Prompt #562 – Triumph – JamesLily – slashluv18 – Harry Potter

[slashluv18]

 Title: JamesLily

Fandom: Harry Potter
Prompts: #562 – Triumph
Warnings: None
Pairings/Characters:  James/Lily
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 864
Summary:  Slytherin Lily gets an unexpected surprise.

Lily took out her rainbow colored shirt, but she quickly put it back. The last thing she wanted was to draw even more attention to herself.

She sighed as she ignored, or tried to ignore, the words her roommates spewed in her direction. They were constantly torturing her with their insults—some creative and some not.

Lily knew she was an anomaly. A Muggle-born in Slytherin. It made her the easiest target for inter-house bullying. She had always enjoyed being different, but for once she wished she could be just like her housemates.

She wondered, not for the first time, what her life would have been like if she had gone to Gryffindor like the Sorting Hat had initially wanted to put her. Her best friend, Severus, had been so sure he'd be in Slytherin, though, and Lily was in a new and different world. She didn't want to be without the person she considered her lifeline. So she bagged the hat to put her in Slytherin, and it did after slight hesitation.

And now, she had deal with vicious Pure-bloods on  a daily basis, and her relationship with Severus was also strained due to his dealings with some of the darker Pure-bloods who believed in Pure-bloods over Mud-bloods in the house.

She had never felt so alone.

Still, she kept her held up high as she took her clothes to the bathroom and quickly got changed for the day. She ignored the snickers from mean-spirited girls at her wardrobe choice, put on her green Hogwarts robe over it, grabbed her things, and left.

She was on the way to the Great Hall when she saw Potter and his band of idiots standing near an alcove.

Potter was looking at her with something unusual in his eyes. When he noticed Lily's gaze, he quickly grinned, ran a hand through his permanently messy hair, and said with a lot of innuendo in his voice, "Do you like what you see?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself, Potter."

Something shifted within Potter, and he suddenly looked serious. "Lily, I have something for you. A gift." He held out a box to her.

She looked at it suspiciously, almost afraid something might explode from it. After all, Potter was most known for his pranks on Slytherins. He had never pranked her, but there was a first time for everything.

"Please take it," he stated earnestly.

She carefully took it and held it far away from her body.

Potter grabbed Black and Lupin's arms and quickly pulled them away. "Come on, Peter." The small, round boy quickly scurried after them.

Lily watched them leave before she looked down at the box. She took a deep, steadying breath and opened it. In it, laid a gold chain with small emeralds interwoven within it. It was a simple design but beautiful. And if those were real emeralds, it was expensive.

There was a piece of paper tucked underneath the necklace. She knelt on the ground, put the box down, and took the paper out. She unfolded it and read the note that was in a neat script.

I never thought I'd feel about a Slytherin the way I feel about you.

You're not like other Slytherins, though.

It's not just your Muggle-born status either.

You're strong, and brave, and loyal. And you stand up for what you believe is right.

It could never be easy. You and Me.

If I could, I would fly us to a place where it's just the two of us.

Where bad things could never touch us, and we could live in blissful harmony.

And then we would be free.

Lily Evans, I love you.

Thoughts of you not returning the sentiment torture me.

I hope you feel something for me.

Now, the question is: do you?

Despite herself, Lily was touched by the heartfelt words on the paper.  And for the first time, she thought she might be glimpsing the real James Potter: the one that inspired such loyalty from his friends.

That night, she once again ignored Severus that was with Mulciber. Couldn't he see that associating with those guys was a bad idea?

Instead, she walked up to Potter. She didn't pay any attention to his friends. The necklace was in plain view around her neck, and she held up the letter. "Why all of the sudden?"

James looked sheepish. "You've always acted like you hated me, and I know you're aware of my general dislike of Slytherins. I wanted to do something big so you would see I was being honest about my feelings."

Lily felt her expression softening. "All you had to do was tell me the truth. When I read your letter, I felt like I was meeting the genuine James Potter for the first time. And I liked what I saw."

"Just liked?" James asked sadly.

She shrugged. "I don't know the real James Potter that well, but I have a feeling that if I keep seeing him, that like could turn into love, given time."

His smile was wide in triumph and the whiteness of his teeth was almost blinding. "I can definitely work with that."