BETTY

two. june 26th

[ chapter two. june 26th ]

For the first time in almost 7 years, James Potter had been momentarily awestruck.

It was very hard to turn James into a stuttering mess unless your name was Lily Evans. Lily was the absolute love of James's life - the day that he saw her on the Hogwarts Express at age eleven as the day he knew that he was going to marry the redheaded girl.

In all his 6 completed years at Hogwarts, James had never once looked at another girl the way he looked at Lily Evans. Despite being constantly rejected, James was certain that Lily would come around one day.

At first, James thought that if he could prove his loyalty to Lily by never going out with anyone else, then she'd swoon over him and fall straight into his waiting arms. But. . . that hadn't happened yet. Maybe Lily was just playing really, really hard to get.

While Sirius took a new girl on a date every weekend, James was sitting in bed trying to come up with a way to woo Lily. Nothing he ever seemed to do worked - he tried extravagant, he tried subtle, he tried secret admirer, he even tried just straight-up asking her out. But Lily had no intention to ever go out with James.

But James was persistent - if that wasn't already obvious. He kept his vow and didn't date other girls, he didn't compliment other girls, he didn't kiss other girls, and he barely ever looked at other girls.

Until now.

There was something about the girl across the street - maybe it was the fact that her hair was the color of pure sunshine, or that her earrings were shaped like little hearts - that gave James the exact same feeling that he got when he looked at Lily Evans.

Butterflies.

He should've said something when he saw her. It wasn't often that the Potter boy found himself at a loss for words - he was notorious at Hogwarts for his witty comebacks and flirtatious comments - but at that moment, James forgot every word to ever exist.

Then, the girl shut her windows and her blinds and the moment was lost.

James wished someone would've told him that someone had moved in next door - much less a pretty girl his age.

At least, he thought she was his age.

James was, in short, a hopeless romantic. Sirius liked to tease him for it and mock his desire to settle down and have a perfect little family. Sirius would probably never marry, but that didn't mean James couldn't.

But despite the act that he put on at Hogwarts and when he was around Lily, James knew absolutely nothing about talking to girls and how to pursue them. Perhaps he was just hopeless. The only girl he wanted something to do with absolutely hated him.

This was the first time in 7 years that James had even dared to pay attention to another girl.

Lily Evans was supposed to be the love of his life. The only girl he would ever love, actually, but James was getting a little bit tired of being berated and insulted all the time. Sure, he was a bit extreme sometimes when he asked her on dates or asked her to Slughorn's Christmas Party that previous winter (and then, when Lily declined, James had sulked all night and didn't even end up going to the party).

Truthfully, James didn't understand what he was doing wrong. There was no way that Lily didn't believe he really had feelings for her, right? All he wanted was for Lily to at least call him 'James' or not roll her eyes when he walked into a room or scoff loudly whenever he made a joke.

He had been going to Sirius for advice for years and even though the advice worked for Sirius it didn't ever work for James.

Was James ugly or something?