Disclaimer—not mine. Well, the fandom at least. This fanfiction is mine, obviously. For the CHALLENGE WEEK Music Medley!
"Ugh, I can't believe Professor Mevrin thought it was a good idea to have a talent show for our final for Muggle studies! I'm not good at anything but magic!" Lily complained.
"Well, it does show us how Muggles enjoy themselves without using magic, and how they entertain themselves. I think it's a great plan." Alice replied.
"That's just because you can dance. You'll ace this no problem. It's not fair!" Lily whined, "It's seventh year! Couldn't he just give us a break?"
Alice laughed and said, "This is easy Lily! And don't whine. It's unattractive, and James is on his way over here."
Lily prepared a snide comment about how there was no way she cared how she sounded to James and was about to say it, too when she heard James say, "Hey Lily, hi Alice. How about that muggle studies final, huh? Upset that it's not a written final for once?"
"I think it's ridiculous, Potter. As should you, since you can't do anything related to magic, so no quidditch skills can be shown off."
Infuriatingly, he just laughed and walked away yelling back, "Oh, you'll be surprised, Lily, at exactly what I can do. See you tonight for patrol!"
Lily spent the next two weeks trying to find something, anything, that she was good at without magic. Since she was a muggleborn, one would think that she would be good at a lot of muggle things.
One would be wrong.
In fact, the only thing she was good at was juggling. Which is much too embarrassing for her to show the ENTIRE class. But with the day of presentation being the next day, Lily decided to swallow her pride to save her grade. She would juggle, even though she hadn't done it in months.
The day had arrived, and all the students from the seventh year muggle studies class all gathered in the great hall to show what they had learned to do with their two weeks. Alice danced to a muggle song, even playing it on a radio for extra points. She even got a standing ovation. Sirius rode a unicycle. How he managed to learn that in two weeks, Lily would never figure out, but he managed it. Remus scarfed juggled scarves, which was rather random. But then again, it had been a full moon the other day, and if throwing and catching a scarf got him a good grade, power to him. On and on they went, until it was Lily's turn. She walked to the make-shift stage that had been made, and started her show with tossing one red ball into the air, then two, tossing them from hand to hand, finally three, then four, and finally five, adding tricks to it until Alice had the bright idea to toss an unlit candle stick and shouted laughing, "Try this!" Until Lily was juggling five balls, two candles, a snitch, and someone's shoe. Then, she dropped a ball, and giving up, caught the rest and handed them back to the people they belonged to, including Sirius's shoe. After her was a few more people, but they were much less entertaining than her, at least Lily thought so.
Now it was James's turn, since the lucky bastard had gotten the slot to go last. "Probably bribed the professor ." Lily thought. Then, she realized what he was carrying, and was shocked to see him holding a guitar, and sitting on a stool, he began to strum the guitar and he sang,
"Check yes Juliet
Are you with me
Rain is falling down on the sidewalk
I won't go until you come outside"
Lily smiled, remembering all the times James had knocked on her door in the Head's dormitory, asking her if she wanted to go somewhere, and always inviting her to go flying with him, even though she hated hights.
"Check yes Juliet kill the limbo
I'll keep tossing rocks at your window
There's no turning back for us tonight"
There had also been times, in earlier years, when he was unable to get to her door that he would levitate rocks to her dormitory window pelting it until she had opened it and told him to go away.
"Lace up your shoes
A O A O O
Here's how we do
Run baby run
Don't ever look back
They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance
Don't sell your heart, don't say we're not meant to be
Run baby run, forever will be
You and me
Check yes Juliet
I'll be waiting
Wishing wanting yours for the taking
Just sneak out and don't tell a soul goodbye
All the times he had asked her to sneak out, and the few times she did to get some food from the house elves they always left without anyone else. Not Sirius, Remus or Alice. Peter never seemed to be around when Lily was. But for now, Lily decided just to enjoy the wonderous sound that was James Potter's voice, with no more distractions from her memories.
"Check yes Juliet
Here's the countdown:
3,2,1 you fall in my arms now
They can change the locks,
don't let them change your mind"
"Lace up your shoes
A O A O O
Here's how we do
Run baby run
Don't ever look back
They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance
Don't sell your heart, don't say we're not meant to be
Run baby run, forever will be
You and me"
"We're flying through the night
We're flying through the night
Way up high
The view from here is getting better with you
By my side"
"Run baby run
Don't ever look back
They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance
Don't sell your heart, don't say we're not meant to be
Run baby run, forever will be
Run baby run, don't ever look back
They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance
Don't sell your heart, don't say we're not meant to be
Run baby run, forever will be
You and me
You and me"
As the final strains of the song died out, James looked up from his guitar and said, "Thank you very much." And he stood up, and after looking at Lily, walked out of the room. Since the presentations were done, this wasn't a problem, and Professor Mevrin dismissed them all.
For the rest of the day, Lily couldn't find James anywhere, and she was determined to ask him why he looked at her after finishing singing. Was he looking to see if she enjoyed it? Perhaps. But she still wanted to ask.
However, it wasn't until she was waiting for James in the common room that she actually saw him, and that wasn't until around 2 am. Thankfully, they didn't have classes the next morning, or else she would have killed him, but it did mean that she would have a hard time waking up to get to Hogsmead the next day. At first, he didn't notice that she was sitting on the couch watching him as he ran his hands through his hair, mumbling to himself. That is, until she snuck up behind him and said, "Hey Potter. What kept you out so late?"
Needless to say, James jumped about five feet in the air and turned to see Lily standing behind him with her arms crossed. "L-Lily!" James stammered, "What are you doing up?"
To this, Lily stared at him and said, "I dunno, maybe to ask a certain black haired boy what he was doing staring at me after finishing a bloody love song."
James stared at her and murmured quietly, "I would think that would be obvious, Lily Evans. It was dedicated to you, even if I didn't tell anyone."
Lily blinked rapidly and said, "But, why James?"
This, for some reason cause James to laugh as he lunged forward and trapped Lily between his arms and against a wall as he said, "Why Lily? Because I love you, obviously, and I wish… I wish we could have moments like the ones in those silly muggle love songs I've been listening to these past two weeks."
Lily smiled and said, quietly "Well, apparently you've been listening to the wrong songs, because I'd say this is a good love song fodder." And she leaned forward and kissed him.
And then, as quickly as it had started, it was over, and Lily was walking to her room. At the last moment, she turned over her shoulder to smile at James as he finally dragged himself out of the stupor of finally kissing Lily. He looked at her and said, "Yes. That would be good to write, but until then, would you like to go to Hogsmead with me tomorrow?"
To this, Lily laughed and said grabbing her jacket, "I was thinking we could fly together, as long as you keep it low to the ground. I get the feeling your view from up there might get better if you have me on the broom with you."
"Tonight?" James asked. Lily nodded. "Then let's go" James said, grabbing Lily and carrying her out the door.