The Seven Most Important Kisses of Lily Evans' Life And Death
i.
Their first kiss is clumsy, and Lily slaps him when it's over.
"Bloody hell, Potter, what are you doing?" Her face is bright red, and her eyes are bright with furious tears that she holds back with nothing but willpower.
He straightens his glasses and flashes her a grin. "Thought that was rather obvious."
"No," she says, and she's seething. "I think calling, 'Evans, wait up!' and then jumping me in the corridor is a bit convoluted."
"Sirius said I'd never get you to kiss me," he says. "And now I have. You're out two galleons, Black," he adds over his shoulder, where the other third-year Gryffindors are watching the scene play out.
Lily can't stop trembling. "Don't ever talk to me again."
"Was he really that bad?" yells Sirius Black as Lily turns on her heel and stomps away, but she doesn't humor him with a response.
Her mouth tingles with the ghost of her very first kiss.
It's the first time she decides she hates James Potter.
ii.
Their second kiss is longer, and it lingers, and this time James is the one to pull away first.
"Sirius owes me ten galleons," he murmurs as he winds his fingers in the tangles of red hair that lie at the nape of her neck.
Lily lets out a breathless laugh. "Four years later and you two are still betting on who I'm going to kiss?"
He leans down until his forehead is resting against hers. "Not who you're going to kiss." It's nearly midnight, and the two of them are supposed to be patrolling the corridors, but she's far too distracted for that now—and she's not sure how they got here, not sure when she stopped hating him, or when she started liking him, or how long any of this is going to last. "How you're going to kiss."
"How I kiss?"
"Sirius thought you'd be rotten at it, since, you know, you don't have much experience."
She snorts. "Who says I haven't got experience?"
"I said you'd be perfect. And I was right."
She licks her lips. "You're a bit biased, though, don't you think?"
"Bias aside, I'm still right."
There's a sound from around the corner; Lily makes to spring away, but James has one arm around her waist and the other in her hair, and he murmurs, "I don't care" and comes down hard against her lips.
(She can't remember how to breathe.)
iii.
The kiss they share when he proposes is definitely not appropriate for the public setting they're in.
"Get a room," Sirius calls from his booth, and Madame Rosmerta loudly recites the Three Broomsticks' zero-tolerance policy for public displays of affection.
But Lily is so caught up in him that she doesn't hear, and it's only when the backs of her knees hit their mattress that she realizes he's Apparated them home.
iv.
Their wedding kiss is teary (which is her fault for crying) and sloppy (which is his fault for taking one too many shots to calm his nerves) and beautiful.
"I love you," she says while Sirius pronounces them husband and wife.
He throws her a wink.
v.
The kiss when Harry is born is quick and clean and laced with exhaustion.
"We're naming him after me, right?" James teases as he lets the baby wrap a tiny hand around his index finger.
"We're naming him after my father," Lily says, voice hoarse from her hours of labor. "You can have the middle name."
"Harry James." James crinkles his nose. "James Harry has a better ring to it."
"So help me, James—"
He cuts her off with a peck on the lips. "Harry's fine," he says, and then, as an afterthought: "S'pose it would be weird if you were screaming your son's name in bed."
Lily can't even bring herself to roll her eyes, but she beckons him down for another kiss.
vi.
Their last kiss is almost as flawed as their first.
"Lily," he says, glasses askew, eyes wild. "Take Harry and go."
Her heart is pounding so loudly she's sure he can hear it. "I won't leave you."
"I'll hold him off. Take Harry and run."
"I love you," she says.
"Don't say—we're not saying goodbyes." They both hear the voices outside their door. "We've made it through worse than this. I'll hold him off and meet you at the safe house."
She clenches her jaw against the no that presses at her lips. "Good luck." She takes Harry in her arms, and she's halfway up the stairs when James turns away from the door.
"Lily—wait—"
In three long strides, he's standing on the step just below her, seizing her face in his hands and kissing her so roughly that she nearly drops the baby.
"I'll see you soon," she whispers when he draws away.
The front door is blasted from its hinges.
vii.
When it's over, she finds him again on the other side.
"You look the same," she whispers as he pulls her in for a tight hug. "I thought—I was picturing you broken. But you look the same—the same as when we were—we were alive—James, oh my God—"
(Her heart should be pounding, but it isn't, it isn't, it never will again.)
He presses his lips into her hair. "It's okay, Lily."
"Harry—"
"He's alive. I don't know how. Dumbledore has him."
She looks up into his eyes and sees her own reflection, and suddenly everything is calm. "He's alive?"
James nods. "He's alive. Voldemort is gone." There's a very real smile spreading across his face. "We are together. I'm right here. And it's all going to be okay." He winds his hands up in her hair, holding her the way he used to in those corridors late at night. "There is nothing for us to fear anymore."
She can't breathe.
(It doesn't matter. She doesn't need to breathe.)
"James," she whispers, curling her fingers up in the front of his shirt.
"I love you," he promises.
Their kiss is weightless.
A/N: I don't know how I feel about this story. I don't usually ask for reviews, but any kind of feedback would be super appreciated on this one :)
[Quidditch League Truth or Dare: Write about your OTP's first kiss]
[Hangman Challenge: T]
[Twelve Days of Christmas Challenge: 9 lyrics - "And if I never wake again, remember me just as I'm breathing before you, the same as all along."- Picture Me Broken, "If I Never Wake Again" (5/9)]