For Jay, because it's just meant to be.

FIRST NAME BASIS

"Potter ..."

She was standing right in front of him, yet she was all over the place: in the grass, in the bark of the trees, in the air ... her oh-so-soft apple scent came wafting over to him...

And she was strutting forward, her hair flying behind her as the cool autumn breeze danced with those tendrils of red that so resembled fiery flames. If somebody ventured to picture his Lily at that moment - wild and beautiful and graceful - the painting would be a masterpiece, even if the artist used faded colors ... she was enchanting enough on her own ...

THWACK.

"Shit, Lils, what was that for?"

His right cheek was burning - no, sizzling from the tough kiss of her hands. Well, maybe not a kiss exactly ... more of a bloody slap.

"Do not goggle at me in that dreamy way of yours when I am speaking to you, Potter."

Somebody just ruined the scenery.

In front of him stood a girl, face positively flushed bright crimson, hair flying around in several directions. It was perhaps the windiest day of the year, seeing as huge amounts of red and orange leaves twirled about in the air. Her Hogwarts robes were clinging on her, afraid to be torn apart.

"POTTER!"

"Sorry, Lily."

"It's Evans to you, you know. And don't stare like that, I said!"

Oh, the dry, humiliating tone she used ... it made his heart clench in disappointment. She was standing too close to be ignored, and he only needed to stretch out his hand to touch that soft, smooth, freckly face ... but he didn't; not in her moments of rage, of course. Because, apart from being slightly startled, he truly enjoyed the way she boomed at him with anger. It made her even more beautiful, he'd noted.

Looking at her again, he chose his puppy-dog face for the situation, knowing how she loved to be the one to win.

"But why shouldn't I stare, Flower?"

She scowled at her infamous nickname, putting her hands on her hips in an annoyed way. He cautiously leaned a little more forward, brushing a few strands of stray hair behind her ear. Lily, to his utter surprise, slightly shivered. Her eyes fluttered shut, but she forced them open again.

"Why shouldn't I?" he repeated.

"B-Because it makes me have trouble focusing." Breathing in, she pushed his hand away. "I am here, after all, to talk about your Head Boy duties."

Oh, that.

What else could bring her out of her cozy corner in the common room on such an unpleasantly windy day?

"We were supposed to check every dorm to make sure everyone was there when the Head Boy himself was missing. And I had to check on the girls and the boys both."

"Look, I'm really sorry ..."

"But I found something, Potter."

She was holding a sickly familiar-looking piece of parchment with a bright blue ~Lily~ glimmering on the top.

Oh, sweet Godric. She'd found it.

"Oh, that ..." James scratched his neck sheepishly. Then a sudden, terrifying thought struck him.

"You didn't read it, did you?" He stared in horror at Lily. "Please tell me you didn't read it!"

"On the contrary," Lily began, "I did."

James could only continue staring at Lily as his heart sank and a memory played in his mind's eye ...

"He was thirteen and in love. He knew that what he was going to do was categorized under the doings of a teenage witch, but he couldn't help it. Taking a piece of parchment and a quill, he muttered a charm that changed the ink to a dazzling blue hue. Then he wrote ~Lily~ on the topin his untidy scrawl.

Underneath it he started writing:

This is going to be all about Lily. She's in my year at Hogwarts and her birthday is on January thirtieth. She's the most beautiful girl in school with amazing red hair and emerald eyes that I can sink into. I know I sound really stupid, mooning around after a witch, and Sirius is going to die of laughter if he finds this (and kill me with embarrassment in the process) so I will make sure that no one will EVER find this. Anyway, back to Lily. She's top of all the lessons and is really witty and kind to all the first-years (unlike most of us) and she always smiles at everyone EXCEPT ME. I don't know why. I mean, sure, I hex Snivellus sometimes - but he asks for it! Ugly git. And just because I hex the other Slytherins as well doesn't mean I'm - what was her latest insult? - oh yeah, an "arrogant toe rag with barely a brain cell to boast of". Pranking and hexing and name-calling those slimy slithery reptiles are all self-defense.

And then James heard someone entering the dormitory: he hastily flung the piece of parchment under his bed and stood up, ready with a smirk that betrayed no knowledge of his latest act of love ..."

"Hello? Earth to Potter." Lily snapped her fingers in front of his face. He jerked from his reverie and plunged into what he hoped served as an explanation.

"Lily, I'm really sorry you had to read this, and I was only thirteen when I wrote it - I was a really stupid person and -"

"You were thirteen?"

"Well yes."

"I thought it was just a prank…" Lily muttered, staring at the parchment her hands held. "I mean, it had to be… I mean you couldn't have possibly… no, I'm certain… because… thirteen… seventeen…"

"Lily?"

"So you were telling me the truth?"

James blankly stared at her.

"I mean all the declarations… the confessions you made in the Great Hall and the hallways and corridors… you weren't lying?"

"Lying? Why would I be lying to you?" James stared at her with an overly surprised expression. "It wouldn't be much of a laugh anymore after five years, if it was a joke or a prank, don't you think?"

"I... you mean to say we could've been to-" Lily stopped dead, staring at him with wide, wide eyes, her cheeks flushing deep crimson.

"I mean," she mumbled, "We… we could... er…"

And in a brief moment, he knew it was time. She was genuinely embarrassed, and he knew what she meant, and he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable any longer because, God of heavens, she was driving him crazy with the fumbling hands and blushing cheeks and mumbling lips… so he leant in, cupping her cheeks and gazing into her flickering green eyes.

"James…" she mouthed… his name… his first name…

"So we're on first name basis now," he touched her nose with his. "I love you too."

And he leant in.

He felt her eyelashes as her eyes fluttered shut, her fingers tracing lines on the sides of his face before slowly, carefully sliding into his hair… and he could cry in ecstasy, because his heart was bursting from the love and heat it beheld, and she was sighing… bloody hell she could enslave him if she wanted…

And she pulled back, smiling. James flashed a gleeful grin.

"Yes." Lily brushed her hair behind her ears. "We're on first name basis."