Disclaimer: I'm just a 20 year old uni student... I don't own anything.
He was doing it again. She would swear he was doing it to torment her. And it was working. It was fascinating, far too fascinating to look away. Her eyes were mesmerised. She was pulled, against her will, towards him. Not physically, of course, that was impossible, sitting as she was in the classroom, not anywhere near him. But as always, this year, he was seated in her line of sight. A sigh escaped her lips. He was BLOODY doing it again!
Katie was laughing next to her, amused with this turn of events. "Again, Lil?"
She replied shortly, without turning away from the sight. "He's doing it AGAIN!"
Katie giggled loudly. Professor Binns paused for a second, distracted by the noise, but continued on without a comment. "You're hopeless, Lil. I can't even see it."
"You're blind. Bloody blind. He's doing it to torment me, really, its payback for the past 6 years."
Susan leaned over from the other side. "His manner and actions in this class have not changed in the past 6 years Lily. You just never noticed it before."
"Nonsense! You're all just blind."
They shook their heads amusedly, but she didn't notice; he'd just turned his head slightly more to gaze out the window giving her a better look at his face.
"Gah! Evil... " she muttered, not able to tear her eyes from his face.
"Lil, you're crazy."
"Am not. He's just a tease."
Katie had to clutch her stomach, she was laughing that hard. "So frowning is teasing now? I'll have to keep that in mind."
This made Lily turn her head. "It's not like THAT. It's just that... it's such an attractive frown."
Katie was gasping for breath now. "Whatever floats your boat, kiddo, whatever floats your boat."
She frowned, returning her attention to the boy who consumed her thoughts. A sigh.
"Tell him." Katie insisted. She'd been expecting that; this same conversation had occured every History of Magic class since Christmas. And it was now March.
"Tell him what exactly? That I'm mesmerised by his frown?" She questioned, making it quite obvious how ridiculous she thought that was.
"Don't go into specifics, Lil, just tell him he mesmerises you. He'd like that."
Lily rounded on her then. "No he wouldn't! Old James would have liked that. This James will just... frown that adorable frown of his; confused and almost pityingly, and say that that's all very well but he's over me and would like to forget all about me!"
Katie smiled. "I thought you were always telling me it was just about the frown. You basically just admitted you're in love with him."
"I DID NOT!" Lily almost shouted, outraged, and quite frankly in denial.
"Miss Evans, please do not raise your voice in the classroom. Thank you. Now, back to the centaur uprising of..."
"You so did..." Susan whispered, amusedly.
Lily lowered her eyes (and her voice), "I'm not in love with him..." Katie snorted "I just... maybe... a little bit... have a crush on him"
"You've been saying that for the last 2 months, just admit it already!"
She glared. "Just leave me alone in my fantasy world of denial, please. It's nice here, we don't have crushes on guys who used to like us, and no longer do." She paused, then said after a moment, mock seriously. "And we have cookies."
"Choc chip cookies?" Katie asked, mock amazed.
"Oh yes. They're very nice choc chip cookies. They're better than anything in the real world."
Katie sighed. "Yes, you may have your fantasy choc chip cookies, but you're not a choc chip cookie. Only I am." she started pretend eating her arm. "Nom nom nom nom"
Susan sighed. "You guys are so strange."
Katie rolled her eyes. "Says the pale freak who knows EVERYTHING!"
Susan poked her tongue out.
Lily sighed. "Focus guys."
Katie laughed. "Oh sorry, weren't we discussing lover boy enough for you?"
"Lover boy?" A male voice interrupted, "talking about me are you?"
It was Sirius Black; he'd been moved from James (lover boy) Potter in every class because of misbehaviour, 'though it hadn't helped, the disasters continued unabated (and Lily had seen the both of them talking to themselves in a mirror every class, what kind of freak did that?).
"No Black. If we had been, you would have heard the phrases 'scum of the earth' and most 'annoying boy in history.' Katie replied, bitterness laced in her tone.
"You wound me, Stevenson. Really." Sirius replied, sounding completely unaffected. "Now.... who were we talking about?"
"WE weren't talking about anyone. Leave us alone, Black. Go annoy someone else."
"Fine Stevenson. Just don't be jealous of the girl I go 'annoy'. We all know you love me." He turned away to flirt with Marlene McKinnon.
Katie almost stood up, shoving her table away from her, ready to start screaming at the offending boy. Susan placed a calm hand on her arm.
"He's just trying to get a rise. Leave it"
Katie scowled, then turned to Lily. "When you and James get together, can you deal with shitface over there?" she asked through gritted teeth.
Lily laughed "Of course... but you'll be waiting for him to be 'dealt with' for a fair while."
Katie and Susan both laughed. "Poor naive little girl..." Susan said softly, patting her shoulder. "Poor naive..."
"OK! I get it!" She shook her head and muttered under her breath "idiots...."
"HEY! We aren't..."
The rest of the class seemed to be getting up, so the girls stopped to pack up.
"You should go talk to him, Lily"
"Why? I just have a fascination with one of his facial expressions"
"Or all...." Katie muttered.
Lily play punched Katie in the arm. Then stuck out her tongue.
Katie pretended to be outraged/offended. "You know, if you keep that up, he's never gonna want to date you. Too childish... So there!"
Susan laughed, shaking her head. "You two are such children. Come on, lets go to lunch"
"Wait a minute" a voice interrupted. "I want to steal Evans for a moment, if that's not a problem"
It was Sirius Black, again. Katie's hackles raised (metaphorically) and she glared at him in distaste.
Lily placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "Leave it" she mouthed. "Sure, Black, what's the problem."
"Alone" he said firmly yet questioningly. Lily was confused, he seemed so serious; a rare occurence.
"Of course" she turned to her friends "I'll meet you in the Great Hall." They walked away, leaving Lily and Sirius standing at the classroom door alone.
"What did you want to talk about Black?"
"It's James, isn't it?"
"What are you talking about?"
"'Lover boy', that's James, isn't it?"
Lily frowned. "Why would you think that?" she asked, trying to keep her voice natural.
"You were staring at him all through HM (History of Magic)."
Lily didn't, couldn't say anything. She just stared at Sirius.
He nodded. "You should tell him. Please tell him."
She was still frowning, but it deepened at this. "Why? And why do you care?"
He took a deep breath, almost as is he were fighting back unhappy thoughts.
"You've noticed him frowning, right? Have you noticed that he doesn't smile anymore? He's not... James anymore. I want my friend back."
She tilted her head at that. Yes, she'd noticed (of course she'd noticed). "What's that to do with me?"
He gave a dry bitter laugh that echoed through the empty corridoor. "You really don't understand, do you Evans?"
She blinked. "Understand what?"
"He's like that" he waved his hand dramatically towards the classroom "because of you"
"M-me?"
Another laugh. "He's so.... obsessed with you, it's... it's pathetic." he shook his head, making his long hair fly around randomly "He's depressed, angry because he's trying to give up on you. Because you 'don't' feel the same way." He stared at her intently here. "But you do. You have to tell him."
"I don't.... I don't know what I... how I feel."
"You like him. I'm not saying you have to love him. I'm not saying you have to be obsessed. I'm just saying that if you really care about him, you'd let him know."
She swallowed nervously. "Ok Black. Look, I need to eat. I'll... I'll think about what you've said ok? I'm not... promising anything."
Black closed his eyes momentarily. "Sure, Evans. Just make up your bloody mind soon, will you" he snapped at her.
She hurried off, trying to shake off the horrible feeling he'd put there.
She turned the corner of the corridoor, took 3 steps and...
"What did he say to you?"
She was dragged into an empty classroom. She looked up to gaze into the face of her 'attacker'. It was him. James -loverboy- Potter. Frowning down at her.
"W-who?" she managed to force through her lips.
"Sirius. What did he say?"
She closed her eyes and shook her head. Then opened her eyes again to look into his hazel eyes. "Nothing...." she realised that wasn't the best response "Nothing important. Just... about... class. We'd... um... had a disagreement in class. We were... um.. sorting it out. Nothing."
He didn't say anything. He looked at her as if trying to read her mind; that captivating frown on his face.
She wanted nothing more than to reach up and brush her fingers against the frown lines. She shook her head again. "I... I have to... I have to go" She turned to leave.
"Lily" he grabbed her arm.
She stopped, but didn't turn back around. He heart was pounding.
"What?"
"If he said anything... to make you uncomfortable... or upset. I..."
"He didn't." She turned around then. "If he had I could have... I could have dealt with him."
A ghost of a smile ran over his lips. "I know."
Her heart clenched, and her hand began to rise to his face without her permission. "What happened to you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You don't smile anymore" her hand stopped and she lowered her eyes to look at it. "I miss your smile."
He froze, as if someone had used the Body-Bind curse on him.
She took a step closer, her mind not functioning very well with him that close, alone in a classroom.
She raised a hand to run a trail down his chin. "I miss your laugh more, though"
Her hand moved to his hair. "I miss you running your fingers through this" She closed her eyes, amazed at the softness of his hair.
"And I..." her brain suddenly kicked back in. This was JAMES POTTER she had her hands on. She stepped back quickly.
"I don't... I'm sorry." A hand went to her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. "I'm... I'll just..."
She turned quickly to attempt to leave the room.
Once again, a hand on her arm stopped her. "Wait"
She didn't turn.
She heard a low sigh. "Lily..."
She still wouldn't turn. She was sure her face was as red as a tomato now. What the Merlin was she thinking?
He grabbed her arm slightly harder and twisted her around till she was facing him. She bowed her head so her hair would cover her face.
His other arm reached up to move the hair from her face. "Lily..." he murmered her name softly, close enough that she could feel his breath on her forehead. Her heart skipped a beat in its pounding.
She raised her head to look at him, to see him gazing down at her with a slight smile, and affection in his eyes. Her mouth opened slighly from surprise.
A moment past, with them staring into each others eyes.
Then, his lips descended onto hers.
They were soft and demanding, seven years of pent up frustration expressing itself in one desperate kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him, weak at the knees, pulling him closer and closer to her. He ran his tongue over her lips, a hand tangled in her hair, the other clutching almost desperately at her back. It was hot, and passionate, and neither could think, all that mattered was them and that kiss. She gasped against his mouth, letting his tongue explore and begin a battle for dominance with hers.
Eventually they had to pull away, gasping for breath.
Silence.
Then, "wow"
"Yeah" he replied, still trying to regain his breath.
More silence.
"So what does this mean?" he asked, worriedly.
"Well... " she went red again "I may... um... possibly... uh... have a crush on you."
He laughed, loudly and amusedly. "Well that's a start." He swooped down and placed a chaste kiss on her lips.
"Will you go out with me, Lily Evans?"
"Yes." her reply was so breathy he almost didn't hear it.
Another swift kiss.
"Will you walk with me to lunch?"
"Yes"
He brushed his hand awkwardly against hers as they left the classroom. She couldn't help but slide her hand into his.
There was silence as they walked hand in hand towards the Great hall, matching grins on their faces.
They'd arrived. He went to open the Great Hall's doors.
"Wait" She was standing still, her hand still in his. He looked back confused, worried, concerned.
"I think I love you" Her voice was a mere whisper, but to him, in the silence of the corridoor, it almost sounding like a shout.
"I know I love you." he said, placing a kiss on her forehead. "But don't you say it until you're sure."
She looked up into his eyes, with affection on her face. "Ok, James"
And with that they walked into the hall, hand in hand.
I'm not sure if I should make this into a two shot, up to the time when she is sure about how she feels. I kind of like it the way it is now though.
What do you think?
Writers note: Lily's friends in this are from my series Bound from Disaster. Read that if there's anything you don't understand.
Noideagirl