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James Potter is the worst.
He thinks he’s funny,
He’s not.
“Potter, leave me alone, alright?” Lily grumbled, grabbing her books.
“Right. I’m sorry, i really didn’t mean to impose-”
“Goodnight James.”
He had been asking her out again. Apparently his Mum had an extra ticket to the Harpies game next weekend.
He wasn’t serious of course, if he really wanted someone to go with him, he would’ve asked Sirius or Peter.
Besides, Pretty boys don’t like fat girls. Everyone knows it- according to Petunia.
Petunia, skinny, blonde, blue eyed, long legged Petunia. She was so perfect, she could get any guy she wanted, including James. She would never go for someone like him though, Lily’s older sister thinks all Magicians are weird, she’s probably right.
Lily remembered when they were younger, Petunia would put Lily in her fanciest hand me down dresses and drag her out of the house to the nearby park, they would walk on the wooden ledges around the swing set, putting on a show for the other kids on the playground.
One time, a girl around Lily’s age with long brown ponytails asked if Lily and her sister could come over for a play date, Lily’s Father was at work like usual and her Mum was in bed so of course, they said yes.
The girls name was Susie, her mum made meatloaf and and gave Petunia a bigger piece than she gave Lily. When Susies dad offered everyone seconds and Lily accepted, Susie snickered and whispered something in Petunias ear, Petunia whispered something back and they both laughed. Lily pushed her plate away and excused herself from the table, mumbling something about curfew.
That was the first time someone made Lily feel bad about her body, since then it had just gone down hill, so to speak.
~
When Lily was in year 4 and Petunia was in 6th, A boy came up to her during recess, the popular type.
“Hey Lily? I’ve got a question for you,” He mumbled, red in the face,
“Yeah?”
“Would you uhmm- would you be interested in going out with me, like, on a date?” He rocked back and forth on his feet,
Lily froze, no one had ever really shown interest in her like that before, she knew she wasn't like the other girls at school, first of all her parents were poor, Her mom couldn’t work because of her leg, and her dad worked for minimum wage in a factory. She was also chubbier, she was getting to the age where she couldn’t blame it on baby fat anymore, paired with her thick, curly red hair and spatter of ugly freckles, she wasn’t the most desirable girl at school. At Least she was aware.
“Sure- Er, when?”
He burst out into laughter, so did his friends. (who she hadn’t noticed were standing not far away)
“Oh my god, you- you thought i was serious” he could barely talk through his laughter , “I was joking.” He wheezed, stumbling back to the bench where all of the cool kids sat.
Later, at home, Petunia held Lily’s head in her lap and stroked her hair, whispering softly,
“Oh Lils, I’m so sorry this happened to you, but you’ve got to learn at some point, boys like him don’t like girls like you.”
“What does that mean!”
“Oh Lily, you know what I mean,” Petunia cooed, a crease appearing between her prefect eyebrows,
“No I don’t, Tuney, please just tell me,”
“Pretty boys don’t like fat girls, Lily.” Her sister said stiffly, standing up quickly and brushing off her skirt, turning to leave, and slamming Lily’s door with a thud.
~
Pretty boys don’t like fat girls.
Pretty boys don’t like fat girls.
Pretty boys don’t like fat girls.
Pretty boys don’t like fat girls.
Lily heared those words in her head a lot. Any time James asks her out, his friends standing behind him and laughing.
God it was so stupid, all of it.
~
“Lily, hey are you okay?”
Lily’s head snapped up, how had she ended up in the Prefects bathroom? She was sitting on the floor, knees tucked up to her chin, crying.
And of course? the one and only James Potter was standing at the entrance to the bathroom, looking very worried,
“Oh- Potter, I’m sorry, i didn’t see you there.” She said, wiping her cheeks,
“No, no, it’s totally fine,” James said quickly, tentatively walking closer to her, like she was a rabid animal.
“Is it- is it okay if I touch you?”
“Sure,” Lily sniffled, wiping her cheeks again.
He slowly crouched down, sinking to the ground next to her and gently putting his hand on her shoulder. His skin was warm and soft.
“Was it… something I did?” Jesus, why did he seem so nervous?
“It wasn’t- I… Potter, it wasn’t - it’s not your fault, nothing happened.”
“Oh, okay, it’s just- it seemed like you were upset with me and then you disappeared, and I checked the- Err- I had a feeling you were here and I wanted to apologize if I made you upset.”
“Potter, you don’t have to keep this up anymore, we’re alone.”
He looked surprisingly taken aback, “What do you mean, keep what up?”
“The joke, c’mon, asking out the fat bitch, I know it’s one of your patented Marauders pranks, and I’m saying that you don’t need to keep it up when it’s just us two, give it a fucking rest.”
“Wait- I, Lily I’m not making fun of you, I wouldn’t-”
“James, don’t. Pretty boys don’t like fat girls, everyone knows it.” Lily sighed. throwing her head back against the wall.
“Is that really what you think?” James said, turning towards her, she met his brown eyes and sighed again.
“Of course it’s what I think!” Lily practically shouted,
“Lily…”
James reached a hand out and cupped her cheek with his warm fucking hand.
“Lily Evans, you are the most beautiful and smart girl that I have ever met. Every time you beat me to an answer in Charms or show me up in Muggle studies, I gain so much more respect for you, and I would never ever do something cruel to you because - I… I just like you a lot Evans, you’re so fucking cool.”
“Oh.”
“Oh.” He repeated,
Lily looked at James, really looked, If he wasn’t joking, than he just really liked her, like no one had liked her before. He was so nice to her and she had been so mean because of her own insecurities, Merlin she felt like an idiot.
She thought about it more, beneath the old rivalry with Severus, James really had been nothing but lovely to her, and, Lily supposed, she did rather fancy him, who wouldn’t? He was very fit from Quidditch, all warm brown skin and toothy smiles, he usually was top in all of their classes - other than herself, obviously. And especially since 5th year, his manners had tremendously improved.
Merlin, she really did fancy Potter.
“Potter…”
“Evans…” James swallowed, leaning in a bit, their noses were almost touching,
“Can I kiss you?” He asked, quietly,
Lily didn’t respond, just leaned in and closed her eyes,
When her lips met James’ it was like nothing she had ever experienced before, it wasn’t her first kiss but it might as well have been, if sparks could fly, they would’ve been during James and Lily’s first kiss. James slung his arms around her neck and tangled his fingers in her hair, while Lily laid her hands on his shoulders, grabbing his Red and gold tee shirt,
When they finally pulled apart, James laughed, still gazing into Lily’s eyes,
“I cant even tell you how long I’ve wanted to do that.”
“I think I’ve wanted to do that for quite a while too, I just didn’t realize it.” She smiled,
James took his hands off the back of her neck and reached one up to brush a curl out of her eyes, the way he looked at her made her feel so special, like she was some prized treasure that he had stumbled upon and had to keep safe, like he couldn’t believe his eyes.
He slipped an arm down to her waist, and she nearly flinched away, Lily didn’t usually like people touching her stomach, but this was James, she had just let him kiss her, this was James who had apparently liked her for years. This was okay.
They kissed a little more, Lily told James that she would love to go to the Quidditch Match with him on the weekend and he held her hands and smiled some more, they stayed there on the ground of the Prefects bathroom until it was time for their nightly rounds.
Every night after that, they would patrol together, and James would be so eager to hold her hand, and kiss her on her collarbone where she liked it, and bring her to picnic dates on the edge of Hogsmead where people wouldn’t make fun of her for eating more that James.
She was happy, and he was happy.
They were okay.