Jily Oneshots (pt2)

Up to Speed

She's a girl!James said to himself, pumping his arms faster and breathing in sharper. You can't let her beat you! Imagine what the guys would say if they were here.

With a spurt of energy, he managed to gain some ground, running beside Lily now, determined to win.

Broadly grinning from ear to ear, James reached the tree in Lily's yard. He ran a few victory laps around the trunk of the tree, showing off, and then turned to find Lily breathing heavily, beside him.

James smirked at her. "You realize I won, don't you?"

"Yeah," Lily muttered, biting her lip. "Fair and square," she said, extending her hand.

James laughed in her face, ignoring her outstretched hand. "I won – I beat you Lily Evans!"

Lily nodded, pulling her hand back and tucking it in her pockets. "Yes, well… I think we already figured that out."

"I beat you!" he shouted, his voice bouncing off of the walls of the houses.

"Thanks for that," Lily muttered, walking back to her house.

It wasn't like Lily and James were best friends or anything. At least… not anymore, they weren't.

Life before Hogwarts had been simple and – tolerant. Lily and James were best friends. In fact, they were the only friends the other had. Everyone else on the street was either too old or Petunia. So, naturally, the two bonded together over their similarity of having no friends and found more in common with each other than they ever imagined. One of those loves, of course, was the outdoors.

They often times challenged the other to friendly races around the neighborhood, seeing as Lily loved the sport. Occasionally they would end up sitting around in The Forest, climbing trees, or just lounging outside on the deck, talking.

But then Hogwarts came.

Lily and James each received a letter by owl. Lily was quick to inform James of her new found talent, but James merely smirked knowingly. Of course, after small "accidents" occurring every now and then, obviously somehow caused by magic, Lily was bound to be a witch.

Lily had found where to purchase her school books via James' parents and traveled along to Platform 9 ¾ with their help as well.

"James, you better act on your best behavior," Mrs. Potter said, narrowing her eyes in a playful manner. She ruffled his hair and kissed him in front of a large crowd, nudging him towards the Platform barrier.

"Good luck, son," Mr. Potter called as well, nodding with his hands in his pocket, smiling.

Lily bit her lip, watching James as he charged the barrier. She shut her eyes, worried, but when no crash came, she cautiously opened her eyes, slightly confused.

"Where did he go?" she gasped, eyes wide and fully awake.

Mrs. Potter laughed and took Lily up into a large hug. "Oh, dear, you have so much you're going to learn this year!"

Lily felt herself getting squished in a bear hug, but was unable to put her own arms around the caring mother.

"It's so sad your parents couldn't make it," she said, frowning slightly.

Lily's parents had always had a bit of something softer in their heart for their older daughter, Petunia. If there was any question as to which event of their daughter's they would rather go to, it tended to be Petunia's events. Today, in fact, was the first day Petunia was going to boarding school as well. Her parents had just sent Lily along with the Potters, knowing full well that they would take care of Lily.