James ran his fingers through his hair, leaning back in his four-poster.
"Waah!" He heard a voice shout from across the room. "Nooo!"
"Padfoot?" James asked curiously, pulling back the curtain on his bed. He could see his best mate Sirius thrashing about inside his own curtains.
Whump. Sirius landed hard on the ground as he rolled out of his bed. He tried to stand up, but his foot caught on the drape, and he pulled the entire thing down.
James had almost succeeded in keeping a straight face until he saw the look on his friend's face. He exploded.
"It's not funny," Sirius muttered, trying and failing to untangle himself. He fell again, only making James howl harder. "A little help?" he asked agitatedly.
Wiping a tear from his eye, James staggered over and pulled the curtain off his friend. He pointed his wand at the mess and said, "Reparo!"
"I don't see what you have to be laughing about," Sirius retorted, straightening his mussed pajamas. "Especially since your best mates all know about a certain crush you happen to have on Lily Evans! Surely that might be reason enough to keep your trap shut?" But he was grinning as well.
"You shut up," James snapped, his ears turning red. He hated it when people mentioned her.
"Prongsie and Lilyflower, sitting in a tree!"
"What?" James asked Sirius, utterly confused.
"It's a Muggle rhyme! Let me finish! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Sirius snickered. He made to continue, but...
Levicorpus! James thought furiously. Sirius was instantly hoisted into the air by one ankle.
"Hey! Hey! Lemme down!" he shouted, his face turning red as the blood flowed into it.
"Gladly," James grinned mischievously, thinking, Liberacorpus! Sirius collapsed in a heap on the floor for the third time that morning.
"Truce?" he asked weakly.
"Truce," James agreed, smirking.
***
It was the middle of their seventh-year Charms class, and Lily was showing off. "Aguamenti," she said calmly, making a stream of cool water flow out the tip of her wand. She could practically feel someone's eyes boring into her back after Professor Flitwick finished praising her in his squeaky voice. She turned around, annoyed, and wasn't particularly surprised to see James Potter staring intently at her. He quickly looked down at his tin basin that he was supposed to be filling up once he realized that she was looking over.
"He fancies you, you know," Lily recalled Severus telling her years ago. It still hurt to think of Sev and his betrayal, but this was a crucial fact. She'd called Potter an arrogant toerag; why shouldn't she? He was and always would be, she told herself firmly. However, that didn't explain why she got chills every time she looked at him, chills that only got worse when he was looking back...
"Evans!" Lily's head shot up, looking for the source of the call. It was just after class, and she'd left only a minute ago, after helping Flitwick clean up. Her eyes found Potter's, and she shivered slightly, but forced her eyes to narrow.
"Yes, Potter?" she clipped, tucking a loose strand of auburn hair behind her ear.
"I need to talk to you later," he mumbled. "Meet me in the common room at midnight." Then he stalked off.
Lily was taken aback. James Potter, shy? Was that even nervousness that she detected? It put her on edge. She walked carefully to Professor Slughorn's dungeon for Potions.
***
It was eleven-thirty when James stumbled into the Griffyndor common room with the other Marauders.
"Have fun with Lilyflower," Sirius snickered.
Remus put his hand on James's shoulder sympathetically. "Just tell her the truth. I've seen the way you look at each other."
His friends went jovially up to the dorm they all shared, and James settled uneasily on his favorite squashy chair by the fireplace. He went over what he wanted to say one more time in his head.
***
Lily had been brooding on what James had said all day, and by ten minutes to midnight, she couldn't take it any longer. "I'll explode," she groaned to herself. She felt herself getting more and more tense until eleven fifty-five, and she finally decided to head out of her Head Girl's room. She poked her head around the corner of the staircase and saw James sitting tersely in an armchair.
She put her foot down on the first stair. Creeeeeak. James leapt up from his chair and had his hand halfway to his wand before he saw that it was Lily.
"Oh. Hello," he said awkwardly, running a hand through his hair.
As soon as Lily heard James's voice, something arose in her. Some kind of demented courage, or maybe she just went insane. Whatever the cause, she marched across the common room, took James's face in both her hands, and pressed her lips firmly onto his.
***
James stood stock-still in shock. Lily Evans?! Then he realized what he was doing, and kissed her back.
After a minute-- or was it an eternity?-- they broke apart. James blinked dazedly. Lily seemed exhilarated and terrified at the same time.
"Oh!" she squeaked, making a break for the stairs.
***
"Not so fast," Lily heard a deep, slightly hoarse voice say. A strong arm snaked around her waist from behind, stopping her from running off.
She was breathing hard. Who wouldn't be? She'd just had a make-out session with James Potter! She turned to face him, but he didn't release her.
"Uh--" James started uncomfortably, but Lily wouldn't hear it.
She put a thin finger to his lips and said, "Shut it, Potter." With that, she kissed him again, softly this time.
***
When they awoke, Sirius and Remus were frantic. James still hadn't come back from the common room!
They charged down the stairs to find James and Lily both fast asleep. James was sitting in his armchair with Lily curled up on his lap, her head against his chest. James's arms were wrapped around her, and his face was buried in her hair.
Remus smiled, and Sirius said, "Lilyflower's going to be pissed when she finds Prongs-spit in her hair!" His friend laughed.
The noise, unfortunately, woke James from his dead man impression. He jumped, accidentally making Lily slip from his lap to the floor. She hit the carpet with a thud and stayed there.
After he gathered his bearings, James stood and looked worriedly at the girl on the floor. Then she murmured, "James," and smiled slightly in her sleep. He smiled happily and slowly lifted Lily back to the chair, where she immediately curled up again, hugging James's abandoned Muggle-style jacket to her chest.
The three Marauders stood over Lily Evans. James's look was touched, Remus looked happy for his friend, and Sirius looked disgustedly at the mushy expression on his friends' faces, though he really was happy that James had found the girl for him.
***
Lily woke up to see three male faces looking down at her. At first, she was confused; boys weren't allowed in the girls' quarters. Then, as the events from early that morning returned to her and the last dregs of sleep left, she looked anxiously at James, worrying about what she might find. To her immense relief, he was smiling tenderly. She smiled back, then glared at Sirius.
"If you say one word," she threatened him. He pretended to zip his mouth shut, then made a face as she turned back to James. "So."
"Yeah."
"Are we...?"
"I think so," James confirmed, and her insides leaped with joy. Now all she had to worry about was not losing her mind and snogging him at every possible moment. James leaned in.
Oh well.