A/N

If this chap doesn't make you review – I don't know what bloody will!

.....and you didn't even have to wait that long!

Drum roll please

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It wasn't just in the duelling that James and Lily had been successful. Apparently, they were now the hottest couple at school.

Girls nattered and swooned over how sweet and attentive the once infamous womanizer was, in awe of how he had changed for Lily. Blokes couldn't help but watch jealously as Lily gave James adoring looks and how, almost like clockwork, he would pull her out of the common room for 'private time', and she would follow him without hesitation.

They always walked to class together. They always ate together. In fact, they never seemed to be without each other, and they constantly seemed to be touching in some way or in some kind of deep conversation.

They spent so much time together that the two of them had become tuned, almost fluid, in their interactions with each other. They really were an amazing sight.

The relationship's positive effects were showing in their physiques as well. Lily suddenly started to look even more fit and healthy than normal, and James's constant smile enhanced what was already a handsome face.

And so it was that they were being hailed as the hottest couple in years.

But, with the praise also came the criticism and the doubters.

"I can't believe it, James," Catreena called out loudly to James, as he and Lily passed.

Hearing his name, James automatically stopped and faced the source of the voice. "Catreena," he greeted, a little coolly once he'd recognized its owner, "what can't you believe?" he asked with little to no interest.

Before she could answer, James felt Lily tug on his hand to get him moving. "Lils?" he started, casting Lily a bemused look. "What's the matter—"

"I can't believe how far you've stooped."

"Stooped?" James asked, sufficiently distracted by that bizarre pronouncement, staring at Catreena like she was from another planet.

"Yes, stooped… to this," she said gesturing vaguely at Lily, and in the process degrading her in front of a group of people that included a large proportion of Gryffindor house, some Slytherins, as well as James and Lily's closest friends.

James looked from Catreena to Lily in confusion.

"You could do so much better." Catreena whispered in his ear.

The shock of hearing her so close caused him to rip his gaze from Lily and turn towards Catreena, and when he did he found her inches from his face.

He took a smooth, yet hasty step back.

Finally cottoning on to Catreena's insinuation though, he was quick to grope behind him and put his hand firmly around Lily's forearm, using his grip to pull her back to his side. Once he knew she was firmly and safely settled, James felt a hot anger bubble up from within him as he cast his gaze around the group.

Noticing she had gained the attention of the entire hallway, he gave the horrible girl in front of him an acid stare. He couldn't believe she, of all people, 'the slut of Gryffindor', had the audacity to insult Lily in front of her friends and some of her enemies.

Lily had come to mean so much to him; she was his partner, his saviour, his best friend, and this little bitch was insulting her? She wasn't even worthy of breathing the same air. Catreena was just like all the others who'd used him, who tried to manipulate him…. Just like Mary.

And with that thought, he went from anger to outright hatred and judging by Catreena's wide eyes she knew she'd gone too far.

"James," Lily's calm voice intruded, "I don't care," she whispered in his ear as she laid a cool hand on the back of his neck.

Controlling his anger momentarily, he turned to face her and said softly "I do."

"Getting angry won't solve anything," she replied. When James still seemed hesitant, she pressed a soft kiss to his cheek and whispered, "Don't worry so much, even before you came into my life I could handle her, she means nothing."

He nodded, but decided that if he wasn't going to get angry he was certainly going to prove Catreena wrong. So he plastered the most adoring and loving look he could onto his face and turned to face Lily completely.

Despite her words, he could see humiliation in her eyes and he knew without having to be told that she wasn't humiliated because of the crowd, but because she thought Catreena might be right. The idea was so ludicrous he almost laughed.

Instead he grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms, making sure to give her an encouraging squeeze. "It's her who's stooping," he said clearly before he leant down and tenderly kissed her cheek.

Catreena stuck her nose in the air, unmoved by the display and continued despite her shock at James's anger – she'd said too much now to back down gracefully. "That's all very sweet, but I've never even seen you kiss her properly, only small little chicken pecks on the cheek, it's all very cute, but there's no fire… what a passionate relationship you must have," Catreena pointed out sarcastically turning towards Lily with a ugly look on her face.

At first, James had felt sure they'd be able to brush her comment aside, but when he saw the thoughtful looks on his friends' faces he knew they were in trouble.

Lily discreetly sent James an anxious look. He appeared cool and collected, but when she made eye contact she knew him well enough to be able to tell he was genuinely worried about being discovered.

"Just because some people like to make an exhibition of themselves doesn't mean everyone does!" Lily said scathingly, scrabbling to take the heat off her and James. "There are displays of affection and then there are displays of affection," Lily said, poignantly. "Not everyone wants people to see them when they're being intimate. I especially don't want people to see, if I look even remotely like you when you're attacking your flavour of the month!"

Catreena's face scrunched up with hatred, but she retorted nonetheless, "That's the thing though, I've never seen, I've never even heard anyone say they've caught you…nothing… just nothing. It must be horrible to know that your boyfriend finds you so unattractive, that he doesn't want to kiss you?" she said with mock sympathy.

Lily threw a distasteful glance at the superior looking Catreena. "Of course he wants to kiss me! Where do you think we disappear to in the evenings you moron, to do homework?" She chuckled nastily, sharing an ironic look with James. "And as far as never being caught is concerned, my boyfriend is a Marauder; I don't need to lower myself to making out in broom cupboard like a fourth year. He knows this school better than almost anyone else, and he respects me enough to go to the trouble of finding somewhere where we won't be caught. What kind of slag do you have to be to want to get caught anyway?"

Catreena didn't say anything more, but one glance around the group confirmed that the evil cow had planted the seed of doubt and the worst part was that she knew it too.

Lily hated the self-satisfied look on the horrible girl's face so much that she made an instant decision to do something that she knew would wipe that smug look right off of it.

The only warning she gave James was a wicked smile, right before she started stalking towards him like a tiger stalking her prey.

The only indication of surprise James gave was a slight raising of his eyebrow, knowing she was up to something, just unsure what, but after all of their training and time together he'd learned to trust her completely. So he stood, watching her approach with interest, waiting for her to make her next move.

Once she was less than a centimetre away, she threw one last remark over her shoulder. "Just because nobody knows the ins and outs of my private life doesn't mean I don't have one. But if you insist on proof, you can have it. Trust me when I say it's no chore to kiss my boyfriend," she said, right before closing the gap between her and James and kissing him. Properly.

Both of them were shocked at just how quickly their bodies responded to the contact, both unable stop themselves from deepening the kiss. He opened his mouth to her and then right there in front of Merlin, their friends, and some passing students, Lily pushed her tongue inside, increasing the passion and intensity of their embrace.

She felt his arms wrap around her tightly, encompassing her small frame and she returned it by putting one arm round his neck and sliding her hand into his hair, pressing herself closer to him.

She felt James' chest rise suddenly with his quick intake of air as she continued to kiss him languidly, sinking into the wonderful feeling of his hot mouth on hers.

As the kiss progressed, she brought her hand down to rest on the exposed skin of his neck where the top few buttons of his shirt lay open, and she pressed the palm of her other hand over his fast beating heart.

Feeling its frantic pace and on some base-level recognising hers was beating just as fast, she pulled away ever so slightly so she could see his eyes; her gaze briefly flickered down to where her hand laid over his heart, before settling once again on his hazel orbs. She leaned forward pressing one more quick kiss to his lips, unable to stop her tongue from darting out to taste him again, if only briefly.

As she pulled away for a second time, his head followed her and she felt the hand that he had put on her waist the moment their lips had touched, start to tighten painfully on her hip.

She leaned to the side, rubbing her nose against the side of his face, before gently pressing her cheek to his. "Sorry, but I hate that girl," she whispered into his ear, still panting, still pressed so close to his body that she brushed his chest with every breath. "There was no bloody way I was going to let her get away with that."

"Fuck, Lily," he managed to croak so quietly only she could hear.

"Down boy," she joked, before she murmured, her breath caressing his ear, "People aren't always what they seem. You said it yourself, I look innocent, but…" she trailed off suggestively, tantalisingly running her hand over the soft exposed skin of his neck as she pulled her hand out of his shirt.

Successfully untangling herself from James, Lily took one look at Catreena's pale face and felt the sweetest feeling of triumph rise up in her. Then smirking first at James, and then to the group at large, she excused herself to finish her homework.

Leaving a group of shocked people in her wake.

--

The moment she had turned a corner and was out of sight of the group, she stopped and leaned all her weight against the nearest wall, and slowly sank to the floor, unable to keep standing on her shaky legs.

Her eyes wide, breaths coming in short gasps, and her heart going a mile a minute, she brought her hand up and pressed it against her lips, trying to steady herself

Fuck, that had been intense.

She'd kissed James Potter for the first time.

She kissed James Potter for the first time in front of a large group of people.

She'd kissed James Potter for the first time in front of a large group of people and… she'd loved it.

That was not supposed to happen.