WHO: James Potter and Lily Evans
WHAT: Sirius thinks it would be a good idea to lock the two in a broomcloset.
WHEN: A tiny broom closet
WHEN: During McGonagall's detention for Note War '77 ;]

Darkness shut down around them, and the sickening feeling in James’ gut grew to about three times its size. “No, no nonononono,” he muttered, spinning around to the door, grabbing the handle and tugging, twisting, and pushing it with all of his might. “No, no, nonononoono…”

He was going to kill Sirius. Because, of course, this had to be his friend’s doing. Merlin. He was going to die in here. Lily was going to kill him and that was that. James dropped his head to the door, giving the handle one last jiggle.

“We’re locked in,” he mumbled, flicking on his wand with a quiet, “Lumos.”

"Well, that's bloody convenient," Lily spat sarcastically, mumbling words of mild vulgarity under her breath. She removed her wand from her pocket and added its illumination to that given off by James's and looked around.

The space was cramped, that was for sure, and only now, in the soft light did she realize how close she was being forced to James. She blushed slightly, but tried not to think about it, and tried to jiggle the handle herself, having to try it herself before admitting defeat. "Your friend is going to get it when we get out of here, Potter."

“Yeah, I know, because I’m going to give it to him.” James growled slightly, backing away from the door, but only succeeding in knocking shoulders with Lily. Oh Merlin, there was no room in here. If he turned slightly he would basically be pressed up against her and---James flushed, lowering his wand so that she couldn’t see his face as well. “Not like I want to be stuck here either, Evans.”

Lily put a look of mock-surprise on her face. "Oh really? Because I almost thought you'd planned this," she said, just as sarcastically as before, just as venomous. Rolling her eyes, she backed as far away from him as she could, but only made it a couple inches--and now she was nearly pinned against a wall. This was not good.

James’ eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms, wand now lighting up their faces once again. “No, I wouldn’t plan on being stuck in such an uncomfortable position with a brat, not my style.” He sniffed indignantly, slightly annoyed that she was using his fancy on her to try and blame the situation on him. James huffed again, avoiding her gaze.

"It's called sarcasm, Potter," Lily said with a pointed glare. "Look it up in the dictionary." Fuck. She couldn't believe she was stuck here with him, of all people. Especially right at the moment when she could stand him the least. Black really had some nerve to throw two of the most angry people in Hogwarts into such a confined space together. He was really never going to see the end of it.

“Because you can take a joke so well,” he shot back, still annoyed with her for getting so stupid over the poetry war. He had won, even if there had never been any rules set up. By default, he’d definitely won. James had even smiled when he told her that, and she had to go and be mean about it. Hmmmmph.

"You weren't joking with me--you decided to taunt and bother me when I needed your input the very least," she snapped. Putting her back even further against the wall just to make sure there wasn't any way she could possibly get further away from him (and finding, to her dismay, that there still was not), she lifted up her wand to face level. "You're a jerk, Potter. No matter how you dress it up, you're a jerk and always will be. I can't believe I was beginning to like you--I should have known better. You never changed."

James had a comeback to all of that, he really did. His eyes had narrowed and he’d already opened his mouth to cut her off when she said it. Totally lost everything, there; Lily had said the few words he’d been dying to hear for the past…six years. Did she just---yes, he’d heard right. “You—you were beginning to like me?” he asked, voice much softer than before.

The moment he asked was the moment that Lily realized that she had just slipped up... and made a huge mistake. "Never mind, Potter," she said, her voice quiet and slightly stuttered. 'I should never have said that,' she thought. 'I should never have said that...'

He shook his head, stepping closer to her because he’d heard right, and now she was stuttering and Lily never stuttered. “You said you were beginning to like me,” he repeated, bending slightly to try and catch her gaze. “Is that true?”

"Of course not," Lily said, a bit too quickly. After only a second of looking into his eyes, she turned her head quickly off to the side. She pursed her lips together to prevent herself from saying anything else. Merlin, why did he have to get closer?

James had to hold back his grin, and managed to keep a straight face as he moved even closer. “You’re lying,” he said softly, tapping his nose. It was something he did when he was getting onto something. “But that’s okay. I was only teasing, about the poetry. I didn’t mean to get you upset.” Maybe apologizing will get him more answers.

Lily felt the heat rising on her cheeks uncontrollably now and could almost feel how close he was. She shook her head and closed her eyes. "Stop it," she said quietly, still trying not to look at him. "Stop that.. You're..." She stopped herself before she could add 'cornering me', because that had a double meaning she knew he'd play up to his fullest. "... there's not much room as it is.."

She didn’t deny it; that was good. James let out a breath, and knocked his forehead to hers, hands going to her upper arms. “Lily,” it was a good change from calling her Evans, he hated calling her that, “you do know I fancy you too, yeah?”

Only when she felt his skin against hers did she turn her head back fully, only to find a pair of hazel eyes mere centimeters in front of her own. His hands went to her arms and sent an involuntary shiver throughout her body, her heart began a much more erratic and quick pace and... "James," -- she didn't even notice that she used his given name-- "What are you doing?" she breathed.

He found that his breathing was becoming sharp and shaky, and James shut his eyes for a second because Lily was looking at him, straight at him with those amazing emerald eyes. “I’m---“ He was losing his nerve; James gripped onto the sleeves of her robes because if he didn’t do this now he might never have the chance, “I’m going to kiss you,” he mumbled a second before pressing his lips to hers.

Lily should have been expecting it--in a part of her mind, was expecting it--but still, somehow, nothing could prepare for him actually doing it. Nothing could prepare her for her doing it. Because, even though she could have pulled away, screamed 'I have a boyfriend, you freak!' and slapped him, she didn't. She closed her eyes and kissed back. Because she liked him--Lily Evans liked James Potter. And no matter how hard she tried, there was just no getting around it.

This was a million times better than in Potions. Lily was kissing him back on her own free will, and James couldn’t help but kiss her harder, hands moving around her back to pull her tightly against him, hoping she’d respond in a good way because Merlin did he want this, did he want her. There was no voice in his head to tell him that this was wrong; he supposed for a brief second that maybe that meant this was the right thing to do.

Lily's hands were shaky for reasons she couldn't tell, reacting in some way to the sensations pouring over her body at this simple but wonderful--so wonderful--action. Her wand dropped out of her hands and clattered to the floor, but she didn't hear it. It was only them now--only James and Lily and this kiss and oh Merlin... Her arms, of their own free will, tentatively crawled up his chest and wrapped themselves around his neck.

James felt every single hair on his neck prickle as Lily’s hands traced over them, and pushed her slightly against the wall to get some leverage as he continued to kiss her. Hands moving up and down her back, hoping and praying that no one opened the broom closet door because he didn’t want this to end. One hand reached back up front and James placed it on her cheek, almost as if to test to see if this was really happening.

Lily allowed herself to be pushed backwards, only dimly aware of the feeling of robes sliding upwards as the leverage between them changed. One of her hands slid down from his neck to his back and, even though she was quite sure that she had no idea what she was doing with this whole 'I'm-Snogging-James-Potter-In-A-Broom-Closet' thing, her fingers began to trace lines on his back, lightly running over muscles but only barely feeling them.

He moaned slightly into her mouth, fingers sending little bolts of lightening throughout his body, and James wanted nothing more than to kiss her like this all day (okay, and maybe do a bit more, but he wasn’t going to push it) but now, just as it was getting more heated, a voice rang out in the back of his head. She’s cheating on her boyfriend! You’re helping her cheat on her boyfriend!

For a second, he ignored it and didn’t care, but it screamed louder and James finally broke the kiss, only to cup Lily’s face in his hands, noses batting. “Lily, we can’t---you’ve got to---” He kissed her again because he couldn’t resist her lips, but “Merlin, Lily…”

Lily shook her head, reason just beginning to come back to her, slowly at first, and then in a torrent and realization hit her like a brick to the head. Her eyes widened and she tried to back away, only to remember there was a wall there and--"Oh God.. James, what did we just do?" At that moment, she also realized her hands were still wrapped around James and she tried to get them away, finding that she was tangling them even further. "Oh God, oh God..."

“We---” He wanted to say that they’d just had the best snog he’d ever experienced, but James wasn’t that stupid. Slowly, he helped her arms unwrap from around his body, even though the loss of her touch hurt. The guilt was beginning to build in his gut, and the feelings of having done the same thing to Marlie was returning; he didn’t want Lily to feel like that, but damn it…

“I…I won’t say anything, I won’t---you’ve got to---” break up with Davy and be with me he thought miserably, but just knew it wasn’t going to happen. He turned away from her, putting a hand over his eyes. “Don’t worry. I promise not to…to say anything.”

Lily shook her head and winced when he mentioned keeping it a secret. She should--it would ruin her relationship with Davy if anyone knew, but oh Merlin, could she really lie to her boyfriend like that? This was big. Huge. She had just snogged another guy. Provided, a guy she realized now of all times that she totally fancied, but that didn't take away the fact that she belonged to someone else.

She had just betrayed her boyfriend.

"Oh God, no, James--I've got to tell him!" she exclaimed, and there might have been a slight glisten to her eyes. Fear built up in her gut and clenched at her heart--fear for what Davy would say when he found out. "I--fuck... I--"

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, putting his face in his hands. “I don’t know what to do, I’m sorry.” What he wanted to do was kiss her again and tell her to be with him and to dump the prat because he knew that’s what she wanted. But James couldn’t tell her what to do, he couldn’t make Lily do anything she didn’t want.

"God, I just--I don't..." She wanted for words because she knew what was happening... but she had no idea how to sanely explain it. What she wanted was James Potter and she was falling for him and he had just given her the best bloody snog of her life... but she didn't want to hurt Davy and she knew this would most definitely hurt him. And this made no sense, because she loved Davy... didn't she?

Forcing herself to turn back to him, Lily looked at James and her heart fell at how this was bothering him, too. Somewhere she knew she should be angry at him for putting her in this situation, but something in the way he was acting so similarly to her made her realize that they were in the same sort of boat here. Not exactly--but he had to be having problems dealing with the fact that he had just helped her cheat on her boyfriend.

And who knew what Davy would do when he heard that James Potter had instigated a passionate kiss with his girlfriend.

So, they were in the same situation, just like they were stuck in the same broom closet. Lily gulped visibly and she closed her eyes momentarily, her mind made up. Because even if the world outside this broom closet was going to beat them down, they still had each other--and this, as crazy as it sounded, clicked. This made sense.

Traversing that final distance between them, Lily all but threw her arms around James and buried her face into his shoulder, biting the inside of her cheek against tears she would not allow to fall. "Merlin, just until then--...hold me?"

Her arms around him startled him; James thought at first she attacked him, but when he heard her whispers and felt the tightness of her arms around him James immediately hugged her back. He buried his face in her hair, taking in her smell and pulling her tightly to him because he felt like she needed him.

“It’ll be okay,” he mumbled, giving her a soft kiss on the side of the head. It would be. Because in the end, James knew this was how it was supposed to be, and no matter how they got there or how long it took, James was going to be with Lily. This was it. It was scary, that he suddenly and clearly knew that this was it, but it wasn’t a bad scary and James squeezed her a little tighter. He’d hold her for as long as she wanted.

Lily didn't pursue the subject of what if things weren't going to be alright. She didn't want to think about it...and from the moment she felt James's arms wrap around her, a big weight lifted off her heart, just like all realistic thoughts fled her mind when he kissed her.

There was something about this boy that was different...he was different. She'd been wrong. "I'm sorry," she mumbled into his robes. "I'm stupid. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell or get defensive or--but this was what I was afraid of. I--" her breath hitched and she had to blink her eyes. "--I can't be doing this, but…I want to."

Something in his chest that was doing a very jolly jig, but James managed to hold it down and just kept on holding Lily, nodding slightly. “I know,” oh, did he know. James reckoned he should feel sort of bad because he’d just broken up with Marlie---but no, he’d fancied Lily this entire time, he’d just somehow managed to hide it under the laughter and fun. Never, ever again.

James pulled back slightly, smiling softly at her at her and wiping away a tear that had managed to escape from her eye. “Me too, don’t worry. We’ll…figure it out, I suppose.” They would. They had to. If they didn’t, James wouldn’t know what to do with himself, because really, the only thing he was ever sure of was the fact that he fancied Lily Evans like mad.

Sirius took his time carrying the supplies to the broomcloset, he'd volunteered to take all of them back, well, because he didn't want anyone else catching James and Lily together.

He took the spell off the mop and pulled it out of door, and pulled the door open sharply. He grinned wickedly, "Well lookie here," he commented, leaning on his stack of mops.

Lily's eyes widened at the boy standing in the doorway. "Ah, Black!" she yelled in surprise, jumping away from James out of reflex. She had totally forgotten who had locked them in and who was likely to find them again...

She glared at him hard. Oh, they were never going to hear the end of this... "Bloody hell, I'm going to kill you," she threatened menacingly.

James put his hands up to block the new source of light and groaned. "Sirius Black," he growled, shoving his friend in the shoulder. Merlin. Well. He was sort of thankful for his friend's intrusion, but then, now...everything is going to be incredibly awkward and confusing and James had absolutely no idea what to do now. Great. Wonderful. It could be.

Ergh.