CINQ

hot cocoa!

HERBOLOGY CAME AND went for the group. Lily saw Estelle and Charlie pair up, so she paired with a Gryffindor boy she knew to be nice and they worked in a comfortable silence. Occasionally, one would make a comment about the work at hand, but no greater conversation was struck up. 

Just like Herbology, the first couple of weeks were uneventful, weirdly. James Sirius Potter hadn't asked her out once. And now people were starting to take notice. Rumors about one of or both of them being gay, them dating in secret and more were being passed around the school. Everyone was curious as to why the infatuated boy hadn't displayed his affections in an extravagant way. 

Also, the quartet of troublemakers hadn't done a big prank yet, small ones here and there, so the castle was holding its breath. Waiting, watching, listening for the sound of laughter of the four boys echoing through the hallway. 

Lily shared some classes with her friends: DADA, Charms, Transfiguration and Potions. But out of their friends, it was only Lily and James together in Arithmancy and only her and Lysander together in Astronomy, though they never conversed during the class. 

She assumed that because they were the Heads, McGonagall put them together for their shared classes so it would be easier to plan and go to meetings with her. But, they didn't sit together during any of their class, even Arithmancy. James sat with another Gryffindor boy, Ryan Allen-Chang, son of Cho Chang and Lily sat with a Hufflepuff girl, Mishka Kumar, one of Padma Patil's children. 

Lily had also been expecting much more disruption in the dorm, but due to conflicting schedules and homework being piled on, James and Lily rarely saw each other. But they had developed a routine, small things that they didn't notice doing, but that seemed to occur anyway.

James wouldn't use an alarm clock anymore, he'd wake up to Lily turning on the shower and putting tea mugs in the sink. Lily would always straighten James's shoes by the door, more and more to his exact foot stance which allowed him to slip in easily. James would organize books strewn on the tables when he was stressed and needed to release it, by subject, which helped Lily when she was searching for a book. Lily would always wait every night for the door to slam and for feet to trudge in and the shower to turn on before going to sleep, no matter how late it was. She would always subconsciously make sure that James got back safely. 

They didn't notice that they did these things. The rhythms of their lives changed that year to fit each other and slip into a subtle harmony, if you didn't listen close enough, you wouldn't hear it, but it still sounded pleasant to the ear. They started to get to know each other, not through directly talking but through their clothes, their habits, what they ate, when they slept, what they spent the most time studying. 

Life was seamless. The sun still shone, but fall was settling in. Scarves and hats were being brought out. Lily started wearing tights under her skirts and James started wearing a sweater over his button down. 

He was excited — he'd gotten a letter from Teddy. He'd proposed to Victoire ( fucking finally ). He's been wanting to do it for a year now but had never had the courage. They didn't want a big wedding and they didn't want to press to get wind of it, so they were getting married as soon as possible aka over Hogwarts's winter holiday. It would be a family affair, some friends invited, but as their family was already massive ( and most of their friends married into the family ), they would do. James was ecstatic as Teddy had asked him to be the best man. Albus was to be a groomsman and Lily Luna was asked to be a bridesmaid. 

James was in the kitchen, breaking their routine, leaning against the counter with the letter in his hand. It was a Saturday, he knew that Lily would be in the library studying with her friends and normally he would be on the pitch, but he wanted to give the team a day off to catch up on work and be with friends. 

Two big things were coming up for him anyway: the first Gryffindor quidditch match and the first Hogsmeade trip. He and Lily were supposed to help the third years get there which meant that he wouldn't be able to be with his friends for most of it ( they had a tradition of going to the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year together and going to Zonko's ) but he had to do his job. 

As he was engulfed in his thoughts, the door opened. In walked Lily. She looked really pretty, he thought. Her cheeks and nose glowed red from the cold outside. She had on a black turtleneck sweater and a short darker plaid pencil skirt, black tights and a flowy, thick coat that matched her skirt and tied around the middle, though it was untied. She also had a beige and creme colored knit scarf draped around her neck and her hair framed her face. She looked kind of like a librarian, but he liked it, it suited her. 

He watched her as she took off her coat, scarf and boots — she was lost in her own little world. He noticed that she didn't like hats. He didn't know why, but he had found that she didn't own any. Maybe one sunhat, but he'd never really seen her wear it. Consumed in his thoughts about hats of all things, he looked alarmed when he found Lily staring at him.

"Oh, hi! I'm so sorry I didn't see you," Lily said with surprise. 

"No, it's fine, I'm normally not here, so I wouldn't expect you to," James explained with a small smile.

"Yeah, don't you normally have —" Lily asked awkwardly. 

"Quidditch, yeah, I decided to give the team a day off," James explained.

"That's why Nyah was there. Well, thank you I guess, she's been kind of consumed with it lately, so it was nice to see her," Lily replied with a kind smile. 

"Oh, well that's nice. Sorry 'bout that. We've been prepping for our first match against Ravenclaw," James explained as he scratched the back of his neck. 

Lily just kind of hummed, looked down as if thinking and James thought that she didn't want to talk to him anymore. She sometimes did that — where if she didn't want to talk to him, she would make the conversation a little awkward and then just stop talking. 

But instead, she left out a short, soft laugh and smiled to herself before looking up. He was looking down at his letter again, it must have been important. 

"You know, we're totally going to win," Lily gloated out of nowhere. 

"What?" he asked as he looked back up at the sound of her voice.

"Ravenclaw. We're going to win the match. I heard they've gotten better this year," Lily said with a hopeful smile. 

"Well, we'll see about that. I've brought Nyah on as co-captain, I heard it was a close call between us, so it's only right. And they can't beat the two of us together," James said with a wide grin. 

"You made Nyah your co-captain? I thought that being captain of the team was like your dream or something. Don't you always talk about how you're going to play for a professional quidditch team one day?" Lily asked. 

"Well, I can share things you know. I have siblings, I do have that talent. And doing what's right is more important than a dream that I have. Plus, I was the captain the year before, so I've already had that — it's Nyah's turn now. It's just I wanted to stay captain too you know, I know the responsibility and what the Hogwarts admin wants from us," James explained. "Not that she couldn't handle it on her own — she's awesome like that. But I asked her if I could stay on and she said yeah, so co-captains it is then. And she's really good with the team — you'd be blind to say any different and she's brilliant when it comes to quidditch and she's got more of a shot than I do at playing professionally. My mum's still friends with the Harpies and apparently they're planning on approaching her later this year. And if I may, I'm proud to call myself her friend." 

Lily just smiled at him. He may actually be a good guy. He seemed to really care about his friends, some of whom she was best friends with, which was great. And he was so damn adorable when he tried to explain things. 

What the fuck. Just a few weeks ago she despised him. And she still did. She just despised the James who was arrogant and rude and liked to pick on people. This James was different, he still had the arrogance a bit, but less, and he was kind and sweet and he cared deeply for the people he loved.

"That's great. Wow. I feel the same, I honestly think that'll one day be my claim to fame! Being Nyah Thomas's Hogwarts friend! She's a bad-arse," Lily joked. 

"Yeah, she is," James muttered. 

There was silence. But not the normal silence, a comfortable one. Like the first sip of something hot after coming in from a cold day. Just two people, who were figuring it out, looking at each other, after having a great day. 

"Hey, um, it's really cold out there and I wanted something to drink, if I made some, would you want some hot cocoa?" Lily asked as she moved into the kitchenette, where James was. 

"Yeah, that sounds great. Is it ok if I wait in here? I have to finish the Transfiguration essay," James replied. 

"Yeah, of course. That's what I was just working on with Ben, so I can help you if you need it," Lily offered. 

Lily turned on the stove and brought out a saucepan. James settled in one of the chairs and splayed his books out. Lily got the chocolate out from the cupboards. James sifted through the books for any useful information. Lily cut up the chocolate using a knife and measured the milk. James re-read what he had already written and underlined evidence from the books that he wanted to use. Lily put the chocolate and the milk into the saucepan on simmer and added in some butter and cinnamon. 

James started writing about magical properties, scratching his quill across the parchment. Lily stirred the ingredients together until they became the perfect temperature and consistency. James furrowed his brow because he could have sworn that he just found the perfect evidence in one of his books, but it seemed to have disappeared. Lily grabbed two mugs from the upper cabinets and poured the steaming liquid in. James continued writing, he eventually found the evidence he was looking for. 

Lily reached down and pulled out some marshmallows that she had asked the house-elves for, on her way back up, her hand accidentally knocked over the spatula that she was using and it clattered against the saucepan, causing some of the hot chocolate to splatter onto the counter. James looked up. Lily looked down. James started laughing. Lily started laughing. James offered his help. Lily declined. James smiled at Lily. Lily smiled at James. 

"I thought you didn't study," she teased as she set a mug down in front of each of them, sitting opposite James. 

"I don't," he replied shortly, not looking up.

"Then what do you call this?" Lily asked as a smile grew on her face. 

"Not getting detention before the first quidditch match of the season," James replied with a small smile.

"Ah, I see. But I doubt that McGonagall, a former Gryffindor and former head of Gryffindor house, would give one of her star players detention before one of the most important matches of the season. Especially if he's a Potter," Lily surmised. 

"How do you know about the first match?" James asked. 

"Please remember I'm best friends with Nyah and Ben Thomas. Of course I know that the first match sets the tone for the team. Also, it's against Ravenclaw, a difficult adversary, who you're going to lose to, by the way," Lily joked as she took a sip of her drink.

He chuckled and she smiled. 

"Right, of course. How could I forget that we're going to lose to ... I'm sorry the eagles? Please, the lions will eat them alive," James teased. 

"That's morbid. But just because you have brute strength does not mean that you are better tactically. Also have you seen the Ravenclaw quidditch team? They all got huge over the summer," Lily said with a dreamy look in her eyes.

"Yes, that is a problem. How do you suppose we beat them?" James challenged. 

"You did not try to trick me into helping you beat my own house's team," Lily replied bluntly. 

"It was worth a shot," James joked. 

"Cheeky git," Lily muttered. 

"I try," James retorted. 

He paused. 

"Why are you being nice to me?" James asked.

"What?" Lily replied. 

"Why are you being nice to me?" James repeated. 

"I don't know what you mean," Lily muttered. 

"I mean, normally whenever I try to talk to you, you scoff and call me an arrogant toe rag and refuse to talk to me. But now, you're talking to me, smiling at me and laughing with me. Hell, you even made me hot chocolate!" James exclaimed. 

"Well, I only do that because all you want to talk to me about is going out or having sex or both or one after another. Anyway, you get it. And normally, you're so ill behaved. You hex first years in the hallways, you plan horrendous pranks with your friends, you never do your work and you always try to bribe my friends for information about me. But now you're not being obnoxious, you're actually, dare I say, pleasant to be around, you're doing the bloody Transfiguration homework and from what I can read upside down, you're doing a really good job at it. The first years actually like you and have come to you for advice, I would know as I've encountered a few waiting outside to see if you're here. You aren't a nightmare to live with, you organize my books and don't make a huge mess and I don't know. I had a good day I guess. Don't expect this often," Lily ranted in a confused miff.

She took a sip of her hot chocolate and smiled a bit mischievously as she did. 

"Whatever you say. Are you coming to the match?" James asked. 

"Yeah," Lily replied carefully. 

"Want to wear my Gryffindor jumper?" James asked. 

"No," Lily said bluntly. 

"Why not?" James asked with mock offense. 

"How long do you have, I can give you a lot of reasons," Lily retorted. 

He huffed and went back to his work as he was nearly finished and wanted to be done with it so he could go and find his friends. But with how nice Lily was being right now, he didn't know if that's what he really wanted to do. Lily got up, promising to be right back, and retrieved a book from one of the bookshelves behind them. 

She sat down and once again they delved into a comfortable silence, quill scratching on paper or a page being turned being the only sound that was created by the two. Outside, they could hear the breeze, some students laughing and a bird chirping. Lily was right, it was a good day.  

As the days grew colder, they found themselves in this position more and more: sitting opposite each other, doing work and sipping a hot beverage. Sometimes, if granted time, Lily made the odd pastry, more often biscuits than a formal French pastry as they were less time consuming. 

They continued their meetings with McGonagall to discuss their progress as Heads. Lily went in with Annie to talk with her about the language program, McGonagall thought that it was a fantastic idea, and she promised to try to get it past the parents and the Ministry. 

Despite the events that occurred during Harry Potter's time, the Ministry still had a very strong hold on the school and something involving international trips and adding classes would have to be approved by them. And even though it had become more open minded with the younger witches and wizards taking control, it was still a very old, very rigid system and it would take a lot of work. The girls came to terms with the fact that they would never see this program at their time at Hogwarts, not even a hint of it, but they would continue fighting for it.

Lily started to talk to James. She told him about the idea that her and Annie had, he agreed to help as his family practically ran the Ministry. They debated the role of house elves in society. They talked about Astronomy. They talked about the magical properties of numbers. Hell, one night they even stayed up, fully knowing that they had class the next morning, and discussed existential and philosophical theory. 

He was highly intelligent, she'd give him that. He thought about things and she sometimes actually wanted to know what was going on inside his head, not the gross parts about how to score a girl, but the part where he could think so deeply about things. She, dare she say, started to admire the way his brain worked and how he was so open to having his mind changed, he was flexible that way and wasn't afraid to admit when he was wrong. 

She started to enjoy his company, maybe even as a friend, who she had been thrown together with. She wasn't entirely sure that she was ready to admit that they had become friends. They never showed it in public, they resorted to their normal behavior in front of everyone, not because they were afraid or anything, but they liked the intimacy of their friendship. She was his friend and he was her friend. They didn't have to share with anyone and they liked it. 

The first Hogsmeade trip was the coming weekend. The castle was buzzing. Third years were excited to experience it for the first time, seventh years were melancholy ahead of their last, first trip and every year in between was giddy to get off the grounds. 

Lily and James had told their respective friend groups that they wouldn't be joining them because of duties and they understood, although disappointed. They met each other at the front of the school, arriving as Professor McGonagall was finishing telling them the rules. She introduced Lily and James and left them to guide the exuberant third years through. 

"Hiya I'm Lily!" she exclaimed. 

"And I'm James," he said coolly. 

"If you could follow us, we'll show you to Hogsmeade and answer any questions that you have on the way, does that sound okay?" Lily asked.

After a chorus of agreement, they started walking — Lily and James leading the group, walking backwards. 

"Ok so, this is the route that everyone takes, so only come this way when headed to Hogsmeade," Lily started.

"Edwards is right, we don't want anyone mucking about, you can save that for Honeydukes," James said. 

At the mention of the sweet shop, the group was abuzz with excitement. Then a boy raised his hand.

"How many trips do we have this year?" someone asked.

"Well we were planning on four or five depending on weather and scheduling, so plenty of trips to get what you want and spend time with your friends," Lily answered as James nodded his head in agreement.

"Yes you in the back," James said pointing to a girl.

"Can we go into any shop that we want?" she asked. 

"Yes, you can except for the Hog's Head I think, I recommend Honeydukes and Zonko's if you're looking for fun!" James said with a grin.

"That's your kind of fun. I recommend Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, they always have a new selection every trip and it's quite exciting," Lily countered. 

"Of course you would find a quill shop exciting Edwards," James teased. 

"Oh shut it, and if you're looking for something to eat or drink, the Three Broomsticks is a must," Lily suggested. 

"I have to agree with her on that one. It's the best place to go," James confirmed. 

"But, if you're going on a date, Madam Puddifoot's tea shop is the way to go. That's where everyone goes," Lily said with a smile. 

"It's because of all the frills and lace," James said with disgust. 

"You're not one to judge Potter, have you ever actually been on a date?" Lily retorted.

At that question, some chattering was heard from the kids who were listening to the banter and some snickers arose from them as well. James was not fazed.

"We all know that I don't do dates because I'm holding out for someone special," he replied with a wink.

"Lysander?" Lily asked innocently. 

"While he is gorgeous, I was thinking more Ravenclaw, brown hair maybe, first name Lily, last name Edwards, heard of her?" James teased. 

"She sounds like a blast. Oh would you look at that, another question, yes?" Lily asked. 

"Is the Shrieking Shack actually haunted?" someone asked.

"Yes," James said quickly. 

"No," Lily replied calmly. 

The two looked at each other.

"No, it's not. Potter is just trying to scare you. You'll learn about it in History of Magic this year actually when you learn about the Heroes of the First Wizarding War. But as Potter is related to one of them, I'm sure he could tell you about it," she said, shooting a smile his way. 

Briefly, he became visibly uncomfortable, but that quickly went away with a stunning smile. 

"Oh you can never stop talking about me, can you?" James teased. 

"Oh Potter, I guess I can't, any other questions?" she asked, not really in the mood to fight with him. Her question was met with silence from the group. 

She assumed that a lot of questions had been answered by Half-Blood or Pureblooded students who had previously been to Hogsmeade or students with older siblings and then the answers were promptly spread throughout the class. She turned to the front, looking back ever so often to check to see that everyone was still there and that no question was left unanswered. 

"Sorry 'bout that," James spoke up.

"Hm?" Lily hummed as she looked at him. 

"Sorry about you know doing that in front of them," James admitted. 

"Oh, um, apology accepted I guess," Lily muttered. 

"They are really sweet, I loved seeing their faces when the village first came into view. It does look pretty at this time of year, it always does," James mused, switching topics.  

"You're right, it never ceases to amaze me. It's gorgeous anytime, but during the winter, it's just even more wonderful, I can't wait for the first snow. And they look adorable when they first see it, regardless of whether or not they've already been, they've never approached it from this path," Lily said with a giddy smile.

"I remember first going," James stated. 

"I do too," Lily replied. 

"I accidentally —" James started.

"It was on purpose," Lily corrected.

"I accidentally pushed into you and your friend, right?" James continued, unfazed. 

"Henry. His name is Henry," Lily corrected.

"I know. His mum scares me and his dad's not in the picture, right?" James asked. 

"How do you know that?" Lily asked with furrowed brows. 

"Everyone knows that. Stuff like that, tragic pasts, they never stay quiet. Not here at least," James explained. 

"Oh," Lily muttered, growing slightly worried, "so what do you know about my tragic past?"

"Well I wasn't aware that you had one, pray tell, what's your damage?" James asked. 

"I'll tell you mine, if you tell me yours," Lily said sarcastically. This caused him to drop the subject.

"Very funny. We're almost there, we should send off our youngsters," James instructed.

"Youngsters?" Lily questioned. 

"Just go with it," James said. He then stopped, causing everyone behind him to as well, "it was a pleasure to walk you guys to Hogsmeade, you are now free to go, please don't break, steal or terrorize anyone and we can all have a good time. Lily and I are going to stay here for a couple of minutes if you guys have any more questions." 

Most of the third years found their friends and headed off into the town, most of them beelining for Honeydukes. A couple of kids asked some questions that were easily answered by the pair and soon they were left alone. 

"I would call that a success," James said proudly. 

"It was a success, Potter," she affirmed, gazing after the last of the third years.

"Well I guess this is where we part, where are you headed?" James asked. 

"Three Broomsticks. I'm meeting Estelle and Henry," Lily replied. 

"I as well, m'lady?" James asked as he offered his arm for her to take. Lily smiled at this.

"What a gentleman!" Lily exclaimed. 

"But of course!" James replied. 

They both descended into laughter as Lily took James's arm and they started to walk towards the town. After some comfortable silence, James broke it.

"So, say you were at home right now, what would you be doing?" James asked. 

"Like what are my hobbies?" Lily asked and he nodded in response. "Well, I love to paint and write and read. Some call it stuffy or too feminine, but I quite enjoy it. I love to cook and bake. I've tried gardening, though I'm horrible at it because I always forget to water the plants."

"You could become a succulent farmer, don't they not require a ton of water?" James suggested. 

"Yeah, I suppose. What about you?" she asked. 

"Well if you can keep a secret?" he asked her playfully and she looked at him seriously and crossed her heart in the process. "I actually study." 

"No! I never would've guessed! You? Study?" Lily teased. 

"I know, right? It's one of my deep dark secrets," James joked. 

"So other than the activity that shall not be named, what do you do?" Lily whispered. 

"I play quidditch —" James started.

"Well duh," Lily interrupted. 

"And I play wizard's chess with my brother —" James said. 

"Oh that's fun! I love playing regular chess, I find the smashing in wizard's chess too gruesome for my taste," Lily interrupted again. 

"It can be sometimes, but you do know they reform?" James asked. 

"Yeah, but still," Lily insisted.

"I understand," James replied. 

By then they were getting close to The Three Broomsticks. Lily was still holding onto James's arm as he guided them through the crowds. James, for once, dreaded approaching the warm pub, he didn't want her to let go, but he knew she must. She didn't actually want to spend time with him, she really wanted to go to her other friends. 

"Are you ok?" Lily asked as she nudged him a bit.

"What?" James replied. 

"You looked so sad for a moment, is everything alright?" Lily repeated. 

"Just fine. I was thinking." James said and offered her a smile. 

"Good, I was beginning to think that you didn't enjoy my company," Lily joked. 

"Oh Edwards, I will always enjoy your company," James teased.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. At that point they'd reached the pub, James opened the door for him and Lily muttered a quick thank you before walking in. 

"Well, I bid you adieu Mademoiselle," James said with a small bow. 

"Ah! Tres bien mon gentil Monsieur! C'etait un plaisir. Au Revoir!" Lily replied as she waved goodbye to him, heading over to her friends, leaving James by the door with a grin on his face. 

He understood some of the French, enough to know that she had said something good, because of the efforts from his Aunt Fleur. He mentally noted to ask her to teach him more as he now had a reason for learning it. He headed over to his friends to find a Butterbeer and suggestive glances waiting for him. James just rolled his eyes and laughed.