Chapter Eleven

"Alice!" I hissed at her, throwing another rejected outfit at her, nearly toppling her off the bed as she had so many clothes piled on top of her. "This is a bad idea! I have nothing to wear." I plopped down onto the floor, cross legged and buried my head in my hands. "Everything I own is so ugly!"

She shoved the clothes off of herself and grabbed my arm, forcing me to stand. "Lily stop being so dramatic!" She shoved me back onto the bed so that now I was the one surrounded by rejected clothes and started rifling through my trunk trying to find me something to wear.

Good luck. I thought to myself miserable, falling backwards so I was staring at the top of her four poster bed. There's nothing in there but Petunia's hand me downs and some ugly skirts that my mum forced me to buy.

"Lily!" Alice shouted, her voice muffled from the depths of my trunk. "Where are all of your clothes?"

I could feel my face heat up as I turned onto my stomach to avoid the look of disappointment on her face, the one that already held residence on my face. "I don't have anything nice!" I wailed into her pillow. I rolled back over onto my back and stared at her in a panic. "What am I supposed to do now? It's too late to go and get something and James will be there looking all handsome and I'll be looking like some sort of Yeti!"

Alice tutted and pulled something out of the trunk, looking at it long enough to fill me with some sort of evil feeling hope. I threw my arm over my eyes, not wanting to be let down again. She squealed in excitement. "Lily, this is it!" She came over and jumped on me, squeezing all of the air from my lungs and ripping my arm away from my face. "Lily." She poked me as I didn't make a move to look. "Lily, come on, look at it!"

I sighed sadly and looked at her as she sat on top of me, clutching a top in her hand as though it was the Holy Grail. "Ok, show me."

The top itself was relatively simple, it was a black top with a lace trim on the bottom. It was modestly cut but would fit me nicely and show my figure. "And-" Alice jumped up, "you could wear it with your cute denim skirt with those boots that we love so much."

My eyes lit up in excitement and I jumped up pulling her into a hug. We jumped about squealing loudly with each other.

"What's going on?" Marlene was standing by the door, watching us in amusement.

Alice and I looked at each other before pouncing on her and dragging her into the hug. "Marlene, Alice found me an outfit that I can actually wear and look good in for my date!"

"Oh yay!" Marlene shouted. "Let me see."

We decided that I should take a jacket and add some tights because it was Winter and everything. Thankfully it wasn't snowing otherwise I would have had a meltdown. I knew how to cast a warming charm so I was ok if I got too cold, which I doubted because we would hopefully be inside.

I panicked again. I didn't even know what we were going to be doing on this date, or where we were going. What if it was something I hated? What if I fell over?

"Lily? Are you ok?" Marlene asked. I faked a smile and nodded, before dropping it and shaking my head.

"This is my first date with James." I said. "What if he realises that he doesn't actually like me? What if he realises that he put me on a pedestal and I'm not as great as he thinks I am."

Alice and Marlene looked at each other and took an arm each, sitting me back down on the bed. "Lily." Alice started. "James will never be disappointed in you, you are great and you are amazing. Anyone would be lucky to have you and you're going to have such a good time with him. Stop worrying about what he thinks of you because I think he's over the moon right now that you said yes and I think he's gonna have something really special for you to do today."

Marlene nodded. "Yeah Lily, I think you're overthinking this because, maybe, just maybe, you really like him."

I smiled at them both, feeling as though the panic that had been rising inside of me had now disappeared and pulled them both into a hug. "Thanks guys. You're both right, if he doesn't like me for the real me then he didn't like me at all." I raised a hand before they could both speak. "I am amazing and anyone would be lucky to have me." I laughed and they joined in.

Marlene then took me over to the vanity and sat me down. "Now, how do you want your hair?"

"And your makeup?" Alice asked, picking up some brushes.

I looked at myself in the mirror one last time before pulling on my jacket. Marlene had set my hair into lovely waves with a wave of her wand, I would have to ask her how to do that spell and Alice had given me natural yet beautiful makeup that made my eyes stand out even more and get rid of the red complexion that I had due to my nerves.

Thank Merlin for those two. I thought fondly.

It was now time for me to meet James and see what we were going to be doing for our date. It was four o'clock, meaning that he was probably wanting us to eat somewhere other than the Great Hall. Even though it was a Saturday the entire school would still be there. I felt the flutter of nerves again as I turned to leave the room.

I walked slowly down the stairs, not wanting to fall down them and embarrass myself in front of the entire common room. That was the last thing I wanted to do. I made it to the bottom of the staircase, thankfully not making a fool of myself and looked around to find James.

I spotted him just as he noticed me. His mouth dropped open and I willed myself not to blush but knew I was fighting a losing battle. His eyes twinkled behind his glasses and he came over to me slowly, as if he didn't want to spook me away. I smiled at him and he answered with a sweet smile of his own, completely different from his usual cocky smiles.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and it made me look at what he wearing for the first time. He looked very nice. He was wearing a dark blue button down shirt with black jeans and black dress shoes. It even looked as though he had tried to brush his hair.

"Hi Lily." He said, shyly. "You look very nice."

I smiled at him, tucking a hair behind my ear. "Thank you James, you look nice too." I felt the beginnings of awkwardness start to form in my stomach but pushed it down. "So where are we going?" I asked, taking the hand he outstretched for me to hold. He looked down at our fingers intertwined with such happiness that it made me melt.

He grinned at Sirius and Remus, who were stood watching us from where they sat on the sofas. Sirius flashed him a thumbs up and Remus gave an amused smile. Alice and Marlene waved to me with smiles as we left the common room.

"It's a surprise." He answered, pushing open the portrait hole and letting me step through before him. "But to get there, I have a few shortcuts we can use." He led me over to a tapestry nearby and held it open, showing a passage behind.

I eyed him with a smirk. "Oh the great James Potter is sharing all of his secrets with me?"

His eyes twinkled in amusement. "Some of them." I laughed and we walked together to the front doors.

"So we're going outside?" I asked, ignoring the obviousness of my statement.

James nodded and opened the door for me again. Such a gentlemen. "Just a little further." He promised.

We walked to the Quidditch Pitch and I hoped to Merlin that we wouldn't be flying, I had a small fear of heights. As we walked through the entrance and onto the pitch. I gasped as I saw what James had set up. There was a white tent in the middle of the Quidditch Pitch with fairy lights over the edges and entrance. There was ivy along the edges of the tent and flowers set up everywhere. There was also an arch that had intertwined ivy and lights, twinkling as James bowed to me.

"Lily, I present to you, our first date." I giggled softly and took his outstretched arm as he led us inside.

Inside looked even more amazing than outside. He had enchanted a set of musical instruments to play as we walked inside, playing a soft melody that made me smile at his thoughtfulness. There were flowers decorating the table that had a meal set on it and decorating the rest of the tent. There were pillars along the back of the tent that hung a banner that said "James and Lily" on it.

"James this is amazing." I said, allowing him to pull out the chair for me. I sat down and stared at him with a grin on my face. "I can't believe you had time to do all of this."

"Sirius and Remus helped." He said humbly, putting a napkin on his lap. "The house elves were more than happy to help with the food as well. We should probably start before it gets cold. Butterbeer?" He offered.

I can't believe he did all of this for me.

I looked at him in amazement, taking a sip from it as I tried to gather my thoughts. "I'm seriously impressed, regardless if you had help or not."

He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, pausing to ruffle his hair nervously as he had done so many times before but it didn't annoy me this time. In fact I was beginning to think it was cute. "Well I've thought about this moment for a long time." He admitted.

I felt the flush begin to take over again. "That's really sweet James."

He shook his head and passed me a knife and fork. "It's what I wanted to do for you." He took the lid off his meal and mine and I felt my mouth start to water at the delicious aroma that came from the plate.

I looked down and saw my favourite foods all piled onto the plate. "I didn't want to mess it up so I got them to make a bit of everything." James said sheepishly.

I laughed and reached over to take his hand. "James, this is perfect."

AN: I'm sorry for this being so, so, so, so late! I hope this chapter was good for you guys, I was going to make it longer but I was running out of ideas for the date, even though I think it was pretty cute of James to set up this cute tent!

Do you guys like this idea?

Also please feel free to leave a review, comment or constructive criticism. If there is anything you would like to see in the upcoming chapters, do let me know and I can try and fit it in somewhere for you!