Lily stood in front of the mirror and smiled satisfactorily at her own reflection. She had combed her red hair neatly such that not one strand of hair was out of place; she ironed out her best shirt and skirt and swore that if any one should touch it, their necks would get wrenched. The only thing that wasn't perfect was that she had her favorite tie in the wash, and that it wasn't dry yet.
"Ah! Perfect!" the mirror smiled kindly.
"Thank you."
Then she set off to meet Dumbledore who will be accompanying her to the 9¾ station, as he was worried that she would not recognize James.
The two of them waited at the station and Dumbledore noticed Lily fidgeting with the hem on her shirt. He smiled and waved his wand.
The hem was immediately out, instead of the usual tuck-in style.
Lily looked surprised and asked Dumbledore if that would be appropriate. The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes told her so.
Just then, as Lily bent down to inspect the hem of her green shirt, a red and gold carriage arrived. Lily was so absorbed in her inspecting of the hem and her fingernails that she didn't notice it coming.
James looked down through his glasses and saw a tall figure with silvery hair and beard that reached down to his waist and smiled, for he was sure that that was Professor Dumbledore he was seeing. His parents had described the appearance of the Headmaster of Hogwarts to James in detail and there wasn't anything more distinguished than that long silvery mane of his.
However, as he looked more closely, he saw another figure standing beside Professor Dumbledore. He couldn't see the figure's face as she seemed to be looking down at something. James was sure, though, that the figure was a girl as it had a figure of a girl's. All curved in the right places.
It didn't hurt to add to himself a few other mental notes: she had long hair and was wearing a skirt.
James was amazed at the color of the girl's hair, though. It was fiery red and under the sun, it seemed to compete with the sun for its vibrancy and color. And even though her hair was tied back neatly, he could see it to be really wavy. He couldn't help wondering what it would look like if it was to be set free of the band holding it together.
Lily felt someone staring at the back of her head and immediately reminded herself of her position and role. She was waiting for someone really important. What was she doing, inspecting her nails or shirt like that?
As she looked up slowly, she saw a pair of blue eyes staring back at her green. She cocked her head slowly as she took in the profile of the boy who was looking at her and that she was, no doubt, looking back.
He was tall, Lily could see, even though he was sitting down, for his waist could be seen at the edge of the window, which meant that his legs were rather long.
He had jet-black hair that resembled that of a crow's luscious black feathers. He wore glasses, but that didn't leave any blemish on his otherwise perfect face.
Lily was surprised to realize that this boy was special from the other boys in Hogwarts.
He seemed to have no flaw.
James felt a sharp intake of breath, coming from himself. As the red-haired figure looked up, he saw that she was a stunning beauty.
She had eyes that of an ocean during the rising of the sun – beautifully green.
Her face was perfectly sketched, like the porcelain models his sister always does. Though this one was obviously more pretty and wonderful than the lopsided bits of clay stuck together.
She had a rather sharp jaw and her full mouth showing natural redness.
Her chin was high and had the dignity and pride that didn't seem to lose out to that of princess's or queen's he has seen before.
She was flawless.
James didn't really know how he managed to get out of the carriage without stumbling once. He seemed to be in a daze when he greeted Professor Dumbledore and Dumbledore knew the exact reason why he was so lost.
Dumbledore smiled as he took in the shocked look of Lily Evans.
"Miss Evans. This is your transfer student, Mister James Harold Potter."
James and Lily remained silent, still overcoming their initial shock. Dumbledore chuckled inwardly as he saw the sight presented before him. Ah… they would be such a pair… he thought to himself, resisting a grin, as he thought of the reaction of the students in his school when James arrived.
He was a brilliant student and Dumbledore knew his parents a great deal. He was a bit disappointed when James's parents did not put James into Hogwarts. They explained that it was because the work James's father was doing and it would be inconvenient and too far for James to return home during the holidays. Dumbledore understood.
Now that James's father had switched jobs due to major adjustments, James could go to Hogwarts, where, Dumbledore truly feels, is where James really belongs. Even though it is a bit late, seeing the pair in front of him left Dumbledore no doubts that this year would indeed be an interesting one.
As Lily and James stepped into the Great Hall, they were greeted by gasps and wows of amazement as they passed by between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables, to be seated at the very end of the Gryffindor table.
James gave a small and rather embarrassed smile as he looked all around him at all the strange faces smiling back.
However, he did notice something else. Most of the smiling faces belonged to girls.
Lily looked around and sensed James's confusion and puzzlement.
She smiled at James and whispered to him, "I think the guys are rather jealous of you."
James's face flushed as she leaned in close to him and as he smelled the rose fragrance of her whole body. His face flushed further when he heard what she had whispered to him.
Looking at her smiling face, he couldn't help but grin back, showing a set of perfectly straight teeth.
Lily saw the gleam in her friends' eyes out of the corner of her eye and quickly sat back. She sure did not want to face any questions when she got back to their dormitory room.
Dumbledore was quickly introducing the arrival of the new transfer student. Everyone ended up clapping when he had finished and James's face was bright red by the end of it all.
Lily shook her head in amazement as she saw how the boy had blushed. She never thought anybody, especially a boy, could possibly blush so much.
Dinner quickly passed and although James didn't eat much, he got full by just looking at the faces around him. By the end of dinner, he knew that Lily had three of the other girls sitting around the both of them as friends.
There was one girl that was slightly pudgy in size. James quickly learnt that her name was Cheryl McNiece. She had blue eyes and had rather stringy blond hair. But she was rather nice to James, other than the fact that sometimes she was asking him so many questions that he felt that he couldn't breathe.
There was another girl that was another sensual beauty, although her beauty was really nothing compared to Lily's. He looked at her and suddenly had a feeling that his friend would look perfect with her. He wondered why. Jamie Kincaid had unique violet, or rather, amethyst, eyes that seemed to reassure every little uncertainty people had. Her hair was raven blue and that was another specialty that James felt hard not to notice. After all, not many people had that hair color.
James decided that Lily and Jamie had the most unique looks in the whole of Hogwarts, even though he hadn't seen half of the school. He was just puzzled. Wasn't Jamie a guy's name?
James felt that Jamie had a lot in common with the last girl, rather than with Cheryl. Her name was Melissa Corwell. She was also quite pretty. She had auburn hair and brown eyes resembling the color of hot chocolate and warmness of butter-beer in winter.
Somehow, he felt that Jamie and Lily knew each other through Melissa and for some strange reason, he was glad for that union in friendship between the two girls.
After dinner, Lily brought James back to the boys' dormitory and was quite embarrassed at the fact that she was in it for she had never set foot in one before. It was somewhat against the rules and Lily felt it most indecent. Most of the pupils were still in the Great Hall; she and James had gone up first, by James's eager request to see his room.
He gave a soft smile and closed his blue eyes as he took in the peace and tranquility of it all.
"It wouldn't be so peaceful when the bunch of boys come in."
That simple statement caused his eyes to snap open. He looked at Lily and can't help thinking that she had the ability to read minds.
Lily didn't understand why he was so shocked and decided to let it pass. She just wanted to get the instructions over and done with. She didn't want to spend any more time in this particular room. It was too indecent.
She banished all thoughts and tried to concentrate on the instructions to be told to the handsome young boy standing in front of her.
She didn't realize she was blurting out her instruction until James put a gentle and long finger under her chin. She swallowed hard and forced herself to look up into his piercing blue eyes.
"Why are you speaking so fast?" James laughed softly at her embarrassment.
Lily shook her head and regained her composure as quickly as she had lost it. She took in slow and careful breaths as she smiled and repeated her instructions clearly and slowly this time.
"Now…" her sentence trailed off as she approached a particular bed. "… this is your bed." She walked on and informed him that the adjacent beds beside his belonged to his other three friends who would be coming the next day.
She felt herself shaking her head in dismay as she saw the disarray of clothes on the floor. She had no doubt that boys were always that sloppy.
"Your trunks will all be arriving in a few minutes… I ARGH!" she let out a soft cry as she closed her eyes and braced herself for the fall about to come.
It didn't come. Not at all. James had supported her back with his palms and he felt that she was no more heavier than a feather.
"Whoa. You scared me," he whispered softly in her ear.
She quickly stood up and pulled her skirt, which was now above her knees, into place.
"Ah… thanks," she muttered her "thank you"; she wasn't sure if he had heard her.
The "no problem" reply coming from him told her that he had indeed heard her.
James suddenly reached out and Lily was about to take an instinctive step back as he tucked one strand of her red hair behind her ear, tickling her slightly. She would have laughed if the feeling wasn't so enticing at the moment.
She blushed and cursed herself for teasing James about his blush inwardly earlier. She was sure this was retribution.
James took another step forward, towards her and Lily felt her knees buckle as his blue eyes were fixated on her face.
She was about to say something more sensible and quit her mouth from gaping when she suddenly realized that the two of them were indecently close to each other. She could feel James's warm breath forced herself to look at anywhere but his eyes. They made her feel lost, something she had never felt before.
Then, she found out that by looking at his muscular chest, it wasn't really helping the situation.
His arms then came around her waist and James heard her give a sharp intake of breath. He then loosened his grip on her slender waist, for he feared that he was hurting her.
Just then, the door of the dormitory room and James immediately felt a shove on his chest. Lily had placed both palms on his chest, ignored her heart pumping at an accelerating rate and tried her best to push James away.
Her face was flushed when she saw who was it that opened the door. It was just a house-elf which had brought James's trunks in from the carriage.
The house-elf, surprisingly, did not seem to notice the both of them as it left the room as hurriedly as it put the trunks down, leaving the both of them alone once again.
James turned his attention back to Lily once again, only to find that she had disappeared. Right under his nose.
He made a swift turn as he saw her run out of the dormitory and frowned as he watched the heavy door slam shut.
She sure can run.