Chapter Text
Lily had just finished her essay for her transfiguration class. She was staring at her work, not sure if she was happy with it. It was late and the library was quieter than usual, there were a few students left and they were all engrossed in their own work. Probably doing something left to last minute, overdue tomorrow.
She loved her friends, but she also appreciated the moments of peace and quiet, of being alone with her thoughts. She had a lot on her mind lately. It was the beginning of her seventh year and she was very aware of the fact that she only had a few months to enjoy her time in Hogwarts. She didn’t know what she was going to face after she graduated, it wasn’t just that her life was going to change drastically, it was the unstable state of the wizarding world, and the imminent war. Lily had done her fair share of worrying about her future, and she wanted to enjoy the present and make the best of what she had now.
She’d talked about it with Dorcas, that she wanted to enjoy her last year, not just dedicate all of her time to studying and her head girls duties. Her friend told her she should say yes to things more often, and just seize any opportunity to have fun.
She had stayed later than allowed some nights talking in the common room even though she had class the next morning, and even went to a ravenclaw party because of that advice, and it had been fun. But after what Dorcas said to her she kept thinking about how she had said no for years to something. Something that she didn’t admit to anyone that she may have wanted to do someday, which was go out with James Potter.
In the beginning the only good thing about him was his looks, but he changed over the years. Of course, he was still arrogant, and loud, and obnoxious, but she couldn’t deny that he had matured and she was starting to see a part of his personality that, well, made her feel very differently about him. Especially since she had gotten closer to Remus in the last few months and he told her what James did in fifth year. And besides, he’d stopped bothering her for the past months, he didn’t ask her out or actually annoyed her in a while.
She gathered her things to go to her dorm and thought, it couldn’t hurt to try, what’s the worst that could happen?
It was friday night, the common room was full of students talking, and James had just finished playing, and winning a round of exploding snaps with Peter. He was already getting bored and started to wonder aloud what they could do next when three girls sat down next to them.
“Look Mary, I don’t think any of our summers were as interesting as yours,” Lily said as she sat down on the couch.
“Well…” Mary answered.
“What happened? Summer love ?“ James asked her and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Dorcas snorted and Mary actually blushed. “Go Mary!”
“How was your summer, Peter?” Dorcas asked to take the attention off her embarrassed friend.
“It was good, could have done with fewer assignments though,” Peter answered.
“How about you James? Anything interesting happened during summer? Met any new girls?” Dorcas asked with a hint of a smile.
“Of course not.” James answered a little too loud, and tried to not look at Lily. “I’ve got a new broom. Can’t wait to try it out tomorrow during practice.”
“Aren’t you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?” Lily asked.
“Oh yeah, I forgot. Sunday practice then.” He shot her a smile and folded his hands behind his back, relaxing in his chair.
It still felt foreign to him, sit like this and talk normally to Lily among friends, but it was becoming more and more common in the last few months. Not that they talked alone at all, but at least she wasn’t throwing daggers with her eyes every time he opened his mouth to speak, and he tried not to make an ass out of himself when he talked.
“I’ve missed Honeydukes,” Mary said and sighed longingly.
Since they didn’t have class the next day, most people stayed until late that night. Their group talked about what they did in their summer and about how their classes already gave them too much work to do. Eventually, one by one retired for the night. James noticed that Lily had stayed when Dorcas and most people left, so he decided to stay in the common room a bit longer, hoping it wasn’t too obvious why.
When Mary and Peter were talking about their herbology assignment he caught Lily looking at him. He frowned and smiled at her and she smiled back. He tilted his head and was about to ask her why she was smiling, when she patted the side of the couch and gestured with her hand for him to sit beside her. His eyes went wide, he pointed at himself. She just kept looking at him with her beautiful smile until he got up from his chair and sat next to her.
“So…“ Lily started saying once he settled. “I've heard another version about the incident… that happened in fifth year,” She said quietly so only he could hear.
He was taken aback with the direction the conversation was headed, he didn’t think Lily wanted to talk to him about this, after all these years. Not that he had any idea what she wanted to talk to him about in the first place. He felt himself growing worried, thinking someone started a rumor about Remus.
“Ok,” James said and waited for her to talk.
“I've heard that you were the one who stopped Severus from getting hurt. That if it wasn’t for you he would’ve been hurt badly. Is that true?”
He swallowed and nodded. He noticed that she let go of the breath she was holding.
“I hope it's true, because it means a lot to me, and it shows that you… He and I are not friends anymore, and at the time he didn’t tell me the whole story… but, what you did… Thank you.” She looked at him and sounded very sincere.
“Well, he and I were never friends,” He started and gave her a flashing smile, “but that doesn't mean that I would…” He trailed off awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.
She nodded and stayed quiet for a while, until she looked up at him and smiled in a way he’d never seen before. He was transfixed for a few seconds.
“You are not bad, Potter,” Lily said, still smiling.
He gasped and acted shocked, putting his hands on his chest, trying to mask that he was actually a little shocked, she didn't normally say nice things to him. She rolled her eyes but laughed at him. After a moment of comfortable silence, she said.
“James?” Lily tilted her head to the side, and looked him in the eye, “Do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me?”
James froze and thought he just entered another dimension, or maybe he just fell asleep in the middle of the common room and the Lily sitting in front of him was not the real one. He closed his mouth, which he didn’t realize was open in the first place. He must have looked like a gaping idiot because Lily seemed like she was enjoying herself, she bit her lower lip to keep from laughing.
“Is this a prank?” He asked under his breath and narrowed his eyes, sure that someone should have jumped from behind the couch by now, with a camera to eternalize his stupid expression.
Her eyes went wide and she shook her head.
“No, James, of course not, I wouldn't do that to you. I'm serious. But you haven't asked in a while, so, if you don't want anymore, it's fine.” She stopped when she realized she was rambling.
He stared at her some more and asked.
“Why did you wait until I stopped asking you?” He was sure he was the dumbest man on earth, the girl of his dreams was actually asking him out, he should just say yes and stop asking questions. She just shrugged and gave him a mischievous smile.
“So, yes or no?” She raised an eyebrow.
He gaped a little more, just to make a complete ass of himself and said “Yes!” Maybe a little too loud. Everyone in the room looked at him, but seeing it was James Potter who had screamed, they took it as normal behavior and ignored him. Lily actually blushed a little at the attention but he could see she was still smiling.
“Good.” She got up. “See you tomorrow morning then.” And she left for her dorm.