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“Uh, Prongs?”
“Uh, What?”
James peers over his copy of Which Broomstick from the couch to where Sirius sits on the side of his bed, the bedside drawer wide open. Without saying a word, Sirius quirks an eyebrow and lifts a small handful of photographs, fanning them between his fingers.
“Care to explain?”
James’ eyes haven’t even focused on the photos before his stomach starts to sink, a sickeningly heavy embarrassment rushing over him. He doesn’t even need to get a better look, he knows exactly what they are. They’re Lily. Every single one of them. And not just Lily—Lily in every scandalous position his heart could desire, taken in a joint effort by him or sent by her on some agonizing holiday apart.
“Pads, please—”
“You absolute cad,” Sirius cuts in with an exasperated laugh. He begins flipping through the photos, whistling low. Every so often he stops and turns one to a different angle, brow furrowing then raising upwards in appreciation.
“I knew you two were freaks, but this …” He flips to another one and his eyes widen. “This is reaching astronomical levels. I didn't know Lily had it in her—proud of her, honestly…”
In an instant, James is on his feet, lunging towards Sirius. He dives for the photos but Sirius is quicker, flicking his wand with his free hand and sending him hurtling backwards. He looks up to find a shimmering haze of a shield charm enshrining James’ bed, leaving him out of it.
“Fuck off, Pads! Those aren’t for you,” James yells, standing up and searching for his wand. Sirius ignores him and begins rifling through the bedside table again, an absolute diabolical smile pulling at his face.
“Your fault, mate,” Sirius says teasingly. “You could have at least warned me—or y’know, not let me go looking through your drawer filled with filthy paraphernalia of your girlfriend—which, speaking of…”
Sirius pulls out a rather loved looking parchment and unfolds it, teeth gleaming. James pales.
“Sirius, really. C’mon mate, don’t—-”
“Dear James,” Sirius reads in a poor imitation of Lily’s voice. “I’m so bloody desperate for you, I think I might go mad before the hols are over. You were in my dream last night and when I woke up, I could barely open my eyes before shoving my hand between my legs and imagining that it was your… oh, for fuck’s sake!”
Sirius skims the rest of the letter, cheeks turning a fine shade of red while sniggering. Rounding back over to the couch, James finds his wand between the cushions and quickly vanishes the shielding charm.
“No wonder you were always locking yourself away in your bed so early, my god . The descriptive imagery that girl has—OI!”
James tackles his mate, grasping for the letter. They fall hard onto the ground and begin to wrestle with long limbs kicking and scratching while the muggle and wizarding photos of Lily litter the floor around them, all filled with rosy cheeks and swollen lips and little clothes—if at all.
“Sod. Off. Mate.” James gasps out, now reducing himself to pulling Sirius’ hair. Sirius just laughs and pulls James’ hair in turn, finding way more satisfaction out of their kerfuffle than he probably should.
“ Ooooh, why so upset, Prongsie ? According to Evans you’re the best shag in the world. You should be proud, mate! I’m proud of you! It’s not everyday a bird puts in writing that you’ve got the biggest, most glorious co—-”
“Uhm.”
Both of the boys freeze in place, their hands still filled with the other's hair. Quietly, James begs whatever god is out there that it’s not his girlfriend’s voice he just heard.
His prayers are not answered.
Lily stands in the doorway, her mouth agape; eyes shifting quickly from the boys to the letter to the pictures that litter the floor. Slowly, she walks a few steps and picks up a photo. A flushed, glassy eyed version of her stares back, kneeling on her bed in Cokeworth in only a scrap of lace barely standing in for knickers.
“Oh, hullo, Evans!” Sirius calls, untangling himself from James. Lily doesn’t look away from the picture, a flush running up her neck.
“Say, did you know that James keeps a shrine to you in his bedside?”
Lily looks up, her mouth still hanging open, and stares directly at James. Quickly, he scrambles off the ground towards her, hands up in surrender.
“Lils, I swear ,” he begins, trying and failing to find any words that could possibly save him from this. “I didn’t—I’d never— Sirius, he was just going through my things and—”
But Lily isn’t listening. She goes to each photo one by one, picking them up and regarding them closely like trying to translate something from a forgotten alphabet. James follows after her, wringing his hands and stuttering to speak, still unable to formulate what he should say. Finding the last one on the bed, she sinks down into a seat and looks at them as a unit, a collection .
“You…brought these?”
James blinks, completely taken aback.
“Er–”
Lily looks into his bedside drawer and pulls out a small torn piece of parchment, smoothing it between her fingers. It’s one that James knows by heart; every single slope and twist of the letters burned into his brain for safe keeping.
You’ve broken me, Potter. Seriously, all I can think about is you.
Please, can you nip by this afternoon? I need you so bad it hurts.
“I’m so sorry Lily,” James says quickly, not waiting for her to kick off. “I didn’t know—I just thought—”
“He wasn’t being a cad—promise, Evans,” Sirius adds. “I was looking into his drawer for the map and found them. He didn’t, y’know, give them to me or anything.”
Something begins to flicker in Lily’s gaze. Her lips tremble, eyes going round and glassy, her breath coming up short. Slowly, like an oncoming stampede, a noise bubbles out from her chest.
She begins to laugh.
“Uhm, I’m fucking confused,” Sirius says, watching as Lily collapses into gasps of laughter. She falls back onto the bed, the photos and the parchment becoming crushed by her body.
James pales. “Er, Lily? Love? So, just so I know I’m not going completely nutter. You aren’t angry at us…are you?”
Lily ignores him, giggles wracking her whole body.
“Are you—oh my —-fucking christ, you two,” she chokes, trying to speak through her laughter.
Sirius shakes his head. “See? I knew you two were freaks. Any sane bird would have kicked off at us by now—”
“At us?” James cuts in with a hiss. “I’m allowed to have those. They were for me. You on the other hand had no right.”
Lily’s laughter subsides and she sits up, collecting all the letters and photos and looking at them with a weird sense of fondness.
“I really did think you’d just throw these in the bin. God, what’d you even bring them for?”
James blinks. Sirius guffaws.
“Love. Please, don’t make me answer that question in front of my mate—”
“He uses them for wanking, Evans,” Sirius says, looking all too pleased to have the answer.
Lily's lips twitch, stifling a smile.
“I know that, you git.”
Suddenly, like sensing her prey, Lily turns on James. She tilts her head and her entire expression transforms from one of mild amusement to unfettered need. Her eyes darken and blaze back at him, raking up and down his body with no sense of shame. James swallows hard, the emotional whiplash doing something awful to his nervous system. As she licks her lips, realization floods into his every pore.
He knows this look. He knows it really well actually.
Lily isn’t angry. She’s not even remotely irritated. She’s turned on.
Sensing his understanding, she gives an infinitesimal quirk of an eyebrow.
“Sorry, maybe I wasn’t clear,” Lily says, her voice going low and deadly. She slides off the bed slowly and slinks towards him, each footfall a proposition.“My question is: why did you bring them if I’m right here, willing and available to give you the real thing?”