16Diclaimer- I do not own Lily or James or Sirius or Remus or Dumbledore or well heck I don't own anything in the story except the chapter titles and most of the plot. Enjoy!
Chapter One: Asking
Lily Evans sat with her friends by the lake in late October. It was going to be one of their few times doing this before the cold weather came, yet Lily was thinking of other things. Things like how much James Potter had changed over the summer and wondering what he thought of her. She had known how he felt about her for almost her whole time at Hogwarts, but now in her seventh and last year she wasn't so sure. Over the summer she had thought about him a lot and wondered how she felt about him. Now she finally knew that for some odd reason she was strangely attracted to him. He must hate me now, Lily thought to herself. I mean he has even stopped pursuing me. Sometimes I wish he would.
Her thoughts were interrupted by her friends asking her a question.
"What do you think about it, Lily?" one of them asked.
"Think about what?" Lily asked back.
"Think about James and that Gryffindor sixth year he's going out with. James did use to like you a lot," another one answered.
"Oh. I didn't know he was seeing anyone," Lily answered trying now to sound sad.
Her friends saw that she did not wish to pursue the subject so they moved on. Shortly afterwards they went to dinner.
It was a Sunday evening so later, when Lily stepped into the common room, she was not surprised to see many students hurrying to finish their homework. Lily had just found a chair and picked up a book when she saw Remus Lupin sitting by himself. They were somewhat friends and he was friends with James so she went over to talk to him.
"Hey!" he said when he saw her coming. Lupin looked worn and older than most in his year yet his smile was warm and sincere.
"Hey! Where are your friends? You four are never seem to far from each other." Lily asked.
"Oh, Peter is probably in the library freaking out about his homework, Sirius is probably talking to some girl, and James is probably out with his new girlfriend." Lupin looked up as he said the part about James as if he knew what affect it had on Lily. She looked away so that he didn't see her blushing cheeks.
She glanced at Lupin and saw the look on his face. "Well, it's been a long day. I think I'll go to bed now. See you tomorrow, Remus," Lupin smiled to himself as he watched her go. James would want to know what he had just found out.
In bed Lily was thinking about the look Lupin had had on his face. Was it really that obvious that she had feelings for James? She hoped not. With a final thought about James and his girlfriends, Lily turned over and went to sleep.
Heading back to the common room with his new girlfriend, James felt a pang in his heart. How could he go out with this other girl when he was still in love with Lily? It was simple, James told himself. She doesn't love me back. How could love be so cruel to him? He had a great life and could get almost any girl. Well, except for the one he really wanted. In the common room he could tell that his new girlfriend was expecting him to kiss her or something but James wasn't in the mood. He turned to her and gave her a swift kiss on the cheek and then rushed up to the boy's dormitory. When he opened the door he found it almost completely empty except for Remus Lupin, one of his best friends.
"Hey, Prongs! How was the date?" Lupin promptly asked when he saw James.
"Same as any old date, Moony." James answered bitterly.
"Just admit that you still you have feelings for Lily Evans. Besides I think she likes you, too," Lupin said calmly.
"Oh, and what makes you think that?" he asked still angrily. So Lupin told him what had happened when he talked to Lily earlier and ho she had reacted. James looked slightly hopeful afterwards, but he still had his doubts.
At breakfast the next morning James told Sirius what Lupin had told him. "I knew she liked you, Prongs! You just never believed me. Maybe you should ask her to the Hogsmeade trip on Halloween?" Sirius suggested after hearing the story.
"If I'm going to do that it means that I need to break up with the sixth year I've been dating. What should I tell her?" James asked. "I don't want to hurt her feelings."
"Just tell her that you realize that you have feelings for someone else," Sirius replied. "There she is. I'd go do it now."
James got up and went to talk to the girl he had been seeing for about five days. "She took the news pretty well," he told his friends as he sat back down. "She only tried to hex me once. When do you think I should ask Lily out?"
"Later today or tomorrow. Not too soon since you just broke up with whatever her name was, but not to late. I mean the trip is on Saturday!" Sirius concurred. Lupin nodded and Peter who had been sitting quietly at the table didn't say anything.
James spent the rest of the day in a daze. Lily Evans might go out with him! He would ask her out after different. During dinner, though, he was really nervous. He saw Lily get up and head back to the Griffyndor Tower alone. Just to be sure, though, he checked the Marauder's Map. Yes, she was alone. With an encouraging pat on the back form Sirius, James set off to the tower. When he reached the common room, he saw Lily working on some homework in a corner.
"Hey!" he said as he approached her. His heart did a flip-flop in his chest when she turned and smiled when she saw who it was. Lily couldn't quite find her voice as she looked at James.
"Hey!" she finally managed to say as he took the seat across from her.
"What'ca doing?" he asked casually.
"Working on my essay for Professor Slughorn, then my essay for Flitwick, and then finally practicing for Transfiguration," Lily answered almost breathlessly.
"Wow! We have been getting a lot of homework since we take our N.E.W.T.'s this year." James said. "Well, I don't want to keep you so I'll just come out and say it."
"Say what?" Lily asked calmly yet very eagerly.
"Well, you go to Hogsmeade with me on Saturday?" James asked quickly.
"I thought you were going out with some sixth year." Lily said surprised but pleased. James noted that she was blushing.
"I was but I broke up with her this morning."
"This morning?!" she said angrily. "So what am I? Someone to ask out since you broke up with your girlfriend and you now have no date? How pathetic do you think I am? Do you think-"
"It's not like that at all. Do you really think that I would treat you like that? I'm asking you out because I like you. I've always liked you. I broke up with her because she wasn't you. Lupin and Sirius thought that maybe you liked me, but I guess that they were wrong!" James almost shouted. "Sorry for taking up so much of your time!" He got up and started to walk away when Lily reacted.
"Wait!" he heard her say. He stopped and turned around.
"What now?" he asked sounding tired and hurt.
She got up and walked till she stood directly in front of him only a few inches from his face. "They weren't wrong. I do you like you. I like you a lot." She said truthfully.
"You do?" James asked hopefully.
"I do," nodded Lily.
Then James put his arms around Lily and kissed her long and hard. Lily felt her arms encircle his neck and kiss him back. All of a sudden the portrait hole opened and Remus, Sirius, and Peter came noisily in. They stopped dead when they saw Lily and James kissing.
Sirius was the first to speak. "Umm, we'll be upstairs. See you, Lily," The three of them headed up to the boys' dormitory. As they went Lily caught Sirius give James a thumb's up sign. She smiled to herself. "Well, I better get up there and here what they're saying about me." He kissed her one more time. "I can't wait till Saturday. I'll see you around." With that he headed up to confront his friends.
Lily sat back down and thought about what had just happened. She had a date with James and she had just kissed him! A year ago she would never had guessed that she would go out with James Potter. But now she couldn't see herself with anyone else. A few minutes later her friends walked in and saw her looking dazed.
"Lily, what's the matter? You don't look so good," One of them asked.
"I just kissed James Potter," Lily answered still not believing it herself.
"What?" they all asked.
"We thought you didn't like him," another one said incredulously. "Plus doesn't he have a girlfriend?"
"Well, he did but apparently he broke up with her because he likes me so much," Lily explained excitedly. "He asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him in Saturday."
That's when they all started shrieking and laughing and congratulating Lily. They kept that up till some Griffyndors came in and wanted to know what was going on.
Lying on his bed, James heard all the shrieking girls below.
"Sounds like they're talking about you down there, mate," Sirius said with a smile. He was probably the most excited for James out of the three. Only he had really known the full extent of James's love for Lily. He had been living with the Potters since the age of sixteen so he had gotten to know James really well. He liked Lily a lot and decided that they would be good for each other.
Peter on the other hand sat on his bed seething. Why did James always get what he wanted? Yes, James was his friend but he couldn't help being jealous. As long as James didn't have Lily, his life wasn't perfect, but that's now all over. Why did some people just have everything?
Remus sat contently reading a book on his bed. Yes, he was happy for James but he couldn't help but feel a tad bit sorry for himself. He would probably never be able to find someone crazy enough to fall in love with a werewolf. Only James, Sirius, and Peter had accepted him and he doubted anyone else would. Well, Lily probably would but she was different. No, he wouldn't be jealous. James deserved to finally win Lily over.
Everyone's thoughts were broken when James said, "Well, I'm going to bed now. It's been a pretty busy day for me. See you in the morning. G'night!" After a few minutes even Remus put down his book and went to sleep.