"Yeah, it would have been," James agreed. He grinned at her, kissing her nose. "You can admit it, even if you hadn't started to like me this summer, you would've missed me when you didn't go back."
He wasn't at all sure if that would have actually been true, but he thought it was possible. She could have missed him the way she missed frustrations with homework assignments and studying; he'd been a pain in her arse, maybe, but he had been a part of her Hogwarts experience. He'd made sure of that, even if he hadn't gone about it in the right way.
Shifting to lean back against the sofa while she rested against him, he drew nonsense patterns with his fingertips on her back and absentmindedly pressed kisses to different parts of her face and neck. This time, to her jaw. "They can't make it impossible to sneak out," he said. "Not for me. They might be evil and powerful, but Hogwarts is our castle. With Dumbledore gone, my friends and I know it better than anyone else."
He was fairly sure that they knew secrets even Dumbledore hadn't known, but it felt wrong to say that now that the greatest wizard he'd ever known was dead. It was still a point of pride, but in a very different way. He wasn't using the knowledge to escape detection by Dumbledore anymore, he was going to use it to protect Dumbledore's legacy.
Of course, knowing all the secrets of the castle didn't make it impossible that Lily was right, that they might make it really difficult for him to sneak out. There was no doubt in his mind that he'd find a way to get past all of their safeguards, no matter what it took - because being trapped would make James push his boundaries, just to know that he could, even if he had absolutely no reason to do so. It was the principle of the thing.
His smile widened again as she listed her ideas. Desserts, dinner with their parents, camping, movies - he liked the sound of all of those things. "Well, I want to get you on a broom," he said. After he said it, that sounded naughty, and he laughed. "But that's only crazy if you're afraid of heights. Though, my next suggestion was going to be skydiving, so maybe I should ask if you're afraid of heights anyway."