Music of the Night

James lay next to Lily in blissful exhaustion. They had just made love for the first time, and it had been more amazing that James could have dreamed. He was in a goofy euphoria as Lily drifted to sleep in his arms. He gazed down at her and felt poetry seeping into his soul. He compared her skin to the moonlight that danced through the window. He compared her hair to the blood that pumped life through his heart, which beat only for her. He compared her touch to a gentle breeze that could lovingly caress his cheek on a warm summer’s night. He compared-

“SSNCRRROPTTHH!!!”

-her snore to a mandrake with a head cold. Wait a minute…

“What the-?” James blinked as he gazed at the petite figure dozing across his chest.

“SSNSCKRRPPPPBTHHH!!!”

“Merlin’s beard,” he whispered, in awe that such a sound could come out of something so lovely. “There’s no bloody way…”

“SKPHSNEEEPHTHK!!!”

James lay there, unable to fathom the horrific noises that were emanating from his one true love. At first it was almost amusing. He couldn’t help but look around to see if there was another creature in the room, snarling and snorting at them and ready to pounce upon them. Or perhaps Sirius had decided to leave another prank for James to discover in his room. As another loud choking snort erupted James was forced to admit that Lily was the source.

As the night progressed into early morning, the initial fascination was wearing off and James was feeling rather sleepy. Every time he closed his eyes and tried to relax, another loud snort would drag him kicking and screaming back to consciousness.

By the time the sun’s rays started sneaking through the window, James was still laying awake, eyes wide open though very weary due to the forced insomnia.

Lily shifted a bit and gave one last half-hearted snort before sleepily opening her eyes. She took in a deep breath, inhaling the scent of her new lover and reveling in the warmth of his arms. She lifted her gaze to meet his, finding that he was already awake and watching her.

When James finally saw Lily was waking, he prepared himself to point out her annoying habit, but once she looked up into his eyes and smiled, his memory of their first time together pushed those thoughts away and he grinned back.

“Good morning,” she said in her low ‘morning voice’ as she gave him a kiss.

“Mmmmm,” he responded, finally pulling back. “Good morning to you.”

She looked lovingly into his eyes in such a way that made his stomach flip, before snuggling back into his chest and murmuring, “Last night was amazing.”

He kissed the top of her head and stroked her back, replying, “That it was.”

Lily sighed and asked, “Do you know what I liked best?”

James grinned and replied, “My prowess as a sex god?”

Lily chuckled and said, “Besides that.”

“I give up - what?” he asked.

“Falling asleep and waking up in your arms,” she replied. “I can’t imagine not spending every night with you. I don’t think I’ve ever slept so well.”

James gulped, remembering the initial bliss of holding Lily, followed by the long sleepless night trying to drown out her snoring. Not wanting to tick her off and ruin the moment, James simply murmured, “Uh huh.”

When they finally decided to get up, James made his way into the kitchen to scavenge for anything that would resemble breakfast food, while Lily was in the shower. Feeling his exhaustion creeping back into him, James temporarily gave up on his hunger and opted to rest his head on the kitchenette.

“Morning, Prongs,” came the voice of his flat-mate and best friend, Sirius Black. James looked up to see Sirius plopping himself across from him at the table. “You look like something the Kneazle dragged in. Late night?”

James nodded and looked toward the bathroom.

Sirius, following James gaze and, doing the math, smiled and asked, “Is that Lily in our shower? You two finally shagged?”

James’ face formed a goofy lovesick smile.

Sirius laughed and said, “Congratulations, mate. S’About time, too, though by the looks of you this morning, it seems like she wore you out.”

“In a manner of speaking,” he replied. Listening to make sure the shower was still running, he lowered his voice and said, “I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night.”

Sirius let out a loud barking laugh and said, “That almost falls into the category of ‘too much information’.”

James shook his head and said, “No, that’s not what I meant.” Taking one more glance at the closed bathroom door, he whispered, “She snores.”

“Snores, Prongs?” echoed Sirius.

“Yeah, I can’t believe it,” said James.

“And that’s why you didn’t get any sleep?” asked Sirius.

“Yeah,” replied James.

Sirius was silent for several moments as he watched his weary friend. Suddenly, he broke out into a loud and raucous laughter, saying, “You mean you couldn’t sleep through some girl’s snoring?”

James gave Sirius a stern look reminiscent of their old Transfiguration professor and said, “It’s not just ‘some girl’s snoring’ Padfoot. It was like listening to an angry dragon trying to dislodge something from its nose!”

“That bad, eh?” asked Sirius, a little skeptical.

James nodded and was about add something else when the bathroom door opened, revealing Lily, finished with her morning bathroom rituals.

“Lily!” exclaimed Sirius. “Fancy seeing you here this early!”

Lily blushed and cautiously approached the two boys. “Good morning, Sirius. Alright?”

“Yeah, I slept like a dog,” he replied. With a sly grin he asked, “And how did you sleep?”

Lily tried to cover the deepening blush with a casual smile. “I slept just fine, Sirius. Never better.” Turning to James, she said, “I’m supposed to meet up with Alice for her wedding preparations.”

“Do you really have to go now?” whined James, doing his best impression of a sad puppy dog.

“Sorry,” said Lily, leaning over to kiss him goodbye.

Once their innocent goodbye kiss started to turn into an all-out snog, Sirius said, “Hem, hem.”

This was effective enough to separate the two lovebirds, as James was startled by Sirius’ uncanny impression of a toad-like woman/creature who worked at the Ministry.

“Will you come back, tonight?” James asked Lily.

Lily grinned and said, “Of course.”

“Ah, the two lovebirds,” mused Sirius. “How nauseatingly cute. Soon they’ll be oohing and aahing over each other’s little annoyances…such as snoring,” he added with another sly grin.

Lily chuckled and said, “I don’t think we’re that bad. Besides, I don’t snore and if James does, it didn’t wake me up. I’ll see you later, James.” After one last kiss, she disapparated with a small ‘pop’.

Once she was gone, James turned around and smacked Sirius across the back of his head.

“Ow!” whined Sirius, rubbing his head. “What was that for?”

“For opening your big mouth!” scolded James.

“Yeah, but it’s not as if you won’t tell her about the snoring problem,” reasoned Sirius.

“I dunno,” said James. “It’s not like I haven’t had sleepless nights before, running around with Moony every month. Besides, maybe it was just a fluke. Maybe she won’t be so bad again.”

Sirius gave him a dubious look before deciding to go out for breakfast due to their bare cupboards.

Luckily for James, he was able to find some nap time that day since it was his day off. Unfortunately for him, his theory about Lily’s snoring subsiding was incorrect. After three days, James was starting to feel some major effects from the insomnia. Whenever he was at his desk at work, he tried to sneak in a few winks, but that was impossible with Moody growling “CONSTANT VIGILANCE!” in his ears when his eyes started to droop.

While James loved Lily more than life itself, there were several late night/early morning moments of insane fantasizing about ways to stop the snoring, from stuffing cotton in her nose to picking up a pillow and smothering the horrid noise out of her. A few times, he had gently brought up the subject of snoring. Lily, believing James to be playfully teasing her, would always laugh and deny that she snored.

His friends all gave him different advice. Peter told James to just tell Lily how loud she snores and ask that she go home after their shags so he could get a good night’s sleep.

Remus, rolling his eyes at Peter’s lack of common sense about women, advised James to be candid but to tread lightly. Since Lily already denied she snored, he figured she would be more likely to take offense if James did not approach the subject cautiously. That being said, Remus knew that James would have to come forward or else he would go insane from lack of sleep.

Sirius suggested a silencing charm, which, after James thought about, wasn’t a bad idea. He reasoned that he would cast the charm and wake up before her in time to reverse it. She wouldn’t know any better and he could get some well deserved rest.

That night, at Lily’s flat, after Lily had drifted to sleep and started her off-key musical snorts, James carefully reached over to the nightstand and grabbed his wand. In a whisper, he waved his wand at Lily and said, “Silencio.”

A deafening and welcome silence enveloped the room, and James let out a relieved sigh. Closing his eyes, James drifted into a peaceful slumber, not realizing that after three sleepless nights (days included) it would be near impossible to wake before Lily.

In what seemed to be no time at all James felt himself being jarred awake by a vise-like grip. Opening one eye, he saw the blurry form of a familiar redhead hovering over him. Even though without his glasses he couldn’t see her clearly, James could immediately sense that Lily was rather disturbed about something. Reaching over to the nightstand he felt around for his glasses and put them on, seeing Lily’s face come into focus.

Still not completely awake, he croaked, “What’s wrong?”

Lily’s mouth opened yet no sound escaped her lips. James suddenly remembered casting the silencing charm and his insides lurched, preparing for the inevitable argument.

“Erm..Sweetie?” said James with his ‘innocent’ face.

Lily recognized that look and immediately placed her ‘don’t try to put one over on me’ look on her face.

“Okay, the thing is…I sorta cast a silencing charm on you last night,” he blurted out in a rush.

Lily gave him an incredulous look and mouthed out, ‘Why?’ before remembering her predicament. Nudging James, she pointed at his wand, indicating that she wanted him to reverse the spell.

James, realizing that he would have to remove the spell, was a bit hesitant due to the fact that there would soon be a lot of yelling coming from her beautiful mouth. Nevertheless, he picked up the wand and incanted, “Finite.”

Lily reached her hand up to her neck as she cleared her throat, testing it to make sure she could use it. Trying to keep her temper in check, she grit out, “You put a silencing charm on me?”

“Erm…yeah?” James laughed nervously.

“Why?”

James nervously ran a hand through his messy mop of hair and replied, “Because you snore.”

“I snore?” she echoed. Letting out a dry laugh, she said, “That’s ridiculous! I don’t snore!”

“How would you know?” asked James. “You’re not the one being kept up for several nights being forced to listen to it!”

“Being forced to?” said Lily, her voice rising in volume. “I’m so sorry that you felt forced to spend the night with me!”

“That’s not what I meant,” said James. “I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in a while and I’m not thinking clearly.”

Lily shook her head and asked, “Do you know why I was up so early?” When James shook his head, she said, “There was a knock at the door. When I opened it my mum and dad were there to surprise me with a visit. And to my surprise and shock, when I opened my mouth to speak, no words came out - none!”

James glanced at the bedroom door and said, “Mr. and Mrs. Evans are here?”

“They left,” said Lily. “They assumed I had laryngitis and they wanted to tuck me into bed and fuss after me. What was I supposed to say? ‘Sorry, Mum and Dad. You can’t tuck me into bed because my boyfriend is sleeping in it after a night of intense shagging!’?”

James bit back a laugh and pointed out, “Well, erm…you couldn’t exactly say that because…erm…your voice…”

“I know that!” she yelled. “Luckily for you I convinced them that I would be fine and they left. If Dad had caught you in here, he’d have snapped you like a twig!”

The mental image caused James to pale a bit. He had met Mr. Evans before, and while he was a pleasant chap to converse with, he was also a rather large man. James could easily imagine Mr. Evans transforming into a scary overprotective father.

“Erm…sorry?” he offered, giving her a small pleading smile.

“And then you made some stupid accusation that I snore?” huffed Lily.

“I hate to break it to you, Sweetie, but it’s true,” said James.

“I do NOT snore!” she spat.

“Then what’s kept me from sleeping?” asked James.

Lily paused for a moment, then countered, “Maybe I breathe a little loudly, but I most certainly do not snore. I can’t help it if your ears are too sensitive.”

James let out a barking laugh and said, “Sensitive? That was not just ‘breathing loudly’! For crying out loud, Lily, two nights ago you let out a snort so loud you even woke yourself up!”

Lily blanched and said, “I don’t remember that. You’re lying!”

“I am not!” insisted James.

“You are lying, and if you insist on lying, then you can just leave!” shouted Lily.

Frustrated and tired, James yelled out, “Fine!” and with a loud ‘pop’ disapparated.

James and Lily did not speak to each for a good week. Initially, James was adamant that he was right and relieved to have some time to sleep. Even though he was finally able to sleep, his rest was fitful, plagued with the idea that Lily was not there with him and that she was still angry with him (even though he still knew he was right and she was wrong).

Even though they hadn’t been spending the night together for long, James missed her presence next to him. He felt cursed because he couldn’t sleep when she was with him, and now he couldn’t sleep well because she wasn’t there. Even the silence he had felt would be welcome was disturbing to him.

By the end of the week, Sirius was at his wit’s end from seeing James moping about the flat constantly. He pushed him onto their faded old couch and lectured, “Prongs, you’ve gotta make up with her or you’ll not only go insane, but you’ll end up taking us with you to crazy town!”

“But I’m right!” insisted James for the one zillionth time.

Sirius shook his head and said, “Prongs, mate, I’m going to tell you about some of the finer points of having a girlfriend. It doesn’t matter who’s right and who’s wrong - you’re still gonna have to crawl back to her and apologize.”

“But-” started James.

Sirius interrupted him, saying, “Doesn’t matter. As the male in the relationship, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent. Seeing as you have no proof of her snoring, you will have to come forward and apologize.”

“But-” repeated James.

“Prongs, do you want to get back together with Lily?” asked Sirius.

“Well, yes, but-” said James.

“And do you ever want to shag her again?” asked Sirius.

“Of course,” said James, as if the answer was obvious.

“Then tuck your tail between your legs and grovel,” advised Sirius.

Once again taking Sirius’ advice, James proceeded to Lily’s flat that evening with a large bouquet of tulips and apologized for upsetting her. He avoided the subject of snoring in general. Lily, having missed James immensely herself, accepted his apology and then they discovered the wonders of makeup sex.

As the night wore on and Lily’s loud snorts once again took place of the silence, James recalled Sirius’ comment on how he would need proof of his claim to prove his innocence. He suddenly remembered a Muggle device Lily had shown him that played music. She had claimed that it could also record things as well. James had been fascinated when she had demonstrated it on his own voice. It would be perfect!

He gently disentangled himself from Lily’s embrace and silently made his way to the hall closet where he’d seen her stash the device. Opening the door slowly to avoid creaks, he happily located it on a shelf toward the back. Carefully pulling it out so as not to disturb anything and wake Lily, he brought it into the bedroom and placed it on the nightstand.

James studied it for several minutes, trying to resurface every detail of the memory to remember how the device worked. He reached over, pretty sure that sliding that switch over there would-

Loud music filled the room, jarring Lily from her slumber. “James?” she sleepily asked. “What are you doing?”

James froze for a split second before his Marauder instincts kicked in, causing him to reply, “I was trying to find some romantic music, but I forgot how to work this thing.”

Lily smiled and said, “You’re so cute when you play with Muggle objects. Here,” she said, reaching over to the radio controls, “let me fix it.” Soon she found a station that played sappy love songs and she beckoned James back into bed to cuddle.

Not much later, James had her snores deafening one ear and sappy love songs piercing his other ear. It would be another long night.

James all but gave up on recording Lily’s snoring, realizing his ineptitude with Muggle objects. As the days wore on, James’ exhaustion began to catch up with him again. The one night he didn’t spend with Lily he spent with the other Marauders on another full moon adventure.

Marlene McKinnon, who worked as a mediwitch for the auror department at the Ministry, noticed that James closely resembled a zombie and pulled him aside. When she asked what was bothering him, James admitted that he hadn’t been sleeping well. Marlene smiled and said she had just the thing to help him - dreamless sleep potion. James was so relieved at her advice that he hugged her and started laughing - the kind of laugh one gets from lack of sleep and sanity.

That evening once Lily was asleep, James swallowed a dose of the potion and the last sounds he remembered were the off-rhythm reverberations emanating from Lily’s nose.

In what seemed like no time at all, James felt someone shaking his shoulder trying to wake him. After a smack on the face, he heard, “Prongs! Wake up!”

“Huh? What?” slurred James, opening his protesting eyelids to see Sirius’ face hovering over him. “Padfoot? Whad’re you doin’ here?” James, still under the effects of the potion, closed his eyes and started to drift off again.

Sirius let out a gruff sigh and tugged James to a sitting position, giving him another smack on the face to wake him.

Lily walked up to them and handed Sirius a cup of black coffee. “Here, Sirius. This’ll help wake him.”

They proceeded to force coffee into James, who sputtered and choked as the liquid ran down his throat. Lily finally used a cheering charm on him, hoping to perk him up that way. James, a little better from the caffeine but in a goofily happy mood, was finally conscious enough to listen.

“Prongs, Moody is calling the aurors in,” explained Sirius. “We have to go now. There are Death Eaters attacking the Ministry.”

“’kay,” mumbled James as he stumbled out of bed. He stood there for a moment trying to remember where he normally kept his clothes.

“Sirius, are you sure he’s okay enough to leave?” asked Lily, worry etched on her face.

James waved his hand and said, “I’m fine. Have to help…”

After he finally realized where he kept his uniform and remembered how to dress (‘Honestly,’ he thought, ‘how hard is it to put a pair of pants on?’), Sirius and Lily followed him to the fireplace.

After Lily watched James disappear, she said, “I’m going, too.”

Sirius shook his head and said, “No way. Only aurors are getting called in.”

Lily stubbornly shook her head, still worried about James. “I’m in the Order. The Ministry will need all the help it can get, and I can certainly take care of myself.”

“James’ll kill me,” said Sirius, realizing that Lily would do what she wanted no matter what he said.

“Let me worry about that,” she said. “We’d better go.”

Once they stepped through one of the fireplaces in the Ministry lobby, they were met with chaos. Debris was on the floor, dust and smoke surrounded them as Death Eaters battled aurors. Off to the side, Lily noticed Marlene and some other mediwitches and mediwizards tending to the wounded aurors.

Lily didn’t have much time to register anything else before she had to throw up a shield charm to stop a stunning spell that had been aimed her way. She battled continuously, realizing that while she was able to hold her own in battle, she was nowhere near the capability of the trained aurors fighting beside her. Every so often she would see Sirius or James nearby.

Lily noticed that James was not up to his usual standards, waving his wand in a choppy fashion. At one point she even saw him yawn. As soon as she saw him stumble just out of range of the death curse, Lily furiously tried to reach him, dueling any wizard that got in her way. She groaned in frustration when each time she successfully stunned her opponent, another one would step in her path to James.

She was getting more and more frantic trying to get to him that she paid less attention to everything else. Sirius pushed her out of the way just in time to avoid the Cruciatus Curse.

After he had incapacitated the Death Eater, Sirius roared at Lily, “If you can’t pay attention then get out of here before you get seriously hurt or killed!”

Lily looked over his shoulder and saw James fighting to stay standing, getting worn out by the fighting. She turned to Sirius and cried, “We have to get to James!”

Sirius followed her gaze and saw James just as the Death Eater had managed to send a curse straight at him that sent him flying at high velocity into a wall. Sirius, furious, rushed over to finish off the Death Eater while Lily raced to James’ side.

“James!” she shouted, falling on her knees beside him. She leaned over him and her heart paused when she saw he was unconscious with a nasty wound on the back of his head. “James, oh God, please don’t be dead!” she cried, dropping her head to his chest. She let out a sob of relief when she felt the steady pace of his heart and the rise and fall of his chest.

“How is he?” asked Sirius, having finally defeated the Death Eater who attacked James.

“Sirius, he’s hurt! We have to get help!” sobbed Lily.

Sirius lifted his wand and sent purple sparks into the smoky room, alerting the nearest mediwitch that there was another wounded.

Marlene, the closest, rushed over and knelt over her patient. “What happened?” she asked.

“He was thrown against the wall and knocked out,” explained Sirius, trying to keep Lily back so Marlene could do her job.

Marlene finished her cursory exam and looked up at Lily and Sirius. “Did he take the potion I gave him earlier?”

Bewildered, Lily asked, “What potion?”

“The dreamless sleep potion,” replied Marlene. “He looked dead on his feet and when I asked he said he hadn’t been sleeping well lately.” Looking back down at James, she added, “He should not have come here if he was under the influence of the potion.”

Marlene signaled for another mediwizard nearby and they conjured a stretcher, placing James on it. “We’re going to Floo him over to St. Mungo’s. He’ll need to be seen by a Healer and likely will stay a few days.”

Lily followed the group while Sirius went back to help the other aurors, saying he would catch up with Lily and James later.

Lily sat in the waiting area for a few hours, nearly going out of her mind. ‘Where did they put James?’ she thought. ‘Why aren’t they done examining him? Why can’t I see him?’

“Hey,” came a female voice, sitting next to Lily.

Lily turned to see Marlene, who had gone back to the Ministry after delivering James to the Healers. “I don’t know what’s going on, Marlene,” said Lily. “Nobody will tell me anything!”

Marlene smiled and said, “I just got back from the Ministry and decided to check on James. The Healer’s a friend of my brother so I was allowed to sneak in and ask. They’re finishing up his tests, but it looks like he’s going to be fine.”

Lily let out a part-sob-part-laugh and hugged Marlene. “Thank God!”

Marlene pulled back and with a stern face said, “He’ll have to stay a few days because of his concussion.”

“That’s fine, as long as he gets better,” smiled Lily, wiping her red-rimmed eyes. “Any other casualties? Is Sirius okay?”

“I’m fine,” came the unmistakable voice of Sirius Black as he walked toward them. He had a few cuts and bruises and was limping, but was alive and smiling. “Did I hear correctly that Prongs is going to be fine?”

“Yes,” said Lily, suddenly remembering something Marlene had said earlier. “Do either of you know why James needed that potion?”

Marlene shook her head but when Lily looked at Sirius he had a reserved look on his face. “What do you know about this, Sirius?” asked Lily.

“You’re not going to like what I have to say, Lily,” said Sirius.

“Just say it,” pushed Lily.

Sirius took a deep breath and explained, “Prongs couldn’t get a wink of sleep because of your snoring.”

Lily went to say her knee-jerk reaction of, “I do not snore!” when she was interrupted by a chuckle from Marlene. Whirling around, Lily asked, “What’s so funny?”

“You,” laughed Marlene. “I can’t believe you’re still denying it.”

“What are you on about?” asked Lily.

“Lily, I roomed with you for seven years at Hogwarts,” said Marlene. “There were four of us who were kept up by your snoring, but you kept denying it.”

Lily said in a small voice, “I don’t remember that.”

“We gave up after second year when Emmeline was able to convince a fifth year student to place a silencing charm around your bed,” replied Marlene. “After that, it was no longer an issue.”

“Lily,” said Sirius. “James was miserable when you were mad at him, so he apologized and subjected himself to insomnia just to be with you. It nearly killed him tonight!”

Lily let out a heavy sigh, finally resigning herself to the idea that she had a rather nasty and uncontrollable nighttime habit.

“Don’t worry, Lils,” said Marlene. “There are ways around it. I can prescribe a set of earplugs for James that can be charmed to block out only the sound of the snoring.”

Lily shrugged and said, “Fine, fine…,” still embarrassed about the entire situation. If she had not been so stubborn about the snoring, then all this wouldn’t have happened. Now half the wizarding population would likely find out.

Shortly thereafter a short balding wizard approached them and told Lily she could go sit with James. Once she opened the door to his room, she smiled as soon as she saw his hazel eyes twinkling back at her. She rushed over and latched onto him, raining kisses on his face.

James, happy to receive Lily’s tender loving care, lay there with a stupid grin until she pulled back and said, “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

“Huh?” asked James. “I thought it was a Death Eater who cursed me.”

Lily rolled her eyes and said, “It was. I’m talking about the…erm…the s-snoring. Marlene was kind enough to remind me that I kept my dorm mates up for a few years until they silenced my bed.” She shook her head and continued, “If I hadn’t been so stubborn then you wouldn’t have been so exhausted and you wouldn’t have had to take the potion. You would have been awake and alert when you dueled.”

James grinned and hugged her, saying, “I’m glad you finally admit the bit about the snoring, but I don’t blame you for my being here.”

Lily muttered into his hospital gown, “I’m so embarrassed. It’s so gross, that I’m bad enough to keep you from sleeping! I can’t believe you stayed with me.”

James pulled back and lifted her chin up so he could gaze into her eyes. “I love you, Lily, all of you - the good and the bad.”

Lily smiled, feeling warmth spreading through her body. She reached up and brushed her hand across his cheek, saying, “I love you too, James.”

He grinned and pulled her so that she was laying next to him. He yawned and said, “Well, there’s one good thing about being in St. Mungo’s.”

Lily snuggled against him and asked, “And what’s that?”

“I’ll finally be able to get some sleep!” he said with a chuckle.

Lily rolled her eyes and smiled, just as the Healer walked in, smiling at the pair.

“Mr. Potter,” he said, “I wanted to let you know that I’ve prescribed some potions to help with your concussion and the headaches you’ll get over the next several days.” As he was about to leave, he turned and said, “Oh! And the nurse will be in every hour to wake you.”

James shook his head and asked, “Wake me?”

“Yes,” said the Healer. “We’ll need to keep waking you. It’s standard protocol after a concussion.”

After he left, James realized the irony of the situation - he finally thought he’d be able to get some rest, but would be forced awake frequently due to his injury. He let out another series of laughs that caused Lily to ponder his sanity.

A few days later, James was released from the hospital, and he and Lily spent the night celebrating. She gave him a ‘welcome home’ gift, which was a pair of charmed earplugs Marlene had suggested. James, overwhelmed, picked Lily up and swung her around, giving her a passionate kiss. For the first time in several weeks, James got a good night’s sleep, and Lily was curled up next to him the entire time.

The next morning, he opened his eyes as the sun’s rays reached him and he smiled when he saw Lily next to him. “Morning,” he cheerily said.

She leaned over and kissed him, though not as enthusiastically as James would have liked. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she replied, her eyes shifting away.

“Lily, tell me - what’s wrong?” he persisted.

“Honestly?” she asked. After he nodded, she took a deep breath and said, “You hogged the covers in your sleep.”

James let out a disbelieving laugh and said, “No, I didn’t!”

‘Oh no,’ thought Lily. ‘Here we go, again…’

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed this little one-shot. Have you ever known anyone to deny that they snore, even though they could probably saw right through a log with the sounds they make?

Some of you may have read my other stories- another one-shot called A Glimpse, and my novel called A Magical Journey. If not, check them out and let me know what you think.

Cheers!

MsNorris