Disclaimer: Erm… I own not Harry Potter and anything therein owned by another person.
Summary: Another one of my random one-shots that I like to write because it means no commitment to a story (since we all know I'm so terrible at it). Basically? Ooh, the merits of cuddling! Lily/James, one-shot, MWPP era, PG-13.
Cuddling
By Natali K. A.
Bliss.
Heaven.
Perfect.
Lily Evans sighed contentedly. Cuddling. How many guys liked to cuddle? It really was a rather girly sort of thing, cuddling. Snuggling.
Every girl knows that it's nearly impossible to get a guy to cuddle with you on his own. The girl always has to give him that "Cuddle Me" look, and burrow herself closer to him.
Huh. Men.
She popped one eye open to look at the man whose arms were holding her. She smiled, resisting the urge to giggle. It had been such a long time coming, this moment here.
In his bed.
In his room.
That he shared with four other guys.
Ah. Problem. Now she'd have to crawl out of her warm, cozy haven and sneak out before his mates returned. Blast.
I would rather die than get up right now, Lily groaned mentally. And she probably would've stayed—honestly, she didn't care if his mates found out about them. Actually, they would probably keep it quiet. It was their other roommate that worried her.
No matter which way you turned it, it was simply not right for Head Girl and Head Boy to be sleeping together. Or at least, to be caught sleeping together. (Because of course there's a difference.)
"Hey," she whispered, not wanting to wake him up but at the same time not wanting to just leave. "I've gotta go."
"Hmmrrh."
Her shoulders shook with laughter. "That means you've got to let me go."
"Harjuh."
She slowly slid his arms off of her and started sliding towards edge of the bed. She was just about there when his strong, manly arms—courtesy of Quidditch—dragged her back toward him.
"Who said you could leave?" he asked with a sleepy voice.
"But your roommates will return soon. I need to leave before then."
"Whatever for?" He opened his eyes to slits. "They won't care."
"James, we're—"
"Yes. Bloody Head Boy and Girl. I bloody know, thanks."
She sighed. "Won't Marcus say anything? This can't get out."
"I've got dirt on him. I'm not above blackmailing him if you'll just stay." He winked at her and smiled. "I've gotten somewhat attached."
Lily laughed but shook her head. "Come on, Potter. Let me get up."
He gave her a hurt, puppy dog look. "A guy hounds a girl for years and finally he's got into her pants and the first thing she wants to do is jump out of bed? And they say men are insensitive."
She swatted at him with the back of her hand and turned so that they were face to face. "It's not that I want to go. I just don't trust Marcus. And I don't think I could look Remus in the face ever again. Black will never end the taunting and teasing and innuendo—"
"I promise you, they already know," James said into her hair. "The fact that none of them have returned is fishy."
"You don't have some fruity method of letting each other know when to come in, do you?" she asked with disgust. "I'd better not find a tie hanging on the doorknob, Potter."
He rubbed his nose against hers. "Go check if you think you must."
"No. If you say you don't, I trust you."
"I don't."
"Alright then."
"My flawless gift from God," he crooned, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. "How are you doing?"
"Rather splendid, actually," she giggled. "Did I wake you up from your nap? I'm so sorry. I hadn't meant to."
"No, it's fine," he insisted. "I'd rather be up talking to you."
"Just talking?" she asked skeptically. "Your conversational skills weren't very functional awhile ago."
"Just talking," he repeated, smoothing back a piece of her hair. "I like to talk to you. You interest me. Everything about you interests me."
Lily could feel her cheeks blush crimson. Cursed blush. She always blushed. She could never help her blushing. And if she worried she was blushing? She'd blushed even worse.
Though they had shared Head duties for nearly four months, she had avoided him for the majority of the time.
Until a month ago.
A month ago, he'd done the worst thing a bloke could ever do—he courted her. Honest to goodness, old-fashioned courting. Naturally, even she couldn't resist it.
Ah, later on when he was asked by some random person at their large wedding (she swore there were at least 50 people she hadn't recognized there) why it was that James had started to show an interest in Lily.
"She was the only one who ever put up a fight," he had laughed, eyes sparkling deviously. "I figured she would be worth my time."
"I'm not all that exciting," she told him finally. "I'm just a muggleborn witch who happens to have an aptitude for poisons. Did I ever mention that to you?"
"I had an idea," he chuckled. He gave an inward sigh of relief. If he'd thought she would be awkward after having slept together (funny thing, the way they got into that mess), he'd been mistaken. If anything, she'd finally let go of her guarded attitude. "How do you do with love potions?"
She was Lily Evans and just that.
"Oh, I'm the very Merlin of love potions," she whispered. "I'm so good, the fellas never even realize they've been under the power of one." She leaned closer than their already close to whisper in his ear. "Hey, you might even have drunk one."
"It would explain a lot," he allowed, pulling her naked, soft body against his. "I'm definitely under some sort of spell, and I'd feel better if it were synthetic."
She laughed and gave him a quick kiss afterward.
"Where do we go from this?"
He snorted indignantly. "I beg your pardon! I should think that's quite obvious! We climb out of this bed after just one more fan-bloody-tastic shag and pretend it never happened. Except when I want another shag, in which case—"
"James!" she hissed, slapping his arm. He laughed good-naturedly. "That's not amusing to me."
"Nor me. But I do, however, think it's quite obvious." He slipped his hand to her neck and pulled her closer for another kiss. "We go out this Saturday, and then we'll see where we take it from there." He brushed his lips against hers. "Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky and this will last awhile. After all the effort I put into getting you laid—"
"That's it, I'm leaving," she huffed, trying to disentangle herself from the mess of arms, legs, and sheets. She didn't exactly succeed.
"Oh, no, you don't," James said, pinning her under him. "I'm not done with you yet." Having held her hands down above her head, he found it extraordinarily easy to kiss his way unimpaired about her neck and upper chest.
She giggled and gave up her fight. It was, after all, useless.
When James Potter wanted something, he got it.
A little less than an hour later, Lily woke up to darkness. But there were voices.
Why on earth are my curtains closed? I never close my curtains…she thought. It took her only a moment to realize that it wasn't her bed, nor her room, nor her mates' voices speaking.
"What are we supposed to do with her when she wakes up?" Sirius asked with a groan. "James, we have to sneak her back downstairs."
"So use the cloak," James replied. "It's not the first time you'll've sneaked a girl down. I have complete faith in your abilities."
"And Marcus?" Remus asked in a more serious voice. "You know the first thing he'll do is go off and tell the entire bloody castle."
She could almost hear James running a hand through his disheveled hair. "If you can avoid him seeing her, I'd prefer it. But don't worry. He'll keep quiet."
Lily saw that a robe had been placed by the end of the bed for her and she quickly put it on. Shyly, she pushed aside the hangings and stepped out to find eight pairs of eyes staring at her.
James smiled. "I didn't want to wake you. I have to go supervise Quidditch practice."
She nodded, crossing her arms self-consciously. "Where's Marcus?"
Remus shrugged. "Don't know. Vermin's probably out picking his nose and flicking it on passersby for all we know."
James walked over to her and gave her a little peck on the cheek. "Remus and Sirius will help you to your room. Your clothes are strewn somewhere around my bed." He kissed her mouth softly. "See you later?"
"Yeah," she agreed, and he headed for the door.
"Prongs—the cloak?" Sirius asked. "But—I mean… Can we trust her?"
"Yes." He opened the door and left.
Sirius groaned again. "Darn it, Evans, you chose one heck of a bloke to fool around with."
"I didn't exactly sit down and ask myself, 'Who is the worst person I can climb into bed with?', Black," she grumbled angrily, slipping on her shoes.
Remus interceded. "Peter, why don't you grab the cloak, huh? I'll explain it to Lily."
"What cloak?"
"An Invisibility Cloak."
Lily gasped. "You have an Invisibility Cloak!"
"Yes, but don't tell anyone," Remus said. "It would kind of ruin our fun."
"So that's how you got everywhere without being seen. I should have known." Lily narrowed her eyes. "You used it to play all those pranks this year, so that when asked, James could honestly say he hadn't seen you do it." She grinned wickedly. "Brilliant."
"We always thought so," Sirius said proudly. "So, you'll get downstairs without being seen. Only thing is, people can still hear and feel you. So don't make noise and don't bump into anyone. It only raises some unwanted questions."
"And go straight to your room, Lily," Remus said sternly. "It's tempting to tease the people you might not like, but don't do it. We have to trust you—we won't be able to see you."
"How do I open my door then, if I'm invisible and half-naked?" If she thought it was at all unusual and awkward to be naked under James' bathrobe in front of guys that she hadn't really hung out with prior to this year it didn't show.
Sirius smirked. "Let me take care of that, darlin'."
Peter handed Lily the cloak without looking her in the eye—how many girls had he seen as near to being naked as she currently was?—and she threw it on.
"This is bloody wicked," she said with a sigh of happiness. "You'll be lucky if you ever get this back from me."
Sirius turned and led the way out of the room, muttering under his breath so that only Remus and Peter could hear, "I knew it was a bad idea to bring out the cloak."
"Go fetch the cloak from your girlfriend," Sirius said the moment that James walked through their dormitory door. "Everything went off without a hitch, and Marcus is in the shower trying to wash off the grime from his gross body."
"Yes, Sirius speculates that he and Snape were off gallivanting through the Forest, having some nice, sweet, homosexual fun," Remus said without glancing up from his homework.
James smiled. "Thanks. I owe you."
"Naturally," Remus and Sirius chimed. Peter whimpered from his bed.
"I'll go now then," James sighed. "Or maybe I should take a shower first…?"
"Take a shower first, I smell you from here," Sirius said cruelly. "I've discovered that the female gender prefers it when a man smells good."
"Thank you, O Wise One," James said, laughing good-naturedly. He heard the water in the shower stop. "Splendid."
Remus gave Sirius a knowing look and said with a smart tone, "Should we expect you back tonight, Prongs darling?"
James looked over his shoulder as Marcus stepped out of the shower and he walked in. "I don't know, mate. We'll see how it plays out."
Later that night, James lay in Lily's bed, spread out across it like he owned the thing. Lily was tucked comfortably into his side with her head on his shoulder.
"You're not getting that cloak back so easily," she told him in the darkness. "I've grown quite attached."
"Bloody hell, woman, what did you do with it?" James asked with a groan.
"I came back here, changed into fresh clothes and went around terrorizing the younger kids," she giggled. "It's so tiring to be so perfect all the time."
"As if you can help it," he snorted. "It's been encoded in your DNA, Lils."
"You say that as if it's a bad thing," she humphed.
"Never," he denied. "I love the fact that you're perfect." He turned her head up so he could kiss her. "And trust me, dear, you are the very epitome of perfect."
"What was it you called me earlier? A flawless gift from God?" He nodded. "Yes, I loved that," she decided. "Very flattering, you know. It went straight to my head, I'm afraid, and I might soon develop a head of a size to rival even yours!"
"You think you're so hilarious?" he asked, tickling her. She started squirming and squealing for him to let go of her. It was probably a fabulous idea that they'd put a Silencing Charm around the bed.
"Uncle!" she cried, laughing hysterically. "Uncle."
"You should never scream the name of another man when you're in bed with one," he chastised. "It's only proper bedroom etiquette, you know."
"James, then, James! Just stop tickling me," she pleaded.
He did, turning onto his side so that they were nose to nose. "I am unable to deny you."
"We should do something crazy," she whispered excitedly. "Like go skinny-dipping."
"The lake's frozen over, Lily!"
"Oh. Well, someday?"
"Someday," he promised. He grabbed her hand under the covers. "I get the strangest feeling this is going to be a very enjoyable relationship."
"Yes," she agreed softly, "I was just about to tell you the very same thing."
He leaned over and kissed her forehead, pressing her even closer to him. They fell asleep like that, two teenagers crazy in love.
Just cuddling.
A/N: Well, I've had this in the works for over two months now, I think. I don't know why, but there it is. I haven't had much umph in my will to write lately. Even one-shots are hard for me (and yes, I know I have a bunch of ffs I haven't finished. Sorry).
I'm currently listening to "Memories" by Sarah Brightman and for some reason, it makes me want to ice skate. Hmm.
So please, read and review and berate me for being such a bad authoress. I know. Spank me (especially if you're a boy and happen to be cute).
Mi amor,
Natali