Elf Dreams

Once in a Fairy Tale land, there was a princess. She was a most beautiful princess, with hair as red as fire, which matched her temper and eyes greener than any emeralds man had seen. This princess hated all the princes her father brought her to marry. So she went in search of a better prince. The princess wandered through the forests for months until she found a boy. This boy looked to be her age, too.

"Excuse me," she said.

"Yes, milady?" he answered.

Princess Lily looked at him properly in the light. He had hair of the blackest night she'd ever seen and eyes the colour of tree bark. His ears, she noticed, were elf ears.

"Are you an elf?" She asked

"Yes, milady. I'm the prince of the elves," the boy answered.

"A prince? Well, I'm pleased to meet you. I present myself as Princess Lily."

"Pleased to meet you, Lily. Prince James, at your service."

~*~

"Lils! Get up!"

"Aw, you woke me from my elf prince dream."

"Did you find out his name?"

"Yes," answered Lily Evans. "James Potter."

Down in the Gryffindor common room, James Potter and his partner in crime - I mean best friend - Sirius Black were clutching their sides and laughing after they heard Lily's scream.

"James, that was the best!" Sirius laughed.

In the span of three seconds, James' face had gone from laughter to horror as he turned towards the spiral staircase.

"JAMES HAROLD POTTER! I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET THE DAY YOU WERE BORN!" Lily screamed as she tore down the stairs at full flight.

"Siri, stall her. Just let me get a head start." With that terrified plea, James ran out through the portrait of the Fat Lady, nearly knocking Remus Lupin over.

"Moony! Help me stall Lily. She'll kill James," Sirius begged of Remus.

"Lily! Could you help with me that problem Professor Vector gave us in Arithmancy? I don't quite understand how you work through the problem," Remus asked very smoothly.

"Not. Now. Must. Hex. James. Harold. Potter. Into. The. Stone. Age," Lily fumed.

"Aw, come on, Lily. James didn't mean it like that. It was just a joke. You know... a Marauders type of thing," Sirius begged, pleaded, hung-on-to-Lily's-robes-begged. "Lily, breathe. Take a deep breath; you won't hex James if you've stopped breathing. There's a girl."

"Sirius Black," Lily said as if he were the gum on her shoe. "You've got just as much to do with this as James does. Don't bother begging me, and get your hands off my robes! You and James have been planning to get me for weeks, especially after I outdid you both in Charms last week! I will hex YOU into next year when I get finished with James!" Lily ran out of the common room in search of James.

~*~

Two hours later when Lily found James huddled behind the greenhouses, she toyed with the thought of how many hexes she could use before he saw her. See watched him a little longer, and he was actually shaking. Has he been here for two hours, curled up like that? Lily wondered.

"James?" Lily nearly whispered. James' head whipped around, his eyes wide with fright. Lily took a step closer. James shrank back into the nook he was already in. Lily took out her wand and without watching James' reaction; she put down and took a step away from it. Lily heard James say something, but it was too quiet for her to hear. "Could you repeat that?"

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean for it to insult you. I was still sour after you beat me in Charms." For some reason unknown to Lily, she accepted his apology and added her own.

"I shouldn't have reacted as badly as I did. For that I am sorry."

James slowly came out of the nook he was hiding in, still watching Lily apprehensively. "I'm not going to jinx you. I haven't got my wand, remember?"

James smiled and walked over to Lily and offered his hand,"Truce?"

"Yes. As long as you promise no more Elf dreams!"

With that, they walked back up to the castle, James having slung an arm around Lily's shoulders. He whispered for her ears only, "You know Evans, you're all right."

The End