Dec. 3: Open Your Eyes: Lily

[Lily Potter]

The air between them seemed to grow thicker as they talked about their feelings and ideas regarding their complimentary patronus’s. She found herself casting glances his way, and catching the adoring look on James’s face a time or two. And though it was a leap for her, she had admitted that she found it to be kismet that he be a stag and she a doe. At Jame’s declaration she laughed, glad the hard part of exposing feelings was over and they could move on working through them. “I know you take things seriously James,” she said, shaking his arm. “We’ve been Heads together for a bit now you know. In case you missed it.” The next part she could not make fun of though, he was so clearly revealing something of himself that was anything but amusing. It showed that he had been thinking of her and more importantly, them together long before she ever had. “At least one of us was paying attention.”

She was definitely paying attention now. She was paying attention to everything that was James Potter. His wit, intellect, caring demeanor, smoking hot Quidditch bod. That last part was a bit distracting and before she knew what she was about she was kissing him again. This one was surer, and given their earlier conversation about fate, more passionate and it was more difficult to pull away than she cared to admit. “Sorry.” she said quietly, running her hands up and down the length of James’ arms as she tried regaining her breath. If someone had told her years ago that kissing him would feel like this, she might not have put up such a fight over her feelings. As it was, she had spend too long after touching on those hidden emotions pushing them away, trying to tell herself they were false. If not for Doe, she might have still been that  way.

“A lady should maintain a bit of mystery James.” She said teasingly to keep herself from locking her lips onto his and never leaving the passage again, picking up on their conversation before she had interrupted him with her hormones. "I'll only tell that secret if you tell one for your own. Because I know you have many more you're keeping from me."

[James Potter]

Lily was working some magic of her own today.

Opening up to her like this held a discomfort in its newness, in the fear of rejection, but she was steadily putting him at ease the more that they spoke. That she hadn't needed James to defend that he'd put thought into his ideas about their patronuses for her to simply know that he would have, that she even found it so unnecessary that she laughed after his explanation, brought a smile back to a face it had slipped away from in nerves. He still felt all of thirteen years old around her at times, knobby elbows and floppy hair and partway through a growth spurt that he secretly still hoped would hit him again. But Lily...she had been paying attention, even if now she joked that she hadn't been. Because she already knew how he'd grown. And perhaps he hadn't been paying as much attention as she thought he'd been, if he hadn't known that she knew...Whatever the case, they were hand-in-hand, she was giving his arm an emphatic shake, and he needed to get out of his head.

"Yeah, c'mon now," James retorted in tease, meeting her eye with a grin. "Never known you to skimp on your observations. Pay attention, Evans."

And oh, she did.

One moment he was inquiring about her adventures, the next Lily had him pressed against the cold earthen wall. And while he wanted to hear the full story, there was no chance in hell that he would push her away. No, no - he was far too busy pulling her to him, far too intent on the feel of her hair tangling in his fingers as he cupped the back of her head, far too focused on keeping up with her until she slowed down. That she parted their lips but kept her hands at his arms, her breath coming as short as his, was all the assurance he needed from her. But then she was...apologizing? Let me settle you on that, love. "Sorry?" James breathed a laugh of disbelief and leaned his forehead against hers. "Lily. Kiss me like that all you want, whenever you want. Not that it'll get me to stop asking questions for long, but - solid effort." With as much cheek in his smile as in his words, James placed a quick kiss on her lips. 

"Alright then, we can bargain," he consented after a prolonged moment of thought. Taking her hand back in his, James turned and continued them down the pass, wands once again lighting the way. "But it's not like I'm actively keeping many secrets from you." She'd learned the truth about Remus's furry little problem before term began, and she'd found out about their animagus forms soon after. But there were a few other things he hoped Lily wouldn't inquire about just yet, no matter how much he wanted to continue letting her in. What secrets remained that were just his to share, anyway? "Since I have so many, apparently, what do you want to know about?"