There isn't much to say, so just the basics: it's dedicated to my friend Chloe, who's birthday is on Monday, and I don't own anything.

Cover art by anxiouspineapples.

Lily had been sitting with Marlene at lunch, chatting about something meaningless – Lily can't exactly remember what it had been about, since James had quickly distracted her – when it happened. She had felt his presence before she had heard him, but didn't turn around until he spoke; she was hoping that he wasn't there for her.

"Fancy a date, Evans?" Lily's ginger eyebrows shot into her hair. It had been a long, long time since he had asked that – six months, to be exact.

She turned around to face him, and was slightly shocked by what she saw, not that she made it visible, of course. James looked more ill than anything, with his slightly puffy, dull hazel eyes and pale skin, but Lily knew why; his mother had just died. His constantly ruffled hair seemed somehow messier; it was less deliberately styled to look like he had just got off a broomstick, and more like he had just walked 5 miles in a ferocious wind. Of course now, she knew why he was asking her out: it was a distraction from what was happening; something normal, almost traditional, to take his mind off the death.

Back then, though, she had no idea, and acted as she usually would. "No chance."

James looked slightly put out at that, but quickly composed his dejected look. "Ah well," he said with a shrug, but Lily noticed the waver in his voice, and felt almost bad for saying no. "Can't blame a guy for trying, right?"

He walked off as quickly as he had come, back out of the door. Lily's eyes trailed after him, and she tried to push back a feeling of guilt. She shouldn't have been feeling bad for saying no, should she?

Marlene wasn't much help either; as soon as James was out of sight, she smacked Lily across the back of the head. "Are you mad?" Lily turned to her best friend, who was sitting in front of her abandoned chicken salad, her blue eyes flaring under her dirty blonde fringe. "You should have said yes!"

"What?" Lily asked, not being able to help the stutter that crept into her voice.

Her friend shook her head like it was obvious, making her hair whip Lily in the shoulder. "You like him, of course you do; it's clear on your face whenever you look at him." Lily's cheeks flushed red. "Not that he notices, of course." Marlene muttered the last sentence with distaste, as if she was disgusted with James's obliviousness.

Lily didn't deny it. "Are you saying that I should say yes to him?"

"I'm saying that you should give him a chance." Lily let out a deep sigh instead of arguing. She didn't see any point in it, really, since she had the exact same argument with herself almost every night, though her more doubtful side kept winning.

"And give him everything he wants?"

Marlene shook her head again, but this time it was less out of disgust and more out of disbelief. "It'd be giving him everything that he wants if you went up and asked him to impregnate you right now. Dating him, on the other hand..." She trailed off, leaving the rest for Lily to gather, and Lily knew her well enough to get what she was hinting at; dating him wouldn't do any harm.

"I just-" Lily dragged a hand across her face, it ending in her hair, a habit that, though she would never admit it, had picked up from James. "I can't, Mar."

People could say a lot of bad things about Marlene McKinnon, and quite often, most of them would be true, but there was one thing that no one could deny: she was an amazing friend. This was why she knew that, instead of calling Lily a whiny bitch, and telling her that she shouldn't be keeping James hanging, like most people would have by then, she put a hand on Lily's lower back and stroked it gently. "Yes, you can." Her voice dropped, and she leant her head next to Lily's. "We both know it, as well. You're Lily Evans; you can do pretty much anything."

Lily took comfort in Marlene's actions, and let the side of her head rest against Marlene's, her red hair intermingling with Marlene's blonde. "And if he turns into an arrogant prick again?"

"Then you walk out and leave him there," Marlene replied, not missing a beat.

Lily smiled faintly; she was so bloody grateful to have a friend like Marlene, who seemed to always know what to say.

"So, theoretically," Lily said in a warning tone, letting Marlene know that she was absolutely not considering it, "if I did go on this date, would I ever have to do it again?"

"If you enjoyed the first one."

Lily smiled harder, and, since she didn't think there was much else to say, stayed silent, her head still resting against Marlene's.

It was a difficult decision for her, really. She was torn between saying no – she would get over him sometime, wouldn't she? Then she could date someone else, who wasn't as arrogant, and didn't have that god-forsaken messy hair – or saying yes. Saying yes would mean giving in, and that wasn't something Lily did easily. But it would also mean that she wouldn't have the nagging thought in the back of her mind of what she was missing out on, and that James would be hers; it tore at her heart slightly each time she saw a girl hanging over him, a pout hanging off their stained-red lips, and a slightly malicious twinkle in their eye as they whispered sweet, most likely untrue, nothings in his ear.

So Lily caved. "I'm going to do it," she said finally, both to herself and Marlene.

"When?" Marlene was clearly expecting her to say the next time that he asked, because when Lily said "now", she jumped away and gave her a shocked look.

"Now? Blimey, Lily, you've only just decided on it!"

Lily gave her a quick shrug, and, before her new-found confidence disappeared, pushed herself up from the wooden dinner table. "No time like the present, is there?" She didn't give Marlene a chance to retort; Lily had already walked away from her. She could faintly hear Marlene's reply ("Really, though? Now?") as she headed out into the hall.

Lily caught up with James halfway up the stairs to the fourth floor. She had to admit, for a guy who spent most of his life perfecting his slow strut down a corridor, he could walk bloody fast when he wanted to.

"James!" Lily shouted, but he ignored her. It was either that or he thought she was shouting another James, not that there was anyone else on the staircase; they were either at lunch or holed up in their dorms revising for their OWL practise exams the next week. She gave it another futile attempt, raising her voice.

He let out a groan and turned around. "What is it, Evans?" His hand was in his hair, fingering his locks, a habit Lily knew that he had when he was frustrated. "I have somewhere to be, so if you don't mind, I'd be grateful if you stopped stalking me-"

Lily interrupted him: "Yes!"

James froze mid-rant, his eyes widening underneath his glasses, and Lily realised that she must have looked slightly manic, what with her hair still being matted from when she had been tugging at it in the Hall, and her cheeks being flushed red from the steps that she had practically ran up. She also had a feeling that her blouse was clinging uncomfortably tightly to her body with her sweat, but she didn't have the energy to be embarrassed about it.

"What?"

"I'm saying yes!" Her hand was back in her hair again, and she cursed James for letting that habit rub off on her. "I'll go out with you!"

It finally sunk in for James, and he took a few steps downwards so that he was closer to Lily. "And this isn't a joke?" He asked sceptically, and Lily shook her head. "And it isn't out of pity for the poor, orphaned boy?" Lily had to bite her tongue at that – it was horrible to hear James call himself that, and with such ease; his mother had died a month ago, and if you asked her, he had gotten over it dangerously quickly. She had a feeling that he was actually suppressing the feelings, which Lily knew to be doubly dangerous.

She gave him another quick nod, and a small smile. "No catch at all."

James gave her what must have been his first genuine smile since his mother had died, and Lily had to admit that she had missed it. "Good." His Potter spark seemed to be back, and he leant forward and tapped Lily on the tip of her nose. "I'll see you on Saturday, 10am sharp, agreed?"

Lily just had time to mutter a breathless "agreed" – her breathlessness came from both her close proximity to James and having to run up four sets of stairs to catch him – before James had turned on his heel and continued his path back up to the tower. This time, Lily didn't follow him; she stayed in her place on the fourth floor stairs, and smiled. Perhaps it isn't always just bad to cave to something that you'd been denying yourself for so long.

There's a possibility of a sequel, so is anyone interested?