James wasn't staring.
Or, he was trying very hard not to stare, and he thought he was doing a reasonably good job, considering the circumstances. I mean, just look, he wanted to say to his friends, who had informed him several times that he was in fact staring. Just look at her. Leaning forwards in her armchair, she was gesturing animatedly as she spoke to her friends, who were laughing. Every time she moved her head, her hair caught the light, glinting russet and ruby: her proximity to the fireplace saw flecks of yellow flickering in her cat-like eyes. All in all, it made for a distracting sight, and James was having difficulty concentrating on … what was he doing?
"Prongs, you are being quite obvious," he heard Peter say as if from a great distance, but he could not bring himself to look away from Lily until she finally moved out of the firelight, crouching down to rummage through her bag.
"Oh look, he's back," Sirius said when James returned his attention to his friends. He grinned sheepishly.
"If I could help it I would," he said, picking up his quill.
"I'm not sure you're trying very hard."
James had to admit this was true.
"When it comes down to it, looking at her is much better than not looking at her," he shrugged. "I'm not about to deny myself these simple pleasures in life."
"If you asked her out you might get more than simple pleasures," Sirius said, and Peter and Remus sniggered.
"Patience," James yawned. "I'm biding my time. Waiting for the right moment."
"Someone else is going to ask her out sooner or later," Remus warned him.
"She might not say yes."
"She might, if she doesn't think you're going to ask her."
"I dunno," said James, scratching his nose. He glanced over at Lily again. "I think she knows. It's weird, you know? We're sort of ... almost there. When we're doing rounds together sometimes it's like we're already together, just without the – er – hands-on approach." He grinned as the others sniggered again.
"You might not even need to ask her out," Peter said wonderingly. "How do you do that?"
James opened his mouth to respond ("sterling charisma"), but before he could, there was a loud exclamation from across the common room. Recognising Lily's voice, he almost gave himself whiplash in his haste to see what had warranted such a strong "oh, no!"
"What?" he heard Mary ask, but Lily's answer was drowned out by a group of chattering third-years who had just sat down next to James.
"Is it too eager if I go and ask her what's wrong?" he demanded of his friends.
"Only if you add 'whatever it is, I bet a snog would make you feel better'," said Sirius wisely. This was all the encouragement James needed: resisting the urge to ruffle his hair, he leapt to his feet and made his way over to Lily's corner.
"Ooh look," said Griselda loudly, making the others aware of his sudden appearance. "It's the James we ordered!"
Lily turned, craning her neck to look up at him, and smiled. "About time." She wrinkled her nose, then added hopefully, "you don't have any Sugar Quills, do you?"
"No …" said James, wishing he did. "Why?"
"Oh, I've just found I haven't any left," she sighed. "I don't know how I'll get through this essay otherwise. They help me concentrate, you know."
James did know, as it happened: he had noticed that Lily carried more Sugar Quills on her than she did normal ones. He looked at her despairing expression, which was actually rather comical, and was struck with an idea.
"What if I said we could go and get some right now?" he said, lowering his voice. Lily's eyes widened.
"From Hogsmeade?"
James nodded. "It's only half four, Honeydukes won't be closed yet."
Lily glanced at her friends, who were all grinning: Sonia nudged her, eyebrows raised meaningfully.
"All right, I'm in. Just let me get my cloak."
James felt like punching the air, but managed to restrain himself to a smile. Lily hurried off to the girls' dormitories, and he returned to his friends to tell them of his mission.
"Brilliant," said Sirius appreciatively. "Nice work, mate."
"Have you got the Cloak?" Remus asked.
James, who never knew when he might need to disappear suddenly, nodded and patted his bag. "In here." He turned to Peter, who was gazing at him pensively. "What is it, Wormtail?"
"Can you get me some Ice Mice?"
"So d'you know any passages out of the castle?"
"One or two," Lily said, shrugging. "I know there's one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy …"
"Yeah, there is," said James. Lily looked at him in amusement.
"Where are we heading now then, oh knowledgeable one?" she asked teasingly.
Deliberately cryptic – and enjoying himself immensely – James said, "you'll see."
The third floor corridor was thankfully deserted when they reached it. The Head Boy and Girl wandering the school together was not suspicious in itself – most people thought they were going out anyway – but climbing into a statue was considerably more so.
"Dissendium," James muttered, tapping the stone witch's hump with his wand. Lily watched, apparently impressed, as it slid open.
"Witches first."
"Am I going to fall into an abyss?" Lily asked cheerfully before she scrambled into the hole anyway. Following, James slid down to meet her in the tunnel. It was cold, and very cramped: at such close quarters, James could strongly smell her perfume. He thought of later, when they would have to get under the Cloak together, and a shiver ran down his spine that had nothing to do with the temperature.
They both lit their wands, and as the passage was illuminated, Lily said brightly, "oh, this is lovely."
Crouching low – he was now far too tall for such a small space – James grinned at her. She seemed perfectly content, and trusting, to follow him as he led the way along the sharply twisting tunnel. He wished it was wide enough that he could put his arms out to steady her on the uneven ground: he settled for keeping one hand held slightly behind him, holding his palm outwards, in the hope that she might grab it for support if necessary. She kept up a stream of chatter as they walked, and the conversation drifted from Gryffindor's first match of the season to McGonagall's harshest essay yet to the likelihood that Professor Flitwick was having an affair with the new Astronomy teacher. By the time they reached the stone steps, they were discussing how unusually luxuriant Hagrid's beard had been recently.
"Oh," Lily murmured, coming to a halt. "Steps. Hm. You know what, I think I'll give this a miss …"
"Ha. Come on, lazy bones."
The climb to the top of the steps seemed a lot shorter with Lily, though James was aware that she, having never done it before, would probably not feel the same way. On the topmost steps, he stopped, and drew the Cloak from his bag.
"We'll have to put this on," he whispered, now that they were so close to the shop.
Lily raised her eyebrows. "So it's true," she breathed. "You do have an Invisibility Cloak."
"Of course I do. How else would I become invisible?"
Smiling, Lily shook her head. James beckoned her closer – his heart was racing – and swung the Cloak over the both of them.
It was a very tight fit: James knew his elbow was digging into Lily, and her hair was tickling his nose, and the whole situation was so very bizarre that he almost felt like laughing. But they had other things to do, and so he reached up and pushed the trapdoor open. They climbed carefully out, into the cellar of Honeydukes. Chancing a glance at Lily, James saw that she was wide-eyed as realisation dawned.
Wordlessly, he indicated that they should climb the staircase. The shop wasn't empty – a few young children were eagerly browsing the shelves with their parents - and the delicious scents were almost suffocating beneath the cover of the Cloak. Quickly, they wove over to the door and out into the street.
"We'll go up here, then take this off and come back," James muttered in Lily's ear. The scent of her hair was even more potent than that of the sweetshop: he couldn't place the fragrance, but it was better than anything he'd smelt before.
It wasn't yet five o'clock, but the sky above Hogsmeade was dusky, festive candles burning brightly in windows. There was a bite to the air that, once the Cloak was removed, had James wishing he'd worn something over his robes other than his red-and-gold scarf, which was more for house pride than anything else.
As if reading his thoughts, Lily asked, "aren't you cold?"
"I don't get cold easily," he lied. "I'm made of strong stuff."
"Oh," said Lily. "So you don't mind waiting outside while I go into Honeydukes?"
Torn for a moment between pride (and, honestly, showing off) and cold, James was relieved to remember Peter's request, so he could truthfully say, "I promised Peter I'd get him some Ice Mice."
"Chicken."
"Outstanding friend," he corrected, holding the shop door open for Lily.
She rolled her eyes, but didn't argue, turning her attention instead to the man behind the counter. "Evening, Ambrosius!"
Ambrosius, whose name James had not known until now, looked pleased to see her. "Hullo, lass. Nippy out there, isn't it?"
"Much nicer in here," Lily agreed. "Looking lovely and Christmassy in here. All ready for the holiday season, I see."
"Aye, no better time of year. What brings you in here then, lass? Not run out of Quills already, surely!"
Feeling awkward, James went to find the Ice Mice. It was odd, but he had always thought himself popular. Watching Lily made him wonder why. People might think he was cool, might be intimidated by him, might think he was funny, but they liked Lily. And why wouldn't they? It was that quality she had, that charming, easy way. She was probably the only person who could have ever really befriended Snape (the only one who would ever want to); she was also one of the only people who would have befriended James after what he'd done.
Another customer came in: Ambrosius went back behind the counter and James returned to Lily, who was inspecting the Sugar Quills.
"You know, these are really a godsend," she commented. "At primary school I used to chew my pencils and let me tell you, they're not nearly as tasty."
"Pencils?"
"Muggle writing thingies. A lot more sensible than quills. Why would you write with a feather?"
James laughed.
"This is on me, by the way," he said, nodding at the sweets. "My treat."
Lily was already reaching for her money bag. "That's very kind, but it's enough that you gave up your time to bring me to get them."
"I'm not giving up my time, and it's no trouble, honestly."
"But you've got Peter's stuff as well –"
"It's not a problem," James insisted.
Lily hesitated, and he added, "you should know you're not going to win. I'm incredibly persuasive. And great at arguing."
Laughing, she caved. "All right, all right. Thank you. And next time we're in Hogsmeade I'm buying your drink."
James froze – was that her asking him out? "Why not now?" he suggested. "We could slip into the Three Broomsticks for a quick drink …"
Lily glanced at her watch. "OK. Why not?"
James paid for their sweets and they headed back out of the shop. It had turned even colder since: James' hands stung with the cold, and he buried them deep in his pockets. Evidently noticing, Lily made a great show of rubbing her gloved hands together.
"Oh, shut up."
"What? I didn't say anything."
"Yeah, well, actions speak louder than words."
"Hmmm," said Lily thoughtfully. "Yeah, I see that. For instance, d'you know what your actions are saying to me right now?"
James heaved a mock long-suffering sigh. "No. What?"
"'I wish I'd wrapped up warmly like Lily instead of trying to be all manly and showing off.'"
"Wow," said James, trying not to laugh, because she'd hit the nail on the head and she knew it. "My actions are very vocal."
"Oh, they are. They're practically screaming at me."
They had settled into an easy stroll down the high street. James was in no hurry to end this trip: it might not have been a date officially, but he was certainly enjoying it more than he had any date in the past.
"I hope no one in the pub tells the teachers we've been in during school time," Lily sighed. "They're getting fussy about knowing where we are."
"Understandably, really," James said, then wondered when he'd started seeing things from the teachers' perspective.
"I suppose. I do think it's a bit – bollocks!"
"A bit bollocks?" James repeated, but then he saw what had made Lily stop dead: Professors McGonagall and Sprout were coming out of the Three Broomsticks just ahead.
"In here!" Lily hissed, grabbing his hand, and James found himself stumbling into a narrow, dark alley off the street. He scrabbled for the Cloak and swung it over them, not trusting McGonagall's beady eyes to let them go unseen, and they stood there, squeezed tightly together, hearts thumping from the narrow escape -
They looked at each other.
James did most things instinctively. Kissing Lily was no exception. He kissed her as she kissed him, and their teeth clinked, his glasses were knocked askew, surely pressing into Lily's cheek – but none of that mattered.
"About time," said Lily when they broke apart. She was grinning from ear to ear, matching, undoubtedly, James' own expression.
"I was waiting for the right moment," he explained, slightly breathless from kissing her. Kissing Lily Evans. Lily Evans kissing him. There were so many ways to put it, and he was sure he'd use all of them for Sirius, Remus and Peter later. After he kissed Lily some more.
"That seems like as good a moment as any," Lily said.
"Maybe," said James. "I dunno. Maybe this one is better." He kissed her again. It was like nothing he'd ever experienced before, nothing, nothing could come close to this, and he never wanted to stop. He'd stay in this damp alley forever, under the Cloak with Lily. Though on second thoughts, there might be more comfortable places in the castle. They could look into that, he decided.
"That was better," Lily conceded. "Perhaps still not the right one …"
"No? What about this –"
After several long minutes, they agreed that they still hadn't found the right moment.
"We should get back," Lily said, not moving from James' arms.
"We should. But I've got a good feeling about this moment – here – I think this is the right one …"