Disclaimer: All characters from the series belong to the wonderful JKR.
She is attached to her father's leg, shaking like a leaf destined to depart from a tree branch in the anticipated autumn wind. One only has minutes to choose their lionheart, their protector, their loyal companion for life.
"Alright darling," her father looks down at her, eyes serious yet reassuring, stroking her hair calmingly, "you may choose your lionheart."
She steps forward, standing as tall as a princess possibly can, her back rim-rod straight, her big green eyes narrowed and calculating, her head tilted, considering the two boys in front of her.
They stand before her, both unusually lanky for boys of eleven. One is tall, greatly under dressed in clothes much to big for his frame, yet they look to be the nicest he owns. His eyes are dark, long hair greasy, nose hooked. She has met him once or twice outside the castle walls, has spoken to him about the wonders of the kingdom, and he had even given a flower. Now, he is nervous, and noticeably so. Yet when he is not glancing around the room shiftly he is looking up shyly at her, and she immediately takes pity on him, wants to lift his insecurities off of him and make him feel as important as if he were her lionheart.
The other is just as tall, all limbs and tan skin, dressed in his finest garbs that scream nobility and confidence that expands no doubt to fill his head. He wears glasses, a physical disadvantage, and she wonders why her father had ever contended for him to be in the final choice for lionheart. But behind them are a swirl of hazel, of green, amber, and gold, and despite his smirk, she can see that he is just, if not more nervous than she is, by his barely restrained rocking back and forth on his toes, and the hand itching to thread through his hair. She feels a pull towards this boy, an unexplainable calling as hazel meets green and she is struck by how good it feels to see him, how uplifting it would be to stand and laugh and spend time with someone of his easiness. Her father said she would have a gut feeling, one that would determine who would be the best lionheart she could possibly choose. She feels a gut tugging need to choose hazel eyed mischief.
But she has seen hazel before, from afar. She has seen him be cruel, him and his band of misfits, torturing the boy beside him before the birch tree that stands just outside the training grounds for lionhearts beside the castle. She has often wondered how someone can take so much pleasure in humiliating another so. She wonders now how he can stand next to the other boy, knowing that he has hurt him, and seem so confident, not the least bit affected by a guilty conscience. She cannot pick him to be her lionheart. Her trust cannot go into a "life long companion" who lacks so much empathy.
She turns back to her father and nods.
The king places a hand at the small of his daughter's back and leads her into the head room. He takes the middle seat on one side of an unproportionately long table, and she takes the one across from him. He waits patiently for her to speak, an invitation to practice her leadership skills.
"The one in the black," she says persistently, leaving no room for discussion.
"No," Her father says in with a sternness she has not yet mastered.
Damn.
She is not ready to go down without a fight yet, though.
"And why not?"
"No."
"Is it because he is not as noble as the other?"
"No."
"Not as well put together?"
"No."
Her famous temper is rising. "Father, you always tell us to judge by skill, by sport-"
"No Lily."
"The other is cruel! Arrogant beyond belief! He has no compassion! No empathy! He tortures the others! You cannot expect me to choose a lionheart with a head that large!"
Her father lets her have her fit.
"Lily," he begins eyes serious, "I know that boy has a lot of growing up to do. I know," he amends again as she begins to interject, "but the most important quality of a lionheart is loyalty. And I have no doubt that boy would not change his mind about not only you, but about our kingdom and the light even if he was not the lionheart. That he will stand by you and this kingdom until he has no choice but to die, no matter what other offers he gets."
"I need you to be safe, Lily," he pleads with her, eyes begging her to reconsider.
She pauses.
"I don't like him."
"Lily-"
"I choose the one in black, daddy. He will not betray me, and he has shown me a more true side of himself."
She reaches for his hand.
"I'll be fine, daddy," she implores.
He sighs. "Alright darling. I guess I had better go announce to the kingdom who our new lionheart will be."
She hugs him excitedly. "Thank you!"
They leave the council room in good spirits.
She was not in good spirits. Not after what her father had just done.
"The kingdom's newest lionheart," he had began, "and protector of none other than our youngest and newly acquired heir to the throne Princess Lily, had been chosen by the Princess herself."
If she had been looking at him , she would have seen an uneasiness in his eyes, a flash of panic, of last minute desperate anxiety that was gone as quickly as it came. No one else had seen it, but she would have. If only she had not been a trusting fool, elated to have chosen her new lionheart.
"James Potter."
Immediately, she knew something was wrong. Although she had not known the names of these boys, Potter was decidedly noble, and she had picked the lesser of the noble boys. The tan one let out a relieved smile, and she turned back to look at her father with eyes of panic.
A mistake, she thought, he has to have made a mistake. The wrong name has been announced, surely that had to be it. He had just mixed up the boys.
But the panic in her gaze was not mirrored by the King's. Instead he had given her a look so strong and had nodded so small with a squared jaw, that there was no mistaking what had just occurred.
The King had overridden the Princess, in a matter in which the King had no place in overriding such a decision.
Her temper flared to life. She wanted to scream. She wanted to turn around and reassure the crowd that really, everything was wrong, and her father was being a giant arrogant bastard. But the fact of the matter was that she too was loyal and considerate like her chosen lionheart, and bad-mouthing her father in front of an entire kingdom did not seem ideal in the least. Her father's gaze had reminded her of that. She would simply have to wait to scream at him in private.
Fuming, she looked down at the tan boy, who began to kneel in front of her and pledge his allegiance.
"James Potter," she heard her father state, "Lionheart to the crown princess, to protect and obey her every command."
She couldn't help but want her first order to be for him to get the bloody hell away from her, even if it was technically illegal.
James Potter was an annoying entitled brat. And that was coming from a princess.
Lily absolutely detested James Potter. She tried to spend as much time as she could with Severus, after all, she and he had been friendly enough before and she felt as though by not picking him as lionheart, she had sealed his lower-income castle employee fate.
Though Severus did not seem to be the kind and caring friend he once was and after the incident. While he would engage in small talk with Lily when she decided to make it, she could feel that the conversation was mostly forced and out of politeness. It probably didn't help that James was always somewhere nearby, but there were just more things to disagree on these days, like Snape's choice of friends or hos highly questionable extra curricular activities that seemed to stem from roots of hate against Lily's own family and their rise to power. Still, with little to no effort on his part of their friendship, Lily could feel them drifting apart as she so often wished they wouldn't. And now she was stuck with James Potter.
Over the years, Lily had found many things she despised about James Potter. He did not know when to shut up. He would talk for hours and hours without being spoken to, would plan pranks on his off time with his friends, and would target specific people, making their lives a living hell. She is fifteen year old and she cannot live like this anymore, the last four years have been a nightmare.
But the most annoying thing about James Potter was that he won't stop hitting on her.
Each morning, he would extend his hand to help lead her down the stairs. She takes it begrudgingly each time, rolling her eyes and barely making contact with him. Most of her encounters are as following:
"Alright Princess?" he asks, a wink accompanying his playful smile
He throws a cheeky smile at her, eyes imploring her to stare back, and she scowls, keeping her gaze far ahead.
"No very talkative today are we Evans?"
She turns her head violently to stare at him, eyes narrowed.
"Princess will do just fine Potter."
"Banter only works if there is a witty repartee," he tries again, nudging her elbow.
"On c'mon Evans," he begins.
A sharp glare.
"Princess," he amends, "we have to spend every waking moment together and I'm sick of living in silence. After all, I see the looks you give me."
Now she is only confused.
"It's obvious you're attracted to me, with our close proximity and all…"
"Our proximity is required for your job Potter."
"Yes, but you my dear, obviously enjoy it. I wouldn't be surprised if you can't stand to spend a single waking moment without me."
She does not answer, trying to will herself to keep the flush out of her cheeks.
"Go out with me Evans. I know you take pity hanging out with that Snape creature at times, but now you can have your real first choice-"
"Potter," she cuts him off abruptly seeing red, "That is enough. I do not value our time together anymore than I value time with the giant squid, but the least you can do is let me suffer through it in silence, if only to spare me the headache."
His stare at her is accusing. He almost seems hurt by her accusation, but Lily's temper is ready to fly and she couldn't give a damn.
"Why did you even pick me?" he shakes his head, "It obviously wasn't for my company." He rolls his eyes and sighs under his breath.
She snaps. It is day after day after day that she has to deal with his egocentric behavior and she cannot take it anymore.
"Do you want to know the truth Potter? I didn't pick you! My father did! I would have rather had the Giant Squid as my lionheart than you!"
He just looks at her, eyes upset and shocked at her outburst. Immediately, she feels awful, and wants to take back her words. But they are how she feels and before she can even open her mouth to say something about her temper, they have already begun walking, this time in silence.
The next day, he greets her with an "Alright, Evans?".
She wants to bang her head against the wall.
In is about 6 months to a year later when Lily is awoken by the gunshots.
She wakes up in a panic, eyes desperate to focus in her room's dark lighting, and ready to flee from the comfort of her bed.
Suddenly, the door bursts open, a dark silhouette in the doorway, holding a gun.
She scrambles backward, chipping the end of her water glass on her nightstand and holding it out as a weapon.
"Evans!" she hears him whisper-shout, as she holds up the pieces of glass.
"Potter?" she asks in a curious whisper.
His face is grim as he turns to look at her.
"We have to go princess."
There are men in black ransacking the palace.
Death Eaters, she realizes, that was what James had called them.
They were after the throne, prepared to take down her family and their immigrant blood, to cleanse the country of their diversity and force everyone to have pure Gryffindor blood.
It does not register with the princess that the men are coming for her, that they are here to kill her, instead, she wonders how men can be this sadistic, to destroy and fight the guards, and have no mercy in their eyes.
She stares as she runs in slow motion, transfixed.
"Princess!" she hears James shout and suddenly his arm is around her middle, heaving her behind him as a bullet whizzes past her ear, and James immediately fires back. They are advancing towards them, two, no three, and James tries to take them all down while protecting her.
He is on the last one, when she sees it out of the corner of her eye, a glimpse of black from the third story, a sniper aiming at James. Without thinking she scurries out from behind James to his side where a dark soldier has fallen and retrieves his gun. She imagines she is in archery when she aims, only shooting her target with her beloved bow.
She hears James fire his last shot to take down the last man in black when she fires her shot, shooting the sniper directly in the side of his chest.
James turns around startled, only to find her holding a gun, and her victim falling off the balcony with a thud.
He gapes, open mouthed, as he tries to comprehend that the princess he is supposed to be protecting has just saved his life.
"Where did you learn to do that?"
She stares him in the eye nonchalantly, gun lowering to her side as she finishes with her tagert. She wants to smile at his surprise.
"Girls have to make their own training. And it can't be all crossed ankles and hostess edict."
He smiles at her. "Don't worry Evans, I'll give you your own training lesson."
Suddenly, they hear gunshots from the level below.
"We have to move," he says, all traces of the smile gone from his eyes.
They race down the corridor to the nearest passage to the safe room, James slightly head of Lily.
She peers around the corner ready to follow after James, but not ready to fire another shot, because Dear God, she has killed someone tonight, when she finds James engaged in a battle with another man in balck.
Lily is frozen behind her corner, hoping to find the right moment to shoot when James is not in the line of fire, but the effort seems futile. She watches the fight carefully. James, she realizes, has never been fighting to kill, but the other figure is, aiming for important, internal organs.
She is shocked that he is sparing a life.
James lands a punishing punch to the man's face and the man encased in darkness stumbles, barely managing to avoid falling to the floor and instead staggering to the balcony doors at the end of the hall, positioned to jump off the balcony to the gardens.
"James!" Lily calls, and begins to run towards him, but she tumbles over her own feet, and James has enough sense to catch her before she lands face first on the palace tile.
The man turns and seems to observe James and Lily's position with a dark look.
"Mudblood," he spats, eyes trained on Lily.
"Hey!" James shouts, and then shoots for real.
The man looks back quickly, but jumps, fleeing the scene, and Lily is stunned to silence.
"C'mon princess," James mutters, shoving them both into the safe room and securing the doors. Her father and her mother are probably in the room nearest to their bedroom, and that leaves Lily and her lionheart stuck in the safe room, and Lily retreats to the back wall.
James turns, done securing the doors, and turns back to her, approaching her slowly, as their history has always been rocky.
"You alright Evans?" he asks, eyes full of sincerity.
She nods, still numb, but James drops next to her on the floor and leans into her side, providing her with warmth.
It is comforting, and she basks in this new side of James, one that will get her to safety and let mistaken men go, who will comfort her and most importantly make her laugh to keep out all the darkness. But she is still shocked from the sight of those dark eyes she had seen on the balcony minutes before.
The dark eyes of Severus Snape staring back at her.
Author's Note: Thank you all so much for reading my lovely readers! I know it seems like I glossed over the first five years of Lily and James's relationship and Lily's relationship with Snape, but this story is already so long I had to combine some stuff to make the rest fit. There is going to be a ton of action coming up and so so SO much James and Lily romance you are not going to be able to contain yourself! I just need some more time to get the rest of it in order. Thank you soooo much and please r&r for my first multi-chapter story!
XOXO,
Emily