She was afraid. She was afraid of what she had just done, and what it might trigger, and ...oh god, why had she done it? He was just standing there, talking, being a nice person and all, but then she went and kissed him! That was completely unnecessary for her to have done, and now he probably just had his hopes up and she would never get rid of him!

"...Lily?"

A small voice cut through her thoughts. Lily whirled around to yell at whoever it was to leave her alone, but couldn't bring herself to when she came face to face with Mary. The brunette was looking particularly small in that moment, flinching back and tentative.

"Hi Mary."

Mary let out a sigh. "What happened? Sirius, Remus and Peter just cornered me in the common room, and they said that James is hiding in his bed and won't come out."

That didn't make her feel any better. Lily sighed, running a hand through her hair. She was frustrated. She didn't know where to go from here. Maybe Mary could help.

"I kissed him."

Her brown eyes went wide, and Mary moved forward quickly. She grabbed Lily's wrist and pulled her to a bed, sitting down. "Tell me!" she demanded. Mary was always so well informed about the goings on at Hogwarts, it was amazing. But Lily sighed and nodded. She launched into what had happened the other day after Mary had left her alone with her torturous thoughts.

"So really, it's your fault for leaving me alone with my thoughts when I was in a state like that," concluded Lily with a friendly glare towards Mary.

The other girl laughed and patted her arm softly. "Did you enjoy it?"

That was a question Lily should have been expecting. She hadn't planned on telling Mary how she'd felt about the kiss. The kiss had been... magical. There was no other word to describe it, but Lily couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.

The great thing about Mary Macdonald was that she usually understood where Lily was coming from. "So it was either fantastic or horrific," she said, nudging Lily gently. "Right?"

"The first one," whispered Lily, frowning at herself.

Mary smiled at her, a bright, cheery smile that made Lily smile back slightly. "Then why are you here?" she asked.

Lily sighed. "You were right! Merlin, okay, you were right, Mary, and now I don't know what to do!"

The smaller girl laughed and shook her head at Lily's confusion.

"What?" she snapped, the sound coming out in a harsher manner than Lily had originally anticipated.

"It's just, it should be simple now. You know what you have to do."

It wasn't simple. It was very far from just simple, because Lily didn't see it as simple. There were a lot of variables to work in. She couldn't just go up to James Potter and tell him that she was wrong the whole time and they actually were meant to be. She had more pride than that.

Right?

She was pacing again. She'd been doing a lot of it lately, but only because James Potter was stressing her out. He couldn't even begin to understand her feelings of annoyance at him; he didn't even know what he forced her to do. He was oblivious to the torture that he put her through daily.

Ugh. Lily stopped where she was, and leaned against the nearest wall in the corridor. She wasn't a fan of this feeling, whatever it was. But she knew it was James Potter's fault, and she wanted to kill him for it. That son of a bitch.

Before she knew what was happening, the tapestry across the corridor had been pushed up and out of the way of a secret passageway. What the- And who had to come out of it? That would be a forlorn looking James Potter, dragged along by Sirius Black.

"Well, look what we have here," said Sirius shortly. What was his problem? He was a jokester; why was he glaring at her with daggers?

"Padfoot?" asked James softly, his eyes not leaving Lily's face. She could feel a blush growing on her face, mainly due to the fact that she was now face to face with James Potter, the boy who was causing all this trouble.

There was a question barely hidden in that one word, and Sirius gave both of them a glance. His eyes lingered on Lily's face coldly, before glancing at his transfixed best friend. "Fine, fine." Sirius disappeared down the corridor, and James stood there awkwardly. He ran a hand through his hair; a habit that used to make Lily's blood boil.

"Hi."

Lily closed her eyes for a second, as she prepared herself for this. Opening them, she stood up so she wasn't staring up at him as much. "...Hi."

It was awkward. She didn't know what to say, and she didn't know why she was so afraid of this. Lily Evans was a Gryffindor! She had courage!

James took a few steps closer, and Lily tried to step back to find that there was a wall against her back.

"Why are you so afraid of me?" he asked, his hazel eyes furrowed behind his glasses.

Lily shook her head, biting her lip. He looked so lost and confused, standing there in front of her with his big eyes and his adorable bedhead. She didn't know why she was so afraid of saying this. "Maybe, you're just angry at yourself for going back on your promise," Mary's words drifted through her mind, and Lily winced. Stumbling forward, Lily realized that there wasn't much room for her to move without... falling into James Potter's arms.

His arms felt strong and warm as he caught her, stopping her from plunging head long into the cement floor. "Are you okay?"

She nodded numbly, her muscles freezing her in place. Lily didn't want to move out of this embrace, and she knew it. "I - I'm sorry, James." His eyes widened at the use of his first name. She hadn't called him James since they had first met. She finally stood, letting James' arms fall away from her as she moved into the open space of the corridor and started talking. It was now or never, and if she didn't get it out, she might explode.

"I just... I hate hypocrites. I always have! I thought Petunia was a hypocrite, for calling me a freak when she sent a letter to Dumbledore trying to get into Hogwarts too, and I thought Snape was a hypocrite for saying... what he said, even though he always told me that blood purity didn't make a difference. I mean... I... I just don't want to be a hypocrite."

James frowned at her slowly, his mind whirling at a million miles a minute. "Why are you a hypocrite?" he asked softly, taking her hand in his. His hand was bigger than hers by a lot, and it enveloped hers comfortingly.

But Lily turned away before she spoke. "I promised to hate you forever. You're a bully, and arrogant, and -"

She got no more words out as James pulled her back close to her and pulled her into a deep kiss. It was better than their first one, but Lily could still feel the electricity in her veins from contact with him. It was a buzzing that made her feel so high, and she smiled against his lips.

"I don't mind you being a hypocrite right now," he told her softly, smiling.

Lily didn't need to think about her response. "Me neither."

And he pulled her in for another kiss.

Yay fluffy ending! Now everyone can be smiles and rainbows and sunshine! So that's the end of my drabble. In case your wondering, I made it romance/angst because Lily was kind of angsty in it and I needed another genre. But yeah, so that's that. Leave a review if you want (and I really hope you want to, reviews make my day!) and thanks for reading!

-double heart