Be kind to your knees

"Potter! What exactly do you think you are doing?!"

"I believe I am climbing a tree, Lily dear."

James Potter grinned down at the irritated redhead and stood up on the branch he had previously been sitting on.

"Well, get down. It's against school rules."

James laughed merrily.

"Since when has that stopped me before?" He swung his arms and smiled brightly at her horrified face.

"Seriously, get down before you hurt yourself." She placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes up at him.

"Aw, Evans. I didn't know you cared so much." He winked and was rewarded with an angry roll of the eyes.

"I don't, you bloody berk. But I don't want to have to escort your sorry arse to the Hospital Wing either."

"I knew you loved me really." James said dreamily as he pretended to swoon forward, grabbing the tree trunk at the last minute. The yelp that she released did not go unnoticed.

"Potter! Just get down." He watched with extreme interest as she bit her lip hard. Probably to keep in the 'please' that was itching to escape her lips.

"Nah. I rather like it up here actually. And, besides, I have the natural grace of a ... of a ... of a gazelle, kind of." This made him laugh rather hard and Lily looked torn between confusion and fear for his sanity. "You're just jealous of my natural agility."

Her face slumped into disbelief and one of her eyebrows raised.

"I'm really, really not." He waved off her reply and she let out a tiny gasp. "Don't do that."

"What? This?" He waved his arms around wildly and, almost lost his balance, but managed to recover before he fell.

"Yes! That. Stop it."

James grinned and began to hop, gleefully, from one foot to the other.

"Potter, stop it. Really, I think you shoul-"

But what Lily Evans thought James should do neither ever found out for, suddenly, his gazelle like grace left him and his feet slipped from the branch of the tree and he was hurtling towards the ground with Lily's voice ringing in his ears. After scrambling for her wand and a bit of quick thinking, she managed to cast a levitating spell that stopped him from hitting the earth with a great splat. He was lowered to the ground gently, still slightly winded from where a branch hit him in the stomach. He gratefully sunk into the grass on his back as Lily stood over him.

"See? You could have broken your legs." Her 'I-told-you-so' was written all over her face. "You okay?"

"I'm great, Evans. Fantastic even." Lily frowned at him and, somehow, his brain decided to disengage and he was talking before he could stop himself. "I can see right up your skirt from here."

She flushed an interesting shade of red, huffed indignantly and marched back towards the castle.

"Hey! I wasn't complaining!" James called after her which caused her to stop and throw 'prat' along with a hex over her shoulder with irritation. And then she was speeding back towards the school. "Oh, come on, Evans. I was only joking!" James pushed himself to his feet to chase after her and promptly fell flat on his face as Lily's jelly legs jinx took effect.

You'll miss them when they're gone.

~*~