The Love of Patronus | JILY

Evans

          Lily woke up on the morning of Halloween, far too early, to a loud slam from James' dormitory next door. Leaping up and grabbing her wand, Lily bounded over every obstacle to open her own door, pointing it at the tall figure in front of her.

          "Bloody hell!" James Potter dropped half of the dark objects in his arms.

          "Potter! What the hell are you doing?" Lily asked, incredulously.

          James looked guilty as he held up his stash of what Lily now recognised as dung bombs. Lily opened her mouth in surprise and then narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.

          "It's, well, it's Halloween?" He shrugged, quite nervously as he watched her raised wand warily. She quickly stowed it in her pajama shorts' pocket. She felt a slight tingle in her stomach as she noticed him quickly look her up and down, but she forced herself to focus. He was supposed to be different.

          "Why do you need dung bombs on Halloween?" Her voice was slow as she desperately hoped that there was a good, and not at all upsetting return.

          "It's the pranking holiday of the year! There's no fun if you don't get scared out of your wits on the haunting holiday." His voice was almost pleading.

          He was a prankster at heart, and this was his time to shine. I have feelings for a prankster. Lily knew that it was ridiculous to expect him to give up everything. But what about me? Shouldn't I loosen up a bit? Well, there's no time like the present.

          "How can I help?" She responded, a mischievous smile forming on her face. She saw him gasp in surprise, a small smile expand on his sculpted mouth, and shake his head slightly as he laughed to himself. Is he saying no?

          "Lily Evans, you continue to surprise me." He said simply, still chuckling to himself. "Come on. The guys are outside."

---

          James and Sirius, it turns out, had a massive stash of pranking goods. And as they set up traps all over the castle, Lily could see that he was really having the time of his life. She was enjoying herself too. The rush of knowing that she was pranking for the first time, and according to Sirius was "bloody good at it.", and by the time they made it down to breakfast all of them were wide awake and completely energized.

          James and Lily sat next to each other for the first time ever, and their two friend groups spent the entire morning laughing and joking together. However, the main catch of Lily's attention, unfortunately, was everytime that James' arm brushed against hers - at which they made quick eye contact before turning back to their friends.

          Then, only to further ensure their happiness on Halloween morning, they hear a loud bang from the Entrance Hall and many yells of different pitches in response. All of them roared with laughter.

          "So what are we going to do today?" Marlene asked as the 10 of them headed out to the grounds.

          "Well, us Marauders were going to head to the quidditch pitch, nick some brooms, and have a little gang on gang match."

          "We're in!" Alice grinned in excitement, nudging Frank who smirked and nodded in agreement. 

          "Alright!" Sirius winked at Marlene who blushed ever-so-slightly, as she looked away. Lily raised an eyebrow. "Frank, you come here, then it'll be 5 on 5."

          Frank shuffled over and James and Remus jogged off to the entrance to grab some brooms. When they returned, all of them took to the air. Lily felt a rush of excitement as she kicked off. Why had she never flown before? Everything felt so natural. James grinned in front of her, and the game began.

---

It was a long day of snacking and quidditch, both of which Lily was a natural at, but eventually they made their way down to the Halloween feast.

          "Oy!" James stopped the girls as they turned to the Entrance Hall. "Come upstairs instead, we're having a party just the 10 of us." They changed course.

          "We're going to have some fun, first though." Added Sirius, and the four Marauder's sprinted off down the corridor. Lily shrugged and they made their way to the Head's dorm, muttering the password, and entering. Everything had been changed to look like a complete party room. Five bottles of butterbeer lay on one table, while five bottles of firewhisky lay on another. 

          Food, sampled from the feast, were laying on tables wrapped around a completely empty floor, that was flat and cold. As soon as all six of them entered, music Lily had never heard came up. Nothing like the style she was used to. It was modern, as though it belonged 60 years from now, with a strong no-echo beat. 

          Marlene wooped in excitement and headed over to the firewhisky.

          "Lils! Drink this!" She tossed Lily the bottle.

          "The whole thing?" Lily gasped, "No way!"

          "Lils, let go. We all will." And suddenly all of them had a bottle of firewhisky, but Frank with one of butterbeer.

          "Three, two, one!" Lily thanked the heavens that tomorrow was Saturday as she shook her head and downed her bottle of firewhisky.

          When the dormitory door opened again, Lily, Marlene, and Emmeline were dancing together: laughing and completely in their element. Frank and Alice were in the corner, kissing fiercely behind the couch where the slowly coruched down and out of sight.

          "Well, well. What have we here?" Lily turned around, her long red hair swishing behind her shoulder as she heard James' deep voice.

          She smirked and approached him slowly. "Potter."

          "Evans." He returned, a playful smile playing on his lips. She wanted to kiss him, but she refrained. Not like this, I should be sober. "Are you drunk?" He asked, his eyebrows raised.

          "Clearly." She laughed. "Come dance with me." He laughed heartily, but shook his head.

          "I don't dance." 

          Lily pulled him close to her by his tie, resulting in their faces inches from each other. She saw his laugh disappear as he stared into her laughing eyes. "Dance with me." She whispered it this time, as all sound had seemingly disappeared from the room.

          He leaned in closer, and their noses brushed ever so lightly, and Lily felt her entire stomach flip over. But she moved her mouth away from his, and kissed the back of his jaw. She heard him release a soft, almost incoherent sound and his hands, which she had not realized were on her hips, tightened their grip. Lily grinned mischievously and turned away.

          "Remus, you'll dance with me." Remus looked at James, raising his eye brows, but James was simply watching Lily.

          "Yeah." She grabbed his hand, starting to pull him out onto the dance floor with her two giggling friends, but the moment their hands touched, James cleared his throat.

          "No, I'm coming." She turned to him, smilingly knowingly, and galnced at Remus. He too was grinning at James, lifting his hands above his head and laughing as he backed away from them.

          Lily grabbed his wrist, the alcohol amplifying not only every movement but every feeling she got when they touched.

          Who knew he could dance, but god he could. Their hips moved together, occasionally he spun her, but only to pull her back to him right after. And the two of them were smiling and laughing the whole time. Dancing Halloween night away together.