In Which Lily is a Fab Spy

And not delusional, emotional, hormonal, or unable to keep her mouth shut at all. Really.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Lily Evans did not actually need to care about what James Potter was doing right now. She didn't need to retrieve anything he stole, nor did she have to steal anything from him. She did not have to report back to anyone the particulars of his location or his actions. She did not need to be anywhere near him for any reason whatsoever, nor did she need to sneak around to find him.

And yet as she felt the soft wood creak beneath her feet, she froze, tense. What if he heard? But then she laughed at herself internally and continued on. So what if he heard? She had every right to be here! This was her Heads' common room too, after all.

So what if she never really ventured over to this part of the common room? There was no reason not to. It was very nice. There was a lovely potted shrub in the corner that she had always really wanted to examine closer and the air smelled a little differently over here.

More like a boy.

The boy, actually. The same boy that had been haunting her dreams and thoughts ever since they started sharing this enclosed space together. Not that she'd ever admit it. Not even a team of ace detectives could get it out of her. She'd –

"Evans?"

"Ilikeyou!" What? Where did that come from?

James Potter, fellow Head, looked just as confused as Lily felt. "What did you just say?" He asked. "And why are you standing right outside my door?"

"I-" Lily began, frantically trying to think of something that made the least bit of sense. "I walked over here because I wanted to ask – to say, really – that I'd like you to, uh – switch with me. Tonight. For patrolling." Her smile was perhaps too large, but she was sure that he had bought it, even though he still looked as though he thought she might be one crayon short of a coloring box.

"Funny," he said, "I swear I thought I heard you say-"

"Nope," she interrupted hastily. "That's what I meant to say, really." She smiled in what she hoped was a convincing manner. "James, if you don't want to switch with me, it's all right, I can just go ask someone else."

James still looked a bit as if he didn't believe her, but he said, "All right, Evans. I'll-" he paused. "Wait. Today is Tuesday. You don't have patrolling on Tuesdays."

"Oh. Um. Tuesday? Really?" Lily asked, trying to subtly back away towards her side of the common room. "I thought for sure today was Sunday. Well, then, never mind, James! Thanks!"

She hoped he didn't notice how loud her door closed when she slammed against it in shame.

Or the groan she made when she realized that she didn't have patrolling on Sundays either.

Or the sound her bed made when it creaked in protest of being landed on so violently.

Or the sound her head made when she thrust it repeatedly against the headboard.

Basically, she hoped he had been momentarily struck deaf.

Some spy she made.

However, it became apparent that no one was granting her wishes when she heard the knock and the soft "Lily?" come from the other side of her door.

"Just a minute!" She yelled, jumping up from her bed and attempting to make herself presentable in the mirror. If he had heard the other sounds, there was no doubt in Lily's mind that he heard the stifled scream that she made when she saw the ugly red mark upon her forehead from the continued bashing she had given it just moments before.

"Lily? Are you alright?" James asked, slowly pushing open the door. When he saw the angry mark on her face on the mirror, his facial expression changed from one of confusion to one of sympathy. "Lily? What's going on? You just acted really weirdly and then I heard all these strange banging sounds coming from in here, and – is something going on? Something wrong?"

"No," Lily said, trying to turn the pained grimace she had just worn into a grin. "I'm fine. I just, uh, tripped. Over my bed. And hit the headboard. Accidentally, of course."

"If you just hit the headboard once then why did I hear multiple thumps?" James asked, clearly not buying her admittedly pathetic cover story.

Lily thought quickly. "Because I bounced?"

"You-" James began, but Lily didn't let him finish. "I bounced. Yes. Multiple times. My arms were tangled up, so I couldn't catch myself and my bed is unordinarily springy. Yes. Do you want to test it?"

James laughed as Lily turned around to face him. "Did you just ask me if I wanted to test your bed for springiness?"

Lily blushed. "Not in that way. Please, Potter, get your head out of the gutter."

James had the decency to look a little bit ashamed. But it only lasted for a moment. "That mark looks like it hurts, Lily. Here, let me fix it."

And before she could stop him, he took his wand from his pocket and simultaneously, with his other hand, touched the mark. Lily shivered noticeably and James paused before reciting the incantation. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," Lily said, finding it suddenly a little harder to talk now that he was looking down at her like that. "I'm just, um cold. It's just a little chilly. Go on."

"Alright," James said and then muttered the incantation. When he stepped back and put his wand away, Lily was surprised to find she missed the closeness. "Does that feel better?"

"Yes," Lily said softly, still startled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He paused and looked down, right into her eyes. "Lily, is there something you need to tell me?"

Lily looked away at once and bit her lip.

Just moments later, she looked back at him, resolved. "Just that I've got lots of work still left to do today, so I'd really appreciate if you left me alone." No doubt James did not appreciate being pushed forcefully from her room, but she did give him no choice.

Just as she had him pushed into the doorway, he quickly turned around. Startled, and still experiencing considerable momentum from the effort she had been exerting to push him, Lily fell.

Right into his arms.

"Oh!" Lily exclaimed. "I'm so sorry, I- " Lily stopped both attempting to talk as well as attempting to extricate herself from his arms when he started speaking.

"Lily," James began, looking straight into the eyes of the now successfully standing but still arms-entrapped Lily Evans, "I just can't help but feel you're hiding something from me. We're friends, right? Friends tell each other stuff."

Although listening to what he was saying probably would have made it easier for her to formulate a response (and thus convince him that there wasn't something wrong with her), Lily thoughts were completely occupied by the distracting tingly feeling in the bits of her skin that were touching his. Now, Lily was no expert on romance novels, but she had read a few. And every one, when the moment came for the hero and heroine to touch, described a "tingly feeling" that both supposedly felt. Lily had always scoffed, tossed that away as romance novel rubbish and forgotten about it. However, she now had the exact idea of what those romance novelists were trying to describe. There was a tingly feeling. And it was strange.

And because this was a novel idea for Lily, she did need time to adjust to it mentally, which meant that when James cocked his head adorably and asked, "Lily, are you listening to me?" Lily panicked because she had not, in fact been listening to him.

So instead of asking him to repeat himself, like a sane person would do, Lily said the first thing that came to her head. "Do you feel that?"

James looked at her as if she had two heads and was speaking Russian. "Sorry. Feel what, now?"

Lily tried to backpeddle but was struck with the sudden impression that she was successfully digging her own grave with every word that spewed from her mouth.

"That, uh … earthquake! I swear I just felt one. Didn't you? Maybe I was just imagining it. Hmm."

"Lily," James said, leading Lily back into her room, towards the bed. "I think you might want to just lie down for a while. How much sleep have you gotten lately?"

"I'm fine, James, I-" Lily protested.

"How about eating? Have you been eating? My mum always says-" Lily thought perhaps that if he continued to look at her like that she might like to throw a shoe at him, or maybe a book.

"Really, I'm fine, James. Really." James raised his eyebrows at her and Lily couldn't take it any longer. First the catching her in front of his room business, then the barging into her room and interrupting her in the middle of a very calming let's bang out brains out session madness, and now he's pulling the "Actually, I'm pretty sure you're crazy, Lily Evans" card! She would not stand for it.

"I know you probably think I'm crazy," Lily said, tearing herself from his grip and pacing across the room rapidly, waving her arms about emphatically, unable to look at him for much longer than minisecond intervals. "James Potter, but let me tell you. I am not! I am not crazy. I'm just under a lot of stress lately and it's not fair – not fair! – that when I try to take a break from studying to spy on you, you interrupt me and make me feel like I'm just this horrible spy when I'm not, really. Actually, I'm a fab spy. An awesome spy. I'm so great at spying that – that- well, that you should be jealous. Not interrupting me." She glared at him. "And then you don't get to just act like I'm some crazy person for liking you when clearly you only think of me as some weird freakazoid and I just can't – I can't!" Lily started bawling into her hands, overcome by this emotion. She didn't start to calm down until she felt the soothing presence of his warm arms around her and until his whispered "shhs" reached her ears.

"It's okay, Lily. I don't think you're crazy," he said quietly, not letting go.

Lily laughed bitterly. "You're a good liar, James Potter. I'll give you that."

"It's not a lie," he said. "I really don't think you're crazy." He paused and said, even quieter. "In fact I think you are pretty amazing."

"Really?" She asked, looking up at him through tear-streaked eyelashes.

"Of course really," he replied, smiling at her. "Why do you think I still fancy you after all this time?"

Lily's mouth, which had just been set in a hesitant grin now widened into an O.

"But you don't fancy me any more!" She protested. "You like Ana Greenslow!"

"Where did you get that impression?" James asked, frowning. "I don't fancy Ana at all. We're just friends."

"But you're always hanging around her," Lily said, looking down. "and you're always sitting next to her at the table and in classes."

"Whenever I talk with her," James said, "which is certainly not always, I'm talking with her about the team. You know, because we're both chasers?"

"Don't get in that tone with me James Potter!"

"What tone?" James asked innocently.

"You know the 'Lily you're so crazy' tone. You don't get to use it so soon after protesting so vehemently that you don't think I'm crazy. You don't get to." Lily stomped her foot and tossed back her hair.

James laughed. "Well maybe I was wrong. Maybe you are crazy." Lily looked as if she would like to punch him in the face so James quickly went on. "Crazy for thinking that I could ever fancy anyone but you." Lily looked away, but moments later found it impossible to resist his soft fingers pulling at her chin. Then, her eyes met his and it was as if nothing else mattered.

"Evans, I've been in love with you for years now," James said emphatically, letting her chin go so that he could move his hands down to her shoulders. "I thought you knew that, so I stayed away-" He paused, looked away as if he were gathering courage, and then looked back at her with eyes so hopeful that her heart melted on the spot. "-hoping that one day you would tell me that you loved me back."

Lily found that suddenly her ability to speak had left her, so she did the next best thing. She kissed him.

Lily Evans was no stranger to kissing. She had her fair share in the past, but none even compared to what she felt now. If she had known that kissing Potter was like this, then she would've dropped that silly grudge business years ago. Thank goodness he finally got up the courage to kiss her – wait. No. That wasn't what happened. She pulled away.

"Hey-" James protested.

"You're supposed to kiss me." Lily interrupted, speaking quickly. "The boy is supposed to kiss first while the girl waits demurely and-"

"I wasn't done yet, Lily Evans," James said, interrupting her as well as not really listening to what she was saying. "I have waited years for this and you do not get to pull away, okay?"

Even though she probably wanted to say something, (which was totally not the best idea, given her previous track record), all Lily could do was nod quickly before she was swept up into the best kiss of her life.

And if Lily had been able to think, were she not busy engaging in other activities that might have involved the conveniently located bed, she definitely would have thought that perhaps she wasn't the worst spy ever after all. Her mission had been achieved. She had gotten her man.

A/N: Awww. So adorable! If you think so too, please let me know. But please, flames belong on birthday candles. Let's keep it constructive. :)