She quickly turned around and asked the question again.
"So um, what happens if I go too high?"
"You won't."
"But I could."
"But you won't."
"Why don't you just help me with this? You could do it first and I could then follow your example."
"You didn't seem this hesitant when dueling me in the air above our dining hall."
"That was different. That was a challenge. This, well, this is scary."
"You're scared?"
"No! Just a little anxious. Would you just help me?"
He let out a groan and swung his leg over the broom, sliding lightly down behind her. She gasped as he wrapped his arms around her and moved so his chest touched her back.
"What are you doing?"
"Well the example idea would certainly not work. This way you will do it yourself but I will be there every step
of the way. You should still do the controls yourself so that you are comfortable in these situations."
'This wasn't the kind of situation I was expecting,' she thought to herself. This was different. She didn't like the change. He was suddenly acting so different around her and it made her extremely uncomfortable. He was saying something to her but all she could think of was his head over her shoulder and his hands wrapping around her own. His knees pressed gently into hers and she once again smelled that unique cologne.
Before she could leave the trance of his aroma, he kicked off the ground and they were soaring upwards into the blue sky. She squealed, terrified, and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and held them to her desperately. Her breathing had become irregular and short from the fear she felt. She wasn't scared of the height, simply scared of the feeling of not being in control of what was happening around her. All she felt was terror.
And all he felt was happiness. The moment he had heard the tiny squeak come from her mouth, a smile had grown across his face. She had leaned back into his chest has she forced his arms to tightly hug her middle. As she had fallen against him her smelled floated up to his nose. It was a scent of lavender and soap mixed together and he decided at that moment that it was the best scent he had ever set his nose on.
"James Potter put me down this minute!"
"But…"
"But nothing! Get me down now!"
He guided the broom back to the ground and she threw his arms off of her and almost flew off of the broom. She was furious and he wasn't exactly sure why.
"How dare you do a stunt like that, sending me into the air without even giving me a warning."
"What are you talking about? I told you I was going to do it a few minutes before and was even giving you instructions on what to do. You had even nodded slightly and smiled. I figured you were excited."
So that was what he had been saying to her as she had been breathing him. She started to turn red at the realization that his smell had caused normal brain activity to come to a startling halt. She didn't know what to say so she did what she usually did near James.
"Don't you ever try that again! I never want to do this again." She then turned around quickly and started her retreat towards the castle.
"Well I don't ever want to do this again either but unfortunately you will have to be here again tomorrow after classes. So have a good night and let's hope that the thoughts of broomsticks don't keep you from sleep."
He yelled these words at her retreating back. She let out a growl of anger as she continued to walk towards the castle. He was right. She would be returning here again tomorrow much to her chagrin.
Rose jumped as her dorm room door slammed shut. She quickly looked up from her book to see a steaming Lily storm towards her bed. She fell hard onto the mattress and let out a muffled scream into her pillow.
"That bad huh?'
"Depends on what you mean by bad."
"Go on. What happened?"
She drastically rose and started pacing her room furiously. She chewed on her thumb nail with a look of consternation on her face. She was muttering words under her breath and appeared to be psychotic.
"Um what happened?" Rose repeated the question timidly, trying to avoid the explosion that Lily was on the brink of having. Unfortunately the question only triggered it. Lily whipped around to Rose and spoke.
"He touched me and I liked it! I liked it when James Potter touched me! What is going on in this world? Hell must have frozen over because his light touches set me on fire."
Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing. Had James actually realized his own feelings and was acting on them like a mature adult? Was he flirting on her instead of teasing her? The idea seemed extremely absurd considering the immaturity of James Potter but from what Lily yelled that was the only logical conclusion.
"So…"
"So what?"
"I want every detail."
"Well it is too confusing to remember precisely. All I know is that he had his arms wrapped around my waist, his
hands over mine, and his nose was gently nuzzled into my neck when I fell back on him. And worst of all he left the
most intoxicating scent in my mind. I swear it's burned into my brain. It was some sort of grass and sweat and musk
smell."
"So he hit on you?"
"Well I don't think it was intentional. I mean it's was James after all, my bitter enemy. I'm sure that he would never intentionally do something like that to me. But there was awkwardness as we both realized what was happening. All I could think to do was storm off after yelling at him. I'm just so used to doing that. It's basically a reflex."
"Well try to control your reflexes at tomorrow's lesson."
Lily let out a groan and once again slammed onto her mattress. Her kitten, Calli, scrambled under her bed at the commotion and only poked her head out from under the sham after Lily was nestled deep into her pillow, trying to make the rest of the world disappear. But all she could think of was that smell.
"Do I have to go?"
"Of course."
"Well, I'm simply going to tell him that I will not put up with those sort of actions."
"I'm sure they were unavoidable and only part of the lesson today and they will remain unavoidable and part of the lesson tomorrow. I bet that was all he could do to keep you from falling to the ground."
Lily had to admit that was completely true. He would just have to think of a new way to teach her that didn't involve human contact.
IN JAMES' DORMITORY…
James opened the door slightly and inched into the room with a confused scowl playing across his face. He was mumbling
words under his breath as he approached his bed and didn't look up until he heard a girlish scream.
He jumped back in shock and his head scanned the room, searching for the source of the scream. He finally found it as his eyes landed on Sirius' bed. James' eyes widened as he realized what was happening under that red comforter. He suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed. He began walking backwards, trying to leave the room as quietly as possible, but bumped into the furnace placed oddly in the center of the room.
He looked to Sirius' bed as the giggles and grunts stopped. Sirius popped his head out from beneath the blanket and grinned sheepishly as he saw James.
"James! How are ya mate?"
"Um, fine I guess. And you?"