Realization
At the age of seventeen, James Potter had a beautifully sculpted body. All of those years of Quidditch had paid off. At school, James was known for his wonderful sense of humor and his good looks. James had jet black hair that was always messy, looking as if he had just crawled out of bed, a wonderful thought for all of the girls at Hogwarts; well, all accept one. No matter what, Lily Evans hated him. She was the only girl who didn't get captured in his warm, hazel eyes, and it bothered James because she was the only girl he wanted to capture.James had just got out of the shower when he heard his mother yelling to him, "James where are you? Sirius is here" Sirius was staying with James for the summer but he had left for a week to go visit his cousin, the only one in his family who could actually stand to be near him. Sirius came from a family that strongly believes only pure-blood wizards should be allowed to exist in "their" world.
"I'm in the shower, I'll be out in a minute" he yelled back towel drying his messy, black hair.
"Jamsiepoo you didn't have to get all nice and showered just for me" Sirius said while stepping into the room. Sirius Black was James' best friend. He, like James, had gorgeous, black hair. However, unlike James, his hair was always orderly. Sirius also had the ability to capture the attention of many girls at Hogwarts. Sirius had creamy, blue eyes that always saw right through you.
"Can it Padfoot. You know we are meeting up with Lily, Autumn, and Flavia in Diagon Ally" James said putting on some cologne.
"Oh, so you're still on about Lily I take it" Sirius plopped onto James' bed, studying his best friend.
"Of course, and I won't quit until we are married" James turned his desk chair around backwards and strattled it.
"MARRIED?!?!?!?! Prongs she won't even go out with you let alone marry you. And when did you start getting all serious on me buddy. You sound more like Moony." Sirius grinned as Remus stood outside the door.
"Who sounds like me?" Remus questioned stepping fully into the room. Remus Lupin had ash blonde hair that gleamed golden in the sun, he also had brown eyes. Remus had the reputation of being the quiet one, that wasn't true at all. Remus was only quiet during classes; put him in another environment with James and Sirius and you were in for it.
"Apparently I do." James said
"Why what did you say?" Remus grinned, having heard this part but trying to get James to squirm.
"He....said....he...was.." Sirius managed to get out while laughing hysterically before James interrupted him.
"Padfoot asked if I still liked Lily and I said yes and that I wouldn't give up until she married me." James said not letting any sign of being uncomfortable show.
"Wow, Padfoot, that was uncalled for, even I'm not talking about marriage." Remus said while trying unsuccessfully to keep a straight face
"Shut up you two" James said "Lets go before we are late"
"Flavia, Lily should be here soon and we still haven't come up with a way to get her to Diagon Ally." Flavia and Autumn were planning on going to Diagon Alley to meet up with Sirius and Remus but were having trouble finding an excuse to get Lily there. At the mention of either name, she would flat out refuse. James Potter was never far from Sirius Black or Remus Lupin. Under no circumstances would Lily go and willingly meet up with James Potter."I know. We have to come up with something because I really want to go and see Sirius. God he is so gorgeous." Flavia replied, a dreamy look coming across her face. Flavia, like so many before her, wasn't able to resist Sirius' charm, she had tried for Lily's sake but she just couldn't do it. Flavia had more than a thing for Sirius, she wouldn't admit it, but deep down inside she was dying to pounce on him and never let go.
Autumn also had a thing for one of James' friends. Her crush went by the name of Remus. What was there not to like? He was sweet, he had a great sense of humor, he was great looking, and he happened to like her back.
Flavia and Autumn thought that it would be perfect if they could get Lily to like James. They would all be able to hang out together and not have to worry about a fight breaking out. It was a well known fact that James definitely had a MAJOR thing for Lily. Lily, on the other hand, had a major dislike of James. Another problem was that Lily didn't know that her two best friends liked James' two best friends. Sadly, back in third year, they had promised that they wouldn't go out with them, no matter what. At the time Flavia and Autumn intended to keep their promise but now that they had grown, both fully intend to break that promise once Lily was hooked up with James.
"Lily, sweetie how are you?" Flavia's mom could be heard saying. "They are upstairs, go on up"
"I'm good. Thanks." They could hear Lily reply and heard movement on the stairs.
"Oh my god, Lily is here! Remember, don't let her know we like them and I think the best thing to do is not mention we are meeting up with anyone, we are simply going alone. Once we get there and run into them, she won't have much of a choice" Flavia whispered hurriedly
"That's a better plan then what I've got" Autumn said as the door opened
"Hey guys!" Lily said as all three girls embraced in a hug.
"Lily I'm so glad to see you." Flavia and Autumn said in unison.
"Lils, how was your summer?" Flavia asked, stepping back and taking a seat on the bed.
"It just got a lot better." Lily grinned. "Petunia was wretched as always, but she wasn't around much so it's okay."
"I don't see why you don't let us put her in her place." Flavia frowned thinking of Petunia.
"Better yet, you could get the Marauders to pull something on her." Autumn said.
"Lily, are you up for a trip to Diagon Ally? Our letters came a few minutes ago" Flavia quickly changed the subject scowling at Autumn. "Dumbledore sent us yours." Autumn sifted through the letters and handed Lily her letter.As Lily took her envelope she noted it felt slightly heavier than the year before. "Oh my god! I'm Head Girl!" Lily squealed as the shiny silver badge feel into her hands.
"That's great Lils," Autumn hugged her.
"Like anyone else would get it," Flavia mocked, smiling.
"So are you guys ready to go?" Autumn asked.
"Yeah," All three girls apparated to Diagon Alley.
Sirius couldn't help but feel bad for James. Sure, Sirius had his own problems with his family being involved in the dark arts but he always had James by his side. Sirius wished there was some way he could repay James for everything he had done for him. James would never accept anything for it, Sirius had tried and each time he got the same response. "Sirius, would you please stop. As far as I'm concerned, you're my brother, it's the least I could do. You don't own me anything, I know you would do the same for me." The one thing James wanted in the whole entire world was Lily Evans, and she was the one thing in the entire world he couldn't have. Sirius was determined to get Lily to see what James was really like, to see the James Potter he knew. That was one of the reasons Sirius had arranged to meet up with Flavia, because he knew she and Autumn were the only ones who could get Lily to show up.
"James, sit down and stop looking around. Trust me you will know when they get here." Moony said to James."You guys," James complained. "I really don't want to be here. Lily isn't going to want to see my and I'm sure me being here isn't going to get her to like me. We should leave."
Sirius, James, and Remus were sitting, eating ice cream where Flavia had promised she would meet up with them, Lily in tow. James was getting antsy, so far they were ten minutes late and he was beginning to think they couldn't get Lily to come.
"We aren't going anywhere," Sirius said smiling at his friend. "Here they come." At once Sirius could tell that Lily had not been informed of who she was meeting and for a good reason too. As Lily's eyes roamed over to the ice cream parlor, they landed on none other than James Potter himself. She froze, her heart stopped momentarily, and she stopped dead in her tracks, causing Flavia and Autumn to grab her and pull her towards them.
Lily was scared. She had never felt like this before. She actually felt her heart flutter when she spotted him. He had never done that to her before, she wasn't supposed to get that feeling when she looked at him.
"How could you guys do this to me?" Lily hissed as they approached the boys.
"Lily, please can't we discuss this later?" Autumn pleaded not noticing a change in her friend, her eyes were too fixated on Remus to notice anything at the moment.
"No, I want to talk about it now." Lily whispered trying unsuccessfully to get her friends to stop walking. 'God, they are strong,' she thought.
"Ok, fine. We will tell them we will be right back, we have to go to the bathroom," Flavia said, slightly shocked at the expression Lily had on her face. Where there should have been pure anger, there was a looked of anger mixed with fear.
"I can't promise that I will be coming back," Lily said through gritted teeth. 'I can't possibly like him, can I? Oh god, this can't be happening to me, not now. I don't think I can be around him right now.' He had just caught her eye and it made her legs feel like Jello. 'Well, I guess he isn't so bad, I mean he is very, very attractive. He is always standing up for me.'
"Hey guys," Flavia said pulling Lily from her thoughts.
"Hey," everyone chorused. Lily noticed James was staring at her very intently, along with everyone else.
'Oh my god, you ass, you're staring right at him!' Lily cursed herself as she tried to hide her blush.
"We have to go to the bathroom. Be right back" Flavia said dragging Lily away.
'Very subtle, Lil. Way to go.'
"Lily, what has gotten into you?" Autumn asked with a smirk on her face."I have no clue! I don't know what came over me," Lily said in a shocked voice once they were out of earshot. "I just...I don't know...I saw him and it was I was just now "seeing" him. My knees got weak and I couldn't help but stare at him." "It's about time." Flavia smiled.
"What? About time for what?" Lily asked.
"We have all thought for some time now that you should go out with James. He is nice, handsome, he cares about you and I have a feeling he would do anything to protect you," Flavia replied.
"Why do you say that? Who said I liked James?" Lily asked, hoping she could still hide it.
"Lily, sweetie, didn't you know he beats up anyone who says anything and I mean anything bad about you?" Autumn asked as they continued to walk around the street.
"I thought he...no," Lily said. "Guys what am I going to do?" Lily was exasperated.
"Well, you could just be nice to James and when he asks you out you could actually say yes" they both suggested at the same time.
"I suppose," Lily said, "why don't you guys go back there. I want some time to think."
"Ok, Lils, if that's what you want" Flavia released her hold on Lily.
"Meet us there when you're ready, okay?" Autumn asked.
"Sure thing." Lily started walking around, just thinking when she realized she didn't have her wand with her. "I bet it's in one of my bags," she said aloud as she turned around to go get it.
'Oh, shit!' she thought when she turned around to see none other than Malfoy and Snape, a kid she always stood up for. "Excuse me but I'd like to get past you," Lily said hiding her fear as they blocked her way. Normally, she wouldn't have been scared of either of the two boys, but seeing as she didn't have her wand with her, that changed everything."And what's your point, mudblood?" Snape said cooly
"I think I want to have a little fun first. What about you Snape?" Malfoy smirked at the look on her face. "There is nothing like a mudblood all alone."
"Yes, I quite agree." Snape answered. By this time Lily had backed herself into a corner without realizing it. They were advancing on her, wands drawn. She shut her eyes waiting for it to happen when a familiar voice shouted out.
"Did anyone else just see the same thing I did?" Sirius asked, watching the girls walk away.
"Yeah," was all Remus was able to say. Quite frankly he was stunned.
"Looks like you're in luck mate," Sirius mated James on the back.
"Why would you say that?" James asked not wanting to get his hopes up.
"Oh come on, Prongs. You have two eyes for Christ sake, you saw that. Evans was staring at you as if she was mesmerized and then her friends had to drag her off as she was blushing. I never thought I'd say this, but I think Evans likes you." Sirius grinned as he watched his best bud go off into 'Lily mode.' You could tell every time her was thinking about her. His eyes would get glossy and a dazed look would come across his face.
Finally James saw Flavia and Autumn heading back towards them. "Where's Lily?" he asked noticing her absence.
Sirius gave Flavia a kiss on the cheek and Remus gave Autumn a big hug as both girls ignored him.
"Sirius, don't do that in front of Lily. She might kill us all. Although, maybe not after what she just told us." Flavia smiled. She loved watching James squirm as he was doing now.
"What did Lily tell you and where is she," he asked again eagerly.
"Now, Mr. Potter if we were to tell you, you would have to swear not to tell her we told you," Autumn said.
"I swear I won't tell her but where is she?" James pressed on.
"Don't get your panties in a twist; she wanted to walk around for a bit." Flavia said taking a seat.
"Oh, no." Autumn said noticing a wand protruding from one of Lily's bags.
"What?" Remus asked looking at her.
"Lily doesn't have her wand with her." With that James got up and took off down the street. Not having your wand in the wizarding world isn't good no matter who you are, add being a very attractive, female, muggle-born witch to the equation and it spelled disaster.
"No doubt to find Lily," Remus answered.
"Don't know why I didn't think of that," Sirius said. "So girls, what were you saying Lily told you?"
"Lily just told us she likes James," they said together. They all sat there smiling.
"Too bad James missed that information," Remus looked around; he was now nowhere to be seen.
"No, maybe it's better this way," Autumn said.
"How so?" Flavia asked.
"They need to get together on their own accord," Autumn continued. "Plus, I like watching how James acts around Lily, it's the only time he isn't confident."
James looked up and down every ally when he saw Malfoy and Snape walking towards a corner. "That's never a good sign," he said quietly.
"Excuse me but I'd like to get past you," Lily's frightened voice said. "And what's your point, mudblood?" Snape's voice rang out. James was furious."I think I want to have a little fun first. What about you Snape? There is nothing like a mudblood all alone."
"Yes, I quite agree." James drew his wand.
"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER." James yelled coming at them. Snape and Malfoy whipped around to see a furious James Potter coming towards them. "You're lucky your wanna-be boyfriend showed up, mudblood." Malfoy spat.
Within the blink of an eye, Snape was dragging an unconscious Malfoy away. James rushed over to Lily who was crouched in the corner with tears in her eyes.
"Lily, baby, did they do anything to you?" James asked as he crouched down beside her and cupped her face in his hands, gently brushing away an escaped tear with his thumb. He forced himself to refrain from kissing her. 'God, she is gorgeous. Don't blow it James, keep your cool.' "No, yo..you showed up before..." Lily trailed off realizing just how close he was to her. "Thanks," she mumbled as she looked deep into his eyes. Before she knew what was happening she was leaning into him. She quickly realized what she was about to do and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, her heart fluttered. She stood up, trying to put some distance between them, hoping it would clear her head some. When she looked down at him, he slowly stood up and was gaping at her.'Holy shit, what the hell just happened?' James' head was racing when her voice pulled him back to reality.
"I'm going to meet up with everyone, are you coming?" Lily asked trying hard not to look at him.
"Yeah" he responded lightly.
As they walked back to everyone, Lily was mentally kicking herself for what just happened. 'Why, did you have to kiss him? You could at least have done it right and kissed his lips. Lil, what were you thinking?'
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