"Please remember to turn your children in at the end of the day, for the most part you have all managed this project brilliantly-" Slughorn's voice broke through his thought as he looked up from where he was holding the doll that he'd been assigned for the project. Looking at his partner who was sitting across the aisle from him and their 'child' he felt a pang of guilt. Looking back down at the black-haired doll who had green eyes just like hers he was sad that the project was almost over.
James Potter was rarely sad about anything especially school assignments but this one had been different. For the past two and a half months he'd been taking care of a 'child' with his partner as though it was their own. Slughorn had been adamant that Lily and he work together. James of course had been thrilled for the chance to get to know her better, she hadn't felt the same originally though he thought that over the last two months she'd warmed to him and his friends.
As he collected his stuff and handed the doll to Lily so she could take it to her next class he thought about how he'd have to ask her now or never. As she smiled and promised to give him back Harry after her period of gym, which three periods from then, he choked, next time. His mind drifted back to when the project had started, he'd been late to Health from his gym period.
"Ah Mr. Potter you're just in time, we were just discussing were to place you for the parenting project," Slughorn said taking his tardy slip as James slipped into his seat and pushed his glasses up his nose and wrinkled his brow, "you'll be paired with Ms. Evans and work with her for the remainder of the class."
James for his credit didn't look shocked as he looked over at Lily who managed a half grin before turning to listen to something Marlene had said. Turning slightly to look at Sirius who sat opposite him he raised his brow. Sirius for his credit just winked and went back to writing a note to Remus. As Slughorn went into the specifics of the final course project and how the dolls worked. James turned his focus onto figuring out how he'd been so blessed to finally be paired with Lily Evans. He was up and across the room almost next to Lily when Slughorn and the bell announced the end of class.
"Hey, so do you want to get together tonight after soccer practice and go over how we want to handle this project, -" His hands were sweating in his pockets and he was rocking on his heels. James was known for being one of the smoothest talkers in their year and yet when faced against Lily Evans his tongue was tied in knots. Clearing his throat, he continued to talk, "- or we can meet whenever you're available I didn't mean to assume that you had no plans. Because of course you'd have plans."
"James!" her clear light voice broke through his spiralling thoughts as she grabbed his arm. "Tonight works just fine, but we have to collect a doll, so why don't we start with that." She moved around him and towards the front of the room where a crowd of students were milling through the boxes of the dolls. As they neared the dolls and the crowd of their classmates, Lily went to grab the first one they came upon when a voice broke through the crowd.
"Lily if you wanted a white doll you shouldn't have paired with someone like Potter," James' head shot up and the crowd quieted as Severus Snape stood in front of Lily who was standing there quiet and open mouthed. "You know genetics dictate that a child between you and Potter here wouldn't be remotely white. Though you're not one to be interested in men anyway so I guess this child won't ever happen."
"Severus, you should back up," Marlene's voice came above the silence as she started to move closer to Lily and the powder keg she knew was getting ready to combust. When Lily had come out a year ago as bisexual she'd been hit with a shit ton of backlash mostly from Severus her then best friend. She'd been outed because she'd been seeing a girl from across town and had brought her then girlfriend to the spring fling the year before. Severus had thrown a fit that ended with calling her a two-faced teasing whore. They hadn't talked much since then and Lily had been clear in the end of their friendship when Severus refused to come around to her being bisexual
"Snape, I'm not sure what mental disconnect you're having, but as I've told you a hundred times I am not a lesbian, and if I was that doesn't mean that James and I couldn't still have a child together. I'm fully aware how genetics work and I think that any child I would be blessed to have with James would be 100 times better than a child with you so it's really not your concern is it?" he voice was barely above a whisper and if the crowd hadn't been near silent James would have been convinced he'd imagined the whole thing.
"You're really trying to tell me you'd sully yourself by-" whatever Severus was about to say was cut off suddenly. While no one had been, certain what had happened during the fight at the spring fling the spring before. This time though everyone in their class knew exactly what happened, Lily Evans the kind sweet pacifist who helped freshmen with their homework, broke the bigots nose.
"I wouldn't finish your thought Severus, we're all aware that you've adopted the Nazi Kool-Aid as gospel." Turning she walked away from the dolls and the crowd leaving him to cup his bleeding nose. James was gobsmacked as he turned to chase after her. Stopping at the door he turned back but Sirius was holding a box and shaking his head.
"Don't worry bro I got you and Evans, I'll get you a doll." Sirius, Remus and Peter along with Marlene had circled Severus, James would later find out, they made it clear that if he said another word to Lily about anything no one would ever find his body.
The stress of finding a doll now replaced with catching up with the smoking volcano he had torn through the crowded halls but she had disappeared. James spent the rest of the day with a small knot of worry growing in his stomach. As it turned out she found him holding their doll as he walked out of the men's locker room after soccer practice.
"I'm sorry I bolted, I was embarrassed he got me to react like that, apparently though he told Slughorn he cracked it on a desk," she held out the baby doll to James and offered him a half smile, "Marlene picked him out, she said that it made her believe that a baby between us would be hella attractive." They both chuckled, each a little unsure how to go forward from this moment. Lily pulled the doll back to her chest and held it tight. "He's just such a fucking jerk."
"Hey, you were fucking brilliant, first you verbally ripped him apart and secondly you broke the nose of someone who was twice your height without hurting yourself," he said softly as he gestured towards the car park. "Also, you defending me was pretty attractive-" her fist connected with his side not hard enough to hurt but hard enough to startle him, "-hey what it was, no girls ever defended me from a racist before." She laughed at that and shook her head, James was starting to calm down and relax as they walked towards his car.
The drive to his parent's house was quiet, Lily typing on her phone letting her mother and father know that she'd be home late due to a group project. He lived in the wealthy part of town, his parents being big in the technology and security firms had made enough money that it wasn't a thing anymore. Lily bit back a gasp as they pulled through the hedged fence, it was massive, well definitely bigger than her attached two story that she lived in with her mum, dad and sister.
"Before we go in, I should warn you that my parents are a bit much," he said placing the car in park as he turned to take the doll from her hands.
"I'm sure I'll be able to handle it," She said shifting her backpack over her left shoulder as she pulled her hair from under the strap. James bit his lip and quickly looked away. It wasn't an unusual thing to do, and yet as he watched her sort herself out his pulse raced. The evening sun igniting her hair. Shifting on his feet he walked towards the door and smiled at her. "I'm ready." Her confirmation eased his mind.
"OI! Potter!" Sirius' gentle and thoughtful tone rocked him from his musings about the first night of the project, shaking his head he looked at his friends who were watching him concerned. Sirius was sitting there, eyebrows raised and gesturing to him as though he'd missed an important question and he figured he had.
"What did I miss?"
"We were wondering if you had heard that Luke Grussman in class this morning saying that he was going to ask Lily to Prom," Remus said not surprised that James had zoned out, he'd noticed his best friend a little distracted most of the day.
"He wants to whAT?!" his voice coming out strangled as his bespeckled eyes frantically searched the cafeteria for Lily and her friends. When he saw, them sitting at a picnic table outside he breathed a sigh of relief, she didn't look any different. "Well I'll just have to ask her first," his resolution solidified and he stabbed at the samosa that his mum had packed in his lunch. A couple of snickers had him glancing up confused. "What are you pricks laughing 'bout now?"
"Just that Luke was talking about Narcissa and we knew you hadn't heard. You just confirmed that you're going to ask Evans to Prom," Peter's voice was muffled by Sirius' hand as the soccer team goalie looked like he was trying to strangle their resident good kid.
"You fuckers were trying to get me to spill if I was going to ask Evans to prom?" he was never shocked at how underhanded and sneaking his best friends could be sometimes.
"Well you've stopped moaning and bitching about how she'll never like you and your crush would never go away, so we figured we'd check." Sirius nodded along as Remus explained their logic.
"I quit talking about it because for the last two months and change, Lily and I have been talking everyday about the project, the match against Durmstrang Institute and the others we've had. She's finally treating me like a friend or at least someone she doesn't mind spending time with," James grumbled as he flipped the bird to his best mates. "I think she'll say yes, to prom, but I'm not sure that she actually doesn't see me as anything but the annoying toerag I was to her since primary school."
Remus and Sirius looked at him and shrugged as Peter offered a kind smile and clap on the back as he stood up to throw out his lunch tray. The group got up and wondered through the halls separating and meeting up with other friends as they went to their respective classes. James had 1800s political systems after lunch and he had it alone. The professor, Professor Binns was pleased to drone on and on for a period without engaging in his students. James' favourite seat was by the window which over looked the football pitch. He and Lily had spent an evening just sitting in the stands just a couple of weeks ago on the first good day out.
James was talking with his co-captain when Sirius their goalie and his brother in arms whistled at him flailing his arms as he tried to get James attention. Cormac Finnegan just shook his head and mumbled something about how Black had taken one to many balls to the head this season. James for his credit just snorted and jogged over to Sirius eyebrows raised. "You whistled?"
"I thought you'd like to know that you have a fan," Sirius waggled his eyebrows and pointed to the spectator stands behind him. James followed his line of sight and shook his head before laughing. "She's been here all practice reading and pretending to be taking care of your child." This startled James, Lily had sat out in the cold temperatures to watch their practice.
"Wait she's been here all practice?" his eyebrows couldn't really encroach into his hair line any more than they already had. Sirius nodded and hefted his goalie bag over his shoulder. James was still staring at Lily who was holding the doll and waving one of its arms at his direction. "Are you okay getting home on your own?" Sirius had moved in the end of Freshman year after his mother had beaten him so badly that his parents had been called to collect him from the hospital. When his adopted brother nodded, he grabbed his own practice gear and took off to the stands.
"Aw hey son, did you like watching your old man play the game he loves?" he said deepening his voice and winking at Lily. Sitting next to her he bumped her shoulder and smiled at the doll who eerily looked the perfect genetic mix of his Indian and her Irish heritage. The doll was tan and had soft black hair with green eyes that were a dead ringer for Lilys. "You ever wonder if our child would actually look like this?"
"I think we're far too young to be thinking about kids, and we aren't together." She said softly as she smoothed the dolls hair. She grinned at James and the poor bloke thought his heart was going to stop working right. "It's so weird that this project is over in just a couple of weeks, this has been much nicer and probably the easiest project that we've ever had and to think we were all bitching about having to buy flour for this project." She laughed at her memory and handed their fake child to James. "Here Daddy, you haven't held him all day."
James took the doll gingerly and looked at her smiling as he held the doll close and looked out over the pitch. He always hated holding the doll because he felt so awkward and scared of setting off the sensors and getting negative feedback sent back to the monitor that Slughorn had on his laptop. "Can you believe that in just two months we'll be taking our final A Levels and going off on our separate ways." The thought of levelling secondary school was still daunting for him though with the scholarship offers to play starting forward for a few good schools was making his decision easier.
"I can't wait to go to university and study things that make me excited to get out of bed, work with similar people who care so much about history and civil rights like me," she said softly looking out of the pitch her elbows resting on her knees as she leaned forward to put a book back in her bag.
"Lily are you going to prom," he asked softly looking at their doll trying to figure out how to ask her, it was still two months away but it would be nice to ask her. He hoped the question wasn't too obvious of his intentions and sounded casual.
"It depends, my dad's chemo isn't helping like they thought it would and money is tight. I might just stay home and avoid the hassle of picking out a dress and such," her hair fell in front of her face as she ducked her head looking down at her hands. James winced as she mentioned her father, the man was a giant and the thought that cancer could fell a man so full of life and so strong was hard to imagine. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She rarely invited him over lately, the stress of visitors was a lot for her mum to handle.
"I think it's noble of you to forgo prom to spend time with your mum and dad while you can." He said softly as they watched the sun sink behind the trees and he just held her close as she wiped a few stray tears from her face and relaxed against him. "At least we'll always have Harry," he joked softly squeezing her shoulders lightly. The pair wouldn't move for another hour until the last rays of light from the sunset had disappeared through the trees.
James was nervous and he wondered up to Marlene and Alice in the hall before their second to last class and ran a hand through his hair anxious about what they might say. Alice and Marlene were formidable and intimidating girls in their own ways, and he was worried that they'd think his question insensitive.
"I was wondering if you guys knew if Lily had changed her mind about prom," he pulled his glasses off cleaning them in jerking circles as he squinted at him.
"As a matter of fact we were just talking about how it's such a shame that her parents pushed her to go to prom so late and now everyone is paired off, she'll have to 7th wheel with us and Remus and Sirius," Marlene said leaning against her locker looking at him eyebrows raised.
"Oh, be nice Marlene. James Lily's dad heard us talking about how she wasn't going to prom and told her that he'd love to see her in a pretty dress and it would make warm his heart to have happy memories for her to remember from this year," Alice said placing a hand on James' arm stilling his jerky circles of faux cleaning, "you should ask her before someone else does."
James nodded and slipped his glasses back on. "You think she'll say yes?"
"I think that the only way to know what she'll say is to ask her yourself," Marlene shrugged and smiled at James before spinning on her heel and walking away just as Lily appeared.
"Where's Marls going? I thought we were going to walk to gym together," she shifted her bookbag and her hold on the doll before looking from Alice to James, "oh hi guys, were you guys having a meeting or something, I'm sorry for interrupting." She smiled at her best friend and James before holding out the doll to James. "Since I'm seeing you now do you mind taking Harry for the last three periods of the day?"
"Of course not, see you back at the Health room to turn Harry back into a doll," he said winking at her. He waved goodbye to Alice and Lily before departing off for his maths class.
James felt a plan forming as he sat in Math with Dumbledore and as he texted the Marauder group chat asking if they thought the idea was good enough he barely noticed sitting through his study hall period or Literature with Minnie. By the time the end of the day had come around he had written a small note card with everything he wanted to say to Lily before asking her to prom. He grabbed his practice gear, their 'child' and his backpack and headed back up to the health room to return their doll together. Lily had Greek right next to the health room so her standing there waiting her hair in a bun held together with a pencil he waved. All their friends were standing around waiting to return their respective dolls to Slughorn.
"Lily before we return Harry I need to talk to you about something," his voice was shaky as he looked at her and bit his lip. "Lily Jane Evans will you go to Prom with me?" when her smile dropped he sped forward hoping he could make her see that they'd be a good fit. "Lily you are the most impressive woman I have the pleasure to know. You never pause to defend others from bullies and racists alike. I know you were wary about working with me at the beginning of the project and I admit I can be a prick with the best of them. You are so kind and selfless, never pausing to sacrifice your desires to help another person. I know that I'm not your ideal person, but I would love to be your date to prom…" James was flying through his speech and at some point, the speech wasn't even what he'd planned. Lily for her credit was blushing and biting her lip. "Harry thinks we should go to prom too," he concluded holding out their doll who was holding a poster between his hands that read. 'Mom please take dad to prom, he's a mess without you.'
Nothing, she was saying nothing. She looked like she might be about to cry now that he looked at her. Mentally cursing himself he took a step forward and held out his hand. She wasn't supposed to cry, this was all supposed to make her smile or laugh. Walking closer he wrapped her into a hug, the doll trapped between them. "Lily I'm so sorry I thought getting asked to prom would make you smile, I had no idea the thought of going with me was going to make you cry."
"For second in our class, you're one of the dumbest people I know," her muffled voice came from against his chest, she'd hugged him back without a thought and held on tight. James pulled away careful not to drop the doll, letting Lily take their doll before brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Then why are you crying," he was now completely confused.
"You idiot, I was sad that our project was over. I was sad that we weren't going to have a reason to sit after practice and watch the sunset. Or I wouldn't have a reason to be sitting in your kitchen and talk to your mother for hours while she teaches me assorted styles of curry, korma and kheer. I don't want our movie nights to end and I knew that we'd stop hanging out the minute we returned Harry and-and-" her voice broke off as she burst into full blown tears looking at him hoping he'd understand just why she was so upset, these tears were no longer sad tears but rather happy tears.
"Wait you were going to miss those things too? I had no intention of letting our movie nights or after practice talks disappear, Lily for the first in our class you are rather dense. I'm in love with you, have been for the last seven years, since you tripped me on the playground for teasing Alice back in six year," he said wiping her tears away. Her tears started to slow as she looked up at him and his unruly hair and his bespeckled eyes. She saw no hint of falsehood in his brown eyes, just the truth.
Neither one of them noticed that it wasn't just their friends standing around them anymore. Teachers and other classmates were standing around them now too. Minnie smirked at Slughorn from across the crowd, before taking a hundred pound note from Trelawney and a fifty from Flitwick. They'd been trying to get the two kids together all through the last four years and it turned out that Slughorn and Minnie had been right about pairing them up for the family management project.
"So Lily, will you go to prom with me?" he asked again his voice soft and gentle as he took her hand in his staring down into her bright green watery eyes.
"I think that I would love to go to prom with you James, but also I'd rather ask you for something a bit more permanent. Will you be my boyfriend?" she asked softly looking up at him and grinning at him cheekily.
"Lily Evans I've only ever wanted to be your boyfriend," he said and pulled her back into a bone crushing hug as cheers erupted across the hall. The most shipped pair in Hogwart Prep was finally together. All it took was a baby doll and some scheming professors.
Epilogue
Six years later, James and Lily had graduated university while also juggling their long-distance relationship. James had gone to UCL for pre-clinical medicine and was starting his first year of post grad clinical medicine at Cambridge. Lily had gone to Cambridge right out of secondary school for law and was now starting her apprenticeship to continue pursuing her degree in law. Somehow, they'd not only exceled in their separate paths, but also together. They were planning to get married when James finished his residency in four years, though that plan was probably going to be pushed up as Lily stared at the little stick in her hand. They were pregnant.