a fun jily ramble (it’s longer than i meant it to be)
james starts out pretending to like lily because it annoys her, and “i need to focus on the class, stop bothering me potter”, but then, his friend group starts to get more attached to lily. first lupin, who said a different answer to the same question AT THE SAME TIME as lily in class (and there was this moment of mutual realisation that they were going to be besties) followed by a two-hour long debate in the gryffindor common room on whether the draught of peace emits a light silver vapour or a turquoise blue one (“no, remus, it is turquoise blue WHEN FINISHED, the vapour is silver”). then sirius, out of all people, starts talking to her because he wanted to impress his new boyfriend and become friends with all of his, but they actually ended up talking, not for hours on end like remus and lily, but in these almost-coded terms- they understood each other on a level that only remus and james would eventually beat. then peter, who lily took under her wing and protected, who was the source of many arguments with severus, who she was drifting away from (“he’s nothing but an idiotic twat!” “severus, you can’t say that, he’s my friend.”)
james, as everyone would later remind him, was the last of the marauders to fall in love with lily, probably the last in the school. the last to notice her refreshing confidence, the way she knew all the answers in class without seeming obnoxious, the way everyone around her seems to soften a little, even at the mention of her name. and so by the time he told her he was an animagus (which happened in the middle of a duel with some death eaters after he had turned back into a wizard “oh um, i forgot to tell you, i’m actually a... an animagus.”) she already knew, and replied with, “yeah, i knew that already, remus told me around fifth year- you do realise all four of you lie terribly, right?”
and when it was their first date, the rest of the marauders were giving james these extravagant, crazy schemes, because HOW COOL WOULD IT BE IF TWO OF THEIR BEST FRIENDS GOT MARRIED. fireworks with her name, a hot air balloon date, a trip to paris (“paris?” james asked. “yeah, you know, the city of love,” sirius replied. “i don’t love her!”). but he finally decided on a bookstore-turned cafe in hogsmeade, something which he knew lily would love- and she did. every valentine’s day until they were 21, they went back to that cafe. (and that one time when he proposed to her, but that’s another story)
@siriusly-fuck-off i combined two days into one post! I LOVE JILYTOBER AH
