Lily wondered why she had bothered.
After six years, three months and request after request after request for a date; James had kept her waiting exactly twenty thr- no, twenty four minutes. She felt ridiculous, sitting on the steps outside the Great Hall as every other seventh year student waltzed past her -arm in arm-cute couples and groups of friends giggling, flirting; aiming devilish glances and charming grins at each other as they made their way to Hogsmeade.
Sirius had bounded down the steps and right past her not ten minutes ago, not noticing her in all his kingly glory until he spun around to make sure Remus was still following him-Remus who had paused on the step to cast Lily a furtive and apologetic glance, Remus who opened his mouth to speak, Remus who was cut of by Sirius bounding back up the steps, –two at time- grabbing his wrist and yanking him away after winking saucily at Lily and strutting off with a wolffish grin on his ruggedly handsome face.
The whole ordeal had left Lily bewildered.
She couldn't help it though, that she found herself comforted by the absence of Pettigrew who was surely accompanying James on his way to meet her that very minute. That is until five minutes past and Peter himself had scurried past her, sans James. Lily propped her elbows on her knees and rested her chin on her hands with a sigh, noting to herself the way Peter seemed so small and afraid of the world without his lords to command him. Lily threw her forehead against her palms and squeezed her eyes shut in frustration.
Oh Merlin what was she doing?
James Potter was a fucking twat. Now Lily never had a fondness for swearing even in her own head; but James Potter was the special kind of arrogant, jerk, pig boy who demanded a whole set of rules for himself.
Only.. he wasn't really any of those things. Not anymore. Lately in the stead of loud, public and humiliating declarations of love, James had resorted to aiming at her the kind of smile that was sweet and private but still full of his trademark cheek. Instead of insisting on carrying her books and walking so close to her that she found it physically uncomfortable to breathe, James had started walking beside her engaging in soft conversation and occasionally brushing his quidditch toned arms against hers. Instead of shoving smirking slytherins roughly against walls, James would breeze past them his gaze directed stonily over their heads. Severus included. And Lily would be damned if she said that he hadn't caught her, on more than one occasion, unabashedly 'checking out his hot woman pulling bod' as Sirius had put it at breakfast one morning when James had been eating with the quidditch team and Lily had joined Remus, Peter and himself.
She'd never claimed he was ugly. Ever. He certainly wasn't.
Lily had been so caught up in her own thoughts that when James Potter cleared his throat to get her attention forty five minutes after the time he had suggested they meet, Lily almost jumped right out of her skin.
She whipped her head out of her hands at a such a speed that it caused her to become unbalanced and she found herself sprawled across the steps of the Great Hall propped up only by her elbows, her wine red hair stuck in her mouth and tossed about like a salad. James who had skittered down several steps in fright quickly recovered and bent down to aid the startled young woman. He lifted her by the elbows with ease, picking her feet up off of the ground slightly and steadying her on the step above him- straightening out her jacket and taking a small step back to admire her. Lily herself smoothed out her dress- more for a delayed second to gather her thoughts than presentation. Using both hands she lifted her now wild hair out of her face and pushed it back before smiling up at James.
She disguised her laugh as a cough and hid her smile behind a hand. Placing her free hand on her hip to steady herself and quickly looking away. James narrowed his eyes at her as she choked on laughter, still refusing to make eye contact.
"What's up Evans?" He mused in a teasing tone.
Lily looked back at him and instantly gripped her stomach doubling over in hysterical laughter.
"Have you been hit by a laughing jinx Evans? Do you have a temperature?" His tone was light but James himself had to work to ignore the edge to his words. He felt her forehead with the back of his hand.
Lily gripped his shoulder to steady herself as she threw back her head tears escaping through her scrunched up eyes.
"Er Lils?"
"I'm just..I can't…what…the fuck….are…you…wearing?!" She managed to gasp out. James looked haughtily at her and for a moment she thought that maybe she had offended him. But dear sweet Morgana and for the love of all that is holy she had never seen James sporting any other hairstyle than 'just rolled out of bed' and she had certainly never imagined him in anything resembling a dorky, muggle Christmas sweater. But here he stood before her clear as day, his hair combed back and his magnificently muscular torso sporting a green and red Christmas sweater featuring not only a reindeer but a large dog, a rat and a werewolf of all things.
"Evans" he said in a cold tone. Lily found it very hard to be serious. Especially because from her position the flickering candles that decorated the large christmas trees within the hall were shining around James in a way that illuminated him and made him somewhat resemble a dorky sweater-wearing reincarnation of Jesus Christ. And Lily found it absolutely hilarious.
"Hey Evans" James repeated, more demanding than before. Lily snorted and bit her lip struggling to compose herself. "Feel my shirt."
Okay what. Now Lily was used to James's antics but this request was bizarre even for him. But what the hell.
"Um okay…" Lily reached out and pulled on the soft sweater, rolling it gently beneath her forefinger and thumb pad. It was no doubt made of some incredibly rare and expensive rich boy material.
"Know what material that's made of?" He quirked an eyebrow at her and half smirked. Lily raised her eyebrow in return and said nothing-waiting for the punchline of what she now realised was a smart arse joke. She waited some more staring at James. She raised her other eyebrow in annoyance hinting heavily that he should get on with it.
Finally James's smirk turned into a full blown grin. " Boyfriend material."
There was several seconds of cricket sounds as she processed what had just happened. Lily really couldn't help but crack up. James joined her and chuckled heartily with a smile that reached his eyes. It didn't escape his notice that the material of his jumper was still between her fingers or that she now had a hand on his peck bracing herself as she laughed. He said laugh because Lily Evans most certainly did not giggle. James took this opportunity to loop his arm around her waist and pull her tight against him; wrapping his arms around her in an embrace. An intimacy which Lily decided to allow. She rested her cheek on his shoulder and tentatively placed a hand on his back, returning the affection.
"I made you laugh" he said eventually, " I'm off the hook." Lily remembered that he had kept her waiting a full forty five minutes while he apparently combed back his stupid hair. She jerked back (although not very far as James hadn't yet let go of her and probably wasn't likely to do so anytime soon) unwinding her arm and punching him lightly in the shoulder.
"You kept me waiting forty five minutes while you combed your stupid hair you wanker" she scolded, a look of disdain on her pretty face.
"Oi, I was trying to do you a favour, you always tell me how stupid it looks normally" James replied defensively. He raised a hand to mess up the very hair they were discussing, but remembered halfway there that it was styled and ended up awkwardly flapping it about in mid air before rubbing the back of his neck. Lily grinned wickedly up at him and James had barely a second to think on what this look meant before she had both hands scruffing up his hair.
"Oi!" He reached up to stop her but she had already skipped back several steps, free to do so now that his arms were occupied elsewhere.
"When I tell you it looks stupid, I only say that to convince myself that I don't have a crush on you." Lily immediately realised her mistake, her smile slipped and her hands were thrown up to try and quiet him. Potter's head was big enough as is. "Don't-" she tried to say but he'd already started to ramble.
"Lily Evans, my my my you saucy little minx. I knew of course that you were seducing me with your charm and 'playing hard to get tactics'. Ha ha ha HA. I. Might. Have. Known."
Lily groaned at his arrogance and decided to change the subject. "Shut up, I've been waiting for nearly an hour now for food and I'm starving. If you don't hurry up I'll just have to eat you."
"I wouldn't mind." James smiled slyly.
"Hey!" Lily marvelled at the boys nerve as he laughed and took her hand in his, leading the way to Hogsmeade.
She smiled to herself as she trailed along behind him, snow crunching under their boots. James Potter was still as arrogant as he was handsome but as he looked back at her and smiled shyly- Lily grew excited at the prospect of learning all about this other James; the James that wore Christmas jumpers and sacrificed his trademark messy hair because he wanted to impress her. She grinned at James and skipped ahead jerking his arm and causing him to stumble. Lily laughed and he joined her.
It was later that day as they sat in the pub; Lily sipping on a takeaway hot chocolate, James next to her drinking fire whiskey and laughing with Sirius, that she realised they hadn't let go of each other's hands since they had left the Great Hall. When he turned to smile at her Lily squeezed his hand and grinned back realising she didn't want to let go for a very, very long time.