Letters From A Stranger || James and Lily ||

Murmured Happy Birthdays

Disclaimer : Harry is not mine. But I do pray for a James every day.

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Chapter 21

Lily spent the entire evening in the common room, waiting for James to come down. But just her luck, he didn't. Everyone had gone to bed but Lily continued waiting. Finally, after a heated debate with herself, she decided to go up to his dorm.

She shuddered slightly imagining the embarrassment she'll have to go through if Sirius opened his mouth. But the other option was letting James stay pissed at her and she most certainly couldn't let that happen. So bidding farewell to her ego and dignity, Lily walked up the stairs to the sixth year boys' dormitory.

Luckily for Lily, Sirius wasn't there in the dorm. Peter and Andrew were already asleep and Remus was tinkering with an old transistor.

"Remus?" she called, standing at the threshold.

He jumped slightly. "Lily?"

"Where is James?" she asked, walking into the room.

Remus seemed to understand her urgency. "He's in the ba-"

The bathroom door opened, interrupting Remus. James stepped out, dressed only in his blue pajama bottoms. Lily was suddenly aware that she was in the boys' dorm and James was standing in front of her, his face a mixture of surprise and amusement. Oh, and also the tiny fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt. She caught sight of a tattoo on his side, just above his hip bone before she realized that she was staring. She quickly looked down, suddenly very interested in her bunny slippers, wondering what the tattoo is.

All this Quidditch did him some good. The fourth year girls were not joking when they said he has abs.

You do realize that you were checking him out, right?

Go away, conscience. I have a crush on him. So it's completely normal.

Somehow Lily kept her gaze fixed on his face and managed to form a meaningful sentence. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh."

Oh?

"I'll wait in the common room." she said, licking her lips nervously, feeling her face heat up.

"I'll be down in a moment." he said, putting on a t-shirt.

Face flaming red, Lily raced down the steps. She sat down, mentally preparing herself. She felt the couch dip on the other side and looked up to see James sitting next to her. All logic and rational thought flew right out of the window and she forgot everything she had planned to say.

"James I.. you know... it was..." Lily cursed herself for stuttering at the most inappropriate moment.

"I know, Lily." he said.

What?

"I know how you feel now. It was a shock to me too." he continued, "I don't want our this peaceful relationship to change. So let's just pretend this is nothing and let things go normally, yeah? We can talk about it when you're ready."

Lily stared at him for at least a minute before she remembered how to speak. "I'm sorry. I know I was being rude back then."

"It's okay."

Both of them sat there in the comfortable silence before Lily checked the time and saw it was already half past eleven. Wishing James good night, she went back to her dorm.

That went better than I thought.

Marlene was lying on her bed, already in her pajamas. She smiled casually when she saw Lily but Lily knew her best friend enough to realize that it was forced.