1976, 16th June
Lily Evans looked up as a shadow fell onto the patch of grass beside her. Her two friends ceased their chatter as the new presence made itself known by clearing its throat.
“Hello, Potter,” Lily said coolly, as her eyes took in the raven-haired boy standing next to her. “What do you want?”
“Hello, Evans, Anderson, Mary,” James Potter said easily, nodding to Lily and her respective friends. “Evans” may I have a word with you?”
She looked up at him, green eyes narrowed, but before she could open her mouth to demand a reason, James shook his head and said, “It’ll only take a short while.”
Lily looked towards her best friend, Emily Anderson, who shrugged. Then she looked at James. “All right, then,” she agreed. “A short while.”
She followed him to the opposite side of the lake, where there were fewer students. They stopped under a tree, quite secure from the prying eyes of students who were positively agog at the sight of Lily Evans alone with James Potter, of all people.
“Right, then, what is it?” Lily asked. Despite her rather bloody history with James, she was interested to listen to what he had to say right then.
In the dim light filtering through the leaves of the tree, James looked less certain than Lily had ever seen him before. He opened his mouth slightly, then closed it again, and then opened it again to speak at last. “D’you remember what happened a week ago? After the Defense Against the Dark Arts OWLs?” he asked, a little tentatively. This was strange for James Potter” he was usually overconfident, and when he talked, the words just flowed out of his mouth. But not without charm, though.
“Yes,” Lily said. She couldn’t not remember that incident. It had cost her one of her best and oldest friends. James had publicly humiliated Severus Snape, and Lily had defended her friend. But Severus had said that he didn’t need help from a Mudblood, and that was the end of their already weakening friendship.
“I did a little reflection on my behaviour,” James blurted. It sounded a little too well-rehearsed, and Lily raised her eyebrows at him. “Okay, Moony made me do a little reflection on my behaviour,” he confessed.
“And what did you find out?” she prompted.
“That I was a little too much,” he admitted.
Hmm. There was some hope for James Potter after all.
“How so?” she tested.
“Well, I shouldn’t have washed his mouth with soap. That was a bit too disgusting,” James said. Lily could’ve sworn she heard him add “for the soap” under his breath, and her mouth twitched just a little. A stab of guilt quickly followed, but then she reminded herself that Severus was no longer her friend, and another stab followed, but it was one of pain and sorrow.
“Is that all?” she asked. “How about the part where you started the torture for no reason?”
“Yeah, that, too,” James said.
“And it’s not just Severus I’m talking about, sometimes when there’re Slytherins in the corridor you just hex them for no reason.”
“But they’ve done something bad to Gryffindor, I’m sure””
“It’s not whether they’ve done something bad before, it’s whether they’ve done anything to you at the moment.”
James was silent, but he had a rebellious look on his face that said plainly he would like nothing better than to argue.
Maybe not so much hope after all.
“So what are your aims?” Lily asked.
“I will try” yes, Evans, try” to stop hexing everyone who I don’t like every time I see them, except if they make a first move, thereafter which I will of course hex them in defense,” James said.
“What if you don’t try hard enough?” Lily said, feeling very much like a discipline mistress.
“Oh, I will, but it’s not going to be easy. It’s kind of a second nature to me now,” James said.
She stared into his hazel eyes, trying to figure out if he was lying. They gave nothing away. James seemed to know what she was thinking, and smiled.
“You can either believe me or don’t.”
After a pause, during which Lily weighed the options, she said, “I believe you.”
He smiled wider.
She turned to go.
“Wait.”
She turned back.
“Under what conditions would you go out with me?”
Lily almost laughed. Trust James Potter to ask a question like that after such a conversation. “It’s hard to say, Potter. Maybe someday, when you’re a lot less arrogant that you are now, maybe I’ll grow to like you.”
“There’s a chance, then.”
“Oh, there’s a chance, certainly.”
In the summer of 1977
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards)
Dear Ms Evans,
We are pleased to inform you have been appointed Head Girl by the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will be working closely with the Head Boy, James Potter, for your next and final year at Hogwarts. It is both your and Mr Potter’s duty to brief the prefects on September 1st. You will receive a list of passwords from the Headmaster upon arrival at Hogwarts.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
Dear Evans,
I’m just writing to tell you that I’m Head Boy. Maybe you’ve missed it in the letter McGonagall sent you, and I don’t want you to get a nasty shock when you find out on September 1st that I’m Head Boy.
Yours,
James (a.k.a. Potter)
Dear Potter,
I know that you’re Head Boy. I read it in the letter. But thanks all the same for your concern.
Well, Dumbledore appointed you Head Boy, so there clearly must be some redeeming quality in you. Or maybe he just wants to hasten you in the process of maturing. I mean, it was great that you’ve stopped hexing everyone who you don’t want to exist, but some of you and your friends’ pranks have been… a little too strong, to say the least.
Regards,
Lily (a.k.a. Evans)
Dear Evans,
I have been trying my best. If I don’t hex someone once a while, it’s going to be pretty poor life for me and the rest. But I will continue to do my best. By the way, do you think I’ve come a long way from the previous year?
Yours,
James
Dear Potter,
I must say there’s quite a distinctive difference in your behaviour. Why do you ask?
Regards,
Lily
Dear Lily,
It’s because you once said that when I’d matured in terms of behaviour, we might go out.
Yours,
James
Dear Potter,
It’s not so good if we go out this year, you know, seeing as if there’s a hitch in our relationship, we might not be able to carry on working in close proximity with each other. It’s better if we remain friends.
Regards,
Lily
Unsent letter to Lily Evans, from James Potter
Dear Lily,
If that’s the case, I’d rather not be Head Boy.
Yours ever,
James
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