A/N: Written for the Snakes and Ladders Challenge. Honestly, this is probably one of the hardest characters for me to write, and it turned out way longer than I expected too. But enough of that. Have fun reading :)
5 times he fell love with her, and 1 time he didn't
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1. James was a bundle of nervous energy. Although he didn't show it outwardly, he felt like his stomach was revolting against him. But he still had a reputation to keep so he fixed his confident smile in place and tried to relax his stiff posture. A long way ahead of him, the Sorting hat began calling out names.
It was as he was straining to see the front of the line that he noticed her. The bright red hair made it easy to spot the temperamental girl that had been in his compartment… Lily, if he recalled correctly. She was standing near the front of the line looking cool and collected. Cast in the light of the candles, she looked almost ethereal.
James felt his heart start to beat faster.
2. The first time he worked courage to ask her out was in their second year. It was a dark and gloomy winter day when he stood up abruptly and yelled out loud, "Lily Evans, will you go out with me?"
Everyone in the Great Hall stilled, and then swivelled their heads to watch the girl's reaction. What would the muggleborn witch say to the handsome heir of a pure blooded family? Everyone was curious, to say the least. The answer to that question was that she stood up and, after a tension filled pause, yelled, "No!" at him. The door to the Great Hall shut as she promptly left soon after.
As James slumped down into his seat, Sirius leaned over to him.
"She thinks you're a git, you know," he whispered in the silence that followed, "That's why she won't date you, no matter how much money you have."
The depressed boy considered this thoughtfully, and then a small smile slowly curled at the corners of his mouth.
"Well then," he said, "I'll just have to prove her wrong won't I?"
3. Their prank had gone too far.
Lily stood at the entrance to the common room, frozen in shock and completely soaked to the bone. And that wasn't even the worst of it. Her favourite white blouse that she had worn to Hogsmeade was now utterly stained and ruined, not to mention the feathers that stuck to her body from a layer of honey. Her green eyes were wide and uncomprehending.
James was also frozen. The prank was supposed to his the first person to walk through the common room, but he never expected it to be Lily! He was torn between apologizing and cringing away from her. After all, her temper was infamous through the school.
Before he could do anything, Lily had already walked past him in silence, with not even a glare in his direction. The sound of a door shutting echoed through the quiet common room. That seemed to snap her friends out of whatever trance they were in because they jolted slightly, and then hurried after the girl while shooting nasty looks at him.
From behind him, his friends were also coming out of their shock.
"Bloody hell…" Sirius swore softly.
Remus regarded James with a stern look. "You should let her cool down a bit, then go apologize," he advised.
James nodded numbly, and stumbled to an armchair near the fireplace. His friends hung around with him for a bit before leaving him to wait for Lily to come down. James couldn't help be glad that there was no one around to see that disastrous prank. The majority of the Gryffindor's were still down in Hogsmeade, enjoying themselves.
An hour and a half later, a freshly showered Lily came down the stairs to her dorm.
"Lily-" James called, lurching quickly to his feet. The girl's eyes swept around the room as if there was nobody inside.
She began to walk to the door. James intercepted her.
"I-Lily, just hear me out!" He said in frustration, "Please, I-I didn't mean it and I didn't want to humiliate you, well, the prank… but it wasn't supposed to be you!"
By then, he was clasping her hands in between his and had gotten down on his knees in front of her. "Please forgive me!"
That beat of silence was the most agonizing moment in his life. He had been expecting the worst, but then, she sighed.
"Don't think you're going to get away with this Potter!" She growled before stomping off.
James blinked. Then, he sat back on his haunches and let out a relieved and happy laugh. What she said, in Lily-talk, translated to: Fine, I forgive you.
After that, he fell back onto the carpet with a soft thump. A giddy smile appeared on his face as he stared at the ceiling. 'What an amazing woman,' he thought happily.
4. "Evans, will you go out with me? There's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up."
"How many times do I have to say no for you to understand that I don't want to go out with you."
"Come on, it's not like you have any plans!"
Lily snapped James an irritated scowl. "I do have plans, thank you very much!"
James raised an interested eyebrow. "Oh? What are you doing then? Studying? Hanging out with your friends? You're not going to be with Snivellous are you?"
That was the last straw.
She slammed her textbook shut and jabbed a finger into James's chest. "Listen up you irritating toe-rag! What I do is none of your business! In fact, I could go on a date with Severus and you wouldn't be able to do a thing!" With that last word, she grabbed her books and left the common room.
James turned to grin at his friends. "She wouldn't date Snivellous," he said confidently.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Alice called from across the room, "She's been talking to him more and more lately."
That comment stopped James in his tracks.
And so, the morning of the weekend dawned bright and early. James, in his dorm, called a Marauder's meeting.
"What's this about James?" Sirius asked.
"We have to make sure that Lily really isn't meeting anywhere with Snivellous!" James said seriously, "I'm fairly certain she's still in the girl's dorm. We'll have to use the cloak to follow her.
Sirius winced and sent James and apologetic look. "Sorry, but I've got a date with Marlene today…"
"Pete and I are studying for exams," Remus inputted, "Not all of us can be natural geniuses like you two."
James sighed, disappointed, but reluctantly nodded in acceptance. "I'll tell you how it goes," he promised.
The four friends nodded at each other and then separated.
James threw the invisibility cloak over his body and crept down to wait in the common room, taking care not to bump into anybody. He stood by the fireplace, watching the stairs to the girl's dorms. It didn't take long for Lily to come down.
She walked calmly into the room. James instantly zeroed in on her as she hefted a bag over her shoulders. She didn't look like she had anything to hide, but still…
She walked out of the door and down the hallway. Finally, she stopped in front of the library. James crept after her, narrowly avoiding hitting a chair, and watched as she sat down at the same table of a nervous looking Hufflepuff. Okay, now he was curious. Why would she sit beside the girl if there were other empty tables?
But nothing special happened. Lily just took out her books and spoke quietly with the girl. James couldn't really make out what was being said; he was too far away. So he stood there for another half hour before he realized what she was doing.
She was tutoring the Hufflepuff!
He felt like smacking his head against something. The wall, preferably. With a rueful smile on his face, he turned and left the library.
5. James was seriously scared for Lily's life.
Everyone in the hallway had already cleared out when they saw Lily berating a bulky, seventh year Slytherin. Everyone except him, that is. He hovered a few feet back, wondering what he should do.
Lily and the Slytherin were currently staring each other down, neither giving an inch. James could swear that he hadn't seen them blink in a while now.
With the war going on, it wasn't safe to take on a Slytherin alone. Especially with tensions running high. (Of course, this didn't apply to the Marauders.)
Then, after an eternity, the balance was broken. The Slytherin turned away, but not before sending this girl on last glare. Lily watched his back until he rounded the corner before glancing back at him and raising an eyebrow.
"What?" She asked.
James let out a silent breath of relief and grinned.
"Nothing."
1. He didn't have a problem with Snape.
Okay, maybe a tiny one, but that was because he was friends with Lily and she didn't hate his guts. But as far as Slytherins went, he wasn't that bad. So, James felt a slight vindictive pleasure when Lily stopped speaking to him after the "Mudblood calling" incident. It had been days since she had even looked at Snape and her attitude had warmed to him a bit too!
But then those days turned into weeks.
And those weeks turned to months.
James was getting uneasy, but he wasn't sure why. He had seen Snape following Lily around recently, apologizing profusely. She simply ignored him. It didn't take genius to see that Snape really felt sorry for what he said, but Lily wouldn't listen to a word he said.
It was a strange experience to say the least.
By the time they were about to get onto the train, Sirius asked a question he never would've thought of.
"Is there anything about Lily you don't like?"
James faltered, considering. Sirius blinked at him, and sent him a questioning look.
He never answered the question.
