Option #3

When anyone asks her, she always says it just happened somehow. That it had been a matter of time, maturing and his unmovable faith that they belonged together. And everyone believes that, wants to believe that. After all, it sounds logical. Romantic even, when you think about it.

It's also a lie. A good lie, a lie that she can tell to her children, later on. A lie she fully intends to keep standing. Because the truth is that the final straw, the last little push that made her fall irrevocably, was that 5 o'clock shadow he suddenly sported on that sunny day in July.

That sunny day in July

Lily was walking along the path to the Potter mansion. Sure, she could've Apparated – she was 17 after all – but the weather was nice and she fancied a walk. And alright, she admitted it: she needed to have a firm chat with herself. She was a Gryffindor, for crying out loud. She shouldn't run from being honest with herself.

But oh, how tempting it was.

"Hello mister sheep, how are you doing? My name is Lily and I'm walking here. Walking to 'the Potter mansion'. Sounds fancy, don't you think?"

The sheep didn't even bother to look at her, but Lily kept on chattering, glad that at least he wouldn't judge her.

"But I'm not impressed, you know, because my friend James lives there and he's a bit of an idiot. My friend James. Who happens to be a boy. But that doesn't matter, because my friend Sirius lives there as well. Also a boy. Also a bit of an idiot. It's exactly the same: they are both my friends who are boys. And idiots."

Except it was most definitely not the same. Because Lily didn't get butterflies when Sirius looked at her, or get nervous when he touched her. Oh no. And she hadn't spent her last lessons daydreaming about kissing Sirius or his glorious arms or…

Lily had it bad.

She knew it, her friends knew it and she had a sinking feeling that James' friends knew it as well. Even though she tried to keep the fact that she was thinking about, dreaming over and lusting after James Potter hidden, she could only manage it half of the time. You'd think the bloke would get the hint, but no. Nothing. He was perfectly nice and lovely but that was it. Yes, he flirted with her, but he would flirt with his own reflection if he thought he could get away with it (he probably could).

She knew she was being a coward. She could just tell him and pray to the universe that he would actually feel the same. But after all those years of rejections (even though they were both different persons then), she figured the universe would just grin, give a high five to Karma and lean back with a bag of popcorn. So, walking through the sunny meadows, Lily was struggling with herself.

Grow a pair and tell him? Or avoid him forever?

Her thoughts went back and forth, until she was suddenly standing in front of James' front door. Still in doubt, Lily decided on the spot to go with option #3 for tonight: pretend like absolutely nothing is wrong and just be his friend. Pretty much like she'd been doing for the last three months.

She rang. She rang again. She knocked. Still nothing.

Strange. They should be home. Where could they be? If I was four seventeen year old boys, where would I spent my free time...ah. Right. Outside.

Aside from the James dilemma, which, let's be honest, could be reduced to a minor detail on such a lovely day, she was feeling fantastic. So she practically skipped around the house to the garden, but stopped when she saw two familiar figures hunched together, talking quietly, accompanied with a lot of hand gestures.

It was funny, she mused, how your eyes could seem to get a life of their own. She saw the two boys at the same time, and made a brief mental note that Sirius really should get a haircut, but after that, her eyes focused completely on the better option. He was standing with his back to her. And while she might've preferred to see his grin and those hazel eyes, her eyes once again pointed out the advantages of this side of James Potter.

For instance, there was the pleasant way his shoulders filled up the light blue shirt he was wearing. The thing about boys that were 17, was that they were half man, half boy. Man in their shoulders, arms and voices, boys in their actions. And my, my, what a dangerous combination that turned out to be.

"Evans! Just the bird we needed!"

Sirius had spotted her over James' shoulder and was bouncing over to her, grabbing her in a wild bear hug.

"Merlin, look how you've grown. Prongs, look how our Lily has grown. Don't you think she's taller than she was just two weeks ago? My little girl, almost a woman. I think I'm getting emotional." Sirius sniffed. Lily could almost feel his stupid grin, even though she was busy getting crushed against his chest.

"Sirius…can't breathe!" And with a lot of effort, she pushed him off. He was indeed, grinning like the lunatic he was.

"So sorry Evans. Did my emotions overwhelm you? I understand, I get that all the time."

Lily straightened her hair, raising an eyebrow. "I'm so glad you understand, I'm a highly emotional girl, you know. Watch the hair next time."

Sirius saluted, while James chuckled. In all the ruckus, she'd almost forgotten he was there. She whipped around, eager to see him.

And her whole body stuttered. She was pretty sure the whole world stuttered. Her breath, her bones, her eyes, her mouth, everything that made up Lily had to take a second look. Her jaw dropped and she was pretty sure her knees wobbled. This should not be happening, she thought. I'm a level headed girl, I don't do the whole swooning thing.

But Merlin and Agrippa, she couldn't help herself when he was looking this hot with a beard. Well, a beard was a bit of a big word maybe, 5 o'clock shadow was the better term. It made him look more mature, did wonders for his jawline and made his eyes look more hazel.

"Lily, are you okay?" Those very hazel eyes were suddenly at the same height as hers, looking at her full concern. She realised that she had been gaping at him for a full minute without saying a word.

"What? Er, yeah, I'm fine. Fine. Yes." She stammered. Stammered! Lily Evans did not stammer, period. Except she just did.

"Good, because I was starting to worry. I'm glad you're here." He grinned at her, running a hand through his hair.

"Also glad you're..I'm here. I'm glad I'm here." Bloody hell, she really needed to get herself together. But he was still staring at her like that and now Sirius was sending her knowing looks and she just couldn't take it anymore.

"So where are the other two?" The two boys frowned immediately and Lily could breathe as bit easier. "Did you lock them up again and forgot where?" Here, banter. Safe.

"You're never going to let us live that down, are you?" James said, sighing. "We lose them one time."

"I wish we'd lost them this time" Sirius huffed "We'd at least have fun finding them. Now however…" He crossed his arms, looking every bit like a whiny child. Lily looked at James for answers. He ran his hand over his jaw, once again focusing Lily's attention on that. She considered asking him if she could run her hand over his…well everything, but right now that stubble looked the most appealing. She groaned internally, what was up with her hormones? Why did they have to throw a tantrum now? Pretending nothing was wrong was getting a serious challenge this way.

This is Lily Evans' brain to her body: did you or did you not get the memo concerning option #3? Because we have some complaints about the execution up here.

"Lily? Are you sure you're okay? You're zoning out on me again." James' worried voice snapped her once more out of her thoughts.

"I think she's swooning over your newfound manliness, Prongs. Evans simply can't handle the testosterone."

James cheeks turned a bit red and he sent a nasty look Sirius' way.

"You can glare all you want, I'm just telling it as it is, my brother. The female population around here couldn't handle the new and improved you, so why should Evans? She's only human after all. You are, aren't you? Because let me be honest here, I've had my doubts about that last few years. No one should be able to study that much, you know what I,-. Oi! That hurt!"

"You had that coming Padfoot, quit whining. Please ignore him, Lil." She had to smile a bit by how self-conscious he acted. Looks like she wasn't the only who had to get used to his new look. Totally unnecessary, but adorable. For his sake, she did as he asked.

"So, is one of you ever going to tell me what is up with Remus and Peter?" The boys shared another look before reaching an unspoken decision.

"We'd better show you." James led her to another part of the garden, with his hand on her back. It was just a friendly gesture, but it did absolutely nothing for Lily's composure.

Option number 3, option number 3, option number 3.

"Here we are."

Remus and Peter were not lost at all. They were sitting opposite of each other at a table, staring intently at a game of chess.

"This is it? I do not see the big problem, or am I missing something?"

James grinned at her, in the annoyingly patronising way he sometimes did.

"Watch, Evans, and see for yourself." He turned to the two boys. "Moony! Wormtail! Lily's here, let's have a drink!"

None of the boys reacted.

"Wormtail, come on! Let's plunder the basement of Honeydukes! I'm pretty sure their new assortment arrived today!"

Still nothing. Lily threw James a questioning glance and he rolled his eyes.

"They've been playing chess for two days straight. We've been trying to distract them, offer better options, but nothing works. Sabotaging doesn't help either, they just start over. It's like Sirius and I don't exist. At first, we had fun coming up with various distractions, but now we want them to stop playing the fucking game. Planning pranks isn't as much fun without Moony trying to talk us out of it, or Wormtail cheering about everything."

Lily eyed the boys critically. "How is this even possible?"

"I don't know." James actually looked a bit desperate. Sirius came running towards them, completely out of breath.

"Lads, someone stole the Map and I think he's hiding in our basement! You need to help me catch him!"

"That's nice Padfoot, have fun" Remus murmured, without taking his eyes of the game. "Check."

Sirius groaned loudly and James patted his shoulder. "Great effort mate, good game. I almost believed you."

"You are actually trying to tell me that they do not respond to anything?" Lily asked, not believing what she was seeing.

"Nothing. I even tried luring them with naked girls, but even that didn't work." The idea alone was absurd, but Lily didn't doubt for a second Sirius had tried it.

"Wow. It must be serious then. Speaking of which, did you hear about Hogwarts library burning down? Some idiot with Fiendfyre. They lost almost everything. I don't know how we're going to get any studying done this year." Lily continued conversationally, watching Remus out of the corner of her eye.

"He twitched! I saw it!" James yelled in triumph. "Even your naked girls didn't get that much reaction out of him, Sirius. Evans, you're a genius. Keep going, we might actually get them away from this brain numbing boringness. All may not yet be lost!"

"Have you tried just asking them?" Lily offered. The dark haired boys looked at her like she grew another head.

"What do you mean, 'asking them'? That's not a fun solution. Think, good woman, think! Give me scenarios! I'm out of ideas!" Sirius actually dropped to his knees and grabbed her leg.

"Alright, that's enough." James intervened, casually kicking Sirius over. "Why don't you keep trying, and I'll get Evans a drink." And without waiting for an answer, he grabbed her hand and marched inside.

Oh yeah sure, just grab my hand without warning. It's not like that has any effect on me. Good thing I was in shambles already.

When they entered the cool kitchen, James grinned at her. "I'm sorry about all that. Sirius and I have a tendency to lose ourselves in the drama and the challenge of it all."

Lily hopped on the countertop and took the drink he offered her. "Really? Hadn't noticed before. Tell me, is this something you do at school? Drama and pranks and stuff?"

Forget about diamonds, sarcasm is a girl's best friend.

James laughed, whilst leaning against the same countertop she was sitting on. "Alright, okay, fair point. I guess I didn't have to warn you. Old habit, I guess."

"What do you mean?"

Once again he ran a hand over his jaw and Lily had to look again. Suddenly the kitchen wasn't so cool anymore. She wondered if this what men had to endure with boobs every time.

"Do you remember that time when I was big-headed fool and you were a judgemental swot?"

"You mean last week?" She couldn't help smiling, clearly remembering the two stubborn kids from two years ago.

"Oh look, a joke. Well done, Evans. You do remember, good. Do you also remember the time shortly after that? When we realised that we could actually be friends if we both got our heads out of our arses?"

She nodded. That had been weird. You try building a friendship on a painful and awkward history.

"Well, somewhere around that time, I developed the habit to explain myself to you, every time the lads and I pulled a prank or something like that."

"Wait, what? I remember that, suddenly everything prank had some sort of disclaimer." She mused "That time that you dyed the hair of every single Slytherin in Gryffindor colours during breakfast, some written message appeared on the wall: No Slytherins were harmed in the execution of this prank." She raised her eyebrows. "That was because of me?"

"Well yeah. Even though we were talking, I was still a bit scared you would turn back to I'm-going-to-hex-you-Lily. So I decided that if I could show you – indirectly - that we meant no actual harm, I'd stay on your good side." He looked a bit sheepish now, like he wished his 15 year old self had been a bit brighter.

She smiled at him and, automatically wanting him to feel better, put her hand on his cheek.

"That was very sweet of you, James. I didn't recognise it for what it was then, but it's the thought that counts, right?"

He didn't answer immediately, but stared at her. For a few seconds, which could've been years, she couldn't move, locked in his gaze. If she wanted to, she could read so many things in that gaze. Admiration, joy, love. And something a bit darker and hungry. Something that made her toes curl and released bouncy things in her stomach.

"Right." The moment was gone and they were back in his kitchen. She pulled her hand back hastily, even though she would have preferred not to.

"So…" She wanted to distract herself, because if she kept thinking about how her hand felt against his cheek, she would probably do something stupid. "What's with the beard?"

His gazed snapped to hers again, in alarm. "You don't like it?"

"Hold on, I was just wondering where it came from all of sudden."

"Just trying it out, I guess." He shrugged. "I saw some old pictures of my dad when he was my age and thought it looked alright. But I think I'm going to get rid of it tomorrow."

"What? No!" The damage was done before she could stop herself. His smile started slow and turned into a smirk before she knew it. She blushed, but kept talking, trying to save herself.

"I mean, you should think about these things. Don't do anything rash, you know. I think it looks nice, if you want my opinion, but who am I to say something about all this." She was rambling now, but what else could she do? She noticed that he had scooted a bit closer.

"Nice, you say? I thought I heard a serious bit of alarm just now. Are you sure you think it's just nice? Or was Sirius on to something earlier?"

He was standing even closer now. Lily knew that this was some sort of crossroad. The universe was actually working with her, giving her a moment to pick another option. She was panicking something fierce and thought about picking newfound option number 4: running away.

"Lily" His voice made her look up for the third time that day.

Big mistake. Looking at him, she couldn't for her life figure out why she was still fighting with herself. Deep down she'd always known she would give in, give in to this boy. The boy with the easy smile, with ways to make her feel alive and now, with this apparently irresistible beard.

"You're zoning out on me again! What is wrong with you today?" He actually sounded irritated now.

She giggled, but sobered up when he looked not impressed. She sighed, grabbed hold of his nice blue shirt and tugged him even closer to her.

"Will you calm down Potter? I was just wondering for a second if I was going to wait until you kissed me or if I was going to kiss you myself."

His facial expression was one she would remember for a long, long time. A fabulous combination of happiness, shock and smugness.

"Really?" He asked, serious as can be. "And how is that choice coming along?"

"Well, I'm still weighing my options actually." Their tone was light, like they were casually drinking coffee in the sun. Unable to help herself, she reached out and touched his cheek again, now running her nails lightly over his cheek. He shuddered a bit and something flashed in his eyes.

"Screw this."

Afterwards, she actually couldn't remember who snapped first, probably both of them. Because suddenly he was kissing her and she was kissing him and dear God it was heaven. He pressed his lips against hers, while his arms snaked around her. She buried her fingers in his hair and kissed him back, because how could she not? Their mouths slid over each other with a need that consumed them both. She pressed herself closer to him and he coaxed her mouth open and deepened the kiss even further. Their tongues danced around and created so many glorious sensations that Lily lost track of time, reason and breath. After a while, his mouth left hers to kiss the sensitive skin of her neck. This alone was maddening enough, but in combination with the scratch of his stubble, Lily could only groan incoherently and run her fingers through his hair. He groaned and pulled away, looking totally flustered. She suspected she wasn't looking any more composed.

"Right choice?" He asked, tucking a strand of her wayward hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, pretty much." She grinned.

"Excellent" And he kissed her again. Not with the same urgency as before, but slow and sweet, which made her blood rise and her toes curl even more.

"Prongs, what is taking so – OH MY GOD MY EYES! The kitchen, REALLY? How am I ever going to cook dinner here again? Bloody hell, of all the places you can pick to kiss a girl."

They returned to the real world and broke away, to see Sirius standing in the doorway.

"Shut up Black" Lily chided "Or I need to remind you of some places I found you during patrols last year?"

Sirius started to reply, but was interrupted by Remus and Peter who burst into the kitchen, taking in the scene.

"Well, finally." Remus said "That was about time, I would say. But really James, the kitchen?"

"That's what I said! Thank you, Moony, that - whoa. Hold on. You're here. So is Wormtail." Sirius turned to his two other friends, narrowing his eyes. "Are you trying to tell me that while no pranks, fires, stolen Maps, flying motors or naked girls could tear you away from your game, the moment you hear about this, you come running?"

The semi-guilty grins on Remus' and Peter's faces were obvious and they were slowly backing away from their indignant friend. But before they got away, Sirius grabbed them both by the arm.

"Oh no. You are not going anywhere. You are coming with me and we are going to plan a prank that will put all the other ones to shame. And you are going to like it." Before he disappeared out of view, he glanced over his shoulder and winked at Lily and James.

"Take your time soldier, and report for duty tomorrow." And after that, he marched away, with a firm hold on the other two boys.

"Good man" James sighed when they were alone again, tracing patterns on her back.

"Hm hm" Lily said, leaning against him.

"So the beard stays?" He asked, grinning goofily.

"Oh yes. Or at least until I'm done kissing you, which going to take some time, I think. Days, months, years, who knows?" She answered, grinning as well. His happiness was contagious, especially when she was feeling exactly the same. "But just so you know, if you tell anyone that I actually fell for your beard, I'm going to deny it. I'm going to lie until my lips fall off."

"Roger that." He smirked and pulled her face to his again.

When anyone asks her, she always says it just happened somehow.