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Exams were looming, just two months away, and James' mum had just asked him how he was getting on with revision. The lack of accomplishments he had available to list to her worried him, and so he thought it right that he should finally get out of the house to revise.
The library in Godric's Hollow was tiny and really just for little kids, and so James decided to head to a coffee shop instead. He didn't, however, factor in how surprisingly busy they would be at eleven in the morning on a random Tuesday in April.
The first coffee shop he walked actually had no free tables, so he continued his quest to the other cafe up the road. This one, thankfully, had two whole free tables. The atmosphere was warm and cosy, dark wood floors and tables, walls painted in dark forest green or rich burgundy, the specials lovingly written on chalkboards, a mixture of comfy looking armchairs or sofas and wooden chairs he could sit and work in.
He purchased his pot of breakfast tea with a smile and thank you to the employees, and snagged about eight packets of sugar from the counter and went to sit down.
He’d often found working in public hard, with so many distractions for his brain to latch onto: crying children, gossip to listen in on, coffee machines screeching; but today, he felt genuinely accomplished.
It had been days since he had felt productive in what he had been doing, which mostly consisted of half arsed revising with a pack of mini eggs by his side or playing video games with his friends (or pretending to revise whilst they were all on call and really just watching Remus’ screen share instead). So him doing a whole four hours of solid work today really made him feel elated.
He decided he would come back there tomorrow.
The next day there was only one table, even though James had set his alarm even earlier to make sure he got a table. He got his pot of tea as per usual and picked up a respectable five packets of sugar and headed to his seat.
Today's seat was different, he was sitting on the bench connected to the wall which was far more comfortable than the chair he was sitting on yesterday, but he was also sitting next to someone.
A girl, who looked to be around his age, her hair a beautiful natural red, her freckled face twisted in concentration. James sneaked a peek over to what she was doing and her page was covered in complex looking anatomical diagrams. James understood why she was concentrating, he could never seem to memorise those sorts of diagrams in biology at GCSE, unsurprisingly he had opted not to choose them for his A-Levels.
He felt almost now that it looked like he had been staring so he decided, begrudgingly, to look away from the pretty girl and back at his notes on characters in Oedipus and got back to work.
Two hours later, more quotations revised and his essay almost checked over and he had finished all the sugar, meaning he had drunk five cups of tea, and was still craving more. He wanted to get more sugar from the counter but was worried about leaving his laptop.
He breathed in and out, cmon James, you can do this, you know how to talk to girls, he reached out and tapped her on the shoulder. “Excuse me”
She turned to him, a mix of surprise and annoyance on her face, her eyes met his, they were a stunning green. “Huh?”, she questioned weakly.
“Sorry, I was just about to grab some more sugar from the counter and was wondering if you could watch my laptop while I go downstairs”
She smiled, god she was pretty, “Of course I can, while you're there could you grab me a glass of tap water?”
“Sure”, James stammered, “Be right back!”
He jogged down the stairs and headed to the counter, grabbed some more packets of sugar and picked up a glass, filled it with water and headed back up to his table.
“Thank you”, she smiled as he handed her the glass and she took a sip.
“No worries”, he said, pouring himself yet another cup of tea.
“Your essay looks interesting”, the girl said out of the blue.
“Huh?”
“Your essay, you left it open on your laptop and I couldn't help but have a little look over, you know, had to look at it properly to make sure no one would steal it.”
James looked over to his laptop, and there it was, his google doc with paragraphs upon paragraphs about Turnus in comparison to Aeneas. “Thanks,” he smiled to his computer and looked back at her and her piercing green eyes.
“The Aeneid, yeah?”
James nodded.
“I’m doing an Odyssey essay for my teacher right now.”
“Oh, you, you do class civ too?”, he questioned, “There seemed to be some complicated diagrams on your paper over there.”
She laughed, “Yeah! I do class civ, plus bio and chem, what about you?”
“I do class civ, but of course you know that already, maths and computer science.”
“Maths, yuck.” she said, mimicking throwing up.
“You can shut up, you chose chemistry and my mate Marlene is always complaining about how mathsy it is” James laughed
“Marlene Mckinnon?”
“Why, do you know her?”
“Yeah, she went to my school up until year 11, I’m Lily by the way, Lily Evans, I go to Godric Girls”
Lily , it suited her.
“James, James Potter,” he went to shake her hand and then realised it was just a bit odd so moved it behind his head instead, “I’m at Godric Grammar, and Marlene is in my form. Every second its ‘I hate chemistry this’ or ‘I hate chemistry that’”
Lily giggled, “Well, unlike Marlene, I quite like chemistry, it can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but I feel like every subject is a bit like that!”
“So true!”James proclaimed, “I just finished my computing course work, we have to develop a programme and you won't believe how happy I am that it's finally over.”
“That's so cool! You actually programmed the whole thing?”
“Yeah,” James smiled bashfully, “Anyway, I should probably unfortunately get back to this essay.”
“Me too, chemistry calculations are calling my name!”
James laughed and put his headphones back on.
☆☆☆
The next day there were no tables, which seemed to James to be impossible, considering he was five minutes earlier than yesterday. He sighed and went to leave.
“James!”, a voice called out.
He turned around and was greeted by none other than the beautiful, smiling face of Lily Evans. He smiled back at her.
“Sit with me?”, she questioned, nervously. James just smiled and headed over to her table.
“I’ll just put my stuff down and go get a drink,” he said, taking off his backpack and putting it on his chair. He turned around but Lily grabbed onto his arm, stopping him from going further.
“Well, you drink tea right?”
James nodded, slightly confused.
“I may have asked for two teacups this morning when I went and got mine, so you're all sorted.”
“Really? How much do I owe you?”
Lily laughed and shook her head, “It's fine, my treat, anyway, you can get it tomorrow.”
“Okay,” James laughed and went to sit down, “Wait, where’s the sugar?”
“I can't believe you drink it like that, it's vile.” She said, handing over three packs of sugar.
He smiled, “Crazy how you know me so well.”
☆☆☆
It went on like this for the next few weeks, they met almost every day, and by a week in, had decided to trade numbers to make finding one another easier. James loved seeing Lily every day, they talked, laughed, quizzed one another on material for class civ and genuinely worked well together.
Late one Friday night he was at Remus’ house with Sirius and Pete as they played a heated game of uno on Remus’ kitchen table. He had just played a plus four card before Sirius who was now angrily picking up said four cards.
“Why aren't you joining games as much in the day?”, Sirius asked.
“Huh?”
“I mean that for the past like two weeks you’ve hardly been online with us”
“I’ve been revising.”
Remus sniggered, James stared at him questioningly, “I just mean, you never revise.”
“Well, I’ve got somewhat of a ‘study buddy’”, he said, air quotes and all.
“A study buddy?” Sirius asked blankly.
“Yeah, she’s lovely.”
“She?” asked Remus while Pete and Sirius made whistle sounds simultaneously.
“Stop it, it’s not anything like that, I mean, she's gorgeous, but she'd never go out with me.”
“Whatever do you mean Jamie, you're a fine strapping young man and any girl would be lucky to have you.” Sirius said, his southern accent leaning even more posh.
“Yeah, if you would count a five foot seven 18 year old who started puberty a mere 6 months ago strapping then sure, Sirius! She probably wouldn't be into me anyway.”
“Why?”, they all asked in unison.
“You know why.”, James said looking down.
“James, my dear boy, you are kind, clever and funny and if she doesn't like you for who you are then she’s clearly not worth it.”
“I guess you’re right” James smiled up at them, christ he loved this lot.
“Anyway”, Sirius said with a shit-eating grin, “So, what does she look like?”
☆☆☆
As A-Levels came in May, he began to see Lily less, their paths still crossed but it was rare they were at the cafe more than three times a week. It had been nice to have someone to discuss his class civ papers with as none of his friends, except for Alice, had opted to choose it.
Exams were unsurprisingly awful, but they got through it, and were looking forward to their lengthy year 13 Summer.
He was sitting in his room in front of his monitor, watching Sirius play COD on screenshare when his phone suddenly pinged.
Lily Evans ☺
Today, 19:56
hey james! my friend mary is having a party on friday night to celebrate the end of exams, she’s invited loads of people from all the schools so I was wondering if you might like to come, please bring your friends if you do! lmk if you can make it, would love to see you there! her house is number 46 oak avenue! ☺
“Hey guys,” James said through his microphone.
Various hums were heard in response.
“Lily just sent me a text inviting us to a party on Friday night.”
“For real?” asked Remus
“Who’s hosting?”, asked Sirius.
“Girl called Mary”
“Mary Macdonald?”
“I don’t bloody know Sirius,” James sighed, “Anyway, you guys want to go?”
A chorus of agreements filled his ears.
“Okay then, replying to her now.”
Hi Lily, would love to come! Have asked my mates and they are on board! See you Friday at about 8pm?☺
sounds great, see you then<3
☆☆☆
Friday came and the boys went to James’ house at about seven to have a drink before the party
James donned a pair of blue jeans, white air forces and a navy blue button up shirt. He felt confident in it, having spent about 20 minutes taping his chest earlier. Peter wore trainers, jeans, a graphic T-shirt with a rat riding a skateboard; Remus wore light wash jeans, trainers and a long sleeve red and blue striped top and Sirius a tight shirt with Bowie's face on it, black flared trousers with a red star belt and his signature Doc Martens.
They sat together in James’ kitchen, cider in hand, mostly teasing James about the prospect of him seeing Lily. They downed a shot of vodka each and headed to the party with a bottle between them.
Mary, luckily, only lived about a five minute walk from James’ house and so they rocked up at eight, ready to get wasted and dance, and he supposed, to mingle.
The house was packed to the brim with sweaty 18 year olds jumping to shitty house music. It was, he thought to himself, weirdly quite nice. All of these people had had approximately two months of hell, and it was good to let off some steam.
Lily Evans☺
Today 20:07
I’m here!
i’m in the conservatory, come meet me
He grabbed Remus and took another swig from the vodka bottle in his hand.
“Okay James, feeling a little nervous are we?” Remus inquired with a sarcastic tone. James elbowed him and began to walk off.
“Off to find your lover, are we?” said Sirius, the same shit-eating grin likely plastered on his face. James flipped all three of them off and continued on his way to the conservatory.
When he spotted Lily it felt like everything stopped moving. She looked beautiful, her hair, curled in ringlets, cascading down her shoulders; her top, a dark green satin; a black pleated mini skirt; black Doc Marten boots; red lipstick, and James, honestly, wanted to scream.
She met his eyes and her face lit up. She jumped from the sofa she had been sitting on and ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him on the cheek. Grabbing his hand, she led him over to her friends. Lily introduced him to the group of girls standing before him, and he just smiled and waved, their names went over his head because the Lily Evans was holding his hand and had just kissed him !!(on the cheek, but it still counted.)
They moved away from the group for the next hour or so, conversing on a different sofa, one of her legs entwined with his, both sharing a bottle of white wine, occasionally taking sips from the bottle.
James felt a good level of drunk now, giddy, elated but getting dangerously close to kissing Lily territory.
“Hey.” Lily whispered, after a few moments of silence.
“Oh sorry” James said, chuckling, playing with a piece of her hair.
“You know I love hanging out with you, right?” she said. James thought this was a bit out of the blue but he’d go with it.
“Me too,” he smiled bashfully.
“Well, I sort of had ulterior motives.”
James’ blood went cold. He thought back to being in lower school, people pretending to be his friend just to out him and share his secrets. “Bad ones?”
“Well, it depends on your reaction to this. The first time I saw you in the cafe I thought you were so handsome.”
“What?” James questioned, out loud, genuinely baffled, “What?”.
“And getting to know you, you’re genuinely so amazing, so I was wondering if-”
“Wait. Sorry, Before you say anything like I think you’re going to say, I need to tell you something.” He breathed in deeply, he hated this part. Lily nodded, still slightly taken aback by his interruption. “I’m, well, I’m trans, as in I was born a girl but I’m really a boy and I’m sorry if this messes up things for you and I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner but it’s really hard to find the right time you know it's just such a thing with some people and I hope that if you don't want to you know, with me then you’ll still be friends because I really value your friendship and-”
“James,” Lily said, soothingly, rubbing his arm.
“Yeah.”, he was still breathing heavily.
“Thank you for telling me, can I kiss you now?”
“Um, really, you’re sure?”
“Yes,” she smiled.
“Okay.” he said, smiling into the kiss.
It was everything he had dreamed it would be and more. Lily’s lips were soft as she kissed him. Her hair silky as he snaked his hand into her hair, the other finding its way to her hip. They kissed until they were breathless and had to pull back for air.
“Wow,” she said, still smiling at him.
“Yeah.”
“You wanna go dance?” she asked, already standing up and pulling him with her.
They headed towards the living room, hand in hand, the music really was blasting in here. It had gotten to the part of the night where the only music played was 2000s pop. Promiscuous then began to play and Lily screamed, still holding tight to James, they sang along together, jumping up and down, and sometimes just stopping all together to make out.
James felt a tap on his shoulder straight after coming out of a kiss with Lily. He turned around to see Remus and Sirius, with their arms around one another, and Peter to their left wiggling their eyebrows at him.
“For god's sake you three!”
“Go Jamie go!” shouted Sirius.
“Aren't you going to introduce us?” Peter asked, crossing his arms and cocking his head.
James sighed, “This is Lily, everyone, Lily this is Remus, Sirius and Pete, my best friends”
They all waved at one another, “So nice to finally meet you, we’ve heard so much about you Lily,” Sirius said, moving forward to hug her, who now was side by side with James, arms around one another.
“James has talked about me? Only good things I hope?”
“Yes, but we have heard that you don't like sugar in your tea.”
“Well,” Remus said, “I’d actually say that's a good quality.”
Sirius feigned a distraught look. James laughed at him.
“I like you already Remus, I can tell we’re gonna get on.” Lily smiled at him.
“Now if you'll excuse us,” James said, attempting to push his friends away.
Lily laughed, “See you later, yeah?” she turned back round to James, “Now, where were we?”
James laughed and pulled her in for another kiss.
“So, she asked, where are you going to take me for our first date?”
“How about a coffee shop, never been to one of those before?”
Lily threw her head back and laughed, “Sounds perfect.”