Lily could never seem to study peacefully when James was around. Unfortunately, since they were in the same house, James was around most of the time.
On this particular Monday evening, James interrupted Lily as she tried to study Potions with the familiar shout of "Evans!"
James' voice made Lily flinch, and she rubbed the bridge of her nose as she looked up. "What do you want, Potter?" This was her usual reply.
"I've got something for you." James was wearing his usual cocky smirk, one hand behind his back.
Lily sighed. "What do you have?" She was expecting some sort of prank that the entire common room would find highly amusing except for her.
When James pulled his hand from behind his back, Lily was surprised to see a bouquet if white flowers instead of whatever prank she'd thought he would pull. "They're lilies!" James explained with a grin. "Like you." His grin was faltering slightly as Lily didn't look as pleased as he'd hoped.
Lily took the flowers and looked at them somewhat suspiciously. "Where did you get these? You couldn't have gone out and bought them…"
"I used magic," James told her. "There are spells for it. Do you like them?"
Lily sighed and threw the flowers down on the table beside her. "I'm trying to study Potions, if you don't mind."
"Okay then, I'll be back to bother you when you're done," James promised, running off in the direction of his dorm before his confident grin could change to a look of bitter disappointment - tears were starting to form at the corners of his eyes, and he wouldn't have the whole common room seeing how upset he was.
"Don't rush!" Lily called after him. Once she was sure he was gone, she picked the flowers back up. Looking around to make sure that no one was watching her, she brought them to her face and smelled them. With a small smile, she went to her room, transfigured the glass on her bedside table into a crystal vase, filled it with water, and put the flowers in.
Once she was finished, Lily walked back downstairs and sat at the table where her Potions book was still open, wishing Severus was here to help with her homework. If anyone asked, she'd tell them she'd just thrown the flowers away.