"Miss Evans, I do believe you're next."
Lily sighed as she stepped out of the line to complete an in-class exam.
"Good luck, Evans." James Potter said, a tone of amusement and expectation in his voice.
Lily turned with a grin to her friend.
"You're going to need it more than I will, Potter." she joked playfully before turning to the task at hand, eliciting a congregation of laughter from the rest of the Marauders at the benevolent insult.
Lily stepped up to the center of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, wand twirling skillfully through her pale, thin fingers. Her legs stood slightly apart in a determined stance, her weight slightly alternating from leg to leg in anticipation.
"Okay," she whispered to herself, almost as a reassurance, before closing her eyes and lifting her wand to perform the spell.
Her mind flashed suddenly to her Muggle home, watching Petunia run in the field behind their house. Lily, aged eight, chased after her elder sister, feeling weightless as she ran in the direction of the summer wind. Lily glanced down briefly, noticing the absence of the grass against her ankles, Petunia stood still in awe as she watched her sister fly above her, running among the clouds. It was the first time Lily has ever performed raw magic; it was the only time Petunia hadn't seen it as a bad thing.
Lily, aged seventeen, chuckled fondly as the memory, before swishing her wand and flicking it forcefully toward the center of the room, proclaiming,
"Expecto Patronum!"
Silver wisps escaped the tip of her wand, collecting together to form the thin, elegant shape of a creature she couldn't quite make out. It dashed across the room, soaring above the students' heads so quickly that Lily could barely even focus on it. Once the creature found no danger, it vanished with a silvery wisp.
Lily stalled for a moment before the shape of the creature dawned on her.
"A doe," she said quietly, surprised at the identity of her spirit animal.
Behind her, she heard James Potter whisper almost inaudibly,
"Shit."
Lily turned to face the Marauders, giving her friends a puzzled look, observing the way they seemed to practically gape at Lily, as if she had done something completely unorthodox.
"What? It wasn't that hard." She muttered to the group of boys, eliciting no response except a rather holier-than-thou scoff of disbelief from Peter Pettigrew.
Lily turned back, confused, to find her professor beaming at her.
"Well done, Miss Evans. Five points to Gryffindor. Quite a tough act to follow. Speaking of which, Mr. Potter, you're up."
Lily walked back to the end of the line of students waiting to be tested on the Patronus charm. Potter, however responded in a manner simply unexpected by Lily.
He walked up their teacher rather awkwardly, as if he had a secret to tell him but didn't quite know how to say it. James bent down to accommodate the height difference between the teacher and himself, and muttered something incoherent into the professor's ear. who surprisingly nodded as James pulled away.
"Yes, quite understandable. My office, 7 o'clock, Mr. Potter. We'll accommodate your wish then."
"Thank you, Professor," James said with an air of relief.
Lily's eyebrows scrunched in confusion, her eyes gazing at James, narrowed in suspicion.
"What was that about?" She thought.
Later that evening, Lily sat in her dormitory, still puzzled by the occurrence during DADA. She glanced at the clock hanging on the wall opposite her bed, reading 6:54.
"I could do it," Lily thought to herself, plotting to see what James had fussed about earlier.
She stepped out of her dormitory to spot the Marauders sitting on the sofa in the Common Room, James standing up to attend his rescheduled examination.
"Good luck, Prongs," Lily heard Remus call after him.
Once James had left the Common Room, Lily moved to do the same, maneuvering so the Marauders wouldn't catch her following James.
Once she reached the DADA classroom, she stood concealed beside the door frame, able to see James facing the same direction as she.
"Ready, Mr. Potter?"
"Yes, Professor."
"Fire away, then. I must say, Mr. Potter, if you don't deem it too inappropriate, I think it was rather noble of you doing this privately to avoid embarrassing Miss Evans. I take it she wouldn't react too well to your Patronus, then?"
This statement caught Lily's attention, her emerald eyes widening as she leaned in to listen for more.
"I'm afraid not. Anyways, um, Expecto Patronum!"
The silver wisps appearing, joining to form a creature much like the doe she had performed earlier. This one was different, however; it was bulkier, more masculine, and it had long, glorious antlers.
"A stag," she whispered to herself, her eyes and lips open in awe.
"Full marks, Mr. Potter. Well done. And good luck with Miss Evans. It's not every day you find your soulmate."
Lily's heart jumped.
"No, Professor, you misunderstand, we're just friends, I doubt it'll ever escalate. I don't even like her that way anymore."
"Your Patronus tells me otherwise. Good evening, Mr. Potter."
"Soulmate?" Lily muttered to herself before quickly concealing herself behind the door, watching James walk out of the classroom, sigh to himself, and run his fingers through his black hair before walking back toward the Common Room.
"I know you're there, Miss Evans, there's no point in hiding. He's gone now."
Lily glanced to the side to find her professor smiling knowingly at her.
"I know it isn't my place to say this, but you can't deny the boy forever, dear. It is rather obvious of your feelings for him. You may as well act on them before he gives up."
"My feel-what?" Lily stuttered out, blushing at the accusation.
"Give it some thought. Your pride will eventually wear out, Miss Evans. Good night, dear."
Her professor retreated into his classroom, chuckling to himself before closing the door, exposing Lily to the empty hallway.
She couldn't sleep.
She tried telling herself to snap out of it, that she didn't think about her friend that way.
"I mean, he's certainly physically attractive. No one's denying that. And he's rather smart when he tries, isn't he? He's definitely grown up, too, since the whole Severus fiasco. There's no denying the fact that we're mates."
"Lily, shut up," one of her dorm mates muttered sleepily before turning over into a more comfortable position.
"But why would he try to hide it from me? He easily could have just embarrassed me publicly and joked around about it, but he didn't. Why am I even discussing this?"
"Just admit you like him and go to sleep, Lils." Another girl called out from across the room.
Lily shook her head to herself.
"I most certainly do not like James Potter." She stated quietly to herself, before nodding once in confirmation and going to sleep.
Weeks passed, and not a word of the Patronus incident between James and Lily, a fact that the latter was grateful for. They had been neighborly with each other as usual, but something felt different. Lily got this weird feeling in her stomach whenever James came in sight, and her thoughts always seemed to lead to him, regardless of how hard she tried to suppress it.
"It's just the power of suggestion, you don't actually like him," Lily told herself, but this statement was long forgotten every time James entered the room.
Yet it killed her to act platonically around him, mentally begging him to just make a move. She told herself there was a fat chance of that happening, but her hope, for some reason, would not be crushed. She tried focusing on other males, in an attempt to distract herself from the one guy she couldn't keep away from.
She looked herself in the mirror each morning, glaring at her reflection so as to reprimand it.
"Today is the day you get over James Potter." She told herself, pointing at her reflection.
Months passed, and still she swooned.
Alone on the Common Room sofa, her thoughts wandering to a far-off place, where the future held promises of peace and...James.
"Shit," she muttered to herself, running her hands through her thick, currant colored hair, sighing to herself.
"What's the matter, Evans?'
She whirled her hair around, eyes wide in surprise, to find James, his flannel pajama bottoms and white t shirt wrinkled, his thick framed, square shaped glasses titled slightly on his long, narrow nose.
"Nothing, just...nothing." She stuttered to him, turning back to face the fire in front of her, trying to hide her blush.
"Mind if I join you, then?"
Her heart leapt.
"Not at all," she said in a nonchalant tone.
He sat down next to her, their legs slightly touching. They watched the flames crack and snap in silence, until he finally spoke up.
"I saw you outside the classroom that day. When I did my Patronus."
Lily sighed. "Of course you did."
"So. How precisely do you think we should handle this?" He turned to face her, only to find her eyes glued on to the fire.
"I don't suppose you still like me?"
He bit his lip, contemplating his response.
"I do, actually."
She turned to look at him, trying to conceal the look of glee that threatened to creep onto her face.
"If this is a prank, James Potter, I swear to God-"
"It's not a prank, Lils, how could I have faked the Patronus, then? You saw it with your own eyes."
Lily nodded, turning back to the fire.
"I don't suppose you'll go out with me sometime, then?" Lily asked, a tone of hidden confidence behind her voice as she tried to hide her smirk.
He chuckled, before turning her head to face him, lips dangerously close to one another as Lily's breath hitched. James leaned in, a grin as wide as the Cheshire Cat's on his face. "It suited him," Lily thought to herself.
"I'll think about it," he said smoothly, touching his lips to hers tentatively at first, but then pressing them more vigorously as Lily pulled his body closer to hers. Their lips mingled passionately, their hands caught in each other's hair as their tongues slid against each other's rhythmically.
They paused for breath, leaving them both smiling as they separated mouths.
"I'll take it as a yes, then, Potter." Lily said before pulling him in once more.