Art of Awkwardness

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They are all property of J.K. Rowling, and I am in no way trying to steal them.

Life was stressful—that much was certain. The daily monotony of school, homework, being a Prefect, caused an unbelievable amount of anxiety. Even finding time to relax was taxing! There were several ways to relieve such tension, many of which were thoroughly illegal, but after much searching Lily Evans found one way to unwind that never let her down.

That was taking a bath. Not just any bath, mind you, but a bath in the Prefect's Bathroom. The Prefect's Bath was the pinnacle of comfort and not one person could deny that. It was a fact. Everything from the scented bubbles to the marble floors to the pool sized bath was more than lavish, even to the most privileged of people. Just a few moments in the bubble filled warm water could melt the stress away from situation, no matter how crazy it appeared to be.

With only a week until finals, Lily was getting her fair share of headaches and stomachaches from pure worry. It got like this every year, and only got worse as finals inched closer. She mastered a routine for this hectic schedule years ago, which included coming in during breakfast when everyone else was either eating or sleeping, getting into the scalding hot bathtub, filling it with rose scented bubbles, and staying in for an hour. No one ever disturbed her and she never failed to relax just enough to endure finals.

Today was certainly not a day for her to deter from her routine. She was there, forty-five minutes into her hour bath with rose bubbles still surrounding her. Her clothes were displayed rather unceremoniously on the ground a few feet away from the bathtub, along with her wand. Her eyes were closed as stress poured straight out of her body gracefully, replaced by ease.

She was in such luxury that she didn't even hear someone coming into the Prefect's Bathroom.

James Potter walked casually into the Prefect's Bathroom, quite ready to charm faucets to spray water in people's faces, and perhaps vandalize a few of the toilets. He was surprised to see someone else there, and did a double take when he noticed that this person was a redhead. Well, he only knew three redheads in the school, and only one in Gryffindor. Once he spotted the Gryffindor tie displayed in a pile of clothes—he also observed a pair of matching undergarments in there and grinned—he came to the conclusion that he walked in on Lily Evans taking a bath. Suddenly, there were so many possibilities open to him. Threats! Blackmail! The possibilities were endless, and he loved it.

Instead of voicing his presence, he merely walked behind noticing that her body all the way up to her neck was under bubble covered water, restricting vision to any assets of hers. He only smirked to himself at this. "Having a nice bath, there?" he asked loudly, unable to keep the amusement off of his face.

Lily spun around quickly, her eyes as wide as saucers. She moved quickly under the water so that only her eyes and nose were above the water for vision and breathing. She stared at him in shock for several moments before she raised her head a bit to talk. "What are you doing in here?" she demanded. "And you're not a Prefect! You're not allowed to step foot in here. I demand you get out!" she continued, frustration beginning to ebb into her voice. She pointed a dripping finger at the door for just a moment before submerging it again in water.

"I love being friends with a Prefect," he said simply, choosing not to answer her first question. "It opens up this huge whirlpool of possibilities." He paused, contemplating said potentials. "Like seeing you naked," he said with a laugh. It was only a joke, but when he was met with a stony glare, he figured that she wouldn't appreciate such humor.

Glancing around the room, Lily noticed her clothes were splayed everywhere, and she hastily brought her hands out of the water to hide her undergarments underneath everything, not caring that it all got wet. As he laughed, she blushed madly with embarrassment and narrowed her eyes in his direction. "Turn around so I can at least get dressed," she said, angry that her bath was cut down by fifteen minutes.

"What if I don't want to, though?" he asked innocently, trying to conceal his smirk.

Lily grabbed for her wand, pointing it directly at him as she narrowed her eyes in anger. "I'll castrate you," she said simply, her voice deadly serious.

He raised his eyebrows in shock. "I can see what's on your mind, Evans," he commented casually, putting his hands in his pockets with a smirk.

"You're unbelievable!" she yelled angrily, letting her wand drop as she threw her hands in the air. "You just won't give up, will you?" she asked, rolling her eyes. Before waiting for an answer, she continued. "I bet you spend your time thinking of ways to torture me. You just want to ruin my life, don't you? If I fail my finals, it's YOUR fault!"

"No, yes, and okay," he listed with a nod. He paused for a moment, and then slowly asked, "Hey, you wanna hang out some time?"

"I am going to kill you," she said slowly, shaking her head as she pursed her lips in anger.

"You're cute when you're angry," he said, though knew that once he said that, he was in even greater danger of injury. Sheepishly, he backed himself into one of the bathroom stalls and locked it for two reasons: he would not be tempted to peek when she got dressed and he would at least have a bit time to sort himself out before he was murdered by Miss Evans.

Immediately, Lily jumped out of the water and without bothering to dry herself, she threw her clothes on. Despite the uncomfortable feeling of clothes on wet skin and the several wet spots on the fabric, she didn't care one bit. She was safe from Mr. Potter's wandering eyes, now, and that was all that mattered at the moment. Brushing herself off, she pocketed her wand and slowly contemplated a plan that came to mind.

It was perfect, as long as she could play it out properly.

Slowly, she moved towards the door, knocking on it lightly. "Po—…" She stopped, remembering suddenly that she needed to call him by his first name. "James… Look, I want to apologize for what I said. Please come out," she said in a sugary sweet voice, batting her eyelashes even though she knew he couldn't see it. It was a ridiculous plan that no one would fall for but him.

"Then apologize," he said helpfully, still standing in the corner of the stall in fear of being attacked.

"No, I really want to be able to apologize to you…Not a door," she continued, trying to be as convincing as possible. "And I want to…I want to tell you something else." She was purposefully stuttering and pausing, all for effect.

Hesitantly, he inched towards the door, unlocked it, and poked his head outside, clearly convinced by this act. "What is it you want to tell me?" he asked quickly.

"No, no. I can't tell you what I want…To tell you when you're like… Well, when you're all the way back there. Y'see, I've never really…" She began her sentence, but instead of finishing it, she trailed off quietly. With that, she looked down at the ground abashedly, biting down on her lip with innocence.

Hook. Line. Sinker.

It was a matter of seconds before he was fully out of the stall and leaning on the door with suaveness. "Go ahead," he said smoothly.

Lily took a small step towards James, inching forward slowly towards him as she let her lips part ever so slightly. He began leaning into her, obviously ready for a prolonged kiss. He was sorely mistaken when he made that assumption though.

Instead of a sweet kiss, he was met with a smack across the face. The sound reverberated through the room, echoing several times. He stood there with shock, his mouth agape. With a smirk, she took a small step back to admire her work. "You're catching flies," she told him.

She turned on her heel, leaving James there, all too surprised with her actions. Thinking quickly, though, he pushed himself out of his state of confusion and ran up to her just before she reached the door. Grabbing her arm, he turned Lily around and kissed her square on the mouth, holding her there for several moments. Finally, she broke free, breathing heavily as she noticed her lightheadedness and her quick heart rate.

The tables had suddenly turned. James had the upper hand and Lily was the one who didn't know what to do. Her knees were weak, a feeling that was quite foreign to her, and her stomach was full of butterflies and worries. She didn't like this one bit.

"That was for being such an awful tease," he breathed, his voice low and seductive.

Lily fled for fear of being caught in his web once more. She denied to herself that she had enjoyed their kiss, and told herself that he was just being an idiot. Somewhere, in the back of her heart, though, she knew that she wanted another kiss just like that one, and soon. She craved it, though for quite some time, her mind got the best of her and kept her away from James Potter. Her mind had rationality, and knew what was best for her wellbeing.

Still, would she have done it all over again if she had the chance?

Hell, yes.


I hope you all enjoyed it! I want to make a quick note before you read on, though: the following vignettes will not be in order. They are snapshots in the lives of James and Lily that go in no particular order. That is why they will be in seventh year in one chapter and fifth year in the next. This is not meant to be a continuous story and I apologize for any confusion this causes.

Thank you for reading!

Until next time,

Christine