I Solemnly Swear: Marauders One-Shots

Reflections

Lily had always been fond of the question, "Did you ever imagine that you would be here right now?" She found it a good milestone, an impromptu reflection on everything that had led up to whatever moment someone was facing.

It was almost certainly, she thought, the right question to ask herself the moment James Potter knelt in front of her with a chocolate frog in his hand.

They were sixth years when it happened, and Lily had only just let go of trying to forgive Severus when the Marauders had started talking to her. She would have ignored them if it hadn't been for Marlene, who'd insisted the drama that was bound to arise if Lily hung out with the Marauders was the perfect way to get back at Severus, and Alice, who was certain the four boys were rather fun to be around (according to Frank, at least, and Frank was generally right about these sorts of things).

Lily had caved after a few weeks and finally agreed when the boys invited her, Marlene, Alice, and Dorcas to sneak out to the kitchens. She'd hated to admit that it had been the most fun she'd ever had at Hogwarts, but it was true. Several more midnight excursions found Lily becoming close friends with all of the Marauders, especially James— a fact that didn't make her as mad as it would have two years ago.

And now here she was, two months later in the common room, while James was holding a chocolate frog like an engagement ring and asking Lily if she'd want to go to Hogsmeade with him because the rest of the boys were busy and he wanted to hang out with somebody but he swore he wasn't trying to be romantic about it—

Lily was laughing far too much to vocalize an answer; all she could manage was a nod. James, suddenly seeming more stag than human despite not transforming (Lily had been nothing but impressed when the Marauders had brought up their animagus abilities), bounded across the room and through the portrait hole, presumably to find his friends, and she found herself yelling to the empty air to remember that they were only going as friends.

She realized later that wasn't sure if she'd said that for James' sake or for her own.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The Hogsmeade trip was simply wonderful; there was no other way to put it. Lily had walked the same village path for three years, had visited the same shops and bought the same things, but being there with James had made it so much more of an experience, had made the short walk from the Three Broomsticks to Honeydukes all the more magical while he pointed out every little cramped building and every shop owener who walked by, trying (and succeeding) to make her laugh in every way he could. And at dusk, when students all over the village began trailing back into the castle, James had suggested they do this sort of thing more often. And Lily had agreed.

In her dorm that night, while Marlene and Alice were laughing about their Hogsmeade experiences and Dorcas was studying for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Lily replayed every moment of her date—was it technically a date if they only went as friends?—over and over in her head. She wasn't sure why it filled her with such a strong, almost alien, sense of joy to spend time with James Potter, of all people. James Potter! Two years ago, she would have been more than happy to hex him into oblivion the second he started talking to her. And now she was enjoying his company as though they had always been best friends. How strange. Had she ever thought she would think of James that way?

She had no idea when he stopped being Potter and started being James, when she started to see him and the Marauders as friends. All she knew was that, two years ago, she would rather have gotten a T on a Charms exam than have a civil conversation with James Potter.

So Lily thought about it in the days and weeks and months that followed, in the midnight excursions and Hogsmeade not-technically-dates, in the letters they exchanged over the summer before seventh year. She treasured the moments when they spoke, and missed the moments when they didn't. She found herself unable to ever be angry with him, save for the occasional flicker of jealousy when she noticed him talking to different girls...

It wasn't until many months later that the realization hit Lily like a brick wall: she really, truly, genuinely loved James Potter. It took many more weeks to confess as much to him, and even then, she only did so at the exhorting of the other Marauders, Marlene, Alice, and Dorcas, each of whom had been threatened with a dreadful hex if things didn't go well for Lily.

She needn't have worried, though, because the second she whispered those three romantic words his lips were on hers and felt as if she was about to burst from joy and from warmth and from love.

The reactions were priceless, the two of them decided later. Sirius was the first to find them together and gave them as stern a lecture as he could manage while also fangirling over the fact that his ship had finally sailed. A rumor went around almost immediately that McGonagall had won a school-wide bet on when the two would finally get together. Even the Slytherins were pausing to look at James and Lily together in the corridors, usually followed by some exclamation of disbelief. Remus bought their entire friend group butterbeers, merely winking and shrugging when asked where he got the money for it.

As most dating generally goes, a proposal soon followed, and Lily couldn't say yes fast enough. They got married in a small clearing in a forest, surrounded by almost every flower James could get his hands on. Sirius was the best man, Marlene was the maid of honor, Remus officiated the wedding. As the bride and the groom kissed each other under the rapidly darkening sky, Lily found herself once again thinking, Did I ever think I would be here right now?

Truth be told, if somebody had told her five years ago that she was willingly going to marry James Potter, she would have lost her mind. Now, she wouldn't have had it any other way. She realized that she couldn't tell when that friendship became true love, maybe it had been there from the start, but it didn't really matter when the love that she found with James led her to the purest happiness imaginable.

So as Lily closed her eyes and felt the warmth of James' embrace, she realized that this moment, this love, was the only thing she would ever want to dwell on.

I know this isn't that great but I wanted to write at least something for Jilytober :) It's been a while lol