Chapter 4: Operation Jily
A/N Back at it again with another chapter. This chapter I've been planning since before I even started writing this sequel. It is going to be Jily centric, but you know it is still going to be amazing. Anyway, I know that I have stayed pretty canon so far, but I have been reading various headcanons about the Marauders, specifically centering around Regulus. Some of them I wanted to incorporate into my story, and I wanted to know if you guys would be okay with that. Please let me know what you think. I know that some people like canon over AU.
Also, I have been writing stuff for later in this series and decided that Sazzy will be having a daughter. I thank those of you who gave suggested names, but I have picked out 5 names that I have picked out. I then put those names in a poll that is up on my profile, so pls go check it out. Sorry for the long note. Anyway, Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything in this story that appears to come from anything Harry Potter related. The only thing that I own in this story is my OC, Jasmine, as well as the plot of this story.
The next couple of weeks after the prank were relatively calm. The Marauders hadn't pulled any other pranks what with how busy some of them were. It was hard to find a time to plan for pranks between their workload for their NEWT courses as well as Remus's, Jasmine's, and James's rounds schedules. Now technically James is in charge of creating the rounds schedules, but he does that with Lily. He would prefer that she didn't see him trying to rig the system so that he could plan pranks. James did not want Lily thinking he was still that immature and irresponsible. That would not get him the date that he hoped to get in the coming weeks.
And anyway James, Sirius, Jasmine, and Remus, who Sirius and Jasmine convinced James to bring in on the planning, had been using any free time they had to plan how James would ask Lily out. So, instead of paying attention to Lily so much, James had inadvertently stopped fawning over the girl. He wasn't doing it intentionally, but rather his mind was just more focused on other things at the moment. Also, James wanted to keep his mind off of asking Lily out so that he didn't just do it spontaneously while they were doing Heads stuff or hanging out together or something. And if he did that, James wouldn't be asking her out again because he wasn't going to go back on his promise to himself.
The others noticed his behavior and believed that it was going to get Lily to notice James more. Jasmine was sure that by the time they finished their plan for how James was going to ask Lily would be more than willing to go on that date that James has wanted for like 5 years.
Everything seemed to be going great for the Marauders. And they should have known that it was too good to be true. It had to end sometime, so they should have known but of course, they didn't. Instead, it came upon them suddenly and unexpectedly in the form of Lily Evans. They were about a quarter into the term when Lily came to Jasmine with some startling news but somewhat fortunate news.
Lily had been stressing out for a couple of weeks now. At first, she just thought it was from the workload she was facing combined with her Head Girl duties. As the weeks went on and she was getting used to her workload and Head Girl duties, she was able to establish a schedule to better manage her work and duties so that she wasn't as stressed. But after she had done all that she still felt rather stressed. Lily couldn't understand why she would still be stressed. Although, it was now feeling less like stress and more like worry, but Lily couldn't figure out what was worrying her. It wasn't until she was sitting down with James a few weeks later to figure out rounds' schedules for the next couple weeks that it suddenly hit her.
Lily and James were in an empty classroom not far from the Great Hall. They had felt that they would be the most productive in an empty classroom rather than the common room or the library. They wouldn't be interrupted this way by any nosy Prefects wanting to change their rounds schedules or something. They could work in peace. And they worked well together, something that Lily noticed quite frequently over the past several months. She realized that they made a great team. She had also learned over the past year that James wasn't all that bad. He was actually a great friend and fiercely loyal to those that he considered his family and friends. Now Lily still had a crush on James, and it had only grown since they had decided to be friends, but she still had yet to act on it. She still wasn't sure whether James really deserved her love.
By thinking about her feelings for James Potter was what made her realize that for some reason that was what had been worrying her. She didn't understand at first why that would be so worrying, but then it occurred to her that James hadn't asked her out at all that term. He hadn't really been fawning over her at all so far that term either. It was strange. This James Lily had never seen before and it was worrying her. Lily had always been sure of James's feelings for her and how he felt about her. Now, she wasn't so sure. And that, she realized, was what was worrying her because now she wanted to go on a date with him. She knew if he asked again that she would say yes, but he hadn't asked. Lily, for the first time since 5th year, didn't know if James Potter still loved her. She was afraid that she had kept him waiting too long and now he moved on.
Lily didn't know what to do with this realization, especially since James was right next to her as they were going over the schedule. She couldn't very well just blurt out her thoughts to James, especially not if he didn't still feel the same way as she now felt about him.
Lily had zoned out upon her realization. James seemed to notice too, so when she came back, James asked, "Lily, are you okay?"
"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" Lily tried her best to collect her thoughts. She hoped she didn't look too dazed if at all.
"Because you zoned out there. I've been trying to get your opinion on this rounds schedule for the past minute."
Lily's cheeks turned a bright red. "Oh. Um…. Sorry."
"It's no problem. I get it. No need to worry. I know this stuff can get tedious and boring sometimes. If you need a break, just let me know. I can come up with the rounds schedules without you, you know?"
Lily wanted to roll her eyes at the last part, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. The rest of what he said was just so sweet and endearing. Lily couldn't help but internally swoon at James's words. Though, she did know that James could do this without her, it's just that she liked spending time with him. And she told him as much. "I know you can, James, but I like spending time with you. We are friends for a reason after all. Plus, I like to check over the schedules. I don't want you trying to rig the schedule in favor of Mina and Remus, as well as yourself."
James pretend to be offended. "How dare you women! I would never." Lily gives him a look before he breaks. "Okay maybe I would, but I wouldn't do it very often. Though I don't plan on doing it, so if you need a break, I can finish this up myself. I'm almost done anyway." James flashed the ginger a smile.
"I'd rather stay, James. Since you're almost done, I may as well just wait. You can show me those rounds schedules that you were trying to show me earlier." And with that they got back to the schedules. Lily pushed her sudden realization to the back of her mind to think about later.
Later wouldn't actually be until the weekend. Lily had been so busy the rest of the week that she didn't have a moment to really think about her feelings for James let alone talk about them with anyone. So, when the weekend hit, Lily was finally able to relax. Immediately her realization and thoughts about James came flooding back to her. It was like a dam broke in her mind.
Upon remembering these thoughts, Lily knew she needed to talk to Jasmine and maybe Remus. But first Lily would talk to her cousin. If Remus happened to be with Jaz when Lily eventually found her, then she would just tell them both.
Lily found that her cousin was a hard person to track down or at least get alone. She eventually found Jasmine alone in the library. The other redhead had been exiting the library with some of her materials. Lily assumed that she had been doing some work or trying to get some done. Lily wasn't sure which, but she was glad that Jasmine was finally alone. It really seemed like Sirius was always with her sometimes.
Lily grabbed her cousin's arm and dragged her into the nearest empty classroom. She shoved Jasmine into the room before following her in. Then Lily became casting some spells. She really didn't want anyone interrupting or overhearing their conversation, especially since it would involve her feelings for James.
Jasmine, who had fallen on the floor after being shoved into a random classroom, was getting up off the floor. She dusted herself off before looking up at whoever had shoved her in here. She was about to go off on them, that is until she saw that it had in fact been her cousin. Jasmine stared at her cousin confused. "Lils, what the hell was that?"
"Sorry, I've been trying to find the best time to tell you this, but you seem to always be with someone *ahem Sirius ahem*. It's about James."
That piqued Jasmines attention. "What? What about James? Is something wrong?" Jaz could see the distress in Lily's eyes clearly. Jasmine could tell her cousin was worried about something, and that it somehow had to do with James Potter.
"Oh Jaz, I think I might just fancy him more than I thought." Lily sank down into one of the empty chairs.
Jasmine took the seat next to Lily. "Yes, and how does that warrant you dragging me into this random empty classroom and pushing me in?"
"It's not just that I fancy him, Mina. I want to date him, but now I'm afraid he doesn't feel the same way. He hadn't been fawning over me at all this term despite the fact that we work even closer together now. And I thought back on it, he hasn't asked me out once this term. He usually has tried to ask me out at least once or twice by now. What does it mean? You're his friends too Jaz! Has he said anything? Is he over me now? What is going on Jaz? Why has he suddenly changed?"
Jasmine stared open mouthed at her cousin. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "So, wait, Lils! Are you telling me that if James asked you out on date right now, you would actually say yes?"
"Yes! What part of that didn't you understand that I fancy James and I want to go on a date with him? But he clearly doesn't feel the same anymore, so what do I do, Mina?"
Jasmine couldn't believe it. She was in complete awe over Lily's insecurities about James. It was at that moment that Jasmine knew that they (herself, Sirius, and Remus) would have to accelerate their timetable and plan to get James and Lily (Jily) together. Otherwise Lily's insecurities would take over and she might not say yes if she thought James was just pitying her or something. "Don't worry, Lils. I'm sure that he still fancies you. You just wait. I'm sure he will ask you on that date any day now." Jasmine gave her cousin a reassuring smile.
Lily smiled back feeling a bit better, but she was still unsure. She really hoped that Jasmine was right about James asking her out soon. The girl wasn't sure how much longer she would wait for the boy to ask. She would do it herself, but she didn't exactly want to face rejection from the boys she continually rejected over the years.
The next day, Sunday, Jasmine knew she had to talk with Sirius and Remus about what Lily had confided in her yesterday. Luckily, she was able to get the two of them alone after breakfast as Peter had some work he needed to finish up and James had quidditch tryouts. So, as the Marauders walked back to Gryffindor tower, Jasmine stayed farther back. Sirius obviously noticed this and joined her. He wasn't sure what she was up to, but he was going to find out. As he was about to ask his girlfriend what was up, Jaz pulled Sirius close and whispered in his ear, "Get Remus."
Sirius knew immediately what this was about and pulled Remus back to join them. Remus had not been expecting it, so he was thrown off balance and let out a sound of surprise. The other two boys didn't seem to hear it, though.
Now that Jasmine had gotten both Sirius and Remus "alone," she grabbed their arms and dragged them to their usual empty classroom. She shoved them inside, like Lily had yesterday, and began casting the usual spells so no one would overhear their conversation.
Once Jasmine was done, she turned and looked at her companions. They both looked rather curious, but it was Remus who spoke first. To Sirius, he said, "You know, you could have just tapped my shoulder to get my attention, Padfoot." Remus was clearly annoyed with Sirius's tactics.
Sirius responded, "Where's the fun in that?"
Remus only rolled his eyes and turned his attention toward Jasmine. "So, Jaz, why have you brought us here? Have you learned something new on the James and Lily front?"
Jasmine smiled and nodded, but her smile quickly fell as she explained what she had learned from Lily. "Yesterday Lily told me that if James were to ask her out again, she would say yes."
Sirius interrupted her story. "Wait. Isn't that a good thing? Why aren't you more excited?"
"Normally it would be an excellent thing, but if you would let me finish you will see why it's not." Jasmine glared at her boyfriend, who had the decency to look sheepish. "Lily also told me that she was afraid that James no longer felt the same way. Her insecurities are starting to take over which is not a good thing. If James waits too long to ask her out this final time, she might not believe he is being genuine about it. Lily isn't the type of girl to let some boy mess with here feelings. Therefore, we need to speed up our timetable. James needs to ask Lily within the next couple weeks. You see the problem now?"
Both boys nodded. They knew they needed to finish their plan within the next couple of days or else Jily might never happen. Sirius spoke first, "Well, then we better get cracking then. We're almost finished anyway, so it shouldn't take too long to finish our plan." The other two agreed. Jasmine, who had been planning on doing this after breakfast, took out the parchment they were using for their plans with James.
They worked all day on their plan only stopping to get food. Thankfully, they had already finished all the work that they had due on Monday, so they had the time. So, they worked until they couldn't anymore, which is when they finished the plan, which they nicknamed "Operation Jily". It was brilliant and just a tad bit extravagant (so James would be on board). All they had to do now was go over the plan with James and convince him to go through with it sometime this week.
Convincing James was rather easy. He had so much else going on that he was just glad they had finally finished the plan. He thought the plan was perfect, which is why convincing James to go through with it sometime that same week didn't take much.
They all agreed that it would be best to do the plan on Friday in an empty classroom near the Great Hall. That way Jasmine could easily lead Lily there without her cousin asking too many questions. Also, they figured that by doing it in an empty classroom, they could easily keep it a secret from Lily and set everything up ahead of time. It was going to be amazing, at least that is what they thought. Little did they know, their plan wouldn't go the way the expected it to.
By the time Friday had rolled around, the empty classroom was all set up and ready to go for "Operation Jily." It was locked so that no one could ruin their surprise or tear anything down. They were extra careful to make sure the room stayed like it was supposed to. They didn't need anything messing up their perfectly laid plan.
In the room, all of the desks and chairs had been pushed to the back of the room and hidden behind a big red curtain that they had magically hung so that it would stretch across the room. The rest of the room was left the same because they didn't want to go overboard and change the entire room. That would be a bit extreme. They laid a trail of jasmine petals from the door to where James would be standing with a bouquet of jasmines waiting for Jasmine to bring Lily in. It turned out that Lily's favorite flowers were jasmines and Jasmine's favorite flowers were lilies.
The room was all set. All James had to do was ask Lily out now. He planned to do it after dinner because he wanted the time to relax after classes before he went through with the plan.
Before classes on Friday, Jasmine and Sirius double checked on the room to make sure that the room was still intact. Thankfully it was just how they had left it. And when Remus checked on it during lunch, it was the same. No one thought to check it after that. That would be their downfall.
James left dinner earlier to go get the bouquet and wait for Jasmine to bring Lily in, but what he found was the door to the room wide open. Everything was gone and the room was set up how it was before they changed it. James, standing in the doorway with wide eyes, couldn't figure out what had happened. The others had told him it was fine all day. Little did James know, there was a sneaky Slytherin with greasy black hair just around the corner watching him. Snape had seen Remus go in the room after lunch and went to check it out. Upon seeing the room, he knew what it was for. Being the jealous spiteful person that Severus Snape was, especially when it came to Lily, he banished all the decorations and magically put everything back in its correct place.
James was freaking out. Lily would be their any moment and their entire plan had gone up in flames. It was ruined. Then James remembered the two-way mirror that he had in his pocket. He knew Sirius always had his own two-way mirror with him, so James quickly contacted his best mate. "Sirius," James said into the mirror.
It wasn't long after that Sirius's face popped up in the mirror. "What is it, mate?"
"The room is gone. Everything is all gone. It has been put back to the way it was before. What do I do?"
Sirius, who was still at the Gryffindor table, had relayed what had happened to Remus as Jasmine had already left with Lily. "Tell James to wait in the room. This could still work. Lily might actually like this plan better anyway," Remus advised Sirius.
To mirror James, Sirius said, "Prongs, just wait in the room and go on with the plan. You still have the bouquet of jasmines, so it should still go over well. It just won't be as perfect."
James sighed. "Fine, but I still want to know how this happened."
"Don't worry, mate. We'll find out. But you better hurry, Jasmine and Lily should be at the room soon." James nodded and went into the room, closing the door behind him. He decided to sit at one of the desks and wait.
Not long after he sat down, Lily entered the room alone. Jasmine had told her that James wanted her for something in that room. Then Jaz left and went back to the Great Hall. On her way back, she happened to spot Snape, which she thought was odd, but she didn't think anything of it until Sirius told her what had happened when she got back to the table. Though, Jasmine was steaming mad about what Snape had done and that their plan was ruined, she couldn't help but wonder how Sirius had found out from James about the room. He hadn't left or else the girls would have seen him on their way to the room. Jasmine wanted to ask about it but decided to push those thoughts to the side and ask about it later. Now she needed to plan on how they would be getting their revenge on the greasy Slytherin.
When James heard the door open, he went to get up from the desk, but he managed to bang his knee on the table and fell back into the seat in pain. He went to grab his knee, therefore dropping the flowers. Lily, who had just closed to door, saw James immediately. When she noticed that he was holding his knee in pain, she rushed over to him. "James! What's wrong?"
James, startled by Lily's voice, jumped and hit his other knee on the table. "Dammit!" James yelled. He couldn't believe his luck. This was turning out to be the worst way to ask Lily out.
Lily, on the other hand, wasn't sure how to help the boy she fancied, so she just stood there and waited for the pain to pass. She put a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him. Upon doing so, Lily happened to see the bouquet of jasmines that were now lying on the ground under the table in front of James. She removed her hand from James and bent down to pick them up. James tried to stop her but failed. Lily grabbed the bouquet and stood up, turning to face James. "Jasmines. How dd you know?"
James, still in pain from bumping his other knee against the table, tried to answer but couldn't form the words he wanted to say. Turns out he didn't need to as Lily already knew. Jasmine was the only one who knew her favorite flower. It was then that Lily realized what her cousin had been up to. Lily realized that James was planning on asking her out, and he would have already done it had it not been for his 'injuries.' So, Lily decided to take matters into her own hands.
Once Lily was sure that James wasn't in too much pain anymore, she asked, "James, do you want to go out with me?"
James stared at the redhead, stunned. He was quiet for several moments before the words finally registered and he answered. "Yes, of course I want to go out with you, Lily. Hogsmeade? I know there is a weekend coming up soon. We can spend the day together. Or if you don't want to wait that long we can do something else." James continued to babble on until Lily got him to stop by kissing him on the lips. It wasn't a very long kiss, rather more of a peck, but it did the job.
Pulling back, Lily couldn't help the smile that formed upon seeing James's face. He was completely dumfounded as he was trying to wrap his head around what just happened. He was in a daze, while Lily was just happy to know that she hadn't missed her chance with James Potter. She would have to thank Jasmine later. But first, she needed to let James know when their first date was going to be. "The first Hogsmeade weekend sounds great, James. We can meet up in the common room and head down together." Lily smiled at the messy haired boy sitting in front of her.
He was smiling back at her. Then James pulled Lily down into his lap. "Perfect. I will patiently await until then, but I must warn you, I don't think I'm going to be able to keep my hands to myself until then."
Lily laughed at James ridiculousness. "You better keep your hands to yourself, otherwise, there might not be a second date or another kiss."
"But Lily-pad, that's so unfair," James complained.
"Don't worry James, you won't have to wait too long for that second kiss if you behave yourself."
James raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? And how might I earn this second kiss from you, my lovely Ginger."
Lily giggled at the new nickname. She rather liked that one. It was much better than 'Lily-pad.' "If you stop calling me Lily-pad, I think we can work something out."
Throughout their conversation, they had both been moving their faces closer to each other. Now they were only inches away from each other when James responded. "I think I can manage that, Ging." And with that, they closed the distance between them and kissed for the second time.
This kiss was different from the first. This one was full of passion. It wasn't brief in the slightest. Actually, it soon turned into an all-out snogging session, which was interrupted when Jasmine, Sirius, and Remus barged into the room without knocking. James had heard the door open, so he broke his kiss with Lily. Lily, disappointed and confused, looked at James questioningly. He answered by pointing toward the door. Lily turned around, still sitting in James's lap. Upon seeing her cousin and the two other boys, Lily's cheeks flared. She was embarrassed to be found sitting on James's lap, so she quickly got up careful not to knock her knee against the table like James had. Lily stood up and dusted herself off. She turned back to James and winked before exiting the room and heading toward Gryffindor tower. The other, including James, watched her leave. Then the trio turned their attention back to James.
"I'm guessing she said yes." Sirius smirked at his best mate.
James, also smirking, responded, "Actually, no. I said yes."
The two other boys looked confused, while Jasmine just looked surprised. Thus, she just had to confirm her suspicions. "You mean to tell us that Lily is the one who asked you out, Prongs?"
"Yep! That's right. I knew she fancied me."
Everyone laughed at his last statement. Then, knowing his mates would want to know, James recounted what happened between him and Lily. He didn't leave a single detail out.
As James was telling them about how he and Lily ended up in the position that the trio found them in, Sirius couldn't help but think about how flirty Lily Evans was. He didn't think the girl had that in her. Although it could have been that James just brought that side out of her. Whatever the case, Sirius was just happy that Jily was finally together at last.
A/N Please read the author's note at the beginning of this chapter. I want to know if you guys would be okay with me going AU. I want to do some stuff with Regulus and include him a bit more in this story because he is still Sirius's brother, who Sirius still wants to protect.
As I said in the AN at the beginning, I ended up deciding the gender of Sazzy's future child (girl). I have come up with 5 different names and put them in a poll on my profile if you want to go check that out and vote. Pls vote.
Pretty Please Review,
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