CHAPTER 3
Truth or Dare?
Lily strolled out of the dining hall with James by her side. They impatiently waited right outside the entrance to the massive dining hall for Professor McGonagall to show them their new homes. Ana, Sirius, Remus, and Chloe traveled together to the Gryffindor common room, as usual. James glanced at Lily beside him, and quickly returned to his normal state. His mind drifted into more thoughts of Lily in his arms, laying outside in the fresh air, under the oak tree at Hogwarts.
Today, she wore a green v-neck sweater and skintight light blue jeans. Her hair was in a neat half-a, with a lily flower elegantly pinned to the back of her head, holding her dark red locks in place. A frustrated look painted her face, her arms were crossed over her chest, and her emerald eyes were rather anxious. Her eyes seemed to always flick back to the door, as if the Minister of Magic were about to happily trot out and greet them.
"Evans, relax. She will come out in a minute," James assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. When he touched her, tingles of energy crept up his arm, causing a faint shade of a blush to erupt in his cheeks.
She slapped his hand away from her shoulders and huffed, "She said she would come immediately after the feast. Well, it's over! Where is she?"
As if on cue, a slim, stern-looking woman approached them, with several papers in hand. James nodded curtly, followed by Lily shortly after. She looked at the couple of teenagers dourly and handed them each a packet of approximately fifteen papers.
"Good evening, Mr. Potter and Ms. Evans. Please follow me to your new dormitories," Professor McGonagall said, breaking into a fast walk towards the east staircase, near the Ravenclaw common room. Lily and James scrambled behind her with anxiety.
The click-clack of her short heels echoed in the enormous building, startling the children at first. They rushed behind her, struggling to keep up. After twisting and turning around several corners and corridors, they finally arrived. Lily let out a deep breath.
Before them was an astronomical phoenix, at least ten feet tall, glimmering in different shades of gold. James's mouth formed an "O" in a matter of seconds, causing Lily to chuckle a bit at his amazement.
"Now, it will ask you a question, and in order to enter, you will have to answer it correctly, like so," Professor McGonagall said urbanely.
The gold phoenix awoke, and stared down at the three people below him. He figured it was a demonstration at first, because the two students clutched their uniforms in hand, and they had maroon and gold lions on them.
"Greetings. What are the three Unforgiveable Curses?" The phoenix boomed, as the children stepped back a step or two.
Professor McGonagall answered, "The Cruciatus Curse, The Killing Curse, and the Imperius Curse."
The phoenix flapped its wings and hovered in the air, revealing a large silver door at the end of the corridor it had been blocking. Professor McGonagall led both of her head students into the corridor, and allowed Mr. Potter to turn the small silver handle.
When the doors opened, light shot out and almost blinded them. With squinted eyes, they entered, and closed the door. Lily stood agape at the wonderful room.
It was a very open and welcoming room. On her left there was a bay window overlooking the Quidditch Pitch, and there was a long, maroon bed-couch one could sit on and watch the games. To her right, there was a glass doorway that seemed to lead to a balcony that neither of them had ever seen before. The balcony was rather quaint, with just enough space to have a little breakfast in the mornings. A bijou round table was in the middle of it, with two chairs. The black sky seemed to shine with all of its stars. You could lay out a blanket and look at the stars for a while, Lily noted. There, aside from the balcony entrance, another doorway sat right next to it. The door was completely white, with a golden plaque that read:
James Potter
Head Boy
Quidditch Captain and Chaser
Top Student in Transfiguration and Herbology
James grinned broadly when he saw it, and inched towards it to take a closer look at the craftsmanship of his door. On the exact opposite side of the circular room was another doorway that was almost identical to James's door. However, it read the following:
Lily Evans
Head Girl
Top Student in Charms, Muggle Studies, Arithmancy,
Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts
Former Prefect
Top of Class in 1973
Lily beamed with pride at her little plaque, and loved the livid look on James's face when he read hers. Directly in front of her, there was a small maroon couch with a white squashy chair on each side of it, and a crackling fireplace with several empty picture frames on the mantle. She looked up and gasped. Above her was white marble dome with paintings of maroon and gold lions etched onto it, down from which hung a silver chandelier. She felt as if she were about to cry. Lily quickly exchanged a look with James and flung her door open. She hurried up the squeaky marble staircase and came to a halt. Her room was a soft blue color, and her bed was the biggest she had ever seen. Lily's bed was dark blue, with little white pillows at the head of it. She had a small ocean blue rug on both sides of her bed, and on her left, she had several white drawers to put her clothes in. Right next to her bed was a bedside table with a small silver bell in a glass case, a vase of lilies, and a dark blue lamp. On the other side was a prodigious window, overlooking the black lake and the rolling mountains behind it. A good-sized desk faced it, fully equipped with new quills and other school related supplies. A little further to her left was a chair and a little grey kitten curled up in a ball, fast asleep. Lily smiled at her newly bought kitten, which she had named Kiara. Beside it was another doorway, and a little plaque above it read: Bathing Room. Lily squealed and ran up the stairs to a vast room far bigger than both the tiny bathroom she had at home and the one in the Gryffindor common room. An Olympic-sized white marble bathtub was in the middle of it, and a huge bay window overlooked the forest and grasslands of Hogwarts. Right in the middle of the bathtub was an elegant fountain. Three steps up, on the other side of the bathtub, there were two nice marble showers, and sinks with colossal mirrors. The wall next to it had two shelves fully stocked with shampoo, conditioner, makeup, hair necessities, shaving utensils, and maroon towels.
James walked in shortly after and marveled at the wonderful bathroom. He showed Lily his room, which was very similar, but all maroon, and draped with Quidditch banners, and had a broom closet.
"This is awesome! Evans, we practically own this place. We can do whatever we want here!" James exclaimed, unexpectedly hugging Lily and swooping her up into the air.
After he let her down, she patted down her shirt and hair that were all ruffled and mussed. She threw him an offended look and said, "Potter, this is a place for strictly business, nothing else. And don't pick me up into the air like that ever again."
"No! This is a place for fun, adventure, and... yeah, I guess, business." James gave her a challenging look.
Lily rolled her eyes. She crossed her arms again and said, "Anyway, we'd better get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow, and I want to be ready for it."
She turned around, headed towards the sink, and brushed her teeth. She removed her lip gloss, and headed for her room to get dressed. She looked over her shoulder to see James staring straight at her with wide eyes, completely frozen in place.
"Stop looking at me like that!"
James snapped out of his imagination and smiled softly.
"Sorry, Lils."
And with that, she left the room, and went to her desk to write another entry in her diary. She opened up the small little book, grabbed a new quill, and began to write.
Dear Diary,
Well, I don't know why I write in you sometimes. You are after all an inanimate object. Ugh, no matter. I have so much to tell you. The new Head dormitory is fantastic. It's beautiful, let me tell you. The bathroom is probably my favorite. It has an Olympic-sized pool. Yes, you heard correctly. And a fountain! Oh, and my room is just wonderful as well. My bed is huge, and I have my own fireplace, and everything. It is truly amazing.
Okay, another topic called James Potter. He is being really strange lately. It's like he is nice now, and doesn't prank as much. He is truly very kind and sweet to me now. Sure, we fought on the train, but he's not as bad as I thought he would be. I know, I know. You would love to be the one to point fingers at me, shouting, "I told you so!" But seriously. No, not Siriusly. Seriously. He is much more mature than usual, but I hate it when I catch him staring at me. I'm not all that pretty in the first place! I don't know what he finds so fascinating. I'm not special.
Thumps were heard coming up from the common room to her room. James emerged from the doorway, and he started to casually read over her shoulder, as if he wasn't doing anything wrong.
"James!" she shouted, outraged that he would peruse her own diary.
"Lily!" he said back, reading her diary once again, before she slapped the book shut.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, her eyes igniting with anger.
"What does it look like? It's called reading. I found out some interesting things about myself," James stated, looking rather proud of himself. He wore no shirt, which exposed his exquisite Quidditch player's body, and boxers with little brooms on them.
She currently noticed this, and found herself blushing furiously, before quickly turning around and opening up her diary once again and writing some more.
He is now reading over my shoulder. I am going to write about his flaws now. He is still pretty arrogant, and still has a rather large head.
"OI! I DO NOT!" James protested in alarm.
Yes, you do. Not to mention that you are selfish and annoying. And you are still one of the top rule breakers in the school!
"What rules do I break? I only play around!"
Look, I am being realistic and nice about who you really are, James!
"No, you're not being realistic! You are so bloody wrong!"
The definition of James Potter is the following: An arrogant, cheeky Quidditch player and Marauder who refuses to be proven wrong, and always has to be the best at everything.
"I am not just the best at everything; I am skilled and witty. Add that to the pros of James Potter."
There are few pros of James Potter, unfortunately, and I am positive that he will never stop being the prankster he is known for today. Goodnight, I will write more tomorrow.
Lily
She closed the book and placed it in her lap. James stared at it. He thought about all of the wondrous things she wrote about him, and all of her wishes. If he could get his hands on that book, he would be able to know everything about winning Lily Evans's heart! James started to reach for the little book before his hand was smacked and the diary hidden.
"Do you think that I am that vapid? Why would I give you that book? You! Of all people to trust, you!" Lily declared, before realizing something. "Listen, Potter. Please, promise me that you won't go looking for that book, and you won't read it. Promise me!"
James gazed at her kindly before taking her hand into his, his hazel eyes not leaving hers.
"I promise."
Lily smiled and, for reasons unknown, bestowed a hug upon him. They embraced for a while, before Lily realized what was happening. His bare chest was against hers, his muscular arms wrapped around her, his eyes set on her. What the bloody hell? This is unreasonable and wrong. And stupid. She let go, and said goodnight with a small half-smile. He turned, and left the room with a soft click.
She grabbed her nightgown and rapidly changed, and put her hair up into a messy bun. Before getting into bed, she pulled out her diary and scrawled a note in the margin of the entry she wrote.
P.S. James Potter may be all of those things, but whenever he has his shirt off, I get nervous. His abs are perfect. Yes, perfect. I am not joking around. And, I think he is charming. What is wrong with me?
With that, she tucked it away and put her head onto her pillow. It all became silent, and in a few seconds, everything went black.
11:45 P.M.
In the midst of the blackness of the night, James Potter awoke with a start. Truth or Dare was tonight, and he wasn't going to miss it. He threw his covers aside and slipped on a yellow sweatshirt that read Holyhead Harpies in big black letters.
James took a deep breath and ruffled his hair before he hastily got himself up, and to Lily's room, to wake her up. He creaked her door open, and crept in as quietly as he could. Before waking her, he gave her a good look. Her red hair was strewn about her pillow, and her eyes were closed. The only sound that could be heard was the faint, slow breathing of Ms. Evans. James had never seen a creature more beautiful than she. A pair of eyes startled him when they poked through Lily's covers, but he quickly realized it was only Kiara. He gave her a kind scratch behind the ears, before swallowing his pride and shaking Lily up.
"Lily. Lily. It's time to get up," he whispered. Lily shifted her position, and her green eyes fluttered open. When James came into view, she grabbed the covers and pulled them up to her chin as fast as she could muster.
"Bloody hell, James!" she said groggily.
"Sorry, sorry. It's Truth or Dare tonight; I just thought I should come and get you up."
She looked at him for a minute, and said, "Thanks. But next time just remind me to set an alarm."
James frowned, and replied, "Okay."
Lily staggered up, and put on some sweatpants and a baggy, blue sweatshirt. She rubbed her eyes and yawned before saying, "I'm ready. Let's get this over with."
They both slunk out of their common room under James's invisibility cloak. Lily felt guilty that they were, of all the positions in the world, smushed together, barely walking properly. Lily's feet could be seen peeking out from under the cloak. They reached the painting before realizing that there was a password.
"Crap! We don't know the password!" Lily hissed to James.
"Don't worry; I've got this under control," James whispered, and he pulled out a small piece of paper with the passwords for all of the houses for that day.
"Hurry!" Lily urged.
"I'm trying, I'm trying!" James said, struggling to read the tiny black letters.
He whipped the cloak off of them and muttered to the Fat Lady, "Phoenix Tears."
"Welcome," she replied, as she swung the door open.
Lily and James tiptoed into the familiar-looking room, and nearly stumbled on a dark figure.
"Ow!" Lily cried.
"Sorry, Evans, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time," Sirius said, getting up. "We didn't know it was you, so we hid. Everyone, it's okay; it's them!" Sirius announced to the room.
Ana quietly said, "Lumos," and lit up the room.
Chloe and Remus were both whispering on and on about Hamlet, before realizing they were supposed to be playing Truth or Dare.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, guys," Remus said, with a small smile.
"What he said," Chloe added, sitting herself down next to Sirius. Everyone plopped down onto the floor and formed a circle.
The light around them seemed to dim to only the candle in the middle of the circle, and then Ana interrupted the strange silence among her friends.
"Okay, who wants to start?"
"I do! Pick me! Pick me!" Sirius screamed, before being hushed by everyone in the circle.
"Shut the hell up, Padfoot! You're going to wake everyone up!" Remus hissed.
"Let all of that energy out, Pads, and there might be a couple a mile away who couldn't hear you!" James snickered.
"Everyone, shut up. Sirius, you go first," Ana said. "Truth or dare?"
"Dare. Make it a good one," Sirius decided.
Ana thought about it for only moments. She finally came to a silly conclusion.
"I dare you to run around naked, screaming, 'I love Professor Dumbledore with a passion of a thousand tacos' for 2 minutes straight."
Several disgusted noises came from Chloe and Lily, while Remus, James, and Peter rolled around on the floor, laughing.
Sirius got up and said, "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." He stripped off all of his clothing but his boxers. He refused to be butt naked.
He whisper-screamed the saying for two minutes while his friends clutched onto each other to keep control of themselves. They were laughing so hard, tears rimmed their eyes. Lily was laughing most of all, and her laughter was contagious. After his time was up, Sirius sat himself down and said, "Who's next?"
"Put some clothes on, Black! Good god!" Lily said, looking revolted.
"Why? You don't appreciate my almost-nakedness?"
"No. We don't, Black," Chloe said, miming vomiting into Remus's shoulder.
"Oh, we know you do, Robinson," Sirius said sarcastically.
"Ugh, not even close, Black! It's more repulsive than anything I could have ever imagined!" Chloe shot back.
"Moving on!" Ana interjected, not wanting to waste any more time arguing about Sirius getting clothes on.
"So, Evans. Truth or dare?" Sirius asked mischievously.
Oh god. Why did he have to pick me? Damn it. "Truth," Lily said, regretting she didn't walk out of the room at that moment.
"What's the sexiest dream you have ever had?"
"Are you serious?" Lily blurted out in outrage.
"Yes, yes, I am." Sirius smiled.
Lily gave an angry huff and an eye roll to Sirius, and thought about it. What was her sexiest dream? I guess it was tonight, when I dreamed about James without a shirt. But she couldn't possibly tell them that! Could she?
"Um, tonight I had a dream that Potter had his shirt off and he had just gotten back from Quidditch practice," Lily admitted bashfully, afraid to look at James.
Several whoops and hollers came from her group of friends. Sirius looked more pleased than ever.
"Thank you, Lily. What a wonderful dream that must have been. Don't you agree, folks?" Sirius said, grabbing a bottle of firewhiskey and passing it around.
Lily and Remus refused to drink, but everyone else took a good swig of it before moving on to the next victim of the game.
"All right, Ana. Truth or dare?" Lily asked.
"Dare, definitely," Ana said, not even hesitating.
"I dare you to kiss Sirius!" Lily squealed. She apparently had wanted to do this for a while. Everyone else was happily awaiting the moment of truth.
Ana looked at Lily for a minute, flares in her hazel eyes. Lily was immediately sorry she did it, but what was done was done. She'd live with the consequences.
Sirius edged closer to Ana, who was sitting firmly in place, her dark brown hair lying perfectly on her shoulders, her hazel eyes unusually timid. He whispered into her ear, "Are you ready?"
Ana gave him a blazing look and said, "Am I ever."
At that moment, she dived in, and kissed him full on the mouth. It was a nice kiss, no rushing or anything. His hands crept up to her head to pull her closer, and her insides smiled with happiness. It was no mystery that she fancied Sirius. No matter what she told herself, and no matter how hard she was going to beat herself up for it, she cared for him. A lot.
After several minutes of snogging, Chloe and Lily shouted in unison, " Time's up!"
Ana pulled away sheepishly, awarding him a kind smile and a punch in the arm. He returned a grin, flashing the best one he could muster. Ana blushed before moving on to the next person.
"All righty, then. Now that that's over with, time to move on. Remus, truth or dare?" Ana asked politely, straightening herself out and putting her hair up into a ponytail.
Remus thought for no less than a minute and said, "I'm going to have to go with truth, Ana. Be nice." He made a puppy face, and she laughed.
"Okay, okay. Er...well, here's a simple one. What is your deepest, darkest secret?" she asked.
Remus used to be sitting casually with Chloe and Lily on either side of him, but he suddenly stiffened. Each hair on his back seemed to stand up, and his heart began to pound against his chest madly. He wasn't going to say his real secret in front of everyone, not here. It wasn't the right time.
"M-My first kiss was with Lily in second year," Remus stuttered, looking over at a very embarrassed Lily, who smiled back.
James, however, looked vexed and astounded all at the same time. His dream girl, kissed by his best friend? Good lord, why did everything bad happen to him?
"WHAT?" James interrogated loudly, standing up.
"Calm yourself, James. It was my first kiss, too. We were just kids," Lily said soothingly, seating him back down, rubbing his back.
"B-B-But that's outrageous! Moony! You knew that I fancied Lily!" James said, beginning to get red in the face from anger.
"Prongs, at the time, you liked that girl from Ravenclaw, Alli Brady. Remember? I was the one who fancied Lily back then. Besides, it was only a kiss; it's not like we did...it," Remus said, blushing.
"Still! It gives you no right!"
"Give it a rest, Prongs! It was only a bloody kiss and they were second years! Good god!" Sirius interrupted, with a look of thanks from Remus.
"Fine," James said, apparently still annoyed, but he patted his buddy on the back and forced a smile. "Sorry, mate."
"It's all right, Prongsie. Don't worry about it. If you kissed the girl that I liked, I would have given the same reaction," Remus said.
"OI! LET'S GET A MOVE ON!" Ana shouted over the chatter of her mates.
"Yes, yes, sorry, Ana. Er, James," Remus began, peering over at James. "Truth or dare?"
"Dare. Not even a question, you know I do it every time!" James laughed.
"I dare you to jump up and down and scream, 'I love Farrah Fawcett' for one minute."
"What's the truth question?" James asked, with surprised looks from everyone in the circle.
"Er-if you could do one thing with the love of your life, what would it be?"
Sirius chuckled and said, "We all know what he wants to do. It's obvious. Everyone wants to do...it. People are even shy to say it! They call it, it!"
James looked at his friend with disagreement and answered, "No, I wouldn't do...that thing with the love of my life, if it could be anything. With the love of my life," James's hazel orbs met Lily's emerald ones, "the only thing I would want to do with her is hold her in my arms and look at the stars, talking and laughing. And while this is all happening, I'd like to hold her hand and tell her how much I love her, and how beautiful she is, and how I love her just the way she is."
Lily's almond-shaped green eyes rimmed with happy tears, and she whispered, "That was beautiful, James."
"Thanks," he said with a half-smile in her direction.
All of his friends were silent with shock. Sirius couldn't believe that he didn't want to do...it. Ana just wanted someone to do that exact thing with her, and she thought about how much she envied Lily for a guy wanting to do that with her. Chloe was just thinking about Evan doing all of those things with her, and Peter was thinking about chocolate. Lily, unlike all of the others, was on the verge of leaping across the floor to take James in her arms and to tell him how magnificent that really was. She couldn't believe it, and she wondered who the lucky girl was. Of course, she was so modest she couldn't see that James was speaking directly to her. Deep in her heart, she knew, but she didn't want to believe it was true.
"Why the hell wouldn't you want to do it?" Sirius asked with shock, still in a state of serious confusion.
"Because I want to give her more than that."
"So you want to do it, and then do all of that stuff you just said," Sirius concluded, nodding his head.
"NO!" They all shouted in unison, shaking their heads.
"Let's get back to the game, shall we?" Chloe said, calming all of her friends down, her bouncy blonde curls dangling by her shoulders.
"Yes, lets. Okay, Peter, truth or dare?"
Currently, Peter was stuffing his face with endless amounts of chocolate that somehow fit in all of his pockets. He munched on them wildly, as if it were a serious addiction. His watery blue eyes turned to James's guiltily, and he managed to choke out, "Dare."
"Okay, I dare you to go down to the kitchens and grab eight butterbeers and eight slices of chocolate cake for everyone," James ordered, pointing at the door.
Peter got up and waddled out the doorway with an irritated look on his face. Within a matter of minutes he was back again, with eight steaming cups of butterbeer and eight slices of chocolate cake. Sirius whipped out a couple of beers from Canada called Maudite, and poured a little in each of their cups when they weren't looking. Even Lily, who was against everything that had to do with drinking, was having a lot of fun.
Lily held up her cup, which was practically overflowing with butterbeer. Everyone followed soon after, smiling and laughing.
"I want to propose a toast," Lily ordered, holding her cup as high as she could, a jovial smile plastered onto her spirited face. "Here's to friendship, and love." Her eyes met James's before quickly looking the opposite direction. "Here's to a magnificent 7th year at Hogwarts!"
Everyone gave a loud "Hear, hear!" before falling into someone else's arms groggily, gulping down their butterbeer and forcing cake into their mouths.
The night seemed to overwhelm the small get-together, and before they knew it, half of the group of friends was fast asleep in the next ten minutes. Lily was next to James, who had Sirius's head in his lap, the remains of his drool on James's leg.
Chloe, Ana, and Remus were all entangled in a strange jumble, all deep in slumber. Peter was in the corner of the common room engulfing as much chocolate as possible, washing it down with firewhiskey. Lily looked up at James, who looked down at her drained but happy face.
"Tonight was a great night. We'd better get going. C'mon, Lily-Flower," James said, stretching his hands up into the air and standing up.
"James-I am so tired..." Lily said with befuddlement, her green eyes striving to stay open. "Will you carry me?"
"It would be my pleasure," James said with a watery grin. The love of his life asked him to carry her. God finally showed signs of love towards him. He crouched down and picked her up bride-style. He slipped out of the Gryffindor common room, with the invisibility cloak draped over him and Lily. Once again, the cloak failed to cover Lily's feet, which would look rather odd if a person were to walk by.
After what seemed like endless twists and turns in the labyrinth of a school, the phoenix emerged from the darkness, and it seemed to be shining in the dark corridor opening. It scrutinized the two teens in such an awkward position, and flapped its wings.
"I know it's you, anyway...you both look exhausted. Get inside," he said firmly, hovering over the entrance as James gave it a nod of thanks and walked as fast as he could down the short corridor and through the entrance of their common room.
He steadily stepped up Lily's staircase, and slowly made his way to her blue bed. He placed her gingerly on top of her bed, and wrapped her comforter and sheets around her. She seemed to smile a little bit as he did this, which made his weary eyes light up.
"Good night, Lily," James said, with a soft smile. Realizing the bright opportunity, he warily planted a tender kiss on her forehead.
He held her hand for a couple of minutes, and treasured this very moment. He promised himself that he would always remember this, before placing her hand on her stomach, and creaking her door closed.
The darkness seemed to penetrate James as he jumped into bed, and his hazel eyes slowly shut. A distant howl from a wolf in the distance barely touched the air, and grasshoppers seemed to sing their lullaby. James Potter felt himself fall into his dreams of red hair and green eyes.
Lily.