Surely She's Imperiused

Words: 641

"No, no, no," he pushed out in a jumble, removing himself from Lily (albeit with great reluctance). "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." Why he couldn't manage to say anything else, he didn't know. Perhaps it was because, after all these years of his wanting what was happening now—dreaming about it, quite honestly—, it was actually happening. She had denied him for seven years, brushed him off with little more than the occasional slap, and now she was snogging his face off in the deserted Astronomy Tower? It just didn't happen.

"What do you mean no?" she demanded disbelievingly, taking her hands off his shoulders and placing them on her hips in such a Lily-like manner that he knew this wasn't a dream. "Just how long have you been pining after me, Potter?"

He rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged, his cheeks tinged lightly with pink. "Well, now, I wouldn't exactly say pining…"

"It was pining," she said firmly. "Complete, love-struck pining. Remind me—was it not you who has practically stalked me since I stepped onto the Hogwarts Express, begging me to go out with you?"

"Yeah—"

"Of course. Then it must've been you who had Alice lure me into the common room in the middle of the night so you could blind me with fireworks that screamed, 'Please be my girlfriend, Lily Evans'."

"'Course, but—"

"So it was also you who punched Carl Sanders in the mouth for asking me out and turned Luke Farris purple because he kissed me."

"Yes, but—"

"What the hell has gotten into you, then? We're in the bloody Astronomy Tower, for Godric's sake. I have you backed up against a wall. Merlin knows you've probably been dreaming about this moment since we were eleven, so why are you saying no?" she asked in exasperation.

"That's just it!" he cried, throwing his hands up. "We're snogging in the Astronomy Tower, and you have me against a wall and… Merlin, Lily three of the buttons on my shirt are undone! Are you under the Imperius or something? Have you gone mental? Are you even Lily?" At this, he began poking and pulling at her face as if it were a mask that he could pull off.

She swatted his hands away and replied shortly, "Yes, I'm really Lily. How do you know I haven't just changed my mind?"

"Because you'll never change your mind! Sure, I've wanted this forever, but I never actually thought it would happen. Does it mean nothing to you that I chased you for seven whole years? Somewhere along the way even I realised it would never happen," he admitted.

She quirked an eyebrow. "Then why did you keep chasing me?"

He snorted. "Hell if I know! Maybe because I'm as much of a moron as you've always thought I am." He was breathing quite heavily now, and they stared at each other in silence for a while. "Why are you kissing me?" he repeated.

"Well, technically I'm not kissing you; I was kissing you, but then I st—" She lapsed into silence at the look he was giving her, which quite plainly asked, 'Really, Lily?' With a sheepish smile that matched her slight flush she said simply, "Because I have changed my mind. Don't ask me how or why, because I don't know, but it just happened. I thought maybe kissing you was something you might enjoy, but if you want me to stop…" Lily bent down to grab her bag, which she had tossed aside when she had become—er—otherwise engaged.

The rucksack, however, was pulled out of her hand by a certain James Potter, who then pressed his lips to hers. After what seemed like an eternity, he pulled away and said breathlessly, "I never said that."

Surely She's Imperiused, newly revised! I kept the old version because if I deleted it, I'd have lost the lovely old reviews, and I'd miss them too much. I like this version rather more than the old one. I originally wrote this little gem in the Stone Ages—you know, 2011—and I'm still quite proud of it; I just thought it could use some touching-up. Hope I didn't change it too much. Drop me a review? :)
xx, Ariel Josephine