2.

As the girls were eating their breakfast in the Great Hall, they groaned when they saw James Potter slide over to their end of the Gryffindor table. Lily opened her mouth almost routinely, prepared to give James her usual speech of I-am-just-way-too-busy-so-thanks-but-no-thanks which she gave every time James started talking to her. She felt rude about it, but wouldn't change her ways - as it was stated previously, this had become almost routine for her.

But today, to Lily and the girls' utter surprise, James didn't even look like he was going to try flirting. He looked tired, a little weary, but the most bizarre fact of all was that he just emitted this whole atmosphere of... kindness. Which was quite rare for James Potter.

"I don't know how you can stand eating that stuff," he said, revolted and pointing at Lily's porridge.

Her jaw dropped, but she regained her composure as fast as she had lost it. Had he just tried to insult her? Lily shot her friends a curious glance before looking up at James. God, he looked good.

"It is, in fact, very healthy stuff. You could try it once in a while, you know," she said, sternly.
"I know it's healthy; our old Quidditch captain made us eat it when I was in the third year," he replied. Lily thought he could have been showing off (about making the Quidditch team only in his third year) but the sincerity in his voice made her believe otherwise. "It was supposed to help our performance, but to tell you the truth, I don't think it would have mattered if we ate fried pumpkins with ice cream. The Slytherin team that year was bloody amazing."

Lily stifled a giggle and shrugged instead, poking at her porridge with her spoon. Was she actually having a real, pleasant conversation with James Potter? Then she realized that it had to be a two-way street if it were to be called a conversation and took the next few seconds of awkward silence as her cue to speak.

"Well, I don't really like it that much either, I just... you know, it was closest to me on the table-" she started but giggled instead. Random words seemed to be pouring out of her mouth before she could stop them. "My mum made porridge for me and my sister when I was little and I guess I sort of just gotten used to eating it..."

Why was she suddenly saying all of this? She knew she mustn't - if she let it get too far, she knew she'd let her guard down, and that's not safe to do around James Potter. But she couldn't help it. For some reason, she felt almost obliged to continue speaking.

The girls were observing this rather strange scene with such curiosity that Lily wondered if talking in the Great Hall was James' best choice. And so, it went on for another couple of minutes, and then they decided to head down to Hogsmeade. Lily made it clear that she wanted to walk only with her friends. James seemed to not have had trouble with this.

"Meet me at Honeydukes at 12 o'clock then," he said simply.

And that was it. One year of getting her to go out with him, and he hadn't even waited for a 'yes'. He just headed out of the Hall. Lily was left utterly confused. Was she going to go?

OOO

"Porridge?"
"Porridge."
"Porridge?!"
"Yes, for the millionth time-"
"You talked about porridge with her? Out of all the topics!" Sirius exclaimed incredulously as they walked out of the castle and made their way to Hogsmeade.
"Well, it just felt natural, so we talked about-"
"Porridge," Peter, Remus and Sirius finished his sentence for him in unison. The look of disbelief on their faces was almost comical.

Sirius dropped his face into his hands and rubbed it, obviously not understanding how someone could possibly talk about porridge with someone they'd been trying to get to go out with them for almost two years now.

James gazed at his friends, not really caring for their honest criticism. It had worked. He had a conversation with Lily for more than a minute without making her hate him. That was a start. And he knew that the way he ended it was brilliant.

"I tried some of your tactics, you know," he said to Remus, who turned to him, clearly proud.
"Oh yeah? Well, it's always obvious, you make conversation out of your differences and then you build on from there..." Remus began but noticed his friends grinning widely at him.
"Oh, and since when are you the expert on girls here? Move over Sirius, I think you have some competition!" James joked, but suddenly his face turned serious again. "No really, is there a book on this that you're reading or something? Because I could really use with reading it," he grimaced, obviously referring to his poor flirting skills and thinking back to the porridge, as the rest of them gave him a well deserved laugh.
"And by the way, I have no competition, and never will!" said Sirius in a manner that did not much represent modesty.

They reached Hogsmeade talking, laughing and coming up with perfect scenarios and conditions for Lily and James to snog in. James really thought that they were acting rather like girls, planning snogging sessions and everything, but knew that it was all sarcastic so didn't say anything. As they sat down on a bench in front of Zonko's Joke Shop, they noticed Avery Grey and a group of his Ravenclaw friends making their way towards them. James sighed, and the boys became very stiff.

"Look Potter, I seriously don't know what you're playing at. If you really want this, then fine, I'll call my father. But I don't need you to go rotting me out to everyone you meet!" Avery whispered violently as he approached James, looking and sounding very exasperated, as though he had been dealing with something serious all morning.
"What the bloody hell? I appreciate it, thanks, but I didn't go to nobody-"
"Don't take me for a fool Potter, and don't cross me. You get on my bad side and you bloody pay, got it?" he said menacingly. James couldn't read his face but there was something final about his tone of voice.

Avery stalked off, his friends shooting warning glances at James and the boys. James had no idea what Avery could have possibly been talking about.

"What in the name of-" Peter started, looking confused, but James cut him off.
"I don't know. Whatever he thinks I've done, I guess it's not pretty," he said, reading Peter's mind.

Sirius looked angered but, to James' relief, showed no sign of going off and questioning them. They definitely wanted answers, but were sure that violence, let alone anger would not be the way to get them.

This was highly unlike the Avery they, or at least James, knew. Avery Grey always kept his cool and always knew what to say, when and where. But when he spoke to him, Grey seemed dishevelled and he had bags under his eyes. James couldn't have done or said anything that would be taken in as harmful to him at all, because he hadn't seen Grey since their late night meeting last night. This was indeed very suspicious, because Avery even seemed to give in to James' request, something he'd been very reluctant to do.

But smelling the familiar vanilla fragrance wheeze by, James spun around just in time to catch a glimpse of Lily's dark red mane of hair disappearing into the Joke Shop. He made to go inside, but a hand stopped him firmly.

"Mate," said Remus very matter-of-factly. "Get her roses."
"Roses? It's not even Valentine's Day!" James exclaimed in disbelief, completely forgetting his previous musings.
"James. This is your one chance and you can't screw it up," added Sirius expertly. "Get the girl some damn roses."
"But... roses?" James groaned.
"Okay," Remus started, with clear irritation on his face. "It's a first date-"
"Might be a first date," Sirius corrected him, to which he received a raised eyebrow from James.
"Right. So if she shows up, you'll want to impress her, right?" Remus stated, sounding very much like he definitely knew what he was talking about.

Stunned silence.

"If she shows up and sees roses, then she'll be-"
"Impressed," James, Sirius and Peter finished in unison, however, with a frown.
"And if she doesn't show up and hears you got her roses, which I can assure you, we'll take care of," Remus continued with a sly grin. "She'll feel guilty, but will at the same time be very-"
"Impressed."

The boys stared at Remus as if he conjured Santa out of thin air. Seriously, since when was Remus such an expert on girls?

"Girls love roses, I heard!" Peter squeaked excitedly.

Getting roses for Lily was supposed to get him Lily? James couldn't have been more confused about something that, in a regular situation, would have made all the sense in the world. It took him a moment to realize that this actually was a regular situation - guy nervous for first date, so gets the girl roses... But something still didn't click.

He looked at his three friends, hoping to see a hint of sarcasm. But they must have been dead serious, and even Peter was grinning stupidly. He knew what he must do, yet he still could not believe himself as he walked up to the Market Square in Hogsmeade to buy Lily Evans roses.

OOO

"I really don't know what this could be about," said Lily, irritated. Her friends have been interrogating her ever since James stalked off to Hogsmeade and left them alone that morning.
"Well, it can't really be a date, can it?" said Mary smartly. "I mean, it's Honeydukes, not exactly very romantic, is it?"
"I've got a better reason why it can't really be a date," said Lily, rolling her eyes.

The four girls stared at her perplexed, as if the fact that they were meeting at Honeydukes, out of all places, was not a good enough reason for this to not be considered a date.

"And it would be because..." Keenyah started Lily's sentence for her.
"Because I haven't even said yes!" Lily stomped around the snow outside Zonko's. "And he didn't even bother waiting for me to say yes! Hardly common courtesy!"
"More like a necessity," agreed Tanya. "What if you'd been meaning to say no and he showed up, waiting there, all alone? He'd never risk something like that."
"Because it would ruin his bloody reputation if everyone knew he got rejected by a girl!" added Lily proudly.

Keenyah and Trisha shook their heads, and Mary spoke as if reading their minds.

"No, he wouldn't be scared of that."

Lily and Tanya looked at her questioningly.

"Well, he's already been rejected by you countless times, it would hardly come as a surprise! It'd be just something else for people to laugh and talk about if they're bored, so that still leaves him in position of power," stated Mary.
"Because he just loves to have people talk about him, to be the center of attention," Lily said, comprehension dawning on her.
"Even if it's about a bad thing!" Tanya exclaimed and the rest of them silently agreed, nodding their heads.

Lily realized that Potter probably didn't even care if she showed up or not. He probably just wanted to be the subject of the school gossip once again. But he was an obvious fool - the gossip would never last. People are already used to her rejecting him whenever he tries to ask her out. But she knew that if she didn't show up, she'd be the girl that's extremely full of herself, rejecting guys for no obvious reason (even though her reason had been pretty plausible; up until the end of last term and the start of this year, when Potter suddenly transformed into a saint). And she also knew that if she did show up, she'd be the girl that gives in easily (people tend to ignore past events when new gossip items come up). Lily was left in a complete dilemma.

"Still. Him and his overstuffed ego probably think I'll go even if he didn't wait for a yes," she said, clearly not willing to give in. "It's disgusting, really, how he thinks so much of himself-"

She paused when she saw Mary basically about to explode with laughter, and the rest of them clearly stifling chuckles.

"What?" said Lily, confused.
"You so want to go," said Mary, who was always the most enthusiastic about Lily dating James - this would mean she'd have a chance with Remus.

Lily made a sound of disgust, which was taken as cue to change the subject and let her fuss over her options in her head for a while.

It was nearing 12 o'clock when the girls had finished walking, shopping and talking around Hogsmeade. Lily was glad to have had her mind off of James for a while. She still didn't know what she was going to do, but her mind was leaning towards one of the options.

Having weighed the pros and cons of each, Lily came up with a solution. Yes, she'd go on the stupid date with Potter, but the only reason for that would be to satisfy his overly stuffed ego. She was going to pray to God that he would stop asking her out after that, having his wish of going out with her fulfilled. If he did ask her out again, it would be the same old story - she would of course, keep saying no.

"Good luck! If anything happens, we'll probably be in the Three Broomsticks, you can meet us there," said Mary to Lily, like a proud mother watching her daughter graduate or something.
"Have fun! You know you will!" Trisha added and Keenyah grinned slyly.
"And if he tries anything, you know we'll rip his large head off for you," said Tanya quietly, but reassuringly.

Lily nodded and parted with her friends, glad to be out of their sight. Frankly, she didn't need all those parting words. This was no big deal. She thought she had everything planned out - one date with Potter, and he's out of the picture, and if he continues to be a bloody brat, the same old routine comes into play.

She opened the doors of Honeydukes and immediately spotted James with roses in his hands. It was too late when she realized she overlooked one of the possible scenarios. What if the date actually went well?

OOO

James couldn't believe this was happening. He was almost ecstatic.

"Hello there," he had said to Lily when she walked into Honeydukes at 12 o'clock.
"Err, hello," she replied, rather awkwardly. "How've you been?"
"What, since four hours ago?" he grinned at her, and could swear he was on cloud nine when she giggled back.

Lily's jaw had almost dropped to the floor as she accepted his roses, muttering countless you shouldn't have's and very much unnecessary's. But through all the murmuring and curious glances he received from her in the few minutes after he'd given her the roses, he could tell she loved them. Remus was bloody right.

Once the awkward stage of the meeting was over with his extremely useful joke (he had practised a couple of them in the mirror before even coming down to breakfast in case he needed to use them; he was now surely glad he did that) the rest of their time together went by flawlessly. Somehow, they'd managed to make an interesting and pleasant conversation, and talked a little as they picked out some candies in Honeydukes.

Then, James suggested they get a bite to eat in that new place down at the end of Main Street, called Madam Puddifoot's. This turned out to be a great choice on his part, as it seemed to be full with couples, which encouraged the romantic mood between them. James was disappointed though, when they found out that Madam Puddifoot doesn't serve any real lunch food.

"Not even sandwiches?" he asked her, hopefully.
"Sorry my dears. I never opened this place with hopes of it becoming a luncheon! I've got coffee, tea, cake-"
"Cake sounds delicious," Lily interrupted Madam Puddifoot (to which she seemed offended, but regained her composure nevertheless)
"Cake it is. Any coffee or tea, dears?" Madam replied sweetly, however, there was a newfound iciness in her tone. She clearly didn't like to be interrupted, and Lily was clearly acting oblivious to this. James had no idea how he didn't burst with laughter, but knew it had something to do with him not wanting to seem like a maniac in front of Lily.
"Coffee or me, and..." James said and turned to her. He scolded himself for not finding out what she liked to eat or drink. This could have been the perfect romantic moment.
"Coffee for me too, thanks."

James admired her even more after this. Lily wasn't one of those girls who survived on salads and... Tofu. She actually ate cakes! And coffee! And she was still slim, beautiful, and all in all perfect. He had always known that she was different from every other girl, but now he was completely sure of it, and felt a deep fondness for her. She really was the girl of his dreams.

But one thing was really bugging him. She'd been very reluctant to go out with him the last two years. Why had Lily changed now? She wasn't even trying to pick fights, and acted as though none of their previous misunderstandings and falling outs had happened. James decided to put this thought to the back of his mind, not wanting to ruin a date that was going way better than he had expected it to. He felt suspicious for a moment, but knew that he shouldn't be - this was Lily Evans. What on earth was he worrying about? He almost wanted to laugh out at the absurdity of his own thoughts.

The rest of the day was amazing. They didn't talk much as they continued walking around the streets of Hogsmeade that they knew only too well. Neither of them seemed to mind this however, because it proved to be a beautiful November's day, with the sun shining brightly above them, as if showing its' approval. James led her to a secret path down near the Shrieking Shack. Lily looked sceptical.

"Are you sure this is safe?"
"Don't worry, I've been here loads of times myself," James half laughed as he led her up a hill through what seemed like an abandoned sight-seeing trail.

They made their way through long grass and many rustling leaves beneath their feet, and James could tell Lily was getting rather tired of walking up the hill because of her heavy breathing and flushed cheeks. James was growing tired himself. But he knew that she would love what she saw, because she was probably the kind of girl that appreciates these kinds of things. It was the least he could do to show her.

When they finally reached the top of the hill, Lily looked like she was going to shout aloud, but only a tiny squeak managed to escape her mouth. They looked down and found that the hill overlooked the whole of the Hogwarts grounds, and Hogsmeade, and the castle. It always looked beautiful when James came down here, but every time he saw it, he felt a newfound interest in the sight. He saw Lily's mouth open slightly, as if in awe, and couldn't help but feel very proud of himself.

"This is life, huh?"

Lily nodded slightly, still looking taken aback by this sight.

"I'm not sure if I'm the only one who knows about this place but... you're certainly the first person I've ever shown," he continued, searching for words to say.

He was reminded a lot of the cheesy scenes in soap operas, but knew that this was why they always worked - it was a very romantic atmosphere indeed.

"So nobody else ever comes here?" asked Lily.
"Not that I know of."

She continued looking down the hill, silent for about two minutes.

"You know, it's not just for a joke," James heard himself saying suddenly. Lily's head jerked up at him, as if by instinct.
"What're you talking about?"
"You know. All those times I asked you out. All those times I acted a fool just to-" he couldn't bring himself to say it. "-just to be in the same room as you," he finally managed and felt a little nauseous.
"Oh," Lily gulped. "I always thought it was... exactly that, I guess. A joke, or a prank," Lily started excitedly. "But..." she trailed off.

James fixated his eyes on her.

"Lily, you've never been a joke, never have and never will be," he said, all of a sudden, knowing exactly what to say.

She gave him a quizzical look.

"I'm as serious about you - about us - as I can ever be about anything," he continued, knowing full well that he probably sounded like Shakespeare. "But if you don't... if you don't want to, or you know-" he added quickly, but Lily's lips curled into a subtle smile, and James knew that that had been enough.

OOO

Lily didn't say anything, but continued looking over the castle, the beautiful grounds. If only he knew that in her mind, she was taking in everything but the beautiful sight.