Limerence | A James & Lily Story

Maps and Mirrors

     "Hey, Prongs, could you help me with my transfiguration essay?" Peter asks as he sits at the end of my bed, tugging on a piece of parchment. "I still have about seven inches left."

      "Yeah," I reply, tapping my wand to the folded parchment in my hand. "Mischief managed." The ink fades away from the creases of the map, erasing every trace of the school and the people within its walls.

     "Looking at Lily again?" Peter asks hesitantly, his eyebrows raising in concern. 

     "Yeah," I muttered, tucking the map under my pillow. "Just making sure she's safe."

     "Where is she?" 

     "Dunno," I answer, taking the essay from his grip. "I couldn't find her on the map."

     A crease appears between his eyebrows, and he narrows his watery blue eyes. "What do you mean you-?"

     "Let's just look at your paper, yeah?" I interrupt him. I'm not up to talking about Lily right now. It's ironic really, the lads couldn't get me to shut up about her for years, and now, when they're finally willing to talk about her too, I've gone silent.

     "Um, okay," Peter responds slightly flustered. "So, I don't exactly understand what McGonagall was lecturing about on Friday. I have my notes, but they still don't make sense."

     "Let's go down to the common room," I say rising from my bed. "We can look at my notes and essay."

      When we get down stairs, the common room it is slightly full for a Saturday. People are throwing Remus dirty looks as he occupies a whole couch by himself, sprawled out with his long frame, his nose in a book. 

      I ease up to the back of the couch before swiftly yanking the thick book from his thin, pale hands. He shoots up immediately, wand drawn. 

      "The fuck do you think you're doing?" His brown eyes are ablaze as they land on me; they narrow as soon as he realizes it's me who snatched his book. 

     "Give it back if you know what's good for you," he spits through his teeth.

     I smirk. "Touchy there, are we, Moons?" 

     "I hate you," he deadpans.

     I laugh. "No, you don't." I drop the book in his lap. "Happy?"

     He lays back against the couch, mumbling beneath his breath, thumbing through the pages. I turn back to Pete with a grin. "Come on," I say. "Let's get to work."

     By the time we've gotten the rest of his paper finished, the sun is starting to sink from the sky, casting a warm, orange light through the windows of the common room. I squint at the bright light, stretching as I rise from my chair. Peter naps lightly with his head on the desk; he fell asleep as I did the last of the revisions. 

     I leave him to his slumber, as I stumble up the stairs back to the dormitory. I collapse onto my bed, flexing my legs trying to get the stiffness to seep out of my muscles. I pull the map from under my pillow, propping myself up on my elbows to look at the parchment.

     I place the tip of my wand on the bundle of parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

     I am up to no good. The guilt had began to sink into my mind again, but I do my best to ignore it. I feel slightly invasive every time I pull out the map to find Lily Evans on the map, but it wasn't like I could actually see her. I just saw where she was in the castle, and if she was safe. Lately, I could never find her, and she was never in class. My worry was beginning to grow.