Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and all the characters from those books. I have a tenuous claim on Katie and Susan, and that is all.
She was sitting in class, History of Magic to be exact, and she couldn't take her eyes off him.
He was doing it; he was always doing it these days, and she was fixated, captivated by it. The words of Professor Binns washed over her, irrelevant, ignored, like a singular leaf trying to fight against a raging storm to reach her.
She wanted to be there, with him, but the seating arrangements forbade that. She wanted to be there. She wanted to reach out and run her fingers over he creases in his face. She wanted him to look at her.
He was BLOODY doing it again!
A sigh escapes her lips.
'Still Lily?' A voice from beside her cut through her thoughts.
Her eyes narrowed slightly at the distraction.
'Shut it' she mumbled distractedly, not looking away from the view in front of her.
'Pathetic...' the voice continued.
'I told you that she was obsessed with all his facial expressions' a second voice interrupted, determinedly.
'I think she's just obsessed. It can't be healthy.' The first voice replied.
She dragged her eyes unwillingly from him to look at her two (if you asked her for an adjective right then she would have said 'annoying') friends.
'I'm not obsessed' she protested weakly, avoiding their eyes slightly.
The two girls cracked up laughing, clutching their stomachs as they giggled uncontrollably.
Lily frowned at them momentarily. 'Must you mock me so?' she asked.
The first girl, Susan, looked towards the roof as if expecting it to answer Lily's question, before looking back down to meet Lily's eyes. 'Um... I think we do actually. Wouldn't want you to get a big head or anything.'
The second girl, Katie, nodded enthusiastically. 'It's what good friends do' she explained.
Lily shook her head, 'I need to get better friends' she muttered before turning her eyes back to him.
'That's what I'm here for!' A male voice from her other side cut in loudly.
She sighed with exasperation, before turning to look at the culprit.
'Can't you see I'm busy Black?' she asked, frustrated, before turning her eyes back to her view.
'Ah yes, staring at lover-boy.' Black turned his eyes to look at "lover-boy". 'I must admit, he does have a nice ass.'
Lily turned to look at Black threateningly. 'Keep your hands off, dog boy, if you don't want them cut off!'
He raised his hands in a sign of defeat, before commenting 'You're as jealous as he is with you.'
She smiled, thoughtfully, reminiscing.
'Woman! Focus here! I wanna talk!' Black whined
She looked amusedly at him, happy that she had managed to become friends with him. 'What about dog-boy?' she asked.
He frowned, 'Must you call me that?'
She smirked 'It's your own fault for letting your mum name you after the dog star.'
'Oh 'cause I totally had a choice' he mumbled annoyed.
She grinned. 'You did. And you failed.'
He glared at her. 'I don't know why James likes you so much, you're such a bitch.'
She grinned even wider. 'Thank you dog-boy, that means a lot to me.' She wiped away a fake tear dramatically.
He shook his head, and replied 'I'm not going to talk to you any longer. You're so mean.'
She laughed. 'Diddums' she replied before turning her head back to look at her distraction.
She frowned and turned for a moment to slap Black's arm.
'HEY! What was that for woman!?' He protested, rubbing his arm where she'd hit him.
'He's not doing it anymore! I missed it because of you!'
Black looked from her to his friend, then back to her. 'You could just ask him to do it again.'
She pouted, 'But he's all the way over there! And it just wouldn't be the same.'
She slumped onto her desk, her chin resting on her arms. She looked at him sadly.
She heard movement from Black but didn't look, focusing on watching "him".
Suddenly, he tensed, reached into his bag, pulled the mirror she'd seen him talking into occasionally, and looked at it curiously.
She heard Black mumble something beside her softly, but didn't focus on it.
A pause, then he nodded at the mirror and put it away.
And suddenly, once again, he was staring out the window, with a daydreaming frown on his face.
She sighed, a smile spreading itself over her face.
She heard 3 low chuckles, but ignored them to stare at the face of her boyfriend.
He was beautiful, she thought to herself, complete and utterly beautiful and she didn't deserve something so amazing and unique.
She trailed her eyes over his face, as if memorising it (though, truth be told, that wasn't necessary, she'd memorised it, down to the almost indiscernible cut on his chin that was only visible on certain angles, in February, and it was now August).
Her eyes went lower to his hands, those lovely, perfect hands, that were always warm, and just the right size, and so strong but always gentle and...
She blinked and raised her eyes back to his face, and her eyes met his.
And even after all those times; the months of dating, and afternoons lazing in the common room, alone or with friends, after all that time, her heart still missed a beat as it flipped over in her chest, and she felt warm, and safe, and OHMERLIN, she loves him. And she has suddenly realised she's always loved him and always will, and how did she ever manage without him.
And in that moment, because she was focusing on her revelation, she didn't notice the bell signaling the end of class.
A moment later, she felt a hand at her elbow; one of her friends because she was still staring aimlessly in "his" direction, though he'd started to pack up, and a soft voice saying 'Come on Lily, class is over' and she looked down and her stuff was packed up and she stood a little clumsily and stumbled her way from the class.
She walked with the guidance of her friend (she didn't know who it was because THAT wasn't important) and somehow made it to the doors of the Great Hall. Her friend directed her to go inside, and she stood still, and met her friends eye (it was Katie; looking concerned) and said as determinedly as she could manage 'I'm waiting here for James'
Katie gave her a small, concerned smile, and turned to walk into the Great Hall.
Lily looked around worriedly, searching the crowd for her boyfriend.
'There you are!' James said eagerly, striding up to her with those long legs and... she shook her head and smiled at him saying 'Can we wait a minute until everyone else goes in? I want to talk to you.'
His clasp on her arm tightened, and she hadn't even noticed when he'd grabbed her arm and she looked at him surprised.
He pulled her over to the side of the doors, concerned, worried, and whispered softly to her, 'Of course, Lil'
They stood there nervously, watching everyone walk past them until the hall got quiet and she had to meet his eyes.
'I realised something in class' she said.
He looked at her, frowning a little, and she wanted to wipe away the creases, but that could wait, everything could wait.
'I love you' she blurted out, unsure how else to say it.
He let out a shaky breath; pulling her against him firmly, whispering the words back to her, again and again and again, always in a low shaky murmur. She closed her eyes and leaned against him, soaking his words and his presence and his smell in.
Minutes passed or perhaps lifetimes, before he pulled away and said, with a slight laugh in his tone, 'You scared me Lil.'
She looked at him, confused, innocent and said questioningly 'I'm sorry.'
He shook his head. 'Don't be.'
A pause, then 'Why?'
'Why did you scare me?' he asked.
A nod.
'Phrases like "I want to talk to you" generally mean something else. Especially when you're looking as nervous as you were.'
Her mouth opened, and she let out a small 'Oh.' A moment's silence. 'I'm really sorry.'
A fierce 'Don't be' came from his voice.
She sent him a questioning look.
He smiled, kissed her forehead and said 'All the fear in the world would never be able to counteract the affect of you telling me you love me'
She looked at him adoringly. 'I don't deserve you' she whispered
'Of course you do' he replied, pulling her into a hug.
AN: I know I should be writing Let Love In, but this came to me and needed to be shared.
Will update as soon as possible.
R&R