Disclaimer: I’m sadly not JK Rowling and of course these wonderful characters are not mine…though I stuck in a few unimportant ones of my own at the beginning just for kicks! ^__^
As she walked through Platform 9 ¾, Lily eagerly looked for familiar faces. She waved at Emma and Amelia, two Gryffindors in her year, and then her heart caught in her throat for a second as she saw a messy head of black hair, but he turned and it was just Leo; she smiled and waved disappointedly… Wait what? Disappointed? No, no, I just want to see him so I can get over one out of a hundred times of being asked out this year she rationalized. As she made her way through a pack of giggling third year girls and many terrified but excited first years, she finally reached the Head Boy/Head Girl compartment. She looked in, and there he was, sitting silently in his own little world. She stood in the doorway and braced herself, she was prepared for his arrogance, whatever new trick he had come up with to show off his self-proclaimed magnificence, and that lovable, crooked smile she had been seeing in her mind for months… She shook her head, wait, what was she thinking?
“So Potter? Good summer?” His brows furrowed as if confused to where he was for a moment and when he looked up he gave her a sad smile,
“Hey Lily.” Lily? He’d never called her anything but Evans for as long as she’d known him. She looked at him puzzled, but shrugged and sat down across from him, silently, waiting. With James Potter, you were never sitting in silence for long; he always had some mischievous scheme going on or an elaborate story to share. He was now silently examining his shoelaces and she was beginning to feel nervous, Forget what’s wrong with me, what’s up with him? She looked at his face and something was different…it was missing that familiar glow of affability and excitement. He wasn’t rumpling his hair, and since when did James Potter silently muse about anything, especially when she was around! Not that she liked him asking her out…
“James… are you alright?”
“Wha-? Oh, uh, yah, why?”
“I dunno…you seem awfully quiet.”
“Well…isn’t that how you’d prefer me? ‘Silent and not bothering you’” he quoted. She thought back to the last time he’d asked her out…
* * *
“James, for the last time, NO! Go bother some other girl!” For a second that smile faltered and his eyes lost a bit of their sparkle….
“Evans, what do you want from me?”
“I want you to be silent and I want you to stop asking me out! Just stay away from me!” and she stormed out as he forlornly watched her walk away.
* * *
But James couldn’t have really been hurt by what she said…what about all of the names she had called him, the rolled eyes, the laughs in his face…they’d never stopped him before! Really, he wasn’t serious, he was just messing with her for attention, so people would see how funny he was, how cool he was…She examined his countenance…something was different, that was for sure…
* *Halloween* *
It had been about two months now and everyone had fit into their regular routine…classes, homework, friends, homework, Quidditch, and more homework…especially since this year was NEWT year. However, for Lily Evans something was very different. Except for classes and the duties they shared by being Head Boy and Girl, James never spoke to her. He never asked her out and he never gave her that crooked smile she loved…Well not loved…she meant…okay fine she liked his smile big deal! After six years of being asked out by him daily, life at Hogwarts just wasn’t the same. It wasn’t that she had craved the attention it brought her, so what was the big deal?
She was sitting in the common room looking out at the window while her classmates talked and laughed around her. Tired of being bothered to join in the festivities, she decided to go for a walk, and left through the portrait hole alone, finally ready for the silence of solitude…perfect for good thinking. However, she was completely unaware that she was not the only one not having a smashing good time…and after a deep breath he set his jaw in determination, nodded slightly to himself, and quietly followed her out of the hole.
Lily wandered down by the lake and lay down in the grass looking at the stars. After six years of furiously wishing he would just disappear she missed him teasing her, she missed how his face glowed when he laughed, she missed…him. She gasped… How could I have been so blind? She had spent so much energy focusing on the few things that really bothered her about him. She hated how he and Sirius would pick on Snape, no matter how much the git deserved it, and how everytime she was around him he was showing off to his mates. Well, this year he was certainly different. She didn’t know what had struck him, surely the responsibilities of being Head Boy weren’t the cause of his change. He no longer drew attention to himself, showing off the way he used to, though being so good at Quidditch, so smart in class, and so, well, handsome, people loved him still. She thought back to this afternoon when it had all hit her and a tear trickled down her cheek…
* * *
They were just leaving Charms and he and Sirius were last to leave the room when she remembered she had forgotten her scarf. As she turned around, lo and behold here came James and Sirius when,
“Look who it is Prongs…I think little Snivellus needs a reminder why it is important not to be a filthy little git…” She closed her eyes in abhorrence of what she knew was coming.
“Um, nah man, I’m kinda tired, let’s not start something right now.” Sirius simply shrugged and as she looked at James in surprise, he caught her eye, only for a second, but in that second she understood why he had changed that year, why he was so different -- he changed for her.
* * *
Lily sobbed silently as she realized that underneath all the show, James was everything she had always wanted, and…well…she loved him. She had pushed away the only man she felt she could ever be happy with and now she had to live with it. Suddenly she realized she wasn’t alone, and as she opened her eyes there was James sitting next to her; she couldn’t see his face because of the dark but she knew it was him. She sat up quickly and tried to dry her tears inconspicuously.
“James?! I was “ um “ what are you doing here?”
“Lily…” he was speaking so quietly it was practically a whisper, and his breathing sounded raspy so she wondered if he’d been crying too, “I’ve tried to respect your wishes but I just have to say it. I love you Lily, I always have and I know I always will.” She smiled in amazement but he wasn’t looking at her. “I don’t want to make you unhappy and apparently being around me drives you crazy, but these past two months without being around you has been killing me.” He looked up and she saw his eyes swimming with tears.
“James, I “ ”
“No, please. I know you don’t feel the same, and I know you think I’m just some cocky git who never really cared and doesn’t know the real you but…” he sighed, “I love the way you twirl your hair when your reading, the way you bite your lip when your nervous, and those eyes…Lily…sometimes I forget to breathe when I look at you. I just couldn’t go on seeing you everyday preten”” but he never finished as Lily leaned in silently and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. Both were conquered by the power of it and they sat leaning against one another’s foreheads living the moment. He sighed, unable to grasp what had just happened. She gently stroked his cheek with her hand,
“I love you James Potter,” she whispered, “always.”
A/N: Ok guys i know that you want people to review your story, so plz give me 5 seconds and let me know why you did or didnt like it!