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.