Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine. Presumably. I mean we're not taking into account the whole reincarnation thing but at very least, in this incarnation I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form and I highly doubt I'd come back reincarnated as the owner anyway. I'd probably end up as something stupid like- right, shutting-up.

Sirius and Peter were sure that James had loved Lily as soon as he saw her on the train; Sirius even said so at their wedding. Remus disagreed and said it was probably just a gradual thing; he was sure love was a slow thing, determined it could be stopped if there was a good reason. But James knew it was neither. He first realized he loved her during third year when he overheard Severus Snape insisting to her that Remus was a werewolf. She told him that it didn't matter at all. Remus was still nice when he was away from big headed Potter and the master of arrogance Black and he still had poor judgment for hanging out with the so called Marauders. Lycanthropy didn't change a thing. And James loved her because she never let anyone else form her opinions for her; she could have believed in old prejudices but she preferred to belief what she knew. He never told anyone but her what he'd overheard. She'd laughed at him and told him he should have told her sooner what made him fall in love with her. It proved that he acknowledged at the age of thirteen that she had brains.


She turned around to pass him a paper in Potions not long after he overheard her conversation, not long after he'd begun to see that she was more than some silly girl who was Snape's friend and therefore a prime target for pranks and teasing. For an instant, her eyes caught on his, her brilliant green eyes. He knew in that moment that he loved her for her eyes, even as her expression turned into a glare.


He was in his fourth year when he first asked her out and was first rejected. He asked her out again two days later and got the same reply. Then he asked a week later and then another three days after that but she still said no. And he realized that while he hated it, he loved her stubbornness. Why else would every failed attempt to ask her out make him want to go out with her all the more?


It was early fall and he was going to be late for Quidditch practice, not a good thing when he was hoping to be captain next year. His feet clamored against the floor as he ran, broomstick in hand, and then he ran smack dab into Lily as he turned the corner. He apologized before he even looked at who he had run into and offered her his hand to help her to her feet. She said it was all right, still looking down; she had been running too. Then she took his hand. Cliché butterflies began fluttering madly in his stomach as he felt her touch, and he heard her gasp just a little before glaring at him and wrenching her hand back and turning down the hallway again. James stood there frozen in the hallway, staring after her and he knew he loved her for the spark between them.


He was angry enough to blow his top as he came storming out of the hospital wing and ran straight into Lily. She commanded him to watch where he was going and then stopped, looking at him. A sigh came from her lips and she told him that Severus had told her what had happened. Lily told James thank you. James shook his head and told her that he hadn't done it for Severus who might have died, or Sirius who would have gotten in trouble or even for Remus who would have torn himself apart physically and mentally if the wolf had gotten a taste of human blood. She said she knew it was simply because he had to and that was that; she would have felt the same way, but she still wanted to thank him for saving Severus and Remus. Not of course, she assured him, that she felt any differently about hating him. And James was still sure he loved her as she walked away because she understood what even Sirius hadn't. He'd needed to stop Snape from entering the Shrieking Shack, not simply chosen to do so.


James sat on his bed with his legs over the edge, his elbows on his knees, and his head in his hands at the end of their fifth year, after O.W.L's. He heard soft footsteps and looked up to see Remus looking at him curiously. Sirius wasn't around which was a relief because as much as he loved Sirius, he had recently started his plan to hook James up with any passing girl. Remus seemed safe to ask why Lily was willing to be friends with someone who called her a mud-blood but wasn't even vaguely willing to be friends with someone like James. Remus asked if James had ever tried to be simply friends with Lily, or just spent all his time asking her out. Then Remus got up from his bed to start packing his trunk but he turned around once more and told James that Lily had told Severus they were no longer friends. And James knew he loved her when instead of feeling total joy for himself, he felt sad that Lily had lost her best friend.


He was a little bit frightened that if he got to know her, that if she became his friend instead of only his crush, she would become less real. Maybe he would fall out of love with her and she would have been right all along: he only wanted to be with her because he couldn't be with her. She had been dead wrong; his love only grew.


He was tired as he sat in the common room attempting in vain to finish his Charms homework one night early in their seventh year. Lily was in the common room too, packing up her things to go upstairs. She told him he looked depressed. Half-joking, he told her he'd cheer up if she agreed to go out with him. Lily said yes. He didn't think he'd ever loved her more.


Their first date was horrible. He'd spilled butterbeer all over her, accidentally admitted that he was terrified of slugs, and informed her that he actually had no intention of playing professional Quidditch, even after the war was over, because he thought far too many of his "spectacular" scores had been made through sheer dumb luck. Miserably he asked her if she would ever consider going out with him again. She kissed his cheek and said yes because he was finally honest. He loved her more knowing that if he talked to her like she was a friend instead of like a girl it would make her like him. He wished he wouldn't have wasted so much time.


They were working on the Patronus spell in Defense Against the Dark Arts just before Christmas break. He, Sirius, and Peter still didn't have it down. Remus with his talent for Defense and Lily with her talent for Charms had both mastered it relatively quickly. So Sirius had suggested going to the Shrieking Shack to practice and despite Remus's protests, Lily had joined them to help out. He realized he loved her for the fact that she did indeed break rules, because she patiently helped Peter without question, and because she didn't seem afraid or disgusted by Remus even after seeing the place where he transformed and all the carnage therein.


Somehow, the war made everything move more quickly. They were both in the Order, neither of them were trying to find work outside the Order, they were in love, and James had an inheritance that was quite considerable. It only made sense for him to propose, for them to move in together right after Hogwarts. But he really did love her and he was sure things would have happened the same way, except perhaps a bit slower, if they hadn't been in the middle of a war. And he thought he couldn't have loved her more than when she assured him that she felt exactly the same way.


He knew he loved her when she announced that she wanted a real wedding. She didn't want to go all out and have hundreds of people but she wanted it to be an event, a statement. She didn't want to show she was afraid. And he agreed with her even before he saw that dart of excitement in her bright green eyes, that spark he had loved since his third year.


He felt a light tap on his back that he knew was from Lily as he knelt into the flames, talking to Peter. He said good-bye and then pulled out of the fire. She was standing there in a tank-top and what he was fairly sure were his a pair of his boxers. Her eyes met his and she smiled lightly before telling him she was pregnant. And suddenly it didn't matter that he had told Peter he would Floo Sirius. All that mattered was the feeling that he loved the woman in his arms more than life itself and that she was the one having his child.


For a moment James didn't even realize he was sobbing. It wasn't fair. Harry was only two days old and he was perfect. Dumbledore's face was grave as he told them what he'd unfortunately been expecting since February; his eyes weren't twinkling. He apologized and then left them to themselves. James pulled Lily close, loving her all the more because he knew that it might not be long before one of them was gone. The prophecy was a death sentence for him, his wife, and his newborn son; and he knew it.


They were exhausted, having just set the Fidelus Charm that day but he was happy. He sat with his back against the foot of the sofa, playing with Harry, watching his young son smile and attempt to grab the smoke, not knowing that only today they had added the last layer of protection to their house, not knowing about the prophecy, only an innocent boy. And James loved Lily because he got to spend small moments like this loving Harry. It was one of the last things he would get to think.

AN: Right so, this story is basically what the title says. I have some other chapters that I've written for this (four involving the Blacks, surprise, surprise). But I don't know if anyone likes the idea, so let me know. Anyway, have a nice day!