A/N: Written for the Monthly One-Shot Exchange – August by SiriusMarauderFan. Prompts: James/Lily, romance, 'What's in a name?' / 'Letters.' Dedicated to Celesti Rivers

Hand on My Heart

Hand on my heart, you're the best thing about me

'You don't hate me anymore,' he said wonderingly, on their third Head Boy and Girl patrol of the year.

'I never hated you,' she corrected.

He raised an eyebrow. 'What do you call years of dirty looks and calling me an arrogant toerag, then?'

'Indifference,' she said loftily. 'You weren't worth hating. You bullied and showed off – you still show off, really – but you were still smart and loyal and brave and refused to call me a Mudblood and saved my friend's life. I couldn't make up my mind about you, so I simply ignored you as much as I could. You weren't worth my time.'

'But what about now?' he persisted.

'I hardly have a choice about Head Girl patrols, do I?' She began walking again.

'That's not what I mean.'

'All right,' she said. 'I have decided that ignoring you is not the most practical solution at this time. Happy?'

He tried to hide his disappointment. 'I guess I'll have to be.'

'We've kind of fallen into a habit, haven't we, Prongs – may I call you Prongs? Or is that name reserved for you and your gang? What's in a name, anyway?'

'Letters.'

She groaned. 'I knew you would say that!'

He only grinned. 'Prongs is just fine.'

'Someday you'll have to tell me the story behind your ridiculous nicknames,' she said. 'Anyway, this is becoming a habit – sitting up in the common room together after patrols. It's clearly not about revising together – you don't even have your bag with you!'

'I think I know what's up,' he said.

'What, then?'

'You actually want to spend time with me, now that we've exchanged words without it turning into a duel.'

'Why would I want to spend time with you?'

'Because I'm witty and slightly less of an arrogant toerag as before?' he tried.

'Watch it,' she said, but couldn't keep the smile off her face.

'So … will you be my girlfriend?'

She turned red enough to match her hair. 'This better not be a joke, or so help me …'

'It's not! I'm being serious!'

'Since when are you serious? You've asked me out at least a dozen times before, so what makes this one different?'

'Since … since we began patrolling together,' he floundered. 'And for the record, I've always found you pretty.'

She stared. 'That's not what I – oh!'

He looked taken aback at the words that had just come out of his mouth; however, he made no move to deny them. Neither of them spoke to the other for the rest of that night's patrols, but she couldn't forget what she'd heard.

By the next evening, they were talking again. By the end of the week, they were going for impromptu walks together on the grounds, and not even his friends could drag him away.

By the end of the month, they were dating.

'How long has it been? I've lost count.'

She stifled a smile. 'Two months next Saturday.'

'Really? Time must fly when you're with me.'

'When we're snogging, you mean?'

He held up his hands. 'Hey, you said it, not me.'

'You don't even deny it?'

'Of course not.' He pushed his round glasses up his nose (so dorky, she'd always thought) and looked affronted. 'I don't do things by halves. I don't want to be sneaky about who I am and what I'm doing.'

'What about guilty pleasures?' she countered.

'They don't exist. I don't have guilty pleasures. I like things because I like them, and that's all.'

'Including me?'

'You're not a "thing".'

'Good answer. And the only right one, too.' The common-room fire was dying; she jabbed at it with her wand and it flared back to life; kicking her shoes off, she pulled her legs up onto the squashy sofa and snuggled closer to him. He slipped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her auburn hair.

'Tell me the truth,' she said. 'How long have you liked me for?'

'That's an easy one. Always.'

'Always?' The word sent a stab into her gut.

He nodded. 'Ever since you snubbed me on the train at the start of first year.'

'You were rude to my friend.' But not my friend anymore.

He raised his eyebrows. 'He was rude to you.'

She turned away, blinking hard. 'I don't want to talk about it.'

'Sorry.'

'You've made me a different person, I swear,' he told her earnestly. Hand on my heart and all.'

'Whatever happened to "cross my heart and hope to die"?'

He looked confused. 'Is that a Muggle thing? 'Cause I'd rather not hope to die.'

She had to stifle her giggle. For a top student and Head Boy, he could be pretty dense. 'It means that you'd rather die than break your word.'

'Oh. I might as well say that, too,' he answered, after a moment. 'Because I'd rather die than betray my friends, and I know they would say the same. It's the Marauder code. We swear to be up to no good, but there's so much more to it than that.'

'What if it were a choice between what is right and what is easy, like the Headmaster says?' she asked, thinking of her former friend – now a Death Eater, she was sure.

'Then … then I just hope that I would be brave enough to make the right decision – if it comes to that,' he told her.

She smiled. 'And I just hope that I would be strong enough to make it with you.'

Our life together's just begun