It was supposed to be a joke. Just him, James Potter, hitting on her, Lily Evans, and expecting her to hit him or to yell at him or to reject him. But that wasn't exactly what happened.
It was Valentine's Day, but since it was the middle of the week, the Hogsmeade outing would only happen a few days later, on the weekend. There would be no Valentine's Day ball as well, so the school was just covered in pink hearts and little cupids, while couples walked around as if they were glued together. Every now and then you could hear a girl giving a happy yelp due to the perfect present she got from her boyfriend, or see a couple sneaking out to some empty classroom, or a boy on his knees in front of a girl that was practically crying, or someone looking miserable for being single on Valentine's Day. It was sickening, really, and he could barely take it. He really hated Valentine's Day.
And it just got worse and worse as he would walk around the hallways and people would point at him and whisper to each other because, hey, look at that, James Potter is alone in a Valentine's Day! How is that even possible? Assholes. So what that he didn't have a girl hanging from his arm today? So what that he barely spared a look to the ones that came to talk to him? So what that Lily Evans wasn't with him right now? So what that she was currently sitting at the Hufflepuff table and having a lovely chat with Amos Diggory? So what? It's not like he cared about any of this!
"You're staring, Prongs." He heard Remus's voice call him, but he didn't look away. What did she see in that dull Hufflepuff? What did Amos Diggory have that James Potter didn't?
"And everyone is noticing it." It was Sirius, this time. Like he could care less if people were noticing it. Everyone already knew about his infatuation, as Sirius would call it, over Lily. And now she was laughing at something he had said. Since when was Diggory funny?
"And everyone is talking about it." Remus called again, making him finally look at his two friends sitting across from him, a familiar frown etched in both of their faces. James sighed, of course they were talking about it. All that his fellow schoolmates did was gossip about everyone else's lives, so it's not like he was surprised.
"So?" Sirius rolled his eyes, already losing his patience with his friend, but Remus only sighed.
"So, that sooner or later Lily will notice the staring and the gossiping and you will be the one that she will scream at." As if he didn't know that already. He was always the one she screamed at.
"Wow, Moony, thank you so much for the inspirational speech. But don't worry, I won't stare anymore. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be off to our Transfiguration class." He said, standing up from his place on the table.
"But you didn't even eat your lunch, James!" Remus tried making him sit down again, but James really didn't stand seeing those two together anymore.
"Yeah, well, I'm not hungry anymore. I'm actually feeling like I might get sick if I stay in this place for another second." With that, James left the Great Hall, only glancing one last time to Evans, who was currently touching Diggory's arm and smiling at him fondly. Fondly.
James was now back in the common room, after classes were over. He was sitting in one of the couches and he was just watching the fireplace in front of him, the red and orange of the fire reminding him of the red and orange of her hair. She was never fondly with him. Never. Not even after he had changed and they had started talking to each other as normal people that didn't try to murder one another every single day. But oh, Amos Diggory could have the lingering touches on the arm, because Amos Diggory was oh so perfect. Come on! He was so much better than Diggory could ever be! You know, Potter, maybe Diggory doesn't have such a huge ego compared to you, and that makes her like him. She always said you were an egocentric bastard anyway.Shut up, mind. You're supposed to be helpful and supportive. And as he wondered if he was going insane for arguing with his own thoughts, James Potter almost had a heart attack at the age of seventeen because Lily Evans had just sat beside him on the couch when he hadn't even seen her coming in the room in the first place.
"Hey!" She was smiling at him. A completely innocent, 'I have no idea of what I did' smile, that made her look really good. What was her problem? Could she actually smile at him after what she had…? Wait, no, Potter, stop. She didn't do anything to you. You two are not committed to each other in any way. But he couldn't help still feeling angry and jealous, so it wasn't like he was exactly nice to her.
"Hey." The smile died from her face, a cute frown taking over. She touched his arm. And he tried not to get affected by it.
"Is everything okay?" For Merlin's sake, why did worry also look so good in her? And why did she have to look at him with those eyes?
"Yeah, fine, why wouldn't it be?" So, yeah, he was rude. And apparently she noticed it, because her hand immediately left his arm and she sat back in the couch, crossing her arms.
"If everything's fine why are you acting like an asshole with me?" And frustration also looked good in her. Damn it.
"I'm not." Okay, so maybe he was, but he had his pride and he would stand his ground. Even if only for another ten seconds.
"Yes, you are. Will you just tell me what's going on?" She was getting angry, the red already creeping up her neck and appearing on her cheeks. And guess what? She still looked good. But as he didn't really want to talk to her at that moment because those green eyes were quickly making his anger go away, he lost a bit of the control over what he was saying.
"Look, nothing's going on, so why don't you just go back to your dear Diggory and leave me alone?" She just raised one eyebrow at him, understanding crossing her expression and she rolled her eyes at him.
"What? Oh my Merlin, are you being serious with me?" What?
"No, I'm being James." Right, so maybe he was spending too much time with Sirius because he couldn't stop himself from making that joke. She rolled her eyes again.
"Actually, you're being a jerk and I already know why." She smiled arrogantly at him. She did?
"Is that so? So tell me, why am I being a jerk even though I'm not?" He wasn't in denial, alright? He just would never admit to her that he was really being a jerk.
"You are jealous." What?
"What?" She rolled her eyes again. She would end up getting cockeyed if she kept doing that all the time.
"Don't play dumb with me, Potter, you were telling me to go back to Amos. You're jealous."
"Why would I be jealous of you with Amos?" Well, she wasn't supposed to know that he was still into her, right?
"Well, that's the part I don't know. Would you care to enlighten me?" So, she didn't know, thank Merlin.
"I would, except I can't, because I'm not jealous of you. Especially not with him, I don't know if you noticed, which you probably haven't considering the way you two were being affectionate with each other today at lunch, but the guy's a dick." And then she smiled.
"Ah, there it is." What?
"What is?" She just chuckled. The girl had gone mad.
"The reason you're jealous. Even though it doesn't explain much, you saw me with him today at lunch and now you're jealous." How the hell did she catch up on that? Was he really that obvious?
"Look, I'm not jealous, okay? I just really, really don't think you should be having something with Diggory. He doesn't deserve you." Again, it wasn't that he was in denial, but he also couldn't admit everything to her.
"Well, that's okay, considering I don't have anything with him." She doesn't?
"You don't?" She tried to suppress a smile, but he saw the corners of her mouth twitch.
"No, I don't." YES! YES! YES!
"Well, um… Cool. Yeah, that's… That's good." She laughed wholeheartedly at his awkward answer and he flushed red. Since when had they exchanged roles?
"Come on, James, how low can you think of me? Did you really believe that I could have anything with Diggory? I do have some self respect you know?" Well… It was more of a matter of him being completely insecure when it came to her, but that wasn't what he answered.
"Well, like I said, you were being awfully affectionate with him." She rolled her eyes. Again.
"Oh, shut up, will you?" She shoved him playfully. He was about to answer her, but then he couldn't, because he got deafened by the one and only Marlene Mckinnon.
"LILY!"
"Why do you have to yell, Marls? Every. Single. Time." She looked at him as if he was an insignificant fly bothering her.
"I'm not talking to you, Potter." Ah, he loved Marls so much, always so nice to everyone, but, of course, he was a Marauder and he couldn't miss the opportunity she gave him.
"You are now." He smirked at her and he swore she almost laughed.
"Shut up." Now that was becoming quite an annoying habit.
"Well, that seems to be the order of the day for James Potter, huh?" But before Marlene could answer him, Lily decided to intervene. She had been watching James' and Marlene's interaction amusedly the whole time and could barely contain her laughter due to the two idiots.
"What's up, Marls?" The other girl seemed to remember the reason she had come over on the first place and turned to Lily.
"My parents just sent me this bag of candy hearts and you know how much I hate them. But since I also know how much you love them, do you want them for you?" She showed a bag full of heart shaped candies to the red head, and James swore he saw Lily's eyes shining from it.
"Candy hearts? Are you even asking me this? Of course I want them!" She grabbed the bag, already opening it and popping one of the hearts into her mouth. Marlene chuckled at her friend and so did James.
"Cool, now, if you'll excuse me, I've… I've got something to do…" The girl started backing off, almost nervously and he got his Marauder smile on. The time had come.
"Something? Or someone?" He winked at her and she glared at him murderously and he only laughed.
"Shut up, Potter." Seriously, that was getting annoying.
"SAY HI TO SIRIUS FROM ME." He screamed at her as she was walking out of the portrait and she didn't even turn around, only screaming her answer.
"I SAID SHUT UP!" He laughed at the girl and Lily laughed along with him. But before you think he and Marlene hated each other, they didn't. But they had known each other for a very long time now, had practically grown up together so they treated each other as siblings, always bickering.
"You're an idiot." He turned to Lily, who was still sporting a beautiful smile on her face. Merlin, he sounded like a lovesick fool. Sirius would never let him hear the end of it if he knew the things that went through his head when he looked at Lily Evans.
"You love it." He smiled back at her, seeing that lovely flush appear on her cheeks once again as she looked down, averting his eyes.
"Maybe." Did he actually just hear that? He didn't, right? It was just his imagination. It had to be. It had been just a tiny whisper, anyway. "So, do you want a candy heart? I love them, but I would never be able to eat an entire bag by myself."
"Hm… Sure, just… What exactly are they?" He looked warily at the bag she held up to him and she laughed.
"A muggle candy. Just try it." He took one from the bag then, because when was he ever able to refuse something Lily Evans offered him? But they were actually really good! "Did you like it?"
"Yeah, I did. Can I have another?" She nodded, smiling, popping one into her mouth as well.
"Sure." He grabbed another one from the bag, just then realizing that those candies had things written on them. Interestingly enough, the one he had just picked up was labeled 'Kiss Me'.
"So, Lily…"
"Yeah?" She turned to him, who had just put the heart on his tongue, and was showing it to her, the 'Kiss Me' quite clear to her sight. He winked at her, waiting for her to get angry and the red flush that would appear on her cheeks. But they never came. Instead she looked at his mouth, his tongue and the heart, and before either of them could think of what was happening, she had already put her lips on his, kissing him fervently.
He was shocked at first and didn't respond immediately, but hey, can you blame him? Lily Evans, the girl he had been in love for as long as he could remember, was kissing him with all she got. But then his mind awoke because yes, Lily Evans was kissing him and he should kiss her back. So he wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her as close to him as possible, as her hands were in his hair, messing it up even more than it already was. And then she was deepening the kiss, stealing the candy that had started it all from his tongue and… And they were interrupted by a freaking dog that was just begging to die.
"OY! PRONGS! LILY FLOWER! THERE ARE CHILDREN IN HERE THAT DON'T NEED TO BE SCARRED FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES!" James and Lily broke the kiss, panting heavily with their foreheads still touching, her eyes were still closed and James thought he had never seen her look so beautiful as she did in that moment. The boy reluctantly separated himself from her, glaring at his best friend that was currently smirking at him.
"Padfoot, weren't you supposed to be in an empty classroom with some girl? Marlene, perhaps?" He said through gritted teeth and almost smiled triumphantly as he saw Sirius's smirk disappear from his friend's face. But before his best friend could answer, Lily cut in.
"Unless you want to get detention for the rest of your school life, Black, I suggest you don't interrupt your Heads ever again." His head snapped to face Lily. Was he hearing correctly?
"There's going to be an again?" He whispered and saw the corner of her mouth twitch at his question even though she was still glaring threateningly at Sirius.
"Now come on, James, we've got some businesses to attend." And as she said that, she stood up from the couch, grabbed him by the hand and started dragging him out the common room. James was aware of the wolf whistling from his house mates and that the Marauders and the girls were staring at them with knowing looks on their faces and that they were the Heads and they should be examples of behavior, but as Lily pushed him against a wall in an empty hallway, he couldn't really bring himself to care about it.
Maybe Valentine's Day wasn't so bad after all.