A/N: So this was originally intended to be a one-shot, but who am I kidding? I currently have six chapters written and there's no end in sight. My take on the Lily-James relationship.
000
casual
000
Familiar voices echoed around Lily in the hidden library niche, rousing her from a brief nap. Head still pillowed on her Transfiguration textbook, she listened groggily as Sirius Black and James Potter argued in what they clearly thought were heated whispers.
"I saw you take—" James' deep bass rumbled through the silence, effectively negating any benefit whispering would have provided, when Sirius cut him off.
"Shut up," he snapped. Lily rolled her eyes. He clearly hadn't even made an effort to be quiet.
She was strangely gratified when James responded with a "shh!" echoing her own sentiments.
"…don't see what the big deal is…" Sirius grumbled, but he had lowered his voice.
Their conversation drifted away as she returned her face to its earlier position, burrowed in between the pages of the yellowing parchment. Smiling a little, she remembered an instance almost exactly a year ago, at the end of fifth year, when a library visit from Sirius and James had ended in quite a different way.
000
For as long as she could remember, Lily had studied at an out of the way table in the Magical Maladies & Potions section in the back left corner of the library. Only a few brave souls managed to enter so deeply in to the silence of dusty books and imposing shelves, so the majority of her time was spent in a relaxing, quiet environment that seemed designed for studying.
"Yo, Prongs, some Slytherin twat stole our table!" Sirius Black had practically yelled upon entry to what Lily liked to think of as her section. She could see their silhouettes through cracks in the bookshelves, and she hastily tucked her nose back in the book, wishing with all her might that they would go away soon.
James Potter said something she couldn't make out, but the hairs on the back of her neck began to prickle. She had a feeling that things were about to get sour.
"I do need a study break," Sirius said pointedly, and that seemed to decide the matter.
Before Lily even knew what was happening, there was a Slytherin fourth year dancing on the table a few shelves down with no trousers on, and James and Sirius were laughing so hard that tears were leaking from their eyes.
She stormed up to them, rationality seceding to rage as she resisted the urge to give James a vicious shove. "Enough!" She hissed at them, eyes crackling angrily. "This is a library, there are exams to study for, you are torturing a fellow student, and you are being LOUD!"
Sirius Black simply smirked at her, running his fingers through his hair, and probably thinking back to the incident a few weeks ago in which Lily had publicly humiliated James in front of the lake. Then, James had refused to back down, continuing to hex Severus after Lily had refused to date him.
Now, he paused, and lowered his wand imperceptibly, beginning to look slightly guilty, when Sirius shot him a look.
"What is it with you, Evans, anyways?" Sirius asked. "Got a soft spot for Slytherins? Or just like being Miss Goody-goody?"
"I just have a shred of common decency, is all," Lily snapped. "Now let him go unless you want me to get Madame Pince."
"Ooo, I'm scared," James said, wiggling his fingers and widening his eyes in a clear attempt to act nonchalant and cool.
"Oh shut up, Potter." Lily rolled her eyes. "You and Black, you think you're so cool. Well, I have news for you two losers—you disgust me."
With that, she turned heel and gathered her belongings, alerting Madame Pince on the way out that Potter and Black were harassing an innocent student.
I hope they get detention for it, she thought grimly.
000
She was returned abruptly to the present as James' and Sirius' voices were drawing near once again. She actually couldn't really remember the last time she'd spoken with one of them—they sat in the back for classes and mucked around a bit more than she did. They'd never been part of her group of friends, and when James had gotten it in to his head during fifth year that it was practically his right to date her, he and Sirius had become insufferable.
She snuggled deeper in to her seat and book, hoping they wouldn't walk by her table.
"…and I thought, maybe, you should know. If we plan to go out this—" That was Sirius, the haughty tone instantly recognizable.
"For Merlin's sake, Padfoot, not here!"
What in the world could they be talking about? Lily wondered idly, tuning out the first part of Sirius' next statement.
"…matters. It's not like anyone is here anyway."
"Let me just check, then," James replied, and Lily knew she was caught. A few seconds later, and a tousled black head, quickly followed by a lanky, lean body, was peering around the shelf. She propped herself up on her elbows, realizing that her hair had probably never looked worse.
James froze upon seeing Lily's face rise up from the pile of books and parchment. "Oh, uh, Evans, uh, hey, Evans," he stammered, fumbling for a graceful recovery from his shock.
"Did you just say Evans?" Sirius' voice trailed from a few shelves down, laden with hidden meaning.
"Shut up," James growled more vehemently than Lily had probably ever heard him do anything, much less tell off his best friend, and to her utter surprise, his cheeks turned bright pink. "I—uh." He ran a hand through his hair, and Lily forced herself to keep her eyes from accidentally closing, trying to fully wake up. She was vaguely curious to see what he was going to say, as, honestly, they hadn't interacted in a while.
"How's it going?" He settled on, and Lily swallowed a smile.
"Fine, Potter, you?" She asked neutrally, deliberately ignoring his awkwardness and the incumbent awkwardness that often comes after a year of silence on top of five years of not being friends.
He blinked, obviously not expecting an answer, and ran another hand through his hair. It was now standing up completely on end. "Good. Um, I—we didn't mean to wake you, that is," he said. His neck was now also red.
At this point, Lily found herself confused. She didn't like James Potter. They were not friends, they were not acquaintances, and they had never really spoken much or gotten along terribly well. He'd gone through that terrible phase in fifth year (she hated even to think about it, that had been such a terrible year) and he had deliberately and successfully riled her up a few more times than she cared to admit.
She felt at a disadvantage, as part of her was sure that he knew her better than she knew him—even if his knowledge consisted solely of what made her angry.
Yet here he was, acting sweet and correctly awkward for their level of intimacy (which was approximately zero,) and she found herself entertaining the idea of having a conversation with him. After all, he was in quite a few of her classes, and they would probably see more of each other next year. They'd both grown up a bit, and there was no harm in trying to minimize enemies, right?
So it was that Lily Evans flashed James Potter a quick, conservative smile. "No, you didn't," she said. "I was just bemoaning the state of my Transfiguration essay," she offered, and was amused to see his eyes light at the opportunity.
"The one on solid versus liquid shape changes?"
"It's killing me."
"Ah, me too," he said, leaning idly against the bookshelf and looking completely at ease, as if he had not just spend the last five minutes dying inside. "McGonagall really knows how to get us—she always seems to assign her essays right at crunch time."
And, abruptly, Lily found herself laughing and agreeing, as she had thought she'd been the only one to notice that.
Internally, though, she was still a little bit torn. She couldn't quite get over the fact that she was sitting here, laughing and talking amiably with the boy who used to hex younger children and her old friends like Severus. On several occasions in fifth year she had sworn her undying hatred for him, had professed to her friends that he was the lowliest scum of the earth, and had ultimately publicly humiliated him.
And yet. She just couldn't bring herself to hate him anymore. That ship has sailed, she thought to herself. She was tired of being angry and hating him, tired of being mad. She had, she realized, grown up a little bit. Maybe he'd grown up a bit too.
Everyone deserves a second chance.
The conversation petered out after the topic of Transfiguration essays, and essays in general, was thoroughly exhausted.
"Well, good luck finishing it up," James said, and Lily gave him another smile. It wasn't her huge, shining-eyed, face-shaping, teeth-baring smile, which induced brilliant grins in return, but it was a friendly upturn of the lips, quirking of the eyes, that would be quite enough for the present.
And James, bless his soul, gave her the hugest grin she'd ever seen him sport. His eyes lit up and his teeth shone, and Lily understood—if just for a moment—why it was that certain smiles were described as "knee-weakening." He left her alone with her essay, basking in the glow of his smile and the blush that stained the back of his neck as he retreated.
Feeling the back of her neck, Lily realized it was equally warm.
000
Talking to James was the weirdest, most natural thing in the world. It was pretty close to exams so things were coming to a head, and it wasn't like Lily suddenly had loads of free time on her hands, but she somehow managed to squeeze in a few conversations with James before summer break hit her like a train.
The day of the Herbology exam—which was, of course, in the morning, Lily dragged herself miserably out of bed and down to breakfast, planning on doing some last minute review, aided by copious coffee.
Sadly one of the first people in the great hall, she rubbed bleary eyes, thinking dire thoughts about chipper morning people, and spread out her notes.
About fifteen minutes later, just as she was deciding that Herbology was an utter waste of time that not even coffee could improve, James Potter sauntered in, plopping himself directly across from her. Confusion mixed with—panic? excitement? flitted through her, and she saw something similar mirrored in his eyes. A second later, however, and it was gone.
"Herbology," she said, pointing to her notes. "Making me question why I decided to take the class."
"Probably because you're crazy," James replied smoothly, and instead of getting her back up, Lily just laughed. She was beginning to realize that most of what James said was designed to be humorous—you just couldn't take him, or yourself, too seriously.
"You're just jealous you're not in our class."
James snorted. "Yeah, because I miss Sprout so-oo much."
Lily snapped her fingers. "I always knew you had a thing for her! No wonder you got such good grades in that class!"
"Hey, hey, woah, woah," James said, holding up his hands. "I came by those honestly." He smirked. "Or, well, mostly."
Lily couldn't resist, she burst in to laughter again.
"So Herbology, huh?" He asked. "You really got up this early for Herbology?"
"Yeah," she shrugged, then looked at him curiously. "What are you up for this early, anyways?"
James lifted a broom out from under the table that she hadn't previously noticed. "I like to do some flying during exams. Helps to clear my head, you know?"
Lily nodded. "I go running in the afternoons," she volunteered. "It helps me concentrate."
"You do?" James looked surprised. "I had no idea. I mean—I. That's cool, where do you go?"
She ignored his awkward stumble. Slip-ups like that were bound to happen when you were making friends with someone you had previously considered an enemy. "Sometimes around the lake, or around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, wherever, really. Alice sometimes runs with me when it's warmer, and we'll go for a shorter time." She shrugged. "So do you just fly around the pitch?"
"Basically. Sometimes it's nice to kind of tour around campus and enjoy the scenery, but in the mornings I usually just do laps—I don't trust myself to fly much further out." He tossed her a smile. "Might fall asleep."
Lily grinned outright at that.
"Bloody morning people," she swore, shaking her head. "Wish 'em all the worst."
James tossed back his head and let loose a guffaw. "You can say that again," he managed through his laughter. After that, though, he leaned forward to scoop up his broom. Grabbing a slice of toast from his untouched plate, he tipped Lily a salute. "Got to head out, catch you later Evans."
She watched him go, surprised that she had been enjoying the conversation and wishing that he could stay longer.
It was only after he had exited the hall that she realized he hadn't eaten a thing.
Well.
But there was plenty of time, after all. It was only the end of sixth year.