A Very Interesting Piano Lesson

Disclaimer: Now, I want you to tell me the truth. Would I really be JK Rowling? No. Why? Because I'm not a supreme writing goddess.

Another Disclaimer: All music is by Alex and Sierra.

Author's Note: Happy Jilytober! Fun Fact: I thought of this in the shower, where all good ideas come to life! Also, I'm mad at my freakishly annoying sister!

Story time, guys. I am ya girl, Parvati Patil, and I have a very annoying twin named Padma Patil.

One day, Padma decided to write a story for Jilytober. She told me, I said OK. However, she wrote it WITHOUT ME! HOW DARE SHE! You're on my side, right?

So here I am, fuming and writing a short one-shot for Jily, which is totally gonna be better than Padma's story, because that's not childish.

*entire fandom rolls their eyes* It's not!

Anyways, enjoy! (More than Padma's story!)

Our story begins with a very angry, very tired redhead, with very red eyes. Why is this redhead fuming, you may ask? Well, a) she just failed her Transfiguration test she had stayed up all night studying for, b) bloody James Potter had gotten 12 hours of sleep, c) 3 proposals to the New Year's Ball, and d) passed the bloody test with a bloody 'O'. How dare he! How dare he have a stable brain and incessant charm! And how dare he work his charm on a very annoyed redhead, Lily Evans!

Lily Evans had absolutely hated, absolutely despised, James Potter, prepared and ready for her last year of torture she'd have to spend with him, now that he was Head Boy. But she was completely unprepared for this.

A sweet, sensitive, caring James Potter, who had stopped hexing first years for the fun of it, stopped bullying innocent students, took responsibility for his actions, was responsible, and best (or worst?) of all, stopped asking her out. And you know what? Quidditch was serving him well, too. The only thing he hadn't stopped was the non-stop hair rustling. And, sadly, she found that attractive too.

So, here she was, dragging her bag down the hall, back to the noisy Gryffindor room, straight to her dorm and then, bed. However, her tired mind betrayed her and she ended up right back in front of the empty Transfiguration classroom.

Now, even more annoyed, she groaned and tromped back the other way. Then she stopped.

Why?

Soft music was floating down from the end of the hall, right into Lily's ears. Now, Lily's biggest weakness was music. So of course, despite her weariness, she started down the hallway, tracing the lovely sound back to its source. Finally, she ended up at the end of the hall, now staring at the deserted classroom from which the music was coming from.

'It sounds like piano,' she thought. She stayed and listened for a while, the tender notes soothing her.

Then started the singing.

I fell in love with a beautiful girl
She still takes my breath away
I fell in love in the morning sun
While the hours slipped away

It sounded male, she decided. The voice continued its singing, unaware that its song was calming a previously infuriated girl. It even fascinated her.

Sometimes when I hear your name
A smile creeps on my face
And for reason I can't explain
It's never out of place

The voice started getting louder, until Lily couldn't bare the suspense any longer, and called out.

"Hello?"

'Cause I love you
More than you think I do
And I love you
Now you don't wan-

The voice stopped immediately, and Lily heard a hurried rustling and a soft mutter before everything went silent.

"Hello?" she called again, this time coming into the room. She was met by the sight of a shiny, black, grand piano. She was so entranced by the piano that she didn't notice, not that she could, as she bumped into something, or rather, someone, invisible.

"Ow!"

She stood there rubbing her head, all the while looking around the room for the object she had bumped into. The problem was, there was nothing there.

Then she shot out her hand in front of her and hit something soft that grunted at her touch.

"Wait a minute…"

She knew all about James Potter and his shenanigans. And one of them was his precious Invisibility Cloak. She shot out her hand again, grabbed some cloth from thin air, and pulled it off to reveal a very trussed up James Potter.

He stood sheepishly in front of her, hand in hair, biting his lip, feet shuffling. It was sort of cute. Her heart was beating so loud and fast that she was sure the entire Hogwarts could hear it.

"James?"

He stopped fidgeting. "Hi."

"What are you doing?"

"Uhhhhhh…''

She watched him struggle for an explanation. Then his face lit up.

"Um, just seeing if this piano still works. Old Minnie, er, asked me to check out this empty classroom to throw out any junk," he finished nervously.

Lily raised an eyebrow.

"It's true!" he said. He went to the piano and a few random notes on it. "See? Perfectly fine."

He made to leave, but Lily grabbed his arm and turned him around a little too fast, so that he ended up a little closer than she wanted, her chest pressed against his.

She looked up into his hazel eyes, then coughed nervously and pushed away. She gestured to the piano.

"Wa-was that you playing?"

"Um…"

"It was, wasn't it?"

He looked down uncomfortably. "Yeah."

Lily's whole face brightened. "But that was amazing! I didn't know you could play so well! And your voice! It was amazing! How did you learn?"

She asked the final question slightly out of breath. A grin had slowly grown on James Potter's face.

"Really?"

"What?"

"You really think I was that good?"

"Of course!"

He smiled at her for a few more moments, until she blushed deeply and spoke again.

"Does anyone know?"

"No. Er, it's just you."

Lily looked at him in awe. She was uncovering a new part of James Potter every day. Then she gasped.

"You have to tell everyone!"

James's grin grew into terror. He grabbed her arm before she could leave.

"No! Um, I mean, don't."

"Why not?"

"Well, uh…" He grew into that state of nervousness again.

"Well, Remus said that if I told anybody, I would turn into a, um, toad, because, um, it's a, er, curse!" he said wildly.

Lily stared at him. It was the most ridiculous explanation she had ever heard.

"Remus said that."

"Yeah."

"I thought nobody else knew."

"Besides him. And you."

"You'll turn into a toad."

"Yup."

"Because it's a curse."

"Positive."

Lily stared at him some more, the burst out laughing. James stared at her this time.

"What?"

"THAT−IS THE−MOST−RIDICULOUS−THING I'VE−EVER−HEARD!" she said, gasping for breath.

"Lily, just, keep this between us, please?"

He looked at her with such sincerity that she had to stop and look right back at him.

She thought.

She thought some more.

Well. An idea popped up right away.

"I won't tell anyone."

Relief washed over his face. "Thank you!" he said.

"If you teach me how to play."

He froze. "T−teach you?" he stammered.

"That's right," she said, crossing her arms.

"Lily−"

"My decision's final."

James bit his lip one more time. Then he gestured to the piano. "Let's begin."

Soon enough, both of them started playing, James teaching, Lily learning. She huffed a few times here and there, but James was patient and kept correcting her. Eventually, her mistakes turned into events of laughter for both of them. In fact, they seemed to enjoy each other's company over the course of laughter and chatter. They even learned a duet, similar to the song James was singing earlier.

James leaned back, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. Lily sat next to him, doing the same.

"She really did that?"

"Yes. And on top of that, she says 'Sorry, I didn't see you there!', then pats my head and stalks off!"

James burst out laughing, up until the point to which he couldn't breathe, which set Lily off again. Once both of their giggles subsided, James wiggled his fingers and set them on the keys.

"You want to play our duet?" he asked.

Lily looked alarmed. "Now?"

"Sure. It's not like anyone will hear us."

"Ok," she said apprehensively.

They started playing the piano, James on the lower and Lily on the higher part. James started singing.

I fell in love with a beautiful girl
She still takes my breath away
I fell in love in the morning sun
While the hours slipped away

They continued, and James flashed an encouraging smile at her. Lily's insides squirmed, and not because she was about to sing. Then, as her part came up, she took a deep breath and began.

Sometimes when I hear your name
A smile creeps on my face
And for reason I can't explain
It's never out of place

"Place," she finished, then looked at for his opinion, instead to find him slack-jawed and his fingers clumsily slip off the keys.

"James?"

"Mmm?"

Lily smiled nervously, grabbed his hands back and asked, "Was I good?"

James seemed to snap out of his trance and nodded immediately.

"You were phenomenal," he said quietly.

Lily blushed furiously and looked up into his eyes. They were an ever-changing swirl of shades of hazel, she noticed. She wondered how long she could keep watching, and her eyes trailed down his face to his nose, his dimples, his lips…

James cleared his throat and she jumped. "Do you want to finish?" he asked, and Lily nodded in affirmation.

They started playing again. And this time, they sung together.

'Cause I love you
More than you think I do
And I love you
Now you don't want me to
'Cause I love you
More than you think I do
And I love you
Now you don't want me to

They finished with a final flourish and found themselves sitting closer to each other than ever, and as Lily's heart beat in time to James Potter's breath, she realized what she had to do.

She leaned up towards him and a pair of lips met hers halfway. She tangled her hands into his hair and he wrapped his arms around her to pull her closer. She traced his face with her hand and kissed him harder, while James imitated her. Finally, grudgingly, they broke apart, each breathing heavily, each of their faces flushed with a happy tinge.

Lily grinned herself silly while James nuzzled his nose into her hair.

She marveled at what she had just done, and at the same time, she was happy she had finally done it.

"Lily?"

"Mmm?"

"Will you go to the New Year's ball with me?"

She smiled up at him and said, "Of course, you doofus."

And, James Potter, grinning, like a doofus, knew that he was helplessly in love with the girl before him.

And Lily Evans, also grinning like a doofus, knew that she was hopelessly in love with an idiot.

It had been a very interesting piano lesson.

Yayyy! Hope you like that fic! Better than Padma's maybe? OK, OK, I'll stop. But seriously, review if you liked it just a tiny bit better than Padma's. Or just review in general! See ya!

-Parvati Patil