The Toe-Rag and the Lily ✔ (COMPLETED)

Chapter 11

Geez, I would be thinking about that kiss for days on end.

"Maybe I'm cracking, slightly," she whispered dangerously.

Lily POV

Why on earth did I say that? Why on earth did I do that? James would be thinking about that kiss for days. What have I done? In fact, not even me. What has he done? How has he changed my mind? I couldn't live like this. I was used to hating him. Liking him was completely uncharted territory. I had starting noticing things that had never been pointed out or made obvious to me. Like the fact that he was actually helping first years around, and probably showing them secret passages, too. He also tutored numerous third years with their Transfiguration, which I thought was so sweet. He was also quite skilled at Quidditch, and had the eight pack to prove it. Not that I was a perv. And he had slight remnants of freckles that used to exist when we were kids. They were hazel just like his eyes. His beautiful eyes. Wait... did I just associate the words sweet, beautiful and skilled with James? Nope, nope, nopitty, nope, nope, nope. A colossal bag of nope. My life was over. I needed a girls night.

The first few weeks of term passed quickly, homework was scarce but work ethic was still high. James and I had watched our groups merge and the gap that existed beforehand was now melting away. James and I were friends, there was no going back. Of course, there was going to be some unresolved tensions, though. I was waking down the old dungeon hallways ready for my next study period, and noticed a small, narrow corridor, with no lighting and one wooden door. James, and the rest of the group who had been waking behind me, stopped in their tracks. I peeked around to see them looking at me curiously.

"I saw a corridor that I've never noticed before," I told them.

"Let's explore, then," said Sirius excitedly.

"No way," I said, "Bag of nope. You're all going to class, and we can explore this tonight."

They groaned. Only they would do anything to get out of class. But, as head girl, I supposed it was my duty to keep my friends in check. Even if I wanted to slack off class. Which is exactly why I quit Divination. And I saw exactly why James and the rest of the boys never did Divination. In fact, James had warned me that I shouldn't take that class when we first picked them. But did I listen to him? Nope. Because I didn't want to believe the stuck-up-rich-boy who had tormented me for two years already. Even though he knew more about the magical world than me. But that was only because he'd been brought up in it.

"I'm sorry, guys, but your gonna have to go to class. I promise we'll come back tonight, you'll just have to meet James and I in our common room after dinner."

"Oh fine."

There were a few grumbles, but mostly people were waiting for the day to finish, so we could come back and investigate. I headed for the common room, where I figured I would get some work done as James wouldn't be there. In fact, I just wanted to swim in my thoughts. That were about James. I had come to the conclusion that I had a slight crush on him. Puh-lease, Lily, I thought, It's more than slight. In fact you probably love him. Now my subconscious was admitting it. That was just great. The last thing I needed was a little crush to get in the way of school work and spending time with friends. I mean the last time it happened, my life was based around him. I was such a stalker. Legit.

James POV

Lily organised for everyone to meet us in our common room that night, after dinner and all of our boring classes. I had to admit, I was slightly happy with the fact she wanted to see it, too. I wanted to know what was down that corridor. Because out of the many years of exploring the castle, we had never found it. So everyone acted normal at dinner, eating as much as possible, then returned to their common room to get some stuff. Eventually, Lily began pacing the room and wondered whether the others were coming. It was a great night to do it, though, because it was our turn to patrol again. Suddenly a rap at the door came and we got going, heading down to the dungeons, talking quietly amongst ourselves.

"Where is it?" everyone asked.

Lily looked around wildly.

"It was here just this morning!" she exclaimed.

"Shh..."

"It was here just this morning," she whispered, "I don't understand how..."

"It's ok, Lily, we all saw it, we know it's here," said Remus.

"I - argh!"

"Shh."

She whipped out her wand and whispered;

"Specialis revelio."

We watched for a few minutes, and suddenly the walls moved, making a small gap that Crabbe wouldn't fit through. We followed Lily down, looking at doors that were small and dusty, old wood. Everyone decided to take a peek in one of the rooms, turning the old metal doorknob, and trying to make the sure the creaking wasn't too loud. Lily gasped and jumped backwards, right into me, when she saw what was inside. And so did I. There were loads of bones on the ground, covered in cobwebs and there were numerous torture devices, I'd say dating back to the 1100's. I hoped they weren't past students, the piles of bones lying on the ground. I couldn't bring myself to think that innocent children had been killed as punishment, I couldn't bring myself to think our founders would do that. I pulled everyone out of the room and we looked in all of the others down the corridor. When we came to the seventh door, we were prepared. But we couldn't open it, or unlock it using magic. There wasn't a key, either. How were we going to get this open?

*Later on, when Lily and James are left alone to do actual shift work*

Lily and I paced the corridors, there was no one about, or least we hadn't seen or heard anyone fore ages. We had caught a fifth year Slytherin, who was heading down to the kitchen for a late night snack. I wondered how he knew about it. It's not like I gave any of our secret passages away to anyone. Maybe it was Sirius. In fact, it probably was. Knowing him. I was currently stirring Lily about something the riled her up, and it was amusing me to no end.

"James stop it."

"Aw... come on. You know ya like it."

"No James, I really don't."

I spun her around and we danced up and down the hallway, ignoring her protests of 'no'. She pushed me against the nearest wall and held her palms firm against my shoulders.

"Lily..."

"James just stop."

I leant down and our breath mingled. She blushed lightly, but didn't object to it. Her hair fell in front of her face slightly, and I pushed it behind her ear, even though I knew she didn't like it. She wrinkled her nose up at me and I chuckled. Butterflies were erupting in the pit of my stomach. I hadn't been in scrapes with Lily like this before. Was I going to kiss her, or was I going to bail? Bail probably, coz I'm a wimp no matter how many times someone tries to tell me otherwise. But I kept leaning closer and closer, lifting her chin up and watching her close her eyes, until finally our lips connected. Her lips were as soft as I had imagined. Though, I wondered why she didn't pull away, I didn't question it. She pulled away quickly a second later, however.

Footsteps were echoing down the corridor. Someone was coming our way.

AN: Hi guys! OMG I have 790 reads! What the actual f? I don't really know what to say in this authors note, but what did you think of the kiss? And did any of you guess which Youtuber the 'bag of nope' quote come from? I wanna see who can guess first. I will dedicate the next chapter to whoever can. Anyway, school's going good, I'm procrastinating schoolwork again, and I wrote something 1316 words for this chapter. Remember to keep the votes and comments up, The Chooper out!