Happy birthday, Lily Evans-Potter. January 30 1960 - October 31 1981.

The first thing he notices about her is her eyes. He is sitting pretty far away, but can still clearly see the deep color swirling in her irises. It's bright green, so fresh, like a damp forest after a rainy day, so unusual... She looks directly at him and he pretends to rub his eye. He can feel her staring at him, so he keeps rubbing it, even though it's already watering. Finally she turns her gaze from him and he can see her beautiful eyes again, without the girl thinking he's some kind of creep. Her eyes gives out some kind of hope, feeling of freedom. He knows it's impolite to stare, but they are just so mesmorising, he can feel his gaze coming back to them everytime he tries to look away. She probably feels someone watching her and turns to him again. This time he pretends to fix his round glasses, even taking them off, rubbing into his new Gryffindor tie for a better effect. This repeats all over again - he watches her, she feels him staring and he pretends to do something else. James thinks he is handling this pretty well, until...

"Mate, are you okay? You look like you have some kind of seizures." Sirius arches his perfect eyebrow "Please tell me you're not alregic to peas." He glances at his plate, only to see a few green peas on it "Because I'm not going to throw them out of my racion, just because you can't eat them."

James doesn't answer. He lifts his eyes up from the peas, to a way more secuding green. Lily catches his stare and quickly turns away...

Then he notices he laugh. It's not a sound of angel, especially when she throws in a few snorts. He is sitting at the opposite end of the room from where she is. She is listening to her friend, who, he assumes, is telling her some kind of joke. She quietens down and then bursts out laughing again, clutching her somatch. People look at her weirdly, but it seems like she doesn't even care, neither does her friend. James wishes he could be sitting there, laughing with her, more because of her contagious laughter than because of the joke. He would even try to slip his arm around her shoulders. She wouldn't even notice it, she would be too busy wiping the tears of joy that ran down her cheeks.

She was the girl that studied too hard. James knew she was smart, but as soon as she fiound the usual tasks too easy, she grabbed onto a new thing, thinking she was doing something wrong. If her friends were struggling so much with the work, why would she get it so quickly? She was fascinating at potions. No one, even that greasy little kid who started at her way too much (it always bothered James more than just a bit) was better. He loved the way her red hair would electrify because of the steam erupting from her cauldron.

She was wonderful at charms. The girl easily understood the spell, the proper way to use it and no matter if professor Flitwick required her to fly a father into the air or make someone laugh, she would always get it right.

She had skills at defence against the dark arts. It scared him a bit (okay, more than a bit) that she was learning this stuff. Of course, it was good, and gave her ability to protect herself, but it made James realise there was actually something lurking outside the school that she had to protect herself from. He hoped, that one day she would let her use his skills to keep her safe.

She was good even at Herbology. Nobody liked Herbology. Who wanted to pull whiny little pricks out of their home and plant them into another vase? The answer - nobody. Not even Lily, even though James saw how hard she tried to smile and look enousiastic everytime Professor Sprout landed her gaze on her.

Maybe she wasn't the best at Transfiguration. James knew it wasn't nice, but he secretly liked it. Not because he wanted to be the best in class, because (not that he was cocky or anything) he already was the best at this subject. No, he hoped that one day, when she couldn't turn a rat into a sophisticated glass or an adult tropical bird into an egg, she would ask for his help, giving him a beautiful pleading smile. James loved the way she tried to be her best.

But the thing he loved about her the most was the way she looked like when those three words escaped her lips. Her hair would be slightly disheveled and her lips would be parted. Her eyes, in which, by the way, he could now look whenever he wanted, would sparkle brightly. So close to him, he would be afraid to breathe, or close his eyes, as if she was a mirage that could vanish any moment.

"I love you." she would whisper and close the little space between them.

Devoted Lily & James fan, like always. (Excuse me for any mistakes.)