Lake
October, 1977
Lily jolted awake in the Gryffindor common room, as usual, with parchment stuck to her face, as usual, to the sound of the portrait hole slamming shut from no apparent cause.
This, too, was usual lately. In point of fact, lately Lily had specifically decided to stay up late doing homework while keeping an eagle eye on the portrait hole to find out just what was going on. First years were starting to get scared. Fifth years were not helping with their spreading of rumours about the Bloody Baron going batshit every once in a while and killing an unworthy Gryffindor first year in their sleep. However, it was clear that not only first-years were sketched out; lately the common room was clearing out before ten, which was not usual.
Lily, as Head Girl, decided it was up to her to find out what was going on.
James, as usual, was being a waste of space.
"Sorry, got Quidditch tomorrow," he said passively when she had asked him to stay up with her three days ago.
"James. This is more important than Quidditch. Something is instilling terror in the hearts of your fellow Gryffindors."
"Aren't Gryffindors supposed to be brave?"
"Yes. And the fact that they aren't in this situation makes me think that there's something serious going on."
"Look, Lily. I wouldn't be worried about it. It's probably just the wind."
"There's no breeze in here, James. Ever."
"Just relax. Get some sleep tonight. You look exhausted."
Lily had rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure you're really concerned about my well-being."
James had imparted her with those piercing eyes. "You know I am."
And she'd had to look at her feet. "Sorry," she'd muttered.
"I'm used to it," he'd grumbled, and disappeared up the spiral staircase.
Oddly, Quidditch had been the excuse for three nights now. Stranger still, Sirius seemed to find these practices non-compulsory, as he tended to wait until ten in the morning or so to wander out of bed.
So it was just Lily. Unfortunately she kept falling asleep and missing anything that happened before the portrait slammed shut and caught her attention.
Like tonight.
The only difference was that tonight, there were muddy footprints leading down from the boys' dorms and out the portrait hole.
Lily grabbed her cloak from behind her crept out the portrait hole and followed the footprints. The mud, she realized after a moment, was leading her out the castle doors. She hurried along, hoping to be able to see whatever it was that formed the footprints, and sure enough, once she got to the Great Hall she could see the footprints actually being formed. With a squelch, dollops of mud hit the marble floor. Then the door to the castle opened and closed softly. Lily hesitated. If it's leaving, is it really much of a danger to the students? she thought, but then her curiosity got the better of her. She slipped just as quietly out the doors. She looked around for a moment – how was she going to follow the footprint now, when the whole field was horribly muddy with October rains? – but then a little ways down the hill, she actually saw the footprints being formed in the mud. She waited a moment so as not to be seen, then crept down the hill, wincing as her own feet made squelching sounds in the mud.
The footprints stopped abruptly at the lake. This, Lily reasoned, was probably due to the fact that a pair of muddy shoes had been thrown off and left carelessly beside a pile of robes and a light, silvery cloak, which shimmered beside the moonlit water.
Wait a second, Lily thought as she regarded the cloak. That looks familiar…
Something broke the surface of the water. Lily jumped and scurried behind a nearby tree. Even in the poorly lit night, there was no mistaking James Potter's black hair, sticking up somewhat even though drenched, and his chiselled jaw. Lily glanced at the pile of clothing again and noticed a pair of glasses sitting atop the robes, confirming that James was indeed the figure in the water. Lily's shock turned suddenly to embarrassment… if all his clothing was over here…
Lily began to creep back up the hill, hoping she would go unseen, but she knew even before she started up the hill that James was bound to be coming out of the water soon. And sure enough…
"Evans?" His warm voice cut through the chilly night. Lily heard a sploosh as James rose from the water. She froze in her steps, knowing she was busted. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I was following the ghost that's been terrorizing Gryffindor tower," she said stiffly, without turning around. She didn't have any desire to see James Potter naked and hoped desperately that he was getting dressed as they spoke.
There was a sigh. "Ah, Lily. You can't let a damn thing go."
"Why should I?" she said, termper boiling. She turned on the spot without realizing what she was doing and was shocked to find that James was still mostly naked; he held his robes in a bunch in front of the relevant areas, but Lily still turned away in shock and shut her eyes tight. "Something was terrifying the students, I had to put their mind at ease, I have no idea what I'm going to tell them now, it's not going to be that the Head Boy goes skinny dipping in the lake every night that's for damn sure, and for pity's sake James, why aren't you getting dressed?"
"Why shouldn't you tell them that the Head Boy goes skinny dipping?" James asked, and Lily was furiously aware that he was making no effort to dress at all. "Although, I'd take it as a kindness if you didn't tell them, I was rather enjoying my little secret, but there's nothing wrong with it…"
"Right, there's nothing wrong with sneaking out of the castle after hours, which is against the rules, and potentially giving yourself hypothermia, which is against common sense. And Filch is going to shoot you if he finds out who's tracking mud all through the castle."
"Shoot me with what?"
"A gun. It's… nevermind what it is. Why on earth do you… do this?"
There was a smile in James' voice. "One night, about four summers ago, my parents and I had had a row. I went for a walk to cool off, and I found a pond. I stripped down and went for a swim. It was unbelievably refreshing. It cleared my mind instantly. I don't know if it's an enchanted pond or what – I've never seen anyone else there – but it became my favourite place to go when I needed somewhere to think. Just go for a swim in the middle of the night." He paused. "After… after my dad died last June, I started going to the pond every day. I came to terms with his death at that pond. I found when I got back to Hogwarts last month that I felt a bit off, so one night I came down here to go for a dip. This lake is almost as good as my pond back home."
Lily was silent. "That's actually quite a touching story," she said at last.
"I keep telling you, Evans, I'm not a bad guy."
Lily smiled and turned to regard James, but he was just as clad as he had been five minutes ago. "James! Get dressed!"
"Well, there's a second part of the ritual, see," James said, his voice oozing with arrogance. "After I get out of the pond, I just put on my shoes and Invisibility Cloak here and walk back to Gryffindor tower otherwise naked."
Lily shook her head. "I can't believe you."
"You should really join me sometime."
"In your dreams, Potter."
"Myrtle might get jealous though… she really seems to like my –"
Lily gave a noise of disgust and turned to leave.
"I hope your curiosity is satisfied!" he called softly after her.
She turned around and stared at him, scandalized, not even caring how clad he was. "I didn't even look!"
James gave a sudden burst of laughter. "Lily, that's not even what I meant! I was only talking about the mystery of who was walking through the portrait hole!"
Lily regarded him contemptuously, trying not to let her eyes linger on his muscular legs or well-toned chest, and turned and walked back up to the castle.
The next day, she informed the students that she'd had a chat with Peeves, and that if anyone felt him in the room, they should throw large and heavy objects at him.
James' excursions went much more unnoticed after that.