A/N
House: Ravenclaw
Category: Short Story
Prompt: Patented Daydream Charm
Word Count: 2080

Lily Evans was not the kind of girl to let herself get hung up on a boy. Sure, she'd had crushes before; those fleeting butterflies fluttering up her throat from her stomach when their eyes met, the exhilaration coursing through her veins because of a possibly-not-accidental touch exchanged, the flushed cheeks when a compliment was handed out. She'd had her fair share of crushes and then she'd witness some discrepancy in their character - a heinous stain against an otherwise unblemished personality - and those feelings would dissipate.

She'd never had her world twisted and turned, never had the opportunity to see it from a different perspective before, until the middle of her sixth year at Hogwarts. She'd been sitting in the common room, on the couch nearest to the fireplace, books sprawled on the cushions when she heard a voice behind her.

"Do you ever do anything besides study?" She'd known the voice without turning to see the face - she'd heard it harassing herself and others plenty of times. She didn't respond to James Potter, instead shifting forward and readjusting the quill in her hand. Although she'd never admit it to him directly, she despised him far less this year than she had any year prior. He'd toned his entire personality down. There were far fewer grievances between him and others and he wasn't always making an ass out of himself to impress everyone anymore, either. Even though he still goofed around most of the time, he was far less disagreeable now. He even seemed helpful most of the time, which was one of the biggest shocks for Lily.

"C'mon Evans, I know you don't like me but can't we at least have some friendly banter?"

Lily turned around then, narrowing her eyes. James had a lazy grin on his face, something she'd seen many times before. "I'm sorry, I had no idea I was obligated to hold a conversation with you." She turned back towards the assignment she was working on.

"I'm just saying, if you always have your nose in a book you're going to end up missing out on some of the best years of your life." Lily's head snapped around again, her eyes glaring daggers. James held his hands up to placate an argument and started to walk away. Once he reached the entrance to the common room he shoved his hands in his pockets and left through the portrait hole.

Lily watched him leave, thinking privately to herself that she would never admit to him that he was correct. She sat by herself a while longer, eyes barely able to focus on anything in front of her. She'd spent so much time, dedicated so much energy to furthering her studies and herself, that even she knew she was missing out on opportunities to leave a lasting impact on those around her. Despite it all she'd foolishly believed that if she ignored it, everyone else would as well.

She shook her head firmly, pushing the entire topic away from her brain, and tried to finish the sentence she was writing before gathering her things and wandering to the Great Hall, where she sat with her roommates for the first time in years.

Against her better nature, Lily had started paying more attention to James after that. Her eyes would find him on their own and she'd watch his actions until he'd left the room. She told herself, and those who caught her, that she was only making sure that he wasn't bullying someone else again, but deep down she knew the interest came from somewhere else.

She'd watch him when he sat by the Great Lake with Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Watch as they joked around and then grinned as if whatever had been said would remain as one of the most important conversations between them for the rest of their lives. Lily hadn't known exactly what kind of a person he was, she'd known him to be a pompous and self-righteous jerk who'd held his fragile popularity over everyone else. But as she observed, she realized how much she'd missed over the course of five and a half years. He would offer to help their classmates, whether it was with some arduous task that they couldn't use magic for, or if it was with a particularly difficult spell. He'd become reliable when she wasn't paying attention.

Despite her halfhearted efforts though, it seemed that Lily hadn't been as sneaky as she'd thought she had been. During Charms class one day, Dorothy McLaggen, who'd unfortunately ended up being Lily's partner, threw a knowing look at her after Lily blinked angrily. She'd been staring at James, again, trying to figure out what it was about his face that made her heart beat faster.

"What?" She hoped she'd made herself sound aloof.

"I've seen the way you've been looking at him." Dorothy had such a smug smile on her face. Lily glared at her defiantly.

"Who? I don't look at anyone, in any way."

Dorothy rolled her eyes, standing up and pushing her chair out of the way. Lily followed suit, she smiled in mock-confusion. "James Potter."

"In the flesh," a voice announced behind Lily. She jumped, twisting her head around. When had he gotten there? James raised an eyebrow when he caught her eyes, equal parts concerned and confused, "You alright there, Evans? Your face is flushed."

Lily turned back around, fixing a glare at Dorothy. "I'm just fine," she said, her voice flat. Dorothy smirked right back at her, shaking her head, "Sod off, McLaggen," she added through gritted teeth.

They were practicing a new Charm that could be used on the defense. The interesting thing about it was that it could be used to debilitate an opponent by attacking their mind without actually causing any damage. It was called the Patented Daydream Charm. Patented because, although there were a lot of charms like it, this was the only one Ministry approved to be taught as a defensive spell.

A few giggles rang around the classroom when their professor announced this, to which they were quickly quieted and told to practice on their partners. Lily faced Dorothy again and they eyed each other wearily. As excited as Lily was to learn a new spell, she wasn't particularly fond of the idea of getting lost in some silly daydream.

Dorothy said the spell a few times out loud before actually attempting to cast it, making sure she got the pronunciation correct. When she finally said it, it hit Lily like a slap. She felt the magic zip straight towards her brain and the room started to grow dimmer and dimmer, until it felt as if she was falling.

Lily opened her eyes slowly, blinking the sleep out of them. The ceiling above her was unfamiliar, a fan spun lazily. There was a large window to her left with no curtains over it, only a messed up set of blinds. It was open and letting in a cool breeze. She blinked again, stretching her legs and arms slowly. The sheets she was under were thin, barely providing enough warmth to even warrant their use. The mattress underneath her was stiff, as if it was new.

She felt the bed next to her shift, felt someone scoot closer to her. She turned her head slowly to the right and was not surprised to see James Potter's sleeping face on the pillow next to her. His eyes were still closed, the lids fluttering over them as if the dream he was having was bad. She watched him sleep, feeling a strange warmth in her chest as she took stock of all of the little details on his face. The mole above his lip and the one beside his brow, the shadow of his eyelashes against his cheeks, the cut of his jaw, the shade of his skin. Without meaning to, she brought a hand up to push a loose strand of hair away from his forehead.

His eyes flashed open, shock quickly being replaced with hardly concealed adoration. A sleepy smile spread across his face before he blinked his eyes closed again. "Good morning." His words were thick with sleep. She found it extremely endearing.

"Morning." Her voice hardly sounded like her own, she was surprised she'd even been able to respond. James reached up towards his face and grabbed her hand, pulling it close to his mouth. He left it there for a moment, his lips brushing against it gently until his breathing slowed down.

When he opened his eyes again, his smile only widened, "That's something I won't get tired of."

"What is?"

"Your face being the first thing I see every morning, love."

Lily felt her face go hot. She smiled, closing her own eyes again. "Yeah," she said, "I don't think waking up to yours would be too bad either." James wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her nearer to him.

The next time she woke up, she was alone. The window was no longer open, but the chill had not left. She felt something heavy resting against her body, locking in what heat it could. Sitting up, she realized it was a quilt. Something about the domesticity of James leaving a quilt on her while she slept to keep her warm made Lily's heart race. She kicked her legs around.

Although her feet were bare, the cool wooden flooring beneath her felt nice against them. She dropped the blanket back onto the bed, wrapping her arms around herself as she looked at the room again. It really wasn't a particularly large room, there was just enough space for a bed and a wardrobe, it was wonderful. She walked to the wardrobe, it's wood a dark contrast against the paleness of everything else. Next to it there was a series of photographs, a few of them the magical kind that she'd grown accustomed to seeing in the homes of wizard's; four separate frames.

In the first was a picture of her smiling with her parents. They looked so proud of her, their eyes sparkling. The next photo was similar, except with James and his parents. His father's hand was resting on his shoulder, his mother's head on the other. The third photo was a simple portrait of James and Lily together, smiling at each other, wrapped in their own little world. In this one, they moved. James wrapped his arms around Lily's waist, spinning her around slightly. She saw her own face warp from pure adoration to utter amusement. A huge grin split across James' face. The last one was also magicked, it was a picture of Lily and James standing next to each other in wedding garb. They were staring at each other with love, tears gleaming down both of their faces.

Lily looked down at her left hand, noticing the small band around her finger. Underneath it was another ring with a sparkling sapphire colored stone next to a pearl. She turned around when she heard shuffling in the door behind her.

"Tea?" James was leaning against the frame, one leg crossed over the other, a steaming mug between his hands. Lily looked at him a moment, taking in his socked feet and the flannel pajama bottoms covering his legs.

"I'll take some of yours," she said, stepping towards him. He extended his cup towards her, raising an eyebrow. The tea had no cream or sugar, Lily gagged. "Nasty."

James laughed, taking the mug back, "No one says you had to drink it." As Lily watched him, "You alright, Evans?"

Lily blinked at him, "What?"

Dorothy had her brows raised in concern, "Are you okay?"

Lily stared at her, slowly becoming more aware of her surroundings. She was in Charms class. They were practicing a daydream charm. She'd just had a daydream about James Potter. She turned around, her eyes catching on his messy hair. "Yeah. I'm… I'm great." Her heart was beating erratically, and she thought that maybe she should seriously think about talking to James Potter.