Chapter XI

It's Valentine's Day, Baby

((James's POV))

My life was just brilliant. Lily had a boyfriend.

Of course, I expected her to have a date for the Ball, since she's beautiful and all, but I saw the two of them holding hands in the hallway a couple of times. That was not how my plan was supposed to work.

But I couldn't break up with Sylvia because I was preparing myself for the Ball as I contemplated all this. I had bought these dark, dark blue dress robes that looked smashing on me. I made my hair very messy because it was still damp from my shower; that was it would dry messy and look great all night.

Sirius, Remus, Peter, and the rest of the seventh year Gryffindor boys were preparing themselves, as well. We didn't take nearly as long as the girls, who had started preparing themselves before us, and would most likely not come out of their dormitories until long after we'd finished.

So, once we were all done, we headed down to the Common Room where some other boys were milling around.

"I'm going to go wait outside the Hufflepuff Common Room," I said. "You coming, Padfoot?" Sirius was going with Sylvia's friend, Olivia. Remus and Peter had to stay, because Remus had asked Rose to the Ball, much to everyone's surprise, and Peter was going with a Gryffindor sixth year.

"Yeah, Prongs," Sirius replied, and we crawled out of the portrait hole.

We knew the way to the Hufflepuff Common Room because of the Marauder's Map. It was a picture of Helga Hufflepuff, and when we told her we were waiting for our dates, she chuckled jovially and told us what nice, sweet boys we were.

Finally, after a few students had left the portrait hole, Sylvia and her friend came out. Sylvia was in a long, pink dress made of velvet, and the skirt was wide. The trim was gold, and she also had on golden high heels and wore gold jewelry. Her hair was up in a bun, and I also noticed she had put some gold glitter on her hair and skin. She looked beautiful.

She took my arm, and Olivia took Sirius's. Olivia had reddish blonde hair and a few freckles, and she was dressed in periwinkle, her dress similar to Sylvia's.

We went to the Great Hall, where there were many little tables with red tablecloths instead of the long House tables. Little cherubs with hearts were flitting around, throwing pink and red confetti everywhere. The room was quite dark, though everyone could see properly because there were hundreds of pink candles floating around. Sylvia and I sat together at a table set for two with a heart shaped candle in the middle.

I looked around, and there was no sign of Lily. Peter had arrived with his date, however, a little red-haired and freckly girl. She was quite pretty for Peter, actually.

Dumbledore had not announced that we might yet, so everyone just found places and looked expectantly up at the Heads Table. It was when Remus entered with Rose on her arm that I saw Lily.

Rose was in a full length, silvery blue dress, looking up at Remus with matching eyes, smiling. Pansy was on the arm of a Ravenclaw boy, and she was in a purple dress. Lily, on the arm of her Ravenclaw boyfriend, Derek Timbleton, looked magnificent.

She was in a long, wide skirted, fluttery dress that was a more green shade of turquoise. I knew it was bringing out her eyes even though I couldn't tell her eye color from there. Her dress had a silver trim, and she wore silver jewelry. Her long, red hair was done up in a high, loose bun, and it was curly. I could tell because some curls hung loosely from the updo, but they weren't going to fall out; she had used magic to do it. Timbleton was wearing dress robes of silver, and he was looking admiringly at Lily.

"James. James!" Sylvia said, waving a hand in front of my wide eyes.

I looked at her. "Sorry."

"I was going to ask you if you want to share the steak at the bottom of the first page on the menu," she said. "It weighs two pounds, and there's no way I can eat all of that."

"Yes, sure, fine," I responded, watching Lily and the Timbleton boy find a seat.

Eventually Dumbledore stood, and the whole Hall quieted. "I'd like you all you to welcome our live, musical performers, the Flobberworms!" he said, motioning to the four men who were tuning their guitars and mussing their dark hair behind the Heads table. The Hall broke out into cheers; the Flobberworms were one of the most popular bands in wizarding England at that time. "They will be performing once we all finish eating," Dumbledore added once the room had silenced. "You may eat!"

So we all eventually figured out how to order—by telling our plate what meal we wanted. Sylvia and I shared the large steak, chatting, before our plates cleared. Everyone began ordering desserts, and we ate those until we were completely full and sat back in our seats.

It was when everyone was looking back at Dumbledore that he stood along with the rest of the Staff and levitated the table and chairs off the dais that everyone stood up. All of the tables in the room vanished, save for the ones along the walls, in case anyone wanted to sit down. The Flobberworms walked forward on the dais, bowed, and started playing the song "Fly My Broom".

Sylvia and I danced, acting like we were on fire for the fast ones and standing in each other's arms and swaying on the spot for the slow ones. I saw Lily and Timbleton slow dancing together, her head on his shoulder. Jealousy swept over me, but then I realized that Sylvia's head was on my shoulder, too.

When we were sitting down, talking, hearts beating fast and faces red from dancing, a Slytherin boy came up and asked if he could dance with Sylvia. She asked me if it was all right, and I said yes. She left, and I sat there, watching the others.

I saw Lily walk out of the Great Hall, and I got up and followed her. She went outside, walking between the rosebushes and into a little garden with a stone bench. Lily sat and sighed loudly. I watched her for a moment.

Sometimes she would shift and sigh again, sometimes she would rustle her skirts, and sometimes she pulled off her ring and spun it in her fingers. Deciding that this would be the best time to talk to her, I approached the bench and sat down.

Lily jumped up. "Potter! You scared me."

"Sorry, Lily," I said. "Sit back down."

"Why would I want to do that?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest.

I sighed. "Because I asked you to."

"You aren't the boss of me."

"Lily—"

"Listen, Potter," she said as I stood up and towered over her. "Don't try to start acting all nice to me now that I have a boyfriend. I know you're jealous, and you shouldn't be, because of Sylvia—"

"I think it's you who's jealous, Lily," I said coolly.

"That is sickening," she snapped.

I shrugged. "I don't seem to think so."

"Well, not everyone thinks like you do!" Lily said.

"I think everyone would agree that you're jealous of Sylvia," I replied.

She took a step forward and poked me hard in the chest. "You're just saying that!"

It was then, because she was so close, that I caught her around the shoulders and dropped my head, my nose touching her temple. Her hair actually smelled very good. She shivered at my touch and dropped her head as well. "Stop," she said quietly.

"I don't want to. Nervous?"

"Why would I be nervous?" Lily whispered.

I rubbed the tip of my nose along her cheekbone. "Because you're trembling."

She shook her head. "I am not. I don't even like you."

I lifted my arm and put it under her chin so she looked up at me. "You don't like me?"

Lily drew in a shuddering breath, and I realized she was lying. She realized that I realized she was lying.

She looked down again. "I realized it when you and Sylvia got together. I went out with Derek to get you off my mind and, well, make you jealous. But I just broke up with him, and he understands."

I tilted her chin up again so she was looking at me, but her eyes were closed. I lowered my head and kissed her for a long time. She was still trembling, so I put one hand on her shoulder and the other around her waist. When we broke the kiss, she put her head on my shoulder and sighed deeply.

We stood there for a long time, breathing each other's scents. Lily had slipped her arms through mine and had her hands on my shoulders from behind. My left hand was stroking her cheek lightly, and my right hand was on the back of her neck.

Sylvia came out, calling my name. She saw Lily and me standing together, and a look of understanding came across her face. "James," she said, walking forward. "Could I talk to you?"

I nodded; Lily separated herself from me. "I'll wait for you in the Entrance Hall," she said, walking away.

I sat down, indicating that Sylvia should, too. She did.

"I knew something was going on between you and Lily," the Hufflepuff girl said. "And I'm not angry with you. I knew you didn't really love me, by any stretch of the imagination, and I felt the same way."

"I'm sorry, Sylvia," I admitted, smiling a little. "I'm glad you aren't crying your eyes out."

She snorted. "I actually like someone else. Richard McCarthy." He was another Hufflepuff seventh year. "Sorry."

We both smiled and hugged. "Well, I'll see you, then," I said as we stood and dusted off our clothes.

"Good luck with Lily."

I returned to the Entrance Hall, where Lily was waiting for me. Somehow she looked more beautiful now. Probably because the Entrance Hall was more lit up that the Great Hall or the darkness of the outdoors, and I could see her better. She took my arm, beaming, and I escorted her back into the Entrance Hall. The Flobberworms were singing "Lady Medusa".

It turned out that Lily was a horrible dancer. She kept stepping on my feet, even during the slow dances. I didn't really care, though, because she was with me.

It was so strange to say that.

James Potter and Lily Evans were a couple.

And I kissed her.

And she was a very good kisser, despite the fact that she had not had very many boyfriends in her lifetime.

We returned to our Common Room together, and many other Gryffindors (who had heard us argue in the Common Room countless times in our years there) gave us strange looks as we ambled hand-in-hand. Neither of Lily's friends asked, and neither of mine did, either. When we walked into Gryffindor Common Room to bid everyone goodnight, we saw Remus and Rose sitting on the couch, her head on his shoulder.

When we finally parted in the Heads Common Room, I looked down at Lily and said, "You look really beautiful tonight."

She smiled. "You don't look so bad yourself."

So I kissed her goodnight, softly, and went back into my room. I lay in bed, thinking of her, the way she walked, the way her red hair bounced when she laughed, the way she cried, and the way her eyes glittered.

The way her green eyes glittered.

Her green eyes.

A/N: I had loads of fun with this chapter, and I really hope all of you like it and review. I love reviews so much that I'm going to respondto all of my Chapter 10 reviewers:

Fairy-GYAKUTENNO-MEGAMI:I know, I feel the same way. If James was mad at her for making him jealous, he needs to read up on the Golden Rule. Anyway, thank you for reading all of my chapters and giving me reviews. I've noticed that you've been the first one to review for almost every chapter, and your constant reviewing makes my day. :)

Caitlin: Thank you! I can hardly find any decent fics lately. They're either: not canon, not grammatically correct,too sexual, or too angsty. So I decided to put one out there to say, "Hah! How do you like that?"

DaisyPixie: I appreciate your compliments. I'll repeat what I said before, Lily needs to kick some James ass. But after this chapter, I don't think many of you will be thinking along those lines. :p

Ashley: I know, I wanted to have a cute story. I'm glad you recognized the cuteness.

missmunky: Well, of course, considering that Harry is born, Lily and James get together at the end of the story. But I have more in store for them between now and then.