Masterpiece

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything related belongs first, and foremost, to JK Rowling, and then to her partnerships with Bloomsbury, Scholastics, Warner Bros., etc.

Summary: It's true: Every girl wants to be the Lily who finds her James.

Posted: 9/6/10

Author's Note: Can I just say I was unbelievably surprised by the continuous "I hate Mary" reviews? I suppose that just means she (and I) are both doing our jobs – don't fret, though, she'll get over it. Also, do yourself a favor and watch the new Deathly Hallows trailer – it is breathtaking! Secondly, I'd like to apologize for the delay – not only did my laptop charger break (so I couldn't write and even if I had, I couldn't post) but my iPod got stolen so I've been insanely aggravated and that has stopped the writing too. But anyway: now, here is the chapter we've all been waiting for (me included)!

Masterpiece

He was pacing, back and forth, his bare feet dragging across the small rug in his bedroom. He was pacing because there was nothing else he could do. He had already broken half his furniture, only to repair them and break them once more – wood laid scattered across the floor, alongside glass, and a few shirts he couldn't stop himself from shredding apart. He was careful not to walk through the debris as he stalked around in anguish.

He had been so close to reaching his goal, only to have it ripped from his hands by none other than Benji Fenwick. He felt sick to his stomach, approaching his wooden bedroom door and slamming his fist into the wood. His breath was heavy as he leaned his forehead against the door, closing his eyes. Fuck, he could feel his nose running, and he quickly stood up and backed away from the door, brushing a hand under his glasses, swiftly across his eyes.

Hours had passed by with his feet shuffling across the floor – the only break coming when he thought he heard Lily's door close softly across the hall, and that wasn't by choice. He felt sick to his stomach thinking about the following day, where he had to sit in agony at dinner with her and Slughorn. Maybe he wouldn't go – the thought struck him hard but he wasn't sure he could get a good enough excuse, and besides, maybe a trip to Hogsmeade would do him some good. He could arrange meeting up with Sirius, and find a way to do a bunk on the dinner half way through…

His thoughts stopped cold. A bunk. That was more Lily's style than his, he thought bitterly. But even through his anger at the situation he held very little regret. The past few days had been some of the best he had since his mom passed away – for whatever reason, James found much more comfort in Lily than expected. It was not something he wanted to live without in his life. He gained a little confidence in the fact that Lily had already warmed up to him a bit… So just maybe... A soft knock on his door simultaneously awoke him from his reverie, and caused his heart to jump into his throat.

"Y-yeah?" He croaked out.

"Prongs it's me," came a deeper voice than he anticipated. Feeling half letdown and half relieved, he moved forward to grant Sirius entrance.

"Sirius," he greeted, running a shaking hand through his hair while exhaling. "What's going on, mate?"

Sirius' eyes had light circles underneath them that mirrored James' own eyes, he was sure, and James wondered if he had been up all this time too – the sun would rise within a few hours and his sleepless night would come to turn into a sleepless morning.

"Just wanted to see if you wanted to go for a run – you know, blow off some steam." Sirius smiled weakly, "Full moon style."

It was the best idea James had heard all night. He and Sirius quietly reconstructed his furniture and other broken possessions, then fetched James' invisibility cloak and headed out into the night.

"Oh cheer up, Lily."

"I swear to Merlin if you don't stop," Amelia sneered in a deadly sharp whisper. Mary bit her tongue, turning her attention to her food and away from Lily for what seemed to be the first time in days. Though Lily faintly heard her mutter into her oatmeal something along the lines of "I was just saying."

"Want some toast, Lil?" Dorcas seemed to be carefully offering things more than necessary – her guilt complex acting up once more.

"I'm fine, really," she insisted, which was only a sure-fire way of letting her friends know she wasn't. "Plus," she began lightly, "I plan on getting a huge dinner tonight – might as well make the best of having to endure a dinner with Slughorn, eh?"

Only Dorcas forced a half-smile at her light-hearted comment. Amelia was still glaring hard at Mary, who was avoiding everyone's eyes. Lily sighed, and despite herself, looked around the hall for her newest group of friends. She found only two of the four sitting along the Gryffindor table, silently munching away at some toast and bacon. She half expected a confrontation with James to have already occurred, especially since it was nearing eleven o'clock, and James hardly slept this late even on weekends, but he was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Sirius.

"You should go find him," Amelia suggested, finally turning her attention to Lily, noticing her searching eyes, and thoughtful expression. "At least have a talk with him about things."

Lily shook her head, "I'm doing this my way, remember?"

"I'm not trying to get you to change your mind," Amelia said evenly. "I just think he deserves something – some sort of explanation."

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Dorcas nod her head in agreement.

"Enough." Lily tried hard to keep her voice level. "I'm going to go enjoy my day outside," she continued, standing up from her seat. "Anyone who doesn't want to talk about—about him is welcome to join me."

It was only Mary who followed her at first, and they quickly walked past Remus and Peter, and then down into the Entrance hall with such swiftness that Lily felt sure she wouldn't run into James. In fact they made it all the way down to the edge of the lake without seeing any other students or teachers, for which Lily was grateful. She closed her eyes and laid flat on her back as she rested her feet in the cool lake. She felt Mary join her on the hard earth and opened her eyes once more.

"It's a pity no one else is allowed to go to Hogsmeade today," Lily began conversationally. "They always make the first weekend when it's starting to get cold, don't you think?"

"Sure," Mary agreed, for the sake of agreement.

Both girls sat in silence for a few minutes, lost in their own thoughts. Mary was the first to make a sudden movement, and it caught Lily's full attention. Propping herself up on one elbow, Mary turned to face Lily.

"No one could blame you for actually developing feelings for that git." Lily was surprised to hear these words, but more surprised to hear the tone in which Mary said them – not with malice or spite: the 'git' was far from the insult she once used so liberally. "I'm not going to lecture you like the others," Mary continued. "In fact, it's sort of weird to even be talking to you about this but as your friend I want you to know I care..."

Lily couldn't help but sit up completely now, listening to every word.

"I've been really insensitive, but really no more than you were two weeks ago when you thought Potter was a berk." Lily felt this was a fair point, and it only made her more interested in what Mary would say next. "But I can see things have changed for you, and I've been thinking about it… if you think he's worth a damn, Lil…well, just imagine being offered what you think is a knut, and having it wind up being a galleon."

By this time Dorcas and Amelia had found their way down to the lake and were untying their shoes, joining either side of Mary and Lily, who shared one last glance and small smile before erupting into conversation far off the topic of Hogsmeade dinners and hazel-eyed Quidditch players. But those thoughts still filled Lily's mind.

"I don't want to go."

"But do you really have a choice?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Well maybe you could skive out now – but we all know you can't avoid Slughorn forever, nobody can."

"Fair point, but it's not him I'm trying to avoid, is it?"

This conversation had been going on for what seemed to be hours in the 7th year boys' dormitory. He had been tossing around the idea in his head, but James always turned to his best friends to get their opinions. Much to his dismay, they felt the same way he did – dinner was unavoidable.

So around seven-thirty, James regretfully made his way down the stairwell, feeling almost as though he were walking to some sort of solemn march no one but him could hear. Thankfully, the corridors that were still littered with students held no sign of her and he began to gain a bit more confidence with every step, until he hit the thresholds leading out of the castle. He half wondered if he ought to have taken a secret passage out of the castle, but it was too late to turn back, and he trudged along the grounds. The confidence that had once grown with every step on the stone castle floor, now dissipated at an alarming rate as his feet breached the hard earth. He exhaled as he passed through the gates, and though he vaguely remembered reaching The Three Broomsticks, his feet seemed to have taken him there without much help from any other part of him.

Peering through the window he saw that he was late – Slughorn sat at a table, talking animatedly with a tussle of auburn hair, for James couldn't see her face from outside. Exhaling once more, trying to gain once last bout of confidence, he pushed open the door and sauntered inside.

"Well well, who have we got here?" came the curvy voice of Madame Rosmerta.

"Hello there," he greeted; forcing the lopsided grin he knew she was used to. Her own smile covered the entirety of her face as she reached forward to hug him. He brushed his lips swiftly across her cheek, now forcing a small smile. Behind Rosmerta, Lily's tried very hard to keep her attention on whatever fruitless event Slughorn was speaking of, but it was difficult to keep her focus on Slughorn when she was quite sure her heart was going to break through her chest from the rapidity of its beats.

"I do believe you are late for your dinner date," Rosmerta said, with a glimmering smile still present. "And because of that, you might have to stay late to catch up with me."

James tried to make his face not betray him and give away that this was the last thing he wanted to do tonight by giving her a small smile and another kiss on the cheek then shuffling past her toward the table.

"Ah Mr. Potter, late as usual, I see," Slughorn greeted with a hearty laugh.

"Evening, Professor," he nodded, taking his seat to the left of Lily, avoiding eye contact with her even as he added, "Lily," with a general nod.

"We were beginning to think you'd – what's that phrase? Ah, yes – done a bunk, Mr. Potter." Only Slughorn wouldn't have noticed the physical response both Lily and James had to this phrase. "Glad to see we were wrong!"

"Yeah, sorry…" James was having a difficult time getting any type of genuine feeling into his voice, so he cleared his throat and tried again. "I lost track of time with the guys, you know."

"Oh yes, very easy to do. Once good friends are all gathered together the time really does seem to fly, doesn't it! Just think in a few months when you both have graduated…"

Both James and Lily let Slughorn teeter off on his own tangent about the future, and the topics changed from them both graduating and going onto ("entirely foreseeable," as Slughorn said) greater and grander things, to current wizarding events ("though we all might be better off moving out of England, for our own safety," Slughorn added), to his favorite subject of all: the networked chain of witches and wizards whom he always knew would be some of the greats ("if you both would ever like to make a contact within the Ministry, or anywhere, really, just let me know," he gloated, laughter filling his voice).

Time seemed to drag on and on, while Lily and James sat horribly aware of how close they were to each other, and how anxious they were to get the evening finished – James fully intended on sprinting up the cobbled streets and out of the village the moment the dinner was completed. In fact, he was almost reconsidering skiving out early by using some idiotic story of some engagement that needed him elsewhere, but he never found the confidence to follow through. Lily, on the other hand, was not sure what she planned on doing when the end of the dinner arrived. She sat vaguely listening to Slughorn, going through scenarios in her mind, playing out things to do or say, wondering what James intended to do.

Finally, after two and a half hours and three courses of food Slughorn stretched his meaty arms along his rotund belly and yawned his appreciation for their company at dinner. All three arose, and Slughorn looked curiously in between them for a few long moments before seeming to make a decision he had been pondering.

"Well, I must be getting up to bed – have second years first thing tomorrow morning, and Merlin do they keep me on my toes!" he laughed quietly to himself. "But the night is still young, so I will not require company up to the castle if you two should like some more time away. Goodnight Miss Evans – Mr. Potter."

The both mumbled their goodbyes to him, thanking him once more for the wonderful meal. And then the moment they both had been dreading came: they stood there awkwardly, James rubbing the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with Lily, while Lily herself toed the floor.

"Err," James began, clearing his throat. "Well, see you later."

It was almost painful to say the words. And while still purposefully avoiding eye contact James headed toward the door. Lily exhaled, her eyes finally leaving the floor to watch James' back. She frowned to herself, turning back toward the table and there she saw the galleon tip Slughorn had left sitting on the table with their empty goblets. Just imagine being offered what you think is a knut, and having it wind up being a galleon.

The cooling night air hit her face as she jogged out onto the cobbled streets. It was almost too dark to see much other than what fell under the light of the hanging lanterns. Taking a gamble that James was most likely headed back to school, she began racing down the street that most directly led to the castle. He was walking at an almost jog-like pace when she finally saw his frame pass under a lantern.

"JAMES!" she called at the top of her voice. "James!"

Whether he wanted to or not, he had no choice but to stop dead in his tracks, under the lantern right outside Honeydukes. He turned to look at her.

"Hey," he greeted, planting another fake smile on his face as she joined him under the lantern's light.

"How are you?" she asked, trying to gain confidence to start a real conversation.

He couldn't stop himself from exhaling a 'heh' like sound that indicated his dark answer. "To be honest, I've been better…but it helps that the dinner is over with now, eh?"

"Yeah," she laughed falsely. "He sure can talk, that Slughorn."

"Right," he nodded, looking around once more. "Well, I'm going to head back to school—"

"James," she began, causing his voice to die in this throat. He had to force himself to look at her – the emerald stung under the light of the lantern. "Five days ago, I would've bet all the galleons in the world that you were going to fail – we both know that's why I agreed to this." James felt a mixture of anger and depression surge through him. "It was such a stupid bet that I didn't expect…" she let her voice drop off.

"That you didn't expect me to even come close to doing, I realized." He couldn't keep the sharpness out of his voice. "And you won, so I'm giving up."

She felt stupid with what she wanted to say, "Don't give up!" but it really was all she could think of to stop him from walking away from her. "Don't." He seemed to not have heard her, but really he let the words bounce off his back. "James, please."

"I can't keep this up, I can't change everything at once," he muttered so quietly he wasn't sure she heard.

"Well, I can't keep fighting whatever hex you put on me that makes me want…this…" she muttered back, turning in defeat.

"What did you say?"

She froze, horrorstruck, but quickly kept moving forward, hoping he would not make her repeat those stupid words.

"Hey, wait up," he called to her, coming up beside her, and lightly holding his arm out to stop her. His hand fell down her arm and brushed hers. "What did you just say?"

"It's stupid."

"It isn't."

"It really was, I swear—"

He was starting to grin despite himself. "Did I break through…?"

She resisted he urge to hit him, his ego was making it difficult for her to keep a straight face. "Oh bugger off," she demanded, her lips twitching upward. "I can't even have a serious discussion—"

"Okay, okay," he ceded, turning to face her completely now, grabbing her fingertips with his own.

She paused for another moment, as though waiting for him to interrupt with more of his thoughts, and when he didn't she took a deep breath and continued, "I like you, James. As barmy and strange as it is to say, I do. And it's slightly alarming to me so I took the easy way out earlier, so I wouldn't have to face this. But…"

James' hand that had once been playing with her fingertips now stayed still, and his eyes bore into hers, as he hung on her next words.

"Then I realized I'm just making excuses, when I should just give it a chance. Admittedly, I am fully aware that this…this could be a disaster. Lily Evans dating James Potter?" Her joking toned seemed absent from her voice, much to her dismay. "But it could also turn out to be…" Words failed her.

James now fully linked his hand into hers, and leaned down to brush his lips upon hers. "A masterpiece?" he offered.

"I mean, let's not go getting carried away," Lily laughed, slightly off balance from James' kiss. His face broke into a huge lopsided smile. After a moment her smile faded softer, and she looked up at James in all seriousness, leaning upward, knowing James would understand. And under the latern light of Honeydukes, their lips met in what Lily considered to be their first real kiss: the beginning of a love that came to be known as a masterpiece.

They say, "Every girl wants to be like Lily Evans and find her James Potter."

And though they may once have envision a masterpiece of a man saving his fiery love, they'll know now the masterpiece was never just a beautiful boy, who was top of his year, brilliant at everything, envied by all; who one day saved the one girl he always wanted and proved his value beyond all doubts.

Nor was it a stubborn redhead who avoided the boy at all costs, who fought her affection for years until finally one day she gave in when she allowed herself to realize he was perfect.

Because these simply aren't the real masterpiece – aren't the real reasons the story of Lily and James trumps all the greatest we've ever heard.

Though James and Lily's love wound up being a masterpiece of sorts – the beauty of a love formed despite the odds of an unlikely past, the strength of a love that developed despite such early animosity – the real masterpiece was a child.

One that looked so much like his father – but had his mother's eyes. A masterpiece Harry James Potter, who brought more happiness to the world than James or Lily could've ever imagined as they stood kissing in front of Honeydukes on a late October night when they were merely seventeen.

The beauty of their love was only one chapter in the masterpiece of their existence. Because of a scrawny green-eyed boy, with messy black hair, and a lightning bolt on his forehead, the story of their love is a masterpiece.

Final note: I am very sorry for the delay – this ending was very difficult to write. After four or five separate re-readings (of the fic, chapter, and end) I couldn't get it to where I wanted it to be. In fact, I'm still not sure I have. Brutally honest feedback would be more than appreciated! Happy reading, my friends!