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"I tell you," whispered Lily to Remus, as James searched the stacks for a book on Human Transfiguration to help them write their essay, "he's been terribly aloof. I know you think he likes me -"
"Actually, I know he doesn't just like you, he fancies you rotten, has for bloody years -"
"I don't think that's accurate, because if he did and has done, he would have taken me up on my offer to search the castle's broom cupboards the other night -"
"Ah, yes, the height of romance. It was - of course - abundantly clear that you meant for him to snog you in one of them and not for the two of you to catch other couples in the act."
"I do not appreciate the sarcasm, Remus," she narrowed her eyes just slightly. "I find myself in a real predicament and none of you are any help whatsoever -"
"Merlin, the two of you deserve each other, I swear -"
"Shut up, Black."
"Stop being a baby! When he gets back, you only need grab him by the tie, yank him towards you and snog him until he's convinced he's up in the Astronomy Tower at midnight for the amount of stars you'll make him see."
She huffed, crossed her arms in front of her chest, her cheeks having pinkened. "I couldn't possibly do that, I -"
"You couldn't possibly do what?" James Potter sank down in the chair beside her, placing a heavy tome on the table. "I'm sorry that it took me a while, I swear Pince hasn't dusted any of these off in ages. You can barely read some of the titles on the spines, I - hmmph!"
She'd turned towards him, grabbed his tie, yanked him towards her and pressed her lips hard against his, his hands hovering awkwardly over her shoulders as she heard Remus and Sirius snicker behind her.
She pulled back - mortified - her lips tingling, her fingers still wrapped around his tie in a deadly grip and however much she willed them to let go, they seemed to have a life of their own.
"What was -?" he swallowed, a flush rising up his neck. "Was that - was that for a dare? Was that the thing you couldn't possibly do?"
She opened and closed her mouth, gaped at him like a goldfish, attempting to find the words that could absolve her of her sin, that could possibly right her error.
"It was a test!" Her words sounded panicky and she was sure she looked it too. She felt - at least - like she blinked up at him owlishly. "It was stupid, really -"
"A test to find out what?" he asked, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.
"Just -" she let go off his tie now, her hand finally having listened to her desperate command, turning back towards her outfit, "- Sirius said something about me being able to make you see stars if I'd kiss you, so I thought I'd try. It was stupid, really."
A silence fell over the table, she could feel all boys' eyes on her and she knew her face clashed horribly with her hair probably, was very much aware of the fool she had just made of herself. She wondered if one could cast Avada Kedavra on themselves for she'd much rather be dead than have to live through the shame of knowing that James Potter - unlike what his best friends had told her - did not - in fact - fancy her rotten. She wondered if she'd come back as a ghost if she did, if she'd be able to watch on, floating just a few inches over the table, as the boys - so she hoped - despaired over her untimely death.
"Right," Potter then said from beside her, "yeah, that's, okay -" He cleared his throat. "Do you want to know if you succeeded?"
"What?" she asked, startled now.
"Do you want to know if -" she had turned her face to look at him, followed his hand as he ran his fingers through his hair, her most favourite nervous habit of his. "Do you want to know if your experiment succeeded? For the sake of magical science, of course."
"Oh."
She stared up at him, he gazed back at her.
"I suppose I -" she swallowed, "- if you'd care to share I would welcome some feedback, yes."
"Great," he nodded, eyes flitting down to her mouth, tongue flicking out to wet his lips, "I suppose I have to try one more time. For magical science's sake."
"Oh -"
His lips returned to hers, her eyes closing of their own accord as his mouth slid over hers, his nose bumped against her own, one of his hands came to rest on her waist. Her heart thundered inside her chest and she saw and felt the sparks of electricity that shot up from her spine to where their mouths were fused together.
He pulled back, licked his lips again, eyes on hers in silence a couple of seconds longer than strictly necessary.
"Right," he muttered, "I think I - yeah, I saw stars." A beat of silence. "You?"
"Yeah, I - let me just try again -" her hand wrapped around his neck, her mouth pressed eagerly against his, climbing halfway out of her seat, standing half in front of him now, waiting for him to pull her in his lap, having completely forgotten where she was and the company she was in.
"No kissing in the Hogwarts Library!"
The detention that she and James had to serve up in the Astronomy Tower later that night - much to Remus' and Sirius' hilarity - was the perfect place to continue all their testing.