Summary: Completely unperturbed to the fact that he was still lying on the cold stone floor half-naked, covered in frogspawn and that his glasses hung crookedly on his nose and his hair was a complete mess, he shot her a charming, lopsided grin. "Hey, Evans, go out with me?"

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I am just a fan, writing for other fans, for absolutely no profit.

Chie: This is a very short oneshot, detailing the "Frogspawn Incident" briefly referenced in the first chapter of my JamesxLily fic Their Halcyon Days. The scene takes place in the autumn of their fifth year.

The Frogspawn Incident

Lily could hear the shouts and commotion behind her, and sighed. She recognised the voices echoing in the corridor and knew that trouble would surely follow. Soon enough, manically cackling Sirius Black sprinted past her, holding something high above his head. Lily blinked.

"Give it back, you prat!" Potter's voice called after the running boy. "It's bleeding cold in here!"

And then, James Potter brushed past her, shirtless, running at full speed after Sirius.

Lily blinked at the sudden sight of half-naked James Potter, because, really, you didn't expect bumping into shirtless men in the middle of November. She realised two things instantly – the something in Sirius hands was Potter's shirt, and that Quidditch had done marvellous things to his physique.

James Potter may have been an arrogant toerag, but he also was very attractive – a fact which Lily would not deny – though she would keep that particular opinion to herself. Potter's ego was quite big enough as is.

Shaking her head at the two idiotic boys' antics, but unable to hold back a smile, she watched them continue their chase along the corridor.

Potter hurled more insults at his best mate, and Black turned to taunt James over his shoulder, just as a

short girl carrying a box rounded a corner. Lily cringed, watching how the whole scene seemed to slow down as the inevitable happened: Sirius' face suddenly had a comical, dumbfounded expression and then he was falling, the short blonde girl was knocked off her feet from the impact of the sudden collision, the box she had been carrying slipped from her hands and hit the stone floor and something wet splattered the corridor. James gave a triumphant yell and lunged at Sirius, who was frantically trying to get up from the slippery floor to continue his escape. As the two boys rolled on the floor, wrestling over James' shirt, Lily hurried over to the Ravenclaw girl who, she saw, was wearing a pissed off scowl and school robes utterly splotched with frogspawn.

Holding back laughter, Lily extended her hand to the girl.

"You alright?" she asked, helping the girl up.

"Never been better," she replied acidly, looking down at her ruined robes and the frogspawn-littered floor. "Can't even run an errand for a teacher properly. Slughorn's going to kill me."

Lily grimaced empathetically, then glanced at the two instigators of the whole incident. Potter seemed to be winning, insistently tugging back his shirt, but Black was not going down without a fight.

Lily sighed.

"Here, let me," she said, pulling out her wand and vanishing the frogspawn off the Ravenclaw's robes.

"Thanks," she said gratefully, and flashed a wry smile. She bent down to pick the box, which luckily still was half-filled with frogspawn. "Well, better get going."

"Hey. If Professor Slughorn gives you trouble, just tell him that it was all Black's fault since he knocked you over, and that I saw the whole thing so he can come to ask me if he doesn't believe you."

"Thanks," the girl repeated, her smile a bit bigger and more genuine this time.

After the Ravenclaw had hurried off, muttering about crazy Gryffindors, Lily turned to the two boys who were still scuffling over the shirt. Her green eyes flashed.

"Pray tell me," her icy voice penetrating the tussle which immediately ceased, "what the bloody hell you two think you're doing?"

Sirius Black sat up, finally letting go of the shirt which Potter immediately snatched to himself.

"Well, Evans," Black said with his usual cocky grin, "I bet you don't recognise it when you see it, but this – " he indicated himself, Potter, and the frogspawn splattered corridor "- is called 'having fun'."

"Really?" Lily mused, her brow rising. "I would rather define the situation as running in the corridors and wreaking havoc."

Sirius shrugged.

"Same difference."

"You do know that running in the corridors is forbidden. So as a punishment, Black, I will have you clean off this mess you made. Without magic."

"Awww, Evans, you're being unreasonable!" Black whined.

"Am I? Would you rather I dock points off you? Or go inform a teacher so they can give you detention?"

Black gave her a dark look, knowing that she had won this round.

Lily smirked, and conjured a bucket she filled with soapy water for him. "Off you go then."

Black grumbled, but did as he was told.

Lily turned to regard James Potter.

He was watching her, his hazel eyes laughing admiringly at her. And then, completely unperturbed to the fact that he was still lying on the cold stone floor half-naked, covered in frogspawn and that his glasses hung crookedly on his nose and his hair was a complete mess, he shot her a charming, lopsided grin.

And god damn it all, somehow that easy, confident smirk managed to make her stomach flip for a fleeting second.

"Hey, Evans?" he drawled.

"What, Potter?" she snapped, already knowing where this was going.

"Go out with me?"

"In your dreams, Potter," Lily retorted.

His smile widened, as if to say that in his dreams, many delightful things concerning her took place, and the corner of Lily's lip twitched.

"Oy, Prongs, quit flirting with Evans and give me a hand," Black called, ruining the moment.

James cast a lingering look at Lily, who had turned away and was now striding determinedly away from the troublemaking duo, her hips swaying in the rhythm of her purposeful steps.

Then, with a goofy grin he couldn't help, he turned to help Sirius clean up the latest mess they had made.

THE END