A Short Tale of a Highly Troublesome Kettle
By: DarkyDearest
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or settings here used, nor do I own the basic plot… only my silly elaborations
A/N: This takes place the evening after the memory which Harry saw in the Pensieve in Order of the Phoenix. If you haven't read that one for a while maybe go check out page 640 (don't rely on the recent movie's take as I feel the representation of this scene was very poor). If you feel your memory serves you strongly enough then shoo! Off you go to read! And enjoy….
Lily flopped into an arm chair in the quiet Gryffindor common room lacking any measure of her usual grace and put a hand to her forehead closing her eyes and grimacing. It had been a long and trying day; she had a splitting headache.
She was quite startled by the sudden whistling of a kettle a moment later and gave a slight jump. This prompted her to take a closer look about the common room and see that she had seated herself only a seat away from none other than James Potter who was apparently making himself a cuppa and enjoying the roaring fire. "Hey Evans," he said in a surprisingly soft voice she hadn't been aware he was capable of, "fancy a having a cup of tea with me? You look like you could use one." She opened her mouth and closed it, struck dumb by his uncharacteristic kindness... maybe… he was sorry for how he had behaved earlier. She nodded weakly and moved down a chair so that she was seated next to him. Regardless of whether he was repentant, she really did need a cup of tea and she didn't have the energy to go upstairs and conjure her own. He nodded in recognition of her acceptance and picked up his wand from the slightly unstable looking table next to him.
Next he picked up his cup and saucer from the table also and tapped them with his wand, muttering "Reproducto" Another cup and saucer identical to his own appeared balanced precariously atop of the originals. He handed her one set and placed his own carefully on the table between them. "Accio Teabags" Out of a box on the mantle flew two teabags which he caught and placed in their cups. Normally Lily would have been annoyed by the laziness he showed, but some part of her recognized that he was showing off for her and a part of her found it kind of… sweet. He waved his wand a final time, "Accio Kettle" and the kettle zoomed from the stove. His aim was just slightly off he had to reach to his left a bit to grab the handle and not the steaming body of the pot. Although his reflexes were excellent from Quidditch, he managed to slosh a spoonful or so of steaming water onto his leg. He winced slightly but held in any other sign of pain, and blushed a little at his shoddy spell work. Lily smiled in spite of her headache and pretended not to notice for his sake.
He filled his cup with water avoiding her eyes and then offered the kettle to her, "Careful, it's hot." Their hands touched for a brief second as she grabbed the handle and he met her eyes for a fleeting moment almost... sheepishly. The moment passed and they both looked away. Lily lifted her saucer and tilted the kettle. "POP!" As soon as water began to leave the spout, the kettle quickly transformed into a fat white mouse with odd, blue, china pattern like markings and proceeded to run up Lily's arm. She gave a frightened shriek and tried to rid herself of the creature by throwing both of her arms into the air. However, rather than rectifying the situation this caused her empty cup to go sailing into James' full one which was paused halfway to his lips as he stared at her in surprise. Hot tea sprayed over both of them, the majority of it scalding James again. This caused him too to let out a loud cry of surprise. They were both, by now, out of their chairs and doing a sort of tribal dance trying to shake off a rodent and the lasting sting of hot water respectively.
James, being a pretty tough bloke due to his playing a sport that frequently put him in the path of angry beaters, achieved his goal first and stopped hopping long enough to realize that the mouse had settled its plump body square on the top of Lily's head. He looked for an opening somewhere between her flailing arms and darted forward to grab the animal which promptly bit down hard on his thumb. Lily was watching by now and gave a small gasp at the string of curses he let fly. She gasped much more loudly, however, when James proceeded to throw the plump little louse, hard at the still roaring fire. Even as her mind prepared to round on him for killing an animal so thoughtlessly (not that the cruel little thing didn't deserve it) there was another "POP" and the steaming kettle was once again hanging over the fire, bubbling merrily.
There was a long moment of silence as they both let their minds catch up, breathing hard. James broke the still air with a loud and long exhale and sat back down, dabbing at his lap with a tea towel. "I thought that it might react that way, because it didn't change over until it was in use, it must have had some sort of conditional charm put on it, don't you think? But then why didn't it change when I used it…" he babbled to himself. Silence met him, as he stared at the kettle trying to remember a spell the could have made the teapot behave so and trying to figure which of his friends had used it. Eventually he noticed that she had not responded and he turned to find Lily staring at him in indignantly.
"Lily…" he tried to head her off, realizing at once that she blamed him for the joke, but he was too late. She opened her mouth and he winced backwards prepared for more of the explosive accusations she had hurled at him that morning. They didn't come. Lily closed her mouth again and took a carefully measured breath. "Good night James." There were no audible feelings in the words, they were spoken casually and evenly, but James read what was underneath: Disappointment. She promptly turned and strode out of the room, up the stairs to her dormitory. He had almost the same feeling as when he was dismissed by a teacher after a scolding… but without the scolding.
James sat down in his original seat heavily. This was new. Prior to that day Lily had handled her disapproval of him with a superior air, so he had seen her as being indifferent to him. Even this morning when she had finally revealed some sort of reaction to him it was anger, dislike. Those things he could handle mostly. He knew how to feel about her disapproval, her indifference, her anger… but not disappointment. Truthfully this feeling stung harder and deeper than the rest (keeping in mind that being told off in front of half of the school was hardly a day at the beach).
James sat in his chair thinking about this for what felt like both a very long and very short amount of time. She had seemed so… finished, when she left. As if she was done with him completely and finally. It unsettled him. Why did he care so much? She was just another girl… wasn't she? He had only wanted her because he couldn't have her… hadn't he? He could do without her… couldn't he? His head began to ache from so much second guessing. He was so frustrated so… angry that she would leave because of a prank he hadn't even pulled; it seemed so hypocritical for someone so concerned with fairness. Yet… at the same time he couldn't help wanting to forget that she was angry with him and focus on the memory of touching her hand and the soft expression in her jade green eyes when her guard was finally down.
His mind wandered and he wondered what could have been had the kettle remained a kettle. He imagined staying up late, talking to her, learning about some of what made her tick. He envisioned her stifling a yawn, tired but not wanting to go to sleep. He would tell her softly to get some rest, brush her hair back from her face, look gently into those green eyes, lean towards her slowly and… "Eeeeeeek!" The kettle gave a loud whistle that sounded oddly squeak-like and James jumped, his reverie broken. He quickly took the thing off of the fire and set it on the table next to him.
He was so tired that he couldn't be sure if the scene just in his mind had been a conscious thought or a dream. He sighed wearily; he had been sitting about thinking for who knows how long and he still had no answer to the all important question, how did he feel about Lily? He was completely unsure of everything he thought he knew at the beginning of the day. He absently looked down at the troublesome kettle playing with the handle. The blue china pattern was moving round and round the pot like a tiny flat merry go round. He suddenly sat straight up in his chair when closer inspection revealed what the revolving pictures were. Tiny, blue, shaggy, dogs were leaping in a circle, smiling up and winking at him roguishly. James may have been unsure of everything else but he knew one thing with certainty.
He was going to murder Sirius Black.
A/N: that last line is all in fun by the way… as I would never want a hair on the beautiful head of the glorious Sirius hurt… sigh… anyway I hope you enjoyed that! Thanks for reading! Cheers!
please review whether you liked it or not, tell me how to improve!!! for your sake and mine, haha!