IN REALITY
It was only the day after the fifteenth of December that James could explain the next plan. The day before had been spent planning for Remus’ transformation, and they had no time at all for WOLE.
“I like this plan!” Sirius said brightly, looking up from the parchment roll. “There’s no planning involved” all you’ve got to do, Prongs, is make her angry, then seize her and plant a big wet one on””
“Sirius,” Gemma said in indignant tones, “I highly dislike people using such insensitive terms to describe sweet scenes””
“Whatever, you’re such an adamant feminist,” Sirius said, waving a hand airily in Gemma’s face. “As I was saying, Prongs, all you have to do is lay one on her, and poof, she’s yours for life!” He and Peter exchanged fives.
“Poof?” Gemma said, with a disgusted look on her face. “Is winning a girl like a charm to you, Black?”
“He wouldn’t know. As of yet, he hasn’t needed to win over a single girl. The girls just come to him, and he almost always sends them away,” Remus said, boredly examining a sore-looking scratch on his arm from the Marauders’ little nighttime escapade out of the Shrieking Shack the previous night. His injuries were less serious than usual, to the surprise of Madam Pomfrey, and she had allowed him out of the Hospital Wing after a few hours of recuperation.
“I wish motorcycles came to me, they’re such beauties, aren’t they?” Sirius said eagerly. “When I save enough money, I’m going to convert it to Muggle money and buy a Harley Davidson. I hear they’re the best.”
“People, can we get back to the topic at hand, please?” James asked, frustrated.
“Right you are, Prongs,” Sirius said, giving a very good imitation of submissiveness.
“Gemma, you’re Lily’s best friend, aren’t you?” James said.
“Yes,” Gemma said.
“So you should be able to tell us what makes her mad,” James continued.
“Of course.” Gemma rolled her eyes.
“Well, elaboration, please,” James said impatiently, when she left it at that.
“She hates it when you hex people, and she hates it when people criticize her cat,” she said.
“Anything more romantic?” James said, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice. “If you’ve got nothing, more, then I’ll just stick to your idea of accusing some boy of staring at her.”
“Oh, she hates it when boys whip out contraceptives when she’s kissing them,” Gemma said brightly. When she saw James’ horrified expression, she laughed. “I was just kidding, James, just kidding” oh, for Merlin’s sake, I can’t believe he actually went catatonic! You guys, help me get him down to the Hospital Wing!”
*
“Never,” James growled to Gemma, “joke about stuff like that. Never ever do that again, you hear me, Spinnet?”
“I’m sorry,” Gemma said, though she didn’t sound very apologetic at all. In fact, she sounded suspiciously close to laughing. “How on earth was I supposed to know you were going to react this way?”
James waved his arm vaguely in her direction, too weary to scold her. The shock he had received earlier at the idea of Lily Evans already losing her virginity to some other boy must have taken a few years off his life.
“So, Prongs,” said Remus, in a very transparent attempt to help take James’ mind off the nasty surprise (not that he minded), “are you going to carry out WOLE Plan Number Three tonight? There’s a Prefect meeting. You can work from there.”
“You bet he is,” Sirius cut in before James had even opened his mouth. “He’s probably scared that someone’s going to snatch up Evans before he does.”
Remus gave Sirius a pointed look at caused the latter to clam up meekly.
“So, are you, Prongs?” Peter asked.
“Yes, I am,” James said, glaring at Sirius.
“Excellent,” Gemma said. “You have to find a suitable occasion to grab her and kiss her. You can’t just randomly do that. Usually you only do it to prove that you like her, or something like that.”
“Er” okay,” James said, feeling nervous. “I think I’ll most likely follow your plan” you know, tell her that some boy has been looking at her in a way I don’t like, and let things, I dunno, build up from there.
“I suppose you can do that,” Gemma said. “Now, James, girls like it when boys are kind of bossy, but not too bossy. They also like it when you look at them like they’re the only girl in the world.”
“Merlin,” Sirius said disgustedly. “Girls are a different universe altogether.”
And Lily Evans, who happened to be just passing by and smiling at them, gave him so disparaging a look that he shrank backwards. “Yes,” she said with the dignity of a queen. “We are.” And, as she rounded the corner, they heard her add, “Thank goodness.”
*
“Good luck, Prongs,” said Remus in an undertone as he patted James lightly on the back before leaving the Prefect’s Lounge. They had just discussed what they should do for Christmas for the Gryffindors who were staying behind.
James nodded tensely as the last of the Prefects left the room. Lily was shuffling the papers and humming, completely oblivious to the wreck that was James Potter.
The thing was, not a single boy Prefect was staring at the Lily. Well, a boy prefect that was in sixth or seventh year, that is. William Kingsforth, a fifth year prefect, was staring avidly at Lily, but James doubted that Lily would even look twice at him. So who was he supposed to accuse of staring at her? He couldn’t use the prefect Gemma had used in the story, either, because he didn’t exist. James inwardly groaned. Merlin, this plan was hard.
“Are you done, James?” Lily called from the other end of the room. James started, and then waved his wand so all the papers flew in a neat stack into his arms.
“Yeah, done,” he called back, and Lily extinguished the candles. They exited the Lounge together, and by then James’ heart was hammering so hard he thought that his ribs would start to splinter. “So,” he said hoarsely, and hastily he cleared his throat before starting again. “I noticed that, er” “ he cast about wildly for a name” “Richard Lennox was staring at you.”
“Hmm?” Lily was, still deeply buried in her notes.
“Richard Lennox,” James said louder. “He was staring at you.”
“Okay,” Lily said absently.
“He was making eyes at you,” James said in true indignance at the lack of response. “That’s forbidden.”
Lily started laughing. “James, you are so adorable sometimes,” she said, but she didn’t even look up from the papers.
“It’s not funny,” James said, feeling strange when he said it.
“It is,” Lily said, still giggling. “So long as Richard doesn’t do anything inappropriate, I don’t really care if he’s been staring at me or anything.” James felt his heart plummet. He might not know much about romance, but he knew that this situation wouldn’t become a scene of passion any time soon.
They rounded the corner, and James saw the library. “Are you going to the library?” he asked.
“Yes,” Lily said. “I always go to the library after meetings. You know that, James. Are you coming along?”
“No thanks,” he declined gloomily. Not because he didn’t want to spend more time with Lily, but because WOLE Plan Number Three had failed.
It was time for Plan Number Four.
Plan Number Four
“Now that,” said Remus Lupin admiringly, “is what I’d call impressive.” He gestured to the tall ice sculpture of a lady which was standing in the middle of the Great Hall.
“Thank you,” the ice sculpture said, curtseying gracefully. Remus nearly knocked over Peter in his hurry to get away. The others laughed at his shock.
“Go on and laugh, why don’t you?” Remus said under his breath.
“No offence, Moony,” James said, chuckling, “but that was hilarious.”
“Your face!” laughed Sirius, slapping Peter on the back.
“Yes, well, forgive me for actually showing some form of human emotion,” Remus replied, slightly huffy.
“Dumbledore has truly overdone himself this year,” Peter said as he looked in wonder at the huge Christmas tree in the corner of the Hall, and the decorations which adorned it. It was so tall that people could stand underneath it. A few fairy lights lit up the shadowy bottom.
“Of course, Wormtail,” said Sirius, draping an arm over Peter and Remus. “This is our last year at Hogwarts. He’s doing all of these in our honour.”
James didn’t say anything in response, although the other two were rolling their eyes at Sirius. He had suddenly caught sight of something more beautiful than any decorations Dumbledore had put up.
Lily Evans.
She was standing under the Christmas tree with Gemma and Mary, talking and laughing and fingering the decorations.
Sirius followed his gaze and sighed like an old man. “Prongs, Prongs,” he said, shaking his head. “When will you learn?”
James ignored him. The truth was that he feared that he never would learn to let go of Lily. After all, ever since he made known his feelings towards Lily in their Fifth year, no matter how icily she had rejected his requests for her to go out with him, he would still grovel at her feet in a way Sirius said “redefined indignity”. Then last year, his wise advisor, Gemma Spinnet told him not to be so “pushy” and be less arrogant. And then Dumbledore had chosen him and Lily to be Head Boy and Girl respectively.
So now Lily and he were on good terms.
But he didn’t just want to be on good terms with Lily Evans. Clichéd as that might sound, he wanted to be more than friends with Lily. It was a feat that Sirius and Peter deemed impossible. It was a feat that Remus deemed improbable.
But he was determined to make it possible, no matter what he had to do.
He walked towards Lily and her girlfriends, without being too obvious about staring at her. There were two simultaneous groans and a long sigh from his friends. He ignored them, and he soon heard their footsteps, signifying their following him.
“Hey, Lily,” he said, smiling at her.
“Hey!” She turned around and upon seeing him, smiled cheerfully. “Excellent decorations this year, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, they’re gorgeous,” he said, trying to make an effort to look at whatever she was gesturing at, but he couldn’t look away from her. Her green eyes seemed to be brighter than usual, and her cheeks were flushed. Her dark red curls were pulled back into a bun, but somehow it couldn’t seem to rein in her hair neatly, leaving random locks of hair falling out, giving her a strange seductive beauty.
Gemma gave a small cough and nudged him. He looked at her questioningly and she mouthed, “Don’t keep staring.”
So that was what the cough was for. He flushed slowly and excruciatingly, and looked at anywhere else but where Lily was standing.
“Hey, you guys,” said Mary, giving both Lily and James glances, “d’you know that the sculpture of that iced lady can move and speak?”
“Yeah”” Peter began, but Remus elbowed him in the ribs forcibly, resulting in an “ow!”
“No, we don’t,” Sirius said in passable surprise. “Does she really?”
“She does, let’s go see!” Gemma said enthusiastically, and she and Mary herded the three boys off, leaving Lily and James under the Christmas tree.
“So, are you going home for the holidays?” Lily asked him, examining a bauble with interest.
“Nah, I’m staying here,” James replied, trying not to examine Lily with too much interest. “I want to enjoy being at Hogwarts while I can.”
“Same here. Everything was always so peaceful at Hogwarts during Christmastime. Apart from the four of you, that is,” she added.
“You didn’t appreciate the pollution of noise we created in fifth year, remember?” he asked, grinning.
“Yeah, you were disturbing our peace,” she reminisced, a smile on her lips. “And I was finally getting Mary and Gemma to accompany me in studying Transfiguration for our OWLs.”
“We were being annoying,” James said. “You were highly irritable in those times.”
“I was, wasn’t I?” She grinned. “But then, you were highly irritating in those times.”
“I’m not now, am I?” he asked.
“No, you’re not,” she agreed. “You’ve change, James. I didn’t think it possible, but you did.”
“Everyone changes,” he said.
“No,” she objected, and in the light cast by the fairies, James saw that her expression was solemn, even sad. “Not everyone.”
He inwardly groaned. How come he always didn’t know the right thing to say to Lily Evans? He either made her angry, or sad. He wanted to make her laugh; he lived for those moments when her face lit up with delight, and she laughed unrestrainedly, giving him her full and undivided attention.
“James?” she said, and a thrill went down his spine when he heard her say his name.
“Yeah?”
“Why did you change?” she asked.
“Wh” why did I change?” he asked, baffled.
“You know,” she said, “change from irritating to… to…”
“That sentence had better end with a good adjective,” he mock warned.
She laughed. “Oh, it does,” she assured him. “Why did you change from irritating to being so… nice and friendly?”
James’ heart sank. Nice and friendly? Of all the adjectives he wanted Lily to describe him, those two were definitely not what he’d had in mind.
As though hearing his thoughts, she said, “Well, last year, you were less obnoxious, but this year, you’re really… really different. You’re more thoughtful and kind. I’d even go as far as to say that Dumbledore made a right choice in choosing you to be Head Boy.”
“Is that an insult for my past self or a compliment for my present self?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
She gave an impish smile that made him want to grab her and plant a kiss on her lips. “Perhaps both,” she said.
He thought about what she had asked, and then began tentatively, “Well, do you know how sometimes people make you do things you never thought possible?”
She nodded.
“That’s how I changed, I guess. Someone motivated me,” he said.
She thought about it for a while, and then said, “Would I be too nosey if I asked who it was?”
A glowing fairy bobbed past them, and Lily gave it a gentle poke. The fairy glared at her and rose up high above them. James looked up at it, and caught sight of something in its glow.
A mistletoe.
A mistletoe was hanging on a branch above where they were standing.
“Erm,” he said, desperately trying to keep his mind on the current question at hand. Running a hand through his hair, he said, “No, no, you wouldn’t.”
A question resounded in his head, repeating itself over and over again.
What do people do when they stand under a mistletoe?
This thought was severely distracting; it threw him off focus.
“So,” she asked conversationally, “who was it?”
He involuntarily threw a glance at the mistletoe above them. He saw in panic that Lily, curious about what he was looking at, had done the same. And a gasp from her confirmed what she had seen.
“It was you,” he said in a rush.
“What was that?” Lily asked, her eyes darting from the mistletoe to his face.
“It was you who made me change,” he said, all too aware of his burning cheeks.
“It was me?” she whispered.
He nodded, mouth dry, with a severe lack of air in his lungs.
She blinked rather rapidly, as if there were dust in her eyes. And at last, at long last, she spoke.
“You changed… because of me?” she asked, as if not believing it.
He shook his head. “I changed for you,” he corrected. “You kept saying how I annoyed you in the past, and I really, really liked you, Lily, and I wanted you to like me back. So I tried to become a nicer person. And really, it’s been quite fun being nice. I’m now new and improved.” He tried to smile, but his facial muscles were too tense to pull it off.
Lily blinked again, but now James could see that she was trying not to cry. His heart sank for the third time the past fifteen minutes.
“Lily,” he said gently, “I didn’t mean to make you cry, I’m so, so sorry…” A tear spilled out, and he reached over to brush it away with his thumb.
She waved him away. “You didn’t make me cry, James,” she said, in a voice that suggested she was suppressing sobs. “Not in a bad way, at least.” She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said or done for me.”
Then she stood on her toes, and kissed him on the lips. She was just about to turn away, slightly embarrassed, when he slowly encircled her waist and pulled her gently towards him and gave her a kiss that was full of love and tenderness.
“And was that nicer than what I’d done to you previously?” he said against her lips.
He felt her smile. “You mean, before you were new and improved?” she asked. “Definitely.”
A/N: Well, here's the fourth chapter! This one I'm not that fond of as compared to the rest, but I'm still satisfied with it. I (shamelessly) love the next chapter though. Well now that you've read this I trust you know what to do! It's got something with that little white box down there. Hint hint. :D