A/N: Alright, my first upload. Yay! *does happy dance* :D

So I wrote this about... 6 months ago? Maybe more. I didn't post it originally because I thought I would use it as a part of a multi-chapter James/Lily fic I had planned, but that's not going to happen, so I decided I'd post it as a one-shot. :)

Enjoy (hopefully)

-O.o.O-

Lily Evans marched down the halls of Hogwarts, slinging her tremendously full bag over her shoulder. 'This is really getting out of hand,' she thought to herself. She was only at the beginning of her seventh year, and it seemed as if the teachers were trying to cram all they possibly could into the term. Of course, with the world the way it was at the moment, Lily wasn't all that surprised. Another attack had been reported in the Daily Prophet that morning, reporting six muggles killed, and two Aurors injured. Lily sighed, seeming resigned to the fact that the world as she knew it was slowly falling to pieces, all at the hands of Lord Voldemort.

Turning around a corner, Lily suddenly ran into something solid. Both parties fell to the ground, Lily's books spilling out haphazardly around them.

"I'm so sorry," she said, piling her books together, "I guess I wasn't paying attention and-" her voice suddenly cut off, seeing who it was she had knocked over. Of course, none other than James Potter was on the floor across from her, also gathering Lily's books.

"Don't worry, Evans. I'm fine. You may just want to watch where you're going occasionally," he smirked up at her, an insufferably cocky grin on his face.

"Maybe you should try watching where you're going, Potter." With that, she stuffed all of her books into her overfilled bag, got up, and marched away from him. Soon, however, she could hear his quick footsteps behind her. He was next to her in moments, easily keeping pace with her shorter strides.

"You're the one who knocked me over, remember?" There was a teasing lilt in his voice, and it annoyed her to no end.

"Why are you even out here this late?" She was not exactly in a good mood, and a run-in with James was the last thing she needed.

"I could ask the same thing of you. Still, if you'd really like to know, I was simply headed out to the Quidditch pitch. Would you care to join me?"

"No, I wouldn't. The Quidditch pitch is closed this close to curfew. You're Head Boy, James. You're supposed to be setting a good example." She doubted that was even possible.

"I'm just taking a short night fly before bed; it's something I occasionally do. Would it be so horrible to spend some time with me? I know for a fact you've never been on a broom before, besides in first year. I could teach you some moves."

"Like I said before, no. I'd rather finish the essay Slughorn assigned us." Even though she tried to sound annoyed, Lily's voice sounded nervous, even she could hear it. Simply the thought of flying had her stomach in knots.

Apparently, James sensed this. "Not scared, are we Evans? A little flight around the pitch doesn't sound too frightening to you does it?"

"Of course not, Potter. I just have work to do, that's all." Her voice, sounding too defensive, immediately alerted James to her fear, and he all too eagerly pounced on the chance to tease her.

"You're afraid of flying!"

"I am not, you insufferable prat!"

"Is it the height that scares you, Evans, or the speed?" His face seemed triumphant, as if he had learned some valuable piece of information.

"It's neither, you idiot! I am in no way scared of flying!" This was entirely untrue, but if she admitted that to James, she wouldn't hear the end of it from him.

"Then prove it."

They had reached the portrait hole now, and Lily stopped to give the password. Climbing through the entrance, Lily said, "I don't have to prove anything to you." With that, she marched across the common room and up the stairs to her dormitory, knowing full well she would probably get no studying done that night.

-O.o.O-

Lily, making her scheduled patrol around the school, was not exactly in a good mood. That confusing, insufferable, arrogant, poor-excuse-of-a-wizard James Potter had her nerves stretched to their limits. Pulled taut, they were soon going to break; she did not envy the person who was around her when they did.

It had been two days since he had figured it out - two days since he knew she was deathly afraid of flying. She had denied it, of course, but James was wickedly smart (although she didn't like admitting it.) He had to have figured it out; it should have been blatantly obvious.

Ever since Lily was a little girl, and fell off the jungle gym, she couldn't stand being higher than 2 meters in the air, and even there she got nervous. When she came to Hogwarts, she couldn't believe that people actually rode on broomsticks, going so high in the air sometimes that it was difficult for one to see them. Lily knew she would never be able to handle getting on one of those.

First year flying lessons had been horrible. She had tried to keep her face as calm as possible, making sure no one noticed her embarrassing fear. Not wanting to be labeled the 'scared-little-muggle-born', she never told anyone. The students only took the class for one year, so she never figured it would be a problem, until now.

What was now causing most of her dismay was not the fact that James knew - it was that he wasn't telling anyone. Sure, anyone without a strong sense of paranoia would be happy, but she just knew he was up to something. Two days, and James had not told a soul, as far as she knew. No jokes or puns of any sort had been directed her way. Everything had stayed completely normal. This kept her on her guard.

Maybe, an internal voice that sounded a lot like her mother said, he knows that you're embarrassed about it, so he's keeping it quiet.

That situation was barely plausible. Maybe he was just saving the information for another time, in order to gain an advantage.

He wouldn't do that.

He's done it before

Not now. You have to admit, he matured quite a bit since fifth year.

She conceded this point. He seemed to have calmed down a bit, although he could still be boisterous at times. He still played pranks, but they were much less in number and no one was ever physically harmed. He was actually seen taking notes in class on a regular basis.

Still, he could be a prat.

A nicer prat.

Sighing to herself, Lily finally finished her rounds and came up from the dungeons. It was there that she noticed something. The door leading out of the Great Hall and on to the grounds was slightly ajar, only by a centimeter, at most. She carefully walked over, wand at the ready. Looking outside, nothing noticeable caught her eye. Scrutinizing the grounds intensely, she saw nothing different.

She was just about to close the door and go upstairs, when something caught her eye. Above the Quidditch pitch, there was someone flying. Someone is flying at this time of night? It was at least an hour after curfew. Suddenly, she remembered James.

"I'm just taking a short night fly before bed; it's something I occasionally do."

Lily knew she shouldn't, but she couldn't help herself as she started swiftly across the grounds, towards the Quidditch pitch. Sooner than she expected, she was there, at the entrance, not knowing what to do. 'What if it wasn't him?' she thought to herself suddenly. Surely, there must be other people who liked to fly at night.

Steeling herself, she strode through the doors, and straight onto the fresh green grass of the pitch. She could see him flying, his messy raven hair unmistakable. For a few minutes, she simply watched him. She had only noticed it last year, but she could plainly see it now. He was happy on a broom. Ecstatic, even. There was this look on his face that was completely carefree. It was as if there was no Voldemort in their world.

She did not notice him descending towards her. Giving a squeak of surprise, Lily watched as he dismounted in front of her.

"Lily, what are you doing here?" His scrutinizing face was a shock compared to what was just seconds ago so carefree.

"I could ask the same of you! I was doing my rounds when I noticed the door leading out of the Great Hall was open! Do you realize what would have happened had someone been able to get into the school because of your idiotic blunder?"

"That would have never happened, no one can-"

She cut him off, "Okay then. How about this? Do you even know how much trouble you would be in if McGonagall found out her Head Boy, who was supposed to be setting an example, sneaked out of the school just to do something like flying? "

"Who would tell her, Lily? You?"

"Well… No, but that's not the point!" She wasn't going to tell on him, of course, but she didn't want him thinking he could get away with everything in front of her.

He shrugged his shoulders, probably wanting to end the argument. It was normal for them to argue over nothing, but even she was getting rather tired of it.

Instead of yelling, like before, she asked softly, "Why do you even come out here?" She was genuinely curious, and could tell by the shocked expression on his face that he wasn't expecting the question.

"Well… it just… helps me forget. You know? I come out here, and when I'm flying I forget all the bad things going on outside of Hogwarts." He looked at his feet then, almost as if he were ashamed of admitting something so personal to her.

"I wish I could find something like that. It would be nice to forget, now and again." She offered him a kind smile when he looked up at her.

"You could give it a try, if you'd like?" He gestured toward the broom he was holding.

Feeling her face blanch, she shook her head vehemently. "I –I can't, um, I'm a h-horrible flyer, so I'd rather not."

"Lily," he said in a surprisingly soft voice, "It's not that bad, really. You'll be perfectly safe."

"I just, I d-don't like flying," she admitted, hoping he wouldn't tease her.

"There's no reason to be afraid. I'll even go with you the first time." With that, he mounted the broom, and kicked off, but only so that he was barely hovering over the ground. He held his hand out to her.

"James, I can't." Her voice was pleading. If there was one person in the world who could get her on a broomstick, it was James.

"I won't let anything hurt you, Lily." His voice was steady, confident. She had the feeling he was talking about more than a simple flying lesson.

Shakily, she put her hand in his, allowing him to pull her onto the broom, so that she was seated in front of him. He wrapped one hand around her waist and placed the other actually on the broom, so he could steer. She could feel herself shaking already.

"See, this isn't so bad." James said. She nodded weakly, and, upon seeing this, James added, "Still, we'll start out slowly."

Their ascent was slow in coming, but Lily was painfully aware of how far away the ground was.

"Just close your eyes," James whispered softly in her ear. Under normal circumstances, his close presence would have caused her distress, but her mind was busy with other things at the moment.

She quickly complied with his wishes. Soon, Lily felt the broom pick up speed. The sudden acceleration had her even more closely pressed to James, but, surprisingly, she didn't mind.

"Now," he said, once again in that soft, soothing voice, "don't think about anything. Don't think about how high up we are. Don't think about how fast we're going. Don't think about how scared you are. Just feel. The wind on your face, the cold caressing your skin. Simply feel the exhilaration of soaring."

It took a while for Lily to actually relax, but she couldn't help it. She wasn't scared. She felt completely safe with James, as if nothing could hurt her. Soon she gave into the wonderful sensation, fully feeling everything James had described.

The wind, quickly rushing past them as they flew around the pitch, was blowing her hair back, whipping around her as James decided she was ready to go faster. It was all she knew, the wind. It gave her the most exhilarating of sensations, so much so that she could hardly believe it.

The cold, however, was another matter all together. Instead of whipping around her, it encircled her. Almost like an old friend, it embraced her, making her feel surprisingly safe. 'Such an odd thing to feel about coldness,' she mused. Still, she didn't care. She was soaring.

She suddenly understood why a bird's song always sounded so exultant. How could it not, when all they knew was this? There was such a freedom in soaring through the air. It was almost as if there were no restrictions, no limits. She could do whatever she wanted.

She hadn't noticed that they were now at a standstill, simply hovering in the air.

"Open your eyes, Lily."

She had to listen to him, almost as if she wanted to discover another secret he held. The sight that met her eyes was amazing. All around them, the night dominated. Surprisingly, it wasn't scary or impending. It was actually peaceful. The myriad of blues and blacks gave everything almost a softer edge. The world was so different at night, it was amazing. The moonlight shone down on the grounds around her, giving everything the faintest hints of light. From her viewpoint, she could see it reflected in the lake. Looking up, she saw all of the stars above her, amazingly bright in the secluded area where Hogwarts was located. She had never been able to see them this well at home. The thought that so many people missed this, while living busy city lives, saddened her.

"So beautiful," James said.

She had almost forgotten his presence. No longer shaking or fearful, she was now fully aware of how close he was: the tickle of his breath on her cheek when he whispered to her; the comfort of having his arm around her; being able to lean into him, as if trying to find something stable to gain support from; but most of all, simply the warmth that radiated off of him. This felt right, almost as if she belonged here.

"I can see why you love this so much," her voice was barely above a whisper, but he still caught every word.

He gave a small, quiet laugh, "Now do you see what you've been missing?"

They both laughed quietly for a moment, before lapsing into silence. It wasn't uncomfortable, simply peaceful.

She would have been content to stay there forever, but it was getting late, and after a while, James began to descend. When they landed on the soft grass, he helped her down. Lily couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something had changed between them. Maybe all they needed was a night fly to change their relationship, or something had transpired evading Lily's notice, but she felt as if it wasn't so bad to spend time with James anymore.

"See? Flying isn't so bad." His teasing smirk was back, but it wasn't the same as before. It had a softer edge to it, as if he were simply trying to sound teasing, like old times. Lily knew that James had felt the change too.

"I guess not," she admitted, "as long as it's flying with you."

-O.o.O-

A/N: So? What'd you think? Completely cliche ending? I know, I thought so too. :/ But what can you do?

I'd love if you'd leave some feedback. Whatever it may be - love or hate - as long as it's constructive. Or not. I really don't care. I'd just love to hear from you. :)

Soooo... Best Wishes! :D (DFTBA!)

~Jamie