It seemed like a good idea at first. Really it had.
Potter (or James as Lily had begun to call him) had failed to ask her out for the entire first month of their seventh year. They had started to become friends as co-Heads. It was inevitable given the amount of time and space they shared. Especially because James had turned out to not be so bad. He took his responsibilities seriously and rarely pulled pranks on Hogwarts or her former best friend Sev (or Snape as Lily had begun to call him). And she found herself starting to realize that she liked him. As maybe, potentially, more than a friend. Which was all the more reason to be frustrated that he had seemed to move on. Right when he was getting good!
So, seeing no other option but to take matters into her own hands, Lily decided to ask him out. It was, in her mind, a joke. Ha! That would show him and his stupid handsome face not to stop liking her anymore. She'd get him good for ignoring his former feelings of attraction.
Lily Evans had not been excepting his answer to be no.
She wasn't quite sure what she had expected. Nor what she has preferred or wanted his response to be. The question really only had three (maybe four) answers to it and the one James had given was the least likely response she had predicted.
"Why not?" She had asked, barely resisting the urge to stomp her foot like a petulant child.
He looked up at her from where he sat in the Great Hall, peering at her over the tops of his glasses. James was contemplating. He ruffled his hair absentmindedly and titled the head it flopped atop to the slide. James was thinking of a reason he had said no.
In all honestly, it was a mixture of surprise and distrust. He didn't actually think Lily was serious. She had never shown interest before. Trust him, he was paying attention. So he took the safe route. It was one he had adopted after the very woman in front of him had rejected him so many times thereby breaking his heart in the process. He finally learned after years of rejection and stopped putting himself out there. Stopped asking her out when the only answer she would ever give was no. He had been content in the friendship they had formed since the start of term. Or at least he thought he was. But now he realized he had never stopped wanting more. Seeing Lily so sure he would say yes also spurred him to say no. He could be a little petty, after years of rejection it was the least he deserved.
Lily was still looking at him. Hiking her bag further up her shoulder, she fidgeted with the hem of her skirt.
Finally, he responded.
"Not good enough."
He turned back towards his lunch at the table.
Lily, as well as the other Gryffindors nearby, stared at James in shock and awe.
"What the bloody hell does that mean?" Lily threw her hands up in the air.
James did not seem all too interested in responding so she repeated the question, this time pushing her way onto the bench next to him and poking him in the side.
He glared at her briefly before speaking, "I asked you out for years in spectacular declarations. You didn't actually think that just asking so simply would be enough to get me to say yes, now did you Lils?"
"Well actually-" she began only to be interrupted.
"Nope," said James. "I'm going to need something a little more impressive in order for you to convince me you're worth it."
Narrowing her eyes, the ginger regarded him carefully.
"Fine," she said, leaning away from him. "Prepare to be wooed."
With that, Lily got up off the bench and exited the Great Hall. James Potter's eyes never left her swinging red hair until the doors blocked it from his view.
The next two months were filled with Lily channeling Sixth Year James. Asking nearly every day, she did everything she could think of to get him to say yes.
It started off simple, and a little bit obvious.
The day after James' rejection, Lily put on a spectacular show at dinner, enchanting the stars to spell "Go out with me Potter."
He held back a laugh as he shook his head.
That weekend was the Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor Quidditch match. Lily who had always attended every game, stood nervously at the base of the stairs leading up to the towering stands. There was no reason to be scared. It certainly wasn't the height that had frozen her foot, but what she intended to do once she got to the top.
Lily climbed anyway.
Decked out in maroon and gold, the only distinguishing feature between her and her housemates was her shiny red hair. James could spot her from all the way across the pitch. The game had just begun and Ravenclaw had the Quaffle.
Quickly turning his attention back to the game, James focused on beating his rival, helping to secure a spot in the House Cup next term.
He tried not to focus too much on Lily, but, like every other game since his joining of the team fourth year, she served as a great distraction for the star Chaser.
The score was tied at 110 points each when the Snitch was finally sighted. The two Seekers were neck in neck, hands reaching forward, until the Gryffindor Seeker grasped her hand around it, pulling up in a victory.
James pumped his fist into the air. He took a victory lap for good measure, and heard his name being called from the Gryffindor section. Looking over, a small ginger figure was waving towards him.
Lily, he knew.
She had unfurled a sign where the words "Just Say Yes!" were written in a dark red.
He flew closer to her. All of Gryffindor was watching them. As well as most of the school and faculty in attendance.
"Would you go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" Lily shouted over the wind and distance.
James shook his head no and smiled. Her's fell. Feeling badly for disappointing her, James was annoyed at himself that he could not agree to her question.
"Almost there, Lils," He said. Flying up closer to her, so only she could hear, he said: "Just," He sighed. "I need a little more time."
She nodded in understanding. Lily really had done a number on him. More than she realized. More than she could ever know.
On the days she could not think of something incredible she asked him simply. Sometimes all he would respond with was "no." Or "you'll get there eventually, Lils." Once he merely smiled and shook his head.
Lily was going crazy. She was running out of ideas. Already she had used the first years to follow James around serenading him with the question. She had snuck up to his dorm and dropped flower pedals bewitched to say, "Go out with me." Lily had passed notes in class, scribbled at the end of his papers, even gone so far as to stand on a table during breakfast one day and declare her desire to go to Hogsmeade with James.
He had denied her every time.
Lily was unsure how to proceed. She did, however, have a newfound appreciation for all the hard work James had put in over the years in attempts to get her to say yes.
Then, it hit her.
Lily knew James' routine well enough after living and working with him the past few months. Every night, after Quidditch practice, James would stay outside after everyone left, presumably flying and practicing. She had never actually followed him out there to spy. She wasn't that crazy.
But she realized something. Every time she had asked him had been in a big public gesture. James needed to see that she wasn't just doing it for the show, but for him. And for her. Because she really did like him.
Lily came out to the pitch. Hyping herself up on the way, Lily was a little annoyed at this point. Mostly at herself because James did not see her true feelings towards him. And annoyance directed at him as well because he wouldn't say yes already.
She marched up to the broom shed and boarded one of the school's brooms, which she had not done since first year. Cautiously, she made her way up to him, trying to channel the confidence he always seemed to possess while flying.
He had been watching her approach him since she had gotten onto the pitch. Continuing to practice in solitude, James was unable to ignore her presence. He had been wanting to say yes and give in since she first started asking. But there was something undeniably funny about watching Lily squirm, especially because of him.
Also, he was not sure he could take it if this all ended up being some kind of cruel, twisted joke.
"I'm not here to ask you out, for once."
James raised an eyebrow as Lily leveled with him, physically and metaphorically.
"Are you here to try out for the team then?" He asked cheekily. "Sorry to say we filled all open spots last month."
Lily ignored him and pressed on.
"I'm here to say thank you."
"Thank you fo-"
"For putting so much time and effort into me. I never realized how much work this all was. And how little I appreciated it until I was on the other side of it. And so, I want to apologize as well. Because not only does it hurt to be rejected but it hurts tenfold more when you've taken so much effort in asking in the first place."
James stared at her in disbelief for a moment. Lily awkwardly hovered in front of him, trying not to look down but finding it equally nauseating to look at James.
"So yeah. I'm sorry and thank you."
Lily began to float back down to the pitch.
"Wait," James said, regaining his mental faculties. "Ask me again."
"Ask you?" Lily looked slightly confused before realization sprouted on her face. "Oh."
Looking up at him, Lily knew what she had to do. She cleared her throat, running her hands through her hair, in a way very similar to how she had seen him do a thousand times before. She finally understood where the nervous habit came from.
"Go out with me, Potter."
It was a statement. She really was sick of that stupid question.
"Ok."
It was not the word she had wanted, but it would have to do.