gold rush

“Why do you look like that?”

Lily looked up, not surprised in the slightest that it was Remus who asked that question.

“Like what?” 

Remus sat down across from her. It was just the beginning of lunch, so most of the Great Hall was still empty. 

“Like that,” he said as if that explained anything.

“I look the same as I always do.”

Remus raised an eyebrow. “You look like you haven’t slept in three days.”

Oh, that.

Lily waved him off. “Just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

“Why’s that?” Remus asked, sounding suspiciously like someone who knew exactly why Lily didn’t get a lot of sleep.

She was just out later with James than she had planned on. Well, she hadn’t planned on being out with him at all. They had patrols until midnight, and that was that. But then they went flying, and there was a lot more to see than Lily thought there was. And she didn’t hate flying as much as she thought she would, although that might have had something to do with the fact that she was not in charge of the broom at all. 

Now that she thinks about it, they never did end up playing quidditch.

“No reason.”

“No reason?”

“Clearly you already know.”

“James came back to our room at three in the morning. Three in the morning,” he said, repeating it to stress his point. “Woke all of us up because of you.”

Lily shook her head. “I didn’t tell him to wake you guys up,” Lily said in her own defense. 

“No, you just flirted with him all night and he came back all excited.”

“I did not flirt with him.”

“You did.”

“I did not,” she said. This she was sure of. James flirted with her a little, sure. He always did, that’s nothing new. But Lily doesn’t flirt back, she doesn’t even know how. 

“You did.”

“Remus.”

“Lily. Be honest with me.”

“Do not ask me what I think you are about to ask me,” she said firmly.

Remus sighed. “Fine. But don’t pretend like I can’t see your glow,”

“My glow?”

“You’re happy.”

“I thought I looked exhausted.”

Remus shrugged. “You can be more than one thing at a time.”

“There you are!” Marlene had basically shouted from across the room, and Lily immediately wanted to shrivel up. She had left the room early enough to avoid Marlene and Mary completely. “Coward!”

Lily put her head in her hands, hiding for no reason and considering banging it against the table over and over.

“Hi, Marls.”

Marlene sat down next to Remus, knocking into him a little bit. “I was sleeping when you got back!”

“You were.”

“Unless… I mean unless you didn’t come back.”

“I came back.”

“How late?”

Lily shrugged, pretending like she had no idea. “I don’t really know. Not super late.”

“It was three,” Remus said.

Lily looked up, glaring at him. “Traitor.”

“Three in the morning! Lily Evans!”

“Marlene, you’re being loud.”

“So where did you do it? Astronomy tower? Closet?”

Lily frowned. “What?”

“Where did you guys have sex?”

Lily’s jaw dropped, and she looked to Remus to save her. “I- What? No. We didn’t,” she said, feeling how red her cheeks were. She should have stayed hidden the rest of the day, but she was hungry because she barely ate breakfast. 

“Did you guys make out?”

“Marlene!”

“What?”

“Nothing like that happened.”

“But you got back at three?”

“We were flying.”

“On the same broom,” Remus added, because of course he just had all of the details. 

“Shut up.”

Marlene was grinning now though, her eyes a bit wild. “Come on, you know you wanna tell me about it,” she said. Lily hated that she was right. She did want to tell Marlene about it, and she didn’t know why. But she needed to reel herself in. The more she remembered it, the more she started smiling and giving herself away.

She shook her head no instead. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“I’ve been trying to get you flying for years, and what? Potter flashes his dimples and you just do whatever?”

“It had nothing to do with dimples,” Lily said.

“Don’t tell me he stood close and batted his eyelashes,” Marlene said, bringing up what Lily had told her yesterday. 

“You’re so mean to me.”

“Well you’re leaving out all of the sordid details-”

“There are no sordid details,” Lily interrupted.

Remus cleared his throat. “That’s not true.”

Lily frowned. “It’s very true.”

“Not according to James.”

“What are you talking about? What’s he saying?” Lily asked, suddenly worried that James was going around spreading rumors. Lily has had enough rumors, if she’s honest. Everyone thought she was dating Severus, and even Remus for a while. 

Remus seemed to realize what Lily was thinking. “Not like that,” he assured her. “But he mentioned something about the way you were clinging to him.”

Lily felt her cheeks heat up again. “It wasn’t like that.”

Marlene hit the table a little bit. “Clinging?”

“I had to! I would have fallen off the broom.”

“Mhm, sure,” Marlene said, entirely unconvinced.

“I don’t want to entertain this conversation anymore.”

Marlene smiled. “That’s fine, here comes the man of the hour anyway.”

Lily did not turn around for fear of it being true, but it was impossible for her not to hear Sirius and Peter arguing about something, their voices carrying a little more as they got closer.

“You look tired,” Marlene said to James who just had to take the seat right next to Lily. Really, of all the seats he could have chosen.

James leaned forward a little bit, elbows resting on the table. His sleeves were rolled up a little bit, and he crossed his hands, an easy grin on his face. “Didn’t get a lot of sleep. I’ll be good in time for the game though, don’t worry.”

“Twenty one goals?” Marlene said. Lily was seriously considering murder as a viable option for her current Marlene problem.

James looked at Lily for a split second, and he nodded his head. “No more, no less.”

“What’s that about anyway?” Peter asked. He had taken the seat next to Marlene and was reaching for some of the food on the table.

“You’ll see tomorrow,” James assured him with a nod. Lily snorted, unable to help herself. “Something funny, Evans?”

She shrugged. “Just your unwavering confidence.”

James grinned. “It’s justified.”

“We’ll see.”

“You will.”

“I heard Lily rode your broom last night,” Marlene said, purposely making it sound as lewd as possible. 

Lily wanted to crawl under the table and never show her face again, but James just laughed. “Oh, yeah. And she had a really good time too, right Lils?”

“Aww, look, she’s blushing!” Sirius said, because of course he pointed it out.

“Is she?” James said, leaning forward a little bit to get a closer look at Lily’s face. She had been hiding it from him because she was blushing, and she currently hated all of the people she called her friends.

“It’s just warm in here,” Lily said, even though it was decidedly not very warm. The windows were open and the late October breeze fell over them all. 

“That’s cute,” James told her with a small smile. “You’re cute.”

“For fucks sake,” Lily said, standing up. She was starting to become worried that her cheeks were going to be stuck this red all day.

“No!” Peter said loudly once he noticed that Lily was getting up.

She frowned. “What?”

Peter cleared his throat. “I- Can I ask a favor?”

Lily smiled, sitting back down. This already seemed like a much better topic of conversation than what was going on before. “Course you can.”

Peter checked his surroundings quickly, deciding that things were safe. Still, he dropped his voice a lot. “You know Benjy, yeah?”

“Heard of him,” Lily teased.

Peter groaned. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? That I like him?”

“Yes,” James said.

Lily hit his arm. “I mean… only to us, because we’re your friends,” she said. 

“Just… the dance, right. You’re sort of in charge, yeah?”

“I’m in charge too,” James said.

“No, you’re not,” Lily and Sirius said at the same time. 

“Mary is in charge, technically,” Lily added. “But yes.”

“Is there anything else you need done? From Benjy and me specifically? I… I can’t figure out how to ask him to hang out with me regularly. I don’t know if he even wants to.”

“He definitely wants to,” Sirius said, and Lily had to agree with that.

“Yeah. I think it’s the only reason he decided to help with the dance at all,” Lily told him.

“Really?”

James cleared his throat. “Fundraising.”

“What?” Lily said, turning to him.

“He could do the fundraising with Benjy. It would be a lot of time the two could spend together, and it’s something off your plate.”

“I don’t need anything off my plate,” Lily said. Sure, she hadn’t quite figured out a plan for how to get the money yet, but she was working on it.

“Oh, but… please?” Peter said, and Lily remembered that he wanted to do more. 

“You’re not allowed to accept any money from James or Sirius,” Lily told him. If she was no longer in charge of collecting the money, then she had little doubt that the two of them would swoop in immediately. 

“Deal.”

Lily smiled. “I’ll let Benjy know soon.”

“God Bless you.”

Lunch passed smoothly after that with light conversation. Lily was just thankful that it wasn’t focused so much on her anymore. Mary joined them for a little bit, but she was off running around with Emmeline for the most part. Lily was going to need to ask her if there were any developments on that front.

Lily waited less than a minute after James left, realizing she needed to give him back his sweatshirt. She was honestly glad she forgot; Marlene would have made another big deal out of nothing.

“Potter,” she said to get his attention. He was on his way to class, but he stopped and turned at the sound of his name. 

“Miss me already, Evans?”

“Just so much,” she said sarcastically. “I have your sweatshirt, actually.”

She moved to pull it out of her backpack when he stopped her.

“Keep it.”

“What?”

James smiled. “I said keep it.”

“Why would I keep it?”

“Because it looks good on you.”

“I- it’s yours.”

“And I’m telling you to keep it.”

“But-”

“You can wear it tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“To the game. It’s red. It belongs to a quidditch player. All the luck we could need.”

Lily blinked, very confused by this whole exchange. “You don’t want it back?” she asked again.

James took a step forward, closing some of the distance between them. “I want you to wear it to the game tonight.”

“Why?”

“I already told you why.”

“For luck?”

“Yes, and because, like I said, you look good in it.”

Lily was vaguely aware that James was complimenting her, but her brain honestly could not keep up. “What?”

“So you’ll wear it tonight?”

“To the game?”

“Yes. To the game.”

“For luck?”

James laughed. “Evans? Are you okay?”

Was she? Her mind was still stuck if she’s honest. It’s been stuck for about twelve hours now, when James said she was beautiful. Did he mean it? Did he mean it like that?

“You flirt with me,” Lily said. It wasn’t so much a question, more a statement that she had never properly come to terms with.

“All of the time, yeah,” James confirmed.

“Oh.”

“So you’ll wear it?” Lily nodded before she could even think about what the answer to that should be. James smiled even wider. “Good.”

And then he was walking away. He walked through the hallways like he owned them, he said hi to people as he passed. Lily was left standing there, still feeling incredibly confused.

———

Lily went to the owlery before the quidditch game. She had spent too much time going back and forth on whether or not to post the stupid letter, and eventually she just decided to do it. If Petunia decided not to respond, then Lily was just going to have to learn how to accept that. She wasn’t planning on going home for winter break. She had already sent a letter to her mom to let her know, but Lily could honestly use the time and space to catch up on work. Lots of students did it. But because of this, Lily wouldn’t be seeing Petunia for a long time, unless something happened.

So she posted it before she could lose her nerve and made the long walk to the quidditch pitch. 

She was a little bit late, but the game hadn’t started yet. She was indeed wearing James’ sweatshirt. For one, it was red, which means she’s supporting the team. For another, it’s actually very comfortable, a detail that Lily didn’t let herself think about last night. The inside is soft though, and it’s not too tight, practically the perfect fit.

Lily took the open seat next to Mary. She handed her a cup of hot cocoa almost immediately, like it was just second nature to her at this point. It probably was, actually. She had had to start bringing more cups to the game because all of their friends had been clued into her process.

“Is that new?” Mary asked once she noticed Lily’s sweatshirt. 

Lily had wished nobody would have mentioned it, if she’s honest. It was much easier to keep a secret when nobody was asking you about it. It isn’t that she’s embarrassed or anything, she just knows that they will make a bigger deal out of it than is necessary. 

Lily had been ready to brush it off when Sirius became clued in to the fact that Lily joined them, gasping loudly. 

“No fucking way!” he said loudly.

Remus and Peter both leaned forward to see what was going on, and both of their jaws dropped.

“I thought he was joking,” Peter said, sounding a bit sad about it.

Remus nudged him. “You owe me five galleons.”

Peter rolled his eyes, fishing the money out of his pocket and handing it to him.

“What is going on?” Mary asked.

Sirius grinned, throwing an arm around Mary’s shoulder and turning them so they were both facing Lily a bit more. “That, there, that’s James’ sweatshirt,” he said, pointing up and down at Lily.

Mary gasped. “You were gone last night!” she said like she had just remembered. 

Lily turned to the pitch even though nothing was happening yet. She thought that maybe, if she ignored them, they would get bored of their obsession with this.

“And you didn’t even bring your homework!” Mary added. Lily always brought her school bag to the quidditch games.

“I can’t believe he actually did it,” Peter said, shaking his head a little bit. “I mean this is like seven fucking years.”

“What are you talking about?” Lily asked.

Peter only smiled. “You already know.”

“I didn’t bring my homework because I have a bet riding on this game,” Lily explained. “That’s all.”

“And the sweatshirt?” Remus asked with a little tilt of his head.

“It’s red and it’s warm. That’s all.”

“Sure, sure,” Mary said, nodding her head in a slightly patronizing way.

Lily really had no interest in quidditch. That still hasn’t changed. Today, though, she has something to pay attention to. James. Well, how many goals James scores. Of course her eyes are tracking him for most of the game. He starts out very well, and he must have talked to the other chasers, because they all seem to be passing him the quaffle the second he gets close enough. Not even twenty minutes in and James has gotten six goals. It’s already not looking good for Lily.

“Want some?” Mary asked her a little bit into the game. She had a little flask hidden in her coat, and she was pouring some of whatever was in it into her cup of cocoa.

“Please,” Lily said with a smile, holding her cup closer.

She was actually glad for the alcohol, as it always warmed her up more. It wasn’t unbearably cold; just the faintest whisper of an incoming winter.

“He got another one,” Sirius said, noticing that Lily wasn’t paying attention at that moment.

She looked up for proof, and Gryffindor did score again. She groaned. “Is he fucking joking?”

“Never bet against James when it comes to quidditch,” Sirius said with a shrug.

“I’m seeing that,” she mumbled, taking a sip of her cocoa. 

Slytherin was scoring too. The score was actually pretty close at 120-100 with Slytherin in the lead. James had gotten nine out of ten of the goals, and Lily was going to go insane. He flew around the pitch like it was what he was born to do. When they went flying last night she could tell that he was holding back for her sake. He didn’t go nearly as fast as he clearly could, and Lily was thankful. She probably would have thrown up if they were flying at speeds like that.

Now there was no holding back. James was focused when he played quidditch, but he smiled every time he passed Marlene, and he shouted a little every time he got a goal. Lily had never seen anyone have as much passion for the sport as James did.

Gryffindor had pulled ahead eventually, the score becoming 180-170 another half hour later. James had sixteen goals. He had already scored more than he had in the last game, which, again, was not good for Lily.

“They really haven’t even seen the snitch yet?” Lily asked. She did not want to tell the entire Great Hall that she thought James was impressive. At this point it wouldn’t even be a lie, which was somehow worse. 

“Not even once,” Peter informed her.

Lily was on her third cup of alcohol infused hot chocolate. She felt warm from the inside out, and her cheeks were incredibly warm. She debated taking off the sweatshirt, but she knew that the warmth she felt wasn’t real, and it was too cold for short sleeves.

It wasn’t until James had scored twenty goals that it seemed that Regulus had caught sight of the snitch, shooting after it. Lily felt herself rooting for him, begging for him to reach out and grab it. He was close enough, anyway. Why hasn’t he grabbed it?

Lily brought her eyes to James, and he was making his way over to the goal posts with the quaffle with hardly any interference. It went right through just seconds before Regulus Black got hold of the snitch, ending the game.

Most of the stands erupted into cheers, and Lily just stood there with her jaw dropped a little bit. James had looked over to her the moment he scored his twenty first goal, a grin on his face. He didn’t even look a little bit sad that Gryffindor lost.

“C’mon,” Mary said, trying to shuffle Lily out of the stands with everyone else.

Her first instinct had been to go find Marlene, like they always did after games, but Mary put her arm out to stop her.

“I’m not sure she needs us to console her,” Mary said.

Lily squinted a little to see better, and yup, sure enough Dorcas Meadowes had got there first. Marlene was smiling, clearly flirting, and Dorcas didn’t seem to be pushing her away. Lily actually gasped when she saw Dorcas drag Marlene in for a kiss; Mary started hollering at them. 

“Finally, right?”

James was just suddenly behind them, and Mary decided to pick right then and there to make herself very scarce.

“Yeah,” Lily said, turning around and taking a step back so she could look at him. “Finally,” she agreed.

“So,” James said, trailing off a little bit, his smile growing. Lily already knew what he was going to say.

“Don’t.”

“Did you enjoy the game?”

“I hate you.”

“You were paying attention, then. I assume.”

“Yes.”

“Good. Good.”

“You guys lost,” Lily pointed out. This only made James smile more.

He shrugged. “The team lost, yeah. But me? I won.”

She sighed, shaking her head a little as she tried to accept her fate. “Do I have to?”

“Tomorrow morning at breakfast,” James confirmed. “Bright and early.”

“And if I sleep through breakfast?”

“You won’t.”

“But if I do?”

“You won’t.”

“Maybe now I will just to spite you.”

“You’ll be awake,” James said, more than confident about it. “I see you wore the sweatshirt.”

Lily looked down, almost forgetting about it. After her friends got over it, the fact that she was wearing his sweatshirt was never really brought up again. “You seemed pretty insistent on it,” she said with a shrug.

“I’m glad you wore it.”

“You are?”

He nodded. “Oh, yeah. You were my good luck charm.”

“Was I?”

“Mhm. You’re the reason I scored twenty one goals, actually. If you hadn’t worn that sweatshirt, I would have lost.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Superstition.”

Before Lily could understand what he was going on about, somebody grabbed her arm. It took her only a moment to realize that it was Marlene joining them. Lily wasn’t sure she had ever seen her look so happy after losing a quidditch game.

“Did you guys see?” she asked, squeezing Lily’s arm a little tighter.

“We saw,” James said, a teasing lilt to his voice.

“I can’t fucking believe she made the first move. Figures.”

“How was it?” Lily asked, able to tell that Marlene was dying to talk about it. Marlene groaned, burying her face into Lily’s neck and mumbling something incoherent under her breath. 

“What was that?” James asked.

“Her lips,” Marlene said, lifting her head but still leaning onto Lily. “They’re so fucking soft. I think I died. I think I’m dead.”

“I’d say this is the best game we’ve had in a while,” James said with a little nod.

“Without a doubt,” Marlene agreed.

“You guys lost?” Lily said again, still confused as to how they were so happy about it.

“We won. I won the girl, and James won that stupid bet.”

“I did,” James said with a grin.

“This is cause for celebration,” Marlene said.

Lily shook her head. There was going to be a party no matter what, win or lose. Slytherin wasn’t the best place to host anyway, and Gryffindor Tower threw the best parties, something that everyone had been able to agree on once James and Sirius ended up being in charge of them.

“You guys are ridiculous.”

“You’re coming?” James asked, starting to be dragged away by his ‘fans’. “You’re coming,” he said again, this time not a question.

“We’ll see.”

James smiled before he was officially pulled away. Lily felt her own smile lingering, wiping it away once she saw Marlene’s eyes on her.

“You like him.”

“Fuck off.”

“It’s not a bad thing.”

“It’s a very bad thing,” Lily corrected. 

Marlene sighed. “Come on, let’s go get ready.”

———

Lily had every intention of not going to the party, if she’s honest. 

She was a bit tired, and an early night sounded nice. But Marlene and Mary both begged her to come, even just for a little bit. Lily only agreed because she knew that the two of them were both going to go off within fifteen minutes, and then Lily would be able to go right back to her room.

She wasn't drinking tonight either. Peter handed her a coke instead, not even batting an eye when Lily turned down the drink. She always appreciated that about Peter. He never judged, and he never asked questions. He simply accepted things and then moved on.

Marlene ditched them a lot quicker than Lily had originally guessed. The moment Dorcas walked into the room they just sort of gravitated to each other. They were talking quietly in the corner, secret touches and shy smiles. Lily looked away, letting them have their moment with each other.

“That Ravenclaw has been staring at you since you walked downstairs,” Mary said, subtly pointing in the direction of a boy that Lily doesn’t know very well. He’s tall, which is perhaps the only defining characteristic about him.

“What? Why?”

“Because you’re hot.”

“I’m not-”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Mary interrupted. “You should go talk to him.”

Lily shook her head. “I should not,” she said. She was very sure of that. She’s always been relatively hopeless when it comes to things like that.

“He seems interested.”

“Well, I’m not.”

“Why?”

“Hmm?”

“He’s cute,” Mary said, and Lily looked at him again. He looked away when she made eye contact, so he was a bit shy. He had wavy blonde hair, and he was so tall. He might be taller than Remus, actually.

“Is he?”

“Yes.”

Lily shrugged. “He’s not really my type,” she said.

“What is your type?” 

“I don’t know.” Lily had never thought about it, she actually wasn’t sure whether or not she actually had a type. The people she’s liked have all been very different from each other. Gender has never really mattered to her; hair and eye color always vary; personalities definitely vary. “He’s just not it.”

“When was the last time you kissed someone?” Mary asked suddenly.

Lily frowned. “What?”

“You’re just so private about everything, I realized I don’t even know.”

“I kissed this girl over the summer. Didn’t go anywhere though,” Lily said, shrugging it off. It had been someone she worked with, and they both thought they might as well give it a try. They were better off as friends though. That seemed to always be how it was with Lily. Always the friend, never the girlfriend. She couldn’t even really be upset about it because it was true. Mary was her first kiss in fourth year, and they both decided after a couple of weeks that they were just friends. Then there was the short lived crush on Remus, and again, he was a friend.

“Who?”

“Some girl I worked with. Wasn’t a big thing.”

“Even better reason to go talk to him,” she said, trying to push Lily forward a little bit.

“Talk to who?”

Mary and Lily both turned around to see James and Sirius standing there. They both looked more than a little bit drunk, and they were leaning off of each other.

Lily shot Mary a look, hoping she would know better than to say something.

“The guy who keeps eyeing Lily,” Mary said, pointing behind her somewhere.

James started looking for him immediately.

Lily shook her head. “He’s not eyeing me,” she said.

“He is,” Sirius said. “Even now. I think he’s jealous.”

“He doesn’t even know me,” Lily said. “There’s no way.”

“Everyone knows you,” James said. He had barely taken his eyes off the Ravenclaw. Lily wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“Everyone knows of me, because I’m Head Girl,” Lily corrected.

“So are you going to go talk to him?” James asked, finally tearing his eyes away. His eyes were on her now though; she wasn’t sure which was worse.

“She should,” Mary urged.

Lily shook her head. “I’m not interested.”

“Why not?” Sirius asked. He had that look on his face, the one that meant he was plotting.

“I’m just not.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Think.”

Lily turned, looking at the Ravenclaw once more. Really, it must be the hair. She didn’t think hair that blonde could exist. “He’s blonde,” Lily said.

“You don’t like blondes?”

“Suppose not.”

“Would you say you prefer tall, dark, and handsome?”

Lily frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Sirius grinned, and he pulled James even closer to him. “I’m talking about Prongs! He’s tall, dark, and very, very handsome! And he’s not blonde!”

Lily blinked, and James didn’t say a word. His eyes were a bit wide, and he looked like he was trying to get Sirius to shut up. 

“He’s very much not blonde,” Lily agreed.

“So…” Sirius said with a raised eyebrow. “Why not give it a shot?”

“Pads!” James said, putting a hand over Sirius’ mouth.

“Give it a shot?” Lily repeated. She suddenly wished she had been drinking.

James shook his head. “He’s drunk, don’t listen to him.”

“I’m not drunk,” Sirius said, pulling James’ hand away.

“He’s soo far gone,” James said, starting to drag Sirius away. “Enjoy the party. Don’t forget tomorrow morning!”

And then they were gone.

“Sirius is right, you know?” Mary said.

“That is not a sentence that has ever been true.”

“I don’t know why you’re so against James.”

“Just five minutes ago you were trying to get me with a random Ravenclaw.”

Mary smiled. “I was only trying to get you to admit you like James, actually. The blonde is very much not your type.” 

“I don’t like James!”

Lily doesn’t know why everyone keeps insisting that she has a crush on him. They’re friends, and they do spend a lot of time together, but that’s what friends do. Besides, it’s not like James would ever really look at her that way. Sure, he flirted with her, but it was just a long running joke.

“I’m going to bed,” Lily said a moment later. She had put in the time she was required to, and she really did want to have an early night.

———

It was a bit foolish of her to think she could get away with it. She had planned on staying in bed until breakfast was well over, but James came knocking at their door bright and early, forcing all three of them to wake up.

“Lilian!” he called through the door.

Lily groaned, putting her pillow over her head. “Go away!”

He started knocking more, and eventually it was Marlene who grabbed her wand to open the door. Lily had no idea what time Mary or Marlene got back, but she knew it must have been late.

“Thank you, McKinnon,” James said, just walking right in.

Marlene flipped him off and rolled back over, likely going right back to sleep.

“Go away,” Lily said, actually able to feel him getting closer to her bed.

“A deal is a deal, Evans.”

Lily opened her eyes, unsurprised to see James standing right in front of her. “It’s so early.”

“It’s almost ten.”

“That’s early.”

“Yeah, well you left the party early, so fair is fair.”

Lily blinked, sitting up a little bit. “I don’t think that makes any sense,” she said. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she realized she probably looked a bit insane. Her hair was always a mess whenever she woke up.

“What? Of course it makes sense.”

“So you’re getting back at me for leaving early?”

“Precisely.”

She shook her head. “I don’t understand you.”

“Besides, you’re the one who made the bet.”

“Can’t I do it at like lunch or something?”

“We said breakfast.”

“We were drunk.”

“We still said it.”

Lily groaned. “Fine. Leave so I can get ready,” she said, moving to get out of bed.

“Get ready? For what?” James asked, actually sounding confused. He was a guy though, they didn’t have to get ready for anything. They could just roll out of bed and move on with their day. He moved easily when Lily pushed him out, which basically meant he was walking of his own accord. If he wanted he could have stayed put no matter how hard Lily tried to push him.

“To be in public. I’ve just woken up.”

“But you look gorgeous.”

Lily felt her cheeks heat up, and she just kept trying to push him out of the room. “Shut up.”

“Well you do,” he mumbled. “And I like your voice like this.”

“My voice?” Lily said. They were paused at the door, and James was just sort of looming over her. 

“Yeah. After you’ve just woken up. I like the sound of it.”

Lily rubbed her eyes a little bit, deciding it was far too early in the morning to be dealing with this. “Goodbye, James,” she said, trying to shut the door.

“Fine, fine. I’m going. But you better be down there.”

“I will be.”

Almost the second Lily turned around after shutting the door she noticed that Mary and Marlene were both awake and both staring at her now.

“God. What?” she asked, moving to find something easy to wear.

“What? Are you fucking kidding me?” Marlene said. She was surprisingly upbeat for somebody who had just been woken up by James Potter.

“Did we not hear the same words fall out of his mouth?” Mary asked.

Lily frowned. “He’s just joking,” Lily said, waving it off. 

“He was definitely not joking,” Mary said, throwing one of her pillows at Lily. It hit the side of her head, and Lily just watched it fall to the ground.

“Yes, he was. He’s always like that.”

“Flirting?” Marlene clarified.

“Yes.”

“And you think he’s joking?”

“Yes. Because he is.”

“Lily, babe, he just told you he likes the way your voice sounds in the morning,” Mary said. 

“So?”

“So, he thinks you’re hot!”

“The way you get from point a to point b should be studied,” Lily said. She changed out of her pajamas and into a pair of comfy sweatpants and a sweatshirt. 

“He looked like he was going to literally eat you,” Marlene said.

“What?”

“Did you not see the way he was looking at you?”

“I really do not want to talk about James anymore,” she said, her voice having a tone of finality to it.

Mary and Marlene both backed down. 

“Okay,” Mary said, suddenly getting out of bed. “I’m hungry though, so I’m coming with.”

“Me too,” Marlene decided.

The three of them made it down to the Great Hall about ten minutes later. There were a lot more students there than Lily hoped there would be.

“There she is!” Sirius said, suddenly walking up to her. He put an arm around her shoulder, guiding her to the end of the table where she saw James, Remus, and Peter sitting. “This is for you,” he said, handing her a folded piece of parchment. 

She unfolded it as they walked, and she took her seat a bit distractedly next to Remus. She reread it twice to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. It was a script, essentially, of what they wanted her to say to the entirety of the Great Hall.

“Absolutely not,” she said, looking James dead in the eye. He was sitting directly across from her, a pleased smile on his face.

“You have to.”

“What is it?” Mary asked. Marlene just leaned forward and plucked it out of her hand, a laugh escaping as she handed it to Mary. “Oh my God.”

“I’m not doing it,” Lily told him.

“You have to,” James said again.

“All we agreed to was that I say you’re impressive,” Lily reminded him. She might have been drinking, but she still remembered exactly what was said. 

James shrugged. “I changed my mind.”

“You can’t do that after the deal has already been agreed upon.”

“I can.”

“You can’t.”

James leaned forward a little bit, not backing down. “I can, and I did.”

“This is ridiculous. I’m not saying this.”

“What? Are you scared?” he asked, tilting his head to the side a little. It was genuinely infuriating. 

“I’m not scared.”

“No? You seem scared.”

“Patronizing me will not work,” she informed him.

“It’s okay to be scared, Evans. I mean being this raw and vulnerable in front of so many people is hard.”

“Fuck off.”

“Just speak from your heart.”

“And from the script,” Sirius added with a little nod. 

“Yeah, exactly. Just take a moment to familiarize yourself with it,” James said.

Lily looked down at the sheet of parchment again. “Nobody is going to believe a word of this,” Lily said. She wasn’t exactly known for getting up in front of crowds of people and saying nice things about James.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“You didn’t even win the game. I feel like that should have been part of the deal.”

“Oh well.”

She met his eye, seeing how unwilling James was to back down. Besides, this was technically the deal. 

“Fine,” she said after a moment.

James grinned, rubbing his hands together a little bit. “Perfect. Wormy?” he said, turning to Peter. 

Peter pulled something out from under the table, and Lily instantly recognized it as a megaphone.

“Where the hell did you get that?” she asked.

James didn’t answer her, moving so that he was standing on his chair, higher than anyone else in the Great Hall. “Excuse me!” he said into the megaphone, the sound reverberating around the entire room. Almost everyone went silent, and every eye turned to him. He probably could have done that without the megaphone, Lily thought. James had a way of just demanding attention. “The intelligent and beautiful Lily Evans has something she would like to say!”

James motioned for Lily to stand up, handing her the megaphone across the table.

Lily stood on her chair, regretting ever making a bet that had anything to do with quidditch. The Great Hall was quiet. It wasn’t silent, it almost never was, but it was quiet enough that it was noticeable.

“I have to use the megaphone?”

James shook it in front of her a little. “Yes.”

She took it with an eye roll. “Fine.”

James sat back down, leaving Lily alone with the entirety of the Great Hall’s attention. 

“James Fleamont Potter is the most impressive person I have ever met,” Lily started, reading directly from the speech. She could hear her own voice echoing through the Great Hall, and James had a pleased smile on his face, eyes not leaving her. 

“With a bit more feeling, yeah?” he said to her, his head cocked to the side a bit. 

“He’s sooooo attractive, and the best quidditch player in the world,” Lily said, her voice dripping with sarcasm now. She could hear some people laughing in the background, and she knew they weren’t laughing at her specifically, just at what she was saying. “His smile both brightens my day and makes my knees weak, nobody even holds a candle to him.”

James was still grinning, even with how obviously sarcastic Lily was being. She shook her head at him with a small laugh.

“Thank you, and this was all a lost bet,” Lily added, stepping off the chair so she could sit down on it.

People started clapping, and James stood up, taking a bow. 

“And you all thought I couldn’t do it!” he said over the noise, spurring more applause.

He stood up properly, smiling right at Lily. In the corner of her mind, she thought that maybe James’ smile did brighten her day a little bit.