Chapter Four: The Officiation Of "Jily"
By Natali K. A.
-Ariana's POV-
I walked through the door to our room, and Lily was fuming on the floor, trying to decide which shoes to wear.
"You're spending too much time on this, Lily," I sighed, shaking my head. "I'm not sure what exactly Chloe told you, but I want you to know that I agree with her. You're not the type of person that can handle a relationship without emotion. You're not a whore."
Lily glared at me, clearly pissed. "Listen, I've had it up to my fucking elbows with you two and your warnings. I'm not five."
"No, worse. You're seventeen," I snapped, tossing her one of my gold sandals. "Wear those, you cranky bitch. You know you wanted to anyway."
I crossed my arms, and she stared me down, before finally conceding and slipping on my shoes.
"Damn you. Both of you. And stay out of my business," she hissed. "If it bugs you so much, don't worry. You won't hear another thing about it." With that cold statement, she walked out of the room, late for her little date with Potter, I presume.
It disgusts me sometimes, her attitude towards getting corrected or warned. As if she knows everything!
But Chloe's mostly the one that's upset about the Lily-Potter-friends-with-benefits thing. I, on the other hand, am completely convicted in the fact that Lily needs to grow up, and if that includes getting hurt, well there it is.
Tough world out there.
And she took my favorite earrings, didn't she?!
"Meanie," I muttered, grabbing a book I'd been reading and heading for the library. "I won't ever see them again, no doubt."
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-James' POV-
"Potter."
I turned around, expecting to see Lily but instead finding one of her best friends-Chloe, if I'm not mistaken.
"Know where Lily is? I told her noon, and-"
"She's on her way," she cut me off, looking livid. "But I've got a few questions for you first. Where do you get off using her like that, Potter? I might not give a flying fat rat when you hurt other girls, but Lily's my best mate. If you're going into this just for some arse-"
"So glad you think so highly of me," I muttered. "What's the problem?"
"The problem is that you have a tendency of leaving sobbing girls in your wake. Lily doesn't need that. But not only that, you're not even dating her-you're only getting friendly." She said it as if it was the most disgusting thing she'd ever heard of, and for a moment I appreciated just how loyal Lily's friends must be.
Then common sense got the better of me, and I got a bit peeved.
"It's purely consensual, thanks. I won't do anything that she doesn't want to. I wasn't aware I had to ask your permission first," I said dryly.
Chloe glared at me. "Watch it, Potter. Believe me when I saw I'm watching you." She left, going in the opposite direction from whence she came, to avoid Lily I suppose.
Speaking of, where was that girl? I know girls take a long time to get ready for dates, but we were just having a bloody meeting-how long could it take? And hadn't Chloe said she was on her way?
I decided to go and investigate, heading for the door to the stairs. The east turret was of average size compared to all the other turrets and towers and such, but it was the least used and furthest from the usual traffic of students. It would have been good for snogging or having a private place to shag, but for the cool weather at night, and the rain cloud that always seemed to form whenever students came up with that intention in mind.
And if it was winter, you could bet on inch-think hail. You wouldn't believe how fast that sends the kids running…
I went to push open the door, but it didn't budge at first, so I gave it an extra hard push, knocking into someone's head on the other side.
The chit just can't like me that much anymore. In less than eight hours, there's been a dead mouse in her bed, a paper stuck to her forehead, a confrontation with her best mate (and she'd probably argued with her already), and a nice big bump on her head because I banged her with the door.
People are going to start saying I'm abusive, really.
"Are you ok?" I asked, afraid to hear her response.
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-Lily's POV-
Ouch.
Ouch.
Did I mention, ouch?
"Am I ok?" I repeated.
It wasn't so much that I was dumbstruck. It was that I found it immensely amusing.
"Lily, are you alright?" James asked bewilderedly. "Are you delirious?"
"No, it's just funny," I laughed from the ground, unable to bring myself up.
James grinned slowly. "You're out of your mind. I gave you a good bump on your forehead there."
I put fingers to the bump and felt around gingerly and found out he was correct.
A battle wound! Oh joy!
"Yeah, but wounds heal. Memories last forever. Or at least until you get Alzheimer's." I accepted his outstretched hand and stood up. "Now, you called me?"
(~_-Later that afternoon…-_~)
"How'd it go, Lils?" Chloe asked tentatively as I shut the door behind me and made for my bed.
"Fine."
I saw her share a glance with Ari, who asked, "What did you do?"
"Not a thing."
Ari raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really now? Nothing?"
"No."
"He fancies you," Chloe declared, awestruck.
"Yup, I know," I said, flinging myself onto my bed.
"He told you?"
"No, it's just not that hard to guess, is it? We met somewhere and talked. He didn't even try to hug me," I informed them, shaking my head. "It doesn't take Einstein to figure that one out."
Chloe hung her head. "I'm sorry about this morning-"
"Don't mention it. It was stupid." I was quiet for a moment. "But you were wrong, you know. I think he's dead serious about this."
Ariana's eyes were wide as she said, "I always thought he was just playing around, trying to annoy you when he'd ask you out over the years."
"So did I," I agreed, leaning on my elbow. "But no heterosexual male spends hours with a heterosexual female with no one else around and doesn't make a single move on her unless he's completely serious about his intentions."
When Chloe opened her mouth, I cut her off.
"Believe me, he's heterosexual, and I definitely am."
Ariana grinned, unable to refuse saying, "Well there was that time last year when I questioned your sexual preference, Lils. I believe that was when I caught you and a certain Hufflepuff stepping out of an out-of-the-way broom closet…"
"I told you, that was Joseph with his hair down and dressed as a girl so we wouldn't look conspicuous!"
"Of course," Ariana snickered. "I never doubted you."
There was silence in our room for a moment as we thought about my current situation. What should I do? Should I break off all ties and go back to being my usual bitchy self toward him?
Problem was, I didn't know if I could. I'd enjoyed myself today. Nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary. Just two friends, chatting.
What happened to that friends with benefits thing?!
"Lily?" Chloe asked finally. "What are you going to do?"
I sighed, tugging on a piece of my hair in frustration.
"See where the wind takes me, Clo. That's all I really can do."
It was six weeks later when James Potter entered my room for the second time. It was by pure luck that I was the only one left sleeping. It would have raised definite eyebrows if James had sauntered into my room without a second thought.
Naturally, Ari and Clo probably wouldn't even have noticed. The other three girls might have an issue though.
I wasn't actually sleeping, I just found it impossible to lift myself out of bed. It was the first Saturday in a month that I'd been able to sleep in-the workload for N.E.W.T. level classes was outrageous.
"What, James?" I mumbled as he stood over me. He'd moved the curtain and the sun was hitting me right in the face. "Move over to block the blasted sun at least, would you?"
"Time to wake up."
"For bloody what? I've got the day off today. No work." I shut my eyes, trying to block out the light.
The bed shifted under his weight as he sat down, and I felt his hand cover mine.
Ugh. He was terribly infatuated.
Warm, hard lips pressed against mine in a fleeting kiss.
Ugh. I was terribly infatuated as well.
I've absolutely no notion whatever happened to that "friends with benefits" idea. We'd forgotten about the last to words and went directly for friends. So that's what we were right now.
Friends.
That desperately wanted to shag like rabbits all day.
But we haven't given in to temptation-in fact, I doubt we've kissed more than three times, minus that first snog the night we'd agreed to be civil. His defenses were always down early in the morning or late at night. If we were the last ones left in the common room late one night-which seemed to happen often-we got a little more comfortable than we usually did.
But those kisses. I looked forward to them, as few as they were.
The first one had been nearly three weeks ago, when he'd chased me throughout the castle in a purely immature game of hide and seek. Nothing more than a "I've-got-you-now!" peck, but there it is. So quick, I might have imagined it, and it was the sweetest thing I've ever seen a guy do.
We never talked about our relationship, perhaps for worrying it might change something if we verbally acknowledged that we were attracted to each other.
Not that it took verbal affirmation.
"It's eleven. If you get up now, you won't be able to get to sleep early tonight to wake up early Hogsmeade Sunday."
"You're too practical. I wouldn't mind sleeping in tomorrow, too," I smiled. But I sat up nonetheless and threw the covers off. "Be right back," I said over my shoulder as I grabbed a shirt and a pair of jeans and went into the bathroom to change.
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-Sirius's POV-
I smirked at Remus who was sitting to my left as I caught sight of James and Lily walking down the stairs together.
"Look who it is-Jily," Remus muttered, using our nickname for the couple. They'd been spending so much time together we'd begun to refer to them as one.
Ariana came up behind us. "You said it, Lupin. They're practically attached at the hip."
"Cute couple though," Chloe remarked from her armchair to my left, not looking up from her magazine. "The entire room stops whatever it's doing just to try and catch gist of what they're up to."
I looked around, noticing that she was completely correct. What few students were inside were all pretending to be busy while actually marking every step "Jily" made.
I couldn't blame them, frankly. It was quite a sight, to see James and Lily descend the stairs. A beautiful redhead followed by one of the hottest guys at Hogwarts-I, of course, taking first place.
"You guys look cute together," Ariana said dryly. "Just make it official already, would you? Everyone's waiting for it."
Lily gave her a cheeky grin. "Let them wait."
"We'll see you later, we're going to visit Hagrid," James informed us, following Lily out the portrait door.
"I remember the days when we'd be invited," I grumbled.
Chloe snorted. "I'd rather not spend time with them until they finally hook up. I'm just waiting for this explosion of pent up sexual frustration between them. Frankly, I don't want to be there to witness that."
There was a collective chuckle around the room.
"Too right," Remus nodded, grabbing Ariana's hand to tug her onto his lap. "What do you say, Miss Brasseur? Would you like to vent our very own pent up sexual frustration?"
"Sounds positively sinful, love. Let's."
I rolled my eyes as they stood and headed for our dormitory.
"Well, Chloe, I think you're quite stuck with me for today," I smiled. "We've been deserted."
Chloe glanced up from her magazine with a raised eyebrow. "I haven't been deserted. Chloe never gets deserted. We choose not to follow, got that, Black?"
I nodded, sniggering. "I like the way you think. Shall we choose to go down to lunch?"
"We shall."
-James' POV-
"See you tomorrow," Lily yawned, pushing herself off the couch. I extended my hand and she helped me up. It was when she made to release my hand that she realized I had no intention of doing so.
"James?"
"I've been thinking," I said hesitantly. "About what Ariana said. I know we said we'd start off with friends with benefits-"
"You don't still believe that, do you?" Lily asked skeptically. "After the taunting cries of `Jily' up and down the corridors whenever we happen to be walking to class together?"
I suppressed a smile. "I just thought, since…"
She seemed to be making fun of me a bit as she asked, "Thought what since what?"
I gave her hand a gentle tug, and she obligingly stepped forward.
"How about we make it official?" I asked against her lips, not allowing her a chance to respond. I pulled her against me and felt a wave of satisfaction roll through me when she melted and opened her mouth beneath mine.
But Lily pulled away, setting her hands on my chest.
"Good night, James."
I stood, feeling a bit rejected as I watched her walk away. But providence was yet again good to me.
"And I agree."
*~*
A/N: Ok. I know. Late. Whoops. School, church, party. Yearbook. Not giving an excuse, just letting you know what my life has been lately.
So, um, yeah. This chapter is 100% brand spanking new, never before seen ABR material. Hope you all enjoyed, and I can't wait to read your reviews!
I've just realized once more that I used to write terribly. People let me post this? Oh, my…
I'm watching Grey's Anatomy, and it so RULES!!!!!
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