Other than the confession of Remus's condition, time passed with the Marauders and Lily with little incident, other than the occasional prank and some well-earned laughter. NEWT's were approaching with each passing day, and the stress among the seventh-years during their classes left everyone ready for a break by the time the first Hogsmeade weekend since break had rolled around on Valentine's Day.
For James, though, the Hogsmeade trip on Valentine's Day was more of a source of stress than the NEWT's themselves. This was because, for the first time since his tender friendship with Lily Evans had began, James was going to try to ask her out one more time.
Only, he just didn't know quite how yet.
His friends seemed to be sensing his mood as the day drew closer and closer, and drew quiet every time he opened his mouth to say something to Lily. Everyone knew it had been coming for a while—they had seen the looks he had been shooting her, full of nerves and panic and apprehension and a small amount of hope.
Everyone, that is, but Lily, who seemed to be completely unaware that James had never overcome his infatuation with her.
That's why she was so surprised when James did approach her, just a scant few days before the scheduled trip to Hogsmeade, to ask if she would accompany him. She was also surprised to find that she felt a little disappointed that she had to turn him down.
"I really would go with you, if I hadn't already told Darius Matthews that I'd go with him," She tried to assure him, feeling guilty at the absolutely crushed look that James had gotten on his face. As they had grown increasingly friendlier towards one another following their conversation on the staircase, Lily had realized that James really wasn't that horrible of a person. Though he did have some immature qualities that made him a little frustrating, he was also incredibly loyal, fiercely determined, and surprisingly intelligent.
James just forced himself to grit his teeth and smile at her. It did make him feel marginally better to see that she genuinely seemed sorry that she couldn't go with him, and if anything, he was mostly just angry and upset with himself for waiting so long to ask her out—what if things worked out between her that this Matthews guy, and he never stood a chance, even though they were getting to be on such good terms?
"No problem," He told her as nonchalantly as he possibly could. "We'll just go together next time if you can, yeah?"
He felt even better about it when Lily nodded enthusiastically, her red hair swinging around her delicate face and her large green eyes focused solely on him.
That didn't mean he wasn't going to mope the entire trip to Hogsmeade. Because he was, and if the other Marauders and Harry didn't like it, too bad.
"If I had just asked her sooner," He bemoaned once again to his friends, his voice sounding absolutely agonized, "we could have been walking around Hogsmeade together, holding hands and sharing sweets and sipping on butterbeer."
Remus watched James lay his head down on his hands once again, amused at his friend's imagery. "If I didn't know better, James, I'd say that sounded close to something romantic, not a quick trip into an alley for a good snog." Remus said, surprised.
"With Lily, it would never just be about a quicky behind a building somewhere!" James replied vehemently, his hazel eyes coming up from behind his hands in surprise. "I've been waiting years for her! It took me forever just to get her to see me as something other than a pig! There's no way I'd push her to move that fast with me. I'd be the perfect gentleman, and take everything real nice and slow and easy, if it meant I got to spend more time with her."
Everyone blinked at James in shock after his initial little outburst. Even Harry, who had not known his father nearly as long as the other Marauders, had figured out that James was a full-time flirt, always enjoying a good trip to the broom cupboards. It had bothered him a little to watch the boy who was going to become his father walk off with another girl other than his mother to have a good snog, especially since he couldn't really be sure that this meant he had no illegitimate brothers or sisters, but he could hardly argue with it.
For some reason, seeing James with other girls had also made him feel incredibly defensive of his mother around her. For a while, he had actually been considering changing time so that they wouldn't get together, because Lily had become his friend, and Harry didn't want to see any of his friends get treated that way. It was bad enough to see his father break the hearts of half of Hogwarts girls; it would be far worse to see it happen to Lily.
But James didn't seem to have even entertained the thought. In truth, he had never been nervous about asking a girl out before this time with asking Lily, not even when he had asked Lily out numerous times before. Sure, he'd been a little irked each time she had turned him down, but James had never hesitated to offer her another date with him the next time the opportunity came about.
It was one of the main reasons he was still beating himself up for waiting so long to ask her about this weekend. He couldn't believe that after he had already asked her out so many times before he had still been struck with a severe case of nerves upon asking her out again.
He'd dated a lot of other girls before who were just as pretty. He'd dated other girls before who seemed to be almost as smart. He knew he'd dated girls with a better sense of humor, who had laughed until they cried at his jokes and pranks and numerous amusing stories. What made Lily any different?
But then she and the Matthews guy she had mentioned walked into the Three Broomsticks, where James, Sirius, Remus, Harry, and Peter were quietly taking a break from the cold, and James knew.
It was that when he saw her face, he actually forgot to breathe. It was that when she laughed, the whole room seemed to freeze and nothing else seemed to matter. It was that when she walked into the room, even with another man, the whole day suddenly seemed a lot brighter.
There was just something about Lily Evans that James couldn't name, something he could never get over. He realized right then, even before he had kissed her, held her, or even dated her, that he never would get over her. Even if he couldn't have her, James didn't want anyone else.
Afterwards, her when her date with Matthews was already a week passed and the Valentine's Day love had once more left the castle, James asked her, casually as he could, "So how'd that date with Matthews go?"
Lily shrugged, her face still turned down at the floor as they made their rounds through the silent castle's halls late that night. "It went okay, I guess, but I don't think it'll work out between us. He's in Ravenclaw, and he's really smart, but he likes girls to be awed by his brains. I think it bothered him a little too much when I knew exactly what he was talking about and then some." She shook her head, looking a little bemused. "You'd think he'd know I was at least somewhat intelligent, being Head Girl and all," She mused, apparently a little annoyed.
James shrugged, keeping his own head tilted down a little in the hopes that Lily wouldn't study his face too carefully.
"One would think," He agreed, smiling a little too much when Lily smirked at him, her green eyes sparkling with amusement. "What?" He asked, noticing that she almost seemed to be laughing at him.
"Then again, Dumbledore did make you Head Boy, so clearly that doesn't say very much for a Head student's intelligence," she teased, her voice light.
James laughed, heart skipping in triumph. "Yeah, I guess there is something to be said for that," he agreed, elated. Lily was joking with him. She was laughing, even if it was at him instead of with him. It was enough for now.