The Love of Patronus | JILY

Potter

James watched her stalk off to the castle ahead of him. Her words had struck him more than he had expected them to. It was true, he had had my fair share of hookups but he had never had sex with any of them and, of course, she had no idea that she was in his head through every single one of them.  Of course, she would probably be disgusted at the creepiness of that, but it wasn't his fault that she had him under her spell.

"James!" Renée Cattermole let out a gasp of excitement as James threw her up against the wall of the third floor. He held her hard against the cold stone as he nipped his way down her throat, and she let out a sigh of pleasure. She made to reach for his robes but he hissed silently, running his hands up and down her body.

And then they came again, the visions, and suddenly it was not Reginald Cattermole's fifth-year sister up against the wall, but Lily Evans. It was Lily's eyes that looked at him hungrily, Lily's arms who clung to him, and Lily's smooth dark red hair that he was running his hands through.

"Lily," He murmured against Renée's firm lips, and she broke away quickly.

"What?" Renée was stepping back, looking disgruntled. "Did you call me 'Lily'?"

James could only nod, breathless, and she huffed angrily, hastily buttoning her robes and running off down the corridor. He turned so that he was leaning against the wall, willing his thoughts to turn to something other than the beautiful redhead who would never feel the same way.

The sound of his yell of frustration and fist hitting the wall in the memory from last year woke him from his memory, and he saw to his surprise that the two of them were almost to the castle. He watched Lily knock on the towering entrance to the castle and, when they opened, turn to him.

"Are you coming?" Her voice was not rude or sarcastic, but merely polite and final. He might have preferred her being rude, because then at least he would have a reason to convince himself that she was not worth everything he went through at the sight of her. He smiled without a word, lost in thought. He felt his stomach flutter ever-so-slightly as she sent him a small, warm smile back. He knew it was her way of apologizing for her words in the carriage, but he felt as though this was progress.

The two of them made their way quickly to the Great Hall with a couple of staff members and sat down near but not next to each other. James sat down between Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, and across from Peter Pettigrew, and subtly watched Lily sit with her friends Alice Fawley and her boyfriend Frank Longbottom, Marlene McKinnon and her boyfriend Peter, Mary MacDonald, and Emmeline Vance. He couldn't help but notice the elated expression she had sitting with her closest friends and laughing naturally and freely.

"Prongs you'll catch a pixie in that open mouth of yours." It was Sirius who was smirking knowingly at him. James threw him a dirty look and opened his mouth for a retort before Professor Dumbledore stood up to announce the sorting. Professor McGonagall came forward to begin the naming.

"MacMillon, Henry!" Hufflepuff.

"Davies, Daniel!" Ravenclaw.

"Parkinson, Watford!" Slytherin.

"Tonks, Nymphadora!" Hufflepuff. James looked up at this, the first Gryffindor of the night and cheered along with his housemates. He noticed her hair change to tomato red as she sat down and turned to his friends. "That's bloody cool, that is!" Sirius and Peter nodded, grinning, but Remus just watched her silently and interestedly.

"Oi! Moony!" Lupin blinked and grinned as well. "Yeah, brilliant." James lost interest after that, his mind drifting to the events after dinner. He was going to be living with Lily Evans.

"Potter! Evans!" McGonagall's shrill voice rang out over the clambering of students following the Prefects to the common rooms. They both halted in their tracks turning to look at her.

"Your dormitories are around the corner from the Gryffindor Common room, and the password is Leo Ignis." They nodded and followed their house up to Gryffindor Tower.

James' friends smirked at him and wiggled their eyebrows before heading in, and James watched Lily wave away her friends and they headed to their dormitory quietly.

"Lily," James began as they reached the mini gargoyle around the corner of the Gryffindor Common Room. He was unsure how to proceed, and Lily raising one eyebrow at him did not help. He felt a tingle in his lower stomach... and somewhere else, but he blinked looking away. That one thing always got him.

"Lily, I just wanted you to know, that arrogance and pranks aside, I'm not the same prat you've known and hated for so long. Just, keep that in mind, please." He added the last part quickly, and watched her warily.

For a moment she said nothing, but then she looked up at him and smiled softly as though considering whether or not to trust him. Then she turned, murmured the password and they made their way inside.

It was a miniature version of the Gryffindor Common room, except with two desks on one wall and doors beside them engraved with each of their names in turn, and a bathroom on the opposite side.

"I'm going to wash up, I hope you don't mind." He turned to her and away from his surroundings.

"Of course, yeah." He said, rather rushedly and ruffling his hair nervously. She turned and after quickly grabbing a small bag from her room crosses the common area and into the bathroom. James couldn't help but notice that they made short, brief eye contact before she shut the door.

It took James about 5 minutes before he was bored out of his head. He had always had his Marauders to goof off with and this silence was frustrating. He had just made up his mind to head over to the common room when the bathroom door opened and he froze.

Lily Evans was closing the door behind her wearing nothing but a bath towel around her slender, beautiful body that had streaks of water from where her dark, wavy hair was dripping. James felt all air leave his body as well as any desire to leave the room.

After what felt like an eternity she noticed him, jumping slightly.

"What are you doing?" Her voice was calm, yet laced with suspicion as her eyes flashed dangerously.

"I was- just- heading to the common room." He directed his attention to the fire, staring insistently at it to get his train of thought back. "I ran out of things to keep me occupied here."

"Oh. I thought it might be me." James gulped in surprise and his eyes leaped back to her, a flicker of something new in his chest. However, she was laughing at him, but he was not hurt or offended, in fact, he thought it was pretty damn hot. Her eyes glittered with mirth before she changed tact, "Will you wait for me? I'd like to go too."

"Yeah, definitely." And once she was changed, they clambered out of the door of their new home, James once again holding her door open for her.