Priori Incantatem [HARRY POTTER FANFICTION]

Chapter 19: Not Just a River in Egypt

Chapter 19: Not Just a River in Egypt

James opened the door to the seventh year dormitory and tiptoed into the room, relaxing when the familiar sound of Peter's snores came to his years. James moved stealthily to his bed and bent to untie his shoes.

"Are you AWARE of the time, young man?" Mrs. Potter's voice came from somewhere in the darkened room. James jumped and spun around to see Sirius sitting up in his bed, a self-satisfied grin in his face.

"Padfoot! You scared the shit out of me!" James exclaimed. Sirius' impression of his mother had been uncanny. "Have you been awake this whole time?"

"Yep," Sirius returned cheerfully, looking very much amused.

"Where's Moony anyway?" James inquired as he pulled on his pyjamas. It wasn't like Remus to be out in the wee hours of the morning, not without James or Sirius' persuasion anyway.

"Not back yet," Sirius shrugged. "I expect he and Kathleen are 'inspecting' a broom cupboard for rule breakers somewhere."

"Ah," James nodded, unable to prevent a small smile from creeping across his face at the images Sirius' answer had evoked in his own memory.

"I saw that," Sirius accused, eyes assessing his best friend. "What's going on with you anyway? You look like you just found a peephole into the girls' bathroom in Gryffindor Tower."

"Close," James' grin widened. "Lily and I kissed during our patrol tonight."

"Sure you did," Sirius scoffed. "So did Snivellus and I, in fact. For hours. With lots of tongue."

"You said yourself that I looked happy," James pointed out. "I'm telling you the reason."

"Wow," Sirius leaned back against the headboard as though he needed physical support. "How was it?" he asked, knowing full well that, unlike himself, James didn't kiss and tell and it was essentially pointless to even ask.

"Perfect," James answered without hesitation. "It was worth waiting for. In fact, I don't think I want to kiss another girl ever again."

Sirius appeared horrified by the very idea of only kissing one girl forever. After a moment, during which Sirius visibly attempted to get a grip on himself, he managed to ask: "And what did dear Lily think?"

"Well...." James hesitated. "She said she wasn't sorry it had happened."

"Oh," Sirius said politely. "Well, that's something, isn't it?"

"I'm meeting her tomorrow," James added almost defensively, Lily's "maybes" echoing in his head.

"Hope that goes well for you, Prongs, I really do," Sirius said sincerely. "Maybe Evans is finally realizing what a brilliant bloke you are."

"Yeah," James agreed his grin back in place. "Maybe she's finally ready to give me a chance."

*** 

Lily sat in the library the next morning during breakfast, biting her nails and staring into space, completely lost in thought. She'd given up the pretence of doing her homework after only five minutes of effort, realizing how futile it was to even attempt to focus on anything right now. Anything besides last night, anyway.

Lily had stayed awake half the night, alternately remembering the kiss dreamily and agonizing over what it meant. She hadn't told a soul about last night, it was too fresh and she wasn't at all sure about what she intended to do, or even how she felt.

She'd told James that she wasn't sorry they had kissed, and that was still true. She couldn't regret something so perfect; the mere memory of it stretched a smile across Lily's face and sent a tingle all the way down to her very toes. No, she didn't regret, couldn't regret, the memory. And she couldn't go on denying the way she felt about James Potter anymore: she just didn't hate him, much as she might have wanted to.