Work Text:
Dear Ja
James
Annoying Pain in myPotter,
It has been brought to my attention that you have
somehow, by some miraclealso received the role of Head Boy. So,against my better judgement,I think it would be best if we meet before the start of term to go over a few things.Please do not make a big deal about this.
Let me know what days work for you, I'm available the rest of summer.
thanks
sincerely
warmest regards-Lily Evans
She was going to regret it.
Lily knew the very second she sent her owl with the letter, she was going to regret it.
The thing was, something over the course of the last year had changed. And, while she wouldn't have been able to fathom James Potter as Head Boy this time last year, she could sort of see it now. Sort of. A little bit.
Remus was the obvious choice. He was intelligent and kind and had always taken his prefect duties seriously—well, mostly seriously. Seriously in the sense that he would absolutely craft the schedule in a way that ensured he had night routines on the nights that just so happened to include dung bombs in the Slytherin corridor or all of the suits of armour Flamenco dancing. But, he was genuinely helpful and his annoying friends at least respected his position enough to not do anything too detrimental. And, it didn't hurt that she'd grown close with him over the years.
Lily had been gutted when Remus told her he was stepping down and had asked Professor McGonagal to not consider him for Head Boy. She understood, of course, that it was just too much on him with the way his transformations had gotten even more difficult over the last year, but still…
The return letter came impossibly fast to inform her that "now is good" and she sighed in defeat. Naturally, James would drop everything to come running to her, like a labrador or a particularly annoying seventeen-year-old boy who, for whatever reason, seemed to be infatuated with her. She sent off one last letter with the name and rough address of a park down the road that was rarely busy and let out a long-suffering sigh.
"Where are you going?"
Another sigh flew from her chest and Lily wondered if there would be a day that she wasn't surrounded by people who annoyed her down to the marrow of her bones.
"Out, Tuney."
"Out where? You know mum said—"
"I know what mum said. I'm going to the park to meet a friend to go over some stuff for the new year. I'll be home in a couple of hours."
Petunia sniffed in that obnoxiously haughty way that made Lily bristle every time. "Fine. But, if you get kidnapped by a Goblin or something I'm not coming to find you."
"Great. Okay," Lily rolled her eyes, not even in the mood to explain to her sister that Goblins were not going to come to the middle of Cokesworth to kidnap a lower-class Muggleborn.
Lily tugged her bicycle out from beside the house and swung her leg over the seat. Her feet hit the pedals and she pushed off, letting herself smile a bit as the wind rustled her red hair and kissed her cheeks in a way she'd miss no matter how long she was away from it. A broom simply did not compare. Her mind wandered, irritatingly, back to James Potter and she couldn't help but wonder what had happened in the last year to make him more…tolerable.
She thought back to the fight he'd openly gotten into with Severus. It still stung, no matter how many months had passed, but James had still been an insufferable twat at that time. Riding in on his white horse like some sort of knight to rescue her from name-calling and heartache.
Lily wiped the sweat collecting at her brow and leaned into the turn, giving a friendly wave at an elderly neighbour who was out weeding their garden.
There had been something at the end of fifth year, well after the fight with Severus and exams had ended, but she hadn't been sure what it was about. Remus had been completely standoffish—more than usual—James had seemed almost pensive, and no one was talking to Sirius. Not even Peter Pettigrew, who usually kissed the very ground Sirius Black walked on.
Just as Lily began to let everything she knew about the end of fifth year and the whole of last year puzzle itself together in her mind, she saw a flash of purple as the Knight Bus zoomed past, halting abruptly at the curb near the park. James was practically spat from the door as he tossed a few sickles over his shoulder and gave a little wave to the driver as the bus took off and disappeared.
Lily watched him as he mumbled to himself, doing his best to smooth down his ever-insane hair with his hands and straighten the glasses on his nose. He had a piece of parchment clutched in his hand that he kept referring to and from what little she could hear from where she was, it sounded like perhaps it was conversation starters he had written down.
Against her will, the corner of her lips began to tug upward just as James looked up and beamed at her, waving excitedly.
"Evans! Did you know Moony lives not far from here?" James opened, pointing down the road. "Just over there, I think."
Lily coasted up to him, stepping off her bicycle in one fluid movement. "Yes, I did. We had tea together the other day. His mum is a laugh."
James' face seemed to light up as a laugh burst forth, "Hope? Yeah, she is! I always wondered where he got his humour from and then I met his Mum and understood instantly. She's great."
Lily nodded agreeably, guiding her bike as they walked toward the bench across from the swings. Silence settled over them, awkward and thick as treacle. There were things she needed to actually talk with him about. Like getting the schedule put together for prefects making rounds after curfew, figuring out who would work with the new prefects, and scheduling quiet time in the common room for studying, but there were also things she wanted to talk about.
Mainly, how he'd seemingly turned from insufferable twat to…slightly less insufferable twat.
They sat on the bench and she could practically see James buzzing from the effort of not speaking. She couldn't help the small, fond laugh that bubbled forth—very much so without her permission.
"Are you quite alright, Potter?"
He looked over and took a steadying breath, "I'm going to be perfectly honest with you here, I'm freaking out a bit."
Lily blinked at him.
"Not because you invited me—well, maybe a little because of that—but I don't quite know how I got Head Boy. I thought for sure it would be Moony, but then he said he asked them not to. And then I thought Sirius, but I don't think he'd been out of detention longer than seventy-two hours his entire career at Hogwarts. Then, there's that Hufflepuff bloke with the hair—uh, Stevens? I can't remember his name, which is horribly rude and just kind of makes it more confusing as to—"
"—Potter—"
"—And obviously it's not going to be a Slytherin because they're all a bit iffy, aren't they? But, I thought for a minute maybe Snape which—no offence—would be my literal nightmare. Oh, and there's Lockhart, isn't there, but he's a bit of a toff—"
"—James," Lily said loudly, trying to break into this rant he had been clearly holding back for quite some time.
He broke off mid-word and stared at her, blinking slowly as if he couldn't believe he'd just heard his name fall from her mouth.
"Did you just…Evans, you just called me James."
Lily huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, "Well, it's your name isn't it?"
"Yes. But, you've literally never called me James."
She rolled her eyes, "That's a bit dramatic, surely I have—"
"No, no it isn't," he denied, shaking his head emphatically. "You have never, not once, called me James. Sirius used to take the piss and say it was because you didn't care to know what my name was. And then, I thought it was because you didn't like that I called you Lily and maybe muggles just preferred to use their last names or something. But, you said it just now."
Lily sat back, her arms falling limply to her lap as she tried to wrack her brain for a specific moment she used his name to prove how ridiculous he was being. But, the longer she thought about it, she came to the horrifying conclusion that James was right.
"Well," she began, quickly trying to gather herself. "I suppose it's high time we start using first names since it looks as if we'll be spending a bit of time together."
Against our will and my own good sense hung in the air, though she didn't speak it.
James, to his merit, seemed to stop vibrating and took a breath that looked to Lily as if it was meant to calm him. She wasn't sure it actually worked, but he wasn't word vomiting any longer so, perhaps it had.
"So," she said, giving her thighs an awkward pat. "I think we should work on scheduling. With NEWTs its probably going to be difficult, but I think—"
"I don't mean to interrupt," James said, smoothing out the crumpled parchment that had yet to leave his hand. "But, I already took the liberty. Well, kind of. I'm Quidditch Captian again this year, as well, so I know my schedule is going to be difficult to work around."
James presented the parchment to her, pointing at a few blacked-out areas and time slots written in his messy scrawl.
"These are all times I won't be available because of Quidditch, though this schedule will be amended depending on the actual Quidditch schedule and roster. I based this on last season. But, Remus said he could help train some of the new Prefects on days that I'm unavailable as long as the moon..." he trailed off and looked at her, eyes wide with horror like he'd said too much.
Lily chuckled and shook her head, marvelling at the effort he'd put into the mock schedule.
"I know about Remus'...affliction, James. He told me in fifth year."
"He told you?"
"Well, I sort of figured it out, I suppose. And, it was mostly just speculation until I realised he refused to wear his Prefect's badge. It was silver, you see and—"
"You helped him transfigure it to steel. Yeah, he told us."
Lily smiled softly and nodded, "Anyway, that won't work. It's our responsibility to help prefects. Not Remus'."
"Fair enough," James agreed easily with a small shrug, "I'll figure it out. Don't worry Ev—Lily, I'll make sure I'm available when needed. But, I think if we change this…"
They continued to go over the mock schedule which, to Lily's absolute disdain, was actually pretty solid. He'd allotted times to make sure the fifth-year Prefects would have plenty of study time and even left them off the schedule for the days that Remus typically held his study group. He'd organised rounds in a way that made sense and also ensured that no one was left to walk about the castle at night on their own. He'd left plenty of free time for himself and Lily to meet and discuss things that would need to be figured out and even had a system for rewards if Prefects performed beyond expectation.
It was good. Quite good.
"So, Evans, I promise to be out of your hair soon, but what on earth is that contraption you were riding on?"
James pointed to her bicycle, a scuffed-up red and white thing that she'd had since she was nine. Her father replaced the seat just last summer and finally took the basket off the front. She looked back at James, astonished, staring until she was sure he wasn't joking.
"It's a bicycle."
"A bicycle. Interesting. Is that like a motorbike?"
"You know what a motorbike is, but a bicycle is a foreign concept?"
"I know what a motorbike is because Sirius is set on getting one and figuring out how to make it fly to piss his parents off."
Lily laughed and shook her head, "It's similar to a motorbike, but it doesn't have a motor."
James stood and walked around the bench, running his hands gently over the frame and squatting down to inspect it.
"So, how is it powered then?"
"You aren't serious?" Lily mumbled.
"No, I'm not. I'm James, come on now, Evans, keep up."
She groaned and shook her head. "Walked right into that."
"Yeah you did," he smirked, looking up at her from where he was crouched down, fiddling with the chain. "So, tell me, how do you make it work?"
"You use the pedals with your feet," she pointed to them, "and it propels the bike forward."
"Nice. Can I give it a go?"
"You've never ridden a bike before?"
"Had you ridden a broom before Hogwarts?"
Lily paused, throwing her hair over her shoulder. "No, I suppose I hadn't."
"Exactly. What reason would I have to procure a muggle mode of transportation when I've got Floo and a broom?"
James Potter was making an awful lot of sense and Lily didn't like it one bit.
"Okay, I see your point."
James leapt to his feet, guiding the bicycle away from the bench. He stood next to it, looking far more confident in his ability to ride the thing than Lily thought was strictly necessary.
"Can I give it a go, then?"
Lily sighed in defeat and motioned toward it. "Well, go on then. I'll hold the back for you in case—"
"No need. I'll be fine."
"Potter, you haven't ridden a bike before. If you fall off…"
"It can't be worse than falling off a broom, and I've done that loads of times," he waved her concern away. "Besides, Mum always says I can do anything I set my mind to."
Lily snorted a completely undignified sound, "I bet she does. Is that where you've got that ego from? Mummy telling you how special you are?"
She knew it was nasty the second it left her mouth, but falling into the old habit of teasing James Potter came too easily. Hurt flashed across his face, but was gone quickly, replaced with a lopsided grin and a hand at the back of his neck.
"It's not ego, Evans. It's confidence. I'm confident I can ride your bicycle because what else is there to be? Fearful of it? And, then what does that do? Not a lot, I can promise you."
In a mortifying turn of events, Lily felt her cheeks grow hot from embarrassment. She'd never been embarrassed around James before, and she certainly wasn't going to start now. She looked away from him, not missing how his eyes dropped down to her cheeks, and cleared her throat.
"Yes, well, I guess you're right."
"Of course I am," he laughed. "You'll find I'm actually right quite often."
"You're pushing it, Potter."
He laughed again, a loud, supremely happy-sounding thing as he threw one leg over the frame of the bike, gripping the handlebars tightly.
"Right, so I just…" he trailed off as one foot hit the pedals, the other pushing off the ground. He whooped loudly as the bike propelled forward.
After a few wobbly feet, he turned the handlebars sharply and the bicycle toppled over, sending a flailing James Potter to the ground with a shout and another boom of laughter.
"Well, I cocked that up, didn't I?" James said, dusting off his jeans as he pulled himself from the ground. He turned his arm to inspect his elbow, which was scraped enough that a bit of blood was surfacing onto his tan skin.
"Oh, you're bleeding," Lily said, stepping toward him. She grabbed his arm without thinking, turning it to inspect his elbow. She frowned, checking over her shoulder to make sure there was no one around before she pulled her wand from the waistband of her shorts and whispered a healing spell.
When she finally looked up at James' face, he was staring at her with wide, brown eyes and a bit of grass stuck in his hair. She reached up with the hand that wasn't wrapped around his arm and plucked the grass out, quickly stamping down the thought that his wild hair was actually quite soft between her fingers.
"Thanks," he whispered hoarsely, patting the hand that gripped his arm.
She abruptly let go and stepped back, shaking her hands off at her sides as if the action could make her stupid fingers forget how soft and warm his skin felt against her palm.
"Anytime," she croaked back.
He bent down to pull the bike up from the ground, smiling as he climbed back on it and insisted this time he'd get it right. Lily watched on, offering over and over to give him a bit of help and chuckling as he continued to fumble and wobble across the patch of grass.
After about twenty minutes, Lily found that she was actually enjoying this. She was having fun, which was something she didn't seem to have much time for lately. She was laughing so much her cheeks hurt and she didn't bristle when James poked back at her with little jokes when she'd tease him as he fell to the ground again.
It felt good.
And that, Lily realised, was terrifying. Because who was she if she didn't hate James Potter?
But, then again, she never did truly hate him, did she? She'd always been thoroughly annoyed by him, sure. He was very good at getting under her skin with his constant fawning and begging for her to go out with him. But, then again, it had been ages since he'd asked her out. In fact, she was certain, now that she really sat and thought about it, that James hadn't declared his undying love for her once during the last term. She'd gone to Hogsmede with Mary, Marlene, and Dorcas without James badgering her to go with him. She'd even gone to Quidditch matches without him showing off and shouting something embarrassing like 'this one's for you, Evans!' across the pitch.
A loud shout of surprise startled Lily from her thoughts and she looked up to see James laughing wildly as he glided up and down the street. His face positively beaming with pride as he mastered this new skill, his cheeks a bit red from exertion, and his shirt riding up his back a bit to reveal a strip of bronze skin that Lily resolutely did not notice.
After a few more minutes, James came to a stop in front of the bench, panting a bit as he clambered off the bike.
"That's a lot of fun," he announced. "Though, I still think flying takes the cake."
He flopped back down onto the bench, removing his glasses to use the hem of his shirt to wipe his face. Lily made a comment about how disgusting it was, but even she could tell she didn't mean it.
"Alright, Evans?" he asked, shoving his wireframes back onto his nose.
"Yeah," she nodded. "I think so."
"You don't look it."
"Just a bit peckish, I think."
James hummed before shaking his head, "No, that's not your hungry face."
"I don't have a hungry face."
"You most certainly do. It looks a lot like this," he scrunched his face up in some strange contortion. "And then when you eat after you've had your hungry face you do this," James' shoulders shimmied a bit and his face relaxed into a happy grin.
"I do not act like that."
"You absolutely do," James insisted. "So, if you were peckish, I would know. And that's not your peckish face. That's your thinking face. But, not like…not school thinking. That's your 'something's wrong' face."
Lily pulled back and stared at him for a moment before letting a breath rush past her lips. "Nothing's wrong, really. I'm just trying to figure something out."
"Lay it on me," he said, patting his thighs. "Two brains are better than one, sometimes."
She gave him a tight smile and shook her head, "No, it's nothing—"
"It's not nothing if it's making you look like that," James' hand moved, hovering over hers for a moment before he made the decision to grab it and give a little comforting squeeze. "Go on, then. What's got you bothered?"
Lily sighed, "This is going to sound bad."
"Bad doesn't scare me."
A dry huff of laughter fell past her lips, "I'm just trying to figure out when you…well when you grew up, I suppose."
He shifted next to her and she fought the urge to look at his face. They sat quietly for several beats before he cleared his throat.
"The end of fifth year, I guess," he answered.
Lily hummed, "Yeah, I'd put that together. But, why? What happened?"
She could feel him shrug next to her, "I'm not sure it's my story to tell, to be honest."
Right, then. So, it did have something to do with how the others had been acting, which she'd sort of figured out on her own. But, then again, come last term it was like they were all right as rain again. Like nothing at all had happened.
"You don't have to tell me," she finally whispered. "But, I just noticed that last term you were a bit different, I suppose. You stopped torturing Severus, for one. And it seemed like things were strained between the four of you there for a moment."
James squeezed her hand again and it was only then that she realised he hadn't let go of it.
"I'm going to tell you," he began, "but only because I trust you. And it stays between us, no matter what. I'll need you to swear on it, Lily."
Her head whipped to face him, her neck straining a bit in protest as her eyes grew wide. "You want me to swear on it? Like properly? With my wand and everything?"
James' lips pressed into a flat line and he gave a nod. "Yes."
She took a slow breath and picked up her wand, "Okay. I swear that whatever it is you reveal to me right now will stay between us unless otherwise agreed upon by both parties involved."
The tip of her wand sparked gold and James nodded his approval.
"The end of fifth year," he repeated.
"Yes, we've covered that much."
He looked at her and smiled a bit before pushing on, "After Sniv—Snape—said what he did to you and all of that went down, he became a little obsessed with us."
"You, Sirius, Peter and Remus, you mean?"
James nodded, "Yeah. By that point, everyone knew Sirius' parents hated him. I mean, we all saw the howlers he'd been getting for years. Peter, bless him, always tried to steer clear so I don't think Snape ever got anything on him. But, Remus…no one is supposed to know."
His shoulder slumped and he motioned between them, "We know because Moony decided we could. And we all figured it out anyway because we're close enough to him to know that he was lying a lot and things didn't add up. And the staff knows because he has to get his work on days that he's unwell. But, none of the other students are supposed to know."
"Sev figured it out," Lily said, knowingly. "I know he did. He'd asked me about it time and time again and I always said no, that he was being ridiculous. Changed the topic to steer him away from it. But, he knew."
James smiled sadly, "He knew. Now, I don't know exactly what was said, I wasn't there. I was running Quidditch practice for the firsties that wanted to try out next year. But, whatever Snape said, he said it to Sirius and Pads…well, he means well most of the time but when his temper gets the best of him—"
"It's explosive," Lily interrupted, having seen the famous Black explosions in the flesh.
"That's putting it nicely," James agreed. "He said something stupid to Padfoot about Remus and Sirius told him where to go. Told him how to get past the Whomping Willow to follow Remus."
"He was going to try and catch him?" Lily asked in horror, "that's a suicide mission!"
"If he's lucky, it's a suicide mission. If he's unlucky, he gets bitten and turned."
"Oh my god," Lily's heart was pounding and it took everything in her to keep her lunch down. "Remus didn't—"
"No," James shook his head. "No, he didn't. Thankfully."
Lily couldn't even be bothered to be embarrassed by the tears that burned in her eyes. "They'd kill him," she whispered. "If Remus turned another student, the Ministry would hunt him down and—"
"I know," James took a shaky breath. "I know. We all know. It was stupid. It was incredibly stupid of Sirius to say anything and for Snape to go looking. But, as soon as Sirius realised what he'd done, he got me from the Quidditch pitch and told me everything."
"And you told Dumbledore?"
He shook his head, "I couldn't. There wasn't enough time. The sun was setting already and I knew that Remus would be transforming any minute. I could see that the Willow was frozen, so Snape had maybe a few minutes before he was killed or worse."
Lily's hand covered her mouth as the tears finally broke free and leaked down her cheeks. "James you didn't…?"
He laughed, "In a sense."
Lily blinked away the tears furiously, desperately trying to understand what he was telling her. If he hadn't been bitten, and he hadn't gotten Dumbledore, then he had to have gone after Severus himself, somehow.
"But…I don't understand…how?"
James stood, slowly peeling his hand from hers as he checked around once again, making sure there was no one around. "Actually," he said. "Is there somewhere more secluded?"
Lily's brows pulled together in confusion, but she pointed to the old garden shack toward the back of the park. "Behind there?"
James nodded, "That'll work."
They hurried across the grass, checking around the building just to be sure. James dragged Lily a bit further past the shack, where some of the hedges and summer foliage were a bit overgrown.
"Don't freak out, okay?"
"Why would I—oh my god!"
Where James had been standing now stood a massive, tan stag. Its antlers were sharp and proud on the top of its head, large brown eyes staring thoughtfully at her, almost humanlike, before a ripple seemed to roll through its fur and James was picking himself up off the ground.
"You're an animagus!" Lily whispered furiously at him, poking him hard in the chest. "You're a bloody animagus! How on earth—that can't even be legal. Does Professor McGonagal know? Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you can—"
"Yes. No, it's not legal. I think she does but she turns a blind eye to it. Yes, I know exactly what kind of trouble I can get into which is why I made you swear."
Lily stared at him, her mouth dropped open like a gaping fish. "I am so confused."
"Sirius, Peter, and I learned how to do it so that we could—"
"Animagi aren't affected by werewolves because werewolves don't pick up on the human side of them," Lily nearly shouted. "That's…James, that's extremely clever."
He smiled, "It wasn't easy, that's for sure. But, it was worth it for Moony."
Lily felt her eyes fill with tears again, "You did this all for Remus? All three of you?"
He shrugged. And, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, he said: "He'd do the same for us. No one should go through what Remus goes through on their own."
Lily swallowed the lump in her throat. "You stopped Sev from getting attacked."
James nodded.
"Did you get hurt?"
He shrugged again, "A bit. But, it comes with the territory when your best mate's a werewolf, doesn't it? Sometimes you have to take a claw to the back to make sure your twatty schoolmate doesn't get mauled to death."
Lily stared at James in disbelief and before she even knew what she was doing, she flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Remus had become one of her very best friends since starting at Hogwarts and the thought of what would have happened to him had James not been there…
Had James not been caring about his friend enough to break several laws and become an animagus to help where he could…
Well, it was a bit overwhelming, to say the least.
"Thank you," she whispered against his ear, smiling as his shock wore off and his arms wrapped around her waist, returning the hug.
"Anything for our Moony, yeah?" James chuckled. "Anything for you, really."
She held him tighter for a moment before stepping away, swiping at her eyes. "That's why everyone seemed cross with Sirius, then?"
James smiled sadly, "Yeah. It was pretty bad there for a while. Remus wouldn't even look at him. But, they seem okay now."
"And Severus?" she was almost afraid to ask.
"He swore to Dumbledore on his magic he wouldn't reveal Remus' furry little problem to anyone or he'd be expelled. It was sort of his fault, you know? If he would have just left it alone—"
"He's not good at leaving things well enough alone," Lily grumbled.
"He's not."
"But, that still doesn't explain why you've changed so much."
James blew out a mighty gust of air, his entire body seemingly deflated from it. "It's like from that moment on I just…oh, I don't know, Evans—everything just seemed more important, didn't it? Everything that's going on outside of Hogwarts seems pretty terrifying now and I just…I'm trying to be better. Be someone my parents can be proud of. Be someone my friends can be proud of."
And then quietly, so quietly she almost didn't hear it, he added: "Maybe even someone you could be proud of."
Lily swallowed thickly and stepped forward, taking one of his hands in hers. She ran her thumb over his knuckles, watching as the top of his hand twitched a bit beneath her touch. She looked up at him and took a steadying breath.
"I need to know one more thing and then I promise I'll stop dragging you over coals."
He chuckled softly, "Anything."
"All of those times you complimented me or asked me out or followed me around with chocolates or sent me, frankly, horrible poems—"
James laughed at that, smiling down at her with a fondness that made her head spin and her knees weak.
"Was that all rubbish? Were you making fun of me and then just decided last term you were done being an arse to everyone so you stopped?"
James' face fell. He stared at her in what Lily could only describe as a horrified shock. He grabbed her other hand, pulling her a step closer as he shook his head so much she was afraid his glasses would fly off.
"No. No. Lily, I've meant every single word I have ever said to you. I think you're…well, I just think you're everything. And I stopped because Remus finally decided to tell me that you hated it because you thought I was taking the mickey and I swear Lily—I swear—I never once said anything in jest. I truly believe you are the most clever, gorgeous, brilliant, funny, and just generally lovely person I have ever met in my life."
Lily laughed wetly, "So, you really do think my eyes are as green as a pickled toad, then?"
James' shoulders shook with laughter, "Not my best line, I'll give you that."
His laughter died down and he moved even closer, the toes of his trainers brushing against the tips of her sandals. One of his hands dropped hers and he tucked her hair behind her ear, his hand visibly shaking.
"I truly, honestly believe, with every fibre of my being, that we belong together, Evans. I've known it from the second I laid eyes on you."
"Your glasses are quite thick," Lily said, humour dancing in her voice. "You may be seeing things a bit wrong."
"Tell me then. Tell me right now that I'm wrong. Tell me one last time to piss off and I swear to you I'll leave you alone forever."
It was on the tip of her tongue. She'd told James Potter to piss off more times than she could count. She could fill all of Hogwarts with how many times she'd said it to him over the years.
Yet…
Yet, she couldn't bring herself to say it this time. She looked up into warm brown eyes and saw nothing but earnestness in them. She knew in her bones that he meant everything he'd just said and she also knew if she let herself be honest about him for once, she never disliked him. She'd found him incredibly irritating at times, arrogant and showboating at other times, but she never hated him. She thought he was funny, usually. She knew how much he loved his friends, how much he loved his parents, and how dedicated he was to making sure they were well taken care of and loved. He was clever and quick-witted, if a bit immature at times, but he was…well, he was lovely, wasn't he?
She swallowed, her tongue feeling too big for her mouth as she wondered when that realisation hit her. But, then again, she'd known it for quite some time.
Taking a big breath and summoning as much courage as she could muster, she pressed up on her toes and slotted her lips against James', smiling a bit at the surprised squawk he gave before wrapping his arms around her and kissing her back enthusiastically.
"I don't want you to piss off anymore," she whispered against his lips, leaving a few small pecks between words.
"That's really good for me," he breathed, pulling her closer to him, his hands rubbing slow circles against her back. "Because I'm not sure I'd have been able to keep that promise."
She kissed him again before stepping away. "I should get back. I told my sister I'd be home in time for tea."
James nodded, his face-splitting grin positively beaming. "Yeah. Yeah, of course."
He walked her to where her bike was, still leaning against the bench, with his fingers laced with hers. She waited with him as he summoned the Knight Bus, chatting lightly about their excitement for the new term and who they were looking forward to seeing most. When the bus finally arrived, he kissed her again, long and slow—much to the annoyance of the steward trying to usher James onto the bus—and promised to write.
"Oh, and Potter?"
James turned around on the top step, "Yeah?"
"Please don't make a big deal about it, okay?"
His smile widened impossibly. "No promises."