Oh, If you haven't read my longterm fic My Everlasting Love yet: in that story James and Lily discover that they do fancy each other after all and the numerous womaniser Sirius falls head over heels with Mary, who has hated him all her life. If you're interested… That story can also be found on this site ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own the HP-universe, including James Potter, Lily Evans, and – unfortunately – Sirius Black. I do however, own the character of Mary. Leave a review and you get to choose the Marauder of your choice to spend some time alone playing… Quidditch? ;)

I'm a believer

"Great game, Potter."
"Gryffindor rules!"
"It's mostly thanks to you that we've flattened Hufflepuff!"
"You were awesome!"

James Potter was walking of the Quidditch pitch on a bright and sunny, but cold December Saturday morning. He, his best mate Sirius Black and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team just played against Hufflepuff and had won the match with great ease (430 to 270). And James couldn't help himself, but he agreed that he had been responsible for that big score. Everyone knew (and he would be the last one to deny it) that James Potter was the best chaser Hogwarts had seen in years. When James heard the congratulations of his housemates (and a few Ravenclaws), he grinned. "Well, I couldn't have done it without my team mates, but all things considered… We all know I rocked!"

The crowd of supporters cheered loudly and James's grin became bigger. He turned back when Sirius, one of the beaters, stepped up from behind and patted him on the shoulder. "Well spoken, Prongs."

"Thanks Padfoot," he replied. "You weren't half bad yours-"

James stopped talking mid-sentence when he noticed Lily Evans, who had been his object of affection for years, was climbing down the stands to walk back to the castle. "Oi Evans!" he called loudly.

"Oh Merlin, not again," Sirius sighed and he walked on, winking at a pretty girl in the crowd. "I'm not going to witness this."

In the meantime, the red-haired girl had turned wearily at the sound of his voice. "What is it, Potter?"

"We won."

"I've noticed."

"How do you think I did?"

Lily looked like she wanted to leave as soon as possible. "I suppose you did quite well."

James grinned. "Don't you agree that this calls for a celebration?"

Lily's eyes narrowed slightly. "That depends on what you have in mind."

His grin turned into a smirk. "A date with the hottest Gryffindor girl, of course: you."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'm not even going to answer that," she said and turned to walk off.

James, not in the least embarrassed by being turned down in front of a large crowd of his fans, refused to give up that soon. "Oh come on, Evans! When will you go out with me?"

"Not before hell freezes over," Lily called without looking back.

I thought love was only true in fairy tales
Meant for someone else but not for me
Love was out to get me
That's the way it seemed
Disappointment haunted all my dreams

James watched Lily walking away. She was being followed by his chuckling mate Peter Pettigrew and Lily's friend Brice MacDonald, who turned around and smiled. "You did great, James. Congratulations."

Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
I'm in love, I'm a believer, I couldn't leave her if I tried

James smiled back at Brice, although most of the euphoric feeling from winning the match was already fading away rapidly. He was absolutely crazy about Lily Evans, that smart girl with her brilliant red hair and sparkling emerald eyes, and yet she hated him with all her might. It was so frustrating that he could not win her over, no matter how hard he tried.

Most of the crowd were already making their way back to the castle but for some reason, James didn't feel like joining them. He remained behind and walked back to the field to put the balls back into their trunk. When he had put back the Bludgers and the Snitch and was about to add the Quaffle, he suddenly got overwhelmed with anger. How could Lily not like him? James: the funny, clever and popular guy, a fellow Gryffindor, the Quidditch star of Hogwarts for Merlin's sake! With a frustrated roar, he kicked the Quaffle away as high and far as possible, but only ended up with a lost Quaffle (it seemed to have landed somewhere in the Forbidden Forest) and a bruised toe as a result.

James swore loudly and was just nursing his throbbing foot when he heard an amused voice behind him: "Is this some new spectacular Quidditch move you're thinking of introducing in the game? It sure looks promising to me."

He turned around. Mary Woods was leaning against one of the pillars of the stands. She was another Gryffindor classmate and Lily's best friend. Contrary to her red-haired sister, she did like him a lot. Unlike Sirius Black whom she loathed with a passion, but that's an entirely different story. "Hey Mary," James said miserably, slowly walking over to her.

She eyed him curiously. "I was under the impression we won the game, yet you look like you've lost three hundred to zero. What's bugging you?"

"Evans," James groaned.

"Ah," Mary nodded, walking up the first row of the stands to sit down. "What did you do this time?"

"What did I do?" James echoed, grabbing his broom from the ground to place it against the wall. He looked up at Mary who was sitting directly above him, her chin resting on her arms. "I asked her out, what else? Why that is a such a problem is beyond me. I mean, it's only a compliment."

Mary snorted, glancing down at him over the rail. "Not the way you're doing it it's not."

James pulled a mock-hurt face. "Ouch," he said, mimicking he was being stabbed through the heart.

She shook her head. "I'll be the last one to say you should copy Black, but when it comes to asking girls out, you might want to follow his lead."

He arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Were you just complementing Sirius on how he fixes girls?"

Mary's eyes flickered with indignation. "I most certainly am not! What I'm saying is-"

"-James, James!"

Three Hufflepuff girls were standing near the entry to the Quidditch pitch. They were holding a camera. "You rocked in this game. Can we get your autograph and also take your picture?"

James laughed. "Cici, you do remember you're in Hufflepuff, right?"

The girl called Cici shrugged. "What do I care about Quidditch? I'm just watching the game for the cute guys. We already tackled Sirius in the courtyard and now I need to get a picture of you."

James looked up at Mary and rolled his eyes, pretending he wasn't flattered but all this, but that was a lie. He actually liked to hang out with his fans and enjoyed the attention they gave him. "Hang on a sec," he told Mary before making his way over to Cici and the other two Hufflepuff girls.

A few minutes later, James walked back and this time, he climbed the stands himself to sit down next to Mary. He noticed she was eating strawberries. In December… He frowned. "Where did you get those?"

Mary swallowed a bite of strawberry. "Nicky Henderson. You know, that second-year Gryffindor who has just returned from a holiday to southern Europe. His dad brought back several crates, so he was handing out boxes during the game. And well, I got these for free."

"And why is that?"

"I ran into Mulciber and Dolohov after the game. They were trying to blackmail poor Nicky, so I decided to step in and reprimand them."

James frowned. "And they didn't hex you instead?"

"Oh, they were going to," Mary said grinning. "They'd already drawn their wands too, but then McGonagall walked by. So they ended up in detention, and I got a lot more strawberries. Want one?"

She held out the box to him, but he shook his head and pulled off his Quidditch gloves with a sigh. "I feel blue."

"Because of Lily?"

James dragged a hand through his messy jetblack hair. "Yeah. It's just… No matter what I do, she keeps hating me."

I thought love was more or less a given thing
Seems the more I gave, the less I got
What's the use in trying? All you get is pain
When I needed sunshine, I got rain

Mary looked at him and nodded slowly. "Maybe."

"I joke around, she hates me. I try to be the understanding and sweet guy, she hates me. I try to protect her from Snivellus, she hates me…"

"That's because Lil and Severus are friends, James. I thought you knew that."

James waved his hand impatiently. "Irregardless, she hates my guts. And I can't stop loving her, which is driving me nuts."

"That rhymes," Mary said, smiling slightly.

The corners of James's mouth twitched briefly before he sighed again. "I reckon no girl will ever fall for me like they do for Sirius."

"Come on, that's not true," Mary said. "You're got plenty of admirers. Your darling fanclub for one," she said, pointing over to where the Hufflepuff girls had been standing.

James chuckled. "Well yeah, that's true. I heard a group of Ravenclaws built a shrine in my honor."

"Well, there you go. See, plenty of girls like you."

"You like me," James said, suddenly realizing how much he had always taken her friendship for granted.

She didn't answer immediately and when he looked up her, she was staring down at her hands, apparently lost in thought. "Yes, I like you," she said quietly at last.

James wondered what was up and how he could say something comforting without becoming too cheesy or downright insulting her, something that always seemed to happen with Lily. He was just opening his mouth to say something that would break the uncomfortable silence when a sudden rush of wind took his breath away. Not because of the cold, but because Mary's skirt got blown up slightly to reveal part of her long and lean upper leg. James's eyes were drawn to her thigh like a magnet, but before he could even blink, she had already put her skirt back in place. "Sorry about that," she said, a little giggly. "Bloody wind."

"I was about to send it a postcard to say "thanks" instead. It's been a long time I had such a great view," James blurted out before he could stop himself.

Mary did not reply. She looked awkward and straightened her skirt even more. James felt stupid – why was he always saying the wrong things in situations like these? – and reached for her hand, that was still laying on her lap. "Mary, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that," he said. And the moment he touched her hand, something extraordinary happened. The most wonderful tingling sensation spread out from his fingers to the rest of his body, warming him up from the inside.

James stared at Mary's face and as if he was seeing her for the first time, he noticed how exceptionally beautiful she was. He had never seen this before, because she was one of his friends, like the other Marauders and Brice, and nothing more. His eyes had always been reserved for Lily Evans, who was one of the most popular girls at Hogwarts.

But so was Mary. With her clear and pale skin, long wavy brown hair and bright blue eyes, she was the type of girl who could make a guy feel weak in the knees. James thought of Sirius, who was always raving over those eyes and a couple of cute freckles on her nose and cheekbones. Or Remus, who always said that if there ever was a girl to date (if it weren't for his fluffy little problem), it would have to be Mary. And Peter, who instantly started stammering whenever she just as much looked at him.

And yet James never noticed. He recognized that Mary was a pretty girl, sure enough, but he had always thought of her as a sister. Until now. He hadn't even noticed that his hand was still resting on hers until she slowly pulled her hand away without looking at him. James's hand however, was still on her upper leg. He expected her to push it away, but she didn't. James could feel the warmth of her body through the skirt and suddenly – with a wild realization that Sirius would hex him into oblivion if he knew what James was about to do – he felt himself leaning in closer to kiss her cheek.

She looked at him, apparently stunned. "James, what are you-?"

"Shhh," he said softly while he gently cupped her face. "Let me get something straight here."

He kissed Mary tenderly on her mouth. She tasted sweet, of strawberries. James opened his eyes for a moment and saw that hers were closed. He could suddenly spot those freckles Sirius had been talking about and had to agree they looked incredibly cute. He kissed her again, more fiercely this time. When he carefully tried to part her lips with his tongue, she let him, and James finally understood. Mary had had feelings for him for years, but she had just been good at hiding them. Or he had just been too stupid and blind to notice any of it, which was not an unlikely possibility either.

They were kissing passionately now. James had pulled Mary closer to him and his hands were on their own voyage of discovery, slipping under her shirt to warm up against her pleasantly warm skin. Mary had wrapped her arms around his neck and was gently stroking his hair with her hand.

Time seemed to have stopped moving. James had lost all touch with reality and didn't even know he was sitting on a bench on the stands. All that mattered was him, Mary and continuing this amazing kiss. It seemed like hours before he could finally muster the will to pull back. She looked at him, smiling, her blue eyes as bright as the clear sky above their heads, alight with happiness.

Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
I'm in love, I'm a believer, I couldn't leave her if I tried

James stared into Mary's eyes and for a moment, he could vividly see Lily's emerald eyes staring back at him. He closed his own eyes and wintessed the emerald altering with the blue. Emerald, blue, emerald, blue… Until finally, the emerald slowly faded away to be permanently replaced by the blue. And he knew it would be alright. Too long had he focused on a girl who didn't want to be with him, hence: who detested him. But no more. It was time to move on.

James opened his eyes. Hazel and blue met and James noticed that Mary was looking puzzled. Instead of saying anything at all, he just smiled and put a lock of hair behind her ear before leaning in to overwhelm her forehead, nose, chin, ears and cheekbones with tiny kisses. She giggled and kissed him again. When they broke apart several minutes later, James finally knew what to say without chasing her away. He was sure of it, because for the first time, he was going to speak from his heart. "Mary," he whispered into her ear.

"Yeah?" she said, looking up at him.

He was stroking her cheek. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here."

He was putting his heart and soul on the line, but he was hoping she would get him. Her answer did not disappoint or crush his feelings in any way. Mary reached for his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. "For you James, I would have waited an eternity."

-The End-

- You can read all about that in Everlasting, I suppose.
- The lyrics are from the 60's song "I'm a Believer" from The Monkees. Very retro hahaha, but I thought it matched the content pretty well. For who's interested: I happen to know the video can be found on YouTube.