𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐯𝐲 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 | HP One Shots

Thought you'd never ask | Jily

Surprise🤗

•

As Lily caught herself staring at him for maybe the tenth time that day, she knew that she was a goner.

But really, could you blame her? His hazel eyes that twinkled brightly, nose scrunching in that cute way which was just so endearing. She saw him laugh at something Sirius had said and she got so distracted by how his rosy lips looked like a perfect crescent moon when he smiled, that she accidentally set the cushion sitting on her bench on fire - which they were supposed to transfigure into a rabbit.

From beside her, Mary screamed and fell off from her stool. At that, he looked up from whatever Sirius and him were doing and caught Lily staring at him. Her eyes widened and she was sure that she looked like a deer caught in headlights. He stood up from his place and strutted over to her bench with a mischievous smirk on his face.

He held out a hand for Mary, who took it and got up mumbling something about "always being a victim of Lily's exceptional Transfiguration abilities", not breaking his eye-contact with Lily this whole time. Lily's cheeks heated up and she thought that she might just have a stupor from embarrassment.

"Alright, Evans?"

It took Lily a moment to register that the question was directed to her, adding to her already brimming humiliation. She mentally thanked the Gods that McGonagall wasn't in the class as she had been summoned by Professor Dumbledore, because Lily didn't think she would've been able to handle McGonagall's disappointment at Lily's obvious lack of Transfiguration skills.

Lily tried to regain her composure as she straightened up in her seat and said, "I was. Until now. To what do I owe the pleasure of your beloved presence, Potter?"

James' eyes twinkled. Lily's jaw twitched. Bloody hell, she needed to keep it together. It was James Potter, her arch-nemesis and Bane-Of-Her-Existence-Since-First-Year. Though, there relationship had certainly improved since the past year. And as they both were Head Boy and Girl, they had decided to keep their rocky past behind and try to be civil with each other. Well, civil did not explain Lily's harbouring crush on him. Stupid feelings. Ugh.

James coolly replied, "Noticed that you were having some problems with Transfig, Evans. Want me to help?" His voice contained it's usual arrogance in them, but this time Lily heard a bit of warmth underlaying it. Well, at least he didn't bring up the fact that she was dreaming about him and his carved forearms in the middle of a class.

Lily weighed her options. She could either refuse him and spend the whole period trying to transform her cushion, which she knew she won't be able to and take Marlene's help anyway. Or she could suck up her ego and accept his proposal.

She sighed and grumbled, "You will do that?"

James reply was instant. "I would do anything for you, Evans." His eyes widened a bit at the end of the sentence and he stuttered a bit as though he hadn't meant to say that. Oblivious to the flapping hoard of butterflies clawing inside Lily's stomach, he continued on, "I mean- of course I would help you, Evans. I would help anyone. Can't deprive people of my inconceivable knowledge, love." James' face adorned a full blown smirk till the end of the sentence. Merlin, his arrogance was riveting.

"Merlin, your arrogance is riveting," piped Lily as she scrutinised her gaze.

James tutted. "That's not how you talk to someone when you want their help, Evans," he bantered.

Lily rolled her eyes as she said, "Whatever. Now will you please help me with this stupid jinx?"

"Sure," James grinned. He conjured up a new cushion and pulled a chair from the side to sit besides Lily. He placed the cushion on the bench and gestured towards Lily to try the spell.

She inhaled slowly and whispered, "Lapifors," while pointing her wand towards the cushion. The cushion trembled a bit but did not transform into a rabbit. Lily lifted her hands in exasperation and whined, "See. It. Doesn't. CHANGE."

James chuckled, "I think I see what the problem is here, Evans, you need to imagine the cushion in your head. Imagine it sitting on the desk and as you say the incantation, imagine the cushion turning into a rabbit. But not just the physical traits because animal transformation is not just about how the object looks once transformed. So you need to think about how this cushion will act once transfigured. Also, the incantation is pronounced as 'Lapifors'. Stress the 'Lap' and now try once. Relax, you got this." He smiled kindly at the end and Lily all but melted into a puddle. Of course she was turned on by intelligence.

She shook her head once, twice just for good measure and then pointed her wand at the cushion once again. She imagined it transforming into a rabbit as James had instructed and muttered the incantation. A green beam of light left the tip of her wand and as it touched the cushion, it turned into a white rabbit with blue eyes.

James beamed at her and took a hold of the rabbit before it hopped away, "The fur still feels a bit more like cotton and less like how it's supposed to feel but it's definitely improvement, Evans. I knew you could do it!"

Lily smiled and giggled, "Thank you so much, Potter. Saying this with the risk of inflating your already impossibly large ego, you're pretty good at Transfiguration, you know."

"I am pretty good at a lot of things, Evans. You just never gave me a chance," teased James as he put the rabbit back at the bench but Lily knew what he was implying.

Now that they were actually friends, she had realised that he wasn't as bad as he seemed. Sure, he was still very arrogant but not as much of a toe-rag as she thought him to be. He was actually a really interesting person to hang out with him, gods, Lily had cried tears of laughter many-a-times when she was with him. And the cherry on top of the cake, being that he also happened to be smart, top of the class in almost all the subjects, along with Lily, obviously.

She looked at him for a second and then conceded, "Say, what if I am ready to give you a chance?" She could feel her heartbeat getting faster.

James looked at her in his adorably confused way, where his eyebrows get all scrunched up as he questioned, "What- what do you mean, Evans?"

Lily took a deep breath and mentally gave herself a pep-talk. There was no need for her to be so nervous. Remus had told her a few days ago that James still liked her but he was scared to get turned down by her. Come on, Lily wasn't even being subtle about her feelings for him. She guessed that he was just naturally slow at picking up hints.

Lily bent her head a bit closer to his face and blurted, "Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"

James stilled as if he was Stupefy-ed. His mouth formed a perfect O as he stared at Lily like she had just confessed her undying love for Professor Flitwick. She tossed that thought out her mind because it was very- um- disturbing.

Thinking that Remus might have got the wrong idea about James' feelings, she hurried on to take that statement back but as soon as she opened her mouth, James' face lit up with the biggest smile she had ever seen.

He took her hand and laced their fingers together as he said, "I thought you'd never ask."

•

So, um, hii.

I know that I didn't give a single hint about this okay. But trust me, it was truly spontaneous and even I didn't know that I was gonna write a one shot. This just sort of popped in my brain.

So, yeah, here goes. I hope you like it and I am gonna write many more one-shots coz I feel like they are easier to commit to then long fics.

Love,
Dee x