Trace My Lips With Yours

Lily was studying in one of the armchairs, leaning forward over the pages of the book in her lap, her red hair falling forward onto the page. James was creeping up behind her, intendeding to scare his girlfriend.

But when he saw what she was doing, the slight frown across her lips and the stress in her eyes he stopped. He dropped his arms to his sides, ran a hand through his hair and paused to watch her.

She scrawled on a large sheet of parchment in neat, tidy handwriting. She flicked her quill, chewing on it thoughtfully.

"What are you doing, love?" he asked, sitting on the arm of the armchair.

"Studying," she bit out, barely glancing up at him.

"Studying what, exactly?" he asked, humming softly under his breath.

She glanced up at him for two seconds, only to push her hair out of her eyes and look back down. "Ancient Runes."

He propped one arm up on his knee, placing his chin on his palm, drumming his fingers against his chin, watching her intently. "It looks difficult," he noted. "Seems terrible."

"It's not really," she answered distractedly, moving her book to pick up a different one. "It's fascinating, I love the subject, really."

He didn't look quite convinced but nodded to humor her. "Lily."

She didn't look up, only continued translating one rune, tracing the page with her finger until she found it. She then continued onto the next one as though she hadn't even heard her name.

"Lily," he repeated, firmer this time.

"Yes?" she didn't look up, but at least he got a response. She flipped pages to the end of the book and then started through it again.

He sighed, realizing she wasn't listening to him in the least. "Lily."

"What?" there was the slightest hint of annoyance in her voice. She looked up at him for a moment but then her eyes went back to her book.

"You're not paying attention," he said softly.

"I am," she insisted, even as she reached for another sheet of parchment and smudged ink on her nose. "Really," she said in a very unconvincing tone.

"Move over," he requested, shoving her farther forward on the chair.

She did as he said absently, turning several pages of parchment as she did so.

He sat behind her, managing to pull her onto his lap, brushing her hair all to the back. "I like your hair."

"Hm," she scribbled the translation for gravity.

"I said," he said slightly exasperated, "I like your hair."

"Hm. I do too," she answered, twirling a lock of it around one finger.

He leaned forward, resting his head on her shoulder and looking down at the runes in her textbook. He wrinkled his nose, then pointed to a scrawled symbol on the bottom left. "That's the symbol for energy."

Only then did she look at him full in the face, her eyes wide with surprise. "How do you know?"

James shrugged, "I've seen a few of Remus's textbooks."

After nearly half an hour of silence, watching her fill out each rune carefully, she set the textbook aside. She pulled her hair forward, twisting strands of it around one finger.

He reached forward, trailing his hands through her hair, starting near her temples and then running his hands down through the long red tresses until they ended halfway down her back.

She leaned against him contentedly, not saying a word.

He leaned forward, slightly daringly, beginning to trace her face with his fingers. Along her forehead, down the sides of her nose and then one hand vanished, the other tracing her lips softly.

Stunned, she froze and her eyes flickered up to him.

"James," she whispered, turning to look at him with those bright green eyes. She leaned forward, kissing him full on the lips, softly, gently and then pulling back slightly.

He grinned at her. "Do I have your attention now?"