LILY MEETS JAMES

"Jesus, whenever you come close I have nothing to say!" He pulled his hair in annoyance.

Lily Evans stared at him with her bright green eyes, curious and nervous. "Really? You've already said more than me." She flung her skirt back down between her legs as another gust of wind came from the lake in front of them.

James could see her breath in the air as she spoke; it made him speechless. Lily rolled her eyes as she tapped her fingers against the longest wand James had ever seen.

"Look, I'm sorry, alright? I don't mean to be horrible or dramatic or whatever you and your friends call me. I'm not trying 'hard-to-get' like all the girls say behind my back. I really don't mean to be like what I am!" She flicked her wand at a pebble in frustration, turning it into a leaf. "That didn't make sense." She squinted and scrunched up her small nose, and he could count every freckle.

James coughed. "No, no it did. But I already knew that! I know you aren't interested… Just forget it. If you were being –what'd you call it?- 'hard-to-get', I wouldn't try so hard to make you like me!" He smiled with his slightly crooked but just as handsome teeth, as if he had cleared everything up.

Lily licked her bright red lips in the cold air, and James shuffled his clumsy feet as she spoke softly: "I do like you, James, so you can stop all your shows in front of me, 'kay? Come on; let's get back to the castle."

Her arm made for his cloak to lead him to the dormitories, but James grabbed her hand before she could reach it.

"Can't we just hang out for a bit? We already walked all this way…" He shrugged and showed a lopsided grin once more. Lily laughed, at him or with him James could not tell. "Let's sit down."

He moved their hands, gesturing towards the smoothed stone beach and the Black Lake that crashed into the stones. "It's almost dark, isn't it?" Lily asked as James nodded, his hazel eyes trying to convince her to stay. "Maybe for a couple of minutes, fine!"

"Good decision, Lily!" he said in his light-hearted voice, tugging on her hand for her to lie down next to him on the rocks. James could barely see in the fog as Lily looked distastefully at the smoothed-over stone ground that was their hammock. "Isn't it great out here? You can't even see the school!"

"Well, I just hope no one goes looking for us!" While James rolled his eyes Lily smiled slightly, relaxing on the ground. "But yes, it is pretty in a slight eerie way…"

"I like it!"

"Oh, but you like everything…"

"It's true."

They laughed. Another wave threw itself at the small beach, but they only felt the mist on their feet.

"But," James hesitantly said as Lily set her hand down, grazing his while buzzes went through their bodies, warming them up, "it's true that you enjoy my company. Right?"

"I do like you, yes James," she exasperatedly laughed. "And you knew that!"

"I thought so too until you met me here and acted so –dunno-… distant!" He turned his head to look at Lily while she finally placed her hand in his.

"I guess I just felt awkward… I don't do these kinds of things, right? I don't go around Hogwarts, meeting guys when I'm all alone, and I guess I just didn't really know how to act." James was having more difficulty making out her face as the fog turned into darkness.

"I don't want you to try and impress me or anything with your witty speeches!" he convinced her as he scooted so that they were touching shoulder to shoulder, leg to leg, with their hands resting in the middle. "I love them, don't get me wrong, but I'm sure they can be tiring! And I like this too! Just talking is great, and we're excellent talkers so don't feel uncomfortable."

They closed their eyes in the shadows, secretly freezing to the bone but not wanting to leave.

"Well, these rocks are pretty sharp." Lily giggled, but James thought it sounded more like a song. He felt Lily's hot breath in the icy air as she whispered, "But I kind of like it."

James snickered gently.

Owls hooted from far away as they became content with the environment.

It was peaceful if they ignored the shivers that passed down their spines as breezes hit them like knives.

Finally they asked each other if either one knew a heating spell; both did not.

"We should really head back then," James said suddenly.

"Yeah, I'd really rather not have us iced over."

"That wouldn't be good."

"Uhhuh, and we don't want anyone to find us, either."

"Right." James nodded, though Lily could not see him.

"Lumos," she whispered and held her lit wand above their heads.

"Right, yeah," he repeated while inching his face closer to hers. "We should really go.

"Alright, yeah let's go." Lily's breath caught in her throat as she sensed his face a millimeter from hers and James' arm snaked its away under her shoulders, pulling her into a sitting position. "Yeah," she croaked.

"Yeah," he whispered back. "Then let's go!" James boomed. Lily jumped, surprised at his change of tone.

James picked her up so that she stood, made sure she had balance as he placed himself so that they could see each other's faces, and then kissed her before she had a chance to respond.

"Oh!" Lily squealed, dropping her wand with shock as the light instantly went out. She kissed him as his hands trailed her back, but stopped suddenly. "Well let's go then!" she chirped.

"Oh yeah, not 'hard-to-get' whatsoever, Lily."

They both made faces at one another but neither one saw it in the moonless night.

She grabbed her wand from between their feet, took hold of his cloaked arm, and led them back to their warm, fire lit home of the Gryffindor common room.