Where Life Leads

Chapter 16

The following week passed by in a blur and with the end of term exams approaching, Lily found most of her time being taken up with studying. Since the seventh years would sit for their N.E.W.T.s at the end of the school year, next week's exams would be covering everything that they had learned since their first year.

McGonagall said this would give all of them a chance to "find out exactly what you don't know that you should". Or, as Sirius put it, "to see how many of us they can send to Madam Pomfrey with a panic attack".

And some were already panicking. Ellen Bethan had had to be escorted to the Hospital Wing yesterday after she broke down in Charms and Richard Tomkeil had nearly cursed Peter's hand off when Peter had tried to borrow his textbook to look up an answer.

There were several bright spots on the horizon, however. One of which was the trip to Hogsmeade tomorrow. Lily and her roommates had already made plans to spend the morning together and finish their Christmas shopping.

At the moment Lily was diligently studying with James. They had been in the Gryffindor common room with their friends, but after dinner the boisterous noise from the younger Gryffindors became too much. They had been comfortably sequestered in the Heads' Common Room ever since. Multiple candy wrappers, notes and textbooks were scattered over the floor, and their robes had been discarded long ago.

"Explain why it is necessary to maintain your focus when conjuring an item."

"Because if you don't, you're likely to wind up with a chair that falls apart when you sit in it. And all because you forgot it needed something to hold all the pieces together," James answered dully from where he lay on the floor, tossing a Quaffle into the air.

"Now, describe the wand movement necessary to--" Lily broke off with a start as the Quaffle landed on top of her notes. She looked at James with raised eyebrows. "For a Chaser of your status you have terrible aim."

James grinned at her and got to his feet. "Let's go for a walk."

"It's fifteen minutes until curfew," Lily told him, glancing at the clock. "And we don't have patrols tonight. It would set a bad example if any of the Prefects see us."

"Who says we'll be seen?" James reached into his school bag and pulled out a length of shimmering cloth.

"We really shouldn't..."

"Come on, Lily. We've been at this for hours. If I don't get a break soon I swear I'll go barmy."

Lily set her notes to the side and stood up. She had been sitting in one position for so long that her legs wouldn't straighten properly and she lost her balance and fell onto the couch.

James laughed and pulled her up, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. Lily smiled at him ruefully over her shoulder. "I guess we could use a break."

He smacked his lips against her cheek playfully and then frog-marched her to the door. They pulled on their shoes and James pulled the Marauder's Map from his pocket and gave it a once over. "Just in case," he said waving it at her before putting it away, along with his cloak.

"So where are we walking to?" Lily asked as they made their way down the corridor.

"Kitchens," James replied turning around so that he was walking backwards in front of her. "I want ice cream. It's too bad we can't nip down to Diagon Alley to Fortescue's."

"We could go over Christmas break. Or there's a Muggle ice cream parlor not to far from my house that I could take you to."

"Is it any good? I've never had Muggle ice cream."

Lily laughed. "It's pretty much the same. There aren't any odd flavors like Fortescue's has though. Just the usual ones like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, raspberry, mint chocolate chunk, and coffee."

"We'll definitely have to go then. It will be great for my project."

They had to stop abruptly as the staircase they had been about to take to the first floor decided to change its course. James leaned back against the wall and checked the Map again. "Eurgh," he groaned. "Harvey Hill is in the Entrance Hall. I forgot he was on patrol tonight. Let's go a different way."

"How could you forget?" Lily asked him incredulously, as she followed him back down the hall and through a secret passage. "He spent twenty minutes complaining to you about it after the last Prefects' meeting. And the little snot went to Professor Flitwick to try to get him to make us change it."

"I make a point to forget everything he says to me."

"Then why'd you have detention for hexing him the other week?"

He stopped walking and frowned at her. "How did you hear about that?"

"Sirius told me when I asked him where you were."

"Padfoot, I'm going to wallop you when I see you next," James grumbled under his breath.

"He wouldn't tell me why though, only that you took offence to something Harvey had said."

"Yeah, well, he deserved it. And I would have hexed the rest of them too, if McGonagall hadn't come along."

"The rest? How many of them where there?"

"Look, it doesn't matter, alright?" he said fiercely.

Lily blinked, slightly taken back by his anger, but then shrugged it off. "If you say so, but it's obviously still bothering you." She continued down the passage, but turned back around when she realized that James wasn't following her. "Are you coming?"

James sighed and sat down, leaning against the wall. "They were talking about you," he said in a defeated voice. "Hill and a bunch of Slytherins in his year. They were saying all kinds of things, just like, wondering what they would have to do in order to get you to perform your 'head girl' duties."

"What do you...oh..." Lily dropped down next to him, speechless. "Well. That's just, that's just-"

James took her hand in one of his and traced her fingers with his other one. "Yeah. It was...well it was all really crude. And cruel and revolting to even think about them... It just - Lily, it just wasn't right."

Lily's lip curled up in disgust. "I'm glad you hexed him. I would have done the same to tell you the truth," she said heatedly.

"Sirius held me back before I could get to the others," James confided. "I swear he has some kind of sixth sense when it comes to knowing when a professor is coming."

"Maybe it's just a heightened sense of smell," Lily joked.

"Well, there is that." James shot her a crooked smile and got to his feet, pulling her up with him. "So, are we still getting ice cream?"

Lily nodded and let him lead her through the rest of the passage. As they walked she studied him, thinking back to the conversation she had had with Lizzie in the Library last week. When she had told Lily how James had reacted to Richard's comment about wanting to go out with her again. And how a few minutes ago James had admitted to her exactly why he had got detention. She thought about the knowing looks his friends gave him whenever she walked into the room. And the looks her friends gave her whenever she mentioned his name - even though she still hadn't said anything to them about kissing him. It was as though they knew she liked him and were just waiting for her to confirm that fact.

And she did like him. He was starting to become one of her best friends. He had understood that after Stephan's death, she had had to let her anger out. To yell and scream and complain and cry.... and where Marlene would have said comforting words and tried to calm her down, James had just let her get it out. It was as though he knew her in a way that her friends never would.

After hearing Lizzie's observations, she had started to notice him in a way that she hadn't before. Lily would catch herself watching him, studying him. Intellectually he could converse with her about theories without getting that glazed look on his face that most of her friends always seemed to. And he was beginning to be the first person she went to when she had something to share. Whether it was about class work, a letter from home, an annoying Prefect, or a joke she had heard.

She was beginning to think that Lizzie might be right about how he felt about her. That he loved her. She was even more startled to realize that she might be starting to feel the same way. And that realization scared her more than anything else.

They had reached the tapestry that led to the Entrance Hall and Lily tugged James' hand to keep him from going through. He looked at her questioningly and she smiled up at him.

"I believe I quite fancy you, Mr. Potter."

James blinked for a moment and then grinned back at her. "Is that so, Miss Evans? How very fascinating."

"It's all your fault, you realize." Lily shot him a teasing smile. "I wouldn't have had any trouble resisting you, normally. But you had to toss in all those perks."

"Oh? Like what?"

For an answer, Lily stood on her toes and kissed him soundly on the mouth. After several moments she pulled away, grinning. "Like that," she said. "Not to mention being able to turn down any bloke who asks me to Hogsmeade by saying I'm going with you."

James scowled. "Who asked you?"

"No one's asked me, it's just the principle of it all."

"Oh, well that's all right, then." James looked at her hopefully. "Does this mean you're asking me out?"

Lily laughed. "Yes, I suppose I am. James Potter, would you like to spend tomorrow afternoon in Hogsmeade with me?"

"Definitely," James replied with a grin. "If only so that I can tell off the other blokes for going after my girl."

"Am I? Your girl?"

"I - well, only if you want to be," he said hesitantly.

She smiled at him softly. "I think I'd like that very much."

"Good." James gave her glowing smile and leaned down to kiss her.

As Lily kissed him an idea popped into her head and while he was distracted she slipped her hand into his pocket, pulling out his Invisibility Cloak. Laughing at the surprised look on his face, she wrapped it around herself and darted into the Entrance Hall. She turned back and saw him standing at the edge of the passage, waving at her frantically even though he had no idea where she was standing.

He pulled out his Map and after giving it a once over, started across the Entrance Hall. Lily moved silently behind him and wrapped her arms around him, running her hands up his chest.

"Lily," he hissed, trying to grab her wandering hands. She laughed and moved in front of him so that she was able to throw the Cloak over him as well.

"That was completely unfair," he complained once they were both covered, but Lily could tell he was trying not to laugh. His hands traced a path down to her hips and he pulled her close, leaning down to kiss her.

Standing on her toes, Lily put her arms around his neck and kissed him back. It was a bit of a thrill kissing him in the Entrance Hall when someone patrolling could walk by, even knowing that the Invisibility Cloak covered them both.

James opened his mouth over hers, and slowly walked her backwards until her back rested against a wall. He pressed against her and Lily's hands moved down to the hem of his shirt, slipping underneath it slightly so that she could run her fingers lightly over his bare skin.

He sucked in a sharp breath and one of his hands moved to tangle in her hair before he started trailing light butterfly kisses down her neck.

He moved back to her mouth and Lily kissed him blissfully. Time lost all meaning as they stood there under his Cloak in the Entrance Hall. The torches flickered, casting shadows along the walls.

They broke apart to catch their breath, foreheads together. James moved a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear and Lily turned her head to kiss his wrist. "I don't feel much like ice cream anymore," she told him.

"No, me either," he replied, laughing breathlessly. His hazel eyes sparked at her from behind lopsided glasses as Lily grinned back up at him, knowing that she had never been happier than she was at this moment.

He grabbed her hand, and they darted through the school and back to the Heads' Common Room, taking every shortcut they knew. It was a challenge to keep the Cloak around them both the whole way there and it didn't help that James kept stopping to kiss her every few minutes.

They spent the next several hours curled up together on the sofa in the Heads' Common Room, kissing and talking, but mostly kissing. At some point James had lost his shirt, and both their shoes and socks had long been discarded.

When they finally wandered back to Gryffindor Tower to find their beds, it was past two in the morning. Their lips were swollen, their jaws were aching and Lily's hair was well on its way to looking how James' usually did. But they both fell asleep with wide smiles on their faces.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Lily woke up the next morning to a fresh layer of snow covering the ground. Standing with her blanket wrapped around her, she stared out of her dormitory window, letting the events of the night before play through her mind. She glanced behind her at Marlene's bed and, thinking of what her friend's reaction would be, grinned.

The clock on Marlene's bedside table flipped to eight-thirty and immediately the alarm sounded, playing the latest hit song from Wizarding Wireless. Lily watched as Marlene opened her curtains and after retrieving her wand from under her pillow, shut the alarm off.

Marlene blinked sleepily and stretched, nearly falling off her bed in the process. Lily laughed and Marlene looked up, noticing her for the first time.

"When did you get back?" Marlene asked her, her voice scratchy from sleep.

"After two," Lily admitted sheepishly, sitting down next to Marlene.

"You can't have been studying all that time!" Marlene stared at her wide-eyed and Lily felt her face turn red. "Lily!"

Marlene's shout caused Janice and Linda to poke their heads out of their curtains.

"What's happening?" Janice questioned sleepily, pulling her curtains fully open.

Linda slid daintily off of her bed and skipped over. "Someone had a late night," she teased, bouncing onto Marlene's bed.

"Yeah, I didn't even hear you come in," Janice said. "What were you doing?"

"Studying," Lily replied weakly.

Linda raised her eyebrows. "Is that what they're calling it now?" She smiled mischievously at Lily and waved her fingers over her neck.

Lily gasped and jumped off the bed, running over to her mirror. There on her neck were three purplish marks that could only be mistaken for one thing.

"Oh for the love of Merlin!" she exclaimed. Her roommates burst into laughter and Lily whipped her head around to glare at them. "It's not funny!"

"Y-yes it is!" Marlene had collapsed against her pillows and was clutching her stomach. "Studying, Lily? Really? Is that the best you could come up with?"

Lily groaned and hid her face in her hands. "Well, we were studying -- for several hours, in fact. But he got bored, so we went to the Kitchens to get a snack and, well, I'm afraid we got a bit sidetracked..."

Marlene smiled smugly. "I'm glad you took my advice after all. I told you snogging him would solve everything."

Lily looked at her wide-eyed. "What are you-"

"Oh, please, Lily," Marlene snorted delicately, "I'm not stupid. You've only been sneaking glances at him every chance you get. And your patrols keep taking longer to complete. Not to mention you're always cooped up in the Heads' Room together."

"But-"

"And he was so jealous when you were talking to Richard the other day," Linda interrupted. "I swear there was smoke coming out of his ears."

"No he-"

"Yeah, and he always mentions you at Quidditch practice," Janice put it. "Saying that if you can catch a quaffle while flying a broom, there's no reason our chasers shouldn't be able to."

"But still-"

"And don't forget he's going home with you over Christmas to meet your parents." Marlene said.

"But that's for-"

"There's no use denying it, Lily." Linda smiled artfully. "You're completely head over feet."

"Er, it's head over heels, Linda," Janice corrected.

Linda rolled her eyes. "Close enough."

"The point is," Marlene said before they could get into an argument, "that we're all very happy for you. The two of you are perfect for each other."

"And Lily Potter has such a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" Linda added innocently.

Lily stared at her three friends open mouthed, debating whether or not to say something in her own defense and then decided that it didn't matter. Her friends were right. She was falling for James and there wasn't any point in trying to deny it any longer. This thing she had with him was becoming serious - if it hadn't already got there - and she might as well get used to it.

"You're right," she told her friends, trying not to laugh at their shocked looks. "Now can one of you tell me a charm I can use to get rid of these things?" She gestured at her throat. "I don't fancy going to breakfast and giving Sirius a reason to take the mickey out of me."

It didn't take them long to pepper her with spells and an hour later the four of them made their way down to breakfast, ready for a day of shopping in Hogsmeade.

The Marauders were already in the Great Hall, leaning over something on the table. James hastily put what Lily recognized to be the Maruader's Map in his pocket when Lily and her roommates approached. Lily slid into the open seat next to James and, ignoring the looks from her friends, kissed him on the cheek. "Good morning."

James rewarded her with a bright grin and then poured her a glass of pumpkin juice while she spooned some eggs onto her plate.

"What were you guys looking at?" Marlene had sat down across from Lily.

"Did you see that it snowed?" Sirus asked, pretending not to hear her. "We're having a snowball fight after dinner! You gals should join in."

"It's going to be cold after dinner," Linda said. "And dark."

"It's already cold," Remus pointed out.

"Fine. Colder, then."

"That's what warming charms are for," Sirius argued, unfazed. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"I'll do it," Lily put in. "But you have to promise not to throw snow in my face or shove it down my cloak."

"Err..."

"Sirius," Lily said warningly, "you do remember what happened when you did that back in fifth year, don't you?"

Sirius paled and put a hand to his hair, protectively. "Right, no snow in faces or down cloaks."

"In that case, I'm in too," Janice said cheerfully. "And so are Linda and Marlene.

"Hey! I never--"

"I'll buy you something from Honeydukes, Linda," Janice bribed.

"Anything I want?"

Janice rolled her eyes. "Within reason."

Linda smiled as if that had been her intention all along. "I'm in then. Marlene?"

Lily glanced over at the girl in question and saw that her face was turning red from suppressed laughter. "I think she'll join us," Lily told the others. "If only so she can see Linda get covered in snow."

Linda pointed her fork at Lily. "Just you wait Lily Evans! I'll hit you with so many snowballs that you'll turn into a snowman."

Lily looked at her thoughtfully. "There's a spell for that."

"It might be a bit hard to make you into a snowman, however," James brought up.

"There's a spell for that, too," Lily countered.

"Yeah, but you would still be female even if your body isn't."

"But technically, since my body would be that of a man, when I turned into a snowman that's what I would be." Lily argued back, turning on the bench so that she could face him. "The fact that my mind would still be female is completely irrelevant."

"That's not true," James said with a shake of his head. "A snowman is male mind and body. Otherwise it would be called a snowperson and there wouldn't be such a think as a snowwomen. You would have to change bo-"

"No I wouldn't," Lily interrupted loudly. "Physically I would be a snowman. It wouldn't matter what was going on in my mind. Turning a person into an object still enabled that person to remain who they are even when their physical self is altered. Linda meant---"

"Oi!"

Lily and James turned to Sirius, startled out of what was becoming a full-blown argument and could have lasted hours. "What?" they demanded at the same time.

"Err, does it really matter?" he asked them sheepishly. "I doubt Linda is actually going to turn Lily into a snowman. So this whole-" he waved a hand between the two of them "-whatever you're having is basically pointless."

"Oh, well..." Lily exchanged a look with James. "I guess not, but still..."

James shrugged and shot a crooked smile at his friend. "It's fun to argue with her. Her face gets all red and with her hair it looks like her head is on fire."

"It does not!" Lily glared at him.

Sirius cocked his head, studying her. "I see what you mean, Prongs. Especially when she glares at you like that."

Lily smiled maliciously at him. "Oh, you're going to pay for that, Sirius." She stood up and looked at her roommates. "Ready to go?" she asked them.

They nodded and stood as well, pulling on their clocks and checking that they had their moneybags and wands.

James wrapped an arm around Lily's waist as she was getting ready to leave. "Meet you at The Three Broomsticks for lunch?"

"Sure." Lily smiled at him and leaned down for a quick kiss before with her friends.

Marlene was laughing quietly. "It's good in theory," she told Lily as they walked outside. "But it's still going to take some time to get used to it."

Lily smiled at her friend and they continued down the path to Hogsmeade. At Janice's insistence (and truth be told none of them argued with her) their first stop was Honeyduke's so that they could stock up on candy for the winter holiday. Lily made sure to pick up some ice mice and chocolate truffles for her parents.

The rest of the morning was spent flitting from shop to shop, stopping when something in a window caught their eyes. Lily got some stationary at Scrivenshaft's for her sister that was decorated with petunias. The only magic on the parchment was a spell to keep it from ripping or tearing, but what Petunia didn't know, wouldn't hurt her.

Her roommates told her it was pointless to give Petunia something since she wouldn't use it anyway, but Lily wouldn't hear of it. Petunia was still her sister, despite the fact they hardly got on anymore.

A stop at the Quidditch store ensured that Lily had a gift for James and she also managed to sneak a pair of gloves for Janice into her purchase when Janice wasn't looking. Marlene was trickier to shop for and Lily finally decided to get her a Muggle snow globe once she got home, since Marlene was so fascinated with the one Lily's uncle sent her.

At lunchtime, they met up with the Marauder's at The Three Broomsticks for butterbeer and sandwiches. The four boys refused to tell Lily and her friends what they had been up to that morning - only saying they had just got to Hogsmeade a half hour ago.

The group split up shortly after. Lily and James wandered off down the street so that James could finish his Christmas shopping. Sirius and Remus were dragged away by Janice and Linda to do the same. Marlene, however, opted to stay at The Three Broomsticks - explaining that her boyfriend, Johnathan, who was studying at St. Mungos, had promised to Apparate in and spend the rest of the afternoon with her. Peter disappeared into Madam Puddifoot's and James laughingly told Lily that he apparently had made plans to meet Sally Jenkins (a fifth year Hufflepuff) there for coffee.

Lily twined her scarf more tightly as she and James exited Dervish and Banges. The sun was beginning to go down and it had started to snow heavily. After shrinking his packages to fit into his pocket, James wrapped an arm around Lily's shoulders and pulled her close, placing a kiss on her temple.

"That's the last of it," he told her. "Shall we head back up to the school? I know there's two hours before dinner, but it'll be warm and I imagine we could find something to do to pass the time." He shot her a wicked grin.

Lily smirked at him and nodded her agreement. "If it keeps snowing like this we won't be able to have our snowball fight," she said as they made their way back up to the school.

"Sirius was setting up all morning. If Dumbledore won't let us have it tonight, he'll just wait until tomorrow." James shook his head ruefully. "Actually that might be preferable for you. There will be another layer of snow to cushion your landing each time you get tackled."

"But Sirius agreed we wouldn't-"

"No, he agreed not to throw snow in your face or put it down your cloak."

Her colorful swearing caused James to raise an eyebrow and ask, "Where did you hear that one? It definitely wasn't from me."

Lily grinned innocently. "That would be Janice. She has a tendency to curse when she's listening to Quidditch games on the Wireless. I think she picked it up from Sirius."

James nodded thoughtfully. "Sirius and I used to compete to see who could come up with the most unusual...er... positions."

"I take it he usually won, then?"

"Oh, no. I always did." James grinned suggestively at her. "I'm much more imaginative. He tended to have a preference for one particular style."

"Which one-" Lily broke off and her eyes grew wide as it dawned on her. "James! That's awful!" She scrunched up her nose. "Oh, eww, I don't even want to think about that. It's bad enough that we catch - urgh, did you have to put that image in my head? Stop laughing! James!"

James was doubled over with laughter and had to stop to catch his breath. Lily glared at him and impatiently tapped her foot. "Are you finished," she demanded once James had righted himself.

"Yes." He grinned at her and shook his head. "I'm sorry, but the look on your face.... It was priceless. I wish I had had a camera."

Lily huffed. "You're such a boy."

"But you like me anyway," James said, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Yes, well, it's all your fault."

James smiled sweetly at her. "I know." He leaned down to kiss her and they stood there for several minutes that might have ended up being longer if someone hadn't cleared their throat.

They broke apart sheepishly and Lily felt her cheeks heat up.

Daisy Hookum, a fifth year Hufflepuff and Prefect, beamed at them as she walked by with a few of her year mates. "See you at dinner," she told them brightly.

"Well... that settles it." Lily glanced up at James. "The whole school will know by morning."

James grinned and leaned down to kiss her again. "The whole school already knew, Lily. They were just waiting for you to come to your senses."