It was a pleasant day in the village of Hogsmeade. Everything lay quiet, as it wasn’t the day when the Hogwarts students came for their weekend trip. A gentle wind blew through the streets and the sign outside the Three Broomsticks creaked, as a couple entered the pub. James Potter, tall with untidy black hair, led his fiancée Lily Evans to their favourite table near the window.
“What’ll you take?” he asked her.
“Butterbeer!” she said, her bright green eyes twinkling, “for old times’ sake.”
James grinned and went to the counter where a young girl stood in place of the fussy, old Madam Zelda. James carried their drinks over to the table and they sat sipping the butter beer Lily spoke.
“It’s nice to be with you again. Two months is a long time, you know. It has been awfully lonely without you. I really missed you.”
James had been busy working for the Order of the Phoenix for the past two months and Lily had just cleared the last of her Auror exams.
“I missed you too.”
“It’s a good thing we chose to meet here. It has been more than a year since I saw this place last,” said Lily, looking around the pub which was, for the first time in her memory, empty except for themselves. It always used to be packed with Hogwarts students enjoying their day out.
“I missed this place,” she said to James.
“Lets visit Hogwarts before we leave.”
“I was gonna suggest the same,” she smiled at him. “So, how has it been working for the Order?”
“Oh! It’s the usual stuff. We try and guess Voldemort’s motives and think of plans to counter him. Dumbledore is a great man. He’s got some brains! He counts me as one of the best members in the Order. Only the other day Padfoot and I stopped a Death Eater from torturing a Muggle family. We would have caught him had he not apparated. It is exciting work and-”
He stopped at the expression on Lily’s face that was one of controlled laughter.
“James! You’ll never change,” she laughed.
“That would be a shame,” he grinned across at her, “if a perfect person like me changed.”
Just then the door at the back of the pub opened and Madam Zelda walked in, wiping her hands on her apron.
“Rose,” she addressed the girl at the counter, “the washing’s done, just dry the stuff and put it away and “ Oh! We’ve got customers.”
“Hello Madam Zelda,” James called out to her.
“It’s James!” she cried, “Goodness! Lily too. What a pleasant surprise! Haven’t seen you here in a long time,” said she as she walked towards their table.
“I’m enjoying a last week of freedom,” James told her.
Lily glared at him and said, “We are getting married next week Madam Zelda.”
“That’s wonderful! Congratulations dears. Lily you had better keep an eye on him. I’ve never seen anyone half as naughty as this one. Except his friend Sirius of course!”
Lily laughed as James gave a sheepish smile. Madam Zelda then hurried away to attend to a tall, dark man who had just entered the pub.
“You know James, if anyone had told me four years a go that I’d be marrying you, I’d have thought that the person lost it,” said Lily.
“Yeah, you hated me, didn’t you?” James asked her.
“Well, you were a prat!” said Lily smiling at him. “But you always loved me, didn’t you?”
“Since the third year,” replied James. “I was impressed by you and my opinion of girls changed greatly.”
“How?!” Lily asked.
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A thin, pale-faced third year boy, with a hooked nose and greasy black hair, was walking with hurried steps, his books in his arms when a small first year came running around the corner and collided with him. The pale-faced boy snarled at him and ordered him to pick up the fallen books.
“If you don’t mind yourself next time, I’ll hex you,” he scolded the timid, young boy, who was almost trembling.
“Why not pick on someone your own size Snivelly?” said a voice behind him. “Or do you just lack the guts?”
Severus Snape reacted as though he’d been stung. His hand immediately jumped to his wand but James Potter was too quick for him.
“Expelliarmus!” he shouted and Snape’s wand flew into the air and landed ten feet away from him.
“Petrificus Totalus,” said James and Snape froze on the spot, unable to move due to the body-bind curse.
“Ah, Snivelly, you make a very ugly statue you know,” laughed James.
“Expelliarmus!” yelled someone, as James’ wand flew out of his hand. He turned around in surprise to see a very pretty girl with red hair and bright green, almond shaped eyes, glaring at him, with her wand drawn. She was in the same class as him but he had never spoken to her before.
“Potter! You are not supposed to duel in the corridors. You disgust me. Absolutely no regard for rules! I dunno how you got to the third year. I’d have expelled you on the first day! You go around hexing people just because you can and love being a deluded show off. You deserve detention everyday of the year. Come to think of it, you probably do get it everyday and still rules do not get into your fat head,” shouted the girl.
And for the third time that morning, a shout of “Expelliarmus” rang through the corridor. It was Sirius Black.
“Mind your own business if you know what’s good for you!” he said to the girl.
James Potter was too much, but James plus Sirius was unbearable. With an angry look at the pair of them, the girl picked up her wand and walked away.
“Why did you stand there listening to her like an idiot?” said Sirius, throwing James’ wand to him.
“Isn’t that girl in our year?” James questioned Sirius.
“Yeah. She’s called Evans or something. She looks like the ‘no-rule-breaking’ and ‘do-your-homework-on-time’ person. A favourite with the teachers,” he answered rolling his eyes.
“How come I never noticed how pretty she is? Two years I’ve been in the same class!” said James in some wonder.
“That’s because you’ve done better things than notice girls. Stupid. That’s the definition of girls in one word. They are a big waste of time. You know how they get worked up if a toe nail breaks and all they care about is gossip,” said Sirius. “We know to do better stuff like explore the castle and trouble Filch instead of noticing those sillies.”
James didn’t share Sirius’ thoughts about girls at the moment, not about all the girls anyway. Something about Evans had struck him as different. Or it was just that she was the first person in class to counter James Potter. Whatever the reason was, James realized that he liked that girl and she was his first major crush.
“I’m gonna marry that girl someday, Sirius. You’ll see!” said James determinedly.
“You’re gonna marry a GIRL?!”
“What else am I supposed to marry? The giant squid?”
Laughing, Sirius went on a rant about girls when James reminded him that they needed to hurry for breakfast or go to their first class without eating anything. So the pair of them walked away, leaving Snape frozen and forgotten in the deserted corridor.
Desperation, Determination, Deliberation by james_fever
Chapter Notes: An introductory chapter about best "wiz and witchard" of their age - Lily Evans and James Potter.