Ships and Professors

Chapter 2: Dumbledore Ships It

Chapter 2: Dumbledore Ships It (Jily)

A/N I finally decided to start writing the Jily one. Now that Jily is finally together in The Ultimate Year, I thought it would be appropriate. As I stated previously, the beginning of this chapter will take place sometime during Chapter 10: Back to Hogwarts. This will be slightly different from Chapter 1 as it will be in Dumbledore's POV. Anyway, the end of this chapter will take place sometime shortly after Chapter 3: Operation Jily or Chapter 4: The Hogsmeade Date of The Ultimate Year.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything in this story that appears to come from anything Harry Potter related. The only thing that I own in this story is my OC, Jasmine, as well as the plot of this story.

Summary: A new school year has only just started, and Dumbledore already had so much on his plate as headmaster and as part of the Order. Plus, he still has that ongoing bet with Minerva involving Mr. Sirius Black and Ms. Jasmine Dupont. To distract himself from all of this, Dumbledore finds himself watching another pair of young sixth year Gryffindors, James Potter and Lily Evans.

It all started when Dumbledore happened to be looking around at all of the students. He was worried for them as the outside world was becoming increasingly more dangerous with the rise of Voldemort. The Order of Phoenix was doing what they could for the time being, but they could only do so much. Dumbledore himself was thinking about recruiting some of the students after they graduated to join. There were some quite talented students at Hogwarts after all.

Dumbledore pushed those thoughts out of his mind for now. He needed to focus on the students and Hogwarts for the time being. He roved his eyes over the students. It was only a week into the new school year, so the first years, particularly the muggle-borns, were still looking around amazed. Dumbledore always enjoyed watching the new students and their amazement over the castle. But something else caught his eye at dinner that evening. At the Gryffindor table, he noticed James Potter once again trying to woo Lily Evans. It wasn't exactly a new thing, especially since James had been trying to win over Ms. Evans since the second term of their 4th year. It seems he had somewhat of an epiphany of the break, even if he had taken a few girls out to Hogsmeade prior to that, he now had his eye on Ms. Evans. And he hadn't let up since. It amused Dumbledore to watch some of the boy's attempts to get Ms. Evans to go out with him. Some of them were very far-fetched but nonetheless entertaining.

Now, as Dumbledore watched James try to woo Lily once again, he couldn't help but noticed that there was something different about it. The way that James had been acting as of late had been different. Now the way that he was going about trying to get Lily Evans to go out with him was strange because he wasn't going all out or doing stupid things to get her to notice him. Instead, he was just trying to gain her attention by making jokes before he proceeded to try and ask her out. Of course, she said no, but Dumbledore had a feeling that they would end up together one of these days. It had to happen sometime at least by their seventh year. This then gave him an idea.

The Headmaster turned to Minerva McGonagall. Though they already had an outstanding bet, he had a feeling he would wing this one. "Minerva," McGonagall turned to him. "I know we already have a bet about Sirius Black and Jasmine Dupont, but I propose a new bet." She tilted her head as if to say Go On. He continued. "I bet you 10 galleons that James Potter will get Lily Evans to go out with him before they leave Hogwarts."

Minerva turned and looked over at the Gryffindor table. James was still trying to gain Lily's attention. "That's awfully long, Albus, but that will never happen. I accept your bet. Get ready to lose when the time comes. If they aren't together by the end of their last term here, I will be accepting your galleons. It looks like you are going to be owing me 20 galleons by the time those boys graduate." Minerva had a smug smile on her face.