During October, Hogwarts was experiencing unusually cold weather. The chill seemed to seep in through the walls of the castle and James found himself scooting his desk closer to the fire in the Heads Suite. He returned his attention to his Arithmancy assignment, and was just finishing listing the magical properties of the number 7 when Lily walked in, rubbing her arms to create friction.
"Why is it so bloody cold out there?" Lily asked rhetorically. James glanced up at her and shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh, you're doing homework?" she asked, striding over and looking over James' shoulder, "I've got loads, I'll join you in a second, just got to change first." Lily said quickly as she set her bag down on her desk and ran up into her room. James found himself smiling; he quite enjoyed having Lily as his friend and was happy at how effortlessly they settled into a routine as roommates.
If he actually stopped to think about it, they were practically acting like a couple. Well, like a couple that never touched in an intimate way. But James knew that she liked him, he could see it in the way she looked at him. It was so different than before, when he would try to show off around her. If only he hadn't wasted all that time trying to impress her, and just acted like himself, maybe by now they really would be a couple.
A few minutes later, as James was skimming the next chapter in Advanced Transfiguration, Lily came down in a baggy purple sweatshirt and to his delight a pair of sleep shorts and grey knee high socks. Her sleep shorts were short and tight enough so that James could easily imagine what was underneath them. She gave a little cough and James quickly realized that she had caught him staring at her ass.
He winked at her and wiggled his eyebrows. This was one great advantage of becoming friends with Lily; James could get away with much more. If he got caught in the same situation a year ago he would be on the receiving end of a very angry Lily, but now she tried to hold back a smile and shook her head at him. She scooted her desk flush with his so they were facing each other while they worked on their assignments.
Every couple of minutes he would glance up at her out of the corner of his eye. Lily had a habit of twirling one of her dark, fiery locks around her finger as she read and James found it rather amusing to watch her furrow her brow in concentration while she took notes in her perfectly neat handwriting.
The more he tried to concentrate on his homework, the less luck he was having. After reading the same line five times over he gave up, "Uggghhh! I'm done, Evans. Seriously I can't take another minute of this. What are the professors playing at? It's only October!"
Lily looked up from her essay, sitting cross legged on her chair and looking slightly ridiculous with her quill in her mouth. "Well, I suppose they're trying to prepare us for NEWTS. But I've pretty much had it for the day too." she admitted, taking the quill out of her mouth and rubbing her hands together, "Plus, my fingers are so cold they're about to fall off."
"Well, maybe if you put some clothes on…" James trailed off motioning to her bare thighs.
Lily cocked an eyebrow at him that told him he was in trouble. "You didn't seem to mind my shorts earlier."
"I do mind them, actually." James stated as seriously as he could. Then he smiled and added, "You should probably just take them off." James expected to be punished for this comment but he couldn't help it. Flirting with her was entertaining and after the long day of studying he was grateful for some fun interaction.
"Oh," She started, her eyes lighting up with mischief, "you are so going to pay for that comment!"
In the blink of an eye she launched herself at James, who was totally unprepared for the attack. He felt his chair falling over backwards and Lily falling down with him, her body landing on his with a light thud. Before he even had a chance to really appreciate the feel of her body pressed to his, she was pushing herself off and then quite suddenly she was tickling him. James laughed and tried to swat her away, but couldn't concentrate hard enough with all of her tickling to really stop her. Realizing she wasn't going to stop anytime soon, he took matters into his own hands.
With reflexes only a Quidditch player could offer, James caught her wrists in his hands and yanked them away from his stomach, causing her to lose her balance and fall on top of him with a little yelp. The two struggled for power, both laughing as Lily wiggled around on top of him trying to get her arms free. But there was practically no contest, James was stronger and bigger than Lily and eventually he rolled her over so he was on top, still holding her wrists above her head. He leaned down close to her face and saw fire burning in her eyes.
"Pinned ya" he whispered.
His face was now inches from hers, and he was having trouble thinking. They stayed there for a few long moments, staring into each other's eyes. A smile crept onto her face and she leaned her head up, tilting it towards James. He felt her hot breath on his lips and he couldn't hold back any longer, capturing her lips with his own.
Lily's lips were soft and seemed to mold into his perfectly. He let go of her wrists and slid one hand down to cup the side of her face, using the other to brace himself above her so as not to crush her. Kissing her was intoxicating and everything he thought it would be. The kiss was slow and sweet and Merlin she was tangling a hand through his hair and her nails against his head felt so damn good. Lily snaked a hand down the side of his neck and pushed on his shoulder, silently insisting that he roll over. He happily obliged and rolling over, he pulled her on top of him.
Lily took his hands and pulled them over his head like James had done to her. She broke the kiss, pulling away with a genuine smile on her face. Then she giggled and whispered triumphantly, "pinned ya".
