Outward Appearances

Chapter 17: Morning After

What had she gotten herself into?

"James - Mmn - Stop! James, I'm serious! James - Mmn - Knock it off!"

They were standing outside of the Great Hall, watching as people streamed in for breakfast. Well, Lily was watching them. James was trying to grope her.

A group of Hufflepuff girls turned the corner and giggled loudly at the sight of them. Lily noticed several pointed stares and felt her cheeks grow hot. Of course, James would insist on doing this in public. Bastard.

"James!" she said through gritted teeth. "Stop it, now!"

Lily couldn't deny that she liked - okay, loved - the things that he was doing with his tongue, but honestly, there was a time and place for everything. Right in front of the Great Hall, which every student in the school was currently heading towards, was not the place.

Giving a long-suffering sigh, James took his mouth off of her neck. "Why?"

"I'm not going in there looking like I just came from the Astronomy Tower," Lily said dully. She wiped her neck off and straightened her clothes indignantly.

"You don't like astronomy?" he teased.

"Shut up," she said affectionately. It was hard to stay annoyed when he looked so... Well, cute.

"If you say so," James said, with a grin.

She realized her mistake two seconds after he began to nibble on her lower lip. Lily growled against his mouth half-heartedly. Naturally, he would take her literally.

James responded with a deep-throated chuckle, obviously enjoying himself. Deciding to ignore his arrogance, Lily opened her mouth and enjoyed the familiar taste of mint.

"Rimswearious!" she mumbled around his tongue, simultaneously wrapping her arms around his neck.

To her annoyance, James pulled back. "What?"

"Ignore me," she mumbled, pulling his head back down aggressively. James' laugh was cut off by her mouth.

"What the hell?"

Lily stopped at the familiar voice, and then pushed a reluctant James away from her so that she could look behind him.

Arabella stared at them with her mouth agape. Greg was with her, looking upset.

Arabella shook her head. "I'll repeat myself for the sake of clarity," she said slowly. "What the hell?"

Lily gave her a weak grin. "Hi."

Considering the rant that Lily had gone off on the previous evening, Arabella was probably rather surprised to find her making out with James the next morning.

"Hi, yourself," Arabella responded with a smirk. "Well, I guess this would explain where you were last night."

"I came back last night," she said nervously.

"Not when I was awake."

Lily suddenly became very interested in an imaginary piece of lint on her shoulder. "Hmn. You must have retired early."

"Nope," Arabella said, looking far too amused for Lily's comfort.

"How odd that we missed each other then," she said, giving her friend a pointed look.

"Damn right it is. Now, Potter," she said, turning to him. "You are aware that you were just sucking on my friend's face?"

James' ears turned a little pink, but he grinned. "You don't say?"

"Did you mistake her for a lollipop?" Arabella asked innocently.

Lily glared at her.

James scratched his head with mock thoughtfulness. "Yes, I suppose I did. Thank you for correcting me, Figg."

"No problem, Potter."

"Are you two quite done?" Lily asked wearily.

"I think I can stand a few more rounds," Arabella quipped, now grinning from ear to ear. "How about you, Potter?"

"I can go as long as you can."

"Well, then maybe we should continue this over breakfast, seeing as how I'd like to eat sometime soon."

"Think a lot of yourself, don't you?" Lily said sarcastically.

Arabella smiled smugly. "Of course. Don't you?"

Lily was about to retort, when she noticed that Greg and James were eyeing each other uneasily. Lily bit her lip, realizing that the Ravenclaw seeker was probably not someone whom James wished to spend his morning with at the moment. She instinctively reached for his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. James looked down at her, obviously surprised.

Lily's cheeks heated up under his gaze. Why did she do that?

Embarrassed, Lily tried to remove her hand, but James quickly tightened his grip. He turned his head away, but she could tell that James was smiling.

Relieved and still blushing, Lily's mouth curved into a shy smile. This was new.

But her smile immediately faded when she realized that Arabella hadn't missed the short exchange.

"So, am I right in assuming that I was a little too hasty about canceling that T-shirt order?" she asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lily grumbled.

Arabella lifted an eyebrow at her. "Oh, no?"

"Greg," she said, deciding to ignore her best friend. "You know James, don't you?"

Greg shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "Yeah." He seemed reluctant to look James straight in the face.

James frowned for a moment, and then said, "We played each other yesterday."

"I'm glad you can remember that far back, Potter," Arabella said smartly.

James gave her a look. "I can also read and write all by myself, Figg," he said sarcastically.

"Good to know."

James turned back to Greg, a weird look on his face. "You're Gallaway's friend, aren't you?"

Lily froze. Uh-oh.

Greg finally lifted his face and stared James straight in the eye. "That's right."

There was silence as the two boys engaged in a silent battle.

Lily gave Arabella a nervous look. She knew that it would be awkward because of James' loss on the Quidditch field, but Lily had momentarily forgotten that Greg was also Xavier's best friend.

Crap.

Greg finally broke eye contact with James to stare at their clasped hands. He then gave Lily a shielded look.

She shifted uncomfortably, unable to help feeling slightly guilty under his gaze.

"Excuse me," Greg suddenly muttered, hurrying past them and into the Great Hall.

They stared after him. Arabella sighed and shook her head. "You really need to get around to breaking up with Xavier, Lily. To his face, I mean."

She avoided James' eyes, remembering her promise to him. "Yeah, I know." What had she gotten herself into?

Surprising her, James lightly kissed her ear and stroked her palm with his thumb.

Lily sighed. "Let's go in, already." She turned to move through the doors, but Arabella grabbed her arm.

"Um, Lily, you might want to do something about your neck first."

"What do you mean?" she asked, reaching up to touch her neck self- consciously. "What's wrong with my neck?"

"Absolutely nothing," James answered automatically, trying to drag her through the doors.

Lily ignored him and turned to Arabella. "What's wrong with my neck?" she demanded.

Arabella smirked broadly at her. "It's fine other than those love bites all over it."

"What?" she cried in alarm. Releasing James's hand, Lily reached into her bag and began riffling through it to find her mirror. She pulled it out and shoved her hair away from her neck so that she could see it clearly.

Oh, God. Love bites, indeed.

"Damn it, James!" she hissed.

He gave her a guilty grin. "Oops?"

"You ass," Lily yelled, smacking his arm with her bag and concurrently earning them several curious looks. "You were going to let me go in there looking like this?"

"Um..."

"Thought that you'd have me careening your brandings in front of everyone, did you?" she snapped, folding her arms.

"Now, that's just silly."

"Silly? You find the prospect of my humiliation entertaining?"

Arabella laughed loudly, earning her a glare from her friend. "Is this what I have to look forward to?"

"What, you think this is funny, too?" Lily asked, already knowing the answer.

"Of course," Arabella said simply. "Although, I didn't know that you had it in you, Potter."

"You'd be surprised," Lily muttered, giving James another glare.

He rolled his eyes. "What are you complaining about? I didn't give this to myself," he said, pulling down the part of his turtleneck that was concealing his throat. There was a slightly purple mark just above his collarbone.

"Well, I wouldn't have had to do that if you would have kept your hands out of my--"

"Okay, stop right there, if you please," Arabella said quickly. She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "I still have every intention of eating my breakfast, rather than throwing it up, thank you very much. Come here, Lily."

Arabella pulled out her wand and performed a quick concealment charm on her neck. Lily held up her mirror and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

"No prob. Now, the reason we're all here: food."

Putting an arm through one of Lily's and one of James', Arabella guided them into the Great Hall.

Most of the students were already seated and digging into their breakfasts. Lily's eyes immediately darted toward the Ravenclaw table. Greg and Xavier were both standing, obviously having a heated conversation. They didn't look over, but the third years sitting nearest to them, who were obviously within hearing range, did. A couple of them turned around in their seats to see whom the boys were talking about. Lily flinched and looked away.

Arabella noticed them too, and frowned. "Save me a seat," she muttered, releasing their arms. She rushed over toward the Ravenclaw table, probably with the intention of playing mediator.

Lily was considering running back out when James reclaimed her hand. Security flooded her, and she relaxed. This was nice. Even if it meant that she had to relinquish a little control to James. Not a lot of control, of course. Just a little. Maybe.

Lily looked up at him with the intention of smiling, but frowned when she realized that James' eyes were on the Ravenclaw table. There was a strange look on his face that almost resembled triumph as he stared at Xavier. Lily suddenly got a sick feeling in her stomach. He couldn't be that jealous of Xavier... Was James really that insecure?

The possessive way that he was gripping her hand seemed to indicate that he was.

Lily mentally shook her head. That couldn't be right. James wasn't the type who had any reason to be unsure of himself. He was probably the most self- assured person that she knew (not counting Arabella, of course). If the Gryffindor Seeker, who was top in his year and one of the most popular students in the school, was this insecure, then Lily didn't know what that said about the rest of them.

But then Lily remembered the way James had looked at her when he had asked if she had slept with Rosier; and the time that he had confronted her outside of Sieranda's dress shop; the way that he had made such a big deal about establishing a monogamous commitment; oh, and way that he had yelled at her in the classroom about using him.

Hmn.

Unnerved, she gave his hand a tug. James blinked and looked down at her. He immediately smiled and Lily forgot her unease. Why was she making such a big deal about this? James was only human, so it was natural for him to have the same human insecurities that everyone else did. Yes, that sounded about right. Returning the smile, Lily started to pull him toward the Gryffindor table.

They were halfway there, when James froze. She was about to ask, when she noticed James's friends. Peter and Remus were both staring resolutely at their eggs, but Sirius was looking expectantly at James, who automatically avoided his gaze.

Lily bit her lip. James and Sirius were obviously still unresolved. She felt some unexpected sympathy for James. It couldn't be easy to be at odds with your best friend. She and Arabella had certainly had their tiffs, but they'd never stayed on non-speaking terms for more than five minutes before one of them had cracked.

As if to remind her that Arabella wasn't her only friend in question, Marcella suddenly lifted her head and caught Lily's eye. Vivian turned around from her place across from Marcella to see what she was looking at. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of Lily and James holding hands, but Lily only noticed the hurt on Marcella's face before she looked away. Damn. Awkward silences weren't exactly in her agenda for breakfast this morning. Doing a quick survey of the table, Lily made a decision.

"Um, do you mind if we sit by ourselves?" she asked, hopefully sounding casual.

James gave her a look. "Don't patronize me, Lily," he said softly.

"Who's patronizing?" she grumbled, purposely steering him toward an empty section of the table.

James snorted, but he looked relieved nonetheless. They both settled down across from each other and began to fill their plates. Lily was suddenly starving.

"Hey, Potter!"

They both looked up as Kingsley, Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, plopped down next to James and clapped his shoulder.

"Kingsley," he greeted, simultaneously stuffing his mouth full of bacon.

"Look, I've been thinking about our loss against Ravenclaw. Oh, hey, Evans," he added as an afterthought.

"Hi, Kingsley," she said blandly.

"Anyway, I've been thinking about the brooms our team rides. Maybe we should look into upgrading your broom-"

Lily sighed as he launched into a lengthy, Quidditch diatribe. This wasn't how she had expected to spend her morning, either. She was just considering throwing a piece of bacon at Kingsley's nose, when Lily suddenly felt something touch her leg. It took her a moment to realize that it was James' foot. He had slipped off his shoe and was running it up her leg.

A large grin spread across her face. Very good, James.

She was returning the favor when Arabella plopped down next to her. "Okay, here's the deal," she said seriously. "I just stopped Xavier from marching over here, but on the condition that you go talk to him. As in, now."

"What?" Lily cried in alarm.

James had shut up when he'd heard Xavier's name and was now watching her closely. Arabella gave him a look before saying, "You heard me."

Lily cautiously glanced back over at the Ravenclaw table to see Xavier, who was obviously waiting for her, with his arms folded. Oh, shit.

"But..." Lily sputtered. "Now?"

Okay, what would get her out of this? Maybe if she pretended to faint... Wait, no. Xavier would probably rush over and end up in a fistfight with James. All right, then what if she cast fire to somebody's hair as a distraction? Yes, then maybe Snape could serve as a volunteer! Wait, no. The grease would probably cause a horrendous inferno that would result in damage that could get her expelled. Damn.

"Just go over there. You have to do this eventually, anyway," Arabella reasoned.

But I don't want to, Lily whined silently. Confrontations definitely weren't her thing.

But James was still watching her, possibly waiting for her to confirm his suspicions.

But she really didn't want to do this!

But it really wasn't fair to string Xavier along like she was.

But she wasn't stringing anybody!

But she did promise James.

Damn it.

Not being able to find a way around that one, Lily sighed and stood up. "Fine."

James immediately jumped up, obviously intending to accompany her. Alarm shot through her.

"No, James!" she said, probably a little too sharply.

He looked at her in surprise. "Why?"

"I think I should just do this by myself. I'll catch up with you, later."

James scowled and Lily almost laughed. He really was worried. Or he was extremely possessive. Whichever one it was, Lily really didn't care to know.

Taking a breath, she began to march over to the Ravenclaw table. Her eyes were only briefly on the Slytherin table, but it was long enough to know that Snape was watching her, too. Lifting her chin, she dutifully ignored him.

It was Greg's expression that unnerved her. He had always been so nice to her, and now Lily felt guilty for any misconceptions that were obviously her fault. She trained her gaze onto Xavier, instead.

"Well, I'm here," she muttered, trying to ignore all the stares from the Ravenclaws, who were now watching eagerly. Geez, what exactly had Gallaway been telling them?

Xavier looked her square in the eye. "Yes, you are."

Silence.

Lily withheld a sigh.

This was going to be fun.