Dedication : sh.ruthi

Okay. There is no need to freak out. Lily tried to tell herself. It really was not working.

Her List, The List had been lost for almost three hours now and she couldn't walk into the Great Hall for dinner, with the suspicion that Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, of all people, knew her deepest, darkest secret.

She was in love with James Potter, for Merlin's sake!

And what if they had shown the abovementioned Potter the list? How could she possibly bear that smug grin of his as he broke her heart because there was no way James Potter, Head Boy and Quidditch Captain, would ever agree to go with Lily Evans, the girl who rejected him for six years in a row.

Lily supposed she had begun to fall for his not-so-mischevious-ways sometime towards the end of sixth year. Specifically : the last day.

"Lily? Do you need help with that trunk?" James–no Potter had asked. Without waiting for an affirmation, he took the heavy trunk from Lily's grasp and neatly swung it onto its holding bracket above.

"Th-Thanks." Lily had stuttered out. She was not expecting an encouter with a perfect gentleman this morning on the train, and had dressed in a most atrocious fashion. The way Potter's abs were pressed against her back was also not helping in the slightest.

She had expected him to make some crude remark or ask her out again, but to her immense surprise he just said goodbye and walked out.

Lily was sure she had gaped like a goldfish at the glass door of her compartment for about ten minutes until she had come to her senses.

Had James Potter really just done that?

The icing on this cake of her metamorphical love life was the fact that this year, said James Potter was now Head Boy.

Along with being Quidditch Captain, staying on top of all his classes and managing his Head Boy duties, he was a perfect angel in every sense of the word. Okay, maybe that was exaggerating just a little bit.

But he had stopped hexing people for fun, and Lily had even witnessed him helping first years with their lessons and stuff. She had no idea how he was managing as she was more often than not, drowning in her schoolwork and Head duties.

Merlin, Lily! You sound positively obsessed! You think about that insufferable prat all day long. Soon you'll be failing your lessons, and where will that get you? Lily mentally scolded herself.

"At least go look for it." She muttered to herself. It wouldn't hurt, would it?

Sighing, she stood up and made her way to the library again to search. While the Head's Rooms were quite cosy, there was no way the List would be here.

xxxx.

"Padfoot?" Remus called out. The git had taken his school bag ten minutes back and had run for his life. Now Remus was stuck looking for said git.

Not that he minded. Not in the slightest.

Okay, maybe he minded a little bit. After all, Sirius had run off with his school bag.

"Moons?"

"Oh, thank Merlin Pads! Where have you been?"

"Eating your secret stash of chocolate that you stash in your school bag and we all pretend that we don't know that its there because it makes you happy to think that you're being crafty."

Remus blinked.

Sirius giggled nervously.

"Sirius Orion Black! You had better come up with a damn good plan to get Lily and James together because if not, I'm stuffing your useless self in the toilet" Remus' voice had risen so high that it had cracked towards the end. Not that he would admit it.

Sirius gulped.

"Well?" Remus demanded. "I'm waiting."

"Mooooooooonyyyyy." Sirius whined. "Stop putting me on the spot like this. I'll have you know that my brain works best when it is free from stress. Hey, that rhymed!" He squealed.

"I wasn't aware your brain ever worked Padfoot."

Sirius levelled his best glare at his fellow marauder.

"Stop giving me that look! It might work on your groupies, but it doesn't work on me! Honestly, it's not even seductive, what are you playing at?"

Okay. Sirius had levelled the wrong look at his fellow marauder.

He decided to try again.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Pads, what did I just say about you not being seductive?"

Sirius pouted.

"Am I not seductive at all, Moonykins?"

Remus rolled his eyes again. "No, you're really not Padfoot, you nitwit. You're more like an adorable puppy trying to act like a stripper."

"So, you think I'm adorable, Moons?"

"Yes Pads. Now shut up." Remus was trying to keep the heat from his cheeks. Merlin, this is embarassing.

Sirius was blushing.

"Sirius?"

"Y-yes?" He stuttered.

"Are you blushing?" Remus asked, slightly awed. He'd never seen a blushing Sirius before. He'd never been able to make Sirius blush before.

Sirius' heart thumped loudly. "No!" He exclaimed in a high-pitch voice.

"You sure there, Pads? I'm not blind, you know." Remus teased, glad to have the tables turnes for once.

"Sh-shut up!" Oh, Sirius was blushing hard now.

Remus chuckled. "I suppose, we'd better get along with the plan now."

xxxx.

James saw a familiar red-head poking through the bookshelves in the library. "Hey, Lily!"

She looked like a deer caught in the headlights as she looked up. She relaxed slightly when she saw it was him. "Hey, James."

"Still looking for whatever it is you lost?" James asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Lily blushed lightly.

"Still don't need any help?"

"No." Lily was blushing hard now. If only he knew..."Can I drag you away to the grounds then? You look like you need a break." James said matter-of-factly.

She seemed to be thinking over it. "Um.. sure, I guess."

"Great." James smiled, his dimpled coming into view.

He'd just managed to snag an almost-date with the girl of his dreams, he was ecstatic.

They walked in comfortable silence to the lake. "Do you want to just sit here for a bit?" Lily asked hesitantly, expecting to be rejected.

"I'd love to!" James looked happy, like really happy. His eyes were twinkling through his glasses. Lily put it off as light being reflected - physics and all.

So there they were. Two people who shared mutual feelings but without the knowledge that they shared mutual feelings, sitting together under an oak tree. Pretty romatic, right?

"So, what was it you were looking for again?" James asked curiously.

"Nothing." Lily said through gritted teeth. "Just leave it."

"Aw, don't be like that. C'mon tell me! What were you looking for?"

"I said it was nothing!" Lily was getting mad now. Why wasn't James leaving the topic? The whole red-heads being short-tempered thing had its roots somewhere.

"Lily, tell meee!" James was whining now. Lily's refusal to tell him, only made his curiosity regarding the subject stronger.

"No!"

"Just tell me!"

"I said no, Potter!"

"Tell me, already"

"No!"

"Spit it out!" James was getting slightly pissed off, to tell the truth. Does Lily not trust me, or something?

"A List, okay?" Lily exclaimed frustrated. She put her hands over her mouth in shock. She had not meant to blurt that out.

"A list?" James sounded confused. And for good reason.

But Lily was still mad. Mad at him for making her tell him, and mad at herself for telling him.

Red-heads were not the most logical when mad.

The next words that flew out of her mouth proved it.

"A list of the things I find annoying about you okay!" Lily exclaimed. James stared at her, hurt. Lily wasn't done though, not by a long shot.

"How you've changed! How you're so bloody perfect all the damn time! How you make evedyome fall for you! How you manage your life so well! How you make me fall in love with you everyday! How you–!"

"Woah, woah back it up a bit." James was in shock now. Had Lily just said what he thought she had just said? Or was his brain playing tricks on him again?

Lily was blushing up a storm. She really hadn't meant to blurt that out.

"Nothing.." Lily said, making to run.

James held her wrist, preventing that. She had to face rejection then.

"Lily! What did you say!" He looked frantic.

Lily looked away. She didn't want to see his bloody perfect face

"I said," she said without about as much dignity as she could muster, "that i think it is annoying how you make me fall in love with you everyday."

There was silence.

Lily felt tears build in her eyes as she waited for the coming rejection. She refused to look at his face and managed to stare stoically at the oak tree.

James Potter was in shock.

No, he was actually well and truly in shock.

The girl who he had been in love with for six years had just proclaimed that she loved him too.

Merlin! This was the best day of his entire bloody existence.

"Can you just laugh at me or something already?" Lily exclaimed angrily. The whole rejection thing was taking its own sweet time, and she was not going to waut fir it to get a move on.

"Why would I laugh at you?" James asked tenderly.

"Because you hate me!"

James laughed at that. Lily looked offended and hurt. "I'm sorry!" He wheezed out. "Its just, I've been in love with your for the past six years and you think I hate you!" Merlin, this was too much.

"What?" Lily looked confused.

"Lily whatever-your-middle-name-is Evans, I love you and I will always love you. Will you please just be my girlfriend already?" James asked.

"Sure." Lily smiled. "Maybe its time for that now."

"Finally." James laughed. "Its not like I've been waiting six years or anything."

Lily had to laugh at that too. "I was being pretty stupid before, wasn't I?"

"Yeah," James admitted. "How could you ever think James Potter would hate Lily Evans?"

"I was scared, okay. And its not like you told me anything, or gave me any hint this last year that you were still interested."

"That was because you said you preferred the new me, and I thought that included the whole flirting slash asking you out thing." James said logically.

"Well," Lily was loath to admit it. "I suppose, that does make sense."

"Can I kiss you now? As much as I like this whole heart-to-heart conversation, I have been waiting for six years." James was being his usual self.

"You're never going to let go of the fact that you waited for me for six years, now are you?" Lily asked amusedly, leaning towards James.

"Nope," James said happily. "wouldn't dream of it." He leaned in.

Their noses were touching, and they were staring into each other's eyes. The whole romantic she-bang was happening.

"Can you just kiss me already?" Lily whispered.

"Gladly." James whispered back.

When their lips met it was like fireworks were exploding inside Lily. She could feel James' body heat and it was making her heat up in nice ways. She couldn't describe the kiss with any words that she knew off.

When she opened her mouth, she felt the fireworks re-ignite and she threw herself into the kiss whole-heartedly.

One thing she was sure of was that it was the best kiss she'd ever had. James could vouch for this fact.

When they pulled away, James stared at her for a while. She was just about to ask if there was something on her face, when he tugged her back into another toe-curling, soul-shattering and life-changing kiss.

She could get used to this.

When they pulled away again for air, they rubbed their noses together and sat holding each other for a while in silence.

James broke that sacred silence, whispering a quiet, "Wow."

Lily looked at James with love and amusement in her eyes. "Wow, indeed."

xoxo.