The sound of the heavy rain drummed against the windows, soothing James as he scribbled down his notes.

It had been a late night for the Marauders, the four boys (plus Lily.) Had taken over the common room, cramming in a late night of studying for their N.E.W.T.S.

He scanned the room, the slow rhythmic snores of Sirius were obnoxiously loud, Typically, he had been the first to fall asleep. Curling up with Remus, who had also succumbed to sleep.

Peter looked almost dead, his body splayed out on the floor Infront of the fire, his snorts and snores harmonising with Sirius's.

James and Lily were the last ones left, sitting in silence, with the only noise being their quills scratching on the parchment.
It had been different with Lily lately.

With James being appointed head boy (to the surprise of everyone) the two saw one another frequently, sharing a dorm and organising prefects, they were with each other every day. They were friends, with the occasional flirting, but James didn't want to push it.

The silence of the room was suddenly broken by a frustrated Lily crying out.

"Screw this stupid quill!" she cried as her quill snapped, spreading ink all over her notes.

James looked up, seeing the girl's tired face scrunch up, the tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

"What's the matter?" James said softly, in a tone reserved only for her.

"This stupid fucking quill! what the fuck is wrong with the wizarding world? why can't we use pens like normal fucking people?!"

"I don't think 'normal' people can turn into animals and cast spells Lils" James tried to joke, chuckling softly.

Lily huffed, not even bothering to fix the ink splotches on her page as she leant back against the sofa, dangerously close to James's leg.

James picked up his wand and fixed the parchment from above, not wanting the damage to get any worse.

"I think it's time to call it a night Evans"

Lily looked up at him, her emerald eyes tired and worn out, sticking her bottom lip out slightly.

"There's still so much to do James-"

James rolled his eyes at the fretting redhead, running a hand through his hair.

"You're not going to absorb any more information tonight, getting sleep is the best way for the information to stick in your head," He said, in a smug matter-of-fact manner.

"You know the world's broken when James Potter is talking some sense," Lily said, smiling weakly up at James, causing his heart to beat at about a million miles per hour.

"You know the world's broken when Lily Evans is listening to James Potter" He retorted, grinning and patting the space beside him on the sofa.

"Come up Evans, you don't want to sleep there, I hear Pete wets himself when asleep.

Lily scoffed but flashed Peter a worried look, almost believing the obvious lie. Sighing dramatically, she got up and plonked herself down onto the sofa, sitting shoulder to shoulder with James.

"I'm not even tired," she said, but the yawn that escaped her proved her wrong.

"yeah sure you're not Evans" James laughed, looking at her sweetly, loving the way she scrunched her nose in annoyance.

James expected a witty remark back, or at least an eye-roll, but the redhead just stared at him, her eyes glued to his, James ached to hear what was going on in that complicated mind of hers.

"Penny for your thoughts?" He said in a whisper, feeling his breath catching in his throat.

Lily immediately snapped her stare away, looking down to her fingers in her lap.
"That's a Muggle phrase" she whispered back, still inspecting her hands with great interest.

"well-" James laughed, raking his fingers through his hair once more.
"- I did take Muggle studies for you-" he paused, realising his fuck-up
"- I mean, I um took Muggle studies." he finished with a cough.

"for me?" Lily repeated, looking at him again, her green eyes almost sparkling.

James gulped nervously, unsure of how she would react
"Well, being honest... yeah"

James braced himself, for the inevitable slap, or angry argument that would naturally break out. Instead, he dared to look at Lily. He breathed out in relief at the sight of her smiling softly at the boy.

"Potter- You- I-" she started, laughing as she shook her head in disbelief.
"Of course you did" she chuckled, raising her brow and turning her attention back to her fingers, twisting the rings she had on nervously.

"I mean- Evans, you had to get to know my world, so it only seemed fit that I got to know yours," James said, honestly, maybe being a bit too honest.

Lily laughed again, still not looking at James.
"James your just so..."

"So?" James teased, grinning at Lily with a familiar smugness.

"So damn infuriating, every time I force myself not to like you- you go and say something fucking adorable like that!"

James flushed, not expecting the bluntness of Lily's words.

"L-Like me?" he stammered, head swirling, stomach burning.

"Yes you idiot-" Lily said as if it was as casual as asking for the salt at the dinner table
"-Of course I like you"

Lily turned again, grinning as she brought a hand up to his hair, giving it a good rake through, messing it up beyond belief.

James laughed, at how right it all felt, how casual Lily was being after years of pining.

"Do you mean like as in-" he began

"As in I want to snog you? yes."

James flushed again, looking down and biting his lip to contain the pure glee on his face.

"Well, then I think we should go to Hogsmeade together on Saturday, yes?" He said, placing his hand atop hers.

Lily pretended to think hard for a moment, before grinning at James

"I would deem that appropriate, yes."

James grinned back, delighted.

Lily rolled her eyes lovingly and she shifted a bit, resting her head in his lap, smirking up at him.

"The pillow any good lord Evans?"

Lily curled into him further, allowing James to rake a hand through her long hair.

"hmmm I don't know Potter, it does seem to be quite lumpy..." she yawned, clearly on the brink of sleep.

James leant down, pressing a kiss on her head.
"I'll tell the maids in the morning," he remarked, but by that time her breathing had slowed, dozing off.

"Night Lily," he said, in a ghost of a whisper as the girl of his dreams slept in his lap.

Too fired up to sleep, he completed his notes, not moving a millimetre and holding the (now snoring) girl close.

A/N

The prompt is from a random generator thingy I found!

Lia