AN: Jily Secret Santa submission for Haley. Hope you enjoy it :)
Almost ready, just gotta grab- oh right, don't forget the broomstick you idiot! Thirteen year old James muttered to himself as he ran around his room, one arm in his Quidditch robe, the other searching for his scarf. Wrapping it around his neck, he knocked over his mum's letter sitting on his desk which said that he should meet her at King's Cross in two days for winter hols and also to tell him to invite his friends to their annual New Years' Party. Glancing down at the note, he was remembered that he had told Sirius ten minutes ago that he'd be down at the pitch soon. Finally convincing himself that he had everything, James took one more quick look around the room, then one at the wrist on his watch, which informed him that he was supposed to be down at the pitch five minutes ago. Bugger.
He bounded down the steps with his Quidditch robes still half on, his scarf tied haphazardly around his neck, and his broomstick flopping about in his right hand. Not but a second later though, his clumsy 12-size foot caught on the carpet at the edge of the stairs and caused him to tumble down the last few steps, ending with a loud oomph! on the floor. He laid there, dazed for a moment, before sitting up and running a hand through his hair. It was at that moment that a flash of red came flying down the girls' staircase opposite him.
"Potter?" The girl stopped, seemingly surprised. "Shouldn't you already be at the pitch?" She asked, already edging toward the portrait hole herself.
"I, um, well yes, yes I guess I should, I guess." James said, surprised as well that Evans was even stopping to talk to him. Still slightly scatterbrained, he hopped up on his feet and gathered up everything he dropped. As James picked up his various Quidditch gear, Lily looked at him carefully, noticing his stuttering words in contrast to the usual suave pick-up lines he used on her. However, instead of the confident and arrogant Potter she was used to, she saw one with jittery hands and sweat forming on his brow.
"Alright there, Potter?" Lily said, startling James who thought she had already left.
"Yeah, yeah, just, um, you know, a little- nervous." He said, reddening a bit at admitting this to Evans, who he figured would bully him about it if she wanted to.
"Nervous?" Lily parroted. "Why are you nervous? Because you're late?" she asked.
"No, well, yes," James said, and ran his hand through his hair again. He looked like he was sorry he said anything in the first place. "But not really, more about- the match." He said, wringing his hands out in front of him. "It's well, my first real one, you know?" James said quickly, trying to hide his anxiousness.
"What?" Lily asked, confusedly.
"Yeah, well Preer's out because of his wrist and I'm the back-up Chaser so they said I was going to play this time and well I'mreallyscaredI'mgoingtoscrewitallup." James said, spitting the last part out quickly and hanging his head.
"What? No! You're going to be fine, Potter!" Lily said, being nice for once to Potter, her sworn-enemy, as she liked to call him. When James shook his head a bit and turned a little more red, Lily stepped forward and reached out to him.
At first, it looked like Lily might hug him and his eyes widened a bit, surprised. Evans, showing affection? To him? But then her hands darted towards his neck and pulled the ends of his wayward scarf tightly around his neck.
"There you go." Lily said, stepping back, looking almost as surprised as him at her sudden closeness.
"Oh, thanks." James said, his thirteen year old self half thrilled at having a girl so near to him and half still nervous about the upcoming match, no matter what she said.
He quickly picked up his broom and loped toward the portrait hole, throwing a smile Evan's way. Although it had been nice to get some reassurance, he really had to get to the pitch or else he knew he would be too late to play in the match.
But, when he got to the door, he found he was stuck. Not stuck in a metaphorical sense- in a so-nervous-I'm-stuck sense, but physically stuck.
Hearing an oomph! from his right, he turned that direction and saw that Evans was stuck as well. He looked around, to see if anyone had stuck them with some kind of weird body-binding curse at the same time, and while looking, he saw a flash of red and green in his peripheral vision. He then nudged Evans, who was trying to get past the invisible wall, spouting spells from her wand, none of which were working.
He pointed upward, at the invisible little mistletoe hanging from the top of the portrait hole. At once, Evan's eyes widened with recognition then scrunched in anger. "Merlin Potter, I was just trying to be nice, why do you always have to ruin everything, you arrogant, unbearable prick!" Lily said, shouting at him.
"What?" James said, confused as always at her sudden anger.
"You thought it would be funny, charming that mistletoe up there, huh? Forcing me to have to kiss you." Lily said, glaring at him.
"What? No! That wasn't my fault! No one can "charm" mistletoe, Evans!" James said, putting his hands up to show his innocence.
"What do you mean?" Lily asked. "I bet you and Sirius thought this up!" She suddenly accused. "You probably thought, oh, let's make James be nervous for a bit and make Evans fall for it, be nice to him, then coerce her into kissing you. That was the plan wasn't it?" Lily said, somehow looking both smug and angry at the same time.
"Evans, no! Will you just listen to me for a sec?" James said, trying to stop her from going into a rant. Seeing Evans shut her mouth, he continued. "It wasn't me, I swear. I wasn't lying before, you can't just charm mistletoe, at least this kind. It's magical. It just appears on its own and then the two people are caught beneath it until they kiss." James explained. "So I wasn't trying to force you and there was no 'plan.'" James said, looking particularly hurt at the idea that Evans thought he faked being nervous when in reality, he was scared to death of playing his first Quidditch match. "I didn't do this on purpose, but the thing is- we do have to kiss if we want to get out of here." he said cautiously, still afraid that she would lash out at him for referencing their inevitable kissing.
"Fine." Lily said, looking like she actually believed him, for once. Then she got this determined look in her eyes. She searched his face for a second, then, leaning up on her toes, she pressed her lips quick against his. It lasted no more than a few seconds, just a quick exchange of cherry chap stick and minty-smelling breath. When she pulled away, she saw the tiniest twinkle in Potter's eyes before they both avoided looking at each other and blushed fiercely.
"Oh, well, thanks Evans!" James said, suddenly realizing that he was no longer stuck by the mistletoe's charm. He swung open the door and started sprinting down the hallway, suddenly motivated to play.
"Yeah, sure, good luck!" Lily said, although James didn't hear her since he had already skidded around the corner, leaving Lily to stand still in disbelief at what had just happened and what she had just done before starting down the hall after him.
Four years later
"No, no I am very funny. Stop laughing, I'm great at jokes. Well just listen to this one and then you can judge my amazing joke skills." James said, humorously agitated at Lily's lack of confidence in him. "So here goes, how many Slytherin's does it take to feed a hippogriff?" James asked, swinging their hands between them. "Um..." Lily said, pretending to take him seriously. "Well one to open the mouth and the other to-"
"Oh stop it. Lemme finish it!" James cut her off already laughing, which was the first downfall of his joke-telling.
By then, they'd finished their rounds and were walking in the portrait hole when they suddenly stopped. It seemed that an invisible wall had come up between them and the common room.
"James?" Lily inquired, as always assuming that he was the cause of any mischievous behavior.
"Nope, not me, but maybe-" He stopped when Lily nudged him and pointed to the mistletoe hanging from the ceiling.
"Ah," James said, this time leaning in toward her to give her a hearty snog.
But when he pulled away, Lily held onto his robes for a second longer, spotting the twinkle in his eye that had been there that first time, four years ago. She remembered it vividly, how could you forget your first kiss? James had never mentioned it afterward though, which seemed strange to her, considering his often boastful attitude. But now, it seemed he was telling her that he remembered. He pulled her in a for a second kiss, his arms wrapping around her waist and hers around his neck, right where they should be.
After a bit, they parted and James' hand dropped back down to intertwine with hers. As they walked into the common room James said, "It takes ten people."
"Ten people to what?" Lily asked, still reminiscing about the differences and similarities between this last kiss and their first one. In the first one, she had been the one to lean forward, to take the risk, even though she was still wary of James' mistletoe magic explanation. Although she hadn't known it at the time (and wouldn't know it for a few more years), that was the first moment when she noticed James, really noticed him and from then on, he was always there in her mind, whether she was thinking negative (or recently positive) thoughts about him.
"The joke, Lils, remember the joke?" James said, snapping her back to the present. "Ten Slytherins to feed the hippogriff! One to feed it and nine to say that 'with their father's connections at the Ministry they could have fed it faster.'" James said, laughing.
"Oh James," Lily said, already starting to chuckle at his not-so-funny joke.
They sat down at the couch, which was turned toward the fire and sat there for the rest of the night, cracking silly jokes to each other and forgetting everything else except for each other.