"I challenge you to go to Hogsmeade with me on Saturday," James blurted out. Lily paused her Charms work. Did she hear that right?
"Um. Excuse me?" She tucked her hair behind her ear.
James, embarrassed and disappointed, said "never mind." What on earth possessed him to say that anyway? Getting a date through a challenge was suddenly the worst idea in the world. Sirius was an idiot and Remus was right, as always.
"Did you just ask me to Hogsmeade?" Lily asked.
James ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe? I don't know."
"Well, if you had…" Lily flung her hair over her shoulder, annoyed because it kept going in her face. She was, however, thrilled at the conversation. "I suppose we'll never know, will we?"
She smiled teasingly at James, who looked a bit dumbfounded, and resumed her theory work. James was kicking himself. He should ask her again, shouldn't he? Maybe she really did hear him right and was just testing him! Girls were weird like that, weren't they? James was overthinking this way too much.
In the corner, Sirius was balancing his quill on his nose. Remus was talking to the guy sitting next to him while using extravagant hand motions. Peter, who James struggled to see, was leaning over his textbook with a very confused look on his face.
When James turned to sit forward, he caught the eye of Marlene, who was staring at him. Curious, he stared back. He couldn't be sure if she had heard his failure before or not, but judging by the vigorous nodding she was now doing, she had. Go! Do it! Now!
James nodded back firmly.
Right. This was it. No time to back out. He'd done this before, hadn't he? Plenty of times. It was easy.
"Lily?" James' voice cracked. Damn, why was he so anxious? She made a little 'mmm' sound as a reply. "Look at me," he demanded. He wanted to see her eyes when he asked her properly. He wanted to see them shine. It crossed James' mind that she would probably say no, as usual.
"Please go to Hogsmeade with me?"
Lily smiled. The overwhelming amount of joy James expected to see in her eyes wasn't there, but she was smiling widely at him, and that was good enough. "I would like that," she answered.
James could have whooped in joy and held a celebration party there and then, but cleverly decided otherwise. Instead, he simply grinned back at Lily. "Wonderful," was the only thing he said. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Lily scribbling something on some parchment and passing it to Marlene. He pretended not to notice, but could hear Marlene's giggles. He was insanely curious but refrained from asking her about it. That was her business, and he was happy enough to give her some privacy.
When class ended, James threw Lily a quick smile before rushing off to tell his mates about his success. They were more thrilled than he was.
"Wormtail! You owe me three galleons!" Sirius was yelling happily. He was bounding forwards and backwards, punching the air. Peter looked miserable and sullenly handed over the money.
"Did you make a bet?" James demanded from Peter, who gulped.
"It was Sirius' idea," he said, hoping to deflect any anger. James glared at Sirius, who gave a sheepish grin. "Come on, mate. It was just a bit of fun! Besides, it was Peter who bet against your success!" Sirius clapped Peter on the back roughly.
James turned to Remus. "Tell me you did not take part in this," he begged. Remus shook his head.
"Of course not. Although I should have, I would have won big money!" Remus grinned at James, who after a moment decided that the bet was all in good fun and it didn't matter because Lily had agreed to go on a date with him!
"I have been waiting for this day my entire life," James murmured. Sirius, who was the only one who heard, embraced him in a brotherly hug.
"Well done, mate."