Recon
Chapter Two

Lily hadn't thought it out.

Instead of taking advantage of her, James had attempted to take care of her with clothes, privacy, and tea. The second gesture surprised her the most, however silly he had felt playing tea party. But maybe that wasn't what had drawn her - maybe it was his quiet laugh that rumbled in his chest, or the various family pictures adorning his desk. Maybe it was none of that, because she hadn't thought. Her emotions had ballooned inside her, and that must have been what had carried her to him.

His chest was rigid, and though he never made a secret of his toned body, she also suspected he had stopped breathing.

"Thanks," she murmured. The whispered air seemed to revive him.

"Who knew," he said lightly as he draped his warm arms over her back, "that a cuppa could open a girl's heart."

"Huh. So, the tea, you were just trying to get me to take off my clothes?" She could feel her annoyance stirring.

"Technically they're mine," he began automatically, but then shivered as her wet hair pulled away, leaving a cold splotch of near black on his gray t-shirt. She untangled her arms from him and sat on the couch. "But that's not what I meant by it. I wanted to let you alone so I went to the kitchen by habit and, I don't know. Tea," he finished lamely as he felt his words barely clink against the barrier around her.

"I'll be sure to thank the house-elf that brewed it," she snapped.

"Shall I take off my clothes and don my good pillowcase, then?"

She remained silent. He looked at her expectantly, then turned away with a shrug and pulled his shirt over his head.

"James!" she hissed, throwing her hands up with no apparent plan of action. The firelight flickered and teased over the ridges of his body. Haughtily she told herself it was nothing she hadn't seen before - again, never made a secret.

"Relax, Evans. I'm no strip show," he assured with a lopsided grin before spreading his wetted t-shirt in front of the fireplace and striding away to tug a new one from the wardrobe. "I'd just prefer not to look like I've spit up on myself on the off chance that - "

"My dearest Prongs, the night awai-uh?" Sirius Black's mischievous expression, or what Lily and James could see of it through a small hole in the wall, slipped off of his face. Having opened unnoticed, the hole continued to melt the wall around it. What seemed like globs of dark red candle wax fell away until Sirius, whose face had flicked quickly from shock back to mischievousness, was framed in a new misshapen doorway into James's room. Remus Lupin angled his way through beside his frozen friend, then promptly ceased all movement. Peter Pettigrew, behind the both of them, resorted to teetering on his toes to see what was the matter.

Lily shifted in her seat and became hyperaware of the way James's blue t-shirt might be clashing with her hair, of the possibility that she may have developed a great red rash after all. She waited for someone to move, but James too had gone under the spell that locked his friends. In that age of uncertainty, it became ever clearer to her how alike the Marauders were. Their eyes roved amongst each other's until suddenly they all burst into movement, as if they had finished a telepathic countdown. Peter broke the air above his head with two stubby fists. Remus rolled his eyes with good humor and then shook his head at Sirius, who had made a rather obscene gesture with his hips. James shoved the fresh shirt over his head.

"Oy, it's not what you think," James defended as he pulled the hem down over his chest, but the grin on his best friends' faces was proving infectious. Sirius only guffawed and sprawled himself across the bed while Remus strolled over to the couch to sit beside Lily. He offered her a warm smile that made her want to hug him as well.

"Wormtail…" drawled Sirius. Lily, who had opened her mouth to greet Remus, looked up to see Peter spring up from his seat at the foot of the bed.

"Always forget," Peter laughed and scurried to the melted doorway. He placed his palm on the wall around it and smoothed inward with the heel of his hand. The red globs converged from all sides until the wall had reformed, completely solid and smooth.

"Wicked," Lily murmured, forgetting she made a point of never stroking their egos. James tried to meet her eyes, but she refused to look at him. And she certainly wasn't about to run at him again, if that's what he expected. She concentrated on Peter, who had returned to the edge of the bed. String from the bottoms of his trouser legs dangled around his feet, no doubt freed by the shuffling of a boy who was slightly too short.

"Just close the wall as you walk in," offered Remus.

"I don't want my foot stuck!"

Lily was reminded with a shudder of the rumours surrounding Gringotts high-security vaults. The boys were admittedly brilliant at magic, even if they found less than scholarly applications. She suspected if they sold their ideas and creations they could turn a hefty profit.

"Prongs," Sirius addressed James, his handsome face bored of Peter's banter, "Personally I have never seen you look more like a deer in facelights."

"Headlights," Lily muttered.

"Night of romance not going as planned, I see," Sirius continued with a mocking edge.

"Thanks to your tactless arse," James shot back, then glanced at Lily and added, "Not that…" He released a tremendous sigh, annoyed with jumping hoops, and threw himself across the bed. Sirius moved from his spread-eagle to cross his legs and fold his arms behind his head. James did the same, and the boys stared at the ceiling looking rather like brothers. After a while, James opened his mouth again.

"Evans was just in a tough spot," he said, tossing an air of nonchalance over the encounter with the use of her surname, "and I tried to help is all." He turned his head and caught Lily's eye.

She let the corners of her mouth twitch up in a half smile, prompting a reassuring wink from James. Her smile widened and her thoughts were tinged again with the urge to hug. She should just hand them out today - well, not to Sirius for being a git. And the thought of hugging Peter didn't really appeal, either.

"What kind of 'help?'" Peter sniggered, cementing her opinion.

"Oh, do you all have to be such pricks?" said Lily, rising to her feet with indignation. She ignored that no one but Peter had laughed and excused herself back to bathroom, vowing to soon be gone.

"Wasn't me that time," Sirius whispered as he nudged James with his elbow. James grabbed a pillow and swung it toward the foot of the bed. He didn't bother to watch, but listened with a serene expression as a muffled thump was followed by a squeal and a solid crack.

"D'you reckon he hit his head on the bedpost?" whispered Sirius again, who had neglected to watch the action as well.

"Bloody hell, it's not my fault your girlfriend is crazy!" yelped Peter.

"She's not my girlfriend," James retorted quite loudly as he sat up. His glance flickered to the bathroom door.

"And shove it, Wormtail, she's not deaf," added Sirius. "But he's got a point... Moony, talk to her?"

"Me?" Remus had lain down across the couch at Lily's departure and conjured up a book. His eyes remained focused on its minute print.

"You…she's…It might be that time of the month. Merlin knows none of us can truly relate," said Sirius. "And she likes you best, anyway."

Without a word, James slid off the bed and marched to the bathroom.

Inside, Lily was sitting on the tiles. Their voices bounced easily around the marble and slammed into her ears. Crazy? She could go outside and punch Pettigrew, maybe fix up his rat nose. But that would probably alienate the boys forever. She might disapprove of their actions, despise their arrogance, and dodge Potter, but she couldn't deny they were a fun lot. With all her stress, maybe she was being a bit moody. Or, fine - crazy, but only from a callous, ignorant viewpoint. Regardless, maybe some fun was what she needed.

And besides, her project wasn't going to complete itself.

"Lily?"

She made up her mind, or rather surrendered herself to impulse. When she opened the door, James clutched a hand to either side of the doorframe.

"Lily," he began, but faltered as his insides were warmed by her soft smile. She grasped his arm lightly and tugged on it to free his grip. Her hand slipped down to his, and he let her guide it away from the doorframe as she slipped out between it and him. Strolling to the middle of the room, she felt his fingers gently hold on, leave the ghost of a squeeze, before he let go and their hands fell to their sides.

"On second thought, can I stay?" she said airily to no one in particular, concentrating on the big yellow fireflies flickering in the clear night, mingling with the stars.

Sirius whooped and clambered off the bed to sling an affectionate arm over her.

"The night awaits!" he cried and waved an arm panoramically across the windowpanes. He grinned at her, then snatched his arm from her shoulders to catch the broomstick tossed to him.

James handed Lily one as well, murmuring, "My favorite old broom." The sleek wood was warm where he had held it.

Remus had thrown the vast windows open; the room swelled with the hum of cicadas and the sweet air that clung to their skin. The five of them, including a very sullen Peter, lined up. James was first to glide outside, and courtesy let Lily take off behind him. Again, she didn't think, and let excitement shiver in her stomach. She glanced down once, at the pattern of light from James's room that cast long shadows across the grass. Her gaze rested on the vines snaking in the dirt, then drifted away and rose to the yellow sliver of moon.

Author's Note: Thank you so much to anyone who visited, skimmed, read, reviewed, alerted, favorited, c2'd, anything, etc. I wrote this a little fast because I remembered I didn't want to let it recede too far before updating. Tell me what you think: please review! It'd only take a few seconds more than alerting or anything else. I like to hear all opinions.