(A/N: My friend gave me the prompt of guitar, and told me to write something about it. This is the resulting mess! Enjoy!)
Lily Evans, the current Head Girl of Hogwarts, Slug Club President, and most famously, James Potter's archenemy, was not happy. No, she was far from happy. Not that she was sad. She had no cause to be sad. But it was not a good feeling, that feeling of not being able to be still, not being able to think straight, because something, some elusive thought was dancing away from your reach. Perhaps it could be…restlessness? Yes, restlessness described it very aptly. Lily Evans was restless.
But why? All her assignments were on track, the annual Slug Club Christmas party was all planned out two weeks in advance, there had been no news of a You-Know-Who attack for the past two days…even James Potter wasn't anywhere around to annoy Lily! What was wrong?
Getting off the comfortable couch in the common room, Lily left the deserted common room quietly, and made her way out to the lake. It was lunchtime, and the grounds were mostly empty as well, despite the perfect weather. The sun was out, but not burning too fiercely, and the wind was blowing little ripples over the surface of the lake.
Kneeling at the edge of the water, Lily dipped her fingers into the water and shuddered at the unexpected chill. How she wished it was warm enough to swim in! Swimming would be heavenly – make her mind relax, but give her hands something to do. Lily lay down flat on the grass, feeling the wind sigh over her face, the sunlight play over her hands, and listening to the hoots of owls all the way up in the Owlery.
The sounds were comforting sounds, and they soon lulled Lily off to sleep. However, she was too restless to go into anything more than a doze, and even that was broken by the sounds of something unexpected.
Stifling a yawn, Lily came back to consciousness slowly, realizing that she could hear something other than nature, some instrument that both quickened her pulse and eased her mind. She had heard it before, she knew that much, but the memory of what and where kept evading her.
Lily followed the sound behind an oak tree, in a shady spot. The instrument broke off abruptly, mid-chord, as the startled player looked up into Lily's shocked eyes. She found herself staring at James Potter, her hated rival/partner.
Or at least, that was what he used to be. He barely spoke to her these days, and seemed to avoid her – a thought that was vaguely disturbing to Lily. But he was speaking to her now.
"If it's bothering you, I'll stop", James said defensively, his voice low – was he nervous? There was another moment of silence, and then Lily found herself doing something unexpected – sitting down, sharing the same shady spot as her enemy.
"No", she simply stated, and even as she realized it was true, she wondered why she was saying so to Potter. Abruptly, Lily realized he was still staring at her, and she wondered if she had made herself clear. Even she could not deny that James Potter was extremely intelligent, so it was rare for him to be looking as confused as he did. He looks kind of sweet, though, she mused to herself.
"I said, no, it doesn't bother me. Play more – I mean, please, play more" James looked away, and then focused on his guitar. A tune began to emerge from those quick moving fingers, and Lily couldn't help staring in fascination at the quick, agile way they produced such music. The song had her entranced, from the first note to the last ringing twang echoing through the air.
Lily stirred from her seat. The song had paused time, but now it had ended, the whole world seemed to unfreeze as well. "How beautiful", she murmured without meaning to, her eyes dreamy.
"I know", James agreed. "It's one of my favourite songs to play."
"I didn't know you played the guitar", Lily told James, an accusatory hint creeping into her voice. Somehow, the fact seemed extremely important now that she knew. Perhaps she wouldn't have hated him so much if she had known how well he played.
"Well, it never really seemed important, you know", James shrugged.
"I think it is", Lily immediately disagreed, out of old habit.
"Fine. It is", James gave way.
"Not really", Lily crumbled under the lack of opposition. James immediately laughed, and Lily just managed to keep a straight face. It was true, then. Laughter was contagious.
"No, it's just…I never realized you could play so well. Maybe…if I had known that you could do that, we wouldn't have fought so much." Lily tried valiantly to explain.
James looked intently at Lily, met her green eyes steadily with his hazel eyes. He seemed to ask a thousand questions just with that one glance, but all he said was, "Why?"
"Oh, I don't know!", Lily cried fretfully. "You just seem different…when you were playing. As if there was something more than just Sirius Black's best friend, more than just a big Quidditch player who keeps trying to get girls - "
Indignantly, James broke in. "Is that all you think I am? Just a…what was it – big Quidditch player who keeps trying to get girls? Well, Lily Evans, that shows how little you know about me, doesn't it?" His eyes were now shining in – anger, sorrow, shame, hurt?
There was a long silence, as each person tried to read the expression on the other's face, tried to figure out what had happened in the past few minutes.
"Yes." Lily spoke at last. "That does." She had never realized how much she had stereotyped James – she, who believed in never judging a book by its cover! It was vaguely surprising to her, that she was going to apologize to James Potter, of all people! Her, Lily Evans, apologizing to her hated rival, James Potter!
Now James was confused. "What?" Was it just him, or was Lily acting especially strange today?
"Po – " Lily broke off. "James." Lily forced herself to say his first name for the first time, and was surprised at how easy it felt on her tongue – as if she had been saying it forever. "I am sorry. I – I suppose I was being a little hasty judging you. I apologize."
Stunned though he was, James recognized his cue, that expectant look in Lily's eyes. "Of course not, Ev – Lily.", he replied, quite surprised at the turn events had taken. "It's fine" She kept looking at him, as though there was some more he had to say, and he continued, "Er – I'm sorry too, I suppose. I guess I've acted very stupidly towards you. I'm sorry, I promise never to ask you out again." He crossed his heart, too, and she chuckled weakly, but both of them were wondering why that disappointed look had crossed Lily's face when he promised.
"Friends?", Lily timidly offered him her small hand, and he accepted with a grin.
"The best", he replied, a broad grin stretching across his face, making his hazel eyes twinkle. "Well, except for Sirius, of course."
They stopped shaking hands, but Lily's hand remained in James's for quite a long time for mere friendship before either of them noticed. Clearing his throat to hide his elated confusion, James said, "And as the first step of friendship, I propose that I teach you how to play the guitar! What do you say?"
What Lily said exactly is not known, but her friends observed with unusual clarity that she came back that evening with glowing cheeks and sparkling emerald eyes. And these guitar lessons continued, for weeks and weeks and weeks…
The next three months, the whole school was shocked by the growing friendship between the Head Boy and the Head Girl. The first few cautious days, Lily was careful not to overdo the lessons, and carried the whole thing off with a casual air. But to her surprise, she found herself discovering new things about James, and what's more, actually liking them! And with that came the frequency of guitar lessons.
However, rumors soon began to fly around school as to the state of their relationship. People were beginning to think there was more to it than just friendship, although both of them (even James, to Lily's surprise and confusion) kept denying it. Several impressionable second-years fainted in fright when they came upon James teaching Lily how to hold the guitar – and actually touching her hands!
But Lily's staunch friends never believed a word of those poisonous rumors.
...
"Mary! Mary, have you seen Lily anywhere about?", Alice asked her roommate.
Without looking up from her predictably romantic romance novel, Mary mumbled something about guitar lessons.
"Oh", was all Alice said. She should have known! That was all Lily ever did these days – ever since James had actually given her a guitar, she had constantly been out to these mysterious lessons.
With a sigh, Alice decided to go down to the library. Some people might find it easy to learn how to play a guitar and pass N.E.W.T.s, but she was not one of those fortunate few. But as she crossed the room, she noticed something under Lily's bed that made her freeze in her tracks.
"Mary?" The strange edge of excitement and curiosity in Alice's voice was finally enough to pull Mary's eyes away from her book, only to be met by the sight of Lily's guitar held in the hands of a very astonished Alice.
(A/N: How did you like it? I think I might even put up a sequel, if five people tell me to do so! It would be about how Lily tells her friends what really goes on between her and James...Okay, now can you see that little button down there? Yes, you can. It's hungry. Starving, ravenous, even! Click it to feed it! Oh, come on, you're not going to leave it starving there, are you? Don't be inhumane, you know you want to click that little button!)