The Marauders: Year Seven Part One

Careful How You're Handling Those

"Good one, James," Sirius said, grinning and leaping over to twack James up on the back.

James laughed and grinned as the class started talking excitedly to him, collecting about him to inquire where he'd learned the deletus from, scouring their textbooks for the source. It wasn't until later, during their code-word "rounds", that James confessed to Lily he'd been making rubbish up and just said the first thing that came to mind. "I got lucky," he admitted, flushing.

Lily laughed, "But you took the chance and that's brilliant, too." She reached up and tucked a bit of hair behind his ear and smiled at him, their knees touching as they sat on the stairs that led up to the astronomy tower.

"Yeah, I s'pose it is," James said, puffing up just a wee bit because Evans had called him brilliant. He would never get used to it, he didn't think. He smiled down at their laced fingers and her bare knee peeking out from her uniform skirt, touching his trousers knee and he wished his knee was bare, too, so he could feel her skin touch his. "You're more brilliant," he murmured.

"You are," she said back.

But James shook his head, "No way -- you."

"You," she giggled.

"Brightest witch of our age," James said with emphasis. He leaned forward so their foreheads touched, like he'd watched his mum and dad do all his life, and he smiled, feeling the closeness. When he opened his eyes, his perspective made it look as though Lily's two emerald eyes had merged into one and he smirked, "You look like a lovely cyclops when we're this close."

Lily laughed. "Are you assuming that cyclops aren't very good looking, usually?"

"They're related to trolls and giants aren't they?" James asked.

"Are they real?" Lily asked, the muggle-born in her showing. "Here I thought we were speaking of a theoretical being."

Next thing James knew, they were in the Library in the section on Cyclops, the lantern flickering from the desk beside them as they kissed - Lily's back pressed against the bookshelves as James held her hands and his mouth pressed into hers - a book open to  page showing a very pretty cyclops indeed.

It was Wednesday morning - one week into the term - during Double Potions - that Sirius Black suddenly dropped into the seat where Lily had been before going to ask Slughorn a question about one of the ingredients. James glanced over at Sirius, barely pausing in slicing up a tuber for the potion. "That's not your seat."

"Nope," Sirius picked up the silver knife Lily had been using and started peeling some of the nuts that Lily had left on her prep board when she'd gone to talk to Slughorn. "I've come over to have a word with you."

"Careful how you're handling those nuts," James said, seeing what Sirius was doing.

Sirius's grin spread across his mouth. "Are you really trying to tell a gay man how to handle nuts?"

James flushed, "I - it's just Lily's really particular and --"

"Lily?" Sirius dropped the little knife to the table and turned to James, one eyebrow raised in amusement.

"What?" James looked up.

"You called her Lily."

"Yeah, so?"

Sirius smirked, "Nothing. Just thought it was interesting."

"Why? It's her name, isn't it?"

"I prefer Lilith Jumpingjacks Evans - but it gets the point across."

"What do you want, Sirius?" James turned back to the tuber.

Sirius leaned on his elbow, keeping James's face in his sight. "I think you have a problem."