Avoiding The Marauders

Pre-exam Stress

We just fell into place, you know? He didn't really need to ask me to be his girlfriend and I didn't need to ask him, we just knew. It wasn't necessary and, you know me, Lily Evans only lives for the necessities.

We have a routine: he waits for me in the morning in the common room, we eat together, go to lessons, I go the library to study for a couple of hours (or more) and meet him for some time in the Common Room. I'm starting to forget that I ever had a bad thought about James Potter.

He's always in my head. It's like, when I do anything I wonder what he would think of me for doing it, for the first time in years I actually take time to check how I look in the morning and I now notice things about him that I have never even spotted before.

Merlin, I think I'm in love.

We sat in the library, he broke the rules (not that I really mind) and is sitting with me. It's very distracting. Every now and then he leans over and pushes a strand of hair that's slipped out of my messy bun behind my ear or kisses my check or neck.

NEWTS are coming up, and I'm telling you, I'm trying to focus, but things keep distracting me. And the fact that that thing keeps making out with my collar bone really isn't helping.

"James," I breathed, dropping my quill.

"Hmm?" He huffed back, his hands lingering on my shoulder. So not helping!

"Will you stop? You're distracting me."

He looked up at me with a satisfied smirk on his face. With a fluid movement, he twisted my chair so that I faced him. Laying his hand on my cheek, he began to place kisses up my neck, forehead and ear. "Are you sure you want me to stop?" he whispered seductively,  placing a kiss right next to my lips. "Because I can if you want me to."

I took a shaky breath and told my nerves to get a grip on themselves, damn it! Pulling all of my resolution together, I pulled away slowly. "Yes," I said, trying to sound as collected as possible.

He pulled back, looking slightly disappointed. After a minute of staring at a piece of parchment with a blank look on his face, he turned to me with a sigh. "Lily," he moaned, his voice taking up a child like tone. "Lily, I'm bored!"

I rolled my eyes and tore them away from some very in depth potions notes. "Well, you could always study," I pointed out. "You do know that we have a very important set of exams in two weeks, don't you?"

He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. "I'm ready," he said simply, taking my hand in his and tracing his fingers over my knuckles.

I held back a shiver and glared at him. "James, this isn't something that you can just flirt your way through. If you want to be an Auror, like me, then your going to have to do better."

He sighed, bringing my hand to his mouth and resting it there. "Are you sure that you want to be an Auror, Lily?" He asked, his lips moving against my hand. "You could be anything. Anything other than that."

I frowned and pulled my hand away from him. "What's that supposed to mean?" I snapped. "You don't think that I'm good enough to be an Auror? Is it because I'm a girl?" Then I had a terrible thought. "Is it because I'm a 'mudblood'?"

He flinched at the word and grabbed my hand back, kissing each of the fingers in turn. "Don't you ever think that, Lils. Of course it isn't," he paused uncertainly. "It's just, well, I don't want you getting hurt."

"James," I replied gently. "There's a war going on. Hundreds of people are getting hurt. You can't save me from that."

He sighed. "Didn't mean I couldn't try."