Chapter Seven

The front compartment, traditionally, was reserved for the Head Boy and the Head Girl. It provided time for the two to get to know one another, if need be, before becoming roommates for the remaining nine and a half months. When Lily Evans entered it, she had to admit that she wasn't even slightly surprised that James Potter was sitting inside, gazing out a window.

Quite honestly, the moment Lily had received her letter in July, she'd known that this moment would come. She knew that James would get the coveted position of Head Boy simply because she was Head Girl. And she wasn't disappointed and she wasn't going to complain. They were adults in the magic world now, after all, and she wasn't going to whine at him unless he'd reverted to his fifth year ways. Although he had flirted with her nonstop last year, somewhat to her dismay, he'd been quite civil.

James was startled as Lily's foot creaked on a floorboard and jumped slightly, turning his head to face her. "Oh, hello," he said, standing up to make room for her entrance. He took a bag from her, awkwardly, and placed it on the rack above their heads. "I imagined it would be you."

Lily sat down on the seat across from where James had been, and James soon followed suit. "How was your summer?" she asked him. He certainly was nearly grown up now. He even looked like perhaps he'd have to shave tonight if he wanted to look clean-cut and respectable like the Head Boy should be.

"Lonely, really," James said. "You?"

A loud bang filled the room. It was storming outside, and lightning soon followed, another thunderclap coming soon afterwards. "Same," Lily sighed. She realized that she wasn't looking at James so she lifted her eyes from the floor. When she noticed that he wasn't looking at her, either, she let out a small cough, and their eyes met.

"You didn't seem surprised to see me," James said, disappointment apparent in his voice.

Lily shrugged slightly. "I wasn't. Nor were you to see me."

James smiled. "I wasn't."

--

He still was attracted to Lily, of course, but James wasn't about to let her know that. He couldn't have Lily. He'd come to recognize this fact, and didn't want to spend a full school year having her spurn him. So it was best to be friendly, and that was that.

"I'm over you," he said, lying profusely. But he wanted to be frank with her. He wanted her to say, 'Oh, well that's just lovely. I'm happy for you. Let's be friends.' He kept his eyes on her face, no matter how nervous he was as to her reaction, despite the fact that he was sure he knew what it would be.

She looked stunned. He'd expected that. Her eyes widened and her face turned pink. Her jaw dropped, and James terribly wanted to roll his eyes at her arrogance. Wasn't he allowed to be over her? "What?" Lily gaped. "You…you can't…"

"Well, I am," James said, his Gryffindor courage now fleeing. He looked at the floor—at Lily's school shoes—perfectly clean and perhaps even new. "It took me six long years, but I'm over you." Biting his lip, he assumed the courage to look at her once more. "I suppose I never really cared for you that much. It was just infatuation."

Lily let out a soft sigh that almost sounded like a sob and brought her hand up to her chest, rubbing it slightly. She plucked at her shirt, or perhaps something beneath it. "I…I can't believe…"

"Damn it, Lily!" James nearly shouted now. He was truly frustrated. "Why am I not allowed to not be interested in you? You just keep spurning me, so I deserve to have my peace. We're going to be roommates for a year—you can't let me suffer like that, can you?" He saw that she was near crying, and he was near crying himself.

"You can't be over me!" Lily finally screamed. The compartment went silent, and James was pretty sure he could hear silence throughout the rest of the train as well. Tears openly fell down her face now. "You…you can't be over me," she cried, her voice soft now.

It pained him to hurt her so, but she was just being selfish, unless she suddenly had feelings for him as well. "And why not?" James whispered, wanting desperately to reach across the cabin and tuck a strand of hair behind Lily's ear. It was blocking her face quite terribly.

--

She wasn't sure how to tell him. She'd been planning it all summer. She'd actually planned him initiating it all. She'd planned him asking her out for the millionth time and her actually saying yes and them having passionate sex on the head common room couch, which was quite too rushed for her in actuality, but it was a fantasy, so it didn't really matter.

She hadn't planned this, though.

Lily had always been good with words, as had James. Today, though, they'd been incredibly frank with one another. There was none of that usual wordy flirting and criticism that had existed between them since they were merely eleven. She realized that they'd started out conversing unsurely, and now were acting based on feeling.

So she went with her feeling and ditched the words that she was having trouble with. Instead, she whispered, "Because…" and leaned forward. She placed the palms of her hands on James' knees, sending a tingle down her spine. She leaned forward even more until their lips were just a millimeter apart. She was going to act on impulse and kiss him, but something stopped her.

It was a test, really, and she knew it. Had he been lying to her or not? She certainly hoped that he had.

--

James could smell her. She smelled of strawberries. She tasted like them, too, or at least she had last year when he'd briefly kissed her after giving her the necklace. He knew what she wanted him to do. He filled the space between them and kissed her quite hungrily.

Lily moaned slightly, taking control of the kiss as her tongue slid across his lips, which parted, allowing her entry into his mouth. But he couldn't let her have complete control, so he took her hands from his knees and moved them to the side, leaning even more into her and finding her breasts, kneading at them gently through her blouse.

He hadn't expected their first real kiss to be like this at all. He was even more surprised when she pulled away for air, and lifted her shirt up slightly to unhook her bra. She took his hands and placed them quite forcefully near the hem of her shirt.

And then he kissed her again and reached up her shirt towards her breasts. But he didn't find them quite easily. In fact, his hands found something else—a pendant hanging on a chain.

He pulled away and she lifted the necklace out from underneath her shirt. "Because I wear this every day and I have since you gave it to me," she whispered.

She'd found the words they'd been lacking earlier. A sudden wave of happiness and love, for lack of a better word, came over James, and he let out an awkward sounding sigh. Lily laughed slightly, and soon the two began cracking up.

"You're a horrible liar!" Lily said before resuming laughter.

James sent her a fake glare and hmphed. "I wouldn't be so sure about that!" he growled. "I made you cry, after all." As an afterthought, he added, "Don't do that again; it made me feel quite guilty."

"Serves you right," Lily giggled, "although I did deserve it."

Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door. Lily jumped, surprised, and immediately went about fixing her bra and running her hands through her hair, although it hadn't been messed up.

"I'll get it," James whispered, standing up. He smoothed his shirt and opened the door a crack, popping his head out.

--

Lily heard the Headmaster's voice from inside. "You are expected outside of the compartment in five minutes to talk with the prefects and staff."

"Thank you, Sir."

When James shut the door again, he turned around and slumped against it, eventually sitting on the ground. He shook his head at Lily, who was now standing. "This is truly insane. I come to school planning on lying to you and falling out of…whatever this feeling is…with you, and we end up snogging. And then we get called away because we have duties to attend to."

Lily smirked and winked. "Ah, well, you have the pleasure of being my sole flatmate, and also the trouble of having lots of responsibilities. Almost like we're married, eh?" When he smiled at her, it sent another chill running down her spine. She certainly hadn't expected this to happen on the first day of school at all.

"That's life," James said with a shrug. "Fair is fair."

And he stood up to kiss her chastely before they left the compartment, hand in hand.

The End

There. I really hope you guys liked it. You readers have been wonderful to me and I'm so glad you have enjoyed the story. It was a blast to write and I'm sad I'm done! But alas, that is all. I hope you didn't find this all too soon—I know it was said in the books that James made it seem as if he was over Lily by their seventh year. Apparently, though, they either forgot to tell you that this only lasted five seconds or it lasted quite some time, but too long for fanfiction purposes. Anyway, thanks for sticking through with readings this, and please read and review! Your reviews have made my day! --Kate

Added: And thanks for letting me know about the James not being a prefect thing. I was pretty sure he wasn't, but at the time I wrote the fifth chapter, I wasn't able to double check. So I just kept on going with him as a prefect. I probably should have left a note saying that, but I didn't.

Once again, thanks for reviewing!!