Lily Evans,

I can't help but notice that this year, your hair is considerably longer than it was last year. This strikes me as odd and confusing, since my hair remains at the perfect length it has always been. Care to share your hair growing tips with me?

At any rate, Remus says I shouldn't begin a letter like that, but what would he know? I never see him writing letters, only boring essays and notes. It's no wonder you and Remus are friends.

Though Remus is such a lovely topic of conversation, he is not the topic of this letter (regretfully, I know).

Lily, I feel I must inform you that although I am not in any way religious, I have learned to pray for you. Your happiness, your smile, your laughter; they're all things I find incredibly desirable, and I would be shattered if they disappeared.

As it is, they always seem to disappear whenever you come within my vicinity.

Hence, I pray for the day you can look in my direction and smile, remain happy, and maybe even laugh at one of my jokes.

Ever hopeful,
James (Or as you so fondly call me, Potter).

Lily was sitting at the Gryffindor table when she received this letter. James' owl – a rather large one with amber eyes – was pecking at her fingers insistently.

"What, do you expect me to reply now?" Lily demanded. The owl kept pecking her fingers, which Lily took to mean as a no. "I've already fed you, you greedy mutt."
"Now now, Lily flower, you mustn't insult grand creatures such as this one," Sirius Black said as he sat gracefully beside her. He pushed the owl over another bite of sausage from Lily's plate, ignoring her sounds of protest.
"You have to feed him twice," Sirius said.
"Spoilt brat," Lily muttered, but stored the knowledge away for later. James was sending her letters at least once a week now.

She stored them under her bed in a nondescript shoebox, hiding them from her friends. There were currently three, and Lily hadn't replied to a single one, which she was sure Sirius knew. But, since he was here, he could listen to her rant.

"This is the fourth letter I've received from him," Lily began, waving the letter under Sirius' nose. "Is he expecting a reply from me? Does he realise I don't have the time to reply?"
Sirius smirked. "I think he's more bored than anything else, to be honest. And yes, he's aware you don't have the time, but here you are having a whinge about them to me when you could be writing a very lovely reply back."
"I could be, but I won't," Lily grumbled. "He'll send me another one next week, I'm sure."
"Why, Lily! You sound almost pleased!"
Lily nudged Sirius' shoulder as hard as she could. "I do not."
Sirius threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, Lily. Don't ever change."

Standing up to leave for class, Sirius gave an ominous warning about staying inside that night, promised to send Remus her love, and swore he wouldn't tell James anything.

Not that there was anything to tell, of course.

Understandably, Lily spent the rest of the day drafting a reply to James in her head. If Sirius was checking in on her, James must be getting fidgety. A short letter in return surely couldn't hurt?

That night was the full moon and Lily took advantage of the Marauder-less common room. She took out one of her muggle pens and paper and rested them on the table. This way, if anybody asked, she could say she was writing to Petunia without arousing suspicion. Everyone in Gryffindor knew of Petunia's problem.

James, Lily began. She crossed it out.

Potter,

Don't let this go to your head, but yes, this is me replying to one of your letters. Surprise!

As I'm sure you're well aware, I do not have any secret growing techniques for my hair. I'm a girl; it just grows. I didn't cut it. You can see where I'm going with this, I'm sure.

For the record, I happen to find Remus a lovely topic of conversation, as he is a perfectly wonderful person. I can't help but notice you comment on our friendship in a negative light; are you jealous of our connection over essays and notes?

Please, don't feel the need to answer that.

Now, to the point of my reply: I do wish you wouldn't waste your pure prayers on me. Every Atheist knows that they only pray when it's for selfish needs. Are you selfish, James? I know what my answer is.

But, since I am a Holy person of truth, I feel I must inform you that I myself am selfish, because I find myself praying that one day you won't feel the need to impress me with your jokes and pranks. My friends would say that underneath that layer of personality, you are quite a nice person; I am yet to take that leap, as you very well know.

In the muggle world, prayers are usually seen in a revered light. I suppose that you and I are quite petty for praying about little things.

Shall I expect a reply next week, as per usual, or will you be too excited to wait that long?

Lily.

P.S: I know what you're going to do. I'm interested to see if you'll follow through with my hypothesis.

A little disappointed in herself for making it so long, she denied that she thought it was easy to write to James, and sealed the letter in a typical wizarding envelope. It was too late to go up to the Owlery so she would wait until morning to send it.

Then, James would have to wait another four weeks to receive her letter. She would not risk writing it with him anywhere near her, so she would wait for the next full moon.