Chapter Text
It wasn’t really his fault. James maintained that.
She was just so brilliant, so full of life, so effervescent , that her natural affection seemed to just seep out of her. She was always the first to put an arm around the first year students when they got homesick, and more than once he had seen her patiently rubbing the backs of girls she hardly knew as they sobbed out their heartbreak. He had watched her give Peter more than one comforting hug following a disappointing mark, and somehow she was always there to give Sirius an understanding smile and a squeeze to the shoulder when he received a letter from home. She was just an affectionate person.
So when she turned that affection on James, he didn’t really notice.
Well, ok, of course he noticed. The first time she sat next to him at breakfast, her elbow jostling his, her thigh resting lightly against him, he nearly choked on his sausage. Then the next day, when the wet weather saw every single Gryffindor crowded into the common room, filling up every horizontal surface, she had playfully nudged his knee with hers with a cheerful “Budge up!” before squeezing into the oversized armchair next to him. He had lost the ability to speak for fully five minutes.
So yeah, he noticed, he just didn’t think it meant anything. Surely it was just Evans being, well, Evans?
Their friendship had grown throughout sixth year, and the closer they got the more affectionate she became. He remembered with a smile back to the very first week of seventh year. He loved to tease her for taking Care of Magical Creatures (“What on earth for, Lils?” “There are unicorns , James - actual unicorns!”), and had done so mercilessly when her schedule revealed it would not only take place outside twice a week, but during the optional last period of the day, after James (and most of their classmates) had finished classes.
He could remember every detail of that day. The weather, already unseasonably cold, had turned suddenly, and the drying charm she had clearly attempted as she trudged back to Gryffindor tower was no match for the driving Scottish rain. When he saw her enter the common room from his seat near the fire, he couldn’t help but call out “Looking a bit cold there, Evans!” with a grin.
She had looked at him consideringly for a moment, something deep behind her eyes, and he was fully prepared for the tongue lashing that was undoubtedly coming his way. He was, however, in no way prepared when she shrugged her shoulders before she sat down next to him, so close he could feel the chill rolling off of her, burrowed into his side and playfully said “Then warm me up!”
He froze for a moment, trying to reconcile the fact that one of his favourite fantasies was coming to life before him with the deep understanding that she was just being friendly. Then he took a deep breath and willed himself to relax as he called up the easy charm which had never let him down. He slowly moved his arm around her, hesitating for only a moment to gauge her reaction, before answering with a casual “Anytime, Evans.”
“Good,” she had replied. “I hate being cold, and you’re just so warm.” She sighed happily, nestling closer into his side, as he frantically tried to commit every detail of holding Lily Evans to memory, certain it would never happen again.