It was a great day to go to was a spring day, not too cold or too hot, which encouraged Lily to wear one of her new dresses, a white one with little black stars all over it.
She looked at herself in the mirror one last time to make sure everything was in place and went down to the common room to find Marlene.
The blonde one was talking to the Marauders when Lily found her. Taking a deep breath, she went closer to them.
"I'm ready Marls," she said, smiling. "Hullo boys"
"Hi, Lily, you look pretty," James said with a smile.
"Thanks. James," she said without looking at him. She had no idea what's going on with her feelings for James since they started to become friends a year ago. She liked many of the boys, but since she noticed that what she was feeling for James had changed, she just avoided them all. It was safer this way. "Let's go, Marls?"
"Actually… Lily, lovely Lily. Lily the love of my life. Lily, my favorite flower of the garden…"
"You got a date don't you?" she asked, arching an eyebrow. "You're going to dump me to go on a date with a silly not that handsome boy?"
"Oi! I'm the most handsome boy at Hogwarts!" Sirius exclaimed. "You can ask any girl and they'll say it's me."
James looked at Lily.
"Who's the most handsome boy in Hogwarts?"
"By far it's Remus." Remus looked at the redhead with a lift eyebrow. "Don't you think Mar?"
"Oh yes, look at his face. He's got that sexy smart charm," she said, smiling.
"And he looks quiet but I think between four walls he's a bad bad wolf," Lily finished.
They all stood in silence for a minute. Sirius then stood up.
"Excuse me, but I gotta go kill myself with that last commentary."
"Yeah. I'll join you," James said. Remus was smiling and stood up as well, putting an arm around each girl's waist.
"Girls, would you like to join me into an empty room?"
"We'd love that," Lily answered and the three of them left the room laughing.
Lily was alone on Honeydukes, picking some candies when someone stood right behind her. She looked up and saw James bright red.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"Um… We need to find Marlene and then you'll be fine, but you can't move without… Well…"
"What? What's wrong?"
"I can pay for your candies and we can go as fast as we could and then Marlene and Sirius are probably in The Three Broomsticks so you'll be fine."
Lily was more confused than ever. She turned around and look him in the eye.
"James, what the hell are you talking?" She took his face in her hands and made him look at her. "And why you can't look me in the eyes?"
James looked away again.
"Let's just… Go." He pushed her and paid for her candies. Still behind her, he walked her through Hogsmead until they got to The Three Broomsticks. Lily was finding this really really weird, but liking how close they were.
"They're not here. Oh my God, what are we gonna do now?"
"Maybe if you tell me what's the matter, I can help," she said gently. "After all, it's still a problem that I don't know and seeing your panicked face, it is something about me, isn't it?"
James, who still wasn't looking at her, pushed her to a table and made her sit. He sat on the other side of the table.
"Okay…. But do you want something to drink? A butterbeer maybe?"
"Potter, for the love of Merlin, tell me what's the matter."
For the first time that day, he looked at her for a long time. His face turned into red again and Lily was wondering if all that was something to ask her out again. If it were, she was gonna slap him for making her worried.
"Fine. Um… Lily… You have… A nice white dress…" He put his hands through his hair and became redder than never. "And you… See, girls have times that they… Um… It's not your fault, you didn't know but what a horrible time to wear this pretty white dress…"
"Have I sat on something?" she asked.
"No… Well… I don't… Look Lily, you sat but you didn't sat on something other than you bum…. I mean… Well… When I was on Honeydukes, I saw… not that I was looking!" he guaranteed her. "But… I think you… Bled through your feminine part."
It took a few seconds to Lily, but soon enough she was as red as he was. But then she started to do something that James never though she would do. She started to laugh.
"Why are you laughing?" he asked, arching an eyebrow. "I always thought that this was embarrassing, not funny."
"It is, but the way you told me was funny. Bled through your feminine part?" She laughed louder. "James Potter, just when I thought you couldn't get more ridiculous."
She smiled and took her wand. "If you told me sooner, I'd made a spell that would clean my clothes and then I'd go to the restroom to figure the rest out." She made the spell and stood up. "See? Now if you excuse me I'll go to the restroom."
James stayed there, getting two butterbeers for them while she was in the bathroom. He was on the middle of his drink when he started to think about her again.
She was never embarrassed or mad at him for acting so strange. She laughed at herself and she was so damn beautiful with that dress. She'd never worn it before and it made her so much prettier than she was. Not that it was possible.
He was still thinking about her when she came back as sat in front of him.
"I'm back." she said, picking up her drink. "Thank you for warning me, and for the beer, too."
"Nah, don't worry." He smiled. "Evans, I need to ask you something."
"Didn't we pass the last name phase?" She drank a little of her butterbeer. "Or do you miss me calling you Potter?"
"No, I'm good with Lily and James, thank you." He smiled at her again. "But seriously… Miss Lily Evans, would you like to go on a date with me?"
She smiled at him.
"Yeah… I'd love to."