"Hey, James?" Lily asks, breaking their companionable silence. It's snowing outside, and although they can't see the snow the mere fact that it exists fills her with the Christmas spirit. Today will be the day she finally tells James how she feels about him.
She will tell him this time, not like the Hey-Do-You-Want-To-Go-To-Hogs—I-Mean-Have-A-Hog-Eating-Competition debacle where she accidentally committed to a huge competition involving the entire Gryffindor house and so much pork that the mere sight of some now causes her to feel sick to her stomach. It will be different this time, she vows. She was a Gryffindor for a reason, after all.
"Yeah?" He adjusts his glasses. He does that a lot, moving them up and down, left and right, in order to get them in the exact right spot. If Lily Evans were the type to admit such a thing, she would have told him it was endearing and adorable. But if she were that kind of person, they'd be passionately snogging against the brick wall of the corridor, or at the very least she would have brushed her tantalizingly close fingertips against his.
"Okay, so hypothetically," She cringes inwardly, regret filling her immediately. She shouldn't have said anything at all. She shouldn't have chosen such a roundabout route. She should have just stayed in her dorm and ate chocolate and wailed to Alice, her best mate, about how hopeless she was. "Let's say you're single, would you—"
"—Not exactly hypothetical—" he cuts in, completely evaporating the remains of her courage.
"—Prefer hot chocolate with whipped cream or marshmallows?" she finishes lamely.
"What affect would my perpetual single-ness have on the taste of hot chocolate?" James asks, amused.
"Everyone knows hot chocolate tastes better when you're single," She makes this up on the spot, but he seems to take it seriously.
"Well," He checks his watch, "Our rounds are almost over. Hey, Evans, got a boyfriend?"
"You know I don't, you idiot," Lily says with a roll of her eyes. It wasn't as though her lack of a love life was exactly common knowledge, but Alice had been sure he knew of her relationship status at all times whether he wanted to or not ("Oi, James! Did you hear? Lily turned down Diggory at breakfast! In fact, she hasn't gone on a single date since the Davies Incident in sixth year. Why, that was when you both became good mates, wasn't it? How odd that when you became friends with Lily, she stopped—" Alice never got farther due to Lily's Silencio, but James must have gotten the idea).
"What do you say to skiving off for the last ten minutes and heading to the kitchens? I have to taste this phenomenon for myself."
It isn't the first time he suggested they finish early, but it was the first time she found herself agreeing. Usually it was just a joke—James took their Head position as seriously as she did. But, she reasoned, not much would happen in ten minutes anyway.
"Four hot chocolates in total—one with whipped cream, one with marshmallows for each of us." James says, drumming his fingers on the table. As usual, the House Elves were more than happy to whip up some hot chocolate for them. James' wide smile is infectious as he looks over the mugs, running his hand casually through his dark hair. "It's not just if you're alone, right? Like, the single-ness only has to do with the relationship status?"
"Of course." Lily replies, and she almost has herself convinced in the Hot Chocolate Phenomenon. "Hot chocolate is only alright all alone, but with a mate and no entanglements, it's better than Butterbeer."
"Cheers," He says, and they clink their mugs together goofily before taking the first sip.
James, of course, is a reckless hot chocolate drinker. He is the sort to dive in, not worried about the scalding of his tongue, or saving more for later. They both started out with the whip cream, and when he puts his mug back a mustache is left. Without thinking, Lily takes a napkin and wipes it off his face naturally, as though it's something she does every day.
Her hand is shaking when she puts it back in her lap.
"So, what do you think?" She says, breaking the silence, and he looks at her for a second, a brief pause before he continues on as if nothing had happened. "Verdict on the whipped cream?"
"It's much more delicious than it was when I was dating Marlene, that's for sure. But then again, everything tasted better after I stopped dating Marlene."
"Ended well then, did it?" Lily asked sarcastically, and James laughed. His tie has been tied sloppily, unlike her prim and proper one, and she wants to reach over and adjust it so much that she has to sit on her hands.
"Well, it was what, fifth year? I think I'm over it."
I, Lily thinks to herself as she sips the marshmallow filled drink, am not a reckless hot chocolate drinker. I'm blowing on my hot chocolate before every sip, and if I don't hurry up it's going to get cold soon and I should probably just snog him—I mean, drink it —for Merlin's sake.
"Well," James says when he finishes his second mug. "That was delicious. I'm not sure if I've ever told you this, but I'm obsessed with hot chocolate. Like, drink-a-cup-or-eight-daily obsessed."
"So you already had an opinion on the whipped cream vs. marshmallow debate?" She says after she lightly sets her own mug on the table.
"I'm actually pretty partial to the whipped cream myself, but I think I could be swayed either way."
There is an awkward pause. She stares at him, his bright hazel eyes, his casual handsomeness and she knows that now is the time to act. They have both just drank two large mugs of hot chocolate and everything is warm and fuzzy and just Christmas. Everything is perfect, but she just can't do it.
"Lily—" He pauses, then shakes his head slowly. "Never mind."
The moment passes. James stands up as if to leave, tugging at the hem of his shirt awkwardly.
"Wait, James!" Lily stands up desperately, and walks over to him. He looks at her, confused and (she hopes) the tiniest bit hopeful. "Don't—I mean, you should—I liked whipped cream the best too!" She blurts out, and it's the total wrong thing to say (anything besides grabbing him by his adorably sloppy tie and snogging him would have been wrong) but James laughs anyway and suddenly she's laughing too, and she doesn't know why but it just feels so good to be there with him.
"You know, we didn't finish our experiment," she points out when they finally catch their breath. "I mean, we just know that whipped cream with hot chocolate tastes delicious when you're single. But what about when you're not? And it would only be logical, therefore, to—"
"Is this your way of asking me out?" James asks bluntly. "Because that's just sad, Evans."
Irritated, Lily finally just grabs his tie and kisses him lightly. He tastes of hot chocolate and James, and it is so much better than Christmas, hot chocolate with whipped cream or Butterbeer could ever be.
Breathless, she lets go to see a goofy smile on his face. She doesn't let go of him, and he doesn't let go of her either. She doesn't think either of them will let go, really let go, for a long time. "Go out with me, Potter?"
"How cheesy would it be if I told you this was the best Christmas gift ever?" James asks. She kisses him again in response, and this time neither of them breaks away.