You wish Potter : A Jily Fanfiction

The Very Secret Valentine

It was some time before James met Besotted Benjy for himself. It was a Friday morning in February and James was headed for the Owlery. As he walked past window after window, the brilliant white sunlight dazzling his eyes, his nerves mounted.

The straw-covered floor crunched as he walked across owl droppings and the regurgitated skeletons of mice, and the owls fidgeted restlessly in the rafters. James looked around for a suitable bird, and coaxed it down to the table on the far wall, where there were scraps of parchment, and quills and ink.

"Right," he began to the small, tawny owl, "what does one say to the girl he's loved for almost six years, on Valentine's Day, when said girl has absolutely no interest whatsoever?" The owl blinked her amber eyes. "Any ideas?"

James was pondering what he could rhyme with Lily, when the Owlery door opened behind him, and the parchment on the table fluttered in the cold draft.

"Sorry," said a wide-eyed, mousy-haired Hufflepuff, "I'll just go." He nodded at James, and shoved a pink card roughly into his pocket, turning to leave.

James called him back. "You don't have to go, mate," he picked his own card up off the table, and walked over to the door, holding out his hand. "Is it Trigg, Benjamin Trigg? I don't think we've met before- I'm James."

Benjamin took his hand and shook it. "I know. We have met, actually. I'm in a few of your classes," he said. "Well most of them...but we've never spoken...apart from that one time you shouted the Twitchy Ears Hex at me-I don't know if you remember."

James ran a hand awkwardly through his hair. "Oh." Benjamin turned to leave again. "Listen, I'm sorry," James added. "It's nothing personal. I'm just a bit of a prick sometimes..."

Benjamin shrugged. "Don't worry. I- I never really thought about it."

James nodded appreciatively, and walked over to one of the glassless windows, where the cold air pinched his cheeks. "Any tips for a Valentine's Day card, Benjy? Can I call you Benjy? I'm having a little trouble." The Hufflepuff snorted, but when James turned to look at him, he appeared to be quite serious, so Benjamin peered over James's shoulder, fumbling nervously with the card in his pocket.

"Why have you signed it 'Potter'?"

"Oh, it's sort of an inside joke...not very funny really...you're right, it's stupid." He put the card away. "So, how are you confessing your love for Mary?"

Benjamin looked disbelievingly at James; his expression didn't look mocking, but rather anxious, and genuinely interested.

"Oh- I- err..."

James chuckled. "We're in the same boat, you and I," he said looking back out at the silver, cloudless sky. "The same awful, sodding boat."

Benjamin chuckled at the thought. "You and I aren't even in the same ocean! No, forget that- we don't even exist on the same planet!"

James slung his arm over Benjamin Trigg's shoulders. "Now that's not true, Benjy...if you can think of anything that rhymes with Mary, you're doing a darn-sight better job than I am."

Benjamin shuffled his feet in the straw. "You really love her, don't you?" he asked sagely.

"What?"

"Lily Evans? You really love her."

James laughed at Benjamin's new-found courage. "You're right, Benjy," he said, leaning back out the window, "I really love her. So, what do you think I should do about it?"

"Well, I think if I were James Potter, and not, you know, a Hufflepuff," he frowned in deep thought, "I think I'd just tell her what's in my heart."