StarblazeAndSolaris SAS SolStar

Warning!: Pure and undiluted emotional fluff. Totally plotless.

Sol: Again, blame the boredom. And the boredom exists due to the physics homework, so everyone blame the physics teacher!

Star: We do that anyway. Readers, try to enjoy what Sol believes passes for romance.

Genre: Romance/Suspense

Rating: T

Disclaimer: We own it! We wish.

Brazil Nuts.

She is looking at me. I know it. I can feel it, a tingling sensation down my spine, so that it is all I can do not to shiver. Does she have any idea what she does to me, just by looking at me like that? Even though we have become friends recently, I struggle to hide my attraction. Not just my physical attraction, mind, but the way everything about her is a magnet for me. The way that, when her face relaxes, she still seems to be smiling slightly, as though she can never let go of her laughter completely. The way she growls, deep in her throat when she is really, really irritated. The way she frowns when she concentrates, which makes her a little scary to the poor midget first years. The way she is unfailingly kind, to the point that her friends tell her she should get angry on her own behalf for once. The way she will never fight for her own rights, but if a friend is in trouble she is there, fired up and ready. The way she never gets into meaningless arguments: when she disagrees with something someone says she simply says nothing at all. The way she reads her book at breakfast and ignores anything and everything in favour of cereal and words, eating them up as though she would starve without them. The way she can hold a book in her left hand, flicking the pages across with thumb and little finger, even as she spoons food from the bowl or plate to her mouth with the other. The way she doesn't go looking for attention, especially mine, but hell does she get it. The look she gives me now isn't even a flirty look, or a loving look, or an admiring look. She is studying me intensely, like I am some kind of fascinating book, as though she can read my every thought if she looks long and hard enough. Merlin, I hope not, my thoughts can become pretty dirty, especially when I think about her. Although, if she could, she might be able to see how stupendously in love with her I am...

I really should pay more attention to my transfiguration essay. McGonagall will kill me if I don't get it finished for tomorrow. But somehow, turning furniture into large mammals and back again is not quite as enthralling as thoughts of her beautiful red hair, her deep, emerald eyes...

Oh no. She is coming over here. Walking towards me, across the heads' common room. Oh Merlin, save me now.

"James?" Did I mention we were on a first-name basis now? My name sounds so good rolling off her tongue, floating out through her lips... Okay, dirty thoughts stopping now, before I start drooling like Sirius as Padfoot.

"Yes Lily?" Her name is almost as beautiful as she is...

"Look at me a moment." Huh? I'm always looking at her, and I'm not about to turn down the opportunity to stare, so I raise my head to look at her. She is still staring, looking straight into my eyes for a couple of moments, but I can feel myself drowning in her eyes, so I look back down before I lose all my self-restraint. But then... Merlin save me, her hand is on my face. And it's staying there. Her palm is cupping my cheek lightly, silky skin caressing the five o'clock shadow.

"James, I want you to look at me. As in, my eyes. Just for a minute. Please?" How can I resist, when she asks me for anything? Especially as her little finger is moving slightly against my neck, and her hand is tugging me round to face her. I meet her eyes again, watching as her gaze moves from one of mine to the other. Her finger is doing the moving thing again, this time with her ring finger joining in. Uh oh. I feel my face flush slightly as other parts of me start to react, but her eyes have mine pinned to her face, so I can't look away. She still isn't talking, just watching me. Her fingers have stopped their movement, giving me a moment of relief, but that is when she decides to run her thumb back and forth across my face. All is lost. I am, after all, only a teenage boy. I gulp loudly, mouth dry. A ghost of a smile flickers across her features, weakening my resolve. It's all I can do not to catch her shimmering hair in my hand, to hold the back of her neck and pull her head towards mine... I gulp again, gripping the fabric of my trousers at the knees. Bad thoughts, very bad. Still, she is studying me. Can she not see that I am in my own personal hell here? I really need a cold shower... Or a nice long stint in my room, with plenty of silencing charms up. Except, she has moved slightly closer to me, eyes still affixed to mine, eyebrows drawn inwards a little in a frown of concentration.

"James?" A cold shower is sounding really, really good right now...

"Hmm?" Really suave, you idiot. I scarcely dare blink, but when I do, she has rested a roughened knee on the edge of my chair as she leans closer. Oh Merlin, oh Merlin please... She needs to stop teasing me.

"Why do your eyes change colour like that?" What? I really will never understand girls. My eyes are brown, and I am pretty sure they stay brown.

"What do you mean?" She leans back, so her back is vertical again, although her hand still hasn't left my face.

"Well, when I came over here, they were the normal hazel, light, woody, bright. But they darkened as I watched to a kind of chocolate brown, although that isn't quite right..." Her voice fades off while I sit in confusion. What on earth does she mean? Apart from turning me on, nothing has happened in the last few minutes... Oh. Oh dear. That is not good. My eyes get noticably darker when my hormones get the better of me. Just brilliant.

"Gottit!" Huh?

"The colour of your eyes right now, James, is that of Brazil nuts." She takes her hand from my cheek, leaving it suddenly cold and somewhat lonely. She is wearing a smug, self-satisfied grin, the same grin she wears when showing off for a moment to her friends when she gets full marks in an exam. It only ever comes out for a moment, before an expression of pure, childish joy replaces it, her innocence preventing any others from sour envy. Yet there she is, wearing this conclusive grin, as though she knows all, is oh-so-superior. And she's magnificent.

"So, James, you still haven't answered my question. Why do your eyes darken like that?" I can feel my eyes widening. What am I supposed to say to that? But I could always tell her the truth...

"It's your fault!" Oh Merlin...

"I beg your pardon?" That smug look is gone, replaced by a cold, questioning glare.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I just meant that it's you that causes it, if you didn't look so cursed good then I wouldn't get so turned on all the time, and I'm really sorry, but I didn't know my eyes did anything like it until you told me!" Why am I babbling? Oh Merlin and all deities, I've just lost any chance I ever had with this girl. This goddess in human form. Oh well, only one thing for it, while she is standing there all shocked and stunned. I stand up and put one hand behind her neck, the other on her waist, hesitate for a moment, then I am pulling her towards me and kissing her, kissing her like I have never kissed a girl before. And Merlin does she taste good. Her lips, soft and pliant beneath my own, with no tacky gloss or whatever girls wear when they're going on a date or expecting to be kissed. She tastes of sugar, of hot shingle on the salty beach, the slightest hint of freshly cooked bread from dinner earlier. I release her and step back before I get carried away, although every nerve in my body is singing. I really need a cold shower...

"James?" She seems amused, laughter twinkling in those eyes, lines forming at the edges of her eyelids, her mouth quirking upwards on one side. She steps closer, but I back away until I hit the edge of the desk I was working at. She keeps walking, until she is standing directly in front of me, looking up at me. If she shuffles forwards the tiniest bit, she's going to feel very definitely my attraction to her. She moves a half pace forwards, so that we are standing toe to toe.

"Don't break me like you do the others. Please." What?! What is she talking about? This is Lily!

"I would never d..." Mmph. She kisses me, fiercely. Finally.

Finis