Written for the History of Magic class.

Task: first time falling/realising you are in love.

Extra prompt: (Pairing) Lily/James

WC: 1015

Quote: "It's true. Like, here, in this bar, there's only one thing that I see, and I see her brighter and more clearly than anything else in this world. You know what that is? That's love." - How I Met Your Mother, season 8, episode 14.

I'm sorry! I'm mean and you'll see why.

I don't own HP. *sighs*

The common room is quiet tonight. Most of its residents are down for the night already. Only two of them are still there, both minding their own business.

Remus is reading a book by the fireplace, while James is sitting next to him. The other two from the group are out and about doing Merlin knows what.

While his friend reads his book, James stares at his profile.

"Something wrong, Prongs?"

He looks at his friend with a questioning glance.

"You've been staring at me for some time now. It's creeping me out, to be honest." They laugh a little at that. Then, "So, wanna tell me what's wrong?"

James looks at his hands and says, with a small voice, "I've seen the way you are with Emmeline. Are you happy, Remus?"

Startled, Remus puts aside his book, sensing that this is an important conversation. "Yes, I am. Why do you ask?"

The black haired boy plays with his fingers. He licks his lips and stares at the fire in front of him.

"Do you love her?"

Remus crosses his arms in front of his chest and, with a knowing smile, answers, "Yes, I do."

"How?"

"What do you mean?"

With an exasperated sigh, James says, "How do you know that you love her? How do you…"

Raising one of his eyebrows, the werewolf considers his friend's question for a minute.

"Well?"

"Is this about Amelia?"

James pursed his lips. He'd been seeing the Ravenclaw girl for about two months now. They're kind of exclusive so, "Yeah, you can say that."

"So, bottom line is, you wanna know if you love her?"

James nods and Remus puts a hand on his shoulder. "You either do or you don't, James. I can tell you all about the way Emmeline makes me feel, but it's not going to be the same for you."

The chaser from the Gryffindor team nods.

"I'm sorry."

James smiles at him, knowing that his best friend is feeling bad for not being able to help him. "Don't worry, Remus."

The fireplace is still cracking when they both decide to head upstairs.

.

James breaks up with Amelia the following day.

He tells her the truth. Tells her that he doesn't love her so he can't see a reason for them to be together.

When she raises her hand to slap him, he doesn't move one inch because he knows that he deserves it.

When she slaps him, hard, he realizes that he's not sad because his relationship has ended. He feels relief.

(He decides to not tell her that because, even though he deserved the first slap, he's not looking forward to the following ones.)

After that, her eyes softens.

"You just can't forget her, can you?"

He looks at her with a quizzical look on his face.

She shakes her head and, with a tap on his shoulders, wishes him luck and leaves.

With an incredulous look on his face he stares at her retreating back, wondering what the hell just happened.

.

It happens two weeks later.

He's leaving the locker room after a nasty practice. It's the last game of the year, the last one that matters, anyway. It's against Slytherin and they may be champion that year and he'll be dammed if he doesn't do his best.

He turns the left corner and spots her leaning against the wall. She's with her arms crossed behind her and eyes closed.

He looks at her for a minute longer, wondering what happened to all of those feelings he harbored for her all those years ago.

They've became friends after the end of the fifth year. Now, they're close to the end of their sixth and their friendship only grew. She's funny, has a quick tongue and beautiful eyes. She's loyal, she's honest and she's all he could've asked for.

"So," he crosses his arms in front of his chest and waits "I heard that you're not dating Amelia, anymore."

He laughs at her. "I swear that sometimes I think that Remus is one of those old ladies that stays outside of their houses to just gossip around."

She laughs with him and he feels the butterflies on his stomach.

"Yeah" her eyes softens and her smile is small. "He only talked with me because he's worried about you. Wanna tell me what's going on?"

He looks down. Trust Lily to go straight to the point.

"It's just that… I was with her for two months? Three, maybe? I don't know. And I didn't love her. Sure, you can say that I could give another shot, that things like that takes time and that I—"

She puts a hand on his shoulder. "James, breathe."

She takes a deep breath and when he looks down at her, he notices how small she is when compared to him.

"You had your reasons to break up with her. I just wanted to know if you're okay."

He puts his hand over hers and says, "I thought I loved her, you know? But it wasn't enough."

"It happens, sometimes." She tilts her head to the side. "I'm afraid I can't help you with that. It's different for everyone."

"Yeah, Remus told me that already."

"What I can tell you though is that you'll know when it happens." She tilts her head to the side "You'll see that person brighter and more clearly than anything else in this world. That's love."

He blinks once, twice. He licks his lips and his heart is not beating erratically anymore.

It's calm, it's quiet and he can almost feel like everything okay.

Her red hair looks like fire and her oh so beautiful eyes are shining so bright that he's afraid that he might go blind if he stares at them for too long.

Suddenly, he realizes that the answer was in front of him all along.

"James?"

Never losing contact, he takes her hand off of his shoulder and takes a step forward.

"Lils?"

His voice is quiet and her eyes are hopeful.

"Do you want to go out with me?"

Reviews are appreciated!