Lily's POV

Lily was absolutely exhausted. Charms class was usually a piece of cake for her but during this particular lesson, it was difficult even for her. They were doing advanced level wand-less Charms this term. On the other hand, James Potter and his 'cronies' found that Charms lesson exceptionally easy and so they decided that annoying the hell out of Lily and her friends qualified as 'class-work'. Remus excluded.

Lily's state of mood was easy to guess. Right now she was vacillating between cursing James Potter and his friends into oblivion or simply coming up with a revenge plan to get even.

Upon entering Gryffindor tower, Lily noted that it was more occupied and noisier than usual. Since she was already annoyed, her temper progressed from level 5 to level 8. Deciding she needed complete peace and silence, she decided to head towards the Prefects' Lounge. It was more likely to be unoccupied at this time of the day and she was guaranteed some quality time to work on her 42-inch Transfiguration essay.

While heading towards the desired lounge in an absent-minded manner, she was startled out of her reverie when a particularly large water balloon landed on her with a very loud 'splat'. Doused in ice-cold water and frantically looking around for the culprit, she saw a cackling Peeves zooming away. What the bloody hell!

Taking a deep breath so as to not let her usual fiery temper rise to level 10 (meaning boiling point), she stomped her remaining way to the Prefects' Lounge. When she reached, she furtively looked around before giving the password. Once inside, she exhaled deeply and made her way to her favourite corner to put down her books. Thank Merlin the room was unoccupied. Looking down at her uniform, Lily decided to take off her blouse and let it dry. Besides... she was guaranteed some privacy here. No need to worry about being caught without a shirt on.

Soon, Lily was industriously busy with her homework and within no time she was done with her required 42-inch Transfiguration essay. Given her dedicated mood, she concluded that getting ahead with her Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies essays was also probably a good idea. She glanced at her now partially dried shirt and opened her books again. Best to get her homework out of the way then.

Half way through her Muggle Studies essay on electricity, James Potter's stupid face popped up and suddenly she had no patience with her books. Soon her mind was happily employed with various scenarios where Potter and his friends were at the receiving end of some particularly nasty hexes, courtesy of yours truly. That certainly brought a very satisfied evil grin on her face. Maybe she could alter the spells a bit for some interesting, persistent side effects.. Ah, such beautiful thoughts!

Deciding to sleep on the finer details of various revenge possibilities, Lily dozed off.

James POV

James was still thinking about the latest Marauder prank-in-planning. It involved some heavy spell work and a lot of Charms. Coincidentally, it involved what was being taught in Charms class today. Since they already mastered it for the prank, they decided to employ their time by changing the hair colours of Lily and her friends. Of course Remus being the rule abiding Prefect he was (not!), he kept his nose clean for appearance's sake.

Thoughts drifting towards Lily, James sighed. When will she finally notice him 'that' way? The primary reason for pestering her to death daily was because he wanted her sole attention. The only time that happened was when they were pranking. He just had to go for the most indifferent of birds, didn't he?

He loved everything about Lily, even her anger. Sirius and Remus had said that he was actually a masochist who secretly got the thrills from poking the dragon in the eye. But as if he could help it! Lily was so damn beautiful … especially when angry. Her emerald eyes sparkled and the fire in them added to her personality. She always wore decent clothes and never resorted to artificial methods of beautifying herself. She didn't need to. He loved her just the way she was and found her beautiful even in a simple clothes. The only one time Lily wore a short skirt that clung to her legs, James thought processes were in a state of shutdown for the entire day.

Bloody hell. Thank Merlin and puberty. That skirt haunted his nights from that day on.

Deep in Lily- obsessed thoughts, he was barely looking where he was walking. Suddenly he looked up and got his face drenched in water balloons thrown about by the castle's poltergeist. Stupid infernal menace. Where was the nearest restroom again?

Seeing that he was on the 5th floor of the castle and close to the Prefects' Lounge, he decided to visit there and clean up. Having Remus as a prefect was surely an added advantage! Giving the password, he entered already tugging at his shirt and unbuttoning them. He turned around the corner and noted that someone was already present and in a partially dressed state. Being the gentleman that he was brought up to be *cough*, he decided to wait patiently and let the other person cover himself or herself up.

Lily POV

In the meantime, Lily awoke from her nap when she heard the Prefects' Lounge door opening. She was feeling much more relaxed. She had heard footsteps heading towards the room and looking around to snatch up her shirt to put it on. Just when she was about to put one hand through the sleeves, she heard a gasp. Blushing, Lily whirled around unthinkingly and her eyes met a pair of hazel eyes behind round glasses. James-bloody-Potter was in the room! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL!

Lily instantly colored under his gaze and opened her mouth to shout at the moron when he suddenly stepped forward. Lily was mortified and frozen in place. Here she was standing without her shirt on and the nerve of Potter! Instead of being a gentleman and turning around to give her some privacy to right her clothes, he was proceeding towards her!

Lily's temper shot through the roof and she finally regained her wits to thoroughly abuse him for his lack of manners when James Potter was upon her and kissing her – hard. The force of his kiss pushed her against the wall and James Potter held her there. She couldn't escape even if she wanted to. Her mind locked down, her eyes fluttered closed when he was started sucking on her lower lip. Her left arm was holding onto support by grabbing his right shoulder and her left hand was caressing his messy hair. Her right hand was unthinkingly moving across his muscled chest and abdomen. James moaned into her mouth and grabbed her waist tighter with both arms. Lily kissed him back with a fervor that could have set the lounge ablaze and she wouldn't have noticed.

Where was this even coming from? What on earth was happening?!

Was she caught in some rip tide of hidden feelings that she was unaware about for James Potter of all people?! Though she was still shirt-less, James never shifted and his hands firmly stayed at her waist. His kiss was assaulting her senses and she wasn't pausing to consider her actions. She felt his body pressing against hers and she arched her back. Her left leg hitched up itself on its own accord near his hip. And oh Merlin... she involuntarily moaned into James Potter's mouth as her hand reached his belt buckle.

Someone please kill her now. Seriously, they would be doing her a favour.

Suddenly James staggered back.

James POV

The sound of movement caught his attention and he decided that the person inside must be decent by now. He decided to take a quick peripheral peek just to confirm. A flash of red hair and green eyes caught his full attention. In total shock to assure himself he wasn't hallucinating about Lily, he turned around without thinking. What? It happened before. Like Sirius would ever let me forget it. The pig-dog.

Bloody hell, it was Lily WITHOUT a shirt! Within seconds, Lily noted his presence and turned to look at him with fury in her eyes. He knew he was in complete danger but his brain couldn't register anything but the way Lily looked in her skin. He knew there would be hell to pay but he couldn't help himself!

As if on auto-mode, his feet took him forward and he found himself kissing her as hard as he always secretly wanted to. Wow, she tastes like watermelon...

What on earth was he doing?

This is LILY! The girl he wanted to bring home to meet his parents. He didn't want to take advantage of her or paw at her like some rabid animal. He loved her so much but seeing her dressed like that took a toll on his feelings for her. He wanted her and he was a hormonal teenager, for Merlin's sake. There wasn't much that he could do to stop himself. He felt Lily's hand roaming on his chest he couldn't hold back that moan.

Did the fiery vixen know what she was doing to him? Wait a tick... her leg is hitched up against my hip! Pure torture!

He kept telling himself to stop and that it was wrong of him to take advantage of Lily like this but he found himself that he didn't want to stop. He was a guy who was being kissed back by the girl he loved. What could he do? But when he felt Lily's hand on his belt buckle, reality crashed down on him like a tidal wave. Lily would regret this in her senses. He could never bear to be a regret in Lily's life. He loved and respected her too much to be a 'regret' and a mistake.

He had to break it NOW and it would take his entire will power to do so.