For The Better
By: tasha27
Throughout all the years that James Potter attended Hogwarts, he always received looks of admiration and awe when stepping onto platform 9 ¾ but when he stepped onto the platform for his seventh and final year, he received looks of shock and horror. He didn't seem to care though, because his eyes were focused on a girl with brilliant red hair.
"Prongs!" he heard someone shout. He turned around to see his friends Sirius, Remus, and Peter "Oh, Merlin! What did you do?!" said Sirius looking at his best mate in shock.
James just smiled and said "Go find a compartment, I've got to go to the heads compartment. Coming Remus?"
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"Lily!" shouted a blonde haired blue eyed girl.
"Alice! How was your summer?" asked the red head.
"It was good, but your never going to guess!" Answered looking flushed.
"Oh my God! I almost forgot! I have to go meet the head boy and speak to the prefects!" said Lily.
"No Lily, wait! You should know-" began Alice
"Sorry Alice, but I really have to go" said Lily as she rushed out of the compartment.
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When Lily reached the Heads compartment she noticed the head boy was already in there. He was looking out the window though, so she couldn't see his face. As she opened the door, the head boy turned to her and at first she was too shocked to speak. Once she had recovered she managed to say, "POTTER! What-how-your head boy?" she was shocked to say the least. "what happened to you?" she whispered.
James just looked at her and smiled, ignoring the question. Lily couldn't believe what she was seeing. This wasn't the James Potter she knew, and it scared her. The twinkle in his eyes was gone, and replaced with a dullness that didn't suit him. His hair wasn't windswept but pasted down, nor did he run his hand through it during the whole meeting. He was also following dress code with his shirt tucked in and buttoned and his tie done up- no longer loose around his neck.
Once the meeting was over, James got up and left, not taking a second glance at Lily.
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Once James and Remus had returned to the compartment where Sirius and Peter had been waiting, Sirius said, "Prongs! I've got the best back to school prank planned!"
"No" was all James said.
"what? What do you mean 'No'?" asked Sirius "Its our last year and everyone is expecting the best prank yet!"
"Sirius, I'm head boy, I cant do that anymore" said James firmly.
"James, what is this?" asked Remus concerned.
"what's what?" asked James.
"This!" gestured Remus "what happened to you over the summer?"
"I decided that since I'm head boy that I should be responsible" answered James shrugging.
"There's got to be a better reason than your head boy, I mean look at Moony he's a prefect and he still plays pranks!" piped up Peter.
"I agree with Wormtail" said Sirius moodily.
James looked at his friends and sighed. "You remember at the end of last year when Evans told me to grow up and then she slapped me?"
All three of them nodded.
"Well, now I've decided to grow up." finished James.
"So you changed just for Evans?" asked Sirius incredulously.
"Yeah" said James sighing.
"But once your dating you'll go back to normal right?" asked Sirius hopefully.
"I cant, Padfoot, she'd leave me before you could say Quidditch. Besides, the change is for the best."
When James looked up, he saw all three boys gaping at him open-mouthed.
Once they had reached the castle, everyone was waiting for the first prank of the year as it was a tradition, but the feast went by completely uneventful. If you looked at the Marauders you would see Sirius stabbing his food miserably, Remus and Peter looking disappointed, and James with a sad look in his eyes.
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Nothing happened for the next two months. If you ran into the Marauders, you would see Sirius being moody, Remus and Peter looking bored, and James with his nose in a book, or hunched over an essay. One rainy day near the end of November, Sirius was fed up and decided to find Severus Snape. Truthfully, Snape knew it was only a matter of time before one of the Marauders snapped and came looking for him. Many people came to watch, as this was the most excitement they'd had since the end of the previous school year.
As jinxes were flying between Sirius and Snape, James appeared. As soon as Sirius saw James, his face lit up and he strode over dodging a hex from Snape. "Prongs! Look what I found! Come join the fun!"
"Detention!" said James as calmly as he could. "for the both of you."
Gasps could be heard from the spectators. The old James would have never given a detention to his best mate. The smile on Sirius' face died.
"James, this has gone too far. You have to snap out of this!" said Remus.
"Snap out of what?" asked James.
"This! I mean you're doing this all for Evans and she still doesn't take a second glance at you! Give it up mate, please?" begged Remus.
"Sorry Remus, I cant, I'm so in love with her" said James quietly; then he turned and walked away.
"Did he really do that?" Sirius asked Peter. "Tell me he did not just give me a detention with Snivellus."
"Sorry mate, we all heard it." Squeaked Peter.
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As Lily made her way back to Gryffindor tower, she noticed three of the Marauders walking towards her talking in hushed whispers.
"What are you guys planning now?" she asked curiously.
"Have you seen or heard of any pranks going on lately Evans?" spat Sirius. "No, I didn't think so. This is all your fault."
"What do you mean it's my fault?" asked Lily confused.
"Don't tell us you haven't noticed how all James does is study?" said Peter.
"Well maybe he wants to do well on his Newts" said Lily. "Listen Black, I know your upset that you have a detention with Snape, but-" began Lily.
"Do you know who gave him that detention?" asked Remus.
"No" said Lily Shaking her head.
"James" spat Sirius.
"What?! Did you two have an argument?" asked Lily shocked.
"No, he decided to become more mature this year" said Sirius angrily.
"That's a good thing" said Lily although she knew that she wanted the old James back. This new James was cold, and didn't smile or talk as much anymore.
"How can that be good?! You've seen what he's like! All these changes are because of you! exclaimed Sirius. "His hair, his laugh, the way he dresses, the way he acts, he did that all for you, hoping that maybe you'd go on one date with him! One! And you don't even take a second glance at him!"
Lily was shocked. He changed for her?
"Fix this Evans, please" pleaded Sirius as the Marauders continued on their way leaving Lily alone in the corridor. As Lily walked into the common room and saw James sitting by the fire doing his homework, she knew what she had to do.
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Meet me by the lake at midnight.
- Lily E.
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As the rain poured down around her, Lily thought about what she was going to say. 'I knew he wouldn't come' she thought. As she stood up turning around to leave, there in front of her was James Potter.
"I didn't think you'd come." She said.
"I came to tell you to come back inside. Its raining and after hours and your shouldn't be out here." Said James.
"Can we talk?" asked Lily quietly.
James just nodded.
"Why are you holding an umbrella? We don't need it." Said Lily.
"We'll catch cold without it" he replied.
"You didn't care before" said Lily sadly.
"People change, Evans" said James coldly. "You told me to grow up, so I did. I changed for the best."
As James said that, Lily couldn't take it anymore.
"I hate you!" screamed Lily, pushing him as hard as she could. "I hate how you don't laugh anymore, I hate how you don't play pranks, I hate how you don't play Quidditch and ruffle your hair like you used to. And most of all I hate how you don't have that stupid smirk on your face. Your eyes are all wrong, they don't twinkle anymore." and with that, Lily turned and ran towards that castle with tears streaming down her face.
"Lily, wait!" called James running to catch up to her. "Lily, please!"
As James grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him, he saw something in her eyes that he'd never thought he'd see. Love.
"Lily, listen-" began James.
"Don't. Sirius told me everything. Just promise me one thing."
"what's that?" asked James.
"Go back to being yourself." Said Lily
"I think I can do that." Said James smiling.
Then he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.
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The next morning at breakfast, James and Lily walked into the great hall hand in hand, James with his hair ruffled, shirt unbuttoned, and tie undone, with a huge grin on his face. As they sat down beside the Marauders, Sirius said "welcome back mate, so what's the plan? I was thinking of putting slugs in Snivellus' food what do you say?"
"I'd say that's a great idea Padfoot." said James smirking.
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Okay, so that's the end of For The Better.
I hope you liked it. This was the most fun for me to write and I am quite proud of it. Please Read and Review. Thanks.
-Tasha27