Disclaimer: I don't own a single thing, not even the picture (found it online), save the storyline.

Warning: It's a little bit hot coming down to the end. Wait, amendment, my friend thinks it's a little bit hot coming down to the end.

Hiccups

The beginning of spring was greeting Hogwarts, its fingers curling around it like a long lost friend, bringing a bit of warmth to the place. The snow had melted, forming huge mud puddles that if one were unfortunate enough to slip in them they'll end up covered head to toe in it. It was still cold, but considerably warmer than it had been during the holiday season. Though still, not much students were out an about, gallivanting across the grounds as yet.

In the vast library of Hogwarts, there was one Lily Evans studying with one Alice Prewett for a charms exam that would be given in a few days' time. All was quiet save for the scratching of quills of someone turning the page of a book.

However, the comfortable silence was quickly broken as a rather strange squeaking sound was emitted from Lily's mouth.

Alice looked up in confusion, and Lily blushed.

"What was that?" Alice asked amusedly.

"I don't- hic- know," Lily replied, still blushing.

"You've got a case of the hiccups!" Alice squealed, laughing at the look on Lily's face.

She hiccupped again, her blush deepening. "Well help me get rid of them! I very well can't- hic- bloody go around like this all day!" Lily hissed angrily.

Alice laughed even harder at her best friend, and Lily attempted to cross her arms and look sulky, but the effect was ruined as she hiccupped again. Alice's laughing fit continued for another minute or so before Lily said to her dryly, "Are you going to help me or not?"

She nodded, though she still looked thoroughly entertained at the situation her best friend was in.

"C'mon; I'm sure there's a book on hiccup cures in here."

So Lily obediently followed Alice through the labyrinth of towering bookshelves, until they came across the 'H' section. They split up and started looking for any book they could find about the topic. After about five minutes, Alice found a small book entitled, 'Everything You Need to Know about Hiccups.'

"Let's see," she said as she thumbed it through, "There's a whole list of things you could do to cure them. Oh! And did you know that the average witch or wizard hiccups at least 63 times before stopping?"

"I don't really- hic- care about the facts Alice. Just borrow the- hic- book and let's get out of here."

"Okay, okay," Alice said, "Don't get your knickers in a twist."

She had to dodge a quill that Lily threw at her.

The ten minutes found the girls in the kitchens, with a jar of peanut butter, a bottle of vinegar and a jar of sugar. Lily looked at the objects in confusion.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with those?" she asked.

"It says here that you're supposed to take a tablespoon of each. Each of them by itself is an individual cure, so we'll do it one at a time."

"Okay… if you- hic- say so," Lily said cautiously.

She reached for the vinegar first, pouring it out in to a spoon. Taking a deep breath she pushed it in to her mouth and made a face. After forcing it down, she quickly grabbed the pumpkin juice the house elves brought for her. It was complete silence for a few minutes.

"Hic!"

"Well I guess that didn't work," Alice giggled. Lily gave her a look as to say, 'you think?' "Try the others."

Lily continued trying the different remedies to get rid of it. She blew in to a paper bag, but that didn't work. She held her breath until she was blue in the face, but that also didn't work. She drank from the opposite side of a cup, but only succeeded in throwing it all over her uniform, procuring another laughing fit from Alice. She drank four glasses of water but the only thing that did was send her to the loo. Alice tried to scare her, but jumping out from behind a statue and yelling 'boo' wasn't exactly the most effective. After half an hour, they had tried nearly all the solutions but it was to no avail. Lily's hiccups just wouldn't go.

The two girls were sitting in the empty Gryffindor common room, where Lily was still hiccupping and Alice was looking to see if there was anything else in the book to cure hiccups.

"None of this is- hic- working!" Lily cried angrily.

"Don't worry Lils," Alice said soothingly, rubbing between her shoulder blades. "You haven't tried sitting upside down and counting backwards from twenty as yet. Maybe that one will work. If not I could always show you that picture of me at my cousin Molly's wedding," Alice shivered. "If anything was scary, it was the outfit mum made me wear."

"Alright," Lily said exasperatedly. "I'll try it."

And so she did. Her feet were where her head was minutes before and vice versa. She closed her eyes and started counting.

20… 19… 18… 17… 16… 15… 14… hic!

She suddenly lost her balance and flipped over, landing painfully on her bum.

"Careful Evans; don't want you to damage that pretty little face of yours, now do we?" a voice said jokingly from above.

Lily turned around and saw James Potter standing there in all his messy haired glory.

Over the past couple of months with the two of them working as heads together, they had become much more civil and cordial to one another. Lily realized that James had indeed grown up and became more mature. The still fought of course- they wouldn't be Lily and James if they didn't- but it was much less brutal and much more fun. Lily found that she loved their daily battle of the wits. In fact, she considered James to be one of her closest friends now. Even though her feelings at times were slightly more than platonic…

No, she chided herself, bad Lily. James Potter is just a friend. You had three years' worth of chances and you turned them down flat. You don't like him or his stupid hazel eyes or his stupid messy hair that you just want to run your hands through to see if it's as soft as it looks… DAMMIT! Bad Lily! You don't like James sodding Potter! YOU DON'T!

The person, who was the source of Lily's confliction, albeit blissfully oblivious, held out a hand to help her up.

"So why is Head girl falling at my feet? I mean honestly, I know I'm handsome and all Evans, but that is no reason to throw yourself at me," he said, hazel eyes glinting with mirth from behind his glasses and his lips twitching, just threatening to release the laughter from within.

Hmm… he has nice lips… I wonder what it would be like to- Focus Lily! You do not and cannot like James Potter!

Lily dusted off her skirt, a blush just itching to make itself known on her cheeks. "You and I both know that tha- hic- that's not true."

This time James really did laugh. "I'm guessing someone had the case of the hiccups," he teased.

Lily just nodded whilst smiling sheepishly, her face feeling as though it was on fire.

"James, you stay here with Lily; I'm going to run up stairs and get that photo of mine to scare her," Alice said, before she turned back to Lily "I promise you Lils, you'll have nightmares about the thing."

Alice left the common room and jumped up the stairs while James sat down next to Lily, placing his arm behind her on the couch. Her blush got even deeper when his hand accidently brushed her shoulder. Merlin, she was acting like some pre-pubescent schoolgirl who had her first crush. Get a grip Lily, she mentally told herself. She prayed that he didn't notice her rather obvious flush. Although, judging from that smirk of his, he probably noticed.

Probably. He could have noticed something else and just chose to smirk at it.

Alright, he noticed.

"Something wrong Evans?" he asked innocently.

"Everything is just- hic- peachy," she snapped.

Lily was looking anywhere but his face which was far too close for comfort. She was positive that he could hear her heart hammering away in her chest. The common room was completely empty save for the two of them. His smirk got bigger. She nearly jumped out of her skin when he casually draped his arm over her shoulders. And she just about had a heart attack when he shimmied closer to her and asked, "You sure Evans?" His cool breath caressed her face. His eyes were like molten pools of gold in front of her.

"Y- hic- yes." Except, her voicing wasn't biting like she wanted it to be; it was all breathy like. She cursed the knowing look that came in to his eyes.

"You know what I heard was a good cure for hiccups?" James murmured softly, his face just inches away from hers. Lily's eyes flickered down to his lips and then back up again to his eyes. She realized that if she just leaned in a bit she would be kissing him.

"N-" But before she could finish that one word, the one little, insignificant monosyllable, James Potter was kissing her.

At first, Lily was in shock, but it took her all of one second to close her eyes, throw her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, and return the kiss just as enthusiastically.

So this is what it felt like to kiss and to be kissed by James Potter… Lily could get used to this. His lips were firm, but gentle and yielding at the same time. She could smell the scent of cinnamon and cologne coming off him. He lightly nipped at her lower lip before running his tongue across it, demanding entrance to her mouth, which Lily gave him quite easily as their tongues battled for dominance. One of his hands slipped from her shoulder and slid down to her waist while the other got itself lost in her vibrant red hair. Lily's hands were playing with his hair at the nape of his neck. She vaguely realized that yes, it was as soft as it seemed, and she was determined to make it even messier. He gently pushed her back down against the couch, trapping Lily between it and himself. She relished the feeling of his solid form against her. However, humans unfortunately need oxygen so Lily pulled apart from his wonderful mouth- which then began doing sinfully delicious things to her neck- and gasped for breath. James on the other hand seemed to have an endless supply of the stupid gas as he peppered hot little open mouthed kisses all across her jaw and neck, not once needing to break contact from her skin, something that she was very happy for. She pulled him back to her mouth where they continued to kiss until he broke away this time, panting.

His fore head rested against hers and through the post snog-fest haze in his mind, he recalled that he had never truly seen anything more beautiful in his entire life than Lily Evans with her slightly swollen lips, flushed skin, mussed red hair and bright green eyes. He brushed a stray piece of hair away from her forehead and pressed his lips to it.

"That," he said breathlessly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "That is how you get rid of hiccups."

They both sat up, Lily fixing her hair and trying to smooth out her shirt, while James fiddled with his tie to put it back in order. He didn't worry about his hair. It wouldn't look that different anyway. It was always a mess.

At that very moment, Alice came bounding down the stairs with a big photo album tucked underneath her arms. However, once she took a glance at their slightly rumpled appearances and stopped in her tracks.

"What did I miss?" she asked, sounding slightly put out.

Lily giggled and shot James a sly grin. "Oh nothing much Alice dear; James just helped me get rid of my hiccups."

~Fin~

Hello my lovelies! Hope you enjoyed that little L/ J fic. I came up with the idea when I was suffering from a horrible case of never ending hiccups. Unfortunately, mine didn't go away like this with the boy I fancy snogging me and whatnot. Nope, my brother ended up scaring the hell out of me. See? Not even as pleasant as this. Ah well. C'est la vie.

Until next time.

~ twilightstargazer
:)