She's always been like that: wild and free and beautiful. Her red hair comes down in waves on her shoulders, and her eyes are like nothing he's ever seen. They're blue and green and hazel swirled together into a gaze that quick starts his heart. She's a Gryffindor, yes, but aren't they all? It's in her blood, more so than everyone else, and he loves her for her ability to care about everyone. She breaks the rules all the time, because she's just trying to be different.
It's hard to be different when your name is Lily Luna Potter. Are you kind and brilliant like Lily? Are you carefree and different like Luna? Are you arrogant and heroic like a Potter? He knows she's all of those things no matter how much she doesn't want to be. No amount of snogging after hours or detentions will make her any different than what she is.
"Come on, Ly," she whispers into his ear. She's nicked James's Cloak, so they can't get caught.
He brings up the issue anyway, not that she cares. She's already dragging him out of the Fat Lady's portrait and right to the Astronomy Tower. It's beautiful up there; it always is, even during classes. But being here with her, her wonderful eyes catching the moonlight, he knows it's never been more gorgeous.
"I like coming here," she says quietly. "There're no worries. Mum and Dad aren't sending me Howlers about getting caught with Teddy, and no teachers are telling me I'm not living up to my potential. You know?"
"Yeah," he whispers, and she repeats the word. Their breath comes out foggy and mixes together before vanishing all at once.
"Sometimes I think, 'Lily Luna, you can't do this anymore.'"
"Do what?" he asks, and she chuckles.
"And to think, I always thought you should've been in Ravenclaw. Well… Life," she tells him, answering his question.
"'Course you can life, Lils. If anyone can, it's you."
"Why? Because my own father defied Death?" she quips.
He's dreading in dangerous waters, and he knows it. "No. Because you're brave and confident and kind."
She ponders it for a moment. "The moon is amazing, isn't it?"
He breaths a sigh of relief. No matter how much he loves her, she's still a redhead. "Definitely."
She kisses him. It's not exactly what he imagined it to be. It's hot and needy, and she's rubbing her hands all over his body like she wants all of him here and now, but it's still perfect. Briefly he wonders if she kisses all boys like that, because Merlin, he knows she's kissed probably the entire male population at Hogwarts. In the moment, he doesn't care. He's just thinking about the petite girl who has by now climbed into his lap and wrapped her slender legs around his waist.
He comes up for air first, because he's not used to this like she is.
"Sorry," she gives him as explanation, but she's smiling in such a non-innocent way that he knows she's anything but sorry.
"S'fine."
She climbs off of him, settling for laying her head in his lap.
"I love you, Lysander Scamander."
He knows she's lying, because she's Lily Luna, and that's what she does. She's a whirlwind, wild and free and beautiful. His heart speeds up anyway, and once he's pretty sure she's fast asleep - her breathing is soft and slow - he tells her.
"I love you, too, Lily Luna Potter.