Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.

Kiss

Lily looked up from her transfiguration essay and glanced around the common room. As her eyes skimmed over groups of students, some laughing, some studying, they eventually landed on James, a smile tugged at her lips as she thought about the absurdity of the situation.

She, head girl, Lily Evans, was sitting in the common room, working on a transfiguration essay, right next to the head boy, James Potter.

Though at first Lily had her reservations about working along with James, she had been miraculously surprised. This year James had come to school ready to take on the new head duties. He did all of the paperwork without complaint, he was never late to the prefects meetings, and he even gave detentions when necessary. The only negative thing anyone could say about was that he often lost his temper when it came to infractions dealing with blood status, but Lily could hardly fault him for that without being hypocritical. With the events occurring in the last few years, as selfish as it may be, Lily took comfort a member of an old, pureblood family defending the muggleborns so fiercely. Not to mention the look on the faces of some Slytherins as they listened to a Potter defend muggleborns.

Lily wasn't sure what caused James' newfound maturity… was it the brewing of the war? Or was just normal growing up?

Lily's smile faltered a little as her thoughts came to what else had changed with James' personality- he no longer asked her out on a regular basis. In fact, he hadn't asked her out all year.

As Lily pondered the irony, James glanced up, and thinking that Lily was staring because she had a question, asked

"All right Evans?"

Lily, jerked away from her musings of James, felt a blush creep up to her cheeks under the stare of the boy in question.

Looking down and mumbling, she replied, "Yes. I just can't focus"

James looked from Lily, to the homework in front of them, bit his lip, and turned to stare at Lily, which did not help the blush highlighting her face.

Oblivious to Lily's blush, James suddenly grinned.

"Chocolate. Hot chocolate… that's what you need."

Lily just kept looking at him.

"What? Hot chocolate helps me focus!"

Finally regaining some composure, Lily responded "Yes, but not only is it long past dinner, but its after curfew!"

James looked at her incredulously.

"Have you forgotten who you're talking to? I'm a marauder! I promise I will get you to and from the kitchens without a soul seeing. What do you say, Evans?"

"Nobody will see?"

"Not a soul."

"How?"

"I can't tell you unless you agree."

Lily pretended to be thoughtful, even though her mind was made up at the mention of hot chocolate.

Lily looked at James and grinned.

"Okay."

For a second, James looked shocked, but it turned into a grin so quickly, Lily thought she might have imagined it.

Suddenly, James jumped up with a grin on his face.

"Hang on a moment."

Before Lily could even open her mouth to respond, James was bouncing up to his dormitory.

A minute later he reappeared in front of Lily and offered her a hand up.

She accepted and tried to ignore the warm feeling on her hand where her skin had touched his.

As they walked out the portrait hole, Lily took notice of the butterflies that had taken up residence in her stomach.

Once outside the common room, James suddenly pulled something over their heads.

"James? What is this?" asked Lily, voice full of confusion.

He just smirked. "I told you nobody would be able to see us."

As the realization of what James had thrown over their hands dawned on Lily, her expression changed to be one of mixed shock and admiration.

"James… are you telling me…is this really an invisibility cloak?"

He just smiled. Caring to verify the reality of the situation, Lily stepped out from under the cloak and looked to where she knew James was, only to find she could not see the faintest trace of him.

"Wow…" She trailed off, and then she heard James chuckle and saw him as he threw the cloak back over her head.

"Ready then, Evans?" James said, still smirking.

She could only nod.

They made their way to the kitchens in relative silence, after James had apologized so for walking so close to her- explaining that it was only to ensure their feet wouldn't show under the cloak.

About half way to the kitchens, Lily's shock at James' possession of an invisibility cloak had calmed down, Lily's focus returned to the butterflies in her stomach, which had grown with her proximity to James. Here she was, sneaking down to the kitchens with James Potter.

James Potter, who had at some point in the last year and a half, had ceased to be the annoying, arrogant, toerag, and turned into a thoughtful, and reliable, not to mention attractive, friend.

Once again lost in her own musings of James, she was startled as James placed his hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Here we are!" James said as he removed the cloak.

Lily just stared at him. They were in a random corridor in the basement, after all. The only thing the looked remotely edible in the vicinity was a painting of some fruit.

"Do you want to tickle the pear?" asked James

Lily just kept staring.

He just smirked at her. "Seriously, Evans. Tickle the pear."

"Okay…"

Lily walked over the painting and reached up to stroke the pear. She gasped as a door and handle slowly appeared. Mildly stunned, she followed James, who was once again chuckling, in through the door.

She gasped at the sight; there were four long tables that appeared to be directly below the house tables. In the corner, the few house elves still awake sat at a smaller table sipping tea. They jumped up upon realizing they had visitors.

"Mr. Potter sir! What can wes get you and yous friend?" asked an elf.

"We just stopped by for some hot chocolate, if you don't mind, Goldie."

"Not at all sir! Please have a seat! Wes will be right back!"

James led Lily to another small table along the parameter of the room.

"You come here often," Lily stated.

James smiled "On occasion. Usually to satisfy Sirius' appetite or Remus' chocolate cravings"

Lily chuckled. "Of course."

At that moment, Goldie and two other elves came back with two mugs of hot chocolate, and a plate of biscuits.

After thanking the elves, Lily took a sip.

"Mmmm. This is perfect. Thank you, James."

He snorted. "Don't thank me. The elves made it."

"Yes, but I meant coming down here. It was your idea. This is a nice break."

He blushed slightly and looked down, grinning. As they ate and drank, talked turned to other things. They talked about the Marauders, Alice, and Marlene, how drafty Hogwarts became when it was cold, and what hot chocolate reminded them of.

For Lily, it was a reminder of decorating her house for Christmas with her family while listening to classic Christmas songs.

For James, it was custom to have hot chocolate after vicious marauder snowball fights, which were not infrequent when the grounds were covered in snow.

Time flew as Lily and James sat and talked. Eventually Lily thought to glance at her watch.

"We've been here for almost two hours. Can you believe it?" Asked Lily, clearly surprised by the lateness of the hour.

"Are you complaining? I'm excellent company!"

Lily smirked, "Of course. James Potter! Conversation extraordinaire!"

Before he could even retort, Lily continued "Come on James, we should head back…"

He sighed with a joking air of being too busy, "If you insist."

James stood up and offered his hand to Lily, only this time he didn't let go until they were in the hallway.

Had he not been too nervous to look at Lily in the face, he may have caught the disappointment that appeared her face when he let go.

He took the cloak out of his pocket and threw it over them again. As they made their way back to the common room, Lily debated reaching for his hand. It had felt so nice, but she reasoned, it might not have meant anything to James. Did he like her? They were friends, certainly, and sometimes it even seemed like they were flirting, but were they really, or was it just her own wishful thinking?

As they walked into the common room, James walked over to the sofa in front of the fire, and plopped down while Lily sat down next to him.

It was so warm and comfortable being in front of the fire, full from hot chocolate, and sitting next to James. She signed contentedly.

James looked at her and smiled. "What's up?"

Lily looked at him and returned his smile, "Nothing. Just thinking about tonight. Thank you again, James."

"Of course, Lily"

They picked up their conversation from earlier, talking about random things, and Hogwarts gossip until the conversation eventually got more serious.

"What do you want to do after school?" Asked Lily.

"Fight. Become an Auror." He replied without the slightest hesitation.

"Why?"

He turned to face her, giving her a questioning look. "Lily, there is a war going on. How could I do nothing?"

"No, I mean why bother? You are a pure blood wizard… you could walk away if you wanted to."

She could see something shift in James, and his tone became almost harsh.

"Are you mad, Lily? Do you think that makes any difference to me? Blood is blood. It doesn't define any of us. You and Marlene have just as much of a right to be here as me and Sirius. What does it matter, if someone is muggleborn? They aren't any worse at learning magic than the rest of us. What's the point of turning them away? Of denying them the gift they were born with? Blood makes no difference. Magic is magic."

Lily smiled. "Thank you James. You have no idea how much that means to me."

"Do you want to fight, Lily?"

"Yes, of course. This is my home. It has been since I was 11. It's not like I could go back anyways" she finished, looking down.

"Lily?" James asked tentatively.

"I'm sorry, James, I'm just being dramatic. What were we talking about before?"

"Lily." James said with a little force. "What are you thinking about?"

Lily remained silent for a moment, as she debated what to tell James. Settling on the truth, she began, "sometimes it's hard. The magical world doesn't want me because there is muggle blood in me. My muggle sister doesn't want me because there is magic in me. Sometimes I just wonder where I really belong" tears were falling down her face as she vocalized her secret fear for the first time.

James shifted he body so he was facing her profile. He gently used his finger to raise her head towards himself, though she kept her eyes down.

"I'm sor-" Lily began, but James cut her off.

"Lily," he said while wiping away her tears with his thumbs.

"You belong in this world. At Hogwarts. Here. In the wizarding world. You belong right here, with Marlene and Alice, the marauders."

When Lily met his eyes, she was found a softness, an acceptance, and something else she couldn't quite place.

"Lily, you belong here, with me."

Suddenly, the butterflies in her stomach exploded. She was suddenly filled with comforting warmth.

Without thinking about the future, or any possible consequences of her actions, she gave in to those butterflies and kissed James.

It was soft and tentative, and one sided at first. At least until James realized that this was reality, and not one of his dreams. He kissed her back, slow and soft. A kiss full of love and acceptance.

Lily's insides exploded. Soft as it was, her insides were on fire. She never wanted this to end, but she knew it must.

When the broke apart, before Lily could move away, James' arm snuck around her shoulders and he ran his hand through her dark red strands, accepting this for the present, she laid he head on his shoulder.

Had Lily not been too nervous and mortified to look at James, she would have seen an obnoxious grin on his face.

They sat in silence for some time, until Lily spoke.

"James?" She asked tentatively

"Yes?"

Lily opened her mouth, intending to apologize, and explain that kiss and how sorry she was, but instead all that came out was "Thank you."

James chuckled again. "It's me that should be thanking you, Lily," said James with an enormous grin on his face.

She looked up and smiled back at him before burrowing even closer into his side. They settled back into silence for a little longer before James spoke.

"Lily?" he began tentatively. She looked at him.

"Hogsmeade this weekend?"

She smiled the brightest smile of the night.

"Of course, James"

They both looked away and smiled, both believing they had been very lucky that night.

They laid there for several more hours, talking about insignificant tidbits and being close to each other as James gently ran his fingers through her hair, their transfiguration essays laying forgotten on another table.

AN: I'm not sure how I feel about this. Thoughts? I'm thinking of adding more of their firsts… Like their first date, fight, maybe wedding? Child? Maybe even their first time (you know) if I could pull it off.

Anyways, any thoughts are welcome!