"Hey – um – Lily?"

Lily Evans turned on her heel and raised her eyebrows. James Potter, as popular as a first year could get, never without his grin, never without his friends, never speaking a word to her, was hurrying across the hall behind her, looking extremely nervous and uneasy, without any of his friends.

"What, Potter?"

James blushed. "I just..I just thought that..um..I just wanted to tell you have really nice.." He went redder still. "Um, you have rlnihay," he said quickly.
"What?"

It was quite possible to fry an egg on James's face, but he was determined to complete his mission. "You have..really..nice..hair."

He would light on fire any second, now.

Lily felt heat rise to her face, as well as an inexplicable smile. Her hands went immediately to her locks, two bright red braids streaming down her back, knotted with a small hair-tassel."Thanks, James," she said, biting her lip. "That was..um..nice of you."

James nodded quickly. "Yeah. Yeah. Um, you do. Okay, bye!"

He ran off, leaving Lily with a smile still playing across her lips.

Several years later, on her wedding day, she walked down the aisle with a bouquet of lilies, a beautiful wedding dress, and red, waist length braids falling down her back.