Note: After a bit of difficulty, I have decided to re-post this story. Please enjoy.
Hey Everybody! Tara here. I'm having a bit of a Writer's Block at the moment for "The Swap", so I decided to write a one-shot to pass some time. Just another L/J fic…
Disclaimer: Do you honestly think that I own Harry Potter? Use your common sense.
She came here every summer. She didn't know why, but she was drawn to this place for some strange reason.
It was where she had gotten her first boyfriend at the age of thirteen, and where she fed the birds on cold, snowy days.
It was where she'd come to collect her thoughts after a blazing row with her sister, only to go back home and argue with her all over again.
It was a quiet and peaceful place where she could let go of reality, if only for a few minutes, and was her favorite place in the entire world (beside Hogwarts of course).
It was her bench. Her wooden back-to-back seating bench with the small carvings of other's initials in it.
She absolutely loved that bench, and it been in her neighborhood for as long as she could remember, having lived on the East side of the park since birth.
Today was no different. Lily Evans stepped outside of her small house, twirling her house keys on her index finger.
She strode toward that same park where the said bench was located. Though, today, she was in a slight daze.
She would be returning to Hogwarts this year for hear Seventh and final year of her magical education. This was why she decided to come back to her bench one more time before the summer holidays were to end.
One of the other things that kept intruding her thoughts was something that filled her with dread, the downside of returning to school: James Potter. He had been invading her thoughts a lot as of late, actually. She knew that this year was going to be the same with Potter begging her mercilessly for a date. Oh, joy.
A bird chirped somewhere in the distance, snapping Lily out of her little reverie, to realize that she was already seated on the bench that invaded her thoughts.
Her feet were probably so used to the path that they led her there without any help from her brain.
At first, she though she was alone, but then she heard a sigh coming from the other side of the bench. She didn't really mind the person's presence, though. It was actually sort of comforting.
James Potter hated this bench. No, scratch that. He loathed this bench. With a passion.
That's right. He loathed this bench with a passion.
He had been sitting here all morning, and he still hadn't blown off any steam.
He and Sirius had had a rather terrible argument that morning that James had slammed the door violently on his way out of the house, only stopping to lock it behind him.
He always seemed to come here after something terrible happened. He had come here on the night when he found out about his father's death, and when he had nearly broken his arm flying when he should have been doing his chores.
He didn't know why he even came here in the first place. He guessed that his feet just always brought him here self-consciously. Either that or he just became tired from running in the same spot every time he came around.
James had brought up Lily Evans during some time that morning, and Sirius had finally snapped saying that James never took the time to do anything anymore because he was always talking about Evans, thinking about Evans, doodling him and Evans, writing love letters to Evans, the list went on...
Sirius had told him that James should indeed give up on her, and James couldn't believe his ears.
This was when James had marched out of the house in rage, and to the bench. He had been sitting here ever since.
James lived on the West side of the park, in a small area of Wizarding mansions. On the other side of the park, he knew, was a Muggle neighborhood. Though, he hardly dared to interact with them, for fear of looking foolish.
He sighed, as he recalled the earlier row, maybe Sirius was right: Lily Evans would never fancy him.
"So what's your problem?" asked a masculine voice, from the other side of the bench.
Lily was a bit startled, but she replied with a sigh, and said, "Where to start?"
The voice laughed, and said, "You and I both."
There was a short silence, and then the voice began to speak again. "Ever loved someone with all your heart, and they never returned the feeling?"
"Yeah…," Lily spoke slowly, "as if, they're breaking your heart little by little."
"Exactly," the voice replied.
"So, who's it for you?" asked Lily.
"A girl," said the voice.
"Ah, well," said Lily, "considering the fact that I am a girl and may be able to help you out, why don't you tell me about it?"
"Well, there's this girl at my, uh, boarding school that I go to, that I really, really, really, really like."
"Mmm-hmm, I see."
"But she always turns me down for a date."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, so my best friend ended up bursting this morning, telling me that I should give her up and get on with my life. But I don't think anything could fill that missing space in my heart, you know?"
Lily would have giggled at first at his similarities to Potter, but Potter could never have spoken such truer words than this person. She decided against the small laugh.
Another silence ensued.
"So," James began again, "who's the bloke breakin' your heart?"
"Oh," the feminine tone was a bit taken aback, "it's no guy. It's actually my sister." She gave a bit of a depressed sigh.
"Personally, I would think it would be great to have a sibling," said James. 'Not a dog' he added silently.
"Oh, you would, would you?" the tone took on a darker expression of voice. "My sister hates anything to do with me."
"You sound like a pretty nice person," said James, "why wouldn't your sister like you?"
"Oh," said the tone hesitantly, "she just, I guess, um…how should I put this?"
The tone sounded oddly familiar to James. But, nah, it couldn't be, he thought. Could it?
The tone continued, "My sister just doesn't approve of the things that I do at my boarding school." Another sigh followed.
"You know," said James, "you sound oddly familiar."
"I was just thinking to myself that you also sound strangely recognizable," said the tone.
Lily turned around, and gasped in surprise as Emerald eyes met Hazel ones. James Potter.
James gave a genuine smile, not his usual smirk at the red-haired beauty that sat before him. Lily Evans.
Lily felt herself blush furiously, as she ran away that day. The day James Potter changed for the better; just from one anonymous conversation on a park bench.
(A/N: Was originally thinking of ending it here)
It was not a major shock that over the Christmas holidays of that same year, Lily Evans accepted to being James Potter's girlfriend in front of that very bench.
It was also not a surprise that a year after that, James proposed to Lily one knee as Lily sat on the said bench. She accepted. James decided that maybe the bench wasn't so bad after all.
And even though tragedy struck the couple and their one-year-old son years later, the initials JP and LE can still be found carved into that very bench to date. For even though they are gone, their love remains in a small park in Britain inside of an old bench.
So what'd you think? Like it? Hate it? Please review and let me know!
Note: Thanks goes to all those who have already reviewed! I'm truly sorry that your reviews have been deleted!