04.
Spreading Darkness continued...
The rest of the week went by without too much drama - no more messages written in blood appeared on the walls of the school, and the Slytherins remained remotely well-behaved. James bothered Lily but he never took it too far, always stopping whenever she got really frustrated and even walked on eggshells around her when she was annoyed, rather than pushing it farther. Sirius and James didn't pull any embarrassing pranks on guys who glanced at Lily, and she hung out with Ivy and the Marauders without any arguments cropping up. Peter was his normal stupid self and Remus always managed to keep the peace as much as possible.
The school load grew increasingly high, and by the time the weekend rolled around, Lily and her friends were looking at a huge mound of homework that would take them all weekend if they got lucky. Lily planned to hole herself up in her room until she at least made a dent in the pile, but then Ivy reminded her about her plans:
"So, Lily, you excited for the party tonight?" Ivy asked on Sunday morning, sipping orange juice from her glass as she peered at her friend across the table.
"What party?" Lily asked as she looked up at her friend, confusion clouding her face.
"The Slug Club back-to-school party? The one that Professor Slughorn personally asked you to come to? All I got was an invitation by owl on Tuesday morning," Ivy grumbled, clearly unhappy that she wasn't important enough to be given a personal invitation, even if it were from Slughorn.
Lily gasped, swallowing her own drink down the wrong way and choking for a few seconds before recovering.
"Whoa, Evans, are you okay?" James asked her as he sat down next to her, clapping her on the back, which made her cough even more.
"Yep, I'm fine," Lily said hoarsely, placing her drink down and breathing in deeply. "Just forgot about the party, is all."
"How could you forget about the party - I'm your date! That alone should make it unforgettable!" James said with a grin on his face. Sirius laughed and high fived him, while Peter joined in and Remus rolled his eyes, turning away from his friends and grabbing some food. Ivy smirked but contained her laughter, knowing that Lily would hit her if she laughed.
"Well, despite that pleasant little detail, I forgot completely. I can't go to the party tonight - I have an avalanche of homework waiting for me up on my bed. It'll take me all day and through the night just to get done, let alone relax and enjoy my day. There's no way I can fit the party into my schedule. I'll have to tell Slughorn I can't go."
James shook his head. "Don't be silly Evans, there's no way you're going to miss this party. It's the first time I can force you into being my date and there is no way you're going to bail on me. I'll help you with your homework - just leave it up to Super Potter!"
"And how are you going to help me with my homework? Have you even finished your own homework?" Lily asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"Of course. Have we forgotten: Super Potter? I finished it all this morning, right before heading to breakfast to see my little ray of sunshine," James said, a smile across his face.
"James Potter actually did his homework?" Ivy asked, disbelief on her face. "That's something I would love to see."
"You could actually help me? And you can guarantee that I'm going to finish before the party tonight and don't have to spend the whole night worrying about whether or not I'm going to finish my homework before school tomorrow?" Disbelief was also in Lily's voice, but she could hear the hope mixed in.
"Of course, I guarantee it or else I give you permission to personally kick my arse. Does that sound like a good deal to you?"
Lily thought it over for a minute before holding her hand out to shake. "Deal. You're on. Meet me in my room at ten - use your 'secret ways' to get up there."
James nodded, a smile on his face. "Sounds like a date."
* * *
Lily stared at her huge pile of homework in dismay. It was almost ten o'clock, and James would be up any minute. Ivy was sitting on her own bed, an equally large pile surrounding her as she tried to force herself to work on it without falling asleep. She was half-hoping that James would be right and would help her finish it all even if it meant she didn't get the chance to beat him up and gloat about the fact that she was right and he was wrong.
"So, you're really going to let James help you with your homework? You aren't worried that he's going to spend the whole time asking you out and trying to make out with you or something?" Ivy asked, distracting herself from her homework with the questions. "You can't be that desperate - after all, you are Genius Evans, the girl who can never fail a class or even get a bad grade. If you were trying to get some alone time with James you could have come up with a craftier plan than doing homework together."
"Ive! Shut up - I didn't ask James for help so I could make out with him. Besides, I won't be alone with him - you'll be with me."
"Oh goodie, lucky me gets to babysit you and Potter."
"And won't that be the highlight of your day?"
Ivy and Lily both looked at the door, where James stood. He was leaning against the doorframe, his hands in his pockets and a huge smirk on his face, making it glow. His hair was just as unruly as ever, and his glasses were once again slipping down his nose. Lily felt a little bit of regret for inviting him, but that emotion was mixed with a little bit of excitement - things always seemed to be more interesting when James was around, although annoyance was normally included as well.
"How long have you been standing there?" Ivy asked, suspicion evident in her voice.
Lily remembered what Ivy had asked her, and felt a little tinge of blush coloring her cheeks. She hoped he hadn't heard what they had talked about - she didn't want to give him the wrong idea. A glance at his face didn't tell her: the smirk remained on his face but it hadn't grown, which it surely would have done if he had heard. At least, that was what she told herself.
"So, are you ready to help me with my homework? Or do you want to give up now and allow me to personally do something I've always wanted to do to you?"
"Kiss me?" James asked with a hopeful grin.
"You wish. No, I was talking about beating you up, which I've wanted to do since I first met you on the train, back when we were eleven."
"Wow, such a long time. How do you manage to restrain yourself? If I were you I'd just throw myself at me and hit me already. Of course, that's just me..."
"Exactly. And I pride myself on not being like you," Lily said with a huge grin, strutting back to her bed and sitting in the middle of her homework. Ivy also returned to her own work, scribbling some notes down on some stray parchment. James followed Lily and sat down on the edge of the bed and reached for a book, flipping it open and reading a random page in it, his eyes skimming it quickly. "So, what do you want to do first?"
Lily reached for her Defense Against the Dark Arts book and some parchment, tapping her pen against her lip as she thought about the assignment. "Well, for DADA we have to write a foot-long paper about werewolves - different stuff about them. Did you already do that?"
"Of course - I breezed right through it. I'm just gifted like that," James said with a secret smile on his face. "But don't worry - I'll use simple words so that you can understand. Start your paper off with this sentence: 'Werewolves are people who transform into wolves at full moons.'" He paused and grinned at her. "Am I going too fast - should I slow down to make sure that you understand everything I just told you?"
Lily took her Potions book and smacked his shoulder with it. James grimaced and rubbed it briskly. "I think I prefer the pillows."
Lily stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to her paper, writing an opening sentence. "So, know any interesting, obscure facts about werewolves? Growing up in the Muggle world, I never met any, but I'm sure you've met at least one."
"Nope, never caught of sight of the wolfmen, although Sirius swears that one attacked him this summer." James lowered his voice and leaned towards Lily. "We don't have the heart to tell him that he was beat up by a Yorkie."
Lily laughed, and Ivy giggled quietly from her bed next to them, trying to ignore them but failing miserably.
"I'm serious - you've never met any?"
James shook his head slowly, his face almost impassive, very unusual for the expressive James Potter. "Can't say that I have..."
"Well, I was sure that I saw something running around in the Forbidden Forest last year - or was I just seeing a Yorkie?" Lily asked, a knowing expression sneaking its way onto her face. She knew that James knew one werewolf in particular: Remus Lupin. She had figured it out back in third year, when she first learned the signs and put two and two together. James, Sirius, and Peter went to great pains to protect their friend and his secret, and she didn't have the heart to let them know that she knew the truth. She might use it for leverage in the future, though, in case a situation ever called for it. Right now though she preferred to make James squirm as much as possible.
James gulped slightly but a smile was on his face, masking his worry. "Nope, I think you may have seen a Chihuahua - they're much more vicious and sneaky than Yorkies."
Lily laughed again. "Sure. Just help me with this - I've written almost everything I know about werewolves and I've only got about seven inches of writing."
James leaned forward again, grabbing her paper to read. "It's because you write so damn small, Evans. You need to write bigger, that way you can seem smarter when you write a page and a half of words without running out of things to say. My own paper happens to be two feet long, thanks to my large writing and impeccable knowledge in this field of study." James tapped Lily's head with his finger. "Use this, Evans, and you'll go far in life."
"Ha ha, Potter. Shut up and help me."
"Oh, is Ms. Evans getting frustrated with Super Potter? However can I make it up to you?"
James asked with a pout on his face and puppy-dog eyes. "Can I kiss it to make it better?"
"You have a huge fascination with kissing, Potter. Is it because secretly you're a romantic at heart who dreams forever about kissing a girl and nothing more?"
"No, Evans, I just have a fascination with kissing you. Ms. Parks over here, meanwhile, could cause me to vomit if I ever thought of kissing her."
Ivy glared at James, her own DADA paper on her lap and full of smudges and cross-outs. "Watch it, Potter - Lily has been helping me with my hexes."
"If it makes you feel better, I'd much rather kiss you than Wormtail, although you tie with Moony. And Padfoot definitely has you beat."
"Thanks, my self-esteem has skyrocketed now that I know that I'm less important than Sirius Black."
"Don't forget - you're higher up than Peter!" Lily said with fake enthusiasm in her voice, but a genuine grin on her face. Ivy glared at her.
"Just go back to your homework, you lovebirds," Ivy sing-songed, cherishing the grimace on Lily's face and the grin on James'.
"Aw, we go from friends to lovebirds? I didn't know you cared so much, Evans!" James smiled as he handed back her paper, which he had filled while they were talking. He had even managed to copy her handwriting perfectly so that it looked like she had actually written it.
"You know my handwriting well enough to forge it? How did that happen?" Lily asked, her right eyebrow rising about the left with the question written across her face.
"It's because he steals every paper you throw away and sticks it in our room - the wall behind our beds is a homage to papers you've written on, which is really annoying since I would like to hang up pictures of hot girls and Quidditch, but what can I say - he's my best mate!" Sirius answered from the doorway, which he had also managed to sneak his way up to, probably the same way that James had gotten up about twenty minutes ago. Lily glanced at Ivy, who was sitting up a little straighter but otherwise unchanged, still poring over her homework.
"Why look, Ive, it's the guy that's got you beat," Lily said, continuing to look at her friend.
"How do I beat Ivy - is it my good looks, my charm, my wicked Quidditch skills, or my overall personality?"
"Nope - you're higher up on the list of people Potter would like to kiss," Lily answered with a sly grin, looking at James who was pretending to have a coughing fit.
"I thought you were doing homework up here, not discussing who you'd like to snog most!"
"We were having a very interesting homework-related conversation before you showed up," James said, the right side of his mouth curling into a half-smile.
"What about?" Sirius asked, tossing James and Lily around as he jumped onto the bed in his excitement.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Lily said with a smirk on her face.
"Prongs, you've corrupted her - she used to be a good little prefect who did everything she was told! Tell me, Evans, please!" Sirius pleaded as he reached across the stack of work,
attempting to copy James' puppy-dog eyes and failing miserably.
"Sorry, Black, but you're going to have to deal with disappointment. Not everyone can be handed everything on a silver platter with the Black crest on it."
"Ooh, low blow, Evans," James said with a smile, laughing at the expression on his friend's face. "Now you've really hurt him."
"Fine - I'm going to go over to Parks' bed, where I'm appreciated," Sirius said with a sniff, plopping down on Ivy's bed and almost knocking her to the ground from the sudden movement. "Will you tell me what they were talking about, Ive?"
"Not as long as you're above me on the list," Ivy said, not bothering to look up as she worked on her Charms paper, having pushed aside her DADA paper for a short break. Sirius pouted again and crossed his arms over his chest like a young child who wasn't getting his way. "Good to see that I have such great pals."
Ivy continued to ignore him and Lily and James had already moved on to Transfiguration homework, both attempting to change the nearby bed into a small cat.
Silence enveloped the room as the four worked, whispers about homework being traded between Lily and James and Sirius attempting to help Ivy and only annoying her. The hour and minute hands on the clock down in the common room moved quickly as the hours slipped away and the time of the party approached silently. Lily forgot about her plans for the night and even her annoyance with James as the pile of work to do got smaller and the finished homework grew on the floor next to her. Ivy also made her way through her own pile despite the 'help' from Sirius.
Finally, glancing at her watch, Ivy cleared her throat to get her friends' attention. "Um, hate to break the skull session but the party is in an hour. We should probably get ready soon."
James slammed the Potions book shut, a satisfied smile on his face. "Perfect timing - we just finished the last bit of work. Now I can leave Evans to get all dolled up so that she can look simply smashing at the party tonight."
Lily glared at James as she put the books in a pile at the foot of the bed, rubbing at the ink on her hand. "Shut up, Potter - you'll be lucky if I spend ten minutes getting ready for this party."
"Come on, Evans - we finished early so that you can spend all this time prettifying yourself!"
"Are you suggesting that I need an hour to look pretty, Potter?" Lily asked, her right eyebrow arching above the other as she narrowed her eyes and placed her fists on her hips.
"Of course not," James said quickly the same time as Sirius said, "Of course!"
Ivy and Lily glared at Sirius while James laughed.
"Oh, Evans, don't listen to that jerk - you look very lovely! Here, I'll prove it to you..."
Lily looked at James questionly when he leaned in and suddenly kissed her on the cheek. Lily gasped and pushed him off the bed.
Sirius, Lily, and Ivy leaned over the sides of the beds and looked at James, who was lying on his back in between them. He had a dreamy smile on his face and was looking at Lily, who blushed as she felt the spot on her cheek which James' lips had just touched.
"I'd say I were sorry, but I'm not. Took me a while but I'm glad I did it." James said as he high-fived Sirius, who was laughing at his friend.
"Well, are you still glad you did it now?" Lily asked as she held the pile of books in the air above James. James looked worried but shook his head.
"Nope, still glad I did it."
"I see," Lily said with a smile on her face as she released the books.
"Oof!" James cried out as his chest cushioned the fall of the books. "Ok, now I regret it a little..."
"Maybe this will help you choose a side," Lily said as she jumped off of the bed and landed on his chest along with the books.
As James gasped for breath and Sirius and Ivy broke out into huge bursts of laughter, Lily walked proudly to the bathroom connected to their room. Before she closed the door, she glanced back at James. "Sorry, I would help you get out from under those books but I should really start getting ready so that I look smashing in time for the dance."
And with that Lily closed the door shut with a grin.