[A/N: Look! Less than a week since the last update :) And, what is more, Flameintheflood is visiting me right now at my apartment. This means that, in addition to doing awesome sisterly stuff, we'll be writing together and not emailing things back and forth in an attempt to get these chapters out in a timely manner. As a result, Chapter 29 (and likely Chapter 30) will be up within a decently short period of time. More fun for us, more fun for you, pretty much win all around, I'd say. Thank you to everybody who is reading this, who has put Kin and Kisses on their Favourites and/or Alerts list. Double thanks to all of you who have reviewed: paulmcco, SWAddict1986, acompletestranger, ravenclawLupin11, crazypotterchick, XDAshleighJadeXD, and too many stars to count. As I've said before, your continued support means more than we can express. Finally, thanks to paulmcco for beta-ing this chapter for us. Now... on to the fic!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor do I own the Wizarding World. Also, I'm not making any money off of this. I write it purely for my and your enjoyment. That's all the pay I need.
Chapter 28: The Second Halloween
It's only half past the point of oblivion
The hourglass on the table, the walk before the run
The breath before the kiss and the fear before the flames
Have you ever felt this way?
Pink; Glitter in the Air
Lily took a deep breath as she stood in front of the door to her dormitory. She knew that her friends were all in the room and that they'd be more than furious if she withheld the recent events any longer than strictly necessary. Still, Lily wasn't quite sure how to tell them that she had just accepted a date with James.
She wasn't entirely sure what had possessed her to say yes. She hadn't even fully realized that she liked James until she knew he was going to ask. And then it had hit her like a bludger. She fancied him. There was no avoiding it, especially since she'd agreed to "go out" with him in one week's time on Halloween.
With that thought, she screwed up all her Gryffindor courage and pushed open the door.
"Hey, Lils," Kate said, looking up from her Quidditch magazine as the door creaked open.
"I fancy James Potter," Lily said without preamble.
Three pairs of eyes looked at her in shock.
"When did Mr. Obvious hit you over the head?" Maia asked, a grin forming on her face.
"About two seconds ago when I realized that I had accepted a date with him," Lily admitted, turning red.
"Oh my God!" Allie exclaimed standing up.
"You did?" Maia asked at the same time.
"Finally!" Kate cried, falling backwards onto her pillow.
"How did he do it? What are you guys going to do? When are you going out? Why did you finally decide to say yes?" Allie fired questions in rapid succession.
"What did he say? What did you say? Are you an item now?" Maia continued Allie's stream.
"Let the girl breathe!" Kate laughed. "More importantly, let the girl answer the questions!"
"Um, okay," Lily said, looking at her three best friends with an almost frightened expression on her face. She set down her book bag and sat on her four poster where Allie and Maia immediately joined her.
"Well," Lily began, trying to remember everything they'd asked her, "I was reading in the Common Room and he says he's got this question and I'm just completely clueless, but some part of me was weirdly excited. And then before he could even finish asking the question, I said yes. I don't know… it just came out."
"Our Lily didn't think something through ten times?" Kate teased.
Maia shushed her and motioned for Lily to keep talking.
"As for the next questions," Lily continued, "I don't know what we'll be doing. He didn't say. I presume that it's something here, though knowing James, we could very well be going across the continent. We'll be skipping the Hogwarts' Halloween feast, though, so I'm sure it will include dinner."
"You're missing the feast?" Allie asked, pouting.
"But she's going out with James," Maia answered, "so it's okay."
"Why did you finally decide to say yes?" Allie repeated her question and stuck her tongue out at Maia.
"Like I said, I have no idea. But, I think I made the right choice."
"Bloody right you made the right choice," Kate said, sitting back up and looking at Lily as though she were insane for even considering that she'd made a mistake.
"You guys are almost more excited about this than I am," Lily laughed.
"You're just in shock," Allie assured her.
"And you said 'almost,'" Maia laughed, "which you know means that you're this close to jumping up and down like a third year in Honeyduke's."
"Do you want me to answer your questions or not?" Lily scolded her friend. "Or do you want to keep teasing me?"
"Questions," Maia said. "Answer the questions. Though, I suppose you already said what you said and what he said so… Are you two an item now?"
"I… I don't know," Lily said slowly. "I mean one minute we're friends and then we're flirting and then I'm saying yes to going out with him. I'm just not sure."
"Well, ignoring the fact that you've been flirting all year, do you want to be an item?" Maia asked.
"I… I do," Lily answered, smiling as her face turned an even brighter red. "I mean… I spent so much time not wanting it that now I think I want it even more. Does that make sense?"
"Not really," Kate admitted. "But you're Silly Lily, so it's okay."
"It's okay?" Lily squeaked. "What am I doing? Why did I say yes? There's no way it will work. And then things will be awkward. And then I'll fail as Head Girl and I'll fail my NEWTs and I'll be a failure at life and have to go live with Petunia and Vernon in Surrey!"
"That doesn't even make sense, sweetie," Allie said, putting a hand on Lily's shoulder. "If you fail at life you will live with one of us, not with your sister."
"Just be happy, Lils," Kate said, joining the other three on Lily's bed. "Everybody in this room knows that James adores you and is perfect for you. And you're perfect for him, really. Just be happy."
"I am," Lily said, pulling her friends into a group hug. "I really am."
"Remus?"
A soft voice startled Remus out of his thoughts. He looked up to find a pair of gentle, light blue eyes looking at him concernedly.
"Hey, Allie," Remus said with a sigh. "What are you up to?"
"Looking for you," Allie replied, pulling out a chair and sitting down across from him. "I was hoping I'd find you here."
"I'd really rather be left alone right now," Remus said, lowering his head to look at the text he was pretending to read.
"Well, too bad," Allie countered. "I don't really feel like leaving you alone. Lily has locked herself in the bathroom, Maia is off with some Hufflepuff, and Kate is... well, I'm not sure where Kate is, exactly. But the point remains that I don't really feel like leaving you alone. Not right now, not when you need a friend."
"You think I need a friend?" Remus muttered darkly.
Allie nodded in affirmation.
"So," Remus continued, "You aren't of the same opinion as the rest of Hogwarts? You don't hate me? You don't think I am an absolutely horrid person who ought to burn in Hell for hurting Hogwarts' favourite male?"
"No," Allie assured him, "I'm not. And the entirety of Hogwarts does not hate you."
"Everything just feels so wrong, Als," Remus said, looking up at the ceiling to avoid his ex-girlfriend's too sympathetic gaze. "James claims that we're all friends right now, that there aren't sides to take, but I know he's on Sirius' side. Sirius will barely talk to me and when he does it's forced. And Peter has been spending more time than ever with Heather just to avoid us all. I thought things could go back to how they were, to all of us just being friends..."
"People change, Rem," Allie said slowly. "You should know that. Look where we are compared to this time last year. Look at Lily and James! We've all grown up and all of our friendships have changed."
"I got scared," Remus whispered, saying aloud for the first time the thoughts that had plagued him for two weeks. "I'm already going to be annihilated from normal society for my condition. I didn't think I could deal with one more reason to set the world against me. I didn't think it would matter so much to Sirius. I'm not that special."
"Speaking as somebody who has had her heart broken by you," Allie said with a soft smile, "I would have to say that you are quite special. I don't bring this up to guilt trip you. I'm happier with Josh than I've ever been. I say this because you don't realize what a great person you are."
"You sound like James and Sirius," Remus mumbled.
"If three of the top students in our year say so, it must be true," Allie teased.
"I just wish I wasn't gay," Remus sighed. "I wish I could make it go away. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I'm not gay. Maybe it was all just a phase."
"Trust me," Allie said, taking one of Remus hands in her own, "You're at least somewhat gay. You broke up with me having that as a reason. And it's okay. There's nothing wrong with being who you are."
"You don't suppose I could undo that, do you?" Remus asked, a sad smile forming on his lips. "You were a great girlfriend."
"Don't be silly," Allie laughed, shaking her head slightly. "As I've said, I'm way more than taken. Besides, you're in love with Sirius."
"Yeah," Remus said, biting his lower lip and giving a hollow laugh. "I most definitely am."
James Potter looked in the mirror for what must have been the twenty-fifth time that night. It was twenty minutes before the Halloween feast, but he wasn't planning on going with his friends. He usually enjoyed the Hogwarts feasts, but this time, he wouldn't mind missing it. This time, Lily Evans had agreed to miss it with him.
James Potter looked in the mirror. Looking back at him was a thin but muscular boy wearing a red sweater and a pair of faded blue jeans. Lying on the floor around the boy were seven discarded T-shirts, a Hogwarts school uniform and three crumpled robes in various colors.
James sighed and his reflection sighed back at him; he then attempted to flatten his hair for what must have been the thirtieth time.
"Really, Prongs," Sirius commented from his four poster bed. "I thought you'd realized it was a losing battle nearly seven years ago."
"You are correct, I did," James rolled his eyes and ruffled his hair to its regular messy fashion. "It's just that Moony reckons that Lily finds it irritating when I mess up my hair. He said its gives off an illusion of arrogance and cockiness."
"But, Prongs, you are arrogant and cocky," Peter reminded them. "No offence or anything, mate."
James did a half shrug and smiled.
"Where is that werewolf, anyways? Why isn't he cheering me on as I embark upon the most perilous and terrifying adventure of my life?"
"You know, probably in the library or the common room or the Swiss Alps. Anywhere but in the Marauder dorm; heaven forbid he might actually have to have a conversation with me," Sirius grumbled darkly, glaring at the wall.
There was a tense silence in the room before James awkwardly cleared his throat.
"Well, I think Moony maybe sort of had a point," he attempted at casualness. "Maybe just so long as I don't actually mess it up in her presence… not that it would make a difference at this point, what with how much time we have been spending together lately. I think she might have gotten over it by now."
"You had better go," Sirius sighed. "You know our dearest Lily Evans abhors it when people are late."
James swallowed and nodded, turning away from the mirror to look at his friends. He had been picturing this moment for ages. It was the night when he finally had a chance with the girl he had been dreaming about since he'd hit puberty. His stomach was full of man-eating butterflies and his mind buzzed in anticipation.
Remus and James had hung out for over an hour earlier in the day, so James could deal with the fact that not all of his friends were present at this crucial moment. True, it was a serious issue that Remus and Sirius had broken up and James was disappointed that this moment of pure victory had to be tainted with such disheartening turn of events. But even those disturbing turn of events could not detract from this moment for long.
Peter smiled encouragingly from underneath a pile of sweets. He lifted sticky hands into two big thumbs up signs while Sirius managed a grin.
The latter stood up off his bed to clasp his brother on the shoulder.
"Don't do anything stupid," Sirius suggested. "And good luck, Prongs."
"We're rooting for you!" Peter squeaked as James walked out of the dorm and made his way down the stairs to the crowded Common Room.
His eyes scanned over all the students meeting up for the feast or just generally wasting time before going to the Great Hall, looking for a flash of red hair. His heart hammered against his ribs: what if she had changed her mind? What if she really had wanted to go to the feast? What if-?
And then he saw her.
Her bright green eyes were complimented perfectly by the green blouse she wore, puffing out slightly at the sleeves and pulling tighter around her torso. She wore a brown knit skirt that hung just above her creamy, soft looking knees and James reminded himself to breath.
The two Gryffindors smiled at each other over the heads of some first years. Lily stood awkwardly while James weaved towards her.
"Hello," he greeted her, his mouth dry.
"Hi," she smiled, taking in his appearance.
There was a moment's pause.
"So," James finally said, "shall we be off?"
"Sure."
He held out his arm and, rolling her eyes, Lily took it.
The two strolled out of the busy Common Room and entered the rather quiet corridor. The silence seemed to echo as neither of them seemed to remember how to speak. James' mind was still buzzing and he was mostly focused on getting it to stop long enough so that he could start to conquer the man eating butterflies residing in his stomach.
Lily had felt like skipping just seconds before. She was with James and he looked amazing and… god, why wasn't he saying anything? Then as though she was clubbed in the head with her own common sense, she realized that she could also initiate conversation.
"So!" Lily started. Then she realized that she had nothing on her mind to say, really. There was another stretched silence until James finally vanquished the butterflies and started to speak.
"Yes, so," He said. "How are you tonight?"
"Oh, I'm good, yourself?" Lily responded, her voice sounding remarkably calm.
"I'm doing quite well," James smiled earnestly. "Really, I feel amazing."
"Why's that?" Lily asked, amused.
"Well," James grinned down at her and reaching his hand up to his head, ruffled his hair. "I'm with you."
Lily was surprised to see that when he messed up his hair she now found it much more endearing than annoying. She was equally as surprised to notice the way his words had made her go weak at the knees.
Stubbornly, she kept her legs strong and -partly to cover the wobble- she laced her fingers through his. Once they were holding hands, she realized that that wobble-covering motive was insignificant in comparison to the hand-holding motive.
"So," she said, a few beats later, "where are we going?"
"First stop: the kitchens," James announced. "Just because we're skipping the feast, doesn't mean we have to miss the feast."
"We're eating in the kitchens?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, of course not," James chuckled. "We're going on a picnic."
Lily bit her lip.
"James," she began, "you do realize it's nearly November, and that it's incredibly chilly outside, right?"
"Who said anything about going outside?" James said, evasively. "Now, just contain your enthusiasm for a bit. You wouldn't want to ruin the surprise."
Lily laughed and shook her head. In the past, if she had heard the word 'surprise' come out of James Potter's mouth, she would've run screaming for the hills, but now, she realized how completely she trusted him.
Both Head Students quickly forgot the awkwardness that had started the night as they made their way down to the kitchens. Lily soon wondered why on earth they had been awkward to begin with.
As for James, the butterflies were still present, but were now heavily sedated and had conformed into vegetarianism.
When the two arrived at the kitchens, they were both pink with laughter at all of Lily's ludicrous guesses as to how they were planning on having a picnic while staying safe from the chilly fall air. All her suggestions had made James slightly nervous, making him wonder if maybe they were better than what he had planned. Then he realized that of course Lily didn't actually want to fly all the way to Egypt in one night just for their first date.
Once they had tickled the pear and found their way into the kitchens, they were nearly pushed back the little elves running around setting the long table and preparing to send the food upstairs. James tapped one of the less beleaguered elves, making him jump, his large ears flopping.
"Oh! It is being Master Prongs!" He squeaked in excitement. "And it is Mistress Lily! Lovely, lovely!"
"Hey, there," James nodded while Lily smiled broadly at the short and joyful creature.
"What can Hoolie do for Master James and Miss Lily tonight?"
"Well, is it possible we could have enough of the feast for two people to eat?" James asked. "In a basket, please, would be nice."
Hoolie nodded enthusiastically and ran off to prepare their basket.
James watched as elves started to place pumpkin pies on the table and he was struck with a bit of inspiration.
"Lily," he turned to her. "You're good at potions, right?"
"Um…" Lily started, bewildered. "I guess so…"
"No, you're brilliant at potions," James shook his head at her modesty, making her blush. "So, that means you're good at cooking too, right?"
"Well…" Lily stopped. She was dreadful at cooking. Yes, she was good at potions and great at following directions, but somehow she was just dreadful with baking soda and sugar, and much better dealing with boomslang skin and horned slugs. She was about to say so, when words her mother had said years ago echoed in her head. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
"Well, yes, I'm decent," she blurted without thinking.
James grinned; decent in Lily-speak meant brilliantly fantastic. When Hoolie came back with their basket, James also requested the ingredients and a recipe for pumpkin pie.
Lily noticed this, and could only pray that James was a better cook than she was, or that she wouldn't be expected to bake a pie on which he would judge her potential as a girlfriend.
Pushing that terrifying thought out her head, she followed James out of the kitchen. As she continued to follow him through the corridors and up the stairs, it dawned on her to ask,
"How do the house elves know what your friends call you?"
"You mean, Prongs?" James asked. "I guess we sometimes try to be careful with those nicknames, but it seems most people know them now. Especially the elves, considering we talk to each other so freely with them. I think we may have even introduced ourselves that way when we were stupid and young and carefree."
"You're still stupid and young and carefree!" Lily laughed. James' face darkened.
"Maybe… But it's different now," he sighed. "My cousins… Peter's Dad… This whole thing with You-Know-Who… And now with Remus and Sirius… We might still be young, and very likely stupid, but carefree? That I'm not so sure about."
He cut himself off and a grin was once again back on his face. "But, you don't want to hear about unpleasant Marauder business. I'm sorry."
"No," Lily shook her head adamantly. "You know I want to hear anything you want to say. Besides, I know exactly what you mean. I've changed in the last couple years as well. I mean, just think, this time two years ago, my best friend was Severus Snape. Now he's a Death Eater wannabe and I'm here with you. We've all lost that innocence. Everyone in our year is of age by now."
James nodded. There was a sad, but comfortable silence as they reached the seventh floor.
"We're here!" James announced, all traces of mournfulness evaporating as he presented the corridor. They stood in front of a large tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy attempting to teach trolls ballet, and Lily remembered something.
"Oh!" Lily exclaimed. "This is the room where Sirius and Remus told me about Remus', er, condition."
"Ah, yes," James nodded distractedly. He turned to his date and held her shoulders. "Now, don't move."
Lily, slightly put-off by the order but curious enough to not mind, watched as James paced back and forth three times in front of the wall with a look of deep concentration on his face. Suddenly, a door appeared and he told Lily,
"Cover your eyes. No peeking!"
Once Lily assured James that she couldn't see a thing, he opened the door and guided her into the Room of Requirement.
When she opened her eyes, her breath stopped.
The entire room was covered in green: trees grew up from the floor hid the walls, large leafed bushes and foliage covered most of the floor, all except for a soft, moss covered circular stone in the middle of the room. On the stone floor lay a soft red-orange blanket set with gold plates and goblets. Hovering in the air were many brilliant orange candles and even a couple of carved pumpkins, flitting light into the mostly dark room. The ceiling was incredibly high and seemed to mirror that of the Great Hall, except that, despite the cloudy night outside, this sky was scattered with twinkling stars and a large, yellow moon.
"Wow," Lily sighed after a few moments of awed silence. "Wow, James."
"Too much?" he asked nervously, running his hands through his hair.
"No," Lily whispered. "It's… perfect. You're genius."
James tried to stifle his sigh of relief and resisted the urge to pump his fist in the air in victory. Instead, he took her hand and pushed back a patch of underbrush to reveal another room, breaking off of the forest.
This second room was much smaller and contained kitchen appliances, such as a large stove, a sink and plenty of counter space. Lily gulped.
"This is where we make pie, then?" she asked, forcing her voice to sound neutral.
James nodded emphatically and placed the ingredients from the kitchen onto the counter top. He then pulled out the directions and held them out importantly before him.
"Since you're a muggle born, we should do this the muggle way. First, we have to cook this little pumpkin," James explained.
The two looked at each other.
"So," Lily scrunched up her forehead. She considered arguing that being a muggle born didn't mean she knew how to cook in a muggle fashion. "We just put it in the oven?"
"Um…" James looked blankly at the parchment with scrawled direction written on it. "I think we should take out the seeds first."
"We need a knife," Lily noted. Suddenly, a large knife appeared on the counter top, along with a steaming pot. "This room is incredible!"
"It is, isn't it?" James agreed, glad to have impressed Lily Evans. He glanced at the pumpkin and realized he had no idea what to do with it. "Do you want to cut the pumpkin and get the seeds out then?"
"Oh, sure," Lily giggled uncomfortably. After evaluating the knife and the pumpkin, she brandished her wand. "Septumsempra!"
With that, the pumpkin split in two. James slowly backed away from the redhead, looking mildly frightened.
"The seeds?" James asked. The two of them looked to the counter top where appeared a large spoon. They looked at each other and back at the pumpkin, then back at the spoon.
"I guess we'll have to scoop them," Lily suggested.
James continued to stare at the bright orange, slimy pumpkins.
"They look slimy," he noted. "And you look really pretty."
"I do?" Lily smiled and looked down.
James had been complimenting her for years but this time, it made her feel like a silly gushing girl. It felt so different and out of character for her, but at the same time, she rather liked it.
"Thank you."
James paused and pulled out his wand as well, and succeeded in vanishing the pumpkin seeds out of the pumpkin.
"I reckon," he smirked. "That this isn't exactly the way muggles do this kind of stuff."
"Well, probably not, no," Lily agreed. "Want to make the crust now? We've got sugar, and butter and flour and ingredients."
James loved the "and ingredients" at the end of Lily's list. He was starting to wonder if maybe she didn't really cook, when she reached into the basket and pulled out the flour. Instead of cutting it open, she swished her wand again, cutting a gash into the side of the bag.
The flour puffed into the air and landed all over Lily's face and hair. She sighed and leaned against the counter to look at James.
"James, I lied," Lily admitted to James, who was currently attempting to not laugh at her pure white appearance.
"What do you mean?" James asked, raising his hand to wipe the flour off of Lily's nose.
"I can't actually bake. At all." Lily answered, noticing how close James was standing to her; loving the way his fingers were gently stroking the flour off of her cheek; feeling his soft puffs of breath that betrayed how amused he was. "I'm pretty much an eggs and cereal chef. My baking experience includes going to the bakery on birthdays."
"Yeah, I had guessed that by now," James answered, stepping forward for brush off the flour that had settled on Lily's green blouse.
"I'm sorry," Lily whispered, not actually caring much about her cooking abilities and much more focused on the playful intensity in James' gaze. He was so close and he smelled so good; like rain and grass and soft leather from Quidditch gear.
Then he breathed in and stepped back, forcedly, as if his body didn't understand the movement. Lily felt a pang of disappointment, but more prominently, she felt light headed.
James raised an eyebrow and looked quizzically at the ingredients.
"Can't we just transfigure the ingredients to form a pie?" He asked. "Because I've never cooked a single thing in my life."
"Nope," Lily laughed, attempting to shake off residue flour. "I know that won't work, because you can't just transfigure potions ingredients into a potion. You should know that; you're the best in our class at Transfiguration."
"Maybe you can and old Sluggy and Minne are just making us work for it," James mock whispered conspiratorially.
Lily just looked at him.
"Okay, fine," James chuckled. "Let's just give up then."
"No!" Lily exclaimed. "We can't just give up!"
"Do you want to keep doing this? Because there is no-assembly-required food waiting for us," James pulled the underbrush back again, to reveal the forest clearing they had come from.
"You make a strong argument." Lily looked at the basket longingly and nodded.
"Oh, that was easy," James said, mostly to himself.
"What?" Lily asked, looking at him strangely.
"Well, I've just gotten so used to you disagreeing with everything I say that I am still accustomed to having to argue for several minutes," James answered.
"James Potter," Lily said, putting her hands on her hips and turning to face him completely, "I wouldn't be so hard to convince if you weren't so arrogant about everything!"
"Which wouldn't be nearly as fun if you didn't get so worked up about it!" James laughed.
"I'm not worked up," Lily countered, jutting out her chin as her face flushed furiously.
"Yes, Lily, of course," James shook his head. "You don't have a temper, you're just passionate. Which is a good thing, I might add."
Lily opened her mouth to retort his accusation, but stopped. She wasn't quite sure how to counter a compliment, if James' proclamation could be considered one.
"Right," she said after a moment. "Let's eat. I'm starving."
"Me too," James agreed. "All that baking made me famished. I'm dying to see what the Hogwarts' elves packed us."
"You don't know?" Lily questioned, surprised.
"Omniscient as I may seem, I do like to leave things up to chance on occasion."
Lily laughed and rolled her eyes at the messy-haired boy as she picked up the basket full of food and lead James out of the flour-covered kitchen and back to the red blanket where the goblets and plates sat waiting.
The food, as was the norm for Hogwarts' cuisine, was delicious. The elves seemed to have outdone themselves. In the misleadingly small and light basket they had packed meat pies, buttered acorn squash with brown sugar, roast turkey sandwiches, roasted potatoes, baked apples, frosted pumpkin bars, and a small vat of pumpkin juice. James had provided two bottles of Rosmerta's butterbeer, much to Lily's delight.
Over two hours passed and it was almost curfew before they realized it. The initial awkwardness of the date completely gone, Lily and James hadn't been at a loss for conversation once during their meal or as they lay on the blanket looking up at the enchanted sky. Several constellation recognitions, a spilled glass of pumpkin juice, and many animagus form guesses later, the two finally forced themselves to admit it was time to leave the Room of Requirement.
James pulled Lily to her feet and the two of them walked, hand in hand, into the seventh floor corridor.
"So," James said, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen on them as they walked through the castle to Gryffindor tower.
Lily stopped walking and turned looked up into his hazel eyes.
"So?" she asked.
" I… well, I hope you didn't have a horrible time," James said, returning her gaze.
Lily quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Oh," He said quickly, suddenly nervous. "You didn't, did you? Have a horrible time, I mean?"
"No, James," Lily answered slowly. "I definitely didn't have a horrible time."
"Would you go so far as to say you had a decent time?" James asked. "Or, maybe, did you have a good time?"
"I think I maybe had a good time," Lily smiled.
"Well, I am a good date, if I do say so myself," James laughed, running his hand through his hair and grinning down at her.
"Will your ego ever deflate?"
"Probably not," James answered. "At least, not before your temper cools off."
"I do not have a temper!" Lily argued, crossing her arms defiantly and glaring at him. But she couldn't hold the glare and felt the corners of her mouth twitching into a smile against her will.
"Oh, really?" James teased. "Then what would you call this?"
"A rightful response to a horrible accusation," Lily replied shortly, turning her back to him so he couldn't see the grin that was breaking through her pretend anger.
"You know what I think, Lily?" James asked.
She didn't answer.
"I think that you're not really angry with me. Because, if you were actually angry about that comment, I think that there are a whole slew of names you would have called me."
"You think?" She challenged, still not turning to face him.
"Oh, yes," James said in a low voice. "Not only do I think you're not actually angry with me, but I know it."
He took one step towards her so that his chest was right up against her back.
"Oh, I'm very angry," Lily said quietly, breathing in quickly at the light touch of his shirt against her own. "Absolutely livid."
"No, there are many things that I do to make you livid, Lily Evans, and calling your temper is not one of them."
James slowly placed his hands on her waist. He felt her tense for the shortest moment before relaxing backwards into him. The two of them stood there, James breathing in the scent of Lily's hair, Lily relishing in the feeling of James' arms around her.
"I like this," Lily murmured, grabbing his hands with her own and pulling them more tightly around her.
"I do, too," James whispered into her ear.
"I... I like you, James," Lily said, turning her head and twisting in his arms so that she could look at him.
"I like you, too," James replied, chuckling slightly. "So, I think it works out. It'd be quite the predicament if we were standing here in a deserted corridor after a date if neither of us liked the other. I mean, there'd be awkward silences and excuses and-"
Lily cut him off, twisting around completely and standing on her tip toes to press her lips against his.
James started and blinked in surprise.
"I'm sorry!" Lily exclaimed. "I don't know why I did that. You were just talking and I thought that you should maybe not be talking because... and then the best way to stop you was to... and I'm sorry I-"
This time James cut her off, bringing his lips back to hers. She responded immediately, deepening the kiss. James' hands seemed to be burning through the small of her back and all Lily could do was grab James' shoulders and pull herself closer to him. It was nothing like anything either of them had ever experienced before. The rest of the world was gone and they could've been anywhere. It didn't matter that there was still bits of flour in Lily's hair or that James' sweater was still damp from where Lily had spilled the pumpkin juice. They were Lily Evans and James Potter and it was right.