Looking up into smouldering hazel eyes, Lily Evans surely couldn't fathom why she had despised the man in front of her for the greater part of their Hogwarts years. Well… perhaps she could name a few reasons.
Looking down into startling green eyes, James Potter couldn't imagine how he'd earned the nearly perpetual ire of the woman in front of him. Although…now that he thought about it, perhaps… perhaps he could name a few reasons.
On the Hogwarts Express, Sirius Black sat with James and his quiet (or not so quiet) hatred for his family and all they stood for, paying little attention to the newcomers in the compartment.
"Maybe I'll break the tradition." He prayed to Merlin he would break the bloody tradition. 'Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?'
James lifted an invisible sword. If he visualised it carefully enough, he could see a glittering ruby in the hilt.
"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad."
Snape made a small, disparaging noise. James turned on him.
"Got a problem with that?"
"No," said Snape, though his slight sneer said otherwise. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy –"
"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" interjected Sirius.
James roared with laughter. Lily sat up, rather flushed, and looked from James to Sirius in dislike.
"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."
"Oooooo …"
James and Sirius imitated her lofty voice; James tried to trip Snape as he passed.
"See ya, Snivellus!" a voice called, as the compartment door slammed…
"Oh, go on Evans, you know you want to…"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Come on, just one date? Give me a chance, would you?"
"You're an arrogant, spoiled toe-rag, James Potter! You're conceited and bullying and I wouldn't date you if you were the last wizard on earth!"
He winced. "Now that's just hurtful."
Aiming his wand low in an attempt to be discreet, James coughed the incantation into his hand. "Inverte Rosea!" Oblivious to the impending mischief, Lily inadvertently stepped in front of the spell as he finished casting it, and it struck her with a crack. The blood drained from his face as she looked down to see her robes take on the most hideous shade of pink either had ever seen.
"Well. That didn't go quite as planned."
"That's an understatement and a half, Peter…"
"Kind of clashes with her hair doesn't it?"
James shushed them frantically, eyes darting over to the increasingly furious redhead. "Shut up you pricks, before she realises it was me!"
But it was too late.
"James Potter…START RUNNING!" Lily shrieked furiously, desperately trying to change her robes back to their original state.
Disgusted, Lily watched, vibrating with fury as the boy she positively hated tormented the boy who had once been her closest friend…her first friend in the wizarding world.
"Wash your mouth out," said James coldly. "Scourgify!"
Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape's mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag, choking him-
"Leave him ALONE!"
"Apologise to Evans!" James roared at Snape, his wand pointed threateningly at him.
"I don't want you to make him apologise," Lily shouted, rounding on James. "You're as bad as he is."
"What?" yelped James. "I'd NEVER call you a - you-know-what!"
"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can – I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK."
Yet looking up into James' eyes, Lily remembered all the reasons she had fallen for him…
And looking down into Lily's eyes, James remembered all the reasons he had fallen for her…
Out of the corner of his eye, James watched as a petite red headed girl made her way into their compartment, her posture seeming to diminish her as she tried to curl into herself and her eyes rimmed with red.
He cringed slightly, wondering if he should try and talk to her, but not quite sure yet how to deal with a crying female (in fact, he wouldn't pick up that skill for a long time). For better or worse, something Sirius was saying caught his attention anyway, and he turned away.
Later, as she led Snape away from the compartment, even as he himself mocked them, he couldn't suppress a sliver of loss, mixed with respect for her loyalty…and envy for the boy it belonged to. Snivellus.
"5 points each to Miss Evans and to Mr Potter, who remain the only students who managed to successfully transfigure their matchsticks into needles this class. I expect the rest of you to practice this spell for homework."
Slightly irritated, she glanced at James, who had managed to turn his matchstick silver on his first try, pointy on his second, and into solid metal on his third. Third try really was a charm?
After class, she asked him how he could do it so easily, when it had taken her the better part of the lesson to manage it.
"Magic," he replied simply, and with a wink he walked away with his friends, laughing at something Black was saying – and she fumed, and she devoured her Transfiguration textbook and supplementary texts as she competed with him for the highest marks and she, too, maybe held just the slightest bit of respect for him. Completely on an academic basis, of course.
"Lily, please just hold up a second!"
'What do you want now James?' she asked tiredly.
"I want to figure out why you are so…so-so infuriating! I want to figure out why you say one thing and mean another, and why sometimes you just go somewhere where no-one can reach you…I want to know where you go and I want to know why you won't let me in-we're working together for Merlin's sake! We both have a duty to this school and right now you're making it harder than it has to be!" He sucked in a ragged breath and faltered, looking down. Mustering his resolve, he made eye contact again and continued more quietly "I want to know where your smile went…I want to know why we can't stop fighting. Please, Lily."
The furious retort she'd been working on died. She spluttered and looked down at the flagstones through glistening eyes.
So for the first time in their history together, James Potter rendered Lily Evans speechless-and secretly, she didn't mind, not like she thought she should. And she paused and she wondered for the first time, who were her walls hurting more now? Him…or her?
She sat by the lake with a book, with her back leaning against a broad tree, the bark scratching her lightly. The breeze was cool, but was losing its chill as they left the bitter winter months behind.
She couldn't concentrate. She was sure she'd read the same line three times without taking it in. Echoes bounced around her brain, flashes of light. Incantations, the memories of her parents' voices…twin flashes of green light. And Dumbledore, months later, as she insisted that she was fine…'You do care…You care so much you feel as though you will crumble into dust, every bit as unreachable to us as your loved ones. But Miss Evans, it is time to start living again, hm?'
But then, he wasn't the only one helping her get past the death of her parents, and the subsequent total loss of contact with Petunia. Somebody dropped down beside her, sprawled over the grass. 'Speak of the devil, and he shall appear,' she thought with the hint of a smile pulling at her mouth.
She sat quietly with him, content, and when his hand snuck into hers, she leaned into him and he was warm and safe. She took comfort from the boy she used to hate, and she didn't mind.
James sneaked a glance across the classroom, his eyes searching out the girl with the red hair. She was furiously taking down notes, and appeared to be one of the only other people awake as Professor Binns droned on…
Taking out a sheet of parchment, he scribbled down just six words before folding it into a plane. Smirking slightly, he took out his wand and whispered a quiet incantation. Settling back into his seat, he watched as it soared across the room to Lily.
It landed on the desk in front of her. Continuing to take notes, she flicked it away with her free hand.
Bemused, James continued to watch as it then landed on her desk again…and again…and again. He snorted as the plane resorted to poking her shoulder, and next to him Sirius startled, knocking his forehead against the desk, but settled and continued snoring (to the exasperation and wry amusement of Remus).
Blowing out a frustrated sigh, she set the plane down in front of her and opened it.
Rolling her eyes, but giggling nonetheless, she scribbled back a reply.
She twisted in her seat to aim it at him, but with a roll of his eyes, he summoned it with his wand.
On the parchment she'd written the six words he'd been dying to see from her since he first heard her speak.
'Yes, I'll go out with you!'
Okay, she may have sprinkled a few choice words throughout, causing the word total to be a multiple of the six that he chose to pay attention to, but she wouldn't be the Lily he'd known and loved for so long if she hadn't.
"Do you, James Potter take Lily Evans as your wife?"
He gazed into green eyes and strung together the only words in his vocabulary at that moment.
"I do."
"Do you, Lily Evans take James Potter as your husband?"
She gazed into hazel eyes and spoke the only words she knew how to in that one, amazing moment.
"I do."
And they looked at each other, and they smiled. Around them, war raged and the times grew ever darker, but in this moment, they were happy.
Lost in James' eyes, Lily Evans almost missed the tiny tug on the hem of her jeans. Almost. Startled, she looked down to find her tiny son trying to gain her attention, having proudly escaped his playpen.
Laughing, she swooped him up into her arms, bringing him to rest between her and James, holding them both as though she'd never let go.
Okay! So, if you're unaware, this story is actually a revamp of 'There is a Reason For Love', which I wrote when I was 15. My writing style has developed somewhat since then, and in both versions, the flow sometimes makes me cringe. There are obviously quotes in here from the book (which have additions to kind of add some more depth the way I wanted) and the flow of those are fine (hello, they were written by J.K.R), but my own writing is rather hit and miss, and as a reader, I'm very picky when I feel it reads as though it's being forced out or written without care. At least one scene is semi-drastically different, and I included an extra scene after it for transitional purposes in their relationship. This version of the story has a slightly darker tilt, with hints or mentions of the war, loss and trauma which are juxtaposed with their relationship, which is like a candle in the cold and dark, giving them a little light and helping to keep them warm.
If you read the story I hope you enjoyed, and if you read the original version, I hope you preferred this one and don't hate any of the changes I've made! Review with your opinion so I can get a sense of what's working and what isn't please.
Aaaaand the first release of this chapter was doing something strange with my paragraph spacers...BUT, I've added Line Breaks and fixed it up in Document manager so here's hoping it doesn't come out munted on the other side!
Peace out!