The fifth floor corridor was deserted; most of the students were either in their dormitories, or were already in the Great Hall for dinner. When Lily Evans spoke the password that would allow her entrance into the prefect's bathroom on the fifth floor, she wasn't too concerned about getting caught with nothing but a thin negligee under her school robes. She was more interested in getting inside before she froze her arse off.

She opened the door gently, walked in and bolted it behind her. There was a faint sloshing sound coming from the far side of the room and she stopped so that her eyes could adjust to the dim light. Placing her hands against the wall so as not to trip over anything, she removed her robe and hung it on the rack by the storage closet near the door. Two more tentative steps and she found herself looking right at James Potter where she knew he would be sitting in the bath.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed with wide eyes, inadvertently sending a splash of water in her direction.

Neither spoke for several seconds; Lily was too busy taking in his exposed appearance while he was staring at her with utter disbelief. James was the first to recover, forgoing any questions relating as to why she was there when he was obviously occupying the bath and went directly for what he knew would make her squirm.

"Are you gawking at my chest?" he asked, raising both arms and clasping his hands behind his head.

Lily gaped at him for five more seconds before bringing her eyes up to a place right off the side of his face.

"I'm not gawking…I'm…acknowledging," she answered, swallowing hard as she was drawn to the muscles on his abdomen that shook with laughter.

"You're gawking," he simply stated, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

Her eyes shot up to look at him and she couldn't keep a soft moan from escaping her. He was looking at her as if he wanted nothing more than to make her clothes disappear on the spot; if he had his wand with him, she's sure he would have done just that. She was suddenly reminded of the thin material of her nightdress, aware but not fully prepared for what was undoubtedly crossing his mind. His tongue stuck out and ran across his bottom lip, causing her body temperature to rise and her legs to clamp closed where she stood. She bit the inside of her cheek when he reached out to pick up his towel and she practically swooned as he began getting out of the water.

He was perfect.

His body wasn't bulging at the seams with muscles nor did he look like something out of a bad war movie; he was simply very well defined in all the right places. Firm, tanned muscles from hours of playing Quidditch outdoors decorated his trim body, accentuating his shoulders, his chest, his abdomen, oh God, his legs and everywhere else in between. He was wet and slick and so achingly hard that it was making her legs shake in anticipation.

As he wrapped the towel around his waist, the white material tenting impressively in front, she stifled a moan, willing herself to look away. When that failed, she urged her legs to walk back and away from him before she did something rash but they too betrayed her and she was left looking like a fish out of water, opening and closing her mouth at the scene before her. By the time he looked up at her, he smiled seductively, knowing full well what he was doing to her. As he took a few steps forward, all sense of reality came rushing back to her and she closed her mouth where she had been mopping the floor with her jaw.

When he stood just inches in front of where she stood, her heart fluttered and she held her breath. She wanted him. She craved him. His chest touched the front of her nightdress with one more step, the water enough to make the thin material see-through and she finally became coherent enough to put two excusatory sentences together.

"Potter, why the bloody hell would you leave that door unbolted?" she ranted. "It's obscene…it's negligent…it's inconsiderate, it's…it's…" she trailed off as he got even closer, his lips practically taking her ear in his mouth.

"Enough to make you want to rip this towel off my waist?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

Her body shivered as his hot breath moved over her ear and the back of her neck. She heard him lick his lips one more time and she couldn't hold back the image of what that tongue could be doing to her if he simply got closer.

As if reading her mind, he said: "Tell me you didn't know I would be here," in that sensual husky voice he used before.

If she was completely honest with him, she would have to admit that she did know he would be there. That information became available to her in their sixth year at Hogwarts when he became Quidditch captain and gained access to the prefect's bathroom. He went up to her early in the year and told her that if she ever needed to relieve some stress, she could find him in the same place at the same time after every practice. For reasons she was unwilling to divulge to him, she had held on to that bit of information for when she felt confident enough to rise to the occasion.

And that Tuesday, one hour after Charms, and a half an hour before dinner, she knew the time had come to take him up on that offer.

She had had a hellish month. Revising for NEWTS was beginning to take its toll on her, and although she had several weeks before the end of year exams, Lily Evans was not one to leave her studies for the last minute. To make things worse, her boyfriend of four months had broken up with her two weeks prior, siting irreconcilable differences although what he really meant was that he wanted the freedom to bang anything and everything with two legs without feeling guilty about it. It was fine by her; he was nothing special in bed anyway.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she answered as she pressed her breasts fully against his chest.

He closed his eyes and groaned, his head rolling back, but he remained poised. His hands didn't seek out her body, and he didn't say a word. James Potter was clearly composed enough to reign in his impulses but she knew he wanted her; it couldn't have been more evident. She felt his erection twitch against her stomach when she pressed up against him, she felt and heard his groan reverberate through his body and she saw the way his whole body tensed, the muscles flexing underneath his wet skin.

"Lily," he practically pleaded when she didn't move away.

"James," she moaned at the sound of his voice.

His eyes shot open, but before he could say anything, Lily reached up and pulled his head down to her, devouring his lips with her own. It didn't take long for him to respond to the assault and slide his tongue into her mouth, both fighting for the upper hand. Her hands snaked through his hair as his hands reached down to cop a feel of her arse. She in turn lifted one leg and wrapped it around his waist, her hands massaging his shoulders, her fingernails digging into his skin each time his erection hit just the right spot.

She began rocking her hips against him, reaching for what she wanted and helping herself to what she needed. With a grunt, he picked her up and walked forward until her back was firmly against a column. She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, and as he attacked her neck with sweet, wet kisses, she began to get impatient, her body moving up and down on his erection in rhythm with the onset of his tongue, the white towel around his waist the only barrier between her and her goal. Her breathing was coming out in short little pants, the sounds she was making succeeding in driving him up the wall.

"Fuck Lily, do you even need me?" he asked, mesmerized by her rocking and loving every minute of it.

"James," she moaned when his hand reached under her nightdress and cupped her breast.

When he caught her hard, tight nipple between his fingers and began to rub and pinch and pull, she began to whimper and her rocking became erratic. She cried out when he ripped the nightdress from her body and without warning, replaced his hand with his mouth, taking her hardened nipple in between his teeth and biting down gently. She jerked hard against him one more time, her nails digging a hole in his shoulder, her body shaking with the powerful orgasm that shook her entire body. He continued his caresses until her legs went limp around his waist and her breathing slowed down.

Lily hadn't expected to go so fast with James, but one look at him in the bathtub was all it took to get her wet and wanting. He certainly didn't seem to have any objections to the speed they were going, and judging by the size of his erection, he was more than ready to move on. With trembling fingers, she reached in between their bodies, and yanked on the towel that up to that point had been covering what she sought. He bit back a groan when the towel fell to the ground and finally, there was absolutely nothing in their way.

"Lily," he panted, placing his forehead against hers. "I…I…can't do this…if…" he began.

"James, please" she pleaded when she sensed hesitation on his part.

"I don't want…I don't want this to be some fling," he whispered. "I…really…I really care about you, Lily."

"I know, James. I know," she reassured him, fully aware by then that he wouldn't do anything to harm her. "I need you, please," she begged again, tightening her hold on his waist, his erection positioned at the tip of her moisture.

He cursed under his breath, wanting every bit of what she was offering, but wanting to do things the right way. He had stopped so much as glancing at other girls in the corridors since his sixth year; in his eyes, Lily Evans was the only girl on the face of the planet. But the way she breathed against his neck, the bereft little sounds coming out of her mouth, the hot moisture between her legs; it was all to much for him to handle.

With one more look into her eyes, he kissed her hard as she guided him inside of her. She hissed and threw her head back in pleasure while he suckled her neck, trying to pull himself together and not end the evening early. She was so wet and tight that he had to call on every ounce of restraint to keep from thrusting fast and hard into her. This was Lily, his Lily, and he needed to let her know that he wasn't simply after her to get between her legs. She let him control their movements at first as he set a slow and torturous pace. He held her firmly against the pillar with one hand, letting her prop herself up on his waist with her legs, while his other hand left a sizzling trail from her breast all the way down to where they were joined.

As if his thrusts weren't already making her crazy, one flick of his thumb on the tiny bundle of nerves between her legs was all it took to break her again. She didn't hold back that time, screaming out his name as if her soul were being ripped from her body. The spasms surrounding his cock were all coming too hard and too fast so that with three hard thrusts, he followed her over the edge and spilled himself inside of her.

She continued to ride him, letting the waves of absolute pleasure wash over her. She had never felt so spent; she had never felt more alive. What James had offered her as a flirtatious proposition the year before turned out to be the most amazing experience of her life. Justin, her ex-boyfriend, had never filled her so completely; he had never so much as made her come once in all the time they were together. James was still holding her plush against his body, his head resting on her shoulder. One hand was cupping her bottom, the other was resting on the wall, the only reason they were still standing. When she disentangled her legs from his waist and began righting herself, he looked up at her, a frown forming on his handsome face. He pulled out of her and she stood awkwardly before him, her legs feeling like jelly and her head still spinning. His hand still rested on the column when she reached up and kissed his chin. That single endearment brought a smile to his face and he watched her as she walked towards her discarded nightdress.

"I'll go wash up and change into something decent before going down to dinner," she said to him more out of feeling odd than to give him any information. He nodded his head in assent and walked back towards the edge of the bathtub where his glasses were sitting neatly on top of his robes.

"Sit with me at dinner," he called to her. It was something between a question and a statement, James was too afraid to turn around and look at her reaction but was hopeful that she might actually agree to join him.

She was silent for a while as she watched him fidget beside the bathtub with nothing but an uneasy expression his face. Hadn't he showed her how much he cared? She had approached him earlier in the evening with one goal in mind: to relieve her stress and find out once and for all if she could ever have any feelings for him. What she found out that day was that she cared about the one guy she had been fighting against far more than she let herself believe was remotely possible.

"I can't tonight. I have to sit with a few second years I'm tutoring right after dinner," she responded. He nodded again, and she noticed the way his shoulders slumped a little at her explanation. "I can meet you tomorrow if you want," she added right before she reached the door. "I hear you have another practice. Perhaps I'll see you before going down to dinner."

She didn't see his face light up as she walked out and he didn't see the flush creep up her neck at her last statement. What they did see however, was how each had a glow to everything they did that hadn't been there before their meeting and how neither could stop smiling all through dinner. James knew he had finally gotten through to Lily's heart and Lily realized for the first time that perhaps James was in it for the long run. She would certainly have to look into it further and what better place to start than in a bath.