Distracted by shoelacy
Part the First
James is distracted.
He's distracted, and not because outside the sun is shining golden through the leaves and streaming in through the classroom window, through which he can see that the leaves are starting to change colors and that means that the weather is perfect for Quidditch. He's distracted, and not because it's Friday and his last class of the day, and after this he and Remus and Sirius and Peter can sneak out to Hogsmede to get a butterbeer from Rosmerta and celebrate the weekend.
James is distracted because three seats up and two to the left, Lily Evans is biting her lip.
She's biting her lip, and every now and then she flips her auburn hair over her shoulder so she can see as her green eyes dart back and forth across the paper in front of her. She's biting her lip, and every now and then she'll chew on the tip of her quill instead, so a small black spot begins to mar her pink lips.
James feels himself slip into a daydream, and he imagines that he's biting on her lip, and that she's not protesting, and that she's trying to remove her lip from his teeth so she can do the same to his. He imagines that having Lily Evans biting his lip would be a very good thing indeed.
"Mr. Potter!"
He immediately snaps to attention, and later decides that it was a very good thing McGonagall called his name when she did before his daydream went any further.
"Yes, Professor?"
He doesn't recall exactly what it is he was asked or what his response was. He can tell you, however, that he tried very hard afterwards to concentrate on the work in front of him—and failed. After all, who can be expected to concentrate when Lily's biting her lip like that?