It's A Date
It was snowing again, the blustering clumps of white piling up around the edges of the windows, the warm air of the common room steaming up the thick panes of glass. Lily sat with a book on her lap, pretending to read for History of Magic, but really just staring at the snowfall and thinking. Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar, but unusually timid, voice.
"Um, Lily?" It was James Potter, candidate for school idiot, along with his best friend Sirius. It had been a few years since James had bothered Lily, but she still kept her distance, remembering the cruel jokes he had pulled all the way through second and third year. He was alone today, which was practically unheard, he usually went around with a little crowd of admirers, and was never seen without his best friends, they called themselves 'the marauders', as if they couldn't miss an opportunity to grab attention.
"What?" Lily said, a little coolly, trying to convey that she had better things to do. James ran his hand through his hair, leaving it ruffled and, Lily hated to admit it, a lot cuter than his usual 'too cool to care' style.
"I was wondering, hoping, I mean, that, if you wanted to," Lily had never heard James stutter before, "would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me?" he finished in a rush, his eyes trained firmly on his shoes.
Lily just blinked for a few seconds, completely in shock. Her first instinct was to say no, of course not, I'd rather date the giant squid, but something stopped her. James's nervous looks made him look a lot more serious than she'd ever seen him, and in the firelight, with a little snow still melting in his hair and a shy half smile on his lips he was very good-looking.
"This isn't a joke, is it?" she asked tentatively, "not another of your stupid wind-ups?" A pained expression crossed James's face, as if he had feared this.
"I know I've been a total dick in the past, and that I don't deserve a chance, but I really like you. You're the cleverest, funniest, prettiest girl in the school, in the whole world and I'm sorry it took me so long to notice. I'd understand if you didn't trust me, but please, please give me a chance."
Lilly thought hard, trying to get the measure of James's expression.
"Alright," she said at last, "one date, OK?" James's face broke into a huge grin and he pounded the air with his fist. Then he scooped her out of her chair and hugged her tight. They drew apart suddenly, as James realised that maybe that wasn't quite appropriate behaviour, and there was an awkward half moment as he looked at Lily questioningly, waiting for her to push him away. Finally she smiled, and he leant in and kissed her gently, his lips chapped from the cold, hers tasting of strawberries from her lip gloss. It took a flurry of paper planes and shouts of 'get a room' to part them, and as Lily went up to her room, she gave James a look that could only mean 'to be continued'.