Chapter Eight

"Admit defeat Potter, you can't do it." Lily said in a sing song voice.

"Never." James replied, his tongue sticking out, fingers tangled in Lily's hair trying to braid it right, without magic while they headed for the last class before the Christmas holidays. It was Friday and tomorrow would be their Hogsmeade weekend. James was still debating whether he should ask Lily out, not as a date but as a friend. But James thought better of it and decided to leave the matter as of now. He never wanted to risk this precious a friendship for a date he'd been craving for years. He knew that Lily always spent some time alone near the fields of the Shrieking Shack every Hogsmeade weekend. He could always meet her there. He knew enough about Lily by now. He had stalked her all these five years under his invisibility cloak sitting in uncomfortable postures in the library or under the tables of The Three Broomsticks just to watch her. She had fascinated him from the moment he'd set his eyes upon her and still fascinates him as if she becomes new everytime he looked at her. But mostly he enjoyed watching her when she would make a lame excuse and head out towards the Shrieking Shack to spend her time alone in quiet. She would often hum to herself and James would try to seat himself as close to her as possible without getting caught. He had once seen her in a shop looking at a pair of earrings which seemed to be a bit of antique gold material but then her friends came out of the changing room barging her with questions about their dresses. Lily being the way she was, went to help her friends and forgot about the earrings. When she had left James went in that shop and bought those earrings. It was in their fourth year. He still has it. He is impatient and wants to give it to Lily this Christmas but he also wants to save it for some special occasion. Yes, I'll give it to her when I tell her that I still like her more than a friend. But he always kept it with himself just in case Lily confesses to him that she likes him back.

"...Mr. Potter, are you listening?" Slughorn asked.

"Uh...yeah..yes sir I'm listening." James replied mindlessly.

"Maybe I should pair you up with Ms. Evans more often. You seem to do good with her." Slughorn said and chuckled to himself.

James turned sideways and winked at Lily, who to James surprise, blushed, but rolled her eyes nonetheless. James couldn't help but feel his heart soring at the thought that a wink earned him that delicious blush which makes her skin so sensitive to touch. He wanted to touch her and make her tremble at his touch but it was a far lived fantasy. He'd have to wait longer. When he looked back at her she was staring into her books. He could tell she was not reading. Her skin was still showing the remnants of that delectable blush. He looked around and saw everyone was either talking or sleeping. Sirius-sleeping, Remus-reading, Peter-?-peeing maybe. So he allowed himself his favourite timepass. Looking at Lily. He started from the feet which were crossed one over the other revealing a slight portion of her upper creamy thighs, then he looked up to her tiny waist not missing the curve of her hips, to her full breast which seemed to to be heaving heavily. His eyes stopped there. He could see the faint outline of her nipples hardening until he could see them clearly, poking through the material of her shirt. She was breathing more heavily he noticed. He could even make out the outline of her bra covering her full breasts. He then, moved to her collar bones hidden underneath the collar of her shirt up towards her neck which he noticed was flushed with blood almost as red as her hair. He then moved up to her chin to her lips, the lower one only slightly visible as she was biting it, then to her short sharp nose and then finally those emerald green eyes which were concentrating on the textbook before them. And yes, her hair, as vibrant as fire reaching her shoulders looking like the halo of Aphrodite. Although her brows were furrowed he can see she wasn't reading the textbook. It looked more like she was feigning concentration. James shook off the thoughts that were forming in his mind after this very inappropriate adventure his eyes has taken him to. She thinks of me as a friend. And James felt guilty for having violating the innocence of their friendship. Surely manly a times he had touched her the way a guys touches a girl he loves but she had been aware of it and had returned his advances in heat of the moment. But this was him being out of lines while she was blissfully unaware of him. They were friends now. He had to behave himself when Lily wasn't looking.

When will he stop looking at me like that. Lily thought. She had seen James devouring her with those hazel eyes which were now dark almost black with a desire unknown to her. She had looked at him to pass a note but had caught him staring at her thighs then her waist. They were friends now and used to sit a lot inclined towards each other and hence why he could look at her more clearly. When he stopped at her breasts she could feel her heart rate accelerating. With every passing moment that he stared she felt as if he was peeling off her clothes ever so slowly without so much as touching her. She could feel her nipples hardening and finally poking through her shirt begging for friction. Then as soon as his gaze moved upwards she darted her eyes away from him trying to fake reading and concentrating. Her skin was on fire and suddenly the room felt so hot and it was almost Christmas.!

The bell rang and but her mind was elsewhere and she continued sitting in her seat engrossed in her thoughts. She knew James liked her more than as a friend and it was justified for him to look at her in that manner. But she still liked him as a friend but was still so much aroused by the way his gaze travelled across her body. Sure she had experienced men staring at her in more or less similar manner but that had made her feel uncomfortable, angry. But the way James stared, made her think that he has a right over her body, her person. And for a very odd reason it aroused her beyond anything.

"Lily, let's leave, the bell has rung."

James voice startled her and she dropped the book she was holding. James bent down to pick up the book. James head was pretty close to her legs and gripped her quill as hard as she could, curled her toes so she doesn't jerk. By the time she held her hand out for the book James had already placed it on the table careful not to touch her and was waiting patiently for her to pack up. Lily looked up and noticed he wasn't making any eye contact with her nor was he helping her pack up.

How can I even look at her now. It pained him to see her packing her stuff all by herself. He had bought her chocolate frogs thinking it would be his last chance before the holidays to get hold of her bag and slip them in. He wanted to touch her but felt too disgusted by himself. When she was done he held out the door for her and they went out quietly.

While walking through the corridor Lily saw Scarlett walking towards them. When she caught Lily's eyes, she glared at Lily. Lily quickly looked down. She never really found out how exactly James got rid of Scarlett but felt as if it was Lily's own fault.

James looked down at Lily when she quickly averted her gaze with a jerk. He then saw Scarlett walking towards them glaring furiously at Lily. He quickly grabbed Lily's hand and squeezed it. She looked up at him and he looked down at her. And then he ended their brief eye contact with a small reassuring smile. Scarlett had passed them by now. Although he didn't want to, but when he tried to slacken his grip to pull out his hand, Lily held onto it gripping it tightly. Neither of them said anything and headed to the Gryffindor tower hand in hand.

If I might try I may still have time to slip those chocolate frogs in her bags. James thought with a smile. When they entered the common room they sat down with their friends. Alice, Frank, Hestia(who was interestingly sitting next to Sirius), Remus, Peter, and Marlene were sitting in a big circle chatting animatedly. Lily and James went in and sat down in between Marlene and Sirius. When James saw Lily was too busy arguing with Alice about something Lily did in fourth year, he quickly grabbed her bag and kept the chocolate frogs in the bag.

"You won't believe what I found in my bag yesterday.!" Lily said with a childlike glee jumping up and down. All of the sixth year students were in the Great Hall for breakfast. Lily was sitting between Marlene and Alice, across from James.

"What? Wait it can't be what I think it is." James said with a with a girly look of surprise.

"It is, it is.!" Lily replied and they both burst out laughing.

"I'm telling you Evans, it is either Lockhart or Diggory. Who else would do such a cheeky thing?" James said with a serious expression.

"I don't think. I guess it is way more cheeky even by their standards." Lily said with her expression smug.

The rest of the crowd just rolled their eyes at them. They had become used to listening to Lily and James speak in a gibberish that only they understood.

*King's Cross*

"You'll write to me wont you?" James asked in a very flustered manner which was almost hilarious.

"No of course not what makes you think I will?" Lily said in a sarcastic tone.

"Thank merlin, I thought you won't let me rest even in the holidays." James chuckled as he said this.

Lily gasped dramatically and smacked his arm.

"If you two sweethearts are quite done, can we leave James, your parents are practically watching you both."

"Okay bye." Lily said and left immediately not wanting to face his parents.

"Bye" James said equally relieved that Lily didn't stick around to greet his parents who would have bombarded her with all that he had talked about her to them.

"Was that Lily Evans?" Mrs. Potter asked.

James nodded quietly.

"I see you didn't mess it up this time with her." Mr. Potter said giving his look-alike son a wink.

"Can we go and at least meet her. I couldn't see her clearly with all her hair flying around. And my.! Her hair is red.!"

"No mom, we can't meet her. And of course her hair is red. Did you think I've been lying all these years?" James said almost impatient to leave now.

"Well you do have a habit of exaggerating." Mr. Potter said.

"Can we just leave already?" James said irritated now.

"Okay." Mrs. Potter said quietly, hiding her smile.

A/N: Hey guys this is more like *I was bored out of my mind and wanted to write* so I wrote this sort-of chapter. I'll update the next real chapter by 14th. My guest- love ya honey. And all my readers, who stick around enduring my laziness in updating and frustration of getting short chapters to read *guilty look*, I love you too people. Thanks for reading...bye...