"Would you like some fruit punch?"

The third time he asked her, she was there on purpose.

After dealing with an increasingly drunk Amos Diggory for the whole night, and receiving an inspirational pep talk from Marlene about how you have to "go after what you want", which she took to heart because Marlene was the expert in getting what she wanted-especially tonight, since she had somehow managed to snog Sirius while he was getting his girlfriend a cucumber sandwich-Lily had decided to approach James Potter.

It wasn't an easy decision, not by a long shot; she kept coming up with reasons why she shouldn't do it (which were forgotten everytime she caught a glimpse of him across the room, laughing), and reasons why he wouldn't like it (even though everyone knew those reasons were just a load of dragon dung), and reasons why they couldn't work (which mainly consisted of too much fighting); reasons, reasons, reasons that kept piling up in her head as she loitered around the punch table for endless minutes, just waiting for that voice.

As soon as she heard it, all of the reasons fell apart.

"Would you like some fruit punch?"

She whirled around and faced Potter, who was smiling crookedly. "Hello again," he said, cocking his head to the side. "Come to fill up Diggory's glass?"

"No," she said, swallowing nervously, looking past him to Marlene who was giving her an encouraging thumbs up. "You can fill up one for me."

"That's the spirit!" he said, happily pouring some Firewhiskey-Fruit-Punch into a cup and handing it to her.

She took a small sip and swallowed with difficulty, her throat searing. "I think we're the only two sober people left," she said, looking up at him from under long lashes and smiling coyly.

His heart jumped at the sight. Was she…was she trying to flirt with him?

"I reckon you're probably right," he said slowly, watching her carefully.

She gathered up every ounce of courage in her body (she was in bloody Gryffindor), pushing away the small voice that was whispering, Lily, don't do it, just wait for the next time he asks you out.

Then a part of her wondered, What if there is no next time? and she began to speak.

"You know, Potter, you make messy look good."

"Do I?" he asked, a wide grin breaking out across his face that soothed her nerves. She took another sip of the drink.

"You do. And, you know, I would rather like to dance with someone who won't step on my feet."

He nodded. "I would like for you to do that to," he said, one eyebrow raising as he wondered if she'd had anything to drink before just now.

"What do you say?" she asked, taking a step closer.

Her pulse increased as his smile faltered.

"Lily, I—I don't think my date would like that very much," he said, remorse coloring his words.

Her insides froze. He had to be a bloody gentleman now?

Her stomach felt like it was dropping as she stared at him in disbelief. She had been so sure he would say yes, was so sure that he would be ecstatic to dance with her, Lily Evans, proclaimed love-of-his-life. She took a small step back, blinking furiously, irrationally embarrassed. She should have never listened to Marlene; this was certainly not what she had wanted.

James was watching her now, from under his bangs, and she looked away, so over come with disappointment and chagrin and just simple hurt, that she couldn't think of anything else to do but take another swig of the spiked drink. "Your date?" she asked tightly.

"Yeah," he said, frowning. "Emmeline..."

"I know who your date is," she snapped, reverting back to the anger that had never failed her in moments like these. "But in case you haven't noticed, she's not even with you right now."

"Yeah, but—"

"In fact, I'm pretty sure I saw her feeling up Professor Slughorn an hour ago!"

"She is not that drunk!" James protested, rolling his eyes.

"I bet she's just using you to get into the party," Lily said sourly, swallowing another large mouthful of the punch as tears stung her eyes. "I heard she does that."

"You might not like it," James began tersely, and Lily interrupted him, her eyes flashing.

"I never said I didn't like her!" she exclaimed.

"I didn't say you said that!" Potter said, his voice raising slightly. "I meant that you didn't like the fact that I'm here with her!"

"That is not true!"

"Oh, really?" he scoffed as she downed the rest of her drink in a large, angry gulp. "Because it sure seems like you've got a problem with her."

"You're the one who insulted Amos, does that mean you're upset I'm here with him?" she probed, taking a step closer to James' tense body, the Firewhiskey rushing through her veins, mixing with her irritation, and erasing her common sense.

"Damn right, I'm upset! You were supposed to come with me!"

"I wasn't supposed to do anything! You didn't ask me soon enough!" she cried angrily.

"Is that why your wand's in a knot?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. "Because I wasn't quick enough? If you wanted to come with me so badly, you should've said no to Diggory!"

"I didn't say that! Stop putting words in my mouth!" she gasped, her cheeks tinting red.

"What is it you're saying then, Evans? What do you want me to do?"

"Say you don't like Emmeline!"

"I don't like Emmeline, Evans!"

"Then why'd you come with her?"

"Because she asked me to, and you were going with Diggory, and I wanted to have a good bloody time with someone!"

"And did you have a 'good bloody time', Potter?" Lily asked, breathing heavily as Potter threw his hands into the air.

"NO! I didn't, alright! Did you?" he yelled exasperatedly.

"No, it was terrible, thank you for asking!" she said shrilly, glaring into his hazel eyes that were on fire with rage.

"Then why are you yelling at me and not Diggory?" he asked indignantly.

"Because!" she shrieked, crossing her arms. "I like you, Potter! Not Diggory! And I would've had a good time if you would've just gotten up off your arse and asked me an hour earlier!"

His mouth fell open in shock, not believing what his ears were telling him. Everything had to be difficult with Evans. She couldn't just open her mouth and calmly tell him how she felt; she had to scream it at him. "Oh yeah?" he began irately. "Maybe you should get off your arse and ask me for a change!"

"I just asked you to dance, Potter! Unfortunately, you don't think your date would 'like that very much', when she isn't even lucid enough to get angry!" Lily huffed angrily, scowling deeply at Potter. "Have a nice night," she spat, turning to leave.

With a noise that resembled a growl, he grabbed her by the hand and tugged her over to where Emmeline was talking to a gargoyle, ignoring her protests.

"Emmeline," he said, waving a hand in front of her face. "Emmeline! I'm going to dance with Lily."

"Okay," she said, giggling loudly. "I'm going to go snog Gideon."

"Have fun with that," James said, rolling his eyes and yanking Lily onto the dance floor, placing one hand tightly on her waist and capturing her hand in the other one.

Her heart was beating wildly, anger still pulsing through her, and they were both breathing heavily; the slow, mellow tempo of the song that was playing was making them restless.

The tension began to mount. The warmth of her body was seeping into his, his touch dancing at her hips, her smell invading his nose and whirling through his mind, his heartbeat pounding against her through his loosely tucked in shirt…she sighed agitatedly and bit her lip, looking up at him and finding that his hazel eyes were already burning into her. The eye-contact made her blood rush quicker.

She sighed again, and he stopped swaying with her, his nostrils flaring. "You're the one who wanted to dance Lily, if you don't like it—"

"Oh, bloody hell, James! Don't you ever stop talking?" she asked sharply, jerking her hand out of her grip and placing it forcefully on her hip.

He glared at her. "I didn't know you wanted me to stop talking!"

"I want us both to stop talking, you twit!"

"Are you bloody serious?" he asked, his face livid.

"Yes!"

"Why didn't you just say so, damn it?"

"Becau-"

With a groan that made her stomach shiver, James caught her cheek and pulled her up to his face forcefully, letting his lips crash down on hers, smothering her next insult in a swirl of soft lips and warm hands and the satisfaction she'd waited forever to get. She inhaled deeply as his soft lips pressed against her and her hands found his neck, pulling him against her tightly. He deepened the kiss expertly, his tongue sweeping across and soothing her bottom lip as he bit it hungrily in a storm of desire. She whimpered slightly, opening her mouth eagerly, begging for more. His hands found her hair, her waist, her cheek, her back; they moved everywhere, feeling her luscious skin and smooth hair as they kissed with bruising force until they couldn't breathe properly and they broke apart, panting.

"Evans, you don't know how long I've wanted to do that," he said, exhaling loudly, the tension abated for the moment.

"Was it as good as you always imagined?" she teased, her eyes roving over every inch of that wonderful, wonderful face.

"It was better."

"It did seem pretty good," a new voice spoke.

James and Lily whipped their heads towards the sound, only to find Remus standing there, his hair tousled and his shirt halfway unbuttoned.

"Hey," he said, waving at Lily.

"Er...hello."

"Moony," James hissed, giving him a worried look that he normally reserved for Drunk-Sirius. "What do you need?"

"Well," he began, rubbing his forehead tiredly. "I was wondering if you knew where that pesky key to the broom closet in the south eastern dungeon was. It seems to be missing, and, well..." he dropped his voice to a loud whisper, chuckling and pointing over his shoulder at Dorcas Meadowes, whose hair was even more messed up than Remus', her tight dress riding up a little high on her leg. "I'm in terrible need of it."

James raised his eyebrows, a smile playing on his features. "Last time I saw it, it was in Sirius' bedside drawer."

"Thanks mate," Remus said, pausing to give a polite but slightly awkward, "Good bye, Lily," before stumbling away.

Lily raised her eyebrows at James, staring at him questioningly. He let out a loud laugh, and she followed suit, giggling madly at Remus' behavior and the fact that she could kiss James whenever it tickled her fancy. In fact...

She stood on her tip toes, pulling on his loosely knotted tie until his lips pressed against hers, and his hands found her waist again. She nipped at his lip, slipping her tongue into his mouth and raking her fingers through that damn hair of his. The ferocity of the kiss returned as if they'd never stopped in the first place, each pressing themselves against the other until they were absolutely melded together, trying to fit seven years of aching passion and fury into this one moment of breathless ecstasy. He groaned, pulling back apologetically as she pressed herself still closer. "If you keep this up, we're the ones who are going to need the key to that broom closet."

Lily's mouth fell open and she struggled to catch her breath as she rested her head against his chest. "James Potter!" she scolded, trying to sound as stern as possible under the current circumstances. "I am not that kind of girl!"

"I know, Lily Evans. You're my kind of girl."

And he wrapped his arms around her tightly once more, vowing to himself that he would never let her go again.

a/n: Well? What do you think? Personally, this is my favorite chapter, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!