Credit to J.K. Rowling and ofstagsanddoes on Tumblr who inspired me with her version of a fandom feud between Lily's fans and James' fans.
*Note* - Fanfiction doesn't allow the use of the "at" symbol so you'll have to forgive the Twitter usernames, if you want to see a version with the "at" symbols you can find that on my Tumblr obsoletebooks
It was stupid really. How it all went down. He'd never had any problems with interviews before. After all, he was James Potter, and James Potter had a way with words. Except for that one day, that one day he made a big mistake.
"James! What is your opinion on the new campaign with Molly Mitchell?" A reporter had asked.
Normally he would have made a joke, and the reporters would've smiled and everything would've been okay.
He didn't though, instead he spoke his mind. "Honestly Lou, it seems a little too excessive for my taste. We're a professional football team, last time I checked we didn't need the help of a model to sell tickets."
He realized his mistake the moment he finished; the room went quiet. Not for long though, soon another reporter asked Benjy Fenwick about his game winning goal, and James figured it was all over. Sadly, that was not the case.
It started the next day. Someone James had never heard of took to social media.
dorymeadowes - lilyev you're close with Molly, what do you think of jpofficial 's harsh words?
lilyev - dorymeadowes he insinuated that her craft was less important than his. I feel highly offended by his words.
emmyvance - lilyev that's not fair to jpofficial , all he meant was that his work should be able to speak for itself.
lilyev - emmyvance did he though? mollymitch didn't take the job to "help" them but rather to enhance their image.
emmyvance - lilyev "enhance their image?" Really Lily?
dorymeadowes - emmyvance lilyev but she's right, it's like two singers recording a duet.
siriusly - dorymeadowes did you just compare my football team to a singer?
thepeterpettigrew - I believe that is exactly what she did siriusly
lilyev - siriusly thepeterpettigrew lovely, do you two want to shun models too?
siriusly - lilyev I would never do such a thing. Models are beautiful specimen.
mmckinnon - siriusly that is so disgustingly downgrading.
siriusly - mmckinnon who might you be?
mmckinnon - siriusly Lily and Mary's mate...
siriusly - mmckinnon who in God's name is Mary?
mollymitch - siriusly that would be me.. good to know people do their research before judging me.
thepeterpettigrew - siriusly Wikipedia checks out mollymitch 's story, she was born "Mary Margaret Macdonald."
siriusly - thepeterpettigrew well where'd she pick up the Mitchell?
thepeterpettigrew - siriusly her dad's first name.
dorymeadowes - So this is nice, but what's it got to do with the original topic of jpofficial 's idiocy.
jpofficial - dorymeadowes IDIOCY?
siriusly - jpofficial there he is! The King of Thieves himself!
lupin - siriusly don't make Disney references.
lilyev - Please tell me you aren't a supporter of this lupin
siriusly - lilyev ah, that's right, you and lupin go WAY back. Hate to break it to you Ginger but he's a football player too.
lupin - lilyev mistakes were made, of course I support jpofficial but that's because I understand what he meant.
mmckinnon - lupin I think you better watch your words as well R.J., sounds an awful lot like you share jpofficial 's crazy ideology.
lupin - That's not what I meant mmckinnon and you know it.
jpofficial - mmckinnon let's get one thing straight. I meant no offence to mollymitch but I did mean what I said.
lilyev - jpofficial that's rather contradictory.
jpofficial - lilyev okay I honestly don't know any of you, so I don't see why I owe you an explanation.
lilyev - jpofficial you should've thought about all of this before you dragged mollymitch through the mud.
That was just the beginning. While the opinions of the others stayed noncommittal, a war broke out between the Evanders and the Potterheads. Eventually though, at about the six month mark, the fighting stopped being about Molly Mitchell. It just became a public fact that if you were a fan of the actress Lily Evans, you loathed the football player James Potter, and vice versa.
sev_394 - jpofficial how do you feel about lilyev winning an Oscar?
jpofficial - sev_394 it's good for her, if she keeps this pace (one award every 22 years) she'll have the same amount of trophies as me in... never.
lilyev - Awh jpofficial I'm sorry, but your childhood dance trophies don't count.
It was about two years after the original fight, a year after Lily's Academy Award, that James realized they'd have to meet.
"So James, anything new in the works?" He was asked one evening on a talk show.
"I'm actually headed to America next month to do a brief cameo on a TV show."
The host smiled. "I heard that, quite the exciting time in your life."
James nodded. "Definitely, although football will always be my true passion, it's nice to get a chance to branch out."
"Speaking of things you're passionate about," the host continued. "Let's talk Lily Evans. After all, you'll be filming on the same lot that her movie is finishing up on."
James was not prepared for that. In all honesty he hadn't even thought of Lily when he accepted the role. Keeping his cool, he shrugged. "There's not much to it. I think the world has made it bigger than it really is."
"So you wouldn't say that you hate Lily Evans?"
James shrugged again. "I've never even met her."
That was the wrong thing to say. It was only two weeks later when he got an invite to an American talk show. The catch? They wanted a joint interview. James and Lily in one room.
He couldn't say no, he knew that. He'd just come out looking petty and childish. Instead he found himself flying out to Los Angeles nearly a week early.
James didn't see Lily before the show. They'd purposely kept the two apart. Too soon he heard their names being announced and he was directed onstage. She came from the right, he from the left, and they both failed to acknowledge the other until they were forced to.
"Well I believe some introductions are in order." The host said smirking slightly. "James Potter," he said gesturing to James, "meet Lily Evans. Lily Evans," he went on, "meet James Potter."
She smiled at him and he couldn't help smiling back. Lily Evans was gorgeous. Sure he'd seen pictures of her before, but nothing compared to the real thing.
"You two first started talking over Twitter, two years ago, is that correct?" The host asked moving the show along.
Lily answered. "Yes, we got into it over my dear friend Molly Mitchell."
"Is there still some bad blood between you two?" The host asked no doubt noting their hostility towards each other.
This time James spoke first. "Between our fans no doubt."
"We've moved past Molly though," Lily added.
"You two do however still appear to be quite harsh towards each other on social media."
James laughed. "I'm afraid that's just playful banter."
Lily nodded her head in agreement prompting the host to ask: "so there's nothing going on between you two?"
"Our relationship has been purely online," Lily said, her red hair glistening in the stage light. "I can't speak for James, but I honestly have no problem with him."
The internet blew up that night. The Evanders and Potterheads all questioned their existence. James and Lily did their best to put them at ease.
jpofficial - I don't see what the big deal is, I still have more trophies and fans than lilyev will ever have.
lilyev - Did you skip math class jpofficial ? Last time I checked 3 million was more than 2.9 million.
siriusly - jpofficial lilyev but the most important thing is that 3.2 million trumps both of you. #sorrynotsorry
lilyev - siriusly does anyone still use that hashtag though...?
siriusly - lilyev it's vintage Ginger
jpofficial - siriusly saying "it's vintage" doesn't make it any better mate.
siriusly - jpofficial #sorrynotsorry
Two weeks later James saw Lily for the second time. He'd just finished his last scene, and he spotted her sitting on the curb in the parking lot.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, confused at why she'd choose to spend her free time in a parking lot.
"James Potter," she said turning her attention to him. "Aren't you going to help a girl up?" She stuck out both her hands and he obliged.
They lingered for a moment longer than they should of and by the time they heard a camera click it was too late.
"That's going to be everywhere in the morning, isn't it?" She asked looking up at him.
He nodded. "They'll probably think we're getting married."
"It's ridiculous," she said looking down at their connected hands. "Can't two people just poke fun at each other without it becoming such a big deal?"
He smiled but she didn't notice. "You should've thought about all that before you picked a fight with me."
"Maybe, but it has done wonders for my career, really enhanced it."
"Arguing with me?"
Lily nodded. "You know I really ought to thank you."
"But you won't."
"But I won't." She agreed.
siriusly - jpofficial OH MY GOD MATE are you and Ginger together?
mmckinnon - siriusly lilyev AM I MISSING SOMETHING?
siriusly - mmckinnon do you live under a rock ?
lupin - siriusly mmckinnon it doesn't mean anything.
mmckinnon - siriusly lupin WHAT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING?
siriusly - mmckinnon James and Lily holding hands you invalid
lupin - siriusly mmckinnon it doesn't mean anything.
thepeterpettigrew - lupin siriusly mmckinnon I just saw. Do you reckon they're getting married?
mollymitch - thepeterpettigrew lupin siriusly mmckinnon WHAT?!
lupin - mollymitch thepeterpettigrew siriusly mmckinnon IT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING.
lilyev - mollymitch thepeterpettigrew siriusly mmckinnon lupin guys...
siriusly - lilyev WHAT?
lilyev - mollymitch thepeterpettigrew siriusly mmckinnon lupin I was sitting on the ground and he helped me up..
mollymitch - lilyev ooohh...
lupin - mollymitch thepeterpettigrew siriusly mmckinnon do I even need to say it..?
James laughed as Lily relayed the conversation to him. His phone was plugged in across the room so he'd missed it all. He didn't much listen though. Instead his attention was directed entirely to gazing at the beautiful redhead who'd spent the night.
A/N
What did you guys think? I'm super sick but I loved this idea so much that I couldn't wait to write it! Anyway, I really want to get into writing some Next Gen stuff but I think my first big project of 2017 will be a multi chapter AU based on the Selection Series by Kiera Cass. I started it back in August but then dropped it to try to focus more on LEAMMEGTM, but I've recently picked it back up so we'll see where it takes me :)
I hope everyone is having a great 2017!
Shaelynn