gold rush

The next prefect meeting went much more smoothly. Severus didn’t say a word, he just glanced at the schedule and nodded. There wasn’t much to talk about, but Lily did let everyone know that if they wanted to help put on the dance that she would have a job for them. None of the details were ironed out yet; they still hadn’t even decided on a theme. 

That was the goal of today, actually. Mary, Peter, Marlene, and Sirius were supposed to be swinging around any minute now. Lily told them to show up at the end of the meeting and they could just work there. It wasn’t like the room would be getting used for anything else.

“My love!” James said loudly when Sirius walked in. They were technically a little bit early, but Lily was just about to tell everyone they could leave.

“My light!” Sirius responded, equally as enthusiastic. 

Not many people seemed to want to stick around, not that Lily could blame them. They just wanted to show up to the dance, not deal with all of the logistics. If she could do the same, she would. 

Regulus, Emmeline, and Dorcas all stayed in their seats. Benjy had gotten up to leave, but Lily assumed that upon seeing Peter, he decided to stay. And then Lily’s eyes fell on Severus, who had yet to stand up. He seemed to just be… glaring. Not at her, but at everyone else. 

“You voted against the dance,” Regulus said to him, getting his attention. 

“So?”

“So what are you still doing here?” 

“Lily asked for help. I can help.”

James caught Lily’s eye, clearly offering to kick him out for her. But Severus did have a good eye for detail, and they had a lot they needed to get done. Besides, she couldn’t exactly tell him that he couldn’t help. This was an event for the entire school, something that he was a part of. 

“We don’t want your help,” Sirius said.

Lily gave him a look, trying to tell him to shut up. “Actually, we could use it. Could you try and get some of the faculty to chaperone?” she suggested. Severus wasn’t liked by a lot of people, but he was respected, and it was the only job he could do by himself. Lily couldn’t think of a single person in the room who would be willing to work too closely with him. “Slughorn said we need five volunteers for it, otherwise we can’t put on the dance.”

“I can do that.”

“Great.”

James stood up. “Can I talk to you?” he asked her.

Lily sighed, but she followed him out of the room anyway. Everyone watched them leave, probably already knowing what James wanted to talk about.

She crossed her arms over her chest a couple of paces away from the classroom, turning to face him. “So?”

“So?” he repeated. “Don’t act like you don’t know.”

“James-”

“He isn’t a good person.”

“He’s still a person though.”

“Right, which means nothing. It means you don’t go out of your way to harm him, but you don’t invite him to sabotage the dance.”

“Invite him to sabotage? What are you talking about?”

“He didn’t want it to happen in the first place.”

“Maybe he’s changed his mind,” Lily said with a shrug. “And he’s willing to help. We do need help.”

“Not that badly.”

“I gave him a solitary job. He isn’t going to affect anything. I don’t see why it’s a big deal.”

James frowned a little, taking a step closer. “Yes, you do. You know exactly why it’s a big deal. Practically every person in that room is queer in some way, you know? Snape isn’t going to help anybody feel comfortable.”

Lily hadn’t thought about it that way. Severus had never gone out of his way to be homophobic; Lily hadn’t even really known that he was until she came out to him. He usually just kept his mouth shut, but Lily didn’t want anyone to be uncomfortable. She wanted the dance to be somewhere safe for everyone, which they needed. The population was small, but there were sections of the student body that were heavily prejudiced against other students.

“I don’t know what you want me to do about it. I did say this was open to any student willing to help, I couldn’t just say no.”

“I can,” James said, his face set like he wasn’t joking. He probably wasn’t joking, either, now that Lily thought about it. “I can go tell him no right now.”

“But you won’t.”

“But I could.”

“But you won’t, because I am asking you not to,” Lily said. “Okay? Just… you’ll hardly have to see him, you don’t even have to talk to him, I can deal with all of that-”

“That’s not what I meant. You shouldn’t have to deal with him, I can do it.”

“You would start an argument.”

“I wouldn’t start it,” James countered. 

“Can’t you guys just be civil?”

“Look, if you’re insistent upon letting him help, fine. I’m not going to tell you what to do. And I promise that I won’t start anything, but I won’t just sit idly if he starts something.”

“I know,” Lily said, because she did know that. “Thank you.”

“If he says anything though, tell me.”

“I can handle myself.”

“I know. Still, tell me. It’s the only way I will agree to this.”

“Technically, I don’t need you to agree.”

“Actually, you do. I’m Head Boy, I have just as much power as you.”

Lily raised her eyebrows, honestly not expecting that. “Fine. I’ll tell you if he says anything,” she agreed.

James nodded, accepting it, and then they walked back into the room. Some part of her hated how much James cared. She wasn’t used to being on this end of his loyalty. James never disliked her in the way Lily disliked him, but they weren’t really friends. She was always upset with him because of his feud with Severus, but it’s different now. The other part of her knew it was a stupid thing to hate. If anything she just didn’t know how to react when James made it obvious that they were friends, that no matter what he would defend her. 

“Resolved your lover's quarrel?” Sirius asked the moment they entered the room. He had sat down in Lily’s seat, legs up on the table. 

Lily hit the side of his head. “This is my chair.”

“There are other chairs.”

“I dislike you,” she said, sitting down next to Remus. She felt Severus’ eyes on her, but she didn’t pay him any attention. She already told him what she needed him to do.

“You love me.”

She flipped him off. “Okay, here’s the plan. Sirius and Mary are in charge of the music,” she said.

“I have the best taste though,” Remus said.

“In good conscience, I cannot let you force the school to listen to Bowie for hours on end.”

“They should be so lucky.”

“You can help. No more than three Bowie songs though,” she told him. 

“Five,” he countered.

“Three,” Lily said, not wavering on it. Three was generous enough already. 

“Fine.”

“Peter, you have sway with the kitchen elves, right?” she asked.

“Sorta.”

Lily smiled. “Perfect. Try and convince them to make food, yeah? You and Benjy can do that.”

She saw the two of them make quick eye contact and look away, and she smiled to herself a little bit. Maybe she shouldn’t be meddling in her friends' love lives like this, but she couldn’t help herself. After all, Benjy was probably only here for Peter; it was the least she could do.

“Yeah, we got it,” Peter said, his cheeks more red than they had been a moment ago.

James caught her eye, shaking his head slightly. There was amusement behind his eyes though, he knew what she was doing. 

“What about me, boss?” Marlene asked. She had taken a seat next to Dorcas, but the two had barely looked at each other. Lily really thought that something would have happened between them at the last Gryffindor party, but Marlene had nothing to report except for intense flirting. 

“Decorations. Once we have a theme anyway. Dorcas and Emmeline too,” Lily added. She wanted to make sure everyone had a job, and belatedly she realized she didn’t have anything to assign James. Regulus had already agreed to finish the budget and get them more accurate numbers. Sirius had told Lily that he was a genius when it came to things like that, and Regulus had just confirmed that it was true.

“We don’t have a theme yet?” Sirius asked. He kept twirling his wand around in his hands, and Remus was pretending he wasn’t paying any attention to that. “I thought we were doing rock n roll.”

“We’re not,” Lily told him with a sweet smile. 

“But everyone would get to wear leather.”

“Who do you want to see in leather so badly?” Marlene asked.

“Nobody,” Sirius said, probably far too quickly. “I’m just saying.”

“You wear leather every other day of the week anyway,” Remus said.

“You don’t like my rock n roll idea, Moony?”

“Not particularly.”

“I like the forest idea,” Lily said, knowing that Remus and Sirius would just go on forever if they weren’t interrupted. “It would probably be the cheapest option, too. We’d just need a lot of green.”

“Green?” Marlene asked, perking up all of the sudden. 

“Drug addict,” Sirius said.

“Inbreed,” Marlene shot back. 

Sirius tilted his head back. “Stop bringing that up.”

“I won’t.”

“Inbreed?” Dorcas said with a small smile, directing the question to Regulus.

Regulus groaned, covering his face. “For fucks sake.”

“She didn’t know?” Sirius asked, laughing now. Dorcas and Regulus have been friends for at least a couple of years. Lily knew about Sirius before they even became friends.

“I don’t go around talking about it, believe it or not.”

“Barty is going to die,” Dorcas said, laughing.

“I will murder you.”

“Worth it.”

“I like the forest theme,” Mary said, bringing them back on track. “All in favor?”

Everyone mumbled their I’s, nobody seemed to have a problem with the theme, at least. Plus, now that they had this figured out, everything else would just fall into line. 

“Perfect. Marlene? Sirius? Posters, yeah?” Lily said.

Marlene was really good at art, although she never really talked about it. And Sirius was always doodling in class, she could trust that the two of them would come up with something, and then they could just use a spell to make as many copies as they needed.

After that, there wasn’t much else to discuss. Everyone knew what they needed to do, and Lily told them that she could answer any questions. Nobody had any yet, but they would eventually.

James lingered at the door, obviously waiting for Lily. “You’re kinder to him than he deserves,” he said once it was just the two of them.

“Maybe,” Lily said with a shrug. Everyone has always told her that. They always think that she’s naive, and that she’s too nice to people who aren’t as pure with their intentions. It’s not true though. Lily isn’t naive for wanting to see the best in people. She’s not.

“Are you really okay with him hanging around?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

Lily was about to leave, but James stopped her. “You never told me what my job is,” he said, stepping in front of her path.

She thought that maybe he wouldn’t mention it, but clearly wishful thinking was getting her nowhere. “Didn’t I?”

James smiled. “Don’t play cute. Come on, what’s my job?”

“Potter-”

“I’m more than just a pretty face, you know? I can help.”

“I know, but-.”

“Aww, so you do think I’m a pretty face?”

Lily rolled her eyes. “I didn’t say that.”

“C’mon. What’s my job?”

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to. What’s your job? I can just help with that.”

“Fundraising,” Lily said, already knowing what James was going to say.

He leaned against the wall a little. “Oh, that’s perfect.”

“If you’re just going to offer me your wallet again, then you can leave.”

“Give me at least a little credit, Evans. I know not to push once you’ve made up your mind.”

“So you actually just want to help?”

“Yes.”

Lily shook her head a little. She didn’t like how James kept surprising her, that he kept surpassing her expectations. It was a bit annoying having to change everything she’s always thought about him. “Okay. We’ll work it out soon, yeah?”

“Why not now?”

“Homework,” Lily said.

This time, when she left the room, James didn’t try to stop her.

———

“God, I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” Marlene said, sitting across from Lily.

She was just sitting in the common room reading a book. She considered reading to be a much needed break from schoolwork, and she had rounds with James tonight, so it would just be easier if she was already out here.

She laughed, shutting her book to give Marlene her full attention. “You clearly didn’t look very hard.”

“Well I checked the library first, but then I got distracted because Dorcas was there.”

“Was she?”

“Yes. And then I sat with her for a while, and I’ve come to the conclusion that she doesn’t hate me,” Marlene said, clearly very happy with this development. 

“I don’t think she ever really hated you,” Lily said.

“I don’t know, it’s not important anymore. She said that she liked my eyeliner!”

Lily smiled. “That’s great.”

“Very great. Now I just need to figure out what to do from here.”

“You ask her out.”

“On a date?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm,” Marlene said, thinking about it. “I guess there’s no reason not to, right?”

“Right.”

“Okay. Next quidditch game. When we win,” Marlene said with a little nod.

“So you’re going to ask her out right after she loses to you in quidditch?” Lily asked, not so sure that was the best plan.

“Oh. Maybe not.”

“But if she wins-”

“Slytherin is not winning,” Marlene said, interrupting her. 

“Oh?”

“No, I’m very confident about this. And James is running around saying some nonsense about twenty one goals. Which… well if he decides he’s going to score that many, then that’s what he’ll do.”

“You really think so?” Lily asked. She remembered their little bet, but she had only agreed because she thought it was impossible. No way Slytherin let Gryffindor score on them 21 times, let alone James scoring all of them.

Marlene shrugged, opening up a bag of crisps she pulled out of her bag. “Yeah, hard not to. Bastard’s good, and he’s determined.”

“Fuck,” Lily said under her breath.

“Why?”

“Just a stupid bet.”

Marlene grinned, leaning forward a little bit. “You made a quidditch bet with James Potter?”

“I was drunk!” she defended. “And he was just… standing all close. It’s not my fault.”

“He was standing close?”

“Yeah.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Marlene asked, a teasing tone to her voice.

Lily shook her head. “Nothing, nevermind.”

“Evans!” she said, hitting Lily’s knee. “Tell me!”

“He just… he smelled good. And he was close, and I was drunk,” Lily said, explaining it in broken fragments.

“He smelled good?”

“Yes. Objectively.”

“Objectively?”

“Are you just going to repeat everything I say?” 

“Yes. Are you… I mean do you have a thing for Potter?” Marlene asked, lowering her voice.

“What? No,” Lily said, probably way too loudly.

“No?”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Are you sure? I mean… you’ve been hanging out with him a lot, and you even skipped classes to hang out with him the other day.”

Lily shook her head. “No, I skipped class to get high with Regulus. James was just… there.”

“But you didn’t tell him to go away,” Marlene said, wagging her eyebrows.

“He’s my friend.”

Marlene sat back on the couch a little bit, giving Lily a look. “You’ve never talked about any of us like the way you talk about him.”

“That is a ridiculous piece of evidence. He just… surprised me, is all.”

“Yeah, okay,” Marlene said sarcastically. “Be in denial all you want, but I would be willing to bet so much money that you come back from your patrols tonight all blushy and smiley.”

“Is there a reason you were looking for me?” Lily asked to change the subject. When Lily came back after spending hours in the Head Girl dorm with James that one day, Mary and Marlene had teased her about it relentlessly. People have always made jokes like that about James and her, but she’s always shrugged them off and rolled her eyes. James always fueled the jokes, of course, but that’s all they were. Jokes. There was no way they could actually date, it just wouldn’t make sense.

Marlene rolled her eyes. “Yeah, we came up with a couple flier options,” she said, digging into her bag. Marlene kept most of her things messy, and her school bag was not an exception.  “Here.”

She handed Lily a short stack of papers, and Lily started flipping through them. They were mostly just rough sketches. Lily’s favorite had a big, winding tree on one side of the page with some other details scattered around the page. 

“I wanted to make the tree look like a naked woman, but Mary stopped me,” Marlene said.

“Probably for the best. We couldn’t very well hang them up if there was a naked woman on them,” Lily said. 

“Anyway, these are just half baked ideas. Sirius has a couple too, but we haven’t figured it out yet.”

“I like this tree,” Lily said. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, sans nude woman though. Sorry.”

Marlene smiled. “Oh, I’m going to draw it anyway, just not for this. Don’t you worry.”

“Of course you are.”

“Okay, so I have to go plan how I’m going to ask out Dorcas, but I’ll make sure to wait up,” Marlene said with a wink.

“I hate you, by the way.”

Lily went back to reading her book after Marlene left. She hasn’t taken a lot of time for herself recently, which is fine. She prefers to stay busy so she doesn’t have to think too hard about everything else in her life. But Lily loves hanging out in the common room. Everyone has to pass through it to get to their rooms, and lots of people hang out in their free time. 

It’s a place that she’s always been able to go to be alone, but never actually feel alone. Generally, nobody is going to bother her unless they know her, and she appreciates the feeling of peace she gets while being alone around other people. 

“What’s that?”

Lily had no idea how much time had passed, but she noticed she got through a couple hundred pages in her book. James was standing in front of her wearing plaid pajama pants and a red sweatshirt. He had his Head Boy pin on it, but that was the only evidence that he was supposed to be walking around at this time of night, otherwise he just looked ready for bed.

“It’s a book.”

James smiled, sitting down in the spot that Marlene had been in hours ago. “What’s it about?”

Lily handed it to him so he could read the back cover. “It’s a love story.”

“I think Remus was reading this,” James said, handing it back to her. It was Pride and Prejudice

“He leant it to me,” Lily explained.

“Is it any good?”

“It’s very good.”

“You should lend it to me when you finish it.”

“It’s not my book.”

James shrugged. “Moony won’t mind.”

“Your funeral.”

“He never has to know. Just pretend you’re taking a very long time to read it.”

“Remus knows how long it takes me to return books.”

“You’re a busy person. No harm in taking a little extra time.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. You can read it after me.”

“Thank you.”

“Is it time to go?” Lily asked. She wasn’t paying any attention to the time, actually betting on the fact that James would come and find her. He always seemed to know where she was anyway. 

“Just about. You ready?”

Most of the time, patrolling was just boring. They would have to walk around the whole castle to make sure there were no students out when they weren’t supposed to be. Every once in a while there would be people making out in the astronomy tower, but other than that, there wasn’t anyone to really catch. So, the whole thing was usually boring. Usually.

James didn’t seem to like the idea of boredom, and he had a lot of energy despite the late hour. Lily let him do most of the talking, content to just listen. 

“You know,” James said, trailing off a little bit. He rushed a little bit so he was in front of Lily, stopping in front of her so she had to stop too. “There’s a quidditch game tomorrow.”

Lily shook her head a little, letting out a sigh. “I know.”

James grinned. “And you remember the bet, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Perfect.”

“I’m still not convinced you can do it,” Lily said, although even Marlene had told her differently. 

“You know you’re actually going to have to pay attention to the game, right?”

“No, I don’t.”

“How else are you going to know how many scores I get?”

“I can ask.”

“I can get them to lie.”

“Everyone?” Lily asked, crossing her arms. 

“Everyone,” James confirmed with a head nod. Honestly, Lily wouldn’t be surprised if James could get to everyone in the school. He was considered popular, and there wasn’t a single person who didn’t know his name. Plus, even the people who thought James was obnoxious still liked Remus.

“Quidditch is so boring though,” Lily said. She has never really been a fan of sports, muggle or wizard. Especially the more violent sports, it just doesn’t seem worth it.

“It’s really not.”

“It is.”

James tilted his head a little bit, looking Lily up and down. “Do you know the rules of quidditch?”

Lily shrugged. “Yeah, mostly.”

“Have you ever played?”

Lily saw the exact thought process behind his eyes and immediately began to shake her head. “You’re insane.”

“It’ll be fun.”

“I’ll fall to my death.”

“I won’t let you.”

“We have patrols.”

“And then we have the whole night after that completely open,” James said, still trying to goad her into it.

“We’re not supposed to be out that late.”

James tutted, tapping his own Head Boy pin and then tapping hers as well. “We have a free pass.”

She hit his hand away. “To patrol. Once midnight hits-”

“Please?” James interrupted, the slightest smile on his face and his eyes clearly turned down a little to try and convince her.

“Puppy dog eyes are not going to work,” she told him.

“Please?”

“You can do whatever you want. I will be going back to the dorms after we’re done.”

“You have to come.”

“I really don’t.”

“I want you to. I swear you’ll have fun.”

“Potter-”

“Please?”

Lily became aware of the fact that James had moved closer at some point in the last couple minutes, and she actually had to strain her neck to look up at him now. She pointedly took a step back, not liking that she had to look up to have this conversation.

“Can we just finish rounds?”

“If you end up hating it then I will never bring it up again.”

Lily ignored him, walking around him to continue the patrols. At the very least, she wanted to get this over with so she could go back to her room. They’ve already gotten through about half the castle. There were a couple third year Hufflepuff’s sneaking about, but they walked back to their house without much of an argument at all.

James huffed a little, but he followed her, taking long strides to catch up easily. “Rude to leave when someone’s talking to you,” he said.

Lily glanced at him to see he was smiling. “The conversation felt finished to me.”

“Fine,” James said, which was a very surprising turn of events. “But I am going. Alone. Hope I don’t fall off my broom with nobody around to help me.”

Lily stopped. “That’s not funny.”

“It’s not a joke.”

“You have never fallen off. You literally brag about it.”

“First time for everything.”

“I can’t believe you’re guilt tripping me right now.”

“You can believe it,” he said, sounding very assured of that fact. And then, before Lily could say no again, “You deserve some fun, Evans.”

And it’s just… Lily has been stretching herself a bit thin recently. She sent Petunia the letter three days ago and hasn’t told anybody about it; she’s waiting to see if she’s going to get some sort of response. And she’s been doing her best to stay on top of all of her coursework. Tonight was the first night she wasn’t holed up in the library working on something, and that was because she was procrastinating the rest of her assignments. Plus everything with Severus has started to resurface, which Lily has been trying to not let get to her. She can tell that he wants to fix things, but Lily can’t. She can’t go through it all again.

So, yeah. She does deserve a little bit of fun. And she’s already come around to the horrifying conclusion that James Potter is not the worst person to spend time with.

“Okay.”

James’ smile grew, his eyes sparkling a little bit. “Okay?”

“Yes. After we finish this.”

It seemed like James was in a rush after that. He’s taller than Lily, which automatically means he walks faster than Lily, but now he’s on a mission.

“Can you slow down?”

“Nope!” he said, checking the next classroom quickly. Lily honestly wasn’t even doing anything at this point except for trailing behind him. “Too excited!”

The next thirty minutes were like that, essentially. Lily gave up on trying to get him to slow down and instead ran through different potions in her head. They had an exam coming up where they were expected to know all of the ingredients of the potions they were going to do the rest of the year. Next up was veritaserum and the antidote to veritaserum. 

Lily hadn’t even realized she was mumbling to herself until she noticed James giving her a weird look.

“What?” she asked.

“Are you talking to yourself?”

“No.”

“You were.”

“I was?”

“Mhm. What were you saying?”

“I was just reciting potion ingredients,” she said. It was a study habit she had picked up, to figure out what she actually knew off the top of her head and what things she probably needed to spend more time on.

“You’re studying?” he asked, slightly amused.

“Technically.”

James’ eyes moved all over her face for a second. “Okay, castle is clear. Let’s go.”

Lily barely had any time to react before James grabbed her hand and started walking them in the other direction, toward the quidditch pitch. She still isn’t sure why she agreed. It isn’t because she’s worried about James falling to his death; she’s positive that he flys alone all of the time. 

She took her hand back after a moment, too aware of the fact that they were holding hands. If she thought about things like that too much it made her nervous, even if it was just platonic.

“It’s going to be cold,” Lily said as a last ditch effort. 

James looked at what Lily was wearing. She was in her jeans from earlier and a Bowie t-shirt she had thrown on after her classes. She was pretty sure it was Remus’, but she’s had it for years at this point.

“You can wear my sweatshirt,” he said easily.

“But then you’ll be cold.”

“I’ll be fine.” He took off his sweatshirt, and Lily pretended not to notice when his shirt rode up underneath, revealing more than half of his torso. “Here.”

Lily took it, throwing it on over her t-shirt. The sweatshirt was large on James, and it was even a little bit baggy on Lily. The sleeves went past her hands, and Lily rolled them up a little bit. She was also trying hard not to notice that James was wearing a tight white t-shirt. It just hugged him in all of the right places, and Lily was not noticing. She wasn’t.

James ran over to the supply shed, grabbing two brooms and handing one to Lily.

She just sort of looked at it for a moment. 

“How long has it been?” James asked, noticing the look on her face.

Lily snorted a small laugh. “Like five years.”

Still undeterred, James just shrugged it off. “It’s like riding a bike. You’ll be fine.”

Lily did not believe him, but she got on the broom anyway. She mostly remembered how they worked.

“Okay, yeah, just push off the ground,” James said, trying to help guide her.

Lily was holding on for dear life, her eyes squeezed shut the moment she left the ground.

“Lily, love, you need to open your eyes to fly,” James said. He had a hand on the broom, stopping it in the middle of the air. Lily was probably only a couple of feet in the air, but she could not open her eyes.

“Can’t,” Lily said, too scared to even dwell on the fact that James called her love. She could absolutely dwell on it later, just not right now. 

“Open your eyes,” James said, his tone a bit teasing. Lily opened one of them at a time, trying to breathe. “See? Isn’t that better?”

“This was your worst idea ever,” Lily said declaratively. And James has had a lot of bad ideas in the time Lily has known him.

“No it wasn’t. Just trust me. We can stay low to the ground, if it makes you feel better.”

He moved to take his hand off the broom, which would give Lily full control back. She reached her hand out, grabbing his wrist and stopping him. She wasn’t sure she remembered how to steer.

James was still grinning, like this was nothing to him. “I have an idea. Get off.” Lily did not have to be told twice, letting out a breath the moment she was back on solid ground. “Okay, get on,” James said, looking back at her.

He was on his own broom, and was clearly waiting for Lily to join him on the same one.

“You’re going to kill me,” Lily said.

“Not on purpose. Get on.”

She debated it, almost saying no. But they had come all this way, and Lily thinks that she might like the view from up high. Plus, the way James is smiling at her makes it very difficult to say no. He holds out his hand, waiting for her to take it.

“You have to promise me you won’t go upside down,” Lily said, looking between his hand and him. 

James pretended to pout. “Not even once?”

“Potter.”

“I won’t go upside down, I swear.”

With one last deep breath, Lily grabbed his hand and got on the back of the broom.

James shot off almost immediately, and Lily grabbed around his torso on instinct, not wanting to fall off. She thought she heard James laugh, but she honestly did not care. Her eyes were screwed shut, and the only notion she had that they weren’t on the ground was the wind making her hair fly everywhere.

Eventually, the broom seemed to slow, and Lily felt James twist to look at her. 

“Evans?” he said, clearly very amused. She was still holding onto him for dear life, she could be embarrassed about it later.

“Do not speak to me.”

James laughed again, and she suddenly felt one of his hands on her face, lifting it up a little bit. It was a soft touch, one that was barely there. 

“Open your eyes,” he said quietly.

Lily did, the first thing she saw was James. He was as turned around as he possibly could be, only one hand holding onto the broom. The other was still gently on the side of her face. 

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, eyes on hers.

Lily felt herself freeze, her stomach dropping out of her body at this point. She didn’t know what to say, or where to look. Maybe James sensed this, maybe he didn’t, but he clearly didn’t expect Lily to respond, seeming like he said it just because he wanted to.

“Look,” he said, gesturing his head to the side a little.

She did, actually grateful to be told what to do right now. Lily has always preferred clear and concise instructions. 

He had pointed in the direction of the forest, and even from here it stretched for ages, so far that they couldn’t see the end of it. The stars were bright out here, in the middle of Scotland, Lily had always loved that. They were somehow more beautiful from up here, Lily felt like she could taste them. The moon was high and bright, not quite a full anymore. The moon always reminded her of Remus, even though she knew he would hate that.

“Oh,” Lily said softly, a small breath punched out of her. 

“Told you.”

“Literally shut up.”

James did for a moment, but Lily could practically hear his smile.

“You see that?” James asked. He was pointing somewhere in the middle of the forest. Lily had no idea what she was supposed to be looking at.

“The trees?”

“No, the creek. In the middle.”

“All I see are trees.”

James let out a sigh, but he was still grinning. “You might want to hold on tight again,” James said. Lily hadn’t even noticed that she relaxed her grip, but the moment James started flying again, she was clutching. God, Mary and Marlene were never going to let her live this one down.

“We are not going into the forbidden forest,” Lily said. Her eyes were open this time, and she saw exactly where James was leading them.

“We’ll just hover, then.”

So that’s what they did. James had them stalled just above the tree line, and he showed Lily all around the forest. If she had had a better grip on reality, she would have asked how James knew all of this. In that moment though, she was content just to listen.