a/n – quickie about James and Lily. Love reading stories about them, but never write them, thought I'd give it a try. R&R dearies!

"Now, now!" Slughorn called pompously "Simmer down class."

When the class didn't respond to his little pun, Horace just laughed at himself.

"Ho ho, did you catch that one class? Simmer down? A little potions humor for you!"

The class just stared.

"I understood it professor." Lily Evans piped up from the front of the room.

"Teacherspet!" someone coughed from the back of the class. Lilly turned to glare at Sirius. James elbowed him in the gut.

"Jolly good my dear!" Slughorn beamed, totally oblivious. "As you all know, we will be starting Sleeping Draughts today. The instructions," he flicked his wand at the board, "are on the board, and your supplies" he flicked his wand at the supply cupboard "are provided. Now, partners, let's see. Hodges, with Jericho; Cameron with Langdon; Abershire, with Bradford; Todd and Kelly; Patterson and McDaniel; Black with Woodward and Evans with Potter. "

Lily dropped her head into her hands

Oh dear God. Not Potter! Anyone but that obnoxious, intolerable, loathsome, man-slut Potter! Lily was exasperated. Fantastic.

In the rear of the class, James smirked simultaneously felt weak in the knees. If he got up, he might fall on his face. Sirius elbowed him back in the ribs.

"Hehe! Have fun, baby boy!"

Keep your cool Potter, James gave himself a pre-hot-girl-encounter-pep-talk, You always keep cool. Think complete sentences, in English, you will be fine.

Mentally prepped, James ambled up to Lily in his best I'm-carefree-yet-manly-and-awesome walk. Lily rubbed her temples and prepared for an interesting class.

"Shall we?" James offered his arm to Lily

Ooh, nice one Mr. Smooth, Lily thought flatly to herself.

Ooh, nice one Mr. Smooth, James thought confidently to himself, I'm not as rusty as I thought!

Lily pushed past his crooked elbow and made her way to the supply cabinet. She opened the door, grabbed the ingredients she needed and piled them into her arms.

"Let me help." James offered, "This is the only part I'm good at; manual labor."

He plucked a jar of greenish goo from her arms and fumbled with it before dropping it and letting it shatter on the ground.

"Ugh! You jerk! I thought Quiddich players were good with their hands!"

"Well, my dear," James was trying to recover from the minor setback, "That was a poor example of my unsurpassed skill, if you would just let me take you out-"

"Yeah, yeah, tell it to someone who gives a troll's ass, Potter." She stormed angrily back to the cauldron.

Nice. Real debonair, James.

He sighed and mumbled "Scourgify" under his breath. Nothing happened. He tried several more times before giving up and just poking the goo with his wand.

When Lily saw Potter on his hands and knees poking the frogspawn, she exhaled and decided to give the little moron a break.

Don't be a witch, she thought to herself, Ha. Witch. I crack myself up…

She waved her wand wordlessly and the goop vanished.

"Wow" James remarked, "How'd you do that?"

"Practice, Potter, practice."

"I am impressed."

"You should be. Come on, or we'll fail for sure."

She offered James her hand and he pulled himself up. When they were at eye level, James smiled at her. He thought he saw a hint of a smile in return as she turned her back on him.

Now that he had her back on his good side, James tried very, very hard not to be a total fuck up. He poured when she told him to pour. He chopped when she told him to chop. But it was the stir counterclockwise for four-and-a-half minutes with one clockwise stir every eleventh counterclockwise stir thing that threw him off. The solution in the cauldron turned from the transparent blue to muddy puke colored very fast and James panicked.

"Uh… Lily?" he stuttered

"Yes, James?"

Hold on. She called him James. Not 'Potter, not 'Potter-you-dickhead,' but James. He forgot all about the foaming puke and looked at her. She was smiling at him. Her eyes were an unbelievable shade of emerald. Her teeth were straight and white. Her lips were thin and pretty. He was lost in her beauty. When these angelic features twisted into a surprised horror, James was jerked back to reality. She pushed past him, grabbed the spoon and began to stir furiously for a second, but it was all in vain. On the third stir, the cauldron belched and covered Lily in sludge. She screamed as it rained down on her head and left James completely un-gooped. James winced.

"You dickwad." Was all she said. She sat down and crossed her legs furiously as she began to siphon the ruined potion from her face and hair.

Slughorn came waddling up to the cauldron where James was cleaning up by hand.

"What happened here!?" He huffed

"I messed the potion up Professor. Lily did everything right and I ruined it all. Please don't fail her for this one. It was my fault."

"We'll see, Mr. Potter. Clean this up. Class dismissed!" with that he toddled right back up to his office.

James threw the rag he was cleaning with down and chased after Lily as she strode for the door. He caught her shoulder in the hallway and spun her around.

"Get your hands off me Potter!"

He winced. Potter again.

"Look, Lily, I'm really sorry. Let me make it up to you."

"Nothing you could ever do would make you any less of a-"

And right then, with that fire in her eyes, Lily Evans had never been more attractive. James forgot the entire situation he was in and left all his inhibitions behind. He bent his head and lowered his mouth to her lips for a second, daring to try for a second more. He felt a spark in his lips that spread throughout his body. This feeling of elation was fleeting though, because the moment his eyes met hers, she slapped him in the face.

Teehee!