A/N: Happy Birthday, James!

A Speech

Frustration.

He knew exactly what he wanted to say, but non of the words he knew could convey the message in the perfect way. James crumpled up his fifth piece of parchment, starting the practice speech again.

"Lily. Ever since our first train ride from Kings -"

No. He didn't want to talk about the past. This was about now, today, tonight. It was his night and this was going to be perfect.

"Evans." No. No last name. "I love you." No. He shouldn't open with the main part of the speech. "Lily Marie Evans." Yes. Sure. James needed to capture both his feelings and Lily's perfection in this speech. He had to go meet her in a few minutes, and these words had to be perfect. She was perfect.

And she was dating him.

James remembered their first kiss. She had told him after that he had been horribly unfair when he had approached her in the library after practice that night.

"Hey Evans, I need your help."

"Oh?" she said, looking up at him. His hair was disheveled - even more than usual - and his robes were unbuttoned, revealing quite a bit of his chest.

Lily had recently come to terms with the possibility of a relationship between herself and James. During the summer holiday she had continued denying him, but one day she, Marlene, and Mary had met up with the Marauders. Lily was surprised to find out how much she had been looking forward to seeing them and how much she missed them (perhaps one of them more than the rest) after they departed. Though the exact thought had yet to cross her conscious, Lily had fallen for him.

So, when James Potter came up to her table in the library late one October night, looking very nice indeed, and saying "Yes, Evans. I need a book on the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," Lily Evans could not help but stand up - very slowly and deliberately - walk around the table to face him.

"James, why do you need a D-M-L-E book?"

"Lily," he mocked. "I'm researching muggle-born rights."

"Why?"

"So I can be prepared when I join Dumbledore."

"And why at this time of night?" she leaned forward in accusation.

James shifted, his stance now mirroring hers, with one hand on hip hip and one on the desk. He knew his cheek never worked on her, but it was second nature, so he let his guard down as he said, "Because you're here."

And then, she kissed him.

James smiled down at the desk in his dormitory, reminiscing that kiss. Laughing at his immediate response of lifting her off her feet. He never even felt shocked that, after all those years of fighting and loathing, she wanted to be with him. Kissing her for the first time was the most natural thing in the world, and that night was to wonderful to question. He didn't even have time to be surprised. And he had never again felt like she should reevaluate her feelings towards him, as he had so many times before that kiss.

Lily had been an even better girlfriend than he had imagined. He never really knew how much she had cared about him all along. They had been friends for a while by the night of the kiss - she even had known about Remus, and it made his heart sing to know that she liked him even more because of what he (and Sirius and Peter) did for Remus (even though she worried quite often). Even before they had dated, Lily had helped with the full moon (Sirius, who had upon James's request withheld previously, made things even more awkward once they were together when Lily dealt with James's injuries, succeeding despite the inevitable intimacy). Lily even let him use the Map for patrols. Before they dated, they sat playing exploding snap all night. After, they did the same, but with much more snogging between rounds. Lily came to watch Quidditch practices, and unleashed her surprising knowledge of the game every time James raved about it.

And now, five months later, James was ready to tell her how he had always felt. James added a few more words to the parchment, checked to make sure his jumper was not to rumpled and his hair was, then left for the Common Room.

"James!"

Lily stood from the chair she had been waiting in, her red hair bouncing around her shoulders as she did so.

"Lily!" he mimicked, smiling as he walked over to her and placing his lips on hers. He felt her lean into him ever so slightly before she pulled back.

"Come on, we only have an hour and a half before Remus wants us back for the party." She took his hand and they walked out of the portrait hole.

"Can you not elegantly dine in that time?"

"I can, but if you want to we'll have to hurry," she smiled at him, raising her eyebrows.

James laughed. She always knew what to do. And suddenly he was nervous. How would she respond to what he was going to say? Would she snap back to how she was last year? Would she say it back? Would she smile and nod but say nothing? Oh merlin -

James stopped walking.

"Lily?"

"Yes, James?"

Inhale. "I, uh, have something to say."

Lily looked up at him, expectant. They were on the staircase between the third and fourth floors, and light flooded in through the windows, hitting her hair just right, setting it aflame. She looked radiant.

"Lily Marie Evans. You are amazing. You are beautiful and smart and clever and you are brave and caring and compassionate and loving and you are funny and wonderful and you are perfect." Lily kept staring, her expression rather blank, but her green eyes smiled up at him. "You know just what to say, when to hold me back, when we've done enough work so that we feel accomplished and we can avoid feeling guilty for not doing the rest. You know exactly where the line between good and bad should be. You never have any trouble saying what's on your mind, and you have this beautiful self balance where you can keep just the right things to yourself and keep up personal conversations all the time.

"And you still make me feel so special when you talk about your secrets with me." James brought his eyes back to hers (they had at one point left her gaze and he couldn't remember when or why). "And I love you, Lily Evans. I've loved you forever and I always will."

Lily's smile grew wider and her eyes grew happier. James's fear peaked.

"Lily, say something."

"I have something for you," she said, promptly digging into her pocket and pulling out a box, wrapped in gold paper with a red bow. Magically stuck to the back was a card of simple folded parchment. "Read it."

But before he opened it, James looked down at the present in his hand as she stepped forward. She wrapped her arms around his neck, weaving her fingers into his hair and looked him in the eye, smiling the most beautiful smile James had ever seen. He never even felt shocked that, after all those moments of mischief and love, she wanted to be with him. He didn't even have time to be surprised. Lily kissed him with all the happiness in the world, and James responded by lifting her off her feet, just like their first.

The present lay forgotten on the floor.

James-

Happy Birthday, you tosser.

I love you, too.

-Lily

A/N: Happy March 27th (or 28th, depending on where you are) (or some other day after march 27th, depending on when you read it)!