Love, James

Chapter 1:

The Letter

James rubbed his eyes and stretched. Pushing the covers aside, he stole a glance at the clock before trudging to the window.

James Potter had woken early just as he had every day for the past year. After being late to almost every first period class for a few years because of his long sleeping habits, James had finally gotten into the habit of waking up early. At school, this let him finish some homework that he hadn't finished the night before because of Quidditch practice or the fact that he was usually lazy at nights. Here at home, waking up early was useful because he had to get the post from the Daily Prophet owl, but it was also annoying because he liked to sleep in over the holidays. He always had to wait for his parents to get up after he got up to get the paper.

It was five o'clock in the morning. The Daily Prophet delivery owl should be arriving soon. In fact, there it was now. James could just barely see it in the morning sky, a small white dot which was getting bigger and bigger as it approached his window. After a minute or so, James pushed open the window, and it flew in. The little owl landed on his outstretched arm and shook its feathers. James took the newspaper that it held in its claws and put a bronze Knut in the pouch on the owl's leg. The owl immediately flew off.

He sat down at his desk and opened the Prophet. He skimmed through a few interesting-looking articles before putting the paper down. Other than a very secretive interview with Mr. Ollivander about his wands and an article about a certain man called Tom Riddle who was becoming the most infamous and feared wizard in Britain, there was nothing important.

James went over to his bed and sat down, thinking of what he could do until the rest of his family woke up. He looked at his Hogwarts robes hanging in front of the closet. It reminded him of Lily Evans, his fellow Gryffindor and the girl he realised he loved as he stepped through the barrier back to King's Cross Station after his fourth year at Hogwarts. James had stepped off the train with his bags and had headed towards the barrier. As he was preparing to push his trolley through, Lily had bumped into him. She had seemed disgusted by his presence and the fact that he had started joking with her. James liked this for some reason, not many girls were disgusted with him. Then it hit him. Lily was smart, clever and she was one of the only girls who wasn't constantly trying to get his attention every minute of the day that he didn't spend holed up in his dormitory room. It wasn't as if Lily needed to try. Being the only girl not trying to get his attention, she already had it. James realised that he really liked her.

James got up and went over to his desk, got out parchment and a quill and sat down, deciding to write a letter to Lily. He thought for a moment then wrote:

Dear Lily,

I don't really know how to say what I wanna say but I've had this secret love for you ever since we met that first time on the Hogwarts Express when you were with that Snape boy. I don't know why you hand around him, he's in Slytherin and in case you didn't know, we Gryffindors disapprove of Slytherins...

James crossed this out; there were two things wrong with it. One: he hadn't loved her since first year. Two: he couldn't tell a girl he loved her and then accuse her of hanging out with the wrong crowd.

He recalled a time in first year. James and Severus and Lily had started to chat. Sirius had brought up the topic or which house they wanted to be in. Of course, James was bound to be in Gryffindor, as his parents and grandparents were before him. When James had asked Severus and Lily which houses they wanted to be in, Severus had immediately replied "Slytherin.[Author ID1: at Tue Aug 19 18:17:00 2008 ]" Lily was a bit more held back. She hadn't replied at all. So Severus was probably going to be in Slytherin. Maybe Lily would be too. Of course, on the train the first day, he hadn't known that Lily was a Muggle-born. But James had been relieved when Lily had been Sorted into Gryffindor along with him He thought that she might be decent after all. And it turned out that she was very decent.

He tried again. Dear Lily, I love you... That wasn't right either. He crossed this out right away and put his quill down for a moment. He tried for a third time: Dear Lily, There's something I've been meaning to tell you-- No, that wasn't the right way either. James wracked his brain, searching for just the right way to begin a letter to Lily Evans, the girl he had this huge crush on.

James's mind flickered to his best mate, Sirius. But after considering it, he concluded that Sirius wouldn't be any help at all. The only love letters that he could write were jokes anyway. It wasn't like Remus or Peter, his other two friends, could help him either. They had both in on the love letter jokes that Sirius had made them write the past Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, even though they had sent then anonymously, many of the girls seemed to believe that one of them had sent the letters. In the two weeks after Valentine's Day, they four of them constantly had a pack of girls flittering around them like butterflies trying to get a perch on the tree during migration.

"Back to the letter," James told himself. He pondered what to write, putting down his quill and thinking for a few moments. Then he picked it up and started to write:

Dear Lily,

James

James put down his quill, he was strangely satisfied. It was a very fifteen-year-old-ish thing that he had written, but then again, he was fifteen years old.

He glanced at the calendar that he had been checking off the days in. He stood up and went over to where it was hanging on the wall above the very cluttered desk. The calendar said that he was about to enter his fifth-year at Hogwarts in six weeks. He, Sirius, Remus and Peter would be O.W.L. students. How exciting.

"Zeus," he called to his large owl, which immediately flew to him from his perch on the top of his wardrobe.

"I need you to take this to Lily Evans," James told Zeus. He scribbled the address that he had heard Lily tell a friend of hers. When he heard it, he had immediately committed it to memory. Then he tied the parchment to the enormous owl's outstretched leg and he took off to deliver the letter.

James got up and fetched his broomstick servicing kit and his broom. He had been meaning to do some handiwork with the thing, and now was a perfect time. While waiting for Lily's reply, James polished the handle of the broom, clipped the twigs on the end, and added a compass to the handle.

When his parents woke up and started breakfast, he was just finishing the final touches. After cleaning up and putting the broomstick servicing kit away, James lay down on his bed until he heard his father puttering around the kitchen. He looked at the analog clock on the wall across from his bed. It said 10:00, he had sent the letter to Lily three hours ago, two of which had been used to fix the broom. Zeus was fast, she must have gotten the letter at 6:30 at the latest. Why hadn't she written back yet? Maybe Zeus had gone hunting after delivering the letter.

He listened for a moment and heard something sizzling in a pan. He drew in a breath and confirmed it: bacon. He threw a last glance out the window to see if Zeus was coming, but there was no sight of him. James would just have to wait until after he finished a delicious breakfast of bacon and pancakes.