3. Minerva McGonagall
I remember those two. I remember them in school. I remember how flamboyant and brazen he was. I remember how kind and sweet she was. I remember how he and his three friends used to call me "Minnie". I remember how they always assumed that they were getting detention every time I stopped them in the halls. I remember how she once called me by the nickname that James and the Marauders christened me with in their first year. I remember how she blushed about letting it slip. I remember how incredibly gifted they both were. I remember how she was the one who had to work hard. I remember how it irked her a little bit when he could do everything without opening a text book. I remember her explaining her fifteen year old theory about him being a "closet studier". I remember how many pranks he played whilst in school. I believe in total it reached a record 15, 490. I remember how she had to fight from laughing almost every time.
I remember how he made her laugh like there was no tomorrow.
I remember how they both made me laugh like there was nothing to worry about.
I remember how they sent me into a world in which everything was right. I remember every conversation I had with them and I remember how I loved each one. I remember how even when I was giving James and his friends detention he would make me smile while doing it. I remember when I gave Lily her first detention and I remember her thanking James for it later because it was what she needed. A good detention brought her to him. A good detention made him remind her that she was only human. I remember that detention and I remember that he ended up with pink hair and she ended up with green skin after a bunch of hexes were thrown around the classroom. I remember how I was forced to go to Madam Pomfrey because of a well used, but not very well aimed Jelly Legs curse, but I remember at the end of that detention how she thanked him. After all the fighting, after her blaming him for landing her in her first detention (a feet which he took responsibility for proudly), she thanked him.
I remember every Quidditch match. He would shout out things like "I scored that one for my Lily." She would blush. I remember how, no matter how much she claimed she hated it, she came to every single match.
I remember always claiming to be impartial about every Gryffindor that has ever come under my watch.
I remember admitting to myself that I will always favoring those two above anyone else.
I remember their graduation speech. They gave it together as Head Boy and Girl. I remember the last line of it perfectly.
"Everyone in this school strives for perfection. The best they can be." James started.
"We discovered something while we were here. Everyone has a different idea about what perfection really is." Lily said.
"We now know as we leave this school that perfection is looking at your teachers, your classmates, your teammates, and…and your friends. And telling them honestly that you never held anything back."
I remember their wedding day when I thought to myself this is what perfection looks like.
They had it all. They were perfect.
And now we're here. I'm sitting next to Dumbledore, who is silently crying. I reach up to brush a hair out of my face and I realize that I'm doing the same thing.
I remember everything about them. I remember all 15,490 pranks he pulled. I remember her disapproving look every time, but I also remember the eyes that were dancing with laughter. I remember how she couldn't hide it, no matter how she tried. I remember reprimanding her for reprimanding him so harshly. I remember him insisting that she was just doing it because she loved him. I remember her smacking him on the head and "how dare he just assume things that are--". And I remember him swiftly kissing her in mid-sentence.
So what the things he assumed were, I never found out.
I remember the day Harry was born. I remember how she smiled at him and how tears of joy streamed down her face. I remember how he kissed her and kissed Harry.
I remember how they loved their son and I remember their many fights over what he wanted when he was crying.
"We remember James and Lily Potter today."
We remember James and Lily Potter. We remember the ultimate idea of perfection.