"Miss Evans!" Lily's eyes shot up to Professor McGonagall, who was staring impatiently at her.

"Yes?" Lily answered blankly, setting her quill down. The older woman sighed sharply.

"Would you please stop staring at the back of Mr. Potter's head and answer my question?" she inquired. A few students chuckled while James turned around to raise his eyebrows questioningly at Lily. "Now what is the most common use of the spell seroabeo?"

"Gardening," Lily replied quickly.

"Thank you," Professor McGonagall said, before turning on another student to interrogate him concerning other common household transfiguration spells. Lily clenched her teeth nervously. Had she really been so obvious? Great, she had been caught red-handed and called out in front of the entire class. Hopefully they would forget about it quickly. Ever since the incident last Transfiguration class, McGonagall had separated Lily and James, and Lily wasn't liking it. Now she had no one to talk to or pass notes to when she got bored, no one to help her on a rare occasion when she actually needed help, and she really just didn't like not sitting next to him. Well, at least this was her last class of the day. Most people had another class next, but since she was only taking five classes this year she had a free period, and it just so happened to be the last period of the day. Lily liked her schedule this year. As the chime for the end of class sounded, Lily decided to go and do some more wedding perparations. Everything concerning the food had been taken care of, but they still had a mountainload of work to do if everything was to run smoothly. Of all the people involved in the planning process, she and Ashton had gotten the worst of it. Being the maid of honor and the best man, they had the biggest responsiblity to make sure everything ran smoothly. Lily was walking out of the classroom and down the hall when she heard an oh so familiar voice next to her.

"So you were staring at me in class today?" God help me, she thought as she looked up at James, a tiny smile playing across his mouth.

"I wasn't staring at you," she snapped, quickening her steps as she head up the stairs. What good it did, she didn't know because James's legs were much longer than hers and he kept pace with her easily.

"Oh, okay, you were staring at my head," he corrected himself. "Big difference."

"I wasn't staring at your head either," she retorted. She needed to get to her dorm where he couldn't interrogate her, plus all her files for the wedding were up there.

"Then what were you staring at?" James wanted to know. "Are you calling Minnie a liar?"

"Don't call her that," Lily rebuked.

"Well, what were you looking at?" he repeated as they began to ascend a second flight of stairs. She sighed with exasperation. The truth was going to sound really dumb, but it was the truth nevertheless. The only problem was that he probably wouldn't believe it. If she had been him, she wouldn't have believed herself.

"I was staring at your hair," Lily told him, turning to the right when they reached the top of the staircase. James cocked an eyebrow critically at her.

"Really," he remarked, obviously unconvinced.

"It sticks up in the back," she pointed out. "Does it ever lay flat?" James hand shot up to the back of his head, and he ran his fingers through it quickly.

"Oh, actually, I have to use a charm to get it to do that," he told her, appearing to believe her now. "It never lies flat on it own."

"So it just stick out like that naturally?" she asked.

"Yup," he answered. "My mum goes mad about it. It gets on her last nerve."

"I don't think it's so annoying," Lily observed, stepping back to look at his hair. "It's cute."

"What?" James asked, turning to look at her with an expression of surprise. Oh crap, what did I just say? Oh God, not that smile, she thought as the corner of James's lips drew upward in a way that made her knees feel a little unstable.

"In a...childish way," she added, fumbling for words. "You know? Like, in a playful babyish way."

"So you're calling me your baby?" he asked in a low, sultry voice, running his index finger from her elbow to her wrist. Her arm went warm and her knees started to shake. I'm in a public place, she reminded herself, although no one was passing by at the moment. I'm not dating him. I'm in a public place. We could get caught any second.

"N-no," she answered, inhaling sharply when his fingers closed around her wrist. He took a step forward, forcing Lily backward. Her heart was hammering against her ribcage as she felt his free arm snake around her waist to pull her body closer to his. She was now very conscious of every part of her body that was in contact with his, but at least she had some support to keep her legs from buckling. James smirked, taking the hand he was holding hostage and placing it on his shoulder. Lily gulped, wanting to pull away, but at the same time not wanting to. The nearness was as enthralling as it was nervewrecking. James bent forward, brushing his nose along her neck before bringing his mouth close to her ear.

"Do you trust me?" he whispered, allowing his lips to barely graze her earlobe. Lily's back arched involuntarily at the sensation as she gasped softly. The feeling was unlike anything else she had felt in her life.

"Yes," she whispered back, bringing her other hand up to his shoulder. She felt a movement like a tremor move through his upper body when she touched him. She didn't want to resist right now. She didn't want to avoid this, or James, or anything he planned on doing to her at the moment. Lily's head went light when she felt the gentle pressure of his lips on her neck. She sighed, tilting her head back receptively, and she felt him smile into her skin.

"Then meet me fully dressed when we go on patrol tonight." Before she knew what had happened, James was walking down the hallway towards the stairs and she was standing by herself in the middle of the hallway. What on earth-? And where were they going that she needed to be fully clothed?

"This counts as our third date," she called when he reached the staircase. He turned to glance at her, pausing for a second to think.

"Fine." With that, he head back down the stairs, hands in pockets and whistling a cheerful Celtic tune. Lily stood planted to the spot, unable to move. Did he honestly just do that to her? No wonder she used to hate him.