Pink Skies [One Shot]

Pink Skies

Lily waved slightly as she saw James walk into the library, very unorganized history of magic homework in hand. James sat down beside her and dropped his books onto the table, getting him hushed by the Ravenclaws nearby.

Lily rolled her eyes, "About time you got here."

James grinned and took out his quill and parchment, noticing Lily switching out the blank one in front of her for...a different blank one? James shook his head, assuming the first probably had some crease in it. Lily would never hand that in.

"How much have you got of your essay so far?"

"This much." James held up his blank page.

"Perfect," Lily replied sarcastically.

The pair worked through his essay over the next hour or so. James understood everything perfectly when he looked at his page instead of Lily. Lily had an excessive amount of eye rolls throughout the hour.

"All right next on the agenda," Lily looked up at James, "I thought it was just the essay?"

She had a few other things to get done, like send an owl to mum, but a little longer with James didn't sound so bad...

"Yes, just the essay. But not just MY essay." He pulled out a parchment with nothing more than 'Peter Pettigrew' scribbled at the top. Lily huffed and stood up,

"Not a chance."

"Oh come on!" James protested, earning him another shushing. Lily shook her head, "I'm not even sure why you offered to do that."

"Lost a bet." He did NOT elaborate.

He sighed, watching Lily walk out of the library doors. Ever so organized Lily Evans left some parchment scattered across the table, nothing special though, James noticed. He stared at his mostly blank page, and as it turns out it is much more fun writing essays with a certain redhead to help. James' gaze began to wander and he pulled out his wand, twirling it between his fingers, dropping it, picking it up again, and restarting the cycle. James started playing a game with himself; he would begin levitating books on other students' tables and seeing how long it took before they noticed their books had flown away. Turns out, it is not that long. He groaned, this essay was stupid and Peter should just do his work. James started daydreaming, casting lazy spells on the parchment pages beside him; real simple things, muscle memory type stuff. They flew around, and one even accidentally burned. Somewhere along the way, he had cast 'Revelio.'

James was tired, even though he'd written absolutely none of Peter's essay, and gathered his things, shuffling the parchment into a semi-neat pile before standing up to leave.

'Hey! This one's got writing! And I didn't do any writing!' He thought. James' thought process was...interesting. It was written in crisp black ink, with no smudges.

Of course, it was Lily's writing. He tilted his head, trying to read her slanted, cursive writing.

'Hair something something...' He read. 'Glasses something, potions something, James..." And all he was left with was something something again. He huffed. 'I should probably learn to read cursive.' He scratched his head.

One part was clearer and much easier for James to read as if Lily had written each letter with care. James could imagine her doing that.

"I don't think you realize when I see you while all I see are pink skies." James read it over and over, his smile only getting wider. Who knew Lily was such a poet? James sat back down and pulled out the first piece of parchment on his messy stack.

***

James waltzed into the Gryffindor common room three hours later. Lily was sitting at a table, working on something or another. What classes did she even have homework for? James swiftly grabbed the guitar he had left in the back corner just the night before and smirked, clearing his throat as he stood atop the couch with his classic James Potter charm. Which many called cockiness but James knew it was charm.

"I've got a special treat for you, my lovely peers." He winked at Lily when she looked up.

James began strumming, swaying back and forth and he did. Lily looked at him curiously as he made his way through the mellow tune, his smile never fading. Just as Lily was going to return to writing, enjoying the music, she recognized a line.

She looked up, cheeks flushed red and James looked right at her and sang, "I don't think you realize when I see you while all I see are pink skies."

The whole common room rolled their eyes, although it was quite cute. Inaccurate, but cute. All of Hogwarts realized that James Potter saw pink skies whenever he laid eyes on Lily Evans.

He finished his tune and jumped off the couch, running over to Lily, and leaning 'casually' on her table. James' hair was even more of a mess than usual as he asked the lovely lady, "Did you like it?"

Lily rolled her eyes, her cheeks flushed red still, as she told James. "No, that is plagiarism."

James chuckled and put down his guitar. "I knew you'd come around Evans." 

Hi!! So the song is this story is an unreleased one called 'Tell Me Something' by Charlie Bennett so credit where credit is due. You can find his instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/charliebennettmusic/ and he is Charlie Bennett on all streaming platforms :)

Find this story on ao3 here :) https://archiveofourown.org/works/39668451