101 Ways to Ask Lily Evans Out

#21

James sat on his bed, his wand emitting a bright light inside his drawn curtains. He was hunched over a small book with little gadgets surrounding him. "So...where do the scarves go?" he mumbled to himself.

It was nearly midnight and it was an understatement to say his roommates were a little restless.

"TURN THE DAMN LIGHT OFF, PRONGS!" Sirius shouted, chucking a pillow at his curtain.

"Prongs, what are you doing?" Remus asked mid yawn. 

"I'm busy learning magic!"

Both Remus and Sirius drew back their curtains and stared at each other. James, doing homework? At midnight? It was more unusual than Sirius not eating. Peter, on the other hand, was sound asleep.

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"Er Lily?" James said. She didn't turn around. She was too busy talking with Marlene and Alice. The Great Hall was bustling that morning, as it usually was before big games. "Lily?" he said it louder, but none turned around.

"I got you," Sirius said. He jumped up onto the Hufflepuff table and shouted, "OY! MY MATE PRONGS HAS SOMETHING TO DO!" Sirius shouted.

That got her attention. Along with everyone else in the room.

"Um...thanks Padfoot." Sirius gave him a cheeky grin before jumping off and sitting across from the three girls. "Lily, I've got a magic show for you!" James said. "And I suppose the rest of you can watch..."

He took out the plastic wand he got in his kit and waved it around his pocket. In a flash, he started pulling things out starting with a penny all the way to an coat rack. His next trick was the burning rose. He practiced this one for the majority of the night and in the process burnt one side of his hangings and half his pillow. "Parchment?" Alice handed him a piece from her bag. He began twisting it and folding it until it resembled a rose. "Incendio." he whispered. The parchment burst into flames and in the blind of an eye, a red rose was floating where the paper previously stood. Others around him clapped and whistled as he bowed and handed the rose to Lily. "To you, love." By now a full crowd had surrounded them.

"Thanks?"

Marlene nudged her, "C'mon Lily, at least he's trying."

"Lastly!" James said louder than ever. "I have a card trick. It's a muggle trick." He took out a fresh deck of cards from his pocket and started shuffling them. "Girls, look through here, are they all different?" The three nodded. "Well I'm thinking of something. Round on one side, pointed on the other. Someone's stolen it from me..." He began throwing the cards up into the air one by one, each disappearing with a puff of smoke. He counted them off until he reached 13. "13 cards are gone...and one person in the room has them. Marlene, can you tell me what's missing from this deck?"

Marlene took the deck from James's hand and sorted through them. They were all jumbled up but there was certainly something missing. "Hearts."

"Ah, yes. Someone's stolen my heart! I can't believe it either. Well there's only one culprit. Lily, would you reach into your pockets?"

Lily stared at him curiously. She slowly reached her hand into her pocket, expecting nothing to be there since she always cleaned her robes before night. But, her hand touched something - 13 somethings to be exact. She gasped, pulling them out.

On each card was a different letter. GO OUT W ME EVANS, is what they spelled.

"You know this was better than I expected," Lily said, handing him the cards.

"Good. He stayed up all night practicing..." Sirius muttered.

"So Lilykins? Go out?"

"That's funny. Maybe after your magician career, you can be a comedian."

James ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Next time Evans. One day you'll say yes."

"That'll be the greatest magic trick of all," Alice joked.