Finally
Seventeen year old, Lily Evans twirled her bright red hair nervously around her finger while staring at her best friend, Alice Smith. Alice was in some kind of shock and was staring at Lily as if she had never seen her before.
"Please say something!" Lily begged her. She was starting to feel panic rise up in her. She was terrified that Alice might not like her, after what she had just said. Slowly, Alice got out of her shock and a huge smile slid onto her face.
"I knew it!" Alice screamed while jumping up from her spot on the edge of Lily's bed. "I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!" Alice had started to jump up and down on the bed, while screaming out joyfully. Lily had started to laugh at her best friends antics and got up to join her. "You fancy James Potter! After all these years, you finally admit it!"
Lily laughed at her and responded. "Yes! I fancy James Potter. His charm has finally put me under his spell! Are you sure you are okay with this?"
"Okay with it? I am thrilled! You two belong together! I have said it for years! Everyone has! People have been making bets on how long you could last!" Alice yelled out.
"Let me guess. You had a bet against your boyfriend, Frank, and you won."
"Yep! Frank owes me five galleons!" Alice celebrated. "Now, how are you going to tell him? This has to be perfect! We need a plan." Alice had suddenly become serious.
"Wait, what? I wasn't going to tell him! I rather just like him the way I always have, by acting like I hate him!" Lily exploded. She was completely not ready to even face Potter at this point and was shocked that Alice suggested it.
"Of course you are going to tell him! If you don't by the time the year is over, he will give up on you and you will never see him again! Do you want that to happen? I don't think so!" Alice shot back at her. Lily opened her mouth to reply, but quick shut it. Did she want that to happen? No, of course she didn't. As much as she hated to admit it, Alice was right. She needed to tell Potter how she felt.
"Okay. What is your plan?" Lily sighed in defeat, while Alice did a victory dance.
"Well I was thinking…"
An hour and a half later, Lily and Alice emerged from their dorm room and into the common room. Lily's hair and make-up was done perfectly, thanks to Alice, and she was looking around for Pot- James. (Alice had told her that she had to start calling James by his first name, instead of his last.)
The common room was really crowded but Lily quickly found the Marauders sitting closest to the fireplace. Lily looked over at Alice, who gave her an encouraging smile, and walked over to where they were sitting. As she got closer to where they were sitting, Lily noticed something strange. James was not with them. With a frown, she turned back and approached Alice.
"He wasn't there. Oh well, let's try later." Lily said while trying to make it back up to their dorm room. She would have made it but Alice held her back.
"No you don't. Go ask where he is." Alice commanded while shoving Lily back in their direction. Lily turned back to glare at Alice then made her way through the sea of people and towards the Marauders. Lily halted in front of the three boys and they all looked up to see who was bothering them, except Peter who was snoring in the arm chair he was lying across.
"Hey Lily." Remus said with a smile. He looked sick and Lily remembered that the full moon was tomorrow. She would have to make sure he was alright later.
"Hey Remus. How are you?" Lily replied. Out of all the Marauders, Lily liked Remus the best. He was not as big-headed as the rest of them and wasn't strange like Peter was.
"Living." Remus replied with a sad smile. Lily was about to reply but Sirius Black cut into their conversation.
"Are you two done yet? I want to talk to Evans to, you know, Moony." Black said with his characteristic smirk. Lily refrained from rolling her eyes at their stupid nicknames they gave each other.
"She's all yours, Padfoot." Remus replied to him with a sigh. After that he returned to his book, that he had been reading before Lily had come over.
"So, Evans, what do you want so badly, that you actually came over to our lovely group?" Sirius asked while kicking out his legs so they laid across the table in front of him. This action put Lily's teeth on edge, but didn't bother to tell him off because she wouldn't get the information she needed from him, if she did.
"I need to know where James is." Lily asked while trying to keep her voice pleasant. It wasn't working.
"First off, since when do you call Prongs, James? That is so unlike you, Evans. Another thing, who on Earth do you want to know where he is? Do I need to remind you that you hate him and make sure to tell him that at least once a day?" Sirius asked with a confused look written across his face. Lily's heart dropped. She had called him James right in front of his best friend. Sirius was so going to tell James what she said. Lily knew what she said next would be life or death, in her case anyways.
"I have started to call James by his first name since Professor McGonagall had a talk with me about being more civil to him because we are head boy and girl." Lily lied quickly. "I don't think it is any of your business what I need with James, Black. If you must know, I need him for a head boy and girl meeting with the Headmaster." Sirius looked convinced and, inside, Lily did a happy dance.
"He went for a walk. I figure he is down by the lake by now. That is his favorite place, anyways." Sirius told her simply.
Lily smiled at him and said, "Thanks Sirius. I'll go find him now." Sirius looked confused on why she had started to call him by his first name, but, before he could ask why, Lily had already ran over to Alice.
"He went for a walk. Sirius said he might be by the lake. Apparently, it is his favorite place here." Lily said. "I guess I have to wait until he comes back, then."
"Nope. You are going right now to get him and tell him. Go upstairs and get your jacket and stuff. It just started to snow."
A little while later, Lily was running across Hogwarts's grounds and toward the Great Lake. She pulled the thin, blue hat she had pulled on as Lily ran out of Gryffindor tower, further down to cover the bit of her ear that was not protected from the bitter cold.
Calling this a simple snow storm was a complete understatement; this was a full out blizzard. Lily could barely make out the colors in her plaid wool jacket she was wearing, let alone five feet in front of her. Lily spent the rest of the trip there slipping and sliding across the ground.
What seemed like a thousand years (and bruises) later, Lily made it to the shore of the Great Lake and started her hunt for James. After a few minutes of fruitless searching and falling, Lily at last saw him sitting by the water's edge. He didn't seem to mind the snow that had started to build in piles around him. James was staring out into space and seemed to be in deep thought. Lily felt her heart stop at the sight of him. She couldn't do this. She could get away if she quietly turned around and headed back up to the castle. Sure, Alice wouldn't be happy she chicken out, but it would be better than staying here.
Just as Lily turned to walk away, James turned around to face her. He looked confused and seemed a bit upset.
"Lily, what are you doing here?" He asked genially confused and his voice sounded as if he had been crying. Lily bit into her lip. Damn, Lily thought angrily.
"I, um, was coming to get you. Black wanted you and I kind of owed him a favor, so he sent me. Are you okay? You must be freezing out here." Lily asked while trying to keep the emotion out of her voice. It didn't work. James gave her a confused look.
"I'm fine," James answered "but why do you care? You have never done so before." Lily felt like a knife stabbed her heart when she heard the hurt in his voice.
"I just wanted to make sure you weren't getting sick or something. Now come on. I don't want to get sick also." James nodded, then stood up and started to walk beside Lily.
The first few minutes of their walk were complete torture for Lily. They stayed in complete silence the entire time and it was eating Lily alive. The only noise was the crushing of the ice and snow, when the two stepped on it.
"So, Lily, I have been thinking." James said. Lily could hear that his words were heavy and he was obviously upset about whatever he had been thinking about. "I think I am going to stop asking you out. You are never going to say yes and you hate me, so what is the point. I'm sure you aren't the one and I'll fine someone else." Lily's heart had stopped. This is exactly what Alice had warned her of and it was happening. No, Lily thought, No, I will not let it end like this.
"James…" Lily tried to talk to him and her voice was full of sadness. James cut her off before she got to finish though.
"Lily, don't. It will be easier if we just remain civil to each other until we are finished with school and then we can split ways forever." James said. He was facing away from Lily so she wouldn't see the tears falling down his face.
"James. Please!" She cried out. She felt a few tears slid down her face. "Look at me! Please!" James froze when he heard how broken and shaky her voice was. He slowly turned to face her and, when he did, was shocked to see tears streaming down her face.
"Lily…" James started but, this time, Lily cut him off.
"James, I'm in love with you! I came down here to yes to you! I came here to say I will go out with you! I lied when I said Black wanted you! I just couldn't say it to you! I finally realize that I do fancy you and you realize that you might not like me as much as you said you do! How is that fair?" Lily screamed while sobbing hysterically. James just stared at her.
"Lily, you don't know for how long I have wanted to hear that. I don't know how that is fair, but want to hear something even more unfair? I have loved you for years and, right after I say that you might not be the one for me, you actually admit to loving me too." James answer. His voice was husky and his eyes were clouded with tears. Lily just continued to sob. "Lily…" but he was cut off by Lily's lips colliding with his.
The two of them just stood there and kissed like there would be no tomorrow. James raised his hand to whip away Lily's tears while Lily wrapped her arms around James' waist. After a few more seconds, they both pulled back and smiled at each other. Then, James sneezed right into Lily's face, which sent snot all over her. They were both silent for a second before they burst out laughing.
"Great, so you are sick and now I am going to get sick! What is good about this?" Lily asked while still laughing. James smiled at her before replying.
"I can do this." James leaned in and lightly kissed Lily. "Come on; let's get back to the castle before we get really sick."
Fifteen minutes later, Lily was climbing up the stairs to her dorm room. She had just said goodbye to James and they had kissed in front of the entire common room. Most of the room had started to cheer but a few had moaned because they had lost their bets.
When Lily opened the door, the first thing she saw was Alice and her other friend, Mary McDonald sitting on the edge of her bed. When they saw Lily enter, the two girls jumped up and ran to her.
"I filled Mary in on what was happening. What happened? Did you tell him?" Alice practically screamed. Lily felt a huge smile make its way onto her face and nodded her head. Both girls screamed out in joy.
"Are you two going out?" Mary asked her while bouncing on the balls of her feet. Lily nodded again while her smile got even bigger. The two girls screamed even louder and started to do a victory dance.
"We also kissed three times already." Lily told them happily. The girls started to freak out and dance around the room.
"Finally they are together!" Alice screamed out. Lily clasped onto her bed with a happy sigh. Finally, Lily thought, finally indeed.