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Grey clouds painted the sky, rain splattering the windows, and a light fog blanketed the surroundings of the castle. Lily sat in her favorite chair next to the fire in the Gryffindor common room reading a book her family had been passing down for years. Surprisingly the book was in good condition. Her guess was that every few years someone would rebound the book and fix the cover as the pages had faded over the years.
Considering the conditions outside, the common room was relatively empty. There were a handful of kids studying, some playing card games, and one or two small groups chatting quietly.
Lily flipped to her favorite page in the book, it wasn’t her favorite because it was a good story, it was her favorite because she could read the annotations from generations long before herself on the page.
She heard the door open and seconds later there was someone sitting on the arm of the chair she wasn’t using, “Good book?”
“Hello to you too James,” she smiled closing the book, “Not just a good book, the best book.”
“Are you sure about that?”
She nodded, “Extremely.”
James smiled, “Well then, I’ll stop bothering you so you can get back to it.”
Lily watched as James walked up to the boy's common room before opening her book and continuing to read through the annotations.
*****
The next morning Lily was eating breakfast wondering what she’d do that afternoon when a butterfly landed on her arm. She reached her finger out, seeing if it would move onto it. When the butterfly stayed still completely she took a close look at it.
Lily noticed that the butterfly had creases in the wings and gently lifted it up when she realized it was paper. She glanced around to see if anyone had something to do with it.
Once unfolded she flipped the paper over to read what it had to say.
Dear Lily,
Lunchtime picnic today? Meet me at the entrance.
~James
Of course it was James. Leave it up to him to come up with one of the sweetest ways Lily could think of.
*****
At lunchtime, Lily walked down with her friends to the great hall but instead of sitting with them made her way to the entrance. As she walked down the table Sirius gave her a thumbs up of encouragement.
When she reached the entrance James was there, picnic basket in hand. When he saw her his face lit up, which in Lily’s opinion was the greatest thing in the world.
“You came!”
Lily smiled and linked arms with him, “Of course. I couldn't let a perfectly good picnic meal go to waste could I?”
The pair made their way to the edge of the forbidden forest where James laid the picnic blanket out before opening the basket to reveal both of their favorites.
“So tell me about your book, you seemed to really enjoy it.”
Lily decided then and there that James Potter was her favorite person, “Yeah. It’s been passed down in my family since forever.”
The pair sat there for hours discussing anything and everything with a promise from Lily that she would show him her favorite stories in the book and read them with him.