Summary: When Lily receives an anonymous Valentine, she never suspects James Potter, of all people. Could she be wrong in doing so? But of course!
Genre: Romance
Ships: Lily/James
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: Written back in '01, so don't flame me if you don't like it. I was young then -g-
A VALENTINE'S DAY STORY BY AGENT BAMBI
It was the day before Valentine's Day, and in the Seventh Year boys' dorm, were the four Marauders – James, Sirius, Remus and Peter. Each was sitting on his respective bed, and they were all chatting away.
It was James who first brought up the topic of Valentines Day, when he asked his friends, "Should I send Lily a poem or something for Valentine's Day?"
"Well, that depends," said Sirius. "If you're planning to write it, I wouldn't suggest you do so. We all know how what happened last Valentine's Day, don't we?" he said, recalling the incident where James had sent a surprise poem to his girlfriend at the time. She had been so disgusted by it, that she had publicly announced that she was breaking up with him, which was a huge embarrassment for James.
"Sirius," James hissed. "I thought I told you not to bring that†incident up? I'd rather forget the whole thing, if you don't mind."
"Forget?" Sirius chuckled. "Why would you want to forget it? It was hilarious — the look on your face and—"
"Sirius!" James interrupted in annoyance. "Please! Can you not?"
Sirius sighed at being deprived of his joke, but discontinued the teasing nonetheless. "I still don't recommend that you write her a poem," he said in a warning tone.
"You know what?" James said. "I am going to write a poem, just to prove that I can. I don't care what you say – I will write a poem to Lily."
At the sound of James' enthusiasm, Remus looked up from his homework with interest. "If you want," he told James and laughed. "Just don't say we didn't warn you!"
James ignored his comment and grabbed a piece of parchment. He drew the curtains around his bed, and called to his friends, "Don't interrupt me for a while, okay? I need to concentrate."
He was so absorbed in looking for a quill and inkpot so he could begin writing the poem, that he didn't hear Sirius' sarcastic, "Yeah, I bet you need to concentrate," nor Remus' appreciative laugh that followed.
It was true that James wasn't exactly a talented writer, but nor was he as incompetent as his friends made him out to be. James believed that the incident that had occurred the previous year was merely a one-time thing, and he had confidence that this year, his poem would be amended.
Full of confidence, he set his quill to the parchment, and began writing. It took longer than he had at first expected, but
e spent the better part of the next hour trying to write a poem. Finally finished, he showed it to his friends, who were reasonably impressed.
Their reactions were quite similar. Sirius clapped James on the back. "I'm impressed, Prongs. That's actually quite a good poem."
"Yeah," added Peter. "You've really improved from last year."
Remus burst out laughing, but at James' deathly glare, ceased. "Yeah, James. It's really good. I think she'll like it."
James smirked, "See! I can write a poem!"
Lily was eating her porridge the next day, when a large brown owl came and dropped something in her lap.
"Oooh! Lily! Open it! Open it!" Cara, Fay and Elizabeth squealed.
Lily carefully ripped off the top of the envelope.
To herself, Lily read:
"She has a name like a flower,
She's more beautiful every hour,
Her gorgeous green eyes are kind,
Her long red hair isn't hard to find,
She is smartest of all the girls,
Her teeth are like shiny, white pearls,
Lily Evans is really fine,
It's really to bad she's not mine!"
"Wow, Lil! You've got a secret admirer!" Elizabeth raved.
"Yeah! How cool!" Fay gushed.
"Totally cool!" Cara agreed. "I wonder who it's from?"
An owl landed on Fay's head. It dropped a letter, which Fay caught.
"OPEN IT, Fay!"
Fay read,
"Fay,
You are as beautiful as a tree,
And that's very beautiful to me!
Your eyes are the color of the lake's,
Your hair is like tangled snakes,
Though you are very smart,
You belong in my heart,
Will you go out with me?
Love, Danny."
Fay, disgusted, embarrassed and upset, ran to the girls bathroom, crying.
Cara had begun to run up to her, but Sirius caught her first.
"You wanna go for a date tonight?"
"Yeah! Sure, when?"
"Ummm " Sirius said, "I'll pick you up at eight tonight."
"Bye!"
"A ce soir, mademoiselle!" Sirius told her in French.
Translated, it meant, 'see you tonight, miss'.
"A ce soir," replied Cara
Fifteen minutes later, Cara had coaxed Fay out of the bathroom. Fay shot a glare towards Peter, who trembled and ran away, squeaking.
"Don't worry, Fay, he's an idiot anyway, he doesn't know the real you!" Elizabeth said.
Fay smiled.
"Uh, Elizabeth?" Remus walked up, looking flustered.
"Yes?"
"May I have a private word?"
"Sure."
They walked off together.
"What did you want to say?" Elizabeth said.
"Um, willyougooutwithme?"
Elizabeth cocked her head to the side, trying to understand him, "Huh?"
Remus blushed, "Will. You. Go. Out. With. Me? If you don't want to its okay "
"Sure! I'd love to!" Elizabeth said, before kissing him lightly on the cheek, "I got to go now, BYE!"
"Meet me tonight at seven, okay?"
"Sure, bye!"
"Bye!"
It was eight thirty, and Lily was alone in the girl's dorm. Cara was off with Sirius. Probably making out! Lily thought to herself. Remus and Elizabeth were out walking, and Fay was with a cute Ravenclaw, called Will Matthews.
The other Seventh Year in Gryffindor was Kimberly, she was Lily's friend but not that close. Kimberly was friends with Noelle Allenn, a Hufflepuff, and they were out with their boyfriends.
Lily was bored, so she decided that to sneak into the boys dorm. James was the only one there, lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
"Heya, Jamsie!" Lily said bouncing onto his bed. "Where are the others?"
"Huh?" James said looking up, "Oh, well Sirius is with Cara, Remus is with Fay, Peter is †oh yeah, he's getting beaten up by some Slytherin girls he wrote love letters to. And, I don't know where Todd and Tom are, probably downstairs in the Common Room, studying."
"Okay," Lily said, "So, did you get lots of letters and stuff from your ADMIRERS?" Every one knew that James was one of the most wanted bachelors in Hogwarts, along with Sirius, followed closely by Remus.
"Why?"
"Well you ARE hot, cute, smart and literally PERFECT!" Lily complimented.
"Thanks! Actually I did. Did you?" He added slyly.
"Yes! Tons! Do you know that I actually got some from THIRD YEARS! We couldn't believe it, Fay, Cara and Elizabeth got some too!"
"Well, you ARE hot, cute smart and literally PERFECT!" James said, a mischievous smile playing across his face.
"Thank you! There was this ESPECIALLY good one – here, I'll read it to you." Lily said, pulling out a piece of parchment, "Listen,
'She has a name like a flower,
She's more beautiful every hour,
Her gorgeous green eyes are kind,
Her long red hair isn't hard to find,
She is smartest of all the girls,
Her teeth are like shiny, white pearls,
Lily Evans is really fine,
It's really to bad she's not mine!'"
James blushed deeply.
Lily looked at him suspiciously, "Do you know who sent it?""Maybe"
"Whatever!" Lily said, and decided to go to bed. "G'night!"
"'Night, Lil!"
Two nights later, Lily was still trying to figure out who had sent her the poem. She sat in front of the Common Room fire, pouring over the poem. She read it over and over again. She tried to remember if anyone she knew had that style of writing †no
Was it maybe Sirius? No he's involved with Cara. Remus? Not him, either, he likes Elizabeth †Peter? Lily laughed at the thought of it. No, she had seen his style of writing; it had sent poor Fay into hysterics! James? No †he was very popular among girls, he could have any one he wanted. Besides, he and Lily were practically best friends! No †not James, but then who?
She sat like this, thinking until she almost dozed off. She heaved herself out of the armchair and went to bed.
James and Sirius, playing chess on the other end of the room, looked up, saying goodnight. They noticed a piece of paper fall from her hand. Sirius eyed it with interest. Oh no! James thought, if Sirius gets to that poem, he'll know Lily likes me, and I'll be teased so much!
After an hour, the boys, too, decided to go to bed. Fortunately for James, Sirius had forgotten about the poem. James picked it up and went to the Girls Dorm.
He went to Lily's bed, and sat down next to her.
"Hi James!" Lily whispered, "What are you doing here?"
"You dropped this."
"Did I? Oh, thanks!"
"I'll tell you who wrote that, Lily."
"Who?" Lily said, sitting up, her face full of interest."
"Me."
"No way! Tell me who was it, REALLY?"
"Me! Honestly!"
"That's so sweet, James!"
James smiled, "I'm glad you liked it!"
There was silence. James broke it first, "I love you Lily Evans!"
"I love you too, James Potter," said Lily.
James leaned down and kissed her.
"I don't know how I would live my life without you, Lily."
"Lily? What's happening? Are you alright?" Cara, sounding a bit annoyed, asked.
"James, get under the covers, QUICK!" Lily breathed.
To Cara, she said, "Nothing! I'm fine!"
Cara came to Lily's bed anyway, "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Then what's that big lump in your bed?
"Erm †it's a †hot water bottle!"
"Okay, night!"
"Night!"
Lily prodded the 'lump' in her bed.
James moaned.
He got out from under the covers, "Ow! That hurt! Don't poke me!"
"Okay, okay!"
James suddenly began to grin like a maniac.
"What are you grinning about?" Lily asked.
"You have nice legs!" he said, simply.
"JAMES!"
"Okay then, you have big ugly green legs!"
"Green?"
"Well, they might be, after all, it was dark down there."
"Then how do you know they were nice?"
James looked puzzled, "Actually I don't know, but you're beautiful, so I guess your legs must be, too!"
"Thanks, I guess "
James rolled over, "Good Night, Lily!"
"Night!"
Lily felt the bed move, but in the dark she doesn't see that he was still there. They both fell asleep
A couple of hours later, Lily woke up to find her leg very numb. She pulled the covers off, revealing James' leg over hers, his arm was around her waist and he was sleeping soundly. Lily roughly shook James awake.
"What?" James said.
"WE JUST SLEPT TOGETHER!" Lily fumed.
"We did? It must have been quick, coz I don't remember anything!"
"NOT LIKE THAT! JUST SLEEPING!"
"Oh," James said, sounding disappointed.
Lily slapped him.
"It wasn't too innocent though, you were practically on top of me!"
"I was? COOL!"
Lily slapped him, again.
"Imagine what could have happened!"
"Too bad!" James sighed.
Lily slapped him AGAIN!
"James! Don't think like that, it can lead to things!"
"Hey, babe, that's what I want!"
Lily slapped him once more.
"OW! That's like the, FOURTH time you've done that!" James whined, "Its only five A.M, I'm going back to sleep."
"Oh no you don't!" Lily muttered under her breath, pushing him off the bed.
Suddenly she squealed, she was lying on top of James, he had pulled her down!
By now, all the other girls were awake.
Elizabeth said, "Lily what are you doing?" Then she looked over to Lily (and James!)
"Oh my God!" Cara whispered.
"You slept with James?" Fay, sounding amused, asked.
"Yes, but not in that way! Just sleeping!"
"Oh yeah, Lily," Cara said sarcastically, "Sure we believe you! You were in bed with James Potter, the Quidditch Captain, and one of the most wanted bachelors ever †and you DIDN'T DO ANYTHING? Likely story."
"No, she's telling the truth." James said from under Lily.
"Fortunately!" Lily said at the same time as James said, "UNFORTUNATELY!"
Lily slapped him again.
"OW, Lily! You've hit me five times now, give it a rest, will you?" James groaned.
Just then, Sirius and Remus appeared out of nowhere. They were holding a photo. Of Lily and James on top of each other!
"So she liked the poem, eh Prongs?" Sirius smirked.
"That was you, James? How romantic!" gushed Elizabeth.
"I can write a story about it in The Hogwarts Report, you know, the schools paper!" piped up Kimberly, "I'll call it †(Drum roll Please!) 'A Valentine's Day Story!'"
"But It won't be any good if there isn't kiss at the end!" hinted Remus.
"Go on, James!" said Cara.
And then James embraced Lily in a passionate kiss.
"And so they lived happily ever after!" Kimberly concluded in the Hogwarts Report.
- fin -