A forgotten Book

A Forgotten Book

There she was. She was sitting in the corner of the common room in a rather squishy chair by the window. Not that James made it a habit to look at her every night at eight o’clock, of course not; it was only a mere coincidence.

He had never really talked to her before, but he had pictured himself fumbling over his words too many times to try. She intimidated him, and he didn’t like it. He did like many things about her, though. He liked the way she chewed on her lip when she was reading, even the way her hair seemed to light on fire every day at breakfast in the Great Hall.

James snapped his eyes away from her upon feeling Remus’ knowing gaze on his back. "Just looking out the window," he replied lamely, looking back down at the text of his Herbology book. Remus rolled his eyes, sitting up.

"I take it the view is different every day at this exact time then?" Remus asked skeptically, his amber eyes twinkling. James scowled, jamming his nose into his book, literally. Apparently Remus wasn’t finished. "But then again, Lily does change every day, doesn’t she James?"

James looked up, putting his finger to his lips. "Shh! She might hear you!" he cried, fighting the urge to box Remus in the face. His friend only laughed, turning back to his own book.

Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, James peeked over his book at Lily Evans. Her legs were crossed in a rather frigid manner, her hoop earrings peeking out from behind her auburn hair. She was one of those classy girls… one you couldn’t exactly openly flirt with, let alone expect a favorable response.

She was appealing in her own way, though she wasn’t all that different from most of the girls in his year. The way she held herself could have drove any man wild, she seemed to be holding a secret, and she was proud of it. She spent just as much time on cosmetic charms as all the other girls, but in James’ opinion, she always had the best results.

He watched as she gracefully pulled her pin straight hair up into a half ponytail, securing it with her quill. Briefly, her emerald eyes shot up. James hid his own, afraid that they would meet, though he didn’t know she spent just as much time peeking at him during classes.

He looked up as she abruptly rose from her seat, a crimson blush spreading across her freckled face. Lily began gathering her books, forgetting one under the table. She didn’t notice, just scampered quickly up the stairs to the sixth year girl’s dormitories.

James looked at Remus. That was a big mistake. Sirius and Peter were there as well, whispering fervently with their friend. James sunk into his chair; suddenly wishing he was invisible. Sure, his friends were great, but when they got an idea, it didn’t go away. He grumbled into his book, hoping they wouldn’t look at him. Alas, they did.

"So, James…" Sirius began, taking a step towards his blushing friend. "I hear you’re keeping something from Peter and I… and here all this time I thought we were friends," he finished, sighing, plopping down onto the arm of James’ chair.

James just sunk further into his chair. "Go away, I’m studying."

Sirius laughed ruffling James’ already untidy-beyond-belief hair. He received a groan from his friend, not even noticing the way his caramel eyes were turning to slits. Instead, in one swoop Sirius snatched James’ glasses, and was dangling it above his head.

Feeling the entire common room’s eyes on them, James crossed his arms. "Give me my glasses Sirius," he stated rather plainly, receiving curious glances from both Peter and Remus.

Sirius shook his head. "Not until you tell me who this mystery woman of yours is. You have to have a dumb-struck look on your face for a reason," he called in a rather annoying voice, lowering James’ gold rimmed glasses. Barely seeing that they were within his grasp, James made a move to snatch his glasses back, but Sirius pulled them too high for his reach.

"Don’t have the faintest idea as to what you’re talking about, now give me my glasses, OWL’s are coming up and I need to study!" James growled in frustration.

"I don’t believe you," Sirius huffed, crossing his own arms. James had never held something like this from him before. Out of the corner of his eye, James saw Remus pad across the room, but was distracted when Sirius stuck out his tongue.

"I’m tired, see?" James asked, pulling the skin under his eyes, which had turned purple from lack of sleep. "Now, give me back my glasses so I can study… please?"

Sirius sighed, slowly handing the fragile object over. James took a deep breath, not really believing he had just pulled that off. It wasn’t easy to trick Sirius Black. Sirius and Peter began to trample up the stairs to their dorms, briefly calling out that he should hurry because they wanted to talk to him about something or another.

Remus stood up, walking towards James. He bent over, pulling a book out of his pocket. "I think you should go return this to her," he winked, trotting up the stairs where his other friends had disappeared.

James held the tiny Charms book in his hand, chewing on his tongue nervously. It smelled of cinnamon, just like she did. He sighed, contemplating whether or not he should return the book to her. Instead of thinking, he stood up, taking his friend’s advice, after all Remus was one of the smarter ones of the bunch.

Feeling remarkably apprehensive, James jumped up the stairs two at a time, turning down the hall to the girl’s dorms. He ticked off the years on the doors as he went down the hallway; finally stopping at the door which was labeled with a big, flowered six. He managed to stifle a chuckle as he knocked on the door.

The door creaked open slowly, Lily’s bright head sticking out. "Not now Lucy, I’m trying to stud-" she huffed, suddenly looking up at James. She gasped. "Oh! James, Er- Marian isn’t here… I’ll tell her you came by though," she stammered, babbling on about James’ ex-girlfriend as of a few weeks ago.

"Marian and I broke up, I came to see you. Can I come in for a moment?" he asked tentatively, waiting for her to step away from the doorframe.

"Well, it’s not really allowed, you should know being a prefect and all, but I suppose it’s all right," she mumbled, stepping away so he could walk inside. She kicked a few notes under her bed with her foot, James supposed so he couldn’t read them. Secretly, he hoped they were about him, and that’s why she was hiding them. If only he knew it was true.

He pulled the curtains of the nearest four poster bed open, sitting himself down on the tie-dye comforter. Lily seemed to squirm, sitting down at the opposite end of the bed. James noted how she kept her distance, deciding it was no use trying to talk to her. She was obviously repulsed at the sight of him.

"You dropped this down in the common room when you suddenly rushed upstairs before," he cut himself off, deciding he had already said too much as she cocked her eyebrow. Digging around in his cloak pocket, he pulled out her book, handing it to her.

A smile lit her face, causing warm sparks to flick up James’ spine. She beamed up at him. "Thank you, I thought I lost this!" Suddenly, she flung herself onto him as if she were a little girl hugging her brother for killing a bug for her. James sat stiffly for a moment, unsure what he was supposed to do. Awkwardly he patted her head, thinking she would move away in a moment. She did not.

James felt her body relax in his arms as he wrapped them tighter about her back. She laid her head down in the swoop of his shoulder, not noticing when he bent down to smell her hair. He felt warm and content, holding her like this; he could have stayed like that forever. She quickly drew away, her eyes wide with fright.

"I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to… I was just- my book, and…" she babbled, looking down at the comforter, pulling at it nervously.

"Well, I didn’t mind if you didn’t…" James trailed off, looking at her, not knowing if he was being too bold. She looked at him for a moment, a grin spreading across her lips. It seemed as if she was evaluating him, and he couldn’t stand not knowing what the result was.

"Truthfully, I didn’t either." She whispered; scared that a confident confession, such as that, would scare him away. James gulped, pulling at the collar of his robes.

"Was I the one who scared you off earlier?" he asked, not able to hold in the question a moment longer. Her cheeks turned a bright pink.

"Actually, yes. I thought you had saw me," Lily trailed off, looking at an interesting spot on the wooden floor.

James cocked his head to the side. "Well, who wouldn’t see you? You’re not a ghost after all, you can’t make yourself invisible…" Lily shook her head.

"No, I thought you saw me looking at you," her emerald eyes sparkled with anticipation looking eagerly into James’ own caramel orbs.

"I did, only because I was looking at you." He barely managed not to blush himself. Lily was struck speechless.

"Look," James began, looking into her eyes. "I wanted to know if you’d like to go with me this Thursday to Hogsmead,"

Lily smiled. "I do owe it to you. After all, you brought me my book."