My First Fluff for the Quill (James/Lily)
Lily Evans was fairly sure that people usually didn’t have raging head colds on first dates. Her nose was red, her face varying between scarlet and ashen, and her freckles just looked strange. Not that James Potter seemed to mind. He was busy finding autumn leaves to decorate her headband with as they meandered down the winding road to Hogsmeade and between sneezing and sniffling, Lily couldn’t bring herself to stop him.
“I’ve been trying to find the prettiest leaves for your headdress,” James told her, “but your hair is too much better than them. If you had brown hair, that would be better for leaves. But chestnutty brown would still be too nice; mousy brown would be better. Sorry, I’m talking too much. I just can’t seem to stop.”
“Oh,” Lily said, rubbing her nose with the sleeve of her new Fair Isle patterned cardigan. “I didn’t know the leaves were a headdress. Do I look tribal with them in?”
“No, you’re not tribal, not really. You look more earth goddess than tribal,” James said, now walking backwards in front of her as he inspected the headdress of leaves. Lily’s feverish blush darkened under his scrutiny. “You’re looking sicker. But don’t worry, I grabbed this Pepper-Up for you from the darling Poppy Pomfrey.” James produced a flask of what Lily assumed was Pepper-Up from the pocket of jeans.
Jeans are nice on him, Lily thought to herself, trying to recall seeing James in Muggle clothing. As she reflected on the matter, James managed to trip on something Lily wasn’t sure existed. His empty hand broke the fall behind his back and the sickening sound of a pop and a crunch reached Lily’s ears immediately. James, who was always so composed after Quidditch injuries, lay on his back and let out a sad sort of whimper that Lily had heard from frightened puppies.
“Oh, James!” she exclaimed. She knelt down next to him, shaking her long hair from her eyes. “Can you sit up?” James shrugged and then winced. Lily coaxed him upright, careful not to touch his left arm. “Give me the Pepper-Up, would you? Then we need to get your jacket off.” She took a swig from the flask, blinked her eyes clear, and turned back to the absurdly quiet James. He had wriggled his right arm free of the corduroy blazer and looked to Lily with help on the left sleeve.
Lily shuffled on her knees to James’s other side and proceeded to assist him in sliding his arm out of the sleeve. “You’re just a great baby, aren’t you?” she said exasperatedly as he wordlessly moaned his pains. “Come on, stand up, now.” Lily straightened up and tugged her skirt and knee-high socks into place.
James’s left arm hung strangely under his shirt. Lily couldn’t help but notice how the strong line of his shoulder looked so well under the starched cotton of his shirt on the right. “I think my shoulder is out of the socket. My wrist might be broken, too, but I can’t really tell.” Lily gulped. “I’ll be all right,” he said. “Worse has happened out on the pitch.”
The red-head rolled her eyes. “You should go back and visit the darling nurse, I think.” She took another swig from the flask. “This is some awfully strong Pepper-Up, James.” She wafted the rising steam toward her nose as if from over a cauldron.
“It’s Sirius’s flask,” he admitted, cringing as his arm shifted as the pair turned back toward Hogwarts. “And it probably held some things that, ah, aren’t Pepper-Up.”
Lily shrugged and took another swig. “It’s doing the trick like Pepper-Up, I guess Firewhiskey doesn’t change the properties of the potion. The components are similar, I know.” James gave her an incredulous look. “What?” she asked. “I’m really good with potions!”
The head boy and girl continued up towards the school. Lily continued to empty the flask and James continued generally acting injured. “I need a sling,” James groaned.
“I can use my scarf to make one,” Lily offered. She untwisted the soft blue wool from around her neck. They stopped and James painfully bent his arm near his body. Surprisingly tender, Lily wrapped the scarf around James’s arm and stood on tip-toes to tie it behind his neck. James swallowed.
Her fingers were deftly arranging the scarf around his neck and kept brushing the soft hair curling at his hairline at the same time as her own hair brushed against his chin and cheek. He could hear her breathe. The wool of her sweater was nearly as soft as the scarf. James wasn’t sure if his shoulder still hurt. “There,” Lily said. She moved away and turned around to keep walking and James chokingly remembered to breathe. After a moment of watching her walk away, an old hobby of his, his shoulder began to ache again and he trotted to catch up with her.
They walked in an uncomfortable silence until they reached the castle. Lily’s cheeks seemed hotter despite the Pepper-Up, and James wasn’t sure if the pain on his left side was completely due to the pain of his shoulder. They both spoke at the same time outside the doors. “Ladies first,” said James, not entirely out of politeness.
“I just wanted to know if you needed someone to go with you to the Hospital Wing,” she said. “I mean, just if you wanted help with doors and things until Madam Pomfrey fixes you up.”
“I don’t…I mean, yes, thank you,” James said, his voice cracking. They continued on until reaching the infirmary, where several younger students in varying states of ‘flu, colds, and sinus troubles were lounging around. Every one of them looked healthier than Lily. The nurse looked harried as she strode toward them.
“You,” she said at Lily, “need more sleep.” She turned to James with a frown. “What happened now?”
“I fell,” James said simply. “Really, this time.” The nurse sighed and sat him on the edge of a bed.
After removing the makeshift sling and casting a diagnostic spell, Madam Pomfrey frowned. “Dislocated shoulder and broken wrist,” she told him. “I’ll spell the shoulder back in,” she said and did without warning. James screeched in a most un-masculine manner. She pressed a thick grayish potion into his right hand. “And drink this for your wrist and try not to move it very much for few hours.” James did as he was told, wincing at both the taste and the healing pain that shot through his arm. “Now, shoo,” she said.
James shooed. Lily was waiting for him. “Hi,” he said. “I was right about my injuries. Sorry for being a terrible date to Hogsmeade. We didn’t even get there.”
“It wasn’t so terrible,” Lily said, her voice catching. James was wrapping the scarf back around her neck and slid it under her hair. “I mean, I got a rather nice headdress out of it.” She watched one of the leaves flutter to the floor.
James swallowed. He ran his hands down the scarf, the movement upsetting his shoulder just enough to cringe. Lily ran a caressing hand over his shoulder, stopping where the muscle and bone met the curve of his neck. Suddenly they were kissing, right there in the antechamber of the Hospital Wing. “Sorry,” James said into the side of Lily’s mouth. “I bet that tastes just awful.”
Lily laughed, shivering at his breath. “Pepper-Up isn’t wonderful either,” she whispered. “So stop apologizing.” James complied.
“Your hair smells really nice,” he said against her jaw. His eyelashes fluttered against Lily’s skin.
“If you don’t stop talking, I don’t know what I’ll do with you.” Her lips grazed his skin and James couldn’t have spoken if he wanted to, even if her hair did smell really nice. James’s hands were pressing against Lily’s lower back and both of Lily’s hands had found James’s shoulders when footsteps were heard from around the corner.
When the headmaster arrived at the antechamber, the head students were sauntering out. “Not out enjoying the many delights of Hogsmeade today?” he asked. His blue eyes sparkled knowingly above the white beard.
“I have two essays due Monday, sir,” Lily offered at the same time James explained that he needed to look over Transfiguration theory.
“Ah, NEWTs,” Professor Dumbledore sighed, “so often stealing from the pleasures of youth. I have come to dispatch several students who seem to think the infirmary some sort of resort.” The pair of students excused themselves and turned in some sort of mutual agreement toward the Gryffindor common room. “Miss Evans,” the headmaster called after them, “I don’t know if you’re aware the leaves in your hair are sparkling.” Lily pulled a leaf out and observed it was, indeed, sparkling. “It is always interesting, isn’t it, when accidental magic manifests itself in a trained witch?” Lily blushed from head to toe and excused herself again. The headmaster paused and smiled as voices and quiet laughter rang down the empty hall.