A/N: Dedicated to The Athena Cabin for Jily Secret Santa! I hope you enjoy it, my dear :)
Disclaimer: JK Rowling is brilliant and therefore owns these amazing characters
For the longest time, Lily Evans swore to herself that the only emotion she would harbour towards James Potter was intense loathing. In sixth year, though, she realized that he wasn't really that terrible, and they became friends. It was only in seventh year that she rediscovered how infuriating he was, and it led to quite likely the greatest competition Hogwarts had ever seen.
"How?" she demanded, snatching his Transfiguration essay from his outstretched hand, as the two of them exited the classroom. His essay was covered in check marks and a big, bright "O" shined at the top of the page.
"You wrote it the night before! I spent three weeks on this essay and all McGonagall gave me was a bloody A!" she huffed, running her hand through her hair in a frustrated manner – a habit she'd unknowingly picked up from James himself.
James – the infuriating twit – just smirked. "Geniuses don't have to work hard, Lils," he boasted, grabbing his essay out of her hand. "It just comes naturally to us."
Lily scowled. "This is precisely why I despised you for so many years, Potter," she muttered, letting the old name slip out.
He just grinned. "Because of the inescapable fact that I'm smarter than you?" he suggested.
"No," she hissed. "Because of your overly large ego!"
He threw his arm around her shoulder, casually waving the perfect-scoring essay in her face.
"I think my ego is understandably large, don't you, Evans?" he mocked. "I am doing better than you in every class."
Lily snorted. "Hardly. I can outdo you in Charms and Potions any day – and I have been for the past, oh, I don't know, six years."
He rolled his eyes. "Those are only two classes."
"Yeah, well the only class you're outdoing me in is Transfiguration," she said defensively.
"But we both know I can outdo you in all of our other classes."
"We most certainly do not know that!"
"Care to make a bet on it?"
Lily narrowed her eyes. "I don't bet with the devil."
James just laughed. "Fair enough. How about we just do this for fun, then? It'll be like a not-a-bet-bet."
She smirked. "I was going to beat you anyway, Potter. Throwing in this little competitive deal just makes it all the more fun for me when I kick your arse."
"You seem sure of yourself for someone who just got an A on a very important paper," James said, raising an eyebrow.
Lily narrowed her eyes at him and huffed, "Just you wait, Potter. You'll be sorry you ever doubted my ability to defeat you."
It was two weeks in to this not-a-bet-bet when Lily realized that she was actually enjoying this competition.
She liked shoving her "O" papers in James' face when he got a lower mark, and she even enjoyed it when he did the same to her; it sparked a fire in her that spread over her whole body and motivated her to outdo him on the next one.
He made her work harder; he pushed her to do better the next time.
Marlene thought it was weird.
"It's a little sick," she told Lily one day in the Great Hall. "That you two take so much pleasure in the other's failure."
Lily rolled her eyes. "That's not the point," she protested. "We're not taking pleasure in the other's failure – we're reveling in our own victory."
"But your victory is his failure!" Marlene protested.
Lily sighed. "You just don't get it."
Neither did Dorcas or Alice, Lily soon realized. Only James really understood how Lily felt, because he felt the same way. It was hard to explain, which, she supposed, was why she couldn't express to any of her mates why this competition made studying all the more fun.
Throughout their years at Hogwarts, a constant theme in the James-Lily arguments was the "I'm smarter than you" debate, and this competition was the embodiment of these arguments. Lily supposed – though she would never admit it to James – that in the end, it didn't really matter who "won" the competition, because she knew that no matter the result, they would both feel the same way – elated and utterly hooked – and the loser would demand a rematch. Whoever lost would always come back for more. It was like they couldn't survive without the other egging them on.
This realization hit her all of a sudden when she was showing off the "O" she'd gotten on her Potions essay to James one day at lunch.
"Honestly, James," she said, waving the paper in his face. "Just admit that I'm a better student than you."
James shook his head. "It was just one paper," he protested. "Reckon I'll do better than you on the next one."
"Not if you start it the night before it's due at eleven in the evening."
He raised an eyebrow. "It worked on the last DADA paper, didn't it?"
She glared at him. "That was a fluke," she barked.
He laughed, and Lily froze in shock, staring at his eyes. She'd never realized before how they sparkled when he laughed.
He looked at her, concern etched on his face, as he pushed his glasses – always crooked, she realized fondly – up his nose.
"You okay?" he asked her.
She nodded quickly. "Yeah, sorry," she muttered, avoiding his penetrating gaze. "Got distracted."
He smirked. "By my dashing good looks?"
She forced a laugh and shoved him for good measure.
Merlin's left buttock, she thought to herself, as she watched James throw an apple slice at Sirius' head to get his attention. I fancy James Potter.
Lily Evans had never been good at handling awkward situations. So when she realized that she fancied James Potter – her fellow Head and now closest friend – she did what she normally did when she was faced with an uncomfortable situation: she avoided him.
She enlisted the help of Alice, Marlene and Dorcas. They made her swear to talk to James before the winter break, but agreed to help her avoid him until then. They would distract James when he started to approach them, allowing Lily the chance to slip away. Or they would immediately claim a seat next to Lily during class and at meals, so James had no choice but to sit with his other mates. But after two weeks of avoiding him, Lily's mates confronted her.
"What do you mean you're not going to help me avoid him anymore?" Lily hissed, after her mates refused to sit with her during DADA.
"You haven't spoken with him yet, Lils, and it's only two weeks until the break," Alice explained.
"We've decided to take matters into our own hands," Marlene added, crossing her arms over her chest.
"But you promised!" Lily protested.
"But you haven't kept your end of the deal," Dorcas pointed out.
"I was getting there," Lily said defensively.
"Well, then we're just speeding this up," Marlene said.
The three girls glanced at the sudden movement in the doorway and, when they saw it was none other than James himself, they quickly retreated to a nearby table.
As soon as James saw Lily sitting next to an empty seat, he sprinted towards her and plopped himself down on the chair.
"You've been avoiding me," he said, getting straight to the point.
Lily looked away, refusing to meet his soft and sparkling hazel eyes. They seemed magnified under his crooked glasses, making them all the more irresistible.
"No I haven't," she lied. "I've just been busy. It takes work to be the top student in the school." She tried to bring back the playful banter, but based on his stoic expression, she guessed it wasn't working.
"And anyway," she continued, clearing her throat when he didn't respond. "We shouldn't be talking right now. NEWTs aren't that far away and we have to practice our nonverbal spells if we –"
"You got your mates to cover for you," he insisted, cutting her off. "Dorcas confessed to me the other day. But she wouldn't tell me why."
She whipped around and glared at Dorcas, who was watching and listening intently to their conversation – along with Alice and Marlene. Instantly the three girls turned around and began to practice their nonverbal spells as their professor had instructed.
Lily turned back around and grit her teeth. "Dorcas is making things up," she mumbled. "I wasn't avoiding you."
James ran his hand through his hair, annoyance practically radiating off of him. "Yes, you were! You ran away every time I tried to talk to you –"
"Can we just focus on the nonverbal spells, please?" Lily hissed, snatching her wand off the desk.
James clenched his jaw. "Fine," he snapped. "But if I get cast one successfully first, you have to tell me why you've been avoiding me."
She felt like screaming. "No."
"Yes. It'll be the final competition for our not-a-bet bet."
"No."
"Yes."
"You can keep saying yes, but I'm not going to tell you what you want to know."
"Yes you will."
"No, I won't."
"You will," he replied, pulling out his wand.
"I won't," she snapped back, but she was already readying her wand. She just couldn't resist the opportunity to complete with him.
"I'm going to win," he said in a singsong voice.
It struck her that she needed to distract him, because James was very good at nonverbal spells (curse the little bugger) and she couldn't let him win this competition. She wasn't entirely against playing dirty, and this was as good a time as any to tell him…
"It's because I bloody well fancy you!" she blurted, just as he started to raise his wand.
James dropped his wand and stared at her, open-mouthed. Seizing the opportunity, she sent a nonverbal spell towards her three supposed best friends – who were still eavesdropping – that sent them tumbling backwards against the wall and drenched them in water.
"Yes!" Lily cried, pumping her fist in the air. "I won! After all this time you thought you were better than me in DADA and I just proved you wrong!"
She began to do a little victory dance, but James gripped her arm and pulled her against him so they were nose-to-nose. She nearly jumped at the lack of space between them, and she started at the way his hazel eyes seemed to burn a hole in her green ones.
"Is that true?" he demanded roughly, tightening his grip on her arm. "Do you really fancy me, or did you just say that to win the competition?" His voice shook a little and Lily realized just how important her answer was to him.
Yes, she fancied James – these last few weeks had made her realize just how much. But Merlin, what if he didn't fancy her? What if he was too uncomfortable around her and he didn't want to be friends anymore? She didn't think she could bear that.
But what if he did fancy her?
She met his piercing gaze and melted. She couldn't lie to him – even if it meant ruining their friendship. She just couldn't lie to his face.
"Yes," she said quietly. "Yes, I really do fancy you."
Whatever she'd been expecting, it certainly hadn't involved James closing the distance between them and claiming her lips with his. It wasn't like she was complaining though.
She faintly registered some hoots and hollers coming from her classmates, and it brought her back to reality all of a sudden. She pulled away from him quickly, trying not to smile at the frown that covered his face.
"What?" he demanded. "I was enjoying that."
Lily laughed. "You're not getting out of it so easily," she scolded.
He frowned. "Out of what?"
She smirked. "I still won the competition."
He rolled his eyes playfully. "Yeah, alright. You won. So what?"
She leaned closer and brushed her nose against his. "So I want to claim my prize," she whispered.
He raised an eyebrow. "I thought we agreed that there wasn't going to be a prize," he breathed. "It wasn't a bet, remember?"
She brushed her lips against his ear and shrugged. "I changed my mind. I figured, since I'm clearly the smartest of the two of us I can do that."
He chuckled, and the sound reverberated against her chest.
"Alright," James conceded. "What's your prize?"
Lily leaned in and whispered against his lips, "A date to Hogsmeade."
James grinned and teased, "With me or the giant squid?"
Lily laughed. "With you, you prat."
He smiled so wide that Lily thought her heart might burst.
"Good," he breathed, before leaning down to capture her lips in his.
Her classmates catcalled and whistled, and she faintly heard her professor trying to rally everyone's attention ("I know it's almost winter break but we're still in school so you must behave!"), but all Lily focused on was the sensation of James' lips against hers, and the elated feeling of victory.
A/N: Happy Holidays!