#the fourth one has Jily enjoying this too much

[startanewdream]

Since I'm still so thrilled with Light beam hitting 1k (talk about a milestone!!!), how about I add a third part to it?

#Hinny #Jily #Jily Lives AU #the 4th option shouldn't be there but oh well #to advocate for each #in the first Harry gets a lot of comparison with his parents #the second one has questionable advices #the third one is CHAOS #the fourth one has Jily enjoying this too much

[hxlyhead-harpies]

Friends Don’t Look at Friends That Way

Requested by anon:  Would you mind writing jilys first date???

Pairing: James Potter x Lily Evans

Summary: It’s totally not a date ft. James being a total dumbass

Warnings: Cursing

Word Count: 2.1k

The hallway was bustling and teeming with students, pushing through each other in an attempt to make it to class on time. The second floor east hallway was always this busy in between classes and James loved to sit back and watch the chaos. With a free period after lunch, he usually spent his free time sitting on a ledge in the corridor, watching first years attempt to journey through the throngs of older students and observing as Gryffindors and Slytherins purposely knocked into each other.

James waved to Peter from his spot and Peter grimaced back as he attempted to maneuver around a particularly happy couple that had decided that the middle of the hallway was an appropriate spot to snog. James chuckled and continued to scan the crowd before his mouth settled into a soft smile as he spotted a familiar head of red hair.

Lily pushed through the crowd with her eyebrows set into a hard line and her face filled with determination, just as she always did. She was small, her head landing somewhere near the height of James’ shoulders, and needed to focus all on her strength on getting through the bustle. Her hair was loose, he noted to himself, something Lily rarely did. Usually, her hair was thrown into a tight plait or was pulled together into a bun at the base of her neck. Occasionally, on days where she was feeling particularly happy, she’d tie off her hair with a red ribbon. But free-flying locks were a true rarity, one that James treasured.

He loved when she wore her hair down, reveling in the messiness and wildness of it all. She had been growing her hair since she had cut it to her shoulders in fifth year, and it now reached midway down her back, the ends beginning to curl slightly. When it was down, he’d catch her playing with the ends in class, curling the hair around her fingers and she took notes. James always had to restrain himself from reaching over and smoothing it down, running his hands through the hair he admired so often. But they were friends. Tentative friends who were constantly toeing the line between warm acquaintances and real friends. James had finally crossed the threshold into friendship territory and he was not about to fuck it up by acting on his unrequited feelings.

Practically everyone knew that he was deeply and undisputedly in love with her. It was a terribly kept secret for most of his schooling, resulting in many embarrassing rejections and late nights spent wondering how he could make himself be enough for her.

But following a particularly nasty fight in their fifth year, James came to the realization that he was essentially making a prat out of himself every day and that she would never be with him if he kept acting like one. So he spent the next two years trying to better himself, attempting to find a way to cure his overall “pratiness”.

And now here he was, the spring of his seventh year, finally friends with Lily Evans and just as in love with her. And James had realized several things. For one, he quite enjoyed being Lily’s friend and he’d rather stay friends than be nothing at all. And secondly, admitting his feelings could subsequently jeopardize their friendship, a risk he was not willing to take. So James grinned and bore the ache of knowing they’d never be together in the capacity that he wanted. But then she’d laugh at his stupid jokes and hug him after quidditch matches and it would all be enough. Just a smile from her could sate his need for her, just being in her presence was a blessing. So James would take what he could get.

Lily pushed farther into the horde of students and James realized suddenly that she was going in the opposite direction than the Ancient Runes classroom. She planted her feet in front of his ledge and looked up at him, determination in her eyes and her hands firmly at her side.

“Potter,” she acknowledged him with a nod.

“Evans,” James replied with a smile. Lily took a deep breath.

“Please meet me at the Three Broomstick at one o’clock this weekend,” she stated, with no hint of a question in her voice. James blinked in surprise. He wasn’t quite sure why she was telling him this. They usually went to the Three Broomsticks together on Hogsmeade weekends along with the Marauders and Lily’s roommates. He didn’t really need to be reminded.

“Alright Lily,” James replied, “Would you like me to pass the message along to Remus?” Lily coughed slightly and looked down. James thought he saw a flash of red on her cheeks before her face was curtained by her hair.

“No actually,” she said, softer this time. “I was thinking just you and I could go. Alone.” James blinked again. Now, this was unusual. For a split second, the word date popped into his head but James quickly pushed it aside. He remembered all of his failed attempts to ask Lily out and how vehemently she swore she would never date him. There was absolutely no way that this could be a date. It was just two friends hanging out.

But James would give just about anything to spend a little time with Lily.

“Yeah alright,” he said after a beat, “I’ll see you there.” Lily gave James a tight smile and a curt nod before stalking off to Ancient Runes, leaving a very confused James behind her.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧

“It’s not a date,” James insisted as he flopped onto his bed. Sirius barked out a laugh from his spot by the dresser, throwing James’ favorite shirt at him.

“Of course it’s a date you idiot,” Sirius insisted, “The two of you squished into a booth together alone. A textbook date if I’ve ever seen one.” James groans before running a hand down his face.

“What was it she told me? That she’d rather kiss the giant squid than go out with me?” James said, shooting Sirius an incredulous look. James pulled off his t-shirt and pulled on the shirt that Sirius had tossed him. It was a long-sleeved green shirt that his mother had given him in fourth year. At first, James had despised it as it was nearly the same shade of green as the Slytherin house colors. But then one day, he was struck with the realization that the fabric was the same shade as Lily’s eyes. It had been his favorite shirt ever since.

“James, she said that two years ago,” Sirius said, “Her opinion has probably changed.” James grunted and ruffled his hair.

“No Sirius, there is no way she could ever feel that way towards me. And I’ve spent so much time trying to be friends with her that I am not going to risk it by assuming this is a date. It’s just a day spent together between friends,” James ranted as he pulled on his shoes. Sirius just sighed and leaned back.

“If it’s not a date why are you so nervous about it?” Sirius questioned. James let out an exasperated huff and smoothed his shirt.

“Because it’s her,” he said, “She’ll always make me nervous just by being her.”

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧

James stepped into the Three Broomsticks at exactly one o’clock. He spotted Lily sitting at a booth in the back, picking at the skin around her nails. James frowned, knowing that this was a nervous habit of hers. But what could Lily possibly be nervous about?

James smiled at her as he slid into the seat in front of her. Lily looked up and smiled back, though the smile was tight.

“Hey, Evans,” James said. Lily’s smile dropped slightly.

“Hello James,” she replied, “I already ordered us drinks, I hope you don’t mind.” James waved his hand.

“No, no, of course that’s fine,” he replied. Lily nodded and looked down at her hands, letting a tense silence fall over the table. James took this moment to drink in her appearance, hoping that he wasn’t being too obvious. Her cheeks were flushed and James attributed it to the warmth that filled the pub. Her hair was down, much to James’ delight, and it fell haphazardly in her face. James’ hand itched to tuck it behind her ear.

The silence was broken by the two butterbeers arriving at their table, and Lily finally looked up. She took a long sip of her drink and discreetly wiped away the foam from her lip.

“So um… How are you?” Lily asked, her voice stiff. James let out a bewildered chuckle. Usually when James and Lily hung out the conversation would be filled with banter. And they would talk about real things; the war, their families, what their dreams were outside of school. They seldom shared menial small talk. How are you? It was such a stilted question and so unlike them.

“I’m fine, how are you?” James answered slowly.

“I’m good,” Lily replied quickly. James furrowed his eyebrows and racked his brain for something to talk about, hoping to get things back to normal. He quickly launched into a story about his last quidditch practice, earning a few laughs from Lily. From there on the conversation flowed much more easily, but it still felt as if Lily was somewhat jittery.

James and Lily left the pub nearly two hours later and began the trek back to the castle. The walk was quiet but not entirely uncomfortable. Lily’s hand kept brushing against James’ and he fought desperately against the urge to intertwine his fingers with hers. Lily came to a halt and cleared her throat.

“I had a really nice time today,” She said softly, her eyes wide. James turned to her too and smiled.

“Yeah, me too,” he replied. Lily let out a heavy breath, seemingly in relief, and smiled.

“Okay good,” she said, the most relaxed James had seen her all day. “I was nervous, you know? First dates are nerve-wracking.” James froze, feeling as if the ground had disappeared from underneath him.

“Date?” James finally managed to utter, “This was a date?” Lily’s face immediately fell, turning bright red. She put her face in her hands and started to turn away.

“Fuck,” she groaned into her hands, “I’m so so sorry.” James flinched and began to shake his head profusely.

“Wait no-”

“Godric, this is so embarrassing. I thought I was clear,” Lily ranted, refusing to look at him.

“Lily just hold on a second-”

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable but I’ve liked you for a while and I realize now that it was unfair of me to assume that you still liked me and I feel so terrible for putting you in this situation,” she continued to ramble. She was running her hands through her hair and she was looking anywhere but James. If she had spared him a glance she would have noticed the bloom of red across his cheeks and the dopey smile on his face.

“Please, I’d really like if we could still be friends I didn’t mean to ruin it-”

“Lily,” James interrupted, finally able to stop her. “I don’t want us to friends. Not after this.” If it was possible, Lily’s face fell even more, not quite understanding what he meant.

“Oh. I just hoped that-” James cut her off once again, but this time, with a kiss. Lily stiffened for a moment before melting into him. He reached his hand up to her face and cradled her cheek, running his thumb over the soft curve of her jawline. She tasted like butterbeer and her lips were softer than he had ever imagined. She hummed into his lips and he couldn’t help but smile slightly.

James had never felt happier than in this moment, Lily clinging to the front of his shirt and her body pressed against his. His knees felt weak, but he felt like he was flying despite it. Nothing had ever felt so right, like a puzzle piece finally falling into place.

Lily finally broke away, her face flushed and her lips swollen. She looked up at James shyly, her eyes wide and her pupils blown.

“If I had known it was a date I would have tried a hell of a lot harder,” James said with a laugh. Lily giggled and pressed her head to his chest. He reached up his hand and finally brushed her hair behind her ear, reveling in the fact that he no longer had to restrain himself.

So you don’t want to be friends anymore?” Lily asked slyly. James scoffed.

“Unless you allow your friends to kiss you like that, no way,” he replied. Lily grinned and tugged him down to meet her lips again.

“Good,” Lily replied, “I don’t want to be friends either.”

#jily #jily fic #jily fanfiction #jily fluff #james potter #lily evans #lily evans potter #lily potter #James Potter x Lily Evans #marauders era #marauders fic #young marauders #marauders fanfiction #hp marauders

[stark-tony]

today is my 22nd birthday so i’m celebrating by reccing 22 of my favorite fics and giving my general thoughts about them.

atla

 i'm still here by owedbetter (77.7, T, zutara) "You see me."And somehow, that makes all the difference.

thoughts: One of the first zutara fics i ever read and it’s still one of my absolute favorites. The characterization of all of the characters is superb and the gradual development of zuko and katara’s relationship is amazing.

 such selfish prayers by andromeda3116 (47.6k, T, zutara)  Katara's ambition, so long set aside for the good of others, breaks free and sets fire to her soul. Or, Katara has a vision of her canon future, casts it aside, and becomes a world-changing politician instead.

thoughts: while this fic is a zutara fic, the majority of this fic is centered on katara and her helping rebuild the world after the war and it does an astounding job of portraying just that. and honestly this probably has my favorite characterization of katara i’ve ever read in a fic.

 Southern Lights by colourwhirled (501.8k, M, zutara) A world where the Avatar has disappeared from memory. Where Sozin’s Conquest was successful. Where the unsteady order of the empire is threatened as members of the royal family are picked off one by one and lines are slowly drawn in the sand.One last chance for peace forces an unlikely alliance between a homesick waterbender, a carefree Air Nomad, a runaway Earth Kingdom heiress, and the fire lord's inscrutable son. Together they must learn to shed old enmities and become the balance they seek to restore to the world.OR:The avatar has four heads.x[[Chapter 4: "And always, his eyes, cautiously watching her. Even when he thinks she isn’t looking. It drives her mad"]]

thoughts: when i say i was unable to put this fic down i genuinely mean that. like i’m pretty sure i was hooked from the very first chapter and i never looked back.

bnha

  stickers and stars by aloneintherain (1.9k, G, gen) “Aizawa, are you sure I’m the best person for this job? There are a lot more qualified people on campus. People who have been teachers for years, and—”As All Might spoke, Midoriya Izuku crawled the length of the couch, ducked under All Might’s arm, and made himself comfortable on his lap. All Might’s hands rose into the air, as though unsure of what to with his arms now that he had a toddler curled against his stomach like a cat seeking the warmth of its owner.“Um,” All Might said.

thoughts: is it not enough to say ‘baby deku’ and leave it at that?

 Butterfly by aconstantstateofbladerunner (198.8k, T, gen) The first over-night trip off campus since the training camp was supposed to be a fun break from more intense work back home. But between a bleak introduction to chaos theory, a chilly reception from the locals, and the looming threat of a villain attack, Izuku has too much on his mind to properly enjoy the fresh air. But those worries are a light breeze compared to the hurricane that accompanies what he finds on the outskirts of town.Or rather, what finds him.

thoughts: it’s incredibly well written and the horror aspect is so good. also the dad might in it is top tier.

villain eradication plan 5C: let them attack budding heroes mothers, wait appropriate time for mother to defeat them (3.4k, G, toshinko)  Targetting the civilian families of hero students should be cakewalk. Pity they decided to go with Inko first.Or the one where Inko accidentally defeats the League of Villains.

thoughts: this fic is basically inko accidentally being a badass and it’s as hilarious and awesome as it sounds

 see it all in bloom by aloneintherain (57.2k, T,  tododeku, kiribaku, momojirou, bullying) Midoriya looked over the occupants of the room with butter soft eyes. “We should do this again. Seeing everyone in one place … it’s like we’re back in school again.”Todoroki said, “It feels like a family reunion.”(Social media fic, counting down the five months to Class 1-A's ten year reunion.) 

thoughts: this series deals with social media + the lives of class 1a after they become pro heroes and it is amazing.

 remember from here on in by aloneintherain (8.1k, G, gen) Aizawa glances from All Might to Midoriya quickly. It sounds impossible—he’s never heard of a quirk that can be handed down like a family heirloom—but at the same time, it makes perfect sense. Midoriya’s inability to use his quirk at the start of the year. The strange, familial relationship between All Might and Midoriya. The slow malnourishment of All Might’s body, like his power was being siphoned away.“You’re …” Aizawa begins.“I’m All Might’s successor.” Midoriya’s proud but shaky voice rings clearly down the empty corridor.Aizawa finds out about One for All. 

thoughts: this fic deals with one for all being revealed to aizawa + midoriya getting more quirks and it is amazing

could i but teach the hundredth part by terra_incognita (5.2k, G, gen) Ito Matsu knows three things about her neighbor, Mr. Yagi: he's very skinny, he's very kind, and he has enough children to overthrow the Japanese government.Or:All Might is retired, but his former students keep coming up with reasons to visit. 

thoughts: this fic is so lovely and i adore it so much

mcu

 the talk by parkrstark (3.1k, pepperony) “Wait, man, what’re you doin’?” Rhodey asked, leaning forward.“Giving the kid his talk before he goes off to college.” Duh.Rhodey blinked. “At 3am when you’re probably too drunk to even spell your name, months before he actually has to leave?”“Yeah.”Rhodey blinked again. “Okay.”

thoughts: this fic is absolutely hilarious and poor peter is suffering throughout all of it

 call you home by Madelinedear (19k, G, pepperony) sometimes family is who you're born with.and sometimes family is a spider boy, a rich not-dad, and a kickass aunt.(or; tony, may, and peter find a place in each other's lives)

thoughts: to me, this fic is the tony may co-parenting fic. like i honestly don’t think that anything can ever top it

I Never Lived 'Til I Lived In Your Light by losingmymindtonight (38.4k, T, pepperony, character death)  As the world shifts to make space for Morgan Stark, everyone around her shifts, too. (As it turns out, this also includes Peter Parker's sleep schedule.) 

thoughts: this fic is both fluffy goodness and heartwrenching angst and it handles both beautifully.

 Lazarus, come forth by iron_spider (47.9k, T, pepperony) Tony's mind is a chaotic mess but he remembers the moment—remembers his death, remembers the red hot pain and Peter screaming, Rhodey rushing to his side. How he knew he’d never see Pepper again—but they’d fixed it. They’d fixed the world, erased the lost time, set things right—and the kid was back. The kid was crying, the kid hated him for doing what he did, but he was back. He was alive.Tony Stark was dead. But now he’s breathing again, trying to think, gasping, hands tracing the box surrounding him, covering him, suffocating him.He’s in a coffin. He’s under the ground. He’s under the fucking ground.(Tony Stark dies defeating Thanos. But then he comes back to life. He has to find out how, why, and how to live again. And how to deal with the changes in the people he's coming back to.)

thoughts: although this fic was written and finished pre-endgame but to me this fic is the fix-it fic for film.

Identity Saga by KitCat992 (400.7k, T, pepperony) An organically developed, platonic slow-burn of Avengers-fam dynamic with a heavy hand of Irondad & Spiderson. Throw in an overdose of whump, a couple of cunning villains and a big-bad hiding in the shadows, and you got yourself this hot mess.

thoughts: i just love the avengers dynamic in this series and the whump is medically accurate which is amazing.

college applications: the biggest meme by sagemb (3.3k, T, pepperony) Tony covered his face with both hands and screamed very gently. “Can I just bribe the school to let Peter in?"

thoughts: this series is absolutely hilarious and i love it

hp  

 The Changeling + Armistice Series  by Annerb (586.6k, M, hinny, rape) Ginny is sorted into Slytherin. It takes her seven years to figure out why.

thoughts: this fic is absolutely golden and i adore it so so much. the characters are so well written and the worldbuilding in this fic is fantastic and it actually has an original aspect of hogwarts (aka the parlor) that i practially consider to be canon at this point. also the depiction of slytherin house + house unity in this fic is just *chef’s kiss*

 boy with a scar by dirgewithoutmusic (208.7k, T, hinny, romione, jily)  A series of "what if" rewrites of Harry Potter, books 1-7. Cross-posted from tumblr (ink-splotch).

thoughts: every single one of these fics are exquisitely written and i wish that i could experience the beauty of this series again for the very first time.

  Hogwarts, to welcome you home by gedsparrowhawk (FaceChanger) (11.1k, G, ginny) “You understand, Professor,” Harry began, after a moment, “that I don’t have my N.E.W.T.s. I never even finished seventh year. Between everything, I never had a chance the first time around, and then afterwards there didn’t seem to be much point. Hermione argued for it, of course, but I was so tired of Britain. So technically, I am completely unqualified for the position.”“Quite a way to begin an interview, Mr. Potter,” McGonagall said, dryly.Or, three years after the war, Harry Potter becomes Hogwarts' newest Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

thoughts: this is my favorite harry as dada professor i’ve ever read. no doubt about it

 And the Unethical Binding Contract by justafandomfollower (14.6k, G, gen) AU. What if the Triwizard Tournament took place in Harry's first year, not his fourth? 

thoughts: this fic is beautifully written and i love the relationship that forms between harry, cedric, krum, and fleur.

Regulus Black and the Way Things Changed: A Not!Fic by imaginary_golux (8.8k, T, wolfstar) What if Regulus Black, and not Severus Snape, ended up being the turncoat Potions Master of Hogwarts?A not!fic written in bullet points, ignoring the Deathly Hallows entirely because they annoy me.Beta by my immensely patient Best Beloved, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw, and by the delightful starbirdrampant.

thoughts: this fic may be ooc at some points but it’s so funny that that makes up for it

spn

 Broadway Musical by Griftings (12.5k, M, destiel) This is the day that marked the Holy and Blessed Union of Dean Winchester and Jo Harvelle.The merging of prominent bloodlines is always a grand occurrence, but breeding pedigree hunter families like Winchester and Harvelle is something to be rejoiced. It is also something to be meticulously planned, which thankfully the Host is very good at.Or, the romantic comedy where Dean Winchester and Jo Harvelle are destined to get married, Castiel is given the task of playing matchmaker and fails terribly, the entire Heavenly Host becomes a sitcom audience, God warns against male pregnancy, and Jimmy Novak is incredibly unimpressed with angels in general.

thoughts: this fic is quite possibly the single most funniest thing i have ever read. like i was straight up cackling when i was reading some of the scenes.

  Down to Agincourt by seperis (1 million+, E, destiel) There is no such thing as a guarantee when it comes to war.The outcome's known. Why try? Return your rusty sword to battered sheath, bow your head and bend your stubborn knee. Why take the field when you cannot win the war? But Harry -- he went down to Agincourt.

--Harry Takes the Field by bratfarrar (AO3 link here.)

thoughts: this fic is an absolute work of art. the characterization dean and cas and all of the ocs is astounding the world building is immaculate and the writing is so detailed and in depth. a fair warning though to the first time reader as this fic can get very confusing at times but trust me it is worth it. 

#mcu recs #atla recs #hp recs #bnha recs #spn recs #my fic recs #bullying tw #rape tw

[thejilyship]

Jily + arguing + 'You're not understanding this, James.'

I made it fem!jily, because that’s what I wanted to do. 

This did get away from me. 

2.4k words

ff.net | ao3

They argue all the time now.

When Lily complains to Mary about this, while Jamie is out with her friends so there’s no chance of her overhearing, Mary reminds her that they have always argued. That there has never been a time where they knew one another and didn’t argue. 

Lily doesn’t know how to explain to Mary that it’s different now. 

That if she sits next to Jamie at breakfast and accidentally bumps her arm against Jamie’s arm, then the incident will spiral into a heated argument about the importance of personal space and Lily listing out the top ten reasons she’s never sitting next to Jamie again. 

Only Lily doesn’t have a list of any reasons to never sit next to Jamie again, and she leaves the table feeling frustrated and a little sad that she can’t even enjoy breakfast with her friend anymore. 

If they are partnered together in class, if they have to do patrols together, if they run into one another in the owlery, it doesn’t seem to matter what they’re doing or where they are, they will find a way to be at each other’s throats and it’s not fun like it used to be. It’s not playful, it’s not entertaining, Lily no longer seeks out these interactions. She avoids them, and so she’s taken to avoiding Jamie as well, since she can’t seem to have one without the other. 

And fighting with Jamie like this, it just hurts.

Mary just laughs at her when she tells her that she’s no longer speaking to Jamie. Wishes her luck and flicks her on the tip of her nose. 

They are roommates, so avoiding her entirely is quite the task.

Lily still resents getting flicked.

She’s head girl, so it should be easy to avoid doing rounds with Jamie. But one night when she’s meant to patrol with Remus, Jamie showed up instead. 

“No,” Lily said, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest. “No, I’m not patrolling with you.” 

“Then you’re patrolling by yourself.” Jamie was glaring at her, like Lily was the reason that Jamie had been such a pain in the ass lately. “Remus isn’t feeling well, and he asked me to cover for him. I didn’t know that he was set to patrol with you or I would have told him to ask someone else.” 

Lily frowned. 

She didn’t want to patrol with Jamie. But she couldn’t patrol by herself, not after what Wilkes and Mulcieber did to that Ravenclaw boy last week. 

And Jamie knew that. Lily wanted to believe that even if they had been sleeping facing opposite directions simply to spite one another, Jamie wouldn’t leave her to patrol the corridors alone. (At least, Lily was facing the opposite direction. They both slept with their canopy pulled entirely shut, so there was no way for Lily to be certain that Jamie was facing away from her, but she had a feeling.)

They stood across from one another outside of the Gryffindor common room, silently glowering until the portrait opened and a fourth year walked out, saw the two of them and quickly muttered something about having left their book in the library. 

Lily waved them off and then sighed. 

“Alright, fine. Let’s just get this over with.”

“I love and appreciate the enthusiasm, Evans.”

“Spending time with people who openly can’t stand me is one of my favorite things to do. Especially people who were my friend up until a couple of weeks ago.”

Jamie tilted her head back and forth with a mocking look on her face and Lily clicked her tongue.

“What did I even do? Why have you been so angry with me?”

Jamie crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.

Lily ground her teeth together and clenched her fists. Fine. They didn’t have to talk.

They remained silent until they reached the next corridor.

“You’re the one who’s angry.” Jamie muttered.

“Me?” Lily answered immediately, as though they hadn’t walked in silence for two and a half minutes. “It seems like everything I do bothers you! You threw a pair of my shoes out the window yesterday because they were on ‘your side of the room!’”

Jamie shrugged. “Mary accio-ed them back.”

“You still threw them out the window!”

“Okay, well you charmed all of my robes lime green! Slughorn gave me detention for that!”

“Because you spilled ink all over my history essay!”

“Well you wouldn’t look at me while I was talking to you!”

“Why can’t we get along anymore?” Lily shouted, startling a pair of Hufflepuffs as they rounded the corner.

“Get back to your dorm,” Jamie snapped at them, and they exchanged looks before hurrying off. “I don’t know.” She said this to Lily.

“Well I hate it!” Lily carded her hand through her hair. “Why aren’t we friends anymore?”

Jamie’s tense shoulders relaxed a bit, and her voice was quieter, “I don’t know.”

“That’s not good enough.” She looked over at Jamie, trying to catch her eye, trying to find something about the other girl that gave her some kind of hint as to what was really going on. “I hate being upset with you.”

“Well then stop.” Jamie said, purposefully unhelpful. She was trying to start another row. Lily was not going to have it.

“Fine.” She took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a moment and then dropped her shoulders. “Fine.”

Jamie glanced over at her, cautious and disbelieving.

“Glad that was so easy for you.”

Lily knew how Jamie was when she was needling, when she was looking for a big reaction, and normally she fell for it. But this was the first time in a week that she’d allowed herself to be around Jamie without pretending that the other girl didn’t exist, and she wanted answers. So she wouldn’t be falling for any of Jamie’s taunts.

It had always been hard to be Jamie’s friend.

It had always meant keeping secrets and treading carefully, and while sometimes it had felt like it was all too much, like she was going to explode with the pressure her secret built up inside her heart and her head, most of the time, she just liked being around Jamie. She liked making her smile and talking about classes and doing their homework together. She liked helping Jamie with her hair and teasing her about how her socks never matched. She liked finding excuses to hug her, to sit closer to her in the Great Hall. She liked pretending to need help in Transfigurations so that Jamie would spend extra time explaining things to her. Coming up with reasons why she needed to borrow her jumpers.

Once she pretended to be out of shampoo just so she could ask Jamie if she could borrow hers. She’d spent the entire day distracted.

It had taken Lily an embarrassing amount of time to work out what all of that meant.

It hadn’t been until the end of sixth year when Lily realized that she most certainly fancied Jamie Potter.

And now, two months into their seventh year, Lily was sort of terrified that she was losing her friend before she mustered up the nerve to tell her the truth.

She didn’t want to lose Jamie.

“It’s not easy. Nothing is ever easy when it comes to you.” Lily said. “But you’re my friend and there is clearly something going on. So, until you tell me what it is, I’m not going to shout at you or retaliate anymore. I’m tired of this.”

“Sure. I’ll give that five minutes and you’ll be back to telling me how much you can’t stand me.”

“You’re not understanding this, Jamie.” Lily huffed. “I can’t stand how things are between us right now. I can’t stand that I can’t talk to you like I used to. I can’t stand that you never look at me anymore. I can’t stand a lot of things about this situation that we’ve created, but you? No.” She shook her head, looking back at Jamie.

Her face was al scrunched up and her knuckles were white. She dropped her arms from over her chest and shoved them into the pockets of her cloak.

Lily waited. They made it down two more corridors and Jamie still hadn’t said anything.

“Jamie,” Lily said almost afraid now. Was it too late? Had she accidentally did something that had made Jamie upset with her without realizing it? Had she somehow started all of this.

Jamie swiped at her cheek and turned her head away.

Lily reached out and stopped them both in the middle of the corridor. “Why are you crying?” She asked, not sure if she’d ever seen Jamie cry before. Her worry bubbled up her throat.

“I’m not,” Jamie said quickly, but she was.

“Tell me what’s wrong. Please.”

Jamie reached up and grabbed a fistful of her own hair. Then she threw her hands in the air and huffed, “I’m gay, Lily.”

Lily stared at her blankly, but when she didn’t continue, Lily nodded. “Yes. I know that. You told me when we were fourteen. You told everyone when we were fourteen. You asked McGonagall if she could make an exception to the dress code so that you could where rainbow socks over your tights. You told Mary and I that you wanted to marry that chaser from the Harpies-”

“I know that you know!” Jamie interrupted. “And I know that we’re friends, and I know that I’ve been a bit of a dick recently, and I know that you’re overly affectionate with all your friends-“

“What are you going on about?” Lily was so confused by the sudden turn in their conversation that she was no longer worried that Jamie didn’t want to be her friend anymore.

“You’re always hugging people! Me, Mary, Remus, Marlene, Alice, Frank- your friends! You hug your friends. And you compliment them all the time, especially Mary, which is fine!” Jamie put her hands up, palms facing Lily who still didn’t have a damn clue what she was going on about. “You’re exceedingly kind and wonderful and all that.”

“Then why have you been fighting with me for the last month! Why have you been acting like you want nothing to do with me?”

“Because it got too hard! I was just trying to put up some boundaries, for my own sake, and then it got a little out of hand.” Jamie’s hands were back in her hair now. “I didn’t mean for things to go this far. I don’t want to be fighting with you all the time, I just… I don’t know what to do.”

Lily chewed on her lip. Lily had, in all likelihood, been quite obvious about how she felt about Jamie, perhaps Jamie had noticed. “Was I making you uncomfortable?”

“No.” Jamie answered quickly, looking up and down the hall. “Of course, you weren’t.”

“Then what boundaries were you trying to set?”

Jamie opened and shut her mouth a few times before she looked Lily in the eye and just huffed in frustration. She smiled at her, though even that looked frustrated. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“You didn’t mean for what to happen?” Lily was going to shake her if she didn’t spit it out. Jamie covered her face with her hands and Lily reached out and grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands down. “Come on, Jamie. We’re so close. Just tell me what happened.”

Jamie took a deep breath, looking down at their hands and then brought her gaze up to meet Lily’s.

“If I did something or said something that made you uncomfortable, just tell me so that I can never do it again. I want to go back to being able to smile at you when you walk in a room instead of feeling like I need to leave immediately.”

The corner of Jamie’s mouth quirked, but then fell back down. “Please don’t smile at me anymore.”

Lily narrowed her eyes. “Excuse me?”

“Lily, I fancy you. I tried to stop, I didn’t mean to start, but I fancy you and sometimes being your friend is hard.” Lily tightened her grip on Jamie’s wrists and felt as though she’d been frozen. “I don’t mean for it to be hard, and I know that that’s something I have to figure out, clearly in a different way because I’ve mucked everything up recently.”

“Jamie,”

“I know. And like I said, this is for me to work through, I’m not expecting-“

“Jamie shut up.” Lily let go of her wrists and took a small step back.

“Rude.” But she stopped rattling on.

“Do you mean that? Do you really fancy me?”

Jamie ran her hand through her hair and nodded. “Yes. I do.”

Lily felt laughter pushing through her and she spun around as it erupted, her face splitting into a giant grin. She steadied herself and put her hands on Jamie’s shoulders.  

“Did I break you?” Jamie asked, narrowing her brow.

“Maybe,” Lily stepped closer to her, this time so the tips of their shoes were touching. “I have felt like you’ve broken me so many times in the last couple of years.” Jamie seemed to be the frozen one now as Lily leaned forward until their foreheads were resting against one another. “The next time you tell me that you fancy me, can you do it so that it doesn’t sound like an apology?”

Jamie’s eyes were searching her face and Lily slowly brought her hands up from Jamie’s shoulder to cup her face, to brush her thumbs over her cheeks. Jamie’s eyes fluttered closed and then she strained against Lily’s hold until their lips connected.

It was a short kiss, but sweet and full of hopeful disbelief. 

“I fancy you, too,” Lily said, her hand pushing through Jamie’s curls.

“Yeah,” Jamie said against her lips, Lily could feel the start of her smile, “I haven’t seen you kiss any of your friends like this before.” Overly affectionate with all your friends. Lily laughed quietly.

“Not like this,” Lily agreed.

The tension that had built up between them over the last month melted away further with every kiss, until Lily felt completely pliable in Jamie’s arms.

When they pulled back, when they had finished smiling dumbly at one another, when they had remembered that they were supposed to be doing rounds and restarted, holding hands this time, Jamie let out a low hum. “I guess I owe Sirius five galleons.”

Lily started laughing. 

And Jamie made sure she kept laughing for the rest of rounds.

#jily #jily fic #fem!jily #fem!james #Anonymous

[lovelylogans]

Yes. Please Open The Box. I've been on hp brainrot cause I've been rewatching the movies with my mom. Please

i feel like i have a lot of opinions that are popular opinions, and fuck terfs, but nonetheless:

regulus black would have been the perfect example of a brave slytherin that albus was named after

arthur, hagrid, or remus could have served as other father figures instead of albus; tell me hagrid would not burst into tears upon hearing his child was named after him? also, arthur, for both ginny and harry!

i read the occasional drarry fic but it has to be very, very well-written; or, at least, it has to have the understanding that draco has to go through some sort of redemption, either through atoning for his own actions, or an au in which he already has—some fics make him the next-gen spy, a bit like snape

uh, draco and dudley are perfect foils, and people would simp after dudley if he was as “conventionally attractive” as tom felton

dudley had more of a canon redemption arc than draco did

fatphobia is rampant in the series—villains are the vast majority of fat rep, and even good fat characters like molly or hagrid still have faults (hagrid is “big and dumb,” a bit like dudley tbh, and molly is kind of just? a Mother? like that’s her defining character trait. nothing wrong with being a stay at home mom if that’s what you want, of course, it’s just that molly didn’t have much of a personality outside of her children until the later books.)

misogyny too—molly was so mean to hermione in the fourth book and fleur in the sixth, ginny was mean to fleur too, hermione gives off “not like other girls” energy especially concerning lavender and pavarti

poc harry and hermione—sure, jkr says she’s cool with it, but she gets a lot of credit for the bare minimum. she could have written them that way.

there’s a whole lot of white people in hp. wish there’d been better rep

same with dumbledore! it’s so clear she said he’s gay to get better credit for rep that’s barely there, but now she has the chance to expound in it in the fantastic beasts movies, she isn’t planning on addressing it. right. okay.

should i even get into the antisemitism of the goblins

most -isms jkr ticked, tbh, and described better by other people who these -isms directly affect, so i won’t get too much more into it

wish hufflepuffs had more house rep, in general, they mostly just get cedric, and i wish that “good slytherins” were expounded upon, especially concerning the whole “no slytherins stayed” for the final battle you cannot TELL ME that there wasn’t ONE slytherin who had ambitions to fight voldemort

(i’m a ravenclaw, btw)

cho, angelina, and ginny are all overhated; movie!ginny was albeit lacking a lot of the Spice of book ginny, and movie cho got shorted bc they didn’t include marietta as the betrayer of the da, but like. god. pls chill ppl

albus probably considered that sirius was innocent but decided to leave him in azkaban, even though he didn’t know for sure; albus probably also laid out the traps for the stone with eleven-year-olds in mind, just in case harry wanted to try and prove himself; albus was behind a lot of the machinations, and at the very least he left a child to be abused for years on end

i wrote a ten page essay on why snape is a garbage person for that college class i mentioned. i got a perfect score.

like seriously i could talk about how much snape sucks and why him having a crush on lily isn’t redemption, but like. we get it. c’mon. “i see no difference,” threatening to kill a student’s beloved pet, being that student’s worst fear....... come on.

harry should have been the dada professor when he grew up. like it’s right there.

tonks is genderfluid you cannot convince me otherwise

i love wolfstar as much as the next gal, but if we get a marauders tv show slash movie, you know she’d make that shit as straight as possible. no thanks.

someone on tiktok said florence pugh as helga hufflepuff tho and. yeah.

mmm jkr really should have kept her hands off a lot of the international schools; i know she messed up at the very least native american representation, even though native americans requested she not do that, and there are really big Colonization Vibes from those expanded schools. which like, i get, bc colonization was happening, but. still. so many fics have done better with those concepts.

speaking of! fic recs! these are all on ao3

the changeling: slytherin!ginny. takes her through all seven years and addresses various kinds of magic. i absolutely adore it. harry/ginny

boy with a scar series: takes various “what ifs” about the harry potter series and writes them; mostly canon ships

sunshine in my eyes: lily is raised by professor mcgonagall. jily

true, and unafraid of toil: a character study of autistic newt scamander

the dogfather: petunia turns down taking in her son, sirius escapes azkaban much earlier, and harry’s adopted by muggles. only the first year of hogwarts is written out in full, but there’s ficlets that follow through to the end of the wizarding war. wolfstar.

(the completely unwilling participants on) the bachelor: james is the first british bachelor; lily is a journalist who is sent on the show, undercover, by her shitty boss. james/lily

swung by serafim: a characterization of snape that i do not completely hate; i avoid the last two chapters, bc i do not like snarry, it squicks me out, and i didn’t see the tags for it until the very end of the work since it gets more textual in those chapters, and also it involves real life events that feels a bit strange to write about in fic, but. that’s just me. i think there’s cho/harry/cedric in there?

turn: genuinely just one of the best-written harry potter fanfics i’ve ever read. harry after the epilogue gets sent to an alternate universe where things went a little different. drarry

the debt of time: obligatory “hermione gets sent back in time to the marauders” fic; these were super popular on fanfic.net, where i started out, but i read this recently and really really enjoyed it. sirius/hermione, remus/hermione

the pure and simple truth: everyone goes out to a bar. drarry, romione

hogwarts, to welcome you home: harry as the dada professor from mcgonagall’s perspective

stealing harry: sirius never went to azkaban, but harry still went to the dursleys for a bit. it’s written up to part of the third book, but it has notes for how the rest of the series would have turned out. wolfstar

hermione granger’s hogwarts crammer for delinquents on the run: if harry was told he was a wizard at age seventeen, instead of age eleven. drarry

the reclamation of black magic: harry’s grandmother dorea was in a coma and never died. now she’s come to adopt her grandson and seek a reckoning on the wizarding world. this is unfinished and is in harry’s first year; sirius black/remus, for a bit, but also remus/female oc and sirius/male oc; probably harry/hermione, by the end of it.

if any of you have fic recs (especially fics featuring ginny, jily, or wolfstar) (i’ve been meaning to read atyd, i’m saving it) please let me know!

#ask #not ts #Anonymous

[january3693]

Are there any marauders-era WIPs that you’re currently reading that you like? :)

Thanks for asking, Nonnie! I'll be the first to admit that my reading has slacked lately due to real life stuff, but there are definitely some that I've been trying to read or at least keep track of for later.

First off has to be We Could Be Heroes by @blitheringmcgonagall. It's a great exploration of the Marauders last few years in school (and beyond) with both Jily and Wolfstar.

Also We Were Infinite by @captofthesswolfstar. This is a classic and if you're not already reading it I highly recommend it. So much great stuff in there, and it updated recently.

I've also been super intrigued by the first few chapters of Call You Mine by pineappleyogurt (whose Tumblr I do not know, if they have one). It's a fun mix of a modern version of the wizarding world complete with texting and chat groups. It is explicit, but if you're down for some Wolfstar getting explicitly down, it's been great lighthearted fun thus far.

If you want something explicit but darker and much more angsty, there's also The Moon That Breaks by @thehufflebean. Mind the tags, but otherwise enjoy the exquisite prose.

This last one isn't Marauders Era, but I am obsessed with it, so I have to recommend the entire Rock 'n' Pole series (the fourth one is currently a WIP and they update multiple times a day on a daily schedule, so you're never left hanging for too long) by @jennandblitz and @marlenemckinn. It's a fantastic mix of fluff, smut, and some angst with Sirius as a genderfluid pro pole dancer and Remus as an aspec rock climber/literature lover.

Hope those help!

#fic recs #wip fic recs #wolfstar #jily #my recs #mwpp era

[breanime]

Make It Bright

Requested by @delicatelilyflower:  Hello there! It’s late and I’m feeling really happy and I thought: could you write a fic with any of Ben’s character (including Sirius) because I can’t choose where his gf is having one of her very cheerful moment and he’s just like damn I love her so much because I’m in desperate need of fluff Thank youuu

Thanks for the request, I wrote this with a bit of a headache, but I hope you like it! 

*gif by @b-n-a-o*

Sirius made his way to the library with his hands in his pockets. He had just gotten a letter from his mother—it would have been better suited as a Howler, but she was above that kind of humiliation. She liked her humiliation to sting.

And sting it did.

Sirius had burnt the letter—all five pages of it—in the Common Room fireplace, but watching it burn hadn’t done anything to ease the anger. Remus had sat with him for a while, but Sirius ended up sending him away. It wasn’t that Remus being there wasn’t nice. It was. It was just… Sirius needed to be alone. In all honesty, he wanted to be with you, but he was concerned that he wasn’t good company—and he wasn’t—so he decided to isolate himself until he felt better. Although, he wasn’t sure when that would be. It was like the words in that letter were tattooed in his brain: worthless, an embarrassment, a disgrace. It played through his head over and over again, and the more Sirius thought about it, the more he started to believe it. Maybe he was just Walburga’s bastard son, her one mistake in her pristine life. Maybe he was worthless and useless and everything she said he was. Maybe he deserved her hatred, her venom. It was his inheritance, after all. Plus, Sirius had to admit: the old bird was sharp. His mother was evil and cold and ruthless, but she was intelligent, too. So who was to say she wasn’t right about him? Maybe he was a disgrace and good for nothing. Maybe he deserved to be unhappy—Merlin knows his bloodline alone kept him perpetually miserable. He thought, when he’d first come to Hogwarts, that maybe he would find happiness there. Peter, Remus, and James became his family, loved and appreciated him despite his last name. They were there for him when his own family—when his own brother—shunned him. They made him happy.

And then there was you. Sirius had liked you the first time he saw your smile. He knew you’d be good friends the first time you pulled a prank with him (you jinxed James so every time he said “Lily”, “Evans”, or “Quidditch” he burped rainbow-colored bubbles for a month). It wasn’t too long after that he realized he loved you. Everything about you made him feel…safe and warm. When you smiled, Sirius felt like everything was right in the world. When he held you, when you were enclosed in his arms, lips against his, he felt invincible. He felt like he had a purpose. He felt… the exact opposite of how he felt now.

Right now…he felt like garbage. And even worse: it felt like he deserved to feel like garbage.

And then he heard your laugh. It was unmistakable; it was the sound of joy and hope and love…unfiltered, uncompromising, unconditional love. He stopped in his tracks, his head immediately turning towards the sound. You were at a table with James and Lily, and you were making the parchment float above you while you ‘studied’. James and Lily were laughing, but it was only your laugh Sirius was focused on. You had a smile from ear to ear, and it was like Sirius was watching the sun rise. He stood there and stared at you for what was probably only seconds, but it felt like minutes. His heart stopped when you looked up and noticed him standing there.

“Sirius!” You turned your million-watt smile to him, and Sirius couldn’t help but smile in return. “There you are! Come study with us, love!”

He chuckled as he walked over. “Doesn’t look like you’re doing much studying.”

“I’m the most brilliant wizard at this bloody school,” James boasted, “I don’t need to study!”

“Second most brilliant,” Sirius said back easily.

“Third if we’re factoring in Remus,” you added.

“Fourth if you count Severus,” Lily said.

“We do not,” James scoffed, offended.

James and Lily—Jily, as you called them—dissolved into soft arguing with a strong hint of sexual tension as Sirius just stared down at you. You titled your head as you looked at him; you could always read him like a book. He knew you could see the weight on his shoulders, just like he knew you would take it upon yourself to fix them.

And you did—easily.

You patted the seat next to you, and Sirius immediately felt a wave of warm comfort wash over him at your closeness. You didn’t make it a big deal, you just… You were just being yourself. You sat close enough that your shoulder touched his, and you made sure to smile in his direction as you spoke with him, voice hushed as not to interrupt Jily’s charged ‘discussion’. His face was starting to hurt from smiling so much. Just being around you made him feel light and warm and…

“I love you,” he whispered, leaning in close to you.

Your smile warmed him to the core. “I love you, too,” you whispered back. “Hey,” you dropped your voice lower, properly effecting a conspiratorial whisper, “this is for you.” You knocked your knee against his under the table, and he felt you slip something into his hand. “Don’t read it here.”

“Seriously?” He looked down at the slip of paper in his hands, a smirk on his face. “We’re writing notes now, love?”

“Go,” you gestured towards a bookcase with your head, “Read it now.”

Chuckling, Sirius got up, kissing you on the head before walking over to the bookcase a few feet away. He shook his head, your smile imprinted on his heart. He unfolded the paper, recognizing your familiar handwriting, and even that made him feel better. His heart pounded in his chest as he read it.

Love,

Your mother is a twat. Remus told me what happened, so I took it upon myself to write you a letter that isn’t full of absolute bullshit.

Sirius, I love you. I adore you. You make me feel like the most beautiful, most important person in the world and I don’t know where I would be without you. I know that sometimes you might not feel like it, but you are irreplaceable. You make every day better, and I hope you know that. I’m still in awe that you chose me, decided to be with me, because you could have anyone you wanted. And I hope that I make you even half as happy as you make me. I could on and on about how much I love you (way more than five pages worth), but I think I would rather show you. Are you free tonight?

Sirius grinned. Hell yeah he was free—he lived for the nights when he would sneak into your dorm. The cost for a night spent with you in his arms, with him inside you, kissing you, caressing you was just one a simple wave of his wand charming the area around the bed so he could enjoy every single sound he made you make without threat of interruption. Licking his lips, he read on, the smile stuck on his face.

I’m going to assume that you are, so I’ll see you tonight, handsome. But until then, I need you to take your wand out and say the following words: “I solemnly swear that my mum is a twat”.

He laughed. He took his wand out, held it against the note and said: “I solemnly swear that my mum is a twat.”

His grin widened as he watched different handwriting appear in the note. He would know that writing anywhere: Moony, Wormtail, and Prongs.

Peter’s note appeared first:

Did you know that I wrote about you in my first letter home? I was so excited that Sirius Black talked to me. To be honest, I was quite sure you were pulling a prank on me at first, but… You weren’t. (at least I don’t think you were…or are) But, if I’m being honest, mate, I really look up to you. I mean—imagine being me. I’m not talented like you all, not good looking like you or James or good at talking like Remus, but… You’re friends with me anyway. And you don’t have to be—I mean, you’re Sirius Black, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. You’re not even graduated yet and you’re a legend. I guess what I’m trying to say is… your mother is wrong about you. You’re not worthless, Sirius. To be honest…you’re my hero.

Sirius wiped his eyes—not because he was crying or anything, but because his eyes were dry. That was it.

Next was Remus.

I hope you don’t mind that I spoke with the fellas (and your lady) about what happened with your mother. You know I don’t like to be rude to elders but your mum’s a bitch. She called you a disgrace? You? The one who spent months to become an animagus and stuck with the literal disgrace? (By the way, I know you’re making a face right now because I referred to myself as a disgrace, and I know you’re probably thinking ‘how could you think that, Moony?’. That is exactly how I felt sitting with you after you read that letter) I couldn’t ask for a better friend, confidant, brother, and fellow Marauder. You came into Hogwarts as a cocky little fucker with stupid hair, and you’re going to leave it a cocky big fucker with stupid hair and a big heart. You, my friend, are a true Gryffindor, and we are beyond fortunate to have you. I look forward to burning more letters from your mother in the (near) future and causing mischief. Moony out.

Sirius sniffled. What an ass. James’ handwriting appeared below Remus’, and Sirius shook his head as he read the words.

Mate—are you out of your mind? You must be if you’re giving any serious (haha, Sirius is being serious) thought to what your mum said. What did she say? You were a disgrace and an embarrassment? Has she looked into a mirror? That hairstyle (which I still think is just a dead bat wrapped in barbed wire) is a disgrace. But, in all seriousness, Padfoot, you are amazing. Your mum might never see how great you are, but we do. And you know there’s always a room for you at mine—my mum is probably making up a room for you as we speak. Next holiday, you’re coming home with me! And tonight we’re breaking into the kitchens and eating as much chocolate as Moony will let us (which is going to be all of it!)—oh, don’t worry, I know about your “‘plans’” with Y/N tonight, I promise that this won’t interfere with that… you dirty dog (ha! DOG!). But you know, Pads, you’re my very best friend. You make me laugh, you challenge me, you’re like the best part of me—which is saying a lot because there’s are just sooo many great things about me—and I don’t know who I would be without you (or who you would be without me), but I’m glad I know you. I love ya, mate.

Now say “my dad’s no prize either”.

Laughing, Sirius pressed the wand to the paper. “My Dad’s no prize either,” he said. He tucked the paper into his pants and peaked around the corner, where he was greeted by your brilliant smile. He mouthed “I love you”, and you mouthed it back.

“Oi!” James yelled, completely disregarding the rules of the library, “I love you too, you giant git!”

“Not as much as I love you, ya wanker!” Sirius shouted back.

You were all promptly kicked out of the library—but that was ok. As Sirius walked down the hall with his hand in yours, James and Lily at his side, he started to realize just how lucky he was. He might not be close with his family—he might never be close with them again—but that was fine. He had a family here. He looked over at James and saw a brother, and a possible sister-in-law in Lily. As they turned a corner and ran into Remus and Peter, he saw two more brothers—brothers who weren’t bogged down with instilled hate, brothers who saw potential in him, but at the same time accepted him for exactly who he was. And, when Sirius looked down at you and your loving, heart-stopping smile, he saw his future.

And he knew his future would be as bright as your smile, no matter what his mother said.

And he was damn grateful for it.

****************************************************************************************

I’m a Slut for found families! Hope you guys liked this, and I’m sorry I haven’t been posting much this week. Hopefully I get back on it next week! Thanks for reading!

Taglist: @floralpeaceofmind​ @delicatelilyflower​ @dylanobrusso​ @ladyblablabla​ @banditthewriter​ @something-tofightfor​  @starsfragments​ @blackcoffeeandgreenteaforme​ @hisgirlwednesdayaddams​@fictionwillneverdie @maria-beretta​ @sadnessxvodka​ @ymariejp​ @sunnycolors​ @moonlightsay​ @its-all-o-kay @damagelove​ @keyeluh @itsmylife98​ @funerals-with-cake​ @littlemermaidprobz​ @teacuplotus​ @king4thesirens​ @mrsjaxtellerfan​ @thebabblingbook​ @tartelette-aux-fraises​ @madamrogers​  @charlylama​ @iaintnofurry​​ @k-buggz2001​​ @whitewolfslittlesilverfox @drinix​ @elanor-of-imladris​ @blah-blah-fuckit-shit @julliiaaq​ @holamor​ @ymariejp@shadowhunterscloset @songtoyou​ @anabella-baby @sssilverssserpent​ @heyitslexy @luminex3 @sithskywalkers @carlaangel86 @sssilverssserpent @jupiter-blake @binbons-is-theloml @captainblackeyes @importantkidmakerfire @luminex3 

(I couldn’t get it to tag some of you guys, so if you didn’t get tagged and you SHOULD have, please let me know)

#sirius black #sirius black x reader #the marauders #marauders imagine

[ofprcngs]

BRANDON ARREAGA — Well, if it isn’t JAMES POTTER, the GRYFFINDOR superstar. For those of you who don’t know HIM, you can spot them sitting with the other SEVENTH years. Most people think that they’re CHARMING and INCISIVE, but they can also seem pretty DEPENDENT and INEXORABLE. Sometimes people call them the SHEPHERD. Sure, they’re a PUREBLOOD, but that doesn’t define them. 

i literally have 0 explanation for why i did this other than i’m in love with him. but also, he’s a mess, so jot that down. if you wanna know more about him ( protip: don’t ) then i recommend checking out his pinterest and then i dunno.... contemplate why i’m a punk ass bitch, i guess. enjoy this mess. plot with me. ily.

james henry potter ( named for two his two grandfathers, maternal and paternal respectively ) was born on april 4th, 1960 to two of the most loving parents a child could have.

fleamont and euphemia had been trying for a child for years. they’d been together for basically all of time, having been that typical good-looking, well liked couple in hogwarts that everyone always just assumes will get married ( spoiler alert: they did ), however had had to postpone kids due to fleamont’s brief stint as a professional quidditch player for eight years following their graduation. after that, they would try every month for a child, and after many years of disappointment, eventually gave up. it was during this time that fleamont developed the sleekeazy hair potion which only added to their immense wealth. 

finally at age forty-one, they were surprised with the arrival of james. obviously, they saw him as their miracle child, and as such he was pampered and completely spoiled from the moment he was born.

i cannot stress enough how much this spoiled upbringing shaped james into the person he is today. if you’re wondering why he was ever an arrogant prick, it’s because he was always used to getting absolutely everything he ever wanted. he grew up with money, he grew up with fame and with every bit of attention he could garner, and so it was really no wonder he was a bit of an asshole by the time he started at hogwarts.

obviously, james had a pretty cushy childhood, and as such, shit didn’t start getting real until he started at hogwarts. 

it took all of three seconds for the hat to sort him into gryffindor, and i guess you could say he pretty much considered himself to be the gem of the house. he was the absolute epitome of a gryffindor, basically considered him the poster boy and all but expected everyone to love him.

really did not help his ego to know that everyone did.

in typical sterotype-gryffindor fashion, james hated slytherin. he had always been taught growing up that purists were basically the root of all evil, and his father had had no qualms in lumping all these people in with the house of the snakes. james and his friends took a particular disliking to severus snape almost immediately for the poncy way in which he seemed to believe he was superior to all for his intelligence and his house status, and this dislike only grew when lily evans was tossed into the mix, too.

for basically the first four or five years of hogwarts, james really was that stereotypical arrogant asshole that he’s often made out to be. he always got everything he asked for, he was incredibly popular and incredibly intelligent, he had the most amazing friends and his eyes on the most amazing girl. he was set!! shit was good!!

shit was not good, though. definitely was not. 

despite having known of remus’ furry little problem since second year, things didn’t really start to settle in james how awful it was until third or fourth year. he hated seeing his friend in pain, he hated that he couldn’t help, and so he rallied the boys to put into action their worst plan yet!!!!

becoming animagi!!!!!!

it took fucking forever, obviously, but by the end of fourth year they did it!! we stan icons

except then in fifth year shit hit the fan again in just, like... so many ways

first, it was the whole severus ‘mudblood’ situation. honestly, james was absolutely furious. he’d always hated snape but this just made everything 1000 times worse. even if it had happened to anyone else, he would have been fuming. but for it to have happened to lily like... yikes. 

this was also a horrible time for james though because lily rejected him for the thousandth time. like, look, what a yikes thing to think when she was just called a mudblood, but frankly he was sick of being rejected and he was sick of being the asshole who kept pressuring her so that was the breaking point --- he gave up on her. 

and tbh, he changed a lot from here on out. grew up!! became a better person bc he saw how horrible snap was and decided he was sick of horrible people!! saw, recognised and acknowledged that just bc he was hot and intelligent and rich he wasn’t always going to get everything he wanted ( see: miss evans ) and just generally learned that oh shit the world doesn’t revolve around him!!!

oh and then there was that whole thing with sirius and snape and Remus the Werewolf and ohhhh boyyyy.... that infuriated him. 

he loves his bros so much and y’all know he would die for them, but to see his friend abuse remus’ pain and suffering for his own gain was heart wrenching. it just pushed him further to pull him in line, to realise that not everything was about games, or petty rivalry, or ‘ getting the girl ’ --- life  heartache and mistakes and it was never going to go the way he wanted it to.

now look, this isn’t all to say that james is now a Super Strict, Super Intense, Brooding Weirdo. he’s still a bit of a child, and he’s still a bit of an arrogant prick, but ultimately what wins out is his morals --- every time. he wants to lead the world to a better place, without war and without hate, he wants everyone to have the same opportunities he had as a kid and he wants nothing more than for blood purity to be eradicated.

get that shit outta my house!!! gross!!!!!!

now in his final year, james is always flipping between taking his role as head boy deadly serious and turning it into one big game of mischief. he’s still a marauder at heart, after all, and has definitely abused his power sometimes for the benefit of fun and games, but when it comes down to it, he can be very strict and lowkey paternal. the leader really just.... popped right outta him, it came to play and it came hard, and really you’d think he’s minister for magic with how serious he treats it sometimes.

i hate him.

he’s a lot less intense with his hatred for slytherin’s. he has come to recognise that not everyone from that lifestyle is going to be the same, not everyone who grew up a certain way or was sorted into a certain house is going to think with a deadly mind, and while he’s still a bit wary, he’s a lot more relaxed about it, especially as head boy ( gotta at least pretend shit’s fair !!! )

ok i’m so tired this is abt to turn into a rambling mess 

uHhhHHh he’s very dependent as in like... boi cannot go a week without his friends. he is used to having people to bounce off, that’s always the type of leader he has been, and as much as he would probably be amazing at anything on his own, he’s never really tried. too scared!! i hate him!!!!!

super unforgiving. like, if you have gotten on his bad side.... i’m sorry. it is going to be very difficult to return from there. his moral compass is pretty black and white, you’re either good or your bad, and if you’ve done something he considers bad wELL sucks to be you, i guess. sorry not sorry.

takes his quidditch very seriously tbh. so many people have told him he needs to be a pro like his dad, but he’s like haha fuck you i know what i wanna do ( hint hint: he wants to rule that goddamn auror office, make that shit far more efficient then he thinks it is now ). but srsly, he’s so intense abt the game and it really like... idk gets him in the zone, keeps him level-headed in amongst all this chaos. 

i don’t know what im saying anymore pls send help

uhhhhh he’s smart. i guess. straight a’s and shit idk. just very naturally intelligent, finds everything he does easy, like.. really is that asshole who is just good at everything he does.

i’ve run out of things to say, pls just love him

WANTED CONNECTIONS

girlfriend: i hate to expose myself as a whole ass jily stan but... here i am i guess. but also, listen: he really thinks he’s over her right now. like, he truly believes his days of pestering lily evans are behind him. it was just a crush! it’s gone! ( spoiler alert: it’s not ) BUT he is so convinced that he has got himself into this relationship which is really just... a mess. like highkey it’s obvious he could never fully love her bc his Heart Belongs to Lily or whatever but he does care for her deeply and has tricked himself into believing it’s love. it’s hard, man. he’s confused. send help.

ex-girlfriend(s): more of above but like... less intense? or more intense! who knows, frankly.

childhood friend(s): i’d die for childhood friends. jake/gina dynamic? iconic. just anything, really.

odd friend: ok like... as i mentioned, he’s still kinda wary of slytherins and ppl who grew up in purist culture, but i would love love love to see someone who was one of the first to show him that not all those people are so bad. like someone from a purist family or the like who was just chill and friendly and actually befriended this asshole even when he was... well, an asshole. it’d be fun, ig. also if they eventually do end up recruited for the de’s bc of family stuff or whatever... bonus points.

rivals: i’m tired. you understand.

#novum:intro #you guys this is... such a mess #im gunna regret posting this in the morning #oh well!! #here we are ig!!!!!!

[crimsonrevolt]

Congratulations Carrie you’ve been accepted to Crimson Revolt as James Potter.

↳ please refer to our character checklist

Carrie! Excitement doesn’t begin to describe how happy we were to see your name in our inbox, or that you had reapplied for James. You capture him so well and throughout so many portions of your app it’s obvious how you see his growth and character, his relationships and perception on the war and we can’t wait to see where you take him moving forward. Welcome back!

application beneath the cut 

OUT OF CHARACTER

Introduction: Carrie, 22, she/her, EST

Activity: I try to be as active as I can.  Currently, I am on Christmas break, but once I return to school, I have a tendency to work 11-12 hours a day.  Still, I try to check in and do the replies that are waiting for me and I’m usually lurking to get plots going and new threads started.

How did you find us? I used to be a member here like, a year ago.  I had some personal complications while I was here so I had to leave, but I logged into my old account and saw my smol son was still open.  So, I thought I’d reapply. :)

IN CHARACTER

Desired character: James Fleamont Potter.  He tried to keep his middle a name a secret, convincing everyone in third year that his middle name was actually Frederick.  But, his friends caught wind of him trying to hide it, and started loudly calling him Fleamont whenever they saw him.

Birthday / star sign: March 27, 1960 / Aries

Occupation: Currently, James is unemployed.  He has enough money from his family’s fortune that he can live off of, and he’s 100% dedicated to the war effort, so he doesn’t feel like he has time to work a job.  However, once it’s all over, he has plans to try and get recruited as a professional quidditch player.

Faceclaim: I think I was the one who first requested Grant Gustin actually, so I want to keep him around. XD

Reason for chosen character: I love James Potter with all my heart.  He has one of the best character arcs in Harry Potter, despite not ever being represented all that much.  After all, you start out with a kid who thinks the world of himself (because let’s be real, he thinks he’s God’s gift to the world and his parents made him think that was the case until he was about sixteen) and then grows into someone who is willing to sacrifice himself in order to give his wife and child the chance that they can live.  He has such a great energy and one that is definitely contagious, creating such a mischievous band of boys so early on in his school career.

Throughout his entire life, James has always felt pressure to be better.  Better at being a son than any other kid, better at quidditch than anyone else, and better at being a friend to the people around him.  He’s always put a lot of pressure on himself to make sure that happens, often hyping himself up in order to make sure that other people see him the way that he has tried to portray himself.  Very few people know just how much of an act it truly is though. For years, the only people privy to this information, and that had insight into who James truly was were the other three Marauders (and his parents, obviously, because they were gems of people). With his friends, James was able to be much more caring, much more genuine, and much more likely to be honest. They’re the first people that James felt willing to put above himself–learning how to become an animagus so that Remus wouldn’t be alone, adopting Sirius in all but name into his family and making over him for the lack of support he has, making a fuss over just about anything Peter does in order to ensure he feels just as important in their little group.  Their little family.

His goal throughout his time at school was just to see his friends happy.  To make their lives better because he was a part of it.  Over time though, that changed.  They grew up, and James saw other people that needed their lives to be improved.  He saw the way people treated those who weren’t of pureblood status, of the stigma people placed on others that were simply different than themselves and he felt it was wrong.  It was why James decided to join up with the Order in the first place, feeling it was the best way to try and stand up and make life a little more equal for everyone in the wizarding community.

Preferred ships // Character sexuality // Gender & Pronouns: James has always been a bit of a hopeless romantic.  During his sixth year, he was involved in a fairly serious relationship, and it was part of why he started shifting from the arrogant fifth year boy people knew into someone with a more level head. James sees romance as a necessary part of life, because, as his role model John Lennon said: “love is all you need.”  Sex is something that James used to not see as a big deal. He lost his virginity after a quidditch match in fifth year, and would enjoy shagging whenever he could find someone willing to climb into bed with him.  But, after sixth year, when he fell in love with someone truly for the first time, his feelings on it changed.  He saw it more as a way to express how he felt about the people he was in love with.

Ship wise, I’m always down for Jily (because without it… can there even be Harry Potter?) but also, any sort of James/chemistry.  He identifies as a heterosexual cismale, and uses the pronouns he/him.

CREATE ONE (OR MORE!) OF THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR CHARACTER

James Intro Moodboard

James and Sirius Moodboard

James and Lily Moodboard

James Spotify Playlist

IN CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

The following section should be looked at like a survey or interview for your character. The questions may be answered in character or out of character, with or without gifs.

Do you think it is more important to be feared or loved? Which would you rather be? “I think it’s more important to be loved.  After all, if people fear you then… what’s really the point?  They’re only doing what you want because they don’t want you to be angry and lash out at them.  But, if you love them, then you’re doing it because you want to.  Because it makes their life better.  I’d want to be loved.”

What is one thing you would never want said about you? “That I was a shit friend.  Or a horrid quidditch player.  My friends are the most important people in my life, and I want to go above and beyond for them.  I was blessed with a great life, and I want some of that to spill over into theirs too.  And, I’ve worked my arse off to be good at quidditch.  So I definitely don’t want there to be anything to be said bad about that.”

If you were able to invent one spell, potion, or charm, what would it do, what would you use it for or how would you use it? Feel free to name it! “I would invent something that could give me super speed.  I started getting into muggle comic books around fourth year, and one of my favorite superheroes in them can run really fast.  I’ve always enjoyed running–it kept me in shape for quidditch.  But, I’d like to be faster.  I think it’d be something along the lines of acceloratorus.”

What kinds of decisions are the most difficult for you to make? “Serious decisions.  That sounds incredibly vague, I know, but I hate doing anything seriously.  It’s easier to make a joke out of things and make inconsequential decisions.  But, the second something takes me a lot of in depth thought, and whatever I decide means I lose out on another option, that’s when I struggle.”

REACTION TO LAST EVENT DROP

James was super hyped about the Quidditch Cup, but when the Aversio showed up, it seemed more of an inconvenience than anything.  He gets what they’re doing, he really does, but it’s frustrating.  He sees more of an opportunity elsewhere, and they’re just making life for the Order infinitely harder.  He’s grateful when Marlene comes to him to help find and retrieve Edgar Bones.  Whenever he can be useful, James jumps at the chance, and this is prime time for him to come to someone’s aid.  Whenever Edgar is found and brought back, there’s a definite sigh of relief, and it feels a little like a small victory to be had.

He’ll be excited when he finds out he’s going to be dad.  Well… as excited as he can be when he thinks about the war torn world he’ll be bringing a child into, at an age as young as he is.  But, James believes a child is never something to regret, and so he can only look forward to the life he’s created with Lily.

WRITING SAMPLE

It wasn’t the first time he’d thought about marriage.  No, he’d first thought about it when he was a small child, seeing his mother and father strolling hand in hand around the Potter estate.  They’d seemed so happy and content, and James had wondered when he’d experience something like that.  Nor, was it the second time he’d contemplated marriage.  That happened during his sixth year, in the midst of his first serious relationship.  He could recall clearly the day Gladys fell asleep on his shoulder, his arm long numb, and how he thought he could get used to a life just like that.

But it was the last time that he’d seriously thought about marriage that James knew he no longer wanted to waste time.  It was time to start putting thought into action.  So that’s what he did.

She had seemed so small, lying there in the hospital bed.  So helpless.  It was one of the few times he’d ever thought of Lily Evans as helpless, and it was certainly a thought he never wanted to experience again.  If he had anything to say about it, James was going to ensure that Lily was always safe, for as long as they would live.  And, being wizards, he knew that was going to be a long, long time.

Sure, the few people he’d told of his ideas told him that he was too young.  After all, they hadn’t even broken out of their teen years and he was already contemplating marriage.  In fact, they hadn’t even been together again for very long when the idea entered his head.  

But, of exactly three things James was certain.  First, Gryffindor was the best Hogwarts house in the world.  Second, the best time to go flying was right after the sun had just started to show again after its long sleep.  And finally, he and Lily Evans were supposed to end up together.  Besides, with all the uncertainty that was lurking around each corner, he wanted to make sure that they spent as much time together as husband and wife as possible.  If that was rushing things, then he couldn’t think of a better reason to rush it.

Doing what James Potter did best, he devised a plan: Operation Future Mrs. Prongs.  It was simple, had an easy to obtain objective, and had exactly five steps to execute it perfectly.

Step one: Obtain a ring.  

His mom had offered up her own, insisting that it was a Potter family heirloom and that it was only fitting that he give it to his own girlfriend.  But, James had refused.  While it was a beautiful ring, something about it just didn’t feel right.  It was too big, too obviously used for pureblood wedding ceremonies where the participants had been betrothed as children.  It wasn’t suitable for someone as delicate as his Lily.  Faced with no other option, he’d been forced to go shopping.  

It took him two days to find it.  The first day found him in each and every shop in wizarding London, desperate to find something as enchanting as his future bride to be.  But they all came up short.  The second day, James spent hours going from one jewelry store to the next, until he found it.  Her perfect ring.  It was just nice enough to please his pureblood relatives who cared about such things, while simple enough that he felt it wasn’t overdoing it.  A gold band, one large diamond in the middle, with three smaller ones on each side.  It was perfect.  Step one was complete.

Step two: Ask for a blessing.

Specifically, he had to ask for three.  For him, the first one was the hardest.  He’d had the ring in his hand when he went to Sirius’s flat, nervously tugging at the hair on the back of his head.  Of course, James should have expected the look of shock on his best friend’s face as he explained to Sirius exactly what he had planned for the other best friend in his life.  It took some promising (on both of their parts) that no one would ever replace the relationship the two boys had forged, but both eventually agreed that it was going to be the best.  And that it was the natural step forward in such a crazy and unpredictable world.

The second one was a little easier.  Mrs. Evans had always been kind to James, and he sincerely loved the older woman.  Sure, she had seemed a little reluctant when James told her his plans to marry her daughter, especially considering their ages, but she too, blessed the union.  After all, even though Lily had tried to keep her family as much in the dark as possible as to the terrors going on in the wizarding world, Mrs. Evans was no idiot.  She couldn’t have been to have raised a daughter like Lily.  She knew something was wrong, and if there was one person she could trust to protect Lily (though they both knew that she was capable of protecting herself), it was James.  The meeting ended with a hug and a cup of tea, and James left knowing the next one was the most important.

It was also the most awkward.  For him, at least.  He’d been able to find the grave without much of an issue.  After all, it wasn’t the first time he’d ventured out that way, and he doubted that it would be the last.  But it had always been with Lily before.  Sitting down slightly to the side of the headstone, James once more pulled the ring out from his pocket, turning it over in his hands as he spoke.

“So um, Mr. Evans?  I don’t exactly know how to… you know, talk to you.  But, you’re important to Lily.  And I know that having your blessing on us getting married would mean a lot to her.  So, I figured that I would at least come and ask, you know?”

He paused then, pushing his glasses up his nose as he lifted his eyes from the ring to stare at the marker.  “I love your daughter a lot.  More than I ever thought it was possible to love someone else.  She keeps me grounded, she pushes me to be a better version of myself, and she’s always there for me, no matter what I might need.  She’s one of my best mates, and I can’t imagine a life without her in it.  She’s… perfect, honestly and you did an amazing job of raising her.  She works to make you so proud, and I know that you would be.  I know I’m proud of her.  But… I guess I say all this Mr. Evans because… I want your blessing to marry your daughter.”

Sure, he never got an exact answer.  But a bird landed on top of the stone and chirped, and James decided that was as close to a yes as he would ever get.

Step two was a success.

Step three: Throw the best birthday party ever.

To the average eye, this would have absolutely nothing to do with getting Lily Evans to agree to marry him.  But James Potter and his friends had certainly never had average used to describe them before.  No, his birthday was the perfect time to set things in motion.  There’d been the main party of course: his parents, members of the Order, old buddies from Hogwarts, all invited to share in firewhiskey, butterbeer, and the most complex cake that James had found in some muggle bakery.  

To their credit, most of them tried to avoid talking about the war as much as possible.  But, it still seemed to creep into even the most innocent of conversations.  Such was to be expected, James supposed, when it seemed that gatherings like this would have been the perfect place to target.  Still, everyone stopped long enough to sing happy birthday while James cut the cake, passing a piece around to each guest and thanking them for coming.  One by one, the guests started to trickle out, passing by the birthday boy as he clutched tightly to his girlfriend’s hand.  Each person wished him a happy birthday once more, and were returned with another thank you for coming.  In the background, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were busy opening James’s presents for him, occasionally shouting out an extra thank you if they found that person’s present worthy of one.

Finally, it ended up with just the four Marauders and Lily.  It was getting dark, but that didn’t matter to James.  A flick of his wand and they had enough light to see by.  For a moment, James disappeared into a wardrobe in his house, before returning, grin on his face, with a brand new quidditch set.  “A birthday gift from me to me,” he explained as he set it down.  Each person went to get a broom, before the teams were divided up: James, Lily, and Peter on one side, Sirius and Remus on the other.  But it didn’t matter who was on what team, since there was only one true objective: have Lily catch the snitch.

Which, actually, was going to be more of a trick than James had ever planned on.  Although all the boys knew exactly what was being planned and the true reason behind the game, Lily seemed to simply not be able to catch it.  Once, Peter had almost given up in frustration and reached for it himself.  It took a quick hex from Remus to make him lose balance on his broom and have to use both hands to hold on.

But when she did catch it… oh, how she smiled.  James’s heart flipped as she dismounted the broom, proudly holding it in the air.  It didn’t matter that catching the snitch hadn’t helped them win the game–Sirius and Remus scored far too many points with the quaffle in the time it took her to catch the stupid thing–James had jumped off his broom all the same, cheering as he picked her up to spin her around.

It was easily his favorite step to complete.

Step four: Have Dumbledore use his super awesome magic skills.

Flesh magic was a weird thing.  It definitely didn’t rank in the three things that James Potter knew about.  But he knew what it was.  Once, when he was a mere second year, his parents had gifted him a book all about quidditch.  There, was the first time he learned about flesh magic.  Snitches would forever be tied to the first person who caught them.  It was why the ones James played with were always trying to get away from him.  After all, he was a Chaser.  He hadn’t caught those snitches.  They weren’t his.

It was why he made sure Lily Evans had caught that snitch.

Ring in one pocket and golden snitch in the other, he’d made his way to his old headmaster to ask for help.  There was a twinkle in the old wizard’s eye as James began his tale and he seemed to understand what it was James wanted before he even asked.

Flesh magic, he had explained, was a rare magic that had not been fully studied.  At least, not that he knew of.  It took a long time, far longer than James had anticipated, to accomplish one of the last phases of Operation: Future Mrs. Prongs.  Of course, to a man who was not so anxious, it probably was a reasonable amount of time, but James didn’t care about being reasonable.  Not when there was something so important looming on the horizon.

He’d begun by sitting in the corner, watching as Dumbledore worked with the snitch and the engagement ring, tapping his foot as he waited.  Tapping a foot turned into drumming his fingers on his legs and humming a new McCartney song.  It earned him a sideways glance from the older wizard, and James took that as his cue to shut up.  Deciding that he could sit no longer, he’d stood up, pacing around Dumbledore’s office while he continued working.  If the Hogwarts headmaster found this annoying, he did not say.  At least it kept James quiet.

Finally, Dumbledore held up the snitch, the slightest hint of a smile on his lips and a sparkle in his eye.  The tiny wings flapped wildly, desperately trying to get out of the man’s grasp, but his nimble fingers kept it in place.  James took it from him, quickly stuffing it into his pocket so it would not escape and grinned.  The ring was safely in place.  He thanked the old man and apparated home, grinning wildly.  He was so close.

That only left step five.  And perhaps the scariest and most uncertain step of all.  He could plan as much as he wanted, and James did.  He picked out the restaurant, the spot he’d take her to after, practiced fidgeting with the snitch like he had during their earlier days at Hogwarts, and planned the things he’d say to goad her on to try and have her snatch it from him.  But none of his planning could necessarily help him achieve the final phase of his plan.  It was all on Lily.

Step five: Have her say yes.

#accepted app #james potter

[scaredofrobots]

Nightmare Before Christmas

Shout out to @petalstofish for BETAing and explaining Tumblr and @beks21 for telling me it didn’t totally suck. 

Prompt for Jily October:  It’s Halloween at Hogwarts but Lily’s already humming Christmas music on rounds and James wants to kill her.

also on FFN

It is a fact universally acknowledged that come October, people can be divided into two factions.

Those who live for leaf piles, pumpkin patches and Halloween.

And those who turn the calendar to October 1 and begin the 84 day countdown to Christmas.

Now, James Potter always paid particular attention to Lily Evans. Somehow though, October had always been an exception to this rule. Because James Potter lived for the bliss of cooler weather, the beginning of quidditch and planning the annual Halloween prank. In the month of October, James had other things on his mind thankyouverymuch and couldn’t be bothered to know what kind of October person Lily Evans was. 

He knew, of course that her eyes sparked the most in the winter. She practically glowed in January, especially on her birthday week. He knew she was melancholy in March, whimsical in April and that she would take any dare she was given and make you regret it in July.

Through no fault of his own, James had missed the inaugural pronouncement of “84 Days until Christmas” on October 1st in their first year due to an unfortunate accident with the giant squid; missed the distribution of “pre pre Christmas cookie taste test” on October 11th their second year (detention); the Christmas tree catastrophe of their third year (quidditch); the Christmas knitting party in fourth year (quidditch); the mistletoe mishap of fifth year (holding a leaf in your mouth for a month sucks); and he was unaware of the failed 84 day advent calendar of sixth year (the giant squid really needed to give a man a break).

So when James picked Lily up for rounds he was taken aback when he heard her singing “Good King Wenceslas” in their office.

 “Lily… are you ready? It’s time for rounds!”

 As she flung the door open James swore he smelled pine, gingerbread and plum.

 She responded with too much enthusiasm for a Tuesday, “Oh yes sorry! Lost track of time. Tis the season, you know?”

“Right. Well shall we take the usual route?”

“Of course!” She said with a overly cheery laugh and off they went. 

Rounds were the usual banter and discussion of quidditch, classes and gossip. Near the end of the second hour however, Lily began to hum. Now, Lily always started humming when they’d run out of typical conversation and normally James enjoyed it. She’d introduced him to at least five new bands in the few months they’d been dating. But tonight, tonight surprised him. He swore he must be having some sort of auditory hallucination. At first it was “Good King Wenceslas” which he figured could be a tune that had a variety of lyrics. By the time they got to astronomy tower though, James was positive Lily was humming “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.”

He racked his brain on how to approach this. They’d entered a tentative friendship at the beginning of sixth year and had fallen easily into something more than friends over the summer (a man can only stand being bested in Muggle poker for so long before he has to make a move). They hadn’t had a fight since they started dating and he didn’t want to start now.

“Hey Lils…what’s today?”

The humming stopped. “October 3rd- only..” 

“28 days until Halloween I know”

“Right! I forgot! I was going to say only…”

But they were interrupted as was typical of rounds by an excited couple and the conversation was cut short. After losing rock-paper-scissors (14/25) James had to fill the appropriate paperwork, owl the heads of house and create the rounds schedule for the next two weeks.

He was halfway to the kitchens for a pick me up when he decided he needed to seek the advice of one Remus John Lupin.

The dorm was a mess as usual and he was unsurprised to find Remus studying, Sirius braiding his hair and Peter trying to beat himself in Wizard Chess.

“Ah ha!” Exclaimed Sirius “The prodigal Prongs returns”

“Did we have a meeting planned?” squeaked Peter as his knight destroyed his other knight. 

“No, no. I just finished rounds.”

“And how were rounds?”

“Interesting”

 Sirius twisted his expression, “Interesting, what did you and Evans catch Filch and McGonagall in the astronomy tower or something and felt the need to tell us all the gory details?”

“No! God No…I just….” He can’t quite define why he is so bothered by the events that transpired so he starts, “Well rounds were great as usual… but then Lily starting humming”

“alas-“ exclaimed Sirius “not the humming! Not the waxing poetic ‘Pads I swear it feels like home’ humming!” 

“How shall you survive the humming?” Peter agreed dramatically, following Sirius’ playful jest.

“I never thought humming could be beautiful until rounds with Lily Evans.” Sirius mimicked James’ voice and James frown deepened.

Peter clasped his hands like he was praying and said through snorts of laughter, “And I just keep thinking I could hear that humming to our child as she puts them to sleep.”

“Oi! I never said the bit about rocking a kid to sleep”

“Yes you did” was the chorused reply

“Right, well normally I enjoy her humming. But tonight she bloody well went through every Christmas tune known to man.”

The response was not what James had expected. He had expected protesting, outrage at the blasphemy and Sirius dramatically storming toward the head suite to have one of his “chats with Evans”.

 He did not expect Remus to simply pick his book back up, Peter to laugh and Sirius to say “Right. Well- you know how Evans gets”

 “No I do not know “how she gets”. It’s October 3rd. We are nowhere near the reasonable time to begin singing Christmas songs”

 Remus shrugged, “I’m with you mate, but for Lily that timeline is different. I mean the girl begins knitting Christmas jumpers in July”

“I think the worst was in third year when she tried to teach me how to knit”

“Honestly Wormtail it isn’t that hard to cast off. Evans did turn your monstrosity into a lovely scarf” 

“I do love that scarf” Peter said wistfully.

 “Personally I think her worst attempt was last years advent calendar” Remus added, unhelpfully.

Just as the conversation was about to spin totally out of control James countered “What. The. Bloody. Hell. Are. You. Lot. On. About.  I know everything about Lily Evans. I would know- I would have to know if she was a - a- “

He couldn’t finish his sentence so Sirius finished it for him, “Pumpkin abusing, Halloween skipping, heinous pre Christmasophile?”

“YES! How could I miss such a glaring flaw?”

 “Lilytober” they chorused again

“Stop speaking all at once!”

“Remus you tell him” Peter motioned pathetically to James.

 Calmly, Remus set down his book and started “Lilytober is the great and time honored tradition where one James Potter does not mention Lily Evans for 31 days because he is manically preparing for quidditch, the annual pumpkin carving contest and the Halloween prank. In his absence, Lily Evans pushes her pre Christmas agenda on all of us but we do not mention it because it’s a fair trade to have 31 days of rant free bliss”

“We, of course, knew that this year would be different since you finally got Lily to agree to go out with you” Sirius said, “Lilytober- may it live in our hearts forever and ever”

Ignoring this James said “So, you mean to tell me….everyone…..everyone in Gryffindor tower knows that Lily Evans is an absolute Christmas nutter who ignores the sacred month of October and all that autumn holds except me?”

“All of Hogwarts knows Prongs”, Peter added unhelpfully.

James pressed his fingers to his temples, “I need a drink. Or 5. Or to reevaluate the kind of woman I fall for.”

How there always seemed to be a stockpile of Firewhiskey in the dorm, James would never know but he was appreciative of Sirius and his ability to keep a constant and much needed supply. 

On the 5th shot James had an epiphany , “I’ll just convert her!”

On shot number 6 Sirius responded “Convert her to what? You’re talking crazy mate”

“No, no, listen. I converted Lily from borderline hating me to being my girlfriend. Making her see that October is for spooky things and not Christmas should be easy. I just have to show her all that October can offer. Pumpkin carving, setting off explosives, scaring first years. Come October 31st we will never remember Lily unnecessarily singing ‘Good King Wenceslas’ on October Third Again”

“Good luck with that mate” Sirius said into shot number 7.

The next morning dawned bright and early and although they had planned a lie in to deal with their hangovers they were awoken by the smell of coffee and someone singing

“Good Christian men rejoice

With heart and soul and voice!

Give ye heed to what we say

News! News!

Jesus Christ is born today!

Ox and ass before Him bow

And He is in the manger now

Christ is born today!

Christ is born today!”

 Amidst the groans and complaints of “Fuck, Evans, it’s only Wednesday” James heard the love of his life respond “Wake up gents, I’ve got coffee and hangover potion and Minnie is already looking for you Sirius so you better get up and at them” before she kissed him on the head told him “see you in potions” and whisked out the door. 

“How does Lily always know when we’ve been drinking?” Peter asked, pulling pumpkin pasty from nowhere and taking a large bite

“James never tells her goodnight on our drinking nights so she always prepares a ‘Hangover Cart’” replied Remus grabbing the sole cup of tea.

Sirius’ grey eyes looked at the hangover cure lovingly, “Moony, if I ever leave you for someone it will be that mad Christmas bird. We’d be dead without her”

James chucked his sock at Sirius playfully, “Oi! That’s my mad Christmas bird”

After a day of too many loud noises, bright lights and general discomfort, James decided that Operation Spooky Lily could wait until the weekend.  He had much too much homework, his quidditch team was looking like rubbish and they didn’t even have a draft of the big Halloween prank. So it was on the way to Hogsmeade on October 7th that operation October went into effect.

As they walked down the path to the village James took Lily on a detour to Hagrid’s pumpkin patch.

 “I thought we could skip Hogsmeade today and celebrate the beginning of October properly, by carving pumpkins and roasting seeds” James told her as he pulled her from the usual path.

“But James, I wanted to go to Madame Puddifoots and snuggle- we haven’t  been to Hogsmeade since we became official” Lily whined, but with a twinkle in her eyes that made him retaliate with a slight pinch on her side.

 “I don’t know why I started dating someone as sarcastic as my best mate.”

“Because your best mate was already dating your other best mate and Peter is just there as a cute accessory?” Lily guessed.

“I’ll have you know Peter brings a lot to our group dynamic.”

Lily just rolled her eyes, let go of his hand yelling “race you” before running to the pumpkin patch. 

James Potter learned that afternoon that Lily Evans had never carved a pumpkin or eaten pumpkin seeds. After recovering from this shock, he promptly showed her “the proper way” to cut and gut her pumpkin (he was glad Sirius wasn’t around or there would’ve been a 4 hour debate). After two hours of carving, throwing slime on each other and catching roasted pumpkin seeds; they revealed their masterpieces to each other.

James had carved an elaborate black cat wearing a witches hat that looked suspiciously like McGonagall. Lily had carved a shape that looked suspiciously like Santa Clause. 

“Lil- is that”

“Santa? You know him? I wasn’t sure if it was just a Muggle thing or-why are you looking at me like that? I know his beard is a little off but I think the hat is clear enough”

She looked so pleased with herself and worried about his approval, the rant bubbling up from his core died on his lips.

“It looks brilliant. Now let’s go drop them on some Slytherin’s heads” 

After thoroughly checking off “pumpkin carving prank” on the Operation October checklist, James knocked out “haunted house” , “leaf piles”, “dying Mrs. Norris black” and “charming all the cauldrons into jack o lanterns” with Lily at his side in no less than two weeks.

Things were going so splendidly James often forgot there was an operation unless one of the boys asked. It was October, he was pretty sure he was in love and his Quidditch team had never looked better. Nothing could take James Potter down.

That was of course until the morning of October 21, the day of the Gryffindor/Slytherin match when his beautiful girlfriend came to breakfast, not in the agreed upon James Potter quidditch jumper she had worn to matches since February 6th year after an unfortunate accident at breakfast but a blinking twinkling jumper that had a red nosed deer embellished on it.

Taking a deep breath, counting to ten and trying to not curse James prompted “Lily, dearest…what are you wearing?”

“My October 21 jumper. It’s Rudolph the red nosed reindeer’s birthday and I wear it every year”

“Lily” James said through gritted teeth,  “It’s a Quidditch day”

“You’ll survive one game without me wearing your ‘lucky jumper’”

“Rudolph will survive one year without you wearing a bloody Christmas jumper in October!!!” 

Lily drew back, “James Potter I do not like your tone.”

This, for some reason was the last straw, “Look- if you’re not going to wear my jumper and insist upon wearing that blasphemy in October then don’t even come to the match, alright?”

“Fine” Lily said coolly, “but don’t expect me to show up to the post match party either”

And then she left. James watched her go.

Miraculously and despite his girlfriend’s absence and refusal to wear the proper attire- Gryffindor won. James was so thrilled (and trashed) he had completely forgotten why and what they had fought about until he asked Marlene “where’s Lily?” and Marlene started shouting about reindeer and birthdays and “if you can’t love October Lily you don’t deserve Summer Lily” and shouting until his head hurt.

His only response was “It’s bloody October and no reasonable person should even look at a Christmas jumper until November 1 and you can tell her that.”

The party died down soon after and James did not emerge from his room the next day. He was doing what any reasonable bloke in a fight with his girlfriend would do, hide and avoid.

This was going remarkably well. He only ate in the kitchens, arrived to all classes at the last possible second and left as soon as the bell rang. He even switched with Remus to do

Wednesday night rounds so he wouldn’t have to be alone with Lily that Friday. He was sure he could successfully avoid her until graduation even instead of Benji Fenwick waiting for him in the great hall, there in a hideous Christmas jumper stood one Lily Evans.

“I thought Remus had rounds” she said in her Best Head Girl voice.

“He did. We switched”

“If I was going to be stuck with one of your lot for rounds I wanted Remus”

 “Your lot again, is it?”

“Let’s just do rounds I’m too tired to do this now.”

“Nice jumper.”

 “Thanks. It’s my ‘two months till Christmas’ jumper” 

Rounds had never been so awkward. Their interactions had never been so awkward. Total silence. So when Lily started humming James was almost relieved. That is until he realized what it was.

 “Can you stop humming please?”

She did. Two minutes later however she started singing “Oh the weather outside is frightful”

“Lily”

“But the fire is so delightful”

“Evans”

 “And since we’ve no place to go”

“Please.” he asked weakly.

“LET IT SNOW. LET IT SNOW. LET IT SNOW!”

“WOULD YOU BLOODY STOP. I don’t understand how the girl I’m dating could possibly sing that song on October 25.”

Lily crossed her arms and smirked, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud to all to hear!”

“ITS OCTOBER.”

“it’s only -“

“I don’t care how many days it is till Christmas. I don’t care about your ruddy jumpers. I just care that Halloween is in a week and for no discernible reason you have decided that my favorite holiday should be besmirched with Santa and Rudolph!”

Lily tossed her red hair over one shoulder, “I just love Christmas. Christmas is my favorite” 

“Christmas has enough! It has a whole church season! Halloween doesn’t have anything.”

Lily scoffed, “IT’S THE BIRTHDAY OF JESUS!”

Taking a step back, James said “maybe we should just- take a break until November”

“No,” Lily stated, “if we can’t even resolve this fight we should just end it. It was good while it lasted but maybe this is a sign.”

For the second time in less than a week, Lily left and James let her.

 The next 7 days were transformative. It felt like 5th year again. Lily and James existing in separate bubbles. She was as good (if not better) than James at avoidance a fact he was more aware of because Sirius kept complaining of “that red-headed banshee trying to get out of our much needed ‘Chat with Evans’”

On Halloween morning, James couldn’t even be encouraged by their impending Best Prank Ever when the final nail in his coffin was delivered by Lily Evans flirting with Some Ravenclaw Bloke. Lily Evans who was a vision in some Christmas jumper that he was sure she called “her Halloween Christmas jumper”. Some Ravenclaw Bloke has just made her laugh and she was leaning over his shoulder to look at something. James realized he hadn’t looked at her in over a week and he had forgotten how lovely she was.

“That is it!” Sirius exclaimed.

Sirius threw down his bacon and stalked over to Lily, told Some Ravenclaw Bloke to “get bent” and dragged the redhead from the dining hall to what James was sure would be the most terrible “Chat with Evans” of all time.

As he started to imagine the lecture Lily was sure to get regarding Some Ravenclaw Bloke his thoughts were interrupted by Remus

“You know I hate to meddle Prongs but maybe you need to rethink this whole argument”

“It’s October Remus” 

“I know but maybe this is Lily’s Thing.”

“Thing?”

 “The Thing you have to accept and then maybe try and understand. Lily didn’t get quidditch and was against it until she became our friend. She doesn’t like that you broke the law to help with my furry little problem but she respects it. You’ve got Things that she accepts about you.”

“She never told me she had a problem with any of that.”

Remus stared at James pointedly, “Because she loves you, you idiot, and didn’t want you to feel guiltier than you do.” 

James swallowed deeply, “I’ve fucked up.”

Returning to his crossword, Remus said “I’d dare say you have.”

 “What do I do Remus?”

 “A grand dramatic gesture should do the trick.”

“But when?”

“The post feast party tonight. I’d say the actual feast but Lily is taking Samuel’s shift for rounds.”

“Who the bloody hell is Samuel?”

“The Ravenclaw she was talking to- he’s a prefect and wants to enjoy the feast with his boyfriend. Honestly, I thought you were head boy?”

After the realization that Some Ravenclaw Bloke was alright, James and Remus started plotting. Peter joined them after divination and at their lunch break in the kitchens Sirius arrived looking grim but smug.

“How was the ‘Chat with Evans’” Remus asked

“Bird is bloody stubborn. I also told Some Ravenclaw Bloke to leave my mates girl alone”

“who?” Asked Peter the same time James said “she’s not my girl”

“Samuel” Remus responded and there was a firm “Yes she is” from Sirius

“She won’t be if we don’t get the fuck to work” mumbled James.

The feast was excellent, the Best Prank Ever went off without a hitch and got a standing ovation from all the houses and professors. The fireworks were successful and didn’t catch anyone on fire. In the Gryffindor Common Room the Halloween Costume Party was in full swing. The Grand Romantic Gesture was all set up but the lady to woo was nowhere to be found. James felt absolutely ridiculous in his costume but Remus assured him it was the right choice. He was ready to abandon all hope when he heard a “trick or treat” from behind him.

He turned around to see the sexiest pumpkin of all time. Lily was wearing green tights and a ridiculous pumpkin costume. She was perfect and all James could say was “Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas” through his pull on beard. With these words all the floating pumpkins began to sing

“We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas

And a Happy Halloween!”

“I’m sorry” they said together

 then, “I love you”

Lily said with a laugh, “Happy Halloween, Potter”

“Happy Christmas, Lily”

And then they kissed.

Once James took off the beard.

#jilyfanfic #jily fanfiction #jilytober #imoldandconfused ittookme23times #robots writes

[theresonlysofarnewmoneygoes]

so, first off, credit where credit is due: in october of last year, @alrightevans reblogged this post by @pensversusswords, and that inspired this jily one shot. and yeah, it literally did take me ten months to write a 2.8k fic. don’t judge. it’s been a long year for all of us.

disclaimer: literally everything i know about firefighters is from the fireman sam episodes i’ve watched with my brothers (side note: that town has a crazy-disproportionate amount of fires). so, expect mistakes in that regard.

so with out further ado, the muggle!firefighter!jily au. enjoy!

Lily’s already dressed, down the pole, and ready to go, waiting in the passenger seat of the truck before she realises no one else is coming.

She blinks. Did she imagine…? No, there’s the brigade siren, wailing in the background. It won’t shut off until the truck drives out.

Lily blinks again. Pinches herself. Yes, she’s definitely awake.

Why isn’t anybody coming? Some poor civilian home is going up in flames right now. A child could be dying. Or already dead.

Lily looks around. The siren has been going off for a minute and a half now, and none of her fellow firefighters are coming. This has never happened before. They’re a professional bunch. Fire Captain McGonagall keeps them all in line.

She hears a clank from the the second floor, a muffled curse, and a moment later she sees Marlene sliding down the pole.

“What’re you all waiting for, then?” Lily asks her.

“Could ask you the same thing,” Marlene grumbles. “Just go. Siren won’t turn off until you do. We’re trying to sleep, you know.”

Lily blinks at her in disbelief. “I know we haven’t cleaned this windshield in…ever, but it looks like you’re just standing there, in your pyjamas, not getting on the truck and driving us to the fire.”

“And,” says Marlene.

“And what?”

“We haven’t cleaned this windshield in ever and it looks like I’m just standing there. But’s the wrong preposition.”

“But and and are both conjunctions!” calls their fellow fire-fighter, Mary MacDonald, from their bunks.

“Shut up and go already!” Benjy Fenwick says, sleep and anger evident in his voice even though he is on the top floor, with Mary.

“Marlene, people are dying! Let’s go!”

“Honestly, Lily no one’s dying. Haven’t you seen the location?”

“What’s it matter–”

“It’s at that dumb bloke’s. The one on Gryffindor. He just moved there six weeks ago, and he’s called the department fourteen times. He’s an idiot,” Marlene says, quite confidently, “and McGonagall says we don’t have to go anymore.”

“What?” Lily cries. “Are you–is she–for real?”

“Evans, really, calm down–”

“You’re sentencing a civilian to death because you don’t like him! And McGonagall’s all right with it!”

“No one’s sentencing him to any sort of death, honestly, and I didn’t say I didn’t like him. But he’s a right dolt.”

“This is insane,” Lily says, half to herself, and throws herself in the driver’s seat. “This is insane,” she says again, slamming her foot down on the gas.

The drive to Gryffindor Court is a short one, but Lily feels every second, certain that this poor man is locked in his own home, smoke clouding his vision and his throat, his body trying and failing to fight the heat. Lily can nearly feel the flames licking her own form, feel the fire climbing up her legs….

Ugh. This is why she isn’t supposed to take the truck anywhere alone. Under Fire Captain McGonagall, no one’s supposed to take the truck anywhere alone, but she specifically. And though she pretended to be very upset at being singled out so, she was secretly very grateful.

Dumbledore had been a little more…liberal, as Fire Captain.

The truck’s siren is the only the light in the night, and she can’t hear any screams or smell any smoke, so it is abundantly clear even before she reaches the split-level house on Gryffindor that there is no fire.

Still, there might be a gas leak! Marlene and the others have no way of knowing until they show up! And even if the poor man’s just a nervous civilian, well, isn’t it there job to calm him down?

Lily sheds her heavy protective gear as she throws the truck in park and leaps out, racing to the door. She pauses for a moment and looks around. The house is clearly meant for more than one family, and she’s not sure what storey the caller is on. Then again, protocol states that she has to evacuate everyone under the roof if there’s a gas leak or something of the sort.

Just as she’s decided to start with the ground floor, a voice from above her shouts, “Oi! Up here!”

Lily takes a step back on the porch and looks up. A man is half-out a window on the top floor, waving his arms.

A rather young man. Lily is surprised. By Marlene’s description, she’d been expecting someone older. Elderly, perhaps.

“Don’t think they’ve sent you before!” he says cheerfully. “Can you come get me down?”

“Yes; can you tell me what’s happened, sir?” she calls back up, over the wail of the siren.

“No real cause for alarm! Just knocked over some furniture by accident and barricades the door, and set my smoke detector off! You know how it is!” He winks at her.

Lily blinks. How did one “accidentally” knock over enough furniture to barricade the door hard enough to keep themselves locked inside, and what reason would a smoke detector have for going off in the small hours?

But she’s a far better firefighter to civilians than the likes of Marlene and Mary and Benjy and she’s determined to prove it.

“I’ll be right up, sir,” she says.

“Cheers!”

Lily goes back to the truck and flicks the siren off and before setting up the ladder. She’s never gone up without her crew-mates, but she’s not particularly worried about falling or anything. This isn’t the highest she’s ever had to go, and with no real threat, she’s not in any rush.

Lily climbs into the carriage the ladder holds and steers it up towards the man with the controller. When she reaches the second-floor window, the man has his head down, rubbing the bottom of his shirt furiously on something. Lily can’t quite make out what he’s holding because there are no lights on in his flat. She can’t see his face very well.

“The smoke really wasn’t doing anything to help my glasses,” he says in a much softer voice than his previous yelling-down-thirty-feet, looking up to her questioning face.

“So there is smoke?” she says sharply.

“Oh, no, there was–I was cooking, and I, er, messed up a bit. But no need to worry, I’ve put it out.” He smiles at her, and Lily smiles back.

Okay, so he’s maybe a little eccentric! Is that a crime? He seems perfectly kind; Lily doesn’t know why no one else would come. He isn’t the only frequent flyer they’ve had, and knocking over the furniture and accidentally setting the smoke alarm off is far from the stupidest thing Lily’s ever been called in for. Not since Fifty Shades of Grey came out.

“So, I’m going to help lift you out, sir” Lily says, inching closer to the window.

The man nods and puts on his glasses. He does a double take.

Lily turns around, expecting to see something frightening. “Sir, are you all right?” she asks, concerned.

“They’ve never sent you before!” he says, eyes wide. Slowly, his face splits into a broad grin. “I’d remember you.”

“Er,” she says. “Er, no, I’ve never answered any of your calls before. Anyway, have you ever been through this window before? Do you know what to do, sir?”

“You can call me James,” he says, and he winks.

Winks.

Lily stifles a groan. Marlene’s reaction is becoming more and more clear.

“Sir…James,” she says at his pointed look, “I’m sure you’d like to get back to…er, your regular schedule, so if you could just start by slowly sitting on the ledge–”

“Whoa, what’s the hurry, firelady?” he says, raising his hands up. “Why don’t you come inside for a minute? Have a drink? When’s the last time you’ve had a drink? You work too hard….” He eyes her arms, lean muscles visible in the light of the street lamps, whose glow just miss the man’s form and flat . “I can tell,” he says, and winks again.

Lily bites back more than just a groan this time. She can see why even McGonagall said they didn’t have to come here anymore.

“Sir, please, just ease yourself into the basket, all right?”

“What’s your name?” he says, ignoring her. Still smiling though. Quite broadly.

“Firefighter Evans,” she says shortly.

“Evans…that’s a nice name. Is that your surname? Mine’s Potter. James Potter’s always sounded great to me, but there’s something about Evans…James Evans. Yeah, even better.” And for the third time in the span of one minute (and the fourth time so far), he winks!

Lily’s about ready to gouge his eyes out.

“Sir,” she says, through gritted teeth, “if you don’t climb out yourself, protocol says I need to get a crew inside and carry you.”

“Oh, I bet you could do it yourself,” Potter says flirtatiously. “You must spend a lot of time rescuing people from burning buildings, eh, Evans?”

“No, it’s mostly just unlocking balcony exists for idiots who jam their front doors and the like,” she says, unable to stop herself. “Not a lot of them have friends they can call to use a spare key, see.”

Her eyes widen as soon as she hears herself finish her sentence. He may be a prat, but he’s still a civilian who called for help, and even if Fire Captain McGonagall said they don’t have to show up, she still did, and he could have her put on trial, he could have her investigated, he could have the whole brigade–

Lily’s panicked thoughts are cut off by laughter.

“Guess that’s what it looks like,” he says, chortling still. “But I do have friends! They’ve just, well…they’ve had enough of me calling for help lately,” he admits sheepishly.

Now Lily’s the one who laughs.

“And I thought I’d gone and scared off the the whole of the fire department,” he says, oddly encouraged by her laughter, “but then you showed up! I’ve gotten Firefighter McKinnon loads before–she doesn’t like me very much–and Firefighter Fenwick, too, he saw me at my worst, I think. There was a slight gas-leak situation, but whatever, it all worked out in the end. One time I met your Fire Captain! She was definitely charmed, I could tell. She was only pretending to be irritated. Hard-to-get, you know the type.”

James winks yet again, and this time, it makes Lily laugh.

“You could come inside, you know,” he says. “I’m going to try and make the recipe I just messed up. I think I’ve got it figured out.”

Lily laughs again, and she wonders if he’s really that funny or if it’s the hour.

“I can’t,” she says. “I’ve got to get you out and bring the truck back. I’m not supposed to take it out by myself.”

“Oh, so no one else would come rescue me!” James says, connecting the dots. “And you’re my knight in shining armour.” He–what else?–winks. And oddly enough, it’s growing on her.

“Come on,” she says, “let me help you out.”

James seats himself on the ledge and Lily takes hold of his legs. James ducks his head and shifts the rest of his body outside. Lily wraps an arm around his torso, and is carefully holds him for a few seconds before she sets him down beside her.

“You really are strong,” he says, but now that he’s fully engulfed in light and she can take him in, she doesn’t have an answer. Or the ability to speak.

Lily’s not quite sure what hits her first. How handsome he is, or that he’s not wearing trousers.

He’s obviously used to his own face, and he can’t see it anyway, so he’s clearly not distracted by it. And as for his literally-not-wearing-trousers-situation, well…he doesn’t seem to be the least bit bothered.

Lily looks up at the sky, behind her, down at the truck, anywhere but at him. She hits the controller with such force her hands stings, but that doesn’t make it go any faster.

“How long have you been a firefighter for?” he asks her.

“Couple years,” she mumbles, hoping he can’t see how red she is in the lighting.

“I think it’s really noble, you know. Better than what the police do, and you don’t get half the credit! I think you lot are the real heroes.”

Ah, Lily can’t avoid his face at that. “I think you’re right,” she says, grinning despite herself. They have a rivalry with the local police precinct, obviously. The police do have more rapport and generate more awe with the civilians and they never let Lily’s brigade forget it.

“When do you get off?” he asks.

“What?” Lily squeaks. Yes, squeaks.

“When do you get off call? Or duty, whatever it’s called.”

“Oh,” she says, somehow going redder. “Oh, I’m off call at eight this morning.”

“Breakfast?”

“Suppose so,” Lily says, shrugging.

James laughs as they finally reach the truck. “No, I mean, with me. A date.”

Lily’s eyes widen. Is he seriously asking her out on a date? At three in the morning? As she rescues him from the house he locked himself inside? Trouser-less?

And is she seriously considering?

“I can cook,” he adds, smiling at her.

“Ha!” Lily says. “Can you really?”

“Breakfast I can cook!” he says indignantly. “Pancakes and waffles and orange juice and cereal and the like.”

“You don’t cook orange juice and cereal!”

“Whatever, I mean I’m excellent at pouring.”

“Oh, of course,” Lily says. She laughs–again! She’s never made this much conversation with a civilian while on duty before. Much less this pleasant.

“All right, then, James,” she says. “I’ll swing by when I get off call.”

“Brilliant,” he says, grinning.

Lily smiles as she leads him out of the ladder’s basket and onto the ground.

“My name’s Lily, by the way,” she says.

“Lily. Firefighter Lily Evans. Pleased to meet you, Firefighter Lily Evans.”

Hearing her full title always picks her up, but something about his voice makes it sound particularly lovely. “Pleased to meet you too, Civilian James Potter. Erm, also, where is the entrance to your floor?”

“Oh, er,” says James. “It’s not a split-level. I mean, it used to be, but a long time ago we made it a one-family house.”

“Oh,” Lily says, nodding slowly.

“Yeah, suitable for a big family. Lots of guests…and friends.” James pauses for a moment. “Er, I grew up in this house, actually. I just moved back in. It had been empty for a while….” James hesitates. “My parents passed away,” he said, shifting his gaze away.

“Oh,” Lily says again, softer. “Oh, I’m sorry, James.” Then, her voice softer still, she says, “My parents passed away, too.”

James looks at her again. “Sorry,” he says. His voice falls flat, but Lily knows it’s not from lack of compassion. She understands. “Cancer?”

“No,” she says, shaking her head, her voice barely a whisper. She holds her hands together. “A fire.”

“Ah,” James says.

They both look away. They catch each other’s eye after a moment…and giggle.

James swallows. “Bit early for this, I think,” he says.

“Yeah,” she agrees. “We’ll want to discuss this at a proper late hour, like eight or nine.”

“Eight or nine,” echoes James. He purses his lips. “You mind if we don’t spend all of breakfast talking about our dead parents?”

“If I had known your parents were dead before you asked me, I wouldn’t have said yes,” Lily says. Then she wants to throw herself under the truck.

He’s clearly just lost them! There’s no way he’s gotten to the dark-humour zone yet! Not this way, not this fast!

But he does laugh, to her immense relief.

“It’s good,” he says. “Laughing is good. I feel like everyone wants me to still be, like, crying all the time…laughing a little is good.”

“Just ignore everyone else,” Lily tells him. “It’s such a confusing time…you hardly know what you want. So if you think you’re doing something that feels good, keep doing it. Sometimes you cry. Sometimes you laugh. But don’t listen to people when they tell you it’s a straight progression, because that’s such a lie. There are ups and downs and lefts and rights. It’s not a diagonal line on a graph, it’s more of a series of loops on both side of the paper.”

James eyes light up. “That’s it,” he says. “That’s it exactly.”

Lily tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “I’d better head back,” she says, climbing into the driver’s seat. “Fire Captain McGonagall can’t know I’ve been out…well, you’ve met her. But I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Can’t stay away, can you?” he says, and he winks again.

“Guess not,” she says, and she winks too.

James’ eyes widen, and she can’t blame him. She’s surprised even herself tonight.

#lizo writes #jily fanfiction #jily #alrightevans #chloe i really hope you like this!! #i realise you forgot about it because you literally reblogged that post ten months ago but what can you do #(keep to a normal fic writing schedule? no way. unheard of) #anyway i hope anyone who does like this lets me know!! #i feel like this is very different from most of my fics? #so yeah i'd love feedback if you've got the time!

[startanewdream]

Glimpses of the future

Summary: Lily traces the third line of his hand. The loveline. 'What's going on with your heart, Potter?' 

He wishes he knew.

For @sunshine-marauders who asked for Jily in Divination Class (I couldn’t add any real predictions, but I hope you enjoy this small journey of moments).

Rated T, with warnings for mildly swearing and for a teenager with hormones.

Read on AO3 or below the cut:

________________

Third year

James curses his friends the moment he enters the classroom. They were supposed to share all classes and yet they did not sign for Divination.

Now he is stuck in this class for at least three years.

Great.

And he seems to be the only Gryffindor there; he watches the groups of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, wondering where he should sit, when he sees a table with only one person, their robes gold and red.

Then she turns around, and he recognizes Lily Evans.

They are not very close, not when she keeps weird company he doesn't support - one person only, to be fair -, but Evans is fine, he supposes. Sometimes he thinks she is funny; sometimes she laughs from something he does.

It's a start, at least, and she is the only other Gryffindor there. Gryffindors should stick together.

So he walks towards her table.

'Hi, Evans', he begins, giving her his most sympathetic smile. 'Is this seat available?'

She glances at him, her green eyes assessing him, as if wondering if he is joking with her, before she nods.

'Sure', she says, moving a little to allow him to share the couch with her.

'Your friends ditched you too?', he tries, hoping to engage her into some nice conversation. If they are to be partners, at least they can be is corteous to each other.

'What?'

'My friends. Those prats told me they would sign for this class and they gave up at the last minute'.

'Oh', she is staring at him as if she thinks he is lunatic. 'No, I wanted to study Divination. I always thought it was interesting'.

'Oh'. He thinks of joining that class just for the laugh, for the silliness it would represent since he doesn't really believe in it. But Evans is not smiling and James is not sure how to deal with it. 'So you believe we can get glimpses of the future?'

'Well, magic is real, why couldn't we?'

James shrugs. He never had thought about it in these terms, not really.

'Yeah, I guess. Then you joined the class for curiosity? Want to know what the future will bring?'

'Well, that too'.

'What else?'

There is a pinkness on her cheek, but Lily Evans looks nothing but resolute as she stares at him.

'Sev'.

'Ah', James doesn't refrain from grimacing. If only Evans could move on from her strange taste in friends. 'Don't tell me he is in the class'.

'No, he told me Divination was a waste of time'.

'And yet here you are'.

A grin shines on her lips; it is almost mischievous . 'And yet here I am', Evans agrees.

James grins back, approvingly. Perhaps there is hope for Evans after all.

~*~

Fourth year

Evans' hands are warm. James shouldn't notice this. He shouldn't feel so… so whatever he is feeling just because her hands are touching him, one hand holding his left hand and her other sliding over the palm of his hand as she traces the lines there.

It's just... her touch is so soft, like butterfly wings fluttering delicately or maybe a Golden Snitch's wings - he doesn't care much for the seeker position, but maybe he should, because suddenly he feels his hand is too rough with years of practicing chasing. Perhaps he should try some lotion for them, because she is hating to touch him.

Lily Evans' hands are so delicate, so small compared to his - maybe that growth spurt he had during summer turned him into some kind of ogre, because he feels so out of place next to her, and then he wonders what is the right place with Evans...

'Your lifeline is very clear, Potter', Evans is explaining, talking about choices and what it represents, and he tries to concentrate, but it's difficult because the tips of her finger dancing over the palm of his hand are sending shivers down his spine.

It almost tickles but that's not really what he feels; there is no urge to laugh, just… just to enjoy how good it feels. What's his problem? That's Evans. She can't stand him and he - he also doesn't like her much, though she is vivacious and funny and pretty and her eyes are really gorgeous and her touch is so tender -

'Now, that's interesting', Evans whispers to herself, consulting the book open next to her. She is tracing the third line of his hand. The loveline. 'What's going on with your heart, Potter?'

He wishes he knew.

~*~

Fifth year

'You are late', Evans complains the second he slids next to her on the couch in the Gryffindor Common Room.

'I overslept', he mumbles, for a second refusing to look her in the eyes in a irrational fear she will know exactly the reason he had trouble leaving the bed. Then he grins uncontrollably as her words come back to him. 'Missing me much, Evans?'

Her eyes flicker, not impressed by his smile. Someone else might, he can't help but think. But nothing he ever does seems to amuse her lately.

He tries not to let it bother him, though, very much like her presence in his dreams, he can't help himself.

'If by missed you you mean that I missed not getting another partner for this project, yeah, then sure'.

'It's a start', he tries, still with that stupid grin he always has around her. She closes her eyes for a second, pinching her nose.

'Just let us finish this, Potter. The faster we do, the faster I can go back to my life and you can go do whatever you want'.

She is stressed. Same as everyone else, really, with the nervousness of the exams this year, but he never saw Lily Evans looking so impatient before.

He feels that twinge of guilt that only Evans can arise on him. She is the sole reason for a lot of his feelings lately.

'Sorry for being late', he tells her quietly, and her expression relaxes a little.

'Okay'. She bits her lips and James has to concentrate on keeping her gaze without blushing. It's not like those green eyes of her are not a participant in his dreams too - always staring down at him, for once not looking reprovingly, but invitingly -, but they are easier, much easier, than thinking of her lips that have also been on his mind lately.

Though for very different reasons. And in different situations. With different purposes.

He feels his face heating, which is ironic because the blood seems to be going from his head to…

He looks away, hurrying to pick up his things in his backpack, where it should be safer.

And he can put his backpack on his lap, just in case he needs to hide some of his more… evident reactions to Lily Evans.

Damn stupid hormones.

'It's a good thing you were sleeping, I suppose', Evans adds, her voice a bit warmer now, and James wonders what has been evident in his expression. It's not what he was thinking of, for sure; Evans would not be kind to him if she knew the ways she had been appearing in his dreams lately.

'It is?', he asks, confused. Truth be told he sort of napped during the last class of Divination (right after a Full Moon - he is not used to spending the whole night awake yet) and all he knows is that Evans is his project partner for this semester.

Fortunately she seems to take pity on his confusion.

'Yeah, here'. She takes out two sheets, giving him one. James freezes when he reads the title of it.

Dream diary.

'Tell me, Potter', she starts, taking out her quill and sucking the top of it. Sugarquill, James knows but his treacherous improper mind keeps remembering the way her lips were moving in his dream, and it was not over a quill at all. 'What have you been dreaming about?'

James gulps.

~*~

Sixth year

The classroom is hot with the vapour from the incense. James yawns, trying to focus, but there is nothing inside that crystal ball that gives him any clue at all of what he should be seeing.

There are none of the misty figures the book says he could see.

'Do not fret if you don't see anything', Professor Bath says, her voice sounding mystical since he can't say where she is. 'True sight is a rare gift'.

'So are good incenses', Evans murmurs beside him, and James chuckles lightly. He barely can see her through the smoke. 'Are you seeing anything at all?'

'I think it's safe to assume there will be a blizzard tonight', he whispers dramatically, and now it's her turn to chuckle.

That sound fills him with contentment. He is so glad he didn't give up this class - and neither did she.

'Move a little, I want to see better'.

He sits more to the left, but it's not enough space apparently. Evans comes into focus as she shifts her position, her hand brushing against his as she sits very near him - he can feel the heat coming from her body, the shape of her tight pressed against his and above all her perfume, a mix of garden flowers with scented herbs and he thinks her smell should not be more powerful than the incense in the room and yet it is.

He inhales happily now, taking in Evans' perfume even as he already accepted he won't ever have anything else, and Evans turns to him with a teasing grin on her lips.

'Enjoying the incense, Potter?'

Perhaps it's all the smoke (who is he kidding, it's not the incense, it's her), because James can only think of leaning into her and capturing her lips with his own; it would feel better than any intake of fresh air, he is sure of it.

But that's only a silly hope, so he just shrugs carefreely.

'It is not that bad after a while'.

'You are so high', she teases. James agrees with her. I am so high on you.

But he doesn't say anything and Evans shakes her head, seemingly amused by the light expression on his face, and moves forward to stare at the crystal ball.

Her face vanishes from his vision and yet he could picture the way her eyes are staring attentively at the crystal ball, the way she is biting her lips as she tries to make sense of that smoke that is supposed to give them glimpses of the future.

'Potter?', she calls him, her voice distant. 'Come here'.

He leans forward, joining her next to the crystall ball. Again the wave of her perfume threatens to numb all his senses and James tries to find something other to focus, though is hard. The crystall ball presents him misteries he doesn't really wants to unravel, not when her face is close to his, her dark red hair looking very vivid against the smoke around them and if he turned his face he could brush his lips against her cheek and then -

'What are you seeing?'

He turns almost desperately to the crystall ball, but it doesn't change much. Albeit a little distorted, all he can see is her face staring him back, green eyes sparkling over a face with small freckles he always feels tempted to count.

'You', he whispers. 'All I see is you'.

There is a moment of silence and through the haze on his mind, he suddenly fears that she understood exactly what he meant by that.

But then Evans sighes, taking a scroll and looking away.

'Funny', she says, her voice small too. 'All I could see was you too'.

~*~

Seventh year

'This is not what we should be doing with our time, Lily', he whispers, his voice lacking any reprehension as he pulls Lily even closer to him, his hands around her waist, feeling the skin of her back.

'I feel offended', she answers back, her head raised so her lips can brush his neck. It sends shivers down James' spine that have nothing to do with the cold wind around them. 'Professor Bath has told us we needed to be relaxed, right?'

'I am not sure if that's what she meant'.

'Are you relaxed or not?'

In answer, his lips find hers, and then James is lost in that sensation of kissing Lily, their bodies close together, her arms around his neck holding his hair. It's better than he ever dreamed.

He is not sure if relaxed is the proper term for how she makes him feel though.

Maybe desperately in love would be more accurate.

'Wow', he whispers breathlessly when they break apart, his fingers caressing her face tenderly. She raises her eyebrows, a spark of mischief tingling on her eyes.

'Feeling connected with your inner eye?'

'I'd rather feel connected with you', he assures her, and Lily grins. It's one of the most maddening smiles of her, the one that is cheeky and tempting and that she accuses him of teaching her how to.

'I don't know how you can find a prophecy on my lips, James', she jokes, eyes glistening, waiting for his answer.

James doesn't really care for this last project for Divination Class. Professor Bath has told them prophecies are rare to come and she doesn't really expect any of her students to ever make one, but they must take a try.

James is not even sure real prophecies actually exist.

'Maybe I can find somewhere else', he says playfully, lips brushing against the side of her cheek and then to her earlobe. 'Not here', he whispers and then his lips travel to her neck. 'Still no prophecy'.

He bends his head, enjoying the first opened buttons of her shirt. Lily moans softly.

'I am starting to hear words in my head…'

'Unless they are telling you to snog me right now, ignore them'.

James laughs, raising his head in search of her lips again and it's a blissful oblivion, a fog on his head with only Lily being clear, being real and tangible, and any thoughts of prophecies are forgotten.

#jily #jily fanfiction #fluff moments #canon compliant #james is so hopeless in love I wanna hug him #they are adorable #i hope you enjoy #cause except for the last line this gave me all the fluff writing it #t: fanfiction

[startanewdream]

(Not) A Summer Date

Written for @efkgirldetective's Summer of Jily. I couldn't resist writing about Carnivals (even if the ones I researched are nothing like the modern ones). Thanks for organizing this!

Please enjoy this silly sample of James and Lily spending a day together in what James swears it's not a date.

Read on AO3 or below:

____________________

It’s not a date.

It’s not.

They are just two friends who got dumped by their friends and happen to be at the same place at the same time. A place and a time they agreed upon previously. Together.

It’s not a date.

At least, that’s what James tells himself over and over, though as time goes by he really can’t tell why it isn’t one.

He is alone with Lily, after all, the girl he has had a crush on since forever—it’s since Fourth Year, but he doesn’t remember ever fancying anyone before that—just the two of them enjoying each other’s company. It was not supposed to be like that. They had exchanged letters a lot that Summer and when Lily mentioned a Muggle carnival happening in a park in London, James had jumped at the opportunity of going there with her.

Not just him, of course, this was all for Sirius’ interest in Muggle culture, or so James had expressly written in the letter back to her. And if James’ friends would go, then it wasn’t a date; he loved his friends, but he didn’t bring them to a date.

Except Sirius cancelled at the last time, Peter had owled him saying he couldn’t come and Remus had said he was feeling under the weather, all in the last possible minute, so James couldn’t warn Lily in time to reschedule. He had gone to the park, feeling strangely awkward, and to his surprise, Lily had shown up alone too. He had expected her friends to be there with her—they had formed a nice group of friends in the last year—, but he supposed she was equally dumped by her friends.

James had guessed they would cancel, but instead of looking upset, Lily had just smiled at him, her cheeks coloured because of the warm sunny day—though it was already dusk—and had just asked him what he wanted to do first.

And that is how James finds himself on a date with Lily.

Except it isn’t a date.

He knows this is not one, no matter how much he wishes things were different. If it were a date, he would have grabbed her hand when they went to that roller coaster that he really doubted if it was safe (though he kept quiet and faced it bravely); or he would have pulled her closer when they left the spinning ride, holding her in his arms until the world stopped dizzying around them.

And most of all he’d not have enjoyed the view from the giant wheel if they were on a date. Instead, James would have gathered his courage to place his arm around Lily’s bare shoulder, with some excuse about keeping her warm—even though the summer night was warm enough—that Lily would accept because it would be a date. She’d bit her lip to avoid a smile at his clumsy excuse, her eyes shining with the shadow of her amusement, and James’ attention would be diverted to her lips; she’d open them in a quiet invitation, and when he’d look back at her eyes, her answer would be ready even before he’d make the question.

And then, finally, he’d approach her, lips brushing tenderly in a way he could feel her smile before…

Before nothing, because they are not on a date and James doesn’t want to mess up their friendship.

That’s what they are. Friends. Who are certainly not on a date.

After the giant wheel, he gives up on any ride. Those eight minutes were enough to make him crawl up the walls, his treacherous mind unable to drift away from the fact that he was alone with Lily in an enclosed cabin and James doesn’t think he can survive another emotion like that.

They stop for a quick dinner and Lily introduces him to popcorn and his favourite rainbow cotton candy.

‘This can’t be normal,’ he mumbles, watching as the vendor prepares him the cotton candy.

‘It’s magic,’ she teases him. She picks up the cotton candy and eats a mouthful with a challenging expression on her face, but James doesn’t concentrate on this. If he’d kiss her now, James knows he would taste all the sugar on her lips.

His mouth gets dry.

He eats the cotton candy in a quiet silence after that, careful to look at everywhere but to his side, where Lily stands carefully licking the candy out of her fingers.

This is not a date; this is pure torture.

After that, James supposes he should tell her it’s late and they should go home, but Lily grabs him by the hand—her fingers entwining with his as if this is the most normal thing ever, as if her hand isn’t so warm and soft, as if that touch doesn’t make him burn with longing for more —and pulls him to the game tents.

‘This is what I told you about,’ she says brightly, referring to her latest letter and her vivid descriptions of Muggle carnivals. ‘You are gonna love this.’

James isn’t sure he is capable of loving anything else that night, but he doesn’t say anything.

He tries to focus on the games; the first ones are lucky games, and James’ luck doesn’t favour him. Lily gets a cartoonish fawn plushie, which she gives him.

‘It reminds me of you,’ she says, amused with her own thoughts, and James smiles at the coincidence.

‘Well, I should get you something then.’

Her eyes widen, a curious expression there that James doesn’t understand. They are in the middle of a row with game tents, children running around them, a mess of sounds and lights, and somehow he feels they are the only ones in the world when Lily takes a step closer to him, her hand placing an invisible strand of her hair behind her ear.

‘And what will you get me, Potter?’

It’s been a while since Lily has called him by his surname, but it sounds nice; not exactly friendly, but… provocative.

And though the moment is completely different from when they were at the giant wheel, James feels again that urge to move forward, to cup her face, lower his head and…

Not a date.

He turns his head hurriedly, cricking his neck in the process, and his eyes fall on a giant plush lion.

‘A lion!’, he cries, making her jump. ‘I will get you a lion, come on.’

Lily raises her eyebrows, but he doesn’t wait for her answer. James doubts he can control his impulse if they stay this close longer, so he walks towards the game tent; as far as he can tell, it’s easy: all he needs to do is throw an orange ball through a hoop. The person in front of him in the line is bad at it for some reason, but James is a chaser and a good one. He can do this.

‘Oh-oh,’ Lily mumbles at his side. ‘You’re gonna lose money here, James.’

‘How come?’

‘This game is nearly impossible to win.’

James frowns. He looks around, but no other tent has the same plush lion and he already promised he would give one to Lily.

‘I got this,’ he says confidently. When Lily still looks nervous, he winks at her, which, for some reason, makes her look away, a flush coming to her cheeks even as she shakes her head.

James doesn’t get this. He swears he throws the ball perfectly, but the first one bounces in the hoop, the second one doesn’t even hit the hoop and the third one is thrown too much to the left.

He pays another coin.

‘One more time.’

Lily joins him for a few rounds; her throws aren’t much better than his, but they aren’t worse either, which somehow baffles James. He is a good chaser, he holds the current record of goals in a game. He should get this stupid Muggle game.

‘I think we are getting good at this,’ Lily tells him ironically by their eighth or ninth attempt when the latest ball twirls around the hoop before missing it.

‘I am a disaster ,’ James admits, when his last coin is spent fruitlessly. The ball refuses to pass through the hoop.

‘You are not,’ Lily assures him. She seems more amused by his reaction than upset he was a failure.

‘I couldn’t make a single goal. That’s it. I’m resigning as Quidditch Captain.’

‘Because of one rigged Muggle game?’ Lily shakes her head. ‘I told you, it’s not made for anyone to win. The hoop is not round, the ball bounces too easily.’

‘Why is this even allowed?’

‘For the fun of it,’ she tells him, and then she bits her lip in a way James has seen before; she is nervous, gathering courage for something. When their gazes meet, her expression relaxes; her eyes are shining under the lights of the carnival. ‘I had fun,’ she says softly.

‘Watching me make a fool of myself?’

‘Not this. Even if we didn’t win… you have this expression when you are concentrated in a game, all focused like when you are flying as if nothing could distract you and… it’s nice to watch.’

‘You enjoy watching me?’ he repeats, fazed, because now he has said it out loud, it feels like there is some meaning behind it that he can’t quite grasp, something too unfathomable until this moment.

‘Well, I wouldn’t have asked you out if I didn’t,’ she says, her voice sounding half as if this is obvious, half as if she is embarrassed by it. ‘Come on, you can spend my last coin trying to hit the darts there.’

She walks to the next tent without looking at him, her face still flushed, and James takes a while to follow her because his mind is still frozen.

Asked him out? Surely she doesn’t mean like that . Lily didn’t ask him out , she just mentioned a Carnival and told him it would be fun to go there and James had agreed… And Lily knows his friends should come and one does not bring friends to a date.

But Lily’s friends are not there yet.

‘Too bad Mary couldn’t come,’ he says slowly as he tries to aim the dart in his hand. It’s easy to pretend all his concentration is on that hit instead of waiting for her answer.

‘Oh, I didn’t call her,’ Lily says, her voice nonchalant, and James misses the dart completely. This time, he doesn’t complain.

James doubts he could form a sentence. His brain doesn’t seem to be working at all; nothing seems to be making sense, because if he could think thoroughly, then… then he would need to accept that Lily asked him out and then they are on a… No, that would be impossible, they are just friends who happen to have spent an afternoon all by themselves…

The lights of the park start to go out and they walk towards the exit; at least, when they reach the place they met—carefully out of Muggle’s prying eyes—Lily turns to watch him. She looks somewhat nervous as if she is expecting something .

‘I had fun today,’ she says at least when James stays silent. There is an underlying question in her voice that James knows how to answer.

‘I… me too.’

Lily looks relieved. ‘Good.’

‘Sorry for not getting you a gift—you can keep this fawn until—’

‘No, keep Bambi.’ She hesitates a little, her head lowering enough not to look him directly in the eyes. ‘You can get me a lion on the next date.’

‘I will—what?’

‘A lion. Or anything, really, I don’t know where I would—’

‘No, you said… a date.’

‘Yeah, well.’ She rolls her eyes as if it is nothing, though her cheeks are coloured.

‘This isn’t a date.’

‘Oh.’ Now Lily looks even more embarrassed, taking a step back. ‘I had thought… okay. Sorry.’

She looks away now, seemingly wishing to just disappear, but James knows whatever she is feeling is nothing like his current panic.

‘This couldn’t be a date. I would know if it were one.’ She turns back to him, a disbelieving expression on her face. James flushes. ‘I think.’

‘That’s okay, James, really. I just… don’t think of today as a date if you—’

‘Tomorrow,’ he interrupts her hurriedly. ‘Let’s come back here tomorrow. No, wait. Evans.’ He takes a deep breath, his heart beating too fast on his chest. He needs to do this right. ‘Would you like to go out with me tomorrow?’

He knows her answer even before she says anything just by the light on her eyes.

‘I’d love to, James.’

‘Then it’s a date.’

Lily beams, a bold expression coming to her face; it was the same she had before facing all the rides of the park, and she takes a step closer to him, rising on her tiptoes and placing a soft kiss on his cheek.

It feels better than that whooping sensation he got on the roller coaster.

‘See you tomorrow,’ she whispers, and then she disappears on the spot.

James raises his hand to touch where she kissed. Tomorrow will be their second date. He can’t wait for it.

____________________________

“Dear Sirius,

Your best friend is under the impression I invited you over too. I didn’t; I can show you a Muggle Carnival some other time.

Please make up a good excuse to not crash our date tomorrow.

Hope you are enjoying this summer.

Lots of love,

Lily.”

#Summer of Jily #Jily #Jily Fanfiction #Summer dates are the best #A little bit of Starflower at the end just to make it clear #Oblivious James owns my heart sorry #Next time I will write an attentive James

[startanewdream]

Eyes glistening (with the ghost of my past)

Summary: “Can you remember your parents at all?” said Rita Skeeter, talking over him.

“No,” said Harry. 

“How do you think they’d feel if they knew you were competing in the Triwizard Tournament? Proud? Worried? Angry?”

A Jily Lives AU to answer that question.

Read on AO3 or below the cut:

----------------------------

Lily is fuming by the time they leave Dumbledore’s office, her hand still gripping tightly the letter they received from Harry late the night before.

‘Mum, Dad,

I’m one of the Triwizard Champions. I SWEAR I didn’t put my name on the Goblet of Fire. I don’t know who did it, but Hogwarts has another champion too.

Dumbledore said I have to participate now, but I never wanted to.

Please don’t be mad.

Love, Harry’.

James supposes Lily had already used all her patience to not storm into Hogwarts right after receiving the letter; he’d felt the same. None of them had slept well that night, just holding each other, unable to promise that things would be ok when they clearly weren’t.

They had flooed to Dumbledore’s office early in the morning, but the headmaster’s words had done nothing to calm their worries. Harry was a participant in a tournament that shouldn’t be available to underage wizards and witches, and as a fourth champion when there should be only three.

And Dumbledore was fearing - as they had all night - that someone had done it on purpose, to have a shot at…

James can’t finish this thought. All he ever wanted was for Harry to have a normal calm year at Hogwarts, but for some reason - and he could name the reason - things always happened around him.

Lily’s hard steps wake him.

‘Lily…’, he begins, and she turns to him with fire in her eyes.

‘Don’t Lily me, James, not now’.

‘Being mad won’t accomplish anything’.

‘What else can I do?’, she asks, angry tears shining on her eyes. ‘Dumbledore won’t do anything, that stupid Goblet is a magical contract and now Harry is bound to compete in a tournament well above him -’

It’s everything James has been thinking since they received Harry’s letter, but he can’t falter now. Lily needs him and, if he knows his son at all, no matter how much Harry will say everything is fine, he will need them too.

‘I know, love’, he says soothingly, offering his arms so she can bury herself on them. After one second of hesitation, during which Lily seems too upset to do anything, she accepts his hug. ‘Now we do the only thing we can do. We help Harry’.

‘We aren’t supposed to’, she whispers.

‘I know, but we can’t just stand -’

‘I only meant we will have to be discreet about it’, adds Lily, separating herself a little so she can wink at him. ‘So we don’t cause him any harm. But you can be damn sure he won’t be alone in any of those tasks’.

He nods and for a moment they just stand facing each other, promising themselves silently they will do everything they can - and more - to help Harry.

‘Let’s go find him?’, James asks finally, and Lily nods.

‘Where? Gryffindor Tower or Great Hall?’

‘Times like these I miss my old map… It’s morning, let’s try Great Hall. A champion has got to eat’.

Lily’s smile at his joke is not very hearted, but he will take it. Harry had always enjoyed breakfast and he hopes any concern over the Tournament didn’t affect his hunger.

‘What do you think it will be?’, Lily asks him in a low voice, as they start descending the stairs. There are a few other students around them, throwing curious glances at them. James supposes it will take them a few moments to recognize him and Lily - they are famous, after all, and Harry looks just like James anyway. ‘The first task?’

‘The one to test their courage? It could be anything’.

‘We have to find out...’

‘If twenty years ago someone had told me you would be positively trying to break a wizarding rule, I would say they were mad’.

‘Twenty years ago I didn’t have a kid that is facing death at every corner’, she snaps louder than before, and when people turn to look at them again, she sighs. ‘Sorry, James, it’s just -’

‘I know, Lily. But he will -’, his voice falters a little, ‘- he will be okay. Harry has faced worse than anything they will have for the Tournament and if there is anything he excels at is being brave’.

Lily smiles at this, and he knows the smile is of love for Harry, for how their son faces everything life throws at him with courage and goodness. James tightens his hand around hers, and he urges himself to believe in his words too. He is right in the sense that for someone who has met Lord Voldemort three times now and survived, Harry has an advantage on this tournament.

But what he doesn’t say is how much he wishes that Harry wouldn’t be so targeted by any dark lord, how he could just have a normal year at Hogwarts worrying only about classes and dating and his friends. Like James once did.

He hates feeling powerless to protect Harry, who is just a boy.

His boy.

They stand at the door of the Great Hall, trying to look inside without calling much attention; Harry always hated attention, though James thinks that he will have a long year ahead.

‘I see Ron’, he says. ‘But Harry is not -’

‘James’, Lily calls him and he sees she is looking at the front doors, on the Entrance Hall.

He turns around. Harry is walking through the front doors, with Hermione by his side, both in gloomy silence. Harry’s head is slightly bending down as if the weight of his back is crushing him. Looking at him causes another wave of fury in James, over the injustice of everything that is happening with him.

He is only fourteen. He shouldn’t have to carry such a weight.

Harry’s eyes snap in their direction and he straightens himself a little bit, as if he is trying to look less miserable than he is, and James wants to bury his son deeply in his arms and never let go, never let any harm come to him.

But he can’t, and not only because Harry would be so embarrassed by being hugged by his father in the middle of the Entrance Hall. By James’ side, Lily presses his hand with more force, and he knows she too is holding herself as not to grab Harry and fly away with him to a place Harry can have a peaceful life.

They approached him quietly, ignoring the curious looks around them.

‘We will talk later’, says Hermione, throwing a tentative smile at Harry. ‘Hello, Mr and Mrs. Potter’.

At other times James would complain that she should call him James - and Hermione does sometimes when they meet her and Ron during the summer holidays - but now he just nods in silence, thanking her.

‘Harry -’, Lily begins, and James can hear the agony in her voice. Harry too, because he winces.

‘Let’s go for a walk’, suggests James, and Harry just accepts in silence.

That’s not good; Harry is always loud and talkative. It’s when he is quiet, deep in his thoughts, that it means something is wrong.

They walk on the grounds; it’s a November day, crispy and gold still, and James tries not to think that the last time he walked on Hogwarts grounds with Lily, it was very different. It had been their last day on Hogwarts, a summer day, and they’d been full of hope for the future, for fighting their part in the war and then for what they would do after the danger was over.

The war had supposedly ended, but the danger had not left their lives ever since Harry was born on the wrong month.

Harry avoids the lake - James sees the Durmstrang students are anchored there - and the forest, taking them instead for the empty Quidditch field. James remembers the letter Harry had sent early in September, talking about how he was excited for the Triwizard Tournament but deeply disappointed that Quidditch had been canceled…

Now Harry looks around the field with an expression that seems to confirm his disappointment as if he wishes more than ever he could just being flying.

‘We can talk here’, Harry says in a desolate voice. ‘Go on’.

Lily and James exchange a look.

‘What do you think we will say, Harry?’, Lily asks softly. 

‘You are mad, aren’t you? You don’t believe I -’

‘Harry’, James cuts him off, putting his hand on his son’s shoulder. Harry’s eyes, so identical to Lily, look at him with a desperate need. ‘If you say you didn’t do it, we believe you’.

‘We will always believe you’, promises Lily.

There are sparkles of tears in Harry’s eyes, but he looks calmer as if somehow hearing his parents telling him they believe in him has lifted a giant weight on his shoulder.

He doesn’t see Harry moving, but suddenly he is hugging both parents in a way James hadn’t seen him do it ever since the first time Harry was embarking to Hogwarts, the first time he would be left without his parents. They stand together, all three of them, hugging each other.

‘We are not mad, Harry’, adds Lily, when they break apart, and Harry is blinking too fast. ‘I mean, we are, just not -’

‘Not because of you’, completes James. ‘We know it’s not your fault’.

They all know whose fault is, but none of them mention Voldemort. His presence is always lingering over them, marking even the good moments as if they are a second away from being over.

‘But what we can do now is to get you through’, says James, with a smile that’s braver than he feels, but Harry seems to appreciate his gesture anyway.

‘I don’t know what the first task will be, but -’

‘Let us worry about this’, Lily says, her eyes full of determination and a mischief sparkle that James loves when he sees it. ‘You focus on your classes and studying. You know, trying to -’

‘Pretend everything is normal?’, Harry jokes, but there is still a heaviness in his voice that makes James thinks more than one thing is abnormal. Lily notices it too because she frowns.

‘Harry… what happened? Other than your name coming out of the Goblet of Fire, I mean’.

Harry bits his lips, clearly not wanting to say anything. He seems more upset than ever, but after a minute he looks at James with another kind of desperation in his voice.

‘Dad… Did you ever fight with Sirius?’

The question seems so random that James blinks.

‘Yeah, I mean, you’ve seen our discussions -’

‘No, I meant it for real. As if - as if you couldn’t even be friends anymore’.

James exchanges a worried look with Lily.

‘Yes, I did. Once’, he admits, and Harry looks surprised at him. ‘There was this time that Sirius had this idea of a prank, one that could hurt innocent people, including Moony, and I didn’t agree with him. So we fought and we didn’t talk for days. I never felt so miserable’.

‘But you managed to be friends again, right?’, Harry presses. ‘How did you do it?’

James looks at him; Harry looks more scared now than he was when thinking about the Tournament. James thinks of seeing Harry with Hermione, and of Ron alone in the Great Hall.

‘With time and patience and forgiveness’, he says slowly, trying to understand what happened to make Harry and Ron fight. ‘Best friends always come around’.

‘Whatever happened, Harry, the real friendship will last’, Lily adds, her voice concerned. ‘And you do have real friends’.

He doesn’t seem to believe them so much now, but Harry nods.

‘Do you want us to -’

‘No, Dad’, Harry says quickly. ‘Me and Ron - I mean - we will sort things out. Eventually’.

‘You will’, James agrees, touching Harry’s head and messing his hair in a way that always makes Harry smiles in embarrassment and joy. Harry grins.

‘Hey, hey, okay’. He pauses briefly. ‘Thanks. For coming here to see me, I - I am so sorry to worry you -’

‘Harry’, Lily interrupts him fondly, her hand messing Harry’s hair just as James had done, but with much more gentleness. ‘We are parents, we are always worrying about you, even when nothing is happening’.

‘Yeah, why do you think I got so much white hair?’, jokes James, making Harry let out a reluctant chuckle.

‘Sirius, probably’, he says teasingly, and James grins, agreeing. Harry looks at them with a soft expression, as if really appreciating his parents being there, before he sighs. ‘I should get back’. He blushes slightly. ‘I have some essays to finish, actually’.

‘Let me guess, they are due tomorrow’, James says smirking. His hips bump playfully on Lily. ‘Guess he took that from you’.

‘I always thought desperation makes the best essays’, Lily says brightly, sharing a smile with Harry. ‘Go on, then. And Harry… Be careful’.

‘I always try to’, Harry assures her. ‘But, you know -’

‘Trouble keeps finding you’, James finishes for him, pulling his son for another hug.

The fact that Harry accepts without complaining at all shows him how much Harry was needing that hug and, once more, the despair over the situation threatens to overwhelm James. But he puts a brave smile for Harry and watches as Lily hugs Harry too, vowing to himself he will keep doing everything he can to protect them both. His family.

‘We love you’, she says, and Harry smiles a final time.

‘Love you too’.

James and Lily watch their son go back to the castle, their hands gripped together to keep each other from falling.

-------------------------------------

‘So, Harry’, Rita Skeeter is smiling sweetly at him, not at all convincing. ‘How do your parents feel about you competing in the Triwizard Tournament? Proud? Worried? Angry?’

Harry takes a deep breath.

‘My parents believe I didn’t enter’, he says, knowing perfectly well Skeeter won’t publish any of this. ‘They are worried, of course, but they support me, as they always have’.

#Jily Lives #James potter #Lily Potter #Harry Potter #Genuary #Genuary 2021 #Eyes Glistening #t: fanfiction