It Only Hurts When I Breathe

It was one month later and the final Gryffindor Quiddich game, against Ravenclaw, was about to commence. Ravenclaw was leading the other Houses with the most points for the Cup after a spectacular win over Slytherin in their last game. Gryffindor was in second with only one hundred sixty points between the two houses. Grace, Sirius and James were standing on the pitch surrounded by the deafening roars and cheers of their schoolmates. Grace was clenching and unclenching her hands, trying to relieve her nerves. James was scanning the faces in the Gryffindor section, looking for a particular redhead. There she was, between Remus and Morgana. The whistle blew, signaling the game was going to begin, and James turned his attention back to it. Sirius gave Grace a roguish wink and a pat on the back as Madam Hooch released the Snitch and the game began.

Lily sat in the center of the excited huddle of her housemates. Remus' face was painted half scarlet, half gold and was wearing a massive lion rug he had scrounged up from Merlin knew where. Peter, Morgana, and Antonia had painted stripes across their cheeks like Indian braves. Carrie's current boyfriend, Mick Davies, was Ravenclaw's keeper so she wore a stripe of scarlet and gold down one cheek and blue and bronze down the other. Lily had to threaten them with hexing if they attempted to paint her face, so she compromised and wore a sheet painted up with the house colors and a moving lion on it. She was not in the best of moods, nor had she been for the past month. She had tried to preoccupy herself with the mountains of homework professors were piling upon them and the prefect duties she and Remus had been performing, but no matter how hard she tried to push thoughts of it away, they always crept back into her mind. It frightened Lily to think that the impossible had finally happened: she might actually be in love with James bloody Potter.

Lily was startled out of her thoughts when the Gryffindor section of the crowd began leaping about and cheering. Grace had just gotten the house its first goal. Lily looked over to her left where Remus and Antonia were dancing around with the silly lion rug that Remus had charmed to roar. After a few minutes of chanting "Pre-witt" in honor of Grace's goal, Lily sat back down. What was it about James that she was so enamored with? His arrogance? His hair? Or the fact that deep, deep, deep, deep down he was actually a decent person? Maybe it was the way his smile made the outer edges of his eyes crinkle. Or the way he made people laugh even when the situation was hopeless. Maybe it was the way he had pursued only her for the last six years without even glancing at another girl. Whatever it was, there was something special about James Potter that got her pulse kicked up into high gear every time she thought about him. And then she just had to go and blow it. Great going, Evans, she thought to herself. Now you're never going to get him because you're such a great prodigious prat you make him think you would only date him if he'd do favors for your friends. What if he gives up and starts chasing some other girl? She shuddered involuntarily at the thought. That won't happen. I've told him off loads of times and he kept on coming back. Then a small, soft voice in the back of her mind interrupted. But what if this time he gives up? He's been after you for six years, and that's a very long time for a man to pursue a woman who denies his affections. He might just throw up his hands and surrender. Lily sat in silent horror as the crowd around her roared at the goal James had just scored. There are plenty of girls here that would be more than willing to prance about the school with the popular and witty James Potter on their arm. How in Merlin's beard are you going to get him back? She sat there, desperately trying to scheme a way to get James to realize that she, Perfect Prefect Lily Evans, was madly, hopelessly in love with him.

Lily paid no attention to the rest of the game, which Gryffindor won 220-50, meaning they had also won the House Cup. The cheering mob of Gryffindors danced and sang their way up to Gryffindor Tower, only gently reprimanded by a beaming Professor McGonagall, clad in scarlet and gold tartan robes, in one of the corridors. The Marauders had overconfidently, and rightly, predicted Gryffindor's victory over Ravenclaw, and had prepared for their impending triumph by raiding Honeydukes, Zonko's, and the Three Broomsticks in advance. Couches, chairs, and tables were laden with butterbeer, fire crackers, and all of the candies the Hogsmeade sweet shop sold. Large banners with the Gryffindor lion roaring and prancing had been strung up throughout the room. Sirius had borrowed Remus' lion rug and was wearing the head as a mask. The entire crowd roared as he attempted to put the mouth of his butterbeer bottle between the lion's teeth so he could take a drink. To the dismay of many of the students, someone had charmed a muggle stereo to play disco records. Grace ground her teeth, clapped her hands over her ears and shouted "Accio!" at the girl's dormitory stairs. Several of her own muggle records zoomed down, and she proceeded to remove the disco records (Who the hell would call themselves ABBA anyways?) and put her own records on. To the crowd's relief and applause, Road House Blues by the Doors began to filter throughout the room.

Sirius approached Grace from behind and began to bite at her neck, the lion rug still on his head. "How d'you feel about getting a little wild with me?" he growled through the lion's face into her collarbone.

She responded with an elbow hard in his ribs, making him grunt and fall back. "That has to be the absolute worst pickup line I've ever heard. Why on earth do all these girls throw themselves at you when you can't figure out how to properly chat them up?" She sighed heavily. "Anyways, are we even together this week?" Their on again, off again relationship even confused them sometimes.

Sirius removed the rug and tossed it at Peter, who was attempting to pick up a pretty blonde third year nearby. He scratched his head thoughtfully. "Actually, I'm not entirely sure." He wrapped his arms around her, wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and gave her an impish grin. Do you want to be together?"

She rolled her eyes. "With a face like that, how could I say no?" Her voice was completely monotone, adding to the sarcasm of the statement. "Besides, this is a party, and I don't like dancing alone."

Sirius laughed and gave her one of his famous grins that drove other girls to attempt to rip his clothes off, but not Grace. All she did was cock her head back and wink devilishly at him while leading him to the center of the room where other students were dancing.

******

On the other side of the room, James was standing on one of the squashy chairs, craning his neck as he peered through the crowd. Someone had thrown a homemade gold crown with painted rubies on it on his head as he was the highest scoring Chaser in the game.

"What're you doing?" Remus shouted up at him. He had traded his lion rug for a painted bedsheet draped over his shoulder like a toga and a scarlet paper hat. He turned to survey the crowd thoughtfully. "Ah, you're looking for her."

"Bugger off," James said, not looking down at his friend. "It's none of your bloody business."

Remus shrugged. "Suit yourself, mate. But while I'm buggering off, she's just come in the door." He picked up two bottles of butterbeer and left in search of some female company to share it with.

"Thanks mate," he called at Remus' back. This might be his only chance... James leapt down from the chair and wove his way through the crowd of dancing Gryffindors toward her. She had moved to one of the tables covered with butterbeer, chose one, and took a long drink.

******

"Oy, Lils!" A voice called from the throng of students. It was Grace. She and Sirius were dancing very close; McGonagall would have an aneurism if she could see the two of them. "What took you so long?"

From across the room, Lily shrugged. "I was talking to Hagrid." She felt horrible lying to her best friend, because she had actually been pacing around in front of the Fat Lady, desperately trying to find the courage to go into the Common Room. "Congratulations," she shouted back at Grace over the music.

Sirius, who had been jealous of the conversation because it was taking Grace's attention off of him, moved his hands down toward Grace's bottom. "All girls should have a body like this," he thought. "Not to thin, not to fat, curves in all the right places." He grinned involuntarily at the thought of Grace's small breasts. "Well, maybe a little more there...""Ow!" he shouted. Grace's eyes were narrowed, and her fingers were poised to pinch him again. "What the bloody hell was that for?" he griped angrily as he massaged the bruise on his left arm.

"You know my bum's off limits," she growled. Grace was definitely not the kind of girl who tolerated boys pawing all over her, especially the likes of Sirius.

Her now-boyfriend scowled at her devilishly. "That's not what you said last night. Hey, OW! Bloody Merlin stop pinching me!" He was now rubbing three bruises on his left arm.

"You deserved those, you know you did," Grace told him. Then she smiled softly and kissed the tip of his nose. He grinned back and pulled her closer, forgiving her of the heinous crimes she had just perpetrated: damaging the silky skin of the most dashing and debonair student Hogwarts, nay, wizarding Britain had ever seen: himself. They had been dancing for a few moments when Grace whispered in his collar, "Oh, and by the way, you should be satisfied with my breasts as the way they are. Bigger isn't always better. Think of poor Cecelia Armstrong."

"Damn," he hissed to himself. How could he forget that Grace's brothers had been teaching her Legilimency last summer? Ah well, she already knew what he was thinking about anyways: girls, Quiddich, girls, pranks, girls, and food. They danced slowly; kissing every so often, so passionately that her older and muggle romance novel obsessed sister Molly would have blush deeply and faint. Grace loved being this close to Sirius, smelling his cologne, feeling the wiry black hairs poking out from his collar brush her cheek when she moved. He held her tightly, possessively in his strong brown arms, and Grace, for all her independence and wild spirit, loved being held like that.

Sirius loved being this close to Grace. He could smell the faint scent of gardenia in her wavy brown hair; feel her soft lips brush his collarbone when she moved. She held him tightly, possessively in her small pale arms and Sirius, for all his independence and stubbornness, loved being held like that. He brushed his lips against her hair and inhaled deeply to catch her flowery perfume. She felt his lips on the top of her head and squeezed him tighter. At that moment, they were alone, no one else mattered. Both of them could feel that whatever happened, wherever they went, they had a connection that neither of them could break.

******

Suddenly they both realized that a commotion was going on around them. A group of students had lifted James, who had scored four of the seven goals against Ravenclaw. "Pot-ter! Pot-ter! Pot-ter!" They chanted in unison. They had also lifted Pramod Patil, a seventh year and Gryffindor's Seeker up next to James. They held the House Cup up between them and Grace, Gryffindor's resident photographer, snapped a picture. James was smiling in a pained way, trying to wriggle down and catch up with Lily, who had moved away from the butterbeer and was now consoling a forlorn Peter, who had been slapped after trying to kiss the girl he had been chatting up. After several minutes of parading around the common room on his fellow Gryffindor's shoulders and having his behind pinched by a guilty looking third year with large dark eyes and black hair, James was dropped down into a circle of well wishers and fans. He scanned above their heads, searching frantically for Lily. She had disappeared.

******

"Don't worry, Peter, it's all right," Lily said softly to a chubby, mousey haired boy with a vivid red handprint on his cheek. "Next time, don't try to kiss her so quickly. Girls don't like it when boys come on to them after fifteen minutes of conversation."

"Thanks, Lily," he mumbled morosely. She smiled and patted his knee.

"You're welcome, Pete. I think I'm going to find myself another drink. Just remember what I said, ok?" She stood up, smoothed her skirt, and slipped through the crowd towards the butterbeer table, only to find it littered with empty bottles. "Damn. I only got one."

"Well, well, that's going to be five points for swearing," a voice behind her teased. She turned to find a grinning Remus behind her.

Lily rolled her eyes. "And you haven't heard me swear before? We do prefect duties together all the time you fool."

Remus tilted his head back knowingly. "Too true, I've heard you swear like a sailor at Peeves. Taught me a few new ones, that did."

Lily blushed slightly. "I didn't mean like that." Then she remembered what she had been concentrating on before. "Anyways," she said professionally, "have you seen James?"

One of Remus' eyebrows quirked. "James? He was in the middle of his fan club over there." He gestured at the other side of the room near the portrait hole. "What d'you want with James?"

Lily thrust her chin out haughtily. "I wanted to congratulate him on winning the House Cup, if you must know."

Remus laughed. "You barely paid attention to the game, Lily, you can't fool me." He shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever. It's not my business. Go find him and 'congratulate' him."

Lily scowled at him and turned to find James. There he was on several fifth year boys' shoulders wearing a silly gold crown and Remus' lion rug draped over his shoulders like a cape. She grinned at the picture he made and forced her way through the crowd. She looked up at him for several seconds until he saw her, slid down to the floor, and stood in front of her.

"I need to talk to you," he shouted over the voices.

She shook her head. "I don't have anything to say to you, James Potter."

His face fell. "Then what do you want?" he asked sullenly.

She stepped closer to him. "This," she whispered, pulled his head down, and kissed him as hard as she could. She could feel his breath catch in his throat in surprise. He quickly relaxed and wound his arms around her waist. Her hands moved up through his hair, tousling it and making it stand on end. The passion between them was electric. Neither one knew how long the kiss lasted, but when they broke apart, the completely silent Gryffindor common room burst into applause and whistles. Both James and Lily blushed deeply.

"Knew you had it in you, mate," Sirius rushed up and shook James' hand, congratulating him on his victory.

"It's about bloody time," Remus said, punching James in the arm.

Grace hugged Lily fiercely. "I hope you're as happy as I am," she whispered to her beloved friend.

Lily smiled widely. "I've never been happier." The two friends beamed at each other as James took Lily by the hand.

"Want some privacy?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said softly, at a loss for words for the first time in front of her once arch-nemesis. They slipped out of the portrait hole and made their way out to the Great Lake, both knowing that discussion about their future would have to wait until tomorrow...