A Well Deserved Date
“Look, he’s standing right there. I can hit him from here!”
“Yeah, he is standing right there, but there’s also a giant piece of land between you and him.”
“So?”
“So, that means there’s the likelihood that some poor innocent bugger will walk between you and Snivellus and get hit with whatever hex you’re planning to throw at him.”
“Serves them right for getting in the way.”
“Sirius!”
James yanked Sirius’s wand from his hand and held it high above his head, standing up on the bench he had just been sitting on before he had to go and retrieve his best friend. Sirius, both feet still on the ground, rolled his eyes. Didn’t James realise the time had long passed that simply holding something over his head would prevent him from getting what he wanted? “Give me my wand, Prongs.”
“Not until you say you’re not going to hex Snape from here.”
Sirius folded his arms across his chest and shrugged. “Fine. I won’t hex Snape from here.”
James slowly stepped down from the bench and handed Sirius his wand. “Good.”
Sirius snatched the wand from James and turned to proceed towards the Slytherin again, who was reading a book by the lake, completely unaware that he was being watched and pursued. “I’ll just get closer to him!”
James should not have been surprised. He chased after Sirius, his own wand out in case he needed it to stop his best friend from doing something he would be forced to regret. James didn’t need this. He was finally make headway in convincing people that he was a good Head Boy, that he deserved the title, and Sirius was going to go and ruin it all for him in one go. James broke into a run and managed to duck under Sirius’s extended right arm and stood directly in front of him, only to fall to the ground as Sirius ran straight into him. The two went tumbling to the ground and rolled a few feet before coming to a halt at the base of a tree.
“What the bloody hell is wrong with you?” Sirius snapped, lying on his back as if he was afraid he’d fall to several pieces if he got up too fast.
“Look, I won’t stop you from hexing Snape if he has a go at you first and deserves it, but don’t hex him just because you can.” James slowly brought himself to his elbows, where he leaned back on one and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand.
Sirius’s mouth almost fell open. “Merlin, Prongs, you’ve gone soft,” he said, gaping at his best friend in amazement.
James stood up indignantly, holding out a hand to help his friend. Pulling Sirius to his feet, James replied, “I have not. I’ve just got… responsibilities now.”
This comment seemed to strike a chord within Sirius. “So I don’t have responsibilities?”
“I didn’t say that,” James hastened to add.
“Just because I haven’t got a pretty little badge like you or Remus doesn’t mean I don’t have responsibilities. I’m a good student, I work hard. Those were my responsibilities the last time I checked. Not to mention I spent the entire summer living on my own, keeping up a flat all by myself. That’s being responsible.”
“I know, Padfoot. It’s just that Dumbledore made me Head Boy. I have no idea why he did it, but he did. I’m not about to disrespect Dumbledore by taking advantage of the title and allowing my friends to get away with things they should be getting detention for!”
“You mean like when we would convince Remus to not give us detention after we did horrible things?”
James gritted his teeth. Trust Sirius to bring that up. He finally understood how his Lycanthropic friend must have felt every time they were doing something wrong and they begged him to let them off the hook, just that once. But it was never just that once. “Nice, make me feel guilty. Thanks a million, Padfoot.”
Sirius smirked cheekily. “No problem.”
James took a heavy breath and tried to explain what he was thinking to Sirius in a rational manner. “Look, what I’m just trying to say is that I know I don’t deserve to be Head Boy. There’s a bunch of other seventh year guys who would do the job better than I do, but I am Head Boy. I just want to show Dumbledore he didn’t make a mistake trusting the job to me.”
Sirius listened quietly. He knew he was being an idiot and James was right. Perhaps he was just going to have to leave his jinx-friendly self behind. As difficult as it may be to comprehend, they were adults now. Sirius certainly couldn’t go around hexing people for the fun of it very much longer. There would come a day when someone who was much more skilled with a wand and much more knowledgeable of dangerous hexes would send a jinx right back at him. “I know, James. Sorry for being a git.”
James laughed and clapped a hand to Sirius’s shoulder. “You can’t help it that you were born that way.” James replaced his wand in his pocket. “I’m heading down to the Quidditch Pitch; need to get some flying in before practise tomorrow.”
“How’s the new team looking?”
The tryouts had proved fruitful. James and his fellow Chaser Jeanie Becker, worked extremely well with a third year, Alexandra Benz. The third year was a talented flier and always managed to trick the Keeper when she went to score. The new Beater, Julian Greenfield, was born to whack around Bludgers, not to mention he had exceptional aim, and their new Keeper, Hal Oliver, was one talented Quidditch player for a second year. James had a feeling this would be another brilliant year of Quidditch. They would probably snag the cup again, barring any potential disasters.
“It’s great; the other teams don’t stand a chance.” James suddenly stopped walking when he saw a head of red hair heading out onto the grounds. An idea occurred to him… “See you later, mate.” Waving to Sirius, James cautiously approached Lily. He wasn’t sure if this was a smart idea, or if he was just going to get stuck back at square one with her once more. But he had to give it a try. He just had to be nice and polite. He had to be the James Potter that Lily was starting to come around to.
“Hey, Lily,” James said, flashing the girl a friendly smile. He fell into step with her. “What are you up to?” Just keep it casual, there was no need for him to feel nervous or act like a bloody buffoon.
“Just going for a walk,” Lily replied calmly.
Flying could wait. It wasn’t like he needed to practise, anyway. “Fancy some company?” James’s jaw was set; it was almost as if he was bracing himself for the resounding ‘no’ he had heard for far too long.
He was pleasantly shocked when Lily smiled and accepted. The two started off in the direction of Hagrid’s Hut.
“So,” James began, still in awe of his incredible luck. Lily Evans had willingly decided to spend time with him! “How’s seventh year treating you?” Brilliant, Potter, talking about school! He finally had the opportunity to have a real conversation with Lily and all he could think to ask her was a question about school? Besides, the beginning of seventh year would only remind Lily of what happened to her parents. He was an insensitive wart, he was.
“It’s good,” Lily replied, following a stray leaf with her eyes. “Lots of work, but you know that.”
James refrained from sighing in relief like he wanted to so much. He kept up the conversation with a thoroughly understanding tone of voice. “Yeah I do. It’s like the professors think that’s all we have to do with our lives.”
Lily laughed lightly. “I think they expect us to do our homework in the loo, that’s how much they’ve given us.”
“Don’t even say that, Lily. I enjoy my private time without my homework, thank you.” Another score for James Potter, talking to a girl about your ‘private’ time in the bathroom! Merlin, he was revolting. He was really on a roll today. “So, have you been thinking of your career plans?” That was much better than the first question, unless Lily was terrified about the future and didn’t like talking about it. He hoped that wasn’t the case.
Much to his extreme gratitude, Lily was not hesitant in discussing her future plans. “I’m thinking of applying for a job with the Daily Prophet.”
“Really?” James said, mildly surprised. “I didn’t know you liked writing.”
Lily nodded, grinning. “Yes, I love it. And the quality of the newspaper is really starting to bother me; I want to bring it back up to standards.”
“Don’t let Remus hear you saying the paper is bad; his dad writes for them.”
“Oh, I know. He’s one of the only writers I enjoy reading.” Lily kicked up a pebble in the grass and watched it travel over the grass before landing in a mound of dirt. “What about you? What do you want to do?”
“I dunno… I wanted to be an Auror for a long time, but I’m not sure if that’s what I want to do anymore.”
“Really? Did you have any other ideas?”
“I thought being a Healer would be nice, like my dad.”
“I didn’t know your dad was a Healer.”
“Yeah, he’s been one for ages. I just think it sounds like a great job, helping sick people feel better. I’ve already taken all the necessary classes, most are the same as the classes you’d have to take to be an Auror.”
“What about your friends? What do they want to do?”
“Sirius is set on becoming an Auror. Honestly, I pity any Dark wizard he catches. He would probably talk so much they’d turn themselves in just to make him shut up.” Lily chuckled. “Peter wants to open up a shop, like his dad. His dad used to work at the Magical Menagerie.”
Lily’s eyes widened in horror at James’s words. “Is he alright?”
James knew at once what she was talking about. Even with what she had to deal with earlier in the year, she definitely would have heard about what happened in Diagon Alley. “He’s fine, shaken up and out of a job, but physically he’s okay.”
Lily’s shoulders, which had tensed moments before, relaxed. “Good… that’s good.”
The two continued walking in silence. James was in deep thought. If he asked Lily this question that just occurred to him, he could very well reverse every friendly thought she had about him. He didn’t like to think of that possibility. If he couldn’t have Lily in any other form, he just wanted her to be his friend. But if he didn’t ask what he was thinking, he was never going to know what she would say. Sweet Merlin, if only he hadn’t asked her a million and one times before. But he had to try. He couldn’t leave Hogwarts and never have once successfully asked Lily Evans out on a date.
“Lily,” James said uncertainly.
“James?”
“I… I was just wondering, if you didn’t have any plans or anything, you know; if you’re not already going with Alice and Frank, if you would like to come with me to Hogsmeade next weekend?” There… he had asked her. What was more, he hadn’t done it in the overly confident, arrogant manner he usually did. He prayed she would take that into consideration.
He could have fainted from joy and shock when Lily said yes.
“I have a date with Lily Evans.”
“We know, Prongs.”
“I mean in ten minutes I have a date with Lily Evans!”
“Finally learned how to use that ridiculous watch, did you?”
“Stuff it, Moony.” James looked as if he was about to pass out. His face was almost as white as Remus’s after a full moon and he looked absolutely sick. His breakfast had gone untouched.
The elation of finally asking Lily out and having her accept his invitation had long ago faded away. Now he was faced with the prospect of spending the entire day with the girl, the girl he had held a torch for since he was at least twelve. He had had dreams about what this day might be like, but he had never imagined what he would do if it actually came to pass. What if he ran out of things to say and ended up saying nothing at all? What if everything he said was stupid, thoughtless and arrogant? Lily wouldn’t think he’d changed a bit. She would go right back to hating him.
“You’ll be fine, James,” Sirius said bracingly. “Look at the facts: Lily isn’t disgusted by you anymore.”
“Thanks, that makes me feel so much better.”
“But she doesn’t hate you,” Peter said encouragingly. “That’s a good thing.”
“It is, Wormtail, but that doesn’t mean she can’t go right back to despising me the moment I say something ridiculous.”
“I know you had to deflate that enormous head of yours to get her to consider you, mate, but inflate it a bit more. You lost some of your confidence,” Sirius chided, elbowing James lightly in the ribs.
James, in an attempt to get his mind off his date, asked, “What are you guys going to do in Hogsmeade without me?”
“I’m going with the lovely Emily Fort,” Sirius said, drawing himself up proudly. He had long since left his embarrassment behind. Emily was a great girl; in his opinion, she was one of the best. What did he care if his friends laughed at his expense? He was happy and that was what mattered.
James nodded and turned his attention to Remus and Peter, who were throwing down Chocolate Frog cards on the Gryffindor table. “What about you two?”
“Well,” Remus began casually, turning over a Morgana card in his hands and tossing it to Peter, who missed it and had to pick it up off his lap, “Since you two are abandoning us, Peter and I will be spending our time in Honeydukes’”
“Remus has run out of a chocolate stash,” Peter explained, tucking his new card into his deck.
“I didn’t run out,” Remus said sharply, shooting an angry glare at Sirius, who was suddenly preoccupied with staring at his Ravenclaw girlfriend from across the Great Hall with a dazed expression on his face. When he could no longer ignore Remus’s glance, his slowly turned and pretended to look highly affronted. “Excuse me? Are you accusing me of stealing your precious chocolate?”
“Well, it wasn’t James or Peter I found with a bunch of chocolate wrappers hidden under their beds, now was it?”
“Sirius also had a hunk of chocolate wedged between his teeth,” Peter added, shuffling through his deck of cards.
Sirius grimaced at his friend. “Thanks for all the help, Wormtail. You just gave him another reason to blame me.”
“Well you did eat his chocolate.” Peter grumbled irritably when Sirius shoved him in the shoulder.
“Are you ready to go?” asked a tentative voice from behind James.
James turned so quickly that he nearly fell sideways off the bench. Luckily Sirius managed to grab hold of him before that happened. “Graceful, Prongs,” Sirius muttered sarcastically in an undertone.
“Sure, let’s go,” James said, pretending as though he hadn’t almost fallen backwards off the bench. Sending his friends a swift, three-fingered wave, he set off towards the Entrance Hall where Mr. Filch was checking the permission slips of the third years. James and Lily passed the caretaker, who instinctively glared daggers at James, expecting him to come back with a few more cases of Dungbombs than was necessary. But James wasn’t doing that today. No, today was about showing Lily Evans he wasn’t a git.
Walking out into the chilly October morning, James kept his gaze straight ahead, trying to think of something interesting to say.
“You… you look nice today,” he said hesitantly. It was true, Lily looked lovely today, though she had done nothing different to her appearance.
Lily smiled at him, a faint pink colouring her cheeks. “Thank you.”
The two strolled down the rest of the grassy slope in silence and within ten minutes they were on the cobblestone streets of Hogsmeade. “So, where to first?” James asked. Normally, he would go straight for Zonko’s, but he wasn’t sure if Lily particularly enjoyed that store. However, if she suggested it, he wouldn’t object.
“Dervish and Banges?” she suggested. James nodded and the two set off at once.
Dervish and Banges was a fun shop, filled with different magical devices. James had actually been meaning to stop here anyway. Peter’s Sneakoscope had broken last week and he needed a new one.
Well, technically it hadn’t broken. Sirius threw it against a wall when it kept going off in the middle of the night and it completely shattered. James thought maybe he could get Peter a new one. It was either get Peter a new Sneakoscope or witness Sirius suffer the wrath of Remus even more than he already was, as it was Remus who bought the Sneakoscope for Peter in their first year. It might be amusing though, watching Sirius and Remus go at it for the millionth time, but it would most likely resolve in hexes gone wrong and he didn’t want to right them.
The two browsed through the shop and James did end up buying that Sneakoscope for Peter, while Lily considered buying a speciality lockbox that would bite anyone who dared come near her possessions.
“Why would you need that?” James asked, utterly surprised that Lily would buy something that vicious. He wasn’t sure even he would purchase something like that.
“When I go home, Petunia likes to go through my things,” Lily answered bluntly, picking up the box and dropping it back on the shelf when it snapped ferociously at her. “This would be a little motivation for her to keep out.”
James knew Lily’s relationship with her sister had only worsened over the years. It had probably worsened even more since their parents died. Sometimes a death brought families closer together, but James could never see that happening with the Evans sisters. As much as he would have liked for Lily and Petunia to put aside whatever differences they had, he knew it was a far cry from reality. “Well, you can always put a Charm on whatever you don’t want her looking through.”
Lily tore her gaze away from the box, still contemplating purchasing it, and raised an eyebrow at James. “What kind of Charm?” she asked cautiously. She had learned a long time ago that a wand in the hands of James Potter was a dangerous thing.
“Nothing that would hurt her,” James was quick to assure. “Just… I dunno… make her hair grow all over her face or something. You could get rid of the hair easily enough and it wouldn’t hurt her.”
“How would you know?”
“I… read it somewhere.”
Lily narrowed her eyes dubiously. “Or you tried it on someone.”
James was shocked to hear a faint trace of amusement in her voice instead of the usual reprimand that would coat her tone. He grinned shiftily. “It’s possible. So are you going to get that?”
Lily considered the lockbox for another few minutes before shaking her head. “I might just have to look up that Hair-Growth Charm. C’mon, let’s go somewhere else.”
From Dervish and Banges they went to Honeydukes, where James was not surprised to find Remus and Peter. Remus was scouring the shelves for a new chocolate supply, one he would keep far away from Sirius. James gave Peter his new Sneakoscope, which was mercifully silent and did not whir incessantly. James and Lily pored through the shelves stocked to the full capacity with sweets and ended up buying a large number of Bertie Botts, which turned out to be Lily’s favourite, Sugar Quills and Fizzing Whizzbees.
James was pleased that the conversation had not seemed to lag once since they arrived at the village. James thought the conversation would have been the most difficult part of it all, as everything he said almost always offended the girl, even if that wasn’t the intention. But today, he was having no trouble talking to her. What was better, Lily seemed to be enjoying herself. She was smiling a lot, talking animatedly and she hadn’t called him Potter once. Granted, Lily hadn’t called him Potter in a long time, not since the end of fifth year, but now she was talking to him freely and was being quite friendly. Perhaps he had just made a good friend; he wasn’t trying for anything more than that at the moment.
“Isn’t that Sirius’s brother?” Lily asked suddenly, indeed nodding her head towards Regulus Black, who was walking in the direction of the Shrieking Shack with Severus Snape in tow. James felt the heat rise in his face. Nothing good could come from this.
“Yes, that’s him,” he replied in a tight voice.
“Where do you think they’re going?”
“Somewhere no good, probably.” James was tempted to cover himself and Lily with his Invisibility Cloak and follow them, but he didn’t have to. Snape and Regulus caught sight of them first. Both of them wearing identical sneers, they waited for a crowd of hyperactive third years to pass before confronting the two Gryffindors.
“This is the company you’ve given me up for, Lily?” Snape asked and there was the faintest trace of real regret in his voice. He was just masking it so Regulus didn’t think he was going soft on a Mudblood.
“I prefer company that doesn’t backstab their friends in front of the whole school,” Lily replied coolly, folding her arms across her chest and glaring Snape in the eye. James had to admit, he was rather impressed at how she handled herself during tense situations.
“Ah, so you’ll never be hanging around with Sirius Black, will you?” Snape challenged heatedly.
“That’s none of your bloody business. Who I hang out with and what I do is none of your business anymore.”
“So you abandon your best friend and decide to become friends with someone you once despised?”
James felt heat growing around his ears. He didn’t know whether it was from anger or embarrassment and, quite frankly, he hoped it was from the former. No matter how much he loathed admitting it, Snape had a point. Lily used to hate him and she used to be Snape’s best friend. But he wasn’t about to admit that out loud. “Snape, why don’t you just leave her alone?”
Snape laughed harshly. “It’s because of you she’s not friends with me anymore.”
James knew why his ears had turned a violent shade of red “ it was because of anger. “Yeah, I may have taunted you when you weren’t doing anything to deserve it, I admit that. I was wrong; I’m not going to deny it. But she was trying to help you. It was your decision to call her a Mudblood. I had no part in that, so don’t blame it on me.”
“I’m surprised she doesn’t blame you.”
James’s eyes narrowed. He wanted so much to whip out his wand and hex Snape into a green, neon blob. But he knew he couldn’t do that. He was doing everything possible to let Lily know he was different and giving in to his desire to hex Snape would be taking about fifteen steps back. But, as much as he hated admitting it, Lily did have every right to blame him. If he and Sirius hadn’t gotten at Snape… no, he wasn’t going to let Snape do that to him. Snape had made the decision to call her a Mudblood. He was just trying to look good, make himself seem tougher than he really was.
“I don’t blame him,” Lily said firmly. Grabbing James by the crook of his elbow, she dragged him away from a stunned looking Regulus and a seething Snape. When they were well out of earshot of the two Slytherins, Lily released her grip on James’s arm.
“I bloody can’t stand him anymore,” she snarled.
“Don’t let him get to you; he’s just trying to start trouble,” James assured her. “You… you really don’t blame me for what happened in fifth year?”
Lily was silent for what seemed like one of the longest moment in James’s life. “I don’t like that you and Sirius had to go after him like that when he was doing anything to deserve it, but what you said back there was right. He made the decision to call me what he did. He could have accepted my help or just asked me to go away. I wouldn’t have been offended by either, but he didn’t.” She folded her arms across her chest and added resolutely, “I blame him.”
The cheerful mood they had cultivated when they arrived in the village had long since been demolished by Snape’s and Regulus’s appearances. James made a mental note to mention to Sirius that he had seen the two together. James and Lily made their way back to the castle, talking a little about James’s parents, whom Lily seemed to be quite interested about. She was very surprised when she learned they’d had James so late in life. She laughed as James told her about the time the Potter’s House Elf, Willie, dragged him into the kitchen all day and wouldn’t leave until he had produced an edible cake.
They arrived in the deserted Entrance Hall and heard voices coming from the Great Hall. Dinner had already started for the younger students and the ones who hadn’t chosen to take advantage of the Hogsmeade trip or had gotten back early. Lily was going to bring her purchases up to her dormitory, while James was going to head inside for dinner. “Look,” James began. “I’m sorry those two had to show up and make you mad.”
Lily was quick to shake her head dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. I had a lot of fun anyway.”
James smiled, both pleased and in relief. “Good, I’m glad you did.”
“Well, I should bring this stuff to my dormitory.” Lily started towards the stairs before stopping and walking tentatively back to James, who was watching her with a curious gaze. Before James knew what had happened, Lily had given him a swift kiss on the cheek, said, “Thanks for a wonderful day,” and then she had disappeared up the marble staircase.
For the rest of the day, James Potter walked around the castle with a goofy, pleased grin on his face.