I finished writing this prompt this because I couldn't sleep.

You know, the usual.

xxx

Petals

"Listen, I'm not saying that I'm a slut for James Potter." Lily told Sirius Black, "I'm just saying that if he asked me for a quick snog in the library stacks, I wouldn't say no."

Lily put down the little ceramic owl she'd picked up to examine half-heartedly. When she lifted her eyes to examine the expression on Sirius Black's face, she was thankful to see he wasn't laughing. Sure, he had a smirk painted onto his face as if Lily's nonchalance was too easy to see through, but at least he wasn't laughing at her desperation.

She was pretty sure she couldn't be more of a tragic failure of a flirt. She'd all but accosted James every chance she got. After all, she was seventeen and she had needs. Needs that involved James Potter's mouth firmly attached to hers in dark library corners. Unfortunately for Lily, her best friend was either really not that into her, or totally clueless to her signs.

"Ever thought of just snogging him?" Sirius leaned on one of the shelves, grey eyes sparkling in her direction, "throwing caution to the wind and all that romantic shit?"

"I refuse to kiss him first."

"You do want to kiss him, don't you?" Sirius deadpanned, "because if you don't make the first move, it'll take James three more years to catch on."

"I've been throwing myself at him for weeks."

Sirius lifted an eyebrow, "I know, but James needs clear directions."

Lily blew her red hair from her eyes, "I took my shirt off in front of him! After purposely spilling tea on myself, might I add! And two days ago in Potions, I asked him to check one of the freckles on my nose for dragon pox when he knows I have the dragon pox vaccination. I even tricked him into holding my hand by asking him for a palm reading! Nothing! Not one kiss!"

Sirius looked up like he was praying, "Merlin, you both are hopeless."

"I know!" She complained, "but how more obvious can I get besides holding a sign in front of his face that says 'kiss me toerag' in bold lettering?"

"Well incase the sign doesn't work out," Sirius barked an amused laugh before slapping Lily's back, "I do have inside connections, I could definitely make a snog in the stacks happen."

"I admire your confidence, Sirius." Lily shot her friend a look, "but James is thicker than pudding sometimes."

Sirius elbowed her side, "So, is this a formal invitation to play Cupid?"

"Shoot your arrow." Lily said, "since all the arrows I've been shooting have bounced off his thick skull."

"His skull is pretty thick." Sirius agreed, "but that's a part of his charm."

"I've felt like an idiot all term." She admitted as the pair moved on from their little back shelf into the main shop.

"You would've thought that taking your shirt off in front of James would've warranted some sort of reaction." Sirius chuckled as he looped arms with Lily, "besides dumbfounded."

Lily pointed to her stomach, "I still have a third degree burn from purposely dropping that tea on myself."

"You and James deserve each other," Sirius said, "you're both dramatic as fuck."

Lily sighed as they walked back out onto the Main Street of Hogsmede. The snowy town was like the backdrop to a Christmas card, with twinkling lights at every turn. Every corner had a witch or wizard selling homemade cider to the visiting Hogwarts students and a choir was singing by the pub.

"So, where is our best friend right now?" Lily asked Sirius as they made their way to the school, "avoiding me?"

"Most likely." Sirius sent a nasty glare to a group of Slytherins watching them from under the eaves of an old tea shop, "though, I reckon he's studying for Professor VanMeter's test tomorrow, something you should be doing."

Lily shook the paper bag in her hand, "I needed to get fudge for my mum's Christmas stocking."

Sirius' grey eyes sparkled intuitively, "excuses Evans. All you're doing is stalling the inevitable."

"Which is?"

"Spending all day staring at James instead of studying."

"Maybe," Lily said through clenched teeth, "if James finally snogged me, I wouldn't have to stare and daydream what it'd be like to have his hands all over me."

Sirius just made a choking sound, hating the turn the conversation had taken and switching the topic to what they were going to do over Christmas vacation. Lily couldn't give a damn about vacation since it meant five weeks without seeing James Potter's fine arse doing laps in the common room while he talked politics. Quite frankly, the only gift she cared to receive over Christmas was James Potter. The Gryffindor Quidditch Captain placed under mistletoe with a red bow atop his messy black hair sounded like a goddamn Christmas miracle.

There was nothing, nothing that Lily Evans wanted more than wanting to kiss James Potter before Christmas.

Of course, she'd snogged Nigel Babbington two months ago to try and forget the aching need to back James Potter behind a tapestry and snog him senseless. Babbington was a waste of time though because the whole time she snogged Nigel, she was only thinking of James.

James' hazel eyes.

James' black curls.

James' dark skin.

James' white smile.

James' everything, really.

Lily and Sirius got back to Hogwarts just after noon, giving Lily no excuse not to make her way to the library to study for her Divination test. Divination was a shit subject, in Lily's opinion, but she had to take an elective and Herbology was filled up.

Luckily, Lily and James suffered through Divination together as the only two Gryffindor seventh years in the class.

While the class was shit, James was not. They were both consistently getting in trouble for laughing too loudly when James purposely misread the tea leaves. They stayed up late making up dreams for their dream journals and seeing who could come up with the most ridiculous dreams. When Professor VanMeter picked on Lily for mocking fortune telling, James was always there to back up Lily's arguments. That only made her want to snog him more.

Lily settled into her usual seat in the library, just beyond the potions section and in between a row of unused Charms books and a row of dusty old home remedy brewing books. Studying was even worse than class and Lily slowly slid down farther in her chair until her back was slouched and her head was being held up by a balled fist. She was nodding off after only twenty minutes so Lily forced herself to stand up and stretch.

Leaning against the bookshelf closest to her little desk, she picked at the chipped nail polish on her fingers. Her knees crossed each other as she lifted onto her toes just to stretch her calves. The motion sent her into a little dancer spin, a move she'd subconsciously do thanks to three years of dance class with Petunia.

Lily was so lost in cursing Divination to Hell that she didn't notice someone enter her lucrative study spot. She looked up at the movement out of the corner of her eye to see James stalking quickly towards her.

Lily sat up straight, her smile spreading across her face at the sight of her heart's desire. He was wearing one of his favorite quidditch jerseys and a pair of black slacks. His hair was wild around his head, insinuating that he'd been messing with it recently. When his eyes met hers, five strides away, she was startled to see fire in them.

"James?"

And then his hands grabbed her cheeks before he rushed in to press his eager lips to hers. She was almost startled into a completely frozen state, had James not loosened his hands on her face. He let his fingers trail down her chin and behind her neck where he added a calming pressure to the back of her head. She hummed with certain relief, deepening the kiss as soon as her brain had wrapped around the fact that James was kissing her. James. James Potter was kissing her in the library stacks. Sirius had really come through as her right-hand man. She'd have to get him a really nice Christmas gift for the effort.

When James pulled back to break the kiss to try and talk, she pinched him insistently, "don't stop."

James chuckled before he leaned back in, taking her up for another whirlwind of sweet kisses that had Lily seeing stars behind her eyelids. She was so caught up in his taste, in his feel, that she didn't even worry about how well she was kissing him back. Kissing James was like flying fifty feet up in the air and plummeting to earth. Her stomach was twisting with excitement and her grin was felt with each kiss. James didn't seem to mind her constant smile, his tongue tracing the curve of her lips.

Lily's hands were entrapped in his hair now, the black curls wrapping haphazardly around her fingers. It was everything she'd wanted and more because he wasn't holding back. He was all pressure, everywhere. His hips pressed forward into hers. His teeth pressed down to pull against her lower lip. His thumbs pressed into Lily's thighs.

When James removed his mouth from Lily's, she acted as if she were breathing for the first time. Her chest rose and fell against his. He looked as breathless as she felt, like they'd both run a marathon. Lily stared up into his face with a nonsensical expression. His hands squeezed her tighter and his eyes were molten.

"What finally clued you in?" she kept her voice low, so as not to draw attention to how raspy it was.

"A little owl told me that you wouldn't say no to a quick snog in the library stacks."

"The owl got the message wrong."

"Oh?"

Lily brushed her nose to his, "I never said quick."

She had herself attached to his mouth in seconds, their bodies falling into each other even more. Lily's heart beat quickly in her chest as her back fell into the bookshelf and her tongue memorized the lines on the roof of his mouth. Spines from the books poked into her but she didn't mind, not when she'd been dreaming of this exact scenario for literal months.

Lily sighed happily as a strong feeling of contentment settled into place. She could feel James' magnetic pull in every sense as they leaned farther into the bookshelf like a couple of hormone-crazed fifth years. They didn't stop snogging until she was distinctly familiar with every indentation of his mouth James' hands were firmly attached to the curve of her arse and not moving away anytime soon.

When James only retreated a mere breath away, his forehead knocked playfully into hers. Her eyes were still closed, her face hot with the flush of young love. James' breath was scorching against her skin when he let out a sigh weighted with his own contentment. He placed one last kiss to her lips, softly bringing her back down from her high.

Lily's fingers unraveled from the strands of his hair to travel slowly down his lightly shadowed jaw. Her eyes might've been shut, but she could imagine the exact face he was giving her as she traced his face adoringly. James leaned back and she leaned forward to follow his enticing mouth.

"Was that an acceptable length of time for a snog in the library stacks?"

"Listen," she opened her eyes to capture his full attention, "I'm not saying I've been waiting for a terribly long time for you to catch the hint that I fancy you...but I wouldn't say no to you snogging me again just to make up for the time lost."