Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter related. If I did, I would be somewhere in the Caribbean, being rich and not writing this stupid story.
A/N: So, this is my first attempt at Harry Potter – Lily/James fic. Just thought I'd warn you all.
There's also some swearing…not a lot…but some…in case anyone really cares.
Midnight Happenings
1:09 am
Lily sighed, tearing her gaze away from her watch and resumed her previous glaring at her Advanced Potions textbook. Instead of attempting to fall asleep like a normal person, she had resorted to doing homework at one o'clock in the morning because she was slowly turning into a raving insomniac.
Normally, she liked potions. She was good at it and schoolwork usually took her mind off of things. Except, this time, her old standby was not doing as good a job as it usually did.
She shivered a bit from the cold air emanating through the window (despite it being closed) she was currently sitting beside and pulled her hands further back into the sleeves of her sweatshirt. Her thoughts drifting from actual school work to something else.
'Some boys are like potions', she mused.
'Certain ingredients in specific proportions all precisely calculated in such a way that when mixed together correctly, they always formed the same product.'
There was nothing surprising there. Perfectly predictable. A person knew exactly what they got each time.
But, then there were the potions that almost spontaneously combusted upon reaction if something went wrong – those were never good.
And then there were the potions that if enough creativity could be mustered, they could be created into some things new, exciting and almost wondrous - and definitely unpredictable.
That type of potion was almost like one specific boy in particular.
Lily groaned.
Why couldn't she stop thinking about him?
James Potter was nothing more than a mere acquaintance. Well, maybe that was stretching the truth a bit. He did, after all, relentlessly pursue her for nearly two years. And now that he was Head Boy (and still had her wondering, what on earth Dumbledore was smoking the day he came up with that wondrous idea), they were forced to be together more than she would have liked.
Despite more time spent together though, they weren't friends…or at least, good friends. Lily had made sure of that - because friendship denoted a liking towards someone.
Ever since he had performed a complete turn around in attitude and had stopped asking her out every two seconds, she had tried to avoid getting too close.
Because, she could have seen herself taking a "liking" towards him and that would make her the biggest hypocrite in the world.
It was too bad her plan to remain distant was not working out so well. All of this extensive obsessing over James Potter and trying to figure out what went through that head of his was incredibly bad for her well-being. She was slowly turning into an insomniac.
Even though he had stopped asking her out, he hadn't seemed to curb his excessive flirting habit whenever he was around her. It was probably due to the fact that she did not seem to harbour the intense hate she previously had for him, or the fact that she did not threaten to hex him into oblivion as soon as he so much as looked in her direction, anymore. But, his flirting could also be due to the fact that he flirted with anything that walked and looked good in a skirt and she was no exception. Lily was willing to bet it was the latter. He obviously was not interested anymore.
Unfortunately for Lily though, she found herself not minding his flirting as much. Now, she was beginning to find his annoyingly, confident, quite funny and charming personality, rather endearing. She was also starting to somewhat miss his constant endeavours to get her to go to Hogsmeade with him. There was also the tiny fact (which she would never ever let leave the confines of her already messed up head) that he was inexplicably hot.
"Damnit!" Lily swore.
She had turned into one of those girls. The girl she swore she would never be, back in fifth year.
She had become one of the twittering members of James Potter's much-too-large-for-his-ego fan club.
And not even potions could solve that problem for her which was why she had now took to glaring daggers at the poor, aforementioned book which really had nothing to do with her sudden onset of not-so-hateful feelings towards a certain Head Boy and should never have been privy to the evil death glares now shooting from the red-head's eyes.
If looks could kill, Advanced Potions would have been burnt to cinders in less than a millisecond.
1:12 am
Glancing at the time again, Lily let out another frustrated groan and buried her head in her lap, dropping her textbook on the floor in the process.
The noise of the portrait hole opening jolted her out of her thoughts. Lifting up her head, she was met with none other than a dirt splattered (along with something else that looked suspiciously like blood), looking like he'd just been punched in the eye, but if possible, even sexier-than-normal-looking, James Potter.
She did have a weak spot for the whole 'bad-ass/troublemaker' look and attitude.
'Oh bugger,' Lily thought, grumpily.
He started when he caught sight of her yet that ever-so-cool and confident demeanor, followed by a smirk immediately slid over his features masking any hint of previously being startled.
Now that she thought about it, she was not even sure if he was startled in the first place as the expression left his face as quickly as it came.
"Evans!" James said by way of greeting, making a move to head past her and up to the boys' dormitory.
Well that was odd.
Normally, he would have automatically initiated a conversation with her.
'That was last year, Lily,' she berated herself. 'This year, he does not go out of his way to talk to you.'
"What are you doing up so late?" Lily could not resist asking.
She couldn't blame herself though, especially given the state of his appearance at that moment. Anyone would be curious. And anyone with half a brain would know that he was not just out for a simple round of night-time wandering.
Really…what was this boy always up to? And speaking of which, where were the other three partners in crime?
James smirked. "I could ask you the same question."
Lily rolled her eyes and pointed to her textbook still haphazardly strewn on the floor. "I was doing work. What's your excuse?"
James merely shrugged and gave her a small smile, once again making an attempt to walk past her.
"Not so chatty today, are you?"
He turned around, that infamous Potter grin once again appeared in place. "Why Evans, you miss my talking to you?"
"Hardly," Lily muttered, wrinkling her nose.
Well, he was partially right but she was not going to let him know that. She had to appear as indifferent as possible. So far, she thought it was working quite well.
"Potter, what happened to your face?" she asked, squinting at him in the moonlit room.
He winked suggestively at her. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Ew," was Lily's slightly disgusted reply.
From the tone of his voice, it most likely involved doing something with a girl they probably shouldn't have been doing.
Why did he have to be such a damn man-whore? That was ruining everything.
'Not that there was really anything to ruin in the first place…'
"Where are you going?" she asked as he started to head up the boys' stairs once more.
She had to admit, all of her repetitive questions were getting quite annoying even to herself. And this conversation was definitely a little too one-sided for her taste.
He had to go and pick the one night she actually wanted to talk to him, to be the night he decided to shut up.
That was just like him - always messing with her head.
James sighed and let out a half-exasperated, half-amused sigh. "I'm going to bed. Anything else you would like to know, mother?"
Lily rolled her eyes in response.
Was there a crime in asking questions, especially in the presence of someone who looked like he got into a wrestling match he obviously did not win, with the Whomping Willow?
Just as he was about to head up the staircase, his right arm, previously unexposed to her, was now in full view and she could distinctly see blood seeping through the white cloth of his shirt.
"Potter, you're bleeding," she said, her voice now laced with concern (which she now hurriedly tried to remove from her voice).
James glanced down at his arm and then shrugged nonchalantly. "I'll live."
'Honestly, Boys,' Lily thought, '…they're always trying to act all macho.'
"Shouldn't you go to Madam Pomfrey for that?" Lily asked.
"No." His response was abrupt. A little too abrupt.
"Why not?"
"Evans, it's late. I really don't think Pomfrey wants to be bothered with a student waking her up for something trivial like a little scrape."
"It's not little…and it's not a scrape," Lily stated matter-of-factly.
"Aw, Evans, I didn't know you cared so much," James said teasingly.
"I don't."
"Well, I'm fine. Now, if you'll excuse me-"
"Hold it."
James froze. But not on his own account.
Sticking her wand back in her sweatshirt pocket, Lily made her way over to the stairwell and stopped directly in front of him, proceeding to scrutinize his face, where James in turn, narrowed his eyes (the only part of his body he could move) at her.
"Death glares aren't going to get you un-petrified any sooner, Potter," she said easily, her gaze falling to his bleeding arm.
Why on earth was he outside at this time of the night, in the freezing cold and in a T-shirt, no less?
But Lily did not dwell on this thought any longer. She had learned a long time ago that anything the Marauders did, were unquestionable. No one would ever know the real truth behind their antics.
She was not sure she really wanted to know either.
"Stay here," she commanded.
James rolled his eyes clearly portraying the fact that it was not likely he was going to be going anywhere anytime soon given his present un-moveable condition.
In response, Lily did the only sensible thing that came to mind.
She stuck her tongue out at him.
She then left him and headed up to the girls' dorm rooms only to return a short while later with supplies to clean up his cuts and bruises.
She blamed it on her lack of sleep lately that she actually cared enough (yes, she admitted it) about Potter, to want to take care of him and make sure he was not painfully hurt or about to die.
Besides, if she let him die, his fan club would make sure she did not survive to see her eighteenth birthday. So really, she was doing herself a favour by helping him out.
"Okay," Lily said, standing in front of him once again, "…I'm going to un-petrify you but you better sit your arse down and do not even attempt to go upstairs."
"Finite incantatum."
Before James could even so much as move a muscle, Lily shoved him back, hard, onto the nearest armchair.
"Ouch!" James exclaimed as his elbow hit the armrest but then grinned, almost wolfishly, at her. "Didn't know you liked it rough, Evans," he added, his voice laced with unmistakable innuendo. "I'll keep that in mind."
Lily glared menacingly at him. "Do you want me to leave you to bleed all over this chair?" she asked, threateningly. "Because I could easily arrange that."
James grinned again - that infuriating, yet oh-so-adorable grin of his. "I never asked you to help me out."
Lily scowled. Stupid wanker did have a point. "Shut up," she muttered, squishing herself in the tiny space left between him and the other armrest.
It was only after she did this, did she realize the extremely close proximity the two of them were in.
'The things I manage to get myself into,' Lily thought to herself.
"So," James started to say as she pushed the sleeve of his shirt back and gingerly began to clean up the cut, "…you're doing potions homework at one in the morning?"
"You've asked me questions like that a million times before, Potter and the answer is yes. It's always yes," Lily replied.
"Always yes, huh?" James asked, slyly.
Lily rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore his comment and proceeded to dab gently at his wound with some purple ointment she had taken from the hospital wing a while back when she had almost lost an eye from a backfired spell.
She figured it was a losing battle anyway if she even bothered to respond to some of the things that came out of that boy's mouth.
James flinched.
"Sorry," Lily murmured, apologetically, stopping for a minute.
"Ouch!" James exclaimed as she continued cleaning up his arm.
"Stop being such a wuss!" Lily responded. "Suck it up!"
"You wouldn't be saying that if you were the one getting tortured by purple goo," James grumbled.
"Well maybe if you didn't go and find yourselves in situations where you end up bleeding, the purple goo would not be torturing you."
He didn't answer her for a minute and instead stared across at the fire in front of them. They lapsed into silence for a while, the only sound in the room coming from the crackling of the fire.
Lily glanced up at him taking in his profile. The firelight danced across his face, casting shadows across his features which, in the process, happened to make him look even more handsome than normal.
Lily sighed, frustrated. This was not good. She had to get over this sudden infatuation with Potter and soon or else she would drive herself crazy. That, or jump off the Astronomy Tower.
Hearing her sigh, James glanced down at her to which she automatically averted her eyes back to his arm.
"Why so glum?"
A slight smile twitched at the corner of her lips. "No reason," then pointing her wand at his arm, she said, "…now, hold still."
James eyed her wand warily. "What are you doing?"
"Casting a healing charm," she replied simply. "But," she said slowly, "I've never actually done it on a person before…."
James immediately shot out of the chair.
"I don't think so," he said, hurriedly.
"What?" Lily asked indignantly. "I'm good at charms. I've practiced this before. It's good training for Healer School."
"Yes, but you haven't practiced it on human beings before," James replied.
"You're a human being?"
James made a face at her. "I think I will stick to the bleeding arm, thanks."
Ignoring him, Lily impatiently grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her, placing her wand at the corner of his wound. "Now hold still."
She sensed him tensing up under her grip and quietly muttered the healing spell she had come across when doing some reading.
Yes, she read textbooks when she had nothing better to do. There was nothing wrong with wanting to learn everything about the magical world as possible. And no, she was not a big nerd. Or at least, she liked to think so.
She and James, who was looking down at his arm rather apprehensively (and whom she was now quite bitter towards for not trusting her enough to let her cast a spell on him for his own good) watched as a fine layer of skin gradually begin to form across the wound and blend seamlessly into his arm, looking as though nothing had happened.
"It worked…" Lily breathed, incredulously, then sensing James' gaze on her, she added quickly, "I mean…of course it worked," smiling up at him. "I told you so."
"You got lucky, Evans," he said. "Now, can I go?"
"No," Lily answered, reaching up, grabbing his chin and moved his head directly in front of her.
"What now?" he whined.
"You know for someone who's getting help right now, you're awfully ungracious," Lily said.
She placed her wand around the vicinity of his right eye which was now turning into unbecoming shades of blue and purple and muttered another spell. The purple and blue also slowly faded away and she reached up to gingerly brush the previously hurt area.
In so doing, green eyes caught hazel ones and in that split second, she felt the entire, previously playful mood in the quiet room, suddenly shift. Lily also felt a rather unwelcome jolt in her stomach as she noted that his eyes looked even more hazel in the firelight.
She swallowed. "It might still hurt a bit so you should probably still go see Madam Pomfrey…but, I think it should be okay," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
James nodded, almost imperceptibly. And she hated the fact that right now, his face was impossibly unreadable, whereas hers on the other hand…probably, not so much.
Wanting to get out of this situation as quickly as possibly, she moved her hand away from his face and held up her finger in front of his eyes. "Blow."
James raised his eyebrows, a mischievous twinkle appearing in his eyes. "You want me to do, what?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "You have an eyelash," she said glancing pointedly at her finger, where in truth, a stray eyelash sat. "Make a wish and blow."
James smiled, clearly amused. "How about you make a wish?"
"It's not my eyelash."
"Well, I'm giving you permission to claim it as your own."
Lily sighed impatiently. "We are not having this conversation," she muttered. "Hurry up and make a wish, damnit."
"Evans, Evans, Evans….such foul language for such a beautiful girl."
Lily almost blushed. Almost.
She glared at him. "Are you going to do it or what?"
James grinned wickedly. "Do what, exactly?"
Lily let out strangled groan.
James chuckled. "Alright, alright. I'll stop." He paused for a moment and then lowering his head, he blew gently on her finger.
Lily watched the eyelash flutter off her finger and disappear.
Her eyes caught his once more as he leaned in even closer towards her. She sucked in a breath as his lips hovered inches away from hers.
"Happy?" he asked, quietly.
Lily swallowed again. "Immensely," she responded, dryly.
Although, her statement did not come out quite as dryly as she intended but her evil mouth decided that that statement would sound better when it was slightly breathy, instead.
She inwardly cursed herself as a knowing grin overtook James' features as he straightened up.
"Well, good then," he said making his way back towards the boys' staircase. "G'night Lily." He smiled at her, "…and thanks."
Lily let out a breath she did not know she had been holding. "Good night, James," she muttered.
And as he walked up the stairs, she flopped back down on the now unoccupied couch preparing herself for another couple of hours of sleeplessness.
Yes. James Potter was definitely bad for her well-being.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit-"
"You might want to change it up a bit. You know, add a 'damn' or something in there," a voice interrupted Lily's rant a week after the 'incident' (for that was what she took to calling the encounter in the common room).
Lily jumped at hearing James' voice and let out an involuntary scream. She was just coming out of the door of the owlery after mailing a letter when Potter had appeared out of nowhere. "Damnit, Potter! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
He grinned and proceeded to lean against the wall beside her ('he was always leaning'), shoving his hands in his pockets. "My mission in life. You might want to be a little quieter, though. Filch is around here somewhere."
Lily glanced around her frantically. It would not do for the Head Girl to be caught out of bed, way past curfew, in the wee hours of the morning. She had a feeling Filch would not care two hoots about the fact that all she was doing was sending a letter back home because again, she could not fall asleep.
"What are you doing out here?" she asked lowering her voice and closing the owlery door.
"What are you doing out here?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Partying it up with owls. What does it look like I'm doing?"
James grinned. "Lily, darling, you know if you want friends to party with, you don't have to come up to the owlery to find some. Sirius and I will be happy to party with you whenever you want."
Lily huffed, slightly annoyed and began heading down the hallway intent on going back to the Gryffindor common room.
"I wouldn't go that way if I were you," his all-too-knowing voice called after her retreating back.
Lily stopped and turned around. "And why not?"
"Because Filch is down there," James answered, as if it was common knowledge and she was stupid if she didn't know that.
"How do you know that?"
"Because I saw him."
"Without getting caught?"
"I'm a master of deception and not getting caught," he replied.
Lily sighed. "So, how do you suggest I get back to the common room without Filch catching me, oh wise one?"
"Well, if you come with me, I can show you," James answered, unfolding himself from the wall and held his arm out towards her.
Lily pointedly ignored it, but followed him anyway.
That in itself was probably not a good idea either. Potter would probably lead her directly into Filch's path just for the fun of it.
She had learned never to trust a Marauder in certain situations. This was one of them.
They walked in silence for a few minutes until James finally broke the silence. "You seem to have a thing for staying up at all hours of the night."
"So do you," was Lily's reply.
He smiled. "Yes, but I'm doing worthwhile things."
"Like sneaking into the kitchens?" Lily asked.
"Exactly."
Lily rolled her eyes again but could not help the smile creeping across her face.
They walked side by side for some time along the corridor until James suddenly decided that it would be entertaining to walk sideways into a wall. That was how it appeared to her anyway.
"Umm, what are you doing?"
"Just follow me."
"That's a wall."
"I know."
"Well, unless you've turned into a ghost without telling me, I don't think you can walk through walls unharm-"
Her sentence was cut short as James grabbed her arm and pulled her straight into the wall with him. She was all set to let out a painful shriek upon impact when she realized that they had gone right through the wall and she was now standing in a yet another corridor.
"Whoa…" she breathed, glancing around. "I did not know that existed."
James was smiling in amusement. "Evidently."
He began walking again and Lily had to end up jogging to catch up with him.
What was the deal with all of his nonchalance and somewhat detached attitude lately? He acted like he didn't care to be around her.
It was pissing her off.
"So, what did you wish for anyway?" she asked, attempting to make some form of conversation.
He glanced over at her, quizzically. "What did I wish for?" he repeated, blankly.
He forgot? HE FORGOT!
Damn Potter and his…Potter-ness.
It was decided. She hated him again.
"Yeah, you know…the night you came into the common room looking like a bludger had got you one too many times," Lily replied, slightly annoyed.
How could he forget?
James grinned again - that adorable grin of his. "I do believe a little bird told me that I should never wish and tell."
Bloody hell. It really was impossible to dislike him these days, let alone hate him. She wondered how she'd managed it for two years.
"Wish and tell?"
"Yep. I can't tell you," he continued, "…or else it won't come true."
"That's stupid," Lily said. "It was probably made up by some person who obviously did not understand the point of making wishes or keeping secrets. You're supposed to let them out…well, the unimportant ones anyway."
"Is that so?"
Lily nodded.
"How do you know my wish isn't important?" James asked, the amused smile not leaving his face.
"If it involves anything to do with quidditch or getting a new broom, I would hardly call that important," Lily quipped.
In response, James dramatically clutched his heart. "Lily Evans, you mock me. Do you know how life altering it is to get a new broom?"
"Apparently not," she answered. "But, seriously-"
She was cut off once more by James stopping abruptly but this time, he was staring down at something on the floor.
"What's going on?" Lily asked, confused.
She was not confused for very long though as she saw what had caused James to stop in his tracks.
Mrs. Norris.
Uh oh.
Suddenly, she saw a shadow fall across the end of the hall which meant only one thing.
"Run!"
James grabbed her hand and took off in the opposite direction down the corridor. Portraits seemed to whiz by as they ran with him leading her through a number of hidden doors, behind tapestries and into more walls she didn't even know existed – she began to lose count after a while.
Now, Lily was not the most athletic person in the world unlike a certain, apparently toned and fit Quidditch player who practically lived on a broomstick. Very soon she found herself struggling to keep up with James.
Damn Potter and his endurance.
"Is this…really…necessary," she panted a grand total of one and a half minutes later. "I'm sure we've lost him by now."
"Filch knows all of the secret corridors in this place. He'll be checking," was his easy reply.
Lily fought back a groan. Any longer and her lungs would burst. And then she'd suffocate Potter for making her run a marathon at two o'clock in the morning.
And then it happened.
She did not know quite how it happened but one minute she was holding onto his hand, trying to ignore the tingly feeling shooting down her spine and the next minute both his hand and the tingly feeling was gone.
Lily stopped running as she realized she was in a completely unknown corner of the castle and James was no where in sight.
"Potter!" she hissed. "Where the hell are you?"
No response.
"Fucking bastard!" she exclaimed, almost tripping over something in the process, only to realize that once again, Mrs. Norris had somehow ended up in front of her.
Lily felt like screaming bloody murder. This was perfect. No Potter and a looming detention. Just Perfect.
To make matters worse, she heard Filch's voice a little too close for comfort. "Did you find them, my sweet…?"
Lily's eyes widened and hurriedly glanced around her for somewhere, anywhere, she could hide.
Just then, a hand shot out of no where, grabbing her and pulling her under a silvery material just as Filch came into view.
She found herself falling smack into James chest as he pushed her into a tiny alcove in the wall. Once her heart had stopped hammering in her chest and she had regained some semblance of her surroundings, she punched him in the shoulder.
"Ow," he winced, rubbing his shoulder. "What'd you do that for?"
"You asswipe! That wasn't funny!" she exclaimed, as quietly as she could.
He started laughing. "I thought it was."
She punched him again. "I swear, when we get out of here, I am so going to kick your sorry, little – OH MY GOD! You have an invisibility cloak?"
Lily had only just realized what the silvery material encasing them was. "So that's how you don't get caught!"
James hurriedly clamped a hand over her mouth, pushing them, if possible, further back into the wall.
"Shut up!" he hissed. "Do you want Filch to hear you?"
Lily shot him a glare but kept as quiet as she could. She could still hear Filch tottering around the corridor, talking to Mrs. Norris and swearing every so often about 'those damn kids.'
Keeping quiet also gave her a chance to finally realize the extremely compromising position she was now in with James. The hand that had grabbed her was still holding onto her hand, while his other hand was still covering her mouth. Her face was somehow near the space between his shoulder and neck and she realized that she could barely see above his shoulder.
He was tall.
Their breathing was the only sound, apart from Filch and his ranting, which could be heard as she felt the slow rise and fall of his chest. Glancing down, as best as she could, she realized her hands were gripping the front of his shirt. She also realized that she couldn't move her hands without having him back away from her completely which was something she decided she did not want. That would mean she would not feel the muscle under her palms confirming that James did indeed have a very nice, very toned chest.
Her heart hammered wildly in her chest. She was positive he could hear her. Pretty soon he would probably make some stupid comment about it to embarrass her.
'Evans, you really do manage to find yourself in very bad situations,' she mentally berated herself.
A few seconds later, she changed her mind about wanting him close to her and decided that she wanted him to increase the distance between them more than anything in the world at that instant. His scent was beginning to drive her crazy. He smelled of soap and cologne (and definitely not some cheap kind, she noted) and it was…intoxicating.
Lily needed to get out.
She strained her ears for any sound. She did not hear Filch and his stupid cat any longer but as she made a move to break away from his grasp, he held her back.
"He's going to come back," he said, quietly.
And true to his word, she heard Filch's voice again.
Lily was now positive all of this was part of some elaborate plan Potter had cooked up just to get her to see what she had been missing out on all this time and drive her even further towards really jumping off the Astronomy Tower because now she wanted him when she couldn't have him.
Damn him.
"What's the matter, Evans?" A teasing lilt was evident in his voice as he bent his head to talk to her. His breath tickled as his lips barely grazed her earlobe causing her to gulp. "You nervous being so close to me?"
"No," she shot back vehemently. "I'm nervous about being caught."
That was the biggest lie she had ever heard in her life.
"He can't see us." His lips formed a smile.
But now, she was not paying attention to what he was saying so much as to which part of him was doing the talking.
Lily bit her lip wondering what it would be like to kiss those lips of his…wondering if the rumours were in fact true about Potter being one hell of a kisser. Then realizing he was probably expecting an answer from her, she spoke.
"But he can probably hear us. I don't suppose your invisibility cloak has a silencing charm on it, does it?"
She was now trying to avoid looking anywhere in the vicinity of his face.
That would be a very bad idea. Very bad indeed.
Because his lips happened to be in that vicinity and there was no telling what she would do if her eyes fell on them again.
She blamed the fact that he smelled really good. It was making her delusional.
"Nooo," he answered, slowly.
Her plan was not working out as well as she hoped because soon she found her gaze wandering back up and stopping once more on his lips. Instinctively, she bit hers again...
"Evans..., couldyou stop checking out my mouth? It's kinda creepy."
Lily was positive her face now matched the colour of her hair. She thanked Merlin it was dark.
Mustering up all of the dignity she could manage, she forced herself to look him in the eye. "I was not checking you or any part of you, out."
There. That sounded convincing enough. Save for the fact that he did not look the least bit convinced and that amused, knowing look was back in his eyes along with something else she could not quite distinguish. All she knew was that that look was making her feel incredibly hot all of a sudden.
James smirked. "Oh really?"
Lily glared at him in response.
"Stop it!"
"Stop what?" he asked, innocently.
He would have passed off as the perfect picture of innocence if that mischievous twinkle was not in his eyes.
"Stop looking at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like…that."
"You have such a way with words, don't you?"
"Shut up," Lily mumbled, looking away from him.
'Wasn't Filch gone yet?'
They were silent for a few seconds until James gently placed a hand on her chin and drew her face back towards him, forcing her to look him in the eye.
"What?" Lily asked, still a little bit miffed.
He simply looked at her for a moment. "You have a beauty mark above your mouth," James responded, a small smile on his face. "Right here…"
She wondered how on earth it was possible for him to see a beauty mark on her lip given the present darkened conditions but the thought soon flew out of her head as she felt the tip of his thumb barely graze the area just above the corner of her mouth where the proclaimed beauty mark was located. His thumb lingered on that area for a moment and then with the lightest touch possible, slowly traced the curve of her bottom lip.
She did not know what came over her. Maybe it was the fact that he smelled so good. Maybe it was because the lingering contact on her mouth was sending a buzz through her brain and causing her even more delusional thoughts. Or maybe it was because he had that look in his eyes again but the urge she had been fighting for the longest time resurfaced once again and she found herself grabbing his shirt, roughly pulling him down and capturing his lips with hers.
She could tell by his tense posture he was stunned. After a couple of seconds, she began to get tired of the whole one-sided kissing thing and was just about to pull away from him, when he seemed to regain his composure. His hand dropped from her face to her hip and he slowly began kissing her back.
It was soft, hot and incredibly sensual. Lily all but groaned into his mouth. She was floating…falling. As his hand traced a series of very distracting circles on the small of her back, she gripped the front of his shirt even more tightly than before. It was all she could do to keep herself from melting into a puddle of mush at his feet.
'I guess the rumours are more than true,' was all she could think. 'Why did it take me such a long time to do this?'
All too soon, James broke away. Other than breathing heavily, he did not seem to be very affected by what just happened which was more than what Lily could say for herself. His eyes though, were clouded over with lust…desire…need, she was not completely sure. They locked with hers for some time, staring at her and then he muttered one word: "Fuck."
Grabbing her around the waist, he all but slammed her against the wall once again, his lips hungrily descending upon hers. Her arms instinctively encircled his neck as he pulled her, if possible, even closer to him. His tongue grazed her bottom lip seeking entry into her mouth, sending a wave of electricity and goose bumps over her body. Her hands tangled in his messy, black hair, one hand playing with a few strands at the nape of his neck, eliciting a groan from his mouth. For some reason, at that moment, she felt immensely proud that she had that kind of power of the one and only, James Potter. Lily did not think it was possible, but this kiss was even more mind-numbingly, mind-blowing than the first.
Finally, they both pulled away from each other, albeit quite reluctantly on her part, gasping for air.
"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," he half whispered to her.
Lily could not stop the smile spreading across her face. Maybe he was not as detached and nonchalant as he seemed. Either way, he was a good actor. "I think I might have a pretty good idea."
"So, who's the cocky one now, Evans?"
She paused for a moment, pretending to think. "It's still you."
He chuckled.
"I completely blame you for this, you know," Lily mumbled as he rested his forehead on hers.
"For what?"
"This. Me. You. Me falling for you, for some reason unbeknownst to me…."
His grin could not be any wider. "On the contrary," he said bending down once again and began leaving a trail of butterfly kisses across her jaw and up to the corner of her mouth. "I think you're the one to blame."
"And…how so?" Lily asked, trying to focus and form some semblance of a coherent question, desperately attempting to ignore that distracting mouth of his and what it was currently doing to her. If he kept that up, she had a feeling they would be in that alcove for a very long time.
"….well, I distinctly remember a certain red-head forcing me to make a wish a week ago…and I think my wish just came true."
The End
AN: So, this was a crazy long one shot. And yes, I know - Eyelash wishes, Hallway, Filch, tiny alcove quite cliché, but so what? We all we know we love it. We need some good old fashioned fluffy cliché-ness in our lives sometimes.
Reviews are my friends. We would not want me to have no friends, right? Let me know what you all think!