A/N: Hello, lovelies! I claim no rights to the lovely James and Lily or the Harry Potter universe, all that goes to good old JK Rowling. I haven't written in awhile, so here's a little bit of fluff for you in honor of Jily October! xoxo
James was well-aware that the girl standing in front of him was very pretty. She was a bit too short, though, with not quite the right number of freckles and hair a few shades too dark, but she was pretty. Despite this, his eyes were trained on the redhead arguing with the tall blonde in the corner, preparing to intervene when necessary (or when unnecessary; he wasn't prejudiced).
The pair had been arguing for just under an hour, and he could tell Lily was livid just by the way she was standing: trembling hands clenched into white-knuckled fists, her eyes a violent hue and her legs firmly planted into the ground. The kid she stood across from (Matthew, was it?) didn't stand a chance, and yet he kept trying and pushing, and James could see she was about to implode.
"Excuse me," he said finally, interrupting the girl mid-sentence as he made his way over in a few short strides. His mind was running at a much slower pace than his body, and he had arrived at the quarreling couple much too quickly for him to realize how much he was about to fuck up.
Lily's eyes widened when she saw him walk up, and she frantically tried to motion for him to stop, but he wasn't paying attention to her at the moment. Instead, he forcefully grabbed the shoulder of the blonde Ravenclaw and spun him around. "I think you need to leave," James said through gritted teeth.
"This is between my girlfriend and I, mate, so maybe you should stay out of it," the fellow seventh year declared as he towered over James. James knew what the right thing to do was: he should step back, and not punch the kid in the throat, and let Lily work it out because she was fully capable of handling the situation. Which, to James' credit, he didn't punch the kid in the throat; instead, he broke his nose.
"James!" Lily screamed, glaring at him as she moved between the two boys.
"Lily, please move," James bit out. His eyes were fixed on the blonde behind her, his nose profusely bleeding, and James felt far more satisfaction from that than he should have. He was also aware that everyone had stopped moving, stopped breathing, and the full force of attention was fixated upon them.
"No, I will not move!" Her voice was laced with volatile anger and had reached an abnormally high octave, and James knew he was in massive trouble. "You two need to calm down right now, and I will not stand for this!"
"Lily, please," the boy behind her began, but she swiftly held up a hand to silence him.
"Neither of you need to speak right now. And," she added, her eyes furiously scanning the room, "everyone else can go back to the party." When no one moved she yelled, "Now!"
The people began to shuffle around, muttering to themselves and avoiding eye contact with the volatile redhead, and Sirius put the music back on. "Stay right there," she ordered James, pointing a finger at him menacingly before dragging the blonde outside the common room.
She folded her arms over her chest, her temper at an all-time high. "You need to go, Matthew," she said curtly. "Now."
"Lils, please - "
"This conversation is finished!" she shrieked, slicing the air with her hand. "Over. Done. Complete. Now, please leave."
"Can we just - "
She finally sighed in exhaustion and pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, Matthew, we can't. We can't. I'm tired of the bickering and the anger and feeling horrible all the time. I'm just so tired. And this isn't good for either of us."
"But I love you," he whispered.
She winced at the words and raised her eyes to meet his watery blue ones. "I know you think you do, but you don't," she murmured finally. "You can't be in love with me. And I… I can't say that back, and you know that."
"Because you're in love with him."
"With who?" she asked, bewildered.
"That Potter bloke." He spit the words out like they left a foul taste in his mouth.
She tensed. Lily let the words roll over her, let them sink in, but she refused to accept that, admit that, especially not there. "I don't know what you're talking about, Matthew. But I have to go deal with the second half of this bloody nose." She turned to walk back into the common room, but paused just before entering.
"Matthew?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry."
He smiled sorrowfully at her, the blood drying around his nose making him look awfully sad, and said, "I know, Lily."
She returned the smile and reentered the party. Lily took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts, Matthew's parting words oscillating in her head at top speed. Because you're in love with him, But then the sight of James standing dejectedly (and a bit frightened, as well) brought back the anger of a few breaths ago, and she stormed over.
"Upstairs," she said pointedly, grabbing his arm and dragging him. They walked up to the boys' dormitory, and Lily slammed the door to James' room behind them. Neither spoke for a moment, and James watched her tensely to gauge her anger level.
"Lily, I - "
"Do not Lily me. Not right now. I'm furious with you."
"Me?" he exclaimed, his eyes widening. "I was trying to help you!"
"Well, I had it fully under control, thank you!"
"Oh really," James scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "It didn't look like it to me."
"You are an arse, James Potter!" she screamed. "I'm completely capable of taking care of myself!"
"I know that!"
"Then what the hell made you think it was a good idea to step in?"
"I just wanted to help, alright? He was being a dick." James ruffled his hair and he could feel his hands begin to tremble.
"That doesn't matter! It was my business, my boyfriend. But we're broken up now, so, you happy?"
James' head shot up at those last words, his eyes boring into hers. "What?"
Lily lost her breath for a few moments, with him looking at her like that. His hazel eyes were attached to her green ones with an almost fervent need, like he had to keep her in his sight. And he was so close – so very close – their faces only a foot apart, and she could feel his hot breath mingling with hers in front of her.
Because you're in love with him.
She shook her head to clear her mind and took a stumbling step backwards. James reached out to catch her before she fell, with his hand latched onto her arm and her hands on his biceps. She wiggled out of his grasp quickly, taking a few calming breaths. Get yourself together, Lily, she berated herself.
"That's not important," she finally muttered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm still angry at you."
James sighed and smiled crookedly at her, but it was less cheerful than usual. "Aren't you always?" He took a few steps back.
She halted, the words taking her by surprise. He sounded so sad, so crestfallen; she felt her fingers itching to reach out and hold him, to wrap him in her arms and tell him that, no, she wasn't always. That, in fact, she was very rarely truly mad at him. She wanted to tell him the truth about why she and Matthew broke up, because it was not due to his altercation, but it was due to him.
And, because she was Lily and he was James, and because she was just so fucking tired of pretending, she said, "No. Not always."
His eyes met hers very slowly, and she watched them flit down to her lips ever so slightly. He took a tentative step towards her, and she could feel her hands start to shake. "Not always?" he echoed.
"Very rarely, to be honest."
"Why is it that you and your boyfriend broke up, Lily?" James asked softly, the entire room silent save their disjointed breathing.
She inhaled sharply. "You know why."
"Do I?"
"Of course you do. You always did."
The crooked smile that she loved – no, that she very much liked – tugged at the corner of his lip, and his eyes glanced at hers briefly. "And what exactly does that mean?"
"Don't be smart with me."
"I can't help it, it's in my nature."
"You know very well what it means." She crossed her arms petulantly over her chest and staggered backwards slightly to put some distance between them. The confession was indirect at best, but it still made her uncomfortable, and clearly James knew it.
He moved forward as she pulled back and his hands gently grasped her forearms to hold her in place. They were so achingly close, his hands burning holes into her flesh, and she ceased to breathe for a moment. It had been months of convincing herself that, no, those feelings were not what she thought they were; surely she wasn't falling for James sodding Potter. And yet there they stood, Lily with her hair tousled and her breathing erratic and James with his eyes melting her and his hands pressed to her skin.
She wanted him to do it. She forced herself to stand up straight and look him in the eye. A challenge. Would he take it?
His eyes flitted down to her lips for the briefest of seconds before he smashed their mouths together, their lips fumbling only for an instant before molding perfectly together, as though they were meant to be like that for eternity; her trembling hands grabbed at his face and his arms were tucked around her waist, pushing their bodies as close together as physically possible.
Lily broke away first, her quivering mouth hesitating above his, and she felt the throbbing loss in her entire body. They stayed like that for a moment, forehead-to-forehead, their mingling breaths clashing together in the small pocket of air between them.
"I have a question," James murmured suddenly.
"Yes?" Lily whispered, rubbing soothing circles on his neck.
"And if you say no I just might have to hex you."
"Point taken."
"Lily Evans," he whispered, and she giggled at his formality, "would you do me the honor of going to Hogsmeade with me?"
She pretended to hesitate. "Well…"
"Evans, I swear to Merlin - "
She kissed him again, nonchalantly. "Why of course I will, James Potter."
James smiled. "I suppose that could be considered a date, then."
Please read & review! I hope you enjoyed it and I adore hearing your thoughts. Love you all!
xoxo, Hannah