PARTIES HELD BY Slughorn, as seventeen-year-old Lily Evans had found out long ago, were not one of the top ten places in the world to be in, especially not after a break-up with a boyfriend. Lily had broken it off with Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain Patrick Hastings shortly after she caught him snogging a Hufflepuff seventh-year in a dark corner of the dungeons that morning (Lily had actually gone in to retrieve her Potions textbook, which she had forgotten to take). Patrick had swore that the Hufflepuff seventh year had drugged him, but then admitted otherwise when Lily had pointed a wand directly at his throat and threatened him with a hex unless he told the truth.
Oh no, Lily hadn’t broken down and cried. She was made of stronger stuff, being, after all, a red-head. But that wasn’t to say that she hadn’t felt annoyed and wound-up for the rest of the day, even shouting at some first-years (she’d apologised later when she’d cooled down). Besides, she reasoned, school was ending in a week, so she and Patrick would have to say goodbye, anyway; their feelings for each other hadn’t really been that strong in the first place. There was also the, uh, tiny problem that whenever they kissed, the unbidden image of James Potter would pop into Lily’s head. Once or twice, she had even almost moaned Potter’s name out loud.
She wouldn’t even have been here at Slughorn’s party if he hadn’t personally come to find her and beg her to come. And there was also the fact that she wanted to be in his good graces, seeing as her N.E.W.T.s were next year. So she flashed him a bright smile and said, yes, I’ll be there tonight, and we can all celebrate the end of another school year.
Now she sorely wished she hadn’t agreed. It was this stupid party that Sirius Black and James Potter had decided to attend (they had been mysteriously missing from the other parties held over the course of the year). And their presence meant that Remus Lupin, who was usually her chatting partner in these dreary parties, would be occupied with what he called his “fellow Marauders”.
Lily snorted. Marauders! The four” well, three out of four, anyway” most popular people in the school. James “Prongs” Potter, the coolest of the four, was the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, and the most arrogant prick Lily had ever known. Well, he had sort of improved a little this year, hexing less and less people every month, but he was still full of arrogance. But even Lily couldn’t deny his good looks: he had messy black hair, hazel eyes that still maintained their brilliance despite being behind a pair of glasses, and a gorgeous body. Sometimes Lily even had to remind herself of his attitude when his appearance made her frazzled.
Then there was Sirius “Padfoot” Black. He had first caught the attention of the entire student population when he’d become the first Black ever to be sorted in Gryffindor House. Dark haired with misty grey eyes, he was extremely good-looking even then, and now, fully grown, he had killer looks, girls fawned over him, but not many of them received his attention: these days Black only seemed to be obsessed with one thing” motorbikes. He was the ringleader of the little gang, along with Potter.
The third person in their little gang was Remus “Moony” Lupin - the best Marauder of them all, in Lily’s opinion. He rarely ever participated in acts of mischief, but didn’t exactly stop the rest from doing so, either. He was the Marauder on the closest terms with Lily, being intellectual, and actually like a human being (the other two were initially genii, actually, but their brains, thought Lily, had gone to waste). He was the kind, sensitive and thoughtful one, and girls liked him for that, as well as for the various scars on his body, which they thought were “macho”.
The last Marauder, Peter “Wormtail” Pettigrew, was the only Marauder whom not a lot of girls favoured. Being a little squat, and not as smart as the rest, he was usually thrown into the background. But Lily had come into contact with him once in a while, and he was relatively nice, just that he supported Potter and Black a tad too much for her liking. He was also the only one not was not invited to Slughorn’s parties.
Speaking of parties…
The music was getting too loud for Lily’s ears to bear. Looking around cautiously to check that no one was watching, she aimed her wand at the speakers and thought, “Quietus.” The volume went down a little. She sighed in relief.
“Hey, Evans!” said a voice behind her, and she jumped three feet high. She turned around to find Potter smiling down at her. “So how’re you doing?”
“Not so good, now that you’re here,” she said coldly. Stowing her wand away in her robes, and stalked off towards the table, where she grabbed a fruit tart and ate it. To her annoyance, Potter followed her, but he grabbed a chocolate éclair instead. She groaned inwardly. She should’ve avoided him when she could. Now there was going to be no escape. James Potter hung on tighter than a leech.
“Why so moody, Evans?” he asked mildly, as he bit off a little of the éclair.
“Why…” she pretended to think. “Because you’re here, of course.”
“Come on…” Potter said, and to her extreme disbelief, he was chuckling. “I’m not so bad, am I?”
She almost choked on her tart when she heard that. “Not so bad?! Not so bad?! Potter, what kind of potion have you been drinking? Essence of the Deluded? Okay, fine, you’re not bad. You’re horrible.”
“But why?” Potter said innocently, finishing off his éclair.
“Why?” Lily said, walking away very quickly, glad that she had long legs. It took her a few seconds to realise that Potter was directly behind her. Damn Potter and his longer legs. She suddenly stopped and whirled around, and Potter nearly collided into her. “Because you’re so arrogant and smug and bullying and annoying and childish and hateful and””
“Extremely good-looking?” he asked, slightly amused by the way she was ranting on and on.
“Yes!” Lily said exasperatedly, and then clapped a hand over her mouth in a mixture of horror and disgust when she realised what she had just said.
“May I hear that again?” asked Potter, smirking. “My ears must’ve malfunctioned: you could not possibly have said that I was good-looking, could you?”
Lily felt like screaming. She compensated by clenching her left hand into a fist and regretted it almost immediately; the fruit tart was squashed and there was a gooey mess on her palm. “No, I could not have,” she said with sweet venom, and then turned on her heel and marched off again, this time to the drinks table. Because tonight was a special occasion, Slughorn had ordered different kinds of drinks, from Butterbeer to Firewhiskey, but there was an Age Line leading to the Firewhiskey, so no one under seventeen could take a single sip of Firewhiskey.
What with all the day’s events and now Potter, Lily recklessly strode forward to grab a bottle of Firewhiskey. Potter watched her, but he didn’t take a bottle of Firewhiskey like she did. Using her wand, she cleaned her left hand and uncorked the bottle, then took a swig. The whiskey went down her throat, burning it and leaving her wanting for more. After a few more sips, she felt slightly light-headed, and she was even able to smile at Potter, who looked startled, but smiled back.
“So why are you drinking?” Potter asked conversationally, guiding her to a corner of the room. In her current state, she let him.
“Dunno,” she shrugged. “Just felt like it.” She noted dimly that her speech wasn’t slurred; apparently she could hold her alcohol well. And then, looking into Potter’s intense eyes, she suddenly decided to tell him what had been bothering her the whole day. “I caught my boyfriend” ex-boyfriend” Patrick making out with some Hufflepuff.”
Something passed over Potter’s face. Lily wasn’t sure what it was, but it could have been anger. “He shouldn’t have done that,” he said, his tone even. “He had it all, but he had to lose it.”
“Had what?” Lily said, drinking some more Firewhiskey.
“Never mind,” he said, and then stared at her. She squirmed a little under his intent gaze, flickering gold because of the reflection of the fire… They were the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen.
Wait a minute… beautiful eyes?! Did I just think that? She shook her head hurriedly and was about to open her mouth to tell him off for staring, he suddenly said, “Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?”
“What?” she asked, and snorted. “Beautiful? Yeah, right.”
He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her slightly. “I’m not joking, Evans.”
She looked up at him, and he gazed back at her with seriousness in his eyes. The grip he had her in was so safe, so warm… so comforting… All she wanted to do now was to snuggle up against him and fall asleep. She closed her eyes for a while, but then reality hit her. This was Potter. How could she think about him that way? It must have been the Firewhiskey, she thought. But you didn't drink enough to blow your mind, said another voice in her head. She decided after a while that is was indeed the Firewhiskey, she didn't think she was capable of such thoughts if she was sober (the thinking-of-Potter-when-kissing-Patrick thing, she told the voice sternly, didn't count). Glancing down at the bottle in her hand , she took out her wand, and levitated the bottle onto a nearby table.
Then she shrugged off his hands and said, angrily, “Okay, tell me this, then, Potter. If I am actually beautiful” and I doubt if I am” how come Patrick cheated on me with that Hufflepuff? And she was no beauty, all right?”
“Patrick Hastings,” Potter said, “is an idiotic fool who doesn’t know how to treasure what he has. Even if you gave him all the girls in the world, he would want more.”
“Oh, yeah?” Lily said loudly, now attracting the attention of the people around them. “Well, that's bollocks, Potter, I don’t know where you get your information” mmphhf!”
For Potter had, without any prior warning whatsoever, kissed her.
On the lips.
It was a good kiss, there was no doubt about it. Potter was an excellent kisser. She could feel the kiss all the way from her spine to her toes. She closed her eyes, encircling his neck with her arms. The kiss was deep, passionate, and sweet, and she never wanted it to end.
And then she remembered who she was kissing and her eyes popped open. With all her might, she pushed Potter away. He staggered backwards in surprise.
“Potter!” she shrieked. “You insolent” disgusting” foul” creature! How dare you kiss me like that! You ought to be locked up, you… you dimwit!”
Now everyone was looking, but Potter didn’t seem abashed. He didn’t even look remorseful at all. In fact, a small smile was playing about his lips.
“What are you smirking about, you little toad?” Lily yelled. “You wipe that stupid smile off your face now! No need to look too happy about my enjoying that kiss””
She broke off; her eyes wide open in horror.
Oh Merlin, I didn’t say that, did I? Please tell me no. Please tell me no and I will never call Snape ‘Snivellus’ for the rest of my life. Although the nickname got stuck after last year’s O.W.Ls and it might take some time to remember to stop calling him that...
However, her prayers were, most unfortunately, unanswered. James Potter was taking a step forwards, looking as though he had just found out that Christmas was tomorrow. “What was that you said, Evans?”
“Er… nothing!” she squeaked, attempting a smile. “I just cleared my throat.”
“Really?” Potter said, advancing on her like a predator might his prey.
“Really,” Lily said, in a voice a few octaves higher than her own.
“Do you swear it, Lily Evans?” Potter asked in a whisper, now directly in front of her.
Lily closed her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened them, Potter was still in front of her. “Okay,” she snarled, grabbing the front of his robes so his face was directly in front of hers. “I don’t swear. You, James Potter, are an extremely gifted kisser, and I have enjoyed that kiss immensely. Got that?”
That said, she pulled his face down to hers for another kiss, but this time, this one was longer and more passionate than before. When they broke away, both of them were slightly out of breath.
Someone wolf-whistled. Lily thought it might be Black, but she wasn’t too sure.
“And that,” Potter said, his glasses slightly fogged, “was the best kiss I’ve ever had.”
Lily was smiling, too. “Oddly enough, Potter, I share the same sentiments as you.”
As the whole room waited with bated breath, Potter posed the most famous question in the romantic history of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. “Will you, Lily Evans, go out with me?” he asked, eyes alight with hope.
Lily cocked her head slightly to one side. “Why, yes, I think I will.”
And as the room burst into wild applause and cheers, Hogwarts’s newest couple leaned in to share yet another sweet kiss.
A/N: This scene happens at the end of the Marauders' and Lily's sixth year. Sixth year because the book only mentioned that they went out in seventh year, but that doesn't mean that they can't have gotten together at the end of the sixth year. So there you go (: Hope you've enjoyed the one-shot!
The Best Kiss by x_lily_evans_x
Chapter Notes: Disclaimer: Everything, from Lily and James to Slughorn's Parties, aren't mine.