"I'm in love with you."

James sits up abruptly and Lily's head slides off his chest. They'd been lying in the sunshine on a blanket, enjoying the pleasant day, and Lily's head had been on his chest. Then the words "in love with you" come out of her mouth, and James is stunned.

"You're...in love with…" His mouth is moving but his mind is not.

"Please don't freak out." Lily takes his hand between hers and meets his eyes, her own burning with resolve. "I'm in love with you. I have been since before we started dating, and it was never the right time, and I don't know if you feel the same — "

Now she's the one freaking out. Feeling absurdly calm, James takes his free hand and cups her cheek, shutting her up. He kisses her, pouring everything he's ever felt for her, communicating the feelings unearthed by her confession. It's intimate, tender, and he takes his time pulling away.

"I love you too," he tells her. The sunlight slants across her red hair, turning it into flame. "I've loved you since fifth year, since you berated me for dangling Snape by his ankle. I realized then how truly amazing you are, and I could not make the same mistake he did — let you go."

"You were an idiot in fifth year," she says, but she's smiling radiantly, so radiantly that his heart sings a love song. "But you changed for the better and that's what made me fall in love with you. You stopped being immature, you stopped asking me out and showering me with unwanted advances. You started behaving like you wanted to be friends with me, which threw me for a loop. And then I thought that you had stopped having feelings for me."

"I never did," he begins, but she cus him off.

"And when I started fancying you, that was hard to bear," she continues. "I thought there was no way that I would have a shot with you, and after all I'd done to you, I thought you would reject me. So I kept it to myself. I didn't even tell my friends."

"I fell in love with you after we started dating and I realized it was too damn hard not to. So I stopped fighting and here we are."

Lily looks at him expectantly. But he doesn't say anything, just stares at her for a long moment.

And then he opens his arms.

A breathtaking smile steals across her face and she's falling, falling into his arms, and he thinks he'll never make the same mistake as Snape had — he would never let her go.


448 words

Capture the Flag - Being in love