Lily perused the old tattered spines of the books, which she guessed to be as ancient as the school itself. Finally finding the one that she’d been searching for, she pulled the book off the shelf to reveal a curious hazel eye behind it.

“Bloody hell!” she shrieked, surprised to say the least.

“Hello to you too, Evans,” James Potter said smoothly as he sauntered around from behind the bookshelf.

“What the hell were you doing?” Lily snapped, “Spying on me?”

With a nonchalant shrug, he replied, “Just peeking to see who was on the other side. You were humming something catchy.”

“A song by the Weird Sisters,” she told him guardedly, clutching her book.

“Weird Sisters?” he repeated thoughtfully, “Hmm, never heard of them.”

“That’s because the only thing to surpass or arrogance is your ignorance,” Lily said.

“Oh,” James said blankly, not sure what to make of that. Regaining his usual marauder charm, he looked her up and down and said, “You’re looking especially lovely today.”

Lily followed his gaze, blushing profusely as she spat, “Potter! Quit staring at my breasts!”

James snapped his head up, sorely wishing he hadn’t once he met her eyes, which were sending him an angry glare that made his insides squirm. “Oh no, I wasn’t—I’d never! I mean, I have before, but…” He stopped mid-stutter to take a deep breath and close his eyes. Keeping his eyes shut, he told her, “I was looking at your necklace.”

Fingering the teardrop garnet jewel on her chain, Lily raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. The fierce red of the gem clashed wonderfully with the intense green of her eyes, James noted.

“So what brings you to the library, anyway?” she asked him suspiciously, “I didn’t think they let apes in here.”

Looking slightly offended, he furrowed his brow at her and folded his arms across his broad chest. “Maybe I’m just here to find a good book to read,” James suggested.

“Yeah and maybe I’m the queen of England,” she retorted.

“You know me too well, babe,” James laughed. “I’m really here ‘cause Moony said he’d do my Potions essay if I picked him up some books he needed.”

“First of all, don’t call me ‘babe’,” Lily said, poking his chest emphatically, “And second of all, you should be doing your own homework.”

“Marauders don’t do what they should; they do what they want,” he replied suavely, another attempt to impress her.

Rolling her eyes, she pushed past him, making her way down the bookcase-lined aisle. James, of course, followed after her, and once Lily had made it to the center of the library where clusters of students sat around tables, studying together, he called out,

“Evans, go out with me!”

The customary burst of giggles erupted from their surrounding classmates, and the customary tomato-red blush crept across Lily’s features—caused by a combination of equal parts embarrassment and anger.

Lily stomped back over to James, hissing, “Why do you insist on ruining everyday by asking me out? I wouldn’t go out with an egotistical jerk like you if my life depended on it!”

James smiled roguishly and replied, “Sorry love, but every time I see you, I just can’t resist.”

Whipping out her wand, Lily said Accio glasses! And with that, James’ wire-rimmed glasses flew off his face and into her hand. Lily gave him a wicked smile before dropping them to the ground and stomping on them, the glass lenses crunching under her foot.

“There, now we won’t have that problem,” she told him, satisfied.

“Evans!” James snapped indignantly. “What the hell was that for?”

“Oh like you didn’t deserve it,” she shot back.

He got to his hands and knees on the floor, feeling around for the remains of his glasses. Finally his fingers fell upon the bent wire rims among the bits of shattered glass. Trying to focus his eyes despite everything looking rather fuzzy, he pointed his wand at the mess and said Reparo!

Sliding his newly repaired glasses onto the bridge of his nose, James looked up only to see that Lily had left.

“Good one, Prongs,” he muttered sourly to himself as he got up off the floor and stalked out of the library.