"I can't believe you're actually going on a date with Lily Evans. The Lily Evans! The girl that's hated your guts since, what, fifth year?"
"Don't remind me, Padfoot." James moaned pleadingly, getting up from his four-poster bed. "I'm already nervous enough as it is!"
"You'll be fine, James." Reassured Remus with a pat on the back.
Peter chirped, "Yeah, Prongs, you'll be alright!"
"I was just joking with you, mate! You'll be fine, everything will go great, and, before you know it, she'll be begging to go on another date with you!" Sirius exclaimed.
Remus rolled his eyes, while failing to hold back a grin that was spreading across his face. Peter looked ready to burst with excitement and Sirius had a mischievous glint in his eyes that didn't go unnoticed by James.
"Don't say anything else, Padfoot, I'm serious!"
"Sirius, I swear if you say what I think you're about to say, I will kill you."
"Aw, Moony, you're no fun! But, for future reference, Prongs, dearie, I'm Sirius and you're James."
Sirius, Peter, and James burst out laughing, not able to hold it in anymore; while Remus' glare alone could have probably killed them all. But soon enough Remus began to chuckle along with them at the joke that had gotten old before it had even been thought of.
Feeling relaxed and determined to nail his date with Lily, he gave himself one last look in the mirror and stuffed the first snitch he had ever caught into his pocket. The four Marauders headed down to the Great Hall, where they separated and wished James good luck as he headed out to the Great Lake to meet with Lily.
Lily looked at her reflection one more time to triple check that her ponytail didn't have too many fly-aways and to smooth her jumper and skirt for the umpteenth time. While she would deny it to anyone else, she was feeling slightly nervous. Ok, she felt extremely nervous.
Going on a date with someone you had flat out refused and hated for at least two years (if not more) was intimidating, to say the least. What would they talk about? What did he have planned for them to do?
"Why, oh why, did I agree to this?" She mumbled nervously as she gathered her satchel, pulled on her woolen, grey coat, and adjusted her Gryffindor scarf.
"Well, here goes nothing." With one last glance at herself and pushing away other doubts she had, she rushed out of the dormitory and down to the Great Lake to meet James.
All around James the sound of chattering students could be heard heading to Hogsmeade, bundled in their warmest attire to protect against the chilly, November wind.
James pulled his coat collar higher to shield his neck from the icy wind that rippled across the lake. He looked toward the road to Hogsmeade, his friends were probably half-way to town by now. Sticking his hand in his pocket, he grabbed the snitch, and began tossing it into the air and waiting a few beats to catch it.
"And here I thought you'd given up that old habit."
Startled, James dropped the snitch and whirled around. There she was. The girl that had kept him awake at night, said, "No," to him more times than he could count, and that made his heart skip a beat. She was standing right here in front of him.
He quickly bent down, snatched the snitch, and stood up; all while running a hand through his hair.
"Nervous habit?" he offered with a sheepish grin.
"So?"
"Um…yeah. So, Evans-" trailing off, James fidgeted with the snitch in his pocket and glanced away, willing this to not seem as awkward to her as it felt to him. It's kind of hard to talk to someone who detested you for a solid two years.
"Potter," He looked back at her. Goodness, she was gorgeous. She made even the simplest things seem exquisite. Everything about her was beautiful; her eyes, her hair, her smile, her heart, her kindness, and basically anything Lily did was beautiful to him.
"How about we start over again—from the beginning?" she looked expectantly at James.
James hesitated for a moment, "Um, ok, sure."
"Alright then, hi, my name is Lily Evans, you can call me Lily." Lily extended her hand toward James and gave a tiny smile.
"Uh, hi, Ev—Lily. I'm James Potter, but you can call me James." He replied shaking her hand. "Um…" He mussed his hair again. "I was thinking that maybe we could go get something to eat first, I mean if that's, well, if you're alright with—does that…"
"That sounds fine, James," she interrupted with that tiny smile still playing on her lips.
They both started walking down the path toward Hogsmeade, as a silence settled over them. James glanced at her as they began walking, she seemed to sense him watching her and asked, "What?"
"Nothing, I just can't believe you said, "Yes," and that we're actually on a date—together."
Lily looked at him, "You've changed a lot since fifth year… In a good way I mean!" She started blushing and he smirked back at her, "I didn't mean it like that, I meant in your personality—not that you haven't changed in other ways—I just noticed that you're a lot…"
"Cuter, hotter, 'handsomer'?" he offered with a larg grin.
"No! Nicer, I mean, yes and no… ugh! You are absolutely infuriating! And 'handsomer' isn't even a word!" she exclaimed crossing her arms.
"Haha! Well, you haven't changed too much now have you, Ev—Lily?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" whipping her head around, she glared at him.
"Hey, I was just stating you haven't changed in your opinion toward me, it seems!" He raised his arms in surrender.
"Well, obviously I have or I wouldn't be here with you right now!"
"I don't know, you said I was, and I quote, "absolutely infuriating," and I'm pretty sure you've thought that about me our entire time here at school."
"I have not! But see? You're doing it now! Wipe that smirk off your face! I could walk away right now you know!" exasperated she folded her arms again.
"Wait, so you're saying you haven't always thought of me as an, and I quote again, 'egotistical, arrogant, prat who cares about no one else, but himself?'"
"No. I mean when we were younger, yes, but now, not really. I mean I still see you as slightly arrogant, but not as much as you used to be. I mean, to be honest, the way you care for Lupin, Black, and Pettigrew is very sweet, besides all the pranks you all pull! And plus, Lupin talked a lot about you during our prefect meetings last year. So, you might want to thank him afterward, he kind of convinced me you weren't so bad after all."
"Ladies first," he said as he opened the door to the Three Broomsticks, still processing what she had just said. He would talk to Remus later, he could never thank him enough if he was the one who helped push Lily to go out with him. "Oh, and just saying, if we do start going out on a regular basis, you're going to get four guys for the price of one. And if we're on a first name basis now, you can call them Remus, Sirius, and Peter." He replied, thankful the conversation was staying civil now.
She smiled that gorgeous smile that made her entire face light up, and he couldn't help but smile back at her.
Due to their talking they had arrived just after lunch and the rush of students, and were able to find a booth quickly and get their food and drinks ordered. James didn't fail to notice Rosemerta's smirk and wink she gave them as she walked back to the kitchen to get their drinks food.
"Speaking of Remus," Lily piped up, "Do you know, um, about, well…" she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"Yes, we; Padfoot, Wormtail, and I, have known since third year." He looked quizzically at her, "How did you find out, no offense, but just curious."
"Well, to be fair," she started, "Remus isn't exactly the best liar. He was always missing perfect duties once a month and always used the same few excuses. Then I started realizing that it only happened once a month and when there was a full moon. I put two and two together and decided to ask him one day. It was after one of our meetings and I confronted him about it, and it took a little bit to actually get him to admit it, but he did, and well, I think it's been good that he has another person to reach out to, you know?" She admitted. "It prompted him to talk to me more and thus lead to conversations about you. How did you all find out?"
"Um, kind of the same way you did, to be honest," he ruffled his hair, "He's a horrible liar, like you said, so we knew, after a few months into our friendship, something else had to be up, but, unlike you, we couldn't put our finger on it. It took us a solid three years to figure it out. The only thing that prompted us to figure it out was during third year Defense class when we were learning about boggarts."
"I'm assuming Remus' boggart was the moon." She interjected.
"Spot on! It took us a few weeks after that, I think we asked him about it right before the October full moon or something like that. It took a lot of convincing from us that we didn't hate him or despise him. Sure it was scary, but we aren't the abandoning type, plus we all made a pact to stick together till death do us part." He grinned.
"Did someone officiate that?"
"What! No, we are not married!"
"Well, you just said that in your pact…"
"Hey, I only paraphrased what the entire lengthy thing said. It's still in our room, somewhere, I think. It goes home with a different Marauder every summer. I think Peter had it this summer. Anyway, I think we'll just make three copies so everyone has it after we graduate."
"It's crazy."
"Our pact is not crazy and neither is taking it home over the summer!"
She interrupted, "No! Not that, I mean that after this June, we won't be coming back, to Hogwarts I mean."
"Oh. Yeah, well, I think the four of us plan on sticking together after we graduate. I don't think we'll be separating any time soon…"
"But, James, we'll all get jobs, and move on from school, how do you know for sure…"
"I just do. We aren't just going to leave Remus alone, Sirius doesn't have any other place to really call 'home,' and we aren't the Marauders without Peter. No one's going to be left behind."
"I never said you'd leave them behind, I'm just saying life goes on and people don't always travel with us through life for the entirety of our lives."
"If there's one thing I'm sure of, Lily, it's that Sirius, Remus, and Peter will be my side until the day I die."
Silence fell over the pair as Rosmerta brought out their butterbeers, James' roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, and Lily's roast pork and applesauce. They thanked her and began eating once she had left.
Lily cleared her throat, "So, James, um, how's quidditch?"
"I thought, you didn't like quidditch. I can quote you on that too, if you want!"
"No! Thank you, but no. And, well, maybe it was because you were on the team, not necessarily that I disliked the game itself."
"You should have tried out this year then! I'm sure you would have been a brilliant addition!"
Her face paled, "Oh, no! I couldn't and wouldn't have."
"Of course you could have, Lily! We would have been thrilled to have you on the team, I mean if you could play and everything. I could probably figure out a way for you to even be a back up player!"
"James…"
"Then whenever someone gets injured or sick, you could stand in! But I guess we would need to figure out what position you would fill in for. I've never missed a game my entire time as seeker, knock on wood, so, you wouldn't have to worry about that, unless you just wanted to learn how to play that posistion." James rambled.
"James."
"I could teach you all there is to know and everything about the game, cause as captain you kinda have to know how the game works and everything. Now, I don't exactly see you as a beater, but then again you have the temper of one, no offense!"
"James!" Lily exclaimed again.
He paused in his rant, "What?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't. I mean, that's super kind of you to offer that, but you would want someone who's played before and um… Someone who isn't, well, afraid of heights."
"Wait, what? You're afraid of heights?"
"Please, don't laugh!" she pleaded.
"Lily, I'm not laughing," he said through a grin. "I just never really thought you would be scared of anything, I always thought of you as rather fearless."
She blushed, "Thank you."
They continued to eat in bursts of conversation and silence for about an hour. After they had finished, James took her outside. They strolled around Hogmeade in more silence, not really sure what to talk about or ask. James' feet seemed to carry him to the place he and friends frequented the most, the Shrieking Shack.
"Um, James, what are we doing here? Are we even allowed to come here?!" she asked, shifting her weight back in forth on her feet.
"I don't know about the 'allowed to come here part,' but I do know that people frequent this fine establishment quite often." He replied as he led her toward the shack.
Turning towards James, she asked, "Isn't it haunted?"
He turned and faced her, "Do you really think it is?"
Confusion clouded her face, "There isn't really anything else it could be. I mean Dumbledore told us that is what haunted, and I trust him."
"Yeah, well, my parents never told me anything about a haunted shack outside of Hogsmeade." He stated simply and continued to lead her toward the run-down building.
When they reached the rotted door James questioned, "Do you want to see the inside?"
"I—I don't know—I—I—I mean, I don't know if we should," she stuttered and James smirked, "I mean, as Head Boy and Girl we should be setting examples for other students not encouraging them to do anything against the rules, and—"
"Evans! There wasn't anything in our job descriptions about going to the 'haunted' shack. It's fine!"
"But Dumbledore said—"
By this point James had already opened the door, "To be honest, I could care less about what he said about the shack."
Lily, blinked, stunned, "Potter, that isn't very…"
"What? Nice? Oh and the name is James, I thought we were past formalities."
"But, but, you just said 'Evans' ten seconds ago!" exclaimed Lily.
"Oh, I did? My bad," dragging her through the door as he replied.
On the first floor of the shack there was dirt and cobwebs in every corner. The floor had a thick layer of grime that stuck to the bottom of James and Lily's shoes when they walked. And the staircase in front of them, leading upstairs, seemed to have a burgundy tint to parts of the railing and steps.
A pungent odor of dog and blood penetrated their nostrils. James, having come here many times, wasn't bothered by it in the slightest. It reminded him of some of the Marauders' best times together.
Lily on the other hand, not so much, "It smells awful in here! Like animals and…" she paused, "blood?.." she looked around trying to identify just what that slash of red on the wall was. "Ok, James, I've seen the shack and I'm good. Thanks for the tour." She said in a mock happy tone and headed for the door.
"Lily, wait!" James called, but she had already made her way out of the shack. He took one last look around, remembering that there were only a few more days till he and his friends would be in this exact spot, he shuddered and ran out to get Lily. "Lily! Lily, wait, please!" he panted as he jogged to catch up to her.
"Sorry, James, but scaring a girl isn't exactly a recommended way to get them to like you, just saying."
"Sorry, Lills, I didn't think it would bother you! I just…"
"Wait," she interrupted, "did you just call me, 'Lills'?"
"Maybe…" he drawled. "Anyway it's getting late, and I guess we could call it a day and head back."
"Sure, James."
As they walked back, silence once again met them, making James anxious and fidgety. He began toying with the snitch in his pocket and ran his other hand through his hair. He was silently praying that Lily had enjoyed the day, even if it was slightly awkward at times. More so, he hoped she would want to go out with him again and that he had surpassed her expectations.
Lily was biting her bottom lip and looking away from him, toward the left side of the path at the piles of leaves. James suddenly had an idea, and stopped walking to pick up a bunch of leaves. By the time Lily had noticed James wasn't beside her anymore and turned around, her face collided with freshly fallen leaves, curtesy of James. She was stunned for a second before retaliating.
Soon, both were having a war of throwing leaves on the other person and trying to knock each other into the huge piles of leaves that lined the path back to Hogwarts, laughing and screaming the entire time. They chased each other back and forth along the path, running till they were out of breath and both had stiches in their sides, forcing them to pause and catch their breath. They both locked eyes and fell back into the leaves, laughing and breathing hard, with cold noses and red cheeks.
Finally, the cold started to set in, and James got up. He reached out to Lily and she grabbed his hands, letting him pull her up. Wordlessly, they continued back to Hogwarts, sniffling from the cold.
Lily pulled her jacket tighter around herself and wrapped her arms around her waist, trying in vain to block out the cold. James glanced over at her and started to put his arm around her shoulder when she looked back at him. He quickly ran his hand through his hair trying to act like nothing had happened.
"You know, for sometimes being a jerk, you're alright, Potter." She smirked.
"And you're not too bad yourself, Evans." Emphasizing the word, 'Evans,' he smiled back.
She looked away, and this time, before she could notice what he was doing, he slipped his right arm over her shoulders. Lily stiffened slightly, but soon relaxed into his side, and leaned her head on his shoulder.
James couldn't hold back the huge smile on his face as they continued walking in a comfortable quiet. Leaning his head down, he could smell her beautiful, red hair; which had a fresh, flowery scent to it. And, if everything was quiet enough, he could almost make out the rhythmic beating of her heart inside her chest, while she was leaning against him. He looked down at her and gushed with joy, because he, James Potter, had finally got his first date with the Lily Evans.
The End.