A/N: The first person I want to appreciate is Bee Daily (bcdaily) because I didn't truly fall in love with fanfiction until I read her story Commentarius. She inspired me to write my own fanfictions and now I am passionate about telling these character's stories in my own way. She's also, in my opinion, one of the kindest and most genuine people in the Jily fandom and Tumblr community.
Note: When you see a word in [brackets], it signifies that it has been crossed out. Unfortunately, there is no strikethrough option on this site.
Lily ran her fingers along the envelope's ragged edge for the third time in the past hour. She was supposed to be doing her summer coursework, but she was hopelessly distracted. Blowing a stray hair out of her face in a frustrated huff, Lily shoved the letter under some spare papers and forced herself to focus. She pulled the dated history book out of her knapsack and set it on her desk. The textbook was probably as old as Professor Binns; he was as pale and frail as a ghost and he would probably become one soon enough. Opening to chapter four, she started to read to herself.
"The Goblin Wars were started in—" She closed the book.
It was no use. Her mind and eyes kept wandering to the letter. She probably shouldn't have left it on her desk; it was much too tempting. Glancing at the still-visible envelope edge, she sighed, mentally cursing her inability to keep it out of her mind.
Grabbing the letter from underneath its stack of weak paper shields, Lily traced the envelope's messy scrawl. The words read: "To Lily Evans," and then below that, "Sorry."
The letter's actual contents were practically just as brief:
I'm sorry about what happened after our Defense Against the Dark Arts final because:
A. Like you (so kindly) mentioned before I was acting like an "arrogant, bullying toerag."
B. You were right. I was.
C. [Sniv] Snape called you [a mud] that word. You don't deserve that. Nobody does.
P.S. Before you ask, Remus did not force me to write this letter. He doesn't even know about it, actually.
-James
Lily stared at the words on the page for what seemed like the hundredth time since it had arrived via owl over a month ago. It had become a daily occurrence.
She easily confirmed the handwriting was his. This wasn't the first note he had tried to pass to her, but this was certainly the first one she had read. Also, despite the apologetic tone, the rest of the letter sounded like Potter.
James Potter had actually apologized for something. Lily had to admit she was strangely impressed, but there was something missing. She wondered why he hadn't mentioned his previous request for a date. He didn't apologize for it and he didn't ask her out again. Nothing. She didn't care either way, but the omission was rather unlike him. Strange.
Shaking her head, Lily placed the note in her top drawer, momentarily safe from her wandering eyes and curious thoughts.
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling created these characters and the quote is from "Snape's Worst Memory"