"Potter! POTTER!"
James turned around, raising an eyebrow at the girl who was now fighting her way towards him. Dodging a group of bickering Hufflepuffs, Lily was soon standing in front of the significantly taller boy.
"What's up, Evans?" he asked, running a hand through his hair. Sirius sniggered somewhere behind him. James elbowed him in the ribs.
"Can I talk to you?" Lily asked, crossing her arms and looking so determined that James was slightly scared. Lily rolled her eyes in Sirius's direction. "Alone?"
She smiled at Remus, who gave her and James a curious look before grabbing his friend's arm.
"Yeah, we have to get to Charms, don't we, Sirius?"
"But we don't have Cha— Ow, Moony!"
Lily watched them go, her look of steely determination returned as she looked at James. There was a moment of silence, and then—
"Come on, Potter," she said impatiently, dragging him into an empty classroom. James blinked as Lily shoved him down onto a desk and began pacing around the room.
"Uh, what exactly—"
"Okay, I've noticed in the last six months or so," Lily began, staring resolutely at a spot just over James's head, "that I, uh, started to like you. And I thought it was nothing, and that it would go away, but uh, apparently not. And that's kinda bad because we're leaving Hogwarts in a few months and I'm probably never going to see you again and—"
"Lily, what—"
"And," she ploughed on, "well, I guess my point is hi I'm Lily Evans and I actually like you." Lily closed her mouth, almost blue in the face from not taking a breath during her speech.
James appeared to be having some trouble breathing, too. Containing himself, he blinked twice, meeting Lily's eyes for the first time since they entered the room.
"Lily, if this is a joke…"
"No. It's not. I swear. I like you. A lot. And not in a 'just friends' way, either."
James swallowed, weighing up the chances of it being a windup in his head.
Lily would probably find messing with his mind this much hilarious. Windup.
Lily wasn't this good of an actor, and definitely not this good at hiding her 'intense dislike' of him. Not a windup?
Lily could have pretty much any guy in the school, why bother with him? Windup.
Lily has been acting weirdly around him lately. Not a windup?
Lily—
"Uh, Potter? I kinda just put myself out there and you're getting distracted by your inner monologue."
"Sorry, it's just…I don't believe you." James laughed nervously.
"Jesus, Potter, are you emotionally retarded?"
The boy was silent for a moment, before standing up and moving cautiously towards Lily.
On the other side of the closed door, Sirius stepped away from the keyhole, grinning as he checked how much of Zonko's mildest love potion was left in the vial.
"You shouldn't have done that," Remus said, laughing slightly.
"Moony, my boy," Sirius said, slinging an arm around the brunette's shoulders. "Didn't I tell you all they needed was a little bit of help?"