A Little Toil of Love

He had been standing there under his invisibility cloak for quite sometime now. At first he had procrastinated, telling himself that she was busy with her friends but when they too left for a stroll, James ran out of ideas for staying hidden from view.

The girl he had been admiring since he could distinguish a normal-girl from a special-girl was sitting beneath a beech tree, concealed by a clump of bushes. For as long as he remembered, she had been his special-girl and his insides had been squirming for spilling the beans from a time unknown; however one way or another something always went wrong whenever he tried to confess his true feelings.

It was different this time; he knew it in his heart, so he finally summoned his courage and whispered, "Lily?"

Lily's head shot up from the Charms book she was poring over. Her brows creased with bewilderment as she looked at the shifty figure of James. She looked about, as if half expecting to see the Marauders pop from behind any of the nearby shrubbery.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" she asked directly. The icy tone almost stung him but he calmed his nerves down by taking few deep breaths.

"I just came to apologize, Ev- Lily."

She raised her eyebrow, readying herself to be turned into a Puffskein.

"Er... I've just realized somehow that I've done more wrong than good," James said clasping his hands in a tight fist behind his back, preventing them from fidgeting or reaching up to tousle his own hair.

"I'm not a bad person, Lily..." he continued, while Lily's eyebrows shot up so fast that they disappeared from view entirely.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, I've never meant to hurt anybody's feelings, especially when I'm in... er... when you're my house-mate," he finished lamely.

She looked at him nonplussed as if not believing what she was hearing; a trace of smile crept onto her face nonetheless.

"You are serious, aren't you?" Lily said, doubt retreating from her voice.

"Yes, totally," he answered sincerely.

She stared at him and after realizing what she was doing, she closed the Charms book ceremoniously, readying to get up.

Instinctively or on cue, James didn't stop to consider; he held out his hand as if he just knew that it was a natural thing to do, like a toddler knows that holding onto an adult's hand will help him take his first step.

Lily took it naturally and with a soft tug she was standing right beside him.

Only a soft touch made heat creep into James' collar and Lily to blush the color of her hair. They stood there awkwardly expecting the other to break the ice, when opportunely James blurted, "Care for a walk?"

She looked at him, in a new light, noticing for the first time how vulnerable he was to her answer.

"Yes," she replied simply, and as naturally as they had held hands they strolled towards the outskirts of the Hogwarts Lake.

Their souls, who had been bidding their time, at last embraced in happiness, cherishing the togetherness they had at last achieved, because they knew the secret of their love, which would flourish and cross the boundaries of time. So they waited silently in the arms of one another for their nearing destiny.