Always and Forever

chapter 2

Lily's pov-
The journey to Hogwarts had gone surprisingly fast. I'd ended up in between Potter and Alice, I wasn't sure when i'd fallen asleep but when i awoke, my head was on Potter's chest, my hand resting on his arm. I looked up to see if he was awake before quickly removing myself from him. He chuckled lightly. Everyone else was sleeping, trust him to be wide awake. I groaned internally.

"Sorry" I muttered, desperately trying to remove the drool from the side of my mouth. He smiled down at me.

"Sleep well Lily-flower?" I glared at him for using that ridiculous nickname but I answered honestly.

"Better than I have in a long time" He squeezed my hand gently, I hadn't realised that it was resting on his thigh, dangerously high up. I snatched my hand back quickly and his face fell. He recovered quickly and smirked at me.

"Well you had a good teddy bear" he said grinning, I shook my head at him, he better not tell anyone about this I thought.
"I'm not going to tell anyone" he continued as if reading my mind. "I enjoyed it too" he winked and stood slowly before exiting the carriage to change into his robes. I stared at the empty seat, the absence of his body warmth left a hole inside of me. I shook myself out of it. What had gotten into me?

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The train pulled up outside the big lake and students hurried to get off of it. I reached up and tried to pull my trunk down from above my head, but lost my balance and ended up falling backwards. I braced myself to hit the floor but someone caught me. I looked up at my saviour and I jumped when I saw two deep pools of honey staring back at me.

"Ja-Potter!" I said, not even bothering to hide my surprise.

"Evans, this is what? The second time i've caught you today? One of these days I won't be there" He tutted at me, his hands gripping my waist, loose enough to allow me to pull away at any point, but firm enough to hold me steady. I pulled away, pushing on his biceps for leverage , the muscle contracted and I was shocked at how defined he was.

He smirked "Like what you feel, Evans?" I hardened my expression, frowning at him.

I hesitated slightly "Nope" I said finally, praying he hadn't noticed my pause. He smiled at me, letting me know he noticed it. I prepared myself for the mocking that I knew was coming.

"You don't have to look so deflated, many people like muscles" he said, reaching up to pull my trunk down.

"Thanks" was all I managed to say as I reached for my trunk that he held in his grasp.

"Nuh-uh, my mum taught me to be a gentleman" He smirked and left the carriage with my trunk, leaving my standing, gawking at the lack of insults.
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James' pov-
I carried her trunk to the carriage as she tried to catch up to me. I stopped behind Sirius as he clambered into the carriage and reached down for the trunks. I passed then to him before pulling myself up and seating opposite him, next to Peter who was opposite Remus. There were four more spaces in the carriage, leaving enough room for Evans. I ran a hand through my hair absent mindedly. I looked up and saw Marlene McKinnon climb into the carriage, seating herself next to Sirius. Her wild, blonde hair hung loosely round her shoulders in curls. She was followed by Alice Prewett, who sat next to her.

"Where's Evans?" I asked them, she had been close behind me when i had her trunk but now her bright red hair was not in the crowd.

"She went to find Mary" Marlene shrugged, clearly not worried about it. I stared over her shoulder, looking through the trees at the castle behind. I startled when the carriage began to move, just now registering the long mousey brown hair that was tickling my arm. Mary snorted next to me as I jumped slightly. I glanced to my left over Mary's head to see Evans. She was in some sort of debate with Marlene about something, I looked around quickly, trying to gage the topic of the argument. No-one else seemed to know either so I satisfied myself by talking to Sirius.

"What are they arguing about?" I asked him.
He stared at me blankly, so i jerked my head in Marlene and Lilys direction.

"Oh, whether they like something or not. Dunno mate they seem to be speaking in code," He glanced from Marlene to Lily back to Marlene who turned to face him.

"What do you think?" she turned on him as Lily blushed violently.

"No way! He's biased!" she defended.

"why?" I asked openly, no one replied so I turned my attention back to Lily.

"So, we get our own dorms and common room" I started, not really sure where I was going with it.

"Yes, Potter, lucky you." she snapped. I sighed gently, not sure how to respond.

A few moments passed and the thestrals halted to a stop outside of the main doors. I jumped out and grabbed mine and Lilys trunk. She offered her hand out to take it but I turned away.

"We're going to the same place remember" I reminded her, she nodded thoughtfully but didn't try to argue. Instead she carried my owl and both of our satchels.

"The letter said it was near to the kitchens, the painting of the monk on a motorbike. The password is "hungry horntails" but we can change it to whatever we want" she rambled, steadily leading the way to the portrait. I watched her long red hair as it tumbled down her back in waves, reaching the top of her bum. She stopped abruptly, causing me to almost walk into her.

"Hungry horntails" she announced to the portrait, oblivious to me standing less than a foot away from her, I shuffled back cautiously.  The portrait door swung open and Lily climbed in gracefully, before turning to face me and offering to grab the trunks. I passed her them one at a time and she placed them in the middle of the room.

The room was red and gold and closely resembled the gryffindor common room. There was a huge fireplace surrounded by a love seat, an armchair and a sofa, with a coffee table in between. Adjacent to the doorway, there was a round table and around ten chairs around it. Behind the sofa there was a door in between two spiral staircases. Above each of them the letters "HB" and "HG" were engraved into stone.

"Wow" Lily breathed.

"Wow" I repeated in agreeance. I turned to Lily but she had already grabbed her trunk and raced up to her room. I took hold of my own and went up my staircase. The rooms were huge with a desk next to a window and a four poster bed in the middle. A wardrobe covered the entire wall next to the door. I placed my trunk down and went to investigate. There was a door opposite mine that led to the bathroom. It must be on two floors, I thought. I walked to the final door and knocked lightly.

"Come in" she called. I turned the handle and entered the room. It was the same layout as mine but flipped around.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" she wondered out loud.

"Yeah, it really makes all the patrols worth it doesn't it?" I smiled to myself, knowing they wouldn't be bad anyway.

"Oh come on James, they won't be that bad" she turned to face me as I settled down on her floor leaning against her bed.

"James hmm?" I smirked at her.

Her features twisted in confusion, "huh?"

"You called me James, not Potter" I explained, still smirking.

"Hmmm, I guess I did" She responded thoughtfully. She turned back round to continue unpacking and I watched her work.
"You should go unpack and then we'll go down to dinner" she said, hanging up her final outfit before turning to her drawers.

"I'll meet you down in the common room in fifteen minutes" I called to her as I walked out.
If I kept my word to Remus and stopped asking her out, this year would go on forever.