Out of the Castle, into the War: A Marauder Fanfiction

Chap. Seven

In the morning, Lily woke up with James' arms around her, and they were laying on the couch now. Her hand was resting over his heart, and their heads were still resting on each other. She yawned and turned her eyes up, giggling at James' face. His mouth was hanging open and drool was making it's way down his chin. "Potter. Potter." She whispered gently, nudging him. "Potter, you're going to drool in my hair!" She chuckled quietly. James slowly pulled his head up and looked down at her, smiling wide.

"Good morning, Evans." He mumbled, shifting to cuddle her more, like she was a big red-headed teddy bear.

Lily practically melted at James' croaky morning voice and slightly muscular body. After a beat she regained her bearings and nodded sleepily. "I believe it is."

"Mmmm." James hummed, holding his Lily-bear tighter.

"We really should be going." Lily mumbled after a few more minutes.

"Aww, Five more minutes." James said, his voice less rumbly, much to Lily's disappointment.

"Potter, we need to get back to our dormitory, or someone's going to suspect something." Lily insisted. She sat up so that James' hands now rested above her hips, for he didn't dare to let them fall farther.

"Okay, okay." James sighed, a grin playing across his lips. "Lets go." He sat up so that his face was inches from Lily's, and their breaths mingled. They gazed at each other, taking in the landscape of the other's face. Finally Lily pressed her mouth to James' and he fell right in step. They kissed for what could have been three second and it could have been three hours, but all Lily knew was that she wanted more. "We better be going." James smiled, wiggling off the couch. He held out a hand to help Lily off the couch. Pouting, she accepted and allowed James' to pull her off the couch. They ducted out of the Room of Requirement and James' smirk told the whole story.

They raced back down to the Heads' dormitory and stepped inside the golden and scarlet common room. "I wonder why it took so long for Dumbledore to finally repair the fireplace in here." Lily wondered, appraising it.

"It might have been because we hooked it up to the fireplace in Gryffindor common room and then continued to do so." James grinned cheekily, halfway up his staircase.

Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head, trying to keep the smile off her face. They both got dressed and exited their rooms. Lily sat on the handrail and James followed suit, and they slid down. As if in a ballroom, James stuck out his hand and Lily took it. James pulled her in and they foxtrotted across the scarlet carpet and around the set of chairs and couch. Lily threw her head back in laughter and James' chuckled as well. They came to the door and took a step back, Lily curtsied and James bowed. He opened the door and motioned for her to exit and she smiled and nodded, stepping into the hall. She laughed as James closed the door behind them and held out his arm. She looped her arm around and leaned on him as she laughed harder. They both laughed as they walked down to the Great Hall and snuck inside. They joined the Marauders at the table, and Lily sat beside Alice.

"So, how late did you and Potter stay up last night?" Alice teased.

"All of it, technically." Lily grinned back, buttering a piece of toast. "We watched the sun rise."

"Yes we did." James agreed, causing Lily's cheeks to heat up. "And we totally snogged. Twic-" James looked down at his mouth in confusion and opened it again, trying once more to speak. He drew in a deep breath and (it appeared) screamed, but still there was no sound. He looked at Lily with narrowed eyes, and she just ate her toast. Beside her Alice chuckled, but she continued to eat her food. The other three Marauders laughed and pointed at Prongs; Sirius made fun of him and Remus winked at Lily and gave her a thumbs up.

"It's crazy to think we'll be leaving this place soon." Alice said, blowing on a bite of soup.

"I never want to leave." Lily sighed, testing a bite of Alice's soup before getting a bowl of her own.

"Me either." Remus agreed, eating a juicy chicken salad with more chicken than salad.

"I like bears." James mouthed silently, assuming no one was watching. Lily-who could lip read and was staring at James' lips-spit out some of her soup to laugh. This caused a chain reaction of laughter across the table, so that James just looked on smugly at the five of them.

Frank came and sat across from Alice. "What so funny?" He asked as he fixed a salad for himself and looked around at his friends, who just laughed harder. James looked at Lily to make sure her eyes were closed and looked at Frank. He pointed to Lily and then himself and made a kissy face. Frank chuckled and gave him a thumbs up. "Looks like your persistence paid off, Jamsie." Holding her side with one arm, Lily used the other to elbow James. James nudged her back, pretending to look bewildered. They went back and forth as every one calmed down. Soon the table was silent, just watching them with knowing smiles.

"Awwww." Sirius finally blurted, chuckling. The couple looked up with the same playful scowl on both faces. The group chuckled a little more and chatted until everyone finished eating.

"So what are we doing today?" Alice asked, looking around.

"Well, we have homework for Transfiguration, Advanced Potions, Defense against the Dark Arts..." Lily counted off on her fingers.

"And we have Muggle Studies." James pointed to Sirius who shook his head.

"Nah, mate, you have Muggle studies. My studies will be..." Sirius looked around the Great Hall and locked his sights onto a six-year Slytherin girl. "Her. See, I don't discriminate based on house." With that, Sirius left the table, giving James a pat on the shoulder.

"Wait, the Silencing Charm wore off!" James yelled in triumph and Sirius gave him a grin.

"Yea, mate." Remus chuckled. "And Lily and I have Divination." A grunt came from Lily as she folded her arms and plopped her head down.

"How about everyone come to our Common Room? Newly repaired." James smiled, waggling his eyebrows.

"Yeah!" Lily pulled her head up. "We can all study with some quiet."

The rest of the group agreed and Remus, Peter, Alice, and Frank went to back to their dormitories to gather their things and Lily and James went back to the Heads' common room. Lily scurried around and straightened up the pillows on the couch and started the fire. "Okay, let's move these here." She said and pulled her wand out to move the couch and chairs out of the way. She levitated her books off of the table in the corner and placed them out in the floor. She moved the circular table that usually sat between the chairs over into the center of the rug. She enlarged the table so that it could comfortably sit all six of them.

A knocking came at the door and James pointed his wand and it swung open. He remained leaned against the wall, watching Lily. "Partay!" Alice giggled as she entered, her bag bouncing on her shoulder.

"A study party, Al." Lily clarified, sitting criss-cross at the table. She looked up at James and motioned him over with her hand before turning her attention to Remus. Eventually they all sat down at the table, James beside Lily, Remus beside James, Peter next to him, Frank on his other side and Alice in between Frank and Lily. They studied (mostly) until 11 o'clock and the four guests trudged back to Gryffindor. Lily yawned and stood, stretching her arms out. "Potter. Potter, come on." She said groggily, leaning to look at his face. His face rested on his elbow, his glasses askew and his mouth hanging open. Lily sighed and sat on her knees next to James, pulling his arm around her shoulders. "Come on, Potter, time for bed." She murmured, pulling him to his feet. "Okay, work with me here, right, left, right, left." She instructed, guiding him to the left stair case. "Alright, Potter stairs." He nodded and pulled his feet up a little higher, still leaning mostly on Lily. They arrived in front of James' door and Lily nudged it open. She let him fall gently onto the bed and pulled his shoes off. "Night, Potter!" She blew out the candle on his wall and closed the door behind her. She looked out over the balcony at the rearranged furniture. "That can wait until tomorrow." She waved it off and put herself to bed.