Public Displays of Affection

Disclaimer: I don't own anything... All that belongs to JK Rowling...

A/N: I had to repost the story coz i was scared that i might get hate mail for spelling Lily's name wrong (Lilly) so I hope you're satisfied with the changes GeorginaLily, green-eyed-assassin, fredandgeorge, liz22463, Rider Arya Svit-Kona, Sorrybut and confused cynic...

Lily Evans couldn't believe her eyes. When she had walked into the Gryffindor common room, the last thing she had expected to see was James Potter and a tiny fifth-grader kissing. James had his book-bag slung over his shoulder, casually receiving the kiss as if it was all very passé, his hands still in his pockets. The girl, on the other hand, had her arms wrapped around his neck and was pressing her lips against his so ferociously that it almost seemed as if she wanted to swallow his face.

She glowered at the couple, eyeing them up and down as her friend of equal IQ status, Remus Lupin, crawled through the portrait hole. "Hey, Lily… What's—Bloody Hell!" James parted from the small blonde, his hazel eyes meeting Lily's green ones.

The blond girl smirked, "See you later, James…" She then pressed her body up against James' and softly kissed him on the lower lip. She walked slowly up the Girl's Dormitory stairs, looking back with her icy-blue orbs to check if James was watching her leave. He wasn't. When she noticed this, she quickened her pace.

James awkwardly ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up, "Oh… Hi Lily… Moony…" He gave her a half-smile.

Lily pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow at James. How dare he talk to her after what had just happened? She didn't care who he dated or where he got it on with his 'girlfriends'; it was just the fact that he was kissing Sascha of all people. The 'Slut of Gryffindor Tower' as she was famously known as. "Don't you have any decency whatsoever?"

"What?" James said nonchalantly, who cared about what Lily thought? Sascha was hot and everyone knew that, Lily seemed to be the only one unable to notice.

"Sascha? Of all the people in this school, you decided to kiss that… Slut? That is so low…" Lily narrowed her eyes at James, crossing her arms over her chest. "Come on, Remus… I can't even stand to even be in this guy's presence." And with that, she turned and climbed out of the portrait.

Remus gave James an apologetic smile and shrugged his shoulders, then turned to find Lily. James' jaw dropped, his 'best' friend was running off to defend her? His anger soon subsided and quickly turned to guilt, he slumped in the couch and stared at the fire. He knew what he did was wrong, and as much as he hated to admit it… It was 'low'…

He sighed, why couldn't Lily learn to like him? Everyone else in the school already did, except for a few Slytherins. He was the most popular boy in the school and he bloody well knew it. His wit and charm just didn't seem to work on only one person and that person was Lily Evans, and as luck would have it, she was the one who he was madly in love with.

Remus had to jog in order to keep up with Lily's long strides, she was beyond upset. Her face was all red and severe but her eyes showed pain and depression. James must have really struck a chord on her. "Lily, can you slow down…?" Remus said in between pants.

Lily stopped and turned abruptly, "NO!" she bellowed. Her sudden stop almost made Remus bump into her. Remus stared at her wide-eyed, she collapsed to the ground, sobbing. Remus knelt down beside her and calmed her, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Lily, is there something bothering you…? Besides James that is…"

"No, it's just James… How could he be so bloody stupid?!" Lily raised her hand to her face and wiped a tear from her cheek. "He told me that he loved me… Did you know that?"

Remus blinked, trying to absorb her words, "When did he say this?"

Lily sniffed, "Yesterday… We were studying in the library and were laughing at something—I don't remember what—and then all of a sudden he looks at me with a serious face and tells me that he… Loves me…" Lily's tears stopped falling and just stared at the 'Whomping Willow' swaying in the distance.

Remus stared at her, trying to choose his words carefully as to not start her up on another episode. "Did you say anything back? I mean, you didn't just sit there and stare at him, did you?"

Lily faced Remus, "Of course I didn't just sit there… I said that we should probably just remain friends. After all, it had worked pretty well thus far… Or so I thought…" There was a long pause between the two, Remus wasn't sure whether or not it was a comfortable silence, though. Lily seemed completely relaxed, but he needed to know more.

Remus pulled together the courage to ask her yet another question, "Do you remember how he reacted?" he said slowly. She stared at him, he gave out a small sigh of relief as she turned away and started to speak again.

"He just stood there, emotionless. I suppose he was upset… But what I don't get is that he's been chasing after me since fifth year and yet this time, when he asked me, he seemed to be more let down than the all other times."

"Lily, do you have feelings for him?" Lily glared at her friend, there was no doubt about it… She loathed James Potter and everyone knew it, it was practically common knowledge. "I know that you hate him… But don't you think that there might be something underneath your very public hatred of him?"

Lily thought about it, making a mental list of all James Potter's pros and cons: He was obviously really full of himself—always messing up his hair. But then again, at times he could be really caring and nice—when he wasn't with his friends. He was pretty funny, some of the pranks he'd cooked up were hilarious. He was all around a bully when it came to Snape, but it wasn't as if Snape was the most innocent person in the world.

She started to wonder why she kept defending him on some of the things that he has done and she really started to wonder, did she have feelings for him?

James roamed through the corridors, students of all years and houses roamed about care-free—if only James felt that way. He hung his head low as a girl he barely knew let out a girlish 'hello James' and he only wished if Lily was like that around him. Then again, it would just ruin the whole idea of actually liking her. All the other girls were just another pretty face—with a not-so-bad-looking-body—but Lily was different, she was smart and she didn't like material things. She was the type of girl that would fall for the under-dog, not the hot or exceedingly successful one but as he considered her high IQ level he supposed that she wouldn't date a complete idiot either.

He ran his fingers through his black hair, rumpling a flat area. He stared out the castle window and saw two figures sitting on the stone floor of the courtyard, they looked so close… He then noticed the flaming red hair and the pang of black so close to it. It couldn't be Sirius… He would never betray me like that… He then noticed the brown leather book bag and pale skin. It's Lupin!

He stared for a few moments unaware of what was happening, it was as if his feet had melted into the floor he was standing on. Everything but the couple turned into a blur. When he finally regained his senses, he made a mad dash to the then-crowded courtyard.

Lily looked up to face Remus, she noticed how close they were. Their noses were barely an inch apart, she looked into his grey eyes and he stared back into her green ones. Their moment was interrupted when Remus was pulled abruptly away from her. She stood up quickly, she lost her balance for her few seconds as she was momentarily dizzy from her head-rush.

When it cleared, she saw the distinct figure of James Potter holding Remus by the back of his sweater. James flung Remus to the side and looked at him sternly, resisting the urge to punch him, "What do you two think you're doing?"

Lily's jaw dropped, "What are you talking about, Potter? We weren't doing anything!"

"Well, it looked like something to me, Evans," James narrowed his eyes at her and her to him. He let out a grunt of annoyance, angrily walked to Lily and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her behind him.

"POTTER!" Lily screamed; she started to hit him wildly with her free arm. He refused to let her go until she kicked him in the shins.

"OI!" James let go of Lily and grabbed the leg she kicked, hopping on the other. "What was that for? It hurts!"

"Hurting you was my intention. And 'why?' you ask? Because you wouldn't let me go," Lily said defiantly. James grimaced, trying not to scream with agony and ignore the pain. "I'm not the damsel-in-distress that you think I am… Besides, why'd you do that to Remus? He didn't do anything to you."

"He was way too close to you for comfort…" James then turned to face Remus and said, "Sorry mate…" Remus just gave James an awkward smile.

"Was Sascha way too close for comfort as well?" James looked down at his shoes, he already felt guilty about it. She didn't have to rub it in. "How do you think it makes me feel when I see you kissing another girl after telling me that you love me?" Lily said, her lip trembling. The crowd that surrounded them erupted into an array of whispers.

"I know… I feel really bad about that and I'm sorry for doing that to you. But it's not like you like me or anything—why would you even care whether or not I kissed anyone?" James watched as she redirected her gaze, seemingly concentrating on the fountain. "You said that we should just be friends… And I tried the whole 'friend' thing with you and I couldn't stand being near you and knowing that I could never have you—"

"But it doesn't mean that I don't care about you… Why can't we just be friends? Like we were before? Is that so hard? We were doing so well and, you know, getting along…"

James let out a disbelieving laugh, "You don't get it do you? We can never just be friends."

"And why not?"

"It's too much to bear…" James then walked towards Lily and cupped her face in his hands, pulling her into a kiss. Lily was about to resist when she suddenly found herself bringing her arms up around his neck. She pressed her lips right back against his, causing him to lose balance for a moment in shock.

The crowd around them erupted in a cheer. Lily let out a small giggle, causing James to pull away. He smiled at her, "Do you still hate me? I don't want to give the impression that I'm too full of myself but… Is it just me or doesn't it seem like you want more?"

Lily pulled him into another kiss, trying not to care about the fifty-or-so people that were watching them. For the first time in her life, there was someone there to hold her. And she couldn't believe that that person was James, of all people.

THE END

A/N: Please, please, please review!!!!!!!!!!!