Falling in love with James Potter

I wish I did own Harry Potter, but I don't. So everything, apart from the plot (hopefully), belongs to JK Rowling, 'cause she is God of all things Potter.

This is just another Lily/James fandango

Written in Lily's POV, 'because I am a girl and it's easier that way

Enjoy

...and that's all folks!

I never knew the exact time or place that I fell for him, you can't trace love, can't define what it is, and can't determine when it begins or when it ends. True love is a circle, never ending and forever. True love is what I found in James Potter.

I still don't own Harry Potter or associates, even though I wish I did with all my heart.

First Impressions

First impressions count, they can determine everything in a new relationship, if first impressions are bad, the relationship is unlikely to progress.

I remember the first time that James and I met, not because of that reason, but because it was the first time that I had ever ridden the Hogwarts express, and the first time that I was going to see the castle that I had dreamt about since I received my letter from Professor Dumbledore the previous summer.

I was sitting in a compartment, quite alone, staring out of the window watching the mountains roll by. Severus Snape said that he'd meet me here when he got himself sorted, and so I waited for him. I remember wondering what was taking him so long, the train had been moving for at least half an hour, and he still hadn't found me. When I had just about made my mind up to go and look for him, the compartment door slid open, and a boy with black hair walked in. For a moment, I thought it was Sev and I sighed with relief, but then he looked up. The boy had brown eyes that twinkled, his jet black hair was messy and hung just below his ears, and he wore glasses that sat on the bridge of his skinny nose. He sat next to me, and slung his arm across the chair, as if to put it around me, I recoiled and looked out of the window harder, my body language clearly telling him to go away. But the compartment was filling and I heard someone slump into the seat opposite me and a couple more voices join in conversation. I wasn't listening to them much, I was worried about Sev.

Then the compartment door slid open a second time, I looked up and met the eyes that I had become so accustomed to over the last summer, Severus Snape stood there and looked at the boys that surrounded me, his face fell slightly, but as soon as he saw my wide grin the corners of his mouth picked up. He walked into the compartment, the boy opposite me slid over so Sev could sit down. We talked about what we would do when we got to Hogwarts, Severus was telling me about the four houses of Hogwarts, he was sure he was going to Slytherin and I wished to go there to, Sev made it sound like the best of them all. Right then, the boy with the glasses that sat next to me snorted, and said "Who would want to be in Slytherin" he said it in a way that made him sound arrogant and self important, like he was the only person in the world, like he was too good, too precious to go into Slytherin. From that moment on, I knew that I didn't like this boy.

First impressions count, they can determine everything about a new relationship. My first impression of James Potter was not a good one; our relationship was unlikely to progress.

Harry Potter is still not mine, nor is any of the characters that are associated with it. Bad Times.

Five years of rejection

After five years of rejection you'd think a person would take the hint. Not James Potter.

I was sorted into Gryffindor, to my horror so were the boys in my compartment on the train. I soon learned their names to be James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. As we progressed through school, they built their reputation upon mischief and pranks. By our fourth year, they could be counted as the coolest guys in school, everyone wanted to be friends with the marauders.

Everyone except me

James Potter liked me, it was common knowledge. It started in our second year; I suppose that was the year that puberty hit. We were in transfiguration, James came up to me, a shy grin on his face and, no word of a lie, he actually said; "Hey Evans, your legs must be tired" he grinned, getting more confident by the second, whilst I sat there in disbelief " 'Cause you've been running through my mind all day". I looked at him, trying not to laugh, "So, how about it Evans?" he said. I coughed, barely disguising a laugh, "How about what Potter?" He looked at me, slight frustration in his face "Me and you, I know that you want to"

"No I really don't, and I suggest that you move, before I transfigure your face into a foot" and with that, he hurried off.

It carried on like that for the next five years, James asking me out in a variety of ways, and me always rejecting him. You'd think that after the first 200 times, he would give up. Not James Potter, his perseverance and determination was quite admirable.

Even when I rejected him in the worst way possible, by going out with other boys, he still tried it on. I was in my fifth year and was going out with Mathew Horton in the year above, he was tall, handsome and captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He and James were friends, but he still had the audacity to ask me out in front of Mathew. I couldn't believe it. He really never gave up.

Most people would just give up, but James Potter was a whole different story.

Acceptance

There is no greater feeling of being accepted. Accepted for who you are, what you are, and for what you believe in. But the best kind of acceptance is accepting yourself even after all the times that you had tried to deny what is in your heart.

I couldn't tell you the exact moment that I fell in love with James Potter. I am sure, deep, down, it must have been when I first met him, in all his arrogance. But my hate for the boy clouded any other allusions or feelings that I could possibly have for him, for six years.

The end of my fifth year at Hogwarts, Severus Snape ended our friendship forever. Sometime in the future I hoped to rekindle that relationship, but it was clear that from the moment he called me a "mudblood" that we had chosen different paths and those paths could not intertwine if we both wanted to be happy. That day was also when James Potter stuck up for me for the first time ever, he shouted at Snape and made him apologise, I didn't want him to. I was not afraid to stand up for myself or what I believed in, and I was angry at him for thinking that I was so weak.

For a whole week after that, I couldn't stand the sight of James Potter, and after that week I didn't need to. School was out and I was free to be at home for the summer, without disturbance from Snape, Potter, Black or Pettigrew.

But all good things come to an end, and after six weeks I was returning to Hogwarts for year six.

I returned to Hogwarts on the first of September and having aced all of my OWL's I took on all of my classes for NEWT level, to my complete and utter surprise, all of my classes had James Potter in them. I had a sneaking suspicion that he had charmed McGonagall with his cheeky smile and smooth talk. I walked into potions and there he was, sitting quite alone, obviously his marauder pals hadn't made it to potions. I was late; there was no choice but to sit with Potter.

His arm was slung casually on the chair that I was about to sit in, I stood there, my bad in my hand and I cleared my throat. He pretended to jump, but I knew that he was aware that I was there. He looked at me up and down, in a way that was hardly appropriate for Monday morning potions, it made me blush.

"Lily" he said with a slight nod of his head, and he let his arm drop from the chair so I could sit down.

Professor Slughorn entered the room, his great belly leading the way, he set eyes on me and smiled; it was common knowledge that I was his favourite pupil. He began the class showing us many different potions that he has spent the summer brewing, and then set us the task of making a love potion.

The words came out of his mouth and I felt myself tense, James looked at me and smiled, we would be working together, making a love potion. I started to tremble; I hid my hands under the table and looked at James. He was still smiling at me, something about his smile had changed, it seemed more inviting, warmer, I was hypnotised by it, my his teeth, by his lips...

"So Lily" James said, I was still watching his mouth it moved in the most pleasing way, "You get the cauldron and I'll see if I can find the ingredients.

Two hours later, the love potion James and I had been working on was bubbling and the most delightful swirling fumes are emitting from it. I inhaled the smell. It was familiar, and made my stomach ache with longing. I smelt my mother's hair product, my father's aftershave, and the smell of cut grass, new books, and something else that was stronger than all the other flavours, it smelt like citrus with a hint of something flowery. I am sure that I had smelt it before, but I couldn't think where.

Slughorn was inspecting everyone's potions and when he reached ours, he breathed it in and smiled. Both James and I received top marks.

With a wave of a wand the classroom was fume free and everything had returned to its original place, I sat down, took a quill and started to jot down the essay that Professor Slughorn had set us for homework; "Describe the correct way to brew love potion and explain with detail the effects it has on the drinker".

Class had ended, I was starving, as I packed my books away, I got a whiff of the smell from the love potion, the smell that I couldn't define; I looked round in time to see James leaving the class room.

Something inside me made sense then; I felt a weight lift from my shoulders as I finally accepted something that I had been denying for years, maybe, just maybe there was something about James that I loved.