A/N: Sadly, this is the last chapter of Rejected! I just want to thank you all for the amazing reviews, and for staying with this story until the end. I hope to post more stories soon, so keep checking my page for updates!
When Lily rounded the corner, she saw Gryffindors buzzing with excitement. The common room practically crackled with electricity. Most couples tentatively greeted one another, while some (namely Sirius Black and his date, Marene) snogged violently in the corners. She brushed past the crowd and exited through the portal. She had no interest in observing her schoolmates' awkward first dates. She rushed down the the stairs to the Great Hall, where she spotted the most astonishing sight she could have imagined: James Potter, dressed in Muggle clothes, waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
She furrowed her brow. Wasn't he supposed to be in dress robes? He walked up to her with an easy smile on his face in an old Beatles shirt and jeans. She had to admit, he wore them well. James's eyes freely roamed over her dress. The slightest bit of pink flushed his cheeks, and he abruptly made eye contact with her. Lily couldn't suppress her smirk. James really did like what he saw.
James raked his fingers through his crazy black hair. That hair drove her crazy. Did he ever comb it? "Finally! You take forever to get ready, Evans. I thought you were never coming down."
Lily narrowed her eyes at him. "Why are you here, Potter?"
"Why do you think? For you."
Lily folded her arms over her chest. None of this made any sense. Potter should be off molesting some witch in a broom cabinet, not standing out here with her. "Explain, Potter."
"First of all, I came to apologize. I guess I really was a bit of a tosser, harassing you with all the proposals and then that last one...I don't know how to write eloquently like you. I know that's not an excuse, but I really didn't mean it the way it sounded. I hope you can forgive me."
"Apology accepted. Now can I leave?"
James stepped even closer to her. She longed to back away, but she didn't want him to think she was intimidated. He fiddled with his glasses. "Not yet. You said the only reason I liked you was because you refuse me. And that really gave me something to think about. Your question drove me crazy! All I could think was, 'have I just spent the last four years mooning after a girl who I don't even like'?"
Lily swallowed hard. As much as she disliked Potter, that was a bit of a blow to her ego. So he really didn't like her after all. A cold ache settled in her gut.
"But Lily—" she jolted when he used her first name, "that's not why I like you. I like you because you're incredibly intelligent, and brave, and funny. You're unfailingly kind, and that's something my life really lacks. I'll never forget when you saved Lucius Malfoy, even after he called you the m-word. I don't just like you because you make me chase you. Although I don't mind." He gave her a mischievous smile. "I'm awfully persistent. But just know that I doubt I'll never stop liking you, Lily."
Tears pricked at her eyes. No one had ever said anything like that to her before. She willed the tears away and tried to remain cold. This was the guy she loathed for years. Just because he said a few pretty words didn't make him any less of a bully. "That's really...that's really sweet of you, Potter. But I still don't know what you want from me."
James smiled. A real smile, not a smirk, or a smug grin. "I don't want anything from you but an answer, Lily. I just had to ask you something."
Lily's head hurt from holding back tears. She wanted to like him, she really did. But she had been hurt before, and she didn't want to be hurt again. Not by James Potter. She didn't think she could survive that kind of heartbreak. "What is it?" Her voice came out as a broken whisper.
James took her hand in his. Her heart hammered in her chest. His eyes bore into hers as he said, "Lily Evans, will you please go to the Yule Ball with me?"
He'd asked her this a million times, but never with such excitement in his eyes, or with flushed cheeks, or with a nervous smile. Lily internally sighed. Her lips automatically formed the word "no," but something stopped her. What could one evening hurt? "Are you sure about this?"
James laughed. "Evans, I've been sure about this since the moment I first saw you. You look beautiful, by the way."
Lily smiled. "I think I can survive one evening with you, Potter. But what might this date entail?"
James's eyebrows shot into his messy hair. "So this is a date now?"
"I never said that." Lily smirked, knowing her response would annoy him.
"You so did!"
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."
"I'll never let you forget that."
"I doubt you will."
"To answer your question, this evening shall entail lots of adventure and torrid romance."
She arched an eyebrow. "And mischief?"
He winked. "Plenty of it. You are with a Marauder, after all!"
Lily grinned, slipping her arm through his. "Then how could I not accept?"
Lily would never admit that she felt tingles when James leaned against her. She refused to tell that she had secretly wanted him to ask her out tonight. But she did one thing that she would never spill, even under the greatest torture.
Before they could enter the Great Hall, Lily Evans shoved James Potter against a pillar and snogged the daylights out of him. His brain practically melted, and when she pulled away, James wanted to beg her to kiss him again.
Lily said, "You tell anyone about that and I'll hex you into next year."
"I'd expect nothing different from you, Lily-flower," he teased. Leaning closer, he whispered in her ear, "But that was positively brilliant."
James's comment earned him a peck on the cheek before they strolled into the extravagant Great Hall together. The room dripped with gorgeous decorations, from a three-tiered punch bowl taller than him to the enchanted, dancing snowflakes gracing the stage preformed on by the Crazy Elves. James had never seen the Great Hall look more perfect.
Lily swirled around the room in her emerald dress, laughing as enchanted snow fell from the ceiling. The look on her face was complete happiness and wonder rolled into one. James wished he could preserve this moment forever. When she looked back at him, that same expression on her visage, James's face broke out in a grin. He never thought she would look at him with a look of adoration instead of abhor.
She grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the dance floor. "Coming, Potter?"
He could hardly believe his luck. Here he was, at a dance, with Lily Evans. Whom he just snogged. Life couldn't get any better. "Oh, absolutely!"
James Potter still believed that Lily Evans would be the death of him, but what a better way to go?
