Lily woke to the bright sunlight streaming through the window. She didn't want
to wake up. She snuggled under her covers hoping she could fall back asleep. Suddenly
she sat upright, remembering what had happened last night. "The nerve of him!" she
exclaimed. "Good morning sleepyhead" called her best friend, Adeline Teal Cooper from
the kitchen. "You slept long enough." "He took advantage of the situation. I did not give
him permission to touch me. How dare he." Lily raged rolling out of bed. Grumpily she
walked into the kitchen, but immediately turned around and walked right back out,
slamming the bedroom door behind her. "Nice to see you too!" James Potter commented
from where he was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. Adeline sighed. Lily fell
back onto the bed. Why was he here? Adeline came into the room. "Lily he came in at
eleven last night carrying you. You were too conked out to apparate or flo, so he walked
you all the way from Mellow Cliff to my apartment. What was I supposed to do, grab you
and slam the door in his face? Plus he wanted to make sure you would be okay. Come out
and have some breakfast?" "No." Huffed Lily. "I'm not hungry." However at that
moment, her stomach growled fiercely. "Oh come on!" Adeline grabbed Lily's hand and
dragged her back into the kitchen, where Lily carefully sat at the opposite end of James
and looked out the window carefully avoiding his eyes.
"Are you okay?" James asked in a soft voice. "No!" Lily exclaimed, eyes
flashing. "I am not okay. My parents just died, you came to their funeral
uninvited, following me around everywhere. You carried me without my
permission. Who knows what you did to me while I was asleep. I can't believe
you. You took advantage of my situation, and…" Lily paused to take a breath.
"Your right," whispered James before she could continue. "Of course I am right, and
wait…what?" Lily asked as she realized what he had said. "You are right," said James
said again, a little louder. "I did take advantage of your parent's death, and I'm sorry,
maybe I'm a terrible person for it, but is it so bad of me to want to be with you? To want
to hold you, and comfort you? I've never asked anything of you except to give me a
chance to love you, and to give yourself a chance to love me back." Somehow they had
managed to come together. There faces were so close that she could feel his warm breath
tingling on her cheeks.
For the first time in her life she really looked at him and to her
surprise saw something in him she had never thought James Potter could have: pain. She
could see it clouding over his eyes, lingering across his lips, radiating from him in such
strength that her heart ached for him. Snapping out of her thoughts she realized what he
had just said. "Love?" She asked hysterically. She looked away from him, her mind
racing. Love? Love? Did he actually just say love? We've never even had a civil
conversation before. How could he think of love? This had to be a joke. No one would
ever love me. He is just being cruel, playing with me. See how far you can go with Lily
before you ditch her. Ho ho. What if she gave him a chance and it was true he was only
playing around. Lily did the only thing she could think of and laughed.
James sat there holding his breath. He hadn't meant to say love. It had just come
out by accident. It was true he did love Lily. Should she agree to get married on the spot
he wouldn't think twice about it. But this wasn't the way he had imagined telling her. The
way he had imagined telling her, they would be somewhere romantic. Maybe by the lake
having a picnic, or on a couch by the fire sipping coco, or flying through the sky together
on his broom, under the stars, and he would whisper into her ear 'I love you Lily Evans',
and she would reply 'I love you James Potter' and they would share a kiss so sweet and
pure it would last forever. He looked back at Lily who was staring at him. She really was
the most beautiful woman in the world. He looked at her wide eyes, then at the freckles
speckled across her nose, and lastly at her soft pink lips. She opened her mouth and his
heart beat faster. Then she laughed. James dropped the cup he was holding and it fell and
shattered on the floor along with his broken heart. He had to get out of there. He grabbed
his jacket and apparated.
