Shades of Red

by Jagfan724

Disclaimer: I own very little. That which I do is not included in this story.

Lily watched as the tear fell from her cheek to her pillow. It created a small damp splatter on the red sheets. There were sometimes when she would have preferred to have been put in another house. These times only came when school spirit caused those Gryffindor colors to be shown. As a redhead, she didn't like the color red. It was just too bright and colorful. Various shades of it often clashed with her hair, making her look like a tomato.

The house elves switched off between red and yellow sheets for the Gryffindors. Today, the color was red. Red sheets, red pillowcase, red bedspread. And it wasn't that nice reddish maroon color that adorned the Quidditch players during their games or the same deep, dark, red that was the color of her bed hangings. It was bright red. Bright, bold red.

Except for the now wet spot on her pillowcase. That was more of a dark, wet red. Another tear drifted down to join the other one, just centimeters away from the first drop. Soon there were many drops on her pillow, turning most of it into a deep, dark and somewhat wet red color.

It was this same red color that also adorned the beds in the boys' dormitory. But instead of being covered in tears, the color was inspiring James to think of a lovely young redhead over in the girls' dorms. The sweet, talented, smart redhead. The same redhead that had sent nearly a hundred, nay, a thousand curses his way (words, not hexes) every time he had asked her out. That same sweet, captivating redhead could be so vexing sometimes.

However the past two years had been different. James had decided that whatever he was doing wasn't working in the way of gaining the attentions of Miss Lily Evans and so he had decided to change his tactics. And so he had. He had grown. He had matured. He had stopped pranking those poor unfortunate souls that he happened to target on a daily basis. He had tried to rid himself of the bad habits that Lily had said annoyed her to no end. The hair-ruffling was hard but he still managed to do that. Most of the time, at least.

The change in behavior had worked. Although a bit skeptical at first, Lily had allowed James to become her friend. Things were quite peaceful between them. The occasional argument still flared up, but instead they were now ended with apologies and forgiving smiles. It was good.

So what had happened that had caused tears to splatter upon Lily's pillow and James's pillow to evoke such emotions in him?

Well, things had been good. They were Head Boy and Head Girl and getting along very well. They worked together and managed to be productive. Things had been very good right up until the point where Marsha Summers decided to flirt with James. But it wasn't the flirting that had bothered Lily. The fact that she had decided, during yet another sleepless night, that she had indeed fallen for James Potter and that it was time to let him know was what was bothering her.

Just as she had been about to ask if he still felt the same way about her, Marsha had sauntered on up to James, slid her arm up his, and proceeded to plant a not so simple kiss on his lips.

Lily's eyes had welled up in tears and she had rushed off. Rushed off before she could see James, in a gentlemanly manner, push Marsha away and ask her what the hell she thought she was doing. Wasn't it funny how it always happened this way? By the time James had informed Marsha that he was in no way interested in having a little fling with her, it was too late to catch up to Lily.

That fact hadn't stopped him. He had raced off to the Gryffindor Tower, Marsha's voice yelling after him that she was always available if he ever changed his mind. Not caring that half of Gryffindor was in the common room, James had yelled up to the girls' side, trying to get Lily's attention. He even tracked down her roommate and good friend Cassie and sent her up to get Lily.

Cassie had come back down, several minutes later, her head shaking sadly at James's unspoken question. Lily wasn't coming down. Especially for James Potter.

Feeling a bit unnerved with so many people watching him, James had then headed, dejectedly, up to his room, mostly to sulk and think things over.

The red of his sheets, bed cover, in his tie and jacket, in his Quidditch uniform hadn't helped his mind any. Neither had the picture he had of Lily on the desk near his bed. It had been taken sometime around Christmas. Both had been in exceptionally good moods and been persuaded to stand together for a picture. James could see the miniature of himself and Lily smiling happily and waving up at him. He knew that if he watched it long enough, he would see himself reach over and tickle Lily. They would then chase each other around, both laughing far too hard to run very fast or catch up to the other one.

James couldn't understand why Lily reacted the way she had. It wasn't as if he had flirted back with Marsha, or even encouraged her advances. He had hardly had time to realize what was happening to react. She had seen his changed self, she had even commented on it once or twice.

So why was she now in her room, hiding from him? Did something like that really matter to him? Could it be that she…? Did she really care that much? Naw, that wasn't possible. But then again… Had Lily Evans fallen for him? Fallen for him like he had for her so many years ago?

James just had to know. He had to find a way to talk to her. In person.

However, this didn't happen for a few days. Lily was doing her best to avoid him, and his friends, and it was working quite well. For someone who had thought he knew his way around Hogwarts better than most, it was irritating to see someone slip away from him so often. It hadn't helped that when he finally caught sight of her in the halls, before she saw him, Marsha had shown up again. James had seen Lily look over, a hurt look briefly crossing her face before her mask slid back on. He had looked down to find the blonde teen sliding up next to him.

James had pushed her away and raced off after Lily once again, but lost sight of her in the crowded hallway. After a quick chat with his friends, Sirius was able to rid him of his Marsha problem. It turned out she didn't care which Marauder she got, as long as she got one of them. James was happy to be rid of her finally and Sirius was enjoying his new fling.

Lily had seen James trying to track her down. She was doing her best to avoid him and it had been working. He had almost caught her but then that Marsha girl had appeared next to him. That scene hadn't done any good in helping Lily get over her dejection.

Seeing Marsha hanging off Sirius in the days following only served to confuse her even more. When the weekend finally rolled around, Lily decided to hide herself in her room. She only ventured out, mostly down to the kitchens, when she knew James had Quidditch practice. Her friends had tried to talk to her, to convince her to talk to James (after much demanding on their part, he had explained to them what had really happened) but Lily would have none of it.

However, come late Saturday afternoon, James had had enough of the whole situation. After some brainstorming with his fellow Marauders, a plan was set in action.

When Lily awoke Sunday morning, her bed was covered in daisies, a few rose petals mixed in here and there. She couldn't help but smile. It was nice waking up to the scent of the flowers wafting through the air. As she wondered who had done this for her, she immediately knew that it was someone who knew her really well. Or at least well enough to know that just because her name was Lily didn't mean that her favorite flower was the lily. Not many people knew that she loved daisies. Her parents. Her roommates and close friends. Then it hit her. James. James knew. But why would he do something like this?

She looked up to find a single lily floating above her, a small note attached:

For the Lily in my life

Please don't keep avoiding me. We need to talk.

James

Lily sighed. He certainly was a persistent little git.

Downstairs, the Marauders and Lily's roommates were working hard to try and find a way for James to get up to the girls dorms. They were ignoring the fact that it hadn't ever be done in the entire history of Hogwarts. They were determined to do it. If Lily wouldn't come to James, James was going to come to Lily. They needed to sort this situation out.

"Ah-hah!" Sirius exclaimed.

"What?" they all asked, eager for any ideas.

"You girls can carry James up the stairs!"

And so they tried it. However, the stairs seemed to sense the male presence and quickly turned into a slide, sending them all sliding down into a pile on the floor.

"Great idea, Sirius," Amanda said sarcastically, rubbing the bruise on her arm.

"What about using your broom?" someone suggested.

They all thought it over. Could work, couldn't it? Someone hurried out to the Quidditch locker room to get James's broom. The thought was that he could just fly up to the door and if that didn't work, then he would just go outside and fly up to her window and hope and pray that she would open it and let him in. Not likely, but it was worth a try.

Everyone watched with baited breath as James mounted his broom and carefully flew up just a couple feet above the stairs. He came to a stop just in front of the doorway and tried to open the door.

Insert problem number 2. The door was locked.

"Wait a second, I know we left it unlocked," Cassie said, hurrying up the stairs to try it.

It was unlocked.

James growled. Another little surprise of Godric Gryffindor's.

He mouthed "thanks" to Cassie and quietly flew into the room, the door shutting behind him. He landed on the ground, set his broom aside, and came to stand by the side of Lily's bed.

Knowing better than to just throw open her bed hangings, he softly called out her name.

"Lily?...Lily, please open up….Lily?"

The curtains were flung open and a squeal of surprise was heard when the redhead caught sight of the dark-haired, hazel-eyed boy standing before her.

"How did you get in here?" she asked.

"With a little group creative thinking. We need to talk."

She nodded. "How's Marsha doing?" If they were going to talk, Lily wasn't going to make this easy on him.

"She and Sirius are doing fine," James promptly answered. "However, I'm a bit more worried about you right now."

"Just a bit?"

"Okay, a lot," he corrected. "You wanna tell me what's going on?"

"You want to sit down?" Lily asked, gesturing to the end of her bed.

He took a seat on the edge of her bed, near the end. "Lily? Why have you been avoiding me? Was it something I did? Or didn't do? I'm sorry about Marsha, but that was all her, not me."

"I know."

"So you want to tell me what's going on? Or maybe what you were going to talk to me about before we were interrupted by Marsha?"

Lily took a deep breath and pulled her knees up against her chest. Resting her arms and then her head on her knees, she finally worked up the courage to speak. After all, she was a Gryffindor, right? She was supposed to show courage.

"Do you still like me?"

"Why do you ask?" He wasn't going to let another wave of rejection come his way, not taking that chance, no way.

"Because I need to know." Her emerald green eyes met his hazel ones and a lock of her red hair slipped down across her knee, distracting him a bit.

There was that red again. And there it was again, this time appearing in her cheeks as she blushed.

"Then yes, I still do. It's kind of hard to get over a girl who's been on his mind for so many years," James told her.

"Good."

"Why?"

"Because…Ilikeyoutoo," she said in a rush.

James wasn't entirely sure he had heard her correctly. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

This time she slowed down in her admission. "I like you too." She buried her face against her knees, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

"Really?"

Even from the way her head was, he could see her nod.

"Was this what you were going to tell me right after the Prefect meeting?"

Another nod.

"Oh, Lily."

The redhead found herself crushed in a warm hug, one that she willingly returned. The position was a little uncomfortable so after a few minutes of their close embrace, Lily tried to break free.

"James….James, you're squishing me," she murmured.

He immediately pulled back. "Sorry."

"That's okay."

A long pause.

"So now what?"

"I don't know."

"Neither do I."

"Okay."

"Okay."

A head popped in the door. "Oy, Prongs, you snogging her yet?"

James and Lily giggled. A well thrown pillow sent the head away and the door slamming shut.

"Guess we know what to do know, huh, James?"

"Guess so."

"James?...James, what are you-oh!...James, stop!" Fits of giggles filled the room as more of the planets in the universe fell into place. Stars twinkled and the fates sighed in relief. Things were finally coming together. Now time to prepare for a small dark-haired green-eyed boy to enter into the world.

Please let me know what you think. It's hard to see several hundred people reading the story but only five or six leaving reviews...I don't care if it's nice or a flame...I want to know your opinion! Thanks!