Disclaimer: The characters are the property of the amazingly talented J.K Rowling. I'm only borrowing the characters and world that she has so brilliantly created.

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"A Late Night in the Library" - a OneShot inspired by the fact that I work in a library.

It was Friday night and James Potter was studying in the library. Well, his girlfriend was really the one who was studying, not him. Lily was working on a Potions essay and he was pretending to look over his Charms notes. But whatever he was or wasn't doing, the fact remained that James was stuck in the library while his mates were no doubt having loads of fun without him.

Lily had asked several times if he was sure that he wanted to come to the library with her, and each time he had assured her that he did. He thought better of the idea now, but at the time, all he had wanted was to spend some time with her.

The pair of them had been extraordinarily busy during the school week, and hadn't gotten to see much of each other. Studying in the library on a Friday evening wasn't quite what James had had in mind when Lily had suggested at dinner that they spend some time together. Still, if it was the only way to be in her presence, he supposed it was better than nothing.

"How long are we staying here?" James asked, attempting to keep the boredom he felt from reflecting in his tone.

Apparently he hadn't done a very good job of hiding his feelings, because Lily looked up from her essay with a pointed expression gracing her pale face.

"James, I told you, I need to work on this essay," she sighed heavily. "You can go back to the common room if you want. I'll be all right here by myself."

"No, no," James hastily reassured her, while privately thinking that he would indeed like to leave. But he wasn't stupid enough to say so out loud to his girlfriend.

It wasn't that he wanted to leave her company; he just didn't want to be in the library on a Friday evening. He would much rather have been in the Gryffindor common room, sitting on a sofa in front of the fire with Lily snuggled into his side.

Lily gave him a small, grateful smile and returned to her essay. James glanced at his Charms notes, but he'd been staring at them for so long that his untidy scrawl seemed to slide together in one big jumbled mess.

So, he took out a quill and pretended to work on something constructive, while in actuality writing a list of things that rhymed with the words Lily, quaffle, and cat. As it turned out, not many words rhymed with quaffle (waffle). He had much better success with cat (rat, hat, bat, mat, sat, fat) and Lily (willy, nilly, silly, dilly, frilly, billy).

Then suddenly Lily stood up, the legs of her chair making a harsh scraping sound against the wooden floors and earning a stern glare from Madam Pince.

"I'm going to need your help with something," she announced airily, and then turned on her heel and strode towards the stacks. James watched her for a moment, enjoying looking at her bum for a moment, then stood up and followed her.

"Bloody hell, how far back are you going?" he muttered, more to himself than to Lily as the pair walked past row after row of towering book shelves.

"You'll see," was her cryptic reply.

When they reached the very last row of shelves, Lily turned down the row and walked to the far end. Lily frequently asked him to retrieve books from high shelves for her, but James had never been this far back in the library before.

"Which one do you need?" he asked, turning to look at the numerous books with their colored spines and faded titles. Merlin, there were a lot of books in this place.

"None of them," Lily replied simply, stepping close to him, and reaching up, pressed her mouth sweetly against his.

It took James only a heartbeat to process what was happening before he wrapped his arms tightly around her slight frame and happily kissed Lily back.

He groaned as she ran her hands through his hair, letting her fingernails gently scratch his scalp, just the way he liked. He pulled away from her mouth, and dropped his face to her neck, kissing the soft skin below her ear and making her gasp in appreciation.

He gently pushed her back against the nearest bookshelf, careful not to be too rough with her or make too much noise. Returning his lips to hers, he kissed her open mouthed, slowly.

It was quite thrilling really, snogging in the library, James decided. Especially this time of night, because only a few other students were around –a small group of Ravenclaws, the two of them, and Madame Pince, who was thankfully still behind her desk at the front of the library.

They continued like this, blissfully enjoying the feel and taste of each other, until Lily pulled away and rested her head against his shoulder. They were both breathing heavily.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything, but what brought this on?" James asked, his heart racing in his chest.

Lily blushed, her pale skin growing rosy. "I've always wanted to snog a bloke in the library. And well, we were in here and you were bored, so…"

"Some bloke? Just some bloke. Is that all I am to you, Evans?" he teased, running his Quidditch-calloused fingers through her already tangled hair.

"Don't be silly," was her reply as she righted his glasses and straightened his shirt a bit. "You know you're far more than just some bloke. You're…."she swallowed heavily before saying, "you're special."

James felt his heart skip a beat. Or two. "How special?"

She smiled softly. "Special enough to snog in the library. I wouldn't risk getting thrown out of here with just anyone."

He snorted and rolled his eyes at this response. "Thanks."

"I'm serious," she protested in earnest. "Ever since the start of term when I found you studying in here, I've wondered what if would be like to snog you all the way back here where no one can see us."

James felt is mouth drop open. "The start of term? That was ages ago! What have you been waiting for? You know you could have pulled me back here anytime. I would have been more than willing."

Lily shrugged indifferently, but her eyes were bright. "The right moment, I suppose. I wanted to make sure you were sticking around."

"Hate to break it to you, love," he told her fondly, "but you are never getting rid of me."

Without any warning, Lily threw her arms around his neck, very nearly causing him to stumble backwards into the bookshelves behind him. As he balanced the two of them, he pulled her closer, burying his face in her sweet smelling auburn hair.

"I love you," he whispered in her ear, the words slipping out without his having planned to say it. Merlin, he was a prat sometimes. He really should have chosen a more romantic setting than the Hogwarts library.

"I love you too," she replied instantly. He felt an overwhelming sense of affection wash over him that she hadn't hesitated to say those words back to him. He doubted that it would ever cease to amaze him that someone as wonderful as her could care about him.

"We'd better get back to our table," she told him reluctantly, pulling away, trailing her hands over his upper chest as she did so. "Otherwise Madam Pince might come looking for us."

James involuntarily shuddered and glanced quickly over his shoulder. He grabbed a few random books off a high shelf.

"We'll pretend we were looking for these," he explained in answer to her look of confusion.

He stole one more long and sweet kiss before they made their way back to their study table, hand in hand.

"Now, no more distractions, you," Lily gently warned him with a smile. "I really do have to work on this essay."

James smirked. "Might I remind you that you were the one who took me back there on false pretenses and then literally threw yourself at me?"

A sly smile worked its way onto Lily's face. "If you let me work in peace for a while, maybe there could be more such occurrences later."

James decided then and there that Friday evenings in the library weren't such a bad thing after all.

THE END

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