It had been a quiet, peaceful day at Hogwarts. It was a pleasant spring morning, the birds were chirping, the sky was blue, it was a perfect day to take a walk around the grounds and Lily Evans could not have been more content. That is, until her accursed partner in Potions managed to mess up a simple sleeping drought, leaving her with ugly boils on her arms. Luckily for her, Professor Slughorn sent her off to the infirmary without much of a hustle. Little did she know that her day was about to get worse. Much, much worse.
Lily walked into the empty infirmary (or so she thought), looking around for Madam Pomfrey. The boils were turning into a worryingly purple hue and she preferred not to test the horrific after effects of magically messed up concoctions.
"Are my eyes deceiving me," an annoyingly familiar voice drawled, "Or did Evans decide that she wanted to continue her life as a troll?"
She slowly turned to face her least favourite person in Hogwarts. The cocky smirk on his face was enough to give her a headache. "Potter," she gritted out.
The smirk on James face grew more. His head was weirdly tilted to a side. "Really, Evans. Your boil-infested, purple, revolting arms are not going to deter me from my quest to your heart." He wiggled his eyebrows as if that made him any more attractive.
'He does look very handsome. Especially in that sweater-' an unwanted voice spoke in the back of her mind. She shook her head, 'No, Lily. James is still a thick headed, arrogant rat.' 'A very handsome rat, though.' The voice said mockingly.
Lily fought back a blush and growled, staring right into James eyes. "It was a mistake, thank you very much. Now, where is Madam Pomfrey? And why are you looking at me like that?!" She gestured to his weirdly unequally poised shoulders and his nearly 90degreetilted neck.
"She's gone to get me my medicine. And as for my neck, I pulled a muscle.," James answered, rubbing his neck. He smirked up at Lily. "Though it would definitely feel better if you massage it."
"In your dreams, Potter," she snapped, walking towards a bed as far way from James as possible. She could hear him snickering behind her.
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Lily could feel James' gaze on her making her feel self-conscious and she determinedly kept her gaze away from him. Finally her curiosity got the better of her. "How did you get hurt, anyways?" she asked.
To her surprise, James blushed a little before smirking at her again. "A little more dignified than a Potions class gone wrong. The story consists of an eventful raid in one of the greenhouses and a very angry plant."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Well," James shrugged, or at least, tried to shrug, "It was worth it. Though it does hurt now. You could kiss it better."
Lily felt her cheeks burning up. She glared at him but the smirk on his face just grew. "Sh-shut up, Potter!"
At that, he cracked up before wincing in pain. "Serves you right," she huffed, consciously trying not to fold her arms in annoyance. "Where are your friends anyways? Did they decide to abandon you at the infirmary?"
James rolled his eyes, "They accompanied me here. Then they decided to attend classes to continue their education in this fine wizarding school."
"More like they went to their next 'adventure' without you," Lily grumbled. They spent the next few minutes in silence.
"Hey, Potter! How's that delicate neck of yours?" A familiarly arrogant voice filed through the infirmary. Lily turned to see Black and Lupin strut in, Pettigrew scurrying nervously behind them.
"Oh dear," she heard James whisper. Sirius went to clasp James on the back but stopped himself when his gaze fell on Lily.
"Evans?" He stared at her in confusion. His gaze turned back to James and he smirked, a knowing look on his face.
Remus smiled and looked at James disapprovingly. "What did you tell her, James?"
James muttered something incoherently, avoiding their gazes. Sirius threw his head back and burst out laughing. Lupin put a hand on his mouth to stifle his laughter and Peter just smiled nervously behind them.
"Sirius Black! This is an infirmary! Keep your voice down!" Madam Pomfrey suddenly appeared, striding into the room, holding a jar of some nasty smelling cream.
Sirius held back his laughter and choked out, "I'm sorry, Madam Pomfrey. I was just telling Lily here how James managed to twist his neck while scratching his back." At that all three of them started laughing, nearly falling on top of each other.
Lily stared at James who had turned worryingly red. He pointedly avoided her gaze as Pomfrey continued yelling about disruption of infirmary silence as she applied some cream on James' neck. Lily snorted before she could stop herself and then lay back on the bed laughing loudly.
Madam Pomfrey stared at her in disbelief. "Evans! Stop laughing this instant! I did not expect such behaviour from you!"
She choked out her apologies while staring at James, grinning. He still looked embarrassed and his ears had turned a violent shade of purple. For a moment he looked like a normal 17 year old boy and she suddenly felt sorry for him. She stared at him sympathetically, barely noticing as Pomfrey came up to her and healed her of her boils. She felt a sudden urge to go up and give him a hug though that would not be very unbecoming of her.
"You can go, Evans," Madam Pomfrey grumbled and went back inside to her office.
Lily stood up, giving her arms a quick shake before walking over to James' bed. She scrunched her nose as a strong odour reached her, no doubted-ly from the cream Pomfrey had just applied. James looked up at her for a moment before staring back ahead at the wall.
Lily smirked, putting a hand on her hips. Around her Sirius was leaning on Remus gasping for breathe while Remus just looked at the two of them amusedly. "Don't ever lie to me again, Potter," she said, "You know better than that." Without thinking she bent down and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. She turned on her heel and walked out, cheeks burning from her unexpected behaviour. She turned back as she reached the door and winked in James direction. He was staring at her, mouth slightly open in disbelief while Sirius and Remus cracked up again.
She made her way back to the Gryffindor dormitory still blushing from the kiss. Perhaps the day hadn't been so bad after all.
