"Can you just attempt to stop ogling him for one moment of your life?" Marlene McKinnon chuckled, shoving Lily lightly. "He'll notice eventually, you know." Lily brought a forkful of eggs to her lips, never once taking her eyes off of her target. Really, it was quite easy for her to ignore Marlene nowadays; spending a constant seven years with a person, you pick up a few necessary talents in order to tolerate the person- in this case, Marlene the Chatty. Marlene smirked; she had also picked up a few talents during the course of her friendship with Lily; mainly, she knew what to say to get the redhead's attention. "On second thought, don't stop staring- then he'll notice you and you can finally admit your feelings." At this, Lily whirled around, a blush creeping up her cheeks. "Mar-lene!" she whispered, glaring at her friend. "Don't you say that out loud! Someone will hear you!" Lily glanced around quickly, making sure nobody was paying attention. Really, there was no need for her to- today was Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff, and thus all of her fellow Gryffindors were animatedly discussing Quidditch.
"Hear what?" Hestia Jones, another one of Lily's friends and a fellow seventh-year Gryffindor, turned around and asked.
"N-nothing, Hest… just that, well…" Lily felt her cheeks burning.
"James?" Hestia smirked knowingly to Marlene.
"When is it not about him these days?" Marlene grinned back.
"GUYS! This is so not amusing! Shove off!"
Marlene groaned. "It's bound to happen one day, darling. Simply inevitable."
Little did any of the girls know, it was most certainly happening soon.
Honestly, Lily didn't know why she bothered coming to these matches; she really didn't get Quidditch, probably never would, because (ohdeargodwhy he's going to crash, crash straight into the ground, and then-) oh, but never mind, he's somehow pulled out of that awful dive, and Lily released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. And the- the cheeky little bugger! The nerve of that boy! He actually turned to face her and winked! He absolutely knew he made her sick with worry, the nerve of James Potter... and then he flashed a trademark James grin at her, and Lily felt her heart melt into a puddle as she realized that perhaps Quidditch wasn't so bad after all. Soon enough, Gryffindor's Seeker had caught the Snitch, and oh, how shocking- Gryffindor's won again. Lily joined in cheering with the rest of her House, whizzing down the aisle in an attempt to perhaps "accidentally" meet up with James.
Obviously, her plan worked- Lily was masterful at these sorts of things- and he caught her eye. James jogged up to her, running his fingers through his windblown hair- oh, that only made it worse, didn't he realize?
"James," Lily began wryly, "You do realize you only mess your hair up more when you do that?"
"Ah, but this is what keeps the ladies coming, Lils!" James chuckled, winking once more. She rolled her eyes, unable to keep a small smile off her face.
"You do realize we've won, right?" James teased, all too knowledgeable about Lily's ignorance when it came to Quidditch.
"Shove it, Potter," Lily replied, playfully pushing his arm (ohgodit'ssomuscular...). He grinned. "Well, we're having a party in the Common Room tonight- at eight- to celebrate our grand victory. Going to join us, perhaps?"
"Yeah, you wish," Lily scoffed. She never, ever, ever participated in those childish firewhiskey-fests.
James leaned in close, whispering in Lily's ear. She felt his hot breath on her neck, giving her goosebumps. "Not going to bust us, are you?" James said. Lily went slightly pink. "I dunno, James- do I have reason to?" she played along.
"Oi, Potter!" came the unmistakable voice of James's best mate, Sirius Black. Lily stepped as far away from James as she could. She was breathing rather heavily, and quite disappointed Sirius'd shown up now of all times.
Sirius strolled up to the pair. "Evans," he nodded curtly.
"Black," Lily said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. Sirius ignored her and turned to face James. He slung an arm around that (gorgeousboy's) shoulder. "C'mon, Prongsie, we've got a date with our dear friend Rosmerta." Lily, of course, having tentatively befriended James last year, knew all about the Marauders and their escapades to Hogsmeade with secret passages and invisibility cloaks and whatnot. James smiled. "Of course, Padfoot, old pal." He turned to Lily, saluting. "Adieu, Lily darling. Until we meet again." And with that, he turned and walked away, leaving Lily inwardly hyperventilating (hecalledmedarling!darling!) until she had the good sense to head back to the castle.
Lily and Marlene were eating dinner in the Great Hall. Marlene was rambling on about something Lily wasn't listening to at all, because she only had one thing on her mind.
"And so, I told her, honestly... who do you think will actually-"
"Marly," Lily interrupted, with the somberness of someone delivering grave news.
"Honestly, Lil, do you ever even listen to a word I say? What?" Marlene said, not really irritated at all to be stopped. She was quite used to it.
"I've decided to attend the party tonight," Lily replied, rather seriously. Marlene burst out laughing.
"Honestly, Marlene! I wasn't kidding!" Lily said, quite offended.
Marlene gave Lily an incredulous look. "You- can't- honestly- be serious?" Marlene said in between fits of giggles. "Lil- usually you debate whether to rat it out or not, not actually go!"
"I mean it, Marlene," Lily said, miffed. Just then, the Marauders entered the hall, queen-waving gleefully around to everyone. Lily couldn't help but sneak a glance at James-
"Ooh, I should have known!" Marlene crowed. Lily turned beet red. "Of course it's about James! When is it not about James?"
"Shut up!" Lily cried, mortified.
"Well then, dear, we simply must begin getting you to look your best as soon as possible if you want to be nice and pretty-pretty for that Jamesy there," Marlene drawled, laughing. "Quite the looker, that one. You know, reminds me of a boy I knew once..." she trailed off, grabbing Lily's arm and hauling her up. The two girls ran out of the Great Hall, Marlene pulling Lily, cackling all the way out.