4Author's note: A cute little one-shot inspired by the icky March snow. Going from shorts and t-shirt to winter jacket and boots in a span of three days is depressing. Might as well right a cute little fic!
A pounding on the door woke James Potter. He groaned and rolled onto his back, muttering that if it was Sirius, he was going to give him a good punch.
"James, James, get up! It's snowing!"
Lily's voice broke through his hazy annoyance.
As Head Boy and Head Girl, James and Lily had been assigned a suite: two bedrooms off of a small common room. But so far they had been careful to preserve their privacy from each other. Lily would not enter his bedroom without permission; he had a feeling she wouldn't chance seeing him in the undress.
Springing out of bed, he hastily put on some trousers and a jumper before nearly running to the door.
Lily was standing there in her winter gear, ready to go out.
"Did you look outside yet? It's the first snowfall!" She has a huge smile on her face and excitement shone in her eyes.
"I just got up actually," he said, running his hand through his hair. He knew that it was going to do nothing to tame his hair, but at this point nothing was going to help.
He moved away from the door as she came barrelling into his somewhat messy room. Throwing open his curtain, Lily grinned as she turned. "See, see? Snow!"
James laughed. "Yes Lily, I see it." Looking around his room he spotted his coat. "Let me just find my scarf and I'll come join you outside."
"Wonderful!"
The two Heads made their way onto the grounds and saw that many other students were enjoying the first snowfall. A few were having a snow-throwing fight, whilst others were attempting to make a snow creature of some sort.
As James walked next to the red head, he wanted to take her hand. Badly. But he knew better than to push it. They had recently become friends and even though he still harboured feelings for her, he didn't want to scare her back into the "hate" phase. Square one was not where he wanted to go right now.
"You're not too cold?" James asked her, noting the slight chill in the air.
"Nope. I'm good." The smile was still on Lily's face and it made James feel good. He liked the fact that he could see her smiling.
The snow started to fall a bit faster and it swirled all around them, tousling Lily's red hair. Stopping, she lifted her head and stuck out her tongue. The little white flakes landed all over her face and James has to wonder if she was catching anything. Either way he thought, she was quite adorable.
When Lily finally looked back at him, she smiled. "It's so beautiful, the snow."
James wanted to tell her that there was nothing more beautiful than her, not even the snow, but held back. It was too cliché; and it was too soon. Instead he smiled. "Yeah, it is."
Giggling, the red head began twirling, her arms outspread. But her foot caught on a snow covered branch and she stumbled slightly. James held out his arms and grabbed her, worried she was going to fall.
"James, I'm not that clumsy. You didn't have to catch me."
"But I wanted to."
"Was that some ploy to get me in your arms?"
Laughing, he responded, "Darn you, knowing my tricks. You've caught me. How can I ever make it up to you?"
"You can get my hot chocolate when we go back to the castle. With vanilla in it and whipped cream on top."
"And what makes you think I can get that for you?"
"You're James Potter. The rumour is that you can do anything. I should think this would be no problem for you."
"Well, not anything. I couldn't get you to go on a date with me."
Lily laughed. "That's true. So your reputation is false. I shall have to tell those rumourists they are wrong."
"Lily, rumourists is not a word."
"Oh shush James. I know that. I'm just being silly."
James chuckled. "Lily Evans, being silly? My, my, I never thought the day would come."
She smacked his arm lightly. "Oh James, now you're the one being silly."
Looking up at him, Lily smiled. James returned the grin, thinking about how beautiful she looked. With the snow falling into her hair and a few flakes stuck in her lashes, his breath nearly caught in his throat. And she was looking at him, her green eyes filled with happiness.
Their gaze locked for a few moments before their grins slowly faded. Both began leaning in and their lips suddenly touched.
Something cold and wet broke the two apart.
"Oye, Prongs! Stop snogging your girl and get over here for the epic snowball fight we're about to have."
James flipped off his friend. "I was obviously busy, you prick," he yelled at him.
Looking back at Lily, he noticed she was trying to get the wet snow off her face. He wiped at a drop of water she had missed on her cheek with the pad of his thumb. Blushing slightly, she thanked him.
"Do you want to go have the snowball fight?"
"Well, I came outside with you, so I should go back in with you. Plus I wouldn't want to make you stand around whilst-"
"What makes you think I didn't want to join in the fight too?"
The raven haired boy laughed as he gave Lily a big hug. "You are truly one of a kind, love," he told her before letting her go. She swooped down and grabbed some snow, forming a ball with her bare hands. Throwing it as hard as she could, she ended up smacking Sirius over the head while he has been bending down getting his snow.
"Oye!" Getting up, he glared at James, thinking he had sent the snowball. But when he saw Lily grinning in triumph, his face contorted into shock. "You hit me?" When she nodded, he said, "That's it, lady. I'm going to get you back for that."
"Siriusly?" Lily punned, not taking the threat as at all dangerous.
"I'm always Sirius."
Balancing a tray of goodies from the kitchen, James made his way to the Head's dorm trying to avoid anyone seeing him. Students weren't really supposed to bring anything back to their rooms, but James figured that being Head Boy could help him get away with it. The Marauder's Map helped him greatly but he had to be extra careful not to spill anything on it.
When he arrived at the portrait, the woman looked down on him in an obvious disproval of his tray, but swung open the door anyways after James said the password.
Lily came out of her room at that moment in her pyjamas and went to stand by the fire. Her hair still had some wet strands and her cheeks were very rosy.
"Vanilla hot chocolate with whipped cream just like you asked. Oh, and I also had the elves put some cookies on the tray as well."
Smiling, she came over to claim her drink. Lily grabbed a cookie as well and sat down on the couch. James followed her, placing the tray on the table next to the couch, and took his mug.
"Did you have a good day outside?" James asked.
"Yeah I did actually. It made me feel like a little kid." She took a sip from her drink. "It almost made me miss home a bit."
"Oh yeah? How so?" James too sipped from his cup, but it was drink was too hot. "Dammit!" he said, as he placed the mug on the table. His fingers gingerly touched his lips. "Merlin does that hurt!"
"You okay?"
Giving her a puppy dog look, he said, "Well, you could kiss it better."
The red head laughed. "Only you," she said, shaking her head.
"Is that a yes?"
Lily placed her cup on the table. She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "There, happy?" she said after sitting back in her spot.
"Well, my lip is still burnt. And that was such a weak kiss, so that's probably why it didn't help."
Rolling her eyes, Lily picked up her mug again to take a sip.
"I suggest you put that down," James said, eyeing her.
"Oh? And why is that?"
"Just put it down." The intense look on his face made her comply. As soon as the mug hit the table, James flew across the sofa. Trapping Lily beneath him, he grinned. "I need a better kiss than that to heal my lip."
Leaning down, he kissed her gently. The kiss lasted a few minutes before he pulled away. However, he stayed on top of her.
"Feel better now?" she asked.
A grin formed on his face. "Quite. In fact, I quite like the feel of being pressed against you."
"What a charmer."
"I try." He paused a moment, thinking of his next words very carefully. "Lily, now that you're trapped beneath me…" She gave him a dirty look, raising both eyebrows. Chuckling he shook his head. "No, no, I'm not going to make some sexual comment. All I was going to say is that, now that you can't run away from me, I have something I need to tell you. I, well, Lily, I think I'm in love with you."
"James…"
"No, let me get through this first before you reject me." She looked as if she was going to interrupt again, but he shook his head. "At first I'll admit, it was more of a fancy than anything else. You were the girl who could resist my charms and it excited me. I wanted to understand what made you so different. And I have to admit I liked the challenge. I craved the chase because the other girls were too easy. But as I kept chasing, I found myself liking you more and more. Soon, you were the only thing I could think of. I tried being with other girls but I found myself comparing them to you. When I closed my eyes, I hoped that it would be you when I opened them again. And then, when we started Head duties together, I got to know you even better. And that's when it hit me: I'm in love with you. I need you to know that."
He had not rehearsed the speech and wondered if he had babbled the wrong thing. Was it really a good idea to mention dating other girls, even whilst explaining that Lily was superior to them all?
"Will you let me talk now?"
"Go ahead."
"Can you get off me first? You're kinda suffocating me."
"Oh, sorry." He scrambled to get off of her but stayed close. "Is that better?"
"Much." His face fell a little at her singular word. "But I lied."
"About what?"
"You weren't suffocating me. I just couldn't think with you being so close." With that, she leaped into his lap and kissed him. "James, I'm not going to reject you. Not this time. I'm tired of fighting my feelings."
His heart soared in his chest. A million words bubbled on his tongue and he wanted to dance with joy. He nearly did. The urge to pick Lily up and just dance was incredible. Instead, the only words he spoke were: "Be mine?"
Laughing, Lily kissed him again. "Only if you'll be mine in return."
Author's Note: Love, hate? Review