A/n: Welcome to another fanfic by me! I know this is different than my usual Dramione. This is my first time with doing this ship. Without further adieu, enjoy! I am on vacation, so I will probably be able to get another chapter up soon. Well, r&r!
Title: Love will Prevail
Ship: James/Lily
Rating: PG 13
Reason: Slight swearing and some suggestive content
Summary: James is madly in love with Lily. Every time she rejects him, every time she claims his feelings are fake, his heart breaks a little bit more. James decides to change himself to be more of what Lily would want, being more mature and less of a prankster. The only problem with that is, Lily still hates James. On the train, she overhears something he says to his friends about her. A few days into the school year, she and James get paired up for a project. Will feelings change, or will James never get his chance at happiness with Lily?
Chapter One:
It was September 1, and the Potters had to get to the train station by 11:00 AM. The only people awake in the house was Mrs. Potter and her husband, the boys still fast asleep, dreaming peacefully. Mrs. Potter went up to her sons room to see if he was up. Upon seeing he was still fast asleep, she said, "James! Get up! You don't want to miss the Hogwarts Express, do you?"
James Slowly woke as his mother shook him. "Alright, alright! I'm awake!" he said, followed by a mumbled, "I was in the middle of a great dream..." He could only vaguely remember the dream. One part stood out in his mind. Lily was there, and she had finally accepted his request to go out with him. They were happy together, just like James had always known they would be. "If only she would say yes in real life..." he said quietly to himself.
"What was that, Jamesie?" Sirius said, laughing. He had come to live with the Potters after running away from home earlier that summer. "If only who would say yes to what, Jamesie? Dreaming about Evans again?"
"Shuddup," James grumbled, a deep crimson blush creeping up his neck. "I think Lily might say yes to me this year. It's just a hunch, but it's a strong hunch."
Sirius sighed. (a/n- alliteration!) He wasn't sure that Lily would end up saying yes, but he hoped, for the sake of his friend's sanity, that she would. He didn't know if James' heart would be able to take it if she said no again. "You really love her, don't you, James?"
James looked away, his eyes hooded. "Yeah, I do. More than life itself." Every time Lily had said no, his heart broke a little bit more. He was near his breaking point. He didn't know how many more rejections he could take.
"Maybe this year, you should try something different. Be more subtle, don't try so hard to get her to like you," Sirius suggested. "Show her with you actions, rather than with your words, that you love her. But, don't overdue it. You don't want to scare her."
"Maybe if I get more mature and stop pulling pranks..." James said, thinking. Sirius had a look of shock on his face. He was having trouble imagining his best-friend-nearly-brother not pulling pranks but, he knew that if James truly wanted to change his ways and stop pulling pranks, nothing would stop him. Well, nothing except for Lily Evans.
"Boys! Come on downstairs!" Mr. Potter called form the kitchen. "It's time for breakfast! Alyse made all of your favorites!"
The boys walked into the kitchen, and sat down at the table. "Bacon, eggs, biscuits, and gravy," Mrs. Potter confirmed. Those were truly the boys favorite foods. "And, Sirius, I also made those turkey sausages that you like so much."
Sirius licked his lips hungrily as his and James' stomachs rumbled. "Thanks, Mrs. Potter!" He said grinning. He then began to shove all of the sausages into his mouth, eating them all withing a couple of minutes. James laughed at how quickly Sirius inhaled the meat.
"Hungry, Padfoot?" James teased. The only responser he got was Sirius sticking his tongue out at him before laughing. "Very mature, Sirius."
Five minutes later, all of the food was gone. James' parents walked into the kitchen. "The portkey is ready. Do you two have everything that you need for school?'When James and Sirius nodded, Alyse Potter gestured towards an old worn sock laying on the table. "Alright then. Everyone grab on in 3...2...1..." As everyone grabbed the sock, they were thrown into a swirling mass of time and space. They landed at the station a few short moments later.
"Hmm, I wonder why Moony and Wormtail are..." Sirius wondered, looking around.
"I wonder where Lily is?" James thought, also looking around. It appeared as though James was looking for his other friends as well rather than for the love of his life. When he saw her, his stomach clenched. Harrison Wood was flirting with her like crazy, and she was flirting back.
"What are you looking at, Prongs?" Remus asked after seeing James murderous expression. He followed James line of sight. "Oh. I see."
"Prongs, remember what you said earlier. You want to be more subtle about your feelings for her, and killing Wood isn't exactly being subtle. Be cool," Sirius reminded James.
James looked away. "Come on, lets go and find a compartment," he murmured. He kept his eyes forward, not letting them stray away for any length of time. He was hoping that Lily wouldn't see him. Unfortunately for him, she did.
"Oi, Potter!" she called. "What, no pre-train pranks? No asking me out just so I can say no over and over, again and again?" She laughed.
"Nope." James turned to look Lily in the eyes. Lily gasped inwardly at what she saw. Pain and hurt was evident in his eyes, rather than the usual playful glint they usually held. He cast his chocolate eyes away from her emerald ones, walking towards the train. That was weird... Lily thought. She was confused as to why James had acted so strangely.
OoOoOo
Earlier...
Lily had just gotten to the train station. She heard her name being called. "Lily! LILY! Over here!"
"Eeek! Alice!" Lily ran over and hugged her best friend. "How was your summer? Hows things with Frank? Tell me everything!" At the mention of Frank, Alice's cheeks flushed a pale pink.
"My summer was great! And things with Frank are going amazing. He got me this necklace," Alice said, holding out a sapphire butterfly that hung around her neck. The butterfly flashed brightly as the sun hit against it at different angles.
"Its so pretty! I love it!"
"Thanks. So, Lils, how was you summer? Meet any cute guys?" Alice asked, winking.
Lily laughed. "Well, I-"
"My, my, Lily Evans!" a voice interrupted. "You just get prettier and prettier every year, don't you?"
Lily smiled brightly at the new comer. "Hey, Harrison. You're looking pretty good yourself."
"Aw, you flatter me," Harrison teased.
"Hey, Lily? I'll catch up with you later, okay? I see Frank," Alice said before running over to hug her boyfriend and share a good snog with him.
"So, Lily, how are you this gorgeous day?" Harrison asked, taking a strand of Lily's fiery red hair and twirling it between his fingers. "Pity it has to be wasted on going to school."
"I'm doing great. And whats so bad about school?" Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw someone walking her direction. She recognized the messy black hair immediately. "Oi! Potter!" He just continued staring forward, his eyes cast downwards. "What, no pre-train pranks?" Still no response. She thought of something that she was 99.9 sure he'd respond to. "What, no asking me out again just so I can say no again?" She was expecting some sort of big reaction, with James immediately asking her out in a joking way, in which she would shoot him down again, as she had done so many times before. She wasn't expecting the dull Nope. she got for an answer, wasn't expecting the dull look of his eyes. James walked away.
"Harrison, I need to go and find Alice. I'll talk to you later, okay?" With that, she ran off to find her friend. "ALICE!" she called when she saw her. "I need to talk to you!"
"What's up?" Alice asking, walking over to Lily, hand in hand with Frank. "Frank, I'll meet you at the compartment, okay?" Frank nodded, walking off.
"Potter is acting really strange. He hasn't tried to pull one prank or ask me out yet! He usually had done two or three of each before he even gets on the train!"
Alice sighed. "Well, what you said to him was really mean..."
"You heard what I said to him?" Lily asked.
"Yeah. Lily, yo u know that is crazy about you. I bet that really hurt him!"
"He's not crazy about me, he's just putting up an act! He only says all those things for the attention. Thats all he cares about!" Lily exclaimed.
"No he doesn't!" Alice said, exasperated. "Have you ever payed attention when he is looking at you or talking to you? He has real feelings for you!"
"I won't believe it until it is proved to me," Lily said after a few minutes of silence. "I have to go to the prefects meeting right now, I'll talk to you when I get back."
OoOoOo
James was leaning his forehead against the cool glass of the window, his eyes closed. Lily's words kept running through his head: So I can just say no again and again... What she said had hurt him more than he was willing to admit. He sighed.
"You okay, Prongs?" Peter asked. James slowly opened his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be fine?" Remus and Sirius looked at each other. "Just because Lily rejected me again, and I didn't even ask her out, why wouldn't I be fine? Who cares if she doesn't love? I don't care. It doesn't even matter, it's not like she'll fall for me." James turned to stare out of the window once again, the faraway look returning to his face.
"James, you care. No matter how hard to try to convince yourself that you couldn't care any less, you know that you really do care," Sirius said. James ignored him. "James..."
"What do you want me to say?" James snapped. "That it kills me that Lily will never love me? That I am so in love with her that it is physically painful? That my heart breaks more every time she rejects me? That I'd rather die than have anything or anyone hurt her, emotionally or physically? It doesn't matter than all of those things are true!" Sirius, Remus, and Peter watched in silence as James put his head back against the window, his eyes closed once again, looking even more depressed than he did before.
Lily heard every word. She was walking past the Mauraders compartment during James outburst. "Oh my god..." she whispered.
In my day dreams, in my sleep
Infatuation turning into disease
You could cure me
See all you have to now is please try
Give it your best shot and try
All I'm asking for is love
But you never seem to have none.
Gotta feel you in my bones again
I'm all over you, I'm not over you
I wanna taste you one more time again
I'm all over you, I'm not over you
This life is way to short to get caught up in all this stuff
When I just want to love me back
Why can't you just love me back?
-"All over you" The Spill Canvas
Hope everyone enjoyed chapter one! Click that purple button down on the left hand side, and tell me what you think!