Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter

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The common room was empty when Lily walked down to it. This was an improvement at least.

She curled up on the couch in front of the fire with her new book, Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.

It wasn't long before someone sat besides her and said, "Is this all you ever do? Read and run?"

"Potter," Lily scoffed, closing her book and standing up to leave, only to be pulled back down.

"ONE conversation, Evans," he asked. "Just ONE for today, please?"

Lily sighed. "Let me ask you something, Potter. What are you looking for?"

"What do you mean?" he asked. They both stared into each other's eyes, hardly blinking.

"What are you searching for in life? Happiness? Love? Wealth? Or maybe an escape?"

James took a moment to think about her question. "I guess what I'm looking for in life is, well the meaning of life itself."

"The meaning of life?" A small smirk played at her lips. James blushed.

"I know it's sappy and cliché, but I've made it sort of a 'hobby' to find the reason we're here."

Lily still didn't let go of her gaze. "What makes you think there's only one meaning of life?" When he didn't respond, she continued. "You have to be open to all possibilities, or at least accepting of other points of view. Who's to say that there is only one specific reason we're here? Maybe there are multiple reasons."

"Well what do you think?" he asked.

"I think that every individual creates his or her own meanings. We're all unique on the inside, and were placed here for our own purposes. I think everyone has a reason."

James nodded his head slowly.

"Let me ask you something else, Potter. What is life?" she asked, her emerald eyes glowing.

"Didn't we just cover this topic?" he frowned.

"I'm not asking you the meaning of life. Let me put it this way, how would you define life?"

He didn't answer, confusion etched on every feature of his face.

Lily sighed. "What do you think life IS? Is it a series of tests? A reason for some supreme being to watch us progress? When you hear the word LIFE, you think that life is…"

He still didn't respond.

"Exciting?" Lily offered. "Contemptible? Boring? Unimportant? Life is WHAT, James Potter? I can't make it more obvious!" Frustration grew in her voice. "Life is WHAT? Life is…"

"Beautiful," James whispered.

Lily ceased her tantrum. "What?"

"Life is beautiful," he repeated.

For the first time that entire day, Lily smiled.

The two sat in a silence that, for once, was comfortable.

James looked out the window, at the setting sun.

"Full moon night," Lily said, seeing the direction he was looking. James stood up.

"I should get going."

Lily nodded and watched him walk to the portrait hole.

Before he walked out, he turned around and looked at Lily, who was once more engrossed in her book. "Hey, Evans," he said, causing Lily to glance up. "What's YOUR meaning of life?"

There was a silence where James could almost hear the sun setting.

Finally, she responded.

"To live, of course."

She turned her eyes back to her book.

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Lily couldn't sleep that night. She had done exactly what she wanted to avoid, had an insightful conversation with one James Potter.

James also couldn't sleep. He had finally gotten a glimpse of Lily's inner self, and it was hauntingly familiar.

"Why do I hate him so much?" she asked herself, forgetting that first year at Hogwarts, while at the same time James muttered…

"Why does she hate me so much?"

They both turned over on their sides, glancing at their clocks.

Exactly midnight.

12:00 AM, December 18. No classes for two entire weeks.

Everyone else was cheerful, enjoying the wonders of winter and no classes. For some reason, these two just could not smile, at least not truthfully.

12:01 AM.

Lily rolled over on her back again. She hadn't eaten any dinner, and her stomach gave rumbles of protests.

The kitchens are always open, she thought. But how to get there undetected?

James' stomach was growling at him to get out that invisibility cloak of his and head down to the kitchens.

And James ALWAYS listened to his stomach.

Funny how life works, isn't it?

When Lily got to the bottom of the steps, she heard a pair of footsteps descending from the boys' dormitories, but saw no one there.

"Evans!" a voice hissed behind her, making her jump.

"Who's there?" she demanded in a fierce whisper.

James took of his invisibility cloak.

"Are you STALKING me, Potter?" she grumbled.

"Don't be such a Slytherin Evans. What're you doing up in the early hours of the day?"

"Looking for a midnight snack," she glared.

"Well look at that, me too. Just HOW though, Evans, did you think you would get down to the kitchens without being seen?"

"I have stealth, I'd find a way."

"Sure," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Just get under the cloak," he commanded.

Lily looked furious. "I'll be just fine on my own, thank you."

"Evans, stop being so stubborn."

"Potter, stop being so immature."

"I'M the immature one?" he scoffed.

Lily chose not to reply. The problem was that she knew there was no way of getting to the kitchens. The way she saw it, she had two options. One, share the cloak (and the food) with Potter or two, steal the cloak and make a mad dash.

James definitely did not enjoy the option she chose.

He couldn't see where she was and had to rely on his other senses to catch her before she got away.

And he did, right before she climbed out of the portrait hole.

The position was awkward. James had tackled Lily and had managed to trip on the cloak, taking Lily down with him. They ended up with James, face-to-face with Lily, flat out above her, his hands holding hers pinned to the ground in an attempt to stop from falling on her.

It was even worse when he wouldn't move and Lily had no chance of escaping.

"Get off me, Potter," she glared.

"Not until I think of a reasonable punishment," he coldly replied, staring at the fire in her emerald eyes.

Lily groaned with aggravation, impatiently waiting for a torture to be decided.

"Kiss me Evans," he slyly replied.

Lily was outraged. "I WILL NOT!"

"Come on, one peck on the lips won't hurt!"

"Yes, it will."

"Wouldn't you want your first kiss to be with me?" he grinned egotistically.

"Who said it'd be my first?"

His smile disappeared. "I…just…assumed?"

"Assumed that since I'm a loner here, that I've been like this my entire life?"

James blushed.

"Assuming always makes an ASS out of 'u' and 'me'. Now get off me Potter!"

"No." The grin was back. "I don't care if it's not your first. The only way you're getting out is if you kiss me."

Lily groaned, secretly wishing for a miracle to get her out of the mess.

"No, Potter. I've only been on speaking terms with you for a day. I will NOT kiss you."

"That's perfectly fine since it'd be easier for me to just kiss you anyway."

Lily sent a glare that would have made the Dark Lord flinch.

"It's not THAT bad Evans!"

"Yes it is!"

"JAMESY!" a false high-pitched voice erupted from the portrait hole.

The two looked up to see Sirius standing there, sweaty and dirty. "I was just about to go to our dorm looking for you!" He raised his eyebrow at the scene laid out in front of him.

James stood up and helped Lily to her feet, blushing the whole time. Lily was silently praising Sirius for saving her.

"Jamesy, my dear Jamesy, having to beg a girl to kiss him?" Sirius acted the part of James' mother quite well. "Oh woe is me! WOE IS ME!"

"Oh shut up you bloody prat," James glowered to Sirius's amusement. He threw the cloak at Lily. "There you go Evans, have fun. I have other stuff to do."

With those words, he followed the taunting Sirius out of the common room.