Hey all! In lieu of working on "The Man Behind The Mask," I've finished up this cute one-shot. Hope you enjoy! I'll get to TMBTM soon, I promise.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Sigh.

"Lily! Would you—?"

"No."

"But what about—?"

"No."

"Even if I—?"

"Potter. What will it take for you to stop this incessant harassment of my person?"

"Well, Lily, I'd be rather chuffed if you'd just agree to—"

"Other than a date. I should have specified. Although, really, I'd think you would have gotten it through your thick skull by now that I don't want to date you. It couldn't possibly turn out well."

"I don't think it's quite fair of you to say that, since you've never been with me on anything that could even remotely be construed as a date. You won't give me even a hint of a chance, so how can you suggest that in the event—"

"The extremely unlikely event," she corrected.

"—that we do go out, it will be bad?" he continued.

"Because I know that it won't go well."

"You can't know that."

"Of course I can, Potter. How often do you tell me that I am the 'most bloody brilliant, gorgeous, snoggalicious, marvelous, stupendous witch that ever there was'? With all of those marvelous qualities, surely I can know that a date between the two of us would be a complete and utter fiasco without the unfortunate event ever having to transpire." She asked, calmly.

"Prove it."

"Prove it?"

"Yes. If you are so sure that I can't possibly win you over, prove it to me, and I will cease, once and for all – yes, you can get this in writing if you want – to ask you out," James offered.

"And to bother me in general?"

"It seems that my mere presence bothers you…"

"Potter."

"But yes, I will stop deliberately annoying you in any and all circumstances. Was that a snort, dear Lilykins? Rather undignified for a lady, don't you think?"

"Who are you to talk about dignity? I was merely expressing the fact that I'll believe it when I see it. But I suppose it's the best option available at the mo', so I'll take it," she said diplomatically.

"Quite. Now, how are you going to set about proving to me that the love of my life – namely, you – is not compatible with me?"

"Simple."

And with that, she quickly leaned in and touched her mouth to his. Needless to say, this action startled James, but, with all his Quidditch training, his reflexes were quick and he began to kiss her back almost immediately.

The kiss was also quite a shock to Lily. She had thought she had the whole thing carefully planned: she would give Potter a light snog, which she herself would obviously be disgusted by, because he was an arrogant toerag. And she would make it as un-enjoyable as possible for him, so he wouldn't want to snog her again. As she said: simple!

What wasn't so simple was the fact that he was, well, a bloody magnificent kisser. He carefully exerted pressure with his lips, now on her top lip, now on the bottom. His tongue was expertly flicking her bottom lip – so expertly that her resolve could not hold, and she opened her mouth to let him in. He didn't taste like the remnants of breakfast, as she had expected, but rather like Bailey's Irish Cream and cinnamon. Why hadn't she tried this solution earlier? Wait, solution to what…? Oh!

With that thought, Lily broke away. To her dismay, she was rather flushed and breathless, and she was displeased to note that Ja—Potter was sporting a devilish[ly handsome] grin.

"That… did not go as expected."

"Been expecting this to happen, have you? Wish you'd have let me know, I could have been significantly calmer all week."

"Shut up, Potter. That's not what I meant."

"Well, what do you mean then, how was it supposed to go?"

"It was supposed to be repulsive! You are supposed to be repulsive. It was supposed to be so repulsive that it would prove to you that we could never work! Dammmit, now I have to think of something else to prove it to you."

James' smirk had turned into an open-mouthed look of disbelief.

"Are you kidding me? Were you experiencing the same snog as I just was, or was it completely one-sided? No, I think you must've felt it—"

"No, I—"

James kept talking over Lily. "—because otherwise you would have told me how 'repulsive' I am, and you would have stormed of in a huff already. So, therefore, you enjoyed it. And you're scared of that. I get it, I know I was a git to you for ages, but I really have changed, Lily. I know, that sounds like codswallop, but only because you've never paused to really consider the fact that it might be true. Just like you've never paused to consider the fact that we would be bloody fantastic together. If that kiss didn't prove it to you, I don't know what could."

Finally, Lily did take a moment to pause. She considered the James from 5th year and compared that egotistic bully to the James that stood before her now, beseeching her—not harassing her—to give him a chance. She had meant for the kiss to prove to him that a relationship would be rubbish. Instead, she had proved to herself that she'd been stupid to refuse him for so long.

Having come to such a conclusion, she smiled shyly at James—she didn't have to call him Potter anymore—and said: "I guess this isn't as simple as I thought."