Lily was completely frazzled. The table she was working at in the shared Heads common room was littered with spare pieces of parchment, ink pots, quills and textbooks. To the untrained eye it look as though she had tipped the entire contents of her school bag onto the table. To Lily however, it was a delicately organised chaos. Between the responsibilities of being Head Girl and studying for her N.E. Lily was surprised she hadn't already lost her mind. Of course James played a major part in keeping her sanity. She didn't know how he managed Head Boy, studies and Quidditch Captaining - though she was pretty sure he was born a few sickles short of a gallon (after meeting his parents during the Christmas holidays, a lot of things had made sense).
She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Transfiguration. She was supposed to be writing an essay on the process of human transfiguration and it's dangers. She looked down at her parchment to see that she had only written the first sentence. She groaned and pulled the closest textbook to sit in front of her. She rested her head in both palms and set to work reading.
She couldn't be sure how long she had been up there studying, as she couldn't be sure of the time (why did this school have no bloody clocks?). She only knew that she had been up here since Charms was finished, and that it was now dark outside. Wait. Merlin, it was now dark outside. Her stomach grumbled to remind her of it's existence, as if she had only just remembered she was starving. She rubbed her eyes to clear them, and heard the sound of the portrait swinging open.
"Alright, Evans?" he said with a grin.
The greeting was a fond one, from days past when he was still arrogant and she was still unphased by him. James walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her neck, kissing her on the temple. She smiled at the gesture, at how warm his arms were around her.
"You've been up here all night?" He asked her, concern in his tone.
He smelled freshly showered, which reminded her he had been at quidditch practice this evening. The smell of his aftershave was one of her favourite smells, and she drank it in before answering.
"I've been trying to finish - or rather start - this essay McGonagall set us. All I can think of is an opening sentence and even that is awful," she complained.
"You need a break," he suggested.
He kissed her temple again, then her cheek, moving along her jaw and down to her neck. She tipped her neck back to give him better access when her stomach rumbled again. A blush formed on her cheeks immediately at the interruption, and James chuckled lightly at her expense. She sighed, admitting defeat and moving to pick up her cloak and go down to dinner.
"Where are you going?" He asked, eyebrows arching up in confusion.
Lily turned to face him, her brow furrowed as she thought it was obvious. When she turned back around, her mouth gaped open. She wasn't sure how he had managed it, but the table was cleared of her schoolwork. In it's place, sat a candlelit dinner, complete with two different types of pudding (bread and butter pudding and treacle tart - her favourites). She turned her gaze to James, who was smiling nervously at her and with his hand messing up the back of her hair. A nervous habit she had grown to love.
Love. Love . Merlin.
"I love you," she sighed.
His eyes bulged, her own as well, realising she had said it out loud. She thought about it again, and realised yeah, she did.
"You - you what?" he said in shock.
She smiled, a smile so big she could feel her face splitting in two, and jumped the two steps between them so that she could swing her arms around his neck.
"I love you, James. I do. I'm sure of it," She said again. She kissed him, soft and sweet.
"I love you." Another kiss. "I love you." And again.
She could feel the corners of his mouth turn up into a smile. She went in to kiss him again, and he stopped her.
"I love you," he finally said back to her.
She hadn't realised she was holding her breath slightly until she let it go. She suspected he felt it back, but it was a relief to hear it in his voice all the same.
"I love you, Lily Evans," he said, and he picked her up and swung her around the room.
She was overcome with giggles, and a tear finally broke free from her eyes and rolled down her cheek. She couldn't ever remember a time being so happy she cried. He set her back down again in the middle of the room and wrapped his arms around her waist. He arms were still around his neck, and he bent to touch his forehead with her own.
"I love you," he said again, and pressed his lips against hers.