Anything

Chapter Four: Together

Lily walked back into the castle with Alice, Margo, Sirius, Peter, and a very pale looking Remus.

"Ok, we'll catch you later at the party," Sirius said, quickly kissing Margo on the lips.

"Where are you going?" Margo questioned.

"We're going to need Butterbeer for the festivities," Sirius winked, disappearing with Peter and Remus.

"I should probably stop them, but it's likely futile," Lily sighed. "Besides, I have no idea where they're going to even get Butterbeer. The closest place is Hogsmeade and they can't get there any time soon."

"Are you coming to the festivities?" Alice asked.

Lily sighed. "I don't know," she answered. She didn't want to see Annabel throw herself all over James. Even though James had said they weren't seeing each other, Annabel's behaviour and loud boosting about the kiss he'd blown at her was making her doubt. Alice had immediately told Lily the kiss was meant for her, but regardless, everyone had heard Annabel's offer of a surprise during breakfast.

"Don't be such a prude," Margo waved her hand. "It would be entirely un-Gryffindor-like of you to not celebrate our first of many wins this season."

"I suppose it would," Lily answered, defeated. She knew her friends weren't going to let her back out of this one. The made their way to the Gryffindor tower, pausing outside the painting of the fat lady.

"Snitch," Alice said, and the painting swung forward to reveal utter chaos in the Gryffindor common room. The team hadn't arrived yet - they were likely still showering after the game - but every Gryffindor was excitedly chattering about the game.

To be honest, Lily hadn't been overly impressed with the win. Her team played expertly, of course, but Hufflepuff had been so terrible it was too easy for Gryffindor to win. Nevertheless, she was proud.

Lily conversed with her housemates for nearly half an hour, when the painting suddenly swung forward and Remus, Sirius, and Peter stumbled in, carrying large wooden crates full of Butterbeer.

"How on Earth did you manage that?" Lily asked, her mouth agape as the boys plunked down the crates and started handing out Butterbeers.

"Oh, we're talented alright," Sirius winked. "Don't ever doubt that!"

Not even a moment later, the portrait swung open again and the Gryffindor team filed in. The entire Gryffindor common room erupted in cheers as the team was swallowed up by the crowd. Lily waited, for what she wasn't sure. She stood beside Alice, just outside of the chaos and observed.

James's hair was damp from his shower, and he was searching the crowd for someone. Suddenly, Annabel all but jumped into his arms and started went to kiss him. Lily felt her heart drop, and she started for the door. Alice gently grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

In the time that Lily had turned to leave and Annabel had jumped into James's arms, he'd disentangled himself from her and said something that made Annabel's face go beat red. He walked passed her without a second glance and approached Lily and Alice.

"Alice," he nodded, keeping his eyes on Lily. "Evans…"

"Congrats on the win, James," Lily said stiffly, not meeting his eyes. She folded her arms across her chest, the sensation of her heart dropping still fresh in her mind. She didn't like this…effect that James was having on her.

"Thank you," James ran a hand through his head.

"Oh, I think Margo's calling me," Alice offered weakly, leaving them alone. Lily rolled her eyes, there was no way Margo had called Alice, she was too busy tangling tongues with Sirius by the fire.

"Look, Lily," James said, moving closer towards her. Lily backed up so that she was against the wall. "I meant what I said yesterday, about, er, Annabel."

"I know," Lily replied, keeping her voice even and void of the turmoil of emotion she was feeling.

"Prongs! Have yourself a Butterbeer," Peter interrupted, shoving a tankard at James. "You too Lily," he offered the second one to her.

"No thank you Peter," Lily said politely, grateful at the interruption.

"Awesome game, mate!" Peter said, oblivious. James sighed, taking the tankard and clapping Peter gently on the back.

"Thanks," he looked at Lily as if to say we're not done talking. Lily shrugged and made her escape, joining Alice by the hearth.

"Frank used to love these celebrations," Alice sighed, staring into the orange flames and missing her fiancé. "I won't lie, as much as I love Hogwarts, it's just not the same as it was before. With him here."

Lily couldn't think of a single thing to say, so she gently rubbed Alice's back. "It will be Christmas break before you know it."

The festivities in the Gryffindor common room lasted until nearly 10pm, when Lily finally put on her Head Girl tone of authority and sent everyone to bed with a reminder that tomorrow was Monday.

She hugged Alice and Margo and then yawned loudly. "See you guys in Potions tomorrow," she told them before heading out the door. James said a quick goodbye to his friends and darted out after her, eager to keep up.

A few long strides of his and he'd all but caught up to her. "Evans, I didn't get to finish what I was saying earlier…"

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Lily said dismissively. She was exhausted and didn't want to talk about it anymore. She wasn't even sure if there was anything to talk about. They continued down the corridors to their dormitory, the silence only broken by the sound of their footsteps.

"Phoenix," James said before the frumpy wizard could even ask for the password. The wizard shrugged in his painting and swung forward, allowing Lily and James passage. The walked into the common room.

Lily didn't even have to look at him to feel the heat building between the two of them. Curiosity got the best of her and she looked up at him.

"We should go to bed," she managed, her voice barely a whisper, but she didn't move, not even when James took a hesitate step towards her, then another.

Lily lifted her hand and put it on his chest as if to stop him. She felt his heart beat pounding almost as frantically as hers. His gaze scorched her, set her on fire. It was a curious, pleasant feeling. Lily could feel the warmth spreading, devouring her.

"Lily," James started to say, before Lily interrupted me.

"You called me Lily there…" she commented, curiously looking up at him.

"And?" James challenged, raising an eyebrow. It was true, he'd never called her Lily to her face before. He always referred to her by her surname. He felt Lily's hand tangle up in his shirt and he reached a tentative hand out, tipping her chin so that she was looking into her emerald green eyes. His heart thudded loudly in his chest, this was the moment he'd been waiting for since their first year.

"Lily," he murmured again, before his lips found hers in the gentlest of kisses. James took his time with the kiss, tasting, savouring. He deepened it when she moaned inside his mouth, his right hand tangled in her hair at the nape of her neck as he brought her closer towards him.

Lily lost herself in the kiss, allowing herself to get set on fire by the passion between the two of them. She'd never in all her life felt this way, and she fumbled with words trying to describe it. Perfect was all she could manage, as she fit perfectly into his arms, as his kiss felt perfect.

James was the one to break the kiss several minutes later, his heart thumping wildly and his zipper strained against his arousal. It seemed like both an eternity and also a very short time to Lily. He rested his forehead on hers, his breath warming her lips.

She pushed away from him then, startled with her own body's reactions to the kiss and feeling his arousal against her belly, as he was that much taller than her.

"James I -" Lily started to say, touching her swollen lips.

"Tell me you don't want this Lily, tell me right now," James demanded, his voice hoarse. "Tell me you don't want me."

"I…" Lily bit her lip, searching for an answer. "It's not that I don't want this…or you…"

"What is it then?" James asked, keeping his distance yet gently tipping her chin up so she'd look at him again.

"I'm not…I'm not Annabel!" Lily said hotly.

James looked taken aback. "I know that, I'm entirely aware," he told her, frowning slightly.

"I've never…I've never done this before," Lily whispered, feeling vulnerability setting on her shoulders.

James frowned deeper, confused, as he thought about what she was saying. Suddenly, it dawned on him. "Oh, oh!" he said, letting out a breath.

She blushed then, embarrassed by her own inexperience.

"Lily, I'm not asking you to do that," James told her, again tipping her chin so she'd look at him. "I'd never expect you to do something you weren't ready for, or didn't want."

"I never said I didn't want it," Lily said, barely auditable. If James hadn't have been standing so close to her, he wouldn't have heard it. His desire for her almost consumed him, and he had to restrain himself from scooping her up in his arms and carrying her to the couch to have his way with her.

But he wanted more from Lily than just shagging and snogging.

"I won't lie to you, I want you, more than you could ever imagine," James told her, his voice full of heat. Her stomach tightened pleasantly at his words. "But I want to be with you Lily, even more than I want that. And trust me, I want that a lot," James added, pulling her towards him so she'd feel it.

"You want…to be with me?" Lily asked, having trouble focusing with him pressed against her so.

"This surprises you? I've only been asking you out pretty much every day since First Year," James said, surprised.

"I thought you were razzing me," Lily confessed, biting down on her lip.

"For the smartest witch at Hogwarts, you aren't very bright," James laughed. "Yes, I want to be with you. I want you to be my girlfriend," James added, his voice serious. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but saying that seemed a bit…premature.

"Hmm…" Lily said thoughtfully. "Are you asking?"

"That depends, are you saying yes?" James asked, smiling down at her.

"I suppose I am," Lily answered, without thinking. For once she was following her heart, instead of allowing her brain to spite out facts like how James was a womanizer and all the crap from their past. She was focusing intently on the feelings he arose in her now, the way he made her melt with a simple glace. Hell, even the jealousy she felt when other girls talked to him. She'd never really been jealous before.

"Well then, you can consider yourself James Potter's official girlfriend," James grinned, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead. "But…we might want to lay off the snogging tonight."

"Why?" Lily asked curiously, feeling a little disappointed.

"Because, if you don't stop kissing me like that I'm not going to be able to control my reactions," James whispered in her ear, sending a pleasant chill down her spin.

"Maybe I don't want you to control them," Lily said running her hands along James's hips and looking up at him with desire.

James took a shaky breath to steady himself and closed his eyes. "I mean it Lily, I want to take this slow. I want to savour you."

"Perhaps you should practice some self control then," Lily muttered before grabbing his collar and pulling his mouth to hers. She wasn't ready to stop kissing him yet.

James groaned and scooped her up in his arms, her legs on either side of his hips, and carried her to the couch, all the while kissing her intensely, matching her moan for moan. He fell backwards onto the couch, dragging her on top of him. She gasped, grinding against his hardness. He devoured her gasp, his hands roaming across her body through her clothes.

"Okay," James let out a breathe. "We've really got to stop, please." He wasn't sure how much longer he could stand kissing her without ripping her clothes off.

This time, Lily was in agreement. She knew she was nowhere near ready for, well, that. She wanted it, but it was a scary thing to offer up her virginity. She knew she wanted to wait for the one that she loved.

It's likely that you'll end up loving him, the devil on her shoulder whispered, encouraging her to continue on.

But James had made up his mind. He gently lifted Lily off of him and placed her beside him on the couch, kissing her affectionately on the cheek.

"I suppose you're right," Lily agreed, trying to catch her breath.

XXXX

The next morning, James awoke to the sound of the shower turning on. He laid in bed for a moment longer, wondering if he'd dreamt up last night or if it had actually happened. Nope, it definitely happened, James thought. His imagination wasn't that detailed. His thoughts drifted pleasantly to the night before, to all the snogging and talking he and Lily had done until 2am in the morning when they finally both headed to their separate rooms for the night.

James got out of bed when he heard the shower turn off, and five minutes later he padded down the hallway to the bathroom, already dressed in his school uniform.

Lily took a couple more moments before opening the door. She'd dried her hair with a drying spell, and was already dressed in her uniform.

"Oh, good morning James," Lily said, surprised to see him waiting at the door. Absently she brought a finger to her lips, remembering their heated…exchange last night.

"Good morning beautiful," James said easily, relieved that his voice didn't sound as nervous as he felt. "Did I dream up last night, or did you agree to be my girlfriend?"

Lily couldn't help but smile. "Yes, I did agree," she rolled her eyes. "Must have been temporary insanity," she added, joking, as James gently grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him for another kiss. She felt the heat spread from behind her navel, slowly and delectably like his kiss.

"Would you accompany me to breakfast?" James asked, pulling away and grinning at her cockily.

"Of course," Lily said, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes at how gallivant James was sounding.

She fetched her book bag from her room and accepted James's arm. Before they made it to the portrait, she hesitated.

"What's up?" James questioned, noticing her change in demeanour.

"We'll…we're Head Boy and Head Girl," Lily said, trying to word it properly. "I'm just worried that Professor McGonagall will deem this…inappropriate."

"I promise I won't snog you on the table in the Great Hall," James said solemnly. Lily gave him a serious look. "Come on, they can't put two teenagers of the opposite sex who already have an attraction to one another in the same dormitory and expect them not to get together." James added, rolling his eyes.

Lily pursed her lips. "Can we just…I don't know, not…flaunt it?" she asked, flustered.

"That's the very thing I was planning on doing," James said, brushing back a strand of her hair that had fallen in her eyes. "I was planning on ensuring everyone knew that you're my girl."

"I know," Lily smiled. "But…I guess I just want to enjoy the newness of us without being subjected to gossip."

"Hate to break it to ya darling, but we're already the subject of gossip," James grinned, winking. "We share a dormitory, just the two of us."

Lily let out an exasperated sigh. "That's what I mean, everyone expects this."

"So?" James asked, unable to hide the hurt. "Are you embarrassed?"

"Merlin no!" Lily answered, shocked. "I just, never mind." She blushed.

James's hurt vanished when he realized what she was getting at. She was worried about, well, her virtue.

"You and I know that hasn't happened, and if or when it does, it will be nobody's business but our own," he told her seriously, catching her gaze and holding it. "Our relationship is just that…ours. People can talk, they can say whatever the bloody hell the want, but at the end it's just me and you."

That seemed to satisfy Lily, as she nodded and peeked him on the cheek before starting towards the door.

"I'll still hold your hand if I want to," James whispered in her ear, directly behind her. She laughed.

The Great Hall was already bustling and busy with students eating their breakfast and preparing for class. It wasn't uncommon for Lily and James to walk in together, so nobody really paid them a second glance.

Lily sat down across from Margo and Sirius, and James sat beside her, careful to not touch her. Lily shifted a bit so that her thigh was touching his, but she didn't look his way again. She knew her friends would be able to read them both like a book, so she quickly engaged Alice in conversation.

"Did you finish the Potions homework?" she asked, taking a bite out of a blueberry muffin. She tried not to smile, uber aware of James's closeness.

"Yes," Alice replied.

"Shit," Margo said, quickly grabbing out her Potions book and a few pieces of parchment. She shoved Sirius when he tried to snuggle her. "I need to finish, stop distracting me!"

Sirius grinned and shrugged, then turned his attention to James.

"Something's different about you," he observed, studying his friend carefully.

"Sod off," James warned him, trying not to grin. He'd decided to not flaunt things with Lily, not so soon anyway. It was enough that she was his girlfriend, only if he was the only one who knew about it - for the time being, anyway.

Sirius went to say something else, but Remus elbowed him, silencing him.

The rest of breakfast was uneventful, aside from Margo's frantic quill movements as she struggled to finish her Potions homework.

Lily, Margo and Alice decided to visit the loo before class. James watched her go with a rueful smile on his face.

"We'll I'll be a Goblin's Uncle," Sirius declared when the girls had gone. "Just what in Merlin's beard happened between you two hopeless love birds?"

"Nothing," James lied quickly, standing up.

"We know when you aren't being honest," Remus told him, collecting his book bag off the floor. The four of them stood up, Peter trailing along behind them.

"Fine…" James grumbled. "We're together now, alright? But we're keeping it quiet so don't any of you sodding wankers tell a soul," James confessed.

Sirius whooped, patting his pal on the back.

"It's about bloody time," Peter said, piping up from the back of their group.

In the loo, Lily was having a similar conversation with Alice and Margo as she washed her hands.

"Spill Lils," Margo demanded, arms crossed.

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked innocently.

Alice and Margo exchanged a knowing look. "You and James kissed didn't you?" Margo asked.

Lily opted not to respond as she dried her hands. She fought to keep the embarrassment from tinting her cheeks pink.

"You did!" Margo squealed, pretty much hopping up and down. "You finally did!"

"We're together now," Lily confessed, unable to hide her hopeful smile.

Just then, they heard the sound of a toilet flushing. The three girls froze, they had been unaware that anyone else was in the loo.

One of the stalls opened up, and Annabel walked out. She tossed Lily a pitying look and clicked her tongue.

"What's your bloody problem?" Margo demanded, livid on behalf of her friend.

"Oh, it's not my problem," Annabel shrugged her shoulders. She came up to the sink to wash her hands. "It's Lily's now, I guess."

"Excuse me?" Lily pursed her lips, restraining the urge to smack Annabel's pitying smile off her face.

"Just be careful, dear. James is a womanizer," Annabel told her. "He'll play you like a game of Wizarding Chess, then toss you aside when he gets what he wants from you."

Lily opened her mouth to reply, but Annabel was already stalking out of the bathroom, tossing her brown curls over her shoulder.

"She's just being a cow," Margo told Lily quickly. "She wanted James, and clearly James didn't want her so now she's sulking about it."

"I know," Lily answered, biting her lip. Still, James's track record wasn't exactly spotless, like hers.

"Let's go to class," Alice said. Lily nodded in agreement, scooping up her book bag from the floor and following her friends to the Dungeons where their Potions class was.

As always, they had Potions with the Slytherins.

"Today we will be crafting a rather complicated potion. An antidote to posion!" Professor Slughorn said excitedly once all his students found their seats. "I will be choosing partners."

The class groaned in unison.

"Now now now! Don't be such spoil sports!" Professor Slughorn said, near but giggling. He started assigning partners. James ended up paired with Annabel, and Lily ended up paired with Severus.

Perfect, just great, Lily thought, her mood that had been so happy and chipper this morning completely turning foul as she slammed her books down on the desk beside Severus. Severus pursed his lips, but didn't say anything.

James watched helplessly from across the room, livid that Lily had to work with such a scumbag and irritated at his own Potions partner. Annabel was far too busy trying to stir the pot than focus on their assignment.

"I heard they used to snog all the time," Annabel was telling him, wrinkling her nose with disgust.

"Shut up, Annabel, that's not true," James grumbled, wishing she'd stop talking.

Across the room, Lily was slightly fuming over Annabel's not so subtle attempts at flirting with James, her boyfriend. Figuring there was absolutely nothing she could do about it, she tossed herself into the assignment.

"Do you plan on joining?" Lily demanded, when their potion was completed. She couldn't stand the silence anymore, and the question had been burning on her mind since she and James had overheard Severus with his house mates. Severus knew what she was referring to, but didn't reply. He clenched his jaw instead, brushing back a strand of his long greasy hair.

"I don't see why that's of any concern of yours," Severus retorted. He didn't call her Mudblood in classes, only when there were no teachers around and when James was near. Lily got the impression that he mostly did it to egg James on.

"I'll take that as a yes. I can't believe it," Lily grumbled. "I never thought you'd be stupid enough to fall for that crap. James was right about you."

At the mention of James, Severus's hand stilled. The quill he was holding dripped ink onto his notes, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Potter knows absolutely nothing about anything," Severus said so lowly that Lily could barely hear him.

"So you aren't joining?" Lily persisted.

Severus, again, remained silent.

"Perfect Ms. Evans, Mr. Snape!" Professor Slughorn declared. "So perfect, in fact, I'm going to add it to my Potions supply!"

Lily smiled wanly, unable to rejoice in Professor Slughorn's phrase.

"Just so you know, that's a line you can't ever cross back over," Lily whispered when Professor Slughorn had left. Lily would have been able to forgive a lot of things, especially when it came to her oldest friend. She would have been able to forgive him for all those times he'd called her a Mudblood or was mean to her, believing that it was the influence of his house, but this was beyond her forgiveness. She grabbed her books off the table and stormed out of the classroom.

Severus watched her go, a torn and longing look shadowing his features for half a minute. Then he realized James's glare.