Jily Oneshots (pt2)

A Miscommunication of Massive Proportions

by downn_in_flames in archiveofourown.org

Today's the day.

Today's the day that James Potter finally asks out the girl of his dreams - for real this time.

Because yeah, he's technically asked her out loads before this, but those were all half-joking, and James never expected a yes from any of those.

But this time… well, this time, he and Lily are actually friends, and they've been hanging out together a lot more, and he's pretty sure she's been blatantly flirting with him on more than one occasion.

Like last week, for example. They had lunch together at the Three Broomsticks - and most of the conversation wasn't even related to Heads' business like it was meant to be - and at the end of it, she'd kissed him on the cheek.

That's an obvious sign that she likes him, right?

Yet despite that evidence, James has still concocted at least fifty different potential scenarios for how asking this question could turn out. Approximately ten of them involve someone ending up in Azkaban, but he thinks those versions might be a little overdramatic.

He takes a comb to his hair (something he never does, which is probably a testament to how much he's freaking out about this), doing his best to make it lay flat - although that's a hopeless cause, really. His hair has always had a mind of its own; Lily once told him it looked like he'd stuck his finger in an 'electricity socket,' whatever that is, and she'd giggled even more when he admitted he had no idea what that was.

They've got plans today - James is off to knick some food from the house elves (although it's not really stealing, they're more than happy to give him all sorts of treats for no other reason than that he asks them nicely) and they're going to have lunch by the Black Lake.

It's the perfect moment to ask her out, really. Although hopefully she doesn't compare him to the Giant Squid this time around - although he's thought through that possibility as well.

Maybe she'll elope with the Squid right then and there, just to rub it in his face.

The much more logical side of his brain reminds him yet again that she's most likely going to say yes given all the evidence, but his more imaginative side is still clearly having a heyday with all of this.

With one last attempt to tame his hair with the comb - it looks no different than it did before, really, and this whole pursuit was hopeless - he leaves the empty boys' dormitory, Map in hand.

He probably could've told Sirius and Remus and Peter about his plans to ask Lily out today, but he'd made the executive decision to stop talking about Lily around them about a month ago, because they'd all taken to rolling their eyes at him any time he asked them if they thought she fancied him now.

He's still really not sure how to interpret that one.

The house elves are more than helpful, giving him way more food than he and Lily could ever possibly eat on their own and even going so far as to conjure a basket for him to carry it all in.

When he gets out to the Lake, Lily's already there, sitting on a blanket that she'd either nicked from the Common Room or just conjured herself.

"You took awhile," she comments when he sits down next to her, but the way she's smiling at him suggests she's more teasing him than actually annoyed about it.

And then she leans over and kisses him on the cheek again, and dammit, she shouldn't make him feel things like this with such an innocent gesture.

"Yeah, the house elves just wanted to make sure we were fully stocked," he replies, trying to pretend like his cheeks aren't turning pink.