Perfection

"What can I say, Evans? I'm perfect." James Potter taunted, and he shrugged as if being himself was a burden. His lips were shaped into his normal smirk, and it goaded Lily to no end.

"You, Potter, are the farthest thing from perfect there is." Lily spat. "You are arrogant, self-important, and have an ego that is unbelievable. You are obnoxious, crude, condescending, and can be a downright bully. It's pathetic that you need to prank other students or catch a snitch or mess up your hair just to get attention. You lie. You cheat, and not even because you're lazy, it's just because you feel you have some kind of need to bend the rules. You put others at risk just for some fun. You live way too dangerously. You're desperate, and you don't know the meaning of the word 'no'. You're a complete and utter prat. That sounds pretty far from perfect to me."

Lily immediately felt guilty at her outburst. Her words rude and hurtful (no matter how true they might be), and her attack was not something any Head Girl - or decent person, for that matter - should say. She was supposed to be mature and collected, not responding cruelly and acting like a child. Worse, she saw Potter's face fall, his smirk replaced first by a look of hurt, and then of cool indifference.

"I needed a reminder of all my imperfections, thanks." Potter responded quite coldly, after what seemed to be an endless silence. This surprised Lily somewhat. She thought he would just brush it off, laugh at her, or make some crack about how all those things are what made him perfect. Apparently not. It made Lily feel ten times worse. It wasn't his fault she was taking her emotions out on him.

The emotions that she was desperately trying to eradicate from her mind. The emotions that made her feel awful for saying what she did. The emotions that made her love all of James Potter's far-from-perfectness.

"James." Lily said quietly, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

Suddenly angry, James turned away from Lily abruptly, causing her hand to drop.

"Of course you meant it Lily." He spat, his body language showing his fury. He stood, glaring at her for several long seconds. Then the anger seemed to suddenly dissipate, and he sighed and rubbed his temples.

"I've tried so hard Lily. So hard." He said nothing else, just buried his head in his hands in evident frustration.

Lily had no idea how to deal with this James. She knew the annoying, over-eager, rule-breaking James. She knew the somewhat responsible, intelligent, arrogant, co-Head James. But this... frustrated, tired, negative James she had never met.

"Don't give up now James, then all your years of hard work wouldn't be worth anything." Lily said, lightly teasing him. She replaced her hand on his shoulder as he snorted and turned to look at her. But instead of humour, Lily only saw pain in his hazel eyes.

"Keep trying so that more years will be worth nothing?" James responded, half-teasing despite himself.

Lily paused, unsure of what to say. James seemed to take her silence as some kind of answer, and he smiled at her, squeezed her hand once and turned to walk away. Lily was overcome with the feeling that she had to stop him - otherwise he would never come back.

"It's worth something." Lily finally managed to call out as she gazed at James' retreating back. He had almost reached the corner of the corridor where they had been patrolling. Lily's words made him stop. He took the time to breathe or process her words for a second before he looked over his shoulder at her. Their eyes met for an instant before Lily averted her gaze, unable to answer his imploring look. James seemed to be waiting for her to say more, but Lily could not find any words. He smiled again at her, and this time it held more warmth.

"I will always be your friend Lily, but you know that's not what we're talking about. My goal was to never be your friend - though believe me, I'm thrilled that I got that far. But we both know it's not what I want." With those words, James turned around again and continued on his way, down the corridor.

"James!" Lily yelled, suddenly panicking. He stopped again, but didn't turn around.

"What, Lily?" He asked, still facing away from her. He could not help the bitterness that crept into his voice. Lily heard it, and her whole being cringed.

"What if all those imperfections are the reason I love you?" Lily heard the words tumble from her lips in a rush before she could stop them. James did not turn around, or even respond. He just stood there. Lily closed her eyes, feeling tears of embarrassment and humiliation threaten her. She wished she could see his face. Even worse was that she considered herself to not be one of those girls who claimed to 'love' their object of desire, especially not before anything had ever happened. Those girls were the ones who didn't know anything about love, or relationships, or even reality. Lily didn't even believe it was possible to truly love someone without a long time of companionship, ups and downs, and more things that she had never there she was, telling James Potter that she loved him. And she did. With her whole being. The thought that he could walk away terrified her worse than anything in that moment.

Lily managed to get a hold of herself, reining back her thoughts, and opened her eyes. She was ready to face the consequences of her idiocy. She was startled to see James standing directly in front of her, his hazel eyes boring into her own green ones. This time Lily did not look away, though she was sorely tempted to do so.

"Do you mean it?" Whispered James as he felt for her hand. Once their fingers were clasped, Lily swallowed and nodded.

"Say it then." James softly demanded, not seeming to believe her. Lily didn't blame him for that one, and suddenly smiled at him cheekily. James' gaze was wary as he looked back at her, his face changing from suspicious to slightly confused as Lily disentangled their fingers and placed her hands on her hips.

"James Potter, will you do me the honour of going with me to Hogsmeade this Friday?" Lily asked, and grinned even wider at James. He did not say anything, but instead stared at her, a grin slowly lighting up his face.

"It's rude to keep a girl waiting." Lily prodded, poking him on his shoulder.

"I'm soaking up this moment for all it's worth. It's been my dream since the first day on the train." James breathed, grabbing the offending poker hand and holding it gently. "But, yes, it would be my honour to escort you to Hogsmeade this Friday."

"Sirius can't tag along." Lily instructed firmly, shaking her finger at him. She was only half-teasing. She would not put it past James' best friend to follow them on their date, if only to prove it was real.

"Who the hell is Sirius?" James asked right before he kissed her.

AN: Just a quick little one-shot I wrote a while ago and just went back and edited. Just Lily/James fluff. Hope you enjoyed!