[hp fic] Twenty Random Facts About Lily and James (James/Lily, R)
Twenty Random Facts About Lily and James

Ships: James/Lily (Remus/Sirius)
Rating: R
Summary: Lily, James, and a popular lj meme.
A/N: Inspired by minnow_53's Twenty Random Facts About Remus and Sirius. Approx. 1,500 words.




1. Lily is a John girl, but she started as a Paul girl. She used to sit outside Petunia's bedroom and listen with her ear to the closed door while her sister played her Beatles LPs. They were scratched and tended to skip, and the door muffled the music, but Lily loved them as much as Petunia did. It was a love they shared – one of the very few – though Petunia never knew. Lily had once heard Petunia call herself a Paul girl, and she knew that Paul was the sweet one with the pretty brown eyes, who sang "All My Loving." Lily started calling herself a Paul girl, though never in Petunia's hearing.

Now that she's an adult, Lily prefers John's raw individualism. "Also, he reminds you of someone you love, who happens to wear glasses," teases James.

"That might have something to do with it," Lily acknowledges with a smile.

2. "In My Life" was Lily's and James's wedding song. The night after John Lennon was shot, they went to a candlelight vigil at the Cavern Club. It was bitterly cold, but they stayed all night, holding each other, weeping, and singing.

3. James always wanted a little brother, but his parents were fairly old when they had him. They tried to have another child, but gave up after the second miscarriage. James doesn't know about this.

"You might have ended up with a sister as dotty as mine," Lily tells him. "Anyway, Sirius is your brother."

James loves her so much when she says this that he thinks his heart might crack.

4. James's parents spoiled him. Sirius's parents spoiled him too, but when they gave him things it was more like a bribe. James's parents spoiled him because he was their only son, and they were old and knew they probably wouldn't be around for very much more of his life. James overheard them talking about this when he was twelve. He almost refused to go back to Hogwarts that September because he was afraid that his parents would die while he was away. He went because he was more afraid to tell his parents why he wanted to stay.

5. James's parents died when he was seventeen. He refused to talk about it for a long time. Sirius was messed up about his own parents and Remus was messed up about Sirius using him to terrify Severus Snape. James felt odd confiding in Peter when he'd never confided in him before.

He didn't talk to anyone until Lily caught him sulking in the empty Charms classroom one afternoon. He tried to shrug her aside but she touched his hand and then suddenly he was crying so hard that he thought he would be ill. Then he was holding Lily, and by some miracle, she was holding him too.

6. They went to the Three Broomsticks for their first date. James brought his Invisibility Cloak with him so his friends wouldn't be able to spy on him. As it happened, his friends weren't remotely interested in witnessing his monumental first date with Lily Evans. Peter spent the afternoon tutoring a fifth-year girl whom he secretly fancied; Sirius and Remus spent the afternoon getting off behind the Quidditch lockers.

7. James still remembers the way Lily's hair looked that afternoon. She wore it loose and it shone like Baltic amber in the October sunshine. What Lily remembers best about their first date is the way James kept getting Butterbeer foam on the tip of his nose. She was tempted a few times to lick it off him.

8. The first gift that James gave Lily was a dozen chocolate roses from Honeyduke's, wrapped in magenta foil. The first gift that Lily gave James was a large plush bear wearing a Kenmare Kestrels jersey. James slept with that bear under his pillow almost every night afterward.

Defying probability, his friends never caught him with it.


9. Harry sleeps with the bear now.

10. When she was fifteen, Lily decided that she wanted to be a veterinarian for magical creatures. She might still pursue this if the war ever ends. James can stay at home and watch Harry.

11. Lily learned that James was an Animagus the night she brought him to meet her parents. Though the evening started well, disaster struck when Mrs. Evans brought out a platter of venison. James pretended to have an allergic reaction to the cheese wedges he'd been eating, and spent the next hour in the bathroom swearing at himself and pretending to vomit.

12. In fact, the only food to which James is allergic is strawberries.

13. Lily does not hate Quidditch, thank you very much. She just doesn't understand why it means everything to some people.

14. Remus Lupin is the first boy whom Lily kissed. They were fifteen and Lily kissed him because she knew he would never be able to stop blushing. She also did it because she thought she hated James, though neither she nor Remus have told him about the kiss. Remus is also the first (and only) boy whom James has kissed. They were sixteen and extremely drunk. Neither remembers. Sirius wasn't there. Peter was, and he remembers, and wonders if he can use it to hurt Sirius without hurting James, Remus, or Lily.

15. The first boy Lily shagged was Steve Murphy. She met him at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival when she was sixteen. He was a Muggle and a student at the University. They drank a lot at the Three Sisters and had sex in the WC. She liked it when he licked her breasts, but the actual fucking hurt a lot. Afterward, he grabbed her hair and tried to make her suck him off, but she got sick and he shoved her away.

Lily still isn't terribly keen on oral sex, though she loves being on the receiving end.

Fortunately, James is understanding and obliging.

16. James lost his virginity to Isabel Waverly, a Ravenclaw two years his senior, when he was fifteen. Sirius had been bragging about his sexual prowess and James decided to even the score.

"That was bloody brilliant!" James panted afterward.

"Yeah, that was all right," said Isabel, groping for her knickers.

"It was bloody brilliant," James boasted later to Sirius.

17. James loves the sounds that Lily makes when she's really enjoying sex. Lily purrs. She doesn't believe him when he tells her, but it's true. He will be teasing her clit with his tongue or thrusting into her with his cock. She will be arching against the sheets, one hand fisting his hair, the other cupping and playing with her breasts. Her hair will be dark and shiny as enamel against her pale skin. And she will start to rumble softly with her throat like the most pampered, satisfied cat in the world. It's the most arousing thing that James has ever heard.

18. Lily was frightened when she found out that she was pregnant. She didn't tell James for a week. It wasn't that she didn't want children. Lily loved children and she knew that James would be a wonderful father. But it seemed a cruel, reckless thing to bring a child into a war-torn world. Petunia, Alice Longbottom, and Molly Weasley were also expecting, but still Lily felt like the only pregnant woman in the world.

James began to notice that Lily kept putting her palm to her belly in a protective manner.

19. They don't regret their decision to have Harry, even though Voldemort's side seems to be growing stronger and their side has taken some grievous blows. Petunia, Alice, and Molly have also had boys, and Lily and James imagine a world after Voldemort's fall, when they will all play together. Lily hasn't seen Petunia since she married James, but she hopes that their sons will bridge the rift between them.

20. James, Lily, and Harry have gone into hiding. Things are going very badly, but they still hope. Harry's babblings are beginning to resemble speech. He can say "Papa" and "Mama" and "Pafoo," which is the only thing that has been able to make Sirius smile since he left Remus.

Peter comes by every few days with groceries, newspapers, and toys for Harry. He assures them that Dumbledore has a plan, that everything will be all right if they are patient. Peter seems more confident than usual, so perhaps he is right.

Lily dreams about the war's end. She wants a career, but she also wants to give Harry a sister. She can do both, she decides. She and James are young, after all. She will call her daughter Elizabeth Rose. James's mother was Elizabeth, and Evans girls have always been named after flowers.

James trusts Peter. Still, he worries. He would die to protect his wife and son. If anything happens, he wants to die first because he couldn't bear living without them even for the amount of time it takes to utter the Killing Curse.


9/18/05