Dedicated to for winning the oneshot contest I held in a few months back.

Thursday, October 20th, 2016, 2:15 PM

Students flood into the halls, escaping their confined, stifling classes, and make their way to the various exits in the school. Their shuffling feet create a symphony far more unique and melodious than anything you might hear on the radio. Stalling her exit, Lily Evans lags behind them as she surfs her eyes throughout the halls, searching for the figure of her soulmate, who towers above most who construct the student population.

Halfway across the hall where Lily's standing, James allows the surrounding crowds of students to carry him down the corridor as he combs his eyes over the heads of teenagers, trying to pick out the distinguishable flaming colour of his soulmate's hair.

"Lily!" he shouts once he succeeds in locating her at last as he breaks apart from the chain of students rushing to make it outside. "There you are," he can't help but grin as his eyes meet hers, relief washing over him like a warm shower after hours spent in the bitter cold of the harsh winter.

"Hey," she matches his pearly white smile with one of her own, her green eyes lighting up as all traces of exhaustion erase themselves from her face within the blink of an eye. "Only one more day and then we're out of this hellhole for the weekend."

The two students begin to walk, their steps in perfect unison, while they follow the tsunami of their fellow classmates stampeding to the exits, racing to escape the school. Differing to the pace of their peers, James and Lily walk at a speed of leisure and they stand to the side of the herd of teenagers.

"Yeah," James sends a furtive glance and a lovesick smile towards his soulmate, something that whizzes over her head as she brushes a stray lock of frizzy hair off her face. "Speaking of which," he clears his throat and hikes his backpack up onto his shoulder, "do you- do you want to do something this weekend? Maybe finish Slughorn's essay, or get some coffee?"

He regrets the words the instant they tumble out of his mouth. What if she says no? What if she doesn't want to hang out with him? What if she thinks his idea of a date - was it even a date? - is lame, or too boring? Maybe she doesn't like coffee, or perhaps she already finished the essay!

A jumbled, tangled knot of "what if's" begins to unfold in James' head, giving him reason after reason and excuse after excuse that Lily could provide to him in the form of a rejection. Even less than a second after proposing the idea, he knows that she'll say no, he knows that she'll cut off all contact with him.

"Sure, that sounds perfect!" Lily chirps, moving closer to her soulmate to allow a diminutive seventh grader to zip past them. In contrast to most schools, Hogwarts Secondary had students ranging from the ages of 11 to 18, or pupils in the grades of seven to 12.

The words barely begin to register themselves into James' brain before none other than Sirius Black creeps behind the pair, his signature smirk smeared across his face.

"Looks like you've found yourself a date, eh, Prongs?" he teases, ruffling the already rumpled up hair of his brother. "You kids grow up so fast!" he makes a dramatic show of brushing away a nonexistent tear from his face.

James smiles, unable to mask his mild amusement as he rolls his eyes, "Shut it, Padfoot."

"Just friends, Black," Lily reminds him with a tinkling laugh, a grin stretching across her face. "Not a date, so don't get your hopes up just yet."

"Ah, but you said yet, my dear Lilykins, therefore I reserve the right to raise my hopes to a stature taller than Dumblebutt himself!"

"First of all," the hazel-eyed teen snorts, "Dumbledore is like, two inches taller than you, so not that tall, Sirius. Second of all, Dumblebutt? How the ruddy hell did you come up with that one?"

"My mind works in mysterious ways, dear brother! Now if you'll excuse me, the gentlemen await. And the ladies too, can't forget them. Au revoir, motherfuckers!" Sirius ducks around Lily and charges towards the exits, knowing the clusters of students will part to form a path for him to cross.

"Rather eccentric fellow you've chosen to befriend, James," Lily remarks with a chuckle. "Raging bisexual too, which makes it even cooler."

"Life's never a dull moment when you know Sirius Black," James agrees, grinning, "and the bisexuality is just an added perk."

"I bet it makes the whole soulmate think more interesting. You don't even know the gender of the person you'll end up with until you actually get the initials on your finger."

The raven haired boy shrugs, "Ah, well, he started to realize his preference for guys a couple years ago after Mary broke up with him."

"You know, I've never understood why people date," Lily's voice adopts a curious tone as approaches the exit of the school with James by her side. "I mean, what are the odds that whoever you're dating is going to end up as your soulmate? Maybe one in a billion?"

"I guess it's just hormones having their way then," James shrugs, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips. "The heart wants what it wants."

Unbeknownst to Lily, the world chose to defy the one in a billion chance for James, otherwise he wouldn't have the initials "LJE" tattooed onto his left ring finger.

"Did Sirius ever tell you why Mary broke up with him?" the redhead inquires with a sudden abruptness as they step into the frigid, damp and grey world.

"Perhaps," he answers slowly. "Though he doesn't like to admit it, Sirius was a bit heartbroken, so if he did say why, it probably happened through incoherent sobs."

"She's ace," Lily provides the answer. "Aromantic too. Didn't realize for the longest time because she thought she hadn't found 'the right person', so she dated Sirius for a bit in hopes of sparking some sort of romantic feeling."

"An aromantic asexual," James rolls the words over his tongue. "The lack of recognition 'round the sexuality is horrid, don't you think?"

She nods in agreement, "Yeah, I haven't got a clue how the whole soulmates thing would work for her, but she isn't too concerned about it herself. I guess that lady that came up with the whole soulmates thing figured it out however many years ago that happened."

Before James can respond, an insult, created by Snape without a doubt, is bellowed at Lily from several metres away and echoes across the campus. Having dealt with similar taunts and terms of slander that day, the teen rolls her emerald eyes in annoyance, the rest of her face remaining clear and expressionless as a slate while she continues to walk. As she steps into the bustling parking lot, the redhead's middle finger rises in response, the only reaction - and the most colossal - she'd displayed regarding the insulters all day, excluding Snape.

"That wasn't polite, now, was it, Evans?" James teases, respect glimmering in his bright hazel eyes.

"If they want to be disrespectful, then fuck it, I'm going to be disrespectful too!" she laughs in response. "Bastard deserved it too," she mutters under her breath.

"You got that right," he answers, glancing at Lily in admiration.

As they make their way across the parking lot, a car barrels toward the pair, disregarding the students roaming in its way, including James and Lily.

"Oi!" the redhead roars, stepping out of the way with James' wrist gripped in her hand. "Use your fucking brakes, you brainless little shit!" she releases the wrist of her soulmate, continuing to grumble in anger.

"It seems you've got some borderline anger issues, Evans," the hazel-eyed teen laughs, rubbing at the red mark left on his wrist where she'd held it.

"Fuck, sorry about that," she chuckles with him. "It's one of the few traits I've been unlucky enough to inherit from my mother."

"No worries, at least now I know to never make you angry," James grins, his eyes filled with mirth and adoration.

"Yeah, avoid the murderous rampage at all costs," Lily jokes. "No need to worry though," she adds, "there's only been a few dozen mortalities."

"I must say, that's really comforting, Evans," he smiles, drawing out the 'real' in 'really'.

"Oh yeah, I know," she replies, the response slipping off her tongue with ease. "I-"

"It was Marlene McKinnon, by the way," James interrupts her next thought. "She's that lady who created all the soulmate shit, and she's mentioned in just about every history book to ever exist."

"Good to know," Lily nods her head. "I don't remember anything from History class, especially with Binns and that fucking monotonous voice of his."

"Hard to believe we've managed to pass his class for the past five years," he remarks.

"Speak for yourself," the redhead laughs. "I almost failed his class back in ninth grade, it was that boring!"

"Lily Evans?" James gasps, placing a hand over his chest. "Failing a class? Do mine ears deceive me?"

"Oi, key word almost," her eyes narrow to form beady emerald slits.

"Holy shit, I hope you're only pretending to be mad because you like scary as fuck when you're angry, Evans."

"Another trait from my darling mum," the fury in her face clears up like the heavy clouds after a storm. "That's about it though, minus the hair, because the rest of this specimen you see standing in front of you has inherited everything else from her father."

"If that's the case, I have no doubt that your father's a rather fine man, if I do say so myself," another lovesick grin consumes his face when he looks at the redhead.

"He was," a soft smile stretches across Lily's face and her voice grows quieter. "Is, I mean. It's complicated."

"Yeah, I know," James drapes an arm around her and gives her shoulder a comforting squeeze. "Life is complicated like that, isn't it?"

She nods in agreement, enjoying the pensive silence between them as they walk to their cars. "We never did decide when or where we'd meet up," she breaks the silence all of a sudden.

"Hmm?" Drawn from his own thoughts, James is unsure of what she's speaking of, but nevertheless he savours the sound of Lily's voice. "How about Saturday?" he suggests, remembering their platonic date. "Does noon work for you?"

"Yeah, how about that Starbucks near the mall?" Lily asks, her feet shuffling in sync with James'.

"As long as you aren't late," he winks, a playful aura surrounding him.

"Same goes for you," she retorts, bumping her shoulder against his before they begin to part ways as they approach their cars.

"See you day after tomorrow then, Evans," James grins while he walks backward to his car, watching Lily unlock her own.

"If you're lucky, Potter," she returns his smile with one of her own, ducking inside her vehicle. She dumps her backpack on the passenger seat and buckles her seatbelt when her phone dings in her pocket.

J. Potter

Unrelated but I have a song recommendation for you
Listen to Space Oddity by David Bowie
Tell me what you think on Saturday

Lily can't help but allow a faint grin to creep onto her face. Not bothering to respond, she pulls up the song on her phone and hits play before starting her car, allowing the music to fill her ears.

"Ground control to Major Tom..."

All reminders from her horrible day are smothered by thoughts of James as she begins to drive, a slight drizzle beginning to fall from the sky.

"Ground control to Major Tom..."

Unlike most people she knows, Lily prefers rain over sunshine, for she found it to be calming in a sense. She especially enjoys driving in the rain for a reason inexplicable to even herself. One thing she does know, however, is that so far, James Potter is a hell of a fine man with a hell of a fine music taste.

"Take your protein pills and put your helmet on..."

The song continues to fill her ears, drowning out all sounds of the rain as she continues to drive, her brain at contented peace for the first time all day.

"Ground control to Major Tom..."

a/n: Look who's finally updated! This is a bit of a filler chapter, I know, but the next one has even more James/Lily banter and interaction so I'm kind of excited for that. Just a fair warning, don't expect it to be published anytime soon because I have a couple of exams coming up, so yay for that.

I didn't initially plan to include the song Space Oddity but it's fucking amazing, so go listen to it.

Finally, if you want, could you please fill out a form I made? It's all anonymous (unless you want to give me your username) and you can give me feedback on any of my books however many times you want. Again, you don't have to, but it would mean a lot!
https://forms.gle/Cnai3QNFoeq3KFy4A
(link is in the comments btw)

Bye, loves!
~Madeline