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A/N: The sequel is up and running! I apologize that it took me so long to get it up on the website. I've been writing as much as I can ever since I finished Tears on the Balcony but I've just been super busy with my job, writing essays, studying for exams, holidays, and the list goes on. But I've finally planned out how the sequel is going to unfold and I've written a good amount of it that I've decided it's finally time to put the first chapter up! So please tell me what you think and I will get the next chapter out asap. On a sidenote, if you haven't read Tears on the Balcony, you probably should go back and read that one first. This fanfic probably won't make a lot of sense unless you read that one first. And by the way, I started writing both of these stories before and during Half-Blood Prince so it is a bit AU though I have altered the sequel to be correct. So not quite everything in Tears on the Balcony and Kisses on the Balcony might add up.
Just a reminder of what happened in the end of the last story for those who haven't read it for a while: James breaks up with Kristina to be with Lily, and Lily and James finally get together after multiple chances and after Sirius bugged Lily throughout the entire Christmas break about it, only Lily and James' friends plus his sister Dezzy and Remus' new love interest Jillian Greene (a sixth year Gryffindor) know about it, Sirius and Riley are dating but are keeping it a secret from everyone, Remus and Jillian like each other and are not in a relationship but are taking things slow, and Lily runs into Kristina during rounds and they have a conversation that leads to an understanding of each other. Other things to keep noted: Lily is an orphan who lost her family when she was eight, Kay is dating Riley's older brother Lance, both James and Riley have a huge family with lots of siblings, Riley's Gran is pretty much a tyrant who thinks Riley needs to get married right out of Hogwarts, Riley and Rhett Davies had a little something going before Sirius ruined it, and Sirius "dated" Rachael LeBlanc for three months.
Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling who wrote an amazing series of 7 books. It sucks that I'm not her, but I'm not. :(
Kisses on the Balcony
By ByeByeBirdie
Chapter 1: Of Lily, James, Sirius, and Riley
Except for two people, who were on their own, away from the crowds and the chatter, simply enjoying each others’ company.
James Potter sat in his own private quarters reading a book on the couch, while the fire warmed him up. In his arms was Lily Evans, a smile on her face and her eyes closed, resting them before lunch. A blanket was covering her, keeping her comfortable and cozy as she snuggled up close to James.
James glanced away from his book and smiled at the sight of Lily sleeping beside him. He loved just having her by his side like this; her touch was enough to send an electric charge through his body to cause his heart to race. He still got butterflies in his stomach when she reached for his hand during rounds, or when she came up behind him in the common room and let her fingers linger on his shoulders before placing a light kiss on his cheek, or when she wrapped her tiny arms around his neck when pulling him in for an embrace, or when she walked into class and let her hands dance along his arms briefly before taking a seat beside her, or when they were sitting on the couch and she draped her legs across his lap, or when she, most importantly, explored his body in the privacy of their rooms. She was always doing something to cause his heart to race and the little hairs on the back of his neck to stand up without even realizing it. No girl had ever made him feel so comfortable and yet made him still yearn for her whenever given the chance. He wanted to be with her all the time and when he was not with her, he was thinking about her: her touch, her kisses, her smile, her eyes, her voice. It was always there with him, leaving him with an unremitting grin on his face, in which his three friends felt the need to tease him about incessantly. But he didn’t care. Because he had the girl. The girl he was going to spend the rest of his life with.
He started stroking her hair, careful not to wake her, and bent down to kiss her lightly on the cheek. He winced when he heard her whimper quietly. “Sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Mm,” was her simple reply.
James chuckled lightly to himself. “But now that you’re up,” he snickered, “I said I’d meet Sirius at lunch in ten minutes. You want to come?”
Lily just groaned and stirred slightly, not wanting to move from the comfortableness and the warmth of being in James' arms.
“Okay, fine, don’t get up. Just sit there and rot for the rest of your life with no food in your stomach,” James teased, stroking her hair.
Lily groaned again, outstretching her arms and stifling a yawn, before peeking out of one eye up at him. “If I sit here, you have to sit here considering you’re stuck under me. Just a thought before you berate me for rotting on the couch for eternity.”
James hesitated. “Damn, I didn’t think this through.”
Lily laughed, as she threw the blanket off of her and slowly got up, again stretching her arms over her head. “Okay, let’s go eat.”
James stood up and smiled at her warmly, kissing her lightly on the mouth. “Okay.”
She grabbed her wand off the table in front of her, placed it in her back pocket, and offered her hand out in front of him. James grinned and placed his hand in hers, smiling again at her, and they walked out of their private quarters together.
“No way! And we’re just hearing about this??”
“But they were the ‘it’ couple! What happened??”
“No one knows. It’s all some sort of secret.”
“I cannot believe this! This has to be some sort of rumor!”
“Well rumor is it came straight from Kristina’s mouth.”
“Why would she start this?”
“Wanting pity, knowing her.”
“Well she still must be heartbroken!”
“Well probably. The most eligible bachelor in the entire school just broke up with her.”
“Well, we all knew it wouldn’t last.”
“Yeah, he was a huge player before her!”
“I’m surprised he lasted this long with a girl.”
“I wonder if he’s on the market for a new girlfriend.”
“I hope it’s me!”
“James doesn’t even know you exist, Olivia.”
“A girl can dream, can’t she?”
“Maybe James already has a new girlfriend!”
“Oh c’mon, they just broke up. The guy has somewhat of a heart.”
“Well maybe they broke up because he was interested in someone else!”
“Or maybe she was interested in someone else.”
“But from what I hear, James broke up with her.”
“Yeah, why would he break up with her if she was the one cheating on him?”
“Who said that one of them was cheating?"
“That’s usually how these teenage relationships end.”
“How would you know? When was the last time you were in a relationship?”
“That’s not the point—I do have older brothers, y’know.”
“I bet Daniella Skeeter has all the gossip on this. We should go find her and get the details.”
“She’s probably bombarded by everyone in this school.”
“Well what’s three more?”
“Well I think it’s safe to say that James discovered that the whole school has found out about his and Kristina’s break-up,” Sirius concluded, grinning flippantly.
James lifted his head off the table with a drawn-out sigh, rubbed his temples and chose not to acknowledge Sirius’ witty comment. “Who knew that this would be the hugest gossip of the year.”
“Well…I did,” Sirius snickered.
“Yeah I did, too,” Riley grinned.
“Yeah, me too,” Kay Richards agreed.
“Me three,” Peter Pettigrew interjected.
“Actually, I disagree,” Remus Lupin pointed out. “I think once everyone finds out you and Lily are together, that will be the hugest gossip of the year.”
“Ohhh yeah,” the rest of the group chorused.
“Gee thanks, that’s comforting,” James responded wryly, smiling sardonically. “You guys are a big help. I’m glad to call you all my friends.”
“You knew this would happen eventually,” Riley interjected with a casual shrug. “We’ve been trying to prepare you.”
James slumped further down into his chair, a feeling of dread washing over him at the thought of this gossip running its way through the gossip mill. “Yeah, but what you neglected to prepare me for are the millions of giggly girls coming up to me attempting to give me sympathy when really, all they want is to know if I plan on dating anyone else anytime soon,” James grunted.
“Millions of girls?” Lily questioned, an eyebrow raised.
James quirked an eyebrow. “Yeah…you jealous?” he teased.
“Maybe,” she suggested with a flippant laugh.
"Because if you were jealous, I know plenty of ways to make it up to you later,” he whispered mysteriously into her ear, winking playfully at her.
"Well then I guess I am extremely jealous," she whispered back seductively.
“Okay, ew, this is the lunch table and some people would like to eat here,” Riley joked, sticking a finger down her throat and pretending to vomit.
“Aww, are you feeling a little jealous?” James teased, wiggling his eyebrows at her. “I could make it up to you later, too, if you’d like.”
Riley made a face. “I’ve seen you in diapers, James. There’s no way I could ever be attracted to you enough for you ever to make it up to me.”
Sirius immediately perked up. “Oooh, do you happen to have pictures of itty-bitty Jamesie-wamesie in diapers?”
James skewered chicken on to his fork while rolling his eyes. “No way. I burned those years ago in case of moments just like this,” he clarified. “My mom wasn’t too happy with me after I ransacked her photo albums. In fact, she grounded me for a week and I fought back by not cleaning my room. She wasn’t too happy with that either. It started to smell like smelly socks mixed with moldy bread.”
They all stared at him.
“What, I can’t tell you all a little about my personal life?” James questioned with a look of naivety on his face.
“You can tell us about what’s going on with your love life,” Riley snickered.
Sirius snorted. “Which love life? The one the whole school is now talking about or the secret under-the-table one?”
James glared at him. “I never really liked you.”
“Oh sure, Lily comes along and you’re kicking me to the curb!” Sirius pouted, taking a huge bite out of his chicken.
“Lily’s been around for a while, now, Sirius,” Kay snickered. “Six years, in fact.”
“Oh sure, take his side,” Sirius mumbled, his mouth full of food.
James rolled his eyes, ignoring Sirius and returning to the questions in his mind. “I wonder how it finally leaked out,” he muttered. “Aw man, it was probably Dezzy, wasn’t it!?”
The gang exchanged worried glances.
“What?” James asked, noticing the looks on their faces.
“Uh…well, rumor is that Kristina was the one who first mentioned it,” Remus explained slowly.
James stared at Remus with his mouth open, clearly presenting his confusion. “What??” James exclaimed. “Why would she be the one to spread this around?”
“Because she’s Kristina Reinhart,” Sirius interjected, giving James a knowledgeable look. “She likes attention and she’ll go about getting it in any way she can.”
“Kristina is not that attention-driven,” James argued, not noticing how uncomfortable Lily was beginning to feel.
The gang, excluding Lily who was too busy staring at her hands, burst into laughter. “Are you kidding?” Riley snorted. “She enjoys being in the limelight more than a Hollywood actress! She’s seen as the victim here and everyone is going up to her giving her pity, exactly what she wants!”
James shook her head. “You guys don’t know her like I do.”
Sirius rolled his eyes and pointed towards the Ravenclaw table. “I think we know her more than you give us credit for.”
James sighed and glanced towards the Ravenclaw table where Kristina was sitting with a crowd of people around her, no doubt exaggerating the story of how they broke up. “Kristina didn’t mention anything about me and Lily, did she?” he questioned, turning back around to face his friends, again not noticing how awkward Lily was feeling.
“I didn’t get the impression that she knew about you two,” Riley said.
“Oh, she knows,” James murmured.
Remus groaned. “Aw man, you told her when you were breaking it off with her, didn’t you?”
“No, I didn’t; I’m not that stupid,” James protested. “But…I think it was pretty obvious. I think she knew and that’s why she didn’t ask me about it.”
“Well let’s just hope the school doesn’t find out about us anytime soon,” Lily muttered.
“Why?” Sirius asked. “They already know about James and Kristina. It’s only appropriate they find out about you two next.”
Lily could feel her whole body tensing up in aggravation. “Fine, just give it a few weeks until this gossip blows over,” Lily urged stubbornly.
“First of all, this gossip is never going to blow over,” Sirius snickered. “Second of all, why not just take both pieces of gossip at the same time—might be easier.”
“Oh yeah, so I can be looked at as the bad guy?” Lily snapped, harsher than she intended. “I don’t think so.”
James placed his hand on hers comfortingly. “No one’s going to look at you as the bad guy, Lily.”
Lily took her hand away quickly and glanced around to make sure no one saw that. “I was the reason you broke up with her, James,” she snapped. She grabbed her books off the table and stood up. “So the bad guy is exactly how they’re going to look at me as,” she said painstakingly, before whirling around and walking out of the Great Hall.
James was stunned. “What just happened here?” he murmured.
“Your girlfriend just ran out and you’re still sitting at the table,” Riley pointed out, giving him a look of disbelief.
“Oh shit!” James cried, jumping up from the table, slinging his bag over his shoulder and with a quick ‘good-bye,’ ran after her.
He ran into her just a few feet outside of the Great Hall. “Lily, hold on!” he cried, outstretching his hand and grabbing her arm.
Lily turned around, annoyed, taking her arm back. “What?” she asked irritably.
He stepped back, surprised by her tone. “What’s going on?”
She rolled her eyes and turned back around to walk away further from the Great Hall. “Nothing.”
He grabbed her arm again. “Lily, talk to me.”
Lily ripped her arm out of his and gave him an annoyed look. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me,” James urged.
“I just don’t think telling the school about me and you is going to help in any way,” Lily muttered, staring at her feet.
“What are you talking about?” James asked, confused. “Help what?”
“I just don’t need the school to talk about me behind my back. And Kristina also does not deserve to be talked about behind her back, most likely in a negative way,” Lily clarified. “If the school finds out now that your relationship broke up because of me, people will only see me as the girl that broke up your prior relationship. And knowing this school, people will assume Kristina wasn’t good enough for you and it will basically ruin her.”
James stared at his girlfriend, shocked and surprised. “Since…since when did you care about Kristina?” he asked with a chuckle.
Lily sighed and crossed her arms uncomfortably. “Uh…well I kinda ran into Kristina last Friday night on rounds…and we had a talk.”
James’ mouth dropped. “What? It’s Thursday and you’re just telling me this!?”
Lily gave him a sheepish look. “I didn’t think it was important.”
“Okay word of advice: when someone’s ex-girlfriend runs into his new girlfriend and they have a talk, that’s important!” James exclaimed.
Lily couldn’t help but laugh at his shock. “Sorry.”
“So this is all about you not wanting people to talk about you and Kristina behind your backs?” James questioned curiously, knowing there was more.
Lily didn’t reply.
“Lily, there’s more to it than that, isn’t there?” he asked, gently looking her in the eyes.
“I…I just don’t want people to find out about us right now,” she murmured, looking away from him.
“Why?”
“Because,” she replied vaguely.
“Okay, I’m going to need more than that,” he snickered, trying to lighten the mood.
Lily sighed, not caring for his joke. “Does it matter?”
James smiled. “You matter.”
Lily stared down at her hands not responding.
“Lily, what’s up?”
“I’m not Kristina!” Lily blurted out, throwing her hands in the air.
“Uh, yes, I know that. And thank God for that: I didn’t need to break up with one Kristina just to hop into a relationship with another,” James laughed.
Lily glowered at him.
“I mean…what do you mean you’re not Kristina?” James asked sheepishly, feeling guilty for joking around so much.
“I don’t enjoy it when the whole school talks about me even to my face; I don’t enjoy gossiping about my personal life to people who aren’t my close friends,” she murmured, rubbing her temple. “I don’t chime in and exaggerate my part of the story. I usually hide out until a new story comes along, but I’m Head Girl—that’s not exactly possible right now. I just can’t stand being talked out behind my back in front of my face; I don’t want people questioning me about something that is absolutely none of their business. I…I just don’t think I can handle it, James. I don’t want to handle it.”
James smiled sympathetically. “C’mere,” he said, embracing her tightly. “We don’t have to let the school know about us anytime soon.”
“Thank you,” Lily whispered with a relieved sigh, placing her arms around his waist.
“However……”
“They’re going to find out eventually,” Lily finished for him, sighing into his shirt.
James nodded. “Yeah,” he muttered. “How about this—we wait a few weeks until this story blows over, we'll let it out subtly, and then Grant gets hexed into a million pieces and the school will be talking about him.”
Lily laughed lightly. “What makes you think your brother is going to get hexed into a million pieces?”
James grinned slyly. “I’m a Marauder, remember?”
Lily rolled her eyes, amused. “Okay, fine,” she agreed. “We’ll wait a few weeks.”
James smiled warmly and, without thinking, leaned down and kissed her on the mouth, which Lily gratefully received. He opened his eyes and stood back up, glancing over Lily’s shoulder, a gasp emitting from his lips with a curse word quickly following.
“What?” Lily asked curiously.
James groaned. “You know how we wanted to wait a few weeks?”
“Yeah…?” Lily said slowly, before realizing what he was trying to say and cursed under her breath. “Damnit! Kissing in the hallway isn’t exactly subtle, is it?”
“Hm…not so much.”
“Well…maybe whoever saw us won’t tell?” Lily suggested hopefully.
James snorted. “I doubt it,” he muttered. “It was Drew Gilmore.”
“You’re right; we’re doomed,” Lily muttered.
“Thanks man, you’re a big help,” James muttered.
“How bad is it?” Lily cringed.
“Well….let’s just say that Kristina isn’t being bombarded by people anymore,” Remus said sympathetically, lying down on the floor, grabbing a pillow off the couch to lean on.
“I’ll give you one guess as to who is being bombarded,” Riley murmured, pushing Sirius over to make room for herself on the couch (“Hey! I was sitting here first!”).
“Yeah, thanks for not being there for the rest of lunch,” Kay said sarcastically, sitting on the edge of the coffee table.
“Hell, I wanted to be nowhere near that crowd,” James laughed.
“So what are the chances we can hide out here until this whole thing blows over?” James murmured with a sigh.
“Not likely,” Remus snickered. “You have classes all day…and you have a prefect meeting tonight.”
Lily swore under her breath, surprising everyone. It wasn’t everyday Lily Evans cursed. “What are the chances the prefects won’t notice if we don’t show up to the meeting tonight?”
“Again, not likely,” Remus laughed. “You guys run the meeting.”
“Eh…it was about time I quit being Head Girl. I never liked the position anyway,” she teased.
“Was that why you screamed, jumped up and down, danced around your bedroom, and baked yourself a congratulatory cake when you received Dumbledore’s letter over the summer?” James snickered.
Lily pouted. “First of all, it was a congratulatory cupcake; I’m not about to eat a whole cake by myself. And second of all—how do you know that story?”
James wiggled his eyebrows mysteriously at her. “I have my ways.”
“So basically Riley told you,” Lily replied bluntly.
James shrugged. “As expected.”
Lily laughed and James kissed her lightly on the lips, earning ‘ewwws’ from the peanut gallery.
“You two disgust me,” Riley murmured.
“Just because you’re envious, doesn’t mean you have to insult us,” Lily teased.
Riley gave her a look. “Envious, hm? And what would I have to be envious of?”
Kay snorted and interrupted with, “Not being in a relationship even though your Advanced Transfiguration partner is gorgeous as hell.”
Riley rolled her eyes, glancing ever-so-quickly at Sirius next to her, who was glancing back at her. “Been there, done that.”
“You did that for two dates,” Lily interjected, wiggling her eyes suggestively.
“Whoa, whoa: I didn’t do anybody,” Riley clarified.
“Yeah, for once in your life,” Kay snickered.
Riley threw a pillow at her. “Rhett Davies and I did the whole dating thing and now we’re over. Give it a rest.”
Lily gave her a look. “Oh please, you didn’t date—you just hung out together twice. That’s not exactly what I call a relationship.”
Riley rolled her eyes again. “And you’re dating James Potter—not exactly what I call a relationship either.”
“HEY!” James cried, though he couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll let you know that girls have been throwing themselves at me all day trying to get me to date again!”
Lily gave him a look and cleared her throat.
“Uh…did I say throwing? I meant…running away.”
“Smooth,” Sirius snickered, earning a pillow to the head.
Riley rolled her eyes. “Why do you always manage to mock James when there happens to be tons of pillows around?”
Sirius laughed. “What am I supposed to do? Remove all of the pillows every time I walk into a room?”
Riley snorted, rolling her eyes again him. “I was thinking more like not mocking him,” Riley teased.
“Or anyone else, at that matter!” Remus chimed in.
Sirius feigned horror, his mouth forming an O as he gasped loudly. “Without mocking, I’d be…well I’d be boring.”
“I don’t mock,” Riley pointed out, giving him a teasing look. “Are you telling me I’m boring?”
“Yes,” Sirius replied without hesitated.
“Seriously, answer faster.”
“Oh, sorry…” he replied shaking his head apologetically. He glanced towards the ceiling as he pretended to ponder Riley’s question. “…Yes.”
Riley turned to James beside her. “Can you please hand me that pillow next to Lily?”
That launched them all into a fresh wave of laughter, except for Kay who was wearing a scrutinizing look, glancing back and forth between Sirius and Riley. “Okay, this is just creepy. What the hell is going on with you two?” she asked curiously.
“Well, he mocked me after I told him mocking is bad so I plan on throwing a pillow at him,” Riley explained, knowing perfectly well that wasn’t what Kay was asking. "I didn't realize that was hard to understand."
Kay gave her an unamused look. “That’s not what I meant,” she replied dryly. “I meant that I can’t remember the last time you two shared a laugh together. Usually your jokes are insulting and are meant to hurt the other, not earn a laugh from the other.”
“We’re funny. What can we say?” Riley responded casually. She and Sirius had agreed that it would be better if they didn’t keep pretending to hate each other in the public eye. They knew their friends would question it but they knew they wouldn’t figure out what they were doing so it didn’t matter. It wouldn’t be worth the effort to pretend they still hated each other in public; it made more sense for them to just act friendly towards each other.
“Seriously, when did you two become so friendly?” Kay urged.
Sirius and Riley exchanged casual looks and both shrugged, turning back to Kay. “I don’t know,” Riley replied with another shrug. “I’m afraid I can’t give you an exact day or time for that. However, I can say it was sometime in the season of winter.”
“Cute,” Kay replied sarcastically.
“Who cares anyway?” Sirius interjected. “Don’t you want us to be friendly?”
“Of course,” Kay replied. “That is, unless it goes away tomorrow which lately has been the case.”
“It won’t go away tomorrow,” Riley protested with casual shrug. “We have an understanding.”
“Oooh, does it have something to do with the fact that I told you last week you two need to come to an understanding before I throw you both out the window?” James asked, gesturing his finger back and forth between the two.
Riley and Sirius glanced at each other and then turned back to James. “Nope.”
“Pricks,” he mumbled, causing them all to laugh. “Then how come a few days later you two have come to an understanding, the same thing I suggested just a few days earlier?”
“Coincidence,” Sirius replied in all sincerity. Ironically, it was a coincidence, not that the six other friends knew that. “Come on, you’re not that persuasive.”
“I resent that,” James murmured.
“So what is this understanding?” Remus dared to ask, ignoring James.
“Nothing really. Just that we’re going to start getting along,” Sirius explained.
James snorted. “Oh yeah and I’m sure it was that easy.”
“It was,” Riley lied.
“You were never good at fibbing, Riles,” James pointed out, giving her a perceptive look.
“Yeah well you were never good at anything,” she teased.
James pouted. “As much as I’d love to stick around and continue to get insulted by my friends,” James teased, “It’s time for me to figure out what the hell we’re supposed to be talking about in tonight’s prefect meeting so I can run it.”
“Since when have you run a prefect meeting—Lily’s usually the one taking over,” Remus snickered.
“Oh good, the insults just keep on coming,” James replied sarcastically.
“That’s not an insult,” Lily corrected. “That’s true.”
“HEY!”
Lily laughed and kissed him on the lips, earning another around of ‘ewwws.’
“Oh grow up!” Lily laughed as she helped herself off the couch.
Lily offered her hand to him and he took it. “Bye guys,” he said as he headed towards his door with Lily.
“Do you actually expect us to believe you’ll be trying to figure out what the prefect meeting’s about tonight?” Sirius argued. “Let’s face it: you just want to leave so you can snog your girlfriend.”
James grinned mischievously. “Maybe, but if you’d like to stick around and see which one we end up doing, then be my guest.”
Sirius made a face. “I think I’d rather go to class.”
“And that’s saying a lot,” Remus teased, getting up along with the rest of the group to head out of the private quarters.
Lily glanced around the room and snickered. “Wow, I think this is the longest you guys have ever been quiet when in the same room together.”
“No, it’s just because we can’t talk about the usual stuff we talk about because you’re here,” Sirius snickered.
Lily gave him a look. “But you’re certainly willing to read Playboy in front of me.”
Sirius snorted. “Like you didn’t suspect I read it already.”
“So true,” Lily snickered, diving back into her book again, creating another silence in the room.
Which didn’t last long.
“SIRIUS!!” Remus barked, crumpling up the paper airplane Sirius just threw at him and tossing it into the waste-paper basket on the other side of the room, missing it completely.
“Word to the wise: don’t take up sports,” Sirius snickered. “And I was throwing Melinda at you because I thought you might want her.”
Peter snorted. “Melinda?”
Sirius nodded with a cheap grin. “Yep. Nineteen, blonde, green eyes, 5’7”, Aries, lives in Worchester, 34D cup—“
“Too much information,” Lily interrupted.
“And that’s why you shouldn’t be here,” Sirius teased, giving her a suggestive look. “I liked you better when you hated James.”
“Oh and is that why you stalked me over Christmas break trying to get me admit my feelings for him?” she pointed out.
Sirius hesitated. “Do you have to remember everything I do?”
“Whoa, what?” James interjected, snapping his head out of the Daily Prophet. "He tried to convince you?"
“Yep. He totally stalked me,” Lily explained. “Pretty much every damn day until I admitted I fancied you.”
“Not every damn day,” Sirius argued.
Lily gave him a look.
“Yeah, okay, every damn day.”
Lily laughed. “It was rather annoying, if you ask me. I’d be getting ready to go to bed, and there’d be a knock on my door. It would be Sirius with some excuse to talk to me and somehow he’d slip in that you and I were meant to be,” she continued explaining, giving James a gentle smile.
“And did you not realize that?? Was my annoyingness not worth it in the end??” Sirius questioned, giving her a knowing look.
“Sirius, your annoyingness is never worth it,” Remus interjected, furiously writing his essay.
“Shh, we’re debating here,” Sirius shushed.
“I don’t think I’m debating the fact you’re annoying; that's already a fact,” Lily teased.
“That’s not what we’re debating about!” Sirius cried out. “We’re debating about how I influenced you to make a decision about James!”
James groaned. “Please tell me Sirius had nothing to do with us,” he murmured to Lily with a pout. “I don’t think I can live knowing the King of the Sack was the one that got us together.”
“Don’t worry, I never listened to him. In fact, I rarely do,” Lily explained.
Well, I sure as hell am never stalking you again,” Sirius pouted.
"Am I supposed to be upset about that?" Lily teased.
"Yuh-huh! Who wouldn't want to be stalked by me?"
"Me," Remus said.
"Me too," Peter added.
"Me three," James snickered.
Sirius scrunched up his nose. "I'm feeling very unappreciated."
Lily laughed and went back to her book, glancing up at James with a smile.
“So whatdya think?” Sirius questioned Remus with a chuckle a few minutes later.
“What do I think about what?” Remus asked, not looking up from his essay.
Sirius gave him a look. “Melinda!”
Remus snorted and rolled his eyes. “Hadn’t we moved from that?”
“No.”
“Okay, well does it say anywhere in that article about her that she likes to date werewolves?”
Sirius hesitated. “….Yes?”
“Try no,” Remus laughed. “Besides, I have Jillian.”
“I thought you guys were ‘taking it slow,’” Sirius mocked.
“We are,” Remus agreed. “But I think Melinda might tear us apart.”
“Eh, that’s a sacrifice you’re going to have to be willing to make,” Sirius joked.
“Okay, I’m done with this conversation,” Remus snorted.
“Oh thank God,” James murmured, returning to the article he was reading in the Daily Prophet.
Sirius pouted. “Y’know, just a few weeks ago, you two would have been helping me choose Playboys to date. Now you two are attached and no longer any fun.”
Lily glanced up at James with an intrigued look. “Oh, you picked out Playboys, did you?”
James gave her a sheepish look. “Er…oh look, it’s time for our meeting!”
Lily turned over to her stomach and propped herself up on her elbows to give him a knowing look. “We still have ten minutes.”
James hesitated. “You’re going to break up with me now, aren’t you…”
Lily laughed and shrugged. “Could you imagine the gossip if we did?”
“Oooooh, I’ll start the rumor!!” Sirius said giddily, his eyes lighting up.
James groaned and gave his girlfriend a look. “Look what you started, you tease.”
“Playboy lover,” Lily tossed back at him with a teasing smile.
James hesitated. “Er…oh look, it’s time for our meeting!”
“No!” Remus shouted. “I only have an inch to write! I need to finish!!”
“Whoa there,” Sirius murmured. “Obsessed with homework much?”
Remus gave him a look. “Well someone has to be.”
Sirius hesitated. “I’m obsessed with Playboys; does that count?”
Lily snorted. “Not even close,” she pointed out, slowly getting off the floor. She outstretched her hand to James, who took it and let Lily pull him off the floor. “C’mon, we have to go back to our rooms to grab all the stuff. You coming, Remus, or do you want to finish and we’ll meet you there?”
Remus pouted and shrugged, closing up his books and climbing off the floor. “Well I have no clue what to write so I guess I’ll come with you guys.”
“Have fun at your smart-peoples meeting,” Sirius interjected.
“Oh we will,” James snickered. “It’s always fun to laugh at all the people in the school who aren’t smart.”
“Funny, we laugh at those people who are smart,” Sirius shot back, sticking his tongue out at him.
James laughed. “Mature,” he snickered. “See you later.”
“Bye,” Sirius murmured, returning to his magazine, glancing up at his best friend as he left the room with his girlfriend and wondering if it was always going to be that way from now on.
“Is everyone here?” Lily asked gently, as she organized her papers.
No one said anything.
Lily looked up, glancing around the room in irritation, wishing she could have held off one day from kissing James in the hallway. “Well??”
James rolled his eyes when, again, no one bothered to say anything. “Fine, I guess we’ll start.”
They both ignored the twenty-three pair of eyes that were fixated on them and continued with the meeting, overlooking the fact that no one was paying attention to what they were saying but instead were just focused on their body language. “Valentine’s Day is coming up in a few weeks, as you all should know, and we have to decorate the Great Hall,” Lily explained. “So before-“
She was interrupted by Fabian Prewett’s hand shooting into the air.
Lily was taken aback, wondering how there could possible be a question already. “Uh…yes?”
He put down his hand and opened his mouth to speak. “Uh…er…” he stuttered, realizing everyone was staring at him, knowing perfectly well he was going to ask the question they wanted to know. “Never mind.” The rest of the prefects groaned.
Lily shrugged. “Okay. As I was saying, before we move on to talking about graduation, which may seem lightyears away, but in actuality is only a few months and is going to take every meeting to plan, what with everything that we have to do—7th year class gift, Dumbledore’s gift, speeches, setting up the grounds, donations from parents, and especially the graduation ball which will take-“
She was interrupted again by Randy Cattano’s hand flying into the air.
She sighed, hating being interrupted. “Yes??” she asked in irritation.
He slowly placed his hand down and looked like a deer in headlights, as if he was afraid to ask his question. “Uh…never mind,” he murmured. Another round of groans.
James rolled his eyes. “Like Lily was saying,” he continued, when Lily was busy giving a deathly glare to Randy. He ignored the whispers that started erupting, probably at the mention of Lily’s first name. “Before we talk about graduation, we need to plan decorations for Valentine’s Day. We need all the seventh-years to pick up some supplies and decorations on our Hogsmeade trip this weekend. Please pick up a copy of what we need you to acquire when the meeting is done. So-“
Brad Harper threw his hand into the air, interrupting James.
“What?” Lily snapped.
Brad cringed and glanced at Skyler Swenson for help, who was looking terribly uncomfortable at the time. “Er…never mind,” he said in a small voice when he realized no one was going to help him out.
“Oh my God!” Lily cried, slamming her notebook against the table so hard, everyone jumped. “Yes, James and I were snogging in the hallway tonight. Yes, that means we’re not enemies anymore. Yes,that means we won’t be punching each other anymore. Yes, we are officially in a relationship. Yes, that means James broke up with Kristina for me. And yes, we have been keeping it a secret!” she cried out, much to the surprise of everyone in the room, including James, who was smiling at her with much pride for being willing to blurt that all out. “Now, are there any questions!?!?” she barked.
Everyone’s hands flew into the air.
Lily groaned and rubbed her forehead in irritation. “Let me rephrase that: any questions not dealing with James and me?”
Slowly, all the hands went down.
“That’s what I thought!” Lily hissed.
“Now can we please talk about Valentine’s Day before I keep you all until midnight tonight!?” James asked.
No one replied.
“Thank you,” both James and Lily said in unison breathlessly.
Lily smiled at James before going back to talking about the Valentine’s Day decorations.
“Did you see the look on Remus’ face when you blurted out all of that stuff about us?” James snickered.
Lily laughed. “I thought he was going to pass out—I don’t think he ever imagined I could be possible of confronting my gossip in front of a crowd of people. Especially the prefects!”
James kissed her on the top of her head. “Well, I’m proud of you.”
Lily gave him an inquisitive look. “Why?”
James gave his girlfriend a pleased smile. “Just a few hours ago, you said you couldn’t handle people talking about you,” he explained. “I think you have more courage that you give yourself credit for, Miss Tough Girl.”
Lily stared up at him, wondering how she got so lucky to end up with him, and then stared down at her hands. “Well…I don’t think I had half as much of this courage before I started dating you.”
James pulled apart and looked at her with much passion in his eyes, anyone could see that. “How did you get to be so amazing?”
“Again,” Lily whispered, giving him the same look in her eyes back, “I think you may have something to do with that.”
He pressed his lips unrelentingly to hers, running his hands through her hair as he pushed against the wall, causing her to drop the folders and notebooks of prefect papers as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. A moan escaped from deep in her throat, indulging herself intensely within the kiss.
“Oh, honestly, get a room! This is a public hallway!”
Lily and James broke apart, both smiling at the recognition of the voice to be of one Sirius Black.
“Oh Sirius, are you feeling left out?” James mocked. “Come here!” James kidded, chasing his friend with open arms.
Sirius ducked quickly and started running down the hallway. “Get away from me with those lips of yours, Lover Boy!!”
“Don’t tempt me further!” James laughed and stopped midway, letting Sirius continue to run down the hallway.
Lily glanced at Riley and smiled in embarrassment, as she bent down to pick up the things that dropped from her hands moments before.
Riley snickered and leaned a foot against the wall. “So things seem to be going…ahem, well with you two?”
Lily blushed and made sure James was far from earshot. “Shut up,” she murmured, getting up off the floor continuing to organize her papers. Lily paused, a look of confusion coming over her face. “Wait…what the hell were you doing walking with Sirius??”
Riley tried not to show the panic across her face. “Er…just, y’know…looking for you guys.”
“Why?” Lily asked curiously, knowing Riley was lying.
“Wanted to see how the prefect meeting was going,” she said casually, like it was nothing.
Lily stared at Riley, analyzing her facial expressions as Riley avoided eye-contact. “Hm…I know we sorta discussed it earlier today, but I just thought you guys were being nicer to each other; it looks a little more than that, Riley. Are you and Sirius, dare I say it, friends?”
Riley started having a coughing fit. “What?? What would make you ask a question like that??”
“Because before a few days ago, you never would have been caught dead walking alone with Sirius Black through the hallways after curfew hours,” Lily explained.
“It’s not after curfew hours,” Riley only had to argue.
Lily snorted. “And that’s the only thing you have to defend?”
Riley stared at her friend, completely flustered, before glancing down the hallway where Sirius was hunched over breathlessly from the running. “We’re not friends; we’re just friendly,” she eventually lied, continuing to stare at Sirius, whom James was now comforting. If only she had the guts to tell her best friend she was in a relationship. “And our best friends just happen to be dating; guess that brings us closer together.” She shrugged and glanced back at Lily.
Lily wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but she chose not to push the matter further, not sure she wanted to hear anymore. “Well your best friends make a really cute couple.”
Riley snickered. “I’d argue that, but as it so happens, it’s true.”
Lily laughed and linked arms with her best friend, walking down the hall to meet the two guys.
“Whoa, don’t have a seizure there, Sirius,” Lily snickered. “Haven’t run much, have you? Not much in shape?”
“HEY!” Sirius argued. “I’ll have you know I’m in tip-top shape!”
Lily snorted. “Tip-top?”
“What? It’s a perfectly respectable word!” Sirius argued.
Lily gave him a look.
“Okay, well you don’t see me getting straight O’s around here, do you?”
“No, but I thought you knew your vocabulary a little better than that,” Lily snickered.
“Well, I don’t need vocabulary to play Quidditch,” Sirius protested huffily. “And with my tip-top shape, I’m going to dominate next week’s game!”
“I’m sure you are,” Lily snickered. “Well whether or not you dominate, I’ll be there supporting you.”
Riley snorted. “Yeah right; you’ll be staring at James the whole time to bother caring whether or not Sirius dominates.”
Lily glared at her. “Don’t you have somewhere better to be?”
“It’s a Thursday night…so, no,” Riley snickered.
“Don’t you have some homework to do??”
“Probably,” Riley chuckled.
“So what are your plans for the rest of the night?” Sirius asked, stifling a yawn. “Lots of sex, I bet.”
Lily gave Sirius a discontented look. “Sirius, give it up. You will be the first to know when James and I do the dirty deed.”
“Really?” Sirius asked excitedly.
“Really??” Riley asked, shocked.
“Really?” James asked, completely taken back.
Lily burst into laughter. “Hell no!” she cried. “But the looks on your faces were totally worth that.”
James grinned and put his arm around his girl, kissing her on the cheek. “That’s my girl.”
Sirius pouted. “I hate being mocked.”
“Aww, but you should be used to that by now,” Riley teased, wanting nothing more than to be the one with her boyfriend’s arm around her shoulders.
“Aren’t you cute,” Sirius derided sarcastically.
Riley grinned. “Yes, very.”
“Wow,” James murmured. “I never thought I’d miss your fighting but it’s getting rather quiet within our group of friends. First, Lily and me, now you guys.”
“Well I’ll go pick a fight with Remus later if you want,” Riley teased.
“And that’s my other girl,” James teased.