Fettuccini Alfredo

Disclaimer: I own professor Samhain, and I own Luigi's restaurant. Hey, I'm a restaurant owner! Way cool! Everything else is not mine.

Hogwarts, September 1st, 1977. Lily and the Marauders are in Seventh year, about to start the first Ancient Runes lesson of term.

"Hey Lily, do you want to go out with me?" Said James.

"Look," Lily sighed. "I don't know why we have to keep going through this. I will not go out with you, I do not secretly like you, and we have nothing in common." She hurried ahead into the Ancient Runes classroom and groaned quietly. All the seats, which were arranged as usual into pairs, were taken, except for two that were right next to each other. She was going to spend her whole seventh year of Ancient Runes sitting right next to James flipping Potter. What, she wondered; will this do to my grades? What will this do to my sanity? Resignedly, Lily dropped into one of the two empty seats, cursing fate and Professor Samhain's insistence that students keep the same seats all year. She didn't have long to brood however, because two things happened at once. James sat down next to her, and Madam Pince walked into the room.

"I'm afraid professor Samhain will be gone to a conference for a few days, so I will be covering his class," she announced. Many students looked at each other, thinking, She is going to be way stricter than professor Samhain. This stinks. "He fortunately left his lesson plans," Madam Pince continued, "but first I'm going to do an activity that will help us get to know each other a little better. Turn to the person sitting next to you, and come up with one similarity between you."

Lily looked at James. "I never thought I'd say this, but I hope I was wrong earlier. Madam Pince will have us stay here all week unless we can think of something."

"I know," suggested Sirius from the next desk over. "You're both alive."

"Try to be a little bit more mature, Black, and take this seriously," said Madam Pince, glaring at him.

"I was just trying to help," Sirius muttered, "and that joke is so old."

"I know," suggested Remus, "How about you two write down some stuff about yourselves and swap. Then you won't have to talk to each other and you'll be a bit more thorough."

"Great idea, Remus, thanks," said Lily, and began writing: I have one sister. My favorite class is Arithmancy. My favorite color is blue. My favorite food is Fettuccini Alfredo (it's Italian). I like to read. My best friend is Alice Campbell.

"Done!" announced James, setting down his quill and handing Lily his parchment. She looked down at it. It read: My best friend is Sirius black. I have a pet cat. I like Italian food. I play quidditch. My favorite color is red. I

Lily stopped. Italian food? Of all things two people could have in common, they both liked Italian food. She pointed this out to James, who laughed, saying, "I knew it! We do have something in common! And Lily Evans is not always right!"

"Yeah, Potter, rub it in," muttered Lily, but she couldn't keep from smiling.

Several months later

Lily strolled down the snowy main street of Hogsmeade, considering where to eat lunch, when an owl flew up to her. She recognized it as one of the school owls, and wondered who would be sending mail at this time, rather than by the usual morning post. There was no name on the envelope. Opening it, she read, Come to Luigi's Italian Cuisine. Check out the far left table in the back. The handwriting was familiar, but she couldn't place it. Lily looked up from the note, realizing that the restaurant it had mentioned was right across the street. Figuring that it couldn't hurt to find out who had sent the letter, she walked into Luigi's. The left table in the back appeared to be deserted. Coming closer, she noticed a bowl of something sitting on the table. It was Fettuccini Alfredo, complete with another note, in the same handwriting as the first, saying, Eat it. You know you want to…

"Huh?" Muttered Lily. "What's going on here? James Potter, if this is one of your idiotic pranks, or attempts to get me to go out with you, I'll…"

"You'll what?" Said a voice from behind her.

Lily whipped around to see James stowing his invisibility cloak in his bag. "You'll what?" he repeated, adding, "The suspense is killing me."

Lily's mind was racing. How does he know I like it? I told him in ancient runes, but that was months ago! How would he have remembered something that trivial, unless… he actually does like me. She realized she had never really considered the possibility, always thinking he only wanted to be able to say he'd charmed her into going out with him. She was considering it now. Her thoughts were interrupted by James saying, "That Fettuccini isn't getting any warmer, and you still haven't finished your sentence."

Simultaneously grinning and wondering what was wrong with her, Lily responded, "I'll just have to say yes."

AN: Samhain is an ancient Celtic holiday, celebrated between the Fall Equinox and Winter Solstice. Fettuccini Alfredo is a kind of pasta in white sauce. I don't know whether Lily, James, Sirius, and Remus took Ancient Runes, but I say they did. The activity they did in class is not as farfetched as it looks. Teachers do this to me all the time, and I hate it.

A big bowl of (virtual) spaghetti to anyone who reviews!