Disclaimer: I didn't own it before, and I still don't own it now! Plot's mine though.

By the Dying Fire

It was Lily's last year at Hogwarts and she had just come back from her Head duties with the Head Boy, James Potter. She changed into her pajamas, light blue capris and a matching tank top. She was just climbing into her bed when her friend Amanda said, 'So, Lily, what happened tonight?'

'What do you mean what happened?' Lily responded, sitting on the edge of her bed.

'You know perfectly well what I mean. I mean what happened between you and James?'

'For the last time, Amanda, nothing happened!' Lily said, a little forcefully. She was sick and tired of her friends asking her if anything was going on between her and James. Every night one of them would ask her that, and the answer, much to James' disappointment, would be, 'Nothing.'

'Yeah, OK Lily. I just don't know why you're keeping it from us.'

At that comment Lily had had enough. She jammed her feet into her slippers and strode across the room and out the dormitory door, closing it behind her with a little bang. Despite her anger, Lily descended the stairs quietly, not wanting to attract any attention from anyone that might poke their heads out the door to see what the racket was. Unknown to her, James was sitting on the couch in the common room, staring at the dying fire, without really seeing it. He was clearly deep in thought. He turned and looked at the stairs; he had seen movement. Sure enough, someone was coming down, clearly in a bad mood. As soon and they stepped into the pool of light the fire was giving off, James knew at once who it was. He could never mistake those gorgeous, emerald green eyes that were now blazing, and beautiful, dark red hair. What's Lily doing down here so late at night? he thought.

'Hey Lily,' he said, looking at her.

'Hey James.' She looked at James, his eyes full of concern. What happened to make her this mad? She's rarely this mad at anyone but me and the other Marauders.

'Lily, what's wrong?' James asked.

'Nothing, nothing,' Lily said dismissively. She would be highly embarrassed if James knew why she was so mad at her friends.

'Lily, if something's got you this worked up, it isn't nothing.'

Lily smiled, choking back tears.

'I can't tell you,' she whispered, looking at the ground.

James took a couple steps towards her. 'Why not?' he whispered back.

'Because if I do, then I'll start crying, and then you'll think me a baby.'

'Lily, I could never think you a baby. If something's hurting you, then it's hurting me too.'

Lily smiled again. She looked up at James, who was a mere foot away from her. Her smile had caused a couple of tears to trickle down her face, and in an instant James had closed the gap between them and stroked away the tears with him thumb. He saw her smile up at him, and he hugged her. Damn, he thought. Now she's going to hate me… but to James' surprise, Lily didn't slap him or pull away. She did what he was never expecting her to do. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him back. Her sniffles were a little more audible now, and James could feel his shoulder getting quite moist. He didn't care though. As long as Lily was fine, he was fine. He pulled away from the hug, and tucked a strand of Lily's hair back behind her ear. He put his other hand on her chin, forcing her to look at him, and she didn't object. 'Do you want to talk about it?' he asked. He could feel more than see her nod.

He took her hand and led her to the couch. He made to let go of her hand, but she didn't want to seem to let go. He smiled inwardly, but right now his top priority was to make Lily feel better. James sat down, and Lily leaned against his chest, her head on his shoulder. She put her knees up to her chest, like she always did when she was scared. James noticed this, and he just squeezed Lily's hand, letting her know that he was there for her. She smiled up at him, squeezing his hand back.

'So what happened?' James asked. He had that ability to ask questions without sounding like he was trying to pry. 'You were only upstairs for only five minutes and then you came back down.'

Lily felt more tears leak out of her eyes. 'Well, I went upstairs, and I changed out of my robes and into my pajamas,' Lily started. She waited for James to make a comment, but thankfully he didn't. She continued. 'I climbed into bed, and then, as usual, my friends started asking what happened while we were patrolling.' She blushed, not knowing why. James still stayed silent, and she was extremely grateful. 'I said nothing happened.' She felt really guilty. She wanted him to know how sorry she was for saying no all these years to him. If he had asked her out recently, she would have said yes, but he hadn't, and she hated it. She loved that he was being mature, and she really liked him now, but the downside was that he hadn't asked her out for a couple months now. 'Every night I come back from our Head duties, they would ask if anything happened. And every night I said nothing. But that's not what's bothering me.' Here she stopped, and let out an audible sniff. She felt the tears streaming down her face. James stroked her arm, sending chills down her spine. She shuddered. James, thinking she was cold, held her closer. She smiled. She loved being in James' arms. It made her feel safe, but he didn't know that. Not yet anyways, thought Lily. 'My friends are always accusing me of doing stuff with you, and it gets really annoying – '

Lily suddenly felt very embarrassed. She pulled herself of James' strong grip and sat facing him, with her legs still up against her chest. She looked at James, pleading him with her eyes to forgive him. He noticed this.

'James, I'm sorry,' Lily sobbed. The tears were evident on her face now, and she was sniffing more loudly than before. Her normally beautiful green eyes were now filled with a look that pained James to look at. They were filled with regret. Lily regretted every bad thing that she had said to James this year, when he had clearly changed his entire personality just for her. James didn't want her to feel this horrible about his actions. If he were Lily, he probably would have done the exact same thing.

'Sorry for what?' he asked calmly.

'Sorry for everything I've done,' she choked. 'I'm sorry for treating you so badly, when it was obvious that you changed. I'm sorry for yelling at you and I'm really sorry that I rejected you all these years.' Lily looked up into James' eyes, and started crying uncontrollably. He had a look of pure shock on his face for a second, but then it quickly vanished into an understanding one.

'Lily, don't be sorry,' he said soothingly, and he moved over a couple inches on the couch so that he could be right next to Lily. She lifted her head as James scooted closer to her. He pulled her into a tight, warm embrace, all of her problems just fading away. She put her arms around his neck for the second time that night, and sobbed uncontrollably on his shoulder, getting it wetter than it was before. But James didn't care. He was just happy that he had been able to help Lily. He massaged her back. Why was Lily sorry for rejecting me all of these years? James thought. Does she like me? James grinned from ear to ear at this thought. Not his cocky grin (that he had stopped using because it annoyed Lily), but a really relieved grin. He might have finally achieved what he had wanted for nearly seven years.

James wanted so much to ask her out, but he didn't want to ruin the moment. What if she yells at me? Then she'll hate me again. He decided that if she really liked him, that she would make the first move.

Lily had stopped crying and looked up into James hazel eyes. 'James?' she whispered, her eyes now really red and puffy from crying.

'Yeah?'

'Can you hold me?' James noticed how red her face was from embarrassment.

'Yeah,' he said, smiling.

Lily moved to sit as close to James as possible without actually sitting on him. She moved her head and rested it on his chest, his head resting back against the couch. He put his arm around her tiny waist, and she didn't pull away. Instead, she pulled his arm around her tighter and interlocked her fingers with his. He felt his heart beat a lot faster. Merlin, he thought nervously. Her head just has to be on my chest, where she can hear my heart. He felt his face go really red, and just felt lucky that Lily was facing the opposite direction.

While James was willing his heart to beat slower, Lily smiled to herself. She felt pleased that she could make James feel so nervous. She sighed contentedly, and closed her eyes as the last of the fire died away.

James could hear her breathing become slow and steady, as if she was asleep. He lifted his head off of the top of the couch and then lowered it so he could get a proper look at her. She looked so peaceful, just sleeping there, and he felt that he wanted this forever. He always knew that he did, but now that it actually was happening, he knew for sure that he never wanted it to change. It just felt so right. As he kissed the top of her head, she stirred.

'Hey, Lily,' he said as she looked up at him.

'Hey, James,' she said back, rubbing her eyes a little.

'I think I'm going to go to bed now,' James said, standing up.

He was halfway to the staircase before Lily called out to him. 'James?' she said, walking towards him.

He turned around and saw Lily walking towards him. 'Yeah, Lily?' he asked.

'Thanks,' she whispered.

'No problem.' He started walking back to the staircase when Lily called out again.

'James.' It wasn't a question.

'Lily.'

She walked up to him, and before she could stop herself she put her hands on his shoulders, stood on tiptoe and kissed him. He was a little surprised at first, but quickly recovered. He kissed her back, deepening the kiss. James wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Lily's legs suddenly felt like jelly. They couldn't support her anymore, and she fell against James. He tightened his grip around her so she wouldn't fall. They broke away, both needing to breathe.

James was smiling down at Lily as though Christmas had come early, and Lily laughed audibly at his look. She let her head rest on his chest, as she tried to catch her breath. Lily suddenly felt extremely tired, and had troubled stifling a huge yawn. 'I'm going to go to bed now. 'Night James,' she said, and she kissed him once more.

'Night Lily.'

Both of them ascended their respective staircases climbed into their beds, grinning like mad, thinking about what had just happened.

A/N: Fluffy! This one actually took me a while to write despite its size. Tell me what you thought! Review. Please and thank you!

Niamara