“yeah, well, if you weren’t so drunk maybe i would.”

It’s at the beginning of her seventh year that Lily Evans looks at James Potter and realizes that she’s seeing not just a boy with messy hair and a penchant for finding trouble, but a handsome young man with enough wit to outsmart an entire army of Death Eaters.

Of course, this illusion is shattered when she steps into the common room, halfway through a post-win party for their latest Quidditch game, and almost trips over his prone body, which is for some reason lying right in front of the portrait hole.

“James?”

At some point, they’d graduated to first names, Lily would prefer not to talk about it.

The body moves, then sits up, and Lily looks down at James’ glasses, askew on his face.

“Hello?” He asks, voice slurring over the vowels even as he sways on the spot. “Where am I?”

Lily laughs, reaching to haul him upward and tip him toward the nearest couch, watching as he tumbles over the back and just lies there.

“Had a bit too much Firewhiskey?”

All she gets for a reply is a blank stare, then he rights himself, looks right at her, and says, surprisingly clearly, “Go out with me?”

She pauses, eyes widening. “What?” Lily glances around, but everyone else is too caught up in the party to even notice their conversation. Across the room, Sirius is attempting to levitate four chairs at once as Remus, and half the party, watches on.

“I think … go out with me? Good idea.”

Lily considers him for a moment, then sighs. “If you weren’t so drunk, maybe I would.”

James doesn’t register her words at all. In fact, it seems like he’s actually managed to fall asleep while sitting up.

She rolls her eyes, pushing lightly on his shoulders so he’s at least lying down lengthwise on the couch.

“Ask me again when you’re sober,” she says quietly, before crossing the room to join Alice and Mary in what looks like a really fun game of Exploding Snap.

On days when Quidditch practice ends late, Ginny always goes back out to the field after she’s done with her shower.

She likes being under the sky as it slowly darkens, soaking in the last few rays of sunlight before night descends upon the castle.

Luna knows this, of course, so when she looks out Ravenclaw Tower and sees figures huddled together between the goalposts twenty minutes after practice should have ended, she closes the latest issue of the Quibbler and begins making her way down to the pitch.

By the time she gets there, having stopped along the way to say hello to he Thestrals, the sun has already set, and the rest of the Gryffindor team is nowhere to be seen.

Luna crosses the pitch to settle next to Ginny, tilting her head back to watch as stars start to appear against the navy evening sky.

“Do you think we’re going to be okay?” Ginny asks eventually, after they’ve sat in silence long enough for the sun to set completely.

Luna isn’t sure what she’s referring to, it could be anything, from the impending war, to the way their friendship is slowly but surely melting into something more.

But it doesn’t matter, because her answer would still be the same.

“I don’t know,” she says, voice light with the airiness of her usual tone. Luna thinks Ginny appreciates that she doesn’t sugarcoat her words. “We’ll just have to make sure we are.”

When she turns, Ginny is already looking at her, an unreadable, sort of determined look in her eye.

“I’m going to kiss you,” she says. “One day soon.”

Luna just nods, turning back to the sky. “I’m looking forward to it.”

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