Disclaimer: Me owning Harry Potter? In this economy? No chance, brother. (pls tell me someone got that reference)
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Chapter 45
Lily so often found herself in the library at James's house that she was beginning to wonder if she had come there with the sole intention of reading every book in the vast collection.
She walked along the aisles. There were so many books of every different genre that Lily was amazed that the Potter family owned all of them. Though nothing could rival the Hogwarts library, Lily was convinced that this one could be a close second.
Hearing footsteps approaching her, she turned around to see Sirius. She smiled at him but continued walking as she pulled out random books.
"Your mum has quite a big collection." she commented as she placed the book that was currently in her hand back on to the shelf. Sirius followed her close behind.
"She loves books." he replied, "As much as you do. She has this habit of buying two books every month to add to her collection."
Lily nodded as she placed a copy of Great Expectations back where she had taken it from. She made sure not to clutter and disturb the organized way Mrs. Potter had arranged her books.
"That's why we always give her books as gifts for Christmas and birthdays." Sirius added, "Sometimes when I look at you, I feel like you'll be exactly like her when you grow older."
Lily laughed as she stopped walking and turned around to face him. "Not a chance. She's like the literal definition of a perfect lady. Elegant, graceful and poised. I'm nowhere close to that."
Sirius only smiled in return, as if he knew something she didn't. It was a look she had seen on him many times. "You never know, Flower. Maybe someday you'll marry Prongs and realize that I was right all along."
"Do you realize how ominous you sound sometimes?" Lily asked, an amused twinkle in her eyes, "It's like you can predict future or something."
"I can." Sirius said immediately, faking to be offended that she would ever assume otherwise, "Divination is one of my lesser known talents. I'm a seer of sorts. So when my prediction comes true and you marry James, I get to name the kids."
Lily laughed again, forgetting every worry for a while. Sirius had that effect on people. He was like a happy pill, spreading sunshine and joy everywhere he went, no matter what he himself was going through. "Sorry to disappoint you, bud. Someone else already claimed that right."
"Who?"
Lily smiled as she remembered how Harry insisted that he gets to name their kids, if she was to marry Mr. Darcy. "Just someone. You don't know them."
Sirius didn't bother questioning her about it. He only paused for a while as he stared fondly at her until realization struck. "Ah, I forgot. I came here to tell you that our Hogwarts letters came."
Lily's face lit up at that. "Really?"
"Yeah, I'm sure your letter has the headgirl badge. It was heavier."
Lily quickly kept the book in her hand, which happened to be Jane Austen's Emma, back in the rack and followed Sirius out of the library.
Only if she had bothered to open that book, only then would she have discovered something rather interesting.
~~~~~
"No way." Lily breathed as she stared at the badge placed on her open palm. She couldn't believe that she had gotten the position of Hogwarts Head Girl. Sure, she had wanted it and thought there was a chance. But she never thought she'd actually get it.
"I'm so happy!" Marlene exclaimed as she inspected the golden badge. "You deserve it, Lils."
"Congratulations, Lily." Mrs. Potter said, smiling warmly at her.
Lily mumbled a thank you and turned to Remus, who was opening his own letter. She prayed to every God that Remus would be her fellow Head. She didn't want to spend an year working with someone she barely knew, or worse, with someone she knew too much. She didn't know what she would do if Severus was made Head Boy.
"Remus?" Lily said, tugging on the said boy's sleeve to get his attention, "Are you Head Boy?"
Remus shook his head as he inspected the contents of his envelope. "Not me."
"It's probably the Ravenclaw prefect." he added as an afterthought when he saw Lily's face fall, "He's a pretty nice guy."
Sirius and Marlene had already opened their letters. They glanced at Lily sympathetically, knowing the cause of her worry.
But nobody noticed the absolute silence that had fallen over James. Until he dropped something shiny that hit the marble floor with a ping that caused the others in the room to turn towards him.
"Please tell me that's not what I think it is." Sirius muttered in shock as he stared at the badge that lay at James's feet, "I must have hit my head somewhere. This is probably just a nightmare."
It was the sound of Marlene's laugh that snapped everyone out of the shocked stupor. "Dumbledore has lost his mind!"
"Prongs?" Remus said, laughing himself, "You're Head Boy?"
James blinked before he bent down and picked up the badge. "It can't be me. This has to be some mistake."
"I hope so." Sirius added with a shudder, "Merlin! I can't even imagine you being Head Boy."
But the extra letter in James's envelope that clearly stated that he was chosen as Head Boy said otherwise.
Lily looked around at the others. They all seemed like they couldn't believe what was happening. James himself seemed pretty confused. So quickly making a decision, Lily moved to stand next to him.
"James?" she said as she nudged him. He turned to look at her and she smiled almost involuntarily. "I'm so happy it's you."
He could only stare at her in confusion. "Me? I don't think I'm cut out for this."
The self doubt that reflected in his eyes hurt her more than him. She'd never seen James like this. He was always the epitome of confidence. Always sure about everything he was doing. So much that it made Lily envious as to how someone could be so bold and confident.
"You deserve this, James. Don't doubt yourself."
He shook his almost immediately. "I don't think I can handle so much responsibility."
"You can." she assured, "I've seen you on the field. You can grab people's attention with a single word and honestly that's pretty impressive. Dumbledore knows what he's doing. You're a great leader."
"You really think so?" he asked, biting on his lip unsurely.
Lily nodded. "But I don't know how I'm going to handle working with you for a year."
James brightened up immediately at the thought of getting to spend an entire year with her. "Get used to it, Evans."
When Lily turned away, she saw Mrs. Potter watching their interaction with a fond gaze. The older woman mouthed a genuine "thank you" at her and Lily smiled back, proud of what she had done.
That evening was pretty busy. Once James's dad had come home, they decided to celebrate with a small party and Mrs. Potter's special Red velvet cheesecake.
Lily had initially been a bit anxious about staying at the Potter's because she barely knew the family. But with each passing day, she was realizing that it wasn't just James who unabashedly showed his affection to people around him. His parents did as well. They made Lily feel more welcomed and appreciated than she had ever felt in her life.
It made a small part of her wonder what it would feel like to be part of a family like this. Maybe she wasnt too against Sirius's predictions after all.
~~~~~
James had been looking around the house for a while, in search of a particular redhead. Lily wasn't in the library as he had expected. Quite surprising as that's where she spent most of her free time.
So it was unexpected that he found her sitting on the porch swing, cross legged and staring up at the night sky.
"Hey." he whispered gently as he sat down next to her on the swing.
Lily jumped a bit at his sudden appearance but smiled nonetheless. "Hey."
"What are you doing out here?" James asked while he subtly looked over what she was wearing. The loose pink shirt was way too big for her small frame and overlapped the blue shorts she wore. Lily preferred robes when they were at Hogwarts. It was very rarely that he got to see her in muggle clothes. She somehow looked a lot smaller in the oversized clothing.
James was brought out of dreamland when Lily snapped her fingers in front of his face.
"You zoned out." she said.
"I'm sorry, were you saying something?"
Lily nodded. "Yeah, I said I was just admiring the night sky."
He was glad she had gone back to looking at the stars because the more she stared at the sky, the more he could admire her. "You really do love the night, huh?"
"I do." she confirmed, "It's just so calm. It almost seems magical. Beautiful right?"
"It is." James admitted as his gaze sweeped over the crescent moon and glimmering stars. Sometimes the vastness of the universe made him feel insignificant.
As he observed, his gaze landed on the witch next to him. She was still staring up at the sky, her eyes shining brighter than the thousand stars littered across the void and her gentle smile rivaling the serenity of the moon's luminescence.
The universe was beautiful, James admitted. The night sky was gorgeous too. But she was art personified.
When she turned back to look at him, James was sure his breath had been knocked out of him at how absolutely ethereal and unreal she looked. He was almost certain she didn't belong to the realm of mortals.
"Whipped!", the taunting voice inside his head (which sounded suspiciously like Sirius) mocked him.
He ignored the voice, unable to look away from the green eyes that were locked with his.
"You're dangerous, Evans." he said as he leaned on the backrest of the swing. In the few moments of silence that followed, a million memories passed through his mind. It felt unreal to him how much had changed in the span of a year.
Lily was blinking at him with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. "And why exactly am I dangerous?"
"Because if anyone stares at your eyes for too long, they're going to fall in love."
"Then don't stare."
Too late, James thought to himself as he looked away from her with a light chuckle.
He wanted to say it out loud but held himself back. He didn't want to be impulsive and ruin something beautiful.
"It's getting late, we should go back inside before mum kills me." he said as he stood up. The movement made the swing move backwards and James immediately reached out to stop Lily from falling over.
Lily steadied herself as she held onto James, then followed him along the stone path and into the house.
"Goodnight, James." she said as they stopped in the hallway in front of their rooms.
"Night, Lily." he replied before disappearing into his room and Lily into hers.
Her gaze immediately fell on the white envelope that was placed on the desk next to the window. Lily smiled brightly, knowing who the letter was from. She saw a small note stuck to the envelope as she picked it up.
Your mum sent this. Winter left it with me.
-Marlene.
She quickly opened the envelope. It had been a while since she had talked to Harry. Her last letter had been pretty lame and uneventful so she was curious to know what he had to say. Nothing could have prepared Lily for what she saw when she finally opened the letter.
Hey Lizzy,
What does it feel like to fall in love? Because I think I'm in trouble.
_______________________________________
A/N: Hello, I'm back from the dead. Sorry for the long wait, life has been a mess.
As I said earlier, I'm writing two other books and one is almost complete so expect it soon.
And thanks to all my lovely readers for being patient and putting up with me and this story even though the updates are irregular. This book will have around 15-20 chapters more + epilogue.
Have a great day!
Love,