Disclaimer: It all belongs to J.K. Rowling I'm just glad I get to play around in her world a little.

Authors Note

Here goes chapter 1... it's kind of mushy in parts but it sets up the story, so enjoy!

Life Love and the Pursuit of Lily

Lily Evans began the summer of sixth year just as she had the four summers before it. She met her parents at the train station and from there journeyed home to the muggle neighborhood in which she had grown up.

Her room hadn't changed at all; in fact it even smelled the same. The pictures of her friends still littered the walls and she presumed the same piles of junk were still stacked underneath her bed. She had just gotten into her regular routine of running in the morning and reading and doing summer homework in the afternoon when one day out of the blue a large black owl delivered a letter for her.

"Lily." Her mother called up the stairs.

"Yes?"

"There's mail for you honey."

The fifteen year old red-head appeared at the foot of the stairs a minute later. She thanked her mother who handed her the letter and watched as her mum went about busying herself with babying the big black owl that had delivered it.

"Oh I do love it when you get letters Lily. Look at him. Isn't he just beautiful?"

Lily smiled at her loving that Rose Evans was so intrigued by the magical world.

"He's gorgeous mum." She replied sitting down at the breakfast table as she tore open her letter.

She read it to herself not really believing what she was seeing.

Dear Lily,

I have officially started to write you at least ten times now and I still don't think I quite got it right but Sirius insisted I send what I wrote to you this time, I think he got tired of me wasting so much parchment.

I know I'm the last person you probably want to hear from but hear me out before you go burning this letter okay? I know I act like a complete prat sometimes…probably all the time to you… and I know that what happened at the end of the year after our OWL's was completely uncalled for on my part. You were totally right about me that day and nearly all the days before it too.

So here's the thing. I know I've acted like a jerk and a complete idiot but I'm going to try and make it better. I'm going to try and be better… for you.

I know you think I ask you out and bother you for some stupid form of amusement but honestly… it's not about that.

Since the moment I saw you first year at the train station I knew you were something special. And originally my picking on you was to get your attention (I know, I know I was a ridiculous and misguided eleven year old you don't have to say it!) but from then on it sort of turned into the only way I could get you to talk to me or notice me at all. So even though I let it go on for way too long, a lot of how I acted around you was because I sort of screwed up from the beginning by making you dislike me. I'm sorry about that. You have no idea how sorry.

And now, after the incident with Severus, I feel I need to fix things between you and me. I know you probably won't ever see me the way I've seen you for the past…well at least three years, but I don't want us to go through the last two years of school with you hating me and me acting like a prat, either to you or others, to get you to give me the time of day.

I guess you are probably thinking you'll believe it when you see it but I swear it's true. I'm going to change. No more picking on anyone who doesn't deserve it or acting like an arrogant prick. I promise from here on out I'll be someone you would be willing to call a friend. And I am going to let you get to know me as the person I am and not the person I've been acting like.

So here goes nothing…

My name is James Michael Potter. I am almost sixteen years old. I like quidditch, running, reading (I know shocker right?), swimming, okay well anything that has to do with sports, chess and most animals (ever since I met Ms. Norris I'm sorry to say I'm sort of prejudiced against cats now). I have three really great friends who I would do anything for. My parents are both involved in the ministry. Dad is an Auror and Mum works for the Department of Magical Games and Sports.

If there's anything else you want to know…Just ask. Please.

Yours,

James

P.S. The thing I love the most about you today…

The fact that you were willing to read this letter from beginning to end …and take it seriously.

Lily sat the letter down in front of her not knowing what to think. Could he really mean it? Could he actually change that much…and for her? Did he actually like her for real? For the first time in five years she wondered if maybe James Potter was serious when he said he wanted to go out with her. Maybe it wasn't all a joke to him. She sighed wondering just how much she could trust him.

Over the past five years of school together James had shown himself to be an arrogant bully. Lily frowned recalling all the times James had hexed innocent bystanders or embarrassed others just for the fun of it. The scene at the lake at the end of their O.W.L's was the epitome of his bullying toward Severus and Lily just couldn't fathom James ever changing.

As she watched her mother playing with James' owl she wondered whether or not she should even reply. Her mind was racing with the possibilities of what could happen if she did reply or if she didn't. She debated on writing to her friends, Dorcas Meadows, Marlene MacKinnon and Alice Prewitt to see if they had any ideas but suddenly decided against it.

"Hey mum," she said suddenly surprising herself as the words came out of her mouth. "I'm going to go upstairs and reply to this letter. Would you mind keeping track of that owl for me until I get back?"

"Of course not honey. We're getting along just fine." Her mother replied feeding the owl another of the treats she kept in the bag next to the toaster.

Lily sprinted up the stairs and soon found herself sitting down and writing out the first thing that came to her head.

James,

What sort of books do you like to read? What are your parents' names? And how long have you known Sirius, Remus and Peter?

I am going to do my best to take you seriously in this. I just don't know how much I can trust you. You've been pretty awful these past five years you know? I really hope you meant what you wrote and I suppose I'll just have to hope for the best.

Thanks for writing.

Lily

P.S. Why does it matter so much to you what I think?

She looked the letter over wondering if she had finally gone stark raving mad. Before she could change her mind and consider having her mother take her to the nearest psychiatric specialist, she rushed down the stairs and sent the letter off with the owl.

She got an answer the next day,

Lily,

Thanks for writing back. It means a lot.

As far as reading goes, I like a lot of things. I've read Shakespeare and Hemingway, Dickens, Poe, Frost, Kipling, Tolkein (Intersting from a Wizard Perspective), Austin, Price, Magorium, Lostwithian, Bones, Gryffindor, Merlin and lots more of the classics (both muggle and wizard). I like to read pretty much anything though but I'm partial to the aforementioned authors and mysteries or thrillers or action-adventure. Not that romance is off-limits I just… have to be in the right mood you know? (At least I listed Austen right?)

My parents' names are Charlotte and Jason. They're great. Really. I mean whenever Sirius has trouble at home he comes here and they look after him no questions asked. It would be better I think, if he were to live here I mean. They can do a lot more for him than his own mum and dad and I know they care more about him.

Sirius, Remus, Peter and I all met the first day of school. I knew of Sirius of course from my parents knowing his parents, since we are both purebloods, but I hadn't met him until that first day on the train. We all pretty much hit it off right from the beginning. Since then we've sort of been inseparable, obviously. We realized that together we didn't really have any limits and that we could be or do anything we wanted. It sounds corny I know but well…we've sort of never let go of that mentality.

Today they were all over and we spent the day out by the lake at my house. I think sometimes they wonder what is wrong with me. They don't understand why I've spent the last five years only thinking of you. Don't take that the wrong way though. They think you are wonderful really they do… They just don't understand why I've never looked elsewhere since you never seemed to feel the same way. But doing that never felt right.

Anyway, sorry for rambling, I just wanted to say I hope your summer is going well so far and I hope you write back again soon. And please if there is anything else you want to know ask away!

Yours,

James

P.S. The thing I love most about you today…

You never cease to surprise and amaze me. Never.

Suddenly, with the contents of just those two letters as motivation, Lily Evans found herself in a written relationship with James Potter. Before she knew it they were exchanging at least a letter a day, sometimes more than that. She learned more about James than she had ever thought possible and somewhere along the way her opinion of him began to change. She even began to share her own thoughts with him. Toward the end of the summer she began to notice that his letters were becoming more and more private. He was sharing things with her that she wouldn't have imagined he could, things that meant something to him. In one letter he said,

Sometimes I think about what it will be like when I die. Will I die for something meaningful? Or will I die an old man having lived my life to the fullest?

Most of the time I hope that it is the latter. I want to live my life to a ridiculously old age, my wife and children and grandchildren surrounding me. I would love every minute of that life. Every single minute I was given with the love of my life and the children we had together. I would cherish that life and cherish my family because they would mean the world to me. They would be worth any sacrifice I could possibly make if it meant they were happy.

Then I sometimes think about everything that has been happening lately. More and more dark magic has been cropping up and Voldemort continues to create a name for himself. When I think about that I start considering what it would mean to give my life for a purpose greater than myself. If I could save people… or die for a cause that truly means something to the world at large, or to you, maybe that would be just as preferable.

Lily was amazed by these sorts of sentiments when he included them. He was truly giving his thoughts over to her. It was a strange feeling to know that James trusted her with such private information about himself.

She also began to notice the change in the way he started and ended his letters. The beginning went from just saying simply Lily to saying Dearest Lily, Lily love and My Lily. The ending took a similar turn. While the P.S. always included a line about what he loved the most about her that day his salutation was altered. It changed from Yours, James at the beginning of the summer to Forever Yours, Yours with all my Heart, Yours Eternally and finally to With All the Love I Have, James.

She found she didn't know how to react to that aspect of his letters. She wasn't sure she wanted him to write them but at the same time she didn't really know if she had a problem with it either because she knew that much of the time he was a jokester and the endings could be just another interesting aspect of his personality. At least that's what she hoped. She was definitely sincerely and completely confused by the end of the summer.

Then she received his last letter on August 31st

My Lily,

Tomorrow is the first day of term. I'm more nervous than I've ever been in my life and it's all because I know I will see you.

I guess this is the start of my getting to "Show" you how I've changed. I hope you see it.

This whole summer has seemed sort of unreal. I mean in all my craziest dreams I never actually expected you to respond to my letters the way you have. I almost feel like you know things about me Sirius doesn't even know. (Please don't tell him I said that, he'll pout for days and then demand to know what you know about me that he doesn't.)

If things don't go how I want them to I need to tell you now…

Thankyou, for being the most amazing and wonderfully understanding person I have ever had the privilege to know. You mean more to me than I can put down in words. And if that is too heavy and ridiculously sentimental for you, thankyou for becoming a true friend to me this summer.

I will see you on the train tomorrow.

Yours Forever and Always,

James

Merlin, it was going to be an interesting year!