A/N: Here goes. Sorry for all the lateness and all.
Letters flew back and forth between a certain James Harold Potter and Lily Aurora Evans. The months zipped by with notes going back and forth between the two, sprinkled with little hints such as "I hope to meet you one day." In James' letters he told about his friends, Sirius and Remus, pranks he played on his enemies Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape, the eccentricities of Dumbledore. In Lily's letters she told of her loneliness at Beauxbatons (for there really weren't that many people she enjoyed being around and talking to), how she missed England, and the constant jeers she received from Petunia, her once-beloved sister. Through all this, they never once discussed Arabella, so neither Lily nor James knew of her connection to the other.
Finally, June rolled around and both Hogwarts and Beauxbatons were out. James and Lily had both graduated from their respective schools, and Lily was making plans to go back to her beloved England. Though she had lived in France for the past seven years, she missed the busy streets of London and the familiar sounds of a British accent. Besides, what had she to lose? Her parents wanted her to be happy wherever she went, and her sister, frankly, didn't care.
"Dear James," Lily wrote.
"I'm making arrangements to come back to England. Would you please meet me at the train station? I'd like to meet you in person, since we haven't exchanged any photographs or seen each other at all. I'll be staying at my friend's house, but I was wondering if we could have dinner before I go there; she has a very urgent meeting that day, and she can't afford to miss it. (No, actually it's a date with her boyfriend, but she doesn't want to miss that either.) I'd be much obliged if you said yes.
"-Lily"
When James received this note, he didn't know what to think. Of course he would! The girl of his dreams…asking him to pick her up at the train station? Of course! So he wrote back:
"Sure! I'd love to! When are you arriving? How will I know who you are?"
And Lily responded:
"Six o'clock this Saturday. Thanks so much! You'll know me by the white lily I'll wear."
For the next few days, James lived for six o'clock on Saturday. He went around in a daze, so much so that even his parents noticed."
"Darling, are you alright?" his mother would ask.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine," James would respond distractedly. Lily is coming! he would think to himself all the while.
"The boy's in love, dear," his father would say. "I walked around like that once…enamored of you."
His father would then take his mother around her waist and kiss her lovingly. The Potters were indeed an affectionate couple.
* * * * *
Finally the day came. Six o'clock on Saturday night. James carefully chose out what he would wear, attempted to comb his ever-messy hair, put on some cologne, and went out, telling his parents that he was going out for dinner.
("Yes, darling," his mother had said.)
* * * * *
It was six o'clock sharp, and the train had not arrived yet. James started to fret. Perhaps she was now sitting comfortably in her friend's home, laughing at what a silly young man he was, to try and find her. Or perhaps she had forgotten her lily. Or perhaps she had decided she didn't want to get to know him after all and just called a taxi to get to her friend's house. Or perhaps…
The train pulled up, and James heaved a sigh of relief. Then he tensed up. Nervously running his hands through his hair in another attempt to flatten it, he stood tall and watched as people descended. The first to come out was an old man…no, that wasn't Lily, of course. Then an old woman. No, not her either. A young man with his girlfriend. A little girl and her mother. An eccentric woman with her cat. No. None of these were Lily.
James stared off into space in the direction of the train for a while as people piled off, none of them wearing white lilies.
And then someone caught his eye.
A striking redhead descended onto the platform, her smooth, wavy hair cascading down her back, wearing a tiara of leaves woven together. She wore a white tank top and simple blue jeans, showing off her hourglass figure at the height of 5'5". Her creamy white skin contrasted sharply with her flaming hair and her piercing green eyes, which matched her brilliantly decorated trunk.
She was gorgeous. There was no other way to put it. James watched her, open-mouthed, practically drooling. This was what Sirius would have called "first rate material"—too bad he had a girlfriend already. Arabella Figg was gorgeous, but this redhead…James felt as if he would follow her to the end of the world and beyond, that he would die for her.
But she wasn't wearing a white lily. As she walked past him, she murmured, "Going my way?"
James swallowed hard. "No." He forced himself to turn his gaze back to the train as the girl walked away.
And then he saw her.
A tall girl, about 5'9" walked down from the train, her sweet brown eyes searching all over for someone. Her long brown hair was tied up in a pony tail, hanging gracefully onto her back. And she wore a white lily.
James liked her immediately, but didn't feel the strong attraction he had felt to the girl with the flaming red hair. She could be a friend, but nothing more. The letter Lily was his love, but the real Lily…could be no more than a friend. Remus would like this girl though. Just from the looks of her, she was probably the sweetest thing that walked on two legs. And she looked as if she'd be understanding about werewolves.
James walked up to her and introduced himself. "Hello, Lily, I'm James Potter. Nice to meet you at last." She smiled graciously, almost as if she were trying to suppress a laugh. Uncertainly, he added, "Would you like to go have dinner with me?"
Her lips broke out into a genuine smile.
"That was the general idea."
"Oh…yeah…" James faltered.
"No, James, you've got it all confused," she said.
"Would you like to explain? Now I'm even more confused."
"I'm not Lily. My name is Rhia, and I'm one of Lily's two best friends, the other one being Arabella Figg. The three of us have been best friends since age four, and that didn't stop when Lily and I both moved to France and attended Beauxbatons. Now, Arabella and I both know that you and Lily have been writing letters back and forth to each other. I found out when I saw a letter Lily accidentally dropped, and I told Arabella. Sirius, incidentally, found out from you when you left a letter out in the open. So Remus, Arabella, Sirius, and I all knew. We decided to let things be and see how they turned out. So, when Lily decided she wanted to meet you, we were delighted. She asked Arabella to pick us up, but Arabella said she had a date, and why didn't you come with Lily too? Lily agreed, but only if you passed a test. This test. You were to ask whoever wore the white lily to dinner, even if she was not the girl of your dreams. And I'm not—no, don't deny it—I saw you gaping at Lily, salivating over her almost. And you saw me, and your face fell, and you thought, 'she's only friend material.' So there you go."
"Wow," James said when she had finished. "So the redhead was Lily?"
"Yes. Let's go find her."
They walked to the place where the wizard part of the train station ended, and the muggle part was about to begin. There they found Sirius standing with his arm snugly around Arabella, the two surveying the scene. Next to them was Remus, who, upon finding Rhia leapt at her and kissed her passionately.
She returned this kiss and whispered, "I missed you so much!"
"Same here," he replied.
And by the two couples stood Lily and James, two feet apart.
There was an uneasy silence between the two until Lily smiled.
"Nice to finally meet you," she said.
James couldn't say a word, his heart was bursting with love.
Finally he got out a "Nice to meet you too…Lily."
"Oh, cut it out you two!" Sirius yelled. "You know you're head over heels in love with each other; it's really not even a question! Just kiss and let's go eat; I'm hungry!"
The two needed no more encouraging. James wrapped his arms around her and she put hers on his neck, and their lips met and stayed together for the longest time. Again Sirius had to intervene.
"Let's go, everyone!"
He pulled the two lovers apart, and the whole group laughed. Each couple linked arms and walked slowly towards the restaurant, under the setting sun.
A/N: The end! I hope you liked it…I'm going to write more stories…just don't know when. And this one was rushed, I know, but I actually liked this chapter.
Thank you a lot to:
Musicizdbest
Namiko of the Ocean
Emily Hardbottle
Elspeth Renee
Auriliayh Ayohna Esrodeyl
Gabschan
beauty7890102
MegHarts
If anyone has anything they want me to write, please drop me a line and I'll consider it. I need a new story to write J.