iii
The Ball was going along nicely in the Great Hall; the music was lilting and sweet, the food was great, and the decorations were beautiful. The atmosphere was perfumed with love as couples twirled around on the dance floor, drinking in the ecstasy of the moment. It seemed everyone was in there, everyone except James Potter, who was sitting out in the balcony, gazing at anything but the Ball.
So after about three painful years, it had seemed to James that he had captured Lily Evans' heart. They talked to each other animatedly, exchanged essay ideas, and shared good books.
He thought there was understanding between them when he taught her the little silly poem that he heard his parents whisper to each other.
"A bird may love a fish, but where will they live?" James would murmur with a grin.
"Then I shall have to make you wings," Lily would cry back, her eyes twinkling with amusement.
Then they would start laughing. It all seemed like nonsense; a bird couldn't possibly fall in love with a fish. How would they have met in the first place?
James, gazing at himself and Lily, always thought of the bird and the fish who fell in love with each other. They were completely incompatible; his friends ensured him that having them even get along would be a miracle, but it had all happened. Love did impossible things and James believed love had already blossomed between them.
Well, he was wrong.
Lily had consented to Amos Diggory's offer to be her escort for the Ball. James had been painfully left in the background, watching Lily walk away. Maybe he had been imagining the whole thing. Lily didn't love him; she merely put up with him.
James sighed deeply as he stared at the white crescent moon, not yet full, lucky for Remus.
"A bird may love a fish, but where will they live?" James whispered to himself, mindlessly.
"Then I shall have to make you wings," someone murmured back softly.
Surprised, James discovered Lily was on the balcony with him, dressed in her lovely green gown; she was smiling up at him.
Then he found his wings.