She sees James Potter for the first time since winter holiday when he bursts into the Great Hall, a book in one hand while the other clenches. It's no surprise that she notices so soon after he walks in. She's been looking for him since the moment she woke up- it's completely subconscious, of course.
The book makes her glance back at him again.
He throws his legs over the bench across from hers at the Gryffindor table when he's closer. He doesn't make any movement towards getting breakfast, just sits there and stares at her. She flicks her paper up to straighten it, feigning disinterest as she spears a sausage with her fork.
"You shouldn't carry books around so carelessly, Potter. Half the school's still under the impression that you can't read." She says, her eyebrows rising a bit. It's amazing that she can get a string of coherent words out when he's around, she thinks.
"Don't be assuming things, Lily Evans. The entirety of the school thinks I can't read."
"Ah. My mistake." She turns the fork over in her hand, eating the sausage and taking her time in doing so. The longer she takes, the longer she might be able to go without embarrassing herself.
There's about a minute of silence until, out of the corner of her eye, she notices Remus storming in. James follows her eyes and then dives under the table, his head against Lily's bench. His hair skims across the pale skin of her thigh and heat is radiating off of her, pulsing towards him in some warm and comforting way.
"I'm not the only person who's going to be assuming things today," Lily says, monotone, with a tremendous frown on her face. He ignores what she says and, to be honest, she's somewhat disappointed.
"When Remus comes over, I was never here. Got it?"
Lily nods, duteous, and the stars in her eyes are gleaming with a hidden laughter. "Sir yes sir."
He reaches up and pats her knee in a somewhat off-putting, bolstering form of gratitude.
"What if he sits down and kicks you? What am I to do then?" She asks, looking down at him with her lips in a small curve of a smile and her cheeks rounding.
"Don't look down here, you'll give me away!" He cries, his eyes wide. He swats at her nose to get her back above the table. "He's coming, read your paper. I was never here."
"Never here, got it."
"Got what?"
Lily shrugs, frowns up at Remus, and hits the paper in her hand with her knuckles of the other. "Crossword puzzle. It's terrible and difficult and I've finally gotten a word right."
"Good on you," Remus nods, apprehensive, and eyes Lily.. "Have you seen James, by any chance?"
She points under the table. Remus has been her friend for far longer than James and because of that she feels she owes it to him to reveal James without any reluctance.
"Fucking shite- Lily, you promised!" James groans as he pulls himself up next to her, glaring at the small smirk she's failing to conceal. Lily snorts and Remus tucks his chin towards his neck, his shoulders heaving in a sigh.
"Give me my book back, you twat."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Has he always acted this immature?" Lily asks Remus, cocking her head to the side. He shrugs.
"More or less."
"Right," She mumbles as she returns to her Daily Prophet and now unpleasant, cold food. She blocks out the majority of the argument that takes place in her ear, and turns to talk to James when Remus leaves victorious.
"So it was Remus' book. I can't say surprised."
"Yeah, it was a book someone had written with poor opinions on- well, you know. Remus's condition. It takes a toll on him, people bashing on him before they even know who he is."
"It was sweet of you, then. Taking it from him."
"You do what you must when protecting a friend. I would have put up more of a fight if he wasn't so weak."
Lily had noticed that only a few weeks previous. Remus was paler than usual, which is to say something with his rather white complexion. She couldn't remember him ever seeming so frail, either.
"You should have told me that earlier. You might have inspired me not to tell him where you were."
"Thanks for that, by the way. I appreciate it," He says with a vitriolic kind of sarcasm, squinting.
"Anytime."
She can feel his stare when she starts on the newspapers again, his eyes tracing down the slope of her nose and across her jaw. It's almost enough to make her blush.
"What's your middle name?" He asks and it could have taken her by surprise if it hadn't been James asking.
"It's Christine, if you must know."
"Lily Christine Evans."
"That's it."
"I don't like it."
She scoffs, gaping at him. "You're rude, Potter."
"I like the Lily and the Evans part, especially Evans. I just feel like something's missing."
She's not offended because she's never doted on her middle name, either. She never met Nana Christine Evans and had no real sympathy towards her death, being as it was by natural causes. The name is just that to her, a name that her mother claims to be sentimental.
"I'm glad you told me."
"I knew you would be."
"You've gotten to know me so well."
"It's because I pay attention."
It's rare that James Potter ever says something so true with such ease. But it's true- in class, he pays attention to Lily Evans. At meals, he pays attention to Lily Evans. In the common room and in the corridors and at Quidditch matches, he pays attention to Lily Evans. He knows quite a bit more about her than he'd like to admit. He knows that she loves waffles for breakfast and her purple shirt is her favorite, trivial things like that. Those little facts plague his mind and it bugs him because he knows that he should be thinking about sex or something the average teenage boy concentrates on. Something instead of the icky little traits of some girl.
Of course, Lily Christine Evans isn't just some girl.
James glances down at her plate, his mouth curled downward when no one could see the foul look on his face. When he looks back up, she's reading the Horoscopes of the Prophet. She smirks at the ridiculousness of the passages and he feels his heart beat a little harder.
"I've got it," He says, snapping his fingers to get her attention if his voice doesn't. "I know why I don't like your name."
"And why's that?" She doesn't look at him and it's sort of infuriating.
"Because it's wrong."
That got her, he thinks. The best way to get her attention, if you're James Potter, is by being as obnoxious as you can.
"Is it, though?"
"Of course," He says like it's obvious, an easy grin pulling on his mouth. "Lily Christine Evans isn't right at all."
She seems reluctant to speak. "What would be right, then?"
"Lily Evans-"
"That's already by name, you dolt."
James almost looks offended, his eyebrows raised and his mouth open mid-word. "I'm not done, Lilian."
"That definitely isn't my name."
"I'm still not through talking."
He sits in silence, his arms crossed over his chest and his lips pursed. It's a McGonagall-esque look and to be frank, it's somewhat off-putting.
"What's right, then?"
James refuses to speak, instead looking at Lily with expectant eyes.
"I'm sorry for interrupting you. Please, go on."
"Thank you," He says with a wide smile that fits his face much better than the previous scowl. "What was I saying?"
"My right name."
"Of course. Lily Evans-Potter."
She coughs, sputtering and choking on her breakfast. Trying to make herself look disgusted more than shocked, she wrinkles her nose and as a result she finds herself unable to breathe for a moment.
"James, you've got to be-"
He is halfway down the Great Hall, a spring in his step.
A/N: I'm in a rut. Forgive me. In other news, I've created an ao3 (rosewsly) where I've uploaded this as well and I'm still on tumblr where you should follow me. If you want to. Critiques, comments, and prompts are welcome as always, please r&r, thanks for reading!