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Rutabagas and Celery Sticks


Lily got up earlier than she normally did and spent a good deal of time charming her hair to hang just right, with just a little bit of curl to the end of it. She carefully applied a bit of make-up, covering up some of the freckles that spattered her nose and putting a bit of lipgloss on so her mouth looked shiny… She dressed in her Hogwarts uniform, her hands shaking as she did up her tie and rolled up her knee socks. Her toes wiggled in her Mary Jane shoes and she stood staring at herself in the mirror, fidgeting with how her hair rested on her shoulders. She hated how jittery she felt…

Downstairs, the common room was empty when she headed for the portrait hole, tucking her textbooks into her book bag as she went. She spared a glance up the stairs toward the boys dormitories and swept her sweaty palms over her skirt, trying to gather up her nerves.

Why was she so nervous? She wondered. It was just James Potter.

But it was also James Potter.

Lily sat at the Gryffindor table, nervously picking at breakfast, watching the door for the Marauders, fixing her hair, smoothing her skirt… waiting.

Finally they came in, and they were laughing as they usually were, Sirius going on in a dramatic fashion, his hands flapping about as he spoke, James walking backwards ahead of him as they entered the Great Hall. They split at the table, Sirius and Remus going ‘round one side while James and Peter came toward her. She sat up straighter and shifted over on the bench to make room for them and they sank onto the bench beside her - James immediately reaching for the plate of bacon before his bum had even hit the bench.

“Yesssss,” he hissed, shovelling quite a lot onto his plate, “They made it crunchy this morning, just the way I like it.” He stuck a strip of it into his mouth, talking with his mouth full as he scooped some hash onto his plate beside the bacon. “Breakfast is my favorite bloody meal of the day.” Lily stared at him as he handed off the plate of hash to Peter and finally sat down, grabbing a second strip of the bacon from the plate. He caught her staring and smirked at her as he chewed, “What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said and she looked back at her own plate, her face hot.

“Usually it’s floppy,” he explained, waving the crispy bacon strip in her face.

“Yes, I know,” she said.

“I like it hard.”

Sirius snorted, spraying pumpkin juice across the table.

Remus smirked and patted Sirius’s back.

James looked over at him. “I didn’t mean it like that, you dog.”

Sirius was still choking on the pumpkin juice and couldn’t respond.

Lily looked at James, “I like breakfast too!” she blurted.

James looked back at her. “Yeah? Good on you, Evans.”

“Yeah. That’s, uh, that’s why I’m sort of - of looking forward to Slughorn’s brunch on Sunday,” she said.

Remus looked over as Sirius wheezed himself back to normal. “Oh no. Sluggy’s having a brunch?”

“Yes, and you’re invited,” James informed him.

Remus groaned.

Lily said, “We should go together.”

James looked over at her.

“Yeah!” Remus exclaimed, “So we don’t end up cornered by him or stuck sitting next to some insane Slytherin or something.”

Lily blinked in surprise. She’d meant her and James. Not her and James and Remus.

“Yeah, and you gotta be careful of that, too, because Mini-Sirius is coming, too,” James said.

“Who?” Remus asked, confused, looking at Sirius.

“My bleedin’ twat of a brother,” Sirius said with an eyeroll.

“Slughorn invited Regulus,” James explained.

Lily was staring at the table’s edge, biting her lip.

Remus looked ‘round, “Why’d he invite Regulus?”

“Because Regulus’s a gnat that happened to catch the snitch,” Sirius said.

“He won the quidditch game for Slytherin yesterday,” James expanded. “I mean, granted he was one of the only ones playing fair, Sirius, you gotta give him credit where it’s due.”

Sirius shook his head, “I’m sure he was just waiting for an opportunity to cheat. Stinkin’ bastard.”

Remus looked over at Lily, who was pushing her food about on her plate with her fork.

On the way off to class, Remus pulled her aside. “Are you alright? You looked upset at breakfast.”

Lily shook her head, “No, I’m not upset. I’m fine. Why would I be upset?”

Remus shrugged, “That’s what I was asking you.”

Lily said, “Silly wolf,” and patted his head, then hurried on ahead of the pack of the Marauders on the way to the class.

Remus kept his eye on her though. Throughout the day she’d look up and find him staring at her, his eyes narrowed in thought, and she’d feel a bit queasy. Then she’d look at James and feel even queasier because she’d bloody asked him out and Remus had accepted for them and James clearly had no idea what she’d meant and she felt too stupid and nervous to correct it.

Finally, she decided the best remedy would be to bring the conversation of the Yule Ball back up and try to get him to make one of his usual smart ass remarks about her going out with him. He always made those remarks. Always. It would really shock him when she suddenly answered him seriously to one of his stupid jokes, wouldn’t it? So she tried to swing the talk back ‘round to the Yule Ball at lunch that afternoon.

“You lot figure out who you’re taking to Yule Ball?” she asked, looking ‘round.

Sirius said, “I’m taking Moony.”

Remus looked up, “You haven’t asked me yet.”

Sirius looked at him, “I have to ask you?”

“Just because it’s nearly been a year doesn’t mean you get to quit on the romance, Padfoot. Don’t get lazy on me.” He smirked.

“Go to the Yule Ball with me, Moony?” Sirius asked.

Remus shook his head, “Bleedi’n pathetic. You gotta do it better than that. Sweep me off my feet.”

“Alright.” Sirius’s eyes twinkled. “I’ll get back to you on this matter.”

Remus rolled his eyes to Lily, a smirk on his face.

“How about you, Pete? ...Potter?”

“ProbablygoingwithAnnalee,” Peter said all in one rush between bites of food.

“Is that still a thing then?” asked Sirius, interested, “You lot never...do anything.”

Peter flushed, “Yeah so?”

“So does she know you’re still together?” Sirius laughed.

Peter looked down the table at Annalee, who was talking to McKenna. “I mean we never broke up really so…”

James smirked down at his plate, then looked at Lily, “I’m not going.”

Sirius rolled his eyes, “You’re going.”

“I told you I’m not.”

“And I told you you are. You can’t abandon me on my anniversary! You have to celebrate with us. You owe us presents and the lot.”

James laughed, eyes focused downward.

Lily blurted out, “Would you go if you weren’t alone?”

James stared at her.

She flushed.

His eyebrow went up.

“Evans, are you asking Potter out?” Sirius asked.

Remus looked up - so did Peter - but Remus’s face suddenly showed a dawning and he bit his lips in concern.

“Yeah, Evans, are you asking me out?” James echoed Sirius, smirking.

Lily found herself saying, “No,” before she could stop herself.

Sirius laughed. “You had me scared there for a minute, Evans.”

“Yeah,” Peter agreed, “Was going to ask who it was that had imperiused you.”

“I was about turn on Prongsie, Remember it’s unforgivable to do that, Potter,” Sirius laughed, his eyes we with tears of mirth.

“I wouldn’t ever imperius Evans for a date,” Jame said sternly.

Lily looked at him.

“Just as bad as the bleedin’ Amortentia Snape had,” he said.

“We’re joking, blimey,” said Sirius.

James shrugged and turned back to eating.

Remus’s eyes met Lily’s across the table.Sorry, he mouthed. But she only looked away - not angry, just embarrassed…




Lily tried to get up the nerve over the next couple days to ask James, but it seemed like every time she finally went to do it, something would happen to stop her. The worst obstacle came on Saturday night when she was in the common room one night with the first years and Remus Lupin, working on a big potions essay that the first years had coming up. Lily looked up to see McKenna had gone up to James and was boldly asking him to the Yule Ball, and Lily felt sick to her stomach when she heard James say boldly, “I’ve already got a date to the Ball, McKenna -- sorry!”

Lily watched McKnnna rush away.

Lily immediately turned on Remus. “A word!”

He looked up, “What?”

“A word, you and I, please?”

“Alright. Hang on, then, you lot.” He followed Lily across the room to a secluded corner. “What in bloody hell --?”

“Potter got a date to the ball?”

Remus looked at her stupidly.

“Did he?”

“I don’t think so - none that I know of…”

Lily said, “Well he’s just told McKenna he is.”

Remus laughed. “Yeah of course he’d tell McKenan he had… Doesn’t want to go with McKenna, does he? He’d make anything up to keep her asking her non-stop. He’d be proud knowing you’ve just yanked my arm out of socket over it, though.”

“So he’s not going with anyone?” Lily confirmed.

Remus studied her a moment. “Lil…”

“Rey?”

He rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully. “Well… I mean… James is my mate. He means a great deal to me…. And you….” he paused. “It’s just that… I don’t want to see him get hurt.”

Lily stared up at Remus.

“If you wanted to ask him, Evans… you… you should.”

Lily continued to stare up at him.

“But please, Lily, if you do it, you can’t break his heart.”

Lily nodded.

“And also you should do it sooner rather than later, before he really does have a date to it.”




Remus’s words had set a hesitation in Lily that compounded her nerve problem so that she ended up letting Saturday pass without asking him, either, and it was Sunday, the morning of the Slug Club Brunch and she still hadn’t asked.

She stood in her room, staring at the mirror, changing dresses about six times before finally settling on a purple one with velvet fabric. Her eyes int he mirror flashed nervously, making sure everything was perfect before she drew a deep breath, used a charm to shrink a textbook to fit into her wristlet (just in case she got bored at the party) and she tossed her hair over her shoulders and headed down to the common room.

Remus and James were waiting by the portrait hole, each dressed up nicely. James had let Remus borrow a tie, and they both looked very handsome, though James’s hair was just as wildly unruly as it always was - perhaps even wilder and unrulier than usual…. It made her want to run her hands through it...

“Morning Evans,” James sang as she came over, his eyes lingering over her dress… especially her chest, which the dress did wonders for, really… He swallowed as he stared… until Remus elbowed him in the side. “Hello,” he said again, as though he’d forgotten that he’d already greeted her.

Remus rolled his eyes. “You look pretty.”

“Thanks,” Lily said with a smile.

“Yes, like a… a sugar plum,” said James, “Or a… a raisin. Only less wrinkled. So perhaps a hydrated raisin.”

“Are you saying I look like a grape, Potter?” she asked, smirking.

“Well, you’re a bit less round than a grape… more… like a… a pretty, er, carrot… or a… a lovely string bean. Only… purple… a rutabaga?”

“James,” whispered Remus, “Mate, stop while you’re ahead.” He patted his arm gently.

James nodded.

“Let’s go,” Remus said and he led the way out of the portrait hole.

James waved Lily ahead of him and she smiled, “Thanks.”

“Yeah.” He nodded.

She paused as she went to climb through, “You look nice, too, by the way.”

“Thanks.”

She nodded, “LIke a celery stick with a tie, really.” She smirked and climbed through.

James nodded, running his hand over his tie. He paused. “Wait… Evans…?” but she was already through. He looked at Remus, “Mate. Are celery sticks sexy?”

Remus said, “Probably sexier than a rutabaga.”

James flushed. “Bloody hell. What’ve I done?”

“It’s alright. You’re nervous.”

“Do me a favor?”

“Yeah?”

“Never tell Sirius about the produce compliments?”

Remus made a motion like crossing his heart, but he had his fingers crossed behind his back.