the sweater ~~ jily

6.

Chapter Six: The Quidditch Pitch

"Sorry, what do you want me to do?" asked Lily, her eyebrows furrowed.

The three boys, Sirius, Remus, and Peter cornered Lily in the common room at the end of classes. 

"You know, go to James's Quidditch games, or practices? It'll make James happy, you want James happy, right?" Sirius tried to reason with her.

"Yeah, of course, I do, but is that the only reason? What do I get out of it?" Lily squinted her eyes at all of them, crossing her arms.

"Well, one, you get to see James happy," said Sirius.

"You can do your schoolwork there," said Remus.

"Once Severus hears of this, he'll get angry," said Peter.

"Okay, okay. I get it. I'll watch the games, but during the practices, I'm not going to all of those. And if I'm going to those practices, it's only because I have time. And to do schoolwork. That's it." Lily negotiated.

"Perfect," said Sirius. "There's one today, you know. Remus'll come with you."

Lily looked over at Remus who faced away from them, scratching the back of his neck. She shrugged. 

"Okay, then. I'll go. Only to do schoolwork. That's it," finalized Lily, throwing her arms in the air in surrender.

Later on, Remus and Lily (who was wearing James's Quidditch sweater) walked with each other to the Quidditch pitch. Lily kept her books to her chest.

"This seems stupid. I feel stupid. Is this stupid?" Lily looked up at Remus.

"No, it's not stupid. Let's say, you're being...supportive. It's a nice thing, Lily. And if you look stupid, I'll look stupid with you. Just focus on schoolwork, you don't have to focus on James, I mean like, you can if you want to," Remus joked. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Shut it, Moony. I'm just going to do schoolwork and wait for him to finish. That's all of it. And if I don't want to do this again, I won't."

"That's good enough." The two of them began to approach the bleachers of the Quidditch pitch. "Now let's go look stupid!" Remus encouraged. Lily shot him a look and he shrugged.

Lily found herself a good place to sit, and Remus next to her. She spotted James, not far away, but just floating on his broom and his hair messier than ever. She tried to hide a smile that was begging to show, only to make her blush.

And James had spotted her. They locked eyes for a small moment, James giving her a small smile and waving, Lily couldn't bear but smile back. What was wrong with her, why was she smiling? 

It felt like they were looking at each other for hours. James looked so happy, Lily felt so happy. It felt as if nothing else in the world existed, just them. For that one small moment. 

"Oh my god, that's cute," interrupted Remus. Lily shook her head, not dozing off anymore. James had flown away. 

"What's cute?" Lily asked him suspiciously. She squinted at him, causing him to raise his arms in defeat. 

"You don't think I saw that? You were looking at each other and — I'll stop talking now."

"I agree with you," said Lily.

"I was going to tell you that you should get started. Then you'll get over it fast enough, and you'll be done." Remus suggested.

"Mmhmm. I'll start, then."

Lily grabbed out her first textbook, Defense Against the Dark Arts. She sighed, flipping to page 394.

After about an hour of work, Remus had finished. Lily noticed he was putting his books back in his bag.

"What are you doing," asked Lily.

"I finished. I'm going back to the castle, the sun is almost done setting." Remus was standing now.

"So you're just going to leave me here? I'm not done yet, wait for me!" Lily pleaded. "I'm gonna feel clingy for being here by myself, and I'm not even dating him!"

"Not yet," whispered Remus under his breath.

"What?" 

"Nothing." Remus grabbed his bag. "Lily, I have to go. If I'm here during the night, I won't feel so good. The full moon's coming soon. I can leave you with a snack or something, I have something in my bag."

Remus plunged his hand in his bag. He grabbed a random Cauldron Cake and gave it to Lily. "Okay, before any more time passes, I'm going inside. If you need anything, ask Sirius," he told her before walking off.

Lily sighed deeply. She was now the only one sitting on the bleachers. When she looked back at the Quidditch pitch, it seemed they were taking a break. Lily wanted a break from her studies as well. 

Unexpectedly, James flew over to her side of the bleachers. He hopped off his broom and sat next to her, sweating.

"Hey, Evans," he said happily. "What're you doing here?"

Lily sighed. "Sirius said if Severus found out I was here, he'd be even crazier. And you'd be happier."

James blushed, although trying to hide the fact that he was happier that Lily was there. "Y, Yeah, it's nice you came. Nice sweater, by the way."

Lily rolled her eyes, smiling. "I'm borrowing it from someone stupid."

James scoffed dramatically again. "Did you just call me 'stupid'?"

"Of course."

"Okay, everyone! Back on the pitch! We need to go over some things!" a voice shouted randomly. 

"I gotta go, Lils. I'll talk later, I promise. Bye," he said, waving to her and hopping back on his broom. He flew down, leaving Lily to be alone on the bleachers.

Lily continued to work on her schoolwork for another half hour and finished afterward. She was only waiting for James to be done.

She felt a bit bored, not giving any effort to find James. Lily felt her eyes sometimes close tiredly and her chin rested on her hand. Her eyes fluttered, half awake, half asleep.

Dozing off, soon enough, Lily Evans had fallen asleep on the bleachers.

a/n

wow, can you believe i wrote two chapters in a day :0
this chapter (including author's note) is 1,020 words

thank you for reading!

~the sweater