the sweater ~~ jily

7.

Chapter Seven: Sleepyhead

"Evans," a familiar voice whispered. "Evans, wake up, please."

Lily's eyes opened at the soft voice. There, sitting next to her was none other than James Potter, of course. Sweaty, holding his broomstick. Lily was lying down on the bleachers, although she didn't know she ended up like that. Her eyes felt heavy and the sky was completely dark. The only thing that was bright was the small amount of light on the pitch and James's wand.

"Hey, sleepyhead," greeted James to Lily. "How're you feeling?"

Lily sighed. "Lazy," she responded simply, covering her eyes with her hands and rubbing them. "How long was I asleep?"

"I don't know, Lily, but Quidditch practice ended half an hour ago. We're the last ones here."

"So you didn't wake me up earlier?" Lily said in a surprised tone.

"No, I couldn't. D'you think I'd want to interrupt how peaceful you looked? Of course not. I didn't know how to, I'm sorry." James scratched the back of his head.

"It's fine, but what time is it?"

"I don't know, but we should go back now. It's been dark for a long time, I bet they finished dinner by now," James assumed, shrugging.

"What?"  Lily was astonished. "Finished dinner?  We don't get anything to eat?"

James sighed. "I hope they saved something for us, but I'm not that hungry. What about you?"

Lily combed her fingers through her ginger hair, closing her eyes. "Remus gave me a Cauldron Cake before I fell asleep. He couldn't stay because —."

"The full moon's coming, I know. In a few days, actually," he said. "We really need to go back."

"I'm sleepy," she told him.

"I know, Lily, it's not that far of a walk. Come on." James held out his hand but taking it back almost instantly.

"Okay then."

James stood up, grabbing her books randomly, and holding it in the same hand he was holding his broom. He let out his free hand again to help her, Lily taking it and pulling herself up. She rubbed her eyes again.

"You don't have to hold my books, you know," Lily informed.

"No, I'm holding it, I know you're tired." He let Lily walk in front of him first, then used his open arm and wrapped it around her shoulder. 

Lily crossed her arms, but feeling this close to James, she felt like smiling. James pulled her a little bit closer to him. 

They began to walk to the castle, off of the bleachers. "So," said James. "How was your day?"

"Do you think that was necessary to ask?" Lily laughed. "I basically spent the whole day with you."

"So it was a good day, then?" he said sarcastically, winking at her. 

She rolled her eyes. "Of course," she replied laughing. 

The castle was the brightest thing in the distance. Lily and James began to approach the castle now, Lily's eyelids heavy. She didn't know what the time was, but she guessed it could be half-past nine. They entered the castle, walking through almost-empty halls and staircases.

They had just made their way to the portrait of the Fat Lady and the Fat Lady nodded at them.

"What do you want?!" The portrait lady shouted. "If you're going to slam the portrait as well, you might as well do it now so I know!"

James shook his head. "No, we just want to get into the common room. She's tired."

"So it's another itty bitty couple, huh? Stupid teenagers!" The Fat Lady rolled her eyes.

Lily's eyes widened as she gave a glance to James who had the same look in his eyes. James looked back at the portrait.

"No, in fact — "

"Well lucky you, lucky teenagers, everyone has their little partner, girlfriend, boyfriend." The Fat Lady interrupted. 

Lily squinted at the portrait. She furrowed her eyebrows at her. "Are you upset because you can't seem to find anyone? Because you're a portrait?"

The Fat Lady crossed her arms. "No," she lied.

"Well, Miss, there's hundreds of portraits in the castle. You might be able to find someone," Lily shrugged.

The Fat Lady rolled her eyes. "It's not that easy. Just say the password, I'm sick of seeing your ugly faces."

James gasped. "Hey — "

"James, no," interrupted Lily. She told the portrait the password as the Fat Lady opened the door. They walked in tiredly, James smacking a hand to his face.

Sirius was sitting on the couch with his legs resting on the arm rest. James let go of Lily, giving back her books and walked in front of Sirius who was half asleep. 

"Why did you have to slam the door, mate? She's mad, really mad." asked James.

"Did she call you ugly, too?" Sirius asked tiredly, rubbing his eyes with his palms.

"Yeah."

"Well, don't take it personal. She's single too, lonely. She might have seen you with Lily. She's been doing that to everyone now." Sirius said casually. He adjusted his position so he was facing opposite from James. Lily peaked over, seeing how flustered James was and hid a laugh.

"I bet she hasn't done that to you, huh?" said James, flipping the conversation to the lazy Sirius.

"Nope. That's because I don't get girlfriends." he said simply.

On the outside, Lily would have gasped, but not to make it obvious for James, she hid it and her eyes had widened.

"W-Well because you're always single!" 

"Yeah, because I don't get girlfriends." repeated Sirius.

How stupid could James get, oh my god! Lily thought. She shook her head behind them, smacking her hand to her forehead.

"'Night, James." Sirius concluded. 

James walked back to Lily. "Did you get a word he said?" he complained, pointing to the snoring Sirius.

"Yes, I did. Good night, James." she concluded. Lily gave him a small side hug before walking up the stairs to the Girl's Dormitory, heading to sleep almost immediately.

a/n

thank you for reading!
lily do b sleepy doe
this chapter (including author's note) is 1,010 words

~the sweater