"Evans!" Shut the fuck up, Potter. "EVANS!" Lily quickened her pace, flushing in the bracing winter air. She shoved her hands further into her pockets, praying to Merlin that he wouldn't continue bellowing across the grounds.
"Evans! I want to show you something," James fucking Potter repeated, increasing in volume. Heads were turning away from snowball fights and forts, away from studying and hot cocoa, and towards the god-awful commotion. Tossing her red hair, Lily veered sharply to the left, heading in the general direction of the lake. Yet he persisted, and from what she could see by glancing over her shoulder at lightning-quick speed, he was cockily running his hand through his hair. Grinning broadly, almost stupidly. She absolutely loathed the prat. She also absolutely loved him.
"Don't you have some fourth years to impress?" She spat in his direction, making sure to inflect venom onto every goddamn syllable. I'm James Potter, I'm ruggedly handsome and I can catch the Golden Snitch! Why couldn't he find someone else to obsess over? No, why couldn't she?
"Evans, you're killing me here!" Judging from the rapid footsteps behind her, he was picking up the pace. Just peachy. "Lily, please!"
Time seemed to stop for the shortest of milliseconds. Her...first name. She didn't know he knew that. But the seconds ticked by, speeding up to their familiar rush. Lily couldn't stop herself from blushing fervently. James whipped out a worn, damp scroll from the pocket of his cloak. She realized all too late that he was a mere few feet away. She was rooted to the spot.
"First Outstanding of sixth year, Evans! All thanks to your wonderful study-buddy habits."
"You mean hexing you until you stopped copying notes?"
"...yes. But it worked, didn't it?" She stared at her feet but found her eyes wandering up his body to his hands. They were red and puffy from exposure to the cold. "Noticed my hands, huh Evans?" He abruptly strode forward and grabbed hold of her gloved fingers. "Cold, aren't they?" Stupid fucking prat, striving to annoy her AS ALWAYS. But now there was no denying the fact that her hand was in his.
"Let go," Lily whispered half-heartedly, praying that he would act like himself and keep his fingers intertwined with hers.
"Nope!" He grinned cheekily, swinging their hands up and down, back and forth. People were staring from all over the grounds, frantic to see what would happen next.
"Just please stop that." She muttered, beginning to shuffle away through the flurries of snow. James followed her, making sure not to break his grip. The pair made their way across the school grounds, silent and red in the face. Inevitably, they were holding hands. And neither of them was doing anything about it.