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“No!”
Lily was not quick enough to dodge Marlene’s pillow attack after her petulant reply. Her face and shoulders ached from the contact, but she refused to allow a childish act of warfare to make her lose her ground.
Marlene crossed her arms over her chest and puffed out a sigh.
“You can’t just say ‘no’ to me tonight,” the blonde complained, turning to her other roommates for help.
Alice merely shrugged her shoulders, and Mary continued readying herself.
Lily rolled her eyes at her friends. Marlene had gotten into her head that it was a good idea for the seventh-year girls to go out on a night of fun with the boys. It was Marly’s eighteenth birthday and Sirius had somehow convinced her it was of the utmost importance that she celebrate her muggle coming of age.
This made absolutely no sense to Lily; Marlene was a pureblood.
Earlier in the year, all her other roommates agreed to a night of Marauding before graduating from Hogwarts. Yet, Lily, ever the exemplary Head Girl, refused every invitation.
“I’m not going with you, Marlene,” Lily said, her tone loaded with exasperation. “Do you have any idea how much trouble I’ll be in if we’re caught?”
“The Head Boy is coming,” Mary offered. Mary’s eyes found hers in the mirror, a devilish smirk resting on her lips.
Lily rolled her eyes again. “Well then the Head Boy isn’t really qualified to be the Head Boy, now is he?”
Marleen groaned, letting herself fall with an exaggerated sigh over Lily’s bed. Her head landed on the redhead’s lap, prompting a reluctant smile from her uptight friend.
“You’ve been terribly boring ever since they gave you that badge, you know?” Marlene whined, “You never want to have any fun with us anymore. You’re a goody-two-shoes know-it-all to a fault, Lily Evans. And you need to learn how to say ‘yes’ to yourself.”
Lily tried to shove her friend away to no avail. “You want me to say ‘yes’ to you, not to myself.”
“Okay, how about this?” Marlene asked, bolting upright and capturing Lily’s hands in hers. Her eyes shone with excitement. “I promise to not let anything bad happen to you tonight and you promise to just say ‘yes’. Let loose and have some fun.” Lily opened her mouth to protest, but Marlene quickly added, “And I’ll never ask anything like this ever again. Witch’s honor.”
She knew Marlene was right. Ever since she became Head Girl, she focused so much on her responsibilities and her studies, that she had often neglected her friends. The tension in her shoulders seemed to be permanent, and she was sure it was partly because of never finding time to take care of herself or even have fun.
She looked around at her friends’ hopeful faces and she felt a small tug in her heart that told her she wanted to go out and have some fun with them.
She breathed out a heavy sigh, a reluctant smile escaping her lips, and slowly shook her head.
“Fine, I’ll do it.”
The dormitory erupted with excited squeals.
Lily didn’t ask how Marlene knew there was a secret passage that led straight into Honeyduke’s cellar. She didn’t ask how’d they convinced Madam Rosmerta to keep their secret escapade to themselves, or to supply them with a room at the back of the pub for them to host their gathering. She didn’t ask if Frank— who was already in the Auror Training Program— would get in trouble for being here. She decided somewhere along the walk from Gryffindor Tower that she would put in an earnest effort to have fun and unwind tonight. It wasn’t every day that your best friend turned eighteen, after all. And she had promised to say ‘yes’ tonight.
So, when Sirius Black and Remus Lupin walked up to her each with a butterbeer and shot of firewhiskey, she knocked back the shot and took a large gulp of her bottle with a resounding “Yes!”
“Take it easy there, little lioness, otherwise we’ll have to carry you back to Gryffindor Tower,” Marlene teased.
Lily stuck her tongue out at her friend.
“You were the one that told me to say ‘yes’ and unwind!” she exclaimed.
Marlene’s face broke out into a wide grin, and Lily couldn’t contain the bout of laughter that erupted deep from her chest. Marlene swiftly waved her wand and music started playing from a gramophone. She grabbed Lily by the hands and dragged her into a reluctant dance.
Lily was a bit stiff at first, but quickly Mary and Alice joined in. The four girls moved about in and out of rhythm, laughing with each other and singing loudly and mostly off key. Their empty butterbeer bottles were quickly switched out by new ones.
“You’re stiff as a board, Lils,” Mary said, grabbing Lily by the hips and shaking her. “You need to learn how to use that arse as a dance weapon.”
Lily swatted her friend’s hands away in mock indignation, only to have Marleen stand beside her.
“This is how you properly shake your arse!”
Marlene started bobbing her arse out left and right towards Lily. Unashamed, Mary and Alice quickly joined her. Lily stood simply staring at them before she burst out into a fit of laughter that had her doubling over, panting for breath at the ridiculousness of her friends.
“These birds need some blokes to dance with.” Sirius barked with laughter from behind them. He quickly swooped Marlene into his arms, pressing a kiss to her lips, and gesturing to the other boys. “Lads, get up here!”
Lily watched as Remus quickly stood and offered his hand to Mary, whose cheeks turned crimson. Frank followed his lead and quickly pulled Alice into a dance.
Lily reached for her seat, but Sirius' voice boomed over the music again.
“Prongs, come dance with your bird!”
Lily whipped around to stare at Potter’s face in panic, only to find the same panic reflected in his wide hazel eyes.
No, she would not be dancing with James Toe Rag Potter. This was where she put her foot down. He seemed to share the sentiment because his face quickly morphed into an uncomfortable grimace. He opened his mouth to say something but Sirius cut him off. .
“It’s either Prongs or Peter, Evans,” he smirked at her, as he twirled Marlene. “Pick your poison.”
She wanted to refuse, but Marlene stopped mid-twirl and pierced her with a threatening glare. Lilly's stomach lurched. She promised to not give ‘no’ for an answer. But it was Potter.
“Evans,” James said. His hand rubbed the back of his head. “Don’t listen to Sirius, he’s an arsehole. You don’t have to dance with me if you don’t want to.”
James’s hand fell, and his gaze flickered uncomfortably to the floor, his lips turned downward slightly. He looked dejected. His expression sent tendrils of guilt stretching over her gut that quickly took over her completely.
Lily had rejected him in the past. Surely, he expected nothing different from her this time. In truth, James wasn’t as immature as he used to be. His company as Head Boy had given the opportunity to get to know him, and Lily couldn’t deny that there was friendship growing between them. Just friendship, nothing more. Until...
She felt a not unfamiliar tug of her heartstrings.
A shove from behind her made her fall clumsily into his arms, and she found hazel eyes glinting with golden swirls. Lily’s heart hammered in her chest, the tugging at her heart ever present. She opened her mouth several times to regain her gracefulness, but she could not string words together. Her cheeks burned red when she noticed that she had spent one too many seconds in James Potter’s arms.
Before he had the chance to apologize, she mustered every ounce of Gryffindor courage she had and followed the tug of her heart. “I’ll dance with you, Potter.”
James quickly recovered from his shock and took advantage to dance with Lily as she was still in his arms.
Lily discovered that James Potter could not dance. Between the two to them, somehow, she had a better sense of rhythm! He got lost in his own ‘moves’ instead of following the beat of the music. Yet, ever the gentleman, he never failed to apologize for threading on her toes. Each time a light blush stained his cheeks and the tug at Lily’s heart grew.
“What’s all the Quidditch talent worth, if you can’t dance?” she playfully teased.
“You should teach me how to dance, Evans.”
he burst into surprised laughter in his arms. She never imagined it possible that James could bring forth such a genuine laugh from the depths of her belly. The ridiculousness of his statement, the pure reverence with which he spoke, had been enough. It warmed her heart.
She shook her head, smiling up at him.
“That’s not fair,” she pouted, actually pouted. “I’m not allowed to say ‘no’ tonight.”
Confusion riddled his features. Before he could think of the implications of her words, Lily placed both her hands-on James’ hips in a failed attempt to help him sway to the sound of the music. His mouth broke out into a grin, laughing at her futile efforts.
“This is hopeless,” he groaned, removing her hands from his hips.
Lily could only guess he was about to abandon their dance when the music changed. Once loud and upbeat, turned low and slow. She whipped around to find Marlene’s face twisted into a mischievous grin, wand pointed at the gramophone.
Lily glared at her friend and turned once more to find James’ gaze.
His eyes really were beautiful. She smiled up at him and before she could regret it; she wrapped her hands over his shoulders, linking her fingers behind his neck.
James stood, frozen for a moment, before his hands found their way to her waist, holding her at a questionable distance.
Lily didn’t want to admit that she’d enjoyed dancing the rest of the night with James, but there was a good deal of evidence to refute her. By the time they made their way back to the castle, the blush permanently colored her cheeks, her hair a testimony of her night of dancing, and her belly ached from laughing.
She and James had walked together in a comfortable silence up to the Tower, trailing just a few feet behind their friends. She didn’t mind his company. Nor did she miss the nervous glasses he kept shooting her way.
Her friends made their way inside the tower and she was about to enter through the portrait hole. A warm hand grabber hers, making her skin tingle and pulling her away from the Common Room.
James stood in front of her. She canted her head to the side as a hopeful gleam in his gaze met hers.
“Is there something you want to say?” she asked in a playful tone.
James lifted a hand to the nape of his neck, anxiously carding his fingers through his hair. The ghost of a sheepish grin rested on his lips and he spoke in the most bashful tone she’d ever heard from him.
“I know I’ve always asked this jokingly, Evans, or, er… maybe not so jokingly at times, but, um… I would really like it if you’d agreed to… fuck, to go out with me some time,” he said, letting his hand fall casually from his hair. “Please say yes,” he added in a haste.
Instantaneously, calls of “You have to say yes, Lils!” and “Just say yes, Evans!” came from her nosy friends, behind the Fat Lady.
She chuckled at them. Lily considered how much fun she had with him tonight and followed her heart.
She beamed at James and this time didn’t mind what she had to say: “Yes!”