#hpshipsweek

“Lily, dear, can you help me with something?”

Lily glanced up from her Runes book to see her very attractive, very fake boyfriend smiling sweetly at her. She managed to snag the couch in front of the fireplace and had adamantly refused to get up ever since.

“What’s up, babe?”

James eyes twinkled in amusement but he didn’t say anything about her term of endearment. “I’m working through the detention slips and I am lost.”

Lily made room and he plopped himself next to her, his legs brushing up against her. “What’s up,” she repeated.

“I can’t understand half of what these say. I thought I had bad handwriting but Merlin’s balls, some of these guys are atrocious.”

“Here,” she said, holding out her hand. “Let me see them.”

She glanced down at the slips and they were, in fact, a mess. She remembered complaining to him last time about it and he teased her, saying she needed to work on her reading comprehension skills.

“Who needs help with their reading now?” she asked smugly.

“Yes, yes,” he said, rolling his eyes. “You were right, I was wrong. Never again will I doubt you. Now, can you help me or not?”

“I can try,” she said, “but I think we may need to have a meeting where we go over handwriting basics.”

“It’s a miracle these people lasted this long at Hogwarts, let alone became prefects. How can the professors read their work?”

“Magic,” Lily replied, wiggling her eyebrows.

James laughed and nudged her shoulder.

“You’re such a dork,” he said fondly.

“Hark who’s talking.”

It was nice, hanging out with James and joking with him. The whole dating fiasco had made things a bit weird between the two, neither knowing exactly how they should act, but they were friends. It didn’t have to be complicated or awkward. She liked spending time with him and genuinely enjoyed being with him, no matter how annoying he was. The fireplace crackled welcomingly at them, filling Lily with warmth as she rested her head on his shoulder.  

--

Lily was working on a charms essay with Mary in the common room, enjoying her free time away from James. He asked if she wanted to watch their quidditch practice but, tempted as she was to accept, she was falling behind on all her work. She had no idea how James managed to get anything done between being Head Boy and quidditch captain and whatever the hell he and his friends got up to after curfew.

They were nearly done with their papers when Marlene sagged into the chair next to Lily and said, “James says you guys haven’t kissed yet.”

Lily slowly put her quill down as she tried to think of a proper response. All she said was, “what,” which set Mary off into a fit of giggles.

Lily loved her friends. Adored them. And she would absolutely trust them with her life if it came down to it. But they were some of the biggest gossips she knew and she didn’t feel comfortable telling them her relationship with James was a sham. There was no way they’d be able to keep shut about something like that.

“We were talking about you after practice and he said you haven’t kissed. How is that even possible?”

“He was just putting you on,” Lily said breezily. Both girls were staring at her curiously and Lily could feel her cheeks getting warm. Of course her friends would be confused; Lily was not the kind of person who would date someone who looked like James and not kiss him. If they were really dating, she would want to spend all their alone time attached to his face. He was entirely too snoggable and they all knew it.

“It didn’t sound like it,” Marlene finally said once she realized Lily wasn’t going to offer anything else. “He got all awkward and changed the subject immediately afterward.”

“He’s just an awkward person,” Lily said, rolling her eyes and sounding fonder than she meant to. “And surprisingly prudish when it comes to that stuff.”

Lily honestly had no idea what to think. She knew James had a weird thing about kissing her but she didn’t think he’d go so far as to deny it ever happened. She couldn’t help but be insulted that he was so repulsed by the idea of kissing her, he couldn’t even pretend they did.

“There he is,” Mary said, pointing to the portrait hole James just entered through. “Why don’t you prove he was just joking?”

“I don’t have to prove anything,” Lily said. Her face must have been as red as her hair by this point. “If you want to think we’ve never kissed, fine. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“Oh, come on. Just a peck?” Marlene asked.

“Why do you even want to see us kiss? Don’t most people abhor PDA?”

“Because,” Mary said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, “you and James are a legendary couple and if you have any shot at lasting, you need to snog that boy silly.”

“Potter!” Marlene shouted. “Your girlfriend wants you.”

His whole face lit up and Lily couldn’t help but smile as he waltzed over.

“Miss me, Evans?” he asked with a smirk.

“Hardly. I finally managed to get some work done.”

“It’s not my fault I’m so distracting.”

“That’s actually what we were talking about,” Marlene cut in. “You said you guys never kissed but Lily insists you did. So which is it?”

James looked at Lily in panic and she felt a twinge of pity for the bespectacled boy. She had no idea what was wrong with him but he clearly had some sort of hang up with kissing her and she was only making it worse.

“I—er,” James stuttered.

“Like I said,” Lily interrupted, standing up and stretching, “he was just joking and you were stupid enough to believe him. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to spend some quality time with my boyfriend.”

“Hey, I’m not the stupid one. You’re the one not kissing your hot boyfriend.”

Lily groaned. She really didn’t want word to get out that James and Lily hadn’t even kissed yet. Literally no one would believe they were dating if they thought they weren’t kissing. “Just a quick kiss,” she clarified with her friends.

“Yeah, definitely no tongue,” Mary said.

“Is that okay, James,” Lily asked. She didn’t want him to feel like she was pressuring him.

He nodded quickly and pulled her close to him. He let his lips touch hers briefly and then pulled away.

And—okay, Lily had never really given much thought into what kissing James Potter would be like but if she had, she wouldn’t have guessed it would be like that. She heard countless stories of his excellent snogging prowess, had to endure listening to girls go on and on about how good he was with his tongue and his hands and his lips. She knew they specifically asked for a small kiss but the James Potter she heard of would have been able to make her swoon regardless. Instead, she just felt very dejected.

“Satisfied,” James asked Marlene and Mary. The girls just shrugged so Lily rolled her eyes and dragged James over to a quieter corner in the room.

She rested her head on his shoulder and he immediately responded by putting an arm around her waist. They were both tactile people and Lily hoped they could continue their casual affection after they fake break up; James was very cuddly.

“I’m sorry,” James said quietly. Lily craned her neck to look up at his sheepish, red face.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know you didn’t want to do that. I didn’t mean to put you in that situation.”

“It’s fine,” he said with a smile that seemed too forced for Lily’s liking. “I could think of worse things than kissing a pretty girl.”

Lily needed to get better at controlling the things that came out of her mouth because the next thing she knew she was saying, “have you ever actually kissed someone before?” and she immediately wanted to take it back.

“What? Of course I’ve kissed people before. Who do you think you’re talking to?”

“I don’t know,” Lily said. “I figured it was either that or you just really suck at snogging.”

“Excuse me?”

“You have to admit that was a pretty awful kiss. And it certainly wasn’t my fault.”

“I’m an excellent kisser. I can give you references if you really want.”

“I don’t need references, I experienced it myself and it sucked.”

“You wouldn’t be able to handle a real kiss from me.”

“I wouldn’t want to after that poor performance.”

She really should have seen it coming, considering she was practically teasing it out of him, but suddenly his lips were on hers once more and everything was just James. His scent, his taste, his touch. Lily was breathing him in, soaking him up, drowning in him and she never wanted it to stop.

When they finally pulled apart, she was surprised to find herself straddled on top of him, both hands up his shirt. He looked completely wrecked—his hair was somehow even messier than normal, his glasses were practically falling off his face, and his eyes were blown out and dazed—and she felt a rush of pride that she made him look like that.

“Told—” James cleared his throat. “Told you you couldn’t handle it,” he said after they spent a good minute just staring at each other.

“Well, it was better, at the very least,” she said, keeping her voice steady. “I should probably get to bed, though. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She grabbed her bag and dashed to her room. Upon finding it empty, she sunk to the floor and hung her head in her knees.