Chapter 1

Black, unruly hair. Round-rimmed glasses. Height that compels you to look to the sky just so you could see his face. These are common physical attributes that force us to think of James Charles Potter. Heartthrob, prankster, loyal friend, hopeless romantic. Without a personality like that, James wouldn't be James.

When you think of a hopeless romantic, your mind draws pictures of dozens of roses, moonlight walks, picnics on the beach, candlelight dinners. For James, he doesn't need those settings to be a romantic. One word and girls swoon, a single daisy from James is like forty roses to a girl, a simple walk around the lake satisfies any girl. As long as they are near James, they're happy.

But the only problem was-

"Proooooongsssss!"

-James wasn't happy-

"Hold your horses Padfoot! I have to finish this letter!"

-and he would never be-

"Are you writing to Lily again?"

-until Lily was the girl-

"Who else would I be writing to?"

-that fell in love with him.

"You need to get over her," Sirius complained as he barged into the bedroom where James sat, folding a letter.

"Why do you keep saying that? You know I won't. Besides, she sent me a letter back. She's warming up, I tell you," James said, whistling to call his owl. The large, tawny owl landed on James' outstretched arm and he gave it to her to carry. "Give it to Lily, okay Lils?" The owl took flight and flew out of the open window.

"You named your owl Lily?" Sirius asked as his eyebrows rose.

"No!" James exclaimed, a blush creeping up his neck. "I named it Lils," he then muttered. James grabbed his cloak on the bed and walked out of the spacious bedroom.

"You're obsessed James. Get over her. She's not warming up to you," Sirius said as he followed James out of the bedroom and into the hallway.

"I got the owl back in my First Year! I was obsessed back then, but I'm not anymore! I would change the name but she doesn't respond to anything else," James lied.

"Yeah James, that's why you send her an owl every week," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I just want to be sure she's okay; those attacks are becoming more frequent," James retaliated. "Oy Mum! We're ready to go!"

"Then what was that owl about? You just owled her two days ago," Sirius asked.

"She never owled me back about going to Diagon Alley so I was just letting her know that we were going today," James said as he walked into the living room where a large fireplace sat.

"Do you honestly think she's going to come?"

"She might," James said hopefully.

"Or she most likely won't."

"You're such a great friend, Sirius, have I told you that lately?" James said sarcastically as his mother walked into the room looking through her satchel of money.

"Every minute of every day," Sirius smiled. James only glared.

"Okay boys, let's go get your school supplies," Mrs. Potter said cheerfully.

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"Lily! Jacob and Rebecca are here!" Mrs. Evans screeched up the stairway.

"Just a minute!" Lily yelled back. She swept the brush through her thick, brown-red hair once more and bounded down the stairs.

"What happened to us being the late ones? What happened to Punctual Lily?" one of her friends, Rebecca Godwell joked.

"It's not my fault my alarm clock didn't go off," Lily glared, grabbing her purse off the kitchen table and hurriedly kissing her mum on the cheek. "We'll be back later." Lily ushered her two friends out of the kitchen as quickly as possible, but not before her mum got a word in.

"Don't spend too much! Just the necessities!" Mrs. Evans called out before the door slammed shut.

"What's the hurry for Lil?" her other friend Jacob Fleche asked as they all climbed into his car parked in the driveway.

"Petunia's being really mean this morning. I suspect that she's the one who turned off my alarm. She probably overhead mum talking about me going to Diagon Alley today," Lily said, leaning back on the seat and letting a sigh loose. "She just needs to get over me being a witch."

"Did you tell your mum about her turning off your alarm?" Rebecca asked, twisting in her front seat position to face Lily.

"Yes but she told me the same thing she tells me every time I complain about Petunia sabotaging something of mine," Lily said. She then put on a high-pitched voice, "'Petunia's going through a rough time right now. Think of how you would feel if you found out your sister was a witch.'"

"Stop worrying so much, Lils, she's your sister, you guys will make up one day," Jacob said, glancing at Lily from the rearview mirror. "I personally would kill to have a sister that could do magic."

"Like Courtney would help you if she was a witch," Rebecca scoffed. "You are so lucky that we told you we were witches."

"Yes, very lucky indeed," Jacob rolled his eyes. "I get to chauffeur you guys to strange places and see weird people."

"But we aren't weird, right? We're the normal witches, right?" Rebecca asked, trying to keep a straight face.

"Oh, you are; you're the weirdest of them all."

"Please; you're just jealous that we can turn you into a toad and there's nothing you can do," Lily laughed.

"True, very true indeed," Jacob said, pulling into a parking spot in front of the Leaky Cauldron. "Why does this have to be the entrance to Diagon Alley? Why can't it be some place normal?"

"Jacob, this is normal to us," Rebecca said, climbing out of the car.

"Yeah, just as driving in a hunk of metal everyday is normal to you," Lily laughed.

"Yeah, because a broom is so much better," Jacob said sarcastically. "Let's just get your school stuff and be gone."

"Aw, poor Jacob's scared he's going to get hexed," Lily said in her best baby voice to Rebecca.

"Aw, poor Jacob," Rebecca repeated in the same voice. They both laughed as they looped arms with each other and waltzed into the pub. Jacob was left outside to enter on his own.

"Don't ever do that again," Jacob said through clenched teeth when he finally caught up with them in the back area of the pub.

"Oh yeah, defiantly scared about getting hexed," Rebecca confided to Lily as she whipped out her wand.

"I am not scared about getting hexed!" Jacob exclaimed as Rebecca tapped the appropriate bricks. "That is so weird," Jacob muttered as the doorway revealed cobblestone streets of Diagon Ally.

"You've been seeing it for the past two years, get use to it," Lily laughed as her and Rebecca strolled onto the street.

"There you go again; leaving me!" Jacob exclaimed as he ran up to them and broke them apart. He looped his arms around their waists as he glanced around the shops, grimacing at some of the objects on display.

"Where to first?" Rebecca asked, placing her arm around Jacob's waist; Lily did the same.

"Gringotts for some money!" Lily exclaimed, adding a bounce to her step.

"Isn't that where all the goblins are?" Jacob asked.

"Yes, Jacob, that is where the goblins are," Rebecca rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well, it can't be worse than floating eyes," Jacob muttered, staring at the Apothecary store.

"If you think that's bad, you should see some of the stuff in our Potions' classroom," Rebecca laughed. Jacob only grimaced and turned slightly green.

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"Padfoot! Padfoot! Sirius!" James whispered urgently, grabbing his friends arm in a strong grip. They were both at the Quidditch store looking at brooms while waiting for their other friends Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew when James had seen a familiar head of hair pass by.

"What?" Sirius asked impatiently while sliding his arm out of James' grip.

"Lily's here! I saw her!" James answered excitedly as he rushed out of the store. Once outside, he looked left and right in an attempt to see the red bob again.

"James, give it up," Sirius said, placing his hands on James' shoulders to get him to look at him. "You are crazy and I can't have my best friend being crazy. Okay?" Sirius glanced past James and then looked back at his best friend. "Besides, Lily's with another guy."

"What!"