Finishing School

Word Count: 2,118

Summary: James needs help writing a letter.

Author's Note: I've not written anything this fluffy in ages. My apologies if it's too fluffy, but once I started I couldn't stop. My love for James and Lily has once again intensified! This was written for the Letter Challenge at the HPFC. I was given James Potter and Ollivander. I added Lily in to make it easier for myself, haha! Feedback is appreciated as always!

Dear Mr Ollivander, the letter began. And ended. James Potter stared down at the empty parchment, chewing the end of the quill thoughtfully. How should he write a letter to a man he had only met once? And frankly, had found incredibly odd? James frowned and contemplated throwing the parchment in the fire and forgetting about it- until his eyes fell on the subject of his letter. A wand lay on the table, in a state of considerable disrepair. It was his own, and had reached the state thanks to Lily Evans, the love of his life and cleverest witch in the year to boot.

He had simply asked her if she wanted to accompany him to Hogsmeade on Saturday. That was all, no silly tricks, no jokes or witticisms- he had even left the rest of the Marauders behind- but it had been a flat no. Okay, so he had then flung himself to his knees and clutched at her robes and begged- but, he reasoned, surely she was used to him and his eccentricities by now? Obviously not used to him enough, because after just thirty seconds of his pleading she had flicked her wand at him, sending him flying several feet backwards and his wand into the beak of a very annoyed, very sinister looking passing owl. The owl had flown off with the bloody thing and then Lily had giggled and told him it served him right. James disagreed and told her it served him left, only for her to sigh and walk away.

It had taken James two hours to retrieve his wand, first having followed the owl across the grounds as it led him, quite knowingly, on a wild goose chase, until it perched atop Hagrid's Hut. It blinked at him several times until, for the second time that day, he had dropped to his knees and begged. The owl seemed to be enjoying the entire episode far to much, and James told it so, before eventually getting up to hunt for a rock to throw it at the bloody thing. Sensing James' quest for a violent end to the escapade, the owl promptly dropped the wand in a pile of fresh thestral poo that Hagrid had yet to use as fertiliser, and flew off.

The smell was the worst part, and had lasted for several hours after James had finished cleaning it. Somehow the owl had managed to scratch the wand so much that the dragon heartstring was visible beneath the worn mahogany, and when James had tried to use it in Monday's Transfiguration lesson he had turned Peter's face such a pretty shade of lilac that McGonagall had deemed it unfit to use and ordered him to send it off to Ollivander.

And so here he was, quill in hand, but quite unable to write. He looked around the common room lazily, looking for someone to help him, and whether it was fate or just luck he found it to be completely empty, except for a snoozing Lily in the corner, head resting on a Charms text book. James checked his watch- it was quarter to three. Only Lily Evans could stay up this late studying.

Grinning, he walked over to her and proceeded to tickle her nose with the end of his quill. She started to fidget and then suddenly sneezed, jerking herself awake. For a moment she was bewildered, taking in her surroundings, and then her eyes fell on James and she frowned. "Leave me alone, Potter. I'm trying to sleep."

"In the common room with a book for a pillow? Not very comfortable at all- I think it was rather kind of me to wake you." He grinned down at her and prodded her foot with his when she tried to close her eyes again.

"What do you want, Potter?" she asked tiredly, raising her head from the book and shaking it, letting her orange hair spill out from where it had been wedged in the crook of her neck.

For a second, he was serious. "You, me, Hogsmeade."

She rolled her eyes. "Please."

"Seriously..."

"Potter."

"Fine, fine," he said, and smiled at her easily. "You know I can't help myself."

She nodded. "That I do. So what is it?"

James exhaled and sat on the arm of the chair opposite her, folding his arms. "I'm writing a letter to Mr Ollivander about my wand, you know, the one you got covered in thestral poo..." he paused and Lily laughed despite herself, and he felt a warm bubbly feeling swell up in his chest before continuing. "But I'm struggling with the letter. D'you think you could...?"

"Help you?" she asked, surprised. "I thought it was going to be something stupid. Why not?"

James beamed and leaped to his feet, bounding across the room and back with the letter and wand before she could blink. "This is what I have so far."

Lily took the letter and read it before looking back up to him with a frown. "This is it?"

"Hey, I told you I was struggling."

Lily sighed and placed the letter on the table in front of her, gesturing for him to come and sit beside her on the couch. "Well, you have a good start," she said as he joined her, and he smiled.

"I thought so. I've always been excellent at starting things. Never so good at finishing them, though."

Lily ignored his immodesty and continued. "You need to tell him why you're writing. Tell him that you're sorry for the inconvenience, but you tripped and unfortunately for your wand, your big head landed on it."

James stared at her, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Hey, you made a joke."

She looked back at him and permitted herself a small smile. "I'm not utterly humourless," she said before looking away. "But seriously, you need to put the sorry for inconvenience part- it's common courtesy. You could say that the cause of the problem was a Potions accident- it does look a little melted."

James tore his eyes away from her to lean down to the table and scrawl her sentence down. I'm awfully sorry for the inconvenience, sir, but I had an accident in Potions and my wand ended up quite damaged. "That's probably from the steaming hot poo," James said, and slid the letter back along to her.

"Now you need to say what you want from him," she said, nodding at what he'd written. "Say that you're wondering if it's possible, given his busy schedule, for him to repair your wand."

"Very polite," James complimented before writing the sentence down. "Anything else?"

"You need to say that you're willing to pay for him to repair it, and also that if it's unrepairable, you're also willing to purchase a new one."

James nodded and wrote it down, then looked up at her expectantly.

"Ask him if he could please reply as soon as possible because you need the wand for your studies, say that you are enclosing the wand, and then sign off."

James did so, and Lily picked up the letter to read it.

Dear Mr Ollivander,

I'm awfully sorry for the inconvenience, sir, but I had an accident in Potions and my wand ended up quite damaged. I was wondering if it was possible, given your busy schedule, for you to repair the wand. I am willing to pay for your service, and if it is beyond repair I am also willing to purchase a new one. Please could you reply as soon as possible as I need the wand for my studies. The wand is enclosed in this package.

Yours sincerely,

James Potter

Upon completion, she nodded. "Very good. That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"It could have been, if it wasn't for you. Thank you... Lily." He met her eyes and held her gaze for a second before she looked away.

"Okay, this is a good place to stop," she said, and stood. "Goodnight, Potter."

In the back of the mind he noted that she was still using his surname before standing up. "Where are you going?"

"To bed. Goodnight," she said, and tried to move past him.

He stood fast. "Why are you leaving? I thought we were getting along?"

Lily sighed. "We were. That's why I'm leaving."

James stared at her, confused. "You don't want to get along?"

She shook her head. "No, I do. But you don't. You think you do, but you don't. You enjoy teasing me too much."

"Of course I don't. Don't be stupid."

"See?" she smiled sadly. "You can't resist. This is all we'll ever be because you enjoy us falling out too much."

"I-" he frowned, trying to prove it wasn't true. "I don't."

"You've already said that you start things but can't finish them. You started this- this thing- with me, but you're enjoying it as it is so much you can't finish it. You like teasing me, you like the banter, you like our arguments. You'd probably get bored of me if we ever became good friends, let alone got together. That's why I always say no to you, because I know you'd probably regret asking as soon as I did."

James looked away from her sadly, starting to believe it as he realised that yes, he did like teasing her, and yes, he did like arguing with her. But surely, surely he wanted to be with her more than he liked doing those things. Surely he wanted her for other than just someone to fight with? He looked back at her and she smiled at him.

"Hey, don't worry," she said bravely. "There's a small part of me that enjoys the fighting too." With that she dodged past him, heading for the girls' staircase. He listened to her footsteps as she walked away from him, still staring at where her green eyes had been just seconds earlier.

Suddenly he span, ready to speak- but she'd gone. He didn't want to wait until morning so he ran to the girls' staircase, ready to jog up it until he remembered the rule- frantic, he tried to remember the spell to elevate himself up there and then remembered he had no wand, then gave up and just yelled. "LILY!" he shouted, not caring if he woke the whole castle. "LILY!"

He waited, peering up the staircase while bouncing on the balls of his feet. No sign- no door opening, no feet running down the stairs towards him. "Lily!" he cried again, almost defeated. "Lily..."

Unexpectedly he felt a tap on his shoulder and he whipped round. There she was, standing in front of him, a strange sort of smile on her face. "James."

"Wha- where did you come from?"

"I hoped that you wouldn't give up so easily," she said simply. "But good job, I would definitely have heard you. I think the whole dormitory did."

James stared at her incredulously, not quite believing his ears. "You tricked me..." he said in amazement. "Lily Evans told a joke, and tricked James Potter, all in one night? What's got into you?"

"I have no idea," she said truthfully. "Especially due to what I'm about to say..." she took a deep breath. "James, would you please accompany me to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

James' mouth fell open, and Lily laughed.

"You told me yourself you couldn't finish things, so I'm finishing it for you," she said by way of explanation. "So?" she asked nervously. "Do you want to?"

"Of course I want to," James said, and before she could reprimand him for doing so, he leaned in and kissed her, putting their new beginning into gear. After all, James Potter was excellent at starting things.