6Chapter five – Dream on
Lily Evans was at the end of her tether. She had ripped two ladders in her tights this morning, spilt her cup of tea over her favourite blouse (a gift from Mary that tailored itself to enhance just right) and snapped three quills in the same amount of lessons. She had docked points from no less than six students for inappropriate behaviour in the corridor and had gained quite a headache from the disastrous day. It might not seem like a lot to handle, but when you're Lily Evans, everyone expects your life to be sunshine and daisies, with James Potter fawning over your every demand and being worshipped as the Darling of Gryffindor. Teachers adored her, lower years looked up to her and her classmates admired her. Even the older years had a respect for the fiery lady with the beautiful eyes and unmatched skill. But today, today was just one of those days.
Pulling her curtains across her bed and lowering her eye mask to block out the evening light, she endeavoured to sleep off her migraine. Skipping dinner was absolutely fine as long as she could just have some peace and quiet. Taking a potion was a last resort; she liked to do things, well, normally. And sleeping was one of her favourite pastimes. Dozing off, she imagined what life would be like if she hadn't received a letter all those years ago. She was thankful to note that life would be exceedingly boring indeed.
Hurrying down to the lake, Lily breathed in the clear Highland air and smiled to herself. It was a perfect day, she was relaxed to the point of laziness and felt like doing nothing more than lying in the grass half in the shade of the trees surrounding the lake and drinking cold pumpkin juice and going over her Charms notes. She wouldn't have any difficulty with peace and quiet, as it seemed like half of Hogwarts was either sleeping or trickling down to Hogsmeade on the other side of the castle. Today was her day. She pulled on her sunglasses and rolled out her blanket, and sighed happily. It was rare to be alone, but she cherished every moment.
She dozed off in the heat, with her notes flapping under her arm and a smile on her lips. She felt cool water dripping on her forehead and it was deliciously good. Just five more minutes... Gasping, she sat up in shock. Why the hell was she covered in water? A shriek answered her thoughts.
Snapping her eyes to the lake, she noticed a group of people frolicking in the water and splashing each other like they were five years old. There was only one group of boys who could be so intensely immature, and she recognised them immediately.
Standing up hurriedly and marching towards the boys, she ripped off her sunglasses so they could see her angry eyes. Shielding her gaze from the sun, she focused on who to yell at first. They were all in swimming trunks, and her gaze fell on Potter. He had his back turned to her, with water glistening down smooth lightly tanned shoulders. His arms were waving excitedly, and she couldn't help but notice how toned they looked. She shivered, and she wasn't sure if it was from the cold of the water on her clothes. He looked beautiful. He was stalking towards Remus now, with that lopsided smile on his face, and his hair was dripping water everywhere...Lily took a sharp intake of breath. He was so perfect, she almost felt like crying for a second.
"Hey Evans! Want to join us?" A happy James Potter was grinning at her knowingly, like he knew exactly what she was thinking. He was trying to tackle Remus under the water, and Remus was putting up a fight.
"I... NO Potter! Let Remus up at once! You're going to hurt each other!" She cried, not wanting to get splashed more but prepared to intervene if she needed to drag him off his spluttering friend.
"Are you sure? Because you know, it looked like you were enjoying watching us... or was it just me?" He winked at her. Her face felt like it was in flames.
"Dream on Potter. Just because 99% of the Hogwarts Girl population somehow thinks you're attractive, doesn't mean all of us are blind, get it?" She shouted at him hoarsely, wanting to run inside and never talk to a boy again.
He just kept smiling at her, and with a cry of frustration, she grabbed her discarded belongings and practically flew up to her dorm room. She threw herself onto her bed, and felt a tear trickling down her face. Rubbing her eyes, she gasped awake. That was longer than a nap, for sure. Everyone knew what came next, and she was thankful she couldn't actually remember the horrific bout of sleep walking that had haunted her. Being assured it was hilarious wasn't encouraging, and she seethed that she had let Potter get to her. It really wasn't fair.
She stretched, and felt thankful that her headache had eased off. Opening her curtains, she was startled to see Marlene lounging on her bed, watching her amusedly.
"Hello sleepy head... enjoy your dream?" She smirked, knowing denial would be the next words out of Lily's lips.
"Dream, what dream? I wasn't asleep long enough to dream, don't be silly."
"Oh, really? Then why when I came in after dinner this evening you were making these disturbing breathy noises and murmuring a certain name? I wasn't sure whether to be horrified or amused that you were finally having some kind of realisation about Potter, even if it is in your dreams." Her snigger was turning into full on laughter, and Lily couldn't stop her.
"Will you stop laughing? It's not good! I was dreaming about the day of the sleep walking incident, if you must know! I WASN'T HAVING SOME KIND OF FIENDISH SEX DREAM ABOUT BLOODY JAMES POTTER!" The door to the dorm swung open right in the middle of her sentence. Trailing off, her mouth hung open in horror. Alice and Mary stood at the door, also with expressions of shock.
Simultaneously, the laughter began.
"Oh, sweet Merlin! I don't think I've ever caught a conversation as priceless as this!" Alice doubled over, clutching at her chest.
"Really, Lily? You had a sex dream about James Potter?" Mary was gasping for air. "I think this calls for some kind of celebration."
"I was not having a sex dream," she hissed. "Marlene misunderstood what I was actually dreaming about, and you caught me denying it!"
All three girls looked at each other and smirked.
"Of course, if you say so..." Alice replied smoothly, biting her lip to hold in the giggles that were threatening to escape.
NYL
Flopping down on the un-voiced-but-obviously-claimed-Marauder-sofa that evening, James took out the Snitch he had pinched from Sirius. Being Chaser meant he couldn't get one from a practice session, and Sirius had yet to discover one of his collection missing. He wouldn't mind. The portrait swung open and McDonald and Prewett came in, giggling arm in arm about some Hufflepuff McDonald was crushing on. Frank, sitting opposite James, raised his eyebrows and smiled at his girlfriend's happiness. Their date had gone well, James had heard from a gushing group of Gryffindor girls who had witnessed the awkward but sweet kiss Frank had planted on Alice after she had apologised several times for accidentally tripping him up. He grinned at Frank knowingly, and nodded in understanding. They'd been after each other for years.
The girls were heading up the girls' staircase, and Frank drew out the set of Potions ingredients he needed to memorise.
James was about to ask Frank if he could go over the potion with him, when a bellowing voice drifted down the girls' staircase. Instantly recognisable as to who was shouting, James and Frank listened intently.
"- OF FIENDISH SEX DREAM ABOUT BLOODY JAMES POTTER!"
Startled, James looked at Frank for confirmation that his ears hadn't been deceiving him.
Frank chuckled. "Well mate, looks like a certain redhead might be coming round! Or, judging by how angry she sounds, she's more pissed that you invaded her sleeping time as well as her every waking moment."
James smiled weakly. He should be delighted, but he would have preferred Lily to think him attractive when she was awake, not asleep. She was better than the girl of his dreams, because she was real. He wanted to be real in a good way for her, too.
He had left Sirius, Remus and Peter to beg more food from the house elves, and knowing Sirius' charms they'd take ages to return to the tower, burdened as they would be.
The Snitch whizzed away from, his mind distracted for a moment. He leapt up to catch it, chasing it to the staircases.
"Please, please, if there's anyone helping me out right now, just let it fly up the boys' staircase so I don't have to explain this to Evans. Please. No? Bloody typical," he muttered, grumbling over the smug little Snitch whizzing up the girls' staircase.
"Frank... I have a problem. Think you can get Prewett to come down here?" he called over to his friend.
"Sorry mate, I don't fancy being bawled out by your girl. You know how they are about female privacy," he rolled his eyes.
"Right, no worries," James rubbed his chin absentmindedly, wondering how on earth he was going to get the Snitch back without setting off the triggered alarm barring boys from ascending the staircase.
As if on cue, the portrait hole swung open and three mounds of food preceded exactly the people he needed.
"Lads, I need your help."
NYL
"So this is the truth? You're honestly telling the truth. There was no hot James Potter doing nice things to you in this dream? I'm disappointed." Mary announced, oh so casually.
Lily spluttered in response. "Why are you so desperate for me to want him? It's not as if he's actually interested in me. Which; by the way, I'm happy about because the feeling is entirely mutual. Even if he did like me, I would still hate him. Completely and utterly loathe him."
Alice smirked. "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." She winked at Marlene, who giggled again.
"You do know that that quote is an opposite right?" Lily questioned. "In context the term 'protest' was meant to vow or confirm. And I'm doing neither! And how the bloody hell do you know Shakespeare?"
Alice waved a hand casually. "Muggle Studies, of course. Useless as our Professor may be, she did recommend some excellent literature."
"Of course," Lily replied drily. "Heaven forbid the Muggle world be interesting."
"It just confuses me how they can do so much without magic, you know? I read somewhere that they actually clean without magic. Do you know how long and tedious that is?"
"Yes Alice. I'm a Muggle-Born. Of course I know how tedious it is."
"Right, right that's what I'm saying! They need us. They can use our help and we could use theirs!"
Lily smiled. "As good as that sounds, it is rather naїve dear. I rather doubt the Wizengamot is going to understand that you decided to break the Statue of Secrecy because you wanted to help some Muggles clean." Marlene and Mary laughed.
Alice tried to protest. "You know what I meant-" There was a loud thump outside the door, and the girls all stopped their chatting.
"What on earth is happe-"
"ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" Came a loud cry, with the girls rushing to the door.
"It's funny, because that sounded exactly like Potter" Marlene mused.
"That's because it IS Potter," Lily growled. They were all crowded at the top of the stairs, not too close to the edge because the slide had been activated.
Lying in a heap at the bottom of the stairs, were the Marauders. Sirius had a black eye, and Remus was clutching his wrist. Peter couldn't be seen, no doubt at the bottom of the pile. And Potter, James bloody Potter, was attempting to crawl out from the tangle of limbs to no avail.
"POTTER! WHAT IN THE BLAZES DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"
James winced.
"Sweetness, hello there! We were just attempting to get up the staircase without drawing to much attention to ourselves, but, like usual, we failed," he called dazedly, looking a little worse for wear than usual.
"I gathered that," Lily replied coldly. "The question is, why?"
A speck of gold caught her eye. Without thinking, she reached out and snatched it. She held up the Snitch triumphantly.
"So this is what you were after?" She smirked, and James decided he did not like that smirk at all.
"Yes. And you as well, which judging by the snippet I heard earlier, things are heading my way," he smirked right back.
Lily's expression grew positively evil.
"I tell you what then, Potter. The day you get me, is the day you get this Snitch back." She turned around and marched back to her dorm. "And that means never, by the way!"
"Bollocks," James swore, turning around and looking sheepishly at Sirius who looked furious. "I was hoping she wouldn't notice it, okay!"
"You owe me one Golden Snitch. And a bloody lot of Honeydukes chocolate to make up for this," Sirius growled.
The girls sniggered to themselves and followed Lily back into their dormitory.
A/N Hello lovelies! I present a very hastily written chapter, as I normally write when a sentence pops into my head and end up writing like a madwoman for the next three hours. And this is the result! So, please tell me if you like it. I do love the Lily teasing, and the James flirting. I was considering doing the lake incident and consequent sleep-walking as a oneshot, but it sort of ended up in here. Do let me know if there are any oneshot ideas mentioned that take your fancy! I wish I owned this world, but I don't. A big thank you to all you lovely people who favourited; alerted, and reviewed of course. Much appreciated, so please continue and let me know what you think!
newyorklover