Lily realized that she was in love at 3:37 in the afternoon on Saturday the ninth of October in 1977.

James Potter was a nutcase, that much was for sure. He was, however, a very likable nutcase with sincere compliments and boyish chuckles. Upon returning to Hogwarts for his sixth year, with a few well-timed, choicely worded owls from both him and Remus over the summer, Lily allowed her stupidly forgiving nature to take over and allowed herself to slowly become friends with him.

Lily Evans, it should be noted, while incredibly kind and forgiving, had treated James with contempt since the very first time she had met him.

It should also be noted that James Potter realized that he was in love on December the seventeenth of 1976.

Saturday, October ninth was a date of no significant importance to anyone in Hogwarts except for possibly Ravenclaw third year Mary-Ellen Woods, as it was her birthday. For Lily Evans, waking up that day was nothing special. She met her friends in the Great Hall and, in the absence of James and his friends, was teased relentlessly for her crush on the nutter. Their favorite past time was filled with 'I told you so's and 'Go out with him's. But Lily resisted. The only way she would compromise her N.E.W.T.s with a relationship was if she honestly, without a doubt, could not have it any other way.

Late morning until lunch was spent just like any other Saturday. A small dent was put in her weekend homework until she wanted to burn her books and instead escaped back to the Great Hall alone. The boys were there this time and easily coaxed Lily to sit by them. Like every other Saturday, her belly swelled with butterflies when her leg brushed against James'. Neither moved away and neither acknowledged that it even happened. Like every other Saturday, Lily playfully went toe-to-toe in a verbal battle with Sirius until she toppled into James with the force of her Marauder-induced laughing fit. Like usual, he put his arm around her shoulders for the briefest of moments, Lily rubbed the goosebumps from her arms, and the others were none the wiser.

After lunch, Lily attempted to go back to her homework. On this particular Saturday, though, Lily found that for the life of her, she could not concentrate. That dimpled smile and passionate eyes and those notoriously crooked glasses and his annoyingly unruly hair… his whole dumb face kept popping up over the words of her history book. The names of the Giants all seemed to be 'James.' Every spell she tried to learn seemed to allude to dashing Quidditch players or Quaffles and the large, wiry hands that held them. It was utterly useless. These little moments were happening more and more often and they did not bode well for the year to come. She blamed the fact that, as Head students, they spent much more time together. At the same time, she would only be able to work properly again once she got an adequate dose of James.

And so, livid as the devil, Lily stomped out of the common room with every intention of forcing James to spend time with her. Could he be any more selfish? It was all a part of his ploy to get her to date him, she was sure, even if he didn't have much control over the situation.

No, that wasn't quite true.

James Potter was entirely at fault for her lack of ability to concentrate on anything but his stupid, gorgeous, dimwitted, annoying, charming face.

With every turn and staircase, Lily grew more and more frustrated and eager. The kitchens, the Great Hall again, their favorite tree by the Black Lake, Hagrid's ("No, Hagrid, I'm not looking to cause bodily harm") the library (Ha!).

Where the bloody hell was the beautiful git?

The James of seventh year had grown far beyond his fifteen year old self by leaps and bounds so she wasn't terribly worried, per se, mostly painfully curious. Her original intent of needing James to study was long since forgotten. Now she just wanted to know what he was up to. How many times had she checked their dorms? Maybe one more time couldn't hurt. Turning sharply on her heel in the middle of the empty corridor, Lily began marching in the opposite direction.

Ooh, if they had sneaked off to Hogsmeade she would be furious. They knew she wanted to go, too!

Unbeknownst to Lily, the second hand on her watch clicked into 3:36.

There was no warning.

Ten feet in front of her, the door to a negligible broom closet blasted open with a bang and there was an explosion of suds, bubbles, and water that blasted out to the opposite wall. Lily's shoes and ankles were flooded over by the water. Soap bubbles came up to her thighs.

And four boys fell out in a heap, visually lost amongst the white fluffy mountain. Their laughs, though, were booming and echoing down through the halls of the school. Lily stood dumbstruck, moth hanging open (quite attractively, mind you) and head tilted ever so slightly forward.

A head popped up from the avalanche, a sud-covered Sirius quickly followed by Remus, James, and then Peter. They hung off of one another, losing themselves in their laughter- eye-closing, cheek-hurting, borderline sound barrier-cracking laughs. James was the first one to see Lily. He had to hold his knee and Sirius' waist to keep himself from falling when the sight of her drove him into fresh howls.

Seeing him so young and happy and absolutely daft-looking snapped something inside of Lily. She felt completely bare yet very heavy and very hot. Her mind emptied.

Oh yes, that was what she was waiting for.

Lily began to slip and slide through the water and James, being the closest to having the ability to even form words, tried to explain.

"B-b-boggart!" He shrieked. "And Peter! T-t-then Dumbledore!" Lily was only vaguely aware of a very wet Headmaster rising up over the suds and going off down the hall. "Nearly died!" James threw himself at Lily when she was close enough and she was entirely ok that he was ruining her favorite blouse. His laugh was cooling down and his arm-binding hug was crushing. Lily tried very hard not to be deterred by his hot breath puffing down the back of her neck. She had a mission to fulfill. What was it again? Right, yes, that was it.

"Go out with me," she said in a fashion that was very James- more of a command than a question. James stayed put. He was well aware of Lily's conditions for dating (he was well aware of everything Lily). He pulled back to give her a look that made her feel very indignant and hotheaded. He just had that way.

"I very well could have been killed. As if I'll be going another minute without you. Imagine me, dying before I married Lily Evans! Ha!"

For some reason, either Lily didn't hear James' little slip up or she was too caught up in recent realizations to correct the raving nut case.

Pages: 2
Words: 1,204
Disclaimer: Don't own
Notes: Something a little different from what I normally do. For readers of my other stories, I'm incredibly sorry for not finishing them. I just... can't. This one came out quite easily. Hope you liked it, though!