You wish Potter : A Jily Fanfiction

The Usual Compartment

"Guys, guys!" Peter came sprinting down the stairs, dressed in stripy blue pyjamas, waving his toothbrush around wildly. "There's a new bathroom up here and it's huge!" he explained, gasping for breath. "But we don't know who it's for?"

Mary Macdonald sauntered down the steps behind him with her hands on her slim hips. Mary Macdonald was angular. Her frame was slight, her chin was pointed, her nose was thin, her dark brown hair stopped right on her jawline and above her eyebrows in sharp lines, and her dark eyes- normally warm and smiling- could cut straight through you if she needed them to...as they did now. "Well it is clearly meant for the girls," she said crisply. "Pettigrew is under the misconception that it is closer to the boys dorm, and therefore requires any disagreement at all."

"And why is it clearly meant for you girls?" queried Remus.

"Well boys only take two minutes in the shower! You just stand there under the water and jig about a bit, so you don't need another bathroom!" Lily snapped.

"Woah- hang on a minute! It takes a lot of time and effort to get my hair looking this good," Sirius argued coolly, winking at Marlene, who rolled her eyes, attempting to hide a smile.

"You would," scorned Lily.

"Prongs!"

"I'm going to have to agree with Lily-pad on this one," said James, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Don't call me Lily-pad!"

Sirius threw him a dark look. He was quite sure that James's support of Lily had nothing to do with agreeing with her point. Especially since James had spent many mornings shouting at him to get a move on in the shower.

"I think we should vote on it," suggested James. "Those in favour of the girls getting the new bathroom?"

His hand flew into the air; Marlene, Mary, and Dorcas raised their hands with shameless smiles; and Lily's lips quivered as she raised her own.

"Outvoted, Sirius. Sorry."

"Fine," sighed Sirius, half-amused and half-irritated.

While the girls rushed to explore their new bathroom, the boys trudged up the spiral staircase to their dorm. They found their trunks already brought up for them, and pulled on their pyjamas. Sirius shook his head at James.

"You only agreed with Evans to get in her good books."

"All's fair in love and war," said James brightly. "Cheer up! I promise I'll never moan at you again."

"Yeah right," he scoffed.

"You're right, I will," laughed James. "Maybe you should just not bother with your hair?"

"And have a mop like you? No thanks!"

Ten minutes later, they heard a blood-curdling scream from across the hallway. Sirius and James left their snoring friends, and rushed to the girls dorm. Marlene was sitting up in bed half-asleep. When the boys came in, she pulled the curtains round her, groaned, and fell back into the mattress. Dorcas was still in a deep stupor, her legs sticking out the bottom of the duvet, and her mouth hanging open.

"Potter! How did you two not fall to your deaths at the bottom of the staircase?" Lily asked, crossing her arms .

"Its actually a very easy rule to get around," Sirius smirked.

"We'll tell you about it some time," agreed James.

Red sparks came shooting from Mary's bed. "AHHHH! Oh my Merlin, Lily, the spider! It's HUGE!" More sparks shot from Mary's wand, but the spider was too fast. She squealed, running over to hide behind the boys.

"Prongs! You get it- I hate spiders!" Sirius urged.

Wishing he'd thought to bring his wand, James marched towards the corner where the spider was lurking. He stopped when he saw it scuttle across the wall, but he rolled up his sleeves and cupped the spider in his bare hands. Then he spun on his heel and walked towards his cowering friends, waving the spider around.

"It's really squirming!" he teased. "I think it's gonna jump!"

"James! Stop it! Stop!" Lily squealed, burying her face into James's t-shirt.

James flung the spider out the window, and wrapped his arms around Lily. Sirius was silently pretending to be sick, but James just ignored him, smiling softly into Lily's hair.

"Thanks James, you're our hero," said Mary, jumping into her bed.

"Yeah thanks, Potter." Lily pulled her arms behind her back, bypassing red and turning maroon. Hearing Sirius sniggering in the corner, she turned and glowered at him. "I take it that spider was slightly bigger than the Acromantula you were telling me about then, Black?"

"Night, Evans," James laughed, following Sirius out of the girls' dorm.

"Night, Potter."

Back in their own dorm, Sirius and James fell into bed at last, completely exhausted. James had missed his four poster bed, the deep-red velvet curtains, the three boys that slept around him, and, most of all, Lily Evans.

"I am telling you, I can feel it!" James announced to his friends the next morning. "It's probably because Snivellus isn't slithering around her! Whatever it is, something's different! I have a good feeling about this year, it has a plethora of untapped potential this year does. This year, is going to be a great year!"

The boys stood by the courtyard leaning up against the columns, ties undone and shirts untucked. Breakfast hadn't started yet, so they had some spare time to taunt first years. Lily swept past, desperately trying to ignore them.

"Hey, Evans! Agghhh!" Lily had fired a leg-locker curse at James over her shoulder and he was now lying in the middle of the corridor very red in the face. Sirius and Peter started to clap.

"Truly stupendous curse connection today, Evans. Bravo!"

"Piss off, Black!" she called back to them, still hurrying away down the corridor.

"That didn't seem much different to me?" said Peter. Sirius sniggered.

"Prongs? You're blocking the corridor," Remus said softly.

"Stuff you all," sighed James, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He propped himself up on his elbows. The bag hanging from Lily's shoulder bounced gently against her hip as she walked away, her head slightly bowed, her loose ponytail of red hair swaying with each step. She lifted her head, adjusted the strap of her bag, reached the turn in the corridor, and disappeared.