Wrote this a while ago and never uploaded it onto fanfic...enjoy!

Lily walked past James in the hallway between classes. Their shoulders brushed, her eyes lifted playfully to his and his heart raced. His heart never slowed down when it came to her. If anything, through the years, it raced to keep up with the thrilling moments she provided. And yet…somehow (even though his heart was practically pounding through his chest when her shoulder brushed his) James felt as though his heart had been grabbed by a cold hand and squeezed so hard that his breath came up short.

And that was just what an accidental brush of her shoulder in a crowded hallway could do to him. James could only imagine what would happen if she actually meant to touch him. Then that night, Lily was smiling at him in the dimly lighted hallway outside of the charms classroom. Anna Faith had called out of rounds for a soar throat so she'd met him at the checkpoint. She'd been leaning against the wall, arms crossed, skirt bunched up against the wall. The curve of her smile flickered like the flames on the torches as he walked towards her, hands in his pockets. Her head lifted at the sound of his footsteps and when she spotted him her smile widened.

She's too good for James and he counted his lucky stars every single day that she loved him either way.

Lily had always been kind to those who didn't always deserve it. She was friends with the less popular students. She gave her heart and soul into trying to bring students together—instead of push them apart. While James agreed with her cries for peace, he didn't always practice what he preached and the only person who called him out on his shite happened to be the woman he was drawing into his school notes.

"You couldn't just leave well enough alone, could you?" her arms were still crossed and he was mesmerized by the cutting look in her green eyes, "You had to go and work Rosier up."

"I just asked him to apologize." James rolled his eyes as he realized Lily had plans to talk to him instead of patrol with him, "He was being a git."

"He's always a git!" she gave a really sarcastic laugh, "And you—James you know they just want a fight!"

"I don't mind kicking his arse when he asks for it."

"I know you don't."

James leaned against the wall next to her and they knocked shoulders on purpose, his heart beat a little faster. James could sense her frustration clear as day but he didn't back down. He was stubborn and she was just trying to keep peace. He turned his cheek so that now, they were eye to eye. His knee brushed hers and she froze, her eyes darting down to their touching legs. When her eyes darted back up to his face, James saw the same wild and panicked look he got whenever she touched him. His heart was beating against his chest like war drums, working him up instead of bringing him down.

"Why can't you just walk away?" she whispered, her lower lip pouting out to echo her disappointment with him.

Lily might call him out—but James was just as good at being stubborn—especially with her.

"That's rich coming from the witch who jinxed Alfred Macintosh at dinner last Wednesday." James sneered and she faltered, her arms finally dropping to her sides.

"You saw that?"

"It was hard to miss when he got up on the table and started clucking like a chicken."

He was chuckling but she appeared irked that he'd caught her jinxing the bigot named Alfred from Ravenclaw. James liked the way she nervously tugged on a strand of her pretty red hair.

"Well yeah everyone saw that," she conceded, "But I didn't think anyone saw me wave the wand."

"I make it a habit to know when my girlfriend is being a hypocrite." James said.

"Hypocrite." Lily scoffed with a pointed glare, "I made Macintosh cluck a few times. You almost broke Rosier's arm tonight."

James' face darkened, "You heard him talking shite about you."

Lily tilted her head at James, "We still could've walked away."

James narrowed his eyes, "No one talks shite about my Head Girl."

Finally, fucking finally, she offered him her smile. Not just any smile, the one she shared with him under the bleachers after he won a quidditch game. The one that spoke a thousand words without Lily actually saying anything. The one that turned his world upside down.

James' heart was no match for that smile.

Again, hands seemed to clench around his heart and his chest felt tight as he stared into her eyes. The green color of her irises seemed to glow thanks to the burning embers of the fire. Lily shifted and her hand brushed his, her fingers wrapping lightly so she could squeeze his palm.

The only time his heart beat this fast was when he was running through he forests as Prongs or when he'd just won a quidditch game.

James should be heaving.

His lungs should be burning.

He should be sweating.

But instead, he is trapped with a racing heart from her gentle touch.

"We're the worst Head Boy and Girl that Hogwarts has ever seen." she whispered, "Both of us ending up in fights with other students…with teachers…" her eyes grew soft, "With each other."

James swallowed thickly and willed words to come out of his mouth, "You're the best Head Girl they've ever had, fuck whatever Rosier thinks, he's just mad because you caught him trying to steal from the potions store room."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Yes well, Professor Slughorn will be quite unhappy to hear all his droughts got smashed when you pushed Rosier into the shelves."

James shrugged, "I don't regret what I did, he was trying to hurt you."

Her hand reached up suddenly and brushed his cheek softly. James felt her fingers lift his chin lightly, almost playfully, she she could glare at him.

"And I don't regret punching you to get off of him." she mocked hitting his chin again, an action that, made James wrinkle his nose at her as her fingers lightheartedly traced alongside his jaw.

Her fingers stopped tracing his chin and fell back into her lap. James didn't know how to explain the feeling of comfort that left him as soon as she drew away but it was confusing. A part of him was nervous about the way a simple touch from her could send him soaring but another part of James couldn't get enough of her little touches, her fleeting glances and her pouted lips.

"Why didn't you walk away?" she repeated, her voice barely above a whisper, "why can't you ever just walk away?"

"I don't know."

Lily didn't look happy with his answer. James searched her face for the answers to her question but didn't know how to tell her the truth. Lily took a deep breath and dropped her face so that she was staring at her feet. Her red hair fell like a curtain around her face and James swallowed as she cut him off, trying to keep the curtain between them. The silence between them was thick and seemed to swallow James like a wave, the rushing echoing in his head.

Neither of them moved because neither of them could ever walk away first, it was a dance that they had perfected through the years. Even when they were fighting, they respected each other. Even when they were both being stubborn, they just wanted to make the other person happy. Even when James defended Lily she was somehow saving him instead.

She was his equal in every sense.

"Lily."

The hallway was filled with snoring portraits that weren't aware of the couple in the hallway. Lily's face was lit in fragments, little bits of light dancing across her face from the flames when she looked up from her shoes. Her eyes almost looked black in the darkness and her face was paled in comparison. James still thought she was beautiful, even wide eyed in the darkness of the charms corridor at ten at night. He still thought she was the kindest girl in the world even if she was the type of girl who punched James in the face when he wasn't listening. James stood there staring at Lily, remembering every reason his heart beat frantically for her.

"What?" she finally whispered, when he didn't say anything, "James why are you looking at me like that?"

"You asked why I can't walk away."

James pushed off the wall only to turn and face Lily, trapping her against the wall with his arms on either side of her head. Lily straightened, his hands brushing her shoulders and she stared him down. The electricity flickering between them was familiar and warm. Lily's pale cheeks flushed red as James licked his lips. One of Lily's hands reached up slowly and wrapped around his tie, tugging on is preemptively. James smirked at that move and her chin lifted in challenge.

James swallowed and then said very clearly, "I can't walk away from you."

"What?" she managed in a strangled tone.

"I won't ever be able to walk away," James whispered back, pressing his forehead to hers "I can't walk away when something or someone threatens the things I care most about."

"Is that so?"

"And of all the things I care about in this damn school—you're incredibly high on my list."

Lily's chest rose and fell slowly, "Are you going to kiss me yet?"

He tucked his fingers under her chin and met her gaze, "I could've walked away from Rosier but he was talking shite to the prettiest and kindest woman I know." he whispered and she glowed from his praise

Lily flicked his chest, "Wands and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me." she chanted like a first year.

James' nose brushed hers, "The right words can hurt anyone."

Lily smiled a soft smile, all for him, "James," she leaned closer, "The only person who has the power to break my heart is the person who holds it."

"Well you don't have to worry about that, my love." James carefully pressed his fingers against her cheek, "I won't walk away from you. Not now. Not ever."

And then, without any warning, Lily leaned in and pressed her lips against his. James' eyes flashed wide with surprise before he closed them with a snap and began kissing her back. Her nose bumped his glasses and her fingers wrapped into his hair, keeping him locked onto her mouth. James leaned into her and she shifted her weight so that she fell back against the stone of the wall. James followed all too willingly as her hands slid down from his hair to rest against his chest where his heart was erratically beating. Lily's fists balled up into his robes as they fell deeper and deeper into each other, the only sign of her desperation to get him closer.

It wasn't until his lips left her mouth to travel down her jaw, across her neck and onto her pulse point that James' fervent repetitive kissing felt the racing beating of Lily's heart.

James would love her forever, long after their hearts stopped beating.