Title: Definitive Decisions
Ship: Lily/James
Name/Pen Name: Cat/Placid Destruction
Word Count: 1,493
Theme #/Theme: 4/The Kiss
Challenge count: 2/7 finished

Content: PG
Spoilers: Books 1-5
Warnings: None
Summary: All Lily wants is a little fresh air before dinner, but James doesn't think she deserves it.

Disclaimer: The characters belong to JK Rowling.

Definitive Decisions

With a sigh of relief, Lily Evans watched her owl fly off into the distance. She had been at Hogwarts for six years already, and she still hated writing to her mother. It was difficult to write about what her family didn’t understand, and explaining took too long, but Mrs. Evans disliked it when her daughter’s letters were brief and vague.

Thus, once a week, Lily sat down and forced herself to write two pages of news and information to send home. But now that she was finished for the time, she didn’t see why she couldn’t head outside and enjoy the lovely weather.

She practically skipped through the corridors and down the stairs, hesitating before actually sliding down the banister on the fourth floor only once she was positive that no one was watching. Something had put her in a good mood the moment she had woken up that morning, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.

Maybe it was the weather, or maybe it was the fact that summer was quickly approaching. Whatever the cause may be, Lily hoped that the feeling would last forever.

When she reached the Entrance Hall, she came to an abrupt stop. James Potter and his band of friends were unknowingly blocking the door that was Lily’s only means of getting outside.

She stood on the bottom step of the main staircase while she observed the situation. The Marauders, as they were widely known, were standing in a circle, talking and laughing, with no regards toward the fact that they were making it impossible for someone to leave the castle. Perhaps if Lily waited long enough, someone would try to open the door from the outside, allowing her to escape while the boys moved out of the way.

As fate would have it, she was discovered before someone decided to come in.

Sirius Black, who stood with his back to the door, looked up and noticed her standing on the stairs watching them.

“Ho!” he cried immediately, a grin spreading across his face. “What have we here? A spy?”

Before she could react, Lily had four pairs of eyes on her, and she could feel her cheeks burning. She was pretty sure that she was now the color of her hair.

“I- I-” she stammered, trying to produce something even semi-intelligent. She hated confrontation and reacted terribly to it.

“You what?” James Potter teased, his smile matching that of his best friend. “You just wanted to admire me from afar, didn’t you?”

The effect was instantaneous. Lily immediately straightened up and clamped her mouth shut.

“Of course that’s not what I was doing, Potter,” she snapped. “I was actually on my way outside. Unfortunately, I found my path to be blocked by your unnaturally large head.”

James remained unfazed. His grin didn’t even falter.

“Well then,” he replied. “If you really want to get outside, why don’t you go?”

With that, he moved aside to allow her to escape.

Lily stepped off of the bottom step and then paused. There had to be a catch. She glanced at Remus Lupin, the most responsible and trustworthy of the lot. He too seemed to be wary of James’s antics, for he was glancing from James to Lily with a look of confusion in his eyes.

Hesitant but unable to think of another way out of the situation, Lily began to move forward. She walked past Remus and Peter Pettigrew. Remus gave her a weak smile as she stepped between James and Sirius.

As she reached out her hand to grab the doorknob, James took a step forward and once more placed himself in her path.

Angrily, Lily dropped her outstretched arm to her side and glared and the messy-haired boy in her way.

“Move,” she growled.

James folded his arms over his chest and grinned down at her.

“Make me,” he replied.

“James, please get out of her way,” Remus pleaded. “She didn’t do anything to you.”

“Funny thing, that,” James said with a chuckle. “Because I don’t recall ever doing anything to her either, and yet she is always rude to me. Maybe all I want is for her to say, ‘Please move, James’.”

Lily snorted. Not only did she refuse to be civil, but she also refused to call him by his first name. She felt that it gave off the impression that she actually regarded him as a friend.

“Never,” she spat.

Sirius sighed and rolled his eyes at their stubbornness, but Lily didn’t see him. She was busy glaring at James with all her might. Her current focus was not to break eye contact.

James took a step forward. Lily took a step back.

“Please, James,” Remus tried again.

James lifted his chin a bit so that he was now staring down his nose at Lily.

“No. I want her to be nice to me,” he said.

“James Potter,” Lily began, her voice rising alarmingly as she continued. “I wouldn’t be nice to you if you were the last person on Earth. I dislike you because you’re a pompous, big-headed jerk, and you never stop to think that maybe not everybody worships you.”

James began to laugh.

“Come now, Lily.” Nothing she said seemed to disrupt his cheerfulness. “I’m not all that bad, am I?”

He took another step forward, forcing her back once more.

“Merlin, you two are making me sick,” Sirius cried from behind James. “It’s obvious that you both want to snog each other senseless. You might as well get it over with.”

Eye contact was immediately broken, and four eyes were focused on Sirius. Two were laughing; two were not.

Peter had been observing the scene in silence, as he often did, but now chose to speak up.

“Maybe Remus is right, James. Maybe we should just let her through.”

Sirius quickly hushed him.

“Don’t listen to them,” he said. “Snog her, and send her on her way. That way, we’ll all be happy.”

Remus scoffed. “Doesn’t Lily’s opinion mean anything to you? Shouldn’t we take into consider into consideration the fact that she dislikes James with a passion?”

“Maybe Sirius is right,” Peter added. “It might solve a lot of problems.”

Sirius smiled and nodded as Remus turned disbelievingly toward Peter.

“Whose side are you on?”

“Mine,” Sirius said quickly. “And a good choice on your part, Wormtail.”

As their arguing continued, Lily and James had returned to their own bickering.

“So this is how I see it,” James said loud enough for everyone to hear him. “You want to get outside, but I’m in your way. I want you to be nice to me, but you refuse. It seems that the only way to resolve this is for you to ask politely for me to move.”

Lily narrowed her eyes. “I’ll never be nice to you.”

“Or you could just snog each other,” Sirius added from across the room.

James shrugged. “It is an option,” he said. “But I don’t think you want that since it seems that we’ve attracted an audience.”

Lily glanced around and realized that he was right. It was dinnertime, and many students had been in the process of making their way to the Great Hall when they stopped to watch the confrontation in the Entrance Hall.

This could be a problem. Lily didn’t need to leave the castle anymore, but she didn’t want to admit it and have James think that she was giving up. But she had told him that she wouldn’t be civil toward him, and she didn’t want to go back on her word. He would think she was soft and assume that if he could get her to give in on one thing, he could get her to give in on others. Then there would be no end to his pestering.

The only other option was the one that Lily dreaded most. She took another look around at the twenty or so people assembled there watching her. Then she looked back at James who was still grinning cockily at her. She glanced past him at his friends. Remus was biting his lip nervously, Peter was shifting from one foot to the other, and Sirius raised an eyebrow at her as soon as he realized that she was looking at him.

“Well,” James said, laughter in his voice. “What’ll it be, Lily?”

Before she knew what she was doing, Lily stamped her foot, muttered, “I hate you, James Potter,” between clenched teeth, and leaned in to kiss him.

James was initially just as shocked as everyone in the hall, but his surprise quickly subsided, and he responded to the kiss.

Lily pulled back.

“And I always will,” she added before hurrying off to the Great Hall, ignoring the whispering.

But James had caught the twinkle in her eye as she left that told him that she hadn’t ever really hated him, and that was all he needed.

One would think a kiss would be sweet, and yet this was quick and she pulled back as soon as he kissed her back, lol.

At least we know that she warmed up to him eventually though.
Thanks for reading!

This wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it was much cuter and sweeter than I anticipated. A beautiful bit of fluff. Four stars!

Thank you so much!

Good Job. Nice story. 5 Stars