Chapter 7

Courting Lily

Green, James decided, was his favourite colour.

The thought never crossed his mind that perhaps this decision was a hasty one, given that the only reason he would ever proclaim such a statement, was due to a fleeting moment in time, in which James Potter first laid his eyes on Lily Evans'.

It was a week ago that this colossal moment occurred, and James had not shut up about it since.

"She's beautiful! I mean, did you look at her eyes? As green as the shimmering grass covered with dew on an early morning in spring! I could stare into her eyes for eternity. And her smile! Sirius, did you see—"

Sirius promptly slapped his friend.

"Oi!" James protested

"If I hear one more word about Lily Evan's green eyes, I will run you through with your own sword," Sirius threatened. Remus, who was standing nearby, chuckled.

"But she's perfect!" swooned a love-struck James, his eyes rolling skyward.

Sirius sighed and observed the lost case that was his friend. He really was sick and tired of James' constant praise and adoration of Lily and her legendary eyes, and wished the two had never met.

Though, considering the nature of their first meeting, he could not imagine why James was so obsessed with her. It was universally known that she held no fancy to him.

-mp-

[One week earlier]

The four friends were perched on a large boulder that overlooked a lake on the northern edge of town. The sun and clouds illuminated the sky above while reeds and water lilies infested the scene below.

Sirius broke the calm and still lake by promptly throwing a small rock right at a small green frog that hopped across the large leaves in the water. Startled, the green animal jumped. James, Remus and Peter laughed.

"I'd give that a three," James judged merrily.

"Three?" Sirius echoed incredulously, looking affronted.

"Well, you didn't actually hit the thing!" James explained.

Huffing, Sirius conceded, handing a rock to James, whose turn it was.

They waited for a new frog to enter the scene, and when one did, James reached his arm back and accurately threw the rock. It slammed into a lily pad, but missed the frog.

"Five," Remus called.

They went on, marking each throw of a rock out of ten based on the reaction of the animal they were aiming at.

"Three."

"Seven! Oh, close one!"

"Two."

"Two."

The game continued.

Then suddenly, James yelled, his voice unusually much higher, "Ten!"

Peter paused mid throw. The rock hadn't even left his hand yet. "But I haven't—"

"Shoosh!" James admonished them immediately, his eyes frozen on a spot on the far side of the lake. Turning their heads, the other three boys saw the cause of James' exclamation.

In the distance, across the lake, was a girl sitting on the opposite shore, her head down, obviously deep in thought. She moved a quill elegantly across a piece of brown parchment on her lap, writing something. Her hair was a dark red, but that was about all they could make out of her appearance, she was too far away oltherwise.

"It's just a girl, James," Sirius said.

"'Just a girl'? Look at her! She's an angel!"

Remus and Sirius exchanged a look of mild amusement.

"Is that so?" Remus asked wryly, toying with James.

Nodding fiercely, James stood up and took a step forward, wanting to get nearer to the girl. However, he seemed to have forgotten that the expanse that separated them was not something that one could normally walk on.

Before any of the three others could grab him—

Splash!

—he fell into the lake.

Sputtering and splashing, James cried out in shock, diverting attention directly to him. The girl, he was happy to notice, stared right at him. Under the scrutiny of the beautiful angel, he tried to look dashing and heroic, attempting to stand up and giving his best smile. But he slipped on a mossy rock, dropping down again.

Sirius fell back laughing and clutching his stomach, and Peter let out a near-quiet chuckle. Remus, meanwhile, extended a hand to James, offering to pull him out.

James ignored the hand and called out to the girl who was still watching him, "It's alright! I'm fine!" James yelled across the lake in an effort to save his dignity. She stared back at him, but made no other noticeable motion of acknowledgment.

"James," Remus advised, "grab my hand before you make yourself look like even more of a fool."

He did and Remus pulled him out, all wet and cold. James didn't seem to notice his state and promptly said, "I have to go speak with her."

Unable to stop his determined stride, Remus, Sirius and Peter followed their friend around the lake. Finally, they approached her. She remained sitting down and writing. It seemed she hadn't even noticed their arrival.

James coughed and said, "Good afternoon."

Sirius distinctly noticed that his voice was much lower than normal. He scrunched his eyebrows in bemusement.

"Hullo," the girl replied in a soft, carefree voice, after a few seconds of silence. It was right about then when her eyes left the parchment in her lap and glanced up at James for the first time. Their gazes locked.

James, as if struck by a spasm, convulsed a little, and then froze up. His throat seemed lodged, preventing the 'how do you do?' from escaping. He could concentrate on nothing but the pair of luminous emerald gems that were glinting out at him. An expression of adoration crossed his face, and it took a few seconds for sense to return to his mind.

When it did, he uttered, "You… are a very beautiful girl," with his eyes locked on hers. He didn't even think twice about the boldness of his declaration.

She, at least, had the grace to look grateful. "Thank you," she said, a lovely pink blush blooming in her cheeks.

Sirius rolled his eyes, and jumped into the conversation before James could make another stupid statement.

"Uh, excuse him, milady," he apologised. "My friend here has been struck by a terrible disease," he announced knowingly, sounding as if he had the knowledge of a physician, when James knew that he very well didn't. James opened his mouth to protest, but Sirius slapped his hand over his friend's lips. "This disease causes the victim to fall in love with the first person he sees of the opposite sex."

Remus' eyebrows lifted high into his forehead, while Peter just stared at Sirius.

Grappling with Sirius' hand, James released it and said hotly, "Sirius! What on earth are you saying?"

The girl stared at them with unamused confusion. "And I suppose I'm the first girl he's seen," she stated flatly.

"No—" James started.

"Yes," Sirius interrupted.

The girl's eyebrows scrunched. "And when did he contract this disease?" she asked in a voice that clearly depicted her scepticism.

James rounded on Sirius with an outraged glare and hissed, "Yes, dear Sirius, when exactly did I contract this disease?"

Sirius glanced between them. "Er ..." he floundered "... two minutes ago?"

Remus snorted in laughter.

James rolled his eyes turned back to the girl. "Look, please don't believe a word Sirius just said. He's lying; I'm fine." Then he grinned at her broadly, in what he was certain was an attractive manner and continued, "But, of course, I don't need tell you that. You, beautiful lady, look intelligent enough to have figured that out already … you know, for a girl …" he said, in what he thought was a very kind manner.

The red-haired girl looked appalled and her mouth dropped. "'For a girl!'" she repeated, affronted and angry.

James looked at her, confused. Why was she angry? "What?" he said, shrugging his shoulders while beside him, Remus sighed and shook his head. Peter, for his part, didn't look as if anything was untoward.

The girl looked even more aghast at James' expression. Annoyed at the insensitivity of the two boys, she looked to Remus and Peter, the last two of them, waiting to see what stupid thing they would add to an already horrible conversation.

"Hi," Remus said, trying to salvage the smallest shred of dignity on behalf of his friends. "Remus," he offered.

"Lily," she replied hesitantly.

James, upon hearing the wonderful girl's name, whispered it himself, as it to test to see what it sounded like from his lips. "Lily."

Lily started at James in ill-disguised distaste.

"Look, sorry about this," Remus apologised. "My friends are a bit barmy sometimes. They're actually alright, when they're not acting like complete prats, like now. We were just on the other side of the lake when James—the wet one—wanted to meet you."

James tried on one of his winning smile. It was an expression that never failed to win over a girl's heart.

"Why?" she asked, scrunching her nose as if a bad smell had wafted her way. Obviously, the smile failed.

"Well, I suspect he's taken a fancy to you," Remus replied smiling.

She snorted and stood up. "Would you do me a favour, and tell him something?" she asked Remus, knowing full well that James was listening.

"Of course," Remus replied tentatively.

"When he turns back into his normal self, could you please tell him that he is wasting his time," she requested, dusting off her skirts and fixing her hair. Then she paused and, looking James directly in the eye, announced, "I do not find him remotely interesting and I am in full confidence that I will never return his affections."

James' jaw dropped. Sirius smirked. Peter looked stunned.

And Remus nodded feebly, glancing cautiously at James. "I- I'll tell him, but he won't like it," he mumbled pointlessly.

James shook his head, agreeing.

"He doesn't have to," she replied smartly. "Good day," she bid, before she turned and walked away into the trees.

James watched her leave with a desperate and longing face; unable to pinpoint what he had said that had affronted her.

After a minute, he spoke up, "Boys, I'm determined to make her fall in love with me."

"Ok, mate, you do that," Sirius placated, clearly not believing it was possible.

-mp-

Two months later, James had still not made good on his promise. Lily, rather unfortunately, still thought him to be the bumbling, dripping wet, arrogant boy from that day. That isn't to say that James didn't try.

On the contrary, James spent much of his time devising ways to get Lily to pay attention to him. Sirius, Remus and Peter became concerned with the amount of determination he was showing, but Sirius wisely stayed quiet and made the other two promise that he would too. Sirius knew that if James didn't have Lily to focus on, he would spend his time thinking of Riddle back in Slytherin and sharpening his sword so that he could one day kill the man.

It was a blissful two months in which talk of Riddle, the Red Sword or revenge never arose. So, Lily, without knowing it, was saving James from himself, and if for nothing else, Sirius was glad.

But that didn't mean he wasn't sick of seeing James crash and burn. After one particularly harsh rejection, in which Lily hissed at James that he had as much charm as a dead slug, James came back to his three friends, disheartened.

"Will she ever accept me?" he whined gloomily.

"Probably not," Sirius said bluntly, "but you've got the courage of a lion, my friend."

"Surely your attempts could be not entirely wasted," Remus offered.

"At least she's noticing you," Peter added.

James snorted. "Yeah, noticing me enough to compare me to deceased insects." He sighed, his heart clenching painfully. "I love her, boys," he said plainly, "I really do."

Sirius and Remus exchanged a look.

James continued, "I know she doesn't like me much—" (Sirius was about to mention that was a gross understatement, but was hushed by a sharp jab in the ribs by Remus)—"but I … I just can't get her off my mind! You can't deny it. She's gorgeous!" James insisted.

Raising his eyebrows at the sincerity of James' persistence, Sirius said, "I don't doubt that. She … er, she has a lovely complexion—"

"Well, what about me?" James asked.

The three boys seemed stunned. "Sorry?"

"Don't I have a 'lovely complexion'?" James clarified.

Sirius was utterly confused, "Uh ... yes ... I suppose."

"No, I meant, I'm alright-looking, aren't I?" James rephrased.

"You're not bad," Sirius said, not knowing how much more of an answer James was seeking. Beside him, Peter nodded his agreement.

James looked to Remus, who piped in, "Yeah, I mean, you're very handsome. Nice hair, lovely eyes, strong build," he opined.

Sirius glanced at Remus sideways and gave him a cautious look.

James threw his hands up, "So why does she treat me as if I don't exist?"

Sirius sighed. His friend really did seem troubled. For the first time in two months, the weight of pursuing the ever-stubborn Lily was crashing down on James. It was time for Sirius to be a friend and brother. Remus gave him a look of encouragement, knowing wise words were needed. Sirius personally thought Remus would be better for the job, but knew it had to be him.

"Well, James, perhaps she just needs to see you from the inside," he encouraged, scrambling his head for the right words.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean; she's only seen you being a pathetic loser who falls in ponds and spouts out really bad lines that are supposed to charm her," he stated plainly.

There was no subtlety lost on Sirius Black.

Remus gave him a disapproving look. Sirius shrugged his shoulder as if to say, what?

James deflated and slumped down. "You're right."

"She hasn't seen the real you. If she did, she'd love you," Sirius assured.

"Well how am I supposed to approach her then?" he asked glumly. Then he gave Sirius a pleading look. "Would you show me?"

"What?"

"Show me how to approach her. Why don't you be me and Remus can be Lily and then you two can show me how I'm supposed to woo her?" James suggested energetically, thinking his plan was genius.

Peter let out a small laugh at the very idea and already looked incredibly excited, while Remus blushed severely.

Sirius tried not to think about the implication about this enactment. He didn't have to look at Remus to know he resembled a tomato right now. Turning to James, Sirius was about to beg him to reconsider his plan, but he knew James wouldn't let him. James was sometimes as clueless as a rock. He would probably think what possible reason could prevent Sirius and Remus act out a scene in which Sirius dotes his love on Remus.

"Right," Sirius sighed to himself. Resigning himself to the moment, he turned to Remus, who looked at him unsurely. Suddenly, Sirius felt his hands begin to sweat profusely, and his heart beat to thud terribly in his ears. He felt like telling his heart to quiet down, but knew that would be silly.

He cleared his throat. "Er … Remus."

"Lily," Peter corrected.

"Er, right, sorry," Sirius said, starting again. "Lily."

"Yes James," Remus muttered to Sirius, face slightly downcast.

"No, no that's wrong," James said, "by this stage, she'd already be saying something along the lines of, 'I beg you to just leave me alone!'"

Remus coughed. "I beg you to leave me alone," he echoed to Sirius, and then turned to James, "Better?"

"No," James muttered despondently. "Not better. But continue," he prompted.

Sirius cleared his throat again and began to play with his fingers. "Er … so … just hear me out, Lily. I just wanted to tell you that I—" (he took a deep breath) –"I think you're very ... attractive," he said, looking at Remus, exuding mountains of discomfort and adding to the tension that was humming between them like a swarm of bees. If only James had enough sense to notice the awkwardness between he and Remus.

Sirius continued, "And … I know I've been a bit of an imbecile lately … and I've done and said stupid things … and you think I'm a pathetic excuse for a human being—"

"We get the point, Sirius," James warned. Peter laughed.

"… But I just want you to know that I'm better than that. I—uh—really like you a lot," Sirius rushed out.

All this time, Remus stood frozen. He offered neither word nor action and Sirius was feeling sweat build up on his brow.

After a minute, Sirius spoke again. "I'm sorry if I've hurt you in any way. And you should know howmuchIloveyou—There! That's how it's done! Easy! You've got nothing to worry about, James," Sirius finished loudly, cutting off his own words. He avoided all eye contact with Remus.

James still looked unsure. He looked to Remus for advice. "Remus? What do you think?"

"Well ... I think …" he began, shaking out of his momentary lapse, "To be honest James, she's just rejected you. I think you need to lay off for a while. Give her a few days," he said wisely, avoiding looking in Sirius' general direction.

James, struck by an idea, requested something of Remus. "Would you speak to her for me?"

"Huh?"

"Speak to her. Look, it's obvious she trusts you the most. So, could you tell her … you know … about me," James asked.

Remus, taken aback, agreed, "Sure."

James smiled, giving him a grateful look.

-mp-

"He's mad for you, you know."

Lily sighed. "I know. I think he's a fool, but I know he likes me."

"Loves you," Remus corrected her gently, with a small smile.

The pair was sitting by the edge of the lake where, consequently, James and Lily first met. Remus sat staring at the peaceful water surface, watching dragonflies flit from left to right. Lily, beside him on his right, ripped a blade of grass into minute threads on her lap. When it was effectively destroyed, she picked another, and, head down, obliterated that as well.

Remus heard Lily exhale again. He knew she wanted to say something, but wasn't sure.

"Is it so horrible? To be loved?" Remus asked her.

She lifted her head at the unexpected question. Stumped, she muttered quietly, "No."

"Then you don't like it that it's James that loves you," he clarified.

She scrunched her eyebrows and sat in thought. "He's just … so arrogant."

"And?"

"And what?" she asked.

"What else about him don't you like?"

Lily remained silent and looked away and Remus knew she had no answer.

After a while—giving Lily ample opportunity to answer his question—Remus said, "He's not a bad person, Lily. He's just a little crazy in love. I've known him only since he arrived here, but I know he is about as sincere a person as you can find. Give him a chance."

"But Remus, I know next to nothing about him!"

"You're not supposed to yet. You'll get to that when you are with him and talking to him. Despite what you've been subjected to, he can actually hold intelligent conversation once in a while."

Lily smiled.

Remus went on, "And yes, I agree, he does sometimes appear to be arrogant to you, but he's not like that when he is around anyone else. I honestly believe you only see that side because he's desperately trying to impress you. Though I doubt it's working."

Lily snorted. "It's annoying."

"I can imagine."

They sat in silence for a full ten minutes, digesting what they had discussed. Remus knew Lily was making important decisions in her mind, but he was almost certain she would give his friend a chance now.

Lily finally broke the silence. "How did you become so smart about relationships?"

Remus raised an eyebrow. "I'm not."

"I beg to differ," Lily replied.

"Maybe when it comes to others. With myself, I'm my own mess," he sighed.

Lily sat with a knowing smirk on her face, staring at Remus out of the corner of her eye, as if she harboured a secret.

Remus noticed and asked suspiciously, "What?"

"Don't think I don't know about you," she said mysteriously.

"Know what?"

Lily smiled warmly. "Honestly, Remus. Does a certain dark-headed someone by the name of Sirius Black ring any bells?" she said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

Remus gave her a look. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said shortly, ignoring the pleasant jolt in his stomach.

"I'm sure," she replied with a sarcastic chuckle. "I'm not the only one here who is being pursued."

Remus went red. "I'm not being pursued!" Remus replied. "It's not like that. Sirius and I are ..." he trailed off.

"Yes?" Lily asked sweetly.

"We're just friends," he finished, knowing that deep in his heart, he wished they were more. "And besides, this conversation was meant to be about you and James."

"Oh, alright. But on the day you and Sirius stop tip-toeing around each other and finally do something about it, I want you to thank me for pointing you in the right direction. Deal?"

Remus smiled. "Do you promise to give James a chance?"

Sighing, she said, "Yes."

"Then deal," Remus replied, sealing the deal.

A long moment of silence passed them by in which they watched the sun begin to descend in the far distance.

Remus spoke up eventually, "You know, I've lived in Hufflepuff my entire life, and so have you. But I hadn't even met you before James and Sirius arrived. I didn't know your name."

Lily smiled. "I'm glad that's changed."

-mp-

One week later, after months of relentless pursuits, awkward conversations and constant rejections, Lily Evans finally agreed to court James Potter.

Two years later, they were married in a small ceremony with only their closest friends as witness.

Another year after that, in the middle of a blistering hot summer, Harry was born.

-mp-

"Master," a timid voice spoke in the dark room, almost a whisper.

The response came as a hiss, "What is it Wormtail?"

"H—he has a son now, my Lord."

The second voice snarled in rage. "What?"

"I have seen the child with my own eyes."

"Well, that won't do, will it? We can't have two Potter heirs."

The one named Wormtail cowered at his master's anger. "No, my Lord."

"One of them must die."

"Yes, Lord Voldemort."

-mp-

Next Chapter: Here's an excerpt ...

James then knew he was about to lose his life. Riddle was about to kill him, so he did what he could to keep his family safe.

"Lily! Take Harry and run!" he shouted, hoping she heard him and listened immediately. "RUN!"