Title: First Kisses

Synopsis: Lily doesn't usually kiss on the first date. For James, she made an exception. /LilyxJames with angst about Severus/

Rating: K+

A/N: Now that the series is over. Really. Seriously. Over. I can finally start to write fanfiction for it. Oy vey. Anyhow, enjoy please.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, its characters or anything affiliated with it.

"I have to say, Evans, I never thought that you'd be that talented a kisser." Lily blushed and turned away. It wasn't like her to kiss on the first date—not that she had been on many first dates, of course—and she felt rather embarrassed about seeming so loose in front of James. "But let me say—"

"Oh shut up," she said, patting one of her red cheeks.

James grinned, his glasses a little crooked on his nose. "Don't tell me that was your first kiss or something?"

Lily shook her head. "Of course not," she said.

James leaned closer to her and Lily's eyes grew wide. He smiled; he couldn't help it. "Did you and Sniv… Severus use each other as practice or something?"

Rolling her eyes, Lily stood up. "Did you really have to ruin a lovely evening by saying something like that?" She sighed. "Look, I have to—"

James reached out and grabbed her hand. "I'm sorry Evans, really. Please don't leave. I've spent six years trying to get you to go out with me. One mistake like that can't really have cost me all that time. You wouldn't let it, right? Your sense of fairness—"

She kissed him. But only to make him shut up.

"And for the record," she said when she was done. "I never kissed Severus. Any experience I may have had comes from the boyfriend I had the summer between fifth and sixth year in my home town."

"Well," James said, stroking Lily's cheek softly with the back of his hand. "he was a good teacher but…" He gingerly replaced his hand with his lips. "I'm a better one."

Playful, Lily pushed him away. "We'll see about that," she said.

He sighed and set his head down on her lap. "Hey Evans—"

"Lily," she said. James raised an eyebrow and she chuckled. "If we're going to… you know… go out…" Her cheeks turned red again; James grinned. He loved it when she was embarrassed. Her cheeks matched her hair in the loveliest of ways. "Then you should probably call me by my name."

He sat up and took her face in his hands. It was supposed to be a romantic gesture, but she looked sort of like a codfish with her cheeks squished like that and James couldn't help but to chuckle. "You got it, Lily." He kissed her again, quick and easy. "But you know what that means?" he asked. Lily shook her head, looking pretty silly between James's hands. He smirked. "We have to go out on a second date now."

Lily swatted James's hands away. "I thought that it was implied earlier that I was, in fact, agreeing to go on a second date." She smiled. "So call me Lily."

"Can I ask you something, Lily?" James looked away for a moment. "Why did you never give Snivellus the time of day?"

Though not pleased to be talking about her former friend again, she obliged her date with a skeptical look. "What do you mean?" she asked.

He sighed theatrically. "Well, it was pretty obvious that he fancied you, Lily." Hearing him say her name—even when it was in conjunction with Severus's—made butterflies fly around her stomach. "And I was just sort of wondering why you never went out with him. I mean, you guys spent enough time together or whatever."

Lily forced a smile. "Sev never felt that way about me," she said. "You must have misunderstood."

James shook his head. "Don't delude yourself. He was, and probably still is if all that staring at you means what I think it means, in love with you. Madly, I venture. So why did you never give him a chance? It took me six years, but you've known him longer than that, right? So it's not a time thing…"

"You're being silly. Severus never thought of me in that way and I've never thought of him like that, either. Anyone who would think that we were involved like that, or would ever be involved like that would be completely deluding themselves and…" She began to go into a bit of a frenzy, stuttering and getting upset.

James put a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry," he said.

She tried to smile as she wiped a tear. "I think that's the first time you've ever said that."

He chuckled. "That's not true. I once apologized to Professor McGonagall when she found a box of toads in her classroom."

"That's nice," Lily said, skeptical.

He smirked. "Not really. I'm the one who put them there." He frowned. "But in all seriousness, Evans, don't you think that maybe… If you had given him the time of day… He would have ended up… Not being quite so… Death Eater-ish?"

Her face grew cold. "How can you even say that?" A few more tears fell down her face. "Are you blaming me for what happened to Sev? Are you saying—"

"No," James said, grabbing Lily's shoulders pulling her close to him. "No, God no, I would never think that. No one would, Lily. God no. I'm sorry. Don't cry Lily, please, don't—"

She was kissing him again. Harder and longer than last time. And James couldn't say that he didn't enjoy it, but he had never kissed a girl while she was crying before. He had kissed girls when they were doing a lot of things—laughing, sneezing and even on one unfortunate occasion, vomiting—but never crying. And it was wet and it was melancholy, but James couldn't help but relish these moments because who knew when Lily Evans was going to break-up with him.

When she was done, she backed away. "Sorry," she said. "I don't want to talk about Severus."

James held her close. "I'll never mention him again," he said, smiling. "In fact, when you're around, I'll never mention anything but us ever again. I'll just spend the entire time talking about how much I love you. Is that better? Is that okay?"

She laughed. "You never change," she said. "Same stuff you've been telling me for years."

He leaned back, holding her shoulders and looking into her eyes. "Because it's all true," he said. "I don't usually say this on the first date, but… I love you Lily Evans. And I'll never make you cry again."

She smiled and he smiled too.

And you know what they did? They kissed again.

And of course there were a few times that James made her cry, but Lily found that in the end, the tears were worth it. Because in time, she had learned to love him, too.

Fin