Summary: It all started with a simple love letter, for James Potter, from a lovely admirer. Love letters led to friendships; friendships led to confusion; and finally confusion, slowly led to love. With just three meaningful words, it brought joy to young Potter's heart: Love, An Admirer.
Disclaimer: Anything familiar isn't mine, and unfortunately belongs to the oh-so-brilliant JK Rowling, whom I salute to. This story has nothing to do with Can't Hardly Wait. The scene mentioned just miraculously resembled it. ) Creations of mine are : Piper Valentine, Fiona Caldwell, Jemima Richards, Emily Hart, Dennis Front, Walter Reese, Winston Reese, Marie Lodge, Yvonne West, Gerald Wills, Kurt Randall, Isabelle Frall, the Fairy and the Portrait Holder Society.
Love,
An Admirer
Chapter
1: Admiration in Secrecy
To the one and only –
No, scratch that. It's too sappy! An emerald-eyed redhead thought. Lily Evans sighed in frustration and dipped her quill in her personalized inkpot once more. She drew a breath, and made another attempt.
Dear James Earl Potter –
It's too bloody formal! she groaned inwardly. Her quill danced across the parchment and canceled out the lines. After realizing the mess she had created, she scrunched up the paper into a ball and threw it on the floor.
After what seemed like fifty attempts, Lily had finally achieved an accomplishment that made her heart soar. Very carefully, she began to write as different as she could from her original writing,
Dear James,
Perfect, she squealed. The redhead bore a triumphant grin, not even realizing she had wasted twenty whole minutes composing a rather uncreative introduction. Not wanting to waste any more time, Lily dipped her quill into the inkpot once more and began pouring her heart out to a clean roll of parchment she was saving to land in (and only) the hands of a particular boy in her year...
A mountain of scrunched-up paper balls later, Lily was counting down the seconds she was away from completing her "note of self-expression" – Lily cringed at the mention of love letter. Trying very carefully not to ruin her piece of art, she finished the letter with cursive font on the foot of the page,
Love, An Admirer.
She squealed with delight, and folded the paper neatly. In the letter went, and with a flick of her wand, the name of the recipient magically appeared on the front of the envelope. Very carefully, she put kept the envelope, schoolbooks and quills into her school bag and slowly crept out of the hole which hung a portrait of a beautiful fairy. Suddenly forgetting something, Lily's hand popped into the secret room and with another flick of the magic stick, the mountain of paper balls disappeared.
Whispering a soft farewell to the fairy, Lily Evans left for the Gryffindor Dormitory. The Hogwarts Clock Tower chimed three times signifying the wee hours of the morning, and so Lily tiptoed as quietly as her small feet could manage, not wanting to disturb a soul in the dead of the night.
The morning after, Lily had woken up fresh and (a little too) bright, and couldn't fight the smile that crept on her face. Brushing her teeth rather too enthusiastically, Lily repeated in her mind as she gargled: Today's the day, today's the day, today's the day!
Not wanting to waste any more precious time, she ran into a hot shower. Carefully pinning her hair into a bun, she rushed out of the dormitory not wanting to miss breakfast and rather truthfully – the sight of a boy. Waving a hello to best friends Jemima Richards and Fiona Caldwell, Lily rushed to the seat she sat in everyday (before anyone else had the chance to) for it ironically offered the clearest view of a specific member of the opposite sex with unruly black hair and warm chocolate eyes...
Jemima wasn't blessed with average looks as she inherited her mother's long, smooth jet-black hair, which complimented her fair skin greatly. But, the factor that made Jemima stand out in crowds, was her icy purple eyes which were capable of freezing you if they had been enchanted at birth. (a trait she acquired from her great-grandmother). Undoubtedly hot-tempered when it came to "childish boys who have ugly shaggy hair and coloured names", she was also gifted with a very sharp tongue, and never failed to put anyone in their place if she ever saw fit.
Fiona, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. She was petite and was gifted with the most piercing blue eyes. Perfectly framed by strawberry-blonde curly locks, it was a fact that Fiona often stole hearts (rather reluctantly) of many boys her age. Giggling occasionally at the sillest things, she was living proof to never judge a Bertie Bott's bean by the colour. (meant both literally and metaphorically)
'Morning, Lil,' They greeted in unison.
'Hullo, Jemmiona!' Lily chirped. 'What do you suppose the elves prepared for us today on this lovely morning?'
Jemima and Fiona looked at her as if she was some sort of beast Hagrid tried to convince students to marvel at and said, 'Lily, honey, are you okay? We've been having the same thing for the past five years! The only difference is it tastes better by the year. It could only mean the house elves are getting better in their cooking skills or as we grow older... our taste buds are changing,' Jemima finished, wrinkling her nose.
Looking at Lily sideways, Fiona placed her palm on Lily's forehead, and was somewhat disappointed, because it was neither hot nor burning. 'What's funnier is, you haven't called us Jemmiona since the day you first tasted Butterbeer at Hogsmeade...' Fiona trailed off.
Lily who seemed oblivious to all of this seemed to have blocked out everything "Jemmiona" were saying and continued buttering her toast. Humming a popular muggle tune, Lily said in a sing-song voice, 'Pass the marmalade, sweetie!'
Jemima and Fiona drew back in unison and whispered to each other behind Lily's back. 'Do you suppose someone spiked her juice?'
Fiona handed the redhead the requested bottle of marmalade, never leaving her eyes off Lily, 'I honestly can't say. She seems conscious, but then again, she did call us Jemmiona...'
Not wanting to be kept in suspense (something Jemima hated with a passion) she cleared her throat. 'Lily, is there anything you have not been telling us?' Jemima said, rather suspiciously.
'Nothing, Jem. Is it a crime if I feel exceptionally happy today?' Lily sighed dreamily.
'No, no, not at all, Lily,' Jemima said looking at her strangely. 'Not at all...'
Lily sneaked a glance at the ever-infamous James Potter, and saw that he and the "Marauders" (what they called themselves) were in the world of their own, enjoying their daily food fight. She felt her cheeks burn and suddenly quickened her eating habits. As soon as the daily flock of owls arrives to deliver their morning papers, breakfast ended with a rather quiet Lily. Picking up her books for Charms (which was the lesson after), Lily seemed to have regained all sanity and followed Jemima and Fiona into Charms.
'Settle down, students,' a voice announced. 'Today, I will be assigning each pair to a project,' said a rather vertically-challenged Professor Flitwick. Groans were heard.
'Now, now, don't worry. You will be put into pairs of the opposite sex - boy and girl,' he continued.
As expected, even louder groans were heard, and even a few giggles from the fairer sex of Hufflepuff.
'Each pair will be given a roll of parchment. Inside, a basic spell will be written. Your task is to discover two more spells which function quite similarly. Then, you are to write an essay which explains its differences.'
The professor was greeted with another sea of negative feedback – but he knew all too well.
'Now when I call your name, the girl called will go to the boy's table. Understood?' he asked.
'Yes, Professor,' the class droned.
'First pair – Mr Atkins and Miss Caldwell.'
A hand - belonging to Jeremy Atkins – rose into the air.
'Yes, Mr Atkins?'
'I don't mean to interrupt, Professor, but which Atkins do you mean?' the lean boy inquired.
Professor Flitwick chuckled and said, 'Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Mr Atkins. Jeremy Atkins will be paired with Miss Caldwell.'
It was a mistake often made by teachers whenever getting the Atkins partnered. They were the only set of twins in this year's Sixth Year batch, and were often mistaken for each other.
Jeremy smiled faintly and beckoned Fiona to walk over to his table, not realizing her cheeks were tinted pink. Lily grinned widely in Jemima's direction, and then at Fiona. It was a fact that Fiona had a crush on Jeremy Atkins ever since third year.
Professor Flitwick cleared his throat and continued, 'Next, Mr Jeffery Atkins will be partnered up with Miss Elliott.'
'Mr Black with Miss Richards, Mr Garcia and Miss Denver, Mr Howard and Miss Paul, Mr Jennings and Miss Courts, Mr Lupin and Miss Sullivan -'
Now while Professor Flitwick was reading off his namelist, Lily had taken the time to study James Potter – and not in an obsessive way, of course. Making as little eye contact as possible, Lily's insides melted as she saw James Potter throw his head back to laugh out loud.
So while our young heroine fawns over our hero, let us acquaint ourselves with him and his henchmen, aye?
James stood out in the crowd – always has, and always will. Notoriously known for his ingenious pranks he played on the Slytherins, teachers and occasional prats, there wasn't a soul who didn't know who he was. The juniors admired him, the seventh years respected him, and even the lot of teachers who had been the victims of his harmful jokes found him rather charming in class.
Crowned with unruly black hair that stuck out no matter how many layers of gel you applied, and intense chocolate eyes that seemed to bore into your soul each time he looked at you, it wasn't surprising that he had many girls falling at his feet. His mischievous twinkling eyes were another trait that most girls seemed to fawn over. Standing at a towering six-feet-one, James had a strong build that was a result of six years of Quidditch training.
His mates whom he is always seen with were equally as famous as him, and were none other than Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. With names that just etch into your mind rather instinctively, who wouldn't remember these four young lads? Each equipped with a different skill, it wasn't a surprise that each of their pranks ended up a success – with only backfires happening once in a blue moon.
James Potter was undoubtedly the mastermind who choreographed most of the pratical jokes, and Sirius Black was the prankster, whose task is to actually set up the plan or as James would like to put it – dirty work. Remus Lupin, on the other hand, was gifted with a soothing tongue that proved handy to talk his (and their) way out of trouble and last but not least, there's Peter Pettigrew – the brains behind their infamous getaways.
And now, resuming to our heroine – Professor Flitwick had finally arrived at the letter 'P' in his name list.
'Mr Potter and -'
Lily's ears immediately perked up as soon as she heard his name, wishing on every star she saw the night before that it would be her name that was to be called soon after.
' - Miss Evans.'
Lily scowled, realizing that she would never be partnered with James Potter, suddenly hating the guts of the girl that was to be graced with his presence until it registered in her brain: The girl that she was supposed to hate was indeed... herself.
'E-excuse me, professor?' Lily asked, pushing her luck.
'I repeat, Mr Potter and Miss Evans,' Professor Flitwick announced.
Thinking that the clouds in Heaven had given away to shine the light on Lily (accompanied by the hallelujah chorus, of course) Lily lost all sensation and went numb. She couldn't believe her ears – and by all means, her luck! Not only was she partnered with the boy she had fancied ever since she was fourteen, but it was also opening more chances for her to "accidentally" slip in the letter.
This is fate – it has to be! Lily sighed rather dreamily.
Controlling herself from blushing like a fresh ripe tomato, she hung her head not wanting to be teased by Jemima and Fiona who must have definitely realized something fishy... Having assured herself that she had been revising her introductory moment for ages, you'd think she would have mastered it by now. Rather expectedly, her mind went blank and all she could think of was,
James Potter James Potter James Potter James Potter James Potter James Potter James Potter James Potter James Potter James Potter James Potter James Potter James Potter James Potter James Potter.
Finally realizing that she was acting like a moronic fool, her estimated ten steps had ended, and here she was – in front of James' desk. Offering her hand out for him to shake, she expected him to take it and greet, 'Hi, I'm James Potter,' but instead all he did was sit back and mumble, 'James Potter.'
Despite her disappointment, she took back her hand, and managed a smile. 'Lily Evans.'
So he lacks a little in etiquette. Big deal, she thought. She shrugged it off and sat down. His tush definitely makes up for it, she giggled to herself – a little too loud for her liking.
'So...' Lily tried, starting a conversation. She'd do anything to take James Potter's mind off the fact that she had just giggled like an insane fangirl. 'Have you retrieved the roll of parchment, yet?' she said, trying to break the silence.
And all she got was a, 'No.' Not, 'Oh, I'll take it now,' or even a 'Would you mind taking it?', like she had expected. But nooo, not James Potter - all he did was stay quiet. Lily was one to value etiquette and could not tolerate people who were inconsiderate of applying moral values to their everyday life. Feeling the Irish roots in her boiling, she made a mental note to herself. Well I'll be damned, he is rude
Arguing with herself, she haughtily walked over to the professor's desk, and grabbed the checklist. Ticking the checkbox next to 'Mr Potter and Miss Evans' rather hastily, the quill even left burn marks on the parchment.
She returned to her seat indignantly and began to ponder. He's not all I thought he was. Instead of a kind, polite, gentleman, his true colours have shown that he is in fact rude and arrogant! And to think that I wasted the whole night writing that stupid letter to him. Lily thought, biting back tears. If he's already thishostile towards me when I've just gotten to know him, imagine his reaction when he finds the letter! He'd probably even make fun of it!
Instead of being nice and polite to him (like how she had planned), Lily Evans had in deed snapped. 'Look, Potter. We're here to complete an assignment, so if you don't mind, I'd rather you stop lazing around and help me start this. I for one want to get an A on this.' And before Lily could even stop herself from acting like a know-it-all fool, it all came pouring out.
Stupid, stupid, tupid, Lily! You're so stupid! No matter how rude he is to you, you wouldn't want him hating you or calling you bratty, now would you?
But instead of feeling guilty, pride got in her way and she pushed the nasty thought out of sight, and held her nose high.
James Potter nearly fell of his chair, but straightened up. She wanted very much to apologize and have him tell her that she was the love of his life in secrecy and that he couldn't live without her, but her fantasy was shattered when she head the ever familiar drawl. 'You're a bit snappy, you know that.'
The nerve of that boy! Lily thought, narrowing her eyes at him. Diverting her attention to unrolling the parchment, Lily pretended she was partially deaf. Clearing her throat loudly to overpower his irritating snickers, she read out loud:
You are to find two similar spells to 'Wingardium Leviosa'. This assignment is due in two months. You are also required to write an essay about its differences. The essay must be at the very least 1 roll of parchment long. Both partners are given an option to either write their own individual essay, or opt to write an essay together, in which tasks must be divided equally. Research is recommended to be done with assigned partners.
Good luck,
Professor Flitwick.
After a few moments of silence, Lily decided to break the ice once more and started, 'So, which are you going to choose?'
'I think it's best if we do one essay together. Don't you think?', James challenged, perfectly aware of the animosity in the air.
Well, what are you going to do now smarty pants? You now evidently have two choices:
1) Complete the essay with him, and tolerate his nonsense and/or inch closer towards his heart.
2) Write the essay yourself and work alone. Act as if the partnership with James Potter never happened and live your whole life regretting not getting to know James Potter better – prick or not.
After contemplating the pros and cons, Lily made up her mind and picked the obvious choice and said it as coolly as possible, 'Fine, whatever James.'
'Oh, so now we're calling each other by our first names, eh?' he smirked.
'I can call you Potter, if you want, you know.' Lily snapped back, trying her best not to blush. He was flustering her and enjoying it – and the best part? She didn't seem to mind one bit.
'Whatever, Lee-Lee. Quite frankly, I'd prefer you calling me by my first name, unless you're Snape and one of his gits.'
'He's not so bad you know – Severus, I mean. I'm not exactly a friend of his, but I'm on civil terms with him,' Lily reasoned with James.
'That means you're one of his friends, then. F - R - I - E - N - D. Look it up the - '
Did James have the intelligence capacity of a five year old?
'We're wasting our time, so can we please start -' Lily tried to interrupt hastily, but time was up.
'Alright, class. See you tomorrow, and remember; start and complete your projects this time, students. And yes, I mean you, Mr Black and Mr Potter,' Professor Flitwick said in his sternest voice.
Upon hearing the mention of their humble names, Sirius and James gave each other a high-five.
'Oh, great. Charms is over,' Lily sighed in frustration. 'Are you free tonight, James?'
'I'm sorry, but I'm not Lee-L -'
'Oh, would you stop it with that ridiculous nickname! It's Lily, okay. L - I - L - Y. It isn't L - E - E - L - E - E!' She wanted to smack him on his head, but he caught her hand.
'Now, now, Lily. What has your mother been teaching you? Smacking people on their first meet?' James taunted.
Lily blushed, feeling his warm grasp on hers. He let it go instantly not realizing the effect it had on her. 'Well, LILY, I'm not free tonight. I've got Quidditch Practice. How about tomorrow?'
'I'm fine with tomorrow.' She said faintly.
'Very well, then. Well, I – ' James Potter observed Lily tip to toe. She was in such a rush that she had dropped her set of quills and was now flustering and mumbling to herself about how disorganized she was going to be for the next class. He smiled slyly, taking advantage of her innocence. 'I don't know about you, Lily, but we are late for Transfiguration. And you know how Professor McGonagall is about promptness. She'd probably...'
Lily's eyes widened as James trailed off. Not wasting another second, she grabbed all her books and stuffed them into her bag, unaware of the envelope which had fallen out while she was recklessly shoving her books. She ran as fast as her feet could carry her to the Transfiguration Classroom, still oblivious to the clock mounted on the wall.
James laughed heartily, making a mental note to apologize to her for that one. They were still ten minutes early and Professor McGonagall was going to have a hoot having a perfect student like Lily barging in. He met up with Remus, Peter and Sirius who were waiting for him, as the other students slowly filed out of class.
'Where did that redhead you were partnered with go? My, my, James, I didn't know you repelled girls!' joked Sirius.
'Well, I told her that we were late for Transfiguration. I bet I'll be getting a beautiful bruise tomorrow when we meet up to study. Sigh,' James placed a hand over his heart rather mockingly. 'Anyway, how was last night's date with Jane?'
'She's great all right. But not the right one...' Sirius sighed, as if monologue-ing Shakespeare's finer works.
Remus let out an exasperated sigh. 'Then which is, Padfoot? I mean, Jane has been the umpteenth person you've dated!'
'The dishy lass I was partnered up with in Charms – that's who!' Sirius winked slyly.
They continued their conversation of Sirius' love life, about Jemima Richards being out of Sirius' league and how he should apologize to Jane in advance for "simply" forgetting their second date. However, as the heated discussion was going on, somewhere on the other side of the classroom, history was taking place.
As the students were filing out of class, the barren envelope had gotten itself entangled amongst the footwork and steps of rampaging sixteen-year-olds. Very slowly (and quite discreetly), the envelope was miraculously swept away by the traffic of students until it finally landed at Professor Flitwick's desk and placed itself rather comfortably under his foot.
Feeling something foreign under his shoe, Professor Flitwick lifted his foot to find the envelope. He carefully picked the piece of stationary up and inspected it. On it was written in cursive writing (rather affectionately) – James.
'Mr Potter?' he called out.
James Potter looked at his teacher. 'Yes, Professor?'
'I believe this is yours.'
James went up to the teacher's desk to marvel at what Professor Flitwick claimed to be his. In professor's hands was an envelope – dirty and trampled, and what was most shocking of all – addressed to him. James looked at it, then at the Professor quizzically.
'It was at my feet,' Professor Flitwick chuckled. 'I believe it was meant for you, but was somehow swept away to my desk. Here you are.'
James, still curious, just received the letter from Professor Flitwick's small hands and muttered a thank you to the professor, carefully walking back to the Marauders.
'You lot go on first – I'll catch up with you later,' James said, eyes still fixated on the envelope.
'Aight, Prongs,' said Peter. One by one, Sirius, Remus and Peter left the classroom, glancing at James' curious figure once more and shrugged.
James, even more curious than ever, sat at his desk and examined the envelope. Finally concluding that it wasn't a howler in disguise, or that it wasn't some sort of prank, (and most importantly, not from the Minsitry as it wasn't sealed with wax) he opened the envelope and very carefully, took the letter out.
He unfolded the scented paper, and slowly began to read...
Dear James,
This is probably your -