Infinite

Massive author's note:

Welcome, readers. This is my first Harry Potter fic but hardly my first delve into the world of Harry Potter- think of the biggest Harry Potter fan you know and multiply it and than you get me. I'm a nerd. Hugely so.

So this is chapter one. Bit short, kind of an introduction/preview of sorts. Expect the next chapter up within the week- I try to be writing 2-3 chapters a head.

So anyway:

I support JoRo's statement that Hogwarts has about 1000 students. I know the Wizarding World is not nearly as large as the human population, but I don't think the student body is as small as the movie makes it out to be; I've done extra work on movies, the production staff would have gone nuts if they had to have 1000 student extras. ANYWAY, so if there are around 1000 students, that's 250 a house, 63 kids a year. 5-6 students to a dorm, 12 dorms a year. Phew. Everyone get that?When I visualized James in my head, I kept thinking of this actor and I couldn't put a name to the face until I was rewatching the trailer for the upcoming Romeo and Juliet and there he was: Douglas Booth. There's one picture in particular that I always go back to- I'll post the link on my profile.

And so, onto the story! I love seeing all the favorites and follows, but reviews are a writer's bread and butter. So please, do share your thoughts!

Chapter One

May 31, 1977

Sixth Year

Lily Evans adjusted her school kilt and looked both ways before dashing out of the broom cupboard, her heart hammering as she made her way down the fourth floor corridor. The last thing she needed was for Filch or Mrs. Norris to catch her dashing back to her dorm after-hours. Getting caught after a snob by a cat, that would be a story for the girls.

She stopped suddenly, her eyes perking up, convinced she heart Filch's familiar wheezing coming from further down the hall. She pressed herself up against the nearest wall, feeling the cold stone dig into her back, holding her breath in anxious anticipation. She was about to resume inching down the hall, en route to the Gryffindor common room, when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist. She promptly let out a loud shriek.

"James!"

She felt James' hand press over her mouth and the cool silky feel of the Invisibility Cloak slip around her moments before Filch burst around the bend, his eyes darting wildly around the empty corridor, looking for the culprit behind the outburst.

"I love when you scream my name, Evans," James Potter whispered smoothly into Lily's ears, her knees nearly buckling at the husky draw of his voice. "But I prefer to do it when dear old Filch isn't around."

Lily stood frozen until Filch despondently left the hall (must've been the damn ghosts) before turning around sharply to gaze up at James with an indignant look. He looked down at her with a bemused (and utterly satisfied) smirk. (She hated being so short; Lily, at 5'5'', just came up to James' shoulder).

"I told you to wait 5 minutes before you left. We can't be seen getting back to the common room at the same time."

"Am I your dirty little secret, Evans? Hot."

"I'm serious, James. We can't be seen together and you can't be caught out after-hours. Do you really want a detention the morning of our last day?"

James considered this. "Would be a new personal best," he mused. "And for someone who is so keen to be rid of me, you don't seem to be making a move to go anyway anytime soon, Miss Prefect."

Lily blushed deeply, fully aware just how close their bodies were hidden under the clock. She made a move to take a step back and away but not before James' arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her flush against him.

"I have to finish packing," she breathed as he bent down to press his forehead to hers. "Train leaves at 11 and I'm nowhere near done."

"And I'm nowhere near done with you, Evans," James replied lowly before moving to kiss her neck. Lily felt her eyes flutter shut at the sensation but she gathered what little will power he had yet to take, placed her hands firmly on his chest (Merlin, was he built) gave him a slight push.

"You had your fill of me tonight," Lily said a bit too forcefully. He had cornered her after dinner as she was making her way back to the Common Room with Marlene and Mary and convinced her to meet him in the fourth floor cupboard. And somehow, against her better judgement, she agreed.

"I haven't nearly had my fill of you," James said, toying with the ends of her red hair that hung down well past her shoulder blades. "It was a rather abrupt ending in the cupboard back there."

"If you want a shag, find someone else," Lily said, stepping out from under the clock. James pulled it off his head and rumpled his hair, leaving a strange sight should anyone else come down the hall- James Potter's floating head (with his hair all tousled like he just...snap out of it, Lily!) "This is purely a no-strings, non-sexual one-in-a-while engagement for when I need to blow off some steam."

"A three months long, everyday engagement?" James cocked an eyebrow. "Not that I'm complaining, Evans, you're just sending me mixed signals here."

"I thought James Potter didn't date," she through back, crossing her arms over her blouse. The top buttons were open and the current position of her arms pushed her chest up. James swallowed hard and was grateful that the cloak was covering his pants.

"Like you said, this is strictly business," James reminded. Lily let out an exhasperated sigh and turned, making her way back to the dormitory.

"Mate, where have you been?" Sirius Black was laying on his bed, one hand propping up his head, the other holding his wand as he set a piece of parchment on fire, reassembled it, and set it on fire again. "I thought we were bewitching all the suits of armor to tap dance when Filch went to clean them tomorrow."

James pulled off the invisibility cloak and threw it on top of his trunk (he had yet to pack as well). He fell back onto his own bed.

"Moony, I will actually pay you to organize all my bloody crap," James said. Remus Lupin looked up from his novel, perused the state of James' belongings- spread out all over the room- and snorted.

"I would say that was a no," Sirius said with a laugh. James rolled his eyes and looked to his left at Peter's bed.

"Where's Wormtail?" he asked. Sirius waved his wand and the covers flew back, revealing a sleeping Peter Pettigrew, curled up into a ball with his thumb in his mouth. Sirius waved his wand again, covering the sleeping sixth year back up, and added, "And no way in hell am I packing up for you. I've already got to worry about packing up my room when I get back to Grimmauld Place."

"I still have yet to clear that with my parents," James replied, "so when you show up with all your stuff and my dad drops dead when he realizes you're moving in, don't blame me."

"Even though it will actually be your fault," Sirius said. "But seriously, mate, where were you? Who was she? Last minute shag before we leave this dump for the summer?"

"It's not a dump," James said with a roll of his eyes. "And as for the girl...wouldn't you like to know?"

Sirius shrugged. "Probably my sloppy seconds, anyway," he said with a grin. "I was honored to be Meghan Rogers' final shag on Hogwarts grounds earlier today."

"The seventh year Hufflepuff with the huge-"

"-tits? Yep. She'll certainly remember her final..moments at Hogwarts."

"You're sick, mate. Really."

When Lily came back into her dormitory after her rendez-vous with James, five faces turned to look up her expectantly. Three were her closest friends at Hogwarts, the other two roommates sweet girls- Chloe Armaund and Grace Owens- but Lily wasn't as close with them. As was to be expected; there were over 35 girls in her year, she wasn't going to graduate knowing everyone's most intimate secrets.

Mary McDonald, Marlene McKinnon, and Celia Vance- Emmaline's younger sister- hounded her the minute she sat on her bed.

"Lily's got a bloke! Finally! You've needed a good shag," Mary exclaimed excitedly (not that she was one to talk- her current flavor of the month was the captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team).

"Why is everyone convinced I'm some kind of trollop?" Lily asked with a huff, pulling her blouse and kilt off and rooting around her trunk for a clean nightshirt. "Did snogging go out of style and I just missed the memo?"

"No, Mary just has to live vicariously through you because she's bored with Jimmy already," Celia said, petting her cat, Marigold, who had just jumped onto her lap. "And I haven't gotten any in almost two months, so spill. I want details."

"Leave her alone, why don't you," Marlene suggested, neatly folding a blouse before closing and locking her trunk with a tap of her wand. Organized, level-headed, and utterly in love with her boyfriend of 3 years, a graduating seventh year called Charlie O'Ryan, Marlene often proved to be the mediator when the discussion turned to boys. "So Lily has a bloke. Leave it be."

"Thank you," Lily replied, picking up her wand and waving it once- the few remaining items she had yet to organize flew into her trunk, waiting for her sheets and nightshirt to be added in the morning before the luggage was taken to the station (so maybe she had exaggerated to James exactly how much packing she had to finish- she needed an excuse to get out of the cupboard before her hormones took over her brain and she remained there all night). "Plus, we leave for summer holiday tomorrow. So even if there was a bloke and I wasn't just out late patrolling, I wouldn't be seeing him anyway."

"Prefects have off duty tonight, Jimmy said so," Mary said knowingly. "And that is the beauty of being seventeen now, you can just Apparate should the...need arise to see this mystery man."

"Ew, Mary, you trollop!" Celia squealed. "That makes Lily sound so cheap!"

"Charlie Apparated to visit me all the time last holiday," Marlene said, settling down into her bed.

"That's different, you two are the model of what couples aspire to be, Mary's talking about like, a sex call, or something," came Celia's reply.

"The term is booty call, Celia. Or, scientifically, sex. I know it scares you."

"Oh, shove it, Mary."

Lily laughed at her friends antics but yawned loudly; she looked over to see that Chloe had dozed off and Grace was drawing the curtains around her own bed. Lily leaned over to look at the time on her bedside clock: it read almost half past midnight.

"Alright, ladies, final night as sixth years!"

It was quite odd to think that in a year's time, she'd be engaged to James Potter. But that's a story for another day.

Well than.

Thoughts?

More to come.

xo Bells