Alright loves, I’m back. Sorry about that. Someone want to fill me in on what I’ve missed?
Amelia laughed slightly, despite her broken heart James was probably the only one besides Edgar who could make her laugh even when she was in the worst of her moods. Quidditch, Amelia loved the game and excitement of it, she loved the Quidditch players and the thought of flying freely in the sky. Only she never cared too much about until she met James, her father and Edgar had been big fans of Quidditch. They would ask Amelia to tag along but being a young girl her mother never thought a growing lady should be involved with a rough game. Also, Amelia had the most terrifying fear of heights although the enjoyed the idea of being up high in the sky and admired others who flew, she knew she could never be one of those fearless people.
The girl glanced up smiling at James who rolled his eyes and grinned as he talked about his beloved sport. “We’ll see about that. I might actually join the team just to beat you.” She joked, shivering slightly at the thought.
Amelia shook her head at him, her hands held her elbows as they walked as she bundled her robes around her neck. “No, have the most horrible fear of heights.” She admitted with a light giggle, she looked ahead of her staring off into the distance. “I wouldn’t come near a broom with a ten-foot pole.” She joked shivering once more, the Ravenclaw gave him a careless shrug. “I enjoy watching, it much more fun for me to watch. I’m a Studier.”
“Bring it on, Bones,” James challenged, waggling his eyebrows and turning so that he was walking backwards in front of her. “I cherish a challenge.”
He walked like that for a moment, stumbled a bit and then decided that maybe walking forwards was a better idea. He shifted around so that he was walking beside her again as she spoke. Fear of heights. Mad. How could anyone be afraid of heights?
“It’s really the ground you ought to be afraid of,” he said with a grin. “Not really the height. And as long as you know how to fly, even the ground isn’t a threat. Flying’s brilliant.”
Entirely liberating, usually thrilling, natural to him as breathing. James Potter loved to fly.
(Source: jamesie-potter)
“I never doubted that we’d go out with a bang,” Sirius commented. He nodded his head as they walked; not paying too much attention to the students that they passed. Most of them were Gryffindors and while he enjoyed pranking his house mates every now and then as well as the other houses, today was not one of those days. But he knew that he and James would find something that tickled their fancy before long, as they always did. With their individually brilliant minds coming together? It was hard not to be entertained. But his thoughts were straying…he turned his attention back to the conversation at hand.
“I reckon we’ve already gone down in history as the best mischief makers,” Sirius shrugged, shoving his hands into the pockets of his robes. “After that thing with the giant squid last year…who could argue? We’ve provided this school with more mischief and fun than it could handle.”
“Classic, that one,” James sighed dramatically, thinking back. It was true. They’d come up with some really great things over the years. Never anything too far gone; they weren’t looking to get expelled, after all. Just enough to keep the general Hogwarts population from going loopy with boredom.
They were nearing the library now; James hadn’t noticed how far they’d been walking. He raised an eyebrow as he caught a familiar sight out of the corner of his eye. A wicked grin already spreading across his features, James elbowed Sirius in the side.
“Look who it is,” he said, grinning and tilting his chin in the direction of the familiar, greasy-haired head. “Snivellus.”
“Hm.” Lily absently agreed with him, not entirely sure what she was agreeing with. Flying was definitely not her thing. She’d never be good at it and would rather not pursue it any further than that very day. It had barely registered as a date in her head, and that was oddly reassuring. Lily had never been on a date before but she figured that any of the usual date-type ideas would bore her endlessly, or make her extremely nervous.
The wind was suddenly getting much more aggressive, making Lily’s eyes water and her nose hurt. On top of that, she was sure it’d start running within minutes and that was definitely not a sight for her not-really-a-date kind of date. So she gently pushed the broom towards the ground, descending swiftly despite her vivid imagination screaming that she’d be crashing head first to the ground. “I think that was enough for today, yeah?” Lily smiled as she got off the broom, straightening her coat a little bit and fastening it around her body. “I’ve not necessarily loved flying, but I think I’ve gotten over my irrational fear of heights.”
For a good few moments Lily awkwardly stood there, in the middle of the pitch, her hands deeply shoved inside her coat pockets as she stared absently at James. She did have fun with him, a lot actually, but still wasn’t exactly sure as to where they stood. Scratching the back of her neck nervously, Lily moved towards James and enveloped him in a soft hug. “Thanks for teaching me how to fly. I promise when the time for vacation comes, I’ll teach you how to drive a car, and maybe we could even take a road trip of some sorts, yeah?”
Fear of heights. The corner of James’s mouth turned up slightly into a wry sort of grin. Silly girl. He was glad she’d gotten over that one. He wasn’t going to lie and say he wasn’t disappointed that she hadn’t loved it the way he did, but he figured that would come with time. He was also a bit disappointed that she’d landed so soon, but he obligingly climbed off the broom and grinned down at her.
Her hug was warm, and he returned it gently, a ridiculous, dazed grin spreading over his features. When she pulled away, he ran a hand through his hair and tried to recover his usual grin. He could feel that she was trying to wind the adventure down, figuring the “date” had ended. “Sounds lovely. But you don’t honestly think I’m just going to let you run off now, do you? For one thing, you haven’t even let me give you your present yet.”
He stuck one hand in his pocket to rummage around for the small, silver chain. He pulled it out and handed it to her with a flourish, holding the chain between two fingers and letting the charm dangle down so she could properly see it. It was a simple silver thing with a butterfly charm; the butterfly itself was set with several tiny green stones, and ever so often it fluttered its wings.
“To match your eyes,” he said with a grin.
“You disgusting, James, more than ever.” When all else failed, Lily could always rely on their teasing nature for getting them both out of uncomfortable situations. Her mind was half on the task given to her, steering the broom and basically keeping herself alive, and the other half was registering James’ movements. Subtle groping, she concluded. Not all that unpleasant, I’ll live. Truth be told, Lily was rather fond of the way James’ arms had wrapped around her, and the way he leant on her back, sharing body heat much needed during such desperate times. But as per usual, her pride chose not to inform him. ”I’m not going to just blindly feel something wooden that violently moves between my legs. It should have bought me some dinner before, at least.”
Despite her constant jabs at James and muttering curse words under her breath, Lily slightly relaxed and followed his instructions. The broom was now moving around in circles that widened and widened by the turn, as Lily more got confident and accustomed to flying. Nevertheless, she was still scared out of her bloody bones everytime her eyes drifted to the space underneath them. The sudden drifts of wind during random times were doing nothing to calm her nerves and the fact that Lily felt like, slowly but steadily, sliding off the broom. Of course that was impossibly, since James was sitting right behind her, limbs all around and clinging to her like a very affectionate version of the giant squid, and he hadn’t moved an inch.
“I’m sorry but…how exactly does this relax you?” Lily simply had to ask. Sure it was a change of scenery and a very convenient means of transport, but Lily did not quite understand its “unique charm” that had so many boys her age, James more than anyone she’d ever known, so fascinated over the sport. The trees were easier to crash on, the wind had total control over you and those sodding brooms seemed to have a mind of their own. Positively unsafe, it’s what it is.
James chuckled into her ear again, a deep noise rumbling in his chest until she made the comment about blindly grabbing the wooden thing between her legs, at which point his chuckle turned into an outright snort.
“Naughty,” he complimented, still chortling as Lily took over more and more of the movements of the broom. She was getting the hang of it, even if she was still a little tense, and James’s grin was spreading across his face. He knew she’d get it eventually; she was Lily Evans. Lily Evans could do pretty much anything she wanted, if she tried to.
“There you go,” he said, by the time he’d moved his hands completely off of hers to grip the broom independently. He wasn’t leading it at all anymore and he was feeling oddly proud of her. “Knew you could do it.”
Her question honestly puzzled him. His eyebrows furrowed and he bit his lip as he considered his answer. “Flying isn’t relaxing. I mean, it can be, but then it also turns boring. Flying is more liberating than anything else, I think. I can do whatever I want up here; I’m good at it; it’s fun. What’s not to like?”
“Oi! Can you stop spilling out information at such speeds? It’s annoying and I’m really trying to learn here, but you’re making it really hard.” Despite Lily’s obvious frustration and inability to get anything right at first try, she obediently straightened her wrists and pushed forward and fulfilled all of James’ ridiculous requests. She even made room for James, if that was the proper term for it, thinking that it was safer to have him within arm’s reach, should anything go wrong.
She grinned widely when James snuggled up to her, sitting much closer than necessary for obvious reasons. “Don’t take this as an invitation to start groping mid-air, Potter. We’re having a lesson here. You’re a teacher and I’m a student.” Taking a deep breath, she readjusted herself on the broom for the last time before softly kicking the ground.
The broom gave a hard shake at first, hovering just slightly above the ground. I’mgoingtodie.I’mgoingtodie.I’mgoingtodie. Lily instinctively pulled the broom’s end a little closer to her, as she’d seen the players do during matches. Immediately, the broom responded by starting to steadily gain height. Lily’s eyes widened in a mixture of fascination and fear, and she turned her head just slightly towards her shoulder to catch a glimpse of James’ unruly hair. “James, I really don’t know how to break this to you but…you’ve just signed your death wish.”
“Teacher-student, hm?” James chuckled against her ear, his chin resting on her shoulder. “Kinky. I suppose I could swing it, as long as you don’t start calling me Slughorn or summat.”
The broom was jerking around, a clear indication that it was sensing her nervousness again. He moved his hands so that they were resting on her hips instead, sitting straight on the broom and coaching her to do the same. She turned around to look at him and the broom followed her movement, spinning around in a neat circle.
“Nah, you like me too much to kill me,” he said softly, resting his chin on her shoulder. “You are in control. You can do this. Stop twitching. The broom will go where you go. You’re not going to fall off. Relax. I’m not going to let you die.”
It wasn’t gratuitous groping. The physical contact had the dual purpose of grounding her and calming her, or at least, it was meant to. He moved his hands back to rest over hers, deciding that maybe a physical demonstration might make her understand a bit better.
“Don’t look,” he told her. “Well, do look. But more than that, you have to feel.”
His arms were wrapped around her and he leaned forward against her to lead them forwards. He showed her the basic turns, going slow and leaning more than necessary so that she was forced to follow his movements. Then he turned them around, and eased his hands away from hers.
James dreams every night. They are vivid and frequently completely ridiculous. He usually only remembers snippets, but he’s gotten some of his most creative ideas from his dreams.
Lily rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out to James, internally amused by his teacher-like behaviour. Quidditch is lewd, she concluded. Mount it. For Merlin’s sake, did it look like Lily mounted things a lot in her spare time? Phrasing such concern would raise eyebrows though, and Lily knew James well enough to be sure he wouldn’t pass on the opportunity to comment on such an obvious innuendo.
Instead, she obediently placed the broom between her legs and gripped it in the most normal way one can grip a broom. Wiggling on her “seat” a little, Lily tried her best to get comfortable, only to fail miserably. Conclusion: brooms are not meant to be ridden. “This is somewhat uncomfortable” she informed James, pretty sure he’d already noticed anyway. “Do I have to do it alone? I mean, brooms can take up to two people at a time so wouldn’t it be easier if you were on as well? Front, back, whatever works with you.” The blush that crept on her cheeks was inevitable, although Lily hoped he’d only brush it off as a consequence to prolonged exposure to such cold climate. She never meant for the suggestion to come out that way but there was so much one could say about riding a broom.
“So what do you say?” Lily smiled at him, wiggling the end of the broom like a tail, and probably resembling an obnoxiously tall fox. “Will you accompany me or are you intimidated by my infamous flying skills?”
This whole thing was enormously amusing. James was a teenage boy; he was fully, 100% aware of the innuendo that was the game of Quidditch. In fact, he was doing his best to make it sound as dirty as possible, challenging her to say something, waiting for her to crack. In the meantime he stepped back, watching amusedly with his hands crossed over his chest as she tried her best to mount the broom.
Her discomfort with the situation was obvious as she fiddled about trying to find the best seat and still looked up at him complaining about discomfort. He ignored her, rolling his eyes, and just stepped forward.
“Straighten your wrists,” he commanded, turning her hands around so that they were properly gripping the end of the broom. “But bend your elbows. And scooch forward, you’re a bit too far back. Don’t want you sliding off the end. Remember that when you take off you won’t just be holding it between your legs; you’ll be sitting on it. It’s only going to hurt more if you don’t distribute your weight.”
He wasn’t going to protest a perfect opportunity to be close to her, so he moved around behind her and patted her gently on the hip, gesturing that she should move forward. As he threw his leg over the broom obediently, his arms wrapped entirely around her to rest just behind hers on the broom.
“You’re in control, here. Push off when you’re ready.”
While James is, by and large, a bigger fan of his mother than he is of his father, one of his biggest fears is disappointing the man. James has the utmost respect for his father, who is the head of the D.M.L.E., and though he doesn’t really enjoy his company, James has always sought his approval.
