Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters from his world. It's a tragedy, if you ask me.

AN - Lily and James fluff. No real plot just another classic how they got together ficlet.

Standing in Doorways

The rain beat down heavily on the window of the deserted charms room. Lily sighed, placing her cheek on her palm, staring out into the dark night.

When she had asked Professor Flitwick's permission to borrow the room for study, she hadn't thought it would be on a Saturday night. She wouldn't have minded, had it not been the Saturday night following Gryffindor's epic defeat of Slytherin on the quidditch pitch and consequently the night of the post-match celebration. It would've been nice to blow off some steam after all the studying she had been doing for NEWTs.

Lily sighed again and turned her attention to the deluge outside. It had been a good match that afternoon: a grudge match. It was violent and intense, made more so by the bad weather often blowing the players off course; their seeker had nearly been blown into the goal posts at one stage.
Although, she reminisced with a smile, it had been rather nice to see players' shirts clinging to their chests in the downpour - she was thinking of a certain quidditch captain in particular. She would mentally slap herself for thinking about James' toned chest if she hadn't been so enthralled by the thought of it. After all, sharing the Heads' common room and bathroom with him meant that she had (accidentally, of course) seen him without a shirt on, which really wasn't fair considering she needed to concentrate and inevitably James' chest kept popping into her mind's eye.

It was her own fault that she was stuck in the charms classroom, she supposed, it served her right for being so studious; she really could leave any time she wanted to…

In fact, Lily decided, standing up, I'm going to leave right now. If I have to write one more bloody line on bloody levitation spells, I'll-

But her thoughts were interrupted when, as she turned to gather her books, she saw none other than James Potter standing in the doorway.

"Merlin, Potter! You scared me! What are you doing here?" Lily demanded in shock, ruder than she had intended.

James simply quirked an amused eyebrow at the startled girl. "Looking for you, of course," he replied, waiting to see what her reaction would be.

Surprisingly, she did not roll her eyes or come out with a scathing retort. In fact, her cheeks flamed for some inexplicable reason that very much intrigued James.

"What are you doing here anyway, Evans? Didn't you hear about the party?"

"I booked the room to study in," Lily said simply, wondering why she seemed incapable of forming complex sentences.

"Why, I'm shocked, Lils. Did you even see the match? You can't have thought Slytherin would win?" James asked incredulously, enjoying the indignation on the redhead's face as he teased her.

"I saw the- what do you mean Slytherin? Do you- Oh, you're so annoying!" she exclaimed.

James chuckled and Lily realised he'd been teasing her. "You know just how to wind me up," she said in exasperation. She was slightly annoyed at herself for letting him do so again, as he often did. "Hold on, how did you know I was here? Are you stalking me, Potter?" she challenged.

It was James' turn to blush this time but he hastily rearranged his features into a look of confidence. "Yeah, a little," he replied, pulling out the Marauder's Map and waving it slightly.

Lily didn't bother to be indignant - she was more amused than anything. "So why did you stalk me, James? I shouldn't think there's anything you know that I don't when it comes to charms."

James melted on the inside - he loved it when Lily was arrogant. It made her all the more sexy, in his opinion. Being the wonderfully talented young man that he was, it had always puzzled James why Lily had refused to date him. He had a sneaking suspicion that it was due to the fact that she truly liked him and was scared of her feelings for him. On the other hand, he could go with Sirius' suggestion that she found him a little bit conceited. But since he had stopped hexing people for fun, he had hoped that there would be fewer obstacles in his attempts to win the heart of Lily Evans. It was more than the thrill of the chase - she was perfect in his eyes.

James, lost as he was in his thoughts about the future-Mrs-Prongs (as Sirius had taken to calling her), had forgotten to come up with a clever comeback to Lily's question. His attention was gained by the girl in question clearing her throat loudly.

"Huh? Oh, right," James said, hurriedly gathering his thoughts. "Nah, you're right about the charms thing. But I know more than you when it comes to other things," he said, the tiniest hint of suggestion in his voice.

"Oh, really?" Lily asked dryly, placing her hands on her hips in a sceptical fashion.

"Well, there's quidditch for one thing," James said with a grin.

"Of course. Men and quidditch, a love that dare not speak it's name," Lily joked.

"Then there's transfiguration," James offered.

"Okay, I'll give you that one. What else?" Lily probed, her curious emerald eyes making James feel slightly light headed.

"You," he replied without thinking.

The aforementioned eyes widened in shock, but Lily said nothing. James made the split second decision to tell the truth about how he felt - in any case, there was no digging himself out of the grave he had just made - he may as well be hanged for a hippogriff as a hinkypunk.

"I know that your best subject is potions, though you prefer charms. I know that you like honey on your toast instead of marmalade. I know that the only lollies you ever buy from Honeydukes are chocolate frogs or sugar quills. I know that when you're embarrassed you like to play with your hair-" Lily dropped the strand she had been fiddling with.

"I know for a fact that you thought the jelly-stair prank we played last week was hilarious because I saw you trying not to laugh. Your favourite colours are blue and green, your favourite band is the Beatles - same as me, and you want to be a healer or an auror when you finish school." James paused, colouring in the cheeks. "And I know that now you probably think I'm a stalker, so I'll just…err, you know. I'll go, now," he muttered, turning his back to the stunned Lily.

Having heard James list the many things he knew about her made Lily realise that perhaps James had been telling the truth two years ago when he said he'd wanted to date her because of who she was. She felt her stomach doing rapid flip-flops as she hastened after the quidditch player, grabbing his wrist just as he was about to walk away.

"Wait," she said softly, the urgency in her voice making James' heart give a bizarre little squeeze. He turned around and felt the air go out of his lungs as he noticed just how close they were now standing to one another. He looked at her questioningly; asking her to continue. "Why did you follow me here tonight?" she asked intently.

James simply looked down at the intelligent, beautiful, kind witch before him in wonder. "Do I really need to answer that?" he said, and Lily felt like her knees were about to buckle beneath her.

There was so much that hadn't been said, so much unrelieved sexual tension in the room that the air seemed thick with it. Lily had still not let go of James' wrist and she could feel his quickened pulse racing just beneath the skin, knowing that hers probably was not much better.

"It wasn't the same, the party, without you," James said, mixing up his sentence, "I missed you."

A crease formed between Lily's brows. She was hopeful but she didn't want to allow herself to hope: she was confused - hadn't James given up on her ages ago? "Why?" she asked.

James allowed himself to roll his eyes at her.

"Isn't it obvious, Evans? I still like you!"

Lily's jaw dropped open.

"I know you don't feel the same way and that's okay. It's been good being your friend at least. But I couldn't even enjoy myself at the party and I knew it was because of you. And, really, when I saw you in here I knew I couldn't just leave you alone," he rambled. "Who studies on a Saturday night, anyway? It's dumb - Saturday's are for having fun and-" but he was cut off when he felt Lily's lips on his.

They were soft and just barely touching his but all the same he felt a jolt of electricity or something where their lips met. Lily pulled back quickly, releasing James' wrist, her blush returning in full force as she noticed the handsome boy wasn't responding.

"Sorry!" Lily apologised, stepping backwards away from him, her hand immediately flying to fiddle with the end of her ponytail. "It's just, you said, well, all that stuff about what I like and then you still liked me but you mean as friends and I shouldn't have, I just didn't think and-" but James had grabbed her wrist this time and yanked her right against his chest so that she could feel the muscles she'd been daydreaming about earlier.

"I don't just like you, Lily Evans," he said huskily, his eyes boring into hers, "I fancy you more than you could possibly understand. I may even love you." And with that he lowered his head slightly, leaving it up to Lily to close the gap between them. This time she brushed her lips against his tentatively and he kissed her back, allowing one hand to wrap around her waist, the other to tangle in her hair. She responded to this more eagerly than she would've wanted to (she didn't want to seem too enthusiastic), her body traitorously pressing up against his, her mouth opening to allow for a bit more tongue.

After several minutes of heated snogging, the two pulled apart slightly. James still held Lily in his arms and was looking down at her with wonder and, well, love. Lily looked back into his hazel eyes and asked the question she had wanted to ask since James had found her.

"Will you come with me to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"

"As your date?" James asked hopefully. Lily nodded, a grin lighting up her entire face.

He responded affirmatively with yet another kiss. And that was how James finally got the girl of his dreams; standing in the doorway, kissing her like there was no tomorrow.

AN - Corny, fluffy goodness. Dedicated to Ellie who left magical chocolate blocks in my letter box (she is the best! the Sirius to my James or something along those lines)

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