CHARMING THOUGHTS

"Stop doing that Potter!" the red headed girl hissed angrily at her charms partner. "Doing what?" replied James in a would be innocent manner. "Stop staring at me!" said lily glaring at him. He just smirked and turned back to their professor. They had been discussing a particularly difficult mind reading charm in their NEWT charms class for a week, they had to practice the spell on their partners and today was their first practical lesson.

"So class I'll go through the points once more" professor Filtwick shouted. "Put a dazing spell on your partners, ask them a simple question and charm your quills to write down your and your partner's thoughts on the parchment because the procedure needs a lot of concentration so you won't be able to make notes during the course of spell, now start!".

"So Evans! Do you wanna go first or should I?" James asked lily. "No you go I am not sure I follow it properly, I may do a lasting damage" lily replied nervously. "Worried about me are we Evans" James replied with a wink but turned around to charm the quill. " So! Ready? I am putting the daze charm, ok?" James asked lily who nodded slowly. James muttered the incantation and lily's anxious face suddenly turned blank and she gazed ahead at James. "Hmmm.. What should I ask you" thought James and he noticed the quill started scratching on the parchment. He turned back to lily and asked "Ok lils describe James potter". He cast the mind reading charm on her and closed his eyes to focus, his wand pointing at lily's forehead".

He could immediately feel lily's voice inside his head. After 5 minutes the charm was lifted off and lily came back to her senses. She looked at James who was smiling at her goofily. She eyed him suspiciously and took the parchment from his hand. It was filled at starting with James's thoughts so she ignored them and moved forward to her part.

James potter... Hmm.. He's the most arrogant, ridiculously confident, obnoxious prat...

Tell something I don't know Evans

Who is soooooooo... sexy that i wanna cry...

Whooaa! what! Evans you gave me a compliment!

The killing smile, the cute dimples, the rumpled hairs ooohh I sooooo.. Wanna run my fingers through them...

Seriously! I am sure this spell works wrong

And when he plays quidditch I feel like jumping from the stands on him... Oh and you must see him shirtless whooaaa I ran into him once in the changing room he looks like a marble statue, the perfect abs, godly chest just like a umm... Like a quiddich God... Uhhh I felt like licking or scraching or at least touching his sweaty gleaming chest...

You know lils you are more than welcome to do that... Come to your quidditch God! Lolz lily i am so flattered

But the bloody prat has stopped asking me out this year. I gave him so many signals that I am head over heels in love with him...

Omg!omfg!god help me!did she just say she loves me! I cant bloody believe that!oh lils... Wait what signals...

Once during potions class we were making amortentia and I openly declared mine smelled like leather and broomsticks, all my friends beamed, even Remus gave me a knowing smile but that git didn't notice...

Please lils please hit me... I am a git.. How could you miss that doofus..

...he was too busy in picking on Snape just because he said his potion smelled like Lily... Sirius and James made so much fun of him... Even though it was quite clear that he meant the flower... Ohh

Lils believe me thats not true.

...but ohh i think he's not interested anymore god what should I do I cant live without him.. He's my bloody oxygen... Please James please ask me just once more I would soooo go out with you.. I know I missed my chance... But I seriously hope that you will give me another chance... How can I not be interested in you I love you lily I love you so so much...

You know the best thing about him... Not his super human good looks...

Hey you said godly don't demote me

Not his stupidly attractive black glasses...not his mesmerizing scent... But his loyalty... He's so loyal with his friends I sometimes feel so jealous of them.. He's so caring for them I wish he would do the same for me too... I do care for you lils as much as I do for them You know once he hugged me when I was crying because of Petunia... When he wrapped his strong protective arms around me... It was so much comforting as if nothing could harm me in his arms.. I wish I could just hug him once more before he leaves Hogwarts and leaves me...

Once honey! You know you could stay their forever if you want to.. And I would never ever leave you

Lily emerged red faced from the parchment. She turned around slowly and gasped when she saw him leaning over her shoulder. He was merely an inch from her face. Their eyes met.. "Oh!great you both are finished" shouted an extremely enthusiastic Filtwick. Lily jumped back and James withdrew slowly. "Others are still not finished so you can leave... Make the notes of her thoughts and both of you write it in the assignment... Ms Evans can try the spell on you in the next class". They packed their bags and left. Lily hurried to go away from him but he easily caught up. "Lils.. Wait" James said holding her by wrist. Lily resolutely looked down at the floor. He put his long finger below her chin and made her look up. "So, you wanna come with me to hogsmeade tomorrow?". "Leave me potter" lily tried to wriggle out of his hand. James looked a bit hurt then he pulled lily angrily towards him so that his hand holding her wrist were squished between them and her other hand clutched nervously at his shirt and his other hand was unconsciously at her waist. She was expecting an outburst but he said slowly in a heart breaking tone "Common lils at least now accept it, we both love each other why can't we go out?". She was still too nervous to speak so she just kept looking down. "Fine, I get it" he pushed her away and left her standing alone. Lily knew their was no point in following him, after spending six years with him in the same castle everyone knew you can't catch James potter if he doesn't wants to talk to you.

She sighed mentally kicking herself she again lost her chance. She checked her wrist watch it was still half an hour left for the classes to end so she decided to go back to her dormitory to wait for her friends' expert opinion. They came back after an hour giggling furiously because Alice was telling them about Frank's feelings towards her which she discovered in today's lesson. They all knew Frank liked her but was too nervous to ask her out. They ended up kissing after the class. Alice repeated the whole exchange to lily who forgot about her misery temporarily because of the extremely adorable story of her friend. After an hour or so the gossip and the giggling subsided and Lily decided to ask her friends for help. "Ok girls I got a huge problem here". The girls picked up their pillows and shifted on lily's bed. Lily recounted her story and was met with a shocked silence. " But we thought you loved him" Mary asked. "Ofcourse I do" lily replied miserably. "Then why did you refuse?" asked Marlene. "Well I got nervous and didn't reply and he left before I could find the courage" lily said. "Then I don't see what's the problem here, just go and tell him you wanna go with him" Alice said slowly."You think so? what if he doesn't agree to go anymore" lily said. "Do you even hear yourself why won't he, the guy has been in love with you for god knows how long, you just read his thoughts what more proof do you want" Mary said a bit angrily. "So I should go and talk to him?" lily asked. "YES!" all three of them shouted.

Lily went to the common room but he wasn't there. She didn't see him at the dinner too, so she went to bed thinking she would ask him in the morning but ofcourse she couldn't sleep, you cant bloody sleep when you are in love. She kept on practicing lumos and nox non verbally inside her four poster bed, counted sheep, wore socks, removed them but nothing worked all she could think about was James James James James James arrrghh... After tossing around in her bed for four hours she got irritated and got up to read a book in the common room. It was three 'o' clock in the morning so obviously lily didn't expect the love of her life to be there. She gasped when she saw blood on his white shirt and that too a hell lot of blood. It was the full moon and she knew about Remus though she had no idea how James accompanies him every month without getting bitten. He was sitting on the couch with his eyes closed looking extremely tired but apparently he wasn't hurt, it must have been Remus's blood or he must have healed himself, the thought of James getting hurt made her shiver. He pressed his plams on his eyes and threw hi head back. Lily approached him and sat tentatively on the arm rest. He sensed motion and blinked at her. "Hey!" Lily said softly. He didn't reply and stared at the fire. "I.. Um... I was wondering if the offer is still valid.. I mean.. Umm.. Do you still wanna go out tomorrow" lily asked a bit scared of the reply. James sighed and asked "Do you wanna go?". Lily nodded a bit enthusiastically. He smiled at her adorably and pulled her in his lap. He planted a small kiss on her cheek which turned slightly pink. They talked for a while, James asked her since when and how she fell in love for her toerag. She chuckled softly and said "I started fancying you eight months back I suppose". "Eight months! Seriously eight months." James asked utterly shocked. Lily blushed slightly but continued "Yeah! I saw you helping out a crying first year old though you weren't even the head boy then, I eventually realized you have completely changed, you suddenly became a matured and sensitive toerag" Lily finished with a smile. He grinned softly and pulled her closer. They continued talking for a while and then went to sleep cuddling on the couch.

In the morning Lily woke up and checked the time. She nearly fell off couch, it was 7 and she had a date in 3 hours. She slipped out silently from James arm not at all wanting to do so but she had to look good on her first date. She placed a small kiss on his forehead and he smiled slightly in his sleep.
She went upstairs and started jumping around her friends' beds trying to wake them up. She received a lots of angry retorts from them but all of them were awake in 10 minutes. She recounted the night's events hurriedly and her friends awwhhhed at the perfect places. "Ok lily you just wasted half an hour so we have to skip the breakfast and start getting ready now!" ordered Alice. They spent the next two hours finding the perfect dress for lily doing her hairs and makeup. Their room resembled a junkyard of clothes, makeup and accessories but lily looked perfectly beautiful in her light blue dress. It was a simple frock with a brass coloured ring near the neck and a similar braided belt near the waist. She wore black coloured stockings with it and a pair of small white boots.
Half an hour later her friends pushed a very nervous lily to the common room. James was leaning near a window laughing loudly with his friends. He looked so handsome in his black shirt and black jeans that lily nearly fainted. He was looking at her amazed. "Wow! Just wow!" James said looking at her up and down. "Thanks" she beamed at him. He asked for her hand and kissed it with a slight bow. The girls around giggled silently and Sirius wolf whistled. They set off hand in hand towards hogsmeade. By the time they reached the village lily was in a fit of laughter. She was laughing so hard she had to clutch his shoulder for support. James had the most funny stories about his past life. He was telling her about his scary aunt who once locked him out of her house when he went to her home for summer vacations. He accidentally put her favourite dress on fire with magic when she was scolding him and his cousin for breaking her favorite vase when they were trying to ride her cat. He was six and his brother was four both of them were naked because of the scorching heat. Coincidentally everyone one from gardener to the neighbours decided to visit on that day. Out of embarrassment his brother climbed up the tree and James decided to wrap a big leaf around him. James was doing extremely nice mimicry of his aunt and lily was worried her stomach might burst from laughing so hard. They reached the three broomsticks. They had their lunch there and then went to the honey dukes. James bought a huge basket of chocolates for her and both left for a walk happily slurping the candies. They were so engrossed in talking that they didn't pay attention to the way or time. They reached to the end of the village where the mountains were visible. There was a small view point nearby and they went and sat down on the bench.

They were silent for a while, gazing softly at the beautiful sunset. Lily was absent mindedly playing with his hands. She looked up when he withdrew his hand and started rummaging in his pocket for something. The something was a small gift wrapped in red and silver. She took the gift and unwrapped it carefully. Inside sat on a plush velvet cushion was a small lily shaped pin. It was white in colour but when lily picked it up it turned light blue the colour of her dress. Lily gasped at the colour change "Did you make this?". James nodded grinning. It was an extraordinary piece of magic, it gleamed slightly in sun and looked as if it was just picked up from garden. James was clearly enjoying the astonished look on lily's face but when she didn't say anything he started rambling "Err.. I couldn't decide the colour, so Sirius suggested the colour changing charm.. You know.. So you can match it with your dre.." his speech was cut off because lily flung her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to kiss him. They kissed passionately as if both had wanted to feel each other's lips on their lips for so long still the kiss was slow and sweet. Lily moved her hand in his hair to tug him closer and deepen the kiss and he gladly obliged. When they broke they both were blushing and slightly out of breath but they had the biggest smile on their faces. "Thanks" lily said slowly "for everything..." James just replied by giving a small cute peck on her lips. He pressed his forehead on hers and both smiled slightly at their perfect kiss , the perfect sunset, the perfect date and the future aspect of so many perfect moments to come.

xxx-The end-xxx