James quickly found three close friends among his fellow Gryffindors at the start of his first year at Hogwarts. First there was Sirius, the energetic, scheming, teasing, and maybe slightly manic member of the group. Then came Remus who was always the more serious, calm, and dedicated student. Lastly, James befriended Peter. He was a bit odd-looking at best with a long nose like a ski jump, tiny azure pebbles for eyes, and wispy blond straw atop his head. Being jumpy, timid, and a bit of a pushover, he had been ecstatic at James’ offer of friendship.

Overall, James was happy and content. He had made friends, had started wizarding school, and a world of excitement and adventure awaited him. Only one thing bothered him in this blissful life that he led.

She always sat in the first row of desks, as close to the teacher as she could get. This girl, for reasons he didn’t quite understand himself, awed James. Her hair would reflect the sunlight that shone through the classroom windows. Her eyes would sparkle with enjoyment as she learned each new piece of information. Everyday her hand would be found high up in the air, waving gleefully to ask another question.

Even in the halls and on the grounds, there was an air about her that demanded respect and honor, but also admiration as she held her chin high to every Slytherin taunt and jeer. This girl would not break down and burst into tears, but held her head up and calmly strode by without a single word.

He grew determined to get to know this extraordinary girl.

At first, their relationship started simply. He engaged her in light conversation and worked alongside her in class. But James wanted more than to be acquaintances. James began to tell her jokes and compliment her on various things. He spent more time with her and introduced her to Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Soon they had become close friends. She told him secrets no one else ever knew and he confided in her all the latest pranks the Marauders had cooked up. But James wanted more than to be friends.

The beginning of their fifth year: They were sitting in the library, studying. She had her nose an inch from the yellowed pages of a weathered, old book. James had been staring at the same page of his own book for an hour, his eyes glazed over. There were other things on his mind than the upcoming History of Magic exam. He was thinking about the girl across the table. After long contemplation, he finally gathered the courage to say something.

“You know, the Hogsmeade weekend is coming up.”

The redhead simply nodded and continued reading.

Hesitantly and barely audible, James whispered, “Going with anyone?”

Her eyes didn’t even lift from the book as she shook her head. James sighed in relief. He slipped on the infamous cocky grin of his and ruffled his hair with one hand. “Want to go with me?”

There was dead silence in the library. She lifted her head slowly and stared at him with narrowed eyes. He had caught her attention. “Like… a date?”

James grinned again without noticing that she had stiffened and an odd look now inhabited her eyes. It wasn’t excitement, or happiness, or even interest for the idea. Some unrecognizable look was shining through her green eyes. And it was something James had never seen before behind those particular eyes. But he continued on, without a single thought.

“Sure. If you want it to be.”

His girl shifted uncomfortably in her seat and ruffled the pages of her book. She casually checked to see how many more pages she had left to read. There were quite a few. She put the book down and shuffled through her parchment. She looked relatively calm, but her hands shook. Finally, she folded her hands and looked at James. The odd look was still in her eyes.

Suddenly, she started shoving books, quills, and parchment unceremoniously into her book bag. She stuffed them hastily in without even noticing that she had broken her favorite quill and torn an important essay in half in the process.

“What are you doing?” James cautiously asked. “What’s wrong?”

There was no reply. She slung the bag over a shoulder and jumped from her chair. “I-” she started to say. “Er…” She gripped the strap over her shoulder with one hand tight enough to make her knuckles turn white. Only now did James begin to realize something was wrong. This girl never had been at a loss for words before. She took a deep breath. “No, James.”

Swinging around, she started to walk away, taking his heart with her. James was in utter shock. He opened and closed his mouth like a wide-mouth bass, trying to force words out to call her back.

“W-wait!” he managed to splutter out.

She slowly turned just enough to gaze at him over her shoulder. The look was of hurt and… fear. She whispered a soft, “No” and continued to walk towards the library door again.

James was left alone. Abandoned. “But…” He gasped miserably. His grin had long since faded. James collapsed into his chair and let his face fall into his hands. He muttered to himself, “What had gone wrong? Why’d she say that?”

It didn’t take long for the story to spread. Other people who had been in the library had heard James shout. It wasn’t much work to figure out what had happened after they saw how James and his girl were never together anymore. Rumors began to form and fly around the school about the couple.

“It was really more of a scream. And then, she punched him out cold! Felt betrayed by the git, no doubt!”

“She didn’t say anything at all and just left, you know. I reckon it’s because she thinks she’s too good for him.”

“The truth is that she probably doesn’t think herself worthy enough for him. The entire library had been flooded with tears when she ran out.”

Then the rumors over why James had asked in the first place popped up. One Slytherin boy told, “Potter only wanted to use her anyway. Possibly to gain favor with the teachers or something of the sort.”

A certain Ravenclaw girl’s theory quickly earned popularity with admirers of James. She claimed, “Black must have given his friend a love potion or cast a spell on James! It’s the only solution as to how he would ever fall for a girl like Evans!”

But then there were the many Hufflepuffs who disagreed with both ideas. They stood firm on the belief that maybe after all those years of friendship that, just maybe, James really had fallen for her.

It was bad enough that James had been rejected once and that people had started rumors over it as well, but James couldn’t get her out of his head. He kept remembering that day in the middle of his classes, hindering his learning and dropping his grades. At night, he would dream of that odd look she had in her eyes as she had repeated “No”. While talking with his friends, their voices would be drowned out until all he could hear was a quiet, whispered “No” sounding in his ears. The mere mention of her would make him forget anything else. And then, when he saw her each day in class, his heart would break.

There was only one thing he could do. He had to talk to her again.

After Transfiguration class one day, James caught her in the halls and that look reappeared in her eyes as she saw him come near. He wasn’t even sure what he should say, so he asked, “Do you want to study for that Transfiguration test sometime?”

She froze.

“Like we used to, you know?”

Slowly, her head shook from side to side. “No, James.” With that said, she brushed past him and walked on to her next class.

James didn’t know how to react. He had been rejected for the second time. Why was it that she had said “No”?

Sirius patted him on the shoulder and Peter tried to look consoling, while Remus advised, “Just move on. There are girls aside from Lily in this world, James.” But, for James, the option to move on had already disappeared.

“Will you go out with me?” became a familiar phrase to hear from his lips. Though he continued on in the same manner and as if she had never refused him in the first place, the girl he loved started to change. Instead of whispering a shy ‘no’, she would scream it at him. Instead of just walking away, she might run down the hall or even hit him with her heavy book bag. Instead of calling him James in a warm, familiar voice, she eventually changed to calling him Potter with a cold, intimidating tone.

She quickly became annoyed at his persistence. His constant presence was tiring and it angered her to have to repeat ‘no’ five times a day. The word became as familiar to her as James’ question had become to him. Soon, she started creating reasons for why she should hate “Potter”. People said she muttered that he was a show-off, couldn’t have been a worse Quidditch player, always liked to get in trouble and lose Gryffindor house points, and that she had never seen a bigger prat in her entire life.

James ignored her insults and cold attitude and would repeat his famous question.

“Hey, Evans, want to go out with me?”

Meanwhile, the Marauders stood and watched the show from the sidelines. Sirius already thought James was absolutely crazy. “She obviously doesn’t like you very much, mate. C’mon, there’s plenty of other fish in the sea! Why chase that little minnow when there’s a whole school of them waiting for you?”

Remus tried to be a bit more reasonable. “Give it a break for a little while. See a few other girls for a change, perhaps.” He chewed the end of his quill. “If you still love her after that… I’ll help you on this ‘quest’ of yours.”

The last member of the band, Peter, kept the idea that if James wanted to chase one girl, then by all means he should do it. After all, James always knew best. Once in a long while, he might have cautiously suggested, “Maybe it’s time you try… a new and more… creative… approach. Then again, you are doing rather well as it is… er… never mind, James, never mind. Didn’t know what I was talking about, there! I mean you always have known what was best!”

But no matter what other people told him and whatever rumors were spread around the castle and even what she herself had repeated to him a hundred times, James persevered. Nothing could change his mind. When Sirius set James up with a date, James would forget and miss it from daydreaming of Her. When Remus got him to study with other girls, James couldn’t help but remember his study sessions with Her. And when Peter tried to get his mind off of her, he would only think of her cherry hair and jade eyes more.

James was intent on his love. She may have grown cold. She may have grown annoyed. She may have grown wicked. But for James it would all make him love her more than ever before. He wanted to rekindle what they once had. Though he went about it in entirely the wrong way, James was determined to win back his girl. Was it too late to change all that he did? Was it too late to rescue their friendship, if not more? James didn’t know. He couldn’t tell if, after all the times he messed up, she would ever trust him again.

But he would at least try.

James was determined to win back his Lily.