Winner

A/N: I don't own anything.

James had known exactly where she would be, and yet he was still in surprised at the sight of her.

Lily Evans sat on the ledge of the wall that ran around the side of the Black Lake closest to the castle. Her pale shoulders glowed in the moonlight and her red hair fell in a curtain around her face. Her back was hunched over and her legs were swinging back and forth, heels just barely hitting against the brick of the wall, naked toes stretching to skim the water. There was a flower in her hand, some sort of yellowy thing with a dark blue center. She was slowly tugging the petals from their stem and dropping them into the water.

James finally spoke after watching her a moment, tucking his hands into the pockets of his plain gray pajama trousers.

"He loves me, he loves me not?" His voice resonated between Lily and himself. She jumped slightly and turned around. "Bit of a heavy game for one o'clock in the morning, yeah?"

"James," Lily replied, her soft voice making him shiver. "You scared me," she stated, ignoring his jibe.

"My apologies. But really, Lil, questioning relationships is not the brightest thing to be doing in the early hours of the morning."

"The fact that you even know of this game has me worrying about you, Potter," Lily said, turning back to her flower as James sat down beside her. His toes dipped far deeper into the water that hers, which were crossed at the ankle. Her lace camisole fit loosely against her torso and her sleeping shorts only covered a sliver of her thighs.

"How do you think I know it's not the smartest thing to be doing at night? Come to think of it, though, I don't know who this bloke is." He turned to look at her and saw her blushing. "Lily Evans, I'm appalled you didn't tell me."

"I don't have to tell you everything, James," she said, averting her green eyes from his piercing look.

"That doesn't stop you from it, though. Reckon I know more about Matthew Hansen or Richie Case than even Marlene."

Lily's blush deepened. "You wouldn't be wrong. Knowledge which you might want to stop flaunting, by the way. Marlene gets very jealous, you know."

"What, of you and I being mates? Of our instant and irreplaceable connection?"

Lily laughed and waved him off. A short but comfortable silence ensued.

"So, you've still got three petals left. Which option are you on?"

The redhead reached forward and plucked another petal. "He loves me."

"Ah, we have a winner, then!" James declared, his eyes dancing.

Lily half-heartedly returned his smile. "I'm not so sure."

"Oh, come on, Lily. No time to be modest."

"I'm not, I swear it. I just reckon this bloke isn't very interested."

"Is he blind, deaf and mute?" James inquired seriously. Lily shoved his shoulder.

"Sometimes I think rather so."

"He better have a splendid body then, or I'll be upset to be put to shame after years of pursuit."

Lily smiled and looked down at her flower. She plucked off the penultimate petal and let it float gently down into the water, joining the others in a mass of spectacular yellow. Before she could displace the last from its position, however, James covered her hand with one of his and snatched the stem from her hand with his other. Quickly, but with great care, he tucked the remains of the flower behind her ear, pushing the strands of hair away from her face as he did so.

"A reminder, then, of this supernatural bloke who seems to have won over the magnificent Lily Evans. I wish him the best of luck."

"Me, too," Lily replied.

"Merlin knows he'll need it," James quipped.

Lily smiled half-heartedly and looked down into the water. James looked at her profile for a few seconds before he himself turned away, watching their feet swing in tandem towards and away from the wall.

"Lily?"

"James?"

"Do you remember—"

"Oh, please don't. You know I hate these."

James sent her a look that was a mix of amusement and confusion. "What are you on about?"

"These 'remember when?' stories. They always involve you pulling some stunt and me being a complete wench towards you and the tales positively make me cringe."

James laughed a little louder than Lily would have liked, given they were out way past curfew and way out of bounds for this time of night. But she didn't say anything, instead savoring the sound of his laughter.

"I think we're both at fault in those stories, Lil," James assured her.

"Doesn't make me feel better for how I acted when I was younger," Lily countered.

"Me neither, but at least we're cringing together, yeah?" the Head Boy nudged her side with his elbow.

Lily grinned at him. "Yeah."

"Anyway," James said, "what I was saying was this: do you remember that time last year when I was throwing the galleons into the fountain in Hogsmeade through that ring of fire that Sirius made?"

Lily shot him a dark look. "And you said that if you made all twenty through the hoop that you thought you were entitled enough to steal all the money from the fountain that donates its proceeds to St. Mungo's?"

James caught her glare. "Hey, it was better than drunkenly throwing the Pigmy Puffs through the ring of fire after we won against Ravenclaw in fifth year."

"Why need there be a ring of fire at all?"

"My point is that on that day last year, you said that if I made all twenty in you'd go out with me, as long as I wasn't stealing money from the needy."

"Well, someone had to stop you from being an idiot. I couldn't very well have let you just rob the sick of all that money. You're a very good aim, you know."

"But I didn't make all twenty."

"No."

"Missed on the eighteenth shot."

"You did."

"You wanted me to make it through to the end."

"I didn't."

"You wanted to go out with me."

"I did not, James Potter."

James reached forward and gently plucked the flower from where he had placed it in her dark red locks just moments ago. Lily watched as he twirled it once around between his thumb and forefinger before he detached the very last petal from its stem.

"She loves me," he said, looking up at Lily. She looked back at him searchingly for a few moments.

"I think we should stick to fancying, for now," Lily responded quietly.

It was Lily, really, who leaned in first. Their lips met for an extraordinary moment. It was mind-numbingly, breathtakingly, phenomenally…awkward.

Lily burst out laughing, her lips still against his.

"No," James said, pulling back. "Absolutely not. Stop laughing!"

"I'm sorry," Lily insisted, although it looked to James as if she was rather not. "It was just so…anticlimactic. I would be more disappointed if I were you, though. Poor James. After four years it just doesn't click."

"Well, of course it didn't! This was rather unexpected. And it's late! A bloke needs more warning to make a kiss spectacular, you know."

"Is that what you tell all the witches? 'Hold, please, I need a moment to prepare to make this snog spectacular.' Because, really, James, if the rumors are false I'm going to be sorely dissa—"

She never got to finish her sentence. Evidently, James had gathered enough time to prepare.

And the kiss was spectacular. It was heated and gentle and passionate and everything that anyone would want their second-first kiss with the one they fancy to be. When breathing became necessary, James pulled back just slightly, his eyes looking directly in hers, their noses still touching. She felt a shiver run up her spine.

"She loves me?" He asked again.

"Don't push your luck," Lily warned softly, before leaning in again.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Feel free to tell me what you think.