A/N: Hey guys! This is my first fic, so please bear with me. Feel free to rate and review, and tell your friends if you like it! :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is all based on JK Rowling's lovely characters :)

"I'm telling you, Mar, it's Acromantula venom," Lily emphatically told her best mate, Marlene Price, as they walked through the Hogwarts corridors. They'd been debating the ingredients to the Anti-Paralysis potion throughout their just-let-out History of Magic lesson, and the Head Girl had no doubt that it would carry through their upcoming Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson as well. Marlene had a tendency to be very stubborn when she felt she was right.

"Lily, just because you're Miss Potions Goddess and ol' Sluggie is not-so-secretly enamoured with you doesn't mean that it's not bubotuber pus," Marlene replied, mocking Lily's previous tone. Lily rolled her eyes at this and opened her mouth to retort, when she felt a soft tapping on her left shoulder and heard someone clearing their throat.

"Er…Lily? May I speak with you?" Lily recognised the voice instantly and turned to see none other than James Potter, her fellow Head. His usually confident demeanour seemed almost nervous; he was chewing on his lip and annoyingly ruffling his ebony hair, which Lily hated.

"Umm…sure, James," the redhead answered uncertainly. She told Marlene she'd see her in DADA and allowed James to pull her off to the side of the corridor. The nervous Quidditch captain shuffled from foot to foot for a few moments and even opened his mouth as if to speak a few times before closing it and continuing to shuffle. Lily waited patiently, and right before she was about to say something, James's head snapped up and he spoke (rather loudly).

"We've been getting along really well lately, right?" James half-shouted, startling a few first years and Lily herself. He blushed a bit at his outburst but held Lily's green eyes with his own hazel gaze through his round spectacles. Lily was slightly taken aback; she wasn't sure how to reply. Her throat suddenly dry, she swallowed and said, "Er, yeah. Real swimmingly."

Ever since Lily had found out that James was going to be the Head Boy to her own Head Girl, she had worked very hard to establish a solid friendship with him. It really wasn't difficult; they'd already laid the foundation for one during sixth year, despite the end-of-fifth-year incident. Now, only a few months into term, they were a well-oiled machine, and considered each other close friends. Hell, Lily had even grown quite fond of her partner-in-crime…

James lapsed into a thoughtful silence after Lily's shocked-sounding answer, leaving the Head Girl to shuffle now. After a few moments like this, James looked up again.

"So…we're friends. You don't hate me; I'm not the immature prat that would have driven you to bestiality with the giant squid anymore, right?" James said. Lily started to agree, but James cut her off. "We've got a good thing going. We work really well together, all of the prefects and my friends think so and they like you! My friends, that is. Sirius in particular, which is odd because I always assumed he thought you were a stick in the mud…" James was manically ruffling his hair and pacing at this point as he rambled, worrying Lily. She let him continue for a bit until she finally reached out and gripped the panicked boy's wrist, halting his pacing and incoherent babble. Lily slowly lowered James's hand from his hair and laid his arm at his side, not breaking eye contact. He stared back, eyes wide.

"James. What?" Lily said gently, but with enough edge for James to hear the underlying "spit it out" in-between the lines of her speech. James blushed a bit and raised his hand midway to his head, but then, realising what he was doing, dropped it back down. He cleared his throat.

"Lily. I was…wondering, if you would like to…accompany me. To Hogsmeade. During the next trip this weekend. For coffee." Lily had been following James pretty well but stopped a bit as he finished. James misread this and began to stutter, "I-I know we've just become friends, and I don't want t-to complicate anything—"

"Why coffee?"

James ceased his babble and looked at Lily incredulously. He'd just bared his soul, asked her out—essentially telling her straight out that he still fancied her—and all she did was question his choice of beverage? This time James didn't stop his hand from reaching his dark mop, although it wasn't on account of his usual nervous tick: He was scratching his head in confusion.

"…excuse me?"

"Why coffee?" Lily repeated without hesitation.

"Umm…coffee's good," James replied lamely.

"No, you hate coffee," Lily said a matter-of-factly. "I've heard you complain about how Remus smells after he's had a cup." James didn't know how to respond.

"Well," he finally ventured, "I've always noticed on mornings when you're not quite there, or you're cranky, or even in the afternoon if you're at the end of your rope, you always have a big cup, with some milk and two sugars, no matter what. And you always do this little sigh after you've drank it, like everything's just a-okay just because you've had your coffee," James said. "And even though it smells dreadful and Remus does reek after he's had his, if you think it's great, then it has to be at least somewhat enjoyable. Besides, I like seeing you in a good mood, and if I were to take you out, I'd like it to include something that makes you happy." James added the last part in a rush.

It was Lily's turn to stare now. Her beautiful emerald orbs bored into his hazel ones, and he started to feel a bit uneasy. He opened his mouth to apologise for something, anything, when suddenly Lily closed the space between them in two quick strides and gave the Quidditch captain a quick kiss on the cheek. James froze. He felt his face begin to heat up.

Lily pulled back and beamed at him. "I'd love to go for coffee with you. I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall at, say, 10?" James nodded dumbly, and Lily's grin widened. "See you then!" With that, the redhead rushed off towards her next lesson, a slight spring in her step.

James stayed put in that corridor, raising his hand to touch his cheek where her lips had just lingered, bemused. As he stood, he silently thanked the brilliant soul who invented coffee.

A/N: Hope you liked it! :) Thanks for reading!