Do one thing every day that scares you.
Lily was well known for her spirit; her love of life.
So it came as no surprise to her friends that she had to find something every day to thrill her. Whether it was trying something new from Honeydukes, pinching Marlene McKinnon's bum in potions and then trying to blame it on Sev, catching a spider when she was little or even trying to find the kitchens after curfew. Whatever it was, Lily had to get her thrill fix somehow. Throughout her second year, despite her fear of brooms and flying, she had climbed on a broom every day and, after the initial terror had passed, tried to teach herself different tricks. By the end of her fourth year she had all but perfected standing up on her wobbly school broom and her friends had begged her to join the quidditch team.
Sirius Black, however, was not privy to this information and was shocked to discover in his fifth year perfect Prefect Evans sneaking into the Restricted Section of the library and heading towards the same stack he was hiding behind with a book on Animagus stuffed down his jumper. He could feel sweat gathering at the edges of his hairline and watched in the dark as she headed straight for him. Her eyes flashed, the green still vivid in the darkness, and he pressed himself further into the book case, willing his body to melt into it. He watched, heart pounding furiously in his head as she tripped in slow motion and knocked one of the books of the shelf towards his feet. He winced when it started screaming and could already see the light from the librarian's candle rounding the corner to see what had caused the noise. Lily's gasp echoed in the silence and Sirius acted without thinking. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her under the cloak he was stood beneath as his other hand covered her mouth.
"Shh. It's Sirius." He whispered hurriedly to a struggling redhead as Pince marched closer. The librarian narrowed her eyes and picked up the still screaming book. It hushed at her touch and she frowned, filing it back on the shelf and stalking back in the direction she had come from, her sharp eyes watching for students out of bed.
The two Gryffindors waited until the light from her candle was no longer visible and then relaxed slightly. Sirius' hand was still clamped over her mouth and Lily could feel his heart beat pumping loudly in her ears. She brushed his hand away and pushed the cloak off her.
"What the hell was that?" She hissed at him, careful to keep her voice down. Her eyes widened dramatically and she, rather comically, looked like a fish out of water when she was left gaping at the space that Sirius should have been standing in with a cloak over him. His head materialised out of thin air and she physically jumped with the suddenness of his appearance. "You have an invisibility cloak?"
"Well spotted, Evans." Sirius drawled sarcastically as he smirked at her. He removed the rest of the cloak and bundled it in his fist. He stared at her for a moment to let the information sink in. "So, tell me, what is a good girl, such as yourself, doing sneaking around in the Restricted Section after curfew?"
Those glorious jade eyes that James was so often spouting rubbish about narrowed at him.
"I could ask you the same thing, Black."
"Please, I asked first," he waved his hand in an imperious gesture "and it's Sirius, babe."
"It's Lily, babe." She all but snarled at him and he couldn't help the breathy chuckle that bubbled from his throat. She glared at him again and sighed. "I just...I don't know. I wanted a book?"
The excuse sounded lame to her own ears and he rolled his eyes at her.
"Nice try. Want another go at that? Try and make it more convincing? I find specifics always help."
"Oh yeah. Well what are you doing here then?"
"Trying to nick a book about Animagus, the one by Percival Pisswhiskers actually. Edition 4." He managed to steal a smile from her.
"Alright, show off." He was surprised that the truth seemed to be the most feasible excuse and one that she clearly didn't believe. Luck was clearly on his side tonight. "I dunno...I do stupid things every day because I like the adrenalin rush." She surprised herself with her honesty and glanced away from the tall boy in front of her, suddenly embarrassed.
"You are so like James."
She froze in the darkness and her eyes flickered back to him.
"What?" She scoffed. "We are nothing alike."
"You're more alike than you realise, Lily." His voice was soft, contemplative even, as though he wasn't sure they should be having this discussion. Her look was one of disbelief and Sirius sighed. "Well, by your own admission, you both do things every day to get your fix of adrenaline; you know, something that scares you."
"Please, what does Potter do every day that scares him? Besides looking in the mirror, I mean, and seeing that mop of hair." She sniggered and Sirius shot her a dirty look.
"He asks you out every day, doesn't he?"
She laughed, actually laughed, and he had to shush her for fear of Pince returning with Filch.
"And he's what? Scared of me?" She chuckled again but her laugh died in her throat at the look he shot her.
"No, Lily. He's not afraid of you." His eyes misted over and Lily felt the strength of the boys' friendship brush at the edge of her consciousness, eluding her grasp. "He's afraid of rejection." His dark, almost black, eyes flickered back to her stunned gaze and he spoke as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, amazed that she could not see it for herself.
"He's afraid you'll break his heart."