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Hearing footsteps coming from behind his back, James rapidly hung his head low, flipping a page of the textbook he was holding.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Marlene rapidly pass by, not without turning her head to shot him a suspicious look. Still, she didn’t say anything, probably convinced that he really was paying attention to the book in his hands. When she was far enough, James released a breath.
It goes without saying that, if somebody had come right now to ask him about even the title of the volume, he’d stay there gaping for an answer like a fish out of water. He had opened it upside down in the rush, actually.
Without realizing this particular fact, though, James started counting the seconds that went by: as Marlene had seen him there, she would probably alert the flock of girls that were sitting thirty feet farther, on the shore of the lake, so he had to keep his profile low to avoid their fleeing. He liked not being far from their noisy group.
For one reason, most of all.
Just as he was wondering if the time was good to resume his watching, a light cry of greeting made his head dart up, and all of his prudence was relegated to the far end of his thoughts.
One of the girls had jumped up to hug Marlene, and all the others around didn’t last much before doing the same. Only one remained seated, her legs crossed on the green grass. She watched the scene unfolding before her with a finger twirling in one of her lose locks of red hair.
When Marlene released herself from the overwhelming embrace, she quickly sat down next to this girl, nudging her playfully on the shoulder, the way best friends do. They exchanged a few words -- which got drowned by the other students’ high-pitched exclamations -- before Marlene pointed a finger in James’ direction.
The young man quickly looked away, and prayed Merlin that, at this distance, it was quite difficult to place exactly what the aim of his stare was. His stomach twisted a little, conscious that his hopes were probably vain. The girls were going to move from the place, and he’d have no other choice than to return the book to the library, put on his pajama bottoms, and go to bed at five in the afternoon.
Too occupied blushing and sinking in his low expectations for the rest of the day, he didn’t notice that somebody was coming closer.
“Can I sit here?”
Pointing at the patch of grass next to him was the girl with red hair. Lily Evans in person. James realized that if she’d asked him for the title of the book, he would have gaped less.
“‘Course,” He gave a try at nonchalance, “As long as you don’t distract me from my book.”
Lily huffed a short chuckle.
“New way of reading?” she asked, once on the floor, eyeing the upside-down book with a half-joking curiosity.
The mental punch James threw at himself didn’t hurt as much as he wished. “Er- I flipped it so I could check if I knew the facts correctly.”
Lily gave him a discreet look of disbelief, but decided to play the game. “Usually, it’s easier to do that if you have someone to ask you questions about the lesson. Maybe I can help yo-”
“No!” James yelped, closing the book promptly, before inwardly kicking his arse. “I mean, don’t trouble yourself, it’s Saturday. You probably don’t want to review- Potions during the weekend.”
Lily had much trouble biting back a smile. “I wouldn’t mind,” she said gently. “Even if this looks much more like our History of Magic book from last year.”
Merlin’s balls, he wasn’t going to nail one, was he?
Thankfully, the girl let the wind carry the awkwardness away, dropping her gaze on the ripples of the water’s vast surface.
The sun was getting closer to the horizon, caressing the top of the mountains that bordered the Great Lake, and James noticed that there was no feeling of uneasiness wrapping him and Lily. It quite struck him, because last year they couldn’t sit next to the other without making a scene. He would throw a loud remark at her, and she would snap back as heatedly as if she were a dragon trying to burn him alive with her breath. He’d usually make funny faces, she’d try to hex him, he’d cast a chielding charm, something would result broken, and he’d spend the next afternoon polishing old cups and trophies while she’d have to dust the interminable shelves of the library.
James felt a little pang of nostalgy for those times, but he was very glad that they were past them. Most of all because it meant that Lily could come and slump next to him on her own free will.
“Hey, Lily?” He waited for her to hum in answer, then played the gentleman card. “Do you need anything?”
He looked at her expectantly, waiting for an explanation on why she had come so suddenly. They were on good terms, granted, but she must have had a reason to leave her friends behind and seek his company.
Lily tore her eyes from the horizon, and looked right into pupils. “Yes, actually. An answer.”
Her green irises were so trapping that James felt like he was falling into them. He gulped with some difficulty. “An answer? To what?”
Without breaking eye-contact, she went on,
“Well, you’ve been following me for quite a bit- Don’t deny it, you got up at seven on a Saturday morning, Potter,” she smirked to highlight her point. “And I wondered if-”
James cut across her, “Please, don’t think that I meant to be creepy.” His expression was slightly pleading, and the back of his mind registered something lighting up on Lily’s face. “I just wanted to ask you something, and I would have done it as soon as possible but-” he gestured toward the group of girls next to the lake who were badly hiding their giggling and stolen looks at them. “You always travel in pack.”
Lily threw her head backwards in a full laugh this time. When she recovered her composure, she kept smiling, “Well, you could still have asked. They look fierce, but they don’t bite, you know.”
James shrugged, and sat straighter against the tree’s trunk. “I didn’t want extra public.”
“What!” Lily said unbelievably, “James Potter not looking for attention! Excuse me, but that’s one for the record. You usually do everything in your power to make the guys-” Lily suddenly realized that not once has Sirius teased them, nor Peter had shot them one of his honey-dipped sarcastic remarks. “Hey, where are the guys?”
Waving his wand in the air, James materialized some colorful sparks, and watched them dissipate one after the other. “Told you,” he said calmly, though he was making a huge effort to hide his nervousness, “Didn’t want any public.”
At this, Lily uncrossed her legs, and crossed them again, as if unsure of what to do with herself, “Sounds pretty serious, then” she whispered, and then she caught up with a more assured tone, “But it also sounds nice, that there are some things you don’t do only with the goal of boasting.”
“Oi!” James feigned an offended look. “For your information, Evans, there are plenty of things that I do without meaning to call for attention.”
Lily’s smile was blooming back. “Yeah, like what?”
When a flustered James started mumbling meaningless bits of nothing, she burst into another loud laugh, which he joined heartedly, but still a bit wounded in his pride.
Without realizing it, they had come closer, and their shoulders were touching. The several layers of clothes made it seem like nothing special, maybe, but in the magic world, nothing isn’t.
The sun was quite advanced on its way to the other side of the Earth now, and a chilly breeze swept some of the last remnants of the sunny day away. The flock of teenagers by the lake gathered their belongings, and started marching toward the castle. One of them waved Lily goodbye, and at this time the redhead realized what remaining with James outside would look like to the rest of the students. She raised hastily, and patted her robes to remove the little twigs and grass threads from the fabric.
“Oi! Where are you going?” James stood up too, almost stepping on the Potion -- or History of Magic -- book.
He towered above her, his nose facing her forehead. She could kiss him if she stood on her tiptoes, he thought. But he shook that image away.
“Well, I think we should head back to the dorm, if we don’t want to freeze out here. It’s not summer yet.”
With her so close to him, James swore he could feel the temperature being as warm as in summer.
“You’re right,” He preferred to allow. She probably didn’t feel the same way, anyway. “You better be off then.” He smiled sheepishly, as a proof that he didn’t mean to be rude. “I have to get everything in my bag.”
Lily looked down, and for once James had actually nailed it: there was quite a disorder of papers and doubtful-looking stuff spread at the bottom of the tree. He bent down to retrieve it all, expecting her to catch up on her friends.
But, she just nodded, and didn’t move right away.
“Hey, Potter, I was wondering-”
James jerked up so fast that his glasses dangerously slipped down the bridge of his nose, making her giggle.
“Yeah?” he breathed, feeling the sheepish smile come right from his heart.
Lily’s pale skin was painted in a peachy tone by the sunset, and her eyes glistened more vividly than ever. When she reached out to straighten his glasses herself, still chuckling, James swore that she looked like summer in person.
“Well, you haven’t come round to ask me the question, after all,” she said, her gaze getting lost in his wind-ridden hair.
James cleared his throat. “Oh, that- yeah- um-”
Lily’s stare fell into his, the hint of a grin reflecting in her eyes. “It wasn’t to ask me out again , was it?”
The young man started, letting out a loud, “No!”
Actually yes , but fuck , he wasn’t going to ruin this moment right now.
He saw Lily pursing her lips to hold back a smile, and chose to switch topics, “What was all that emotion around Marlene, earlier?”
He slightly nudged his head toward the spot where the group of girls had burst in an excited commotion, but Lily turned the other way, facing the castle, her expression a bit somber.
“Greg Hoppler finally asked her to be his date for the End of Year Ball,” she answered, “Marls was the last one of our group without a partner yet.” She bit her lip. “Oh, well, next to last.”
To this, she started moving toward the building, her hair dancing with the wind in fiery red streaks. “See you at dinner, Potter,” she said over her shoulder. “And, you know, it’s a shame you weren’t going to ask me out, today.”
She accelerated her steps in the falling night, hugging her arms as if to protect herself from the cooling atmosphere. Or to comfort herself.
It costed James several seconds to let the words sink in, but when they did, he panicked. She couldn’t possibly mean-
He stole after her, leaving his backpack and all his mess to be lulled as pleased by the wind. “Lily,” he called out, “Lily wait!” When he was close enough, he grabbed her arm, and gently spinned her around. “What- What do you mean?”
When she looked up at him, she was grinning timidly. Her breath was fast-paced, and James thought he could hear her heart beating a little faster than usual.
Merlin, did she really-
“It’s a shame that you weren’t going to ask me out, today,” she repeated. “Because, this time, I might have said yes.”
James could have felt surprised. Dumbstruck. Confused. Appalled. He could have stood there, gaping like a fish out of water, more than if anybody had asked about any book’s title. He could have gazed at this redhead girl on whom he was crushing since ever with a hollow stare and a tongue at loss of words. He could-
But you don’t throw such an opportunity out of the window, for Gryffindor’s hat.
“Lily,” he breathed. Their clothes and hair were flying with the breeze, but the sun made sure to secure them to the ground with its golden presence. “Lily,” he said again, feeling his throat go dry and hearing the crickets’ heady singing starting around them. “Will you-” She looked at him with an expectant patience, or a patient expectancy, he couldn’t tell. “Will you be my date for the End of Year Ball?”
She didn’t say anything. She just stepped a little closer, to have their bodies brushing again, except this time they were both very aware of it. The image that James had pushed away from his mind came back, and this time he clung to it. She was so close. She’d just have to stand on her tiptoes...
“Yes,” Lily whispered. “Yes, I will.”
And on her tiptoes she raised.