Fascinated

His crunched form gave away his state of mind. He was depressed. Quite hard. And the melancholy was practically radiating from him. When someone told him something or asked him something, he smiled wryly and answered with a slightly less happier voice than normally.

Everyone noticed of course. But no one said anything, for everyone knew the reason behind it.

And now, watching him like that, knowing that it was her fault and knowing that he will not ask her out, nor will he declare his undying love for her ever again, she felt completely devastated.

She felt empty and sad and although she tried to cope with it by pushing it back in her thoughts, it did not work.

She has always been fascinated by him. In a good and bad sense of course. The bad one was his constant energetic destruction of school property and his occasional bullying of people he disliked. The good one was his nagging for a date with her. It fascinated her how he always came back to her, although she said and did quite nasty things to him.

He never gave up on his one-sided love.

And when he finally decided to take her words to heart and grow up, she realizes that this was not a one-sided love. It was pretty much complete – from his side and well as from her side.

Now, how come she realized this only after he agreed to be a normal friend with her? The group of friends was walking down the hall, they were all there, but she felt as if he was too far away from her.

The classes were over and her mind did not let her in peace. She blinked at him in confusion. How did he managed to capture her? She thought that she would feel something like that when he would pull one of his flirting tricks again. But it happened only now, when he lost all his hope and showed her that it actually did wrack him.

So…

Why not just end this misery for both?

''James…'' she called him calmly, making him look at her with those wonderfully doe eyes, so happily bright that she said his name.

''Yeah?'' he asked casually, trying to sound not too eager, for he did not want to destroy this newly born peaceful friendship.

''I think I might have fallen in love with you.'' She suddenly told him in a way as if she just realized it. His books fell on the floor, his arms hanging strangely in the air and his eyes blinking in surprise at her, realizing what she said.

''Hh-huh?'' he brought out dumbly and stared at her, almost not breathing with his heart thumping so hard that he was scared it would jump out of his throat.

She stared back at him, lost in her own thoughts and he smiled unsure if he actually heard right at all. His friends that were laughing their head off a few moments ago were now looking from one to another in confusion.

The whole situation seemed quite bombastic, but she appeared calm and composed as id she did not just say what he thought he heard her say.

''Pp-pardon?'' he stuttered nervously, something no one has ever seen from him. ''What d-did you just say?'' if she did not actually say what he thought he heard her, he might die. Really! He will die!

''Hmm?'' she hummed in question, her mind still not really there.

''Lily?'' he snapped his fingers in front of her face and she finally blinked, her eyes catching his, making her face brighten up in a sunshine-like smile.

''James…'' she said softly and he really almost lost it. He gulped nervously, his hands shaking and his face blushing, when he saw her expression – like she just saved the world.

''I think that I really did fall in love with you.'' She said it louder now, clarified it in front of his friends and declared it to him. It was not even a confession, but a statement.

He finally breathed out, his mouth gaping, when his friends behind him whistled loudly and threw their arms over his shoulder in a friendly manner, almost making him lose balance.

''Go for it Potter!'' called Sirius over everyone else and pushed him towards the beautiful, red-haired and green-eyed girl. The boy with glasses stumbled clumsily and stopped in front of her. When he looked at her face, she was still smiling, although, there was finally a rosy stain over her cheek.

He did not hear the cheering, nor did he listen to his friends' loud and laughing advices. Everything went still in his mind and the only thing he actually heard was his hard breathing and her voice of confession echoing through his head.

He carefully and with shaking hands took her hand and finally asked her as he so often did. ''Would you- I-I m-mean uh… um… Lily… I-I'd like you t-''

''James.'' She stopped his nervous babbling and pulled at his hand.

''Yes. As a matter of fact, I'd like to go out with you. Right now if it's possible.'' She calmly told him, making him lose his entire cool. She pulled him behind her and he followed her like a lost puppy, still not quite believing that what happened actually was not a part of his imagination.