"Please?"
"No way."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty, pretty please with those Muggle gummy bears on top?"
"I hate gummy bears."
"Shoot."
--
James Potter, that boy is so completely head over heels with Lily, it's sad. And what makes it even more tragic is that Lily so completely hates him. See the problem? On a normal day, Lily is asked out about eight times, all by Mr. James Potter. I think he secretly likes getting punched after every one of these attempts. I mean, he's not gonna get her to touch him any other way.
This love-hate relationship has been incredibly comical and has become a sort of entertainment on stressful days for me. One day, James Potter decided to try a different tactic. One involving Lily's best friend; namely, me.
--
"Hey, Lyra."
"Uh, hi James."
This was weird. When did James Potter pay attention to anyone except (in descending order) the Marauders, Lily and the other Quidditch players? Well, time to find out.
"So, Lyra, you're Lily's best friend, right?"
Oh, of course.
"Yeah."
"Could you convince Lily to come to the party after the Quidditch match?"
"So sure you're going to win, huh?"
I'd heard from Lily he was an "arrogant toerag", but, honestly, he wasn't as bad as she made him out to be.
"Okay, if we win, could you convince Lily to come to the party, she's never there."
The poor guy was practically on his knees begging. Oh man, he'd just given me the patented Sad Puppy Look. I wondered if Lily would consider this fraternising with the enemy. Sorry, Lily.
"Sure, I guess, but why just get her to the party? Why not tell me to outright convince her to go out with you or marry you or whatever?"
"Oh don't worry about it, Lyra, I got this all planned out. You just need to do your part."
And with that, he left.
--
We'd won, just like Potter had predicted. I wasn't one to break a promise, so while Lily and I were walking back to Gryffindor Tower, I said, "So, Lily, coming to the party?"
She looked at me like I'd just declared my undying love for Professor Slughorn.
"No. I never do, Lyra. Are you okay?"
"Aw, come on Lily. This is our last year here, it might be your last chance to go to one of these parties. Come on, I'm going. Just to see what it's like. Please?"
"But Potter's going to be there!"
"Is this why you never go?"
"Yeah. He's going to start annoying me and playing with that stupid snitch. It just drives me mad!"
Shoot. This was going to be more difficult than I thought.
"Please?"
"No way."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty, pretty please with those Muggle gummy bears on top?"
"I hate gummy bears."
"Shoot."
Eventually, I managed to get Lily to the party, with a lot of nagging. But once she was there, she just took out a library book and started to read. I didn't mind, my job was just to get her here, but I figured if I didn't say something about it, she would get suspicious about why I'd told her to come if I didn't mind her not doing anything.
"Oh, come on, Lily. You come to a party and all you do is read?"
"So?"
"You're supposed to party at a party. Thus, the name."
I was careful to not nag too much and still sound as if I was upset. I really should've taken up acting. But back to the story.
After arguing for a bit, I let her read and went off to find some food. Personally, I didn't want to go to the party either, but I couldn't walk out in plain sight of Lily, so I decided I would wait for James to come and distract her.
He never came. And Lily ended up reading the whole party away. When everyone had either gone up to the dormitories already or had passed out from firewhiskey, she calmly closed her book and walked back to our dorm right after me.
--
I have to admit. James' plan was quite ingenious. Getting Lily to go to the party, then by not being there, provoke her natural curiousity. Being the Quidditch Captain made it almost inexcusable to not be at the party, but apparently, he had simply disappeared right after the game.
--
"I'm telling you, Lyra, it's suspicious, is what it is. The Quidditch Captain, not at the celebration in his and his team's honor! And he would definitely not want to miss out on the chance to try and impress me and whatnot. What's he been up to, I wonder..."
The next morning, she dragged me along with her up to the boy's dorm and practically almost blasted the door down.
"Open this door! Open it this instant!"
The door opened. And Potter had opened it. And he was only in his boxers. Lily turned as red as her hair. I think he did that on purpose, the whole only-in-his-boxers thing, just to see her blush.
"Er, hi Evans."
"Sorry, you can get dressed first."
"Thanks."
The door closed with a soft thud. But, inside, I could hear what appeared to be (and probably was) a boy desperate to look his best and still not keep the love of his life waiting. At one point, I think there was a tiny, little "BOOM!" in there. A minute later, there was James Potter, with a neat and ironed white shirt and black pants and what looked like an attempt at taming the wild animal that was his hair. I noticed that the zit he had had yesterday was gone.
Well, after that, Lily told him that she wanted to talk to him outside. At this, he politely asked if she would wait a second. When she said "Yeah, sure," he promptly closed the door and I think half the castle heard the "WHOOHOOO!!" coming from that dorm. Then, he came out and very politely escorted Lily out of the portrait hole. I swear, when her back was turned, I saw him punch the air in triumph.
No one knows what happened when Lily and James were alone together, that is, except for the guilty parties themselves. But, the end result spread all over the school within the hour. We, the other Marauders and I, were the first to know.
Lily Evans had finally given up and had fallen for James Potter.