Lily Evans was the happiest woman in the world as she got ready for her marriage. Today was the day she was going to get married to the man she loved. As she sat there in the back-room of the Church of Godric's Hollow while make-up was being dabbed on her face, she smiled remembering the times her soon-to-be husband had told her 'I love you' before she finally replied with the same.
The first time James Potter said those three words to Lily Evans was in their first year, he didn't really mean it. It was just a way of showing gratitude for the help in Potions homework. Lily had just rolled her eyes and smiled with a shake of her head.
The second time James Potter said, I love you to Lily Evans was at the last day of their First Year where they won the House Cup just because of Lily and her friends who regained the points recently formed Marauders had lost. She had smiled, not ready to hold a fight on the jovial day.
They say third time lucky, but the third time he said I love you; it was dripping with sarcasm, because she had told him off for the latest prank on her best friend, Sev.
The next thirteen times were just in passing without actually meaning it. Some were expression of gratitude, some just incessant teasing and a rare with sarcasm and anger.
The seventeenth was in their fourth year, when she had stood up for him in the Potions' class against Severus. He seemed more in awe than in love.
After that she didn't hear him say, I love you to her for a whole year. As though he was contemplating what really love meant to him. And what she was to him.
The eighteenth time was in the beginning of their Fifth Year, on the Hogwarts' Express. He had looked nervous and fidgety, was he blushing?
"I love you, Evans." He said running a hand through his messy hair making them messier, "Go out with me?" He asked.
She didn't know he meant it, tentatively assumed it was a prank and laughed, "Real nice, Potter. Not working, though." You laugh all the way back to your compartment, not seeing the hurt look that had crossed his face.
From nineteenth to twenty-sixth he tried convincing her that what he felt was true. He loved and cared for her, he claimed.
The twenty-seventh time she had been irritated at everything, his constant proclamation of love for her, Severus' betrayal and the 'I told you so' she got from everyone who looked at her.
"Do you know anything about me, Potter?" She asked with her eyebrow raised, "Look Potter, I know you might believe that this... uh... thing what you feel is love. But it might just be an attraction or a crush. Just think over it, okay?" She added after a moment, looking at his hurt face.
"I love..." He began for the twenty-seventh and a half time.
"No..." She held up her hand and halted him in mid-sentence, "No you don't. Do you know me? Like really, me? My likes, dislikes my faults, my parents' name? Listen, Potter... no listen to me. I am not a trophy, Potter. I know you always got what you wanted and maybe see me as a challenge or something. Try and know me first and then decide you love me or not, okay?" she said and walked away, leaving him behind with his thoughts.
The whole of the Sixth Year passed with him observing her, talking to her and getting to know her, while she also got to know him. Not the arrogant boy she was saw but the good-at-heart man she came to know. Slowly, gradually, without even realizing, she fell for him.
Then came the twenty-eighth and half time...
"Lily..." he began, "you said, that I should get to know you first and then decide whether I love you or not. Well..." he ran a hair through his hair, now she knew that it was a nervous habit, "I have seen you, observed you, the way you prefer orange juice over pumpkin juice and tea over coffee, and you love chocolates but hate nuts in them. You laugh a little louder than generally girls would and hate when people look at you and try to judge you. Your favorite dish is kidney pie and steak and you love dancing when no one is watching. You hate when people become biased or prejudiced about you or anyone in general but you believe in second chances. You care and worry infinitely for the ones you love, be it your cat or your best friend... And so much more to you then you let on. You are someone so special that it could not be described into words. And now I have finally decided that... I love you and forever will... even you love me back or not." He said.
At the end of his speech, Lily had tears in her eyes as they flowed freely tracing a path down her cheeks, "I love you too, James." She said and her voice cracked, it sounded so feeble and small in front of his love for her. But then to him, they were the sweetest words on the planet.
{Written for Sanch in Fic Exchange of Epic Proportions}
[About being in a church, I just assumed that Lily's parents would have wanted the marriage to be Muggle way?]