Curiosity Killed the Stag || Jily || ✔️

Part 4

Sirius groaned, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Why do you even need me to come with you?"

"Moral support?"

At this time in the morning, Remus and Peter would be off to their classes, James would usually be on his morning jog around the castle, and Sirius would still be fast asleep in bed.

Yet here he was, awake at the crack of dawn, always ready to assist his best friend in whatever crazy shenanigans he came up with.

At the moment, he and James sat in the common room waiting for the girls to go to breakfast and their morning classes. To pass the time, they tossed the snitch back and forth, watching it flutter between them. Finally, there were the sounds of footsteps trailing down the steps and the chattering of Lily, Alice and Marlene.

The three of them walked past James and Sirius, but Lily turned back and gave James a quick onceover. Sniffing once, she smirked.

"Great cologne, Potter," Lily teased. "What'd you do? Dump a whole bottle on yourself?"

"Ah, you know you love it, Evans."

"Keep dreaming, love."

Alice and Marlene exchanged knowing looks before dragging their friend to Arithmancy before she and James could get even deeper into their usual banter.

When the two boys were finally alone, James grabbed Sirius by both shoulders and shook him excitedly. "Did you hear that? She called me 'love' as in she loves me!"

Sirius winced. "I wouldn't go that far."

"I really think it's different this time!" James insisted, running a hand through his hair and tugging on the ends. "She's the one who reached out and talked to me. She didn't seem annoyed by me and I'm pretty sure she was flirting. Did you see that wink?"

"That was an eye twitch."

"Hottest eye twitch I've ever seen."

"Alright then." Sirius mimed gagging. "Merlin, we really need to get you laid."

He wanted his friend to be happy. He wanted to believe that Lily actually liked James back, but it was a hopeless case for the past three years and it was hard to believe anything had really changed. Sirius didn't really understand James's obsession with the red-haired girl. Lily Evans was just another girl. She was kind and funny, but there were certainly other girls out there like that.

But no, to James, the only girl that mattered was Evans. And if she was important to James, she was important to Sirius. Not important like that, of course. Sirius mentally shuddered at the thought of being with Lily Evans.

Their first date (and kiss) was a memory he didn't like reliving. After James had told him that he couldn't come to Hogsmeade, Sirius decided to hang out with Evans as a last resort. They had such a great time, until Sirius, the idiot he was, leaned in and planted a terrible kiss on her.

Lily hated it so much, she couldn't even look at him all the way back to Hogwarts. And then, to make matters worse, his best friend decided to confess his love to the girl he had just smooched in front of the entire school. A confession which said girl had completely rejected!

He didn't even know James had liked Lily Evans like that until that awkward moment. Sirius always thought that Lily Evans annoyed him, but apparently it was the opposite.

For the next month after the date, the feeling of guilt haunted him, even though he really did have no idea. Then, Marlene McKinnon had kissed him under the bleachers during a Quidditch game and all thoughts of Lily Evans flew right out the window. Eventually, the guilt had faded too, and from then on, Sirius had made it his mission to help his friend find a way to be with the love of his life... and also to kiss as many girls as possible to make up for that terrible first time.

***

While Sirius was distracted by past memories, James had carried on with his plan and with the help of sticky spells, a handy-dandy Invisibility Cloak, and a bunch of other magical tools that Sirius did not pay attention to, he and James found themselves inside the girls' empty room.

"It smells so much better in here," Sirius commented off-handedly.

Letting out a small hum in agreement, James walked over to Lily's bed, which he knew was hers based on the pictures of her friends and family by her bedside. He took the blue flower and the attached note from his cloak and was ready to place it gently on her pillow, when Sirius made a small sound of shock.

"Check this out, Prongs." Sirius pointed to her nightstand.

Though it wasn't framed, beside all the pictures of her loved ones, was a single picture of her and James.

Sirius remembered the day it was taken.

The Gryffindor team had just won their first game of their sixth year and Captain James Potter had celebrated by doing a victory loop around the field. When James had flew by Lily, he gave her his classic smirk and leaned in as close as he could while still on his broom. Shouting over the triumphal applause and elated screams of Gryffindor house, James asked, "How 'bout a victory kiss for the Captain, eh, Evans?" He added in a wink for good measure.

Sirius was ready to pick James off the ground after Lily would inevitably push him off his broom, but what she did next had shocked him.

Instead of turning away in disgust, Lily leaned in closer, biting her lower lip with a tantalizing smile. "It's gonna take more than one game to impress me, Captain." She reciprocated his wink. "I'll see you next game."

James adjusted his broom, flying a little higher causing Lily to turn her head up to be almost nose to nose with him. So close that James could see every light freckle dotting her face. He said, "I look forward to it, love."

Sirius saw Alice discreetly take a picture of the two of them as she and Marlene giggled amongst themselves.

That must have been how Lily had gotten the picture. But then she had kept the picture.

The image was slightly wrinkled, a sign that it had been held and admired for a long time.

He could almost imagine Lily lying in her bed, holding up the picture of her and James above her head, just gazing at the moving image of James's windswept hair and her fingers gripping the railing as she leaned her body forwards to be closer with his. Their cheeky smiles and blushing red cheeks. The photograph of James speaking to her, his breath mere inches from her lips. The sensual image of what looked like two figures almost kissing.

And Lily Evans kept it; she kept it close to her.

Perhaps James was onto something, Sirius thought to himself. Maybe Lily was starting to reciprocate those feelings that James did little to hide from her.

Not having said a word the entire time, James continued to stare at the photograph.

"You alright, mate?" Sirius asked.

Rather than respond, James used a single finger to trail down the side of the picture, his face slowly breaking out from the shock into pure delight. But before James could open his mouth to say anything, they could hear voices talking and the jiggling of the doorknob as someone was trying to get in.

Thinking quickly for the both of them, Sirius tossed the Invisibility Cloak over himself and James and pushed him to the corner of the room, making themselves as small as they could.