To the Lovely Shay. I'm sorry it's so late, but happy new year!

365 Day Challenge: Online Dating!AU

New Years Resolutions: Write an AU that you've never written before

This is like texts n stuff.

Non-Magic!AU. i picture james as having indian heritage, but if you don't i'm sorry and just ignore the entire section where lily fears that he's racist. I've never been to Hyde Park either so it might not be like that.

Word Count: 1795


you're so gorgeous


Lily stared at the computer screen, contemplating just turning it off. Her friend, Dorcas, had made her make an online dating profile, because 'it is ever so sad that you haven't dated someone in five years, Lily-dear.' Lily hated this online dating thing. In the five hours that her profile had been up, three different creeps had messaged her, asking for things she was never going to give. She was just about ready to delete her account when a fourth person messaged her. Curious to see if they were like the others, she opened the message: it was from a guy named 'Prongsy' whose profile picture was a man with messy hair, hazel eyes and a headband with antlers on.

Prongsy: You alright, GingerSpice

Prongsy: Is your name actually Ginger? Because that would be unfortunate, and rather obvious that your parents hate you.

Lily chuckled slightly to herself. So far, this guy hadn't been like the others. She hoped it wasn't just a tactic to soften her up.

She clicked onto his profile, where it gave her his age (26, like her), job (a master of jokes and giggles) and several different pictures. One of them had him—or at least, someone she presumed was him—cuddling a black dog, and another was with him and a man with black hair and a wide smile. She decided it would be safe to reply to him, at least for now.

GingerSpice: No, fortunately. My name is Lily. What about you, Prongsy?

It was almost no time at all before he sent a reply.

Prongsy: Lily is a lovely name! My name is James, relatively normal, considering my father is called Fleamont.

GingerSpice: Very fortunate indeed.

Prongsy: Is your hair naturally that ginger? Like, I've never seen hair that dark, and I know a family of redheads—there are nine of them!

GingerSpice: Yes, my hair is naturally that ginger. Why, do you naturally have antlers?

Lily leant back in her seat, watching the screen to wait for a reply. This James guy seemed genuine enough: a bit nosy, and also a bit too trusting—if his fathers name was actually Fleamont, that is.

Prongsy: No, unfortunately. I do have a dog, though, if that counts.

Prongsy: Well, he's not my dog, but he's my friend's and therefore mine as well.

GingerSpice: Is that the friend that is in one of your pictures?

Prongsy: Yeah, his name is Sirius. He can be a bit of an asshole sometimes, but other than that he's great.

Prongsy: Who's in your picture, then? A sister? She's a bit blonder than you, so I don't think that you are, but then you seem very close.

GingerSpice: Nah, Dorcas isn't my sister, she's just my friend. My sister is blonde, though, but I haven't seen her in a while. Dorcas is the one that made me get this account.

Prongsy: Well, tell her thank you, then.

Prongsy: Because, you know, you're a good person to have a conversation with.

Prongsy: Not because of anything creepy.

GingerSpice: It's fine, honestly. It's nice talking to you as well.

Lily spoke to James until the early hours of the morning, just trading stories about their school lives, or their friends. She fell asleep at the computer, feeling happier than she had for a while: which was a hard task because she went to an Imagine Dragons concert the other week and that was great. Maybe Dorcas knew some things about romance, then…


Lily continued to talk to James for two weeks before he asked to meet up with her.

Prongsy: Would you, maybe, like to meet up one day?

Prongsy: We can go wherever.

GingerSpice: How do I know you're not a murderer?

Prongsy: Good question.

Prongsy: I'm not a murderer.

Prongsy: You can bring a friend with you just in case. I'll bring Sirius: it'll be like a double date.

Prongsy: Although Sirius is uninterested in most females, so bring a funny one.

GingerSpice: Okay. Dorcas is a lesbian, though.

Prongsy: Oh. Then they can like share gay stories or something.

Prongsy: I don't know. That doesn't make much sense.

Prongsy: Anyways. Would you like to meet up, then?

GingerSpice: Sure. Can we meet up somewhere open, though: just to eliminate the risk if you were in fact a serial killer.

GingerSpice: Or if Sirius was a serial killer.

Prongsy: Yeah, there's more chance of Sirius being a serial killer than me.

Prongsy: Only with my charmingly good looks!

Prongsy: Ignore him. Anyways, would you like to go to a park in London, then? Like Hyde Park or something? I don't know where you live, so it might be far away, so we can go somewhere closer to your home or something…

GingerSpice: Hyde Park is fine, it is nearby to where Dorcas and I live. I'll see you next Saturday.


Lily paced nervously in front of the gate, Dorcas just watching her. "What are you worried about, Lily-dear?" she asked, crossing her pale arms over the dark red top she had on. "Are you afraid he won't be handsome enough? Or maybe that he will have a crappy personality in real life?"

Lily turned around to glare at her friend. "I wasn't worried about those things until you mentioned them! I was more afraid about being murdered, but what if he's secretly prejudiced or something? Gods, what if he's homophobic? Or even racist?"

"Lily-dear, didn't he say that his friend was gay? And I don't think he's racist, honey."

Lily took a deep breath in. "I know, but how do I know he's not just lying about those things just to make him seem like a better person that accepts many different things?"

"I don't think he's faking his skin colour, Lily-dear!" Dorcas shook her head, obviously annoyed. "Just calm down."

She could not calm down, however, as at just that second she saw a face that she recognised, as it had been on her computer screen for the past few weeks. He had noticed her first and was steadily making his way over to her, another man trailing behind him slowly. "Are you Lily?" he asked, tilting his head to the side curiously.

"That depends," Lily replied. "I'm only Lily if you are James."

James broke out into a wide grin. "Oh, that's good, then!" He turned to Dorcas, holding his hand out for her to shake. "Hi, I'm James, and you must be Dorcas."

Dorcas took his hand, shaking it quickly before letting go. "It's a pleasure to meet the man Lilian has been going on about for weeks."

Lily felt her cheeks heating up as she whacked her friend, turning to James who had a bright smile on his face. "Please just ignore everything she says; everyone else does." Lily looked behind James to the man she assumed was Sirius. "It's nice to meet you, Sirius."

"Of course it is." Sirius broke into a routine that seemed almost rehearsed, although Lily was unsure on why he would rehearse this. "I'm Sirius Black, the most charming man you'll ever meet: watch out for this dazzling smile!" He dropped into a perfect curtsey.

Lily heard Dorcas laughing from behind her. James just rolled his eyes. "Ignore him as well. Do you want to go in now?"

She nodded as she took the arm that James had held out for her. Sirius and Dorcas trailed behind, and Lily thought they were talking about their plans for the next Pride parade, but she was unsure as she was busy studying James' face—he was more attractive in person. Every-so-often, James started to talk about the thing that they were looking at at the time, as if he was unsure on what else to say. It was different meeting someone in real life to meeting someone online, as you got to notice more of their quirks as they were unable to erase the parts that they didn't want you to see. Lily thought it was better this way, getting to see the whole of a person. It helped that James was an enjoyable person to be around.

They stopped to eat near a pond at noon, and Sirius pulled out a blanket so they could sit on the grass without ruining their clothes. Food was quickly finished, but Lily hardly tasted it as she was busy studying James. He didn't eat with his mouth wide open, but he wasn't as well-mannered as Sirius appeared to be—Sirius sat up straight despite being on the floor, and broke off little pieces from his sandwich and ate them without making a mess. Dorcas had no problems about making a mess: her food spilled down the front of her red top and when she tried to rub it off she ended up getting a stain. When they had finished, the four of them begun to share embarrassing stories about each other.

"Duck!" James interrupted halfway through Lily's description of Dorcas' drunken adventures, destroying the flow of the conversation and startling many people around.

A seagull flew onto the blanket, looking up at Lily's hand hopefully, as she was holding a crisp from the packet that James had given her. "That's not a duck, dumbass," Sirius said. "I know you're blind, but that's why you wear glasses."

James shook his head. "I thought the bloody bird was going for Lily's head." Lily looked up at the mention of her name, her free hand trying to shoo the seagull away. "So I told her to duck. I know what a duck looks like." James grinned wickedly as the seagull flapped away. "Sirius, however, cannot tell the difference between his dog and our other friend, Remus…"

They shared tales for a few more hours before they had to go. James stood to the side with Lily as Dorcas helped Sirius pack up the blanket. "That was fun," he said softly, smiling down at her. "When I met you, I didn't think you were real."

"I know the feeling: I was afraid you were going to be a perv like everyone else on the website." Lily let out a light chuckle to show that she didn't think that he was a pervert anymore.

"Would you like to meet up again sometime?" James glanced backwards towards his friend, who was throwing their rubbish into the nearest bin. "Um, only without the other two. They're great and all, but I would like to spend time with you alone: if that is okay with you."

Lily nodded, saying, "I would like that."

James leant towards her, pressing his lips to her forehead before quickly bouncing away, jumping onto Sirius' back. Lily smiled, following him at a normal pace as they exited the park.

Maybe the internet had some perks after all.


again, sorry this is so late. I hope you like this!

~butter