James turned around.
He could see her sitting in front of the mirror getting ready for the night.
She was a vision, he thought. But then again she always was. Dressed in a vintage green and gold dress she looked a little too good for her own good.
They were to attend the annual ball thrown by the ministry. And being a member of one of the most ancient and noble houses it became as a must to go event.
It was the same every year. And although many regarded the invitation to the grand awaited party as a symbol of status and respect, for him it meant an evening of pretending, of false smiles and fake hellos.
But this year it was different. Because this year he was not going alone, he had a date. Which meant the only heir of the most ancient and noble house of Potter had a date. And he was well aware what that meant. It meant an evening of stares and whispers. It meant queries and comments. It meant thinly veiled taunts and judgement.
But this all wound not have mattered, he thought, if the time would have been different, better. Because he knew Lily. And he knew she was confident in herself, and in him.
But as it happened, the time was not better as he would have liked it to be, with each passing day their world was turning more and more dark and differentiation based on blood was coming out in the open.
He had thought about it before. And he knew it won't be easy. 'When anything about them was?' He chuckled to himself.
On hearing him Lily looked up and caught his eyes in the mirror and arched one eyebrow. Silently asking him what.
She was puzzled. He had been acting weird from the morning and she could very well tell he was tensed.
Firstly because he was very quiet, which if you knew James Potter you would know it to be a big alert. And secondly, he seemed nervous, really nervous. Which again was highly unlike him. James Potter was hardly ever unnerved. She didn't know how he managed to be composed and collected all the time, radiating an aura of confidence. She knew him and right now he seemed neither calm nor confident.
When he kept staring at her in the mirror refusing to say anything to her unasked question she knew she would have to take a more direct approach.
So she got up and picked the gold choker necklace and moved to stand in front of him.
"Something bothering you Potter?" she asked handing him the necklace.
He turned her around wordlessly so that they both were facing the mirror and fastened the necklace around her neck.
"No, nothing." He told her and she looked up and saw his downcast eyes in the mirror.
"You look lovely." He told her after a moment.
"Thanks Potter." She smiled at him in the mirror.
"Okay quick, hair up or hair down? I think hair down." Lily asked tilting her head a little which made the locks of her hair fall to one side.
He watched her, silently cursing himself for acting like he was. For worrying and for not telling her about all this. And for making a such a simple question complicated.
"Hair up." He told her, turning away from her reflection and cursed himself again.
James loved her hair. And blame him for being superficial or whatever but it was one of the things that he had noticed about her from the beginning. And he loved it when she left it untied. Loved it when they fell loosely around her shoulders. But he knew generally all the ladies of the pureblood houses wore it up in some complicated designs because, well he didn't knew why, he just knew that they did because he had seen them.
And generally he would love for them to stand out of the crowd but tonight he just wanted them to blend in. The more they were untraced the less she would have to tolerate.
"Up?" She asked him surprised. Whenever she asked him he would always beg her to leave it down.
"Fine, up it is." She went back to the her previously occupied place in front of the mirror and started combing the deep red locks.
And he wanted to scream or to snatch the comb out of her hand or to drop the plan for tonight or to just keep looking at her reflection in the mirror forever.
'This is wrong', he thought to himself. 'But I just want to make it a little easy for her. Still she deserved to know. Then again it will only hurt her.' All the thoughts just kept coming and going out of his mind and he just stood there deciding whether to say anything or not.
"All set?" The sound of Lily's voice broke the train of his thoughts and he nodded in answer.
Her hair was up, done in some delicate fancy style that made her look a lot more mature and older than the Lily he knew.
She moved forward and did a little twirl in front of him.
"Say something." She told him when he just kept staring at her.
James took a step toward her, their bodies almost touching.
"You know that I love you Lily." He took a deep breath and she opened her mouth to speak but he just held her shoulders lightly and continued further, the words just tumbling out now that he had finally decided.
"And you also know that out there a thousand disapprove. They always will. And they are going to show it because that's what they are. Shallow people with even shallower thoughts. And I know that you know all this. But I also know that there can be times when we doubt ourselves. Doubt all that we have ever believed. I just want you to remember in that moment that, 'you and me' are much bigger than any of them. What we are is so much more than their words. And if we are sure of us then it's the only thing that we need to be sure of."
Lily was looking at him and only now she realized what had been bothering him since the morning. He was breathing hard but she could tell he was feeling relieved.
She put her arms around his neck and leaned in close to him to lightly brush her lips across his.
"I am sure too." She said smiling slightly.
He lifted his hands and pulled out the pin that held her hair on top and the locks came cascading down.
He saw the surprised look in her eyes, and moved his hands through the silky strands and with a dazzling smile told her, "Hair down."