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No Sugar Tonight


James woke up during the night, moonlight playing on his face, to find he’d fallen asleep in his clothes, trainers and all, laying across his bed where he’d fallen over after sitting up playing the game half the night. They all had - in fact, the only change from his last conscious memory was that at some point Sirius must’ve woken up because he’d transformed into Snuffles and was wrapped around beneath Remus’s knees the way he did when Rey’s legs bothered him from the moonlight, his head curled about to rest on top of Remus’s abdomen, Remus’s fingers wrapped into the shaggy hair atop the dog’s head. James glanced to his right and blinked at the sight of Lily Evans, violet in the moonlight, who had fallen asleep there beside him on his bed, her red hair splayed out about her, all pretty-like. He stared at her a moment… He realized, when she did it a second time, that what had woken him up was a whimper from Evans. Her face was turned into a frown, and she twitched… a bad dream.

Carefully, James reached over and gently ran his fingers over her cheek. “Wake up, love,” he whispered. When she didn’t, he gently cupped her face. “Evans,” his voice was soft, “Wake up, Evans, you’re having a nightmare.”

It took a few tries at it before she woke up, a panicked expression on her face as she stared at him for several long moments as he leaned over her, worry upon his face. She was busy catching her breath… tears glistened about her cheeks.

“Hey, shhh,” he whispered, and he inched a bit closer, stroking her cheek ever so gently with the backs of his fingers. She rolled over into him then and wrapped her arms around his chest, burying her face in his shoulder and crying. James didn’t know what to do at first, but then he slowly brought his arms around her and held her, his hands on her back, carefully staying in appropriate places only, and he pressed his cheek against the side of her head and whispered in her ear, “I’m here, Evans. Whatever it is, I’ll keep you safe, I promise.”

She continued on blubbering and he softly rubbed her back and wondered what was making her so sad, but she fell asleep without telling him. Not wanting to disturb her, James took his glasses off and slid them onto the nightstand by stretching his arm - they fell onto the floor and he heard a crack as they hit the carpet. He sighed. Whatever - he’d have somebody do a reparo in the morning, he thought, and he closed his eyes.




A train car was overturned on the morning commute outside of London the next morning. Seventy-two muggles were inside when it happened. Twenty-seven died and the others were injured. No one could understand how it happened - security footage in the stop where the car had turned was mysteriously, unexplainably missing - just meters of blank tape. The aurors had done a thorough job of obliterating the minds of the witnesses and the victims themselves all believed they’d heard squealing rails before it had occurred. The green smoke of the skull and snake mark that hang hung above the tubestop had been magicked away…

The attacks on the muggles were getting bigger… flashier… harder to cover up… and Harold Minchum continued to vow his vengeance against the Dark Lord. “Coward!” he called Voldemort the next morning in the article about the attack that ran in the morning edition of the Daily Prophet. “Attacking the defenseless is something only a coward does!”

But many could not help but speculate that perhaps, given all that had happened in the last year since the election, all the attacks from the ever-elusive Voldemort and his followers, perhaps Harold Minchum was all words…




Lily woke first - and thank goodness, too, because she found herself in James Potter’s arms, lying horizontally across his bed, her face smushed into the wrinkled white oxford that covered his broad chest. She was all curled up into him, his great wide arm curling from beneath her neck across her back to protectively hold onto her shoulder - his other arm having fallen away at some point, his hand on his own stomach where it had landed now, face strange looking without the glasses. She had one hand splayed upon his chest, the other wrapped about his shoulder, curled so she was holding onto his arm that ran beneath her. She felt her throat go tight and she wiggled carefully away.

He woke the moment she moved and blinked blearily up at her.

She held a finger across her lips so he wouldn’t wake the other two boys or the dog by talking. She sat up and stretched and slid off the bed, spotting his glasses on the floor, one lens broken. Quickly, she picked them up and tapped them with her wand to repair the crack silently and then slid them gently onto his face as he lay there. She leaned over him so she was looking at him upside down, then glanced over to be sure that Peter, Remus, and Snuffles were asleep, then leaned down and very softly, and very upside-down, gave James a kiss on his mouth, her hair falling to cover them.

James shifted and leaned up as best he could into the kiss, pressing their mouths harder together. When she pulled away, he hovered there, his back lifted up off the bed for a moment before falling back into the mattress. He stared up at her as she stared down.

“Alright, Evans?” he asked quietly.

She nodded, then whispered, “Thank you.”

He nodded back.

Then Lily turned and snuck out the dormitory door and into the corridor. She snuck down the stairs - extra carefully past the seventh year boys’ dorm - not wanting Frank Longbottom to catch her sneaking out. She reached the common room and found Alice was already sitting in a chair by the fire.

Alice raised an eyebrow at Lily.

“It isn’t what it looks like,” Lily said quickly.

Alice cleared her throat, “What does it look like?” she pressed.

“I wasn’t doing anything. We were playing a game last night and I fell asleep. All four of the Marauders are up there, it’s not just him,” Lily said.

“Are you snogging James Potter, Lil?” Alice asked.

“No,” Lily replied.

“Are you sure?”

“Did he tell you something?” she demanded, trying to sound like she was angry with him.

Alice shook her head - then - “You know it’s alright if you are.”

“I’m glad I have your permission,” Lily joked, smirking.

Alice guffawed, “I think you have the entire school’s permission if you wanted to go with James Potter.”

“Hang on a minute - snogging James Potter is a whole lot different than going with James Potter,” Lily said, and a bit of panic filled her face.

Alice raised an eyebrow, “Is it?”

“Yes!” Lily replied. She shook her head, “Not that I’m doing either.”

“Alright.”

But there was a knowing smirk that played across Ali’s face as she turned back to the book on her lap, listening as Lily ran up the steps to the girls dormitories.




“He’s hallucinating again,” snickered Peter.

“No - guys - c’mon. You know she was here last night. Sirius! You must’ve seen her when you woke up to transform into Snuffles!” James cried as he tugged his tie about his neck and looped the knots at his throat. “C’mon.”

Sirius shrugged, “Remus’s knees were hurting. I honestly didn’t notice if she was there or not. I was preoccupied.”

“She was!” James said, “She was here all night. And then she woke up and she was crying and I dunno why. She never said. But I held her and told her it would be okay until she fell asleep and we woke up this morning - just minutes ago! - and she was still here and she kissed me and left and --”

“Convenient she left before any of us saw her,” Sirius snickered.

“SHE WAS HERE!” James cried.

Remus smiled down at the second jumper he was putting on over his uniform, messing with the buttons before tugging it ‘round his shoulders, “One of these times, you’re actually going to have been with somebody and we’re not going to believe you,” Remus pointed out.

“Like that fairy story. The boy who cried wolf,” Peter nodded.

Sirius said, kneeling on the bed and crawling over to Remus’s side, “I am the boy who cried wolf… I cry wolf… all...night… long…” he smirked suggestively, pretending at humping Remus’s arm.

“Stop that, you sick dog,” Remus said, pushing him off, but he was smirking.

“Gross!” Peter cried out.

Sirius normally would’ve reprimanded him, but he was busy at continuing humping at Remus’s arm and Remus was busy trying to push him over.

“Guys - I’m not hallucinating and I’m not crying wolf. There’s stuff going on between Evans and I, I swear it,” James said.

“ALRIGHT POTTER,” Sirius said, boldly, laughing, “WE BELIEVE YOU!” Except it was clear by his tone that he did most certainly not believe James.

James was frustrated.

No sugar tonight in my coffee… no sugar tonight in my tea… no sugar tonight to stand beside me, no sugar to run with me...” Sirius sang lowly.

James haucked a pillow at him as Sirius laughed and continued on singing.

No sugar tonight in my coffee, no sugar tonight in my tea! No sugar to stand beside me, no sugar to run with meeee.. Dun-un-do-dow dow da-un-do-dow! Da un-do-dow-dow no no! Du-un-do-dow dow dow-un-do-dow… Da-un-do-dow dow!”

James shrugged on his robes and grabbed his book bag, “Seriously, you guys are bastards.”

When he’d gone out the door and they’d all stopped laughing, Remus cleared his throat and looked about at Peter and Sirius. “What if he’s telling the truth, guys?” he asked.

Sirius sat down on the bed, “I don’t think Evans is as smooth as all that,” he replied.

Peter said, “Dunno, she might be. You never know with a girl like Evans.”

“Why would she keep it a secret?” Remus asked.

Sirius shrugged, “I’d shout it from the rooftops if I was snogging James Potter.”

Remus raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, I shout that I snog you from rooftops too. Or have you forgotten my display in the Great Hall last year?”

“Oh I certainly haven’t forgotten it, no,” Remus said, shaking his head.

Sirius grinned.

“But really -- what if?” Remus pressed.

They all looked about at one another for a moment.