I got the idea for this from an e-mail. You know, one of those annoying forwards that have a story about God or something, and then a bunch of sayings that you should 'live you life by'. So I scrolled through it, thinking it was a stupid waste of time, and came across this phrase:
Love starts with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a tear.
And I just thought that it could make a pretty good story, and voila! A three-shot. Enjoy!
Contrary to popular belief, James Potter did not love Lily Evans from the first moment he saw her. He hadn't yet discovered that girls were more than just boys with long hair, and didn't see anything special in the eleven-year-old Lily. She was small, even for her young age, with shoulder-length fiery hair and wide, wondering eyes. She was nervous, of course, at entering the magical world, something that didn't occur in even her wildest daydreams. James was small too, but otherwise completely different from Lily. Whereas her hair was bright red, his was jet-black, and stuck up every which way, no matter how much gel his mum poured onto his head. Because he had forever known of his magical abilities (at the age of one, he had already set fire to his vegetables twenty-three times) he was nowhere near as Lily was. His face shown with excitement, and happiness when the Sorting Hat yelled, "Gryffindor!"
They had both immediately made friends with the other Gryffindors, and even been friends with each other. They joked about everything: McGonagall's obvious control-freak tendency, Dumbledore's kookiness, Slughorn's need to surround himself with smart, talented, and charismatic teenagers.
At the beginning of second year, James had tried out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, as chaser. Nobody thought a scrawny second-year like James Potter would make the team. He was the youngest to try out; everybody else was at least a fourth year. Before, it had been unheard of that anyone under the age of fourteen made the Quidditch team, and second and third years eventually stopped trying out. James was the first in over twenty years.
Naturally, the older students had laughed at him. He was by far the shortest and skinniest, and when he declared he was going to be the next Gryffindor chaser, the team captain had a hard time keeping back his laughs. He had left James for last, after he had already basically picked the team.
James, however, was undaunted. He mounted his broom and pushed off smoothly. The captain, Gideon Prewett, stationed himself at the goal posts and motioned for James to try and score. James grabbed a Quaffle from one of last year's chasers and, before Prewett could even comprehend what was going on, scored a goal. Prewett narrowed his eyes and instructed James to try again.
Half an hour later, James had scored over one hundred goals, despite Prewett's desperate attempts to save them. He finally stopped and called out, "Well? Am I in?" Gideon had nodded dejectedly, and called out the rest of the team.
After the first game, where James scored two-hundred and fifty points in one hour (A school record), he had become a hero. The Gryffindors worshipped the ground he walked on, the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs dreamily wished he had been sorted into their house, and the Slytherins, naturally, loathed him. Gryffindor had won every game since then, all thanks to one James Potter.
By third year, James' hero status had gone to his head. He began hexing Slytherin Quidditch team members, simply because he felt like it. James and his friends began pulling pranks on other students and teachers, causing their group to become infamous for misbehaving. This was the year that Lily began to think of James as arrogant.
After two Quidditch cup wins, James became very sought after with the female population of Hogwarts. At the end of third year, he began thinking that he could have any girl he wanted, and never ceased to flirt with any girl who crossed his path.
On the first day of fourth year, James asked Lily out, expecting an automatic 'yes'. Lily simply glared at him and stalked off. From that day on, he asked her out about twice a week, simply because she was the one girl he couldn't get. Sure, she was pretty, but he wasn't entirely sure if he liked her or not. But James continued asking her out relentlessly. But on the last day of fourth year, on the train back from Hogwarts, Lily had smiled at a joke James had told. That smile, that simple curve of her lips, the slight twinkling in her deep green eyes, was the most beautiful thing James had ever seen. And in that moment, he realized that he had fallen in love with the one girl he couldn't have.
A/n: Reviews!