Harry Potter One Shots

I Love You Too

Lily Evans stood in the middle of the platform of the bustling train station, unperturbed by the crowd of people muttering complaints at her blocking their path. She craned her neck to see over a particularly tall woman and frowned when the train she was waiting for still hadn't appeared. Huffing impatiently, she checked her watch. Five minutes to go. She knew she shouldn't have left so early. Resigned to staring pointlessly at the empty tracks, she pulled her long red hair out of it's messy bun and let it pool around her shoulders.

Lily had never been one for patience, so after another few minutes, she slipped one nail-bitten hand into the pocket of her pale blue skinny jeans and took out her phone, dialling the number she knew better than even her own. James Potter picked up on the seventh ring.
"Hey, Lily, how's it going?" He shouted into the phone, the sound of loud music, clinking glasses and laughter almost drowning out his voice.
Lily winced at the sudden increase in volume and put a hand over the ear that wasn't pressed to her phone so she could hear him better.
"Where are you?" She replied.
"What?" James yelled back. "Sorry, hang on a sec." There was the faint sound of his footsteps, then a door creaking open, and then quiet.
"I said where are you."
"A pub with the boys. I'm in the bathroom right now."
"Why are you at a pub when you know you can't pick up any girls?" Lily questioned, glancing at her watch yet again.
"Well, mainly to celebrate Remus and Sirius's engagement, but also- Sirius and I made a bet."
"Of course you did." Lily rolled her eyes and shifted the phone to her other ear. "What was the bet?"
"Sirius has to get five girls to willingly kiss him by 11pm."
Lily's eyes widened.
"And Remus doesn't mind?"
James snorted loudly.
"No, he thinks it's hilarious. Especially when after about a minute of kissing, Sirius pulls away and tells the girl he's gay."
"How many does Sirius have to go?"
"Two. I think it's spreading that he's not actually interested in girls. A bunch of ladies were glaring at him when you called me."
Lily laughed, finding it surprisingly easy to picture Sirius getting mauled by a hoard of angry women.
"Say congratulations to Remus and Sirius again from me. Marlene and I might join you later."
"Speaking of Marlene, why are you talking to me if she's there?"
Lily sighed and checked her watch yet again.
"Her train's late." As she spoke, a battered red engine pulled into the station and Lily grinned widely. "It's here! I better go. See you later."
"Okay. I love you," James said, and blaring music filled her ears again as he reentered the pub.
"I love you too." Lily hung up and began shoving her way through the crowd, moving towards the train as the doors opened. She glanced at each one, and as people spilled out of the train she scanned for Marlene, looking for her familiar dark hair and sharp, angular face.
Just as she'd decided she'd got the platform wrong, she heard her name sailing over the crowd:
"Lilyyyyyyyyy!" And before she could look up, Marlene had crushed her in an excruciatingly tight hug. Lily didn't mind. She hugged her best friend back like there was no tomorrow and breathed in the familiar scent of her orange blossom perfume, squeezing her eyes shut as she grinned.
"I missed you so, so much!" Marlene squealed, rocking them from side to side.
For a fortnight, Marlene had stayed in Paris, working with a world famous fashion label that Lily could never remember the name of. Marlene had been dreaming of being a designer for them since she had bought her first cocktail dress for a party when she was 15. When she'd announced that they had given her a two week internship, she had been beyond delighted.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Marlene exclaimed, pulling back to look at Lily before swooping down and kissing her twice on both cheeks. "See, aren't I French?"
Lily laughed and leaned forward to hug Marlene again.
"So French, Mar. Oh, James, Remus, Sirius and Pete are at a club, but I'm guessing you're too tired to join..."
Marlene shook her head emphatically, her chocolate brown eyes already sparkling at the thought of alcohol, music and a mass of hot guys.
"Sounds excellent. I'd like to freshen up first though. Have you seen a bathroom anywhere?"
Lily took one of Marlene's two suitcases by the handle as her friend slung a heavy duffle bag over her shoulder, dragging the other suitcase behind her as Lily led them towards where the toilet signs directed.
"How did you manage all these bags, Mar?"
Marlene shifted the bag on her shoulder and hurried to catch up.
"Oh I met a few guys who helped me. Hot ones." She grinned mischievously and Lily rolled her eyes. "Speaking of hot guys, how's James?"
A smile spread over Lily's face at the thought of her boyfriend.
"He's really, really good." Then she realised she hadn't told Marlene something very important. "Merlin's pants, I can't believe I forgot to mention - Sirius and Remus are getting married!"
Marlene stopped in her tracks, her mouth dropping open.
"Fucking hell, are you for real?!"
Lily giggled at the expression on Marlene's face.
"Yeah, Remus proposed yesterday. I was going to write to you but I figured you'd be home by the time it got to you anyway."
Marlene frowned slightly as Lily stood aside to let her into the bathroom first.
"Wow that's- wow."
The smile slid off Lily's face as she followed Marlene inside, leaning the suitcase she was wheeling against the wall next to the other one as Marlene dropped her duffel bag beside them.
"Hey, come on. You knew it was going to happen eventually," Lily said softly, her green eyes bright with concern.
Marlene slumped against the side of a stall and exhaled.
"But they're so young! Barely even out of school."
Lily gave her a sympathetic look and came to stand opposite her.
"They're almost 19. And they aren't technically getting married, what with the stupid law saying only a man and woman can get married."
Marlene nodded dazedly, her eyes shining with unshed tears.
"Still... I guess I thought that maybe, even after all this time, Sirius might- he might-" She burst into tears and Lily wrapped her arms around her, stroking her long dark hair and murmuring soothingly.
"Mar, Sirius is gay. You know that. If he wasn't, I have no doubt he would fall head over heels for you, but he is, sweetie. He is."
Marlene gave a choked sob and swiped a hand across her eyes, streaking her tanned skin with mascara.
"I know," Marlene whispered. "But it still hurts."
"You alright in there?" A tall black woman called from where she was washing her hands.
"Yeah, we're all good." Lily smiled gratefully.
"I think I'll skip the club tonight," Marlene mumbled as Lily dabbed her black streaked cheeks with toilet paper.
"Oh no, we're going. You can't run away from this, Mar," Lily said firmly. "Let's get you looking gorgeous."
Marlene laughed weakly as Lily unzipped one of her suitcases and held out a deep wine-coloured shirt.
"What pants would you wear with this?" Lily eyed the tight black jeans Marlene's toned legs were clad in. "Actually, what you've got on will be fine."
"That's a dress, Lily," Marlene replied, laughing for real this time.
"Oh." Lily tossed it to her and shooed her into a stall.
"I'll need a different bra!" Marlene called through the closed door, and Lily fished out a strapless lacy black contraption she could never imagine herself wearing, and handed it to Marlene under the door.
"Thanks! You can pick whatever you want," Marlene said.
"What?" Lily asked, confused.
"To wear, Lils." Lily could almost hear the eye roll in Marlene's voice. "We're almost the same size. You're a little shorter and skinnier..." She had exited the stall and was rummaging around in the suitcase that had previously remained unopened. "Fuck, I'm never going to find it in this mess." She murmured a summoning spell under her breath. "Aha!" She held up some velvety green material and a sliver of black leather Lily thought might be pants.
"I'm not wearing that!" Lily exclaimed.
"Well, you can't wear that." Marlene gestured towards Lily's loose red tank top and washed out jeans.
Grumbling, Lily snatched the clothes off her best friend and stormed into a cubicle.
A moment later, she walked out, feeling incredibly self conscious at the way the green top hugged her curves and showed a lot more cleavage than she was used to, and the tightness of the pants.
"Wow, your arse looks great in that!" Marlene said.
"Marlene!" Lily scowled at her.
"James is going to love it."
Lily had to admit that the colour of the top brought out the flecks of dark emerald in her eyes, and it made her look almost as though she actually had boobs. And Marlene was right, her arse did look great. It just wasn't very Lily.
"Makeup, now, I'm guessing?" Lily said, looking back at Marlene from where she was staring at herself in the mirror.
"Yup."
Marlene was bent with her bum in the air, looking through her duffle bag. Her dress was so short that Lily caught a glimpse of her underpants - they had pictures of kittens on them. Typical Marlene.

An hour later - even longer than Lily had anticipated, and that was saying something as Lily knew all too well how long Marlene took to get ready - Lily and Marlene were outside the club James had texted Lily the name of, Marlene's bags having been dropped off at her apartment lobby to be taken up by staff on the way. The summer night air felt like warm breath on Lily's skin, and she hoped the club would be cooler or her leather pants would get annoying.
Lily's normally invisible eyelashes were thick with mascara and Marlene's dark eyes were ringed with eyeliner, smokey eyeshadow glittering on her eyelids.
"James is going to flip," Marlene said with a smirk, slicking on one last layer of red lipstick the exact colour of her dangerously short, figure hugging dress.
She led the way inside, stalking like a proud panther on skyscraper heels, nothing like the crying girl she'd been earlier. Lily followed more cautiously, tottering on spike heeled boots, tucking her hair behind her ears nervously. She never usually went out dressed like this.
It was Remus who spotted them first.
"Lily! Mar!" He yelled, and pulled them both into an awkward hug. "You both look gorgeous." He kissed Lily sloppily on the lips. He tasted of alcohol, and Lily was a little shocked to realise he was drunk, or at least tipsy. Sensible, studious Remus.
"Remus! Where are you?" Sirius came next, his long hair the colour of the night sky outside, his face shining with sweat. He wore a tight white T-shirt that hugged his muscular figure, and impossibly skinny jeans.
Lily glanced sideways at Marlene, who to her surprise was chatting quite happily to Remus. She didn't even seem to have noticed Sirius.
"Oh, there you are." Sirius draped an arm across Remus's shoulders and kissed him hard and fast on the cheek. "And Lily and Marlene too! Lookin' good, ladies."
Marlene laughed and did a twirl for him, her dress riding higher on her slim legs. Sirius nodded approvingly and turned to Lily.
"Lils! You look so-"
"Different?" Lily blushed.
"Good different," Sirius assured her, and gave her a hug.
"Hey guys," Peter greeted them as he made his way over, and both the girls kissed him hello. "Have any of you seen James?"
"Right here." It was James who spoke. He came up behind Lily and wrapped his arms around her waist, turning his head to kiss her collarbone. She turned around in his arms and kissed him properly, closing her eyes as his hands found her hips and pulled her closer.
"Merlin, James, you saw Lily a few hours ago, and you haven't seen me in two weeks!" Marlene complained, and James reluctantly stopped kissing Lily.
Marlene immediately kissed him on both cheeks, the way she had Lily earlier, and everyone laughed when he was left with smears of lipstick on both cheeks.
"We missed you, Mar," Peter said, smiling at her.
"Aww I missed you guys too." Her eyes strayed to Sirius, who had an arm around Remus's waist and was smiling as his boyfriend - now fiancé - ran his long fingers through his dark curls.
Lily noticed her looking and squeezed James's hand.
"Come on, let's dance!" She cried, tugging him towards the dance floor. The others followed - Marlene not before downing two shots she scooped off a passing waiter carrying a tray - and they merged into the swell of people writhing energetically to the music.
Sirius and Remus were laughing hysterically, a tangle of limbs jumping around, and Peter was smiling to himself and swaying slightly, clutching a bottle of amber liquid and looking very out of place. Marlene had thrown herself into dancing, swinging her hips and waving her arms about wildly, her hair coming loose from the delicate chignon she had pinned it up in and tumbling down her back in messy waves that looked black in the dim light. A moment later, a tall, muscled blonde guy with blue eyes that shone in the rainbow lights beaming down from above, had asked her to dance, and she vanished into the crowd. Lily turned back to James, hoping Marlene would forget about Sirius, at least for the night.
"Did I tell you how absolutely beautiful you look?" James yelled over the thumping drumbeat of a new song.
Despite his words, Lily suddenly felt very unattractive in her borrowed clothes, with her top showing just how flat she really was and her pants making her white skin even paler. Her face was already slick with sweat from the hot weather and the heat rising off the bodies around her, and her hair was a messy cloud of red frizzing around her head. Her feet ached from the heels she wasn't accustomed to wearing, and she fell back against James, suddenly sad.
"I don't want to try to be something I'm not," she said, tilting her head up so her words went straight in James's left ear.
"What do you mean?"
She covered his hands with her own as he wound his arms around her middle, and played with his fingers.
"I just- look at Marlene." James found Marlene in the crowd. "Look at her boobs, and her arse, and her hips, and her tan."
"You want me to look at other girls that way?" James asked incredulously.
"No. But what I'm trying to say is she's hot and sexy and whatever and I'm just- not."
James didn't reply. He took both her hands and led her outside, the glass door swinging shut behind them.
"Lily, does it matter that Marlene's a bit more-" he paused to search for the right word, "voluptuous," Lily almost smiled because the word sounded so weird coming from his lips, "than you are? Do you really think I care about how big your boobs are, or whether you're tanned or not or anything like that?"
Lily shook her head. She didn't quite know why she was upset. She'd never really cared about this sort of thing before, and she knew James thought she was beautiful.
"Lily, I love you. I love your smallish breasts and your lack of hips, I couldn't care less about the colour of your skin - you know I love your freckles - and your arse is pretty excellent in my opinion."
Lily laughed and leaned up to kiss him. He squeezed her arse teasingly and she pulled away, smiling.
"I like your smallish boobs too," she said with a smirk, and he lifted up his shirt. She stared at his toned stomach and tight chest with sudden desire, and was disappointed when he let his shirt fall back into place. She reached out and undid the first few buttons so a fair amount of his skin was revealed.
"Actually," he undid the rest and slipped out of his shirt entirely, "why don't you wear this? You'll feel more comfortable."
Smiling gratefully at him, she slid her arms into the sleeves. It was a navy blue dress shirt, and James had worn it rolled up past his elbows, so she did too. It came halfway down her thighs and James laughed as she buttoned it up.
"Very sexy." He grinned.
She followed him back into the club, sniffing surreptitiously at the collar of the shirt as she walked, inhaling the scent of her boyfriend - broomstick oil, and the outside. He basically breathed Quidditch.
"Lily!" Marlene cried when she saw her, and flung her arms around the shorter girl's neck. Lily wrinkled her nose at Marlene's breath - she was obviously drunk. But sober enough to whisper, "I'm sorry I made you wear that stuff."
Lily squeezed her arm and murmured, "Don't worry about it."
"Prongsie, looking HOT," Sirius said very loudly, and she rejoined them to see Peter slapping his arm, Remus shaking his head, and a small gaggle of girls ogling James's naked torso.
Marlene giggled drunkenly and clung onto Peter's arm to stop herself from falling over. Lily clutched at James's shoulder and kissed him fiercely, relishing in the disappointed groans from the people watching. James was hers.
"Jealous, Lily?" He said against her lips. She only kissed him faster, splaying her hand out on his chest, the other cupping the back of his neck.
"Excuse me!" It was a very official looking man, glaring at James as Lily disentangled herself from him. "We have a fully clothed policy. This is not a gay bar," he said, his lip curling as his eyes settled on Sirius and Remus, who had been dancing with their arms around each other.
Sirius made as if to get angry at him for the obvious derogatory comment, but Remus pulled him away.
"That's okay, sir, we were just leaving anyway," James said, flashing the man a disarming grin. He took Lily's hand and exited the building again, only this time they were joined by their friends.
"I'm ready for bed," Remus said, yawning. "Ugh, I'll be so hungover tomorrow."
"Moony, you're not even drunk," Peter pointed out. He himself looked pretty wasted though. His words were slurred and he was swaying on the spot, like he had been when they were dancing.
"Well, I'm tired as well so let's go," Sirius said, lacing his fingers through Remus's.
"Wait! I forgot to say congrats!" Marlene exclaimed, and kissed them both on the cheek. Her heels were dangling from one hand and her lipstick was smudged badly. Lily figured she'd kissed at least two guys. A minute later Remus and Sirius had walked off to Sirius's car, despite James's protests that they shouldn't drive whilst intoxicated. After Lily had ran back inside to get some water for both Marlene and Peter, who had sunk to the pavement and were complaining loudly, James's phone pinged loudly.
Peter plucked it out of his grip and read aloud in disjointed fragments, as drunk as he was, "We're home safe and sound, Prongs, you worry too much."
Lily glanced at the screen and smiled as she saw how many grammatical errors there were in Sirius's usually impeccable texting and approximately a million little x's that Remus had undoubtedly added.
"Now that that's sorted, can we go home, Lils?" Marlene asked, standing up shakily and helping Peter up with her.
Lily and Marlene had shared an apartment since they'd finished at school, but Lily had been thinking of sleeping over at James's. Then she remembered how drunk her friend was, and that she'd just gotten back after a fortnight away, and decided to stay with her.
"Yes, sure. See you Peter." Lily kissed him on the cheek and turned to James. "I think you should take him with you," she said in a low voice.
James nodded and leant over to kiss her. She clung to him as their lips brushed, her knuckles white as her hands gripped his bare shoulders, and he ran a hand through her hair, careful not to snag on any knots.
"I love you, beautiful," he said when they broke apart.
Lily smiled and kissed him one more time.
"I love you too." She glanced down at the shirt she was wearing. "Do you want this back?"
"Nah, keep it. It looks good on you." She had the feeling he wasn't kidding.
"I already have like six of your shirts, James."
He shrugged.
"It's good to have options. One for after sex, one for when you miss me, one to just smell occasionally, one to wear around the apartment and make Marlene jealous with because she doesn't have a hot boyfriend to give her shirts-"
"Hey!" Marlene interrupted indignantly.
He ruffled her already messy hair and pulled her into a hug. Grudgingly, she wrapped her arms around him.
"Can we please go? I think I'm going to throw up," Peter said.
"And I have to be in a car with you," James complained, scowling at the other boy.
"That's what friends are for, right, James?" Marlene said brightly, linking her arm through Lily's. "To help you out when you're stuck in shit."
Lily laughed, but she agreed.
"See you later, Mar. Bye Lily." James gripped Peter's arm and dragged him off to a nearby bench to call one of the many servants at his house to send a car - James was rich.
"Sorry you're stuck with me and not your shirtless boyfriend," Marlene said as her and Lily walked down the street in the opposite direction to the boys, heading towards the bus stop. They always enjoyed catching buses together, and as Marlene was drunk, Lily figured it would be much better than driving, or even taking a taxi. If only James had thought the same.
"Don't be sorry, I love you, Mar," Lily said.
"So you admit it," Marlene said triumphantly.
"Yeah, yeah."
Marlene unhooked her arm as they reached the bus stop - just in time, as a bus was pulling up.
Half an hour later, Marlene was lying on the puffy blue couch in the living room her and Lily shared, while Lily was perched on the armrest, sipping a cup of tea. Marlene had sobered up slightly after splashing her face with cold water and drinking at least 5 of the 10 glasses of water Lily had forced down her throat. She had changed out of her tight dress and was wearing one of Lily's old band T-shirts and clean underpants - this time with tiny giraffes on them - and Lily was in boy-shorts and James's shirt.
"You know, if I ever go into fashion, I'll have to work from here. I missed you too much in Paris," Marlene said, propping her feet up on Lily's lap, her eyes closed. Lily set her cup down and tweaked one of Marlene's toes.
"I guess I missed you too. A little bit."
"A little bit my foot," Marlene cried, and jabbed Lily in the stomach with the foot in question. "You must have mailed me every day, Lils. "
Lily tickled her foot, laughing as Marlene squirmed.
"Fine, I missed you heaps. You're never allowed to leave me again."
Marlene sat up and hugged Lily around the waist. Lily shrieked as she fell off the narrow armrest and onto Marlene's lap.
"Deal," Marlene said, flopping back on the couch as Lily settled herself down opposite, her back against the armrest she had previously been sitting on, their legs tangled.
Lily yawned and raked a hand through her hair, which was wet from the shower she'd taken. Marlene hadn't bothered to shower, but she'd scrubbed her face clean of makeup and looked much younger.
"Are you going to be okay at Sirius and Remus's Celebration of Love?" Lily asked, suddenly serious.
"Merlin, is that what they're calling it?" Marlene snorted loudly. "And yeah, I'll be fine. I'm happy for them, I really am. You're right, I can't run away from it."
"I'm always right," Lily said, yawning again.
"Why are you so tired? You didn't even get drunk."
"Mar, it's one thirty in the morning."
"That's early. I've been to parties that went on past daybreak."
"Are these the parties I refused to go to?" Lily questioned.
"Mhm."
"I don't regret it."
"I do." Marlene screwed up her face. "I did the stupidest things, Lils. You're lucky you weren't there to see them."
"I'm sure I was," Lily said drily. "Come on, let's go to bed." She tapped her foot against Marlene's leg and they each stumbled to their bedrooms, overwhelmed with tiredness.
"Je t'aime aussi!" Marlene called out, once they were both lying in their separate beds.
"What?" Lily called back, rolling over to flick off the switch beside her bed. The room was plunged into darkness, and Lily's eyes fluttered closed. She was just sinking into sleep when Marlene replied, "It means I love you too!"

A/N 

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