It Started With Cupid's Arrow
The Secret Poet Within Us All
Second Year—The secret poet within us all
It was late on the eve of Valentine’s Day in 1973. In the second year Gryffindor boy’s dormitory, you could see one wand lit as a bespectacled figure sat at a desk, quill in his hand, several pieces of crumpled parchment laying around him on both the desk and floor, the wastepaper basket already overflowing with crumpled parchment. The young boy paused for a minute, rereading what he had written before crumpling it and tossing it aside to join the other dozens of failed attempt.
James Potter had been at this for hours, and was still trying to perfect it before his dorm mates woke up, he could then sneak to the Owlrey to send this with a school owl, so it would arrive in front of his secret crush during breakfast. None of his friends knew how he felt about his schoolmate, and he wasn’t anxious for them to find out. He was the first of them to like a girl, and Peter still described girls with the word “cooties.”
One hour later, when the sun was just beginning to turn the horizon a mixture of the shades pink, purple, red, and orange did he finally looked down at the parchment in his hands with satisfaction. He had finished. Placing it neatly into an envelope, he wrote her full name neatly in script on the front, before grabbing his Invisibly Cloak from the back of his chair and flinging it over himself, making it impossible to know he was there.
Walking quietly down the stairs into the common room, which was vacated except for a handful of cats, he exited and made his way through the deserted stone corridors to the staircase leading up to the Owlrey. Taking the steps two at a time, he made his way up to the entrance. Carefully taking off his cloak before entering, as so not to scare the birds, he walked over to a dark brown school owl with lighter brown strips and woke it up with a gently shake. “Hey there, Girl,” he whispered, and she gave a weak, quiet hoot in response to his greeting. “I need you to deliver this at breakfast, okay?” James asked, holding up the envelope so the bird could see it.
The owl gave a sort of nod and stuck out its right leg. Tying the letter carefully to the owl’s leg, he gave it a bit of bread he had brought with him. Donning his cloak once again, he slowly made his way back to the Gryffindor Tower, hoping for a few hours of sleep before he was to wake up for breakfast the next morning. Reaching his bed, he hastily shoved the cloak in his trunk before collapsing on his bed to sleep, for little more than two hours until he was woken by his alarm clock.
More quickly than his friends thought was normal, he got ready for breakfast. While his friends were just finishing up there morning routines, he was standing by the door, tapping his foot impatiently. All his friends but one gave him curious glances as he herded them out of the dorm and down the stairs. The one who hadn’t given him a curious glance was soon standing next to him, and out of the corner of his mouth Remus Lupin asked James something quietly, making sure the other two boys couldn’t hear him.
“What did you send her?” he asked. James gave him a blank look.
“What are you talking about?” the darker haired boy asked. Remus snorted softly.
“I know you like her. It’s obvious. Don’t worry, the others are too thick headed to realize it,” Remus reassured his friend after seeing the stricken look on his face.
“How did you know I sent her something?” James asked.
“Why else would you have so much energy this early in the morning?”
/\/\/\/\
Lily Evans woke up on her second Valentine’s Day in the Wizarding world with a considerable difference in excitement then her first. The feeling she had now was more of a slightly nervous feeling, not sure if she was going to have to hurt James Potter on this day two years in a row. Careful as to not wake up her friends, she got ready to take a shower before breakfast that morning.
By the time she arrived out of the shower, her damp red hair curling gently around her face, her friends were almost ready as well. Not bothering to put her hair up, she and her friends walked down to the Great Hall, where they were soon joined by Elizabeth and Will, who had a habit of ditching their own House tables to join Lily, Carolina, and Claire at the Gryffindor table most days. It was probably the hardest for Elizabeth, a Slytherin, but since she was cousins with Carolina most people didn’t pay much attention to it.
“So, think you’re gonna get pranked again?” Will asked, smirking at the idea of Lily once again having the infamous Marauders play their Valentine’s Day prank on her.
“If I am, just let it be known that Potter and his friends will be in the Hospital Wing until Christmas. Of 2045,” Lily said her voice and facial features completely serious.
“Well, they’d be stupid to think you wouldn’t be at least a little suspicious, about anything that they could have possibly been the sender of,” Elizabeth said.
“Yes, you’re right about that, Liz. Plus, if they think they could get away with doing it again while you’re suspecting it, they have no chance,” Claire said to Elizabeth.
“She’s got a point there, you have to admit,” Lily said, laughing slightly. The five friends continued to have a conversation similar to the one they had started while they ate their breakfast. Lily had, at several times, felt eyes on the back of her head, coming from the direction of James Potter, but hadn’t seen him looking, so brushed it off as her imagination.
Paying careful attention to the owls that had started coming in, Lily gave a double-take on the owl heading her way. It looked familiar, with glossy dark brown feathers decorated with lighter brown ones. Taking the letter it offered gently, she inspected it, looking for signs of magic, before opening it cautiously. Inside was a single piece of parchment, folded neatly into fourths.
Unfolding the parchment, she saw three stanzas centered in the middle of it. All of it written in neat script, including the signature of “Secret Admirer” at the bottom. She slowly read the poem that was obviously written just for her. “Oh,” Lily whispered after reading it, “this is so sweet!” Elizabeth, who was looking over her shoulder, started to read the poem aloud softly for the others to hear.
“‘Roses are red
Violets are blue.
A lily is pretty,
But not as pretty as you.
If only, oh if only
I had the chance
I would take you to
The Valentine’s Dance.
Your eyes are so pretty,
Beautiful and green.
Always looking kind
And never mean.’”
Lily’s blush somehow managed to out red her hair, a feat she hadn’t known was possible. “It was sweet,” Carolina offered. “Yeah, but whoever wrote it is not the next Shakespeare, that’s for sure,” Elizabeth said. Throughout the day, Lily had trouble focusing in class. Her thoughts kept drifting to a boy who would never be the next Shakespeare….
It was late on the eve of Valentine’s Day in 1973. In the second year Gryffindor boy’s dormitory, you could see one wand lit as a bespectacled figure sat at a desk, quill in his hand, several pieces of crumpled parchment laying around him on both the desk and floor, the wastepaper basket already overflowing with crumpled parchment. The young boy paused for a minute, rereading what he had written before crumpling it and tossing it aside to join the other dozens of failed attempt.
James Potter had been at this for hours, and was still trying to perfect it before his dorm mates woke up, he could then sneak to the Owlrey to send this with a school owl, so it would arrive in front of his secret crush during breakfast. None of his friends knew how he felt about his schoolmate, and he wasn’t anxious for them to find out. He was the first of them to like a girl, and Peter still described girls with the word “cooties.”
One hour later, when the sun was just beginning to turn the horizon a mixture of the shades pink, purple, red, and orange did he finally looked down at the parchment in his hands with satisfaction. He had finished. Placing it neatly into an envelope, he wrote her full name neatly in script on the front, before grabbing his Invisibly Cloak from the back of his chair and flinging it over himself, making it impossible to know he was there.
Walking quietly down the stairs into the common room, which was vacated except for a handful of cats, he exited and made his way through the deserted stone corridors to the staircase leading up to the Owlrey. Taking the steps two at a time, he made his way up to the entrance. Carefully taking off his cloak before entering, as so not to scare the birds, he walked over to a dark brown school owl with lighter brown strips and woke it up with a gently shake. “Hey there, Girl,” he whispered, and she gave a weak, quiet hoot in response to his greeting. “I need you to deliver this at breakfast, okay?” James asked, holding up the envelope so the bird could see it.
The owl gave a sort of nod and stuck out its right leg. Tying the letter carefully to the owl’s leg, he gave it a bit of bread he had brought with him. Donning his cloak once again, he slowly made his way back to the Gryffindor Tower, hoping for a few hours of sleep before he was to wake up for breakfast the next morning. Reaching his bed, he hastily shoved the cloak in his trunk before collapsing on his bed to sleep, for little more than two hours until he was woken by his alarm clock.
More quickly than his friends thought was normal, he got ready for breakfast. While his friends were just finishing up there morning routines, he was standing by the door, tapping his foot impatiently. All his friends but one gave him curious glances as he herded them out of the dorm and down the stairs. The one who hadn’t given him a curious glance was soon standing next to him, and out of the corner of his mouth Remus Lupin asked James something quietly, making sure the other two boys couldn’t hear him.
“What did you send her?” he asked. James gave him a blank look.
“What are you talking about?” the darker haired boy asked. Remus snorted softly.
“I know you like her. It’s obvious. Don’t worry, the others are too thick headed to realize it,” Remus reassured his friend after seeing the stricken look on his face.
“How did you know I sent her something?” James asked.
“Why else would you have so much energy this early in the morning?”
/\/\/\/\
Lily Evans woke up on her second Valentine’s Day in the Wizarding world with a considerable difference in excitement then her first. The feeling she had now was more of a slightly nervous feeling, not sure if she was going to have to hurt James Potter on this day two years in a row. Careful as to not wake up her friends, she got ready to take a shower before breakfast that morning.
By the time she arrived out of the shower, her damp red hair curling gently around her face, her friends were almost ready as well. Not bothering to put her hair up, she and her friends walked down to the Great Hall, where they were soon joined by Elizabeth and Will, who had a habit of ditching their own House tables to join Lily, Carolina, and Claire at the Gryffindor table most days. It was probably the hardest for Elizabeth, a Slytherin, but since she was cousins with Carolina most people didn’t pay much attention to it.
“So, think you’re gonna get pranked again?” Will asked, smirking at the idea of Lily once again having the infamous Marauders play their Valentine’s Day prank on her.
“If I am, just let it be known that Potter and his friends will be in the Hospital Wing until Christmas. Of 2045,” Lily said her voice and facial features completely serious.
“Well, they’d be stupid to think you wouldn’t be at least a little suspicious, about anything that they could have possibly been the sender of,” Elizabeth said.
“Yes, you’re right about that, Liz. Plus, if they think they could get away with doing it again while you’re suspecting it, they have no chance,” Claire said to Elizabeth.
“She’s got a point there, you have to admit,” Lily said, laughing slightly. The five friends continued to have a conversation similar to the one they had started while they ate their breakfast. Lily had, at several times, felt eyes on the back of her head, coming from the direction of James Potter, but hadn’t seen him looking, so brushed it off as her imagination.
Paying careful attention to the owls that had started coming in, Lily gave a double-take on the owl heading her way. It looked familiar, with glossy dark brown feathers decorated with lighter brown ones. Taking the letter it offered gently, she inspected it, looking for signs of magic, before opening it cautiously. Inside was a single piece of parchment, folded neatly into fourths.
Unfolding the parchment, she saw three stanzas centered in the middle of it. All of it written in neat script, including the signature of “Secret Admirer” at the bottom. She slowly read the poem that was obviously written just for her. “Oh,” Lily whispered after reading it, “this is so sweet!” Elizabeth, who was looking over her shoulder, started to read the poem aloud softly for the others to hear.
“‘Roses are red
Violets are blue.
A lily is pretty,
But not as pretty as you.
If only, oh if only
I had the chance
I would take you to
The Valentine’s Dance.
Your eyes are so pretty,
Beautiful and green.
Always looking kind
And never mean.’”
Lily’s blush somehow managed to out red her hair, a feat she hadn’t known was possible. “It was sweet,” Carolina offered. “Yeah, but whoever wrote it is not the next Shakespeare, that’s for sure,” Elizabeth said. Throughout the day, Lily had trouble focusing in class. Her thoughts kept drifting to a boy who would never be the next Shakespeare….
♠ ♠ ♠
Haha, Lily has a secret admirer. Not that it isn't completely obvious who........comments, please????????