A/N: I realized that it's been a year since my last story, and I felt like I should upload a little fluff to make up for it. Enjoy! :)

(And since I'm not the fantastic JK Rowling, I - unfortunately - don't own these characters)

"I know something you don't know."

Lily looked up from her Charms essay to see the smirking face of Sirius Black. He had his foot up on the chair across from her and was staring at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Lily rolled her eyes and looked back down at her parchment, rereading the previous sentence.

"Do you now."

It wasn't a question. Lily really wasn't in the mood to put up with Sirius' nonsense at the moment. Her essay was due two days from now, and if she didn't finish it today, she couldn't go to Hogsmeade tomorrow. She already felt guilty, since she really should have written this essay three weeks ago when it was first assigned, but she'd been spending so much time with James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter recently that she'd almost completely forgotten about her schoolwork. She wasn't behind on her homework, per se, but she'd started it much later than she usually did, and had less time to plan, write and proof read. She was trying to get back on track. Plus, homework was an easy way for her to avoid thinking about a certain messy-haired, bespectacled boy. But, as usual, Sirius wasn't helping at all.

Lily heard the chair across from her scrape against the floor loudly (accompanied by a lot of shhhs from nearby tables) and heard Sirius plop himself down onto it. She glanced up from her essay for a second to see him leaning his head on his fist, watching her intently, and grinning from ear-to-ear. She sighed.

"Look, Sirius, I left the common room for a reason," Lily started, frantically paraphrasing some information she read off her textbook in her head, and then scribbling it onto her parchment. "I really have to finish this essay today, or I can't join you boys in Hogsmeade tomorrow. That means no distractions." Lily looked up and glared at him meaningfully. "That means you need to leave."

Sirius feigned hurt. "Why, Lilyflower –"

"And stop calling me that!"

Sirius put his hand over his heart. "You wound me deeply, Lilykins," he said, mock-tragically. "I just came here to gloat that I know something you don't, and you offend me. Really."

Lily sighed. "Sirius, if I let you talk will you go away and not bother me again today?" she demanded, dropping her quill in her inkbottle and giving her friend her full attention.

Sirius grinned and nodded. He leaned closer to Lily, beckoning for her to come closer. With a roll of her eyes, Lily complied.

"You know that thing we discussed last Friday in my dorm, when Prongs, Wormtail and Moony were in the kitchens?" Sirius said quietly.

Lily glared at him. "You mean the thing that you only got out of me because you got me pissed drunk, and I warned you to never bring up again on pain of death and torture?"

"The very same," he replied cheerily.

"What about it?" Lily snapped, glancing around to ensure that no one was eavesdropping on this conversation. She did not want anyone to hear this.

Sirius leaned in even further and whispered directly in Lily's ear, "I have some new information that you might find very interesting regarding this… topic."

He leaned back in his chair then, propping his feet on the table, and putting his hands behind his head – his typical cocky, lazy position.

Lily eyed him suspiciously. "What new information could you possibly have that I don't already know? I know everything there is to know about this… topic."

He rolled his eyes. "You clearly don't know this piece of information."

She raised an eyebrow, and, after a moment or two, she sighed. "Merlin, Sirius. Are you going to make me beg?"

Sirius pretended to be examining his fingernails. "Beg for what?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

Lily sighed again. "Are you going to tell me what new information you have… acquired?" she demanded.

The Marauder grinned. "Nope," he said cheerfully.

Lily narrowed her eyes at him. "So you just came here to gloat, then, is that right?"

Sirius just grinned in response.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Honestly," she muttered under her breath. "You are such a child."

She picked up her quill and began scribbling on her parchment again.

"Well, if you're not going to tell me what it is you know, I'm going to continue working on my essay," she said, without looking up. "So, if you could leave, that would be great."

"You know, I think I'm good right here."

Resisting the urge to kick the leg of his chair, Lily shrugged and feigned indifference.

"Suit yourself," she mumbled.

She assumed that he was just going to sit there grinning at her until he realized she wasn't going to respond, at which point he would get bored and leave. And she assumed that this wouldn't take any longer than five minutes. Sirius did, after all, have very little patience.

But her assumptions – though usually accurate – were wrong.

Sirius did sit in the chair and he did grin at her, but Merlin forbid Sirius Black couldn't silently taunt someone. First, he started to whistle casually. Although it drove her mad, Lily simply grit her teeth and pretended to ignore him. When he realized that whistling wasn't working, he started humming. Lily clenched her quill tighter in her hand and pressed harder onto the parchment, but continued to work on her essay. Sirius, however, picked up on these slight signs of annoyance, and decided to kick it up a notch.

"Once upon a time there was a girl named Lily," he sang softly, so that only Lily could hear him. "She had a deep dark secret that she told her amazingly fit friend Sirius," he chanted. "And this deep dark secret was about his best mate, the not-as-fit Jaaaaames. And this secret was that Lilykins lo-"

"For the love of Merlin!" Lily shouted, slamming her quill down on the table.

"No shouting in the library," Madam Pince barked from her desk, glaring at the two teens.

"Funny," Sirius drawled. "Didn't you just shout at us? 'Bit hypocritical, isn't it Pincey?"

Madam Pince narrowed her eyes at the library's number one troublemaker.

"Out!" she cried. "Out with you boy, and you too Miss Evans! The library is no place for a band of hooligans!"

Lily was shocked. "But Madam Pince, I was just studying! Please, I have to –"

"No!" the librarian shouted, pointing to the door. "Out!"

Lily grumbled under her breath as she began packing up her stuff. She slid her bag over her shoulder and muttered in Sirius' ear as they walked past Madam Pince, "You just couldn't leave me alone, could you?"

"Nope," he said cheerily. "That was my master plan all along. Now I can gloat loudly."

Lily sighed. "Look, Sirius, I really have to finish this essay. So I'm going to go to the common room, and you're going to go somewhere else and leave me alone. Otherwise I'll tell James that you're the one who put lard in his shampoo bottle last week."

Sirius narrowed his eyes at her. "You wouldn't."

She smirked. "Just watch me."

He stared her in the eye, and finally sighed. "Fine. I'll just continue gloating at dinner. It's not everyday that I know something Lily Evans doesn't, you know. I have to take full advantage of this opportunity."

Quickly – too quickly for her to dodge it – he snuck a quick peck on her cheek and winked before walking away slowly, with his usual, lazy gait, as he whistled the tune of the song he'd made up to taunt her.

Shaking her head, Lily turned on her heel and started towards the common room. But she couldn't stop thinking about this new information Sirius had. She knew it shouldn't bother her – he was probably just making it up to tease her – but she couldn't help herself. What could he possibly know that Lily didn't?

Maybe he just came to tell her that James didn't like her that way anymore. But that wasn't exactly news to her. He hadn't asked her out all year. Granted, she'd told him not to after fifth year, but still… he hadn't even tried…

She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she just barely registered the fact that she was standing in front of the portrait hole. Almost as if she were in a trance, she mumbled the password and slipped into the common room, hoping to just get up to her dorm without any interruptions so she could finish this damned essay and then be alone to wallow in her own pathetic tears of unrequited love.

Of course, since that was what she wanted, she got the exact opposite.

"Lily?" a voice called out to her, just as she started to make her way up the stairs.

And of course, that voice belonged to the one person she really didn't want to see at the moment.

She spun around and forced a smile. "Hi, James."

He smirked at her from his position on the couch. "You okay? You seem a little out of it."

She blushed, sure her face was bright red. "I-I'm fine. What makes you think I'm not?"

He grinned. "You walked right by me without a word and were muttering under your breath. It's very unlike you to at least shoot a quick and witty comment at me."

Lily smiled slightly. "I'm just tired, I guess," she lied.

James frowned. "You work too hard. You should take this weekend off."

She hesitated. This was the perfect opportunity to ask him. She might as well give it a shot, right? At least then she could say she'd tried.

She sucked in a breath, preparing herself, before saying, "Actually, James, since it's Hogsmeade weekend – "

"Oh right," James said. He smiled at her. "And I'm sure you have a date, right? So of course you'll be getting a break. So, who's the lucky guy who managed to snag the precious Lily Evans?" he teased. "Did that Fenwick finally grow a pair and ask you out?"

She forced a smile, but even she could tell it was pathetically weak. She just hoped James wouldn't notice.

But, of course, he did.

"Lily? Seriously, are you sure you're okay?" he asked, sounding concerned.

"I, um, listen, James…" she trailed off.

Grow a pair, Evans, she scolded herself. You can do this. Merlin knows he did it thousands of times. The least you can do is ask him just once.

"James, can we talk?" she blurted.

He looked surprised. "Of course," he said, nodding. He patted the spot beside him on the couch. "Come and sit."

She dropped her books on the table by the fire and plopped down onto the seat next to him. She took a deep breath to prepare herself for what she was about to say.

"Okay," she said, preparing herself.

"Okay," he repeated, smirking.

She glared at him. "Okay, look, James, I'm probably going to start blurting out a bunch of stuff in a minute but I need to get it all out so don't try and interrupt, okay?"

He nodded, frowning with concern.

"Okay, here it goes."

Silence.

"Lily –"

"What did I say about interrupting?" she snapped.

He backed off, hands in the air.

"Okay, here's the thing, James," she finally said, calming down. "I used to think I hated you, but I never hated you, okay? I mean, I hated how you acted a lot of the time, but I never actually hated you. I knew what a good friend you were; how you always stuck by Peter and Sirius and Remus, especially during the full moon –"

James gaped. "Y-you know about that?"

"Of course I bloody know!" Lily snapped, angry that he had once again cut her off. "I found out in third year and confronted Remus. I was worried about you and Peter and Sirius going out with him," she admitted. "And, well, Remus told me everything." She paused. "Although you boys are completely insane, it's also incredibly kind of you to do that for Remus. It made me like you a little more."

James grinned. "So –"

"No interrupting!" she snapped again.

He rolled his eyes. "Right. Continue."

"Anyway, um, so the point is I never really hated you. And then we became friends, and you changed, um, a lot. And then the things I liked best about you weren't just rare occurrences, but they were always there and you matured and I was so happy, James, because I wasn't confused anymore. But, um, then, this year…" her voice trailed off and she looked at her lap. She couldn't meet James' questioning gaze.

"Um, I started… feeling things that I, um, haven't ever… um, felt for you… before." She blushed deep red. "Um, I-I guess what I'm trying to say, James, is that… I… I, well, I fancy you, okay?"

There was a long silence.

"Um, James?"

Silence.

"Okay, um, maybe this is the wrong thing to be worried about at this moment, but if you don't blink and your eyes stay in that position for too long they might get stuck like that."

Silence.

"Um, James? If you can even hear me, maybe start breathing?"

Slow, steady breaths.

"Okay, so, um, I guess that's a start."

Silence.

"I must admit I was hoping for at least some kind of a response when I admitted I fancied you."

"Merlin, Lily!" James exploded. "Are you kidding me? You fancy me?!"

Lily looked away. "Yeah. But, um, I understand if you don't feel the same way. In fact, maybe we should just forget about this whole thing. Okay, you know what, I'm going to go upstairs and study and I-I'll see you around, I guess. I'm sorry, okay? Okay, I –"

James, tired of her stupid rants, gripped her hips roughly in both hands, pulled her towards him and kissed her.

Lily froze in surprise, but it took her about all of one second to close her eyes and respond just as eagerly.

One of James' hands gripped her hips, and the other travelled up to her hair. He ran his fingers through her curly red locks, and she felt him moan into her mouth.

She slid her arms up around his neck, bringing his face down closer to hers. She felt his glasses dig into her nose but she could care less. She was finally kissing James, and she didn't ever want to stop.

He pulled away and she started to protest, until he brought his lips to her neck and she melted all over again.

"Thank Merlin," he murmured against her neck. "I was planning on asking you out today. My heart nearly shattered into a million pieces when I thought you had a date with that tosspot Fenwick."

She swore she heard a lock clicking into place in her brain. She pulled away for a moment to look him the eye, trying her best to resist his protests.

"You were going to ask me out today?" she demanded.

He nodded, running his hands through his hair – something that used to drive her crazy, and still did, but now in a totally different way.

"Yeah. I was up almost all night practising with Sirius. I had it all planned out."

Her heart practically melted. So that was the thing Sirius was gloating about.

She looked back at James, her heart swelling at the way his beautiful hazel seem to shine with admiration as he followed her movements. She brought a hand to his face and, lacking the words to express just how much she fancied the boy in front of her, she simply pulled him towards her again.

He kissed her back eagerly, but soon broke away again to bury his nose in her hair.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you to say that you fancy me?" he murmured.

"A while?" she guessed.

"Five bloody years. Finally, finally you feel the same way I do. I've been waiting far too long for this, so excuse me, but I'm never going to stop kissing you now," he whispered against her lips.

She smiled. "Fine by me," she whispered back, just before leaning in –

"Oi! This is a public area! No snogging! I especially expected better from the Head Boy and Girl!" a familiar, taunting voice announced from behind them.

James growled, and muttered angrily, "I'm going to kill him."

Lily laughed. "He's your best mate, " she said, as Sirius pranced around the empty common room, yelling over and over again, "Prongs and Lilykins, sitting in a tree…"

Remus and Peter stood in the portrait hole, the former watching Sirius with amusement and the latter staring, mouth gaping, at James and Lily entwined on the couch.

James shook his head. "I don't care. I was having the most amazing snog of my life with the girl I've fancied since second year, and he has to come in and ruin it? No way he's getting away with that," he muttered.

And with that, he launched himself at Sirius, tackling him to the ground, and shouting things like "You bloody git, I was kissing Lily! Didn't we have a pact? If you ever see me kissing Lily, you leave us the bloody hell alone!"

Lily's shoulders shook with laughter, and Remus turned to her and smiled.

"Guess you're stuck with us now, eh, Lils?" he said.

Lily smiled back. "I always was."

A/N: Thanks for reading, guys! I hope you liked it! Let me know what you think by leaving a review :)