James blew his whistle to clear the pitch at the end of practice. As the rest of the team floated down to the ground and went into the locker room, he and Sirius gathered and secured all the equipment the team had used that night.

"I'll take this back to the Quidditch office," Sirius volunteered. "There's a pretty bird waiting for you in the stands."

"Thanks, Padfoot," James said, glancing up to where Lily was sitting. "I owe you one."

"You sure do, mate," Sirius agreed. "Now go see her instead of dawdling here, talking to boring old me."

James was happy to see that Lily was wearing his cloak, not just holding on to it as she had promised. Lily must have noticed what he was looking at. "Do you need this back?" she asked reluctantly, gesturing to the cloak.

"Not now," James said. "I'm warm enough at the moment. Just ran an intense Quidditch practice and all that. How about you keep it until we get back to the castle?"

Lily smiled involuntarily. "Okay." She bit her lip, considering her next question. "Do you think we could fly over to the lake first? I love it at this time of night."

"Of course we could," James said, startled. Since when had Lily wanted to fly with him?

Sitting on a rock, looking over the lake as the sun set, James risked putting an arm around Lily's waist. To the almost-complete surprise of both students, she leaned her head on his shoulder in response.

"There's a game this Saturday," he mused. "Will you be coming?"

"I do have to cheer my team on, James. Yes, I'll be there."

"Would you consider wearing my practice cloak again?"

"Do you want me to?" she asked.

"Yes. I mean, if you don't want to, that's fine, but I just thought maybe you'd like it, since it's Gryffindor colors, and it will be cold out again…"

"How about I just keep it until then?" she asked carefully.

He grinned at her. "I don't mind."

She smiled back. "Thanks, James."

"You know, we better get back," he suggested. "Practice ended a while ago. People will start to talk."

"About what?" Lily asked. She knew perfectly well what the topic of gossip would be; she just kind of wanted to hear him say it.

"About us, Lily," he told her quietly. "You apparently hated me last year, and now you've snuck off with me after a Quidditch practice. To top it all off, you've got my practice cloak. People will start to wonder what's going on."

"I never hated you," she protested.

James laughed. Out of everything he had just said, that was the one thing she had chosen to object to. "Sometimes it seemed like you did."

"I was frustrated."

"By what?"

"Your arrogance. Did you seriously think that I would just get exasperated enough to say yes to you, just to make you stop asking me out?"

"No, Lily. I hoped you would finally say yes because you wanted to date me."

"It's been a while since you asked," she noted casually.

"It has," he agreed. "Maybe even too long. Lily Evans, would you consider being my girlfriend?"

She twined her ankle around his and smiled at him yet again. "Yes, James Potter. Yes."

Pretty short, I know. Please don't hate me for it. But really, anything more in this chapter and either I'd never get it written (I currently have procrastination issues because it's summer) or it could be a bit overwhelming to read (in my opinion, at least). If all goes as planned, the next one shouldbe quite a bit longer.

What do you think? Reviews—both positive and negative—are always appreciated! :)