A/N written for the 'You could be happy challenge by 'Bring me the Sun.'
This was probably one of the first challenges I ever did, and I've just gone through and edited the Spelling/Grammar errors (there were loads) and added bits here and thereso hopefully its ok now!
"How does your idiotic brother always scrape Outstanding's when I never see him revise? I spent hours and hours and hours studying for this test, and what do I get to show for it? An E! E! And James Sirius freaking Potter gets an O! How is that fair?"
Lily looked desperately around for salvation as her friend, Alice Longbottom ranted as per usual, about her dear brother James II Potter.
Suddenly she grinned, rather cunningly as she saw James walk into the common room. This is about to get interesting...she thought, I need my daily dose of entertainment and I think I just found it.
"Talking 'bout me are we Allie? I always knew you had a thing for me." James winked, smirking as Alice's face deepened into a scowl which can only be described as 'worse than Uncle Ron's face when he found out that Rose had a boyfriend' by Lily.
"How did you do it? How did you get an O in transfiguration, in the hardest test of the year without even studying? Did you pay McGonnagall off or something? And for the record you didn't beat me –my average is still higher than yours – check the sheet!" Alice screeched much to the dismay of the others in the room. Her face was lit up in fury as she pointed her finger at James and started swearing creatively.
That was a tad over the top, Lily thought with raised eyebrows.
James spluttered with laughter which only made the situation worse. Alice's face turned a very deep shade of red. James thought she looked like Great-Uncle Vernon. He snickered at the thought,
"Me – pay her off? Please. Don't insult me Allie we all know that dear old Minnie loves me just like she loved my father and his father before that. You're just a sore loser who can't stand to be beaten at her own game. Well be warned, Princess, your reign of terror is coming to an end, so watch out!" James sneered all traces of humour gone from his voice. "Now calm down it was only one test. Not the apocalypse." He dismissed her with a wave of his hand.
Alice, who had been slowly walking away from him suddenly, whirled around to face him.
"Exactly Potter, it was one test; just one test, what made this one so different? Since when could you beat me! The only way you could have gotten grades like this with no study Potter is by cheating."
James raised an eyebrow looking amused. "Oh?" he said cocking his head to the side, a winning smile playing on his lips. "And how do you propose I did that Little Miss Know-it-all? Did I put veritaserum into Minnie's daily pumpkin juice and squeeze the answers out of her? Or did I sneak into her office in the dead of the night using the fabled invisibility cloak and whisk the question paper off into the Gryffindor common room where I would later spend all night memorizing answers to the questions?"
"I don't know how you did it but you did! You can't have beaten me YOU CAN'T!" she was almost hysterical now; clearly she did not like being one-upped by the devilishly handsome and rather elusive James Sirius Potter.
"I have it. You probably failed but you used your father name to have your grades changed. Because that's what you Potters do, the minute something goes wrong you just ring up Daddy Dearest and have him fix it for you. Well I'm sorry that my father doesn't believe in abusing his power and status, I'm sorry that I EARN what I get and that you, you who are so rich and get everything you want by asking Daddy, DON't! All you are, is the spoilt product of a lucky wizard, 'The Boy Who Lived' blah blah blah big deal! It could have been my father you know, in fact it SHOULD have been my father! My father is JUST as important as your's but we don't live in a big ass manor house, nor do we CHEAT our way through life!" She finally stopped yelling once she ran out of breath. She stood there red faced, panting and scowling at James, who by this point was so close he could kiss her.
"Let me make one thing clear, Longbottom," He sneered, "My father raised us to appreciate what we have, he taught us that money isn't everything, and that something's are more important than everybody knowing your name, more important than a 'big ass manor house' as you put it. We never ever abuse what we have. I don't cheat, the grades I get, I get because I earned them. So next time I beat you in a test, how about you just say 'congratulations' and get over it. If you want you can gloat over the fact that you beat me in almost every other subject, but not transfiguration. That one's mine. Are we clear?" His voice was so low she could barely hear him about the sound of her furiously beating heart.
She suddenly realized how good looking he actually was, with his forever messy black hair and his pretty chocolate brown eyes. Not to mention the muscles defining his broad shoulders and arms. God he was sexy when he was angry... She blushed when she realized what she'd just thought and looked down.
She could feel his fingers on her chin lifting her face up to look him in the eye. The butterflies in her stomach tingled at his touch. She shivered ever so slightly.
"I said are we clear?" His voice was gentle now, almost as if he could sense the shame she felt at her outburst. She sighed and blue eyes met brown. In that moment her breath caught in her throat and she completely forgot who she was, it was all she could do not to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him. His hands were still on her face.
"Yes." she responded quietly, her voice apologetic. She was never one for apologies, she never usually had to. She was always right and even when she was wrong her pride got the better of her.
He obviously sensed that he was telling the truth, as he nodded and walked off. The common room had cleared out not wanting to be there when all hell broke loose.
"James wait." She called softly after him.
He stopped and turned to look at the girl who had stolen his heart. Merlin knows how he fell for her; all he knew is that he couldn't get her out of his mind. He also knew that they were a match made in hell.
They could rarely agree on anything, and her pride and competitiveness butted heads with his stubbornness. She was just so beautiful, with her honey brown curls falling elegantly down her back and her bright blue eyes staring after him.
There was something there that he couldn't quite identify. All he knew is that it wasn't there before. He had felt the feeling of euphoria when they touched he had felt the urge to kiss her when their eyes met. He couldn't resist her pleading voice as she said 'I'm sorry' and he prayed to Merlin that the world was on their side as he took breath and covered the distance between them in less than two steps. His hand slid down to her waist as the other tangled itself in her hair. When their lips met for the first time he felt a surge of electricity run through his body causing him to shiver. He pulled back after a minute and rested his forehead on hers. Her eyes slowly opened and she said breathlessly, "Don't ever beat me in a test again, and I think we'll be great."
James chuckled and kissed her again right as his sister, Lily Luna walked into the common room holding the hand of none other than Lysander Scamander. She grinned when she saw James and Alice together and she couldn't resist saying,
"Well, I was looking for entertainment but this is even better! It's about time, you know. We've been placing bets for months wondering who would make the first move. Wait till Dad hears about this. Pay up Ly." She smirked smugly.
Ly grumbled something about girlfriends and their hold over men as he handed over a few galleons.
James raised an eyebrow placing one arm around Alice's waist pulling her close. "You're a fine one to talk Lily, how long did it take you to finally say yes to Sander?" Now it was James turn to smirk as Lily blushed a colour very similar to that of her hair.
Lysander responded by saying "256."
James laughed, Alice looked shocked.
"You actually counted?"
James just laughed harder earning him a double combined glare from both his girlfriend (yes he could now proudly say that Alice Longbottom was his girlfriend) and his sister. His eyes widened in panic - realizing he was in trouble- as he and Lysander fled up to the boy's dorms, but not without kissing their girlfriends goodnight of course.
Still down in the common room, the girls shared a look and laughed. This was going to be an interesting year.
