Seventh Year

James grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her around to face him. "Will you just listen for one minute?"

Lily's blazing eyes met his. "What, Potter?"

James kept his hold on her arm, for fear she would storm off at any moment unless he physically restrained her. "Why does it make you so mad when I ask you out?"

"Maybe," said Lily in disgust, wrenching her arm out of his grasp, "because you do it all the time. It used to just be annoying, James, but how you can be so insincere and unfeeling after all these years of me telling you to stop is..." Lily couldn't find a suitable word.

"What makes you think I'm insincere, Lily?"

"Potter...I've asked you a million times to stop." She sighed, and her tone became more serious. "Maybe everyone used to think it was funny, and I was a little flattered when it all started, but I get that now it's all a joke to you, and I really, really wish you would find someone else to make the source of your amusement."

James stared. "You really don't get it, do you?"

Lily laughed humorlessly and threw her hands in the air. "I must be missing something!"

James frowned a little, and suddenly Lily noticed a certain something in his stare that was a little too intense for her taste. "Do you like me at all?" James asked her quietly.

Lily looked genuinely surprised. "Do you want me to like you?"

"Why the hell do you think I ask you out so much?!" James asked incredulously.

Lily raised her eyebrows, blinked. "I...I thought..."

"Did you honestly think I would keep after you all these years for a joke?" James demanded. "I'm not that desperate for entertainment, Lily." His voice grew softer. "I really do like you."

Lily was silent for a long moment. She stood frowning solemnly up at the boy in front of her, contemplating something. "I guess that makes two of us," she finally said, so quietly James wasn't altogether sure he'd really heard her.

"What do you mean, two of us? Two of us that-"

"I never wanted to like you!" Lily cried, her voice almost breaking. James looked startled at the emotion in her voice. Her eyes would no longer meet his. "I never wanted to fall for you," she added, almost in a whisper.

"Lily?"

"Yes?"

"Would it surprise you, or creep you out at all if I told you I loved you?" Lily's head snapped up. She looked positively frightened, and shocked, and happy, all at once. "A little of both, but..." she tried to joke.

"Do you really?" There was, unmistakably, hope in her voice that she was trying desperately to conceal.

"Always have," James replied. His fingers lightly grazed her cheek.

Lily suddenly realized how close they were standing, and she took a step back. She bit her lip, she looked down and away from James.

"I'm sorry!" he cried, desperately grabbing her hand and keeping her there. "But I'm sick of not telling you, and having you think it's all for show, and-"

And suddenly, Lily was kissing James, and- after a few good, long seconds of shock- James was kissing Lily back. He had just begun to wind his arms around her waist when she pulled away, entirely too quickly in James' opinion, and he made a noise of protest and refused to let got of her completely. And so she looked up at him from not very far away, and thought how nice it was to be so close. "James Potter, I have been ridiculous. I've loved you for I don't know how long, and...and..." Lily looked up sheepishly. "It looks like we've wasted a lot of time not telling each other things."

James smiled a half smile and pulled Lily closer. "Well just so you know, Lily Evans, I love you."

"And I love you," she said wondrously. She smiled up at him, and he pulled her into another kiss, and she wrapped her arms around him as tight as she could manage while still kissing him thoroughly, and ceased to think much of anything.

Twenty or so minutes later found the couple happily seated by the fire, exchanging frequent kisses and being rather quiet and simply enjoying being in such close proximity with each other without feeling angry or upset or annoyed. This is how they were discovered by Dorcas, whose eyes went wide and who dashed immediately up the girls' staircase so that she could squeal uninhibitedly; Peter, whose mouth dropped open and who stood staring for a good minute before disappearing to find Remus or Sirius; and Remus, who stared, smiled, shook his head, and calmly climbed the stairs to his dormitory and finished an essay for Charms.