Jily oneshots

It began with a coffee

done by 34knockonthedoor on fanfiction.net

3,000 words. That was all that was between Lily Evans and the next four weeks off. 3,000 measly words for her environmental politics class about Russia, America, and the Kyoto protocol, and then she was free. However, three coffees in and countless papers strewn haphazardly across her table at the cafe, Lily was not any closer to that end goal. She sighed and rubbed her eyes and wished she were just done already.

Coming to this cafe was normally a source of great relaxation and enjoyment for Lily, but no such luck today. Lily had stumbled across this cafe in her first year when the campus cafe was closed and Lily was so desperate for caffeine that anyone breathing too loudly was liable to have their head bitten off by an overworked and sleep deprived red head. She had walked into town, found The Daily Grind, and that was it. Love at first espresso.

Now well into her third year, Lily still came loyally nearly every day for a coffee and a chat with the lovely owners and locals. A few students came in from time to time, but it was mostly a local spot.

Recently a messy black haired bespectacled young man by the name of James Potter had commandeered her coffee stops and quiet work time. They met when he bounced in with a flourish, took one look at her book, and declared her reading about the slave trade around the tomato industry "too depressing for a Tuesday at 11, good lord woman, are you trying to cry here in public" and proceeded to switch it for his copy of "A Midsummers Nights Dream" and told her that for each dirty joke and innuendo she found, he would buy her a coffee.

Seventeen coffees and hours of ceaseless laughter later, James Potter had wedged himself in as a regular fix in Lily's life. An English major, James would always have books aplenty on hand and whenever Lily's politics became too depressing or frustrating or overwhelming James would whip out a copy of whichever book was "the best book ever, no seriously Evans I MEAN it this time, don't roll your eyes because honestly the comedic timing is GENIUS" on that particular day.

Sometimes his fellow English major Peter Pettigrew would join him, or his best mate Sirius who studied Philosophy (half-heartedly he assured her whenever the chance to show off how little he cared for his degree came about. Lily and James however knew better and would snigger when he left about how nerdy he was about it really). A pleasant surprise for Lily was that fellow politics student Remus Lupin was chummy with James, and though they hadn't really spoken before then, they had a chance to get acquainted and develop a friendship which often involved deep political discussions and debates and laughing at the others faces when they got pedantic and too technical for the others to follow.

Yes, thought lily happily, they weren't a bad lot at all.

Deciding that a fourth coffee would inspire like the previous three had failed to do, Lily got up to order another flat white and dug out another few quid. Lily paid for her coffee, thanked the barista, and walked back to her table. So busy debating if she should go back and get a slice of lemon tart in order to elongate her procrastination efforts, she didn't notice the other chair on her table was occupied.

Lily stopped short in front of her table to see that very same young man with messy raven hair she had just been thinking of and she sighed.

"James, I really don't have time for your company today, and though I would love to debate the difference between a flat white and a latte again for another hour, I really can't. This paper…."

She trailed off with her sentence and wordlessly gestured to the mess that was her table.

"That bad huh? Normally you love this sort of stuff. It's your favourite class! I'm sure it isn't that bad. You're probably nearly done and just panicking because you want a first with honours " James teased.