To-get-her
"Dissendium."
Lily gaped openly and stuttered, "Wh-what? When? How?"
James twirled his wand easily, "That's for me to know and for you to dream about."
Lily let her hair loose in a horrible attempt to hide her blush.
James smiled and held out his hand, "You ready?"
Lily easily sidestepped his arm and peered down the hole, "It's like a black hole down there."
"You trust me don't you?" James said, eyes softly peering into hers. Lily blinked.
In some small region of her mind she could picture James torturing Snape, teasing her in their first year, and playing merciless pranks on April Fool's Day. That was Then-James; this is Now-James. Now-James was completely different. Mature. Responsible. Handsome… and smiling weakly as he awaited her answer.
Lily smiled back and took his hand, feeling a warm sensation as she did so, "You first."
James situated himself at the opening of the witch's hump. Lily sat behind him and placed a leg on either side of James's body. Now it was James trying to fight a creeping blush, "Think Holy thoughts, think Holy thoughts. Uhm, think about flowers…bad idea… that makes me think of birds, bees, and plant sperm. Ok, think of flannel pajamas! Oh dear, Lily would look gorgeous in one of those…provided that she was wearing nothing else- NOT WORKING! Think Holy thoughts, think HOLY-"
Lily pressed her face against his back, "Ok, I'm ready."
James, not trusting his rationality, decided to proceed down the slide.
Down they went, together, until James shouted, "Ok we're almost to the bottom. Get ready."
James braced himself for a smooth landing but instead of landing on his feet, James landed face-first and with Lily's weight on his back.
"Lily! I told you to brace yourself!" James said, rolling over and rubbing his ribcage.
Lily blinked, in reality, she had been too enthralled with the feeling of being so close to James that his warning had really only registered as a comforting murmur.
"Sorry about that," She said helping him to his feet.
"Don't worry about it. You're really a lot heavier than you look-" Lily gave his arm a tug that was much harder than necessary.
James cleared his throat before saying, "Um, I meant to ask you how you stay so thin? You're in really good shape, y'know! It's all muscle weight-"
"That's quite enough out of you," Lily said, hoping that the darkness would hide her blush.
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They traveled through the tunnel in silence, each too nervous to speak.
Lily blew warm breath onto her ungloved hand in an attempt to keep it warm.
"What's this?" James inquired, grasping the ungloved hand.
"It's a hand James," Lily said plainly, "Perhaps you've seen one-"
"Where are your gloves?" He demanded.
"It must have fallen out of my pocket on the way here. It's no big deal-"
"Here," James engulfed her tiny ungloved hand into his, "Let's me help you with that."
"That's better," Lily said smiling.
They walked together in an awkward silence for nearly five minutes before Lily tripped over a rock.
"Are you ok Lily? I'm so sorry, I should have warned you," James was barely able to contain his laughter, "It's just, I go through this so often it's all habit to me."
"It's ok. Good thing you were holding me hand."
"That's an excellent thing-" James cut himself off, feeling embarrassed.
Lily smiled a secret smile, "What are you thinking about?"
"I just realized that I've never been properly alone with you. I mean, we've been in the library together but there are always other people around, y'know?"
"Yeah," Lily said after a pause, "I think that I like this better though."
"Me too."
With that said, the couple proceeded up the long staircase that led to Honeydukes. James opened the trap door and helped Lily through it.
"Are we…are we in Honeydukes?" Lily asked.
James smiled.
"B-but, we could get into loads of trouble! Does anyone else know about this-"
"Who's back there?" Asked a loud booming voice from the other side of the storage room.
James's smile grew, "It's just me Gene."
"Oh James," said the graying employee, "I didn't recognize your voice. It sounded all high and panicky-"
"I have a girl, Lily, here with me-"
"A girl! Well, it's been a mighty long time since I've seen you come in here with a girl. I, myself, began to think you'd gone a bit funny. I've seen how Peter looks at you sometimes-"
"We are NOT having this conversation, Gene!"
"We'll I was just saying-"
James chuckled, "Come on, Lily. Gene, we'll probably take the carriages home-" James turned to Lily and said, "You don't mind staying out that long do you?"
Lily had been highly distracted, and quite amused, by Gene and could only mutter, "What?"
"It's ok, if you don't want to stay all day-"
"Oh no, it's absolutely fine," Lily said with a smile.
"Don't wait up then, Gene!"
"Nice to meet you, Gene!"
Gene's reply was muffled as James closed the back door behind him.
"Do you want any candy?" James asked, still enjoying the feeling of her hand in his.
"Well, you don't know if they have any chocolate strawberries here, do you?"
James frowned slightly, "There's usually some around this corner. Then again, it's Valentine's Day so they might be out."
Luckily for Lily, there were five remaining chocolate strawberries which she promptly scooped into a bag and took to the clerk. Lily pulled out her pouch of money before James cried, "Oh no! Let me pay for it."
Lily frowned, "No, you don't have to-"
"How about I pay half and we can share?"
Lily was hesitant. She then spotted a rotten strawberry at the bottom with hardly any chocolate on it at all and promptly agreed to share.
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"So," Lily began, taking a bite out of her strawberry, "How in the world do you just pop out in the middle of the Honeydukes storage closet and not get into trouble? I mean, not only did you not get in trouble, you got welcomed in! How long have you even known about that secret passage? It's not in Hogwarts: A History-"
James chuckled as they started down the path towards the fields, "One thing at a time. I used to live around here when I was younger."
"Really?" Lily said thickly, her mouth full of chocolate.
"Really. And Gene's about 120 years old so he knew my whole family. Anyway, he caught me taking a nibble out of a chocolate frog even though I couldn't pay for it. He made me promise to never steal again "Or else".
Lily finished chewing before asking, "Or else what?"
Grinning, James answered, "Or else he'd castrate me."
Lily chocked violently on the strawberry.
"Come on Lily! Cough it up!" James screamed as he practiced the Heimlich Maneuver on her.
Finally, the strawberry was projected from Lily's throat and she fell over onto the ground. James dropped down next to her, mistaking her shaking shoulders as sobbing.
"Oh Lily! I'm so sorry! I should have waited-" Lily inhaled a large amount of air and began laughing uncontrollably.
"Castration! That's brilliant!"
James stepped back incredulously, "You're ok?"
Lily rolled onto her back in fits of laughter.
James grabbed a handful of snow and launched it at Lily's stomach. She immediately stopped laughing.
"Come on Lily Evans. Give me your best shot!"
"Excuse me?"
"Snowball fight. Right here, right now. Just myself, the snow, and your pretty little face," James said with a smile.
"I'm not getting into this with you! We're too old for this-"
"What! You are never too old for a snowball fight! What kind of a person are you…unless…no surely it's not that-"
Lily turned away and clutched the bag of chocolate strawberries to her chest protectively, "Unless what?"
"Unless…you're too chicken-"
Lily turned around slowly. James had said the magic word.
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Half an hour later, James and Lily were performing warming charms on one another. James was laid out in a pile of snow with lily's head resting on his chest.
"Why didn't we think of this before?" Lily asked.
"The snowball fight?"
"No, the warming charms. Since I lost my glove."
"Holding hands was more fun," James said simply.
"It was," Lily affirmed with a smile. She took the bag of chocolate strawberries back out of her pocket and bit into an extraordinarily ripe one.
"Am I ever going to get one of those?" James asked.
"Oh yea," Lily said, digging for the rotten strawberry, "This one is yours."
"Thanks," James said, taking a large bite."
Lily watched mischievously as his face contorted and turned to spit out the contents.
"You trying to kill me?" James yelled before plunging his tongue into the snow in an attempt to get rid of the taste.
"You don't want to do that." Lily advised.
"Why not?" James asked, moodily
"You know, that stuff is toxic."
"Snow!
"Yea, it's really water from Haseltine Lake in London and, well, you don't really want to know what's floating in there-"
James's face turned pale then green. Lily's eyes widened.
"Oh my gosh, James! I'm kidding! Just breathe in and out. Put your head between your knees."
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"It's exhausting. Being out here with you," James said. He replaced the now empty Honeydukes bag to his face praying that he would vomit in front of Lily.
"Yes but you're enjoying every second of it." She rubbed her hand in little circles on James's back.
James removed the bag again and pouted, "Talk to me so that I stop thinking about that putrid strawberry?"
Lily smiled and scooted closer to him, "Sure. What do you want to know about me?"
"Favorite thing. I don't mean flowers or poetry or any of that mushy stuff. Tell me your favorite little thing."
"Lip-gloss. Vanilla lip-gloss." Lily reached into her back pocket and applied a bit to her lips.
"Smell," she demanded, pouting her lips as she did so.
James had the enormous urge to kiss those lips and taste the vanilla for himself but his stomach gurgled unhappily and he decided against it.
"That smells really good."
"It tastes even better," Lily said innocently, licking a bit off of her lips.
"Are you teasing me, Ms. Evans?"
Lily smiled, "Maybe. What's your favorite thing? Do. Not. Say. A broomstick."
James chuckled, "Can I say you?"
Lily smiled and ran her fingers through James's hair, "No. But I'll remember that you considered it."
"Ever-Bashing Boomerangs-"
"James!"
He chuckled, "OK. Ok, let me think. Sugar Quills?"
"That's better. Why sugar quills?"
"Because they're sweet just like you."
"Oh you're a helpless romantic aren't you? Did you come up with that by yourself?"
"Seriously, I like to chew on them because they help me concentrate."
"Do you have one with you?"
James pulled one out of his robe pocket and bit into it.
"You were supposed to share with me."
James opened up his pocket, "Oh I'm sorry, I'm fresh out. Would you like me to see if I can find you one out of a trash can," Lily fell back laughing, "Old, or perhaps one that's already been chewed on by a troll. This is funny to you?" James asked, leaning over Lily as she laughed.
"It certainly is. D'you mind if I have some of yours then?"
James frowned, "I already ate it-"
Lily sighed and rolled her eyes before pulling James towards her. Their lips hovered and each could feel the other's breath and hesitation.
Lily wasn't sure what it was. She somehow associated this kiss—this one moment—with becoming utterly, irreversibly, in love with James Potter. She tilted her head up a fraction and James, enthralled by the sparkle in her eyes and the flush in her cheeks, sealed the deal. The kiss was soft and slow, but it held 6 years of missed opportunities, arguments, and apologies.
Lily and James were brought abruptly out of their world by the sound of Cynthia clearing her voice. Lily pulled back slightly but James's face remained near.
Lily could see that Cynthia and her date out of the corner of her eye.
"Lily! I see you found something to do today after all."
James and Lily shared a peck before Lily whispered, "I guess you could say that."
The End! I'm pretty proud of myself right now! BTW Haseltine Lake is supposedly a real lake in London (I looked it up) but I have NO idea if it's clean or dirty so…if you live anywhere near Haseltine Lake feel free to let me know how clean or dirty it is J Also, no offence to any homosexuals out there with the whole peter/James thing. And sorry if I went a bit comma crazy in this chapter…feel free to call me out on it J