He knew she was coming long before he could see her. James Potter had a sort of sixth sense when it came to Lily Evans' whereabouts. After spending days on end watching her on The Map, James had become thorough with her schedule and was always counted on to bump into her at 9:17 outside the library. But this week was going to be different. They had quarreled over some idiotic thing James misheard Lily say and they currently were not talking to one another. There was certainly tension between the two before but at the moment almost none of it was sexual. Much to James's dismay.
James pressed against the convenient hiding location and Sirius followed suit as footsteps began to ascend the hallway. They were light-footed like a girl, but were made to sound heavier with being bogged down by books. The pair could tell it was Lily without any hesitation. Who else would trot down the hall while carrying ten pounds of books? No one other than the haughty Miss Evans. It only took another thirty seconds before she came into view. Her hair was swept about in every which way and her clothes were rumpled from being sat on for hours. She looked like a complete wreck and it only made James want to reach out to her more.
"There's the girl," Sirius chimed as the red-headed mess that James has been seeking for six years walked by the two. Sirius nudged him in the ribs and asked with a sly smile, "Can you say that you don't want her anymore?"
James gulped. How could he answer that? They were mad at each other (truthfully 85% of it Lily; he digresses) and avoiding each other like the plague. Spying on her wasn't quite the same and James was positive he saw her eying him across the common room two weeks ago. This was their third month of going without speaking and potions was beginning to get awkward.
"No," James answered quietly as the last curly strand of hair flew out of sight. It seemed no matter what he did, she always found a way to creep back in his mind. The vixen once captured his imagination during a Quidditch match and they ended up losing to Hufflepuff. Pitiful.
"Then why do you torture yourself, Prongs? You can't just sit around for her anymore. The term is almost over and we only have a few months left. Don't throw whatever tragic love affair you guys have because of something she said," Sirius addressed his best friend with concern. No jokes, no tinkle of laughter in his voice. Nothing to suggest anything but his seriousness.
"You heard what she said about our nicknames. She called us nancies! Implicating that I put my 'Prongs' into Remus's 'Moonie' … How vial!" James pouted. He didn't like the fact that Lily had accused him of being gay. If anyone was gay, it would be her friend Snivelous. It was rumored that he has been kissing up to certain dark wizards' arses recently.
"She was just pulling your leg. The girl just wanted to get a rise out of you," Sirius argued, standing up for the long gone girl. He analyzed James's red face and tight lips and chuckled to himself. "Looks like it still does."
James shot him a glare. He obviously was not in the mood to deal with this. Sirius almost always took his side and it felt like a slight betrayal when he didn't.
"If you think she's so funny, why don't you tell her how perfect she is then shove your tongue down her throat?" James accused quickly, getting defensive of his degrading pride.
"Sorry Prongs, but Lily isn't quite my type," Sirius replied, clapping a supportive hand on to his shoulder.
"What? She has two legs, doesn't she?" James raised an eyebrow, challenging his playboy status. Sirius was quite a catch and had been caught sliding down the girl's staircase on more than one occasion.
"Yeah, but she's blindingly in love with someone else and that's such a turn off," Sirius reasoned, the corner's of his mouth pulling up into a teasing grin.
James shot a look at him. He had believed for years that she was the only one for him. She was enchanting with her wild curls that always smelled like something pretty and her quick, bouncing steps. Not to mention, her vast array of knowledge was refreshing as well as intoxicating – he could listen to her talk about herbology any day of the week. That alone was a talent.
"Come on, mate. Even Slughorn could see the chemistry between you two and we all know how dense he is," Sirius emphasized with a roll of his eyes before continuing in a sympathetic tone, "You can't let her slip through your fingers again."
James swallowed hard. He knew he was right and honestly intended on fixing it much later in the future after his pride had time to recover, say ten years or so. Now that he had his course of action shrunk back on time considerably, a reevaluation was in order. Just how was he going to get Lily back into his arms for the first time?
Without any consideration or thought, James's questions were answered by a swift shove from Padfoot, leaving him to go flying into the corridor and right into the path of the red-headed girl that consumed his thoughts. Her surprised squeak echoed off of the stone walls longer than the initial reaction. She closed her mouth and lowered her glare to the floor, muttering about how ruddy perfect it was for him to show up.
James stood silently in place for a moment, weighing his options. He could either run back to his bed and hide forever under his covers or confront the human volcano that is Lily Evans. Right about now, his bedsheets were sounding pretty good.
"Did you need something, Potter or do you just hurl yourself out of dark corners all the time?" Lily asked haughtily, uninterested in whatever answer she was sure to get.
"If you must know, I just got done having a very serious conversation with Sirius."
"In a suspiciously dark corner?" Lily added with a quirk of her eyebrows.
"Yes..." James replied, his confidence faltering the more he realized how dumb he sounded. She was probably thinking of ways to incorporate the nickname Padfoot into some fruity euphemism.
Luckily for James, Lily seemed to let the opportunity slide and merely shrugged off his queer behavior. She honestly didn't quite know what to make of him since their fight. She thought he knew how to take a joke, but it turns out that he couldn't. What else could she have gotten wrong about him? Her image of him had finally started to change as she grew more infuriated by the ache he gave her stomach rather than her head with his velvety voice and disheveled hair. His once pratty existence had actually started to grow on her, but now... she had no idea what to make of the man standing before her.
"Well, if that's all – I have to get back to the dorm," Lily said casually, moving to go around him.
She thought she was in the clear when she side stepped him to the right, a feeling of relief washed over her. It was quickly replaced with a sensation of surprise and terror when she felt his hand wrap firmly around her forearms. Lily could feel her heart beat erratically as she anticipated his next move.
"I'm sorry," James spoke, looking away from her.
Lily's gaze immediately snapped to James's face, searching every inch of his features for some confirmation of the truth. She was not about to be fooled by him again - not with so much at stake.
"I'm sorry," he spoke firmly again to the space away from her. He quickly rotated his head so that their eyes connected. His intense gaze took her by surprise, causing her eyes to swell at the sudden change in atmosphere. What had been an awkward encounter moments before could now be set in flames by the slightest amount of friction. It was Lily's turn to gulp as the moistness seemed to evaporate from her throat.
"I shouldn't have been so hard on you about what you said. It's just that," he took a moment to make an effective, dramatic pause, "I don't want you to think of me being with anyone but you."
His charm was clear from the effect his words had over her. A startled yet knowledgeable look transcended her face as his words fully sunk in. For one thing, he was actually apologizing as well admitting that he had interest in nobody but her, and he wanted her to feel the same.
James took the wide eyes and lips parted in slight astonishment as his cue to finally make his move. So, he bent towards her face, his hand still covering her arm, and closed his eyes right before pressing his lips against hers. Fireworks the color of her eyes erupted in the darkness behind his eyelids. Her soft lips and gentle puckering had him reeling on the inside. He had no idea someone could make him feel this way, but then again he knew it had always been Lily for a reason.
Her books clattered to their feet as she moved her arms to swarm his neck, pulling him closer to her. She slid her tongue playfully along his lower lip as he placed his hands firmly on her hips. He accepted her tongue readily as it moved to where his rest. The two were completely wrapped in each other and only noticed Sirius once they had pulled away to take a breath of air. Resting against a nearby wall, he began to clap slowly as the couple parted, speeding up once they took notice of him.
As his echoes grew so did their embarrassment. Realizing how scandalous their situation appeared, Lily uncoiled her arms and immediately sank to the floor to pick up her fallen books. Once she had them all gathered, she gave James a nod before scurrying down the hallway. He watched after her appreciatively before turning his stern gaze to the ever smug Padfoot. He gave a few more claps, each with more space between the last before all together stopping.
The smug grin widened as the said, "I'm glad you two got a good snog in. It was getting unbearable watching you two mope about... She's good for you, Prongs."
James went over and slung an arm around Sirius with a large smile on his face before heading after Lily.
"I know."