It was cold, blistery weather; the type that made drinking tea with a book in front of a fire the only acceptable activity for the day. Not one to fight the will of the Gods, Lily accepted her fate and curled up in front of the gryffindor fire with The Odyssey. It had adventure, romance, tragedy and humour. It ticked all the boxes for a day's excitement without leaving a couch for lily.

As Odysseus meets the Cyclopes for the first time, Lily was so wrapped up in the story that she didn't notice another warm body upon the couch. Only when said body coughs did Lily jump out of her skin and squeal out a name

"James! Oh Merlin I cannot breathe! You scared the crap out of me!"

Chuckling James ruffles his hair

"Hey don't go blaming your inattentiveness on me. I didn't exactly sneak up on you here. You just are exceptionally unobservant"

Lily sighed as her heart rate slowed. Noticing him with that smirk still plastered all over his face, her heart rate sped up again, but for entirely different reasons. About three months into their seventh year, their friendship was coming fast and freely. They enjoyed each others company and found there was a lot more to the other person than initially anticipated. However, another unexpected little side to their friendship was Lily's not so little crush on James. With his easy manners, his unswerving loyalty to his friends, and his overall goodness it was hard for Lily to keep her head entirely around the boy with hazel eyes and messy black hair.

Shaking her head, Lily quick to respond before she let her daydreams of James go any further.

"you're right. I'm too easy to sneak up on. I would have been the first girl to die in the horror film. I would be the one to open the closet door only to be mercilessly stabbed while scantily clad in lingerie."

"um… what? Why are you dying in your underwear? Who is stabbing you? Lingerie?"

Lily blushed realizing that James wouldn't get references to horror films. She hastily explained

"It's a muggle thing. You know how I told you about films?"

James nodded still looking rather concerned

"well they can have genres to them just like books. One popular genre is horror which is basically scary stories intended to scare the crap out of the people watching. There always seems to be a sexy girl that dies while wearing as little as possible"

"And you are proclaiming yourself to be that dead sexy girl…? That's a bold statement Evans" James grinned cheekily while bumping his shoulder against Lily's.

"Not at all Potter. It was the role I was born to play. Useless bimbo here to fulfill fantasies. I mean, have you seen me?" Lily responded with a straight face, her only tell being the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

James snorted. "Yeah right. You only being here as the useless sexy bimbo…"

A frown began to form on Lily's face, but before she could open her mouth, James quickly interjected

"Not because you aren't fit enough. Lord knows you're beautiful enough to play the sex symbol, but the idea of you being a useless bimbo… It doesn't work for me. I mean, the Lily that doesn't just get answers right all the time, but has the sharpest tongue, the quickest wit, and the best comebacks? The same Lily that MADE UP a potion that made Professor Slughorn forget anytime he wanted to take points from Gryffindor or give points to Slytherin which you were not even punished for but actually given 50 points for, that Lily not being anything less one of the most important and focal characters? Well, no matter how sexy that lingerie is, I don't want to watch any film that doesn't portray the full brilliance of Lily Evans"

James seemed to come back to himself, and watched Lily with trepidation as if he had said too much.

Lily looked like someone had just smacked her over the head with her limited edition leather bound copy of The Odyssey. For what seemed like eternity, there was no sound but the crackle of the fire, the gentle snore of Alice's tabby cat asleep on an armchair, and the breathing of two people stuck in a moment.

James took a breath and tried to find the words to disguise the fact that he had shown too much of his thoughts on her, but before he got the chance, he was interrupted by the gentle pressure of Lily's lips against his. Softly and slowly, she kissed him and told him how much his appreciation of her character meant to her without using any words. Lily pulled back, but James slid his hair into her hair and brought her mouth back to his. Neither one of them rushing the experience but allowing the currents of passion to wash over them. James felt a warm hand press against his cheeks as Lily slowly withdrew. Resting her forehead against his, they didn't speak for what was either a few seconds or eternity.

"Thanks James for thinking I am better than dying in lingerie." Lily all but whispered

"Anytime Lily" James voice was husky and he began to smile widely and as that smile broke out on his face, an identical one grew on Lily's. Before they knew it, they were laughing hysterically over the absurdity of a love found through The Odyssey, horror films, and lingerie.

Watching the girl that he cared so much about laugh so loudly and with such joy after she actually kissed HIM, James couldn't help the five words that slipped out of his mouth

"Go out with me Evans?"

Regarding him with a tenderness that was newly exposed, Lily smiled and nodded. The resulting smile from James made Lily smile even wider. With a final peck, Lily left her place by the fire and in James' arms for the night.

The next morning was miserable with gale force winds and grey skies. Lily looked out the window, smiled widely, and grabbed another book.