bags sprawled out like that?) and flying out onto the floor.
“What are you like, honestly.”
He knows that voice, and a surge of colour comes floating with it. It’s happened so many times now, the change not quite instant but more like paint sweeping onto a canvas - bringing everything to life.
His eyes flutter open, then closed.
Lily is standing above him, grinning, a hand on her hip as she shakes her head and sighs. Then she’s reaching out her hand and she’s the first sweet sounding note of an entrancing melody, just one small trickle of spine tingling laughter and he’s floating.
He realises this is the first time he’s ever touched her hand and he grips onto her that little bit tighter as she pulls him off the floor.
“Alright?” she asks when his feet have hit the ground.
Now that he’s found her, he’s not exactly sure what he should say. Words fail him, not for the first time, and somehow he feels ten times smaller under her intense gaze.
“Fantastic. Yourself?”
“Not sure yet.”
“Oh,” he says, immediately bringing a hand up to ruffle his hair.
She kicks the bag out of way, sniffs and wipes her nose with a tissue. It’s flu season and he hates being ill (almost as much as he hates marmite) but the prospect of it doesn’t seem too bad when she’s here in front of him. Red, runny nose and all.
She sets off walking and his feet follow - like she’s the biggest flame or source of light and he’s just a moth, so entranced that he doesn’t know what to do with himself. He loves seeing in colour but there’s something about her, the way she stands out like paint pastels on a plain piece of paper.
“I err -” he clears his throat and itches his nose, “how have you been?”
“Busy.”
She stops at the small cafe located on the first floor, Puddifoot's, and asks for an Earl Grey tea. When her hands are sprawled around the take out cup, savouring the heat that flows through her fingers, and she’s sipping at the hot beverage she gives him another look.
“Classes were giving me hell so my friend, Mary, and I decided it’d be better if we spent our time here. Her boyfriend always has early lectures so he saves us seats when it’s busy.”
James nods, “What’s the coffee like here?”
“Disgusting,” she grins, a slight blush on her cheeks, “but it’s cheap and convenient.”
“You even have a loyalty card with us, this is treachery.”
“Yeah, but I still need five more drinks before I get one free,” she laughs and his heart soars.
They set off walking out of the students union, towards a plethora of wild flowers scattered over overgrown grass, a couple of wooden benches knotted into the greenery. She plops down onto one of the benches, sighing happily. She reaches into her bag to grab some torn bread, throwing it into the pond facing them.
There’s only one duck in there, which the students of Hogwarts University quickly nicknamed The Giant Duck as it’s abnormally larger than the average british duck.
He takes a deep breath and plunges into the unknown, of what he really wants to say.
“I, err, I thought you might have been - well - avoiding me.”
“To be honest, I thought I was too. That and this cold has been a nuisance.”
“Oh,” he scratches his nose and stuffs his hands into his jacket, “you should get some lemsip.”
“I wanted to, but apparently you have to be sixteen and over to buy it and I forgot my passport so the cashier wouldn’t let me buy it.”
“I could get it for you-”
She shakes her head, “Oh no, you don’t have to do that.”
“It’s like, what, three pounds? I honestly don’t mind.”
He’s already standing up, sputtering that her health is the most important thing when she grabs hold of his arm. He pauses, frozen.
She sighs, “Look. I don’t want anything to be, uh, awkward between us. Okay?”
He stops, numbly allowing her to pull him back down on the bench. Their legs brush against each other but she doesn’t move and inch. “Why would it be awkward?”
“I thought you knew.”
His heart skips a beat and he chokes. “What? You… you knew?”
She smiles, biting her lip to stop herself from grinning. “Err yeah.”
“Since when?” his head’s woozy, fingers shaking.
“Since the beginning,” her voice falters slightly, “that day I panicked and heard Remus calling your name. And I fled. Then on the Saturday I was, well, curious?” Only now does she turn to look at him, staring deep into his eyes. He's transfixed. “I only realised once I'd left that your name was the same.”
“But you kept coming.”
“Can you blame me?” she laughs and he feels ablaze.
“Guess not,” he shrugs, “I don't think anyone has enough willpower to ignore it.”
“Yeah,” she takes a sip from her tea, “and I thought you knew, I swear. But then at Tesco you didn't say anything and I realised you didn't. I panicked, that's why I didn't come back, partly. Sorry. You must hate me.”
“I could never.”
She looks so uncomfortable and he's helpless.
He wants to reach out for her hand and never let go. Like she hears his thoughts, she scrunches her fist into her pocket.
“The thing is… I made a promise to myself at a young age that if I ever did see colour I wouldn’t let it control me.”
The Giant Duck quacks loudly and James, who’s been sat on the edge of his seat, waiting anxiously for her to speak, jumps at the sound. She grins, blowing her nose again.
“I want to be able to make my own choices, James. And not be influenced.”
“Okay,” he blinks.
“So I decided I needed to take a break from it all.”
“If you err, if you don't mind me saying,” he pauses, waiting for her nod to continue, “you're saying you don't want it to be in control but it looks like you're letting it.”
“I dont-”
“Running away from it, even if you don’t want it, isn't that just fear?”
“It’s not exactly that simple,” she says.
“I know it’s not,” he gulps, a never ending shiver running up and down his spine. He’s trembling. “But, aren’t you even a little bit curious?”
The sun glows, and, under the deep orange rays she looks ten million times more radiant. He doesn’t care about cliché, he doesn’t care about anything else - only her.
She doesn’t want the colour, the myth of soulmates influencing and breathing down heavily on them. She smiles at him in the moment, moving forward, reaching out her hand so their fingers thread around each other.
And then she’s blinking, inching just that little bit closer towards him. She’s been chewing gum, he can smell peppermint as she breathes out and his eyes flutter closed in seconds.
Even with his eyes shut tight, he can still see colour. It’s more intense and vibrant than he’s ever known it, and he feels her lips place a chaste kiss on his.
It’s red and green, bursting into fireworks and butterflies alike, making his toes curl. He knows she’s feeling the same way, because she shivers against his touch and, when she rests her forehead against his and he has the strength to open his eyes again, she looks just as mesmerised.
He’s never felt more alive.
#jily#jily fanfic#jily au#jily fic#hiddenpolkadots#snapslikethis#gxldentrio#lilyevane#meraudurs#cupcakeblake#jiilys#bantasticbeasts#alrightevans#padfootdidit#IM SO NERVOUS ABOUT POSTING THIS OMG#its my first soulmate au plz be nice#my fic#jily:fic
1K notes
·
View notes
Note
Oh please give me jealous lily, I live for that, LIVE FOR IT!!! It is my #1 favourite thing
“why did you say no to a hogsmeade date if you wanted to go with him?”
“but i don’t want to go with him.”
“then why are we following his every move.”
lily glares. mary winks. “oh stop smirking like that mary, like you’re all smug about something.”
“you like him!”
“i do not!”
they’re both hiding behind a bush, a bush right near spintwiches sporting needs. where james potter, sirius black and portia jacobs are currently browsing the newest broom model.
“do you think she likes him?” lily has crisp, brown leaves stuck in her hair. her eyes are wide, watching like a hawk as jacobs laughs at something james must have said.
“what’s not to like? he’s good looking, quidditch star james potter”
lily hates to admit that mary’s right. it feels strange thinking of arrogant potter like that.
sirius rolls his eyes and wanders towards the display in the window. they move a little too late, sirius notices the flash of deep red hair. lily swears and they both dive to the floor.
“something in there that’s taking your fancy, evans?” three minutes later and sirius stands in front of them, grinning, eyes gleaming with his hands in his pockets. lily scowls. “no. there’s nothing i want in there.”
“now now evans, you know you’re really bad at lying right?”
“i wanted to get some… lotion. that err stuff you put on your broom to make it, um, smooth.”
sirius grins, and lily starts to fear for her life. “fleetwood’s high-finish handle polish? well, what do you know - you’re in luck because i just saw some in the shop.”
“on second thought, it’s okay! i don’t need any-”
“ah, but i just remembered that i do though. come on, lily. you can come with me.”
she puts up a bit of a fight, but ends up stomping into the shop with sirius and mary holding onto her from either side.
james looks up in an instant, cheeks blossoming with pink. a hand rushes to his hair. “oh, evans! and err hi macdonald, sirius.”
“potter.” lily barely gives him a glance before she pulls the two giggling idiots to the other end of the shop. she glares back behind her, where james is back to talking to with portia about the strength and speed of the new nimbus.
“you’re one hard woman to please, evans. the guy asks you out, you turn him down and then start stalking him and acting like it’s his fault.”
“it is his fault! look at him! the way he’s all going heart shaped eyes at mrs ‘i love quidditch since yesterday’ jacobs.
“lily. he’s talking, that’s all he’s doing.” “yeah, not like they’re planning their wedding vows or whatever.” “they want to get married?!”
two hands fly up to her mouth, shushing and pushing her back to the farthest corner. sirius black taps his chin and shakes his head. “honestly, i don’t know why you rejected him in the first place.”
“i panicked, okay! i was terrified because i was like crap! i actually think he’s kinda hot and grown up a lot and i didn’t want to prove that what i was feeling was… oh my god, you two stop smiling like that.”
lily picks up the polish and the three walk in a tangle to the checkout. james potter is alone. “your girlfriend realise that quidditch is off the ground and she’s afraid of heights?” there’s no sign of portia jacobs and lily pounces at the opportunity like a ravenous lion.
it’s so quiet that the tick of the clock beats like a megaphone in the shop. sirius sucks in a breath and scratches his nose and mary tries and fails to bite the smile off her lips. they both take a step back, holding onto each other as they watch the scene unfold.
“i don’t even know what your problem is, evans.” james rolls his eyes, grabs onto a broomstick servicing kit and marches towards the till too. there’s a thirty-ish year old man being served first and the lady who’s browsing nearby tuts at the disturbance.
“my problem?” lily looks like she’s about to cast an unforgiveable curse. “i wasn’t just chatting up some ravenclaw who was batting her eyelids like she had dust in her eyes.”
james laughs rather madly. “says the one who’s been following me around all day like a leech.”
“i was doing no such thing! take that potter, how dare you-”
“oh? so when i was leaving hogwarts and i turned around and you pretended to be a statue-”
“i was practising the valuable lesson of being still, potter. don’t flatter yourself. why would i follow you?”
the man hurries out of the shop and the lady who’s browsing quickly follows. the cashier lady looks uncomfortable. “do you have your camera?” sirius whispers into mary’s ear.
james lets out a huff and bangs his broom kit onto the till. “because you like me, evans, and you’re afraid to admit it.”
“ugh you are so infuriating potter! you act like the whole world revolves around you!”
“just admit that you’re jealous, lily. you’re such a bad liar.”
silence falls once more, the air thick and tense. mary and sirius are practically hugging, not believing what’s happening.
“i am not jealous, you got that potter?” she takes an aggressive step towards him. she’s a foot smaller than him, but james takes a small step backwards anyways - stumbling into the till.
“crystal clear.” he gulps, holding onto the cabinet for dear life as lily takes another step. she’s got him cornered.
“and i fancy you, okay? can you keep that in your egotistical head?”
james potter blinks. “you, you what?”
lily furrows her eyebrows. “what?”
“you just said you fancy me.”
“i said i DIDN’T fancy you.”
“pretty sure you said ‘i fancy you.’ evans.” sirius is cackling by now, grabbing onto mary for support. lily gives him the finger and stomps another step closer to james. so close, she’s almost stepping on his toes. he looks down at her, a lopsided, elated grin adorning his blushing cheeks.
“wipe that stupid smile off your face, potter.” lily snaps, and before she knows it she’s grabbing hold of james’ jacket, standing on her tip toes and snogging him senseless.
james drops his money on the floor, mary slaps a galleon into the open hand of sirius’ and the cashier lets out a frightened gasp when james picks up lily, her legs around his waist.
“so are you... buying anything or?” the till lady asks in a whisper.
#jily#jily prompt#delacourr#lilyevane#meraudurs#struttinglikeapotter#hiddenpolkadots#jiilys#alrightevans#gabrielledellacour#snapslikethis#THIS GOT SO LONG#I GOT CARRIED AWAY OMH#M#FSJFKJSKGLJDKLGJSDKGJSKD#jily:fic#my fic#anonymous#replies
639 notes
·
View notes
Note
"You're drunk and throwing up and I'm holding your hair back but I somehow still find you attractive" jily
James Potter is about to piss his pants.
He’s just been handed another bottle of goodness knows what, poison seems to be a better word for it, from his drunken best friend when James remembers that he hasn’t been to the freaking loo since arriving at this rubbish party.
“You look like you’re about to pass out.”
“I look like I’m about to piss my pants, Sirius. Which I am.”
Drunken best friend, Sirius Black, who’s on his seventh drink of the night and is still taking annoying snapchat photos of James when James is not ready blinks.
“Then go and piss. Release your kraken, set the captives free.”
“I don’t even know where the toilet is.” He’s bordering on desperate now, clinging onto his empty bottle of rosé like it’s his lifeline (which it technically is by this point).
Sirius doesn’t mean to be an ass, he just is one by nature. So when the boy pulls a face, shrugs his shoulders and says, “Follow the smell?” James doesn’t even bat an eyelid.
“Right, thanks Sirius. You moron.” Empty bottle of drink slams onto the table. “Okay. I’m going on an expedition. Hate you.”
“Love you too.”
It takes him about ten minutes of trying to squeeze himself through crowds of people, trying to not push into three snogging couples and trying to not tangle himself into a game of spin the bottle before he makes it to the upper floor.
There’s a couple canoodling in the first room he opens.
“Sorry!” He closes said door in a flash, sighs and squeezes his thighs together as he moves to the door which looks like a bathroom door (it’s got the letter ‘T’ stuck onto it, so he supposes that’s a sign?).
Door bangs open and hands fly down to his zipper. That’s when he realises there’s a girl lying on the floor.
“Hello.” She lifts up her head and James gets this pang straight in his heart.
She’s the girl who he saw several hours ago, dancing on a table and belting out the lyrics to Call Me Maybe. He doesn’t really believe in true love at first sight, but if that wasn’t a sign then he truly doesn’t know what is. She knew every single line of it, even winked at him as she twirled and kicked her legs out as she tried and failed to tap dance.
He blinks. “Uh. Hi?”
She’s clinging onto her mobile phone, legs in a tangled mess as she pulls herself up. She wavers on her feet unsteadily for a moment before reaching out a hand.
“Lily.”
“James. Hi. Ah, are you uh… okay?” He runs a hand through his hair.
She looks at him, green eyes piercing through his very soul.
She’s gorgeous. And so very, very drunk, which he doesn’t realise until she grimaces, wobbles and then sprints to the toilet and plonks her entire face into it.
“Oh.” He scratches his ear and then calculates his options, which are rather limited at this point.
This is the only toilet and a beautiful and painfully attractive girl is currently chundering into it like it’s an olympic sport.
His bladder will have to wait.
He steps forward and then he’s placing a supportive hand on her back. “There there…” She groans and her body hunches up again. His hand flies up just in time to hold back some of her hair before she retches again.
Is it weird that he still finds her attractive? Even when her face is, quite literally, in a toilet and she’s sprawled out on the floor.
“I hate everything.” A small voice echoes out and then an ice cold hand flutters to rest against his thigh. He shivers.
“Do you want some water?”
She grunts and he takes that as a yes. Luckily there’s a couple of unused glasses stacked by the windowsill (someone was obviously prepared for this type of thing) and so he passes her one with shaky fingers.
She doesn’t say anything as she slurps and he pulls out his phone, looking at Sirius’ snapchat story in which he and a small brunette girl take about a dozen crazy selfies.
“Sorry about uh, all that.” She’s pale, but a little bit of colour is slowly coming back to her cheeks. He notices she lets out a shiver and immediately he’s shrugging off his jacket and resting it on her bare shoulders.
“It was my pleasure. Uh, I mean. That I enjoyed… bollocks, uh. Just-”
She’s laughing, it’s music to his ears and then they both hold onto each other as they stand.
They’re still holding hands as they walk through the landing, balancing onto each other and giggling as they stumble down the stairs. Then he walks with her to the kitchen, handing her some Jacob’s crackers which she takes with a giddy thanks.
He only remembers about his desperate need to pee when he sees a lad doing just that in the small inflatable paddling pool outside. It’s like he’s on fire and he’s amazed that he even forgot about his desperation.
Lily’s pulling on his hand, asking if he’s okay.
“I really need to uh pee.”
They’re grasping onto each other again, pulling themselves through the rooms and making sure they don’t get pulled into the same game of spin the bottle before they conquer the stairs again.
He’s basically hopping as he finally makes it to the bathroom and when he’s done she’s still there. He doesn’t know why he’s a little surprised, but he’s happy.
“Wanna dance?”
“If it’s Carly Rae Jepsen then totally.”
This time they do get pulled into the game of spin the bottle and he can’t even believe the odds when the empty vodka bottle stops on him. Even before the bottle can decide the poor sod who has to kiss him, he’s being pulled towards Lily. And she’s snogging him senseless.
He’s melting into her, fairly sure this has to be a dream. But it’s not. He supposes this party wasn’t as rubbish as he thought it was.
#jily#jily fic#jily drabble#jily fanfiction#jily fanfic#SORRY THIS IS SO RANDOM??#i tried jsfjsafhjkasfa#but i like it#and i wrote it super quick#HOPE ITS OK BBY#i rlly need to work on the rest of my prompts man#jily:fic#my fic#im gonna post this on ao3 now but i cant be bothered putting the link on just yet so
315 notes
·
View notes
Text
Crayons Can Melt On Us
JILY CHALLENGE | @prongsno vs @alicelongbottom
summer tropes + you are drunk and rambling on about how nice the angle of my elbows are at this music festival but I can’t find your friends and I’ve lost mine, wanna spend the rest of the night getting drunk and dancing together??
(read on ao3)
Lily Evans blames Mary MacDonald. For everything.
It’s always Mary who’s getting her into trouble. Detentions, fights, blind dates…
But this time’s different.
This time they’re at the Leeds Festival, both completely hammered and belting out the words to One Direction’s ‘Kiss You’. She doesn’t even like them, but when Mary bought her drink number two and started spitting out the lyrics (literally the whole song, not even one word misplaced) to Outkast’s Hey Ya they somehow ended up on boy bands.
Now Mary’s arm is around her waist and they’re grasping onto their cups like it’s their life support. Lily hiccoughs and then suddenly Mary is crying.
Her boyfriend of ten months broke up with her last week. He’s been cheating on her for about two weeks and she only found out because she rang his phone and, of course, who should answer but this girl who says that said boyfriend is in the shower.
“D’ya know he rang asking for my forgiveness?” Mary sobs, gulping down another drink. “That rotten scumbag had the acidity to wait no… the - the adadcity?”
“Aud-acity. ‘Sjust think of the car.”
A group of people in flower crowns walk past at this moment, each biting into a hot dog or kebab or hamburger respectively.
When was the last time she ate?
Lily’s stomach churns at the thought but she’s got no idea if that’s out of hunger or nausea. She decides to sniff the air, the crisp wonderful and gross smell of barbecue and dripping fat with a portion of chips on the side sounds… amazing.
“Y’know what I need?” Her friend’s voice rings out in her ears. It’s a faint voice compared the noise of the festival around them, but being best mates for seven years means she’s now accustomed the soft song of Mary MacDonald.
“A nice juicy hamburger?”
“That too. But also a… a toe-curling and heart palpitating snog.”
Her small friend sighs with a roll of her eyes and throws her hands in the air, spilling her drink over her legs in the process. “Where are all the fit blokes? I need a distraction and all the only people we passed are flower babies.”
Mary had cried for hours after The Phone Call Incident and she eventually fell asleep on Lily’s shoulder, rivers of dried mascara stuck against her red cheeks. She had spent all of the next day biting into chocolates and ripping apart marshmallows with her teeth, claiming she was going to swear off men forever.
Now Lily’s listening to Mary’s ‘Must Haves and Must Have Nots’ checklist for a bloke to snog (of course, the first check is ‘Must Not Be Named Graeme’, followed by ‘Must Have Sexy Hair That Is Grabbable During Said Snog’.
Lily wants whatever is best for her and if that’s finding some guy who’s suitable enough to snog her best friend then so help her she’s going to scour the entire length of this whole place fourteen times until she’s accomplished her quest.
“What do you want, Mary?”
“I told ya! A frickin’ hella of a snog-”
“I mean food.” Lily points to the kiosk in front of them, the guy behind the till looks at them expectantly.
“OH! Hah! Well beside the best snog of my life I guess… a double cheese burger with bacon and chips would be nice please and thank you very very much good sir.” She screams over the music and stands on her tiptoes over the counter so that the guy, whose name-badge says Peter in scrawny, delicate handwriting, can hopefully hear her.
Together they manage to just get the right amount of change, although the majority is in fifties and twenties and Peter spends the next few, agonising minutes hunched up as he counts out each coin.
When he finally says ‘Four pounds and fifty two pence’ and begins to scribble their order down on a bit of paper Mary lets out a long sigh and jiggles her right leg.
“Oh ‘ell I need to have the longest pee…did we pass any loos?”
Lily snatches a map of the festival by the counter and they spend the next few minutes trying to focus their eyes and stop the world from spinning.
“There.” Lily says after a few minutes of glaring at the map. She plops a finger on the small dot closest to them that says ‘portaloos’. “Got hand sanitiser? That’s gonna be disgusting and a hell-hole of nightmares.”
“It’s that or wet my pants and I really like these shorts. Damnit I can’t hold it in! Don’t eat my burg-er or I’ll… do something mean, kay?”
“You gonna be alright? I can come-”
Mary shakes her head and gives Lily a slobbery kiss on her cheek. “S’me remember? I’m fine.”
Exactly, Lily thinks with a snort. This is the girl who misplaces her phone, burns herself cooking because she touches the hot plate to make sure it’s hot and locks herself out of her flat because she can’t find her keys.
“Do nothing I wouldn’t do right?”
Mary winks, blows Lily a hurried kiss and then flees through the crowd, her legs close together as she tries to run and hold everything in.
Lily Evans is not drunk.
This is what she tells herself as she watches her friend disappear and the world is spinning (is it the world that spins or the moon? Or is it both?) like she’s on stilts and walking down a very steep hill.
As if on instinct her legs buckle and she holds onto the ledge for support, trying to calm down but also finding it extremely hilarious that she’s unstable.
Peter calls out order number six hundred and three and plops the brown steaming bag down on the counter. It smells delicious and she’s sure that’s her number.
Where did she put the receipt? She’s not holding it in her hands and it’s not on the floor by her amazing floral wellies (she bought them on Asos for only fifteen quid, an absolute bargain) either. Panic rises up and she looks through the queue to see if the owner of the bag steps forward.
Her fingers twitch nervously against the palm of her hand.
Is this stealing? Is she a criminal if she grabs that bag and it’s not hers? She did pay for one, so it’s not like she’s robbing the stall. And Peter looks far too busy serving the other hungry customers for her to ask if this is her number.
She’s already drunk. What the heck. Juicy cheeseburger here I come, she thinks with a lick of her lips and then she’s reaching out to grab the bag. She can taste the goodness and feel the delicious, meaty and hot air from the bag but then someone’s hand is reaching out too and they both grab onto it at the same time.
“Oi!” She yells at the hand. “S’mine that is!” It’s a very nice hand actually. She loves veins and long fingers and this hand is like the Van Gogh of all hands.
“Six hundred and three.” The hand drawls out, waving a receipt in her face. She can’t focus but the numbers 603 do stand out in bold in the middle of the paper.
Her hand is still on top of his when Peter looks up to give her a glare.
“Is she trying to steal your burger?”
“Nah, don’t worry Pete.” Hands laughs. “I think she’s just hungry and wanted to get there first. Still on duty, huh?”
Peter rolls his eyes and adjusts his left sleeve, it’s just been resting in a dodgy looking puddle on the counter and he pulls it up with a grimace. “Yeah. I finish in forty. I saw Remus about ten minutes ago, high as a kite he was. Said he was going to find one of those hamster balls.”
The guy next to her laughs. He’s got a laugh that gives her goosebumps. It’s light, sweet and a very contagious trickle that could probably force even the likes of Mr Scrooge to smile.
“What about Pads?”
Now, Lily is not one to usually join in on people’s private conversations but sometimes she can’t resist it. And this is one of the very rare times where the words fall out before she’s aware of it; she blames the alcohol in her system (for once not Mary) because she usually thinks before she speaks and she has a feeling this will be a problem before the night is out.
“You have a friend named Pads? Like…”
Peter nods and says “Right, just like a dog’s padded paws-” whilst Lily, subtle as ever drawls out at the exact same moment, “Like sanitary pads?”
Two things happen at once. Hands spits out his drink whilst laughing maniacally and Peter releases a shocked and mousy gasp. It’s as if he’s offended by any menstruation terminology and his cheeks are hot with embarrassment. But Hands, she loves this guy (and his hands- did she mention that already?); he’s shrieking with laughter.
Amidst his chuckles and snorts she can just make out “brilliant!” and that’s it. This is when she realises she’s laughing too, tears are leaking down her face as she doubles over the counter. His hands are resting on her shoulders and she can feel him shaking on top of her, the distinct smell of vodka and Malibu hot on his breath.
They’re still laughing when Peter just shakes his head and walks away. She’s worried she’s offended him (but if he seriously gets offended by the mention of ‘pads’ then she’s glad to be honest) but he comes back with a new deliciously steaming hot paper bag and she’s almost forgiven him for that.
He places it on the counter in front of them, nods and then walks off to deal with the other customers.
“That one’s yours.” Her amazing new acquaintance points to the additional bag and taps her hand.
How are both his hands so beautiful? They’re like marble and feel like all things good and pure (or not so pure) when they touch her skin.
Is it just her is it hot?
He’s hot that’s for sure, even if it’s just his hands that she’s focusing on.
He grabs for his paper bag and, she doesn’t mean for this to happen but, her eyes follow his arm and soon she’s staring at the most glorious and heavenly elbow she’s ever encountered.
“Sorry about Peter,” Mr Gorgeous says, his voice only a distant echo in her mind. “He’s never um. Been so good around women before.”
Is she salivating? Wow, this is embarrassing.
“And you are?” She tries to breathe a little slower but her voice is raspy. She’s never seen anything so beautiful before. His elbows are a flipping masterpiece.
“I suppose.” She can hear his grin. But she’s seriously so lost in his arms right now.
“Elbows.”
“Yes, that’s my elbow.”
The way he’s grabbing onto the bag makes his arm look so… defined? And the only way it could look even more ethereal is if it was at a ninety degree angle. Don’t ask her why but, ever since she discovered maths the angle of ninety degrees has just been so wonderful to look at.
“‘s very nice elbones. Your bone?”
Mr. Amazing Elbows chuckles and she feels a hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?”
She’s not. But she smiles and nods, all the while still staring transfixed at his arm. She’s got goosebumps.
“Better than ever,” she says and she’s not even joking. She’s seen the light at the end of the tunnel, as it were, and it’s this guy’s elbows. “Y’know if you move your elbow slightly you’d be perpendicular.”
As soon as the words leave her mouth she instantly regrets it. His arm is close to hers and she’s been focusing on these two freckles that are placed perfectly right near his elbow. The words had escaped without notice.
He doesn’t say anything and for a second it looks like she’s going to get away with it. That is, until he leans down (he’s actually really tall, towering above her like The Big Ben) and breaths in her ear.
She’s seeing stars.
His breath is hot against her neck and she wishes she could stay like this forever, with him by her side and her staring at his earthshaking (and Lily-shattering) elbows. Until, because the music is still deafeningly loud, he shouts out over the live band with a very vehement ‘PARDON?’.
She shouts back. “PERPENDICULAR.”
Of course, this is when the music stops and it’s eerily quiet as her one worded answer echoes out into the atmosphere. Peter sends her a funny look, as do the twenty or so people queuing up for food.
Her embarrassment lasts only a few more horrifying seconds before another song is belted out from a million microphones and speakers. It’s as if she’s never spoken; people go back to their drinking, dancing and laughing and soon it’s only Elbows whose focus is still on her.
“Um, sorry.” He says. “Perpendick? What-now?”
It’s like her tongue is on fire and the only way to stop is for her to keep talking.
Mathematics was her favourite subject in high school. She was in the top set, got an A* in her GCSEs and then went on to do further Maths in college. So, when you look at it like that, her thinking about the angle of his elbows being at forty-five degrees isn’t really that weird.
“Your elbow.” She flicks at said part of his arm, relishing at how smooth and sturdy it is. “Is almost perpendicular.”
“Is that bad?”
“S’pretty normal angle but you make it look hella fine.”
She’s glad she’s drunk because, even though sober Lily talks about mathematics, she would never use the phrase ‘hella fine’ without being sarcastic. And yet here she is.
“I… thank you?” Elbows is now holding onto his cheeseburger and she’s transfixed as he moves his arm upwards.
Then she’s looking at his face and there are no words to describe how she feels in that second.
His eyes meet hers and it’s like the theme tune of Eastenders is playing on repeat because she swears she can feel the eruption of butterflies that explode in her stomach as he gives her a smile.
He’s got hands and elbows that could make Leonardo Da Vinci sob and his face is even better? Soft, brown eyes that she could melt into and lips like roses that bloom into a smirk that’s directed just at her. Why is she only looking at his face now?
“Alright?” He’s got ketchup on the side of his cheek but she’s said too much already. So she nods and uncovers her cheeseburger. Mary’s lies in the bag still.
How long does it take to go to the flipping bathroom?
She has no messages on her phone and if she waits any longer her food will get cold. Plus, Lily’s got Mr Amazing Elbows here to keep her company.
“Waiting for anyone in particular?” He nods towards Mary’s burger. “A boyfriend? Or girlfriend? Or-”
“Just a friend.” She’s never answered anything so fast in her life. Her cheeks are on fire. “But she’s been gone for a while. Probably snogging someone.”
He nods and bites into his burger.
“Um. So. What about you? Boyfriend? Girlfriend?”
He twiddles his thumbs and wipes at his mouth a napkin. Waiting for him to answer is the worst few seconds ever.
“Neither. I have a friend who’s somewhere here though. Probably trying to find free booze. That, or snogging someone.”
Now would be an excellent time for her to be suave and sexy, ask him if he wants to get a drink together and do some snogging of their own.
“Has seriously no one ever said to you ever how nice the angle of your elbows is?”
“Never.” He talks with his mouth open as he chews on his food, but she doesn’t care. “If they’re as good as you say they are then I’m going to have to have a long discussion with my mates about why they never mentioned it to me before.”
“Y’should. They’re really uh nice. Really.”
He’s grinning as he wipes his left hand over his face, smearing the ketchup in the process. He’s blushing.
“Thanks, but you’re only saying that cos you’re absolutely sloshed.”
She can’t believe he just said sloshed, it’s almost as bad as hella fine.
She is not sloshed. She’s just not sober.
“I bet you’ve had lots of ladies tell you how good they are.”
He bites his lip, trying his damned hardest to keep his laughter at bay. “No,” his eyes are shining and twinkling. “Just you.”
“Well. I’m glad I was the one who got to tell you how nice they are. Cos they are. Really nice.” She needs to stop before she humiliates herself further, so she bites her tongue and stares down at her burger.
She can feel his hot stare as she picks up one of her gherkins, it’s slimy and she’s never really liked the taste of them, and flicks it with her finger. It lands on Peter’s back, sliding off onto the floor and leaving a grease mark on his white t-shirt.
He’s grinning and howling again and then he’s standing, offering her his hand.
There’s a moment of hesitation, from both of them. They’re strangers, brought together by the unlikeliest of circumstances. But to hell with it, she’s always been a fan of romance. Even if they’re both tipsy.
“So, do you have a name? Or should I just keep calling you elbows in my head?”
“James. Although I do quite like elbows. What’s yours, or should I keep calling you flower?” He nods down at her wonderful flower wellies.
She wriggles her toes, suddenly shy even though she’s been nothing but embarrassing for the past half an hour.
“Lily.”
“I like that name.”
“Do you? I hate it.”
He finishes the rest of his drink then throws the empty cup with perfect precision and aim into a bin. She stops herself from clapping and applauding like a soppy cheerleader.
“So. Since both our friends have ditched us, wanna hang out? I mean. Um. Let’s just-” He’s rambling and it makes a change since it’s been her rabbiting on about everything since she’s met him.
“Yes.”
Her answer is definite, even if her voice is wobbly.
One drink turns into five, then he’s giving her a piggy back and her hands are wrapped around his neck and shoulders whilst he cups her thighs and holds her tight.
The music is loud and booming, but it’s only a hazy blur in the back of her mind. Her attention and focus is purely on one thing: him.
It’s like she’s dreamt him up. Because he’s perfect.
They dance through song after song, hands clasped together and bodies swaying close.
Even though they’re both drunk, falling over things and drinking Far Too Much… he still gives her goosebumps as he sends her a smile that she can’t help but smile back to.
A song comes on which they both despise and they both look at each other simultaneously before running off, hands entwined and contagious giggles leaving them hyper.
Then he’s trailing his fingers through her hair and she’s pulling him forward, already imagining how his lips will taste. Like a masterpiece, something that you can’t help but want more of.
Her phone buzzes against her thigh and James sighs into her hair.
“Are you that happy to see me you’re vibrating, love?”
She snorts and hits his arm before checking her phone. Of course it’s Mary.
“Lily!” Mary’s shrieking and laughing uncontrollably. She tries to stay focused on her friend, but James is pressed close, listening in on the phone even though Mary’s voice is booming through her speakers.
Lily doesn’t mind in the slightest.
“You have to see what I just whatsapp’d you.” She’s laughing and halfway through saying something else when the line dies and all Lily can make out is ‘Have you’ before there’s a beep beep sound.
Her fingers are shaking as she goes onto said app.
Mary’s just sent her a picture of a guy sitting in the mud; a very, very handsome guy (or what she can make out anyways because he’s wearing flipping sunglasses even though it’s past eleven) in a biker leather jacket.
He’s got a bloody nose and mud splattered all over his clothes and face and there’s an unconscious smurf lying face down next to him. And Mary’s head is poking out at the bottom of the picture, laughing along with the biker fella like two old chums having a whale of a time.
“Oh my god, that’s my friend.” James stares at the picture, unable to stop the snorts that erupt in great multitude.
“Pads?” Lily’s grinning, already sending a message that’s just ‘?????’ to her friend.
When James nods the two are hunched over, supporting themselves as they laugh for what seems the fifty-sixth time that night. Lily’s not really keeping count, but this guy has made her feel happier than she’s felt like a long time.
When the laughs slowly fade and they’re just left with a rather painful stitch in their right side, they’re back to where they were before. Faces close together, hurried gasps for air as they try and calm down. Jittery gazes and rosy cheeks.
It’s like time has paused, but only for them. The festival goes on around them in slow motion but the only thing that matters right there, in that moment, is the way James tucks a curl behind her ear in a cute and nervous kind of way.
He’s apprehensive and cautious as he leans in and gives her the lightest of kisses. It’s feathery and delicate, something so unlike the majority of the night they’ve just had. He’s got his eyes closed and that’s when Lily makes a quick decision.
She grabs onto his jacket, pulling her fingers through the material so he has to stumble slightly towards her. Then they’re sinking and melting into each other; hands everywhere and feet wobbling as they go deeper and deeper.
When they look again into each other’s eyes and he’s grinning and she has a toe-curling, fluttering feeling in every crevice of her body… that’s when Lily’s sure this encounter was meant to be. And that it was Mary MacDonald, in a way, who brought the two of them together.
#jilychallenge#alicelongbottom#jily#jily fic#jily fanfic#lilyevane#meraudurs#bantasticbeasts#padfootdidit#dfjskfjkafjal#jily:fic#my fic#im sorry#gxldentrio#hiddenpolkadots
398 notes
·
View notes
Text
For Every Broken Dream
Chapter One (read on ao3) {4557 words} ( chapter two)
At seventeen, James Potter's only option is to work in service at the large Evans estate as a farmer. He can't mess this up- he needs it more than ever. Shame things are never as easy as we want them to be.
Amidst a heavy blanket of snow there stands a shivering James Potter. His shoes are weak and frayed, multiple holes give the bone-chilling muddy snow access to his already numbed toes. He shivers, it’s unforgivably cold and the chill bites at his skin but still he marches on.
He fights against the harsh winter elements and pulls his tattered jacket closer around his shaking body. Then he stares up, mouth half open in amazement, at the house sitting on the hills.
The Evans manor looms over the horizon. It’s almost threatening.
It’s the largest house he has ever laid eyes on; extravagant and massive. Bright lights shine out of every window and hot smoke curls out of the dozens of chimneys, boastful and mocking.
It’s taunting him.
The closer and closer he gets to it the more… breathtaking it becomes.
It’s elegant and his saving grace, providing him with shelter, warmth, food and coin. And yet he has a terrible feeling that in some ways it will be like a prison. That it will, ultimately, also be his downfall.
He lets out a deep, shaky breath.
He needs the money, he needs to escape the madness, he needs… hope . And this opportunity rose out of the ashes like a God-send; he’d be a fool to pass it up. He could not mess this up.
This was everything to him.
Working for the Evans family, that’s his life now.
“Potter, I presume?” An old woman with striking blue eyes looks him up and down.
He feels her stare, at the state of his mud-splattered trousers and at the drenched jacket. He has half a mind to tell her that he can’t exactly control the weather now, can he? If it was sunny he’d be in a better appearance.
“Yes ma’am.”
But he remembers why he’s here. He remembers how important this is to him. That he can’t mess this up.
He looks at the woman straight and hard, like how he’s been told. Respectful, yielding. He’s in the working world now.
He gives her a clumsy bow, long legs buckle as his back bends. His cap slides off his head almost like it’s flying and lands, gracefully, into the puddle by his feet.
It’s the woman’s look of wild alarm as he grabs for it and squeezes out as much excess water as he can before placing it back over his windswept hair. But it’s also the precarious shadow of someone in one of the large windows, watching as the woman addresses herself as McGonagall, the housekeeper.
James feels somewhat on edge, like he’s in a lions den.
It’s when McGonagall turns away from the house and he follows after begrudgingly that he can still feel that stare on his back.
He gulps; uncertainty and fear cripples him. But he marches on.
Past the house, up the gravel pathway, and into the never-ending wood where the trees are so numerous and dense that in summer time you probably wouldn’t even be able to see the sky through it.
It’s about a ten minute walk before he’s met with the farmer’s fields.
There’s a thick scattering of frost, but he can make out the allotments filled with seeds and growing vegetables, apple trees and bushes surrounding the large farm that’s to the side. A quaint looking, but relatively decent-sized, cottage smiles at him from across the lane. Animal noises and sounds fill the air, it’s almost refreshing.
A plump and excited looking man stands waiting for them, a dog wags his bottle brush like tail non-stop by his feet.
“Mr Slughorn,” McGonagall states when they finally halt to a stop. “This is the boy.”
Slughorn takes James’ hands and he’s swept up into the most uncomfortable and yet pleasant hug imaginable. Calloused and rough hands then shake him, gigantic smiles and well-spoken wishes fill the air, that James is most welcome and that they’re now family.
The big dog lets out a happy woof, far too excited now by the prospect of making a new friend, and runs towards the newcomer. Dirty paws jump at him and then James is on the floor, laughing for what seems the first time in years as a smelly, wet tongue licks his face.
Despite everything, James finds himself grinning.
As long as he tries to forget about what happened… as long as tries to forget about the large house acres away and the rich family who reside inside it, he thinks he’ll enjoy it here.
He gets used to the routine pretty quickly.
It’s a fast paced environment; he wakes up early and sleeps late and does chore after chore. But James wouldn’t change it for the world.
He feeds the chickens with a smile on his face, grooms the Captain Evans’ horses with care and even learns how to milk Myrtle (which he quickly dubs Mooing Myrtle, for the cow is always mooing about something).
Slughorn is also quite the character, forever getting into sticky situations to which James is forever and constantly helping the old man get out of. He’s like an old, embarrassing uncle which he’s never had and it’s suddenly as if he’s always been at the Evans estate.
The farm is like his home, the animals his friends and Slughorn the family member he needs now more than ever.
It’s peaceful and full of tranquillity and soon a day becomes a week, then a month and suddenly he finds that he’s been working at the farm for what feels like his whole life.
He’s never seen the family that live on the house on the hills and he's keen on keeping it that way.
He gives the food and milk to the servants, who then take it back to the house in old wooden carts. One servant, a sweet girl named Mary who he befriends quickly, speaks of nothing but high praise for the family. But he’s determined and stubborn.
No one with that much money is good.
He would much rather stay in the quaint little farm and block out the family living in luxury just on the other side of the field, thank you very much. And so that’s what he does.
There are other helpers and workers on the fields, but the main duties rely heavily on Slughorn, and thus, as his new apprentice, James too.
“You’re doing well, m’boy.” Slughorn beams up at James one day (he towers over the short man, but neither seem to mind).
It’s a fine, spring day when the two are out in the fields, checking on the strawberry plants and discussing the many uses of manure as a fertiliser.
“Thank you,” James grins and picks up a daisy, threading it through the top button hole of his shirt. “I never thought I would say this, sir, but… manure is so fascinating.”
“It really is, my dear boy!” The old farmer laughs and, with a shocking amount of force for such an old and small man, whacks him hard on the back. It brings tears to his eyes, but they’re happy.
“I needed a good chortle,” The old man smiles a little absently. “Say, how much do you think you’ve learned since coming here?”
“Quite a lot, sir.”
James begins to list off the duties he knows how to do by heart, bending his fingers as he ticks them off his mental list.
He admits that he’s still rather new to pruning and that shearing a sheep is his worst nightmare, but Slughorn doesn’t see that as a problem and brushes it off with a wave of his hand.
The man clears his throat and twiddles his thumbs, thinking how best to tell the lad.
“Listen, Potter.” Slughorn starts. “I have to run an errand. Just for a short while… can I leave the farm and the fields in your capable hands?”
James is nodding in an instant. Of course, he would have never been able to say no… but the thought of being in control of the farm and (hopefully) getting a few more coins out of it is certainly enticing.
“I’ve already sent word for someone to help you. Sirius, a young lad who lives nearby. He’s helped me on occasion and has kindly agreed to keep you company and to share the workload.” Slughorn smiles. “He’s a troublemaker, but no doubt the two of you will have immense fun. As long as you don’t neglect your duties to the farm then I have no problem. He’ll be here on the second day of my departure, alright?”
“You can count on me, sir.”
Throughout the following days Slughorn helps James with anything he needs, but the man says he has the utmost faith that he will do a good job.
Then the day finally arrives.
Slughorn puts on his ‘going out’ hat, gets his nicer looking walking stick and embraces him in a tight, father-like hug. He tells James he doesn’t know when he’ll be back, but will send a letter once his errand is done.
Then he places a rake into James’ scruffy hands.
“Remember, Sirius will be here tomorrow to help. I’m depending on you, boy. Don’t let me down.”
He watches as the man hobbles down the lane, waving one last time before the trees block him from view. James waves the rake, feeling too many emotions at once.
And suddenly he’s alone.
It’s a feeling he hasn’t been used to in a while, since before it all happened. He loves and hates it at the same time; it’s unsettling but the fact that Sirius will be here tomorrow makes it slightly more bearable.
So, he decides today he’ll do his best to relax.
Should be easy.
As he walks up towards the vegetation fields he hums out a merry tune. The sun is hot against the back of his neck and he basks in the delightful southern heat. It’s far more pleasant than the horrible weather he’s been used to.
He closes his eyes and exhales. The peace he feels is so uplifting, it’s like he could float away into the clouds.
Breathing in that fresh air had at first seemed so utterly bizarre. He was used to smog and smoke; pollution and dirt everywhere, the tell-tale signs of a bustling, metropolitan city on the move.
But here the air is crisp and kind, the sky always clear and gentle. Here he can relax and not worry.
That is, until he notices a figure by the batch of strawberry plants. The figure clings suspiciously to a basket that’s full to the brim of flowers, whistling rather merrily as they help themselves to strawberries.
James lets out a furious gasp.
The strawberries that he has spent so much time and effort on. That he has laboured and loved over.
He breaks into a run and races towards them.
“Oi, thief!”
His voice rings throughout the fields, causing a few birds to scatter and flurry out of trees. The thief looks up in alarm then breaks into a sprint.
He swears under his breath and hurries after. His legs ache and his chest burns, but he picks up his speed. The thief is fast but James, thanks to all of the manual labour he’s been doing, has the edge.
He reaches out and, after a few failed attempts, finally catches hold of their thieving little basket and pulls with all his might. The handle rips off and maybe he didn’t think this through enough because suddenly the thief gives out a little yelp.
They trip over a stump in the ground then fall, face flat, into a patch of daisies.
He tries to slow down, but it’s no use. He widens his eyes, unable to stop himself, and flies forwards; he hits the thief’s back and falls forcefully on top.
“Ooof!”
Well, this is one way to catch a thief.
James has no time to check for injuries. The thief groans underneath him and tries to wriggle free but he quickly grabs hold of their arms and winds a leg around the theirs, keeping them locked underneath him.
“How dare you steal from this farm! What gives you the right?” He huffs, breathing heavily in the hopes that his racing heart will quickly calm down.
“I wasn’t stealing!” The thief says hotly… sounding extremely feminine and high pitched for a male.
James narrows his eyes and grips a little tighter. Then, with as much strength as he can manage, flips the thief over (surprisingly an incredibly easy thing to do).
The thief isn’t a man at all. It’s a woman.
James blinks and looks at the girl underneath him.
The strawberry thief…
...she’s blinding.
She’s a beautiful sunset. Soft like velvet against his skin.
Her bright red hair flows out onto grass around them, and wide, almond shaped green eyes look up at him.
Freckles adorn her smooth looking skin, splattering across her cheeks and nose like a dusting of icing sugar on a victoria sponge (not that he’s ever had the honour of tasting such a delicacy but he’s seen the beautiful cakes through shop windows, when he’d press his nose against the glass, close his eyes and breathe in so heavily you could almost taste the sweetness on your tongue).
James swallows, suddenly unsure on what to do.
His hands still grip onto her tightly but he realises numbly that their bodies are pressed rather unceremoniously close together. He’s so close that he can hear her short gasps for breath amidst his own heavy breathing. Finally he breaks eye contact and nods towards the basket.
“What do you call that then, eh?” He asks, reaching out to grab hold of one of the plumper looking strawberries.
He waves it in her face. In return he receives a lethal looking scowl and eye-roll. The thief grumbles something under her breath then tries to wriggle free from under his grip.
“I’m not letting you go until you tell me what the hell you think you were doing.” He warns. “And why you’re in boy’s clothes.” He’s only just noticed and stares at her in shock.
She’s wearing an oversized button top and grey cotton trousers. And she’s barefoot.
He opens his mouth to comment on that too, (about how she’s a weird person because, aren’t there brambles and nettles in these parts?) but she huffs and stares up at him defiantly.
“Who even are you? Where’s Slughorn?”
“He’s off doing some errand, he left me in charge.”
He finds it slightly odd that the two of them are making conversation (if that is what you could call it, anyhow) in the bodily situation they’re in and tries his best not to blush. He can’t let the thief know, otherwise she’ll have the upper hand.
He’s never even really talked to a woman his age before, let alone be straddling a young lady and branding them as a strawberry thief.
“Aah.” She nods her head and gives him a smile that throws him off guard.
“So you’re the new protege?” She seems to have no problem whatsoever with the whole situation; she looks up at him through half-lidded eyes and his heart skips a beat, his grip on her loosens.
She glances up at him, craning her neck to look at the rest of him.
“You’re a bit… well. Not what I was imagining.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m extremely capable, thank you very much.”
“Oh I don’t doubt it,” Strawberry Thief laughs and James has to breathe out slowly again.
He needs to keep his wits and remember that she’s committed a crime.
“I just thought you would be younger. More youthful-”
“I’m only seventeen.” James grumbles. “Not exactly a pensioner.”
When she laughs it’s exactly what he imagines Heaven to sound like. Like something in a dream, in a faraway land under shooting stars and beside hundreds of ancient, shimmering caves.
“Look,” The thief starts, catching his gaze. She smiles at him and this time it’s a sweet and genuine expression.
“If I promise not to run away can you, please, release me so we can both stand? Unless you like being in this kind of position-”
In an instant he lets go, like she’s burning metal in his hands. He hears her chuckle and avoids her eyes as he stands. She’s grinning like a mad-man, looking smugly at him, as he moves his chest back, untangles his legs and leaps upwards. Her smirk widens even more when he offers out his hand and she takes it without a second thought.
She’s tiny, only reaching the bottom of his neck and yet she almost outran him. James can’t believe it.
“What’s your name?” She asks as soon as her feet hit the soft grass.
“Uh… James. James Potter.” He drops her hand and scratches the back of his neck. He’s in foreign waters and he has no idea what he’s supposed to do.
“Well, James Potter.” Strawberry Thief nods. “It was fun, but I have to leave now.” She walks towards the basket and James gapes after her.
“Wait, what? I just caught you stealing those and now you think you can get away with it?”
He lunges for three of the berries that still scatter the ground, grabbing them just before she can.
“I have half a mind to report you and bring you to McGonagall. She’s the housekeeper of this estate and runs it for the family who own it.”
“Oh?” She asks, her eyes twinkling. “And what of the family?”
“Dunno. They’re just some poncy rich folk who have too much money on their hands.”
Truthfully, he has no idea why he’s saying any of this to her… he could get in trouble for that. And he’s caught her stealing, he’s just seen it with his own eyes, and yet… yet why is he so reluctant to do what he deems just? She’s just committed a crime.
She’s a thief.
“Then what’s the harm of me taking a few strawberries and flowers?”
He pauses, she’s caught him there. And they both know it.
She stares at him expectantly and folds her arms against her chest, waiting for his answer. He wishes he could wipe that smug look of her face but in the end all he does is sigh.
“Well…” He’s baffled. “I…”
Maybe this girl is poorer than he is. Maybe she’s having as much trouble with life as he was. She only wanted to pick a few harmless flowers and strawberries. Surely he isn't that cruel, right?
“I guess I can let you off this once.” He grimaces at his defeat, trying not to blush when she grins at him and her eyes shine like the stars.
“You can keep those.” She says, nodding to the bundle still in his hand. “For the trouble I caused.”
And with that she skips off down the lane that leads towards the estate.
James shakes his head and follows her with his gaze.
What a crazy woman. Hopefully he’ll never see her again.
Sirius, as Slughorn promised, arrives at the farm promptly at 8’oclock the following morning.
Tousled, messy black hair, bright grey, twinkling eyes. He’s biting a large red apple, chewing it loudly like a cow as he looks James up and down.
“I thought you’d be…” Sirius trails off, crunching into his apple once more. Juice dribbles onto his chin and he wipes his face with the rolled up sleeve of his blue shirt. “Younger?”
“Seriously? What’s wrong with me being the way I am?”
“Nothing!” Sirius lets out a merry hum and walks towards the farm. James has no choice but to reluctantly follow after him.
The lad grabs a spade and hands James the rake with a grin.
“It’s just, well. McGonagall must have really liked you. Usually apprentices are eleven or twelve, y’know old enough to learn and grow but young enough too… are you her son or something?”
“God, no!” James gasps. It’s like something has just stabbed at his heart. He gulps, trying to laugh off the pain. “I was just extremely lucky. At my old home we had a neighbour who was friends with someone whose brother’s wife is McGonagall.”
“Ah, okay. Do you miss your home a lot?”
A deeply personal question, one James isn’t sure if he should (or even could) answer.
“Well I…” He trails off, uncertain. “There isn’t much left for me there. But… yeah. Of course I miss it.”
Sirius nods, biting down the question on his lips.
“So!” He says, trying to brighten the mood. He twirls the spade as they enter the fields. “Have you met any of the Evans lot yet?”
“Honestly, I’ve been avoiding them as much as possible. I don’t really feel comfortable around… um… rich folk.” James says the two words with a grumble, glaring up at the sun as he wipes his forehead.
He misses Sirius’ startled look. That’s not the answer he was expecting. He forces out a huge yawn and stretches his arms up towards the sky.
“They’re not so bad, as far as rich people go anyways.”
As he talks, Sirius shows James a handy trick with the spade. And, once their chores are done, they trail down the fields, towards the farmyard.
They have to load the carts full of dairy produce for the manor today, something that James always hates doing but he’s relieved that he’s got help this time.
It’s Mary who waits by the lane as always, a sweet smile gracing her lips. She has the ability to brighten up any gloomy day and as soon as James sees her he can’t help but relax a little.
“Alright, Mary? Here’s the whats-its and what-nots as always,” James stops the cart, waiting for the other usual servant, Mr Diggory, to catch them all up.
“Afternoon James.” She smiles and gives him a friendly smile and nod. “Who’s your friend?” It’s when her eyes fall onto Sirius that a slight blush appears on her cheeks.
James grins and whacks Sirius, who’s pretending to be fascinated at the dairy produce, hard in the side.
“Sirius.” The boy almost belts out. He glares at James and then finally allows his eyes to fall onto the small girl standing in front of them.
She smiles hopefully at him, her cheeks a little blushed and her eyes full of wonder and hope. He grimaces and forces his gaze to fall onto Mr Diggory, who’s now exclaiming what a wonderful day it is.
“Ello lads, isn’t that sun glorious?” The man smiles and points to the magnificent sun that’s shining so brightly it’s like the manor is sparkling.
James supposes, rather begrudgingly, it is a beautiful sight. And perhaps, when he casts a sneaky glance towards Sirius, who has a tinge of red on his cheeks and is trying his hardest not to meet the gaze of the still awe-struck and bashful Mary, there are some other things in life that have beauty in them also.
Sirius is unusually quiet on their short walk back to the farm (in the short amount of hours James has known him it’s highly apparent that the boy can talk the hind legs off a donkey). He had said goodbye rather abruptly and loudly after the chore was done, forcing James to give a shocked (and definitely disappointed) Mary a sheepish smile as he told her he’d see her later.
What Sirius’ problem is, he has no idea. The boy is definitely handsome and he’s certain he has had his fair share of women showing an interest. But James isn’t one to pry.
“Hey.” He asks, finding it strange to see Sirius so silent. “So what can you tell me about the Evans family then?”
That seems to cheer him up and soon James is listening to an oral essay on the gentry and the manor house.
“The one to avoid is definitely the eldest daughter. Lady Petunia Evans. Horrid woman. She’s betrothed to this walrus of a man and they’re just the most dreadful people. The youngest daughter is nice though, Lady Lily.”
“Huh. I didn’t know they had any daughters.”
They reach the farm. Padfoot runs towards them, woofing happily. The canine jumps up at Sirius, who seems as excited to see the dog as the dog is to see him. Mooing Myrtle moos moodily in the distance, she’s getting a little restless.
“Have you worked here before, then?” James asks, nodding towards Padfoot who Sirius is now cradling in his arms like a giant, fluffy baby.
The boy freezes. “Here?”
“Padfoot’s acting like you’re his best friend. And Slughorn mentioned that you’ve helped him before. He said you lived nearby.”
Sirius lets out an awkward chuckle, puts down Padfoot and scratches his chin thoughtfully. “Oh, ha. I err, I just come by sometimes to help is all.”
“So are you from the estate nearby… what was it called again? Like a colour or something…” James grabs hold of a bucket and walks towards Myrtle.
He misses Sirius’ grimace. “Black. It’s the Black Manor.”
“Right. You work there?”
“I guess you could say that.” He grins.
They work in silence for a while, Myrtle seems a lot happier now and the pig Dolores snorts happily in her pen. But James still has that burning question and he finally lets it out.
“Do you get a lot of thieves around here?”
Sirius looks up in alarm. “Thieves? Like... highway men?”
“Like… um. Girls.”
“Girls?”
James nods, his cheeks hot. “There was a girl and she stole some strawberries.”
“Weird.” Sirius shrugs. “I’ve never heard of a strawberry thief around here.”
“She was weird. She was absolutely barmy. Wore boys clothes and was barefoot. I mean, who does that?”
“That is a very unusual thing… didn’t you ask for her name?”
“Ah… I um.” James drops a glass bottle and he moves his feet quickly away from the shattered glass.
Sirius snorts. “Lost your speech to her beauty, eh?”
“No!” They both know he’s lying. James tries his best to ignore the boy’s suggestive eyebrows. “I err, she didn’t say her name-”
“Well, if she was stealing I doubt she’d give that away freely.”
“I let her go. I could have reported her to McGonagall… but I didn’t.” James scowls as he remembers her. How guilty he felt, how unsure he was. He picks up a daisy, threading the fragile flower through his fingers. “I kept thinking, ‘what if she’s as poor as me?’ and the guilt just gnawed inside at me.”
He doesn’t notice the strange way Sirius scratches his nose. Or the way he looks like he should say something, the boy opens his mouth, but closes it almost instantly. When James turns to look at him he just shrugs his shoulders innocently.
“Guess you won’t find out ‘till you see her again.”
“You think I will?”
The sun is setting behind them. The farmers fields look almost alight under the fierce glare and hot air swirls around them, caressing their faces.
“I bet she’s even closer than you think.” Is all Sirius says.
The two boys watch, Padfoot laid across the both of them, as the sun slowly sinks behind the hills. One day down, another is just about to begin.
#jily#jily fic#jily fanfic#snapslikethis#gxldentrio#jilylicious#cupcakeblake#bantasticbeasts#alrightevans#lilyevane#jily:fic#my fic#WOW SO NERVOUS ABOUT THIS#ITS MY BABY PLZ BE NICE
223 notes
·
View notes
Note
hello!! requesting sleepy!james because the world needs more cute sleepy boys c:
{ read on ao3 }
Lily has been staring at him for the past 3 hours. Not in a creepy way, of course… but it’s kind of hard not to.
He yawns, shuffles around in his seat to get comfortable and then stares at his book for about thirty seconds before his eyes start to flutter open and shut for a few minutes. Then his head suddenly drops, so quickly that the shock of it wakes him back up. Then he does the whole thing all over again.
He’s seriously been doing this for the past three hours and Lily is really starting to worry because he must have whiplash by now. Seriously.
And he is definitely running out of swear words, because each time he catches himself falling asleep he cusses. What starts off as the generic everyday eff this and eff that quickly turns into ‘blonking jaffa-cake bleeding bacon’ and it’s shocking how, in the tired state he is clearly in, he’s not running out of words to turn into said swear-words.
Also she’s been staring at him for the past three hours doing literally nothing. She has to do something.
“Would you like a coffee?”
Only seconds earlier he’d just slapped his face hard to try and wake himself up and now, as she stands before him hugging her medical book to her chest for comfort, he stares up at her with wide eyes.
He opens his mouth to say something, then stops. Then he looks up at her again, then around the library.
“Pardon?” He asks finally, squinting his eyes at her. She blushes.
She starts the question again but trails off when he starts to fidget, looking under his piles of books and bags and sweet chocolate wrappers for something that is of obvious importance.
“Sorry,” He murmurs to her, squinting up at her again before he grabs at things again. “I’m just…”
A book drops from his desk, hitting the hard wood floor with a BANG. Students around them look up in alarm, glare and give them a very angry sssshhh! before diving back into their books.
“Looking for something?” She asks quietly once she picks up the book. It’s a giant The Oxford History of Britain and it hits the desk with a dull plod.
The boy is still looking, clearly in a mild state of panic now.
“My glasses,” He whispers frantically. “I can’t see without them and-”
“Is it the pair hanging from your shirt?”
His hands fly to his chest before he grabs at them, muttering how much of an idiot he is, and placing them back on his face.
“Sorry,” He mutters, gazing up at her clearly now in such shock that he almost drops another book. “What did you.. err?”
“Coffee. I think you need some.”
“Probably,” He drops his gaze back onto the endless piles of books on his cluttered desk. “But that stuff seems disgusting.”
“Have you ever tried it?”
“Once.” He grabs at the wrappers around him, scrunching them into a ball and stuffing them into his coat pocket before looking at her again. “When I was ten. Never touched it since.”
Seven minutes later they stand shoulder-to-shoulder at the coffee shop directly underneath the first floor of the library. His bag is packed to the rim of heavy history books, so numerous he can’t even close the zip all the way.
“I don’t really drink coffee,” He says for the tenth time, stifling down a yawn as he says so. She rolls her eyes and gets out her coffee card.
“Trust me, Joe. I’m saving your life right now.”
“Why do you keep calling me Joe?”
She looks up at him in alarm, the light of the refrigerator section illuminating the blush that creeps up on her cheeks.
“Isn’t that your name?”
“No.”
“Oh. Jude?”
“No.”
“Jason?”
“Nah. I’ll give you a clue. It rhymes with… frames.” He taps the edge of his glasses with a smirk. She can’t help but snicker.
She buys him an iced mocha, since he obviously has a sweet tooth, and watches expectantly as he takes a cautious first sip.
“Well?”
Seventeen minutes he’s buying another, a crazy gleam in his eye as he tells her that was the best thing he’s ever tasted.
“Too much caffeine is bad for you, you know that right?”
“You’re the one that got me here…”
When he trails off she realises he’s asking a silent question.
“I rhyme with… hilly.”
“…Millie?”
“No, but close. Lily.”
She realises, thirty minutes later, that giving James Potter an iced mocha was both the best and worst thing she’s ever done.
The best thing because she’s now sitting next to him and they’re now friends and have each other’s numbers on their phones and he’s wonderful and also rather good looking.
And the worst thing because he’s had that much coffee that he’s yawning ever thirty seconds, giggling and also extremely hyper.
They both agree that the best thing is for her to walk him to his flat. She has to hold onto his waist (not that she’s complaining) because otherwise he’ll fall like jelly to the floor - something that happens once whilst they wait for the green man at a traffic light. She has to pull him up, both of them laughing and gasping for breath as cars whizz and whoosh past them.
He looks rough when he opens the door to the flat and tells her she can have a cup of tea for her troubles. He’s literally a walking zombie when they walk into the kitchen / living room area and he shuffles up to the kettle like he’s made out of iron.
“What the hell happened to you?” A dashing looking boy with sunglasses on (yes, sunglasses on inside) takes one look at James and laughs.
“You! Dammit Sirius, forcing me to go to the library after you trashed this place.” James groans and grabs three mugs from the cupboard. His hands are shaking and he stifles another yawn again.
“I found him in the library,” Lily grins. “The poor guy was really too tragic for me to leave alone.”
James fights a blush and thrusts a cup of tea into her and Sirius’ hands before he sits down on the sofa. He groans, rubs his eyes and mutters ‘I hate everything’.
“Don’t forget your tea, mate.”
“I won’t. Just… I need a…”
It takes him all of just sixty seconds before his head lolls to the side and he’s fast asleep. It takes another twenty seconds before he starts snoring.
“Thanks for looking after him,” Sirius gives Lily a high five. “You’re welcome to stay until the fool wakes up and then he can ask you out properly.”
When he wakes he does exactly that. And Lily, of course, says yes. As long as he never has coffee again.
#jily#jily fanfic#jily fanfiction#jily drabble#tHIS WAS SO BAD LOL IM SORRY#gxldentrio#ria is bae#replies#anonymous#jily:fic#my fic#my drabbles
467 notes
·
View notes
Note
If you are still doing prompts, could you please write something where it is Jily's first time (Lily virgin, James not)? Or an embarrassing morning after story where James snuck into Lily's house, and her parents/Petunia are like why do you have a naked boy in your bed Lily? Thanks
an unforgettable birthday (for the birthday girl, @bantasticbeasts ily bonnie)
it all starts with a bottle of cream soda (lily’s favourite drink, which she liked to bring up in almost every single conversation with anyone who was ever willing to listen) on lily’s birthday
the scene starts with james, who has been staring at his table for over two hours, tapping his quill in an obnoxious manner that eventually drives sirius crazy
“can you please stop that?” is the first thing sirius asks, glaring over at james who only sighs back in a dramatic response
after another fifty taps sirius throws a cushion, hitting james square in the face and making his glasses slide over his ears
a body wrestle later (which ends in sirius yelling mercy! as his face gets shoved into a frilly pillow) james is finally explaining his dilemma to sirius. the two hover over steaming mugs of tea, james swirling his spoon so dejectedly that sirius wants to immediately call jeremy kyle and book him onto the show
“let me get this straight… it’s lily birthday and you don’t know what to give her? That’s the reason why you’ve been so annoying?”
“What do girls even like?” James complains. “I mean, she likes cream soda. should i just buy her a bunch?”
“you are kidding right?”
“what did you get mary for her birthday?”
the question both amuses and surprises sirius. the boy shuffles a few of euphemia potter’s magazines in faux interest, his fingers dancing on the bright covers. it’s only when james gives him a nudge, followed by a ‘…well?’ that sirius finally relents
“well… i mean. i got her a watch. which she loved and a photo of us… but um the main present… wasn’t exactly a present you could um… yknow.”
james just stares at him, blank
“i err… i gave her the best gift anyone can have.” he tries again. james still just looks confused.
“i wrapped myself in wrapping paper and gave myself to her.”
“You did?”
“jeez james, i mean, god how are you even headboy?… i mean in a metaphorical way.”
that’s how james ends up putting on a muggle suit (it’s technically fleamont’s, but sirius manages to shrink it to fit james’ smaller frame), buying seven bottles of cream soda (to which the cashier gets extremely annoyed that james cannot differentiate a 50p from a 20p, he only ever uses muggle money whenever lily’s with him) and walking to lily’s house as soon as the sun sets.
he knows her house off by heart, which window is hers and which floorboard on the stairs creaks. he grabs a stone and throws it gently at her window, waiting to see if she’s there.
she opens her curtains with a look of confusion, but when she notices who it is she’s smiling, completely elated.
“you could use the front door, you know.”
“but…”
“my parents and tuney aren’t here.”
lily disappears back into her room and james has to breathe calmly in and out as he waits by the front door.
let’s just say: the cream soda remains in the bags, completely forgotten as dusk becomes night
its james who wakes up first and god, she’s such a sight to behold with her red hair flowing onto her bare shoulders and caressing his nose. he can’t help but smile and when she stirs up slowly he’s embracing her, kissing her all over and serenading her with birthday songs
that is, until there’s a knock at her door, followed by said door opening with a very loud bang!
“HAPPY BIRTHday…”
it’s like the entire neighbourhood has come over. there’s dorcas, mary and marlene, their faces going from YAY to oh in 0.5 seconds, there’s Mrs Murn (resident old, cat lady) who holds a birthday cake in her arms and luckily doesn’t drop it in surprise and Mr and Mrs Evans at the front, wearing ‘birthday girl’ pink sparkly party hats.
james falls off the bed in shock, showing the entire crowd his rather pleasant looking backside before lily throws her entire duvet over him. he’s swearing and apologising profusely as he struggles with the duvet, finally wrapping it over him fully so only his face is on show.
mary’s the only one who doesn’t seem entirely gobsmacked. she grins. “how about we, err, bring the party downstairs and have a nice cup of tea first before the birthday girl can blow out her candles and open her presents?”
james and lily are frozen as the people leave (james avoids mr evan’s eyes and lily in, horror and humiliation, notices how Mrs Murn’s gaze lingers on James for a few heavy seconds)
it’s only when mary gives them both a wink and says ‘i don’t think any present can top this’ and ‘be presentable and come down before mr evans has a heart attack!’ before shutting the door that it finally sinks in
they’re both laughing and crying at the same time, their faces completely heated and on fire that it takes them about fifteen minutes to actually get dressed
mr evans is surprisingly okay about the whole ordeal and gives james a rather big slice of birthday cake before patting his shoulder and giving him the ‘if-you-hurt-my-daughter-i-will-skin-you-alive’ glare, followed by the ‘im-glad-we-had-this-chat’ smile
after this james never takes sirius’ advice ever again
#jily#jily fic#jily drabble#jily fanfiction#jily fanfic#happy birthday to bonnie!!!#bantasticbeasts#gxldentrio#alrightevans#alrightpotter#hiddenpolkadots#replies#anonymous#jily:fic#my fic
228 notes
·
View notes
Note
I have another prompt if this isn't to much to ask 😬 but conceive this: an au where Lily and James run away to Vegas (or the England version of Vegas idk) and get married. They are dating a couple of months and it's a spur of a moment thing but at the same time it's so righhhhht
Dusty With Starlight | ao3
It’s a hot day in July when he takes her hand and asks her where she wants to go.
Anywhere, she says breathlessly.
She grips hold of his shirt, afraid he’s going to disappear right in front of her and pulls him close.
He’s always been her anchor, keeping her sane and giving her that stability and motivation. He’s the hope she has in the world. And, as she stares up at him with stars in her eyes, she could go anywhere as long as she’s with him. He’s dizzy just staring at her, she’s so enchanting and breathtaking that he still can’t quite understand why she’s even happy being with him.
He pales in comparison but it feels right with her hand in his, with her sweet lips and kisses that could melt ice caps and make mountains crumble.
He’s an avalanche and she’s the one lone cause.
The sun’s hot against their backs, but they entwine their fingers together like they never want to part. Sweet whispers and trickles of laughter, fluttering hands and that feeling of lightheadedness when it feels just so good.
He’s kissing her again, and he doesn’t care that it’s the fifteenth time already.
“Marry me,” He breathes against her lips.
It’s only a faint murmur, so quiet that for a moment he doesn’t even realise that the words dropped out at all.
It’s the adrenaline and the woozy-wobbly state of his mind when he’s with her, but he doesn’t regret saying it for a second.
And when she opens her eyes he has to hold his breath because it’s like the brightest, softest, emerald green and he’s still not used to it after all this time.
He shivers against her, unsteady even though they’re sat by the pavilion.
“Okay.”
There’s no mistaking her reply.
Even though the waves are crashing in front of them as they stare out to sea… even though seagulls are everywhere and holler at pedestrians for some of their fish and chips… even though his heart beats, thundering against his chest as she smiles up at him. Her voice is set, definitive and clear compared to the rest of his world which is driven by chaos and madness.
It feels right.
They feel right.
There’s no worries or ifs or buts or maybes.
Just them and the future that’s ahead.
“Let’s do it,” She says, putting one last chip in her mouth before standing.
She wipes the back of her dress, her feet itching to move.
He stares at her, a massive grin widening onto his face.
“Now?” He laughs, elated.
There’s no need for an answer.
She offers out a hand and he takes it without a second delay.
They’re already up, leaving their fish and chips abandoned by the pier and running as they chase the waves.
The seagulls can eat their leftovers.
They have a plane to catch.
“Are you sure about this?”
James Potter was always one for asking questions at the worst possible times.
The plane’s just set off, the heavy engine making his ears ring and pop like he’s in a bubble. The seat-belt sign flashes on.
He stares at her, wanting to make sure this is what she wants.
“We’ve got all the time in the world… if you want a dream wedding with your family and our friends…”
She silences him with a kiss; quick, snappy and determined.
“All I want is this. All I need is this. You. Just you.”
He knows she’s telling the truth. It’s not just that look of certainty in her eye (that gleam that shimmers like ice crystals and diamonds) but the way she holds his hand as if it’s their first time.
He can’t believe she still makes him feel like this.
They’ve only been dating for a number of months… but he already knows her by heart. There’s no need to memorise when it’s as easy and breathing.
They can’t stop laughing when the plane lands. Their hands burn as they pull their luggage and they spend ten minutes lost inside the massive airport.
It’s all so surreal, but neither stop smiling.
It’s right. How could it not be?
When they finally say yes, with contagious smiles and giddy trickles of laughter that leave them breathless, it’s like seeing dawn for the first time.
That moment where you hold your breath, in complete awe that there’s something so beautiful in the world that you know about but have never actually seen before. And you think to yourself, why did it take me this long?
She’s like the dawn; bright, fierce and mesmerising. And he’s completely enthralled.
He calls her Mrs Potter as they walk down the streets of Las Vegas, hand in hand. He calls her Mrs Lily Potter as they share an ice cream and take hundreds of selfies.
Anything and everywhere.
They take a picture of them outside a typical chapel with a thatched, grey roof. Their heads close together, tongues out and sunglasses on.
James sends it to their group chat with the caption ‘Lovely day to get married’.
Sirius messages first with two simple words: called it. Peter sends the crying emoji and Remus states he’s already planning a party for when the two of them come back.
They leave their hand-prints all over the city, they paint it in their colours and by the time they’re ready to leave it’s as if this is Their City.
“Are you ready to face the world again, Mrs Lily Potter?” He asks with a grin, squeezing her hand and kissing her palm.
“With you, always.”
#jily#jily fanfic#jily fic#jily drabble#hiddenpolkadots#padfootdidit#jiilys#alrightevans#gxldentrio#snapslikethis#cupcakeblake#anonymous#replies#jily:fic#my fic
161 notes
·
View notes
Text
This is not the end; part II
Lily meets the love of her life for a second time.
part I; read on ao3
dedicated to @gxldentrio; @padfootdidit; @hiddenpolkadots
The second time Lily meets him, she swears it’s like she’s fallen into a dream.
She’s been imagining what it would be like to see him again; daydreaming about what he would look like (windswept hair and bright eyes and that glorious, wide smile directed just at her).
So, when she sees him there and his eyes light up, it’s like she’s been swept away in a current of feelings. She says a little prayer, thanking God that she actually decided to come to the party after all, because otherwise she would have never have seen him.
Lily realises with a pang in her heart, quickly followed by giddy and abrupt butterflies in her stomach, that their story is finally going to continue.
This is not the end.
Sirius notices in an instance.
Their quick eye contact, like they’re both magnets who connect as soon as they see each other, and the dazzling smiles, like they can’t believe the other one is there.
“Do you two know each other?” He asks with a grin, nudging James with his elbow (who is quick to clear his throat and pretend that the intense redness on his cheeks is from the temperature of the room and nothing else).
“Um.” Lily watches as James bites his lips and brings a hand to his head, messing his already tousled hair.
“We’ve met.”
His voice isn’t like how she remembers it.
Sirius nods his head slowly. “Right… how?”
The question makes James breathe in deeply and oh God… is he embarrassed by her? Lily’s lungs tighten, she’s afraid to breathe in or out.
James’ eyes haven’t left hers at all and she needs to look away, but they're bright hazel and so breathtaking, they entrance her. He widens his eyes at her, like he’s trying to tell her something but she has no idea what.
Her heart hammers against her chest so brutally that she wants to gasp from the pain and hide away in a corner of the room. Her ears ping, a white static noise filling her mind and making the hairs on her neck tingle.
And then, before she even realises it, he’s grabbing hold of her hand. His fingers are hot and sweaty and he holds her hand limply, his palm shaking against hers.
“We’re dating!” James blurts out in a rush.
The ringing in her head, the gongs and bells and whistles and chimes that were all banging and clanging together so loudly making her mind spin, stops suddenly as James says those words.
Is she dreaming?
His voice is high pitched, like he’s been sucking on helium, and she tries to catch his gaze but The Handsome Boy is already explaining to Sirius (who somehow actually believes James is telling the truth?) how the two of them ended up ‘dating’.
His fingers are warm, so different from the last time when they felt like ice buckets as the rain danced around them. And yet… and yet, it’s like her hand is supposed to fit into his; soft and delicate, just like before. She remembers the touch. Remembers how her heart ached… and it’s just like before.
“We err,” James scratches his neck awkwardly with his other hand, he glances at her briefly before turning back to Sirius. “We met in the library.”
“But you never go to the library.”
No, this is definitely not a dream. If it was, James’ hand wouldn’t be clammy and sweaty in hers.
And yet... here they are, with James clasping onto her desperately, like he’s sinking and she’s his anchor.
James’ awkward laugh fills her entire senses. It’s a soft harmony, so pleasant to her ears.
“Y’see it’s a um, funny story. ‘Bout how we met and all. Really funny… but I haven’t seen Lily in a while so…” James trails off.
It takes Sirius a few seconds to understand, the two lads stare at each other and it’s only when James widens his eyes and cocks his head towards a blushing Lily that he lets out a knowing ‘ooooh’.
"Ah,” Sirius says, realisation hitting him like lightning. "I didn't realise I was cock-blocking." He grins again, giving Lily a friendly nod. James looks like he wants to strangle himself. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to... converse, then," he adds and finally, after giving James a knowing look, leaves.
Only one thing follows immediately after: silence.
Lily is flabbergasted. James looks horrified.
They’re both still holding hands, frozen amidst the party that’s going on around them.
The music is loud, people are laughing and dancing and Sirius makes a beeline to join a group of six (it’s only a few seconds later that the guy is already chatting with a pretty girl Lily vaguely recognises from one of her classes) who are giggling over a game of twister.
James clears his throat and looks sheepishly at her.
James, who she fell in love with at Tesco Extra, the same boy who spilled pasta over himself and on the floor, who forgot his umbrella when the forecast had clearly said it was going to rain… the same boy whom she had been thinking constantly about since the day she had met him.
He ends the silence by casually asking if she wants a drink.
Dizzy, she says yes.
This is when they drop hands, when he leads her away to the kitchen and she’s facing the back of his head again. His hair is even messier from this angle.
A sudden rush of cold sweeps upon her and she finds herself curling her fingers into her fist, relishing the feel of something against her palm.
It’s like they’re still holding hands this way.
“I’m really sorry about… about that.” James says finally after he’s offered her a can of coca-cola. She takes it with a small smile, sipping it quickly so she’s at least doing something.
She doesn’t say anything, she refuses to. She’s not even sure what she would say, if the words managed to get out and make sense at all.
She can feel his jittery gaze, it’s unnerving. He has these beautiful eyes that she could stare into forever, but when she’s trying to avoid his face altogether it’s something that she finds extremely distracting.
His irritating but divinely beautiful smirk is back. And it’s contagious.
“I am really sorry.” He says again. “I didn’t want Sirius to know about… well,” He trails off at this and she finally looks at him again. He scratches his nose and gives a little shrug. “He’d never let me live it down. That I dropped my pasta everywhere in front of a… ”
“In front of a what?”
James’ cheeks are red, a shade that she’d expect to see on Rudolph the Reindeer’s red nose.
“I mean you. In front of you.” He says quickly and before she can ask anything further he’s already speaking again. “Are you hungry? Do you want some…”
He semi-runs towards the fridge and opens it hastily. He all but throws himself into it, his fingers tapping nervously against the handle. Lily can’t help but smile at him; all she can see are his tall, lanky legs and a rather cute backside.
“Um, cheese?” He pops his head out of the fridge and waves the packet with a sheepish smile. At a shrug of her shoulders he’s already handing her some sliced red leicester on a plate which she silently accepts.
“We have some crackers too.”
James is off again and ten seconds later he’s back at her side, handing her some Jacob’s crackers. She can’t deny it, she is starving and cheese and crackers, although a little strange to eat at a party, does sound rather delicious right now.
“I thought you lived in E4.”
She freezes as soon as the words leave her mouth, but she tries to act as natural as possible. It’s not like she’s been stalking him… just that she remembered where he lived and had walked past it at every opportunity. And yet here he was, looking like he owned the place in another flat. She can’t help but be nosey.
James, luckily, doesn’t seem to notice and he’s far too interested in eating cheese to notice her cheeks tinge red.
“Oh,” He wipes his mouth with his sleeve and gulps down a bit of cola. “I do.” He’s speaking with his mouth full, but Lily doesn’t care at all. She could listen to him like that all day. “But well, Sirius is my best mate and I spend most of my free time here.”
That explains it, Lily thinks with a grumble. Now she knows… she’ll make sure she walks past this apartment now at every opportunity.
“Plus, Sirius’ flatmates are amazing. There’s Remus and Peter, they’re both by the TV,” James points and Lily follows his finger. Remus, the taller one she presumes, has his phone out and the two of them are in hysterics about something they’ve seen.
“Why?”
“Pardon?”
They both reach for the last cracker and their hands brush against each other. It’s like an electric shock and yet it doesn’t hurt in the slightest. It’s static and surreal and gives Lily a little giddy feeling in her gut all at the same time. They pull their hands back in an instant. Shy smiles and nervous glances fill the air.
“You can take it,” Their voices ring out at the same time. James sounds desperate, Lily sounds hysterical.
“You have it,” Lily says again, refusing to look at James because she can feel her cheeks burning already and can hear the smirk in James’ suave and cool tone.
“No, please.” James says with a laugh and nudges the plate gently in her direction. “You’re the guest… and Remus will no doubt berate me if he ever got wind of me eating the last cracker when a pretty guest wanted it as well.”
He’s grinning at her, clearly well aware that he’s causing her stomach to flop up and down like she’s on a roller-coaster and a carousel at the same time. Plus, he just called her pretty and right now she feels so flipping elevated and happy that she doesn’t care that this would be her fifth cracker. She takes it with a smile.
If she was in love with him before, it’s now a bone-crushing, soul-destroying love that is burning her heart and setting her whole body aflame.
She’s halfway through the final cracker when she finds the courage to speak again.
“You never answered my question earlier… about why you prefer here?” She feels rude asking such a personal question when this is only their second meeting… but she feels as if she’s known him forever. She feels so drawn to him; he’s like a comfort in the storm.
Safe, stable, pleasant… she could go on forever.
James just shakes his head and shrugs. No reason, he claims simply. But she’s not buying it at all and won’t take no for an answer.
“I just…” He relents finally. “It’s fun with all my mates here, that’s all.”
He’s clearly hiding something, that becomes far more apparent when he begins to walk aimlessly towards the fridge, pretending to look for something. He’s mumbling aloud to himself as he opens said device and stands in it for a good thirty seconds before he saunters back to her empty handed.
She can take a hint.
“Then, answer me this.” She knows it’s awful asking the poor boy so many questions, but she’s been daydreaming about meeting him again and can’t help but wonder if she’s in some sort of cliched fairy tale full of magic wells and fairy godmothers.
“Anything,” James says, automatically.
His voice is quiet and when she glances upwards to see him she’s met with… a vulnerability that she hasn’t noticed before. His eyes are open (ok, that’s a given… and it’s not like he’s been talking all this time with his eyes shut… but they’re open); they’re so wide and honest and hopeful and for a second it’s like she’s seeing herself in a mirror.
He bites his bottom lip in worry as he waits for her answer and she’s unsure as to why his reply affected her so much.
Lily takes in a deep breath. “Why say we were dating? Like, why not just say we’ve met and that’s that?”
He sends her a goofy smile, followed by a sheepish shrug of his wide, broad shoulders. He looks almost relieved.
“I panicked?” He offers, laughing a bit awkwardly. “I’m still being ridiculed for the last time I fell on my arse… and I know I could have said anything but…” His voice jitters, like he’s being questioned by a fearsome detective about a murder investigation. “But I, err… my mind just went blank.”
He’s not making much sense, but she understands him completely. Because that’s what had happened to her; seeing him there, like he was part of her dream had caused her mind to almost shut down completely.
“Like you had all these thoughts running across your mind, but you couldn’t say anything.” She offers.
“Exactly.” He smiles.
Only once during the night does Sirius and the other flatmates come over. James and Lily are playing a game of snap by the kettle, already on their second cup of tea, when the three saunter over and demand to know how they began dating.
The past few hours has allowed Lily to build her confidence and she really (like, really really) likes James. So she’s willing to tell a few white lies to help the poor guy out.
His cheeks are already red as soon as the three come over, and he whispers a quick ‘oh, balls, I’m so so sorry about this’ to her before he falls silent, fearing the worst.
“Was it when I asked you to join me at the gym that one time and you rang four hours later saying you had ‘lost track of time’?” Remus asks with a grin. James splutters into his mug.
“Yes.” Lily says quickly, grabbing hold of his hand and entwining her fingers in his. “James was showing me his action man collection.”
Sirius lets out a bark of laughter and Peter quips out with a snigger ‘is that a euphemism?’.
She blushes, but James strokes his thumb against her palm softly and her words jumble at the tip of her tongue.
He clears his throat, helping her out. “It’s true. I asked her if she really was okay flipping through comic books and she said she couldn’t think of a better way to spend her saturday morning.”
She suddenly recalls seeing James with the packet of superman tissues, Henry Cavill as the popular superhero doing the familiar and infamous superman flying stance amidst bright blues and reds. She sniggers, that is going to be a memory she will not forget in a hurry.
“I mean, I know we’re all a bit geeky but… action man? Seriously?” Peter seems to buy the lie and Remus and Sirius quickly follow.
“My collection isn’t all action man…” James mutters in defeat, his cheeks are so red that if she had a marker pen she could draw dots on him and he’d look like he had two ladybirds on his face.
“Batman?” Sirius asks, carelessly throwing a teabag into his ‘THE DARK KNIGHT’ monster-sized mug.
“Superman.” Lily answers smoothly before James can even open his mouth. “James is a really big fan,”
James looks mortified.
At one o’clock, when a few of the guests have already started to leave, Sirius decides to turn the party up a notch.
Lily and James had been competing in some mindless and addictive mobile games (temple run, candy crush and crossy roads are the main three the couple spend hours agonising over) when Sirius makes his loud and dramatic announcement.
The boy grins and holds up a sparkling DVD that twinkles and gleams under the bright lights of the room. The Sound of Music.
James groans beside her and she hears him mutter something along the lines of ‘not again’ before the two of them are ushered onto the sofa in front of the television. Sirius is grinning like a madman as he puts the disk into the blu-ray player and Lily finds herself squashed into James as seven other people fit on the sofa with them.
Peter sits on Remus’ lap, a steaming hot mug of tea in his hands, and the girl Sirius was flirting with before as they played twister sits on the lap of said gentleman as well (the two look very comfy, Lily notices a little enviously as she fidgets to find a comfy way of sitting with the hard end of the sofa on one side and James’ hard and bony shoulder on the other).
“Are you okay? Comfortable?”
Lily has to shuffle awkwardly just to lift her head up to meet his gaze. He bites his lip in an attempt to conceal the laughter that’s threatening to bubble up his throat.
“Peachy,” She manages.
At that moment Peter spills his tea on him and lets out a surprised yelp. Remus is instantly pushed into James, who in turns squashes Lily closer to the side of the sofa. Not that she minds… if there was anyone squashing her it would be James every single time.
“I’m so sorry!” He shuffles a little (or as much as he can) away from her and she’s so tempted to grab hold of his wrist and pull him closer to her again so that their thighs are touching and she can hear the sound of his heartbeat and his bony elbows pressing against her…
He blushes and sends her an apologetic smile, which Lily hastily returns as she curses student flats and their lack of good air conditioning. It feels like a sauna and sitting next to one of the most attractive guys she’s seen is not helping her at all.
The movie starts and all Lily is aware of is James’ heavy breathing and how his fingers dance anxiously against his legs.
Everyone else on the sofa is chatting along to themselves, the main culprit being Sirius who quotes aloud alongside the movie. Remus tells him to shut up every single time but eventually joins him in the quoting.
Sirius’ silence lasts all but two minutes and then the sofa gets into a discourse about ‘how do you solve a problem like Maria?’ or ‘what would it be like to sit on an acorn, we need to try this’.
Conversations dance around the room, but Lily and James are frozen.
They try desperately to look everywhere and anywhere but when James’ phone vibrates and she feels the buzz against her thigh, her cheeks are on fire again. More so when he murmurs out a ‘sorry’ (he’s said that word a lot to her in the past few hours) and has to awkwardly reach into his pocket and if they were close before they’re even closer now and she can almost feel his hair tickling her neck and she can almost count the freckles on his cheeks and nose.
After a few seconds of struggling he finally manages to get to his phone out and she watches as he stares intently at the device. His forehead crinkles in concentration, his nose twitches and he bites his lip.
She's entranced.
He breathes out a dramatic, heavy breath as his long fingers begin to tap against the screen in an almost unbearably slow pace. Lily’s eyes are glued to his hands; how he takes such a long time to tap out the words, like he should really be a grandma who's gotten a mobile for the first time and has to take ten minutes to type something out as the grandchild watches in agony.
Then she remembers how much she’d like to kiss him, and all grandmother/grandchild analogies fly out the window.
“Everything okay?” She finds herself asking. She doesn’t usually like to talk during movies but since the whole sofa is already talking over the film, she feels less guilty about it.
James seems concerned as he stares at his phone and his problems are suddenly important to her.
“Yeah…” he scratches his chin and sighs. “It was just domino's sending me a text about half price pizza. I texted ‘STOP’ to stop them from spamming me.”
She's not able to say anything in response (although what she would have said, she has no idea) as the song ‘Sixteen going on seventeen’ graces the screen.
Sirius instantly stands up to dance and serenades the broom which is standing next to the bin. As Sirius and the brush dance around the kitchen lovingly together, Peter and Remus secretly film the whole ordeal on their phones and a tall, lanky guy (whom Lily has heard Sirius call ‘Franky-dank’ throughout the night) decides this is a good a time as any to make the party a nice cup of tea.
James’ eyes are glued to the tv screen when she next glances towards him. There's so much more room on the sofa now and yet they're still pressed up against each other and she wouldn't change it at all.
Yes it's uncomfortable and his elbows are sharp and his shoulders are bony… but he's amazing and she's in so deep now she might as well continue on sinking.
She can see his lips moving and she realises he's singing along with the song quietly underneath his breath. She can't help but smile at the image, what with Sirius singing aloud (and in the totally wrong key) in the background and with James pretending like he doesn't know every single word to the song.
She could watch him forever.
And as her eyelids start to feel heavier and heavier she continues staring with a soft and enthralled smile etched upon her face.
She’s as close as can be to being in his arms and she falls asleep to the sound of his breathing and with the sight of his picking his nose. Delightful, she wouldn't change a thing about him.
The next thing she knows tiredness has taken over and her head drops and she hears a soft bespoken ‘oh!’ in the endless void.
When she wakes up the world is a blur.
Lily opens her eyes slowly, and for a second she can't remember where she is or what she was doing because this room doesn't look familiar in the slightest. It's then that she starts to panic and lifts her head.
James is leaning against the sofa, his head resting against the wall in what looks like the most discomforting angle imaginable. It’s when her eyes drop down to follow his fingers, which are tapping slowly on his phone, that she she notices her own position.
Her face is resting against the nook of his shoulder and there's a wet patch right where her mouth is.
If she's been drooling then there is every possibility that she's been snoring too and she can just imagine how horrified James must have been and what a gentleman he is to have not thought enough is enough and abandoned her alone on the sofa.
He must have sensed her small movements because he finishes typing something quickly before he looks down at her. One arm is bent awkwardly at her side… but the other, oh the other is delicately wrapped across his chest.
She can feel his heart beating gently against her hand and it's like the flipping elephant in the room because they both know it's there, that her fingers are against his chest and that he feels warm and safe and so familiar. She's afraid to move but when he looks down and smiles at her it's like watching a breathtaking sunrise; her heart leaps in her throat and butterflies erupt everywhere.
“Hey,” He murmurs softly and swings an arm around her shoulder.
His fingers are warm and they curl against her in such an intimate way for a few seconds before his hand freezes and goes limp, dropping back to his side as if he had never made the move in the first place. He shows no signs of embarrassment, just gives her another smile to which she gladly returns it.
“Sorry,” Her body is aching from sleeping in such a weird way and yet she doesn’t want to move away from him in the slightest.
“What for?” His voice is so deep and when she's right by his chest like this she can hear every intake of breath. The hairs on the back of her neck tingle and she lets her fingers grip onto him just that little bit more.
She gulps and all she wants to do is snuggle deeper and kiss every inch of him and trace the lines on his face and pull her fingers through his hair.
They both stay still, no intention of moving at all.
The sofa isn't full anymore, so there's much more room now.
And yet they're pressed against each other at the far right as if there's still ten people squashing them into their close proximity.
“You don't look very comfortable,” is what she says eventually, blinking her eyes and stifling down a yawn.
The sun is only just starting to rise through the cheap and broken curtains, it gives the kitchen a hazy, orange glow and James looks almost ethereal with the light shining against him.
His laugh is soft, just as always, addictive, delectable and as sweet as honeycomb and caramel.
“I chose to stay.” It's a different answer from the one she was expecting, but she can see the truth in his eyes and it's all she needs.
“Plus,” His voice rings out and she realises she's been staring mesmerised at his lips for goodness knows how long. “You have a tight-death grip and I don't think I would have been able to move even if I wanted to.”
All she gets from that is he didn't want to move (or that's how she's going to interpret it anyhow) and she's going to continue sinking and drowning because that's all she knows.
They say it takes two to tango, and it also takes two to almost cuddle on a sofa after knowing the person for only a total of twenty four hours ish.
There's a part of her completely terrified that she's in way over her head, that there's a possibility that she's making up all these feelings. That he has no interest in her whatsoever… that their meeting at Tesco that one day was a complete coincidence… that it wasn’t fate, that it was just her helping him pick up pasta from the shop tile floor and not her falling helplessly in love after just thirty seconds of seeing him.
They chatter for a few minutes.
James recounts last night; how insulted Sirius was that Lily had dozed off during the best song of the movie but had forgiven her when he was offered a nice sugary tea off Franky-dank. How the movie had slowly just become background noise as Peter and Remus went through the various filters on snapchat and took a few rather amusing videos that Lily would have to see later.
It’s when Lily covers her mouth to yawn that James reaches down to hold her hands. She stares at him, surprised by how forward he’s suddenly become (but secretly loving it at the same time).
His hands envelope hers, warm and soft and rough at the same time and she’s just about to fold her fingers through his when he gently drops them and gets up off the sofa.
His knees click, just like last time, and he lifts his arms, stretching as if he hasn’t moved in a million years. His shirt rises just a little, but it’s enough for Lily to see a slither of skin and the top of his jeans.
Then she’s blushing and cursing herself because she doesn’t know if it’s from seeing James like this or from her thinking that he was about to hold her hand like they were a couple.
When he’s done stretching he plods over to the kettle and gets out the mugs they used last night. As she watches him make their teas, and notices how he listened and remembered the way she liked the perfect brew (weak and milky with no sugar), she realises that the reason why she blushed was both the aforementioned reasons and more.
It’s that he’s here.
And she’s here.
Together.
Even though they were together most of, or rather all of, the night, she still wants more. She doesn’t care if it’s a selfish thing to think. She doesn’t want to be so shy and embarrassed by a slither of skin.
A hot cup is placed into her hands and she thanks him instantly (tea etiquette is always thanking the tea maker no matter if it’s the right colour or not).
“Is the colour okay?”
She swirls the teaspoon around aimlessly and takes a hesitant sip after blowing on it a few times. He watches like a hawk and doesn’t stop until she gives him a nod and smiles, “perfect,”.
He makes the best brew, despite his own being the complete opposite to hers (so dark with only a dash of milk and one heaped teaspoon of sugar which almost definitely counts as two).
The clock reads four a.m. when they’ve finally finished their teas. Tangled feet and heads resting against each other, their voices dancing back and forth.
She never wants to leave. But when he fidgets and checks his phone she knows all good things must come to an end at some point.
She places her mug down on the small coffee table, twiddles her thumbs and stands.
“I suppose I best be off,” At the sound of her voice he’s staring at her again. Eyes so open and yet hiding all emotion. He nods stiffly. “I have an essay due Thursday.”
“Started it yet?” He asks as he places the mugs in the sink.
“I’ve not even looked at the questions yet,” She laughs a little and watches as he reaches over to grab his brand new, sparkling clean and expensive looking trainers.
“Peter once wrote an essay one hour before the deadline. He got a first and the teacher said it was the best damn essay she had ever read. You’ll do great, I’m sure.”
There’s a couple of seconds of awkward silence. James stands there in his shoes with a light jacket clad over his shoulders whilst Lily stands in just her mismatched christmas socks. She spots her scruffy shoes by the hallway and drags her feet over to them, highly aware of James’ heavy gaze on her back.
Once the shoes are finally on and her bag is swung over her arm James smiles and says he’ll walk with her to her flat. That much had been obvious as soon as he had put on his shoes, but she thanks him nevertheless and smiles giddily when he opens the door for her, the two of them walking out of the flat together like they’ve known each other for years.
She doesn’t want to leave.
Last time ten minutes had not been enough.
This time it seems like twenty four hours aren’t enough either. She needs weeks and months with him. Years. Endless encounters, conversations that last days and smiles that last ages and over lifetimes.
They walk down the steps in a comfortable silence, listening to the birds sing and twitter in the light glow of the rising sun. Their feet step in unison, gravel crunching under their shoes and the wind twirling around them in a soft, delicate breeze.
It’s not enough.
He asks her which building she’s in and smiles for some reason when she replies with ‘P’. She doesn’t ask, nor does she want to because she’s afraid that speech will fail her and that she’ll end up croaking and making a fool out of herself.
“Listen,” He says once they’re walking from Sirius’ B flat. “I err, wanted to thank you. About last night.” When she doesn’t say anything he continues on, his voice mumbling. “It wasn’t fair of me to put you into that kind of situation before asking if it was okay. And Sirius and the others believed it and so you really helped me out there.”
He chuckles and this time when he looks at her she swears she can’t breathe. He smiles and his eyes are alight, shining and she’s so drawn to him like a captivated moth to a flame. “I wonder if we’ll make a habit out of this.”
They stop when they reach P, a shabby looking building with moss growing out of the bricks. She fidgets and puts her hands in her pockets, watching James as he kicks a small stone onto the grass.
“Well,” She says at last. “This was uh, fun.” She means it, and more. But words fail her, not for the first time.
Once again James smiles and with the sun behind him, the light gleaming through his glasses and brightening his dark hair, he’s like the perfect happy ever after ending to any story.
When he doesn’t say anything and only stares at her she feels like she’s now overstayed her welcome. She grips onto her bag tight, needing some kind of support, before she gives him a nod and a quick smile and turns away.
She hates how it’s like déjà vu, turning and walking away. The realisation that it’s over hits her hard like she’s just slammed into a brick wall and broken every bone. But there’s no reason for her turn back. He’s not calling out her name or tugging at her hand. It’s just like before and yet it’s not. Instead of being filled with giddy daydreams it’s the hard, nitty-gritty realism that fairytales and wishes do not come true.
Lily bites back the tears and glares at the door. It’s the end, if you want it. She thinks bitterly and grips onto her keys tight, full of anger.
It’s the end.
It’s the end.
And he wants it.
Her keys fumble into the lock and then she hears movement and a flurry of angry and foul swear words before James is suddenly by her side, breathing as if he’s just ran a marathon.
His eyes are dancing with fear and hope and expectation, just like hers. She’s too scared to say anything, but her hands pause. The key stays in the lock.
“I was thinking,” He breathes out, his eyes refusing to leave hers in a trance-like state. “If you wanted to, that is, if we could… we could meet. Again? Sometime.”
She should be angry, but as soon as she sees how sincere and desperate he looks it melts away and an unbearable wave of emotions swallow her whole.
“I would love to.” It’s amazing, saying those words. They’re true, they scream out into the void and ring for all to hear it.
He smiles and damn, she loves his smile. He looks exhilarated and ecstatic and she would bet on anything that she looks exactly the same.
Like two fools hopelessly in love. But they don’t care, they’re sinking together and it’s the best thing in whole world.
“You should go and work on your essay first though. I don’t want to be the reason you don’t get the mark you deserve,” In a single movement he’s taken out his phone and after a few seconds later passes it to her.
He’s created a new contact and after her name is the sun emoji, smiling up at her in such a cliche way that she hates and loves it at the same time. Once she’s done she creates a new one for him, James, followed by the sun emoji because she’s trash okay.
“I guess I should go in then,”
They stare at each other and God, they can’t stop smiling. Shy smiles, smirks, wide grins and soft chuckles. It seems like hours go by before her phone makes a sound and she finally pulls her eyes away.
Her flatmate asks if she’s okay since she never returned back. She types back that she’s never felt better.
“I’ll see you then. Soon.” He says and it’s a promise, as he watches her turn the keys in the lock. She gives him a wave and then another and then one more before she turns to climb up the stairs, just for good luck.
He stands there until the sun is risen, smiling at the door with the goofiest, most elated smile he can muster.
The third time she meets him he greets her with a bouquet of white daisies and soft yellow roses.
This time, they both know they’ll meet again. That they have their whole lives ahead of them.
That this... well, that this is not the end.
#jily#jily fic#jily fiction#jily fanfic#hiddenpolkadots#gxldentrio#padfootdidit#alrightevans#scourgify#jiilys#prongsmydeer#jily:fic#my fic
249 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
flushed-feels
whimsical angst
krerue
Krerue
axelssecretside
u kno what it is
cespool
i talk about anything here
shoejin
(๑꧆◡꧆๑)