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“-I’ll take the East Wing and you the West? And we’ll meet at the staircase?”
“-Sounds good to me. See ya later.”
How could such an innocent exchange lead to this tremendously horrible situation, James still didn’t know. How he came to hide in a tight broom closet with Lily Evans warm body pressed against all of his in a position that left very little room for him to hide his boner was beyond him. Truly, he could not think of one time he had been more uncomfortable than right now. And that was counting that time Sirius enchanted all his socks to scream in pain every time he took a step.
No this was far, far worse.
Not only was he trying really hard to -well, not be hard anymore, not only was Lily uncommonly silent, undoubtedly concocting new plans to kill him in her head, but he had to endure all of this while witnessing the most awkward and quite honestly repulsing exchange he ever saw.
“-James.” Lily’s lips moved quietly in the dark. “We need to get out of here.”
If James had to pinpoint the moment it all went wrong he would start by recounting the events of last wednesday.
The Head Boy was working on scheduling the weekend’s patrols for Lily and him when Melinda Hawke approached him. James knew her as well as he knew everyone else in this school. The marauders made it a habit of theirs to keep tabs on the students of Hogwarts, it came in handy sometimes, for pranks or favours and though they laid off most of their shenanigans this last year James still had most of that useless knowledge stored safely in his head.
Melinda was a fifth year Slytherin student from York. She was popular with Slughorn and McGonagall and as far as James was concerned she had not been vocal about any blood purity nonsense.
So James was neither delighted or irritated when said Melinda Hawke approached him that fateful Wednesday afternoon in a remote yet well lit corner of the library. He would soon come to be the later, however.
“-Whatcha’ doing?” She chirped, perching herself on the corner of his desk her uniform skirt hiking up her thigh.
James kept his eyes to hers.
“- Hum, Head Boy duties.”
“-Hmm, hey listen,” She flicked her long dark red hair behind her shoulders, resting her palm flat on the wood of James’s desk, or more accurately, flat on one of his parchment laying around, more particularly a Charms essay due tomorrow written in fresh ink. James winced, but then the Slytherin deliberately bended over to him and his attention snapped back to her.
She was cute, James thought. Definitely his type.
He sighed internally.
He knew very well he wouldn’t give her the chance she probably deserved.
Her hair just wasn’t the right shade.
It was more crimson red than auburn and yes James could tell the difference thank you very much.
And her smile, though it nicely suited her heart shaped face, didn’t reach her eyes. Didn’t lit up an air of mischief and pride across her features.
James hated himself for thinking those things and yet- no matter how hard he tried to banish these thoughts they always rushed back to him, haunting and taunting him with the prospect of something he could never have. Someone who would never have him. Not like that. Not the way he so desperately craved. A pair of emerald green eyes flashed in his mind, the outer corners creased in laughter.
“- Sooo what do you say?”
Melinda’s voice snapped him back to reality.
“-Oh hum,” James massaged his neck sheepishly. “I’m sorry what were you saying?”
The girl’s face fell to a disapproving pout.
“-I asked you if you’d like to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend? I hear you and your boys like going to the Shrieking Shack on Halloween night, I’m sure I could keep up.” She tried to smile as she reached the end of her sentence but the look of James’s face made it hard to follow through.
“-Ah, well you see,” He started, his fingers playing with his quill. “I kinda already have plans to spend the day with someone, on- on that date so…”
Lies.
He had plans to scare Peter with floating skeletons as many times as he could in one day. Sirius and him kept count and Remus had been appointed judge. Fifty galleons were at stake. Not that James cared much about the money. Neither did Sirius. Peter’s face was payment enough.
Melinda’s face fell even more so, to James’s dismay. Her mouth forming a thin line and her stretched hand gripped the parchment beneath it, crumpling it in her fist and throwing it at his face.
James said nothing as she picked his quill up and broke it in half as well. Nor did he utter a word when she picked up her bag, whirled around to leave and -by the same occasion- knocked half of his things on the ground, awarding him a vicious “SHHHHH” from Mrs Pince.
He watched her go silently, dumbfounded and glad he was no longer fifteen.
So you can imagine, the Head Boy was in no hurry to see said Melinda Hawke again. Especially not while on patrol duties, on a day he specifically told her he was not available. Therefore, when James Potter saw her dot on the enchanted marauders’s map, marching towards his corridor with haste, he hid.
Yes, James Potter hid from a fifteen year old girl. He wasn’t proud of it.
He opened the nearest door, an unused old and dusty Charms classroom and -as a measure of precaution- entered the broom closet in the far left corner. He intended to simply stay put here until she was at least one floor away from him. He might even call Sirius on the mirror if he had to. He didn’t care much that she was out after curfew, not when he could avoid an awkward encounter that would probably cost him more than parchment this time.
As James stood there checking the map, his eyes skimming over Melinda’s footsteps walking right past the door he went through just minutes prior, he noticed something that somehow , made all of this even worse.
Lily’s dot. Walking towards the abandoned classroom -a few paces behind Melinda, enough so she didn’t notice her- and towards the stairs where they said they’d meet up. And there, walking closer and closer to the intersection Lily was approaching, Snape’s dot.
Before James could decide on which course of actions to take, the door to the classroom banged open.
Like many things in Lily Evans’s life, this was all Snape’s fault.
Bloody Snape with his bloody hair and bloody death eaters friends.
Alright for once the death eater friends weren’t involved, yet somehow Lily wished they were so she could at least get some frustration out by hexing a couple of them but no. Instead she had to put aside her pride and hide like a coward.
Lily was simply making her way to the fifth floor staircase on Saturday evening, happy to be done with Head duties and glad to be meeting up with James after only a few minutes apart. Her neck and cheeks burned at that thought. She’d been planning to ask him out to Hogsmeade this weekend but retracted last minute and now her short time with James was reaching its end.
Lily let her mind wander to her favourite daydream, an alternate universe where she wasn’t the same foolish, ridicule girl in love with a boy she rejected more times than necessary. A daydream in which her and James had gone to Hogsmeade together that day, he would have taken her to the Shriecking Shack just like she knew he liked to do with his friends. He'd try to scare her off but she'd only laugh him off. His eyes would linger on hers for some long seconds and she’d avert her gaze and blush just the right amount. He’d take her hand in his then and the warmth of it would wake butterflies in the pit of her stomach. She'd look into his wide hazel eyes and see her own mirrored expression there, lips parted and face tinted pink. Her gaze would soften and his would flicker to her mouth...
Lily sighed.
Instead of that lovely vision, she spent her day shut in the library, studying while Marlene and Mary enjoyed themselves on their very real dates with their very real boyfriends, probably presently being snogged senseless.
Lily wanted to be snogged senseless too.
She wanted hands in her hair and on her backside. She wanted lips on her neck. She wanted to grip familiar messy black hair between her fingers and pull. The Head Girl’s mind was still full of lopsided grins and hazel eyes behind square frame glasses when she heard someone at the end of the corridor.
She prepared her prefect voice to scold the miserable students who’d decided to take a stroll past curfew but before she could make herself known, the person’s voice became recognizable.
“-NO wait please I want to talk!” Severus’s whine echoed against the stone walls and Lily’s body made the decision before her brain could process the information.
She opened the first door on her left and rushed in to hide.
Lily kept her back to the door, her heart beating loudly as she put her ear to the oak door to make sure she was out of danger.
There was no way in hell she was going to let herself be trapped in an alone corridor with her former best friend at night. The possibilities for awkward-conversations-she-didn’t-want-to-have were endless and damning.
So when Snape’s voice rose from behind the door, accompanied by an unidentified one, Lily saw no other option but to run for the nearest hiding spot.
Namely, the broom closet in the far left corner.
She didn’t expect to find her fellow Head Prefect there and she certainly would’ve screeched in horror if his hand hadn’t come up against her mouth to swallow her scream, his eyes wide in panic and mouthing words incoherently.
And so here they were.
Surely by all accounts and definitions this was entirely Severus's fault.
Two Head Prefects hiding in this stupid broom closet while he tried to miserably flirt -or whatever it was he thought he was doing- with some fifth year redhead from Slytherin. All of that with James Potter’s entire body flushed against Lily Evans's back.
She liked to think he would hate to know the proximity he unconsciously caused.
Lily did not allow her mind to linger on the subject of James Potter’s body, especially not on how hard and warm and inviting his chest felt against her back. Nope. Not thinking about it. Not thinking about his minty breath currently fanning over her neck. And Lily was also, definitely , not thinking about the literal shivers that went down her spine at that particular feeling.
“-James.” She whispered in the dark, hiding her blush. “We need to get out of here.”
James only let out a squeaky noise in agreement. Lily took it upon herself to face him so they could come up with a plan.
This was proving to be a lot trickier than she anticipated what with the limited space she was working with and how bloody tall Potter was. Tall and strong. Tall and strong and so bloody handsome. Nope. Not thinking about any of that at all.
Lily started to shift and twist in an agonizingly slow fashion, so as to not make any noise and bring attention to their broom closet. The exchange outside still going, becoming increasingly more embarrassing by the minute. She was in the process of spinning on herself to face Potter when her skirt caught on the front of his pants, twisting higher on her waist, revealing cream white thighs. In an effort to not flash him her underwear Lily’s hand flew to pull her skirt down, her cheeks burning with all seven fires of hell.
She managed to do just that, looking anywhere but into Potter’s eyes she decided to lock eyes with a spot over his shoulder and was about to bring her hand back up when the commotion they were hiding from in the next room started getting louder. She froze.
“- Melinda wait!” Snape voice rose from behind them.
“-No Severus I’m tired!” The fifth year replied in annoyance. “It’s past curfew and I want to be up early tomorrow.”
“-So we’re not going to talk about it?” Snape’s voice came out weak and timid. Lily felt a pang of pity for her former friend. She did not want to know the cause of his misery at all. She was too empathetic and the last person she wanted to feel sympathy for was Severus Snape.
Melinda sighed. “Talk about what exactly?”
“-Us! Earlier this week? We-” Lily couldn’t see him but she knew he was gulping down his anxiety as he paused. “We had sex.”
Lily gasped.
James’s hand went to cover her mouth as quick as fire. His fingers were warm against her lips and Lily’s heart wouldn’t stop hammering in her chest, so strongly she feared someone outside of their broom closet would hear.
Luckily the pair outside didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary as Melinda laughed, covering the sound of Lily’s gasp.
“-There’s nothing to say, it was nothing.”
With James’s hand on her face Lily realized with burning cheeks her hand was still stuck in between them, resting against the front of his thigh, dangerously close to his crotch. Painfully aware of her every move she brought her hand to his chest in an effort to make things less awkward for both of them.
James looked down at her then, his heart beating frantically against the palm of her hand, his hand dropping from her mouth to her cheek, softly, temptive, and came to rest on her neck.
She looked at him through her eyelashes, her own heart treacherous against her ribs.
“-Stop.” She heard him murmur, so silently she almost thought she imagined it.
“-I’m not doing anything.” Lily whispered back at him.
“-No sorry hum I-,” James gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down his throat distracting Lily for a second. “I was talking to myself.”
The redhead frowned. “You’re not doing anything either.”
James smiled a humourless grin. “Part of me is.”
Lily’s eyes drifted down to their joint bodies, where she could definitely feel a certain pressure against her thigh.
Oh.
“-Oh Merlin hum,” Lily was sure her face was a deep crimson red by then. “I’ll- I’ll turn around sorry…” She mumbled and twisted around once again, James faintly apologizing over and over again from behind her while her skirt acted up with a mind of its own. Lily cursed silently. When she was finally fully turned around she lended an ear to the Charms classroom.
“-What do you mean TELL PEOPLE?! I don’t want people to know Severus!” Melinda’s voice rose, higher than before. Lily let out a shaky breath. At least whatever fight was going on was louder than their own little impromptu broom closet meeting.
“-Lily…” James murmured against her neck.
She was pretty sure he could feel the shivers running up and down her body.
Just like she could still feel him.
“-This is worse.” He admitted, still pressed against her.
She couldn’t help the chuckle escaping her mouth. It came out as a simple breathy laugh at first but the positively ridiculous situation they had both found themselves in seemed to ignite a hysterical reaction from Lily. Fat tears started rolling down her newly pinked cheeks as she tried to breath through her nose silently, her shoulders shaking with laughter and her lower belly cramped in an effort to keep herself still. Several minutes passed before the Head Girl's laughing fit subsided, the temperature in the closet seemed to have risen a couple of degrees and Lily felt James stifle a chuckle from behind her. His chest rubbing against her comfortably.
"-I'm so sorry." He murmured, his lips grazing her ear in the dark. Lily could feel the grin on his mouth and would have chastised him for his cockiness if it wasn't so attractive to her at that particular moment. His hands reached tentatively to her elbow, his knuckles running down her upper arm.
"-Ts'alright..." She mumbled back, all trace of laughter gone from her voice. "I-I don't mind."
Lily's face was burning with heat as she uttered the words, against her back James's heart beat loudly and she could swear she heard him curse under his breath. His hands were slightly shaking at his sides as he rocked back and forth on his heels. She would've laughed at him if she wasn't so exhilirated herself. She would have joked about his incapacity to resist her womanly charms and he'd answered with a clever quip about how she should have been sorted into Slytherin. There always seemed to be this unspoken agreement between them, that no matter what they could awlays share a certain degree of ease with each other. And while Lily rejected James all throughout fifth year she was grateful for his friendship the past year. Grateful for secret stares across the common room, for silent study sessions in the library, for his steady hand on hers when Petunia sent venomous letters. It had always been written in their gaze, a chemistry, a seed of love, an invitation to learn about the other. Always with a crowd, they stood apart, hearts beating all the faster when a chance to talk came.
She became aware of him in ways she never thought she could another human being.
She could feel him, all of him, stiff behind her. Even before he touched her she felt his hands and her lungs expanded with briny air. His voice had the lilt she knew so well - his words soft with the smile that she knew was already playing on his face.
Lily realized her body was poised, just the right blend of relaxation and tension. Then James brushed Lily's hair back from her shoulder and moved in so close she could feel his lean body pressed up against her. She felt his warmth and already her mind had placed their lips together. But instead he leaned in to caress her neck once more, slow and gentle and Lily hated how it caused warmth to spread all across her lower half, she almost didn't trust her legs to keep her up and didn't trust herself to outright moan any second from now.
Lily was just about to give in to the sound rising up her throat when James's hands came to rest on her hips, tugging at her gently to turn back around. She did so with a lot less troubles with James's hands on her. They both gazed in each others eyes for a long second; not a word spoken by either of them. She was lost within the breathless paradise of his eyes and no sooner without any authority he clutched his hands unto her hips, leaning her frame in against his muscular body. Lily's breathing hastened, the intense rhythm of her heartbeat underwent an irregular count, hammering quicker than a lightning bolt as his hand slithered across her lower back, drawing her in even closer to him. The bump in his jeans palpable through the fabric.
Not that Lily thought about James's crotch often but given the circumstances you can understand how she had a hard -no pun intended- time forgetting about it.
When James looked down at her, in the dim light of the closet, his hazel orbs were full of something. Their gaze lasted a full second, enough for each to take in the face of the other. Nothing needed to be said, millions of years of evolution had already taken care of the message.
Lily knew then, he was about to kiss her.
That's when the door opened.
James was going to die.
Of embarrassment or of a heart attack he wasn't sure but there was no bloody way in hell he was going to make it out of this closet alive.
First he had to stay still and squeezed in next to Lily Evans, with her silly short skirt which seemed to not want to stay put on her hips and kept rising up against his trousers. Something James found particularly offensive given the situation he was in. At least he owned up to it before she could hex him. James wasn't so sure she wouldn't once they were out, but still.
Actually James wasn't so sure about much.
He knew she didn’t love him back, but he couldn’t resist. He was an idiot. He leaned in a little closer, bumped his forehead against her. Dear Merlin, he couldn’t fight against the thoughts that were going through him. Her very smell was flooding his senses now...
He would've kissed her. He would've kissed her silly were it not for one painful detail.
"-Oi Prongs!"
Of all the sounds in the magical world, Sirius Black's voice at that particular moment was by far the worst.
James's best friend yanked the door open, flooding the closet with such bright light James saw stars for a minute. He felt Lily's hands push away from his chest and his arms, seconds ago hugging her tightly against him, went missing from him, taking away her warmth and scent.
"-Sirius hi!" Lily was quick to blurt out, stepping out into the classroom, her eyes wide and roaming over the room frantically.
"-Evans," Sirius frowned, not unkindly. Then with a smile he said, "Don't fret I took care of Snivellus and his little friend."
"-Oh hum wow how did you-"
"- Just frightened them out with the help of a little thing I call charisma, curious as to why you didn't hear all the commotion because I sure got yelled at by that fifth year" Sirius raised an eyebrow at them. "Of course had I known you two were having some private and alone time in my favourite shagging closet I wouldn't have bothered to show up but Prongs here was quite alarmed and adamnant when he called me, squeezed between Flich's cleaning products, talking about Melinda Hawke for some reason? I mean I always knew he had a thing for redheads but I was just confused by-"
Right.The long lonely minutes he spent in the broom closet before Lily walked in he had used the mirror to ask Sirius to create a diversion of some sort so he could eclipse himself and meet up with Lily as promised.
Oh how things had escalated.
"-Padfoot," James started loudly in order to stop his fellow marauder's rambling. "While your help is greatly appreciated you can go now." He said looking at Sirius intensely, his eyes shifting to Lily for emphasis.
"-Wow," Sirius exclaimed, a hand going to his chest in offense. "You help him avoid his mortal ennemy and that's how he repays you... If I didn't already live at your house I'd say you owe me one."
Lily opened her mouth to speak, "What do you mean frightened them into leavi-"
"-Sirius I promise I will find a way to pay you back," James interrupts with pleading eyes. "But Lily and I still have to erm- finish rounds."
Lily's face turned to him then, for the first time since their almost kiss and James noticed the remain of slight pink tint to her cheeks. "Oh," she cried. "Oh yes, we- we have to finish this floor or else McGonagall will be very disappointed." Her eyes skimmed over to James with the crinkle of laughter he loved so much.
She was so unbearably cute.
"-Alright alright, I'll make myself scarce," James's friend raised his hands up in surrender, making his way towards the door. "I can still see your boner though Prongs!" He howled before stepping out and closing the door behind me, his madman laughter echoing against the stone walls of the castle.
James might die of embarrassment tonight but he was taking Sirius with him for sure.
When he looked up at Lily, his hands messing up his hair sheepishly she was laughing though. He grinned at her.
"-Don't listen to him." James added quickly, taking one hesitant step towards her.
"-Oh I never do," She waved a dismissive hand. "He's never going to let you live that one down though." Her eyes trailed on him as he advanced her way. She didn't move.
"-Yeah well," James chuckled. "I have confidence to spare, huge ego and all that."
Lily smiled brightly at that, cocking her head to side gingerly. "At least you're aware of it." She adds lightly. "Real character development there, maybe you could share some of your wisdom with Sirius."
"-Oh no, he's Remus's problem not mine."
"-I'm not sure Remus would... agree." Lily's voice quivered as she reached the end of her sentence, James had made his way to her in a slow enough pace, giving her multiple chances to move or leave but she hadn't. Her bright green eyes roamed his face and chest and her lips were pinched into a thin line. James wasn't sure what it meant.
He was in front of her now.
He didn't know what to do now.
He hadn't planned to get this far.
Lily's hands were shaking slightly at her sides as she took a timid step toward him, bringing her body to his.
"-This is awkward." She mumbled, her lips quirking up.
"-Earlier was a lot more awkward."
"-For you maybe."
"-Um, I'm sorry did you enjoy hearing about Snape's sexcapade?"
"-That's a trick question, no one ever would."
"-So you agree?"
"-About what?"
"-This isn't as awkward."
"-Of course it's not! I can picture us having sex, not him, not ever, with anyo-"
"-You often picture us having sex then?"
"-No -I, erm, I mean-"
"-Lily?"
"-Yeah?"
"-Stop talking."
And then he kissed her.
It wasn’t like one of those close-mouthed kisses you do when you’re in third year and you’ve never held hands before with a girl. It was full on, open-mouthed, almost sexual kiss. And he loved it. He loved the way her body melted into his. The way their lips fit like two puzzle pieces. The way she relented as he played with her hair and held her tighter and tighter. James thought he knew almost everything there was to know about magic but he was wrong. This, the instant yearning and burning between them, this was far stronger than any spell or potion he could ever conjure. It felt like walking on air. When they broke away after what seemed like ages she looked at him...Her lips brushed against his. Not innocently, like a tease but hot, fiery, passionate and demanding. He smiled against her mouth, knocking their teeth together,his heart fluttering at her voice moaning his name as he clasped his hands on either side of her face. Never before had his name ever felt so wonderful, he thought, as he leaned in for another kiss. His hand rested below her ear, his thumb caressing her cheek as their breaths mingled. She ran her fingers down his spine, pulling him closer until there was no space left between them and she could feel the beating of his heart against her chest.
His hands wrapped around Lily's waist and hers locked around his neck pulling him down slightly. Her lips opened and a low groan escaped Lily when James's hand ventured even lower and came to rest on her bum. He hesitated for a second but Lily hooked a leg around his and that was all permission he needed to lift her up with both hands and prop her onto the nearest table. James’s hand slid smoothly up her thigh while the other buried its way in the hair at the nape of her neck as their kiss grew more greedy, her mouth opening and inviting him in. James almost whimpered against her. The heat flowing throughout her body began to grow as he felt her hand slide beneath his shirt, her palm burning him. He slowly moved his hand to her shirt, playing with the buttons in hesitation. Lily took the hand hovering over chest in hers and moved it to grip her breast. James heard himself moan, the sound resonating between their lustful bodies. When they broke apart for air, she rested her forehead against his and gathered some much needed oxygen. His smirk told her everything and she smiled back, sinking into his hold.
"-I don't think that helped your situation much..." Lily quirps, nudging his nose with hers, locking her fingers in the hoop of his belt.
He truly was about to die tonight, James thought.
Not of embarrassment or heart attack like he assumed earlier.
But of natural combustion.
Unlike many things in Lily's life, this was all thanks to Snape.
The thought crossed Lily's mind deep in the night, after she'd gone to bed feeling tingly and silly all over, her neck covered in love bites and her thighs rubbing with heat. She turned in her bed a smile playing on her lips.
Maybe she'll thank him tomorrow.