A James and Lily quick-fic. What if James, in desperation, resorted to a coin-flip to get Lily to go out with him? And what if, years later, Remus has some interesting news to combat pre-wedding jitters? Inspired by an excerpt (below) from an excellent song.

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So I'll say "why don't you and I get together and take on the world
and be together forever? Heads we will and tails we'll try again."

-- "Why Don't You & I", Santana (feat. Chad Kroeger)
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Lily wore a brittle smile. "James," she said, warningly. "For the last time—"

"Pwease Lily? Pwetty pwetty pwease?"

"No!"

"Aww, c'mon, Lils. You know you wanna."

"Potter, I do not want to go out with you. Deal with it."

"But, Lils—"

"And don't call me 'Lils'!"

James sighed. "Fine."

"That was a horrible thing you did to poor Severus."

"Smarmy git, he is. Why do you care about Snivellus?"

"Look, Potter, whatever issues you have, there was no need to get Severus involved."

Lily face was almost purple with mortification. Snape had gotten down on one knee during dinner, and begged her (in an obviously amplified voice) to go out with James Potter.

She'd given James a disgusted look, muttered a Finite Incantatem at the raging and humiliated Snape, and stomped out of the Great Hall.

The Gryffindor Common Room was deserted now. Most people stayed out of the way when James and Lily were having a row (seventeenth this month, according to the tally chart on one red-and-gold wall), on pain of getting hexed, or —because you never knew with Lily and her Muggle thingies— worse.

"So, you will go out with me, then?" asked James, smiling.

"Aargh!" Lily threw up her hands in exasperation, and turned towards the girls' dorm.

"Lily! No—I mean—Please… please… wait…."

The tinge of desperation in his voice, made Lily pause. She gave him a curious look.

"What?"

He sighed, and looked down, cheeks red. "N-N-Nothing… I guess."

She rolled her eyes.

"Wait! Lily!"

"What now?"

"H-How 'bout we… flip for it?"

She blinked. "What are you raving about, Potter?"

"A coin," he said, grasping at straws. "We'll flip a coin. And if I call it correctly, you'll go out with me."

"Potter, I've never shown any interest in you, quite the opposite, in fact. And I have sworn up and down that I will never go out with you. Ever. What makes you think I'm going to agree to something like that? I hate you, y'know!"

For one brief moment, his face crumpled. Lily felt like she had kicked a puppy. James bit his lip, and brushed past her, walking very slowly up towards the boys' dorm.

Hell, she felt as if she had kicked a puppy, taken away its squeaky toy, put it in a bag with a brick and thrown it into the bloody river.

"James…?" she said, quietly.

Oh, she was gonna regret this in the morning.

He half-turned. "Mmm?"

"Maybe… I mean… yeah… er, okay, let's flip a coin…"

James grinned. That always worked!

He pulled a Galleon out of his pocket. "Great! I'll call it, 'kay?"

Lily shook her head. "There is no way I trust you that much."

She took the coin from him, and gave it a few experimental tosses. It was tails eleven times in a row. James looked sheepish.

"We're using my coin," said Lily, rolling her eyes. She took out a silver Sickle and tapped it with her wand.

"What'd you do?" asked James, curiously.

Lily grinned. "Made it immune to any of your spells."

"Damn."

She laughed. "Yeah."

He took it from her. "Alright, call it."

"Heads."

"No way! You think I trust you? I want heads!"

"Okay…" Lily smiled innocently.

James flipped the coin.

There was a moment of breathless anticipation and then—

"Hahahahahahaha!! Yeah! I won! Oh, yeah! Who's the best? You know it, I am! I am!"

"Best two out of three?" offered Lily, weakly.

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Many, many years later…

James stood in front of the mirror, fiddling with his hair. "What if—what if—what if I forget my vows?"

"You've practised for three bloody years, James. I think you'll be fine." Remus Lupin was dressed in a tux, and looked neat, calm and composed.

Which was more than could be said for any of the others.

Near the window an epic and gory battle was taking place. Sirius Black vs. Tie, Round 1. So far, it looked as if the Tie was winning, having Sirius in a chokehold. But Sirius remained dogged(haha), and he wasn't going to give up that easily! He wrenched down on the small end of the tie, succeeding only in strangling himself. "Gerrk!"

Peter was patting his pockets frantically, muttering, "I've got 'em somewhere. I know I do. I had them just a minute ago."

"What've you lost, Pete?" asked Remus, amused.

"Er…nothing… no, nothing… exactly, yeah, nothing, not the rings, no, certainly, I haven't lost the rings, what makes you think that, no, indeed…On a completely different note, I'm gonna go… check… on something… yeah…." He tore out of the room.

That new bit of information caused James' eyes to glaze with panic. "The rings! We can't get married without rings! I have to get married! I can't not get married! I'm going to die!!"

"Prongs, will you relax? Everything's going to be fine!"

"Yeah, easy for you to say, Padfoot. You're not getting married!"

"Exactly! You are getting married to the girl you've loved your entire life! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Remus smiled lazily. "Well, Padfoot," he said, wryly. "Second thoughts are common—"

"I'M NOT HAVING SECOND THOUGHTS!!" yelped James.

Peter came in, smiling smugly.

"Found 'em?" inquired Remus.

"Found what?" asked Peter, innocently. "I never lost any rings, no indeed."

"There you go, James. Everything is going perfectly."

But James was not to be deterred from his fatalistic hypothesises. "What if… Lily says 'I don't'…."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Shall I even dignify that with a response?"

"No, seriously! What if Lily decides that she really doesn't want to marry me after all?"

"Well, considering that you've dating for five years and engaged for two, I'd say she was a little late."

"Remus!" cried James. "She might decide that she doesn't love me after all! I mean, she never wanted to go out with me in the first place."

"Oh… um, yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about that…."

"What? What is it? Tellmetellmetellme!"

"We-ell… remember how you flipped a coin to make her go out with you…?"

"Yeah, 'course."

"It was her coin, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"And you said she tapped it with her wand before you flipped it…?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, get on with it already."

"I found the coin."

"And that makes me feel tons better because…."

Remus pushed a small gift-wrapped box into his hands. "I thought you might want this."

James tore off the wrapping paper, and opened the box. He picked up the coin. And blinked. "Er… Remus?"

"Yeah?"

"So…what exactly does this prove?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Look at the coin, you prat! Lily's spell is still on it."

James twirled the little Sickle in his fingers and examined it. Then he grinned.

"I'm getting married to Lily! And it's going to be perfect!" he crowed jubilantly. "Thank you, Moony."

There was a pause.

"Hey! I wanna see! Lemme see!" Sirius bounced up and down.

James gave him the coin.

Sirius considered it. "Hah," he said, after a while. "Who'd have guessed?"

The four Marauders smirked at each other.

There was a knock on the door. A voice called: "C'mon guys! It's time!"

James took a deep breath and opened the door into a (metaphorically) bright and wonderful future.

Both sides were heads!