A/N: My When Love Comes from Hate readers are probably yelling at me to finish my other story, but I felt like doing something with some fluff… hope you like it…
Disclaimer: How many fan fictions have you read? Okay, take that number and divide it by the number of fanfics you've read written by JKR. If you're answer is 0 then you should know who I'm not…
The Magic of the Dancing Queen
"Oh. My. GOD! He is sooo hot!" I was listening to my best friends ramble on and on about the one and only, James Potter. Ooooo, so interesting. He's the one and only guy in our year that I have hated ever since I could remember. He's also the one and only guy in our year idiotic enough to think he could mess with me. He asks me out every single day. I absolutely detest him!
We (my friends and I) were currently watching the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Quidditch game. We were up 40 to 10. Both of the Seekers were racing after the snitch, ours slightly ahead of the Slytherin one. And the snotty Gryffindor Quidditch Captain had the quaffle. Can you guess who he is? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count.
"And Potter scores! Getting Gryffindor yet another ten points! If only he could catch certain red-headed girls as well as he can catch that quaffle. He'd be set for life" Jim Daniels, the commentator, snickered.
"Mr. Daniels!" Professor McGonagall looked aghast. "Keep it professional!" She growled. A laugh rolled through the stands. Jim Daniels can never keep it professional.
I was the only one not laughing. I did not like comment about Potter not being able to 'get' me. Did I mention before that Potter has been in love with me since First Year? Did I already say that he disgusts me?
He hexes anyone who looks at him wrong, especially First Years and Slytherins. His friends are just as bad. They call themselves the 'Marauders.' They have little nicknames for each other;
James Potter is Prongs
Sirius Black is Padfoot
Remus Lupin is Moony
Peter Pettigrew is Wormtail
And all four are idiots.
"Stop moping, Lily. Just because you don't know perfection when it slaps you in the face, doesn't mean you can ruin our days."
"Shut up. You're the one who brought me to this thing in the first place if you remember, Kat." I mumbled. Her real name was Katherine Monica. She is considered one of the prettiest girls in the school. She has also slept with over 75% of the Hogwarts male population within three years of us. Older and younger.
"Come on, Lils!" Alice shrieked from below us. "I want you to meet my new boyfriend!" Alice, oh poor innocent, naïve Alice. She's the kind of girl that guys usually stomp all over. I mean, she doesn't know that she doesn't need a boyfriend to hold her down. Poor Girl
"Al, I'll do anything to not have to—"
"And Gryffindor wins!" Jim Daniels yelled out over the speaker. The crowd was going wild. Well, everyone except the Slytherins, of course, they were really mad.
"Yeah, let's go meet your boyfriend." I told her and she started dragging me towards the Hufflepuff stands.
"Yay! Okay, his name is Frank; He's a Hufflepuff in our year. I really like him, Lils. Please don't scare him like you did the last ones."
"Al?"
"Yeah?"
"Breathe." She took a deep breath. She had said her entire little monolog without breathing once.
"Thanks, Lils."
"Love you too, Al." We stared at each other and then simultaneously burst out laughing.
"So," I said after we had both settled down. "Frank Longbottom?" I had a lot of classes with the boy, since we both wanted to be Aurors. He was pretty cute. I grinned at her and she blushed.
"Yeah," she said cautiously, "Frank Longbottom."
"He's cute."
"Yeah," still cautious.
"Relax Al! Frank is the first guy you've asked out that I actually like!
"He did." She said cryptically.
"He did what?" I was prepared to kill that boy.
"He asked me out. Not the other way around."
"Really?"I was utterly shocked. No guy has ever asked her out. Frank must really like her. And the fact that she said yes, must mean that she must like him too. Wicked!
"Frank! Hey!' She acted natural. Yep. She really likes him. Usually she acts all hyper around her boyfriends. "How are you?'
"Hey Al," he said, hugging her. "I'm good. What did you think of that catch? That was amazing!" frank is the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain, the seeker.
"No, Lily and I were talking and didn't see it. Although, I'm really glad we won."
"Yeah," I interjected, "I bet Kat a galleon we would win even though both our beaters had injuries." We all laughed at the memory of the Hufflepuff v. Gryffindor game the previous week. Both the Beaters on the Gryffindor team went after the same bludger, and ended up hitting each other in the head.
"Sirius is still in the Hospital Wing after that one." An annoyed voice said from behind us.
"Potter," I growled whipping around so fast my hair hit Alice in the face, causing her to complain. I ignored her, though. "What are doing here?"
"Just came to ask Longbottom, here, if he would like to use the Pitch Monday night. I had scheduled for us to use it, but I've decided that we don't need it."
"Uh, we might use it. We're going up against Ravenclaw next week, so." He thought for a moment." We'll take it. If we need it we'll use it, but we might not. But it's good to have the extra practice time." He smiled appreciatively at Potter.
"Well then, see you around, Longbottom. Alice, Evans, I expect to see you at the after-party." He winked at us and walked away. Alice laughed while I gagged.
"We are not going to that party." I never go anyway. No problem, right?
"Ah, come on Lils! Live a little!" I glared at her, so she tried a new tactic. "You know what Kat would say." I attempted to run away, but a laughing Frank stepped in my way. "Girlfriend," Alice said in a horrible imitation of Kat. "You better go to that party! You ain't had a boyfriend in three months. You're sooo going!"
"Fine I'll go!" She cheered even though she looked surprised that I agreed so quickly. "Just as long as you never do that again."
"Fine by me!"
Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?
(Line)
I can't believe I willingly agreed to come to this thing. I can't believe that I allowed Kat to put me in… this. I am wearing a really short dress, with really high heels
I am currently standing in the middle of the Gryffindor Common Room. Completely alone in a crowd. Fun right?
"You look like you need someone to talk to." I turned around to see a smiling Remus Lupin.
"Hey," I smiled back. "Alice and Kat conspired against me." I said, gesturing to myself.
"Let me guess. Alice got you here, and Kat got you looking like that." I nodded and we both laughed. "You look gorgeous by the way."
"So, how did you guys plan this? I thought Black always did all of it."
"We snuck him out of the Hospital Wing right after the game." I raised my eyebrows.
"AKA He got tired of missing out on all the alcohol, girls and Quidditch with the only upside being missing classes? So he decided a way to get drunk." Remus laughed
"Yeah, that's about it."
"So," I said after we stood there for a second. "What do you normally do at these things?"
"Me? Find a book, conjure earplugs and fall asleep reading. Most guys? Get wasted, snog equally wasted girls, and end up having sex." I snorted.
"Yep, that sounds like Potter and Black."
"Sirius, yes. James, no. he doesn't do that kind of thing. He's put himself in charge of watching the firewhiskey, making sure no one under 6th year gets any." Hmm, interesting. Even though you have to be 17 to drink firewhiskey, few people follow that specific law.
"So, he doesn't let anyone 5th or below have alcohol?"
"For the most part, unless Sirius spikes the punch without telling James. Which has been known to happen. No matter what you think of James, he's a really good guy. You just spend so much time yelling at him to see that." Bitterness laced his voice. Oh crap, now I've made Remus mad at me. That's not very easy to do. In the 7 years I've known him, he's only been mad at me twice. Both were over trivial things which were soon forgiven.
"He's just annoys me so much. It makes me want to scream, Remus! All the good things he's done are so overshadowed by all the bad things; he'll never make it right!"
"So, you won't even give him a chance? That's all he wants, you know. For you to see that he's not the cocky bully he has been. He's changed." With a glare, he stalked away.
And I was alone again.
(Line)
I wandered over to the refreshment table. It consisted of mostly butterbeer, punch, candy, and, from the looks of it, whatever they could scavenge from the kitchen. None of it looked appetizing.
"Not finding anything you like?" Oh Crap. I cannot deal with James Potter right now. And he's actually talking to me? Ugh! He probably thinks I'm here because he asked me. Gag me.
"Is everything you eat this unhealthy?" I gestured toward the foods.
"Are you calling my food unsatisfactory?" he mocked offense.
I smacked him on the arm, playfully. "Of course I am!"
"Offensive, Evans. Offensive." I giggled. God, am I really talking flirtatiously with James Potter? "So, you want something else?" he asked, taking a chocolate frog. "I could always run down and get something from the kitchens."
"You honestly think I'm too good of a student to know where the kitchens are?" I asked mock defensively.
"You're Head Girl." He pointed out.
"And you're Head Boy," I shot back.
We both looked at each other and busted out laughing. I looked at him, and saw something new. Someone different. He really had changed.
"Yeah, lets both go to the kitchens."
"As in together?" he asked, surprised.
"Yeah, you idiot." I smacked him on the arm again. "Are you stupid or something?" I joked as we walked toward the portrait hole.
"How can I forget it? You tell me every single day!" he teased.
"You deserved it!" I told him. "Usually." He snorted and muttered something under his breath.
"So," he said as we walked into the hallway. "What do you want to eat?"
"I'm not really that hungry." He raised his eyebrows at me. "What? I wanted an excuse to get out of these shoes!" I said as I pulled the objects in question off of my feet. "I also don't like crowds. And Remus is mad at me." I shrugged. Potter stopped dead in his tracks.
"Why, on Earth, would Remus be mad at you?" He asked me.
I hesitated, not wanting him to know that we were talking and arguing about him. "Nothing."
"Why don't I believe you?'
"I don't know. But we're here."
We had, indeed, made it to the portrait of the fruit. I gestured for him to tickle the pear. He did, and then gestured for me to go ahead of him. "Ladies first," he joked.
"Do you want something to eat, Potter?"
"Nah, you?"
"I have a sudden craving for chocolate cake. Any idea where our small semi annoying friends are?"
He snorted. "No idea. You know how to make chocolate cake?"
"I grew up in a Muggle house, so, yeah." I paused for dramatic effect. "I know how to make cocoa cake."
"I'm going to assume that that is chocolate cake."
"Yes, you stupid idiot, that's chocolate cake." I started going through cupboards, looking for the right ingredients. "So, do you enjoy playing Quidditch? I asked Potter.
"Do I enjoy it? No. Do I absolutely love it more than anything in the world? Yes." He looked at me with a smile on his face.
"Personally, I don't understand what people see in the sport. I mean, I understand the rules and all, but why people enjoy it? I don't know." I said as I put all the ingredients on a table and pulled a bowl and mixing materials out.
"It's all about the flying." He said, airily. "Being out there, free, up in the sky. No worries. It's the best feeling in the world." He stared off into space.
He really loves flying, I thought, if he gets that faraway look whenever he talks about it.
"That's probably my problem then."
"What is?"
"I can't fly." I said as if it was obvious. "I've never been able to get off the ground."
"It's settled then. I, James Potter, am going to teach you, Lily Evans, the joys of flying." I snorted.
"Kat always says that the day I ride a broom is that day that she'll agree to date Sirius Black." I paused. "Let's do it." I said, grinning like a mad-man.
"You know that he really likes her, right?"
"I know. I've told her. I also know that she likes him. I've told her that too. She refuses to believe either one."
"Kat is a tough girl." He stated while putting the cake pan in the oven. He magically warmed it immediately. Pulling it out again, he said. "She doesn't want to admit that she has feelings for someone else. That she needs him."
I took the cake out of the pan, cut it in half and put one piece on one plate, and the other on another.
"I know. She refuses to accept her feelings towards him."
"She's not the only one," I heard him mutter under his breath. I had a feeling he was talking about me, so I decided to ignore him.
"So," I said after an awkward silence. "Do you like your cake?" He was almost completely done with his piece while I was maybe a quarter of the way through.
"What? Oh, uh, yeah." He replied, flustered. "We should probably head back. They're probably wondering where we are." He shrugged.
"They probably thought we ran off to snog or something."
Potter raised his eyebrows at me. "Did you really just say that?" He asked, looking half-scared and half-surprised.
"I was trying to think of what Kat would think of and say." I smirked, "she's corrupted me."
"I would say so," He snickered. "But really, we should be getting back."
"But I'm not done with my cake yet!" I whined in a really girly voice, causing us both to laugh. He held up a finger, and walked over to me. I thought he was going to eat my cake, but he shoved it in my mouth.
"GROSS!"
"What? You were complaining that you weren't done yet. I made you done!"
"Okay, fine! Let's go back to the common room!" I said, laughing, and trying to get chocolate out of my teeth.
I honestly don't know how I feel about this little escapade to the kitchens. I had fun, but James, well. I don't know how I feel about James either.
We walked back to the common room in companionable silence. Occasionally, I would look up at him, and he would, somehow, meet my gaze. We would lock eyes, and after a few seconds, one of us (usually me) would look away. Pathetic right?
As we walked into the room, my absolute favorite song; Dancing Queen, was playing.
"Ever heard of this song? It's a muggle one." A voice beside me asked.
"Yes, Potter. I've heard of it." I smirked at him. "It's only the best song known to man-kind as a whole!"
"Really?" He looked surprised. "You really like this song?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because it's my favorite song too."
"Really?" There was an awkward silence before the ending lyrics came on. I grabbed his hand and dragged him onto the dance floor.
"What are you doing?"
"You like the song. I like the song. No reason not to share it together. Beside all my friends hate it."
He shook his head as if to relieve it of unwanted thoughts. "You are one heck of a girl, Lily Evans."
"I know," I told him, smirking.
I was suddenly acutely aware of how little distance there was between us. And surprisingly, I wasn't scared.
"Thank you, James."
"For what?"
"This." I grabbed him by the hair and kissed him.
(line)
THE END! YAY!
Love you guys… even more than chocolate… which I love… a lot… so… if you want me to continue loving you, REVIEW! It's the electronic version of chocolate…
