No matter how hard we try, certain things in life never cease to amaze us. I promised myself I'd never write from the perspective of James or any of the Marauders but I'm finding it harder and harder to keep that promise. For now enjoy this collection of previously untold stories; James Potter's Easy Guide to Falling in Love.
All credit goes to J.K. Rowling, the creator of all things Potter.
Summer was great, sure. You could do almost anything you wanted, but for some reason James Potter found himself not wanting to do anything. His parents insisted he teach some kids basic Quidditch skills so every Monday and Thursday afternoon, all summer, was spent with a bunch of annoying eleven, twelve, and thirteen year olds. They weren't all bad, but they definitely were not who James wanted to be spending his time with.
It was the second Thursday of summer when James arrived home to find Sirius and Marlene waiting for him.
"James! You know what's funny?"
"Nice to see you Marlene," he said nodding at the blond. "I don't know Sirius, enlighten me."
"You and I are living under the same roof and yet I've seen more of McKinnon this summer than I've seen of you."
"I'm sorry Padfoot; you know I've been busy."
"No, I actually don't, because I haven't seen you long enough for you to tell me. Anyway, that's not what we're here to talk about. We're," he indicated Marlene and himself, "organizing a get together at the Leaky Cauldron to celebrate the beginning of seventh year. You have to be there."
James made his decision a few days later. He would go see Lily. What he didn't realize was the day he chose to go was the day of Petunia's final dress fitting.
James thought that the Evans' house was perfect. It sat on the corner of the street and was surrounded by a huge garden. The front door had an ornate knocker that James slowly grasped in his right hand.
When the door opened revealing a middle aged man James took a step back. The man took one look at James and stuck out his hand.
"James Potter I presume?"
James shook his hand not wanting to be rude, but was rather shocked none the less. "How did you-"
"Well I know you're not Remus and if you were a friend of Petunia's you'd know she's not here right now."
"Oh well I uh-"
"Lily's not here either." Lily's dad was sporting a 'I know you like my daughter so I'm going to make life difficult for you' smile.
"Do you- do you know when she'll be back?"
"Would you like to come in James?"
"That would be appreciated Sir, as long as I'm not imposing." Mr. Evans laughed at James' use of the word 'Sir' and then moved out of the way allowing James to proceed inside.
If possible James liked the inside of the house even more, hardwood floors throughout, rich blue walls in the living room and a quaint fireplace that a wizard would never own because it was too small to use to floo.
Mr. Evans led James into the dining room where they both sat on opposite sides of the table.
"Tell me about yourself James."
It seemed like such a normal question that James almost forgot that he was talking to the dad of the girl he fancied. "There's really not that much to tell yet, I'm an only child, I've been playing Quidditch since I could walk," James paused then, realizing that Mr. Evans probably didn't know what Quidditch was. "Quidditch is a sport we-"
"Lily's explained the basic premise to me, it sounds quite interesting."
James' face lit up, "it is. There's something special about how each Hogwarts house has their own team to root for so even the kids who don't play can support us. My mates and I like to play in our free time as well. Last summer we even got Remus playing and he wasn't half bad."
Lily's dad laughed no doubt imagining his daughter's friend flying a broom.
"You wouldn't believe how hard we've all tried to get Lily to play, I think she'd enjoy it once she started but it's getting her on the field that's the difficulty."
"She's always been a stubborn child. We had to bribe her as a kid in order to get her to do anything."
Now it was James' turn to laugh. "You have a good daughter Mr. Evans; count yourself lucky she's not as stubborn as me."
"Lily may have mentioned you're persistent."
James broke his gaze afraid of how much he knew. "I hope she hasn't said too many bad things about me Sir, you see I mean well."
"I know that James, and so does she, getting her to admit it is your problem."
James looked up, "are you saying-"
"All I'm saying is she's a lot like her mother and it took years for me to get her to agree to marry me." James couldn't for the life of him believe that Lily's dad was actually giving him relationship advice. "Between you and me, I'd suggest you start by apologizing, think back to something you did or a comment you made to her and then tell her you're sorry. It'll drive her crazy since I highly doubt you've ever apologized before."
"What if there's nothing I regret?"
"Find what you least regret because odds are she feels the same. You need her to realize that you're not always going to be around if she ignores you."
"How did you get Mrs. Evans to go out with you?"
"I asked out another girl."
Before James could even laugh he heard the front door opening and a voice calling out. "It went perfectly, Petunia couldn't be happier. She took all the girls out to get lunch."
As the voice came closer James got more and more on edge, surely Lily had told her mum more details about how she truly felt about him.
"Oh hello, I didn't know we had company."
"This is-" her husband began.
"James Potter, it's a pleasure."
Trying not to be once again shocked that Lily's parents could identify him, he stuck out his hand. "The pleasure's all mine Mrs. Evans."
"Lily wasn't lying when she said you were easy on the eyes." James was sure he'd turned as red as Lily's hair which caused Mrs. Evans' smile to widen. "I'm guessing you didn't come here to see us though and I'm afraid Lily won't be back for a couple of hours."
"I should probably get going anyway, I promised my mum I'd be home for lunch."
"Should we tell Lily you stopped by?"
James thought about it, "don't bother her with it Mr. Evans, I'm sure I'll see her sometime soon."
As he let himself out the front door, James could've sworn he heard Mrs. Evans say "do you think he loves her?"
If only he had the confidence, he would turn around and tell them that he did.
James considered going to see Lily every day after that, but Remus had promised he would try to get her to come to the Leaky Cauldron, so James patiently waited.
When the aforementioned night finally came, James was in such a rush to get out the door that he almost missed the letter addressed to him on the kitchen table.
After he read it he shoved it in his pocket to show to Remus later.
When he arrived at the Leaky Cauldron the sun had just set. He went in to find Peter, Sirius, and Marlene sitting at a table near the back.
"Prongs!" Sirius called out, clearly already intoxicated. "What took you so long buddy?"
James sat by Peter, "I waited until mum was asleep so I wouldn't worry her. When did you leave?"
"Before you were up my mate. McKinnon here wanted to go visit her grandmother. Nice old woman I must say, but I didn't get the feeling she was quite fond of me."
"Not as charming on the old as you are on the young, what a shame Padfoot."
"Well it doesn't much matter because she's gone back to America and I doubt Sirius or I will ever see her again."
"Cheers to that!" Sirius exclaimed, "James my dear fellow you don't have a drink. Wormtail, go off and grab him one."
Peter jumped up at the order but James stopped him, "I'm capable of walking over to the bar myself Sirius."
It was while James was standing by the bar waiting to order that Lily came in. She looked absolutely breathtaking or at least that's what James thought. Her eyes sparkled in the dim lighting and her face was being framed by messy ringlets.
James managed to force himself to look away before anyone caught him staring. As he weaved his way back to the table he ran straight into Remus.
"Moony how was the wedding?"
"The ceremony was alright but I'm terrible at muggle small talk."
"Remus, you're terrible at small talk with wizards too."
"Thanks Prongs, oh, and Mr. Evans gave me this to give to you." He held out an envelope, "I'm not really sure why he's sending you post but he said it was really important. He also said to tell you not to read it until the time was right."
"What in the world is that supposed to mean?"
"Don't look at me, he said you'd know."
James put it in his pocket not knowing what to think. His hand brushed against the letter he'd received earlier and he pulled it out.
"Take a look Remus."
Two minutes later James was heading back to the table and Remus was left standing with his mouth agape in the middle of the room.
James sat back beside Peter, while Marlene and Sirius were now gone, their seats were filled by Ezra and Auryn.
The first thing James noticed though was sitting directly behind Auryn, the one and only Lily Evans. Her back was to him so she had no clue he was there and no one could get after him for staring. He couldn't help it for tucked neatly in her hair, was the lily James had gifted her for Christmas.
As the night progressed the crowd slightly thinned but mostly just got more drunk. Ezra left as soon as Nicola walked out and James assumed their breakup wouldn't last much longer. Merrick declared his feelings towards Marvel who wasn't drunk enough to laugh it off. James' moment finally came when Lily got up and went across the bar to talk to Shaw Hale. After exchanging a few words they got up heading out to Diagon Alley.
He followed a good thirty seconds after the door shut behind them.
James laughed to himself watching as they entered the ice cream parlour. It was no wonder Sirius gave Shaw the nickname Goody. While everyone else was drunk out of their minds these two went off to get ice cream.
When he opened the door both girls turned towards him and somewhere a clock chimed an hour unknown to James.
Shaw paused for a moment and then turned to Lily. "Gosh I'm sorry Lily but I must be off, Mum is going to kill me when I get home."
James took this moment to tell the boy behind the counter that he'd have what Lily was having. After he paid he turned to find Lily staring out the door. Realizing it was now or never, he headed towards her.
"Fancy a walk Evans?"
"Long time no see Potter."
"Is that a yes?"
"Actually, I'd say it's more of a why not."
He held open the door for her as they went off into the night. He thought back to their trip to Hogsmeade at the beginning of the year, it was the first time she'd agreed to spend time with him, albeit Remus was there too, but it was still one of James' fondest memories.
Lily suddenly stopped, "why are you here James?"
He didn't know what to say so he faked confusion, "everyone's here Lily, practically the whole year."
"That's not what I meant, I mean out here, right now with me. Why did you come?"
He took a deep breath wondering if he could carry through with it. "I messed up and I wanted to apologize, I'm sorry I kissed you Lily."
He surprised both himself and clearly Lily with what he said so before he could take it back he forced himself to leave. "I should probably get home." With that he turned and started walking but he stopped once for a quick moment to call back to her, "oh and by the way, you look lovely tonight Lily."
If her dad knew what he was talking about then James Potter was one step closer to getting Lily Evans to fall in love with him.
A/N
Well, what did you guys think? I'm not sure if I love it or not but MF convinced me it was good enough to post. If anyone's reading this who isn't reading/hasn't read LEAMMEGTM I highly suggest you go give it a read. This story will only be certain parts of Easy Guide to Marauding and is told solely from James so you will be left confused if you start here. Just a refresher, Shaw, Marvel, Nicola, Auryn, Merrick, Ezra, and a lot of other characters (Robin, Lauren, Damon, Turner, Theodosia, etc.) are created by me to work along with Rowling's characters (the Marauders, Lily, Petunia, Marlene, Dorcas, Benjy, Caradoc, etc.). Lastly, this chapter takes place during the summer of 1977 and matches up with chapter 10 of Easy Guide to Marauding.
Thoughts are going out to those in Brussels
Shaelynn