The next day brought uncomfortable glances and awkward moments. Lily once again woke up without remembering the previous day and Rose was forced to tell her the events as Lily had relayed them to her roommate in her fury. Rose could swear that she was on the brink of tears from the reminder. But she survived and they both continued on their way to breakfast.
The day continued, more boring than usual, and Lily was faced with seeing James in Potions. Lily had to admit that Snape had one amazing ability; he could sense tension like a bloodhound sniffing out his prey. With the usual sneer, he assigned the flying student and her teacher to be partners in creating a potion that ironically forced the truth and deepest secrets out of the one who took it. James cautiously moved towards Lily's lab table, approaching the situation with extra care. He slid down into the chair positioned next to her and let out an innocent cough. Lily rolled her eyes at his obvious attempt at trying to get her attention. She continued to look forward, wondering just how much tenser the air around them could become before it spontaneously combusted.
From the corner of her eye she could see him throwing glances her way. She groaned in response and threw her head down onto the table, causing the vials, ingredients, and books on the table to shake as if a slight tremor had occurred.
"I know things are a little weird but we still need to do this lab and continue the flying lessons. So maybe you could try to hide your hatred for me a little more discreetly and we can continue."
She looked down before nodding, knowing that he was for once being the bigger person and acting mature. Lily couldn't wait until they were apart; she longed for dismissal. But a sudden thought made her dread the end of class. After Potions was her second flying lesson. Instead of there being more distance between the two, they would most likely be touching. Was it the awkward situation that they had been in yesterday or the way she had liked his hands on hers that caused her to want nothing more than to fly to Antarctica instead of entering the Quidditch field? She wasn't sure but either way, the dread inside her was overwhelming.
She attempted to hide and leave James waiting but the thought of Dumbledore finding her brought ideas of an even worse punishment to mind and she had no choice but to walk into what she now considered her torture chamber.
She walked into the field on the defensive, hoping he wouldn't sneak up on her as he had the day before. She looked around and spotted him entering the Gryffindor locker room. She looked down at her watch and noticed she was about ten minutes early. She let out a sigh and ran to catch up with him. She reached the swinging doors of the locker room and paused to catch her breath. She pushed the door open slightly, which let out an eerie creak, and called his name out timidly. She waited a moment without hearing a response before she entered.
The walls were lit with candles and were somehow on a dimmer setting then usual. She walked slowly forward and heard a locker door slam. She jumped from the sudden noise and laughed at her own naivety. She had only entered this dorm room once before to congratulate her second year boyfriend of a game well played when she saw him kissing the catcher. She had been devastated. That was her first boyfriend and her first heartbreak. Since then she had been much more hesitant with anything involving the heart. But of course, she remembered none of this at the moment and didn't know how exactly she knew where she was going. But somehow she continued down the corridor, knowing to turn right.
What she then saw in front of her took her breath away. James had his back turned to her and was changing from his Quidditch practice clothes into his robes. Nothing but his chest was revealed but the beauty of it made her need to slightly back up into the wall for support. The way the glow of the candles played across his sculpted back made her melt inside. He turned around and she quickly hid around the corner. She had remained unnoticed and now had a view of his chest. She let out a sigh without noticing and placed her hand over her stomach so as to stop the butterflies within it.
She placed her other hand on the wall directly on top of a burning candle. Her hand remained there for seconds before reacting to the pain. She let out a curse causing James' head to jerk upwards in surprise. She remained staring at her burnt fingers without realizing his eyes were on her. A grin played across his face as he finished packing up his things.
"Evans. What are you doing in the locker room?"
Her head shot up from her finger to his face, but not before traveling over his still exposed chest.
"I, uh, I saw you come in here and wanted to make sure that everything was alright."
He raised an eyebrow at this lame excuse and walked towards her. He took hold of her upper arm and led her out onto the field.
"Come on. Let's get this lesson over with."
He walked in front of her grinning, knowing that she had been staring at what so many girls before her had stared at. He knew what he looked like without his shirt on and was well aware of the feelings in stirred within the opposite sex. He wondered why he had not just taken off his shirt when he had met Lily instead of trying to charm her or be nice to her. He suddenly drifted back to the real world and realized that he did not hear footsteps following him. He glanced behind him and saw Lily rooted next to the door just staring at him.
"Well, come on, let's go."
"Aren't you, well aren't you going to put a shirt on?"
"Am I making you uncomfortable Lily?" He let a wry smile slip across his lips as he walked back to her and stopped only inches from her.
"No! Of course not!"
He picked up her hand and placed it on his shoulder. "So this doesn't bother you?"
Lily was presently feeling too many things to respond to his simple question. She desperately wanted to remove her hand, fearing that his hot skin would give her a second burn on her hand. But yet this simple touch made her whole body burn and she felt at the same time that she could keep her hand there forever. She however knew this could not continue so she let her hand lazily slip down his chest, stomach, and hips before removing her fingers.
She let out a sigh as she looked up at his face and saw his own eyes looking into hers. He had been looking at her the entire time and he did not realize what effect it would have on himself as he placed her fingers near his collarbone. She quickly whispered something and walked away. It only triggered moments later that she had said they must begin the lesson.
He stared after her a moment as she walked towards the brooms in the middle of the field before running to catch up to her. He sunk in next to her, stride for stride, and tried to look straight ahead. But he could not help letting his eyes wander to his right and notice that she was slightly out of breath. They had not been walking that fast.
She bent down to pick up the broom and straddled it. For some reason, she felt a new sort of courage. She pushed her feet off of the ground and hovered lightly in the air. She grinned at him, expecting him to be impressed but his only reply was a raised eyebrow. She raised the broom up, causing her to rise in the air. She needed for him to be impressed in some way. She wanted to shock him slightly. She continued to raise.
She looked down and he yelled something up to her that she couldn't quite make out.
"What?"
As she said this her steering hand slipped and she lost her balance, tottering on the shaky broom. As she regained her balance, the broom suddenly took control and she was soaring across the field recklessly. She was in shock at how little she was in control and could only think to scream. An occasional "Help!" flew out of her mouth but she continued to spiral higher in the sky and gain speed.
She was getting increasingly dizzy from the heights and felt as if she were going to faint any moment. Her vision blurred and her breathing increased when a hand suddenly grabbed her roughly around the waist. She fainted at that same moment and didn't wake up until she felt herself landing on the ground.
"Lily! Lily! Are you alright?"
She came to and turned around to see a concerned James looking over her.
"You saved my life."
"Nonsense, I did no such thing. After all it was my fault that you even tried that. I was only saving my own ass from trouble. Can you imagine Dumbledore's face if you would have…"
The sentence was cut short as she wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him down towards her lips. She kissed him gently with innocent movements. James had never kissed a girl this way. He was used to rough and passionate. This was nothing of that sort. He instantly loved it and would always remember it as Lily's pure way of romance. As he continued to kiss her, he picked her up off the broom and placed her lightly on the grassy field.
But he soon felt himself growing warmer at the feel of her lips on his. He had never realized how long he had wanted this and been waiting for it to happen. He indeed did love this form of kissing but he felt an urge to make it more intense. He placed his tongue against the front of her lips and she felt a small gasp come from her throat as she parted her lips to let him roam her mouth.
This was indeed new to her. She had to admit that she had kissed very few boys and it had never been more than a peck. So why did it stir so much within her? She instinctively knew that James was better than most at this. She also remembered Rose telling her of how she had kissed boys like this and how she had never understood why some liked it so much. Now she realized that Rose had never kissed anyone like James. How could a person not enjoy this. It was magnificent, spectucular, stupendous!