Summary: Lily Evans, sixth year at the esteemed school of Hogwarts, has finally fallen to the charms of the one and only James Potter, but it looks like James had given up on the fiery redhead, or had he? One-shot.
"Lily, are you okay?" Lily and Alice were sitting by the Great Lake, watching a couple of second years tickling the Giant Squid. Lily looked distracted, she had been staring at a far corner of the lake for the past ten minutes, and she's dripping ink onto her already half written essay, covering much of the writing.
"Lily?"
"Hum? Yeah?" Lily looked like she was in a trance, her eyes had the far away look of someone deep in thought. Alice followed her line of sight, Lily had been staring at the Marauders, who were sitting under the tree. Potter was laughing, his head thrown back, Black laughed along side with him, his long limbs splayed out. Lupin was giggling with mirth, his quill scribbling away at the same time, while Pettigrew stared at a group of girls from across the lake.
"Lily? Lily!" Alice shouted and waved a hand over Lily's face, Lily started and finally turned to look at her guiltily.
"Yeah?"
"Lily, if I catch you staring at Potter one more time…" Alice teased, her kind round face sporting a mischievous grin as she watched Lily turn pink,
"I was not staring at Potter!" She said indignantly, playing with her hair, Alice raised an eyebrow, but did not say anything, they both knew she was lying, "I was not staring at Potter." She mumbled under her breath as she returned to her essay.
Ten minutes later, Alice felt her best friend tense beside her, she looked up to see the Marauders, lead by James, walking their way. Lily was determinedly staring at her parchment, even though she had obviously seen the boys approaching. Alice looked up at them, she could practically feel the nervous energy from Lily intensify as the boys drew closer. However, the boys passed them without a hitch, continuing on to the castle, Lily let out a sound somewhere between a hiccup and a gasp when the boys finally passed, her face was as red as her hair, and she was staring holes into the flimsy piece of parchment.
Alice lifted a tentative hand and touched Lily's shoulder, she jumped and then looked at her, for the second time, guiltily.
"They're gone, Lily." Alice said, scrutinising her best friend, "Is there something you want to tell me?"
"No!" Lily answered, much too quickly, Alice again raised her eyebrow, but she continued to stay silent. There's definitely something going on.
"Hey Prongs." Sirius said, slinging an arm over James' shoulders, "Did you see Evans there staring at you?"
"What? No." James looked thoroughly confused, "Why would she be staring at me? Are you sure she's not glaring?"
"Nope, it's staring alright." Sirius said, a mischievous glint on his face, "And I might even go as far as say that it's more like ogling."
"Ogling? Why would she be ogling at me?"
"Oh, I don't know, Prongs. Maybe all your efforts had finally paid off."
"Yeah, right."
"No, seriously, ask Moony." Sirius said, and turned around, facing Remus and walking backwards, "Was she staring at Prongs?"
"Yes she was, Prongs." Remus said, smirking.
James' face was heating up, and he was obviously trying to act nonchalant, but he stayed silent. Sirius and Remus watched the silent teenager, sighing mentally, James had really changed a lot this year, his head shrank, and he's much more polite and rules-abiding. Now everything is up to Lily, to make James a happy man.
Alice looked at Lily, concern colouring her face, Lily, once again, seemed terribly distracted. She was picking at her food, rolling her roasted potatoes around on the plate.
"Lily, is something wrong?"
"Huh? Oh, nothing."
"You haven't eaten anything."
"It's nothing."
"Lily…"
"I'm fine, Alice."
The two girls looked up when they saw a shadow fall over them, and the sight that greeted them was the one and only James Potter, who looked vaguely uncomfortable to be standing across the table from the two girls. He was blushing slightly, and he started to run a hand in his hair, a nervous habit that drove many witches wild.
"Um… Evans. Remus said that you guys have a meeting tonight at seven, and he said to meet you at the patrol spot."
Lily nodded, not meeting his eyes, and Alice watched as Lily resumed staring at her plate while James walked away.
"He used to call me Lily…" Lily mumbled,
"What was that, Lily?" Alice asked innocently, although she heard quite clearly what she said.
"Nothing,"
Alice narrowed her eyes, but again stayed quiet.
Lily was in a slightly better mood when she set off to the patrol spot from the common room with exactly ten minutes to spare. She smiled at a group of first years walking past her, and she tossed her hair back as she climbed the stairs. Her mind drifted over to a certain boy with messy hair and heavy glasses, she stayed in the daydream for a while before snapping out of it.
"Potter is a git. Potter is a git." She repeated to herself under her breath, reminding herself, again and again, that Potter is indeed a git. A git that had turned nice in the previous year. A git that had stopped running his hand through his hair. A git that had stopped bullying other students. A git that looked exceptionally fine in a quidditch uniform… Lily shook her head. She rounded a corner, and reminded herself that Potter had called her Evans earlier that day, and that must mean he had finally given up on her. She was definitely glad that Potter had stopped pestering her. Yes, she was definitely glad and not a bit regretful.
She rounded a corner and saw Remus, but he was with the other Marauders as well. Both him and Sirius had a glint in their eyes, and anyone of sane mind would've ran the other way when they saw their expression, but alas, Lily, at the moment, cannot exactly be called sane,
"Remus! What's with the emergency meeting?" She asked, ignoring the other boys.
"I'm really sorry, Lily." He said, looking not a bit guilty, "But this is for your own good, and please don't kill me when you get out."
"Get out? Get out from where?" Lily asked, bewildered, and with that, she felt hands behind her back, and she was unceremoniously shoved into a broom closet, she smashed into James, and then fell on the floor.
"Ouch." Lily winced.
"Evans, here." James said, and reached down a hand, and then immediately regretting the choice of reaching out his hand, for, if past experiences say anything at all, Lily would smack his hand away and stand up on her own.
"Thanks." But to James' immense surprise and relief, Lily took his hand and stood up, she stood there, facing James and staring into his eyes, the two of them retained eye contact, as if under a spell, until the sound of a door being shut can be hear behind Lily.
She whirled around, took one look at the locked door, and sighed.
"Evans, I'm really sorry, but I really didn't know they were going to do this…" James started, but trailed off, "I am so going to kill them when I get out of here."
Lily faced him again, a peculiar expression on her face.
"Evans, are you ok?" James asked, slightly panicked and mostly confused. Lily's face suddenly morphed into one of anger, and in a flash surged forward and grabbed onto the lapels of James' robes.
"Don't. Call. Me. Evans." She said, through clenched teeth.
"Uhhhhh, okay, Lily." James said, his eyes wide and staring at the redhead, "Um… Lily. Lils, Lily."
The two of them stared into each other's eyes, and then Lily leaned in and placed her lips gently on James'. James, of course, was in shock, his eyes widened, and he sputtered, but Lily did not remove her lips, she only continued to kiss him as he slowly recovered from the shock, James smiled through the kiss, and then enthusiastically kissed her back. Lily retaining her death grip on the lapel of James' robes while James ran his hands across Lily's back. After a moment, they separated for breath, both panting slightly.
"I guess we should tell Sirius and Remus that their plan worked, right?" James asked breathily.
"I think they can wait awhile." Lily replied, and they leaned in to resume their kiss, both smiling, and in turn giggling when their teeth bumped against each other.