ALWAYS

PLAYED

The Marauder's prank on the Slytherins had not lost momentum for almost two weeks. James, Sirius, Lily, Alice, Remus, Marlene and Peter had all grown closer than ever. Everyone could tell that James and Lily made each other happy. They were always smiling, laughing and cracking jokes. The teachers on the other hand, started giving more and more homework and lessons started becoming complex. James had increased the amount of time they would practice for Quidditch and Dumbledore too added on to their pile by increasing the timings of patrols. 

It was a surprisingly warm day for October, the sun shining through the windows of the Heads Dorm and bathing Lily's books in it's warmth. Lily was poring over her books, stressing over all the class tests she had the next day. She had been at it for hours and had almost finished her Potions essay. Her books were sprawled on her desk, her quill at the brink of falling down from her desk. She looked at the portrait hole to see whether James had returned or not. She desperately needed a distraction and James was a pretty good one. She sighed pushing her chair back and went to the kitchen. She reached for a mug on the top shelf but her hand seemed to recoil and reached up to her neck. Her neck was stiff, her shoulders felt heavy from all the time she had spent in various postures while studying. She groaned with pain as she massaged the back of her neck and rotated her arms, exercising her shoulders. 

"Told you not to sit like that while studying. But my girlfriend wants to self inflict pain on herself". She heard James's voice, and she felt his hands firmly massaging her neck and shoulders. His lips brushed her cheeks as he massaged her neck. She let out a sigh of relief before turning around to fully greet her boyfriend and gave him a kiss. "You stink" she said, breaking away from him. "I'll go take a shower" he chuckled as he walked up his staircase. He walked back down the staircase. His hair still dripping wet, a strong odour of his conditioner drifting through the air and his eyes dancing with joy. He plopped his head onto Lily's lap, stretching his legs on the couch. She smiled as she played with his wet hair. James looked up into her emerald eyes as he stroked her cheek with his hand. 

This had become quite normal for them now. They were used to patrolling late in the night, Lily falling asleep on the couch and James returning from Quidditch practice to find her fast asleep on the couch, he would pick her up and tuck her in bed, or take a shower and join her on the couch, cuddling in with her. There were days when Lily would fall asleep on James's shoulder as they sat on the couch studying. Lily would make coffee every morning and James would cook dinner. They would cuddle in with each other at night and whisper their I love you's to each other and fall asleep stroking each others hair. And the same happened today. 

James made delicious steak dinner and Lily devoured it within seconds. James was an amazing cook and Lily loved sitting on the kitchen counter, watching him cook and helping out whenever she could. They went to bed early because Lily had tests tomorrow and so did James, who also had early morning Quidditch practice. 

The next morning James tiptoed out of the room, making sure Lily doesn't wake up as he left for Quidditch practice. He came back late and forgot to wake Lily up, and when he did the whole dorm looked like a storm had hit it. Socks, ties and books all were flying up in the air. She ran down the stairs to find James place a plate of toast on the table. She picked up a piece of the toast and turned to leave, but spun around putting the piece of toast in her mouth and snatched the tie in James's hand and tightened it around his neck. James didn't know how to wear a tie and Lily did it for him every morning. James muttered a thanks as he gave her a hug and Lily said something that sounded like " I love you" but James was not sure, since her mouth was full of toast. She disappeared from the dorm and James didn't see her until Transfiguration. 

Transfiguration was a fun but hard class and the whole class filed out of the classroom after it had ended, covered in soot. James walked out with Sirius and Remus to find Lily already hurrying down the corridor. James wanted to talk to her but decided that it could wait and joined in on the conversation the Marauders were having. James was laughing so hard in minutes when he felt a sharp tug on his head, a stinging pain. James knew it was Sirius tugging at his hair and he tugged back. And Remus had to spend the next few seconds pulling the head boy and his best friend out of a hair tugging war. They were still laughing when they entered Potions but the laughter died down immediately as they entered the classroom. The rest of the classes were spent either by writing tests or practising a very complex spell. James had just finished Divinition when he spotted Lily walking towards him.