Lily knew she was in a huff. She was mature enough to recognise it, more mature than Potter would ever be anyway.
She also knew her jealousy, no. Her annoyance was unjustified but Lily felt simply murderous when she saw Mary's perfectly manicured hand on his thigh and heard her sweet, honeysuckle-like laugh.
She kept her eyes glued to her parchment, not daring to look over to the couple who were sprawled over the sofa. The death grip she had on her quill guaranteeing that her fingers would definitely be covered with ink when she put it away.
"Oi ginger! you do know your quill isn't gonna grow legs and run away do you? So you don't need to hold it like your life depends on it" Marlene teased, deliberately provoking the redhead further.
Lily scoffed at Marlene, her emerald eyes almost sparking as she threw her best friend the dirtiest of looks.
"Woah babe! what's gotten your knickers all in a twist?"
Marlene flashed Lily a smirk that could rival Sirius's as she looked over her shoulder, following Lily's stare.
"It couldn't have to do with a certain messy haired head boy... could it?" Marlene asked, her fake ignorance only angering Lily more.
"Oh shut it Marls, you know I don't give a flying fuck about Potter" Lily snapped, looking back down at her parchment but failing again to concentrate.
"Yeah but you do give a fuck about Mary throwing herself at him like she's a rogue bludger"
Marlene smirks while putting her boots on the table and watching Lily's reaction, enjoying seeing her shoulders tensing.
"Mary can throw herself at anyone she likes, why should I care?" Lily said, her fake nonchalance not fooling Marlene one bit.
"Oh, so you wouldn't mind if they started shagging?" Marlene pressed, leaning forward - her eyebrows wiggling.
"Why would I mind? Mary can shag anyone she wants" Lily scoffs, shrugging and trying too hard to fake nonchalance.
"Because you fancy Potter," Marlene said, leaning back as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I DO NOT FANCY-"
Lily stopped herself quickly, looking fevently around the room to see if they noticed, however all she saw was Mary yet again flashing James a dazzling smile.
Marlene bit back her own smile, patting Lily's arm sympathetically
"Och pet, it seems like your still in denial" her Irish accent purred.
"McKinnon you have 10 seconds to leave before I hex your ass" Lily threatened, putting a warning hand on her wand to try and show her seriousness.
"I'd like to see you try" Marlene scoffed, rolling her blue eyes.
"Ten"
"Nine... McKinnon I'm serious"
"Black? Your Sirius black? Cor Siri, ginger does not suit you!"
"Eight..." Lily dragged out, picking up her wand
"Lily, I love you dearly but you are about as scary as a pygmy puff"
"Seven"
"Your actually teaching me right now. Before this I could only count forwards, but now I've learned how to count backwards, the possibilities are endless!"
"Six..." By now Lily had actually picked up her wand, waving it accusingly.
"Five"
"Lily this is ridicu-"
"McKinnon. leave this table right now!"
"Or what? you'll do the bat bogey hex on me? Lily I'm the one who taught you that!"
"I'll tell Dorcas about the dream"
"You wouldn't," Marlene said, standing up and getting her oak wand out of her belt.
Lily crossed her arms, looking smugly around and catching Dorcas's eye as she walked down from the girl's dorms.
"Dorky! over here!" Lily called, beckoning the girl over, her curly hair bouncing as she almost skipped over.
Marlene flushed, her not-so-secret crush on the girl becoming more and more obvious each day.
"Hey guys!" she said sweetly, smiling at Lily and stealing a glance of Marlene - trying not to blush.
"Hay is for horses dorky"
Marlene joked, causing the girl to blush a deep shade of red.
Lily grinned in victory, loving seeing her once confident friend reduced to stammering over the sight of Dorcas.
However, Dorcas just laughed and rolled her eyes, shoving Marlene's shoulder flirtatiously.
"Have I just been summoned so you can tell me horrible jokes or do you have a reason Lily-flower?"Dorcas asked, hearing Marlene snigger at the ironic use of James's favourite nickname for the redhead.
"Oh yes! You see, Marlene here was bored and she was wondering if you wanted to go down to the lake with her, I'd join you but this charms essay is due Monday"
Lily felt the death stare from Marlene burn into her skull. She decided that her friend needed to prove her Gryffindor status and a gentle nudge in the right direction wouldn't hurt.
"Oh thank Godrick! I'm bored out my brains! Come on Marley I think some Slytherins need to be fed to the giant squid"
Dorcas grabbed Marlene's arm, forcing her away towards the portrait hole, grinning a cheshire cat smile.
Lily smiled fondly at her two friends, rooting for them after the two both separately confessed to her about their crushes on one another.
Lily got back to work, Potter almost completely out of her mind as she thought about how the essay actually was due for Monday.
However, her scribbling was interrupted by a hand knocking on the table to grab her attention.
Lily looked up, her green eyes meeting the brown ones of James's immediately. She saw a fond smile on his face and she couldn't help but return it.
"Hey Lillith," James said, plonking himself down in the chair opposite.
"Potter, how many times?! it's Lily - Just Lily."
Lily automatically corrected, looking back down to avoid him. She found his stupidly crisp shirt to be distracting, especially because he had shed his robes as soon as the school day was over.
"Sorry Just-Lily" James teased again, making Lily look up to see that infuriatingly crooked smile that she definitely didn't find adorable.
Putting her quill down and sighing, she played with one of her rings on her fingers, twisting it subconsciously.
"And what do I owe the pleasure of your presence Jimmy?"
"You see Lillian, I'm in desperate need of a favour"
"Aren't we all Jimbo?"
James grinned again, before tugging a hand through his already messed up hair. Lily didn't mind it as much after she discovered that he did it as a sort of nervous tick and not just to make himself look like a ponce.
"You know how you love me? And how I'm like the best head boy to ever head boy"
"Well this is news to me" Lily scoffed, pulling her ring off and changing it onto a different finger.
"And since I'm the best head boy in the world, xould you cover my rounds tonight? Please?" He asked, sticking out his lower lip. Lily tried not to look at it, the thought of kissing it away was almost too present in her mind.
"And why would I do that?"
"Because I'm the best?"
"Err no, try again"
"Fine! It's cause I've-got-a-date"
Lily froze, watching his tanned face flush as he once again, tore his fingers through his hair. She tried to remain unphased and casual as she nodded and croaked
"Oh. With who?"
"Mary McDonald."
"And then he basically demanded that I take over his rounds tonight, so he can go whoring off with Mary."
Lily finished off her rant, Remus's nods and assuring noises helping her vent a little bit.
"Like, there's common courtesy! A little warning or something ya know? - Anyways it's not like I care or anything" Lily added but Remus's small smile was all-knowing.
"Don't look at me like that Rem" Lily sighed, stopping in the middle of the corridor to fold her arms.
"Looking at you like what?" He said, acting coy but the smug look on his scarred face exposed his true emotions
"Like- like, Well... I dunno like you're not believing a word I'm saying!"
"Do you believe a word you're saying?"
Lily scoffed, refusing to even humour the idea. Of course, she was telling the truth but as the two began walking again, Lily silently cursed Remus for knowing her all too well.
"But i'm happy for them, I am! even though Mary could do better."
"So you're definitely not jealous?" Remus added, sounding way too wise for a seventeen-year-old boy.
"What? jealous? why would you think that?"
"Lily, you've been talking about James since the beginning of our rounds - which was-"
Remus looked down at the small battered watch that he had inherited from his father
"-About two hours ago"
"Pssht that's bullcrap"
"Lily it's the truth!"
Lily stopped in her tracks, letting herself think for a moment.
Potter had really changed this year. He took his role as head boy seriously, he didn't hex first years anymore and all the pranks the marauders pulled weren't harmful in any way. He even left Sev-Snape alone and he had even colour coded the prefect timetable.
He had stopped pestering her and asking her out, he stopped with the embarrassing public compliments and traded them for genuine sentiments, like making her tea (just how she liked it) every morning, in their shared common room.
He had grown up quite a bit, personality-wise and look wise. Quidditch certainly didn't hurt his body and his boyish smile was rather heart-stopping. Hell, she had even grown fond of his stupid shaggy hair and square-framed specs.
Lily gasped aloud as the realisation hit her, a knight-bus like force slamming into her as she grasped it.
She liked James Potter.
She wanted to snog James potter.
She wanted to shag James potter.
"Remus, oh my god" Lily said, looking desperately at her friend, who seemed to be getting exactly what she was thinking.
"Do you see?"
Lily slid down the wall she was leaning on, hugging her knees to her chest.
"Remus- why- didn't you tell me!"
"You couldn't be told Lils, you know how you are" he joked, sliding down and joining her.
"Rem this is so bad! I can't like James"
"Welcome to my world" Remus sighs, leaning his head back on the wall.
"What? Wait do you like James?" Lily asked, not wanting Remus to share her apparent crush.
Remus laughed aloud at the look on Lily's face
"Oh Merlin no! That's gross!"
"Hey!"
"Hey yourself woman, your the one who has a crush on Prongs"
"And you can relate because?"
Remus flushed and looked down at his lap, fidgeting with the strap of his watch, it was Lilys turn to smile smugly at the fidgety werewolf.
"It's Sirius isn't it"
"Yeah I'd say you liking James is quite serious" Remus teased.
Lily lightly slapped him
"You arse"
Remus chuckled and Lily leant back, leaning her head on his shoulder, smiling when he leant his atop of hers, sighing.
"I'm right aren't I?"
"Unfortunately"
She grabbed his hand, stroking her thumb over his rough palm
"Oh Remmy what fucking idiots we are, falling for two marauders"
"We're a pair of right morons"
Angry wasn't even the start of what Lily was feeling right now, but it was her first reaction.
After her bone-chilling realisation of her attraction and school-girl crush on James and Remus's confession of his infatuation with a certain black-haired, disowned heir.
Realising it was getting late, the pair had hurried through the rest of their corridors, before retreating to Gryffindor tower, tired and drained from taking on the extra shift.
As they entered the portrait hole, they trudged through the common room, the embers of the fire dying as it was just past midnight. The warm glow comforting Lilys tired eyes.
But what she saw on the sofa next to the fire immediately woke her up.
James and Mary, snogging each other faces off.
Lily and Remus stopped right in their tracks. Lily's heart dropping to her gut. She felt pure jealously fill her magic as she watched James tenderly run his hands up and down the girls back.
Remus's jaw gaped open as his eyes were immediately on Lily, seeing anger fill her as she clenched her fists tightly, trying to control her accidental magic.
Lily coughed, loudly - startling the couple and immediately drawing their attention to the two prefects standing infront of them.
James reminded Lily of a deer in the headlights. He was frozen as he immediately looked at Lily's simply murderous expression.
"It's past curfew, leave now or 20 points from Gryffindor." Lily spat, unable to stop the pure jealousy from leaving her mouth.
Mary giggled, hopping off of James's lap and pecking his cheek
"Sorry Head girl Evans, I'll be returning to my dorm immediately! no need to threaten our precious house points..." Mary tried to joke, but only resulting in angering Lily further.
she waved goodbye to James, (who was still sitting on the sofa) as she hopped up the stairs, leaving the three in the common room.
James awkwardly stood, feeling Lily's burning stare on him, her eyes sparking as the anger radiated off of her.
James tried desperately to not let it affect him but seeing Lily this angry was definitely a major turn-on and this wasn't the time.
"Ello Evans and Mr Moony," he said, flashing an awkward smile and Remus exchanged him a sympathetic one as he headed towards the boy's dorms.
"night Lils, night Prongs," he said, leaving the two before things got too ugly.
Lily nodded bye, not trusting her words. She turned to see the guilty face of James as he tugged his fingers through his hair once more.
"Sorry, you had to see us like that..." James began, the soft expression filling his face making Lily almost forgive him.
almost.
"Oh! this is why I needed to cover for you? so you can shag Mary? James, I'm not gonna take over your work whenever you want to shag someone!" Lily bickered, seeing James flush.
"Lily-"
"I thought you were actually taking this seriously! but here you are again, proving me wrong!"
"Seriously? you don't think I'm taking this seriously? all I've been doing this year is take things fucking seriously!" James suddenly snapped back.
"Oh boo hoo, poor Jamesy highlighted a schedule! wow, James you truly deserve an order of merlin, for managing to always just do the bear fucking minimum!" Lily spat back, leaning forward - trying to seem intimidating even though he towered over her.
"Oh piss off Evans," James said, storming off - towards the corridor that led to their head boy/girl dormitory.
Lily, who wasn't letting him have the last word, stormed right after him, following him into their shared common space in the dorm.
"I piss off? you piss off! I'm sick of thinking you've changed and then you pull shit like this!"
"Lily what the fuck are you on about?! all I've done is change! I've done an effing 360! and what suddenly I'm a wank cause I asked you cover ONE round?!"
Lily stopped, realising she was definitely in the wrong. He hadn't done ANYTHING. except for he had done everything.
"well-"
"Lily please enlighten me.. why the fuck are you pissed off? cause earlier you were perfectly fine with it!"
"I'm pissed because-"
Lily paused, letting herself think the truth for a moment.
"I'm pissed off because you don't like me anymore. You stopped liking me and it's driving me insane. I'm pissed off because you look so good right now. I'm pissed off because it should be ME in your lap and not Mary."
"Because? please, Lily, tell me I'm simply dying to know"
"It's just-... it's.." Lily stopped, suddenly defeated, realising there was no logical reason why she would be pissed off.
"Lily you've got to be kidding me right now" James groaned, pinching his nose.
"It should be me." Lily said in a ghost of a whisper. she must have looked like a huffy child - her arms crossed as she pouted about sharing something that was never hers.
James paused, registering her words slowly
"What?"
Lily looked up, seeing the puzzled look on his face, the glow of their shared fire making his olive skin look simply divine and combined with his idiotic hair she tried her best not to let it all pour out.
"It. should. be. me."
Lily repeated, creeping closer to the boy, breathing in his stupid smell of parchment and sweat.
She saw it click, and what exactly she was saying and he immediately became angry once again.
"No."
Lily, taken aback, crossed her arms again, raising an eyebrow.
"No?"
"No!"
James tugged a hand through his hair and began his rant.
"Lily- you don't- you don't get to say things like that to me! not after- just. NO!"
"why not?!" Lily said, hands now on her hips and her eyes boring into his face
"Because- I'm trying to- I'm trying to stop fucking LOVING you Lily!" he screamed, pointing at her with his hands.
"I've loved you for SO long Lily, so long that it physically hurts! and you've made it crystal clear that it will never- and then as soon as I'm trying to get over you, you go and- NO!"
"What are you gonna do if I don't stop? huh? what you gonna do Potter? hex me? Avada me?"
Lily crept closer to the boy, she could now smell his shitty Muggle cologne that he had begged his dad to send him, she could now see the faintest of moles on his face.
"I'll- I'll..." James stammered, the closeness getting to him.
"You'll?" lily got even closer whispering in his ear, letting her lips ghost the lobe
"James..." Lily whispered in his ear, pulling away to not see the sweaty boy she expected but seeing a steely looking James, the lust burning in his eyes.
It was sudden, James grabbed her face, cupping her cheeks and slamming their lips together. She immediately reciprocated, slinging her arms around his neck and pressing herself against him.
"Fuck, Evans"
James breathed against her lips, only encouraging Lily more, she deepened the kiss, letting him win the battle for dominance, as he lowered one hand and let it wrap around her waist.
The two pulled apart, and reality hit Lily, realising what they had just done. She just snogged James.
She had just snogged James Potter.
"Um- goodnight!" she said, springing out of his grasp and practically flying to her room, slamming the door shut and leaving a horny and confused James Potter out in their common area.
She leaned against her door, her pulse racing as she could hear the heartbeat thumping in her ears.
She'd just snogged James Potter
And she had liked it.
She had really liked it.
