Change of Heart

Disclaimer:

Nearly all of this belongs to Mrs J.K. Rowling. See before chapter 1 for details.

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Epilogue

Lily slowly closed the door of the magic room. She had told James she wouldn't mind entering the Great Hall with him, but he surely guessed she still felt quite uncomfortable about that.

"Ready to face the world?" he asked, assuming a joyful tone in spite of the concern he couldn't hide completely.

"I'll have to sooner or later, now!" Lily replied, starting to walk to the nearest staircase with what she hoped was a determined look. "And after all, I'm a Gryffindor. I shouldn't be frightened - not even of mockery!"

James put a reassuring arm around her shoulders and, since there was nobody in sight, she didn't try to stop him.

"I'm sure you'll be able to put every mocker back to their place," he said. "But do you know you should be proud to be the Quidditch star's girlfriend?"

"Actually, I'm rather ashamed of showing myself in the company of such a big-headed boy!" Lily replied, freeing herself from his arm.

Funny how words sound different when your feelings have changed,she thought. Instead of irritation, they were now full of affection. They didn't mean "You're so unbearable" anymore, only "I love those verbal fights".

"Big Head Boy!" James exclaimed, laughing. "I am Head Boy, that's true, but where on Earth did you get the "big" part from? I know I'm not skinny like Remus, but still..."

She laughed too.

"I can't believe it took me so much time to realize I loved your silly sense of humour!"

"That's because yours is very bad!" James teased her.

Then, as for making sure she would forgive him, he gave her a little kiss - on the cheek, but very tender...and two Hufflepuff girls passed them by, giggling.

"Sorry, I hadn't seen them coming," he apologized.

To her own surprise, Lily found out she didn't really care. She felt too good to let two unknown giggling girls ruin her happiness.

"I think I can survive the mocking comments if you stop boasting about being a Quidditch star. Is that possible?"

James kept silent for half a minute, a thoughtful look on his face.

"I think so, but only if you stop pretending I'm big!" he answered eventually, with that air of great seriousness he had only when he wasn't serious at all.

She gave him a little slap on the arm, so slight it must feel more like a gentle touch.

"You idiot!"

"I know," he said, grabbing the hand she had hit him with to put a little kiss on it.

So sweet...

Lily would never have thought a boy could treat her like that. It was incredible. And wonderfully nice.

"But please don't tell that to my friends," James added in the tone of someone who's asking for a big favour. "They think I'm so smart..."

"Don't worry, I won't reveal the horrible truth!" she promised solemnly.

But then she turned serious for real.

"You know, you are smart," she said after having walked in silence for a little while. "I'm the stupid one, actually. I wasted so much time hating you when I could have..."

She stopped walking and talking at the same time.

"...loved me?" James suggested.

That was what she had thought, yes, but could she tell him so, after only some hours? She hadn't even loved anyone before. How could she be sure?

"Probably," she said hesitantly, avoiding to meet his eyes.

Would that remind him of his letter too? 'Probably love you'... And to say she didn't believe him! It was so obvious now!

"Is that enough?" she asked. "I mean..."

She really felt extremely stupid, but he didn't seem to think she was at all. He smiled and held her tight, whispering in her ear that it was much more than he had ever dared hope, and that he was so lucky to have her.

This is the real James Potter, Lily thought, holding him too. And he's really, really worth knowing.

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They entered the Great Hall about five minutes later, both smiling happily. Lily was still a bit apprehensive about the comments her friends would inevitably make, but at least James had promised he wouldn't say anything that could be taken as a boast, and now she knew she could trust him.

"Look like they were expecting us to come together," James remarked, pointing at the cheerful looking group formed by his friends and Lily's, seated together at the Gryffindor table.

Lily answered only by nodding slightly. Any moment, one of them would spot her and James... Some other people had already and, although she avoided looking their way, she could feel their eyes on her - or was she just imagining things? Who should care what she did, after all?

She took a deep breath and a step forward, praying both God and Merlin that no one drew more attention to them by talking too loud.

Next second, Peter's voice echoed loudly:

"Hey, look at this, Padfoot! I told you his 'peace treaty' thing couldn't fail! Prongs is simply the best!"

It seemed to Lily that every person in the room was now staring at her. Or, more exactly, at her and James - that was the embarrassing point. But at least James understood.

"Come on, Miss Evans," he encouraged her. "A Gryffindor should be able to face comments bravely, remember?"

She smiled.

Strangely, just hearing his voice made her feel better.

She followed him to join the others, thinking again she had terribly misjudged him during the past few years.

Meeting Sandra's eyes as she sat down in front of her, Lily knew her friend wasn't much more surprised than Peter. Joanne looked astonished, but Sandra didn't. And there was no trace of mockery in her smile; it just told something like "I knew you couldn't hate him as much as you said", and also "I'm glad you finally realized it".

Lily smiled back, thanking her silently for being such a good friend.

Since James was talking to Sirius - who didn't look too happy - Joanne ventured to ask in a whisper whether Lily had already managed to find out "something about last year".

Lily shook her head quickly, then took a slide look at Remus, who was sitting next to Sandra. Fortunately, he didn't seem to have heard.

"But you're going to ask, aren't you?" Joanne insisted.

Lily sighed. That was so typical of Jo, being so focused on details that she generally missed the main point. But at least, as long as she would believe that nothing interesting had happened, she wouldn't ask too many questions about the date...

An exclamation saved Lily the trouble of responding.

"Two Galleons!"

All the heads turned to James. He looked shocked and quite angry.

"He bet two Galleons that you would slap me in the face and refuse definitely to speak to me again!" he explained to Lily, who tried hard not to laugh.

"Peter needed money," Sirius said shortly with a shrug of the shoulders.

Joanne gave a chuckle and Lily couldn't hide a smile.

"Did he? I don't think he would have taken the risk of losing two Galleons, then!" James replied in accusing tone.

Sirius shrugged again.

"He was so sure you couldn't fail!"

"And you weren't!" James emphasized. "Padfoot, that's betrayal! And I should tell McGonagall that you two are betting money. After all, I'm Head Boy..."

A horrified look appeared on Peter's face, but Sirius's careless expression didn't change at all.

"That would be betrayal," he pointed out, very calmly.

"Remus would never have done it," Peter affirmed.

"Well, I haven't said I would but..." James began.

"But I could," Lily finished in his place.

Sirius cast her a dark look and Peter started panicking:

"You won't!" he shrieked. "You can't! James won't let you!"

Lily managed to catch James's eye and shook her head slightly to assure him she had no intention to report anything.

"I could," she repeated nonetheless. "You know I could. And James wouldn't be able to stop me."

She had to make that clear. OK, she was James's girlfriend, but that didn't mean she would let him impose his will on her.

"I wouldn't even try," James said with a little wink that made her smile.

"Afraid of slaps?" she asked, apparently mocking him. But her smile belied that impression; it told him she had get the silent message of his wink - "I'll never try to change you"... He wouldn't, she was sure. He didn't want her to be like the others; he loved her just the way she was.

Since they were both terribly stubborn and strongly opinionated, Lily didn't doubt they would quarrel lots of times again, but at least she knew James respected her and she promised herself never to forget she also had to take him for what he was, no matter what.

A voice coming from behind her shoulders dragged her out of her thoughts:

"Am I dreaming? Lily Evans, sitting next to James Potter, talking to him and smiling at him?"

Lily didn't even need to turn round to know it was Linda. But, of course, she did turn round, if only to be polite, and saw that Cybela was there too, looking quite ill at ease, as if she was expecting the Gryffindors to blame her for not being able to stop her best friend from leaving the Ravenclaw table.

Lily made a reassuring gesture in Cybela's direction and was about to answer to Linda when Sirius intervened:

"They just signed a peace treaty," he explained.

"Well, you see," Linda said to Lily, "I told you he was very likeable! And peace is much more pleasant than war, isn't it? You might have liked turning him down, but kissing is better!"

"Oh, come on!" Joanne told her sister off. "A peace treaty doesn't involve kisses!"

Lily looked down, terribly embarrassed. Of course, she had intention to tell everything to her friends sometime later, but doing it in the middle of the Great Hall, in front of James's friends as well, was definitely not the option she would have picked if she had been left the choice.

Looking up again, she saw that Sandra was trying to catch Joanne's attention in order to beckoned her to drop the argument. Had she understood? It wouldn't be that surprising. Sandra always seemed to guess everything. Actually, she probably even knew before Lily that there was something weird in that so-called hatred. And, judging by the way Remus was looking at her, Lily could tell he had surely guessed, too.

"Maybe this is not the right time and place to talk about that," he ventured helpfully. "If you want to know the whole story, I'm sure Lily will tell you later."

Lily smiled at him, thankful.

But, unfortunately, Sirius didn't wait until the Ravenclaw girls were back to their table before speaking again:

"You have to clarify a point, Evans! It's important for the bet."

Lily sighed. She knew what was coming. And, sure enough, Sirius asked:

"Did you two kiss or not?"

"Sirius!" James and Remus exclaimed in unison.

"It's absolutely none of your business," James added with his best haughty look - which would have made Lily laugh if she hadn't been wishing she could hide under the table.

"That means yes," Peter said triumphantly. "I did win, Padfoot!"

Lily caught James's eye. He looked very sorry, and afraid of her reaction. She felt more embarrassed than ever...then, suddenly, she realized what it all meant and how ridiculous it was. Why should she be ashamed, after all? James was a nice boy; she now liked him a lot and had decided to be his girlfriend. She had no reason to keep that secret. Except for her excessive pride... Just what she had been reproaching him for so long!

Taking a deep breath, she stopped avoiding the others' gaze. Just like she had expected, they all were staring at her, waiting for a comment.

"OK," she said, keeping her voice as calm as she could. "It was a real date."

Joanne's exclamation of astonishment didn't escape to her, but she ignored it and went on, holding her head high defiantly:

"And there will be other dates - lots of other dates, I hope. Now, if you want to mock me because it took me so long to realize that James and me could go along well, I guess I won't be allowed to blame you...but just remember that my new boyfriend is very good at making pranks!"

A general burst of laughter greeted that declaration.

"And I can teach her how to take revenge on the mockers by herself, too," James added. "I'm sure she'll soon be able to have some great ideas. Plus, she's always been the best in Potions, so she could do better than make Sirius's hair curl - couldn't you, Lily?"

She nodded and, to the others' big surprise, gave a perfect imitation of James's usual mischievous smile.

"Don't worry, we won't mock you. We're glad for you," Sandra assured.

Joanne, Remus and Cybela agreed. And so did Peter, more vigorously than anyone else:

"I won two Galleons thanks to you, so I would never say anything against you!"

"As long as she doesn't talk about the bet..." Sirius muttered.

Lily suspected that he had spoken only because James had kicked him under the table, but she pretended not to have notice.

Then she turned to Linda, the only one who hadn't expressed an opinion yet. The Ravenclaw girl shrugged, a half-smile on her face.

"Well, it would be a pity to start a war of pranks right after your peace treaty...and I'm no good at pranks, anyway," she said with a giggle. "It's great you changed your mind about James."

Lily smiled happily. Now she could be friends with Linda again, and it seemed that none of the others would mock her either. Friendship was the best thing in the world...with love, of course!

"Actually, it's not exactly a change of mind," she replied to Linda, still smiling. "I think we should call it a change of heart..."

The End

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