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"No, Mary," Lily shook her head and made another note in her notebook.
"Lily, you didn't even think about it!" Mary pouted.
"I didn't need to, Mary."
"But Lily," Mary whined.
"No, Mary." Lily closed the window in her computer and stood up. "I've never even been able to sit through an entire episode. I won't do it."
"Lily, think of the kind of publicity this would give you, and the companies that are looking to fund your research, and the public that would hail you!" Mary blocked the way out of her office.
"Mary," Lily sighed. "I don't dance."
"None of the contestants do," Marry shook her head. "That's the whole point! You get partnered with an accomplished ballroom performer, and they teach you how to do each week's dance, you perform it on national television, and the judges give you scores, but the viewing public keep you on the show by voting for you!"
Mary's explanation had grown progressively more and more animated as she went on. But Lily was not having it.
"Mary, no, I don't dance, I certainly don't dance in public, and I'd honestly rather have a go with a giant squid than dance on national television with some man that's more concerned with what his hair looks like than I am about mine."
"Lily, wait!" Mary cried as Lily pushed past her.
Lily turned in a huff. "What?"
"If you sign on and agree to perform for the first two weeks it's 125 thousand dollars."
Lily gawked.
"And," Mary smiled seeing that the money had caught Lily's attention, "you get more money for every week you stay on the show. The winner ends up with like 300 thousand dollars. Lily, just the 125 thousand would pay for the next iteration of the project. Imagine if you made it further? Think of what we could accomplish with the grand prize!"
Lily bit her lip, all of her resolve that she was not going to do this silly television show cracking.
"How did they even get my name, Mary?"
"I don't know but they contacted the company this morning and they want your answer by tomorrow."
Lily sighed and leaned against the wall. "Mary…"
"Lily, come on, the benefits are huge, think of everything we'd be able to do and how it could change our work on carbon capture!"
"You're sure I only need to stay on for the first two weeks to get the 125 thousand?"
"Yes, that's what they said."
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Lily shook her head.
But really, she could. In exchange for two weeks of humiliation, she would get more money to put towards her research than two weeks' worth of grant filing would give her - it even came with equal levels of frustration.
"Oh my gosh! Are you going to do it?"
Lily rolled her eyes but nodded. "Yes, Mary, I'm probably going insane but you're right, the money is too much to walk away from."
Mary screamed and threw her arms around Lily. "This is going to be amazing! Oh, I hope you get James Potter or Sirius Black, they're so good! And really hot too! I wonder if we can put in a request for your first pick. Or at least tell them not to pair you with Albus Dumbledore, he and his partner are always one of the first voted off."
"Then let's hope I end up with him," Lily moved back towards her office. "Do you have the number I'm supposed to call?"
"Right here," Mary texted the number to her and Lily sat down before hitting dial.
Mary had raved about how great it was that she was doing the show, and kept going on about how amazing it would be for Lily to be paired with James Potter, who'd finished top five the last three years he'd been on the show, or Sirius Black, who'd won last season. Lily adamantly refused Mary's plea to spend an evening watching compilations of the greatest moments of James Potter and Sirius Black on YouTube.
A few days after she called and confirmed, Lily received a time and place to be at for paper signing and the promise of finding out who her partner was. Lily didn't care for the time out of her workday it would require, but she reminded herself this was the same sort of sacrifice of time that she would have to make applying for grants, but this came with a guarantee of funds whereas the grants were always anyone's guess as to whether or not the group would get the money. Besides, this money could be what gave her the breakthrough to a patented, marketable item in order to fund her bigger research ideas.
And the next day, Lily walked in the door of the office. But of course, the receptionist wasn't there to tell her what to do next. She let out an audible groan.
"Everything alright?" A voice sounded behind Lily.
The man addressing her was tall, with dark hair that was messy and stood on end. His square rimmed glasses framed warm hazel eyes that reminded her of her dad's favorite imported maple syrup; her mom always bought it for him for Christmas every year without fail.
James Potter looked good on camera, but he was blinding in person.
"Oh, yes, just, um, I'm not sure what to do next."
"I'm happy to point you where you need to be," he held out his hand, "I'm James by the way."
"It's nice to meet you," Lily took his hand and gave herself a firm mental shake to stop ogling him. "I'm the contestant that's going home the moment I have to rely on votes to stay in."
James laughed. "Is that so?"
"I'm no one special, there's no fan base to keep me on the show." Lily shrugged and tried to push down the part of her that suddenly wanted James Potter to be her assigned dance partner.
"No fan base, huh?"
"Just my best friend, no one else is around to vote for me." Lily looked down at her phone and looked back around for the receptionist.
"I can show you where to go to get your paperwork signed and completed if you'd like?"
She looked back up at him to see his hand shoved in his hair.
"Oh, yes, thank you," Lily nodded, feeling incredibly awkward at how scattered she must seem.
James grinned and started moving down one of the hallways. "So, what is your claim to have been invited to be a contestant on the show?"
Lily scoffed. "I have no idea. I'm a scientist, and I had a breakthrough on carbon capture last year that managed to make a brief mention on the four o'clock local news broadcast and most of the science journals. I've not done anything the general viewership is going to care about."
"Really? What's your name? If you don't mind my asking."
"Lily Evans," she smirked at him. "See you've never heard of me."
James looked sheepish, "Well, no, I haven't, but I mean the most important people are usually people that have no media presence in my opinion."
Lily laughed, "That's nice of you to say."
"So, you just really wanted to learn how to dance?" He leaned up against an open door jam.
Lily gave a nervous laugh. "Just hope you don't get paired with me. I don't dance, and I'm really only in this because the money from the first two weeks might be able to get me to a point where I can fund the research I want to do."
"A famous innovator like yourself needs the money?" James laughed at her. "You mean the grants aren't just spilling in?"
Lily scoffed, "Yeah I'm rolling in the dough right now. The Bentley out front is mine."
"Which one?"
Lily laughed, "The white '95 Corolla."
"Ah, a great year for Bentley Corollas," James laughed with her. The conversation went silent in an almost awkward way. James took a deep breath and gestured to the room they were standing outside of. "So, um, this is it. I guess I'll see you around then."
"Yeah, thank you, and good luck this season. I'm sure you'll do great."
"You too," his hand jumped back to his hair.
Lily nodded and stood awkwardly at the door a moment before remembering how to human.
"Well, I'll see you around."
"Yeah," James pushed off the wall, "See you."
Lily ducked into the office and was able to get her contract signed and all the particulars determined.
At the end of it all, the man that had been helping her clicked a few things on his computer.
"Alright, I've just sent the email with all your instructions and your partner for the show. You get eight tickets per show-"
"I'll only need one," Lily interrupted him as she opened the email on her phone.
"Boyfriend?" He smiled at her.
Lily's eyes went wide as she looked at the name of her partner.
"Um, no, but this says my partner is James Potter."
"Yep, producers assigned you two together on Monday."
"I, um, is that a good idea. I mean you saw all my paperwork; I'm probably going to be the first one voted off, and James is one of your best."
"I'm sure it will be fine, but if you'd like you can talk to the producers about it." He handed her a business card. "Here's all of Marlene's information, and I'm sure she can help you feel better about it. I wouldn't worry, though. James is good at what he does and that's what will really get you to through the show."
"Thanks," Lily nodded and moved to the door, already dialing Marlene's number.
"This is Marlene," she answered as Lily climbed in her car.
"Hi Marlene, this is Lily Evans, I'm one of your contestants this season."
"Yes, Lily! I just got the scan of all your paperwork. We're excited to have you. What can I do for you?"
"I know this is probably going to sound silly, but I need you to reassign me. I know James is one of the favorites to win this year, and I have absolutely no coordination. I don't want to be the reason he doesn't make it to the top five. I'm sure you've got an athlete or someone that can switch with me."
Marlene laughed. "Lily, I'm sure James would appreciate the sentiment, but we put a lot of thought into this and tried to make it fair for everyone. Besides, if you know then James just got his email. Don't worry, James is a good teacher and he'll make sure you can do your best out there."
"Marlene, really," Lily gripped her phone a little tighter, "I once had to perform in front of a middle school crowd and completely forgot the words to the song I'd signed on to sing. There's a real possibility that I'll get up there for the first dance and freeze and get sent home the first week."
"That's really sweet of you to be so concerned, Lily, but don't forget that it's the votes that keep you in, not necessarily your skill as a dancer or your points from the judges."
"And I'm a nobody scientist that has a fan base of zero."
Marlene laughed, "Just trust us. We've been doing this for years now. Stranger people than you have advanced to the top five."
Lily huffed, "Well, I guess I'll tell James I tried."
"Don't worry about James," Marlene dismissed. "He'll be just fine."
Lily tried to believe those words on the day she drove to the gym or whatever you'd call a building with rooms for them to practice in. These were the things that made Lily feel like she couldn't do this.
The camera crew was waiting for her and went through a whole bunch of things that Lily fully planned on ignoring before letting her finally go inside to meet James.
She opened the door and tried to smile. Then her eyes landed on James and she felt a little less nervous. The smile he directed her way made her heart stutter.
"No way!" He looked at the camera on him. "This woman's going to save the planet!"
Lily gave a nervous chuckle as she walked up to shake his hand. "I don't know about saving the planet."
James moved her proffered handshake into a dance position, bringing his hand to her back and spinning her around.
"The great Lily Evans is brilliant and humble, ladies and gentlemen."
Lily pulled out of his embrace and fidgeted with her hair.
"Well, I'm sure there will be plenty of time for you to reform that opinion. But I'm looking forward to working with you, James. I hope I can live up to your previous seasons. I'm sorry to say I'm a very inexperienced dancer."
"You never had me for a teacher." James waved off her concerns. "You'll see, we'll have you dancing like you've been doing it all your life in no time."
"Cut!"
Lily jumped. She had forgotten about the crew around them.
"Great work you two, we'll be back to film you again on Friday."
"Sounds good, see you then." James saluted as the crew cleared up and moved out of the dance studio.
"So, are you disappointed to be assigned to me?" James chuckled once the door had been closed for a moment.
Lily bit her lip, "I would think you would be upset more than me. I even asked one of the producers to switch me to someone else so you could have a chance at winning this season."
"Yeah, Marlene told me about it." James chuckled. "But I'm the dancer, so let me worry about the dancing and you worry about climate science."
"I'm really not going to save the world," Lily sat down on one of the chairs against the wall. "I might ask the producers to cut that out."
"You can ask, but since we only did one take, they would need to have us film that whole first meeting over again. Don't worry about it. All it does is create interest in you which could gain us more votes."
Lily wanted to protest, but James put his hands on her shoulders and pulled back on them.
"What?"
"We have to fix your posture. I need you to stand up straight all the time so we can get you into practice."
Lily frowned at it as she tried to sit up straighter.
"Here," James pulled her to stand up "Like this."
His hands pulled her shoulders back, but then smoothed down her spine, almost caressingly, to her hips where he brought them inline. Lily felt her mouth go dry.
"I bet all your past partners called you an awful taskmaster." She tried for humor to distance herself from the way her heart was pounding in her ears.
"My experience says that by the end of today you're going to call me all sorts of unpleasant names for what we're going to do."
Lily forced a laugh and suggested they get on with it. Their first dance was the foxtrot which seemed like a nice way to ease into this experience. But despite Lily's hopes, by the time seven o'clock rolled around she was sure she'd never make it through the next week of practices.
"You can go ahead and call me whatever you want," James sat down next to her as she collapsed in her chair.
"No," she panted, "I mean, I signed on for this, right? I can only be upset with myself. I'm just sorry I'm so bad at it."
"You're not bad at it," James shook his head and sat down next to her.
"James, there are mirrors on every wall, and I have eyes. I'm not good at this."
"You're too wrapped up in believing you're bad at this. Look, if I told you that there was no hope for climate science to make any real difference so why try, would you bite my head off?"
Lily laughed, "Yes, I probably wouldn't try to eat you, but I'd say you were wrong."
James looked dubious but continued. "Alright, I'm the dance expert in this room, and I say that you're not bad at this. You have a ton of the routine memorized now as far as where we're moving around the room on the floor and that's huge." He bumped her shoulder with his own. "Now say it with me, 'I can dance'."
Lily shook her head but chuckled, "I can dance."
"No one would believe that," James laughed. "Come on, again, like you mean it now."
Lily took a deep breath, "I can dance."
"Is that all you've got, Evans?" James goaded her.
"I CAN DANCE!" She yelled at him and laughed when he jumped up from his seat.
"Then dance, Lily!" He held out his hand to her and Lily pushed up to step into their routine again, James counting the steps as he led her around and around the room, her feet only stepping on his every third step this time, rather than every step they took together.
The days leading up to their first performance seemed to go both in slow motion and warp speed simultaneously. But soon it was Sunday and she and James were running through the routine for the last time before they'd do the dress rehearsal the next day.
"I'm still not getting it, James." Lily sat down on the floor and hung her head as she rested her arms on her legs.
"You're doing just fine," he sat down next to her.
"Don't lie to me."
James was silent for a long moment before he held out his hand to her.
"We're a team, Evans, and I would never lie to a teammate. Come on, let's try it again."
Lily sighed before taking his hand and letting him pull her up from the floor to run through the routine again.
She wished all of these hours she was putting in were paying off, but all it seemed to do was make her exhausted. She was in the office from seven till nearly eleven, then she would eat something while she drove to the dance studio and dance with James until seven or eight, and then drive home, sometimes remember to eat something, before finally passing out cold until her alarm went off to start it all over again.
Dress rehearsal Monday morning seemed to only cement in her brain how much she didn't belong in this world. All the other contestants were so much more coordinated than her, and they seemed to be more at ease in the environment than she was.
Lily's nerves were overpowering and she botched their first run through. She couldn't manage to keep her dress from getting caught around her legs and her feet kept misstepping and James kept rubbing the part of her back that he used to signal her she was slouching. It was a disaster.
"James," one of the dancers approached them as Lily tried to get through the steps again.
James let her hand drop and stepped away. "Just sec, let me see what Sirius needs."
Lily turned and watched the two men talk quietly. James' hand pushed into his hair as he talked but he didn't look her way. She felt horrible about it all. James wasn't going to make it past the first elimination because he'd ended up with her and she was only doing these two weeks for the money. She had been assuaging her pride with the assurance that she just needed the 125 thousand dollars and then she could go back to her work and not worry about dancing ever again. But seeing how hard James was trying, and how patient and supportive he was with her as she floundered through the steps and routine, she didn't think she could walk away and leave him without a second thought. She cared too much to do that now.
As a friend, of course, she reminded herself.
James gave Sirius an attempt at a smile before moving back to Lily.
"Let's try it again," Lily squared her shoulders and smiled. "I think I can do it."
"Alright," James' smile didn't reach his eyes, but he stepped up to her and pulled her hand into his.
It wasn't perfect by any stretch but Lily could feel it was better, surer maybe. And she could tell that James felt it too as the weariness on his face slowly faded.
"You're getting it!" He laughed as they finished the routine. "See! You can dance!"
Lily grinned as she tried to catch her breath. "I just need to improve ten times more before tonight."
"We'll be fine," he nodded as the stagehand told them their time was up. "Let's see if they can pull up the hem of your dress another two or three inches and take out one of the panels before tonight. I think that will make a huge difference for you." He took her hand and Lily felt her breath catch at the feeling of his hand holding hers. "That was what Sirius pulled me aside for. He saw that the dress was too long and too full."
"That was nice of him," Lily tried to convince herself that the catch in her breath was just her being out of breath from the dance.
"Sirius is a good guy; we've been looking out for each other for a long time now." James grinned over at him as Sirius talked with Marlene.
He let go of her hand then and Lily tried to convince herself that the falling feeling she had when he released her hand was completely due to her exhaustion and had nothing to do with her wanting him to keep holding her hand.
James talked to the costume coordinator and Lily stood still as they went over the skirt of her dress until James felt sure it would be perfect for that evening's opening night, and the costume coordinator sent them to get out of their performance clothes. Then she was whisked away by the television crew to have her hair and makeup done with the other stars and dancers. In a whirlwind, it was suddenly their turn to dance.
Before the music started for their live performance, the stage lights were dim; a ticking sound started to give the countdown to start. Lily thought it sounded a lot like a time bomb.
"We've got this," James whispered.
And then the lights flashed on and the music started and Lily threw herself into the routine she'd been trying desperately to learn. There were a few stumbles, but James caught her through all of them, and in what felt both like an eternity and the blink of an eye, the music ended and people were applauding. Lily turned to the audience and found Mary jumping up and down and screaming through the noise. She waved as James pulled her over to the part of this competition Lily was dreading most of all, the judging.
They had, of course, seen her stumbles, but they were impressed with other things, McGonagall mentioned her excellent posture twice. Flitwick wasn't pleased with how they'd kept more or less to the steps with a couple of spins. But Slughorn kept telling them how wonderful it was that she had managed to learn the steps so well in such a short time.
"You're a natural!" He'd beamed at her.
James kept his arm around her middle as the judges gave their final scores, a five from both McGonagall and Slughorn, and a four from Flitwick.
"You were amazing," James spoke next to her ear as they moved backstage.
"Those scores say differently," Lily swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Hey," James pulled her to a far corner. "Those are good scores for week one. And no one is going home this week. You did an amazing job, believe me."
Lily nodded and tried to swallow again, "Ok."
She didn't particularly believe him, but she wasn't going to argue with him when there were cameras everywhere that could paint it as something awful.
They ended up finishing in the bottom five that night. And while Mary wanted to come over and stay up late talking about everything that had happened, Lily told her it would have to wait. She still needed to be at her desk by six the next morning.
When she managed to make it to the studio the next morning, James was already set to go.
"We've got the cha-cha this week." He motioned for her to come stand next to him. "We'll start just like we did with the foxtrot. I'll show you how to do the steps on your own and then we'll move to doing them together."
His smile was encouraging, and though the morning had already been full of work, Lily wanted to smile back at him. She wanted to be here with him. She didn't want to let James down.
Because they were friends, of course.
"Let's do this."
"Great," James reached into his bag and pulled out a Jenga set. "We start with this."
"With a game?" Lily watched perplexed as James set up the Jenga tower on one of the chairs, gesturing for her to sit opposite him and the game.
"There's a lot to be learned from Jenga."
"About dancing?"
"There's a dancing metaphor in almost anything, Evans. Now," he gestured to the tower, "Ladies first."
Lily pulled an easy block from the tower.
"That's a lame move," James smirked at her before pulling a block out that nearly toppled the tower down.
"I don't like to take enormous risks," Lily stuck her tongue out at him and found another easy block.
"That doesn't sound true at all. If it were, I don't think you would have agreed to this whole stunt."
"I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but I only agreed to it because of the money."
James pulled a difficult block and half-heartedly tossed it at her. "And what is all this money going towards?"
Lily smiled; it was easy to talk about work. "I want to make carbon capture something that can be done in anyone's backyard. Think about it, what if every home in every suburb had a carbon capture system set up, but cheaper and easier than solar. If I can make this work, this could buy us more than just a few years, it could be buying us decades of time to find better ways of creating power than burning coal."
James stared at her silently, his eyes intense and dark as he looked directly into her own eyes.
"Sorry, I guess that was a little much." Lily pulled another easy block from the tower.
"No," James' smirk finally found its way back to his face, but he continued to stare at her. "No, I personally think it was inspiring."
Lily pulled another easy block to avoid his stare and then held her breath as James pulled one that nearly toppled the whole tower over.
"James," Lily kept her gaze on the game as she spoke, "Can you honestly tell me that I'm a good dancer?" She knew it was a silly question to ask, but if she was a good dancer, then why not be dancing right now instead of playing Jenga?
"Yes," he answered immediately, but Lily scoffed.
"Lily, listen, for having never danced in your life, you're doing really well! Don't try to compare yourself to Julianne Hough. We have a real chance here, and I've done this long enough to know."
Lily wanted to believe him, but she didn't, and it must have shown on her face.
"Lily, what if you believed me? What if you were to take the risk?" He pointed to a block in the Jenga tower that was wedged tightly between the surrounding blocks. "Take a risk, pull this block here."
"That could make the whole tower fall," Lily objected.
"But it might not, it might give you the advantage in the game. Just try, and accept that the tower is going to wobble a little bit; if it falls, we'll rebuild it again."
Lily eyed the block before cautiously pulling on it. The tower wobbled dangerously.
"It's going to fall," she pulled her hand back.
"Then let it fall," James shrugged.
"And if it does, I'll lose the game!"
"No," James grinned at her, "We're a team, remember, we win and lose together."
"Fine, then we lose the game if I make the tower fall."
"Not if we build the tower up again." He leaned forward. "Change your perspective, Evans. There's no losing, just new starting points. Now, pull that block out."
Lily looked into his warm hazel eyes and something about how he was looking at her made her feel like she could try.
"Fine, but don't get upset if I make this whole tower come crashing down around us."
James just laughed and nodded her on.
Lily pulled carefully on the block, drawing in a sharp breath when it started to pull the tower with it. But as she turned the block around and moved it small bits at a time, the block slowly pulled free of the tower.
"I did it!" She held the block above her head like a trophy and James' smile was so proud that Lily felt certain that she could look at that smile forever and never tire of it.
"You did it!" He cheered. Then he stood and held out his hand. "Now take a chance, and let's teach you how to cha-cha-cha."
Lily laughed and took his hand. By the end of the day, she felt like she had a better grip on not just the cha-cha, but dancing as well. A week in and her body already was in better shape and she wasn't as exhausted when she finally made it home that evening. The routine ended up much like their foxtrot, with little flair but with Lily's ability to do the steps well being their focus. She was also grateful that no one put her in something that looked more like a swimsuit than a costume for the cha-cha. She already had to pointedly ignore the quiet part of her mind that would react to James holding her as close as he had to for the dance, she didn't need to also be half-naked. Lily needed every barrier between her and James she could procure.
Their scores that week were better, though Flitwick still wanted to see more excitement in their routines. Still, he gave them a five, and McGonagall and Slughorn both gave them a six. Lily was just happy it kept her out of the bottom two. She was certain the moment she ended up there, it would be over, and James wouldn't get any further.
Their third week went well too. They danced the quickstep, which wasn't so different from the foxtrot in that she picked it up quickly, enough so that they were able to work some more complex moves into the dance as well. That was the performance that finally got Flitwick on her side, and they were safe from the bottom two again with three scores of six.
Lily walked into week four feeling like maybe she could do this. She felt fit and she was starting to feel budding confidence that she at least could learn to dance.
But she was back on her guard when she walked into the dance studio and James handed her a blindfold.
"No."
He laughed at her.
"Potter, there can't possibly be a good reason for me to wear a blindfold."
"Actually, Evans, you've pointed out the reason for this blindfold more times than I can count." He smirked at her.
"Oh, really? Explain then, why am I supposed to wear a blindfold?"
"Because, there are mirrors on every wall of this room," he gestured around them. "And I need you to do something before I get started on teaching you our dance this week."
"What dance do we have?" Lily fidgeted with the blindfold he'd pressed into her hands.
"I'll tell you after we do this little exercise."
"James, this better not be anything stupid."
"I promise, it isn't anything stupid. I need you to trust me."
Lily rolled her eyes. "I do trust you."
"No, I need you to fully trust me."
"You promise, this isn't going to be something weird?"
"Dancer's honor," James put his hand over his heart.
Lily examined the blindfold carefully before looking back at James.
"Okay, but remember, you promised."
"I promise." James nodded her on.
Lily took a deep breath and tied the blindfold over her eyes. She let her hands fall to her side and tried to not let the disoriented feeling that hit overcome her.
James' hand took hers, and it was so familiar now that Lily wondered briefly at how when this was over, she'd never feel it again. The thought left a small ache in her chest.
"Walk with me," he spoke quietly.
Lily took cautious steps forward, feeling awkward and anxious that she would trip and fall on her face.
James stopped her and let go of her hand and Lily immediately felt lost.
"Now," James' voice was suddenly behind her, "When I tell you to, I want you to put out your arms, and fall backward, trusting that I will catch you."
"You're kidding!" Lily almost pulled her blindfold off, but James put his hands gently on her shoulders, causing Lily's frantic heartbeat to spike.
"No, I told you, I need you to really trust me. This next dance needs you to trust me completely."
Lily bit her lip and reached back for James. He grabbed her hand.
"Take a risk, Lily." He gave her hand a squeeze before letting go.
"Are you ready?" He sounded like he was on the other side of the room.
"You promise you'll catch me?"
"I promise." He sounded farther away this time.
Lily clenched her fists and held her arms out to the sides.
"Fall," James' voice was calm, in stark contrast to the way Lily's heart was beating so fast she was certain she might faint.
It happened quickly, but a part of Lily felt like it was in slow motion. She locked her legs and shifted her weight backward over her heels, then past them. Her body shifted and she began falling. The fall kept her from breathing, but as James' arms caught her, she gasped in a deep breath.
"Take off your blindfold," James' smile was evident in his voice.
Lily pulled the blindfold off and smiled as she looked up at James.
"Hi."
James chuckled, "Do you trust me?"
Lily nodded.
"Look in the mirror."
She turned her head and watched her smile fall off her face. She was no more than five inches from the ground.
"You let me fall that far?!"
James pushed her back up on her feet. "A little less than that far, notice you didn't hit your head on the floor. But there was a purpose behind it."
Lily glared at him, "Alright, relate this to dancing, oh wise teacher."
"We're dancing the paso doble this week, and that's going to come with me pushing you outside of your comfort zone in a lot of ways this week. I need you to trust me."
Lily pursed her lips. "I do trust you, but let's get all of this out in the open, no more surprises."
James motioned for her to sit with him and they walked to the chairs as he explained.
"The paso doble is going to require you to act. I'm the bullfighter and you're my cape. I need you to cling to me. I need you to let me throw you and flip you and I need you to fall and know that I'm going to catch you. I need you to trust me."
Lily took a deep breath and kept her arms folded across her chest.
"So, we're done with the easy platonic dances?"
James grinned, "Don't worry, those will come back. But this dance is better when we act the part."
Lily tried to keep her emotions in check. She'd seen Mary's favorite paso doble dances from past seasons, and she knew what James was getting at. Lily had put conscious effort into not letting her mind linger on how close she and James had to be in many of these dances. She wouldn't let her thoughts pull up those moments where James would keep his hand on the small of her back. She ignored everything that suggested she might be attracted to James; because she was very attracted to James.
"Ok," Lily nodded slowly. "I think I can act the part."
"We're going to be raising the bar for ourselves with this dance," James rested his arms on his legs and moved closer to her. "Are you game, Evans?"
Lily wasn't sure if she really was game for this. She'd been doing a fine job pretending that she wasn't attracted to him, and it showed in her dancing, she never got too close, never stayed too long in his embrace, never thought about his hands on her, never thought about how his eyes would watch her like she was captivating to him.
"I, yeah, yeah I'm game."
James jumped up and held out his hand. "Then let's dance!"
It was too easy. James commented on how well she was picking up on her part, but really Lily just had to let some slack out on her very tightly controlled emotions. Clinging to James wasn't unnatural, having him throw her into a spin before pulling her back flush against him was an action that felt innate within her, and when James flipped her around his arm, she had no problem moving in sync with his actions. It was all what she naturally wanted to do.
"This is going to be amazing!" James grinned at her. "You've been holding back on me, Evans. We've got a real shot at winning if you keep this up."
Lily forced a chuckle to keep herself from admitting how much she was still holding back. James' magnetic pull was strong, and she'd been building stone around her to keep from falling into it. But she felt like that stone was crumbling under this need to "act the part" as James had put it.
There was very little acting involved for Lily.
And as the week went on, the more she let those stone walls crumble the more James praised her, the happier he looked, and the more excited he was.
When the dress rehearsal came, Lily found that she wasn't nearly as nervous as she had been in the weeks prior. She felt like she could do this, like she could dance, and she tried to ignore the part of herself that realized it was all because she'd let those walls she had built up break and crumble around her heart and give in to the magnetic pull that was James Potter.
Their live performance was stunning. Even Lily could tell when they finished that it was amazing. The judges gave her a standing ovation. Flitwick cheered her for her daring and willingness to push herself. They earned a ten from Slughorn and a nine from McGonagall and Flitwick. They finished first.
It was the start of a new phase for Lily. She went from being certain that she would have no fan base when she ended up in the bottom two to being a minor star. Talk shows wanted to have her and James on with them. Her dormant Twitter account was suddenly awash with followers. But they still needed to keep the momentum up. James pushed them harder and harder every week, and Lily felt like she had to give him everything she could because James deserved to win. They consistently finished in the top three for the next five weeks, even when Lily had to start learning two dances a week.
Everything was moving in fast forward, and Lily tried to keep it that way. Because if she was exhausted, then she would be too tired to dream about having James' hand run up her neck to cup her face, or his forehead pressed against hers as his breath came in heavy gasps, or his arms wrapped around her middle, or the way he watched her like he was holding himself back.
It was all an act, it was all for the dance, but the deepest darkest part of Lily's heart hated that it was an act, and wanted desperately for it all to end so that she could start trying to forget how hard she was falling for one James Potter.
"What's this?" James asked as she walked into the studio and handed him a gift bag.
"A congratulations gift," Lily tried to make it feel nonchalant even as her emotions ran at top speed through her. "I happen to know this is the first time you've made it to the last two weeks."
James' smile made her chest hurt. "That has everything to do with you though."
"You're the teacher," Lily shook her head.
"And you are my best student," James' gaze had shifted to the one he used when they were acting the part and Lily found it hard to breathe. She needed something, anything to get him to stop looking at her like that off the dance floor.
"Lily-"
"James-"
"You first," James gave a chuckle and shoved his hand in his hair.
"Aren't you going to open the present?"
James combed his hand through his hair and reached into the gift bag. He laughed when he pulled out a miniature replica of the show's trophy.
"In case we don't win, you'll have a trophy, and," Lily picked at a hair on her shirt, "And, I wanted you to know that all of this has meant so much to me, and I'm so glad I met you. Even if we don't win, this has been amazing."
James grinned at the little trophy and turned it around his fingers.
"Thanks, Lils, I'm glad we got to be friends."
Lily blocked off the part of her heart that died at James' use of the word friends. That's all they were supposed to be - friends.
"Me too."
They finished second that week. Slughorn said he'd never seen a tango he enjoyed more on the show. McGonagall praised their contemporary dance and everything they managed to work into it. Flitwick told her he couldn't believe how far she'd come.
But what had made the entire night was James holding her flush against him for most of the night. Lily told herself that it didn't mean anything to him, that this was how dancers were. But her heart wanted it to be real, and she indulged in pretending it was real.
"We're in the finals!" James spun her around after the broadcast had finished.
"We're in the finals!" Lily laughed and spun back into him.
James pulled her closer, "Hey, Lily-"
"James!" One of the stagehands came running over. "You left this in the dressing rooms." He handed him the little trophy that Lily had given James.
James thanked him but Lily had taken advantage of the moment to step out of his embrace.
"So, I'll see you tomorrow morning," she slung her bag higher on her shoulder and tried to not let the ache in her chest manifest itself through her face.
James looked momentarily torn. "Yeah, yeah, I'll see you tomorrow morning."
Lily nodded and nearly ran to her car.
The last week of the competition was torture, and Lily was a glutton for punishment. James was constantly touching her, even if they weren't dancing: his arm was around her shoulders or his hand on her back, him smiling with his warm hazel eyes always watching her.
Lily had never been so torn in her entire life.
Finally, the finale came and Lily threw everything she had into the performances. She owed James that much. This was his career and since he'd helped her to get nearly 300 thousand dollars to pour into her research. She wanted to give James the real trophy, she wanted him to be able to say he won, that he was the best, because she honestly believed he was.
Their final dance was the contemporary, and when they finished, Lily was surprised when James pulled her into him, wrapping his arm around her neck and holding head against his own.
"You're perfect," he murmured into her ear, "Absolutely perfect."
"I think you are too," Lily clung to him through the cheers of the crowd.
"Lils-"
"Come on over you two!" The host interrupted him, and James sighed as he pulled back to lead them over to the judging, keeping her flush against him.
They scored first, and while Lily was ecstatic, a part of her wondered what James had meant to say before they had been interrupted. But as the night wore on, she never found out. There wasn't a quiet moment for the rest of the night, and especially not when they won the trophy.
Lily had felt like the air was sucked out of her when they announced she and James had won. And then she thought she might faint when James pulled her into him for how tightly he held her. It seemed like whatever spark she might have felt when they finished their final dance ended with the dance as well. She went home feeling a little empty after it all.
"Where are you going to put it?" Mary was holding the trophy in Lily's office as Lily tried to catch up on some of the things she had missed in the three months she'd spent competing.
"I don't know," Lily laughed at the mammoth thing. She'd spent that morning doing interviews with James and was only now making it into her lab after lunch. The interviews had been weird, not because she and James were the winners, but because James had been almost shy around her. He managed to turn it off for the cameras, but he seemed much less confident and sure of himself when it was just the two of them.
"I wonder where James is going to put his," Mary tried to carefully set Lily's trophy down on her desk. "Why did you bring yours here?"
"I was asked to have it with me for the interview." Lily frowned at one of the emails and flagged it so she could come back to it.
"What if you kept it here?" Mary teased her.
"Very funny," Lily laughed, "don't you have work to do?"
"Actually, now that you've brought in all this research money, I do." Mary blew her a kiss before sliding out the door.
Lily sighed as she looked at the trophy now on her desk. She picked it up and set it in a drawer in her desk and flinched at the clanging noise it made. The interviews had been weird, but it had also been hard. It had been hard to see James and not touch him. It had been hard to see James and not fall into the rhythm that they'd set for themselves during the competition. But it was for the best. She needed to get these feelings out of her system; they may have been why she was able to win the competition with him, but now she had to stop; those feelings were not reciprocated, but they were also wildly inappropriate.
At least she had her research to throw herself into. She could hide in her research until her heart put itself back together.
"So, this is where you save the planet?"
Lily looked up to see James leaning against her door frame.
"Hi!" She jumped up with a smile but then paused, not sure what to do next. "Um, yeah, I, this is my office."
James shoved his hand in his hair. "Hope it's alright I looked you up."
"Of course, I," Lily struggled to think of what to do or what to say. Her office suddenly felt fifty yards across. "What's up?"
James gripped his hair. "I know this could be out of line, and you can totally throw me out, but um, would you want to grab dinner with me sometime?"
Lily could feel her heartbeat in her ears. "Like, like a date?"
James looked at her with that same stare he'd used when they were performing, the one that had made Lily wish he wasn't acting because it looked like he wanted her. "Yeah, a date."
Lily felt her smile break wide across her face. "I'd really like to get dinner with you."
James' whole face lit up like the stage lights when their dances would start, "Tonight? Can I pick you up here at 5?"
"Yeah," Lily laughed, feeling like all the awkwardness from that morning was fading away.
"Great," James pushed off the door frame, "I'll see you in four hours."
Lily watched him walk away and it felt like he pulled the air out of her with it.
That was it? She had been so wrapped up in crossing a line, in doing something wrong, that she had never let herself even consider what life with James might look like. But she knew James, and she knew that he was anything but status quo; he was nothing like the stagnant air that surrounded her. James took risks.
And he once told her she could too.
Lily bolted from her office.
"James!" She watched him turn the corner at the end of the hall and went running after him. "James!"
Lily nearly fell as she rounded the corner, but James jumped for her, his arm keeping her from hitting the floor.
"Alright there, Evans?" James looked down at her with apprehension.
"Yeah, just," Lily swallowed, "um, I." Lily summoned all her courage and stepped up to him, pushing forward to lightly press her lips to his. James stiffened and Lily immediately pulled away. "Ok, I, um, I'll see you in a few hours."
She moved to step back but James grabbed her arm and pulled her back into him, his arms wrapped around her back, his hands pressing against her spine and holding her close to his chest. His lips captured hers and Lily sighed as she fisted her hands in his t-shirt.
"I've wanted to do that for weeks," James rested his forehead against hers and smiled down at her.
"Me too," Lily laughed as she smiled back up at him. "And now I'm not going to get anything done today."
"Want to take off? Start our date early?" James moved closer to speak against her lips.
A part of Lily within her brain immediately responded with no, that she had work to do. But the part that had James' lips ghosting over hers overruled all objections. After all, she could take risks.
"I need to grab my purse," Lily pressed forward to kiss him again.
James moved his hand to take hers and then began dancing them down the hall to her office.
"Let's get out of here."
Lily laughed and once they'd made it to her office, she shut down her computer before grabbing her purse. She took James' proffered hand and leaned over to kiss him.
"Lily, did you get…" Mary trailed off. Her shocked face quickly turned to an excited smile as Lily pulled her lips from James'. "Never mind, never mind, I saw nothing, my lips are sealed, and I want a ticket for next season as my Christmas present this year!" She gave an excited squeal and then retreated out of Lily's office.
"Think you can get her a ticket?" Lily laughed up at James.
"Probably," he shrugged, "but I'll look into that later." He kissed her. "Now, I want to find a place to be with you that doesn't involve anything to do with either of our jobs."
"That's an idea I can get behind." Lily kissed him before letting James lead her out of her office and on to their date.