It was the sixth year's Defence Against the Dark Arts and the whole class was buzzing with excitement because Professor Tofty had said last week that, having learned the theory, they would be practicing the patronus charm for the first time. James glanced back at the rest of the marauders and after exchanging a grin with Remus, led them over to the far side of the classroom. Sirius and Remus had both noticed that Lily Evans just happened to be standing in the corner closest to them, and they gave each other a knowing glance. James was never as subtle as he probably thought he was when it came to Lily Evans. Taking a quick glance out of the corner of his eye to make sure that he was in Evans' line of sight, James leaned back on one leg and stuffed his hand into his pocket. He turned to his left to chat with Sirius but was startled by the shrill voice that sounded near his right shoulder.
"Right, I know you're all excited but settle down now," said the squeaky voice of Professor Tofty, who poked James as he walked past to make him stand up straight. "So just to remind you all, the incantation goes like this; expecto patronum." As he said this he directed his wand and a silvery white rabbit burst forth from the tip to gallivant around the room just as it had done the last time. After the class had repeated the spell back to the professor a few times, they all got down to attempting to conjure a patronus.
"Expecto patronum!" James roared and a large shape materialised briefly in front of him before it disappeared again.
"Nice one James," Sirius called over to him with a wink. James grinned back at him; both of them knew that particular shape very well. James called out the incantation again and this time the shape remained in front of him. James quickly turned round to show Sirius his success. Because of this slight distraction, James didn't notice the doe patronus that stood in the space half way between himself and Lily Evans. James, who was still grinning madly at Sirius over their private joke, continued to not pay attention as his silvery stag stalked across the classroom, moving closer and closer to the doe.
When James finally turned back around, it was to see the stag's head curled protectively around the neck of the doe patronus. James looked up in shock, straight into the glistening green eyes of Lily Evans. The eyes gazed at him unashamedly, staring straight into his soul. Clearing his throat in embarrassment, James gave a little flick of his wand so that the stag once again disappeared. The doe also faded into non-existence as Evans looked away from him once more. She felt like every time she got close to James, he just pushed her away. Was he too cool to be seen with her? James himself was very confused, he could not put his finger on any of the emotions running through his head. Before James had time to mull over what had just happened, Professor Tofty dismissed the class. Smiling once more as his little gang surrounded him, James headed out into the corridor and pushed Lily Evans to the back of his mind.
Later on in Gryffindor tower, James sat brooding in an armchair by the fire. Everyone else had long since gone up to bed, Sirius and Remus smirking quietly. They had known exactly the reason that James was so quiet. The usual mask of coolness and blasé nature was gone and James was absorbed in thought of the look that Lily Evans had given him. He was staring right into the heart of the flames and did not register the slight disturbance as someone walked down the dormitory stairs and across the common room. In fact, James didn't notice anything until a lean form passed in front of his eyes and plonked itself down in his lap.
James looked up in surprise and found his face obscured by a large amount of red hair. Evans swivelled round so that she was facing him. "Hello, Potter," she said, calm as you like.
"Hi, Evans," replied James, shocked at her sudden appearance on his lap.
"I thought you'd be down here," she told him "reviewing every second of today's..." here Lily paused, searching for the right word "situation," she finally finished with a grin.
"Wow Evans, I didn't realise you were so observant. It's a little creepy." James teased her lightly. He had unknowingly dropped his usual mask and Lily was pleased. Unconsciously, James placed his arms loosely around her waist. It felt natural, like she belonged there.
"Do you like me James?" Lily asked, staring him straight in the face. That surprised James more than anything she had said or done so far. He had never given much thought to what Lily Evans thought of him, only the other way round. He realised that he didn't know her as well as he had thought. James decided he liked it though, this strong, cool side to Lily that he had never noticed before today.
"That's forward Evans," James said, deflecting the serious question with a comment as usual. He didn't have a clue what to say for a real answer. Where had this conversation come from? James was not really the thinking sort, more of the spontaneous, give-it-a-shot type. Lily simply shrugged.
"We've both been thinking about it for a while, might as well cut the crap. Are you going to answer my question?" James looked at Lily as she just sat there, cool, confident and beautiful, staring right back at him. Unable to resist, James suddenly leant in and kissed Lily full on the mouth. The kiss was brief and he soon pulled away to calculate her reaction. Eyes glistening with the satisfaction she now felt, Lily grabbed two fistfuls of James' t-shirt and pressed their lips together once more. Both of them were smiling into the kiss, which made it just that much sweeter. When once again they pulled away, Lily snuggled closer to James and sighed contentedly. As she rested her head on his shoulder, James kissed the top of her head. James lowered his cheek to Lily's hair. Smiling, they snuggled happily together. Lily soon fell asleep. As James looked down at her unusually pretty face, he couldn't for the life of him remember how on earth any of this had happened.
A/N Hey everyone, so I finally got round to writing a Jily fic. My beta has been begging me to for ages. So I write her this lovely cheesey story and I get the first edit back. The original last line was 'Simultaneously, they fell asleep, James resting his head on top of Lily's, and dreamt of the happiness that lay ahead of them.' So it comes back with this lovely little note on the end of it.
'I'm all for cheesiness, but for the love of god please change that last sentence.
They wouldn't fall asleep simultaneously, and almost instantaneously- it sounds like they were knocked unconscious or something! :P They can snuggle together happily but please not dreaming about their future happiness. It makes me want to puke rainbows.'
Thank you Tweak6 for being such an amazing beta :D