James returned to the Gryffindor common room and collapsed in one of the overstuffed armchairs by the fire. The enormity of what had just happened slowly dawned on him. She said yes! He stared into the fire, thinking.
He had been drawn to Lily Evans from his very first days at Hogwarts. Her fiery temper had quickly earned her a reputation; even all the teachers liked her. Her explosions became the stuff of legends, and James admired her for that. And then, though she obviously hated him, James had gotten more and more attracted to her. Over the years he had unsuccessfully tried to get her to go out with him. But Lily thought he was too conceited.
But he wasn’t! Sure, he did his fair share of showing off, but what guy didn’t? The truth of it was, he tried to impress her every chance he got. The messy hair, the Quidditch tricks, all were attempts to get her to notice him. He was very popular with everyone else, but Lily was always the one who ridiculed him, clashed with him whenever the occasion arose. She thought he was cruel, conceited, shallow. So why had she said yes? James had half-expected her to spit in his face.
He was still pondering this question when Sirius, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew burst loudly into the room. Seeing James, Remus nudged Sirius in the ribs and grinned. Sirius ambled up to James, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He stopped directly in front of James. “So...?” he said innocently.
“So what?” James snapped. Deja vú hung thick in the air. This was how it always went after a failed attempt to talk to Lily. Sirius or one of the others would ask James how things went, James, would mutter something, then blurt out the whole story of his rejection. After that, the Marauders would all have a good laugh over his cowardice and tease him mercilessly the rest of the night. ...But this time James had a secret weapon.
“Padfoot told us everything,” Remus said, grinning. “So, how’d it go this time, Prongs? Yet another lost cause?”
Peter laughed, then made a mockingly desperate face. “Alas!” he said dramatically, throwing up his arm. “Foiled again in his attempt to win the hand of the beautiful Lily Evans! Will this vicious cycle of rejection never end?”
“Ha-ha,” James said sarcastically. “Matter of fact, she’s going to the Ball with me Christmas Eve.”
There was a moment of silence. Then the other three burst into hysterical laughter. “Nice one, Prongs,” Sirius said, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. “Very smooth. You almost had us going there, you know that? Now, come on... Tell us what really happened.”
“I told you.” James stood up. “Is it so hard to believe she finally said yes? I’m going to go study for the Charms exam.”
“Wait... Wait, wait, wait a minute,” Sirius said, catching James’s arm. He searched his best friend’s eyes, grin fading. “Are you serious?” he asked. “Lily Evans ” the Lily Evans ” is going to the ball with you, James Potter, the self-centered slimeball?”
“No, that’s Snape,” Peter corrected.
James looked hard at Sirius. “D’you think I’d lie about something this big?”
Remus sat down, mouth gaping. “Uh-oh, weirdness attack. Lily saying yes to James? I need some chocolate.”
Sirius tossed Remus a Chocolate Frog. “There you go, Moony. Knock yourself out.” He turned back to James. “So... Wow. This is weird. You sure you’re not joking around?”
James got Sirius and Peter to sit down. Then, with Remus crunching chocolate in the background, he told them about finding Lily and asking her to the dance.
When he was done, Sirius whistled. “Huh. Seems I underestimated you, Prongs. I’ll be sure not to do that again. Tell me,” he said, leaning forward and grinning, “did you kiss her?”
“What!” James yelped. “What kind of a question is that?”
“Oh, come off it, Prongs, we all know you’ve had a crush on her since first year! Think a bit of snogging might’ve made up her mind pretty fast.”
“Well who was the last person you snogged, Padfoot?” Remus asked around a mouthful of Chocolate Frog. “You gotten Natalie yet?”
“Not yet, but Christmas Eve is still a ways away.” Sirius grinned. “Have you ever kissed anybody, Moony? Once they found out about your ‘furry little problem’, as our friend Prongs so quaintly puts it...”
“Andrea Portman,” Remus said dryly, swallowing his last bit of chocolate. “Fourth year.”
“Ah, yes, dear Andrea. And then she disappeared from the school a week later. Wonder what happened to her?” Sirius smiled wickedly. “Perhaps your appetite got to her... Wasn’t it a full moon when she supposedly ‘left’?...”
Remus snorted and threw the candy box at Sirius, who ducked. Then their werewolf friend turned to James, who didn’t like where this conversation was headed. “Here’s some good, solid advice, Prongs,” he said. “Whatever you do, aim for the lips. For some reason girls don’t like a first kiss on the cheek, or he forehead. Just aim for the lips, and you can’t go wrong.”
“Well, what if she’s allergic to big fat jerks like Prongs, here?” Peter asked reasonably. “A direct kiss on the lips could get messy. You’re the snogging expert, Padfoot, what d’you think?”
Sirius smirked and got out a Chocolate Frog for himself. “Well... I say wait for her to make the first move. An arm around the waist, getting close... it works wonders for girls. Show her you’re not afraid of cooties, then... BAM!” He suddenly smacked his hands together and made them all jump. Sirius laughed loudly.
James stood up again. “I’m tired of this, you guys. You’re not being serious enough. This’s very important to me, and I don’t want to do something stupid that’ll drive her farther away. If you don’t want to give me some real help, then...”
Sirius frowned. “Aw, come on, Prongs, you know we’re just trying to be practical here. If you get into a situation where snogging is an option...”
“...Then I’ll try to forget all your stupid advice,” James said, feeling a bit irritated. Why couldn’t they quit the jokes, for just this once? “This is my first real date with Lily, and I don’t want you or anyone else to mess it up.”
“Okay, okay.” Sirius shook his head and rolled his eyes at Remus and Peter, as if to say, He’s really overreacting, isn’t he?
“I know what that look means,” James said. “I’m just ” really nervous, alright?” A thought suddenly struck him. “Wait... When is Christmas Eve, anyway? How soon?”
Remus said, “Erm... I think it’s in two or three days, actually. Wow, I had better get a date soon...”
“So have I,” Peter said, seeming worried. “Do you know if anyone in our year doesn’t have anybody to go with? I can never ask anybody flat-out...”
“Nope, don’t think so,” Sirius said. Peter looked crestfallen. Sirius slapped him on the shoulder. “Oh, don’t worry, Wormtail, you’ll get someone. But this proves what I told you, right? You gotta act soon, or all the good ones’ll be gone by the time you get around to looking.”
Remus smirked. “That’s how you look for girls? Scope out the ‘good ones’? How pathetic.”
Sirius threw his candy wrapper at Remus in retaliation. Remus laughed. “You think that’s going to do anything? This, now...” He pulled a seemingly endless supply of chocolate wrappers out of his robes and began flinging them at Sirius. James and Peter looked at each other, then simultaneously launched themselves into the candy fight. “Oho! Got you good there!”
James threw his whole mind into battling his three best friends and managed not to think about the school Ball. But in two days he’d have to face it... He was going out with Lily Evans.
At last.