Garland War
Title: Garland War
Rating: G
Genre: Holiday fluff
Characters/Pairings: Lily/James
Spoilers: Pre-series, so none, really.
Summary: It’s the holidays…we’re supposed to be on our best behavior, right?
Notes: No beta, except myself. Cross posted. Prompt “disheveled” for 7spells
Disclaimer: Everything Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and Scholastic Press, and is used without permission here. I, however, do not claim what is theirs and only what is mine.
Garland War
“Back late from class again, Lily.”
Lily cringed at her roommate’s challenging voice, though she knew it was true. Her lessons really did end at four o’clock in the afternoon and it was after five o’ clock now, but damn if she’d let Marlene know what she’d been up to.
“Of course. I told you that my Advanced Potions Club was meeting tonight for extra practice before the holidays,” she commented nonchalantly to the other girl, unwinding her Gryffindor-striped scarf from around her neck. Snowflakes were quickly melting in her mussed hair and the wind had whipped her cheeks into a rosy color.
Marlene, sitting on her bed in their dormitory with books piled around her and an extra quill tucked behind her ear, arched an eyebrow. “Lily Evans, you’re a little lying witch! Your hair is an absolute mess and you’re covered in snow. Advanced Potions does not meet outside, so what have you been doing?”
Lily’s face flushed and she tried to finger-comb through her riotous curls, though they were tangled, determined to stay disheveled. “I went for a walk after the club meeting, all right? Rabastan Lestrange is so frustrating; I couldn’t come back here wanting to smack the living daylights out of something, so I decided a nice stroll around the grounds was in order. Violence wouldn’t do this close to Christmas.”
“It’s freezing out and you hate the cold. You could’ve gone to the library.”
“Charms Club was practicing in the library after the first years exploded a Christmas wreath in Flitwick’s classroom,” Lily countered. “And frankly, I don’t want to get hit with a badly cast Cheering Charm.”
“Merlin knows you need it,” Marlene muttered, flicking a strand of long blonde hair behind her shoulder as she poised a quill over a roll of parchment. “I guess I’ll just have to tell the others that you’re out meeting with a boy and finally having yourself a proper scandal.”
Lily grimaced as her friend hit close to the mark. “Really, Marlene? Is that what you think of me? Snogging some boy behind the Herbology greenhouses? I promise I’ll tell you what I was doing, but…not yet, all right?”
Marlene flipped open a textbook with a groan, then looked piercingly at Lily. “Fine. But I will find out sooner or later.”
- - -
A week later, Lily was in the Gryffindor common room standing on a chair as she directed fairy lights to various places. She pursed her lips, then waved her wand, changing them to red instead of the green (Slytherin colors in the Gryffindor common room would result in mutiny, no matter the holiday) as she wondered what Ravenclaw did for Christmas colors.
The portrait hole swung open and a group of boys tumbled in, shaking water out of their hair as they got off Quidditch practice. Lily’s eyes flickered to the group, then away to where she was orchestrating an arrangement on the wall. However, seemingly of themselves, she caught her eyes drifting towards the boys again. Or boy.
James Potter was laughing at something as he pulled off his sodden Quidditch robes, glasses catching the soft Christmas lighting and Lily silently blew out a breath. She and James weren’t supposed to be friends, but a rather amicable truce had settled between them as they took up their respective positions of Head Boy and Girl.
But Lily secretly had it bad for James this year.
Smirking widely, she levitated a heaping pile of tinsel and silently waved it over to the group of boys, the long string floating through the air. With an upward flick of her wand, Lily dropped it onto them, burying them in a silver pile.
“Merlin’s beard!”
“I think I just ate some! I’m gonna be crapping tinsel!”
Turning her back, Lily’s shoulders shook from constrained laughter as the boys swore, untangling themselves from the garland. She snuck a quick glance back at them, pretending to be checking the alignment of a string of fairy lights, only to see Sirius burst upwards then trip over still-knotted tinsel. Lily whipped back around to the wall, a fresh rush of mirth overtaking her.
As she coughed, swallowing giggles, Lily failed to notice that James had extricated himself and easily had divined the source of the tinsel attack. With a wide grin, he sauntered up to the chair she was standing on.
“Hullo Lils,” he casually remarked, resting an elbow on the back of it as he looked up at her.
“Er, hi James,” Lily managed, her face turning bright crimson.
“C’mere.” He crooked a finger at her, hazel eyes glittering.
Lily bent down, tucking an errant curl behind her ear as she did so. “Yeah?”
“I know what you did.” James leaned forward until his lips brushed her ear after allowing himself a glance down her shirt. “And don’t think that you’re going to go…unpunished for it.”
Grinning, he sauntered away to his friends, leaving Lily gaping at his retreating back.
- - -
A few days later, Lily was outside decorating again, this time with greenery instead of strings of fairy lights, though. Weaving the evergreen around the stone crenellations, she blew out a cloud of heated breath. She couldn’t wait to get back inside tonight; James had said he had Quidditch practice-which she very well knew-and called off. Now the sun was quickly dropping in the west and rows of fairy lights delicately casting the only illumination, while the steadily falling snow wasn’t helping, so she tucked them into her underarms, stamping her feet as she kept a watchful eye on the winding garlands.
She glanced down at the ground, noticing the accumulating powder and hoping this got a move on; when she looked back up, the greenery was rushing towards her. As Lily stared helplessly at the oncoming evergreen mass, more confused than frightened, it quickly wrapped itself around her body, rendering her immobile.
“Help!” Lily shrieked, trying not to topple over, though she knew that it was unlikely anyone would hear her-it was dinnertime, after all.
She struggled against the encompassing vine, but it only squeezed her in a tighter embrace. Lily turned her head when a clump of fragrant pine needles aimed for her nose. Her eyelashes were bunching as the snow melted on the tips of them, and she’d dropped her wand on the ground. Standing still for a moment, Lily tried to treat it like a Devil’s Snare in Herbology, praying that the tempestuous greenery would relax, but it was in vain. She was well and truly captured by Christmas decorations.
“Tut, tut, Lily dear. The Head Girl should not be playing dress up with the holiday garland-that’s blatant misuse of school equipment. And really undignified, too.” James, wrapped in a warm cloak, was suddenly leaning against a wall near her.
Lily sputtered with indignant rage. “You! I swear to Merlin, James Potter, that if you don’t get this off of me, I will hex you back into first year!” she seethed, elbowing ropes of evergreen in another attempt to free herself.
Smirking, he just settled into the wall more firmly. “This is just payback for the Common Room incident. And how are you proposing hexing me if your wand is lying on the ground over there. I’d say that you’re currently quite tied up.”
She muttered a garble of profanities, some promises of bodily harm, and some pleas to just get whatever this done with.
James cocked an eyebrow and sauntered towards her, snow swirling around his ankles. “Then again, you being tied up might not be such a bad idea.”
Lily glared up at him through snow-crusted eyelashes, little white flurries whirling around their heads before giving into his smarmy attitude. “Please, James,” she sighed, briefly closing her eyes. She reopened them. “Whatever your point, make it. I’m hungry, I’m tired, and I’m really cold.”
The small smirk that had been teasing in the corners of his lips broke out into a full grin, his eyes mischievously dancing behind his glasses. “You didn’t seem so cold these last few afternoons when you were out watching me practice, Evans. Seemed to be enjoying yourself, in fact,” he murmured huskily.
Her tongue darted out to touch her bottom lip. There was no point in denying that she’d been covertly (or so she thought) dropping in for a few minutes on an increasing number of Gryffindor Quidditch practices for the last few weeks. “You, you weren’t supposed to see me.”
“The hair’s a dead giveaway.”
Lily was already a deep red and flushed even harder. “I...” She couldn’t think of any excuse, any way to get out of this, bound as she was-literally.
James thrust his hands into his robe’s pockets. “Oh I don’t mind you being there. Just makes me curious as to why. Tell me or kiss me and I’ll let you out of there.”
If she could have blushed more at this time, Lily would have, though her eyes widened with apprehension. “No.”
“No you won’t tell or no you won’t kiss me?”
“Either. I can’t kiss you anyway…bit hard when I can’t move,” she snapped, watching his shadowed face as she fought to control her emotions. The glimmering fairy lights were pretty, but didn’t exactly lend themselves well to courtyard confrontations.
Instead of being offended, James chuckled, pleased with himself. “Stubborn woman. I think I just may love you for being that way, though. Unwilling to speak and unable to move.”
He stepped closer and cupped her face between her hands, searching her face for an answer she wouldn’t vocalize but he needed to hear.
“Why?”
Lily turned her cold cheek into his palm and closed her eyes, lashes weeping melted snow. “I think you know,” she whispered as she looked up at James, agonized.
He leaned down and softly pressed his lips to her own; when she didn’t pull away, he moved closer, running his tongue along her bottom lip. Sighing, Lily gave in and relaxed to his caressing touches, not caring if anyone saw them. As their kisses became more heated and as his hands began to move over her body, Lily felt the evergreen garland fall away to coil at their feet, and took the opportunity to surge against James, slipping her arms inside his cloak.
“Go out with me,” he whispered against her lips as his hands tangled in her curls.
Her green eyes danced, mischievous and shining with love. “Yes. As long as we don’t have to stay out here in the snow any longer, though.”
“I don’t think we’re going in any time soon.” James smirked and pulled her back to him, her lips meeting his as the wind and snow swirled around them, disheveling Lily’s hair once again.
Rating: G
Genre: Holiday fluff
Characters/Pairings: Lily/James
Spoilers: Pre-series, so none, really.
Summary: It’s the holidays…we’re supposed to be on our best behavior, right?
Notes: No beta, except myself. Cross posted. Prompt “disheveled” for 7spells
Disclaimer: Everything Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and Scholastic Press, and is used without permission here. I, however, do not claim what is theirs and only what is mine.
Garland War
“Back late from class again, Lily.”
Lily cringed at her roommate’s challenging voice, though she knew it was true. Her lessons really did end at four o’clock in the afternoon and it was after five o’ clock now, but damn if she’d let Marlene know what she’d been up to.
“Of course. I told you that my Advanced Potions Club was meeting tonight for extra practice before the holidays,” she commented nonchalantly to the other girl, unwinding her Gryffindor-striped scarf from around her neck. Snowflakes were quickly melting in her mussed hair and the wind had whipped her cheeks into a rosy color.
Marlene, sitting on her bed in their dormitory with books piled around her and an extra quill tucked behind her ear, arched an eyebrow. “Lily Evans, you’re a little lying witch! Your hair is an absolute mess and you’re covered in snow. Advanced Potions does not meet outside, so what have you been doing?”
Lily’s face flushed and she tried to finger-comb through her riotous curls, though they were tangled, determined to stay disheveled. “I went for a walk after the club meeting, all right? Rabastan Lestrange is so frustrating; I couldn’t come back here wanting to smack the living daylights out of something, so I decided a nice stroll around the grounds was in order. Violence wouldn’t do this close to Christmas.”
“It’s freezing out and you hate the cold. You could’ve gone to the library.”
“Charms Club was practicing in the library after the first years exploded a Christmas wreath in Flitwick’s classroom,” Lily countered. “And frankly, I don’t want to get hit with a badly cast Cheering Charm.”
“Merlin knows you need it,” Marlene muttered, flicking a strand of long blonde hair behind her shoulder as she poised a quill over a roll of parchment. “I guess I’ll just have to tell the others that you’re out meeting with a boy and finally having yourself a proper scandal.”
Lily grimaced as her friend hit close to the mark. “Really, Marlene? Is that what you think of me? Snogging some boy behind the Herbology greenhouses? I promise I’ll tell you what I was doing, but…not yet, all right?”
Marlene flipped open a textbook with a groan, then looked piercingly at Lily. “Fine. But I will find out sooner or later.”
- - -
A week later, Lily was in the Gryffindor common room standing on a chair as she directed fairy lights to various places. She pursed her lips, then waved her wand, changing them to red instead of the green (Slytherin colors in the Gryffindor common room would result in mutiny, no matter the holiday) as she wondered what Ravenclaw did for Christmas colors.
The portrait hole swung open and a group of boys tumbled in, shaking water out of their hair as they got off Quidditch practice. Lily’s eyes flickered to the group, then away to where she was orchestrating an arrangement on the wall. However, seemingly of themselves, she caught her eyes drifting towards the boys again. Or boy.
James Potter was laughing at something as he pulled off his sodden Quidditch robes, glasses catching the soft Christmas lighting and Lily silently blew out a breath. She and James weren’t supposed to be friends, but a rather amicable truce had settled between them as they took up their respective positions of Head Boy and Girl.
But Lily secretly had it bad for James this year.
Smirking widely, she levitated a heaping pile of tinsel and silently waved it over to the group of boys, the long string floating through the air. With an upward flick of her wand, Lily dropped it onto them, burying them in a silver pile.
“Merlin’s beard!”
“I think I just ate some! I’m gonna be crapping tinsel!”
Turning her back, Lily’s shoulders shook from constrained laughter as the boys swore, untangling themselves from the garland. She snuck a quick glance back at them, pretending to be checking the alignment of a string of fairy lights, only to see Sirius burst upwards then trip over still-knotted tinsel. Lily whipped back around to the wall, a fresh rush of mirth overtaking her.
As she coughed, swallowing giggles, Lily failed to notice that James had extricated himself and easily had divined the source of the tinsel attack. With a wide grin, he sauntered up to the chair she was standing on.
“Hullo Lils,” he casually remarked, resting an elbow on the back of it as he looked up at her.
“Er, hi James,” Lily managed, her face turning bright crimson.
“C’mere.” He crooked a finger at her, hazel eyes glittering.
Lily bent down, tucking an errant curl behind her ear as she did so. “Yeah?”
“I know what you did.” James leaned forward until his lips brushed her ear after allowing himself a glance down her shirt. “And don’t think that you’re going to go…unpunished for it.”
Grinning, he sauntered away to his friends, leaving Lily gaping at his retreating back.
- - -
A few days later, Lily was outside decorating again, this time with greenery instead of strings of fairy lights, though. Weaving the evergreen around the stone crenellations, she blew out a cloud of heated breath. She couldn’t wait to get back inside tonight; James had said he had Quidditch practice-which she very well knew-and called off. Now the sun was quickly dropping in the west and rows of fairy lights delicately casting the only illumination, while the steadily falling snow wasn’t helping, so she tucked them into her underarms, stamping her feet as she kept a watchful eye on the winding garlands.
She glanced down at the ground, noticing the accumulating powder and hoping this got a move on; when she looked back up, the greenery was rushing towards her. As Lily stared helplessly at the oncoming evergreen mass, more confused than frightened, it quickly wrapped itself around her body, rendering her immobile.
“Help!” Lily shrieked, trying not to topple over, though she knew that it was unlikely anyone would hear her-it was dinnertime, after all.
She struggled against the encompassing vine, but it only squeezed her in a tighter embrace. Lily turned her head when a clump of fragrant pine needles aimed for her nose. Her eyelashes were bunching as the snow melted on the tips of them, and she’d dropped her wand on the ground. Standing still for a moment, Lily tried to treat it like a Devil’s Snare in Herbology, praying that the tempestuous greenery would relax, but it was in vain. She was well and truly captured by Christmas decorations.
“Tut, tut, Lily dear. The Head Girl should not be playing dress up with the holiday garland-that’s blatant misuse of school equipment. And really undignified, too.” James, wrapped in a warm cloak, was suddenly leaning against a wall near her.
Lily sputtered with indignant rage. “You! I swear to Merlin, James Potter, that if you don’t get this off of me, I will hex you back into first year!” she seethed, elbowing ropes of evergreen in another attempt to free herself.
Smirking, he just settled into the wall more firmly. “This is just payback for the Common Room incident. And how are you proposing hexing me if your wand is lying on the ground over there. I’d say that you’re currently quite tied up.”
She muttered a garble of profanities, some promises of bodily harm, and some pleas to just get whatever this done with.
James cocked an eyebrow and sauntered towards her, snow swirling around his ankles. “Then again, you being tied up might not be such a bad idea.”
Lily glared up at him through snow-crusted eyelashes, little white flurries whirling around their heads before giving into his smarmy attitude. “Please, James,” she sighed, briefly closing her eyes. She reopened them. “Whatever your point, make it. I’m hungry, I’m tired, and I’m really cold.”
The small smirk that had been teasing in the corners of his lips broke out into a full grin, his eyes mischievously dancing behind his glasses. “You didn’t seem so cold these last few afternoons when you were out watching me practice, Evans. Seemed to be enjoying yourself, in fact,” he murmured huskily.
Her tongue darted out to touch her bottom lip. There was no point in denying that she’d been covertly (or so she thought) dropping in for a few minutes on an increasing number of Gryffindor Quidditch practices for the last few weeks. “You, you weren’t supposed to see me.”
“The hair’s a dead giveaway.”
Lily was already a deep red and flushed even harder. “I...” She couldn’t think of any excuse, any way to get out of this, bound as she was-literally.
James thrust his hands into his robe’s pockets. “Oh I don’t mind you being there. Just makes me curious as to why. Tell me or kiss me and I’ll let you out of there.”
If she could have blushed more at this time, Lily would have, though her eyes widened with apprehension. “No.”
“No you won’t tell or no you won’t kiss me?”
“Either. I can’t kiss you anyway…bit hard when I can’t move,” she snapped, watching his shadowed face as she fought to control her emotions. The glimmering fairy lights were pretty, but didn’t exactly lend themselves well to courtyard confrontations.
Instead of being offended, James chuckled, pleased with himself. “Stubborn woman. I think I just may love you for being that way, though. Unwilling to speak and unable to move.”
He stepped closer and cupped her face between her hands, searching her face for an answer she wouldn’t vocalize but he needed to hear.
“Why?”
Lily turned her cold cheek into his palm and closed her eyes, lashes weeping melted snow. “I think you know,” she whispered as she looked up at James, agonized.
He leaned down and softly pressed his lips to her own; when she didn’t pull away, he moved closer, running his tongue along her bottom lip. Sighing, Lily gave in and relaxed to his caressing touches, not caring if anyone saw them. As their kisses became more heated and as his hands began to move over her body, Lily felt the evergreen garland fall away to coil at their feet, and took the opportunity to surge against James, slipping her arms inside his cloak.
“Go out with me,” he whispered against her lips as his hands tangled in her curls.
Her green eyes danced, mischievous and shining with love. “Yes. As long as we don’t have to stay out here in the snow any longer, though.”
“I don’t think we’re going in any time soon.” James smirked and pulled her back to him, her lips meeting his as the wind and snow swirled around them, disheveling Lily’s hair once again.