"You guys dance circles around each other."

That's what she said to me. That's the only thing she said. Waltzes right through the door just to tell me that we dance circles around each other.

She's wrong. I don't dance circles around anybody.

It's a figure of expression, I know. To dance circles around each other. I know it means we go back and forth and don't get anywhere in our arguments. But we don't. I get somewhere in our arguments. I prove him wrong each time he argues with me. I come out victorious at the end.

So dancing circles? No. Dancing in general? Absolutely not.

Because I don't dance. Especially not with freaks like him.

End of story.

I don't know how it happened but one day we ended up in the common room, alone one night. It was quiet. Key term being was.

"So, Evans, working on Transfiguration there?" I immediately looked up from my parchment to see James Potter staring at me, inches away from my face. I took a glance around the common room and noticed that there was no one else here.

I was stuck with him.

I frowned. "Potter, yes, I'm working. I need to finish..." I told him simply, hoping with every fiber in my being that he wouldn't start asking me that question he knows he'll only get a 'no' in reply.

There was a pause. I scribbled quickly, ignoring Potter who sat on the arm of the couch, just balancing there, fulfilling his goal of invading my personal space.

"So, Evans, what are you doing next week?"

And there it was. Everyone says it's me that instigates our arguments. That, right there, is the sole reason why the arguments start. That, and the fact that James Potter exists.

I looked up, anger flashing in my eyes. He didn't even falter. "Potter, I don't want to go out with you." And he just balanced there, no expression on his face.

His remark cut through the silence once again. "The last time we argued Ellyn said we danced circles around each other." He said this with a grin I didn't understand.

"So? It's a figure of speech," I explained to him and started rambling about how it means we argue and that we don't get anywhere but I actually do because I win.

And he took it all in, with that same grin on his face.

After minutes of explaining it to him, I grew physically and mentally tired, and put my stuff together and slowly got up off the couch. Potter watched as I did this. I could feel his eyes on me. Why was he staring at me like that? Maybe he really is a stalker.

I started to walk away and first felt it.

A tug.

I looked around me quickly, to try not to look so suspicious. Nothing was touching me. I must have been imagining things.

I took another step and almost toppled over. "What the-" I trailed off once I realized Potter was still in the room and probably looking at me like I was crazy. I wheeled around to face him to find a small smirk on his face. I felt like slapping the smirk off of his face.

But I didn't want to take a step toward him and accidentally fall into him or something equally as embarrassing.

"Potter...umm..." How was I to say this without sounding crazy? "I'm stuck." Good job, Lily. That didn't sound stupid at all.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Stuck?" he questioned; the one word hanging in the air and making me realize how crazy this whole situation was.

"I can't move," I elaborated a little, moving my foot forward a couple inches, feeling the invisible force holding me back.

"Really?" He still had that inquisitive stupid look on his face. He said that with too much knowledge.

"What did you do?" I almost yelled at him, flailing my arms about.

"What makes you think I did anything?" he asked, tilting his head at me.

I seriously wanted to smack him. "Because you're sitting there with that look on your face and you act as if you knew this was going to happen!" I said loudly.

Potter shrugged. "I didn't say I didn't know about it. I only said I didn't do anything." That smirk was back.

I tried jumping up and down. I didn't get anywhere. I scowled. "Care to share with me your knowledge?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"You were there," Potter said simply.

"Oh, really? When, might I ask?" I was getting extremely frustrated. All I wanted to do was get away from Potter as fast as I could.

"This morning. Ellyn told us we dance circles around each other."

I almost shouted that we already went through this. "Potter, that's a figure of speech! And what does that have to do with the reason why I'm stuck here?" I was almost in hysterics.

Potter leaned back on the couch, watching me with a grin. "I think she meant it literally."

My eyes widened. "...What do you mean?" I asked, afraid of the answer.

"You won't be able to move from that spot...unless you dance with me. Maybe in circles, if she took it that seriously."

I lapsed into silence, staring at the floor in shock. No way. No way. Not happening. What could I do? Not dance with him.

I felt something move and looked up to see Potter move from the couch to a standing position in front of me. "So, do you want to dance?"

I opened my mouth to give him my universal answer, but he cut me off.

"Oh, and you really have only one answer to that. Because you can't move anyway."

He had me. He had me and he knew it.

Wait. What did Ellyn do to me?

"I heard Ellyn talking about a spell she found where a figurative thing is forced to be taken literally." I think he was reading my mind. Stalker.

"Ellyn, I'm going to kill you..." I muttered underneath my breath, frowning.

"Take my hand." I focused on Potter in front of me, holding out his hand. I stared at his hand, but didn't take it.

"There's no music," I replied, trying everything to get out of this.

Potter looked thoughtful for a second. "Maybe. Take my hand." And he repeated it.

"I don't feel like dancing," I tried again.

"Evans, just take my hand," Potter said, toning down his voice to a whisper.

I sighed, closing my eyes as if I was about to experience the pain of my life. But I was. Dancing with Potter. This has to be some all-time low. I reached for his hand and felt his fingers slowly enclose over mine. His hands were warm.

Just as he grabbed my hand, I heard a tango melody out of nowhere.

Dancing in circles. Thanks Ellyn. Nothing like dancing in circles without the tango music to argue to. Thanks a lot.

Potter grinned at the song choice and spun me out of nowhere. Even though it was Potter that was spinning me, I felt relieved that my feet finally moved from that awful place on the floor.

I landed from the spin right next to Potter's body. Too close. I was almost right on him. My heartbeat sped up from the uncomfortable closeness, and I realized I had been holding my breath. I breathed in deep, realizing that Potter wasn't going to let me go any time soon.

He was literally two inches from me. I only came up to below his chin, so at least his face wasn't two inches from me. But everything else was.

He was breathing heavily too. I could tell by his heartbeat and the way his chest rose and fell.

In the middle of my thoughts, I was pulled away from him once again by a spin, as he extended our hands, and dove me into me into a dip. It was all happening too quick. I couldn't keep up with him.

I don't dance. I don't dance. I don't dance. I told myself over and over again.

'Was I really dancing with Potter?' happened to be the other question.

"Follow my lead," he whispered too close to my ear. I tilted my head to look up at him.

"Stop going so fast then," I almost snapped at him, also in a whisper.

Potter sighed, leading me to one side and back again, in a quick dance. "Why is it that we're dancing and yet, we're still arguing?" he asked; that same inquisitive look on his face that infuriated me so.

"Dancing in circles is arguing. It's the same," I reasoned with him.

His fingers slid over mine, holding my hand tighter. I looked quickly over at my hand and then back at him.

And he laughed. Actually laughed at me. "We're dancing and you're calling it arguing..."

I scowled again, but he didn't have time to see it as I was pulled into another quick spin that ended in a dip that made me feel sick. Potter pulled me up quick, up against him. He was leaning down and I actually caught his gaze.

His eyes startled me. They were still their same hazel color but darkened somehow. He wasn't laughing anymore. He looked almost serious; passionate even.

I stared back as he stared at me.

Was he going to...?

There was a definite pause in the dip, and I didn't do anything. I didn't want to do anything. I just waited. Waited. He would-he'd have to-he'd always wanted to-

Suddenly, James pulled me up, spinning me away from him, a new emotion in his eyes. It wasn't like anything I saw before. Darker. More serious. More...confused?

I panted heavily, feeling like weights rested on my lungs. I couldn't breathe. This wasn't happening.

He still held my hand. I still felt his fingers clasped over mine.

I wanted to do something spontaneous. This was it. But I didn't know if he wanted to anymore.

"You confuse me, Evans," James whispered, panting slightly.

I raised my eyebrow. "Why?"

"The way you act sometimes," James said, too simply.

I grabbed my hand away from him that he was holding before and stepped back. "What's wrong with that?" I asked, offended. In the middle of dancing, he decided he wanted to argue again.

"I don't know. It's just...you do." He looked lost. And he was ticking me off.

"God, Potter, you're so frustrating," I almost screamed at him, and I watched as his eyes widened a bit, "You never make any sense and you just confuse the hell out of me and I don't get it. I really don't!" He just stared and I continued to ramble. "It makes no sense, Potter. None. What was this all in the first place? Another scheme to get me to like you? Just because I dance with you for two minutes? That's lame, it really is." There was a frown on his face. Was I hurting his feelings? However, I was too into my speech to care. "You make me sick, Potter. I'm just going to go up to my dormitory now. You got the dance you wanted. I hope you keep that in your memory forever, because it's the only thing you'll ever-"

Out of nowhere, he grabbed me by my shoulders and spun me around against the wall, catching my lips in a heated kiss.

His lips were warm, soft. He had me against the wall so I wouldn't run.

But I wasn't thinking of running.

Instead, I pulled him against me, kissing back with the same heat. My hands were free, so I ran them up through his hair, feeling the softness through my fingers. The humidity around us was unbearable. I found myself struggling to take breaths.

He tasted sweet. He moved with me like a professional. He knew what he was doing. And I was following no matter what.

I heard a groan, as he opened the kiss more, making me shiver with every move.

His hands were sliding down my arms, leaving me with goosebumps and tingles. He moved his hands to my waist, resting there, until he pulled me up onto him, grabbing me to hold on.

From this point, I was taller than him, and I had control. I kissed him hard, as he backed up, twirling me around and landing me on the couch.

He broke the kiss for a second, to climb on top of me, careful not to crush me. He hesitated as I watched him above me, looking down with those darkened eyes.

I stared back at him, eyes traveling down to his tie that hung loosely from his neck. I wrapped my hand around the red and gold fabric and yanked hard, bringing him down on me.

And we kissed.