TITLE: Fly Me to the Moon
PAIRING: Lily/James
RATING: PG
WORD COUNT: 1,755
Written for ninepointfivemm.
It had taken some time, but the breaking point had been reached.
"Will you go out with me?"
"No."
"Will you go out with me?"
"No."
"Evans… will you please go out with me?"
"No."
"Evans-"
"NO, Potter!" exclaimed Lily Evans, sixth year Gryffindor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "I will NOT go out with you, I will NOT go to Hogsmeade with you, and you are no longer allowed to carry my books!" She tore the stack of textbooks from his slack arms, and a passing Ravenclaw girl giggled.
"Ouch," muttered a voice behind the gaping James Potter. "I can't believe you just lost privileges."
"Argh! James Potter, you are not to speak to me again until you can take two steps outside the common room without your peanut gallery." She spun around and began to walk off, then turned back suddenly. "And if I find one more love note slipped into my History of Magic text, I'll turn your ears inside out!"
"Oh God," muttered James dejectedly in her wake. "I'm doomed."
"It's okay, James," Remus said comfortingly. "Padfoot nicked the love note for today five minutes ago."
"Your hair is red like my bloody heart," Sirius intoned dramatically, waving the crackling parchment in the air. "I wish that you weren't such a tart!"
"Is that really what is says?" Peter asked, suspiciously. After six years of friendship, he wasn't quite so naïve.
"Of course not, you git! Even our Prongsy here isn't that far separated from his senses." He squinted at the letter for a couple seconds before James ripped it away from him, then shook his head. "It's not far off, though. I'm afraid if this goes on much longer our friend will be so flighty he'll be catching himself during Quidditch."
"Oh, shut up," James said despairingly. "Bloody rounder. What am I going to do?"
"You could just do yourself in," Remus suggested thoughtfully.
"I agree," said Sirius. "Probably for the best. Nothing else to be done, really."
James leaned against the nearest wall, sighed, and then slammed his head back into the stone a couple times until Remus imposed his hand between James' skull and the unfortunate hallway.
"Maybe she's right," Remus said. "I mean, maybe you should try asking her out without us milling about. She doesn't seem to like us very much."
"But then we'll miss all the excitement!" Sirius exclaimed. "Besides, Jamesy doesn't want to get with some bint who doesn't understand true friendship, do you, James?"
"…When we get out of Divination, you guys go ahead without me, okay?"
---
As soon as Professor Smethley began collecting the star charts from the other students, James dropped his on the teacher's desk and dashed out of the room and down the stairs of the tower. Students stared at him as he raced through the hallways until he finally arrived, panting, at the Potions classroom just as Lily was walking out, her head turned back to speak to another student.
"Evans," he gasped. "Wait up!" and stumbled over to where she had frozen in the doorway. "Evans," James dropped to his knees a couple feet in front of his target, ignoring the gasps and giggles of passing students. "Please. I'm begging you. Please go out with me. No Sirius, Remus, or Peter at all, I swear! Just us and-"
"Well well," came a coldly familiar voice from behind Lily, as the sallow-faced teenager stepped out of the classroom. "Here's Potter the murderer, making a fool of himself again. I know you're a mudblood, Evans, but I expected you to have slightly better taste than this."
"Bugger off, Sniv- Snape." James struggled to his feet, reaching for his wand. "If you call Lily names once more…"
"Quiet, both of you," Lily said calmly, tapping her prefect's badge. "Potter, you're a disgrace, trying to attack other students in the halls. Twenty points from Gryffindor." James gaped at her and Snape snickered. "And Severus, you're not much better for provoking him. Twenty points from Slytherin and what James does is none of your business."
"Fine," the Slytherin snapped, walking away. "Have fun raising armies of Potter's brainlessly athletic spawn."
James looked at Lily, who was staring straight back at him. He fidgeted and glanced down at his feet. "So where are you taking me?" Lily asked. James looked up rapidly.
"Huh? Oh. Umm…" He obviously hadn't thought about it. Lily looked impatient. "Walk?" he finished weakly. "By the lake?"
"Okay," said Lily. "You can pick me up in the common room at eight, and if I see so much as the eyebrows of Sirius Black, I will leave."
"Okay. Got it. Thank you." James said quickly, and Lily turned and walked away.
---
"I did it!" James yelled to his waiting friends as he burst into his dormitory. "I got her to go out with me."
"Way to go," Peter said enthusiastically.
"Good lord," said Sirius. "It's a bloody miracle. Where's the nearest hidey-hole to your little love nest?" he asked, stretching across his bed down to his footlocker, and pulling out the map they'd just finished a week or two before.
"Up your arse is where," James responded, snatching the map away and stuffing it in his pocket. "You're not to go anywhere near us, none of you. This is my only chance and I won't have you lot screwing me up."
"Alright," said Remus cheerfully. "Good for you. We're your friends, James, and we respect your privacy."
"Maybe you do," Sirius muttered.
"No," said James. "If I see a single one of you around, I will hex you into the next decade, do you understand?"
"Perfectly," said Sirius.
---
James paced the common room at 7:45, nervous as hell. He tried to remind himself that he had no reason to be nervous, even if it was almost time for his first ever date with Lily Evans, the girl of his dreams, and some of his nightmares, and his friends weren't in their room where they should be.
No reason to be nervous at all. No reason to be upset that his invisibility cloak was missing from his trunk, nor that when he'd patted his pocket earlier looking for a quill he'd realized that the map was missing. No, everything was fine, because Remus at least said he respected him, and surely he could keep Sirius in line, being a prefect. (James knew this was an irrational thought, though, because when had Remus ever been able to keep Sirius under control before?)
The door to the girl's dormitory clicked shut and James stopped pacing at stood still and straight as an arrow facing the door. Lily Evans came down the stairs and looked him up and down. She was wearing some sort of swirly skirt and a little green sweater. Dear God, that sweater looked soft.
"Hullo," said James. "Hi. Good evening. You look very nice."
"Thank you," Lily responded, walking over to him and offering him her arm. "So do you."
"Thanks," said James, taking her arm cautiously, as though it might suddenly constrict around his neck. "Shall we get this on with, then?"
----
The school grounds were peacefully silent as the couple walked out toward the lake. Occasionally, something rustled or an insect chirped. At one point, they heard a howl from the direction of the forest and James dropped Lily's arm suddenly. Neither one of them spoke.
They'd walked halfway around the lake before Lily spoke, "So, what do you think of the Defense class this year?" They continued walking, making awkward small talk about classes and exams, with James trying to avoid any mention of Severus Snape or his friends, afraid they'd appear if their names were spoken.
When they reached the edge of the forest, they both turned automatically and began walking back. They'd walked a few feet and were discussing Muggle Studies, with James trying to lead the subject to Quidditch and Lily trying to avoid it like the plague when they caught a slight movement ahead of them, and saw something squat blocking the path they had taken before.
James let go of Lily's arm, walking in front of her, with his hand on his wand, as they slowly approached the shadowy form. A few feet away, it resolved into a table.
Specifically, a table covered in a red table cloth, which looked suspiciously like a curtain from the dormitory. It was set with two plates of food, mostly pastries, in the familiar china pattern of the Hogwarts kitchens, and two glasses of pumpkin juice. In the center was a half-melted, unlit candle that James was fairly sure he'd seen Remus using to study by in the shack last month.
"Oh wow," said Lily. "Now here's something I didn't expect of you."
"Yeah," James replied without thinking. "Me neither."
They looked at each other and, alarmingly, laughed. They took their seats and James, pulling out his wand, lit the candle.
"What do you want to do when you graduate?" Lily asked, taking a bite of a muffin.
"I thought of playing Quidditch professionally," James said. "But I've put more thought into it and I'm not really sure. It seems like a child's dream. There seems to be so many awful things happening in the world these days, that I think I might like to become an Auror."
"Really?" Lily smiled. "Me too. I want to make a difference. I want to be an Auror, or maybe a mediwitch."
"Wow," said James. "I bet you'd be a great Healer." Lily beamed, and slid her hand across the table to lay on his.
---
When the couple finished their meal, James blew out the candle and they walked back to the castle hand in hand. At the door, there was a brief sound of a struggle inside, and when James opened the door his three friends came tumbling out.
All of them froze, looking at Lily fearfully. "Well," she said. "I had a lovely night James. It was a nice walk." And, leaning over, she kissed him on the cheek. James grinned like his face was going to break.
Then she stepped forward and planted a kiss on Sirius as well. James stopped smiling quite so wide. Then she kissed Remus, and then Peter. James was frowning, and looked like he was about to punch someone. "Thank you for dinner," Lily said graciously to the awestruck and angry Gryffindors. "Good night, boys." Then she slipped past them and through the door.