It was a cold, crisp day in early April, and she had decided to take a walk. She had gotten lost in her thoughts, the fantasies in which every bride indulges, when suddenly she was startled when a figure emerged from the bushes. "What are you doing here?" It was James Potter. While he had stopped most of his bullying, and hexing people for the fun of it, he had not stopped hexing Severus. To her he was still the arrogant Quidditch star who thought he was better than everyone else.

"I wanted to talk to you." She kept moving, turned off by the way he rustled his sandy brown hair as if to impress her.

"I have no interest in doing so."

"For Pete's sake, Evans, I only wanted to congratulate you." She stopped in her tracks. He stood right beside her.

"And why should I believe that?"

"Because it's true. I'm glad you found someone who makes you as happy as he does. You deserve to be happy." This- this stunned her. Of all the things she had been expecting that was not it. It was sunny out, and the only sound was that of a bird chirping.

"Even if it's with Severus?" She was skeptical and could not help but ask it. Leaves crunched underfoot as she began moving again, and he followed her.

"Yes. Preferably not, but yes."

"Thank you, James. That's very mature." And it was true, she was impressed. Maybe he had grown up after all.

"I want to apologize for how I acted all those years, and my ignorant schoolboy attitude." And just like that she was back to being annoyed.

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to my fiancé."

"Do you really think he would listen to me?"

"That's not my problem." She was trying hard (and failing miserably) to stay at least two steps ahead of him. Suddenly it came to her. It was not Christianly to be so mean, not when he was being halfway nice, and not when... not when she was in his debt. "I am grateful you pulled him back, though. You saved his life."

"He didn't seem too appreciative. It was just a stupid prank, and he shouldn't have gone down there. Sirius didn't mean to get him in trouble."

This left her feeling miffed. "Well, he did. And how do you expect him to be appreciative when you kept acting the way you did? Anyway, that's not the point. I don't know what I would do if something had happened to him. If- well, I couldn't live without him. So thank you for saving him." This whole thing was very conflicting, as if it was day when it was supposed to be night. It was confusing and not very nice.

"Do you love him?" The seriousness of it startled her. It was a foolish question, she consented, as it should have been obvious. He should have already known. He had no business asking that. She had not exactly been forced to say yes.

"Yes, I do," she said plainly, not leaving any room for debate. "I don't know why you should question that." She sounded, she hoped, as offended as she was- uppity, even. Honestly, who did he think he was? Questioning her love for the man she was engaged to, had known since she was nine?

"I wasn't questioning you, Evans."

"Yes, you were. My emotions are none of your concern. You were questioning my judgment, on top of that. Do you deny it?" They were trekking through bramble now, and she had her wand out moving it out of their way. He continued to surprise her.

"I'm sorry." So timid. It made her think something had happened. What was going on with him?

"Sometimes I wonder what goes on inside that inflated head of yours."

"It's just that I have this theory he has you under the Imperius Curse." She came very, very close to slapping him into next week; she even, for a brief instant, turned her wand away from the hedges and onto him.

"James Potter, how dare you! How you could even suggest something so awful-"

"I was just joking. Relax."

"You're trying to make me doubt myself. Go away." She would never doubt, not for an instant. Turning her back on him, she continued walking, more than happy to let the branches fly back in his face. But he was relentless.

"I'm sorry."

"Look, I don't know what your deal is, but I don't even want to hear it." She was hot.

"But I am. I know I've been a twit. But I meant it when I said I supported your decision. He loves you, even I can see that. And every girl should be loved." She thought for a moment. There was one thing she always wanted to know.

"Why did you do it? Why did you make his life hell all those years?" The answer was long in coming, as if she had caught him by surprise. She wondered what this meant. Was it a sign of remorse, or the opposite?

"I suppose… it was pretty funny."

"You mean it was easy."

"I mean that I was jealous." She almost tripped over a tree root. If he had told her the sky was falling she would have been less shocked. So all those years of antagonizing and malicious bullying had been because of a crush he had on her. And he was actually jealous…

"Of Severus? And what he had with me?" She was angry. There was no way she could bear to even look at him. His true, deepest nature had been revealed, and if she didn't like him before, couldn't stand him- detested- him before, it was nothing compared to how little she thought of him now. "You are an ugly human being. That was not the way to deal with your petty feelings! He was innocent, you hateful bastard. If you wanted to get me to like you, you have succeeded in doing the complete opposite."

"I know I was wrong, okay?" She gave a short huff. It seemed so long ago, but it was hard to forget such injustice. "He hexed me whenever he got the chance too. We were kids. I know I'm a spoilt brat. But I'm fighting for good. Me and Padfoot and Moony, we joined the Order of the Phoenix."

"That's- that's really wonderful. No one's all bad, Potter. I try to see the best in people. I am really, truly grateful to you for saving Severus. You changed. I'm glad." He squeezed her hand before she could stop him and gave her a shy smile.

"I'm glad you're happy."

A/N: I know Lily kind of goes back and forth in this chapter, so let me explain. She never really saw James mature and try to improve himself (I hope she wasn't too harsh) and even though he was being nice hearing his confess his motives pushed her over the edge. But she values fighting Voldemort above almost anything else, and this won him enough brownie points for her to put things in perspective. She was just trying to sort it all out in her head, feeling sorta conflicted. Hope it wasn't too bad.