Almost
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise. I intend no harm.
A/N: Just another one-shot about James and Lily! Enjoy!
"I think..." began James.
"You think! Excellent! Call the Daily Prophet, this is front page news!"
"Shut up, Padfoot! Let him speak!"
"Thank you, Remus. As I was saying, I think..." James waited for another rude interruption from his best friend, but realising Sirius's mouth was full of chocolate, he continued. "I think I'm going to give up on Lily." he announced to general astonishment. Lily Evans had rejected him again at dinner.
"Finally! I've been telling you this for years! There are other birds in the bush, mate." said Sirius, sitting up to reach for Remus's pile of Chocolate Frogs.
"You're mixing up phrases, Sirius. It's 'there are other fish in the pond.' And don't finish the Chocolate Frogs, I bought those yesterday. They have to last till the next Hogsmeade trip!" said Remus snatching the Frogs from Sirius, scowling at all the wrappers around Sirius's bed.
"Miser! Here, take them! Take them all!" Sirius threw all the wrappers on Remus and buried him under a pillow, laughing evilly.
James let out a frustrated sigh. "Can you guys focus, please?"
"Sorry." mumbled Remus from under the pillow.
"Don't give up on her, James. I'm sure she likes you!" said Peter from his bed.
"You're not even sure if you have two legs, Wormtail, the way you keep tripping." said Sirius, laughing at his own joke.
"Don't give up, James. Now that you're working with her, she can finally see your good, responsible side." Remus said, pushing Sirius off the pillow.
"You...you're lying! James, tell me you don't really have a responsible side! How could you, James!" gasped Sirius, kneeling in front of James to get a good look at his face.
"Stop fooling around, will you! This is serious! And don't even start with the pun!" said James, clearly frustrated, seeing that Sirius was about to speak. "I don't see the point anymore. I mean, maybe she really doesn't like me!"
"Oh, lighten up! You say you'll give up every time she rejects you. But we know better, don't we! Come on let's go down to the kitchens and see if they can spare some chocolate mousse!" said Sirius, sticking his tongue out at Remus.
James got up to get his father's Invisibility Cloak. A walk might do him some good, after all. Not to mention the chocolate mousse.
Peter was already asleep and Remus was too full to eat any more. So it was just Sirius and James under the Invisibility Cloak. They walked fast, Sirius dragging James along at full speed. He really needed some chocolate.
After Sirius was full and James a little less depressed, they headed back out of the kitchens.
Walking down the corridor, they heard voices.
"Girl voices! Blimey, maybe there are female Marauders! One for each of us...except maybe Peter." Sirius looked ecstatic.
"There aren't female Marauders, and if there were, knowing you, they'd probably all be your exs."
"Alright, alright! Let's just go see who the non-Marauders are." grumbled Sirius.
Carefully turning the corner, they could make out the outline of two girls, silhouetted against the torch light. Inching a little closer, they realised it was Marlene McKinnon, talking to a very familiar redhead.
"James! It's Lily!" mouthed Sirius, almost jumping with excitement.
"I know..." James rolled his eyes at his over excited friend, who, he suspected, was a little high on sugar.
James was trying to follow Sirius's incoherent whispers, but his attention was drawn to the other conversation when—
"Because it's James!" Lily sounded frustrated.
"That's not a reason. Look, I know he used to be an idiot, but he's not anymore. And you admitted last week that you liked him. Why did you say no to him at dinner?" Marlene was talking as if they had had this conversation quite a few times before.
"Yes I do like him, but..."
James had stopped listening. Lily Evans, fiery Head Girl, the centre of his attention for four years now, had just admitted she liked him! He found he had been holding his breath, and let it out slowly. He tried to listen to the conversation, but the beating of his heart seemed too loud to listen to even Sirius's murmurs.
"Prongs! Did you hear her? She said she likes you!" said Sirius, frantically pointing from Lily to James and back.
"Yeah, I know. Will you keep it down, they'll know we're here!" James hissed, his desire to eavesdrop never having been stronger.
"So will you say yes to him if he asks you tomorrow?" asked Marlene with bated breath.
Lily took a deep breath, closing her eyes, composing herself. The suspense seemed too great for a slightly intoxicated Sirius. He was growing restless.
"WELL?" Sirius yelled, throwing the Invisibility Cloak off him and James.
James jumped a foot in the air and the girls shrieked with utter shock, turning around to look at James and Sirius.
Just as Lily was about to pounce on Sirius for giving them such a fright, they heard uneven footsteps coming their way, hurried footsteps of the caretaker, Argus Filch.
Sirius, already having too many detentions, flung the cloak over himself and James and began sprinting towards the Gryffindor common room. James tried to call out to Lily, but Sirius was pulling James along at an astonishing speed. As they rounded a corner, James distinctly heard a shout from behind him.
"DETENTION! I don't care if you're Head Girl! You're not supposed to bring..." the shout was cut off as the portrait of the Fat Lady swung close.
"Well, that was close. I'm going to bed! Good night!" Sirius said quite suddenly, climbing the stairs to the boys' dormitory.
"Yeah..." James gave an indistinct gesture of farewell and threw himself onto the couch. He let his mind wander to what had just happened. Lily Evans liked him. Him, James Potter! After years and years of trying to convince her to go out with him, he didn't know how to process this development. He had never really thought of the moment when Lily would actually say yes to him. All these years, it had been like a game, back and forth. But now the possibility of finally going out with her seemed daunting.
He waited for her to come back, hoping she wasn't in a bad mood after dealing with Filch. He couldn't go to sleep without knowing for sure.
The portrait hole opened and in stepped Lily and Marlene. Marlene passed James and gave him a funny look. It was almost apologetic.
"Potter! What the hell were you thinking, scaring us like that? How long were you eavesdropping? What were you doing out of bed in the first place? Do you know that I got detention! Because of you!" Lily started yelling at him as soon as she entered.
Hands on her hips, she waited for him to say something.
"Do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend? Please don't say no! I know you like me! And I really, really like you!" he blurted out, pleading with his eyes.
Lily was taken by surprise. She was used to him asking her out, but he had never asked her like this. His eyes were soft and he looked so vulnerable standing there, looking at her with so much hope in his eyes. She almost gave in to his gaze. Almost.
"I got detention because of you! The first detention of my life! You really expect me to change subjects so easily?" she looked at him with what she hoped was cold fury.
He just stood there, looking numb and slightly hurt. She felt horrible for crushing his hope, but she wasn't ready for this. Not now, maybe tomorrow. She would ask him tomorrow.
She began climbing the stairs to the girls' dormitory, when he let out a sigh of frustration.
"But you just said you like me! I don't get you, Lily Evans." he said, shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts.
She couldn't help but smile at his frustration. She tried to hide it, turning back towards the stairs and opening the door.
"Why are you smiling? Are you...are you saying yes? Lily?" he asked her, his eyes searching her face.
She didn't answer him. Walking through the door, she left him standing there, thoroughly confused.
"Lily, are you saying yes?" he asked her again.
She turned around to look at him. His face lit up with anticipation. He held his breath, not wanting to miss a single word she said. She opened her mouth as if to say something but closed it immediately, closing the door behind her.
James groaned and fell back onto the couch, cursing his best friend and hoping that everything that had just happened wouldn't turn out to be a dream.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! Leave a review if you want to...!
