James Potter woke early on the first of September. The family's long lasting house-elf, Gilly, was ironing his new Hogwarts robes to utter perfection. Gilly, even for a house elf, was small. With eyes the size of golf balls and a scull the size of a quaffle, her entire body was out of proportion with her head. Instead of the traditional pillowcase worn by fellow house elves, she preferred to dress as a child muggle would; in jeans, a shirt and trainers; and the Potters supplied her with the necessities. Therefore, both the family and Gilly felt comfortable with the fact that Gilly was not a slave, she was an equal to their family who liked to clean for them. Gilly was a free elf, not that she enjoyed that fact.
"Thanks, Gilly, you didn't have to do that for me, I could have done it," James said with a smirk.
"Lady Dorea said you were not to do it, Last time you set fire to your muggle clothes." To this, James let out a low chuckle, He really wasn't a domestic god, by far. In his opinion, ironing was pointless, who cared if your shirt was creased? Sirius would laugh at him if he ever admitted that he'd at least tried ironing. "Besides Lady Dorea said you needed a long sleep master James, otherwise you'd never stay awake on the train to Hogwarts."
Hogwarts, finally, He couldn't believe he was going back; Back to the world of charms and potions and pranks. And Evans, back to seeing her everyday, oh, how he'd missed seeing her, even if he received a dirty look every time they met. A look is a look, he reminded himself, a look is a look.
"Dreaming of that girl again?" Charlus Potter said as he walked into James' room. "By the way, Sirius sent an owl; he'll be here in ten minutes." He sat on the bed and studied James, as if she was reading his mind. James' father always had that affect on him. "Gilly, would you please prepare breakfast? It's a big day today and all."
Gilly shuffled out of the room, carrying the now neatly pressed robes and closing the door with a slight creak. James could hear his mother in the hallway, moaning about a howler she got from her aunt, discussing whether to open it or not. She decided on the latter.
"James, with it being your last year, I thought I'd give you something." He pulled out a purple box. It was small and circular with a deep blue velvet bow tied to the top. "Careful," He stated, "It's very valuable." With that, James opened the box. Inside was a deep set sapphire ring. "This is for you to use when it is needed." Yeah, James thought, like Lily would give me the time of day.
One hour later, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all sitting in their compartment on the Hogwarts express. Outside, the weather had brightened up and the sun shone through the glass in the windows. The daunting excitement of their final return to Hogwarts shed happiness to all of the seventh years in the fact that they would all pursue careers rather than learn in a classroom in the coming year. For James, this meant bad news. No more Hogwarts meant no more Lily, a fact that he was too eager to moan about at every given second.
"Would you shut up about Evans? Get over that girl already!" Sirius groaned.
"He's a man in love, well, obscure love" Remus chimed in.
"M-Maybe he is in love" Peter replied, resulting in an uproar of laughter from Sirius and Remus. "What? M-Maybe he is f-for all you know."
"Don't be dim. What does it matter little Miss Evans doesn't love him back? He has girls dropping at his feet!" Sirius retorted. "Hell, she doesn't even like him!"
Just then the compartment door slid open. There, standing in the door way, books in hand, was the red headed green eyed beauty, Lily Evans. She was still in her muggle clothes consisting of a green dress the exact colour of her eyes, James couldn't help but notice, and sandals. She had clearly gone for muggle summer, and James wasn't complaining. It took a while for him to register what she was saying.
"… So, I thought, what with me as head girl and Potter as head boy, that all the Gryffindor seventh years could celebrate. You know, a party, a get-together. You guys interested?" She looked around the compartment, eyes glancing to each of them in turn. Then she came to James and his heart skipped a beat when she smiled at him. He savoured the moment, then said
"Sure, what time?" She gave him the time and place and got up to go. Walking out of the compartment, she dropped her books. Almost immediately, James stood up and rushed to help. He gathered up the books and then stood, balancing a pile between his hands. "Where to?" He asked, eyes lingering on her face.
"Compartment twelve," She said, turning on her heel and leading the way. "You didn't have to do that," She started. "I mean, I could have carried them on my own."
"I know," James replied, smirking, "I just wanted an excuse to show off my muscle power." This resulted in a light laugh from Lily. Oh, how he loved that laugh. Those eyes, that face, everything. "Or, just to get you alone." At this, he sped up and overtook her, forcing her to slow down and go towards the wall. "Hey, Evans, want to go out with me?"
Lily smiled, leant into him; their faces close enough to kiss, grabbed her books and walked towards her compartment. "Maybe another time, Potter, Maybe another time."
"Oh, you'll want me!" He shouted back defiantly.
"Of course" were her last words before she shut the compartment door.
Lily Evans was a challenge. James Potter liked challenges.