One Last Time by hpforlife
“All right class, make sure you have those essays ready for me by Monday. Remember that I want three full pieces of parchment at least,” said Professor McGonagall, in a tone that would suggest that she was punishing the students.
Lily sighed. Today was Friday and she had not yet started her essay because she had been so preoccupied with Head Duties and other homework that entire week. And as Transfiguration was not her best subject, this essay would probably take longer than school work usually did. But she already had plenty to do this weekend, and she had no idea when she would have the time to fit everything in.
As Lily pulled out her homework planner to jot down what she had to do, she dropped a few quills out of her bag. Groaning quietly, she bent down to pick them up, but someone had already bent down for her.
It was Potter.
Lily shut her eyes, and then opened them, vowing not to shout at him. Ever since they became Head Boy and Girl, Lily and James had to spend a lot of time together, and James had been grabbing every chance to be nice to Lily, or going out of his way to help her. She would be flattered and grateful had he not followed every nice gesture with a request to go out with him, which he hadn’t stopped doing since 5th year. But now that they were Head Students together and they had to be civil towards one another, Lily thought it best to just ignore it. She was still very annoyed with him, but she guessed she didn’t hate him as much as she previously did. She acted quite nice around him most of the time, but as she was in a bad mood today, she decided that it would be okay to take her anger out on him. And since he was just being irritating, Lily snatched the quills from James’ hands without saying thank you and went back to her work. He smirked at her cockily, turned to whisper something in Sirius’ ear and went back to his work.
At the end of class, Lily hurriedly tried to pack her belongings so she could get to her dorm and start her work, but her bag split and she was left picking up her broken ink bottle and loose papers that flew out of her bag while everybody else filed out of the classroom. At least, she thought everybody had gone.
“Would you like some help?” said a voice from behind her. She turned.
It was Potter. Again.
“Go away, Potter.”
“I’m just being polite,” he said, as though to imply that he truly was.
“A gesture is not called polite when you expect to get something out of doing it, you know,” Lily snarled, picking up the last piece of paper and getting up to face Potter, who was blocking the door.
“Who said I wanted to get anything out of helping you?”
“You don’t have to say it, I know it. All you want is for me to want to go out with you.”
“Ahhh…I think I’ve accomplished that much,” he said, smiling and looking as full of himself as ever.
“All right, believe that if you must. It's just too bad that I don’t.” James just smiled, which somehow annoyed Lily a bit more. She didn’t want to go out with him. She didn’t. Yes, he was attractive and smart, but she did not want to date him. Wait, attractive and smart? No! He was an arrogant toerag and he always had been. Though, she had to admit, he was quite handsome. Wait a moment, no he wasn't. And she didn't want to date him, not James Potter, who would go out with her once and then dispose of her like an overused dish towel.
“Move Potter. Out of my way.”
“No,” he said, speaking to her as though she were a small child, “I don’t think I want to.”
“Move or I’ll hex you,” said Lily angrily, pulling out her wand. She was very annoyed now. She was tired from all the work she had been doing all week, and Potter just had her thinking something nice about him. Something that might suggest that she liked him. But she didn’t, right? Not arrogant, full of himself, thinks-he-rules-the-world Potter, right?
James just smiled. “No, no, no Miss Head Girl. You can get detention for that.”
Lily snorted. “Oh, yes, who’s here to see? It isn't as though you are going to give me detention…” James smiled yet again. “You would give me detention?” James nodded. “You…you...I HATE YOU! MOVE OUT OF MY WAY NOW!”
James started to laugh. “I’ll let you leave if you answer one question honestly.”
“If you’re going to ask me out”“
“No, it’s not that. I want to know why. Why do you hate me? Answer me honestly and I swear, I’ll leave you alone forever.”
“Because you won’t move out of my way, obviously. And because you are using your authority as Head Boy against me, you arse.”
“No, I meant before that. I mean, don’t you think we’d be great together?” he asked, taking a step closer to her. Then he twirled a bit of her thick, auburn hair in his fingers and said, “I’d stop being such a git if you went out with me just once…I swear.”
“Potter, we aren’t having this conversation,” she said slapping his hand away from her hair and trying to push him out of the way, but proving to be much too weak for him. No doubt, he had gained a lot of muscle from all those days he spent playing Quidditch, and was ten times stronger than Lily would ever be.
“Why not?” he asked, getting a bit annoyed. Why couldn’t she just answer his question?
“Because, I’ve already been over this! I don’t need a reason to not like you! I just don’t!”
“I think you do,” he said quietly.
“Excuse me?”
“I think you do like me. Perhaps you like me more than you think. And you do want to date me. You’re just stubborn. And you could be ruining something great, because I know that we would be.”
“Stop talking like that Potter! Stop! You’re being an arrogant prat, like always, and I have a lot of work to do.”
“Like what?”
“For one, I have Head Duties”“
“Which aren’t until tomorrow night.”
“I have Charms homework.”
“Charms is your best and favorite subject, that won’t take long, so don’t act as though it will.”
“I have a Potions essay.”
“Slughorn loves you, he’ll give you full marks no matter what you turn in.”
“I have this Transfiguration essay, which is going to be difficult and time consuming as this is my worst subject.”
“All right, you are the smartest girl in our year, no subject is your worst subject. And if you have any trouble, I’ll help you, because this is my best subject.”
“I don’t want your help.”
“Well, that’s not nice.”
“I’m not trying to be, in case you haven’t noticed. Will you just MOVE?”
James looked at her curiously, and then stepped aside. Lily was surprised, but recovered herself and pushed passed him. However, just as she was about to open the door, James grabbed her arm. “Just kidding. You aren't getting away that easily.”
“Here’s the deal: You give me my arm back and I won’t curse you into a thousand pieces.”
“I think I’ll risk it.” Lily glared at him. “Answer my question.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Lily sighed. She would regret saying this. She would regret it for the rest of the year, every time she looked at Potter. But she had to answer, because otherwise she wouldn’t be able to leave, as Potter’s grip on her arm was not getting any looser.
“Because…because I don’t have one.”
“What?”
“I don’t have an answer to your question.”
“Do you remember what the question was? Because I’m sure you know why you hate me.”
“Well, I’m sure you’re wrong because I can’t answer.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t hate you.”
“There isn't any need to lie here. Just tell me me the truth.”
“I don’t hate you.”
“You don’t?”
“No.”
“Well then why in hell won’t you go out with me? I know you have feelings for me.”
Now Lily was at the height of her annoyance. “Just because almost the entire female population of this school is obsessed with you, it doesn’t mean that I am, Potter! Goodness, can’t you just realize that not every girl is in love with you?”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“I meant that I know you like me, not because other girls do, but because there’s something between us. It’s passion. I feel it every time I look at you. You can’t possibly tell me you don’t feel it too.”
Lily didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to give in and become Potter’s toy to play with and throw out when he gets bored. “Don’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“This…don’t try to seduce me. I’m not going to fall for it.”
James laughed. “I’m not trying to seduce you. I just want to go on a date with you. And then I want to be in a relationship with you. And I want you to love me like I love you.”
“Well, Potter, life isn’t all about what you want.”
“I never said it was.”
“Well it seems as though it’s all you think about. You don’t seem to have given thought to the fact that I might not want to date you. I might not like you. I might be repulsed by you.”
“All right, fine. If you can honestly tell me that everything you just said is true, then I swear, I’m out of your life forever, this will be the last time you hear from me.” Lily was about to say something back, but then she stopped and gave thought to what James had just said. She tried to imagine honestly saying out loud that she didn’t like James in that sort of way, but she couldn’t do it.
“Well?”
Lily was silent for awhile, but then she managed, “Let me go Potter.”
“So you can’t honestly tell me that, can you?”
“Move, Potter.”
“You don’t want me out of your life, do you?”
“Out of my way.”
“You like me, don’t you?”
“SO WHAT IF I DO?” Lily screamed at him, not able to take it any longer. “So what, you’ll go out with me once, then decide you don’t like me and forget about me. I’m not stupid, I know how you play your little games.”
“Where the hell did you get that idea?”
“I assumed Potter. I mean, that is the way you live your life, isn’t it? You hop from one girl to the next, breaking each one’s heart as you go along the line. And you just want me because you can’t have me. I know it, Potter. So just leave me alone.”
“I think you may have me confused with Sirius.”
“Excuse me?”
“Sirius hops from one girl to another, not me. A lot of girls may like me, I don’t really know or care, because I’ve only been interested in one: you.”
“Don’t give me that.”
James didn’t really know what to say. But he did know what to do.
Before she could stop him, James leaned over to Lily and kissed her, right on the lips. It was soft and sweet, and she knew she should stop him, but she found that she didn’t want to. She found herself running her hands through his hair, and she smiled to herself when she felt his hands around her waist.
Suddenly remembering something, Lily pulled away from their embrace and said, “You split my bag, didn’t you?”
“Which answer will get you to kiss me again?”
“Guess.”
“Umm…yes, I did.”
“Good guess,” she said, and she leaned in and kissed him again.
A/N: That bag splitting idea was stolen from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when Harry does it to Cedric so he can get him alone to tell him about the dragons in the first task. Hopefully you guys got that part.