The first time I heard the song 'Fool like me' by Cobra Starship, Lily and James popped into my head. So I wrote this story, inspired by that song, about them. Hope you enjoy!
Fool Like Me.
Lily Evans had always been more than just moderately attractive. Her flaming hair and impossibly bright eyes earned her second glances all the time. Her father had begun warning her about boys at a young age, insisting she was much too intelligent and kind to ever settle for just anyone. No, his daughter deserved the very best: A man who was worthy, just as smart and goal-oriented as she, who would treat her with total respect and love.
James Potter was not that man.
He was certainly charming and handsome and he did have a good head on his shoulders, but he was also obnoxious and immature. On top of that, he was egotistical and seemed to think himself above normal rules. He was everything that Lily Evans was not looking for.
Unfortunately, he was completely in love with her. He had first really noticed her the last day of third year when he had said farewell to Snape for the summer by stunning him on his way down the stairs to the feast. Lily had marched up to him, pushing through the group of laughing students crowded around, snapped at him to 'grow up, Potter' and sent a wicked tickling hex at him. From that moment on, he had known she was the love of his life; the dangerous way her eyes had flashed had been forever burned into his heart.
Sadly, she didn't agree and spent the majority of their fourth year ignoring him when he would hex students in front of her in an attempt to be impressive.
In fifth year, they both went home for the Christmas holidays and he sent her a giftbox stuffed so full of Zonko's products that even Sirius would have been jealous. He even tried to be extra kind about it, sending it through muggle post in case her parents were wary of magic and owl post. He had been simply delighted when she sent him a letter informing him that whatever was in his package had exploded and blown up her mailbox and asking him to never send her anything again. She had lovely handwriting, James had thought, and he promptly stuck the letter to his wall.
That summer, something even more incredible happened: Lily Evans invited James Potter to her home.
Well, she had technically invited Remus, who she had become good friends with the past year. However, Remus happened to be with James and Sirius that very day. As Remus would be leaving the very next day, as luck would so have it, for vacation with his family, Lily had grudgingly said that James and Sirius were invited as well.
It was a perfect day, as James recalled. Lily had said hello to him and he had met her family, his very own future in-laws, and he was quite certain her parents just loved him, even though her father had glared and demanded to know if he was the boy who had sent that exploding package to their home and Sirius later told him that he heard Lily's mother asking her if James was always so obnoxious.
James had even gotten to ride the muggle contraption called a bicycle. He'd seen it sitting outside of her home and had been intrigued. Apparently, they were sort of a muggle equivalent to broom sticks and James was certain he would master it the same way he had his broom. Determined to impress Lily, he had mounted that bicycle with determination, Sirius cheering him on from the porch.
Unfortunately, just as he had begun peddling, her dog ran right out in front of the tire and he slammed into it, flying over the handlebars and landing in a heap in the grass, glasses snapped and the dog whining pitifully.
"Oh my gosh, my poor baby. Shh, it's alright. Ohh, he's hurt."
James had stood up, smiling as his heart swelled to assure his beloved Lily that he was alright, really. It wasn't even him she had been talking to though, no. She had run across the yard to take her dog in her arms, looking worried as she pet him and stared sadly at the front leg that was twisted at a rather odd angle. She had glared at him and demanded he leave at once.
So he had gone, still happy to have spent time with the love of his life and not caring one bit about his broken glasses. He was shocked when he didn't receive a letter from her the next day, apologizing for her animal trying to murder him and talking about how good he looked on a bicycle. Sirius suggested he apologize for having injured her dog and though he disagreed wholly, sometimes in love one had to make sacrifices and he sent out a letter thanking her for having him over, apologizing for hitting the dog, and assuring her that he still had three perfectly working legs and would be just fine as it was.
His letter went unanswered and he sent three more before determining his owl had just gotten a big old and senile and wasn't delivering them to the right person, so he had Remus show him how to work a muggle telephone and dialed Lily's number. This was much better anyway and it would allow him to hear her lovely voice.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Mrs. Evans! This is James Potter, is Lily home?"
…
"Hello?"
…
"Mrs. Evans? That bitch hung up on me!"
He called back seven more times over the next two days and got the same results.
It took a month of harassing her in sixth year to get her to talk to him, but she finally did. Sirius had suggested that James date another girl because it would make Lily come to her senses, and so he had- Well, it had been quite a few girls and there hadn't been many dates, just a lot of public snogging, but it had worked. Lily had passed him one day in the hall, where his face had been glued to Miranda Seabert's moments earlier, and gave a hint of a smile, congratulating him on finally growing a brain and getting over her. He'd promptly dumped Miranda. After all, Lily had spoken to him; clearly she was beginning to reciprocate his feelings.
It wasn't until late November that she properly spoke to him when they were partnered for a long-term Charms project. Lily was as unhappy about it as he was ecstatic, especially seeing as it meant they'd have to spend at least one day together over the holidays, which meant allowing him at her home again. After all, there was no way she was going to go to his house.
James arrived, beaming, at the Evans' residence. It was Lily's mother who answered and upon seeing his familiar face and untamed hair, went to shut the door right in his face.
"Mum, it's alright. I've invited him over to work on that assignment." Lily had said, walking down the stairs and looking beautiful as ever. Her mother had sighed, looked at him again, and then left as Lily took hold of the door, a shiny set of keys in her hand as she announced that she had been about to grab coffee and she supposed he could join her seeing as he'd shown up three hours early and given her no time to wake up or get dressed at all.
"I can drive." He'd exclaimed as they approached the shiny silver car. He'd never actually been in a muggle vehicle before, but Lily didn't need to know that. He'd read stories about them and seen photographs, and Lily would most certainly be impressed with his skills. She stared at him, blinking tiredly, before shaking her head.
"Really, I can," He had insisted, smiling innocently as he took the keys from her fingers. "You can go get dressed and I'll get your coffee. I've done this loads of times for my Aunt Clarice. She's a squib, you see." He could tell she was weighing her options, before finally handing him the keys, giving him a tentative smile and a thanks and running back inside. He felt his heart swell with joy.
And really, what could be so difficult about driving a car? You just put the keys in there, press that pedal- no, that one, and turned the wheel to drive through the grass and get on the road—
Or, if you were James Potter, you drove through the grass straight into a tree.
"Potter!"
The noise had drawn attention from all over the neighborhood, and Lily had rushed back outside, the look on her face pure rage.
They never did get to work on the assignment and ended up having to rush through it the first day back at Hogwarts.
It was in seventh year that things changed. They were named Head boy and Head girl and had no choice but to spend time together. Lily had barely uttered a word to him since the incident with the car, and James had decided to re-evaluate his tactics and feelings, and most of their time together was spent in silence.
After a few weeks, Lily started by saying 'hello' to him when she passed him during patrolling. He would politely say hello back and go about his way. This went out for two weeks, until he finally approached her one day and asked her to accompany him to the next weekends Hogsmeade outing. She told him no, and he had said 'ok' and started down the hallway. Within moments, she had stalked up to him, backing him into a wall with her wand pointed in his face.
"Alright Potter, I've had enough of this." She'd said, eyes blazing.
"Enough of what?"
"This… This, whatever it is! I don't know what you're planning, but stop it now."
"Evans, I'm not planning anything."
"You haven't done anything obnoxious to try to get me to pay attention to you once this year. No hexing students when I walk by or sending me exploding chocolate bouquets or serenading letters at breakfast. I've just rejected you and all you said was okay. You usually beg for an hour." She'd insisted, looking absolutely murderous.
"Really, I'm not planning anything," he'd assured her.
She had remained silent for a long time, her wand still holding him in place, before her expression cleared and she sighed, lowering her wand in defeat. "Fine."
"Fine?"
"I'll go with you. To Hogsmeade."
The look on James Potter's face had been priceless, and he'd asked her 'really?' about seven times until she told him that if he asked again she was taking it back.
The date went surprisingly well, and they even had a second one after that. Lily's friends were shocked to see her out with James Potter, who she had spent years telling them she couldn't stand.
"What are you thinking?" One of her friends had demanded moments after she got back to the dormitories after their third date. "How can you be with him? With James Potter, the bane of your existence?"
"He's not so bad. He's matured this year, I think." Lily had insisted.
"Right, Lil, and I'm Merlin reincarnated. Look, do yourself a favor and leave his ass before you get let down hard."
And on and on and on she had went, insisting that she was making a horrible decision to even consider James Potter.
There was only one month left to their final year at Hogwarts and Lily and James had become an item by them, nearly inseparable at times, and she was currently waiting on him in The Three Broomsticks, a giddy smile on her face as the familiar messy-haired boy appeared in the doorway. Her smile dropped when she caught sight of his hand which was clutching a stuffed Zonko's bag.
"Check these out, Lily. Me and Sirius have some great pranks planned-"
"What?"
"We got a ton of dungbombs and we've got this great plan for the Slytherins-"
"Excuse me?"
He stopped, just catching the less than amused look on her face. "What is it, Lily?"
"I was actually thick enough to think you had changed. Matured, grown up a bit finally. But no, you're still the same old James Potter you've always been. A bloody fool is what you are."
"You're upset about this?" He asked, incredulous. "I have grown up, though. I've stopped targeting Sniv- I mean, Snape but I don't think I can change everything about who I am. What are a few harmless pranks here and there? It doesn't have anything to do with us, Lily. Yes, at the end of the day, I'm the same old James Potter, a bloody fool, a grown man who is constantly doing stupid things and acting like an idiot. But at the end of the day, you're also the same old Lily Evans. The girl I love, the only girl I have eyes for. A dungbomb in the Slytherin common room doesn't change that one bit."
She had gone silent and he was pierced with an uncertain, ice cold fear that she would get up and leave then and there. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Lily smiled the slightest bit. "You're right," she agreed. "So… tell me about this great prank, then."
And so he had, gesturing excitedly with his hands and practically bouncing in his seat like a child on a sugar high and Lily had listened, smiling and laughing at his enthusiasm.
Her family had taken some time getting used to him. Her father in particular who had commented more than once that James Potter was not the man he had ever envisioned his daughter marrying. But eventually even they had grown to love him and on James and Lily's wedding day her parents were in attendance, smiling and congratulation them and wishing them a lifetime of happiness.
"Merlin, your father must have woken up in a great mood this morning." James had murmured against his new wife's lips, his eyes alight with joy as she gave him a questioning look.
"Why's that?"
"An hour ago he walked you down the aisle and he actually gave you away to me. After the mailbox, the dog, the car, and all those dinners where he kept not so subtly hinting you can do better, he actually let a girl like you choose to take a fool like me as her husband."
"That he did." Lily agreed, smiling back at him, "And you are a fool. A complete idiot, just like you said that day in Hogsmeade. But I don't think I'd have you any other way."
"What are you two out here talking about?" The voice of Sirius suddenly interrupted them as he poked his head out the door of the chapel, grinning wildly. "You'll have a lifetime to talk. Get on to the fun stuff," he gave them a suggestive wink, "As your gift, don't forget I'm paying for your honeymoon. No refunds, so you best catch that- what's it called again?"
"An airplane, Sirius."
"Right, you'd best catch that airplane on time."
It had taken years of rejection and general chaos all around, but finally Lily Evans and James Potter had wound up together, just as James had always known they would. After all, he'd known since third year that she was the love of his life, it was alright that it had taken her a little longer to realize he was the love of hers as well.
fin.