The Marauders: Year Seven Part One

The Eternal Enigma

It was past one in the morning when Lily was awakened by a persistent tapping sound that permeated even her dreams until she could ignore it no more, and she sat up in her bed. Lily rolled and withdrew her wand from beneath her pillow, knocking a stuffed flamingo off the bed and onto the floor with the motion, and whispered, "Lumos."

The wandlight glowed across the room, illuminating all of her school room things. Her bookshelf was overflowing with textbooks and trashy romance novels, the glossy massmarket paperback covers reflecting the light from her wand. On her desk, rolls of parchment and broken quills lay haphazardly about, and there was a good deal of laundry piling up in her chair that, although it would not be more than a flick of her wand to clean and put them away, she hadn't quite gotten around to it yet... On her nightstand, a photograph of James Potter grinned up at her, winking as the corner of his lip got caught up on his crooked tooth.

Tap, tap, tap.

She turned and there was that same face - James Potter was peering in through the window, his features lit up by his own lumos charm, his arm raised to knock on the glass. He saw her looking toward him and he waved, clutching the stick of his broom with one hand, and beckoning her over with the other.

Lily hurried to get up, grabbing her terrycloth bathrobe, and pulling it around herself and knotting the waist strap. She threw open the windows, a gust of cool air coming in that made her shiver and rub her arms to stay warm. Lily glanced down at the grounds far below, then up at her windswept boyfriend's face, his nose pinkened and glasses slightly askew.

"Morning Evans," he said, pushing the glasses into place with his finger, a devilish smirk playing over his mouth and in his eyes.

"Hardly," Lily answered. "What're you doing, Potter?"

"Collecting you," James replied simply.

"Collecting me?"

"Mmhm," he nodded, "For our date."

"Our date?" Lily squeaked, "James! It's the middle of the night!"

"Yeah," James said, "Well, I was laying in bed, listening to Sirius snore, and looking out the window at the stars, and I realized that as beautiful as the stars are, I'd rather be looking at your eyes. So here I am."

Lily wasn't sure if she was more touched or annoyed - should she kiss him or throttle him silly? She wasn't sure. "You bloody idiot," he said, her voice trembling with amused affection.

James's eyes twinkled behind his spectacles. "Alright then, c'mon." He held out his hand.

"What? Out the window? Are you mad?"

"Mad? No. Out the window? Yeah."

Lily's voice pinched, "I'm in my pyjamas, Potter."

"So am I, Evans."

Lily looked and, sure enough he was. They were maroon with golden snitches all over them, like something a child would wear. "What are you? Twelve?" she asked, raising her eyebrow to look up at him, although she found it endearing.

"I like them," James said.

Lily laughed, "Where did you even find them in your size?"

"I didn't." He smirked. "Engorgio, Evans. Are you a witch or not?" Then, as she giggled at him, he cleared his throat, extended his hand again, and said, "Are you coming on our date or are you going to break my heart?"

She smiled, and reached out, grabbing onto his hand, their palms fitting perfectly together. His fingers closed around hers, strong and steady, and he grasped her hand, pulling her up and out of the window, onto the broomstick in front of him so that she sat with her back to his chest, his arm wrapped close around her. She had squealed with surprise as he pulled her out, when her feet left the floor and hung over empty air, and he pulled her tight, protective without being posessive.