Jily Oneshots (pt2)

Nothing But the Best

by Suzie's Q

If there was one thing on which Lily Evans prided herself, it was the ability to say that she had never needed anybody's help, even though she was very grateful to those who offered it from time to time. She did well in school, she never had much trouble grasping difficult spells or getting a good firm grip on new concepts, and she found studying considerably easier than most – although she stressed about it almost twice as much.

This was why she was neither upset nor troubled, but maybe a little disappointed, certainly put out, and most definitely apprehensive. Because she was going to ask for help.

She was relatively tame for a Gryffindor; she was very reserved when it came to decision-making, and while she was strong-minded and brave, unafraid of speaking her mind or standing up for herself. Everything she did was well thought out, and she very rarely dived into situations without thinking of the consequences.

However, a Gryffindor streak in the very blood is hard to ignore, and it surfaced most easily – as was the case with all Gryffindors – when presented with a dare, or a challenge of any kind. And this particular dare, she had realized later, was one she could not accomplish on her own, because she did not have the slightest idea of where to start.

So, she was forced to admit she needed help, and since no one was a mind-reader she was going to have to ask for it.

Her problem didn't stop at that though. If she was going to do this, she was going to do it right, and there were very few people she was completely sure were capable of such a task. She needed someone widely skilled in that area, which narrowed down the list to one inevitable choice, as she had known it would.

She was going to have to ask James Potter to help her.

This wasn't as much of a problem now as it would have been two years ago – they were friends, and worked well together as Heads (aside from one or two arguments, which grew to be exaggerated by both parties at a later time) but Lily would never have described them as close. They simply got on well, which Lily supposed would make this easier.

After all, if this had happened in fifth year, she would have stuck her head in the lake before admitting to him that she needed his help. And yes, James would probably laugh – but she didn't mind seeing him laugh anymore, and when he was finished laughing at her he might actually agree to help her.

At least, she hoped he would. Asking for help was uncharted territory for her.

She'd been going over how exactly she could bring this up, on a gloomy, stormy day in January. It was a few days before her birthday, when she went looking for him. The Heads didn't have many special privileges, but one of them was a small, cramped office on the first floor, with two desks crammed inside and a small bookshelf.

Occasionally, Lily had caught him studying there – since he didn't really have the concentration to study when others (namely Sirius, Remus and Peter) were around. Even James Potter had felt the need to crack a book this year.

This was one of those rare occasions – he was hunched over his own desk, his cheek resting in his hand, his expression blank and his eyelids beginning to droop.

"Hi," she greeted, heaving a sigh as she slammed her bag down on her own desk, resisting the urge to smile when he jerked upright.

"Oh," he muttered, yawning. "Hi."

"How's the studying going?" she asked lightly, smirking a little as she perched herself atop his desk, her arms folded.

He gave a non-committal shrug, dragging his gaze back to the book in front of him reluctantly. They lapsed into silence, James doodling in the corner of the page, and Lily carefully pondering over how she was going to bring it up in the first place.